Sigh.
Xu Zhiqiu settled into a comfortable position in Naraku's arms. She hugged his arm, pressing her cheek against his chest. "But this body is yours. Onigumo can't even touch me."
Naraku stroked Xu Zhiqiu's hair, winding a small lock around his fingers and toying with it in his palm. "But he can feel it."
Onigumo's heart was the point that bound the demons together. Without that heart, Naraku would not exist as he was now. He could control the demons within his body, but not Onigumo. Even when he cast Onigumo into the abyss of his mind and imprisoned him there, preventing him from emerging, that heart would clamor again whenever anything touched on Xu Zhiqiu.
What was more, as long as Onigumo's heart remained inside his body, Naraku would always be a half-demon, unable to become a true demon.
At that thought, Naraku's eyes darkened unreadably.
"All right." Xu Zhiqiu lifted her head, noticed his expression, and changed the subject. "When are you going to move somewhere else? The miasma in Inuyama Castle is getting thicker and thicker."
Not a blade of grass survived wherever the miasma spread. Who knew how long this building could withstand it?
The miasma clearly had no effect on Xu Zhiqiu. Naraku did not understand why she was so determined to make him move elsewhere. He pondered it. Perhaps he should have the Mōmō Bees search for a suitable hiding place.
His spoken answer remained evasive. "We'll see."
"Fine." Xu Zhiqiu stopped there, having made her point.
The two sat leaning against each other for a while.
Once Xu Zhiqiu felt she could stand, Naraku brought her clothes over and dressed her himself.
Over the innermost white garment went a pale blue-green layer, followed by a dark blue outer robe. A gray sash