InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mayumi's Story ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

 

Mayumi's Story, Chapter 4

 

 

Uncle Fenn came over so suddenly that he forgot Mama's barrier was in place, and we heard the sizzle before the cell phone rang.

 

“Damn Fenn,” my father mumbled as he snapped the phone shut. We were just finishing dinner. My mother quickly took down her barrier, and they both went outside to see what was the big emergency.

 

Of course, we kids wanted to see what was going on, too. “Finish your homework,” my father ordered. That was that. Thank goodness for hanyou hearing. We sat around the kitchen table with one ear cocked towards the front yard.

 

I could pick out a few words here and there—youkai, again, sightings—but not much else. Kazuki wasn't having any better luck. We heard the urgency in the grown-up's voices, then Mama came back inside, all smiles, while Papa and Fenn both dissolved into their spirit shapes and streaked off into the night. Something was definitely going on. Whenever Mama made a point of being happier than sunshine, she was trying to hide something.

 

Papa and Fenn didn't come back for three days. In the meantime, we went to school, had youkai lessons with Uncle Shippo, and pretended everything was normal. I knew that it wasn't when, shortly after Papa returned, my Uncle Sesshomaru arrived from Japan. The grown-ups, including Uncle Shippo, and Uncle Dai and some of the older wolves, all closeted themselves in the front room to talk. Since the front room was basically open to the main part of the house, they weren't all that closeted from little ears, so they sent me and my brothers to the mall with Uncle Dai. Even Mama stayed for the meeting, meaning they probably wanted some input from her because she was a miko.

 

Uncle Dai dropped us off at the mall entrance. He was bringing Koji over to the indoor playscape, and we were to meet him there in about an hour. He made sure we all had each other's cell phone numbers, and then he let us go. My friends Jessica and Natalie were waiting for me by the food court. It was the only way Uncle Dai or my mother would consent to let me go to the mall on my own. Naturally, they didn't even attempt to make sure Kazuki was meeting up with friends first. He was, but that was beside the point. I was youkai, or hanyou, whatever you want to call it. Dad says it doesn't make a difference what name you put on it—youkai is youkai. My point is, I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. But I didn't argue; at least they were letting me go on my own to meet my friends.

 

As usual, I had a kerchief tied over my ears; this one knotted under my hair at the back of my neck. My silvery hair cascaded down my back. A few times I'd thought about cutting it, getting a more modern style, but my Papa would have none of it. “You're not cutting your hair,” he said, every time the subject came up. Mama sympathized, but didn't argue with Papa on the issue. My silver hair and golden eyes were the topic of much speculation among my classmates as I grew older. They knew I was Japanese, sort of, and as we all learned more about the world, they also realized that my coloring was highly unusual. When I was younger, I got teased a lot. The older I got, the less I was teased and the more I was admired. It was different for Kazuki, I realize now. Being a boy, he was teased longer and louder than I was for having to wear that stupid bandana over his ears. Being Kazuki, he brushed it off more easily than I ever could, too.

 

My friends and I quickly walked down the corridors of the mall, looking for people we knew, stopping at every little jewelry and hair accessory shop we came across. “Let's get our ears pierced,” suggested Natalie, fingering a pair of dangly silver earrings. My stomach flopped. Even if I had her kind of ears, my parents would kill me if I got them pierced without permission.

 

“Uh, I can't,” I said, pointing ruefully at my headgear, hoping they would take the hint. For all they knew, I wore it for medical reasons.

 

“Sure, you can. You just need permission from a grown-up. Didn't you say your Uncle was here somewhere? You can get him to sign the form.”

 

If I'd been smarter, I'd have realized that neither of my two girlfriends had any intention of getting their ears pierced, since their parents had dropped them off. I was their guineau pig. Somehow I found myself being led back to the playscape and Uncle Dai, who was sitting relaxed on a bench watching Koji slide down a tiny plastic slide over and over again. He watched carefully to be sure Koji didn't accidentally harm one of the other little human children who played beside him on the playscape, but he needn't have worried, as mostly all the children there played alone in the midst of the crowd. They shared the space with each other, but didn't really interact at all. Sort of like grown-ups at rush hour.

 

My friends thought Uncle Dai was just gorgeous. I felt a surge of jealousy. He was my Uncle Dai. I squeezed in between Jessica and Uncle Dai so that I was sitting right next to him. I showed him the piece of paper he would need to sign so I could have my ears pierced. His eyebrows rose as he turned his body slightly to look down at me. I blushed.

 

“Your ears are perfect just the way they are,” he said softly, looking straight at me and ignoring my two friends. He didn't say no, I couldn't get my ears pierced, even though he knew there was no physical way I ever could, at least in this form. I wonder what would happen if I pierced my ears on my human night? Would the piercing just disappear or would it move to my real ear when I reverted back to hanyou form? Luckily, I never tested it. Uncle Dai's kind words let me off the hook gently; what's more, they so impressed my two girlfriends that they resolved not to pierce their ears, either. It took me a while to realize that they hadn't actually intended to get theirs pierced that day, and Uncle Dai had given them a way out, too. At our age, friendships were fluid and shifted as the circumstances warranted. I remained friends with Jessica and Natalie until we started high school, then, for whatever reasons, we all went our separate ways.

 

When we got back home, the meeting was over and Papa spoke briefly with Uncle Dai on the front porch. I caught some of the conversation.

 

“. . . is back. We don't know if it's the same one, but we don't want to take any chances. Fenn, Sesshomaru and I are going to see if we can pick up the trail. We'd really appreciate it if you could lend us your wolves . . .”

 

I lost the thread of the conversation then, when my mother asked me how our trip to the mall had gone. She laughed when I told her about the ear piercing. She showed me her two very human, very un-pierced ears, and we would have had a very mother-daughter moment had the voices from outside not interrupted us.

 

“But what about Mayumi?” It was Uncle Dai. Why was he asking about me? I hoped he wasn't telling my father about the ear piercing incident. I don't think Papa would have reacted quite as well as Mama had. “Is she safe? I don't want to leave her alone if we're both going to be gone chasing after that youkai.”

 

Papa's voice rose. “It's not your call,” he said heatedly. “I'll take care of her, and the rest of them. They're my responsibility.” There was silence. “I'm taking them all back, back to Miroku and Sango, until we have this settled. We'll leave as soon as I return.”

 

“All right.”

 

I could tell by Uncle Dai's voice that it wasn't really all right. Mama and I looked at each other, and she patted my shoulder reassuringly. I was confused, and a little bit worried. We still had school. Vacation wasn't for another couple of weeks. Papa stomped in right about then and looked at us.

 

“You heard,” he stated. “Get your stuff together. We're going to the Sengoku Jidai.”

 

Mama planted her feet. “I'm staying here,” she said. When he gave her his best glower, she added, “You need me.”

 

Papa opened and closed his mouth, then finally nodded. “Kazuki!” he bellowed. As soon as my brother appeared, he told him, “Get your slayer gear. Go tell Miroku and Sango that you and your brother and sister are going to be staying with them for a few weeks, maybe longer. Tell them I'll explain when I get there.”

 

Kazuki nodded, and jumped back upstairs to get his things. Papa turned to Mama. “Are you sure? I can take care of this thing better if I don't have to worry about you.”

 

Mama replied, “I'm sure. Who will take care of you if I'm not around?”

 

She had him there.

 

In the time it took Mama to dress Koji and gather together enough clothes for an extended stay, Papa had worn a hole, figuratively, in the wood floor around the fireplace with his pacing. He was trying to figure out the fastest way to get us to the slayer village and back. There would be no time to wait for Uncle Miroku to come meet us with his wagon this time.

 

“Dad, I'm old enough,” I began, and he skidded to a stop and just glared at me. His glare didn't bother me any more than it bothered Mama. I sighed. “Papa,” I started over. Part of his glare, I knew, was because I had called him `Dad.' “I can go with Kazuki. I know the way.” I had never done it before, but I knew I could.

 

“No.”

 

“What if I go with Kazuki, then he comes right back and tells you I got there ok? Then you wouldn't have to worry, and you wouldn't have to bring us yourself. You can start looking for the other youkai right away.”

 

My father blinked. “What do you know about it?”

 

“Just that there's a youkai and you're all looking for him, and it's dangerous.”

 

“Er, yeah. Well, what about Koji, then? I'd still have to bring Koji over using Tetsusaiga.”

 

Kazuki jumped down from the top railing, his backpack slung over his shoulder. He wore regular peasant clothing rather than his slayer outfit. As he got older, the novelty had worn off. Now, it was a uniform to be worn on patrol, not something he had to wear all the time to look cool. “I can take Koji,” he said.

 

Papa blinked again. “You can?”

 

Mama came over, followed by Koji who looked cute in his little feudal era clothes. “Koji's not like your backpack,” she cautioned, having heard the tail end of the conversation. “He's a living being. I don't like the idea of you taking chances with your brother like that. I'm not even sure I like the idea of Mayumi trying it, even though she says she knows how.”

 

Kazuki reddened. “I know it works, Mama,” he said, “because I've taken him with me before.”

 

Both my parents gasped, and Papa's hand shot out to grab Kazuki by the shoulders and shake him. “You did what?”

 

“He wanted to go, and we only stayed for a couple of minutes. I had to bring something to Hiroshi,” he said evasively. “It was fine. Nothing happened.”

 

“Nothing happened,” my father muttered. He turned around and sank down on the couch. “When this is over, you're grounded for going to the Sengoku Jidai without permission,” he said.

 

“Does that mean we can go?” I asked. I was glad they seemed to have forgotten about me.

 

“Go, but Kazuki needs to come right back and tell us you all got there safely or I'm coming after you!”

 

That was the first time I traveled to the past on my own power. It was as easy as I'd thought it would be. Uncle Miroku and Auntie Sango were surprised to see us, but I explained as much as we knew about the strange youkai who had somehow reappeared in our time, and how all the grown-ups were worried about it. Funny thing, Uncle Miroku and Auntie Sango seemed to know right away what I was talking about, and then they looked worried, too.

 

I was glad. It meant I would be able to see my friend Daichi again. Kazuki would be sure to meet up with him and then, once he knew I was back at the village, Daichi would come to see me. Maybe we could go running again. Or just talk. I almost hoped that it would take my parents a little longer to settle their youkai problems back home, so I could stay here a little longer.

 

It turned out that my parents did not solve their youkai problem that quickly or easily. In fact, over the next several years, they chased rumors of the strange youkai both in our time and in the past, searching for the elusive connection between the two that seemed to plague our family on both sides. Eventually they realized that they couldn't keep us away from our lives forever, so we went back to the future and back to having one foot in both worlds, so to speak.