Episode 48

Return to the Place Where We First Met is the forty-eighth episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis

 * 1) Kagome, having just witnessed Inuyasha and Kikyō embrace one another, runs back to the modern era; Inuyasha resolves that he can't see Kagome anymore, because it would be too hard for her, and Kagome reciprocates these feelings, believing that there is no room in Inuyasha's heart for her.
 * 2) Kagome thinks that she must be in love with Inuyasha, when she can't bear the thought of never seeing him again.
 * 3) Kagome finally returns to the Feudal Era, and, even though she tried, she concludes that she cannot forget about him, and asks Inuyasha if he will allow her to stay with him.

Summary
Kagome has returned to the feudal era. After Kagome has secretly seen Inuyasha and Kikyō together and how he tells Kikyō that he is the only one who can protect her and they hugged, Inuyasha spotted Kagome and how they are still facing each other, looking firmly into each other's eyes. However, when Inuyasha says Kagome's name, she turns away and runs away. Inuyasha is not in the village the next morning, but no one is concerned. Kagome gives the bandages and medicine she brought to Miroku and Sango and explains that she's going home again.

Sango tells Kagome that she should make up with Inuyasha, whereupon Kagome only remembers that there had been an argument at all. She remembers Inuyasha's encounter with Kikyō and how she forgot the quarrel about it. When Kagome has disappeared again, Sango tells Miroku that Kagome looked bent, whereupon Miroku remembers the lights above the forest in his mind. Then Inuyasha comes to the forest, but he is extremely quiet. Miroku tells him that Kagome is back in her time and he starts to explain his suspicion that Inuyasha met with Kikyō and Kagome watched them.

When Inuyasha simply acknowledges this neutrally, the others are amazed that he doesn't get upset about it as usual. However, Inuyasha is not in the mood to talk and leaves his friends behind.

Back in the modern day, Kagome sits in her room on her bed and thinks about how Inuyasha chose Kikyō and, most importantly, that Inuyasha looked so deeply into her eyes. She has the feeling that he wanted to say that they can no longer be together, can no longer walk across the country together and that is why she ran away from him. She remembers the story between Kikyō and Inuyasha 50 years ago and the last conversation and she is convinced that Inuyasha wants to give her up for Kikyō. She decides not to return to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha thinks the same in the feudal era, that he can no longer see Kagome because he has decided on Kikyō, but Kagome with her thoughts does not really want to be satisfied with it.

The next morning, Kagome wakes up and realizes that Inuyasha won't come for her anymore and sees the shards of the Sacred Jewel she has and thinks that she should give them back to Inuyasha and the others as a last resort. She decides to return them and just put her adventures in Feudal Japan behind her and get on with her life as a normal middle school student again.

At breakfast, Grandpa and Sōta discuss why Kagome probably only spent a few hours in the Feudal Era, of course in such a way that she does not hear it. But when Grandpa wants to talk to her about it, Mama interrupts him and Sōta interrupts the same. Kagome excuses herself and heads to school. After Kagome disappears, the two of them say that Mama is far too ignorant and she proves this by not saying another word about Kagome's lack of words.

On the way to school, Kagome's three friends meet up with her, who are happy that she has finally recovered from her "illness", and they soon talk to her about what about her "jealous boyfriend". Where upon Kagome, wanting to avoid the subject, pauses for a moment and then finally turns to her friends and announces with a beaming, but obviously put on smile, that he has broken up with her. Understanding the signal that Kagome is upset about the "breakup", the three girls decide to stop talking about it. Back in the feudal era, Shippō yells at Inuyasha about what he did to Kagome. Inuyasha tells the others that he can't see Kagome anymore but Miroku says to go get the shards Kagome took with her. Sango and Shippō are upset with Inuyasha but Miroku soon realizes that they have no say in what Inuyasha does and says that maybe he should just get the jewel shards so that he can still meet Kagome. Later Kaede also talks to Inuyasha and says that he and Kikyō could never be together in this world as he can't be with a dead person. Inuyasha stated that he'd give up his own life with Kikyō if that's what she really wanted.

Back in the modern day, Kagome is exactly on the other side of the well and thinks about whether to return the jewel shards as she is afraid that once she returns the shards that she won't be able to see Inuyasha again. She's exhausted inside and out of jealousy briefly wishes that Kikyō was just gone, but then she's angry at herself for such a bad thought. She doesn't want to jump because it would all be over and as an excuse for herself, she says that she should look good the last time she met Inuyasha and leaves the well house.

On the way back to the house, Kagome walks in front of the sacred tree and the shards start to glow. Kagome remembers that's the place where she first met Inuyasha 500 years in the past. In the shadows, she remembers her and Inuyasha's first encounter, the confusion because of the resemblance to Kikyō. She says that maybe she'd better never have met him in order not to have to live with this pain. She starts to cry and realizes and admits to herself that she loves Inuyasha and wants to see him again.

Then Ms. Higurashi comes home through the gate and Kagome can no longer hold back her tears as she runs and cries out at her mother and the two sit on a bench in the shade of the sacred tree. Ms. Higurashi says that the sacred tree is a very special one. She tells how she had quarreled with her husband before the marriage and did not know what to do next, but under the tree everything became clear to her and she found the right words and finally she got her marriage proposal here. Then she says that she doesn't need to know what happened to help her daughter, because she will come up with the right words on her own, for which Kagome thanks.

In the feudal era, Shippō tells Inuyasha again that he should go to Kagome, but Kagome is afraid to tell Kagome that they cannot stay together. Miroku and Sango join in and say that Inuyasha shouldn't line up like that and that Kagome is probably much worse off because she is completely in the dark. They are also in favor of initiating a conversation and Inuyasha wants to explain himself, but the three go away and give up because Inuyasha simply does not want to do anything. Inuyasha eventually decides to go say goodbye to Kagome. When Inuyasha later goes to the well to tell Kagome that she can no longer stay with him, but when he arrives at the clearing, he is surprised to see Kagome already sitting on the edge of the well. Kagome stands up and tells Inuyasha that she has thought a lot and also says that she can understand Inuyasha well and that she came to the conclusion that she shouldn't stay in the Feudal Era. Inuyasha says first of all that Kagome was the first he could trust and that she was always loyal to his side, which he values ​​very much and he likes her very much. But he also says that he will never be happy because he has to bear the burden of Kikyō's death. Kagome says that Kikyō's sacrifice is probably above all her achievements for Inuyasha, but she is not undead after all. The only resemblance she sees between herself and Kikyō is that they both love Inuyasha and that this has given her the courage to walk through the well again. Last but not least, she adds that she will never forget him and asks if she might be allowed to stay with him after all. Inuyasha is surprised that she wants to stay because of him, but he agrees, even if he doesn't have to say so openly. Kagome now thinks that it is meant for Inuyasha and that he will probably figure it out on his own at some point. Then they make their way back to the village hand in hand, Kagome tells Inuyasha with her thoughts that she will be by his side always.

Differences from the manga

 * The scene of Kagome at home eating breakfast with her family and the later scene of Kagome's mother comforting her under the Goshinboku are anime orignal.
 * In the manga, following her encounter with Inuyasha, Kikyō confronts Naraku at his castle. An Unnamed incarnation attacks Kikyō, but, having covered her body in dirt from Onigumo's cave, the incarnation is instantly destroyed upon touching her. None of this is present in the anime.
 * In the manga Miroku, Sango, and Hachiemon tell Inuyasha that they heard that a castle had recently vanished, and poisonous insects were seen flying away from it, leading them to believe that it was Naraku's castle and that they planned to investigate the following day. In the anime, Miroku and Sango approach Inuyasha and tell him to make a clean break with Kagome, and make no mention of Naraku's castle.