InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Birth Marks ❯ the white bride ( Chapter 8 )

Thanks to all my devoted fans from (I'm guessing) mostly America. I wouldn't have continued or had the will to continue without you all. The reason that I only update about every other week is that only my mom's computer can upload my chapters. And I only see her every other weekend, at least most of the time.

Disclaimer: I would own Inuyasha only if my name was Rumiko.

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Last time: Inuyasha nodded and wondered what it would look like. She grinned at the boy's approval and went in back to find her sewing needle and thread.
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<The demon slayer and the monk will come in handy and most likely help when I ask. And the cat and kitsune do not seem like much of a threat, but that girl was not telling us something> the hostess thought as she found a big enough room and set it up.

This time: the old man looked up from his seat and stared at Kagome. "Humph, here's your stupid coin back, and don't lose it. From what I can tell, you lot don't have any money and so you try to con a place to stay. Doesn't work for me, but the woman has a soft spot for young girls." he rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the fire.

"Very nice job Kagome, I couldn't have done any better. But you could have chosen a better place to stay, like the lord's house," Miroku whispered just loud enough for Kagome and no one else to hear. Kagome growled slightly back and Miroku chuckled.

They didn't know it, but this inn hadn't had a single guest stay the night in years because of a spirit that haunted the building. Most of the visitors said it was a beautiful woman dressed in a white Shinto wedding dress. The innkeepers called her the white bride. The strange thing is that the ghost only appeared to women saying that she needed witnesses (sorry if that is too American) to attend her wedding because her own family never showed up.

The old woman appeared from the hallway. "Your room is ready dear ones and if you have any needs, we are in back upstairs. Please follow me," the group practically moved like one unit to follow the old woman. "Sir monk and young kitsune will be staying in this room while you lovely girls will be staying in this room if you do not mind. There is a door between the rooms so you do not have to be separated from each other if you do not want to. Have a pleasant stay and I will call you down to the main room for dinner tonight. You may come and go as you please, but be in your rooms by dark. Goodnight!" the old woman left the group to their business for the night.

<White bride, I hope that you will finally get married and go on to you afterlife> the old woman prayed as she sat down next to her husband and followed his stare into the fire. "Do you think they will?"

"I hope so, I certainly hope so"

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Inuyasha

"What have you been up to since you were unsealed from that tree. I heard that you are traveling with the reincarnation of Kikou that wears strange clothes, a monk, a kitsune, and a demon slayer. That sounds exciting! What are they like?" Rumiko asked, looking over the cut pieces of a feminine version of Inuyasha's fire-rat Haori.

"The reincarnation of Kikou is Kagome and she is from 500 years in the future and that's why her clothes are so strange..."

"It's good that you are getting her a proper, at least decent, set of clothes then!" Rumiko interrupted, grabbing some green thread and cutting it with her beak.

(Read slowly)"She is from 500 years in the future and comes through an old well that is in my forest. She is the only person that has ever made me think for more than just myself. She has opened my eyes to the fact that there are people out there that can like me for who I am and not just some freak to be shunned by both races that I, we, belong to. Keh, I can even say that we are a race of two. We can comfort each other and protect each other." Inuyasha sighed just then. When he can get Rumiko to shut up, she was a pretty good listener and always knew how to make it feel better. (Wow! Wasn't that just a waterfall of unsaid emotion!)

"I know it is hard for you two. But you are right about being there for each other. Yin and yang is how the philosophers put it, I think. Both the same, yet complete opposites," Rumiko held up the piece that she had just finished sewing. "Take the green in this fabric. It is forest green to pastel green. Mostly white to mostly black, but it is still green. You are mostly white and she is mostly black, but you are both Inu-hanyou."

She grabbed Inuyasha's chin to look straight into his eyes. "You should not be ashamed for what you are, you should be ashamed for being ashamed!" Inuyasha grinned at this revelation; he had missed her words. Whenever he felt sad and, at times, suicidal, she would come and talk to him and make him feel so much better than talking to anyone else that he knew.

Rumiko held up the mostly finished top with no sleeves, "what do you think dear?" the orange lotus flowers were at the collar and hem with the pastel green cutting to accent her form. Inuyasha didn't know much about clothes, but he trusted her to make the top look good. She grinned at Inuyasha's drool and grabbed a sleeve that she had already sewn together. The lotus was at the edge with the pastel at the top.

"It seems that you like what it looks like so far. Go pick out a green bolt to match the top. And what are your other companions like?" Rumiko was trying to keep the boy busy so his mind didn't wonder.

"The monk's name is Miroku and he has a thing for the demon-slayer girl named Sango. He gropes her constantly and she hits him back with her giant boomerang bone. I think it may just be a way of building up resistance to physical attacks. There are better ways to build up resistance, but he insists on doing it that way." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Do you think they like each other?" Rumiko asked as she started on the second sleeve.

Inuyasha shrugged and continued, "He is after Noraku also because Noraku cursed every male in his family to have a wind tunnel in their right hand that will eventually destroy the cursed male. The curse was originally started when his grandfather tried to destroy Noraku. And now Miroku has to kill him to lift the curse. At least that is his excuse to grope Sango and ask every woman he meets to bear his child." it was Rumiko's turn to roll her eyes. Inuyasha held up a dark green bolt that was slightly duller than the top, "what about this color?" Rumiko nodded and he put the bolt beside her chair.

"That sounds like an important mission for him. Now, tell me about this Sango girl that Miroku hits on," she grinned and readjusted the sewing on her lap.

"She came from the slayer's village and Noraku killed her entire village and family except for her little brother. He is currently under Noraku's control and tries to kill his sister. So she joined us after Miroku and has her own reason to kill Noraku: revenge." now that he thought about it, most of the people in one way or another wanted to kill Noraku because of what he did to them in the first place.

"Oh, I am so sorry for her and I hope that she gets her brother back well. Aren't there two demons in your group also? How did they come into the picture?" Rumiko prompted Inuyasha to continue.

"There is a kitsune pup that Kagome adopted when we first started. The thunder brothers killed both of his parents and we helped him take out his revenge. Then there is a fire cat that is considered Sango's pet. I don't really know much about her except that her name is Kilala and she can fly in her large form."

Inuyasha brushed off the two demons as unimportant and continued to talk about all the adventures that they had had over the past year.

 

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Kagome

 

“That feels so much better!” Kagome sighed after taking off her head wrap and rubbing her cramped ears. The whole group was in the girl's room and expecting Kagome to finally explain why she became a hanyou.

 

“So?” Sango prompted.

 

“`So' what?” Kagome asked back, leaning against a wall

 

“So…how did you become a hanyou?” Sango furled her eyebrows and Kagome grinned.

 

<This is gonna be fun> “well, when a human mommy and a demon daddy get together…” Kagome did shadow puppets with her hands, one a dog and the other a human.

 

“You know that's not what I meant!” Sango screeched, her face beet red and her hands covering Shippou's ears.

 

Kagome couldn't help but grin evilly, “I know. What you meant to say was `I thought that you were a human, how long were you holding out on telling me you were a hanyou?' right?” Sango nodded stupidly and uncovered Shippou's ears.

 

“The truth is that I didn't know until I went back to my era this time and my mother told me. Apparently when my Ji-chan was younger, he had some actual powers and he put a spell on me that made me appear human. I think this happened when I was about 5 or something because when I went to school, my pictures had me looking human. The thing is that it was the Shikon jewel that was the tie that kept the spell in place. And when the jewel was removed and shattered, the spell weakened and it took this past year to completely dissolve,” Kagome tried to explain. The others just looked at her like she was crazy.

 

“I have heard of such a spell, but I also heard that it takes so much power to cast that the caster loses all power for the rest of their lives. And also the person loses all of their memories of the time before. That was a dangerous spell for your grandfather to cast,” Miroku supplied the information to try to make sense of the story.

 

Kagome nodded, “its true, I have no memory of before and the closest thing to having powers he has is still being alive!” she smiled at that, he would be reaching his 90s soon if she was not mistaken.

 

“Don't spells need reinforced every once in a while?” Sango asked, polishing her giant boomerang.

 

“I think so, especially how long it lasted on me, when I started coming to this era, mom asked me to come back at least once a month to get missed homework. But I guess since grandpa dragged me to one of the shrines on our property every time I came back, that could have been the times that he reinforced the spell. I have been trying to skip the `sessions' ever since I could remember because it always left me feeling weak afterwards. I remember that I once skipped a session by playing hide and seek with Souta and when I finally caught up with him, I accidentally broke his arm because we were play-fighting,” Kagome cringed at that memory. That was one of the few times that Gin had been mad at Kagome. “And I still ended up helping Ji-chan with the shrine the next day.”

 

There was a knock on Miroku's door, followed by the voice of the old man, “Oi, sir monk! My wife has asked me to ask you if you would like to come with me to town for some entertainment. You seemed like you needed to relax after your journey,” came the invitation. Miroku stood up, briefly grazing Sango's butt on the way, and opened his room door.

 

“Sir, I would be honored to come with you as song as it does not go against my moral code. This is a very kind gesture for a host of your stature,” Miroku said smoothly, “but, I do have one concern. As you see here, I have recently injured my leg and cannot walk very well because of it. It depends completely on how far the destination is to see if I can accompany you.”

 

“What morals is he talking about? I didn't think he had any morals,” Sango whispered to Kagome while the `men' talked.

 

“We are only going in town for a show and then having a jug of sake hosted by the local geishas (FYI, a geisha is a Japanese version of a prostitute that, sorry guys, will offer any entertainment except from the body. You get my drift). As far as I can tell, that has nothing against the morals that you have. As far as getting to town, I can offer you one of my horses to ride so your ankle will not be stressed further.” He offered, leading Miroku out into the hallway.

 

Kagome got a sly gleam in her eye and ran after the host, “excuse me sir, but can I have a word with you before you leave?” Kagome stared at Miroku, “in private, please.” Miroku bowed his head and left to wait in the front room. “Sir, Miroku is meant as a bit of a lecher around our companions and I, and I was wondering if you could get him back for us…” Kagome whispered her plan to the hose and he got wide-eyed. No one was that twisted as far as he knew that stayed alive long. “…And here, use this to get the sake free. It's on me,” Kagome grinned and gave him the coin that she used to get a free room with the couple.

 

Kagome sat down next to Sango and closed her eyes, hoping that her plan would work out. “What was that for?” Sango looked at her grinning friend out of the corner of eye.

 

“What was what?” Kagome asked innocently, keeping her eyes closed.

 

“You know what! What did you say out there that has you so smug?” Sango was getting frustrated at her friend's calmness.

 

“Oh! That what! I just was making sure Miroku would have a memorable time with the host tonight, that's all,” Sango could almost see Kagome's devil horns tilting her angel's halo. (Not literally, you idiots)

 

Kagome looked over at the young kitsune as he let out a yawn as big as his head. “Someone's ready for a nap, I'll roll out a futon for you, Shippou,” Kagome suggested, grinning towards Sango. The girls knew what Shippou's nap time meant.

 

As soon as Shippou's eyes closed, the girls sneaked out. Leaving Kirara to watch the sleeping boy. “Boys night out, kid's sleeping and we're in town, what does that mean?” they grinned, “BATH TIME!!!” both girls yelled in unison. The birds left the trees after their outburst. But surprisingly, Shippou only turned onto his back and snorted.

 

The hostess came out of her room like she was on fire, “what is all the commotion out there?” she demanded of the girls, wiping her hands on her apron.

 

The girls blushed shamefully as Kagome answered, “we thought that since we have free time because the others are busy, we would check out the bath house and see if it is any good. Would you like to come with us?” Kagome offered, smiling nicely.

 

The hostess smiled kindly and glanced at Kagome's ears for a second. Kagome's color drained as she followed her eyes. “Don't worry, dear, I don't mind you being hanyou. Unlike many of people I know, I don't discriminate human from demon. No thank you for your offer, I'm currently busy in the kitchen and thank you for telling me where you are going. Just be careful in town, okay?” she smiled sweetly and went back into the kitchen.

 

 

Miroku

 

“Girl! Come over here and serve this kind monk some more sake! He deserves it for all the wondrous adventures that he has been telling me. And maybe it will loosen up his tongue some more!” the host crowed, clearly having too much to drink already. He then pulled the closest geisha over to whisper something in her ear. He held up a yen for the prepayment of the task that he had asked.

 

The young girl's eyes grew large with laughter. <Surely this man has had too much to drink this afternoon and he is not completely right in the head. But I wanted to do this to the monk since he walked in. the robes hide so much of his body form and I was wondering…BUNS AWAY! > She nodded and casually walked over to Miroku to fill his cup. On her way past, she gave his butt a squeeze…

 

 

Inuyasha

 

“You should really get some sleep tonight, dear. Don't worry, I will have the clothes finished by tomorrow afternoon at the latest and I want to surprise you at what it looks like. You can go into that room to sleep. Goodnight Inuyasha and sleep well,” Rumiko smiled sweetly with her beak-like mouth as the boy went into one of the smaller caves to sleep. The top was done and she was currently working on the pants.

 

 

What's up and hello! First question: what should Miroku's reaction be? You are the ones who pick the reaction. And whether I use it in the story or not, I will post all suggestions! Thank you Erica for your sick and twisted mind! If you did not get it already, You are the young geisha! Thanks to all that help me with his reaction! Dark