No one could believe it. How could they? Dressed in white and gold, their beloved leader was laid to rest before them on wooden scaffolding ready to be burned. He looked no older than seventy or so. They were all within that age range. Maybe two or three gents were closer to eighty. His hair was salt and pepper gray, skin kissed by the sun with its golden-brown complexion, lips and face relaxed like he was merely taking a nap..., but he was as still as any other corpse. Meioshi kissed Arimasa's forehead, backed away like she was going to faint, and was caught by her friends as she wept. She stepped away completely to let the myrmidons view the body of the man they once called their king, their friend, their comrade in battle. Kirameku Ha was the first to approach him. He shook his head in disbelief at first, body shaking as he reached a hand out to touch Arimasa's cheek, and snatched his hand away when he felt the familiar frost of death on his brother's person. A tear escaped him at last. Arimasa was gone. The rest of the men followed suit. Each one touching a hand or the corpse's cheek or his chest to feel some semblance of a heartbeat. Nothing. How? How could this warrior, their leader, their foundation just be gone?
Lord Aka probably took it the hardest. He knew Arimasa as a boy when Kokina Hoshi returned to the Hell Travelers' Threshold with him at his side. Back then, no one lived in the historic parts of Old Heiwa. It was strictly a training ground for the hell travelers. That little boy who offered Aka a meat bun... wasn't smiling anymore. He wasn't running around in play anymore. He wasn't looking at the stars anymore. He wasn't making toy boats anymore. He was gone... One lone finger stroked Arimasa's jaw and a stream of golden tear fell from the old demon's eyes to make six golden beads on the ground. Probably next in line to take the loss the hardest among the demons of the world was Shanwang. Though he didn't get close, as that was against oni tradition, his mouth did twitch a bit and his eyes held some measure of sadness in them. Of all the masters, he enjoyed Arimasa's sense of humor and found that the man held a bit of oni charm within him. It was in his confident swagger and style of dress. Meioshi had to have struggled to prepare his body for the viewing. He turned to her and saw her being rocked by her friends. He said nothing as he looked on, but he looked at Arimasa one last time before leaving to return to his prison. Kiyonobu was fighting every fatherly instinct in his body to let Meioshi grieve, but the ceremony was quite beautiful.
Flowers surrounded the cremation scaffolding, and it looked like some wooden boats were made to sail on cloths the color of the sea. Shizukesa was also fighting her supportive instincts. That may have been why Shanwang left. It is within an oni's nature to aid another of their kind who is grieving. In funerals, they can't get close to the bodies. The kappa guardians were allowed to view the body like Aka, but they grieved calmly and lifted Meioshi up for her to leave. She had something that she had to do...
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"Force no man to kneel. Help him rise to his feet and give him hope. Show you are understanding.
Offer learning to all. For wisdom and enlightenment give rise to an esteemed and joyful kingdom. Show you are a lantern that guides all men.
Be humble and grateful. For both are needed to gain wisdom and to ensure prosperity for your people.
Know these qualities well in your life and you will have walked down the path that was chosen for me as ruler.
Build your character and be firm in it, else you are inferior."
"Young Emperor Kunimatsu," an elder called.
Before the emperor of Heiwa stood a high priest of the Shinto temple and six underlings. Dressed in the ceremonial colors of red, white, black, and ochre yellow, the seven elders of the temple were engaging the royal family with the commencement speech. This marked the beginning of the festival and the blessing of good fortune for the rest of the parade. Zakaza was just behind the emperor, admiring the young teen's royal sokutai and festival crown. He opted out of wearing the upright kanmuri for something more personal in design. The imperial chrysanthemum textile was present on the kanmuri to showcase Kunimatsu's future rank, but the pennon was curved into vines and two small fans were attached on the sides. The design of his crown was meant to show that he was indebted to his beloved doctor for saving his life when he was much younger. Now, he had to show her that her efforts were not in vain.
The elder continued, "This is the passage of your forefather, Muranaka I. Honor his words and his lifestyle on this great day. The gods show favor to you, and your High father smiles upon you from his throne among them. Go with grace, young ruler. Mother Empress, continue to guide him and honor your husband who is now among the heavens. For he looks upon you and holds your shoulders up to remind you to have pride and keep the strength of your loving bond with your family. Go with grace, Mother Empress."
The High Priest of the Shinto temple bowed low to the young Emperor, who has completed his ritual luncheons and training, and retrieved the ceremonial shaku from a bed of grain salt. He handed the emperor the ritual baton then led the way with his group of priests to begin the march. Kunimatsu faced his mother, who was smiling at him and nodding to give him encouragement, with a nervousness stronger than the previous years when he participated in this festival. He was forever grateful that Meioshi had visited him. Having tea with her and that demon swordsman with his big-eyed imp, whose names he had forgotten, helped ease his mind a great deal. He was especially anxious around big crowds due to the trauma of the assassination attempts on his life as a child, but his bodyguard/personal doctor would be with him this year. He was eager to see her again and hoped to visit her home for the afterparty. After all, he would be away from home to visit the townspeople. What was Old Heiwa like now? Did it change much? He learned that Meioshi stopped attending festivals for several years in favor of traveling as a doctor. Kunimatsu was pleasantly surprised to know that she'd be in the march, so he was curious to see her ceremonial attire. Eagerness getting the better of him, he started rubbing his fingers together aggressively and impatiently bit his lower lip.
Everyone was going so slow! But, the drummers chanted and led the way. The crowd of noblemen and their families stationed outside of the palace gates could be heard hustling to get to the sides as the drummers walked to the center. Chants, stomps, and lunges were performed in perfect unison with the drumbeats. The musicians were dressed in indigo and ochre yellow with the imperial crest on their drums. Once they reached the center, they performed a steady flow of notes until another set of drummers were heard. The crowd from the military families and friends were all lining up toward the center of the village. Flag twirlers and carriers were actually first. They acted as crowd control and opened the pathway a bit wider for the cavalry coming after them. From the general's estate (now known as the Heiwa Policing Group) came drummers dressed in a maroon-like color and white with bits of armor. The men tossed their drumsticks to each other and leaped over them to perform tricks as they played their beat. The drumbeats were deeper in tone compared to the flighty sounds of the emperor's drummers. When they came together, they played with the emperor's drummers to await the next group. All was quiet as the town waited. They thought for sure Meioshi wouldn't come. She hadn't attended the Henka no Koshin Festival for nearly a decade since she became a doctor, supposedly. They were waiting for nothing.
Suddenly, what sounded like a cannon startled everyone including the drummers. What was that? The participants looked at each other with questioning eyes. Sharp whistling then sounded and little balls rolled on the ground. They hissed before releasing smoke and bursting open in a flash and BOOM! Some women yelped and grabbed onto neighbors. Were they being attacked? Another cannon sounded. More smoke. From the billowing gray emerged a rug with names unfamiliar to the people... at least the younger ones. Elders saw names belonging to ancestors on the rug. Men in black, deep indigo, and orange clothes and small bits of armor came out from the smoke and lifted the hell traveler's mark from the ground. No one seemed to notice the snowbell trees stands being covered by the soil of their land. The backs of the flags were made brown to hide them. Another cannon sounded before the men let out booming yells.
"SAVE! A! LIFE!"
"SAVE! A! LIFE!"
Drums sounded with the boom of the cannon in synchronization to the eerie tune. Drummers dressed in black and red came forward from the smoke but stayed behind the flagmen until the smoke cleared of the names on the rug that had been rolled out. Other elders walked over to them to get a better look at the rug and recognized some of the names on it. They spoke to each other in whispers. Horns blew from the emperor's palace. The imperial guards came forward, a bit confused at the whisperings going on, but proceeded accordingly. The onlookers of the noble class were impressed by the armor and helmets of the vanguard marching through to clear the path and act as crowd control. Following behind them were the emperor's flagmen carrying the tapestries of each ruler. They tossed strings of protection beads into the crowds for people to catch, careful not to drop the flag or lower it for a moment. They circled the heart of the village to form the viewing stage and a protective border between the trifecta and the crowd. Everyone could see the tapestries quite clearly as the flagmen spread them out so that they could. The flagmen then formed a semicircle to line off the emperor's side of the village's center.
"WE ARE...! THE MEN...! SWORN TO GUARD THE PEOPLE!"
"CAVALRY!"
"TO ARMS!"
The drummers for the emperor and general joined in their harmony as men with farming tools like scythes, fishing spears, and sickles marched in formation and chanted those lines from the general's path. These particular men didn't wear much armor, but they had on tan leather clothing to mark the first few men who formed Heiwa's army. Many of those men were merely farmhands or aided in cultivating the land in the past. The elders near the hell traveler's rug turned to it and whispered to their respective family members or friends.
"Your ancestor there had joined the army. We still have his first weapon. Look!"
The weapons of the past were twirling and spinning rapidly in the men's hands. They dared not toss these items to each other, in case of an accident, but they did toss them into the air for show. Like the flagmen, they circled the heart of the village for all to see them perform tricks or acrobatics. Some performed a reenactment of a fight to tell legends of certain members of the army. Many of the first army didn't have swords, so it was easy for a legend to stir that an enemy died from something as small a filet knife at long-range. When the men completed the circle to spread the people out a bit more, they formed the other part of the semicircle to create an almost perfect arch. Cannon fire sounded again. The hell traveler's drummers played something a bit faster then paused. Crescendo, accelerando, pause. Accelerando, pause. Roaring emerged before rustling the tree leaves and grass sounded. Both noises blended in with the sound of arrows being fired and the drumbeats following after the arrows. This startled the crowd again and made them whisper more until it reached the noblemen onlookers. They were stuck between looking at the imperial marchers and the hell traveler's smoky, obscured visuals.
Zakaza and the royal maids all came out holding branches of flowering trees or fall foliage from the imperial line. They first sang in unison of the story of the people choosing Muranaka I as emperor. They sang of his humility and his love for the people. When they were finished singing, musicians cued up the song for the dancing maids. Zakaza was the apple of many an eye. The emperor could see the maids dancing quite easily, so she made sure to be her most elegant for him. Unfortunately, Kunimatsu wasn't paying attention. He saw smoke covering something. Everyone else was mesmerized by the dancing maids, however, and pointed at them to give compliments and wave to them. Some maids passed out flowers or small bracelets to young girls. Others taught older girls how to bow like a lady before they returned to their formation. The maids filled up the imperial semicircle a bit more and stood just an inch or so in front of the flagmen and vanguard. From the general's line came archers. They didn't have arrows but a representative of the people who provided arrows for the army ran out and started cranking some kind of contraption. Archers were marching and simulating the pulling and releasing of the bowstring before reaching behind them to reload. The contraption opened up into a wide umbrella. The man then spun it around about three times to get the crowd's attention and distract them from him lighting a small rocket that sent off what looked like ten or so balloons. The archers in the far rear fired actual arrows with heated tips to break the balloons. Colorful smoke and ribbons came out to impress the crowd. The archers circled the center then went to fill their semicircle.
From the smoke came Homugi adorning a headdress that was decorated with cypress and lace. Four men followed after her and went out in front of the flagmen to kneel and play their flutes. The sound was soft, and the drums played slower. Homugi had a set of fur fans that caught everyone's attention. They were of medium size - enough to cover half of her torso - and showed the image of an inu prancing in the sky when fully opened. The hiragana read "the symbol of new beginnings" next to the inu. When Homugi opened the fans, she started to prance about and stopped to perk her ears up. It looked like she was listening for something. Closing her fans, she leaped over the names on the rug to twirl about and opened the fans again. Sesshomaru and the boys sat where Aka and Yamashi set up the viewing chairs and watched Homugi prance like the inu that Unmei had seen in the sky. She twirled her fans so gracefully and created such careful movements like she a floating spirit. She didn't circle the heart of the village like the others did. She wasn't meant to do so. She was only meant to dance within the semicircle marked off for the hell traveler. The puffs and ribbons on her waist belt came alive when she opened the top layer of her kimono. Little cloud appliques were sewn into the layer. When she pranced for a few steps, she closed the fans, attached them to the belt, and pivoted on her toes to make the skirt fly out. Fur and fabric joined to show intrigue. Reijiro's attention went straight to her, now not understanding why Takamuku wasn't courting or even sexually interested in Homugi. Her beauty was enough to take his breath away.
As if she could sense his gaze on her, Homugi crouched low to expose her leg from underneath her kimono and let the fur just at the edges created a line of interest along the curves of her leg. Her fingers curled so her hands could caress her torso and flutter passed her fluffed hair and down her body. The waving of her hands representing the winds through her fur and timed almost perfectly with the breeze that came with this motion. She looked in his direction with eyes he was sure were trying to seduce him then another direction to make the crowd follow where she was looking. From her diaphragm came a roar then a melodious howl. While the humans wouldn't understand it, Sesshomaru and the boys had to fight their own instinct to join her. Their eyes shrunk and ears perked to the sound. It was the House of Inu's call when one found something of interest. It was a noise made in one's true form. Another cannon sounded, calling Homugi back to the smoky wall, and a cry from women echoed throughout the crowd. Soon, a war cry erected from the smoke, but no one could see where any of the noises were coming from. Smoke remained in place to obscure the hell traveler's appearance. Some of the noblemen started to gossip.
"Hmph! All that noise over a sweet dance! Showing skin to entice our young men, no less!"
"I thought she was pretty," a child complimented, blushing at Homugi's "Prance of the Inu" dance. "Her fur had spots!"
"Her dress wasn't like the maids, but it was flowy and captivating."
"Tch! The hell travelers? With maids? Nonsense!"
Drums made a deep rumble, catching the attention of the onlookers, and made everyone turn to the direction of the general's path. Men in armor had white fans lifted in the air and timed their marches to a particular note of the drum. After these men were a group of women twirling their naginata around. It wasn't a large number of women, but they were there to inspire other young ladies who sought to bring their families honor in a different way. They tossed small wooden tanto to young children. Finally, the general came forward in his glinting armor, the ceremonial saihai in his hand, and a lengthy manto flowing beautifully from his shoulders. His face couldn't be seen behind the mask, but most of the women knew who the new representative of the First General was for this year. They cheered and swooned for him despite not being able to see him. The representative turned to a group of girls, nodded respectfully, and continued his march. The noblemen were quite impressed with the new "general" this year. He walked strong and sort of embodied the man quite well. The vote among the military officials was done excellently! The proud shoulders being pulled back, the lax sway of the arm for every third step, and the respectable nod here and there. Stonewall Tate strapped to the young man's back, two representatives of the commanders under the First General carted the fabled chest on a wagon just behind the young man. All three men looked just as intimidating as the legends foretold.
The First General was always the first to enter the heart of the village, so he was the first to proceed with his kenbu. The reenactment of the general's time in service captivated all. His fan showcased the day he heard his calling to protect others. It was rainy. Opening the fan and flapping it, the young man lifted the fan above his head then tilted his head back along with the fan to represent the weather. As the sun shone, the general traded in his farming tools for a proper sword. Performing the kata, the young man representing Heiwa's hero closed the fan then circled the heart to point his sword out and twirl it about. This was to represent the encouragement that the general felt when he took up arms. Complete with the traditional kenbu, the young man representing the general let out a booming kachidoki that stirred all and made his part of the semicircle rejoice.
The flutists from the hell traveler's side heard their cue once the war cry sounded. The drummers rose to their feet to play a tune that was quicker in tempo. Cannon fire sounded for the final time... before more drums played. From the smoke came a band of men. Women were singing, pausing, and then singing again. They walked out and finally circled the heart of the village. The drummers placed their instruments down when they filled the whole circle and ran to their neighbors' drum to bang on the surface. Chanting cued from them before they tossed their sticks in perfect arches for the next person to catch them. Once caught, the drummers banged a tune and let out their own war cry.
"Guard the souls of the people!"
"By the gods' grace!"
"Defend the three worlds!"
The Green Pheasant and his family actually appeared next, making children coo at the baby birds chirping and running about. The general didn't know what to make of the birds, but they seemed harmless to him. The baby birds handed out small bags of toys while Madame passed out flowers. The Green Pheasant opened his tail feathers up like he was a peafowl and whistled a tune like he was calling out to someone. From the smoke... came Meioshi. She was dressed in an outstanding headpiece that was topped with the Green Pheasant's feathers and a belt made of her spicy herbs that repelled demons. Because her reformed eyes were still glowing, she had to hide them behind a mask. The rest of her face was visible, just not the eyes. Her medallion glimmered in the setting sun's light and the jewelry decorating her hips, ankles, and headdress gave her the appearance of a tribal princess. She wore her orange manto over her kimono and armor. It didn't hide the eyelets in her dress that showed off her hips; in fact, the general's eye went straight to them. She was carrying her family's flag and wearing a set of armor familiar to those who knew of the Kairyu warriors.
She then started to perform a kenshibu. Women from the distance were singing a soft tune as the drums played softly. The flutists and a shamisen player then joined together as Meioshi danced with her flag first. It was the story of Unmei. A young boy running from danger who finds a home among the refugees. He grows up, hears the sounds of war, defends his home against a random attack. Meioshi then walks up to the general, who gasps at the proximity of her body and takes in her perfume, and bows to represent the day Unmei had asked to train as a soldier. The Green Pheasant whistled again and roaring sounds in the smoky distance. Meioshi turned to the noise, jabbed the center of the semicircle with her flag, and revealed Unmei's sword in pristine condition. The Shinto priests walked forward a bit to see the commotion and proceed with their parade, thinking the hell travelers didn't show, but they were shocked by Meioshi dancing before them with her ancestor's weapon. She was showing the crowd Unmei's prowess in battle before he discovered the herbs. Sheathing her sword, she opened a large fan that covered half of her body at least. The general was stuck between admiration and genuine interest. Meioshi danced on tiptoe as she reenacted the battle with the Lurking Beasts, Lord Aka, and then King Shanwang.
Kunimatsu and his mother finally walked forward to watch Meioshi dance. Their dance was quite simple, but Kunimatsu had a bit more since he was representing Muranaka I. He performed his shibu quite beautifully, showing that the people had chosen him to be the leader. The general and Meioshi danced with him to show their union and friendship in the formation of the trifecta. They ended their separate dances with a joined walk to resemble the heartbeat of Heiwa. Meioshi then returned to her semicircle to complete her dance by forming the barrier over the village. The smoke cleared on her side and the onlookers saw the residents of Old Heiwa standing behind the smoke wall the entire time in silence.
"Kairyu!"
"To battle!"
Kirameku Ha and his men waved the smoke about to clear the screen obscuring the view of the hell traveler's path completely. They walked the circle with their sons while the women danced. Meioshi played with Homugi and Yuko in their dance with the ladies, and then jumped around with the children. The current residents of Niji Shaku (now known as Old Heiwa) danced before all in the circle. Meioshi continued her dance as they did until she was able to retrieve her flag and pose in a statuesque position to represent the promise that her family made to protect their home.