The Rising Action
Unwelcome Party Member part 2
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Sesshomaru could admit a lot of things to himself. This assortment of events, for example, was not his cup of tea. He was already annoyed with having to visit Okakura the Nautilus at his watch tower. Now, he has to work with Homugi, his former betrothed, on this new investigation of missing inu clansmen that no one told him about, and his rival, who's crossed paths with him at three different points in time thus far, is being hunted down by potentially all of the oni in existence for unknown reasons because why wouldn't she be? Every time they reunite with each other, she has some new enemy or puzzle on the horizon! He shouldn't be surprised that she was playing with children either, or at least spirits that looked like children, but somehow watching Meioshi engage in carefree activities seemed to help him think. Hearing the soft laughter from playtime was equivalent to white noise for the western lord. He wasn't sure if he missed the days when his innocence wasn't lost but watching his rival swim and seeing Homugi at the watch tower brought back quite a few memories. Many of which were not favorites for Sesshomaru, but his uneven heartbeat was a strong sign that no matter how many years passed he would always remember that awful weight of tradition and peer pressure resting on his shoulders when it came to Homugi and his omiai.
Feeling the oni's yoki energy pulsating and the fog thickening around the lagoon stopped him from reminiscing any further. The doctor remained oblivious to the danger approaching her, but the oni's movements were changing from ominous lurking to scouting stealth. It was getting closer to them, making Sesshomaru narrow his eyes at the proximity, but stopped as if it were waiting on Meioshi to know of its presence. A singular tendril of fog creeped its way to the lagoon waters, making Meioshi only turn slightly with narrowed eyes and a smirk. She was more alert now. More tendrils creeped their way towards the waters until a simple orb web had formed and eyes formed from yoki energy and water manipulation to gravitate above the surface. The sprites ceased their play for a moment to observe the creature. They didn't seem to be fearful of the oni.
"Kachan oni," the fog and eyes said with gravelly voice. "You have hidden your scent from the living world. Why?"
"Kachan oni?" Jaken whispered aloud, raising an eyebrow. "But the doctor is a mortal human, is she not? Are those sprites maybe what it's referring to?"
Sesshomaru remained still as he listened on. He wasn't sure if he should eavesdrop on his rival's business, but he did have information to relay to her and the oni migration was of interest to the bumbling fool. Hopefully, the doctor could handle the creature, but it was difficult to tell if this oni was a threat.
"To protect myself," Meioshi responded, smile not leaving but an odd glint was in those smoldering hazel eyes. She knew the oni was looking for her. She then asked, "You've been trailing me for a few miles now, so you must have another way of tracking me. Do all aquatic specimen like yourself have homing abilities? Or is that a personal skill of yours?"
"Your sprites gave you away," the fog and eyes responded with a proud voice. "A true oni has multiple ways of tracking prey including those of the heaven realm. You seem to understand this in part. You will learn more of this with time as you mature, kachan oni."
"Understood. Are you the one called Numa-o then?" Meioshi asked in reply. "I was under the assumption that I only made everyone curious."
The oni narrowed its eyes but said with honesty, "I am Kiyonobu. Guardian of the marshland kingdom. Name yourself."
"Meioshi. Guardian of my homelands and the world beyond," she answered, placing a hand on her chest before lowering her hand. "Why have you come to me, Kiyonobu?"
"Lord Numa-o sensed your ability to command snow. I was sent to locate you. If you proved worthy of tutelage, you would be taken in under his wing. Your mortal skin is impressive. Once aged, you will make a fine wife," Kiyonobu answered.
"Oh?" Meioshi responded, jumping at the notion and blushing a bit. She was flattered at this and said with a light giggle that interested Kiyonobu, "Thank you. Now, what's all this about tutelage? How do I obtain it?"
"Continue on your path to the blacksmith's volcano pass," Kiyonobu answered, making the fog thicker around the lagoon. The water levels were decreasing as the oni collected some of the waters with him. He then said, "When you find Lord Numa-o's palace, complete his challenge and claim the vault."
With that, the messenger made of fog gathered his essence and lagoon water and sunk back into darkness, leaving Meioshi behind with the sprites to solve another piece of her growing puzzle and Sesshomaru behind to confront her. Kiyonobu's pounding footsteps sounded in the distance before all was quiet again. The doctor sighed before rubbing her forehead between her thumb and pointer fingers. Ogres were such cryptic things! What on Earth did Kiyonobu mean by a vault? Dropping her hand, Meioshi took a step to her side and closed her eyes to think for a second.
"Well, you heard the man, boys," Meioshi said aloud, turning to Bonitas and Caritas. "We're off again on our journey."
"Aw, man!" Caritas whined, paddling to the doctor. "Can't we swim for a few more minutes, Lady Meioshi? The camp's almost ready."
Meioshi giggled before holding her waist and responding, "Alright, but not for too long. You'll prune up and won't be able to hold your bowl to eat. Your little hands will burn up and no dinner until they heal."
"What? No kimchi gyoza nabe! Unacceptable!" Bonitas shouted, barreling out of the water with a burst of speed.
Caritas laughed before swimming out of the water calmly and saying, "He sure does love his dumplings. Wait for me, brother!"
Meioshi shook her head at the excitable boys and moved to follow them out of the lagoon. Before she stepped out of the water completely, she stopped and smirked toothily. Her eyes slid closed for a moment until she spotted a pink shell on the shoreline. Picking it up to inspect it, she waited until the little ones were done wringing water out of their swimming robes to turn her head to the side. The sprites ran into the bushes, where her campsite must have been, and were hustling to change out of their clothes and into pajamas.
She raised her voice a bit to say, "You can join us for dinner if you wish, my lords. That concludes our show for the night."
Sesshomaru's heart just about plummeted to his stomach when she said that, but he remained in place just in case she was talking to someone else. How long had she known he was there? At the same time the oni arrived or before that? He hoped it wasn't before the oni approached her.
"You stop right there, woman!" Jaken shouted, stomping on one foot. "Forget about the grub. What are you doing talking to ogres? Why are they looking for you?"
"That's a secret," Meioshi answered, peeking over her shoulder and winking suggestively at her rival.
Without staying to hear his response, the doctor proceeded to leave the two demons to converse with each other until Sesshomaru spoke up, "Nurikabe, the black wall demon, had an ally in the Netherworld. A woman named Rakuyama. Know of her?"
Meioshi gasped at this, eyes widening and body stiffening. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed at her response to this information. The doctor knew this person.
"Who the hell is she?" Jaken demanded. "She's been killing multiple innocent demons at the Mujina Woodlands as a consequence of you and that stupid sword! Talk, woman!"
"Yes, I know who Rakuyama is," Meioshi said in an almost remorseful tone. "You can't defeat her on your own."
"Lord Sesshomaru is the most powerful being in the living world to date!" Jaken argued, offended by the doctor's words.
"He's also a man with a high amount of yoki energy," Meioshi said, not wanting to tell them how she knows of this creature. She continued, "That's what she consumes. He'd be a target for her. She's highly parasitic much like the black wall demon. In the Netherworld, she's known as Queen Kyonshi, the energy eater or yoki consumer. She doesn't care about the snow sword, but... it doesn't make sense for her to go so far for the black wall demon without a reason either. You'll have to keep a close eye on her if you spot her again, but I wouldn't get too close. I don't know why it didn't occur to me in the first place!"
"Who is she?" a voice asked.
Meioshi, Sesshomaru, and Jaken all turned to see Homugi standing before them with a displeased look on her face. She was giving Meioshi a fairly dirty look similar in maliciousness to Zakaza, but the blue merle beauty was also angry at Sesshomaru. They were supposed to be working together on this assignment, but he goes off to inform a human on crucial information? The mere insult of it all!
"Lady Homugi?" Jaken questioned.
"Explain to me how you know the assailant of the Mujina Woodlands, human," Homugi demanded with a seething tone and glare.
"That is none of your concern," Sesshomaru answered, narrowing his eyes at her.
"If you're involving a human in our affairs, it is my concern!" Homugi argued, snapping at Sesshomaru. "You dare betray the House of Inu by withholding crucial evidence? There are lives being put in danger, as we speak, and you only care about your attachment to this human! You're no better than your father! I thought you wanted to be different but you're exactly the same!"
"Know your place, wench," Sesshomaru growled, silencing Homugi.
"I won't sit here and let you insult the inu line any further!" Homugi argued. "I'm taking her to the court to decide punishment and that is final!"
"I said know your place!" Sesshomaru growled deeply, baring his teeth and picking up a bit of wind. "You, brats, are all the same in that regrettable place. Thinking you know everything and can cross the line however you please. I already told you that you'll never be a leader in the House of Inu if all you do is overstep your boundaries. You'll live the life of an old hag, wandering around blind and dumb, until you understand that your place is in the background like any other perfumed woman. You haven't grown up or gotten it through your head yet after all these years. You are unworthy of being a right hand and unworthy of a bridal position."
SMACK!
Homugi slammed her hands over her mouth as she witnessed the unthinkable. Jaken's mouth just about dropped to the ground at the sight. Meioshi was fuming at the western lord's words and hissed out with an evil and snakish voice, "Go back to where you came from and don't you ever come near this woman again..."
Author's Footnotes: Hello all! Before you give me the "ugh" face and start rolling your eyes at me, no, I'm not writing out episodes for all of Sesshomaru's betrothals. Reason being I genuinely don't know enough about his character or his past to create an appropriate number of characters that would have been betrothed to him given the time frame I have to work with. It just would be too difficult to write, but I can guess at about four to six given the history of samurai children. The earliest age he could have been to even need to marry (and this is due to wars being more prominent before Toga's death) would be 13. That's on record in Japanese history and the life of a shogunate. If any of you, authors, want to write a story about the betrothed women in his life, I would encourage you to go for it. That would be great material to read. XD
Terminology for ogre/oni: Kachan is short for akachan, which means baby. Akachan no oni is the full term used among the oni in this story project meaning "baby ogre". The oni currently see Meioshi as a child coming into power regardless of her race as human. In actual Japanese mythology, oni are capable of transforming into attractive men and women to mate with humans or even bait them before eating them. The more attractive an oni's disguise is, the higher their political status because they are able to secure food and other resources, perpetuate the species, and have a tendency to be charming to other races (i.e. secure more servants).
Now, according to Inuyasha's storyline, ogres didn't transform into a more human appearance. It seemed like Rumiko wants them to be strictly monsters. I chose not to do that for reasons you'll learn later, but, to me, it seems like Sesshomaru and Rumiko wasted a perfectly good servant if that's the true mythology of an oni. I don't know why that wasn't utilized, but I also don't know how Rumiko set up the classes for demons either. I had to develop a caste system that made just enough sense for fluid reading.
Japanese cuisine/dishes: the foods I chose to include in this story project are legitimate Japanese cuisines. Recipes can be found on multiple sites, but there's a reason why Meioshi knows multiple recipes and prepares certain ones while out on her travels or around people she knows. You'll learn of this later down the line.