A Father's Embrace

Chapter Thirty-Four

Misconceptions

Slowly, Shippo pulled away from the miko. "Kagome. It's been so many years now. I was beginning to think that I'd never see you again. When did you get back? How did you get back?"

Kagome's smile faltered only slightly, and she wiped away the tears from her eyes. "About a week ago, I went back down the well. My daughter had fallen in, and ended up here, and I came back to find her."

Shippo's eyes widened a bit, surprised by the circumstances of her return. "Almost a week and you haven't found her yet? I hope nothing's happened to her..." he spoke in a concerned voice.

"No, no. She was safe with Miroku-sama and Sango-chan and their family when I came back."

The fox lifted his head slightly, calmed by Kagome's reassurance. He smiled at the mention of the monk and exterminator and turned towards the couple who had raised him through his teenage years. He bowed to them slightly in greeting.

"Sango. Miroku. It's good to see you again. How have you all been?"

The couple nodded a greeting to the kitsune before Sango gave him a stern glare. "It would have been nice of you to visit or send us a letter or something to let us know that you were okay, Shippo-chan," she scolded. "You have no idea how worried we've been."

Shippo reached around to the back of his head, scratching nervously. "Yes, well, uh... Things got a bit complicated." He turned back towards Kagome, quickly changing the subject. "So... Kagome... this daughter of yours. Does she have a name?"

"Maiki."

"Maiki... That's quite the unique and lovely name. I'm certain that her beauty far exceeds the music of her spoken name."

"Shippo-chan!" Sango gasped, but then she turned to her husband. "Did you have to be such a bad influence on him, Houshi-sama?"

It was Miroku's turn to adopt the nervous stance, knowing he was in trouble whenever his wife reverted to the title she had used for him before they were wed. "Well, uh... That's to say..."

Then the exterminator cut him off, stating, "At least he's far more charming than you ever were, Houshi-sama."

"That's so not fair!" whined the monk.

"Oh, Kagome has nothing to worry about!" assured Shippo. "I'm certainly not the lecher Miroku used to be. Besides, I'm sure Maiki is far too young for me anyway. So, why have you all traveled this far from home?"

Miroku provided this answer. "We're on our way to the mountains in search of a mamori-ishi for Maiki. She's in need of one so that she may be able to use it to disguise her yokai features."

"Ah, I see. In that case, I'm guessing that she's waiting with Inuyasha somewhere outside the village, right? I suppose that the villagers would be too frightened of them, considering their fears concerning the lady yokai of these lands."

With his incorrect assumption, Kagome's demeanor visibly fell. Even Sango and Miroku seemed to become a bit depressed as well. Shippo blinked, uncertain as to what he said that had caused the dour mood.

"Inuyasha... no one's seen him since that night I last went through the well, seventeen years ago. Right now, Maiki is gone. Washed away with Kazuki down that river outside of this village."

"Kazuki and Maiki... went down the river?" repeated the shocked fox, earning nods all around. "Oh man. This isn't good. This isn't good at all." He began to pace back and forth.

His words alarmed the trio of humans. "Why? What's wrong?" demanded Sango.

Shippo stopped his pacing to look at the exterminator. "Don't you know where that river leads?" They all shook their heads in the negative. "To Reimai Valley! The land of the thunder yokai!"

"Reimai Valley... isn't that where that little yokai girl lives? The one that challenged you all those years ago?" inquired the monk curiously.

"Yes!" confirmed Shippo in a panicked voice.

"Well, how bad could that be?" wondered Sango. "The worst that little girl could do was set up a few traps."

"Well that 'little girl' isn't so little anymore! She's the ruling yokai of these lands!"

Kagome's eyes widened. "The one that's been causing all the troubles around here?"

"That's the one!" confirmed the fox. "And Soten is quite powerful too! I wasn't kidding earlier when I said I needed someone to try to calm her down! She been causing chaos for months!"

"Haven't you tried talking to her? It seems you'd be the most likely candidate, being that you are a yokai and would have the best chance of succeeding," Miroku replied.

Shippo looked a bit nervous once again. He stared fixedly at a knot in the wood paneling of the floor. "Well, I can't..." His eyes snapped up to meet them pleadingly. "But I have a good reason! ...sort of."

Sango's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "It's you she's mad at, isn't it?" she asked bluntly.

"Uh... Well... It's not exactly my fault though!"

Miroku smirked. "I can't wait to hear this one," he mumbled in amusement. "Please. Enlighten us."

The fox fidgeted nervously. "Well, let's see... Where to begin... Well, you see... Soten and I are mated and have been for almost four years now. As her mate it's my responsibility to help her maintain stability over her lands. A few months ago, it came to my knowledge that the headman of this village, Susumu, had been captured by bandits and a ransom was demanded from his wife for his return. However, his brothers refused to pay the ransom and instead decided to go off and find these bandits, kill them, and bring back Susumu.

"Unfortunately, this left the village without a leader. Because this village is on the edge of Soten's territory, it is often threatened by outsiders. Since all the men who could rightfully replace Susumu had left to search for him, I took it upon myself to take his place until his return. The only ones who know about this are you guys and Susumu's wife."

"So... what does this have to do with Soten being angry at you?" Kagome wondered.

This is where Shippo looked a bit sheepish. "Well, I sort of neglected to tell Soten that I had decided to 'replace' Susumu during his absence and left rather abruptly since the situation needed an immediate solution. Once I made the decision and disguised myself as Susumu, I couldn't abandon my post, no matter how badly I wanted to tell her what I was doing. If I left the village leaderless, someone else could come in from the outside who was unfit to run this village. And if that someone were yokai, then Soten would lose this village and the land surrounding it and all the humans who live here could very well be in danger.

"After I failed to return home for a few days, naturally Soten went looking for me. But she couldn't find me since I had erected a barrier around this hut to prevent anyone from noticing my yoki, which would've blown my cover. Obviously, Soten's frequent appearances throughout her lands caused uncertainty among the resident humans in the area. And I'm not sure where or how the rumor started, but I suppose my sudden disappearance was noticed as well, and people started to assume that I had left Soten. Eventually, the rumors shifted to say that I had left her to take a human for a mate." Here, he shook his head disapprovingly. "Somehow, these rumors got back to Soten, and she's been furious ever since, using her droughts and floods to try to flush me out."

"That's awful! Is she really that upset with you?" Kagome sympathized.

"I'm afraid so... And it doesn't look like she'll give up until she's found me. Until then, she'll continue to upset the balance of her lands until nothing can survive here."

"Then perhaps we should look for Soten and see if we can explain everything to her. Most likely, we'll find Kazuki and Maiki along the way," Miroku suggested.

Sango nodded. "I agree. As soon as the sun rises, we'll head out."

"Thank you all for helping me. You can all stay here tonight. In the morning, I'll lead you to a hidden pass near the river so that you can enter Reimai Valley much easier. But for now, allow me to lead you to the guest rooms..."

Kazuki sat on the edge of his futon, scrutinizing the sharpness of his katana. Though at first glance he seemed to have his complete concentration on his blade, a closer inspection would reveal that he was lost in thought, concerned about other matters.

He had a job to do. And it wasn't one that he was very enthralled about.

For the first time ever, he had been hired to hunt down a yokai without the aid of his parents. For the first time, he would be hunting a high-class yokai. For the first time, he didn't know what to do.

A knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts. "Come in."

The door slid open, revealing Maiki. Without a word, she entered the room, and slid the door shut. She moved across the room, taking a seat on a cushion next to the small table, and turned to face her companion. He didn't bother looking up at her. He simply continued to examine his weapon.

"So..." she attempted to initiate a conversation, "...you're getting ready for this big hunt?"

No reply.

"You know, it's not good to keep things bottled up inside you. I can tell you're not happy about this. Hell, knowing what he did to her, that it's basically the same thing Nanashi did for years to my mother, I'm even pissed about it. But I know that death is a little too harsh of a punishment for adultery."

He still didn't answer her. She was beginning to think that he was ignoring her, thus stirring her anger.

"Look! I'm not stupid, okay? I know this is bothering you! I know you don't want to kill someone who helped raise you."

Finally he looked up at her. He wore an annoyed expression. "Occasionally watching over me when I was a child hardly qualifies as participating in my upbringing."

She sighed. "Well then, you did grow up with him."

He snorted derisively. "Until I was eleven. I was still a child when he left... when he turned his backs on us without even so much as a parting word."

Kazuki sprinted down the hill from the shrine that over-looked the village. An excited grin was smeared across his face. In his enthusiastic state, he barely managed to slow himself down once he reached the bottom of the hill. Nearly slipping in the damp grasses, he turned sharply and headed into his hut. He just couldn't wait to share his news.

Having been learning the basics of yokai extermination for a few years now, he had finally put to use some of the many lessons Sango had been teaching him. The shrine atop the hill had somehow become home to a nest of raccoon yokai. Though they were seemingly harmless, they were still unwanted there. They posed as a potential threat to young children. So, Sango had taken Kazuki to the shrine where he would perform his first extermination.

Using the knowledge that had been taught to him, he mixed the ingredients for a very strong incense. Donning his face mask, he set the concoction in a pile upwind from the raccoon nest. After lighting it, he set to work fanning the smoke towards the nest. Less than ten minutes later, the mother raccoon eagerly came out from under the crawl space beneath the shrine, cubs in tow.

He had successfully rid the shrine of all the yokai, and had done so completely on his own. He just couldn't wait to share his achievement. Leaving his mother at the shrine to clean up, he rushed down the hill as fast as he could, and stormed into his home.

"Father! Shippo-aniki! Sachiko! Guess what I just did!" Upon seeing his father's gloomy expression and Sachiko's obvious upset, he froze. "What's wrong?"

Miroku looked up from consoling his daughter, a falsely cheerful smile on his face. He ignored the boy's last question. "I don't know, Kazuki... What was it that you just did?"

The boy didn't answer. He scanned the room, to see if anything was out of place. Sachiko was horribly upset over something, but given her sensitive nature, it didn't surprise him. The six-year-old girl was frequently fussing over something. However, she seemed even more upset than usual. Added to that, Miroku's saddened demeanor, there was something amiss. In the corner, dozing on a futon, was the toddler, Masuyo. Well, everyone seemed to be okay. Except...

"Kazuki-niisan!" Sachiko wailed, pealing her face from her father's chest. "Shippo-aniki ran away today!"

The boy felt as if he had been run through with a spear. It felt as if his limbs had grown cold and limp. "He.. ran away? Why?"

At that moment, Sango entered the hut, and instantly knew something had happened. She silently looked to Miroku for answers. The monk explained all that he could.

"Shippo has decided to leave. He didn't explain why, but I have a feeling he has some important task to take care of. Because he didn't ask for any help in this matter, I believe that for whatever reason he had to leave, he believes it is something he must do on his own. I'm sorry he didn't wait to say 'goodbye' to anyone, but I think his time was limited."

"Can't we go after him?" Sango inquired. "I'm sure Kirara can track his scent."

Miroku shook his head. "No. Shippo is a grown man now, capable of making his own decisions, whether he makes them good or bad. We have to allow him to take care of his own responsibilities. We cannot shelter him forever."

"I learned a long time ago that he doesn't care about me or my family. If he did, he would've come back to us. No matter how hard it would've been for him, he would've found a way back. But he never did. He never came back. He only cares for himself."

Though Kazuki's words were laced with anger and pain, Maiki could read into what he truly felt. "Use your anger all you want to try to distance yourself from your true feelings, Kazuki, but you can't hide the fact that you miss him terribly."

The junior exterminator slammed his katana into his sheath. "What exactly would you know about it, Maiki?" he snapped. "Shippo was like an older brother to me. But he walked out on me. When he did that, when he abandoned me and my family, I promised myself that I would never abandon my little brother. But you and I both know how that turned out, don't we? I've lost both of my brothers. The one decided I wasn't worth protecting and the other I was too weak to protect. But you can't say the same. You don't know what it's like..."

The teenage girl nearly narrowed her eyes at him. "No, you're right. I can'tsay that. But I can say that you didn't lose two brothers. One is still alive out there, and you know it. And I know very well that you can't go through with killing Shippo, now can you?"

He averted his eyes, taking up Akkiwareru, examining his second weapon. He muttered, "I accepted a job. I have to complete it."

Maiki was flabbergasted. "What? You'd still kill him? Even though you admit he was like a brother to you?"

Kazuki looked up to meet her questioning gaze. The anger was suddenly absent on his face. "I have to," he replied in a defeated tone. "If I go back on my word now, Soten will most certainly kill us both."

A/N: For those who don't know this already, aniki and niisan both mean older brother or big brother.