InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Present Perfect ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

 

 

Chapter 7:

 

 

March brought mid-terms and blustery weather. The temperature rose, but the rain didn't seem to want to take a break. Now that Inuyasha and Kagome had decided on a rough plan for their house, they were anxious to start building. Everything had to be hauled up the mountain, which necessitated building an access road first of all. Inuyasha's youkai did not like the commotion.

 

Kagome found herself in the ludicrous position of having to teach youkai how to get enjoyment out of pestering unwary humans. She thought that if she could get them to have fun during the construction, they wouldn't be so scared of it. She sat up on the top of the hill one damp Saturday morning surrounded by a crowd of miniature youkai who hung on her every word.

 

“Look,” she said, exasperated. “They don't know you're here. They can't see you unless you allow it. To them, you're ghosts.” Wide eyes greeted her last remark. “They can't hurt you,” she added. “You're faster, stronger, and this is your woods.” Kagome wasn't so sure she should have told them that last part, in case it came back to haunt her later. What if these youkai eventually did realize they were stronger than humans? After all, they were youkai. They might not think about it the same way that she did. Oh, well. . . Inuyasha would keep them in line, if it ever came to that.

 

At the moment, Inuyasha was tramping out the building site as she sat coaxing their youkai to bother their contractors. What was wrong with this picture, Kagome wondered. There were piles of building materials at the top of the hill. Inuyasha had helped by cutting down the trees the contractors hadn't already removed. He would have helped to make the foundation, considering it wasn't easily done because the top of the mountain was solid rock, but Kagome said no. It would be too hard to explain to the contractors. So instead, he walked the perimeter, imagining where the bedroom would be, where the hot tub would be. In his vision, the hot tub was on a deck outside their bedroom, overlooking the cliffside forest. Let the architects figure out the physics. He wanted what he wanted.

 

He looked over to where Kagome sat surrounded by youkai and laughed softly. Once he would have destroyed them without a thought. But these were his youkai, and Kagome's. They had adopted her, not frightened at all of her miko powers, stupid youkai. He never thought he would see the day where he was protecting youkai against humans.

 

It was the other youkai that he had to worry about—youkai like Fenn and his ilk. The human-seeming ones, who were anything but human. Had he made a mistake, bringing them into the human world so quickly? Youkai were youkai, after all, no matter what part of the world they were from. Their interests weren't necessarily the same as human interests. In some ways, these new world youkai were still a mystery to him. Although they had readily let him assume leadership, they had their own agenda, and he knew it. Sooner or later he needed to show them that if he was going to be leader, then he was going to be a real leader, not just in name. For now, he was content to keep an eye on the situation. He was starting at the grass roots level, with the smaller youkai who truly did look up to him. He wouldn't let them down.

 

“Kagome, are you ready to leave?” he asked. The youkai flitted nervously around her.

 

“Yes, just a minute,” Kagome called back, then turned to her little youkai. “All right, let's see what you can do!”

 

The youkai fanned out and launched themselves into the air, seeming to disappear when in reality they merely moved incredibly quickly to position themselves behind boulders, tree trunks, and piles of lumber. Inuyasha waited, realizing that he was the practice `human.' One after another they whizzed by him, and if he wasn't able to see them with his youkai eyes and smell them with his youkai nose, and sense them with his youkai aura, he would have been fooled. He played along. “What was that?” he exclaimed, a little too dramatically. Kagome rolled her eyes.

 

The youkai, however, were delighted, and slowed down enough so the `human' could actually see them. They danced around Inuyasha who couldn't help grinning at their excitement.

 

“See?” said Kagome. “You can do it! Take care of our house while we're gone, but don't bother the workers too much, Ok? We want our house to get built!”

 

The youkai nodded happily, and darted off to practice scaring humans.

 

That was how the building project got a reputation for being haunted. It worked out well for Kagome and Inuyasha. Once the word spread, not many workers wanted to make the rather long trek through the forest to the building site. The ones who stayed were particularly hardy characters, but all the same, they were glad to see the last of the project when it was finally finished. The end result was that Kagome and Inuyasha had their privacy, and, thanks to their youkai, it was more or less assured.

 

Inuyasha was less than thrilled with the idea of mid-terms. “You mean I have to take tests?” he complained. It wasn't so bad. Regular classes were suspended, and if it weren't for Susan coming around wanting to study, he would have had lots of free time. The way he figured it was, if he didn't already know it, he never would, so why study?

 

Kagome, on the other hand, studied her head off, much to Inuyasha's disgust. He had to use extra charm to get her to put her books down and come to bed. That meant turning on the bath tub. It always worked. Kagome was a sucker for a hot bath, especially one where he was in it.

 

Susan was proving to be a problem. Inuyasha decided to confront the problem directly. Susan wasn't technically one of his, but she had put herself in that position by her proximity, so that Inuyasha felt obligated to consider her under his protection too. He met her on the walkway between classes and wanted to find out what she was made of. “Let's go over here,” he told her, guiding her by the elbow to a secluded spot near the corner of two buildings. “I want to talk to you.”

Susan was more than willing to accompany Inuyasha as led her away from the throngs of other students. They sat at a stone table, which was a little chilly in March, but still do-able. “What's up, Inuyasha?”

 

Inuyasha laid his hands on the table and drummed his claws. “Do you really want to be my friend?” he asked suddenly.

 

Susan smiled. “Of course I do.” She thought maybe he had found out about Miroku and he was looking for someone new. “You know I do.”

 

Inuyasha stopped drumming. She wasn't even looking at his fingers. He would have to be less subtle. “Susan, look at me,” he commanded. “Do I scare you?” He put on his most fearsome face, letting his fangs peek over his bottom lip just a little.

 

“Inuyasha!” Susan actually laughed. She thought he was being cute. Inuyasha growled in frustration, eliciting a little squeak of surprise out of her at the inhuman noise. Finally. He let the growl rumble out of him, satisfied to see her begin to look uneasy.

 

“Is that you?” she asked him after a moment. “You sound like a rabid dog.”

 

“I am a dog,” he told her, causing her to giggle. He gave up. No more hinting around. “Listen, I'm not who you think I am,” he began. Susan stared at him gravely as he flexed his claws and wondered if he should use them on her. He let the growl build up again and was just about to take off his bandana to see how she would react to his ears, when she was distracted by someone in the distance. Fenn. He growled louder, as the other youkai approached their table. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I could ask you that same question,” replied Fenn. “We seem to do this quite a lot, don't we? How would your Kagome feel about what you are doing?”

 

Inuyasha reddened. Of course, Susan would take it the wrong way. She blushed prettily. She really thought she was the other woman. “I'm not—Kagome wouldn't—I was just trying to show Susan who I really am,” he finished.

 

“You're doing a great job, too,” said Fenn with a wry grin. “I have an idea. Susan, remember when I said I'd show you where I lived? How would you—and Inuyasha—like to come with me now and see? Do you have time?”

 

“Sure!” replied Susan. Inuyasha wasn't going to let her go alone, not with that smooth-talking youkai. He guessed he was going, too. Good thing he didn't have another mid-term until tomorrow. Better that Kagome had one this afternoon.

 

Inuyasha gritted his teeth at the human pace they were forced to keep. Even Kagome was faster. Susan strolled along, and Fenn was right beside her, pointing out the various flora, such as it was. Inuyasha felt the stirrings of youkai all around him, and he knew damned well Fenn felt it, too. Something wasn't quite right. Susan went along too easily with every suggestion Fenn made, following them deeper into the woods where no human house should belong.

 

Inuyasha smelled water as they rounded a bend, just as Fenn announced with a sweep of his hands, “Here it is.”

 

There was nothing there. It was a swamp, not even a lake. Susan oohed and aahed, admiring the nonexistent cottage. Inuyasha decided to reserve judgement, and merely raised an eyebrow when Fenn invited her `inside.' Bemused, he followed. Small youkai gathered over the water, avidly watching Fenn and his human guest as they went through the motions of having tea. Inuyasha shook his head when offered a cup, wondering just how one drank a cup of nothing.

 

Susan seemed to be enjoying herself. In fact, Inuyasha noticed that she had stopped her usual chatter and was just responding to Fenn's comments. He narrowed his eyes. Was Fenn feeding off the girl somehow? The youkai all around them were certainly hungry for something. They'd better not try attacking the girl, or it would be the last thing they'd do. “Fenn,” he growled warningly.

 

“Ah, Inuyasha,” responded Fenn. Susan blinked, as if she had just noticed Inuyasha was there. “You're worried I might harm this beautiful young human.”

 

Inuyasha flinched as Fenn so casually mentioned the word `human' in front of the girl, but Susan didn't react at all to being called human, or to the possibility Fenn might mean her harm. She smiled on, oblivious, and sipped her nonexistent tea.

 

“What did you do to her?” Inuyasha asked, once he realized Susan was in her own little world.

 

“I solved your problem for you,” replied Fenn innocently. “Susan will not see you as you really are, even if it's by accident. So you don't have to take off your bandana.”

 

“What did you do?” Inuyasha repeated.

 

Fenn pulled Inuyasha aside. “This is my power,” he told him, as if entrusting him with a great secret. Maybe he was. “Illusion. She sees what I want her to see. I brought you here to show you what I can do. You were about to reveal yourself as youkai in front of that girl. I don't think she would have handled it very well.”

 

“So you're not stealing her energy?”

 

Fenn rolled his eyes. “Please.”

 

Inuyasha wasn't buying it. “But you could.”

 

Fenn shrugged.

 

“You have. What about them?” Inuyasha indicated the swarm of lesser youkai with a quick shift of his eyes.

 

“They're harmless,” Fenn said. “They do as I say.”

 

“Why are you showing me all this?” Inuyasha asked skeptically.

 

Fenn sighed. “Look. We're not your enemies, Inuyasha. We may not be quite as weak as we led you to believe, but we are glad you have come to us. I, for one, like your ideas about youkai and humans interacting more, and I wanted you to know you have an ally in me.” He tilted his head and regarded Inuyasha quizzically. “You're not as old as you let on, are you?”

 

Inuyasha didn't know what to say. Apparently Fenn was older than he let on. He couldn't let any of these new world youkai find out about the time slip. “I'm old enough to take you on,” he blustered. Fenn just laughed.

 

“I have no desire to fight you, Inuyasha,” Fenn assured him. “You can trust me. Susan won't notice anything odd about you and your friends, even if she happens to see what she shouldn't see.”

 

“Yeah?” Inuyasha would have to test out that little theory later, but actually it was a relief not to have to worry about Susan. Still, he felt funny about fooling her like this. “Will she snap out of it?” he asked, meaning her uncharacteristic passivity.

 

“Unfortunately, yes,” replied Fenn. “She just won't notice anything out of the ordinary with regard to you or me.”

 

“Good,” said Inuyasha. “Can we go now?”

 

The youkai scattered as Inuyasha exited Fenn's `house,' and re-formed behind them. Inuyasha couldn't help but wonder if Susan wasn't the first human Fenn had brought out here. “Did you ever bring Jen out here?” he asked abruptly.

 

“No,” Fenn replied, following Inuyasha's gaze to the hovering youkai. “Oh, I see. I admit they siphon off living energy, but it's excess stuff; it doesn't hurt the person at all. Mainly they live off animal energy, or the energy that comes right from the land. You don't have to worry about them.”

 

“That better be all,” growled Inuyasha. He had no illusions that these youkai, and Fenn too, were as benign as Fenn professed. This obviously wasn't the first time Fenn had brought a human out here, judging from the avaricious youkai who thought they were getting a meal. “Don't bring Jen here,” he warned.

 

Fenn grinned and nodded. He was youkai enough to agree to Inuyasha's exact command, nothing more. It didn't mean he wouldn't bring other humans out here.

 

 

They made it back to campus before Kagome finished her exam. Fenn left them to direct his theatre rehearsal, and Inuyasha brought Susan back to the same stone table where they had sat earlier. He decided to test Fenn's illusion. He glanced around them to make sure nobody else was in sight, then he slowly pulled the bandana off his ears.

 

Susan's eyes widened. “Ooh, can I see?” she asked, and she reached out and took the bandana from Inuyasha's slack hands. “This is really cool,” she remarked. “Is it from Japan? What do the characters mean?” She completely ignored his ears, as she continued with her twenty questions. She was back to normal and Fenn's illusion held. Life was good.

 

Inuyasha snatched back the bandana and re-tied it over his ears, while he mumbled a brief translation of the mostly nonsense characters imprinted on the bandana. He had no idea where Kagome had got this particular bandana. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to get rid of Susan before Kagome got out of class.

 

Yep. Back to normal.