In an elegant mountain estate, Inuyasha and his companions were resting in the finest guest rooms. This was a castle belonging to the Takeda House, and its lord, Takeda Kuranosuke, was a distant younger cousin of Takeda Shingen. Of course, even that description suggested too close a relationship. More precisely, theirs was almost a relationship between a direct line and a collateral branch, between the main house and a branch family.
Six years earlier, Sango, her father, and their clansmen had been hired by the previous lord to come to this castle and slay a rampaging Bear Demon. However, the previous lord had ignored the Yokai Exterminators' warning to burn its corpse. Instead, he had made its hide and other remains into goods to sell, hoping to revive the castle's economy. Naturally, he had failed. Because the bear's corpse had not been properly disposed of, its ghost had begun causing trouble at midnight six years later, leading many to believe the Bear Demon had returned. The current lord, Kuranosuke, had therefore dispatched troops, who found Sango traveling with Inuyasha and the others and asked her to exterminate it. In the end, Miroku had discovered that it was a ghost rather than an ordinary monster and exorcised it.
It was now the night on which Miroku, Inuyasha, and the others had dealt with the Bear Demon's ghost. Exhausted by the fierce battle, they had finally fallen into a deep sleep again. Kuranosuke had arranged for them to stay in the finest guest rooms, but Sango tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The words he had spoken to her that day kept echoing in her mind.
"Sango, there are few people you can trust in this world. People constantly betray one another, secretly expanding their power, convinced that they must rule over