InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Present Perfect ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 11:

 

 

At first, Inuyasha just ran. He knew the area, and Kouga didn't. It was dark enough that they didn't have to be careful. He wished he had his fire rat clothes on, but he didn't want Kouga to make any more stupid comments so he ran in what he had on, including his stupid shoes. Suddenly he stopped and pulled off the shoes, much to Kouga's amusement.

 

“What?” he asked Inuyasha. “You can't beat me unless you're barefoot?”

 

“No, I just want to feel stuff. I can't feel anything with these stupid shoes,” growled Inuyasha.

 

“You'd think you never wore shoes before,” laughed Kouga. Then he caught the expression on Inuyasha's face. “You haven't worn shoes very long, have you? Just what happened to you these last 500 years?”

 

Inuyasha wasn't ready to have that conversation yet. He took off running. “See if you can keep up.”

 

He brought Kouga by Fenn's place, Fenn's fake place, he had no idea where Fenn really lived, in hopes that Fenn would be there, but tonight it was just a swamp. He put on an extra burst of speed and headed northward. He really didn't intend to bring Kouga by the house, but somehow he ended up there. He always seemed to end up there.

 

He continued until he spotted the structure, mostly complete now, and with a flying leap he landed on the roof. The next thing he saw was a wall of sparks, a flash of light, and immediately following, a tremendous bang. Oh yeah, the barrier.

 

Quickly he hopped down from the roof and went to investigate. Kouga lay flat on his back on the other side of the invisible barrier, groaning softly.

 

“Sorry,” he said, not really sorry at all. He was glad to know the barrier worked so well. “Barrier.”

 

“How did you get in?” Kouga wanted to know.

 

“It's my barrier,” replied Inuyasha. “Mine and Kagome's.” He figured he might as well tell Kouga the truth since he couldn't pass the barrier anyway. “This is our house.”

 

Kouga was impressed. He could see clearly enough in the scant moonlight to get a good idea of the size and layout. It wasn't a mansion, but it was good-sized. Good location, too. He peered a little more closely. Were those youkai he spotted next to the house? They were! How did they get past the barrier?

 

“Yours?” he asked Inuyasha, gesturing at the little youkai who were slowly approaching. They gatherered around Inuyasha and stared at the wolf-youkai in curiosity. They didn't seem afraid of him. It was as if they knew he couldn't penetrate the barrier.

 

“Well, are you going to let me in?” asked Kouga.

 

“I would,” said Inuyasha, not really meaning it, “but I can't. Only Kagome can let down the barrier.” He figured they were done running for the moment, so now would be as good a time as any to talk. Inuyasha stepped casually through the barrier, which did not react at all to his presence. He sat down, cross-legged, next to Kouga, who by this time had propped himself up to a sitting position. Inuyasha could smell the burn marks on his skin, and he winced. He hadn't meant for the wolf to actually get hurt. “Are you Ok?” he asked.

 

“A little barrier isn't enough to hurt me,” boasted Kouga. “I'll live.”

 

They sat, staring up at the moon through the trees. Slowly Inuyasha's little youkai popped through the barrier and settled around them until Inuyasha, irritated, said, “Go home,” with a wave of his arms. They scattered, leaving the two greater youkai to themselves.

 

“How'd you end up with them?” asked Kouga.

 

“I don't know, they just appeared and started following me around. They're mine,” he added.

“I can see that,” said Kouga in all seriousness. “And the kids at the cafeteria?”

 

“Mine.”

 

“That Fenn guy?”

 

“Mine.” Inuyasha wasn't sure how Fenn would feel about it, but yes, he and all the other new world youkai were Inuyasha's too, whether they knew it or not.

 

“I thought so. You've made yourself a home here, then.” Kouga stated.

 

Inuyasha thought about it. He guessed he had. Or he would, if he could get that piece of Sengoku Jidai business finished. “Kouga,” he began, “there's some things you don't know about me and Kagome. I can't explain it now. But trust me when I say I really don't remember what you say happened to me back then.”

 

“You mean when you died—disappeared?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Inuyasha didn't know if telling Kouga about the time slip would cause more harm than good at this point. Here the guy was, thanking him for saving his kid, and he basically wanted to tell him that he hadn't done it yet, that he might not do it at all? No, he couldn't do that.

 

Instead he asked softly, “What's it like now, in Japan? I saw the pictures of your kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, whatever. And I've talked a little bit to Sesshomaru, but you know how that is. I might as well be talking to a wall. I've been away a long time. Tell me what happened.”

 

Kouga grunted. “Don't judge Sesshomaru too harshly,” he cautioned. “You don't know what he's been through either. You should really come to Japan and see how we live in the human world,” said Kouga. “We have whole towns where everyone is either youkai or hanyou or knows about youkai and hanyou. We keep the old ways still, although we aren't as backward as you are. See for yourself what Sesshomaru has accomplished before you jump to conclusions. You might be surprised. He cares a lot about us.”

 

“Sesshomaru?” Was this the same Sesshomaru who had told him to control his humans or he'd do it for him? That Sesshomaru? “I'd love to see that,” he muttered. “Kouga, can you just tell me what happened that time I disappeared? Start at the beginning like I don't know anything. `Cause I don't.”

 

“Things were quiet for most of that spring,” Kouga remembered. “That slayer kid, Kohaku, came around once or twice after Ayame had the baby. He brought Sesshomaru—with my permission, of course—but not the little girl. We talked. Mostly about the humans, and how they were spreading out more and more. Sesshomaru warned us to be careful.

 

“Kohaku brought us the news when Sango had her son. He said she had promised Kagome to come see us as soon as she could travel, but it was getting dangerous for humans on the road, even slayers, especially slayers with newborns.

 

“Sesshomaru had been keeping watch on youkai groupings. You should remember this part—you told me to beware of fading away if we withdrew too much from the world. You were right—a lot of youkai just disappeared. But not all of them. I'm not talking about my wolves or the ones who had some connection to you or to Sesshomaru's group. I'm talking about youkai who turned violent, crazed, attacking anything with a heartbeat in some pathetic attempt to keep their place in the world.” Kouga turned towards Inuyasha. “After you disappeared that day, Sesshomaru and I spent the next hundred years in a systematic hunt for the youkai stragglers you didn't manage to take out with you.”

 

Inuyasha listened quietly. He and Kagome never should have left. They had needed him there, and he was off playing house in the future. Never mind that these future youkai needed him too. He should have stayed. “What happened with the kids?”

 

“Ayame and I decided we would come to the slayer's village instead. Our boy was a few months old already, and he was a wolf-cub. It would be safer for us to travel there. So we planned to meet for the new baby's naming ceremony. You really don't remember any of this? You were there.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head.

 

“You were holding Sango's baby when we got to the slayer's village. You had the strangest look on your face. I remember, because I teased you about it, right before Ayame let you hold our son, too. Do you remember what you said? Of course you don't. You said, `Meet your brother,' to each baby.

 

Inuyasha shivered. It had the ring of truth to it. “What happened next?” he asked.

 

Kouga reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask. He took a swig and passed the bottle to Inuyasha, who sniffed at it cautiously. “Sake?” he said. Inuyasha sniffed again, decided why not, and took a sip. Not as sweet as Kagome's, but still nice. He took another sip, and closed his eyes.

 

Kouga continued. “We had the ceremony, Miroku presented both Ayame and Sango with Kagome's gift, and then we left. You insisted on accompanying us back at least part of the way. I wasn't too happy about that at the time. Later I was grateful you were there. Kohaku and the little girl came with us as far as Kaede's village.

 

“It wasn't far from the village that the first attack came. There were hundreds of them, mostly unorganized, but some of the higher youkai were obviously behind it all, controlling the hordes. They went after the human kids, naturally, and you and I took them out, while Ayame guarded the two humans and our own young one.”

 

“Where was Sesshomaru? I thought he kept an eye on Kaede's village,” said Inuyasha. It was hard to believe his brother would have let his precious Rin come into danger.

 

“Turns out he was battling the main group of youkai on the opposite end of the forest,” replied Kouga. “We didn't find that out until later, at the well.”

 

“Oh,” said Inuyasha. The well. Where it all ended.

 

“This is where it gets bad,” said Kouga in a quiet voice. “Miroku and Sango were suddenly there, on Kirara, and they had their newborn son with them.”

 

“What! I thought you said I had told them to stay in their village!”

 

“Well, they didn't listen.”

 

“Next time I'll tie them to their hut,” muttered Inuyasha darkly.

 

Kouga gave him an odd look. “What?”

 

“Never mind, go on.”

 

“There's not much to say. Like a fool, I ran after a group of youkai and left Ayame and the children wide open. By the time I looked back, they were surrounded. You saw what was going on and grabbed my son and Rin out of the way. Sesshomaru has never forgotten that you saved Rin that day too. You brought them both to Kirara and yelled at Sango and Miroku to get the hell out of there, before you jumped right back into the battle.” Kouga sighed. “If only that had been the end of it. Kirara brought them to the well inside your old forest. I don't know why they went there. Later, Miroku told me it was the one place you'd know to look for them. Luckily, he was right. We wiped out most of that group and started following Kirara's trail. By that time, there was so much blood and youki flying around that I couldn't smell my own scent, let alone anyone else's. So I followed you, straight to that well. Kohaku was able to move all right, but Ayame had some wounds to her arms and legs that slowed her down. When I got to the well, you were already there, standing on the top of it with the two babes in one arm, and your sword in the other. Miroku and Sango were both unconscious, with Kirara standing over them, herself badly wounded. Rin was beside them, tending to their wounds. I still don't know exactly what happened. All Rin would ever say was, `He saved us.'

 

“Then you yelled, `Catch!' and threw the babies to me. The youkai were about to swarm back to where we were standing when you let your sword flare, drawing their attention back to you. They rushed you, hundreds of them all at once, and I thought for sure you would use one of your attacks to take them out, but you didn't. You stepped backwards and fell into the well. They all swarmed in after you. I tried attacking some of them from the front, but it was no good. I wasn't making a dent. Suddenly I felt a tingle of powerful youki, and I screamed at everybody to get back. The next thing I know, a black line opened up from the inside of the well and stretched up towards the sky. It was the most powerful thing I've ever felt. A great blast shook the earth, and the well exploded outwards. The youkai were gone. So were you.”

 

Kouga took another drink and passed the bottle to Inuyasha. Neither of them said anything while they slowly finished the bottle.

 

“So you see, we all really did think you were dead. And I owe you. We all do. Now, do you have anything to eat in this woods of yours that isn't cooked to death?”

 

The conversation was over, for now. Inuyasha still had some questions about what had happened since that day, but they could wait. He knew now that he and Kagome would be going back to Japan this summer. He would take Kouga's suggestion and visit some of the youkai and hanyou enclaves in Japan, and see how they did it there. And he needed to talk to Kagome about going back—about him going back—alone. She wasn't going to like it.

 

“Yeah, we have these little things with fluffy tails that are pretty tasty,” Inuyasha told him.

 

“You mean squirrels?” Kouga wondered, for the tenth time that day, just where Inuyasha had been all these years.

 

 

It was late when Inuyasha crawled in through their bedroom window. Force of habit. He'd forgotten his keys, anyway. Kagome, thankfully, was asleep. He stripped and crawled into bed beside her. No matter what happened, he wanted to make the most of these next few months. He nuzzled the side of her neck.

 

“Inuyasha?” Kagome opened her eyes, happy to see him home at last. “Where's Kouga?”

 

Not the response he was hoping for. “Back at the hotel,” he grumbled.

 

“Good.” Kagome sniffed. “Inuyasha, have you been drinking?”

 

“Yes? Kouga had some sake,” he explained. “We talked.”

 

“I'm glad to see you two are getting along,” she said.

 

This really wasn't going in the direction he had hoped. Might as well kill the moment completely. “Kagome, I have to go back.”

 

She stiffened, then let the tension drain out of her body. She had known eventually he would come to this decision. It was the only decision, really. “I know,” she replied. “I want to go back with you.”

 

“We'll talk about it later,” Inuyasha evaded. Kagome knew quite well he had no intention of letting her come along. They'd just have to see about that. In the meantime, she wanted to make the most of these next few months they had together. She reached for him and drew him close.

 

Later, much later, Inuyasha had to admit to himself that he would never understand women.

 

The next morning, Kagome put another item in her top drawer, next to Inuyasha's restraining beads and her miko clothes.