InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Daybreak ❯ The Many Uses of Pearls ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: I only know that Housenki is the name of the youkai that made Inuyasha's black pearl. As for his son's name, in the anime he just says he's the “new Housenki”. So let's just refer to him as Housenki jr. named after his father. And for everyone who left a comment: I LOVE YOU!! (and a big thanks to you, laichi16 for your kind words!)

 

I don't own Inuyasha, k?

 

 

 

 

Chapter 8- The Many Uses of Pearls

 

 

He nearly kissed her… That was what he was trying to do, right?

 

When Kagome went home to tell her mother about finding Hojo (in the Feudal Era of all places!) she was surprised to find her family to be so enthusiastic about his rescue. Her grandfather had instantly gone to the old shed to find some sort of exorcising powder which he said had been passed down for generations starting from the time of the great Lord… she had stopped listening.

 

Souta began jumping up and down saying something about Inuyasha using his Iron Claw attack against that Onigudo-or-whatever-he-was-called bad guy. He had then calmed down and patted his big sister's hand reassuring her that there was nothing Inuyasha no Onii-san couldn't do. Her mother had taken her aside and placed her arms around her daughter's shoulders telling her this whole fiasco wasn't her fault and was just a very unfortunate case of fate. Besides, at least they knew what happened to Hojo and that cleared out all the other horrible possibilities that had circled around their heads before.

 

The energetic and positive response from her family made her all the more eager for action in Hojo's rescue. She gave her mother a quick squeeze and elatedly ran upstairs to repack her things before heading back down to the well house calling her farewell to her grandfather who was still rummaging around in the shed. The feeling of invincibility suddenly vanished the second she stared down into the well, poised for the jump. There was one thing that bothered her about rescuing Hojo: Just how were they supposed to do it?

 

The uncertainty came flooding back as she landed back in the Fuedal Era. She looked around the walls of well, dark, damp and encasing. Had she not been so accustomed to the well's presence, she might have thought it felt trapping. Was that how Hojo was feeling at the moment he came to the Fuedal Era too? Kagome's brow furrowed in irritation. She had just started to feel better too! Sulking wasn't going to solve anything! She had been so lost in her thoughts when she climbed out into the clearing, she hadn't notice Inuyasha arrive.

 

So did you tell them about Hojo?

 

She gave him a standard answer and wondered aloud how they were going to save him.

 

Oh well, I guess we're going to see him again anyway, if he keeps his promise…

 

Her chest tightened when she uttered those words and she felt the smallest thrill of panic. What if he came back stronger? What if Inuyasha got hurt? Onigumo said he was going to kill him when he got the chance…

 

In less than a second her hanyou was by her side staring at her with an expression he rarely showed. She couldn't look away from his eyes. They were still as intense as his smouldering glare, but softer, sincere… like he could say anything and she would gladly believe him. It was a look of pleading like the one he had at the castle, begging her not to go see Hojo alone. He had been all too right about that evening, she thought guiltily. But this time it was like she was all he could see. The glowing embers of his irises kept her helpless against his gaze.

 

Kagome, I swear upon my life, I won't let him touch you. I'll bring back your friend… but… I will never let anything hurt you…

 

She knew he meant it. She was almost shocked he was actually saying things like that, knowing full well he found expressing himself more difficult than breathing with a gaping hole in his chest. She couldn't say anything else but thank you for fear of crying, and she knew he would think her tears would be his fault. To spare him any confusion, she decided on placing her head on his chest and basking in his warmth. The safety, the security of his arms was amazing. She could feel him tighten around her as she listened to the dull thump thump of his heart. It was hypnotic. Was she dreaming?

 

She looked up at him to see him giving her the same smouldering stare, looking so intensely at her. Kagome deepened her breathing, trying to get more oxygen to her brain. She stared at his molten eyes, his thick jaw, his open mouth… and could feel him panting warm air on her own. She couldn't think anymore and closed her eyes, leaning in, as she felt him come closer to her lips…

 

And then she was flung behind him. By the time she was out of the daze, she was behind Inuyasha's arm facing Totosai and the son of Housenki sitting on the bull.

 

Oh God! They had nearly done it again!! Kagome mentally cursed herself, but at the same time, she felt happy beyond words. Angry because Inuyasha loved Kikyou and was still doing something like this, but happy because, despite everything, she still loved him so much…

 

 

*****

 

 

“Kagome? Are you OK?” asked Shippou. Kagome inhaled sharply as she came back to reality. She looked down at the little fox and smiled.

 

“I'm fine! Sorry, Shippou-chan.”

 

Kagome looked around Kaede's hut in dismay. It seemed everyday it was getting more and more crowded. She hoped Kaede didn't mind. She was such a patient woman, especially for an old miko. And to think she was happily sharing her food with her supposed natural enemies!

 

Housenki junior was a gigantic youkai to begin with so his antlers didn't help with the cramped space. He had to sit in the pit between the door and the raised platform, his legs crossed and head bowed low to avoid hitting the roof. Totosai sat to his left, Kaede, his right. The others sat with their backs to the walls, Shippou in Kagome's lap from the lack of space. They had managed to leave enough room in the centre of the wooden floor to boil some water to make green tea. Kagome smiled remembering her mother's words: One isn't a good host if one does not provide tea for their guests.

 

Inuyasha, sitting next to Totosai, impatiently tapped his finger on a crossed arm. He had been irritated since they arrived.

 

“So are you gonna tell us what Naraku is after or have you just come by to visit?” he asked with dark sarcasm.

 

“Patience, Inuyasha,” said Miroku calmly.

 

“Pah!” scoffed Totosai. “He's just upset because he got interrupted! Never mind how important our information is...”

 

Kagome and Inuyasha's eyes involuntarily flickered to each other. Inuyasha quickly looked away, his face turning a slightly darker shade as he mumbled something to himself. Miroku, satisfied his half demon friend had shut up a little, turned to their largest guest.

 

“Housenki-dono,” began Miroku. “You say you were visited by Kagura?”

 

“You weren't hurt, were you?” asked Kagome concerned.

 

The youkai shook his head, being mindful of the low roof. “Thank you, but I'm fine. I managed hide myself before she arrived.”

 

“Hide yourself?” asked Sango. “You managed to hide what she was after as well?”

 

He shook his head again. “No, I did not know what she wanted, but I could tell she was coming with ill intent.” He reached into his yukata and removed a round white object, holding it out for everyone to see.

 

“What a beautiful pearl…” murmured Kagome.

 

“This showed me that something bad was coming. It's a jewel I made myself. When danger approaches, it turns black. But when those with good intentions are around, it turns white.”

 

“Amazing…” said Sango and Kagome as they leaned in to get a better look at the shining milky stone.

 

Inuyasha rocked his knee impatiently. “Can we get to the point? What was Naraku after?”

 

“Patience, Inuyasha-sama, please!” cried Myouga hopping up and down on the hanyou's shoulder.

 

“Please continue, Housenki-dono,” said Kaede graciously.

 

He nodded. “Well, as soon as my pearl turned black, I hid myself inside it-”

 

“You can hide inside pearls?!” said Shippou excitedly. Kagome glared at Inuyasha when he was about to bring down his fist on Shippou's head. He sheepishly looked away from her again. Kagome's eyebrows furrowed. What the heck was his problem?

 

“Yes, it was one of my personal experiments,” Housenki continued. “Though, Father was the one to have thought up the theory. It drags you inside it and allows you to watch everything from within the safety of the stone.”

 

“I see. Genius! Was that what Naraku wanted?” asked Miroku.

 

“Get to the good part, kiddo,” said Totosai as he nudged Housenki encouragingly.

 

The jewel youkai scratched his upper lip. “You see, when I was inside the stone, I saw Naraku's demon woman break open my clam. When she couldn't find me, the flying insects she had with her started searching through all the jewels I had brought up from the lake floor. She picked up the stone I was hiding in and that's when I heard her. But I didn't expect her to be looking for that…”

 

“Looking for what?” asked Shippou. Everyone leaned in, having the same question on their minds. The faint sound of the water bubbling was the only noise cutting through the silence. Housenki looked around at them, embarrassed by all the attention. He cleared his throat.

 

“You know that I specialise in my father's work to raise jewels to become gateways to the other world, yes? (excluding my own experiments with the concealment pearl). Well, not only can they do that, but through his own experiments, Father found they can be used to find other paths.”

 

Miroku looked confused. “Other paths?”

 

“Paths of time,” answered Totosai.

 

Kagome's eyes widened. Naraku wanted to travel through time?

 

There was silence in the room again. Totosai looked around at the group. “Are you aware of what paths of time mean?”

 

Everyone nodded and looked at Kagome out of the corner of their eyes. They were no strangers to the concept of time travel.

 

“Housenki Senior was indeed an incredible youkai. His skills were unparalleled!” said Myouga triumphantly.

 

“My father made them a long time ago,” continued the jewel maker. “He only made a few. He found that they could make him go back to the past for a while. I never went with him; the jewels can only move one person.”

 

“Umm… so they can only make someone go to the past, right?” said Kagome nervously.

 

The youkai nodded. “Yes, they can only go back in time to events that have already happened. My father said he visited himself when he was three hundred years younger.”

 

Kagome let out a deep breath quietly. Thank goodness. So Naraku was still focusing on the Feudal Era, or at least, the time before it. At least this meant her nightmare wouldn't be coming true any time soon. She shuddered as she remembered the horrific dream she was forced to endure inside the moth youkai's cocoon.

 

“Kagura was looking for pearls that create paths of time…” murmured Sango to herself.

 

“Yes, well, anyway, when the coast was finally clear, Housenki Junior came and found me,” said Totosai stroking his chin. He nodded his thanks when his other hand took the cup Kaede offered him. “We figured we had to find you all and tell you what had happened.”

 

“So have you got those time pearls or whatever on you?” said Inuyasha leaning back into the wall.

 

“Fool,” said Totosai. “If we had them we would have destroyed them by now than let that Naraku guy get them.”

 

“You don't have them?” asked Kagome taking a cup of her own.

 

Housenki dropped his shoulders in a sigh. “Before my father died there was only one pearl left. He told me that word of the pearls of time had gotten out and it would be dangerous in the wrong hands. So he asked me to get rid of it.”

 

He sighed again. “Unfortunately, I couldn't destroy it. I even took it to Totosai-sama to ask if he could burn it to ashes, but even his great fire couldn't scratch it. In the end, all I could do was throw it away in some ruins, hoping no one would find it.”

 

“That's right! The Time Pearl!” cried Myouga as if he suddenly remembered the story. “I remember now! Housenki Senior said something about them to me one day. Apparently you can't touch them without being transported back in time! Very troublesome, he said. He accidently went back fifty years once when he stepped on one! ”

 

“My, my,” said Kaede as she finished passing out the tea. “So you can choose how far back into the past you go?”

 

“From what I remember it depends on the size, right Housenki?” asked Myouga.

 

“Yes, the size of the pearl determines how far back you go and how long you stay.”

 

“So a pearl about that size,” said Sango as she pointed to the white concealment pearl resting in Housenki's hand. “How far back would you travel?”

 

He looked down in thought at the jewel. “Hmm… one of this size would send you back about… two hundred years give or take a couple of decades… And you'd probably stay for about a week their time.”

 

“Wow, a whole week in the past!” whispered Kagome. “That would be troublesome to suddenly disappear for that long.”

 

“Oh, no,” said Housenki. “But to those in the present it would be like it happened instantaneously.”

 

Miroku, who was quiet for all this time sat with a hand under his chin. He didn't look away from the floor as he spoke. “So basically: Naraku wants the time pearl, but you don't have it anymore. You threw it away somewhere. There is only one pearl left and if you touch it, you will go back to the past. How far back depends on the size of the pearl. And you want us to find this pearl before Naraku, yes?”

 

Housenki bowed deeply. “It would be a great favour, not just for me but for all in existence!”

 

“And you're sure there is no way to destroy it?” asked Miroku. “What happened to the others?”

 

“The only way to make the pearls disappear is to use them,” said the jewel youkai gravely. “Once you return, the gateway closes and the pearl just disappears. Father had used all the other ones up.”

 

There was silence around the room as everyone absorbed the information.

 

“Well, that doesn't mean one of you will have to go back in time,” said Totosai waving his hand lightly. “Just try and find it first and then we'll work out what to do.”

 

“Yes,” said Miroku rubbing his hands. “Now that's settled, on to more important things: Kaede-sama! What's for dinner?”

 

Everyone instantly broke into conversation asking what they could do to help, saying what was the best way to roast seaweed and asking if they could have pickled plums with their rice. In the busy chatter Kagome saw Inuyasha silently get up and leave the hut, inching around Housenki who was eagerly looking into the boiling pot.

 

Kagome's eyes narrowed as she remembered the hanyou avoiding eye contact with her. Luckily, Shippou had bounded off of her lap and was beginning to search through the supplies with Kaede for the pickled plums. Kagome darted around the big youkai and stepped out into the cool night air. She knew straight away where he'd gone and headed down the short path to the river. Ten metres from the hut, she looked up at the dead tree by the bridge, its silhouette sticking out in the silver moonlight. It didn't take her eyes long to get accustomed to the darkness.

 

“Inuyasha? Come down! I want to talk to you!”

 

There was silence, but she could see a faint red out line somewhere high up.

 

“…what do you want?” he answered gruffly.

 

“Come down and I'll tell you,” she said.

 

“I'm not coming down.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Cause, I'm keeping watch!” he barked.

 

“You can keep watch down here!” she said, her hands on her hips. “Now come down!”

 

“Look, I told ya! I'm not coming down, got it?!” he yelled.

 

Kagome clenched her fists and stuck her arms solidly straight at her sides.

 

“SIT!!!”

 

Inuyasha dropped to the ground with a dull thud, a dust cloud rising.

 

“What the hell, bitch?!” he screamed looking up at her. She grabbed his two side bangs and yanked his face up.

 

“Why are you avoiding me?!” she yelled.

 

Inuyasha looked away angrily. “I-I-I'm not avoiding you,” he stammered through gritted teeth.

 

Kagome's mouth set into a firm line. “Liar. You're avoiding me! Ever since you tried to kiss me! What did I do wrong?!”

 

Inuyasha's face flushed bright red as he stared back at her in shock. “I didn't try to k-ki- … do that!” he yelled.

 

Kagome's mouth opened in offence.“You did too!”

 

“Well, you were doing it back!”

 

“Ugh!” she cried as she let go and crossed her arms, her body facing entirely away from him. She faintly heard him get to his knees and felt him huff, facing away from her as well. Kagome bit her lip.

 

“… Do you regret it?” she asked in a small voice.

 

“What are you talking about?!” he said. “Nothing happened!”

 

“Yeah, nothing happened,” she sulked, hugging her knees to her chest and plopping her chin down. She saw him look at her, surprised, out of the corner of her eye.

 

“…Do you regret it?” he asked quietly.

 

`What are you talking about? Nothing happened!” she mocked.

 

There was silence as both were lost in their thoughts. Kagome sighed. “…I was happy.”

 

Again there was silence. She kept herself facing away from him. “I was happy you were there for me,” she finished. Summoning her courage, she shyly looked up to his face.

 

Only one word popped into her head that described what she saw: adorable. He looked at her over his shoulder, his eyes the same as when he was with her at the well. Almost longing. Like a little puppy. His dog ears twitched.

 

“So you're not mad?” he asked cautiously.

 

Kagome rocked on her side to lean her head on his shoulder. “No,” she said looking away smiling. She could feel his face looking down at her, giving her a warm sense of security. “I'm always glad when you're with me.”

 

“Keh.”