InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Silence the Fairytale ❯ Truth in Night and Wooden Spoons ( Chapter 30 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

A/n: >>…. Here is my personal apology to those who have waited so patiently. Thank you so much for your kindness. Second, I have a sneaking suspicion a whole lotta ya don't read my author's notes. So here's my test. For those who read this, you get to ask one question, aaaannnnyyy question you like. About anything. This story, another story, even about Christmas, I don't care. I'll answer it honestly, no matter what the hell it is.

Third, I am going to shamelessly promote myself. I don't care.

~*~*~*~*~http://white-luna.deviantart.com/~*~*~* ~*

GO THERE ^!!!!! DO IT!!! AHORA >>!

Thank you.

It's my artwork. No one's looking at it. I'm ashamed in all of you D:! J/k, but really. I am doing artwork for sale, but that's not why I want you to go there. I want feedback. I ain't getting it. I need help. So you all shall be the ones to help me. Critique me. I don't care. I want you to. I encourage your fantastical ideas of how I can make myself better.

Trust me, I need it.

That's all for now, my lovelies.

Tiredness.

Ciao,

Luna-

Knitting Knots: Always first in line to comment. <3.

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Unichan: As always, thank you for being patient . And so very polite.

Leo-mae: ….I used to do the SAME THING. Always rushing, so many chapters in a short time. Good thing you appreciate the apprehension of what's going to happen next <3. Thank you very much. I need to start writing poetry again. I wonder why I stopped…

Lindy: …=^.^= Kitty~! Lol. Anyway, thank you! I am happy you liked it. Happy you found my fic, too. Welcome aboard!

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A Name By No Other: Nice name. And thank you!

Ashlee-Lee: I'm sorry it took so long. Thank you for being patient.

Jasmine: Honestly, you're the only person to ever scold me for taking so long XD. You're what got my butt motivated to write the chapter. This story did need some serious love. Sorry. With tiny child come giant distraction… same with World of Warcraft. X_x;. What can I say? Poor excuse. My muse wanted to multi-play RPG with me.

P.S. Chapter 30 . Wonderful, isn't it?And holy crap on all the reviews I have to answer @.@. Thanks you guys!

Chapter Thirty: Truth in Night and Wooden Spoons

“It's almost harvest time,” she spoke softly, as if her grasping attempts toward a conversation caused her shame.

Where once her enchanting voice had never ceased, reverberating its tenor with confidence and so full of life… now seemed far shier than should be allowed.

“Yeah, it is, ain't it?” he murmured as casually as he could, swallowing the lump that seemed to have lodged itself permanently in his throat.

Sometimes, it was so thick, he wondered if he'd be able to breathe.

And to this day, he blamed himself.

He knew, somewhere deep in the pieces of his broken heart, it really wasn't his fault.

But when he looked into those shaded eyes, hiding from the world and even moreso, hiding secrets in the ocean of her hues specifically from him, he knew differently.

She wanted to shield him from her pain.

Unfortunately, that simply had made him more acutely aware of it.

She couldn't hide from him.

Because she had became a large part of his soul, and he was bound to her by their mutual love… love that went unexpressed by the chains of silence.

His mate.

The woman who should have been his wife so long ago.

…Kagome.

Her world flipped upside-down by the jewel that hung on the beaded strand of jade he had given her, lying inconspicuously against her collar bone.

The Shikon no Tama.

And when he closed his eyes, the scene of her delicate fingertips enclosing around the bauble haunted his mind like a never ending picture.

And then her innocent smile. Youthful eyes that had been so wronged, yet were so forgiving.

It seemed like lifetimes ago.

~~~*~~~

She seemed so drawn to it, entranced by this one little thing.

Capturing her attention at such a horrible time.

“KAGOME!” he called out in warning to her. The Oni, bloodlusting and wanting, whirled around on her in a frenzy.

“GIVE ME THE SACRED JEWEL OF FOUR SOULS! I MUST HAVE IT!” foaming at the mouth, raw and animalistic.

Inuyasha's instincts screamed to protect his female.

Too little, too late.

So slow.

His heart froze up, so certain she'd be hurt, so certain she was in mortal danger, so certain…

Those eyes, trained upon him in anguish…

Words from a distant past ringing in his ears, burning in his mind, so clear, as if only a moment ago they had been uttered…

`…Why did you betray me, Inuyasha?...'

But a warm, vibrant light filled the area and hope filled him.

He struck the Oni down.

Kagome, hands raised defensively and eyes closed in shock, trembling ever so slightly in front of him.

Relief took over him and before he knew what he was doing, his arms were enveloping her and he pulled her tight against his body.

“IDIOT! How many times have I told you to pay attention?!”

She stuttered, surprised, barely able to return the embrace before he pulled away to hold her at arm's length from him.

“I… I'm sorry.”

“Don't be sorry. Be safe,” he told her sternly, before admonishing once more, “…idiot.”

He eyed her once over, to be sure she wasn't horribly wounded before turning his attention to Shinsei-baba.

“Oi, I suppose it's time to end this, eh?”

The old woman grinned at him before her face turned to a grimace.

“I would say so.”

Inuyasha snorted. “Don't die on me before I get the chance.”

The old woman returned the snort.

“That was the original plan, yes.”

Inuyasha turned his eyes to the remaining Oni, unsheathing Tetsusaiga vehemently.

“Let's kill these fuckers.” Inuyasha turned his eyes to Kagome.

“You with me?” he gave her a smirk which she returned with a beaming smile.

“Definitely.”

~~~*~~~

The rest, as they say, was history.

Inuyasha tried to get the jewel back discreetly.

Shinsei-baba would not allow it.

They fought, viciously, over what Kagome's fate was to be.

Shinsei-baba said it had been decided by Kami-sama himself.

Inuyasha said the deity that caused him so many problems already could kiss his fun-loving ass.

Shinsei-baba, in her poor condition from the wounds sustained in battle, still managed to whack him upside the head with a wooden spoon and declare him heathen and that his fun-loving ass should show some fun-loving respect.

In retrospect, Inuyasha declared he wasn't as fun-loving as once mentioned.

That was simply sarcasm.

And henceforth, that all wooden spoons should remain in the premises of their owners and far, far away from Inuyasha's skull.

Especially since he did not own a wooden spoon.

And without much retort afterward, he stormed out of her hut without hearing what else the old woman had to say.

The old woman's retort came in the fashion of a wooden spoon gifted to Kagome three days later.

In her excitement of the new item, and proclamations of delicious meals in the near future thanks to this dear wooden spoon of hers, Inuyasha nearly had an aneurism.

On one hand, he wanted to shred the thing to splinters.

On the other, he knew not to destroy Kagome's precious dreams of good cooking.

So instead, he declared rather abruptly and far louder than necessary his need to heed nature's calling.

The subject was not brought up again.

…and for many days, Inuyasha was dismal afterward, for every time he saw her lavish him with a succulent meal at the hand of that damned wooden spoon, he was reminded of one thing.

He had failed her.

All because that spoon had made it so.

He could barely eat, barely sleep…

And it wasn't long before Kagome learned of what the jewel was…and what it could do.

….and an even shorter time before she learned just what responsibility laid on her young shoulders as a repercussion.

He remembered one particular night, a few months after she acquired the jewel.

Shinsei-baba solemnly spoke with Kagome. He had planted himself on the roof, listening to that they thought he could not hear.

She had told Kagome, in deepest regret, what the Shikon no Tama really was… born out of a legendary battle between a powerful Miko, as powerful as 100 samurai, and a demon that wanted her heart.

And deep inside the jewel the battle raged still, neither side winning and neither loosing.

All depending on the will of the owner of the jewel.

And that it was all up to Kagome to keep the jewel pure.

That she had been chosen.

It was her destiny.

And all sorts of other bullshit.

Kagome returned to him, that night, quiet and seemingly moody.

For once, he was sensitive to her, and let her alone as she seemed to need time to herself.

She didn't even use her beloved spoon.

Buyo and Kirara even gave her space, a true and single sign from the heavens.

She sat far away from the three of them, their small family.

She gazed at the stars, innumerable in the near moonless sky.

For hours.

Eventually, Inuyasha went to retrieve her.

He couldn't bear her heavy silence any longer.

“Aren't you tired?”

Her eyes, faraway, turned to him but didn't seem to see him.

“Did you know, they say that the stars are the souls of our ancestors?” she asked him, suddenly, ignoring his question.

Sighing, Inuyasha sat next to her, feeling she needed an answer he wasn't sure he could give.

“…I guess I heard of something like that somewhere. Not sure I believe it, though,” Inuyasha muttered, glancing at the stars.

He remembered thinking, Are you up there, oyaji?

Of course, there was no reply.

Only the quiet hum of crickets in the warm night.

He remembered, Kagome lowered her eyes.

He remembered that long… long drawn in sigh.

…He could feel her trepidation.

He knew she would ask, and he felt the need to be uncharacteristically patient.

So he was.

...just for her.

And it didn't take long for her to reach her point.

“…Inuyasha…” her lips went terse... she rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, and still refused to meet his eyes.

“What?”

“…do you think… if my ancestors were up there, and they were looking down on me… you think they'd be ashamed of me?”

Honestly, the question surprised him.

He turned wide eyes to her, in wonder.

“Eh?” it was all he could utter, in light of her bearing her soul to him.

To date, it wasn't the most intelligent thing he'd ever said.

“…do you?” she had pressed.

He scratched his head.

“No. And if they were, they're fucking stupid, and you shouldn't care what they think. Why would you ask something like that?”

Kagome lifted her eyes, finally.

…They had been full of unshed tears.

…so vulnerable.

…so fragile…

Inuyasha's breath caught.

“B-because… I'm a-afraid,” she had choked on her emotion, her anguish.

And inside of Inuyasha, something had cracked.

Something irreparable.

And he wanted to steal away all her sorrow, all her fear.

And an unstoppable force from somewhere deep inside brought tender, shaking hands slowly to cup her face.

Drew her close.

And he pressed his lips delicately against hers, trying to comfort her, reassure her fears and doubts.

They were like a misty dew in morning, he remembered thinking. Like opening moist eyelashes at dawn in the soft grass.

She hadn't reacted.

He had wondered if it was because she was scared.

Or stunned.

He hadn't been sure.

He hadn't cared.

It was too natural, too easy for him, moving his lips gently against hers like they belonged there.

And when he pulled away as he had never done it at all, and looked her solidly in her wide eyes, and told her with the utmost honesty he could muster,

“I would be too… that's why I'm here for you Kagome. And I always will be.”

And he had.

Past her seventeenth birthday.

To watch her change, and become introverted, and reserved.

To become unlike Kagome in the day, offering kind words and advice to those who sought her out with respect and reverence. To smile only rarely, speak softly, and care only for her duty.

And at dusk, to return to him, Kirara, and Buyo.

The cats mew for her attention, Kirara almost fully grown now. Both purring, and she plays with them as if she were young again. Makes dinner for the three of them. Sings softly her silly songs to her cats like they were her children. Jokes with Inuyasha and plays as if nothing in the world was wrong and nothing has changed.

And in the night, they hold one another, just the same as always.

Never had they kissed again, and are content to keep their relationship as thus.

If only… if only…

Inuyasha doesn't know why.

He doesn't ask.

He is fine with the Kagome in the darkness that is able to be young and free again.

If merely to hold the illusion that nothing had changed.

Nothing at all.

So when she speaks of the harvest, as Kagome the miko, Kagome-sama, whom everyone loves and adores as a noble and pure figure, he doesn't believe the façade though he encourages it…

…if only for her sake.

If it makes her feel strong.

And that night, after she has finished her nightly duties to the shrine, and bade goodnight to Shinsei-baba as every night…

She becomes Kagome again.

…simply, Kagome.

And the truth is, every night when he holds her, and the cats are asleep carelessly at their feet, and she believes he is asleep as well…

And she lets the tears fall, silently, and they sear his skin far hotter than a hot iron rod ever could.

He says nothing.

All he does, just as that night so long ago when she confessed her fear to him, is the only thing he can do.

…he holds her close and promises her in unspoken words he will be by her side forever.