| Episode 31: The Gentle-Hearted and Lonely Jinenji (Kokoro Yasashiki Aishuu no Jinenji) : Kirara, who is still poisoned due to Naraku's shouki from when she bit him in episode 30, needs the herbs from a farm nearby in order to feel better. Myouga is good enough to give the Yasha gang the location of this farm, although he's made fun of by Inuyasha and Shippou for being the most useless person in the group. Miroku watches over Sango, who's still injured, and Shippou and Myouga watch Miroku for anything lecherous. ^_^ Kagome and Inuyasha slowly make their way over to the farm on Kagome's bike, and Kagome on the way comments that it has been awhile since they've been alone. She looks back to see Inuyasha asleep, and tries to keep the bike from hitting too many bumps, but he falls off anyway. We see a short scene of a young girl getting killed by youkai, and then Inuyasha, who is picking up Kagome's bike to carry it while they continue on foot. Kagome asks Inuyasha if he has fun with her because the look on his face indicates the opposite. Inuyasha says he's always like that, but before Kagome says anything more, she sees a procession of men holding a cot with the young girl from earlier, referring to her as Jinenji's third victim. Kagome asks them if they know of an herb field nearby, and they say it must be Jinenji's field, a youkai that apparently has found a taste for human flesh. They go to his field, and the villagers ask Inuyasha if he can really defeat Jinenji. Inuyasha says he can (that Jinenji is just big), and tells Kagome to wait where she is while he goes to get the herbs. He confronts Jinenji, smelling no blood on the guy at all, but Jinenji just runs to the house, yelling for his mommy. An old, old woman comes running out (Inuyasha confuses her with a yamanba or "female youkai who lives in the mountains"). She breaks a log over Inuyasha's head (and he's unfazed), and the villagers run off. Kagome and Inuyasha visit with Jinenji and his mom while Jinenji prepares the herbs they need, and Jinenji's mom explains that they pick on Jinenji because he's a hanyou (bringing up some issues for Inuyasha). She tells them the story of how she and Jinenji's dad, a horse youkai, met, which clues them in on the fact that she's human (just really, really old). Jinenji gives Kagome the herbs, and they're about to leave when they find the villagers preparing to attack the house again. Inuyasha says that he'll find the real youkai behind the killings and destroy it, which stalls the villagers' plans for a while. Kagome goes back to Jinenji's farm while Inuyasha is gone, helping them with weeding. She shows her true colors here by not being afraid of Jinenji at all. ^_^ Inuyasha finds an egg nest that the responsible youkai left behind (all of which have hatched), and realizes that the parent took its young out to learn how to kill. Knowing that Kagome is in danger, he runs off to get back to the herb field. Meanwhile, the villagers can no longer wait and are attacking Jinenji and his mom again. Kagome stops them for a few moments, long enough for the real youkai killing people to show up with its wormy-like kids and attack the villagers. Jinenji's house is burning down, but Kagome gets her bow and arrows and Jinenji out of it. She fires off an arrow at the wormy youkai, but its tails whips her to the side. It's about to eat her (eww!) when Jinenji charges in to punch it in the mouth (and he literally does have his fist in the youkai's mouth--bleh). Inuyasha shows up to save the villagers from the larva, and is about to help Jinenji with the wormy youkai when Jinenji's mom tells Inuyasha not to--but to let Jinenji beat it on his own. Inuyasha forces the villagers to watch as Jinenji's crushes the wormy youkai (yeah!). Jinenji offers the villagers herbs to heal their wounds once danger has passed, which gets them to trust him, and Inuyasha and Kagome leave the next morning to take the herbs back to Kirara. The villagers come back to help Jinenji and his mom rebuild their house and field, and Kagome discusses the downsides of being a hanyou with Inuyasha. She confirms that he got picked on for it, but reminds him that he's not alone (and that she likes to see his "soft" side once in a while). It makes Inuyasha feel good. ^___^ Episode 32: A Fall into the Miasma, Kikyou and Inuyasha (Jaki ni Ochita, Kikyou to Inuyasha) : As this episode starts out, Kikyou is tending to some wounded soldiers (this is, after all, the Warring Era). Some official-looking guys come to take her to a castle to "hear their request," and on the way, the head guy tells her that their young lord, Kagewaki (!!), has always had a weak body, but that his condition has worsened. Kagewaki, who is actually Naraku, is "weak" because Kagome shot two purity arrows at him recently (booya!). Kikyou arrives at the castle and quite authoritatively walks into the young lord's chamber after feeling a strong evil aura. Naraku, obviously, is surprised to see her, considering how she died fifty years ago. We see a quick scene of youkai parts raining down on some farmers (eww) before we see the Yasha gang, who are talking to the frightened farmers. They agree to help them find the "nearby source of evil," but Inuyasha wants to look for Naraku instead. Miroku comments on how Kagome shot him twice with her arrows, and says that they can't back out now because he has just received payment. Sango, the observant one, says that the source seems to be a mountain up ahead (the clouded-over, dark one). She then says "what other youkai besides Naraku could create such an aura?" (Actually, he's a hanyou, but that's beside the point.) Kikyou, who says she can't do anything for Kagewaki, asks to leave the castle, but the head guy says she is not allowed to leave, and four guards come up to hold their spears to her face (meanies!). Naraku, lying on his futon (hehehe), is brooding about where Kikyou came from, and says he wants to "possess this woman" (eww!). The Yasha gang, headed up the mountain-side, find a weird hole in the mountain wall. The vapor coming out of it is bothering Sango (and Miroku somewhat), but they decide that only Inuyasha and Miroku should go inside. Kikyou, locked up in a cell, knows she should leave, and has her Shinidamachuu remove the guard's soul so that she can order him to let her go. Kagome, unaffected by the evil vapor, is helping Sango outside. Inside, Miroku isn't doing too well with the vapor, but he and Inuyasha forge ahead once they hear a noise further inside. Finding a large cave with a pool of youkai remains in the bottom (yuck!), they see two very large youkai rise out of the remains, and fight each other. Miroku says hundreds of youkai must have died in here fighting each other, and refers to it as a "zangaito." The last youkai finally wins, and joins with the remains to create one huge youkai. It's confused (angry, more like it) as to why he wasn't released from the magic that has sealed him inside the cave. Turning, he sees Inuyasha, and says "there's one left," which gets Inuyasha's ire up. Miroku tries to stop him, but Inuyasha doesn't listen. Outside, Kagome sees Kikyou walk up from out of the mist (her trademark entrance O_o), and rhetorically ask if Inuyasha is inside before simply walking into the mountain. Kagome follows with Kirara to help. Kikyou, as she goes into the mountain, starts to glow since the magic being used is trying to draw out her stolen souls. Inside, Inuyasha isn't making much headway with the large youkai, and Miroku desperately tries to explain to Inuyasha that they're in a Fuko no Jutsu, which creates kodokuu. The first is a magical area that causes things to kill each other. I think the second is the life energy of a demon. The large youkai is still attacking, though, and Inuyasha takes another swipe at it when Kikyou appears behind Miroku. Her stolen souls begin to leave, strengthening the large youkai, and she says to herself that this must be kodokuu (smart girl!). Falling quite gracefully off the cliff (again) since her lack of souls has made her weak, she lands softly on the rock below. We get a quick shot of Naraku, who has come to absorb the kodokuu that he has been brewing. Inuyasha is running to help Kikyou when he gets smacked by the large youkai. Kagome accidentally drops her Shikon shard on her way in, and runs back to get it when she realizes that someone nearby has shards, too. Arriving at the cave, Kagome gets a quick run-down of what's going on from Miroku, who stops Kirara from joining the fight. Inuyasha yells back at Miroku that he can't stop fighting because he has to protect Kikyou. Then he sees Kagome, who has just heard what he yelled so vehemently, and seems to regret what he said due to the look Kagome is giving him (a very sad, hurt look--it's a look that indicates that she wishes Inuyasha felt that strongly for her). Kagome decides to go help Kikyou so that Inuyasha will stop fighting, and Kikyou tells Kagome when Kagome gets to her that "when you came, I lost Inuyasha." (O-ho-ho!) Standing up, Kikyou hears Kagome yell that Inuyasha is fighting for her (which means she should be happy he loves her that much), and Miroku warns Inuyasha not to kill the large youkai. Inuyasha is about to deal a heavy blow when one of Kikyou's arrows bounces off his blade (de-transforming it) and up to the top of the cave, breaking the magical seal. Now that the seal is broken, everything is flying out, and it sucks up Kagome, Kikyou, and Inuyasha. Inuyasha gets a hold on Kagome, but Kikyou is too far away for him to help her. They see that the kodokuu is headed towards Naraku, and manage to "get off the ride" before the kodokuu gets to him. Kikyou, however, lands at his feet (apparently unconscious), and we see Naraku absorb the kodokuu in order to obtain his "new body." Naraku thinks that Kikyou destroyed the seal so that he could get his new body, but Kagome "corrects" him on that, saying she only did it so that Inuyasha didn't get absorbed, too. Naraku picks up Kikyou, and Inuyasha runs to get her away from him, but Tessaiga bounces right off of Naraku. He flies off in a new monkey suit with Kikyou (who's awake), and Inuyasha is pissed! Episode 33: Kidnapped! Kikyou and Naraku (Torawareta! Kikyou to Naraku) : We first see Kikyou's Shinidamachuu trying to bring dead souls to her in Naraku's castle, but Naraku tells her that he has sealed off the room so that they can't get in. Sitting down next to her, he gives us a great little summary of the last half of episode 32, and asks her why she let the kodokuu fuse with him. Did she want to confirm that it was he who was calling them? Kikyou reveals that she knows he was formerly Onigumo, and Naraku explains to us that Onigumo, a severely wounded mountain thief, who was taken care of by Kikyou (and Kaede) and hidden in a cave, gave his body and evil soul to youkai willingly--this created Naraku. Naraku lets in a single Shinidamachuu, kills it (releasing the soul it's carrying) and flicks a single Shikon shard into it, turning it red. He tells Kikyou that the only way she can stay in this world is to kill Kagome, and the soul comes closer to her chest right before we see the subtitle (he's trying to control Kikyou with a shard in order to make her kill Kagome). The Yasha gang, vegging out by a river, are trying to decide what to do. Inuyasha wants to go after Kikyou alone, but the rest of them don't let him, saying that Naraku is everyone's enemy. They head out after seeing some Shinidamachuu fly by (with Inuyasha and Miroku doing samurai runs (waii!)), and Sango asks Kagome why she isn't riding Inuyasha's back. Kagome hedges the question, but says to herself that it's because Inuyasha is thinking about Kikyou right now (awwww...). Sango attacks one of the Shinidamachuu as their numbers increase, but they see that the Shinidamachuu are actually Naraku's saimyoushou, and realize that it's a trap. It's too late, though, and everyone is dragged into their own personal illusions. Inuyasha's is being attacked again by Kikyou in the burning village he attacked fifty years ago. Miroku's illusion is being sucked in by his Kazaana. Shippou's illusion is being left behind by everyone else. Sango's illusion is being killed by her brother, Kohaku, who has already slaughtered the rest of the Yasha gang. Then we see Naraku in his monkey suit, sitting with Kikyou in her napping tree, and he explains to us that he is using Geneisatsu [Deathly Illusion]--a magical vine--to attack the Yasha gang (thanks Monkey Boy!). Naraku says that the reason why it won't work on Kagome is because she carries the Shikon shard. Kikyou sees through his kugutsu, destroys it, and grabs her nearby bow and arrow. Kagome arrives to ask Kikyou if she's okay, but Kikyou shoots an arrow at her, scratching her cheek and creating a large hole in the ground behind Kagome, which she falls into as it grows. Grabbing onto a vine, Kagome is rescued by some of Kikyou's Shinidamachuu, only to be robbed of her chunk of Shikon (Kikyou's just mean sometimes!). The Shinidamachuu leave as vines grab onto Kagome, pulling her back down into the hole. Inuyasha snaps out of his illusion when he is reminded that he has to protect Kagome, meaning that perhaps Kikyou isn't as important to him as he or she thinks. He gets Miroku to snap out of it when he finds him wrapped up in some of the magical vines, then runs off to find Kagome, leaving Sango and Shippou to Miroku's care. Inuyasha finds Kagome, lying on the ground unconscious, but she wakes up when he gets there. He jumps them up to the top of another hill, finding Kikyou there (I have a cel of Inuyasha's arm around Kagome when they land right here!). Inuyasha sees that Kikyou has Kagome's Shikon shard, and deduces that Kikyou did something to Kagome to get it. Kikyou admits that she tried to kill Kagome and asks Inuyasha what he's going to do about it. Flying off with her Shinidamachuu, she leaves Inuyasha with the realization that he couldn't kill her if he had to. Inuyasha tries to ask Kagome what Kikyou did to her, but Kagome yells at him not to ask. It's because once the Shikon chunk was taken from her, Kagome fell under the illusion of the Geneisatsu, and saw Inuyasha and Kikyou kissing. She didn't want to tell Inuyasha that this was her greatest fear (*sniff!*). Miroku shows up with the rest of the Yasha gang, and we see Kikyou giving Naraku the chunk of Shikon that Kagome had. She says he needs it since he's a hanyou, which gets Naraku pretty pissed, and reminds him that his stupid spells are no match for her (this is the only time when Kikyou kicks ass). Naraku broods over the scar on his back, which is reminiscent of Onigumo, and Kikyou leaves him a forwarding address since she's leaving to live at a nearby temple. To herself, she says that once he has the whole Shikon no Tama, she'll send Naraku to hell (booya!). She also thinks that now, her soul is "more free," and thinks of Inuyasha as she ponders her love/hate relationship with him. Note: But isn't her soul technically with Kagome right now? Is Kikyou trying to say something? Episode 34: Tessaiga versus Tenseiga (Tessaiga versus Tenseiga) : In this episode, we get to meet Toutousai, the youkai swordsmith that made Tessaiga and Tenseiga from fangs donated by Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's father, Inutaisho. Toutousai, riding his three-eyed cow (don't ask), is talking with Myouga about Inuyasha, and how he recently performed Tessaiga's Kaze no Kizu. Toutousai says he wants to make sure that Inuyasha is worthy of using such a great sword before we see the episode title. Cutting to a scene with Jaken and Sesshoumaru arriving at Toutousai's weird home, we see that they expected him to be there with a newly-made sword for Sesshoumaru, but Toutousai has left an "I Have Moved" message on the wall. This seems to amuse Sesshoumaru, who smiles and then walks away, scaring the crap out of Jaken. Onto the Yasha gang! Kagome is still upset that the Shikon no Tama was taken from her, but Inuyasha doesn't yell at her, or blame her (something that confuses the rest of the group--they attribute it to the fact that Kikyou was the one who took it). Inuyasha overhears them and "asserts" that they're wrong (though he doesn't say how they're wrong), but before the argument can explode, Toutousai arrives on his three-eyed cow (don't ask) to inquire about Tessaiga. There's some great comedy as Toutousai astounds the group by how well he counters Tessaiga (well, the dude made it, y'know). Toutousai insists that a punk like Inuyasha could never master Tessaiga, but Myouga says Inuyasha just needs some time to learn. Inuyasha, after some prodding, agrees to learn from Toutousai how to use the Kaze no Kizu, and Toutousai gives him a mission. He refers to "an idiot" who's trying to kill him if he doesn't make a sword better than Tessaiga (I think we all know he's referring to Sesshoumaru), and says that Inuyasha has to protect him. I guess Toutousai doesn't know what Sesshoumaru looks like (or that he's related to Inuyasha) because he has to describe him before Kagome figures out that Toutousai is speaking of Sesshoumaru. As if on cue, Sesshoumaru arrives to beat up Toutousai for not making the sword he wanted, and Toutousai switches sides a few times in an attempt to save his own skin. The two brothers duke it out for a while, and the Yasha gang watches with anxiety as Kagome argues with Toutousai about Inuyasha's merits. Sesshoumaru is doing better, and asks Toutousai if he still wants to make a sword for him. Toutousai says he won't, blowing out fire that manages to hit only Inuyasha (oops). He goes on, saying that he has already provided a good sword for him. The Yasha gang discuss how they've never seen Sesshoumaru draw Tenseiga, and Sesshoumaru comments on how "weak" a sword it is compared to Tessaiga. (The swords really are a match--one that kills and one that saves). The Yasha gang (plus Toutousai) escape from Sesshoumaru's wrath, and as they fly away on Kirara and the three-eyed cow (don't ask), Toutousai laments on what a waste it was to make these two swords for Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha--one doesn't appreciate it and one is "too weak" to use it. Kagome inquires about Tenseiga's power, and Toutousai explains that it's a sword not meant for killing--but for healing. Tessaiga defeats the strong, and Tenseiga protects the weak. Against each other, they cancel out. Toutousai says that if the wielder has a true soul (hrm, Sesshoumaru might have a hard time with that), then one swing can revive 100 lives. In times of war, this katana would be very useful. Later, Jaken and Sesshoumaru are headed to find someone else to make a sword when Jaken asks Sesshoumaru what Tenseiga c |
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