Gates
By TwinEnigma
Standard Disclaimer: This humble fanauthoress does not own the characters of Inuyasha, nor those of other series mentioned, but does profess to own the plot of this humble tale.
Inuyasha sat on the edge of roof of the gate to Tarikihongan Temple, one leg dangling down and the other propped against the tiles as he looked over the sprawling metropolis. His ears twitched backwards as he winced at the calamitous racket emanating from the temple at his back. Sighing, he resumed idly watching the sky as another day marched forth like clockwork.
No one noticed the silver-haired man sitting there; humans were good at overlooking unusual things for the most part and he preferred it that way. It wasn't like the old days, after all. They couldn't just go waltzing down the street in their true forms, all fangs out, covered in blood and guts, waving a sword and crying for the heads of the wicked. The human world didn't work that way anymore. And while some weren't fond of the change, he hadn't mourned the passing of the old world in the least.
But, then again, he'd known it was inevitable and accepted it was going to happen eventually. How could he not, when he'd seen the evidence with his own eyes every time he'd jumped through the Bone Eater's Well?
Ah, he may have been young and stubborn as an ox back then – still was stubborn as all get out, depending on who one asked upstairs – but he had been far from witless. It wasn't hard to put it all together, least of all in those awkward times watching over their camp at night with nothing but thoughts and worries for company. He got a lot of thinking done those nights.
The nauseating stench of sulfur and ink burst into existence nearby, followed immediately by the softest rustle of leaves and the barely perceptible sound of tennis shoes hitting bark. Mortals wouldn't have noticed a thing, but then he was no mortal and he knew the stench of demon portals. Inuyasha snorted and called out, "Oi. What do you want?"
"Oh, it's you," a mildly sulky teenaged voice answered. A lanky teen, with short, wild blond hair swung down from one of the higher-level branches of the tree and slunk into a crouch beside him. Clad in a simple black and orange jogging suit, the teen would have hardly garnered a second glance among humans, save perhaps in regards to the three red stripes on each cheek and the stylized red spiral on his forehead. Of course, that was the entire point: what good was a demon these days if they couldn't blend in easily?
The markings made it infinitely easier to identify friend and foe. Inuyasha no longer had to worry about not being able to remember names exactly: all the information was there, embedded in the markings, from license ranking and job class, to affiliation and name. All he had to do was give a cursory look at the markings and, instantly, he knew exactly who he was talking to and what they could get away with under their license – admittedly, his favorite part about the change that had occurred over the years. On the other hand, humans had no idea what they meant, much less about the information embedded in them, but they the most convenient habit of passing markings off as some sort of youth fad with tattoos. By heaven, he loved that uncanny mortal ability to just write stuff off like that!
"What are you doing here, anyway?" the demon asked, still in the sulky tone of one who'd been caught at something they shouldn't be doing.
Inuyasha snorted, "Keh! I should ask be asking you the same thing, fox brat."
"That's demon first class Kyuubi to you," the teen spat, unable to conceal the slight snarl on his lips. "And I happen to be on Official Nidheg business, thank you very much."
It hadn't escaped Inuyasha's notice that the brat didn't mention his license was a limited one. Kids, he thought. He went back to watching the skyline in blatant disinterest. "Is that so?"
The blond demon bristled at the dismissal, leaping to his feet. "You had better believe it! I have a contract and everything!"
"...And that involves the residents of this temple how?" Inuyasha countered easily, raising an eyebrow at the demon.
"It doesn't! Well, not really!" Kyuubi sputtered then, sinking back into a crouch, and then added, "My client kinda just moved in the neighborhood and just had to go and check out that bloody cacophony..."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, drawling, "You are aware of just who lives here, right?"
"Yeah," the demon hung his head despondently. "Man... this is my first contract in a dog's age. I don't want to tread on the Norns' front lawn if I don't have to!"
"Smart boy," Inuyasha quipped, lowering his other leg so that now both legs were dangling off the edge of the roof, and leaned forward slightly, hands casually resting on the tiles at his side. "I'd hate to have to order a Valkyrie to forcibly repatriate you."
At that, Kyuubi again bristled, but this time did not comment. Instead, he lowered himself to sit on the roof and sighed, turning his gaze towards the skyline. "So what's a kami like you doing here anyway? I thought Combat Division, you know, fought stuff."
"We do," Inuyasha replied casually. "I've got some business with the Norns, that's all."
He, like all the others, eventually had to make a choice. But Inuyasha found he could no more permanently leave this plane for another than he could allow himself to be transformed into a spirit of Midgar and diminished into a pale shadow of himself and what he stood for like so many other youkai had done. Nidheg had not appealed to him very much – it went against his nature as a defender and his inherent sense of justice. Instead, he chose Asgard and the side of the gods, vowing to watch over the gates of the shrine that held so much meaning for him. He did that for the longest time afterwards, blazing through the lower licenses and earning a solid place in Heaven's Combat Division, until the subtle tug of the System Force finally pulled him away towards other things.
Still, things had been different, even then, and the Combat Division had been far more active in those days than they were now. Now most of the time, he was called to avert minor Apocalypses – shake his sword at a few meddling mortals, seal up rampaging demonic entities, hack off the limbs of a few Elder 'gods,' and train some of the newer members of Combat Division, that sort of thing. Nothing like before, when cracking demonic skull was something of a pre-breakfast warm-up.
Shrieks and squeals came from the temple, followed shortly by several small explosions. Then, two mortals came fleeing down the steps, chased by an odd looking malformed household appliance and a panicked brunette goddess of the Present. One less-than-subtle crack of magic later, the appliance was gone, leaving one extremely confused mortal and a very relieved pair of cross-dimensional lovebirds.
"You might as well go and rescue your client, fox brat," Inuyasha said, observing the situation absently. "Wouldn't want them to accidentally bugger up your contract, eh?"
The blond demon scowled, quickly tying a blue bandanna over his forehead and disappeared, only to reappear on the street below. Shouting loudly and waving like an idiot, the demon managed to quickly gain the attention of his client and the others. Not a minute too soon either, as the goddess of the Present had been about to wipe the memories of the unfamiliar mortal. Instead, the demon's now mortified client was burying his face in his hands while the demon teased him about imagining things and joked to the goddess that the unfortunate mortal had a habit of overreacting.
Inuyasha watched them with idle amusement. "Your sister is really such a kind soul, Urd."
"Indeed," the silver-haired, dusky-skinned goddess of the Past appeared then, delicately landing next to him on the gate, and pursed her lips. "How is it that you always seem to know when I'm there?"
"Jigoku mimi," he replied, pointing to his ears.
She tilted her head to the side and smiled, "Ah, that explains it. So, what brings you to our gate? Don't you have your own gate to guard?"
"That's actually what I'm here about," Inuyasha answered truthfully. "I've been wondering if its time for me to head back there, resume watching over the old stomping ground and all that." He paused and added, "By the way, Skuld's spells seem to be improving, if the state of that appliance was any indication."
Urd chuckled and ran a hand through her hair, pulling it out of the way. "She's still a long way off, but yes, it's a start."
Meanwhile, the demon had reminded his client of an important class at the nearby Nekomi Tech, resulting in the mortal immediately panicking and running back down the street towards his apartment. Smiling merrily, the blond demon gave the goddess of the Present a thumbs-up and jogged after his client. Inuyasha smirked and briefly entertained sending one of the Valkyrie to pester them as a training exercise - payback for the brat not showing him the proper respect befitting his rank as a first class kami in Heaven's Combat Division, with no license restrictions.
"Hmm, well, I'm sure Bell's runes will shed some light on the subject," Urd said, though whether or not she referred to the people below or Inuyasha himself, he could not be certain. "Come along, then. We'll finish up breakfast and then we can talk about your gate."
With that, she leapt down off the gate, disappearing and then reappearing to light easily upon on the ground. Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha smiled and pushed off. Today, he would let the Norns see through the fires of time and show him the meaning behind the woven line of his fate.
Hopefully, it would be a red string leading him back to his gate, the red torii of Higurashi Shrine and the calloused digit of the mortal maiden that it was tied to.
AN:
Edit: fixed this up a little bit for clarity and grammar stuff.
Inuyasha's on Asgard server (server of the gods), with a first class unlimited license in the Combat Division. He didn't seem a Nidheg type and given the choice between basically becoming a guardian earth-bound spirit on the Midgar (earth) server, leaving to live in a separate dimension, a Nidheg demon or an Asgard deity, I figured he'd keep on fighting the good fight.
Demon First Class Kyuubi, Limited License and his orange tracksuit - a bonus for those of you that watch Naruto.
Jigoku mimi means "hell ears" - it's a colloquial for 'good hearing' or something alone those lines and with Inuyasha's youkai heritage, it's a bit of a pun.
Tarikihongan temple is where Urd, Belldandy, Skuld and Keiichi live; Nekomi Tech is the university near there which Keiichi formerly attended.
Valkyrie is the name for goddesses in the Combat Division - Inuyasha would give them a run for their money as an instructor, haha!
Markings in Oh My Goddess contain programs that define who they are and are embedded with license information, category, and the demon, deity or spirit's name. Forehead markings also serve as an I/O link to Yggdrasil, but I didn't describe what Inuyasha's forehead marking looks like here.
There's a nod to Blind Guardian near the end, though you might have to be familiar with "A Twist in the Myth" to catch it.
And, of course, the red string Inuyasha refers to is tied to Kagome's finger (which would be calloused from archery).