Kagome is an ordinary modern schoolgirl living an ordinary life. Who would have thought the dried-up old well on the site of her family's shrine would be a gateway to Japan's ancient past? Drawn through the gate against her will, Kagome finds herself battling demons for control of what she thought was a worthless trinket but is actually a powerful magical gem, the Shikon Jewel! Together with an unlikely ally, the half demon Inuyasha, Kagome begins a quest to recover the shards of the Shikon Jewe...
This volume would have gotten a 5 from me, except it contains one of my biggest gripes with the entire story. I find the way things played out with Kouga completely 気に食わない (rant below). Otherwise the conclusion of the dual with Sesshoumaru is awesome, and the very ending fight between Inuyasha and Kagome is very well written (even if it's frustrating).
Rant: I like Kouga and his companions as characters, in terms of personality and later conduct in the series. They really add a lot, but... the way things play out in this volume totally undermines all of that. The events go: Kouga and his wolves slaughter 2 villages while hunting a Shikon shard. Inuyasha & crew happen upon them during the 2nd slaughtering, Kouga tries to kill Inuyasha (even though the party was defending themselves). After running from that, he later ambushes them on a narrow mountain path, and abducts Kagome, to use as a tool for finding the Shikon shards. Then he one-sidedly starts declaring her as "his woman" - to which she rightfully objects, on the pretext that she's going out with Inuyasha (not that it's official). Then he brings her into an extremely life threatening situation - which she was terrified of until Inuyasha shows up - and continues making all these one-sided declarations of being in love with her - after which she suddenly warms up to him and is now calling him Kouga-kun. Then she covers for him and saves his life (as well as ignoring the 2 shikon shards he still has), despite that he's trying to kill Inuyasha still (well that's mutual), on the pretext that "he's wounded, and he's different than the 乱暴なだけの妖怪, and they protected me" [from the extremely life threatening battle she's stuck in, which she's only in b/c the wolf tribe is using her as a tool in the first place]. And like... I get being kinda impressionable as a 15 year old, as well as being really compassionate... but this is the guy who literally slaughtered two villages - something you all were horrified by, then tried to kill your companions and semi-boyfriend multiple times (and explicitly told you he plans to kill him so you'll fall in love with him), then abducted you, has no respect for the relationship you're in, and put you in extreme danger... and not only do you act like none of this ever happened, but nobody in the party points any of this out?!! I just don't find that believable, nor consistent with the morality and sensibilities that any of the party have shown up to this point.