Curse of Duty

Fifty years before the story of InuYasha begins, Kikyou was the highly respected shrine maiden of what later became known as Kaede’s village. She protected the villagers from demons and other evil things, as well as treated the injured and sick. Kikyou went on many journeys to exterminate demons in other areas, and became very well known. Because of this, the village of demon slayers (led by Sango’s grandfather) entrusted the Shikon no Tama’s purification to Kikyou. The jewel had been in the hands of many impure beings, and therefore needed to be in the hands of someone pure to guard it. Kikyou took on the responsibility, and killed numerous demons that tried to steal the jewel in order to become more powerful.

After having a tough time destroying a demon, Kikyou runs into Inuyasha who is concealing himself behind a tree. She demands to know if he is after the Shikon no Tama as well, but Inuyasha has no idea what she is talking about. Warning him never to come near her if he did not want to die, she turned to leave but ended up fainting. Inuyasha turns into a human because of the new moon, and goes down to look at her. Kaede and the villagers find her, and the next time Inuyasha and Kikyou meet, he knows what the jewel is and has come to steal it. Kikyou fires two arrows at him and pins him to a tree, but does not kill him. She wants to know why Inuyasha did not kill her when he had the chance, to which he just responds that he would never kill someone who was sleeping. Kikyou, seemingly amused, turns and leaves him. Inuyasha tries again and again, but Kikyou cannot bring herself to kill him.

On one fateful day, Kikyou is sitting in a field and senses Inuyasha’s presence. She calls for him to come down, and he does, sitting a short distance away from her apprehensively. The two talk and she tells him how she cannot act human even though she is human, and therefore the two of them were the same. That is why she could not bring herself to kill him. This throws Inuyasha off guard and he simply says it is “not her style”. Before she leaves, Inuyasha tells her he has something for her and asks her to meet him in the same spot the next day. Kikyou is slightly surprised and says she also has something for him. The following day, Inuyasha gives Kikyou a small thing of lipstick that his mother left before she died. Kikyou is overwhelmed with happiness, and repeatedly asks him if he is sure she can have something so special. When Inuyasha inquires what she has for him, she reaches into her kimono, but decides not to take out the prayer beads she was going to use to subdue him. It is obvious at this point that Kikyou has fallen for Inuyasha.

Inuyasha stays near the village, using the excuse that he simply wants the Shikon no Tama. He, however, spends most of his time near and watching Kikyou. He just wanted to be with her, and that made Kikyou even happier.

Kikyou spent some of her time treating a wounded bandit named Onigumo in a cave, but kept this secret from Inuyasha. Kaede was the only one who knew of it, and despised the man greatly. For when Kikyou left with Inuyasha to exterminate a demon elsewhere, Kaede had to tend to him. Onigumo told Kaede how he wanted to see Kikyou with a panicked expression on her face, and obviously had other base desires for her sister within him. His feelings got stronger and stronger until they attracted a large amount of demons for which he said they could eat his soul in order for him to have a body and the power to make Kikyou his. Thus, Naraku was born.

Kikyou knew nothing of this, as she was with Inuyasha. At this time, she was telling Inuyasha of her plan to get rid of the Shikon no Tama. If he used it in order to become human, the jewel would disappear and she would be able to become a normal woman. Inuyasha does not say anything for a while but then decides he wants to become human and live the rest of his life with Kikyou. They agree to meet at the time tree the next morning in order to use the jewel to make him human.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned, as Kikyou ended up being late. Inuyasha was nowhere in sight, so she decided to go and look for him. While taking out the little shell of lipstick to put some on, Naraku came up behind her disguised as Inuyasha and fatally wounded her right shoulder. He taunted her, saying that he never planned on becoming human and just wanted to steal the jewel. Kikyou, completely heartbroken, manages to get back to the village where the real Inuyasha, who was also tricked into thinking Kikyou betrayed him by Naraku, was in the process of stealing the Shikon no Tama. She used the last of her strength to seal him to the tree he was in front of, causing Inuyasha to fall into an eternal sleep. She slowly made her way to the fallen jewel and wondered how this all could have happened. Kaede and the villagers run to her side and she knows that she will not live. She tells Kaede to burn the jewel with her body so it could never fall into the wrong hands again. With that said, Kikyou follows Inuyasha in death.

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