Answer

[Kagura Hakubi]

Hmm. Sailing out of Sydney bay (yah, I'm in Oz :p) today, I had a thought. We were talking about weather patterns missing the country and hitting Tazmania instead...

Well. It just hit me out of the blue.

Kouga creates a whirlwind when he runs because Taz, the Tazmanian Devil, does. They're close blood relatives!

(Or possibly it's a stylistic leaning, since Taz was meant to be uberfast, and so is Kouga...)

[Dark_Knight]

Not so much anymore though, as I understand it. (Since didn't Kouga lose his shards?)

[Dr. Ezra]

I guess they're sort of similar.

[Mikadzuki Tatsu]

Maybe Takahashi is a fan of Acme cartoons, or perhaps she watched some of them when she was growing up, and she was inspired by Taz the Tazmanian Devil's whirlwind.