InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Thicker Than Water ❯ First Impressions ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter Three: First Impressions

The day dawned clear and crisp, promising an easy half-day's walk to Shiroyama's gates. It had Shunsoku rather worried. The sheer awkwardness of Inuyasha's inhumanity had not struck him until he had realized that he would have to convince whoever had gate duty to let them in, youkai and all. During one of Inuyasha's brief absences from the camp, he brought the problem to Kagome's attention, hoping she might convince Inuyasha, as the most menacing member of their group, to disguise himself, at least enough to pass for an odd-looking human. Just covering his ears and keeping his hands in his sleeves would do it. Anything to keep from causing an immediate uproar.

Kagome was dubious, but agreed. She could see his point - the gatekeepers might very well spook at Inuyasha's appearance, and she didn't want to start off their stay in Shiroyama with a skirmish. It was, however, unlikely that Inuyasha would appreciate the suggestion. In her own era she would have had relatively little trouble persuading him, but here, in a time he knew better than she, she was sure that he would balk at the idea.

That instinct proved entirely correct. When Inuyasha got back from his patrol, she gingerly broached the topic, and received pretty much the response she had anticipated.

"No, I will not wear a hat."

"But, Inuyasha…"

"Didn't you hear me the first time?"

"Would you quit being so difficult? You're acting like a child. In fact, you've been acting that way this whole trip! Would you just get over it already? If you don't wear it, can you imagine how the guards are going to react?"

"I don't care. I'm not going to wear it."

Inuyasha rearranged his arms across his chest and renewed his glare. Kagome rolled her eyes in response and put her hands on her hips.

"For heaven's sake, it's not as if it would be any trouble for you! All you have to do is wear the stupid hat so we don't get into a fight our first day there! It wouldn't hurt you to just wear it!"

"Keh!"

"All right, so your ears would be a little squashed for a few minutes. Big deal. Is it too much to make that tiny sacrifice so that we can avoid some unnecessary trouble?"

"It's not that, wench!"

"Then what is it? From here it looks like you're just too pig-headed to wear it!" Kagome waited a moment, and when it was clear that no answer was forthcoming, stomped her foot and added sarcastically: "I'm sure the reputation of a demon of such stature and renown as yourself won't be permanently damaged by the mere addition of a hat."

"I told you, it's not that!"

"Then what is it?"

Inuyasha huffed irritably and turned his head to the side.

"The guards are soldiers, right?"

"What does that have to do with the hat?"

"So they're going to be under my command. If I'm going to be ordering them around, it's not going to make a good impression if I have to sneak past them like a wimp."

Kagome blinked at the sudden change in tactics. Since when was Inuyasha concerned about the kind of impression he made on anyone? But she had to admit he had a point. If he were somehow going hold his own as lord of a human land, he would have to gain the respect of its soldiers. And he was right that hiding from them would not be the way to do it.

"Oh. "

"Keh."

And that was the end of that. Inuyasha stuck his nose up in the air and leapt back into the trees, and Kagome headed off to inform Shunsoku of the decision. He was initially dismayed, but soon perked up. At least Inuyasha wasn't going to ignore his duties as Shiroyama's lord. Shippou, who had bounded up beside Kagome during the last part of the conversation, was more skeptical.

"What? Dog-boy said that? You're joking, right?"

"No, Shippou-chan. He really did say it."

"That can't be right!" A little thought soon solved the conundrum to Shippou's satisfaction. "He really said something stupid like usual, and you're just covering for him, aren't you?"

"For the last time, no! He's not stupid, you know."

Shippou was unconvinced, but Kagome was hopeful. Inuyasha had evidently been thinking a lot about this. If he kept it up, Shiroyama might not prove such an ordeal after all.

* * * * *

As expected, they reached the gates of Shiroyama a little after midday. Shunsoku went ahead to prepare the gate-guards for their presence, leaving the rest of them huddled uncomfortably at the side of the road to watch the negotiations from a distance. Negotiations or not, their appearance still caused a considerable disturbance. As they came forward in response to Shunsoku's wave, the guards' posture settled perceptibly, knees bending minutely to distribute their weight evenly. One even let his hand rest loosely on his sword, and all watched them with hard eyes as they approached. Soon, they stood face-to-face with the guards, all arrayed in a row before the entrance. A tense moment passed in which the gatekeepers only stared, still as stone, before one stiffly pronounced a welcome and motioned the others to open the doors. Inuyasha cursed and muttered to himself under his breath at their scrutiny, but remained surprisingly quiet throughout the encounter.

Eventually, they were allowed to pass. Shunsoku lead them through the village curled around Shiroyama's walls, Inuyasha close behind him. He was silent for the duration of their walk to the next set of gates, but his claws curled loosely at his sides and he made a point of matching the confused and alarmed glares of the townsfolk they passed with a flatly defiant stare of his own.

His tense posture was not lost on the rest of the group, and Sango and Miroku shared a glance over Shippou's head. Miroku flicked his gaze over to Inuyasha before nodding, indicating that he would have a talk with the hanyou later. Sango nodded back. She would have a talk herself with Kagome at the first opportunity to see if she knew any better how he was dealing with it.

The guards at the gates of the keep proper proved even more troublesome - it was one thing to allow youkai into Shiroyama, but letting them into the lord's residence itself was going too far. It took a good quarter-hour of persuasion before they passed the entrance. Once inside, Shunsoku disappeared briefly, reappearing with a small, neat man whose movements held the finicky precision of clockwork. He greeted them with a bow that somehow came off as faintly snide and introduced himself as Shiroyama's steward. In a thin, fastidious voice, he informed them that if they wished to bathe, they might do so, and rest their feet a while before the Lady saw them. Miroku was left with the distinct impression that they didn't really have a choice about bathing, and should they protest, they would be politely manhandled into the bathhouse and tied down until they met the steward's exacting standards of cleanliness. A small flock of servants courteously but hurriedly ushered them away, Shunsoku staying behind to make his report first to Lady Usei, so that she would not be entirely unprepared for Inuyasha.

* * * * *

As it turned out, Shiroyama did not have a real bathhouse. Instead, a hot spring welled up in the courtyard, and roofs and screens had been erected over two of the many small divots notched in its bank to trap the steam rising from the water. Though an obvious effort had been made to keep the huts clean and neat, they were undeniably shabby, the wood worn and warped by the weather and the screens rickety with age. It seemed that Shiroyama had fallen on hard times.

Sango and Kagome promptly commandeered one of the shacks, Shippou close at their heels, leaving Miroku and Inuyasha to the other. They entered the water in a thick, uncomfortable silence, even Inuyasha's grumblings against the supercilious steward muted. Miroku studied him thoughtfully out of the corner of his eye as he picked at the snarls in his hair, deciding on an opening tactic. It did not take long before Inuyasha noticed the inspection.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

Inuyasha sent him a mistrustful, suspicious look, but contented himself with only a snort before returning his attention to the tangled mess of hair wound around his fingers. After a momentary pause, Miroku gave a mental shrug and plunged into his inquiry without preamble.

"So. What do you think of this place so far?"

A scowl pulled at Inuyasha's features and an ear flicked backwards in annoyance, but he continued to single-mindedly yank at the knots in his hair. "How should I know? We haven't yet been here an hour."

Miroku, determinedly oblivious to Inuyasha's unforthcoming mood, continued his investigation without so much as a blink. "Well, I like it. Definitely not rich, but not dirt poor either. And you have the admit that the mountain is beautiful."

"Why would I care about the mountain?" muttered Inuyasha, mostly to himself, but Miroku heard it nonetheless, and seized gleefully on the opening.

"Well, it is your mountain, after all. Or rather your cousin's mountain."

"Keh."

"I wonder what your cousin looks like…"

Now that got a reaction. Inuyasha sent him a positively evil look before snapping out his reply.

"If you hit on her, they'll never find your remains, bouzu."

"So protective of her already?"

"Don't jump to any conclusions. I just don't want you as a relative."

Miroku did not bother to look affronted, as Inuyasha, after a brief pause to glare venomously at him, had seemingly returned his attention to detangling his hair. Instead, his face turned serious as he continued to test the proverbial waters.

"No need to be so testy about it. In this situation, that's probably a good attitude to take…"

"I don't have an attitude!"

"…and I don't blame you for taking it. There's a lot to worry about here."

Inuyasha by now no longer made any pretense of distraction and had donned the peeved expression that generally presaged a sound whack over the head for the source of his irritation.

"Like hell there is. Stop talking shit."

"Don't be ridiculous, Inuyasha. The fact that the surrounding lords no longer have an excuse to annex Shiroyama does not mean that they will cease to make the attempt. And you know as well as I do that we can't stay here forever. We will need to find a way to ensure your cousin's lands and her security in the long term."

Instead of delivering the expected stuttered, blustering retort, Inuyasha just scowled harder and muttered, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know," before heading for the far side of the hut and turning his back, effectively ending the conversation.

Miroku frowned. That neat, abrupt, and ultimately rather calm departure hadn't been what he was expecting. The situation was evidently bothering Inuyasha even more than they had guessed. His close-mouthedness now along with his sullen withdrawal on the road seemed clear indications that he was intent on maintaining arm's distance from them while he dealt with it. Though his attitude would be frustrating under any circumstances, here it could be genuinely dangerous. Inuyasha now had a small state dependent on him, and Miroku was willing to bet that he hadn't a clue on what he was supposed to do with it. He would need their help.

For now, Miroku held his peace. Further questioning would only put Inuyasha in a temper - which was the last thing they needed before going to meet Lady Usei.

* * * * *

On the other side of the hut, Inuyasha destroyed yet another knot with a sharp jerk, barely noticing the painful tug on his scalp.

Stupid, stupid, stupid…. Dammit.

He hadn't meant to be that abrupt about it, but Miroku was being nosy, and right now he didn't want to deal with it. Now Miroku knew how much the situation was bugging him and wasn't going to leave him alone about it. He'd probably tell the others, too, and then they'd be on his back as well. He'd already made the decision to take up the responsibility, and he would stick by it. Shiroyama was his problem and his alone.

It was a different responsibility from that of defeating Naraku. That was a burden shared by all of them. They'd all borne the effects of Naraku's malevolence, and were united against him. Shiroyama, however, had no connection to the others. It, like his obligation to Kikyo, was a personal responsibility. As such, he and only he should take care of it.

The others wouldn't see it that way, though. Kagome in particular would be hard to fend off once Miroku related that conversation to her. Goddammit, he'd really screwed up there. He'd been hoping that if he didn't call attention to it they would just let it go. But then Miroku had to open his big mouth and give him the opportunity to fuck it up. Now he had no chance of hiding the fact that Shiroyama was weighing on his mind.

He could, however, hide the extent to which it did so, and perhaps frustrate their efforts that way. He might not be able to avoid them asking nosy questions, but he could keep them from learning anything from his answers, and, if the rebuffs were rude enough, perhaps eventually discourage them from asking any more.

Inuyasha climbed out of the spring and began the tedious task of wringing the water out of his hair. Though he might be able to discourage questioning, the best route would be to avoid it entirely. If he could manage to keep away from them long enough, they might give up or forget about it. To that end, he said nothing when Miroku also exited the water, and the walk to the door where the servants hovered anxiously was passed in leaden silence.

Sango and Kagome soon joined them, and the servants, much relieved at seeing them all together and marginally presentable, informed them that Lady Usei would see them now and began to lead the way through the house's winding corridors. Unnoticed by the others, Sango and Miroku shared a glance over Kagome's head and exchanged grimaces at the uncommunicative mood of their companions.

* * * * *

Kagome watched unhappily as servants scurried out to their way to stare and whisper as they passed. She was worried about the coming meeting. Thankfully, Shunsoku had told Lady Usei about them, so Inuyasha and Shippou wouldn't startle her, but aside from that, there was no telling how it might go. Most people who didn't know Inuyasha found him intimidating, to say the least. And now, he was most likely terribly nervous, so he would probably be even more snappish than usual.

Assuming the meeting went as she suspected it might, what should she do? She would usually try to cover for Inuyasha's antisocial attitude and do the talking for him when he seemed about to put his foot in his mouth, or at least sit him when he was unbearably rude. But this situation was different - it was his family, and she didn't want to meddle. Lady Usei was his cousin and he should be the one to establish the relationship between them.

But what kind of consequences would that have in this case? How damaging an effect might Inuyasha's usual slew of social missteps have? How would it affect their position here? Had Inuyasha thought any of this out, or was he going to rush off half-cocked as usual?

He had, at the least, thought about how he should deal with the guards at the gate. That was something. He might have also thought about how he should deal with his cousin. In fact, it seemed fairly obvious that Inuyasha had done nothing but think about Shiroyama during their trip. That was no guarantee, however, that in the heat of the moment his mouth wouldn't override his brain, as it all-too-often seemed to do.

Though she worried, in the end Kagome determined to do her best not to interfere with any conversation between Inuyasha and Lady Usei. It was his business, when all was said and done.

Well… she wouldn't interfere unless things got really ugly.

* * * * *

Shiroyama was not a large residence, and it was not long before they arrived at what was presumably Lady Usei's audience chamber. The servant leading them conferred quickly with the guard stationed at the door, and was soon sent in to announce their presence. It took no more than a few seconds before the door again slid open and they were ushered into the room.

The first thing that struck Inuyasha was that Lady Usei was very young, possibly even a little younger than Kagome. And she was scrawny, too, in the way some girls of that age are scrawny, all long stork-bones and brittle joints. A wisp of hair dangled over her right eye in spite of obviously gargantuan efforts to keep her tresses combed into a neatly ordered hairstyle. She looked overwhelmed by the sea of colorful kimono surrounding her, and her eyes were tentative and determined. She gave a tiny, near inaudible gasp at the sight of him, but made no other sound or movement until they had seated themselves in a neat row in front of her.

"Thank you all for coming. I am Shiroyama Usei." Her expression tightened nervously for a second before she continued. "And you must be Inuyasha. It's a pleasure to meet you, cousin."

She sure doesn't look like she's enjoying it. Inuyasha barely restrained himself from shifting nervously and putting his ears down as he frantically searched for something to say.

"Yeah. I'm Inuyasha."

A few seconds of awkward silence passed before became apparent that Inuyasha had nothing more to say on the subject and Usei turned to the others.

"And you are his traveling companions? What are your names?"

The rest of the introductions went much more smoothly. Inuyasha's ears lay half back in frustration as he watched the easy interaction between his cousin and the rest of his group. When it was Shippou's turn to introduce himself, he was, predictably, obnoxiously chattersome, and Usei, like every other female around, seemed to think it was cute. She even, for fuck's sake, squealed and asked if he could play with her. At this, Inuyasha felt his jaw tighten in annoyance and had to sharply stifle a loud growl that made everyone in the room turn to look at him. He caught the sudden flood of fear in Usei's scent as she heard it, and the way her heart rate abruptly ratcheted up almost to rabbit speed.

Dammit, she was afraid of him. He'd been lectured by Kagome on his responsibilities to her, hauled himself all the way out here when they could have been doing something constructive, and was going to take on what he guessed was going to be a whole shitload of trouble for her sake, and what was her reaction? She was afraid of him.

How unfair was that? Even the brat got better treatment than he did, and Shippou was full youkai.

The fact that Usei really did look as he remembered his mother didn't help at all.

She was fucking afraid of him.

Inuyasha was silent for the rest of the brief meeting. He listened to the conversation with only one ear and a mere fraction of his attention. At one point he thought he caught something about an assembly, but dismissed it as something he would find out more about tomorrow if it were really important. He was unspeakably relieved when Usei announced that she had been keeping them too long when they were undoubtedly tired from the journey and wished to rest. He led the others out of the room and wasted no time in cornering one of the servants still hovering outside the door.

"You. Where's my room?"

What he really wanted to do was find a tree to sit up in and think, but he guessed a room was the best he was going to get right now.

"S-Straight down this hall sir, the third door on the right."

Inuyasha stalked off in the indicated direction, leaving the rest of the group gazing curiously after him at the door to Usei's audience chamber. It took only a few seconds before the sound of a door being thrown open met their ears, followed by the thunderous sound of it being slammed shut again. Sometime during the commotion, Lady Usei had joined them at the door, drawn by the unaccustomed violence of the noise. They became aware of her presence only when she put a hand over her mouth and said, very quietly, "Oh, no."

AN: I know - long wait, short chapter. Hopefully, the next one will progress faster now that I'm on vacation. No guarantees, but chances are pretty good.

Many, many thanks to KellyChan and Chri for beta-reading. This story would be far more clumsy without them.

Thanks also to everybody reading this - I hope you enjoy it. Happy holidays!