Three days in with this old man... and he already had enough. Coupled with Jaken's supposed "handbook" of how to serve him, he wasn't sure if this trip was worth taking in any capacity. He considered going back to the lavender fields to just accept the fight that would ensue with Meioshi if it meant getting the hell away from her sensei. Then again, the senior fighter really wasn't a bad travelling partner per se. There were just small nuances here and there that could get annoying when they accumulated. He had plenty of positives. Kirameku Ha could travel grand distances without feeling too tired, and, if he did feel tired, the wagon came in handy. Ah-Un followed Sesshomaru to the ends of the earth without a mewl of protest, so Kirameku Ha didn't have to worry about the dragon stopping or slowing anybody down. He had a place to rest and things to preoccupy himself with when he was too weary such as reading his news or catching up with the Garden Club's Gossip or even looking at new fashions for upcoming events and holidays. Sesshomaru wasn't sure how he was able to get his newspapers, but he could only assume that Meioshi had something to do with it. She and the old man were far closer than he thought. It made him think of his own grandfather, but he wasn't particularly close to him anymore.
Out of curiosity, however, Sesshomaru did ask about Kirameku Ha's reading material since Meioshi apparently reads it, too. She had mentioned it when those samurai forced her out of her home to punish her for some ludicrous reason.
"What are those papers?"
"Hm?" Kirameku Ha questioned, turning to Sesshomaru. He looked down at a pamphlet on the eating table and walked over to them. Seeing the headlines and a picture in large print, the old man smirked and replied, "Ah, the news. It's a collection of scripts about local things that are of interest. It helps businesses keep up with what's popular in the market a lot of times. Sometimes, the social clubs in Heiwa benefit as well. They bring up common complaints amongst each other and offer advice when they can. Social clubs can get funding or new members this way. Locals can use the news to improve on small things like farming, seasoning, and fabric sales."
"What could you possibly need that for if you're away from home?" Jaken asked, looking at the pages himself. He lifted one up and inspected it like there was poison on it. He then said, "We aren't farming on this trip."
"The garden club shares information about wild plants on long trips. We've identified several poisonous or harmful ones for humans, demons, horses, and smaller pets like dogs, cats, and birds," Kirameku Ha explained, turning to a page showing a picture of the new poisonous plant his club identified. "Meioshi and Kyoko typically do scientific drawings of the garden club's plants. A club member points out how the plant affected them for Meioshi to conduct a proper report on the plant and different remedies to combat the side effects. Yuko will typically involve herself if the plant is especially harmful to pregnant women or young babes. Musuko and Shotaro list what the plant is potentially harmful to through their sculptures or animal diagrams. Most people look for that information, especially farmers or the royal gardeners. If a farmer harvests a poisonous berry and didn't know it, he'd sell it to the chefs and hurt hundreds without his prior knowledge. A farmer, however, does help in understanding the growth habits of harmful plants. If the poison berry, for example, was a night-blooming plant, you wouldn't want it in your moon gardens. Everything has its purpose."
"Who created such a refined archival like this?" Jaken asked, impressed with everyone's participation in this collection of news.
"Two young men from Meioshi's old school. I believe they were in the class just before Chiyumi's," Kirameku Ha answered, folding his arms to think of the boys' names. "One of them was Tashiro's son. I think his name was Tomita. I can't place the other one's name at the moment, but they wanted to be writers at young ages and gathered little information from different people. They had a little stand in the center of town that had at most 20 copies. Supposedly, they had gotten so tired just writing out five copies that they fell asleep in their soups! So, they agreed to write enough to give their classmates at least one copy. Sure enough, within three days, all of their copies were sold because of that particular thing. Sleep remedies was the hot item. Local parents offered advice on how to improve their sleep, and the boys wrote that information in their news. Farmers offered their own advice, too, and sales went up for them. Since people kept asking about the sleep remedies bit, they did more research on the matter and even managed to get some information from the royal guards. That made the news more popular. Those boys are regarded as the fathers of the social clubs because they actually started the local garden club as I know it now. Even when I started living in Heiwa, there was no such thing. There was just an old woman who taught ikebana classes."
"You are not from Heiwa?" Sesshomaru asked, more interested in that than plants.
Kirameku Ha shook his head in reply and said, "I was born elsewhere. I and Meioshi's grandfather. We left our home to live in Heiwa."
"Why did you leave, old man?" Jaken asked, curious himself of the reason.
"Our general planned to betray the army and have a majority of us either enslaved or killed," Kirameku Ha answered, a serious and spiteful expression in his eyes. The memories danced across his face like he was reliving the moment. It wasn't a pleasant one from the way his body relaxed into a defensive position. He then continued, "The maritime soldiers were going to be tasked with killing the others should anyone refuse. Taisho was outraged... as was I. Those were our comrades! Some were even younger than us! When we fled, we wound up in Heiwa. Met our wives, had families, very few had moved further west."
From there, the western lord asked no more questions, but he did keep Kirameku Ha's story in the back of his mind. He was in the navy of another army, but he seemed to care very deeply for younger soldiers and children even when he was younger. Admirable like his pupil. After that moment, Kirameku Ha was back to listening to Jaken or talking to him when the imp no longer had a new rule for the man to follow. Jaken seemed to respect Kirameku Ha more and asked about his time in the military or training. Over time, it was less about rules and more about the old man's life. During the nights was when Kirameku Ha went from respectable war hero to an old man. Right around evening hours just before sunset, Kirameku Ha would take short naps as Jaken was jabbering on about a new rule the old man had to obey and snored or drooled. When Jaken was displeased with this, he yelled at the man to wake him and continued in his onslaught of rules. Sesshomaru was convinced the old man was ignoring the imp most of the time. He only questioned one out of every maybe nine or ten of Jaken's rules when it interested him. After that, he offered no responses to the growing lists of demands.
His main problem with the old man was when he had to relieve himself. Maybe it was an "old man" thing, but Sesshomaru was quite sure no one on this earth had to be fully naked to pee or fart. One would think in being a retired samurai, Kirameku Ha would at least have on a fundoshi but no. No, no. The doctor's sensei only wears a fundoshi while on the road during the day. As soon as that sun turns even the slightest bit of orange, the garment as thin as humanely possible was off and old man butt was out 'til morning. Sesshomaru learned completely by accident when the group was ambushed by other demons that the old man had on a thin fundoshi. There wasn't enough water in the world to sterilize his eyes.
Luckily, it's only been three days. Tonight might shorten up the amount of time Kirameku Ha would be with them. Leaving Jaken with Kirameku Ha for only an hour at most, Sesshomaru walked to a new location on his own to think. Meioshi didn't know enough about the Meido Stone to really gain clues of its importance, but neither did he. It was simply a sacred item his father had possessed and had given to his mother. The stone was capable of resurrecting the dead only once much like his sword, Tensaiga, but he knew nothing beyond that. Homugi might tell the doctor about the stone if she asked, but his former friend wouldn't know much about it either. He had to start somewhere. What did he know about it other than its resurrection capabilities? Was it so locked away in mystery? Perhaps that was intentional. His father was careful about not letting him have more power, but what of his mother? Surely, she knew more than she was telling.
Walking to an empty spot in the forest, Sesshomaru caught the scent of yoki energy before him and waited for a frog to appear. It was a very small, blue and yellow frog with black spots on its lower back and legs. It only appeared at a certain hour. He was but a few minutes early. When he caught the sound of a small chirp, he turned to his left and scanned the area. It was there, alerting his person of interest just beyond the invisible wall of yoki energy. He heard the chirping again and spotted the tiny creature on a footprint stone. It was stationary in the waters of the hollows in the stones. He could barely be seen despite his vibrant coloring.
"Lord Sesshomaru, is that you?" the frog asked.
"Where is that idiot dandy, Sugawara?" Sesshomaru questioned, narrowing his eyes.
"Preparing your favorites now, me lord," Sugawara the blue frog demon replied, tilting his head up to politely bow. He swam out of the water then covered himself in bright green light as he leapt into the air. From the light spawned a man with lanky limbs, frog feet and hands, wide eyes, and dressed in a kimono matching the frog's coloring. His skin was pink like a flower and had spots along his neck and cheeks. They were reminiscent of freckles. He then bowed again and said, "Pleasure to serve you again, Lord Sesshomaru. Same seating as your last visit? Or would you prefer another spot? We have expanded since your last visit."
Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow with genuine surprise. The dandy apparently gained more profits despite his ridiculousness. He then said, "What has expanded?"
"Lord Imamura wishes to make the Harpy's Wildflower tavern into a proper ryokan, so he has added a private room for guests of your class. He wishes to start off with the private room first and then upgrade to adding a small bedroom. As we watch the results of this addition, we are sure the tavern will succeed in its growth," Sugawara informed, keeping his eye level at Sesshomaru's feet and remaining in a bowed posture. "We are indebted to your patronage, Lord Sesshomaru. Though... we were under the impression that you've since moved on from escaping customs within the House of Inu. You've shown your strength before to silence the others vigorously. Has something else come up?"
He had almost forgotten how he found this particular tavern, but Sugawara was always supportive and perceptive of Sesshomaru's feelings towards traditional matters in the House of Inu. He ran to this place quite often to escape the stifling expectations of his home. Sugawara took note to Sesshomaru's eating habits and seating preferences whenever he did visit, so the frog demon often catered to him and offered advice when needed. He wasn't what one would call a friend, but he was more like a support when the ones around him failed to be. He was... a voice of reason. That was the best way to put it.
"Nothing to do with customs. More to do with an item," Sesshomaru replied.
"Ah, word has traveled fast in regard to that. You must be referring to your mother's necklace," Sugawara said, lifting his body a bit. He hummed in thought and looked to the sky for a moment before saying, "It was said that a traitor infiltrated your territory. The rest sounded like complete rubbish. Perhaps you could use a small drink to help you think. I have a few recommendations."
"If you..." Sesshomaru started, remembering Kirameku Ha's words. He didn't realize how much he let others cater to him. Even something as simple as a tonic was the decision of another's. Sugawara finally looked at Sesshomaru to analyze this new behavior. He never stopped like that before. The western lord then continued, "A drink... would be good."
"There is more to this than I thought," Sugawara said, eyes glimmering with interest. "It's not just your missing stone that's troubling you, is it?"
"None of y - " he stopped again. This was an obvious conflict of interest for the lord. Interesting indeed. Sesshomaru then admitted, "No. I need to speak to Imamura. He is neutral like you. He may know more about the Meido Stone than anyone else seems to want to tell me."
"Did you not speak with Okakura first?" Sugawara questioned, rubbing his chin. "He was the one who helped create the Meido Stone and Black Pearl, after all. Both are the smallest containers of power capable of holding so much more. The watch tower's eye has seen their use some millennia before they were needed to be created. Okakura should have been the first to tell you this."
He what!? Sesshomaru thought, eyes flashing red and yoki energy picking up in his rage.
Sesshomaru wanted to snap, but he took a deep breath and responded calmly, "The bumbling fool was more interested in the movement of the oni as of late."
"Ah, we had one visit us recently. There is a child among their kind with potential to train as a warrior. Apparently, this child has been rumored to be the daughter or vassal of their missing king," Sugawara informed. "The commanders of the elements that formed Ogre Island had stirred when the child entered its first battle. Supposedly, it's similar to your first hunt among the inu."
'The doctor... is an oni king's daughter?' Sesshomaru thought. 'But she's a human...'