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Through her simple touch, the purple flowers in the vast field bloomed vibrantly, bathed in the light of the full moon. Aoi, a half demon, took pride in her works, even more so when her audience, children from the nearby orphanage, clapped in amazement.
“You’re always so cool, Aoi-chan!”
Aoi tugged her ashen locks behind her ears, flattered, “Well, not always. You see I am still training —”
She stopped mid sentence as she felt a strong (very strong indeed) demon aura coming closer to where they were. At the intensity, her knees buckled. She had never felt such a strong yoki before. She swallowed down her fear and quickly instructed, “Children! Go back to the house!”
“Aoi-chan?”
The demon was very close now. Aoi yelled out desperately, “NOW!!!”
At that, the children scooted their way out of the field, through the shadows of the forest, and back to the orphanage. The second they were out of sight, the demon with the intense yoki finally arrived, wounding the night sky in milliseconds and landing on the flowery field with an impact.
For a while, it seemed like it was raining petals as the flowers in the field were disturbed. It almost looked unreal, quite ethereal. Aoi looked through the temporary storm, and saw the demon behind the majestic entrance. It was a silver haired youkai, wearing pristine silk garments under a detailed black armor, the finest and most adorned she had laid her eyes upon. Obviously a high ranking demon.
Aoi trembled in fear. She wondered what a daiyoukai of high stature was doing in the humble area of the far East. She wondered why he had appeared before her of all people, of all instances. Had she done something wrong? She tried to rack her brain for reasons.
The demon straightened his posture post landing and spoke, his voice deep and cold, “You are a weak youkai, even weaker as you are half human.” He started walking towards her.
In her frozen state, Aoi could not do anything but cower. Compared to his strength, hers was but of a mere insect.
The demon stopped two meters away from her. But, he was towering over and glaring at her, he appeared so much closer. Aoi felt like she would evaporate by his intense glare alone.
The demon continued, “Yet, you dare reject all the proposals offered to you.”
Hearing this, Aoi blinked, confused, “P-proposals?”
That was when a small creature broke through the trees on the other side of the field. He appeared exhausted, out of breath, “M-my lord… W-wait…”
Briefly glancing at the new intruder, Aoi’s eyes widened in recognition. She remembered the imp. He was the same small demon who had visited her in the orphanage a few weeks ago, offering her a place in the well-known United Armies of the West. He was not the only one who had tried offering her though. There were five people, youkais and men, who had visited her prior to him. She had received some letters as well. All of which she had rejected. She had thought the imp would be the last of them. She had never thought that another one would come and ask her again, a daiyoukai this time.
Aoi connected the dots in her head. She glanced back at the terrifying daiyoukai in front of her. At last, she recognized, “LORD SESSHOMARU!” She hurriedly bowed down to the grassed earth.
She had known him through stories, had heard him from her parents, from the people around, both youkais and men. This demon lord was said to be impeccable, legendary, deserving of high respect.
“Sesshomaru-sama,” Aoi acknowledged once more, “please forgive my ignorance. I did not recognize you right away.”
“You acknowledge I, Sesshomaru, and are aware of my subjects. Yet, you rejected all their offers. Why?”
“I…” Aoi hesitated for a second. But then, she had made a decision already and had no intention of diverting from it. Without lifting her head up, she answered truthfully, “I have already chosen a path, my lord.”
“You are a hanyou and are unfit for both human and demon domains. There is no more befitting path for you than what was offered.”
Before Aoi could answer, another presence entered the field and responded for her, “There is one, actually.”
Recognizing the voice, from her bowed position, Aoi quickly turned to the source and saw the High Priestess stepping out of the woods and into the well-lit field. She must have suppressed her aura earlier that they had felt her presence just now.
The priestess’s figure was glowing under the moon with its light contrasting against her silky raven hair and her white-red garments, making her look as unreal and ethereal as the daiyoukai in front of them. Aoi looked up and turned once more to the demon lord and there, on his icy stoic face, she caught a small hint of surprise.
“Kikyou,” the daiyoukai called.
With a small smile, the miko greeted, “Sesshomaru.”
Based on their tone and their simple greetings to one another, there was obvious familiarity between them, Aoi could sense. Right, along with the trivial hearsays that circulated in seventy-five years were telltales about a Great Daiyoukai and a Powerful Priestess phenomenally fighting side by side in the Peace War and successfully saving humankind. These two were the legends themselves. Aoi could not fathom how lucky she was to have seen them in the same space. Something was telling her that this occurrence was as rare as a blue moon.
The miko walked further into the field and stopped beside the kneeling hanyou. She faced the steady daiyoukai in front of them, “Aoi’s parents were a flower youkai and a human herbalist with spiritual energy. Their powers combined make Aoi a potential candidate for being a skilled healer catering both humans and youkais.”
“I am aware,” the daiyoukai’s tone remained dull and uninterested, but his eyes were locked on the miko’s. “Tell me about the path she talks.”
The priestess calmly continued, “Aoi is more of a healer than a fighter, and thus, more befitting under my guidance than in your fold.”
The demon lord raised an eyebrow at that, “So, you are the path.”
“I made an offer. She accepted it.”
“It is you then,” the imp finally arrived to where they were and settled by his lord’s foot. “I’ve been trying to recruit these people lately and they’ve been rejecting my offers.” With a deep breath, he added, “You’ve been taking them all, priestess.”
The miko looked at the small demon and pointed out, “Not all of them, Jaken. Only those with spiritual energies. Also, others have rejected my offers too. Some preferred yours.”
“What are you doing, Kikyou?” the daiyoukai asked, curious.
“I am gathering men and hanyous with spiritual energies,” the miko replied. “I am intending to teach them control their powers and guide them in using their skills in serving people.”
A brief silence occured afterwards. Then, the daiyoukai stated, “The shrine being built in the East Mountains is yours. You are the High Priestess.”
The miko confirmed, “So, you have heard.”
“I have.”
At last, the demon lord averted his golden eyes from the miko’s face and to the night sky above. Another silence befell over the field as the soft wind passed and smoothly swayed the grass around and the remaining petals from the recently disturbed flowers. The long tresses of both the daiyoukai and the miko waved in rhythmic pattern. Their visuals together were surreal like a painting from stories and legends.
Aoi’s breath was simply taken away. She could not help but utter, “Beautiful.”
“So, this is the path you choose for yourself,” the daiyoukai spoke once more, without looking back to any of them.
Aoi flinched and assumed that he was talking to her. She bowed once again and responded, “Yes, Sesshomaru-sama.”
“I am talking to you, Kikyou,” the daiyoukai turned to the miko once again.
Aoi lifted her face from the earth and watched the miko reply to that. The priestess nodded assuredly, “Yes. This is all I know and all I will ever do.”
“Hmm,” was simply the daiyoukai’s response. But, there was a hint of satisfaction in his tone, and even gladness about the priestess’s certainty. After a while, he told her, “Do as you please.”
Then, smoothly, the demon lord turned away and started walking out of the field. The imp scrambled to his feet and followed his lord but only after bidding the priestess a short farewell. After a few moments, their figures disappeared into the shadows of the forest. Then, they were completely gone.
It was only then Aoi stood up from her position, eyes on the area where the daiyoukai had exited to. “That was…” she could not formulate a word to properly describe the experience she had.
“He was worried,” the miko told the hanyou in her usual soft voice.
Aoi was puzzled. The daiyoukai surely sounded annoyed rather than worried.
Seeing her confusion, the miko explained, “The hana-youkai clan has helped us in the Peace War. Sesshomaru will not admit it himself but he owed every person that lended their help in those days and vowed to secure a future for their children. Your mother was one of those people.”
Aoi absorbed this information and concluded, “That’s why he was so eager to recruit me despite me being weak.” The miko was about to protest at the last word but Aoi was quick in clearing up, “He said so himself that I am a weak youkai, and it is the truth when it comes to battlefield. I know I don’t fit in his military fold, but I certainly fit in somewhere else.”
The priestess was proud of her student’s awareness of her own strength. She continued, “You rejecting his offer has made him worried but I made sure, just now, that you are in good hands.”
Aoi smiled widely, “He trusts you.”
The miko tilted her head, “You can say that.” Then, she started walking back to the forest and towards the orphanage. Aoi followed behind.
The hanyou settled beside the miko. She was mildly hopping in playful energy. She added gleefully, “And, you admire him just as much!”
The miko was quite suspicious of how her student had delivered that line, “Yes?”
Aoi jumped before her master and pointed out, “You like him, Kikyou-sensei!”
The miko stopped on her tracks and asked, “What makes you say that?” There was more of mirth on her lips than of annoyance.
“You look at him with kind eyes.” Aoi was hopeful, but the priestess only sighed to that. She added, “He looks at you the same! He likes you too!”
The miko brushed it off and continued pacing towards the orphanage, “We are simply acquaintances, Aoi.”
“For now, yes.” The hanyou fell in steps beside the miko and insisted, “But, what about after a few years? Decades?” The miko was silent. “Don’t tell me you will let centuries pass first before confessing to each other?!”
They stopped at the steps of the orphanage. The miko responded at last, “We are both duty bounded, Aoi. It is all we look forward to.”
Aoi’s shoulders slacked, “Isn’t that too lonely?”
Before the miko could say a word, a bunch of children went of the orphanage and lunged themselves towards the two.
“Kikyou-sama! Aoi-chan!”
“Are you two alright?”
“Are you hurt?”
“We are fine,” Aoi reassured them, hugging two children in her arms. Kikyou gathered three and patted the rest one by one. Slowly, they guided the kids back into the building to rest.
The miko muttered when they were all halfway to the children’s room, “I am happy now.”
Aoi was glad and satisfied hearing that, but she knew her master could be way more happier if only she let herself be.