It had been two months since Kari had been taken away from the group she once traveled with. The child had given Naraku her answer, which was that she would give him a chance, much to Naraku's liking. He decided to train her each day in multiple different things. Today was combat, weapons allowed.

Hakudoshi and Kari were sparing in a large room with Naraku watching them. Hakudoshi gripped his Naginata while watching Kari. The girl pressed the waning crescent moon buttons on her spiked cuffs on her wrists and clicked her ankles together where the buttons on her other spiked cuffs were. This caused the five spikes to unhook from the cuffs to reveal their hollow interior. The spikes then hooked onto Kari's fingers and toes with a thin yet durable steel chain, which had carvings that were similar to a circuit board, but not exact. The child found this out about her cuffs while waiting for the group, she was messing around with the cuffs to pass the time and stumbled upon this discovery. Kari took a stance then and the two began sparring.

Hakudoshi lunged towards Kari, but the girl swiftly jumped out of the way and countered with a kick to her opponent's head. Hakudoshi then grabbed Kari's leg and threw her into a wall. She let out a yelp then charged at the demon child. Kari growled and jumped over him and clawed his back. She did this twice then saw Hakudoshi's Naginata heading towards her out of the corner of her eye so she jumped back. The two stared, both panting and tired.

"That is enough." Naraku called. Kari turned towards him in unison to Hakudoshi then they nodded and turned towards each other.

"Nice job." Hakudoshi said. "You're getting much better at combat."

Kari shrugged and crossed her arms. "I've been training for a while now. It's only natural." She replied. "If you'll excuse me." She huffed then left the room.

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Hours passed then Naraku got some information from one of his saimyosho. Inuyasha and his group were nearing the castle. Naraku smirked then ordered the saimyosho to tell Kari to get ready for a fight. The bug demon flew out of the Naraku's room and to Kari's room. The child was drawing for fun then heard the bug buzz in. She looked up from her work and blinked.

"What?" The child asked and the saimyosho buzzed. "Fine. I'll get ready." She replied and the bug flew out of the room. Kari sighed. She then stood up and grabbed an old mask and placed in on her head to be pulled down over her face later. The mask was pure white with silver slash symbols on the cheeks, two on each cheek, with slim diamond like slit openings where her eyes were. She then put on a dark sapphire blue kimono top with matching pants, similar in shape to Hakudoshi's kimono, a black undershirt, and a silver sash. The top had silver slash symbols that looked similar to the ones on the mask yet were on her arms and legs, two each. She then put on a dark brown cloak with the hood down and attached a small incense to her sash to hide her scent. Kari then hid her scarf using her cloak then pulled the mask onto her face and finally pulled the hood of her cloak up and walked out of the room.

The girl met up with Naraku and huffed. "When do I leave?" She grumbled.

"You're not leaving." Naraku smirked. "The fight's coming to us." Kari blinked while crossing her arms. Eventually a familiar group barged in. Kari widened her eyes slightly. "Well, well, well. Hello Inuyasha."

"Shut up, Naraku! Where's Kari?!" Inuyasha growled. Kagome stepped up with an angered look.

"I swear if she's hurt, you'll be sorry!" Kagome got an arrow ready. The two then noticed the cloaked figure.

"That another incarnation?" Sango asked sternly while gripping her Hiraikotsu. Kari shook her head.

"No. Just an acquaintance of mine." Naraku chuckled darkly. Inuyasha growled and rushed at Naraku.

"Bastard! We don't have time for this!" The half demon called in rage. Naraku vanished in the shadows before Inuyasha could hit him. "Danm it!" Inuyasha growled. Kari gulped.

"Why did you take so long?" She asked emotionlessly. "Why are you even here?"

"We came to save our friend!" Shippo called, a little upset but staying tough. Chase let out a sad roar.

"I've heard her talk about you. She says you barely know each other, yet you still care about her. She said it confuses her." She shivered. "She does not understand why you are being so kind even though you know so little about her. She says it hurts her in a weird way in her chest. She does not like the feeling, from what I understand. She does not like the feeling and, from my understanding, wants to keep her distance because of it."

"Shut up! She's may be a bit closed off, but I can tell she's been through a lot!" Inuyasha snapped.

Kagome nodded. "Yeah. And everyone deserves some form of kindness at some point." Kari froze and looked down.

"Well. You are just like how she described. You are kind and caring no matter what. It's kind of sickening if you think about how horrible and hurtful the world can be to people like you. But that did not answer my first question." She huffed. "Why did you take so long?"

"We couldn't find any clues about this place. We worked as quickly as we could." Sango frowned. Kari gulped and took a step back.

"Alright. Thank you. I... I wish you luck, I guess." Kari stated with a shaky voice then turned to leave, but something grabbed her wrist.

"Wait a sec." It was Inuyasha. "You mind telling me where to find her?" He asked. Kari gulped then looked down.

"I'll show you, come on." Kari then walked into a room and then sighed, looking around. "Looks like she fled." She shivered. Inuyasha frowned as well as everyone else. Shippo sniffled and began running around the room.

"KARI!" He cried. Chase and Kirara followed. "Kari!" Shippo called out the window while Chase let out a roar and Kirara mewed sadly. Kari grit her teeth behind her mask.

"They are just acting... They don't really care." She thought. Kagome walked up and put a gentle hand on Kari's shoulder.

"Hey. Do you know where she might have gone?" She asked in a soothing tone. Kari shook her head in silence. "Oh." Kagome then turned to look at Inuyasha.

"I don't smell her anywhere near by." He sighed, looking down. "And I didn't catch her scent while running up here. Kari must have left while hiding her scent somehow, or taking another route."

Kari gulped. "A-actually. I may know of some place she might have gone." She then led the group to another part of the building then glanced around. "She might have gone that way, down that path. It's the only one Naraku rarely checks." She informed and the group thanked her and walked down the path, their guard up.

"You did well to let them go like that." A voice echoed from the building behind Kari.

"Whatever." She grumbled, shivering in anger. "Just... Don't kill them." Naraku chuckled.

"I thought you didn't trust them."

"I don't!" Kari snapped, turning around to face Naraku. "I just don't wanna see anyone die either. Or hear their screams!" She growled.

Naraku sighed. "Very well, come inside now. It's almost dinner time." The half demon stated.

Kari snarled. "You don't control me like you do with Kanna and Hakudoshi." She hissed. Naraku huffed and the child walked in with an upset growl. "I'm only coming in cuz I'm hungry."

"Very well." Naraku responded, smirking deviously when the child was not looking. The child changed back to her usual appearance, not wearing her cap, goggles, or gloves, then had dinner in her room while looking out of her window at the forest surrounding the area. After eating Kari put her dirty dishes away and decided to turn in for the night.

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After another week passed, Kari decided to walk around the forest not too far away. So, after lunch, she left the castle and raced to the forest. After an hour she found a clearing and looked around. She sighed at the sight of the few flowers and then decided to lay down, listening to the songs that the birds sang near by. Not long later Kari heard footsteps, causing the child to sit up quickly.

"Hmm? Oh, hello. I didn't see you there." A woman, seemingly in her early twenties, with shimmering black hair, dazzling hazel eyes and wearing a common kimono stated kindly. Kari just stood slowly and took a step back. "Don't be afraid. Call me Seika." She smiled.

Kari gulped. "I-I'm Kari." She introduced herself.

"What a lovely name." She smiled. "Mind if I join you? And mind if I ask where you got those odd cloths?" Kari shrugged.

"S-sure, you can join me. I won't force you to do something you don't wanna do. A-and the clothes are kinda hard to explain." She started, doing her best to explain her clothing. Seika listened happily, smiling as Kari explained. The two stayed together in silence for about two hours, just staring at the sky. Eventually Seika had to leave since she had some things to do at home.

"Will I see you again?" She asked before leaving, putting a gentle hand on Kari's shoulder. Kari's eyes flickered for a moment as she stared up at the woman then she blinked a few times and nodded.

"Uh, y-yeh. Sure. Same time I guess." She replied. Seika smiled then left the child. Kari looked down in confusion. "What the hell?" She mumbled. "Why did I feel a sense of deja vu? I swear I never met her." She sighed then turned and headed back to Naraku's palace.

This continued for a few weeks. Kari would leave the castle to meet up with Seika in the clearing and the two would just enjoy each other's company while staring at the sky. After a while they began to talk with each other and got to know more about one another. Kari felt content with this. She began to feel okay with having Seika around.

"Kari," Seika began, looking at the child. "Mind if I mess with your hair?" She asked kindly, a motherly smile on her face.

Kari widened her eyes. "Huh? Why?" She asked in a startled tone.

Seika chuckled. "Well, I had kids once. But they all left at a very young age. I'd love to play with their hair." Kari looked down then sighed and took down her hood slowly and undoing her hair.

"Yeh, s-sure. Just don't mess with these." She stated, pointing to the two groups of hair tied in silver ribbon. Seika nodded and began to run her hands through Kari's hair.

"It's very soft." Seika giggled, picking a few flowers while wrapping it into a tight bun. Kari hummed and closed her eyes.

"Thanks." She stated. After a while of silence Seika opened her mouth to speak again.

"You know, your mother must love you a whole lot." She stated. "I mean, she must be proud to have a beautiful child like you." Kari's eyes bolted open then narrowed.

"Well, I wouldn't know." She replied. "I never got to know her." Seika frowned then smiled.

"I'm sure she'd be proud of you." Seika giggled. "There, finished." She called. Kari now had small bun that looked a bit messy to fit her style and a few yellow flowers here and there. Kari felt her hair and sighed. "You can take it down if you want, I don't mind."

Kari blinked and sighed. "I-I'll keep it until we part ways." She said, smiling shyly. Seika's smile widened. "S-so, what's going on at your place?" She asked.

"Nothing much. We're about to harvest some crops, so I'll be heading home earlier than usual. We actually harvested some of the fruit earlier, here, have this one." She smiled then handed the child a small, oddly pale blue and silver colored peach. "Don't eat it right now. Save it for later." Kari nodded, put the peach in her hoodie pocket and the two continued to talk for another hour, until Seika had to leave. "Well, I should be going. Have a good day, Kari." Seika smiled and bowed. Kari nodded while standing and bowing.

"Y-you too." She replied.

Seika began to walk away, only to stop and turn towards the child. "Tonight, when the moon rises, I suggest you head back to where you are missed. And that peach, eat it when you meet up with them. Trust me, it'll keep. And make sure to eat it all, pit and everything." With that said Seika left. Kari blinked in confusion while undoing her bun and putting her hoodie back on. She began to head back to the castle, thinking about what Seika told her. Kari gulped then slowly nodded to herself.

"Alright." She whispered and began to head into her room, making sure she had everything. Once that was done she had dinner and went to her room and leaned under the window, waiting for the moon light to hit her eyes. Hours passed until she was awoken by moonlight. Kari's eyes opened and she grabbed her things and wrapped them in a cloth for a bag, zipped up her hoodie and fled the area quickly, making sure to steal some food and useful tools before fleeing, watching for saimyosho while she took the same path she told the group she once traveled with to go down.

"I'm coming back guys!" She thought. "I... I'm sorry to worry you! I'll be there soon! I promise!" Kari raced as fast as she could to find her old group.