InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Okaeri ❯ Chapter 12

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and associated characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.

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Chapter 12

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Caught off guard, Inuyasha stared at Kagome. She's actually going to listen to me this time? She sounded pretty firm just now when she'd told the Kitamura guy that she wasn't going traipsing off to his idiot sister's house, but he could tell from the expression on her face that she was wavering. He snapped his head around to Kitamura to give him a stern glare, just as the man opened his mouth to protest.

“But Higurashi-sama, you must help us! You are the only one who can!” The man's haggard face was contorted with anxiety, and he half rose to face Kagome.

“The hell she is!” snapped Inuyasha. “There's got to be priests and monks all over that could handle that demon. It's sealed, ain't it? Slap more seals on and be done with it.” He glowered down at the man. “She's not going.”

“Kitamura-san,” Kagome sighed, “I think you're making a mistake. When you first talked to me a few days ago about Michiko, I agreed to look at her even though I thought it wasn't likely she was possessed. I was wrong, and I was able to help her, but look at what happened!” Her brows were furrowed in distress. “The hospital was demolished. I had no idea what I was walking into, and I still don't know what I'm doing. What if more of the building was destroyed? What if people had gotten hurt?”

“But they didn't, Higurashi-sama!” Kitamura leaned forward earnestly. “You saved Michiko! I was right to ask you, and I'm right to think you can purify that cursed house and save my sister!”

“But I've never purified a house…what if I do something wrong?” Kagome began.

Damn, it looks like she's gonna cave, Inuyasha thought, the uncertainty plain on her face. “Wait. Who says your sister needs saving?” he interjected.

“Eh?” Kitamura turned to him, confused. Jii-chan and Michiko, still sitting, followed the discussion like spectators at a tennis match; their heads swiveled to Inuyasha now.

“Look. All she has to do is leave, from the sound of it. Why the hell is she living in a cursed house, anyway? She leaves and doesn't go back, the demon's still sealed, end of story.”

“She won't leave,” Michiko piped up.

“Then she's stupid,” the hanyou grumbled. Michiko flushed a bit.

“Maybe that's so. But she absolutely won't leave. She said she paid for the house and she's not going to let silly old stories scare her out.”

“What does your father say?” Kagome asked gently, sitting back down and facing the younger girl. Inuyasha exhaled angrily and folded his arms, staring down at them.

Michiko looked down. “Pretty much what you're saying. That it's stupid to stay.”

“So why is he still there?” Inuyasha growled.

“He's…he's not. He moved out. Requested a transfer to Osaka and left us,” the girl admitted miserably.

Kagome winced. She took the girl's hand comfortingly, and said, “Michiko, maybe it's for the best. If you and your father have both left, surely your mother won't stay.”

“You don't know her,” Kitamura said gloomily. “She's very stubborn. She'll stay there just to spite her husband.” He looked at Kagome beseechingly. “Please, Higurashi-sama. Won't you consider going to the house? Perhaps if you tell her, or can show her the house is cursed, she'll leave.”

“How about this.” Jii-chan got up, and looked around at all of them. “I can recommend one or two priests who are experienced exorcists; you can hire one of them to take care of the demon problem.”

“But Higurashi-sama—”

Jii-chan cut off Kitamura before he could begin his refrain. “Kagome is inexperienced and uncomfortable with taking the lead on this, as I see now. Perhaps,” and he gave Kagome a look beneath bushy brows, “she can tag along with the older practitioner, observe, and serve as reinforcements. It should be instructive.”

Inuyasha saw with dismay that Kagome was nodding her head. “Dammit, no! Kagome, it's too dangerous. You're not going.”

“But they're asking for help, Inuyasha,” she said seriously. “We should help people if we're able to. I'm just afraid that I'd screw it up, release the demon or something, if it was just the two of us. I feel much better about it if there's someone along who knows what he's doing.”

“And how do you know this priest's not a fraud?” Inuyasha ground out. He saw his skepticism reflected in Kitamura's face, and so did the old man.

“One of the men I was thinking of is a good friend of mine, very experienced and wise,” Jii-chan huffed. “You can check his credentials with the Shrine Association. And Kitamura-san, you can also call the temples and ask for an exorcist there.” He sniffed dismissively.

Michiko had brightened, but Kitamura still looked dour. “I suppose if that is my only option, I will have to take it.” He sighed. “Give me those names if you would, Guji-sama, and I will make arrangements.” The man flicked an anxious glance at Kagome. “And Higurashi-sama will agree to go, if I do that?”

Kagome nodded, seriously. “Of course.” She looked over to Inuyasha, and smiled brightly. “We both will, right?”

He rolled his eyes and sighed. How did they always get sucked into other people's business? “Keh.”

…

Kagome wandered back to the house once the visitors had left. She was relieved that she would not be in charge of the whole exorcism thing; much better to leave it to a professional. Somebody trained… somebody who could have helped Michiko without trashing a hospital.

If Miroku and Sango were here…her throat tightened, and she swallowed, it would be just another monster to tackle. But they weren't here. Without Miroku's wisdom and spiritual power, Sango's knowledge and expertise…Inuyasha might be able to take out the demon by himself, but what if he couldn't? He'd already been hurt once. What use could she possibly be in this situation? There were no shards to spot anymore; all she had were middling archery skills and some unreliable miko talents. She was no Kikyou, who would probably not have blinked at Kitamura's request, and easily blasted the demon to nothingness.

She kicked a pebble moodily and glanced around the courtyard. Inuyasha had stomped out of the shrine office right after she'd agreed. What was wrong with him, anyway? She focused, searching for his youki, and determined that he was probably back in the well house. She should get over there and take a look at what he found, after she changed out of her uniform.

The house was quiet as she stepped inside. Jii-chan was still back in the shrine office, but Souta was nowhere to be seen. Kagome found her mother in the kitchen, measuring rice into the rice cooker. She looked up at her daughter and smiled.

“Need any help, Mama?”

“Not at the moment, dear, thank you. How did your meeting go?”

“Um. They wanted me to go exorcise a house.”

Mama gave her an inquiring look. “And?”

Kagome sat down at the table and studied her hands. “Well, I didn't want to do it—I don't think I'm exactly what Kitamura-san thinks I am. Jii-chan said he could refer them to a couple of priests he knows. Inuyasha and I are going to go along as backup to whoever he picks.”

“Ah.” Her mother turned back to her preparations.

Kagome examined her nails; they were really growing back nicely. A sign of normalcy? They always got broken and torn in the feudal age. “Mama…is it terrible of me to not want to do something when someone asks me to?” He said I was the only one who could help, but I have trouble believing that this time. There has to be someone better at this than me.

“Kagome.” Mama came over and sat across from her, and took her hands, giving them a warm squeeze. “I trust you. I know you'll choose to do what's right. But you are the best judge of whether the task is too hard. I know you won't turn away lightly.” She smiled. “Didn't you still agree to go?”

“Yes, but…I don't know what good I'll do. I feel like I'm misrepresenting myself. I'm not a big bad warrior-priestess—” she stopped before she blurted out like Kikyou. “It doesn't feel right that Jii-chan is charging him.”

“Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that. Kitamura-san can dispute it if he doesn't feel that he got his money's worth.” Mama patted her hands and got back up, heading towards the counter. “He was happy that you helped Michiko, wasn't he?”

Kagome picked at a hangnail. “Yeah, but he also has to pay for the damage at the hospital. Somehow I think it could have been handled better.”

“You let Kitamura-san worry about that. That's his choice.” Mama added water and set the timer on the cooker, then moved to the sink. “How are things at school?”

“Better. I just need time to study, but I think I won't have too much trouble with finals.” She would have to study tonight, but she desperately wanted to see what was in that trunk Inuyasha mentioned. She frowned suddenly— what if he found bad news in it? Was he keeping it from her? “Did Inuyasha say anything about those papers he found?”

Mama glanced back at her. “No, just that he had found them. Why?”

Kagome shrugged and got up. “He's been acting weird.”

Her mother turned back to the vegetables she was washing. “I wouldn't wonder. His whole life has changed. I'm sure it would rattle anyone.” She looked over her shoulder at Kagome. “Have you two talked about anything?”

Kagome felt obscurely guilty— she's right, I should have been paying more attention to him… “What do you mean?”

“Like what your plans are for the future.” Mama gave her a measuring look, and returned to her task. “And how he fits into them.”

She stared. “Mama, he isn't talking to me right now.”

Mama smiled without turning around. “If you talk, he'll listen.”

With a last glance at her mother, Kagome went upstairs to change, and headed to the well house, full of resolve.

…

She found him hunched over one of the trunks, its contents spread over the tops of surrounding crates, and some in piles on the floor. As she came down the steps, she could see that he was carefully unrolling a scroll, one that looked much the worse for wear.

“Inuyasha?”

“What?” He sounded irritable, but that was nothing new.

“I came to see the papers you found. Did you find anything interesting? What's that one in your hand?” She came and settled on her knees on his right, very close, and peered over his arm. He gave her a narrow sideways glance.

“It's a letter.” He snorted and began rolling it back up. “Another one.” He added it to a small pile of scrolls on the top of the crate to his left. “None of them addressed to anybody I've heard of. I can't even tell what the dates are.”

“What are those?” She leaned and pointed to a stack of square bundles of paper, on the floor slightly behind and on his other side.

“Hell if I know. Looks like shrine business.” He reached into the trunk and pulled out another delicate and ragged scroll. “You gonna help or what? There are a lot of these things.”

Wordlessly she leaned forward to look into the trunk. More of the square bundles to one side, and number of small scrolls loosely piled together. She picked one up, noting with distaste that it felt as grimy as it looked, and unrolled it enough to look at the date. “Meiwa 9…why is that year familiar?” She unrolled it further, hoping to see a familiar name, anything. She puzzled out some of the archaic script, past the salutation, to the subject. “Aha! Now I remember.”

Inuyasha looked up instantly. “Why? What is it?”

“One of the three great Edo fires took place that year. I remember it from history class.” She ignored his snort as he turned back to the letter he had in his hand. “Looks like the shrine was too far away from the city proper to be in danger of burning.” She sighed, and rolled it back up and placed in on the trunk to her right. “It's from the 1700's. Much later than what we're looking for.”

“Stop wasting time with the wrong dates, wench,” the hanyou said testily. He twitched the scroll in his hand to his pile, and reached for another.

The well house was quiet but for the sound of rustling paper. They worked in silence for a while; Kagome found it soothing, just being with him. She knew she should take up her mother's advice at some point and talk to him, but right now she was engrossed in the search. Each scroll she put aside was another treasure to be investigated later, but right now, she eagerly hoped to find a letter or a document, anything, with the familiar and much-loved names.

Next to her, Inuyasha stiffened. She glanced over and saw him staring at the date marked at the edge of the partially unrolled letter he held. “What? What did you find?”

“Eiroku 3, fourth month.” He turned to look at her, his pale eyes gleaming in the dim light. “That's not long after the well closed, right?”

Kagome gasped, “Unroll it! What does it say?” He straightened the scroll so that all of the script was visible; she strained to see, but beyond the date, she was having a problem interpreting the ancient writing. “Can you read it aloud, Inuyasha?”

He gave her an exasperated look, but turned back to the letter, cleared his throat, and began to read, stumbling only slightly over some of the turns of phrase.

“Eiroku 3, fourth month, 28th day.

My dear Miroku,

Congratulations on many fronts, but especially on your marriage. I was very glad to read your news, though I wonder at the wisdom of marrying a woman so very skilled at fighting. Watch yourself, boy. I am sure you've learned caution in recent years, so I need not warn you that you will need much more discretion if you wish to continue your former habits. You no longer need an heir, so make sure you discard that excuse!

On a more sober note, I was sorry to hear that Kagome-sama and young Inuyasha seem to have departed permanently to her land. I was very interested to learn of the portal; unfortunately, I cannot give you any guidance on how it works, having less experience with such things than even you. I have not come across any mention of it in my studies. I hope that both of them, and especially the hanyou, find happiness where they are.

And to your other question, I have not seen or heard mention of your young kitsune friend, not that I necessarily would have from this far away. You say he vanished right about the time of your wedding? Unusual for such a social creature to miss an event like that.

At any rate, the little fellow may be perfectly fine. You know youkai, they take to roving about sometimes, and if I remember right, young Shippou is growing up. Perhaps he is enjoying some of the finer pleasures that you are well acquainted with, my boy. Wanderlust is a powerful force, the more so if something or someone is found while wandering. Still, it seems very strange for him to just disappear like that. I would have thought he'd tell you, or at least ask for advice, before he went chasing some tail. (Get it? Ha!)

Have you decided where to settle down yet? I would not wish to deprive your adopted village of your talents, if that is what you have chosen, but if for some reason the place doesn't suit you, I would be pleased if you and Sango-san chose to settle here. There is a good living to be made from the nearby village, and the temple is not much work to maintain, though of course it is a bit much for me at my advanced age. I could pass on at any time, you know. You might consider easing your foster-father's last years.

I enjoyed hearing from you, boy. Don't be a stranger.

Blessings of the Buddha upon you both,

Mushin”

They were both silent for a long moment, staring at the letter. Kagome finally broke the silence, looking up at Inuyasha, who stared back at her.

“Inuyasha,” she whispered, stricken, “what could have happened to him?”

TBC

A/N:

Guji: head priest of a shrine.