InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Once Upon a Time ❯ Absent Friends ( Chapter 29 )

Disclaimer: Don’t own ‘em--I just take them out to play once in a while.

29. Absent Friends  

The three humans had loaded as much as they could on the wagon. Even though they had been forced to leave a significant amount of raw materials behind they managed to include all of the tools needed to turn the remains of youkai into deadly weapons. The tall young man shook his head at the others. “I can’t believe that even Kirara can move this much.”

The woman who had been checking the ropes that held the load in place just laughed, something she had done far too seldom these past months. “She’s not an ox or horse, you know--youkai are a whole lot stronger than you would think from their size. She’ll handle it,” Sango said, rubbing the head of the small firecat youkai on her shoulder, “Because I asked her to.”

The boy with them had chosen to abandon the traditional clothing of the youkai taijiya. He had participated in the family business more to please his father than because he was especially suited for it. Even though the skills learned in this village had been usurped by the creature that had destroyed the villagers, Kohaku had come to realize that although the skills that had killed his father and the other youkai exterminators had been his, the will that had animated his body had not been his own. He had decided that--while he would never be able to destroy youkai like his older sister--he could still contribute to the memory of his people by creating and maintaining the special weapons that had made them so successful.

He squinted off to the west to where the sun was dropping down behind the huge wall of vertical logs that had once protected the village. “I don’t suppose we’ll ever be coming back here again.”

The monk looked up from the small fire over which he had been cooking a pot of stew. “We may, if only to visit the graves of the people who lived here. I think we’ll all be happier living back in the other village.” He watched the woman laying out the sleeping bags around the fire. Somehow they had not been able to bring themselves to break the thick silence of the destroyed village by staying in one of the buildings still standing after Naraku had told his youkai servants where the humans who had hunted them could be found.

Actually, he didn’t really mind sleeping out, especially on warm summer nights like these. It had, he decided, been the lack of other options that had made him so weary of travel while they had hunted Naraku. He found that he minded it less now that he had a home he could return to.

He would be extremely glad to get home. Although he and the woman had finally reached an understanding and would one day soon be joining their lives together, he was starting to become a little inhibited when they were alone: it was making it nearly impossible to maintain his reputation as a groping pervert now that he was trying to prove himself trustworthy.

Still, he thought, there were certain compensations, even now, before they formalized their relationship. At first, he had been surprised to learn that she was entirely inexperienced in the ways of men. Given the training that must have been necessary to make her strong and skilled enough to have survived this long, this made a certain amount of sense. He was very much looking forward to teaching her that there existed pleasures far beyond those to be had in a successful battle, good meal, or sound sleep.

Although no one had said as much, he strongly suspected that Inuyasha and Kagome had already made that very discovery. In any case, he would know soon enough, as they would be starting the three-day journey back to what had--at least for the present--become their home.