The trip ended.
Li Xia first tossed Kohaku into Mount Hakurei.
Then he took Kikyo back to the Temple.
The girl climbed the mountain stairs one step at a time, the mountain breeze lifting her beautiful long hair into a graceful flutter. Accented by her red-and-white shrine maiden robes, she made a distinctive sight from afar. Meanwhile, a boy rode the magnificent Entei through the sky in the opposite direction, a flash of fiery red vanishing among the clouds.
"With your abilities, there was no need to bring me along on this trip, was there?"
At the Temple halfway up the mountain, Kikyo glanced back and reached up to smooth the strands of hair the wind had blown against her lips.
"Xia, I appreciate your desire to save me."
"But we met at the wrong time. We were never meant to be. Besides, I'm already dead. How could I still ask for a living person's love? All that remains inside me is resentment over everything I could never accept."
"Treasure Kagome. She's better suited to you."
Murmuring softly, the graceful figure returned to the Temple.
Pure white mist then shrouded the Temple.
In the past, she might not have noticed Li Xia's feelings at all. But after several encounters, how could she have failed to notice anything?
It was just that, right now, she was wholly focused on destroying Naraku.
All that sustained her was that sense of grievance and resentment.
The modern world.
On the streets of Tokyo.
Two figures walked, one behind the other.
Half a day earlier, Li Xia had used the Tree of Ages Mask's power to return to this side of the well through the weak point in space where the Bone-Eater's Well stood.
Originally, he had still been wondering how to explain to