She began her unknowing journey once again, but only managed to travel a few yards when she heard the sound of hands clapping behind her. Confused as to who was making the sound, she whirled around to see a strange figure dressed in a white baboon pelt. “Bravo. That little piece was entertaining. I quite enjoyed it,” he said in a husky, yet smooth voice.
The girl turned to better see this new stranger. “Who are you?” she asked.
“What? Don’t you recognize me?” he replied.
The girl stood there in silence as she pondered the stranger’s voice. The only thing visible of his face was his lips, and she did not recognize the pelt, but the more she thought about it the more familiar his voice seemed. Finally, as if something had clicked in her mind, the girl’s eyes widened. “Ah! I know who you are!” Her brows furrowed and her eyes became intense as she remembered.
“You!” she yelled. “You killed my master Kunai and destroyed a harmless village!”
Casually, the pelted man smiled. “Technically, it wasn’t me. Was it not Tsutoru who killed Kunai and destroyed that village?”
“But you turned Tsutoru against us!” she yelled back at him.
“It was only a matter of time before he turned against you. I simply just sped up the process.”
The girl closed her eyes, having heard enough. “What do you want, Naraku?”
“I was sent to bring you back,” he replied, a little smile on his face.
The girl’s heart felt as if it had stopped for a moment, and she could no longer breathe as she thought of what he had revealed. “No! I’m not going back!” she screamed.
“I know. There’s been a change in plans.” Naraku continued quietly. “Instead, I’ll be taking that jewel shard you picked up.”
“No! I won’t let you have it! You’ll only use it to hurt innocent people!”
“Not all people are Innocent. So, will you hand it over willingly? Or must I take it by force?” The girl’s eyes became intense with anger as she stared at Naraku, her nails quickly growing into long daggers once more. “Good,” he murmured. “It’s much more fun this way.”
Without hesitation, the girl leapt into the air at Naraku, fully intent on shredding him into pieces. But he was too fast for her, it seemed. Just as she had disappeared before the two-horned demon’s eyes, now it was Naraku who did the same. She quickly turned around only to see her foe behind her. “Foolish girl,” he said with a smile in his voice. The bottom folds of his fur pelt began to curl up as solid, round tentacle-like arms emerged from underneath.
The girl did not have time to study just how disgusting these tentacles were as she began dodging them, trying to avoid being hit as they whipped at her, barely scratching her each time. One of the rough tentacles managed to find her face, cutting her right cheek. It attacked again, and with a loud smack her mask tore away, falling uselessly to the ground. Her face now exposed her anger as she clenched her teeth together, revealing sharp fangs. Her little nose scrunched and her face was red from fury and signs of fatigue, blood now trailing down her right cheek.
“I never realized how pretty your face is,” Naraku cooed mockingly. “I’ll make sure not to do anymore damage to it.” Unable to speak for the disgust that came from his mouth, the girl decided it would be better to demonstrate it through her extended dagger-like claws. Finally, she had Naraku in her grasp as she began slicing away at him. She watched chunks of his tentacles fall to the ground, not stopping until she was sure he was dead.
When she was finished, she stood over the mangled pile of flesh, panting to catch her breath. “Ha! Idi-” Her words were cut short as she saw the fleshy tentacles beginning to merge back together, reattaching themselves to Naraku’s hidden body. Shocked, she heard his voice as laughter came from under the pelt.
“Who are you calling an idiot?”
She gasped at the sight of him regenerated. “That’s imposs-” She stopped herself and demandingly asked, “What are you!?”
Naraku smiled again, a smile that gave the girl an unsetting feeling in her stomach. “Your worst nightmare.” Once again, Naraku’s tentacles uncoiled and sprang toward the girl, making her jump back in defense.
“Here we go again!” She jumped back and dodged, trying to escape this persistent monstrosity while trying to hack him into pieces once again. She sliced tentacle after tentacle, but another always seemed to appear after it. To her, it seemed like an endless battle and her efforts were getting her nowhere. However, Naraku seemed to find her defenses quite amusing. Finally, she had enough. She was going to stab him through the chest and that would be the end of it.
