Chapter 34 - Fate, Perhaps We'll Never Meet Again!
"Who!?"
Kirinowaka looked warily in Renji's direction. A faint sound she'd caught by chance alerted her to someone watching nearby.
Her spiritual power sensed demonic energy. Even though it was well-hidden, the one observing her was a yokai.
After Kirinowaka spoke, Mica also turned its gaze toward Renji's position, inwardly frustrated that it hadn't noticed sooner. If Kirinowaka hadn't detected it, a sneak attack from that yokai could have harmed her.
"Mica, hold them off for a bit."
At Kirinowaka's command, Mica let out a cry and immediately charged toward Renji.
"Is she Kirinowaka?"
Renji glanced at the woman in the lake. She'd seemed familiar at first, and after hearing the name Mica, it clicked—most likely Kirinowaka.
This was the Heian era, a time when yokai were powerful, but humans had their share of strong figures too.
Like the monk Kukai, the miko Kirinowaka, the onmyoji Seimei, and warriors who slew great yokai with human bodies.
Any powerhouse from this era would be a dominant force in Inuyasha's time.
But before he could think further, Mica reached him, slashing with its sharp claws.
Kirinowaka was a miko, and the intruder was a yokai—Mica naturally saw Renji as an enemy. Since he'd approached silently, it assumed he meant to ambush, and it wouldn't hold back.
"Too weak."
By yokai standards, Mica was only third-rate, though its speed was decent.
Given the timeline, this Mica was probably still in its juvenile stage.
Renji swatted Mica aside with a single claw. As he prepared to leave, Kirinowaka, now in her combat attire, stood with her greatsword, eyeing him cautiously.
She'd initially thought it was a weak yokai, which was why she hadn't sensed its energy. But seeing him now, she realized this yokai had the potential of a great yokai—and a perfect human form, no less.
Yet his demonic aura was unfamiliar. She'd never encountered him before, and he didn't seem to be here for revenge.
Still, he'd likely seen her in that state earlier. Though Kirinowaka was a miko, calm in the face of most things, a ripple of unease stirred in her heart.
"Yokai, why have you come to the demon-slaying village?"
The spiritual power radiating from Kirinowaka felt faintly menacing, even to Renji.
No wonder she was called the strongest miko.
Other mikos fought with bows or curses, but Kirinowaka wielded a sword, clashing with yokai in close combat. She battled them for days, only succumbing to exhaustion and merging with them to become the Shikon Jewel.
But she didn't seem intent on fighting him outright. She sensed no bloodlust or evil in him.
Kirinowaka despised wickedness and would strike down evil yokai without hesitation to stop their chaos. Yet she didn't kill every yokai indiscriminately.
Humans had good and bad among them—so did yokai.
Even without sensing evil, she remained cautious. Yokai could disguise themselves with treasures or their own abilities.
For someone to approach her unnoticed, they weren't ordinary.
"I walked here."
"…"
Was that what she'd asked?
Hearing Renji's response, Kirinowaka's wariness deepened.
"Miko, if there's nothing else, I'll be going."
Renji considered it and decided he didn't want any entanglement with Kirinowaka.
Though that fleeting glimpse had etched her face and figure into his mind, he knew well that yokai who got involved with mikos rarely met good ends.
Mikos and yokai were natural opposites. No matter how much they loved each other, it often ended in tragedies like Inuyasha and Kikyo's—countless examples existed in this world.
Renji had no desire to get tangled up with a miko.
Watching Renji's departing figure, Kirinowaka hesitated, then sheathed her weapon. She didn't want to make an enemy of a yokai with such strange strength.
Since he bore no evil aura, he didn't seem like one of those yokai, at least.
They turned away—Kirinowaka south, Renji north. Just before leaving, Renji glanced back, sensing something, only to see her looking his way too. Meeting her gaze for a mere instant, he quickly turned away. After this, they'd likely never cross paths again.
Her fate, after all, was to become the Shikon Jewel.
But—
If he altered that plotline, preventing her from becoming the Shikon Jewel, would that completely rewrite Inuyasha's entire story? Would that be a massive change?
Renji mulled it over silently, deciding to seek out Totosai first. If fate allowed, they might meet again.
He wasn't sure if changing this one event would unravel everything that followed. But if he only changed the story once, wouldn't that be a loss?
"Let's go, Mica."
Kirinowaka patted Mica's little head, then withdrew her gaze, shaking her head. She was puzzled—why had she suddenly wanted to look back at that odd yokai?
Mica nuzzled her, a human-like apology flashing across its face. It felt bad about earlier.
If it had noticed sooner, Kirinowaka might not have gone through that.
"It's fine, no need to apologize. We probably won't run into that guy again. I was a bit careless myself."
Kirinowaka smiled gently, thinking she'd grown lax lately.
She'd cleared out a batch of nearby yokai, instinctively assuming none would dare approach. Humans, Mica could always detect.
She hadn't expected a yokai like that to show up.
Still, the incident had left a ripple in her heart. That yokai's face was like a refined noble's, his frame tall and lean. Though neither had mentioned it outright—
Kirinowaka was certain he'd seen her. She was a miko, but also a woman.
Oh well.
They probably wouldn't meet again.
Kirinowaka sighed inwardly, hoping they wouldn't. Perhaps they truly wouldn't—she was a miko, he a yokai. They were enemies by nature, and even if not hostile, they weren't friendly. How could they possibly meet again?
With that, she turned away and left the riverbank.
"Mica, rest up for the next few days. After that, we'll leave the demon-slaying village and head to the lord's place to finish an exorcism job."
"Chirp!"
Mica let out a cry.
"Totosai, forge me a sword."
"Young Master Renji?"
Totosai poked his head out of his smithy, looking at Renji with some surprise. When he noticed Renji already possessed the power of a first-class yokai, he was even more shocked.
He'd assumed Renji was still a second-class yokai, wanting a good weapon to boost his strength to first-class and join the battlefield.
It seems he'd underestimated Renji.
"So, Young Master Renji, did you bring any materials?"
"Isn't my tooth enough?"
In the original story, didn't Inuyasha use his own tooth to reforge Tessaiga?
And Sesshomaru just tossed in a fang from Goshinki, and that was it, right?
Why did he need extra materials?
Hearing Renji's response, Totosai was floored.
Who told you forging a sword only takes a tooth?
Sure, for a decent sword, a single tooth might suffice, but Totosai clearly didn't want to make Renji something merely "decent." He aimed to craft the best sword he could—one perfectly suited to Renji.
"Young Master Renji, while that's true, a tooth is just the base. If you want to infuse it with other properties, you'll need additional materials. For example, fragments of Hosenki's diamond could make your blade harder. Fusing in unique demonic energies could give the sword different traits."
"But if too much demonic energy is infused, the blade becomes highly sinister—a so-called demon sword. Demon swords can backlash against their wielder, but they're also the most powerful type. It's a trade-off. If Young Master Renji just wants a decent-looking sword, then your tooth alone will do!"
Totosai gave Renji a simple rundown of sword-forging principles.
He could fuse everything in for Renji, but the more power added, the more potential issues could arise.
Of course, if Renji only wanted a weapon made from his tooth, there'd be no such worries.
"I see. If I need to gather materials, let me think…"
Renji sat cross-legged on the ground, propping his head up as he pondered.
What treasures did this world even have?
There were Hosenki's diamond fragments, but wouldn't that just be a Tessaiga-style Kongosoha?
Renji wasn't aiming to mimic Inu no Taisho's weapons. Tessaiga was pretty overpowered, absorbing yokai energy to evolve.
But crafting something like that himself wouldn't be so simple.
Yokai Renji: [Hey everyone, help me brainstorm. I want to make a demon sword of my own. Besides my tooth, what should I add?]
Maybe—
He could use treasures from other worlds?
Pirate Renji: [If I get Vegapunk to figure out how to make a sword eat a Devil Fruit later, I wonder if we could enchant your weapon with it.]
Weapons eating Devil Fruits became a thing after Vegapunk cracked the secrets of Lineage Factors and built on that research.
Yokai Renji: [Worth considering. If it works, having the sword eat the Arms Fruit would be ideal.]
A sword with the Arms Fruit could transform into all sorts of weapons.
Imagine—later on, Tessaiga wipes out thousands of yokai with one swing. Meanwhile, little ol' me swings once, and a whole city's gone. "Adults, times have changed!"
Naruto Renji: [Want me to get Orochimaru to research it for you?]
Yokai Renji: [Orochimaru's not specialized in this, and you'd probably have to pay a price. You've still got your own problems—things aren't exactly great for the Uchiha clan right now.]
Though Orochimaru might pull off a miracle, he didn't want to put Naruto-world Renji in a tough spot. The Uchiha clan's situation was still unresolved.
Naruto Renji: [I'm fine, actually. The real issue is you, Pirate Renji—step it up! Develop that Thunder Fruit and your three Haki types properly. Later, when I fight, you know the value of a single Raiyoi, right?]
Raiyoi's range could destroy an entire sky island.
One swing of that, and he could obliterate Konoha.
Pirate Renji: [Cough, working on it, working on it—don't rush me!]
He'd realized developing it was tricky. He didn't want to lug around a drum for storing electricity, so discharging it barehanded took more effort. Even with Enel's template to follow, it wasn't easy.
Mundane Renji: [I've got nothing useful for you here.]
Damn it!
Not only was he weak, he didn't even have anything to offer. Poor as dirt!
Zombie Renji: [Speaking of which, how about adding corpse qi and poison to the sword? I could also infuse a bit of pure spiritual energy into it. Mix that with your demonic energy, then toss in some treasures from your world and blend it all together.]
Naruto Renji: [How do you even have corpse qi and poison? Bro, you walking the evil path now?]
Zombie Renji: [My whole sect's down to just me now—well, me and a missing senior sister. The sect leader was supposed to be her.
The corpse qi and poison were probably from the previous leader killing some evil cultivator and keeping them. No idea why they were preserved, but if you need them, I can give them to you.
They're too old to turn anyone into a zombie, but they can weaken people like a curse. Wounds won't heal easily due to the corrosion from the qi and poison.
I was gonna destroy them, but if you want, they're yours—along with a wisp of our founder's spiritual energy to balance it. Too bad I don't know Samadhi True Fire, or I'd refine it for you!]
Yokai Renji: [Alright! Thanks a ton. Also, I'm thinking of tracking down the Goshinboku. It's a time-space traverse thing in this world—wonder if fusing it in could give me a sword that cuts through time and space.]
(End of Chapter)
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