The way the dog demon spoke, Kagome expected to have a long ways to travel to find the tailors. So when Tsuki led her only just outside of the massive palace walls and carried her to the forest below the floating castle, she was a little bit off guard to be told it was the end of their journey.
At first, Kagome could only sense a faint demonic presence and could see nothing beyond the woods. Then the pair stepped through a barrier that tickled her holy powers for a moment and she was nearly overwhelmed by the sight of the bustling village. Silk producing demons of all kinds were there, some in humanoid form, some somewhere between and a few even in smaller versions of their true forms, all busily spinning, weaving, dying, or hawking their wares. As the lady mother was noticed they stopped to bow in greeting before retuning to their business that could not be put off.
Kagome could only marvel at how dreamlike and… normal this village felt to her. It was no different than a human village that specialized in similar profession and relied on trade. She wondered, not for the first time, if maybe there was a way to bridge this gap between demons and humans. Maybe if they could be brought to see they really weren't so different after all…
With a firm shake of her head she redirected herself to task. She was supposed to be finding someone who could weave the material she needed. Tsuki lead her to a shop and spoke to the owner, a butterfly demoness with gorgeous stained glass patterned wings. Her gaze lingered on Kagome but a moment before she was once more the professional, speaking directly to Tsuki who briefly described what the priestess needed before moving onto her next commission. She ordered an entire wardrobe of clothing for various occasions and traveling, doubting Kagome would understand the meaning behind the gift. All she would see was something lavish being presented to her, at least, that was the dog demon's hope.
She doubted the human was ready to fully accept what she was offering, the fact she had not rejected her company after her claiming a kiss was more than a little surprising in and of itself. Humans were not exactly renowned for their tolerance by any means.
But then again, if her suspicions were right this woman was no mere human. First of all even the most pleasant scented of humans did not appeal as she did. She was almost familiar though she could not remember anyone quite like her. Only time could put it in perspective. She watched with an indifferent mask but a sharp gaze as Solaria lead Kagome to her half sister Lunestria, a moth and butterfly demoness. The pair began rapidly taking her measurements and Tsuki was not above listening in to the pair's rapid conversation to learn her sizes for future reference. Tonight, while Kagome rested she would go back and imbue the material with her own demonic energy to act as an added layer of protection for the woman. Whether her little priestess realized it was a courting gift or not, the lady of the west would offer nothing less than perfection to her chosen intended.
Even as they shopped, she had her network gathering every bit of known or even speculated information about the strange woman. She watched the lovely blush creep across the maiden's face at the prodding of the insect demons and decided she liked that color. Approaching the pair she subtly informed them of her desire for something to remind her of the human's flush when they wove the fabric before stepping back regally to continue watching as they stripped her down and slid a sizing kimono in place to give them a reference for when she was with the lady mother. Once it was pinned and stitched in place, they left her barefoot another moment, this time positioning her body very specifically.
"Your pet understands simple commands, yes?" Solaria asked, looking to Tsuki. The woman did not get to respond as Kagome let out an impressive growl for a mortal," I am no one's pet. I am fully capable of speaking for myself and obeying instructions. I am neither deaf nor dumb and do not enjoy being treated as if I am simply because I am different than you." She said, her anger fading to confusion when her gaze jerked to Tsuki as a soft tinkling sound that Kagome finally placed as the dog's laughter filled the room.
The sisters glances to their typically distant dowager lady nervously, but the dog only smiled, shaking her head at the human woman. "Oh I just can not wait to present you to the council." She chirruped happily with a delicate clapping of her hands.
Lunestria glanced between them, keeping silent as she subtly readjusted the raven haired woman and began coating her with a sticky webbing that built up and around her body without sticking to her skin. Once it reached her neck she stopped, her sister carefully cutting the cocoon in half so they could get a mold of her body as well.
Kagome was a honestly relieved when they left. Her mind was whirring in too many directions and her new…. Friend seemed content to keep adding more spirals to an already chaotic internal debate for her. She sighed debating between sleep or progress, deciding to attempt some progress while they waited on the fabric they would be using.
"Is there a map I can see? And some blank paper?" she asked, unwilling to risk damaging what might end up being considered valuable heirlooms in her time. She was led to the library and Kagome gasped at the sheer volume of knowledge stored there.
'I will have plenty of time to look at all of this later, right now I have a task.' She reminded herself sternly, finding some unused scrolls and char sticks to draw with. Settling by the map she was provided she began to carefully recreate it on the scroll, the work painstaking, though did not seem to take as long as she had expected it to.
Tsuki cocked her head at an angle watching her little human. Next she went to her bag, pulling out spools of strings in a wide array of colors and grabbed one of the wax candles before she focused her attention on the dog demoness.
" show me where the most recent reports of the sickness are, and each seven day period I will change string color so we can map of the speed in which it is spreading as well as where it originated from. Hopefully anyway. Once we reach back to the first reports it will give us a direction to travel and maybe find our source." She explained, surprising the demoness with the wisdom of the sound strategy.
It explained the choice of charcoal for needed revisions and the portable, durable nature of the scroll made it where she could take it with them while they traveled. She was impressed, that's all there was to it. So far she had found no reason to regret her decision. They worked together, Tsuki demonstrating the lengths her vast network covered in a subtle display of power and capability.
Kagome's chart was both a blessing and a shock. It was one thing to hear reports, but to see how widespread an area it affected…. And how rapidly it was growing as well. Oddly, the human did not seem terribly upset.
"This is good, it's only hit a small section of this island, at least that we know of. As soon as my protective clothing is done I will need a sample to begin working on a cure. I found the compound for what we need, but now I will have to find equivalents from this area and hope we can make it just as effective. Maybe more… what if we try imbuing the vaccine with holy or demonic energies… maybe it will increase the potency enough to be effective! Maybe that's what we are missing back home!" she said, seeming lost in her ramblings, but excited never the less. Tsuki found the enigmatic woman endearing as ever and yet wanted that much more to solve the questions of what she truly was.
..twthoiq..
Kagome could only gape at the wardrobe the servant who greeted her in the morning presented to her. She had been given a permanent room adjoining to the lady of the west's in the family wing of the castle. She had been in heaven on the plush futon and slept like the dead until she felt the energy of the little monkey demoness entering her room.
"I am Oen. The lady mother assigned your care to me my lady. Please, allow this humble servant to dress you before breaking your fast." She said, her voice a soft, chanting lilt.
Kagome flushed at the monkey's words but nodded as she realized every bit of the traditional clothing she had been given were items she could not put on alone aside from the simple light sleeping kimonos and yukatas. She remembered a few festivals her mother and grandfather made sure she wore some of the heavier traditional layered clothing and wondered how she would be expected to move in it.
Apparently the dog demoness and the weaving demons figured it out. They gave her a collection of modified susoyoke and koshimaki that would wrap almost like undergarments of her time and much shorter than those used for traditional kimonos so it would not impede her movements.
She was dressed in a three layer kimono, warm enough for the weather without being too overbearing. The fabric was light and rippled like water, and it was only once she was tieing it together did she realize each layer had slits worked into give her greater mobility while the outer most layer was cleverly worked to fall back in place the minute she stopped moving, giving her a deceptively hindered appearance while in truth she had full mobility. The colors were all hues of silver and blue, pulling out the lighter hues of blue in her eyes and making them stand out against her pale skin and she barely felt the weight of the fabric even despite all of the layers. The large decorative obi Oen tied around her accentuated her tiny waist without disrupting the flow of the kimono or forcing her assets on display. It was an incredibly flattering and thoughtful gift, one she could not wait to thank the lady mother for.
She allowed the monkey to lead her to the gardens where Inukimi was waiting with another surprise.
"Shippo!" she cried out happily, rushing to the growing fox kit and wrapping him up in her arms.
Forgetting the powerful demons around him her squeezed Kagome back just as tightly. "I was worried when you weren't at home Mama." He murmured, nuzzling into her, inhaling her scent deeply to reassure himself the well had not made him an orphan once again. He frowned sniffing again before turning inquisitive green eyes on the dog demoness who merely smirked at him and held a single clawed finger to her lips for a moment before acting as if she had done nothing.
"Any way, Mama, school was cancelled because of the sickness even before lord Sesshomaru showed up. He caught up to me as I reached the village. I wasn't sure what to think when I found out." He explained. Kagome's eyes widened, reaching for the scroll and other tools she had made a kit of and put where most kept their money. Unrolling it, she had her little fox point out the areas they had found infected creatures and the time frame
"Well… dang it." She almost cursed to herself. It put the spread wider than she had originally assumed which meant she needed to work fast.
Grabbing a piece of toasted bread she turned from the table muttering a muffled," Got to get started!" before bolting towards her work room, leaving a nervous fox and an eagerly curious dog alone.
dun dun duuunn lol sorry, cliff hanger, but why not? lol hope you all are enjoying this, its become more than a drabble but ... yeah i have so many things i want to play with... anyway forgive slow updays i am transfering between stores so going to essentially get a new job, kid been sick and more. anyway, pmease leave reviews and tell me what you think. thank you to all of my followers on this journey into untested waters
Susoyoke and koshimaki- traditional underskirt or petticoats for kimonos for women. Fun fact for the night… women did not actually wear underwear until Americans influenced their culture during a period I believe between the 40's through the 60's. Before then only men wore fundoshi, women just had the underskirts and kimono. When they worked in the fields they showed everything off from the waist down and didn't really feel ashamed until they were taught to hide their bodies.