Episode 177

Flowers Drenched in Sadness is the tenth episode of InuYasha The Final Act.

Synopsis

 * 1) The group comes across a village where everyone is disturbingly happy. The reason behind this unnatural happiness is the Flower Prince, who leaves them like this by feeding on their sorrow. Though everyone is likely to fall victim, Inuyasha is in the most danger thanks to the grief he feels for Kikyō's passing.
 * 2) Kanna is left thinking of Kagura, and the freedom that her sister desired.

Summary
A dreary, rainy day occurs at the field of flowers that Kagura died in. Kanna approaches the spot her sister incarnation died, reciting the poem "Flowers wither and lose their color, much as I reflect in vain. Time lost to the long ran." Reaching the spot of Kagura's death, Kanna finds all that remains of her sister - Kagura's fan.

Picking up the fan, Kanna looks up at the sky with her emotionless eyes, as if the spirit of Kagura is there with her. Kanna asks if Kagura got her freedom, and became the wind. A drop of rain falls against Kanna's mirror like a tear as she says she has nothing. Kanna walks off with Kagura's fan, once more saying she has nothing, as she fades away into the distance.

As the rain continues to pour, Naraku floats inside his personal barrier at his hideout. Sore and recovering from the damage inflicted upon him by Kikyō's final attack, Naraku thinks about how there is a small speck of pure light deep inside the Shikon Jewel, which has been completely defiled otherwise. As something of great annoyance, Naraku finds that he cannot banish this speck of light from the jewel, meaning Kikyō continues to defy him even in death.

Later, on a sunny forest path, Inuyasha and friends are walking, as usual, quarreling, as they enter a small village full of beautiful flowers. Kagome, Sango, and Miroku find the scent of the flowers soothing, while Inuyasha find it sickening; Shippō and Kirara feel the same. The villagers invited them to stay the night. Inuyasha is against the idea, but everyone is all for it; majority vote wins. The villagers give them a house they have for travelers, to sleep in for the night. Inuyasha finds it suspicious since the village doesn't look that well-off for something like this. Annoyed by Inuyasha's poor attitude, Sango asks Kagome to make Inuyasha "Sit!"; however, she just rhetorically asks what the point would be. Thinking, Kagome knows Inuyasha hasn't gotten over Kikyō's death yet, and it's going to take him some time to move on from it.

Elsewhere, the villagers arrive at an ominous castle near the village and report to their "Flower Prince" that they have successfully brought new travelers to him. The Flower Prince says that this news does indeed please him, and that he's detected the scent of a horribly injured soul amongst Inuyasha's group. Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku are each suffering from something (grief, concern) that makes them likely to be the one who the Flower Prince is talking about.

Back in the traveler's house, everyone but Inuyasha has fallen asleep. He notices that the scent of the flowers is getting stronger and all the more sickening. Shippō and Kirara are getting much more ill as the night goes on. Kagome wakes, asking if he can't sleep. However, Inuyasha says that while he can, he doesn't want to; if he did sleep, all that he'd dream about is Kikyō. Shippō wakes up with a sneeze. Kagome gives him a handkerchief to blow his nose with; Shippō says his nose is snuffed and his eyes are itchy. Kagome tells Shippō that he's suffering from allergies, Inuyasha questions what the word means, most likely because it hasn't be thought of yet to explain the symptoms.

Outside, the villagers wander around the flowers like zombies. Miroku and Sango also awake, suspecting that something is wrong as well. (At this point, an "I told you so" would be appropriate from Inuyasha.) Vines emerge from the flowers and wrap around the villagers, as they cry tears of blood, and say they are now, "at peace, finally." Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku run out to rescue them. Miroku tosses a sutra at the vines, revealing that all the beautiful flowers weren't real. Examining the villagers, everyone makes the shocking discovery that they've turned into soil.

The Flower Prince arrives, claiming all he's done is give people "peace" of mind. Inuyasha yells out for everyone not to breath the toxins around them, but it is too late. Sango suddenly sees Kohaku in her arms, collapsing; the Flower Prince says she fears for her brother's life. Shocked, Miroku fights off vines heading to Sango.The Flower Prince next tells Miroku about his fearing his injury, shocking him further. Inuyasha launches a Wind Scar, but the Flower Prince vanishes in a veil of flower petals; however, leftover blood suggests  he's wounded. Kagome is given prayer beads by Miroku to protect her from the Flower Prince's spell. Inuyasha and Kagome take off after him.

Elsewhere, by a glistening pond, Kanna tosses Kagura fan into the water. As it sinks beneath the surface of the pond, Kanna bows her head and bids farewell to her sister. She then hears Byakuya greeting her; Kanna turns to see him standing above her on a tree branch. Byakuya explains that he has come with an order from Naraku; she is to lure in Inuyasha's group and "unleash" her mirror. Understanding her order, Kanna then looks out to the pond.

Inuyasha and Kagome arrive at the Flower Prince's castle. He doesn't bear a grudge towards Inuyasha for the previous attack on him; he wasn't wounded by the Wind Scar, making the blood an invitation to his home. As the flowers turn red, the Flower Prince reads Inuyasha's heart and sees how much Kikyō's death has wounded him, saying he'd be willing to follow her into death and beyond. Inuyasha begins sinking beneath the flowers like they were made of water as Kagome tries helping him. However, Inuyasha is gone and the Flower Prince has also vanished. Remembering the Flower Prince's words about what's causing Inuyasha pain, Kagome realizes the reason she still feels pain and sorrow is because she is wearing the prayer beads of protection Miroku gave to her.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, Inuyasha is having artificial dreams about Kikyō as he too, cries tears of blood; this illusion of Kikyō offers Inuyasha the chance to go with her to the afterlife. The Flower Prince watches happily as Inuyasha lets all his sorrow out, but is shocked by a sudden rumble. Outside, it's revealed the rumbling is being caused by Kagome's arrows bouncing off the barrier surrounding the Flower Prince's castle. Remembering his words about how Inuyasha would follow Kikyō to the afterlife, Kagome desperately continues firing arrows, calling out to him. Her pleas finally awaken Inuyasha, who punches the Flower Prince's face in a fit of rage, Confused, he asks why Inuyasha would refuse the chance to be at peace; Inuyasha punches through his gut in response. However, the Flower Prince transforms, revealing himself to be a mass of vines and a wooden face. He pierces Inuyasha's chest, declaring her will eat his heart.

Just then, Kagome places the prayer beads on an arrow, firing it at the barrier; it flies through it and the Flower Prince, freeing Inuyasha. Inuyasha rushes outside to see Kagome entangled by the vines; he cuts them and catches her. Much to his surprise, the Flower Prince speaks. Now that he's tasted Kagome's soul, he finds its sorrow much more appealing than Inuyasha's because she's hurting a lot more. Inuyasha is shocked. The Flower Prince tries telling Inuyasha what the source of Kagome's sorrow is (which would be Inuyasha himself, although never stated), but she awakens and destroys all the flowers inside his castle. Kagome declares the Flower Prince won't get to taste her sorrow; the emotions she has are hers alone. However, he isn't dead yet; there are still flowers around them. Detecting a scent, Inuyasha yells for Kagome to run away as the Flower Prince emerges from the flowers outside the castle. Inuyasha quickly cuts the Flower Prince's head in half.

All the remaining flowers disappear along with the Flower Prince, leaving Shippō and Kirara feeling better as they sit in the traveler's house with Sango and Miroku. Kagome and Inuyasha stand together in the open field. Inuyasha explains his dream about Kikyō. Kagome wonders if he really wanted to go with her, but Inuyasha only says she woke him before he could give an answer. Kagome sees through this, knowing that he's purposely avoiding giving her a direct answer. Inuyasha explains he never realized that he was so focused on his own suffering that he couldn't see hers. Kagome explains that Kikyō's death was hard on everyone. Inuyasha wonders how Kagome can be so strong, but she retorts in anger that she is only being kind. Inuyasha cowers in fear, as usual when he says something wrong, saying Kagome's right. Still mad, Kagome looks up to sky, happy things are back to normal.

Back at the pond Kanna was at, she floats in the center of it. Kanna slowly sinks beneath the surface of the water. Once she's completely submerged, her mirror floats back to surface by itself. Once the ripples from it disappear, it lets out a blinding bright flash of light, which goes on to affect the pond, making it glow along with it.

The next day, Inuyasha and the gang leave the village as an eye demon sees them. Byakuya, who is missing his right eye (which is the tiny demon spying on Inuyasha's group), tells Naraku they're on the move. Naraku laughs. The group hear from villagers about the ominous bright light that occurred at the pond in the forest last night. They head to the pond to find out what caused the light. Shippō finds this turn of events odd; Inuyasha was never one to automatically help others that begged him for help. However, Inuyasha defends himself, asking if he shouldn't help. Kagome explains that Inuyasha gets annoyed when he isn't busy. Inuyasha goes on to explain that he can smell a faint trace of Naraku's scent from ahead of them. (It's Byakuya who left this scent; Kanna doesn't have one since she's an incarnation of the Void.)

They reach the pond, discovering it's been transformed into a mirror. Miroku notices that there's something at the center of the pond. Kagome quickly realizes it's Kanna's mirror! The mirror suddenly transforms into a huge demon as Kanna appears next to it. Inuyasha draws his sword and the Mirror demon sends out a flash of light. Inuyasha asks Kanna if that pathetic attempt was supposed to blind them as the Mirror Demon creates a copy of Tessaiga. When Inuyasha attempts using the Wind Scar, he finds it won't work. Kanna tells the Mirror Demon to use Wind Scar, and it successfully does so. Inuyasha tries using the Adamant Barrage next, but finds it isn't working either; it would seem that all of Tessaiga's attacks have been stolen. The Mirror Demon launches the adamant spears, but balloon-form Shippō spits out acorns that explode into smoke upon contact with the spears. Inuyasha continues glaring as a smokescreen allows the group to escape. Kanna is now left to hunt them down.

As the sun sets, Kanna and her Mirror Demon walk through a forest to find Inuyasha's group. Her targets head towards a cave to hide from her for the time being, until they can come up with a plan. The Mirror Demon sees some flowers as they walk, and picks one as a present for her. Kanna looks at the flower before going deep in thought, thinking of the same poem she said when she found Kagura's fan. She then emotionlessly crushes the flower in her tiny fist.