Meetings
Although fans have the right to come up with whatever their creative little minds allow them to, match-making two characters that haven’t even met in canon would be somewhat loony. It would be no different for the pairing we adore so much, so that’s why I now present you with short descriptions of the times Sesshoumaru and Kikyou have run into each other, be it in the manga, anime or even the movies. ^^
Manga:
Kikyou met both, Sesshoumaru and Rin, in volume 27, chapter 263 – “Suikotsu’s Recollection”, as she made her way to the top of Mountain Hakureizan. Sesshoumaru was caught up in a fight against the ever-so-‘happy’ Jakotsu, and amazingly, he was having quite a hard time, for the only way to defeat his enemy was taking out the shikon shard he had in his dead body, but of course, the taiyoukai did not have the power to see the fragment. Meanwhile, Suikotsu, in his evil form, had captured Rin, threatening to slit through her throat with his sharp claw-like weapon and, just when he is about to kill her, a hama-no-ya (purifying arrow) comes flying towards him, digging through his throat. Kikyou then walks up to Suikotsu, who now seems to have returned to his kind form, thanks to the miko’s arrow. He then recollects his dark past and all the people he has killed, and asks Kikyou to take the shikon shard out of his throat, so that he could finally rest in peace. Rather amazed that he had chosen death, Kikyou reaches out to the shard, but before she could extract it from his body, Jakotsu strikes his neck with his sword and runs off, taking the shard along. After Suikotsu returns to dust and bones, Rin shyly approaches and thanks the miko for saving her life, then she notices Sesshoumaru is taking his leave and runs after him, waving a quick goodbye to Kikyou. Kikyou also decides to leave before her souls got used up and she couldn’t move, and just when she’s walking back to her horse, Sesshoumaru glances at her from the corner of his eyes and states to himself that she was also dead and that she smelled of dirt and bones, wondering if she was the same miko who sealed Inuyasha to the God Tree.
Anime:
In the anime, their brief and quite turbulent meeting happens on episode 116, “The Real Face Exposed”, which portrays rather faithfully the manga events, with a few different details. For instance, in the anime, Suikotsu’s dim memories are much more detailed, and a whole lot more gory, might I add. Also, Sesshoumaru gets an extra line (referring to Kikyou, by the way!) : when he’s glancing back at her and speculating whether she really is the miko who pinned his half-brother to the Goshinboku, he also wonders if “they (Suikotsu and Jakotsu) have shown her her own destiny…” Then Rin approaches him, calling out “Sesshoumaru-sama…?” and he finally snaps out of his musings, warning her that they’re going. The little girl then happily replies ‘Hai!” and nods, following her fatherly figure.
Movie:
As usual, their encounter in Inuyasha the Movie: Toki wo Koeru Omoi – Inuyasha: Love that Transcends Time (2001), is rather short, but worth describing. After pushing Kagome into the Bone Eater’s well, thus forcing her to go back to her own time, Kikyou is standing near a cliff and suddenly feels someone coming closer. She merely glances back at the person from the corner of her eyes, not even moving her head in the slightest, and acknowledges Sesshoumaru’s presence.
“I’m going to see Inuyasha.” She states, in a somewhat warning voice.
“Do you really hate her that much? That Kagome girl…” The taiyoukai questions her, not having ignored her previous remark, though. “Or are you just testing her powers?”
“I hate everything. Everything in time. Everything living.” A hint of distress slips through her words, her once firm and emotionless stare now trembling with anger.
“Do what you want. However, I’ll be the one to kill Inuyasha.” He warns in return to her previous notification, then turns on his heels and walks off.
“Sesshoumaru-sama…” Jaken comes out of the bushes he was hiding behind along with Rin. “Are you really sure about letting that girl live..?”
“Jaken, can’t you see?” Sesshoumaru looks slightly behind. “She is going to die…”
“What? What does that mean?” A very surprised and quite confused Rin inquires. “What does that mean, Sesshoumaru-sama??”
“Shut up, Rin!” Jaken commands, an annoyed vein popping up on his head.
“Rin is not talking to you!” She then bops the toad-like youkai in the head and runs to the demon lord. “Wait for me, Sesshoumaru-sama!”
Manga/Anime nearly meeting:
In episode 124 “Farewell, Beloved Kikyou” and manga volume 29, chapters 281 “New Body” and 282 “Kikyou’s Life” , Sesshoumaru and Kikyou don’t actually get to meet, but the scenes kinda involve them, so I have classified them as a ‘nearly meeting’.
Kikyou has finally made it to the top of Mountain Hakurei, where Naraku was waiting for her with a not-so-pleasant surprise; he had gotten a new, stronger body, and what’s worse, had rid himself of his human heart, the heart that cared for Kikyou and kept him from putting an end to her existence. He then extends one of his tentacles and strikes Kikyou on her shoulder, causing it to fissure (Yes, people, fissure… Her body is made of clay, remember..? u.u; ) and letting her dead souls escape through the hole. Kikyou realizes he no longer had Onigumo’s heart inside him and seemingly surrenders, for there was nothing she could do at that moment…that critical moment when Naraku once again strikes her, this time right across her chest, pushing her downwards a miasma/shouki river. (I’ll be skipping Kikyou’s thoughts during her fall, for the sake of diehard Sessh/Kiky fans, Inu/Kiky haters – and that means you, Shia.. >>;; )
And so Naraku is smirking triumphantly, celebrating his victory over Kikyou, when Sesshoumaru arrives (kinda late, you baka -.-; ) and says something like “Simply to finish off just one woman, you sure were cautious, eh, Naraku...”, then Naraku gets Sesshoumaru pissed off for addressing him without a title (such as –san or –sama), and the taiyoukai draws out Toukijin and slashes through Naraku with it; his attack was useless, though, and Naraku sends the power of his sword back to him, in a blast of energy. Sesshoumaru manages to block it with Toukijin, but is pushed back, not being able to stand his ground against the attack, and finally leaps out of the blast’s way and slashes through Naraku once more, but he regenerates and, as usual, flees from the scene, calling Sesshoumaru a fool and warning that he could not die.
Inuyasha finally arrives at the place (also too late, baka! *thwacks* ), asking his brother what had happened there. Sesshoumaru merely answers that “It seems like Naraku wanted to kill that woman much more than killing you.”, giving a side-look towards Kikyou’s broken bow, laying near the fissure in which Kikyou was pushed into. The hanyou then runs and grabs the miko’s weapon, spotting a Shinidama-Chuu floating over the miasma river. Jaken then remarks “This is terrible shouki… There’s no way that woman survived…” and Sesshoumaru turns to leave, but Inuyasha tells him to wait, causing the taiyoukai to pause and look back at his half-brother. Inuyasha asks him if he had just watched it happen, and Sesshoumaru once again turns on his heels and walks off, then Inuyasha gets mad and shouts “I said wait!”. Sesshoumaru says “I do not want to know what your connection with that woman was…”, then he takes a pause and glances back at Inuyasha, saying “But Naraku was the one who killed Kikyou.”. Inuyasha looks really frustrated at this point and Sesshoumaru goes on “Besides… the who wasn’t able to save her, Inuyasha, was you.” He then resumes his departure, telling Inuyasha that “if he had time to snarl, he’d make better use of it by going after Naraku”, and vanishes among the dense mist, to the sound of “Sotsugyou Sayonara Ha Asita No Tame”.
These are all the times our favorite miko and taiyoukai have met so far... Quite few, I know, but hey, we can always hope to see some more! ^_^