InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Years Pass On ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 2

I'd looked in on the old shrine some years ago. I was surprised at how much time had passed since I'd last been there, but of course, it isn't the same for me. The family had grown during my absence; Higurashi had two grandchildren now. I'd missed an entire generation. Somehow it was the little girl that caught my eye - she must have been four or five then. It was funny - I got a sort of jolt from seeing her, I suppose it might be from really seeing for the first time how many years had passed since I'd last seen them. In the beginning, I'd dropped by quite frequently under the guise of seeing how my pet project was going, but I'd stopped long before the shrine took on the appearance it has now (it's really quite nice) because I didn't want the old man realizing that I don't change any. I had a special interest in the Higurashi family - they were protecting my past. I stayed away from their eyes, though I swear that little girl knew I was there. She looked straight at the branches of the Goshinboku where I was sitting for a long time, then flounced away, as if whatever she suspected no longer concerned her. I have this thing for trees and I was waiting for it to turn dark, so I could poke around without fear of old Higurashi recognizing me from fifty or so years before. After all, I obviously haven't changed any.

But there's something about the Higurashi shrine that calls to me. I felt it for the first time that day. When I gave the land deed to old Higurashi and some money, the `shrine' consisted of the tree and the well. The village from the Sengoku Jidai that I'd first known was long gone, and little else remained from the original shrine of the Shikon no Tama either. But by the time that little girl was born the old man had made something of it. That day I experienced a very strong feeling of deja vu, though I'd never before seen the shrine in its completion. I also got a strong urge to go up to one of the windows, open it, and go inside - as if someone would be waiting there for me, not surprised in the least that a man (not to mention a perfect stranger) would come in their home via the window. I felt that I would be welcomed. So I left, before I did anything rash. There's something about that little girl-well, I suppose she isn't so little anymore.

I shook my head in order to bring myself back to reality so I could disembark from the plane. As soon as I stepped off the plane and into the airport, I realized that something about Tokyo was inherently different. There was something of a spiritual nature that hadn't been there before. I recognized the feeling after a moment - it was the same feeling I'd gotten when the little girl had seemed to spot me in the branches of the Goshinboku a few years ago. It was stronger now. I decided that it was time I openly paid a visit to the Higurashi shrine, at the risk of being recognized.

But first things first. I didn't know how long I was going to stay here, so I'd made reservations at a hotel not far from the Higurashi shrine, for a few weeks. If I wanted to stay longer, I might look into getting some sort of flat in the same area. I'd been to the Japan more and more lately - it wouldn't hurt to have some permanent lodgings again. I walked lazily over to the window and looked over what I could see of the city. Thought I'd often gone decades, or even centuries without seeing Japan, Tokyo had been emitting a pull in recent years unlike any before. Even I couldn't ignore it, so I'd been visiting more often than usual, though that might also be due to the ease of travel in this day and age.

I got into a cab and slowly made my way to my hotel - or at least, that was my intention. But a sudden desire to see the old sword again sidetracked me. It was one of the few relics from my past, that and a strange affinity for the color red. It was somewhat pathetic, actually. It's an old, beaten up Katana that couldn't even slice bread, but I'd never been able to let go of it. My friend Miroku had told me that it was called Tetsusaiga, and had been given to me by my father. It was supposed to have some sort of magical power, though I'd never found it to have any, and had been forced to get another quickly in order to survive Feudal Japan. Another fact that has been lost in the history books is that the mythical youkai were real, and it was difficult for humans to survive - people today rarely realize the sort of things their ancestors had to deal with hundreds of years in the past, because everything's been romanticized to some semblance of our present life. To put it bluntly, life in the feudal age was hell compared to today. But I couldn't help feeling back then that I was lucky, to have friends like I did, even if they wouldn't tell me the secrets of my past. They seemed to think it was for my own good, and I've long since forgiven them.

I'd put Tetsusaiga in one of those security boxes in the bank since I move around a lot, and didn't want to lose it. My old coat of fire rats fur was in there as well, the first clothes I'd ever owned. They'd been through a lot, but had never shown much wear and tear. The nature of the material prevents it. Fire Rat's fur is better than any armor. How many times had they saved my life back in feudal times? Luckily, in this day and age, almost all Youkai were dead, and the rest - well, they'd taken human forms and blended into society. They were the most powerful youkai of all, the ones that I always had to watch out for, even now, so nothing had changed in that respect.

I stopped off to get the sword - taking it with me for some reason unknown. I didn't bother to ask questions about my motives since I knew I wouldn't find any answers. I made it to the hotel without any other notable distractions. I was tired and worn out from the overnight flight, but since I had the old Katana in hand for the first time in many years, I decided that I would practice some swordplay - just to see if I could still remember it, you understand. Back then, I tended to just swing it around until I hit something vital, and as time progressed, I'd soon found that I needed at least some finesse. So I'd actually swallowed my pride at one point and gotten some instruction. It helped a lot, but I was a bit afraid I was losing my touch these days, so I practiced whenever possible. I did own more than one katana after all. Usually they decorated my wall. Because I have all kinds of strange artifacts from my long life, I have to have some kind of cover story. I tell people I'm a collector. No one has any idea that I know how to use all the medieval weapons I own rather well, from experience. I'm not very big, or particularly dangerous looking. Anyway, kendo exercises can get repetitive, and I managed to put myself to sleep with them. It was several hours before I awoke.

~~~

I was surprised to find myself sitting with my back against the wall, cross-legged, hugging Tetsusaiga when I awoke. It was the old fighter's sleeping position, so as to be always at the ready. I hadn't slept like this in years. I decided that I needed a walk. All at once, I had an insane urge to go out the window. But I was used to strange urges like that, it was similar to the one that made me climb trees, only I didn't succumb to this one as often. I did actually consider it for a moment, until I remembered exactly how high up I was. When your room is on the tenth floor, you definitely want to take the elevator. So I did, even remembering to leave Tetsusaiga behind, though I almost ran out the door with my naked sword in my hand. Tetsusaiga's blunt, so it isn't much of a threat, but that sort of action would almost certainly attract certain questions. I changed into some `casual clothes,' or a definite absence of business suits and left my room. Checking my watch, I was glad to find that it was quite late: Two O'clock in the morning. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone at the moment, or even having to see anyone.

Once I reached the lobby, I made a beeline for the door. I was staying in a really posh hotel, and when I got out of the doors, a security guard snapped to attention, looking surprised, and asked if I needed a taxi. I shook my head and strolled off down the street, aware that he was probably staring after me incredulously. Not that I cared.

I was only a few blocks from the shrine, so I knew I'd probably end up there eventually. Roaming the streets of Tokyo in the middle of the night probably wasn't the most intelligent thing I had ever done in my life, but then again, I wasn't exactly helpless. Perhaps it was just habit brought over from the more turbulent times of the past, but I never went anywhere unarmed. The gun was perhaps the most terrible abomination humanity has ever created after the atomic bomb, but it was useful when attacked - not that'd I've had to use it often, of course. Like I've stated before, five centuries more life than normal humans gives you a lot of time for leisure, so I'd not only gotten much needed instruction in the sword, but in the other fighting arts as well. I am a positive encyclopedia of destructive knowledge.

I stopped. "Youki!" I whispered and ducked into an ally, where I crouched, waiting. I hadn't felt so much evil energy since…well, it was a long time ago. Of course, I knew that the world's most powerful youkai were hidden throughout the world as humans, but they couldn't be the source. It was a necessary precaution, considering that if they revealed themselves they'd probably become someone's science experiment. I'm a bit more sensitive than other humans to supernatural energy and presence for reasons probably related to the fact that I don't age, but even normal humans can feel strong youki, so the youkai in hiding hid their youki as well as their natural appearance.

I couldn't imagine what could be going on here. Unless…my heart skipped a beat. There were those youkai, the ones that refused to conform. It was a pitiful existence, mostly in the fighting pits of the world's most disturbed crime lords, nothing more than animals. I had also heard that a few of the more powerful ones that hid themselves as humans had been captured and were being held there because they'd caused trouble for the wrong people, though I didn't know how true it was. But still, having survived this long, even the youkai in the pits were powerful, and it wouldn't surprise me to find that one of them had such powerful energy - but what was one doing walking through Tokyo in the middle of the night. When they weren't fighting, those youkai were kept under magical lock and key. It was impossible for them to escape. So, what did that leave?

I slowly rose to my feet, once the weight of the youki had passed on. Was it going on towards the shrine or was it just me? No, that was ridiculous. There was nothing special about my shrine anymore, and there hadn't been since before even I could remember. The Shikon no Tama had disappeared off the face of this earth, and there had been no sign of it for five hundred years. It was said that my namesake, Lord Inuyasha, destroyed it by making a wish that purified the jewel, thus destroying it, though no one ever came up with a good idea of what happened to him afterwards. Walking cautiously out of the alley, I continued on my way, my anxiety about my shrine quickening my steps.

~~~

The young man he was following stepped out of the alley he'd ducked into and the dark figure began to follow at a distance once again. He seemed agitated now - where he'd previously been walking along at a languid pace, his steps were quick and purposeful. Ho, so he could still feel evil energy, could he, even in his grossly altered form. Well - the pursuer smiled a bit - the alteration hadn't been so much of a stretch, now that he thought about it. He'd had his doubts about the human body, but apparently it wasn't completely useless. He, on the other hand, hadn't changed much, even when he'd started to make himself pass as a loathsome human. Despite the fact that he spent almost all his time now in the company of humans, there were still a precious few that he could stand, and the most dear of which had died centuries before. As he walked along behind his target, he basked in the sharpened senses he was allowing himself under the cover of night. Usually he created the illusion of a normal Japanese male, if a bit tall. But at the moment, he was almost completely in the form he had been born into: silver hair past his waist, yellow eyes, and poisonous claws. No mere human, but a full-blooded youkai, Sesshoumaru - Lord of the Western Lands.