Soul Piper

The Tatarimokke (タタリモッケ) or "Soul Piper" in the English dub, is a demon who was born from the souls of dead children. It plays a flute and plays with the child(ren) until it is ready to go to either heaven or hell. It's eyes are usually closed, but each time a certain soul does wrong, such as in Mayu's case, the Soul Piper's eyes open a bit more. When its eyes have opened completely, the Soul Piper wraps the soul of the child in chains and takes it to the place of its death, where a vortex opens and the soul is pulled by the chains into the depths of hell. Only humans can enter this vortex, thus Inuyasha couldn't go near the portal to hell because he is hanyō.

Kagome calls it a poltergeist, or ghost. She goes in it to save a child, Mayu, who was the Soul Piper's latest charge. It nearly sent Mayu to hell for her hateful actions against her Mother and Brother, but Kagome just barely managed to save her, nearly being pulled into hell herself. She convinced Mayu that her mother did love her and always had. Thinking back to her memories and realizing it was true, Mayu tearfully begged for a chance to make amends. Because of Mayu's change of heart, in the last minute the Soul Piper had changed his judgement and she was spared.

The next day, Mayu visited her mother who forgave her. Having atoned for her actions and reconciled with her mother, Mayu's soul was finally at peace. The Soul Piper allowed Mayu to remain for one more week until she visited Kagome a final time to thank her. Afterwards the Soul Piper played it's flute while leading her away, both of them disappearing as the Soul Piper escorted Mayu to the heavens.

Tatarimokke 崇妖