InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Learning my way... ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 15

Keitaro made a beeline for Sango and Miroku's hut. Mariko and Miaka were sitting on a small patch of grass with Rika and two of the other young women who lived in the village, named Gin and Hasano, if he remembered correctly. Hasano held her little baby on her lap and they were all deep in discussion about something Keitaro was quite sure he didn't want to hear about. Sensing his approach, Mariko looked up and waved. Noticing their friend's motions, Miaka and Rika looked up also, their faces brightening at the sight of Keitaro coming towards them.

"Are you well, Keitaro-kun?" called Rika with a grin.

"Not as well as I'd like to be," replied Keitaro wryly, glancing at Mariko. For some unfathomable reason, she had changed into one of Miaka's short sleeved yukata's. She looked nominally cheerful, if a bit self-conscious with her cane lying beside her and her legs drawn up to her chest as far as the brace would allow, while the other girls sat around her. Keitaro relaxed, figuring that being among the woman and girls who had become her friends in the village was probably a good thing.

He was well aware that Mariko was much more well liked in the village than he was (Most of the villagers found him quite intimidating it seemed, even though he never deliberately went out of his way to appear that way) and she had often spent time working along side the other women while he trained or went on extermination missions with Miroku or Sango. Most of the time they had spent alone had been during school hours and when they returned from the Feudal era at night, usually in time for dinner at the shrine telling Mama-baachan anecdotes about the day's events.

Sitting down a ways from them in the shade of a small tree, he half-listened as their talk resumed. They seemed to be discussing babies as Hasano's baby daughter was passed around. Finding the topic not to his liking, he tuned it out and sat back against the tree with his eyes shut and trying to empty his mind of thoughts.

He had nearly succeeded when Rika's voice drifted over. "Keiko told me that she thinks Miho-san is expecting twins."

Mariko's interest seemed to be perked immediately and she began to ask several questions. Keitaro wouldn't have paid it any mind, but the sentence jarred something in his memory.

"She was big as a boat and twice as unwieldy with two pups banging up her insides." Once again, Shippou's words echoed through his mind and Keitaro jerked upright, his eyes wide.

"TWO pups?" he said loudly, startling the girls. "What the fuck?!"

"You alright Keitaro?" asked Mariko warily as Keitaro shot to his feet, and stalked over to them.

"I am," he growled, gently scooping her up. "Sorry to cut this visit short, but I really have to go back, and there's no way in hell I'm leaving you here. We'll come back later. After Mama-baachan explains what the fuck is going on."

"Alright," said Mariko quietly, her face falling. Her lack of an annoyed outburst startled Keitaro more than anything else that had happened that day. "We'll be back later," he reassured her. She gave him only a wane smile in return.

~~~~

The instant Keitaro pushed open the well house shouji, he growled as he caught a whiff of a familiar and hated smell.

"What is it?" asked Mariko fearfully, noticing his unease immediately and drawing back.

"Nishimura," he spat disgustedly, catching sight of his modern day nemesis leaning against the gate of the shrine, his arms crossed as he looked out over the street below, his uncharacteristically light brown hair tousled by the wind that was blowing aroud the shrine. "What would that fucking coward be doing here?"

"I don't know," said Mariko softly, relaxing slightly as she limped across the courtyard next to him, steadying herself on his arm and her cane. "Maybe you should ask him,"

"Keh!" snorted Keitaro, his free hand instantly flying to the hilt of the new sword that hung from his belt. "He's here to cause trouble, I know it."

Hearing his words, Nishimura wheeled around, looking wildly about. His dark eyes fell on the two of them, and for a split second, they widened with surprise and shock. It suddenly struck Keitaro at how strange he and Mariko must have looked, standing outside the wellhouse, him in his shorts, t-shirt and his fathers beads and an ancient looking sword on his belt, while Mariko leaned on him, her ragged scars and brace visible because of the short-sleeved yukata she had borrowed from Miaka, with her tessen and her light-bladed katana hanging from the obi and her hair drawn back into one of the traditional styles.

Within seconds, Nishimura had regained control of his reactions. "You look like you did ten rounds with a cat and lost Fujita," he sneered. Instantly, he felt a clawed hand wrapped around his gullet and lifted him effortless off the ground as Mariko's balance began to fail and her face crumpled like someone who had been slapped.

"One more fucking word and I will kill you!" snarled Keitaro, drawing his katana with a sinister schiing and pressing it against the side of the shorter boy's neck. Nishimura let out a choked gasp as all the blood drained out of his face. Keitaro pressed the sword's sharp edge against Yukio's skin hard enough to raise a drop of blood. It rolled down Yukio's neck and into his shirt, leaving a small red stain.

"One slip, one more word against Mariko and you're dead Nishimura. Hell, I don't even need my fucking sword -" he sheathed it and Nishimura's eyes widened and he started turn sickly shade of blue. " - just my claws will do. I've killed stronger things than you and that conscience of mine that saved you last time has been stretched pretty thin."

"KEITARO!" Mama-baachan's scandalized voice echoed across the courtyard as the main house's shouji slid open. "What on EARTH are you doing?"

Keitaro dropped Nishimura, who collapsed on the ground, gasping for air and turned to face his grandmother, who looked torn between horror and fury, his ears drooping. Behind her stood a shocked looking Houjou Nishimura, clutching what looked like several folders of official looking documents, his mouth hanging open and his eyes betraying his keen disappointment. Keitaro wasn't sure if it was himself or Yukio that had caused it.

He was distracted as Mariko burst into tears and sagged to the ground, her shoulders shaking. Forgetting his grandmother's impeding tirade, Keitaro shot over to her and scooped her up off the ground, cradling her close to his chest.

"I'll deal with you later," he spat as he stalked past Nishimura's quivering form, huddled on the ground as he gasped and wheezed, trying to replenish the oxygen in his lungs. He made it to the house before Mama stopped him, her hand seizing the front of his shirt.

"You're not going to deal with anything or anyone!" she said firmly, her dark eyes boring into his. "You're going to come inside, explain this nonsense and apologize to Nishimura-san and his son!"

"Keh," snorted Keitaro, meeting his grandmother's gaze squarely. "Nishimura should be the one apologizing to Mariko for opening his fat mouth!"

"What did my son say?" Houjou Nishimura's voice was calm, with a hint of steel in it.

"He said...." Keitaro hesitated, his ears drooping. He didn't want to repeat the words.

"He said - that I ..." cut in Mariko, her body shaking as she struggled to speak through the sobs that wracked her body. "- l-looked -" she sniffed, "l-like I did t-t-ten rounds - w-w-with a c-cat - and l-lost..."

Mama-baachan gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "He didn't!"

Keitaro nodded miserably as a new wave of tears cascaded down Mariko's face, making his stomach churn. Instantly, Mama-baachan stepped aside, pushing Keitaro into the house. "Go - stay with her."

Keitaro nodded, and stepped over the threshold, kicking off his shoes and manuevering them around to face the door with his foot. Stalking across the hall way and up the stairs, he elbowed open the door to his bedroom and sank down on his bed.

"Shhhh..." he said softly as Mariko curled against his chest, shaking. "I've got you."

Her only reply was hitched sob, but she curled into him and buried her face in his shirt. The tremors that wracked her body reverberated into his own and he drew her closer, trying to calm her and still the shaking. Eventually, the trembling lessened and her breathing evened out. She had fallen asleep, much to Keitaro's surprise.

He watched her face as she slowly succumbed to the bliss of dreams, the stress lines slowly fading away into nothing. Even with the scar that devided her left cheek in half, she was beautiful, with her long dark hair curling about her face and her pink lips parted slightly. Shifting, he drew back the coverings on his bed and tucked her in, before kissing her forehead and reluctantly leaving the room, pausing at the door to look back upon her sleeping form, curled up under the blankets.

Smiling to himself and knowing she'd be safe, he went downstairs to find his mother and both the Nishimura's sitting around the kitchen table, drinking tea. Untying his sword from his belt, Keitaro set it on the counter with an audible clang before sitting down and wordlessly taking the cup of tea that Mama handed him before she opened her mouth to start lecturing.

"Shippou said something interesting today," he said coldly, cutting her off and not caring if Yukio or his father overheard. They already knew he was hanyou.

"Is that why you came back?" said Mama, looking slightly taken aback. Keitaro nodded. "Who's Shippou?" demanded Yukio. They both ignored him.

"What did he say?" she asked carefully, with a wary glance at the Nishimura's.

"Do I have a twin?" demanded Keitaro, glaring at her. Mama's jaw dropped open and for several minutes, she looked too shocked to speak. Then, suddenly, as though the floodgates that she had been keeping her pain behind burst open, she began to cry.

Surprise rooted the three men sitting around her to the spot and they all exchanged worried glances. The painful smell of her tears immobilized Keitaro, and his regret of his harsh questioning and rudeness was absolute. He and Yukio sat paralyzed, unsure of what to do, but Houjou, being the gentleman he was, shot to his feet and poured Mama another cup of tea.

"There there, now tell us..." he murmured, patting one of her shaking shoulders awkwardly.

An eternity of sobs passed by them before Mama could speak once more and when she did, her voice was small and halting, like that of a child recounting a past trauma. Even when she had talked of his parents, Keitaro had never seen her this broken.

"When Kagome became pregnant with you Keitaro... we were all overjoyed... Your parents... had been trying for almost two years... and then... a double joy... during the first ultra sound... we found out that there would be two babies... you... and a little girl... Inuyasha always would say that that alone made it the pain...of those two years... worth it..."

Mama stopped for a moment, lifting her tea cup to her lips with her trembling hands and took a desperate sip. She managed to drink most of it, but some spashed onto her blouse. Whether she didn't notice the hot liquid splashing across her breast, or didn't care, Keitaro would never know. He felt a lump rise in his throat, choking him.

"Over the months..." she continued, setting down the tea cup suddenly. "You grew and grew in Kagome's belly.... Inuyasha... for once... he stopped complaining about returning to the modern era... He was more excited than she was... he suddenly loved the modern age for it's technology."

"The ultrasound," said Keitaro softly, remembering some of her other stories. Mama nodded, and a faint smile tugged at her lips. "Yes... it hurt his poor ears ... but he would mark off the days on the calendar until the next one..."

She was silent for a few moments, but the pain she had been habouring for so long forced her to speak once more. "One of the visits... they came back troubled... you both... were developing normally...they could see your ears... but... the little girl... your sister... she looked human...she was human... Inuyasha... was thrilled... he thought she would be spared the ridicule both you...and he endured..." She shot Yukio a dark look, and for once, the human boy looked ashamed of himself.

"- But Kagome was worried... she knew that if... the baby... was human... that you would outlive her... She was bound to Inuyasha... and you would live for centuries... because of your youkai blood...but a little girl... the strands of time would trap and devour her... unless she took a youkai mate.... but in the end, none of this mattered..." She took a heavy breath and a fresh stream of tears rolled down her cheeks, and off her chin, mingling with with tea stain on her blouse.

"Kagome wanted to give birth in the Feudal era... even though Inuyasha was completely against it. She wanted to be with her friends and... she wanted to honour Sesshoumaru by allowing him to be present for the birth..."

"He saved her..." said Keitaro, biting his lip and nodding.

"Yes ... From Naraku's poison...and she reasoned with Inuyasha... by saying he could bring her back if anything went wrong... He was strong enough and fast enough... she kept assuring him... and eventually... he agreed..." she said, shaking her head bitterly.

"I don't know much... but you came first... you were stronger... larger... but it taken Kagome hours to birth you...almost thirty... your sister... she came after... but then... it was too late. The cord had been wrapped around her neck... Souta and I waited at the well... waited for hours... then Inuyasha blew by... a little baby tucked into the folds of his haori...We could ran for the car... but when we got to the hospital..." her voice petered out and for awhile, she couldn't bring herself to say anything more as her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

"Souta found him...." she whispered, her dark eyes haunted by the memory. "They... the doctors couldn't do anything... A perfect little baby... who had no chances.... to draw her first breath...Inuyasha... he was crying... they had tried to take her from him... but he wouldn't allow it... if he hadn't left Tetsussaiga behind...in Kaede's village... he would have killed them all...and so we found him... in a corner of the emergency room... He was holding her... wrapped in a tiny little white blanket...and the only thing he could say was 'Aiko' - My little loved one..."

She shook her head once more and took another faltering sip of her tea. "Souta eventually managed to convince Inuyasha to let go... and go back for you and Kagome... he gave little Aiko to me... and then he was gone... I had to hold her... I had to hold my grandchild... one who I would never see grow older... she was so perfect... a pale, sleeping angel who...who looked just like her mother... It seemed like hours before he returned... Kagome was still bleeding... but it was normal... and you were healthy... We had lost one child... but we still had you... which is why you are named Keitaro... we were blessed... to still have a little baby... but afterwards... after we buried Aiko...none of us could... none of us could speak of her..."

Her voice broke and she said nothing more. Keitaro's mind was oddly blank as he struggled to process the enormity of the revelations he had just heard. The name Aiko struck a chord in him and a voice whispered to him in his mind. "You know what you have to do… " Suddenly, he understood. He has heard Aiko's voice. He had seen her - talked to her in his moment of crisis. She had come through from the afterlife, cloaked in the bleak transparency of death to guide him as she always had. She had helped him bring Mariko back from the greedy claws of death, doing for him what their father had tried and failed to do for her.

Their father... Keitaro's brief glimpse of the world beyond the veil was hazy in his memory at best. Mariko's near fall into the yawning chasm was etched there as though cut by diamonds, but he could not visualize anything else save the white circle of heaven and a flash of red and silver in the mists of the abyss. Had Inuyasha helped him also? He would probably never know.

It took him awhile to notice that salty scent that had settled over the kitchen like an oppressive cloud was not from Mama's tears alone. Houjou Nishimura was unashamedly wiping his eyes with a handkerchief and Yukio's face was oddly twisted. He looked as though he was battling some vicious inner demon. Or perhaps he was constipated. Keitaro didn't know or particulairly care - until he saw the bead of moisture at the corner of the other boy's eyes. It was quickly blinked away, leaving Keitaro with the unsettling feeling he had imagined it. Last time he checked, Nishimura Yukio had been a soulless and vain little bastard. He, for once, hoped that Yukio hadn't changed.

Dealing with the revelation that he had a dead sister who talked to him anyways was strange and unsettling enough by itself. Dealing with a sympathetic and/or kind Yukio would have made an already bizarre situation seem completely unreal.

"Miroku wants me to reclaim Tetsussaiga," he said suddenly, to break the silence that was draped over the room like a stifling blanket. Mama jerked and she straightened, her eyes seizing his. "Sesshoumaru has it."

"How did you know?" gasped Keitaro.

"Shippou," she replied simply. Keitaro frowned at the mention of the irritating kitsune. "What else did he tell you?"

"That the Inutaisho stronghold is a week's journey from Kaede's village on foot, when one does not stop often to rest. I got the impression he had made the journey several times."

"Keh. I'm not surprised," said Keitaro thoughtfully, his brow furrowing. "To him, we've probably gone several times."

Mama nodded, her eyes tearing up as she bit her lip. "You will go then - Tetsussaiga is yours. It was made for Inuyasha. It should be used by his son."

The impatient sound of a throat being cleared made the two of them remember they were not alone. Looking up, they saw both the Nishimura's watching them with confused expressions. "What on earth is Tetsussaiga?" asked Houjou quietly.

Mama and Keitaro exchanged uncomfortable looks.


~~~~~

And here is Chapter 15. All spiffy, poignant, un-beta-ed and utterly heartwrenching. I hope it answered most of your questions.

Thanks to
Brooke
Kimi
Inu-Devil
Raye Sun
whimsy007 - Yes. Kirara will be coming with them. She'll be instrumental to Mariko's survival.
LMW
fatal_katana







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