Falling leaves fell with confident grace. As the gentle breeze danced among the green skin in summer's light, Sesshomaru stood atop a sole hill. He breathed the fresh air to soothe the aches in his muscles. His wound was a sting yet to dissolve - a vexing reminder of the battle he nearly lost.
Sesshomaru couldn't recall the last time his thoughts were in disarray - when landscapes turned to intricate webs of tangled concepts, emotions, and disjointed fragments of reality. Then again, his mind had always been a labyrinth few could comprehend. Even he couldn't always understand himself. The wind escalated to a gentle push. Was that a gesture of nature beseeching him to leave?
"Sesshomaru."
The call to his name carried a weight he couldn't ignore. An echo from his past that had been concealed beneath layers of time; a spectral whisper Sesshomaru had hoped would remain dormant. Yet, there she was, a spitting image of the maiden lost through time. But to the sensation scourging his chest, Sesshomaru could not decipher. Too long had his heart hardened, deprived of such strong emotions. It was no wonder his mind was a tempest.
His eyes spoke to her, a stare that demanded a reason for her disturbing his contemplation. Yuna pursed her lips, as if hesitant to speak out her mind. Fortunately, the unfavorable pause did not last long as Yuna took a deep, quiet breath.
"I need new clothes."
Sesshomaru trailed Yuna's figure from head to toe; he couldn't help but notice the impeccable state of her attire. Torn in many areas that left much of her vital areas vulnerable, she was lucky to have escaped the mountains with scrapes. Even her hair and complexion needed reviving; she was due for a bath.
"And where would you suggest to find them here?" His response positioned Yuna's request as a spoiled front, or mere foolishness to think she would find such necessities in the meadow they stood - where nothing but floras and faunas inhabited the area. In many ways, he was right.
"There's a village just down by the river." Or not. "I saw a bunch of them selling clothes and food."
"Yet you returned without any at your possession."
"I need money." Such a short, yet true statement should have left the prince baffled, but the only reaction he entertained was a shallow sneer.
"And you believe I possess those trinkets you require?"
She shuffled her right foot and spoke with an innocent look. "Well, yeah. You call yourself a wanderer; shouldn't you have some money to get food and other things?"
A yokai, much less a daiyokai, did not require feeble materials to survive. Though they could fill their bellies with food and clothe themselves in fine silk and jewelry, they weren't needed to function. A yokai's mana was more than enough to keep their hearts beating and their stomachs satiated. Only those who had dwelled themselves too deeply into mortal affairs must require such necessities. Regardless, Yuna raised a fair statement; were she to continue journeying with Sesshomaru in her condition, it would not only slow him down but also be an embarrassment. Any companion, human or yokai, ought to present themselves appropriately when standing before a prince. He noticed the pair of earrings Yuna wore; perhaps, they would do the trick.
"Are those real?" He asked. Yuna followed his gaze to her earrings and nodded.
"Trade them for whatever it is you require." The ambers were tiny little things, barely the size of her own pinkie. The pair would do for food and new clothing. However, he felt Yuna's hesitation.
"My dad gave them to me," she whispered.
"Would he rather have you keep them, or starve yourself to death?" Blue eyes pierced through his golden ones, a deathly glare that would have set the prince on edge, but there were much worse things his eyes had seen. Yuna left without a word, setting her path back to the village. Suzaku, the sword they had barely been able to retrieve rested quietly on her back. Sesshomaru sensed its aura circulating its sheath and the girl; it remained to irk him seeing how readily the mighty sword had accepted her, though, it would explain her striking resemblance to the late maiden. Everything that stared before Sesshomaru was enough to confirm his theory, but a part of him refused to accept it. How could such a powerful maiden of his time, be reincarnated into a child? He took another slow breath and released it through his nose. Sesshomaru needed more evidence to stand before him. Only then, would he allow himself to accept reality.
♔♔♔
"How much can I buy with this?"
The salesman eyed the single earring resting on my palm, perplexed by the gleaming gemstone. "They're real, I promise." I hoped the same would go for the smile I was giving.
"If you say so," he said and traded my earring for three pieces of onigiri.
"Arigato gozaimasu!" I bowed and went off to find a clothing stall as I took a bite of my first onigiri. It was a simple, yet melting bun of flavor. The first ever real food since falling into this period. My heart leaped with my belly as I hummed along the dusty street, only to stop after noticing a peculiar-looking tent. With clothes displayed! Jackpot!
The old man running the stall bowed in greeting. "It's been far too long since I've last had a customer." I showed him my last earring. "Anything I can buy with this? It's an amber gemstone."
He responded with a smile of his own, nodding firmly as he took the earring from my hand. "It's not every day one would trade a gem for what austere materials I have to give. Please, choose whichever interests you." Doubt ceased as quickly as it arrived upon hearing his words. But as grateful as I was for his hospitality, the frailty of his appearance couldn't be ignored. The dirt and grease on his ragged robe were unlike anything I had seen; sure, kimonos in my time exceeded the appearance of the feudal era, but this...this was just a worn-torn piece of garment.
My long face caught the man's attention. "Do none of them interest you, miss?" He expressed confusion on his face, and it quickly changed into that of...worry?
"Dear me, I do apologize. Such rare gem is not worth the clothes displayed." Heat rushed to my face, shocked by the complete misunderstanding of my silence. "No! No! That's not what I meant, at all! It's just..." Passersby imitated the man's attire. How had I not noticed the solemn looks on their faces? As they roamed around, a piece of me broke for them, and for the state of their home. They were humble dwellings, constructed from weathered, sun-bleached wood and crumbling adobe. Many were thatched with dried palm fronds that looked far too thin and weak to pass as roofs. Fragments of what had been stone pavements scattered the wounding path, lined with dead lands.
"Forgive me for prying, but, what happened here?"
Grave were the man's eyes as I asked him my question. I was beginning to think I had overstepped. "For years, our village prospered in rich soil," he started. "Seeds of all kinds could be planted and grown. The river was our source of water and food. It nurtured the land and brought vegetation and living animals to our homes. Our supply was bountiful."
And I could see why; Beyond its grimness, if one were to envision their home in its lustrous glory, where trees once stood, flowers bloomed and a sea of grass undulated the land and beyond, to the forest that reached the mountains, the village would be an endless canvas of a windswept prairie.
"But ever since my granddaughter, the miko of our village, died, our home slowly became a barren wasteland. Miasma began to pollute the air and waters, killing the greens and the animals that eat them, even poisoning us in the process. It attracts the demons beyond the river, destroying our home and slaughtering many of our young men, women, and children."
My heart plummeted into the abyss of my gut. "I'm so sorry."
"Oh, look at me," he chuckled. "Whisking a sad tale to a young, beautiful lady." A sudden cough behind the tent's curtain caught my attention. Immediately, the man rushed inside. A glimpse of a sickly boy, bedridden, had his hands wrapped in worn bandages and around his head. The old man gently placed a hand on the boy's cheek, uttering what I could only assume were comforting words for the child. When he returned, his mouth was open to say something - probably to apologize again - but I interfered.
"Here." His eyes widened as he saw the onigiris I held. "For you and the boy."
He shook his head, fervently. "Oh, miss please! I can't possibly-"
I placed my finger close to my lips. I darted around us, making sure no one caught sight of the food, should any greedy heart decide to steal them from him once I left. "You need them more than I do." I quietly placed them inside his tent, by the pale boy who barely had the strength to open his eyes to look at me. Upon a closer look at his bandages, it was clear his wounds were serious. His lips quivered ever so slightly. At first, I thought he was about to cry, possibly from the pain he was enduring, but instead, he thanked me with the weakest smile he could conjure.
I bit my lip to stop the tears from coming down. How lucky I ought to be; to be born in a time of plenty, where home was a giant two-story building filled with warm clothes and a bowl that never felt empty. A tap on my shoulder veered my eyes back to the old man. He held with him a white kosode and a black hakama.
"A young woman like you should not wear such dirty and revealing garments out there; bandits roam the forests too, child." I looked at my own worn cardigan and dirty pair of shorts and blushed. "No, I suppose not."
"You must be an experienced swordswoman," he said, looking at the sword attached to my waist. "Yet, I can't imagine traveling alone, as a woman, no less."
"I'm not alone," I reassured him. "I have quite the bodyguard waiting for me." And I should probably head back to him soon. I thanked the old man and wished him and his grandson well. As soon as I found a secluded area of the forest, I changed out of my dirty clothes. Miraculously, the garments fit me just right. I then combed my hair with my fingers as best as I could before tying it into a loose bun.
Light footsteps trailed behind me. For a moment, fear grabbed hold of me, until I turned and saw that it was Sesshomaru, looking displeased as always.
"I know what you're going to say. I took too long."
"Should I even inquire about your tardiness?" He said back.
"You would neither listen nor care."
Sesshomaru scoffed, proving my point. "Let's go." I followed after him, walking past the village once more, but from afar. Sesshomaru refused to go anywhere near the village, and judging by the way his nose flared ever so slightly, he despised the scent of it. I couldn't tell if I should take any offense to that. People were starving and suffering from the damage caused by his kind.
"Why do demons hunt humans?"
The question brought him to a halt. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."
I considered his response carefully. "Everywhere I go, I've been hunted and preyed on; does that mean you hunt us purely out of fun, or has this just always been the dynamic between us?"
Sesshomaru looked at me, his eyes staring deeply into mine. I hadn't realized how much taller he was than me. It took an entire stretch of my neck to even look at his face that towered my head. "You see us as a threat, and so do we." His voice was a calm, yet apprehensive tone. "While it is true that the common preys for sport, and even gorge on your skin and flesh, is it not the same for your kind? Or have you already forgotten how Rin lost her family?"
A blow struck the core of my chest. "You even gave terms to define such circumstances." He walked away without another word, leaving me to my disheveled thoughts. But another question arose - or, statement, to be precise.
"Yokais don't exist in my time."
"Is that so?" He asked without turning around.
"Well, maybe. There are still plenty of shrines surrounding Japan, but I've never met one, nor even heard of cases that could be a yokai attack."
"Or perhaps, it is your ignorance of our existence."
I frowned. "Do you always have to criticize me like that?"
"Do you always say things before thinking twice?"
I had just about enough of his rude comments. "I just traveled five hundred years into the past to a world I barely understand or even have records of. I find it weird that a chunk of history was never mentioned in our textbooks."
"History, huh?" There was more Sesshomaru wanted to say, but he was holding his tongue. "We've wasted enough time," he concluded and offered me his moko-moko, yet again. I reluctantly took it from his hand and held on to it firmly.
The sun began to set by the time we arrived at the campsite, only to find one of our companions.
"Jaken?" I rushed to his side. "What happened to you?" Blisters covered his entire body as sweat rolled down his green head, soaking his robes. His eyes had grown pale and dilated and with the ounce of strength he had left, he answered, "Naraku..."
Horror grasped me by the neck. "Where is Rin?"
"His insects, they found our campsite." Jaken's eyes looked at his master, who stared back without a sliver of sympathy or pain for his devoted servant. "The saimyoshos attacked us at every angle. I was able to kill most of them, but a few retreated and one of them got to me." He showed us his arm. A grotesque pustule rested near his elbow, a blemish larger than the pores doting the rest of his arm.
"I had sent Rin off with A-Un to find an antidote that grows by these forests, but I'm afraid they are too late; once the sun sets, the poison will kill me." I looked behind. The sun hovered just above the mountain's peak. Alarmed, I turned to Sesshomaru, but he was already gone - off to find Rin. A hard cough tore through Jaken's mouth, his eyes trembling to resist the urge to shut them permanently.
"No, no, no, stay with me Jaken, c'mon." His face was burning up. A-Un's saddle was left behind - probably so that the dragon could travel faster with lesser weight on their back. I pulled out a piece of cloth and drenched it with water from the waterskin. Slowly, I dabbed Jaken's head, wiping his sweat.
"Feel better?"
The imp only groaned.
"Don't worry, Sesshomaru and Rin will be back with the antidote okay? Just hold on a little bit longer." His face, squinting with such pain and little hope to live, reflected the salesman's grandson, whimpering in his sleep. I choked down the emotions threatening to spill themselves out; I couldn't afford to lose hope in front of Jaken, regardless of the impulsive treatments he gave me.
The sky began to darken faster than I thought, the cloth, long dried from the last bit of water I used. I felt Jaken's heart weakening. His time was almost up.
"I don't want to die..." I wrapped my arms around Jaken, holding him as tightly as I could. But what good could that do? Once again, I felt helpless and again, I felt scared.
"Yuna."
Never had I felt so relieved to hear my name called by the prince. "Sesshomaru..." He held Rin in his arm. She was unconscious, but her hands were firmly gripping a twig with silver leaves. "The antidote?" I asked. He nodded before instructing me to wake his dying servant up.
When night was upon us, and the moon shone through the vast meadow that would be our resting place, Rin awoke.
"Rin!" Her eyes were still dazed but she heard me and whispered my name back. "Yuna-san?" Thank goodness.
"Ahh! You're finally awake, I see!" Jaken was back to his old self, regrettably. I could see he was ready to spew out more impulsive words at Rin, but the girl sprung on her heels and tackled the imp to the ground.
"Jaken-sama!" She cried. "You're alive!"
"Ow, hey! Quit squeezing me, I can't breathe!!!"
I chuckled looking at the two embracing one another while bantering at the same time. Quite the sibling pair, I must say. All the more I yearned for home - to see my family again. Needless to say, I would miss them, and even the dragon sleeping behind me. For whatever reason, A-Un stuck close to me since I joined Sesshomaru's motley crew. I gave their snouts a little scratch. Speaking of the cold prince, he stood a few feet away from us, staring at the moon with a calm demeanor.
"You do it too, huh?" Within those eyes, complexity danced in the golden pools. Like a candlelight in a dark labyrinth, they were mesmerizing, yet mysterious. Captivating, but also aggravating. Such was the prince himself. "I have a habit of staring at the moon, too. Helps me think. Is that why you stare at it?"
Sesshomaru looked back at the moon. The wind lifted his silver locks, its gentle touch reminiscent of children braiding their hair. The striking contrast between the color of his eyes and his flowing mane had never occurred to me before. These two precious shades, often in contradiction, had found harmony in the prince's visage, a testament to his regal bearing and formidable strength. Up close, I couldn't deny that Sesshomaru was, without a doubt, beautiful.
"Are you done staring?" He asked - a hint of amusement in his voice.
I tore my gaze away from his captivating features, feeling a flush of embarrassment creeping up my cheeks. As we both stood under the moon, a silence settled between us, carrying the weight of unspoken thoughts. I realized that beneath his exterior, Sesshomaru carried a depth that I was only beginning to glimpse, a complexity that made him all the more intriguing. But before I could allow my thoughts to spiral away, I asked him another question.
"Who is Naraku?"
Sesshomaru considered my question carefully. "A man you ought to pray to never encounter, or get yourself involved in."
"I'm afraid she already is, sire." Jaken stood behind us, a serious look on his face. "The saimyoshos that attacked us bore a message for her." He looked at me, eyes stern as the prince.
"Beware of the Fallen Beast."
♔♔♔
In a distant land, beneath a great mountain, a lair filled with decaying vapor and violet streams of miasma nurtured the enfeebled spider hanyou. The hanyou, Naraku, with his head as the only visible thing amidst his mutated body of yokai carcasses and organs, awoke from his deep slumber upon the sound of his buzzing pets and the presence of his newly acquainted partner.
"You have done well," she spoke to the surviving saimyoshos. "Things didn't go as planned, but regardless, the message remained delivered." Even in his weakened state, Naraku fumed at the sound of her voice. An unlikely alliance with an ancient daiyokai was never an option as he sought the Shikon jewel shards scattered across the country.
"Once you are healed from that pathetic injury caused by the half-demon, Inuyasha, we can finally begin our next plan of action."
"This plan of yours," Naraku uttered, raspy, yet clear. "It better work."
The woman smiled at nothing in particular, yet her eyes gleamed with a thrill that even set Naraku on edge. "Rest assured, Naraku. That woman shall be the prince's downfall."