Chapter 4

Answers

Inuyasha landed softly in the bottom of the well. A quick sniff of the air was enough to tell him that he was back in his own time. The change in the air made it obvious: in Kagomes time, it wasn’t as clean, back in the feudal era, fresh air was exactly that….fresh. Despite the air, he was half tempted to return to Kagome and tell her to come back.

Though he had good reasons for leaving her, it was the hardest thing he had ever done. He had hurt her, yes. But he had also hurt himself. In Kagome he had found a friend, a partner…solace and comfort. He had given it all up to keep her safe. Without her, he was alone and incomplete, though he doubted that he would ever come right out an admit that.

He bit down on his lower lip hard, trying to fight back the tears that were forming behind his eyes. It didn’t work. He punched the side of the well out of aggravation before climbing out into the night.

He had intended to set out the second he returned, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was too upset, too tired to move. He leaned against the well, deciding to begin his journey early in the morning, and let sleep overcome his exhausted mind.

When he woke, it was almost noon. He was angry with himself for sleeping so late, but there was nothing he could do about it. Immediately, he set out for the site of the slaughter, dreading every footstep he took, but determined to at least get some sort of lead.

Inuyasha had already decided that he would not involve Miroku and Sango in his quest for answers. The were his friends, and he wasn’t about to risk their lives just so he could have a bit of companionship…just as he hadn’t been willing to risk Kagome’s. Unfortunately, the monk and the slayer belonged in this time, too. There was no well to send them through to some place safer. The best thing he could do for them, then, was to disappear without warning.

He was close the site now, he could smell it. The stench of rotting flesh was strong, and he knew it would be even stronger up close. After a day of sitting in the sun, the bodies had taken on the smell of decaying meat. It was disgusting, and he only got worse with every step he took. When he was finally up close to the bodies, he had to fight back the urge to wretch. The smell was overpowering, driving all else from his mind. For a moment, he forgot why he had returned to this place…able to think of nothing else but the stench and throwing up.

When his thoughts returned to him, the hanyou took a look around. He was searching for something, anything, that could point him in the right direction.

He remembered overhearing that conversation from these men. He had decided that there was a chance that the mysterious ‘he’ they had spoken of, the man who sent them after Kagome, might have some answers. Even if it turned out that he didn’t, Inuyasha had no better lead. He wanted to know what had happened to him…why they were there after Kagome in the first place… and this mystery man would at least be able to answer one of those questions.

Inuyasha saw something at last. One of the men had a scroll in the pocket of his robe. Inuyasha, though he knew that that the scroll might be important, didn’t want to go anywhere near that body. Out of the whole disgusting slaughter, his body was the worst. His intestines were spilling from a whole in his gut, and his limbs had been ripped completely off. His eyes were open, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth, purple and swollen against the his bluish-grey skin. There was a dried puddle of blood beneath him that bore the footprints of birds that had come to peck at his body, and the hanyou noticed that in several spots his flesh had succumbed to their beaks. It was sick…

Inuyasha could no longer stop himself from vomiting and he doubled up, feeling the bile rise in this throat. It was the best he could do to hold his hair out the way. He puked for what felt like hours, though it wasn’t. Finally, it reached the point where there was nothing left for him to throw up but his own stomach. He was overcome with painful dry heaves that brought him to his knees and forced his eyes to water. It was agony…complete and total agony… and Inuyasha felt that he deserved every second of it.

At long last, it stopped. The hanyou was on all fours gasping for air, trying his best not to look at the corpse…not wanting to bring on another violent stomach spasm. When it seemed to be completely over and he could breath normally again, he approached the body, looking only at the scroll that was poking out the robe…not daring to glance anywhere else. It took hold of it and backed away from the body quickly.

He unrolled it, and read:

You and your men have been

Commissioned to find the woman

who is rumored to possess the

Shikon No Tama. Her last known

Whereabouts are the village of

The priestess Lady Kaede. It

Should be known that she is

Said to travel in the company

of demons. You have two months

to find her, and should you succeed,

You will be royally compensated.

~Lord Heru Opuna

So, Inuyasha thought, this Lord Heru Opuna is the one who sent these men after Kagome. The scroll had not said why, but Inuyasha figured that a Lord should not be too hard to track down. He stuffed the scroll into his robe. After a bit of thought, he decided to bury the men he had killed. It took him about three hours to lay the twelve men rest. Though his stomach was threatening to unload again, there was nothing left it in to part with. After he finished burying the dead, he set out once more, following the path the men had come from when he had first seen them.

* * *

Five days later, the hanyou found himself in a small village. He had followed the scent at a remarkably fast pace, and he was sure that in only five days, he had traveled a distance that had taken the men at least two weeks. The village was situated at the base of some mountains that cast the place in darkness long before the sun was completely set. It would have been quite lovely if it weren’t for the air of foreboding that Inuyasha could sense.

The Lords shiro was slightly raised above the rest of the village, situated atop a small hill. It wasn’t big as far as castles go, but it did have the elegance and structure that made it easy to define. Inuyasha knew better than to approach through the front entrance and encounter the guards, so he climbed over the side wall. Carefully, so as to avoid making too much noise, he snuck in through the side door.

He was lucky that there was no one about, or his reckless entrance could have landed him in a world of trouble. As it was, he was able to wander through the place looking for some sign of the lord, though he didn’t know what the man looked like.

He was intent on his search, that he didn’t notice that he was being watched until he hear a soft female voice.

“Excuse me, sir?”

He turned, and instantly he knew he was caught. His ears were a dead giveaway and he was prepared to run. The woman was young, perhaps only a year or two older than Kagome and she was wearing servants attire.

“Excuse me,” she said, and it was than that Inuyasha realized that she was not looking at him, but at her own feet. She hadn’t noticed his ears. “May I ask who are?”

“I’m…Hosun Mohiro,” Inuyasha lied, quickly. “I’m here to see Lord Heru Opuna.”

Still looking at the floor, the girl replied, “I am sorry sir, but he is ill.”

“Please,” said Inuyasha, inwardly thanking the gods for his luck. “I am here on his request.”

The girl was silent for a moment. “He is the last room down the hall,” she said. “But I must ask you to be breif with your business sir, as the Lord is very sick.”

Inuyasha nodded, and then, realizing she had not noticed, said “I will.”

He made his way down the hall in the direction the girl had indicated and paused for a moment to listen at the door. He could hear coughing inside. Without knocking or revealing his presence in any way, he slid the door open and stepped inside, making sure to shut it behind him.

The Lord was sitting up in his bed. He looked weak and frail…and much older than he actually was. He stared at Inuyasha with his eyes wide, apparently caught off guard by his sudden arrival.

Before he could speak, Inuyasha asked, “Are you Lord Heru Opuna?”

“I am,” said the man, his voice was as weak as his body appeared. “Who are you, demon?”

Inuyasha, however, did not want to waste much time with formalities. “What did you want with Kagome?”

“Who….?” asked the lord, still clearly bewildered.

“The woman with the Shikon Jewel!” Inuyasha said. “What do you want with her?”

The look of bewilderment on the mans face changed to one of shock…and then a look of fear. “It is too late….” he said.

“Too late?”

“For the jewel,” said the lord. “I no longer need it.”

“Look,” said Inuyasha, “I met those men in the woods…the men you sent after her. And something…something happened to me…I blacked out… Dead…I killed them all.” Inuyasha’s voice was cracking, and he had to regain some control of it before he continued. “I found a scroll on one of them. A scroll from you. So, you have the answers I need. What happened to me?! And what do you want with Kagome?”

If it was possible, the man looked even more terrified after Inuyasha’s speech. He took a deep breath and said “it’s my fault…all my fault…”

“What’s your fault?” Inuyasha asked, stepping closer to the man. “You know what happened to me?”

“I know…” said the lord. “And I caused it… Those poor men….”

“Tell me what the fuck happened…” said Inuyasha.

Lord Heru Opuna sighed deeply, which brought on a small coughing fit. “I opened Hell….” he said.

“What?”

“Just…be silent…and I will tell you everything. I’m going to die, anyway…” he said. “My wife died, you see?”

“What does that have to do with Hell? With Kagome and me?” Inuyasha asked.

“Just listen!” yelled the lord, coughing yet again. “She died…and I…I wanted her back. I found a scroll to open the underworld…I thought, maybe I could bring her back if I used it. But…it didn’t say how to close it again…and I thought…well, I heard the rumors of the girl with jewel…and I thought, with her and…the jewel…I could shut it.

I hired men…told them to find…the girl.. I told them where she was…last seen. I gave…them two months…to find her. That was…a month ago. But I got…impatient. I could wait! Seven days ago, I opened Hell… I couldn’t…wait any longer.”

Inuyasha did not say anything, but simply stared at the lord, a look of horror in his eyes, and waiting for him to continue.

“I believe that…you were unfortunate enough to come across the men…at the same moment that I acted. When…Hell opened…it must have triggered a response in your demon blood….that would explain why you blacked out…why you killed them. I’m sorry…I opened the door…but she didn’t come out of it…They did.”

“They?” said Inuyasha, “Who are they?”

The lords eyes grew wide and his voice shook as he spoke. “The forty-three”.

“The forty-three?” Inuyasha didn’t understand.

“Demons…” said Lord Opuna. “The forty-three….the most fearsome demons that have ever lived…One by one, they came out of the door…They… they are all alive once again.”

Horror fell over Inuyasha faster than he could blink. “And the door?” he asked, his voice louder than he’d intended. “Did you close it?”

The lord shook his head. “No…it closed…once they all came through. After that, I fell ill…those monsters were never meant to be freed…and I let them out… I believe that death is my punishment…”

“Why would you do something so stupid?!” Inuyasha yelled.

“Isn’t there anyone…someone you love…that you would open the gates of Hell for?” The lord asked.

Inuyasha didn’t answer. The truth was, there was someone he would go to those lengths for… But she was safely in the 21st century. “Why have you told me this?” Inuyasha asked the man.

The lord smiled, but there was sadness in his face. “Maybe it is because I am dying…but you…I can sense that this will affect you more than anyone…I can feel…that you are the one…who must fix my mistake.”

“Why would you say that?” Inuyasha asked, “What if I don’t want anything to do with this?”

“You love that woman…that Kagome…the one with the jewel…do you not?” The lord asked. When Inuyasha failed to respond, he continued. “Once they learn of her…if they do not…already know…they will come for the Shikon No Tama…and they will kill her…”

Inuyasha, who up until than had not thought of this, saw the truth in his words. “Will…will I black out again?” he asked. “Is there a chance that I could hurt her?”

“I think not…” said the lord. “With the door closed once again…I can’t see how that could happen…”

The lord began to cough once more, only this time, it was blood. Great globs of it, spewing across his hand and his white bedding. Then he began to choke…and his body seized up.

“No!” Yelled Inuyasha. “Don’t you die, yet! You have to tell me more!”

But it was futile. Before the hanyou could reach him, Lord Heru Opuna was dead. His eyes already taking on the emptiness of death.

Inuyasha ran, as fast as he could, out of the castle. He leapt over the wall and ran into the woods where he leaned against a tree, contemplating everything the Lord had revealed…wishing he had asked more questions.

Opuna had been right…these demons would come looking for the jewel. It was too dangerous to bring Kagome back, now. Not when forty-three demons…forty-three of the most powerful demons, at that, would come after her. He would not return for her, he would not go back to tell her this awful truth. It was better, really, if she never knew. As much as it hurt him, he would not return for the woman he loved until the forty-three were returned to Hell.

No matter how long that took.