Inuyasha seemed to be in constant pain since that day, so when the supposed monk told them about a priestess. He didn't hesitate to leave. Akari, although she knew it was a lie, didn't stop him. She knew he should overcome this situation on his own.
"What happened, Akari? Is something wrong?" Sango asked.
"No, it's just— I have a bad feeling about this". Akari answered while they were being transported to a suspicious castle.
"Mmm, I know, it feels like a trap, right?" Miroku said.
Akari nodded. She knew Miroku could understand her.
"Why don't we call back Inuyasha?" Shippo asked.
Akari looked at him and thought it was a good thing that Shippo was in her arms when the soldiers came for them. Akari didn't intend to involve Inuyasha in this. Much less now.
"We should take care of this on our own. He needs to pay attention to other things. We must be empathetic with him in this difficult situation, don't you think, Shippo?" Shippo nodded.
"We must stay sharp". Miroku said.
When they arrived at the castle, they were separated. Akari was taken inside, and they took all their weapons.
Akari saw the baby, and she didn't dare to stay close to him. The demons she feared most were those who could read her mind. She moved her hand to break the string while she heard what they were saying.
"Akari, I need your eyes, you are the only one now who can see the fragments". The baby said.
"But I'm sure you don't really need me. Naraku found the fragments before without my help. Why does he suddenly need me?" Kagura and the baby stayed silent for a second. Probably it doesn't make sense to them either.
Well, it was normal. Naraku really didn't need the help of anyone, even if that person could see the fragments. In the original story, Naraku finally found the other fragments anyway. It was only an excuse to build the relationship between the female protagonist and Inuyasha.
"You should have told Naraku to focus on finding the fragments instead of wasting time on cheap drama". Kagura seemed surprised, and when she was distracted, Akari untied the string and threw her a dagger at her spiritual power.
Kagura repelled it with her attack, but at that moment, Akari jumped through the window and broke it. Outside, Miroku and Sango were fighting against the soldiers, and Akari shouted at them.
"Give me the bow and arrow". Sango threw it to her, and Akari pointed at Kagura and the baby.
"Tsk..." Kagura furrowed her brow, and then she left.
When they finally left, Akari coughed up a mouthful of blood. Akari wiped her blood with indifference and moved to Miroku and Sango, helping to defeat the soldiers.
Inuyasha didn't return until evening, and when they told him all that had happened, he felt guilty, but he still didn't give up the hope of finding Kikyou. Akari smiled. That's exactly what she wanted.
**
Akari left for a few days with the pretext of avoiding Naraku for a while. Inuyasha and the others didn't have any problem, and Akari spent two days with her family before she returned. Akari went to the place where she had left the black egg to reinforce the barrier.
Akari arrived and saw the egg in the same position, and sighed in relief. She sat down, and she started to talk. Since he seemed to be always asleep, she felt confident enough to tell him about everything she really thought.
"Little snake, how have you been? I have been busy. Kikyou is dead, at least for a while." Akari thought for a second and said.
"It's okay for now, I mean, you know she isn't really dead, but next time, what should we do? Although I don't like her, she helps me a lot with her presence here. You know, I thought it was a coincidence, but after a while, I realized her presence helps me. Because when she was present, Naraku, Inuyasha, and the other important people didn't pay much attention to the 'reincarnation of Kikyou'. Well, it was natural. Why would you want a fake when the original is here?" Probably what happened in the original story was the same. 'Kagome' was always seen as the 'reincarnation of Kikyou'; she was always a shadow of Kikyou. It was probably annoying for her but it wasn't all bad. Akari, who thought carefully, believed it was actually beneficial to the original protagonist.
Imagine that you are the reincarnation of someone, and everyone is afraid of you because of that person. But that person, the real person, suddenly appeared. It was obvious that the attention would be on that person, not on the reincarnation. But when that person disappeared again, the attention would return to the reincarnation because it is the only thing that remained of the original.
If we add to this that Kikyou appeared at the beginning of the story and disappeared almost at the end. We could conclude, then, that she was here only to protect the reincarnation and gave her time to increase her powers and strength. Akari remembered the time when Kikyou hadn't revived, and the attention was on her because she was the reincarnation of the great priestess Kikyou. But when Kikyou appeared, she was relieved a little bit. Inuyasha, Naraku, and everyone were paying attention to her for different reasons.
Since Kikyou came back, Naraku didn't care much about her; he had tried to kill her, but it wasn't as elaborate as the last time when he sent Kagura and the baby and moved Inuyasha away from her. It wasn't a coincidence that it happened after Kikyou 'died'. The baby had just said, 'You are the only one who could see the fragments.' Akari didn't matter before because Kikyou was here, but now she was the only one who remained with Kikyou's power.
It didn't bother Akari; instead, she preferred it. She knew, too, that without the presence of Kikyou, she wouldn't have had the opportunity to train her abilities and make herself more powerful. That's why Akari started to wonder about a way to prevent Kikyou's death. She tried with Inuyasha, but it didn't work.
"Should I let her die? And then, should I try to revive her again?" Akari murmured. Well, it wasn't a bad idea. Even so, the real problem was doing it without the world's consciousness finding out.
She would think about it tomorrow. Now she is going to sleep.