InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles ❯ Blue Tetsusaiga ( Chapter 68 )

~~Chapter 68~~

~Blue Tetsusaiga~

 

“I'm amazed this place is still standing,” InuYasha mumbled as Kagome slid off his back. Staring around at the desolate landscape, it seemed as though time had left Totosai's cave untouched. “Totosai? You here?” InuYasha called as he headed inside.

 

“Huh? Who's there? Ahhhhh! InuYasha? You're not dead . . . ?”

 

InuYasha jerked back in shock when the old swordsmith screamed in his face. Recovering quickly enough, he reached over and thumped Totosai in the head. “Of course I'm not dead, but I will be if you keep screaming at me!”

 

Totosai scratched his head thoughtfully. “Oh? Well, maybe I had you confused with Myouga . . . I knew one of you was dead . . . must be him . . . .”

 

“Why aren't you dead?”

 

“InuYasha!” Kagome gasped. “That's not very nice!”

 

Totosai grabbed Tetsusaiga. “Oi! Hands off!” InuYasha growled, jerking the sword out of Totosai's hands.

 

“You mean you didn't break it? The only time you seek me out is when you've managed to damage it . . . .”

 

“There's nothing wrong with my sword . . . other than the fact that it's turned blue,” InuYasha remarked, thumping the sword against Totosai's head to emphasize his words.

 

Totosai rubbed his head. “Blue, you say? Let me see . . . .”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes and pulled Tetsusaiga out of the scabbard. The blade erupted in the sapphire blue light that engulfed him and Kagome in the sheen. “What the fuck did you do to my sword, you old coot?”

 

Totosai cocked his head to the side as he stared. “Huh? Did I do that? InuYasha . . . why's Tetsusaiga so blue?”

 

“Why, you—”

 

“You don't remember, Totosai? You fixed a crack in Tetsusaiga five hundred years ago,” Kagome interrupted.

 

Slowly considering Kagome's words, Totosai finally seemed to remember. “Oh, yes . . . I remember . . . so it took you five hundred years to claim your mate, did it? Slower than I thought, InuYasha . . . .”

 

“What?”

 

“You've unlocked the secret of Blue Tetsusaiga, and to have done that, all you had to do was claim your mate. Why did it take you five hundred years? Myouga always said you were simple, but that's slow, even for you . . . .”

 

“Damn it,” InuYasha snarled as his face reddened.

 

“I think I'm going to die now,” Kagome muttered as her face exploded in embarrassed color.

 

“All you have left is to figure out how to gain the ultimate power,” Totosai continued.

 

“Ultimate power? What ultimate power?”

 

Totosai blinked quickly. “Did I say something?”

 

“Totosai—”

 

“InuYasha, why are you blue?” Totosai asked.

 

InuYasha growled but dropped Tetsusaiga into the sheath again. “I ought to clobber you, old man. Tell me what you mean. How do I gain the ultimate power?”

 

“Ultimate power? Of what?”

 

“Of Tetsusaiga!” Kagome interjected when InuYasha's growl escalated into a snarl.

 

“Oh, that!” Totosai scratched his head again. “Hmm, funny . . . I don't remember . . . . Did you try asking it nicely?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I need a bath . . . .”

 

“Forget it! Come on, Kagome! This old man is nuts.”

 

“Aoirotoku is the key, InuYasha,” Totosai called after them.

 

InuYasha stopped and turned to face the swordsmith again. “How?”

 

“How? Well, Myouga sucked Kagome's blood and spit it in a bowl, then he sucked yours and spit it in the bowl, then I used them to repair the crack in Tetsusaiga . . . .”

 

“No, how is Aoirotoku the key?”

 

“Key to what?”

 

“Fucking . . . .” InuYasha turned on his heel and stomped out of the cave before he gave in to the desire to smack Totosai once more.

 

“Well, that was . . . not very helpful,” Kagome remarked.

 

InuYasha shook his head slowly. “I should have known that old codger wouldn't tell me a damn thing. When does he ever?”

 

“He did say that Tetsusaiga has an ultimate power . . . what do you suppose that meant? Another attack?”

 

InuYasha dragged Kagome onto his back. “I don't know.”

 

She groaned suddenly, burying her face in InuYasha's shoulder. “If Totosai knew about . . . us . . . does that mean everyone else does, too?”

 

InuYasha shrugged and tried not to blush. “Keh!”

 

“How humiliating . . . everyone's going to know we—that we—how we—”

 

“Don't chew it to death, wench!” he growled as he picked up speed. `Damn that old man . . . and damn my old man . . . . He's probably laughing his ass off, wherever he is now . . . .'

 

“But—”

 

“Listen, I'm not ashamed of what we did . . . are you?”

 

“No, but—”

 

“Then who cares who knows what?”

 

“Well, just because I'm not ashamed of us doesn't mean that I want everyone in the world to know . . . do you know how that sounds? That you unlocked the ultimate power of Tetsusaiga by—”

 

“I know, I know! Damn, Kagome!”

 

She groaned then giggled. When her giggling didn't diminish, InuYasha stopped and pulled her off his back to glare at her. “What are you laughing about?”

 

She waved her hands but laughed a little harder. “Not really funny,” she gasped out. “Could you imagine what Miroku would say if he knew?” Apparently, whatever it was Kagome thought the perverted monk would say was hilarious to her.

 

InuYasha couldn't say he agreed. He could imagine Miroku's reaction, and that was enough to make him grimace—and blush. `Maybe,' he thought with an inward wince, `it's a good thing we can't get back through the well . . . .' Folding his arms together, he snorted. “Keh! It's not that funny, wench.”

 

Kagome kept laughing. “Laugh or cry . . . I'd rather laugh . . . .”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes and dragged his still-giggling mate onto his back once more before he set off toward the shrine again.

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

“I don't think it's working.”

 

“Quiet, Kagome. I know what I'm doing.”

 

“Are you sure? Don't point it at me!”

 

“Keh! Don't question your mate!”

 

“Here,” Kagome said, holding out a parchment-paper wrapped rice ball.

 

“How can you possibly think about food when I can't figure out how to use this damn thing?”

 

“Put it away before you hurt someone! You're swinging it around like a lunatic . . . .”

 

“Lunatic? I ought to tweak you for that . . . .”

 

“You can't tweak me for pointing out the obvious.”

 

“Do you want to try to figure it out, then?”

 

“Of course not! I don't want to touch it! It freaks me out a little . . . it's weird-looking . . . .”

 

“Then be quiet and let me do this!”

 

“But you're holding it too tight.”

 

“Wench . . . .”

 

“ . . . Okay.”

 

InuYasha lifted Tetsusaiga above his head as the wind wrapped around the shimmering blue blade. He brought it down, unleashing the Kaze no Kizu in a powerful wave, but still the same Wind Scar that he already knew. Kongousouha was the same. InuYasha jammed the sword point-down in the grass with a loud snort. A vague blue wave rippled out from the blade about ten feet in all directions before it faded away. When he let go of the hilt, the blade transformed back to its rusty state, and he shook his head in obvious disgust. “I don't get it. What the hell did Totosai mean, that Aoirotoku was the key?”

 

“What was that wave?” Kagome asked, staring at the ground around Tetsusaiga. “It did that in the well-house, too . . . and the energy blast when you were fighting Katosan . . . .”

 

InuYasha's eyebrows drew together in a thoughtful frown. “I don't know. That can't be it, though. It was too weak . . . .”

 

Kagome sat in the grass, carefully chewing a bite of the rice ball that InuYasha had declined. “Well, Aoirotoku means `blue shield' barrier . . . but . . . do you think Totosai might have meant that the key was what Aoirotoku stood for instead of Aoirotoku, itself?”

 

Jerking Tetsusaiga out of the ground to resheathe it, he flopped down in the grass beside her. “I don't follow.”

 

She shrugged as he grabbed her wrist and bit into the rice ball, barely missing her fingers. “Hey! Watch out! You almost bit me!”

 

“Incidentals, wench. Explain what you meant.”

 

“Ugh. Stop talking with your mouth full,” she commented. “I just meant, maybe you have to use Tetsusaiga to do a certain thing, in order for the technique to work. Maybe it's a defensive technique instead of an offensive one, you know, like the Bakuryuuha.”

 

He made a face. “What good is a defensive technique? I don't want to have to wait till I'm attacked in order to use the new power of Tetsusaiga. That's a bunch of—” He cut himself off when she reached over and tweaked his nose.

 

“You're spitting food all over. That's gross.”

 

He made a point of swallowing before scrunching up his nose. “You can't tweak me, I've told you!” he blustered as he grabbed her hand again and ate the rest of the rice ball, biting her fingers in the process.

 

“Ow!”

 

“Keh! That didn't hurt,” he informed her around his mouthful of food. She made a face as tiny bits of rice flew out of his mouth along with his words.

 

“You bit me on purpose,” she accused.

 

He swallowed his food and grabbed her hand for the third time. Holding it two inches from his eyes, he inspected the finger before snorting as he dropped her hand again. “Not even a mark. You're fine.”

 

“Still,” she maintained as she dug a bottle of water out of her bag, “I wouldn't bite you.” He snatched her wrist and tipped the bottle to his lips. “InuYasha, you could have asked for a bottle of your own,” she remarked as he emptied nearly the entire thing.

 

“I'm not thirsty now.”

 

“I wonder why,” she muttered as she dug around for another bottle. InuYasha stretched out, dropping his head in her lap. Kagome stared down at him with a completely stoic expression. “And what do you think you're doing?”

 

“You know you want to, wench.”

 

“Want to what?”

 

In answer, he twitched his ears. Kagome rolled her eyes. A wicked glint lit her eyes, and she smiled sweetly at the hanyou. “I'm so sorry, InuYasha . . . my diary was in the other bag, so I guess you're out of luck.” Adding a wistful sigh for good measure, she carefully pushed him off her lap before standing up and retrieving her bag.

 

InuYasha stared in shock as his mate pulled the backpack over her shoulders and waited for him. `What . . . what just happened? She . . . turned me down? I offer her a chance to rub my ears, and she turns me down? Keh!'

 

She giggled. “Stop pouting, InuYasha! We've got a long way to go before dark.”

 

“We'll make it in plenty of time,” he scoffed as he hopped to his feet, “and I'm not pouting.”

 

“Okay, you're not pouting,” she agreed as he pulled her onto his back for the rest of the trip. “You're just making a nice ledge for a bird to nest on.”

 

“Keh.”

 

“Right there,” she remarked, using her index finger to jiggle his bottom lip.

 

“Wench, I'll drop you,” he warned as he pushed off the ground and turned his face away from her finger.

 

She giggled and tightened her hold on him. `Score another one for Kagome,” she thought with a content smile, laying her cheek against his shoulder.

 

 

:::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8::8:::

 

 

InuYasha stomped into Kagome's room with a scowl on his face and a pink towel draped over his hair, rubbing with his hands against the towel.

 

Glancing up from her calculus book—the third one her mother had to buy—she'd meant only to see what he was doing. Eyes widening, she stared in utter befuddlement as he muttered under his breath about `fucking tubs' and `scalding water'. Wearing a pair of rather small sweatpants that hugged his body just a little too well, Kagome couldn't even remember to breathe as she gaped. He hadn't bothered with a shirt, nor, did it seem, had he bothered with the boxer shorts her mother had purchased for him. The sweats were tight enough that she would have been able to tell if he had been wearing those . . . . `Ack! Stop gawking at him!' She blinked as pink filtered over her cheeks. `Then again, he is your mate . . . gawk all you want . . . .'

 

“Your mother hates me,” InuYasha informed her as he turned to intercept her bemused stare. “Kagome? You okay?” his gaze narrowed as he eyed her. “You want a spoon?”

 

“Huh?” Kagome asked, unable to drag her eyes off the golden expanse of his chest.

 

“A spoon, wench, a spoon . . . .”

 

Taking another moment to register exactly what he meant, Kagome's face shot up in flames as understanding dawned on her. “I wasn't—”

 

“You were. Eating me all up,” he remarked with a smug grin.

 

Studiously avoiding his gaze by sticking her nose back into the calculus book, Kagome tried to hide her embarrassment, which only served to further InuYasha's humor. “What did you say about Mama?” she finally asked to change the subject.

 

He snorted. “Your mother hates me.”

 

Eyes peeking over the calculus book, Kagome stifled a groan. “Why do you think that?”

 

`Pouty face' was back as he wrinkled his nose and sat down on the edge of the bed. “She yelled at me.”

 

“Why?” she asked cautiously.

 

“I dunno. Ask her.” Kagome thought it over for a few moments before tossing aside the comforter and hopping out of the bed. “Oi, wench! Where are you going?”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. “Where do you think? To ask Mama why she yelled at you.”

 

Before he could stop her, she skittered out of the room and ran down the stairs. Mrs. Higurashi was in the living room watching the late news. “Mama, InuYasha said you yelled at him.”

 

Mrs. Higurashi's eyebrows lifted. “I didn't yell . . . well, I didn't mean to.”

 

“Oh, no . . . what did he do?”

 

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. “I was putting things away, and he had the bathroom door open.”

 

Little alarm bells started clanging unmercifully in Kagome's head. “Oh, no . . . he didn't . . . you didn't see—”

 

Her mother laughed and waved a hand. “No, nothing like that. He was . . . shaking his head. I'm afraid I was a bit shocked. The bathroom was a mess, water everywhere . . . .”

 

Kagome bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. “Do you want me to clean it up?”

 

Mrs. Higurashi blushed faintly. “I'm afraid that's why I yelled at him. He cleaned it up.”

 

“I see . . . he said you hate him.”

 

With a gasp, Mrs. Higurashi flicked of the television and stood up. “I'd better apologize . . . can't have him thinking that . . . .”

 

“It's okay, Mama. I don't think he believes that. He's just pouting.”

 

“I don't pout!”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes and headed out of the room again. “Night, Mama.”

 

“Night dear,” Mrs. Higurashi said with a grin, then a little louder, she called, “Good night, InuYasha!”

 

“Keh!”

 

“InuYasha!”

 

An exasperated sigh drifted down the stairwell and into the living room. “Good night, Mrs. Higurashi.”

 

Kagome followed InuYasha back up the stairs with a small smile on her face. “You should have realized Mama wouldn't like the way you dry your hair,” she remarked as she crawled back under the covers.

 

“You women have strange sensibilities.”

 

“Do we?”

 

InuYasha didn't bother to answer as he stepped over to snatch the calculus book out of her hands. “I can bury this one, too,” he remarked.

 

“You can't . . . that was the other one.”

 

“Keh. It looks the same.”

 

“No, it doesn't. This one doesn't look like you chewed on it.”

 

He narrowed his eyes on her. “That could be arranged,” he warned.

 

Kagome sighed and reached over onto her nightstand. “Might as well finish reading your mother's diary then, huh?” Looking down at the book she held, Kagome frowned. “This one isn't your mothers . . . .” she turned the volume over in her hands. “Isn't this the one I gave you before?”

 

InuYasha suddenly reached for the book. Kagome snatched it out of his grasp as she eyed him. “You're acting weird . . . why is that?”

 

“Keh! You're imagining things,” he assured her as he reached for the book again.

 

“Am I?” she countered, her eyebrows lifting in unison. “Then why are you blushing?”

 

“I'm not!” he growled as he managed to snatch the book out of her hands. “Nosy wench.”

 

Kagome's curiosity was peaked, and she reached for the book again. InuYasha dropped it on her desk and came back, none-too-gently scooting her over before he flopped down beside her.

 

She tried to crawl over him. He caught her and pulled her against his chest. “Know what happens to sneaky wenches that don't stay out of other people's stuff?”

 

Her breath caught at the proximity of their bodies but she managed to shake her head as she stared into his mesmerizing golden eyes. `Molten lava,' she thought hazily.

 

He kissed her quickly then rolled, pinning her in place with a leg draped over hers and his arms wrapped tightly around her. “You'll find out first hand if you don't leave that alone,” he warned.

 

She sighed in protest but didn't try to free herself, either. “What did you write in there?”

 

“Nothing about you.”

 

“InuYasha! That's not very—”

 

“Go to sleep, wench.”

 

“But I'm not tired,” she argued.

 

Since both of his arms were wrapped securely around her, he used his nose to tweak hers. “Go to sleep.”

 

She sighed again. `Fine,' she thought with an inward grin, `Just wait until you're asleep . . . I'll get it . . . then . . . .' Kagome yawned as InuYasha's soft, rasping rumble engulfed her, coaxing her toward sleep. `As soon as . . . he's . . . asleep . . . .'

 

Moments later, she was asleep.

 

 

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~ *~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

 

A/N:

 

 

== == == == == == == == == ==

 

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Chronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~