"The Hojo Army's attacking?"
Inuyasha, that mutt, certainly held a grudge against Hojo Akitoshi, a potential rival for the Shikon Jewel.
So when Kagome sensed something wrong with the atmosphere outside, she stopped keeping Inuyasha pinned down.
Once he rushed outside and saw the distant night sky ablaze, Inuyasha blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"No, that's not it! The Hojo Army isn't attacking the village!"
Kagome had rushed out just one step behind Inuyasha. She gazed at the distant sky, stained red by the flames in the trench.
Looking around, Kagome felt a terrible chill in her heart.
The Hojo Army's camp just outside the village was clearly ringing with battle cries.
So why were there no barking dogs or human voices in Kaede's Village?
Even if the Japanese of the Warring States period didn't like watching a commotion, shouldn't they at least be thinking of fleeing something like this?
"Stupid woman! The villagers are probably trembling under their beds!"
When the girl beside him contradicted his conclusion, Inuyasha bared his teeth and waved his claws, feeling rather embarrassed.
After tossing out a casual excuse to save face, Inuyasha had no interest in worrying about the villagers.
"In that case..."
Baring his canine fangs, Inuyasha decided to use this opportunity to test the Hojo Army's strength.
"Wait!"
Noticing that Inuyasha was itching to do something ill-intentioned, Kagome grabbed his bright Robe of the Fire Rat.
"Wait a moment!"
Perhaps it was a girl's keen sixth sense, or perhaps it was the spiritual intuition inherited from her previous incarnation, Kikyo.
Kagome sensed danger permeating the air, and she couldn't let Inuyasha run off alone at a time like this.
Never mind what would happen to her own safety if he left. With his attitude, Inuyasha might march straight to his doom and never come back!
"What beautiful hair!"
Just as Inuyasha and Kagome were tugging at each other, a clear, pleasant voice drifted down from the night sky.
As that voice rang out, the previously unseen villagers staggered out into the empty village.
They were holding sickles, kitchen knives, hoes, and other things that could serve as weapons.
"How could this happen?"
Her pupils widening in shock as she watched the villagers approach, Kagome immediately thought of the zombie films she'd seen in modern times.
Weren't these villagers just like those zombies?
As for what made them different...
Kagome blinked. Kikyo's spiritual power had given her a special ability akin to spirit sight.
The invisible strands of hair that ordinary people-and even Inuyasha-couldn't see appeared before Kagome's eyes in perfect detail!
"Inuyasha, the villagers are being controlled! There are lots and lots of strands of hair floating in the air."
"And they're wrapped around every villager. I think that's what's controlling them!"
Summoning her courage, Kagome hurriedly told Inuyasha everything she saw.
"Huh?"
Still flexing his claws, Inuyasha was already annoyed by that voice in the night sky.
Now, in the blink of an eye, villagers he didn't much like were surrounding him with weapons.
The viciousness pent up during the fifty years Kikyo had sealed him away erupted. Mercy was the last thing on his mind.
"I don't care whether they're being controlled! Anyone who gets in my way dies!"
With that, Inuyasha prepared to shred both the villagers and the invisible hair with his iron claws.
Once he destroyed all these eyesores, surely the mastermind hiding behind them would show herself?
"No! Sit!"
Inuyasha's plan suited him just fine, but how could Kagome allow such a tragedy to unfold before her eyes?
To protect the innocent villagers, the girl disregarded the danger right in front of her and restrained Inuyasha with the command.
"Are you stupid?"
Forced to the ground by the command, Inuyasha burned with fury. Struggling to prop himself up, he turned his head and roared.
"Do you know what kind of situation we're in? You're going to get a demon killed!"
"You can't hurt the villagers! They're innocent!"
"If we find whoever's behind this and defeat them, the villagers will definitely go back to normal!"
Even as Kagome spoke, her legs trembled, and her fear was plain on her face.
Yet her voice was utterly firm!
"You woman!"
Gritting his teeth, Inuyasha suddenly saw a trace of Kikyo in Kagome.
And so the mutt lost focus, slipping into a brief, sweet memory.
But the world wouldn't stop turning for Inuyasha or Kagome. While the girl and the dog were still arguing over their course of action...
Yura of the Hair, who had suffered a rebuff at the Hojo Army's camp and had nowhere to vent her rage, certainly wouldn't let such a fine opportunity slip away.
Seizing her chance, Yura of the Hair controlled the villagers from her hiding place and sent them into the attack.
Kitchen knives, sickles, and other blades glinted coldly in the moonlight as they slashed wildly, without the slightest hesitation, at Inuyasha, who lay helpless on the ground.
They clearly meant to hack him to death.
"You've gotten me killed!"
Inuyasha's Robe of the Fire Rat could protect his body, but his face was exposed.
His panicked eyes fixed on the blades coming toward his face. All he could do was hope his hide was thick enough to serve as a fortress wall.
In a flash, Kagome, whose legs had still been shaking moments before, lunged forward and grabbed Inuyasha by his two furry legs.
Then, without looking back, Kagome dragged his hundred-plus-pound body away at astonishing speed.
The strength and speed she displayed showed none of a modern woman's frailty!
This woman...
To be honest, Inuyasha was a little touched. Despite her slender frame, Kagome had managed to save him in a moment of danger.
For a moment, warmth filled the mutt's heart, but it vanished just as quickly as it had come.
Especially after Inuyasha's face hit several stones on the ground in succession...
"Enough, you woman!"
His anger mounting, Inuyasha felt the command's effects wearing off.
He promptly sprang up and tucked Kagome, whom he'd nearly knocked over, under his arm.
"Just running away isn't enough."
His expression was furious, but despite his harsh words, Inuyasha didn't turn back to attack the villagers.
Instead, he asked Kagome what she thought they should do.
"Go to the Hojo Army! They'll definitely have a way to deal with this!"
At Inuyasha's question, Kagome immediately pointed toward the Hojo Army's camp, where flames soared into the sky.
As she saw it, this demon must have failed to attack the Hojo Army and turned on Kaede's Village instead.
In other words, Kaede's Village might simply have been caught in the crossfire.
That meant the Hojo Army had a duty to resolve the village's crisis.
"The Hojo Army?"
His brow twitching, Inuyasha wasn't very keen on going there.
Wouldn't asking the Hojo Army for help make him lose face?
It wasn't as if he lacked the ability to deal with the mastermind. He would just end up accidentally injuring a few villagers along the way.
But just as Inuyasha was about to refuse, he looked down at Kagome's determined face.
He also remembered the courage she'd shown in risking her life to save him.
"Tch. You're the one asking for this. It's not like I want to go."
Muttering, Inuyasha broke into a headlong sprint.
"The village! The village!"
Panting for breath, Kaede finally arrived outside the village. Before she even entered, her many years of demon-slaying experience...
Had already alerted her to the strange events unfolding within.
"It's over."
With a mournful cry, Kaede imagined many possibilities, every one of them a scene of mangled flesh and blood.
"It's all over!"
Tilting her head back with a long sigh, Kaede went numb.
"Hey, there's old lady Kaede."
Though Inuyasha was much older than Kaede, he ignored that fact entirely and still called her an old lady, as though she were his elder.
Seeing Kaede sighing down on the ground, he figured taking one along was no different from taking two.
So after landing and leaping up again, Inuyasha had a white-haired head tucked beneath his other arm.
Then, before the demon-controlled villagers behind them could catch up, Inuyasha quickened his pace.
Carrying the two women, he headed straight toward the place where towering flames lit the night as brightly as day.
Before you continue