Naraku's Thoughts

After filling her stomach, Xu Zhiqiu lay sprawled limply on the tatami mattress, staring up at the rafters with a hand over her heart.

She should never have felt this way. It was all because of that kiss she had hazily "initiated" back then.

Why had she kissed Naraku? Now look what had happened. Just thinking about it made her heart race, and his every action could sway her emotions.

She kicked the wooden wall a few times and rolled around on the soft bedding.

Had he only brought her back because she had Shikon Jewel shards? If she had none, would he not care where she wandered?

The more she thought, the clearer Xu Zhiqiu's mind became. A bitter smile touched her lips. Clutching the quilt, she silently pulled it over her head and buried herself beneath it.

She should have understood long ago that Naraku would never love anyone. Even though she had replaced Kikyo as the person feeding Onigumo when he lay paralyzed on the ground, after Onigumo merged with those yōkai to become Naraku, there was still a vast difference between how he treated people in the original story and in reality.

She knew she was a moth flying into a flame, yet she plunged ahead without looking back.

It's all right, it's all right. You chose this yourself.

Xu Zhiqiu comforted herself this way and shook her head, putting aside those worries that would make her tear her hair out. Breathing softly, she closed her eyes and gradually drifted into sleep.

Meanwhile, in another room.

Naraku leaned against the wall, holding the four shards he had taken from Xu Zhiqiu's bundle. Their surfaces were clean, gleaming with purple light.

He stared at them for a long while, then clenched them in his palm and lowered his eyes. With Autumn's return, Onigumo's heart had begun stirring again.

This damned heart.

Disgust flashed through Naraku's eyes. Sooner or later, he would separate it from himself and become a true yōkai, no longer controlled by a human heart.

Autumn, don't you want me to be nothing but myself, too?

Perhaps her emotions had fluctuated too wildly the day before. Xu Zhiqiu did not wake until the following evening, when she washed up, washed her face, and dressed.

Xu Zhiqiu packed her bundle, took her sword, and prepared to leave, but she could feel an invisible screen stopping her from going outside.

A Barrier.

Realizing it was a Barrier, she stormed toward Naraku's room. Hearing a yōkai's roar from outside, she quickened her steps, only to overhear a conversation between his retainer and Naraku.

"Has the yōkai appeared again?" Naraku's weak, feeble voice rang out.

Xu Zhiqiu leaned against the corner of the wall and listened to their conversation.

"The Young Lord's illness must have persisted all this time because of the yōkai's dark energy. The Lord has already summoned Yōkai Exorcists. That yōkai's days are numbered..."

Has he started staging his own play?

Xu Zhiqiu clenched her fists and walked over.

"Young Lord's Wife, what brings you here?" The retainer, who had been about to leave, asked when he saw Xu Zhiqiu.

Xu Zhiqiu shifted her bundle behind her waist. "I have something to discuss with Indara. You may leave."

"Yes."

Once the retainer had left.

Xu Zhiqiu walked inside and looked at Naraku, who lay beneath a quilt behind the bamboo screen. She went straight to the point. "I want to go out."

"Autumn, it's dangerous outside. You should stay here in your room." Naraku coughed as he spoke.

Xu Zhiqiu thought he was overacting. "Naraku, who are you trying to fool? Aren't you the biggest yōkai in Inuyama Castle?"

"..."

Naraku spoke.

Xu Zhiqiu pushed aside the screen and crouched beside Naraku, staring at his face with its feigned haggardness. "Naraku, I won't ask you to let them go, but could you go easier on them and not wipe them all out?"

"Autumn, are you defending them?" Naraku's expression shifted, and his voice grew low.

As soon as he finished asking, Xu Zhiqiu hooked an arm around his neck, pulled him close, and kissed him.

Unlike that hazy kiss last time, Xu Zhiqiu kissed Naraku while fully awake this time.

Naraku, who had been scowling, instantly went rigid. He clearly had not expected Xu Zhiqiu to do this.

Xu Zhiqiu let her lips rest lightly against his for a moment before drawing back. "I'm not really defending them. I just don't want you to make too many enemies."

All Xu Zhiqiu got for those words was a soft scoff from Naraku. "Hah."

Seeing that it had not worked, Xu Zhiqiu could only return to her original approach. "Then take down your Barrier for a while. I want to go out."

"Do you want to leave me that badly?" Naraku asked.

Xu Zhiqiu gritted her teeth and kissed his lips again. After drawing away, she pleaded, "Please? Let me go out for a little while."

Naraku clenched the quilt, his eyes dark and unreadable.

Xu Zhiqiu waited patiently for a while.

"All right," Naraku answered.

Xu Zhiqiu stood up. "I'll be going, then. I'll come back early."

With that, she turned and left without hesitation.

After she left, Naraku sat stiffly on the tatami, his thoughts a mystery.

After leaving Naraku, Xu Zhiqiu felt a little unsteady on her feet. Why had she kissed him? There had been caution behind it, a careful attempt to test the waters. Aside from truly wanting to go out, she had wanted to probe his feelings for her.

She had kissed him, and Naraku had not rejected her. Perhaps it was not simply a one-sided choice as she had imagined. Perhaps Naraku... actually felt some affection for her, too?

Alas, Naraku's thoughts were complicated in more ways than one. She knew his temperament and would not force him to change in such a short time. She would have to follow a plan like rain nourishing all things in silence.

Her abilities were limited, so she could only offer an apology for what would happen at the main scene. Leaving the castle lord's residence through the back gate, she made her way out of Inuyama Castle and headed toward the Yōkai Exorcist Village.

While collecting the Shikon Jewel, she had asked around about the Yōkai Exorcist Village's exact location, waiting for the story to begin. If she could not save those at the main scene, she could only save the villagers instead.

Xu Zhiqiu took a shortcut and used her lightness skill, soon reaching the Yōkai Exorcist Village.

"Who's there?"

The guards at the gate saw Xu Zhiqiu and called out to her.

"I'm Akiko," Xu Zhiqiu answered.

"Miss Akiko, what brings you here?" One of the guards happened to be someone Xu Zhiqiu had met while slaying yōkai before.

"I sensed yōkai heading this way. Hurry and take the villagers somewhere safe!" Xu Zhiqiu said gravely.

"Oh, all right. Thank you for the warning, Miss Akiko." The guard had also felt that something was wrong tonight, though he could not put his finger on it. As it happened, those who knew how to slay yōkai had gone to the castle tonight to exterminate one.

"Yōkai are attacking! Everyone, get to the Back Mountain!"

Yōkai attacks were common. Upon hearing the warning, the villagers quickly gathered their belongings and ran somewhere safe.

"Isn't this Lord Autumn?" An elderly Yōkai Exorcist recognized Xu Zhiqiu's face.

"Lord Autumn?"

"Lord Autumn is one of the priestesses who guarded the Shikon Jewel. I thought she had vanished. I never expected her to still be here." The old Yōkai Exorcist studied Xu Zhiqiu's radiant face with his clouded eyes.

Xu Zhiqiu pressed her lips together. "This isn't the time to reminisce. Where is your chief's house? I need to retrieve the Shikon Jewel shards."

"Oh, of course. Yezi, lead the villagers to safety. Lord Autumn, please come with me."

"Yes!"

Under the old man's guidance, she entered the shrine inside the chief's house, wrapped the Shikon Jewel there in its cloth, and tucked it into her clothes.

She turned to look at the people behind her. "You should leave quickly, too. Otherwise, those yōkai won't spare a single person in the village."

"We can't rest easy leaving you to face those yōkai alone, Lord Autumn. Besides, we're the village's Yōkai Exorcists. It's our duty to protect it," a young Yōkai Exorcist said.