"I've seen your village, jigoku o aruku mono," Kinzo said, swallowing back some bile threatening to rise up.
He was nervous. His patron goddess promised this day would come, and he was ready to eliminate these horrid beasts from his homeland, but... what would happen to his clan? He didn't want to live in Seirei no kesshō no kuni anymore after the traumatic and brutal century his people had to endure. He definitely didn't want his sister to be here. Though he hadn't seen his parents in years, they weren't bad people and they never punished him for becoming the giants' biwa hoshi. His father had explained to his mother in secret that the goddess had returned to her post and appointed him as the wielder of her power. They weren't abandoned by her like they thought! Since Kinzo knew part of the truth of the goddess's absence, now was the final test to see if Meioshi was really the one meant to help him liberate his people. As elated as he was at the chance to be free, he was terrified of having to battle such monsters. He trained like most holy warriors had to when they came into power. He battled the onmyoji of the past probably the same way Meioshi had to battle the hell travelers of the past. Maybe her career as a doctor is what toughened her up. Kirameku Ha had told him a bit about the fragile beauty before him. She had one enemy to fight, and she didn't give a damn about who she had to hurt to complete this one goal. The main question he had was whether Maboroshi was right.
"Your world is beautiful. I - " Kinzo started, making Meioshi turn to him. "Have you ever... thought about leaving it behind? Or doing away with the web? We're a secluded people. Even among our clansmen, we can be different. I was forced to live alone after I became a biwa hoshi. Only my little girl was around to keep me from losing my mind. Even though, those eyes and her chants were unsettling! She just stood over me. I know the goddess was trying to comfort me, but... her movements were so... I don't want her to be the oracle. Not if she has to live like that! I want her to live the rest of her life in peace, but... am I wrong? Is it wrong for me to want to leave this hellhole? I hate this place! I don't want to live with these fair-weather people! Does accepting your role as the new head mean you have to live in this trap?"
"No," Meioshi replied, surprising Kinzo and making him look at her with hope and widened eyes.
"I - I - I don't?" Kinzo asked, trying to read Meioshi's body language. It was difficult to do. She was pretty firm but confident, calm. One could say she handled others adroitly to where she spoke like she was in a normal conversation with an old friend.
"No, you don't," Meioshi repeated, turning to Kinzo without her Netherworld powers seeping out. She sighed to dismiss them and spoke as a human, "It will cost you, but it is doable. Unfortunately, part of the reason why my clan was abandoned was because I figured out how to leave my post."
Kinzo relaxed at Meioshi's confession and asked, "But... don't you lose your powers if your patron leaves or if you leave post?"
"No. Quite the opposite, actually," Meioshi admitted, smiling warmly. "You interest me, Lord Kinzo of the onmyoji. Of all the clans, yours was probably one of the most devout. As you said, you met your patron in person. That's what made the onmyoji so feared. They served a deity they could see and speak to. Why do you want to leave despite meeting your patron and training with her?"
"I didn't train for my clan's name. I did it for my little girl," Kinzo answered, looking down and feeling his rage return. Storm winds were building up and his biwa was materializing in his hand. It was glowing at the bottom. "Those monsters beat her! They did something to her to make her slow even after the goddess claimed her as an oracle. She was hardly herself!"
"... I didn't leave the Web of Divine Might for my clan's name," Meioshi revealed, quieting Kinzo's storms and making him gasp and calm down. "I left for myself."
"You... left?" Kinzo questioned. "But how? I thought Izanagi severed the bonds."
"He severed the ties of the patrons to us," Meioshi corrected with a shake of her head. "Think of an actual spider's web. The patrons form the mooring threads of the web. That's how your clan and your patron are connected. The patrons were the only deities of the dwindling generations who could walk on mortal soil as humans do, so our connection as in how we know each other and how we know how to find each other is dictated by them. Your patron goddess is a dwindler. She holds up part of the web and ensures that your clan is allied with the right people. The allies closest to her thread are the ones she wants to watch over you in the event that something happens to her. Your allies, and ultimately their patrons, help to form the framework threads of the web. Any intermingling with allies is accepted because you are bound by the framework. No matter how far down you go along the radial threads or your family tree, these patrons will always watch over you and your family. If you want to serve the allying patron instead of your own, you are allowed to do so as it is not offensive. That's how the Web of Divine Might ultimately works. It's a large network of allying forces who keep the balance of power even across the board. Did your patron tell you about the war above?"
"Yes, that's why she left us," Kinzo replied, drinking in the information like a sponge. Meioshi smiled at this. He would've been an excellent student!
"I take it she forgot to mention that a patron was actually the one who started the war and made Izanagi sever the bond because of the power that patron was able to use through the alliance," Meioshi said, earning a slight frown from Kinzo. "You see, the Web of Divine Might is a very unique, little thing! Though it is held together by lead threads, the most crucial part of the web (even a spider's web) is the viscid thread. It's the one string a spider meticulously creates and lays out to capture prey and to rest. And, it's the one string that binds all of us together. Our powers are unified. The only way one clan can achieve greater power over another is through the ceremonial U~ebu setsudan. You must form a striking blow of reiki to disarm the clan's head."
|| ... ... ... ||
Hasumi puffed her cheeks with displeasure and shifted into an offensive pose with her hand stretched out. The reiki energy at the tip of her pole grew in size while the Shinto papers returned to their home and spun about the orange orb. Within a moment, the papers became a white sunflower spinning around the orb and Hasumi charged at Meioshi to attack. Typically, the doctor would never approve of fighting a child, but she knew the surname of this little miko and Hasumi was a tougher opponent than she looked. Staying on defense, Meioshi simply entertained the little girl through blocking and kick sweeps to either disarm or stun her. She'd rather tire her out than actually harm her. Hasumi was out for blood, however, and was striking hard in order to land a devastating hit on the doctor.
"Spinning Blossom Cleaver!" Hasumi called out.
Meioshi was quiet as she watched the Shinto papers spin about rapidly. The amount of power Hasumi was producing in this attack was impressive and shook the earth below! This particular move seemed to be a hyper reiki one. Increasing her speed, Hasumi charged at Meioshi and slammed the flower head into the ground like she was chopping wood with an axe. The doctor managed to dodge this attack and smirked at the crater the girl had formed. Any unassuming victim would have been brutally crushed by that attack. Forming hand signs, Meioshi inhaled sharply before punching the ground to reverse the motion of Hasumi's spinning flowerhead.
|| ... ... ... ||
"It doesn't kill anyone. It just shuts off half of the clan head's power in your typical fight. A clan head can also stand down from a fight and simply forfeit in favor of an alliance. The latter route is normally taken," Meioshi explained. "This ceremony actually strengthens the bond and power that connects the patron to you or me. So, the mooring thread that I mentioned earlier can be strong enough to a point where it becomes unbreakable. Lord Izanagi can't break that kind of bond, but we've also never made it that strong. It's impossible for one, and it's too risky because of the balance of power for two. It also makes our web more intricate and increases the distance to the center point of the web where all of our clans will end our services. Our clans could continue serving the patrons for 1000 years or more, depending on our strength and the viscid thread that binds us. I, however, severed my bond to my patron... and the other clans. Lord Tadamasa there can vouch for me."
Tadamasa chuckled darkly with amusement and said to Kinzo, "The bond breaker is what the doctor was known as in my world."
"Bond breaker?" Kinzo repeated, switching his gaze from Meioshi to Tadamasa. "Is that... what I have to do then? Break the bonds?"
"Are you prepared to offer your soul to hell, young Kinzo?" Tadamasa asked, showing all of his teeth with hunger and interest.
"I don't know what will happen to you if you break your bond to your patron," Meioshi said, smirking at her Netherworld friend before giving Kinzo a serious expression. "But, I do know it will come at a cost to you. The Web of Divine Might can be recreated without the patrons or a life of seclusion, though. That's my goal right now. To form alliances with the holy warriors should they choose to do so without being bound to a singular place. The patrons' absences have had effects on everyone. We're too vulnerable alone. I'm working with the last survivor of the Fukuyama clan right now. It's a miracle that your clan is fully intact or that Tadamasa knew where you were! Something put your entire territory into hiding when your patron left. That's unusual."
"So, you're bonded to the Fukuyama clan without a patron?" Kinzo asked.
"Essentially, yes," Meioshi said with a nod. A silence passed between them before she looked down at her own feet and admitted quietly, "I thought about leaving home many times. Same way with quitting my job as a doctor. Same with abandoning the hell traveler clan itself. I was tired. I was tired of people coming to me for help when things were at their worst. I was tired of being beaten up for trying to do the right thing. I was tired of fighting, training, going on trips to visit holy warrior territories much like yours, expelling demons, even going to an etiquette school that was teaching me to have manners for people who hated me just because I was a woman. Just because I was a smart woman, pardon me! I even went as far as dreaming of leaving Nihon altogether. As beautiful and quiet as Nihon is, there are evils that exist in people that are as loud as the caws of crows. But... it is no different in another country. I don't know about you, but hell teaches you many a sorrowful thing. One of those things is the truth about how others really feel about you down to their souls, not just thoughts or mockery you can see, hear, and feel. Inner thoughts that you can't see, that you typically can't hear, that you would never want to feel. I know it all. I did abandon Heiwa. What you saw was my clan's territory, yes, but it is not truly Heiwa. The land beyond my clan's home is now Heiwa and the kingdom of the emperor of the south. We've been outcast, not secluded. You must not know the story about one of my ancestors. He actually left Old Heiwa, or Niji Saku, as we've come to know it. What you saw and visited is his territory away from the kingdom that he left behind, and even then, he left the land to marry his wife and raise his children. He only visited Old Heiwa to establish our training grounds. He was punished for it, and it took him some time to gain the courage to return home to complete his mission, but he left. He, honestly, was my hero. A lot of his teachings are what I follow in this life. He went on pilgrimages and travelled the world, not because he had to, but because he wanted to know what it meant to be a hell traveler and to fight for what was right. I look to him for counseling a lot of times. He paved the way for us to have a say in where we choose to live our lives. I would love to introduce you to him someday."
"He's alive or...?" Kinzo started, lifting a head to complete his sentence with a gesture.
"He passed away many years ago. My clan is able to speak to the leaders before us as though they were alive. We can feel them as one would a person," Meioshi explained, smiling softly at the memory of meeting her forefathers including Unmei. "It's how our family remains close. We teach each other and share what we learned so that the next clan head knows who to talk to. You aren't alone, Kinzo. I've felt what you're feeling. If you want to do away with your bond, I can show you how when you're ready."
"Onmyoji..." a familiar voice said.
The amount of divine power washing over everyone made everyone stiffen. Maboroshi no kohime stood tall behind them, frowning at the doctor's last couple of words...
Author's Footnotes: Big confession chapter here. Whoo! Hope you all are digging the revelations this go round. I've got some minds to blow for this season since we're in weird territory writing-wise. It's nothing bad. I'm just noticing that Season 2 is being stretched out too far. Season 3 is supposed to be the long one, not this one. :P But, I mean, it could be worse. 0_o
Jigoku o aruku mono means "he who walks through hell". This is the original, or archaic, term for the hell travelers used by the other holy warriors connected by the Web of Divine Might. They use the original names of their clans when addressing each other for the first time as a show of respect. It's equivalent to someone referring to you by your ancestor's name and saying that they are choosing to respect you the way that they respected them. Over time, the term for Meioshi's clan has been modernized and reduced to hell traveler as you all know it. This was intentional to show that Meioshi is changing how the hell travelers will operate in the "new world".
Religion begins to change drastically in the Sengoku era because of the introduction of Buddhism, which starts to overshadow Shinto religion, and the customs surrounding Buddhism hits women and their societal roles the hardest by eliminating some choice freedoms and independency. As a doctor, Meioshi has seen and is continuing to see the ramifications of this change, and she's working to keep her independency away from those customs to protect others like the characters I've introduced so far. In order to do all of this, though, she had to change her position as a holy warrior. Whether or not this historical depiction of women honors Takahashi's work, I couldn't say, but I thought I would share this bit of information with you because it will become very important when Kagome meets Meioshi for the first time. The argument that rises between them as a "woman of the past v. woman of the future" debate is directly linked to this. You are more than free to skip that episode as it's part of the filler, I believe, and I'll remind you in the future when it comes around. This was just something that I wanted to do because I don't see those kinds of debates shown too much. Normally, the modern woman sort of throws shade at (or has some mocking form of pity for) a woman who lived fifty years or more in the past, but there's no response from the women of the past for obvious and good reason. I wanted to experiment with that in my writing, so I chose to keep it. Originally, I erased it because there was a small part where Kagome was defending the SessRin union, and that's such a sensitive topic to this day, but I think I'll keep it. It's a good challenge for me to see if I can keep my bias out of it while depicting two sides of the fanbase cleanly. I have to get out of my comfort zone anyway. If nothing else, it'll at least shed some light on the situation.
Seirei no kesshō no kuni means "land of spirit crystals". This is the territory of the onmyoji. The spirit crystals refer to the Rainbow Garnet Megaliths.