InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tomorrow ❯ Chapter 31 ( Chapter 31 )

Chapter Thirty-One

Kiki sat on the cold sand, shivering. The rumblings and explosions had stopped. And she could smell so much blood. She put her arms around Hotaru, who was holding Momo and Satoshi- who, for once, had no complaints about his sisters hugging him. They could smell the blood, too. They were scared.

It was Michio and Hitomi who came out of the forest first. Yoshinori ran over to his friend, and then stopped. Michio was staring at the ground as tears dribbled down Hitomi's cheeks.

“Michio?” Yoshinori asked tentatively. “What- what happened?”

Hitomi knelt down on the sand, putting her face in her hands as she sobbed. Kiki let go of the Kitsune-hanyou as she ran over to comfort her friend. Michio's hands clenched into fists.

“Onee-san,” he said. “Yuki-nee-san... she...” but he seemed unable to say anything more. He didn't have to. What he did say was enough for Mitsuko. She gasped out a sob and curled up where she was sitting, hugging Akira and crying. Kazeko trembled and went white, as if unable to believe it. She held Tenseiga close, for the comfort it gave, but could not help crouching down as she realized what must have happened to Yuki.

Satsuki suddenly ran up to them. “They found some boats!” she said. “They're bringing them just now...” her voice trailed off and the smile faded from her face as she saw the crying girls. Michio punched his curled fist into a tree. Yoshinori trembled as he fought not to cry.

“What happened?” she asked.

Behind her, Shippo swam up, pulling a boat by a piece of rope, inside which Dai and Roku were rowing. Jinenji was carrying another two boats, wading through water which only came up to his waist. Asagi and Moegi were rowing a fourth boat, also being pulled by Ai. Shion was also carrying a fifth boat, the water coming up to his chest. They pulled the boats to land, at first grinning to see that their friends weren't dead yet- but they quickly reassessed that point when they saw their faces.

“Where's Isamu-kun, Kazuki-kun and the twins?” Shippo asked, looking unusually stern.

“I'm here.”

Kazuki slowly walked out of the forest, alone. Everyone instantly turned to question him, but stopped. His face was completely blank, completely pale and expressionless.

“Isamu-kun and Haruka-Ane-san are back there, in the forest,” he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “With... with Yuki.”

“Yuki-chan,” Mitsuko whispered, tears spilling over her cheeks. She put down Akira, who shuffled over to Takumi and Tsukiko for comfort, and walked over to Kazuki. “Kazuki-kun...”

Kazuki looked down, his long bangs hiding his face. Then he knelt down, crossing his arms over his chest as if trying to hold something in. His shoulders shook as the tears that he couldn't hide dripped from his chin.

“I should have told them,” he said, his voice shaking violently. “I figured it out a long time ago, but... she told me she was fine. She m-made me swear to tell no-one. But I should have made her tell them. I should have realized how much it was hurting her. I know she would have killed me for it, but... I should have realized. It wasn't worth it. Not this. I...”

“Nii-san... what do you mean?” Michio asked, tears welling up. Mitsuko knelt down and put her hands on Kazuki's shoulders.

“Despite everything, they were so very alike...” she said softly. “Too alike.”

“What does she mean?” Satsuki asked. Shippo looked sad.

“You never noticed?” he said quietly. “Once I saw them again... I guess it was obvious because I was half-looking for it, when Kazuki said he was going to be Isamu's brother-in-law. I looked at their faces, trying to figure out which of the twins was in love with Isamu... and it was both of them.”

“Yuki-san... she's dead?” Shiori gasped.

“It's my fault,” Kazuki sobbed. “She swore me to silence, but... I should have... I...”

“Don't blame yourself, Kazuki-kun,” Mitsuko said. “She chose her path long ago. She loved Haruka-chan and Isamu-kun so much; she wanted them to be together. She wanted them to be safe. Now they can be, and we can remember her. She saved everyone on that island. They'll remember. Now she's where she won't hurt any more. And one day, the three of them will be together again. Don't blame yourself...”

She trailed off, looking to the sky. Everyone else looked up as well. Gently, silently, floating to earth, were tiny white snowflakes. The first landed one Kazuki's head, as lightly as a kiss from a big sister would land on a sleeping baby. The tears seemed to Kazuki to be freezing on his cheeks.

“Don't blame yourself,” Mitsuko said again. “She doesn't.”

They sat there in silence for a long time, watching the snow fall.

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

Haruka stared at her feet as she walked through the forest with Isamu. It was lucky he was a hanyou and didn't feel the cold, because otherwise he'd be freezing in the cold air. His inner and outer shirts were both wrapped around Yuki, hiding her maimed form from view. Ashe could still barely bear to think it. Her thoughts were only beginning to thaw and move.

How long? How long had her sister been suffering so? She couldn't comprehend that kind of pain. She closed her eyes as she tried to think of how much it would have hurt if Isamu had fallen in love with Yuki instead of her. She wondered if, in Yuki's place, she would have done the same.

She wondered what she'd tell her parents.

“Haruka...” Isamu eventually said. “This... I feel guilty. Like it's my fault. And,” he said as she opened her mouth, “I know you do too. But we can't blame this on anyone. Yuki... I wish she'd said something, even if it was only to be rejected. I wish she'd shared her pain. I wish this hadn't happened...”

“It doesn't change anything,” Haruka said, tears welling up in her eyes. Would they ever dry? “She's still gone forever.”

At that moment, something cold and soft touched her cheek. Haruka touched her hand to it and saw a flash of white before there was only cold water trailing down her finger. She looked up at the sky, tears running back into her hair. Slowly, snowflakes filled the sky. Like a child seeing her first snow, Haruka reached out her hands to the sky, feeling the cold drops coat her fingers and melt. Isamu was also staring at the sky in silence.

“Yuki,” he whispered. “Snow.”

Haruka couldn't stop crying, but it felt different. Yuki... she was telling them something, wasn't she? She'd saved them. She'd protect them. She wasn't gone.

“She's not gone,” Haruka said quietly, and then louder. “She's not gone. Never.” She looked over at Isamu and found that she could smile, however weakly. The bloody bundle in his arms was nothing to do with Yuki. “Yuki and I are twins. We've been a part of each other since before we were born. So she's still a part of me. A part of us. Forever.”

“Forever,” Isamu agreed, leaning over to kiss her forehead. Returning to silence, they turned and walked towards the sea.

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

Hours later, the dust had settled, but a few rocks still slid and fell as new figures appeared.

“What the fuck?”

InuYasha pulled his sleeve up over his nose and coughed as the overwhelming scent of blood and death hit him hard. Even SesshoMaru wrinkled his nose at the scent. Sango peered down at the mess in shock, but Kagome and Rin couldn't bear to look.

“This armour... aren't they Yamazaki's soldiers?” Kohaku asked, examining a bit of a body. “What the hell happened to them?”

“From the looks of it, what happened to them back home... only much, much bigger,” Miroku said, raising his hand and beginning to mutter sutras for the dead.

InuYasha tentatively sniffed around, trying to ascertain whether or not Yamazaki was there and therefore dead. He couldn't pick out the man's blood-scent among the mess, but he did catch one that was heart-stoppingly familiar. Without a word, he ran through the rubble and blood until he reached a spot near the treeline.

“So much gunpowder,” SesshoMaru commented, appearing nearby. “The explosion that destroyed the mountain's remains must have been here...”

InuYasha hardly heard him. He knelt down and tossed a few stones away, sifting through the rubble, until he came to something flat and hard, with jagged edges.

He instantly recognized it as a piece of taijiya armour. Though it was scorched almost black, there were still a few tiny patches of yellow.

“InuYasha?” Sango called. “What's wrong?”

InuYasha caught SesshoMaru's eye for a second, before rapidly shoving the piece of armour into his haori. It was a false alarm. It had to be.

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

The boats were silent as they were rowed to Hokkaido. Only Isamu, Kazuki and Haruka had sat in the leading boat, the one carrying Yuki. The others split up among the other boats, Ai swimming, happy even in the frigid water. The whole time, snow fell softly.

There was no sign of any living creature when they hit land. However, after trekking some way into the island, they heard a call.

“Isamu-kun? Is that you?”

“Ryoichi?” Isamu said, looking up. The bull and his older son were running up to them.

“Kami, we thought you'd all been slaughtered!” the son cried. “What the hell happened? What was that explosion? Where's that bastard Yamazaki?”

“Yamazaki's dead,” Kazuki said, “And most of his army too, I'd wager. At least, judging by the fact that Yuki brought whatever was left of the mountain down on their heads.”

“She did what?” Ryoichi said. “Where's-” he stopped, narrowing his eyes on the bloodstained wrap in Isamu's arms. “Oh, Kami...”

“We're all safe now,” Haruka said. “Thanks to her.”

“I'm gonna go tell people,” the son said. “We've built up a good chunk of a village so far...”

“We're going to build a shrine,” Shippo said. “She needs somewhere to rest.”

“Of course,” Ryoichi said. “There's a patch a bit further inland that no-one's been building on yet. Just cut down the trees and there should be room...”

They started walking as Ryoichi talked about how the building was going. Already, the skeletal structures of what was looking more like a small city had sprung up. There was the constant crash of trees felled by claws, and everywhere were youkai either lifting whole logs or running their claws along them to shave them down into buildable planks. So far north, however, most people were just building log cabins. And it all fell still and silent as they appeared- or rather, as they saw or smelled the remains of Yuki, huddled in Isamu's arms.

There was silence as everyone stared at Isamu. He looked down at Yuki and then, without looking up, said, “The army isn't coming for us anymore. They never will again. It's thanks to Yuki. Her s... her sacrifice saved us all.” His voice broke on the word “sacrifice”, but even so, his words resonated in the silence, as loud as the storm, yet crisp and clear. It seemed that everyone on the island must have heard. It seemed that everyone in the world must have heard. And, slowly, they all bowed.

Ryoichi's family was first. They all turned to Yuki and then knelt down, touching their heads to the cold ground, in gratitude to the human girl who had saved them all. The eagle- Shuichi- was next, spreading his wings, then curling them around his own kneeling form, his mate gently pressing their young son down as she knelt herself. Then, like a ripple, every youkai, hanyou and human on the island pressed together and knelt, carpeting the ground with reverent beings. As they all knelt to Yuki, the snow fell again, gently drifting onto their heads and shoulders, a soft caress, a promise to protect. They all moved aside, leaving a path to the empty land that Ryoichi had spoken of, where, before a week was up, a magnificent temple would be erected, surrounded by small huts. And it was in front of that hut that the fire would be allowed to claim Yuki once and for all, turning her physical remains to ash, and what would be left was the memory, blazing vividly in everyone on the island, and inside the temple, a painting.

“Can I have some paper?” Takumi asked tentatively, pulling his little brush and pots of paint out of the little bundle in his kimono shirt.

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

Sorry this one took so long. `Tis the season of practice exams here *sobs*.

Thanks to Sapgira404 and Catbaker for reviewing. Would it sound mean to say that i'm glad that scene made you cry? Because to be honest, it made me cry too...

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. ^_-