Chapter Text
After hearing the news that the Sacred Jewel fragments are scattered across the land, Urasue wanted to obtain all the jewel shards for her own. The ogre demon used her knowledge of necromancy to revive the Guardian of the Sacred Jewel. With the clay priestess under her control, Urasue will have Kikyo gather the jewel shards for her. Urasue stole Kikyo’s ashes and sacred bones to create her clay body, but she needed Kikyo’s soul, which had been reincarnated within half a century of her death. Fortunately, the demon sorceress found the priestess's soul in her reincarnation.
Upon her revival, filled with distress and wrath, Kikyo kills the ogress that tries to control her. She was going to kill Inuyasha for his betrayal 50 years ago, but Kikyo feels her soul being ripped away from her back to the odd-looking girl who is her reincarnation. Kikyo quickly walks away from the area to the mountainside. But in her haste and weakened state, Kikyo slips off the cliff. Before she could fall to her death, Inuyasha leans down the cliff to grab her hand in time. Inuyasha looks at his past love who betrayed him. He feels no hatred or anger towards her that he once had when he woke from Kikyo’s sealing arrow. He only feels sadness and regrets.
“Return to Kagome,” says Inuyasha pleading softly to Kikyo to rest her soul with her reincarnation.
“If I return to that girl, I will no longer be myself. Inuyasha…is that what you desire?” asks Kikyo shocked and hurt.
Overcome with hatred and contempt towards the half-demon that wished for her death twice, Kikyo glares at him, yelling, “I will never die until your death is mine!”
Kikyo focuses on what spiritual powers she has as she purifies Inuyasha’s hands enough to let her go. Until she gets her revenge, she will not die. Falling down the cliff and into the river, the impact causes Kikyo to fall unconscious as her body drifts somewhere downstream.
In an area where the river flow lessens, Kikyo’s body moves against a rock near the shore. Regaining consciousness, Kikyo struggles to open her eyes. She sees the rock she rested on and moves to lift the rest of her body out of the water and onto the large stone. Lying on her back, Kikyo looks up to the bright blue sky.
“I am…alive?” she whispers out.
The sun's warmth does not warm her skin and the wetness of her clothes on her body she cannot feel either.
Kikyo closes her eyes once more as she thinks to herself, 'I am not alive for I cannot feel the sunlight on this clay body. An imitation of what once was. I did not want to come back to this life, but I do not want to die.’
Kikyo opens her eyes to look around her and sees the beautiful forest surrounding her, but she finds no tranquility in its beauty.
‘How can I rest in peace knowing that Inuyasha is alive? The hatred for him fuels this body,' Kikyo thinks as she clenches her fists tightly for a few minutes and then she releases them sighing as she closes her eyes once more.
Continuing her thoughts, ‘The regrets of his betrayal and the sadness of my tragedy fill this body.’
As the sun begins to set, Kikyo opens her eyes again after her long contemplation.
She gets up and walks as steadily as she can in this weakened clay body forward through the forest.
She says aloud with resolve to herself and to this world that had changed without her, “I will use this rebirth to find my peace.”
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Kikyo finds herself in a small village and walks to talk to a villager. The villager greets her kindly and asks if she is a priestess.
Kikyo pauses and asks, “Why do you ask?”
The villager says, “That is the garments of a priestess, correct?”
Responding with a question, Kikyo asks, “Can one not wear such and not be a priestess?”
The villager says unsure, “I suppose anyone could disguise themselves with clothes that represent their titles and stature, but …”
Kikyo wonders about the hesitation and questions, “Does this village seek a priestess, and if so, what for?"
The villager replies, “We don’t have much skill in medicine or mysticism here. We are but a small village that fishes and farms.”
Kikyo observes this village and finds that the village is small and simple. There were no demonic energies in this area, but there were many elders and children. Both are prone to illness and fragility. Understanding that this village needs a healer or a doctor who can care for the sick or injured, Kikyo thinks to herself maybe she can be what she wants to be in this undead life of hers.
Kikyo smiles and replies sincerely, “I am a healer. If I may kindly reside in this village, I will do my part to help heal the sick and injured. I will aid this village.”
This village will be a safe place where Kikyo may live the ordinary life that she once dreamed of even if…it was without Inuyasha.
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Kikyo lived in this village for three nights, but she already made a place for herself in it. She would help the elderly women in the morning preparing food or household supplies, in the afternoon she would watch and teach the children in the fields not too far from the village about medicinal herbs, and in the evening she would tend to the injuries from the villagers' labor work or provide sutra to ease their worries.
But on the fourth night, she found herself so weak that her body could barely move and her spiritual power waned. Kikyo reminds herself angrily that she is dead and that this clay body of hers needs sustenance. If she wants to continue helping the villagers, she will need to consume souls. Unsure what to do but knowing she needs to get as far away from the village, Kikyo struggles to get herself up and out of the hut to the spot where she first arrived.
Laying on the rocks looking up at the dark sky, Kikyo sadly thinks to herself, 'I have but the last piece of my soul that came from that girl. Even that piece would leave me soon enough. Why have I been resurrected only to see what I can never have and then left to die once more?'
The sounds of river water and the rustling of leaves fill the atmosphere of the forest. Kikyo contemplates how this would be a nice resting place if she chose to let herself rest in peace, but she concludes that she held too many unresolved emotions to truly pass on.
Staring at the starry night, Kikyo wonders, ‘How can I rest in peace knowing that I still have left so much undone? I have not avenged my death by bringing Inuyasha to his death. Also, the Sacred Jewel has returned to this world as shards scattered across this land. My wants are unfulfilled and my duty incomplete.’
Gathering her determination and strength, Kikyo says with conviction to the night, “I will not leave this place yet.”
Kikyo closes her eyes and focuses on what spiritual powers she has left as she locates what she seeks. The forest lit up in lights as long eel-like insects appeared holding glowing orbs. The creatures drop what they held onto Kikyo’s body. As the souls are absorbed into her body, the light from the souls dissipates, but the eel-like insects continue to encircle her.
Opening her eyes, Kikyo sees the creatures still surround and illuminate the forest in their eerie glow. Kikyo filled with vitality stands and holds out a hand to the eel-like insects. One of them lands on her hand as another lands on her shoulder like docile pets that listen to their masters' calls and orders.
Kikyo looks at the creature in her hands and says aloud to it, “Shinidamachū. The soul collectors of the Netherworld and beyond. My soul you cannot take for I bind you to me with my spiritual powers to do as I command. I extend my powers to you as you collect the souls that I need to animate this clay body. There is much I have to do before my second death.”
All the soul collectors around her begin to shimmer. The glow becomes brighter and the color of their scales which were originally like that of the night sky change shades to that of the palest blue color.
With her silent command, they leave her body and encircle her once more before fading into the night. Kikyo contemplates the pact that she made with the demon creatures and wonders about the purity of her soul.
Walking out of the forest back to the village, Kikyo thinks with determination, ‘I will do what I must.’