Episode 22

A Wicked Smile; Kikyo's Wandering Soul is the twenty-second episode of the InuYasha anime. It first aired in Japan on April 9, 2001.

Synopsis

 * 1) Inuyasha and the others learn that souls of dead women are being stolen from their bodies.
 * 2) Kikyō proves to be the culprit, using these dead souls to animate her body.
 * 3) Kagome finds Kikyō, whom she and the others had believed to be dead.

Summary
Inuyasha and his friends arrive at a castle where the soul of every dying person is abducted by demons. However, the princess's soul is not supposed to be stolen and Miroku offers to protect her.

Elsewhere in the country several children are looking for herbs and when a girl named Sayo finds one she calls out - Kikyō. She is still alive and lives peacefully in a village and takes care of the children there. Nearby is an old priest named Seikai with an apprentice who is watching her and knows that something is wrong with her and believes she is a demon. Kikyō notices him and calls him over, but he doesn’t show anything when he comes closer and a scroll falls out of his pocket. If a demon who has camouflaged himself touches this scroll, his true demonic appearance will be revealed. Kikyō, however, simply picks up the scroll and gives it back to Seikai without anything happening to it. When he rolls it up again, there is not a single letter left on it. He asks her why she is still in this world, but she just goes on with the children. The priest knows very well that she is not just a demon. Kikyō remembers herself and survival from the fall from the cliff with Inuyasha.

Inuyasha and Kagome are already waiting for the soul collectors, but nothing happens. Meanwhile, Miroku visits the other princess "if she's not feeling well". Kagome presses against Inuyasha, who at first is surprised, but then she explains that she is afraid of the dead, which leads to a great misunderstanding because he understood her approach differently. Miroku already wants to leave the younger princess because he has to realize that she doesn't look nearly as good as the dead princess. This wakes up in the meantime or it is pulled up by a foreign power. The wall shatters and a soul collector appears and sucks the soul out of the body, but Inuyasha kills him and the soul returns; the princess falls back on her bed. Then Inuyasha and Kagome go out and see a large number of soul collectors with souls in their luggage flying past the moon.

In the village where Kikyō lives, Sayo thinks about meeting with Seikai in the afternoon. Then she sees Kikyō and follows her inconspicuously, because she doesn't know what Kikyō is actually up to at this time, because it is already deep night. When she arrives at a lake, all soul collectors come to her and she takes them souls into herself, since she has no soul to live on. When all the souls have gathered around her, Seikai comes from the afternoon and attacks them with a dragon that winds around her. But Kikyō fights back with her spiritual powers and blows up the dragon, whose one claw bores into Seikai's throat and kills him. In his last words, he says that the living and the dead cannot coexist and that her attempt is tragic. Then Kikyō first notices Sayo from the village who saw everything. Realizing that she has frightened Sayo with her true nature and by killing Seikai, Kikyō apologizes and leaves the village, even if Sayo seems to want to hold her back.

Inuyasha and his friends have no idea where to look for the soul collectors now because there is no trace of them. Kagome accuses Inuyasha that he is only trying too little out of disinterest when she sees Sayo floating in the water. Inuyasha saves him and when he wakes up he is terrified of Kagome because she resembles Kikyō; he was the student of the priest and fled after his death. When he mentions her name, which he picked up from the children, Inuyasha threatens him: the apprentice also says that she collects the souls of the young girls as soon as they die. Inuyasha decides to quickly go after Kikyō alone.

Kagome says that Inuyasha should be left alone with Kikyō. When Miroku mentions that maybe they should just go looking for shards of the Shikon no Tama, Kagome gets up and just disappears, Shippō and Miroku are left alone. Along the way, Kagome ponders why Inuyasha is looking for Kikyō in the first place and is easily jealous. Then the soul collectors reappear and Miroku and Shippō are immediately there again to follow them. Then they arrive at a spell that Kagome and the soul collectors cross easily, but Miroku and Shippō are stopped because of a barrier. Kagome moves on and then suddenly meets Kikyō, who is lying asleep on a tree with souls.

Differences from the manga

 * Though picking up from the previous episode, the anime excludes Inuyasha telling Kagome he wants her to stay by his side before she goes back into the well again.
 * The anime adds an extra scene of Inuyasha being suspicious of Miroku's reasons for staying at the manor, as well as a group of women bringing them a feast.
 * The anime leaves out Seikai asking around the village about abnormalities before happening across Kikyō.
 * The anime omits Inuyasha ordering the group to stay behind so he can search for Kikyō on his own.

Episod 22 第二十二集 Tập 22