Yes, I've used the Naraku system of samurai rankings. It's convenient. No one ever said this story was sticking to reality... What do you expect when there are demons running around, after all?
Disclaimer: See the first chapter.
"I am Inuyasha Wakuhamu."
"Nice to meet you." Kagome bowed in return. "I'm sorry, but I can't help noticing- your ears..?"
"Oh.." Inuyasha flushed. "Well, you see... I'm a half demon. The ears are from my father." He met her eyes pleadingly. "Please don't spread this around the village. People aren't too fond of hanyos, even in these times."
Kagome felt sympathy rising in her. "Of course I won't, Wakuhamu-san. Your secret is safe with me."
He smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Higurashi-san. Please, call me Inuyasha."
"Then you must call me Kagome, Inuyasha-san."
"Kagome-san it is. Do you live nearby? I'm sorry, I believe you mentioned before that you came from Higurashi shrine, but I'm afraid I have no idea where that is."
"The shrine is a little way out of town, on the north road." She realised something. "You're not from here. Then are you with the sonae?" She examined his clothing, and even to her inexperienced eye it looked smarter and better made than that of the ashigaru she had seen earlier. "Are you a samurai?"
"An apprentice samurai." he replied, amused at her eagerness.
"Oh? I don't know much about samurai, I admit, but I thought that samurai apprentices were usually very young."
"They are, usually. I convinced Yodoko-sama to take me on a few years ago. I always wanted to be a samurai, but due to - family circumstances - had been unable to before. It's a long story."
"Oh?" Kagome looked interested.
Inuyasha opened his mouth to reply, but they were interrupted by a new entry to the shop. Koga Korrinsu had become concerned when he had discovered that Kagome had left the group, and had insisted on looking for her. He had finally run her to earth in the bookshop, where Sango had known she would be but had not wanted to disturb her. Koga was pleased to see her, but not so pleased with her new found acquaintance.
"Kagome-san!" he began, "We have been looking everywhere for you. You should not wander off like that, and nor should you be talking to the common soldiers." He glared at Inuyasha, and reaching to take Kagome's arm, would have led her away, but she pulled back from him.
"Ah, but Inuyasha-san is an apprentice samurai, and therefore not a common soldier," she replied stiffly. "Allow me to introduce you. This are my sisters, Sango, Yura and Kikyo, and Korrinsu-san, who is staying with us as my grandfather's apprentice. Korrinsu-san, sisters, meet Inuyasha Wakuhamu, who saved me from an unfortunate mishap among the shelves."
Sango raised her eyebrows. "Yes? And what were you doing among the shelves, oh sister?"
Kagome had no chance to respond, because Koga spotted Inuyasha's ears. "A half demon! Kagome-san, how could you fail to notice those ears?"
The aforementioned ears flattened themselves along Inuyasha's head, and the young man's eyes narrowed in anger. Trying to avoid a scene, Kagome said pointedly, "Of course I noticed his ears! However I am not so small-minded as to carry ill-founded grudges against someone who never did me any harm."
Koga refused to take the hint. "This mutt will certainly do you harm if you hang around him."
"Why you insolent blackguard!" cried Inuyasha furiously, "How dare you?"
Goda the shop owner had heard their raised voices and came to investigate. "Excuse me, sirs and madams, is there are problem here?"
"No, thank you Goda-san," replied Kagome, "We were just leaving." She shot an angry glare at Koga, then turned back to Inuyasha. "Thank you Inuyasha-san, for all your help. I am so sorry about this, but I hope you will forgive me, and that we can meet again sometime."
"I too would like that," replied he, "Perhaps next time you are in the village, you could call on me. The other samurai and I are staying at the village inn. It would be good to talk in - better company." He looked pointedly at Koga.
"I completely agree." Kagome smiled and bowed a farewell; he did the same. She turned and marched out of the book shop, followed by her sisters (who managed to also bow a farewell) and Koga (who didn't.).
As they walked home, Yura and Kikyo were silent, cast down by their sister's anger. Sango was silent in compassion for Kagome, but silence did not last very long.
"I can't believe you could be so impolite!" Kagome was still fuming.
"You are young and impressionable, Kagome-san" Koga replied in reasonable tone. "You don't yet know how to deal with rogues like him. Surely your grandfather has warned you about demons."
"Grandpa talks a load of c... rubbish." she retorted hotly. "There's nothing wrong with demons."
"You should not discard such words of wisdom so lightly." he said solemnly. "You should learn from one who is much wiser than you."
Seeing that her fuming sister was about to explode, Sango judged it time to intervene.
"Be that as it may, Korrinsu-san, it does not give you a right to be impolite to Wakuhamu-san, nor to lecture my sister." She said reprovingly.
Koga was instantly contrite. "Of course! Kagome-san, I did not mean to lecture you. Please forgive me."
Kagome tossed her hair. "Very well, Korrinsu-san, but I expect you to behave more correctly next time. And on no account are you to go around telling people that Inuyasha-san is half demon. He asked me not to tell anyone."
"I will not tell a soul." he promised, albeit reluctantly.
She swept away to her room, followed by Sango, leaving Koga to escort the younger girls into the house, where they would regale their mother and grandfather with an account of their day.
The next day Koga's training began in earnest. As soon as he had finished breakfast Grandpa whisked him away to the inner shrine, where he had prepared a set of sutras to be studied, memorised and copied. Koga did his best to seem enthusiastic, and was the picture of a model student.
Kikyo waited until they had locked themselves away before approaching her mother to ask permission for Yura and her to spend the day with one of the Toutousai girls, at their house. Upon receiving her mother's consent, she then requested that Sango and Kagome be allowed to come as well. Kaede was skeptical, but said they could go if they wanted to. Kikyo skipped away in delight to find her elder sisters.
Sango and Kagome were in the garden, sitting under the sakura trees and talking quietly. Kikyo and Yura ran up to them, calling their names. "Sango! Kagome!"
Sango looked up at them. "What is it?"
"Would you like to go for a walk with us?" They were the picture of innocence, hopeful smiles on their faces and hands clasped behind their backs.
Kagome was distrustful. "Where to?"
"We can't tell you that." replied Kikyo.
"Why not?"
"Because then you might not want to come." said Yura, ever truthful.
"Well, we certainly won't be going anywhere unless you tell us where you want to go."
"Alright," said Kikyo, leaning in conspiratorially, "we're going into town. We didn't get a chance to talk to any samurai yesterday, because... ..well there was just too much shopping to do."
"Does Mother know you're going?"
Kikyo grinned triumphantly. "She thinks we're going to the Toutousais! I told her we were going to spend the day with Yukimi-chan. And she said you could come too."
"So you're going into town to wander around again looking for samurai?" Kagome shook her head. "I had enough of that yesterday, thank you."
"But we know where they're staying now," said Yura, "We can go and visit them there."
"You're just going to walk into the village inn and ask to see the samurai?" cried Sango, "Kikyo, I'm surprised at you. Even you should know that that's improper. Not to mention forward."
"That's why we need Kagome to come," Kikyo explained patiently. "You met that demon guy yesterday - Wakuwhatshisname."
"You mean Inuyasha-san?"
"Yeah him - the good looking one with the white hair and ears. You can visit him, like he asked you to, and he can introduce us to the other samurai!"
"You've thought this out," said Kagome in reluctant admiration. "But I only met the guy yesterday. I can hardly go in there and claim acquaintanceship."
"And you shouldn't be deceiving Mother like this," added Sango. "I am sure she would not approve of this escapade."
"Oh, who cares what Mother thinks!" Kikyo dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "He asked you to visit him, Kagome. You can just say you were passing by."
Kagome was still not completely comfortable with the idea, but the temptation of seeing Inuyasha again was too great, and she consoled herself with the thought that she could apologise properly for Koga's behavior the day before. So she agreed to accompany her younger sisters into town, much to their delight, and Sango, although she still disapproved of the whole plan, said that she would go with Kagome.
So the four girls set off into town again, taking the turn off towards the Toutousai's estate until they were out of sight of the house, and then cutting across country again till they came back to the main road. The excitement of playing hooky was contagious, and all four girls were giggling by the time they reached the village. They were walking down the main street on the way to the inn when they were greeted by none other than Inuyasha himself.
"Kagome-san! How nice to see you. And Sango-san, Yura-san and Kikyo-san." He smiled and bowed; they bowed in return and he fell into line with them, walking next to Kagome.
"A pleasant coincidence, meeting you again, Kagome-san."
"I would like to agree with you," she replied, "but I have to admit that we were on our way to visit you. I realise that one day cannot be claimed as a friendship, but I hope you will overlook that, if only for my sisters' sake. They are very eager to meet the samurai, you see."
"Ah," he smiled, "of course, I would be delighted to introduce the young ladies. But may I say how glad I am that you were, after all, coming to visit me?"
Kagome blushed and did not reply directly. After a moment she said, "I don't think I apologised sufficiently for Korrinsu-san's behavior yesterday. I am so sorry. He has promised me he will say nothing about it to anyone."
"Thank you Kagome-san, but I don't regard it. Some people just cannot reconcile themselves to the fact that they have to share this world with demons. It's a fact that I've had to reconcile myself to."
They were crossing the street, and at this moment happened to chance upon a couple of horsemen. These proved to be Miroku Bingari and Sesshomaru Darashi, and it took no more than a few seconds for the two parties to recognise each other. Sesshomaru remained mounted and stayed at a slight distance from them, but Miroku immediately dismounted and came to speak to them. He was introduced to Inuyasha, and then fell into conversation with Sango. While they waited for the two to finish speaking, the younger girls began to question Inuyasha about the other samurai: what were their names, and what kind of uniforms did they wear? Kagome's eyes strayed to Sesshomaru. He nodded a greeting and edged his horse, a magnificent black stallion, a little closer to her so that he could speak, but then he saw Inuyasha. At the same time Inuyasha happened to glance up and notice him too, and the result was extraordinary. Kagome watched as one turned white, the other red. They stared at each other for almost a minute before Sesshomaru turned away, and sent his horse cantering down the street, much to the distress of many pedestrians.
Miroku was startled by his friend's sudden departure, and apologised for it, explained that Sesshomaru had 'probably remembered something he had to do.' He then asked if they would be attending the Doll Festival on the morrow, and was pleased to discover that they would be there. He was looking forward to it, he said, and hoped he would be allowed to join their group. After saying his goodbyes, Miroku remounted his chestnut and rode off after his friend, although at a more respectable pace.
The group proceeded on their way to the village inn, where Inuyasha introduced them to the other samurai. Yodoko was the leader, an experienced Seieibushi who was in his early forties and seemed a pleasant sort of man. The other two were Chukanbushi, Hanto and Poson, cheerful men aged between 25 and 30, a little older than Inuyasha but still close enough in age for them to be good friends. Hanto was particularly good looking, and was a favourite with Kikyo and Yura. They were very disappointed therefore to discover that he was already married when his wife, a pretty young woman several years younger than him, came down the stairs to meet the visitors. Her name was Arashi, and she soon became fast friends with Kikyo, to whom she was very close in age.
Sango stayed close to Kagome, rather shy at being around so many strangers (for though the samurai did their best to be polite, they could not help being a little rough at times). Although Kagome loved her sister dearly, she could not help wishing she could have a little time to talk to Inuyasha alone. She wanted to ask him about that moment with Sesshomaru, which it appeared no one else had noticed, and did not feel comfortable asking him in front of the others. But the inn was too crowded, and there was no chance for intimate conversation.
It was, however, an enjoyable time, and the Higurashi girls stayed at the inn for a long time. So long in fact, that when Kagome finally glanced at the time they had to hurry home, for fear of being late for dinner. They left with many promises of meeting up again the following evening at the Doll Festival, and both sides were very well satisfied with each other.
Kaede did not remark on her daughters' late return home, but Grandpa did, saying that they must have been having a very good time at the Toutousai's to be out so long. Yura had the grace to remain silent, but shameless Kikyo replied that it had been a very good day, and that they had all very much enjoyed themselves. Grandpa was pleased to hear it, and added that he and Koga had made much progress with their lessons. As Koga looked to be worn out and had maintained an exhausted silence since joining the dinner table, the girls guessed that he was finding their grandfather's training a little harder than he had anticipated. No one commented, however, and the topic of conversation soon turned to the Doll Festival. The straw dolls to be burnt, the clothes that would be worn, the jackets that must be carried ("for it will be cold at night, you know,") and the shirozake that would be drunk. All these and many more were well talked over before the family retired for bed that night.
Please leave a review :) Thanks for reading. In the next chapter: The Sad Story of Inuyasha Wakuhamu (random name, yes?)
