"It appears great conflict is within your path, young Reijiro," Naonobu informed, sifting through the holy beads. "Naturally, a great teacher would advise you to avoid it or offer a more efficient way to combat it, but this conflict stands between you and what many confuse with destiny."
Reijiro was seated at the end of the alcove where the poisoned water was dripping out from above into a drained pool. Naonobu covered the pool in mitsuba leaves before dousing the broken strings of holy beads in them. It didn't take long to purify the water, actually; in fact, Reijiro could honestly say that the task was quite the spectacle. The leaves rose of their own accord and broke into pieces where the stems bordered the individual leaf. Once they did, a small whirlpool formed and the akashita poison was consumed by the shattered beads to form one singular orb that a group of priestesses took into their circle to place the orb into a bowl. The resulting cursed orb became a cowbell! What concerned the ladies, however, was something about the string that had connected the orb and bowl together. It sounded like they said there was another string on the inside of it. He wasn't sure what they meant, but, to a beast of prophecy, Reijiro could only surmise that a secondary string must've meant something quite important. He wasn't the most spiritual person in the world.
Reijiro was quiet but attentive at the kudan youkai's words. He noticed that quite a few of the holy bovines were looking at him with some interest. As if they could see something beyond Reijiro's natural form. Others were looking at Lord Sesshomaru, no doubt, but he didn't feel uneasy about this as much as he thought he would. He felt more awkward with them looking at him than anything. What were they seeing? When he found Sanraku praying at the Akabeko Temple, he noticed some of the holy people were looking at him back then, too. He knew very little about the holy people. They had to be respected, however, so he silenced his temper and focused solely on Key Instructor Naonobu. He left the matter as something only a holy person could see.
"You mentioned to us when we first met that you joined the army to serve a single man," Naonobu said, swirling the waters below with his hoof. "Has this changed?"
"No. The only thing that's changed is staying in the army to do so. I'm thinking it's time I look into freelance work. Maybe just be a bodyguard to him if he even exists," Reijiro answered honestly.
"Then, I advise you to commit to this," Naonobu said, turning to Reijiro. The dark inu forgot how big the kudan youkai were for a moment. Naonobu's head was huge up close! The key instructor continued, "You have met the man you want to serve recently. I'm assuming you didn't know this."
"What?" Reijiro questioned with shock evident in his features and a light blush creeping on his cheeks. "When? Wh-where?"
"You will meet him personally again very soon," Naonobu replied, puffing his chest out with pride at the dark inu's response. His next words, however, made him lock eyes with Reijiro and creep up to him about an inch or so. His size more evident and his tone more serious. "This encounter, however, can only be accomplished if you don't go to Fort Sutabei after this mess is sorted out with Lord Sesshomaru. Let this unfortunate circumstance be the evidence you need to decide on your freelance work. Take this time away from the House of Inu and spend it well with your brother instead. Once you learn the truth, your path will open to more fulfilling work, and you can decide how you wish to approach your new life. There is some good news in all of this, however. That snippy, little ass back there is the key to your good fortune. There is a princess you will save at Fort Sutabei. Your reward is with her. She is not there yet, and you mustn't go until she is."
"What's this got to do with anything now, though?" Reijiro asked.
"Everything is connected to train the ruler of the west. Your part in it is crucial," Naonobu said proudly and light stomping of his hoof on the ground. "You'll find that we know a great deal of how your pup politics work. The union between us and the House of Inu was quite beneficial. I'll accept my opinions were wrong at the time to give Lord Toga - heaven rest his soul - his proper credit. I daresay I have only one concern with this mess and its connection to you, young Reijiro. You weren't supposed to be here for another two years. Did Lord Sesshomaru come into contact with someone prior to his interactions with you?"
"Huh?" Reijiro questioned. "He's met with all kinds of people before me, I would imagine. I'm just a country boy. Most inu have lived in seclusion, especially those of little means. I'm not the dude's babysitter or even his friend. I just so happened to be with him to confront - ! "
"Confront?" Naonobu probed.
"We're leaving."
Reijiro and Naonobu turned to Sesshomaru and Shishido looking at them with differing expressions, of course. Sesshomaru didn't wait for very long before heading over to the entrance of the tunnel. Reijiro rushed to stand up, but he stopped and furrowed his brow. He turned to Naonobu and said, "There was a girl we met up with. And... an old man we're with now. An oni and a pheasant are protecting them."
With that, Reijiro hustled to follow Sesshomaru out of the tunnel and they left. Shishido turned to Naonobu and said, "Key instructor, pluck a bloom from the pot of False goat's beard. Place it in your waters and sift the beads. It is fine if it wilted or dead. I simply need to see something."
"Very well, grand monk," Naonobu said with a nod. He did as told and watched the pattern of the flower. Shishido walked next to him, though, and waited patiently as the flower sunk into the waters and dispersed into multiple clusters of blooms that spread out and emerged to the surface. The grand monk's eyes twinkled before he let out a gentle smile. Confused by this response, Naonobu asked, "You see something different from me, grand monk?"
"What did you see?" Shishido asked, keeping his eyes on the flower clusters and watching them move across the water.
"Young Reijiro has visited us far earlier than predicted. Fort Sutabei is too dangerous for him right now. Your little snipper seems to be a slightly changed man."
"Is this all you saw?" Shishido asked, seeing the beads finally shift from broken sides to the colored sides. "He is afraid."
"Afraid?" Naonobu questioned, looking at his mentor. "Who is?"
"Sesshomaru... one of my most promising students of this new generation. He sensed her death approaching some time ago. He said, 'Stay out of it!' Right before he turned and left my side. It wasn't directed at me. The girl that young Reijiro mentioned has been protecting him. I took notice to a small string of beads on his obijime. He recognized them. I didn't see what the message on it was, but that was the most emotional I had ever seen him. Hidden beneath that mask of snippiness... was fear. It must be quite scary... to know you're going to lose a friend. Isn't it, Naonobu?"
_______________________________________________
The sacred mound of the Akabeko Temple, in truth, was more than a pyramid of architectural wonder. Inside of it was a half-mile long bridge built over water forming an ovular pool at the entrance. Overhead were crystals that protruded from the ceiling like unsheathed swords but were typically illuminated from whichever light source that penetrated the holes at the top of the pyramid. The cave was known for being very hot and humid during the summer months, but the winters and autumns were the best times to view the inside. Toward the back of the cave was both the exit and the entrance to the Twin Pillar entryway of the temple. The Twin Pillar was a garden entrance into the temple, but this coupled with the openings at ceiling height of the sacred mound was what made the journey through it bearable. For a typical human, they would be cooked alive from the harsh temperature and high humidity, but demons had no such sensitivities to the climate of the cave, only the divinities of the crystals, waters, and stones. The akabeko and kudan youkai were a holy people for a reason. They were perhaps one of very few races who were unaffected by reiki energy in the slightest and were true guardian spirits. Surpassing any of their trials through the sacred mound without weakening was a badge of honor the likes of which many wouldn't see. By that point, you were practically an ordained monk or apprentice monk.
Sesshomaru and Reijiro had the unfortunate luck and luxury of having to walk through this ridiculous mound to find a spear. While Sesshomaru typically was fine at the entrances of the sacred mound, he had never physically walked through the entire cave. It was one of very, very few places that Sesshomaru feared traversing. He had seen some mischievous teens playing in it to collect the stones or crystals that could be found and sold for quite a high price, but only two of the four or five teens that went in ever came back out and they were traumatized from whatever transpired inside of the mound. His father took great care to keep him away from the cave and to play out in the meadows instead. It was safer outside than in.
"This place gives me the creeps," Reijiro whispered, eyeing his surroundings carefully. "It's so quiet in here."
"The silence isn't meant to be feared," Sesshomaru said coolly. He looked up and scanned the ceiling briefly before continuing, "The coming winter has dismissed most of the climate within this place. It is the hanging blade above that kills the unworthy."
"The crystals kill?" Reijiro questioned, reaching for his weapons and looking up to gasp at the expanse of intimidating but beautiful crystals reaching to touch the floor below. "How often do they break or drop?"
"At least once a month between the spring and summer," Sesshomaru said, leading the way in slow steps to find a spearhead potentially disguised among the crystals.
"... Ri~ight, and why are we coming here again?" Reijiro asked, following Sesshomaru with some trepidation.
"For the Naginata of Light. Among the crystals is the key. The old man said, 'In order to find this warrior of the sun, listen for a voice that brings tears to your eyes and a smile to your face. It forms in an instant and has been here for a lifetime, but you have forgotten it.' This is the second time I've had to solve a ridiculous riddle!" Sesshomaru hissed, narrowing his eyes at his misfortune.
"Yeah, that definitely sounds annoying," Reijiro said with a sigh. He took a minute to think clearly and repeated Sesshomaru's words, "I can bring tears to your eyes and a smile to your face. I form in an instant and last for a lifetime, but I can be forgotten. Hm... Oh! Duh! It's a memory. Sad memories make you tear up, good ones make you smile, and they appear at random. Ones that you don't care about are typically forgotten. This voice you have to find must be someone you knew in the past. Do you remember anyone who had control over fire or light?"
Sesshomaru was quiet for a moment, but he was coming up short on people he knew in the past regardless. Totosai would have been a good option, but he wasn't a warrior. He simply was a talented blacksmith... and a senile, old man.
"I am the sword that guards the heavens..."
Sesshomaru and Reijiro's ears perked up before they both looked up to the direction of the voice. Unfortunately, the words bounced throughout the cave, and it looked like the lights trapped in the crystals were flickering, but... Sesshomaru's eyes widened a bit when he realized something. The akashita demon put these lands in darkness. Where was light coming from? When Meioshi approached him at the gazebo camp, the night sky had a moon. There shouldn't have been any visible light if this creature was terrorizing the lands. That would make the moon that they saw a sort of decoy! Or... no, the moon was a source of light. It had to be the source of illumination in the cave.
"Oh, look at that, gentleman! The sun is rising!" Sesshomaru remembered hearing the Green Pheasant say. "The rising sun means there has been an agreement between oath keepers... a bond has started. You should be able to clearly see a gate or fence signifying the nature of the bond. The gateways down here move to different locations if you wander off too many times."
The moon is the gateway! Sesshomaru thought.
"Let me be your sword and shield, and, when you're ready, you can form a pact with me if you truly trust me..."
Sesshomaru's body slackened, if only for a brief moment. There were very few people in this world who had the distinct privilege of being a light to his world. If this voice belonged to someone in the past before he took up the reigns as king in his father's place, then he was out of luck, but he could do something else in order to settle this unfinished business with his father. Reaching for the left side of his obijime cord, Reijiro watched the western lord pluck a string of protection beads from it with a lugubrious expression on his face. They're too close to the end now.
"At some point during your travels, you and the wolf formed a mutual bond that ascended the initial intentions of the pact while it was active. Remember, my nest is always the starting point. It is the first of the parallel doors accessible to any plane of existence; meaning, anyone involved in this pact during the time of initiation can enter the Blood Oath's Circle."
"The power of the sun..." Sesshomaru said, stopping his walk. He looked into the sky for a moment, hearing wagons rolling in the distance, and then took notice to something offensive. He called out after a moment, "Witch. Get this barrier off me. I don't need your protection."
Smiling shrewdly, Meioshi looked at Sesshomaru and asked, "Has anyone ever told you that you have a sexy undertone to your voice when you're angry like that, Lord Sesshomaru?"
'I'm not ready...' Sesshomaru thought, remembering times that Meioshi either annoyed, impressed, or amused him. His envy only grew. Whereas he had very few people who'd care enough to pay their respects should he perish one day, his dandelion seed would have so many more mourners... He, like the day he watched her dance for a fallen warrior, would silently be among them. At least, if he perished, he was confident that Meioshi would honor him. Jaken might even request it.
"How would you define someone who is worth honoring, young Sesshomaru?" Morihei once asked him.
'We never had our true battle yet. You still owe me a fight. You haven't located the Meido Stone yet. You never found a cure for Jaken. What about your children? They're waiting for you.' Sesshomaru thought, hearing that feminine travel through the cave walls over and over. 'What about your friends? Your family? Kirameku Ha will miss you.'
"It is my honor to protect those who have felt like nothing because I have felt that way, my privilege to aid those who feel defeated because I can help them train, my greatest joy to watch those who have failed pick themselves to march to their victory. Guilt reminds me that the fight isn't over, that the nightmares have a little more life in them, that my sword needs to be sharpened before it can cut through barriers. My source of power is elsewhere. Is yours so tied to your unspoken past, Sesshomaru?"
Clutching the beads in his hand with a new resolve, he placed the protection beads back on his person and thought with some fire in his eyes, 'Your life's not over. You're not getting a single flower or coin from me! I refuse... to let you back out of our final battle!'
Because, in truth, Sesshomaru was not ready... to lose his new friend...