Yomi and Masao sat with each other awkwardly. They were worried about InuYasha. It had been a week since they found out Kasumi was a demon. They were beginning to doubt her. Could she really not be evil?
That's kind of true and not. Yomi and Masao sat up and looked around.
Hey, the voice said. I'm Spirit.
"Oh, you're him!" Masao said.
Yeah. About Kasumi… I don't think InuYasha really loves her. He cares for her, sure. But loving her? Not a chance.
"What?" Yomi said. "But… they do make quite a cute couple…" Masao elbowed her.
That doesn't matter. I know what InuYasha's past is like. Kagome is the reincarnation of a girl he loved, Kikyo. Even though Kagome bares stunning resemblance to her, Kasumi looks even more like her. Get it?
"Not exactly…" Masao said.
InuYasha loves Kikyo. And that's all he sees in Kasumi. Nothing more than a memory. And Kasumi's love for him given by Naraku is only fulfilling his plan…
"Plan?" Yomi repeated.
Naraku wanted to make sure of something when his end was near. He didn't want InuYasha to be happy with Kagome. And he didn't want him to still have love for Kikyo. I remember fifty years ago from when Kagome and InuYasha first met… He tricked InuYasha and Kikyo into killing each other.
"That's so sad!" Yomi said. "How could he be so evil?" Spirit explained more about things like Onigumo and further detail in Kikyo's death.
Do you understand? He made Kasumi and put her in a dormant state, so that if he died, she would awaken and think of herself as a normal human with a crush on a certain boy. Only when she went in the well after him did she realize what she was. It's similar to InuYasha's case, isn't it?
"Hold it," Masao said. "You don't mean..."
Yes. Naraku was planning to awaken Kasumi's true -evil- way of thinking once she and InuYasha were close. And then, he'd recreate that fateful day when InuYasha was sealed to the tree. This time, Kasumi won't just seal him to a tree- she'll kill him.
"No!" Kasumi said standing up. "I won't let that happen! What can I do?" There was no answer. Spirit was gone. Yomi grabbed Masao's arm. "We can't let Kasumi kill InuYasha!"
"But Naraku's dead," Masao said. "Wouldn't that mean he can't awaken Kasumi's true form?"
"No," Yomi said. "He must've made it so it was automatic. Then why would he have made it for after his death?"
"Yeah, true..."
"Oh, InuYasha…" Yomi started running towards the hut, Masao right behind her.
Kasumi was weaving a crown of flowers for Rin, who was staying with the group while Sesshomaru was away.
"What do you think?" she asked InuYasha holding it up. It had white, yellow, and red roses.
"How would I know it its good?" he said. He suddenly looked to his right and sniffed the air.
"Smell something, Fido?" Kasumi joked.
"You've been hanging out with Masao too much," he said. He ran off with Kasumi running after him. He suddenly stopped. He couldn't believe it.
"Mom?" Yup, his poor mom was laying there in the middle of a nap. InuYasha did a face-palm and kicked her.
"Ow, wha-?" She stood up, startled. "Oh, I've found you! Man, you wouldn't believe all the demons I've had to run from!"
"Well, we're glad you're alright," Kasumi said. "Right, InuYasha?" He grunted and his mom hit him in the head.
"Well," she said. "I came all this way, wandering around, unaware that you were right here, and this is how you treat me." Kasumi apologized on InuYasha's behalf and led his mother to the hut.
"Look," she said, a bit disappointed to only see Sango and Miroku. "We found InuYasha's mom!" She came in and looked around, carefully studying Sango.
"Well! Look here!" she said happily. She looked in InuYasha's direction. "Friend? Girlfriend? Wife?"
"None of the above!" he groaned.
"Anyway," she said to Sango (who was now blushing with an angry look) and Miroku. "You can call me Chinatsu."
"Nice to meet you," Miroku said. He nervously eyed her left hand. "What's that?" he asked suspiciously. Before InuYasha or Kasumi could see, Chinatsu hid her hand in her apron pocket.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said frowning.
"Yeah, whatever," InuYasha said rolling his eyes. Then he noticed the way Chinatsu was looking at him. Her eyes were so sad. "Something wrong?" he said. Chinatsu blinked and turned her head away.
"No, nothing," she said. Kasumi curiously cocked her head and walked out.
"Oh, Riiiiiiin!" she called. "I made you this!" She ran away. InuYasha sighed.
"Mom," he said. "You're hiding stuff again."
"No, I…" Her voice faltered. "I'll tell you later." InuYasha knew she wouldn't tell him later. Whenever she said that, it was just a cover-up. He forcibly grabbed her hand and pulled it out of her pocket. There was a blue tattoo of a flame. Just like Kasumi's red snowflake.
"Mom?" he said doubtfully. Chinatsu opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
"InuYasha!" Yomi and Masao burst through the door.
"Um…" Sango muttered to Miroku. InuYasha turned to them. They had been so quiet he forgot they were there. "Maybe we should go." Miroku nodded and led her out of the hut.
"InuYasha!" Masao said. "You've been lied to! We'll tell you everything!" But InuYasha was still looking at his mother's hand. So were Masao and Yomi. Kasumi, an incarnation of Naraku, had a similar mark. Why would Chinatsu have one?
Was she an incarnation too?
