InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Fang of the Father ❯ Return to Normality ( Chapter 12 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

LES: Oh no! Movie quote… emerging! Can't stop!

Trillion: We have… normality?

Arthur: Normality? Right. We can talk about `normality' 'til the cows come home.

Ford: What is `normal'?

Trillion: What's `home'?

Zaphod: What are cows?

LES: Uh… XD On with the story?

Muse: FORTY-TWO!

LES: Wait! I'd like to give thanks to the following people on Deviantart (dot) com for leading me to good English-to-Japanese translation websites:

Demyxswaterbaby

jak0lotrluvr

FlamieKitten

And finally blue-eco-sage for offering your own knowledge! Thanks everyone!

Chapter XII: Return to Normality?

Inuyasha and Kagome's return to Kaede's village had been entirely uneventful after that point.

At first, Inuyasha practically begged Kagome not to reveal his fang's dagger to their friends, but the monk and the Yokai Taijiya were not stupid. They knew that Inuyasha and Kagome had left to get their commissioned sword, so they knew that he had it.

Finally, upon their prodding, Kagome revealed Inuyasha's fang-dagger.

Miroku and Sango, for their part, took it in stride.

“Relax, Inuyasha, the Tetsusaiga was probably made from a fang five times larger than you, and it will be some time before you achieve your father's size.” The whole group had seen the remains of Inuyasha's Yokai Lord Father when they had fought Naraku at his resting place. When the old Inu-Yokai had been alive, he was truly massive and could have passed for a small mountain. Sesshomaru's true form wasn't even close either. His true form was slightly larger than an elephant, and Inuyasha was about three-quarters his height.

“Indeed.” Sango agreed. “I agree with Kagome. I believe it is beautifully wrought. So Kagome, have you named it yet?”

Kagome shook her head. “No, I haven't.”

“Didn't Totosai name the Tetsusaiga and the Tenseiga?” Miroku asked.

“But my old man had the final say.” Inuyasha spoke up. “Remember, if Totosai had his way, the Tenseiga would have been named `Grave Cheater'.” (?)

“Do you know of its powers?” Sango asked. “Then you could name it something appropriate based on its abilities.”

“None that Totosai mentioned beyond Sealing.” Kagome said. “I guess it could be nothing but a Sealing Sword.”

“Okay, my fang may be small in comparison to my old man's, but I refuse to believe that it has no special techniques at all!” Inuyasha growled. “Besides, Totosai ain't the type of guy to reveal his swords secrets easily. He makes you figure it out, and then explains it afterwards.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Inuyasha himself had preformed both the Wind Scar and the Back-Lash Wave without even realizing it, only to have Totosai explain what had happened later.

“So… shall we call it `Chouin-taken', Sealing Dagger, until a more appropriate name is discovered?” Miroku asked and the others nodded in agreement.

Kagome placed the dagger into the small sheath. “I'll have to find a way to carry it.” Needless to say, it would be difficult to carry a dagger with her modern clothes.

“Feh. Just use those miko robes of yours.” Inuyasha growled, settling on his hunches.

Everyone present was slightly shocked. Kagome rarely dressed in the garb of a miko, usually only resorting to it when there was no other option. And when she did, Inuyasha tended to fall into a worse mood than usual, because of her greater resemblance to Kikyo at such times.

“Inuyasha? Are you sure?” Kagome asked.

“Of course I'm sure, bitch.” Inuyasha said. “Did you honestly think that after all that's happened, I'd still be comparing you to Kikyo?” He stood up. “For the last time, I happen to understand that she's dead and that I'm alive.”

“You weren't so clear-minded back when you swore your life and soul to Kikyo.” Miroku pointed out. Sango nodded in agreement.

“Well, I was a moron back then.”

“I think that's the most intelligent thing you've ever said!” Shippo pointed out.

Inuyasha growled as he took a swipe at the young Kitsune. Shippo managed to dodge and instantly leapt into Kagome's lap, hoping to be shielded by the hanyou's feelings for his mate.

“Kagome! Inuyasha's being mean to me!” Shippo cried out.

“Inuyasha! Leave Shippo alone!” Kagome scolded.

Inuyasha stared at her in disbelief. Why can't she, just once, take my side against that runt?! “The little brat was asking for it!”

When Kagome's attention turned elsewhere, Shippo stuck his tongue out at the hanyou, who could do little more than growl, and swear vengeance.

“So, you have truly resolved your feelings for Kikyo?” Sango asked.

“More like I finally realized what they were in the first place.” Inuyasha said, grinning slightly. “Kikyo was the first friend I ever had, and I cared for her deeply as such. The thing that was resurrected was not Kikyo. While she couldn't love me fully, she still did care for my happiness. If she really was Kikyo, she never would have forced me to make all those difficult decisions. Kikyo's resting in peace now. She is happy, and so am I.”

Sango leaned towards Miroku. “If only all this was said three years ago.”

“Indeed.” Miroku nodded gravely. “A lot of foolishness could have been averted.”

“Oi!” Inuyasha hissed.

Darkness was gathering on Feudal Japan, and a deep calm permeated every inch of the land. Kagome loved Feudal nights. Modern Tokyo was truly a City of Lights, and one of the world's major cities. And, just like the cities like New York in America, Paris in France, and Rome in Italy, Tokyo never slept.

And while it was certainly an exciting and brilliant place to live, the light pollution shrouded the stars almost completely.

Kagome loved to star-gaze. It brought back memories of when her father was alive. He would drive her away from the lights of Tokyo into the countryside of Japan.

Together, they would gaze in awe at the heavens to witness such celestial events as meteor showers, lunar eclipses, and planetary alignment. He would also teach her the names and stories of the brighter stars and the Greek constellations.

On nights like this, tears filled Kagome's eyes. No matter where they were in Japan, light pollution was always a problem. If only Dad could see the sight I see now. Every majestic star unhindered… the sky unveiled in its full beauty.

A short distance away, Inuyasha watched Kagome as she laid on her back, staring up into the night sky.

This wasn't the first, or even the hundredth time he had caught Kagome like this. As far as he could tell, she did this ritual-like behavior every few weeks. The hanyou just couldn't see the point. What could be so enthralling about sitting like that for hours on end, staring into the sky?

Ain't nothing up there but the moon and a bunch of dots!

Finally, he made his move. Sorry, Kagome, but it's too cold for your ritual night-gazing. “Oi, bitch.” Kagome started at the sound of his voice. “You may be a hanyou, but even you'll catch a cold if you sleep on that wet grass.”

“Oh, Inuyasha. I didn't know you had come.” She settled back down on the grass, trying to hold back nearly-formed tears. “I'll just be… a little longer.”

Inuyasha would have been a truly colossal fool not to notice Kagome's sorrow at the moment. Confused, he settled down on his haunches next to her. “Kagome? Why are you crying?”

“It's—It's nothing. I'm fine.”

“Feh. Women!” He spat out the word like a curse. “There's no reason to be crying over some dumb specks in the sky.”

Kagome rounded on Inuyasha. “It's not about the `specks'!” Kagome insisted. “It's what the specks mean to me!”

Inuyasha stared at her, confused by her out-burst. She rarely lost her temper, and when she did, it was usually something major. “Kagome?”

“You really want to know? Those `dumb specks' remind me of my father!” Kagome chocked back some more tears.

This shocked the hanyou even more. He had never, once, heard Kagome speak of her sire. By comparison, they had spoken of Inuyasha old man and mother constantly. It wasn't that he hadn't wondered where Kagome's old man was, it just that he considered it not his business.

After the silence, she spoke again. “My father… he died when I was ten years old.”

“How?”

“Cancer.” Kagome said. She glanced at Inuyasha's confused face. “It's a deadly sickness. Like a growth inside your body that eats you alive. It's a slow and terrible process.”

“Your era doesn't have a cure?” Inuyasha was under the impression that Kagome's modern medicine could cure anything. He had witnessed her miracle medicines cure some potentially fatal illnesses.

“There's a treatment, but it's sometimes worse than the actual illness, and it doesn't always work.” Kagome said. “When he was still alive, we would gaze at the stars together. Those were some of my… fondest memories of him.”

Now Inuyasha understood. Even he knew that the dumbest things could be made important when linked to a powerful memory. Like how he kept his mother's lip-paint for a hundred and fifty years. It was of no use to him, but he kept it because it was the only thing he had left of his mother's… the only thing he had been able to steal from his human relatives before he ran away. But I gave it to Kikyo… I wonder what happened to it…

“But… what's so interesting about those specks in the first place that you and your father would look at them?” Inuyasha asked.

“Come here.” Kagome patted the ground next to her. “Let me show you.”

Inuyasha took her at her invitation, joining her on the ground with his arms behind his head.

“You're pretty well educated, aren't you, Inuyasha?”

“Feh. My mother was a mortal Princess. She taught me to read and write. But that's about it in terms of study.”

“Then you don't know about astronomy?”

“Astro-what?”

“The study of the night sky.” Kagome answered. “Those stars aren't just specks. They are like our own sun, actually.”

“Liar.” Inuyasha snorted. “They're too small to be suns.”

“They are very far away.” Kagome said. “So they appear much smaller than they actually are.”

That stuck with the hanyou, because it agreed with his practical knowledge. Far-off objects DID appear to be smaller than they were. So… if they were far enough away… they actually could be suns!

“Inuyasha, out there is a world much larger than our own, larger than anything you or I could possibly imagine. We can only see a small number of stars. As a wise man once said… there are more stars in the heavens than there are grains of sand on the beach. More than you can ever count, even with a Yokai lifetime. And the dark spaces in-between… that's where you can stare into eternity.”

Inuyasha, despite himself, found that he was enthralled, listening intently to her words. It was another thing that amazed Inuyasha about Kagome's era. That they had unraveled many of life's mysteries. Monks and philosophers in his time pondered questions like `Why does the sun rise and set?' and `Why do the seasons and the moon phases turn?' But Kagome had been quick to explain these mysteries with relative ease.

“An ancient culture far away from here studied the night sky and unraveled its mysteries long ago, even in relationship to now. It's because of them that we have things like constellations…”

“What are those?”

“Pictures that the stars make, like a big `connect-the-dots'.” Kagome said.

Inuyasha gazed at the stars. “I see no patterns.”

“Here, let me help. Let's start simple.” Kagome leaned closer and took his clawed hand in hers. Guiding his hand, she traced a figure using seven bright stars. Inuyasha kept the lines she made in his mind until he gasped. The stars took the form of a sort of cup with a long handle.

“It's a cup!”

“It's called the Big Dipper, and it's one of the easiest to find.” Kagome said.

“Is there more?”

“Lots more.” Kagome said, gazing around. “Oh! Orion's out!”

“Or-i-on?” Inuyasha asked.

“Orion the Hunter.” Kagome said. “Most constellations are named after the legends of the ancient people who found the shapes. Orion's legend is really long, but I like his battle with Scorpio the best.”

“Scorpio?”

“Another constellation.” Kagome explained. “There's Orion.” Once again, she guided Inuyasha until she had traced a figure of a man with a belt and sword using ten stars, two for the top of his torso, three for the `belt', three for the sword that hung from the belt, and two for his lower body. “According to the legend, Orion was a great hunter, who killed many monsters. Then, one day, he was asked to kill a giant scorpion named Scorpio that was terrorizing the people. So he set out to battle it. They fought for many days, but then Scorpio managed to sting Orion on the foot, and he was forced to retreat.”

“Where's this Scorpio?”

“We can't see it now. It's part of the legend. Now Orion and Scorpio chase each other across the sky, trying to finish an ancient battle. They are never seen in the sky at the same time.”

They stayed under the stars that way, as Kagome walked Inuyasha through the night sky, teaching him the corresponding myths and legends.

“Oh, you'll like this one.” Kagome said, grinning. “Do you see that really bright star right there?” She pointed.

“Yeah.” Inuyasha said. “What about it?”

“It's called `Sirius', the Dog Star, and it's the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, which means… Big Dog. Sirius was Orion's faithful dog, and follows him everywhere. And some of the ancients even believed that the Dog Star could affect dog behavior. During Sirius' Dog Days of summer, people believed that dogs panting would make themselves vulnerable to sicknesses like rabies.”

Inuyasha grinned at her. “You couldn't help yourself, could you?”

“No. I couldn't. What can I say? I have a special place in my heart for dogs.” She reached over and rubbed the base of Inuyasha's ear.

The hanyou let out a low growl of pleasure. “What about that cat of yours?”

“Buyo? He's the family cat.” Kagome said. “I begged my mom for a puppy, but she got a cat instead. She said that a dog would bother the people visiting the shrine.”

Inuyasha suddenly seemed a lot more excited. “Really? Does that mean I can eat it?” Kagome knew that Inuyasha was joking, and she lightly shoved his shoulder. “Kami knows I've been eyeing that cat for years!”

“No, Inuyasha, you dog! You can't eat the cat!” Kagome giggled.

“Bitch, spoil all my fun.” Inuyasha growled, nuzzling his face against his mate's throat.

“That's what happens when you give up the bachelor's life.” Kagome said. “But, you know what; you traded one form of fun for another.” Her hands reached into his haori to feel the hard lines of his chest.

“Now you've read my mind.” Inuyasha hissed, complementing her motions.

LES: Okay, first, to all cat Lovers: I officially apologize for Inuyasha's comment about eating Buyo. Dogs chase cats, dogs catch cats, and given the chance, a dog will eat cats. But Buyo isn't going to be seeing the inside of Inuyasha's stomach. I never kill off a character without good reason, no matter how much I love dogs and hate cats in my personal life. Also, the night sky does hold a very special place in my heart, though for a very different reason. I've spent many nights `gazing into eternity'. The constellations, stars, and myths described are accurate. The only difference is that in some versions of the myth, Orion is the one who injures Scorpio. But I happen to have a special liking for Scorpio too. My Western astrological sign is Scorpio.

Muse: What about your Chinese sign?

LES: Year of the Snake, of course! I'm a creepy-crawler all the way! WOOT!

Muse: (sigh)