-----InuYasha-----

Very little is known about InuYasha's past. His father was a great demon who reigned over the western lands of Japan. His mother was a human who died when he was very young, so InuYasha has been alone most of his life. He has an older half-brother, Sesshoumaru, but there is much hate between them. Fifty years before the point when the series begins, InuYasha was chasing after the Shikon no Tama in order to become a full-blooded youkai. He then met the jewel's guardian, a priestess named Kikyou. The two slowly fell in love, and Kikyou told InuYasha that he could also become a human with the power of the jewel and they could spend their lives together. InuYasha agreed, but through manipulation by outside forces (Naraku), Kikyou ended up sealing InuYasha into sleep with one of her purifying arrows before dying from her own injuries. The Shikon no Tama was burned with Kikyou's body, and InuYasha remained pinned to the sacred tree for fifty years...until Kagome fell into feudal Japan through the Bone-Eater's Well and broke the enchantment. InuYasha's father gave both of his sons one sword. Sesshoumaru received the Tensaiga, a healing sword. InuYasha received the Tetsusaiga, a very powerful sword which could kill 100 demons in one stroke. Sesshoumaru found the Tensaiga to be useless to him. Therefore, he wanted the Tetsusaiga. But the Tetsusaiga will only show it's true power when used to defend a human. Sesshoumaru goes through much trouble to get the Tetsusaiga from Inuyasha. Inuyasha will not give up the Tetsusaiga that easily though without a fight until death.

-----Kagome-----

Kagome Higurashi was just a normal teenage girl living in Tokyo at the Sunset Shrine in the year of 1997. Then, on the day of her fifteenth birthday, she stumbled into an old well on the shrine that her family cares for. A centipede demon grabs her and demands that Kagome give her the Shikon Jewel. Kagome, having no idea what the demon is talking about, she panics and somehow emits a purple light from her hands that appears to kill the demon. After climbing back out of the well, she sees that she is in a forest. Running to where her house should be, she finds a tree with a boy pinned to it. Then villagers from a nearby village attack her thinking she is a demon. The priestess of the village, Lady Kaede, notices that Kagome strongly resembles her dead sister, Kikyou. During Kagome and Lady Kaede's conversation, the centipede demon attacks again. Kagome runs to the tree that the boy is pinned to in a desperate attempt for help after being injured by the demon. The boy tells her to pull out the arrow that pins him to the tree. Lady Kaede says not to, because the boy, InuYasha, is demon who only wants the Shikon Jewel. Kagome doesn't listen though, because her life was in danger. Kagome reaches for the arrow and breaks it. Lady Kaede is in shock, because that was a sacred arrow of Kikyou. Only Kikyou could break the curse. After being pinned to the tree for 50 years, InuYasha is finally free. InuYasha appears to be full of energy and kills the centipede demon. Lady Kaede tells the villagers to quickly find the jewel before the demon reforms. Kagome is the first to spot it. She points to where she sees the pink glowing light, then Lady Kaede removes it and the centipede demon disappears. Then InuYasha immediately demands that Kagome hand over the jewel. By this time Lady Kaede arrives and places a magical necklace on the InuYasha that will immobilize him when Kagome says the word "sit". Lady Kaede explains to her about InuYasha and how he was pinned to the tree. She also concludes that Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyou. Later on in the day, the jewel is stolen by a crow demon and is shattered into many pieces which become scattered all over the land. Being the reincarnation of Kikyou, Kagome is also able to spot the jewel shards. She has also seemed to inherit some of Kikyou's archery skills. Although her archery skills aren't quite as well as Kikyou's, she still works on it. InuYasha and Kagome began their journey in search of the shards after the Shikon jewel became shattered into many pieces and was scattered all over the land. During their long journey they run into a bunch of demons, some in search of the Shikon shards for more power, others who are possessed by them. Later on, InuYasha and Kagome also meet two other companions and a fox demon who will join them in the search of the Shikon shards.

-----Sesshoumaru-----

Sesshoumaru, a full demon who appears to be cold hearted and emotionless. He rules the Western lands in his father's place. After his father died he left two swords for his sons. One of the swords was the Tetsusaiga which is a very powerful sword that can slaughter a hundred demons in one stroke, but it will only show its true power when used to defend humans. InuYasha, a half demon; also his younger half brother, holds this sword with him. The other sword, the Tensaiga, is a healing sword. Sesshomaru finds the Tensaiga useless, therefore he wants the Tetsusaiga, but InuYasha won't give it up without a fight, so Sesshoumaru has to kill him in order to obtain the Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru is unable to hold the Tetsusaiga though because he is a full demon and only wants to kill with it.The Tensaiga proved to be somewhat useful when it saved Sesshomaru's life during a battle with InuYasha, but he still wishes for the Tetsusaiga do to its incredible strength.

-----Sango-----

Sango is about sixteen years old. She grew up as a demon exterminator. Naraku killed her father and her brother, Kohaku. Naraku uses Kohaku throughout the series to his advantage, due to the fact that he knows that Sango will not kill Kohaku.

She uses her giant boomerang called Hirakotsu as a weapon. Sango also has a small cat demon as a friend who grew up with her. In times of danger Kirara will transform into a much bigger cat demon with long sharp fangs.

Although Sango doesn't directly come out and say who she is interested in, it slowly shows that she has interest in the quite perverted monk, Miroku. Throughout the series Sango and Miroku have their own special moments, but they are usually ruined by Miroku who does something with his "walking hand."

-----Miroku-----

A long time ago Miroku's grandfather fought with Naraku. During their last battle, Naraku pierced the monk's hand, creating a black hole into his hand that sucked in everything nearby unless sealed with a rosary. In time, the air void would widen and eventually swallow its bearer. The same curse would be passed on to every child of the monk's lineage until Naraku was killed. So, now Miroku carries the Kazaana in his right hand, seeking to kill Naraku along with InuYasha and gang. His father was consumed by his own Kazaana when Miroku was only a child, and a somewhat corrupted monk named Mushin took care of him. One day when Miroku and Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo cross paths. InuYasha and Miroku fight for a while, Miroku uses his Kazanna to try to suck in InuYasha, but Kagome clings onto InuYasha. Miroku then closes his Kazanna, because he doesn't want to use the Kazanna on the innocent or Kagome. So they have a talk about Kazanna and how Miroku got it. They settle their differences and Miroku decides to join InuYasha, Kagome, and Shippo in their search of the Shikon Shards and Naraku. Although Miroku is monk, he tends to be the most perverted of all in the series. He asks almost every woman he finds attractive to bear his child.

-----Shippou-----

Shippou joined with InuYasha and gang, after both his parents were killed by Hiten and Manten, also known as the Thunder Brothers. InuYasha defeats the Thunder Brothers, then Shippou decides to join InuYasha and gang in the search for all of Shikon Shards. Shippou is a small fox demon, who is not exactly very strong, most of his attacks are mirages, that are not harmful. InuYasha and gang soon turn to be like family to him.

-----Rin-----

After Sesshoumaru had a battle with InuYasha he became injured and rested in a near by forest close to a village. A young girl whose parents named Rin happened to find him resting in the forest.Rin's parents died due to a robbery. After her parents' deaths she never spoke a word to anyone again. She offered him some food, but Sesshoumaru refused because he said that he didn't need any. Not long after that, a pack of wolves came across her village on a feeding spree and killed every single person they laid their eyes on. When the saw Rin they ran towards her getting ready for the kill, but Rin ran as fast as she could to find Sesshoumaru hoping that he would save her, but she didn't reach him in time. Sesshoumaru later then decides that he has recovered enough to continue his journey in finding more ways to kill InuYasha. He starts walking down the dirt path and notices some dead villagers and many wolves tracks on the path. Sesshoumaru then sees Rin and decides to test out the Tenseiga for the first time. As the underworld grimlins begin to gather around Rin, he unsheathes the Tensaiga and slashes them. Sesshoumaru then looks at Rin and bends over and holds her small body in his arms, seeing if the Tensaiga actually worked or not. Rin slowly opens her eyes and looks into the eyes of Sesshoumaru. She seemed confused at first but then she realized that Sesshoumaru revived her. Seeing that Rin was alive and that the Tensaiga worked, Sesshoumaru continues down the path. After that very moment Rin began to follow Sesshoumaru around along with Jaken, his toad servant, admiring him like a younger sister, at that time she also started speaking again.

-----Jaken-----

Jaken was the leader of a clan of toad youkai before becoming Sesshoumaru's little toad servant. They were at war with another tribe of youkai. During a battle, Jaken was on the losing end as Sesshoumaru happened by and slew Jaken's opponent because she was in his way, ignoring the toad youkai completely. Jaken was deeply impressed by this and began following Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru reached into a nearby waterfall and produced the Staff of Heads, which Jaken carries to this day. Jaken, then and has always followed Sesshoumaru around wherever he traveled.

-----Kagura-----

Kagura is another one of Naraku's detachments. Kagura's first encounter with InuYasha and gang was with Kouga's wolf tribe trap. Kouga's comrades went to Naraku's castle because they knew there were Shikon shards there. So Kouga's comrades go to Naraku's castle. They then see Kagura, but they take her lightly, thinking she's only a weak human. Kagura then kills most of them, but injures all. Kagura lets one of them survive and obtain the Shikon shard. The comrade that got the shard barely has enough strength to walk, but manages to limp back to Kouga to give him the shard and tell him that they are losing big time. Kouga takes the shard and places it in the spot of one of his arms where the old one used to be. Kouga quickly runs to where Naraku's castle is. Meanwhile, Inuyasha and gang have reached Naraku's castle, only to see all of Kouga's comrades dead and bloody. Kagura does her walk of the dead technique and all the men move in an attempt to hurt InuYasha and gang. InuYasha slashes most of the men. Kouga finally arrives in time to see all of his fellow comrades dead. He also sees InuYasha standing with his claws all bloody and giving off a strong scent like wolf blood. Kouga immediately thinks that InuYasha killed all of his comrades and is very angered. He was so angered that he wanted to battle with InuYasha, a fight until the death. InuYasha and Kouga fight for a while, until Kouga feels much pain in his arm where in last inserted the Shikon shard. Kagome manages to remove the bad shard by shooting it with one of her purifying arrows. Later on, Kouga realizes that the incident with Kagura was one of Naraku's traps all along.