Chapter 47:Gray 3

Beneath the sky lies a deep forest dominated by a thick fog, melancholy aura and the occasional scream. This is extremely rare due to the stark contrast created between the two. First there is the deep blue sky with its omnipresent sun which, by its slant, proves to be past noon. On the other side, there is a dark, haunted and clearly cursed forest, making this situation look very strange. 

*Boom*

In a display of raw, unadulterated power, a column of white flames rises into the sky, illuminating the entire forest around it as if it were the center of the world. Asahiko opened her eyes inside that pillar of flames before observing her right hand and the single tail that was outside of her body. The only thing these two limbs had in common were the wounds received just a short while ago. 

"I see... That idiot didn't lie to me, though it's not like he looked like a liar either."

Speaking in a focused voice, Asahiko stares at the single tail outside of his body from which golden particles are relentlessly spurting out. He then switches to looking at his right hand, which seems to be regenerating, though something forcibly prevents it.

"Inuyasha... I guess I'll have to move too."

Finishing the analysis on her body's situation, Asahiko's attention is drawn by a young man with long white hair, red colored attire and strong aura jumping in the air towards a particular direction. Finishing speaking alone and withdrawing his eyes from Inuyasha, his feet touch the parched forest floor before extending his hand in front of himself, causing an energy to leave his hand and the surroundings of his body to be enveloped in it completely and then disappearing. 

Christopher/Asahiko pov 

Advancing at a moderate pace towards the direction in which I saw Inuyasha jump, I focus my senses in an attempt to hear the screams from before, although they don't seem to repeat themselves again, making me consider that maybe Inuyasha has already taken care of that. 

In a few seconds I arrived where the two largest concentrations of power in the vicinity were gathered, obviously these two were Inuyasha and Kikyo who were watching each other carefully under a dry tree. The first one holds under his right arm a Kagome with a lost look at the same time that his own eyes are completely confused, on the other hand, Kikyo's look is imperturbable or so it shows on the surface and her lips form a light smile almost as if there was no problem here.

"Kikyo, you would be able to kill Kagome!"

Leaving Kagome on the ground as she sucks in air uncontrollably, Inuyasha shifts to look towards Kikyo, who holds in one of her hands the shards gathered by them during their travels. By the way, they have a nice amount of shards... Well, they used to have. 

"What's the matter Inuyasha, doesn't it give you just that I'm safe? Even more so after that trip in your illusions?"

Completely ignoring Inuyasha's words, her face takes on a more serious look before she answers and in the process puts the fragments away without looking away. 

"Answer me Kikyo, what have you done to Kagome!"

"Try to kill her, now that you know what you are going to do Inuyasha...are you going to kill me?"

Inuyasha looked like a rabid dog about to pounce on someone's jugular, but still his hand didn't go near the hilt of Steel Fang. On the other hand, Kikyo changed her serious face back to a mocking one before letting out a very labored laugh in my opinion, only to have multiple soul-collecting shikigami come from all directions and wrap themselves around her body before lifting her into the sky.

"Goodbye Inuyasha...oh."

Clearly I hadn't eaten up all this drama about love, anger and other feelings to let my fun literally fly away. So I reached out my hand towards my tail before pulling out a piece of hair. That hair I bathed it in the golden particles emerging from the wound, then tied it with a root transformed into a red ribbon and created a white flame bird that flies quickly towards Kikyo before quickly disappearing. 

"You!"

"Me!"

Pulling back the illusion covering my surroundings, she raised her left hand to greet Inuyasha as she lifted my lips into a beaming smile. 

Kikyo pov. 

Controlling the shikigami to move towards the right direction, I cleared thoughts of the situation that had just happened before opening my right hand, from which I can feel a small trace of warmth.

"This is... pure energy. Do you want to follow my trail? Though you should know that I can get rid of this at any time."

Looking down at the forest below and also at the hand holding the lock of blonde hair, I close it again before continuing on my way that leads me directly towards the mansion where we stayed with Asahiko earlier. 

Some time later... 

"How careless you are Naraku."

Entering the room through a sliding door, I see Naraku's current body sitting on the tatami as he looks out a window facing the palaces outside. 

"Kikyo."

"You couldn't see when I broke your puppet. Remember this well, all your spells will never have an effect on me and even the energy field around us. It's no better than a trick in front of my eyes."

Seeing him pucker his face gave me a bit of satisfaction, so much so that I couldn't even help but raise my lips slightly, though it wasn't the time for that. Leaving those thoughts and taking advantage of having his attention completely, I dip my left hand into my attire before pulling the fragments out of Inuyasha's group.

"Did you want to get these? I'll let you keep them, since after thinking about it, I've decided that you are the individual who needs them the most..."

Finishing my words, I tossed the fragments to his side before raising my lips even higher and finishing my unfinished words.

"The monster Naraku, or better yet Naraku, the half-beast man."

"Are you classifying me as a half-beast man?"

For every slow word that leaves his mouth, he further increases the negative energy that emerges from his new body, causing him to reach a point where a dark blue cloak almost completely surrounds him. 

"I accept that your disguise is perfect, but you can't hide your human origin and even more so now that I have the residual energy of a true demon at my side."

Reducing my smile, I open my other hand in which is Asahiko's blonde hair. This one seems to glow causing the negative energy in the surroundings to move away, almost as if there is a clear hierarchy between them. 

"The presence of the bandit Onigumo still remains with you, you desire the pearl to become a demon completely."

"Hehehe, you rub me the wrong way with your new lover Kikyo, poor Inuyasha, him still loving you and you with another. Still, why are you handing me those fragments, don't you perhaps wish revenge for the events of 50 years ago?"

His first words were clearly meant to unsettle my feelings, though it only goes to show that Onigumo's heart is still within him and his dark obsession has yet to perish.

Only my body died, something you should know a lot about in your situation. But now that I possess a new one and with much greater strength, though I highly doubt you'll understand."

Laughing softly at his words and hitting back at the beginning of my sentence, I look him up and down before widening my smile as I leave the room. 

"Goodbye Naraku, if you wish you may seek me out, as I have never hidden myself…"