Chapter 11, Homely Troubles (Part I)

Author's note

For the readers who think the story's too rushed, Homely Troubles I and II are especially installed for you! Hope this will slow down the pace a bit. And, in the next chapter, there will be some character development not only for the good guys, but for the "bad guys" as well. Enjoy!

Picante gato: Glad you like my story! I wrote this cross-over because, first, I love these two shows with a passion. Second, I don't think there's enough IY/FY stories on the net. I'm trying to make the character interaction as entertaining as possible.

And a sincere thanks to all who reviewed!


The village at night looked peaceful and welcoming. No matter how frightful the forest around it looked, the light from the wooden huts and the cheerful cackling of cooking fires were enough to comfort a tired traveler. The tree branches swayed gently in the wind, casting dark shadows on the ground. A pale moon hung overhead, almost full; it's watery light peeked through the branches, gilding the earth silver.

Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo gathered around the cook fire along with the Seishis. Lady Kaede was stirring some kind of soup in an iron pot. Although most of the Seishis had never been in a Japanese dwelling before, they all threw away the formalities and gave in to the cheerfulness and delight of the fire and the smell of a meal being cooked. Though some of them were showing stress of muscle pain from sitting on their knees. "My, my," Lady Kaede exclaimed, "What a big crow we have tonight. I might have to make two pots of stew." "Smells good!" Nuriko grinned gleefully, "You gotta tell me what herbs you put in there Kaede-sama, I want to try it out myself!" Knowing Nuriko was a man, Kaede raised her eyebrows a little but she answered nonetheless. "Strange, where is Ai?" Nuriko asked after he memorized Kaede's recipe. "I think she went to gather fire wood, no da." Chichiri answered. "I'll go check on her," Amiboshi volunteered. He stood up and left.

Ai put down the armload of dry wood on the ground and began to climb a giant oak tree. She knew she should be taking the wood back to the hut, but the crisp, cool night air was too much for her to resist. She ascended expertly, putting her feet securely on the sturdy branches and at the same tine carefully avoiding ripping her T-shirt and jeans. When Ai deemed that she had climbed high enough, she found a strong branch to sit on and observed the scenery.

She sat there, listening absent-mindedly to the rhythmic sizzling of leaves and felt the soothing wind on her face while the moon light illuminated her skin a pale silver. She glanced outward, it was a clear night. There was no evening mist hanging above the rice fields and the river shimmered under the moonlight. But today, even the serene scenery could not bring peace to her heart; her mind kept on wandering to what happened when she zapped Kagura with her miko powers and the disturbing memories it brought back.

Flashback

"Ai-chan, Ai chan, help me!" a young girl about nine or ten shouted desperately, a pair of strong arms grabbed her, and covered up her mouth, trying to silence her. "Megumi-chan!" A ten-year-old Ai yelled as she watched her friend being helplessly dragged away by a tall, mean-looking man. Megumi wriggled, trying to escape the strong hold of her abductor, but he merely smirked at her futile struggle. "Maybe I'll get you too, girlie," he said to Ai, "it's just going to be more money for me when I sell you both." His eyes had a glint of greediness and evil, it almost seemed to glow red. The rest of the world had suddenly gone black around Ai. The only thing visible were his eyes, glowing with a selfish desire. He's going to hurt me, he's going to hurt Megumi. Megumi… Then something snapped. The man was stunned as the ten-year-old girl charged at him. He never could've thought that such innocent, fragile feature of a small child could contain such hatred. He stumbled back, lost his hold on the other girl, and immediately felt a surge of indescribable pain. It tore at his clothes and flesh. He found himself surrounded by reddish-pink sparks just before he doubled-over and sank into the oblivion of unconciousness.

"Ai…" a small whisper brought Ai back to reality. She turned around, and found Megumi trembling and cowering in a corner. This time, because of her. "Ai, who… what are you? How…did you do… do that?" Ai noticed that Megumi had dropped the "chan" after her name, and it hurt her deeply. "Megumi…" "Get… get away from me, you freak!" Ai was stunned into silence. Her mind had gone blank. 'I'm a freak… a freak…'

Slowly the vision faded, and Ai was once again staring into the peaceful, moonlit rice paddies. So, what happened that day with Megumi had happened again. I wonder if I spooked some people, Ai thought. Her face hardened as she thought about the man who caused her to lose herself every time she's exposed to extreme anger, the man who's the reason behind all this, the man who made her heart turn into ice at the mere image of him, the man who brought her so much pain in her childhood, the man with the crazed eyes, the man who she should call, "father". True, admitted Ai, the abductor of Megumi who caused her to expose her power the first time was not her father. But her so-called father was the reason behind it, wasn't it?

"Ai, are you okay?" Ai was startled as she realized that someone was calling for her. She looked down and saw Amiboshi. "I don't mean to disturb you but you were very pale and were staring off into space." "Oh," said Ai, "I better come down then." Ai climbed down a couple of branches and lightly jumped to the ground. For a while Ai and Amiboshi sat side-by-side, leaning against the tree trunk in silence. Finally, Amiboshi spoke up, "Ai, about what happened today, with you and Kagura, I am worried. I don't know why." It wasn't a question, so Ai didn't answer. Instead, her thoughts drifted back to Megumi and her father, to all her fifteen years of loneliness, to all the screams of pain and agony. Although he didn't say it, Ai knew that he was talking to her as a friend. But the question was, was she ready? Was she ready to accept his offer of friendship, and tell him all these things? Ai didn't think so. All these years of being alone didn't prepare her well for this situation, so she reacted the only way she knew, through anger.

"Who do you think you are, sticking your nose into my business like that?" Ai exclaimed hotly, "I've known you for less than three days and already you are being nosy?" "Ai, I'm sorry…" "I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself!" "Ai, I didn't mean to…" "Just forget about it!" Ai said with finality. She rose abruptly and walked away, leaving Amiboshi sighing by the tree.

Nuriko hid behind a tree, watching the whole event with utmost interest. When he saw Ai's outburst, he was determined to help. He brushed away a long shaggy bang that fell across his face gracefully and stood beside the path in the woods, waiting for Ai to come by.

Ai walked down the road with a sinking heart. Her mind was a whirlpool of emotion. As she walked she casually kicked a small rock, as if watching the rock rolling ahead of her was going to take her mind off the matter at hand. "Hey Ai-chan!" Ai was startle then she saw Nuriko. "Hello Nuriko," she replied without much energy. "So, what are you doing, taking a walk? Or," Nuriko narrowed her eyes, "are you meeting your lover on this quiet, romantic night?" "Wha…what are you talking about?" asked Ai, trying to appear more puzzled than embarrassed. "Oh, well," said Nuriko, "you needn't tell me if you don't want to." They stood in silence for a moment, until Nuriko looked up at the night sky. "My, my! Aren't the stars lovely tonight?" "It sure is," Ai sighed. "You know," Nuriko suddenly looked at Ai right in the eye, "it's always good to have someone who cares about you, even though you think you don't need it. We must always appreciate the caring people in our lives, for they might be gone one day." "So, you eavesdropped," Ai said frankly. "I haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about," said Nuriko innocently. "Thank you," Ai hesitated for a moment, then added, "Nuri-chan." At that, she turned and ran down the path without hesitation.

Nuriko watched Ai disappeared down the path, his brows fused together in a frown. Nuri-CHAN? She thinks I'm a woman? Nuriko knew that he should be happy that Ai went off to make up with Amiboshi, but somehow he'd rather her staying with him instead. But all these disturbing thoughts flew away when wind carried the cheerful, soothing tune of a flute towards him, along with the laughter of a young girl. Nuriko smiled. He had helped two friends; he was content and happy.


"What? What do you mean you need to go home for three days?" Inuyasha yelled. It's already the next morning. The sun shone cheerfully in the sapphire-blue sky.

"Well, you see…" Ai explained, "I have a real important…"

"Don't say it!" Inuyasha cut her off. "You got exams!" everyone said it at the exact same time."

"Oh, you already know! Good! I'll be off then!"

"Where do you think you're going?" Inuyasha held her back, "I didn't say you can go!" "Oh come on!" Ai pleaded, "It's only three days!" "Three days?" Inuyasha shouted angrily, "Every time you go back you always take your sweet time! Heaven knows if you're coming back or not!" Ai's patience was running dangerously low. "Every time? This is the FIRST time! Besides, I agreed to help you guys out, I won't quit now!" "Feh!"

"That's it!" Ai blew her top, "sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, SIT!" By the time she's finished, Inuyasha was no longer above ground. Miroku sweat-dropped. "You know Inuyasha," he said to the crater Inuyasha was in, "you might as well let her go back." "Or else you'll endure tremendous pain, no da!" Chichiri added. Their advice was greeted by silence, Inuyasha's still out cold. "Let's just say he accepts," Miroku said.

Ai bid everyone goodbye then walked past the crater towards the well. She went by Amiboshi and their eyes met for a moment. He was smiling at her. Last night, both of them had came to a silent agreement that they would put the Kagura issue aside, and Ai would tell him the truth eventually, when she's ready.

Ai smiled back. Then, she stepped over the edge of the old well and jumped.

Ai came out of the heavy wooden door of the shrine and followed the road to her apartment. As she walked she thought over the stories she made up to explain her absence to her two brothers, 10-year-old Haru and college-freshman Yutaka. It's a good thing that her Mom was away on a business trip. Ai checked her watch, it was seven o'clock. She still had thirty minutes to get ready before she goes to school.

"Ai, you are back!" Yukata exclaimed as Ai pushed open the apartment door. "Hai!" Ai smiled at her big brother.

Haru's head suddenly popped through the doorway. Ai could've sworn that he and Yutaka exchanged a meaningful glance before the college-student asked, "So, how's the trip?"

A school trip to Osaka was Ai's made-up excuse for being away. "It was good," Ai answered simply. "Took any pictures?" "My pictures are on the digital camera." "Well, let's see them," Yutaka insisted. Ai sighed, this felt like an interrogation. But luckily, Ai was a step ahead. She had downloaded pictures of Osaka's scenery from the Internet and digitally inserted her figures onto the pictures. The result was uncanny.

"Wow, very skillfully done!" Yutaka commented. "What do you mean?" asked Ai, puzzled. "I'm surprised your computer skills had reached such a level that you hoaxed all these pictures and they looked almost real," said Yutaka, "ALMOST."

"So, where did I go wrong, bro?" Ai asked as if she was consulting her brother on a difficult math question.

"It's the light," observed Yutaka. "In the background the shadows are on the left side, but on your face they point to the right. I'm surprised that a highly accomplished artist such as yourself could've missed this."

Rats, Ai silently swore, how could she make such a stupid mistake? But what's done was done. If Yutaka wanted to continue this mind game, she would be happy to oblige…

"So, Yutaka, you knew a long time ago, didn't you?" asked Ai smiling.

"Actually, it's yesterday. The school phoned, asking if you're better from your 'stomach flu'. Lucky for you I went along with it, thinking that whatever you did, you did it for a reason. I could've called Mom. I could've called the police. But I didn't. Now I believe it's time you tell us what's going on."

Ai thought this over. For a moment she actually considered telling him the truth. But would he believe her? Probably not. The only solution now was stalling.

"Look," Ai said, pointing to the clock, "I have school in twenty minutes. After I get back I'll explain everything."

"I don't think so, Sis," Yutaka put on his best "big brother" face, "I don't have classes today and Haru's school is having a holiday. We've got all day. And you, Sis, could use an extra day to fully recover from that stomach flu."

"But Yutaka! I have a huge exam today!" Ai protested. "Too bad," Yutaka held his ground. "Alright Yutaka, you leave me no choice," Ai clenched her teeth. She grabbed her book bag and bolted for the door. Yutaka tried you grab her, but she easily dodged him. "See ya later, big brother!" Ai waved as she ran down the stairs. You might have gotten away this time, thought Yutaka, but you can't avoid me forever! I will get an explanation from you!


If anyone find this chapter confusing, gomen nasai! But you will find out about Ai's past soon enough, eventually. Mwahahahaha!