Kikyou died at a young age, but she was not able to rest in peace. A while after Inuyasha was set free from his cursed sleep by Kikyou's reincarnation, Kagome, a witch by the name of Urasue decided to bring Kikyou back. Kagome, a normal girl from the present era, had been pulled into a well and taken back into time, fifty years after Kikyou's death. Inside her had been the Shikon no Tama, the sacred jewel Kikyou had died to protect. During a battle with a youkai, Kagome accidentally shattered the jewel into many pieces.

Late one night, a youkai, by the name of Urasue, attacks the village where Kikyou had lived and steals Kikyou?s ashes and some of the soil from her grave site. Kaede (Kikyou's younger sister who is now quite old) fights bravely to protect the sanctity of her sister's grave, but the youkai witch is too strong for her and Kaede is badly injured.

Inuyasha, who is away looking for shards of the Shikon no Tama with Kagome, smells Kaede's blood and sees the witch fly across the moon. Concerned about Kaede's safety, he and his companions make their way back to the village. They find her alive, but injured and trying to go after the demon that attacked her. Inuyasha is reluctant to go after the ashes of his "enemy" but when Kaede insists that she is going to fight the demon, he decides to go as well to keep Kaede from getting killed.

While this is happening, Urasue is busy with her twisted plan. She desires the fragments of the Shikon no Tama and she needs someone strong to take the pieces away from the demons that already possess them. To accomplish this, Urasue chose the person who had originally protected the jewel--the priestess Kikyou. She uses grave soil, ashes, and clay to bring people back from the dead to do her bidding, and now she believes she has all she needs to bring back Kikyou from the dead.

She takes her stolen prizes back to a mountain cave and begins her evil task. She uses the soil and ashes to recreate Kikyou's body in her demon kiln, but when she tries to get her creation to walk, she collapses on the ground. Urasue grabs her furiously by the hair and realized that had not returned to the body. The soul was already reincarnated, so the body would do her no good. At that moment, Kagome shouted out Inuyasha's name, and Kikyou's body responded on its own. The soul of the dead priestess is near, and soon Kikyou will be resurrected.

Urasue uses an army of clay soldiers to attack Inuyasha's group, and, while everyone is distracted, she grabs Kagome and brings her back the mountain where Kikyou's body, with at least enough conciousness to walk around in her priestess uniform, is waiting. She places Kagome in a bath of herbs with the purpose of forcing her soul out and into Kikyou's body, but Kagome's will to live is strong, and she has the help of sacred jewel shards. When Urasue tries to take the jewels, she is forced back by a glowing light. The youkai witch observes that Kikyou's soul is extremely angry and must have faced something terrible in her past life.

At that moment, Inuyasha, Shippou, and Kaede arrive on the scene and are shocked to see Kikyou. Her spirit, still inside Kagome's body, pleads, "Don't call my name," but Inuyasha cannot hear her and whispers, "Kikyou." Kagome's heart skips a beat which is enough for the potion to cut through her defenses and her soul flies out in large white orbs into Kikyou's clay body. The tragic priestess is resurrected, and Kagome lies in the tub, a soulless husk.

Believing she has won, Urasue brags that she is now Kikyou's birth mother, having brought her back from the dead, and the priestess will obey her every command. Instead, Kikyou grabs her shoulders and blasts her with a powerful light. The witch, shocked and confused, falls to the ground burning. Kikyou has more important things to do than acting as a servant to an old demon witch--she must kill the man who betrayed her.

She asks Inuyasha why he is still alive, even though she sealed him to a tree before she died. He bitterly replies that he is doing fine, which she responds to by calling him hateful. A red slash glows on her shoulder, and suddenly her fatal wound reappears--a wound she accuses Inuyasha of creating when he betrayed her. Shocked, Inuyasha replies that he has no memory of attacking Kikyou, much less fatally wounding her.

Kikyou, indigniate tells the story of bring the sacred jewel to him so he could become full human and live with her. While she was waiting for Inuyasha, he attacked her from behind, creating the large gashes in her shoulder with his claws. With a wicked smile on his face, he stole the sacred jewel and taunted her for believing that he would ever want to be a full human. At that moment she knew she had been a fool--he had never loved her. Of course Inuyasha did steal the Shikon no Tama, but he stole it from the temple. How could there be two completely different versions of the events leading to Kikyou's death and Inuyasha's imprisonment?

Kikyou is not prepared to believe the lying hanyou again--she has learned her lesson. She goes over to him, takes his arm, and gives him a painful shock with her power. Kaede tries to protect Inuyasha by convincing Kikyou to stop, but the priestess will not tolerate anyone who has sympathy for such a foul beast. Kaede cannot bear to see her sister so twisted with hate and she tells Inuyasha to destroy counterfeit Kikyou so Kagome can be revived. Kikyou replies that her spirit will not return to the girl as long as Inuyasha is still alive. She takes the old woman's bow and arrow and fires a killing shot at Inuyasha. He blocks it with his sword, the Tessaiga, but the arrow is still too powerful and it begins to pierce his chest. He cries out in pain and Kagome suddenly responds, summoning her soul back from Kikyou. The arrow disappears and Kagome is revived.

Kikyou, angry that she was unable to get her revenge, but scared that her reincarnation will take back the last bit of her soul leaving her a husk again, walks away on unsteady feet. Inuyasha looks confused and Urasue, now little more than a pile of ashes, explains that most of the soul has left Kikyou, but that her deep hatred for Inuyasha has soaked into the ashes and grave soil allowing her to exist as a sort of demon bent on destroying him. Laughing, her ashes are scattered by the wind.

Inuyasha runs after his lost love. She falls, almost sliding off the mountain, but he catches her arm just in time. Instead of accepting his help, she uses her power to make one last effort at killing him saying that she will take him with her. He tries to hold on, but she falls into the mountain mist. Inuyasha believes she is dead once more, but she continues to wander around as a priestess, trying to sustain what life she has left--plotting to drag her love to hell with her.

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