Watching from a distance the fight taking place in the village, with certain thoughts in her mind, the young priestess narrows her eyes as the wind caresses her black hair.
This place… Inuyasha, so many things the same and yet different, made even her—despite her iron will—fall back into old feelings.
"Similar… But similar to what?"
Closing her eyes completely while thinking about something unfathomable, Kikyo sinks into the memories of her first interaction with Inuyasha.
In those days she was even more machine-like than she is now. She protected the villagers, protected the Shikon Jewel, killed yokai, healed the wounded… She did everything expected of a priestess to perfection.
There were no cracks on the visible surface, but only she truly knew how many times she had thought of something simpler. Being able to use makeup, sleep at night without keeping one eye open, not having to doubt the intentions of everyone who knew of the jewel… Forming a family to feel a warmth she never had—simple things, really.
But those "simple things" were not meant for her, because Kikyo was first a priestess—the best at what she did, a living example of perfection and hard work—and only afterward, perhaps, a woman… until that fateful day.
As she always did, mechanically and instinctively, Kikyo was eliminating nearby yokai. It was to protect the Shikon Jewel, and besides, she truly had nothing else to do—so why not do the most productive thing she knew?
During that patrol, which lasted all afternoon and well into the night, Kikyo eliminated every threat, small or large. Nothing escaped her cold arrows, no different from divine judgment… until she saw him.
Hidden, fearful, yet unmistakably prepared to do what was necessary… He was a Hanyō. Beings half demon and half human, rejected by demons for tainting their noble lineage and hated by humans for their demonic blood—creatures truly lacking any real purpose.
Perhaps that was why he caught her attention at first glance: something so "lost," seeking purpose through the jewel, just as she tried to fill the emptiness inside herself through those "simple things."
Of course, that similarity only earned him a few points, because Kikyo was first and foremost a priestess—but they were enough for him to leave that first encounter alive, with nothing more than a verbal threat from her.
"Yes… What I first felt from him was how lost he was, like a missing piece of a puzzle. 'He' also seems to be… Perhaps destiny?"
Opening her brown eyes, which seem to ripple with certain thoughts, Kikyo murmurs those cryptic words and watches as the figures of the two young men run out of the village.
That was her cue to act, although the truth was that she was just like Kagome—or rather, Kagome was like her… Yes, the situation between the two of them was complicated.
"Do I have to hide? In my own home… No, she's the thief, not me."
Speaking to herself with traces of the madness she showed the previous night, Kikyo steps down from the tree branch with practical, elegant movements, landing once more on the ground with her gaze forward.
There, resolute and focused, Kikyo begins to walk ahead with her head held high. The path before her felt vaguely familiar; the wind, heavy with a nostalgic scent, reminded her of home, while the somewhat familiar faces did not all light up her expression equally.
It wasn't a conscious reaction, but an instinctive one. Seeing those rice fields again, the faces worn down by physical labor, the mountain crowned by that old temple… Perhaps not all were happy memories, but they were hers.
"Miss priestess, may I perhaps help you with something?"
"…I would appreciate it."
Pulled out of her mental realm, Kikyo looks at the young woman carrying a basket full of herbs and calmly accepts her help.
"No, no, it's truly a pleasure for me to help you, priestess. More importantly, I'm sure you must be looking for Lady Kaede. She's the only priestess in this village… Sorry, did I talk too much?"
"Not at all, though I would appreciate it if you could take me to Kaede."
Raising an eyebrow at the young woman who clearly holds priestesses in high regard—a gesture she normally wouldn't make—Kikyo briefly looks at the basket full of medicinal herbs and comes to a conclusion as she follows her into the village.
Inside the village, everything was normal: men moving back and forth with their farming tools, women airing out houses, and the occasional child running wildly about—something quite strange considering the earlier battle between Inuyasha and Asahiko.
Of course, all her doubts are resolved when Kikyo notices the residual energy in the air—wild yet gentle… Asahiko's. It seemed he had created an illusion around part of the village, preventing anyone from noticing anything unusual during the entire fight.
"That's Lady Kaede's house, the one just before going up the stairs to the temple on the mountain."
"…So it hasn't changed. Thank you, you've helped me greatly."
Looking at the dilapidated wooden house—hardly befitting a central and important figure like a priestess—Kikyo shakes her head and bids farewell to the enthusiastic young woman.
"Not at all, anyone could have guided you here. I was just lucky to meet you. Ah—right, I should go; these herbs won't process themselves."
"Go carefully."
"You too, priestess!"
Making a quick bow that almost causes her to drop the basket, the young woman runs off, leaving Kikyo alone in front of the house.
Now it was the moment of truth—the moment to face her younger sister and learn what truly happened so long ago.
Taking a heavier breath than she wished to admit—especially now that she no longer needs it due to her undead body—Kikyo extends her pale hand and pushes aside the bamboo curtain that serves as a door.
Inside, there was nothing remarkable: a single large open room with a hearth in the center, a few clay jars for storing water, and a sleeping area.
"…Y-yes? S-sister?"
Dropping a clay jar in surprise, Kikyo's younger sister, the priestess Kaede, opens her eyes wide at the intruder entering her home.
"Your senses have dulled, Kaede. I suppose age doesn't come alone… Oh? Are you surprised to see me alive again?"
"That will never happen, sister! I admit I had accepted your death again when you fell from that cliff, but… I'm truly glad to see you."
"Even knowing what I am now and what I do to survive, Kaede? You must have already heard—about the souls and my hatred toward Inuyasha."
Walking deeper into the room, which grows oppressive due to her thorny question, Kikyo hides her face in the shadows as a smile forms on her lips. She was ready to put her cold, stoic mask back on—to be the 'villain' if necessary, just to avoid being hurt.
"I will never support your way of living or what you do—that's what you taught me as a priestess… But you are my sister. I only had you when our parents passed away… So I—"
"Ha. Age really has dulled your senses. You can't even distinguish between duty and personal feelings anymore, Kaede."
"Perhaps so, but I prefer it—just as I prefer you as you are now, not the version I saw in that witch's cave. Now you are… more human, sister."
Gathering the broken pieces of the clay jar with her wrinkled, calloused hands—clear signs of her advanced age, along with some white hair and slight plumpness—Kaede offers a genuine smile to Kikyo, who maintains her cold mask.
"…Human? Yes, I suppose in some morbid way this had a good side—now I no longer have to follow all those stupid rules, whether as a priestess or as the jewel's guardian."
"Sister…"
"It's a strange truth, Kaede. Before, I couldn't love or hate anyone, desire anything, or even think certain thoughts—all because the jewel could be tainted. But now… I can feel the fire of hatred, the insatiable thirst for vengeance, and the pain of betrayal."
Clasping both hands in front of her eyes as she speaks with a strange mix of resentment and fascination, Kikyo lowers the mask she has worn for some time, revealing a slightly lost expression.
That expression wasn't false or fabricated—it came from the depths of Kikyo's heart, a woman who had just tasted a side of life she never had… Perhaps that's why she became so extreme with Inuyasha.
Not because she's a crazed vengeful bitch—though she likely has some of that in her—but because it was the first uncontrolled emotion she ever felt in life, trapping and drawing her in like a moth to flame.
"Everyone has the right to feel those emotions, sister. But do you truly want to feel only that now that you're free? Hatred, resentment, and jealousy… Don't you desire something more positive?"
"Hahaha, I remind you that the love of my life is now with my reincarnation, Kaede. You know, Inuyasha even left me at the gates of hell—just barely, I wouldn't be here."
Mocking the situation, though without her usual self-harm, Kikyo once again scans the room, perhaps noticing the strangeness of her own words.
"Sometimes loving someone means letting them go, sister. I learned that the hard way—when I saw your cold body due to Naraku's scheme, when the flames consumed you to ashes… The pain was unbearable, but I chose to keep the good memories in my heart and move on."
"Such beautiful words, Kaede. I see age brings not only problems, but also wisdom—though it does make you sound like a charlatan."
"I'm not—"
"Enough. None of that matters now. Let's talk about what's important. I don't think we have much time for silence if those two keep going."
Looking out the window—though Kikyo likely isn't using her eyes, but rather her senses to observe the distant battle—she steers the conversation to what truly matters.
"Naraku… is Onigumo, sister."
"Onigumo? That burned, half-dead bandit?"
Responding with surprise and searching her memories for the man called Onigumo, Kikyo opens her eyes wide as she recalls him.
Not because he was important, but precisely because he wasn't—Onigumo was merely a footnote in her life, a dying man she saved solely out of her duty as a priestess.
"Yes. He offered his body and soul to dozens—hundreds, perhaps thousands—of evil yokai, being slowly devoured by them in exchange for powers beyond human."
"Heh, so that filthy soul was still good for something? I should have killed him when I noticed that obsession growing in his eyes."
"Unfortunately, I have to agree with you, sister. There are lives that don't deserve to be saved—only forgotten and erased."
Crushing a piece of the clay jar until it breaks, Kaede gives a response wholly unbecoming of a priestess, drawing a faint smile from Kikyo, who had remained stoic.
"I see… Naraku, Onigumo, and the truth from fifty years ago."
"A-are you leaving, sister?"
"Do you want me to stay and live here, Kaede? I remind you that I'm not much different from a monster now—a being made of clay and bones. Besides, Kagome and I cannot be in the same place. By the way, I'm taking my old bow from the temple."
Pushing aside the bamboo curtain, Kikyo pauses when she notices Kaede's movement.
"I… I'm sorry. Naraku is also searching for the jewel fragments. He wants to make it dark and filthy—what he failed to do when he orchestrated the betrayal between you two."
"Let him. That jewel has nothing to do with me anymore, Kaede. Still, thank you for the information—but I'd have been more interested in knowing whether you've maintained my bow."
"Of course I have! It's one of the few things I had left of you!"
Leaving without looking back despite Kaede's shouted words, Kikyo lifts her gaze to the sky and closes her eyes, arranging all her unspoken thoughts in her mind.
With that done, Kikyo begins to climb the nearby steps leading up to the mountain temple—the place where the Shikon Jewel once rested.