InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 303

[ 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 303


Freed from the interaction between Seiji’s house and InuYasha’s youki,  Miroku let out a sigh of relief, and gave Kagome a small smile.  “That’s better.  Can you feel how much things have calmed down already?”

The young miko nodded but frowned.  “It’s not like he was doing anything on purpose.”

Miroku walked up to the building. “I understand that. Something in the magic here is strongly focused either on youki, or knowing Seiji, on InuYasha himself.”  He walked the length of the front of the building, and even lifted the door mat. Inside, all he saw was a cold fire pit, the pallet that Nakao had slept on, the dishes, pots and tools Maeme used for food.  A spinning wheel and a loom. A kamidama with a large piece of blue stone where the god image normally stood against one wall. Nothing particularly out of the unusual, and nothing that looked like an immediate threat to a human.

“It all looks so normal,” the monk said dropping the door mat. “But the aura of this building. There is definitely something going on here. No wonder Maeme had such a dark stain over her. Even the building reflects it. With InuYasha far enough away not to trigger the wards, it’s even clearer. It has a deep sadness, this place.  Can you feel it, Kagome-sama?”

Kagome nodded. “I thought that yesterday, when Kaede-obaasan and I came to check on Nakao,” she said, moving next to the monk. “Something not right about this place. I thought that it might have been just me reacting to InuYasha’s discomfort.  But you can feel it? It wasn’t just me?”

“No, there’s something here, I believe.” Miroku looked up at the wards over the window and hanging from the eaves. He frowned at what he saw. “Yesterday I did a blessing for Chime.  Daitaro’s house felt light and peaceful, even before I did anything. You were there. How did it feel to you?”  

“Like a good place. Safe. Filled with happiness and love,” Kagome said. She smiled a bit at the memory. “A place where good things were meant to happen. And they did!”

“Alas, Maeme’s home is just the opposite.” Miroku stretched his hand out and touched the building. “It’s amazing she held up as long as she did. Put your hand here, on the door frame. Sometimes a physical connection makes the reading of an object clearer. You haven’t been trained the way the way they trained me at the monastery, but I bet with as much spiritual power as you have, you’ll be able to feel the building’s aura as well as I can.”

Kagome followed his instructions, and laid her hand flat on the rough surface of the post “What am I supposed to do? Right now all I can feel is the wood.”

“Now,” Miroku said, in full Professional Monk mode, “You have to use your powers intentionally. You might close your eyes, and lightly brush the frame with your spiritual powers.  It’s probably something like you did when you healed Haname. Even buildings have their own ki channels, just like they have auras, too,” the monk said. “Skirt it lightly. You won’t want to plunge deep into its channels.”

She rested her hand again on the wood, and closed her eyes, letting her spiritual powers brush against the structure of the building.  

“Don’t go too deep, Kagome-sama,” Miroku said as he felt her spiritual power reach out and brush the building. “Sometimes, there can be things set up to snare the unwary. Traps. And we haven’t figured out all the magic that Seiji’s used on the building yet.”  

She let her spiritual sense trace what the monk was sensing. “This place has seen too much grief,” she said. “I can almost hear it crying.”

“If it had a voice, no doubt it would,” Miroku said, nodding. “It’s seen a lot of things that should have happened. There might be something more than witnessing here. We’ll want to be careful. Even inanimate objects sometimes begin the journey to becoming youkai.”

“But...” Kagome said, frowning. “That would be so unfair.”

Miroku shrugged. “Sometimes it happens, no matter the fairness,” he said. “Evil can corrupt even the wronged, and if anger or vengeance is invoked, dark things can follow.  Touch the wood again, but remember, do it lightly,” Miroku suggested. “Tell me what you find. Is there anything beyond the sadness?”

She put her hand back on the wood.

While Miroku and Kagome began their investigation of Seiji’s house, on the other side of the village, Tsuneo greeted Chime and Daitaro with a big smile. “Did you come at a bad time, Chime-chan?  Not at all! You came at an excellent time. Akina is right.  You two need to come in and have some tea. Tell us all about the wedding last night.”

Haname shot daggers in the look she gave her husband. “We’ll finish this discussion later,” she said, then turned to Daitaro and Chime. Taking a deep breath, she took a moment to smooth her face, and gave the couple a polite smile.  “Now this is a surprise, Chime-chan,” she said. “What brings you to this side of the village? How did the wedding go?”

“Oh, we have our second day gifts to share,” the older woman said. “It was such a lovely wedding. Luckily, Shinjiro and Erime-chan got off before...before the excitement afterwards. And now we’re out to share our joy.”

“Sharing joy is good,” Haname said.  Looking up at her husband, she continued. “Having joy to share is even better.”

“And I’ve been designated her ox to carry the joy around,” Daitaro said, sensing the tension in the air and trying to do something to cut it. He swung the pack off of his back. “Who would have thought joy could weigh so much?”

Tsuneo laughed. “I remember the day when that was my job,” he said. “I think it was two trips through the village before we were done.”

“Three,” Haname said. She gave her husband an odd, vaguely intimidating smile.  

“Well,” Chime said, reaching into the basket and pulled out a heavy, brightly wrapped bundle.  She walked over to Kohoru and Masu. “I packed this for your crowd, Kohoru-chan. I know you always have a crew to feed. I hope this will give you and your people a little something special to help celebrate with us.” She placed it in the surprised woman’s hand with a little bow.

Masu bowed deeply. “Here’s hoping Shinjiro and Erime have a life filled with happiness,” he said.

“Is Furume-chan here?” Chime asked, looking around the yard.

The girl stepped forward. Chime moved back to the pack and took out a small bundle, wrapped in a bright green cloth.  “And this is for you, for being such a hero yesterday!” Chime said.

Furume blushed, slightly flustered and embarrassed, but remembered to bow. “Chime-obaasan, I just called out. Don’t call me a hero.”

“Nonsense,” Chime said. “If it hadn’t been for you, many things would be different today.” She gave the girl an encouraging pat on the arm. “This is for just you. Don’t let the boys talk you out of it all.”

The teenager giggled. “Did you hear that, Sho? And you, too, Hideo. And I’ll be sure to tell Tadaki-kun when he gets back.”

“Let’s go, daughter,” Kohoro said, wrapping her arm around Furume. “Don’t get too carried away.  We need to get started getting lunch ready.” Together, they moved back to the kitchen the farmhands used.

“Now,” Chime said, going one last time to the basket. She took a bundle out that was wrapped in a blue cloth with white embroidery and walked over to Haname. “And this one for you, Haname-chan. Mariko-chan made them especially for you, her special cakes, once she heard you were feeling better. I told her she was being audacious, since everybody knows you make the best rice cakes in the village.”  

There was a snicker in the background. Amaya stood tall, and looked around her, to see who was the naysayer. “That is true. Okaasan’s rice cakes are the very best.  Everybody knows that.”

“I certainly wouldn’t compare mine to yours, Haname-chan,” Chime said, nodding. “But Mariko-chan meant well, even knowing who is the best. I hope you will like them.”  

A light dawned in Haname’s eyes, as an idea came to her, and she gave Chime a big smile. “I bet Akina has the tea ready about now. Why don’t you come inside with me and tell me all the news about yesterday and last night, and we’ll have one of Mariko-chan’s cakes.”  She looked at Tsuneo and Daitaro. “We’ll let the men catch themselves up.”

With that, she led Chime inside.

“Somehow, I think I’ve been outplayed,” Tsuneo said, rubbing the back of his neck.  “Now what is she plotting?”

Daitaro slung his jug of sake off of his neck. “Here, take a drink. You look like you can use one.”

“Maybe so,” Tsuneo said. He took the jug, unstoppered it, and took a sip.



As Chime and Haname shared the latest talk about the wedding and the excitement that followed it, InuYasha stood in front of Yoshimi’s house. He could scent recent trails of small life, rats, a cat who had come hunting, a field fox. There were scents of ash from a cold fire, spilled sake. He could smell traces of Tadaki, the farm worker that for some reason still was willing to spend time with Yoshimi, but they were many hours old, just as old as the traces of Yoshimi himself. He didn’t even need to poke his head in the door.

“Well, there’s more work ahead for us,” the hanyou said. “I can see my day’s going to be trailing that fool down to drag his butt to Tameo’s.” He didn’t know if he felt relieved at not dealing with the man right now or irritated at the extra burden.

Scowling, he turned to head back and rejoin Susumu  to give the village guard the news, when a hand grabbed his shoulder. “You need to wait a minute,” a voice said.

A growl started in the base of his throat as he swirled around to face the speaker, but the hanyou managed to stifle it as he realized who the speaker was, but it didn’t improve his mood any. “What the hells, Kazuo? What are you doing here? Isn’t there enough going wrong without you nosy interfering kami butting in? Wasn’t yesterday enough for you?”

Kazuo gave him a sheepish grin. “Still mad about last night when I had to stop you? That turned out all right, didn’t it?”

“Feh. Don’t you have some other kami business you could be doing, like checking out Tameo or something?” InuYasha’s ear twitched in irritation.  

“Already did that. But this is where the land kami has decided we need to be.” The kami shrugged. “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been sent.”

“She put me in a barrier again?” the hanyou asked.

Kazuo nodded sadly. “I’m sorry.”

The hanyou’s ears flattened in anger. “I know this doesn’t have anything to do with Yoshimi, right? He’s not important enough. Anyway, that good for nothing trash never came home last night.”

Kazuo rubbed his eboshi back and forth. “You’re right. Yoshimi’s sitting in the forest brooding right now. His friend Tadaki told him what happened last night, and he’s busy feeling sorry for himself and moaning about how his world has fallen apart.  There’s a little grief at losing his brother, but mostly he feels frightened.”

InuYasha crossed his arms, stuffing his hands in his sleeves. “That doesn’t make me feel any better. Sometimes that’s when a man gets at his worst. Nothing left to lose.”

“Well, Yoshimi’s always been the one to take the easy way out,” Kazuo said. “I don’t think he’ll be much of a problem.”

“He’s got an easy way out?”  The hanyou’s ear flicked again, this time in disbelief. “What could be easy for him now?”

“Oh, you know how it is when women get involved.” Kazuo grinned. “Even when they’re kami. Or maybe, even more when they’re kami. Shimame-sama and the land kami in the next village have got everything worked out. Unless he has some real steel in that soul of his, he shouldn’t be a problem.”

InuYasha shook his head. “Never saw much iron in him, much less steel. So why are you here, then? What’s this got to do with what Kagome and the Bouzu are doing?”

Kazuo tapped his hoe once on the ground, and pointed back to Seiji’s house. Right over the top, a beautiful female figure in bright multi-layered robes hovered in air. In front of the house, behind Miroku and Kagome, were two other supernatural beings, one in a rush hat, one dressed like a prosperous peasant, both hovering above the ground.

“Shimame-no-kami didn’t like the feel of things here,” Kazuo said. “She’s set up a watch.”

“She’s not the only one who doesn’t like it,” InuYasha said. He uncrossed his arms, clasped the hilt of his sword as if it would help him gain control. “But why am I the one everybody’s trying to keep back? Miroku sent me over here, and now she sent you to make me behave?” He almost snarled. “If I didn’t think it would make things worse for Kagome, you know what I’d do about it?”

“Oh, grab your wife and run as far away from this place as you could, I suspect,” Kazuo said. He gave the hanyou an understanding smile “Deep into the mountains.”

InuYasha nodded. “Damn right I would. Something I don’t like is going on, it involves my wife, and it’s my duty to protect her. Why shouldn’t I want to do that? But Miroku, Susumu and now you won’t let me.”

Kazuo patted the hanyou on the shoulder, and suddenly looked very solemn. “Because,” the kami said, “there’s a chance that if Miroku tries it alone, it might kill him. Shimame’s worried about that because she’s not sure what’s going on.”

“And you let Kagome there, and keep me out?” InuYasha flexed his claws without thinking.

“Sorry, sorry. But this isn’t something for swords. Because maybe there’s something there only my granddaughter who isn’t my granddaughter can do and the monk can’t. Her purification powers are like none other now alive. We’re working hard to keep her from one of the big shrines and big kami from claiming her. It’s not her destiny, but some of the big guys don’t care about things like that. They like the power.”

“Let them try,” the hanyou growled.

“Hopefully, it won’t come to that. We do have allies.” Kazuo patted the top of his eboshi hat, caught himself, and dropped his hand. “And there’s this. Because Shimame-sama thinks there’s something in the building that might be worse if you were too close...” He sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe it would materialize in a way that would let it go on a killing rampage through the village, or destroy too much in the village, like that hanyou with the Shikon no Tama you and yours fought, or ruin the crops… All sorts of maybes.”

“Too many becauses, old man,” InuYasha said.

“All I know for sure, is she’s worried, and told me to keep you here until the right moment.” He patted the hanyou on the shoulder. “I know this isn’t what you want to do. But this is what it means to belong to a group, a village, a community. Doing the things you hate for the good of everybody, sometimes, even when your mind and body are screaming to do something else.” The kami sighed. “But your wife has three kami guarding her right now, along with the monk. She’s in good hands. And you and I can be there in an instant as backup.”

“She better be,” InuYasha said, flexing his claws. “If anything happens to her...”