Episode 178

Kanna's Gravestone is the 11th episode of InuYasha: The Final Act.

Summary
Kanna has proven herself to be more dangerous than anyone believed possible; her Mirror Demon has stolen Tessaiga's powers and is using them against Inuyasha!

However, for such an amazing power, there is surely has to be a major drawback; Naraku kept Kanna from using the Mirror Demon until now for a reason. Could it have something to do with the wound on Kanna's shoulder that matches the one that healed on the Mirror Demon?

Plot
Night has fallen, and Miroku has erected a barrier to seal everyone inside a cave for their own safety. Shippo wonders about the Mirror Demon, asking if this fight is just like the one against Toshu and Dakki. Miroku explains that though the powers of their opponents are similar, there is one key diffence between them; Dakki was weilded by a human, and thus had a limit to the amount of demonic energy it could steal. However, this Mirror Demon is being controlled by Kanna, so the amount of demonic energy it can absorb may be near-limitless. Elsewhere, Kanna continues to search for Inuyasha's group with her Mirror Demon. As she continues looking for her target, Kanna thinks of Kagura, and how she found her fan before tossing it into the pond. The Saimyōshō find Miroku's barrier and thus lead Kanna to it, along with the Mirror Demon. Byakuya of the Dreams arrives, asking Kanna if everything is going to Naraku's plan; Kanna greets him by name.

The Mirror Demon looms next to the entrance of the cave, shocking everyone as it uses the Red Tessaiga to break the barrier. Kagome fires an arrow at its neck, but the arrow does nothing except vanish along with the wound it created. At the same time, a dark crack appears on Kanna's neck. Concerned, Byakuya asks Kanna what happened to her neck, only to be ignored. Annoyed, Byakuya says it's fine to not answer. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga, ready to fight, but is advised against it by Shippo; it's only a shell without its powers. Kanna orders the Mirror Demon to use Adamant Barrage, making the cave rumble. Inuyasha clashes blades with it, to keep the adamant spears from being launched.

However, Inuyasha isn't successful as the Mirror Demon knocks him away. Kagome catches Inuyasha as Sango protect herself, Miroku and Shippo with Hiraikotsu. The adamant spears are fired, with everyone waiting for the enevitable. However, once the attack is finished, everyone notices not a single one of them was hit. Shippō takes note that it looks like the spears tried to avoid them. Inuyasha explains that it was Tessaiga's barrier that protected them; it's not a useless shell after all. Unfortunately, Inuyasha face has changed; his demon blood has awakened. Kagome tells Inuyasha, making him look at his claws in shock. Shippo panics, saying Inuyasha won't know who they are once he's transformed; he'll kill them, even enjoy it. However, he stands in front of them saying to stand back. Kagome asks Inuyasha if he recognises them. He explains thought he doesn't know what he looks like, his mind is perfectly clear; Tessaiga is seeking out his demonic energy to help him fight.

Inuyasha lands a blow on the Mirror Demon's left shoulder, knocking it out of the cave; however, the wound heals. At the same time, Kanna receives a crack on her left shoulder. Byakuya guesses Kanna is taking its damage. With everyone out of the cave, the fight is now fair. Miroku and Sango tell Inuyasha to let them help him; however, he tells them to stay back or he'll come after them next, saying that he doesn't know what he'll do now that he's in demon form. This makes Kagome worry about him. However, Inuyasha was only bluffing; this fight is between him and the Mirror Demon, so he wants no-one to interfere with it.

Elsewhere, Naraku finds it amusing that Inuyasha has transformed into a demon once again; this turn of events will make it all the more easier to kill him, with the very technique he struggled to master. The Mirror Demon switches its Tessaiga from Diamond to Dragon-scaled. Everyone realises Inuyasha is a mass of demonic energy when he's transformed, and warn him. However, Inuyasha continues, telling the Mirror Demon to take its best shot with swinging its fake Tessaiga. As Inuyasha expected, the Mirror Demon proved too slow to hit his demon vortex, allowing him an opening to cut its right eye. However the Mirror Demon once more heals from its injury, much to Inuyasha's annoyance; he wonders if the Mirror Demon is immortal. A pink energy escapes the demon and envelopes Kanna for a moment. Once the light dies, her right eye cracks, leaving it blind. Seeing this, everyone realises Kanna has been taking the Mirror Demon's injuries to heal it.

Inuyasha yells for Kanna to stop interfering as he has no intention of killing her. Kanna pays him no mind and forms a circle with her hands; a shadow of Kanna's mirror appears around Inuyasha as a portal of light opens above. Inuyasha tries getting away, but the shadow follows him. Byakuya calls Inuyasha an idiot, saying killing Kanna would have been the correct move as she cannot defend herself while the mirror is in demon form. Inuyasha shields himself with Tessaiga's barrier, reflecting the beam of light back and cracking the Mirror Demon's stomach; the damage is then transferred to Kanna so it can heal. Kanna continues to attack Inuyasha with the beams of light, as Naraku says she's to keep going; he materializes her heart in his hand, saying he'll be watching until the end. Kagome warns Kanna that she's going to fire an arrow into the light. Kanna crosses her arms and the shadow vanishes, allowing Inuyasha to move without worry of being hit by beams of ight.

Inuyasha moves to destroy the fake Tessaiga; the real one gains the powers of what-ever it cuts, so cutting the copy that stole its powers would restore them. Kanna immediately figures out his plan and has the Mirror Demon sacrifice its left hand, only for hers to come off to replace its. Inuyasha yells at her once again for continuing to interefere; everyone else does the same. Byakuya calls to Inuyasha's friends, calling them insane. Naraku also finds the idea of Inuyasha's group being concerned for Kanna laughable. Kanna has no emotions, so she cannot understand the meaning of their pity; the concept is lost to her. Inuyasha tries cutting the fake again, but the Mirror Demon sacrifices its right arm. Looking up at Kanna, Inuyasha furiously calls her an idiot in his mind as her right arm falls off; however the Mirror Demon doesn't heal. Kagome yells at Kanna, asking her why she's maiming herself. Luckily, Tessaiga also cut into its copy. However, Inuyasha is thrown backwards by a burst of light from the fake blade.

When Inuyasha pulls himself up, he finds himself back in his normal half-demon form while the fake Tessaiga is now destroyed and the Mirror Demon missing its right arm. Since she cannot heal the Mirror Demon again, a defeated Kanna stands in front of it, perhaps shielding it. Inuyasha tells Kanna that their fight is over, saying to scram. Byakuya taunts Inuyasha for wasting another opportunity. However, Inuyasha says he'll get nightmares from killing her; Miroku guesses that's something even Naraku would want. Now that Kanna has been half-destroyed, Miroku believes that Naraku will not bother looking for her. Sango agrees, believing Kanna may be able to survive, despite having no hands. Kagome tells Kanna that it's over, leaving Kanna confused. However, Naraku telepathicly tells Kanna that it's not over; she's to take Inuyasha's group with her.

Kagome asks Kanna if she understand that she's free now, making Kanna think of Kagura. Naraku orders her to walk over to Inuyasha and his group as he begins squeezing her heart. Kanna and the Mirror Demon begin bursting with light. A worried Kagome asks Kanna what's happening, as Naraku continues ordering Kanna to get closer to Inuyasha's group as she's not close enough to take them with. However, even though her body continues to crack as Naraku's grip on her heart tightens, Kanna remains still; she's defying Naraku's orders. Kagome sees Kanna is trying to tell her something, but cannot hear her. Kagome walks closer to hear Kanna, asking her what she's trying to tell her. However, the moment Kagome gets close enough, Naraku shatters Kanna's heart; she begins shattering. Inuyasha picks up Kagome and rushes away with her.

At the very moment they flee, Kanna and the Mirror Demon explode into hundreds of glass shards; a shard hits Kagome's eye. Sango protects herself, Miroku and Shippo with HIrakotsu while Inuyasha uses Tessaiga's barrier to shield himself and Kagome. Inuyasha asks Kagome if she's okay, to which she says a shard got in her eye. Holding her eye, Kagome suddenly hears Kanna's voice. Kagome is shown a vison of the Shikon Jewel, which has been defiled by Naraku; however, there's a single speck of pure light deep within it. Kanna's voice says "the light will destroy Naraku." Kagome wonder why Kanna is showing her this.

Once the explosion subsides, nothing is left of Kanna except the crater created by her self-destruction and the frame of her mirror, which holds shards of glass. Byakuya pities the "poor, little thing" for her fate, taking note that Naraku has a cruel steak in him. Decided that he should be careful to avoid the same fate, Byakuya boards his origami crane and flies away. At the same time, Naraku notes that Kanna is dead now, without taking a single of of his enemies with her to the afterlife. He then wonders if Kanna regrets being unable to follow his orders. However, he than laughs, asking himself what he's thinking; the idea is completely ridiculous. Kanna didn't have an emotional heart, so how could she feel anything, even regret for falling him

Back to the site of Kanna's death, Inuyasha picks up her mirror, saying that she didn't have to die. As he examines the mirror, some of the remaining shards of broken glass in the mirror crumble into dust and blow away. Shippō wonders if Kanna was trying to take them with her. However, Kagome tells him that wasn't what Kanna wanted. She sheds a tear as the shard falls from her eye; the tear shatters the shard before it can hit the ground. Grieving for Kanna, Kagome explains that she didn't want to die; Kanna wanted to live. Now knowing Kanna wasn't responsible, Inuyasha places her mirror back in the crater. Kagome promises Kanna that she heard her last wish.

The episode ends with everyone looking at Kanna's mirror as tiny shards of glass continue to rain down from above.

Trivia

 * Naraku destroys Kanna's heart in this episode; however, in the manga, he forced her to explode along with the Mirror Demon. The result is the same, either way; Kanna died by shattering in shards of glass.
 * Referring to Kanna's heart, it looked more like a jeweled egg instead of a heart.
 * It would seem the Mirror Demon form of Kanna's mirror is something of a last resort tactic; Naraku never tried using this earlier in the series, most likely because he still had use for Kanna's mirror to spy on his enemies.
 * Although Byakuya outlives her, Kanna lived the longest of all Naraku's incarnations.
 * If Tessaiga had reasborbed the Meido Zangetsuha beforehand, the battle would've gone in Naraku's favor.
 * The Saimyosho do not appear again after this battle.