Lunar Month

Kagura the wind sorceress is the second detachment of Naraku. She always appears barefoot and dresses in a three-layer kimono typical of Kagura dancers and wears a pair of earrings (each is a string of five light green beads with a feather at the end). The irises of her eyes are red and her ears are pointy. Kagura uses her wind-manipulating fan to create slicing winds and powerful tornadoes with which to attack her foes. Even without the fan, Kagura can control wind; it merely helps focus her abilities. A pair of feathers in her hair can be enlarged to allow her escape on the wind if need be.

After her first battle with InuYasha, which Naraku more or less staged to test the power of InuYasha's sword, Kagura's chief desire became to kill Naraku in order to free herself from his control. However, because Naraku literally carries her heart, she cannot openly defy him without quite literally being killed in a heartbeat; since Naraku knows her thoughts, he has squeezed her heart in his hands in front of her, making Kagura collapse in pain each time. Like the wind she controls, Kagura wishes to be free and tries to gain that freedom in any way she can. Despite the impediments her existence entails, Kagura frequently (though covertly) aids the two camps opposed to Naraku, those of InuYasha and Sesshomaru.

Though the anime ends at a point where Kagura is still alive, she is eventually killed in the manga. When Naraku charges her with guarding Goryoumaru at a prison, Hakudoushi convinces her to release him secretly, since he is also secretly plotting to destroy Naraku. During this time, Kohaku inadvertently reveals to Kagura he has recovered his memory. The two end up becoming unlikely allies, sharing information as to Naraku's weaknesses and somewhat gaining each other's trust due to their common desire for his destruction. Kagura grows protective of Kohaku and ultimately defies Naraku openly in order to allow him to escape. As a mocking final gesture, Naraku grants Kagura her wish by giving her back her heart, only to subsequently poison her, ensuring that her freedom will be short-lived and extremely painful.

Sesshomaru finds Kagura just before she dies, having tracked the scent of Naraku. When he notes that Naraku is no longer around, he reveals that he came knowing she was alone. He considers using Tenseiga to save her life, but concludes that it cannot do so. Despite this, Kagura seems content to have seen Sesshomaru one more time — "In the end, I was with you...", she thinks. She dies as InuYasha and the gang stand helplessly on the side, her body dissolving into the wind, her final thought is that now she is as free as the wind. When InuYasha asks whether Kagura was suffering, Sesshomaru simply says that she was smiling.

Kagura can create and control the winds, giving her a broad range of abilities. She always carries a large folding fan which she uses to summon and focus her powers. In battle, she will usually drop the right sleeve of her kimono to increase her movement.

Kagura labels her attacks as dances, further referencing her namesake. Her main attack is "Dance of Blades", which fires multiple crescent-shaped wind blades towards her enemies with a single swipe of her fan. The blades are sharp, but often easily blocked. She often uses this attack for precision strikes or as set up for more powerful attacks. Kagura's secondary attack is "Dance of the Dragon", which forms localized tornadoes which Kagura can control. Kagura's control over wind also nullifies InuYasha's ability to use the wind scar in the early parts of the story. This is negated after InuYasha gains the ability to invoke the attack at will.

Using her wind powers, Kagura can also animate corpses or beings without souls, which she calls "Dance of the Dead". Both demon and human corpses are susceptible to the technique. Kagura can seamlessly animate and control dozens of corpses in this manner. Furthermore, she can reassemble them when they are cut apart; short of completely vaporizing those under her control, the only way to defeat the technique is for Kagura to willingly shut it off.

Kagura also has the ability to enlarge one of the feathers she wears in her hairband. Once expanded, the feather can be used as a sort of magic carpet for Kagura and at least one passenger to ride, powered by the winds she creates. A small wind barrier forms when she enlarges the feathers, distracting her opponents so she can escape.