After three days on the road toward the Western Lands, Jaken watched dark clouds rolling over the horizon and turned around.
“Inuyasha-sama, it looks like rain.
We should find somewhere to rest.” Though Japan was not enormous, it was hardly small either.
At an ordinary demon’s pace, crossing it from east to west took four or five days.
Now that they were close to bringing reinforcements back, Jaken no longer felt the urgency he had at the start.
Inuyasha glanced up at the sky.
The clouds came fast and fierce, while the mountain wind carried the damp, cold scent of approaching rain.
Several silver serpents flashed silently above the distant ridgeline.
A moment later, muffled thunder rolled across the mountains.
“Find somewhere ahead where we can shelter from the rain.” The three quickened their pace and passed through a bamboo grove that rustled violently in the wind.
Yura sent her hair ahead to scout and soon discovered a cave hidden in a hollow between the mountains.
The entrance was small and half concealed by thick bushes, but a surprisingly spacious chamber lay beyond them.
The natural cavern was roughly twenty feet across.
Its floor was dry, several bleached animal bones lay in one corner, and the entrance faced away from the wind.
It was an excellent shelter.
The moment all three entered, the sky seemed to split open.
Rain came pouring down in sheets, and columns of water hammered the rocks outside, throwing up a curtain of white mist.
Nearby trees and distant mountains vanished behind the rain.
Only its endless roar remained between heaven and earth, occasionally broken by lightning that turned the cave entrance white and thunder that sounded like the sky collapsing.
“That was close!
We nearly ended up looking like drowned rats.” Jaken crouched at the entrance with the Staff of Two Heads, clicking his tongue as he watched the downpour.
Yura looked around and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Hair shot from her fingertips, clearing the bones and rubble from the corner before sweeping a smooth, open space across the cavern floor.
Only then did she glance at Inuyasha.
He smiled, leaned against a clean, dry section of rock, and sat cross-legged.
Yura crooked her finger again.
Dozens of objects wrapped in hair flew through the entrance, startling Jaken before landing in the middle of the cleared space.
The hair withdrew to reveal a bundle of dry firewood, all evenly sized with clean-cut ends.
Yura had casually collected it along the road.
Once Jaken realized they were not under attack, he immediately perked up.
He rushed to the firewood, pointed the Staff of Two Heads at it, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Staff of Two Heads, light the fire!” The old man’s head atop the staff opened its mouth and spat out a fireball, instantly igniting the dry wood.
The Staff of Two Heads could be considered a minor divine artifact.
As its name suggested, two heads faced opposite directions at its top—an old man on one side and a woman on the other.
The old man’s mouth could breathe fire.
An ordinary human struck by those flames would burn to death, perhaps without even leaving ashes behind.
The staff could also locate graves.
When it approached the Dog General’s tomb, the old man would laugh.
If they had the wrong location, the woman would scream.
Orange firelight sprang up, driving away the cavern’s chill and darkness.
The three shadows stretched and shrank as they danced across the stone walls.
It was then, beneath the flickering light, that Jaken and Yura both noticed it.
Starting at the roots, Inuyasha’s moonlit silver hair was turning black inch by inch.
The silver receded like a falling tide, replaced by a deep, pure black that gleamed softly in the firelight.
His dog ears shrank and changed as well, becoming ordinary human ears.
“I-Inuyasha-sama!” Jaken’s eyes widened.
He instantly realized that Inuyasha’s New Moon had begun.
Yura’s pupils contracted slightly as the choice of whether to attack churned through her mind.
Now human, Inuyasha possessed the same long, silky black hair as his mother.
A lazy smile hung on his face, and his dark eyes reflected the dancing flames and the faces of his two companions.
“It is only my monthly New Moon.
What is it?
Do you not recognize me anymore?” Jaken sprang upright the moment he heard that.
“Inuyasha-sama, I will take this secret to my grave!
I absolutely will not tell a third soul—other than Sesshomaru-sama!” ‘Huh?
That slipped out!’ ‘I’m finished!’ Before Jaken could correct himself, Yura’s expression shifted within the dancing firelight.
She waved a hand, and strands of hair wrapped around his waist before hurling him out of the cave.
Jaken traced a short arc through the air.
Splat!
He landed in the mud, splashing filthy water across his face and body.
Before he could stand, a dense wall of hair sealed the cave entrance in layer after layer, blocking even the faintest trace of firelight.
“Hey!
Hey!” Jaken rushed to the barrier and began punching and kicking it.
“What are you planning, you demoness?
Let me back inside!” “Tonight is Inuyasha-sama’s New Moon…
Wait.
What are you trying to do?!” Jaken paced frantically through the rain as the worst possibility leaped through his mind.
As a demon capable of seeing through evil, he could see the cave entrance beneath the curtain of hair.
But what good was sight when he still could not get inside?
Gritting his teeth, he stepped back and aimed the Staff of Two Heads at the entrance.
Just as he prepared to order it to breathe fire, Inuyasha’s voice came from behind the barrier.
“Jaken, come back at dawn.” The staff remained raised while rainwater streamed down its shaft.
Jaken opened his mouth, only to swallow the words in his throat.
He turned away in disappointment and found a rock face that offered at least some shelter.
Crouching beneath it, he curled into a tiny ball and muttered endlessly under his breath.
Inside the cavern, azure flames ignited over Inuyasha’s shoulders and waist.
They fell like a cloak, then spread along his body, gradually weaving themselves into a garment of fire.
The flames gave off no heat.
They scorched neither stone nor plants, yet their light filled the entire cavern.
Device: Robe of Kagutsuchi.
Inuyasha held Yura high in the air by her throat, leaving her entire body dangling above the ground.
Azure fire climbed from his arm onto her body, consuming her demonic energy, stamina, and will without damaging her clothes or burning her skin.
The searing agony reached her soul.
It was like being thrown into a bottomless abyss of karmic fire, where every shred of consciousness screamed amid the flames.
Inuyasha stared at her.
Bathed in azure light, his human face carried some of Sesshomaru’s icy severity, yet the wild, roguish grin on his lips was infuriatingly insolent.
“Yura, I gave you a chance, and you still could not do anything with it!” He flicked his wrist and hurled the demoness to the ground.
Yura grunted and rolled halfway across the cold stone floor.
Her short hair clung messily to her cheeks.
Inuyasha sat down, raised one knee, and rested an arm upon it.
The garment of flame gradually faded into his body, allowing the orange firelight to warm the cavern again.
He looked down at her from above.
“Crawl over here.” Yura lay prone, her limbs still trembling after being scorched by the azure flames.
Biting her lower lip, she propped herself up on her elbows.
Her knees scraped across the rough stone, leaving faint trails behind them.
She looked like a little dog that had finally been tamed.
With her head lowered and her disheveled hair hiding every expression, Yura crawled inch by inch until she was between Inuyasha’s legs.
“Woof, woof~” She raised her lovely face.
Hearts seemed to shimmer deep within those beautiful pink eyes.