Death and Transfiguration

Memories

Izayoi and Inuyasha lounged upon Shippou's back as he floated gently in the wind.

"Oh...this takes me back," Inuyasha said as he stretched out and rested his head on his hands. "Fighting Naraku was hard, but there were good times, too. We saw a lot of beautiful countryside—do you remember all those long days...floating on Hatchi, or flying on Kirara?"

"Those were good times," Shippou agreed.

"I'm sorry I missed them," said Izayoi, fondly patting Shippou. "It always sounded so exciting, just the five of you against the world." Something in the landscape below caught her attention. She leaned out, looking for something; then she pointed and laughed. "There—you see that? Isn't that where we all had that awful fight?"

Inuyasha followed Izayoi's pointing finger to see a cozy bend in a stream, surrounded by pine trees. "Yup, that's the place," he said, laughing. "How could I forget?"

Izayoi patted Shippou as she spoke. "That's where I had that really big blow-up with Mom about you, Shippou." She giggled girlishly. "You and I had always slept together since we were kids, and that's the place Mom came to me one night, all embarrassed, and she said that I couldn't sleep with you any more because I was too big. I didn't understand how my size made any difference, and she couldn't bring herself to talk about what she was really worried about, of course. And this was before I knew that 'sleeping together' could mean anything besides...y'know, sleeping, or that there even was anything to do with each other besides sleeping."

She giggled again, "And so, here I am in tears, crying, 'Why can't I sleep with Po-chan? I want to sleep with Po-chan!' And Shippou's crying too, and he's yelling, 'I want to sleep with Za-chan,' and we're both crying and yelling about wanting to sleep with each other...and Mom was just mortified, and we just kept yelling louder, and that just made things worse."

Shippou giggled too. "And then Miroku comes over to me and says, 'I never tried crying... who knows—it just might work! Keep it up, my boy! I'm in your corner!' And of course I have no idea what he's talking about, but Sango hears what he's saying, and she starts yelling at him, and he yells at her, so she runs over and clobbers him."

Izayoi jumped in, "And then Mom's so mad, she yells at me, 'Izayoi—sit!' And of course nothing happens to me, but Dad hits the ground..."

"...And when he got up," laughed Shippou, "Oh, boy! We thought we'd seen fights before, when Inuyasha and Kagome would rip into each other...but we were sure that the three of you were going to kill each other. It took all three of us to pull you apart, and everybody was mad at everybody else, and nobody got any sleep that night."

"Except the two of you," chuckled Inuyasha. "We found the two of you the next morning, sleeping in each other's arms, with beautiful smiles on your faces, just like always..." He laughed and chummily hugged Izayoi's shoulders; she smiled and blushed. "And when your mother saw that, of course, it all started again."

"I don't know whether the village that hired us was more afraid of the youkai they asked us to exterminate, or of us," laughed Izayoi. "We were still mad at each other when we stomped into the village that afternoon. We must have really been something to look at—and those poor youkai! They never had a chance. We took out all those youkai in about three minutes, and we nearly leveled the village in the process. They just gave us our payment and kept bowing until we finally took the hint and left."

All three of them laughed heartily. Izayoi wiped her eyes as she said, "Oh boy...well, at least we took it out on the youkai rather than each other. Mom didn't really want to talk to me for a few days, but finally she stopped complaining about us sleeping with each other. Actually...I don't think she ever mentioned it again. I always wondered why."

"I talked her out of it," said Inuyasha. "It took me quite a while to calm her down, y'know. But after I stayed up a few nights and watched you two, and saw that all you were doing was sleeping, I managed to get her to back off. I mean, it kept you two quiet at night and let the rest of us get some rest—and what was wrong with that?"

"Well, Dad, I guess Po-chan and I owe you an overdue thank-you," laughed Izayoi. "Anyway, about a week after the big fight, Aunt Sango took me aside and explained to me what Mom thought we were doing and why she wanted to keep us apart. I had never even imagined doing something like that—I was completely disgusted at just the thought."

"Good thing you got over that," said Shippou enthusiastically.

Izayoi blushed. "Po-chan!" she snapped, and thumped him soundly.

Shippou yelped in pain, and they suddenly lost altitude. Shippou yelped again as Inuyasha's claws dug in as he desperately grabbed for a handhold. In a few moments Shippou regained his composure and resumed a level flight, and Inuyasha growled, "That's enough, you two. Honestly, you're worse than Miroku and Sango."

Izayoi laughed. "'Honestly?' Did you just say 'honestly,' Dad? You sound just like Mom."

"I do?" Inuyasha asked; then, with a smug grin, he said, "Yeah...I guess I do." He lay down with his hands behind his head, smiled thoughtfully, and stared at the passing clouds in silence.