The Library
By Anonymous Malink
Disclaimer, I do no own any Inuyasha like subjects in copyrighted form.
Part Fifteen – A Prep Night to Remember
In the distant future, there would be solar powered mobile phones, cars that fly, and the extinction of the pen and paper. However in this day and age, mobile phones need to be recharged in order to use them, traffic jams are the bane of most humans' existence, and when you don't have a computer handy, the pen and paper is the only way to go; three important lessons about the world that at some point in time you should learn. Sesshoumaru had learned them… or, soon would… I guess...
"Inuyasha… Inuyasha are you ready?"
"W-wh-…what?"
Inuyasha un-smothered himself on the pillow and opened his eyes long enough to glance at the clock in his room, and after seeing what time it was questioned the psychological prowess his brother had invested within him. "It's… It's… It's not even tomorrow yet!" With contempt smote all over his face, he turned his body to face Sesshoumaru, who was… probably dressed the most casually he had ever been in his entire life. Sporting jeans, a white t-shirt, and a green black leather jacket, he was easily spending his last night of freedom to the fullest.
"Come on, we have only tonight Inuyasha. No gas on Thursday and yesterday it was raining cats and dogs."
"Oh that was funny…" Following the events of the previous part, irreversibly, Sesshoumaru had accidentally left the car on and… it ran out of gas.
Inuyasha sat up in bed and rolled his head on his neck in a full circle. "Wait… the night before your wedding day, and you aren't going to a… a stag party or… something?"
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes sat down on the edge of Inu's bed. "With what friends?" Inuyasha nodded as if to say 'true.' "Look, a wedding is a special time. It's exceptionally romantic with… obvious undertones. We sent an invitation to the Higurashis, whom wrote a very… very… very complicated letter back…" Sesshoumaru scratched the back of his head, "Saying that they would love to come, but were not sure if they would. There were… certain chances involved if they did, and that if they did, it would be because of how, apparently, nice Rin and I were to Kagome."
He paused and looked at Inuyasha. "They're coming Inuyasha… and it would be nice for a change if you went into this with all previously unopened doors open, and that's not possible if Kikyo is still floating anywhere in your mind."
Inuyasha nodded solemnly and took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll be right out. Just let me get dressed."
Sesshoumaru also nodded and got up. "I'll be outside." He then left without another word.
With his best interest in mind, Inuyasha dressed appropriately, with a long sleeve shirt and long pants. Remembering what day it was soon to be, he grabbed the tux sealed in the large Ziploc bag in his dresser and brought it with him, sensing some uneasiness in the near future.
Inuyasha shuffled his way through the hallways, not making nearly a speck of noise as he wafted in and out of the hallways toward the illuminated porch beyond the foyer. He opened the front door and saw Sesshoumaru standing their waiting for him. With key in hand, Sesshoumaru locked the door behind him and then made his way toward the car. Inuyasha shivered in the full moonlight as he walked toward the Toyota. Both got into the car without hesitation, and soon were pulling out of the dirt pathway back onto the soft asphalt road.
Inuyasha took a deep breath, watching the passing road signs as they pulled onto the main roads, confident he would not fall asleep like he did that time coming to the apartment ranch. Sesshoumaru felt less confident in knowing that he was spending his last night single driving to a grave in the middle of a graveyard in another small town where Kikyo's grandparents lived, between Osaka and Kyoto; a four hour drive from Tokyo city.
Sengoku Jidai, which was a suburb just to the south of Tokyo, added about 10 or so minutes into the drive, and the wedding was taking place in Yokohama, about forty minutes away from Tokyo City. The new shrine they were to be wed in was a lot more sacred than the last, which he and Rin had hoped would appease Izayoi.
"Inuyasha, Inuyasha, are you awake?"
"Hmmmwhat?"
Sesshoumaru took his eyes off the road for three seconds to look at Inuyasha, fighting to stay awake. In the absence of something fun to play around with, he took someone. "If I asked you a metaphorical question right now, would you be able to answer it?"
"Mmmm… no."
"Theoretical?"
"What? No. Never."
He smiled, knowing he had him at the next offer. "How 'bout philosophical?"
"…Yea why not."
Inuyasha shifted and took his head up off the window, trying to balance it solely on his head. It proved more difficult than he previously anticipated, as he tilted his head on an axis, alleviating stress built up due to how early it was and how freaking tiring it was talking to Sesshoumaru.
"How do we know if something is true or not?"
Inuyasha blinked in order to keep himself awake, but found his eyelids drooping even more. "I… true for… not."
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes. "That wasn't even a sentence."
Sesshoumaru coughed into his sleeve, squinting and leaning forward to get a better look at road in front of him, trying not to loose sight of it. It was dark, and the lights on the side of the road weren't that much of a help. The clock in the car stated quite clearly it was 12:01. In the absence of entertainment, which Inuyasha would have been had he not been using all his energy to stay awake (in retrospect he saw it not the best idea ever thought of).
…
And then there was silence… unlimited silence… for so long… or so short… it didn't matter, time seemed to slow and speed as it saw fit…
"Don't you get it yet?"
Sesshoumaru jumped. The elder brother looked from side to side cautiously before calming down, looking at the road for a moment or two, and then realizing it was just Inuyasha… talking in his sleep.
"Don't… you get it?"
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow to his younger brother, and every once in a while gave him a short look. He didn't want to make any unnecessary changes to the noise or movement of the car or its contents, so he tried to stay steady as to not disturb him.
"I… want to know what you want…"
It was now when Sesshoumaru thought he might know what was happening. The only real possibility was that Inuyasha was dreaming. By how he was sleep talking, and he normally didn't, he was probably having a situational dream; something very real, something you may have experienced before and your dream lets you change the outcome.
"It's… not… my fault."
The car bumped up and down in a very small pothole and then slowed down and passed into another dirt road which went right through an overhanging gate with the inscription 'Hakurei Memorial Gravesite.' The turn slightly jostled Inuyasha and stirred him enough to wake him. He blinked twice… they finally made it.
The sounds of everyday life simply blew away as they entered the new realm beyond the gates of such a holy place. The wind around the car blew the dirt majestically to and fro, stopping only to change direction for a moment's time. The car stopped soon after entering, as they did not mean to disrupt any means of direct contact with the graves with a car.
Sesshoumaru took a very deep breath and looked to Inuyasha. "This is something you have to do by yourself… are you ready?"
Inuyasha looked out, and for the longest time just stared. Just… stared at what was out there, looking at the faraway, yet oddly close graves. How they stood right there within his grasp, but so far in such another sense… in a sense of spirit. "I… I am… ready."
Sesshoumaru nodded. Inuyasha looked back at him and smiled somewhat sullenly. "I guess its time."
"Good luck Inuyasha."
The young man opened the car door and slid his feet out, the wind greeting him but not entering the car. It was so peaceful, so powerful, so pure… flowers and grass at his feet, a garden so breathtaking only a few feet in front of him, and the graveyard just beyond that.
With all this in mind he took his steps forward… and never wanted to look back.
The graveyard was silent, more so than it should have been anyway. The wind guided Inuyasha as he walked through the blowing leaves of autumn, closing in on the memorial garden, a service to those buried here. He breezed around it, and saw the graves, lines and lines of graves. All of them gray and molded, old and forgotten. It was the one place in Japan nobody was at.
He walked in between the graves, struggling to locate Kikyo's grave. As he wandered, meandering around, he realized the deeper he got, the more the graves were impossible to read. They were covered in dirt and moss, the inscriptions lost in the sands of time. He looked around anxiously, the wind making him angry, leading him to the center only to then start blowing in all directions. He looked at all the gravestones and sighed, none of them in sight were legible. He sank to his knees and growled. Was this some sort of cruel test? What was the problem? Inuyasha began to doubt the positive effectiveness coming to the graveyard was, and instead shook his head and held his head in his hands, thinking.
Only one thing remained positive at this point, and that was the wind, blowing behind his back.
A/N. Sorry for the delay. If you haven't read my log/journal, you would notice I am 3 days late, and I am sorry. It was partly the cable, and partly my indecisiveness.
The chapter was originally more than double the length, but I decided to visibly shorten it to where it is, and use the rest of the chapter in the next two Parts. It fits better that way. I will of course be editting it alot, so expect them at their next time. I am promising much longer Parts from now on. This Part was my Symbol of Hatred (Legend of Faith, my original series).
Anyway, thats it... This is Anon signing off.