Several hundred years ago...
"Lord Toga, you've an appointment with the Court of Elders."
Little Sesshomaru was slowly walking towards his parents in baby steps before flopping down to giggle at himself. Milady was patiently waiting for the toddler to come into her arms and chuckled at the tot when the guard spoke to her husband. Toga bowed in gratitude as a response but didn't immediately follow his supposed escort. Instead, he waited until the little one made it into his parents' arms. It was a behavior that he inherited from his quiet father. He remembered when his father would be slow to respond to military affairs in favor of being with his family. It was what he admired about Hikozaemon II even in his youth. Above all else, Hikozaemon II would trade away his sword without a second thought if it meant he could stay with family longer. Toga could see how his mother became so important to his father. She helped him find peace, and they built a life together that they didn't want to let go. Looking at his waiting wife and cheerful son, he was humbled being in this new position in his life. Living in the mountain palace with his small family made sense. When Sesshomaru finally made it into his mother's arms and Toga let out a chuckle and "a-roo!" noise, the general kissed Milady's cheek and Sesshomaru's forehead before taking leave. A maid tried to relieve Milady of the child, but she was stingy and insisted on visiting her mothers with the child in tow.
All was peaceful... until the sky had darkened with no sign of a coming storm. The updraft frightened the toddler and Milady grew suspicious until she sensed something that made her eyes widen. Her mother looked at her with worry before Milady took her arm and made her mother wrap it around the child. He started to cry. Milady's mother called out to her, but her daughter had already run to the meeting room where Toga was going. Just as the wind picked up, she caught the scent of Manzo's blood. Picking up her speed, she raced to her husband.
"Toga!" Milady called, interrupting whatever discussion was taking place. "Manzo's in trouble!"
"What?" Toga questioned, furrowing his brow before he picked up his friend's scent. Something was wrong. He then leapt into action and took Milady's hand to run out of the room and away from the palace. "We fly, my love!"
With that, they both transformed into their true selves and made haste to Sozosora. This darkness had the scent of a youkai... one that was feeding on the villagers of the holy city. By the time they made it there, Manzo Fukuyama had been possessed by the akashita demon. His eyes were completely blank. Only a man nearing his thirties dressed in his kingly regalia floated above the village to spill acid rain and beams of light on the people below him. His beloved city was being demolished piece by piece. Yonamine called out to him and held her own in a fight, but she was struggling to reclaim her husband. Toga wasted no time in scooping up Yonamine to fight back, but they were fighting a different demon altogether. This demon was Azumamaro the Jewel Eater, the youkai that Toga couldn't stop from running away from him during missions for the House of Inu. This ended here with him!
"Mommy!"
Milady scooped up little Hasumi and her grandfather, Lord Doppo, onto her back and stomped out a few stray demons to protect them. Tendrils shot out from the akashita demon and anyone close enough to its attack radius were slaughtered from either salt acid burning them alive or poisonous spikes emerging from the earth to stab and forcibly bury the bodies. She rushed Yonamine and Doppo to Manzo and Yonamine's treehouse for safety before returning to Sozosora, but it was too late. Toga had already been sent to an unknown location while she remained having to battle with akashita-Manzo...
Meioshi was descending through the air, covered in hair and unaware that she was still in a trance, but a flashing light and upward draft of air nudged her into a responsive state and she was able to see that she was a little ways from the cliff. Kouumoto was telling the truth when she met him in the night sky. Upon her descent, the doctor noticed a line of silver sand coming from the hole that Jaken was floating in based on his accounts. She followed that silver sand to a path leading to a set of green doors now visible in the dark waters fast approaching her. Seeing no other outcome other than her plummeting into the water, she shifted her body to prepare for the dive and possibly an injury. Abruptly, however, a youkai vessel approached her and she flailed about in a panic not knowing how to properly embrace for impact here. The youkai vessel caught her gently before the underwater doors unlocked themselves and the demonic boat made Meioshi ride the torrential currents coming out of the doors in what became a progressive nosedive.
"What is - ?" Meioshi started, trying to grab on anything to stop her from falling.
A flash of light disabled her vision and she had to block her eyes to alleviate the saturation of light. When she opened her eyes again, all she could do was gasp at her surroundings. It was a junkyard that spread for miles much like the sea! It may as well have been a parallel universe...! Like the Jubokko tree! Items of varying shapes and sizes and functions were either falling down or getting sucked up into this vortex that the youkai vessel was now escaping to simply sail on air. The jaws at the front of the boat were opening and closing on tools that had no purpose. Whatever souls were attached to them met a fate worse than limbo one could say.
"What... is this place?" the doctor asked.
"The Century Wastelands, of course!" a voice offered.
Meioshi sharply turned to the voice and was met with... she supposed would be the captain of the vessel... if he wasn't floating in pieces. Well, pieces was probably not quite the best of descriptors. The man's face was one of an annoyed clock with a frown set in place and a nose pointed skyward with said nose being in the shape of a sundial and moustache whiskers made of light and shadow. His chest was made of a desk of some sort and feet made from chair legs. The most interesting thing about his body, though, was the lamp his spine and shoulders seemed to be made from. All wood and metal. The limbs meant to connect everything and hold everything together was all ghost energy.
"Who are you, sir?" Meioshi asked.
"Well, I was a nobleman named Yoshiaga. My favorite pastime was boating, but I have a passion for helping lost souls out of this awful limbo. So, I built this vessel and soon became its captain."
"Ah, I see. Your services are very much appreciated, Captain Yoshiaga. Uh, might I ask why you've come to collect me?" Meioshi questioned, bowing politely in greeting to the ghostly captain.
"Well, I thought you were made from the akashita demon's remains or something. I wanted to know what happened to that young fellow since his alliance with that disgusting beast," Yoshiaga explained.
"Young fellow?" Meioshi questioned, furrowing her brow.
"The young soldier who haunted a stirrup, of course," Yoshiaga said matter-of-factly. "Poor lad had no business siding with it, but he was desperate to leave this place."
"The only soldier I know of that's working with the akashita demon is Azumamaro the Jewel Eater. Are you saying he's an innocent man?"
"Well, obviously!"
"Another remark out of you and I'll lose my patience with you, sir," Meioshi threatened passive-aggressively.
"You're the one who needs me to get out of the akashita's grasp! Though, I am surprised it hasn't possessed you yet."
"Explain, Captain," Meioshi said, squinting an eye.
"The akashita hair on your person is parasitic. If it stays on you too long, you'll become possessed by the akashita demon. That's how it obtains new vessels. That poor lad let himself get possessed to free himself from his mortal binds. The comb needed to control the akashita hair is just beyond that hill of writing utensils."
A comb? Meioshi thought, putting a finger on her bottom lip with thought.
"What happens if I return the lad to you? Will he just try to escape again?" Meioshi asked.
"He was a restless soul when he came here. I would imagine he'll wander aimlessly until this boat devours him. He need merely find peace to enter the afterlife," Yoshiaga replied.
"... Can you take me to this comb?"
Yoshiaga looked at Meioshi quizzically before saying, "Only if you give me payment."
Meioshi locked eyes with the ghost captain before smiling shrewdly...