InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Secrets of the Heart ❯ Burnt memories ( Chapter 15 )

Chapter 15: Burnt memories

 

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights of the master work that has rendered this fanfic possible! Thanks Rumiko!

 

Inuyasha awoke with Kagome tangled deeply in his arms, her beautiful hair all around him like a curtain of ebony silk. She smelled so good; it was delightful to wake like this, the best he had awakened in years. He stretched clenching and unclenching his muscles and yawing in delight while encircling her body with his legs. Kagome awoke with a start when she found herself thrown to the side and pushed against the mattress by some heavy weight. Her gaze encountered the intense yellow eyes of Inuyasha staring at her in a very intent way.

 

“Good morning, koi” he whispered when her hand flew to his furry ear to tickle it. He smiled and kissed her deeply, tasting her, devouring her in delight.

 

“Mmm… Good morning, Inuyasha.” She tried to untangle herself from his hold but it was impossible. “Koishi, I need to go to the bathroom.”

 

“Oh? Really? Can't it wait for a bit?”

 

“No, honey, not at this hour…” She got from under him, raising his big arm to allow her to pass. Her slender naked figure shone in the morning sun. She put on her underwear and was working on her brassier when the door opened and a singsonging Miroku came in with a huge spoon in his hand announcing breakfast.

 

“Die, bouzu!” Inuyasha growl awoke the entire house and his blast send Miroku backwards with such strength he got through the wooden wall and didn't stop until he plummeted in the pond, something like five walls away of distance.

 

Kagome didn't even had time to properly scream, her modest protected by Inuyasha's reaction. She wondered how much had Miroku actually seen… Anyway, if he wasn't dead by now, he'd be as soon as Inuyasha got dressed.

 

“Inuyasha! Osuwari!” her ordeal sending him straight down onto the floor, his head all but crushed in the wood.

 

“What the hell! You fucking bitch!”

 

“Calm down Inuyasha”

 

“He enters and roams about on your naked body and now you retain me from killing him!? What's wrong with you?!”

 

“He didn't had a chance to see a thing, you sent him flying away too soon. And I don't think he wanted to see a thing. He knows you are a very zealous mate, my love.” She caressed his head and back in slow strokes.

 

“And why the hell did he come in then?”

 

“You happened to observe he had a spoon?”

 

“Yeah, so what?”

 

“You know the basic concept of breakfast, right?”

 

He scolded; she might have a point there. The curse was starting to lift, he only wanted to grope Miroku by the legs and arms and stretch him to see how much he could endure.

 

“Now, please don't kill Miroku…” she whispered placing a kiss on his cheek and backing away to get dressed. He didn't answered back, as soon as he could move from the floor he went through the holes previously done by Miroku to find the monk still lying in the pond floating half unconscious.

 

Shippo awoke to his step-dad's feral growl of outrage and didn't even bother to stand. He was so sleepy he saw all blurry. Inuko was standing in the corner of the room, but what was heightening him down? When he looked he saw her asleep and snoring, turning to the corner where she had being previously he found nothing. Confused the kit tried cleaning his eyes but the blurriness wouldn't go away so he went back to sleep.

 

In the kitchen, Sango hummed even after the commotion of Miroku's trouble when Kagome entered.

 

“Ohayo! Sango.”

 

“Ohayo, Kagome-chan!”

 

Kagome sat next to the older girl and started pealing an apple. She wondered what was wrong with Sango to be this still and with Shippo to don't be here where the food was being made.

 

“Kagome, those sounds before…”

 

“Miroku entered to our room to tell the breakfast was ready... I suppose”

 

“I see… You were busy with Inuyasha…”

 

“Something like that.” Kagome felt slightly embarrassed.

 

Sango simply nodded, it was becoming something usual to have this sort of problems due to Miroku's lack of good judgment, better said, of judgment at all.

 

“I'll go check what's wrong with Shippo, please look after the boiling pot there, Kagome.”

 

“Un.”

 

Sango went back to her room, when she had awakened Shippo and Inuko were sound asleep but it was time already to awake those puppies. The door was firmly closed; she hadn't done so when she left. Pulling it backwards she fell to the floor unable to open it. What the hell? Once more she tried and this time the door flew open, causing her to fall once more. Examining the door she couldn't find anything to be the cause of this. Shippo was still asleep in Inuko's arms. Why weren't they waking up even with all of the sound she had made?

 

“Shippo, Inuko…” she came closer. Leaning she touched the big girl on the shoulder and Shippo on the head. Slightly pushing, she tried to wake them.

 

“Come on, Shippo! Inuko! Breakfast's ready!”

 

When she pushed Inuko once more, the girl flinched and growled at her. Her eyes were yellow for an instant and then she blinked as if still asleep.

 

“Oh, Sango… Sorry…”

 

“Don't worry. I'm okay you just startled me.”

 

“Awwww.” Yawning she stretched. Grasping Shippo by the back she threw him towards Sango. The taiji-ya caught him by a hair.

 

“Ow, that's no way of waking up a kid! What kind of aunt are you!?” Shippo said half heartedly to her.

 

“Now, go eat something runt, I want to sleep!!!”

 

Shippo showed her his little pinky tongue and headed off before she threw him something else. She was just like Inuyasha when it came to sleeping! He had better things to do anyway, like prowling around in daylight.

 

As soon as they left, Inuko laid her head upon the futon and closed her eyes. The ruffle of silk over the floor made her open them immediately, there was nothing abnormal on the room, she was as alone as she had being when they left. Laying once more, she pushed the covers to her chin and tried not to think about anything.

 

A soft caress upon her hair made her flinch and sit alto together. Shit! She knew she had felt something upon her hair… A tiny flea landed near her. Crushing it with a mean look she cursed all insects for scaring her and went to sleep knowing she wouldn't have the chance if Inuyasha caught sight of her already awake.

 

***

 

After chasing Miroku around the park, Inuyasha perched on a high tree to have a clear sight of what had became his old home.

 

The park extended through the middle of the island with a huge natural lake on the center and several unnatural pools close to the buildings extending in an “L” form. On the skirt of the mountain at the right where several hot springs interconnected with balconies of orchids and wild flowers, some roofless, some under part of the east wing of the main house.

 

The house itself formed part of the mountain since it went on under it, the construction type changing to stone instead of wood. It was a marvelous house, even under the circumstances. It had being much more beautiful, of course, before the fire but it still held some of it's old splendor.

 

Nevertheless, Inuyasha couldn't figure out how had the house sustained itself without being inhabited. The magic that had once held it in place when his otou-san was alive was residing now, constructing it again had deluded it a lot, and now he could already see some places of the roof that were starting to darken as if a small fire had burned them. If Seshoumaru lived here, this wouldn't be happening… But Inuyasha reminded himself that his older brother couldn't be blamed, he probably felt the same way he did regarding the house.

 

He had forgotten how beautiful the island was, the pale greens and dark blue of the sea stark against one another. There had being a village long ago, connected to the island by the bridge where youkai lived and worked maintaining the house and supplying them in many forms. The roads they had used were now gone, as the building for storage was too.

 

The mountain at the left was pure rock and sharp edges, his father had used it to practice and workout and it still wasn't covered by any grass or plants. He had heard that under that mountain there was dormant fire, a volcano that obeyed the house and served to warm up the hot springs that entered through the other mountain. He suspected the island had being erected upon the Chinese principle of the basic nature forces, the primary elements; air to the north, the open view towards the land; earth to the south, the land that seemed to connect to the forest until you reached the shore and saw the big uncrossable lake; water to the east, under and around the right mountain and finally, fire under the left mountain pointing to the west.

 

So beautiful, his homeland was so beautiful, indeed. The colors, the shades, he knew not of any other place as this one.

 

It was marvelous, the sun touching the waters making it look as if they were transparent, marine flowers and fish prowling under the quietness. There used to be sirens there, mermaids and tritons that lived inside the mountain and on the bottom of the sea.

 

His father had loved their songs, and they sang for him every morning when the sun touched their home and they crept to the surface to honor the day light. They had long flowing hairs the color of corals and glowing scales made of silver and gold, and they swam, swam as if their bodies belonged to the water and the water opened up for them. Seshoumaru had learned to swim with them, it had being most amusing, Inuyasha remembered.

 

He wondered now if Inuko remembered the house… She was too little when they were forced to leave but she must have some unconscious memory of how the house felt, Yaemon and Takara had spent great amounts of time here mostly after she was born. They were afraid she would be attacked in other places so they chose to leave her here were his mother looked after her while they roamed the land checking things in his father's kingdom, making sure everything was fine before coming back with news and bits of gossips regarding all matters worth being known.

 

It was time to come back, he told himself, by now he could face Miroku without smashing his head into the nearest rock, at least. Such bad timing for the lecherous monk… He had not only to face Inuyasha, he would have had already faced Sango, he wondered if anything had being left of the monk for him to torture some more. Women were terrible when angered, he sighted. He failed to catch the spark of glass upon the big tower upon the house. It went on sparkling long after he had left the tree, tough.

 

***

 

Kagome wondered where her mate would be, it was the first day they were there and he was acting weird already. She thought it might be because of how he felt for the house… He had never failed to catch Miroku before for offenses much smaller in Inuyasha's upside down discernment, so when the houshi arrived unhurt it was a novelty that Sango easily corrected by slamming the Hiraikotsu on his head for what she called `peeping on descent married women'. She wondered if she applied, since they weren't really married but mated, even if they were similar for youkai or so it seemed.

 

There wasn't much to do on the house, really. She had already cleaned the rooms, ordered the futons and placed them where she thought was the most reasonable place for them to be and bathed little Shippo on a very uncommon bathtub she ha found in a room a bit hidden under a spiral stair.

 

If you not minded carrying buckets and buckets of water form the stove, you could say it was a modern bathtub for the era, made of beautiful creamy porcelain and decorated with Chinese ink of purple shade forming tulips in bloom.

 

She was itching for a bath too, but she would have to carry the buckets all over again so she hadn't made a decision when Sango peeped from the door.

 

“How's that going, Kagome-chan?”

 

“Terrific… Would you mind helping me carry some more buckets of hot water? We could bath together, ne?”

 

“Sure…” The older girl smiled warmly. Yayy! She would have a bath and work less for it! Relaxing, she propelled the bathtub closer to the fire burning in the bath's chimney. It would have being freezing if she hadn't turned it on, it was strange to have such facilities in a feudal era house.

 

“Here.” Sango had brought two bucket on the same trip.

 

“You are very strong, Sango…”

 

“Hiraikotsu weights much more, never mind.” Stripping they rubbed one another with some of Kagome's time soap.

 

“Miroku's already awakened?”

 

“Nop, I think I hit him hard this time…”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“With what?”

 

“With how things are… With Miroku.” Kagome threw water over her head and rinsed her legs of soap before entering the tub. It felt as heaven; a real hot bath, like the ones she took at home.

 

“No… But I can't do anything more. It's really up to him I guess, I said some things I regret, though. Like saying I didn't mind him groping me but groping all girls…”

 

Kagome's outburst of laughter made Sango blush.

 

“I can't believe you would say that!”

 

“It came out of it's own! Anyway I didn't say it exactly like that... It was different…”

 

“Wow… Now I see why he's being reflecting and thinking so much. You broke his old schemes.”

 

“Shut up already Kagome!” Sango splashed into the water and both girls giggled.

 

***

 

His ears pasted to the door, Miroku couldn't hear a damn thing. He knew the girls were talking about him since he couldn't stop snoozing but this was too much! He needed to know what they were so giggly and laughy about!!!

 

Shippo simply moved his head to both sides and sighted, if Miroku didn't got hit it was no fun, really, and even that, well, the quality of his entertainment had lowered recently. Inuko appeared behind them startling them both. Cold sweat perspiring from Miroku's skin landed on his head, it was grouse!

 

“So… trying to peep, hu?”

 

“No, Inuko-chan, how could we?”

 

“That's the bathroom's door, and you have your ear still glued to it!” She pointed accusingly.

 

“Please don't tell Inuyasha!!” Miroku landed on her feet trying to kiss her toes. Disgusted she only managed to move backwards until colliding with the wall.

 

“Get away!” She run off without as much as a glimpse for the old man.

 

Tripping and jumping over his rump she landed atop the stairs and headed for the lower floor she hadn't visited in the night's sightseeing trip with Shippo. Everything looked different bathed in light and gleaming in warmness. She tried to push open the same door she had opened before but it didn't oblige. Jesse… Kicking it and pursing her lips like a baby she headed upwards.

 

The second floor was sorta creepy, the walls were black, like burnt, form the middle to the roof and there were no chairs or couches or adornments of any kind to signal it as an inhabited house. She touched one blackened door and it cracked under the pressure of her finger tips. Shrieking, she backed away and slumped against the opposite wall. The room the door had uncovered was all burnt and there was the distinct shape of a body curled in the floor colored slightly lighter than the rest. The smell was of brunt flesh was very dimmed and almost non existent, but she recognized the scent of inu youkai.

 

Running ahead she yanked open all doors, until there was only one left. Every room had being burnt like the first, although, thanks God, without any body shapes imbedded on their floors.

 

She feared opening this last one, dreaded it. It opened by it's one volition scaring her to death, but curiosity won and she entered the somber place. It was a round room, she discovered when the passage way ended, with shelves completely covering the walls up to the roof; or what she supposed had being a roof. Now, it opened to the blue sky, allowing light to filter through smashed glass. The books had all disappeared.

 

She had heard books with hard covers didn't burn in the inside. Maybe the books had being removed by someone, taken somewhere, like the little room between floors.

 

Snapping to attention, she heard a soft rustle of silk upon the floor right behind her. Turning she saw nothing. This was getting too scary for her…

 

***

 

Inuyasha looked frantically for Inuko. She couldn't be too far away, after all it was an island. Kagome still called for her from the yard. Where was the girl? They had looked everywhere, even on the second floor since Shippo had said that he had seen her last running up the stair. Many hours had passed since, six hours thirty three minutes and a few second to be precise, according to his mate's watch. Not that he had counted them, for sure. They were all very worried. Maybe she had felt ill again and was in pain somewhere, or less dramatically, she had twisted an ankle and couldn't come back from where ever she gone.

 

Reaching out he tried opening the damned tiny door on the stairs once more. How could a door resist his youkai strength? Pissed as hell, he cursed and jumped down to get Kagome and see if they could do something about it when he heard the screams come form atop his head.

 

 

A/N. Hey guys, it's being awfully long since I wrote the previous chapter… This comes as the joint between a whole new story plot that's coming from now on. Keep tuned, folks.