A Mother's Pain

Despite discovering that she can return home through the well as long as she has a Shikon no Tama shard, Kagome decides to stay in the Feudal age and help Inuyasha collect jewel fragments. In an earlier battle, Inuyasha had sustained heavy injuries. When she tries to get him to let her tend the wounds, he refuses, which leads her forcing him to sit so she can help him. As it turns out, her effort is unnecessary because his wounds were already healed. As a half demon, he is able to heal quicker then regular humans.

Before they can continue their search for jewel shards, Myoga, a flea and Inuyasha's cowardly vassal, finds them and reports that men are trying to violate the tomb of Inuyasha's father. Kaede observes that Inuyasha's father was a great dog demon who ruled the western regions, but Inuyasha claims to not remember much about him. Curious, Kagome asks about his mother, and Myoga observes that she was very beautiful. This appears to be a sore subject for Inuyasha and he storms out of the hut after squishing Myoga. After a moment she finds the tree which he is sitting in and wonders if he hates his mother for being human, thus making him a half demon. She thinks about her own mother packing a first-aid kit so Kagome could tend to Inuyasha's wounds. She wonders if Inuyasha really hates his mother.

While she is considering all of this, an ominous wind blows and Inuyasha leaps down, forces Kagome's face into the ground, and tells her that something is coming. Suddenly a nobel's cart appears in front of the moon with several small demons guarding it. Inside there is a lady whom Inuyasha recognizes as his mother. The woman calls out to Inuyasha, but Kagome is confused because she thought his mother was dead. Suddenly a giant demon grabs the cart and smashes it in his enormous hand. Inuyasha leaps into the air to save her, but he is pushed back by a blast of fire which was emitting from the staff the little imp demon carries. Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha's half brother, and Jaken, his impish vassal, stand on the giant monster's shoulder.

Kagome is surprised to learn that the demon before them is Inuyasha's brother, but her comment draws the full demon's attention. He is disgusted to see his brother with a mortal girl, but not surprised since Inuyasha is a half demon, and thus may as well be human himself. He pulls the chain that binds Inuyasha's mother until she winces in pain. Inuyasha asks him if that is what he came there to tell him, but Sesshoumaru has other business. He wants to know the location of their father's tomb. "Visible, but invisible… The true protector of the grave cannot see it." (InuSec 5) Inuyasha does understand the riddle, but insists that he would not tell Sesshoumaru even if he did. As punishment, Sesshoumaru forces his giant demon to tighten his grip on the cart, hurting Inuyasha's mother.

Determined not to be tricked, Inuyasha insists that his mother is dead so the woman in the cart cannot be his mother. Jaken mocks him, insisting that Sesshoumaru is able to bring back the dead and how moritifing it must be to be the mother of such an ignorant son. The woman cries out that she is his mother and is back from the dead. Inuyasha attacks the hand of the giant demon that was holding his mother so she falls to the ground. Kagome runs to her, asking if she is all right, and Inuyasha tells her to take his mother and run for safety. Angered, Sesshoumaru has his demon attack the woman with his other hand, but Inuyasha takes the attack instead. Shocked, his mother holds out a glowing orb which envelops her along with Inuyasha and Kagome.

The three of them appear in a beautiful garden near a placid pound, though Inuyasha and Kagome are unconscious. Inuyasha awakes, looks around, and inquires about his present surroundings. His mother tells him that it is the border the spirit world, and that she must now return. She notes that he has grown since she was alive, and Inuyasha bitterly replies that he was only a small child when she died. She expresses sorrow for leaving him in a violent, terrible world all alone, but he responds by telling her that it was not her fault. As they talk, Kagome wakes up, but finds that she cannot move. She sees Inuyasha and his mother's reflection, but realizes that the mother has no face. She tries to warn Inuyasha, but she cannot seem to speak either. Desperately, she silently begs him to notice but he is too deep within the spell. The faceless mother tells him that she must return to the underworld-a thought that saddens Inuyasha. She creates a vision on the surface of the water of Inuyasha as a child and his mother, reminding him of their life together. She holds out her arms and embraces him, but she begins to absorb him.

While this is happening, the little imps from the noble's cart pull chains around Kagome's body. In an attempt to save her, Myouga tries to wake her up, but instead decides to snack on her blood. The bite wakes her up and she thanks him while giving him a good smack. Meanwhile, the false mother is absorbing Inuyasha, repeating, "My son. My son." Jaken demands that she get the information about the tomb out of him before she does anything else. All Inuyasha is able to say is that it is a black pearl in the right, which is not enough information to make Jaken happy. While he is distracted, Kagome stomps him and steals his staff. Desperate to do something quickly before Inuyasha sinks any deeper into the false mother, she sees the reflection of the mother and a young Inuyasha on the surface of the water. She disrupts the spell by using the staff to break the surface of the water and distort the reflection.

The trick works and Inuyasha regains consciousness. Still, Sesshoumaru was able to figure out the riddle based on the information the false mother got out of Inuyasha. The tomb was in a small black pearl in Inuyasha's right eye which the older brother easily plucked out. Angry that Sesshoumaru would use his mother, Inuyasha attacks his brother who, in turn attacks him. Although able to dodge the bulk of the attack, Inuyasha finally takes a hit and falls to the ground. Sesshoumaru tries to kill his wounded brother, but the false mother takes the hit instead and falls to pieces. Although she was demon created out of the sorrow of mothers losing their children, she still was a mother who desired to protect her child.