InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bound to Tomorrow ❯ Ask the Sun ( Chapter 4 )

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Author Thanks: kpcollin, thanks for the info about the Musashi province. It was a big help when I was researching. I'm thinking about using Adachi prefecture as the historical basis for the village…

More thanks go to Darkil who gave me a very specific description of what has been seen of the shrine. That's very, very helpful for me. Also, I'm not a boy but I live with my fiancé and it bugs him just as much to read or see stuff where every guy (especially if it's obvious he's a virgin) is the master of sex. It's just kind of silly. I'm sure a really detailed lemon ups then enjoyment factor but I get hung up on this feeling that it's just not plausible. One of the best fictions I've read that had reasonable lemons was Ruri Hoshino's Blue Seed fan fiction called Dreamer Awakened. The guy knows what he's doing but it makes sense in his case because the anime implies that he was likely sexually active. Ah! I wish I could write half as well as she could! Anyway, I'm glad I've heard from a few guys and they've all been in agreement about the way I wrote the lemon. That makes me feel pretty good.

Author's note: You can expect several smaller story arcs along with major arcs. Some of them might tie into major arcs and others might be fairly standalone. I'll try to make sure to keep things organized in a way that standalone arcs will be in their own chapter but obviously major ones will span several chapters. Later on when I can see what arcs go where I can re-label the chapters to identify the arcs so that there's less confusion. Also, if you have ideas about where the plot might be heading or even things you thought might be interesting in the story go ahead and e-mail me. If you think you have an idea about where the plot might be heading it might be best to send a private message or e-mail so that the story doesn't potentially get spoiled for others. I am always happy to chat about the story and bounce ideas!

About the ceremony: I made up a lot of the ritual because I did not have a whole lot of step-by-step information about how the priestess would perform it. Using what information I could find about Shinto practices I simplified the procedures a little. I assumed that Shinto practices would not get super-complicated until later on in history.

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Three years ago…

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In a cold, dark cavern hidden away in a nigh-inaccessible region of the Hotaka Mountains pulsing masses of…something… suddenly vanished forever. The writhing, fleshy substance left behind a single black seed. It fell to the stone floor, free of the restraints placed upon it. The moment it struck the hard ground it sprouted as if the floor was not stone but fertile earth. Dark green tendrils bored into the rock and instantly began to expand, dislodging debris in its wake. Eventually the cave was covered in scraggly blackish-green vines. At the furthest end of the cave the vines coalesced into a central shoot.

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Days later the shoot would become a single pod. Hours after the pod had been completely formed it split down the middle and out from it stepped a man. The man was nude with long hair the color of flax and ruby red eyes. He silently observed his surroundings for several minutes before he reached out to touch one of the vine-covered walls. Immediately, the vines shuddered and crawled towards his fingers. They wrapped around his arms and wove their way down his back and chest, molding and shifting until they were no longer vines but clothing.

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The flesh had whispered to him while he slept. It told him a great story that was so fantastic that he refused to believe it. The flesh promised that he would know the tale was real should they ever disappear. In the event that his cocoon did disappear the flesh had given him instructions.

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The man stepped towards the entrance of the cave, lifted his hand with his wrist towards his lips, and exhaled. Spores appeared in a yellow cloud and flitted into the air to be carried off by the wind.

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Three years and some months later…

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“Inu Yasha, hurry up!” Kagome bellowed from the porch of their house.

The miko shivered and clutched her shawl closer to her body, watching her breath puff out into the air. Winter had descended on the village and her priestess robes did not seem to hold in her body heat very well, even though she had layered up beneath it considerably. Another shiver caused her teeth to chatter and encouraged her to holler for her hanyou again; this time his disgruntled and sleepy groan filtered back to her ears.

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“Damn it, it's too early.” The dog demon slid their front door open and glared at her.

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Kagome had only just discovered that his sleep cycles were heavily guided by the sun. He preferred to wake at the advent of the first rays of the sun and sleep as soon as they set. In the fall it had not really been a problem. However, in the midst of winter with the sun setting earlier and rising later he had a tendency to sleep in. Unfortunately she had grown so accustomed to the half-demon rousing her to drag her off to gods-knew-where that she had not been prepared to have to wake on her own now that they were together.

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Kaede had been preparing her for a ceremony to encourage the sun to extend its' daylight hours. It involved a ritual cleansing followed by a dance to encourage Amaterasu to come out of her cave. All the villagers attended the ceremony and Miroku had been making quite a fuss about it. Sango had wailed on him more times than the miko could count because he seemed a little too excited to watch the girl dance.

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Inu Yasha bit back a curse as he sauntered out into the cold. His golden eyes shifted to his shivering wife. She would get even colder when she was purified in the nearby stream. He would perch in a tree a few hundred feet away to watch over her should it be too cold for her soft human body.

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The two made their way to a stream where a wooden table was set up. By the time she had looked back to ask him to leave Inu Yasha had already disappeared into the trees. She groaned inwardly. The mere thought of having to undress in such weather made her cringe but she did it anyhow. She left her robes on the small table and then quickly dressed in the light bathing robe. Kagome breathed a quick prayer and then headed into the river, unable to stop the sharp intake of breath that hit her when the ice cold water needled her ankles. Distantly she heard the dog-demon give a short, concerned whine. She performed the cleansing ritual at the speed of light by bending over to cup the water between her hands, raising it to her lips to purify her mouth, then dipped each of her hands to cleanse each palm in turn, and then quickly hurried back out of the water. Hurriedly, the miko shed her bathing robe, donned her priestess garb once more, and then called for her protector.

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In mere moments the dog demon dropped down beside her. More than anything he wanted to grab her and rub the warmth back into her skin that he knew she needed. Instead, he kept his hands stuffed into the sleeves into his haori, knowing well that she would have to endure a repeat cleansing if any demon happened to touch her before she had a chance to perform the ritual.

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Kaede met the couple on the outskirts of the village; a cursory glance at the distressed and irritated look on the hanyou's face confirmed that he had kept his promise not to touch the miko. He grumbled for the two women to hurry up. The sooner Kagome got her duties over with the sooner he could drag her back to their warm home before she caught a cold. He felt strange walking up the stone stairs to the shrine beside the elder and younger priestesses. For obvious reasons, demons were not allowed to attend holy rituals; however, Kagome insisted they make exception for her husband and Shippo. Kaede allowed the demons to come up the stairs but insisted that they keep their feet outside the main grounds around the shrine since neither could touch the water trough meant to cleanse their hands and feet. Inu Yasha had attempted it once and had gotten his fingers burned for his trouble; after that he was not about to try cleansing his mouth.

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Inu Yasha broke away from the two women when they neared the top of the stairs. Shippo eventually appeared next to him, opting to sit on his shoulder to watch the ritual. The dog demon made sure to give him a long-suffering look which the kitsune completely ignored. The boy knew Kagome had given him strict instructions not to attack him for any reason; he could feel the tension rippling in Inu Yasha's shoulder muscles as he forced himself to keep his anger in check.

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The shrine was quiet; both demons found it to be uncomfortably so. Their eyes shifted about listlessly then suddenly snapped forward as Kagome emerged from one of the shrine buildings and made her way to a platform set up in the center of the shrine grounds. Drums began to beat, causing Inu Yasha to instinctively flatten his pointed ears against his skull. Shippo winced. Their sensitive ears were none too thrilled to hear them; the sound seemed to reverberate in their skulls painfully. Still, they continued to stay put. However, their pains were immediately forgotten when Kagome began to move.

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Her dance was fascinating. She began to move slowly, with direct, carefully choreographed movements that gradually picked up in speed. The drum beat picked up in time to the beat of her feet and hands as if it goaded her to move faster and faster. The air around them seemed to grow heavy and buzzed with energy. Suddenly, Shippo stood up stiffly on his shoulder and squealed that she was glowing. Gilded eyes that had been following the miko closely squinted as Inu Yasha tried to see what the kitsune saw. He could hear an intensely loud buzzing sound but saw no other changes in Kagome. However, one glance at Shippo, who had begun to point and bounce up and down excitedly, told the dog demon that he still saw it. His gaze turned to scan the village audience quickly until he caught the glimmer of Miroku's staff standing tall above the crowd. His sharp eyes watched as the man blinked, raised a hand to rub his eyes, and then blinked again. Miroku is seeing it too, Inu Yasha thought nervously, wondering what the kitsune and the houshi were viewing that he could not. As the drums were beginning to reach the climactic conclusion of Kagome's dance another change caught the dog demon's attention. He scent had changed. His sensitive nose had immediately recognized the transition as her scent went from the comforting one he knew to a strange, foreign odor that smelled sweet yet marked the woman dancing before him as a completely different person.

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Alarmed, he stepped forward until Shippo tugged at one of his ears, bringing the half demon to a halt. Angered, Inu Yasha snapped his head up to glare down the fox demon as he snarled, but was forced to turn his gaze up when the boy gasped and pointed at the sky. To his utter astonishment, the clouds began to shift and part, revealing a powder blue sky right above the shrine. Villagers gaped in awe-struck silence at the spectacle but had little time to react otherwise because the dance suddenly came to its' climactic conclusion. By the time Inu Yasha's eyes had flicked back to the woman on stage Kagome's scent had returned to normal.

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He made to stomp down to Kagome and demand an explanation but was once again brought to a complete stand-still; this time, by her. Her eyes locked onto his location from a distance no human should have been able to manage. His sharp eyes made out the peaceful smile on her lips and then she mouthed the words “I'm okay. Stay there.”

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He groaned impatiently and crossed his arms over his chest but somehow managed to stay put. He could see Kaede and Miroku speak with Kagome for several minutes; she was supposed to hand out charms and talismans to the villagers after the event, instead he watched her hand over the objects to the elder miko and houshi. The young miko then immediately set her eyes on the last place she had sensed Inu Yasha and set out in that direction towards him. It took her many more minutes to pick her way through the crowds of excited villagers to the waiting demon. When she finally closed the last few feet to them Shippo launched his little body off of Inu Yasha's shoulder and into her waiting arms.

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“Kagome, you were glowing!” The boy gushed excitedly.

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Her dark eyes locked on Inu Yasha's golden ones, shooting him a querying look, but he shrugged his shoulders. He had no clue what the kid had seen.

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“Glowing?” She questioned.

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“Uh-huh!” Shippo bobbed his head up and down in a vigorous nod. “You were dancing and then the sky opened up and then you glowed! It was so awesome!”

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“I didn't see any—…”

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“—your scent changed.” Inu Yasha interrupted, brooding, concern knotted his brows. “For a second you smelled…” He shut his eyes, turned his head up to the sky, and unconsciously attempted to catch the fleeting scent a second time. Immediately they snapped open, unable to hide his shock. “It's gone! What the hell?”

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The dog demon stalked a circle around her and sniffed the air. When the smell continued to elude him he dropped to his hands and knees and snuffled the ground. He crawled towards the miko, so absorbed in catching the phantom signature that he bumped his head into her calf. Kagome gave a surprised squeak when his claw shot out and grabbed her shin. The hanyou tugged the limb to his face, nearly toppling her in the process. She wobbled on one unsteady foot clutching Shippo; blushing furiously and rendered speechless from embarrassment. Abruptly, her foot was released and she stumbled forward in an attempt to regain her footing.

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“It's not here. Where the hell did it go?” His golden glare followed her as she tripped and then recovered.

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“Just what are you talking about?” She bellowed, her hands would have balled into tight fists had she not been holding the young kitsune.

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He was taken aback by her rage, having just remembered she had seen nothing and could smell nothing. Other thoughts immediately followed. A scent with no trace could not possibly happen, it always left a trail. He cursed his ill-fortune and stood up.

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“I uh… I thought... that you were wearing something…er…something that changed your scent?” Inu Yasha phrased the last part in the form of a question in hopes that she might confirm his fib.

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He figured it was pointless to tell her that he was chasing a phantom smell that was already gone. She would likely sit him for it. Kagome narrowed her dark eyes at the demon; the look she gave him told him she had not bought the story. He could feel sweat build up on his brow. He was in big trouble.

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“Kagome, may I have a word with you?” Miroku's voice spared the hanyou further scrutiny.

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The enraged look dissolved from her features as she turned towards the approaching houshi accompanied by Kaede.

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“Sure thing,” She chirped cheerily; then her head snapped back towards the silver-haired half demon, “We'll discuss this later.” She muttered quietly as she knew all too well that he could easily pick up the sound.

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The fearful look that flashed across his features briefly confirmed to her that he had heard. Without a second glance she shuffled away from him, with Shippo in tow, towards the two approaching figures. Inu Yasha followed a calculated distance behind her, close enough to be within earshot, but far enough to be out of her peripheral vision. To him it was better to stay out of sight and out of mind and hope that the young miko would forget the incident.

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Miroku's staff tinkled quietly when he shifted his hand to clear his throat, “Ahem, well, Kagome, Kaede and I wanted to ask you if you had noticed anything different while you were performing the ritual?”

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She blinked, perplexed and briefly replayed the ritual in her mind before hesitantly responding, “No, why?”

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Kaede took in a breath, a brief pause to carefully prepare her words, “When ye were performing, do ye remember exactly what ye did at the end of the ceremony? Remind me which step position ye were in.”

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She looked at the old woman as if she had asked a ridiculous question, “Well of course I remember! I remember I had my hands raised and then…” Kagome trailed off, she knew the final few steps instinctively because they had been drilled into her mind during practice, but the memory of actually performing those steps on the stage eluded her.

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Kaede nodded shrewdly when she saw the lost look on her face, “I thought so. Did ye ever channel a spirit in your time?”

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She shook her head, Inu Yasha gave an uncomfortable grunt, he did not like where her line of questions was headed.

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“I think ye did, it happens to the most powerful miko on occasion… but, we've never seen such light with it.”

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Miroku nodded, “Yes, both of us saw it.”

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“I didn't see anything.” Kagome argued, inspecting her clothes as if some of the light they had mentioned might appear. “If I could see the shards as light, why didn't I see it?”

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“That I can't tell ye; neither of us has seen anything like it before and I don't think the villagers saw anything either.”

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Miroku turned to Inu Yasha to ask the question he knew would inevitably follow, so the hanyou beat him to the punch. “No, I didn't see anything—

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--but I saw it!” Shippo piped in.

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“…But how?” Kagome queried, completely confused.

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“Bah! That's easy.” Inu Yasha snorted indignantly, “Kitsune aren't like other demons. Their blood doesn't drive them to kill…” Like my youkai blood, his mind whispered as his frown deepened.

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“What he means is that they share a different kind of blood. You see, Kitsune can be vassals for deities.” Miroku continued. “They are deeply connected to the Kami; that might explain why our friend Shippo saw the same thing we saw, but not Inu Yasha or the villagers.”

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Feeling somewhat left out of the conversation the dog demon quickly pointed out, “I did notice her scent changed at the same time Shippo was shrieking in my damn ears.”

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“So that's what that was about!” Kagome exploded and watched as Inu Yasha nearly sat himself in anticipation of the dreaded word.

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Kaede salvaged the situation. “Kagome must have channeled a spirit. Only a powerful spirit would have caused her scent to change as Inu Yasha described.”

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Miroku concurred and watched Inu Yasha's claws drift down to the hilt of his sword. The half demon was concerned; it was one of his trademark tells. Kaede noticed it as well and spoke up.

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“It would not hurt her, dear. She shall be fine.”

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Inu Yasha did not look convinced until Kagome nodded. “She's right, Inu Yasha, I feel fine. I feel better than fine, actually, I…”

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Her eyes locked on his, her lips parted to say something, then compressed as she sucked in her lower lip and chewed on it for a moment. He could tell the miko wanted to tell him something; she kept looking at him and then down to the sleeve of her robe where her fingers absently picked at the material. Whatever it was she did not want to say it in front of everyone else.

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“I think I should take her back home. Its cold, she's done enough. We'll talk more about this tomorrow.” He said as he moved into position in front of the girl so that she could climb onto his back.

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Before she did she handed off Shippo to Miroku who gave the couple a questioning look and began to protest but Inu Yasha shot him an expression that the houshi knew meant that all conversations were over. Minutes later they took off. Kaede placed a restraining hand on the priest's arm when he made to follow them.

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“Nay, priest. Leave them be. They'll be fine if my theory is right about the lady Kagome. In the meantime, I would like ye to come with me. I've got some scrolls I'd like ye to look at; I want to make sure I'm right about this...”

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Inu Yasha touched down on the other side of the village and gently deposited his wife onto the front porch. He had tried to scent her several times to see if it had changed again but the wind blew against them and he could discern little except her usual familiar smell. The miko was shivering from the frigid flight through the woods and she hustled indoors. Immediately, she shuffled over to the hearth in the center of the main living space, grabbed the two flint stones near by and struck them until a nice fire began to burn. Her husband watched her from a distance, still concerned as he observed her making using busy work to avoid whatever it was that happened to be bothering her. When she made to put more wood on an already blazing fire he strode forward and caught her wrist, forcing her to look up at him.

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“All right now; tell me what's going on. You've stalled enough.”

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Suddenly her face was a dark shade of crimson, her eyes wide with surprise. She opened and closed her mouth to speak but the words would not come out. It was so unlike her to be so silent it scared him so he yanked her up towards him and held her near his face, staring her down.

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“Tell me Kagome! What's wrong?”

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Instead of speaking she grabbed him and pulled his head down to her lips, kissing him hard. Just then her scent hit him and his eyes widened and he instantly knew what had been bothering her. It was desire, she wanted him; her scent screamed it. She broke the kiss for a moment to confirm it.

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“I-I… didn't want to say in front of—mpf!”

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He would not let her continue as his lips crushed hers. Why let words ruin a perfectly good mood? Crisis or not, to a man who was mentally barely out of his teens his mind was still ever in the sway of the prospect of sex. Her hands tangled in his silver hair until they found his ears and he nearly dropped to floor, growling his approval. Before he knew it she was tugging at his haori and through some magic his claws had pulled off most of her robes. Eventually their clothing served as an appropriate mattress as neither seemed terribly interested in slowing down enough to make it to the bedroom.

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“Kagome did what?” Miroku looked up from the scroll he had been studying to stare at the aged miko and nearly dropped it.

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“I believe she channeled a goddess.” She leaned forward to stretch out a scroll. A carefully painted watercolor image of a goddess unfolded. “You know the story of Amaterasu Omikami? Her brother, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, in a drunken stupor destroyed much of Amaterasu's land and when her handmaidens tried to stop him he killed them as well. The goddess was so upset that she locked herself away in cave and the world was plunged into darkness.”

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“Are you saying that Kagome was channeling Amaterasu?”

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“Nay,” Kaede shook her gray head, “I believe she channeled Ame-no-Uzume.”

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“You're saying she channeled the deity who danced in front of the cave to draw her back out?” Miroku blinked.

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“Yes, it makes sense doesn't it? A miko will perform the ceremony to draw out the sun in order to call forth the spring. The performance mirrors the same way Uzume danced to draw out the sun goddess from her cave.”

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The houshi nodded and continued, “That would explain why the channeling was so powerful that the clouds fled the sky and the glowing. But then, why did her scent change?”

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“I wondered about that as well.” The old miko sighed and rolled up the scroll, “I do not yet know that much but I think ye ought to be going along to bed.” Her one good eye drifted to a nearby window. “The sun is setting and ye need to tend to your family.”

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Miroku stood and gave her a polite bow, “You are too right; I should be getting back home. I'll meditate on this.”

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When he was at the sliding doors he gave one last look back at the miko, “You shall be the first to know if I think of anything.”

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“I'm home!”

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Two little fireballs came squealing towards the houshi's knees. He scooped the wriggling girls up into his arms and gave them an affectionate squeeze. Sango appeared moments later carrying the infant on her shoulder as she patted his back.

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“Good, you're just in time to help me put the girls to bed.”

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He nodded and whisked the giggling toddlers off to their room. “Come on girls, its bedtime. Daddy has to talk to mommy.”

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Inu Yasha stared up at the ceiling of the living area with Kagome tucked into his side. Normally she would have been dressed by now and gone off to wash. This time though, she had broken tradition and decided to stay put. She was exhausted, after all. A smirk spread across his face at the thought. This time around things had gone much easier. There had been less instruction and direction needed from the other. It relieved him to think that he might be getting better.

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Now that his brain had a little bit more processing power available he had begun to muse about Kagome's reaction. The hand that had been resting on her forearm was used to give it a soft shake.

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“Oi, Kagome, wake up. I wanna ask you something.”

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She groaned and cracked one eye open at him, “Hmm?”

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Feeling somewhat like an idiot for even asking, but still feeling that it was important he began, “Uh, was… was that what you had to talk to me about?”

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She shook some of the sleep from her eyes; her cheeks reddened even though they were already flushed from their previous activities, “Well, yeah. I guess, I just…uhm… missed you…”

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He supposed it made some sense. As part of the cleansing ritual they had to abstain for quite some time, though that normally bothered him far more than it bothered her. There was always a first for everything, and that was good enough for him. He smiled and pressed his nose against her hair.

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“I missed you too.”

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Sango and Miroku sat in the living area of their house and sipped tea near the hearth. The baby slept a few feet away within Sango's arm span as he was still prone to waking up at all hours of the day and night, often disturbing the twins. Miroku had relayed everything he had learned from Kaede. His wife spoke for the first time in a few hours. He noticed that the sweet look she held around her children had transformed into the calculated and neutral expression of a hunter.

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“I think the scent change is obvious.” She started, “The goddess would want to bring peace to everyone and at the same time scare off any youkai nearby. Youkai and villagers cannot see auras so then what better way to scare them off than with scent?”

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“But then why was Inu Yasha not scared by it?” Miroku argued, his brow furrowed in thought.

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Sango shot him a familiar look that told him she figured he ought to know better, “Uzume is a deity. Could a deity not tell the difference between good youkai and evil?”

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He used the smile that always disarmed her cold looks and reached across the table to squeeze her hand, “That's my Sango, so smart and yet so beautiful!”

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“You're a shameless flirt.” She rolled her eyes in his direction though the blush on her cheeks hinted that she was pleased with the compliment.

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“I'm so much more than a flirt.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her, grinning like a letch.

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“Are you now…?”

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She reached over to grab up the bundle of baby into her arms. A moment later his son was plunked into his arms. “…Good, then you can feed him when he wakes up.”