InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Wasn't In The Job Description ❯ Bokusenou ( Chapter 29 )

Chapter 29

 

Bokusenou

 

After InuYasha grabbed Miroku and dragged him off, Sango and Kagome dried off and got dressed. Then they went and searched for InuYasha's sword, which they found hanging from a tree limb. The men were drenched and there were not enough dry towels for them. Kagome was loathe to ride on InuYasha's back and get her clothes all wet, so she told him she would be okay to walk for a while. The soak in the hot spring had eased a lot of the pain.

 

Later that evening, they all sat around the campfire while their meal cooked. Kagome reached into her backpack and pulled out her brush, and started trying to get the knots out of her hair. She had not bothered to brush it after the dip in the hot spring, because they had wanted to get as far away as possible from the mother bear youkai's territory and she had not had time.

 

As she brushed her hair she noticed the state of InuYasha's long silver mane with a frown. It hung in a matted tangle down his back. His hair could definitely use some brushing. She wondered if being his personal assistant meant she could brush it for him. Well, she had to ask…

 

“InuYasha, may I do something for you?” asked Kagome.

 

“What?” he said curiously, turning to face her.

 

“Let me brush your hair - it will be an impossible mess if it stays that way,” replied Kagome.

 

“Umm…” said InuYasha, surprised and uncertain.

 

Not getting an outright rejection from him, Kagome moved over and reached behind him, taking the mass of silver tangles and slowly working out the knots with her brush. InuYasha stayed still and let her do it, a strange feeling welling up inside him. No one had ever done something like this for him since his mother had died. It felt nice and oddly comforting as her small, deft hands worked at the tangles and started to smooth out his hair.

 

Miroku noticed what was happening and nudged Sango. She looked up from the meal preparations, and both of them watched Kagome and InuYasha. Miroku smirked and glanced at Sango, who smiled back at him and shook her head. They had never seen InuYasha let someone attend to him this way; he was always so skittish about someone doing something so personal for him.

 

Finally, Kagome had worked all the lower tangles out of InuYasha's hair and carefully began to brush it from his scalp down, avoiding catching his ears. The strokes of the brush made InuYasha feel warm and relaxed, and he missed it when she was done, but did not let on about feeling this way.

 

“There,” said Kagome in satisfaction. “That's much better.”

 

“Uh, thank you,” said InuYasha, turning and briefly looking up into her smiling face and then away.

 

“Dinner is ready,” said Sango.

 

“Great, I'm starved,” said InuYasha.

 

They ate and then got ready to go to sleep. Although it had been soaked, InuYasha's jacket had mostly dried from his body heat. So Kagome took it gratefully from him again that night and snuggled to sleep under it.

 

For the next three days, they traveled together through the forests of the demon realm. They stopped in the areas that InuYasha felt might contain the ancient youkai magnolia. Luckily, they did not run into any more major trouble with the youkai living there. Minor youkai did attempt to see if they were edible, but were easily dispatched. They were no where near the size and ferocity of the worm and bear youkai.

 

On the morning of the fourth day, InuYasha had a foreboding as they entered another ancient forest. The trees were so tall, the tops were could only be dimly imagined. And there seemed to be a presence that he could almost feel.

 

“I think we are in the right place this time,” said InuYasha.

 

“I sure hope so,” said Sango. “These endless forests are beginning to get on my nerves.”

 

“This is how all of Japan used to be, in the Feudal Era,” said Kagome. “It seems that in the demon realm, everything is as it was when the realms supposedly split.”

 

“That's true,” said InuYasha. “Time flows differently between the realms.”

 

They did not have to walk much further before they finally found an ancient youkai magnolia tree. The eyes were closed, and it looked like it was sleeping.

 

“Are you Bokusenou?” said InuYasha, crossing his arms and standing squarely in front of the tree.

 

Slowly, the eyes of the youkai magnolia opened. It regarded InuYasha with an inscrutable expression for a moment, and the hanyou started to get impatient.

 

“I see a hanyou before me,” the tree intoned. “You remind me of someone I once knew.”

 

“What other hanyou would that be?” said InuYasha sourly.

 

“Not a hanyou,” said Bokusenou. “A Taiyoukai - Inutashio.”

 

“That was my father,” InuYasha replied.

 

“Ahhh…” said Bokusenou. “Then you must be InuYasha.”

 

“Damn straight, I'm InuYasha,” scoffed the hanyou. “So if you knew my father, can you tell me about who made the sword Tessaiga?”

 

The youkai Magnolia looked silently at InuYasha again for a moment, staring at the sword in his belt.

 

“I see you have the sword,” said Bokusenou. “It was always your father's wish to leave it to you. The sheath it is in was made from one of my limbs.”

 

That was news to InuYasha, but not what he was looking for.

 

“What I want to fucking know is - who is Tessaiga's sword smith,” said InuYasha impatiently.

 

“Well, that would be Totosai,” said Bokusenou. “He is the master sword smith to the Taiyoukai.”

 

“Can you tell us where we can find him?” said Kagome, walking up to stand by InuYasha's side.

 

“Yes, I can,” said Bokusenou.

 

“We would be ever so grateful if you could give us directions,” said Kagome sweetly, and InuYasha looked at her quizzically.

 

“Very well, young human woman,” said the youkai magnolia, and began telling them how to get to Totosai.

 

InuYasha listened carefully until he felt he knew where they were going. Then he turned to leave, beckoning the others to join him.

 

“Wait,” said Kagome, putting a hand on his sleeve, and turned back to Bokusenou.

 

“Thank you very much for your help,” said Kagome, inclining her head respectfully.

 

“You are welcome,” said Bokusenou. “It is nice to meet such a polite and respectful human. Maybe you can teach the hanyou some manners.”

 

The youkai tree's remark made InuYasha flush angrily.

 

“Come on,” he said to Kagome, and grabbed her hand to pull her away. “Let's not waste any more time.”

 

Miroku and Sango fell in behind them. But it seemed to them that InuYasha held Kagome's hand a bit longer than necessary. Yet Kagome didn't seem to mind much, at all.