InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Chapter 24 ( Chapter 24 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Kazeko clutched at Tenseiga. “SesshoMaru-sama,” she whispered.

“What?” Isamu said, staring sharply at her. Kazeko cleared her throat.

“SesshoMaru had a feather,” she said, louder now. “I saw him looking at it once. It was... hers, wasn't it? Kagura's?” Kazeko felt a pang at uttering the name. She felt jealous. But she also felt... sad?

“Yes,” Shippo said. “He was the one who stayed with her while she was dying. We were looking for her, but only found her at her last moments. She just... dissolved, blew away on the wind. It was so weird that SesshoMaru was standing there- we hadn't actually known that the two of them had ever even met, to be honest. When he was leaving, InuYasha asked if Kagura had been suffering, and SesshoMaru just said that she was smiling.

“Chichi-ue told us about her,” Yoshinori said. Kazeko jumped, as did the others. Satoshi had run to get the other children when they'd started telling stories. “He said he always felt real guilty, `cause it was because she saved him that Naraku killed her.”

“He said that she went off on her own a lot,” Michio added. “It must have been to see SesshoMaru.”

“I think it's sad,” Kiki said. “Okaa-san says she thinks Kagura was really a good person, and didn't deserve to die the way she did.”

“The really weird thing was that battle against Goryomaru, afterwards,” Shippo said thoughtfully. “Goryomaru was dissing Kagura's memory, and SesshoMaru got so pissed that he attacked him too hard and snapped his sword!”

“Oji-san lost his temper?” Isamu asked in surprise.

“SesshoMaru has a temper?” Kazuki asked in even greater shock. Shippo laughed.

“Maybe he felt guilty that he couldn't save her,” Satsuki suggested, but Shippo shook his head.

“Well, that's probably part of it, but if he kept her feather, then it's more than that,” he said. “Poor guy...”

“Who's SesshoMaru?” Hotaru asked.

“He's my Oji-san,” Kiki said. “He's an inu-youkai...”

“Geez, it's crowded in here,” Mitsuko said, looking over the crowd of younger children. Not counting Tsukiko, there were now ten of them. “Let's go exercise that ankle, Kazeko.”

“Good idea.” Kazeko carefully stood up, but there were no twinges of pain in her ankle. She walked out of the hut and along a little path with Mitsuko. Finally, she sighed and prepared herself. “Okay, Mitsuko. Give it to me.”

“”Jealous of a dead woman?” the tigress asked. Kazeko winced, but she could tell that her friend had been bursting to ask.

“Not really,” she said. “I mean... I don't really have a right to be, do I?”

“Means `yes',” Mitsuko muttered, getting her a shove from Kazeko.

“I mean... well, he just sees so sad sometimes, you know?” Kazeko said, a little red. “SesshoMaru-sama. And I feel a little pissed off at her for making him that sad, even though not all of his sadness is her fault and, anyway, it's not like she chose to die, right?” she glanced at Mitsuko, but she had clearly decided to stay quiet and let Kazeko get things out of her system. “But... I also fell really, really sad. Like how sad she must have been. I think it must have really hurt her, not to be free, you know? And she spent all of her freedom in pain... I think she wanted to fly, and she never could. I guess, even if am jealous- which i'm not-” Mitsuko grinned, and Kazeko winced again when she realized that her words quite transparently meant “I totally am” - “I guess I can't help feeling really, really sorry for her. I don't know. It's a little confusing.” Kazeko remembered her dream, and the feeling of emptiness in her chest; it had made her feel like a doll, something that wasn't really real, wasn't really alive. How must it have felt to have that feeling, every single day? The feeling of not even being a real person?

“Kazeko?”

Kazeko turned. Shippo was limping over to them, leaning on Isamu and Kazuki. “Yes?”

“I just think you ought to know,” he said, “in scent, voice, face, everything- you're almost her perfect double. Kagura's, I mean.”

“You look like someone I used to know... She died a long time ago.”

Kazeko was horrified to feel a hot sting of tears behind her eyes. Was that it? Was that why he saved her? Because she was just like Kagura? Or was she Kagura? The Kitsune was implying that Kazeko was some kind of reincarnation. Was that why she felt that sadness when she heard Kagura's story? A sadness that hadn't felt like her own, because it wasn't- it was Kagura's.

“So that's what it was,” she muttered. “Because i'm her...” Now even her own feelings were confusing her. Did she care about SesshoMaru, or was it simply Kagura's old feelings? What were really her feelings?

“Well, no,” Kazuki said, to Kazeko's shock. “Because SesshoMaru said something, the day he brought you back. He said, “I know who she looks like. I know who she may have been. I also know who she is.” “

Kazeko stared at Tenseiga as she slowly turned those words over.

“Can I add something?” Isamu said. “Okaa-san told me a lot about fate and destiny. We told you that she's the reincarnation of Otou-san's first love, Kikyo. She says that she thinks that it's because of Kikyo that she and Otou-san were destined to meet. But Kikyo wasn't what made them stay together. Otou-san says that he sees Okaa-san and Kikyo as separate people, reincarnation or not. He didn't fall in love with Okaa-san because she was the reincarnation of his ex, you know? It was her that he cared about. I dunno if you're Kagura's reincarnation or not, but if Oji-san's half the youkai I think he is and won't admit in front of Otou-san, he doesn't care about Kagura here. He cares about you.”

Kazeko didn't look at him. She was feeling even more confused now. She slowly sat down on a tree stump and put Tenseiga on her lap, staring at it as she mulled things over.

She vaguely heard Shippo muttering to the others. “Let's go back for now. She'll need to be on her own for a bit. It's a big revelation.”

“I'll be here, in case she needs anything,” Mitsuko whispered back. Shippo was presumably being helped back to the hut by Isamu and Kazuki, but Kazeko wasn't paying attention.

***************************************************************** ****************************************

“It looks like it's going to start up again soon,” Miroku observed, staring up at the sky which had been uniformly grey from dawn to dusk for several days now. Sango nodded in agreement, Kohaku clutching Rin a little tighter behind her. Since Kirara had healed entirely, the three of them were now riding together and SesshoMaru was periodically vanishing for his own reasons.

“Speak of the devil,” Kagome muttered as the tall white Inu-Youkai appeared, quite still, in front of them. InuYasha ground to a halt half an inch from colliding head-first with his half-brother.

“You bastard, what the-”

“Get up the side of the mountain and look south, baka. No complaints, just do it.”

“What-”

“Just do it.”

“InuYasha, maybe we should see what's wrong...” Kagome said. At her words, InuYasha shut up, nodded and ran up the cliff-face. Miroku sighed. Under normal circumstances, he's be making a joke about a dog and its master or some such, but the mood at the moment was so fearful and sad- he couldn't help thinking that it was the shocking news of Koga's death that had brought that bittersweet “western” song to Kagome's mind- he didn't feel up to bedevilling InuYasha. Besides, Sango was in earshot, and was more than likely to remind him what a Hiraikotsu to the skull felt like.

InuYasha and Kagome reappeared. Miroku could instantly tell that something was wrong. Kagome was snow-white and InuYasha was letting off a stream of expletives without drawing breath.

“What is it?” Sango asked. Miroku could hear the tiny tremor in her voice, something people who didn't know her well enough would be unable to distinguish underneath her taijiya strength.

InuYasha stopped swearing long enough to say “The ships.”

“We can see them from here,” Kagome said. “I don't believe it. They're so fast...”

“We need to move, now,” Kohaku said. “It's all the time we spent sheltering that they caught up. So we'd better move while it's dry.”

“Move when it's raining if we have to,” Rin said with unusual force. “We have to catch up to the kids!”

SesshoMaru was staring north with a faraway expression.

“We'd be better to be moving rather than talking,” he said, setting off.

***************************************************************** ****************************************

“Gotcha! Ooooh, Soft!””

Kiki shrieked when Satoshi grabbed her ears and instinctively flattened them, making the demented little hanyou start laughing. She turned and punched at him, but he dodged, a little blur of cackling orange.

“Want my katana?” Hitomi offered sympathetically.

“I got a better idea,” Hotaru said, pointing at the little spinning top that the girls had been playing with before Satoshi's interruption. Momo started giggling madly as Kiki and Hitomi stared at the little toy, nonplussed. Hotaru wrapped the whip around it, aimed it at Satoshi- still laughing, happily oblivious, with Yoshinori and Michio- and let loose. Kiki and Hitomi's eyes widened as they watched the tiny wooden toy grow huge and bear down on the boys, who yelled and ran. Takumi, who as usual was playing with Tsukiko and Akira, tried not to giggle as he watched his brother and cousin try to escape the oncoming maimage. They ran straight into Isamu, Shippo, and Kazuki.

“What the hell?” Isamu yelped as he saw the incoming top. Shippo sighed and held out a hand. When he touched the top, it shrank into a tiny toy in his hand.

“I'm with Isamu,” Kazuki said, staring at the little toy, and then over his shoulder at his brother and cousin, who were now pressing Satoshi for an explanation. “What the hell?”

“Hotaru,” Shippo called. The little girl appeared before her father looking completely guilty. “Didn't I tell you about using your Kitsune Yojutsu responsibly? I mean, it's possible that I didn't, I just want to check.”

“Strange as it may seem,” Satsuki said, “You have actually talked to her and Satoshi about that. I remember because it was very, very hard not to burst out laughing when you started talking about responsibility.”

“You did, Otou-san,” Hotaru said meekly. Satoshi sniggered.

“Busted, onee-chan,” he said. Satsuki rounded on him.

“And so are you, Satoshi, because once we're done with Hotaru we're going to want to know precisely why she was trying to maim you.”

“That's what you could have done, Hotaru,” Shippo said, now limping back to the hut. Satsuki grabbed her children's hands and followed her mate. Michio and Yoshinori followed, both throwing pitying looks at Satoshi.

“But Otou-san,” Hotaru said, in an attempt to dig herself out, “You said that you used it before and it didn't do a lot of damage...”

“To a full-grown youkai, yes,” Shippo said. “But your three-year-old brother it would do serious damage to. You're not old enough to control it that way, Hotaru-chan.” He smiled and patting his pouting daughter on the head. “I gave you the top to be a toy, all right? When you're older, I'll teach you how to use it properly, but for now, it's only for playing with, `kay?” He handed the little top back to his daughter, who smiled and ran back over to Hitomi and Kiki.

“Do something dangerous like that again and you won't get it back!” Satsuki warned. Then she turned on her only son with a frown.

“So, Satoshi,” Shippo said pleasantly, “care to tell us why your sister was set on your life?”

“It was just a joke,” the little hanyou said. Then he pointed at Yoshinori and Michio. “Anyway, they dared me to do it.”

“Do...?” Satsuki asked.

“Grab Kiki-chan's ears,” Satoshi admitted. Isamu whistled under his breath.

“Lucky she didn't exorcise you into next century,” he said.

“Kiki has holy powers?” Shippo asked with interest. “I didn't know hanyou could.”

“Well, she burns herself when she uses them any time other than her human night,” Isamu said, “but she considers it worth it if anyone other than Okaa-san messes with her ears.” He waved his left hand, leaving it limp at the wrist, remembering a rather painful burn that he'd sustained at the age of ten. It had taken a fortnight to heal.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Satsuki said, “Satoshi, no matter what they dare you to do, be nice, all right? How would you like it if someone yanked your tail?” Satoshi blushed and flicked his tail behind him. “Now go apologize to Kiki-chan.”

“Okay,” Satoshi said, and ran over to the girls.

“And you two,” Kazuki said, grabbing Michio and Yoshinori by the back of their shirts as they tried to creep away, “Stop causing trouble, got it? Just because Chichi-ue and the others aren't here doesn't mean that you aren't still gonna get your asses parented if there's trouble.”

“You're going to parent our asses?” Yoshinori said in shock.

“Would you rather Yuki did it?” Isamu asked with a grin. Both boys flinched.

“We'll be good,” they chorused, before fleeing the second that Kazuki let them go.

“'Parent their asses'?” Satsuki asked, glancing over at Takumi, who was telling a story to Akira and Tsukiko- and Momo, who had clearly gotten out of the way as soon as the trouble started.

“If you're worried about their vocabularies, don't' be,” Haruka sighed. “There's not much he can do to damage the vocabularies of any children who've spent any time at all around Inu-Oji-san.”

“Or any children who've been around the aforementioned children,” Yuki chimed in. “If they think they can get away with anything just because the parents are still down south...”

“Well, clearly they're no less scared of you without Hiraikotsu,” Kazuki teased. Shippo raised his eyebrows.

“You get to wield Hiraikotsu?” he asked with interest. He looked around as if expecting to see the massive weapon pop out of nowhere.

“Okaa-san gave it to me at the end of my training,” Yuki said, “But I gave it back to her for the duration. Even if she hasn't had a proper fight in over a decade, I don't' doubt she's still better than any of us,” she added with a reverent sigh.

“Nii-san?”

Isamu turned. Kiki was looking nervous. “Kiki-chan? What's that baka do now?”

“Nothing,” Kiki said. “It's just... what happened to Onee-san?”

“Onee... oh, Kazeko?” Yuki asked. “Actually, that's a good question.”

“Did she need to be alone?” Haruka asked Isamu. “I'm guessing you told her?”

“Yeah,” Isamu said. Kiki looked confused. “She stayed in the forest with Mitsuko,” he said to his little sister. “She might want to be alone, though...”

“Is she sad?” Kiki asked. “If she is, then I wanna go cheer her up!”

“Kiki-chan-” Haruka called, but the little girl was already gone.

***************************************************************** *************************************************************************** **********************************************************************

I just realized... I DO have a ton of tiny kids here. O_O and I just realized that the army may be too far behind for them to be where I need them to be... rainy days abound, I guess...

InuYasha is the property of Takahashi Rumiko-Sensei, and I claim no ownership of any of it. All couples not involving original characters will be strictly canon. Aside from Haruka, Yuki and Kazuki, I made up all of the kids, though since birthdates other than Kazuki's were never really stated in the manga, nor names, I've made these up as well. This fanfic will make little sense if you have not read the entire manga, and I'm afraid that to read the last twenty or so volumes you will have to (at the time of writing) venture into the internet, but I strongly suggest that you do buy the Tankoban volumes for yourself, so that Takahashi-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with her imagination. Anyway, hope you enjoy the fic. ^_-