Inuyasha is our 'male lead' if you will. Well-obviously since the show is named after him! Inuyasha is a half dog-demon and one of two sons of the great Dog Demon of the Western Lands, Lord Inuyoukai. His father is a full demon, as well as his hanyou-hating brother Sesshoumaru. Unlike Sesshoumaru, however, Inuyasha and his father possess feelings for humans. Inuyasha develops a feeling of love for Kagome and his father was in love with Inuyasha's full-human mother. His mother was of very high class, but Inuyasha was often teased for being a half-demon. Since his father was a full-demon, Inuyasha recieved some powers (such as his speed, his jumping ability, strength, quick-healing ability) and recieved phsycial characteristics from his father too (such as eye and hair color, his kawaii dog ears, fangs and claws). He is very strong, but one night out of every month, the full moon, Inuyasha becomes a full Human, loosing his demon-like appearance, and demon powers. His hair becomes black, his eyes turn violet and his fangs, claws and dog-ears disappear. He is still very strong, though, for a human. During this time Inuyasha is very vulnerable to other youkai attacks and tries to keep this 'transformation' a secret from other demons and usually isn't seen around then. Since Inuyasha does possess his hanyou-side, he is trying to find the Shikon no Tama we are introduced to in the first few episodes, this gives demons very great powers. Inuyasha wants to use the jewel to become a full-youkai. Kikyou, a young priestess, is in possession of the jewel, so Inuyasha *attacks* her for it. She uses her master-archer skills and pins him to a tree, although she spares his life. He becomes curious of her, following her around trying to get the jewel. These two do fall in love and Kikyou tells Inuyasha that if he were to make a pure wish on the jewel that the jewel would become purified and disappear, and she would no longer need to protect it. Inuyasha decides that he wants to become a full-Human and live with her. This *touching* love story is disrupted, however, when everyone's favorite demon Naraku tricks Kikyou and turns her against Inuyasha by pretending to be Inuyasha and attacking her as she brings the jewel to Inuyasha. Inuyasha then feels he has been betrayed and steals the jewel and tries to run, but Kikyou attacks him again and shoots an 'enchanted arrow' into Inuyasha's heart sealing him into a tree. Inuyasha falls into a deep death-like sleep and Kikyo soon dies from all of her injuries and is cremated with the jewel. Ahh, fifty years later, Kagome arrives in our feudal Japan that Inuyasha is in by being pulled into an enchanted well by a large centipede youkai trying to get the Shikon no Tama from her. Yes, I know, the jewel was destroyed fifty years ago. Anyway-Kagome flees to the forest trying to escape the centipede-youkai. Here she finds our lovely Inuyasha, still trapped to the tree, not aged, after fifty years, in his peaceful sleep. Inuyasha awakens later that night, smelling a scent similar to Kikyou's on Kagome. He sees Kagome and assumes that she is Kikyou because they do look quite a bit alike and he mocks her, asking if she's going to kill him or not. Kagome gets angry, saying she doesn't know what Inuyasha is talking about and then the centipede demon appears again, attacking Kagome, removing the Shikon no Tama from Kagome's body, and crushes Kagome into the tree basically at Inuyasha's stomach. Inuyasha just sits there and the Shikon no Tama is then swallowed by the centipede youkai, increasing her strength. He then looks down at Kagome and asks her to remove the arrow from his heart to break the spell and she reluctantly agrees. Inuyasha quickly kills the centipede youkai and then demands the jewel from Kagome, whom he thinks is Kikyou, but Kagome refuses, so Inuyasha attacks. Now, fifty years ago, there was a young girl by the name of Kaede who was Kikyou's younger sister. She is now an old priestess and uses her powers to place an enchanted rosary around Inuyasha's neck, which he can't remove. Kagome is told to choose a word to control Inuyasha with and she chooses "Oswari" (translated to Sit, boy!). This word causes Inuyasha to smash face-first into the ground, where he is held for a few seconds. Kaede then explains the Kagome is Kikyou's reincarnation from the future and that Kikyou died fifty years ago. Inuyasha doesn't believe this at first and continues to try to steal the Shikon no Tama from Kagome. After a few 'incidents' Kagome accidentally smashes the jewel into many pieces and the shards are spread all over the world. There are so many pieces that it is nearly impossible to find and restore the jewel. Kaede tells Inuyasha and Kagome that the must work together to retrieve the Shikon shards. Inuyasha agrees because he wants to make his wish and also because he has begun to feel a bond between him and Kagome. As our series goes on, Inuyasha, the cold half-demon, does begin to develop love-feelings for Kagome and stops seeing her as Kikyou, since they aren't that much alike. He becomes very protective of her, but he doesn't let his emotions show very often and they fight a lot over stupid things. About 10 episodes into the series Inuyasha gets the sword Tetsusaiga, a powerful sword that can kill a hundred youkai in one slice! Originally his brother was out to get the Tetsusaiga, but Sesshoumaru had to use Inuyasha to find their father's grave which was hidden in a black pearl concealed inside Inuyasha's fight eye. The Tetsusaiga cannot be contolled by those who do not have both youkai and human blood. Thus, only Inuyasha can use the sword. When Sesshoumaru tried to pull the sword out, he was shocked, Inuyasha wasn't strong enough, but our herione Kagome pulled it out! The trick is your love for humans makes you stronger. The sword is made of one of Lord Inuyoukai's fangs and appears old and rusty until it transforms. It only transforms when he is using it to protect a human. Inuyasha found this out by *accidentally* protecting Kagome against the transformed Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha can also use the sword to ward away weaker youkai and protect those who hold it.
Attacks
