She turned, and saw the large water pipes that stretched across the veranda to the back of the castle. In those days, only wealthy landowners had possession of water pipes. Naraku had impersonated the great lord Kagewaki to trick the villagers into giving him the castle. Since then, Naraku had used the old building for his lair. Kikyo wasn't surprised that he had to possess water in order to keep himself alive while thinking up evil schemes.
Kikyo shivered in the morning breeze, which was steadily growing colder. She decided to use the water pipes to prepare a hot bath. That would surely take her mind off of her new life. Still, the same thoughts entered her mind, and Kikyo still couldn't find a way to get them to disappear.
Naraku has changed now, Kikyo thought. Only five minutes before, Naraku had kept me in his bed. It's like an illicit love affair we have, and it excites Naraku to have me leave him. He continues to insist that I should forget Inuyasha! Has he really changed? Or is he simply owning me in order to get rid of the man who he once was?
Kikyo removed a bucket from the old stables where Naraku kept his incarnations. All of his horses had died from abuse, battle wounds, and illness. Afterward, he had filled the tiny rooms with bamboo cages, where his evil, sniveling incarnations waited to be released.
She left as quickly as possible, avoiding trouble with the masked, unknown beasts. She went back outside and crossed over to the water pipes. After discovering that they were broken, Kikyo sighed and hastily built a fire in the old, stable yard ditch that Naraku's servants never bothered to fill.
The servants began to stir, their figures making shadows in the windows of the old castle. Kikyo grabbed her bathwater as soon as it was heated, and went over to the old, wooden bath house that lay against the old, dead rice fields.
Water was plentiful at the bath house, which ran through the pipes from the castle. Still, Kikyo prided herself in being able to bathe in very little water. When she and her sister were small, their mother would only use a single bucket of water to wash and rinse both girls. The old days are gone, Kikyo thought sadly. The air inside the wooden house felt astringent as Kikyo stepped out of her priestess garb. She began to wonder why the old bath house captured her fancy better than the baths in Naraku's castle. The baths inside the grand building puzzled her, with its different soaps and somewhat softer towels that refused to absorb water. To Kikyo, all of those things seemed useless. She was a peasant somehow, and remained to be inside the deepest, happiest memories of her heart.
Kikyo filled the large tub with the water she had collected. When the tub was full, Kikyo slid her tall, slender figure inside. She shivered with pleasure as the heat of the water warmed her legs, arms, and hair. The clean, honest soap produced a thick lather, and Kikyo felt the joys of the old-fashioned, simple baths she used to share with her younger sister.
She thought of the blessings that made her life worthwhile: there was Kaede, who slowly grew wiser and stronger by day, although she had aged too fast. Then, there were the villagers; who had stood by her and accepted her for the woman she truly was, not for the priestess she did not truly want to be. Then, there was Inuyasha, the one man whom Kikyo was actually saddened to think of...
Kikyo left the bath after what seemed like an hour. She slipped back into a white priestess robe, and drained the tub as fast as she had filled it. She slid the wooden doors open, and stepped down the small stairs outside, back into the chilled morning air.
She was halfway across the courtyard when an angry shout erupted through the air.
"Arghhh!" the voice yelled, and Kikyo turned. It was none other than Kagura, who sported more wounds than Kikyo ever thought a person could handle.
"KIKYO!" Kagura shouted, her voice shaking with anger and, Kikyo had presumed, fear. The wind sorceress leapt down from the top of the bath house, and Kikyo felt like such a fool.
"I thought you said you had eyes in the back of your head, Kikyo! How come you didn't see me, on top of the bath house? Such a careless mortal. What if I attacked you? You would have never known. Ha...priestesses are supposed to be watchful at all times!" Kagura waved her fan, sending a handful of wind-powered blades at Kikyo. The young priestess jumped out of the way, her long white robe billowing out around her like a protective cloud. Kagura laughed, and flicked her wrist. "Dance of Blades!" she shouted with impatience. "I want you dead!"
Kikyo tucked herself into a ball on the ground, and rolled quickly out of the way. She stood up slowly, breathing hard. "Why are you angry at me, Kagura? Just answer me that!" Kagura scowled. "You would know of all people, Kikyo! Why else would Naraku kick me out? He wanted me out of the way, so he wouldn't feel ashamed about falling in love with you! No one would be around to speak against him! Well, guess what? I'M BACK!" Kagura let out another ferocious cry, and ran headlong towards Kikyo. Without warning, she lashed at the priestess's face with her fan. Kikyo growled with anger as the paper and wood from the fan left a scratch on her lovely face. Kagura watched with satisfaction as a drop of blood fell to the ground from the cut, then another...
"Aw, just a scratch. I'll take all of your blood, priestess!" the sorceress cried, waving her fan once more. Then, a long, claw-like hand grabbed Kagura from behind, and pushed her to the ground in a thick cloud of smoke. Kikyo jumped back quickly, avoiding harm. She raised her eyes to Kagura's attacker, and saw that Naraku had come to her rescue.
"Kagura, you foolish wench. You came back," Naraku said, barely a whisper. Kagura, however, heard him, and sat up slowly.
"N-Naraku..." Kagura began, and Naraku stepped on her hand as he did Kikyo.
"Woman...I have no use for you anymore. Behave like the wench you are, and..." Naraku picked Kagura up by the back of the neck, his gentleness gone. "...Be gone!" Naraku finished, throwing Kagura over the bath house, across the gate, and into the forest below. While flying through the air, Kagura waved her hand in Naraku's direction.
"Damn you, Naraku!" she shouted, and finally fell the forest floor in a sickening thud, which only Naraku could hear from the distance. Kikyo ran to him, and buried her face in his chest. "Naraku...you rescued me! And to think I believed you hadn't changed!" Naraku listened to Kikyo's words, and shook his head. His long, nimble fingers stroked the top of Kikyo's head, and his eyes filled with bitter fury.
"I'm so angry at Kagura," he said into Kikyo's ear. "She deserves to die, out there in the wilderness. I wouldn't be the least bit upset if she never came back. Anyone who tries to hurt my beloved Kikyo will eventually die."