Episode 124

Farewell Kikyō, My Beloved is the one hundred twenty-fourth episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis

 * 1) Naraku emerges from Mount Hakurei and reveals his true purpose for taking refuge in the mountain: killing Kikyō.
 * 2) Naraku attacks Kikyō and sends her falling into a river of deadly shōki, ending her life.

Summary
Inuyasha and Kagome chase the unconscious Kōga as he plunges towards Naraku’s caustic lake of miasma. As the mountain collapses around them, Shippō begs Kagome to abandon Kōga, but she can’t. Sensing her distress, Inuyasha entrusts Kagome’s safety to Shippō and follows Kōga alone. Tearfully, Kagome implores Inuyasha to be careful as he vanishes into the darkness.

Outside, Kikyō watches the mountain erupt, spewing a tornado of evil. The malevolent maelstrom rolls down the slope towards her, cracking opening steaming fissures of miasma. The evil swirl halts in front of Kikyō revealing Naraku. Inuyasha struggles through a putrid rain of viscera and boulders toward the reservoir of toxins, finally locating Kōga. He plucks Kōga from the deadly, reeking lake and sprints for an exit.

Higher in the cavern, all openings have vanished but Miroku creates an escape using his wind tunnel. The group reaches safety where they wait for signs of Inuyasha and Kōga. Inside the decaying bowels of Mt. Hakurei, Inuyasha also searches for an opening, amid the hail of demon guts and rocks. Kōga regains consciousness and complains he doesn’t want to die with Inuyasha. For once, Inuyasha agrees--neither does he! Slashing through the debris, Inuyasha sees the way out, but in the portal he sees a brief, disturbing vision of Kikyō.

Meanwhile, Kagome waits for Inuyasha’s safe return and is relieved when she senses Kōga’s jewel shards on their way up. Leaping to safety, Inuyasha has another vision of Kikyō. Reunited with Kagome, Kagome proudly tells Kōga that Inuyasha rescued him without her asking. Koga’s lack of appreciation sets off a new round of quarrels with Inuyasha. Inuyasha’s visions were a warning about the showdown taking place between Kikyō and Naraku.

Naraku shows off his powerful new ‘body’ with smug confidence while Kikyō seethes at his audacity. Kikyō tells him she knows Kagura escaped with something from the mountain, and demands to know what it was and what Naraku’s real intentions are. Naraku toys with Kikyō, telling her how he manipulated her into coming to Mt. Hakurei. Naraku then savagely slashes Kikyō, severing her bow and slicing deep into her body. Kikyō collapses to her knees as her life force gushes out as Naraku tells her he is no longer controlled by Onigumo’s heart and can now destroy her. Kikyō realizes it must have been Naraku’s human heart Kagura carried away from the mountain. Naraku delivers his deathblow impaling Kikyō on his cruel claws. He propels her over the edge of the fissure and into the torrent of miasma below. Falling, Kikyō’s thoughts turn to Inuyasha and she calls his name. At that moment, Inuyasha is seized by a dreadful feeling and he races off abandoning a bewildered Kagome.

Naraku gloats over his victory but his celebration is interrupted by Sesshōmaru, who he greets without any honorifics; Jaken is angered by this, noting Naraku's arrogance has become worse. Sesshōmaru orders Jaken to be silent and asserts that Naraku must be capable of "producing a significant amount of power" if he's dared to venture outside of his barrier. Naraku laughs at this, and invites Sesshōmaru to attack him and find out. Sesshōmaru draws Tōkijin and fires a blue energy wave in a single motion, reducing Naraku to a jumbled mass of flesh. However, Naraku merely laughs, and gathers the scraps of his body in his barrier. Naraku then tells Sesshōmaru that he will reverse the power of Tōkijin, and fires Sesshōmaru's blast of energy back at him. Sesshōmaru blocks with it his blade, but the force of the attack pushes Sesshōmaru back, much to Jaken's astonishment. Once the blast subsides, Sesshōmaru leaps forward and cuts Naraku's head in half. However, Naraku continues to laugh, saying that he will never die; he regenerates as he flees again. Sesshōmaru declines to pursue him, and sheathes Tōkijin. He ponders that Naraku merely wished to test his new body against his power.

Bad timing delivers Inuyasha into his older brother’s company. Sesshōmaru tells Inuyasha about Kikyō as he spots the poignant remains of Kikyō’s broken bow on the ground near the fissure. Peering into the chasm, Inuyasha’s desperate denial is replaced by profound sorrow as he watches a lone soul skimmer chase the tatters of Kikyō’s sleeve into the miasma, vaporizing itself. Tortured by guilt, Inuyasha blames himself for failing to protect Kikyō. He lashes out angrily at Sesshōmaru, accusing him of allowing Kikyō to be killed. Sesshōmaru’s icy response is that Naraku killed Kikyō “and the one who wasn’t able to save her was you, Inuyasha. If you have the time to snarl at me, you would do better to spend it chasing Naraku.”

Sesshōmaru turns and walks away leaving Inuyasha alone and heartbroken. He falls to his knees, unable to bear his grief. When Kagome and the others arrive, Inuyasha composes himself enough to tell them Naraku achieved his goal--taking Kikyō’s life. Kagome is shocked and feels for Inuyasha. Far from Mt. Hakurei, Kagura rests from her flight, irritated at the burden Naraku assigned to her. Suddenly, a voice from the bundle tells her Naraku has slain Kikyō. Astonished, Kagura looks at her cargo: it’s a baby.