InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Delving Into The Mysteries Of The Past ❯ The Present Moment ( Chapter 8 )

 

I studied Horeshio's face at dinner. He didn't seem to notice, nor did anyone else present.

 

“Too bushy,” I mumbled looking down at my plate. Mitsu looked over at me.

 

“What?” he asked. “What did you just say?”

 

“I said my eyebrows are too bushy,” I lied, waving my hand. “I'll have to get them done soon. Mitsu's eyebrows rose.

 

“Aren't we going to a funeral in a week?” he asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

“And you're getting your eyebrows done?” The skepticism was evident in his voice.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Shouldn't you be in mourning?”

 

“Yes.” He wasn't about to get anymore out of me. I didn't trust myself enough to say anything more than a simple `yes' or `no,' lest I say something that made him more suspicious than he already was. I, however, had a few questions for him, and he was going to answer them, whether he wanted to or not. “How's Mom?” I asked him.

 

“Huh?” He wasn't expecting that.

 

“I wanted to know if you knew how Mom was. You know, with all the pressures of the funeral and such,” I said, my sad smile only half-faked.

 

“Oh, she's doing okay,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

 

“He went out to see her today,” Horeshio said. Mitsu glared at him, but Horeshio gave the same look back at him until Mitsu was forced to look away. Horeshio glanced at me before going back to concentrating on his food, and I swore I saw him grin at me.

 

“You did?” I asked, trying to act oblivious. After an uncomfortable pause, Mitsu answered.

 

“Yeah, she called me over,” he said. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying, `I know.'

 

“Why?” I asked. It was an honest enough question to ask. I must have seemed to him merely curious as to why my mother would want to talk to her son-in-law instead of her daughter, rather than trying to coax information out of him.

 

“I told her you weren't feeling well and she didn't want to make you feel worse, so she talked to me,” he explained.

 

“She could have talked to us later today or even tomorrow,” I countered. Mitsu's jaw tightened.

 

“It was very important,” he said slowly.

 

“What was so important that it couldn't wait?” I asked. Mitsu temper exploded.

 

“Why all these questions?!” he yelled. Damn it! I pushed too hard. “Is this a damn interrogation?!” He glared at me. I had to think quick to erase the damage I caused.

 

“I was only curious,” I explained, ducking my head and looking at him through me bangs. “ I haven't seen Mom in a long time, and I was a little hurt that she didn't want to talk to me.” That was a flat-out lie. I didn't talk to my mother much, nor did I want to. The conversation always turned to Kikyo, and what Kikyo was doing, and look at all the accomplishments Kikyo had. Kikyo was my sore spot. My lie did the trick though. Mitsu calmed down almost instantly, the angry red leaving his face, an embarrassed red taking its place.

 

“Sorry,” he said. “I felt that you didn't trust me with all those question you were asking,” he said. He was right. I didn't trust him. “That's why I blew up.”

 

“It's okay,” I said. I couldn't ask him any more questions tonight. I would have to wait awhile and let him forget about it.

 

“He's lying,” Horeshio said, not even bothering to look up this time. “He's hiding something.” I snuck a look at Mitsu through the corner of my eye. He was glaring at Horeshio again, this time with a lot more animosity than before, though the look was being coolly ignored by the receiver. “He wasn't just with Grandma, he was with Aunt Kikyo too.” My head snapped to look at Mitsu before I could stop myself. To my surprise, Mitsu was staring at Horeshio in shock.

 

“How did you know that?” he asked.

 

“You were with Kikyo?” I snapped.

 

“I just know,” Horeshio answered. He was way too mature for an eight-year-old. Mitsu looked at me for support, and cowered under my glare.

 

“And pray tell me why you left that little bit of info out,” I said, tone deadly soft.

 

“Now Kagome,” he began, but I cut him off.

 

“Don't `now Kagome' me! Why were you with her!?”

 

“Because she was there!” he snapped. “What was I supposed to tell her? To leave!?” I clenched my jaw. He was right. I was overreacting and behaving like a spoiled brat. “Do you really hate your sister that much?” he asked.

 

“It's not that I hate her,” I explained. “We don't see eye to eye. She's the older, more mature one, and I guess we've always been in competition with one another to see who's better, and I've always lost out.”

 

“Tell me about it,” Mitsu said, his tone implying a joke, but I didn't miss the quick glance at Horeshio that implied something darker. “Kikyo was always the more serious one.” He said something else quietly under his breath that I didn't catch, but Horeshio's head shot up, eyes blazing. Mitsu leaned back in his chair and I was shocked at the intensity of hatred in Horeshio's eyes. Something tugged at my mind, and I could almost feel a sort of aura emanating around him. It was so familiar…yet I couldn't quite place what it reminded me of.

 

“Teme,” Horeshio said, a biting edge creeping into his young voice. His use of language seemed to jolt Mitsu out of his fear-induced stupor and he leaned across the table hand outstretched to smack him before I could yell for him to stop. Horeshio nimbly dodged the slap, and it hit Anasuteijia instead of Horeshio. There was a deadly silence, save for Anasuteijia's quiet whimpering. Samisu put his arms around his sister, and she buried her face into his shoulder, the red mark on her cheek standing out against the paleness of her face. Horeshio looked from me to Mitsu and then to Anasuteijia and Samisu, who regarded him rather fearfully.

 

“Mitsu,” I said, knowing only too well that my eyes had taken on the icy quality that Kikyo always wore.

 

“It was an accident,” he defended himself. “I was aiming for Horeshio.”

 

“Oh I know who you were aiming for,” I said, my voice quiet. “And I know it was an accident. But you still tried to slap him.”

 

“He deserved it!”

 

“It's up to me to decide whether or not he deserves to get slapped,” I snapped, my voice still holding that same foreboding quietness. “He is my son.”

 

“And you've done a fine job of raising him too,” Mitsu replied scathingly. My eyes flashed, and the priestess blood that flowed through my veins crackled with energy.

 

“Are you implying that I don't know how to raise my own son?”

 

“How much can you know about raising a child when you don't even know who his father is?” My aura exploded into a blue barrier around me. Everyone in the room took a step back.

 

“Go upstairs,” I said. “Your father and I have to do some talking.” Samisu half dragged, half carried Anasuteijia upstairs and Horeshio slowly made his way after them, watching me the whole way up.

 

“You need to calm down,” Mitsu told me. The only answer he received was an increase in spiritual power that made my aura crackle.

 

“You need to control you temper,” I said.

 

“Look who's talking!” I set my jaw, and then very slowly and deliberately decreased my power until the barrier disappeared. “That's better.” I narrowed my eyes at him. He was treating me like I was some kind of pet.

 

“I want you to apologize to Anasuteijia, if she'll still talk to you that is,” I said, turning my back on him.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“To bed. And don't even think about joining me. You can sleep on the couch tonight for all I care right now,” I said, slamming the bedroom door. I heard Mitsu's frustrated yell and then the sound of the back door being opened and then slammed shut. My knees finally gave out, and I crashed to floor, letting all the tears I had help in since Mitsu slapped Anasuteijia flow to the floor, staining the carpet dark blue.

 

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Aaarrrggghhhh! Such a short chapter! But for some reason, it seemed fitting to end it here. At least that's what my psyche told me to do. Ahh, poor Kagome. I'm putting her through all sorts of hell in this fanfic…and I'm warning you, it's going to get a lot worse before it starts to get better…if it gets better at all that is…(evil laughter…)