InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Present Perfect ❯ Chapter 20 ( Chapter 20 )

Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

 

 

Chapter 20:

 

 

Today they were going up north, not towards the western mountains where Inuyasha told her Sesshomaru had his house, but straight north, to the rugged terrain where Kouga had settled with Ayame all those years ago.

 

It was really quite peaceful traveling in Sesshomaru's luxury car. Kagome gazed out at the scenery, watching the landscape change as cities, then towns, fell away to be replaced by the occasional small village, then eventually, nothing at all except trees and rock. Just a few months ago she and Inuyasha had traveled basically the same route, along with Sango and Miroku, Kohaku and Shippo. So much had changed. She wished she could travel on Inuyasha's back again like they did in the Sengoku Jidai, but Sesshomaru was very strict on that point. No flaunting of power. So they drove to the youkai villages in their car.

 

Shippo and Kouga followed in Shippo's little compact, which left Kagome to wonder how Kouga had gotten to Tokyo in the first place. Shouldn't he have a car, too? Knowing Kouga, he probably wasn't much better than Inuyasha at following rules. She smiled to herself. It had been nice when Kouga visited them in the States. Maybe later, when all this was settled, he and some of the others could come to visit them again. There were lots of open spaces for youkai to run free, and Inuyasha, rather than restricting them from using their youkai abilities, would be running right beside them.

 

“Stop!” Inuyasha suddenly recognized the area. Sesshomaru signaled his driver to pull over, and Shippo pulled up behind them.

 

“What's going on?” he asked, as he got out of his car and joined Sesshomaru and Inuyasha.

 

“I remember this rock,” Inuyasha said, indicating a boulder that could conceivably be called a small mountain. The road had to circle around it. “Up there,” Inuyasha pointed to the hills, “was a small village where two hanyou kids lived. I thought we could go check it out and see if they were still there.”

 

Inuyasha would have said almost anything at that point just to get out of the car and stretch his legs, but he really did remember. This was near the twins' place.

 

“There is a youkai village several miles in that direction, but it's off the main road. There is no direct route. We would have to travel overland to reach it. I hadn't planned on stopping there. Are you sure that is the village you remembered?” Sesshomaru asked.

 

Shippo remembered it, too. “Yeah, it was in that direction,” he agreed. “I'm up for it if everybody else is. We can leave the cars here.”

 

Sesshomaru's driver stayed with the vehicles while the rest of the group set out on foot at least until they were out of sight. Then Inuyasha finally got his chance to run, and Kagome got her wish. The ground was uneven and covered with brush, and Kagome quickly missed the air-conditioned car. But it couldn't be helped. The only thing missing now was the feudal era clothing—and her school uniform—to make this trip down memory lane complete.

 

As they climbed higher into the hills, the forest thickened and the undergrowth thinned so that the going was a lot smoother, but that brought problems of its own. Kagome, for one, couldn't see a thing. The four youkai moved as one, easily dodging trees and leaping over gullies without hesitation. Inuyasha seemed to regain his bearings in this wilderness without the distractions of modern roads and buildings to confuse him. He headed surely towards the remote village.

 

Without warning, they stopped. Not a muscle moved, as they held perfectly still, seemingly waiting for something.

 

“Inuyasha, what is it?” whispered Kagome. She still rode on Inuyasha's back and wasn't sure whether she should get down or just stay where she was.

 

“Shhh,” he replied. “Don't move.”

 

Around them, bushes rustled. Kagome felt the first whispers of youki, and she shivered. However, none of her four companions reacted except to stay alert. These must be youkai from the village, thought Kagome.

 

“You're getting better at keeping watch,” observed Inuyasha, speaking to the bushes. “Are you gonna invite us in, Dai?”

 

A handsome young hanyou appeared, followed by two or three others. He stared from one to the other of the group, and finally said, “Inuyasha?”

 

Dai personally escorted Inuyasha's group back to his village. Although Lord Sesshomaru had visited over the years, for the most part, they kept to themselves even among other youkai. The village was more than half hanyou by now, and because they were so isolated, they didn't have the need to hide as much as some of the other youkai villages. That was why Sesshomaru had not planned to stop here at first.

 

The twins had been busy over the centuries. They had each taken several human wives, as time went on, with the result that much of the village was directly related to them. Dai was quick to explain that they also brought in new blood from outside the village. Many of the younger hanyou left the confines of the village, as a sort of rite of passage, and found human or hanyou or sometimes even youkai husbands or wives in other parts of Japan. Some stayed away; most returned.

 

“So you are not as isolated as you appear,” remarked Kagome, as they sipped tea in the shade of a big tree. A few of the ancient-seeming houses had electricity, and running water, thanks to the ingenuity of the villagers as well as a few hidden solar panels located on the backs of some of the roofs. Kagome asked Roku, the other twin, about it.

 

“Sesshomaru arranged it for us,” he told her. “His company sponsored our solar panels,” he nodded towards the taiyoukai, who curtly nodded back.

 

Kouga added, “He did that for our town, too. Not that we were as cut off as this place, we had electricity like any other village, but now we don't have to rely solely on the electric company.”

 

Kagome thought that was a great idea. She wondered if it would work where they lived, considering how dense the trees were around the house. This village, at least, had plenty of open space although forest surrounded them on all sides. She supposed she could always have Inuyasha chop down more trees to clear some space around their house, but she didn't know if she wanted to do that just yet. Sesshomaru had gone to great expense to have electricity connected from the bottom of the mountain to their house. He had, in Inuyasha's name, purchased the entire mountain just to ensure their privacy, even though that meant there were no other human dwellings nearby.

 

Inuyasha had been watching Dai and Roku for a while now. Suddenly he said, “You're stronger.”

 

Dai laughed. “Well, so are you,” he replied. “It's been five hundred years. I never forgot what you told us back then, how hanyou aren't necessarily weaker than youkai. Sesshomaru said the same thing, years later.”

 

“What!” Inuyasha couldn't believe his ears.

 

“I know, I had a hard time believing it, too,” commented Kouga, deliberately misunderstanding Inuyasha's agitation. Sesshomaru regally ignored them both.

 

Kagome had noticed it, too. For a village of mostly hanyou and humans, with just a few pure youkai thrown in, they possessed a lot of power. Not only that, but there were lots of children about with power also. Instead of becoming diluted with intermarriage, it seemed that their abilities had become stronger. It gave her hope for her eventual children.

 

They took their leave soon after, escorted to the edge of the village by several hanyou children who flocked around Sesshomaru. The startling thing was, he let them. Inuyasha shook his head. Maybe his brother really had changed.

 

Kouga's village was approximately in the same location as Inuyasha remembered, although he never would have recognized it. Although it was farther north than the twins' village, the main road passed right by it and so over the years it had grown into a respectable town. They were able to drive the cars right into Kouga's driveway. His house was a far cry from the cave of five hundred years ago.

 

Ayame bustled out of the house to greet them, looking not a day over twenty. It was harder to imagine her as a grandmother and great-grandmother than it was to think of Kouga in that way. Kagome hurried over to give her a hug. “You look wonderful!” she exclaimed.

 

“So do you!” replied Ayame, all smiles. “I was so happy to hear that you and Inuyasha were alive. You must come in and tell me everything that happened. When is the big event?”

 

“We're not sure,” replied Kagome. “We know it's some time in the summer, but we're not exactly sure of the date.”

 

Ayame creased her forehead. “But . . . I don't understand. How can it be so soon?”

 

Kouga intervened before Inuyasha had a chance to say a word. “I haven't told Ayame about the well yet,” he explained. “ Come inside, I'll show you where you can freshen up while I fill Ayame in on all the details.”

 

Inuyasha nodded, and followed Kouga into his home, which still smelled overpoweringly of wolf. He didn't see why he had to sleep there when Sesshomaru and Shippo got to stay in another house in the village—town—whatever. But then again, the whole town stunk of wolf. It probably wouldn't matter where he stayed. He hoped this place had a shower.

 

Later, a very subdued Ayame served them tea in the living room. Kouga had explained about the time slip, as well as a few other things, such as Inuyasha didn't want Kagome to go back with him even though she was insisting upon it. He thought she would be safer here, and Ayame had to agree. It was a very noble and courageous thing that Inuyasha was going to do. She reached over and squeezed Inuyasha's shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered quietly, so that only his youkai ears could pick it up.

 

They all went out to dinner that night. The restaurant had two gas burners inset into the table, and two pots of liquid simmered, one dark, one clear. It was an `all-you-can-eat' set dinner, with plate after plate of sliced raw beef and lamb, vegetables and thick, white udon noodles. Kouga explained that this was one of the restaurants that tourists frequented, and he thought Kagome would enjoy it because it had human food. It was a little more information than Kagome needed to know, but none of the others, including Inuyasha, seemed to find it strange.

 

Inuyasha made sure Kagome's portion was fully cooked in the liquids, but he and the others surreptitiously snatched mouthfuls of the raw meat and ate them without benefit of cooking them first.

 

The men ordered sake and the two women had tea, although Kagome attempted to try a sip of Inuyasha's sake. He frowned, and held it away from her. What's his problem? She thought to herself. She knew none of the youkai drank to excess, and she'd had sake before with Inuyasha at the Miroku dinner at their apartment, so she didn't see what the big deal was. Maybe he was trying to save face in front of Kouga and Ayame, since Ayame wasn't drinking? She'd go along with it, this time.

 

At a nearby table in the tiny restaurant, a group of human businessmen were liberally supplementing their meal with sake and beer. The waitress, a hanyou, had just brought another round of beer to their table when one of the men expressed a point by throwing up his arms, knocking the entire tray out of the waitress' hands and showering Inuyasha with beer.

 

He jumped up, glaring at the inebriated men behind him who, to their credit, were quick to apologize, even offering to pay for their meal. Kagome calmed Inuyasha down, and dried him off as best she could. She had gotten splattered just a little, but Inuyasha had received the worst of it.

 

At least it cancelled out some of the wolf smell, thought Inuyasha later, as he sniffed himself before climbing into bed. Even after his shower, he still smelled like beer. Kagome was already asleep, so he wrapped himself around her, loath to wake her now, although he wouldn't have minded putting his mark on Kouga's house, so to speak.

 

Kagome stirred. “Inuyasha?” She smelled fresh and sweet, like always. She turned in his embrace and kissed him, looking for more than just kisses. He obliged her.

 

In the morning, Kouga and Ayame brought them to the house where Sesshomaru was staying. It belonged to one of their grandchildren, who had married a descendant of Kohaku and Rin's. That explained why Sesshomaru chose to stay there.

 

Again, several children ran about, smelling not too strongly of wolf. Inuyasha picked up another familiar scent and his eyes searched the rooms. Suddenly, a bare-bottomed human-looking, wolf-smelling toddler barreled out of a bedroom, followed closely by a little green creature who, by no stretch of the imagination, looked like anything human—at least not today. “Stop!” screeched the creature. The baby giggled and toddled faster.

 

“Jaken!” Kagome and Inuyasha both exclaimed. The creature skidded to a halt and blinked at them, trying to place them. It was clear that Sesshomaru, as usual, had not confided in his one-time assistant.

 

“Why are you here?” the small youaki asked defensively. “I thought you were dead!” The toddler, in the meantime, had come back to stand shyly next to Jaken, who scooped him up, even though the child was nearly as big as he was.

 

“Well you thought wrong,” snarled Inuyasha. “Why are you here instead of with my brother?”

 

“I—I—I . . .” expostulated Jaken. His green face turned greener.

 

Sesshomaru explained. “Jaken has, at my request, guarded Rin's descendants over the years. I no longer have need of his services.”

 

Kagome thought it was simpler than that. She had seen first-hand the interaction between the diminutive youkai and the little girl, and she knew he had grown to care for her a great deal. She didn't doubt that Jaken had gone willingly to live with Rin and her family.

 

“Have you seen Mariko lately?” Jaken asked Sesshomaru. “Is she well? Is she coming home soon?”

 

Yes, thought Kagome. It was definitely Jaken's choice to stay with Rin's descendants.

 

Kouga's town was a mixture of youkai and human, and although a lot of the humans knew about youkai, not all of them did. The town, even though it was far to the north in the mountains, was still on a fairly well-traveled route. They often had tourists stop by on their way to winter vacation spots, so the youkai inhabitants had to be fairly circumspect about their natures.

 

“Don't you run anymore?” asked Inuyasha. He couldn't imagine being cooped up in a village—town—like the humans for any long period of time.

 

“Of course we do,” Kouga assured him. The mountains towered all around them, with craggy cliffs and deep ravines which made it impossible for any but a sure-footed wolf, or youkai, to navigate. “We are still youkai,” he said. “I wouldn't mind running with your wolves one of these days, just to check it out. It would be nice to explore new places for a change.”

 

“Yeah, but only if I'm there,” replied Inuyasha. If the worst happened, and he didn't make it back, he didn't want that wolf youkai anywhere near Kagome, never mind that he was married and had tons of kids already.

 

Kouga remained behind when they left the next day. Inuyasha rode for a while in Shippo's car, which was not air-conditioned, while Kagome drowsed in Sesshomaru's more comfortable car. It would be a long trip back to Sesshomaru's home.