Didn't understand

Although, I am a HUGE fan of InuYasha the manga and anime series I am always going to have my own mixed feelings when it comes to certain characters and I think one of those characters in particular is going to be Kagome Higurashi, 15-year-old girl from Tokyo who is transported to the Sengoku period after falling into a well in her family shrine, where she meets the half-demon InuYasha. When a monster from that era tries to take the magical Shikon Jewel embodied in Kagome, she accidentally shatters the Jewel into many pieces that are dispersed across Japan. InuYasha and Kagome start traveling to recover it before the powerful demon Naraku finds all the shards.

It would soon be revealed that Kagome is the reincarnation of the priestess Kikyo who was the original protector of the Shikon Jewel and InuYasha's first love.

I am still going to hold by my own opinion on what InuYasha and Kikyo's relationship was really about from one of my previous motivational screenshots: Not True Love

Now I am sure that many, many InuYasha and Kagome fans always got mad at InuYasha when he would immediately go off to see Kikyo and felt such sympathy for Kagome when she would go into gloomy, melancholy mood over the jealousy she felt towards InuYasha's actions towards Kikyo.  Now some sympathized with her while others found her behavior to be annoying as well as immature and childish. 

I am sure that any woman in love would experience the same type of jealousy that Kagome went through but after some time this thought has seriously crossed my mind as well as to another reason InuYasha always acted the way he did when it came to Kikyo.

The thing is that we, the viewers, when it comes to this situation between InuYasha and Kikyo we are looking at it from a human's POV which of course we are. But if you really stop to think about this and take this into consideration is that maybe the reason InuYasha always acted the way he did around Kikyo whenever her name came up or she was near it's just not from his love for her but it also comes from his dog-demon heritage.

I think what is comes down to is that everyone in the group was looking at InuYasha and Kikyo's situation from a human's point of view and not the other side of the same coin.

You have got to remember one thing about InuYasha and that is he is a dog demon. With that being said it also means that he does have the traits regular dogs would have and has shown quite a few of them on several occasions and also because of that he has their other natural traits and instincts as well.

InuYasha was acting on his instincts and nature of his dog-demon heritage if you take into consideration to a dog's nature in reality. Dogs are loyal and their loyalty to their owner's are endless. I am not saying that Kikyo was InuYasha's "owner" but just from the way he acted after he first met Kikyo and began to accompany her around that is showing signs of his dog-nature right there. They are fiercely loyal and devoted simply because they evolved as pack animals. Cats are not generally protective or defensive of their people, and are more likely to run off and hide if you are threatened than step in!(Kirara is not an exception as she is a nekomata) Dogs of all breeds, on the other hand, feel a protective duty to their owners, and once you are a part of their pack, will protect you and defend you against perceived threats to your safety.

Cats generally bond closely with whoever feeds them and gives them the things that they enjoy, and will think nothing of moving in with someone else who provides for their needs in a way that they prefer if you displease them!

Dogs, however, bond to their people on their own merits, and will stick by you through thick and thin, without trying to trade you in for a new owner if things do not go their way!

I think that was how it was with InuYasha. InuYasha was loyal to Kikyo first and when the tragedy with Naraku happened he did ultimately fail in his duties as a dog-demon to protect his "owner" and when she was resurrected against her will his instincts to protect her kicked in again. So in ways, when you look at it from this new POV you can now understand why he was always rushing to Kikyo. He didn't just do it because of love but it was because of his true instincts as a dog-demon and to in some ways redeem himself for failing the first time as well.

Dogs are of course widely referred to as "man’s (and woman’s!) best friend," and for good reason. Dogs are loving, loyal, protective, friendly, caring, trustworthy and useful. Dogs have lived side by side with people for millennia, and shaped the course of human evolution and industry in a way that few other animals have even come close to.

This would also go to show just how in some ways InuYasha's friends are under-developed in knowledge when it comes to certain demon classes, especially Sango as being a demon slayer and said to have a vast knowledge of demons she should have known about this as well.

Also because InuYasha has close ties to the world of Japanese mythology the yokais in it; in some ways both Kikyo and Kagome were his Inugami-mochi (lit. "Those who own a dog-god").  But I will save that subject for a future motivational screenshot.

But I will still and forever support Kagome and InuYasha's relationship and feel that even with his bond to Kikyo, his bond to Kagome is way stronger seeing as how she was the one to help him find his humanity, accept his half-demon heritage and helped him develop a compassionate heart. 

However, after really taking this new perspective into consideration and when you think of all the times when InuYasha would go off to "see" Kikyo I think it gives you a better understanding to his own inner turmoil and might make you even sympathize with him even more.

I know I do.



I acknowledge that I don't own Inuyasha or the screenshots. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi.