InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 233

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumkio Takahashi


Chapter 232

InuYasha, having left Kaede to make her own way to Miroku’s, hurried in his own way to the headman’s compound.

For the moment, the place was fairly quiet. Susumu had finally made it back and was talking to Koichi. He looked up as InuYasha entered, as first all smiles. “Well, cousin, what brings you here?”

Susumu’s pleasure at seeing the hanyou wavered as he noticed the look on InuYasha’s face and the tension in how he was walking. He wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Uh-oh,” Koichi muttered. “He doesn’t look very happy. I wonder what’s up now?”

“Who’s coming this time?” Seiji croaked. His voice was getting rather hoarse.

“Shut up,” the farmhand said as Susumu walked toward the gate. “It’s none of your business.”

The village guard rubbed the back of his neck. “Is something wrong? This has been a strange day from the sound of what Koichi’s been telling me.”

“Something like that. Don’t want to talk about it here,” the hanyou said, nodding towards the lockup. “Where’s Tameo?”

Seiji was trying to sing something, but his voice cracked and he began to cough.

“Ha!” Koichi said, looking up to the sky. “Praise be to Kwannon the merciful. I knew you’d run out of voice some time or other.”

“Fuck you,” the man in the lockup croaked out. At least it sounded like what he was trying to say before he began coughing again.

Susumu took a quick look at the lockup and shrugged. “Chichi-ue? He’s either in his office, or in the kitchen outback,” the village guardsman said. “I just got back myself. I haven’t had a chance to find him yet. I’ll walk you to him, if you’d like. I need to talk to him anyway.”

InuYasha glared at the lockup building and took a deep breath. “Yeah. He’ll want to know about this.”

They started to head off when Seiji’s coughing fit stopped.  “Ah, the white-haired freak returns,” Seiji said from within the lockup. His voice was soft and hoarse, but more than loud enough to stop InuYasha in his tracks. The hanyou stopped, his ears swiveling towards the little building.

“What happened to bring you back this way? You and your...miko...” Seiji stopped for a moment and hacked. “You two ran out of people to use your magic on? Or did you get tired of your games in the woods?”

A soft growl came from InuYasha’s throat, and his nostrils flared as he clenched his fists.  Susumu laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Shut up, Seiji,” Koichi said, standing up and brushing off his hakama. “Aren’t you in enough trouble? You have a death wish?”

“Up yours, toady,” Seiji replied. His voice dropped to a whine. “Where’s that boy of mine?”

InuYasha whirled. “You piece of crap, I ought to...” he said, and began to take a step towards the lockup, but Susumu was there, at his side. He grabbed the hanyou’s wrist.

“Don’t do it, cousin. We need that building.” He rubbed his chin, as if thinking. “What’s in it’s not worth much, but the building...Might let you at him tomorrow, though, if he doesn’t get some smarts before then. But only once we get him out of the building.”

“Run and hide behind your pet youkai, asshole,” Seiji said. “I bet neither of you are man enough to do more than talk.”  

InuYasha growled again, and his hand grasped the hilt of his sword. “I shouldn’t have held that punch back,” he said, taking a step in that direction. “Didn’t do anybody a favor.”

Susumu tugged on the hanyou’s sleeve.“It’s all on purpose,” the village guard said. “He’s been trying to bully his way out of the lockup. He wants you to go after him, and ruin Shinjiro’s luck. Don’t give him the satisfaction. Let’s go see Chichi-ue.”

InuYasha stopped and swallowed. He looked at the headman’s son, and weighed the look he gave the hanyou, equal to equal.  

The look that InuYasha had on his own face was something darker, filled with a youkai anger that set Susumu’s teeth on edge, and the village guard almost took a step back from what he saw there, but he held firm, and instead of fear he felt a need to know what triggered it.  “The sooner we get out of earshot of the stupid, the sooner we can talk about what brought you here,” he said. “Then we can deal with whatever it is we need to do.”

The hanyou gave one last glare to the lockup, nodded, and followed Susumu towards the back.

Koichi picked up a pebble and tossed it through the window of the lockup. There was a slightly satisfying ouch as the pebble found its mark.

“I’ll remember that,” Seiji said, his voice not much more than a whisper.

“You might be remembering a lot more before you get to that one,” the farm worker said. “You didn’t see InuYasha’s face. If that was coming my way, I’d run.”

“Coward,” Seiji said.

“No, I just know when I’ve bit off more than I can chew. Even if you don’t.” Koichi settled back down. “I wouldn’t want to see that face coming my way, but I don’t think I’d mind watching it aim at you.”

Seiji coughed, and for once, decided to be quiet.

Susumu and InuYasha passed the main house and headed for the headman’s office. The courtyard seemed eerily quiet without the children and the women around. Even most of the farm workers were finding places to be gone to.

“I take it from your unwillingness to talk in front of that ass that your current irritation has to do with Seiji himself,” Susumu said as they entered the little path to the office building.

“Keh,” the hanyou said. “Something like that.”

“You’re not alone,” Susumu said. “I bet over half the village wouldn’t shed a tear if something happened to him today.” They reached his father’s office, and the village guard slid the door open but the room was empty. There were sake cups on the table, and a stack of papers, but no headman. “Chichi-ue must be feeling it, too, if he’s hit the sake already.”

“Kinjiro was here, too,” the hanyou said.

“Was he?” Susumu said. “Maybe that’s why Chichi-ue’s not here. From what I hear how Seiji’s been behaving, my little brother probably wants to tear into the lockup as much as you do.” He slid the door closed. “They must be around back. Koichi told me Riki opened up the planting time kitchen,” Susumu said, stepping off the verandah. “I bet everybody else who’s not off hiding somewhere else is there, too.”

“Further away from that piece of crap up front, the better,” InuYasha said.

“No doubt they’ll all agree with you on that one, cousin,” the village guard said. “Sounds like he’s been pushing everybody to the edge today.”

They began heading to the back. “More than you know, maybe,” InuYasha said. “And he used to be your best friend?”

“Hard to believe now, isn’t it?” Susumu gave him a small, apologetic smile. “I was young and he hadn’t showed his true colors yet. At least not all of them. Still, we managed to get into a lot of trouble together when we were younger,” Susumu said as they walked to the back. “I guess I got smarter as I got older, or the whacks Chichi-ue gave me sank in better than the ones he got. I decided to do things the right way. He didn’t.  I think he thinks I betrayed him or something for straightening out.”

“Don’t need friends like that,” the hanyou said.

“No, you’re right.” Susumu nodded. “It’s been a long time since I called him friend.”

The smells of lunch reached them before they got to the outbuilding Riki was cooking in. The structure was not much more than a fire pit covered over by a roof, open and airy to let the heat out, but the roof gave the space good shade. She was working at a bench, chopping some vegetables as they walked up. Her husband Jun had just walked off with the water buckets, heading for the well. The headman was sitting on a mat on the ground in that shade, next to his son Kinjiro, the two of them having traded their sake for tea.

“I think Haha-ue would approve of what you’re drinking now more than what you left on your desk, Otousan,” Susumu said as they reached the kitchen.

“No doubt you’re right,” the headman said, looking up. “I’ll need to put that away before she gets back from Daitaro’s.”

Riki, coming back to her cooking pots laughed a little. “Hisa-sama is hard to fool, Tameo-sama.”

“True, true.” The headman took a sip of his tea. “Ah, InuYasha,” he said, pleased to see the hanyou, but he began to frown when he saw how irritated the two newcomers were. “Something’s happened?” He looked up at his son. “You should have come got me if there’s something I should know. Chiya-chan’s not misbehaving again, is she?”

Susumu shook his head. “It was perfectly calm up at Tsuneo’s riverside place. Chiya was pouting, but doing her spinning and Hana-chan was running and fetching for her.  Even Morio was behaving. Everything just the way you hoped.”

“Feh,” InuYasha said, crossing his arms and stuffing his hands in his sleeves. He couldn’t disguise his own glower, and his right ear tweaked. “Wrong side of the village.”   

As Riki began to cook something heavy with the smell of onion, Tameo rubbed his chin. “Something happen on your side? I hope nothing’s wrong at Daitaro’s place.”  

“You could say that.” InuYasha stepped closer, unfolding his arms as he grasped the hilt of his sword. “That...that man, if you want to call him that, the piece of crap you have in the lockup?” He looked down at the headman, his eyes locking with the older man. “His wife tried to throw herself in the river. She’d be dead now if it wasn’t that Miroku saw her first. What type of man makes his wife so afraid of living that she’d rather die than see him come home?”

“What?” Susumu said. “No wonder you wanted to take Seiji down.”

Riki gasped and dropped the pot lid she had been lifting, and splashed something into the fire which sizzled and steamed. Kinjiro sighed and shook his head. Tameo set his cup down, and began to stand up. “What?”


InuYasha’s ear twitched again as his eyes never left Tameo’s even as the man changed position. “You heard me. That asshole’s wife threw herself in the river rather than live a day more with him. She was begging Miroku to let her drown.”

Susumu let out a deep sigh. “And this is supposed to be a lucky day?”

There was a gasp behind them. “My Okaasan?”  

The men turned around. Sukeo was standing there. His eyes grew big and the blood drained out of his face. His hand came up and covered his mouth. “My okaasan? In the river? Is she...”

“Sukeo-kun?” Susumu said. “Where did you come from?”

“Damn me,” InuYasha said softly. “I should have noticed you were near.” He sighed deeply and stepped towards the boy.

Sukeo backed up one step. “I...I wanted to ask Tameo-sama a question.” He began to tremble. “I looked all over the village for Haha-ue, but couldn’t find her. I was going to ask Tameo-sama if he could help. Someone showed me the back way in, and I took it because,” he said, choking up, “I didn’t want my otousan to know I was here.”

“You should have come and got me,” the village guard said.

The anger drained out of InuYasha, quickly replaced with regret. He rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “She’s at Miroku’s house,” he said gently. “She’s alive. We got her out of the water in time. Kagome’s taking care of her and Kaede-babaa is heading there, too.”

“Okaa...” the boy said. Shrugging the hanyou’s hand off his shoulder, he turned and ran towards the front of the complex.

The men watched for a few moments, growing disheartened as what happened sunk in.

“Kuso,” Kinjiro said, and got to his feet. “What else can go wrong today?”

“Poor Maeme-chan,” Riki said. “Poor boy. I...” She covered her face with her hand, having run out of words.

“It’s time to do something with that asswipe,” Kinjiro said. “I’m going to go tell Toshiro.”

As Kinjiro started to move away, his father grabbed his sleeve and shook his head. “I would not have broken the news to that poor boy that way if I had a choice,” Tameo said, looking disheartened. “But what is done is done. Seiji’s locked up where he can’t hurt anybody else today. Toshiro will be joining us tomorrow. We’ll deal with Seiji soon enough.”

The hanyou looked the most stricken of all. “Do you want me to go after him?” InuYasha said. “I’m faster than the rest of you.”

“And do what? I am pretty sure we know where he’s headed,” the headman said, shaking his head. “Give him a chance to run off some of his shock. Poor Maeme. This turn of events wasn’t something I expected today.”

“This is what happens when you let a man like Seiji get away with thinking no one can tell him no,” Riki grumbled.  

“We should have sent him away after the last bandit raid,” Kinjiro said. “Didn’t I say that?”

“And so did I,” Susumu added.

Tameo rubbed his hand over his forehead, and took a deep breath. “I think even Toshiro will agree after this.”

“So what do we do?” the hanyou said.

“Pray. And stay away from that poor excuse of a man until after Shinjiro’s wedding.” The headman looked at his hands. “I’m afraid that I’d strangle him myself right now if I went anywhere near him.”

“Keh,” the hanyou said. “You’d have to get in line.”

“You first?” Tameo asked.

“Maybe. But once that boy gets a look at his mother,” InuYasha said, “it might be him.”