Episode 162

Forever with Lord Sesshōmaru is the one hundred sixty-second episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis

 * After killing some murdering bandits, Sesshōmaru is attacked by traveling monks, but leaves without hurting them.
 * Inuyasha-tachi are forced to sleep in the woods during a new moon and are encountered by the same monks. The monks express hostility to demons and demon relics, but leave without incident.
 * Rin is abducted by a human-trafficking demon and Sesshōmaru sets out to find her. Unbeknownst to him, the traveling monks were hired by a nearby village to hunt down the same demon and rescue their kidnapped children.
 * The monks find and destroy the demon, and rescue the children, including Rin. When Sesshōmaru arrives to collect Rin, a confrontation ensues in which Sesshōmaru overwhelms the monks without harming them, and tells Rin to stay with whomever she chooses.
 * Rin leaves with Sesshōmaru.

Summary
Since being brought back from the dead by Sesshōmaru, Rin has stuck with him on his quest to find Naraku. However, can she truly continue to live her life accompanying demons? Will Sesshōmaru care when her human lifespan comes to an end? An encounter with a children-kidnapping demon and a demon-hating monk will leave Rin questioning her place; should she return to living with humans, or is staying with Sesshōmaru best for her?

Plot
A group of traveling monks notice a glow from the exit of the forest they're traveling through; their master instructs them that they are to hurry and see if someone needs their help. Ahead, a burning village is being raided by bandits and Sesshōmaru is watching from nearby. As he turns away, the bandits see him and attempt to attack him, but Sesshōmaru destroys the bandits as the monks arrive. They confront Sesshōmaru, asking if he was the one who destroyed the village, but he merely walks on. The head monk attempts to use his spells to attack him, Sesshōmaru easily destroys the sutras sent by the old man with Tōkijin, using it to create a blast of wind. Once the wind subsides, the head monk is surprised that Sesshōmaru has vanished, even more so because a demon with such an intense bloodlust left them alone. Another monk notices the slain humans near them are actually bandits and may have been the ones who attacked the village.

The next morning, Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku are talking to a village headman, learning that the village woke up one day and realized that all of the children were missing. Miroku offers their assistance, but the headman says he already asked a monk for help, making Inuyasha laugh under his breath. Miroku points out that he's a monk, only to be told the monk is Ungai, who is looking for the missing children with his apprentices as they speak. Kagome is confused about who Ungai is, so Miroku, and even Sango, explain; Ungai is extremely prejudice against all demons, exterminating them without a second thought as to whether or not the demon is actually truly evil.

In the forest, Ungai notices Rin picking a vegetable a short distance from his group. He walks over to her, inquiring if she's from the village. Scared of Ungai, Rin shakes her head to respond to him and runs off. Ungai gives chase, warning her that he senses a demonic presence near them. A-Un flies over him, confirming Ungai's suspicions, but he notices Rin riding on the demon's back; this confuses him as demons normally attack humans. His apprentices ask him if something happened, but a still-confused Ungai instead decides to focus on finding the children.

That night, Rin asks Jaken what Sesshōmaru will do when he has defeated Naraku, learning Sesshōmaru has long been in search of personal power; he will establish his own empire and Jaken will be Chief Minister. Rin wonders what her position will be, making Jaken shocked that she's willing to follow them that long. Jaken explains it may take several decades to amass the funds and resources, possibly even a full 100 years; to demons, that's nothing, but to humans, it's beyond their normal life spans. Jaken tells her "By the time, the Lord's empire is established, you'll be long-gone." As Rin falls asleep, she calls Jaken stupid and promises herself that she will always be with Sesshōmaru. Jaken wakes a few minutes later when Rin wanders off, assuming she's going off to pee. Rin, in a trance, follows the sound of a flute and follows a strange demon. Jaken tries to follow her, but is unable to keep up and loses sight of her; causing him to panic.

As Inuyasha and friends are camping, the monks come across them. Ungai identifies Miroku, Sango and Kagome as a monk, demon slayer and priestess correctly. However, he points out they are supposedly hypocrites for having demons with them despite being demon slayers; Shippō is angered by Ungai's insult to his character, but is quickly scared into hiding behind Sango because of Ungai's scowl. Sango firmly tells Ungai that Shippō and Kirara would never harm humans of their own will. Inuyasha, far from the campfire in the dark, cuts in; it doesn't matter what they say Ungai will never change his mind. Ungai notices Tessaiga is a demon sword and advises Inuyasha to discard it. Inuyasha walks into the light, revealing he is in human form; it's the night of the new moon again. He tells Ungai its none of his business; the monk agrees, but informs the group to stay out of their way to avoid conflict. Miroku feels grateful for it being Inuyasha's period of weakness; if he had been in half-demon form, their meeting might not have ending so peacefully.

Jaken wanders through the misty forest, calling for Rin when Sesshōmaru arrives. Sesshōmaru asks if something has happened to Rin, and Jaken says she was kidnapped by Ongokuki; Ongokuki lures children to him with his flute, so he can capture them to be sold to other demons, most likely as food; he believes this to be highly possible as he heard a flute playing when Rin vanished. Sesshōmaru then goes of to search for her, shockingly not so much as hitting Jaken for failing to keep Rin safe; however, this may be due to Ongokuki not being much of a threat to Rin as other demons may be. Jaken fails to notice this in time and is now left to look for both his master and Rin.

Elsewhere, Rin follows Ongokuki into a cave filled with weeping children. She awakens from the flute's spell and asks the children what is going on. When they explain Ongokuki kidnapped them, and that they're afraid of him, Rin finds their fearing Ongokuki to be ridiculous, saying he isn't scary. She tells them that bandits are scarier as they kill for no reason what-so-ever (while demons kill humans to eat them), explaining that her family was were killed by bandits. The children tell her that a demon is their problem now, but Rin tells them that she's not afraid as Sesshōmaru will come for her.

In the meantime, Jaken continues looking for Sesshōmaru and Rin, calling their names to no avail. He is then shocked to find Kagome, Shippō, Miroku and Sango suddenly around him - "Oh, it's you guys." Inuyasha hides in the shadows, showing that Sesshōmaru doesn't know when he loses his demonic powers. They asks Jaken what happened to Rin, and he explains that Ongokuki kidnapped her while Sesshōmaru is looking for her, He asks them if they've seen either Sesshōmaru or Rin, but finds they haven't seen them. Jaken resumes his search. Everyone is now sure Ungai will run into Sesshōmaru, and as Inuyasha believes "if those monks try their half-baked spells, Sesshōmaru will kill a lot of them."

Ongokuki senses someone is outside his cave and sees children in the shadows; he plays his flute to make them come to him, but finds them staying still. He walks up to them to see that they're only dummies dressed in clothing to trick him - "You fell for it." Ungai's apprentices run in a circle around Ongokuki, destroying him with sutras and prayer beads. Ungai calls to the children, telling them they're safe now; once they're out, he inquires if any remain in the cave. A children tells him that there's one girl still inside; he enters to find Rin again. He tells her it's safe, but she refuses to go with. Ungai picks her up and walks away with her, despite her protests of not wanting to return to a human village. A child tells Ungai Rin said humans are scarier than demons, shocking him. Meanwhile, Sesshōmaru is watching secretly nearby in the woods, having located her. He stays and does nothing as the monks try to reason with Rin to come with them. But when she directly cries out for Sesshōmaru, he gives away his presence, making Ungai fire a vajra in his direction. The resulting explosion destroys the trees around Sesshōmaru. Rin is happy to see him, but Ungai is convinced she is under a spell.

Sesshōmaru walks forward to retrieve Rin, making the monks surround and attempt to destroy him, without success. The monks eventually succeed in freezing Sesshōmaru. They try again, freezing him in place; Ungai plunges his staff into the ground and release a blast from its gem, landing a direct. Sesshōmaru moves to grab Tōkijin, but decides against it as Rin is in front of him. He instead begins to reveal his true nature, as if he's going to transform; however, he uses the energy normally used to transform for a psionic attack, causing an explosion. The explosion flings the monks backward, destroying some of their prayer beads and the gem in Ungai's staff.

Ungai is left stunned at Sesshōmaru's great intense power. Rin escapes from Ungai and comes up to Sesshōmaru. He tells her to follow him if she chooses to do so and she happily accepts, but Ungai tells her not to as Sesshōmaru is an evil spirit; humans and demons live in different worlds. Ungai's words make Rin remember Jaken telling her that she'll be dead by the time Sesshōmaru establishes his empire. However, this doesn't faze her; she smiles and waves at him before happily following Sesshōmaru. As she does, Ungai stares at the destruction in shock and wonders as to why she'd go off with a demon. During all of this, Inuyasha and his companions are watching from a nearby tree line.

The next day, all the children are returned to the village; Ungai and his monks are thanked for their assistance. Ungai observes Kagome and Inuyasha's interaction as they talk to each other, realizing Inuyasha is a half-demon, and asks for Kagome to "enlighten" him. He then asks why she chooses to stay with a demon, surprising her. He then tells her to "forget it" and leaves with the other monks.

Meanwhile, Sesshōmaru and Rin meet up with Jaken; Sesshōmaru wonders where A-Un is. As Jaken remembers he left him back at the campsite, he goes to get A-Un. Looking at gravestones, Rin asks Sesshōmaru that if she were to ever die if he'd remember her, obviously stunning him. He blows off her question by telling her not to "say such silly things." Jaken then returns with A-Un and asks where Sesshōmaru is going. He retorts that he is going to find Naraku. Jaken asks if he can come along if it isn't too much trouble. Rin tells Jaken that he doesn't need to ask. All three set out together.

Episode Notes

 * This episode does well to show Sesshōmaru's character development so far in the series.
 * While normally predisposed to kill anyone who attacks him, no matter how insignificant the reason, Sesshōmaru avoids harming the monks even though they attack him repeatedly.
 * Earlier in the series, Sesshōmaru was shown to punish Jaken mercilessly for just about anything. In this episode, Jaken faces no repercussions whatsoever for losing track of Rin, which at this point in the story is his main responsibility.
 * Sesshōmaru's fondness for Rin is evident in this episode. The way he listens silently to Ungai telling Rin humans cannot healthily co-exist with demons over long periods of time indicates Sesshōmaru has also considered this, and may have wondered if keeping Rin with him was the best choice.
 * The end of the episode shows how Sesshōmaru, Rin and Jaken have formed a sort of family unit with one another during their travels.