Years before Inuyasha was born, playing off of the old cat versus dog idea, the Hyounekozoku were terrorizing youkai in an attempt to take over. Inutaishou fought and killed their leader, Hyounekozoku no Oyakata-sama, and the rest of the cats fled. Several years later, fifty years before the current time line, the Hyounekozoku returned. Sesshoumaru was offered help fighting them by the youkai Inutaishou saved, but they turned cowardly and were no help. At the time Inuyasha was stuck to the tree, so Sesshoumaru was unable to use the Tessaiga against the cats.

Into the current time line the cats attack AGAIN, kidnapping Kagome and the Shikon shards to use as sacrifices to resurrect their leader. They succeed, but he then kills three of the Hyounekozoku to complete the resurrection. Sesshoumaru uses Tenseiga to pull the souls out of him, weakening Hyounekozoku no Oyakata-sama to a point where Inuyasha can finish him off with Tessaiga. In the end, the cats finally decide to forgo their revenge.