Tsubaki

Tsubaki's History

In her youth, Tsubaki was a gifted priestess; her talents were magnificent and she progressed quickly in her training. Tsubaki was seen as a high class priestess who was shown to have gained respect from other priestesses, even Kikyō; however, she saw Kikyō as a rival, as Kikyō's spiritual powers competed with hers, and she took many of the awards for slaying demons Kikyō had slain.

One day after Kikyō and Tsubaki helped out a village in slaying demons, Tsubaki subtly cursed Kikyō before she left, in which the Small Spider Demon has been merged and also cursed Kikyō too. Disguising the curse as advice from one priestess to another, Tsubaki tells Kikyō that a priestess' true power comes alive when she abandons all human feelings, but if one is a woman, it's only natural to fall in love. Kikyō had scoffed at the idea of herself falling in love, but Tsubaki continued. Her eyes flashed red as she told Kikyō to not forget, and to never fall in love. If a man desired her and she desired him, she would die a violent death. Kikyō knew Tsubaki had placed a curse on her, but wasn't worried as she continued home. Tsubaki was triumphant, as Kikyō's powers begin to fade as she falls in love with Inuyasha.[1]

Tsubaki feared that, with the passage of time her beauty would be gone, making her wish to keep the Shikon no Tama to prevent her own aging (which may be stated as the reason her master chose to give Kikyō the task to guard the jewel instead of her, because he knew Kikyō would never use the jewel for her own benefits).

When Kikyō was given the Sacred Jewel to guard, Tsubaki was jealous of Kikyō at having been given such an important task. Tsubaki confronted her master to inquire as to why Kikyō was given the Sacred Jewel to protect and not her, but Tsubaki's master didn't say anything. Tsubaki stormed off, leaving her master behind feeling sad for his disciple. It can be assumed that the reason why Tsubaki's master didn't tell her why she was given the jewel is because he didn't want to upset her, due to her heart not being pure enough.

During the season of spring, Tsubaki later confronted Kikyō in a forest and attempted to cast a curse on her using her Shikigami and then taking the Sacred Jewel for herself, thinking Kikyō's powers would be weakened after hearing of her infatuation with a half-demon. However, Kikyō used her bow to reflect the curse and sent it flying back at Tsubaki, which gave her a scar on her right eye. This caused Tsubaki to hunger for revenge on Kikyō, seeing her as a mortal enemy ever since.[2][3] After that, it had witnessed by a Small Spider Demon that would lead to get Onigumo in the cave.[3] Somewhere between the past events and current events, Tsubaki made a deal with a demon and sold her soul to retain her youth and beauty.[2]