Episode 175

Among the Twinkling Stars is 8th episode of InuYasha: The Final Act.

Summary
Love; the greater this emotion is felt, the greater the despair from losing the one you cherish.

Kagome returns from Mount Azusa with the bow Kikyo needs to be purified with. However, Naraku is not willing to let Kikyo be saved. Will Inuyasha once more have to feel the loss of the one he loves?

Plot
Kagome falls from the sky, but Inuyasha catches her. Naraku recaptures Kikyo, who has been connected to her through his spiderwebs, rendering her spiritual powers useless; he taunts her, saying she will die in the arms of the one she hates. He intends on taking Koga's shards, but is disturbed to discover that his spiderwebs are purified when he makes contact with Koga's pure shards. Inuyasha and Kagome arrive and while Inuyasha battles Naraku with his dragon-scaled Tessaiga, Kagome aims her bow at Kikyo to save her life, but Kikyo tells her to wait before firing her arrow. Naraku drops Kikyo from his grasp, and his body opens, revealing the Shikon Jewel inside.

Inuyasha catches Kikyo, but Kikyo tells Inuyasha to leave her in order to save Koga's life. Koga tries to get the sacred jewel from Naraku's body, but the jewel disappears and Koga becomes trapped as Naraku starts swallowing him into his body. Miroku uses his Wind Tunnel to suck away the miasma to free Koga, while Inuyasha helps Koga break free from Naraku's grasp. However, Koga loses his shards, as Kikyo intended.

Kagome notices that Naraku transfered the Shikon Jewel into Kikyo through his spider webs, being asked by Kikyo to shoot an arrow at her with the bow from Mount Azusa. Kikyo purifies the jewel, and fires the jewel from her body at Naraku to try to purify him as well. However, he succeeds in defiling the jewel, and Kikyo is left dying. Kikyo is able to purfiy the core of the jewel, which Naraku is unable to defile, but at the expense of her life. Naraku is forced to flee, but with Koga's shards as a consolation prize.

She tells InuYasha that she is a normal woman now, and she kisses him one last time; both Inuyasha and Kikyo cry. Kikyo then dies, turning into lumunous soul that her Soul Collectors take  to ascend. Inuyasha tells Kagome when she goes towards him that he didn't want Kikyo to suffer any more sorrow, and that he wanted to protect her forever. A scene of the twinkling stars ends the episode.

Trivia

 * Kikyo dies a second and final time, freeing her from the torment of continuing on in the world of the living, where she didn't belong.


 * This marks Inuyasha and Kikyo's only kiss, possibly.


 * A speck of purity is left in the Shikon Jewel thanks to Kikyo.


 * Naraku abandons the diamonds he gained from Moryomaru after this episode; however, as he's later seen shooting diamond spears coated with miasma, it's possible he just swallowed them inside himself.

Regrets

 * Inuyasha: He regrets that his heart was weak enough for Naraku to tear Kikyo and him apart fifty years ago. And that he wasn't strong enough to protect Kikyo against Naraku this time too.
 * Kagome: She wished that she had enough power to help to defeat Naraku and heal Kikyo. That way Inuyasha and Kikyo wouldn't suffer the same thing fifty years ago again. Kagome was also jealous of Kikyo and Inuyasha. She wasn't comforted by the fact that she had saved Kikyo's soul, but in the end she seem to be comforted by that fact.
 * Koga: Of his Shikon no Tama shards; but he regrets that he didn't listen to Kikyo in some ways, that he didn't run when they were at Mt. Mizuriyo. He wished he had listened the first time he had met Kikyo, who tries repeatedly telling Koga to give up his shards in order to prevent Naraku to taint his shards and allow Kikyo to be more able to protect the light of his shards. He also regrets his arrogance.


 * Sango: Just like Kagome and Inuyasha, she also regrets that she, a mere human and demon slayer, couldn't help the process of defeating Naraku avoiding the death of Kikyo. She also regrets that she didn't see that Kikyo merely wanted to save people when she can from the trap of the Shikon Jewel. In the past she sees Kikyo as a manipulator, causing Kohaku o think that using his shard is the only way to defeat Naraku and to end the tradgedies, involving the Shikon Jewel, which is what Kohaku and the others want: Naraku to be dead. (Kikyo also wanted to heal Sango's brother's wounded soul but apparently she was unable, because the Shikon Jewel shard was transmitted in his body---the only pure shard---the only light to defeat Naraku.)
 * Miroku: Just like Kagome, Inuyasha and Sango, he regrets that his wound in his Wind Tunnel held him back to help them more. He was saved by Kikyo, who is willing to sacrifice her body and strength to transfer the miasma into her body, which is killing him and later her when it gotten into her. He feared his death, and did not think to repay Kikyo by help save her when her need was dire.
 * Shippo: Shippo regrets that he is childish and could not help due to his age and ignorance.
 * Kirara: Although she is a full fledged demon she still nods her head in grief of unbreakable bonds. She sympathizes Kikyo because of her previous human companion, Midoriko. Midoriko seem to have similar tragedies, so it is most probable she sympathizes Inuyasha and Kikyo.