InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 326

[ 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 326

In the village center, Eiji and Haruo stepped outside of Eiji’s house and into the sunshine.  They could hear the women talk, but what they were saying was hard to make out.

“Nothing quite like escaping a group of women planning things,” Eiji said.  He grabbed Kimi’s laundry tub, now empty, and put it up in front of the house.

“If you say so,” his brother replied, following but not helping.  “Although I kind of like to know what they’re cooking up when it usually involves us before they’re done with it.”

“Some things, you just have to let happen, brother,” Eiji said, dragging his brother away from the window, where he was trying to eavesdrop.  “It’s like karma.  If you fight against it, it just makes things worse.”

Haruo sighed and plopped down on a bench in the yard. “Think it’s going to rain today?” Haruo asked, intentionally changing the subject.

Eiji looked up at the sky.  It was still more sunny than cloudy, but there was that feeling in the air.  Some of the clouds were starting to get some height. “Maybe this evening.”

“Hope so.  I’m going to have to water my beanfield soon if it doesn’t.” Haruo looked at his brother. “We need some rain to refresh things. Speaking of refreshing, you ought to stand outside if it does.  You look like you need a freshening up, too. I can see you didn’t get enough sleep yet.  You look how I feel after Daitaro’s being too generous with his sake.”

Eiji crossed his arms and pondered this for half a minute. “You mean you think I look like I’m dying?”  

“Oh no, you misunderstand me,” Haruo said, wagging his eyebrows.  “I don’t think I’m going to die when I drink too much. That’s when I feel like dying would be a blessing.”

Eiji guffawed and just shook his head. “I don’t feel anywhere near that bad,” he said.  He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m just tired. That’s all. The last few days of the ten day were rough.”

Haruo nodded. “It’s been a wild few days, especially last night. The storytellers will be spinning tales about last night a long time to come, I bet,” he said, and then began to mimic the voice of an old woman.  “Come, children, listen to the story of the good village guard and the wicked man who gotten eaten by the Catfish God...” Returning to himself, he said, “I can hear it now.”

Eiji rolled his eyes.  “I doubt if I stay in that story long.  Houshi-sama will, though.  ‘The tale of the monk who rescued a beauty and the Catfish kami who made sure the wicked husband paid for his sin.’”

“Or how about calling it  the tale of the good luck day when everything went a little crazy?” a voice behind them said.

The two brothers turned around in their seats to face the voice.  “You can say that again,” Eiji said, crossing his arms at the sight before him.  Haruo gulped, a little nervous.

Susumu grabbed his chin in his hand, and gave an exaggerated frown.  “ ‘Strangest luck day in village history,’ my great-grandson will say. ‘Can we even believe what old Tameo wrote down?  My illustrious ancestor must have been drunk!’ But some storyteller will make a living in the capitol telling it over and over.”  

“Keh,” InuYasha said, chuckling.  “But I bet Eiji hit it right.  It’ll be all about Miroku and Maeme and Seiji.  Just wait.  And they’ll make him the avatar of Amida  or something before they’re done with it.”

“Our houshi-sama, the great Amida Buddha?” Haruo doubled over, laughing.  “The man who flirted with all the girls? Who hustles all the rich men? Who got married and settled down to raise a family?”
He struggled to catch his breath. “Oh, Amida, please let me live long enough to see it.  Jizo, if I can’t, please let my ghost see it told.” He bent over laughing more, struggling to get his breath.

“And then your going to let our descendants know the truth as you’re haunting them?” Susumu asked.

Eiji pounded his brother on the back, trying to help him catch his breath, but he met InuYasha’s eyes.  “But I bet you’re right.”

“Feh.  You should have heard some of the whoppers they’ve told about me,” the hanyou said.  

“Oh, I have,” Susumu said.  “I have.”

Eiji stood up.“So, besides trying to make my brother laugh to hard after lunch, what brings you this way?” The look on his face said he expected irritating news.

Susumu looked at his friend and scratched his head, trying to find the right words.  “Well, I need your help.”

Haruo, still winded, but improving, nudged Eiji. “I don’t know if I like the sound of that, Oniisan.”

Eiji crossed his arms and stared, tapping his fingers on his forearm.

“I did wait until after lunch,” Susumu said.  “Just like you asked.” He walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “At least I’m not asking you to do night patrol this evening. It’s not that bad.”

“It’s a good thing too,” Eiji said.  “Otherwise, I might have to run away to Odawara.”

InuYasha made a face at the sound of the Hojo’s capital city.

“You wouldn’t like that,” Susumu said.  “The daimyo would make you work even worse shifts than we do.”  He looked at Haruo.  “And you...I thought I sent you to keep guard at Houshi-sama’s.”

Haruo stood up, a bit slowly. “I was there.  But Masayo came up a little while ago, and rescued me from two lovely young ladies who were determined I was a mountain and they needed to climb me to look for dragons.  I don’t know who Houshi-sama’s children take after more – him or his wife.  But they have inherited the ability to use their hands as offensive weapons.” Haruo rubbed a scratched place on his hand.  “And they weren’t even trying.  Masayo came up and rescued me, and sent me off to eat lunch. I hope that’s ok.”

Susumu crossed his arms, and gave Haruo a mock stern look.  Then he looked back at InuYasha.  “What do you think, InuYasha? Who do Miroku-sama’s girls take after more?  He or his wife?”

InuYasha rubbed his chin as if he had to consider this deeply.  “Well, neither of them is much of a flirt yet, and they’re too young to eavesdrop, but they are good at holding their own...Probably Sango.”

Susumu nodded, continuing the mocking. “He might have needed rescuing then,” Susumu said, barely keeping a straight face. “Two little Sango-chans coming after you at the same time.  We’ve all seen her in action and know what kind of wallop she can deliver with that bone weapon of hers, much less her fist.”  He took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly.  “I guess that’s excusable.”

Eiji snorted, but decided to play along.“You got off easy, Haruo,” he said.  “I would have made you do night patrol for two days.”

“You’re a mean one, Oniisan,” Haruo said. He crossed his arms and glowered at the whole group.

“Maybe comes from having a brother like you?” Susumu said.

“You might be onto something,” Eiji said, having enjoyed the joking, but he took a moment to take a breath and get serious. “So, joking aside, Susumu, what brings you here? You need my help in particular?  None of the other guard would do? ”

“I need your expertise,” Susumu said.  “This is something nobody else has.”

Eiji rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about that.  “You still haven’t found Yoshimi?”

 “We think...we think he went off with that woman from Morimura,” Susumu said, sighing.  “We don’t have proof yet.  You said you knew the places in the woods where he was hanging out, right?”

“A couple of them, yeah.  One of them was a place he would dump the wood he gathered before bringing it back home.  I think he may have met his friend there a few times.  Why?”

“I want to bring InuYasha out there to see if he can confirm that they were there today.  And if he left with her.  Tomorrow, sometime during the next ten day, we’ll send someone over there to smoke him and to confirm.  But it’ll be really nice if we can stop worrying about him trying to cause trouble in town.”

“Does that mean I need to go back up to Houshi-sama’s?” Haruo said, a hopeful light in his eyes.

“Until we get back,” Susumu said.  

Haruo sighed.  “But the women are trying to get Maeme over to Fumio’s house this afternoon.”

“Are they?  Well, if they do, come back with them. If Yoshimi’s going to cause trouble, it’s not going to be with either Houshi-sama or his wife.  It’ll be with Maeme and Sukeo.  Keep an eye out for that.  That’s why you’re on guard.  I feel sorry if that baka ever tried something with the monk or his wife.”

Eiji stretched, scratched his chin and adjusted his obi.  “Let’s get this over with.  The sooner I’m done with this whole mess, the sooner I can get back to normal.  Be a good younger brother, Haruo, and do what you’re told.  And somebody, some one, let me know whatever it was that happened while I was sleeping.  I get the feeling I missed some things.”

He headed to the main street.  InuYasha and Susumu followed closely behind.

Up on the hill, Maeme was once again sitting outside of Miroku’s house, doing some sewing in the afternoon light.  She was actually humming a little tune outloud, something she never dared do if her husband was around.  Sango, carrying her baby Naoya on her back was checking her laundry from earlier in the day and folding things into a wicker basket.  It was a quiet, peaceful moment.  The twins for the time were asleep, taking an afternoon nap.  Nakao sat underneath one of the trees at the edge of the yard, working on weaving a straw sandal.  From time to time, he would look up, keeping an eye on his mother, but other than that, seemed content with things as they were. Miroku and Masayo were sitting to one side, under Miroku’s favorite tree.  The monk was sitting in a meditation position, but as usual when there were people around, he was more interested in watching and listening than working on his mindfulness.  

The cat, Chika, noting this, got up and jumped into his lap.  Without thinking, his hand went to lightly stroking her back.

Not paying much attention to the cat, or anything else in the clearing, Masayo plucked a blade of grass and twirled it in his fingers.  He still looked a bit tired from the wedding the night before.  “What’s it like in Odawara?” he asked.

“You’ve never been there?” the monk said.  Chika, evidently having had enough back rubs, crawled up his chest to sit on his shoulder.

“Never had a reason to go.”  Masayo gave the blade of grass one more twirl. “I’ve gone to the north, but never the west of here.  I hear the road’s rough heading that way.”

“There are places that’s true.  As for the castle and the town around it...it’s more crowded than I like.  Smelly.  The Hojo are bringing in all these craftsmen to make armour, so they make a lot of leather, have a lot of iron workings.  Too many soldiers for my tastes. They’re always doing soldier things, like practice combats and drill. Lots of horses, and all the people needed to make the things to support everybody else – cooks, carpenters, entertainers, people trying to sell junk to the soldiers.”

“It doesn’t sound like a place I want to go to,” the young man said.  “Like a giant market day all the time.”

“But messier, and with more people who can get you in trouble, and more thieves.” Miroku shook his head at a memory. “I don’t really want to go there to get too close to the castle.  There’s a temple there I need to visit.”

“Ah,” Masayo said, nodding.  “That’s where you’re getting your copy of the Lotus Sutra?”

Miroku nodded.  “The Buddha’s work makes it worth putting up with the rest.  And there’s an artist there at that temple – I am hoping to get him to make a statue of Jizo, if I can get enough to pay for it.”

“So even the Buddha’s work costs money, I see,” Masayo said.
“Alas, that’s true.” Miroku nodded.  “Temples have their expenses.”

Masayo shifted and stretched out his legs. “I take it that InuYasha-sama isn’t to thrilled about this trip.”

“Well, you know how it is.  People look at him and react. You might not think it bothers him, but it does.” Miroku sighed.  “We don’t talk about it much, but...”

Masayo nodded.  “Being the outsider...Kind of like how Chiya reacted when he helped with roofing the shrine?”

“Mostly they just whisper and give him looks, but sometimes, it’s more than that. He’s a good man.  He’s relaxed a lot here because we accept him and people are used to him...but he’s had bad experiences in other places.  Including Odawara.”

“But you’re going to go anyway,” Masayo said.

“I don’t know any other way to get things done.  He’s my partner, and the only one I know who can help me get this done, without taking half the young men of the village down there with me. And the merit he will get will be worth something.  Sometime down the road.  It’s easier for him out there with me.  I’ve seen that going on exorcisms. Some people seem to have the foolish notion that I control him. We sort of let them think what they want.  It makes it easier.”

Masayo looked at the monk.  He knew that InuYasha and Miroku were best of friends, and had been through a lot together, but he wasn’t quite sure if he approved of that viewpoint.  But before he could say something, someone interrupted their conversation.

“Sitting on the job, are you?”

The monk and the farmer turned around to see Haruo.