When Kikyo heard Master Harumi's words, the faint smile on her face froze.
Her eyes slowly lowered to the Demon-Slaying Scroll lying on the ground. The evening wind brushed past her white sleeves, carrying with it the scent of herbs from the basket at her side. For a brief moment, silence stretched between them.
She reached out her hand.
But before her fingers could touch the scroll, a cold and mocking voice cut through the air.
"Old man, if it's yours, pick it up yourself. You're already gray-haired. Don't use excuses to get close to a beautiful woman. Aren't you ashamed?"
The words were blunt.
Both Kikyo and Master Harumi stiffened at the same time.
The monk's gentle smile disappeared instantly. Beneath the calm surface of his face, shock rippled through his heart.
He had not sensed anyone else nearby.
Until that voice spoke, he had not even realized there was another person standing beside the priestess.
His attention had been fully fixed on the dark and unnatural aura surrounding Kikyo. The chill of death clung to her like a shadow. Because of that, he had overlooked the silent samurai completely.
Kikyo turned her head and glanced at Uchiha Lie. Her hand withdrew quietly from the scroll.
He walked forward slowly, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of the sword at his waist. His posture was relaxed, almost lazy, like a wandering swordsman with nothing to fear in this world.
Seeing that he had stepped in, Kikyo rose to her feet and gently spoke to the children who had gathered around her earlier.
"That is enough for today. Go back home."
Her voice was calm and soft.
The children obeyed without question. Kikyo lifted her basket of herbs, turned, and began walking away from the village entrance.
"Wait!" Master Harumi suddenly stepped forward.
But before he could take more than two steps, a figure blocked his path.
Uchiha Lie did not raise his voice. He simply stood there.
"Lady Priestess, she—" the monk tried to speak again.
The next instant, the man in front of him vanished.
Master Harumi's pupils shrank.
He was about to circulate his spiritual power in defense when an icy sensation pressed against his neck. A sharp blade rested lightly against his throat. The cold steel carried no hesitation.
"If you value your life," Uchiha Lie's voice sounded from behind him, calm and emotionless, "leave. Now."
For the first time since arriving in the village, Master Harumi felt real danger.
Up close, he finally realized something even more shocking.
The samurai behind him was not alive.
He, too, carried the aura of death.
But unlike Kikyo, whose body was wrapped in thick resentment and lingering hatred, this man's presence was strangely pure. It was the quiet stillness of the grave — not chaotic, not violent, just empty.
That emptiness had allowed him to blend into his surroundings like part of nature itself.
"I see…" the monk said slowly, sweat forming at his temple. "You are also one who has died. The world of the living is not where you belong. Release your attachments. Return to the underworld."
A faint laugh escaped Uchiha Lie.
"What does that have to do with you?"
His voice held no anger — only indifference.
"If you are truly capable, go hunt demons in the mountains. Why waste your time chasing a lone woman?"
The monk opened his mouth to argue.
"I don't have patience," Uchiha Lie interrupted. "Either leave on your own feet… or leave without your head."
The blade disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
Master Harumi stumbled forward slightly and quickly turned around.
The samurai was no longer behind him.
Instead, Uchiha Lie had already reappeared several steps away, walking casually behind Kikyo as though nothing had happened.
The young monk who had accompanied Master Harumi finally managed to move again. He rushed forward to support his master.
"Are you hurt?"
Master Harumi shook his head slowly, but his gaze remained fixed on the departing figures.
"That man… is far more dangerous than the priestess."
—
As they walked away from the village, Uchiha Lie glanced back once.
He knew what would have happened if he had not intervened.
Kikyo's resentment was still unstable. If the monk had continued pressing her, she would have killed him. That single act would have pushed her even further into darkness.
He did not care about the monk's life.
But he did care about what it would do to her.
Not out of kindness.
Not out of sympathy.
But because he refused to watch her lose herself completely.
Ahead, Kikyo had already said farewell to the children and stopped beneath a large tree. The sun was setting, dyeing the village rooftops in gold.
She stood quietly, looking at the peaceful scene.
There was no expression on her face.
Only emptiness.
Without warning, Uchiha Lie's head appeared upside down in her field of vision.
"Planning to stay?" he asked casually.
Kikyo startled and instinctively stepped back.
He was hanging upside down from a tree branch, his feet firmly attached as though gravity meant nothing to him. His arms were folded across his chest. His long hair swayed slightly in the breeze.
"You move like a ghost," she said softly.
"A compliment?" he replied.
She did not answer.
Over the past two days, Kikyo had come to understand several things about this strange man.
He could walk on water as easily as on land.
He could cling to walls and trees without effort.
His speed was terrifying.
Yet he did not bully the weak. He did not slaughter villages. He did not hunt demons for glory.
He simply existed.
Watching.
Observing.
Acting only when he chose to.
Humans or demons — he seemed to view them all from a distance, as if standing above the world.
"Since the monk discovered you," Uchiha Lie said after a moment, "you won't be able to stay here long."
Kikyo's gaze remained on the village.
"When will you leave?"
Her silence stretched for several breaths.
"I only wanted peace," she said at last. "Is that truly impossible?"
The sky darkened slowly as the sun dipped lower.
"It is nearly impossible," he replied plainly.
His tone was not cruel. It was simply honest.
"The Sacred Jewel has shattered. Its fragments are scattered everywhere. As the priestess who once guarded it, you are tied to it. Your return to this world is not an accident."
At the mention of the Sacred Jewel, the air around Kikyo shifted.
The darkness within her stirred.
"The priestess who guarded it is dead," she said coldly. "That woman died long ago."
A faint surge of spiritual power mixed with resentment radiated from her body.
"I am nothing more than a corpse filled with hatred. My only purpose is revenge."
Uchiha Lie's eyes narrowed slightly, but he did not retreat.
"Kikyo," he said quietly, "stop deceiving yourself."
Her gaze sharpened.
"You have already met your reincarnation, haven't you? Kagome."
The name hung between them.
"You saw her. You felt it."
Kikyo's fingers tightened slightly around the strap of her basket.
"If that girl can cross time itself," he continued calmly, "why is your return so impossible? Why insist that you are nothing more than resentment?"
The wind rustled the leaves above them.
For a moment, the darkness in her aura wavered.
Then her voice turned sharp.
"That girl took everything from me."
Her eyes glimmered with buried pain.
"She lives. She breathes. She walks under the sun. She stands beside him."
She did not need to say the name.
Inuyasha.
The wound that had never healed.
Uchiha Lie slowly flipped down from the tree branch and landed lightly before her.
"You are angry because she has what you lost."
Silence.
"You are angry because she lives."
Her spiritual energy flared suddenly.
"Enough!"
The ground trembled faintly beneath her feet.
"I died alone. Betrayed. Shot through the chest with an arrow I fired with my own hands. I sealed the man I loved and burned with regret for fifty years!"
Her voice broke for the first time.
"And now you tell me to accept fate?"
Her resentment swirled violently.
But Uchiha Lie did not step back.
Instead, he looked directly into her eyes.
"You were not betrayed."
The words struck like a stone.
Her breath faltered.
"You were deceived."
Her eyes widened.
"Naraku," he said calmly.
The name carried weight.
The demon who had manipulated them both. The one who wore false faces. The one who twisted love into hatred.
For a moment, Kikyo could not speak.
The anger in her aura trembled.
"You know his name," she said slowly.
"I know enough."
The truth had been spoken aloud.
The resentment that had fed on misunderstanding began to crack.
But hatred does not vanish in a single breath.
Kikyo turned away.
"Even if that is true," she whispered, "what remains of me?"
Her voice was softer now.
"I am clay and ashes. I walk because of borrowed souls. I do not belong among the living."
The sunset finally disappeared below the horizon.
Darkness settled gently over the land.
Uchiha Lie's voice lowered.
"Then don't decide yet."
She looked at him.
"You don't have to forgive. You don't have to forget. You don't have to return to who you were."
He paused.
"But don't chain yourself to hatred either."
The wind quieted.
"Inuyasha still breathes," he added. "Naraku still hides. The Sacred Jewel still exists."
His eyes were steady.
"If you truly want revenge, live long enough to see it through."
For the first time that evening, Kikyo did not argue.
The village behind them grew darker as lanterns began to glow faintly in the distance.
She knew she could not stay.
The monk would return.
Rumors would spread.
Fear would take root.
Peace had already slipped from her grasp.
After a long silence, she spoke.
"I will leave tonight."
Uchiha Lie nodded.
"That is wise."
She looked once more at the village.
There was longing in her eyes.
But no tears fell.
The peaceful life she desired had ended before it could truly begin.
Without another word, Kikyo stepped forward and began walking away from the fading light of the village.
Uchiha Lie followed at a distance.
Above them, the night sky deepened.
Far away, hidden in shadow, a pair of unseen eyes watched.
The game had begun to move again.
The Sacred Jewel's fragments would draw demons, humans, and the dead into conflict.
Naraku would not remain silent forever.
And Kikyo — priestess, corpse, avenger — had chosen not to retreat into darkness.
For now, she would walk forward.
Not for peace.
Not for forgiveness.
But for answers.
And somewhere in the vastness of the night, fate stirred once more.
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