Fail No More part 2

"C'mon, Lord Sesshomaru! This way!" Juba cheered.

Yet again, Sesshomaru and Jaken were dragged away to some other place with the grapple bears. With Ohta being their leader, you couldn't tell any of them no. Otherwise, he'd have an attack formation ready for the little ones to hold them down in some way. Leeches! All of them! They were going shopping in a marketplace right between the village and the estate. It was perfectly positioned, honestly, and all of the children seemed to be running through there for something. Much like the estate, the market inspired a sense of playfulness and whimsy. Young girls were able to get brushes or combs of fair to impressive quality, and young boys were able to buy toys or wooden weapons to play with. The tents were just as colorful as the paper lanterns of the okiyas. Oranges, blues, and pinks were joined together to create a joyful atmosphere. Some girls had parasols with flowers or vines on them as decoration, others had beading or tassels on theirs. Everyone wore some version of a casual kimono or yukata, though.

Jaken looked up at his lord when the little girl called them and took note of Sesshomaru's robotic obedience. It was quite amazing how the grapple bears were able to persuade him to go where they wanted, but that could also have something to do with him not being able to easily escape them. They were relentless! Juba had just bought a doll from a store and had it in her arm. Her yukata had a weeping willow tree on it and it was a nice white color. The sleeves were long and flowy like a furisode, but he learned that Juba just loves flowing sleeves. Kijiro and Ohta went to get a toy sword for the little one. Afterward, they were going to get a net so he could catch other small creatures for his collection. Chiura and Ohta hadn't gone shopping for themselves just yet, but they were quite patient. Chiura was waiting for the demons to catch up to them and smiled gently at them. That's how she got Sesshomaru and Jaken to stay with them. It was her superpower.

Once the two finally got close enough, the girls frolicked over to a bun stand. Their eyes grew large at the sight of the day's variety. Meioshi's favorite buns were on sale this time, so they pitched in and bought a few for her. Right as they were going to the next store, a samurai walked up to them and stopped them from proceeding.

"Excuse us, sir," they said together.

When they went to move aside, he blocked them from going. Another man crept up with his arms folded to stop them. The girls backed away, holding each other's hands out of fear, until one of them said, "Why aren't you all at work at your precious okiyas?"

"We don't work during this time," Juba answered politely. "Mama's - "

"Your house mother is giving you to us," the man said, locking eyes with Juba. "You're being trained for wifehood very soon. That means you'll have no time for toys."

Juba didn't waste any time once the man said that. She toughened up, shoved her doll in Chiura's hands, and pushed her while saying, "Go, Chiura! Find Mama!"

Chiura did as told and ran with her demon speed toward Sesshomaru before running past him and Jaken. Other samurai had come out to ambush the children. The man that approached Juba grabbed her by the wrist to lift her, but she bravely reached into her sleeve to pull out a small knife and cut across his eye. He yelped before he felt a stab in his wrist. When he dropped Juba, Sesshomaru just about took his head off when he punched him away and slashed at his partner to nearly sever his arm. He and some of the other male children fought back. He was truly surprised when he saw the acidic amount of hatred coming from Ohta. Without hesitation, he defended Kijiro and some of the other children along with Sesshomaru. For reasons the Western lord couldn't explain, he was proud of everyone's response to the danger. Ohta and Juba surprised him the most. Who taught them how to fight like that?

"Wretched little brats!" the leader hissed, holding his jaw in place. "Men! Leave 'em and let's go! We're going to the Danna! This is an outrage!"

_______________________________________

"Little ones! Are you alright?" Meioshi asked with concern in her voice.

"Mama!" the children responded, sighing with relief.

She caught sight of a lingering samurai who was limping away from the children's marketplace. He had the Danna's Mark on his sleeve and armor belonging to a regent more north of the village. He was an active member of the army from the looks of it. The children had their weapons drawn or close to their hands in defense. She was proud of them for their bravery and sighed in relief before turning to the tent merchants. All seemed fine, just a few of the sellers were shaken like they had been surprised. If their reaction was the same across the board, then it must have been an ambush. Sesshomaru and Jaken were kneeling in front of Juba to check on her before they even got a good look at Meioshi. It wasn't until the little girl heard her name being called that her attention went from the western lord to the keeper of the voice.

"Juba!" Chiura called, rushing into her friend's arms. "Did he hurt you?"

"Nope," Juba answered, embracing her friend in return with relief. "I hads my knife. I was scared he was going to get you."

"Why were those men after any of you anyway? You're not a threat," Jaken commented.

"We don't know," Juba and Chiura said in unison with worry. "It's never happened before."

THWACK!

"Get down!" Sesshomaru ordered, sharply turning to catch an arrow.

"Archers!" one of the teens shouted, making the older kids rush the younger ones to safety.

Another arrow was shot but it went straight for the doctor. Summoning a vibrant orange horo, Meioshi blocked the arrow and spun around to produce a gust of wind strong enough to veer other arrows away from the market. Dismissing the shield and getting into a defensive position, she shouted, "Rosanjin!"

"Officer," a man greeted, smiling darkly.

Sesshomaru was by Meioshi's side, practically fuming with outrage at the older man. Wrinkles were already set in his face, but his skin was smooth and clean just enough to see that he was once a handsome man. His hair was salt and pepper gray and flowing down at his hips but half of it was pulled up into a bun and held together with a Ji zan hairpin. His eyes were perfectly almond-shaped and deep brown. His mustache and small beard were very well-groomed, even his clothing was a mark of distinction and some wealth. Releasing a huff, Rosanjin held up a hand to signal the archers to cease fire then lowered it and looked at Sesshomaru for a moment.

"You are quite contradictory with yourself, officer," Rosanjin started, folding his arms and walking forward. "I thought you wanted the youth to have a better life. You just stopped some very well-off soldiers from giving them that. Is the demon beside you a better option for all of them, or is he here to make you come to your senses and finally be my most famous joro?"

"Keep your patrons out of the haven or I will kill them all," Meioshi threatened darkly, narrowing her eyes and growling.

"Those men will no longer be patrons, officer. They love the children so much; they have proposed betrothals for a number of them once they come of age. Others have even decided to keep a few as mistresses or lovers long-term. They will be away from here like you wanted," Rosanjin informed with a hiss laced in his voice.

Remembering what Juba told him about the man before the attack, Sesshomaru lifted his claw and proceeded to walk towards Rosanjin to attack, but Meioshi twirled her sword about and held it out to stop him. Standing firm and with confidence, Meioshi said calmly, "Perhaps you should review the contract again. There's a little article on the fifth page that protects them from this, you see. We've known each other a bit too long for us not to anticipate some back and forth from each other about fine detailing, yes? All of the children and young adults under my care have this thing called a Tate Record that strictly belongs to me as I am designated the officer of health and safety for them, whereas you simply have the original purchasing ticket and bid price for them when they came to work for you. Both of those documents only allow you to keep them as your workers until their original owners or sellers have settled their debts. Many of your original sellers were completely in debt and could no longer maintain continuous payments or use them as a means to pay anything back. The documents you have don't allow you to resell them or give them away because you never went back to the original sellers to sign them off."

Rosanjin dropped his smile altogether at that tidbit of information. When he thought about it, he furrowed his brow and ground out, "What?"

"Until you get the signature of every person who sold these children to you or gave these children to you, you legally have no right to resell them as they would have no value outside of this village. The lingering debts that the previous owners had completely fell to you when you made the transaction. You would render them a fate less favorable than the one they have here. The Tate Record prohibits you from putting them in such a position. Since I have your signature of approval to protect them until the debt is paid," Meioshi said with a shrewd grin growing across her lips, "your little patrons have to go through me to evaluate your purchase, consult with the original owner, and provide proof that these children will be unharmed until adulthood. Seeing as though they were willing to attack them while shopping, I'd say that's a fuck no to their proposal. Now, get the hell off my property before I let Lord Sesshomaru kill your little archers and dip you in their blood."

Lowering her sword, Meioshi waited until Rosanjin made another move or protest against her words. When the man couldn't do either, he clenched his jaw tight enough out of fury that his head started spinning. Sesshomaru glared at him with death on his mind. Rosanjin must have been the man called the Evil Danna in Kijiro's story when they were in the bathhouse. Another moment passed before Rosanjin stomped off with his archers and everyone was able to breathe and relax.

Meioshi quietly sheathed her sword, turned to Sesshomaru, and bowed elegantly before saying, "Thank you, Sesshomaru. I'm sorry you were part of this."

He turned to her and asked, "Did you know that these people were trying to marry your wards?"

Meioshi sighed, lifted herself, and rubbed her temples before replying, "No. Rosanjin keeps looking for loopholes in the agreement we made. The records I have are the only things stopping him from doing what he wants. He's been caught tampering with the written agreement before."

"Why don't you just kill him and take them away from here?" Sesshomaru asked, fully serious about the suggestion.

"Legally, I couldn't do either unless the agreement had been violated. This fiasco, however, marks the beginning of the end," Meioshi answered, watching the grapple bears run over to her to hug her. "Are you all okay?"

"Yes, Mama Mei-Mei," Kijiro answered.

"Make sure you thank Lord Sesshomaru and Lord Jaken. They were really helpful," Meioshi said with a gentle smile. "We might have to make something special for them for dinner."

"I have something," Chiura replied with a bright smile. "It's at the ribbon store."

"Oh? Well, I think I can take a break to help you out. We need fabrics for your satchels for school after all," she said with a cheery smile.

"Oh! You forgot your crown, Mama Mei-Mei," Juba said, pulling out the aforementioned item from Kijiro's one-strap pack.

Meioshi giggled, placed the children's crown on her head, and twirled about on one foot to model the hat. She then asked, "Am I cute?"

"The prettiest!" Juba cheered.

"I'll patrol things from here to investigate what happened," the doctor then said, turning to Sesshomaru. "You are welcome to return to the haven to rest from your own investigation whenever you like. It's my show of gratitude for your help against the Danna. The children will either be home or at this market. I typically don't let the little ones travel alone in case of attacks like this one. If you see any smaller children going someplace alone, you are free to act however you wish. If those samurai are that dead set on taking them, they might devise traps or kidnappings while I'm at the clinic. The merchants here are capable of protecting the children when business is slow, but this is still a place of business. They have their own bouts of distractions."

"I can always burn a few people," Jaken threatened, lifting his staff with a serious face.

"Honestly..." Meioshi said, raising a brow and giving a bitter smirking look to the imp. "I quite like that idea."