InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Past ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Lost in the Past, Chapter 13

 

 

“Hey, old man!” Inuyasha yelled as he swung himself through the entrance to Totosai's cave. Totosai blinked owlishly at him through the dim light, no sign of recognition in his eyes.

 

“Eh?” said Totosai, peeking around Inuyasha to where Kazuki had jumped down right behind him. “Eek! A slayer! Are you going to kill me?” Totosai clutched the weapon he had been heating to his chest, heedless of the smoke that immediately rose from his clothes.

 

Inuyasha glanced briefly at Kazuki, then turned back to Totosai, annoyed. “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't need a slayer kid to kill you,” he said.

 

“A child, you say?” asked Totosai, slowly lowering the glowing piece of metal. Bits of cloth clung to it. He squinted his eyes and tried to get a good look at Kazuki. “Ah, yours, is he?” Totosai frowned in concentration. “But why is he a youkai exterminator?”

 

Inuyasha still wasn't sure Totosai realized exactly who he was, so he took the old youkai's leap of reasoning with a grain of salt. “Yeah, he's my kid. He needs a sword.”

 

“Are you sure? He looks human to me.”

 

“Yes, I'm sure. And he's wearing slayer stuff to disguise his real appearance.”

 

“Why? Is he hideous?”

 

Kazuki, who had been looking at all the interesting things around the cave, turned around to hear what his father would say. He liked the old youkai swordsmith. Maybe if he couldn't be a slayer, he could be a swordsmith instead.

 

“No, are you crazy?” Inuyasha yelled in exasperation. “He looks like me!”

 

“No, he doesn't,” Totosai said. “But I'll take your word for it. A sword, you say? I usually don't make weapons for humans.”

 

“He's not human, he's hanyou!” Inuyasha shouted. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

 

Totosai scratched his chin. “You mean you don't know?”

 

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Suddenly this didn't seem like such a good idea. “Forget it,” he muttered. “Let's go, Kazuki.”

 

Totosai blinked rapidly. “Kazuki? Come here, boy, let me see you.”

 

Kazuki glanced at his father, who nodded warily, wondering what the old man was up to. “Go ahead,” he said. Kazuki walked across the hot stone floor and stopped in front of the old youkai.

 

“So, you want a sword of your own?” Totosai murmured, as he cupped Kazuki's chin in one gnarled hand. “Ah, I see the resemblance now.” He prodded one pointed fingertip inside Kazuki's mouth. “Let me see your teeth.”

 

Kazuki jerked his head back from the unfamiliar sensation, but he opened his mouth wide for inspection. “I already lost all my baby teeth,” he said proudly. Inuyasha folded his arms and just watched.

 

“I see,” commented Totosai, releasing the boy's face. “Why do you want a sword?”

 

“To be like Daddy,” Kazuki replied. Inuyasha started. Miroku had said it, too, but he hadn't really believed it.

 

Totosai caught Inuyasha's gaze and gave him a shrewd, almost lucid stare. “Let me see your sword, Inuyasha,” he said.

 

Slowly, Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga from its sheath and let it transform until it lit up the cave. So the old man recognized him after all. “Can you make a sword for Kazuki, then?” he asked.

 

“Why?”

 

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. “Kazuki, wait outside for a minute, will you?” He waited until the boy disappeared beyond the mouth of the cave, before turning back to Totosai. “He needs something to practice with that's not Tetsusaiga,” he finally said.

 

“Why?”

 

“Why? What do you mean, why? Tetsusaiga is too dangerous for him to handle.” Inuyasha's voice dropped off until it was barely more than a whisper. “He can activate the sword.”

 

Totosai didn't bat an eye. “No, he can't,” he stated firmly. “You should know it takes practice to master Tetsusaiga's techniques.”

 

Inuyasha didn't want to get into the whole time travel thing. The less the crazy old youkai knew about that, the better for all of them. But he didn't see that he had much choice. So far, the time slip was the only technique Kazuki, and now apparently Mayumi also, had been able to invoke. “Yeah, well there's this one trick he learned how to do with it,” he said. “He can use Tetsusaiga to travel—here.” There, he sort of explained it, without being too specific.

 

“Hmmm,” was all Totosai said. He was busy inspecting Tetsusaiga. “I'll do it,” he decided. “Leave Tetsusaiga here with me for a while.”

 

“What? How long? Don't you need something from Kazuki?”

 

Totosai laid Inuyasha's sword down on a flat raised rock and began experimentally banging on it with his hammer. He tskd at the sound it made. “Hm? No, no I don't need anything from him yet. He's still too young. I'll just use some of yours.”

 

Inuyasha's hands automatically went up to cover his mouth. He had to force himself to lower them. “You need another tooth?”

 

“What?” Totosai was already busy rubbing the dings out of Tetsusaiga. “Oh, no, no, nothing like that. This will do.” He began to sharpen the edge of the blade, catching the fine dust filings in a shallow bowl. “Go away.”

 

“How long?” repeated Inuyasha. He'd just got Tetsusaiga back; he didn't want to leave it behind.

 

It turned out not to be a problem. Totosai handed Inuyasha back his sword. “Come back in three days,” he said, leaving Inuyasha open-mouthed.

 

“Wait a minute,” he protested. “Kazuki's sword isn't going to have the same abilities as Tetsusaiga, is it?”

 

Totosai looked up from his work, clearly irritated at being interrupted. “I told you; he has to master the techniques just like you did.”

 

“What about the, er, traveling technique?”

 

“Oh, that? That isn't a technique of the sword; that's your family's trick,” Totosai replied, stunning Inuyasha once again. Did the old man really know what he was talking about?

 

It quickly became apparent that he was going to get no further answers from Totosai, so he went outside to find Kazuki. “Three days,” he called back over his shoulder. “I'll be back in three days.” He and Kazuki took off down the mountain.

 

Faintly, in the distance, he heard a quizzical voice, “Why?”

 

Inuyasha spent the next three days hunting youkai in the hills with Kazuki. It was good practice for Kazuki, who had few opportunities to face malevolent youkai in the modern era. They could have gone back to Miroku's village, but Inuyasha wanted to spend time with Kazuki. Between his own graduate classes, Kazuki's human school, Shippo's youkai school, and now Slayer School, Kazuki hadn't had many chances to just hang out with Dad. So these three days were going to be Inuyasha School.

 

When they returned to Totosai's on the third day, the old youkai had reverted to his usual self. Inuyasha threw down a couple of rabbits for the old man. “Where's the kid's sword?” he asked, glancing around.

 

“What sword?” asked Totosai, engrossed in working on an intricate piece. Inuyasha couldn't tell what it was exactly, except that it wasn't a sword.

 

Kazuki jumped up. “My sword,” he said excitedly.

 

“Who are you?” asked Totosai sourly. Some time during their three days, Kazuki had abandoned the slayer headgear and his ears twitched curiously as Totosai spoke. “Oh, you want your sword, do you?” he asked, reaching behind him and pulling out a long, slim sword and putting it into Kazuki's waiting hands.

 

“Cool!” Kazuki said, swishing the sword back and forth. “Dad, look! I have my own sword!”

 

Inuyasha grinned, happy to see Kazuki so happy. “Thanks, old man. You really came through.”

 

“Eh? I don't know what you're talking about.”

 

That was a relief. “Never mind,” Inuyasha said. “See you in about five hundred years.” He thought he was being clever.

 

Totosai nodded. “Sure, sure. I'll make your son a better sword then. Your daughter, too.”

 

Inuyasha stared at the old man. How did he know about Mayumi? “How do you know about my daughter?” he demanded.

 

“Your daughter?” asked Totosai, confused again. “Ah, your whole family, they come and they go. I can't keep track of you all.”

 

Inuyasha shook his head. He couldn't figure out half of what the old man was saying. Thankfully, nobody else could, either. But at least they got what they'd come for. “Let's go, Kazuki,” he said. “See ya, old man.”

 

Totosai waved as the two youkai sped down the mountain. “See you, Inuyasha,” he murmured long after they were out of ear-shot.