InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Past ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Lost in the Past, Chapter 6

 

 

Rin glanced about, making sure no one, especially Jaken, had noticed her. She would go mad if she had to stay cooped up in this village one day longer. The woods beckoned her, more so now, in the final weeks of her pregnancy, than before she was wed. Maybe this was her last adventurous impulse before she settled down to be a mother, and a full-time miko. She smiled wryly. The villagers had been astounded that she had retained her miko powers after marrying Kohaku. Shows what they knew. There were probably ever only a handful of miko who actually had any power to speak of.

 

Kohaku still had not returned from his patrols. Rin didn't worry about him overmuch; after all, he was with Lord Sesshomaru. Jaken had been set to watch over her in their absence. She pursed her lips. It was such a nice day, and the woods were calling her. She wouldn't stray far. Just a little walk. With luck, Jaken would never know she was gone.

 

Rin's feet took her past the meadow where the well once stood, into the welcoming coolness of the forest itself. She wasn't afraid; she had grown up in woods like these. Besides, something pulled her, choosing the direction of her feet. Rin complied, enough of a miko to recognize the summons for what it was.

 

 

 

 

Kazuki refused to leave. He spent the entire day, and part of the night, running desperately up and down the stream bed, sniffing and poking at every little indent.

 

“We'll come back tomorrow,” said Miroku. “Let's go back to the village so we can let Auntie Sango know what's happened. She'll be worried, otherwise.” And likely come looking for them. Miroku cast an uneasy glance downstream. Kaede's village wasn't that far away. He didn't want to accidentally bump into anyone who knew him, and have to explain why he hadn't stopped in the village, for one, and who the light-eyed feral child was. Kohaku lived there now, with Rin. What's more, Sesshomaru was known to frequent the area. Kazuki's disguised hair and scent wouldn't fool the taiyoukia for an instant. Miroku couldn't let the young hanyou jeopardize all of their futures this way, even for Tetsusaiga.

 

“Come on,” he said gently. “Your father will understand.”

 

“You go.” Kazuki plopped himself onto the ground. Even with his ears hidden away under the scarf and the rest of his hair dark as any village child's, Kazuki's pout and his stubbornly folded arms and legs unmistakably marked him as Inuyasha's.

 

“Papa, I'll stay with him,” offered Hiroshi.

 

“No.” Hiroshi wasn't much older than Kazuki. Miroku steeled his voice. “You'll both come back to the village with me. Now.”

 

He didn't think Kazuki would listen, but the boy was used to grown-ups as authority figures, and he got up to go, although he kept his head down and would not look his uncle in the eyes.

 

“I promise we will come back for it,” Miroku told the little hanyou. Inuyasha would understand, wouldn't he?

 

 

 

 

“Damn it!” Inuyasha banged the flat of his hand against the doorway, splintering the jamb. “I feel naked without Tetsusaiga!” He scrabbled futilely at his hip, finally throwing his hands up in disgust. “I can't face them like this!”

 

Kagome eyed the doorway to her room. She was pretty sure it wouldn't lock anymore after this. “Sure, you can,” she said automatically, choosing to overlook Inuyasha's temper tantrum. “You don't need Tetsusaiga to face them.”

 

“But I want it,” Inuyasha mumbled, like a child. Like Kazuki.

 

“And you'll have it back again, Inuyasha. At least we know that Tetsusaiga is protecting Kazuki and Mayumi for us.”

 

That brought Inuyasha up short. Tetsusaiga was protecting his children, of course it was. That's what must have happened. The sword hadn't rejected him; it was guarding the kids in his stead. Suddenly feeling lighter, Inuyasha held out his arm to his wife. “Let's go, then,” he said, wincing as he noticed the damaged doorway. “I'll fix this later.”

 

Sesshomaru had sent out feelers among the youkai, without being too specific, to find out if any creatures still in existence today knew of a way to transcend time. He had received mixed results. Some of those results were waiting to meet with Inuyasha and Kagome at his office in downtown Tokyo.

 

They entered the same upper-story office where they'd first met the descendants, and survivors, of their time in the feudal era. Today it was filled with other youkai, some barely human in appearance, none of them familiar to Inuyasha or Kagome.

 

“Tell the miko what you told me,” Sesshomaru said, after introductions had been given all around. Inuyasha held himself tense, not much caring for the scrutiny of these strange youkai. Apparently, they all knew who he was, and assumed, as did most youkai, that he had survived along with many of them from the old days to the present.

 

One ancient-looking creature heaved itself out of its chair and pointed a crooked finger, tipped with a blackened claw, at Kagome. “Why do you want to know?” she asked. At least, Kagome thought it was a `she.'

 

“We have our reasons,” Kagome replied calmly, shifting into miko mode. “Tell me what you know.”

 

 

 

The days crawled by with little word from Japan. Shippo and Junko continued to sleep in Inuyasha's house, in case the children returned. Their parents weren't having much luck with the well. Shippo sincerely hoped that they would be able to cope if the kids ended up being stuck in the Sengoku Jidai. It bothered him that he had never seen traces of either inu-hanyou child in all those years, except for that one incident with Kazuki that he still didn't remember clearly. Despite what he had told Kagome, to reassure her, there was a distinct possibility that the children hadn't survived.

 

Work on their own house was progressing. Inuyasha's design incorporated natural elements with modern materials, with the result that the house looked as if it had always been there, nestled partially into the the side of the hill. It met code, Inuyasha had made sure of that. But it was truly a kitsune youkai den, 21st century style. Shippo had laughed when he first saw the designs, and told Inuyasha that he'd better hope Koga never got a look at them, or he'd want one, too. It was snug, it was cozy, and it had every modern convenience known to man. Junko loved it.

 

Shippo narrowed his eyes as he watched his grandson, Yusuke, walk slowly down the driveway with Valynne. Those two had been altogether too chummy lately. Not that he had anything against the local fox youkai. If that's truly what she was. She smelled like it, acted like it, but even she couldn't readily explain her origins. And he didn't trust anything in this vicinity that could possibly have ties to Fenn. Who knew what was real or not real where he was concerned? Even kitsune youkai couldn't tell.

 

Inuyasha trusted Valynne, though. He trusted Fenn, too. Shippo shrugged his shoulders. Who was he to stand in the way of young love? He really ought to have a talk with Yusuke, though, before it got too serious.

 

The opportunity presented itself that afternoon, when Yusuke volunteered to help move some furniture into the new house while Valynne kept Junko company back at Inuyasha's place.

 

“I see you're spending a lot of time with Valynne,” Shippo began. They each took one end of a sofa and began carrying it inside. “Are you sure that's wise?” Yusuke was used to modern Japanese girls, not wild new world youkai girls who may or may not be what they seem. “She's not human.”

 

Yusuke stopped. “I know that, Pops,” he said. “Neither am I.”

 

Shippo sighed, wondering if he was ready for little youkai great-grandchildren with who knew what hidden abilities.