InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ What The Future Holds ❯ The Missing Pup ( Chapter 38 )

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

A/N: Just to let you know where my mind goes - the way I age Inuyasha is - I figure at the start of the series he is about 17 in maturity years (based on interviews with Takahashi) but over 200 in human years (based on movie 3). I figure that when a half-demon turns 13 he "stops" aging yearly like a human and starts aging as a demon. So I figure that Inuyasha was born some 213 years ago - figuring he matures a year for every 50 human years that passes. Age 13 plus 4 - 50 year periods (ok that has him aging for the 50 years he was on the tree but it's easier this way) equals 17 years of maturity. So since, as of this chapter, the year is now 1562 (6 years since the previous chapter), Inuyasha hasn't aged as a demon yet (remembering that the spell on him and Kagome has them not aging but maturing - so technically he will always look 17 and she will always look 18)

Anyway - I brought that up to age the children. Yasha & Kentaro are 16 human years old, Shaoran & Shirrow are 15 human years old, Bunza is 14 human years old, Yukio is 13 human years old and Kieran & Kiyoshi are 12 years old. (Izayoi is 7 and Lily is 6). So essentially, in my way of thinking, Inuyasha and Kagome are dealing with 6 pups who look and act 13. Pity them please.

Oh - and as for Sango & Miroku's kids - Cho is 16, Hotaru is 14, Miya is 13, Yukika is 11, Kaito is 8 and Takuma is 6.

Based on what Takahashi says the ages of Sango and Miroku are at the beginning of the series (Miroku about 19 and Sango about 16), I have 21 years passing so they would be about 40 and 37, respectively.

As for Shippou, I would estimate that he is about 29 human years old, but I feel a full blooded demon such as Shippou and Sesshoumaru, would age about one year for ever 100 years after turning 13 (to stay with the thought that demons stop aging at 13).

Now onto the story ...



Summer 1562


A lot of changes occurred in six years. Of course, the families continued to grow. Miroku and Sango welcomed three more children into their family. A son, Uyeda, was born in 1558 and was now 4. Another son, Ichiro, was born in 1559 and was now 3. The child that would be their last was a daughter, Shizuka, who was born in 1561 and was now 7 months old.

Kagome and Inuyasha also added to their family. Kagome loved motherhood and adored her children and always found herself wanting another one. In 1558, daughter Jasmine was born and she was now 4. In 1560, son Kotaro was born, and he was now 2. And just 5 months earlier she birthed another set of twins, a son, Shinta and a daughter, Tatsuya. In addition, in 1559, when Jasmine was a year old, Kagome was washing clothes in the river when she noticed a basket in the reeds. Wading over to it, she opened it up to discover an infant boy. Taking the child to Inuyasha, he told her he was definitely a hanyou although he looked very human with black hair and brown eyes. Inuyasha, however, couldn't tell by the scent was type of demon he was. They took in the halfling and Inuyasha named him Kowaro which meant 'from the waters'.

In addition to their families, Sango's family grew by more. Twelve years earlier, at the age of 20, Kohaku, tired of traveling with Sesshoumaru and unable to convince Rin to leave, finally left and moved into a neighboring village. There he fell in love and married a pretty maid of 16 named Nariko. Now 32, he had 4 children - son Eiji, 9; daughter Seika, 6; son Roku, 4; and daughter Rini, 2.

In 1557, Hachi visited Miroku to inform him that Mushin, the monk who raised him, had died. Both families packed up their brood and headed to the temple to pay their final respects. Two years later, in 1559, Kaede passed away in her sleep. Although Kagome had been treating a recurring illness in her for years, she was still distraught when she went into Kaede's hut and found her forever asleep. Even Inuyasha found himself shedding a tear for the old woman.

Kaede's death meant that the village's Lady Leilani was their salvation. In previous years, she had foreseen droughts and to ward off famine, Inuyasha, Miroku and the village men built silos to store rice and grain. The woman stored and pickled vegetables. Because of this, the village weathered the droughts easily. For this, the villagers worshipped Lady Leilani like a goddess. Her powers became known far and wide, and for this Inuyasha found himself battling bandits and demons, attempting to gain her powers for their use. Bandits also attacked the village for the storage of rice and grain.

The only person that was allowed to harness Lady Leilani's powers was the regional daimyo. This was only because Kagome knew her history and knew that this daimyo was responsible for great things and needed to stay in power.

The surrounding villages began growing and soon marketplaces were nearby. The little village also was growing, and with Lady Leilani's urging, the locals set up their own marketplace. Due to Lady Leilani's powerful animal and plant food, their marketplace began to flourish. On top of that, Lady Leilani encouraged the woman of the village to sell their wares and crafts. Inuyasha found a new market for his blown glass and Kagome for her pottery. In addition, she wove blankets and made sweet oils to sell. The village was definitely a different place.

Inuyasha, for his part, proved to be excellent tradesman and negotiator, much to Miroku's surprise. Still the hothead, however, the pups had learned to have a healthy respect for their father's anger, especially the older ones, for Inuyasha thought nothing of grabbing one by the throat and ordering them to obey him. The older boys also began finding their powers and out of fear that their demon blood might one day surface, Kagome created charm necklaces to protect them (she didn't want them wielding real swords yet). Kiyoshi, especially, needed to be protected. Being in Kagome's womb when she turned demon did affect him. He had the wild power of pyrokinesis, being able to set fires with the mere thought. Kagome quickly subdued that power until he was old enough to control it.

Izayoi proved to be every bit Inuyasha's daughter. Beautiful, wild and free, she feared nothing. One of the farmers owned a wild horse. Izayoi, disobeying her father's direct order, kept visiting the horse. Eventually, one day, she succeed in mounting him and riding him across the pasture, much to the farmer's shock as the horse would let no one near him. He tried to give the horse to Izayoi, but Inuyasha refused, since she had disobeyed him. But Inuyasha being Inuyasha and unable to stand his daughter's tears, eventually gave in.

Lily adored her older sister and followed in her every footsteps. She also had a disobedient streak in her. Kagome had been training her girls in archery ever since they could hold the bow. Both Izayoi and Lily were naturals. One winter, Lily quietly walked outside to gaze at the new fallen snow. She saw a deer in the yard and quietly turned around and got her mother's bow and an arrow. She cocked the bow and aimed and much to her shock the deer fell where he stood. She started screaming, "I did it! I did it!" at the top of her lungs, waking everybody in the house (as well as the village.)

When Inuyasha and Kagome saw what she had done, Inuyasha said to Kagome, "Do I hit her or hug her? She's not supposed to touch your bow but we can always use the food." Inuyasha spent the rest of that morning preparing the deer and placing it in the smokehouse.

Now the summer was here and they were having a good year. Plenty of rain, but not too much. Inuyasha's farm was filled with newborns, from calves, to piglets, lambs, chicks, ducklings, goslings and kids (as in goats). The crops were strong and hardy. The autumn market would bring in a good deal of money.

After finishing their chores, the children were off playing. Izayoi, Lily, Jasmine, Takuma, Kaito, and Uyeda were playing hide and seek. Lily was it and the others hid. Izayoi looked for a great place to hide and found herself by the bone-eater's well. Her father had ordered them never to play around or in the well. Not knowing why, and wondering what could be so wrong with an old dried up well, Izayoi climbed over the wall and jumped in.

Lily looked everywhere for her sister. Knowing it was cheating to use the nose, she tried unsuccessfully to find Izayoi. Hours later, when their mother called them all home, Lily ran to her mother.

"Mama! Mama! I can't find Izayoi! We was playing hide and seek and now I can't find her!", she said as she started crying.

"Don't worry, Lily, your father will find her. INUYASHA!", Kagome called out.

Inuyasha came to the front of the house, "What's up?"

"Izayoi is hiding again.", Kagome sighed.

"I'll find her," Inuyasha said as he began searching the ground with his nose.

Picking up her scent, Inuyasha started following, with Kagome close behind. As he came upon the old well, he stopped.

"What is it, Inuyasha? Why did you stop?", Kagome asked, her tone worried.

"Because this is where her scent stops. At the well." Inuyasha said, frowning.