As the sun set, thin trails of cooking smoke rose from every home in Kaede’s Village, creating a peaceful scene.
A fire burned inside the prominent hut at the center of the village, heating a pot of soup.
The dancing flames cast a warm glow across the walls while the firewood crackled.
Inuyasha looked up from his meal with a blissful expression and immediately held out his bowl.
“Another bowl!” “Give me back the beads!” “Another bowl!” Kaede’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Her eye twitched as she glared at the bowl held right beneath her nose.
She wanted to slap it away, but the sight of Inuyasha impatiently waiting brought back memories of their childhood.
In the end, her heart softened.
Kaede unconsciously took the bowl and began filling it with soup, though she could not stop herself from complaining.
“Inuyasha, this is my home!” “What’s yours and what’s mine?” Inuyasha snorted.
“Kikyo is my wife, and you’re Kikyo’s younger sister.
Logically, that makes this our home!” He raised his fist with a wicked grin.
“Keep talking back and I’ll beat you up.” Kaede’s expression darkened.
She set the bowl down heavily beside her and fixed her now-icy gaze on Inuyasha as he sat upright.
“Kikyo-neesan is dead.” She paused before enunciating every word.
“And you were the one who killed her!” Feeling the oppressive atmosphere inside the hut, Inuyasha sighed and answered bluntly, “In a sense, that’s true.” Kaede’s face filled with shock.
She had imagined Inuyasha might storm out or refuse to discuss it, but she had never expected him to admit it outright.
“Why?!” The word burst from Kaede’s lips before she hurriedly continued, “You and Kikyo-neesan loved each other so much.
Why did this happen?” “Why?” Inuyasha smiled, but it was a complicated smile Kaede had never seen before.
The eternally proud half-demon from her memories would never have shown such an expression.
“So there really was more to it?” Kaede clenched the hands resting on her knees.
She felt both relieved and resentful.
“I’ll tell you after I finish eating.” Inuyasha held out his hand.
Suspecting nothing, Kaede passed him the bowl beside her.
“While we’re at it, tell me what happened over the past twenty years.” Kaede gradually began pouring out twenty years of hardships, from the important events to the trivial ones.
These were painful stories she had never shared with anyone.
Before Inuyasha, who was both an elder and yet not quite one, she unknowingly let everything out.
By the time she finished, Kaede looked visibly more refreshed.
“Take me to see Kikyo.” Now full and satisfied, Inuyasha wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
Besides being impervious to blades and spears and resistant to fire and water, the Robe of the Fire-Rat could clean itself and adjust its size.
It was a genuine treasure.
Kaede was in a much better mood.
When she saw Inuyasha stand, she did not rush to question him about what had happened with Kikyo.
They walked together along the village road.
The rice paddies shimmered beneath the cool moonlight as the night breeze stirred their hair.
Insects chirped all around them beneath the bright moon and sparse stars.
Before long, they reached Kikyo’s grave.
Inuyasha stared at the gravestone, wondering whether he should dig her up right now.
He glanced at the grieving Kaede beside him and immediately abandoned the idea.
In the original story, Kikyo had been resurrected after Urasue stole her remains.
The ogress intended to use Kikyo to gather the Shikon Jewel shards.
However, the current point in the timeline was thirty years before Kagome traveled to the Sengoku period.
Inuyasha could not be certain whether reviving Kikyo now would affect Kagome.
For the moment, taking unnecessary action would only create more opportunities for things to go wrong.
However, Inuyasha was determined to obtain Urasue’s necromancy.
With that thought, he lost any desire to remain there.
He turned toward Kaede.
“I’ll eliminate the dangers surrounding the village over the next few days.
After that, I’ll leave.” “I’ll search for a way to heal your eye while hunting down the person who turned us against each other.” “I’ll have to leave the village in your hands.” Kaede’s mind raced as she processed the enormous amount of information contained in his words.
Before she could make sense of it, Inuyasha merely patted her shoulder.
His eyes reflected Kaede’s young, valiant figure before he turned and walked away.
“Kaede, I’ll see you again in a few years.” Kaede watched the silver-haired dog demon’s departing back.
Her raised hand slowly fell to her side.
She swallowed the words lodged in her throat, then turned toward the gravestone and lowered her gaze.
The young woman’s quiet whisper was carried far away by the passing wind.
…
Inuyasha raced through the forest.
His enhanced body allowed him to detect scents that were farther away, fainter, or hidden more deeply than before.
The worthless yokai blocking his path at night were crushed beneath him like speed bumps.
“Are you that half-demon?” After crossing a mountain, a sudden voice filled with surprise made Inuyasha glance behind him.
Standing within the lush forest was a yokai named Mistress Centipede.
Her upper body resembled a human woman with six arms, while her lower half was that of a centipede.
“It really is you.
I never expected you to survive that priestess’s seal!” Mistress Centipede swayed her long body like a python.
The sight of her countless tightly packed legs was enough to make fear rise from the depths of anyone’s heart.
Inuyasha flexed his wrist and coldly watched the excited Mistress Centipede.
“This works out perfectly!
Now I can avenge my mother!” “If you want to fight, then fight!
You talk too much!” “Sankon Tesso!” A razor-sharp arc of golden claw light flashed through the air.
Like the Mistress Centipede who had once taken Kaede hostage and been killed by Inuyasha, this one was torn into pieces.
Inuyasha stood beneath the rain of blood and watched the shredded remains fall around him.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
‘I recall another centipede demon appearing later in Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon.
Was she this Mistress Centipede’s daughter or granddaughter?’ ‘Forget it.
It doesn’t matter.’ Inuyasha shook the blood from his body and continued toward his destination.
As he ran, a tangible, eerie glow appeared in his eyes, leaving long trails behind him.
This power was created by fusing demonic energy with magic power, and he had named it Origin Energy.
With the support of Origin Energy, he could not only enhance his physical abilities but also see things invisible to ordinary eyes—things that seemingly did not exist.
Inuyasha stopped before a cliff covered in jagged rocks.
Through his Origin Energy-enhanced vision, countless strands of hair glimmered with a cold, eerie light beneath the moon.
Defying gravity, the strands converged and wove together at a central point, eventually forming a gigantic nest suspended in midair.
Heads were dragged toward it from every direction by the strands.
Their flesh was stripped away halfway there, spilling red and white gore across the ground as a thin, bloody mist rose beneath the moonlight.
The remaining skulls were thrown onto the mountain of bones beneath the nest.
Meanwhile, the hair that had absorbed the essence of their flesh grew thicker, darker, and more lustrous.
The strands merged into the nest, only to extend outward again a moment later.
Every hair gleamed beneath the moon with a wet and bewitching sheen.
The nest resembled a cold, merciless black widow, endlessly spinning its deadly web as it waited for prey to wander into its trap.
Inuyasha gazed at the main event of the night and casually severed the strand of hair beside him.