InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Past ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Lost in the Past, Chapter 8

 

 

Rin stumbled across the stream around midday, glad to stop for a while and soak her aching feet. She sat on the edge of the bank and dangled her feet in the cool water. Her ankles tended to swell in the heat, thanks to her added weight. She patted her bulging tummy fondly. Thankfully, this little one was being especially considerate today—he hadn't kicked her as much as he usually did.

 

The sun felt wonderful as it filtered through the trees and warmed the top of her head while the stream soothed her feet. It was so peaceful she could stay here all day. She sighed. But Jaken would begin to worry about her soon. She'd better start heading back to the village.

 

As Rin stood in the shallow brook and bent down to rinse off her dirty hands, she spied something shiny hidden just under the bank. She bent down for a closer look, unmindful that the hem of her skirt trailed in the water. The bank curved up and over on the stream side. If she hadn't bent down to wash her hands, she would have missed the small indentation covered with leaves and sticks, and the shiny something that lay beyond. Was this what had been calling her?

 

She reached in, pulling aside handfuls of leaves and twigs, and scooping out a good amount of dirt that had been piled in behind that. The space was quite deep, and she stuck her arm in as far as it would go until her fingers hooked around something hard. She tugged, and the thing came loose, almost overbalancing her and sending her flat on her back in the stream. She managed to avoid being completely soaked, and lurched awkwardly to her feet, holding the object.

 

It was a sword. Rin's eyes widened and she gasped. She knew this sword! It was Lord Inuyasha's sword which had been lost with him on the day he destroyed the well. “Tetsusaiga,” she breathed, holding the sheathed sword reverently in both hands.

 

She had been thinking about Lord Inuyasha a lot lately. He had saved her life that day. If it had not been for Lord Inuyasha, she would not be married now and about to have a baby. He had shared a secret with her, the secret of his transformation. She had told no one, not even her husband, not even Lord Sesshomaru himself.

 

What was his sword doing here, buried beside a running brook, all these years later? Had Lord Inuyasha somehow returned? Yet she had felt called to this place. Perhaps somehow the sword had become separated from Lord Inuyasha in the afterlife, and he was calling out to her to return it to his resting place. Perhaps that was why she had been drawn lately to the meadow where the well once stood, and why she had felt the urge to walk, alone, to this particular place. With Lady Kagome gone, and now Grandma Kaede at rest, Rin was the only miko still alive who had known Lord Inuyasha.

 

Straightening, Rin made up her mind. She would honor Lord Inuyasha a final time by completing this task. She understood now why it must be her. She could return the sword to the meadow where Lord Inuyasha had died. Jaken must not find out; he would insist on taking the sword to Lord Sesshomaru. As much as Rin loved Lord Sesshomaru, she knew Tetsusaiga belonged to Lord Inuyasha. So she would keep this secret, too.

 

The walk back to the village was not nearly as pleasant. Rin was tired, and the sword, after a time, became heavy. But she persevered, and used Tetsusaiga to dig a shallow sword-length hole at the very spot where the well used to be. She took off her shawl and carefully wrapped the sword in it before placing it in the hole, then she replaced the clumps of grass she had moved aside and patted them back into place so that no one would notice the ground had been disturbed.

 

“There, Lord Inuyasha,” she murmured, bowing her head. “Tetsusaiga is back where it belongs—with you. Sleep easy.” Rin turned towards the path that would take her back to the village, and Jaken, who by now must surely be in a panic. Her stomach gave a small twinge, and she had a moment's panic herself. She still had several weeks to go; it was too early for the baby to come! But when the pain did not recur, she relaxed. Probably she was just tired after all the exercise she'd gotten today.

 

 

 

“Fenn, pick up,” Inuyasha ordered, after getting the new world youkai's machine. “I need to talk to you.” It was no use, so Inuyasha left a brief message and snapped his phone shut. “He's not home,” he said to his wife.

 

“I gathered that,” she replied. “Have you tried calling Shippo?”

 

“Yeah, he hasn't seen Fenn since we left. I told him to send some of our youkai out looking for him, so he should get my message one way or the other.” Inuyasha slammed his fist down. “I hate this waiting around!” he yelled.

 

Kagome shook her head. “I thought you weren't going to take it out on the furniture anymore,” she said.

 

“What? Oh.” Inuyasha brushed imaginary dust off the table, which was still in one piece. He hadn't slammed it that hard.

 

The rest of the meeting with Sesshomaru's gathered youkai had proved less than satisfying. Two had stories of magical objects which were purported to bring their users across time. Sesshomaru had included them because Tetsusaiga itself was a magical object which brought its user across time. If one such object existed, it wasn't such a stretch to believe there might be two such objects—or three. However, both of the objects in question, a stone and a jar, if the stories were to be believed, were mere legends at this point, and both were lost to time and faulty memory. They had a few leads, which they planned to follow in a day or two if nothing else panned out.

 

The “else” was Fenn. Inuyasha didn't think Fenn was the youkai the old woman had seen all those years ago. He believed Fenn when he said he had never been to Japan before he came for Inuyasha and Kagome's wedding. Inuyasha knew, however, that there had been youkai like Fenn in nature, back in those days. One such youkai had caused all his troubles and made him destroy the well and almost destroy himself, and Inuyasha still wasn't sure if he had successfully killed that youkai back then. A similar youkai had migrated to the new world years later and was eventually taken out by Fenn. And the only reason Fenn was able to take him out was because Fenn was the same kind of youkai. Fenn had lots of mysterious powers. And he had never answered Inuyasha's question about time travel.

 

The phone rang. “Fenn!” Inuyasha grabbed the phone and stalked off to take the call outside. Kagome trailed after him. “Can you move through time?”

 

There was a pause. Then Fenn replied. “Depends on what you mean,” he answered slowly.

 

“Then you can!” Inuyasha knew it! “Can you go back to the feudal age where my kids are? Can you bring me?”

 

The sigh came through loud and clear. “It's not the same,” he said. “I can move through time, as you put it, but only in small bursts. You see it when I disappear.”

 

“When you disappear? I don't get it,” Inuyasha said.

 

“I move fast, very fast,” explained Fenn. “So it seems like I move through time. That's why you can't see me. That's why---a lot of things.” It was obvious from the tone of his voice that Fenn was uncomfortable talking about his abilities.

 

“So you can't go back to the Sengoku Jidai,” Inuyasha said, disappointed.

 

“I don't think so. . . no, no I can't.” Fenn was firm. “I'm sorry, Inuyasha. You'll figure it out. You'll get them back.” The phone clicked and they were disconnected.

 

Kagome rubbed Inuyasha's back. “It's all right,” she told him. “We'll go to the mountains tomorrow with Sesshomaru . Maybe we'll have better luck with the ancient stone.”

 

They stopped at the well house as they did every evening before dinner. It was their last connection to the past, even though it no longer worked as a portal. It was the place they felt closest to their children.

 

 

 

 

Sango insisted on accompanying them to search for Tetsusaiga the next day. She strapped Mayumi onto her back and sent her other children to the neighbor's. She didn't think the neighbor could handle Mayumi, however. “I promised Kohaku I would look in on Rin,” she explained. “This is as good a time as any to keep my promise. I'll check on her while you boys are out searching for the sword. I should be back in an hour or two.”

 

“Isn't it dangerous?” asked Miroku. “What if someone notices what she is?”

 

“She'll be fine,” replied Sango confidently, patting the little girl's bottom through the binding cloth. “I rubbed her down with the bean paste solution again, and she knows better than to pull off the kerchief, don't you Mayumi dumpling?” The hanyou child giggled in response.

 

“Then let's get going.”

 

Kazuki had also been doused again with the bean paste mixure. He came out of Sango's house behind Hiroshi and his Auntie and Uncle gasped in surprise at the tight-fitting black outfits that both boys now wore. They could be brothers.

 

Kazuki held out the short sword that he had borrowed the day before. “I have to give this back,” he said.

 

As the boys headed off to the practice field to return the borrowed sword, Miroku thought to himself how Kazuki was not only Inuyasha's child but also Kagome's. He'd see what he could do about getting Kazuki a sword of his own before he went back home. Of course, it would only be an ordinary human sword, not something created half out of magic like Totosai's weapons, but that might not be a bad thing for a young hanyou who didn't always know his own strength.

 

They headed off on the same path they had taken previously. Kazuki was impressed by his Auntie Sango's speed. His mom wasn't that fast. Mayumi loved it. Kirara had stayed in the village to guard over the other kids who didn't get to go with them. Today they were going to find Tetsusaiga, Kazuki just knew it.

 

“Uncle Kohaku is my mother's younger brother,” explained Hiroshi as they ran through the forest ahead of the adults. “His wife is going to have a baby.”

 

“I don't think I met Uncle Kohaku,” Kazuki replied. “Does he go to Slayer School too?”

“No, he's too old. He used to, I think. My Uncle Shippo told me stories about him and my mother. My mother was a slayer, too.”

 

“No way! Your Mom?” Kazuki was even more impressed. No wonder she was so fast. Wait a minute. Uncle Shippo. “I have an Uncle Shippo too!” he said excitedly.

 

“No way! I wonder if your Uncle and my Uncle know each other.”

 

Miroku overheard just enough of the conversation to realize he would have to put a stop to it. “Boys,” he said quickly, “race you to the big rock over there!” He pointed to a boulder just visible at the top of the next hill.

 

Naturally, Kazuki won. He and Hiroshi both forgot about comparing uncles after that, however.

 

When they neared the stream, Sango veered off to find Rin's village. She knew Kohaku was off hunting with Sesshomaru, so the only youkai she had to worry about was Jaken. “I'll be back soon,” she called out as she and Mayumi left the boys. “Good luck!”

 

 

 

 

Sesshomaru sat in his darkened office, hands steepled on the desk in front of him. The old youkai woman's story bothered him. Certainly she had been senile, spouting all that nonsense about seeing Inuyasha years before Inuyasha was ever born. She hadn't seen Inuyasha. There hadn't been a sword. “Father,” he murmured quietly. Was it even possible?