Sesshomaru, Homugi, and Hasumi were down below fighting the kappa together to get to the cliff. While Hasumi couldn't sense that something was wrong, the two inu explained that Meioshi was in trouble from the harrying power above. The kappa, however, were tough and their defense was impressive to say the least. There was some form of barrier that the kappa had formed to block Bakusaiga's cutting power and sheer force. What kind of creatures were they really? Jaken tried to aid where he could in unleashing some of Nintojo's fire, but even that was useless against the kappas' shell shields!
"Whoa! Look at the size of the kappas, daddy!" a small familiar voice to the girls interrupted.
Homugi and Hasumi turned to see Omezo and Kiyonobu walking up to them casually. The kappa heard a noise come from above and shifted their gaze to the cliff. Meioshi's mask collapsed from her face and broke into hair pieces. She couldn't open her eyes and stumbled away from the cliff to the Kappa Kaidan. However, because Sesshomaru and Homugi tried to rush to Meioshi's side, the stairway was spiraling crookedly and caused the doctor to tumble down the stairs without being able to stop. Kiyonobu flew up to her without anyone being able to blink and caught her in his arms. When she tried to open her eyes, there were only empty wine-colored sockets in place. She couldn't see anything. Enraged, Kiyonobu's eyes began to glow and his power stirred. Walking down the stairs, undeterred from their unusual direction, Kiyonobu walked directly up to a kappa and watched the youkai look at the girl in his arms. It removed the bowl from his head and took the doctor from Kiyonobu's arms to lower her into the bowl.
"She will heal, oni," the kappa said politely. It bowed and said, "Thank you."
"What're you doin' here, Omezo?" Hasumi asked. "What's going on? Why's your dad here?"
"We came to pick up sister!" Omezo said happily. "Daddy said he felt her powers coming back so we rushed over. I'm surprised no one noticed the fog."
"Eh?" Hasumi questioned. When she looked around, the estate was covered thickly in fog. It seemed like it had been for a while. Kiyonobu called his fog back to his body and looked at Sesshomaru with disinterest. He remembered him quite well. He was the one who tried to start a fight with Meioshi while she was on her way to Numa-o's palace. Hasumi didn't know about any of that and instead asked, "Help me out here! You could sense Meioshi's power all the way from home?"
"Uh-huh! Once an oni recognizes a fighting pattern or use of power, you become easier to track. Oh!" Omezo said, taking off his backpack to open it up. He started rifling through his things until he found the items of interest. He pulled out bell anklets for the girls and said, "These are for you! Sister-mother helped us make them for you. The fairy anklet is for Hasumi. The puppy paw anklet is for Homugi. And... sister's anklet is this rosy one! I'll give it to her after her bath."
"Thank you," Homugi said, taking the anklet from the child. "Does this mean Meioshi really is an oni and not a human?"
"She seemed human to me," Hasumi replied.
"An oni is capable of wearing mortal skin when necessary, little fairy," Kiyonobu explained.
"Then the migration of you, bumbling fools, was for the doctor before," Sesshomaru said rudely. "What interest do the oni have with this woman?"
"You speak as if you are a worthy of an answer. Sniff for your meaningless scraps elsewhere, onery pup," Kiyonobu replied, hearing gurgling from the bowl.
Sesshomaru's eyes went blood red, letting a large amount of yoki disperse from him. "I will not be talked down to by the lowly likes of you."
"If it is a fight you want..." Kiyonobu said slowly, eyes glowing in response to Sesshomaru's power. His teeth matched Sesshomaru's in sharpness before he folded his arms with confidence and tilted his head back to continue, "Then it's a fight you'll get from a true oni!"
The kappa guard that was watching over Meioshi's healing bowl turned to his partner, nodded at him to control the youkai men and their quest for battle, and turned to the Kaidan to dismiss the other aquatic youkai with a wordless command and dismantle the stairs. Splashes and crickets finally sounded, and the silence that covered Meioshi's estate was no more. Winds passed over everyone's skin, and it finally felt okay to breathe... sort of. Homugi and the children merely watched as the burly kappa guard walked up to the oni guardian and inu prince in lumbering footsteps. He had an odd white rope around his high hip area with Shinto papers covering a fairly colorful kesho-mawashi. If one looked hard enough, one could see that the kappa guard's garment had a scene of a deity and a kappa charging at each other in a ring. A bolt of lightning struck directly between the figures and waves of water rushed around their feet. It was a beautifully stitched and beaded garment! The Shinto papers, unfortunately, were blocking the kanji words or potential narrative that came with the scene, but it didn't matter seeing as though the kappa was towering over everyone with beaming eyes and a low growl.
The creature was huge. He turned to Kiyonobu to inspect him and then to Sesshomaru before saying, "These are sacred grounds. Home to the holy warriors we have vowed to protect alongside the kami above. If you wish to do battle, you will do so cleanly and without damaging the haven of the daughter of Unmei. Save your aggression for our ring."
"Ring?" Omezo questioned, tilting his head cutely.
"Gijutsu-ryoku de yama o kōryaku suru..."
Parting the papers to the left then the right, the kappa guard squatted down and summoned power from his shell in a burst of mist and gust of wind. He reached behind him to grab at the yoki energy and made it solidify into a disc that could be spun about over his head. He tossed the yoki disc at the men and let it form a ring around them. In a flash of light, both youkai were sent to another plane of existence without the limitations restricting them from their bout of competition.
Kiyonobu was quite aware of how kappa operated, being an aquatic youkai species himself, so he had no problem with their decision to send them to a proper fighting ring. Summoning his Swamp Cypress Kanabo, the oni guardian let out an immense amount of power that made fog surround him with an intense, choking thickness. Sesshomaru didn't care about oni or kappa enough to acknowledge their rules. Both species were beneath the House of Inu and acted as servants to them. He was more insulted that he had to fight servants than anything else. Besides, he could still smell Meioshi's blood. She was injured somehow. Battling another enemy when she already came so close to death was stupid and reckless! What was she thinking? Putting that thought aside for now, Sesshomaru unleashed his own power and revealed Bakusaiga's might. Charging at the oni guardian, Sesshomaru went on the offensive and struck at Kiyonobu's club, but the man merely smirked, directed the boy's sword downwards in a perfect arc, and disappeared in a burst of fog. Hearing Kiyonobu approaching, Sesshomaru was able to dodge a club swing in his direction but not the jaw-shattering punch to his face before being snatched and thrown to the ground. As Kiyonobu slammed his club down, Sesshomaru recovered and flash stepped behind Kiyonobu quickly to unleash a barrage of claw swipes. Two managed to land, but the rest was properly blocked and countered with devastating kicks and a critical club swing.
The fight continued with swift movements of swipes, strikes, and blocks for a while. The clashing of power rattled and cracked the walls of the ring. Sesshomaru was almost reminded of his father in this power struggle. Kiyonobu was slower than him, but his combat affinity was proven to be fierce. In water, Sesshomaru would have most definitely drowned. This youkai couldn't have been the one Meioshi was fighting before. That had to be a different oni. Though both were brimming with power, he could see how hard it would be for any species of youkai to control and humble these creatures... and how easy for them it was to underestimate him. Blocking his dragon attack with a shield around his club, Kiyonobu stomped harshly, dropped the shield, grabbed at the yoki energy barehanded to absorb some of it, and struck the dragon to cause it to explode. Using said energy, Kiyonobu powered up a speedier attack that rocketed him at Sesshomaru and successfully aided him in landing a multiple-hit combination of two club swings and a hard kick. The western lord felt himself tumbling on the ground before he used his claw to stop him from slamming against the wall. Reaching his breaking point, he decided that Kiyonobu was simply too strong to deal with in his humanoid form. It was time to show him why the oni were beneath him.
Kiyonobu watched as clouds surrounded Sesshomaru, allowing himself to prepare for a charged attack, but was slightly taken aback by Sesshomaru's true form baring his teeth and growling at him. Ah, so that's how he wants to continue? So be it! Kiyonobu didn't transform into his real self, but he did unlock his guardian form and power. The fog became part of his armor and his eyes were fully those of the oni, black and glowing a yellowy orange. He folded his arms and waited for the inu to attack, leaving the club to stand on its own. Sesshomaru charged at him at an angle with a vicious biting attack and claw swipe. Kiyonobu let him connect both before kami-yoki energy was unleashed and orbiting his Swamp Cypress Kanabo. Feet sliding against the ground, Kiyonobu called his kanabo and disappeared in a billow of fog before slamming his weapon against the back of Sesshomaru's neck. The sheer force of the blow knocked him into the nearest wall... and out of the ring...
The kappa guard caught Sesshomaru by the hand to pull him back up to his feet and dismissed his power to return Kiyonobu to the estate.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken called, hurrying over to his master's side. He was not happy about losing.
"Whoa! You won, daddy!" Omezo cheered, seeing his father in his guardian form. He was used to it when a strong enemy dared trespass on the water oni grounds. "Was it a good fight?"
"The young prince has potential," Kiyonobu replied. "But he has much to learn about our heritage just as Kachan Oni does. Only those low in status are controllable as servants. True oni are masterless."
"Hehe! Did you forget her name, daddy? It's Meioshi!" Omezo corrected with a bright smile.
He placed Meioshi's anklet back into his travel bag, which was more of a box than anything else, and ran up to his father to grab at his pant leg. It was a habit of his when he was around new people. He never met Sesshomaru or the kappa guards, so he was quite nervous. Kiyonobu dismissed the rest of his power and patted his son on the head while softening his features. Homugi and Hasumi smiled at them, seeing that the oni guardian above all else was a gentle, caring father.
"I did not forget, my son. I just like that name more," Kiyonobu replied, turning back to the kappa. He bowed in respect to the ancient guardian and asked, "How long have you been with Kachan's family, brother of the shield?"
"Little more than three hundred years now," the kappa guard answered. "She and the soul she must save are the last members of her clan now. That's why she doesn't want to return home. She's been punishing herself for what happened to her family. It was not her fault. Her enemy unleashed a level of might that even we could not defend against. It took everyone to stop that vile creature from decimating the entire village of Heiwa. It was your king, ironically, who aided us and stopped the assailants."
"King Shanwang lives?" Kiyonobu questioned, hope in his eyes that even Omezo was unfamiliar with.
"You do not know what happened? A messenger should have come to you centuries ago," the kappa guard questioned, concern showing in his eyes. Seeing the confusion in Kiyonobu's features, he then continued, "A kami of old and great power had confronted your king just before he battled Lord Unmei. He warned him that if he continued to decimate territories for conquest then his fate would be sealed. Your king did not heed the warning, so the kami led him to a mirror that could trap souls within it without killing them. Shanwang favored this 'gift' and used it to his advantage. He trapped many souls within it and was able to plunder villages in droves. You know of this mirror surely."
"He..." Kiyonobu's eyes widened from the memory. He did see his king with a mirror in his quarters. He had no idea about its origins!
"You did see it then," the kappa guard said with a nod. Okay, he at least knows about the item. "That mirror was the very item that imprisoned him. Your king had come to these sacred grounds to conquer them like the others. The kami that gifted him with the mirror called upon Lord Unmei to battle him. Unconvinced that the human soldier could harm him, your king decided to torture him. He trapped the soul of Unmei's friend in the mirror and threw it into hell. A place no mortal can go. The kami, however, used that very opportunity to grant Lord Unmei immeasurable powers and he became a hell traveler. The only human to do this. When Unmei was able to retrieve his friend's soul, the kami forced Shanwang to repay Unmei for the loss of Unmei's friend. His servitude to the hell travelers and imprisonment within the mirror was a result. An ogre who had been in the area at the time had news of this. He should have returned to your kingdom to tell you. The kami granted him this small mercy at least."
"That's impossible!" Kiyonobu whispered to himself in disbelief. "Shanwang was among the strongest of youkai by far! He battled every beast on mortal soil and defeated countless warriors! A human would have died with a single punch!"
"The kami favored Unmei when he was a boy. it is he who decided to call him to battle your king. I do not believe this was out of malice, however," the kappa guard said, offering a bit of positivity for the situation the oni guard was hearing. When Kiyonobu looked to the kappa for an explanation, the guard then said, "The kami did take a liking to Shanwang and saw great potential in him. Like us many centuries ago, he wanted your king to consider a covenant with the deities and the humans. We are mighty because we share the strength of a deity and the hell travelers. Shanwang would have been the strongest youkai alive had he agreed to a similar union, but I believe your king was simply too young to understand how incredible such a thing would have been for him. Your Kachan oni and our Lady Meioshi is powerful. Shanwang, though he would never admit it, has always shown interest in Meioshi. I think that's the only reason why he helped her family fight their enemies back. Otherwise, your king would have let them fall out of spite as he often did early in his imprisonment years. Only the later generations of hell travelers have managed to break down his walls of coldness with the promise of finding a way to set him free. They have even gone a step further to befriend and serve him the way perhaps you would have."
"Does he... trust the humans now?" Kiyonobu asked, ready to disbelieve this.
"He tolerates them at best," the kappa guard said with short chuckle. "He trusts only the hell travelers."
"Is he still here?" Kiyonobu asked. He had to hear all of this from his old friend, his king, his leader. He had to see him.
"Only Meioshi knows where to go. She's the one who released him from the mirror to transfer him to a new place. We do not know where that place is," the kappa guard said. "But he does revisit his old prison guards from time to time. He hadn't told Meioshi about that yet. The last time he was here must've been just before she met you. Your king did inform her about the commanders and your broken island."
"He knows it's been dismantled?" Kiyonobu questioned. "How?"
"This, I am not sure, but he knows," the kappa guard replied.
"I don't know what's going on here, but I'm lost! Is Meioshi an oni or not?" Jaken demanded, making the kappa guard overlooking the bowl turn to him to reply.
"No, she is not an oni. She made an agreement with the oni king. I am only telling you this because you frequently visit here along with the inu boy there. The enemy that Lady Meioshi is seeking to fight is of immeasurable strength as my brother has said. This enemy is beyond our power despite our covenant and beyond your prince's power despite his strength. Shanwang is the only creature of the living world able to even come close to defeating her enemy, so she made a pact with him in order to gain power like him. To do this, Shanwang gave her a fragment of his power to train with in exchange for his freedom. The trials that he put her through up until this point, though possibly spiteful by intention, have been bouts of intense training."
Sesshomaru's eyes slightly widened at this. That's how she was able to defeat him at the ravine! She called upon an oni's strength, not the Netherworld predator! Even then, when she was fighting that other oni with the blue hair, she was fighting in that same redhead form. That was oni power she was using! If she can reach heights of power akin to Kiyonobu's might, she would be a devastating opponent. So, really, all along... she was never using her full strength on him. She was solely focused on...
"I only have only one enemy to fight."
Turning to the healing bowl, Sesshomaru frowned at it. She never wanted to hurt him. She only ever saw him as a potential sparring partner until... she would see him as that no longer. This will not stand! He didn't get all of this power, go through all of these trials, and lose all of the people who mattered to him for a human to see him as weak or unworthy. He may not have anticipated an oni being as strong as Kiyonobu or this Shanwang or even that other nameless oni, but that didn't mean he couldn't defeat any of them! That didn't mean he couldn't defeat the doctor!
"I see you as incomplete..."
That's what Kirameku Ha had said. Was he really missing something else? What was it? If compassion wasn't it, what else could it be? Was his father's teachings not enough? All because of this one girl?
"Why not let my answer simply be my answer?"
Sesshomaru stopped frowning at his rival's words and merely stood there in silence. He was missing something that she had. Compassion was one of those things. She has other things that he doesn't have. Their code of honor was different. This, he knew. What else could it be? Maybe... it wasn't a singular thing. Maybe it was multiple things boiled down to singular generality. She had something to lose. Her fight was never over. Her training was never complete. She would be at war for a long time... and so would he. If he loses her, he loses the chance to prove that he is more powerful than all these creatures she's surrounded by. He loses the chance to protect Rin the way Meioshi protects Ohta and the others. It's not about being there all the time when danger comes. It's about making sure everyone can protect themselves or find good help when you're missing or not there in time. Being present is only part of the task of being a guardian. It takes everyone to protect what matters to you the most. He was missing his everyone.
"Hey, look! Bubbles!" Omezo cheered, running over to the kappa bowl.
Meioshi emerged from the waters, coughing and grunting. She wasn't opening her eyes and held her arm up to cover them. Her lids were reddened and shaking in rapid movements. Omezo looked at his sister oni with worry in his features. He could sense that she was really hurt. Scaring the kappa guard, he hopped in the water with the doctor and hugged her to sing a lullaby. This startled Meioshi at first, too, but she seemed to grow still and started to sing along herself. No one had ever heard her sing before. She had a pretty voice. It may have been startled and cracked here and there, but it was soft, able to alter between higher tones and more even tones, and was quite pleasant. Kiyonobu had panda eyes and inhaled sharply from the cuteness of the moment. His baby boy was capable of being gentler with his "orphan sister", a fact that Maemi pointed out, and Meioshi responded to children or those trying to help her quite well.
Snapping back to reality, Kiyonobu walked up to the healing bowl after Homugi and Hasumi hurried over to Meioshi as well. The oni guard took notice to the piglet missing, or perhaps Yuko was a human disguised as such before. He then said, "Kachan oni, can you see Omezo in front of you?"
"Kiyonobu?" Meioshi questioned, unable to open her eyes. "I... can't see anything."
"Your eyes were taken out," Hasumi said darkly. "Azumamaro used to do that. Take eyes from people. That red around them means someone took them out."
"Who did this to you?" Homugi demanded.
"It is part - hn - of my trial," Meioshi said through pained grunts. "If Omezo and Kiyonobu are here, they want to see their king."
"It can wait until you heal," Kiyonobu tried, fatherly instincts taking over him.
"No," Meioshi said with a shake of her head. "It is he who I must go to now for this trial. Yasuhide. Tsuchiya. Drop the barrier from the cliff."
"Milady," the kappa guards said, bowing to her.
Together, they exposed the barrier over the cliff and Meioshi's estate and broke it like glass with a slap downward.
"The restoration begins at dawn..."