Chapter 004: Corpse Dancing Crow
At the bandits hideout, the leader of the bandits grabs the Shikon no Tama away from Kagome. Remembering Kaede's words, Kagome attempts to get it back, but is stopped when he puts down his sword in front of her. He orders for her to be restrained, but accidently slices off the arm of one of his comrades. Apologizing, he goes on a rampage attempting to kill her. Kagome flees from his mindless slashes, which are alarming his comrades because he's killing anyone in his way. Caught in a corner, and nowhere to go, Kagome grabs a nearby spear. The leader quickly slices through it and just as he's about to inflict the final blow on her, InuYasha comes to her rescue.
Kagome looks up at him, surprised, but InuYasha immediately asks where the Shikon no Tama is. Smelling a corpse, InuYasha demands that the demonic crow he saw last night was in the room. He quickly cuts through the leader's armor, revealing the crow sitting in his chest. The other bandits look on in amazement, commenting that their leader was in fact acting strangely. InuYasha explains that the crow isn't strong, so it manipulates corpses to fight for it. InuYasha punches the crow out of the leader's chest; the crow takes the Shikon no Tama in its mouth and quickly flees. He throws some weapons at its fleeing body, hoping that it would slow it down. Spotting a bow and arrow set on the ground, he grabs Kagome and follows the crow.
With Kagome sitting on his back, InuYasha runs after the crow, coaxing Kagome to shoot it down. Finally being persuaded, she agrees that she'll try. InuYasha smirks at his cunning, contemplating how he'll dispose of her after he gets the jewel. Seeing the crow swallow the jewel, Kagome hopes that Kikyo's archery skills will rub off on her. Taking aim, she lets the the arrow loose and it misses. Kagome and InuYasha watch the arrow falter, each embarrassed. The crow begins to change appearance, looking more demonic.
