InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Incarnations: Inuyasha 2030 ❯ Questions and Answers ( Chapter 8 )

Questions and Answers

 

Souta, Mrs. Hirugashi, Kagome and Inuyasha were sitting at the kitchen table. The night was late and everyone looked very tired as they sipped their green tea.

 

“I see,” said Souta.

 

Mrs. Hirugashi was crying. “I never knew,” she said as she wiped away the only tears that Inuyasha had ever seen her shed. “I had always hoped. I just never knew…,” She paused momentarily. “I am so glad that you married Kagome and took care of her, Inuyasha.” She took a deep breath and quickly composed herself. The only evidence that she had been crying were her puffy eyes.

 

“Keh. Of course I would take care of her,” muttered Inuyasha in feigned annoyance. “What else would I do?” He crossed her arms in front of him and then hid them inside of his kimono sleeves. He couldn't help but notice that Kagome smiled faintly at him and all of the sudden—despite his best efforts to the contrary—a small smile started to peek up the sides of his mouth.

 

Inuyasha then stood up and huffed a little before he looked at Souta. “Can I talk to you alone Souta?” he asked.

 

Souta had a knowing smile. “Of course, Inuyasha. Will you please excuse us mother and Kagome?” he asked as he led Inuyasha away to the family room.

 

“But…,” said Kagome.

 

“Ah, granddaughter. I need your help with tonight's dishes. Please come over here and help me,” Mrs. Hirugashi smiled as Kagome's face lingered after the man with the silver hair who walked out of the kitchen.

----

“So, Inuyasha. What do you want to talk to me about?” asked Souta.

 

Inuyasha fidgeted and put his arms back into his kimono sleeves again. “Keh…Um…”

 

“Does it have something to do with Kagome?” asked Souta who was wearing a look of complete seriousness that might have briefly changed into a smile if the moment was right.

 

“Oi. She, that is Kagome, that is I…I would like…,” stammered Inuyasha.

 

“You would like…?” asked Souta trying to be helpful.

 

“Iwouldlike toaskforherhand,” muttered Inuyasha quickly.

 

“Her hand? You mean in marriage?” asked Souta.

 

Inuyasha looked away from Souta and could only mutter, “Oi”

 

“Well, my boy,” said Souta seriously. “How will you take care of my daughter? Do you have a job? Where will you live after the marriage? Do you have a ring?”

 

Inuyasha turned to look at Souta with a look of sheer panic on his face. “I didn't have to worry about those things the first time I married her? Why do I now? I'll do whatever you want. Just please let me marry her,” he asked and pleaded.

 

“How old are you Inuyasha?” asked Souta.

 

Inuyasha could see where this was going. “I'm eighteen. But I was sixteen the first time I married Kagome. I don't see why this is relevant anymore. Humans in this time period are so silly. Waiting so long to get married. I married her once already. I just…I just want to marry her again--in this lifetime. I want to be with her again Souta. I need her. Now that I know she's here I don't think that I could live without her.”

 

“And does she return your affections?” asked Souta with a knowing smile.

 

Inuyasha scratched his head and smiled momentarily. “Oi”

 

“Alright then,” said Souta. “Come with me.” Souta motioned Inuyasha to follow him up the stairs to a bedroom at the end of the hall. Once inside the room Souta pulled out a small box and handed it to Inuyasha. “This was the engagement ring that I gave my wife, Michiko. I replaced it with the wedding ring when we were married. My wife kept it here, for sentimental purposes. Perhaps you could use it?”

 

Inuyasha opened the box and saw a small gold band with tiny diamonds running along the length of the band. The entire band sparkled in the light as Inuyasha turned it in his palm. “Thank you Souta,” murmured Inuyasha.

 

“Now the final question is where are you going to live after you both get married?” said Souta as he posed the question to the air. “Where do you live now and would Kagome live there or here?”

 

“I'm adopted Souta. My parents have been wonderful to me. But they have a son, Miroku, who will inherit their temple,” said Inuyasha.

 

“Temple?” asked Souta.

 

“Yes. I have been raised at the Moroboshi Buddhist Temple since I was six years old. But the succession of Buddhist monks always follows from father to the first born son and that will fall to, Miroku. Not me their adopted son,” added Inuyasha.

 

“I see,” said Souta. “Then you would not mind living with us?” asked Souta.

 

“I can…? I mean, you'll let me?” asked Inuyasha in astonishment.

 

“Well, Kagome is my only heir for this Shrine. If she leaves, then the Hirugashi Shrine will no longer be in our family's hands. She is a capable miko and I had always hoped that she would continue to run our Shrine. I just find it a little curious. A miko and a half-demon running a shrine!” Souta smiled so that Inuyasha would know that he was only joking.

 

“Did you not say that you lived right next to the Goshinboku tree in your time with Kagome? Perhaps you are simply meant to live here.” Souta looked up at him warmly. “You have my blessings Inuyasha. The rest is up to you.”

 

Inuyasha gripped the small ring in his hand. Now if he could only find the right moment to propose to her again.

 

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Next Day, Tokyo University

 

Hojo was staying after class today in the science lab to finish his Chemistry experiment. He stood next to rows and rows of stainless steel counters and lab equipment. Except for Hojo and his lab partner, Eri, no one else was in the lab.

 

“Goodbye Hojo,” said Eri as she grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. “Don't stay here too late. Remember we have archery practice in an hour.”

 

“Oh, OK. I'll be there. I just need to finish this experiment. Don't wait up for me,” he said with a sun-shine smile on his face.

 

“OK, See ya,” she said as she left and the room became vacant.

 

Hojo finished his experiment. He was wearing plastic goggles and was peering into his beaker. “The reaction isn't starting. Maybe I should add some more of the chemical,” he said while looking at the clear water-like solution in the glass beaker.

 

Suddenly he felt like the air conditioner had been turned on. It was very cold. Then he noticed that the air in front of him was so chilly that even his breath was visible. “What? What's going on?” he thought as he could see his breath rise and his body shivered in the cold.

 

Hojo put his beaker down. “Is someone there?” he asked as he walked through the stainless steel lab stations and tried to see if anyone was there. He didn't know why he knew, but he felt like he was being watched. It was an eerie feeling. His pulse started to quicken. “Hello?” he called out. No one answered. The coldness seemed to intensify, then the coldness waned and suddenly the room temperature started to warm back to normal.

 

“That was weird,” he thought. His pulse was still beating quickly and he still felt unnerved. But there was nothing there right? If you couldn't see anything, it meant nothing was there, right? Somewhere in his gut he felt that he was lying to himself and that something was horribly wrong. But he couldn't bring it to himself to admit it.

 

“OK. It was just the air conditioner going into overdrive or something. Now where was I?” said Hojo out loud.

 

Hojo peered down at his beaker and looked at the solvents he was using for the reaction. He didn't notice that the inert solvent he was using was now labeled `Hydrochloric Acid'. The beaker already contained `Acetyl Chloride'. Without the slightest delay Hojo poured the entire container of `Hydrochloric Acid' into the beaker. “This should cause a reaction,” he thought.

 

Suddenly the beaker exploded and glass shards flew through the air hitting his body painfully. At the same time fumes of salty, acidic smoke filled the air and burned his lungs, face, arms and body. He coughed and spat. His body felt like it was melting and that it was on fire. He quickly ran to the emergency washing station and pulled the chain that let water crash down on him. As his hair fell in clumps around him and some of his skin peeled away he passed out onto the floor.

 

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Inuyasha looked at the ring that he held in his palm. It had been burning a hole in his pocket all day long. He wanted to give it to Kagome. He needed to give it to her. He wanted to make Kagome his and he really didn't want to wait any longer. Now there was just the inconvenience of finding the right time .

 

He had thought about proposing to her when he met her at the Torii gates in the morning. However, she was too tired so he picked her up and he ended up carrying her to the Shinjuku station on his back. Then the subway was too damn crowded to say something that should be done in private. Then they got to the campus and they had to split up for classes. Now she was done with classes and Inuyasha was waiting outside her last class for the day.

 

He took the ring and tossed it and caught it again. It became a nervous habit. He tossed it. Caught it. Tossed it. Caught it.

 

“What are you playing with Inuyasha?” asked Kagome.

 

Inuyasha froze as the ring was tossed and he couldn't catch it because he had been caught offguard. It fell to the ground as he tried to grab it but it kept on flying from his grasp and his face spasmed in contortions. “Oh Shit!” he yelled as he dove to the ground trying to find the gold ring.

 

Kagome was doing her best to help. “I'll help you Inuyasha. It looked like gold. What was it?” she asked.

 

“Oh, nothing,” Inuyasha sputtered.

 

“Then why are you so worked up and nervous?” she asked with a smile and a lilt to her voice.

 

“I'm…not…worked…up,” said Inuyasha as he dropped to the ground and started trying to find the gold ring before she did.

 

“Yes, you are Inuyasha-kun,” she said teasingly. “You just won't admit it.” Then she paused as she was also looking around the ground. “Oh, is this it? It looks like a gold ring…Umph…”

 

Inuyasha was quickly on top of her desperately trying to get the ring away from her before she could find out what it was. He tried to swipe at it. Then he looked down to see Kagome pinned under him with a self-rightous look on her face.

 

“I found it. Finders keepers, Yash! Now what exactly was this?” she said as she pulled it closer to her eyes and looked at it. Her eyes widened.

 

“This ring…,” she said as she turned it over and over in her hand. “It looks like Mom's engagement ring. Where did you get it Inuyasha?”

 

“I um…Keh…Souta..Souta gave it to me,” said Inuyasha.

 

“Dad. Dad gave you Mom's engagement ring? Why? Oh…,” Kagome looked up at the man who had her pinned to the ground.

 

“Did you have something to say to me Inuyasha?” asked Kagome.

 

Inuyasha's eyes blurred. He took the ring from her hand and held it in his. He still had his body on top of hers pinning her underneath his body.

 

“Kagome,” he said as he brushed her bangs from her eyes. “I married you before. But it was `until death do us part' so I was hoping that you…”

 

“Hoping…?” chimed in Kagome.

 

“I was hoping that you wouldn't mind marrying me all over again,” said Inuyasha as he looked deeply into her brown eyes to see himself reflected back.

 

“Oh, Inuyasha,” she said as she smiled shyly. “Yes, of course. You are the only man for me. This lifetime or any other.”

 

Inuyasha then took the ring and gingerly put the ring on the ring finger on her left hand. “Having you as my wife would make me the happiest person alive,” said Inuyasha. Then with his fiancé underneath him he couldn't help but to put a fevered kiss on her lips. Their lips met and he dove into her wet mouth. Her hands laced behind his neck, feeling his long silver hair that merged with her long black hair as he leaned above her. Inuyasha gripped his arms underneath her and they came together under her back, drawing her closer to him. Inuyasha felt Kagome's soft, warm body pressed up against his leaner form. Her wet lips ensorcelled his own. Kagome, his miko, she had cast a spell on him again and this time he didn't want her to break the spell.

 

Suddenly they heard a scream. “The Chem lab! There's been an explosion, someone get help!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hojo was barely conscious and he was in great pain. His entire body felt like it was raw and on fire. He looked at his hands and saw that his skin had melted away and that blood and raw muscles and sinews were visible. He didn't want to know what his face looked like.

 

“You're dying,” said a voice. “It won't be much longer. Do you want to live?”

 

“Live?” chocked Hojo. He really didn't know if he wanted to live anymore. What would Kagome think of him looking like this? She would never love him now. Maybe it was best to die. He turned around looking for where the voice might be coming from, but his vision was too blurred.

 

“You are thinking about Kagome,” the voice whispered. “Do you want her? Do you want her to love you?” The voice paused as Hojo's wheezing breath was the only sound in the room.

 

“I can give you Kagome. I can even let you live with her forever. Imagine an eternity, your soul tied to Kagome's. Never to part,” said the voice.

 

“She'll never, she'll never accept me as I am now. I just want to die. Leave me alone!” Hojo tried to scream but his voice only came out as a gurgled whimper.

 

“I can heal you. I can make you handsome. I can get rid of your pain,” said the voice.

 

“Will I look as I did before? Will I have Kagome?” asked Hojo piteously.

 

“Yes, you just have to agree to let me in,” said the voice.

 

“Let you in? Let you into what?” asked Hojo.

 

“Open your mouth and let me in,” said the voice.

 

Hojo decided by then that he was just delirious. Whatever the voice was asking for--it must have just been his mind making up some sort of sick fantasy before he died.

 

Then he felt something brush against his raw and blistered mouth. He couldn't tell what it was, but it seemed to be an insect crawling over his lips.

 

“Let me in,” said the insect. “Let me inside and I will grant you everything I promised you.”

 

Hojo opened up his mouth in horror as a spider crawled into his mouth and down his throat. “Yes, that is it,” the spider droned on. “There, I just need to merge my soul with you there…”

 

Suddenly Hojo collapsed again onto the floor. But this time all of his wounds were healed. Except for a little blood that was still on his hair and body, he seemed uninjured. In fact if you were to look down at his body you would see that he was even more handsome than he was before. The old Hojo was a naïve, yet foolishly pretty boy. Now there was a man lying on the ground, excessively handsome and his boyish features were replaced with hardness.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hojo groaned as he woke up. He had expected his hands to be raw and bloody, but as he turned his hands around in front of his eyes he could see no damage. There was a little blood on them, but he was no longer seeing his skin burned away. He put his hands to his sides and felt the sheets of a bed. Then the stinging smell of antiseptic wafted into his nostrils. He was in a hospital room.

 

“The explosion…It must have been a delusion,” he thought as he looked up. His eyes were a little blurry at first, but he was able to make out Eri, his lab partner, Kagome and the boy who kept on bothering Kagome in the corner. The boy was leaning against the wall with a frown on his face, both arms crossed and inside of his kimono sleeves.

 

“What happened?” asked Hojo as he looked at Kagome. But it was Eri who answered.

 

“Hojo. You are lucky to be alive. You mixed `Hydrochloric Acid'and `Acetyl Chloride'. Do you have a death wish? What were you thinking?” asked Eri her voice full of concern.

 

“I…I..don't recall mixing those two chemicals. Why would I do something like that? Why?” he said.

 

“You've been pushing yourself too hard Hojo,” said Eri with concern. “You must have not even noticed what you were doing.”

 

“Kagome?” asked Hojo.

 

Kagome left the boy who was leaning against the wall and came up to Hojo.

 

“Yes, Hojo. How are you doing?” asked Kagome her face full of concern. Hojo wryly notice d the other boy who let out a loud `humph' when Kagome got near to him.

 

“I..hurt a little. But I'm better now that you are here Kagome,” said Hojo with a smile on his face.

 

“Oh..uh…thanks Hojo,” said Kagome. “I hope that you get better soon. The doctor's say that you are just fine and from everything we have heard you are lucky to escape with no injuries. The Chem lab station you were at is destroyed.” She looked down at him with concern. “Please get better Hojo, the archery team needs you to get better.”

 

Hojo grimaced for a second. “Only the archery team?” he thought.

 

“Look, Hojo. I need to get home. My Dad gets upset if I am out after dark. Get better OK? I'll let the team know so that they can visit you here,” said Kagome as she walked back to the other boy and held the other boy's hand.

 

Hojo could only gawk at how close Kagome was to the other boy. She was even holding his hand! He had never seen her hold anyone's hand before. And she was looking up at the other boy with a smile and the other boy was smiling back. And on her hand! On her hand was a gold ring on her ring finger. A ring he had never seen there before.

 

What was going on? And why was this other boy taking Kagome? He felt his blood burn and rage as he saw the two of them leave his hospital room. The two of them were walking hand and hand—leaving his angry fury in their wake.

 

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Author's Note:

#1: When we visited a Buddhist temple in Japan and talked to the owner/head priest we found out his temple had been passed down from generation to generation to the oldest male heir. So having Miroku inherit a temple as the first-born son is quite normal.

 

#2: We also saw many multi-generational families in Japan living in the same household. Most married couples move in with the husband's family after marriage.

 

#3: I thought that I would recommend some excellent Inuyasha fan fict for each chapter that I write. There is so much good stuff out there! I recently read the following two stories by Eowyn Organa--The Protector of Her Heart and Heart of the Sea. Well written and great romance! Oh, I'm such a sucker for a good romance.

 

Next Chapter: Another Inuyasha canon character makes his/her first appearance in my story. Any guesses as to who it will be? Please feel free to guess as you read and review. If you guess right I'll mention you at the end of the chapter. The next chapter is almost complete (I wrote it before I wrote this one—cool stuff is going to happen…). So read and review if you want to see it soon!

 

Special thanks to the following reviewers:

Tori Rex: Yes, I'm also happy to have a wiser Inuyasha. And Shippo…I don't know…we're having another canon character show up the next chapter, but I won't tell you who yet. :-P

Nabikineum: So is it ominous and conflict-y enough for you now?? There's more to come, I`m just warming up! How did Inuyasha and Kagome die? They both died of old age within one week of each other. (At least in my story.) Oops—so should I kick Inuyasha for the `at least you're both in one body this time remark'? Well, the guy was always a little too blunt for his own good…

Purple-Converse-AllStar: Speaking of marriage…I think you had a crystal ball…

Blackdeathmessenger: Here you go. Review and you'll get another one really soon…

Kovia: OK Kovia. I was busting up laughing when I read your review and I started to cry. God help me…Maybe you should be writing some comedy fan fict?:-)

Sofiakalaughable: There will be more of Miroku and Sango in the next two chapters. And of course there will always be my favorite couple, Inuyasha and Kagome.

The Other Side of Dusk: I hope you'll enjoy it.