In Feudal Japan, the hanyou (half-human, half-demon) Inu Yasha attempted to steal the Shikon Jewel, a gem capable of granting anyone's wishes. The mortally wounded priestess, Kikyou, sealed him to a tree with an enchanted arrow before taking the jewel with her to her funeral pyre.
Flash forward to the present day--- Average schoolgirl Kagome Higurashi lives in a shrine with her mother, grandfather, and younger brother. The shrine is littered with legends and myths of all sorts, none of which Kagome believes until a centipede woman pulls her down into the well on the shrine grounds. Narrowly escaping, she climbs out of the well to find herself in the feudal period, and pinned to the familiar Goshinboku tree is Inu Yasha.
When Kagome goes to investigate further, the villagers capture her and bring her to Priestess Kaede. When elderly Kaede gets a good look at her, she exclaims that Kagome resembles her late sister, Kikyou!
In a second encounter with the centipede woman, Kagome releases Inu Yasha from his enchantment, who, once demolishing the centipede, he turns on her. The Shikon Jewel, which had been burned with Kikyou's remains 50 years prior, is torn from Kagome's side by the centipede. Kaede sets a rosary about his neck that allows Kagome to subdue him by saying "Osuwari!" or "sit" as one would command a dog to do.
An attempt to rescue the Shikon Jewel from one of its many deadly seekers ends in the gem shattering into countless pieces that scatter all across Japan. It's up to Kagome and Inu Yasha to retrieve each and every piece.
Along the way, they make new friends and enemies, eventually discovering the one enemy they all share in common...
The first character they meet is Shippo, a young fox demon who was orphaned by the Thunder Brother demons, Hiten and Manten because Shippo's father had a piece of the jewel. Inu Yasha and Kagome defeat the Thunder Brothers, get the shards that they had, and Shippo joins the group.
The next person they meet is Miroku, a traveling Buddhist priest with a dreadful curse -- a black hole-like vaccuum called the Air Rip (Kazaana in Japanese) in his hand. Though very polite, Miroku is a bit of a pervert, frequently trying to grope lovely women and asking them to bear his child. He has gotten a hold of a Shikon shard and wants the big chunk that Kagome has. Eventually though, he gives up fighting and joins them on their shard hunting quest.
Lastly, they meet Sango, a woman about Kagome's age who's profession is demon extermination. Her village gets demolished while she is away on an extermintion job and the mysterious Naraku tells her it was Inu Yasha who did it. Furious, she hunts down Inu Yasha and attacks him with the help of her pet cat demon, Kirara. Fortunately, the battle ends when they learn that it was Naraku, not Inu Yasha, who destroyed her village. Vowing revenge, she too joins the group.
By this time, it is obvious that they are all connected by one villain -- Naraku, a half-demon who has damaged each of their lives in some way. It was Naraku who tricked Inu Yasha and Kikyou into attacking one another. Miroku's grandfather lost a battle to Naraku long ago and was cursed with the Air Rip, which has passed down the generations to Miroku. He also destroyed Sango's village. Garbed constantly in a white baboon's pelt, Naraku seeks to destroy them and anyone else who gets in his way of collecting Shikon shards for himself.
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