InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Future Past ❯ Chapter 7: Connections ( Chapter 7 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 7: Connections

 

 

“So youkai are beginning to withdraw already?” Kagome settled herself more comfortably in Inuyasha's arms. They sat high up in Inuyasha's tree, where they could have a small bit of privacy in spite of the cold weather. She was wrapped in Inuyasha's fire rat robe so that only her face was exposed to the chilly night air. Inuyasha filled her in on some of his conversation with Kohaku earlier in the day, and Kagome's brow creased in concern. “Where did they go?”

 

Inuyasha shrugged, and gazed off into the distance. “Back to where they came from, I guess,” he said. “Away from humans, anyway.” He turned his gaze back towards Kagome. Since they'd come back from gathering mushrooms, he hadn't wanted to let her out of his sight. “What if I lost you,” he murmured for the fourth or fifth time.

 

“Don't worry. That's not going to happen,” Kagome replied softly. “Besides, I'm not completely defenseless, you know.”

 

Inuyasha arched a brow. “Yeah? And where was your bow? Your sacred arrows? All I saw was a scrawny little fox and a kitty cat. You looked pretty defenseless to me.”

 

“A lot you know.” Kagome grinned. “I've gotten better at using my own powers. I don't need to focus energy just through my arrows anymore. Want to see?” She pooled light in her cupped hands and held it up to him. Inuyasha averted his eyes not only from the glare but also from the burst of power that cracked the air around her.

 

“I see, I see,” he said. “Turn it off!”

 

Kagome giggled to hear him use such a modern phrase, but she let the light slowly fade away. She turned in his arms so that she could see his face more clearly before the light disappeared completely. “Are you sure you're comfortable like this?” she asked.

 

Inuyasha tightened his arms around her in reply, and rested his chin on the top of her head. “Don't you like it?” he countered.

 

“It's heaven,” she said. “Up here, I feel so close to the stars.”

 

“Is that all?”

 

Kagome knew he was joking, but she answered seriously. “And to you. I feel so close to you here, in this place, in this time.” She shivered, but not with cold. There was a certain truth to what she'd said. Both she and Inuyasha were out of place, out of time in either world except for a few stolen moments like these. What would happen to them? Where did they belong? Right now, together in the middle of the night in Inuyasha's tree, they were at peace.

 

She tilted her head back and waited for Inuyasha to kiss her. It was a phantom kiss, soft and gentle as the night surrounding them. That wasn't what Kagome wanted at the moment. She strained upwards, letting Inuyasha know that she didn't want the kiss, or the night, to end. Inuyasha obliged her, until they both remembered where they were and reluctantly broke apart.

 

Kagome sighed happily and looked for the tiny sliver of moon on the horizon. Inuyasha followed her gaze. “Tomorrow's the new moon,” he remarked. Kagome nodded, lost in thought. She never minded his human nights. Inuyasha did, though. Especially here, where there were so many unforeseen dangers. He'd have to keep a low profile, which he hated. That meant no straying from the village. He shifted slightly on the branch in irritation before settling back down with a firmer grasp on Kagome.

 

“It will be all right, Inuyasha,” said Kagome, easily following his train of thought. “We've done this lots of times before.”

 

“Keh,” Inuyasha answered, although he allowed himself to be placated. Secretly, he was pleased that Kagome had said `we,' as if his human night was her problem, too. He felt Kagome's breathing slow as she drifted off to sleep, and he let his head droop down to rest lightly on hers as he prepared to doze off too.

 

“Inuyasha?” Kagome whispered, knowing he would hear her.

 

“Mmm?” Inuyasha kept his eyes closed.

 

`Do you think Kouga's group is all right?”

 

Inuyasha's left eyebrow twitched. Why did she have to bring up Kouga? “Yeah,” he answered. “Probably. I don't know. Why?” He opened one eye. Kagome lay quietly against him, staring straight up into the night sky.

 

“What if Kouga and his group have gone into hiding too?” Kagome asked. “Should we find out what happened to them? Make sure they're all Ok? I mean, Sesshomaru said—not this Sesshomaru, the one we met in the future—some youkai kept in touch with humans and were able to survive to modern times. Kouga should know about it so his group can be one of the survivors, don't you think?”

 

The last thing Inuyasha wanted was to find that skinny wolf. “Why? There's plenty of other youkai.”

 

“Inuyasha!”

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fine. We'll go look for Kouga's youkai settlement. After the night of the new moon.”

 

His answer satisfied Kagome and she settled back into sleep at last. Inuyasha stayed awake for a long time afterward, thinking about Kouga and his wolves. Much as he hated to admit it, Kagome had a point. Kouga needed to know it was important to keep contacts among the humans, and not let his wolf-demon pack fade into the forest, not if they wanted to stay alive in their present forms. Inuyasha figured he was just the person to tell Kouga, and if the stubborn wolf-demon wouldn't listen, well, he'd have to pound it into his head. With that happy thought, Inuyasha finally was able to fall asleep.

 

 

The next night Inuyasha sat sullenly in Kaede's crowded little house, tapping his fingers on his arms while Kagome busied herself dishing out turnip stew to each of the occupants. Rin sat a little farther back from the rest, her small mouth in an `o' of surprise as she stared at the black-haired Inuyasha.

 

He hadn't wanted to change in front of everybody, so at sunset he took Kagome on a walk in the woods. Just before his senses dulled, he caught Sesshomaru's scent. Great. It was bad enough his brother knew that the new moon was his night of weakness. Did he have to witness it too? Inuyasha scowled, and turned to go the other way just as his body pulsed and he transformed into a human. Kagome held onto his arm and pulled him to a stop. On the path ahead of them stood Sesshomaru, a look of disgust on his face.

 

“What's your problem?” Inuyasha asked as he pushed past his brother as if nothing was wrong.

 

Sesshomaru stared back at Inuyasha. “Hanyou,” he sneered before he pointedly turned his back. Kagome jumped in front of Inuyasha to stop him from doing something foolish.

 

“Come on, Inuyasha,” she whispered. “He'll change his mind eventually. Remember? Don't let him get to you.”

 

“Huh. As if I care what he thinks.”

 

Sesshomaru watched them walk away, curious. What did the girl mean by `remember?'

 

 

Inuyasha woke up right before dawn and quietly made his way outside of Kaede's house before the transformation hit. Sesshomaru stood at the edge of the village, watching him. When the pulse of power signifying his change washed over him, Sesshomaru's eyes widened slightly and his nostrils flared. There was that strange scent again. He was sure of it this time. Inuyasha's scent had changed subtly. That was all he had come to ascertain. The hanyou glared at him, but he ignored him. Sesshomaru turned on his heel and vanished into the forest.

 

“What was that all about?” Inuyasha muttered to himself. He pushed aside the mat and growled, “Hey, if we're going to do this, get up! Let's get going.”

 

Sesshomaru was nowhere to be found when it was time to leave, but Kohaku stood ready to accompany them. Inuyasha didn't doubt that Sesshomaru had instructed Kohaku to go with them. That was fine with him. He planned to make a few stops along the way, and if the kid was reporting back to Sesshomaru, all the better.

 

One of the nearer villages had taken in two of the children from Fire Island. Their outward appearance was mostly human so it was easier for them to fit in, although the woman who had taken them in knew that they were really hanyou. Kaede had set it up, splitting the children between several villages, placing them with people she knew and trusted. While it was never spoken aloud, except to the foster families, most of the villagers had an inkling of who now lived among them, and still they accepted the children as their own.

 

“Inuyasha!” A little girl wearing a kerchief flung herself on Inuyasha's legs and hugged him tightly.

 

“Ai.” Inuyasha awkwardly patted the girl's head and gently pried her off him. She had grown since he last saw her. “Where is Asagi?”

 

The girl in question hurried over to Inuyasha's group. She set down the flat basket she had been carrying and bowed to Inuyasha. “You came,” she said. “I'm glad.”

 

Inuyasha keh'd. “I said I would, didn't I?”

 

Kohaku watched the interactions carefully. The two girls were hanyou. He could sense it, although they both covered their distinctive youkai features and pretended to be human. What was going on here? He glanced at Sango, trying to gauge how she was reacting, but his sister apparently already knew about the girls. Several villagers had stopped to see what all the fuss was about. Kohaku was sure there would be trouble, but nothing much happened. A few people cast dark looks at Inuyasha, who was obviously some sort of youkai, but most of them smiled and nodded, as if his presence explained a lot.

 

Asagi led the group into her foster mother's home. She stripped off the kerchief from Ai's head, and the little girl sighed in relief as her delicate finned ears were freed. Inuyasha sympathized. Even though he understood the need for secrecy, he knew how uncomfortable it was to have to hide.

 

The old human woman tending the cookfire looked up. “Ah, you brought friends. Come in, sit,” she invited them. Kohaku noticed that she didn't appear surprised to see Ai's hanyou ears. She must be the mother, he thought. His suspicions were confirmed when the little girl, Ai, crawled into the woman's lap. Definitely the mother, then.

 

“How are you adjusting?” Kagome asked Asagi. “The villagers seem to be treating you well. Are you happy here?”

 

Kohaku started. Maybe the old woman wasn't the children's mother after all. He glanced again at Sango, who seemed to be following the conversation with ease.

 

“Thank you for your concern, miko.” The woman by the fire spoke. Kagome was surprised at her perceptiveness. Was it so obvious that she had spiritual powers? “These two are like my own children,” said the woman. “Don't worry, young youkai,” the human woman addressed Inuyasha next. “They will be safe here with me. Miko,” she turned to Kagome again, “do you have some sort of charm I can give to the young one, here, to disguise her ears? It's a hardship for her to constantly have to cover them with the kerchief.”

 

Kagome bowed her head. “I'm sorry, I don't. But I will talk to Kaede. Maybe she will know something.” Kagome didn't hold out much hope. They'd never been able to hide Inuyasha's ears, either.

 

“She shouldn't have to!” Inuyasha slammed his hand down on the floor. Everyone looked at him, expecting him to explode. He sighed. He wasn't stupid. “Look, Asagi, Ai. You are hanyou, half human and half youkai. Just don't forget it, ok?”

 

The human woman smiled. “Young youkai, I told you not to worry. No one is forgetting anything here.” She hugged the little girl in her lap. “Not all of us humans hate youkai blindly.”

 

“Yeah, well, don't judge all youkai based on the ones you met so far,” Inuyasha advised her. “Not all youkai are fond of humans either.”

 

After promising to visit again soon, they left the village and continued on northward in the direction of the mountains where Kouga had settled with Ayame's people after the defeat of Naraku. It seemed a logical place to start looking for him. Kagome had a bone to pick with Inuyasha, first. She told him not to make promises he wasn't sure he would be able to keep, but Sango and Miroku both intervened, saying that they would be sure to visit the village themselves.

 

They made a detour to see Jinenji. Kagome had wanted to check in on the gentle giant, and Inuyasha wanted Kohaku to meet him. It didn't go exactly how he had planned, however.

 

Jinenji still lived on the outskirts of his village in a small hut with his human mother. The herb garden was fallow now, and except for some herbs that Jinenji and his mother had transplanted and kept growing inside the relative warmth of their hut, there was nothing else growing. They found Jinenji outside hefting boulders to clear more land for spring plantings.

 

For a time, the humans in the nearby village had treated Jinenji and his mother with, if not respect, then with a grudging courtesy. After all, Jinenji supplied the herbal medicines they needed for all sorts of ailments, and he wasn't a bad protector when necessary, for all that he was a pacifist at heart. That was what Inuyasha had wanted Kohaku to see.

 

However, for the past few months, coinciding with the coming of winter, now that Inuyasha thought about it, the villagers had avoided Jinenji again. The few times he or his mother had been seen around the village to trade for supplies, there had been unpleasant mutterings and hostile looks cast their way. It seemed that the villagers had conveniently forgotten how helpful the giant hanyou had been, now that they didn't need him anymore. Typical.

 

“What are you going to do about it?” Inuyasha asked bluntly.

 

Jinenji shrugged his massive shoulders as he smiled shyly. “They will treat me better once my garden is growing again,” he said.

 

“When they need you, you mean.”

 

“Yes,” answered Jinenji simply.

 

His mother, older and frailer than the last time they'd seen her, shook her head. “He'll never change,” she said of her son. Kagome couldn't help worrying about what would happen to Jinenji once his mother was gone.

 

“How is the little girl who came to me for herbs for her youkai friend?” asked Jinenji.

 

“She's very well,” answered Kagome. “In fact, she's learning about herbs and medicines. I wouldn't be surprised if she came to visit you herself one day soon.”

 

Rin? Kohaku wondered. Rin had met this hanyou?

 

“I hope she comes in summer so she can see my garden,” said Jinenji wistfully.

 

“She is the ward of a powerful youkai. He would need to give her permission to come,” said Miroku. Inuyasha keh'd.

 

“Oh,” replied Jinenji in a small voice.

 

Kohaku couldn't understand this hanyou. On the outside, he appeared to be very powerful, but inside he was kind and gentle. How did he survive in this world?

 

They left Jinenji's in the late afternoon. Two of the other children from the magical island, twin boys, had been living in a remote village up in the hills. Since it was more or less on their northerly course, they decided to push through and get there before nightfall. Miroku wanted Sango to sleep in a village if at all possible, due to her delicate condition. That earned him a thump on the head, but not a very hard one.

 

Dai and Roku met them at the foot of the path, having sensed Inuyasha before they actually saw the group approach.

 

“Idiots!” Inuyasha greeted them. “What if it had been a youkai who meant you harm? You came running out here with no protection. I could have killed you!”

 

The twins skidded to a halt, consternation plain on their faces. They'd never thought of that. “Sorry,” said Dai. “We'll be more careful next time.”

 

“You'd better be,” replied Inuyasha. “You did good to sense us, though,” he added, noting that neither boy had bothered to hide their own youkai features. “Your village knows about you?” he asked.

 

Roku blushed. “Some do. Out here, we don't get many strangers. We forget sometimes that we're supposed to pretend to be human. Sometimes our foster father yells at us for it. Sometimes one of the other villagers notices, and sort of reminds us to cover up. Nobody really minds, though.”

 

Kohaku found that hard to believe. Humans not minding that youkai lived among them? Well, except for himself, and Rin, and Sango and Miroku, and Kaede, and Kagome. Maybe it wasn't that far-fetched. He was amazed to find yet another village where hanyou coexisted with humans. Lord Sesshomaru was going to find this very interesting indeed.

 

They stayed at the house of the head-man, who happened to be the twins' foster-father. That made the village's acceptance of the hanyou twins easier to understand. The village was relatively small and it was off the usual travel routes. That helped, too.

 

Inuyasha sat down with the boys later that night, after everyone had eaten and settled down to sleep, and gave them a few pointers on defending their adopted village.

 

“You are youkai, so you can use your senses to help you protect the village,” he told them. “You are more powerful than humans, so you have to be careful if your enemies are human.”

 

“We're not youkai, we're hanyou,” said Roku. “What do we do if a real youkai attacks us, like you said? A real youkai is stronger than a hanyou.”

 

“Not necessarily,” said Miroku, propping himself up on one elbow from where he lay a few feet away. “You have seen how strong Inuyasha is. He is definitely stronger than most youkai.”

 

“Just because you're hanyou doesn't mean you are less powerful,” said Inuyasha. “You can do anything a youkai can do if you really want to.”

 

Miroku raised his eyebrow. So did the two boys. “Oh yeah, prove it,” they said.

 

“Fine, I will,” said Inuyasha, getting up abrubtly. “Come outside.” He glanced over to where Kohaku lay listening, eyes wide open. “Kohaku, Miroku, you stay here. You don't need to see this.”

 

He needed Kagome, however. He went over to where she rested next to Sango and Shippo, and shook her awake. “I need you to take it off,” he told her.

 

“What?” she asked sleepily. Inuyasha set her hand on the beads. “Just for a minute. Take it off. You can put it right back on, Ok?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Kagome said, still half-asleep. She held on to the beads while Inuyasha bent his head down so she could slip them over his head. The movement woke Kagome up completely. “Wait a second.” She let go of the beads. “Inuyasha, I'm not taking it off. We agreed.”

 

“But. . .”

 

Miroku and Kohaku couldn't see around the screen that separated the women's sleeping area from the men's, but they could hear the conversation on the other side very clearly. Miroku didn't think it was fair for Inuyasha to ask that of Kagome with Sango and Shippo right there, but then again, he understood about young love. Kohaku didn't know what to think.

 

The argument went on for a few more seconds, before the two on the other side heard “Inuyasha, sit!” followed by a loud bang that woke everybody else up. The twins came rushing back inside.

 

Kagome had her hands over her mouth, horrified at what she'd just done. Inuyasha lay face down on the floor beside her. Sango sat up to see what was going on, so Miroku took the opportunity to kneel down next to her and rub her back. “It's Ok, Sango,” he said. “Inuyasha was just getting frisky, and Kagome had to `sit' him.”

 

 

“NO HE WASN'T!” screamed Kagome.

 

“NO I WASN'T!” screamed Inuyasha.

 

Miroku glanced knowingly at the two of them. “No, that's right, you weren't.” agreed Miroku, shifting his eyes back and forth between Inuyasha and the two young boys standing open-mouthed behind him. Inuyasha peeled himself off the floor and glared at him.

 

“Then what were you doing?” asked Dai.

 

“Forget it. Go to sleep,” grumbled Inuyasha.