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Strangled Time
Chapter 14
Temperatures had gotten warmer that afternoon after the rain passed. By the time early evening came and the two had finished their baths, there was a fine fog atop the surface of the creek. They lingered there, along the shore, watching as dragonflies danced in the mist like ice skaters performing Olympic programs in the clouds. Every now and then the fog would ripple, as the bugs dipped below the surface to where their prey set on the water. They glittered, metallic greens and blues in the last of the day's light, matching the peacock garment that Kagome favored out of all of the ones she had acquired—she only ever wore them individually, layering them only at night for warmth; doing so during the day was bulky and made her less than nimble on her feet.
They sat without speaking for a while, enjoying the babbling of the brook and the beautiful silence of the forest. Enjoying the easy companionship they'd somehow found themselves in.
When the light of day had finally dimmed to a flickering glow through the trees, Togashimaru hummed.
"Hmm?" Kagome hummed in response and leaned back on the palms of her hands.
"The skies will be clear tomorrow."
"How do you figure?"
The dog demon eased himself back to lean against the boulder behind him, propped his arm up on his folded knee, and pointed a lazy finger to the water. "The dragonflies are still active. They would have retired by this time if tomorrow's weather was going to be poor. Their activity bodes good news."
"Oh yeah?" The girl watched the bugs a bit longer before chuckling. "You're so full of random dad knowledge."
"Dad knowledge?"
"You know, life experience. 'And this, son, is how the world works,' type of stuff." She said in her best imitation of a man's voice, which he seemed to get a kick out of. Slowly, the humor fell from her face and her smile grew brittle. Then she pulled her knees up to her chest. "Inuyasha really missed out on that."
Togashimaru frowned and peered over at her from the corner of his eye.
His nose twitched—a tell-tale sign that he was picking her scent apart like the demonic bloodhound he was.
"And how about you?"
"Me?"
"Your sorrow is not for my sons alone."
Kagome sighed and looked back to the brook. Water skippers stood on the tension of the surface where the current was slow, their tiny feet transforming water into solid glass. They dashed away with incomprehensible agility and speed whenever a predatory dragonfly came too close. Then, in a small voice, Kagome admitted her truth. "My dad died when I was little. I don't really remember him very much."
"I see." Togashimaru responded sympathetically. "You are able to relate with them."
"More or less." She said. "Inuyasha, sure. We talk about it sometimes. Seshoumaru, though? It's a bit hard to get on the same page as him. He's not really a talker."
The boys' father nodded to himself and made a sound of understanding. "His grief presents itself as anger." He explained to her about his eldest son. "He takes after his mother in that way. She fears her emotions so much that she overcompensates with logic. She did not take easily to motherhood, that one. It was like courting a stone."
He delivered that line with such a deadpanned expression that she had to hold her breath to keep from snickering; she had a feeling that he hadn't intended it to be funny.
As interested as she was to learn more about the demoness that had raised the ice hearted Western lord of her past, Kagome didn't press further about the woman. If his tone was any indication, the lady wasn't exactly his favorite subject.
She stuck a pin in it for a later day.
"He really looked up to you, Sesshoumaru did." Kagome said, steering the conversation back to Togashimaru's boys. "I mean, even though he almost destroyed your tomb, you could tell that he was really, really proud. Sorta. Like an angry sort of proud."
"My tomb?" He looked at her, confusion drawing his thick eyebrows low. Then it clicked. The tomb. The sword. The black pearl. "Sesshoumaru found Tetsusuiga before Inuyasha? He must have been disappointed when he was unable to release the sword from its seal."
"Oh yeah!" She scoffed. "That's a huge understatement! You should have seen the look on his face when I pulled it out! He nearly killed me!"
His eyes widened. The look he gave her was a cross between shocked and dubious. "You released Tetsusuiga?"
Frantically, Kagome waved her hands. "It was an accident, I swear!"
"I suppose..." His expression turned thoughtful. The demon general rubbed his chin as he thought about how the plans for his inheritance could have been foiled by a human girl. "The wards were designed to keep it from the hands of any with full demon blood. The Fang itself was crafted with the intent to protect those with human blood; it will not transform easily for anyone lacking that intent. Those wards would have no effect against you, although I am unsure if a human would have energy enough to transform the sword, it wouldn't be too strange to think you'd be able to release it. I had never taken into account that a human would be able to reach that world in the first place. However did you get there?"
"Sesshoumaru." She replied in a flat tone as though that were all the answer he needed.
It was.
"And Inuyasha was with you?" At her nod he scrunched his nose and added, "He was unable to release the sword on his own accord?"
Regretfully, Kagome shook her head. "He couldn't even make it transform at first." Before he could ask why on earth Tetsusuiga wouldn't transform for his half demon son, which would have led to a discussion about Inuyasha's early hatred and distrust of humans and ultimately his mother's death and the torment he'd suffered as a child from humans and demons alike, Kagome hastily amended her statement. "But he figured it out pretty quickly! He protected me and got us out of there without doing... too much damage."
Did she want to tell him that Inuyasha had cut Sesshoumaru's left arm off?
Nah. Best leave that one be.
"Once he discovered its purpose, Tetsusuiga became like an extension of his body—even if he does wave it around like a sledgehammer more often than a sword. He's saved my life with Tetsusuiga more times than I can count and it's only getting stronger. It's absorbing all these new abilities, and it can even shoot diamonds now. Pretty cool stuff." The priestess looked over to where Togashimaru was gazing out over the brook, a little smile at his lips. She leaned forward to rest against her knees and watched him daydream about the sword's future. About his sons.
She loved how open he was with his emotions. Inuyasha was really lucky to have a dad as great as Toga.
It was a shame he'd never get to meet him.
"If you saw them now—two hundred years from now—I think you'd be really proud of them."
The father of her best friend didn't look at her. He closed his molten gold eyes as the last of the day's light faded away. The dragonflies that finally retired for the night were replaced by the yellow glow of fireflies.
"I already am."
...
The pocketknife clicked against the wood of the well when Togashimaru set it down beside him to study his handiwork. The walking stick felt solid and smooth in his hand without its bark. He'd had to sharpen the blade of the knife to be able to carve into the branch, but his efforts were well worth it. He was pleased with the work he'd done.
Until Kagome walked by.
"Aww." She cooed, leaning over to get a better look at his finished carving. "You whittled a snake!"
The dog demon's heart sank. He turned the stick around in his fingers one more time, getting a better look at the top of the staff.
Perhaps his craft was not as good as he had originally thought.
"It is a crow."
...
The older man beside Kagome reeled in his fifth fish in as many minutes. He always knew where in the water to cast, almost as if he could see straight through the dark currents to the schools below, to the fish hidden in the dark crevasses between the rocks. It was a skill that came with his thirty plus years of experience.
One that Kagome hadn't quite been able to pick up in the fortnight that he'd been helping her to improve her technique.
The priestess met up with him every few days at the same spot along the creek. It became a routine that she looked forward to ever since they first met—back when she tried and failed to catch anything bow fishing when she'd first gotten her bow and arrows.
He encouraged her to stick with the basics.
Kagome didn't know his name and he had never asked for hers. He was simply The Fisherman. She was simply Girl. They didn't talk any more than necessary because sound scared away the fish. Whenever she got a nibble on her line he would nod. Whenever she got her line tangled he would shake his head or just ignore her. The fisherman would point in the direction where she should cast next, and she would oblige. He'd almost never steered her wrong. Each fish she caught was bigger than the last and she was learning how to reel the line in steady, without dropping her catch.
Give a girl a fish and she'd be fed for the day, teach a girl to fish and she'd be able to feed her and her dog for life.
The fisherman worked out in the bay during the summer months, but when fall came and the tides changes he liked to move around between the lakes and brooks in the area. It was only happenchance that she had stumbled upon one of his favorite spots that day.
Whenever they parted ways for the afternoon, he would let her know when she would expect to see him next. He never questioned why she was fishing alone in the woods, or where she disappeared to at the end of each visit, and she appreciated that. The fisherman was gruff, but he respected privacy and silence above all else.
Once he had filled the basket that he would take to sell in the dinner market and Kagome was satisfied with the four fat mullets she'd caught on her own, the two stepped from stone to stone until they were back on the shore—the fisherman liked putting them right out in the middle to get the best view with those fish-detector eyes of his.
She bowed her thanks and promised to meet him back in three days, but instead of turning away and disappearing down the path as he always did he set down his basket and began to rummage through the pack that had been strapped to his back. From it he pulled an even smaller bag and a thick strip of fabric. The fisherman gave her a disapproving look before draping the fuzzy green fabric around her shoulders and tying it tight. Then he dropped the bag into her hesitant hands.
Kagome peeked at the dried persimmons packed inside.
Warmth filled her, and not just because of her new blanket shawl. Though, that was pretty cozy, too.
Quickly, Kagome set her stuff down to dig through her own bag. It was more of a hobo bag really, since she didn't want to keep dragging her yellow pack around. From that she took out the little round wheel that held all of her lures and sinkers.
The time traveler offered him half of her modern fish hooks.
He accepted most of them.
And then he nodded, turned, and left, as he always did, without another word. Kagome blinked and watched him go. The shawl felt like a hug from her grandpa and it smelled like pepper. She held it close. It was an act of kindness from a stranger. Though, she didn't know why.
Why give her anything?
The fisherman was a kind man, if a little rough around the edges, but he was a man of very few words.
Kagome doubted he would tell her why he did the things he did, even if she asked.
...
Togashimaru had resigned himself to living his last days without a weapon at his hip, but now that he knew that a sword was in the works for him, he was growing antsy. The security of the scabbard brushing against his thigh, the sturdy feel of the hilt beneath his grip. The click of the tang as he walked. The claw of his thumb worrying the binding. Those were sensations that he couldn't wait to feel again.
The dog demon reminded himself to be patient.
A sword took time to create, even for the most experienced of smiths. And, unfortunately, Saburo was certainly no Totosai.
He'd never owned a human wrought blade before. Togashimaru wondered how it might feel different in his grip as he slowly made his way back to the fire from his short walk. One step at a time, staff then feet.
Then the general looked down at his walking stick, at the thin bird that he had poorly carved into the top of it.
How he couldn't wait to swing a sword again.
Togashimaru paused. Sill looking at the stick. Then he picked it up.
Curious, he gave the staff a test swing. The pain that shot through his side made him wince. So he wasn't ready for that yet.
Still...
Before rationally thinking the action through, the demon slid the walking staff into his sash as he'd done with Tetsusuigia and the numerous blades that came before it a million times before. It was the right width, however...
Togashimaru grumbled.
He looked like a fool.
The stick was far too long to wear comfortably at the hip. If anything it was closer in size to So'unga, which he had worn across his back.
Not wanting to be seen playing pretend with a walking stick like a child fooling around behind a dojo, he removed it. But of course, since it was already in the perfect position, he couldn't have just removed it simply. No, he had to draw it with a flourish, swinging the imaginary sword wide as Kagome had shown him, as a katana would be drawn.
Swish.
Again, the stick was far too long to masquerade as a tachi. Togashimaru pulled it short, the tip of it caught in his sash as he swung forward with his weight.
Standing still, the mighty general tripped. The low wall of the rotten foundation met him before he fully hit the ground, assaulting his ribcage. It knocked the wind out of him. Pain flared in his chest and stomach.
Seeing its opportunity, one of the carrion crowd dove from the branches above and landed in the grass. It hopped up and down with eager enthusiasm as it studied his insulted and crumpled form.
Togashimaru growled at it, but the sound was weak.
"Leave me, foul beast." He said, pulling himself up just enough to roll onto his back.
Once he was lying flat, his lungs became greedy for the cool air. Each breath accentuated new pains. Fire ran from his shoulder to his stitches. It was excruciating. A broken rib? Perhaps. No. It couldn't possibly be. He resigned himself to not think about it. He already had so many other problems to think about.
The warm drip of blood welled at his side. He would have to rebandage the wound before Kagome returned.
When Togashimaru opened his eyes, he was met with black feathers and a charcoal beak. Startled by his stare, the carrion crow flapped its wings, but refused to back down.
"Hello, Kuu. You nasty bastard." The dog greeted the bird as if it were an old friend. "I ask that you do not tell Kagome of what you've just seen."
The bird cawed hungrily. He reached to his pants to pull a handkerchief from his pocket. Then he extended the putrid smelling creature a chunk of the preserved meat that had been folded within it.
"Jerky?"
Kuu cocked its head.
Fervidly, the lesser demon accepted the offering before leaving the humiliated man alone to curse the cruelties of the universe and his own stupidity.
End Chapter