Hello there dear readers, this is my second published fanfiction, and I wanted to thank you for taking your time to give this a try! I've had this idea in my head for some time, and finally decided to write it out after watching all of Inuyasha again, for the twentiest time or so, no obsession whatsoever. I'll do my very best to upload at least one chapter every two weeks, if not one every week.
I hope that this story flows well, I'm no professional writer nor is English my mother tongue, so please forgive any grammatical errors and the like. If any of you've got anything to say, good or bad, please leave a review!
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and the characters used in this fiction do not belong to me. All that belongs to me is part of the storyline and any original characters appearing in this story.
Hearts Condemn Us
Chapter I.
Ah, Japan looked as lovely as the day when she left it. The trees, the houses, and most of all the people, she was so happy to be back. From the tiny window in the airplane could see it all without actually seeing it up close. She could almost smell the air, and even though it was the same air als back in England, she found she liked the air in Japan better.
"We will land shortly, please fasten your seatbelts." The voice of the captain came through the speakers, and everywhere people started looking about happily.
She was no exception to this happiness. Her family was down there, waiting for her to walk through the gate and hug them senseless. 'I can't wait to see them! I wonder if Sota has grown since I last saw him? How about Kagome? Has her hair gotten longer, or did she keep it short?' She wondered. 'I hope auntie is doing alright! I can't wait!"
Manami's over excited nerves only calmed at the thought of her grandfather. She had, after all, left without his consent to the other side of the world to follow her heart. 'I want to see him again, but I hope he isn't mad at me.' Her heart quivered at the fear of disappointing him, who had taught her so much about the world, if you looked past the false and over exagerated stories.
"We have landed safely at Haneda airport Tokyo, we thank you for flying with Ranair Airlines." The voice of the captain boomed through the plane, again, and it signalised the opening of the doors.
"Finally, that took me only fifteen hours, not so bad." She muttered while unfastening her seatbelt, not bothering to clap with some of the other passengers
Adrenalin from the bumby landing and relief at finally being on the ground, flying was never really her thing, she quickly grabbed her bag and tried to make her way to the door, with the emphasis on trying. People crowded the small passage between the chairs and she immediately found herself pushed back as someone rather big turned around.
'Did I just get pushed by a butt?' she thought to herself, and glared at the person in front of her but all she saw was that big backside and she immediately redirected her stare upwards. 'Gosh, where is the face of this person? It's all too big I can't find it! Nevermind, I don't want to keep looking at someone's butt, I wasn't brought up to be that rude.'
Even though she tried her best to remember what her late father taught her about manners, she absolutely hated being cramped up in a small place with a burning passion. Panic set in and she could feel her body beginning to shake. She had to move, and soon.
"Um, could you please move?" She tried to ask the person in front of her, who was dilly dallying without seemingly any reason. But he, or she, didn't hear her. "Hello? Did you hear me, please move I want to get of this plane." Keeping her voice as steady as she could she tried again.
"Huh, oh sorry I didn't see you there." The now confirmed young woman said.
"Thank you, miss." She respond, still trying not to stare at said womans butt, but it was just so big.
Ignoring the snide full comments welling up her throat she moved past the woman and to the front of the plane, where the staff was seeing everyone of with a smile.
"Thank you for flying with us today, we hope to see you again!" One of the male flight attendants said to her, his smile widened at seeing her.
'Hmm, that's nice.' She thought to herself while giving him a smile back. 'But I'm not interested.'
Nevertheless, she smiled a small smile back at him, before making her way of the plane and through the tunnel. She wouldn't see him again anyway, but there was no harm in being polite. A smile a day keeps the doctor at bay, or so they say.
'No they don't.' She sighed. 'Though I wished it worked. The world would be a better place.'
"Can you see her, Souta?" A soft womanly voice asked.
"No mom, not yet." A voice of a young boy said. "But Mana should be here soon, right nee-chan?"
"We just heard the plane landed five minutes ago, there's no way she's that fast." Another voice said, this one also feminine but younger than the other one.
"I wonder what's become of my dear granddaughter. Perhaps I can tell her the stories surrounding the Higurashi family, she might be interested in them like before, a pity that she.." An elderly voice piqued before it was cut off.
"No gramps, Manami won't be interested in your dull stories or in the fake items of the shrine." The young woman butted in. "At most, she'll be too polite to refuse you."
"But Kagome, we have a long and interesting history and I want to pass it on, and seeing as my other grandchildren have no interest she might.." The elder continued, but was cut off again, now by the older woman and young boy.
"There she is! I see her!" Both shouted before taking off.
"Where are they? Didn't they say that they would be waiting near the WacDonalds?" She said to herself, irritation bubbling up in her stomach. "I've been waiting here for over fifteen minutes now."
Mana checked her phone again, and again, and again. Nothing.
'Keep calm, they'll be here. They haven't forgotten you, they're just STUPID IDIOTS.' she partly shouted inside her head. 'Keep calm, just breathe. In, and out. In, and out.'
Aaah, this was getting her nowhere. She glanced down at her phone, again. Another five minutes had passed. Was it really that difficult to find her? Mana knew she stood out against her surroundings. Mainly because of her eyes, one a different colour from the other. And her hair was recognizable as well, at least here in Asia it was. So why was it that she saw her family, the one she was waiting for, just a few yards away from her looking around frantically without seeing actually seeing her was beyond her.
'Those idiots, how they manage is beyond me.' Mana sighed inwardly. 'Let's just go to them before they get lost.' She inwardly chuckled to herself, willing the tears that stung in the corners of her eyes down as she waved at the four approaching her.
"There she is! I see her!" The young boy and elder woman shouted after seeing the one they're looking for wave at them.
"MANAMI!" Four voices practically screamed all at once, not caring about their surroundings.
"Hey the.. WAAH!"Manami tried to greet them only to be swept of her feet in an all enveloping hug by her family.
Mana didn't know who was who as all she saw was a blur of dark hair and someone's shoulder, and yet she couldn't care less as she too flew her arms aroud those in front of her instead of breaking her fall downwards. Gravity sucks and her butt hurt, she couldn't care less as the tears she tried to stop from falling from her eyes fell without restraint. Though Mana didn't want to cry, she found her body shaking as soft cries wrecked themselves up her throat. But she wasn't the only one as the three holding were also shaking, if not more violently. Minutes passed and nobody tried to untangle themselves from the others, apart from the older man standing by and watching his family reunite happily, crying himself. But he could wait for his turn at greeting his beloved granddaughter. It took them a full ten minutes before the jumble of human bodies on the ground untangled themselves before they all burst out laughing.
"Well that went well." Manami said with a wide smile on her face. "It's nice to see you all again, Kagome, Auntie Naomi and Souta. You as well, gramps."
"Haha, you can say that, onee-chan." The young woman, now known as Kagome responded, a smile as wide as Manami's on her face.
"Mana-nee! Welcome back!" Bright eyes and a wide innocent smile from the young boy known as Souta said to her. "I'm so happy you're here!"
"I'm happy to be here, too, Souta. I've missed you all" Mana replied, smiling ever wider at the people in front of her.
Both Kagome and Souta released their hold on her, But Naomi had yet to let her go. Manami let her, and revelled in the warmth she felt closed around her being and thought to herself if this is what a mother's warmth would feel like.
"Welcome home, my dear Manami." Naomi said warmly as she pressed her face into the hair of her cousin, no, her child and daughter.
"I'm home, Naomi." Manami responded while she hid her face in the crook of her aunt's neck, biting back the word mother from her lips.
"Ahem." Sounded an elderly voice.
Manami and Naomi both looked over to where the voice came from, and both giggled at the elderly man standing at the side with his arms crossed in front of his chest. His fingers tapped on his arm and he looked at her expectantly. One might have thought him angry, but Manami knew him long enough to know that despite the harsh lines in his face, he was nothing but a sweet and kind old man if not a bit difficult at times.
"Hey there, guv!"Manami said to him, forgoing manners and instead adressing him less polite knowing the word guv stirs his temper, hoping he would get angry at her if only to forgive her.
"Don't guv me young lady, it's grandfather." He said to her pointily, but with a smile on his face.
"Hehe, it's nice to see you too." She replied while gently placing her arms around his tinier frame.
"You've gotten taller again, Manami." Grandfather said as he too placed his arms around her.
Mana held him gently, and took notice that he had gotten shorter since she last saw him. She wasn't tall by any means, reaching about average height, but he barely reached her nose. But even so, she still pressed her cheek against his, revelling in the smell of old paper and incense.
"Heh, you've just gotten shorter, again." Mana joked.
He said nothing in return, but instead wiped the tears that formed at the corners of his eyes as he let her go. She too unlocked her arms from around his shoulders, and instead caressed his cheek for a little bit as he did the same to her. She knew that he had missed her, as she had missed him too. She was his oldest grandchild, the first-born of the new generation of the Higurashi family, who had just returned from a two year stay in London. Instead of continuing her training as a keeper of the Higurashi shrine, she followed her heart and ended up in London to study the modern and medieval languages with a side course of ancient history, going against his wishes but following her own. But now she could see he had never been angry with her for making her own way as he looked at her warmly. And Manami couldn't be happier to know that he wasn't angry at her, which was one of her biggest fears when returning.
"Welcome home, Manami." Her grandfather said, and with it another tear ran down his cheek.
"I'm home." Manami said with the brightest smile gracing her lips.