Day of Days, Night of Nights

Picnic by the Lake

Presently the river broadened into a small lake, bordered with lovely white lilies and green rushes. Ducks and herons shared the lake with emerald dragonflies and saffron butterflies, and a light breeze sent shimmering ripples across the water's surface. A flat-topped boulder jutted out of the water in the center of the lake, presenting an inviting spot to sit and enjoy a rest and a picnic. Inuyasha easily made the jump from the shore to the boulder, and he and Kagome sat down together, lounging at the water's edge. Kagome took off her shoes and socks and let her feet dangle in the cool waters of the lake, happily laughing and wiggling her toes at the curious fish. She opened their knapsack, and removed the lunch that she had packed just for this occasion: two heart-shaped rice balls, one for each of them, and each with a favorite filling—plum paste inside hers, and Inuyasha's favorite yellow radish pickles in his.She also opened two bottles of tea, and brought out some fruit and a bag of chips, and shortly they were enjoying a delightful picnic lunch.

From the other side of the lake, they heard the sounds of children at play: it was a group of young tanuki, rough-housing and laughing as they tussled with each other and popped into various shapes.

"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome sighed, as her hand sought out Inuyasha's and she rested her head on his shoulder. She said dreamily, "Do you think we'll have children some day?"

"Um...well...I've never really given it much thought," he muttered cautiously. Since he had very little understanding of human reproduction, he also hadn't given much thought to how such children might come about; but he was too embarrassed to admit as much, and he thought that right now was probably not the best time to ask about the clinical details.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful? A little boy, strong and brave like his father...or maybe if we're lucky, a little girl?" Kagome closed her eyes as a beautiful fantasy filled her thoughts: respectful children, dressed in beautiful formal kimonos and cheery ribbons, bowing to Inuyasha, ever the stern but doting patriarch, with herself smiling demurely at his side; studious children, sporting crisply pressed uniforms, proudly presenting her with perfect test papers; obedient children, happily clearing the table after enjoying every last bite of her delicious cooking; joyful and well-behaved children, laughing at play in the temple courtyard as she and Inuyasha watched arm-in-arm from the second-floor window.

"Um...Kagome..." Inuyasha offered cautiously, as Kagome sat smiling with her eyes closed, happily humming to herself, "When you get like this...I worry about you..." He cleared his throat, hoping to get her attention gracefully. "Why don't we..."

But she never found out what Inuyasha wanted to do, because he was interrupted by a huge clump of mud, thrown by one of the tanuki on the other side of the lake. The mud struck him squarely in the face and sent him flying off the rock, and he tumbled into the lake into the middle of a patch of water lilies. When he surfaced, the tangle of lily vines and rushes that were caught in his white hair created quite a comical picture, and the tanuki laughed uproariously at the sight. (Even Kagome giggled, although she did her best to hide her mirth from the enraged Inuyasha.)

"Get out of our lake, you dirty hanyou dog!" They shouted, and laughing loudly they threw another volley of mud balls, which struck his chest and slowly oozed down his wet kimono.

"You little punks! Who are you calling a dog? I'm going to make you regret the day you..." he growled, and began charging towards the tanuki, but he was stopped by Kagome's hand on his shoulder.

"Now, Inuyasha," she chided, trying to hide her laughter, "they're just children. All you have to do is show them who's boss—if you're firm with them, they'll respect you." Kagome turned to the tanuki, and put on her best "stern schoolmistress" face. She wagged her finger at them, and said firmly, "Now, you boys stop this nonsense this minute! That's no way to treat your elders..." but she was abruptly stopped short by a sopping wet mud ball to the side of her head. Her eyes flashed with anger, and she shouted, "You little brats! When I get my hands on you, I'm going to..." whereupon she too was sent tumbling head over heels into the water, backpack and all, by a vicious volley of mud from the tanuki.

"And take your filthy human with you," they shrieked, howling with laughter.

Kagome slowly rose from the surface of the water, covered in mud and tangles of water plants; only her eyes were visible from underneath the thick and mucky mess, and they were blazing with fury. Rising up from the lake like some vengeful swamp god, she stretched forth a mud-covered hand and pointed ominously towards the tanuki, who were still doubled over with mirth, and in a chilling voice, she thundered, "Inuyasha... make... them... PAY!"

"So you little punks want to take me on, do you?" Inuyasha shouted, leaping out of the water and soaring high into the air. "Let's see how you like THIS!"

With a flash, Inuyasha drew Tessaiga, and fired the kaze no kizu towards the tanuki. The blast sped across the lake, sending great torrents of water splashing high into the air. It shot directly past the terrified tanuki (Inuyasha, of course, had no intention of actually hurting them), and struck a great oak tree that stood at the side of the lake. The tree burst into flame and then exploded, sending a shower of fiery splinters everywhere. Tessaiga's blast continued past the ruined tree to strike the wall of the canyon with an earth-shaking thunderclap; and it carved great scars into the rock face and dislodged several huge boulders, which fell to the earth and shattered in a cloud of flying debris.

Eventually the smoke and dust finally cleared to reveal the poor little tanuki utterly petrified with fear, standing as still as statues, their mouths agape and their eyes the size of saucers.

Inuyasha landed in front of them, leaned his sword jauntily on his shoulder, and scolded them fiercely. "This ‘hanyou dog' has had enough of you!" he snarled. "Now, apologize to my wife!" He pointed towards Kagome, who was still picking lily pads out of her hair. The tanuki prostrated themselves so violently that their foreheads made dull smacking sounds as they hit the ground, and they bowed and scraped and stammered "I'm sorry—I'm sorry—I'm sorry" until they were breathless.

"Now, get out of here before I really get mad," he growled, and he pointed Tessaiga menacingly towards them. The tanuki scrambled furiously to escape his wrath, and in seconds were out of sight.

"You're right, Kagome," Inuyasha laughed. "Raising kids is easy—just show 'em who's boss, and they'll come right into line. Sure, why not? We can have as many as you like!"

"If we have kids," she muttered as she fished herself and the backpack out of the lake and climbed back onto the rock, "maybe I'd better handle the discipline." She rifled through the backpack, surveying the damage that the plunge into the lake might have done. "Oh, no," she said, "All my nice things that I brought for our wedding night...they're all wet and muddy. I guess they'll dry eventually, but I really wanted them for tonight..." she withdrew a filthy piece of cloth from the backpack and dejectedly wrung it out. "Well, you're right, I suppose, nothing to be done, let's make the best of it..." she said light-heartedly, but her lower lip shook as she spoke, and her shoulders slumped sadly as she poured dirty water out of the knapsack and zipped it closed.

Inuyasha knelt down and took her comfortingly in his arms. "It'll be OK, Kagome. Don't let this little thing bother you—we've been through much worse than this, haven't we?" He stood up, and drew Tessaiga, and struck a heroic pose. "Together, we faced down Naraku himself—together, even both tanuki and mud can't stop us!"

Kagome laughed despite herself. "Thank you, Inuyasha. You're right. We will make the best of it...the two of us, together! But right now, maybe we'd better go straight to the inn?" She brushed dejectedly at her muddy clothes. "These romantic side trips aren't turning out very well, are they?"

Inuyasha smiled silently (occasionally, he knew when it was time to keep his mouth shut), gathered their soggy belongings, and loaded Kagome onto his back. Then, he bounded upstream, making directly for the inn.