I don't own Inuyasha or the characters there in.
Streams of the Heart Section 4
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"Are you sure about this, Jinenji?" Ayame couldn't believe the old wart had actually decided to let her into the house.
"Aye, but she said that you may only eat inside," said the hanyou with a smile. "It is a start..."
Ayame smiled. She liked it when Jinenji smiled, but this was different. It was a true smile; the shadow of sadness was not over his eyes, and she liked it even more than his other smiles. He led her into the house and led her to a small table. There sat the old woman. The elderly lady's eyes were locked on Ayame.
"You honor me, my lady..." said Ayame. She bowed deeply before the old woman.
"I honor my son, you just happen to be the benefactor," sniped the woman in response.
"Mother," started Jinenji.
"It is fine, Jinenji," Ayame said with a smile. Jinenji nodded and indicated for her to sit at a place at the table. Ayame smiled and nodded and sat down. Jinenji made a place at the table for himself and sat. The old woman served out the soup that she had made.
"Jinenji, I hope our guest likes our humble meal..." said Jinenji's mother. She looked pointedly at Ayame. "I'm sorry if there aren't any babies…"
"Mother…" Jinenji whispered through an agonized sigh.
"It's ok, Jinenji, I am sure that, since your mother made this stew; it will be most acceptable," replied Ayame, she looked up with her hazel eyes and smiled pleasantly. "Even if she is being quite sour, herself…"
The meal went very coldly. The old woman was very chilled. Jinenji, though being naturally shy, bashful and quiet, tried his best to bolster the mood but in the end it was a futile action. Ayame herself tried to bite her tongue when the old woman sent out verbal attacks towards her.
"So demoness, have you eaten many children this month or have you been investing all your time on my son?" growled the old woman as she glared across the table at Ayame.
"I'm sorry?" Ayame looked up in shock.
"Mother," Jinenji breathed quietly, "We spoke about this…"
"Pah, just because she hasn't eaten us doesn't mean she hasn't eaten others, you have to watch these wolves, they're ravenous," grunted the old woman.
"I do not eat humans," replied Ayame quietly and calmly. She looked pointedly at Jinenji's mother, "I think you'll find most youkai don't...as to being ravenous, the wolf tribe always meticulously managed their food supply, and they did so for many years until the deer populations plummeted. That did not happen by wolf youkai hands, but by the bows and arrows of humans…from a village along a stream in our territory…"
"I see," said the old woman quietly and she glared at the stew in front of her and stirred it absentmindedly. "We do not eat much deer, my son does not like to kill them, and he often has trouble watching me cook the meat…"
"That is true," Jinenji looked into his stew, "I…just can't stand looking into those eyes…they're like a small child's…and I just lose my strength…"
Ayame looked over at the hanyou and sighed slightly. He looked so innocent, so docile, like he couldn't hurt a fly, let alone kill a deer. He definitely was not like Kouga, who'd kill a heard of deer and then gut a boar just to show that he could. She grimaced at the thought of Kouga. Something made her lift her head and she sighed as she watched the waning crescent moon move lazily across the sky. She looked down and found her bowl empty. She looked up at the old woman. Jinenji's mother was eating a piece of vegetable. Ayame sat up. Jinenji and his mother both looked up in surprise.
"My compliments to the chef...and the gardener," said Ayame and flicked an eye at Jinenji in time to see him blush. "It was a meal like I had not had in many, many months, truly spectacular."
"You honor my cooking?" the woman looked up. "Even after all those unpleasant words I have said in your direction. What trickery is this demoness?"
"It is not trickery," said Ayame with a calm voice, "I have patience for your mistreatment, because Jinenji obviously has great respect for you, and loves you dearly and as such I would never wish to dishonor him by being aggressive towards you."
"Ah..." The old woman sat back gently. "Such abuse to take for my son, it's quite spectacular…"
"I think, my lady, that you underestimate the worth of your son," replied Ayame quietly. She looked at Jinenji, "A man as sensitive, strong and kind as Jinenji is worth several times more than an attractive jerk…"
"Of course…" Jinenji's mother replied. She furrowed her brows, "Could it be true, could she really…?"
"Now, I should go outside, in order to keep watch," said Ayame and stood up. She bowed deeply and turned to go.
"I-I will go with you, to sit with you and keep you company," said Jinenji. She stood.
"Not tonight," grumped the old woman, "You're still weak from your transformation, you shouldn't be out gallivanting around in such shape!"
"I am sure, Jinenji is a formidable opponent, even if he is slightly hampered by his transformation," said Ayame quietly. She turned her head to the old woman, "I do not smell any large youkai or powerful beings near by; there is nothing that will be dangerous to him for many miles."
"Mother, it is impolite to leave one's guests, unaccompanied," said Jinenji. His blue eyes still had the power to charm her with their said deep gaze. It was something she could never truly overcome.
The old woman finally broke and nodded curtly. She stood and walked to her bed room. The man took up a blanket as he turned to Ayame. Jinenji and Ayame walked out into the night. It was strange to have such cool nights after such blistering days, but the heat carried no moister in it to hold the warmth so it the nights remained cool.
Ayame sat the slope the house rested on and looked up into the sky. Jinenji sat next to her and stared at the crescent moon. The young man turned his eyes to Ayame.
"My mother said that it was on the night of the waning crescent moon that my father told her that he loved her," said Jinenji. He turned his eyes to small house that he lived in. "Soon after that he built a house for us, on this land. The house my father built was destroyed though, the night that the worm youkai attacked...The villagers built this in thanksgiving of me destroying the youkai."
Ayame looked up at the sky. "When I was seven...I was attacked, a wolf demon prince, named Kouga saved me and said he would marry me when I was of age. When I came of age our tribe was in a struggle for its territory that eventually led to our evacuation. Prior to our evacuation I had been tasked to find Kouga and bring him back so as to utilize his sacred jewel shards and to have him honor his promise, but Kouga had found a human woman. I was looking for him, in hopes of changing his heart, but I've realized that I really don't want his sort of life..."
"Oh," Jinenji looked up at the stars, "I've always liked working the land, making things grow brings such happiness to my soul. This drought though, has brought much sadness to my heart, it's painful to see the saplings I had so carefully tended wither under the relentless sun, it's like watching a cat play with a mouse after its caught it, you know no matter what, the cat will kill the mouse, that it's inevitable. The strange thing is that since you've arrived I have not been so sad."
Ayame blushed a little. She looked up at the hanyou. He looked down at her.
"Jinenji," Ayame's eyes softened. "I really like the way you live..."
The man smiled softly, and then it faded and became slightly nervous. "Ayame...wou-would it be out of line for me...to well...ask for a kiss from you?"
Ayame smiled softly. Her green eyes glinted in the starlight. "No, not at all..."
"Ayame…could I…?" Jinenji closed his eyes and blushed.
"Yes you may," smiled Ayame. She looked up and stifled a giggle as she looked into Jinenji's shocked eyes.
Jinenji leaned down and softly kissed the young woman on the lips. Ayame returned the gesture gently and softly embraced the hanyou. The young wolf woman carefully unfurled the blanket from around herself and laid it on Jinenji's back and then leaned in and nuzzled against the horse hanyou gently. She gently ran one of her clawed hands into his shirt. He twitched at this and tried to pull back.
"I'm sorry..." whispered Ayame. She looked up into the young man's face.
"Don't be sorry, Ayame," Jinenji smiled softly. "It just surprised me; that's all."
Ayame smiled softly and gently ran a claw up and down.
"I think I have found my first..." started Jinenji, but he was cut off by Ayame as she gave him a loving kiss on the lips.
She drew back, "I think I have too..."
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Oh my I debated over this chapter, whether it was a little too heavy on the romance side…part of the problem I had with this chapter was that originally Jinenji had his human time at night, which is why his mother protested to having him leave, but since I found out he had it during the day in the anime, which is what I am using for this post-new Naraku Jinenji story, it kind of flubbed things. So I had to fix it. The thing I'm really worried about in this chapter is that I wonder if I have made Jinenji too forward…with the kiss and such, that and now I have to work out the whole audience yuck factor of Ayame so easily kissing Jinenji in his hanyou form, but I think we can dispel that as being twue wuv.
Victoria: I got your e-mail, and thank you for your comments. As I said before, this story sort of came from a thread where we had been talking about off the wall couples in Inuyasha fan-fiction…
Next chapter is the last, in the original, though I doubt I can be persuaded to continue with the story…I am thinking of another Inuyasha fic, but I'm having troubles with details ie Feudal Village society stuff…