Kikyō's History
Little has been revealed about Kikyō's childhood, aside from the fact she was born in Japan during the Feudal Era. Her parents died sometime after her younger sister Kaede was born. At some point in her youth, Kikyō decided to pursue an occupational role as a priestess and looked after Kaede, who also trained to become a priestess. As part of their training, Kikyō and Kaede wandered the countryside and slew many demons. During their travels, Kikyō and Kaede encountered Tsubaki, a woman who would later become a dark priestess, and briefly fought against demons together. When they parted ways, Tsubaki put a curse on Kikyō so that should she ever fall in love, she would inevitably die a violent death. While Kikyō was well aware of Priestess Tsubaki's curse, she was not unsettled by it because she believed she would never fall in love.[Note 1]
Upon returning to their village, one of the villagers revealed to Kikyō that a demon slayer had come in search of her that morning. The demon slayer returned that night with his fellow slayers and entrusted her with the task of purifying the Jewel of Four Souls, much to Tsubaki's dismay. After Kikyō took custody of the Sacred Jewel, she dedicated her life to guarding and protecting it from the wicked humans and demons who sought it for their own selfish means. However, her duty as the Jewel's protector also meant that she could not show any signs of weakness, lest demons or evil men should take advantage of her, thus she was unable to enjoy the ordinary pleasures of her youth (e.g. burning perfume incense, coloring her lips and cheeks, etc.).
One night during a new moon, Kikyō unknowingly encountered Inuyasha shortly after a strenuous battle to protect the Jewel. Soon after passing out from exhaustion, she was aided by her sister and several villagers. She was pleased that Inuyasha, who remained unseen, did not kill her. Eventually, Inuyasha made himself known to Kikyō and attempted to steal the Shikon Jewel. Kikyō sensed that Inuyasha was just a half-demon, deduced he wanted the Jewel to become a full-blooded demon, and ultimately decided to spare his life. Inuyasha noted Kikyō reeked of the stench of demon blood before they parted company, thus she began to cleanse herself daily to rid herself of this odor. Later, Inuyasha made a second attempt on the Sacred Jewel and Kikyō easily subdued him again, but not before learning his name. Kikyō, feeling a great sense of empathy towards Inuyasha, spared his life once more and warned him against his pursuit for the Sacred Jewel.
After Inuyasha slew Mistress Centipede to save Kaede, Kikyō sensed that Mistress Centipede's corpse still contained demonic power and chose to place her remains in the Bone-Eater's Well as a precaution. During their first non-violent encounter following Mistress Centipede's demise, Kikyō thanked Inuyasha for saving Kaede's life and confided in him her personal feelings of loneliness and similarities towards Inuyasha. Inuyasha sympathized with her and asked Kikyō to meet him again the next day to receive a gift. That night, Kikyō enchanted beads to help her subjugate Inuyasha to her whims and prevent him from doing any more wrong. They next day, after Inuyasha gifted her with his deceased human mother's shell rouge, Kikyō decided against placing the Beads of Subjugation on him and instead claimed that she'd forgotten his gift and apologized for that. Around this time, she secretly harbored and tended to Onigumo, a paralyzed bandit with burn scars all over his body. Believing Inuyasha would overreact from jealousy, Kikyō asked Kaede to not tell him about treating the wounded Onigumo.
Kikyō was later asked to slay a demon from another country and approached Inuyasha for help. The two succeeded in defeating this demon and returned home afterwards. Kaede later revealed to Kikyō the disturbing things Onigumo voiced regarding Kikyō during her mission with Inuyasha, but Kikyō pitted him and brushed off the incident. Sometime after this, Tsubaki sensed Kikyō's spiritual powers waning after she fell in love with Inuyasha and tried to steal the Sacred Jewel. However, Kikyō reflected Tsubaki's curse back at her and then spared a humiliated Tsubaki's life. Meanwhile, Onigumo is met by a spider demon who offered to fulfill his dreams of mobility, obtaining the Sacred Jewel, and attaining the lovely Kikyō herself. Agreeing with the terms, Onigumo offered his body to a horde of demons, and thus, the demon shape-shifter Naraku was born.
At some unknown point, Kikyō and Inuyasha sailed to an island that only appeared every fifty years. The pair encountered a band of half-demons but were attacked by the Shitōshin. During the fight, the demon Gōra used Kikyō's blood to create a doppelgänger of her, unbeknownst to her, and Inuyasha received the Mark of the Four War Gods. With the island hidden once more and out of reach, Kikyō and Inuyasha decide to return home
Eventually, Kikyō's village was attacked by a horde of demons sent by Naraku. With her spiritual powers weakened due her love for Inuyasha, Kikyō didn't sense the collective demon's aura and accidentally injured Kaede during the battle, resulting in the permanent loss of her eye. Following the battle, a guilt-ridden Kikyō suggested using the Shikon Jewel to turn Inuyasha into a human, an offer to which Inuyasha agreed. If this plan had in fact worked, it might have been possible for Kikyō to carry on the life of an ordinary woman alongside Inuyasha, and for him to finally feel like he belonged somewhere as a human. She promised to deliver the Shikon Jewel to Inuyasha on a certain day. However, Naraku desired a corrupted Sacred Jewel and wished for Kikyō to kill Inuyasha herself, and thus resorted to manipulation to set their plan astray. Naraku disguised himself as Inuyasha and struck down Kikyō, and then attacked Inuyasha while disguised as Kikyō, pitting them against each other.
Thinking that Inuyasha had betrayed her, Kikyō summoned the last ounce of her strength and spiritual power to stop Inuyasha, who attacked the village for the Shikon Jewel. However, unable to kill the man she loved with her sacred arrow, Kikyō instead shot a sealing arrow at Inuyasha to pin him to the Goshinboku, where Inuyasha remained in slumber for fifty years. She then instructed Kaede to burn her body along with the Shikon Jewel so that its immeasurable power would never be used for evil again. However, because Kikyō was full of bitter hatred for Inuyasha at the time of her death, the Shikon Jewel became corrupted. Although, because of her love, Kikyō wished to see Inuyasha again and the Shikon Jewel used this desire to return to the world of the living five centuries later through Kagome Higurashi, her modern-day reincarnation.
