Shikon no Go
The Language of the Shikon
A Fanfic in 100 Chapters
By DQBunny
Ж•Ж•Ж•Ж•Ж
DISCLAIMER: This story is based off of "Kendo no Go: A Fanfic in 100 Chapters" by Akai Kitsune. Her story in turn is a parody of "In the Language of Love," a story by Diane Schoemperlen. My thanks and appreciation goes out to Akai Kitsune for letting me borrow her fic idea! "Inuyasha" is the property of Takahashi Rumiko.
Ж•Ж•Ж•Ж•Ж
Chapter 10: Village
During her initial journey into the past, Kagome never asked Kaede how old the village was. She didn't want to think that eventually the huts would fade away one by one, until all that remained was a shrine, a shed, a house and the Goshinboku - a sprawling city surrounding it.
She found herself wandering the shrine when she was home, trying to guess where places from the Sengoku Jidai existed The main part of the village seemed to be about three blocks away from the shrine - a distance she measured by bike. She caught herself looking at maps of Japan, wondering where she'd been looking for the shards in relationship to modern cities. The shikon search was helping her in geography, she admitted. Except it was feudal Japan and not the modern era.
The village itself was a focal point for the group. Every time they wearied of their journey, they came back to this one place where everything started. Sometimes they stopped by the taijya village to lay flowers on the graves there, but Sango explained it was too painful for her to remain. She admitted the time she returned to repair her Hiraikotsu nearly wrecked her emotionally.
Kagome wondered how Inuyasha felt about Kaede's village. It's been the source of so much pain for him, yet he always led them back there. She asked him once and he brushed it aside, saying Kaede-baba needed to know what was going on. It went deeper than that, she was sure, but getting Inuyasha to open up about his feelings was harder than prying the lid off a tin can with a dull knife.
Once the villagers got over their initial fascination of the strange-looking miko who was supposedly the reincarnation of Kikyou and her hanyou and youkai companions, they drew the five into the fabric of the village. Most mornings, Kagome assisted Kaede with gathering herbs while Inuyasha always got roped into doing some sort of heavy work for the villagers. Miroku did his best to provide the role of spiritual leader, but wound up ogling the women. Sango befriended those women and shadowed Miroku to keep his perverted acts to a minimum.
No matter how long they were gone, whenever they returned, the village accepted them as if they'd never left. At night, many families walked to Kaede's hut and gathered around the entrance. Miroku perched himself on a small box and told story after story of their adventures to the enraptured children and their parents. Shippou used the crayons and paper Kagome gave him to provide accompanying pictures, though Kagome started monitoring the kitsune after he enraged Inuyasha with some of the exaggerated drawings.
As time went by and they snagged more shards, Kagome noticed that youkai started following them back to the village. The worst happened when their meager collection dwindled down to one shard. Suddenly, every youkai in existence seemed to target Kaede's village, knowing that they rested there. They wound up fighting more than resting, doing their best to draw the evilness away from the place that sheltered them.
Kagome noticed that these were the times Inuyasha seemed to fight the hardest - other than when her life was in danger or they faced down Naraku. He dispatched the youkai with a ferociousness that amazed, yet puzzled her. Sometimes the fight lasted several hours, and he would stumble back toward the hut they stayed nearly dead with exhaustion. She watched from her bedroll as he trudged inside, sank against the wall and fell into a deep sleep. Yet, when she emerged from the hut in the morning, he'd be at work helping Kaede or another villager.
She mentioned it to Miroku at one point.
"Don't you see, Kagome-sama?" he replied. "This place is Inuyasha's home. It's our home too."
Miroku leaned back against the doorway, watched as their friend hoisted a beam up to the roof of a nearby hut. "Even though this was the place everything started, they've taken us all in without question. When we defeat Naraku and I can fulfill my promise to Sango, I'd like to come here to live. It'd be a new start for both of us."
"I suppose." Kagome smiled at Shippo playing with some of the children. "Shippo-chan loves it here too."
"I've never had a place I could call home."
Kagome eyed Miroku. "Really?"
"My father and I wandered from town to town. My mother died giving birth to me. The curse of the kazaana plus the life of a wandering monk didn't lead to settling down in one place. When the curse finally overwhelmed my father, I stayed at the shrine where we last lived. But when the curse passed to me, I started on my journey as well." Miroku sipped at a cup of green tea. "I feel it's the same with Inuyasha. It's not easy for a hanyou to fit in with either humans or youkai."
Kagome smiled. "Inuyasha once told me that. You're right. This place is home for all of you."
"It's your home too, Kagome-sama."
Kagome closed her eyes, replacing the images of the huts with the familiar picture of the shrine and the community that encompassed it. "You're right, Miroku-sama. It's my home too."
Ж•Ж•Ж•Ж•Ж
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The original title for this chapter was "House."