InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Egypt Bound ❯ In Which Inuyasha Makes His Entrance (finally!) ( Chapter 7 )

In Which Inuyasha Makes His Entrance (finally!)

"God, it's hot as hell out here Inuyasha! We'll all die out here in this heat!"

"Listen, you numbskull, we have to get this area cleared before His Highness gets here or we don't get any funding for the rest of the season! Fahimtum?" Miroku nodded, wiping his forehead with a stained handkerchief under his pith helmet.

"I suppose you're right, but these men are going to drop dead from dehydration if they don't rest-besides, there's plenty of dead bodies out here, wouldn't want to add to the lot, would we?" Irritation filled Inuyasha's already sweaty brow. He hated when Miroku was right, especially when he dropped those little sarcastic hints that made Inuyasha's blood boil.

"Alright! Alright! Point taken!" Inuyasha threw up his hands, "Goddammit Miroku! Why do you have to be so damned annoying? Call Selim and tell him that the men have fifteen minutes' rest. Not a moment more-we have to get this mastaba cleared today!"

Inuyasha hated to admit that if the crew didn't get a rest, they would be sluggish for the rest of the day, he hated to break right when it looked like they were making some headway; but he respected his crew, unlike most of the other excavators, who treated their Egyptian workers like the scum of the earth. Some men, like Petrie, would give their workers rancid tinned food not fit for even vermin to eat! Inuyasha, however, believed that sound, healthy bodies do better work. He allowed his men to make salaat in the morning and at noon, and allowed for water breaks during the long, sweltering afternoons. When it was too hot, he would send the men home between one o'clock and four o'clock, lest they come down with heatstroke. He saw the white turbaned head of the foreman Selim jogging toward him, his galabeeyah rippling around him. Selim stopped before Inuyasha, panting.

"Allah yibarek fiki, Akhu el-Afareet Effendi!" ( May God preserve you, Honorable Brother of Demons!) Selim said, his voice joyful at the prospect of rest.

" Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. Ya Selim, what the devil are you calling me effendi for? Didn't I say no special treatment among us? Akhu el-Afareet will suffice, " (Thanks be to God, thanks be to God; A/N : "ya" is kinda like saying hey to someone, it's not impolite for the most part) Inuyasha replied.

"Na'am, ana asif, Akhu el-Afareet, " (Yes, I'm sorry, Brother of Demons) Selim said, affirming Inuyasha's statement.

" Go on and tell the men to take a break for fifteen minutes, it's too bloody hot out here to be without water, sah?"

"Sah," nodded Selim, who walked off to relay his message. Although Inuyasha knew that Selim had worked with other English archaeology teams before and could understand more than he spoke, he still felt obligated to learn as much Arabic as possible; he reasoned that if Egyptians were now forced to learn English, why shouldn't he, a stranger who lived in the country, learn Arabic? It pissed him off to see those priggish soldiers in Cairo treating the native people like they were no better than dogs-nothing like seeing jingoism in action.

The soldiers were pricks, but not nearly as bad as the tourists who trampled all over his site in Saqqara and tried to climb the step-pyramid inside Djoser's complex. Fools, he thought. In two days, his benefactor would be with the lot of them, extolling the virtues of his plan to preserve these very antiquities that Inuyasha was trying to unearth. There were only the two chapels ( or were they chambers?) left to clear before he had to meet Sesshomaru at the train station in Cairo; and he would be able to secure funding for the rest of this project, insha'allah.

Inuyasha stood up from his camp table and walked toward the tomb. It was small, only a noble lady's tomb, but very well preserved, considering that it was robbed in antiquity. He bowed his head to enter, picking up an oil lamp as he traveled down the narrow corridor, careful not to cause damage to the intricate raised reliefs. He reached the serdab chamber, and saw the stone offering slab that was inscribed for the lady Munnefer and her husband Djuhuty. His eyes (and lamp) moved from the serdab to a false door, which seemed not to be carved out of stone, but of wood. Upon closer investigation, it appeared that this wooden false door didn't belong to Munnefer and Djuhuty, but to some other official who seemed to have usurped the couple's tomb. Inuyasha's curiosity piqued, and he attempted to move the door-just in case the representation was the real thing. It budged enough for Inuyasha to see the crack of a doorway. Outside, he heard Selim and Miroku calling for him. He pushed the heavy cypress false door back in its original place and headed outside. Inwardly, he smirked, knowing that he had made a new discovery that day, after enduring weeks of digging and carting fill via basket. Finally, this project was going somewhere!

Miroku seemed to notice Inuyasha's change in attitude, although the latter rarely showed any emotions unless they were linked to anger.

"So…what'd you find old boy? You can't hide that smirk from me, I know you too well," Miroku asked slyly.

"Oh, nothin', " Inuyasha replied nonchalantly.

"Bullshit! I know you found something, now `fess up! It was in the serdab, wasn't it?" Miroku insisted, leading the question.

"Yes, it was, actually," Inuyasha tried to huff on his nails and brush them against his shirt. Miroku, whose curiosity was nearly eating him alive, continued his interrogation.

" Well, I noticed that our lovely false door does not belong to Munnefer and her husband, but to a much later official," Inuyasha continued, non-plussed.

"How much later?"

"Well, as I was reading the inscriptions, I found something peculiar; a name kept popping up,"

"Whose name?"

"Neb-maat-re"

"You've got to be shitting me! So now there's a possibility we'll find a New Kingdom burial chamber?" Miroku was floored. New Kingdom noble burials equaled a rich yield, if the burial chambers were undisturbed.

" That's what the false door said, `Praise be toAmun, from whom all good things come…May one thousand head of cattle, barley, and beer be offered for the ka of the exalted pharaoh Nebmaatre, may he enjoy Paradise.' How can you argue with that? That shows us that we're not just dealing with Old Kingdom, but with a noble of Amenhotep III!" Miroku looked a bit confused.

"Then, who is Nebmaatre? Is that his throne name?"

"Yeah, Nebmaatre is Amenhotep III. How fuckin' lucky can we get?"

"I hope this is for real," Miroku sighed.

"Let's just take extra precaution when we lock this tomb up tonight, okay? We better place some of our strongest to guard it tonight if we don't want the local thieves to wipe us out."

"Good thinking, Inuyasha. I just hope the hired henchmen of you-know-who don't get wind of this. We'd be in one hell of a mess," Miroku added.

"Well, " Inuyasha sighed as he scanned the worksite, " we'd better get back to work, the tomb won't clear itself, ya know." The two left the shade of the tarp and walked back toward the tomb, eager to uncover the identity of its `new' inhabitant.

****A/N: Okay, I know all of you have wondering, where the hell is Inuyasha? Well, here he is! Thank You all for being so patient while I sifted through the mounds of reading that I had to do for my classes to bring these two chapters to you. If I didn't have so much crap to read for school, I would have more time to update. Thanks also to the lovely people who reviewed my stories! I love reviews and they inspire me to write more…..sooooooo REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! Anyway, I know the story is a bit slow right now, but you have to lay down the foundation before you build a house. And I have more terms to clarify---I wanted this to be as authentic as possible, so I had to pull out the out Arabic books and stuff on Egyptian art.

fahimtum = You (m.) understand?

sah = a rough equivalent would be `ok?'. Term of agreement.

salaat = the act of praying for Muslims that involves quite a bit of movement between prayers and some recitation of the Qur'an. ***If I have any Muslim readers out there, please keep me straight on this, as this semester I am taking a class on Islam, which has been the first religion course I have taken since Catechism!!!****

insha'allah = roughly, `if God wills it' or `as God pleases'; used when speaking about the future.

serdab = small room in a tomb containing a statue of the owner; a narrow opening in the wall between the serdab and the offerings were placed enabled the spirit of the dead to receive the offerings.

Nebmaatre/Amenhotep III = Nebmaatre was the throne name of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, as the pharaoh had several names upon his crowning. The prenomen, or throne name was usually used whenever something was inscribed to or for the pharaoh. Nebmaatre translates to ` The Good God". When I mentioned the richness of New Kingdom tombs, I was referring also to the incredible wealth that Egypt enjoyed during the reign of Amenhotep III. If you want to know more about Amenhotep or the New Kingdom, do some research!

*** To All of Those Who Have Waited for an Update: I promise this story will get more interesting as (almost) all of our characters have somewhat secret agendas of their own--- and Kagome will meet Inu within a chapter or 2! Cross my heart & hope to die! Remember: REVIEW!!!!