"Naraku… was originally a human who devoured countless demons?!"
After hearing Kikyo's explanation, Kagura's pink eyes widened dramatically, her face filled with disbelief.
She had never imagined Naraku could have been born in such a way.
"To be more precise," Uchiha Retsu added from the side, "he's the result of a fallen human merging with demons. In essence, he's a half-demon."
"A human… half-demon…"
The revelation struck Kagura deeply.
She sat there on the swing in a daze, brows tightly knit as she sank into thought. Her pink-purple kimono swayed gently with the motion of the swing. The rebellious confidence she usually carried was gone, replaced by confusion and uncertainty.
Seeing her like this, Kikyo and Retsu exchanged a glance, faint smiles appearing on their faces.
Retsu could tell Kikyo had noticed Kagura's rebellious attitude toward Naraku as well.
Her thoughts were probably the same as his—drawing Kagura to their side and turning her into an informant planted near Naraku.
It would both inconvenience Naraku and allow them to track his movements. A perfect arrangement.
"What about Inuyasha?"
After a long silence, Kagura finally spoke again.
"I can feel that what lies between him and Naraku goes far beyond the Shikon Jewel."
Kikyo fell silent for a moment. Her gaze drifted toward the distant mountains as she spoke with a faint trace of melancholy.
"Fifty years ago, after Onigumo merged with demons and became Naraku, he plotted against both Inuyasha and me.
"In the end, I died with resentment in my heart and took the Shikon Jewel to the grave with me.
"And Inuyasha… was sealed by my dying spell, forced into a sleep that lasted fifty years."
"So that's what happened…"
Kagura murmured in realization.
Now she finally understood why Inuyasha pursued Naraku with such relentless hatred. The roots of that conflict had been planted fifty years ago.
After that, Kagura fell silent again.
She and Kanna sat side by side on the gently swaying swing. One frowned in deep thought, while the other stared blankly into the distance. Neither spoke again.
Kikyo and Retsu didn't disturb them.
Taking advantage of the quiet moment—no villagers visiting for the time being—Retsu rested briefly before pulling Kikyo away to practice swordsmanship.
Ever since he had taught her how to use a blade, the two of them often sparred whenever they had free time.
"Clang!"
The crisp sound of metal striking metal echoed through the shrine grounds.
Retsu raised his sword to block Kikyo's downward strike. With a swift twist of his wrist, his blade turned and pointed directly toward her chest.
But Kikyo reacted instantly.
Her body bent backward sharply, narrowly avoiding the strike. At the same time, her blade flicked upward, aiming straight for his arm.
Retsu calmly turned his blade again, intercepting her attack.
Kikyo stepped back two paces and raised her katana once more. Her eyes were focused and serious.
Under the sunlight, her shrine maiden robes fluttered, giving her an unexpectedly heroic presence.
Retsu felt a little regretful.
Kikyo's swordsmanship had improved incredibly fast. But the armor he had prepared for her was always rejected—she found it too heavy and inconvenient.
She only wore it occasionally when he insisted, which meant he rarely got to see the sight of "Samurai Kikyo."
Still…
A shrine maiden wielding a sword like this wasn't bad at all.
Just as their sparring reached its peak, a group of villagers suddenly rushed into the shrine courtyard, interrupting their training.
Seeing the unconscious villager being carried in by several people, Kikyo immediately sheathed her sword and hurried over.
Retsu followed behind. From the villagers' frantic chatter, he quickly understood what had happened.
The man had been bitten by a venomous snake.
His breathing was weak, but his life wasn't in danger.
Situations like this were common—villagers often came to Kikyo after being bitten by venomous insects or snakes.
Just as she had said, it wasn't particularly dangerous.
Watching Kikyo skillfully inspect the wound, a sudden thought appeared in Retsu's mind.
The world of Inuyasha and the modern world Kagome came from might not simply be separated by five hundred years.
They might actually be two completely different parallel worlds.
In Kagome's modern era, a snakebite would absolutely require a hospital and proper antivenom treatment.
But here, Kikyo could resolve the problem easily with herbal medicine.
Not only did demons exist in this world—even the plants and animals seemed different.
Many herbs possessed almost miraculous effects.
Just like in the original story—when Kagome once had a fever, Inuyasha cooked some bizarre soup made from random organs.
After drinking it, she recovered instantly and even returned to school the next day to take her exams.
But the most crucial question was this:
Where were the powerful demons?
For demons, five hundred years was nothing more than the blink of an eye.
Great demons like Sesshomaru—or even half-demons like Inuyasha—could easily survive into the modern era.
Yet in Kagome's world, there was absolutely no trace of them.
The few objects shown in the story that crossed between the two worlds—Tōkijin, the fragments of the Shikon Jewel, the arrowhead Kagome retrieved from the Sacred Tree—were all closely tied to the Sacred Tree and the Bone-Eater's Well.
And from the details of the story, it was clear that the Sacred Tree and the Bone-Eater's Well served as a connection between the two worlds.
So Retsu speculated—
When Kagome passed through the Bone-Eater's Well, she might not have traveled through time at all.
She might have traveled through space instead, crossing from her own world into the parallel world where Inuyasha existed.
Of course, it was only speculation.
He had no evidence to prove it.
While he was lost in thought, Kikyo had already poured the antidote into the unconscious villager's mouth.
Before long, the man slowly opened his eyes, his breathing stabilizing.
The villagers expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Kikyo. After leaving behind piles of vegetables, fruits, and mountain produce as thanks, they carried the now-conscious man back down the mountain.
"That's a lot of food," Kikyo said helplessly as she looked at the pile of produce on the ground.
"There's no way we can eat all of this."
She turned to Retsu.
"Retsu, could you seal these away? If we leave them out too long, they'll spoil."
"Got it. Leave it to me."
Retsu nodded and pulled out a sealing scroll. He spread it beside the pile and channeled chakra into it.
A puff of white smoke appeared—and all the food was sealed inside the scroll.
This was already routine for him.
Most nearby villagers were poor and had little money.
When they came to Kikyo for healing or demon extermination, they often paid with homegrown vegetables, wild fruits, mushrooms, or hunted game instead of coins.
Over time, the supplies piled up, so Retsu would seal them for storage.
Occasionally, when they were bored, the two of them even took the goods to nearby towns to sell.
Before they realized it, evening had arrived.
Throughout the entire time, Kagura and Kanna had remained quietly nearby, watching them work.
With Kanna's ability concealing them, the visiting villagers never noticed the two demons at all.
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Kikyo asked gently as she sorted the ingredients.
"If there's something you want to eat, just tell me."
"No, we'll be leaving now."
Kagura hurriedly waved her hands. Seeing how serious Kikyo was about preparing a meal for them made her expression strangely awkward.
"Thank you for telling me about Naraku."
The moment she finished speaking, a fierce gust of wind erupted around her.
A giant feather appeared beneath her feet.
Kagura grabbed Kanna's hand and leapt onto it. The wind carried the feather into the sky, and the two of them quickly disappeared into the night.
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