InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Lost in the Past ❯ Chapter 17 ( Chapter 17 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Lost in the Past, Chapter 17

 

 

Rin, Kohaku and the babies rode upon Ah-Un, which Lord Sesshomaru had graciously lent them for the journey to the slayer village. He himself had declined to travel with them, preferring to make his own way. Rin knew, however, that he was never far away, keeping watch over her and the twins even though Kohaku was with them. Therefore, he didn't transform but kept to his human-seeming and trod the wooded paths below them as Ah-Un soared above. Jaken muttered disgustedly, forced to follow behind his master rather than ride in comfort.

 

Rin was pleased and surprised at how quickly she had taken to motherhood. At first, she had been worried she wouldn't be able to take care of both babies once Sango had left, but as the days went by, it became easier and easier. She had enough milk for both, and it was actually a relief to nurse them more often. Lord Sesshomaru had seemed fascinated by this aspect of their care, and after the first few times, when he had politely ignored her, he took to watching the feeding sessions avidly, only averting his eyes when she changed one baby or the other from side to side. She couldn't decipher the look in his eyes.

 

Kohaku was an enormous help. He did everything except feed the babies, and more importantly, to Rin, he made a fuss over her, too, seeing to it that she had the most delectable pieces of their meals, and spending time just holding her when the babies were asleep. If anything, he was being too careful of her. She enjoyed feeling his arms around her waist as they rode towards the slayer village on Ah-Un.

 

Kohaku jumped down when they approached the village. “Wait here,” he said. Sesshomaru was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't mean that he wasn't here. It wouldn't do for him to enter a village shielded against youkai. They were early by a day.

 

“Brother-in-law, Sister!” he shouted, as he entered the gate which he noticed was wide open. Had some of the other youkai already arrived? Perhaps the barrier was down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ah-Un, with Rin and the children still upon its back, moving slowly towards the gate. “Wait,” he said again, gratified to see the youkai beast halt in its tracks. He needed to be sure it was safe.

 

Miroku appeared and made some hand gestures. So the barrier had still been in place. “Welcome!” he said, opening his arms. “You're early. Where is Sesshomaru?”

 

“Here.” The taiyoukai strode out from the woods followed by Jaken. He stopped by Ah-Un and lifted Rin and the babies down. “Jaken, take Ah-Un into the forest and await my return,” he instructed, before taking Rin's elbow and escorting her through the gate into the slayer village.

 

“The wolves were more comfortable camping in the forest too,” said Miroku as he led Kohaku and his family through the village. “I keep the barrier up during the night, at Kouga's insistence. His wife is here in the village, as is Shippo. She's close to her time and Kouga wanted the extra protection of the barrier to mask her presence from possible predators. Usually I take it down at dawn, but I didn't expect you so soon. Did you travel all night?”

 

Kohaku nodded. “We were on Ah-Un, so I didn't see the need for stopping. Besides, the babies were sleeping.”

 

“I understand completely,” Miroku replied. After three children, he well knew the importance of doing what you can when you can.

 

Sesshomaru stopped in the center of the village, stilling so completely that he seemed a statue. “Did you say there were other youkai in this village?” he asked sharply.

 

“Yes, Ayame, Kouga's wife, and Shippo. You remember Shippo, the little kitsune youkai? He lived here when he was younger and we kept a place for him when he comes back to visit.”

 

“Not them. Are there others?”

 

“J-just some of the wolf-youkai cubs,” Miroku stammered. He hoped Sesshomaru couldn't hear his heart racing. Stupid, stupid Inuyasha for insisting on staying here. He should have known nothing could fool Sesshomaru.

 

“Wolf-cubs, you say? And fox?” Sesshomaru inhaled deeply, then exhaled and continued walking. Miroku hurried to follow.

 

Sango came out of the small house they had set aside for Kohaku. “Rin! Kohaku!” She smiled, then bowed formally towards Sesshomaru. “Lord Sesshomaru,” she said. “We have prepared you a separate place for your visit. Shall I show you?”

 

Sesshomaru shook his head. “I will not be staying here.” He turned to his foster daughter. “Rin, I will see you in the afternoon at Midoriko's cave. Rest now.”

 

“This afternoon? You want to have the Naming Ceremony today?” Sango asked in surprise.

 

“Is there a problem with that?” Sesshomaru raised his eyebrows.

 

“No, no problem,” Miroku was quick to reply. The sooner this was over, the better for all concerned. He kept shooting glances towards the far end of the village where he knew Inuyasha and his group were probably fully aware that Sesshomaru had arrived. He only hoped Inuyasha wouldn't be foolish enough to force an incident.

 

 

 

Inuyasha stiffened. “He's here,” he said abruptly.

 

“Uncle Sesshomaru!” Kazuki recognized his scent too. He peeked out the window, hoping for a glimpse of his uncle who didn't know him yet. Inuyasha pulled him back. “Are we hiding from him?” asked Kazuki.

 

Inuyasha frowned. “Stay here,” he ordered. “Mayumi, wanna go potty?”

 

The little girl hopped up eagerly, while Kazuki wrinkled his brow in disgust. Of course she wanted to go potty. Who wouldn't want to get out of this little house?

 

Inuyasha stuck a conical straw hat on his head and tied it under his chin. He had absolutely refused to let Sango or Kagome dye his hair like the children's, so he had taken to wearing the hat, rain or shine, around the village. It helped that his scent was distorted from the bean paste and because he no longer smelled like the hanyou he used to be. It made him look like an old man, which he didn't like, but it worked, at least on Shippo, as long as he didn't get too close. He still gave off a youkai aura, disguise or no disguise. Luckily, there were enough other youkai floating around these few days that his aura went unremarked.

 

“Come on, baby,” he said, taking Mayumi by the hand and walking towards the unmistakable scent of Sesshomaru. Sango's house was right next to where he smelled his brother. Luckily Kagome was still asleep, or she might have something to say about his unscheduled potty trip.

 

“Uncle,” said Mayumi, straining forward.

 

“Yeah, Uncle,” agreed Inuyasha. “Lots of Uncles today.”

 

Inuyasha brought Mayumi around the back of Sango's house and waited while she went. His arms prickled from Sesshomaru's aura and he wondered what Sesshomaru was feeling. When Mayumi was finished, he followed behind her as she scrambled around the corner and headed right towards Auntie Sango, who was with a group of people. Sesshomaru abruptly turned and left the group without a backward glance. Inuyasha stared after him. Had Sesshomaru sensed him? It didn't appear so.

 

“Baby!” Mayumi cried, running over to peer up at Rin, who was holding the twins.

 

“Mayumi!” Rin remembered the little girl Sango had been taking care of when she was in labor. “Would you like to see my little boys?”

 

Mayumi nodded, and Rin bent down so she could see the two babies. Mayumi carefully stroked first one downy head, then the other. Sango held her breath, hoping Rin wouldn't notice Mayumi's sharp little nails. She nearly jumped straight into the air when Inuyasha sidled up beside her and peered at the babies too.

 

“Is she bothering you?” he asked, roughening his voice so that he sounded like an old man.

 

“Oh, no,” protested Rin with a smile. “Mayumi's such a sweet girl. You must be her grandfather?”

 

“Papa,” Mayumi said.

 

Rin's cheeks reddened. “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense,” she said quickly.

 

“None taken,” said Inuyasha. “I'm old enough to be her grandfather,” he said truthfully. “Come on, Mayumi, say `bye to the nice lady.”

 

Sango clutched one hand to her chest and stared open-mouthed as the `old man' led Mayumi back to the hut on the far side of the village. Kohaku, too, stared after him, a puzzled frown on his face.

 

Kagome was still sleeping when they returned. Inuyasha shook her awake. “Rin's here,” he told her as she rolled over and regarded him sleepily. “They're having the Naming Ceremony this afternoon.”

 

Just then Sango came in with breakfast and the same news. “I've got the entire village working to get everything ready for tonight,” she said. “I wish you could be there.”

 

Kagome wished she could be, too. They were naming two babies, one of whom was most likely her ancestor. “I know,” she replied. She had so many things she wanted to tell Sango, how she wished she could see Rin's new babies, and talk to Ayame about her pregnancy, but mostly she wanted to tell Sango that she was pregnant again, too. “Can I help?” she asked instead. “I could help the village women get the feast ready while you prepare for the ceremony.”

 

Inuyasha looked at Kazuki. He certainly didn't want to peel and cut vegetables. “We'll be back,” he said to his wife, as he nodded to Kazuki to pick up his sword and join him outside. “We're going for a quick run.”

 

“Stay away from Sesshomaru!” Kagome called after him.

 

 

 

Sesshomaru stood at the entrance to Midoriko's cave. The place was deceptively ordinary. He felt mixed emotions about participating in this human ritual. Kouga had done it before, with his first two cubs, and the slayer couple had done it for each of their children as well. Kohaku was part of that tradition, the slayer family, descendents of Midoriko, the miko warrior who had battled youkai even after her death. Why was he, a youkai, involved in this ceremony at all? He shook his head, and concluded that the ceremony had less to do with being human or youkai than it did with belonging. And in that sense, he belonged here because of Rin. A peculiar feeling of warmth rose from his chest and flushed his face. Yes, it was right that he was here.

 

Something else bothered him. In the village, he had sensed a presence which was naggingly familiar. The slayers were friendly with certain youkai, but still, their explanations did not sit well with him. The presence he had sensed was neither wolf nor fox. Of course, it was a slayer village. They still hunted rogue youkai, and they still made weapons from their bones. It could have been something like that that he'd detected. But he didn't think so.

 

 

 

Inuyasha led Kazuki in a path that avoided the wolves. Kazuki still wore his slayer clothes, preferring them to ordinary village clothes. Inuyasha suspected that he just liked how they looked. They circled around the village as Inuyasha stretched his muscles, but they didn't circle aimlessly. After a while, Inuyasha veered off in the direction of Midoriko's cave. He was hunting.

 

He suddenly transformed into a ball of light and streaked on ahead of the startled Kazuki. No fair, thought the boy, as he put on a burst of speed and loped along after his father's energy form. All of a sudden he caught Uncle Sesshomaru's scent somewhere ahead and quickly skidded to a halt.

 

Sesshomaru stilled as he observed the form of the slayer youth standing uncertainly on the path in front of him. The child had a sword. . . no, impossible. A human could not wield a youkai sword. He stepped forward, intending to question the slayer boy, but the child sprang backwards, then turned and ran. Not acceptable. Sesshomaru prepared to launch himself after the boy when something else caught his attention. At the top of the cliff, above Midoriko's cave, a ball of light slowly coalesced into the shape of a man, with long white hair blowing backwards in the sudden wind.

 

Sesshomaru drew in a sharp breath. “Father?” he breathed, as the human form dissolved again into light and streaked off into the distance. Sesshomaru roughly shook his head. No, it wasn't his father. The scent was similar, but not the same. Powerful. Taiyoukai. A challenger? Now was not the time nor the place. But sooner or later, he would have to address this possible threat. He breathed in deeply. The being was gone. It would be no use to try to chase after him now. It was time for the Naming Ceremony. Sesshomaru turned back towards Midoriko's cave, all thoughts of the slayer boy with the youkai sword forgotten for the moment.

 

 

Inuyasha threw himself down on the floor of the hut, laughing. Kazuki stalked in seconds later. “Daddy!” he reproached his father. “Why did you leave me out there?”

 

Inuyasha sobered for a moment. “You did good, Kazuki,” he praised his son. “Uncle Sesshomaru really thought you were a slayer, didn't he?”

 

Kazuki gave a lop-sided grin. “Yeah, he did.” He frowned. “I thought we were supposed to stay away from Uncle Sesshomaru in this time.”

 

“You're right, and we did,” Inuyasha replied. “But now we both know we won't get caught if he does happen to see us, right?” He grinned widely. “That was fun!”

 

“What was fun?” Kagome slid open the door.

 

“Nothing!” Inuyasha and Kazuki said together.