Inuyasha Manga: 041 Spider Web

This one is a little too big to feather dust away, too. You could call the whole temple a spider web by now, so the silk is going to be quite the pain to clean up. Not that any of our protagonists are going to be on the clean-up crew when this whole mess is done and over with. No, all they have to do is walk in the spider web, though that in itself poses its own challenges.

Yup, anyone looking to contact Inuyasha might want to leave a message so he can call them back. He's a bit busy at the moment.

The "monk" chuckles, then his robes explode in a tangle of limbs erupting from his body, freaking out an alarmed and recoiling Shippou.

That... is the DOPEST freaking monster design. Look at the detail in those joints!

Inuyasha surmises that the "monk" is the bastard leader of the spider-heads, and the "monk" chuckles. He'd been waiting for Inuyasha to come along ever since he heard of a hanyou carrying Shikon fragments. Youkai just can't seen to keep their traps shut, can they? The "monk" thinks it's super convenient that Inuyasha managed to lose his powers just when he showed up. Too true.

However, Inuyasha doesn't think this is very much of a problem for him. He pulls back on the thumb of the hand holding him as he says that a dirty old geezer youkai like him should be easy enough to overpower even without youkai abilities. He springs off the pillar behind him to launch himself at the web!monk, promising to beat him up with physical strength alone. Web!monk calls him a fool while shooting a load of spider silk from his mouth at Inuyasha. Didn't his mama never tell him not to talk with his mouth full? Rude.

Inuyasha is buried in the spider silk again, groaning under its weight. Shippou jumps into the fray by throwing a handful of foxfire at the silk lines, trying to burn them away from Inuyasha. One of the web!monk's hands come down on him from above, slamming him to the floor.

Ew! The head is moving along the limbs! That's so awesomely CREEPY!

The web!monk grows a massive set of pincers from the sides of his mouth, wondering aloud if Inuyasha's human body can withstand poison. With this, he sinks those pincers into Inuyasha's neck and shoulder, eliciting another groan from Inuyasha. Shippou shouts out Inuyasha's name in desperation, but still being held down by the web!monk, Shippou can't move to help. He reaches under his collar, rationalizing this action he hates with the fact that he can't save Inuyasha by himself. He pulls out an acorn, blows some foxfire on it, and this speeds it out the door and into the night.

Outside, the trees around the temple whisper in the breeze as Kagome and Nazuna continue to wait. Kagome is ever more anxious at Inuyasha's lateness. She and Nazuna see a lone bright spot speeding toward them from the gate to the temple, Nazuna trying to identify what it is. It isn't until it floats up close when she can say it's an acorn with confusion. Suddenly, a pair of eyes filled with tears pop up on the acorn and a wailing comes from it before it disappears entirely. Kagome stands up, recognizing this as a signal from Shippou, and saying that something terrible must have happened.

Back in the temple, among the webbed limbs of the "monk", the human-headed spider lackeys are still searching Kagome's bag. They finally find the bottle of Shikon shards within, and the web!monk hoists the bottle out with a loop of spider silk. He praises his fortune, because he estimates the shards will extend his life by a good five hundred years. He's distracted from his admiration of the shards by a shout at him from the door.

It's Nazuna, holding her hands up to her mouth in shock, stuttering out a why. Again, my question would be more along the lines of HOW and WHAT, but whatevz. The web!monk only responds with a chuckle anyway. Kagome blurts angrily that he's a coward for tricking them. Shippou shouts at her, trying to warn her about Inuyasha's condition, but he doesn't need to finish telling her.

Judging by the line of blood issuing from Inuyasha's mouth and his vacant expression, Kagome worries that he's dead as she screams out his name and her heart hammers. The web!monk explains with a chuckle that he poisoned Inuyasha enough to dissolve him from the inside. Kagome immediately hoists herself up onto the "monk's" webbed body to try and retrieve Inuyasha, and the web!monk asks her if she REALLY wants to become his prey as well, shooting a blast of silk at her. She shrieks as she's surrounded, but is perplexed when the ball of silk frizzes and dissolves.

Kagome looks at the Tessaiga still in her hand in shock, and Myouga hops on her shoulder to inform her that the sword's barrier has been activated. She takes his presence to mean that it must be safe for her to keep climbing, much to Myouga's offense. As she continues pushing toward Inuyasha, a few human-headed spiders skitter toward her, but she knocks them back with the Tessaiga like she's swinging a baseball bat, screaming and screwing her eyes shut.

She hears her name in a halting whisper from above and looks up to find Inuyasha's gaze focused on her. She's relieved he's alive and continues her climb with a determined look, assuring him that she's on her way. The web!monk chuckles and chomps his mandibles as Kagome arrives next to Inuyasha. Inuyasha rasps at Kagome to run away, but she refuses, even when he calls her an idiot and tells her to listen to him. She denies that she's an idiot and tearfully insists that she won't run and hide by herself while he's in danger. He tries to warn her that he's not talking about that, but she needs to watch out for what's behind her, which is the web!monk's head getting ready to snap his jaws down on her ankle.

Are we certain this "poison" isn't just making him high as balls?

Inuyasha and Kagome slam down onto the floor with groans and Nazuna calls out Kagome's name. She looks behind her to find the exit is being blocked by human-headed spiders and therefore no good. Instead, she directs Kagome to follow her to a small ante-room at the rear of the temple. Together, they drag Inuyasha toward the room, chased by the grasping hands of the web!monk as they try to stop them. Nazuna slams the door on one of the hands in an attempt to block it from entering.

Myouga shouts at Kagome to quickly wedge Tessaiga into the door, and though she gives him a questioning noise, she does as he says. The barrier of the sword shocks the web!monk's hand and it withdraws from the jamb, the web!monk cursing them from the other side. While Kagome and Nazuna stare at the sword in the door, Myouga says it should protect them with its barrier for a while. He DOES wonder how long it will hold, though.

You know what I'm wondering about? SHIPPOU. Where the fuck is that little bastard and did they just leave him for dead??

Kagome turns from the door to Inuyasha, asking if he's okay. He doesn't answer, eyes closed, so Kagome creeps closer to him and says his name again.

Meh, that doesn't mean anything. My hands are always cold and I'm not dying. I think.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The nonstop action was spot on, especially toward the end there when they're getting into the room at the back of the temple. I've read this chapter a few times and it STILL has me crossing my fingers that they're going to make it. The pacing of that part was just prime, making the tension and immediacy of the situation so REAL to the reader. It's a great example of how to make readers believe your characters are in some serious shit.

Kagome's insistence on not leaving Inuyasha to die isn't new, but there is something to the WAY she says it that is somewhat interesting. She says that she would HATE to run away by herself, acknowledging that this is indeed an option. The role of women back in this time period isn't really talked about explicitly in the manga, at least not that I can remember, but here is where there's a tacit acknowledgement of what kind of behavior is expected of women in this time and place. Kagome subverts that by refusing to take Inuyasha's implicitly macho suggestion (by her assumptions, anyway, before he tells her he's actually warning her about the immediate danger of getting her foot bitten off). It's an extension of what she was saying earlier about him always being cold and distant and having to do everything himself. She's not taking that bullshit, and he should stop expecting her to.

We'll have a much more obvious subversion of the expectations of women in ancient Japan when Sango shows up, but for now, Kagome is a fair example of this.

And Shippou shows up again too early in the next chapter for me to believe RT forgot about him, so I'm not REALLY worried about that tiny baby fox. He'll be fine.