Time Traveler Katsumi

The Scream

"Very well," Naraku conceded. He only needed Katsumi anyway.

"Rin, listen... I want you to go get Ah-Un and take him for a long walk. Understand?" Katsumi said meaningfully in a tone that left no room for argument. No matter what, she needed to get Rin as far away from Naraku as possible.

"But... I...!" Rin didn't want to leave her Katsumi-nee all alone with such a dangerous enemy, but seeing the look in her eyes, Rin knew what Katsumi wanted. She knew what she had to do. Rin clenched her fists as she turned and ran. 'Don't worry, Katsumi-nee!' Rin thought anxiously as she searched for the two-headed dragon. 'Rin's going to get help! I'll get Sesshoumaru-sama!'

It felt like forever to Katsumi as she stood there, staring down their nemesis, while she waited for Rin's and Ah-Un's scents to fade away until they had fled to a safe enough distance. Only then did she finally allow herself to relax enough to lower her sword.

"So, what exactly did you want to know?" Katsumi asked, wondering what on earth Naraku could possibly want to pick her brain for.

"Hmph. Straight to point, I see," Naraku said, smirking. Well, at least she wasn't going to waste any more of his valuable time. "I have it on good authority that there's something I want in the border between worlds."

"The border between worlds...?" Katsumi asked, blinking. Which worlds? He couldn't have found out about the well, could he...?

"Yes. The border between this world and the next, between life and the afterlife," Naraku explained.

"O–kaay...?" Katsumi said skeptically, almost wondering if Naraku hadn't been snacking on one or two of those questionable 'shrooms in the previous chapter. "Well, I don't know what that has to do with me, but if you're looking for someone to dispatch you, then I have no problem with sending you there. It'll be a one-way trip though," she added, beaming up at him with a brilliant shit-eating grin plastered on her face.

"Ku-ku-ku... I must admit, at first I was at a loss as to how to proceed..." Naraku said, chuckling darkly. This girl certainly had a lot of guts to be mouthing off to him like that. "But then I remembered something... You died up on Mt. Hakurei, didn't you?" he asked shrewdly, smirking when her grin faltered slightly.

"Ah, I take it your saimyōshō told you, huh? What does my little near death experience at the hands of your zombie henchmen have to do with anything?" Katsumi asked, wishing Naraku would just get to the point. She probably could have figured out what he was trying to say, but right now she'd rather keep her powers of concentration focused on watching Naraku so she could be ready to go at the slightest hint of movement from him, if and when he decided to attack.

"Why, isn't is obvious, Katsumi-chan? I want to know what you saw when you crossed the border," Naraku said, moving closer. Now that he really had time to look at her, he was starting to realize just how attractive this girl was.

Katsumi's eyes widened slightly in surprise as she took a step back, trying to maintain the space between them.

"Dude, not so close... I have a thing about spiders. They make my make me wanna hurl," she told him, covering her mouth as if she were going to be sick. Naraku seemed to have lost his sense of humor, judging by harsh glare he was now shooting at her. He must still be sensitive about the whole Onigumo-spider-scar thing, even after discarding his heart.

"You said you would talk, now talk! Tell me what I want to know now," Naraku demanded darkly as he raised the tentacles protruding from his back, arching them like snakes, waiting to strike their prey. Katsumi stood her ground, eyes burning with defiance like two smoldering embers of copper and emerald. Even if she was hopelessly outmatched, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction seeing her tremble.