Episode 174

Mausoleum of Mount Azusa is the 7th episode of InuYasha: The Final Act.

Summary
Fate is what binds us to each other.

Now that he's taken Onigumo's heart back in, Naraku intends to exploit the connection between himself, Inuyasha and Kikyō; with his new spider webs, Naraku will defile anyone who tries opposing him with his evil will.

In the meantime, Kagome has always been kind and caring, but there resides a small speck of darkness in her heart because of the jealous she feels towards Kikyō. However, when Kikyō once more draws close to returning to the after life, will Kagome have the strength to look past her own selfish desires to save her again?

Plot
Kōga decides to stay with Inuyasha's group, thanking Kagome for treating his injuries. Inuyasha tells Kōga to give up his shards, making Kōga retort that he sounds just like Kikyō. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga and Kōga blocks it with his hands. Shippō notes how things are different with Kōga around. Kikyō works on healing Miroku, taking the miasma into herself to be purified; Kohaku knows that Kikyō is already being consumed by Naraku's miasma.

Elsewhere, Naraku has returned to the remains of Mount Hakurei, where Onigumo's voice greets him; Naraku explains Kikyō was there when he toke back the Infant, and Kohaku's shard was emitting a frightening bright light. It was then he realized she was waiting for him to take the shards of Kōga and Kohaku, so that she could purify his soul. Onigumo laughs that Naraku now has need of the human heart he despised so much, he abandoned and buried under ground. As the clumps of flesh take the form of Naraku's head, they float into Naraku's hand. Onigumo says that a human heart must not be so bad after all as all its base desires and negative emotions will help keep Naraku from being purified. Naraku's heart takes the sharp of a spider and burrows into his body.

Miroku awakens after Kikyō has taken in all the miasma from him; she warns that if he uses the Wind Tunnel to suck in miasma, the wounds will spread once again and if the scars reach his heart, he'll die. Miroku decides to keep this a secret from Sango; she has enough to worry about with Kohaku, his own problems are something he doesn't want to bother her. Kikyō departs with Kohaku after Inuyasha make her promise to look after him. Kagome wakes up and notices Inuyasha deep in thought and... a spider web!

Later, while Kikyō and Kohaku are traveling, she notices spiderwebs, which Kikyō immediately recognizes as something created by Naraku. She keeps the webs from touching herself and Kohaku thanks to a barrier, but once a child is caught in them, Kikyō is force to save her. No sooner does save the child, Kikyō becomes entangled in the webs.

Kagome notices the webbing while in mid-travel, something only she and Kikyō can see, due to their immense spiritual powers. They come across the child Kikyō saved and her mother, who explain that Kikyō suddenly looked ill afterwards and took off. Inuyasha runs off, making Kōga comment about how he abandons Kagome to after his old love. Miroku and Shippō advise Kōga not to mention it around Inuyasha, hoping to change the subject.

Elsewhere, Kohaku is being protected by Kikyō's shikigami in a cave. At the same time, Kikyō is hiding in a hut; she sees that Naraku is preventing her from purifying the webs and showing her the parting between herself and Inuyasha 50 years ago. Inuyasha arrives, making Kikyō yell for him to leave. However, when she warns him away, the wound she received at Mount Hakurei reopens. Inuyasha grabs her, becoming entangled in the webs. Now that they are touching him, Inuyasha can see the webs as well.

Kagome and the others arrive at the hut, where she fires arrows at the webs to purify them. Kagome attempts to purify the webs inside, but gets p0ulled inside. Kōga attempts to follow, but Naraku erects a barrier to keep everyone else out. Using their connection to each other, Naraku shows Kagome the day Kikyō pinned Inuyasha to the Sacred Tree; seeing this, Kagome feels Kikyō's love for Inuyasha.

When Kagome regains consciousness, Kikyō explains what Naraku is up to and offers her bow to Kagome to purify the contamination inside of her. When Kagome touches the bow though, the string breaks and Kikyō confirms that Kagome has been contaminated as well. The only way to save Kikyō now is for Kagome to retrieve a bowstring kept in the nearby mausoleum of Mount Asuza, though Kikyō warns Kagome that she must truly want to save her. Kagome tells Inuyasha to stay with Kikyō while Kōga takes her to Mount Azusa.

Elsewhere, Byakuya of the Dreams finds Kohaku and Kikyō's shikigami explode, giving Kohaku a chance to escape. Byakuya chases after him, using poisonous snakes to try contaminating Kohaku's shard. However, before Byakuya can attempt taking the shard, a Meidō scares him away. Sesshōmaru arrives, saying that since Mōryōmaru's scent has vanished, Naraku has likely absorbed him. Byakuya is offended by Sesshōmaru's rudeness, taking off. Rin attempts to touch Kohaku, but is warned not to as the snakes are poisonous. However, Jaken has already been bitten; he pleads for Sesshōmaru to save him. Inuyasha and Kikyō arrive later to find Kohaku gone; he went with Sesshōmaru.

Kagome's group arrives at Mount Azusa, where they attempt climbing up, only to find that they are not getting any further. Kagome gets separated from the others, where she comes face to face with a faceless spirit. At the same time, Kikyō tells Inuyasha that the spirit takes on a reflection of the heart of the one who confronts it. The faceless spirit takes the form of Kikyō. Lead to a shrine, Kagome is given a bow. Kagome is able to leave with the bow, but on her way down the mountain, she get sidetracked by the sight of Inuyasha and Kikyō together. he ground shatters and Kagome falls into darkness.

At the same time, the real Kikyō feels something has happened to Kagome; she knows that the spirit guardian will use illusions to test the hearts of those that visit Mount Azusa,

Back at Mount Azusa, Kagome finds Kikyō looking down at her. Kikyō says she'll save her if Kagome hands the bow to her first. The spirit of the mountain also appears and suggests that Kikyō will take the bow, abandon Kagome to die, and go off with Inuyasha. Kikyō says that Inuyasha needn't know what happens there if Kagome is worried about her stealing him away from her.

Elsewhere, Inuyasha and Kikyō arrive at Mount Azusa, where Kōga explains that Kagome hasn't come down yet. Inuyasha rushes off to save Kagome.

Back on Mount Azusa, the false Kikyō suggests that Kagome is only pretending to be kind and self-righteous. This angers Kagome, who has been giving Kikyō a lot of slack because of what happened to her. In return, Kagome tells Kikyō she think she is afraid of her, recognizing that Kikyō and Inuyasha have a past together she can't trespass on, but she points out that she's also spent a lot of time with Inuyasha; she knows sides of him that Kikyō doesn't. All of this causes Kagome to realize that she's in the same position as Kikyō, and she refuses to abandon her. The spirit then tells Kagome that she can now climb up with her own strength, and Kikyō subsequently turns into an illusion of spiderwebs. Kagome becomes freed from these spiderwebs, but she finds herself in a free fall.

Elsewhere, Naraku feels Kagome come free from his webs, Byakuya asks Naraku what he plans to do now. Naraku says he will go with what he originally planned and kill Kikyō.

Regrets of Kagome
Kagome understands that she looks at Kikyō as if she was cruel and unpassionate therefore she sticks to this side believing that this is the true nature of Kikyō because Kikyō had attempted to kill Inuyasha therefore she ignored the other sides of Kikyō for consideration. After the test she finally realizes this and begins to also regret that throughout Kikyō's brink of death. Kagome knows that she is hideous of thinking that way therefore she confides these feelings to Inuyasha, but Inuyasha ignores her complaints over herself and said that it meant that her heart was strong. Her final reply mentally was, "Is th...Is that true?" she asked.