𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐀𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜;; 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐮

𝟐

"Ahem." Sayuri cleared her throat, and a group of villagers looked her way. They seemed to be rebuilding their homes, and while she would've offered her assistance any other day, she had more pressing matters to attend to. "Say, could you point me in the direction of Priestess Kaede's... place of residence?" For a moment, Sayuri found herself questioning if the miko had her own home, or if she lived in her respective shrine the way Sayuri did. Then she decided it didn't matter.

An elderly man slowly made his way over to her, wiping the sweat off his forehead and tossing his building tool onto the ground. Luckily, Sayuri had her umbrella to protect her from most of the sun's rays; not only was he somewhat frail, but he was also working in the terrible heat without any shade. Still, he smiled kindly. "Ah, you must be the priestess's guest. She should be right that way, in that building, along with the girl and..." His lips flattened together. "...the hanyō."

Curious, she questioned, "Hanyō?"

"Yes. I'm afraid that we were attacked by a centipede demon the other day. None of our weapons were harming it, so as a last resort we released the hanyō in the forest over there. Though it killed the demon, it unfortunately has a rather... aggressive personality."

"Does he - she? They?" Sayuri frowned momentarily before shaking her head. "But the hanyō is fully sentient?"

"Yeah. He's just violent. He threatened to kill that girl who came here multiple times, but luckily the priestess was able to control him."

"I see..." she murmured. Actually, she didn't, but the only way she'd understand was if she saw it for herself. "Well, thank you, sir. Oh, and since I'll be staying here for a bit, please bring anyone who needs medical attention to me. I wish to help everyone as much as I can before I leave."

"No, thank you, miss." He smiled brightly at her for no reason other than he could. "We don't often get visitors, so we'd love it if you stay for as long as you can."

Sayuri returned his smile. "I'd love to, sir."

The rest of Sayuri's journey had been uneventful once she parted ways with Lord Sesshomaru. She didn't meet any more imps, bandits, daiyōkai, or even ordinary humans. The only life forms she came into contact with was the grass and the trees, which was a little boring, but all lives were equal, and she didn't think poorly of plants simply because of their lack of conversation skills.

However, when she opened the sliding door to the miko's home and saw a furious inu hanyō hit the floor hard enough to break through the wooden planks, she found herself missing the company of those plants. The fleeting but cowardly urge to leave thrummed in her veins, so she slid the door back shut and waited outside for someone to let her in.

"You old hag! Who do you think you are, anyway? Don't talk as if you know all about me!"

That voice... It must've been the hanyō's. It sounded irritated and aggressive enough for it to be plausible.