Then we see the brothers as they destroy the army once again, before switching to the scene where Kagome accidentally knocks off two of Manten's 3 hairs with her arrow. Then we see Hiten attacking Inuyasha again, where Inuyasha manages to push off the Thunder Pike (Hiten's weapon).
After exchanging a few threats and comments, Hiten attacks Inuyasha, only to miss as the hanyou jumps away.
As Hiten and Inuyasha fight, Shippou tries to figure out how to help Kagome. And Kagome? Well, when Manten tries to help Hiten by sending a lightning blast at him, Kagome pushes him off the cloud before he can fire.
Of course, after Manten hits face-first, the cloud holding up Kagome vanishes, and she falls down onto the younger Thunder Brother. When Shippou and Inuyasha see this, Shippou goes to help, and Inuyasha calls out for her, only to be stopped by an attacking Hiten.
"A true warrior NEVER puts a woman before battle!"
Inuyasha promises to save Kagome, but Kagome lands on Manten and bounces off, only to find out HE'S STILL ALIVE!
He starts to chase after Kagome, who trips and falls, only to end up having Shippou throw a top on the Thunder Brother's head. The top grows, and knocks out the last strand of Manten's hair. Of course, this REALLY makes him mad, and he starts attacking EVERYTHING!
Kagome decides that if she can get the arrow, she might be able to use it again. Manten sends a blast to where they're hiding, and notices Kagome laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. He walks over to her and lifts her up by her hair, only to have her wake up and start mocking him!!
Then Kagome's hair starts to wrap around Manten's arms, trapping him, and the REAL Kagome runs up to pull the arrow out! Then we see that the first Kagome is really Shippou, who keeps up the Kagome disguise, but with red hair now. Kagome aims to jam the arrow into Manten's forehead, loosing the shards, but Manten blocks her and throws Shippou to the side, who turns back into his normal form.
Manten begins to strangle Kagome, who tries to call to Inuyasha for help. When Inuyasha calls out to Kagome, though, Hiten takes advantage of his distraction and stabs him in the shoulder with the Thund Pike. Unfortunately, this also knocks the Tetsusaiga away.
Inuyasha is trying to think of how to save Kagome, while Hiten's trying to decide who should die first. He asks Manten, who says he's enjoying himself watching Kagome die slowly. Shippou jumps on him, yelling for him to let Kagome go, but gets knocked away again.
Manten starts to taunt Shippou, saying that he needs a new fox pelt, and talking about skinning him alive, like he did Shippou's father. Now Shippou's pissed. He jumps back onto Manten, but this time, he sinks his teeth into the older demon's neck. And he won't let go!
Manten starts to beat Shippou in the head, and Hiten warns him not to get blood on his new pelt. But the idea of blood, plus Hiten's distraction, makes Inuyasha stand up and use his blood in his "Blades of Blood" attack.
"Finally, this is starting to get interesting!"
While Hiten's blocking that attack, Inuyasha goes back for Tetsusaiga and leaps into the air, throwing it down towards Hiten. Or is he?
When Hiten mocks him with his 'good aim', Inuyasha lands and wonders aloud if he "got him". Hiten turns to see Tetsusaiga go straight into Manten, who releases Kagome and Shippou.
Hiten, wanting to see if his brother's okay, flies over to him. Kagome has grabbed a near-unconscious Shippou and is holding her arrow when she notices Tetsusaiga. She goes to pull it out to get it to Inuyasha, but Shippou begs for her to get his father's pelt. Kagome can't carry both, and so leaves Tetsusaiga where it is. Inuyasha yells at Kagome to move before Hiten attacks her, but it's too late, and Hiten knocks her out of the way as he lands next to his brother.
In an actually very touching speech, Hiten and Manten talk about Manten's lack of hair, and his confidence, but Hiten says he loves his brother and wouldn't change anything about him. He says it's what's on the inside that counts. (Makes you wonder, don't it?) As Manten dies, Hiten begs him to stay.
Inuyasha runs to Kagome, asking if she's alright, and she tells about how she had to leave the Tetsusaiga. She apologizes for messing up, which he agrees (very much so) that she did, but then he says that he's still gonna defeat Hiten, even without the sword.
Hiten, though, is pretty pissed about his brother dying, and bites into his forehead, in order fuse his brother's shards with his own. Inuyasha's got a stronger opponent now.
While Inuyasha and Kagome are asking Myouga about his noticeable disappeareances, Hiten attacks again. Inuyasha grabs Kagome and Shippou (and the father's pelt), and moves out of the way. He then tells Kagome to take Shippou and get as far away as possible. She refuses to leave, but he basically commands her to. She listens and runs off, while Inuyasha faces his new enemy.
Hiten fires a MASSIVE lightening bolt from his Thunder Pike, and Myouga tells Inuyasha to use the sheath of Tetsusaiga (as the sword is still near Manten's body). Inuyasha hopes he's right, and blocks the bolt with the sheath, only to watch in surprise (with Hiten) as the sheath actually holds off the blast.
Myouga explains that since the sheath keeps the Tetsusaiga's power in check, it can stave off "a mere lightning bolt." But when he mentions it was a hunch, Inuyasha gets annoyed that he risked his life for a guess.
Inuyasha, delighted with the new information about his sword's sheath, decides to attack with that alone. When Hiten sends another blast at him, Inuyasha pushes his way through it in order to get to the Thunder Brother on the other side. But when he breaks through, Hiten's gone. And then he reappears, directly behind Inuyasha, his Thunder Pike stabbing into Inuyasha's back.
Shippou finally wakes up, and Kagome explains to him what's going on. Hiten keeps attacking Inuyasha, who keeps having to block with the sheath. When Shippou points out the wheels on Hiten's feet that helps him fly, Kagome gets an idea. But... She doesn't have a bow!! Shippou turns himself into a rather odd-looking bow (in Kagome's words, "I wanted a bow, not a snail...").
After knocking back Inuyasha, Hiten moves to attack again. Only to be stopped when Kagome, using Shippou as her bow, fires her only arrow at one of the wheels on his feet, snapping it in half.
While Hiten's staring at Kagome, probably pissed that she broke his means of flying, Inuyasha grabs onto the Thunder Pike and throws away the sheath. Myouga tells him to let go and get the sheath back, but Inuyasha simply pulls back and punches Hiten in the face. Something that Hiten remarks has never happened before.
Hiten begins to glow blue, and attacks Inuyasha again, who leaps to the side and blocks with Tetsusaiga's sheath again. But then the sheath starts to crack!!
Kagome decides she has to get Tetsusaiga to Inuyasha, but then Shippou starts to run towards it in order to help. When Kagome runs after him, calling for him to come back, Hiten hears them and turns to use his brother's lightning blast from his mouth, which he had acquired when he bit into Manten's head.
Inyuasha tries to warn Kagome, but she and Shippou turn just in time to see the blast as it hits them. Inuyasha calls out to Kagome, but Hiten tells him not to waste his time. Inuyasha calls out again, this time sounding desperate (*gasp* could he actually like her?!)
When Hiten mocks him with the fact that Kagome and Shippou are dead, Inuyasha gets pretty pissed himself, and head-butts Hiten, saying that he slaughtered his friends. (He admits it! Kagome and Shippou are his friends!)
Hiten attacks again, after thinking to himself that Inuyasha fights as well as any full demon. The sheath is just about to break, and Hiten is rejoicing in the fact that he's about to win, but then, the sheath begins to pulse in Inuyasha's hands, actually calling the Tetsusaiga to him.
The moment Inuyasha gets ahold of the sword, he releases the sheath and swings the Tetsusaiga down through Hiten, slicing him, and his Thunder Pike, in half.
After he turns to dust and puffs away, the five jewel shards land on the ground in front of Inuyasha. Myouga points them out to Inuyasha, but Inuyasha is actually REALLY sweet for once.
"I don't care about them. If only I had taken care of Hiten sooner, I could have saved Kagome and Shippou..."
He sounds like he's about to start crying (and looks it, too), but then Kagome starts calling to him, and he turns to see her and Shippou enveloped in blue fire.
Myouga tells Inuyasha that their souls have come to say goodbye before they pass on, and a terrified Inuyasha runs over to her and reaches out for her, yelling for her not to leave him.
And he's able to grab onto her arm!!!
He sees the blue fire go up into the sky, and fade away, and yells for Kagome, only to look back down when he realizes he's still got ahold of her arm. She asks him what he meant about her leaving him, and he's trying to get ahold of the fact that she's still alive.
Then we learn that the blue flames, so much like Shippou's own, was actually his father's fox-fire, which he used to protect Kagome and Shippou before his own spirit passed on. (I'm guessing, they just say it came from his fur, i figured he couldn't really rest in peace.)
Inuyasha looks ready to kill Myouga for telling him it was their souls, and worrying him, then Kagome points out that Inuyasha still has a death-grip on her wrist.
Embarrassed, Inuyasha starts to rant about her choice of words when she was talking to him, since it made it sound like she was about to pass on. He turns his back to them, saying he doesn't care, and grumbles about it. But he's also blushing... hehe...
Later on, Kagome asks why Inuyasha is so upset, and Myouga explains that Inuyasha's upset about believing she was dead, and, in his grief, said more than he bargained for. When Inuyasha threatens him with his fist, though, Myouga runs for cover.
Inuyasha asks why Shippou's tagging along still, and Kagome convinces Inuyasha to let him stay, seeing as he has no home or family now. But when Inuyasha starts to tease Shippou, he ends up with a pouting kid and a "Sit" from Kagome.
And so, the adventure continues...
