Inuyasha did not return to Kaede’s Village.
He found an ancient tree with thick branches on the cliff, leaped onto its highest bough, and lay back against the aged trunk.
From that height, he could see the entire mountain wilderness.
The rolling ridges appeared in varying shades of deep blue beneath the moonlight.
Nearby, the night wind pushed against the sea of trees, creating wave after wave of silver-gray.
Farther away, a narrow stream wound through the valley.
Moonlight bleached its surface white, making it resemble a silver thread lost among the mountains.
Only a few stars dotted the sky, while the moon was perfectly round.
Occasionally, a startled night bird rose from the forest.
Its wings fluttered loudly as it passed overhead before disappearing into another patch of darkness.
Inuyasha folded his arms behind his head while the night wind played with his silver hair.
For once, he was not thinking about anything lewd.
Yura was already his for the taking, so he could devour her whenever he wanted.
Truth, goodness, and beauty had never existed in the world of demons.
The strongest fist was always right.
Inuyasha sampled the scents carried by the wind, identifying every possible source of danger around him.
If he encountered demons like Yura, he would subdue every one he could, regardless of whether they were male or female.
Inuyasha had no interest in copying Sesshomaru and wandering the land with an entire family in tow.
He would gather countless demons and establish a Demon Court upon this land where the sun would never set, transforming everything within it into his ideal paradise.
Yura sat beneath another tree.
A patch of moonlight separated them.
When the demoness saw that the mutt had no intention of speaking, she remained silent as well.
Only the mountain wind and the slowly rising chorus of insects filled the silence.
Yura could not understand what went through Inuyasha’s head.
Everything that had happened tonight had left her confused from beginning to end.
The only thing she knew for certain was that she could not defeat him.
That fact alone was enough to make her swallow all her resentment for the moment.
‘A half-demon turns human on a certain day.
I’ll settle everything with him then!’ Yura stared at Inuyasha’s silver hair as it swayed in the night wind, a hint of fondness appearing in her eyes.
She was a comb tsukumogami formed after years of combing the hair of the dead and absorbing their resentment.
Naturally, her favorite pastime was collecting hair.
Human or demon, living or dead—she had seen tens of millions of heads of hair.
Even so, the silver hair before her was a ninety-nine-out-of-a-hundred rarity.
The remaining one percent was only because she had yet to touch it herself and could not make a final judgment.
It was truly beautiful.
Yura’s fingers unconsciously curled as she imagined her comb sliding through that silver hair.
It would flow as smoothly as a waterfall and feel as cool as water.
Every strand passing between the teeth would carry tiny fragments of moonlight with it.
Sensing something, Inuyasha glanced over.
He saw the entranced expression on the demoness’s face and raised an eyebrow.
The words slipped from his mouth.
“What a creep.” Yura’s eyes widened with rage, and she forgot all about whether she could defeat him.
“You damned dog demon!
Go die!” She swept both hands outward.
Millions of strands surged like a raging tide, blotting out the sky as they rushed toward his infuriating face.
Then a chill passed through the demoness’s chest.
Inuyasha’s claws had pierced the place where her heart should have been.
He had moved so quickly that Yura never even saw the dog demon leave his position.
Inuyasha withdrew his hand and pulled the red comb from inside her body, calmly tucking it into his robes.
He then dragged her unsupported shell onto the tree and placed her limp body behind himself as a comfortable cushion.
The back of Yura’s head rested against the tree trunk.
She could only lie there facing the sky, completely unable to move.
Her true body was tucked inside that bastard’s robes, surrounded by his body heat, while her other body was being used as a human-shaped cushion.
What was she supposed to do?
She could not defeat him, could not curse him, and could not even die.
Her pink eyes stared blankly at the night sky as their focus gradually faded.
Yura felt as though something inside her had broken.
…
The moon set and the sun rose.
Over the next three days, Inuyasha and Yura swept through the mountains and forests for miles around Kaede’s Village.
Worthless demons blocking their path were torn apart by his claws.
A handful had grown somewhat powerful, but they were too ugly for Inuyasha’s tastes.
He left them to Yura, who transformed them into hair puppets.
By the third evening, the final snake demon hiding in a swamp had barely shown its head when the long-suffering Yura chopped it into pieces to vent her anger.
Only then was their cleanup officially finished.
…
A campfire burned beside a stream.
Serving as the temporary cook, Yura crouched beside the flames and turned the roasting meat while muttering curses without pause.
Her complaints ranged from “damned half-demon” and “I hope you turn human tomorrow” to “just wait until that day—I’ll torture you to death.” Her rich vocabulary and endlessly changing sentence structures made her a walking encyclopedia of curses.
However, Inuyasha had survived the influence of the modern internet.
Her efforts did not even qualify as scratching an itch.
Supporting his chin with one hand, he lay on his side and completely ignored Yura’s endless bitching.
Over those three days, he had thoroughly learned Yura’s temperament.
Likewise, the demoness had gained a rough understanding of the mutt’s personality.
Something cut through the air.
Inuyasha caught the meat skewer Yura had launched like a crossbow bolt.
He had just taken one bite when the dog ears atop his head twitched.
The wind carried an unfamiliar scent mixed with a faint trace of something familiar from the same bloodline.
The scent was weak, and its demonic energy was feeble.
Its owner was cautiously approaching through the shadows of the forest.
It crept forward timidly, stopping every few steps as though it wanted to approach but feared being swatted to death with a single claw.
Having roughly guessed who it was, Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at the unresponsive demoness.
“Yura, bring him here.
Don’t kill him.” Yura’s sharp yet flexible hair covered the surroundings like metal wire.
Thick-skinned dog demons could ignore it, but weaker yokai might lose their heads the instant they touched it—literally.
“Can’t even eat a meal in peace.” Yura did not bother standing.
She lazily raised her index finger.
Several seconds later, a shrill scream came from the bushes, followed by the sharp crack of breaking branches and the sound of someone frantically struggling.
Then everything fell silent.
The strands withdrew, fishing a green figure that was still kicking out of the shadows.
Jaken was bundled so tightly in hair that he resembled a rice dumpling.
The Staff of Two Heads had long since fallen from his grasp.
His feet flailed wildly in the air.
With hair tightly wrapped around his mouth, he could only release muffled grunts.
The strands curved through the air and suspended him before Inuyasha and Yura like prey awaiting slaughter.
Firelight illuminated his wide, terrified eyes.
“Keep struggling and I’ll kill you.” The silver-haired dog demon spoke with a pleasant smile.
Jaken immediately became obedient.
His yellowish eyes turned as clear as black crystal.
He could see evil and clearly sensed the heavy aura surrounding both the man and woman before him.
Neither of them was remotely decent.
The information he had gathered over the past few days only confirmed it—the surrounding demons had nearly been exterminated by that damned dog and his woman!
‘As expected of Sesshomaru-sama’s younger brother.
He’s a natural-born villain!’ Jaken wailed inwardly.
“I’m doomed!
I only hope I can serve Sesshomaru-sama again in my next life!” …