Okakura directed Homugi to the guest rooms while Sesshomaru and Jaken stood outside. Well, if Jaken had to be honest, Lord Sesshomaru looked like he was about to implode. As the sun was setting, the beach waters held a romantic glow of fuchsia and deep orange. The glass spheres held a gold tint to their surfaces. The watch tower of the Nautilus was quite beautiful during the evening hours. Hearing stomping in the distance, Sesshomaru turned his head slightly and focused on his senses on the strange presence.
"My lord, who is Homugi? An old friend of yours?" Jaken asked, hoping to break the tension.
"An oni," Sesshomaru said aloud, ignoring Jaken's questions. "Jaken. With me."
"Yes, me lord!" Jaken responded, tripping over his feet to hold onto Moko Moko.
Sesshomaru immediately took flight to follow the oni and saw one covered in moss and waterlogged bark. It was lumbering to someplace but was glowing with yoki energy like it was sending off a beacon. It wasn't necessarily a towering demon like the one he had when he confronted Inuyasha, but it was a hefty specimen with bulky arms and legs. it took some time before the ogre stopped. It found whatever it was looking for and watched its prey. Sesshomaru went to land near it, but it disappeared into a smelly mist and formed an inch worth of fog to border a particular space. He flew passed the fog to go ahead of it and noticed that the fog reacted to him slightly. Experimentally, he landed near what looked like a lagoon and walked forward. He caught the scent of sweet orange and wild cherry. Divine spirits were here.
Silently, he lurked over to the lagoon and spotted two sprites playing in the water on the side. A splash of water caught his attention, and before him was a woman sitting on a boulder. She had burns on her back forming a shapely tattoo that took the appearance of odd wings and markings along the spine that made him trace where each vertebra was located on her body. The expanse of her back, though marked, was as clean and smooth as an unmarked painting canvas. The spinal markings stopped just above her hips and showed off the small of her waist forming a shapely, feminine figure. She had a bar of soap nearby and went to rub circles on her thighs. The curvature of them mixed with the color of her golden skin made her more erotic by appearance. She rubbed the soap into her skin until she reached her arms. They were toned but not exaggeratedly so or too masculine. It was just enough to let him know that she was athletic. Her bust shape wasn't perky or sagging but a healthy medium and a healthy size. He could see the swelling of them as she scrubbed circles into her sides and the nipples weren't quite pronounced. All was smooth as she scrubbed. Finally, she stood up to scrub the more sensitive areas of the female body. He turned away sharply out of respect until the fog gathered closer and made him look at her. First, she scrubbed her shapely arse, which wiggled as she scrubbed, and then her genitalia. She didn't turn to him when she did this. Once she was fully washed, she took a bucket of water and dumped it on her scalp and hair to let the water trail down. Soap bubbles and lather all descended into the crevices of her body. She rinsed herself off a couple more times before washing her hair with a bottle of liquid. She massaged her scalp to produce a light lather before leaning over to rinse it out. Flipping her hair back and to the side like a horse tail, she tied it up into a high ponytail and twisted her hair to wring the water out and style it with a thick ribbon of sorts. In summation, her body was quite lovely. The oni could be after the sprites to consume them, but they were known for preying on women. She was easily his prey if that was the case.
Sensing the oni getting closer, Sesshomaru turned only slightly to wait for it to attack. The only thing that stole his attention away from it was a name he dreaded hearing come from the sprites.
"Lady Meioshi, are you coming over to swim, too?" the sprite with white hair asked, waving cheerfully.
"The water's really nice," the dark-haired sprite commented.
No... Sesshomaru thought, closing his eyes.
"Okay, little ones. I'm coming!" Meioshi cheered, wrapping herself in a short robe before diving into the lagoon waters.
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 crept its way to the lagoon waters, making Meioshi only turn slightly with narrowed eyes and a smirk. She was more alert now. More tendrils crept 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 a 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 specimens 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 heavenly 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 water with him. He then said, "When you find Lord Numa-o's palace, complete his challenge and claim the vault."
Author's Footnotes: Hello all! Just explaining some things about the oni being used in this story.
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.