InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What The Future Holds ❯ Kusamura ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The next week seem to pass quickly. The young lovers seemed less interested in their destination and more interested in each other. More than once, Devi found herself tapping her foot waiting for them to get moving. Inuyasha seemed more comfortable hanging around the campsites and relaxing. He had definately begun to change. Well, in some ways. He was still hot-headed to the little blue fairy and kept smacking her away when she tried to interrupt them to get moving. But the nights were getting colder, and while dense, Inuyasha wasn't dumb. He knew Kagome couldn't handle the bitter cold in the wilds like he could. He lived that way all his life. She was used to creature comforts of a home, a fire and a hot bath.
Carrying Kagome on his back, with her wrapped in his hitoe, he beckoned to the fairy, "Come on you little bug. Show us where we're supposed to be."
Devi had explained that they were very close which possibly explained Inuyasha's lackadaisical attitude. But now he could smell snow in the air and he knew they had to hurry. His Kagome wouldn't live in the cold.
They crossed over a mountain and a meadow when Devi shouted, "There!".
Inuyasha and Kagome looked up to where Devi pointed.
"Where runt?", growled Inuyasha, "I don't see nuthin'".
"It's in the valley amongst those trees."
"All I see are trees, brat."
"I see it!", cried Kagome, "It's beautiful!".
"HUH?", said Inuyasha, "You can see it?"
Why not, Kagome could see things that were invisible to Inuyasha. He had chalked it up to a priestess thing. But didn't those robed strangers say Kagome wasn't a mere priestess?
Devi led them down a mountain path into a valley and then a deep forest. "Machihoto", shouted Devi in a language Inuyasha and Kagome didn't recognize.
"That wasn't Japanese," Kagome thought.
Suddenly, from the woods a bright light shone and they were greeted by an older samurai.
"Devi, you've returned," he greeted the fairy and then turning to Inuyasha and Kagome, "I am Zeshin, colonel of the Mystic Samurai. Come with me.".
They followed the old man into the forest ... which turned into a large, bustling town. Inuyasha and Kagome just stared. In the center was a magnificent castle that shone in the sunlight. It appeared to be made of gold. Surrounding the castle was the living quarters of samurai and soldiers followed by buildings of various sizes. Outside of this was a village marketplace with artisans of various wares. They had never come across such a city in their travels.
"You appear to need a new kimono, my lady.", said Zeshin. "Let me show you to your residence and I will make sure that we have some new kimonos for you."
"That would be fabulous," said Kagome, "Any chance for a steamy, hot bath?"
"Of course, my lady, I will have the maidens prepare you a bath and a meal. Would you like a bath to, my lord?" Zeshin asked Inuyasha.
"Sure, why not. Sounds good." replied Inuyasha, still in awe of the city.
His mother was a princess in a castle town but nothing like what he was witnessing now. Zeshin led them through the busy streets, filled all sorts of sights and smells, finally coming to stand beside a large home.
"You will reside here while you are in training, my lady." Zeshin said.
Inuyasha opened the door to reveal a large front room with pillows for relaxing and a large corner fireplace that had a roaring fire. As they walked through the house, they came upon a kitchen with three large fireplaces and hearths plus two large fire pits all for cooking. The next few rooms were obviously bedrooms with fluffy, goose-down futons and more large corner fireplaces. All the bedrooms had large closet style rooms for clothes. Beside the one extremely large bedroom was another large room separated by a door. Inside were two metal bathtubs separated by a wall screen with cranes on it. And in a closet beside each bathtub was lots of fluffy towels. Kagome couldn't get over the size.
"We don't need anything this ..." she started to say but realized Zeshin had quietly disappeared, leaving them alone. "Well ..." she thought indignantly.
As the two headed back to the open room, a knock came on the door. Kagome opened up to door to be greeted by three young maidens. One carried numerous kimonos, that she handed to Kagome with a bow. "Welcome to Kusamura," she said as she turned and left.
The other two carried buckets of water for their baths.
"Hello, my lady," the maids said in unison, "your bath water" they said as they went past Kagome and poured the water into the tubs and went back and repeated the process until the tubs were both filled.
"We'll have them hot for you soon, my lady and lord," said the maids, seeing Inuyasha for the first time sitting in the corner holding Tessaiga.
Inuyasha just waved his hand. He had offered to help them fill the tubs (at Kagome's insistence) but they had refused him so fine, he sat down and waited. After a while, the maids called out that the water should be ready. Kagome closed the screen between her and Inuyasha as she took off his hitoe and handed it to him around the screen. Then she stepped into the hot water.
"AAAAHHHHHH. A hot bath. It feels so good." she thought.
Inuyasha, himself, was thinking the same thing. They both relaxed for a long time before getting out, the sweats of the travels left behind in the now tepid water. Inuyasha got out first and entered the bedroom to see a fresh pair of black hakama pants, off-white shirt and a royal blue kimono and obi laid out on the futon. A note read "leave your clothes and we will wash them for you.", so Inuyasha did what the note said. It felt good to be clean and his outfit did need washed. And besides, this town was so well hidden, he felt somewhat safe without his robe of the fire-rat. As he changed he looked at the kimono that had been laid out for Kagome. A ruby red, Chinese style kimono with peonies and pine boughs over it. He touched it.
"Silk," he thought. His own kimono was made of a very soft material, though not silk. Hearing Kagome climbing out of the bath, he started to walk into the common room,
"Inuyasha, you better not be in there." Kagome called out.
"I'm not," he called back.
He couldn't wait to see Kagome in that kimono. A knock came at the door. Inuyasha opened it. Before him stood five different maids, each holding trays of food. They bowed to him and entered, placing the trays on the ground. Inuyasha stared. A feast.
"Without Miroku's lying," he thought.
"Enjoy, my lord", the maids said in unison as they exited the home.
Kagome came out, "What was ... " she started to say before her eyes alighted on the food, "My ..." she began.
Inuyasha looked up and saw an absolute vision. Kagome stood there, her hair wet and messy but her body looking gorgeous in the form fitting kimono. Her arms were bare as the kimono wrapped around her neck. In the center was a small opening that showed a hint of her cleavage. She didn't realize Inuyasha was staring at her as she brushed her hair back out of her eyes. Inuyasha couldn't help but take her all in. The kimono hugged every curve of her tender body all the way down to ...
"Wait!", he said to himself, "Why the hell am I thinking like that lecherous monk!", he berated himself as he turned back to the food.
He sat down at the food as Kagome joined him.
She suddenly realized, "Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, "You look ... wow ... I like blue on you."
"Yea, well, they had this waiting on the futon and I know the fire-rat needed cleaned so, what the hell," he shrugged, "Let's eat. I'm starved."
The two dined on salmon, crab, pork, chicken, dumplings, winter squash, pumpkin, rice and fresh mint jasmine tea.
"I love jasmine", commented Kagome.
"So do I," replied Inuyasha, "It's one of my favorite flower scents, next to lilies. My mother adored lilies. She always had them around when they were in season."
He had talked to her more about his mother and his past on their journey to defeat Naraku, but he seemed even more open on this journey. More comfortable. That made Kagome happy. She enjoyed hearing about his past, good and bad. And she was happy that he felt more comfortable talking with her.
Another maid eventually came to the door to collect Inuyasha's fire-rat outfit for cleaning. It was returned later that day clean and folded. The couple sat outside on the porch watching the people go by and listening to artisans hawking their wares. It was a much busier place then they had ever imagined and very noisy. As they watched the world go by, suddenly a beautiful peregrine falcon landed on the porch with a scroll in its beak. Behind the falcon, another beautiful maid walked towards them, but she was definately NOT Japanese. The falcon allowed Kagome to take the scroll and she opened it up.
Kagome gasped softly and Inuyasha quickly asked, "What is it, Kagome?". We are being invited to the castle to meet the Lord and Crown Prince. And we are to let a Per ... somebody, to take us."
"Persephone. Per - sef - pho - knee" said the beautiful reddish blond maid. "I am Persephone."
Kusamura sounds like a fascinating place ... whaddya think? InuyashaPuppyDog