Cold Snap

Chapter 4

First Look

Inuyasha wondered that night about his encounter with the Higurashi Family shrine and (though he wouldn't admit it to himself) the significance or lack thereof, of Kagome's forceful, taking of his arm in the long walk to the shed. It wasn't really that important right?

She needed to bring Inuyasha out to meet Grampa. Even Kagome thought the man was eccentric and she was his granddaughter. Shouldn't she have gotten used to his antics by now? But a school kid who had never met him once in his life? That was a disaster waiting to happen and they could not afford to lose Inuyasha's help. Kagome had been doing all the extra work to help out Grampa lately because Souta had been gone on another one of his school exchanges they seemed to be doing lately. There was no telling when another worker would come along.

"He's right over here Inuyasha." They walked up across the concrete tile to an old building that was looking pretty beaten down at the moment. "I'll be right back out Sango!" she hollered back to the tree in which Sango could not be seen anymore. "'Kay!" came the reply from somewhere on high. She turned back to Inuyasha as they kept walking. "Sorry about earlier, I guess I'm little rusty on the climbing. Sango and I used to do that a lot when we were kids. Albeit on much shorter trees. I guess I'm just really lucky you came around when you did."

"Its fine," said he. I'm surprised a scrawny girl like you is crazy enough to do something like that in the first place. "So, where is the old man anyway?" I'm kinda anxious to get away from you. "I'm kinda anxious to get to work." The girl in front of him looked a little bit put out. "He's right inside here I think." She slid open the shed door and was assaulted and pulled into the hut. "Demon!" her Grandfather screamed, brandishing a sutra that he slammed onto Inuyasha's surprised face. Well, thats it. Great job with the racism Grampa. "Get off of him Grampa!" she said, getting up off the ground. This is exactly what I was afraid of.

Inuyasha peeled off the Sutra slowly. "Yeah old man. I'm only half demon. So these aren't gonna work." He shot the sutra onto the ground in distain. There was a short period of awkwardness before Kagome decided that she needed to take the initiative and say something. Gulp. "Um. . . Grampa this is your new helper." And not me anymore. "This is Inuyasha," she squeezed out, silently hoping she wouldn't be sweeping the shrine again tonight.

The elder didn't speak for a moment. "Only a half demon?" he said slowly.

"C'mon Grampa! Get with the times! Inuyasha is as able as any Shrine boy around!" More than me at least. That was more of an agonized silence. Until the senior suddenly burst out into an excited shout.

"I'd be honoured to have a half demon work in my shrine!" Half-demons we're regarded as VERY good luck in this day and age. "His ableness is not even a question!" he exclaimed as he stepped towards the half-demon in question and shook his hand vigorously. The wonders being a half demon brought in this era!

This annoyed Inuyasha to no end. The way people treated him was weird. 'Oh, you're a half-demon? You get half price!' It made life easy and probably even easier for him to get food on his now limited budget but he would much rather just getting treated more equal. The only part of this treatment he liked was what he got from the ladies.

"So, what's my job old man?" So, why in all hells am I putting up with this? That's right, I need the money. Fuck! It showed on his face just how impatient he was getting. "When am I earning this money?" he questioned as he looked around the court, trying to figure out what needed to be done.

"Well, first of all young one," started Grampa, "There are many ongoing jobs that need doing and upkeep. The first of these is the sweeping. I was just sweeping this well house myself. The sweeping is also extended to the grounds and the rest of the buildings." It almost seemed like he was finished until he took another breath. "The tile often has people coming and going to throughout the day and nearing the end of a day has a lot of built-up sand on it. You'll also to keep the hedges looking nice. The roofs often get leaves on them so you'll have to brush those off and it's the same thing for Goshinboku. You'll have to trim the branches and clear away any that have fallen down. People judge this shrine by its appearance. This job is very important."

Inuyasha was stunned. "How could you have done all that with a body like yours? You're gettin' to be ancient!"

"What do you think I did around here?" said Kagome feeling a little overlooked. "I was doing this stuff by myself before you came along! My little brother will be helping you when he gets back from running around America so I can get back to doing school work to get into a good University," she finished with a little more tenacity than she had originally meant. Lucky little runt.

Well, sorry. Geez, all she does is complain. She does care a little more about school I guess. . .

"Well I'm going back out to see Sango," the girl exclaimed as she retreated. "Good luck with your first day on the job!"

Turning back to Grampa, the half-breed again began to grow impatient. "So, what do we start with?"

"First, is a history lesson my boy," he said along with a mental sigh from the boy in front of him. "You should know the history of this shrine and know why these buildings are here. This, for instance, is the well housing." Inuyasha looked past the experienced man who stepped out of the way to let him see inside. There was no light inside other than an old lantern until the old man slid the door open all the way. Dust filled the air and coated every surface in sight giving everything a faint tinge of grey. An old well stood in the middle of a small pit. He stepped inside as Grampa began telling the story. "This is the Bone Eater's Well. No one is allowed here so it is the one building that isn't cleaned as often as any of the others. The legends say that this well has long sustained my family. Whenever they killed a demon, when our relations were still strained of course, threw the dead bodies into this well which turn helped them with good fortune. This is well is rumoured to have a mind of its own. The bones are said to still lay there and the evil spirits trapped there by these sutra on the lid. It is important not to get to near the well, lest your soul be corrupted."

The half-breed looked very sceptical at all this. I don't believe in fairytales old man. Spirits are people's superstitions and our relations were only strained before your people killed all the bothersome demons. The only ones that didn't have humanoid forms like all my friends. Inuyasha didn't have a very good view of humans. Given power, their greed consumed them. They killed their environment and other civilizations just make a couple bucks. This was especially true of the European Empire. Granted, uncivilized demons only wanted to kill and maim but they were only victims of a sinister culture that shoots before it asks questions. Those demons could have been given a better chance than they were.

He was led back outside of the building to the courtyard. And back into the blinding heat. He squinted into the sun shining into his enhanced vision after having just been in a dark space. He waited patiently for his eyes to adjust.

"In the winter, you'll be responsible for clearing snow here." Oh, how Inuyasha wanted snow at that moment. . .

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I woke up the morning after and still remembered the night before. It seemed strange that everything had seemed. . . familiar somehow. I brushed it off as a simple déjà vu but I wouldn't find out until much later how right I was. . .

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Well. . . I'm kind of a slow writer. I wish I didn't have this constant writer's block I can't seem to shake. Anyway, this chapter went pretty quickly. Till next time!

Sno_man80