"Meioshi! What's happening?" Homugi questioned, trying to back away from the light but not too far to where she couldn't reach the doctor.
"In the sky! Look! That ray of light is being connected with something else," Jaken tried to explain while covering his eyes from the blinding light surrounding the doctor.
"You have to go! Summon what energy you have to link my shield back together!" Kouumoto instructed to Meioshi as the night sky started tightening around them. "If we can call on the Four Heavenly Kings, that might seal the demon for good."
"I can't!" Meioshi said, reaching out to Kouumoto's spirit. "You said you didn't know who Azumamaro is! I have to figure out why he's with the akashita demon!"
"He might be the one who took Hasumi out of the jewel! Find it!" Kouumoto instructed, feeling Meioshi being shot out of his prison and all being quiet for a stale moment...
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Meioshi was descending through the air, covered in hair and unaware that she was still in a trance, but a flashing light and upward draft of air nudged her into a responsive state and she was able to see that she was a little ways from the cliff. Kouumoto was telling the truth when she met him in the night sky. Upon her descent, the doctor noticed a line of silver sand coming from the hole that Jaken was floating in based on his accounts. She followed that silver sand to a path leading to a set of green doors now visible in the dark waters fast approaching her. Seeing no other outcome other than her plummeting into the water, she shifted her body to prepare for the dive and possibly an injury. Abruptly, however, a youkai vessel approached her and she flailed about in a panic not knowing how to properly embrace for impact here. The youkai vessel caught her gently before the underwater doors unlocked themselves and the demonic boat made Meioshi ride the torrential currents coming out of the doors in what became a progressive nosedive.
"What is - ?" Meioshi started, trying to grab on anything to stop her from falling.
A flash of light disabled her vision and she had to block her eyes to alleviate the saturation of light. When she opened her eyes again, all she could do was gasp at her surroundings. It was a junkyard that spread for miles much like the sea! It may as well have been a parallel universe...! Like the Jubokko tree! Items of varying shapes and sizes and functions were either falling down or getting sucked up into this vortex that the youkai vessel was now escaping to simply sail on air. The jaws at the front of the boat were opening and closing on tools that had no purpose. Whatever souls were attached to them met a fate worse than limbo one could say.
"What... is this place?" the doctor asked.
"The Century Wastelands, of course!" a voice offered.
Meioshi sharply turned to the voice and was met with... she supposed would be the captain of the vessel... if he wasn't floating in pieces. Well, pieces was probably not quite the best of descriptors. The man's face was one of an annoyed clock with a frown set in place and a nose pointed skyward with said nose being in the shape of a sundial and moustache whiskers made of light and shadow. His chest was made of a desk of some sort and feet made from chair legs. The most interesting thing about his body, though, was the lamp his spine and shoulders seemed to be made from. All wood and metal. The limbs meant to connect everything and hold everything together was all ghost energy.
"Who are you, sir?" Meioshi asked.
"Well, I was a nobleman named Yoshiaga. My favorite pastime was boating, but I have a passion for helping lost souls out of this awful limbo. So, I built this vessel and soon became its captain."
"Ah, I see. Your services are very much appreciated, Captain Yoshiaga. Uh, might I ask why you've come to collect me?" Meioshi questioned, bowing politely in greeting to the ghostly captain.
"Well, I thought you were made from the akashita demon's remains or something. I wanted to know what happened to that young fellow since his alliance with that disgusting beast," Yoshiaga explained.
"Young fellow?" Meioshi questioned, furrowing her brow.
"The young soldier who haunted a stirrup, of course," Yoshiaga said matter-of-factly. "Poor lad had no business siding with it, but he was desperate to leave this place."
"The only soldier I know of that's working with the akashita demon is Azumamaro the Jewel Eater. Are you saying he's an innocent man?"
"Well, obviously!"
"Another remark out of you and I'll lose my patience with you, sir," Meioshi threatened passive-aggressively.
"You're the one who needs me to get out of the akashita's grasp! Though, I am surprised it hasn't possessed you yet."
"Explain, Captain," Meioshi said, squinting an eye.
"The akashita hair on your person is parasitic. If it stays on you too long, you'll become possessed by the akashita demon. That's how it obtains new vessels. That poor lad let himself get possessed to free himself from his mortal binds. The comb needed to control the akashita hair is just beyond that hill of writing utensils."
A comb? Meioshi thought, putting a finger on her bottom lip with thought.
"What happens if I return the lad to you? Will he just try to escape again?" Meioshi asked.
"He was a restless soul when he came here. I would imagine he'll wander aimlessly until this boat devours him. He need merely find peace to enter the afterlife," Yoshiaga replied.
"... Can you take me to this comb?"
Yoshiaga looked at Meioshi quizzically before saying, "Only if you give me payment."
Meioshi locked eyes with the ghost captain before smiling shrewdly...
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The demonic steed snapped his head to Sesshomaru and leapt into action to summon his own soldiers to attack. Summoning power from a jewel in its body, Azumamaro went on the offense himself to retrieve Kirameku Ha and Meioshi. Sesshomaru and Reijiro were surrounded within seconds by visibly enhanced soldiers and engaged in battle. Milady, hearing the faintest union of voices from Yonamine and Hasumi, entered into a berserk mode and went on a rampage to attack the akashita demon. The Green Pheasant yelled out in warning of the approaching demon and gasped when Azumamaro wrapped Kirameku Ha in its hair, but some kind of disc shot out and gathered the hair.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're awfully disrespectful to your elders," a familiar voice said.
"Lady Meioshi!" the Green Pheasant replied, seeing something far worse than the two beasts plaguing the land. "You're wrapped in his hair!"
"Good!" Azumamaro replied, activating power from his entire body. The akashita's hair on her body sprung to life and entered her spine and neck to control her body. She was shaking violently and Azumamaro's jewel powers were infiltrating her mind and body as well. Kirameku Ha tried to free Meioshi with a tidal wave strike, but the demonic steed blocked his attack and said, "You are too late, old man. She is mine!"
With that, both left and stormed into the village...
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Meioshi was surrounded by darkness and felt unbearable pain as the akashita demon started draining her life and burned open bits of her skin. She could smell her own blood wafting through the air. She had to remain still for the plan to work, however. She had to save Hasumi without interfering with the pallbearers or their warnings. The best she could do was become the connector of the broken Taiyoko-sen Coin and let the events unfold. Outside of her prison, Milady was delivering fatal blows to the akashita demon and holding it back. As eager as Sesshomaru was to aid his mother, Azumamaro was getting stronger and stronger somehow. It wasn't until he smelled the familiar spicy fragrance of Meioshi's blood in the distance that he felt his heart skip a beat. Reijiro finished off a few soldiers on his end, but he was losing energy with time. Unexpectedly, he felt a strong gust of wind blowing behind him. Snapping his head around in panic, believing Sesshomaru to be in trouble, his eyes widened when saw Sesshomaru not being overwhelmed by their enemy but in the process of transforming. He went on a rampage as he bit and slashed at Azumamaro. The demonic steed, however, roared at the inu and released several roningasa hats covered in flame from his larger jewels embedded in his shoulders. Sesshomaru was furious at this and heard a grunt of pain lingering with the sound of the flaming hats spiraling at him.
She was getting hurt. Letting out a warcry, Sesshomaru ran at Azumamaro and punched at one of the jewels on the steed's shoulder to shatter it. Power escaped from Azumamaro and he yelped out of fear. Within the holy city, the mirror that typically shone when the town was in danger flipped over to its reflective side to reveal Meioshi strapped onto the mirror. She didn't know that Manzo's mummified body and the Korenaga Tate were directly behind her. A burst of reiki energy entered her body and started burning up her insides. She was getting closer to the end.
The akashita's mask then appeared before her saying, "You reek of reiki like the fallen warrior who was buried beneath this city. Your power is just as delicious. Pity you will die in front of the inu trying to save you."
"Pity? Didn't think you knew what that was," Meioshi said without smiling but in a joking manner.
"You'll be out of jokes soon enough, fool. How about I let the boy watch you be devoured?"
Meioshi said nothing as the akashita mask disappeared to return to battle. Sesshomaru attacked another power jewel, rendering Azumamaro weak enough for him to slash at him with his sword, but a wad of hair stopped him in his tracks to reveal Meioshi being drained and burned again. Sesshomaru reverted back to his more humanoid form and sliced Azumamaro's head in a fury with his Bakusaiga. He spared no time in the battlefield any longer. Instead, he bolted through the air to follow Meioshi's scent and went straight into the holy city. It didn't take him long to find Meioshi in the center. He went to slash her binds, but the hair surrounding her just absorbed his energy and shot a blast of power straight at his mother. She managed to dodge the blast and continue her fight unscathed.
"Hiya, Lord Sesshomaru!" Meioshi greeted weakly, watching Sesshomaru try to claw swipe at the hair instead. He stopped, not realizing that he was just floating in the air, and looked at Meioshi with a look the doctor didn't recognize. She then smiled and said through grunts, "What's got you in a panic?"
"If you can joke at a time like this, you can get out of those binds," Sesshomaru lectured, calming down.
"Actually, I can't," Meioshi said, reigniting that feeling of panic in Sesshomaru's chest. "Guy's draining me pretty dry. Nn!"
"Fool!" Sesshomaru grumbled, preparing his hand for another claw strike.
"Don't... worry about me," Meioshi said, eyes rolling back a bit before they returned to normal. "I've chosen to sacrifice myself."
"There was no need to do this!" Sesshomaru lectured, displeased with such rashness.
"Actually... there was," Meioshi said, reaching a hand out to stroke Sesshomaru's cheek. Though the contact made Sesshomaru visibly stiffen, the look in Meioshi's eyes made his shoulders practically drop to the ground. The doctor then said, "If you're giving me that look, I'm guessing you don't want me to do this, do you?" He was silent but the look in his eyes was as clear as day. "But I want to."
"Why?" Sesshomaru asked quietly.
"If I had to express it in simple terms, I'd say... second chance," Meioshi replied. "I met a little girl on my way to this very city. She's about... nine years old, give or take. She's been living all alone in the forest, collecting demons to feed the monster that you probably just killed. Hated by humans and demons alike, she had no one to trust and no reason to spare life. That child... for some reason or another... trusts me. In a small way... I'd say she's no different than you. Do you remember when we first met, my lord? The night you and I fought for the first time? Look how far we've come since then! Scuffles, arguments, chasing me into the river! It took us some time to trust each other, didn't it? Well... she's a bit mischievous herself. She claimed to hate children, ants, even certain adults... but... when we baked cookies for her and bathed her and clothed her and slept by her side... she became a totally different child. She started to look forward to the next day. Even wanting to go on vacation with me one day! We were like that. I couldn't get you to like me if I tried hard enough... but... somehow... when you were being attacked and I didn't know what to do next... we changed, too. You've been changing so much I... didn't even know it at first. You trusted me with Jaken's life, and I trusted you with Yuko's. What made us do that, my lord?"
Don't do this... Sesshomaru thought.
"You've made a good other, Lord Sesshomaru. Have I been a good other for you?" Meioshi asked, smiling sweetly. It was that same smile she had at the ravine when they silently agreed to be each other's rival. It was that same smile she had when she freed the children from that okiya village. It was that same smile when they reunited at the old Camelia Gazebo. This... lovely smile... was fading away. He could smell her death approaching. She then continued, "Being your rival... has been my honor, my lord. Perhaps... I should admit to you... that I'm a bit jealous of you."
No... Sesshomaru thought. The scent of her blood... of her death... was getting thicker.
Meioshi smiled, let her hand drop, and said, "You have a terrific servant. Someone who would follow you to the ends of the earth, someone who wants to do more for you. You are so precious to your followers, brother in arms. I wish... sometimes... that I could have someone at my side the way that you do. That I could fly as beautifully as you do. How soft is the wind when you fly up there in the sky? How calming is it having someone to speak to on your journeys?"
"... Serene," Sesshomaru answered, watching Meioshi's skin darken and turn a bit grayer.
Meioshi let out a soft chuckle and smile weakly, "Will you fly for me, brother? Until we meet again in the afterlife?"
"... You know me so little, Lady Meioshi," Sesshomaru said, narrowing his eyes and turning to the akashita demon's mask trying to bite at his mother. "I am the lord of the western lands. You die... when I say you can die! It is by my hand that your life will end. I'll be damned if I let another demon do it!"