InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 334

[ 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 334


The lightning and thunder that announced the storm quickly eased off into a steady, gentle rain, punctuated by only the occasional lightning flash and a cool breeze, covering all the village and the lands nearby.

Many people there, tied to the land and growing things as they were, took it as a good omen, and a sign that the bean crop would do well.  On the other side of the village from the hanyou, Toshiro was watching the rain fall from the shelter of his verandah, glad for the rain falling at last.

The water was falling down, strong and steady, enough to wet the land without washing things away.  A farmer’s rain.  Toshiro felt blessed.

Yashuo, Toshiro’s son, saw what his father was doing and smiled, then stepped out on the verandah to join him. He let the door mat clatter behind him.  “I was wondering if I’d find you out here,” he said.

“I didn’t know you were in the house.” Toshiro looked up from his seat, slightly surprised.  “I thought you’d still be at the birthing house with Sayo and that new little daughter of yours.  I didn’t see you walk back.”

“I’ve come and gone,” Yasuo said.  “Came back into the house from the back side.  I left because Little Minako woke up from her nap and wanted all of Okaasan’s attention, and Okaasan sent me  on my way.  Since it was dinner time, Sayo thought I might be more useful here than watching her feed our new little tennyo.”

“Sayo-chan has always been a perceptive woman,” Toshiro said, nodding.  “And of course, she’s right.  You know how it is here in the evenings. Umi has been able to keep Daiki distracted for the moment to give Nanami a break, and Asami is coping with Ishi,  but who knows how much longer that will last?”

Yasuo gave his father a rueful smile, knowing how his oldest son was. “Was I really like that when I was that age?” he asked, sitting down next to his father. “As...spirited...as Daiki?”

“Every bit,” Toshiro said, smiling as he looked off in the distance.  “Maybe a little more so.”

“I don’t remember that,” Yasuo said.  “I remember being happy, and loving you and Okaasan. I remember wanting to be just like you. Still, I was absolutely terrified of getting Nanami-obasan angry at me. Even as a young woman she had a look that could petrify me. She was a lot younger then and was pretty good at catching me.  How many afternoons did I spend sitting in the stool by the stove?” Yasuo shuddered at the memory. “Daiki doesn’t know how good he has it.”

The older man chuckled.  “I do believe Daiki is just as terrified.  He’s just a little luckier about her having slowed down. He still runs like wolves are at his heels when he thinks she’s going to punish him.”

The younger man sighed and nodded. “Oh, sometimes I even feel sorry for him.”  He chuckled just a little as his father raised an eyebrow at that. “So what brings you out here tonight, Chichi-ue?” he said, to change the subject.  “I know this is where you come when you need to think. What’s on your mind?”

The older man rubbed the back of his neck and looked back out at the rainfall.  “Tomorrow, I’m going to send Asami-chan to stay with Maeme  and her brood for a while.  Fumio-san seems to think she’s not ready to be alone yet, and I believe him.  Poor woman’s been through hell, and her house is so far from most of the other women.  But that’s going to leave us shorthanded around the house.”

“True,” Yasuo said.  “And I don’t want Sayo to think she needs to leave the birthing house early.  She’s already making noises, and you and I both know it’s too soon.”

“Maybe we can get Nanami to sit on her,” Toshiro said, only half joking.  “She never takes enough time there as it is.  I would like her to stay there at least a week.  Ten days would be better.”

“All we can do is try.”  The younger man thought for a moment. “Who has a daughter we can ask? Maybe we can get Isamu’s girl over here for a while?” Yasuo said, tapping his fingers on the wood of the verandah floor as he thought.  “He might like to have Kameyo-chan a little further away from Tadeki-kun.  That boy has been mooning around her for over a month now, and I get the impression the feeling’s not really mutual.”

The older man rubbed the back of his neck. “Could be. I have trouble keeping up what young man’s interested in which young woman any more.  Too many of them to keep track of.”

Yasuo barked a laugh.  “I think the same thing’s true for the young people, too.”

Toshiro looked thoughtfully at the falling rain. “Why don’t you go talk with Isamu tomorrow?” he said, nodding.  “I’ve got some men lined up to help with Maeme’s lands.  If he’s willing, then most of our people problems will be done. That will leave only one problem to deal with.”

“Michio,” Yasuo said.

The older man shifted his legs and sighed. “You know it’s just a matter of time before some of the women start trying to push him into doing something,” the older man said.  “Divorce her or take her back.  Or, knowing Chiya’s hangers-on, maybe start something to make him look bad, like that would be supposed to help her. We don’t want it to go on like last time.  I thought the village would split up over the stink.”

Yasuo scratched the back of his head. “Sayo’s not the only one in this household who’s perceptive. I saw Choujiro this evening.  His woman thinks that group of women that always hang around Chiya may be trying to start something,” Yasuo said.

A small boy stepped out of the house and onto the verandah.  “Chi-chi!” the little boy said.

“Ah, Ishi-kun, what are you doing here?” Yasuo went and scooped up his younger son. “Does Asami know you came outside?”

The boy shook his head.  

“So Benika’s up to her old tricks,  is she?”  Toshiro said.  “We’ll need to mention it to Nanami.  You know’ll they’ll try to get her to get through to me with whatever harebrained scheme they’ve cooked up this time.”

From inside of the house, one of the women yelled. “Daiki, leave your sister alone!”

“Ah well, it was pleasant while it lasted,” Yasuo said.  He stood up.  “I better go put out that fire.”

“Let’s hope that’s the only fire tonight,” Toshiro said.  “We’ll work on the bigger fires tomorrow.”


Up on the hill,   dinner done, dishes done, and the bath water now on the fire to heat, the only real sounds in the small house where the hanyou lived was the sound of rain. InuYasha  lifted up the door mat and peered outside.

“It’s coming down pretty solidly,” InuYasha said.  A gentle breeze drifted into the house and made the flames in the firepit flicker.

“It’s relaxing to listen to,” Kagome said. “I like it a lot more than lightning and thunder.” She was trying to sew by lamplight, working not on her fine new kosode but just hemming a towel, but her heart wasn’t in it.  After a little time, she stuck her needle in the fabric, and put it away.

He turned around to where he had the bath set up and the water heating.  “No more thunder with this storm I think.” He walked back over to the fire pit, the light from the flames tinting his white hair with red, and poked a little piece of wood under one of the water pots, watching it too catch fire. After a moment, he tested the water, but shook his head.  “Not quite warm enough.”

Pushing her sewing basket away, Kagome drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, and rested her chin on her kneecaps. “I think the sewing can wait.  I must not be ready to do that type of work.”

“You had a hard day,” InuYasha said.  “Not surprised.”

“So Kaede doesn’t want me coming in for a few days?” she asked.

“Yeah.  She told me I ought to take you somewhere where you can relax and won’t be tempted to use your spiritual powers for a few days.”

Kagome nodded. “She told me the same thing, more or less.  She even had a name for what went wrong.  It had happened to her, too, when she was training.”

“I didn’t like it that you got sick or anything, but it’ll be nice to have you to myself for a while,” he said.  His ear flicked, almost as if embarrassed to say that.  “Is that bad?”

She shook her head.  “After these last few days...”

He got up and tested the water again. “Almost ready.”

“Good,” she said.  Pinning her hair up so she could bathe without washing it, she went over to the cabinet and pulled some towels out, and a clean under kosode to sleep in.  “I’d like to wash a lot of today away.  Still, Kaede’s medicine really helped.”  She put the towels near the wash tub in a basket she used for that purpose.

“You ready?” the hanyou asked, pulling one of the water pots off the heat.

“Yeah.”  She slipped out of her clothes as he poured some water into the tub.  It still did something to him, catch his breath watching her walk across the room nude.  His eyes looked at her with a soft warmth that bordered on a hunger, but there was no immediate urgency behind it, more a gentle appreciation of the loveliness  Stepping into the tub, Kagome sat still as he poured warm water down her back and across her chest until there was a decent level of water in the tub.  She took one of the cloths and began rubbing it across her.

“So, do you have any idea about what we ought to do on this trip to help me relax?”

“There’s an old onsen I know about.  Used to be part of a monastery, but that was abandoned a long time ago. Take us a day to get there, I think.  It’s got a good spring, and the last time I was there, the stonework in the baths was still good.  Or we could just go to that place we went to last time.”

“Either sounds nice if we bring enough stuff,” Kagome said. “We’ll need more than just the things for a picnic.”

“Yeah.  Want me to do your back?”

“Sure,” Kagome said, and handed the washcloth to him.

He dunked it into the water,  and gently began washing her back.  He liked to watch the water trickle down and follow the folds of her shoulder, the length of her spine.  “I was thinking, you know I told you your old pack is up at the shrine.”

“Yeah, I remember.  We’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to think about getting it down.  I think that it’s mostly old clothes.  First aid supplies.  I know I didn’t bring any textbooks with me that last time.  My schooling was finished for the year, and I’d be starting a new school when I went back.”

“Bag’s still in good shape.  You might think about using it to carry whatever we need.  You can put more in that than a carry cloth and it’s easier to handle than a pack basket.”

“You have a point there.  I guess that’s what we can see about tomorrow.  It might be nice to have something better to pack around.”

“Want some more water to soak in?” he asked.

She shook her head.  “No, I think I’ll get out.  Believe it or not, even after sleeping the afternoon away, I’m kind of tired.”

“Not surprised,” he said, helping her out of the tub.

As she dried off, he stripped down.  Kagome pulled out her hair pins, and let her hair cascade down.  “Let me pin your hair up so you don’t have to try to shake your hair dry in the house.    Wet hair on the futon is not a good thing.”

“You sure it’s just not because you want to oogle me a little longer?” he said, sitting down bare on the floor while she grabbed handfuls of his silver hair and twisted it into a loose bun on the top of his head.”

That made her laugh.  “I do love looking at you, it’s true, but it’s for a good cause.  A comfortable bed.”