InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Past ❯ Chapter 16 ( Chapter 16 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Lost in the Past, Chapter 16

 

 

At dawn, Kazuki snuck out of the hut and made his way through the village to the wall which abutted the practice field. It was too early for the other kids to be out yet, but he was afraid that if he didn't leave while Daddy was still sleeping, he wouldn't be allowed to go out at all. He hopped up to the top of the stockade fence, ignoring the sparks which rose up around his body.

 

“Going somewhere?” Inuyasha leaned against the fence, arms crossed.

 

Kazuki nearly fell back off the wall. Where did Daddy come from? “I—ah—I was just going to practice with my new sword for a little while,” he stammered, sure Daddy was going to make him go back to the hut. He really didn't see why they had to stay if they couldn't do anything. He might as well be at home.

 

Inuyasha just watched him for a while, as sparks continued to shoot up all around Kazuki. “Doesn't that hurt?” he asked.

 

“Yeah,” Kazuki replied, wondering if it was a trick question. Daddy hadn't told him he had to get down yet. Suddenly, Daddy was perched beside him, and the sparks flew, lifting his hair and fluttering the sleeves of his peasant shirt.

 

“It's not so bad,” Inuyasha commented. He glanced sideways at Kazuki, then looked pointedly out towards the empty training field. “Well? Aren't you going?”

 

Kazuki blinked in surprise. “Um, yeah.” He grinned, and hopped down to the other side of the fence. He waved to his father before trotting to the center of the field and taking out his sword.

 

Inuyasha watched him for a few minutes, letting the sparks gather around him like a halo. Then he dropped down to the village side of the fence and made his way back to Kagome and bed, confident that neither Shippo nor Kouga nor his wolves would spot him. Stupid, complacent youkai, never thinking to look for danger inside the village. The next few days should be interesting.

 

 

 

Kazuki became aware that someone was watching him from the woods beyond the field. The presence was youkai, but not threatening, so he kept on practicing. His sword didn't transform like Daddy's, but that was all right. It was easier to control this way. Totosai said he would grow into it. He couldn't wait to show Uncle Shippo and Uncle Sesshomaru back home, or rather, back in his own time. That had surprised him, that Uncle Shippo and Uncle Sesshomaru could be both here and there, yet the Uncles who were here did not know him. He still didn't really understand about the time difference, not exactly. It seemed more like two different places, to him. Even when he jumped like Fenn's youkai had showed him, he didn't really go very far, just fast. He wondered if it was kind of the same thing.

 

He was still practicing when the village kids came out to train. Hiroshi was eager to see Kazuki's new sword. They formed groups and ran through their routines. This time, Kazuki was one of them.

 

A young wolf-youkai stepped cautiously out from the protection of the trees and Kazuki realized that this was the presence he had sensed earlier. It also was the youkai he and his father had hidden from in the forest. Daichi. He tapped Hiroshi on the shoulder. “Isn't that your friend?” he asked.

 

Hiroshi's face lit up into a big smile. “Daichi!” he called. He ran over to the youkai boy at the edge of the woods.

 

Even though the villagers were familiar with youkai, the youkai were not as trusting of humans. The wolf youkai, especially, tended to keep to themselves, even among the humans they trusted. Daichi, too, had snuck out at dawn hoping to play with his human friends. He was puzzled by the hanyou boy, who looked and acted human, but smelled like a youkai.

 

“Who is he?” he asked Hiroshi, nodding his chin at Kazuki.

 

“That's my friend Kazuki,” explained Hiroshi, beckoning for Kazuki to join them. The rest of the slayer group continued their practice without them.

 

“I meant, what is he,” Daichi clarified. “He's dressed like a slayer, but. . .”

 

Hiroshi beamed, happy that his friend had figured it out so quickly. “He's youkai, like you.”

 

Daichi shook his head. “Not like me. He's dog-youkai. Hanyou, too.”

 

Kazuki nodded. “Yeah. You're wolf-youkai, right? Daichi? Hiroshi told me about you.”

 

“Are you here for the Naming Ceremony?” Daichi asked, a little taken aback at the other boy's good nature. He hadn't even reacted to being called hanyou.

 

“I guess so, I'm not sure,” Kazuki admitted. “We were going home, but now we're staying for a few more days.”

 

“I'm glad. That means we can all play together while you're both here,” said Hiroshi enthusiastically. “Daichi, you want to play `youkai' for our practice?”

 

“Ok!” Daichi had done this before when he came to visit.

 

“Wait, can I be `youkai' too?” asked Kazuki.

 

“No,” decided Daichi. “You're dressed as a slayer. And anyway, you're hanyou.”

 

“Well, then I'll be a slayer hanyou,” said Kazuki. “I bet I can `capture' you before the other slayers do!”

 

“Oh, yeah?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

The game was on. The other slayer kids got into the spirit of it, and it was a free-for-all with everybody chasing after Daichi, who was very, very fast. But Kazuki was fast, too, and true to his word, he eventually tackled Daichi and `caught' the `youkai.'

 

“That's not fair!” Daichi called, squirming out from under Kazuki. “You're youkai; you shouldn't be a slayer too!”

 

“Why not?”

 

Daichi didn't have any answer for that. He finally grudgingly agreed that Kazuki could be both a youkai and a slayer. “But if you can, then so can I.”

 

Kazuki and Daichi both lifted their heads as a familiar scent wafted close. Kazuki saw the youkai who was striding around the village walls towards the practice field.

 

“Uh oh,” murmured Daichi.

 

“Kouga's your father?” asked Kazuki, incredulous. Another Uncle from his time. That meant. . . Kazuki looked at his new friend Daichi in amazement. This was the grown-up Daichi of the wolf-tribe from his time? He'd never even realized.

 

“I gotta go,” Kazuki said, remembering his father's warning. Uncle Kouga must not see him. He hopped back up to the top of the stockade wall, ignoring the sparks that flared up around him, and disappeared over the other side.

 

 

 

Inuyasha lounged on the floor of the hut, while Mayumi played next to him. His eyes followed Kagome as she moved around the small room, straightening things that didn't need to be straightened. “Hey, come here,” he said softly. Mayumi looked up and crawled over his stomach to reach his face. Inuyasha smiled and gently pulled Mayumi back next to his stomach. “Not you,” he said, “Mama.”

 

Kagome knelt down next to him. She looked like she belonged here, with her long skirt and blouse, and her hair all tied up in a kerchief. This is what their life would have been if they had stayed. It was kind of nice, just being together in this time, in this place. He wasn't in any hurry to get back home. “Sit with us for a while,” he said.

 

Kagome settled against Inuyasha's side, wiping her hands on her apron, and just enjoyed the solitude with her husband and daughter. At home, there was so much going on they usually didn't have much time to just sit like this. When they got back, she would make a point of taking the time. “Are you sure Kazuki will be all right?” she asked.

 

“Keh, he's fine,” Inuyasha assured her. “Can't expect him to stay cooped up in here with us all day long. He's got too much energy for that.”

 

Kagome gave him a long look. “He takes after his father that way,” she commented drily. “But what if Kouga or Shippo figure out who he is? Won't that be bad for all of us in the future?”

 

Inuyasha snorted, much to Mayumi's delight. “He takes after me that way, too,” he said. “He won't get caught. Besides,” Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. “We all smell so much like food that even I have a hard time finding the real `us' underneath!” He buried his nose in Kagome's conveniently close stomach as proof, and took a long, deep breath. “Uh, Kagome?”

 

It tickled when he did that, but she didn't discourage him. Thank goodness Mayumi was too little to know exactly what was going on, and thank goodness she was right there with them or something would be going on. “What?” she asked, slightly breathless.

 

“Could you be—are you--?” Inuyasha caught her eyes with his own puzzled gaze. “You smell like you're going to have a baby.” He watched her to see how she was taking the news.

 

Kagome sucked in her breath. “How did that happen?” she asked. Inuyasha waggled his eyebrows, and she slapped him playfully. “That's not what I meant!” she protested, laughing. Another baby. All at once she was excited and apprehensive at the same time. She certainly was keeping up with Sango and Ayame in the baby department! But . . . . “I'm never going to finish school!”

 

Kazuki barreled into the hut and plopped down on the floor. “Is there anything to eat?” he asked.

 

Inuyasha scowled. “You smell like wolf.”

 

“Daddy, did you know Uncle Kouga is here too?” asked Kazuki, ignoring his father's comment. “I didn't know Daichi was his son.”

 

“Did he see you?” asked Kagome, concerned.

 

“Daichi! I told you to stay away from those wolves!” Inuyasha said at the same time.

 

“He doesn't know me—he's just a kid,” protested Kazuki. He tilted his head. “Dad, is he the same Daichi as the one back home?”

 

“What's that got to do with it?”

 

Kagome thought back to her long ago conversation with Sango and Ayame when both of them were pregnant with their boys. At the time, they had all laughed and said someday her child would be the bridge between Sango's human child and Ayame's youkai one, that they would all grow up together and become the best of friends. Kagome had laughed, too, but with a pang of sadness because she knew she would be returning to the future. That was when Kagome had first got the idea for the friendship bracelets. Ayame had completed the circle five hundred years later by presenting her with a third friendship bracelet for Kazuki. Who would have possibly thought that the three little boys from different times would actually become friends? Kagome's eyes misted over.

 

Inuyasha noticed. “Keh,” he mumbled, looking away. “All right, Kazuki, you can play with Daichi, but stay away from his father!”

 

Sango came around and collected Kagome and Mayumi for some women's work to prepare for the feast which would follow the Naming Ceremony. “It's safe,” she assured Inuyasha. “Just our people—none of the youkai will be involved. I thought Kagome and the little one would like to stretch their legs.”

 

“Fine, whatever,” replied Inuyasha. “Go ahead.”

 

He and Kazuki stared at the walls after the women left. “What's this?” asked Kazuki, touching a finger to the stack of sutras Miroku had left behind.

 

“Don't,” cautioned Inuyasha, but it was too late, and Kazuki was knocked half-way across the floor.

 

“Ow,” he said, shaking out his hand.

 

Kazuki ate the food Sango had brought for them and went back to staring at the walls. “Dad, can I go back outside?”

 

Inuyasha hadn't even finished nodding before Kazuki was out the door. Let the kid have fun while he could. As much as Inuyasha pretended to be reckless, he was very much aware of the danger they were in if any of the youkai realized who they were. He kept Tetsusaiga constantly by his side, and kept an ear out for each of his family members in case they had to make a quick getaway back to the future.

 

They really needed a better system if they were going to continue to sneak back to the past. Tetsusaiga kept dumping them back at the old well. Didn't Miroku say he was going to rebuild the well and construct a shrine around it? Might as well put some of his schooling to good use.

 

Inuyasha grabbed the pile of sutras, ignoring the bite of pain in his hands. He didn't have any ink, so he would have to improvise. He spread a few of the sutras out on the floor and gingerly turned them over with the tip of one claw. Smoke rose up from where he touched them. He used one of the dirty bowls from lunch to move the rest of the pile to the side. Now for the ink. He pushed up the sleeve of his left arm and lightly gouged it with a claw, just enough to get the blood flowing. He held his arm down and let his blood drip into the bowl. He needed to do this fast, before his arm healed up.

 

Kagome came back to see Inuyasha crouched in the middle of the floor, tongue poking out from the side of his mouth, as he scratched something on the backs of Miroku's sutras. Every few seconds he would shake out his hand, then go right back to scratching.

 

“Inuyasha! What are you doing? I could feel the energy all the way across the village!” Kagome hissed.

 

Inuyasha blinked. It hadn't occurred to him that a youkai handling holy sutras might send up a warning to anyone sensitive enough to notice such things. Just then, Miroku stormed through the door. “What's going on?” he asked, out of breath. His eyes took in Inuyasha's smoking form and the curling sutras with red diagrams all over them.

 

Inuyasha gathered his pile of sutras and stood, disregarding the sparks and smoke which rose up from them. “Here,” he said, pushing the pile into Miroku's hands.

 

Miroku turned them over. Now that he was touching them, they behaved. “What's this?”

 

Inuyasha's cheeks pinked slightly. “Plans for the well-house shrine,” he mumbled. Then, to Miroku's startled expression, he added, “It's what I do—on the other side.”