Chapter 28

Foxfire is the 28th chapter of the InuYasha manga.

Summary

 * Inuyasha and Kagome meet a fox demon child named Shippō, who wants to avenge his father's death at the hands of the Thunder Brothers.
 * The Thunder Brothers terrorize some soldiers.
 * Shippō uses a spell to neutralize Inuyasha, then steals and runs off with Kagome's Shikon shards. Shippō accidentally runs into Manten and is almost killed, but Kagome fires an arrow at Manten, saving him.

Synopsis

 * Inuyasha is really impressed by the instant noodles that Kagome brought from her era. He asks her if she wants any, but the next frame reveals that they're eating in a battlefield where hundreds of skeletons are scattered about, and Kagome asks how he could possible eat in such a disgusting place. Suddenly the sky gets very dark and Myōga hops up on Inuyasha shoulder, saying "Is that... foxfire?" A voice speaks out from the darkness, saying "You... have shards... of the sacred jewel..." and Kagome gets frightened, thinking it's a terrifying demon. Then the demon reveals itself; it looks like a big blob with eyes. Inuyasha gets a look of disbelief and smacks the demon away with a single punch, revealing the true form of the demon: a fox child. Inuyasha mistakes the little demon for a badger-dog, but the little demon adamantly states that he's a fox. Kagome thinks the little kitsune is cute, and asks Inuyasha if he can pet it, to which Inuyasha says no and the two get into an argument. While distracted, the young foxchild, who's name is revealed to be Shippō, runs over to Kagome's bag and steals her bottle with the Shikon fragments inside. He tries to escape, but Inuyasha punches him.P013.jpg
 * Kagome asks the fox why he needs shards of the jewel. Shippō says that he needs to get stronger because he has to avenge his father's death. He reveals that his father was killed by a pair of ferocious Yōkai called The Thunder Brothers.
 * Meanwhile in an unknown land, we see two armies battling in a valley, then both suddenly sides stop when they see clouds mysteriously appear in the sky. Then they see two demons appear: the Thunder Brothers. With a slash of lightning, Hiten, the older of the brothers, beheads practically all the soldiers on one side of the field. The other army wonders if the two demons are somehow their allies. After hearing this, the younger brother, Manten, laughs and opens his mouth, creating a charge of electricity and firing it at the soldiers, obliterating them all. As they leave the battlefield, the two brothers have a conversation, and they both state how they feel much more powerful because of the sacred jewel shards they possess. Hiten demands that they find more to get even more powerful, and Manten agrees with a laugh, hoping that whomever holds the shards puts up more of a fight than "that old fox."
 * Shippō tells Kagome that his father had a shard of the sacred jewel, and so the Thunder Brothers killed him for it. When Kagome asks who exactly these 'Thunder Brothers' are, Myōga explains that he's heard rumors about the two brothers and their ruthlessness in battle. Inuyasha scoffs: "I don't care who the hell they are. Defeat them, and we've got a whole lot of Shikon shards in our hands at once." This comment makes the fox sigh saying he doesn't have a chance of beating the evil brothers. Inuyasha asks why, and Shippō says it's because Inuyasha is a half-demon, also calling him a 'mutt'. Inuyasha punches Shippō several times for this. The fox says he wants to apologize, then pulls a statue out of nowhere, laying it on Inuyasha's hands. "Unless you remove the spell-scroll, that statue will stay right there!" Looking over at Kagome, Shippō thinks to himself that he doesn't like to get rough with women, but that he needs to get those shards. He violently taps Kagome on the head to try and make her pass out, but she merely screams "Hey, that hurt!", making the fox decide to retreat. Kagome realizes that Shippō stole her bottle of jewel shards, and so she chases after him. Inuyasha shouts for her not to go until she takes the scroll off the statue, but she's already gone.
 * Manten of the Thunder Brothers is at a marshy pond, looking at his reflection and wishing that he had more hair on his head so he could 'Stir as many female hearts as his elder brother.' He then turns around when he senses a jewel shard coming nearby. Shippō then appears through the brush, becoming terrified when he comes face to face with one of his father's killers. Manten also cruelly teases the fox child by revealing that he's wearing a pelt around his waist; the pelt belongs to Shippō's father. In a flash of rage, Shippō jumps to attack Manten, but the much more powerful Yōkai swats him away easily. He stands over the fox, his mouth building an electrical charge, telling Shippō to give up the shards or face death. Then, Manten's snout is pierced by an arrow. Kagome is revealed to be the one who fired it. She tells Manten not to move, or else the next arrow is headed right for his brains.
 * Meanwhile, Inuyasha screams at the top of his lungs at a villager, begging him to take off the spell-scroll, but he only succeeds in scaring the human away.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Inuyasha
 * Kagome
 * Myōga
 * Shippō (First Appearance)
 * Hiten (First Appearance)
 * Manten (First Appearance)

Trivia

 * In the Anime adaptation of this chapter, Inuyasha & Kagome talk about modern technology after the half-demon says he likes the instant noodles. Inuyasha then shares his disdain for Kagome's bicycle. In the same conversation, Kagome says that in her era, man has traveled to the moon, and Inuyasha asks "On a bicycle?" This conversation doesn't take place in the original Manga.
 * This chapter holds yet another moment in the series when a demon (both Manten and Shippō) inexplicably sense a Shikon jewel shard, despite the fact that supposedly only Kagome & Kikyō can sense the jewel.
 * It is also unexplained why an arrow fired by Kagome wouldn't purify Manten when it hit him.