InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 300

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


Chapter 300


Koume set herself down among the women sitting outside of the monk’s house.  She turned her attention to the traumatized woman sitting next to Sango. “And it’s so good to see you out in the sunlight, Maeme.  I have missed you.”

Maeme looked up at Koume.  She gave the woman a slight smile.  Her face was still guarded, and the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, but the way she held herself had less tension in it than the day before.  She too had a bit of sewing in her lap, a towel she was hemming.  But she replied slowly, as if talking was hard for her. “It is a nice morning.”

Koume was about to say something else, but Sango, seeing how Maeme was responding, decided  to jump in.  “I hope it stays nice long enough for my clothes to dry,” she said, looking up at the sky.  “This is the type of weather that brings rain.”

“True,” Hisako said.  “Our gardens and fields need it, but our laundry doesn’t.  But I think this will hold off until this afternoon.”

“Is she right, Fumio-sama?” Sukeo asked, also looking at the clouds.  “How can you tell?”

The twins weren’t paying much attention what Fumio or the other adultus were saying, but they were keeping an eye on Nakao, who was sitting under Miroku’s favorite tree. Yusuko toddled over to Nakao and offered her stick doll to the boy.  “Nakao sad?” she asked.

He sighed, and twirled the doll around in his fingers.  “Maybe.”

“You’re making Aya dance?” the toddler asked.

“You like to watch her dance?” he asked, and spun the doll again.  

The little girl spun around, imitating her doll,  and began to sing a little song as she did.

“Aya dances
I dance too, round and round.”

He smiled a little, watching her.

“Boy should smile
like a butterfly.”  

Next she held her arms out as she twirled.

“Boy should smile
like a flower."

Finally she turned one last time and collapsed down suddenly.

“Boy should laugh
I go down. ”

This did make Nakao laugh a little, a soft chuckle.  This pleased the toddler, and she began to repeat her performance.  Noriko came over and she and her sister did several go booms in a row.

“Nakao-kun, let me know if the twins get too much for you,” Sango said, laughing a little herself  at what was going on as she creased the fabric in her hand to start another hem.

“They’re fine, Sango-obasan,” the boy said.  He handed Yusuko her stick doll back.

“He’s going to be a charmer,” Hisako said, laughing a little.  “Better keep an eye on that one.  Look how the girls like him already.”

“Better that than...” Maeme said with the ghost of a smile. Suddenly her smile vanished and she hung her head. “Is that why he was always getting beaten?” She dropped her sewing and clenched her fists. “He always broke the beautiful things.  Damn him.”

The women looked at Maeme, taken back by what she said, and the real anger in her voice.

“Oh child,” Hisako said. She leaned over and brushed her hair.

Nakao got up, much to the twins’ displeasure, and walked over to his mother, and wrapped his arms around her.  Sukeo started to, but Fumio shook his head and held him back.

“Watch,” the smith said.

“Ha-ha, it’s all right,” Nakao said. “It’s all right.  It’s going to be all right.”

Maeme let out one stiffled sob. “I...”

Sango took one of her clenched hands and held it between her own. “We’ll never know really why he did what he did. But it’s over, and by his own choice. You are safe again. And so is Nakao. And we’re all here for you.”

Maeme slowly let her fingers unclench, and clasped Sango’s hand. She looked at the taijiya. “Maybe some day, I can believe it,” the battered woman said. “Maybe someday.” She hung her head down again and sighed.

“We’ll believe it for you until you can,” Koume said.

Maeme nodded. Nakao unwrapped himself from around her, but sat near.

Koume took a quick breath, and picked up her basket. “Let’s think of something else. See what I brought you, Maeme.”

The troubled woman gave a hesitant nod as Koume unpacked the basket and pulled out a long length of a nicely woven plaid cloth in tones of yellow and brown. “Nahoi sent this with me to give to you. She thought you might like a new kosode. She remembered you always liked these colors when we were dyeing.”

“I do,” Maeme said. She hesitantly reached out and touched the cloth.

“Nahoi wanted you to have it. She said what happened makes you her sister...” Unexpectedly Koume choked up. “That she thought you needed something beautiful because of that.”

Maeme reached up and took Koume’s hand.

Hisako lifted up the fabric and leaned it on Maeme’s shoulder. “This will look lovely on you. Should we cut it out today?”

Sango dug around in her sewing basket. “I have my scissors!” she said, holding up a pair.

While the women gathered around to look at the fabric, Fumio turned to Sukeo. “Let’s take a walk, you and I. You’re the man of your family now, and there are things we need to talk about. This seems like a good time to do that. Once the women start working on cutting fabric, it’s a good time for the men to get away.”And together the boy and the smith began heading down the path, out of earshot of the others.



While Fumio and Sukeo moved away from the women, on the other side of the village, another person was hurrying between houses. In this case, it was Hana, the young sister-in-law of Joben. She was racing to the house where Chiya was being kept until Michio took her back, running there like she had a group of bandits at her heels.

She ran past the main house by the river where Morio and the boys were already playing games by their rock and dirt fort under the watchful eye of Nana, who was hanging up laundry.

“Tell Chiya-sama I’ll be by to pick up the breakfast dishes in a little bit,” Nana said, hanging a sheet up over the clothes line, amused at the younger woman. Hana nodded in reply.

Hiroki, Isao’s older brother who had also been assigned to keep watch over Chiya, was splitting firewood along side of the second son’s house. He called out to Hana as she hurried past, but so close to her goal, she ignored him.
 
Inside the little house, Chiya was sitting next to her spinning wheel near the window, and the light touched her hair as she stared sadly off into the distance, holding a bowl of spinning fiber in her lap. An empty tray of her breakfast dishes rested next to a mat by the fire pit, and her futon was rolled up.  

“How long, Michio? How long?” she murmured. “I want to go home!”

All this did not go unwatched.  

“So what do we do about her?” Yoshio, sitting up on the rafter, unseen and unsensed by the human woman below. “Her thoughts are still a jumble. Look how much she’s still thinking of herself as a victim?”

“She’s always had a problem with dealing with the fallout of her own bad choices,” Kazuo said, nodding. “And more complications are on their way.”

With a loud clatter, Hana pushed through the door mat and stumbled into the room. She crossed her arms in front of her, over her chest as she tried to catch her breath. Strands of hair had escaped from the girl’s headscarf and trailed along the side of her face, intensifying the look of panic in her eyes.

Chiya’s eyes got wide at the girl’s obvious panic and got up from her seat and went over to where the tea things were, and poured Hana a cup, which she accepted with a nod.

“Whatever is going on?” Chiya asked. “You looked like you ran all the way here from Chichi-ue’s house. Is something the matter? Did something happen to Haha-ue?  Did she have a relapse?”

Hana shook her head. “No, no, Chiya-oneesan. Haname-okaasan is doing very well.”  She swallowed a sip of the tea, composing herself. “Whatever Kagome-sama did for her yesterday really worked. It’s like she never was sick.”

For a moment, Chiya looked relieved, but then her panicky frown returned. “Then why were you running? I know you. You don’t run for fun. Did anything else happen? My children? Chichi-ue?” Chiya asked.

“It’s just that...” Hana brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. “This morning Tsuneo-otousan was talking to Masu and the others about what happened to Seiji last night and - ”

“Seiji?” Chiya’s look turned from worry to disgust, and a touch of panic. “Don’t tell me the elders let him out and left me here with only Hiroki and Kisoi to keep that...that...that horrid thing away from here.” Fear got the better of her and she collapsed back down on the floor, covering her face.

Hana knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s nothing like that. He won’t be coming here. He can’t.”

Chiya uncovered her face, fear still in her eyes. “He...can’t?”

“You hadn’t heard?” Hana picked up Chiya’s breakfast tray, then walked towards the door, leaving it on the edge of the raised part of the floor. “Maybe nobody told Kisoi the news yet. Last night, he got out of the lockup and tried to burn down Momoe’s farm, and then attacked Houshi-sama.”

“What?” That made her sit up. “Houshi-sama?  Why?”

“Houshi-sama had rescued Seiji’s wife from the river, and because she was in such bad shape, he wasn’t going to let Seiji take her home.  He had been beating up on her so much she tried to let the river take her.”

“She tried to...and Houshi-sama rescued her?”  

“He and InuYasha-sama. They got her out of the water and took her to the monk’s house.” Hana added more water to the tea kettle and put it back over the fire to heat up. “Somehow, he got out of the lockup.  Someone said he got his brother to do it during Shinjiro’s wedding. But after he set Momoe’s storage building on fire, they caught him.”

“Is he back in the lockup?” Chiya moved back to her place by the spinning wheel.

Hana shook her head. “He demanded the river challenge to dare Grandfather Catfish to do something about it.” Hana took a deep breath. “And the river god ate him!”

“He’s...he’s...”

“Not with us any more,” Hana said, preparing the teapot to make a fresh batch.

“Is that why you ran here, to tell me the news?” Chiya asked, starting to spin.

“No, not at all,” Hana said, sighing. “Haname-okaasan found out.”

“Found out what, Hana-chan?” Chiya pulled a thread out, then wrapped it back on the spindle.

“She found out what your husband did, and where you are. Tsuneo-otousan was trying to stop her, but she’s on her way here, I’m pretty sure.” Hana stepped on the dirt part of the floor, and picked up the food tray.  “I thought you’d want to be prepared.”

Chiya sighed. “Kwannon have mercy. There is no end.” She picked up her spinning fiber, and started to spin, dropped it, and started crying once again.

The two kami watching this from the rafters looked at each other, watching as Chiya stopped spinning and began to wring her hands, thinking.

“Does this mean trouble?” Yoshio asked.  

“It could. Maybe we should ask Tsuneo’s family kami to join us.” Kazuo frowned.  “That is, if Hitoshi-no-kami has any energy left. When Haname gets on a tear, it can be a hard thing to handle. But Joben keeps him so exhausted with all his constant prayers at their family shrine, so who knows if he can help.  I’ll be right back.”  And with a tap of his hoe upon the beam, he was gone.