Chapter 39

Spider Head is the 39th chapter of the InuYasha manga.

Summary

 * Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippō rescue a girl named Nazuna from a spider-demon.
 * The group takes refuge in the temple of Nazuna's master.
 * Inuyasha loses his demon powers and becomes a mere mortal for the night.

Synopsis

 * Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippō are in a boat, lazily drifting down a river. Inuyasha is irritable as usual, saying that they aren't on a pleasure cruise; they're looking for any clues on the whereabouts of the shards. The half-demon looks over at Shippō, who's head is hanging over the side of the boat; he has sea-sickness. Inuyasha says "What?! Who ever heard of a seasick demon?" Suddenly Kagome sees something: A girl is running by the nearby cliff that's above the riverbed. She trips and falls. A black rabid object appears and Myōga states that it's a demon, but it appears and disappears so quickly they can't identify it. The girl falls off the cliff, and Inuyasha jumps to catch her. At first the young woman is grateful, but then she sees Inuyasha's dog ears and starts to scream, slapping him away. "Begone, demon!" The slap makes Inuyasha fall into the river.InuyashaChapter39ArrivalAlSpiderHeadTemple.jpg arrives at the temple.]]
 * Later, Inuyasha is wringing river-water out of his kimono with a grumble, asking himself why he even tries to be a good Samaritan. Kagome tends to a wound on the girl's shoulder and asks her if she lives on the mountain, but she refuses to answer. She says she doesn't trust demons. When Shippō tells her that they saved her life and she should be grateful, the girl responds by snapping at the fox with discrimination toward demons. Kagome asks what the monster they saw on the cliff was. The girl, who says her name is Nazuna, says the demons are called Spider-heads. They've lived on the mountain since springtime. They take the heads of the victims they kill and weave them into the webs they sow. Kagome says she doesn't sense any sacred jewel shards nearby, but still asks Inuyasha if they can help Nazuna and get rid of the demons. Inuyasha outright refuses, and says they have to be past the mountain by sunset no matter what. Kagome asks why they can't help, because many innocent people are being killed, but the half-demon still declines, adding that he doesn't battle strong demons for the sake of humans. Kagome is concerned by this statement, because Inuyasha would usually at least be willing to tag along and check it out. Nazuna climbs up a vine on a nearby cliff, saying she's going home. "I wouldn't put myself in a demon's care if my life depended on it!" As she climbs the vine, it snaps and she falls, breaking her ankle.
 * InuyashaChapter39IsInuyashaAMortal.jpg next panel shows Inuyasha begrudgingly carrying Nazuna on his back to a temple. A monk appears at the entrance of the shrine and Nazuna calls the monk her 'master.' She explains that she was picking flowers, and then got attacked by a spider-head. She adds "Then these vile demons forced me to lead them to the temple!" Shippō asks her who she's calling 'vile.' The old monk gets a closer look at Inuyasha and asks him if he is indeed a demon, but Inuyasha only scoffs and says they're not staying anyway so the old coot shouldn't get too worried. The monk asks that they stay as guests at the temple for one night, in return for saving Nazuna's life. He then asks Nazuna to prepare dinner. When the girl is gone, he asks Kagome & the others for their forgiveness in regards to Nazuna's temperament. He explains that a few months ago Nazuna's father was killed by a spider-head, and everyday since then she has felt nothing but utter contempt for demons. He says that his weak magic has kept the demons out of the temple. He then suddenly asks Inuyasha if he is a mortal, saying he senses no demonic power coming from the young man's soul. Inuyasha considers this an insult and is about to attack the Monk with his claws, but Kagome sits him. Later at dinner in the shrine, Kagome asks Inuyasha why he's so on edge today, especially why he got so angry at what the Monk said about being a mortal. Myōga says Inuyasha should be proud to be a half-demon, born of a powerful daiyōkai father and a beautiful mortal mother. Inuyasha sweats, thinking to himself: "Who is this monk? How did he know?..." Kagome asks the half-demon if he's afraid of spiders. Shippō turns into a giant spider to tease him, but Inuyasha only growls and denies the accusation. Inuyasha walks out of the shrine, declaring that he's sleeping by himself tonight, but before he can, a giant spiderweb filled with human heads descends from the ceiling as hundreds of giant spiders crawl around the room. Nazuna, seeing the webs elsewhere in the temple, rushes to find her master, but only finds his body. She's shocked that the spiritual shield has broken.InuyashaChapter39BlackHairedInuyasha.jpg
 * The spider-heads crawl ever closer, and as usual, Inuyasha tells Kagome and Shippō to run away while he takes care of the demons alone. She agrees, but becomes worried when she sees something: after Inuyasha draws his Tessaiga it does not transform, it remains in its rusty katana state. Before Kagome & Shippō even make it very far, Inuyasha becomes engulfed by the swarm of spiderheads, and they start to wrap him in a silky web. The two of them turn around and the fox uses his foxfire on the demons, making them flee temporarily. They run off with Inuyasha and get to a safe place. Kagome asks Inuyasha what's going on and why the Tessaiga didn't transform. The half-demon's face is covered in webs, and when he removes them, his hair is revealed to be black, not white as it usually is. His dog ears and claws have disappeared as well. Kagome is shocked at his appearance. Inuyasha tells that if they're counting on him to protect them this time, they're out of luck, because he's just a mere mortal until the sun rises.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Kagome
 * Inuyasha
 * Shippō
 * Nazuna (First Appearance)
 * Myōga
 * Spider Demon (First Appearance)

Trivia

 * Chapters 39 through 42 were adapted into episode 13 of the anime.

Capítulo 39