Death and Transfiguration
The Festival
The dark night of the new moon proved to be the turning point in their journey; and just as each passing evening grew brighter with the approach of the full moon, Inuyasha's mood became brighter with each passing day, and he showed every sign of returning to his old cantankerous but happy self. Now he never ran ahead or stayed by himself in the trees, but spent every day walking with Shippou and Izayoi, and his fireside tales gradually began to include stories of Kagome and their time together. Izayoi especially enjoyed hearing stories that her mother had already shared with her, now told afresh from her father's point of view; and she surprised herself at the number of times that she changed her mind about her father's behavior after hearing his side of the story.
Izayoi was very much a child of the feudal era, and she enjoyed sleeping on the ground and living off the land as much as her father. But like her mother, she often craved hot meals, hot baths, and warm beds. From time to time, they sought out villages with youkai problems—which were, in that day and age, not at all difficult to find, especially for Inuyasha's keen sense of smell and Izayoi's spiritual powers—and there was no village so small or poor that they were not happy to be rid of a troublesome youkai for the small price of a home-cooked meal, a hot bath, and a bed for the night. It was extremely easy work for them, usually taking at most one swipe of Tessaiga or one shot from Izayoi's bow, and the ever-genial Shippou and his fox magic were always a big hit with the village children.
Everyone enjoyed these little vacations from life in the wild. As much as she loved hot springs, Izayoi absolutely adored being able to take a bath in a real tub. And as she luxuriated in her bath, Shippou would speak long into the night with Inuyasha, asking him the sorts of questions a son can only ask his father; and surprisingly, Inuyasha responded without his usual bluster, answering him as a father answers his son. Izayoi would always find them deep in conversation when she emerged from her bath, sometimes so intent that they paid no attention to her return, sometimes laughing uproariously, toasting each other merrily into the night with cups of tea.
They even spent some time visiting Miroku and Sango, whom they hadn't seen since Kagome's service at the Goshinboku. The old monk Mushin had left his temple in the care of Miroku, which proved to be the perfect place to raise Miroku's and Sango's many children. Miroku was, for all his faults, an excellent and compassionate priest; but unfortunately, his most marketable skill was as a con artist, a trade that Sango violently forbade him from pursuing. "How can your children look up to a father who's a liar and a thief?" she had snarled. But the always-enterprising Sango had a better idea, and soon the temple became the new home for a revival of the youkai exterminator's art. She would often take the eldest children on youkai hunts, leaving Miroku safely alone in the temple in charge of the youngest children, and she made them all quite a comfortable living. Theirs was a large and happy family, and when the children had grown, they married and raised large families of their own; and soon they outgrew even the temple's prodigious grounds. In time, the eldest children had taken their families and moved back to Sango's home village. Sango could not bear to raise her own children within sight of the graves of her kin, but her children felt very strongly about resuming the family trade in their ancestral home, so off they went; and from what news had reached Miroku and Sango, the old compound had come fully back to life and was already quite a success.
Spring passed into summer, and summer's heat was being replaced by autumn's chill; the nights were getting colder and the leaves had begun to turn brilliant shades of red and orange. Inuyasha, Shippou, and Izayoi were walking a forest path, enjoying the brisk bite of the autumn air, when Shippou suddenly gave a cry: "Stop!" He dove into the underbrush and began rummaging enthusiastically amongst the leaves of a rather undistinguished plant; then he leapt triumphantly to his feet. "Fox berries!" he cried jubilantly, and ran to the others with large handfuls of something that looked like crimson currents. Shippou carefully handed one each to Inuyasha and Izayoi; they munched on them thoughtfully, then smiled.
"Hey...these are really good!" said Inuyasha. The berries were surprisingly juicy for something that had so much crunch, and had a sweet and vaguely smoky taste. "Let's have some more!" he said, reaching for the bunch in Shippou's hand.
"Er, excuse me, Inuyasha," said Shippou apologetically, "but I may be saving these for something special. Give me a minute." Shippou pushed his way back through the fox-berry bush into the forest, and they heard him muttering as he tromped about. "Moon flowers, rowan leaves, yes, yes," he said, "The bark of...yes! And mushrooms...no...not these...not these...these! And what about..." his voice trailed off as he went further into the forest; but in a few moments, they heard a whoop of joy, and Shippou came crashing through the thicket, covered in dirt and leaves, triumphantly holding a large red flower. "YES!" he cried. "It's all here...and all we need is a stream—did anyone see a stream or a pond nearby?"
Inuyasha and Izayoi twitched their ears, listening. Izayoi pointed to her right. "Over there," she said, "I think I hear water over there," she said.
Shippou actually jumped into the air with glee. "Yes! I can do it, then!"
Inuyasha and Izayoi looked at each other cautiously. "Um... Po-chan..." began Izayoi carefully. "What are you talking about?"
Shippou smiled. "I'm sorry—I should have explained right away. It's just been so long," he said. "When I was very little, before I met Inuyasha and Kagome… my people would hold a special celebration, the Festival of the Autumn Moon, but only in the years when all the ingredients were available to make a special drink: fox-berry wine. My grandmother was the only one in our family who knew how to make it, and I was the only one that she'd let help her with it. It took me quite a while to convince her to give me the recipe, and it took even longer to memorize it. It can only be made in the fall, and it takes a couple of weeks to make, and you have to finish it on the night of the full moon—and the ingredients are very hard to find. Very hard to find. They almost never grow as near each other as they do here, and even when you can find them, they're not always ripe at the right time. Sometimes you can go for years without everything ripening at the right time. But when you're lucky...it's just incredible. And well, for us fox youkai, it's something very special."
Shippou looked a little embarrassed. "I haven't talked about it much, because the chance never came up before," he said bashfully. "When I met you and Kagome, I was an orphan, and you took me into your family, and I honored your traditions. But even so, we don't celebrate the Festival of the Autumn Moon every year anyway: only when you can make the fox-berry wine, and that doesn't happen very often… But anyway, the ingredients are all here, and they're all ready to go, and here we are, and well... we just have to do it. Can we stay here until the full moon? Can we? Please?"
"Sure, why not," shrugged Inuyasha. "It's not like we have anything else to do."
"Dad!" Izayoi said with exasperation. "Of course we'll stay here, Po-chan. Of course we'll celebrate your festival. Nothing would make us happier. Right, Dad?" She glowered sternly at her father; it was so much like one of Kagome's expressions that Inuyasha jumped in terror.
"Sure, sure, of course, no problem, really!" he said breathlessly.
The recipe for fox-berry wine was unbelievably complicated. Shippou began by having everyone pick all the fox berries they could find. "Just the ripest ones!" he cautioned them. "If there's any green on them, or if they feel soft when you squeeze them, just leave them on the vine. And try not to bruise them!" The berries had to be peeled, mashed, strained, and then cooked slowly and carefully. Shippou stayed up all night cautiously tending the fire under the pot, making sure that it never got too hot or cold. The resulting mash was placed in a bag and hung in the sun to "mature," although after Inuyasha caught a whiff of it, he suggested that "rot" might be a better word. Then there were several kinds of flowers: some for their petals, some for their pollen, some for their buds, each requiring its own special care. And then there was a horrible smelly mess that Shippou created out of various bits of tree bark, forest mushrooms, dried leaves, and a black sticky substance that looked like mud but that Shippou said was the honey of a particularly noxious forest bee.
As the night of the full moon drew closer and the various piles and bags of ingredients grew taller, they began to notice that a lot of fox youkai were wandering through the area to pick flowers or berries, or to obtain some other missing ingredient. All of them greeted Shippou most warmly, and he could spend hours exchanging tips and tricks on the making of fox-berry wine or other festival treats. Some of them had even heard of his exploits and the great struggle with Naraku; Shippou always blushed, shook his head, and said bashfully, "I was just one of many who helped. Inuyasha was the real hero."
But nothing pleased him more than to meet a fox youkai who had actually known his family, and the compliment that pleased him most was "I knew your father—and he'd be very proud of you."
Soon it was the day before the night of the full moon, and preparations went into full swing for their festival. Shippou and Izayoi went into the forest with Izayoi's great black bow, and in short order they brought back a wild boar, which they butchered, trimmed, and tossed into a firepit to roast all day. It was Izayoi's "human" day; Inuyasha had been too full of his own grief to even notice Izayoi's human days earlier in their journey together—her days had fallen during the week that he had spent running alone ahead of the others, starting before dawn and stopping long after nightfall, and during one of his weeks of self-imposed seclusion in the high branches of a tall tree—and he was (he hoped) atoning for his earlier inattention by being especially solicitous of Izayoi's "weakened" state, which meant that he became obnoxiously jumpy every time Izayoi walked out of his sight. He scolded both Izayoi and Shippou for taking her condition too lightly—Shippou had puzzled Inuyasha by starting the day as he always did, by presenting Izayoi with a braided crown of white flowers to adorn her dark hair, and from Inuyasha's point of view, things had gone downhill from there.
Inuyasha had quite forgotten that although Izayoi's youkai strength had fled for the day, she was far from defenseless. Her spiritual powers, which flowed from her human side, were unabated. Inuyasha was sitting with Izayoi by the stream as she peeled and washed vegetables, when there was a rustling in the thicket. Inuyasha drew Tessaiga, but Izayoi was faster. Her knife blazed brightly as she whirled towards the sound—and in a flash, her knife imbedded itself in a tree stump and burst meanacingly into purifying flame, inches away from the nose of a young fox youkai (scarcely larger than Shippou had been when he first met Inuyasha) who had been creeping stealthily towards their store for the evening's festival, hoping to help himself to their supplies.
"Get away from that, you little twerp!" barked Izayoi fiercely. "Go get your own!"
The little fox youkai yelped in terror and quickly disappeared into the forest. Izayoi retrieved her knife and resumed her seat next to Inuyasha by the stream. "Damned snot-nosed kids," grumbled Izayoi. "I hate kids."
"I guess I really don't need to worry about you, do I?" laughed Inuyasha as he sheathed his sword. Then he muttered quietly to himself as he went back to work, "I also forgot how you've got your mother's temper—remind me never to get you angry."
Early that morning, Shippou had begun stirring all the ingredients together in a large pot that he had borrowed from a nearby village. By noon he had finished, and he tossed the last handful of flower petals into the pot with a joyful shout. "Done! At last! Now, we wait!" He rubbed his hands together with glee, then carefully covered the pot with a cloth. "This needs to stay covered until just the right time. If the cover comes off too soon, it'll be ruined, so no peeking! And that means you, Inuyasha," he said with a grin.
"Believe me—the way that smells, there's no way I'm even getting near it. Are you sure it's OK? Are we really supposed to drink that?" He sniffed dubiously at the pot, and covered his nose with his sleeve with disgust.
"Trust me, Inuyasha," Shippou laughed. "It's fine. It's supposed to smell that way right now, but I promise you—it'll be wonderful. It may just be the best batch I've ever had!"
"Whatever you say, Shippou," said Inuyasha doubtfully, and he wandered off to sun himself by the bank of the stream.
Shippou and Izayoi spent the rest of the day getting the evening's feast ready, and then Shippou insisted that they take at least a little time to rest, so they spent the afternoon relaxing beside the stream, taking turns napping in the warm sun. When the sun was about to set, Shippou sprang back into action. He grabbed another large pot and waded into the stream. "From now on, timing is very important. The water from the stream has to be collected just as the light of the moon hits it. The next step's even more important…but I'll tell you more in a minute."
Shippou watched the sun set with a smile, humming a little tune happily to himself; then he spun about and crouched down, so that his head was just above the surface of the water, his eyes never leaving the eastern horizon. The second he saw the moon peeking above the eastern mountains, he plunged the pot into the stream, quickly filling it to the brim. "Got it!" he said triumphantly, as he carefully handed the pot of water to Izayoi, who was waiting for it at the side of the stream. He shook himself dry, then he and Izayoi carried the pot of water back to the camp where Inuyasha was waiting for them, guarding the other pot—still covered, as Shippou had sternly reminded them.
Shippou invited them to join hands around the covered pot. "Before we continue, we must bless the ingredients," he said.
"Um…Shippou…I, er, I don't know how to do that," said Inuyasha, blushing and turning his eyes away.
"Just think about Mom," said Izayoi gently, "And wish for her to be happy, wherever she is. That'll be enough."
They bowed their heads and closed their eyes, and Shippou quietly said a blessing in the fox-youkai language. When they opened their eyes, smoke was pouring out from underneath the cover, and a dim red glow was clearly visible through the cloth.
"Uh oh," said Shippou. "I forgot about Izayoi's spiritual powers. Normally, we don't have someone like her around when we bless the pot. It's supposed to smoke a little, but I've never seen it smoke so much…oh well!" He threw up his hands and smiled. "It's gonna be what it's gonna be. Let's hope for the best!"
Shippou motioned Izayoi to assist him in hefting the water pot. "Now, everyone: this is the last step, and it's the trickiest one. The light of the moon and the water both have to hit the ingredients at the same time. Ready?" Izayoi and Inuyasha nodded. "OK…here we go…Pour! Uncover!"
Their timing was perfect. Inuyasha snatched the cover away just as the water came pouring in. There was a flash of liquid fire as the water hit the ingredients, and as soon as they had emptied the water pot, Shippou grabbed a spoon and began vigorously stirring. "Oh yes…oh yes…oh yes!" Shippou shouted happily and began dancing with delight. He took a taste from the spoon and smiled even more broadly. "It's perfect. It's perfect!"
Inuyasha sniffed the pot cautiously, and his eyes widened with amazement. "Hey…" he said, "This actually smells good!" He stuck in a finger and tasted it. "This TASTES good!"
"Inuyasha! Wait your turn!" Shippou laughed as he slapped Inuyasha's hand. "There's enough for everybody! But first, I have something to say." Shippou filled three cups and handed them around; then he held up his cup in salute. "My grandmother always said this before we began the festival…" His expression became solemn, but there was still a twinkle in his eye. "When you taste this…you taste the spirit of the fox-youkai people. We are here tonight in the company of the ones we love most, and we are alive: and we give thanks for every single moment. And so we say together: Love! Life! Joy!"
"Love! Life! Joy!" they all sang out, and they clinked their cups and drank deeply. And just as Inuyasha had said, the fox-berry wine tasted good; indeed, it was very good. It had the smoky sweetness of figs, the rich sweetness of currants, and the bright sweetness of pomegranates. But it was not simply sweet; there was richness and complexity, with hints of fresh cedar, and spices, and charred oak. On the tongue it was as heavy and smooth as port wine, and its aroma was of fragrant flowers, but it cleared the palate like crisp autumn air clears and invigorates the mind. It was a deep, deep ruby red, like a living liquid jewel. And it did not dull the senses, but sharpened them; with each mouthful, everyone felt their minds become clearer, their senses keener. Their tongues were loosened, but with clear laughter and sweet song. Shippou grabbed Izayoi's hands and began to dance her around the wine pot; and after a few rounds, he grabbed Inuyasha's hands and began to dance with him. Inuyasha's expression was utter bewilderment—no one had ever swept him into a dance before, not even Kagome—but to his amazement, he found himself laughing and dancing merrily with Shippou before he even realized that he was doing so. And Izayoi took her father with one hand and Shippou with the other, and the three of them danced and sang merrily under the full moon.
They drank deeply of Shippou's excellent fox-berry wine, and they tucked into their feast with great enthusiasm. Inuyasha lustily devoured half of the roast boar before either of the others had finished their portion, and they gorged themselves on roasted apples and other forest fruits, and they sat around the fire and drank the wine and sang songs and told stories long into the night.
The fire was burning low and the moon was beginning to sink slowly into the western half of the sky. Inuyasha threw a few more logs onto the fire and dipped himself another cup of Shippou's wine from the pot, and was just about to resume his seat when he noticed Izayoi and Shippou nuzzling each other, whispering secretively into each other's ears, giving each other long significant looks, and giggling softly. "Y'know," he said, "I think I need to get some water. I'm going to take a walk down to the stream for a few minutes. You two going to be alright while I'm gone?"
"No problem," said Shippou distantly, nuzzling Izayoi's neck.
"We'll be fine, Dad. Take your time," said Izayoi, giggling as she half-heartedly pushed Shippou away.
Inuyasha picked up his cup of wine and strode boldly out of camp, whistling all the way to the stream. He picked his way to a rock that jutted into the stream, sat down, and sipped his wine as he looked at the moon. He was thinking of Kagome, and fondly remembering nights of romance and passion under the stars, when he heard a rustling in the reeds. He set down his cup and rested his hand on his sword, but relaxed when he saw the source of the noise: a mother otter youkai, taking her pups out for a late-night snack and a swim. He smiled as he watched the pups splashing and playing in the stream before him, trying to catch something to eat. The pups' mother made her way towards Inuyasha and greeted him cordially.
"Nice night tonight, isn't it? There's nothing like the full autumn moon," she said, looking into the sky.
"No…there's nothing like it," agreed Inuyasha.
"It has such memories for me," she said wistfully. "Such wonderful, wonderful nights, spent in strong arms, with someone who always kept me so wonderfully warm," she sighed. "Young love…there's nothing like it, is there?" Inuyasha nodded in agreement. "But those warm arms are gone, and those wonderful nights are gone ... but life goes on. Life always goes on… and life is good." She nodded towards the pups. "And with the little ones," she laughed, "Life is always full of surprises."
"I'll say. Tell me about it," laughed Inuyasha.
"You have children?" the otter youkai asked him.
"Just one, my daughter," said Inuyasha.
"How old is she?" the otter youkai asked.
"Oh, she's all grown up. I've been traveling a while with her and her…well," said Inuyasha quizzically, scratching his head, "I'm not exactly sure what to call him." The otter youkai laughed. "Well, I've been traveling with them, anyway."
"Any grandchildren?" she asked.
"Not yet," said Inuyasha, "Although if things keep going the way they were going earlier tonight," he said as he cocked an eyebrow and nodded backwards over his shoulder, "I wouldn't be surprised if they came along earlier than either of them expected."
The otter youkai's eyes grew very large, and she put both paws over her mouth and her cheeks blushed a bright pink; then she began to laugh, and Inuyasha joined in as well. "Young love," she said with a grin. "Were we ever so silly? Certainly not!" She elbowed Inuyasha gently, and they laughed again. She clapped her paws and her children obediently swam towards her, each with a fish in its mouth. She smiled sweetly at Inuyasha and warmly bid him good night, and she and her pups disappeared into the rushes at the side of the stream.
"Young love," Inuyasha laughed to himself. "Well, I guess I've been gone long enough…that is, I hope I've been gone long enough," he muttered as he headed back towards the camp.
Inuyasha was already blushing hotly in anticipation of what he might interrupt upon his return, but fortunately, he had indeed waited long enough. When he returned to their camp, Izayoi and Shippou were blissfully asleep in each other's arms, the same way that they had spent every night together since they were children. Tonight was a little different, though; Izayoi's hair was quite disheveled, clothing was strewn all about the camp, and the smiles that always wreathed their faces as they slept were unusually satisfied. But fortunately, one of them had had the presence of mind to pull Izayoi's kimono over themselves before they fell asleep, so everything that needed covering was (pretty much) sufficiently covered by the time Inuyasha returned.
"A father's work is never done," muttered Inuyasha as he gathered and folded their various garments, and he spread a blanket over the two of them, just as he had done innumerable times when they were both still children. Then he went to the wine pot, and poured the dregs into his cup for a nightcap. He tossed a couple more logs onto the fire, and leaned against a tree, Tessaiga over his shoulder, nursing his wine and staring into the fire.
Inuyasha was not one normally given to deep thoughts; perhaps it was the influence of the fox-berry wine. But as he sat by the fire, he quietly marveled at his daughter, created by his and Kagome's love for each other and given flesh by Kagome's own nurturing body; and now here Izayoi lay, asleep beside her own chosen beloved, having just given herself to her lover in the great and sacred dance of creation that had brought her own life into being. "Life does go on, doesn't it," he chuckled quietly to himself as he sipped his wine.
A soft wind arose, shimmering the leaves of the trees; and Inuyasha heard Kagome's voice on the wind, whispering gently to him. "Yes, my love," said her soothing voice. "Life always goes on... and love lights the way."
"Kagome," he whispered lovingly. Then, he began to laugh, remembering Kagome's constant worries about the "propriety" of Izayoi's childhood experiences in the feudal era, or the dangers of exposing her young daughter to "questionable influences" like Miroku. "Oh, Izayoi, my sweet little princess," he chuckled, "What would your mother say if she saw you right now?" Then he remembered the day that Izayoi had stumbled upon Souta's oldest girl and some boy in the storage shed behind the temple, accidentally interrupting a session of seriously heavy necking, and how Izayoi had chased the pair into the courtyard with a truly withering tongue-lashing on the topic of the "propriety" of their behavior. "What will you say when you catch your daughter doing this?" he guffawed; and he began laughing out loud and slapping his thigh with glee.
"Are you OK, Daddy?" Izayoi's voice interrupted his reverie, and Inuyasha saw Izayoi's face turned towards him, her dark eyes boring into his.
"I'm just fine, princess. Everything is just fine. Life goes on, after all," he laughed.
"Whatever you say, Daddy," Izayoi said, closing her eyes and settling back into sleep.
"Life goes on," Inuyasha said quietly to himself. Then, looking into the sky, he said softly, "And thank you, Kagome, for lighting my way." Inuyasha settled himself against the tree and closed his eyes, and he let his spirit float upon Kagome's sweet voice in the wind, as she gently sang him to sleep with the soft whispering of the leaves.