InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 318

[ 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 318

“Now what’s going on with those two?” the kami Kazuo asked as he and Hitoshi settled down on the second son’s roof to watch.

Hitoshi pulled his rush hat down.  “I feel a lot of tension here today.”

Kazuo sighed.  “Tension is always what’s there when Chiya and Haname come together.”  He scratched the back of his neck.  “The boy, he seems to be taking things in stride.  I know he doesn’t really want to be here, and Amaya-chan wishes he wasn’t, but he’s done his work without much grumbling.”

“Better than his father, the run-away,” Hitoshi said, crossing his arms.  “The youkai that took out the rest of Haname’s family might as well have taken him, too.  One of Benzaiten’s serving women told me he’s got another woman in Odawara, and has no plans of ever coming home.”

“Katsume’s like Haname,” Kazuo said.  “What the youkai did to both of them marked them for life.  It’s probably better he found another place to make a new life.”

“I guess,” Hitoshi said. “Haname’s otou was a lot like Katsume.  Making deals with youkai...”  The kami shook his head.  “But that’s all the past now.  Hiroki takes more after his grandfather, and his okaasan.  Shame he’s not destined to inherit.  He’d make a better man than Joben.”

“Time will unfold,” Kazuo said.  “Who knows what’ll happen later?  Let’s see how they handle today.”

While the kami chatted, Hiroki, the boy, almost a man, that they were talking about was busy chopping wood in the space between the house where Nana was living and the second son’s house. There was a big pile of logs and branches that had been dragged there for him to use, and a growing pile of split wood. Taking a piece, he put it on the chopping block, a large heavy round of wood too big and hard to make firewood out of.  Rubbing his hands together first, he let his splitting maul fall, and with a little effort the wood split into two pieces.”

“He’s got a good technique,” Hitoshi said.  “I remember my days chopping wood.  I’d always get the maul cut in the split.”

“Easy enough to do when the grain is weird,” Kazuo said, nodding.

Dropping his maul, Hiroki wiped his forehead.  Hana his cousin, who was working as Chiya’s attendant, walked by, her face marred with a big frown, carrying an empty bucket.

“Another bucket of water already?” Hiroki asked.  Hana let out a long, hard breath but didn’t say anything.

Repositioning half of the split log, the young man raised his maul and split the half log into two useable pieces. By the time he had tossed them into the chopped pile, he saw Hana coming back, this time with a full bucket, and grumbling under her breath, too soft for him to make out what she was saying.


“I’m glad she’s not looking at me that way,” Hiroki said, putting the other half of the split log onto the chopping block.

By the time he had split that piece, she was back again, this time empty handed.  Not sure of what was going on, he stopped what he was doing, propped his splitting maul against the block, and sat down on  a stump of wood to watch her.  She went to the clothes line, checking to see if one of the kosodes hanging up to dry was ready to come in.  It evidently was still too damp, and shaking her head, she stormed back to the house.

“Things don’t seem to be going well for Hana-chan,” Hitoshi said.   

Inside, Chiya yelled something, although it was something hard to make out. The door to the house slid open again, and Hana came barrelling out, her hands clenched, her brows angry.  

“We need to find her a good husband,” Kazuo said.  “Tsuneo isn’t doing her any favors.”

“He still sees her as a little orphaned girl.  Maybe if I work on Akina,” Hitoshi said. “I’m sure she’ll want her sister to have a good man instead of this madness.”

“Something to add to the list,” Kazuo said, nodding.

While the kami planned Hana’s future, curiosity got the better of Hiroki.  He got up from his seat on a log, and walked over to his cousin.

“It’s that bad, eh?” he asked, grabbing her by the arm.

Hana stopped, actually surprised as if she hadn’t seen him, swung around to face the youth and then pulled her arm free. Taking a deep breath, she released it slowly.  “You want to change jobs? You deal with Chiya-obasan.  I know how to split wood.  I wouldn’t even tell Tsuneo-sama.”

Hiroki held up his hands to ward off that idea. “No, no, I’m good,” he said.  “I don’t think I’d make a good maid for someone like Chiya-obasan.  She’d probably come looking for the maul to split my head, and that would make Haha-ue very sad.”  He gave her an apologetic smile as he rubbed the top of his head.  “And me as well.”

“I wish I had never told her anything this morning.”  She plopped down on another log and rested her face in her hands.  “It’s my fault for telling her that her okaasan was coming today. It wouldn’t have been this bad if she had been here early this morning.  Chiya has been winding up all day. What’s taking Haname-obasan so long?”

“I don’t know,” Hiroki said, shrugging.  “Maybe Tsuneo-ojisan put his foot down.  Sometimes he does that to her.”

“Tsuneo-ojisan telling Haname-obasan no? I doubt it.  Even if he did, she’ll find a way.”  Hana wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock back and forth.

“It’s been that bad?” the boy asked.

“What do you think?  She’s been preparing herself all morning.  ‘Hana, fetch me this.’  ‘Hana, does this kosode make me look like a good daughter?’ ‘Hana, where’s my okaasan?’  ‘Hana, what do you think she’ll tell me?’ Hana, Hana, Hana, Hana!  Like I have any answers.  I’m not Haname, and I didn’t make Chiya make her husband mad.”

Hiroki nodded. “Chiya’s’s good at making things worse.”

Hana barely heard him. “She made me comb her hair three times.  The first time, she said it made her look too old.  The second time, it made her look too rebellious.  The third time, she said it was a way her mother hated, but then she just wrapped it up in a headscarf anyway.  Nobody can see it.  She changed her dress four times.  She didn’t do any spinning.  She almost hit me.  I came out here so I wouldn’t hit her!”   Hana brought her fists to her forehead. “I can understand Michio.  Yes I can!”

“Is there anything I can do?” Hiroki asked.  “That is, short of taking your place.”

Hana sat up,nodding. “Go see if they’re here yet.  I keep thinking I’m hearing voices coming from the big house, but I don’t know.”

“I can do that.  I’ll bring some firewood with me.  At least I won’t feel too foolish if Nana sees me.”  Hiroki got up, piled the wood in his arms, and left.

“We really need to arrange something good for these two.  They’ve had to put up with a lot since Tsuneo moved Chiya here,” Hitoshi said.

“They’re your responsibility.  Think of something, and I help if I can,” Kazuo said.  “They certainly have earned it.”

Hiroki was back quickly, wood still in his arms.

 “Well, Chiya won’t have to wait much longer.  Haname-obasan came down with Chime-obasan and Daitaro-ojisan.  They’re talking to Nana-obasan now.  She’s giving out Second Day gifts.”

Hana took a deep breath.  “I hope she brought us something.  We deserve something putting up with all this.”

“Not enough chimakis in the world,” Hiroko said.

“You’re right there,” Hana said.  She got up to tell Chiya.

“Am I late?”  Another kami appeared on the roof of the house.

“About time, Yoshio,”  Hitoshi said, frowning.  “Whatever happens with Chiya affects your ko, too.  Michio is your responsibility.”

“I have duties to others in the ko.  Today it was Toshiro saying prayers for Sayo and the new granddaughter.”  He shrugged.  “I got here soon as I could.”

“You’re actually right on time.  Let’s see what happens next,” Kazuo said.  He pointed to a group of four people heading to the second son’s house.  Chime was laughing at something Tsuneo said. “Here they come.”

“I have an idea,” Hitoshi said. “What if...”

 

Back on the hill, Rin and InuYasha walked into the hanyou's house.

“Oooh, it’s so dark in here,” Rin said softly as she entered InuYasha’s house.  It was lit only by the light from the fire pit, and those flames were dying. “Did you do that because of how Kagome-obasan was feeling?”

“Yeah,” the hanyou replied.  “It’s supposed to help with bad headaches, and I see pretty good in the dim. I’ll open the shutter some.” He moved ahead of the girl and went to the window, where he adjusted the shutter enough to allow a pool of light for Rin to see in, while keeping direct light off of Kagome’s face.

The sleeping miko didn’t stir as the two made their way inside.  InuYasha looked at Kagome with a mix of anxiety and relief.

The girl noticed how he looked at the sleeping figure. “Kaede-obaasan’s medicines work really well, InuYasha-ojisan,” Rin said as she put the soup pot on a tripod in the fire pit.  “She’ll feel better soon.”  She gave him a reassuring smile.  “You’ll feel better too after you have lunch.  That’s what Sango-obasan told Rin to tell you.”

“Yeah,” he said.  “Probably.  Sango knows a thing or two.”

He walked over to the futon and  knelt next to his sleeping wife, and gently touched her cheek. “Kagome,” he said softly.  “It’s time for lunch.”

Kagome made a face and scrunched up her nose, but didn’t open her eyes at his touch.  He turned and looked at Rin who was sitting by the fire pit, unpacking the food that Sango had sent over.  “Are you really sure I’m supposed to wake her up?  She’s really sound asleep.”

“That’s what both Kaede-obaasan and Sango-obasan told Rin,” the girl said.  She stood up, walked over to where Kagome stored the bowls and trays the couple ate with.  “The medicine can really bother a person if they don’t eat, they told Rin.  And Rin found out the hard way once.”

“The time you hurt your ankle?”  InuYasha asked.

The young girl shook her head yes.  “Rin was so sick because she didn’t eat when Kaede-obaasan told her to.  She didn’t know if the ankle or her tummy hurt worse.”

“As bad as Kagome was feeling, she doesn’t need that on top of her headache,” InuYasha said. “She’s had a hard morning.”

Rin took out some onigiri out of her basket, and put them on one of the trays.  “Sango-obasan sent some rice gruel with miso for the soup, but she thought that might not be enough for you, so she sent some onigiri with fish in them, and some pickles.”

“Pickles, eh?”  The hanyou grinned a little at the girl.  “They fed me so many pickles last night I don’t know if I can eat any more.”

Rin giggled.  “Oh, but these are Sango-obasan’s special pickles.  You know what they taste like.”

“Sango’s a sneaky woman,” the hanyou said.

She gave the soup sitting on the fire another stir.  “Rice gruel is good when you don’t feel good,” she added.  “That’s what Kaede-obaasan likes people who don’t feel good to eat while they’re getting better.”

InuYasha nodded.  “Yeah, I know.  Before we met you, she took care of me when I got really injured.  I remember that.  I wanted something more, but I don’t think I could have really handled it.  Baaba knows what she’s talking about.”  He bent over his wife again. He blew into her ear and she stirred a bit.  “Come on, Kagome, wake up.  You need to eat.”

This time, Kagome, who had been sleeping on her side,  rolled onto her back.   “Don’t want to,” she murmured.   “Wanna sleep.”

“Kaede wants you to eat,” the hanyou replied.  His ear flicked in consternation.  “The medicine can make you get sick to your stomach if you don’t.”

She tried to roll onto her other side, but InuYasha caught her before she could turn and slid her shoulders onto his lap.  “Rin brought some soup that Sango made,” he said.  “You need to try to eat it.”

“Rin?” the young miko said. She sighed, but rubbed her eyes and let InuYasha help her sit up all the way.  “I feel...”

“Rin is here to help watch you, Kagome-obasan,” the girl said.  She half-filled a bowl with some soup, and put it on a tray, then carried it over to the couple. “Kaede-obaasan wanted you to eat, and told Rin to make sure you do.”

“Kaede-baaba’s potions pack a punch,” InuYasha said.  “Is your headache better?”

“Maybe,” Kagome said.  “I feel kind of like I’m only half-way here.  Groggy.  Not quite dizzy.”

“It was like that when Rin had to take some of it for her ankle,” the girl said.  “That’s why Kaede only gives it out if someone has a lot of pain.  But it works.”

Kagome nodded at the girl.  “I don’t hurt so much now.  But I don’t feel hungry.”

“Kaede wanted you to get some food down you.  That medicine can be really hard on your stomach,” InuYasha said.  “Made me queasy once, and I have hanyou healing.”

She looked up at her husband, and nodded.  “All right.  I’ll eat.”

InuYasha wrapped his hand around Kagome’s, and gave it a squeeze. “Do you think you can hold your bowl?”  

“I can try,” Kagome said.  InuYasha lifted it off the tray, and held it while Kagome put both her hands around it, and slowly brought it up so she could take a sip.  “Sango made this?”

Rin nodded.  “She said miso in the rice gruel helps even more than plain rice.”

“It tastes better, too,” Kagome said.

Sip by sip, she drank all the soup down, and had a second bowl as InuYasha hovered over her, not touching his own food.  As groggy as she was from the medicine, Kagome noticed what he was doing.
“You need to eat, too, InuYasha,” she said, in between swallows.

“Feh,” he said, his ear twitching.  “Worry about yourself, woman.”

“I can’t,” she said, smiling over the top of her soup bowl.  “I know how grumpy you get when you’re hungry.”

“Do not,” he half-growled.

Rin giggled.

Giving in, he ate his onigiri.  And all of his pickles.