Heiwa

"Doctor, you're back!" Moeru said.

"Eh?" Meioshi chirped, seeing Moeru and his family sitting out by the garden.

She had returned home during the early hours of the evening to recover from her visit to the Netherworld and hardly noticed other guests had visited besides the older gentleman. Sure enough, once she looked onto the front engawa of her guest house, she saw five paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling that must have been lit during the night to signal how many guests occupied the building. The older gentleman must not have left just yet. If he did, she was too preoccupied with her recent bout of patients to notice. Quite a few people had wandered into her estate throughout the night, claiming demons had attacked them. When she asked a few of them to clarify the details, most replied with an answer akin to either being unable to "see them" or unable to "really describe them" in finer detail. She was leaving the clinic now with documents in her hands that needed filing.

Regardless of the long hours during the night, Meioshi smiled brightly at her friend, Moeru, and his family and greeted, "Oh! I didn't know you had come to visit. Hello, Moeru! What brings you here?"

Moeru chuckled, walked over to her, and said, "We've come to fix your pots, busy bee! The children wanted to play in the pond, so we came by early to visit. We didn't sense you come in either."

"Ah, I came back rather late," Meioshi explained, adjusting her scrolls and loose papers in her arms. She then continued, "The sun was going down, so I simply prepared myself for bed. A gentleman wandered in during the night, though. Were you out perhaps?"

"Probably. The children wanted to go into the night market for a spell," Moeru answered with a laugh. "The misses bumped into your babysitter and spoke with him at length. I caught up with a few acquaintances as well. Someone happened to mention that they smelled a newcomer yesterday. The individual didn't enter the village, but he or she was just outside of the barrier. I couldn't get much more information beyond that."

Meioshi hummed in thought before nodding and saying, "Right then, I'll have to keep an eye out in case that person is a threat. Did you get that striking yukata from the market, my friend?"

"Oh?" Moeru responded, blushing and chuckling at the compliment. His yukata was fetching on him, though. It was blue like the sea and had pink and white cosmos flowers along the sleeves. "Well, we were out for a few hours. I couldn't resist!"

"You and your love of casual wear!" Meioshi said with a giggle. "Why don't you join me for breakfast? I've quite the cooking order."

"I wouldn't want to trouble you, busy bee," Moeru said, holding up a hand.

"I'll have no acquaintance of mine go hungry," Meioshi remarked, holding up a finger.

"Doctor!" a familiar voice called.

"Besides, everyone could use a little something to calm down," Meioshi said, turning around to see Yuko running up to her.

She was dressed in her nurse's haori jacket but must have forgotten to change out of her pajamas. Her apprentice was an odd one. For whatever reason, Yuko didn't particularly care for wearing the doctor's garb. She preferred just wearing the jacket. Meioshi was sure her garb was normal if not a bit plain: green haori jacket (or a jacket with cuffed arms and the doctor's emblem somewhere on the bodice), clean top, beige hakama pants (or any pants of the wearer's color choice as long as the doctor's emblem was sewn in it), and the apprentice's white ribbon with the stamp marking one's rank. Of course, Meioshi wore a dark green ribbon with a gold emblem on it to show she was in advanced medicine, but she was working towards a new level of medicine under oath. However, Meioshi couldn't figure out why Yuko opted out of the nurse's uniform, but she wasn't particular and only asked that the emblem and ribbon be worn when on duty. The doctor thought perhaps Yamashi expressed a distaste for the uniform, but the man never said anything to her about it and he was generally expressive. Regardless of the reason, Meioshi found that her apprentice's choice in attire actually gave her a quirky and youthful appearance.

Girls about her age or younger were usually okay with talking to her about sensitive things like childbirth or problems with body odor during menstrual cycles, and Yuko spoke to them in detail about both issues as she would a friend to make them comfortable. If Yuko found she couldn't answer a question, she and the girl in question came to Meioshi to learn about the topic of interest in detail. Though, from the looks of Yuko's panicked state, she wasn't running up to her to ask about anything sensitive. Yuko's hair was tussled about and she was running at top speed. Once she reached Meioshi and Moeru at the clinic, she was holding her knees and trying to catch her breath.

"I overslept!" Yuko managed to squeeze out in between breaths. "I'm sorry, sensei."

Meioshi giggled at her apprentice and took one of her hands into hers. She smiled gently at the younger woman and simply replied, "Actually, you're right on time for breakfast and a good morning bath. Once we freshen up, we'll take care of the new patients. I've no doubt more will come. Some unfriendly demons have gone on the hunt. I saw snow on one patient's feet."

"Lady Meioshi!" another familiar voice called.

This time, it was Bonitas. He was dressed in his lab jacket, though to most it looked more like a trench coat over the traditional hakama pants. He had a more worried expression on his face as he flew over to them.

"Doctor, there's a small portal opening from the Netherworld some miles out. Demons are coming through it," Bonitas informed. "It looks like they're gathering in that area and spreading outward, but they're violent to passersby."

Meioshi raised an eyebrow at this, closed her eyes, and lifted her hand to call out to a small bit of power. A symbol appeared on her fingertip, and she used the rest of her fingers to tap on the edges of the symbol and then the center. From the symbol, a small orb of light and rainbow had formed and floated to Bonitas's hands. She then said, "This should shrink the portal to promote closing on its own it for now. You might need to give it to Caritas to assist him. I'm not fully restored. But, I'll have to leave from here much sooner than I thought if this continues."

"You plan to fight the creature? You can't go alone, sensei! It's too strong and it has help," Yuko argued, clutching her fists against her chest. "At least, take someone with you."

"Well, I may have started this fight by accident, you see," Meioshi said, scratching her cheek cutely. Yuko's hair just about pointed to the heavens at this before she shouted, "Ya think?"

______________________________________________________________

Reunited with Jaken and Aa and Un, Sesshomaru was leading the way as they flew overhead in order to return to Heiwa. He was fairly deep in thought. He visited his father's War Room only briefly while the soldiers were out either patrolling or training to confirm his suspicions about the village that smelled of fruit pies. It wasn't part of the lands or territories owned by the House of Inu; in fact, according to his father's maps, it was merely a refugee camp when he found it some centuries ago. He didn't seek to claim it back then because it was no more than a few tents and shivering cowards in hiding, but what Sesshomaru saw from the treetops was far more advanced than a few tents. There were several homing complexes erected from the earth! It was a bustling port land! Sesshomaru grew suspicious of his father's dismissal of the village, however, and that was why he was so lost in his musings.

Why didn't his father claim Heiwa while it was young? If not for the resources the village potentially had, why not just the coexistence of human and demon kind? He seemed so adamant about Inuyasha having something to live off from the House of Inu's wealth. Wouldn't this have been worth giving as part of his will? Was his level of foresight so limited? Even then, what about him? Toga wanted Sesshomaru to learn compassion to some degree. Wouldn't seeing the people grow from nothing inspire him in some way? What about the people he met along the way? Could this village have been a safe haven to run to? Well... it's no matter to Toga now. He missed a grand opportunity to claim Heiwa as his territory, but... perhaps... he could venture into Heiwa himself and see about claiming the land. He succeeded in surpassing his father in power. Now, he had to see about claiming territory on his own. He was only a lord in part due to his inheritance. He still had to prove himself through merit.

Below the group of demons was a pair of familiar faces on patrol outside of Heiwa's barrier. Meioshi and Bonitas left the estate to investigate the severity of hell's frost over the land and were met with a decent three to four inches of snow. Both familiar with the glass edges of snowflakes and prickling sensation around their exposed flesh, it was easy for them to tell that many were going to be affected by the onset of winter weather during a summer afternoon. Actually able to feel her breath on her hands this time, however, Meioshi rubbed her hands together for warmth and smiled when she was felt something. She didn't wear her hair in a topknot like she did in the bowels of hell. She instead let it fall down and only wore divine beading in her hair to provide a shield against the snow. Hell's atmosphere was going to cause a mess of the living world. She could only hope that no bearers were among the number of demons that entered the mortal realm.

Hearing a noise, Bonitas was on alert and warned softly, "Careful, doctor. There's something hiding in the snow."

"They're humans," Meioshi replied, lifting her hands to gather the cutting snow. "At least, they were once. It's as I thought. Bearers were going to take souls away too soon without a regulator."

"What happened to Tetsuzan?" Bonitas asked, turning to the doctor and watching her play with the snow.

"Someone killed him," Meioshi replied, lowering her hands. "We'll have to discuss this with your father soon, I'm afraid. Hell will invade these lands without reprimand within the year."

Bonitas nodded and asked with a small whine, "Are you sure you don't wanna use the boat to make things easier?"

Meioshi laughed then hopped over to Bonitas to pinch his cheeks playfully and answered, "Yes, Bonitas, I'm sure. Besides, I could use the walk! A lot of energy gets expended when I use up these powers, you know."

Bonitas huffed with displeasure and said, "Fine, but don't come crying to me if your legs give out."

He turned away to walk off until he heard something plunk behind him. Meioshi had suddenly collapsed and was unresponsive. Panicking, Bonitas transformed into an armored warrior and rushed over to the doctor to check for a pulse. It was slow. He went to grab some medicine from a pouch on his belt until he caught Meioshi smirking and opening a single eye mischievously.

She then said, "Won't have to. I know you'll be right there in case they do. That's why we're friends, little nurse."

Bonitas blushed, growled under his breath, and produced a white fan to slap Meioshi on her head. She yelped in pain and sat up cross-legged as Bonitas was stomping away from her. She rubbed the heated lump forming on her head and whined, "Ouchie! What'd I do?"

"Next time, I'll give you bad medicine," Bonitas threatened, folding his arms. When he sensed a powerful presence, he looked up to see three figures in the sky camouflaged behind clouds. "Doctor..."

"Huh?" Meioshi questioned, exchanging a glance from Bonitas to the sky. "Well, would you look at that?"

Bonitas looked over to Meioshi as she looked up and caught that childlike gleam in her eyes. Dreamy, curious, wistful, innocent, and easily fascinated by the unusual were the doctor's youthful qualities. She rose to stand before walking a few paces to get a better look at the aviary party of demons. They were still too far away for her to clearly see them, but they were an interesting lot. The leader of the party seemed so carefree up there. It must be nice to be able to fly and clear the mind of the world's troubles. An enviable existence. They seemed to be neither friend nor foe, so Meioshi simply watched them fly at a lower angle to the back gates of Heiwa.

"They seem to be neutral. We'll have to keep a watchful eye of them," Meioshi said more to herself than to Bonitas. She plucked a divine bead from her headpiece and said to herself, "But I could use some luck if they have any. C'mon, little nurse! Race ya!"

"Wait what?" Bonitas started. Once Meioshi ran off, he held up a hand to say, "Meioshi, hold on!"

Meioshi ran up only a few feet towards the party of demons before waving her arms and shouting, "Hello, up there!"

Jaken heard someone calling out to them and looked down from his position on the Moko Moko. It was a girl and young man. She was happily waving at them while the boy was stood quietly. He then said, "That girl is waving at us. Wonder why she's so cheery."

"Grant me luck on my next battle! I've quite the adversary to fight! Thank you in advance!" Meioshi shouted, blowing a sweet kiss to the group.

Oh, she's just flirting with Lord Sesshomaru seems like... Jaken thought. Well, at least she gave us - wait... did it just get warmer?

She did! That caught Sesshomaru's attention immediately and made him look down at the girl. The snow that was cutting their skin before was gone, but he smelled sweet orange and flowers surrounding them and looked ahead briefly to see a glimmer surrounding them. The girl placed a barrier on them. Suddenly, like the sound of a whisper, Sesshomaru felt fingertips caressing his skin underneath his clothes and armor. Furrowing his brow at the offense, he turned to the girl again but saw she had already joined her friend to be on her way. She was an advanced magic user, it seemed, and a dangerous one if she could make magic feel real.

"Joke's on her if she thinks we give out luck," Jaken finally said after some silence, feeling Sesshomaru return to his original flying pace. The woman was focused on something else now. There was no need to question her actions. He then continued, "Maybe she's referring to the dragon."