#forest deep

Long story short:

On her way back to Kururugi Village, as she returns the day she left, Irene gets blasted into the past by a deity who is hella pissed that their shrine's been essentially forgotten and that no one worships them anymore. So the deity sends her back in time to where their shrine was still being tended to- but Roh, once again, messes with the destination and Irene runs into a certain general who eventually takes her to Izayoi's manor so she'd have somewhere to stay.

And given trade with the Portuguese hasn't started yet, it is highly likely Irene would be mistaken for a demon- especially with her spirits, so Izayoi comes up with the clever lie that Irene is a visiting deity come to bless the land. And, with Toga's help, obtains a fake "celestial robe" for Irene to wear.

Irene is stuck there for about a month.

But yeah. Anyone remember this particular drawing???

Yup, yup.

That's Irene "blessing" the land.

But yeah. At one point on her way to a certain location, when Irene is in a purple kimono with her ichimegasa on, a younger Sesshomaru (think how he looks in the Movie Three prologue) basically pops up and threatens her.

(IT'S ACTUALLY BEEN TECHNICALLY REVEALED IN THE FIC, I DUNNO IF ANYONE CAUGHT IT, BUT IT WAS HEAVILY IMPLIED IN A SESS POV. There was also a REASON why Inu Papa was acting so dang familiar with Irene in the border of the afterlife. HE MET HER ALREADY. Mwehehehehhehehe!)

There's also a bit with a Shishinki minion and Irene getting that collarbone scar (it's a surprise tool to help us later!) but like that's not important here.

Irene returns to the manor, and when she's taking a walk with Izayoi at night senses Sess' presence (and she's cursing the fact that she DOESN'T HAVE HER ICHIMEGASA ON because she can't let him see her face, but she wasn't expecting him to pop up again) and panic hides her face with her giant sleeve before rushing back into the manor with Izayoi at her side.

To her relief, Sesshomaru leaves shortly after without actually approaching them- but MAN, WAS GIRLY STRESSED.

ALSO THERE WAS THIS DOODLE- I can't remember if I shared it or not, but:

That's Toga beside Irene, lol.

This is also how Irene obtains Tatsunori, Ayumu, and Kai as Shikigami- since, when she gets blasted into the far past, she loses contact with those particular three, to her panic, because they're not yet spirits here.

A bitter Onmyoji who got pissed that Tatsunori wouldn't agree to become his spirit basically poisoned the mountain river and caused Tatsunori to become gravely ill, hoping to force him into being a spirit, and this is where Irene learns how to "bless" things since she undoes what the previous Shikigami user did. It's why Ayumu and Kai like Irene so much, but don't care for Shikigami users in general. They're bitter over what happened to Tatsunori.

But yeah.