Author's Notes: Hello all! Ya girl's birthday is like tomorrow, so I'm going to be gone for a little bit to enjoy that. Not that I can afford to do much of anything anyway. :/ However, I wanted to do a cutesy Halloween special. I'll jump right back to the main story afterwards. I'm just in a spooky mood.
As you know, I simply must include a historical and cultural fact about Japan since this is an Eastern fantasy story. Loosely based on the Ameichi Festival, our bonus chapter here is related to the candy and salt market representing the Takeda and Uesugi clans' activity during the Sengoku era. Supposedly, this festival cues up during the New Year. However, I pushed it to a later date to commemorate our disgustingly Western holiday. With Meioshi being a holy warrior able to traverse through hell unscathed, this just made things that much easier. XD Enjoy!
Treats N' Treasure Hunts: A Feudal Halloween Special
Little Juba was gathering her small purse filled with her favorite dolls and accessories in the scroll room. Her adoptive father had just made lunch and was waiting for her to come out of Meioshi's museum, where the little one attended school until she was allowed to go to regular school with the others. He was a fairly tall, fair-skinned, attractive male much like his other classmates from Yanagisawa school. He was in the class between Meioshi and Chiyumi, so he was politely dubbed big brother by Meioshi and Fuyu Joo but little brother by Chiyumi. He was a close friend to the three girls and adored Juba as his daughter. She was such a bright child and adorable as buttons. She was also incredibly intelligent and able to understand arithmetic very well. He was surprised that Juba had a fondness for him as a father given her terrible background as a slave girl in the okiyas, but she instantly took to him and enjoyed buying or making small gifts for him. He, in return, joined the fight in destroying the okiyas and participated in the adoption program Meioshi had worked tirelessly to start up to protect those children.
"Tou-san!" Juba cheered, hugging her father's leg and hopping on one foot once he kneeled down to hug her sweetly.
"My little bunny!" the man said, cupping her small face in his hands. "Are you and the others ready for lunch?"
"Unh-huh! Oh, how come Mama Mei-Mei left so soon to see Mr. Mizu, tou-san?" Juba asked.
"Ah, she and the other Yanagisawa students like me host a small market for sweets and snacks. We call it the Amakute shiokarai Ichiba, or the sweet and salty market. Snacks that are dubbed most popular at the market are sold or given away next year for other events like Children's Day. You can collect as many as you want. That's the important part of the market. To see what recipes work and which ones don't," the man explained.
"Do a lot of people eat your snacks, tou-san?" Juba then asked.
"Heavens, no! I'm hardly the cook that Chiyumi is, daughter," the man said humbly.
"That's not true at all," Chiyumi corrected softly, arriving just in time to see Kiijiro bounding out with a bug net.
"Huh? Mommy! Uncle Okimoto!" Kiijiro cheered.
It looked like the children were being released. Yuko came trailing out with Ohta and Homugi following after her. Not very many attended Meioshi's museum classes, but she had enough people in it to start up another school. Though many encouraged her to do so, Meioshi simply could not. She barely could afford the expenses with her medical clinic as it was. Though Okimoto was her main financial advisor, even he agreed that starting up a school would prove to be costly. It didn't stop him from opening a secret account for her, though. He didn't demand her pay a tax for her services for no reason. Someone had to make sure she stayed in business, after all. Who else set the price for her sex books and lingerie kimono? Same with her exorcism services that she rarely ever did due to how potent her powers were, but he'll be on her about that as well soon enough. Disciplining Meioshi to be a productive member of society was a very physical and grueling job. You had to be quick about it. While that was Chiyumi's task when they all were children, these days - these very adult days - proved that Meioshi required more than one disciplinarian in her life. It as Okimoto's time to shine. If it were up to Meioshi, she'd make everything free of charge, and, to an extent, none of her services were unaffordable. If she needed to open new things, however, she had to pay the construction workers or whoever to do the job, so her services were largely based on those future costs. Okimoto was in charge of reminding her of that.
"Oh, hey, Uncle Okimoto. Hasumi, lunch!" Ohta called, bowing politely to Okimoto.
"Your father specializes in sweet orange candies. They're the ones in Mama Mei-Mei's little hospital at the front desk," Chiyumi said, making Juba's eyes sparkling.
"You make those? Those are my favorite ones! How come you didn't say it before, tou-san?" Juba asked.
"Well, I don't really eat sweets too much, you see. I prefer the salty ones, but I'm no good at making them myself," Okimoto said, laughing nervously and rubbing his head bashfully. One of his many ticks since childhood.
"Oh, I know. I caught you pinning bags of salty rice crackers in your yukata many times," Chiyumi said, narrowing her eyes but raising a brow elegantly.
"My miko ears overhead someone mention snacks. What, pray tell, are we talking about?" Hasumi asked, putting her hands on her hips to stand akimbo.
Meioshi had made a crown of bows with Homugi and Liuxian one night and surprised Hasumi with it the following morning. Hasumi loved it so much she wouldn't stop crying and made Meioshi carry her like a little backpack all day. The good doctor didn't seem to mind. The little miko even stole the doctor's bed. Meioshi had a room full of people that night. Liuxian and his kids visited, Kinzo and Kishi always snuck in her room, Ohta seemed to like traveling around Niji Shaku at night but hollered "Slumber Party!" when he made it to Meioshi's home, and Homugi was just interested in all the commotion. Michizoe and Takenao seemed to also like strolling in the nights, but that's what they were used to. The onmyoji had to sneak away to interact with each other before, so now they simply do it freely. During the day, they train and slowly reacquaint themselves with people under Kirameku Ha's watch. Takenao trusted him the most while Michizoe held a fondness for Anju. They wandered in her room largely to check on their children and ask if they had missed something.
To stick to the point, Hasumi loved her bow crown and wore it quite frequently. Often debating with herself of which hairbow to choose to style up her yukata and miko attire. Of course, her main designs stuck with sunflowers. She loved them all, but the crown was special-est of all. Her "mom and dad" and her rare catch made it just for her. That's what she was wearing now, the beloved hairbow crown with the sunflower yukata.
"Why's my little sister so greedy?" Ohta asked jokingly.
"I'm not greedy! It's lunch!" Hasumi argued, blushing at Ohta's words. With exception to Little A-roo (a.k.a. Lord Sesshomaru), she was always the eldest child. It was strange to hear someone call her the younger sibling in a family.
"Hasumi!" Xinya and Delan cheered, hugging her before running to Liuxian. "It's lunchtime, fuqin!"
"I will not let my question be evaded," Hasumi said with a stomp. "What about the snacks?"
"Oh, the market opens tomorrow. No school," Okimoto informed. "You can visit any booth you like and collect the snacks you want to eat."
"I wanna go. Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Hasumi cheered, shaking Ohta with excitement before bounding off into the distance.
"My daughter is quite chaotic, isn't she?" Liuxian boasted proudly, watching his other children chase after her.
Sesshomaru and Jaken were flying overhead to investigate a matter with another youkai clan until they saw familiar lanterns dangling from a wagon. Meioshi was pulling it to some undisclosed location. With a strong sense of foreboding, the good doctor stopped walking for a moment, caught a change in the winds, and summoned her hat to block Sesshomaru's sword attack.
"Hi. What's up, dog?" Meioshi greeted, not surprised by the attack. They've had so many rival fights off-screen, it may as well be a crime at this point.
"You are approaching a nearby youkai clan. Why?" Sesshomaru asked, not letting up on his side of power.
"Ah, I need to borrow a cup of sugar from them," Meioshi answered, unbearably honestly. "Is that a cause for concern here?"
"Don't you have enough sugar from the Youkai March?" Jaken questioned from the distance.
"That sugar was for his lordship there. He can use it whenever he wants. I cannot. Now, do you mind?" Meioshi asked, using mianyi wind to blast Sesshomaru back. It took up a lot of her energy. He truly was an excellent rival. "I've little ones to shop for."
"When don't you shop around for children, witch?" Sesshomaru asked, narrowing his eyes. "You are remarkably close to the description of a child-eating witch."
"And what description would that be?" Meioshi asked with some interest.
"Witches often lure people into their homes or places of abode to attack or consume something of interest," Sesshomaru explained.
"Sesshomaru, when in hell did I ever lure anyone into my house to eat them? Are you completely daft?" Meioshi questioned angrily.
"Are you so unaware of yourself that you don't see your own bait? I was led to your home with the promise of a worthy opponent. Ohta was led to your home with the promise of a mother and protection. Let me rephrase, multiple children have been led to your home for a mother and protection. A dead holy warrior possessing a weapon on your person was lured to your home with the promise of peace. Dare I mention the amount of food and festivities surrounding your part of the village, witch?"
Meioshi stuttered angrily at his lordship's words, but... honestly, couldn't argue against him. While she never ate anyone, she supposed she did lure them in a different way. She wasn't the bad witch. She was the good witch. Having a magic hat probably didn't help her case much, though, did it?
"Oh, this is ridiculous! If my visiting a neighboring village is offensive, I'll return home. I have two snack recipes anyways," Meioshi argued, turning around to walk home.
"Snacks? Again?" Jaken questioned. "You, humans, party too damn much. What is going on in that village now?"
"It's just a daytime event to promote the economy. Good thing I brought the smaller wagon," Meioshi grumbled, continuing her walk.
"How many events do you have in single year?" Sesshomaru asked incredulously.
"One each month, I believe, so twelve," Meioshi answered, spotting a cute flower and picking it. "I pick and choose which of the smaller ones to attend. Didn't you have someone else to speak to?"
" ... "
"Trick or treat!" Hasumi cheered.
"It's salt or sweet, my little miko," Meioshi said softly.
"Salt is the trick, sweet is my treat!" Hasumi responded, gushing over a colorful candy ball.
The good doctor merely laughed as Hasumi filled up her snack purse. The children were enjoying themselves immensely, even Ohta was running around with curiosity. He didn't remember coming to this event as a child. Small events were awesome! Sesshomaru and Jaken wound up visiting Heiwa once again to see this new event. They missed Meioshi's lantern dance to commemorate the opening of the market, so they didn't understand her costume. She was dressed as a tennin with a rainbow kimono and feathered sleeves and obi. It was quite cute but... why was she dressed as that and not a witch? Watching the event from afar, Sesshomaru and Jaken waited well into the night for the event to be done. It eventually did with the kids still buzzing from what was sold in the market. Homugi and Kishi were buzzing more from Meioshi's costume.
"Do you have to take the pretty dress off, doctor?" Homugi asked with crocodile tears. "You're so cute! Keep it o~n!"
"I'm not a real tennin, though, my Homugi," Meioshi replied with an interesting face.
"Lady Tennin!" Kishi cheered, hugging Meioshi gently. She didn't want to ruin her feathers.
"I'll trade you... two candy balls for your sugar and nut bar," Hasumi bargained.
Chomp. "Not a chance!" Ohta said, turning his nose up at the offering. "But! I will trade my candy balls for your rice crackers."
"Deal! Mine's were too spicy."
"They were!?" Ohta responded enthusiastically.
"I'd say this event was quite successful. Next year will be quite the spectacle for these new treats," Meioshi said with a gentle smile.
In the wee hours of the night, Meioshi was alone in taking booths down with a few volunteers from her favorite construction group. Once all was done, she merely enjoyed a stroll through the village to patrol it before going to bed a bit later than usual. That was until a lantern with some colorful papers dangling at the end caught her attention. There were feathers hanging from it as well. It seemed to just be floating. What on Earth? As if it knew she was interested, the lantern flew over to another one and danced with it. Ah, a trap of some sort. When she didn't move to follow the lanterns, they both flew over to her to dance around her and make her follow instead.
"Hello, little darlings. What on Earth are you up to, hm?" Meioshi asked the lanterns. They danced again to lead her away in response. "You wish for me to follow you? Very well."
So, she did. She collected about seven lanterns total before she spotted Sesshomaru with a very small booth behind him and Jaken rummaging around for something in a large pot.
"Are you sure the crystal is in here, me lord? It's so dark in here!" Jaken griped.
"And what is the meaning of this, my lords?" Meioshi asked.
"You did not say it," Sesshomaru replied after some silence.
"Say?" Meioshi probed.
"Salt or sweet," Sesshomaru replied. "It doesn't work if you don't say it."
"... I suppose salt. You always have some oozing from your personality," Meioshi insulted, turning away to return home.
"Wait! I found something!" Jaken said, pulling out a bag of something warm. Steam was coming from it. "What is this?"
Meioshi stopped, went to Jaken with caution, and opened the bag to see... dumplings in it. She took one, ate it, and gasped at the flavor. "My word, this is delicious! So savory with just the right amount of salt and spices!"
Smooch.
"Jaken, the pot."
"Yes, me lord," Jaken said, not flinching or showing surprise from his lord's actions.
It was bound to happen at some point. He didn't seem to mind that it happened now. Meioshi, however, was shocked. It may not have been on her lips, but his lordship kissed a human on her cheek.
"I suppose you are both salty and sweet, my lord," Meioshi whispered to herself, smirking and walking home in the opposite direction.