Character Profile: Kagura

Kagura is the second of Naraku's incarnation, Demons created from pieces of Naraku's body and given life their own. Kagura is a slightly arrogant demon who has the ability to control wind with a fan in her Fuujin no Mai (Dance of the Blades) and Ryuuja no Mai (Dance of the Dragon) attacks. She can also command dead bodies to move around with her Shikabane Mai (Dance of the Dead).

Unlike her "sister", Kanna, and her other "siblings", Kagura expressively resents Naraku. She longs for her independence from Naraku, who uses her disembodied heart as his trump card to get her to do what he wants suffer. Hence, Kagura only serves Naraku in doing his dirty work out of survival.

As a result of being used, Kagura tries to find ways to get rid of Naraku secretly, so she can get her heart from him. She has even gone so far as to try and enlist Sesshomaru to kill Naraku. She learned of Inuyasha's only weakness as a half-demon, but kept it to herself. When Hakudoushi was cut in two, Kagura took the larger half that became a new and much older Hakudoushi, whom Naraku ordered Kagura to obey...

Not only is Kagura cool with Sesshomaru, she also has a strange ally in Kohaku, Sango's brother who is under the control of Naraku. Kagura keeps Kohaku away from danger because she sees a shikon jewel shard embedded in his back. In addition for saving Kohaku, she becomes an affiliate with the Inu-tachi (Inuyasha's gang).

However when she learned of Hakudoushi's schemes against Naraku, Kagura refuse to follow him and tried in vain to fight him before Inuyasha and company handled him. Soon after, Kagura is awarded by Naraku as he fuses her heart back into her body before shooting her with a lethal dose miasma to her heart. Dying, she spends her final moments with Sesshomaru, whose Tensaiga is unable to save her life because of her unnatural existence, happy that she finally gained her freedom before she dies.

Apparently the name "Kagura" mean something like "ancient Shinto music and dancing" in Japanese.