Episode 174

Mausoleum of Mount Azusa is the 7th episode of InuYasha: The Final Act.

Summary
Fate is what binds us to each other.

Now that he's taken Onigumo's heart back in, Naraku intends to exploit the connection between himself, Inuyasha and Kikyō; with his new spider webs, Naraku will defile anyone who tries opposing him with his evil will.

In the meantime, Kagome has always been kind and caring, but there resides a small speck of darkness in her heart because of the jealous she feels towards Kikyō. However, when Kikyō once more draws close to returning to the after life, will Kagome have the strength to look past her own selfish desires to save her again?

Plot
Kōga decides to stay with Inuyasha's group, thanking Kagome for treating his injuries. Inuyasha tells Kōga to give up his shards, making Kōga retort that he sounds just like Kikyō; he guesses it's because they used to date. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga and Kōga blocks it with his hands. Shippō notes how things are different with Kōga around; he doesn't like it. Kikyō works on healing Miroku, explaining to Sango that she is taking the miasma into herself to be purified. However, Kohaku knows that Kikyō is lying; she is already being consumed from within by Naraku's miasma.

Elsewhere, Naraku has returned to the remains of Mount Hakurei, where Onigumo's voice greets him; Naraku explains Kikyō was there when he toke back the Infant, and Kohaku's shard was emitting a frightening bright light. It was then he realized she was waiting for him to take the shards of Kōga and Kohaku, so that she could purify his soul. Onigumo laughs that Naraku now has need of the human heart he despised so much, he abandoned and buried under ground. As the clumps of flesh take the form of Naraku's head, they float into Naraku's hand. Onigumo says that a human heart must not be so bad after all as all its base desires and negative emotions will help keep Naraku from being purified. Naraku's heart takes the sharp of a spider and burrows into his body. Naraku thinks to himself that Onigumo is right: there is no better weapon than the negative emotions that bind him to Kikyō and Inuyasha.

Miroku awakens after Kikyō has taken in all the miasma from him; she warns that if he uses the Wind Tunnel to suck in miasma, the wounds will spread once again and if the scars reach his heart, he'll die. Miroku decides to keep this a secret from Sango; she has enough to worry about with Kohaku, his own problems are something he doesn't want to bother her. Kikyō departs with Kohaku after Inuyasha make her promise to look after him. Kagome wakes up and notices Inuyasha deep in thought and... a spider web!

Later, while Kikyō and Kohaku are traveling, she notices spiderwebs, which Kikyō immediately recognizes as something created by Naraku; they don't affect ordinary people walking through them. She keeps the webs from touching herself and Kohaku thanks to a barrier. However, Naraku does something utterly despicable; he entangles a little girl in his webs, rendering her unconscious. Kikyō is sickened by this, realizing he will stop at nothing to make her touch the webs. She uses butterfly familiars to break the webs, but no sooner does this happen, a web springs out in front of her; Kikyō is caught.

Kagome notices the webbing falling the sky (how can that be if Naraku is usually on the ground somewhere?) while in mid-travel, something only she and Kikyō can see, due to their immense spiritual powers. They come across the child Kikyō saved and her mother, who explain that Kikyō suddenly looked ill afterwards and took off. Inuyasha runs off, making Kōga comment about how he abandons Kagome to after his old love. Miroku and Shippō advise Kōga not to mention it around Inuyasha, hoping to change the subject.

Elsewhere, Kohaku is being protected by Kikyō's shikigami in a cave; she sent him away because the miasma in her would end up defiling his shard. At the same time, Kikyō is hiding in a hut; she sees that Naraku is preventing her from purifying the webs and showing her the parting between herself and Inuyasha 50 years ago; this only serves to make fuel her hatred to him, wondering why he would dare do so. Inuyasha arrives, making Kikyō yell for him to leave. However, when she warns him away, the wound she received at Mount Hakurei reopens. Inuyasha grabs her, becoming entangled in the webs. Now that they are touching him, Inuyasha can see the webs as well. He attempts chopping the webs with Tessaiga, but new threads simply wrap around Tessaiga to keep Inuyasha still.

Kagome and the others arrive at the hut, where she fires arrows at the webs to purify them. Everyone is confused by this, given they cannot see the webs; however, Shippō guesses Kagome is trying to destroy the webs. Inside, Kikyō wonders what's going on; Inuyasha explains Kagome can see the webs as well. Kikyō wonders why, but then immediately realizes the answer. Kagome walks over to the hut, hoping to purify the webs inside; however, the moment Kikyō tells her not to touch the webs, the grab Kagome and pull her inside. Kōga attempts to follow, but Naraku erects a barrier to keep everyone else out.

Kagome finds herself waking up at night, with fires burning all around her. She looks up to see Inuyasha run away with the Shikon Jewel, saying that he can become a full demon with it at last. Kikyō fires an arrow at him, pinning Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree. Kagome realizes that this is vision of what happened fifty years ago on the day Kikyō died and Inuyasha was placed under the seal. She watches as Kikyō holds onto Inuyasha, realizing that she feels something - it's Kikyō's sorrow. However, it's not the only thing Kagome feels, there's something else; it's Kikyō's love for Inuyasha, and it's just as deep as her sorrow.

When Kagome wakes up, seeing that the spider webs are no longer in the hut. Kikyō explains that since all three of them have been gathered, the webs no longer serve a purpose. Kagome notices Kikto's wound has reopened, as Kikyō explains that it got worse the moment Naraku's webs touched her; Kagome offers to purify the miasma from within Kikyō again. To do so, Kikyō offers her bow to Kagome; however, when Kagome touches the bow though, the string breaks. Kikyō confirms that Kagome has been contaminated as well; the whole reason Naraku showed her that vision of the parting between herself and Inuyasha was to plant negative emotions in Kagome's heart and make her unable to purify the miasma.

Kikyō explains that the only way to restore her bow is to retrieve a bowstring kept in the nearby mausoleum of Mount Azusa, which is ten leagues east of their current location; however Kikyō warns Kagome that she must truly want to save her in order to get the bowstring. The barrier breaks outside and Kagome and Inuyasha exit the hut. Everyone wonders what happened, and after the explanation, Kōga offers to take Kagome to Mount Azusa. However, this only earns Inuyasha's anger until Kagome tells him it's better than he stays with Kikyō. When he protests, Kagome flatly says she doesn't want to see his face at the moment. Catching herself saying this, Kagome then wonders if the webs have truly contaminated her. However, Inuyasha thinks to himself that she's always like this.

Elsewhere, Byakuya finds Kohaku and Kikyō's shikigami explode into multiple familiars, giving Kohaku a chance to escape. Annoyed Byakuya easily disperses the familiars with flames generated from a flower. Byakuya chases after Kohaku, taunting him at first because he can easily get ahead of him. However, Byakuya eventually tires of the chase and binds Kohaku with poisonous snakes; the miasma they inject into Kohaku will defile his shard. However, before Byakuya can attempt taking the shard, a Meidō scares him away. Sesshōmaru arrives, saying that since Mōryōmaru's scent has vanished, Naraku has likely absorbed him. Byakuya is offended by Sesshōmaru's rudeness, taking off. Rin attempts to touch Kohaku, but is warned not to as the snakes are poisonous. However, Jaken has already been bitten; he pleads for Sesshōmaru to save him. Inuyasha and Kikyō arrive later to find Kohaku gone; he went with Sesshōmaru.

Kagome's group arrives at Mount Azusa, where they attempt climbing up, only to find that they are not getting any further; Kagome suspects it may be because she harbors doubts. Kagome gets separated from the others, where she comes face to face with a faceless spirit. At the same time, Kikyō tells Inuyasha the spirit takes on a reflection of the heart of the one who sees it. The faceless spirit takes the form of Kikyō. Lead to a shrine, Kagome is given a bow, which has the string needed to purify Kikyō. Kagome is able to leave with the bow, but on her way down, she finds that its the same as when she tried getting up the mountain; it's an endless road. She hears Inuyasha calling her and rushes into the trees, seeing what appears to be him and Kikyō; however, neither of them seems able to see her.

Kikyō says that Mount Azusa has likely swallowed Kagome because she doesn't want to save her. Inuaysha asks what they should do then. A shocked Kagome yells at Kikyō, asking if she really sees her like that, prompting Kikyō to look in her direction; she had been able to see her the whole time and was purposely saying those things to anger Kagome. At that moment, the ground beneath Kagome shatters and she falls into darkness. Elsewhere, as she is being carried to Mount Azusa by Inuyasha, the real Kikyō senses something has happened to Kagome; her bow exploded to symbolize this. Kikyō knows that the spirit guardian will use illusions to test the hearts of those that visit Mount Azusa,

Back at Mount Azusa, Kagome finds herself dangling from the edge of a cliff and that the bow has become ridiculously heavy. She looks up to see Kikyō looking down at her; Kagome says to go get Inuyasha, but Kikyō says that he cannot step on Mount Azusa because he's a half-demon. Kikyō says she'll save her if Kagome hands the bow over to her first. The spirit of the mountain also appears and suggests that Kikyō will take the bow, abandon Kagome to die, and go off with Inuyasha. Kikyō says that Inuyasha needn't know what happens there if Kagome is worried about her stealing him away from her.

Elsewhere, Inuyasha and Kikyō arrive at Mount Azusa, where Kōga explains that Kagome hasn't come down yet. Inuyasha rushes off to save Kagome, entrusting Kikyō to everyone.

Back on Mount Azusa, the false Kikyō suggests that Kagome is only pretending to be kind and self-righteous. This angers Kagome, who has been giving Kikyō a lot of slack because of what happened to her. In return, Kagome tells Kikyō she think she is afraid of her, recognizing that Kikyō and Inuyasha have a past together she can't trespass on, but she points out that she's also spent a lot of time with Inuyasha; she knows sides of him that Kikyō doesn't. All of this causes Kagome to realize that she's in the same position as Kikyō, and she refuses to abandon her. The spirit then tells Kagome that she can now climb up with her own strength, and Kikyō subsequently turns into an illusion of spiderwebs. Kagome becomes freed from these spiderwebs, but she finds herself in a free fall.

Elsewhere, Naraku feels Kagome come free from his webs; he's not too surprised by this turn of events, Byakuya asks Naraku what he plans to do now. Naraku says he'll go with what he originally planned and kill Kikyō. He's being thorough this time; Kikyō survived every attempt on her life that he's made; however, he's not leaving things to chance this time.

Regrets of Kagome
Kagome understands that she looks at Kikyō as if she was cruel and unpassionate therefore she sticks to this side believing that this is the true nature of Kikyō because Kikyō had attempted to kill Inuyasha therefore she ignored the other sides of Kikyō for consideration. After the test she finally realizes this and begins to also regret that throughout Kikyō's brink of death. Kagome knows that she is hideous of thinking that way therefore she confides these feelings to Inuyasha, but Inuyasha ignores her complaints over herself and said that it meant that her heart was strong. Her final reply mentally was, "Is th...Is that true?" she asked.