The Jigoku Crest

Meioshi heaved out some deep breaths as the snow and ice of the Netherworld were drawn into her new weapon, Baohu qi Voluptatis, before she looked into the sky and watched the dull, gray, and cloudy expanse return to a bright blue. The wintry power of the sword surrounded her until she breathed it in and synchronized with the icy winds. The snow on the ground and trees melted away and all was returning to normal. About her feet were the only remaining bits of arctic weather. Her Netherworld powers were dismissed, and those lovely hazel eyes were filled with hope and a fragment of peace. She was also quite grateful to everyone who helped her on this journey. It made her wonder if she would have allies living or not by her side until the end. That was a much less lonely thought. Closing her eyes and lifting her new sword, she let herself fall onto her back, and out came a relieved "Oof!" as she felt soft grass underneath her armor and skintight battle suit. The small platform of snow went to her hand holding Baohu qi Voluptatis and rested within the blade's bodice. Peace was returned to the living world once more... at least for now.

The green pheasant and Sesshomaru walked over to the doctor as she stretched out like a cat and let out a small giggle. Eggs in tow, the bird happily flew over to Meioshi and landed on her bosom with a smile on his beak. He wasn't bothered by his position on Meioshi's person in the slightest, but Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes a bit at the contact. Not out of jealousy but out of disgust. Touching an unmarried woman so blatantly like that just put a bad taste in his mouth. It was criminal! However, the doctor was unphased by her feathered friend's proximity and waved at the eggs bouncing in their nest. They, too, seemed more cheerful. Sesshomaru was more interested in his rival's new powers as he stood over her and watched her relish in her small victory. She wasn't egotistical about it. If anything, she seemed tired and probably was after he hurt her. He was more surprised that his sword strike didn't kill her or that she wasn't even scared of his power. Then again, maybe that's why she was such an unusual human. Her desire to free the lost souls became the root of fearlessness and overshadowed any doubt or worry she might've had prior.

Feeling his surroundings warm up to the summer heat, Sesshomaru looked at Meioshi's sword merely dangling in her palm now. He supposed she felt safe enough to not have to clutch it for battle. A true master of the winter, huh? The green pheasant may have given the doctor that title under his breath, but Sesshomaru heard him quite clearly. Would she train with the snow sword now? What new skills could she gain from it? What about her enchanted tanto? Did she sacrifice it to defeat the black wall demon? Though he mentioned having an interest in her weapons to Jaken, Sesshomaru already had Bakusaiga at his side. There was no longer a need to hunt for strong weapons, but Sesshomaru could see from his rival's enemies that strong opponents still existed and that these new foes had the potential to truly harm the living world. Having seen his rival's power and methodical nature in combat also made his curiosity grow. What other surprises could she produce in the future?

"Well done, my girl!" the pheasant complimented, tilting his head. "It seems you've become the new owner of a very unique divine weapon. You'd best take good care of it."

"Well, now, I wouldn't go so far as to say owner, but it seems I'm headed in the right direction," Meioshi said with a light laugh. "That was some riddle those lost souls created!"

"Speaking of which, how did you know that the Jubokko tree and hinoki tree were connected?" the green pheasant asked out of curiosity.

"Oh!" Meioshi shouted, popping up from her comfortable position with hands outstretched and toes pointing upwards. "Lord Sesshomaru! His face helped!"

"Eh?" the pheasant questioned, hopping off the doctor and watching her scramble to bow formally to the western lord. "His face?"

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru," Meioshi said gently. The man remained silent, waiting for her explanation on such a formality. Their relationship was hardly this stiff. When she sat up straight, she smiled brightly before saying, "Sorry for the offensive comment again. I needed your help to open the last gate between the living world and the Blood Oath's Circle, you see. Entering the gate is the most potent method of purification for demons, even those of the Netherworld. You're less hesitant when you're angry so I thought you'd be your most efficient in striking me if I called you... the thing. On the bright side, you held your end of the bargain! Technically, without taking out a power loan, my shoulder injury and your poison strike would have killed me since I'm just a human, so all of my requests have been completed. You no longer owe me anything!"

He wasn't sure why. He couldn't explain it if he tried, but there was something about that warm smile Meioshi was producing that made him... curious. Maybe she was just happy that the black wall demon was no more a threat but her genuinely jovial nature after battle was... refreshing in a way. No, that wasn't quite the word he wanted to use to describe it. Whatever it was, Sesshomaru could only describe the doctor's smile as being pleasant.

Sesshomaru didn't realize how quiet he was or how long he remained quiet after Meioshi spoke. He did let out a more elegant huff, closed his eyes, and said, "You owe Jaken a fight, witch. Did you forget?"

"Eh?" Meioshi gestured, tilting her head cutely and pointing a finger at herself. "I do?"

Sesshomaru chose then to turn around and reply before walking away to retrieve the mentioned imp, "For all the questioning that brat put him through."

Meioshi thought about it for a couple of seconds and remembered Yuko's interrogation of Sesshomaru's personal life. She gently giggled at Yuko and Jaken's conversation and only said, "I suppose you're right. 'Til next time then."

The pheasant waited until Sesshomaru was out of earshot and had taken flight before saying, "So then, what was all that about?"

"Hm?" Meioshi questioned.

"What did you have to call him to get him so angry?" the pheasant asked, already knowing the answer but just wanting to hear the doctor say it.

"Uh..." the doctor started, scratching her cheek slowly and making an embarrassed face. "Well, I discovered he doesn't particularly care for being called sexy, so I just used that to my advantage."

"Dare I ask how you discovered that?" the pheasant asked, leaning his head forward and to the side in an accusing manner. The baby birds tweeted something to him before he shot back and turned to them saying, "Children! We don't repeat suggestive language in the house!" The eggs tweeted something else and made the pheasant shout, "We're birds! Everywhere is our house! You're in a smaller house now!"

Meioshi snickered before laughing at her troubled friend. She then said, "Well, little ones, that word just means that someone is very good-looking is all. I wouldn't use it on a stranger unless the need is dire. I just so happened to need Lord Sesshomaru's help at the time so I used it."

The eggs tweeted something again, making the pheasant say, "We'll see about it in a year."

"See what?" Meioshi asked, unable to interpret the tweets.

"Nothing you'd be able to see right now," the pheasant responded, telepathically placing the scabbard on Meioshi's sword. "Now then, how did Lord Sesshomaru help you solve that riddle?"

"Ah, his face! Yes!" Meioshi responded, turning to her feathered friend and his eggs. "I don't think Lord Sesshomaru was part of the riddle those years ago, but he did help me solve it by having those markings on his face."

"The markings?" the pheasant questioned.

Meioshi nodded then said, "Unfortunately, I went to Shanwang for help on this before I even obtained the riddle."

"What!?" the pheasant shouted more than questioned. "That goes against your entire family name! You're sworn enemies with that creature! Why did you do that?"

"He's the reason I was able to escape hell," Meioshi said, no longer smiling. Her seriousness silenced the bird and made the eggs cuddle together with worry. Though her eyes remained hazel, the memories of her time in the Netherworld traveled across them like ghosts in a hallway. She then said, "I lost contact with everyone in the living world when I was down there. You know this. His lair was the only haven I had left to run to. We made the severance pact - the ultimate exchange between demons and humans short of bargaining with a king of hell - and rendered his lair abandoned but minutely purified in case I must return. You will see it sooner than I wished but it will have to be judged accordingly."

"You shouldn't have had to do that," the pheasant said sadly. "But I understand. What did the smelly ogre tell you?"

"He mentioned that the Bu Shuo Mingzi curse had been placed on the wolf so that the true guardian of the Arctic sword was never resurrected to defeat the black wall demon. We saw it in the final memory connected to the fall of Honoseiken's village after Lord Sesshomaru had left us, but I didn't know that the wolf was made up of practically all of the slain villagers. Least of all that the little girl, Hon'no, was the wolf's main controller due to her call on the sword's power. When I was sent to Koridetudi to investigate the location of Baohu qi Voluptatis, I remember distinctly running down a mountain made of ice and demons with Caritas. We didn't know anything about the villagers becoming trapped in the mountain itself. Because there was so much information that was withheld from me, I had to turn to Shanwang for any kind of clue that could have been of use. I was able to figure out what type of tree root had formed on my neck when the blood pact was made due to the smell and the bark, but even that left me with so many places to look. I couldn't ask the soul carriers anything either because none of the souls of Honoseiken's village were freed. The most I could do was show Hon'no the Soul Carriers' Road so that she could decide if she was ready to find peace."

"That was how the sun appeared in the circle," the pheasant said with understanding. "Your bond to Hon'no formed when you gave her peace. The smelly ogre must've noticed the same thing, I take it."

Meioshi nodded and continued, "He also told me my most important clue: that the roots had formed on my neck but that my head was acting as the communicator between the wolf and the guardian. He was the most curious about the location of the treetop of the hinoki tree. If the roots were on my neck and my head was acting as the tree's trunk, then the treetop would have to be above my head; meaning, the treetop was possibly in the sky, but you and Sesshomaru had proven this theory somewhat flawed. Your divine arrow brought me to Piao while I was traveling. I had initially guessed that she was meant to see the world from the treetops since she wasn't part of the wolf and had an entirely different form. That of a strange bird with no eyes. When she took my form and started the dual pact, she specifically went through my memories up to the moment when Hon'no formed the initial blood pact and Hon'no's memories up to the moment when she met Yuko. Sesshomaru was there twice. Even though I was preoccupied with the dual pact, I noticed that he and Jaken had been removed from the Blood Oath's Circle but not you. You had to have seen part of Piao's memories at some point."

"The sun had strengthened, yes," the pheasant responded, nodding. "The other bond made the phantom village more tangible. The ghosts had flesh again and showed me moments before and during the attack. The labyrinth became visible as well."

"That was the key," Meioshi said, holding up a finger. "Piao wasn't the stone the Baohu qi Voluptatis rested on or the eye in the sky as I thought. She was the 'wolf's howl' as Shanwang had put it. As we saw in the final memory, the girls separated so the possessed army couldn't get the sword per Honoseiken's instructions and hid in separate tree trunks. Hon'no hid within a pine tree. That's why Bonitas and Caritas were able to capture her with my shimenawa in the Hokkyoku no Ori Forest, but that's also where the villagers were also supposed to run for safety in a neighboring village. The labyrinth was parallel to a tunnel underneath the forest. The villagers weren't burned like Hon'no was. They were frozen. As a final act, she had to have called upon the snow sword's power to save everyone, but it came at a cost. I believe Hon'no went back to her grave where she was burned to death when Caritas sent her away. Piao, as I said, was different. She hid within the hinoki tree but not an ordinary one. She went to one surrounded by a moat, but that particular tree was the one that Honoseiken, the Nameless General, and Akarui had chosen to purify the black wall demon should it return. She was burned to death there. Her final act protected Hon'no from the black wall demon by creating the lake of ice the sword was hidden under so that the demon could never retrieve it. The price in doing so, and perhaps out of the demon's rage, had her soul sent back to the resting place of the sword."

"These poor humans," the pheasant said remorsefully. "To be pillaged and burned so relentlessly for an untouchable sword is simply awful."

"I wouldn't put such behavior passed any demon of the Netherworld," Meioshi replied, placing a gentle hand on the bird's shoulder. She had reason to believe he spoke sadly because children were involved. After all, the pheasant was a father himself. She then continued, "I will release their souls soon."

"That will take much of your strength, my girl," the pheasant said with concern in his voice. "You didn't gain any mianyi from this fight."

"I'll get it another way," Meioshi said sweetly with a reassuring smile. "These people need peace more than I need mianyi at the moment."

The pheasant nodded before saying, "I'm not quite sure I understand how the evil talking dog fits into all this, though. He may have been present at convenient times, but how did he help you solve the riddle when he wasn't written into it?"

"Sesshomaru had the power to break the curses because he heard the names of everyone involved with the sword through the memories. First, it was Hon'no," Meioshi started to explain again. "The others were more than likely in a different order. He also was the one who found Ichi and the black wall demon but in a different form. When we reunited with him, I noticed that he was unaffected by the black wall demon, and you said he was chosen to be his last meal before becoming a titan of hell. That was the other key. The Nameless General mentioned that the demon devours others to reform his body, but, in my memory of him, I never saw him change form. He was only ever a dark wall when I hid away from him. Sesshomaru, like Honoseiken, could physically see the black wall demon's true form. That demon also uses other strong demons to form a tether between the wielder of the sword and the protector of the wielder. Sesshomaru was going to be the power the black wall demon needed to eliminate the tether and form a body that he could use to either hold the sword or control a new wielder. That was why he couldn't feed on Honoseiken. He, ultimately, couldn't control him because he knew where the tether point was. As long as you know it, you can defeat the black wall demon and see through his tricks. Sesshomaru would have been able to see the tether point had we not interfered. That was why I needed him to go alone, but that also gave me time to think. The moon on his forehead was my final clue and the key to solving the riddle. When we learned of the riddle from Piao, it was the night of the waxing gibbous moon phase - an incomplete moon face. Sesshomaru had a crescent on his forehead. He completed the moon! The Jubokko tree, as you know, feeds on the blood of warriors, so I needed Sesshomaru to bleed me to feed the tree. Akarui, using his lantern power, lit the tree aflame again and melted Piao's icy barrier. This reconnected the hinoki and Jubokko trees together and formed the final parallel. When I stopped Ichi from retrieving the sword, I was able to interact with Honoseiken as I did with the Nameless General once I visited the family armory. That's how I was able to call the sword in those final moments. So, you see, Lord Sesshomaru was of great service to me."

"Indeed," the pheasant said with an interesting smile. "I suppose I should call him by his name and not the evil talking dog as gratitude... but he's still an evil talking dog."

"Oh, you!" Meioshi said, lightly pushing the bird away playfully. She picked up her sword and rose to stand before saying, "I have something to show Hon'no and Piao before they go. I wonder if Shishou will help me choose the right dancer for their release."

"You want to show them Ketsueki Shirudo? Why?" the pheasant asked.

"They came with me when I spoke to Shishou at the holy city, but they didn't get to see it. They were sleeping," Meioshi answered. "I want to escort them to the Soul Carriers' Road but after I show them the magic of the holy city. I promised I would."

"That is a spectacular way to ensure their homecoming," the pheasant said, smiling at his friend.

"Pity I have to go to the creature who destroyed such a beautiful place years before this mess with the sword, though," Meioshi said, sighing and frowning at her predicament. "To think I actually took pity on the bugger."