Yusuke struggles to learn the spirit gun when he learns that Gouki is stealing the souls of children. He visits the victims in the hospital and runs into Kuwabara, who becomes aware of Botan. Tracking down Gouki, Yusuke battles him for the orb in a junkyard. After trapping his mouth open, Yusuke finally unleashes the spirit gun and kills Gouki, freeing the stolen souls from the orb. Silently, Kurama watches the fight but does not interfere.
Yusuke soon encounters Kurama and proceeds to follow him. Kurama buys flowers and visits his mother in the hospital. He explains his origins to Yusuke, acting as Shiori's son for the past 17 years, and promises to return the mirror of darkness to him once he uses it to cure his mother. When Botan informs Yusuke the mirror takes the life of the user to grant their wish, Kuwabara, who had been spying on him, attempts to discourage Yusuke from helping Kurama, seeing him as no different from the yokai they just fought. Yusuke runs to help Kurama anyway, offering up half his life to prevent Shiori from losing her son. Kuwabara apologizes to Yusuke for mistrusting Kurama after seeing how much he cares for his human mother.
Meanwhile, Tarukane tortures Yukina for her tear of ice. He has it sold but it is intercepted by Hiei, who uses his newfound power to track it down. Upon hearing his activities have attracted the attention of a yokai, Tarukane attempts to reverse his deal with Sakyo, who talks him out of it. He then addresses a strange pair of men in his office, who hope he has a challenge for them.
Tropes
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Yukina appears during the Artifacts of Darkness arc, having originally appeared over two arcs later in the anime.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the original, Hiei was after the artifacts of darkness seemingly for power's sake and needing all three to make his plan work. This was before his character was developed. Here, he only shows interest in the dagger, using it to grant him a third eye so he can track down Yukina.
- Adaptational Location Change: In the anime the fights between Yusuke and Gouki took place in a forest. Here it takes place in a junkyard.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the original, the Shadow Sword would turn people and trees it cuts into demons. Here the dagger is what gave Hiei his third eye.
- Adaptational Ugliness: While Gouki wasn't exactly a looker in the original, his human form was at least muscular. Here he seems slightly overweight with an unkempt beard.
- Dirty Coward: Tarukeane is fine with torturing a yokai cuffed and trapped in a cage but once he gets a whiff of one with more bite to him he tries to wash his hands of the whole affair.
- Egopolis: Tarukane has a massive bronze statue of himself in his front yard, and a portrait of himself in a place of honor in his dining room.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While he works for a mob boss, one of Tarukane's men can't stand seeing Yukina tortured, having a little sister her age. He promises to free her when the time is right.
- Fantastic Racism: Kuwabara refuses to trust Kurama due to the injuries the ringworm inflicted upon his friends and tries to talk Yusuke out of helping him. He changes his mind after seeing how much Kurama cares for his mother.
- Fusion Dance: Kurama fused with Shiori's unborn child, becoming part human.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Yusuke spends much of the first half of the episode struggling to use his spirit gun for the first time.
- Humanity Is Infectious: Kurama only planned on posing as a human long enough to recover his energy. However, he came to care for his human mother and was willing to sacrifice himself for her.
- See the Invisible: Being a Psychopomp, Botan is Invisible to Normals. Kuwabara can see her, much to his friends' confusion.
- Single Tear: Yukina sheds a single tear when burned.
- Soul Eating: Gouki consumes souls, rending his victims Deader than Dead. Yusuke must save them before that happens.
- Soulless Shell: The orb sucks out the souls of its victims, rendering them comatose. Botan informs Yusuke that if they can't recover their souls they will stay like that forever.
- Would Hit a Girl: Tarukane gleefully burns Yukina with his cigar.
- Would Hurt a Child: Gouki is a soul eating yokai who explicitly targets young children.
- You Can See That, Right?: Kuwabara questions why Yusuke would bring a girl to the hospital and describe her to his friends when they seem to overlook her. They don't know what he is talking about.
