A-Un

Ah-Un (阿吽，あうん) is Sesshomaru's beast of burden. He is one of the only two yōkai in the series who is explicitly stated to be a herbivore. Despite traveling with Sesshomaru for centuries, he has no name until Rin gives him one, calling the right head "Ah" and the left head "Un". It is undecided whether their name can be translated into anything applicable to their character, but the pronunciation a-un is used to describe a sound influential in many Indian religions "indicating an inherently harmonious relationship or non-verbal communication." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-un). Also, a-un is a term typically used to identify the 'one open mouth and one closed mouth' komainu statue sets normally seen near or in shrines.

On their journeys, Rin and Jaken often rest on his back to fly over great distances. When Sesshomaru leaves Rin in a safe place, Ah-Un stays with her as her protector. He saves Rin from a group of lesser demons while she is collecting herbs that will save Jaken from being poisoned by Naraku's Saimyōshō. Ah-Un also defeats many of Setsuna no Takemaru's zombie warriors in InuYasha the Movie: Swords of an Honorable Ruler.

Personality
Ah-Un is quite a benevolent and laidback creature, subservient to Sesshomaru and even to Rin (although this could be due to the kindness Rin has shown the creature) while only occasionally obeying Jaken, who sometimes has trouble motivating the demon to move; Ah-Un was implied to actually have little to no respect for Jaken in the 3rd movie when Jaken encouraged Sesshomaru not to team up with InuYasha, prompting everyone (Ah-Un apparently included) to rearrange his face to change his mind, showing Ah-Un is much more intelligent than he looks and that he could understand the situation at hand meritted the two dog brothers' teamwork. Ah-Un's benevolent nature may be due to the fact that he is one of the only two yōkai in the series who is explicitly stated to be an herbivore. Ah-Un is intelligent and is a sentient being; he also seems to have a sense of humour. The closest counterpart to Ah-Un in the series in terms of personailty would be Kirara, a demon who also cannot speak but does possess a great deal of intelligence and loyalty.

Relationships

 * Sesshomaru - The Dog Demon Lord in control of Ah-Un. Ah-Un has been travelling with Sesshomaru as a servant for a longtime, longer than his vassel Jaken and especially longer than his most recent travelling companion, Rin.


 * Rin - The young human girl travelling with Sesshomaru has a special relationship with Ah-Un. Rin named the demon and cares for him, as such Ah-Un looks after Rin in turn, protecting her and allowing her to ride on his back. Ah-Un has saved Rin on a multiple occasions. The two most memorable examples are when he saved her from some lesser yokai while she is collecting herbs to save Jaken when he is poisoned by Naraku’s miasma, and when he protected her from the zombie warriors in the third Inuyasha movie, Swords of an Honorable Ruler. If Rin is in danger in his presence, he will do everything he can possibly do in order to protect her.


 * Jaken - The demon vassel of Sesshomaru has a somewhat strained relationship with Ah-Un, apparently struggling to control the demon, unlike Sesshomaru and Rin who Ah-Un willingly obeys without question.

Abilities
Ah-Un possesses the ability of flight in a manner similair to Totosai's three-eyed ox yōkai Mo-Mo (猛々) - an ability which is used to the advantage of Sesshomaru when it comes to traversing great distances. Ah-Un typically carries Rin around on its back as she is not fast enough and does not possess the stamina to keep up with Sesshomaru when they travel.

Ah-Un can also shoot bursts of energy similar to lightning bolts out of it's mouths. From the right head, Ah, it fires beams of blue lightning to attack its enemies when it is roused into battle. The left head, Un, fires green lightning which allows him to control clouds and possibly the weather. However, this ability has never been used to directly attack anything and it’s possible that it isn’t harmful.