After the visit to Akemi's house by Kikyo and I, we were walking in silence along the village roads with no fixed destination or purpose in mind until late afternoon.
It was the time when the hunters return, the sun begins its descent, and when those who farm or harvest leave the fields.
"Shall we return?"
The last rays of light coming from the sun, painting everything visible in warm orange tones and the smiles of the children reuniting with their parents, who have just returned, make the scene look like a beautiful painting, attracting Kikyo's and my attention equally.
"Umm..."
A faint reply came from her lips, almost making me think it was my wishful thinking, though her change of direction as she moves forward confirms what I've heard.
"Are you coming?"
For a few seconds I froze due to her brown gaze, soft voice and the sunset in the background enhancing her beauty to a new level.
"Sure."
...Some time later…
We are back in the room, both of us facing each other at the table, hot plates are placed in front of us and there is a quiet, but not suffocating atmosphere.
"Will you tell me your story?"
My words cut through the silence and I know they are abrupt, but I've noticed she needs a little nudge to get that out of her.
"If I asked you the same question, would you tell me everything without lying?"
"Sure, although it might be a little boring."
Shrugging, I continued eating quietly, before she smiled coldly and started talking.
"Haven't you done anything interesting in 700 years, what a sad life."
"Quite cynical, but you have my answer."
Putting the chopsticks down in the bowl, he raised his head and looked her in the eye as I answered her question again, without any hesitation both times.
We stood in that stare-off for a few seconds, until she let out a sigh of acceptance and began to compose her story.
"It was a long time ago, long enough for one of my arrows to be rendered ineffective, my sister to grow old and for my reincarnation to walk this earth again."
Her story begins at the age of 16, at which time they settle with her younger sister in an average town. While her sister could play and have fun as a child of her age, she spends her days protecting the village from demons and the artifact they keep there.
The shikon pearl, an object of a power beyond imagination, so much is its power, that it can even turn half-demons into a pure race.
This brought countless situations of demon attacks, which Kikyo had to deal with. It was her duty, her mission and she came to think that it was even the purpose of her life.
"But fate had something else in store for me, one new moon night, after an extensive fight... I met him."
Her voice trembled just thinking about him and her eyes clouded almost as if falling into an old memory.
Who Kikyo had met was a "hanyō" also known as a half-demon. This made her hesitate and spare his life, before falling from the wounds received in the previous battle. When she awoke she found herself in the village and doubt as to why that hanyō had spared her life took root in her mind.
After that there were a multitude of encounters between the two of them, with the hanyō following her to take the pearl of shikon and Kikyo warning him that if he cherishes his life to stay away.
But the real trigger for their relationship and first non-aggressive encounter, was when he saved her younger sister Kaede from a centipede demon..... From there they began to spend more time together and Kikyo's heart that only existed for duty, began to have small cracks, culminating in a romance between the two of them.
"I was living in a dream. We had so much the same... No, maybe we were just two people licking their own wounds. Heh, in the end it proved that all demons are the same."
For every word that comes out of Kikyo's mouth, the hatred and resentment thickens and permeates her writing of the story, almost as if it will reach the climax of this play.
They loved each other and as a sign of this, he decided to set aside the selfish wish he had for the pearl, now his wish was to become fully human, so as to live the rest of his life with Kikyo.
Trusting her words, they decide to meet at the ancient sacred tree to carry out their plan and live happily for the rest of their lives.
"Reality hit me, when I arrived at that place and no one was there... It could be that he was just a little late, it was so fanciful in my mind in those instants. To stop my worries I started to put on my makeup and before I knew it... the pain runs through my right shoulder at the same time the blood gushes out, meanwhile I see his figure take the pearl"
The resentment, hatred and self-loathing could no longer be greater in her words, causing even I to look at her with wide eyes at such an amount of negative energy.
With the pearl now in his possession and Kikyo out of the way, he heads for the village, for what he calls darkening the pearl with the blood of the innocent.
Kikyo with her last strength and a mortal wound, gives chase coming to a final combat where he is sealed by one of her arrows and she dies at the hands of his wounds.
"I could not leave such a responsibility as the pearl to my young and inexperienced sister. So with my last strength, I told her I burned it along with my body. But who knew that a witch would pull them out of the ground and create... This."
As she spoke of her sister, the negative emotions were almost eradicated from her words, though when it came to the witch and her current body, the negative emotions once again blossomed uncontrollably.
Years later, Kikyo returns to life, only now inhabiting a body made of mud and human bones that was created at the hands of a witch named Urasue.
The first thing she saw when she awoke was her former love, who was accompanied by her younger sister and her current reincarnation, from whom a soul fragment had been extracted. With anger filling her mind, Kikyo begins a battle to bring death to her murderer and betrayer.
"It was a difficult fight with my newly made body and negative emotions filling my mind. Because of a slip up I ended up dangling off a cliff with him clutching my hand..."
Hidden under all the anger and resentment coming out of her words, when I talk about this specific thing, a hint of hope appears in her gaze, though it is soon erased completely.
"Until he asked me to give her soul back to her, he wished for my death - I had already died once at his hands and now he wanted to kill me again!"
Her brow furrowed and the words were laden with hate, anger, love and many more conflicting emotions. Finishing that, his emotions relax and he stares in my direction.
"That's my story, won't you say anything?"