InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reunion ❯ Chapter Three: The Invitation ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three

A/N: Greetings and salutations! To answer a question posed by a reviewer, no this is not the sequel to 'Be Careful What You Say'. It is the follow up to 'The Pain of Being Alone'. I will be starting the sequel to 'Be Careful What You Say' soon. I may even alternate chapters between this story and that one. Anyway, I don't own Inuyasha. Now, with that said, let the games begin!

Inuyasha stepped around the corner of the hut. As he revealed himself to his friends and Daremo, he shouted, "Alright! You came looking for me! Here I am! Who are you and what do you want?"

Daremo turned and saw the angry hanyou striding toward him with a young woman and child behind him. He surprised everyone by dropping to his knees and bowing forward until his head touched the ground. "My lord Inuyasha! Please forgive me for seeking you out in this manner. My name is Daremo and I bear letters for you from my master, Lord Tanaka!"

Inuyasha was shocked. That was a name that he hadn't heard in a long time and he had called the man master. It was impossible! He had to be dead by now or else well over 100 years old! "I knew of a Tanaka, once." he said, coldly. "It cannot be the same man and if it is, I have no desire to see him unless it is to kill him!"

His friends looked at each other in shock and in fascination. All knew that this was something important in their friend's life by the way he was reacting and by the way that this Daremo character was behaving. Miroku actually smiled slightly. 'Now we may find out somethings about our evasive friend's past.' he thought.

"No. No. Please, my lord! That was the father who did you such injustice. This letter is from his son! He bears you no ill will!" Daremo explained from his bowing position.

Inuyasha growled and sighed at the same time. "Will you get up!?" he demanded. "I don't like having people bow to me."

"Well, my lord, it is your due." came a voice from his hair.

Grrrr..."Figures. Now I've got two of them calling me lord. Myoga, stay out of this." Inuyasha directed his attention back at Daremo, who was still on his knees but had risen from the low bow. "Alright. So the father is dead. That's good news! Now, why should I care about his son? And what does he want with me?"

Daremo held out a rolled scroll. "This is a letter from my master. Please read it."

Inuyasha reached for the letter but Kagome beat him to it. "What are you doing?" Inuyasha hissed.

"I thought I would read it for you." Kagome whispered to him.

"And why would I need you to read it for me?" asked Inuyasha in a low voice with a hint of anger.

"Well," Kagome began weakly, "I know you can't read..."

"And who told you I can't read!" exploded Inuyasha. "I can read! And I can write, too! I can even count past ten without using my toes or did you think I went barefoot so that I could count to twenty!"

Kagome flushed with embarressment and then with anger. "I'm sorry!" she shouted. "You just never showed any interest in reading before! And the way you act, someone could think that you were illeterate!"

"Well, excuse me! Maybe you would see me read sometime if you weren't running of to your time all the time! And when your here, I don't have time to read because you are always needing saved, wench!"

Daremo was watching this, dumbfounded. His mouth dropped open a fraction watching the two of them get more and more heated. Glancing at Lord Inuyasha's friends to see how they were taking this he saw that they were watching with a kind of resigned amusement. "Do they do this often?" he asked Kaede.

Sigh "More often than necessary. Sometimes, I think they enjoy it. Except for ... "

"Inuyasha! SIT! Don't call me a wench!"

Whomp "Arrrgh!"

"that. Ye would think he would learn, but some dogs never learn new tricks."

No one was ready for what happened next. Daremo's eyes widened. "Witch! You dare use magic on one of noble blood?!"

Kagome turned to look at Daremo, with a surprised look on her face. This look was mirrorred by her friends, except Inuyasha, who was still eating dirt.

Daremo's two companions came up from the horses and flanked him. Daremo laid his hand on his sword hilt, his companions mirrorred him. "Release him at once, witch!" Kagome looked at him with a look of disbelief on her face. This quickly turned to fear as Daremo drew his sword. "I said, release him! Or I'll break the spell with your blood." He took a step toward Kagome. That was as far as he got. With a savage growl, Inyasha broke free of the compulsion spell. He hit Daremo before he knew what was coming.

Inuyasha had Daremo in the air by his throat."Never threaten my mate again!" he shouted in Daremo's face. Then he threw him at his companions, knocking all three to the ground. He took the letter and threw it at him. "Take this to your master and get out of my sight. If I see you again ... " He trailed off, letting Daremo fill in the implied threat. He turned to Kagome to see if she was alright.

Daremo's face took on a look of horror. His mission was failing and he had attacked the mate of Lord Inuyasha! He took a deep breath and decided that it was time to reveal the letter from the Lady Mariko. "Lord Inuyasha! Please hear me!" he called to Inuyasha's back. "If you wish my life for my transgression, then take it! But this letter is of vital importance! Please read it!" On his knees and with his head bowed, he held out the letter from Lady Mariko in his upheld hands.

Inuyasha looked back at Daremo. Then he snorted and would have continued on until a hand pressed against his chest. Kagome looked up at Inuyasha and said, "What could it hurt? We can hear him out and if we don't like what he has to say, then we can get rid of him."

Inuyasha growled and then sighed. "Very well, but only because you asked." He turned back to Daremo. "What is this letter?" he said as he snatched it from Daremo's hands. He held it up to his face to read the seal. Before he could read the seal a whiff of a scent hit his nose from the letter. He stopped and took a deeper sniff. Suddenly, deeply buried memories of his childhood flooded back into his mind. His face turned pale and he almost collapsed in shock. He hadn't realized he had gone to one knee until Kagome's hands were on his shoulders. The rest were standing around him as well, all with concerned looks on their faces. Even Daremo had approached, looking to see if he were well.

"Are you ok, Inuyasha?" asked Kagome. Her voice was filled with concern and her eyes had worry in their depths. She turned to look at Daremo. Now her eyes held the fire of anger, "What did you do to him?!"

"Nothing, my lady. I just gave him the letter from the Lady Mariko." answered Daremo, his hands in front of him trying to placate the angry young woman.

"You lie!" said Inuyasha, hoarsely. He stood slowly. "She is from another time and another place! Another life!"

"No, my lord Inuyasha!" protested Daremo. "I swear to you that she handed this letter to me herself with instructions to give it to you in case you didn't want to come!"

Inuyasha's friends were mystified. Who was this woman that had upset Inuyasha so much? Finally, Kagome could contain her curiosity no longer. She feared that this woman could be an old girlfriend but she had to know. "Inuyasha? Who is this Lady Mariko?"

Inuyasha ignored her. He was off in his own thoughts and was talking to himself. "It can't be. It's been over 60 years! She can't still be alive!"

Kagome tried again. "Inuyasha? Inuyasha!" She got his attention this time. He looked at her with a 'What do you want?' look in his eyes. "Who is the Lady Mariko?"

He sighed deeply. "Someone I thought long dead or I would have gone to her already." His head bowed for a moment and Kagome's fears of a former love increased. When he looked up, his eyes were bright with unshed tears. With a sad, almost bitter half smile, he said, "I loved her more than any woman in my life except my mother. And I haven't allowed myself to think of her in years. She is my mother's younger sister."

Kagome almost collapsed with relief. "She's your aunt?! That's wonderful, Inuyasha!"

Sango looked on with amusement and relief. She was Kagome's confidant and could almost read her thoughts, by this time. Her soul sister had been through enough with Inuyasha's former girlfried. It wouldn't have been fair to subject her to that again so soon after resolving the mess with Kikyo.

Inuyasha looked at Daremo. "I need to know something. Why did a letter arrive for me from the Lady Mariko with a letter from Lord Tanaka? She should hate that name as much as I."

Daremo looked puzzled. "Why should she hate that name? It is her son's."

"What?!" bellowed Inuyasha.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. I will try to get another chapter up by Christmas, but no promises! If I don't, then, MERRY CHRISTMAS, and may God bless you all.