InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 254

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


Chapter 253


While InuYasha and Kagome walked through the woods to the east of the village, deep in the forest to the north, almost halfway to the next village, Yoshimi, Seiji’s younger brother, was resting on the forest floor. The young man was enjoying the afternoon away from family and all the problems and work he knew he would be facing at home. His kosode was splayed open, his hakama crumpled on the ground not far from him. Sighing contentedly, he had his hands behind his head, a satisfied look on his face as he stared up at the branches of a tree overhead.

Evidence of why he officially was here in the forest existed. Leaned up against a tree nearby was his axe. Next to that was a small stand of deadwood he had been gathering for firewood. But the real reason why he had spent the morning out here was there at his right-hand side.

Smiling, he looked in that direction to see a woman who was closing up her own garments, smoothing the front of her under kosode even as she reached for her outer garment. His companion was older than he was, somewhere in her thirties. Once she would have been considered pretty, but life had taken its toll, and it had given her a worried, petulant look, a face more used to frowning than smiling. “One more ten day,” she said, her voice distant, as she shrugged into her worn blue robe.

“One more ten day for what, Kiyoko-chan?” he said, watching her movements more than listening to her voice.

Kiyoko grabbed her wrap skirt, a dark blue skirt with white flowers worked into it. It had seen better days, and was patched in more than one place. She stood up and put the garment around her. “One more ten day and my mourning period is up.”

“That soon, eh,” he said, looking up at the woman. She smiled at him as she fastened the tie on the skirt, then began to pull her hair back so she could tuck a comb at its back before putting her head scarf back on.

Comb in place, she shook out the head scarf to free it of some dead leaves and grass. She closed her eyes a moment, took a deep breath as her mood changed. “My obasan, my otousan’s sister, she’s trying to talk me into hurrying up and getting remarried, so we’ll have someone to take over the farming before rice planting.”

He pushed himself up on his elbows. His eyebrows lifted up, and he looked distressed at the news “Is she, now? And are you going to listen to her?”

“I don’t know, Yoshimi-chan.” She put her scarf around her head, a piece of white cloth with blue flowers, and deftly tied the bow in front. “I may have to take whoever wants me in my village. My otousan is dead, my husband died of the cough, and our place is barely enough to live off of. I might be an heiress, but...” She looked at him, obviously not pleased. “They talk about me behind my back. I think they’re placing bets on who I’ll have to settle for.”

He sat all the way up, and straightened his own kosode. “And what do you want, Kiyoko-chan?” His eyes seemed saddened. “Are you going to let them boss you around?”

“Don’t you let your brother boss you around? Sometimes we don’t have any real choice.” She dropped her eyes, and for a moment, the petulance left her face, to be replaced by a coy hopefulness. “You know what my heart wants, Yoshimi-chan. If, if...if he’d only listen to reason.”

He took a deep breath and stood, scooping up his hakama as he did. “Kiyoko-chan,” he said, touching her cheek.

“I know...I know it’s a hard thing to leave one’s own village, especially for a man,” she said, not yet daring to meet his eyes. “I know you owe your brother work, but still...doesn’t he see how this would be good for you and even him?”

“My brother is a hard man,” he said, with all the regret he could put into his voice.

She nodded, then turned away. “I....”

“Don’t feel ashamed, Kiyoko. You...you make it worth dreaming about,” he said, placing his hand under her chin and gently brushed his lips across her forehead. “If only...”

“If only what?” She stared into his eyes, not sure whether to hope or despair.

“If I could give him a gift...something to pay him off for the loss of my services,” he said. “He’s been hinting. Maybe then he would agree.”

She sucked on her bottom lip. “A gift? How much would this gift be?”  

“I’d need to raise at least the value of one bundle of rice,” he said. He looked down at the ground, a combination of hopeless and embarrassed. “I just don’t have any idea how I can do it.”

“A bundle of rice?” She looked down at the ground, and frowned, and then wiggled her fingers as if counting, before looking back up at him, almost as embarrassed, but some of her own hopelessness dropped away. “What...what if I would bring you a bundle? Do...do you think he would agree?”

He turned away, as if he shouldn’t even contemplate it. “I couldn’t do that to you, Kiyoko-chan. What kind of man would I be, accepting that type of gift from a woman, even if I were to marry her?”

“A good man,” she said, all the despair draining from her face to be replaced by determination. “A man who would be getting a small farm and all the rice it makes in the bargain. Then it would be yours to do with as you wanted anyway. What difference would a few days make?”

He shook his head. “I cannot...cannot let you do this thing, Kiyoko. It shouldn’t be the woman’s task to pay this type of thing.”

As he looked, Kiyoko pulled herself up as tall as possible, and her eyes grew commanding. “You will,” she said. “Yes you will. And in a ten day’s time, you will come to my village, and no longer be just a second son. I am the heiress. If you marry me, then you will be in charge of the land, and nobody can treat you like a servant any longer.”

Yoshimi ran a hand over his face. “You are sure you want to do this thing? You think I am worth that much?”

She nodded. “More than that much, Yoshimi-chan. I will do this thing. Meet me here in two days. Then see what your brother will tell you.”

He pulled her into his arms. “I do not deserve you, you sweet woman. Why have the kami been so kind as to let us find each other?”

She smiled at him. “They took pity on our broken hearts, perhaps.” She tiptoed up and kissed him gently on the lips. “I must go now. My obasan is probably already ready to scream at me.”

“Soon, you won’t have to put up with that anymore,” he said, pulling her into a hug.

She smiled, gave his hand a squeeze, and took off.

It wasn’t until she was out of sight that he realized he still had his hakama in his hand.  “Thank you, whatever kami brought her into my life. Soon, soon, I’ll be able to pay off that stupid Ryota. And tell my brother where he can go when he pulls that worthless younger brother stuff on me. Kiyoko may not be much to look at, but she owns land and has one eager little body. About time I get a break. Who needs to put up with him and his temper? One ten day from now, I’ll tell Seiji to kiss my ass, and get out of this hell hole. No more ‘I’m sorry, Ani-ue.’ No more listening him to beat on that rag of a wife. No more brats crying after he’s had one of his fits. And then, then I’ll be the boss. I can’t wait.”


Back up on the hill, InuYasha and Kagome neared their home, but made a turn near the Goshinboku, where they stopped under the branches, filled with new green leaves. The scar where InuYasha had been held up by the tree for so many years was clearly visible. As usual, the grounds surrounding the ancient tree radiated peace, the knowledge that connected the past to the future.

“Remind me,” Kagome said, looking up in its branches, “that I should come here more often to pay my respects to the tree. I owe it a lot. It had to listen to me cry a lot that first year when we were apart. Not as much in the two years after, but I still came here a lot.”

“Keh,” InuYasha said. “You weren’t the only one.”

“Oh?” Kagome said, resting her hand lightly on the bark as she looked at the hanyou.
He shrugged. “Sometimes...I don’t know. It made me feel closer to you, somehow. There were times I felt like I could almost hear you.”

A strange, almost surprised, almost awed look touched her face. “I...I was about to say the same thing. The Sacred Tree, well, it is a sacred thing. My grandfather would call it a kami.  Maybe it was helping.”

The hanyou, too, rested his hand on the tree’s bark. “Maybe so. Took good care of me all those years. Maybe it got in the habit of it.”

This made Kagome giggle a little bit. “Maybe so. Well, we should come here more often to pay our respects.” Clapping twice she bowed. “Thank you for all your help,” she said, then clapped again.

She took InuYasha’s hand. “It’s not everybody who meets their special someone in a sacred place.”

“Or sealed to a tree, either, for that matter. Or who needs that person to fight a youkai after that person’s been out of it for fifty years.” InuYasha wrapped his fingers through hers.

“You can definitely say we had an unusual beginning,” she said, laughing a little. She looked back over her shoulder at the tree as they walked off. “Maybe we should hang the sacred ropes around it. I don’t know how many people here know what a special tree it is.”

“Maybe so. Talk to Kaede-babaa about it.” He glanced back at the tree one more time himself and nodded towards it himself in thanks.

Together, the young couple left, but as they did, the wind blew through the leaves making a pleasant sound as they walked away, as if happy to be remembered.

A few minutes later, they reached their house.  

“The floor ought to be dry by now,” Kagome said. “I’ll go check.”

While she did, InuYasha took a deep breath, and flicked his ear, then walked around to the side of the building. But the only thing he found there were stacks of wood. There was no sign of the woodworker or Aki.

“Still not back? I wonder where Choujiro got off to,” the hanyou said, grabbing an armful of chopped wood to bring into the house. The woodworker’s hand cart and tools were still in place. “I guess he got caught up with something in the village. On a day like today, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Kagome met him on his way in, holding the door flap open for him. “The floor’s dry.”

InuYasha dropped the wood in its cradle. “Well, something’s going right.” He dusted off his hands. “So it’s time to move things back, right?”

“It is,” Kagome said. “I guess once we get everything back in, we can get the fire going and heat up some bathwater. I feel all dusty still from cleaning out the fire pit.”

“Should be plenty of time for it,” he said as he began moving in the furniture, starting the wash stand.

“But not much else,” she said regretfully, as she followed him back in.