Peeping

"Your mother and I have been arranging introductions with quite a few daughters of other city lords lately. You're not getting any younger. It's time you found yourself a wife, someone who can take care of you."

"Yes," Naraku replied, lowering his eyes as a flash of red passed through them.

Xu Zhiqiu sensed someone watching her, but by the time she looked over, that gaze had vanished. Watching the carriage recede into the distance, her heart sank. Could the young lord be Naraku? If so, had I slept for fifty years?

"Miss, how did you come to be here in such a sorry state? If you don't mind, I could take you to a clothing shop to change into something else," the stallholder said, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Xu Zhiqiu pressed her lips together slightly. Looking into his tiny, beanlike eyes, she gave him a faint smile. "Sure. Thank you."

The stallholder took Xu Zhiqiu to a clothing shop to buy clothes. After choosing an outfit, she said she would go inside to change, and he waited.

Even after the sun had set, Xu Zhiqiu still hadn't come out. Only when he went over to ask did he learn that the woman had run out the back door!

Xu Zhiqiu changed into a blue-green kimono embroidered with white patterns and tied her hair into a high ponytail with a ribbon. She slipped out the back door and disappeared into the crowd.

She reckoned she hadn't eaten in fifty years, either. She urgently needed food now, so she had to find some work.

She walked barefoot down the street, looking around. Eventually, she stopped at a restaurant and went inside.

Seeing how pretty she was, the waiter assumed Xu Zhiqiu had come to eat and hurried to usher her in and seat her. She remained standing, however. "Do you need someone to wash dishes?"

The smile froze on the waiter's face, and he looked toward the proprietor.

"Yes, yes, we do." After seeing Xu Zhiqiu's face, the proprietor rubbed his plump little hands together, his eyes narrowing into smiling slits.

That evening, the clouds along the horizon glowed an especially vivid red.

The sound of running water came from the restaurant's backyard. There wasn't much variety in the food served here, so the tableware was fairly easy to clean. Xu Zhiqiu washed one piece after another, then stretched once she had finished a round of bowls and chopsticks.

A soft chuckle sounded above her.

"To think a revered priestess would fall so low as to live like a lowly servant. How truly amusing." The voice dripped with sarcasm.

Xu Zhiqiu lowered her arms and turned to look at Naraku, who stood on the roof wearing the Baboon Skin. "So what? At least I earn my pay through my own work."

Naraku's tone was flippant. "Oh? Does tricking someone into buying you clothes and then leaving without a word count as earning them through your own abilities, too?"

Xu Zhiqiu was speechless. He wasn't wrong, and she really couldn't win an argument against Naraku's venomous tongue.

When Xu Zhiqiu said nothing, the corners of Naraku's mouth lifted. "What's wrong? Did I, Naraku, hit the mark? Can't find a reason to argue back?"

"Yes, yes, yes. You hit the mark." Xu Zhiqiu sat down and rinsed the bowls again.

Naraku watched her return to washing dishes. Seeing her dressed in clothes someone else had bought, he felt anger well up inside him, ready to erupt.

Because Xu Zhiqiu had appeared, Onigumo's heart, which had already become one with him, was beating again-even more fiercely than it had fifty years ago.

Did he really like Xu Zhiqiu that much?

"Miss Qiu." Someone else's voice sounded.

Xu Zhiqiu looked up toward Naraku on the roof, only to find he had already vanished.

Tsk.

When night finally fell, Xu Zhiqiu repeatedly refused the proprietor's requests for her to stay. She collected the money she had earned through her work and left, walking onto the bustling street. Returning to the basket stall, she paid the stallholder back for the clothes.

Before the stallholder could say anything, he saw Xu Zhiqiu leap away using lightness skills. He swallowed. She probably wasn't an ordinary woman. Weighing the silver in his hand, he abandoned that idea.

Xu Zhiqiu bought two steamed buns, then leaped onto a rooftop to admire the moon while she ate.

The night was cool and clear. Quiet surroundings always let a person's heart naturally relax.

"How long are you going to keep spying on me?" Xu Zhiqiu asked out of the blue.

A figure wearing the Baboon Skin emerged from the shadows. He moved to Xu Zhiqiu's side and sat down. "I didn't expect you to have become so much more vigilant."

"Mm," Xu Zhiqiu replied indifferently, taking another bite of her bun and chewing it carefully.

"You vanished into thin air all these years. A great deal has happened in Kaede's Village." Naraku spoke casually, as though merely recounting things he had heard.

Xu Zhiqiu stopped chewing and turned toward him, meeting the red eyes beneath his mask. "And what part did you play in all that? Didn't you get the Shikon Jewel?"

"Heh. I merely gave their trust in each other a little test. Who knew it would crumble at the first blow? The priestess died, and that half-demon was sealed away. How laughable their love looks." Naraku's voice carried a mocking edge.

I want to punch him. Xu Zhiqiu clenched her fist, but remembering her own abilities, she loosened it again and continued eating her bun as though nothing had happened.

The Jade Blade attack he had expected never came. Naraku glanced at her wrist and only then noticed that it was bare. The Jade she used to wear there was gone. A glint flashed through his eyes.

Naraku looked away and joined Xu Zhiqiu in gazing at the moon. "Qiu, where have you been all these years? Why couldn't my Mōmō Bees find any trace of you, even after searching everywhere here? Where did you vanish to?"

Naraku sounded a little more normal now, but Xu Zhiqiu was in a bad mood and answered with sarcasm of her own. "What's it to you? You couldn't kill me last time, and now that I've appeared again, you can hardly wait to finish me off, is that it?"

Naraku's lips curved upward. He leaned closer to Xu Zhiqiu and slipped an arm around her shoulders. That long-absent scent truly brought back memories. "Qiu, what are you saying? How could I kill you? I can hardly wait to cherish you."

"Oh? Really?" Expressionless, Xu Zhiqiu turned to look at him, the Baboon Skin between them.

Xu Zhiqiu reached out and tilted Naraku's chin up. "You want to cherish me? Go on, then."

Hearing Xu Zhiqiu's wanton tone, Naraku stiffened.

"You don't dare, do you?" Seeing his discomfort, Xu Zhiqiu removed the hand resting on her shoulder. "If you don't dare, don't say things like that. People can easily get the wrong idea."

She stood up, ready to leave.

But a tentacle coiled around her ankle. Naraku pressed himself against her and wrapped his arms around her waist, lowering his head close to the side of her neck. "Why wouldn't I dare? Since you're so eager, Qiu, of course I can't turn down your enthusiasm."

"Let go!" Xu Zhiqiu frowned.

Suddenly, pain struck the back of her neck. Her vision went black, the bun fell from her hand, and she collapsed against Naraku.

Naraku held her in his arms through the Baboon Skin and looked at the unconscious woman. Even after all these years, her face was still just as beautiful. How extraordinary.

Naraku clicked his tongue, then carried her away.