InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 288

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

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


Chapter 288

InuYasha hurried through the woods, following the sound of his wife’s voice. It wasn’t panicked; she was walking with Daitaro, and both sounded calm.

“Old man should know better than to let her walk through the woods with that bastard Seiji loose,” he said. “Don’t care if she’s not worried about anything. He should know better.”

As he moved, pushing under a low cedar branch, he spotted the light she was carrying. It wavered, and for a moment, she put it on the ground.

“Now what?” he asked.

As he watched the light, he heard some woman not Kagome shriek, surprised. Then, after Kagome picked the light back up, the other woman began weeping.

“It’s all right, it’s all right,” InuYasha heard his wife say. “You’re safe.”

That calmed down his sense of urgency as he continued moving in that direction. “What the hells,” he muttered. “Who would she find to comfort out here this time of night?”

The wind picked up and wafted the scents toward him. “Maeme?” The hanyou stuffed his hands in his sleeves and started moving their way at a brisk, but not threatening, walk. “What the...Bouzu must be slipping if she’s out running in the woods.”

“He’s going to kill us all,” the distraught woman wailed. “I had to leave. I didn’t want him to hurt those little girls. You understand, don’t you? So innocent. They don’t need to see what a monster a man like him could be.” She sobbed loudly.

“I’m sure nobody would ever get near those girls,” Kagome said. “You’ve never seen Sango fight, or Miroku, if you can think that. Let’s go back.”

“How’d she get past the crowd at the monk’s?” InuYasha said. “Stupid woman. Does she think Seiji’s going to leave Miroku alone even if he finds her?”

The hanyou leapt up in a tree to survey the scene. As he watched, Daitaro lifted his sake jug up and offered it to the troubled woman, who shook her head. “Nobody’s going to touch you, woman. If you don’t want to stay at the monk’s house, come back to my place. My Chime would be more than happy to put you up for the night.”

“I....” Maeme shook her head. “Let me go. Maybe he’ll...”

As InuYasha jumped out of the tree and landed soundlessly, there was a crash from the other side of the road. All heads turned towards the sound. “There you are, you stupid road. About time you showed up. Now where am I?”

“It’s him...” Maeme said. Her voice was just above a whisper, but InuYasha could hear the panic rising in her tone. He quickened his pace, not yet running, afraid to panic her. “Where is he?”

“He’s downhill from here,” Daitaro said. “If we can’t see him, there’s no way he can see us.”

“But not as far away as I’d like,” InuYasha said.

“Damn it all to the hells,” Seiji said, His voice was loud and angry. “How’d I get here? I thought I was down by that fool bull herder’s house.”

“I’ll fool him,” Daitaro said, putting the stopper back in his jug. “At least I know enough not to get lost in the woods.”

“I’ve got...I’ve got...” Maeme said, looking around her. “Let me go to him. I can’t let him hurt...”

“That trash of a monk must be that way,” Seiji said. His voice grew very loud, meant as a threat. “I’m coming for what’s mine, you piece of trash!”

As InuYasha paused to look at the road to make sure the threat wasn’t immediate, Daitaro and Kagome hustled Maeme to the side, behind a tall tree.

“Don’t move,” Daitaro said, as he got the two women to crouch down. “You two stay out of sight. I’ll go distract him. When I do, run home, Miko-sama.”

InuYasha used that moment to join the little group. “You stay here, too, old man,” he said, moving out of the shadows.

Chika, Sango’s cat, jumped up into the miko’s arms, and climbed up her shoulder and mewed a greeting at the hanyou. But Maeme didn’t take his appearance as well. The glow of the lamp Kagome carried reflected in InuYasha’s eyes, causing them to glow eerily, like a wild animal’s in the darkness, and Maeme gave off a little shriek of surprise.

The miko put her hand over the distraught woman’s mouth to keep her from giving their position away. “It’s just InuYasha,” she whispered. She smiled up at her husband, glad of his arrival. “I’m glad you found us.” She turned back to Maeme. “He won’t hurt us.”

For a moment, Maeme’s eyes looked up wide and frightened. The cat, sensing her fear, jumped from Kagome to the terrified woman. Maeme, for some reason, broke off eye contact with the hanyou looked down at the little animal and took a deep breath.

“Why would I hurt you? I helped bring you to shore today, didn’t I?” the hanyou said. “If I was out to get you, I would have let the river have you.”

Maeme, still overwhelmed by everything, stroked the cat’s back, and somehow strengthened, nodded, and Kagome pulled her hand back.

“That monk thinks he can take my woman, does he?” Seiji said. He was definitely getting closer. “Wife-stealer, I’m coming for you!”

“Take them up to my place,” InuYasha said. “It’ll be safer. I’ll go kick his butt back down the hill.”

“If anybody here can do it, you can,” Daitaro said, standing up. “I think he’s afraid of you. You might be the only person in the village who scares him.”

This talk was too much for Maeme, and she tried to stand, although Daitaro pushed her back to the ground. “Please,” she said, looking at the small group of people determined to defend her. “Just let me go. If I go to him, nobody else will have to get hurt.”

“No,” Kagome said. “If you go to him, he’ll hurt you, Maeme-chan.”

The battered woman shivered and lifted quaking hands to her face. “If I don’t go to him, he’ll hurt someone else,” she said. “I don’t want anybody else to get hurt.”

“Nobody else is going to get hurt,” the hanyou said, pointing to up the hill. “Go home, and keep her there,” he told Kagome. “I don’t care if you have to sit on her, but don’t let her back out.”

They half stood, Daitaro holding one of Maeme’s arms, and Kagome another.

“Please,” Maeme said, looking back over her shoulder at the hanyou. “He’s got a sword, I bet. He was a soldier.”

“So do I,” InuYasha replied. “Mine’s bigger. Just go.”

They started to move off when they heard another voice. “Maeme!” It was a woman’s voice. “Maeme-chan! Where are you?”

The group froze. “That sounds like Sango,” Kagome said.

“Damn,” InuYasha said. “I bet Seiji can hear that. I better get out there now.” He bolted for the road.

“Sango-sama?” Maeme said. “I...”

“Come on,” Kagome said. “All of us fought monsters much worse than your husband. Let’s just get you somewhere safe.”

Not quite convinced, Maeme let them drag her back in the direction of InuYasha’s house.

As Kagome and Daitaro worked to get Maeme somewhere safe, Sango and Miroku ran down the hillside, then slowed a moment as they reached the main path to the village.

“We’ve lost her,” the taijiya said. She knelt down and looked at the ground. “I know she was heading this way, but I don’t see any tracks.”

“Where do you think she would have gone?” the monk asked.

“I don’t know,” Sango said, standing back up and adjusting the strap to Hiraikotsu. “Do you think she might have tried to go back to her house?”

The monk shrugged and scratched his head. “I don’t know why she ran off to begin with. I wonder if she heard us talking about how Seiji got loose. It’s possible she’s trying to find him.”

Sango turned and looked at her husband, her face amazed by that thought. “But why?”

“Maybe she thinks she’s protecting us, or even her sons by finding him.” Miroku leaned on his staff a moment. “It could be she thinks if she offers herself up as a way to calm his anger... ”

“Oh no,” Sango said. She cupped her hand and called loudly. “Maeme! Maeme-chan!” She paused, waiting to see if she heard anything. After a moment she turned back to her husband. “We can’t let her go back to that beast. Maeme! Please, where are you?”

Miroku pulled her cupped hand away from her mouth. “Don’t do that. If Seiji’s somewhere around, he’ll know she’s out and I bet he’ll start looking for her. As long as he thinks she’s at our place, she’s got a chance to be safe from him.”

“I...” Sango said, then let out a loud breath. “I didn’t think of that. But we have to find her, Miroku. We can’t let that man get near her. There’s no telling what he’s going to try to do to her if he finds her.”

They turned at the sound of footfalls behind them, only to see Susumu heading for them.

“You run fast, Sango-sama,” he said, catching up to the monk and his wife. The lamp he carried reflected the worry in his own eyes. Eiji followed closely behind him.

“Not quickly enough,” she said, sighing. “She could be anywhere out here. Even with...”

Off in the distance they could hear a loud voice. “You can’t hide from me, Monk! Take my woman from me, will you?”

“Ah,” Eiji said, looking down the hill. His face was somber, and his hand grabbed his club firmly. “From the sound of it, it doesn’t sound like Seiji’s found her yet. But it does sound like
we’re about to have some company.”

Sukeo and Fumio joined up with the others. The boy’s eyes were big with worry. The smith held the shaft of his hammer tightly.

“Is that Chichi-ue?” the teenager asked.

“I’m afraid so,” the monk said. “You should go back to the house.”

“He’s right, you know,” Fumio said, resting his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You don’t need to do this. We can handle it.”

“When my otousan is angry, he does stupid things,” Sukeo said.

“That may be true,” Miroku said. “But you don’t have to take sides in this. He’s still your otousan.”

“I....” Sukeo said. He shook his head. “I saw my okaasan tonight, and what he did. I...I can’t pretend it away anymore.” He looked up at Sango, then the monk, and then Fumio. “I....I need to be here.”

“A man has to do what a man has to do,” Susumu said, nodding. “But be careful then. Stay to the back. He might...” The village guard rubbed his chin. “He might go after you if he sees you.”

“I...” Sukeo swallowed. He looked around at the darkened woods. “I need to be here. Haha-ue...I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

“We’ll do our best, son,” Eiji said. “We’ll do our best.”

The group began moving down the road to meet their unwelcome visitor.

Others were marching up the hill. They could hear shouting in the night air.

“Be quiet,” Tameo said, waving for the group to be silent. “Did you hear that?”

The crowd hushed and listened.

“Stupid woman. How dare she do this to me!” Seiji yelled. “You better get ready for what’s coming to you, you worthless piece of trash!”

“Do you think he’s found her?” Furume asked her father.

“With most of the village guard up there?” Masu said. “No, he’s just trying to make them nervous.”

“He’s making me nervous,” someone in the middle of the crowd said.

“You stupid monk, if the Buddha doesn’t get you for what you did to me, I will!” Seiji said.

“I say, let’s make him nervous,” Haruo said. “I’m tired of Seiji mucking up everybody’s lives.”

“Then we better get up there to see what’s happening,” Tameo replied.

The villagers hurried up. They were almost to the bend in the road that would take them to the place where the path to Miroku’s house split off. There were lamps ahead. As they neared, the lamps outlined the body of a man wearing armor, with a drawn sword. Even though nobody could see exactly who it was because of the shadows, they all knew who it was.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” the shadowy figure asked a group of men blocking the road.

As they watched, a lone figure stepped out of the shadows. His garments looked almost black except where the flickering lamplight touched it to reveal its true red color and his silver hair glowed from the same light like a ghostly veil. He strode between the group and the lone fighter.

“I could ask you the same, asswipe,” InuYasha said.

“I’m just coming for what’s mine,” Seiji said.

“You mean what you threw away?” the hanyou asked.

All this drama was too much for one of the men in the crowd.

“Let’s get him!” Masu said. He began to run.












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