InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 319

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

Chapter 319

Tameo stepped out of his office, sliding the door behind him as he watched his grandchildren and Jun’s younger children under the expert supervision of Emi his daughter-in-law head towards the back of the compound.

“If you’re good and eat everything you’re supposed to,” Emi said, looking especially at her son Mitsuo,  Riki has a treat for you, and Jun will tell us a story.”

Mitsuo looked at his horse toy and his sister Suzume.

“But if Horsey wants to ride on his sister’s head,” Emi said, “Then Horsey’s boy won’t get any.”

Mitsuo suddenly clasped his toy to his chest, and took his mother’s hand.

“Ah, Susumu, what fun you’re going to have,” Tameo said.  “You’ve got a boy just like you at that age.”

Susumu not being around to actually tease, Tameo headed from the office to the verandah of his house, where he found his wife Hisa sitting alone,  with a brazier beside her and tea kettle gently steaming, sitting on that.

“Now that’s a lovely picture,” he said, walking up to his wife.  “Why tea on the verandah?”

“I thought it was time to have some peace, and the day is lovely,” Hisa said.  “Would you like to join me for some tea?”

“Don’t mind if I do.  Today has been more hectic than I really like, especially after a day like yesterday.”  Tameo sat himself down, and watched Hisa gracefully prepare the tea.

“Yesterday was one for the record books,” Hisa said as she fixed the green beverage.  “Everything that Seiji did during the day, the wedding, and then, of course, last night.”

“And we’re not through dealing with it yet.” Tameo sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Well, at least we didn’t have a riot with Hisako and Masu and all the others.  And the meeting this morning went really well.  And it sounds like Sukeo-kun and Fumio will work out together in good ways.”

Hisa poured the tea.  “There is that.  Yesterday afternoon, I had no idea how today would turn out.  It does seem better.  But you aren’t as young as you used to be.  It shows.”

“Is that why I watched my grandchildren  and daughter-in-law following Riki to the back kitchen?”  he asked his wife.  He rubbed the back of his neck again, then rotated his head, like it was stiff and hurt a bit. “I ought to do something special for Riki and Jun after yesterday and today.”

“That would be nice, husband,” Hisa said.  She handed him a cup of tea.  “They’ve certainly earned it, especially after we had to shoo all the children out of our yard.  They weren’t being particularly wild today.  But I just thought after yesterday and this morning, you might find it’s time for a bit of quiet.  You might even need a nap.”

He took a sip of tea and sighed.  “You might be right about that. When I was at the shrine, Kazuo-no-kami suggested the same thing to me.”

“So he manifested?” Hisa asked.  She sipped her own cup.  “Somehow, I’m not surprised at that.”

“Now I’m starting to get worried when everybody’s thinking I need a nap.  Is there a plot to do something while I sleep, or do I really look that bad?”

There was a cough off to their left.“You really want the answer to that?” Susumu said, walking up to where his parents were sitting.  “I think you look like a man who had too much excitement the last couple of days.”

“You, too, Susumu?” Tameo asked, looking up at the man.  “I didn’t see you walk up.”

The village guardian shrugged. “I came in the back way.  I was in the big shed talking to Koichi about the last of the bean planting, as if I’ll have any time this ten day.  No need to come in from the street for that.”  He grinned.  “But you do look like how I feel.”

Tameo shook his head.  “May the kami guard us if that’s true.”

“I don’t know, son,” Hisa said, smiling at Susumu.  “It’s easy to say these things.  How can your otousan be sure you’re just saying these things and  be sure you’re not part of the plot?”  She picked up another tea cup.  “Would you like a cup?”

Susumu nodded.

“You two.  I can see I won’t be getting any straight answers here. Maybe I should just go ask Toshiro,” Tameo said.  “He’d tell me the truth.”

“He’s probably bleary-eyed himself, between Sayo-chan’s new little one and everything else that’s been going on,” Hisa said, pouring another cup of tea and handing it to her son. “He might not be a good judge.”

“I hear that,” Susumu said as he sat down next to his parents.  “He’s got his hands full, too. I ran into Yasuo and he was telling me all about it.  Sounds like Toshiro will probably stay busy until the thing with Fumio and Maeme’s family gets settled.  And that mess between Michio and Chiya calms down.  And that’s not counting Sayo still being in confinement after her baby was born.”   

“That’s got to be a loud place to be.  Maybe we should invite him to stay here – even with your brood it’s not as noisy as his place.” Tameo took a sip of tea. “At least we don’t have to worry about Momoe and her losses,” he said, looking off thoughtfully in the direction where the woman lived.  “Maybe some luck has stayed with us from yesterday.”

“What’s that?”  Susumu pulled the village guard baton out of his waistband.  “Damn thing pokes me every time I sit down.  I haven’t heard anything about that.”

“That’s kind of the idea,” Tameo said.  “It’s to keep young ones like you remembering your jobs.”

“As if I’d forget.”  Susumu rolled his shoulders.  “What’s this about Momoe? I’d been meaning to get over there today, but with the business with Yoshimi, I hadn’t gotten over there.”

“Ah,” Tameo said, sipping on his tea.  “That’s a bright spot on the day.  Jun and some of the others were hauling the rubbish off the old storehouse that she stored her hemp in.”

“And?” Susumu asked.  “It sure burned pretty hot last night.  Didn’t expect them to find much in the ruins.  It was an old building, and all that hemp...it was going up like a torch.”

“True.” Tameo nodded.  “Jun tells me it was mostly ash and some of the beams that didn’t burn. I don’t think they had much stored in it besides Momoe’s fire and some cloth she was waiting to take to the market.”

“Shame about it all.”  Tameo put his tea cup down.  Hisa offered to fill it up, but he shook his head no.  “It was a nice house once.  When I was a small boy,  Momoe’s husband’s father and their family lived there.  Then they built the house they live in now.  The house they’re living in started off as the second son’s house.  For some reason, when Kioshi, Momoe’s husband inherited, he didn’t want to move back into the main house.  He thought it was unlucky, since both his father and brother died so young.” The headman sighed.  “It didn’t do Kioshi much good.  Look how young he was when he passed on.”

“Something about the men in that family,” Hisa said.  “Poor Momoe didn’t have much luck in the family she married into.  And with her son, running off, too...”

“Here’s hoping her grandson doesn’t inherit that bad luck,” Susumu said.  He looked down at his tea cup.  “So what happened today?”

“Well, when Jun and the others were clearing off the rubble, they found something buried under the wreck of the floor.  They’d have never realized it, except it was covered with an old rusty plate of iron.  When they lifted that off, they found a chest filled with coins.  A lot of money.  Jun said it looked like enough to keep that whole household afloat for the next five years, even if they didn’t do anything.”

“That was a bit of luck.  Any idea why it’s there?” Susumu asked.

“Not at all,” Tameo said.  “If Kioshi knew about it, he never breathed a word of it to Momoe.  She was more surprised than anybody.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear it,” Hisa said.  “We were all worried how we were going to help her this year.  With so few men left in her home, her main income was from spinning and weaving, and with all her hemp burned up...” she sighed.  “I know we try to take care of everybody in the village, but rounding up enough hemp to replace what she lost was going to be a big task.  There’s only so much spare.”

Tameo patted his wife’s hand.  “Now you aunties will only have to worry about Maeme.”

“And Chiya and Michio.” Hisa chewed on her bottom lip.  “That might even be a harder problem.  Remember the last time they had a big fight...I thought the village was going to go to war before it was over.  There’s still a few people who don’t like to talk to each other from those days.”

“The women would do well not to take sides on this one.  Even they know what she did this time,” Susumu said.

“The voice of young men,” Tameo said, sighing.  “It’s not about whether she was wrong or not.  It’s a matter of how just they think everything plays out.  Michio...well, we’ll give him a few more days to calm down.”

“People don’t like him keeping her rejected but not released.  When things are up in the air...” Hisa said.

“Like Yoshimi’s whereabouts?” Susumu asked.  “InuYasha told me Kazuo told him he went off with that woman from the other village.  But we haven’t got any proof yet.”

“Huh,” Hisa said.  “That would be the best thing for everybody.  He could have a new start, we’d be rid of a troublemaker and young Sukeo would have one less problem.  I don’t think InuYasha would lie about that, but when did he talk to the kami?”

“When Houshi-sama and Kagome-chan purified Sukeo’s house.  It was rather spectacular.  Even I’d say that.”  Susumu rubbed the back of his neck.  “InuYasha told me he put him behind a barrier so he wouldn’t spoil anything.”

“That’s the kami for you,” Tameo said.  “At least they told him why.”

“Still,” Susumu continued, “after lunch, I’m going to ask Eiji about the place  in the forest where Yoshimi would go to spend his time not working.  Maybe if I can get InuYasha over there, we can find something that’ll make it sure enough what happened.  It’s hard to rest easy without knowing.”

The door to the house slid open.  Susumu’s oldest girl,  Yorime stepped out of the house.  “Obaasan, the rice is done.”

Hisa gracefully stood up.  “Oh good, Yorime-chan.  Well you two, I think we can go have lunch.  Emi-chan is with Riki, Susumu, if you want to have lunch in the back kitchen with your family.”

“You sent the children out of the house?” Susumu asked.

“So your otou can have a nap,” Hisa said.  

“You do look like you could use it, Chichi-ue,” Susumu said, getting up himself.

“You are in the plot, too, I see,” Tameo said.  Rolling his eyes, he stood up, and followed his wife into the house.




Up on the hill, a fed, more alert and less in pain Kagome watched as InuYasha finished his lunch.  Even through her medicated haze she could feel the anxiety, the tension, the worry that hung over her husband.  The fact she had to shove him to eat told her more than she wanted to know about how he was holding up.

Kagome  turned her attention to Rin who was now sitting in a pool of light watching the two adults.  She had a basket next to her.  It was the same basket she had been bringing to Sango’s when all three of them did their sewing lessons together.  “So, Rin, did I hear right? That you did more than bring me lunch, but came to sit with me this afternoon, while I’m resting?” Kagome asked.

Rin nodded.  “Kaede-obaasan thought it would be a good thing.  Rin brought her sewing, and this way InuYasha could do other things if he needs to.”

“Feh,” the hanyou said.  He gave the girl a stern look, a good bit harsher than the child deserved, but to Rin’s credit, she didn’t react.  “I don’t need to do anything else today except take care of Kagome.”

“Kaede-obaasan also told Rin that even if he felt reluctant to take a break, it would be good for him to, and it might help Kagome-obasan to rest more easy.”

This made Kagome chuckle.  “I think Kaede-obaachan knows us better than we want to admit.”  She looked up at her husband.  He was not nearly as amused.

“She think I can’t take care of you or something?” His voice had that angry undertone he got when people treated him as lesser, inadequate, incompetent.  He crossed his arms and shoved his hands in his sleeves.

Kagome shook her head.  “I don’t think she meant that at all.  More like that after a morning like we had, a break would do you good.  And Rin has experience in sitting with people for Kaede-obachan.  And she’s smart enough to go get Sango if we had a problem.”

“It’s true.  Rin has watched people before,” the girl said.

“Feh,” InuYasha said again.  “I don’t like it.”

“Still, maybe...maybe you should go,” Kagome said.  She yawned widely.  “Take a walk and let off some of that tension you would usually use chopping wood.  I’ll probably sleep most of the afternoon.  Rin can take care of things like bringing me tea.  You should go fishing.  Or hunting, maybe, if you don’t want fish for dinner.”

“But...”

“No, I’m not broken.  I just need to rest.  And you’re so wound up I can feel it.  Go for a run.  Come back after you’ve gotten some of the tension taken care of.  I can feel how agitated you are.  Please?”

He knelt closer to her, touched her face.  “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said.  “Please.”

Sighing, but actually agreeing with her, he stood up.  “I’ll be back in a little while,” he said.  He headed for the door.  Turning back as he reached it, he looked at the two of them.  “I’m depending on you, Rin.  The least problem, you go get Sango.  Right?”

Rin stood up and bowed.  “Hai, InuYasha-sama.  Rin will take good care of Kagome-obasan.”  

She looked so solemn and formal, Kagome giggled, which made Rin collapse into the giggles as well.

InuYasha, muttering something neither could understand, stepped out of the house.

“I hope he comes back feeling better,” Kagome said.  She stretched back out.  “So Rin, how’s your sewing going? Did you get much work on your kosode done?”