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. Shortly after Moroha’s birth, an incident prompted Kagome to have Hachiemon take Moroha away to safety elsewhere in order for her and Inuyasha to do battle against Sesshōmaru and Kirinmaru after which the pair ended up trapped at the Border of the Afterlife. She ended up in the care of the Wolf Demon Tribe and grew up knowing very little about her parents.

She eventually becomes a bounty hunter, as well as obtaining the yōkai sword Kurikaramaru. 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 nephew Hisui, 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 has a cheerful and friendly personality, inherited from her mother, Moroha has a dangerous temper, 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 unknown but may be for a very personal for her, as she avoids the topic when Towa brings it up.

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 youki and figuring out the twins were being possessed by ginka and kinka. 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.

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 yōkai 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). She also wears a red ragged cape, red hair ribbon, a pair of red leg warmers with black bows, and red fingerless gloves.

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.
 * Time Travel: Like her parents, Moroha can travel through time between Modern and Feudal era.
 * 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").
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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: A small red jewel that contains mystical powers which she keeps hidden in a shell compact. She stole it from Tokotsu's corpse.
 * 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.
 * Poison Air and Venom Water: Unlike her father, Moroha is vulnerable to the shōki and poisonous liquid from other yokai.

Relationships
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.
 * Inuyasha & Kagome Higurashi

Towa is her paternal half-cousin. They didn't know that they were related and met for the first time in their teens. Moroha explained to Towa what hanyō are and revealed that she is one of them too. Moroha somehow knew that Towa is Sesshōmaru's daughter, whereas Towa didn't know about it.
 * Towa Higurashi

Due to different perspective (Feudal and Modern Eras) both Moroha and Towa have shown annoyance toward each other, Towa considering Moroha rude and reckless while Moroha considering her soft and naïve.

Initially Moroha didn’t seem to have any emotional closeness to her. When Setsuna was putting her to sleep, she casually asked if she'd killed her. As the girls continue traveling together, Moroha's fondness toward her cousins grew to the point she considers them their first friends. This is clearly shown with Moroha tenderly taking care of Towa during her human transformation in new moon, as well as showing worry whenever a twin is in danger.

Setsuna is her paternal half-cousin. It is implied that Moroha and Setsuna did not know each other at all, or at least did not know each other until attacked by Mistress Three-Eyes. Hisui and Setsuna didn't even know Moroha was a quarter-yōkai, and believing her to be a full yōkai were surprised that she could shoot sacred arrows. They also wrongly believed her to be guilty of attacking a village.
 * Setsuna

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 suspected that Setsuna is Sesshōmaru's daughter based on her yōki, whereas Setsuna didn't know about it.

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 Hitokon 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

Sesshōmaru is her paternal half-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 daughters, when they had no idea and had not even met their father.
 * Sesshōmaru

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

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.
 * 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.

Trivia

 * Moroha is the only known quarter-yōkai.
 * She and Rinne Rokudō from share some similar traits:
 * Both are 25% species (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 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 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 Setsuna and Towa, Moroha's Rainbow Pearl is not stored within her eye, but carried on her person within her 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 Koga; though in a less violent matter, as unlike with Inuyasha and Koga, 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.
 * She is a few months younger than her cousins Towa and Setsuna (confirmed in episode 15).