Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Par Tout Autre Nom ❯ Open Eyes and Narrow Roads ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimers: Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho belong respectively to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi.

A/N: *laughing* Okay, Kazusa, I admit defeat. I'm having fun with this thing, and from all the sweet remarks I've gotten, it seems like people enjoy reading it too. I've even managed to confuse more than one person, so I haven't lost my touch, ne? *grins* Thank you, everyone, for saying so many lovely, lovely things to me, and I hope you all have as much fun with the rest of the story. *^___^*

~*~*~*~

By Any Other Name

~Open Eyes and Narrow Roads~

Souta groaned loudly, flopping down in the wooden patio chair as he stretched his arms up over his head to soothe his burning muscles, "I don't ever want to move again, even if I do like the food across the way better."

"The fault for this one is totally on you," Kagome snorted dryly, wincing slightly herself as she eased down across from him and nodded politely to accept the waiter's silent gesture with the teapot. She'd woken up in time to be pulling her own clothing back on when Shinju had come knocking to announce their return, breathing a grateful sigh of relief that she didn't have to explain that to Souta just yet.

Still, it had been difficult to pretend she wasn't still feeling the effects of her little stunt when she helped carry and move everything her little brother had deemed `bring-able,' "I barely had anything to take… you're the one with the houseload of crap that had to go up and down the stairs."

He stuck his tongue out at her, "Shinju said-"

"Shinju-sensei," Kagome corrected, arching one eyebrow in chastisement for the lack of proper title.

"But he's my age, and he's my nephew!" Souta protested, sputtering in the face of her unmoved expression. "Oh c'mon, Nee-san! How am I supposed to call him that when we've gotten drunk and gone clubbing together? Even if he is instructing me-"

"When you're blasted and hitting on girls, Souta, I'm sure it's fine, but you're going to have to learn to be respectful when the situation calls for it," she reached over and rested her hand on his, lowering her voice. "The way he has to remember to call me by name in public. Names and titles can important, Souta, don't forget that or you may unintentionally piss off someone too strong for you to kill on your own, or give away something you don't want overheard."

Souta blinked widely, his lips slowly curving up in a smile at being included in her way of thinking, feeling even more drawn in to her lifestyle with that simple instruction. He turned his hand over to grip hers, nodding once to show he understood her and that he fully intended to take it to heart, "Shinju-sensei said that if I'm to be properly trained, I may have to live at the temple for longer than I thought… and since he insisted we move in with him, why not bring it with me?"

"Because eventually it has to all go back," she reached up with her other hand and gave him a light, teasing swat. "Better work on your strength exercises if you don't want to be in worse shape the next time around. You don't know who'll be around to help out in a pinch, after all."

"You're just bragging because you managed to get all cool living there," he snorted with true adolescent arrogance. "If I had to go through that too, I'd be able to keep working just as long! You have an unfair advantage."

"It's a girl thing," Kagome couldn't resist teasing her brother, only managing to hold her bland expression until that earned her what she had come to associate as her brother's `pull the other one' face. "Okay, okay, but there really have been studies about that kind of thing. Endurance versus strength." She laughed even harder when that expression only got more pronounced, "Granted, living like I did will toughen you up more than most anything in this time. If it really bothers you that much, I can put you on my schedule, but-!" she held up a finger to warn him when his face lit up, "you won't like it as much as you think you will."

"Will I get stronger than you?" he arched an eyebrow, lifting his arms in the classic `strong man' pose. "Like buff and awesome?"

"You're a boy, Souta, the possibility isn't all that farfetched. I can almost guarantee you will," Kagome tapped him on the forehead. "Isn't that what they say about girls? They're weak?"

"Not that you're weak!" he hurried to assure her, his face showing panic at the thought that he'd somehow offended the one person he idolized so completely. "Just because you're a girl- I mean, and you-!"

"Baka, acknowledging your weakness is something you have to do if you want to survive in a real fight," she cut him off, leaning back and smiling as she murmured her thanks at the arrival of tea and menus. She waited patiently until the server had left them alone, sipping at her tea before she continued, "Don't put me up too high in that head of yours, brat, my fighting skills are good enough to keep me alive until I can use my power or until someone else took out the ones that were a bit too close. That's all. I'm a miko, not a fighter."

"But you're not bad at it," he shook his head, annoyed with what he saw as downplaying the skills he respected so greatly. "I've seen you practice with Shinju and- Shinju-sensei," he corrected before she could do more than open her mouth to remind him. "And he can't beat you."

"Shinju-chan has never been in a life or death fight," she reminded him gently. "No matter how much you train, there's a difference in the way you think, the way you move; you can always tell if you're facing an opponent who isn't afraid to kill you," her fingertips slowly trailed over the rim of her teacup, eyes unfocused as she tried to explain what came so naturally to her. "It's easy if you know what to look for, but you only learn by experience," she sighed, blinking to pull herself out of the past and smile at him.

"You can't teach me?" he frowned in confusion.

"No, I can't teach it to you," she pressed a finger to his lips when she saw his mouth open to protest. I can't teach you what it's like to know that a moment's hesitation will get you or someone you love killed. I don't want you to learn to fight that way.

Souta pouted slightly at the unbending tone in her voice, reaching up to rub his shoulder when it twinged uncomfortably, "That doesn't seem fair. If I can't learn it, doesn't that mean you'll always beat me?"

Kagome laughed and shook her head, "Not necessarily, Souta. It's not like I'd have to fight to kill against you… now stop sulking. You're going to have to train a lot harder if you want to even try getting close to that point."

He sighed and let his eyes wander around the little café, folding his arms behind his head while Kagome sipped her tea and obviously let her mind wander off where it would. Questions bounced around in his head at random, dying to make to his lips and hear answers, but he knew he had to word things carefully out in public.

They might have a rather dubious level of privacy with the light traffic of the post-dinner crowd, and their placement with outdoor dining in the cooler air, but they were still in a public place in view of anyone who passed by. He watched another couple go by before dropping his voice and getting her attention, "Nee-san… are you planning to try and go back?"

Kagome looked up, the sights and sounds around them fading away at the hesitation in his voice, the way he wouldn't quite meet her eyes. She blinked and lifted her hand to self consciously brush her fingertips down her sternum before she tried to answer him honestly, "I don't think I can."

Souta was quiet, sensing that this time, there was going to be more.

"I used to stare at it at night," her lips curved up in a humorless smile, reaching out to trace her fingertip around the rim of her cup in a slow circle. "After everyone was asleep, I would sit on the edge and search for the energy that made the portal, but it's gone now. I miss them… so much, Souta, but the jewel… What if it did take me? And I couldn't come back? I can't risk that when my life is here," she finished in a pained voice.

His hand lightly moved to stop the nervous gesture, lacing his fingers through hers comfortingly before he leaned close and whispered, "But you left a piece of your heart in Sengoku Jidai."

"More than one piece," her smile took on a melancholy edge, but she had managed to get herself back under control. "But there's not a single thing that I regret doing. Even knowing that I can never see what their lives became with my own eyes, or if Sango-chan ever had children of her own. No one deserved a big family more than they did, Souta."

For a moment he was at a loss as to what to say, eyes worried and uncertain by the way the color of her own dulled down to a deep grey, "You know… in my human physiology classes, we did research on things like that. Our instructor had a theory that men took other wives when their first choice couldn't get pregnant because something about keeping the girls together would make it easier for the other to actually conceive."

Kagome blinked in surprise, her expression almost comically stunned before her eyes sparkled with delight and she grinned, "Did you really study that?"

"Absolutely!" he assured her with complete confidence. "I bet if we ask Shinju-sensei, he'll show us that they had tons of kids after you had to go. Have you seen those records? They're in such amazing condition!"

A tingle of youki brushed the back of her awareness, bringing a frown of concentration to her face as that feeling started a suspicion, "I wonder if Sesshoumaru-sama had something to do with that…"

"Sesshoumaru…sama?" Souta's eyebrows shot up in surprise, remembering that name coming from her lips with a much different emotion behind it.

Kagome was nodding in a rather distracted way, tapping a finger to her lip as she tested how effectively she could pinpoint the focus of that youki, "I made a deal with him after he found one of my textbooks and wouldn't give it back. I told him I would let him borrow all of them if he watched Miroku and Sango-chan's bloodlines and helped them keep records."

He blinked in amazement, tilting his head and repeating, "Your textbooks?"

Kagome couldn't help but giggle slightly at the memory of bargaining with the impossibly elegant youkai, "Sesshoumaru-sama doesn't like anything happening that he doesn't know about. Once he knew I was from now, I turned into a source of information he would need to have eventually."

*"Sesshoumaru-sama, please?" Kagome clasped her hands together, unaffected by the aloof expression on his face while he looked over at Inuyasha growling and muttering under his breath. "I'll loan you all the books I have from my time, and you can do whatever you want with them-"

"You will meet with this Sesshoumaru and answer questions."

That was enough to shut Inuyasha up and snap his head around in automatic protest, "No fucking way! Sesshoumaru, can't you see she's too far along to go running around just because you suddenly got curious?"

"I did not say she would have to travel, hanyou," Sesshoumaru's brow kicked up arrogantly. "I will come, and she will answer my questions. Then I will not kill you."

Kagome could feel her lip twitch, lifting a hand to hide her smile as she bowed, distracting them from their staring match, "Thank you, Sesshoumaru-sama."

"Aw, Kagome, don't give into that shit!" Inuyasha nearly whined out, scowling when he caught the very faint upward tilt to his half brother's lips. "He won't go away if you tell him that!"

"You should learn to be so respectful to you betters, hanyou," Sesshoumaru turned his back on them and walked away, Kagome's geometry book tucked up securely under his arm. "This Sesshoumaru will return soon for a new book, miko."*

"Kagome!" Souta's raised voice snapped through her little retreat into her own mind, his face close to hers and eyes concerned.

She blinked, the glazed look fading away and the sounds slowly coming back into her awareness, "Oh…I… Oh. I'm sorry, Souta, I didn't think that would happen." I must be more tired than I thought if it was that easy to regress from feeling those youkai. "What did you say?"

"I said, I thought you hated him," he leaned back and frowned at her slightly. "He tried to kill you all the time, didn't he?"

"Only in the beginning," Kagome took a deep, cleansing breath and forced her mind to relax and leave the youkai alone before it started poking at them to feel their power. "And if I get technical, pretty much every youkai I know tried to kill me at first. Inuyasha, Kouga-kun, Sesshoumaru-sama… Hell, even Shippou-chan tried to knock me out the first time we met. I guess it was just a youkai thing… or maybe a human thing. Humans weren't much better. Everyone attacked everyone else if they thought they were threatening or suspicious."

Souta blinked at how matter-of-fact she was speaking about such violent things and suddenly burst out laughing, "It's going to be so hard to marry you off!"

Kagome nearly fell over, "W-what the-?! Where in the hells did this come from?"

He leaned close to her again, his smile smug and eyes more calculating then she ever wanted to see, "Well, you are my only chance for a big brother, and you're the one who told me that they'd want you to get on with your life and be happy. Doesn't that mean having a family of your own?"

It was the first time he'd ever managed to render her speechless, much less get just that expression on her face, and he couldn't stop himself from laughing outright while her mouth continued to open and close soundlessly.

Taking full advantage of her shock, he straightened his posture with a perfectly faked regal air and lifted his teacup to salute her as he continued, "See… the problem, Nee-san, is that you've done so much all ready. Who knows how many times you almost died; you had to fight to save the world; you had kids for your best friends… How are you ever going to find a guy who doesn't bore you to death?" he shook his head and tsked.

Kagome finally recovered enough to reach out and smack him over the head, cheeks flaming, "Mou! Even if I were planning to get married, which I'm not!" she poked him in the chest hard. "How do you know I wouldn't want someone mellow and predictable this time?"

"Uh-huh," Souta rolled his eyes, setting down his cup to fold his arms behind his head.

"It could happen," she protested, but her voice lacked conviction.

"Sorry, Nee-san, but you're going to have to find someone who blows you away," he reached over and poked her back the same way she'd done to him before he set that finger on the tip of his nose and nodded sagely, much to his sister's amusement. "What was it you said? Life or death situations? He'll have to be good in those, and he'll have to have just as many stories as you."

Kagome braced her chin up on her palm, really and truly laughing as she listened to him list his ideas, "Is that so?"
Souta nodded, kicking back in his chair until he was balancing on the back legs, "Someone pretty too. I mean, let's face it, I spent hours looking at the pictures you had, and you've seen some real knockouts, not just girls."

She bit her lip, snickering at the way he added that with a flick of his hand, "That's true."

"They've got to be strong enough that you can't wipe the floor with them all the time, and at least a little polite so you aren't yelling all the time," he rocked back and forth absently, his eyes trained up on the sky. "But you seem to like those guys who can get rude… Inu-nii-san wasn't exactly big on manners-"

"Good gods, Souta, how long have you been thinking about this?!" Kagome finally broke down and tried to sound indignant through her laughter, shoulders shaking from just how much she was holding in.

He pasted on his best hurt expression at being cut off before he could finish his little ramble, but at the same time, he couldn't help but puff up his chest at finally making her laugh like that again, "I have a list."

"Oh damn-"

"I started it when you were fifteen and figured out that I actually had a chance to get a cool brother-in-law," he finished despite the fact that she'd just dropped her head to her hands and was trying to unsuccessfully muffle her laughter with a napkin.

"Stop!" she begged between gasping breaths, tears streaming down her cheeks. "My ribs… my ribs can't take much more of this!"

"Oi, I'm being half serious, you know," he scolded, grinning widely when that sent her past the edge of speaking and into just waving her hands trying to get him to stop that way while she pressed the back of her hand hard to her mouth. This is the Kagome I remember… this is what she needs to be again.

~*~*~*~

Telling himself it was only her brother getting her to smile and laugh so freely wasn't helping to quiet the jealousy gnawing away at the restraint keeping him hidden in the shadows of his alley of choice. He could feel his lip curl up in a faint snarl of distaste, reached up to yank to the brim of his leather cap down to hide the way those emotions made his eyes gleam like ice. His eyes narrowed on them, gritting his teeth as he continued to watch them speak, oblivious to the attention they'd sparked around them.

He'd seen her space out for a moment, her gaze going a million miles away and the faint energy they'd learned to read as her personal aura fading away to nothing. It was a protection method, in case she wasn't in a safe area, but it made him long to step out of this damn alley and carry her back to the main house where these strangers couldn't see her so vulnerable.

Damn him for being so nonchalant about this! Takashima's hands clenched, biting down the growl in his throat and forcing himself to lean back against the bricks behind him. He can't possibly be as uncaring as he's trying to make us think! He's the one who pulled her in all the time.

A twinge of familiar ki flashed through him, drawing his eyes away to look across the street and into the fancier restaurant across the street. He pressed back into the shadows, finally letting his lips turn up in a full-blown snarl of distaste, No fucking way.

He glanced at Kagome and her brother nervously, relaxing when she didn't seem to be the least bit affected by being so close to the two youkai he'd been investigating not even a week ago. Why here? And why now? he slanted a look at the three men sitting to eat in front of the open window.

If he tried anything now, it'd only draw attention to himself, and the last thing he wanted was giving them an excuse to notice who he was hovering over so protectively. They'd already proven to be sensitive to other presences, even with his piece of the concealing stone, they'd noticed him more than once just in time for him to get out of sight. This time he wasn't so sure he would back down if they got close.

I have a bad feeling about this…

~*~*~*~

Fucking HELLS, Youko, this is getting ridiculous! Kurama hissed furiously, barely holding in his stoic expression through his internal rage when yet another girl had been vetoed before he'd so much as started to stand and approach her.

`I'll say,' Youko shot back just as irritably. `Why are we wasting time on this side when you're not going to do anything we want you to do? We aren't even getting sex out of all your attempts to find one, so I don't want to think of this right now. Take the pictures back from Hiei if you want to think of a girl that way, she's at least interesting, and we can see that she's pretty when she's sprawled out on her stomach-`

You perverted bastard! Kurama's jaw clenched, propping his chin up on his hand to hide his mouth while he tilted his head to let his bangs shield his eyes.

`You started it,' Youko mentally shrugged. `All this dating and whatnot and you haven't fucked a single one of them! That's just more than a little annoying, you un-aggressive pansy!'

SONOFABITCH-!

Calm down, Kurama, Hiei reached over and gripped his wrist, squeezing hard enough to break the shouting match in their head. It's not going to do you any good to lose your temper here just because you two can't agree on a girl.

`Yeah, so calm down before you give us wrinkles,' Youko's voice took on a patronizing edge that made Kurama wish even more fervently that he could figure out a way to separate that part of his mind long enough to strangle the kitsune. `Why do we even need a baby, anyway? I know your mother would like grandchildren, but it's going to take after us completely… do you really want to try and pass a hanyou off as a human?'

Right now, Youko, I would have Hiei's fucking baby myself if it were physically possible! Kurama snarled out with barely leashed violence. Since it's not, can we find a goddamn girl and GET ON WITH IT!! There has to be one… Give me ONE girl that interests you so we can be done with this!

Hiei was blinking in amazement at the outburst in Kurama's head, knowing from the heavy silence that he'd managed to shock Youko with that completely astonishing reaction as well. Apparently the stress of trying to juggle some sort of personal life with the rest of their lives was seriously affecting his friend…

Youko let out a grunt, backing down from the argument but giving off every arrogant feel and impression he could manage to save face for giving in while he took over turning their head around to scan for one girl he could stand impregnating.

Youko… Kurama started to hiss when he turned to glance outside and start searching the girls outside.

`Hang on, hang on, I'm looking,' Youko assured him, smoothing his hands down over Kurama's soul in a practice caress to settle him down. `I don't like any of the girls in here, so I'm looking outside, all right? I'll find one.'

Hiei wasn't sure what to think of the two of them being so quiet and purposefully trying to keep him out of their head, but he retracted his hand when Kurama seemed to settle down. If still not to his usual relaxation level, it was enough to satisfy him that the restaurants plants weren't going to suddenly go wild and eat the diners in response to the emotional fluctuations Kurama was giving off. It was a legitimate concern given that Yuusuke was even giving the kitsune suspicious looks now and then, trying to hide it behind his beer before his eyes clashed with Hiei's carefully bland look and slanted away.

Kurama was just about to brush off the comforting strokes from his other side when the pedestrians outside managed to move just enough for them to have a straight shot across the street, attention caught and held by the graceful hand cupping a young man's face, That's-?

`We've seen those hands,' Youko sat up, ignoring the silent questions from his companions as he scowled at the humans blocking the owner of that appendage. `The temple… that girl watching the investigator from the doorway.'

The traffic shifted again, finally baring both occupants of the table to their unblinking eyes and sending an abrupt jolt through him at the chill that snaked down their spine. He followed the hand as it left the boy's skin, unconsciously tightening his hand on the table in reflex as it moved back and caught the thick portion of glossy black hair falling over her shoulder to push it back behind her ear. The second she twisted and gave him a clear look at her face, he knew he made a sound, at least… he thought he had… Hiei had gone stiff, so it had to be something.

But he recognized that face, eyes flashing as the images from their accidentally recovered photographs snapped through his mind one on top of the other, imposed with the brief sight of her face set in somber determination in the doorway with her hand resting on the shoji.

Hiei's ghost, Kurama murmured softly, suddenly aware of every beat their heart made in their chest. This… is this coincidence?

`That one,' Youko's crisp command jolted Kurama back to himself, taking over control of their movements again with a tingling shiver of kitsune instinct. `You want a human girl, we all want answers about the empty thing… What's the silly human saying? Two birds with one stone?' Kurama felt their body heat as Youko's imagination kicked into high gear, `I can think of a million things that I want to do with those pretty little hands.'

You want her? Fine, Kurama was on his feet and walking with single-minded purpose, completely ignoring the questions from his friend as he maneuvered around the tables to the door.

Kurama? What the hell has gotten into you? Hiei glanced out the window, brows lowering in a scowl when he saw the young boy laughing across the way with what he assumed was a girl… it was hard to tell with her face hidden in her hands. You're intending to approach a girl on a date already? Get back here and eat, she's with someone.

I don't care, Kurama yanked open the door hard enough that it smacked against the wall with a bang, setting his jaw against the way Youko became even more adamant about having that particular girl at the thought of stealing her from a little human boy.

What are you planning? Hiei got to his feet, pausing enough to wave off Yuusuke's question before he hurried to catch up with Kurama's longer stride. He wasn't exactly sure what he intended to do either, but still… better to be there to have the option rather than watching from across the street.

I'm going to get a baby, he gritted out as though that should have been obvious. Youko likes this one, so this is who it's going to be.

`Finally, you're acting the right way!' Youko's surprise changed to delight in a heartbeat at the unbending resolve in Kurama's focus. `THIS is how we're supposed to think, Kurama! We see, we want, we take. It's really that simple, or do you think we would have our kind of reputation any other way?'

Hiei's eyes widened slightly, speeding up but still trying to hold a human pace to prevent attracting attention, You're losing it, Fox. You know this is going to start trouble… is it worth all that?

Peace in my own fucking head? You bet your ass it's worth it, Kurama lithely sidestepped the pedestrians blocking the path to his chosen prey, making sure the street was clear before he started across it.

`And sex,' Youko added impatiently, prowling around his boundaries in his growing eagerness to be their dominant persona for just such a thing. `We've been doing this too long without any compensation, so this time we're going to at least get a good fuck out of the deal.'

And sex, Kurama agreed in a low growl, stunning Hiei into momentary stillness at hearing them both in accord in that regard.

Shit, this isn't going to be pretty, Hiei gritted his teeth and rushed to catch up with Kurama again, still not exactly sure what he was going to do to stop him in this state of mind, but prepared to step in before it turned into a scene.