i had commented on this post months ago but i was recalling it the other day while i was pondering on this belief that inuyasha was either not mature enough for kikyo or didn't understand her and i can write as to why i don't think that's true.
while i understand that kikyo was indeed the character that brought the element of seriousness to the story, therefore not many characters in the story matched her temper consistently, the reason for this was both her grim circumstances and the way she was trained and socialized (due to her era).
but even if she was living a different reality than inuyasha who surrounded himself with more lively individuals, nobody in the entire series understood and appreciated her like him. nobody was willing to put aside the everything "negative" about her after her revival like him.
the moment she was brought back, just after giving her side of the story, inuyasha not only went for a hug the moment she was doubting the veracity of his feelings, he immediately empathized with her and how hard life had been for HER.
we have previous chapters where the narrative revolves around us feeling bad about inuyasha for being a half-breed, for being lonely and an outcast and being despised by both humans, youkai and his own brother. but he was still affirming SHE had it worse than him, and it's enough to make kikyo cry, possibly the only time we see her expressing grief over her own life.
then we have kikyo most likely projecting her own feelings for herself, hoping to hear inuyasha express how much he despises the state of her (like she probably did, bcs this is right after the sayu episode and she was obviously disheartened to realize she was like a monster to other people even if she didn't look like one), the things she's doing that are so unlike the "pure" and "selfless" person she used to be when she was alive.
and inuyasha doesn't respond with the disdain she was hoping for, it's all the contrary, he really doesn't care what she does or how she looks like, his feelings for her run that deep that he's just not capable of resenting her and all the more, he's been loving her just the same since he woke up.
and to disqualify the importance of inuyasha and kikyo's in the life of the other, i always see people theorize they didn't know each other enough, not in the way the inugang and kagome do, but he definitely understood kikyo's nature better than anyone.
whereas everyone was always expecting the worst of her and immediately theorized it was her blocking kagome's powers, he was certain it couldn't be her, but in the hypothetical case it was her, it wouldn't have been out of malice, but the genuine desire to not fight anymore, bcs she may have been prodigious when it came to skill and using her spiritual powers, but she was a pacifist at heart and was tired of fighting. that wasn't her nature, and inuyasha once again proved that he got her and the reason behind her melancholy and isolation while she was alive.
i think inuyasha was between a rock and a hard place bcs he was indeed happy with kagome and she was good for him and she definitely needed to be protected by him, but he also wanted to protect kikyo and would've wanted to be more for her, probably would've put aside how comfortable he was with his group had she just asked him to. but she didn't, bcs she could tell he was happy to belong somewhere even if she didn't, and never would. that's also why she distanced herself from him consciously.
typical case of the love was there, it didn't change anything, but it was there. i would've liked for things to be different for kikyo and i will always grief that, but i can't hold it against inuyasha bcs life made him meet the same soul twice and then at the same time and that must've been complicated for him jdjfjfj cut him some slaaaack.
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