Episode 97

Kirara, Come Home! is the ninety-seventh episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis

 * 1) Kirara wakes up in the middle of the night and leaves the group; Sango and the others begin to worry when she hasn't returned after a whole day.
 * 2) Shippō begins making accusations that Inuyasha and the others' poor treatment of Kirara has driven her away.
 * 3) It turns out that Myōga had taken Kirara with him to run an errand, and he told Shippō to inform the others of this, which he had forgotten to do; Shippō was, in fact, the one to blame.

Summary
The show starts by introducing Kirara, a small cat with two tails who can transform into a larger version of herself so she is able to destroy demons and carry full-grown people and children. Kirara is especially cute in her kitten form— which makes everyone use her selfishly.

Someone—or something is zooming through the tall grass, heading right for Inuyasha and his friend's temporary camp. Kirara—in her larger form—twitches her ears and wakes up. She sits and stares at the fire.'The next morning, while Kagome is refilling her water bottle in a river, Sango emerges from the forest, calling for Kirara. Sango asks if anyone's seen her cat, but no one has. Kagome asks what happened, and Sango replies by telling her Kirara had disappeared. Shippō thinks the cat went on a walk, but Sango knows it's unusual for Kirara to run off by herself. Miroku wonders if she ran away, and Inuyasha suspects she was in heat, Shippō says, "It's definitely a rebellion!" which makes Sango and Kagome's eyes go wide. Kagome scolds the men for worrying Sango instead of helping. Inuyasha says that nobody should be worried, and she'll come back soon. Sango says, "I hope so." Inuyasha repeats that no one should worry, that Kirara isn't a baby, unlike another baby he knows (he glares at Shippō). Shippō squirts water in Inuyasha's face, and after a few mean comments to each other Inuyasha chases Shippō around. Miroku invites Kagome and Sango to have some fish, but Kagome absentmindedly says, "Inuyasha" to herself while Sango walks back into the forest.

It's a few hours later, and Kirara has still not returned. Shippō and Inuyasha get into another argument, and Sango, who had been standing by a river, says, "I'm going to search for Kirara." Inuyasha stops her and says running off isn't the way to do it. Kagome tries to make Inuyasha's sniff Kirara's food dish, but Inuyasha insists he's familiar enough with Kirara's scent, and the group sets off in search of the cat.

Inuyasha gets down on all fours and sniffs the ground. After a few feet, he stops and says her scent vanished. Sango says, "That defeats the idea that she went on a walk." Miroku suggests that the group splits up and searches for her, but Inuyasha says it's no use, since her scent disappeared when they were looking for her earlier. Kagome won't leave the situation as it is, and Inuyasha asks Sango if she has any clues that could help. He wonders if Kirara got into a fight or met an acquaintance. Kagome tries to comfort Sango by telling her Kirara was hungry, or had some kind of duty to take care of, or maybe even found a patch of catnip growing somewhere near. But Sango thinks it was her fault. She says she never thought twice about dragging Kirara into a fight, especially when it seemed reasonable, and she would treat Kirara with food when she completed errands for Sango. Miroku tells Sango not to talk about herself like that, and Kagome says that isn't why Kirara ran away. Shippō suddenly yells, "I understand!" and the group asks, "What do you understand?" He says he knows why Kirara isn't there, and remembers that Inuyasha prodded Kirara into doing something. The group doesn't quite understand, and Shippō says, "Kirara isn't here because of all of you!" Inuyasha hits Shippō over the head with Tessaiga's sheath, and Sango and Kagome say they haven't done anything that could have made Kirara run away. Shippō says, "I think that's why! Put your hand over your heart and think well! Do you really not know the horrible reasons why Kirara ran off?"

Everyone but Inuyasha has their hands on their chests. Inuyasha is still confused about what Shippō's talking about. Shippō then tells Inuyasha that no one was seeing what they'd done to Kirara, and he would tell the group right then and there of their mistakes.

Shippō chooses Inuyasha to talk about first. Shippō says that in order for Inuyasha to learn the Windscar, he used Kirara to practice on. Inuyasha is still stumped, then thinks back to the time Shippō was talking about. It was dark outside, and Inuyasha and Kirara (in her transformed form) were standing on a hill in a meadow. Inuyasha pulled Tessaiga out of its sheath, and pointed it at Kirara. The two separate winds formed, and Inuyasha sliced through them. Kirara yelped and flew backwards from the blow, and Inuyasha hurried over to her to make sure she was alright. Kirara lay on the ground, and as Inuyasha kneeled down to see if she was OK, he noticed three small bald patches on the top of her head. Inuyasha and Kirara stand up, and Inuyasha assures himself Kirara's hair wasn't falling out that badly, but when he pets her, more hair falls off. Kirara looks at him as Inuyasha says, "It's fine, it's fine!" then laughs and says, "Let's go get some food!" Kirara follows Inuyasha down the hill, and then Shippō emerges from behind a tree, whispering, "I saw you, Inuyasha."

Shippō ends his story, and Inuyasha is hunched over on all fours, growling. Kagome asks, "Is that true?" and Sango says, "So, that's why she was bald that time." Shippō says that Inuyasha's mistake was that he thought no one was watching, so he ran off with Kirara. Mirkou's eyes narrow and he says, "Is that so?" Sango blames Kirara's baldness on Inuyasha, and Inuyasha hollers at the group for blaming Kirara's absence entirely on him, that Kirara probably can't even remember. Miroku says, "There are worse things that could've happened." Shippō turns and says, "Miroku, didn't you forget something?" Everyone looks and Miroku, and he thinks back to his mistake.

There were many young women playing and washing clothes in a river. Miroku wandered upon them, with Kirara riding on his shoulder. He thinks for a minute and says happily, "Looks like this is where Kirara comes in." After getting an order from Miroku, Kirara runs down and attracts the village girls' attention. Everyone thinks the little cat is adorable, and they wonder where she came from. Miroku then walks up, and Kirara gets free of a girl's arms and jumps back on Miroku's shoulder. Miroku says, "This is my pet cat, Kirara." The girls surround him, since Kirara is so cute, and Miroku begins his usual flirting. Then, another time, when elderly women were climbing all over Miroku and begging him to stay in the village, Miroku forced Kirara to transform and scare the women away. Shippō is in his statue form, and he says to himself, "I saw you, Miroku."'The memory fades, and everyone is ready to kill Miroku. Inuyasha blames Miroku for Kirara's disappearance, and Kagome says, "Sheesh, this really is a problem. Kirara is our friend, so just because you think it's convenient to use her doesn't mean you should." Shippō tells Kagome, "Oh, and you didn't use her for your own convenience, you're saying?

In Kagome's memory, everyone was eating crabs, but she was pacing around the hut, wondering 'what to do' about something. Later, while Shippō was taking a bath, he peered out the window and saw Kagome begging Kirara to take her down to the well, and she'd give Kirara all kinds of fish and cat toys. Shippō thinks, I saw you, Kagome. 'The memory is gone, and Shippō asks, "What did you do that time?"'Another part of the memory returns, and as Kagome jumps in the well, she asks if Kirara could please wait near the well until she returned. Back in her own time, Kagome's family was about to celebrate her Grandpa's birthday. She walks in just before they start eating and gives her Grandpa a tentacle from some demon. Kagome's mom asks if Kagome can stay for a while, but she remembers Kirara, although, her whole family insists she stays to eat at least. Then Kagome gets caught up reading, taking a bath, and even stays in her era overnight. Meanwhile, Kirara is still waiting by the well.

The memory fades, and Kagome looks at her fingers, trying to avoid eye contact with the group. She remembers that she forgot her plans to return, and she even forgot the treats for Kirara, too. Sango, deeply disappointed in the group, walks away, and Shippō says angrily, "You guys don't know how to stop tormenting a yōkai. Especially Inuyasha!" Then Shippō talks on about how Inuyasha will hit him after he's done talking. Sango walks away from the group, but they quickly follow after her. Everyone apologizes, but Sango says, "I'm no different than the rest of you." Sango says she'd roll on top of Kirara at night when they were sleeping, and make her fly around the hills at night when Sango was frustrated. Kagome says that that's nothing serious, and confesses she would force Kirara to change form so she could light a fire, mess with her paws throughout the day, pinch her nose while she was sleeping, and dress her up just for the fun of it. Everyone is shocked, and Inuyasha says, "Compared to her, I'd say we're pretty innocent..." The ground suddenly rumbles, and a flock of birds flies out of the trees. A village man is then shown running away from something that is zooming through the trees. A blast sends him flying and he lands face first into the dirt. When he turns around, a huge monkey demon with one eye is towering over him. The demon reaches down to pick the man up so he can eat him, but then stops when Inuyasha says, "I come here thinking I'd find Kirara, and instead I find an ape yōkai and a middle-aged guy." The monkey demon turns around and smashes the tree Inuyasha was standing in. Inuyasha lands in front of the villager and tells him to run. The villagers scurries away, screaming, "It's another yōkai!" The group then runs up, and Sango asks if Inuyasha saw Kirara. He replies that he didn't see her, but he smelled her scent. The monkey demon asks what they're talking about, and in front of him is a red piece of fabric. Everyone's eyes widen, as they recognize the cloth as the scarf Kagome gave to Kirara. The monkey demon steps on the scarf and laughs. Shippō points out that there are also bones spread everywhere. Sango takes a step backwards, too shocked to say anything. Everyone else looks at the bones in dread, and they are all thinking the same thing: Kirara had been eaten. The demon says, "How can I remember who I ate?" after Shippō yells at him. The demon tells the group he'll eat them too, and shoots some kind of blue light at the group, which blasts everyone out of the way. Inuyasha uses his Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer technique to try and destroy the demon, but the monkey is too fast and jumps out of the way, hiding in the trees. Sango and Shippō are sitting on the ground, and the red scarf floats down next to her. Sango looks at it in sadness and thinks about the time she was given Kirara.

Sango was a little girl, and her father held Kirara in his hands and told her the cat was Sango's responsibility now. Sango laughed and played with her new cat. She was then running in a meadow with Kirara a few paces in front of her. The cat transformed, and Sango stood and stared in wonder. She then flew around on Kirara, cuddled up with her, and lay in the grass with her.

The memory disappears, and Sango stands up, hanging her head. Inuyasha pulls Tessaiga out, but before he has a chance to swing, Sango throws her hiraikotsu and chops the tops of the trees off. The monkey demon, who was jumping from tree to tree, loses his balance and crashes into the ground. The demon gets up and jumps for Sango, but she throws her hiraikotsu and the demon disintegrates. The boomerang lands a few feet away from Sango, but she leaves it where it is and walks away.

The next morning, Sango is sitting behind a tree, holding Kirara's dish and crying. The group leaves her alone, and Kagome says it would have been better if they had treated Kirara more importantly. Shippō starts crying, and Inuyasha turns around. He stops dead in his tracks, his eyes wide. His stuttering gets Miroku, Shippō, and Kagome's attention, and they turn around. There Kirara is, in her fighting form, looking at the group. Sango hears them say Kirara, she gets up, and she and Kirara run to each other.

Kagome asks what happened, and a familiar voice yells, "Inuyasha-sama!" It turns out to be Myōga. Miroku asks why Myōga is around, and he replies that Tōtōsai sent him here to deliver the sharpening stone for Inuyasha's Tessaiga. Kagome looks over and sees the sharpening stone, and doesn't understand how Myōga carried something that heavy. Myōga says, "It's simple. I had Kirara carry it for me."

The show then goes back to what happened at the beginning, when everyone was sleeping. Kirara's ears twitch, she wakes up, and Myōga asks if she could do something for him. Shippō awakes at all the noise, and asks what was going on. Myōga tells Shippō to inform the group that he was borrowing Kirara, and Shippō says, "Sure, yeah." and falls back asleep.'Back to Myōga's explanation, Kagome asks what happened with the scarf. It turns out that while Kirara was flying, the scarf came undone and flew off—down into the monkey demon's forest. Kirara tries to fly after it, but Myōga tells her no, and to keep going. Kirara looks down at where the scarf fell, and her eyes get puppy-like and her ears droop.

As Myōga finishes up his story, Shippō tries to walk away from the group quietly, but Kagome catches him and says, "You knew all along?" Shippō tries to make up excuses, it was late, he was half asleep, but Inuyasha walks toward him, ready to pound him. Shippō yells, "Save me, Kagome!" Kagome says, "Inuyasha..." A sit command is expected, but instead, Kagome smiles and says, "Not too hard." Inuyasha chases after Shippō, who screams for Miroku or Sango to save him. Sango isn't paying attention, only hugging Kirara while Miroku talks to Kagome. The episode then ends with Sango hugging Kirara, Miroku and Kagome standing in the background, and Inuyasha chasing Shippō.