InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 317

[ 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 317




At the house by the river, Nana froze for a moment by the front door as she looked at the approaching group of people.   The two kami, not paying the woman much mind at the moment,  watched Chime and the others walk down the pathway towards them.

“They look like they’re having a good time,” Kazuo said.  He rubbed his hat across his head one time before noticing Hitoshi’s disapproving look. “I’m impressed at how smoothly Haname  got this going, in spite of the men knowing what’s on her mind.”

“It’s going smoothly for the moment,” Hitoshi said.  “But I’m not quite sure about that look in Haname’s eyes...”

“Haname will do what Haname does.” Nodding, Kazuo looked at her carefully, seeing beyond the woman laughing at something Chime told her, to somewhat inside of her mind.  He couldn’t go as deeply as Hitoshi could, since she wasn’t one of his ko members, but he could make out enough.  “You’re right.  She’s got something she’s thinking up.  Good thing we got Morio to go inside.  That’ll probably help keep things quiet.”

“I hope you’re right,” Hitoshi said.  “You haven’t seen her on a rampage as often as I have.”

The group of village notables they were watching walked up the path – Chime and Daitaro, Haname and Tsuneo, all heading straight for where Nana stood. The two men hung back a bit.

“It’s good to see the old place get used again,” Daitaro said.  “Don’t know why you left it empty so long.”

“I kept it in good shape,” Tsuneo replied.  “Maybe I was hoping we could move back here one day.”  He dropped his voice low, where only Daitaro could hear. “I always liked it better than where we’re at now, but every time I brought it up, there were those who thought it was too far from everybody else.”

“Ah, I understand.  Until the monk and InuYasha moved in, I was right on the edge of things.  Having someone nearby does feel a little better.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Haname said, turning around to look at the two farmers.

“Planting,” Tsuneo said with a straight face.

“Planting?” Chime asked.

“Must be some type of special planting if you have to whisper about it,” Haname said.

Tsuneo nodded, totally solemn-faced.  Haname rolled her eyes.  Chime gave Daitaro a look that said she would be asking about it later.  

“So, what should we do for Kagome-chan, do you think, Haname?” Chiya said to change the subject.

Kazuo looked down at Nana as she tried to help Touru to get the last of the toys gathered.

“She seems a bit nervous,” he said.

“She does, doesn’t she?” Hitoshi nodded.  “Funny how she could be able to handle that big man like she does Touru there, but talking to adults like Haname winds her up so bad.”

“Heh,” Kazuo said.  “Haname winds you up, and you’re a kami.”

“Here, Touru, that’s the last one,” she said.  She scooted him towards the door. Of course Kisoi is off in the bean patch! Kami-sama, make sure I don’t say anything stupid.”

“Should we do something?” Hitoshi adjusted the rim of his rush hat, and grabbed his fork.

“Wait a moment,” Kazuo said, holding the kami’s hand down.

Through an open window, Nana heard her mother fussing at Morio.  The older woman still wasn’t that pleased with them living in the same house.

She stuck her head inside the door. “Ha-ha, make sure Morio goes to his room.  The boys are going to play in there for a while.  Give them each a treat.”  

Not waiting for her mother’s reply, Nana took a deep breath to calm down, then picked up the dropped laundry basket and set it next to the door.  She wiped her hands on her wrap skirt, straightened her headscarf, and headed towards the visitors.

Kazuo picked up his hoe, floated from the roof and tapped the woman with it then returned to his seat.

“With Haname possibly being on a tear, I wanted to wait to the last moment,” he told his companion.

“Not a bad idea,” Hitoshi said nodding.  “We may have to do that again before everything’s over.  I suspect Chiya is driving her people up the walls by now.”

“Oh yes,” Kazuo said. “I peeked in there earlier today.  We’ll need to reward those two.  But let’s watch how everything here goes.”

A wave of calm washed over her as she bowed politely, Kazuo’s gift to her. “You were looking for me, Chime-obasan?”   

“Yes, yes, it’s so good to see you, Nana-chan,” Chime said.  She looked around the yard, and saw that it was empty of everything except Nana’s laundry waving in the breeze. This actually seemed to please her. “I’ve been wanting to get over here and see how you were settling down, but with Shinjiro’s wedding preparations, there just wasn’t enough time. Where are all your little ones?”

“Ah, you just missed the boys.  They went inside for a bit,” Nana said, picking up her laundry basket one more time.  “Morio needed a rest.”

Haname gave a loud humph and crossed her arms. “He needs more than a rest,” she said under her breath.  Tsuneo looked at his wife and frowned at her, but held his piece.  He really didn’t disagree with her.

“After what Morio did to her, I can’t say that I blame her for acting that way,” Hitoshi said.  “But she holds a grudge a long time.”

“But watch how Chime deals with it,” Kazuo said, beaming at the woman.  

“Well, that’s all right,” Chime said, pretending not to see Haname’s reaction.  “It’s probably better this way so you can sneak in what I’m here to give you.”

“She just lets the negative roll past her.  Impressive,” Hitoshi said.  He pushed back his rush hat to look at her more closely.  “Since she’s not one of mine, I haven’t paid a lot of attention to her before.  I wonder if dealing with a lifetime of putting up with Daitaro taught her that trick?”

That made Kazuo laugh.  And laugh.  Suddenly, Daitaro looked around.  “I swear I heard something.  Do you have windchimes hanging up?”

Nana shook her head.

“I didn’t hear anything, old bull,” Chime said.  “Time for the pack.”

Daitaro shrugged off his pack basket.  “I know I heard something musical.  It was good.”  He began rummaging through the bundles.

“Are all the members of your ko that sensitive?” Hitoshi asked.

“No, thank goodness,” Kazuo said.  He scratched his head.  “Was my laugh that loud?  I’m not surprised when Kaede or Tameo picks things up, but Daitaro?  I’ll have to be more careful around him.”

Chime pointed into the pack. “That one, husband,” she said, “the big blue bundle.”

Daitaro grumbled a little as he moved other packages aside to pull it out.  “It would be near the bottom. Here you go,” he said, lifting it up  and handing it to his wife.    The pack was not nearly as full as when he started out.

“And one of the jars,” Chime said.  “That one in the corner.”

“Is that it?” Daitaro asked.  “I know I’m your ox for today, but this picking up and putting down is starting to get to this old back of mine, you know.”

Chime laughed and gave him a little, playful push.  “You’re a better ox in the field than that old bull of yours.”

“Better not be as wild in the field as old Okuro,” Tsuneo said.  “No telling what type of trouble he’d get into.”

“Gets into enough trouble without that,” Haname said, mostly under her breath, but Tsuneo who was right next to his wife heard and  guffawed.

“More when I was younger,” Daitaro said.  “Now I’m just a placid pack animal.”  He handed Chime the jar.

“Today is our second day gift-giving,” Chime said, walking up to Nana.  “I know you have a houseful,  and I know how boys love treats...”

“Oh my,” Nana said, quite surprised.  “You remembered us?”

“Of course we did, dear.”  Chime put the bundle in Nana’s hand.  “It’s a handy thing you have your laundry basket out here.  You can sneak them in without all your menfolk begging for something, like my group does.”

“I do not beg,” Daitaro said.

“No, you take.  Shinjiro on the other hand, and Genjo...such puppy eyes they give me!”  She took the jar out of Daitaro’s hands and turned back to Nana.  “Now I know your okaasan is rather fond of pickled turnips.  Here’s a jar of them.  I hope you all enjoy everything!”

“Oh my,” Nana said, bowing again.  “I’m sure Haha-ue will be very pleased.”


While the group chatted,  and Haname offered Nana her own present of rice cakes, which was her excuse for tagging along,  Kazuo-no-kami tugged on the sleeve of his companion. “I think it’s safe enough for us to leave here.  Whatever’s going through Haname’s mind, it doesn’t really involve Nana or even Morio. Let’s go.  We both know what the big story’s going to be.”

He and Hitoshi left Nana’s rooftop and headed to the second son’s house.

There they spotted Hana, the teenager who had the unenviable job of being Chiya’s attendant, pacing back and forth in front of the little house.



On the other side of the village, InuYasha picked up his water buckets as Rin walked into view.  She beamed a brilliant smile at the hanyou.

“Sango-obachan sent Rin up here with lunch for you and Kagome-obachan.”  She held up a covered pot she held in her right hand. “Kaede-obaasan said she had a bad headache today.”

“Yeah,” InuYasha said. “Kaede-baaba gave her some medicine for it and she’s laying down.”

The two of them began walking back up the path towards the house, InuYasha carrying his two water buckets, and Rin carrying the pot Sango had sent over and a basket with a bright bunch of flowers on top.

Rin was full of chatter, but for some reason this didn’t bother the hanyou at all. Considering how wound up he had been most of the day, it actually surprised him, but he found the girl’s presence calming.

“Kaede-obaasan said Kagome-obachan did too much yesterday and this morning.  Rin-chan missed it all.  She spent the night with Tazu-chan and Kimi-obasan helping to take care of the children at Fujime-obaasan’s house.  There were so many people there!  All of Susumu-ojisan’s children, all of Fujime’s grandchildren.  They needed all the help they could get.”

“Glad you were over there instead of over here,” InuYasha said.  “You didn’t need to see all that crap.”

“Is...is it true?  Did Nakao’s otousan get eaten up by the river kami?”  She looked up at him.  For some reason, even after seeing all the chaos she had been through during the year they fought Naraku, this seemed to trouble her.  “That makes Rin sad.  Nakao’s always been nice to Rin, even if his brother didn’t like him to talk to her.”

“Yeah, it’s true,” InuYasha said.  “Who told you about it?”

“Rin heard about it at Fujime-obaasan’s house.  Eiji-ojisan was telling Kimi-obasan about it this morning, and then when I got to Sango-obasan’s house, Kaede-obaasan told me not to talk to Nakao about it unless he brought it up.”

“Sounds like good advice,” the hanyou said.  “Yesterday was really hard on him and his family.”

They reached the front door of the little house, and InuYasha put the water buckets down.  Rin looked up at him.  “Can Rin stay for a while and help you take care of Kagome-obasan?  Rin brought her sewing with her.”

“She’ll be sleeping a lot.  Kaede-baaba’s pain medicine does that.”

The girl nodded.  “Rin knows.  Kaede-obaasan wanted her to eat some lunch, then sleep as much as she needed to.  She told Rin to ask you, in case you wanted to do something while she slept.  She also told Rin she was going home to take a nap.”

“Don’t blame her.  She didn’t get much sleep last night, either.” InuYasha looked at the girl for a moment.  “If Kagome doesn’t mind, I don’t mind,” he said at last.  “Maybe I can go fishing while she rests.”

Rin smiled at the hanyou, and he lifted the door mat.  Together, they walked inside.

A/N There was no chapter last week because my 10 year old laptop died just as I was getting ready to post.  Got the data saved, got another laptop and desktop up and running.  Only lost 2 days' writing.  So we're back in business!