Some hours before...
"So pure... so kind... so alone..."
She woke with a start at the familiar voice of the red-eyed woman from her childhood. She knew her to be the goddess, Maboroshi no kohime, but her appearance frightened her when she hovered above her with those strange eyes. The goddess had been watching over her for seven years supposedly. She was too young to understand anything before, so she screamed for Kinzo out of utter fear. There was no concept of time or space in the Oracle's Broken Dimension. It was a shrine positioned on a floating cliff that was upside down with a throne resting on a thick storm cloud just in front of it. The torii gate was behind the throne and the goddess on a separate floating rock. Soft breezes always passed by, and thundering darkness always crept up to her in slow steps. The one bright spot was that the sun and a white, puffy cloud mixed with pink was just behind her. Her world in Nihon, her favorite meadow, and her beloved brother decorated her side of this eery place. There was always the calm before the storm in this plane of existence. The goddess with red eyes seemed to be the stormbringer as she often watched her and Kinzo in silence. It was ominous. Broken glass shaped into lightning bolts surrounded her and glimmered like fine jewels.
Young Kishi Shigochiyo often found herself in the black pool with a trapped red moon reflecting off the waters. It matched the goddess's eyes so much that she often felt disturbed waking in this place. It was like the goddess watched her too intensely, but she was merciful despite her appearance. For seven years, Kishi got to dance and play to Kinzo's wonderful biwa songs about their precious moments in childhood, but so did the goddess. Though it was mostly during the nights or early mornings, the goddess would take control of her body to touch her beloved older brother's cheek or sing to him in his sleep. It was gentle and harmless, but Kishi felt something odd about the exchange. The goddess explained herself often when Kishi felt afraid. Many humans feared her because of her eyes and horns except the onmyoji. She loved Kishi's clan so much because they held no fear of her, and she spoke kindly of the friends she made from the onmyoji and oracles of the past. Izanagi had blessed the first men with her powers to become such things in order to teach her how to lead people more responsibly. Maboroshi did, in fact, learn a great deal. She truly grieved for her people and was set in her ways of claiming vengeance, but Kishi was wary about something.
Waking up on this day, she could feel something was different. A presence that was unfamiliar to her was coming, but something in her was calling out to it. Kinzo was by her side on the opposite end of the Broken Dimension, telling her about his day and wishing she could go with him to pick flowers like before. But, he sensed something, too. It was something that he had to answer to. The pull was too strong. When he left, the goddess became suspicious. Kishi suddenly felt very tired and weak. Her reiki was... being drained and pooling into the black waters. Someone was here.
"There is someone here. I can sense a pall bearer with this mortal, but... the mortal is odd to me," Maboroshi said aloud. "Who is this creature?"
Creature? In a flash of blinding light, Kishi was surrounded by the broken glass pieces and shoved to the opposite side of the dimension. She didn't know what to do. In her soul, however, her feet wanted to move. She had to follow the path to this other presence. Whoever it was, they were in the lake. She trundled out of the main floor of the shrine and went down into the dungeon. Kinzo often trained there with the goddess. She could never go with him, but she could watch him from the Broken Dimension. This time, she got to follow him personally. Her feet were possessed again... but by another... She knew it wasn't her moving to this presence. If anything, she'd go find Kinzo first, but something within her had to get to this person. She had to see this presence. She started to pick up her speed before she broke out into a run of enhanced speed. She ran through corridors like she knew them, climbed up walls like they had ladders on them, and chanted rapidly until the words fused together.
Suddenly, she heard a pleasant voice say, "I am so over this catacomb of nonsense!"
"Doctor, you can't stress out too much. Remember your blood pressure," another unfamiliar voice warned.
Before she knew it, Kishi came face to face with a lovely woman and her demon companion. Everyone and everything that ever possessed her grew quiet, and, for once, Kishi felt like she could breathe again. A sudden growl echoed in the corridors that terrified Kishi. Closing the distance between her and the woman, Kishi ran up to the woman in a desperate attempt to escape the angry noises behind her. She was in tears when she tripped and stumbled onto her knees. She had to get to this woman. She had to! She was finally freed from everyone trying to control her body! She could be with Kinzo as herself again! She had to get to this woman! She shut her eyes tight like she was trapped in a nightmare and raced until finally... she bumped into the woman with gorgeous, phantom wings glittering behind her. She looked like an angel.
"Tennin?" Kishi questioned, reaching up to touch the woman's wings. They were soft and flowy!
"Who are you, little one?" the woman asked with an accented voice. Such a gentle and sweet voice...
"Lady Tennin," Kishi said, tears welling up. She cried out, "Please help me! I'm scared! I can't find my brother!"
"How long have you been down here?" the woman asked, kneeling to Kishi's level.
"The goddess said seven years," Kishi answered, clenching her hands tightly. "But I don't wanna be here down here anymore! I wanna go home to my big brother and mommy and daddy! I hate it down here! It's so dark and scary! No one will let me move or talk! Everyone's trying to get my brother!"
"Shhh..." the woman shushed, wiping away Kishi's tears and smiling softly at her. "Hey, now, it's alright. We'll find your brother together, okay? What's his name, little one?"
"Shigochiyo Kinzo," Kishi replied, letting the doctor care for her. Her wings wrapped around Kishi's body and made the air around her warm.
"Guess I'll have to stop my journey here. You could use a change of scenery," the woman suggested, hazel eyes sparkling. She then rose to stand and said, "Come on! Let's go see the lake. I saw your brother over there."
"You did? Then, you're the one he sensed not long ago!" Kishi said, sniffing up her tears.
The woman nodded and smiled. Kishi, for the first time in life, trusted another soul who wasn't family or her clan's goddess. She followed the woman out of the dungeon and told her everything that she remembered. Much of it was traumatic once she remembered the pain of her being struck by the giants. Her brother was so scared. But... that was nothing compared to her training as an oracle. The goddess wasn't harsh to her, but she possessed her body often to speak to Kinzo. They could only formally speak when he entered the temple of the onmyoji or visited the valley where the goddess thrived. When she trained as her oracle, she was flooded with so many voices of the past and beyond the mortal plains. It was unbearable! The woman listened to every word and asked questions related to the training to understand something. Kishi didn't understand what she was looking for, but she politely explained what she could. When the angel heard enough, she offered her something truly special.
"Would you like to see something quite amazing?"
"What, Lady Tennin?" Kishi asked.
"I've this lovely boat that can fly all the way up to the Soul Carriers' Road above us! Let's go for a ride! I'd love to fry you a fish or two for you to eat," she replied.
"Boats don't fly, Lady Tennin!" Kishi said, smiling at the quirky woman.
"This boat is very special, though, my girl! His name is Genso Shushu-sen. Speaking of which, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Meioshi. What's your name?"
"I'm Kishi! But I'd very much like to call you Lady Tennin if you don't mind," Kishi said, blushing a bit.
"I don't mind at all, Lady Kishi! In fact," Meioshi said, holding up a finger. She pulled out a string of protection beads and made a small necklace with them to put over Kishi's head. The good doctor then said, "If you are ever in trouble while you're playing outside of this dreary place, call my name as loud as you can, and I'll run over to help you. You can even say Lady Tennin! As long as you can say my name down to your soul. No bright, young lady as cute as you deserves to be in a place like this. So! Let's go outside!"
"Lady Tennin!" Kishi said, crying happily and reaching out to hold Meioshi's hand. "You remind me of my niisan. I hope we can be friends someday."
"Why? We're friends now," Meioshi said, making Kishi embrace her and follow her to the lake.
Together, they sailed away with Tadamasa up to the Soul Carriers' Road. Some smiling oxen were playing in the clouds as they carried their share of souls. Kishi was amazed by what she was seeing and stayed with the doctor all throughout her playtime. She didn't realize that she would need the doctor's help so soon...
"I don't want to be here anymore, Lady Tennin! Please help me!" Kishi begged, making Maboroshi's eyes widen and shrink...
Author's Footnotes: We still doin' this? XD I'm joking. I love you all too much to be that rude. Let's jump in! *reading responses from Chapter 161* This might be a long one, actually...
On Sesshomaru and Meioshi's relationship: Their back and forth just warms my soul sometimes. XD I miss the classier comebacks from anime couples when they picked out a characteristic about each other to harp on and it wasn't toxic. They don't make 'em like they used to. Real talk, though, I mostly wanted to highlight Sesshomaru's growing attraction towards Meioshi through his responses to her. While it's not obvious, he was more offended that she didn't actually miss him than he was at the fact that she pointed out that he was an inu. He never showed a dog-like behavior around her to insinuate the need for a toy to occupy him, so, to him, it was like she was stating the obvious. His discomfort with her hair being touched is another clue. It was a little more obvious that he was attracted to her, but the most important thing to note was what he felt her hair symbolized. He recognizes her nobility as the head of her family, her value as a young mother and protector, her personal growth from the time she was a child up to the adult he has met so far, and her charitable work for others regardless of their status. Hair back then represented more than how we see it today. For Sesshomaru, being such a high-class individual, he saw Meioshi's hair as a representation of who she was. Having a demon from the Underworld touching it was like tarnishing her image or "throwing dirt on her name", and he took an exception to that. Tadamasa, if nothing else, was amused by Sesshomaru's protectiveness over Meioshi's reputation because he actually is more protective of her than Sesshomaru realizes or knows. Hence why Tadamasa admitted to restoring her sight for a certain period of time despite knowing that Biancheng will be infuriated.
On Toga and Milady: This is just getting tougher and tougher to write knowing what I'm going to do to them in the future. But, I got to do it. Takahashi wanted them separated. If I can make everyone emotional about their split (including myself), though, then I think I did them some justice in terms of their backstory. So far, even I'm starting to feel like, "Bro, what were you doin'?" So, I already know I'll be in tears later, but I want to be. The more emotionally invested everyone is, the more impactful the relationships will be when we look back on Inuyasha's original storyline and come back to this.
On Jaken's role: I have to make his role bigger for the romance portion of this to work. There's no other way around it. I'll explain everything later when we get to it, but I couldn't give this role to any other character. You'll see why in Season 3 for sure, but Jaken's the only one who can really put his foot down and shut everybody up. I'll leave it at that so I don't spoil anything.
On the baking competition: This was mainly to show that Sesshomaru was feeling guilty for making Meioshi angry. He wasn't aware that a head pallbearer was Meioshi's friend and confidant, or that taking her away from Heiwa's festival [to find a stone that she didn't care about] caused others pain. Hasumi didn't verbalize it the way Ohta did, but she didn't like being separated from Meioshi either. Part of this was to show some hardship that a child experiences when a parent or guardian isn't present as often as they'd like. Unlike Rin, who expressed this through getting Sesshomaru's attention in some form of trouble or finding her voice, Hasumi and Ohta keep it as a secret until they are able to verbalize it in front of Meioshi. They both want to sit her down and say it outright versus screaming like a child because they don't want Meioshi to see them as just children. They want her to see them as her children and earn some manner of respect from her. It's a little more mature in how they handle it, but it's also meant to show how much and how fast they had to grow up in life. I think Rin potentially could've been the same way, but it wasn't shown that way and they didn't highlight it as much as I thought. I could've sworn Rin spoke to Sesshomaru about not being present, but it looks like she didn't. That threw me for a loop. Either way, this portion of the story was to share how the kids felt about Meioshi being injured from King Biancheng and going missing because Sesshomaru took her away.
Sesshomaru also sees Meioshi as an ally now, so there's no longer a reason to be hostile towards her. Now it's more about him developing that alliance, and he felt he ruined that in part. When it's revealed that she had been trying to find clues on the whereabouts of the Meido Stone, he is flattered that she still went out of her way to help. Meioshi's involvement in his life also woke up a part of his family history that would've been overlooked or not looked at, at all. In a way, he's showing he's sorry and grateful for her being around as his rival. He now has another career path open to him as the new leader of the Okuri-inu, and he can choose how he wants to build his empire the way he wanted without his father's involvement. While he doesn't express it verbally, this new option restored his love for his grandfather and the dependency he had on him as a child. (This is definitely a personal thing, but I don't like when stories don't include grandparents. My grandparents practically raised me and their stories in the past have taught me a lot. For me, and possibly my culture, grandparents are foundational in a lot of families. In Asian cultures, it could be very different since there is a stigma of animosity between a son's mother and wife that potentially dampens the relationship between a grandparent and grandchild.) I felt a grandparent was needed, and I look forward to Hikozaemon II speaking out on some things as well.
However, Reijiro was really meant to be the star here. I'm not telling you why. ;-D Just pay attention to who he's been interacting with, and you'll see it. It's clear as day why he took the helm in showing his cooking/baking skills. I need to figure out a way to make my boy a more interesting character because I love him and his cool sassiness. XD
On Ohta, my sassy grapple bear! XD: Leave that baby's mama be! I'm kidding. :P marsmagari has officially adopted my Ohta, but I'm glad he's become a beloved character. I'm excited for his story arc to kick off, but I also hope that everyone will be comfortable with Sesshomaru's disciplinarian and father side. He has a soft spot for Ohta now that he's seen him smoking and essentially crying. The grapple bears pretty much collected Sesshomaru as their own, so it's kind of reversed. Best way to look at it is a mother giving her kids a new puppy or finding a stray and the kids love on it. XD It'll take Ohta a little while before he accepts Sesshomaru as a father figure due to what happened to his actual father, but I'll keep the response for such in mind.
On Kaede, my queen: I would be honored to write a story focusing on Kaede. It would be my greatest privilege to - oh, you have no idea. Whoo, you have no idea! But, I think her segment in Hell Doctor will do us some justice because I do reveal her lover/secret husband and parts of her past. This is just a 'me' thing at this point. I hate her trope with a PASSION. She had SO MUCH POTENTIAL as a character, but no one wants to pay attention to the old lady. It's all about the fantasy action, the hot guys, Kagome, and Kikyo not getting the ending she deserved. She got what she deserved! Whoo, lemme calm down. I'm over here stuttering right now. Anyways, I'm not sure about making a Kaede-centric fic in the future as much as I would love to point the camera in her direction, but I will do my best to not disappoint with my portrayal of her here. She deserved WAY MORE, and I'm glad you're enjoying the new interpretation of her. In truth, I always wanted to know how she really felt about Kikyo and Inuyasha, but I was robbed of any development related to that. She lets a lot of stuff go, though, so I'm looking forward to her clapback on everybody. That's where all the "queen shit" is including the sexy scene. XD
On Kohaku, the young taijiya prince: Yes, I want to put a magnifying glass to Kohaku's thoughts for a little while. The more I invest in some characters, the angrier I seem to get with how they were done in the sequel. However, no more ranting. I'm over it now. For Kohaku, I wanted to look at his thought process when he was a puppet versus when he was resurrected to his old self with Sesshomaru. There's a significant piece in that transition that I wanted to explore some more. His relationship with Kagura is a key component in that, and I think Kohaku's view of Kagura being in love with Sesshomaru versus Sango being in love with Miroku is a pilot for how he feels about relationships in his teenage years. His portion of the story is very much slice of life.
To answer the question about his age, Kohaku is roughly 14-15. I hate how ages work in Inuyasha SO MUCH, but the way I figured it would make sense is by looking at when he started aging or becoming human again. He died at 11, I believe, so I took it as he physically remained that age throughout the Inuyasha saga. When Kohaku started to get more human, I assumed Kohaku would be able to age again because - I don't know - the power of love and strong will. So, toward the end when Naraku is defeated, Kohaku aged up to a year at least. That makes him roughly 12-13 in the end, which works because Rin is roughly 10 at the end. Not a huge age gap, but a decent mental development gap, and they're still able to relate to each other as friends or childhood crushes if I choose to go that route. Hell Doctor starts two years after Naraku is defeated, so Rin is now 12-13 and Kohaku is roughly 14-15. Still coming to his own as a man but not so old that he can be fully independent.
On the story's timeline and other things: The only reason why Rin and Kohaku are talking about parenthood so early is because everyone closest to them or around them is in family-making mode. While not an orgy, it's a lot of family planning and physical exploration/contact. It's also meant to be a parallel to how Kaede felt when Kikyo and Inuyasha were planning a life without her. Kohaku feels what she felt, and Rin is questioning whether or not she needs to prepare for a family soon because she's feeling that way, too. It's also a parallel between Meioshi and Sesshomaru. Ohta and Hasumi are planning to do what Kaede and Kohaku didn't do, which was sit their "parents" down to tell them "Hey, you're forgetting someone." There're other parallels as well like Sesshomaru's physical power versus Meioshi's political power when it comes to protecting children, so it's a decent mixture of who's the better parent to certain children. Rin's purpose in the future is EXTREMELY CRUCIAL to Sesshomaru's final form in this story, and it voices my theory for why Rin was specifically chosen to be Sesshomaru's ward and wife in the sequel. No spoilers, but it's directly related to the Meido Stone. As for career paths, I want Rin to do something else besides medicine that's really cool. She'll still learn about medicine, and she does form a relationship with Meioshi, but she'll have a special ending with a special someone. ;-D I want to make it as sweet and romantic as possible, so let me bake these character development cakes. XD
On the onmyoji and other holy warriors: The holy warriors in this story all have different origin stories and powers related to mythology in some way or another. They're the nobility of this story's warrior monk class as they have surnames, political influence, and some manner of wealth. The use of oracles is restricted to them and royal class figures as you've been able to see them use power from the gods themselves. Meioshi interacts with different deities, Hasumi possesses the Taiyoko-sen Coin, and Kinzo can manifest the might of a hurricane/storm eye at will. They're a sort of demigod class among the humans.
The enslavement of the onmyoji is related to American slavery. In South Carolina, I believe, there were forced breeding camps made for slaves to produce ideal working children. Mothers had to wear bags or potato sacks over their heads while fathers were forced to mate with them. Often times, the mother and father were related to each other and interaction with children was limited in that brutal period of time. Many children died around the age of twelve, but it's not clear whether it's directly from the harsh labor, which was a large factor in the sudden deaths, or the breeding, which may have contributed to a small percentage of deaths due to mental development. In America, talks of slavery are sensitive topics because racism is still very present in certain circles. Colorism is also a very global issue underneath the umbrella of racism. However, I'm not using this story to download a plethora of information to my audience or argue about these topics as real and alive as they are. I, personally, want to get out of my comfort zone and develop my writing skills. Nothing more, nothing less. It's up to you if you want to read more information about the breeding camps. I will be honest and say that it is a very difficult read and can be disturbing for some, but I would be more than happy to provide you with the article explaining that event in American history. You'll see the article explaining these historic tragedies in the bibliography section at the end of this project.
I, ultimately, must thank you for appreciating the exposure of such horrors in both fictional and historical, real-life worlds. There aren't very many references to domestic issues that I bring up for story purposes, but they do exist, and I want you all to be aware of them. I have to write uncomfortable content, so I understand if you have some trepidation about reading it. I don't want to go too far or tiptoe around it. It's a process for us all.
On the Web of Divine Might: This is simply a network of high-class holy warriors who have patron gods or goddesses, holy weapons that give them titan-like strength and power, high levels of purity, and who essentially live secluded lives. As part of this story's lore, the holy warriors are in a class of their own that is distinctive from Shinto priestesses and Buddhist monks. They live in seclusion so that their calling or coming into power isn't tainted by humanity or its changes. During the Sengoku era, religious beliefs were changing from Shinto practice into Buddhism and later Christianity before the latter was banned. Buddhism restricted a lot of activities for women, so holy warriors who were female would've had a harder time fulfilling their divine purpose if the family switched over to an entirely different practice that restricted their social mobility. Holy warriors, ironically, are given more of a choice in how they wish to navigate in the world since it directly affects the connection they have with the gods. The Web of Divine Might is both a literal and symbolic entity that connects the relationships the holy warriors share. Whereas the older generation of holy warriors knew their brethren extensively and intermingled, the younger generation is having to relearn the allies of their forefathers and choose whether or not they want to maintain such alliances. In either case, they know each other. If something happens to one clan, everyone else will know. This is why Meioshi knew where Hasumi's clan was located and how Kinzo knew how to find Heiwa without formally asking which way to go.
On the deities being used: There will be a healthy mix of existing and fantasy deities, but this will largely be for the holy warriors' lore, Inu no Taisho's lore, and Emperor Kunimatsu's lore. The emperor was believed to be truly favored by the gods like most kings in history, so it makes sense to me for him to be able to interact with patron gods or their servants. If you noticed, he's not troubled by seeing Caritas floating around him or meeting Sesshomaru and Jaken for the first time. He's quite used to it. Since he has a crush on Meioshi, he's familiar with her work as a holy warrior.
On the fluff chapter: This does show a lot of things regarding Sesshomaru's relationships with the child characters in this series, but it's ultimately just something cute I felt like writing. In Chapter 80, Sesshomaru was impressed by Musuko's taxidermy work when the kids were moving a mountain lion statue he made. The leopard cat Musuko was worried about Jaken breaking caught his lordship's interest, so Sesshomaru has always enjoyed looking at Musuko's work specifically. This includes the boy's drawings of said creatures. While he was chaperoning the kids, he asked Musuko what he would do with the statues and indirectly encouraged him to continue taxidermy as the boy had a natural talent for it.
In terms of his rivalry with Meioshi in its early phase, he does admire her ability to find a child's talent and build a learning curriculum around that. The Green Pheasant revealed in Chapter 143 that Meioshi's ikebana teacher had done the same for her when she was young, so that further made Sesshomaru both admire and envy Meioshi for her more catered upbringing (despite the fact that she's not a princess in the traditional sense that he is a prince). He sort of comes to understand the Green Pheasant's feelings towards the catered lifestyle of the hell travelers and gets curious about holy warriors in general by the time Kiyonobu comes to retrieve Meioshi to meet Shizukesa. He didn't know that his parents lived in iso when he was born, so the catering that would have been normal for a prince of his standard and age was delayed until Sesshomaru was older. However, holy warriors naturally don't come into power until they're older with some exceptions here and there. What they learn by then is just how to live their lives, which is something I don't think Sesshomaru was taught to do. I think he was programmed to be a fighting machine like his father and Toga, who didn't trust others to raise his sons even in canon, didn't like that. That's my theory anyway. Takahashi has the say-so on that.
I don't include the Panther siblings in this fic, unfortunately, but there is a character related to the Panther tribe who Sesshomaru does meet in the future. That character explains a lot of this story's lore in relation to youkai and how they differ from a deity and/or a demon. The two have been confused multiple times, but I think that's a mistake made by westerners and Europeans because of translation errors. A lot of western people have made youkai interchangeable with god or supreme demon when they're not the same in terms of power or position in the divine caste system. Instead of me explaining it all, I'll let the character speak on this. It's a good learning experience for everyone.
I believe I've covered everything, so I will see you all on Chapter... 200. Dang! 0_o We're that far already!? What am I doing with my life!? XD