"Are you curious about where I came from?"
Holding Kikyo gently in his arms as she leaned against him, Kagetsu glanced up at the fragmented sky that appeared now and then through the gaps in the rushing forest. After a moment of quiet, he suddenly broke the silence.
Kikyo, who had been quietly resting against him, blinked in surprise. Her lashes fluttered slightly before she slowly nodded.
"I have wondered," she admitted softly. "You don't seem like someone from around here. Not just your powers,even some of your habits are different from the people of this land."
Tilting her head slightly, she looked up at him with curiosity.
"Are you from another country?"
"Another country… I suppose that's one way to put it."
A complicated look flickered in Kagetsu's eyes.
"I come from the Land of Fire," he said quietly. "But to be precise… I'm not from this world's 'Land of Fire' . I'm from the Land of Fire in another world."
"Another world?"
Kikyo froze. Her eyes widened in shock.
Instinctively she tried to sit up, but Kagetsu's arms held her firmly in place.
Forced to remain nestled against him, she looked up with disbelief.
"Do you mean… somewhere like the Netherworld?"
"Not quite." Kagetsu scratched his head with a troubled smile. "It's a completely different world. Honestly, I'm not even sure how it happened. Ending up here was more or less an accident."
"Then how did you come here?"
Kikyo's curiosity was thoroughly awakened. Without realizing it, she clutched the sleeve of his robe as she waited for an answer.
"Do you remember the Kamui space I showed you before?"
A faint smile touched Kagetsu's lips as he looked down at her.
"I remember," Kikyo said immediately. "That strange place,dark, empty, with only those floating stone platforms."
The image was still vivid in her mind.
"My coming to this world may have something to do with that space," Kagetsu explained. "I once told you that before I died, I had a premonition it might happen. So I prepared scrolls for Edo Tensei in advance, just in case I needed a way back."
"I made quite a few of them. One of those scrolls I hid inside the Kamui dimension."
Kikyo's eyes lit with understanding.
"So the reason you were resurrected here… is because of that scroll hidden in the Kamui space?"
"Exactly." He nodded. "For reasons I still don't fully understand, the scroll somehow ended up in this world. And because of that… I was revived here."
After a brief pause, he added his speculation.
"The Kamui dimension exists because of the Sharingan technique 'Kamui.' I suspect that when Obito,the one who possessed that ability,died, the dimension collapsed. When it did, the scroll inside must have been thrown out somewhere… and it just happened to land in this world."
"So that's what happened…"
Kikyo stared at him in astonishment.
"Your origin is even more unbelievable than Kagome's."
"I think so too."
Kagetsu tightened his arms around her slightly, his smile warm.
"So meeting you must have been fate. I crossed two worlds just to meet you."
His hand gently brushed through her hair as his voice softened.
"So don't say you're alone anymore. I left my own world behind and ended up here all by myself… only to meet you."
Kikyo's heart skipped.
Warmth spread quietly through her chest.
She gazed into his eyes. The sharpness that usually lingered in those pupils had softened, leaving only a quiet tenderness.
She nodded faintly.
Then, after a moment, she asked curiously,
"Who is Obito? You said he can also use Kamui?"
"Obito?"
Kagetsu blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected that question.
Still, he thought for a moment before answering.
"His name is Uchiha Obito. Another member of the Uchiha clan… though to be honest, that guy's a complete lunatic."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Kamui was originally his Mangekyō Sharingan ability. My own ocular technique is called Amenonuhonotama,its ability lets me replicate the ocular powers of others. Kamui is something I copied from him."
"A lunatic?"
Kikyo looked startled.
Since Obito was from the same clan as Kagetsu, she had expected a different description.
"What did he do?"
"Obito teamed up with another madman,Uchiha Itachi,and together they wiped out the entire Uchiha clan."
Kagetsu spoke calmly, his tone strangely indifferent.
"I was eight years old at the time. By sheer luck, I survived… along with one other clan member."
Kikyo's face immediately filled with guilt.
"I'm sorry!"
She hadn't expected that such a tragedy had happened when he was only a child.
Reaching up, she gently held his hand.
"I didn't know…"
"There's nothing to apologize for." Kagetsu squeezed her hand lightly. The warmth of her fingers felt comforting.
A faint smile returned to his face.
"Besides, in that crazy world… things like that weren't unusual."
"Can you tell me more about your world?" Kikyo asked eagerly, her eyes shining with curiosity.
Kagetsu rested his chin lightly on the top of her head, breathing in the faint herbal scent lingering around her. Then he began speaking slowly.
"In my world, there are only two kinds of people,ordinary civilians and ninjas who wield a power called chakra."
"There are no demons."
"However, although demons don't exist, there are nine extremely powerful creatures known as the Tailed Beasts. In the end, they were all captured and sealed away by two legendary shinobi."
After thinking for a moment, he added,
"Of course, there are a few strange exceptions,things like the Ryūmyaku that can manipulate time and space, or the otherworldly monster Mōryō. But those are rare cases. Against powerful shinobi, they aren't much of a threat."
Kikyo listened quietly.
"If there are no demons… does that mean people in your world live better lives?"
There was a faint hint of longing in her voice.
In this era, ordinary villagers lived in constant fear of demons. Without the protection of monks and shrine maidens, they could barely survive.
More than once, Kikyo had wondered if humanity might live more peacefully in a world without demons.
"Better?" Kagetsu gave a short, mocking laugh.
"On the contrary."
"When humans hold power and there are no demons to blame, humans themselves become far more terrifying than demons."
He curled his lips with faint disdain.
"To be honest, I think this world of yours is actually quite beautiful."
"The only real nuisance is the Shikon Jewel. And the worst enemy around is someone like Naraku who wants to steal it."
He shrugged lightly.
"Compared to my world, that's practically peaceful."
Turning his head, he looked at Kikyo with a smile.
"Want to guess what the power-hungry lunatics in my world were trying to do?"
Before she could answer, he continued.
"Two madmen planned to use the moon to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi,an enormous genjutsu that would trap the entire world in an endless dream. Everyone would be bound to giant trees, living forever inside a false illusion."
"To stop them, all the ninja nations formed a grand alliance."
"We fought together… and I died in that war."
At that point, Kagetsu suddenly laughed.
"So compared to those lunatics, someone like Naraku actually seems pretty normal."
"You could even call him a decent guy."