When he finally regained consciousness, it was heavy. So heavy he could barely force his eyes to open. There was a sickly sweet scent in the air and something was pulling against the skin on the left side of his face.
He lifted his corpse-like limb and touched the spot, feeling what might have been a poultice that had long since dried.
Inuyasha heard a shuffle of cloth and then a gasp. He squinted in the lamplight to see who it was and saw a vague figure on the other side of the room, holding her clothes in front of her to cover her body.
"Figures. I wait all this time to change and when I finally do, you wake up," snapped the girl. "Avert your eyes."
He'd already unconsciously done so by laying back down and covering his face with his arm. When she deemed him blind once more, she dropped the clothes and rummaged in a drawer for new ones. He swallowed at the noises but didn't try to glimpse.
There was a sigh of silk and human breath and then there were no more noises. He peeked from underneath his arm and saw her silhouette.
She glanced at him with a scowl. "What?"
He sat up and shook his head, blinking.
She faced him, the silk shimmering dully in the lamplight as she turned. Her bangs hid her face. "Like what you see?" she asked, her teeth glinting. She walked slowly towards him and he unconsciously backed himself against the wall. She kneeled on the mattress, which was on the floor, and leaned over him, the tips of her unbound hair caressing his face.
He noticed her profile in the light now and recognized her. It was the girl named Nazuna. His heart raced, mostly out of fear of what she was going to do to him.
But she made no more advances, just looked at him with furrowed brows.
"You're more or less here of your own free will," she said, closing her eyes and sitting back. "It takes all kinds, I guess."
"Where am I?" he asked.
"You don't remember?"
"I followed that red-eyed lady here-"
She sucked in a breath, her eyes wide.
"Wh-what?" he asked, startled.
"Such a brazen way of speaking of her," she covered her mouth in horror.
"But... I don't remember her name."
"You shouldn't call her by her name either," she chided. "She is the den mother."
"Den...?"
"You really don't know where you're at, do you?"
He shook his head, getting a bit annoyed but trying not to show it.
"You're in the red light district, at a house called RYUUJA NO MAI." She said it so reverently and powerfully that he imagined it in all capital letters.
"Ryuu...?"
"The Dance of Dragons." She paused, scrutinizing him. "You only use Kikyo, don't you?" she asked out of the blue.
He blinked and scowled, looking at the floor.
She hmm'd to herself. "Well, either way, we're kind of an opium den? Hence 'den mother'."
"Opium?" he asked, furrowing his brows. He'd read about it in school.
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?" she asked sarcastically. He had a sudden animalistic urge to bite her. "Anyway, opium isn't the only thing we deal in. But our roles here are different, us girls. We dance."
She stood up and twirled slowly, her sleeves trailing behind her. Her deft hand swiped a fan from a bedside table and with a flick of the wrist had it covering the lower half of her face. She smiled behind it.
"Count yourself lucky, young man. No male is to come into our private chambers." She paused. "Unless, of course, we invite them ourselves." Her smile turned into a grin. He flushed under her gaze. She closed the fan. "You are feeling better now?"
"Yes."
"That's all well and good," she said, looking him over. "You're a new addict then, if you can deal with being without it for so long. We do not have any here but..." She glanced at the lamp. He looked as well. Next to it were two incense sticks burning. "That's marijuana. Not strong, mind you, but it dulls you a bit."
"Is that what you're on?" he asked.
Her face suddenly hardened.
"I am not on anything," she said through clenched teeth.
"Nazuna?" asked a voice from beyond the room that made Inuyasha jump slightly.
"Yes, Yura-ane-ue?"
"I shall fix your hair now."
"I will meet you in your quarters. Thank you."
She sent a nasty look to Inuyasha before slipping through the bamboo blind door. He listened to their shuffling down the hall before sighing. Now what was he going to do?
A/n
ane-ue - basically "honored elder sister"