InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 323

[ 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 323

After leaving Genjo to his lunch and farming, InuYasha headed down the road into the village.  As he passed the shrine steps  the shrine steps, one of the older women, a woman who worked for Takeshi was taking her turn at sweeping the steps. She waved at him as she passed, which surprised the hanyou, but he waved back.

“Evidently, they all think I belong here now.  Feels weird,” he muttered under his breath.

He was headed to Kaede’s house, just past the steps. He had developed a habit of going to sit with her when everything got too heavy, and she would listen to him patiently, almost as if he were her own grandchild.  

“Wonder if the Baaba’s got the patience to put up with me today,” he said.  “Too soon to go fishing.  Kagome’d just kick me out of the house again if it’s too soon.”

First, he walked around the building to check on her wood supply, but it was fine.  “It’s what I get for coming here almost every day.  Of course she’s not low on wood.”

Having killed as much time as possible that way, he went up to the front of the house and was about to knock on the door frame, when he realized there were no cooking scents coming from the house, which was unusual for this time of day. “Did she go off and have lunch with somebody?”

Flicking his ear towards the window, he heard slight sounds of snoring. “That’s right,” he muttered.  “Rin told me she headed back to take a nap, and why she suggested the girl sit with Kagome. Damn.”

There would be no telling the old woman all his woes this afternoon. “Don’t blame her, though. Kaede-baaba had it as rough as any of us last night, and today was no better.  But damn, what am I supposed to do now?”

Walking to the fence on the other side of the road, he hopped up on it, to decide his next move.  While he was sitting there, he noticed a young boy running towards that end of the village.  Recognizing who the boy was, the hanyou lowered his ears at what he knew was coming, but at the same time, made ready to jump.

“Daiki, get back here,” a strong, deep voice yelled, not the usual, squealing, yelling girl’s voice of sister or maid.  His ears perked back up into position and he turned to see the stern face of Yasuo, striding his way, although not running.  The boy’s father was obviously not very happy at his son’s escapade.

InuYasha, with a smooth motion, jumped ahead of the boy, and snagged him as he tried to run past. He lifted him to eye level by the back of his kosode.  “Funny meeting you like this, brat. I think we’ve had this conversation once before,” the hanyou said. “You were running away that time, too.”

Daiki gulped.  “But my otousan is mad.”

“And why is that?”

“I...I runned.”

“And did you tell InuYasha-sama why you ran?”  Yasuo walked up to the hanyou and took the boy in his arms.

Daiki shook his head.

“Tell him why,” Yasuo said.  He was obviously not pleased with the little boy.

“I pulled Suzume’s hair.”

“You were at Tameo’s?” InuYasha asked. “And you pulled his granddaughter’s hair?”

“He did indeed.” Yasuo said.  “And tell him why.”

“She took back Mitsuo’s horsie from me.”

InuYasha crossed his arms and looked at the boy with a fierce look.  “You took Mitsuo’s horsie?”

The little boy rubbed his nose and nodded.  InuYasha looked up at Yasuo.  “That must have caused quite a stink.”

“A rather loud one.  Brought Jun and me out of the back where we were working on something to help Maeme and Sukeo.  Daiki was supposed to be playing with the other children.  But instead he decided to get in a fight.”

“Is that the way good men behave?”  InuYasha asked, crossing his arms.

“But...but...he was riding it on my head!”  The boy hid his face in his father’s shoulders.

Both the grownups rolled their eyes.  Mitsuo was well known for doing just that.

“Still doesn’t mean you should have taken it or pulled his sister’s hair,” InuYasha said.

“He’s right, son.  You should have gone and told Riki-obasan or Emi-obasan.  And you shouldn’t have run at all.”  Yasuo looked at InuYasha and gave him a crooked smile.  “The joys of being a parent.”

“You figured out anything for Sukeo yet?” InuYasha asked.  “He’s got the makings of a good man, if we don’t let this drown him.”

“Maybe,” Yasuo said, nodding.  “Might even get it figured out today, if we can stop having little incidents like this.  Must be karma.  They tell me I was just like this when I was his age.  Funny how I don’t remember it that way.  Come on, Daiki.  It’s time to be a man and go apologize to Suzume.”

“But...but...but...” the little boy blubbered.

“Just remember.  If you ever want to be a tutor, let me know.  You seem to handle Daiki better than anybody.” Waving he and the unhappy boy headed back towards Tameo’s.



Back at the house near the river, Chime made her way out of Chiya’s place, to let Haname come in.  The doormat rattled behind her.  For a moment Haname just stood there, her arms crossed.

 “Well, Chiya-chan,” she said.

“Is the flour and oil ready for the water?” Hitoshi asked.

Kazuo elbowed him.  Still, all three sets of kami eyes focused on the unhappy woman and her mother.  It was clear Chiya had been dreading this moment.  She didn’t tremble, but as she sat on her mat by the spinning wheel, her head bowed, her body radiated her anxiety.  She said nothing, waiting for whatever her mother was going to tell her.  

Haname looked around the room.  It wasn’t a bad looking little house.  The floor was in good shape.  The spinning wheel was set up to get the maximum amount of light by the window, but it was still close to the fire pit for warmth and convenience.  There were two chests along the far wall, furthest from the fire pit, and a small cabinet with drawers.  Near the fire pit was a low table that held a small number of dishes and utensils, and the fire pit was equipped with a hook to hold the tea kettle.  There was firewood close at hand to keep the fire going and more in the beaten earth domo.  Outside of the fact that the room was set up with a spinning wheel and baskets holding the fiber to be spun and the finished thread, the room looked more like a room at an inn than a room that should have held a small family.

“I only found out this morning what happened,” Haname said.  Her voice was calm, no accusatory, just reciting facts.  “They were keeping it away from me, because I was dying. The magic wounding I had received from...that man was taking my life. I’m only alive because Kagome-sama was able to heal me.”

“I was so worried about you, Haha,” Chiya said.  Her voice was soft, non-challenging.  “I wanted to see you more, but Chichi wouldn’t let me.”

“Watch Haname closely now.  After a challenge like that, here she’ll come out with a knife,” Hitoshi said.

“She’s very skillful with it,” Yoshio said.  “I’ve seen her use it on Chiya time and again.”

“Your otousan has taken care of you, I see,” Haname said, sitting down next to her daughter.  “This is a nicer place than you would have gotten at my house.”

“Your house?”  Chiya said softly.  She looked up at her mother, questioningly. “You mean at home?”

“I meant my house.  It’s my house, your father’s house, your brother’s house.  Your home isn’t there any more, daughter, and you know it.”  

“The first cut,” Hitoshi said.  “That one has to hurt.”

“You left my house to move to Michio and Arimasu’s house, years ago.  Where I live is no longer your house.  Your otou was very nice finding this place for you to stay.  He didn’t have to.  And he didn’t have to find such a good place for you.  Think of it as a gift, a stay at an inn.”

Haname looked around the room.  “It looks like an inn in here.  Hana is doing a nice job of taking care of things.  She’s a sweet child and has grown most of the way up.  I ought to start treating her like a woman instead of the little girl I remember.  But even she doesn’t own a house – once her brother passed and that house was transferred to their cousin, she is only a guest, one of the landless. We took her into our ko, but only as that.  She has no ownership.”

Chiya’s eyes began to shimmer, as if she were near tears, and her tone whined.  “Do I even have a house any more?”

“That’s out of my hands, daughter. Michio hasn’t written any letter yet, divorcing you.  He never did the other times he sent you away, so perhaps he just needs time.  Nothing’s shattered yet.  Still, I remember that one of the last things I told you before I got too ill to see you was that you needed to remember that your primary duty was to your husband and his father.  Daughters don’t belong to their mothers or even their fathers once they wed.”

“Second cut,” Hitoshi murmured.

“I remember,” Chiya said.  She picked up a handful of fiber, and briefly looked out of the window.

“It is destiny.  This is why so many daughters leave their village and marry men who live elsewhere.  It reminds them.  Married women become a part of their husband’s family, not their father’s.”

“I...I know,” Chiya whispered.  She found the end of the thread she had been spinning and spliced the new fiber in, and turned the wheel, drawing out a length of thread.

“Look at the wheels of her mind turning,” Kazuo said.

“I am trying to understand something. Tell me this.  Why did you attack InuYasha that day at the roofing party?  Was it because of anything he had done, or what your husband thought was important, or did you think you were supporting me?”

“I…” Chiya let her voice drop.

“Why did you not apologize when he ordered you to?”  Haname took Chiya’s chin in hand and turned it towards her.  “This matters.  Why did you insult him before all those other people?”  She held her hand there for several moments, watching the emotions play across her daughter’s face, but then she let it go.  “Well?”

“May Haname never be drafted by any of the ten kings of the underworld,” Yoshio said.  “Everybody judged would spend an eternity in hell.”

Chiya closed her eyes as she gathered her thoughts, chewing on her bottom lip.  Finally she opened them.  “You...you always told us those stories about the youkai who looked like the hanyou.  That youkai murdered our family!  He tried to drag you off!  You wouldn’t even look at the hanyou without seeing those dark days! It was you who taught me that no youkai could be trusted.  You got poisoned because that yamabushi used you as a tool to attack him and his wife! Aki-kun was punished because of what you were telling us about that hanyou. How could I approve of him if you couldn’t?”

Haname covered her own face.  “You are not the only one who does foolish things, daughter.  I have done more than my share of them.  How I twisted you and your brother up with my own fears!  I can’t deny that.”  

“Now that is a big difference between Haname and Chiya.  Haname doesn’t look for excuses. Her sense of justice is strong,” Hitoshi said.

“Another reason not to let her near the Ten Judges,” Yoshio said.

Haname took a very deep breath.

“Here comes cut three,” Kazuo said.

“But I didn’t have the advantage of a kami telling me InuYasha was under his divine protection, and therefore, worthy.  I didn’t have a husband who directly ordered me to make amends.  I didn’t cause my husband to lose face surrounded by a crowd of his friends, as I refused to do what he told me, and I didn’t do it in the name of the holy Buddha, either.”  She looked at Chiya, and her look was stern.  “You may have thought you were supporting me, I guess, but Chiya-chan, your right to put me over your husband ended the day of your wedding.  You are the daughter of my body, but you belong to your husband’s family, and they come first.  Your solidarity has to be with them first and not me.  That’s the way the world works.”

She wrapped her arms around Chiya, who had started crying, and pulled her to  her.  “This, this is why everything fell apart, child.  You chose wrong.”

“I just always wanted you to smile at me,” Chiya said.  “I always felt I wasn’t good enough.  That I couldn’t please you.”

“Oh child, you pleased me more than you know.  But maybe I saw too much of me in you and was trying to keep you from the same pitfalls,” Haname said. “And instead, you walked right into them, time and again.”

“How do I not choose wrong, Haha?” Chiya asked.  “How?”

“Oh child, I am not the best person to ask,” Haname said, resting her head on her daughter’s.  “I have chosen wrong so many times.  But look at the people who are happy and loved.  Kimi-chan.  Hisa-chan.  Chime-chan.”

“Will any of them even want to let me near them again?  I’ve been so cruel.”

“Well, Chime was nice to you today, wasn’t she?” Haname asked.

“Yes…”  Chiya pulled a handkerchief out of her sleeve and wiped her nose, then daubed her eyes.

“There are other good people,” Haname said.  “Even InuYasha-sama and Kagome-sama.  That young woman saved my life when nobody else could, when I had slapped her in my madness, and tried to beat her up.  She still saved my life.  She didn’t have to.  She did it because it was the good thing to do.”

“What do I do now, though?” Chiya asked.

All three kami held their breaths, wondering what she would suggest.

“Have you tried sending Michio a letter?”