InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 328

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

Chapter 328

Once they were past the border stone, it didn’t take InuYasha and the others long to reach the location where Yoshimi and Kiyoko had been meeting. There was a fork in the road.  The path on the left was a smaller, less used trail, but just past the turn-off, one of the trees was marked with a strip of blue cloth, faded to a pale color by time and the weather.  Eiji took that path and waved the other two on.  It curved a little to the right, and opened into a clearing.

“This is the place,” Eiji announced, walking into it.  He circled around.  “His home away from work.”

“You’re sure?” Susumu asked.

“Definitely been used,” InuYasha said.  “Smells like him.”

“I’m not surprised. I’ve caught him lounging about here more than once,” Eiji said.  “Especially times where there was a lot of farmwork needing to be done.  I hope that woman who snatched him up knows what she’s getting.”

It wasn’t much of a place.  It was a fairly small clearing surrounded by tall trees.  It had at some point in time been carved out of the forest.  Old trunks poked up through the duff at points, but someone had made an effort to keep it free of brush. Off to one side of it, there was a large stack of deadwood – bits of blown down trees, cast off branches, even a few sizable pieces, all piled up on one side.  There was a  scattering of wood chips where Yoshimi would sometimes cut wood into usable pieces, and a old stump with scarring in the center of that.

As a place it was quiet.  Some birds twittered in the tree tops, but nothing larger, only a few insects droning as they went about their business.  No human was there, either.  A little patch of sunlight fell on the log where Yoshimi had sat when Kiyoko discovered him.  But very little else to say who used it the site.

Still, the site had been used a lot.  There was a fire ring with cold ashes and half burned chunks of wood, and a small rubbish heap on the edge of the clearing.  A lidded bucket sat against the trunk of one tree.  Susumu went over to check it out and found it was half filled with water.  There was a broken sake jar, lengths of rope, and other bits and pieces in the pile of rubbish.  It evidently had been a favored retreat of Yoshimi for quite a while.

“Well, he’s been here,” InuYasha announced. He walked around the area.  “His scent is strongest here, by the log.”  He bent down low to the ground, and began scenting.  “Someone else was here.  Smells like a woman.”

“Is it fresh?”  Susumu asked.

“Pretty strong here.”  InuYasha nodded.  “I’m guessing sometime this morning.”

They walked around the area.  Eiji picked up a square of cloth, like a woman’s handkerchief.  “Found this.”

InuYasha held it to his face.  “That.  That belonged to the woman I scented,” he said.

Susumu was walking on the other side of the clearing.  “My, my, my, look what I found.”  He held up a well-worn axe. The blade had been resharpened many times.  Not the largest axe, nor a splitting maul, it was the right size for breaking deadwood branches into smaller pieces, but not for making proper firewood.  It hadn’t been well cared for.  The handle was scarred.  Leather had been wrapped around it, but the wrappings were fraying and the leather had cracked.  There  was a nick in the blade, as well.

“That looks like Yoshimi’s axe,” Eiji said.  “I didn’t get a really good look at it yesterday when I brought him home, but it looks like the axe I saw by the wood pile.  I remember thinking how the leather bindings needed work.”

“They definitely do,” Susumu said.  “That would drive my hand crazy if I were using it.”

“Well, you know about Yoshimi and work,” Eiji said.  “Probably thought it was too much effort to fix.  He’s always been bad about tending to things that take work.”

Susumu passed it to InuYasha.

“Yeah, no doubt about it.  It reeks of him,” the hanyou said. “Even more than his poor excuse of a house.”

“Wonder why he left it here?” Eiji asked. “You don’t think there was anybody that jumped him, do you?”

“Don’t smell any other scents in the clearing,” the hanyou said.  “Nobody human but those two have been here for a long time. Let me sniff around, and see if there’s a trail out of here.”

The two village guards watched as InuYasha got down on all fours as he searched the ground around the little clearing.

“That is the oddest thing, I think, every time I’ve seen him do it,” Eiji whispered to Susumu.

“But it works,” Susumu said, “So I don’t care.  Just think of some of the weird things we’ve seen Yamabushi and sages do.  This isn’t any weirder, and InuYasha’s the real thing.  Not sure about the rest of them.”

InuYasha’s ear flicked as he heard them talking, but he had heard it all before.  He was more focused on being sure he picked the right trail of the many scent paths that Yoshimi and his woman had used. Eventually he reached a spot to the northwest.  The woods opened into a narrow trail there, larger than a deer track but not much larger.

The hanyou stood up.  “This is the way.”

“Another path out of here?  I bet it ends up back on the same road to Morimura we’d been walking down,” Susumu said.

“Probably,” Eiji replied.  “But let’s take it anyway.  There might be a clue on the way.”

The three men began to walk down the trail in a single file.


Up on the hill, Sango watched the women surround Maeme in a calm, friendly manner, and she breathed a sigh of relief as the troubled woman seemed to handle it well.  Perhaps it was because Koume and Kimi and Fujime had had experience when Nahoi was recovering from her trauma, or perhaps it was the fact that Maeme was ready to take her first tiny steps back into life as it should be, but it pleased the taijiya, who had walked her own dark road after trauma.  

Content for the moment, she checked to make sure the twins were still asleep, and then put the clean laundry into the house.  Baby Naoya gurgled on her back.

“Not quite yet, little boy.  I’ve still got a few things left to do.”  She stepped back outside.  The group mostly ignored her.  While she stood there for a moment, wondering what to do next,   Miroku went and tapped Sango on the shoulder.  

“Ah, let’s let them talk, my dearest Sango,” he said softly.  “Come with me.”

Sango raised an eyebrow,  but followed him to the other side of the house, out of eye reach and for someone speaking softly, ear reach of the women sitting with the troubled woman.

“Here I am,” she said as they reached the other side.  They could hear a bit of laughter from the group with Maeme, and some murmured voices, but little else.  

Miroku sat down, and patted the ground next to him.  She sat down, looking at her husband questioningly.  He on the other hand, spent a moment looking over the vegetable garden where a few of the greens were getting enough height on them to use.  A wasp droned around the plants, on patrol for something as he got his thoughts together.

“You brought me here - now why?” she asked.

He turned to her. “Haruo says Koume wants to take Maeme home with them tonight, if she’s willing.”

“Is it safe? What about Yoshimi?” Sango asked.

Miroku gave his wife a small, hopeful smile. “He’s probably run away.  There was that woman in Morimura who wanted him...We think he went there.”

“So it’ll be safe for her?”

Miroku rested his forehead against his wife’s.  “It’s been physically safe for her ever since Seiji met with Grandfather Catfish.  He was the only one who was any real threat to her.  And now, even her house has been purified.  I just didn’t think she should be alone yet.  She doesn’t really believe that she’s safe, and the sadness from what happened to her is very heavy on her heart and soul. It’s going to take her a while to believe in it.”

“She’s so wounded,” Sango said, nodding.  She leaned into Miroku’s hold.

“It reminds me of another wounded soul who lost everything that mattered to her.  That soul found friends that were there for her, people that believed in her.  And slowly, she was able to heal, even with all the chaos going on at the time.  Poor Maeme didn’t lose so much all at once, but it was whittled away from her one piece at a time.  She, too, has people who would be her friend, who honestly care about her.  Maybe she can heal as well.”  Miroku pulled back a little to look at her, and gave her a small grin.  “And she won’t be fighting youkai with every step.”

“Look how long it took me to learn to trust you and InuYasha and Kagome after what Naraku did to me.  It’s hard,” Sango said, resting her cheek against her husband’s shoulder, being careful not to disturb the baby on her back.  “Not all wounds are of the body, although we both have our share. Do you think it’ll do her well to go with them tonight?”

Miroku waved his fingers at his infant son, and smiled at the boy who cooed back at him. “It might.  Nahoi and she share some things in common.  Fumio’s taken to Sukeo, especially, and he’s their official guardian. With that, it’s certainly more their job than ours. And there are few places in the village safer – Eiji’s across the roadway, they’re right near the headman’s compound.  And if she goes,” Miroku waggled his eyebrows, “we’ll get to discover what it’s like to have some privacy again.”

Sango took her husband’s hand, and laced her fingers between his.  “Nobody but us.  I forgot what that’s like, almost.  And it’s only been one day.”  She suddenly straightened up and looked him in the eye, her look growing serious. “You didn’t send word to Koume or Haruo to do this, did you?”

“No.  But if it hadn’t happened today, I might have suggested it tomorrow.  I’ve been lonely for my lovely wife.” He brushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead.

“I’ve missed you, too.”  She reached up and almost kissed him, when she got interrupted by someone pulling on her sleeve.  

“Haha.  Up?”

She looked down to see the sleepy-eyed face of her daughter Noriko.

“And maybe this beautiful girl has too?” Miroku said, picking up his daughter. “Is your sister up yet?”  

The little girl shook her head no.

“We all have.”  Giving him a really quick peck on the cheek, Sango, followed by her husband, went to see how the other women were doing.


Maeme was standing up, leaning on Koume’s arm.  “You know we really want you to come stay tonight.  Tomorrow, maybe, we’ll go together to check out your house.  I’m sure Nahoi, especially, wants to see what you have on your loom.”

“I do,” said Nahoi.  “I was never that good with the fancy warping.  Just ask Haha-ue.  I had to retie my loom a few days ago because I messed up.  And it wasn’t all that fancy!”

“There are some ways to help keep track,” Maeme said.  “I could show you...” Her voice dropped off, almost as if she were frightened to offer.

“Yes, please,” the younger weaver said, nodding.  She was clearly excited about the idea.

The group of women noticed the monk and his wife return.  Yusuko, who had woken from her nap and was sitting with Nakao,  got up and ran to her father, demanding to be picked up as well. The monk reached down and grabbed her.

“Well, my lovely guests, have you been plotting something while I was talking to my wife?” he said.  

“We have indeed, Houshi-sama.  I would like to bring Maeme home with me tonight, along with her sons,” Koume said.  “I know you claimed life debt...”

“Only to protect her,” Miroku said.  He turned to the troubled woman.  “When I pulled you out of the water, Maeme-chan, I promised to protect you.  That promise extends to helping you get back to living.  Would you like to go with Koume-chan?”

Looking up at him for a moment, and then quickly dropping her eyes, she nodded.  “You have been so kind, Houshi-sama.  My boys and I, we owe you so much.”

“Let’s not talk about owing right now.  Let’s think about Maeme and her sons getting a new footing on their lives.  Kwannon is compassionate.  Let us all be that way, too.”

He looked up at Koume.  “This might not be an easy night for her,” he said.

“I know,” Koume said. She patted her daughter’s hand.  “I’ve had some experience with this.  But Fumio is the family’s guardian right now.  And perhaps, it’s time to have some compassion on the monk and his family as well.  Not the easiest week.”

“If you need me, don’t hesitate to send for me,” Miroku said.

Maeme walked over to Sango and bowed slightly.  “Thank you for being so kind and fierce to save me.  I will never forget.”

Sango gave her a reassuring smile.  “I had friends who rescued me when things were the darkest.  It was the right thing to do.”

“Well then,” Haruo stepped up.  “Are we going down the hill?  Susumu told me I have to go where Maeme is until he tells me I’m off duty.”

“Yes, yes, we are,” Koume said.  “Everybody ready?”

Maeme gave a slight nod.

Slowly the group of women, one boy, and two men began headed down the hill.