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Perfect Competence


Jurou was smiling at her. She thought he was dead, but he was somehow standing in front of her, flashing her a charming smile that pissed her off. He was in many ways so different yet identical to the defeated foe Naraku.

Jurou had piercingly icy blue eyes unlike the menacing crimson eyes of Naraku.

His hair was short and shaggy, not wavy and long like Naraku's.

His smile, at first glance, was very charming and bright unlike when Naraku smiled, which always gave her a creepy feeling.

And most importantly, Jurou wished to kill his enemies with his own hands while Naraku simply lurked in the shadows, too cautious to actually show himself at the battlefield.

But still the two demons were strikingly familiar when it came to accomplishing their goals. Do whatever it takes, take any opportunities and chances comes across your way, and make sure to eliminate all enemies. They both believed sacrifices and destruction were necessary to become the masters who ruled the world or whatever the plans were.

And that Jurou, the one that she pierced the skull with her energy charged dagger, was alive and smiling at her, those cold blue eyes piercing her own.

"Bastard! Why are you still alive?!"

"Why am I still alive? Priestess. You ask weird things."

"I killed you myself! I cracked open your skull and stabbed your useless brain with my dagger! Why are you still alive!"

"Why am I still alive, you ask? Why do you ask when you are the one who let me live?"

"What..?"

At an unexpected response, Kagome let out a gasp, her mind trying to process what the demon just had said. She let him live? Out of all people, she let him live? No, it couldn't be true.

She truly had killed him.

She still remembered how blood and brain matter splashed all over her the moment her dagger pierced through the thick skull of the cursed demon, and the blood curling, beastly cry that erupted from the said demon's throat. His body was sucked up into the meidou, and she was so sure he was dead.

It must be a dream, she thought. It had to be a dream. Or an illusion at most. There was no way that Kagome would let a second Naraku to live at the risk of thousands and millions of lives.

"The more you think, the more you'll understand, priestess."

"Huh?"

At a flash the demon was in front of her, her and his blue eyes locked together in a tense gaze. His cold hands came up to her face, and Kagome unconsciously flinched but was unable to move her body. It felt like her limbs were paralyzed under his blue gaze, the one that was filled with so much madness and bloodlust just some time ago on the battlefield. His hand softly touched her warm cheek and she unknowingly sucked in some air, not sure what the demon wanted from her.

"I wish to ask you one question, priestess. What is your purpose as a village priestess in Feudal Era?"

"To kill annoying bitches like you, you trash."

At her biting response Jurou let out a hollow chuckle before he smirked down at the smaller woman.

"That is very true. If you think about it, your fate was sealed when you were born with the Jewel inside of you. How you were pulled into the well was because the Jewel sensed the rising of Naraku, and to destroy Naraku completely it purposely shattered itself so that the individuals tied by the Shikon's string of fate would come together and destroy both the jewel and Naraku forever."

"So? What's your point."

"Nothing! Besides that you and your friends have done incredible job of being the Jewel's toy. And now, even that man who picked you up is meddled in this entire Fate business. It's quite fun to watch, you know?"

"Teme! Don't be a coward and show yourself, and prove to me you are still alive!"

"In due time, priestess. Until then…"

Kagome felt an unwanted intrusion of Jurou's claws in her abdomen, and she looked down just in time to see that Jurou's hand, which had dug itself deep into her stomach, retreat back to Jurou, splashes of red liquid splattering across his face.

"You…son of a…bitch!"

"It's a payback for what you did to me back then. Take care, priestess. Until we meet again…"


She woke up with sharp pain in her abdomen, and it didn't take too long for her to realize that the damage Jurou had done to her was quite real. Blood was oozing out from her scar, and she coughed up the clogging blood in her throat and spat it out.

Wiping a thin trail of blood from the corner of her mouth, she chuckled slightly and laid her head back on the forest floor and gazed up at the night sky. This kind of pain, she was used to already from her days back in the Feudal Era and her days spent here.

But what she couldn't stand was the incredible loneliness that surrounded her. She was lying alone with a small fire next to her, the magician nowhere to be seen. Hisoka seemed to have set off to somewhere else while she was sleeping, and so she was completely alone right now.

Kagome could heal herself of course, but her previous encounter with some weird bunch of people back at the miasma forest drained her energy completely, and she was too tired and lazy to heal herself in her drained state.

If Hisoka found her like this, he would definitely scoff at her current state and leave her to die, his interest towards completely dissipated. At that thought Kagome chuckled and poured her last ounce of energy into her wound, at least covering the outer layer of skin to cover the internal damage. Just as her healing light vanished from her hands, Hisoka stepped out from the tall bush playing with the cards.

"Hm, Kagome. You didn't have fun all by yourself while I was gone, did you?"

"No worries, Hisoka. That trash wasn't worth your time."

"Hm, if you say so."

At her words, Hisoka lost his interest to the blood spattered around the camping site and started to stack the cards. Such a fickle bastard, Kagome cursed under her breath, but she soon returned her gaze back to the starry sky. Somehow she didn't feel lonely again.


revised 6/27