Kagome studied the nearly spherical jewel the old monk
placed reverently into her hand. "How did you get this, houshi-sama?"
The monk settled on a chaff-filled cushion Kaede laid
down for him. "Mine is a strange story, young lady, but I sense you
are the person destined to hear it."
In the corner, Inu-Yasha snorted quietly. Destiny,
fate, the will of kami; that was all monks and priests wanted to talk
about. The sun was peeking in the top of the window, crawling slowly
toward the horizon, and he recognized the distant tingle in his blood.
New moon tonight. With any luck, the damned monk would tell his stupid
tale and be gone before the light failed. The last thing Inu-Yasha
wanted tonight was strangers nearby.
Now the old woman was settling down as well. "Tell
us thy tale, houshi-dono. Kagome and Inu-Yasha have long been
seeking the remaining piece of the Shikon no Tama. We were beginning
to fear that it was lost to us forever."
"I will, and gladly," the monk began, "but may I first
ask a favor? I have heard the tales of the Seekers of the Jewel.
May I watch as Lady Kagome restores the jewel to its rightful state?"
Kagome's eyes shifted to Inu-Yasha, and she could almost
see him sniffing carefully, trying to detect anything improper in the old
man. He caught her eyes and shrugged, up to you, but she saw
him move his hand a little closer to the Tetsusaiga's hilt, should his fading
senses be fooled. The corner of Kagome's mouth twitched in a smile,
and she nodded faintly.
"Seems fair enough to me." She pulled the remaining
jewel shards out from beneath her uniform blouse, the precious few they had
managed to keep from Naraku's evil grasp. Dropping the jewel into her
palm on top of the shards, she closed her other hand over it. "This
might get a bit bright. I still can't control it very well." With
that, she closed her eyes, focusing her will on merging the fragments.
Pink-white light flared through her fingers, dazzling the rooms occupants,
and when they could see again, Kagome was holding the jewel by a fine chain
as it turned, whole and perfect in the afternoon sun.
Inu-Yasha leaned forward, amber eyes gleaming.
"Is it…?"
Kagome nodded, dropping it back into the neck of her
blouse. "That's it. It's complete." She slid sideways,
sitting on the floor, legs tucked to the side. "Whew! That certainly
knocks a girl for a loop."
"Does thee need to rest, Kagome?" Kaede asked.
Over the years, the girl had almost become a second sister to her.
Kagome shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine."
She took a sip of tea. "Will you tell us your story now, houshi-sama?"
The monk sipped the tea Kaede offered him. "I certainly
owe you my tale after the honor you have given me." He settled himself
more comfortably on the cushion. "I have served a small village a few
ri north of here most of my adult life, guiding souls to the after
world, helping people to honor the ancestors, protecting the villagers from
harmful youkai, as much as my pitiful efforts are able. We are
a small village; we have no great shrine, and hence, no miko. Or
rather, we had no miko. A few weeks ago, a woman came to our
village, in the dress of a priestess, and asked if we might have a place for
her. It was immediately clear that she was powerful, though very sad,
and of course we made her welcome. She was particularly beloved by
the children, and it was clear she loved them in return, for she spent hours
each day with them.
"A few days ago, another stranger appeared in our village,
though one not so welcome. From the tales we had heard, I think all
were able to surmise that it was the youkai Naraku. The priestess
seemed to recognize the demon, and ordered him out, but he refused to go."
The monk took another sip of tea. "They fought, physically exchanging
blows and grappling in the square. They ended up in one of the village
huts, and we lost sight of them. Then the hut burst into flames.
The fire was so intense that we were unable to draw near enough to extinguish
it. Once the fire burned itself out and we were able to get in, we found
only some earth on the remains of the floor, some scraps of a white fur,
and the jewel."
Inu-Yasha leaned forward, eyes burning. "Was her
name Kikyo?" he growled, baring a hint of fang.
The monk turned a little. "She would not give us
her name, noble lord. She said she had disgraced her ancestors, and
that once she had earned her redemption, she might one day be worthy of her
name again."
Inu-Yasha slouched back into the corner. "I ain’t
no ‘noble lord,’" he muttered.
"Are you not Lord Inu-Yasha, younger son of the Lord
Inu-Youkai, Great Demon of Western Lands? Was your lady mother not
a member of one of the great families?" Kaede pointed out. "I
think you are more noble than you like to believe, Inu-Yasha."
Inu-Yasha sat, muttering to himself. The tingling
was becoming more and more noticeable, and soon his hair and eyes would turn,
displaying his weakness to the monk, a thing he was loathe to do.
The monk was continuing his tale. "The youkai
Naraku did address her by that name, though."
Inu-Yasha jumped to his feet. "So what happened?!
Where’s Kikyo now?"
The monk looked puzzled. "But I have already told
you, Lord Inu-Yasha. She perished in the fire. She and Naraku
both burned to death in the flames."
There was a moment of stunned silence, then the sound
of pounding footsteps outside mingled with the crash of a shattered cup and
the unworldly wail of a grieving hanyou.
Kagome blinked, taking in everything that had just occurred,
then set her own cup down quickly. "Thanks so much for coming, we appreciate
the news, have to run now," she jabbered, scrambling to her feet and following
Inu-Yasha into the forest.
He was up in the branches of the old Goshin-boku when
she caught up with him, breathing hard from the run after exerting herself
to repair the jewel. The youkai death-wail was fading away in
the darkening sky, and Kagome could no longer see the setting sun through
the dense forest. The barest glimmers of light still touched his red
haori, and as he swiped furiously at his face, she could just catch
a glimpse of the shine of tear tracks. He didn't acknowledge her presence,
but she knew he was aware of her. Inu-Yasha was always aware of her.
A poem from her English studies class sprang to mind,
and she spoke without thinking.
"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those that favor fire."
"What's that gibberish supposed to mean?"
For a moment, Kagome forgot that she had recited the
words in English. Quickly, she repeated it in Japanese. It didn't
rhyme, but the sense of the words came through fine.
Above her, Inu-Yasha snorted. "Like you know anything
about it."
A sharp retort sprang to the top of her tongue, but she
bit it back. "I learned it at school. It's by an American poet.
He wrote a lot of neat things." She wasn't sure that her studies were
exactly what they should be talking about, but at least they were talking.
There was a heavy thud beside her, and a muttered curse,
and she knew that Inu-Yasha's transformation was complete. He always
forgot at first that he was fully human. Maybe a sprained ankle would
be an easier reminder than a near gutting by some demon or another.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," he muttered.
The words were so softly spoken that had she been even a step further away,
she wouldn't have heard them.
"What wasn't?" she asked. They were talking about
it now, or at least, she hoped so.
He waved a frustrated, clawless hand. "This… it….
Everything. I was supposed to kill him. I was supposed to end
it. And then…"
"Then?" Kagome prompted.
"Then…" he sighed. "I was going to see that whatever
that clay Kikyo was using for a soul was put to rest and I was gonna…
It don't matter now, anyway." He crossed the clearing to flop onto the
ground, leaning up against the side of the well-shaft.
Kagome settled down beside him, sliding a cautious arm
around his shoulders. "I'd still like to hear it."
His head tilted back, resting on her arm, hair sliding
back to bare his face to the starlight. "I wanted to… I mean,
I hoped…. Kagome, there ain't no good way to say it. Not now.
I don't got a lot of pretty words."
"So just use the ones you have," she encouraged.
"You're gonna hate me," he whined. Amazing, how
much the human boy could be like his hanyou counterpart.
"You know I won't," she promised. "I told you that
day how I felt. You know I love you."
His head rolled to the side, so his face was inches from
hers. "I love you too, Kagome. When it was all over, Naraku dead
and Kikyo's spirit at rest, I wanted us to be together."
Oh, Kami-sama help me, Kagome thought, staring
into his dark human eyes. It was her dream, that one day he would turn
to her and tell her these things, that in the end he would choose her.
And now it was almost too much. "Inu-Yasha," she began, but he shushed
her.
"Shhh, Kagome. Don't talk." He leaned forward,
staring into his eyes, until they were too close and her own eyes closed.
Then his lips were on hers, soft and warm, and her heart raced and blood pounded
in her ears.
"Love you, Kagome," she heard him whisper. "Always
loved you."
And it was better than any dream she'd had in her entire
life.
Gray pre-dawn light filtered through the trees, waking
Kagome where she lay curled in Inu-Yasha's embrace under the red haori.
She blinked a few times to clear the sleep from her eyes, then they went
round as realization hit her. Carefully, she rolled, shivering a little
as Inu-Yasha's hand brushed along her skin. One look at his bare shoulders
above their make-shift blanket was enough to confirm her fears, and she scooted
slowly from his grip and scurried about the clearing, setting herself to rights.
Feeling a little more in control, she knelt on the ground
next to him, noting absently that the sun had risen during her furious race
to dress, and his white hair and silky ears were back. And as soon as
he was awake, his attitude would be back as well.
The thought froze Kagome as she was reaching to wake
him. The biting words would be back, the sneers, the cool glances,
more cutting than a hundred Kaze no Kizu. And there was no doubt
in her mind that he would be that cruel this morning, not to deliberately
hurt her, but because his thoughts and feelings would be in the same whirlwind
as hers.
She couldn't be here when he woke, couldn't be in the
village when he went back, couldn't face him today. But she could go
home and close, really seal the well. Just for a day or so. Just
long enough to get a grip on these feelings, to give him time to sort it out
too. Just a few days. And then it would be all right again.
She looked at him again, head lying in the shade of the
Goshin-boku, faint smile on his lips. The temptation was so strong
to kiss him, but she held back. That would open the whole can of worms
she was hoping to bury forever. The wind shifted a leaf, and a ray
of light fell on his rosary, making the beads sparkle. She reached out
and touched them gently, focusing her will and breaking the enchantment on
them. They flared white for a moment, then faded dark again. She
was almost certain they were inert now, but she had to check, hoping desperately
she was right.
"Sit, boy."
Inu-Yasha rolled and stretched, but showed no sign of
being forced to the earth. He was showing signs of waking soon,
so Kagome hurried. She pulled the Shikon necklace off and pressed the
jewel into Inu-Yasha's out-stretched hand.
"You get your wish, Inu-Yasha. Whatever it is,
you get it."
He was stirring again, and she had to move quickly.
"I'll see you again in a few days. When I know I can take it.
I love you, Inu-Yasha, forever. I just can't deal with it now."
She pulled herself over the lip of the well-head. "Sayonara,
love." She let herself fall, realizing as she floated down exactly what
she had said. It wasn’t ‘ja ne, see you later,’ that had popped
out of her mouth, but ‘good-bye forever.’
Kagome landed with a bump at the bottom of the well,
staring up at the roof beams of the shrine over head. Swiftly she rolled
over and pushed herself to her knees, leaning own to rest her palms on the
dirt. "Seal this path from all who try to cross, until by my power
it is opened again," she murmured. Light flared again, and she could
feel the closing of the door between times.
She pushed herself to her feet, wincing as sore muscles
protested. "Time for a hot bath," she said to herself, climbing out
of the well. "And breakfast, too."
In the Sengoku Jidai, the silence of Inu-Yasha's
Forest was shattered by a shouting voice.
"Kagome!"
Ten Years Later
Tetsuko wiggled the narrow strip of metal in the key-hole
of the lock. Her mother had told her more than once that there was nothing
in the shrine for her, and kept it firmly locked up on the days she wasn't
performing her ceremonial duties over it. But still, Tetsuko felt a
driving need to get inside and really look around in peace, without her mother
shooing her out.
She twisted the metal a little more, and with a pop,
the lock came free in her hand. She crowed with delight and pulled
it from the iron rings set in the door, but hastily stuffed it back and jumped
from the covered walkway around the outside of the shrine when she heard
the front door of the house open, racing to the roots of the old tree in
the courtyard. After all, she wasn't the fastest runner in her class
for nothing.
"Tetsuko, I'm going to the market. Don't go out
of the yard, okay?"
Kagome looked over to her daughter, perched on a low
branch, nose buried deep in the pages of a manga. "Tetsuko, did you
hear me?"
The manga dropped down, revealing light brown eyes and
a wide, innocent smile. "Yes, Mom. I heard you. I'll be
good."
Kagome sighed to herself. She recognized the innocent
act for what it was, but so many things went on in her daughter's mind that
there was no telling exactly what she was trying to get up to. The best
she could hope for was to get back and get a handle on things before they
got too bad. "Stay out of trouble," she called before going out the
gate and starting down the steps.
Tetsuko waited until her mother's head disappeared from
view, then tossed her book back to the ground and jumped after it. Ignoring
it in the dust, she scampered back up to the shrine door and pulled the open
lock free, tossing it heedlessly into the dirt, and racing into the tiny
room.
It was cool and dark in the shrine, and Tetsuko looked
around in wonder. Her mother never let her play in here, or hardly come
in, even. Kagome did the sweeping and upkeep herself, leaving Tetsuko
the unenviable tasks of raking and sweeping the courtyard. She pushed
her blue school-cap farther back on her head, feeling locks of her unruly
black hair slipping free. Too bad her mother wouldn’t let her just
cut it all off and be done with it, really.
She tripped quickly down the steps to the dirt floor
and approached the well-head in the center of the room. It was sealed
as well, heavy doors locked in place with another heavy lock, and Tetsuko
grinned. Time for the great cat-burglar to employ her mighty lock-picking
skills again.
She slid the thin metal in and twisted it slightly, but
this lock, a much heavier cousin to its former counterpart on the door, didn't
budge, and instead, the great cat-burglar found herself with a twisted bit
of metal for her trouble.
"A challenge, huh? Just wait. I'll get you
yet." She bent the metal in half and pressed it flat, sliding it in
and wiggling it again. The results were a little more satisfactory this
time. The tool didn't bend, though it didn't seem to be doing much
toward opening the lock either.
Tetsuko wrinkled her nose in exasperation. She
didn't have much time to mess with the lock if she wanted to see what was
in the well and the shrine before getting everything fixed up again in time
to be ensconced in the tree once more for Kagome's return.
She kicked the well-head in frustration. "I don't
have time for this. Open up, damn it! I want in!"
There was a flash of light, and Tetsuko was thrown back
from the well. She blinked a few times to clear her head, and when she
could see again, she realized that the heavy doors, formerly locked shut,
were now lying open on the edge of the well.
Tetsuko smiled and picked herself up. "Well, that's
more like it. So what's in here?" She leaned over the edge of
the well, but couldn't see much, beyond an old ladder fixed to the side.
And down in the depths, something sparkled at her.
"That's more like it," she murmured, swinging herself
onto the ladder. "Now this is an adventure." She scrambled down
the ladder and jumped off at the bottom. The sparkling item turned out
to be a shining pearl-like jewel on a gold chain. She picked it up
and cupped it in her hand. "Now where did you come from?"
Around her, the world dissolved, and she was falling
slowly through a blur of mists.
The world reformed around her, and Tetsuko waited as
the worst of her dizziness passed. Never a nervous or delicate child,
she took in the changes around her with a steady eye. There were bones
littered around her feet, as well as leaves and branches, and the sky was
blue overhead. Vines snaked down the walls, which seemed fortunate,
considering the ladder was gone. With a sigh, Tetsuko tugged on a vine.
It seemed strong enough to bear her weight, but she'd need both hands to make
the climb. She slung the chain over her head and tucked the jewel inside
her shirt. She didn't want it getting hung up on the vines. Jewel
secure, and shoe-laces tightened, she started her climb.
Kagome lifted her head, tilting her face up to feel the
warmth of the summer sun, closing her eyes to savor the feel. She inhaled
deeply, trying to ignore the smells of exhaust and pollution and focus on
the scents of trees, grass, the flowers belonging to the vendor on the corner.
But it was impossible. She was firmly entrenched in the 21st century,
and the Sengoku Jidai was a decade in her past.
It had all gotten out of hand so quickly. A day
turned into a week as she waited for her monthly visitor, then a month when
it didn't arrive and she quietly panicked. A visit to her doctor confirmed
her hopes and fears. Pregnant, with Inu-Yasha's baby. It was her
worst nightmare and greatest dream rolled into one.
She meant to go back, to tell him, somehow, but by the
time the worst of the morning sickness had ended, it had been almost three
months after she had left, and there was simply no good way to appear and
say that the best night of her life had brought them to this point.
And her schoolwork, compounded with a genuine illness had near-crippled her
until after the winter break. She had slogged through the last term
of school as best she could, dropping all her clubs and activities and transferring
to a night school when classes started again in April. She filled her
days studying with her grandfather and another shrine-keeper of his acquaintance,
a trained midwife as well. Kagome had been able to open up to the older
women, almost convinced at times that the woman had to be a reincarnation
of old Kaede. She believed Kagome's story, accepting with ease the tale
of Kagome's journeys through the past, her relationship with an arrogant hanyou,
and she had been at Kagome's bedside when she delivered a perfectly normal
looking baby girl.
Now, ten years later, Kagome was Keeper of the Higurashi
Shrine and single mother of a feisty nine-year-old girl. Everyday, she
saw some new part of Inu-Yasha revealed in his daughter, and her heart twisted
again. She was fast, graceful, and filled with an excess of confidence,
bordering on the edge of arrogance. She wondered sometimes how Inu-Yasha's
mother had managed with her own rambunctious and out-going child. Certainly,
it was easier now to have a active ball of energy tearing around the place.
She had taken to locking the Shrine on days it wasn't
open, trying to out-fox her cunning daughter. At first, it was to keep
Tetsuko from falling headfirst into the well and breaking her neck.
But now, as she grew older, Kagome wondered if it wasn't time to let her in
and tell her the story. If it wasn't time to go back. Tetsuko
was bright, and the story that her father was a man Kagome had cared for years
ago wasn't going to hold water much longer.
Kagome trudged up the stairs, market bags in hand.
These certainly don't get any better with age, she thought as the roof
of the Shrine building came into view, followed by the open door. She
raced up the remaining few steps, bags dropped, forgotten just inside the
gate as she ran into the outbuilding. The doors she'd insisted so firmly
be locked in place over the well opening were open as well, their heavy iron
locks twisted into unusable shapes. Kagome looked down into the well,
but there was nothing to see, even in the light of a small battery operated
torch on her key-ring. What the torch couldn't reveal was the power
emanating from the well, the power she'd sealed herself ten years ago.
How…
"Baka," she muttered. "Baka, baka, baka."
She'd spent so many years admiring all of Inu-Yasha's characteristics in her
daughter that she'd completely ignored her own. In another age, she
would have been a respected Shrine-Maiden of respectable power. And
that power would only be increased, mixed with youkai blood, or even
half-youkai. Somehow, Tetsuko had opened the well, Kagome was
almost sure.
First order of business was to find Tetsuko. At
least she didn't go down the well, Kagome thought, retracing her footsteps
back out to the courtyard. She'd have no reason to, really.
I was careful, I never suggested the bedtime stories could be…
Tetsuko's book was tossed in the dirt, the lock from the Shrine door nearby,
inexplicably open, considering the key was in Kagome's pocket, but undamaged.
Picked, Kagome supposed. She wondered idly if Tetsuko had been trying
to pick up new, interesting skills on the sly. Inu-Yasha would have….
Stop thinking about Inu-Yasha! she chastised herself firmly. He's
not involved in this! Kagome ran into the house, searching for Tetsuko.
Tired, sweating, and ready to break out all the words
her mother never let her say, Tetsuko hauled herself over the edge of the
well head and flopped to the ground. It had been a long climb, and while
Tetsuko was by no means inactive, the effort of hauling herself up so far,
relying only on arm strength had been quite an unexpected effort.
She rested on the soft grass a few moments, staring up
at the bluest sky she had ever seen. Even on the trip to the lake high
in the mountains she and her mother had gone on, visiting her grandmother,
the sky hadn't been so clear or the air so clean. It was like nothing
she had ever seen or smelled in her life. Sitting up, she looked
around, puzzled over the presence of the old tree from her own courtyard.
It looked… younger, somehow. Not quite as tall or as broad, and some
of her favorite branches were absent, others lower than she remembered.
But something in her knew this tree, knew the feel of its bark, the tangle
of its roots, the smell of its leaves. It was her tree. But what
was it doing here? And for that matter, where was here?
Tetsuko scrambled up the roots, fingering a familiar
groove in the bark, much deeper and more visible on this tree than on hers.
"I remember you," she said softly. "I used to pretend you were the spot
where the hanyou prince was pinned to the tree by the deceived priestess."
She hopped off the roots, studying the forest floor around her. "And
if that's the tree, then this must be the path to her village, to the place
where the Sacred Jewel rested, protected by the priestess." She tugged
the bauble out from under she shirt. "Too bad you aren't the real jewel.
Probably just one of Great-Grandfather's old pretend-jewels. Oh, well.
Maybe I can find that village, and the river, and the Deceiver-Youkai's
evil castle, and the prince's brother…."
Tetsuko skipped of down the path, looking for a new adventure
in fairy-tale land.
She'd torn the house apart, top to bottom, wall to wall,
emptying every closet, and had to admit it at last that Tetsuko was no where
in the house or on the grounds. She'd called all her daughter's friends
and turned up nothing, and she knew, knew Tetsuko wouldn't have left
the grounds alone or with a stranger. And her brave little girl would
have screamed bloody murder if someone had tried to take her, drawing attention
from all around. No, there was only one answer, the answer Kagome didn't
want to face. Tetsuko was down the well.
She was halfway across the courtyard before she stopped
herself. Was she really going to do this, jump into the well again completely
unprepared? Not again. She was going in, there was no doubt in
her mind, but she was doing it right this time. Kagome raced back into
the house, trying to remember where the camping gear had ended up.
Anything she didn't need right away could always be stored at the bottom
of the well or in the village until she needed it, if she needed it.
She was going back, and that meant it was time to face things, for better
or for worse. He'd be there. He had to. They could do anything
together, after all.
It took her a total of half an hour to get things together,
dehydrated food, bottled water, extra clothing for both of them, all the camping
gear she could find, a first aid kit like the kind she'd carried a decade
ago, a powerful torch, and all the batteries she could find in the house
for it. She agonized for a long moment over a bicycle, but even if
she took two, she'd still have to get the extra one out to Tetsuko for the
girl to ride it back. And she was a little girl, after all. She
couldn't get too far, right? She had to be right. In a very real
way, she was betting her daughter's life on it.
"Hurry up and find her, Inu-Yasha," she said to the air
as she hauled her pack to the Shrine building. "Keep her safe until
I get there." Shrugging into the bag, she sat on the edge, then let
herself fall forward, praying for the doorway to open. Landing on the
hard-packed earth would hurt a lot. But the air around her shimmered, and
she passed safely through to the past.
Tetsuko rolled down a grassy hill, shrieking with laughter,
and catching herself on an embankment just before she fell into a rice paddy.
She sat up, grabbing her hat and jamming it back onto her head. Another
roll down the hill was inviting, but she was getting a little thirsty, and
the paddy water didn't smell very good to drink. There was a narrow
levee running between two paddies, and across it was the village. With
a smile, she pushed herself to her feet and ran along the narrow path.
People were staring at her, she realized. And they
were dressed strangely, too, like the pictures in her history book.
And there weren't any cars or streets or big houses, though she supposed there
wouldn't be in fairy-tale land.
There was a group of people standing dead still in the
middle of the road, staring, and she supposed they were as good a place to
start asking questions as any.
"Good morning," she said, bowing politely. "Could
you kindly point me toward the home of the hanyou prince?"
They stared down at her, mute for a long minute, then
started chattering among themselves.
"Could it be her?"
"Is she back?"
"Should we inform Lord Inu-Yasha?"
"She did ask for the home of the half-demon prince, though
it's not the term I'd use."
"Perhaps the monk would know what to do."
Tetsuko's meager patience was wearing thin. "Hello,
I said, could you point me to the home of the hanyou prince.
Does he live around here or not?"
"She almost sounds like Lord Inu-Yasha herself."
"Perhaps the monk would be best."
They hustled her down the dirt road to a slightly larger
wooden hut. There, the men knocked on the post at the curtained door
and waited politely. Within moments, the cloth was pushed back, revealing
a pretty, dark-haired woman in a plain kimono.
"Can I help you, friends?"
They nudged Tetsuko forward. "This girl ran into
the village, asking for the home of the hanyou prince. We thought
it best to bring her here."
The woman crouched down to look at her. "What's
your name, child?"
"Tetsuko," she replied promptly. "Higurashi Tetsuko."
Her eyes flew up to the men. "Did she tell you
this as well?"
"No, Lady Sango. She only asked for the hanyou."
"Rudely, too," another villager added.
Sango stood, nodding. "I think you can safely leave
her here. Thank you." She bent down to Tetsuko again as the men
left. "Would you like to come inside, Tetsuko?" she asked.
Tetsuko leaned a little to the side, trying to look past
her. "Is the hanyou prince in there? My mother told me
he lived in a far-away fairy-tale land, and I'm hoping this is it."
Sango took her hand and led her indoors. "He's
not here now, but I think I know who you're looking for, and this is probably
the best place for you to wait."
Kagome hauled herself over the lip of the well and into
the clearing. As she looked around, she saw no obvious signs that Tetsuko
had passed, but it had been many years since she'd had occasion to track anything
by sight, and that had always been more in Inu-Yasha's line. She took
a deep breath of the clean air, orienting herself. There was the old
tree, and the Bone-Eater's Well she'd just emerged from. She found
the path to the village as well, but resisted the pull to follow it.
There were a hundred other ways Tetsuko could have gone. Of course,
if she didn't find her right away, Kagome would naturally go to them for help.
But she wouldn't go now. Not just yet, as good a chance to cry on Kaede's
shoulder would feel. There were other things to do first.
She dropped her pack and settled on the ground.
This next task would be very difficult, particularly without the Shikon
no Tama to amplify her powers. She closed her eyes and reached deep
within herself, touching her core of power and expanding it, using it to
fuel the awareness that she spread out like a net as far as she could reach.
When it was as far as she could send it, she opened her
eyes and drew another deep breath.
"Inu-Yasha! Help me!"
The cry echoed through the forest, going out as far as
she could reach with voice, heart and soul.
At the far distant edge of the trees, a figure sat perched
in a high branch, staring at nothing in the far fields beyond. He'd
escaped from his friends in the village earlier that day, knowing the coming
dark of the moon would make him short tempered. Though years hadn't
added much to his maturity, heartache had, and the thought of hurting his
closest friends, the only real family he had, for something that wasn't their
fault bothered him. He and the itching blood in his veins were better
off alone today.
A touch of breeze on his cheek woke him from his reverie.
The was a tickle in his nose and a tingle at the back of his neck that together
seemed to apply pressure to a place deep in his heart he thought dead.
And the wind whispered words to him in a voice he thought he'd forgotten.
Inu-Yasha, help me.
He stood on the branch and turned, claws biting into
the trunk to keep his balance. The voice from his past, begging for
aid that he couldn't refuse. He shifted his weight to fling himself
through the branches, then paused. What if was imagining things?
He'd thought before he'd heard that voice, only to discover it was some wish
or dream or fantasy.
Inu-Yasha, please. I need you.
He had to go. If it was her, if she needed him,
he had to go. Wherever she was.
Kagome stood in the clearing, will focused on the awareness
she'd cast over the forest. Far in the distance, miles from the well
and village, it moved, and she pulled it back toward herself, like a fisherman
with a lure, tempting the fish to bite and be dragged to the surface.
And she had a big fish on her line, the fish, with any luck.
I can't lie to him, she reminded herself.
No matter how much he might try to hurt me. Whatever he says, I deserve.
I should have come back, and I know it. And Inu-Yasha always lashes
out in anger before even trying to listen to anyone else.
It was her. There was no mistaking, no faking that
scent. She was nearby, probably at the old well, waiting for him.
And about damn time, too. He had a few choice words to give her about what
the hell she thought she was doing, skipping back to her own time and locking
them out, locking him out, especially when things were finally maybe
turning around for them. Yeah, they were due for a long talk, after
he straightened out whatever it was that had her so jumpy.
She was standing by the well when he touched down at
the edge of the clearing, that old over-stuffed pack by her feet. Her
hands were buried in the pockets of her jeans, and the thin jacket she wore
stirred a little in the breeze.
He approached her but stopped just out of arm's reach.
He wasn't sure, if he touched her, exactly what would happen. "What're
you doing here?" he asked bluntly.
She smiled faintly, and fine lines crinkled at the corners
of her eyes. Happy lines, he decided. Lines that meant maybe things
weren't as bad as they seemed. "It's good to see you, too, Inu-Yasha,"
she said quietly.
"I didn't say it was good to see you. This ain't
some vacation place where you can go away for years then just come back and
not expect anything to change, you know."
She nodded. "I know. And I shouldn't have
gone for so long. I owe you an explanation, and I'll give it to you,
but right now, I need your help."
"Well, who's the one standing around talking about it
being good to see people? What do you want?"
Kagome wrapped her temper up tight, reminding herself
that the discussion could be going much worse. He was at least talking
to her. "I'm looking for someone," she said, still quiet. The
truth, Kagome. All of it. "My daughter. She's missing,
and I found the well opened."
His eyes narrowed and the tips of his fangs appeared.
"Yeah? And you think she jumped? What, was she running away from
home?"
Calm, Kagome. This is no time to start a fight.
"I don't know. She seemed happy. I'll have to ask her when I find
her."
Inu-Yasha inhaled deeply, then snorted in disgust.
"Do you have something that's hers?" he asked, then rolled his eyes at her
look. "All I can smell right now is you. Just point to it.
Don't touch it."
She pointed to the bag, and he stalked closer, shooing
her back with a gesture, then opening it and rooting through, sniffing here
and there.
"You, you, you." He poked around some more, sneezing
at a compact of powder. "Why'd you bring that crap? Think you'll
need to paint yourself for someone?"
She shook her head. "No, just… habit, I guess.
Too old to wander around without make-up anymore."
He looked back at her, scrutinizing all the physical
changes a decade had wrought. "Someone fed you a real line with that
one." He turned back to the pack. "You, you, you. Do you
have enough junk in here?" He cast aside a few more things, then jumped
up, one item pressed tightly to his face. "Got her." He inhaled
again, then his eyes snapped to her, piercingly bright. "How old is
she?"
"N-nine. She just turned nine a couple of months
ago."
"Uh-huh." The shirt was hanging limp in one hand
now, and he reached out with the other, catching her wrist and yanking her
bare left hand from her pocket before she could step away. He looked
at it, then raised it between them "I know you, Kagome. You're
not that traditional. You'd want a ring. And the things in your
bag smell mostly like you, some like your daughter, and a tiny bit like your
brother. There's no smell of another man on you or your clothes.
So who's her father, Kagome?"
She resisted the urge to pull her hand away. She
owed him this ten times over. "You. She's your daughter as well.
Yours, and mine. Ours."
He sniffed the shirt again, confirming her words.
It was him, faint, but there, mixed with Kagome, a little Sota, and a good
dose of the foul crap that tainted the air in Kagome's era. There was
also the overwhelming smell of scented oils or something similar that has
been washed into the cloth, and he sneezed.
Kagome giggled. "Fabric softener?"
He growled. "It ain't funny." He inhaled
again, more carefully this time. "Nine years old, huh?"
She nodded. "Yes. And a couple of months.
She was… Well, the midwife said she was on her own schedule. Seemed
like I was waiting forever."
"Not as long as I've been waiting." He sighed.
"It was that night. New moon, Kikyo and Naraku dead. What's her
name?"
"Tetsuko. I wanted to be reminded things here,
of how our lives used to be."
"You could have brought her, Kagome. You could
have told us. You could have come back." His tone was angry and
accusing.
"I could have done a lot of things differently," she
shouted, temper flaring. Then she stopped and took a deep breath.
"I didn't come here to fight, Inu-Yasha. I'm here to find Tetsuko,
and I owe you answers to all your questions, and I won't leave until you
have them. But Tetsuko's the important thing now. Can we at least
agree on that?"
He glared at her for a long minute, then turned and stormed
off, heading toward the village. Reaching the edge of the clearing,
he turned and looked back at her. "Well, are you coming or not?
She went this way." When he set off again, he could hear her following
through the tall grass. He waited until she had drawn even with him,
then turned his back. "Well, get on," he said impatiently.
"Inu-Yasha…"
"Don't argue. I ain't offering again." He
screwed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw until she was once again on his
back and he could cope with the pounding of his heart, then they were bounding
through the tree-tops toward the village.
Sango handed Tetsuko a bowl of soup and a set of chopsticks.
"Be careful," she warned. "It's hot."
The girl accepted the bowl with a smile. "Thank
you," she said quickly, and started drinking the broth. Sango was pleased
to see that she went about it carefully, drinking her tea in the same manner.
"So is the hanyou prince here?" she asked eagerly.
"I believe the person you're speaking of does frequent
the village, but he's not here today. At least, not at the moment.
I imagine he'll turn up soon, though. I wonder if you would tell me
about your mother while we wait. What is her name?"
"Higurashi Kagome," Tetsuko replied at once. "Oooh,
I like turnips," she offered, crunching on a vegetable.
"And your father's name?" Sango pressed.
Tetsuko shrugged. "I don't know. Mom only
said he was a man she cared for a long time ago. But I pretend, sometimes."
"What do you pretend?"
"That he's the hanyou prince. That I'm going
to live in his castle and have servants and toys, enough to fill a whole room,
and I'd never have to sweep the courtyard again."
"What if he was the prince," asked Sango, "but he didn’t
have the castle or the servants or the toys?"
The little girl appeared thoughtful. "I guess if
he still had the big fang-sword, it would be okay. And we'd go on quests,
and have adventures, and sleep outside…. That would be good, too."
There was no more doubt in Sango's mind. This free
spirited little girl was clearly Inu-Yasha's child as well as Kagome's, and
she wondered idly when it had happened. She wished Miroku had been at
home to meet her as well. She hoped that when Kagome came for her, and
she knew Kagome was coming for her, sooner or later, that they would remain
long enough for Miroku and the boys to return from their trip. It would
certainly give him a turn, seeing two of their dearest friends, merged into
one little firebrand.
"So are you the monk?" asked Tetsuko after a time, setting
her empty bowl aside, chopsticks neatly across the top.
"What?"
"The men said they were taking me to the monk.
But I thought monks were men."
"Monks are indeed men, little one. My husband is
the monk serving this village. He and our sons are out for the day,
assisting another village in an exorcism."
Tetsuko's eyes went wide, and Sango feared that she'd
scared the little girl out of her wits. "Demon exorcism? Really?"
The her face broke into a wide smile. "Can we go watch?"
Sango watched for a minute, then chided herself silently.
Scared, indeed. Kagome and Inu-Yasha's child would be no more afraid
of demons than a falling leaf. "I think, Tetsuko, it would be better
if we waited for your mother to come for you."
The girl looked down, and Sango saw the tiniest quiver
in her lower lip. "I don't know if Mom can find me. I wasn't supposed
to play in the well."
"Well, I'll tell you a secret, Tetsuko. I knew
your mother, before you were born. And I think you might well be the
most important thing in her life right now. I think she'll be coming
for you before you know it."
Her head snapped up. "You knew my mom?"
She nodded, and Sango could almost see the thoughts forming in Tetsuko's head.
"You know the prince, too, and if this is fairy-tale
land, then you must know the Friendly Monk and the Lonely Wolf and the Little
Fox Boy. Oh, and that makes you the Old Priestess. Except she
was a lot older. Are you the Demon Hunter with the big cat?"
She really shouldn't have been surprise, Sango reflected.
How many times had she told the same stories to her own children settling
them down for the night? "I suppose I am. And I do know all those
people. We fought together for many months to destroy-"
"-To destroy the Deceiver-Youkai and reclaim the
Sacred Jewel. Oh, and look what I found in the well." She yanked
on a chain around her neck, and the Shikon no Tama glowed gently in
the light of the fire.
Sango's eyes went wide. "You found it in the well?"
she asked.
"Yes. I was just looking around, trying to see
why Mom kept it locked, and there it was. Kind of half-buried in the
dirt, but I could still see it."
Was this why the well had been closed to them?
Kaede had said it was powerful magic that sealed the well, and nothing else
quite as powerful came to mind. "Did your mother place it there?" she
asked.
"I don't know," Tetsuko replied doubtfully. "She
always said there was nothing important down there, but this thing, it feels
kind of important. I thought at first it was one of Great-Grandfather's
pretty things, but I'm not sure I think so now."
"Any why is that?"
"It's, well, it's kind of warm when I hold it.
And my hand kind of itches, too. Weird things like that." This
was fairy-tale land, she reasoned. So no one would look at her funny
if she talked about the weird things. At least, she hoped so.
Sango only nodded. "I'm not a bit surprised.
But Tetsuko, I think it's time to go looking for your mother. I'm sure
she's noticed you're gone by now, and she'll be here soon." She stood
and took Tetsuko's hand, helping her up, then leading her out of the small
house and out toward the rice paddies. "Show me which direction you
came from."
Tetsuko studied the green hill across the expanse of
quiet water and pointed. "There. Where that man in red…"
Her voice trailed off as the man set his burden down and she saw who it was.
"Mommy!" She raced out across the levee, and watched in astonishment
as the man in red with long white hair jumped straight up into the air.
He landed within a foot of her, and she skidded to a stop.
He was crouched in front on her almost on eye-level,
and she stared in astonishment, taking in the amber eyes and fur-covered
ears. Tetsuko reached out to reverently stroke one ear, then her face
broke into a grin. "You're the hanyou prince," she exclaimed,
throwing herself forward and wrapping her arms around his neck.
Instinctively, Inu-Yasha wrapped his arms around her
waist, leaping back with her to avoid a nasty dunk in the rice. Tetsuko
was laughing and crying and jabbering at him, all about how she'd wanted
to meet him for so long and could they go to the castle and could she see
the fang and his brother. They landed at the edge of the hill, Kagome
tripping down behind them.
"Whaddaya wanna see Sesshoumaru for?" he asked, puzzled.
"He's real?" Her voice went up several octaves
as she screeched, and he winced. "Mommy, Mommy, they're real!
They're all real! What didn't you tell me?" She was tearing herself
away from him to tackle Kagome.
"Sumimasen, Mama. I’m so sorry. I
didn’t mean to scare you, but I just wanted to know what was down the well,
and I was something shining, and when I picked it up it brought me here..."
She took a deep breath, burying her face in her mother’s neck.
"Feh. She talks almost more than you." But
there was more pride in his voice than annoyance. Here was his little
girl, wandering around the Sengoku Jidai, and there wasn’t a hint of
fear in her voice, just relief that she’d found a familiar face. And
she was still babbling.
"And I found the Demon Hunter with the big cat, well,
not the big cat, but the Demon Hunter says she’s married to the Friendly Monk,
and they have kids I can play with, maybe, if they ever get back here.
And I haven’t found the Lonely Wolf yet, but now that I’ve found the hanyou
prince, I can look for him next..."
Inu-Yasha caught Kagome’s eyes over the girl’s head.
"Hanyou prince?" he asked, one eyebrow cocked. "Friendly
Monk? Lonely Wolf?"
"Well, Miroku was always very friendly to me. And
I’m sure poor Kouga was very lonely after I left."
"Not as lonely as I was."
"Inu-Yasha!"
"Well, what do you want me to say, Kagome? You
left sometime in the night, and I woke up out there alone!"
Kagome closed her eyes, willing herself not to blush.
"It was morning when I left. And I said I was sorry. What do you
want me to say, Inu-Yasha? This isn’t a conversation I planned to have
in front of the entire village."
He exhaled in exasperation. "I want to finish this
now. Did you love me?"
"Of course I did. I told you a year and a half
before that night that I did, that all I wanted was to be next to you."
"And now?" he demanded. "Do you love me now?"
"You know the answer to that one, too. You said
it yourself. There’s no other man in my life." She’d gone beyond
caring about the villagers lining the levees watching the proceedings.
This conversation was more than a decade overdue.
"Tell me, Kagome. I want to hear the words out
of your own mouth."
"Yes, you idiot. I love you." She scooped
up Tetsuko, struggling up the hill with 20+ kilos of daughter in her grasp,
who suddenly started struggling when she realized what was going on.
"No, Mom, please. I want to stay. I’m having
fun, and I haven’t seen some of the fairy-tale people. Mom, come on,
Mom! I don’t want to go!"
Inu-Yasha was storming up the hill behind her.
"Damnit, Kagome, you said you'd stay and answer my damn questions!"
She reached the top of the hill and whirled. "Was
I a coward? Yes. Do I wish I’d stayed? Yes. Was I
scared of what you’d say that morning? Hell, yes. What else is
there to say?" She set Tetsuko on her feet and caught her hand, pulling
her along.
"Damn it, Kagome, look at her. She doesn’t want
to go, can’t you see?"
She didn’t say anything, just dragging Tetsuko along
the path.
"So you’re just going to run away again? Seal the
well for another ten years? Not even gonna wait for the fireworks this
time? I’ll see you next time, baby girl. Be sure to look your
old man up when you get back."
Tetsuko stopped dead in her tracks, yanking her hand
from Kagome’s. "What did you say?" she demanded.
He stared at her, horrified, then looked back at Kagome.
"You didn’t tell, her, did you? All these years, and you never told
her about me. You wanted to know what else there is to say? Well,
here it is. Tell Tetsuko who her father is."
She stared up at her shell-shocked mother. "Please,
Mom. Tell me."
Kagome hugged herself, trying to suppress her shivers.
"Inu-Yasha is your father, Tetsuko. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t
sure you would understand."
Tetsuko looked from her mother to her new-found father.
"Will I get to look like you when I grow up?"
"I don’t know, kid. What? Don’t like it?"
He flashed a bit of fang and she giggled.
"No, I think it’s neat. I like your ears."
He snorted. "What is it about you Higurashi women
and the ears, anyway?"
Kagome was about to reply when the ground shook beneath
them, setting everyone stumbling around. Without a thought, Inu-Yasha
tossed them both to the ground, throwing himself atop them and covering
them both as much as possible with his fire-rat clothing. When the land
stopped rumbling, he jumped up and pulled them with him, scooping them up
and making for the well.
He dropped them just outside it, whirling around and
searching for the source of the rumbling. "Get down there," he insisted,
eyes scanning the tree line. He scooped up the pack and tossed
it over the side. "GO!"
"I’m not going back without you," Kagome shouted.
She could hear a buzzing somewhere in the woods.
"Just get down there where you’re safe," he insisted.
"You go first, Kagome, and help Tetsuko."
She was already swinging herself over the edge, hanging
onto the vines. "Come on, honey. I’ll help you with the hard parts.
You better be planning on following," she told him.
"Don’t worry about me, just get her to safety."
She had her bow out and an arrow nocked before he was
down in the well with them, spitting curses.
"It’s the bugs again. I got a couple of waves of
them, but they’re still coming." He stripped of his haori and
tossed it over Tetsuko. "Stay under there, kid. Best place for
you is out of sight right now." He nodded to Kagome’s arrow-stuffed quiver.
"You ready to go? I don’t want them coming through with us."
"I’ve been trying. It’s not opening. I don’t
know why."
"Then I guess we do it the hard way. Make those
arrows count. We ain’t gonna find more down here."
Kagome flicked a glance to the Tetsusaiga. "Kaze
no Kizu?"
"Not in here. Not enough room. I mean the
really hard way." He was grinning wickedly, however, and she wondered
just how much he was enjoying this.
"You’re having fun," she accused him over the rising
whine of the bugs.
"Oh, yeah. Bring ‘em on." He was pushing
the sleeves of his under-robe up, baring his arms.
The cloud of insects blocked out the day’s light, and
Kagome launched the first of her enchanted arrows, hitting a bug and exploding,
taking out a flurry of others. Inu-Yasha’s Hijin Ketsuso flew
upward, ricocheting off the walls, fueled by long gouges he made in his arms.
Insect dust fell down on them, and for several long minutes, they simply fought,
back to back, as though the past ten years had never happened.
Slowly, they worked their way through the enemy, and
finally, Inu-Yasha lashed out and impaled one last insect on his claws.
"Heh. Too bad there aren’t more. That was
fun."
Kagome lowered her bow to stare at him. "You have
got to be kidding me."
He stared at her for a long minute, then yanked her close
and kissed her. "Nah," he said at last. "Best day I’ve had since
the last time I saw you."
"I wouldn’t count on this one ending the same," she retorted.
"I’m hoping you'll be there when I wake up this time,"
he snapped, fully expecting to find himself slammed face first into the dirt.
"Come on, Kagome. You gonna say it, or make me wait?"
She grabbed the rosary and tossed it into the air.
"Osuwari!" It fell to the well floor in a perfectly normal, non-magical
way. "I broke the enchantment before I left. I figured I owed
you that at the very least."
He stared down at his former mystical leash, then scooped
the beads up and shoved them in his kimono. "So now what? You
still can’t get through?"
She shook her head. "No. I don’t know what’s
blocking it. So I guess we’re stuck here for the moment."
Inu-Yasha recovered his haori, shaking the bug-dust
off. "Hey, kid. How are you doin’ under there?"
"That was loud," she said. "And I itch like crazy."
"All right. We’ll get out of here and back to the
village. Safest place for you, I guess." He shrugged back into
his haori. "Get your stuff," he told Kagome. "I don’t wanna
make a bunch of trips out of this."
They made it the top of the well in his arms with ease,
and paused in the clearing to shake out the rest of the dust.
"Those were Naraku's Saimyoushou," Kagome noted,
shaking out her hair.
"Yeah."
"So is he alive?"
"I dunno."
"That’s not very helpful.’
"I know."
Tetsuko burst in on their incipient argument. "Who’s
that?"
They followed the line of her pointing finger and were
chilled to see an all-too-familiar white fur, topped with a hideous mask.
"Well, well, well. I hadn’t thought to find such
a treat waiting for me." The voice, Naraku's voice, was deathly quiet
but perfectly clear.
Inu-Yasha turned to get between Tetsuko and his nemesis
but the spider-youkai was already attacking, beams of sickly light
speeding toward the girl. Inu-Yasha leaped, catching Tetsuko and dragging
her out of the way of the blast behind the well-head, leg catching the edge
of the light, and he bit back an excruciating howl.
Kagome threw herself to the ground, crawling over to
join them and checking his leg. "It looks pretty nasty, but I think
you’ll make it."
"New... moon...tonight. Won’t...heal...soon."
"I have my kit. We’ll handle it." She cast
about the ground for her weapon. "No arrows. Don’t know how I’m
going to drive him off."
"Give up the girl, Inu-Yasha, and I might make your death
quick and painless," Naraku demanded.
"Get fucked, kusottare. You won’t lay one
finger on her."
"Don’t think you’re keeping any great secrets.
I can smell her from here. Give me your offspring and I’ll let you
die with your love. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to be reincarnated
together this time."
"Didn’t you hear me, bakayaro? Fuck off
and die!"
"Such language in front of an impressionable young girl.
Well, soon it won’t be an issue."
Tetsuko had squirmed free of her father’s grip and was
scrambling up the side of the well, the transformed Tetsusaiga firmly in her
grip. "Hey, you! Take your stinky white fur and get out of here.
Leave my mom and dad ALONE!" She swung the huge sword, which should
by rights have dragged her to the ground, and it lashed out. When the
air cleared, Naraku was no where to be seen.
"How the hell did she do that?" Inu-Yasha asked, dragging
himself to his feet.
"Darned if I know. Let’s get to the village before
he comes back."
"Don’t drop dead if I agree with you," Inu-Yasha muttered.
"Give me that back, Tetsuko. You REALLY don’t want to hang onto it."
They beat a hasty retreat to the village, Kagome helping
to support Inu-Yasha, bow slung over her other shoulder, while Tetsuko wrestled
with the pack. The stumbled through the forest and skidded down the
hill, hustled across the levee and limped through the village. Kagome
stopped outside the building long enough to trade her trainers for straw sandals,
noting absently that the home Tetsuko identified as Sango's had belonged
to Kaede last she knew. Just another one of those changes I missed,
she thought, missing the old woman terribly. Damn my cowardice.
Sango met them just inside the door, sliding under Inu-Yasha's
other shoulder. "Bring him in by the fire. I started water heating
as soon as the ground stopped shaking. Kaede-sama taught me healing
herbs after you left."
"Arigato, Sango-chan. I have my first-aid
kit in the bag," Kagome said. "Tetsuko, get the box with the red cross
out of the bag."
"Where is he injured?" Sango asked as they moved to set
him down.
"Back of his left leg. We’re going to have to get
these hakama off-"
"I’m right here, y’know," Inu-Yasha growled.
"Then make yourself useful and get your pants off," Kagome
snapped.
"Where’s a rock when you need one?" he muttered, but
complied, loosening the knot and trying to wiggle free of the red cloth.
"Stop that." Kagome smacked him lightly on the
back. "You’re only going to make it worse. Nice legs."
"I got other things you can admire too, if you’re lookin’."
"Tetsuko, fetch me a bucket of water from the well out
back, please," Sango said before the discussion could go any further.
She waited for the girl to hand off the medicine box before continuing.
"You two sound like children, you know."
"She started it," Inu-Yasha insisted.
"You deserved it for telling me to take my clothes off
at the river that one day," Kagome shot back.
"That was twelve years ago. And it was what you
were wearin’ I didn’t like."
"I take it back. You’re worse than children."
Sango wrung a wet cloth out over the wound on Inu-Yasha’s leg, and he howled.
"Damn it, Sango. That hurt!"
"Hush, you big baby." She cleaned the injury and
inspected it. "Looks like a burn, maybe."
Kagome prodded the edges gently, ignoring Inu-Yasha’s
complains. "Yeah. I think so, too. Second degree, maybe.
We’ll have to treat it and wrap it, at least for a while. I wouldn’t
worry too much, but..."
Sango nodded. "New moon. What do you want
to use?"
"I have some spray that will numb the pain. Can
you make an aloe paste? Then we’ll wrap it in clean boiled cloths.
That should do until morning, especially since we have some daylight left."
Kagome looked at her watch. "Two or three hours at least, right?"
She shook the can of analgesic and sprayed Inu-Yasha’s leg liberally.
Sango looked out the window. "Yes. It’s summer.
The days are still long, the nights short. He should be able to get
a head start on healing before the sun sets."
"Hey, I’m still here." The pain had lessened considerably,
and his bad mood was fading quickly. Kagome’s gentle touch on his leg
was reminding him of days long gone. She dabbed something cool and green-smelling
on his leg, then together, she and Sango wrapped it in damp warm cloths.
He shifted a little as they worked, pillowing his head on folded arms, and
drifted off before they were finished.
"Do you want to wake him?" Sango asked as the cleaned
up from their work.
"No," Kagome said. "Let him sleep a while.
I’ll get him up in time for supper." She unpacked her supplies of freeze-dried
food and handed it over to Sango over the former demon-hunter’s protests and
shushed her daughter when the girl ran back in with a full bucket of water.
"Shh. He’s resting," she said softly.
Tetsuko nodded and settled down next to him. Within
minutes, she too was asleep.
"They’ve had a busy day," Sango said quietly.
"It’s going around," Kagome said around a yawn.
"Would it be unforgivable of me...?"
"Feel free," Sango said, rising carefully. "There
will be time to catch up later."
Kagome smiled and stretched out next to her daughter,
staring at Inu-Yasha until her eyes drifted closed as well.
She woke to the sound of voices.
"But we thought he was dead. I spoke to the monk
myself when we got back, and he told me what he had related to you and Kaede-sama
and Kagome-san." She smiled at Miroku’s familiar voice.
"I know," Inu-Yasha said. "But it was him today,
or one of his damned offspring. Be careful with that, Tetsuko.
It’s sharp."
"I know. I will be."
"Well, it’s clear that however it happened, he’s alive,"
Sango said. "Hand me the turnips, please, Yoshi-chan."
Kagome sat up, pushing back the light blanket over her.
"What we need to know is why he’s here."
"Well, look who decided to join us." Inu-Yasha
grinned at her, black hair and dark eyes firmly in place. They were
gathered around the fire pit, and somehow, she’d been moved to the low platform
under the window.
"You better not have picked me up on that hurt leg, Inu-Yasha,"
she said, joining them.
"Nope. But I did supervise the process just to
make sure Miroku didn’t help himself to a quick grab."
"Hey," Sango protested. "My Hiraikotsu isn’t
so far out of reach that I can’t whack you in the head with it."
"Okay, okay. He was the model of propriety."
"Welcome back, Kagome-san."
She hugged the monk tightly. "Thanks. I’m
so glad to see you. And Tetsuko said something about you two having
children. That’s just wonderful."
"Yes. We’re very proud. This is Kazao," he
ruffled the hair of the older boy, a sturdy seven-year-old, "and Yoshi," a
charmer who looked to be four or five. The boys bowed in turn, then
returned to their tasks. "And of course, Inu-Yasha’s introduced us to
Tetsuko-chan, though it seems they’re of very short acquaintance themselves."
"That’s okay," the girl piped up. "He’s more cool
than any of my friends' dads."
Kagome felt her cheeks coloring. Her daughter was
very much a 21st century girl, and it was all the more obvious in this historical
setting, even though her t-shirt and jeans had been replaced by a yukata.
"She’s charming," Miroku assured her, hugging her again.
"Just like you."
"Hey, hug your own woman," Inu-Yasha blustered.
"You’ve had your hands on mine long enough."
Kagome frowned at his outburst and deliberately seated
herself across the fire from him, but his blatant puppy-dog eyes finally made
her give in, and she moved to sit on his uninjured side. "Why is that
look always more effective when you’re human?" she asked rhetorically.
"Natural talent?"
She snorted. "Natural pain in the-"
"-As we were saying," Miroku interrupted, getting them
back on track, "Kagome made a good point. Naraku must be after something,
and we need to know what."
"The Jewel?" she suggested.
Miroku shook his head. "Couldn’t be. Unless
you brought it back with you."
"But I didn’t take it with me in the first place," Kagome
frowned. "After... The morning after the monk came, I left it
with Inu-Yasha and went back without it."
"Is that why no one could get through? But that
still wouldn’t make any sense. Inu-Yasha never had trouble getting through
before, with or without the Jewel or its shards," Miroku said.
Kagome shook her head. "No. The Jewel was
a part of me for years. Its power or whatever is still in me.
The well was my doing. I wanted some time to think, and then things
in my time got kind of...complicated." She cast a quick glance to Tetsuko.
Miroku and Sango nodded in understanding. "But
how did you get back through?" he asked.
"When I was looking for Tetsuko, I discovered that it
had been opened." She turned to her daughter. "How did you open
the well, sweetie?"
She shrugged. "I don’t really know. I was
trying to pick the locks, and it was hard. I just got mad and kicked
it and told it to open. And boy, did it. Blew the doors back and
everything." She grinned happily, until she realized everyone was staring
at her. "Um, sorry?"
"Tetsusaiga transformed for her, too. And she could
lift it," Inu-Yasha reminded them.
Miroku looked thoughtful. "That’s certainly interesting.
But we still don’t know where the Jewel is, and that is worrisome."
Sango looked to Tetsuko. "You should tell them,
dear."
"Tell us what?" Kagome asked.
Tetsuko slid the chain over her head. "I found
this in the well. It feels funny, like it’s warm. And it makes
me itch a little." She dropped the Shikon no Tama into her mother’s
outstretched hand.
Kagome felt the power of the jewel reaching out to her,
and quickly walled her spirit away from it. "You didn’t make your wish?"
she asked, turning back to Inu-Yasha.
He shrugged. "There was nothing it had that I wanted.
I buried it in the well and walked away. Too many people were hurt over
it."
She didn’t press him for a further explanation.
There would be time later. "So can we assume Naraku wanted the Jewel?"
"He was demanding that we turn Tetsuko over to him earlier.
He could probably sense it on her."
"Well, this is nice. We’re right back where we
were 12 years ago," Kagome sighed. "We can’t destroy it."
"No, we can’t," Sango agreed. "It will either shatter
as it did 12 years ago, or we will release the souls of the three demons and
the one who created it."
"What about exorcising the spirits?" Miroku suggested
as Sango and Kagome started handing out bowls. "Force them to go on
to the afterlife."
Inu-Yasha shook his head. "Won’t work against spirits
this strong."
"It found its way through the well once," Sango pointed
out. "What if you use it to force the way open, Kagome? It might
be safer in the future."
"It’s a possibility," she agreed, "but Naraku had it
staked out earlier. We’d have to move fast and be prepared. I
don’t think I’d want to try it before daylight."
"So we’re going to stay here?" Tetsuko asked.
"Looks that way, sweetie," Kagome answered. "It’ll
be fun. Sort of like camping."
"Cool. Can I sleep in the boys’ room?"
Kagome looked at Sango. "I don’t see why not.
Miroku and I can take the front room, and give the two of you some space in
here."
Kagome felt her cheeks color, very aware that she was
being set up to spend another New Moon night alone with Inu-Yasha.
"Okay."
She unrolled her squashy purple sleeping bag over the
futon and stared at it a moment, then unzipped it and spread it over both
places. Too inviting, maybe? Or assuming too much? She folded
it back over so it covered only one place. Too distant, that looked.
Too cold. Of course, if we get really comfortable, I won't be wanting
any covers. He so warm… Stop thinking about that, Kagome.
She kicked it off the futons altogether. I'll figure it out later.
There was a sound on the other side of the screen, and
she hastily made sure her light cotton kimono was closed. The a figure
stepped around the edge of the shoji, and she blinked, hard.
"Inu-Yasha?"
He laughed, and she was able to see him passed the dark
hair and cotton yukata. "Yeah. Tetsuko wanted to sleep
with my haori, if you can believe that. And I thought… Aw, hell,
don't cry, Kagome."
Tears were puddling in her eyes as the things she'd denied
not only herself but her daughter and Inu-Yasha washed over her.
He was beside her in an instant, holding her. "Oh,
come on, Kagome. You know that's the one thing I can't stand."
Somehow, an armful of sobbing Kagome always managed to get passed his toughest
defenses.
"I didn't think," she sobbed and he settled them awkwardly
on the futons. "I was so scared, didn't know what to think, didn't know
what you'd say."
He sighed. "I probably would've said some pretty
horrible things, and you would have sat me til my spine broke. So the
pain would just have been different."
She swiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her own yukata.
"I still could have done things differently. It wasn't fair to you,
and for that, I'm very sorry." She shifted, stretching out on one of
the futons, watching him for a moment, then patting the other one. "Get
down here so I don't have to get a crick in my neck staring up at you."
He settled down slowly, alert for signs of rejection,
until she reached for his hand and practically dragged him to the mat.
They lay still for several minutes, just watching each other, adjusting to
being together for any length of time without arguing.
"This is weird," he said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah. A little." She toyed with his fingers,
tracing the tips of his blunt nails. "It's been so long since I've seen
you like this."
He moved slowly, brushing a lock of hair back from her
cheek. "Been so long since I've seen you at all."
"Inu-Yasha, please don't start…"
"I'm not. I mean, I don't want to. But damn
it, Kagome, I missed you. It hurt so bad for a long time. I kind
of forgot what it felt like not to hurt. I got used to it, like I was
supposed to feel that way. I was starting to not feel it."
"And now?" His hand was still resting on her face,
and she didn't want him to move it ever.
His lip twitched. "Hurts again. 'Cause eventually,
you're gonna leave again. And I don’t want to see either of you go."
"We're not going anywhere until we figure out what's
wrong with the well and fix it. And there's Naraku to consider.
I don't want to leave you here to face him alone."
"Don't think I can handle myself?"
"You handle yourself just fine. He's a different
story." She reached out to his, tracing his cheekbone with a gentle
thumb. "I don't want to lose you either. And right now, I'm not
going anywhere."
"And in the morning?"
"We'll face the morning when it gets here."
"Promise?"
She nodded, smiling. "Swear on my daughter's soul."
Inu-Yasha rolled away from her a moment, snagging the
unzipped sleeping bag and spreading it over both of them. "Good."
Continued in Part II ==>