MMagatsuhi
You tried- but in the end, it wasn't enough.
MMagatsuhi
How dare you?!
Naraku's body, is it? (draws and swings Bakusaiga) Bakusaiga!
Kohaku! (she catches him)
You're safe- are you hurt at all?
Kagome
(observing the disintegrating tentacles) Amazing!
Looks like a body that's been cut by Bakusaiga can never be used again!
It ends here, Magatsuhi. Rather than face me, you chose to use Byakuya of the Dreams so you could elude me. Are you really that fearful of Tenseiga?
Kagome
(thinking) Tenseiga is the only sword that can cut through Magatsuhi! And if Magatsuhi is destroyed, my sealed spiritual power will finally be released!
MMagatsuhi!
Hah! If you could destroy me with Tenseiga, you would have done it with your first stroke.
Oh, it's not that I couldn't destroy you; I merely chose not to.
I wanted you to see my face. (raises Tenseiga) That way, you would know it was me who was killing you. Tenseiga!
MMagatsuhi
DAMN YOU! DON'T THINK THAT THIS IS THE END! I AM INDESTRUCTIBLE, AND I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!
(enraged) Where's Naraku hiding?! Find him for me, Kagome!
Kagome
(thinking) I see it- Naraku's blackened Shikon Jewel! I'll use my Sacred Arrow- it may be powerless right now, but it can still show Inuyasha the way! (she fires at the clouds)
(draws Tetsusaiga) Over there? Meido Zangetsuha!
(unseen, laughing) You let your guard down!
Inuyasha, perhaps now you realize how weak you are. Despite your efforts, you couldn't save your dear Kohaku. But you must be used to it by now; you didn't fare much better when you tried to save Kikyo. That's right, Kikyo's light has died. And as for Kohaku's shard, it has now been fully defiled. (vanishes)
Kagome
(thinking) It's true- Kikyo's speck of light in the Shikon Jewel has disappeared!
(punches his fist into the ground) Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Kagome
Inuyasha... (tearful, thinking) I'm sorry, Sango. I'm sorry, Kohaku!
Kagome
Kokahu?!
Kagome
When Naraku took it, Kikyo's light must have left the shard and stayed in Kohaku!
Kagome
(thinking) Kikyo saved him. In the end, she must have decided it was more important to save Kohaku's life than to destroy Naraku!
(tearfully embracing her brother) Kohaku! I'm so glad.
(also tearful) Me too, Sister.
Kagome
(thinking, grimly) The fight against Naraku has been left to us. It's time to finish it!
Kagome
Poor Shippo. it must be hard to have been left behind. [Inuyasha scoffs]
That was quite unexpected, hearing Inuyasha sound so sensitive.
(smiles mockingly) Indeed- all that stuff about "If we don't come back?"...
I had to say that, or Shippo never would've agreed to it!
Kagome
[laughs] Why bother, if you were just gonna punch him?
You're right! I should've just knocked him unconscious to begin with.
Kagome
(dryly) That wasn't my point. But this is going to be dangerous. My spiritual power is still sealed by Magatsuhi, and who knows when it'll come back?
Well, it won't happen until Sesshomaru uses Tenseiga to finish off Magatsuhi.
(contemptuously) You've transformed, Naraku... but you're still just a spider, to be stepped on. [several demons approach him, but Sesshomaru draws Bakusaiga and swings it, obliterating them] BAKUSAIGA!
[appearing] I must admit, that new sword of yours is really something.
One swing in a demon's direction leaves a crumbling corpse- and, if that corpse is re-absorbed by the main body, it too will crumble. Naraku won't have a chance, even in his new form- so, by all means, swing away.
Or, are you worried about your little companion? As you may have guessed, she's there. Inside Naraku.
Kagome
It's him!
Naraku! (he draws Tetsusaiga and cleaves Naraku in half, but Naraku just laughs as his severed head spews miasma)
You finally made it inside. I've been waiting for you.
Will you destroy me from the inside? Start where you like. (his face emerges from a wall) Everything around you is me!
Don't tell me you didn't notice? The fact is, you and your companions have been exposed to my miasma ever since you entered my body. Yet, curiously, none of you have died. Do you know why? It is because the Shikon Jewel desires your souls.
Dammit! Kagome, where's the Jewel?
Kagome
Huh? That way! (she and Inuyasha run down a tunnel)
We're better off trying to find the Jewel than trying to re-group with Miroku and Sango!
Kagome
(stops) Huh? Inuyasha?
(his eye appears from the wall) Don't look so surprised. Surely, you must have realized what it would mean to approach the Shikon Jewel after I defiled it. Inuyasha is but a weak half-demon; it seems his spirit has been consumed by the Jewel's poison.
Kagome
Hey, snap out of it!
What's wrong, Kagome? All you need to do is calm him down and purify him. (Kagome runs, Naraku chuckles coldly) But you can't, can you? Not as long as your spiritual power remains sealed by Magatsuhi. (Inuyasha pursues her) You cannot escape! The demon form of Inuyasha will not rest until he's ripped your body to shreds.
I shall give you a present. (an arrow forms in the air before her) An arrow that's been completely covered in my miasma. If you use it on Inuyasha, your life will be spared.
Kagome
(angrily) Do you think I'm that stupid, Naraku?! You could never get me to hurt Inuyasha- and he would never hurt me!
You think he's not capable of it? You will soon understand. History will repeat itself, Kagome. Like Kikyo, you too, will be slain by Inuyasha.
Kagome
(as she falls) Inuyasha...
(laughs) Poor, foolish girl...
(laughs coldly as his body reassembles) The power of darkness feeds off the monk and Sango's sorrow!
Ironic, isn't it? the stronger their love is for each other, the greater their despair. The monk and Sango will soon be no more; they have chosen to die together. Even now, they wait for his Wind Tunnel to swallow them both. Do you understand, Inuyasha? The two of them will soon be consumed by the darkness of the Shikon Jewel!
(draws Tetsusaiga) I'm not gonna let that happen, Naraku! I'll defeat you here and now, and lift the curse of the Wind Tunnel for good! (Tetsusaiga's blade turns black) Meido Zangetsuha!
KKaagome
(to herself) Naraku is joining with the Shikon Jewel!
(shocked) He's not being sucked into it!
Kagome
Is that the power of the Jewel? (Naraku's face cracks with the strain of resisting the Meido, but he is left intact)
All those years ago, the Sacred Jewel was supposed to have burned with Kikyo's corpse, and been obliterated from this world. Even so, the Shikon Jewel used Kikyo's lingering affections for Inuyasha, as well as Kagome's, her own reincarnation, to return to this world. Shattered but not destroyed, the Jewel continued to bring new disaster as it slowly but surely reassembled. The Shikon Jewel will never disappear from this world. Even if I am destroyed, it will live on.
Kagome
Naraku...What were... what were you even trying to accomplish?
Huh? (thinking) Kagome...
Kagome
The whole time you've been fighting against us, it's always the same thing, over and over again! First you tore Kikyo and Inuyasha apart, forced Sango and Kohaku to fight against each other- and now, you're trying to use the love between Miroku and Sango to destroy them! You can't stand love and friendship, so you've devoted your entire life trying to break people apart! But why? Is that all you really wanted?
(scoffs)...Why ask me now?
Kagome
You couldn't have done any of those things without understanding the human heart. The pain of loss wouldn't mean anything to you if you didn't know what it felt like to have a bond with someone!
Inuyasha (thinking) Kagome, what are you doing?
Kagome
Nothing will ever satisfy you, because the Shikon Jewel didn't grant your real wish!
Kagome
You were hesitating, weren't you? Because you know that the Shikon Jewel turns every body that it absorbs into a true monster.
Naraku (thinking) My hesitation...
Kagome
You have a complete Shikon Jewel in your hands, and yet we both know you still haven't tried to absorb it!
(enraged) That changes nothing. Are you so naive that you think you can purify my heart with empty words?! Well, you were sadly MISTAKEN! (counterattacks)
Give it up, Naraku! It's all over!
So it would seem. (his face cracks again) However, Inuyasha, I'm afraid that there is still one thing that not even your Tetsusaiga- or Sesshomaru's Bakusaiga- can cut.
What?! Why don't you just admit that you've lost?! (Naraku chuckles coldly)
Kagome
Your soul? Is that what you're talking about? I'm pretty sure that's why I'm here! I'm here to purify your soul, Naraku!
(smiles, thinking) Give it your best shot, Kagome. This will end with a battle between souls!
(enraged) Bastard! (he fires off a Meido Zangetsuha at Byakuya)
(as he disintegrates into the Meido) I am but an incarnation of Naraku, who will die when he does. I have no regrets; I have fulfilled my role.
Kagome! (he turns into his balloon form and flies under Inuyasha and Kagome, allowing them to land on him)
Kagome
Shippo!
(irritably) A thanks would be nice- I came to help you guys!
Wind Tunnel! (he begins sucking in the miasma projectiles Naraku is hurling at them)
(shocked and worried) Miroku!
It's okay, I'm fine now! The curse of the Wind Tunnel is already fading!
(thinking) I'm so glad that Sister is safe.
(triumphantly) Bakusaiga's destruction is spreading! I knew Lord Sesshomaru would be the one to defeat Naraku!
(staring down at all of them, contemptuously) ...So, you're all here. (sneers) You and your worthless group of so-called "friends."
(firmly) Yeah... all of us. Everyone survived.
(as he is dying above the Bone-Eater's Well) At that very moment... I made a final wish upon the Shikon Jewel.
Kagome
"That moment"?
The moment Byakuya of the Dreams cut through you with his blade.
Hang on! She was cut by Byakuya?
That wish shall be granted when I die... though, it was not my wish to begin with. The Shikon Jewel forced me to make its wish. In the end... I was but its instrument.
Kagome
Where am I!? What did you do to me!?
SJThe Sacred Jewel
Kagome, you are where you've been all along.
Kagome
That's impossible! I was at home and going to high school!
SJThe Sacred Jewel
That was an illusion, nothing more. It was glimpse of the future you might have had. Do you wish to return to that world? It's not too late. Wish upon the Shikon Jewel and what you saw shall be yours once more. That or do nothing and you shall spend the rest of eternity here, alone in the darkness.
The Sacred Jewel (in a soft and low male voice): Do you wish to see Inuyasha? Answer me, Kagome. Do you wish to see him?
Kagome
Just like Kikyo. She wished to see Inuyasha again. And even Naraku. I'm sure his wish was a modest one, too. What they didn't know was that the Shikon Jewel never grants your real wish.
SJThe Sacred Jewel
Then what will you do?
Kagome
If Inuyasha hadn't come, I would have given in my fear of the darkness and would never have found the correct answer. But now, with Inuyasha by my side, I am not afraid anymore. Shikon Jewel, disappear! Forever!
(The Jewel breaks, emanating a soft yellow light. The spirits of the demons' vanish, and the spirit of the priestess Midoriko, now free to pass on to the afterlife. In the spiderweb, Naraku's eyes open.)
... So, this is how it feels, to be at peace... It feels so warm. (vanishes as he is purified)
Kagome
It's over.
(embraces her) Yeah. It's finally over.