"Thank you."
Kagome didn't hesitate. She took out the glass bottle she used to store the Shikon Jewel fragments and carefully placed the three shards from the table inside.
After sealing it, she looked up at Kikyo. She hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Kikyo… um, about Kagura…"
"You want to ask whether Kagura came here, right?"
Uchiha Retsu spoke first, his tone calm.
"That's right. She came not long ago. We made a deal, and then she left.
"As for where she is now, I don't know. She might have gone back to Naraku's castle."
"A deal? What kind of deal?"
Inuyasha immediately became agitated and turned to Kikyo.
"Kikyo, don't let her fool you! That woman is one of Naraku's incarnations!"
"I know she is Naraku's incarnation."
Kikyo nodded calmly.
"But I can't tell you the details of the deal."
"Why not?" Inuyasha asked in confusion.
Kikyo gave him a helpless look and said seriously,
"Because you always shout about everything. If I told you, Naraku would definitely find out. Kagura would be in danger."
"That actually sounds about right," Shippō nodded seriously in agreement.
"Shippō!"
Inuyasha glared at him angrily when he heard that.
"See? You're already shouting," Shippō said, pointing at him with a look that clearly said I told you so.
Inuyasha froze in place from sheer frustration.
"Bonk!"
Instead of arguing further, Inuyasha simply punched Shippō on the head to shut him up.
"Inuyasha, you've changed quite a bit," Kikyo said while looking at him, her tone tinged with emotion.
"In the past, when you lost your demonic power on the night of the new moon, you would hide somewhere. You never would have come out searching for the Shikon Jewel like this."
"Kikyo…"
Inuyasha stared at her blankly as memories surfaced in his mind.
Their very first meeting had also been on a night of the new moon.
Back then, he had lost his demon power and encountered Kikyo, who had just survived a demon attack and looked exhausted.
Subconsciously, he glanced at the hands Kikyo and Retsu were holding tightly together.
Then he felt Kagome's gaze beside him.
He nodded softly.
"I just didn't want Kagome coming out here alone."
Kikyo looked deeply at him, then shifted her gaze toward Kagome. Her expression turned serious.
"Kagome, you must grow stronger. Inuyasha needs you to protect him now.
"Fifty years ago, when he lost his power, I protected him.
"Now it's your turn."
"Mm! I will!"
Kagome nodded vigorously. She looked at Inuyasha's black-haired human form with determination.
"I'll definitely protect Inuyasha!"
"Tch. Like I need her protection."
Inuyasha felt warmth welling up inside as he saw Kagome's serious expression, but he still turned his head away stubbornly.
"…."
Kagome clenched her fists while looking at him.
She barely restrained the urge to punch him.
"Hehe."
Watching the two of them, Kikyo seemed to see echoes of her past with Inuyasha.
She smiled faintly and teased him,
"But come to think of it, even when you didn't lose your demon power back then, you still couldn't beat me."
Inuyasha looked at Kikyo quietly as memories flooded his mind.
He opened his mouth, then finally smiled.
"I'm much stronger now."
Kagome couldn't stand the awkward atmosphere anymore and quickly changed the subject.
"Kikyo, are you and Retsu living in this shrine now?"
"Yes." Kikyo nodded and explained briefly.
"A demon had occupied this shrine before. After Retsu and I defeated it, we decided to stay here for the time being.
"If anything comes up in the future, you can come here to find me."
While they were talking, Retsu had been staring at Inuyasha the entire time.
His eyes quietly shifted into the crimson Mangekyō Sharingan as he carefully observed Inuyasha's body.
Under the Sharingan's vision, the flow of energy inside Inuyasha became completely clear.
On the surface, he looked exactly like a normal human. There wasn't the slightest fluctuation of demonic power.
But when Retsu looked deeper, he discovered something different.
A huge amount of demonic power still existed inside Inuyasha's body.
It was like a frozen river—completely still—suppressed deep within him.
Retsu then glanced at Shippō beside him.
The little fox demon's demonic power was weak, but lively and flowing normally through his body.
"Interesting… the demonic power hasn't disappeared. It's being suppressed by the human bloodline," Retsu murmured in realization.
No wonder he couldn't sense Inuyasha's demonic power earlier.
That suppressed energy was like solid ice—motionless and inert.
To his senses, it was no different from a rock or clump of dirt on the ground, making it impossible to detect.
This also explained why Inuyasha's power returned instantly at dawn.
The demonic power wasn't being recreated.
Instead, the suppressed power simply returned—like ice melting back into water—allowing the energy to flow normally again within a short time.
"Hey… what exactly are you staring at?"
Inuyasha felt uneasy under Retsu's crimson gaze and finally asked.
"Nothing. I was just curious about your current condition."
Retsu withdrew his gaze, and the Sharingan faded from his eyes.
"But now I more or less understand it. It's quite interesting."
"Retsu, did you find something?" Kikyo and Kagome asked curiously after hearing their conversation.
"Inuyasha's demonic power hasn't disappeared," Retsu explained openly.
"It's just temporarily suppressed by the human blood in his body—like water that's been frozen solid. That's why it can't be sensed."
"Really? His demon power didn't disappear?" Kagome looked at Inuyasha in amazement.
"Is that so?"
Inuyasha also looked surprised and touched his chest. It was the first time he had heard such an explanation.
Retsu looked at the two of them and suddenly smiled mischievously.
"To be honest, when I saw human Inuyasha, I got curious.
"If Inuyasha had a child with Kagome while he's human during the new moon… would the child be human or a half-demon?"
"Now I understand. On the night of the new moon, a half-demon's human blood only suppresses the demon blood temporarily. They don't actually become human.
"So the child would still be a half-demon."
The moment Retsu finished speaking, Inuyasha and Kagome both froze.
They glanced at each other instinctively.
Their faces instantly turned bright red.
Both of them quickly looked away in embarrassment.
"A… a child?!"
Kagome's face burned red as her voice trembled with embarrassment.
"Wh-who would ever have a child with him?!"
Seeing them both so flustered they looked like they might start smoking, Kikyo's eyes gleamed with playful mischief.
She deliberately asked with an innocent expression,
"Oh? So you don't like Inuyasha? Or are you saying you don't plan on having children in the future?"
She paused thoughtfully.
"Come to think of it, your child would probably be a half-demon too."
With Kikyo adding fuel to the fire, Kagome's face turned as red as a ripe apple.
She quickly grabbed Shippō and stood up.
"We'll take our leave now! Sango and Miroku are still chasing Kagura—we need to go help them!"
With that, she grabbed Inuyasha's wrist and hurried toward the door without looking back.
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