Me and my inconvenient viewing habits.
Sango flashes back to when she was still in the young master's castle, and they sat across from one another while he asked if she was REALLY going to avenge her family no matter what. This is when Naraku offers to go with her to be her guide, being useful with his vast knowledge of many different youkai. The young master urges her to return to the castle and be well cared-for if she accomplishes her goal.
But as she climbs a path up the side of a mountain behind Naraku, using her giant boomerang as a crutch, she's certain that she won't be returning to the castle, because she won't be lasting much longer. Sweating and shaking, Sango prays that her body will hold out for that final job it has to perform.
Yeah, you know a place to produce various important items for use in the community? Generally, forts made it a point to have the essentials made in-house to make them more self-reliant in the event of an inevitable attack, so I'm not sure why Myouga even bothered to mention this, let alone why Kagome seems at all surprised about the information. Myouga specifies that the bones and shells of exterminated youkai were used to craft armor and weapons in said workshop as they peer inside at a wide array of such half-finished projects in a typical armory building. My only question is how the exterminators manage to make sure those youkai they exterminate don't dissolve into thin air on them, because I've come to expect that's the only way you know when the things are really dead.
Myouga explains that after the exterminators have used all they can, the remaining youkai parts are carted to the edge of the village, and deposited in a limestone cave, in front of which Inuyasha's group now stands, staring at the entrance. Kagome hesitantly asks if this is where the Shikon no Tama was born. Though her question is met with silence, Kagome is getting a bad vibe from the cave and doesn't want to go in. When she comes out of this contemplation, she shrieks at Inuyasha and Miroku to wait their asses up, because they've already headed inside, walking over an array of youkai bones and looking around curiously. Inuyasha yells at Kagome to get with the program already, forgetting she doesn't have his and Miroku's spelunking experience that they acquired in Onigumo's cave. How thoughtless.
Kagome catches up to them only to yell in disbelief about their weird desire to go into the weird cave, and Miroku suggests she can cuddle up to him if she's scared. Inuyasha snaps at him for thinking perverted thoughts yet again. While they bicker, they walk closer to a misshapen silhouette rising out of dark back of the cave, glowing.
Oh yeah, I guess that IS a mummy in a more general sense. Like I said, blame my inconvenient viewing habits. I always do!
Inuyasha and company stare in shock and horror at the desiccated corpse, Kagome looking a bit queasier than the rest, as Inuyasha stutters out a question about what the hell this is. I'm scratching my head too, because mummification shouldn't really be possible in a limestone cave, where the water has carved out a cave from its slight acidification. I don't know if the extreme temperatures or complete immersion in dryness or water is present in an environment like this, but... I guess magic can just explain it away. I don't know.
Myouga tells Inuyasha this is exactly what it says on the tin after Inuyasha asks for an answer again, so Inuyasha has to glare down at Myouga and tell him outright that he can't figure it out and that's why he's asking in the first place. Myouga remains awkwardly speechless anyway, and Shippou mutters with some irritation that Myouga clearly doesn't know either. Kagome takes a stab in the dark, tentatively labeling it a youkai mummy as she leans in for a closer look. Miroku asks if she thinks it's a youkai, because from where he's standing, it looks like a HUMAN has become somewhat fused with a youkai, but is HUMAN nonetheless. Kagome gapes blankly, looking like she's not quite comprehending what that means, or even mesmerized by the sight of the mummy.
Miroku supposes that this little feature of the cave is not something the villagers would talk about, implying that he doesn't think that they would be willing to answer any questions the group had if those villagers HAD been alive. A fair assumption, because I don't know if I would be capable of properly explaining such a thing myself if I lived there. Hell, I have a hard enough time explaining to people that I grew up in the actual South Park.
Meanwhile, Sango drops to her hands and knees, no longer even able to use her boomerang crutch anymore. Naraku turns to her, asking if she's in pain, and her answer is only a frustrated curse between heavy pants. Convinced that at this rate, Sango will die on the way, Naraku pulls out a Shikon fragment and displays it to Sango, offering the option of trying it out. She looks both unsettled and suspicious as she glares at the glowing shard between Narkau's thumb and forefinger, and demands to know where and how he managed to get it. Naraku vaguely states that he got it some time ago, and quickly moves on to repeat his generous offer to lend it to her. He says that it's only a common thought that the jewel is an inherently evil thing, but he's under the impression it can be used for good as well by some people. Sango's suspicion is slowly being replaced by desperation.
Back with Inuyasha and crew, it looks like they've left the village and are rapidly moving through the forest. Miroku, a little irritated because he's been talking to Inuyasha with no response so far, makes another request to sit and rest for a while. Inuyasha makes a questioning noise before reminding Miroku that he was the one who wanted to go and talk to the people in the exterminator village, and now that they're not going to accomplish that... Miroku says that he's concerned for Kagome's ability to take the breakneck pace they're making away from the exterminator village, a concern for which Kagome looks flattered. Inuyasha asks Kagome directly if she's tired and she confirms that she didn't get a lot of sleep since yesterday. She admits that she's a bit hungry too, a tear forming in her eye while Inuyasha gapes at her, flabbergasted.
Then he states flat-out that she's such a selfish girl, making her scoff in disbelief. She asks what his problem is, because she's been putting up with his bullshit silently until now, followed by a shout that she's only human and she'd die if she always tried to keep his pace.
Crap, I feel so OLD reading about teenage bickering about stupid shit that doesn't matter.
Suddenly, Kirara perks up in Kagome's arms, twitching its little head to stare alert at the surrounding forest. Shuffling sounds behind Inuyasha and he turns toward the noise just in time.
Inuyasha is back to confused gaping as Myouga stutters Sango's name. Kagome asks if Sango is someone from the village they had just visited, but her question again goes unanswered, this time because Sango throws her boomerang at Inuyasha with a shout of its name. Myouga begs Inuyasha not to fight with Sango, but Inuyasha is already drawing Tessaiga while he shouts that there's no time for peace. His blade connects with Hiraikotsu just in time, and though the force of the flying boomerang pushes him back a bit, he is able to knock it off course. Miroku is so shocked by the fact that Tessaiga was pushed back that he has to shout that part aloud, apparently. Thanks for the recap, Miroku. Your input is invaluable.
Wait...
Inuyasha, crouching and glaring at Sango, mutters to Myouga that it doesn't really look like they can talk things over. At least not when Sango goes in swinging.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? If the two threads of this chapter have any connection, it's through the common condition of ignorance between Inuyasha's group and Sango, although Sango is dealing with the added issue of active disinformation being fed to her by Naraku. She's in a particularly vulnerable position mentally for it, too, because she's hungry for revenge, but her body isn't up to the task. Her mental and physical anguish combined is the perfect condition under which Naraku can manipulate Sango into doing his bidding, because she's more likely to believe the more convenient lies his telling her if it means that she can die in the comfort of knowing she did all she could to avenge her village. She doesn't have time to be cautious, to wait for less suspicious versions of the story to come along, or to refuse that magical artifact that will make her stronger for as long as it takes for her to finish the last job she's going to do. So, despite her doubts, she does as Naraku suggests and uses that jewel shard as well.
On the opposite end, it seems that Inuyasha and his friends have nothing BUT time. It seems to them that all the people who could give them some idea as to what the Shikon no Tama is and why it exists are all dead, and even if they were alive, it's doubtful they would have talked openly with strangers about it. Otherwise, Myouga would have truly been able to tell Inuyasha what that mummy in the cave was, and they wouldn't have had to speculate about it. Myouga is the MASTER of information in this story, and even HE was unable to eavesdrop his way into the know this time. So, all they can do is take a look around the ghost town, speculate a bit on what the creepy corpse could possibly have to do with it all, and high-tail it out of there so they don't have to be creeped out so hard.
Which I'm assuming is why Inuyasha was in such a hurry to leave the village. We got an intimate look into Kagome's head and how she felt going into the cave, unsettled and afraid, but Inuyasha's near constant state of confusion and question, and the awe with which he expresses it, indicates he was feeling similarly. I was thinking perhaps when he called Kagome selfish, he was criticizing her for whining about hanging around in the cave, only to whine about their rapid retreat from the cave when he was trying to put some distance between them and it. However...
Here's the thing: sometimes I feel like I write these reviews in a haze of confusion when something isn't quite translatable. Most of the time, I'm able to understand perfectly what's being said, but in those rare cases I can't, I'm usually able to glean a little from the context around it. But the closest I think I can get to a possible understanding of this is that Miroku is referring to the complicated, roundabout ways in which Inuyasha expresses affection for Kagome that can come off as callous and rude sometimes. Perhaps Miroku thinks that Inuyasha was trying to get Kagome away from the cave because he noticed that Kagome was uncomfortable there, but became irritated when Kagome wasn't grateful they were in a hurry to leave the area. Something of an abstract connection, I know, but sometimes I'm missing a linguistic filter, and I need to improvise for the sake of my sanity.
Perhaps I should start learning Japanese in order to make sense of this noise... and perhaps that's a really piss-poor reason to learn a different language...
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