Down the Rabbit Hole and Back Again is the third episode of the InuYasha anime.
Synopsis
- Inuyasha and Kagome are told that they must work together in order to find all of the shards of the Shikon no Tama.
- After having an argument, Kagome decides to return to the present but is attacked by Yura, a demon who controls strands of hair.
Summary
Inyasha thinks her resemblance as Kikyō
Kagome bathes in a cold lake, loudly lambasting the lack of hot baths in the feudal era. Kaede tells the villagers that Kagome is going through a purification ceremony to discourage the villagers from peeping at her. She submerges herself in the water and remembers a conversation with Kaede in which Kaede told Kagome and Inuyasha to work together as a team and find the shards of the Sacred Jewel.
After Kagome's bath, Kagome notices that Inuyasha is spying on her. Inuyasha insists that he was looking for an opportunity to steal the Shikon Shard from her and was not peeping. As Kagome quickly gets dressed in miko robes behind a bush, Kaede reiterates what she said before about Inuyasha and Kagome teaming up. Inuyasha complains about working with Kagome, who thinks he hates her because of her resemblance to Kikyō. Meanwhile, Yura is combing hair on a skull and talking to herself about the Shikon no Tama. Back with Kagome, a woman asks Kaede for some help and Kaede leaves Inuyasha and Kagome to help the woman (whose daughter suddenly feels ill). Inuyasha tells Kagome to change back into her school girl clothes. Kagome assumes it's because she looks like Kikyō and then tells him that if he keeps being so mean, there is no way that they will be able to work together. Inuyasha doesn't care because he thinks he can find the Sacred Jewel shards on his own. Kagome tells Inuyasha that she's going back home because he doesn't need her. In the village, as Kaede tends to the woman's daughter, she notices strands of hair controlling the girl as the girl suddenly rises into the air. With a knife in hand, the girl attacks Kaede. In the woods, Kagome arrives at the well. She eventually sees that strands of hair are surrounding the well. Then, Yura appears and is surprised that Kagome can see the hair. Inuyasha arrives at the village and sees the girls with knives. Inuyasha takes it has a challenge. Back with Kagome, Yura introduces herself as she uses her hair to control the girls. Yura uses a strand of hair to retrieve the pouch with the Shikon shard from Kagome. Yura is shocked to find just a shard. Yura attacks Kagome, who in an attempt to dodge Yura, falls into the well. Yura can't find Kagome anywhere in the well and wonders where she went…
Back at the village, Inuyasha concludes that the village girls have decided to kill him. Suddenly an injured Kaede tells Inuyasha not to touch the girls. Inuyasha wonders how Kaede got hurt. Kaede soon learns that Kagome returned home. Kaede then tells Inuyasha that the girls are being controlled, so he shouldn't harm them. In the distance, Yura controls the hair and wraps Inuyasha in the hair. When the village men (who are also being controlled) appear, Kaede tells Inuyasha that he has to retreat, so he does. As Yura is gathering her strands she notices one of Inuyasha's silver hair strands and decides that she wants more. In the present, Kagome is delighted to be home again. Back in the past, Inuyasha is partially burying Kaede, so she can hide. Inuyasha tells her that he'll come back for her. Inuyasha runs off to find Kagome. As Inuyasha searches for Kagome, he's being followed by Yura's hair. Meanwhile, back in the present, Kagome is enjoying a hot bath.
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Kagome
- Kaede
- Inuyasha
- Buyo (Flashback)
- Sōta Higurashi (Flashback)
- Mistress Centipede (Flashback)
- Shibugarasu (Flashback)
- Kikyō
- Yura (First appearance)
- Grandpa Higurashi
Notes
- After Kagome's face was cut by Yura's hair, her cut seems to have disappeared on and off for the rest of the episode.
- Kaede explains to Inuyasha and Kagome that it wasn't Kagome or her arrow that shattered the Sacred Jewel, but rather the Crow Demon's foot that she tied to the arrow that shattered it.
- Some fans wondered how Yura's hair could go through the well while Sōta was unable to in episode 11. The reasonable explanation would be that since Yura briefly had the shard that it allowed her to send her hair through the well. This still doesn't answer why Miroku, Sango, and Shippō didn't try this method in future episodes, though it's possible that Inuyasha didn't want them to and forbade them from possessing any of the shards.
- When Yura controls the girls with her hair, the technique she used to tie Inuyasha to a tree is like Cat's Cradle.
- The pouch Kagome used to store the jewel shard was not seen again in the series.
- It's never explained what happened to the outfit Kaede lent Kagome after she returned to the present.