Categories > Anime/Manga > Inuyasha > Okaeri
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and associated characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.
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Chapter 21
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“Let me get you inside, and introduce you to my family, Shippou-chan,” said Kagome, smiling. The kit had recognized the shrine itself, but now was looking a little shell-shocked and tired as he took in all the additional outbuildings and changes to the property. Shippou was craning his head as he followed her, and not watching very closely where they were going as she shifted direction towards her house. She half turned to guide him, and suddenly realized that they were alone. Inuyasha had disappeared.
“Inuyasha?” she said uncertainly, glancing around the courtyard. She reached out with that other sense and tried to detect his youki—and it was racing away down the street, back to the kitsune door.
“INUYASHA!” she yelled, incensed now. “I told you not to leave without me!” Her voice echoed in the dim, empty courtyard, and there was no response. “Jerk!” she muttered, as she stared down at the street, hands on her hips. His youki abruptly disappeared from her ‘radar.’
Shippou had stopped, and followed her gaze down the steps. “Well, Inuyasha never did say he would bring you back,” he said mildly, and shrugged. “He said it was safe here. That’s probably all the dummy could think about when he saw where the door went.”
“He still shouldn’t have dumped us here and ran,” she said, annoyed. “Well, I can still go get another bow and some arrows, and we can go back to the door.” She looked down at him thoughtfully. “If the door is closed, you can open it, right, Shippou-chan?”
“Of course!” he said, and then looked uncertain. “I think.”
“Come on,” she said, turning back to the house. “My mother and grandfather might still be up; you’ll like them. Well, my mom, probably. And we can grab something to eat, too.”
Shippou brightened. “Ninja food?”
“Maybe. I hope there’s some real food…maybe leftovers.”
She led the way to the front door of the house; it was mostly dark, though the lights were on in the kitchen. She slid the door open and stepped inside, shedding her shoes in the entryway. “Tadaima!” she called softly when she opened the interior door.
From all the way back in the kitchen, she heard her mother’s startled voice. “Kagome! Okaeri nasai!” A chair creaked and Kagome heard her slippers shifting on the floor.
Giving Shippou an encouraging grin, she crept through the hall towards the kitchen. They passed the living room; in it, Jii-chan was asleep in front of the television, snoring. The light flickered over his face, and the volume had been lowered to a buzzing whisper.
“What’s that, Kagome?” asked Shippou, glancing at the shifting light from the television and the old man locked in its hypnotic grip.
“I’ll explain later. That’s my grandfather. Let's keep quiet and let him sleep,” she whispered.
Mama met them at the door to the kitchen. “Kagome, dear, I’m glad you’re home finally,” she said softly. “I got a phone call from the Tokozawa Shrine that you were all right, but no details. Look at your clothes! Are you all right? What happened to Michiko? And who’s this?” She smiled warmly down at Shippou, who looked up at her with some uncertainty.
“I’m okay. It’s all a long story, Michiko’s going to be fine. I’ll tell you later.” Kagome knelt down to put areassuring arm around the kit’s tiny shoulders. “This is Shippou-chan, Mama. One of my friends from the feudal age. How he got here is another long story, but he’s safe here now, with us. Shippou-chan, this is my mother.”
Mama’s eyes widened in astonishment, but she recovered herself and smiled in delight at the fox kit. She sat on her heels to look him in the eye.“Shippou-chan, welcome to our house! Please make yourself at home.”
Shippou stammered a greeting, looked a little overwhelmed. Kagome gave him alittle squeeze, and got up. “Is there anything left over from dinner, Mama? We both need to eat something, and I have to go back out.”
“Certainly, dear. Where’s Inuyasha?” Mama asked, looking past her down the darkened hall.
“Hmph. He dropped us off and went back.” They walked into the kitchen, the air of which still held a ghostly hint of dinner. Kagome’s stomach rumbled, and she cast her eyes longingly to the refrigerator.“There’s still some trouble going on, which is why I’m not staying.”
“Oh dear. Nothing serious, I hope,” Mama frowned at Kagome, now seeing the extent of her tattered and bruised state in the better light. “Are you sure you’re all right, Kagome? What’s going on?”
Kagome sighed. “I’m tired, but I can’t rest now. The demon that was possessing Michiko is loose, so we’re trying to stop it before it does any more damage.”
“Loose?” Mama had hastened to get out some containers of leftovers to warm up, but now paused and looked back at her. “What about the house you went to exorcise?”
“Uh, the house isn’t cursed anymore,” Kagome mumbled, reaching into the refrigerator for a couple of sodas. Shippou snorted at that as he scrutinized the stove, and then the table and chairs. “The loose demon is a much bigger problem, and we’ve got to find it.”
“I imagine so. Well, let me warm something up for you,” Mama said firmly, and turned back to her preparations. “Shippou-chan, do you like tofu?”
That got his wandering attention, and he responded with enthusiasm. Mama had surely noticed the tail, and must have remembered that he was akitsune from the stories Kagome had brought home. He did like tofu, the preparation of which hadn’t changed much in the last few hundred years, and ought to comfort him.
The strangeness of his surroundings had hardly seemed to faze him, or dissuade him from exploring them. Right now, he had hopped up on one of the chairs, examining some oddments on top of the table. “Hey Kagome, is this what I think it is?” he asked.
Kagome turned with the sodas and frowned, finally noticing the mess, very out of the ordinary in her mother’s otherwise spotless kitchen. And a close analogue to perhaps the only thing Shippou might have seen, out of all the appliances and modernities in the room.
“A gun,” she said in answer. “What’s that doing there?” she asked her mother.
The rifle they had found, the one that had belonged to her great-grandfather, was disassembled and its pieces arranged on newspaper covering most of the kitchen table. A small area had been cleared, where Mama had evidently been sitting and drinking some tea.
“One of Jii-chan’s other shrine association friends came by while you were out, and took him off to the shooting range Inbe-san was talking about. Apparently the gun works perfectly.” Mama glanced over at the rifle parts cluttering her table, lips pursed in disapproval. “I wish he had cleaned up that mess before sitting down to watch television.” She had made quick work of warming up the leftovers in the microwave, and was deftly dishing them out into bowls.
Shippou leaned over and looked at the rifle stock curiously, not distracted even when Kagome set down one of the cans of soda in front of him.“It looks a lot like one of those Tanegashima things, but different,” he commented. “Why is it taken apart like that?”
Mama handed him a pair of chopsticks and a steaming mixed bowl of tofu, rice, and vegetables, which did distract him. “Jii-chan took it apart to clean it. Again.” She reached for another bowl with asigh. “I hate to wake him up, but I don’t want this to be on the table at breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“I told you, I’ll clean it up,” came a grumpy voice from the hallway, just as Mama was handing Kagome a hot bowl of delicious-smelling leftovers. Jii-chan appeared in the doorway, heavy lidded and rubbing his face. “It will only take a minute to put back together— Kagome!” His face lit as he saw her, and then froze in consternation as he took in the sight of the small kitsune child sitting next to her at the table. Shippou was shoveling food into his mouth at speed even as he lifted his eyes to stare up at the newcomer. His tail plainly dangled over the edge of the chair.
“YOUKAI!” Jii-chan shouted, whipping out ofuda with astonishing swiftness for abarely-awake old man, and flung one at Shippou.
The kit had gaped for a split second, then acted, evidently taking the threat of Jii-chan at face value. With a sudden pop the kitchen was crowded with a multitude of Shippou look-alikes, each of them running in circles and clutching a bowl, with identical expressions of distress. “KAGOME!” they wailed over and over dissonantly. Mama covered her mouth in alarm, her eyes attempting to follow this or that Shippou as it darted around the room.
Kagome grimaced, setting down her bowl quickly and getting up. Jii-chan was staring and utterly befuddled by this kitsune trick, but before the old man could recover and add more to the chaos, she decided that she’d better straighten thewhole mess out.
"A whole nest of them!" he gasped. "We're being overrun!" As he prepared to fling several ofuda, she grabbed his hand, and he focused on her in surprise.
“Jii-chan!Shippou-chan’s my friend! Remember, I told you about him? You leave him alone!” She looked back over her shoulder, trying to figure out which was the real kit. The noise was giving her aheadache. “Shippou-chan, can you turn those off? He won’t hurt you.”
“Is it okay, Kagome?” said one of the kits, a distrustful expression on his face. “He could still get me.”
“He got you the first time, Shippou-chan, and it’s not doing you any harm. Look at your tail.” Indeed, there was an ofuda stuck to his tail, as the kit was dismayed to discover. He batted at it frantically until it fell off.
“But those are kitsune, Kagome!” Jii-chan pointed at first one, then another of the gradually diminishing number of Shippou duplicates in the room, and then gave up in frustration. “How do you know it’s not a trick? How can it be a friend of yours from the other world?”
“This is definitely our friend—Inuyasha could tell you too,” she said, looking down at the last, and real, Shippou. He was huddled against the back of her legs, staring up warily at the old priest, but did not protest when she picked him up and brought them face to face. “This is my grandfather, Shippou-chan. Jii-chan, please welcome him. He’s going to stay with us too.”
“/Another/demon in my house!” Jii-chan glared at them both, but then softened slightly at Kagome’s pleading expression, and perhaps also at the sight of the nervous child in her arms. “Oh, very well. What’s one more?” he huffed, and stalked over to the table, and began assembling the pieces of the rifle. “He can’t eat as much as that Inuyasha boy, anyway.”
Mama gave them both a wink behind Jii-chan’s back, and handed Kagome her bowl when she set the kit back down. Shippou had never let go of his, and proceeded to wolf down what was left.
Kagome sat down with the food, eating mechanically as she let her mind forgeahead now that the domestic crisis was settled. Once she had finished eating, she could go back to the kitsune door. Inuyasha should surely be able to handle Soen, but still, she’d feel better once she had a bow in her hand and was on her way back to stand with him. She was trying to think of away to have Shippou open the kitsune door for her and yet stop him from following her, when her grandfather interrupted her thoughts. He got up with the rifle, now neatly reassembled.
“I thought I heard you say you were going back out, Kagome. You can take this, I’m sure it will be quite effective against wayward youkai,” Jii-chan said with a proud smile.
“Um,” Kagome stalled as she stared at the gun. “I don’t know how to use that, Jii-chan. I really would rather use a bow. I was going to ask you if we had another one left.”
Jii-chan looked puzzled. “What happened to the one you took with you?” For the first time he seemed to notice that she was bedraggled and dirty. “What happened to /you/, Kagome?”
She sighed and set the bowl down. “Round one. Michiko is no longer possessed, but the demon is out on the run, and we have to catch it. I lost the bow and the arrows, so I need another set.”
He shook his head. “That was the last bow, Kagome. I can probably find some more arrows, but without a bow they won’t be much good.” He held out the rifle. “If you’re going out, you should definitely take this. It worked well for my father,” he added meaningfully. "Many a demon fell to this weapon."
When she paused uncertainly, he brought the rifle to his shoulder, pointing it at the wall. “Look. This is how you aim. The sight is here,” he pointed, “you make sure the safety is off, here,” and again he pointed, “and then you squeeze the trigger to fire.” He put the rifle in her unresisting hands, slinging the strap over one shoulder. It was quite heavy. “I got you plenty of ammunition—you load the clip in here, and slide the bolt closed.” He demonstrated with a clip of actual bullets, and made sure the safety was on, before stepping back with asatisfied smile. “There! All loaded and ready to go.”
Kagome looked down at the rifle she was gingerly holding, and then back up at him. She didn’t want anything to do with this thing. It felt dangerous just to be in the same room with a loaded gun, let alone having it in her hands! “Jii-chan, I think this is a bad idea.”
“Nonsense.” He stepped forward with a small canvas bag, and slung it over her other shoulder. “This is the ammunition. The rifle is very easy to use, and much more effective than arrows.”
“But Jii-chan,” she began, but he waved her off.
“You’ll be fine, Kagome.” He smiled again, then turned to Mama, who was looking very concerned at the sight of her daughter with such adangerous item. “Is there any food left? The boy isn’t here, so there should be some.”
Mama turned with a sigh to spoon him up some of the leftovers, leaving abemused Kagome to examine the gun again. Shippou sidled up, looking at it admiringly.
“I never got to see those Tanegashima guns up close. Is this one better, Kagome?” he asked, sniffing at it and then sneezing suddenly from the machine oil smell.
“I guess so. I don’t know much about these, Shippou-chan. Don’t touch it,” she added warningly as he reached a curious hand to the barrel. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Shippou withdrew his hand as he looked at it thoughtfully. “If it doesn’t work as well as a bow for you, Kagome, I can take abow’s shape—remember? You would just need some arrows.”
She frowned at him. “But I wanted you to stay here where it’s safe,” she said. “Soen’s dangerous.”
He crossed his arms, and gave her a disdainful look. “I’m not staying here while you go off alone, especially when that moron went off without us.” Shippou gave her a sly grin. “Besides, you need me to open the door.”
“Shippou-chan—” she began, frustrated.
“/Who/went off without you?” said an irritable voice. Kagome turned around gratefully, forgetting her earlier anger.
“Inuyasha!I’m so glad you came back!” she said, as he emerged from the dark of the hallway. His hands were folded in his sleeves as he paused, his face stony as he took in the scene in the kitchen. Mama beamed in relief when she saw him.
“Oh, good, Inuyasha. I’m so glad you’re here. Are you hungry?” She hovered over what remained of the leftovers.
“No, I'm not hungry,” he muttered, frowning at Mama. He turned to glower at Kagome. “Let’s go. We need to go find that demon.”
“Uh, all right.” She slung the gun awkwardly over her shoulder, trying to avoid banging it into the bag with the ammunition. “Are we going back to Kyoto? If the door’s closed, Shippou-chan says he can open it.”
"Eh?" Jii-chan looked up from his bowl. "Kyoto?"
“I’m going with you anyways, Kagome,” Shippou said with a rebellious glance up at Inuyasha, who glared at him.
“You’re staying here, Shippou. It’s safe here.”
Something odd passed across Inuyasha’s face as he said that, and Kagome began to look closer, puzzled, when her grandfather exclaimed, “You are absolutely not going to Kyoto, Kagome!”
“Huh?” She turned to look at Jii-chan. “It's not what you think. We’ve got a quick way to get there, Jii-chan—”
“You’re not going.” He frowned at her fiercely, eyebrows bristling.“There’s some kind of terrorist attack going on there now! It’s all over the news!”
“Terrorists?” she mumbled, suddenly feeling cold.
“I hope it’s not those cultists again,” Jii-chan grumbled.“Ridiculous. Attacking the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night—I suppose they're not content to just use poison gas in the subways. Now it's poison gas and explosions!” He peered at her. “You are definitely not going there!”
“We’re not going to Kyoto,” snapped Inuyasha suddenly, with a sharp glance at Jii-chan. “Come on, Kagome. Shippou, you’re staying.” He turned and headed down the hallway towards the front door.
She stumbled after him, clumsy under the unfamiliar weight of the rifle, but detoured into the living room for a look at the muted television. She stopped and stared at the images, and the crawl of information across the bottom of the newscast. The footage was live, obviously taken from the air, and from the looks of it, from a very safe distance.
The Imperial Palace was horribly damaged. Parts of the roof were gone, as was whole sections of the walls. Spotlights from helicopters pitilessly illuminated the leafless, blackened trees, the damage to the other buildings in the complex, and there was damage to the buildings and grounds outside the walls of the complex, too. An obscuring haze of some kind drifted over the ground, and a wide shot revealed it had spread as far as the river.
“Oh, no,” she whispered. The news alert flashing at the bottom of the screen advised that the area was being evacuated, and there was an unknown number of casualties.
Inuyasha appeared out of the dark of the hall, and paused in the opening to the living room. “Come on." He glanced at the television, his brows drawn, and then back to her. “Now, Kagome.”
She nodded, numb, and followed him as he headed back to the front door. She waited until they were both outside before she burst out, “What/happened/? Did you get back over there, and she attacked?”
Inuyasha kept walking, heading for the front steps of the shrine. He glanced at her over his shoulder, his eyes in shadow. “Yes. And then she escaped back here. Only I was able to follow, but I couldn’t catch her.” He stopped at the head of the stairs, facing outwards. “She must have headed for the Emperor.” He looked out at the vast city of Tokyo, from their vantage point asprawling, glittering mass. “Tell me where he is, Kagome, and I’ll follow her. You won’t need to go, you can stay safe here. Just point me in the right direction.”
Kagome held very still. Why would Inuyasha need her to tell him where the Emperor was? He could track Soen by scent. And if Soen really was in Tokyo, would he even have stopped here, after making a point of leaving her somewhere safe?
Inuyasha had not touched her, so far. Had avoided touch, kept his hands in his sleeves. If he was in that much of a hurry, he would have grabbed her and dragged her out, or slung her to his back and gone off without such niceties as repeating himself that they had to go. She extended her senses to his youki.
It wasn’t his at all.
Kagome stepped back, slowly, keeping her eyes on the figure that stood there, waiting for an answer. It turned around to stare at her. Then that familiar face smiled, a very uncharacteristic smile. It was alittle sad, a little tired.
“I would have left you alone, had you told me.” The features blurred and thinned to that of a young girl. The white hair, the golden eyes, shifted and darkened to black, the red robes faded and changed to a kimono, delicately patterned with white cherry blossoms on a spring green background. “You protect Shippou. I had to see..." She stared toward the house, her expression unreadable, and then glanced back to Kagome. "I’m still willing to leave you, and your family, unharmed,” and now she grinned, showing sharp white teeth, “provided you tell me where the Emperor is.”
“So you can kill him?” Kagome asked. Where is Inuyasha? Is he all right?She struggled to keep calm. It was pointless to try to withdraw, so she stood her ground, facing the kitsune. Soen appeared to be only about thirteen or fourteen years old, so slight, so young. Not evil at all, unless you looked into the too-old, flat blackness of her eyes. What had happened to her, to make her this way? “The Emperor is a good person. He’s never done anything to you. Or your family. Do you know how long ago all that happened?”
Soen merely stared at her with narrowed eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I will have my blood revenged.”
“It’s been a /thousand years/, Soen,” said Kagome gently. “The people who hurt you have been dead that long. The Minamoto are /gone/. They don’t exist as a clan any more. Most of the old clans are gone. A lot can happen in that span of time.”
“As long as there is an emperor, the bloodline exists,” said Soen dismissively. “And I will have my vengeance. There is no other point to my existence, otherwise.”
Was that a hint of weariness, there? Kagome pressed on. “But there can be, Soen. You could forget all this. Go live your life, start over. There isn’t a point in pursuing revenge against the dead, when all you can do is kill the innocent.”
“There are no innocent!” Soen snarled, startling Kagome, who stepped back. In the blink of an eye, the kitsune had transformed from a petite girl to the taller form, clad in a formal black kimono, that she had appeared as in the hospital, and at the house. The difference now was the rage twisting the white face.
“I have no kin, and neither shall they have any descendants.” She stepped closer to Kagome, the black eyes fixed on her. “Enough talk. Tell me where to find the Emperor, or this entire hill drowns in miasma, your family with it.”
“And Shippou too?” Kagome asked harshly, fumbling the unfamiliar rifle around to point at Soen. The demon blinked, then narrowed her eyes again.
“I’ll just start with you, then, and extract Shippou when you’re dead. He should be with his own kind anyway. I’m sure your mother or grandfather, or perhaps that little boy upstairs, will be willing to tell me where the Emperor’s quarters are.” She grinned, again showing her teeth, as she brought her hands up, contemptuously ignoring the weapon in Kagome’s hands.
“You leave her alone!” From out of nowhere Shippou appeared and barreled into Soen from the side, knocking her off balance. The older kitsune turned with an angry grunt and swung a backhanded blow at the kit, but missed. Shippou growled at her as he dodged, tiny fangs bared.
“Stay out of this, Shippou,” Soen hissed. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’ll knock you out if I have to.”
“Some friend you are!” Shippou panted, furious. “What makes you any better than those Minamoto you go on about?”
Kagome had jumped back, and fumbled the safety off the rifle, praying she was doing it right.
“Shippou!” she yelled. “Get away from her!” She brought the heavy weapon to her shoulder, feeling awkward, and pointed it at Soen. Shippou scampered back to stand at Kagome’s side, growling angrily.
Soen stared at him, her face blank, and then looked up to sneer at Kagome.“Those Tanegashima devices are useless against me, girl. Without your mongrel, you are nothing.” She raised a hand and slashed it forward, a whip of power appearing as she did so. “Die.”
Kagome flinched, but a dome of pure power sprung up at her will, covering both her and Shippou. The whip sparked against the barrier harmlessly. Soen stopped and considered it for a moment, then smiled.
“Well, since Shippou is safe with you, I guess I’ll go get one of your family members to tell me all about the Emperor.” Faster than Kagome would have thought possible, she darted around the barrier, and towards the house.
“/No!”/Kagome screamed. /Not Mama! Not Jii-chan, not Souta! /She reached out instinctively and focused her will again. A second barrier, enormous, snapped into existence around the house, just as Soen reached it. Please don't let them come out-- don't let them hear-- Then the kitsune crashed into it, and shrieked as the power burned her—Kagome saw the barrier spark and flare, but hold.
Soen backed away, hissing, and swiped at the barrier with claws extended, again and again. Kagome hardened her will. That monster was not getting to her family. She became conscious that her hands, gripping the gun, were white-knuckled. She had forgotten that she even had aweapon in her hand. Her focus had narrowed to maintaining the two shields.
Beside her, Shippou stared at Soen flailing at the barrier, and then glanced up at her. “Are you okay, Kagome?” he asked anxiously.
“So far,” she answered, trying to maintain concentration. Sweat was trickling down the back of her neck, down between her shoulder blades. The blows were getting harder, and Soen was slowly transforming as she watched, into a large, golden fox. With a shriek the fox scrabbled at the barrier, then turned around to face her, panting. Then she charged, and was on top of them before Kagome could draw a single breath.
Soen slammed into the smaller dome with tremendous power, and it shuddered as Kagome reeled from the force of the impact. Soen rose into the sky, and dove down to strike at it again with a forepaw, and again the barrier weakened.
Kagome was scared. Scared for herself, scared for Shippou, cowering next to her, scared for her family. Scared for the city and the Emperor. Wherever Inuyasha was, it didn’t look like he could help them this time, and she was scared for him too. Through her barrier she stared up at the mad creature that was preparing another pass, and realized she had one more chance to save them.
Straining to bring the rifle up, she pointed it at the fox bearing down on them. She held the thought of her great-grandfather, whose weapon this had been. “Please hit,” she breathed, and squeezed the trigger.
The night exploded in light and noise. From her viewpoint, there was ablast of her own purifying energy right in front of her as it hit Soen. The gun kicked strongly against her shoulder; unprepared, she was knocked down, even as her eyes stayed locked on the result of her action.
“Kagome?” Shippou’s voice sounded frightened, but she didn’t spare him a look.
Soen lay twitching and scrabbling on the white gravel of the courtyard, half of her face and part of her neck and shoulder gone. Incredibly, she shoved herself to her feet, to wobble there and glare at Kagome with the one eye she had left.
“How dare you.” The words came bubbling and indistinct out of the ruin of her mouth. She staggered a step forward.
Kagome realized her barrier was down, and snapped it back up, feeling very unsteady herself. Scrambling to her feet, she raised the gun again, and pointed it at the youkai.
Soen snarled, and abruptly they were plunged into complete darkness. Kagome panicked, and fired the gun where she had last seen the kitsune. She was better prepared for the kick and the noise this time, and watched the trail of the bullet flare to life, as brightly as any arrow she had ever launched. In its wake, the inky darkness was dispelled, and again she could see the courtyard, the shrine, the house in the dim electric light. Shippou pressed against her, afierce scowl on his face as he scanned the courtyard.
But Soen was gone.
TBC
A/N: Many thanks once again to Soutassister for the beta!
Glossary:
/tadaima/: "I'm home"
/okaeri nasai/:"Welcome home"
/Tanegashima/: matchlock rifles, named after the island where in 1543 Portuguese sailors introduced guns to Japan.
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Chapter 21
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“Let me get you inside, and introduce you to my family, Shippou-chan,” said Kagome, smiling. The kit had recognized the shrine itself, but now was looking a little shell-shocked and tired as he took in all the additional outbuildings and changes to the property. Shippou was craning his head as he followed her, and not watching very closely where they were going as she shifted direction towards her house. She half turned to guide him, and suddenly realized that they were alone. Inuyasha had disappeared.
“Inuyasha?” she said uncertainly, glancing around the courtyard. She reached out with that other sense and tried to detect his youki—and it was racing away down the street, back to the kitsune door.
“INUYASHA!” she yelled, incensed now. “I told you not to leave without me!” Her voice echoed in the dim, empty courtyard, and there was no response. “Jerk!” she muttered, as she stared down at the street, hands on her hips. His youki abruptly disappeared from her ‘radar.’
Shippou had stopped, and followed her gaze down the steps. “Well, Inuyasha never did say he would bring you back,” he said mildly, and shrugged. “He said it was safe here. That’s probably all the dummy could think about when he saw where the door went.”
“He still shouldn’t have dumped us here and ran,” she said, annoyed. “Well, I can still go get another bow and some arrows, and we can go back to the door.” She looked down at him thoughtfully. “If the door is closed, you can open it, right, Shippou-chan?”
“Of course!” he said, and then looked uncertain. “I think.”
“Come on,” she said, turning back to the house. “My mother and grandfather might still be up; you’ll like them. Well, my mom, probably. And we can grab something to eat, too.”
Shippou brightened. “Ninja food?”
“Maybe. I hope there’s some real food…maybe leftovers.”
She led the way to the front door of the house; it was mostly dark, though the lights were on in the kitchen. She slid the door open and stepped inside, shedding her shoes in the entryway. “Tadaima!” she called softly when she opened the interior door.
From all the way back in the kitchen, she heard her mother’s startled voice. “Kagome! Okaeri nasai!” A chair creaked and Kagome heard her slippers shifting on the floor.
Giving Shippou an encouraging grin, she crept through the hall towards the kitchen. They passed the living room; in it, Jii-chan was asleep in front of the television, snoring. The light flickered over his face, and the volume had been lowered to a buzzing whisper.
“What’s that, Kagome?” asked Shippou, glancing at the shifting light from the television and the old man locked in its hypnotic grip.
“I’ll explain later. That’s my grandfather. Let's keep quiet and let him sleep,” she whispered.
Mama met them at the door to the kitchen. “Kagome, dear, I’m glad you’re home finally,” she said softly. “I got a phone call from the Tokozawa Shrine that you were all right, but no details. Look at your clothes! Are you all right? What happened to Michiko? And who’s this?” She smiled warmly down at Shippou, who looked up at her with some uncertainty.
“I’m okay. It’s all a long story, Michiko’s going to be fine. I’ll tell you later.” Kagome knelt down to put areassuring arm around the kit’s tiny shoulders. “This is Shippou-chan, Mama. One of my friends from the feudal age. How he got here is another long story, but he’s safe here now, with us. Shippou-chan, this is my mother.”
Mama’s eyes widened in astonishment, but she recovered herself and smiled in delight at the fox kit. She sat on her heels to look him in the eye.“Shippou-chan, welcome to our house! Please make yourself at home.”
Shippou stammered a greeting, looked a little overwhelmed. Kagome gave him alittle squeeze, and got up. “Is there anything left over from dinner, Mama? We both need to eat something, and I have to go back out.”
“Certainly, dear. Where’s Inuyasha?” Mama asked, looking past her down the darkened hall.
“Hmph. He dropped us off and went back.” They walked into the kitchen, the air of which still held a ghostly hint of dinner. Kagome’s stomach rumbled, and she cast her eyes longingly to the refrigerator.“There’s still some trouble going on, which is why I’m not staying.”
“Oh dear. Nothing serious, I hope,” Mama frowned at Kagome, now seeing the extent of her tattered and bruised state in the better light. “Are you sure you’re all right, Kagome? What’s going on?”
Kagome sighed. “I’m tired, but I can’t rest now. The demon that was possessing Michiko is loose, so we’re trying to stop it before it does any more damage.”
“Loose?” Mama had hastened to get out some containers of leftovers to warm up, but now paused and looked back at her. “What about the house you went to exorcise?”
“Uh, the house isn’t cursed anymore,” Kagome mumbled, reaching into the refrigerator for a couple of sodas. Shippou snorted at that as he scrutinized the stove, and then the table and chairs. “The loose demon is a much bigger problem, and we’ve got to find it.”
“I imagine so. Well, let me warm something up for you,” Mama said firmly, and turned back to her preparations. “Shippou-chan, do you like tofu?”
That got his wandering attention, and he responded with enthusiasm. Mama had surely noticed the tail, and must have remembered that he was akitsune from the stories Kagome had brought home. He did like tofu, the preparation of which hadn’t changed much in the last few hundred years, and ought to comfort him.
The strangeness of his surroundings had hardly seemed to faze him, or dissuade him from exploring them. Right now, he had hopped up on one of the chairs, examining some oddments on top of the table. “Hey Kagome, is this what I think it is?” he asked.
Kagome turned with the sodas and frowned, finally noticing the mess, very out of the ordinary in her mother’s otherwise spotless kitchen. And a close analogue to perhaps the only thing Shippou might have seen, out of all the appliances and modernities in the room.
“A gun,” she said in answer. “What’s that doing there?” she asked her mother.
The rifle they had found, the one that had belonged to her great-grandfather, was disassembled and its pieces arranged on newspaper covering most of the kitchen table. A small area had been cleared, where Mama had evidently been sitting and drinking some tea.
“One of Jii-chan’s other shrine association friends came by while you were out, and took him off to the shooting range Inbe-san was talking about. Apparently the gun works perfectly.” Mama glanced over at the rifle parts cluttering her table, lips pursed in disapproval. “I wish he had cleaned up that mess before sitting down to watch television.” She had made quick work of warming up the leftovers in the microwave, and was deftly dishing them out into bowls.
Shippou leaned over and looked at the rifle stock curiously, not distracted even when Kagome set down one of the cans of soda in front of him.“It looks a lot like one of those Tanegashima things, but different,” he commented. “Why is it taken apart like that?”
Mama handed him a pair of chopsticks and a steaming mixed bowl of tofu, rice, and vegetables, which did distract him. “Jii-chan took it apart to clean it. Again.” She reached for another bowl with asigh. “I hate to wake him up, but I don’t want this to be on the table at breakfast tomorrow morning.”
“I told you, I’ll clean it up,” came a grumpy voice from the hallway, just as Mama was handing Kagome a hot bowl of delicious-smelling leftovers. Jii-chan appeared in the doorway, heavy lidded and rubbing his face. “It will only take a minute to put back together— Kagome!” His face lit as he saw her, and then froze in consternation as he took in the sight of the small kitsune child sitting next to her at the table. Shippou was shoveling food into his mouth at speed even as he lifted his eyes to stare up at the newcomer. His tail plainly dangled over the edge of the chair.
“YOUKAI!” Jii-chan shouted, whipping out ofuda with astonishing swiftness for abarely-awake old man, and flung one at Shippou.
The kit had gaped for a split second, then acted, evidently taking the threat of Jii-chan at face value. With a sudden pop the kitchen was crowded with a multitude of Shippou look-alikes, each of them running in circles and clutching a bowl, with identical expressions of distress. “KAGOME!” they wailed over and over dissonantly. Mama covered her mouth in alarm, her eyes attempting to follow this or that Shippou as it darted around the room.
Kagome grimaced, setting down her bowl quickly and getting up. Jii-chan was staring and utterly befuddled by this kitsune trick, but before the old man could recover and add more to the chaos, she decided that she’d better straighten thewhole mess out.
"A whole nest of them!" he gasped. "We're being overrun!" As he prepared to fling several ofuda, she grabbed his hand, and he focused on her in surprise.
“Jii-chan!Shippou-chan’s my friend! Remember, I told you about him? You leave him alone!” She looked back over her shoulder, trying to figure out which was the real kit. The noise was giving her aheadache. “Shippou-chan, can you turn those off? He won’t hurt you.”
“Is it okay, Kagome?” said one of the kits, a distrustful expression on his face. “He could still get me.”
“He got you the first time, Shippou-chan, and it’s not doing you any harm. Look at your tail.” Indeed, there was an ofuda stuck to his tail, as the kit was dismayed to discover. He batted at it frantically until it fell off.
“But those are kitsune, Kagome!” Jii-chan pointed at first one, then another of the gradually diminishing number of Shippou duplicates in the room, and then gave up in frustration. “How do you know it’s not a trick? How can it be a friend of yours from the other world?”
“This is definitely our friend—Inuyasha could tell you too,” she said, looking down at the last, and real, Shippou. He was huddled against the back of her legs, staring up warily at the old priest, but did not protest when she picked him up and brought them face to face. “This is my grandfather, Shippou-chan. Jii-chan, please welcome him. He’s going to stay with us too.”
“/Another/demon in my house!” Jii-chan glared at them both, but then softened slightly at Kagome’s pleading expression, and perhaps also at the sight of the nervous child in her arms. “Oh, very well. What’s one more?” he huffed, and stalked over to the table, and began assembling the pieces of the rifle. “He can’t eat as much as that Inuyasha boy, anyway.”
Mama gave them both a wink behind Jii-chan’s back, and handed Kagome her bowl when she set the kit back down. Shippou had never let go of his, and proceeded to wolf down what was left.
Kagome sat down with the food, eating mechanically as she let her mind forgeahead now that the domestic crisis was settled. Once she had finished eating, she could go back to the kitsune door. Inuyasha should surely be able to handle Soen, but still, she’d feel better once she had a bow in her hand and was on her way back to stand with him. She was trying to think of away to have Shippou open the kitsune door for her and yet stop him from following her, when her grandfather interrupted her thoughts. He got up with the rifle, now neatly reassembled.
“I thought I heard you say you were going back out, Kagome. You can take this, I’m sure it will be quite effective against wayward youkai,” Jii-chan said with a proud smile.
“Um,” Kagome stalled as she stared at the gun. “I don’t know how to use that, Jii-chan. I really would rather use a bow. I was going to ask you if we had another one left.”
Jii-chan looked puzzled. “What happened to the one you took with you?” For the first time he seemed to notice that she was bedraggled and dirty. “What happened to /you/, Kagome?”
She sighed and set the bowl down. “Round one. Michiko is no longer possessed, but the demon is out on the run, and we have to catch it. I lost the bow and the arrows, so I need another set.”
He shook his head. “That was the last bow, Kagome. I can probably find some more arrows, but without a bow they won’t be much good.” He held out the rifle. “If you’re going out, you should definitely take this. It worked well for my father,” he added meaningfully. "Many a demon fell to this weapon."
When she paused uncertainly, he brought the rifle to his shoulder, pointing it at the wall. “Look. This is how you aim. The sight is here,” he pointed, “you make sure the safety is off, here,” and again he pointed, “and then you squeeze the trigger to fire.” He put the rifle in her unresisting hands, slinging the strap over one shoulder. It was quite heavy. “I got you plenty of ammunition—you load the clip in here, and slide the bolt closed.” He demonstrated with a clip of actual bullets, and made sure the safety was on, before stepping back with asatisfied smile. “There! All loaded and ready to go.”
Kagome looked down at the rifle she was gingerly holding, and then back up at him. She didn’t want anything to do with this thing. It felt dangerous just to be in the same room with a loaded gun, let alone having it in her hands! “Jii-chan, I think this is a bad idea.”
“Nonsense.” He stepped forward with a small canvas bag, and slung it over her other shoulder. “This is the ammunition. The rifle is very easy to use, and much more effective than arrows.”
“But Jii-chan,” she began, but he waved her off.
“You’ll be fine, Kagome.” He smiled again, then turned to Mama, who was looking very concerned at the sight of her daughter with such adangerous item. “Is there any food left? The boy isn’t here, so there should be some.”
Mama turned with a sigh to spoon him up some of the leftovers, leaving abemused Kagome to examine the gun again. Shippou sidled up, looking at it admiringly.
“I never got to see those Tanegashima guns up close. Is this one better, Kagome?” he asked, sniffing at it and then sneezing suddenly from the machine oil smell.
“I guess so. I don’t know much about these, Shippou-chan. Don’t touch it,” she added warningly as he reached a curious hand to the barrel. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Shippou withdrew his hand as he looked at it thoughtfully. “If it doesn’t work as well as a bow for you, Kagome, I can take abow’s shape—remember? You would just need some arrows.”
She frowned at him. “But I wanted you to stay here where it’s safe,” she said. “Soen’s dangerous.”
He crossed his arms, and gave her a disdainful look. “I’m not staying here while you go off alone, especially when that moron went off without us.” Shippou gave her a sly grin. “Besides, you need me to open the door.”
“Shippou-chan—” she began, frustrated.
“/Who/went off without you?” said an irritable voice. Kagome turned around gratefully, forgetting her earlier anger.
“Inuyasha!I’m so glad you came back!” she said, as he emerged from the dark of the hallway. His hands were folded in his sleeves as he paused, his face stony as he took in the scene in the kitchen. Mama beamed in relief when she saw him.
“Oh, good, Inuyasha. I’m so glad you’re here. Are you hungry?” She hovered over what remained of the leftovers.
“No, I'm not hungry,” he muttered, frowning at Mama. He turned to glower at Kagome. “Let’s go. We need to go find that demon.”
“Uh, all right.” She slung the gun awkwardly over her shoulder, trying to avoid banging it into the bag with the ammunition. “Are we going back to Kyoto? If the door’s closed, Shippou-chan says he can open it.”
"Eh?" Jii-chan looked up from his bowl. "Kyoto?"
“I’m going with you anyways, Kagome,” Shippou said with a rebellious glance up at Inuyasha, who glared at him.
“You’re staying here, Shippou. It’s safe here.”
Something odd passed across Inuyasha’s face as he said that, and Kagome began to look closer, puzzled, when her grandfather exclaimed, “You are absolutely not going to Kyoto, Kagome!”
“Huh?” She turned to look at Jii-chan. “It's not what you think. We’ve got a quick way to get there, Jii-chan—”
“You’re not going.” He frowned at her fiercely, eyebrows bristling.“There’s some kind of terrorist attack going on there now! It’s all over the news!”
“Terrorists?” she mumbled, suddenly feeling cold.
“I hope it’s not those cultists again,” Jii-chan grumbled.“Ridiculous. Attacking the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night—I suppose they're not content to just use poison gas in the subways. Now it's poison gas and explosions!” He peered at her. “You are definitely not going there!”
“We’re not going to Kyoto,” snapped Inuyasha suddenly, with a sharp glance at Jii-chan. “Come on, Kagome. Shippou, you’re staying.” He turned and headed down the hallway towards the front door.
She stumbled after him, clumsy under the unfamiliar weight of the rifle, but detoured into the living room for a look at the muted television. She stopped and stared at the images, and the crawl of information across the bottom of the newscast. The footage was live, obviously taken from the air, and from the looks of it, from a very safe distance.
The Imperial Palace was horribly damaged. Parts of the roof were gone, as was whole sections of the walls. Spotlights from helicopters pitilessly illuminated the leafless, blackened trees, the damage to the other buildings in the complex, and there was damage to the buildings and grounds outside the walls of the complex, too. An obscuring haze of some kind drifted over the ground, and a wide shot revealed it had spread as far as the river.
“Oh, no,” she whispered. The news alert flashing at the bottom of the screen advised that the area was being evacuated, and there was an unknown number of casualties.
Inuyasha appeared out of the dark of the hall, and paused in the opening to the living room. “Come on." He glanced at the television, his brows drawn, and then back to her. “Now, Kagome.”
She nodded, numb, and followed him as he headed back to the front door. She waited until they were both outside before she burst out, “What/happened/? Did you get back over there, and she attacked?”
Inuyasha kept walking, heading for the front steps of the shrine. He glanced at her over his shoulder, his eyes in shadow. “Yes. And then she escaped back here. Only I was able to follow, but I couldn’t catch her.” He stopped at the head of the stairs, facing outwards. “She must have headed for the Emperor.” He looked out at the vast city of Tokyo, from their vantage point asprawling, glittering mass. “Tell me where he is, Kagome, and I’ll follow her. You won’t need to go, you can stay safe here. Just point me in the right direction.”
Kagome held very still. Why would Inuyasha need her to tell him where the Emperor was? He could track Soen by scent. And if Soen really was in Tokyo, would he even have stopped here, after making a point of leaving her somewhere safe?
Inuyasha had not touched her, so far. Had avoided touch, kept his hands in his sleeves. If he was in that much of a hurry, he would have grabbed her and dragged her out, or slung her to his back and gone off without such niceties as repeating himself that they had to go. She extended her senses to his youki.
It wasn’t his at all.
Kagome stepped back, slowly, keeping her eyes on the figure that stood there, waiting for an answer. It turned around to stare at her. Then that familiar face smiled, a very uncharacteristic smile. It was alittle sad, a little tired.
“I would have left you alone, had you told me.” The features blurred and thinned to that of a young girl. The white hair, the golden eyes, shifted and darkened to black, the red robes faded and changed to a kimono, delicately patterned with white cherry blossoms on a spring green background. “You protect Shippou. I had to see..." She stared toward the house, her expression unreadable, and then glanced back to Kagome. "I’m still willing to leave you, and your family, unharmed,” and now she grinned, showing sharp white teeth, “provided you tell me where the Emperor is.”
“So you can kill him?” Kagome asked. Where is Inuyasha? Is he all right?She struggled to keep calm. It was pointless to try to withdraw, so she stood her ground, facing the kitsune. Soen appeared to be only about thirteen or fourteen years old, so slight, so young. Not evil at all, unless you looked into the too-old, flat blackness of her eyes. What had happened to her, to make her this way? “The Emperor is a good person. He’s never done anything to you. Or your family. Do you know how long ago all that happened?”
Soen merely stared at her with narrowed eyes. “It doesn’t matter. I will have my blood revenged.”
“It’s been a /thousand years/, Soen,” said Kagome gently. “The people who hurt you have been dead that long. The Minamoto are /gone/. They don’t exist as a clan any more. Most of the old clans are gone. A lot can happen in that span of time.”
“As long as there is an emperor, the bloodline exists,” said Soen dismissively. “And I will have my vengeance. There is no other point to my existence, otherwise.”
Was that a hint of weariness, there? Kagome pressed on. “But there can be, Soen. You could forget all this. Go live your life, start over. There isn’t a point in pursuing revenge against the dead, when all you can do is kill the innocent.”
“There are no innocent!” Soen snarled, startling Kagome, who stepped back. In the blink of an eye, the kitsune had transformed from a petite girl to the taller form, clad in a formal black kimono, that she had appeared as in the hospital, and at the house. The difference now was the rage twisting the white face.
“I have no kin, and neither shall they have any descendants.” She stepped closer to Kagome, the black eyes fixed on her. “Enough talk. Tell me where to find the Emperor, or this entire hill drowns in miasma, your family with it.”
“And Shippou too?” Kagome asked harshly, fumbling the unfamiliar rifle around to point at Soen. The demon blinked, then narrowed her eyes again.
“I’ll just start with you, then, and extract Shippou when you’re dead. He should be with his own kind anyway. I’m sure your mother or grandfather, or perhaps that little boy upstairs, will be willing to tell me where the Emperor’s quarters are.” She grinned, again showing her teeth, as she brought her hands up, contemptuously ignoring the weapon in Kagome’s hands.
“You leave her alone!” From out of nowhere Shippou appeared and barreled into Soen from the side, knocking her off balance. The older kitsune turned with an angry grunt and swung a backhanded blow at the kit, but missed. Shippou growled at her as he dodged, tiny fangs bared.
“Stay out of this, Shippou,” Soen hissed. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’ll knock you out if I have to.”
“Some friend you are!” Shippou panted, furious. “What makes you any better than those Minamoto you go on about?”
Kagome had jumped back, and fumbled the safety off the rifle, praying she was doing it right.
“Shippou!” she yelled. “Get away from her!” She brought the heavy weapon to her shoulder, feeling awkward, and pointed it at Soen. Shippou scampered back to stand at Kagome’s side, growling angrily.
Soen stared at him, her face blank, and then looked up to sneer at Kagome.“Those Tanegashima devices are useless against me, girl. Without your mongrel, you are nothing.” She raised a hand and slashed it forward, a whip of power appearing as she did so. “Die.”
Kagome flinched, but a dome of pure power sprung up at her will, covering both her and Shippou. The whip sparked against the barrier harmlessly. Soen stopped and considered it for a moment, then smiled.
“Well, since Shippou is safe with you, I guess I’ll go get one of your family members to tell me all about the Emperor.” Faster than Kagome would have thought possible, she darted around the barrier, and towards the house.
“/No!”/Kagome screamed. /Not Mama! Not Jii-chan, not Souta! /She reached out instinctively and focused her will again. A second barrier, enormous, snapped into existence around the house, just as Soen reached it. Please don't let them come out-- don't let them hear-- Then the kitsune crashed into it, and shrieked as the power burned her—Kagome saw the barrier spark and flare, but hold.
Soen backed away, hissing, and swiped at the barrier with claws extended, again and again. Kagome hardened her will. That monster was not getting to her family. She became conscious that her hands, gripping the gun, were white-knuckled. She had forgotten that she even had aweapon in her hand. Her focus had narrowed to maintaining the two shields.
Beside her, Shippou stared at Soen flailing at the barrier, and then glanced up at her. “Are you okay, Kagome?” he asked anxiously.
“So far,” she answered, trying to maintain concentration. Sweat was trickling down the back of her neck, down between her shoulder blades. The blows were getting harder, and Soen was slowly transforming as she watched, into a large, golden fox. With a shriek the fox scrabbled at the barrier, then turned around to face her, panting. Then she charged, and was on top of them before Kagome could draw a single breath.
Soen slammed into the smaller dome with tremendous power, and it shuddered as Kagome reeled from the force of the impact. Soen rose into the sky, and dove down to strike at it again with a forepaw, and again the barrier weakened.
Kagome was scared. Scared for herself, scared for Shippou, cowering next to her, scared for her family. Scared for the city and the Emperor. Wherever Inuyasha was, it didn’t look like he could help them this time, and she was scared for him too. Through her barrier she stared up at the mad creature that was preparing another pass, and realized she had one more chance to save them.
Straining to bring the rifle up, she pointed it at the fox bearing down on them. She held the thought of her great-grandfather, whose weapon this had been. “Please hit,” she breathed, and squeezed the trigger.
The night exploded in light and noise. From her viewpoint, there was ablast of her own purifying energy right in front of her as it hit Soen. The gun kicked strongly against her shoulder; unprepared, she was knocked down, even as her eyes stayed locked on the result of her action.
“Kagome?” Shippou’s voice sounded frightened, but she didn’t spare him a look.
Soen lay twitching and scrabbling on the white gravel of the courtyard, half of her face and part of her neck and shoulder gone. Incredibly, she shoved herself to her feet, to wobble there and glare at Kagome with the one eye she had left.
“How dare you.” The words came bubbling and indistinct out of the ruin of her mouth. She staggered a step forward.
Kagome realized her barrier was down, and snapped it back up, feeling very unsteady herself. Scrambling to her feet, she raised the gun again, and pointed it at the youkai.
Soen snarled, and abruptly they were plunged into complete darkness. Kagome panicked, and fired the gun where she had last seen the kitsune. She was better prepared for the kick and the noise this time, and watched the trail of the bullet flare to life, as brightly as any arrow she had ever launched. In its wake, the inky darkness was dispelled, and again she could see the courtyard, the shrine, the house in the dim electric light. Shippou pressed against her, afierce scowl on his face as he scanned the courtyard.
But Soen was gone.
TBC
A/N: Many thanks once again to Soutassister for the beta!
Glossary:
/tadaima/: "I'm home"
/okaeri nasai/:"Welcome home"
/Tanegashima/: matchlock rifles, named after the island where in 1543 Portuguese sailors introduced guns to Japan.
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