Approximately Fifty Years Later
"Your disguise is fine….Onigumo…"
"Heh. Onigumo. Now that brings me back…fifty years ago…you saved me, took pity on me, and sheltered that fugitive in a cave."
She watched him as he spoke. Everything was finally coming together…the mystery of that day so long ago. And the night that proceeded it. So this was the man she had given herself to. She was past the guilt, past the agony. All that was left was anger and a sense of curiosity. He was attractive. She supposed that that was one thing Onigumo and Naraku had in common; an agreement that they should have a handsome body. She watched him coolly.
"Onigumo offered his body to the demons, who latched onto his evil soul. And thus was born, Naraku."
He held up the Shikon Shard for her to see. She gasped.
"That's…"
"Yes indeed. The very thing you gave your life to erase from this world. A Shard of the Sacred Jewel."
"They say it was your desire to possess it that brought you to kill me."
His thoughts betrayed him, in the moment of silence following her words.
Not only that. It was my desire, not only for the Jewel, but for her, that brought me to strike her. She made me want her to live. I did not plan for her to die. Stupid woman.
Anger filled him. Hadn't it been enough, to take her purity, her virginity from her? Hadn't it been enough, to know he had had something which InuYasha could now never have? Instead of settling the need, however, that one time had fed a hunger that had once belonged solely to Onigumo. Holding her, touching her, kissing her…somehow in those moments Onigumo's feelings for her had begun to seep into him, and in the morning he had tried not to damage her too irreparably, certain she would use the Jewel to live; taint it further with her hate and selfishness, and then, when she had nowhere else to turn, he would make her his, somehow, whether she wanted it or not. Instead, she had followed her beloved into death.
And now here she was again, and more tempting to him than ever. Now, she was full of anger and coldness. To him, it was like watching a beautiful, dark butterfly emerging from a cocoon of purity and good into a new realm of wicked freedom. No! He could not let Onigumo's heart affect him again! He would not! His next words were almost growled out in his anger.
"Discussing it with one who is no more than a collection of dead souls is unseemly. But the search for the remaining fragments frustrates me."
…
InuYasha growled low to himself. After their battle with Jeromaru and Kageromaru, the scent of Naraku still lingered in his mind. It was the scent he hated most of all, of any scent that had ever touched his nose.
It was the scent that had lingered on Kikyo when she killed him.
He had never been able to force himself to ask Kikyo, after her resurrection, how it had come about that she had given her body to Naraku. Nor had he ever mentioned it to the others. He was the only one who knew, aside from Naraku and Kikyo. Even for his often simple mind, it was easy enough to guess that Naraku had appeared to her as InuYasha. But it still hurt…it hurt incredibly. Hadn't she known him well enough to know the difference between him and a fake? Hadn't she known him well enough to know he would never ask her virtue of her without first going through all the proper human rituals?
He hated the thought that she had given herself willingly, thinking it was him.
If she had fought, and been taken anyway….he would hurt for her, but it would almost be a relief.
But in those short moments when he had smelled her scent drifting to him where he was pinned to the tree…before the darkness overcame him…he could smell the lingering traces of her own arousal over the scent of that other. She had been enjoyed her tryst with whoever it was she had been with. He died knowing that.
And now, fifty years later, he still knew that.
And his hatred for Naraku was a burning rage that could only be quenched by Naraku's death.
…
"It seems you're not so different from Naraku after all."
It was the worst insult she could possibly pay him.
"You're saying…I'm the same as Naraku?!"
"Deep within Naraku, Onigumo's heart beats and still yearns for my touch."
"Onigumo's heart?"
"He desired me. And having me kill you with my own two hands…was something that he dreamed about. It was something that the jealous heart of Onigumo schemed for."
"He was jealous? Over something so ridiculous?"
I'm the one with the right to be jealous. He took her from me. Took her purity, her virginity, her life. Everything…all the pain…it's all his fault.
"Yes. Ridiculous. But that's….what mortals are."
There was a strange look in her eyes now. Something cunning, sly, seductive. Her eyes sparkled. Not with joy, not with goodness. She was thinking of something. He didn't dare wonder what.
Onigumo's heart remains inside Naraku…
"Wait! Kikyo…does Naraku have feelings for you too now?"
"He is…reluctant to admit it. But I am certain he has a lingering desire for me. And in an effort to ease that feeling, he's trying to get rid of me."
Anger rushed through InuYasha's blood like fire.
He still wants her body…and yet he still hates her…he hates that once wasn't enough for him…
As she rose and stood before him, her words were drowned out by a sudden, strange, certain knowledge…one that terrified and horrified him.
… and once wasn't enough for her either.