InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 287

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

I do not own InuYasha nor any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi


Chapter 287

The unseen kami let the startled monk and his company digest the news of their house guest’s disappearance. Sango, followed by her husband and the village guard stepped out of the house, and Susumu began examining the grounds near the house.

“This is bad,” Eiji said, lifting his lamp as they looked for any sign of the direction the woman ran in. “With Seiji who knows where...”

“I’m going after her,” Sango said. She headed back inside. “You can come or stay. Just let me get Hiraikotsu.”

“Sango...” Miroku said, following his wife.

A white shape floated out of the house, and moved over to the kami. “Is this something you arranged?” Sadayori asked. “Hasn’t she had enough?”

“Your daughter-in-law was needful,” Shimame-no-kami said. Her voice was firm, but her eyes were sympathetic. “It’s the last hard thing she needs to do today, but I am not leaving her alone.”

The ghost crossed his arms, unconvinced. “You are a hard person.”

“We’ll be sure to make it up to her,” Daikoku, the luck kami said. “Or at least I will do my best.”

“If she lives through it,” the ghost murmured.

The land kami ignored the ghost’s last statement. “And now,” she said, “I think we can draw this play to its conclusion.”

She clapped her hands together, and drifted up over the hillside, followed quickly by Daikoku and Sadayori. As they watched, surrounded by her power, the humans in the area glowed brightly, making it easy to see each and every soul who was moving through the night.

“Look,” she said, pointing to a spot about halfway up the hill. “Our witnesses are almost upon us.”

A crowd indeed was walking up, carrying lamps and the tools they had used to fight the fire. Masu, father of Furume, walked in front, followed closely by Tameo, Haruo and several other of the men. Masu glowed with a particularly bright light.

“Keep an eye out,” Haruo said, holding his lantern high, turning around to look at the people behind him. “You, Isamu, Ryota. Be careful at the back. We don’t know where Seiji is. Don’t let him get past us.”

“He’s not getting away from me this time,” Masu said, nearly strangling the neck of his hoe.

“The man at the head, he looks very angry,” Daikoku said.

“Can’t blame him,” Sadayori said. “It was after what happened to him, I really tried to get something done about my son.”

“I should have been paying more attention,” Shimame said, nodding. “But you know, I’ve always let the family kami take care of their family’s affair. Maybe...” She sighed.

“Masu has a valid grudge. He’s been angry since Seiji tried to stop the hanyou from going after his children last winter.”

“I know,” Shimame said. “He comes and prays regularly about that one. I told Yoshio. But there’s always so much to do, coaxing the land to be fertile and the water to work with it, and getting the rain gods to come at just the right time...and keeping the foxes under control. And the deer...” Her voice dropped off a moment, slightly embarrassed. “An interesting thing is that it was his daughter who first spotted Maeme in the water. If the bandits had succeeded in selling her off to a teashop, what would have happened?”

“Karma is interesting,” Sadayori said. “It seems fitting, somehow.” The ghost sighed, thinking of what his son had accomplished.

“Then it’s his lucky evening,” Daikoku said. “He will get his satisfaction.”

The floating group turned back to look at the direction of the monk’s house. Sango had her weapon strapped across her back, and was beginning to run towards the main road.

“We should back you up,” Eiji said.

“Someone’s got to watch the house,” Miroku said, trying to keep an eye on his wife.

Eiji nodded as Miroku and Susumu hurried to catch up with the taijiya.

“Funny,” the luck kami said, “I would have thought it was the monk who would have been most upset about the woman getting away.” He looked questioningly at the land kami. “Did you nudge her?”

“Not at all, Dono,” Shimame said. “This is all of her own doing.”

“A warrior with a woman’s heart,” Sadayori said.

“And who has known despair of her own, from the looks of her,” Daikoku said.

The group moved a little further up the hill.

“Watch,” Shimame said.

“Slow down, Miko-sama. We don’t need to rush faster than our feet can go,” Daitaro said. “If anything happens to you, your husband will be sure to tan my hide.”

Kagome, carrying her bow and quiver over her shoulder and a lamp in her hand, turned to look at the old farmer, who was grinning at her.

“You think I’d let him do something like that, Daitaro-ojiisan?” she asked.

“No,” Daitaro said, catching up with her. “Not exactly. But I don’t want him mad at me, either. It’s getting time that my old bull is going to be a restless handful, and I need him to be still wanting to help.”

Kagome chuckled just a little.

The farmer scratched his head. “I hope you still don’t make him kiss the ground like you used to, though. That’s an impressive sight, and we used to joke about it, but...”

“Uh,” the young miko said. “Joke about it? Was it that noticeable? Did I do it that much?”

“Only at first.” He adjusted his hoe over his shoulder. “I will admit he was a surly thing in those days.”

“You might say that,” Kagome said. She sucked on her bottom lip, not sure if she should grin or feel embarrassed.

“Not saying that he might not have deserved it, either,” the old farmer continued. “But it’s not a good way for a wife and husband to behave.” His lips curled up into a sly grin. “I suspect you have better ways to control him nowadays, anyway. I know my Chime learned that one fast. Ah women...if the man is good enough, they have more power than they realize.”

Kagome could feel herself blushing, although the night was dark enough to hide her coloring. “Uh...” she said, but before she could say anything else, she heard a sharp snap, and a thud.

“What?” she said. Daitaro brought his finger to his lips and the two of them froze. There was another snap, followed by the sound of someone crashing through some shrubbery. Kagome placed her lantern down and nocked an arrow.


She began to sight the bow in the direction of the noise, but Daitaro was stepping in front of her, blocking her view and aim, his hoe to the ready. The old farmer suddenly darted out, surprisingly swift for a man of his age and girth, and disappeared behind the shadow of a tree. There was a shriek, and Kagome, running after him, was surprised when he returned with the struggling body of a slight woman dressed in white.

“Maeme-chan?” Kagome asked.

The distraught woman stopped struggling, and looked up at who was holding her and at Kagome standing in front of her, relaxing her bow.

“Miko-sama?” Maeme said.

Kagome replaced her arrow in her quiver. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

The woman burst out in tears.

“See,” Shimame said, nodding her head towards Sadayori. “I told you I wouldn’t leave her unguarded.”

“Hnnn,” the old ghost replied. “That old fool and a girl against my son?”

“From what I’ve heard, that girl is a rather formidable opponent,” Daikoku said. “And I wouldn’t underestimate the old farmer.”

“Indeed,” Shimame said. “Well, everybody’s in place.”

“Just in time, too,” Daikoku said. “Look there.”

They drifted just uphill of where the miko and the weeping woman were, to a bright dome of power. Inside of it was one very unhappy hanyou.

“I can’t just wait here.” InuYasha unsheathed his sword, and it transformed from a worn out katana to the massive fang it was. It began to glow redly.

“That’s not going to work,” Kazuo. “This isn’t some youkai’s barrier. It’s not even some sage’s.”

“The hells,” the hanyou said. Rearing back, he slammed the sword on the barrier, but instead of cutting through it, he was once again knocked off his feet, landing flat on his back, and the sword flew out of his hand.

It quickly transformed into its ratty sword form. Kazuo picked it up, then walked over to the hanyou. He offered his hand to InuYasha, who looked at it warily, then got to his feet on his own. The farmer kami shrugged. “I told you so. A land kami’s barrier power comes from both the earth she’s in charge of and the power of the August Fields. She can’t hold it long, but while it’s up, whatever’s there is there.”

He handed the blade back to the hanyou who took it, almost gingerly, as if the sword might have been booby-trapped. He sheathed it then slammed his hands into his sleeves.

“So how long do I have to wait? If anything happens to Miroku or that woman or Kagome...” A small growl rumbled in the back of his throat.

The dome of energy suddenly collapsed around them. It dissolved in an audible pop, and a cool breeze, filled with scents that had been blocked, wafted in. InuYasha, his nostrils flaring, put out his hand gingerly, but felt no obstacle. He turned around to say something to the kami, but Kazuo, too, was gone.

“Damn interfering kami,” he muttered, very low, not really wanting to get on the bad side of the local supernatural beings, but rather irritated nonetheless.

“You know he’d end it all very quickly if you’d just let him run into the man,” Kazuo said, watching as the hanyou bent low to the earth, looking for the clues he had been following earlier.

“You started this play,” Shimame said. “I know that’s not the ending you had in mind.”

“But it would get it done,” the ancestor kami said, rubbing his hat across his head.

Shimame tapped his hand with her fan. “You should really stop that, you know.”

“Funny,” Kazuo said, looking at his outstretched hand. “InuYasha said the same thing.”

“He has some wisdom, that one, even among the rough edges.” Daikoku nodded approvingly. “So now what, Lady of the new drama?”

InuYasha, unaware of their presence, stood up, frowning. He grabbed a handful of earth, and let it sift through his fingers. “He’s doubled back again? He moves like a drunk rat. There’s no way he could be that drunk.”

Suddenly, his ears pricked up. “What’s Kagome doing out in the woods this time of night? And with that bastard on the loose? If anything happens to her, I’m going to skin me an old farmer.”

Taking off, Seiji forgotten, he headed off in the direction of Kagome’s voice.


Seiji sat on a rock. He was very near the path that would take him to the monk’s house, but he was totally lost.

“Damn I’m thirsty. I know there’s a stream near here. I can hear it. How come I can’t find it?”

Yoshio, totally bored, yawned. “This will teach me not to be so patient with my family,” he said. “They may come to regret it, but I never ever want to go through another night like this.”

“It’s good to learn useful lessons, Yoshio-sama,” a woman’s voice said. “But perhaps you should learn balance, too.”

The kami turned around to see Shimame, Kazuo and Daikoku standing to his left. He gave a solemn bow. “Please, Shimame-no-kami, free me from this task. Nothing I do sways this poor descendant of mine - ghosts, thirst, discomfort - even the knowledge that he shouldn’t be lost in the woods. He has nothing but bitterness and anger inside. I don’t think he believes anything in this world but him is a real person.”

“That’s how I see it,” Kazuo said. “That’s why I decided to put on this little show.”

“And why I decided to take it over, Kazuo-sama. Something in his body is flawed. He is like a weed or a sport that must be culled,” the land kami said. “When things won’t grow right, sometimes, you must free them so they can start again. But there’s no reason why the whole village can’t be given a lesson in the will of the Heavens on what to do with such a sport while we’re at it.” She tapped her fan to her chin, looked out over the darkness, and made a final decision.

“Do you know where the road bends, just before you get to the fork that leads to the monk’s house?” she asked Yoshio.

“Too well,” the kami said. “I’ve had to turn him away from it seven times tonight.”

“Lead him there now. Everybody’s where I want them to be. As the moon rises, we’ll give them a show that they’ll be talking about for centuries.” She smiled. It was a disturbing smile, both innocent and calculating. “Who knows? Maybe they’ll even create a festival to remember it by. Another festival would be nice . . . ”

Kazuo rolled his eyes. “In the middle of bean planting time?”

The land kami gave a little chuckle, clapped her hands, and was gone.