Hanyo of Snow

Ch11 Y/Ns Gift

(Y/N POV)

After explaining what happened to Kagome, we found Kaede a few minutes later and proceeded to dug her out.

It took under a minute to get the elderly priestess out of her temporary tomb.

Now that Kaede was free, she was glaring at a somewhat sheepish Inuko and an unconscious Yura.

"While I'm grateful that everyone is alright and that Inuko remembered where I was, do you mind me asking why is she still alive?" Kaede asked us with an inquisitive look.

"If you want to know ask Y/N?" Inuko said while pointing to me, causing Kaede's glare to follow onto me.

"The reason that she is still alive is because Yura seems to hold a lot of knowledge about other yokai, even telling me about another hanyo like myself and was able to instantly recognize my mother's clan.

So it stands to reason that she would be a great help on our journey with her knowledge.

So I'm going to ask if you can please bind her like you did for Inuko and Kagome.

" I said without flinching from her gaze.

A minute later, Kaede lowered her glare and sighed.

"Do you have her true form then?" She asked.

I just nodded and had her the comb, to which she checked it.

"There is a crack on it, it is repairable. But should I repair it Yura will wake up. So I will work on binding her first. Which I will do after I have treated myself and that she is secured." Kaede said before walking towards the village, with the rest of us following not that far behind.

"Hey Y/N." Kagome said. "How come you never told me that you were from a clan?" She asked.

"It is because technically I'm not." I said.

"Yuki-onnas are mainly found in clans in the coldest parts of Japan.

Sometimes there are some like my mother who decide to split off from there clan and make a life for themselves.

So while I have her clan name, technically I'm not from any clan.

" I explained to her, causing her to nod.

Truthfully besides that, I never knew anything about my mother's clan except that it consists of about 2 dozen members. Making it one of the larger clans according to her.

"Well that is interesting to know, but there is something I have to ask you Kagome." Inuko said calmly.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, looking a little weirded out now that Inuko was using here name now.

"Have you changed your mind about going after the shards?" She asked Kagome.

"In fact I have." Kagome said. "If Yura was of any indication then just having one shard is enough to crossover into the modern era and as the enterence is located on my family's shrine, of anything else crosses over my family will be the first in danger.

So I want to gather the shards in order to prevent that. "

I figured that she would say something like that. Honestly that is an admirable goal and if I were to have gone on the journey myself and Inuko, then that would be part of the motivation. Also partly because I would get to explore Nippon during the Sengoku Judai.

Still it would just feel hollow without Kagome.

"That's quite the admirable goal there girl.

" Inuko said, with a little respect. "But make no mistake, once we gather the whole Shikon Jewel I will become a whole yokai.

So I will work with you both, preferably Y/N in order to reconstruct the jewel.

" She continued, causing the both of us to sigh and Kagome to fume.

It seems that we both thought the same thing. Though Inuko's comment seemed to have ticked off Kagome a little bit.

"Speaking of which." I said, trying to diffuse the situation before Inuko would Osuwaried again if Kagome's expression told me everything.

Once she seemed to have calmed down a bit before I faced her.

"We are going to have to talk with your family to work out a schedule for this.

Because we are definitely going to miss out on a lot of time in the modern world if we do this. " I said seriously.

We are going to miss out on a lot, because it seems that the flow of time is equal no matter which era we are in.

Also considering this we are going to miss out of school a lot. Not that I'm complaining about days of though. I don't really have that many friends and I tend to breeze through homework easily, so I won't have that much trouble catching up.

Kagome on the other hand will only have some trouble, except with math. It was her worst subject, and considering that it usual makes up a majority of her homework it will take her awhile to catch up.

The way she was glaring at me showed that she was thinking among a similar line of thoughts.

"Well what ever you decide do at least one of you mind telling me around midday tomorrow?" Inuko asked us.

Both me and Kagome shared a look and once again we seemed to have the same idea.

"One of us will come here tomorrow if we can't reach a decision. If the both of us arrive then we will begin looking for the shards." Kagome said getting Inuko to nod as that was a sound plan.

We continued our track to the village in silence unto we came to the outskirts. We were greeted by a Kaede's assistant, Rikichi If I remember correctly and a few of the village's men armed with bows and spears.

"Lady Kaede, are you alright?!" He asked while going to support Kaede.

"I'm fine, but bind the woman that Inuko is carrying tightly and have two men keep an eye on her at all times until I say otherwise." She said.

Rikichi nodded and signaled for two men to carry Yura off. With that she turned left with him.

"Alright then, I believe that is time for us to go our separate ways for now. I have get these wounds patched up." Inuko said as she began to walk away. "I'll see either one or both of you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow then." I said as disappeared into the village.

Once they were all gone we decided that we should just head back home.

"Hey Y/N." Kagome said as we waded through the forest on the way to the well.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There is something that you should know. Something that I learned from Grandpa earlier..."

(Inuko POV - an hour later)

After getting patched up by Kaede, I decided to sleep in my perch. A nice night sleep should help finish the healing process.

One of the few good things my father left me...

Speaking of which, I just realized that the girl still had my robe. So I jumped through the treetops.

If she took it with her back to their era, she would regret it.

And this was just after I started to respect her too.

While she was still needed a lot of work, especially with her spiritual prowess I had to admit that girl was starting to grow on me a little.

As much as that thought wierded me out a bit, it kind of made sense.

She did risk going through being burnt alive, did inadvertently torture Yura into unconscious and like me enjoyed that bitch's suffering a bit, and was risking herself by going on this journey in order to safe her family from a potential and very real threat with the shards.

So in a way, Kagome has earned my respect despite being the reincarnation of the woman that I despised the most. Besides my overgrown bitch of a sister.

Still Kagome will have to prove if she can deserves it.

Which if Y/N's faith in her proves anything, she will.

Anyway I have just arrived here and if my nose was correct they were just here. After a bit of looking around I found my robe folded up on the edge with a piece of bright yellow parchment on top.

I tried to remove the parchment, but it got stuck on my hand. I spent several moments trying to remove it from my hand. This must be something from the their era as there was nothing like this annoying thing in my era.

After a quick tug, I ripped the infuriating parchment from my hand and read it.

Inuko

I'm sorry for holding on to this. I should have given this back to you after dealing with Yura. But the thought must've gotten lost with the aftermath of dealing with Yura and digging out Kaede. So once again I'm sorry and me and Y/N will be back tomorrow. So I will see you then.

— Kagome

Well at least she apologized.

After crumbling up the parchment and tossing it down the well, I jumped back into the canopy and back towards my perch.

Content to know that tomorrow, we will begin our journey and bring myself one step closer to becoming a full yokai.

(Modern Era - Kagome POV)

I lied in my bed thinking about what just happened in the past hour.

After we got back and putting Sota to bed, we talked with Mom and Gramps and came up with a decision.

We will be there for over a week while they cover for us and try to figure out something different after we get back and spend a few days at school. After that we'll figure it out then.

Then when I remembered that I still had Inuko's robe. So a quick trip back to the past and leaving a sticky note, we returned home and decided to head to bed.

However after that Y/N asked to speak with Gramps and I left when the room started to get colder.

I did not want to be around him when ice started to appear.

As I was pondering about this, I started to get drowsy and I didn't even fight it.

I've had a long day and if the last few was of any indication, a long week ahead of me.

So after a few moments, I allowed myself to fall asleep.

Hoping that things will be alright tomorrow.

(Grandpa POV)

Y/N has been pacing for the past few minutes with frost starting to form on the floor.

Honestly I've been expecting this for years and I wasn't prepared for this silence.

I expected anything yelling to being incased in ice by this point, but not the silence.

Sure he was upset, but I couldn't tell if he was upset at me or his father.

He might have been a good man, but his penchant for keeping secrets has often only led him to trouble. Honestly also keeping this a secret for so long was the problem.

Still it was his literal dying wish.

Considering how he died, he must've known he wouldn't make it.

The authorities were still puzzled on how the restaurant actually thought it was a good idea to prepare dinner that night using toxic reef crabs!

They were one of the most dangerous things on the planet for their toxicity alone.

A lot of people had died that night and the restaurant was closed down and demolished the next day with the employees life either ruined or jailed for such a mistake.

Still I kept my word, but it looks like it in the end he bungled this up after his death.

With myself not even noticing what Y/N was going through and that he had inadvertently hadn't trusted myself, Haruka, or Sota with his secret.

I swear if I ever encounter that man as a spirit, then I'm going to throttle him.

I was broken out of my musings when Y/N finally stopped his pacing and just sighed, the ice on the floor vanishing.

"You are alright Y/N?" I asked.

"I'm fine, still a little upset about it, but I've decided that it doesn't matter anymore.

Dad made an admittedly stupid promise for a dying wish and made the mistake of telling us to keep the same promise without telling the other.

So in the end it was his fault that this problem started in the first place, but it was us that just helped it to fester.

So just continuing to worry about it will only make it worse. " He said, causing me to smile.

That was along the lines of what I was thinking, but his decision filled me with pride.

He decided to move on from the problem. Both sides know what was wrong and exactly how to rectify it. So the only course of action would was just to move on and never repeat it.

A decision that some adults nowadays seem to shy a way from.

"You are exactly right Y/N. Your father made a mistake, but let us put it behind us and move on from it." I said while putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "So let's learn from it and make sure not to repeat it."

"Alright." He said simply, but I could instantly tell that he was hiding something.

"Y/N, whatever you're thinking off spit it out." I said sharply while removing my hand.

"Guess I couldn't hide anything from you Grandpa." He sighed out. "It has something to do with the jewel shard stuck in my chest."

I should have figured that would be the reason for that. Considering that he has a shard of one of Japan's most sacred items stuck in it, I'm not surprised.

"So what is it then?" I asked.

"Something that Kaede had me promise not to tell Kagome yet.

According to her my shard seems to have absorbed something from the other shard, but according to her.

But what she didn't know until I told her is that when that was happening besides that.

When I felt that going on I also sensed not one, but two living presences within the shards.

We don't know what they are, but she has an idea on what they are, but it is in a village of yokai taijiya within a sacred cave.

Sadly she doesn't remember it's location so we have nothing at the moment. " He said grimly.

I couldn't help but to agree with that. Now I can see why he would want to keep this a secret. Still I have to take care of this before there is any repeat of our previous incident.

Besides I think I have an idea of what one of those presences are.

"Y/N I might have an idea on what of one of them are, but I need you to promise me something." I said seriously.

"And what is that Grandpa?" Y/N asked.

"Promise me that by the end of next week that you will tell Kagome about this.

I can see why that you would keep it secret, but you need to tell her or you will only get a repeat of the same situation that your father inadvertently caused.

So I need you to tell her so this doesn't repeat, alright? " I explained to him seriously.

After a few moments of silence, he relented.

"Alright I promise, I didn't like keeping this from her anyway." He said honestly.

"Good." I said simply. "Now as I promise, there is one thing I can think of and it has something to do with the creation of the Shikon Jewel."

"And that is?" He asked.

"That the jewel was supposedly created from a miko who sacrificed herself close to the end of the Heian Jidai nearly 900 years ago.

That has to be one of the presences, but the other one is a mystery to me.

So I'll look into that while you are away.

Though I can't promise you anything as." I said earnestly.

If what he said is true, then there is probably not that many who would have the knowledge he was looking for in the Sengoku Jidai. So it would stand to reason that it would take quite a while before we figure out anything.

"Kind of figured as much, but thank you Grandpa." Y/N said with a small smile.

"No problem Y/N." I said, before I remembered something.

Something that might cause me to become an ice sculpture.

"What's wrong Grandpa?" Y/N asked with concern, upon seeing the sweat start to build up on my face.

"I accidentally broke your gift to Kagome!" I shouted.

Y/N just sighed and ice began to form around his feet.

"Can you please tell me what happened Grandpa?" He asked cooly, coldly, err-evenly.

"I accendently knocked it down in the storehouse the day you went missing. I took it to someone on the other side of the city and I should be able to pick it up tomorrow morning, good as new." I said and the ice began to recede. Looks like he has calmed down.

"Alright then." Y/N said as the ice disappeared. "Well I'm glad that is taken care of, but do you mind if I come along with you." He asked.

"I don't see the problem with it. You did pay and commissioned for it after all.

Still you will have to get up a bit earlier then usual.

But anyway I suggest you head to the guest bedroom and get some rest. After everything that has happened to you this past day, you have certainly earned it.

" I said truthfully as I noticed that he seems to be nodding off.

Considering he nearly raped after being mercilessly hunted by a powerful yokai and had to fight her off, he definitely earned.

Y/N looked like he was going to say something, but exhaustion finally took hold and he collapsed. Leaving me to catch him.

"He must have been more exhausted then I thought he was." I muttered to myself while carrying him to the guest room. It wasn't that far thankfully.

Still the next time this happens, he is sleeping on the floor.

(The Next Morning)

After leaving a note for Haruka I gathered some of my son's old clothes for Y/N.

After all it wouldn't be good for him to go into the city wearing a hi and carrying a sword.

That was my thing, minus the sword.

So I walked up to the guest room to wake up Y/N, but the door was partway opened. Peering inside I saw that he was awake and working on some sketches.

He always had a talent for sketching, drawing, or painting. He has an uncanny accuracy, because the only one I see was a sketch of himself, Inuko, and Kagome underneath a tree and if I didn't know of his talents or that the picture was too big I would've mistaken it for a photo.

I remember Kagome telling us that they did this before the Shikon Jewel shattered.

Anyway I'd hate to interrupt him, but we have somewhere to be.

"Y/N how long have you been awake?" I asked him. He stopped sketching and turned to face me.

"Not that long I'd say about 40 minutes." He said "I tried to get some more sleep, but then again I was knocked out enough times yesterday. So I decided to sketch some of the events thesepast few days."

"I see then." I said while putting the clothes down on the bed. "Anyway get changed and I'll be waiting for you in the car."

With that I exited the room and allowed him to get changed.

I then checked my watch and saw that we had enough time to swing by Y/N's House for him to pick up a few things before going into past. Knowing him, it would be for the best to have a lot of blank paper with him If what I just saw was of any indication.

So with that I went to the car, but as I was about to close the door Y/N came out behind me. He was wearing my son's old grey pants and blue shirt with the same sandles and the same blue scarf.

"Well that was fast." I said while averting my gaze from his.

It was a mistake to have given him those clothes. Y/N looked almost exactly like my son when he was his age. He was unintentionally bring back some painful memories, but I quickly shock them off before they could take a hold of me.

That would have only made worrying about him and Kagome even more painful while they were gone.

Once I got my bearings straight I noticed that Y/N was already halfway to the car. So I fell into line behind him.

A minute and three stalls later, the car finally started up and we left.

(An hour and a half later- Kagome POV)

Currently I was waiting for Gramps and Y/N to get here while I was eating what was becoming perhaps my favorite breakfast.

Breakfast oden!

Normally we wouldn't have anything this delicious for breakfast, but Mom and Gramps decided to hold a small celebration before we head back to the past. Mainly, because I spent my birthday tied up, by chased by an seemingly immortal omukade, and nearly being killed at quite a few times that they decided that this would help make up for the time lost.

With the way this tasted, it was certainly working.

Anyway while I was in the middle of eating, Sota asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Mom, when is Grandpa and Big Bro going to be back?" Sota asked, a little worriedly.

"I have no idea Sota. I called Y/N not that long ago and he said they were almost home, so they should be here any minute now." She said.

"Alright then, but why did you call Y/N. Did Gramps leave his phone here again?" I asked.

"Thankfully he didn't, but according to Y/N his phone ran out of power not that long ago." Mom said simply.

"I honestly should have seen that coming." I said while going back to eating my oden.

With Gramps's phone dead and Mom won't know anything unless Y/N texts her first or she finishing eating. So we have to wait until either one of those happen.

And I still don't know why they went away.

The only thing I know was they had two stops.

The first was for Y/N to pack up some of his stuff for the trip.

The second one was to pick up something on the other side of the city.

So as Y/N probably didn't take long to pack, then the only way they could be this late if it is on the far side of Tokyo or traffic. Maybe both.

I'll find out later, I just hope they will come soon.

Their oden was starting to get cold after all.

"Where back!"

Spoke too soon.

A moment later Gramps and Y/N walked into the dining room, with the latter carrying a small black box with a latch on it.

"Sorry we took so long, traffic was the worst I've seen all year" Gramps said as he took his seat at the table.

"I kind of figured that, but what is with the box?" I asked as Y/N took a seat next to me, looking a little nervous.

"I'll let Y/N do the explaining." Gramps answered as he started to eat his oden.

I turned to face Y/N as he placed the box on the table.

"If you want to know this is my birthday gift to you. I spent a month making this and I was going to give it to you, but we ended up in the past and Grandpa accidentally broke it while we were in the past. He had it fixed and we went to picked it up." Y/N explained.

Wait, he made this for me for my birthday!

I knew he was working on some kind of project, but I never thought it would be something like this.

Taking a good look at the box I noticed besides the latch, there was a USB port in the back, and there was a battery holder on the bottom.

Y/N didn't make this. He might be good with art, he is not that good with assembling technology. So he must've designed this and had payed for it to be built.

So I unhooked the latch in order to find out what had commissioned.

https://youtu.be/oovv9z3QRHQ

It was a music box, Y/N had commissioned a digital music box.

The song that played had me and everyone around me enthralled at it's beauty.

It was mesmerizing, but what was inside of the box only tugged at my heart strings.

In the lid of the box was a photo framed behind what looked like ceramic glass.

A picture that I never thought I'd see again.

It was a picture of me and Y/N riding the train during a beautiful red sunset with his head lying on my shoulder, with the both of us sound asleep.

I was wearing a yellow yukata dotted with some sakura blossom patterns with a red obi sash. Y/N was wearing a simple white yukata with dark blue embording and markings on the arms and shoulders with a lighter blue obi sash and his scarf.

Looking at the photo and with the music I couldn't help but let the memories of that day replayed in my head.

Months ago, Grandpa had planed for us to attend the festival at the Kururugi Shrine in the town of the same name, located a few kilometers south of Tokyo.

We had everything planned and ready to go, but we only got to stay there for a few minutes before leaving.

For we didn't account for how hot it would be that day and Y/N broke out into a raging fever and we immediately left for home.

At the time Y/N claimed he was just sick at the time. Technically that is still true, but now I know that it also had to do with the fact that he couldn't handle high temperatures that well due to being half yuki-onna.

Anyway, after that we went home by train when Y/N started to get nauseous. Me and mom tried to soothe him and eventually it worked. He eventually fell asleep on my shoulder.

I would have moved him, but he looked just so serene that I couldn't help but just leave him be. Within a few minutes I found myself nodding off as well and the next thing I knew I was being awakened by Mom when the sun almost completely set.

After that why managed to Y/N somewhat awake and took him home.

The next day he had to stay home due to his fever. I did as well under the guise that I was also sick. We moved him to the guest room and he stayed with us for that day.

I also learned that Gramps had taken that picture and I was mortified and demanded that he should delete it.

Months later I found out that he did, much to my anger.

"Kagome, are you alright?" Mom said, breaking me from my thoughts

I looked to see that everyone was looking at me expectantly while Y/N was looking a bit nervous about how I would react.

Looks like I got a lost in that memory a bit too much.

"Sorry about that, I just got caught up remembering that day." I said truthfully. "Still how do you have this photo Y/N? I only thought that Gramps had it before he deleted it?"

"I thought the same thing until I broke the lid off. According to Y/N, I accidentally emailed it to him months ago and he found while sorting it out." Gramps answered.

Well that would explain that.

With that out of way, I did the only thing that I could do.

Which was to hug Y/N.

"Thank you Y/N, this is honestly one of the best things anyone has ever done for me!" I said happily, not planning on letting him go any time soon

"It's no problem Kagome, after I heard about how upset you were about Grandpa deleting the picture. So when I found it, I decided to have this music box made in order for you to enjoy it in it's fullest." Y/N said while red faced.

"I see and I have to say that you certainly succeeded." I said happily, while noticing that Mom was recording us.

Normally I would be embarrassed by this, but I was too happy to care about it right now.

"So once again, thank you." I said softly.

After a few moments, he returned my hug in kind.

"No problem Kagome." He replied honestly.

At this moment I could care less about what anyone else was doing, all I wanted was to enjoy this moment.

Because now I had a picture of the moment when I first realized my feelings for Y/N and I was currently in his embrace.

Well when I first thought about them anyway.

After that day I began to truly figure out how I felt about him. It wasn't easy as I've practically known him for all of my life and he was my best friend. It took several months before I came to realize that I actually had feelings for him, but I couldn't tell Y/N about it.

I would always get nervous whenever I thought about it. Besides I was pretty sure that he must've thought of me as his best friend or as his sister.

But lately I've begun to notice that he might actually returned my feelings since our first trip to the past.

He was planning on confiding to me his biggest secret first, not Mom, Sota, or Gramps, who has basically helped raised him since his father was away on trips a good portion of the time.

He chose to tell me before any of them.

Then he was basically with me just about every step of the way these past few days and now this gift, that was enough proof in my eyes.

However it seems like he also shares my nervousness too it seems and possibly the same doubts as well.

But if the way he acted to me teasing him the other day shows anything, he at least suspects something.

Thank Amaterasu that he isn't dense, that would be a nightmare to deal with.

But still if Yura was of any indication, it looks like I will have to both literally and figuratively fight in order to stick my claim for Y/N.

But all of that can wait for now.

I just want to continue to enjoy this moment a little while longer.

(Chapter 11 end)