Beauties of the Blade part 2

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He loved to dance. It was an odd hobby for a Netherworld demon, but he thoroughly enjoyed a good swaying of the hips or elegant pivot. He didn't know his partner's name in this dance, but she would be a treat when the dance was done. He carried her near lifeless body in his arms, eyes closed and fanged mouth parted to hum a tune. She was barely breathing but she was weak and conscious. He heard her try to speak with groaning, but her sound didn't match the song. He turned to look at her and placed her down on her bed. It was one she shared with her husband. He was not him. He placed a kiss on her lips as they descended down to the bed together, pulled her obi-jime to release its grip on her kimono, and parted her kimono effortlessly. Their romance was a different kind of love affair. She tried to plead with him, a tear escaping her eye. He wiped it away and shushed her before kissing her again. It was the last kiss.

He didn't fully undress himself. He only pulled his pants down just enough to reveal his erection. He entered her body, making her release a moan followed by a whimper. He was slow at first, moving his kisses further down to the bite mark on her neck. He broke the ice forming from his bites with his fangs, unbothered by the sensation of cold it emitted, and sunk his teeth in her flesh. Only a bit of warmth was left. The blood dripping into his mouth, feeding his desire for the taste of death. He gave her the final bit of mercy before sucking the last bits of life from her. As she was dying, his thrusting became more aggressive and the feel of her death approaching heightened the sensation of pleasure travelling through his body. Her moans started as a gurgled scream until they became quieted. His eyes rolled shut and the thrusting became erratic. Her body was fully his to enjoy now that she was dead. The rapid contact of their flesh meeting each other and his moaning was the only music left. When he met his end, he released shadows from his body and materialized a white mask into his hand. He placed it on the lifeless lover's body and pulled himself out to watch her transformation.

"Ambassador," a voice called.

Turning his head slightly, he waited for the visitor to continue but heard nothing. Looking at the woman he had been intimate with until her death, he caressed the cheek of the white mask before crawling off the bed. He didn't feel like fixing his pants, but he may as well be courteous for a little longer until the plan had commenced. Walking to the front door of the lavish home he had been staying in, a man was waiting outside. It was a guard. One that his mistress would enjoy playing with if his handsome face wasn't a clue. The guard looked down to the bulge in his pants before smirking. He was about to make some sort of joke.

"Were you getting lucky there, ambassador?" the guard asked, locking eyes with Norihisa, or at least who he thought was him.

"I was lucky the moment I chose her to be my wife," Norihisa replied, grinning toothily. He looked out to the courtyard and saw a carriage piloted by two red dragons. He then turned to the guard and asked, "What's all this?"

"We're going to the rendezvous point before Lord Sesshomaru arrives," the guard replied, slightly narrowing his gaze at the man. "Guards were sent to present more information to him as instructed by the court. It seems a rally is in the works in the Mujina Woodlands. The situation has escalated with news of another death. He'll have to make haste if he wants peace between the rival clans, or another task of this nature ever again. He's looking into the Woodland deaths now. While he does that, we'll look into the information you provided once we arrive at this village you mentioned."

"Ah, then you're in for quite the treat," Norihisa said, smiling gently. "It might not be your taste with your marriage, but the single soldiers will have a spot of favoritism for it. After all, it was built with unmarried soldiers in mind once."

"Once?"

"The situation in the Mujina Woodlands just keeps growing more and more tense. If that old man is really innocent in all this, what could really be killing these other demons? This is so mind-boggling!"

Sesshomaru was quiet while Jaken rambled on about his investigation. They were riding on a boat to a village called Shinju o Tateru. Like Heiwa, it was unclaimed territory. It was in the middle of the night. The celestial bodies of moon and stars were glittering above. There was a hustle and bustle of people in the distance; meaning, they were getting close to the civilized part of town. Foods were being cooked and drinks being prepared for some evening event. The aromas were filling the young lord's senses, but he wasn't paying attention to it. The guards from his home informed him that Ambassador Norihisa was waiting for him at this particular location to explain more of what happened upon his visit to the woodlands. Unfortunately, the western lord hadn't been able to gather much more information beyond what was told.

There had to be a vital clue somewhere in all of this. What was it? The more Sesshomaru thought about it, the more Meioshi's words kept floating in his mind. After the rivals parted ways that day, Sesshomaru and Jaken had gone to the Mujina Woodlands strictly to analyze the crime scene but nothing out of the ordinary was there. The bodies had been disposed of and cremated. There was no dancing or prayers for the lives lost. He reviewed the facts thus far. He knew about the snowstorm from the Netherland wolf's curse on the living world, but he didn't know that the effects were so far-reaching. Certain parts of the living world were affected the most by hell's frost, so the Mujina Woodlands must have been one of the places hit the hardest. Why? Was it like the forest near the sea of hills? Connected by a centuries' old attack from a greedy demon? What about this town? Did it see the snow?

"It seems Lady Meioshi might have been onto something, after all," Jaken remarked, walking to the back of the boat and looking into the water. They were entering the town now. Paper lanterns of red, violet, orange, and green were lighting the waterways. It could be quite the romantic sight if Jaken wasn't troubled by the recent events himself. He then continued, "To think that awful doctor was so strong, too. She seemed so ordinary before. If she had that kind of power in her this whole time, surely she would be able to decimate her enemies in a single sword strike. Hm... If we look at the pattern of victims like she said, we might be able to discover something. What could be the common factor? Wait! What about the way these demons are being drained? Each victim was bitten on the neck from what we found out, but their armor also had holes in them like the attacker found a spot big enough (or small enough) suck everything out from the inside of the body. Such a frightening foe!"

"BANZAI!"

"Ack!" Jaken yelped out of fear.

Someone had leapt onto their boat and rocked it violently with that sudden outburst. Sesshomaru was about to pull out his sword for an attack until he saw a young girl giggling happily at him and saying with closed eyes, "Hi, doctor!"

"What do you think you're doing, little girl?" Jaken shouted more than questioned, hopping on Sesshomaru's shoulder to shake a fist at the girl.

Sesshomaru wasted no time in slapping the imp off him to plunk on the boat's flooring. He took a good look at the girl before narrowing his eyes at her. She was quite beautiful and young. Her hair was pinned up into a bubble ponytail with hair accessories decorating the base of the ponytail. Her makeup was flawless. Eyelashes long and wispy, charcoal giving her feline features, lipstick as red as rare gemstone, and her furisode was as lovely as she was. It was green and gold. The girl gasped when she looked at the boat riders and seemed horrified for mistaking them for... wait, did she say doctor before?

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" the girl said, covering her mouth with her sleeves before bowing elegantly. "I thought you were the doctor. She normally rides this type of boat through here. I'm so, so terribly sorry."

"Doctor?" Jaken questioned, rubbing his head from his lord's strike. He then blinked a couple of times and asked, "Wait, you mean Doctor Jigoku? Meioshi's here?"

"Ah, why yes," the girl said, popping up and smiling gently at them. "I was coming to say hello to her before she left on patrol for the night. I know I already have an appointment with her tomorrow morning, but I like boating with her on nights like these. You two, on the other hand, seem new. Are you perhaps visiting for business?"

"Something like that. Who are you, young one?" Jaken asked, folding his arms.

"Oh, I'm Ohta," she said, giggling and placing a hand on her chest. "Are you the doctor's new friends? How did you meet?"

"Well - " Jaken started.

"We're not friends," Sesshomaru answered coldly. "We just met each other in passing."

"Oh, I see," Ohta said, almost disappointed with this information. She turned away from Sesshomaru and laid on her stomach with a wistful expression on her face. She placed her chin in her hands and let her legs freely swing back and forth as she looked to the sky. Ohta then said, "That's quite a pity. I suppose you're boating in the opposite direction of where I'm going then. I'll just wait until I'm close enough to another stop. Don't worry. I won't be long."

"Hold on! Why is Lady Meioshi here anyway?" Jaken asked.

"She comes here every year. It's where she first started working as a doctor," Ohta replied. If she could sense Sesshomaru's ears perk up at this information, she was careful not to let on that she felt it. Ohta then continued, "She's like... a top soldier here. She protects us from the wrong kind of people and makes things safer. She brings the local children to school during the summer and part of the winter. In the fall, she checks on things to make sure everybody's healthy. Comes with the job of being a doctor and all. All newcomers like yourself have to do a health check before participating in any contact events here. Oh! There's a stop!"

Ohta hurriedly got up and turned to Sesshomaru again before bowing politely and saying, "Thanks for the ride, swordsman. If you're ever in need of something while you're here, just look for Ohta at the Pink Oyster. It's the least I can do for the intrusion. I'll even reserve a meal for you. It's on me."

She lifted herself up and stood up. Sesshomaru was about to say something to Ohta, but she had already quite athletically hopped off the boat and landed on a dock. She turned around and waved to them before running off into the streets. Watching Ohta run away like that made him think of the healing dandelion seed... Meioshi... This village was where it all began. It was the birthplace of his rival.