Taking a deep breath to clear her lungs, Kagome turned toward the victim’s parents, who were waiting just beyond the door. The father stared blankly on as Kirara cleaned her fur on the opposite side of the entryway, the mother’s somber eyes lifting to Kohaku and Kagome.

“Thank you,” the miko said, bending at the waist, “for allowing us to see her.”

The mother bowed in return, her fingers trembling at her sides. “Will you…will you be able to find her killer, Miko-sama?”

“I will,” Kagome said earnestly, taking the woman’s hands in her own. “I promise.” She looked briefly to the spirit hovering at the edge of the woods. “Will you tell me your daughter’s name?”

To everyone’s surprise, it was the girl’s father who answered.

“Kanako,” he spoke woodenly, his gaze fixed on some point in the distance. “Her name was Kanako.”

“Kanako,” Kagome repeated gently, her eyes resting upon him. “I won’t forget it.”

With the slightest nod, the shell-shocked man ambled toward the shed, his wife slipping her arm around him as they crossed the dark threshold together. As the slatted door closed behind them, Kagome turned resolutely to her companions.

“Let’s go.”

Kirara transformed in a blaze, the miko and taijiya vaulting atop her back. As they climbed together into the air, Kanako’s ghost took off before them. Translucent and softly edged, she led them swiftly through the iron-grey sky. The red sun burned like a cinder above them, tingeing their spirit guide with a faint, bloody gleam. As miles of uncharted wilderness streaked by below them, Kagome’s sense of foreboding intensified. Judging by the hard set of Kohaku’s jawline, the taijiya in front of her seemed to feel the same.

As the sun crept toward the western horizon, they followed its gradually sinking course. More familiar with these lands, Kohaku leaned forward with narrowed eyes. As they flew low over a forest of dense and ancient pines, a dark spot in the distance snared their attention. Kirara’s hackles rose, Kohaku and Kagome tensing at the sight. Even before Kanako’s ghost descended toward it, she knew with a chilling certainty that this was the place—

The Beast’s killing ground.

The miko’s breath froze in her lungs as they alighted at last at the edge of the blackened clearing, a thicket of dark twisted branches barring their way. Levitating above the rocky ground before them, the red-hued specter pivoted slowly, its gauzy approximation of an arm pointing ominously toward the heart of the shadowed grove. Shutting her eyes, Kagome steepled her shaking fingers together before her.

“Thank you, Kanako,” she whispered. “Go in peace.”

The spirit’s arm fell, a breezy sigh ruffling through the miko’s hair and sleeves as the victim’s ghost dissipated in a cloud of glimmering mist. Steeling herself, Kagome glanced toward the others as she stepped forward, into the looming shadows.

Scorched limbs creaked as she pushed past them, a few smaller branches crumbling to ash at her feet. Senses attuned, Kagome led the way into the clearing’s blasted center. Like the trees that surrounded it, the space within was seared black as pitch, the loose sandy soil fused into sheets of brittle obsidian. Beneath the soles of Kagome’s sandals, the dark surface cracked and split, as though the earth itself were seeking release from its bitter defilement.

“A demonic fire raged here,” Kohaku remarked from his crouched position behind her, trailing a gloved finger through the fine layer of soot that filmed the glassy ground. “I’ve seen blazes like this before, but never one so well-contained.” Gravely, he met Kagome’s gaze. “Only a youkai of considerable strength and skill could have commanded his youki with such devastating precision.”

The miko crossed her arms over her chest, her brow furrowing in consternation. ‘Strength’ she could believe, but ‘precision’ didn’t fit with the profile of an otherwise savage killer…

“Kanako’s body wasn’t burned,” she muttered, pacing ahead as her eyes swept over the wasted ground. “Which means…”

“He came back here,” the taijiya surmised grimly as he stood and joined Kagome near the middle of the clearing. “After he disposed of her corpse.” Staring at the ground as well, Kohaku shook his head, the long dark tail of his hair swaying at the motion. “But why return to erase the evidence? A demon this powerful doesn’t fear retaliation–especially from mortals. So why is he so concerned with covering up an attack against a mere human girl?”

“…I don’t know,” Kagome admitted in frustration, her fists clenching at her sides.

It was baffling, exasperating beyond words. Circling around, she scanned the clearing in desperation, a sharp glare of white catching her eye at last. Wandering dreamlike toward it, she raised her hand as she spoke.

“It’s almost as if…”

Pale grooves slashed deeply through the charred trunk of a tree. Settling her fingers lightly into them, she turned to Kohaku with a frown.

“…As if he’s ashamed.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi