Moroha

"You guys are demon slayers? Who knew there was a job for something like that? I mean I had no idea. So, I guess you're here to "slay" me, Beniyasha? *chuckle* Don't make me laugh. You guys could never beat me. Not in a million years! In fact, I'll turn you all into lunch for my Kurikaramaru! Better get ready!"

- Moroha to the Yōkai taijiya.

is the tritagonist and one of the title characters in the anime series Hanyō no Yashahime. She is the only daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome Higurashi, a quarter-yōkai (ShiHanyō) bounty hunter who slays yōkai and sells their parts to other yōkai slayers.

History
Moroha was born as the quarter-yōkai daughter of Inuyasha, a hanyō, and Kagome, a human, four years after Kagome’s return from the Modern era and her marriage to Inuyasha. During her pregnancy with Moroha, Kagome learned Zero intended to kill her unborn child and newborn nieces because of Tōga's prophecy of the Shikon no Tama (since the Shikon Jewel has been disappeared 8 years ago after the battle with Naraku) which stated that a being that is neither human nor yōkai would lead to kill her younger half brother.

Shortly after Moroha was born, Inuyasha and Kagome had Hachiemon take Moroha away to safety in order to protect her from Sesshōmaru and Kirinmaru. Afterwards, the former stole the Black Pearl from Inuyasha’s right eye and sealed the pair at the Border of the Afterlife. As a result, Moroha ended up in the care of the Wolf Demon Tribe and grew up knowing very little about her parents.

Moroha was mentored by Yawaragi, who eventually sold her to the corpse dealer Jyūbei. As part of their deal, Moroha gained possession of Yawargi's sword the Kurikaramaru. Moroha was employed by Jyūbei as a demon bounty hunter until Yawargi's debt was paid off. She gains the nicknames, and.

During the story
When Moroha was in the mountains waiting for her next target to appear, she was confronted by group of yōkai taijiya, including Kohaku and his maternal nephew, due to the rumors of a yōkai rampaging through a nearby village. Just as Hisui was about to confront her, Kohaku stopped him and asked Moroha if she was after the real culprit, to which she confirmed, but was still prepared to attack them due to them having provoked her. Moroha then took out a shell compact containing a mysterious rouge with a red pearl at the center and was about to apply some on her lips, but was suddenly confronted by Setsuna.

As the two of them battled, Setsuna's right eye began to mysteriously glow, apparently reacting to Moraha's red pearl. It was then that the ōmukade Mistress Three-Eyes appeared from underground and attempted to obtain Moroha and Setsuna's pearls, which caused an abrupt end to the fight. Moroha engaged Mistress Three-Eyes with her sword Kurikaramaru, but it was unable to cut her. Moroha then followed up with a barrage of sacred arrows. They had manage to strike Mistress Three-Eyes, but she still managed to telekinetically steal Moroha's pearl and swallowed it, thus increasing her power. Afterwords, Mistress Three-Eyes turned her attention towards Setsuna and attempted to claim her pearl as well, but later managed to escape with the aid of Hisui and Kirara.

The three of them then lured her to Kaede with the hopes that she could purify her. As they approached Kaede's village, Setsuna decided to fight Mistress Three-Eyes since she was her target. As they began to fight, Moroha interfered and claimed that Mistress Three-Eyes was her target from the start. Setsuna simply ignored Moroha and charged towards Mistress Three-Eyes, but was unable to kill her. Mistress Three-Eyes then restrained Setsuna and managed to steal her pearl and become much stronger. As Mistress Three-Eyes was about to kill Setsuna, the Goshinboku near where they were fighting suddenly opened up a portal and transported them, as well as Moroha, to the Higurashi shrine in the Modern era.

Personality
Although she inherited a cheerful and friendly personality from her mother, Moroha also has a dangerous temper that she inherited from her father, and when rampaging is known as the "Crimson Night Demon of National Destruction" (国崩しの紅夜叉, kuni-kuzushi no kurenaiyasha). She may have learned some of her rowdy behavior from her years living with the Wolf Demon tribe.

Like her father, she can be impulsive such as attacking without thinking, which can leave her open after attacking an enemy. In addition, she seems to lack a sense of modesty as she does not mind being seen naked.

Moroha is openly unaware of her parentage, despite their prominent roles in the events preceding her birth. Despite this, she appears completely unhindered by this lack of knowledge, and even when presented with the idea of learning about her mother seems completely uninvested, whether or not there is more to this than she lets on is so far unknown.

Due to being on her own, she felt a sense of loneliness in both as a quarter demon and in social life. Until, she met Setsuna and Towa as she felt for the first time that she had made friends her own age, as well as getting to know her own family better.

Due to her years as a bounty hunter, Moroha is very knowledgeable about various yōkai. She is proud of her reputation as a bounty hunter to the point she refuses to apologize for mistakenly killing the wrong target or being falsely accused of a bounty’s demise. Moroha initially showed as greedy toward money, but as the show progressed it was revealed that her constant need for money comes from the fact she owes a large debt to Jyūbei, which by her own words takes most of her earnings away leaving her with just the basic to feed herself. The reason why she is in such a big debt is because her master, Yawaragi sold her when she was eleven years old which resulted in her debt.

Moroha has shown to be very smart and analytical, quick in reading her surroundings as well as being a mediator towards the twins. This is shown with her quickly linking up of Setsuna’s lack of sleep and memory lost to the dream butterfly, which made Towa start her goal to find the later, as well as helping Towa understand her ability to absorb yōki and figuring out the twins were being possessed by Kinka and Ginka. She has also shown an ability for problem solving as she was able to find out a way to return to the feudal era by tricking Ne no Kubi into letting them back.

During her time in the modern era, Moroha quickly adapted at learning her maternal great-grandfather's taijutsu, and to using Sōta's credit card and pin number to purchase a suitcase-sized bag of items she claims to be useful back in the feudal era, including several food items, a butterfly net, a copy of "New Social Studies and History" (though she had no idea she had bought it in the first place), a telescope, and a bike, displaying yet again her adaptability as well as her recklessness when it comes to handling someone else's money.

As an animal quarter-demon, she has the instincts of a dog.

Physical description
Moroha is a young woman with long black hair that is tied into a ponytail, with two locks of it sticking out on each side of her face. Due to the thinness of her blood being 25% demon, Moroha doesn't show any visible demonic traits (unlike her father, her ears are human), other than slightly enlarged canines, clawed fingernails, and her demonic power. She has inherited Kagome's black hair, skin tone and eyes, but her features mostly resemble Inuyasha's.

As Beniyasha, her eyes become golden like her father's and gain lavender markings on the outer corners, and her body emits a thick red aura. She is rather short in stature.

Outfit
Moroha wears the Robe of the Fire-rat (most likely inherited from her father), though she has shortened its sleeves and leggings. She also wears a red ragged cape, red hair ribbon, a pair of red leg warmers with black bows, and red finger less gloves. Her garment takes inspiration from the Wolf Demon Tribe's clothing.

Like her father, Moroha doesn't wear any shoes.

Powers & abilities
Moroha is both an archer and swordfighter, just like her parents. She has apparently inherited some of her mother's spiritual power, as she can infuse her arrows with purifying energy.
 * Enhanced Smell: Like her father, Moroha has a stronger sense of smell than humans. She could easily detect a yōkai disguised as a human.
 * Enhanced Stamina: Like her father, Moroha's stamina far exceeded human standards despite being a quarter yōkai. She was able to run and leap vast distances at great speeds without slowing down during rescuing her cousin when was captured by shogunate adviser from Kanto Region.
 * Demonic Aura Sensitivity: Moroha can feel demonic energies. When she met Setsuna, she immediately noticed that she was a half-demon. She later recognized Towa as a hanyō. Moroha also told Setsuna that Towa was telling the truth when she claims to be her sister because their two auras would be very similar. Moroha also realized that they must both be the daughters of Sesshōmaru.
 * Appraisal: Moroha is also quick to recognize items of value, such as Setsuna's weapon, Grandpa Higurashi's relics, and her uncle Sōta's credit card. Just as quickly, she sees that Towa's weapon is not the genuine treasure that those in the modern era believed it to be.
 * Claws: When using her full demonic power, Moroha is capable of using one of her father's signature moves, Sankon Tessō (散魂鉄爪 "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer"). Although she has demonstrated the ability to use this technique in her normal state as well, it is considerably weaker.
 * Blood Solidification: When using her full demonic powers, Moroha is able to use one of her father's signature moves, Hijin Kessō (飛刃血爪 "Blades of Blood"). Although she has demonstrated the ability to use this technique in her normal state as well, it is considerably weaker.
 * Spiritual Power: Like her mother, Moroha is able to utilize spiritual power with her arrows and is able to wield sacred objects such as Purification Salt against yōkai. Thus far, she is the only known entity with yokai blood capable of using this power. That said, Moroha's sacred power is significantly less than her mother's.
 * Barrier: Presumably inherit from her mother, Moroha can create Barrier by sticking talisman parchments onto a solid surface.

Equipment

 * Robe of the Fire-Rat: A red colored garment which protects the wearer from burning flames and other external forces.
 * Kurikaramaru: Moroha's primary weapon, a mid-length sword containing a dragon crest along its blade, its hilt wrapped in red, and finished with bronze.
 * Thrown from the sword, an energy attack capable of striking through open air or erupting along the ground.
 * Crimson Backlash Wave: Very similar to Backlash Wave, this special technique sends one's own demonic attack right back at them, destroying them with their own demonic energy and that of Kurikaramaru's. However, it can only be used if the opponent had wind attack.
 * The sheath of Kurikaramaru: Thus far, a normal-looking black sheath for her sword.
 * Bow and arrow: Her secondary choice of weaponry, Moroha infuses her spiritual energy into the arrows to attack her opponents.
 * Sacred Arrows: Similar to her mother, Moroha is able to fire sacred arrows. Her arrow flies in the air, where it splits into several arrows and homing on the enemy to hit it.
 * Moroha shoots a Sacred Arrow in the air, which creates a barrage of sacred arrows that rain down on the enemy.
 * Shell Compact: Moroha holds a shell compact similar to the one owned by her paternal grandmother.
 * Tōga's Beni: In the compact, she keeps a small amount of her paternal grandfather's rouge. When she rubs the rouge on her lips, it allows her to temporarily access the full power of her demonic heritage and become Beniyasha.
 * Red Rainbow Pearl (formerly): A small red jewel that contains mystical powers which she keeps hidden in a shell compact. She stole it from Tōkotsu's corpse.
 * Time Travel: Like her parents, Moroha can travel through time between Modern and Feudal era.
 * Mummified kappa hand: A gift from Grandpa Higurashi (her maternal great-grandfather), which she immediately recognizes as valuable. She uses it to free her group from being drained by Root Head.
 * Purification Salt: Stemming from her mixed heritage (and being mostly human), Moroha is not harmed by exorcism materials. As such she can hide purification salt in her mouth and charge it with spiritual power.
 * Music player and earbuds: A couple of the items brought back from the Modern Era. Moroha enjoys listening to songs on the music player with wireless earbuds, and could be heard (poorly) singing along to what appears to be a track very reminiscent of the Queen song Bicycle Race. However, she does not like the tracks featuring Mei's favorite idol, Julian. Considering the fact that Moroha was unlikely to understand how to download audio recordings to the device, and that it contained tracks Towa is aware of that Moroha does not like, it is very likely that these items actually belong to Towa.

Weaknesses

 * Demonic Energy Exhaustion: Due to being 75% human, Moroha's demonic energy is weaker than her father's; though she is strong enough to take out average yōkai. When Moroha applies the Beni to her lips, it brings out the full power of her demonic heritage, allowing her to become as strong as her father in his base state; however, the increase in strength only last for about one minute and it severely drains her, knocking her out for a full day. It has even been shown that a sufficiently powerful opponent can not only overpower her even with the full power of her demonic heritage unleashed but even greatly decrease the amount of time she could stay in her demonic form if their attacks hit her, as shown when she fought Kirinmaru, who easily forced her back to her normal form with a single blast of demonic energy.
 * Poison Air and Venom Water: Unlike her father, Moroha is vulnerable to the shōki and poisonous liquid from other yōkai.
 * Demonic Blood: At age 11, Moroha ended up going feral when she applied her rouge to combat the Birds of Paradise. This was what cause Yawaragi to get the scars on her face. Her mentor even forbade Moroha from using the rouge as it would eat away at her humanity. However, that was not the case after three year later as she was able control of her blood simultaneously.

Family

 * Inuyasha & Kagome Higurashi

Inuyasha and Kagome are Moroha’s parents. She knows very little about them, as they sent her away before battling Kirinmaru and Sesshōmaru. Before being sent away, Moroha received her paternal grandmother’s Beni as a parting gift, as Inuyasha and Kagome decided to pass it on if their child was a girl. Inuyasha and Kagome loved their daughter dearly and were saddened to be separated from her. She seems to be aware of who her parents are but Moroha openly expresses disinterest in learning about her parents, and does not seem hindered by her lack of knowledge of them. Whether or not there is more to this then she lets on is unknown.

Towa is her paternal half-cousin. The two first met in their teens after Moroha and Setsuna were forcibly sent to modern-day Tokyo. Moroha somehow knew that Towa is Sesshōmaru's daughter, whereas Towa didn't know about it. She also explained to Towa what hanyō are and revealed that she is one of them too.
 * Towa Higurashi

After learning of twins seperation, Moroha shows a certain degree of sympathy towards Towa, such as chastising Setsuna for attacking her sister, and is willing to help Towa in her quest to find the Dream Butterfly.

Though far more civil and friendly towards her than Setsuna, Moroha also considers her to be soft and naive. Before they returned to the Feudal-Era, she rudely tells Towa to not her down during fighting. She also repeatedly chastises her whenever she lets her guard down and become vulnerable to attack. Like with Setsuna, she is also annoyed by Towa's pacifistic nature and would yell at Towa to kill her enemies. When Takechiyo says Towa is the most reliable of the three, Moroha reacts with disdain and even calls Towa useless.

However, as the two continued traveling together, Moroha grew to become genuinely fond of her cousin. This is shown when she became visibly upset when Towa refuses to join her in one of her bounty hunting jobs. She also began to take Towa's well-being more seriously, tenderly taking care of and protecting her during her human transformation in new moon, as well as showing worry whenever a twin is in danger.

After killing her own master, Moroha, in a rare open display of emotional vulnerability, tells both her cousins about her own insecurities. But soon cheered up after hearing Towa's open support. In her heart, she tells her deceased master to not worry about her as she has Towa by her side, showing that Moroha has come to love her cousin.


 * Setsuna

Setsuna is her paternal half-cousin. She first met Setsuna during a demon slaying mission, where the latter wrongly believed her to be guilty of attacking a village. Moroha herself would express a liking towards Setsuna's naginata, opining that the latter should have no qualms of surrendering it over to Moroha if she bests Setsuna fairly in a fight. Moroha also somehow knows that Setsuna is Sesshōmaru's daughter based on her yōki, whereas Setsuna didn't know about it.

Throughout their first encounter, Moroha would constantly interfere with Setsuna's fights and teasingly calls her Setsuna-chan. She also tries to prevent a fight between the twins and chastised Setsuna for attacking Towa.

The two would continue to collaborate throughout the series. Though polar opposites in terms of personality, Moroha surprisingly gets along well with Setsuna. This is probably because Setsuna has a battle philosophy similar to hers when compared to Towa. As such, Moroha has high respect for Setsuna and would often seek for help in battle. Though she stopped refering her as Setsuna-chan, she still enjoys teasing her, as shown during her comment towards Setsuna's modern-day dress and sneakingly attempt to put a earphone in her ear. Similar to her relationship with Towa, it is implied that her fondness of Setsuna only grew as she spends more time with her. Though initially contempt accepting solo bounty hunting jobs, she became genuinely upset when Setsuna refuse to join her later on.

After killing her own master, Moroha, in a rare open display of emotional vulnerability, tells both her cousins about her own insecurities. But soon cheered up after hearing Setsuna's open support. In her heart, she tells her deceased master to not worry about her as she has Setsuna by her side, showing that Moroha has come to love her cousin.

Sōta is her maternal uncle. Sōta deduced Moroha was his niece because of her resemblance to his sister, Kagome. He allows her to stay with him during her first visit to the present time. Once she learns he is her uncle, she is grateful for his hospitality, but takes delight in teasing him, such as going on a massive shopping spree at his expense and leaving the bills to him.
 * Sōta Higurashi

Moe is her maternal aunt. They first met when Moroha was 14 years old and she visiting the modern era for the first time. Together with Sōta, Moe suspects that she may be Kagome's daughter. The aunt is quite friendly to her newfound niece, but it seems that Moe is really confused by Moroha's primitive habits (for example, appearing naked after a shower in front of other people). Moroha is grateful for the hospitality.
 * Moe Higurashi

Mei is her maternal cousin. Moroha protected her from the yōkai Mistress Three-Eyes and was disgusted at the minor yōkai Hitōkon for trying to possess the girl into attacking her family. Mei looks up to Moroha and considers her as more of a sister.
 * Mei Higurashi

She is Moroha's maternal grandmother. She noticed that Moroha had Kagome's eyes, so she began to suspect that the teen is her granddaughter. She is fond of Moroha, who is friendly with her.
 * Ms. Higurashi

He is Moroha's maternal great-grandfather. He suspected Moroha was Kagome’s daughter because of the resemblance between the two. He teaches Moroha taijutsu and he is proud of her for excelling in it within a short period of time. He then gives her a kappa foot as a token of good fortune, which she eagerly accepts (and the first of his family to really appreciate such things). The two have a friendly relationship.
 * Grandpa Higurashi

Tōga is her late paternal grandfather. In "Gateway to the Past", she mentions that she has heard of him. In Episode 23 (Hanyō no Yashahime), Moroha is aware that she and Tōga are related by calling him "grandpa" when Myōga brings him up.
 * Tōga

Izayoi is her paternal grandmother who had died many decades ago before Moroha was born. It is her rogue that she possesses and uses frequently to further increase her strength as a quarter dog-demon.
 * Izayoi


 * Sesshōmaru

Sesshōmaru is her half-paternal uncle. Moroha initially does not know that they are related, until she encounters the Tree of Ages. However, she seems to treat Sesshōmaru with reverence because he is a Inu Daiyōkai. Moroha somehow knows that Towa and Setsuna are Sesshōmaru's twin daughters, when they had no idea and had not even met their father. She almost meets her uncle during her first fight with Lord Kirinmaru. However, she was knocked out by the demonic blood exhaustation before she able to see him. In episode 23, she finally meets him.

Rin is her half-paternal aunt-in-law.
 * Rin

Others
Moroha maintains an amiable relationship with Kaede, who sees in Moroha reflections of Kagome's spirit.
 * Kaede

Moroha is indebted to Jyūbei, a yōkai corpse dealer. Moroha makes a living collecting parts of slain yōkai for him. He values her work, but still takes a hefty cut of the bounties she collects, going so far as to deny payment for the head of Tōkotsu when proof of his demise is scattered by Setsuna and Towa. Acknowledging her skill, he directs her towards other yōkai in need of slaying.
 * Jyūbei

Takechiyo and Moroha have a business relationship as Takechiyo is Jyūbei’s assistant, but unlike Jyūbei, they have a rocky relationship as they are shown constantly bickering and annoying each other, with Takechiyo even finding certain joy in Moroha being denied a bounty payment.
 * Takechiyo

Although they both seem to annoy each other, there must be a sense of trust as Moroha felt comfortable enough to reveal her loneliness and harsh childhood surviving as a quarter-yokai.

An ever-cautious traveling companion, Myōga now accompanys the granddaughter of his master, Tōga. He remains a fountain of knowledge to friend or foe, and thirsts as a flea yōkai would for payment. Moroha even refers to him as Grandpa Myōga
 * Myōga

He is overjoyed when Moroha makes use of his master's (delicious) blood, something that Inuyasha never considered. According to Myōga, despite her greatly thinned demonic blood, when Moroha goes full power her blood tastes similar to her demonic grandfather.


 * Yawaragi

Yawaragi was Moroha's mentor. Moroha didn't particularly like Yawaragi because she wasn't nice to her, she sent her to dangerous trials, and she just sold her to pay off her debt. When Yawaragi challenges her to a fight, Moroha says she is not happy to see them again. However, she shows her enough respect to face her alone and to ask Setsuna and Towa not to interfere in this fight. When Yawaragi is killed, however, Moroha is sad and desperate, so she must have liked her a little after all. It is later revealed that Yawaragi was the closest thing Moroha had to a mother-figure, and was remorseful when she brought up her involvement in Yawaragi’s scar and armor. In turn, Yawaragi claimed that Moroha was her favorite student, and despite being willing to fight her and sell her off to pay off her debts, she still cared for her in a way, being proud of her former pupil before dying.


 * Riku

TBA

Enemies
The subordinates of Kirinmaru, each demon had a confrontation with Moroha;
 * The Four Perils

Tōkotsu The first of the Four Perils she encounters, he was furious when she ran off with his body and robbing his Red Rainbow Pearl.

Kyūki The second of the Four Perils she encounters, she used the Dream-Gazing spell of Yotsume's to seek out her weakness. She even disabled Moroha's rouge by absorbing her demon energy.

Konton The third of the Four Perils she encounters, he was the one who tricked he mentor Yawaragi into fighting her student to the death.

Tōtetsu

The fourth and final Peril she encounters, he fought her in the valley that was used as Konton's trap for the girls.

A Great Demon who initially went after her after Zero provoked him with the prophecy of the sacred jewel, after the battle with Naraku and the disappearance of the Shikon Jewel 22 years ago. Moroha herself mainly fought his Four Perils upon the requests from Jyūbei for their bounties.
 * Kirinmaru


 * Zero

Moroha instantly notices that she is no ordinary human woman as she easily hypnotizes Towa with just one gaze. She uses her Crimson Dragon Wave against her, but Zero manages to defect it at the clouds with the claim the such crimson dragons are wasted on a novice such as her.

Trivia

 * Moroha is the only known quarter-yōkai.
 * She and Rinne Rokudō from share some similar traits:
 * Moroha is 75% Human and 25% Demon, Rinne is the opposite as he is 75% Shinigami and 25% Human.
 * Both of their fathers are half-human and half-demon, and are voiced by the same seiyū.
 * Both are in massive debt.
 * The ends of her hair bow forming points is a visual callback to Inuyasha's dog ears.
 * Moroha's bow resembles Shippō's bow.
 * Moroha is shown to be smart enough to figure out how to make pancakes, but equally dense to stuff lots of food in her mouth at once; requiring a whack to her head to stop choking on pancakes.
 * Unlike her paternal half-cousins, Moroha's Red Rainbow Pearl is not stored within her eye, but carried on her person within her paternal grandmother's shell compact.
 * She is the only member of the Higurashi family by blood to lack the surname, in fact due to being born and raised in the Feudal Era lacks a surname altogether.
 * Moroha bickering with her cousins Towa and Setsuna is similar to how her father would pick fights with Kōga; though in a less violent matter, as unlike with Inuyasha and Kōga, Moroha openly considers her cousins to be her friends.
 * It has become more and more of an ongoing gag that Moroha pursues a demon because he has a high bounty, but her success is thwarted at the last moment in one way or another, leaving her without a reward.
 * As seen and confirmed in Episode 15, she is a few months younger than her cousins Towa and Setsuna, which makes her the youngest Yashahime out of the trio.
 * According to Towa's seiyū, Sara Matsumoto, Moroha is represented by the flower Statice.
 * In Episode 20, Moroha is the 1st main character of the Yashahime trio to be absent.