Her art models seemed to be enjoying themselves from the looks of it. Kita was blushing and panting from almost every stroke. Her lover let out a deep groan as he swirled his hips to tease her. Though Meioshi could feel Sesshomaru's burning gaze frying her left side into a crisp, she chose to ignore him and continued drawing and painting her models quietly. The art studio was located near the docks of the village and was separated quite well from another building. It had an excellent view of the ships and beaches. Sesshomaru and Jaken were standing on a large hill just overlooking both buildings. Apparently, Meioshi owned both of these strange buildings. Their design wasn't of a typical Japanese home or even a royal Japanese home, but it looks like he's never going to figure out what the inside looks like if his rival is a... loose woman. Part of him wanted to pull her out of the studio and make her stay home, but Homugi and Hasumi were instructed to join Kyoko and the boys in cleaning out the museum until she returned and he didn't want to stay around Homugi until she was comfortable around him. Meioshi managed to escape another rival fight with Sesshomaru in favor of working, but the young lord was not pleased with her other work. She was too honorable of a person to resort to sexual work, and he never took her for a pervert skink. She should be able to have a husband on her own and perform her duties accordingly. What is this? The moaning intensified.
"Ah, pardon me, darlings," Meioshi interrupted, stopping the lovers and giving them a moment to catch their breath. "Would you mind trying another position for me? I almost forgot about it."
"A new one?" the man asked, turning to the doctor.
"Yes, sir," the doctor replied with an encouraging nod and smile. "You're performing quite beautifully already! This might be something nice to add. Drape one of her legs over your shoulder. Either one is fine. Very good. Now, the other leg is going to be perfectly angled like so. What you're going to do is thrust upwards slightly. Do this slowly, please. I don't want my Kita harmed any more than you do. If this position isn't pleasurable for either of you, we'll try another. Little slower. Very good. Now, proceed with a relatively calm motion."
"Ah!"
"Wait! Hold that position!" Meioshi said, holding up her hand and quickly scribbling. She took up her paintbrush, adding more detail and color, and placed down her hand to say, "You may continue at your own pace."
From there, Meioshi let them continue and painted in silence. They might have lasted for less than five minutes with this new position, but it was enjoyable for them at the very least. Completed with her bundle of new drawings, she offered the couple use of the bathing room and a change of clothes into generic yukatas. She proceeded to wash and sanitize their soiled garments. That was when Sesshomaru took this time to land next to her with a cold stare.
"I'm almost done, your lordship," the doctor said, lifting up Kita's red kimono. She spotted a stain and proceeded to treat it. "You can stop giving me your death glares at any time."
"This work is abominable," he growled, narrowing his eyes at her. He wasn't dropping the death glare. "If you need something to do, you can scrub floors at the House of Inu for better pay."
"Ah, but I don't get paid for this," Meioshi said, not looking at Sesshomaru but holding up a scrubbing brush to point at him before continuing. "I pay the models. This is what we mortals call commission work."
"Your economics are appalling! Who wants these kinds of portraits?" Sesshomaru demanded, disgusted at the thought of her selling such scandalous materials.
"You'd be surprised," Meioshi said seductively. She wasn't sure what disturbed him the most: her voice in that moment, her eyes lowering at him to show a heated interest, or her smirk as she washed the clothes a bit slower to show what her hands could promise. Either way, he squirmed and cringed under her gaze before throwing her soap bar at her. The doctor laughed at his response and tried to call him back, "Sesshomaru, I was kidding! Wait, wait! Don't be upset!"
"I am not upset!" Sesshomaru argued, only stopping in his walk to say that.
"But I didn't answer your question, taisho," Meioshi said, lightly chuckling. When she earned his attention, she then said, "These books are for couples, specifically. In Heiwa, we have traditions here that permit young men to court unmarried or widowed women in their own ways. Some perform tests of approval for the woman's parents or head of household, others do other little things like present gifts to the woman's mother. A common way is the yobai where a young man formally asks the woman to spend the night with him. Should she accept, they two engage in a hopefully fulfilling courtship. While this isn't celebrated among the noble class, I at least open their minds to the option. Women's rights are progressively being lost, I'm afraid. When I started nursing, families were already built on blade-thin foundations. Educating couples on the different aspects of courtship has done a better service. What I meant by my earlier words is that you would be surprised by how many courting persons come to me for advice, even going so far as to sneak into my house during the nights. I don't do this work out of perversion. It's to protect couples."
"... this protection is of derisory monetary value. You'd be better off scrubbing floors," Sesshomaru replied, acknowledging his rival's kindness towards others. "Your counseling is the better part of your work. Putting a price on such service would be difficult."
Meioshi smiled softly at the man and said, "Thank you, my lord. I might not be alive to see it, but I hope you find someone that you can perform these little things for. I think you'd be great at it. You can give me a portrait of your courtship adventures at my grave someday!"
"You draw a portrait of me without my permission and I'll put you in your grave myself!" Sesshomaru snapped.
"You're in luck, my lord! You're not what I'm looking for in a model this season!" Meioshi replied with a bubblegum smile. WHACK! The doctor's head was smoking from where Sesshomaru smacked her with his Moko Moko. She rubbed the lump that formed and said, "Oww... what? What'd I say?"
Stupid witch... Sesshomaru thought to himself, walking along the beach before going uphill again. He only stopped for a second to narrow his eyes and growl in offense. What did that mean? My appeal is seasonal? What season would - ?
Angry that he was even thinking about it, the western lord picked up a rock and threw it at Meioshi. He didn't care what part of her body he hit. He gained satisfaction in hearing a soft "ouch!"
______________________________________
"Well, that will be all for this session, my darlings!" Meioshi cheered, finishing up her last batch of new paintings.
She clapped her hands excitedly and made sure to carry her paintings carefully with her waxed paper gloves. Rushing over to the drying room, she removed her gloves and stepped back to see her finished works. Not bad. All the features were perfect. She nodded to herself before hurrying over to a cart of food and drink. She had just enough luxury food from her vacation to offer up as rations for the models. Rolling the cart in the lounge area, she set up the dining spot in front of a romantic view of the docks and beach while ignoring the burning sensation of Sesshomaru's gaze from above. That man!
Focused on her models, she said happily, "Hopefully, this is all still warm. The hot plates cooled down quicker than I thought. We'll be able to see the portraits fully dried within the hour. Please, help yourselves to this luncheon. Don't be shy!"
"Thank you, doctor," the group of four said, bowing respectfully.
So far, so good with the art models. Two of the new sex positions were dubbed too painful or unpleasurable by the models, so Meioshi was sure to mark the suggestions with notes of their negative feedback. Kita and the others conversed with each other while the doctor cleaned up her painting materials. The background idea she had for this session was stellar! Walking over to a small chest, the doctor quietly opened it and took out four even bundles of ichibuban to pay each model respectively. The models thanked her again and either helped her clean things or followed her into the prop room to see the new fabrics she intended to use for undergarments this year. The doctor admitted to having trouble with obtaining certain styles of fabric, but she took notice to some styles coming back into fashion. She wasn't quite sure why frills and lace were in such high demand overseas, but she would incorporate both as best as she could until she got an explanation. Right now, textiles and floral prints were in fashion. A proper blending would be of interest.
Hardly anyone noticed that Kita had slipped away from the group to speak to Sesshomaru. He was practically glaring at her as she was approaching him with mild caution but great interest. She was a very petite, very cute lady. You wouldn't be able to tell that she was a so-called "art model." Her yukata was a simple pink with decorative sleeves of bright yellow and pale indigo birds. Kita smiled gently at the western lord before finally bowing in front of him in greeting.
She said, "Good afternoon, my lord."
"Is that perverted doctor done yet?" Jaken asked, displeased with having to wait for Meioshi to meet them.
"Pervert?" Kita asked, eyes widened at the implication. "She's not a pervert."
"Then why is she watching you, other humans, doing... things to each other?" Jaken asked, careful not to be too loud.
"Trauma therapy," Kita answered simply, earning noises of confusion. She looked to the sky and said, "Demons like you probably wouldn't understand it much, but... some of us need this sort of thing. It's more than what you think."
"Sounded like shame and no privacy to me," Jaken said, turning his nose the other way.
Kita giggled before looking at Meioshi's studio and holding her hands behind her back. She then replied, "You haven't heard a lover's song in a long time. It's only natural for you not to recognize it. I used to be like that. When I was a little girl, the most I ever knew about sex was through my parents. I didn't know that most children, if not all children, learn about sex from their parents. That's when they hear the lover's song for the first time. Over time, parents change the same way you do. You might hear the song often until you're older and you might not. I didn't hear it much when I was younger. It was practically silent once I got older. I can only assume that you stopped hearing it, too."
Sesshomaru said nothing, but that didn't mean he didn't remember the days when his parents were together. For a moment, he let himself answer Kita's silent question. He remembered a passionate night that his parents were sharing once. The noises scared him at first since he was sleeping, but he did listen to them once he realized what was going on. He didn't say anything about it. He just kind of thought about what it meant. As in how things would be when he grew up to have a relationship with another person in that way. It never sounded like either of his parents were in pain, so it wasn't anything that would hurt him or the partner. He wasn't quite sure how to react to it. He merely spoke to his grandfather about it as in asking small questions about marriage customs, and the old man surprisingly answered each one as if he had answered them a million times. He probably had. Who knows? If anything, he had aspirations of having a relationship like his parents once. The nighttime strolls and bouquet-making were pleasant hobbies that the two shared. Just having someone always waiting for your return home seemed like a dream. That was all once upon a time now. The lover's song that he remembered had ceased long ago. While he did have Jaken and Rin to wait for his return within recent years, it would never compare to the nights when his parents met each other. There was something hypnotic about them back then. Their laughter, their swoons, their sighs, even their glow was something to behold once upon a time. That story had ended, however. He wished for nothing more to do with his parents. Leaving the Tenseiga with his mother should have been proof of that. As much as the Tenseiga provided for his life, being in Heiwa or around its inhabitants seemed to be calling out to his former self. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. It was merely a thing for now.
"Sounds like you've forgotten the song, too. Through this art and this therapy, I've learned much and have sung the lover's song for myself. There is no shame in being intimate with another," Kita continued, kneeling down to pick a wildflower. "Having sex with someone... changes so much. Doing it for the simple, fleshly pleasure only satisfies your physical, carnal lusts. It adds nothing to your life and becomes just another part of survival. You can either brace for it or refuse it. Both can cause pain. But... when you make love to someone who matters to you, someone who fills the void that's been in you for a long time... you've only begun to see real beauty! Making love isn't about satisfaction at all. It's about pride!"
That caught Sesshomaru's attention more than anything. Pride? That exists here?
"There are hundreds of women out there who will never know what it's like to have a connection with someone soulfully and eternally. The laws are changing a little bit each day. Making love like this will soon be a privilege," Kita said in response to the silence. "I... well, years ago now, I was taking care of things at the family farm. My former friend's older cousin was drunk and attacked me. Tried to blame me for tempting him and promised harm if I said anything. That was my first time. It hurt. I was scared. I blamed myself every day. It wasn't until I stumbled across the doctor's home the same way you did when we met. I didn't know she was a doctor then. She was fetching water that night. Back from training if I remember correctly. She was all sweaty! But... she offered me a place to stay, gave me a checkup, and saw some scars that I thought healed ages ago. She recognized them immediately. I think having someone... who knew my pain and was willing to fight for me... changed everything. I got a chance at a real love and a real life again! I met my husband here! Things were slow, but I was ready. Hehehe! The doctor was with us for our very first night as husband and wife!"
"What!?" Jaken shouted more than questioned. One could only imagine Sesshomaru's expression or thoughts in that moment, but the sentiment was the same as the imp's.
"That would disgust anybody!" Kita said, laughing softly. "But she helped. I felt safe, protected. Eventually, I met my husband's eyes the way I always pictured it. You can call me disgusting if you wish, but I am proud. You can even call me naive, but I am wise and in love. You can call the doctor many an evil name, but she is exactly what she promised to be... a healer. Jya! I guess you answered my question now."
"You never asked us a question," Jaken said, scratching his head.
"Not out loud, silly!" Kita said, giggling and waving goodbye. "You might want to find something else to do, swordsman. Lady Uo and her husband will be here soon!"
"Wha? EH? Her, too?" Jaken questioned. "What kind of business IS THIS!?"
Walking home to complete her day, Meioshi walked through Heiwa's busiest nighttime hour covered in paint, Uo's kisses, and seasoning for foods. She was ready to hop into her bathing room for a good soak after today. Although Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Jaken weren't happy with her making these paintings, they stayed nearby to wait for her until Lady Uo said that Meioshi was indeed packing her things up to leave. For whatever reason, Sesshomaru trusted Uo's word and led the way to her home most likely. She caught Kirameku Ha speaking with someone just outside of his home and waved to him and the older gentleman before proceeding onwards. It wasn't until she got closer to her own house that she felt something amiss. It was quiet. Nothing was moving, not even the grass from the wind. Something wasn't right. Her powers amounted to nothing right now. She used up too much this time. What was this heavy feeling? Hearing zipping in the distance, Meioshi avoided the front door and walked around the side to see her pond. The eyes of the kappa and smaller aquatic demons were all just staring back at her. The zipping was going to the stairs leading up to the cliff. The hell traveler's star was just overhead like a beacon in the night next to the moon. It was time. Whether she was powerless or not, she had to return... to her home...
"What's up there?" a familiar voice asked. It was Homugi. She looked cute in her new pajamas. Definitely worth stitching up!
"My world..."