The Life After

6/19/07

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the characters of Inuyasha. I do not own Naraku, Inutaisho, Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Jakken, Rin, or Ah-Un. I also do not own Ayame, the Elder, or Kouga. Nor do I own the lunar rainbow promise. I do not own Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, or Shippo. I do not own Kohaku, Hachi, Kaede, Kikyo, or Urasue, or ANY of the characters or happenings from Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi is the wonderful creator and owner of said characters, manga, and show. I do not make money off of her characters or this story. Anything that is not owned by her is still owned by the people who own the Inuyasha show and movies. I give them credit for their work as well. I do not make money off of their ideas or episodes. This Disclaimer applies to this and all following chapters.

HOWEVER!!! Riki and Uki are MINE ALL MINE!!! *hugs them* And anyone who tries to steal them away will have Sesshoumaru's wrath upon them!!! XD

Author's Note: Well, I'm back again. Two days this time…I really am random with my updates, aren't I? rofl. OK so Sesshoumaru's not in this chapter…don't hate me! But come on, he ate up the last one! Besides, I told you I'm obsessed with Uki and Riki! And it's not like I'm done with Sesshoumaru, he just took a break this chapter he's on . . . vacation! LOL! *dodges tomatoes* ok ok. So here's this chapter. PLEASE review. I worked really hard on this and it means a lot to me. I almost cried while writing this. *hugs Uki and Riki* They went through a lot this chapter…maybe I was a bit too hard on them lol…but I couldn't just mention this secret waterfall when they were nine…well when Riki was nine anyway, and not say anything more about it! So, here goes. RESPOND and I'll love you forever!

Thanks: animegirl007 yeah rewatching random episodes has really helped me remember things like Urasue! And of course Sesshoumaru would never allow her to double cross him, but that doesn't mean she won't try. Still there's the problem of retrieving Rin's soul….see Urasue's far too old to just call back a soul anymore…so I'm just gonna hint that some other old character we haven't heard from in a while is going to come into play. ^.^ Just a littttttle bit. And, no problem, I'll ask her for you. I don't usually review unless a story strikes me as really good, and she just caught Sesshoumaru's character so much better than I did. :( But yeah, I'll ask her for you! Hope you enjoy my story. Atleast I know you'll review this chapter for me! Thanx so much!!!

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Ukiyomaru was shaking. In fact, he was shaking SO hard that Riki was afraid he was actually going to pass out. It was when Uki's eyes actually started rolling backwards that Riki grabbed his friend's shoulders, “Easy, Uki! Ease up! It's ok!!”

“Lots…lots of people…in front of…watching…too many!” the poor hanyou couldn't even find the words to say what was happening. The truth was that they were about to step out onto a stage in front of one of the biggest villages in Sesshoumaru's domain. It seemed simpler just to announce the great lord's vacation to the main village and allow the news to travel on its own from there. That way they would only have to give one speech. Unfortunately one speech seemed to be too much for Ukiyomaru. Riki and Uki had traveled their future domain for the past 100 years. They knew many of the people, and everyone knew them. The younger man just could not differentiate between the people he knew so well and this giant mob he was about to go up in front of and try to do the unthinkable: speak.

“It's ok, Uki! I'll even do all the talking if you want! You can just stand there and look regal, 'kay? Do you honestly think your father would be standing up here shaking out of his skin?” his hands were still on his cousin's shoulders, and their noses were not even an inch apart. Riki was staring straight into Uki's eyes, trying to distract him from all the people that were just outside that velvet crimson curtain that hung down to cover most of the stage.

“N-n-n-n-, n-n-n-n-n-,” a gulp, “no…….”

“Exactly! How can you call yourself the son of the GREAT Lord Sesshoumaru if you can't even go and stand in front of a bunch of people! It's not really that many, anyway! And I'LL be doing all the talking! Please don't be scared, Uki! I can't stand it!” Their noses really were touching now, and Ukiyomaru could almost taste his best friend's breath.

“H-h-h-h-how?”

“What?”

“How do you DO it?!” the younger man's deep brown eyes were still shaking.

“Do WHAT, Uki?! I don't understand!” Riki's ears flattened against his head in confusion.

“How are you so BRAVE all the time? How come you're never ever scared!”

Riki gasped and then stepped backwards, releasing his hold on the younger hanyou. Without another word, he fell softly backwards onto the ground, pulling his knees up against his chest. “Tatsnotroo…” It was so quiet and garbled that even Uki's keen hearing couldn't comprehend.

“Riki? What's wrong? I can't understand you.” All his fears forgotten, Ukiyomaru sat down beside his friend, crossing his legs in front of him.

“That's not TRUE, Uki!” he turned his head to face the short silver-haired man.

“You're just saying that to be nice! There hasn't been one time since I met you, you've been scared!”

“That's NOT true!!!” Riki turned away again, “There was one time. One time I was so scared I was crying. One time I thought my whole world was going to end…”

“Really, Riki? When was that?” Uki placed a clawed hand gently on his friend's shoulder.

“The waterfall.”

“The w--…the SECRET waterfall?”

“The secret waterfall.”

“How could you have been scared?! I was the one-”

“I almost…I almost lost everything that mattered to me, Uki! I've never been more scared in my life! I thought…I thought…,” Riki buried his face in his hands, tears streaming between his fingers.

“Riki…,” Ukiyomaru threw his arms around his cousin, burying him in a deep hug, the upcoming speech completely forgotten. They both knew what Riki was talking about. They both knew what that waterfall meant to them. It was everything.

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“Hurry up, Uki! You're always lagging behind!” the nine-year-old Riki leaped through the forest, his silver ponytail falling to the base of his neck.

“S'not fair, Riki! You're bigger than me! I can't keep up!! Can't I use my cloud?!” the five-year-old Ukiyomaru stumbled through the brush behind his cousin.

“You know Mom and Aunt Rin don't like us using our powers before our human night!” Riki skidded to a stop to wait for the younger boy, “We always forget how late it is, and they give out on us at the worst times! 'Member when I tried to break that old tree with my Iron Reaver Soul Stealer attack? Turned human right in the middle of it and broke my hand,” he rubbed his hand remembering the exceptional pain he had suffered through, “Being human sure isn't much fun when there's pain involved. And think about it?! What if you turn human while you're soaring over some big drop! You could die!” Uki had finally caught up and had been bent over panting, before this comment. Suddenly he was staring wide-eyed up at the older boy. “And that'd be awful! Not to mention, Uncle Sesshoumaru would chop my head off! So no powers, ok, Uki?”

“Ok,” his short silver hair bobbed as he nodded, “It's still not fair though! How come I gotta have TWO nights, and you only got one?!”

“Idunno,” Riki shrugged, tilting his head, “Guess that's just how it worked out…but don't worry! I said I'll take care of you, and I will!” he gave a single sharp nod of his head.

“Riki! Lookit that! What's it?!” Ukiyomaru had raced a little ahead of the older boy, and was pointing frantically at a large gaping hole in the cliff that rose up in front of them.

The hanyou's ears twitched, and he pulled his bow and arrows up higher on his shoulder, “A cave.” He looked around, sniffing at the air, searching for a certain scent.

“Let's go check it out!” Uki tugged on his cousin's kimono.

“I don't think so, Uki. It might be home to some nasty big old demon. We should probably get home, it's getting late,” still his ears and nose twitched as he tried to find even the tiniest hint of danger. He placed a hand protectively on the younger boy's shoulder.

“Pleaseeeeee, Riki?! I REALLY wanna check it out! What if there's some treasure in there or something!” Ukiyomaru looked up at him with big tear-filled puppy eyes.

“We'll just come back tomorrow…”

“But what if it's GONE then, Riki?! We HAVE to go NOW!!” his lower lip trembled.

“Wellllll…”

“It's still an hour til sunset! We've got plenty of time!”

“……Alright.”

“YAY!!!”

“BUT! When I say it's time to go back, we go. No fuss, ok?”

“Ok!” but the young hanyou was already racing towards the cave entrance.

Riki sighed, but followed dutifully after Ukiyomaru.


“Woooaaahhhhhh!!!” both boys' voices echoed off the insanely huge cavern. It seemed that the entire cliff was hollow. There was yet another cliff that rose up inside the mouth of the cave that was only two-thirds the size of the cave itself. Even on his cloud Ukiyomaru would have had a rough time reaching the roof of it. The smaller cliff, itself, appeared to go on for miles. It was probably the largest cave in all of Japan. All of that was amazing, but what really had them overthrown was the immense waterfall that roared down from the top of the smaller cliff.

“A waterfall…,” Riki whispered.

“A SECRET waterfall!” Uki corrected, then, “Let's go to the top!”

“No!!! It's way too high! What if we fall?! It's just too dangerous!” he folded his arms resolutely.

Ukiyomaru was quiet for a moment, then smiled mischievously, “You know…if I was gonna hide a secret treasure, I'D put it at the top of a giant waterfall…”

“So?”

“And if I was gonna go to all that trouble, it'd have to be the biggest--!”

“Don't care.”

“Hugest--!”

“Doesn't matter.”

“Most MAGICAL treasure of all time!!!” Ukiyomaru threw his hands in the air and yelled this last part so loudly that it echoed all around the cave for a good two minutes, before disappearing into the stalactites on the ceiling.

At this Riki raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“Just imagine…we might end up richer than Dad.”

“…….Richer? Than the GREAT Lord Sesshoumaru?”

“Ten TIMES richer!”

“Fine.”

“YAY!!!” but this time Riki had already stretched out an arm and grabbed the collar of Uki's kimono, and the younger hanyou was stopped short in his joyful race to the base of the smaller cliff.

“But we go SLOW, and no powers! Ok?” he narrowed his eyes sternly.

“Ok…,” Uki sighed, ceasing his struggling.

“Good,” he released his friend, “and be careful. REAL careful.”

“Yeah, yeah…”


Five-year-old Ukiyomaru wiped the sweat from his eyes and then looked up at Riki who was several feet above him. With a deep breath he turned and glanced back at the ground, except that he could barely see the ground. A shudder passed through him, but he shook it off. They were rather close to the top, and he had been the one who wanted to check it out in the first place. He was just so tired. If only he could just use a cloud to get up there, or turn into a little orb of white light and float up, or just magically reappear. He was really good at short distance reappearing, but Riki would never agree. I made a promise, Uki thought determinedly, and I'm gonna make it to the top, and I'm not gonna use any powers! I can do this! With a sigh, he reached up his tiny clawed hand and pulled himself up another step.

“You doin' ok, Uki?” the older hanyou called back.

“Fine!...fine…” Another stretch, grab, and pull. He was just so tired.

“You sure? You want some help?” with this, Riki had finally reached the top, and he pulled himself up over the edge. He stood up, turned around, and looked down to watch his friend drag himself up the cliff.

“I said I'm fine! Ok?!” Ukiyomaru spat, dragging himself up another step. He wasn't that far from the top, but too far for Riki to reach down and pull him up the rest of the way. Not to mention that it seemed like he was miles away.

“Alright…boy! You gotta see this, Uki! You just feel so tall up here!” he placed his hands on his hips and looked around. It wasn't pitch black, which was strange for a cave. There were these strange tiny glowing mushrooms all over the place, and they gave off just enough light to make it seem like dusk. This of course was more than enough light for the boys' acute demon eyes, so that they were able to see as if there was a sun shining somewhere in the cave.

“Do you--” a grunt as his hand slid off of its hold, but he managed to find another spot and pulled himself up further. Riki's nervous gasp echoed softly down, but the older boy knew better than to try to help Uki. He hated being so small and wanted to prove he could do anything his older cousin could. “Do you see any treasure, Riki?”

“Dunno. Not gonna look til you get up here. We gotta stick together, you and me. Y'know?”

Ukiyomaru stopped climbing for a minute and smiled to himself, “Yeah.”

“Uki?”

“Oh! Coming! I'm coming…,” but he wasn't. He wasn't moving at all. He was standing perfectly still, and he was shaking just a little bit. “R-riki?”

“Is something wrong?! Are you ok?!”

“Riki…I think…I think the sun just set.”

“SHIT! Uki, get up here!! Get up here, RIGHT NOW! Give me your hand!” Riki dropped to his stomach and stretched out his arm as far as he possibly could. Ukiyomaru was just too far away, however, and there was nothing the older boy could do to help him. One of his arrows slipped out of the case on his shoulder and whooshed over the cliff-side. The older hanyou would never know if it actually hit the ground, because the distance was so great that even his sharp ears couldn't catch the sound.

Uki hadn't even seen it fall. He had his eyes clenched shut and was clinging to the wall for dear life.

“CLIMB, Uki! Climb! Damnit! Fly up! Appear! I don't care! Just do SOMETHING!”

“I…I can't!” and he couldn't. He was so scared at that point, he could barely breathe.

“Just hang on! I'm coming to get you!” but it was too late. Ukiyomaru had started to pulse. “No,” Riki whispered, as the pulsing sound began to echo. Normally the pulsing was rather quiet, but the echo was so close to the roof of the cave that it actually started to shake the entire cliff.

“Riki!!!” he still hadn't opened his eyes, but he could feel his claws disappearing and his grip loosening.

“Just hang on, Uki! Just hang on!” even though he still had his claws, he knew that climbing down the quaking cliff would be difficult. There were rocks bouncing off of the side of it, and he could only pray that none of the bigger ones would hit Ukiyomaru. With a deep breath, he jumped over the side of the cliff. He landed on a rocky shelf and nearly slipped off. He managed to grab the vibrating wall and save himself. He was scared, but not for himself. The tears that were sliding down his face were for Uki. It was all for Uki. He didn't care if he died, but he was going to save Ukiyomaru. He continued leaping down the cliff side.

“R-r-riki!!!!!!!” Uki's claws were gone, and his hands slipped off of the shaking wall, the pink pulsing light still engulfing him. The tiny brown human eyes opened wide to watch the cliff fall away.

“Gotcha!” Riki's claws were suddenly digging into Ukiyomaru's wrist so tightly that blood was actually dripping from his grasp.

“Riki,” the younger hanyou whispered, looking up at his savior. The older boy was a bit too busy to return the gaze, though. Riki was holding the both of them to the cliff side with only one hand. Bigger rocks had begun to fall, and Riki completely shielded Ukiyomaru with his own body. He had several cuts on his face and left arm from the constant barrage, but still he clung to the wall. It was several minutes after Ukiyomaru stopped pulsing that the echoing and shaking actually stopped. Without a word, Riki pulled them upwards, using only one arm. He pulled Uki up first, and then scrambled onto the cliff top himself. He fell on his face panting. “Riki?” the young hanyou whimpered.

“S'ok. I'm fine. Just gimme a minute,” he huffed.

“Riki,” he reached out a clawless finger and touched Riki's tear-stained face, “You're crying. Were you scared we were gonna die?” the small human looked near tears himself.

“No.”

“No?”

“No. I wasn't scared that we were gonna die…I was scared that YOU were gonna die. You scared the shit out of me, Uki!” They were both lying on the ground, mere inches apart. “Don't ever do anything like that again! Ok?! And if you think we're EVER going out on our human nights again, you're an idiot!”

“But, Riki…you don't get scared,” Uki had both his hands on Riki's cheeks now, as if doing so would make the teardrops disappear.

“I was just now. I was scared you were gonna die and leave me all alone. You gotta promise me!” Riki suddenly grabbed Uki's sore wrist and pulled his hand away from his face, “You promise me, Uki! Promise me you're never gonna leave me! No matter what! If we go, we go together! You got it?! You and me…y'know?” he loosened his grip.

At this, Ukiyomaru did start crying. He pulled free and buried his face in Riki's kimono, his arms clinging desperately to the older boy, “I know! You and me! I promise! I'm SO sorry, Riki! I'll never do it again! I promise! I didn't want to die! I didn't want to leave you all alone! I'm sorry!”

“It's ok,” Riki wrapped his own arms around his best friend, “It's ok. Never again. And you should know. You should know I'd never ever let anything happen to you. I promised you I'd keep you safe. No matter what.”

“I know. I've always known! You're my big brother, and you'll always keep me safe!”


It had been at least an hour since they'd finally reached the top of the cliff, and they had sat there, dangling their feet over the edge and just sitting the entire time. They hadn't said a word. They hadn't needed to. What they had now was deeper than that.

Finally, Riki sighed, “We should go.”

“I don't wanna climb down, Riki! I can't do it!” Ukiyomaru whimpered.

“S'ok. You don't have to. I'll carry you down.”

So the little human had climbed onto the older hanyou's back, and they had leaped gracefully down the cliff to return home. They never told anyone what had happened in the cave. It was their secret waterfall. It was their secret. It was their love for each other.

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“You really were scared,” the much older Ukiyomaru whispered into Riki's shoulder, “Weren't you?”

“I'm not always brave, Uki,” the hanyou man had stopped crying, and was now just holding his best friend close, “I get scared too.”

“Well, you shouldn't,” Uki pulled away a little so he could glare at his cousin.

“Excuse me?”

“If the only thing you're ever scared about is losing me, then you shouldn't ever get scared. EVER! Cuz I'm not going anywhere. You and me! Y'know?”

Riki couldn't have stopped the smile that flared across his face, even if he'd wanted to, “You and me.”

“Excuse me, my lords?” a human had walked over and was bowing low, “It is time for you to give your speech. Are you prepared?”

“You ready?” Riki tilted his head.

“Yeah. I'm not scared anymore, cuz I know you're gonna be there,” Uki nodded.

“Then let's do it!” he bounded up and extended a hand.

“We'll do it,” he took Riki's hand and was pulled to his feet, “Together.” The two men clasped hands, then turned to walk through the curtain.