It was hard to believe that the month was nearly over, but Jaken was looking forward to reminding his lord about the upcoming funeral services that Lady Meioshi was scheduled to perform. It was obviously something that caught Sesshomaru's interest during their confrontation with the black wall demon, and he seemed to be in a daze as of late. Though, this could also be due to the officers from the House of Inu who approached him about two weeks ago. The Mujina Woodlands was at a tense standoff due to sudden killings transpiring throughout the lands. By the two main clans being at odds for some hundred years prior, this situation was probably the catalyst they needed to start a physical feud. From what the imp could understand of the matter, Ambassador Norihisa went to investigate the murders but was met with an elusive attacker that even he could hardly trace. The officers explained briefly that Norihisa couldn't return to the woodlands immediately because he had to speak with the court about the information, and his presence would only put the clans at even greater odds against each other. The situation was calling for Sesshomaru's presence on the matter. Sesshomaru was almost surprised at the request to negotiate and dissolve the growing feud. It wasn't a typical assignment he was often given, and it came from Milady and the court personally.
Jaken couldn't put his finger on it, but his lord seemed... excited about this mission. It was definitely different, but Jaken supposed that Sesshomaru maybe didn't get too many chances at being a political figure in a more social context. He was the militant one as far as Jaken knew. The one who often did things his way by putting the fear of the gods in others. The one who challenged the strong and pushed the weak around if necessary. He was as graceful as he was ruthless, but Jaken couldn't help but be interested in this other role that Sesshomaru was asked to fulfill. Diffusing a longstanding tension between clans was uncharacteristic and unseen of his lord, and it seemed to be so much gentler and more delicate of a task in comparison. He had a way with the sword but with words? Jaken wasn't quite certain of that. That's what made him so curious and more observant of Sesshomaru's body language. He couldn't claim to be Sesshomaru's most trusted servant if he didn't know a great deal about Sesshomaru's assignments, habits, and behavior. To ease the silence, he chose now to bring up the doctor's name as a subtle way to get him out of the daze.
"Lord Sesshomaru?" he called.
"What is it, Jaken?" Sesshomaru asked in response, focusing on his flight direction.
"I believe it has been ample enough time to revisit Heiwa for the funeral service," Jaken said, taking note of Sesshomaru's ears perking up before relaxing. Ah, so he was still interested in seeing it. At least that daze he was in was going away a little. Jaken could only confirm his previous suspicion with his lord's reaction: Meioshi did gain his respect as a warrior. He then said, "That old man said between 30 and 49 days was about how long we had to decide if we were going. Perhaps you can also request Lady Meioshi's services for the Mujina Woodlands. If her work is to par, they might like being honored."
"Do you miss going swimming that much, Jaken?" Sesshomaru asked, smirking minutely to relish in the innocence of the question.
Jaken blushed and then tried to redeem himself, "N-n-n-no, Lord Sesshomaru! I mean, I don't mind swimming, but I don't have to do anything you wouldn't approve of, me lord!"
"The doctor's sensei mentioned that he traveled to find other deceased people if a warrior was possibly among them," Sesshomaru replied, ignoring Jaken's response to his question. "It might be in our best interests to see how far he had gone concerning these murders. If he was within demon territory and killing these creatures dishonorably, the doctor may have to deal with the loss and her sensei will have to be brought to justice."
"So odd. That old man seemed to be highly regarded by Yuko and the others, even Ichi had a great amount of respect for him," Jaken said, looking at Ah and Un flying next to them. "I wonder if he would resort to killing innocent demons just to feel validated as a warrior again. If that's the case, would Lady Meioshi be equally as susceptible to doing the same thing? Would she even know that he was doing it?"
Sesshomaru remained silent at his servant's questions, but he had doubts that Meioshi would ever kill an innocent. She wanted to protect the lives of others, but her sensei's words did strike a bell. Failure to protect life, in the doctor's profession, meant she would have to be dealt a ceremonial punishment. Maybe Kirameku Ha was killing others outside of her care to stop her from having to be punished. He may have been an older man, but he still handled weapons like he never retired from the military and was still teaching Meioshi. If she had taken up the sword at a young age like Sesshomaru had, she had to have been a master swordsman by now. There was no longer a need for her sensei unless she just preferred to have a teacher or was planning to be one herself. Turning around slowly, the western lord changed direction to have his questions answered at Heiwa. It appears as though he had his first suspect in the killings at the Mujina Woodlands.
Ichi and his brother-in-law, Yamashi, were following the line of grieving families to the viewing shrine just a few miles away from the village. Meioshi, Kirameku Ha, and the three widows built the torii gate and pathway straight to it for anyone who wanted to hold a funeral service for their loved ones. To make it harmless for demons, Meioshi took great care in lining the path with a mixture of magical and spiritual stones per Kirameku Ha's landscaping advice. He aided in the foliage present at the shrine. Yamashi was Yuko's husband and a demon prince. He was fairly tall with nicely tanned skin, plum wine hair, and glassy, yellow eyes. He wore his family's overcoat on top of his warrior regalia. Today was Tsuyoi's service.
He, Ichi, and Tsuyoi worked together from time to time, but Yamashi knew him personally as someone who aided him in his trade company when it started. Tsuyoi had also fought by his side in defending the farmlands from a siege. He was genuinely hurt to know that Tsuyoi had died. He may not have had a perfect family, but Tsuyoi did have several friends. Yamashi could easily guess that most of the people that were going to turn up to Tsuyoi's funeral were going to be close friends since his family exiled him for wanting to live among humans and "domesticated" demons. Several warriors came to it from what he could see in the line going to the ravine. The Tailwind Dance was going to be quite the spectacle this time since Meioshi knew Tsuyoi as well and had refurbished Tsuyoi's weapons and recreated his warrior flag personally. Though angered at Meioshi at first for her visit to the Netherworld involving so many people, he later understood that the fault wasn't truly or solely hers. She visited hell multiple times in her life and demons rarely, if ever, came out of hell to hunt her down. The weapon she took out of hell had to be of great importance and it was. No one had told her of its significance, so she just assumed it was a magical sword and thought nothing more of it. Yamashi knew Meioshi quite well. She rarely does anything without careful thought. If she thought a sword was just a sword, chances are she had evidence to prove that it held no value. Hence why she was forgiven easily and his anger was redirected to whoever withheld information from the doctor.
Sensing an unfamiliar presence above him and Ichi, Yamashi turned around for a moment and saw a group of demons flying to Heiwa's borders. One of them he recognized as a high-class demon from the House of Inu because of the fur attachment. He called out, "Brother. Who is that?"
"Eh?" Ichi questioned, looking up to see Sesshomaru. "Oh! That's the guy that brought Yuko home. He helped Meioshi fight that demon from hell."
"I don't remember Tsuyoi knowing an inu," Yamashi said with suspicion in his voice.
"He didn't know him," Ichi responded, looking at Sesshomaru and remembering his brief fight with him in small details. "I think his name was Sesshomaru. He just so happened to be involved. He's probably here because of Lord Kirameku Ha's invitation. He took an interest in Lady Meioshi's work."
"I suppose I'll have to thank him for helping Yuko... and you," he said, lightly punching Ichi's shoulder to make him smirk. "I'll do that afterward. Tsuyoi didn't like glum events. Let's not dishonor his memory."
Jaken caught sight of a few demons lagging behind the line of mourners. Among them was Moeru and his family dressed in black. He said, "Ah, it's Moeru, Lord Sesshomaru. There seems to be a lot of demons going down that path of trees."
The ashes were placed in a beautiful urn made to look like a wave forming in the sea. White, pink, and yellow flower petals formed the bed for the urn to rest. The weaving showed Tsuyoi's entire life from birth to transition into adulthood to a peaceful life to his final act of kindness before his untimely death. It was now folded and placed into the boat. Weapons, gifts, and haikus were all placed into the small boat with Tsuyoi's ashes. The rosary he wore during his cremation was remade with fine ore and gems to create a charming necklace as a symbol of the personality he had and was known for. Finally, his new name etched in fresh wood was placed on the boat's lip as a flag by one of the three widows. Sesshomaru had walked up to the shoreline right as the music started to play.
Meioshi walked into the ravine with a golden cane of some sort. It had a decorative piece at the top. She was dressed in a beautiful fuchsia kimono with blue and green diagonal stripes as an accent pattern on her sash and a leopard fur belt. It seemed to be representative of something. Her obi was cuffed with hollowed horn along the orange bodice. The sleeves of her kimono were reminiscent of the furisode. They were flowing and decorated with sky-blue waves architecturally chosen to plot how motion and fashion combined into one. Her hair was dressed in beading that gave her more of a regal flair than anything, but it all was nothing in comparison to her dancing. She was floating above the water in her movements. It was like she was telling a story with each pluck of the koto. She did what looked like a kata to perhaps simulate Tsuyoi's life as a trained warrior. Striking the surface of the water with her pole, Meioshi did an aerobatic set of flips before twirling around for the pole to stir up more water. The waves started moving the boat away from the shoreline. Some mourners began to cry, others collapsed onto the ground, and some started to chant war cries.
Standing on her toes, Meioshi performed a few turns to stir more wind and waves until the boat came to her. She twirled the pole around, positioned it next to her hip, and started churning the water using a calligraphy motion before twirling the pole again to make the waves lift the boat into the air. A singular tear left her own eyes as she jumped up and bent backward in a perfect arch before arching forwards to twirl the pole again. Dancing into a still position, she brought a hand to her lips and blew winds from her mouth, the mourners, the earth, and the realms of all existence to push the boat away from the ravine and into the skies. When a large cat-like creature formed from white flame mewed and rang a divine bell, Meioshi twirled the pole, spun it around about three times, and slammed the pole into the ravine to make the waters go still. Tsuyoi's soul was taken up... and he was no more...