A/N: Please see my profile for a link to what a modern-day biwa sounds like!
"Foolish little brother," Sesshoumaru drawled as he stepped unscathed yet again from the wreckage left by Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu. The hanyou would never defeat him with such undisciplined strikes—or at all, for that matter.
He saw the half-breed's eyes widen as he approached, and smirked satisfactorily to himself for instilling fear into his heart, but then he realized that Inuyasha was looking up instead of at him. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. How dare he look away from his opponent?
As he was about to swing his sword and teach Inuyasha a lesson in honorable combat, Naraku's stench wafted over him, partially muffled by the strong scent of sakura petals. He looked up just in time to see Kagura and Kanna as they floated down to the ground on their giant feather. They had a woman with them—a very frightened one, in fact—and she was the source of the overpowering scent of cherry blossoms.
The two youkai daintily rose to their feet and lightly stepped off the feather as it touched the grassy meadow. They were both wearing fine silk kimonos, and beautiful combs and jewelry adorned their hair. Both inu brothers blinked in confusion before readying their weapons against a common foe.
"Play."
"H—hai," the woman stuttered in reply to Kagura's order, and reached for the biwa behind her that Sesshoumaru had previously not noticed.
The music started slowly, and the sisters sauntered up to Sesshoumaru almost seductively, which coming from Kanna, was slightly disturbing in it's own right. He growled at their approach, but the human woman's scent was calming, leaving him feeling slightly hazy.
The gentle notes from the biwa became faster when Kagura and Kanna began to dance before him. He could see Kagura's fans flashing as she twirled and spun, and reflections of sunlight from Kanna's mirror as she dipped and bowed and turned. They were a blur of colors as the plucking picked up even more speed, and he found himself completely unable to move, paralyzed in place from whatever drug that was surely being worn by the woman. It was no matter, though; his own poison would soon destroy whatever was affecting him.
The wind answered Kagura's silent call, sweeping petals from the ground near where she had lain her feather. Bits of soul drifted out from Kanna's mirror to join the petals, twisting and whirling around him as the females danced to a tune that he would have thought impossible for a human to play if he had any mind left to think with.
Suddenly, it was done. The souls and petals hung in midair around the three of them—the women with their arms outstretched, and Sesshoumaru left stiff and numb with shock.
They walked back to the feather, letting the petals fall to the ground and the souls re-enter the mirror as they took off with the biwa and its player.
The taiyouki fell to his knees with a thump.
He saw a flash of green out of the corner of his eye, and managed to turn his head to see Inuyasha's miko gently leading Inuyasha from the scene—it appeared that the hanyou had been similarly affected.
"The fight...is not over," he bit out, still unable to rise to his feet.
The miko clucked her tongue and shook her head, her eyes glittering with mirth.
"I'm afraid it's quite over," she said brightly, looking over her shoulder at the Lord of the West with a mixture of amusement and pity.
"Sesshoumaru...you got served."