For the plot, mind you. Only for the plot.
Miroku skids down the slope behind Inuyasha, asking him if he's alright. Inuyasha acknowledges him, and is immediately informed that Kagome was Kouga's only target, since the wolves that were here before have retreated from the scene. The rocky mountainside is only inhabited by them now, and Inuyasha is even MORE stressed by this information.
Back up top, Kirara is nomming on some feathers, all that seems to be left of the Gokurakuchou. Inuyasha and Miroku emerge from the edge of the pass behind Sango, asking her where Kagome is, presumably because she was the only one who was free to pursue the kidnapper and tried. She looks a little ashamed to admit that she was held up a minute by the bird/man hybrids.
Meanwhile, back at the
Just then, Kouga steps into her view, one of the Shikon shards he already has glowing in his left leg.
Wow, that was awful. Someone really needs to stop me before I type these things...
He plops the boar down right in front of Kagome, urging her to eat. After a moment of speechlessness, she holds up a hand and politely declines, claiming that she's lost her appetite. Of course her REAL objection is that it's raw and getting some sort of parasite from uncooked meat never sounds very appealing to ANYONE. I'm guessing Kouga has the steel gut to handle that sort of thing, but it's unlikely to go over well with Kagome.
Kouga doesn't question her lack of appetite, but he DOES give her a good, long stare, hand stroking his chin contemplatively. She asks him what the deal is with that, and after confirming her name he responds that upon taking a good look, he's determined that she's got a pretty cute face. She's even more taken-aback, and makes a noise of confusion. So, he spells it out for her thrusting a thumb at himself while declaring that she'll be "his woman" from now on. Completely flabbergasted, Kagome can only gape and make sounds of disbelief.
Of course, Kouga's fellow wolf-men gather round, expressing their own disbelief that he's not going to feed on her spleen when he's done with her. One of them reminds Kouga that it's a HUMAN girl he's got there. Kouga calls this guy a moron, telling him that Kagome is way more useful than female youkai, because she can see Shikon fragments. And just like that, the dudes are coming around to his way of thinking, even getting excited about the prospect of collecting all the Shikon shards. Kouga says that once they have all of the jewel, their group will be invincible.
Kouga looks genuinely puzzled as he runs a finger over his cheek where Kagome popped him one, and Shippou clings terrified to the front of Kagome's blouse. Kagome herself is a little apprehensive now that she realizes that she just hit someone who could totally murder her right now. The other wolves whisper amongst themselves that Kagome's totally gonna die for smacking the shit out of Kouga, and I guess this prompted Kagome to try and apologize before the guy decided that is exactly what needs to happen.
Kagome blushes and stutters that she's seeing someone at the moment. She and Kouga share the most awkward silence in the history of this comic, before he asks her if it's the "dog-turd". She snaps that his name is Inuyasha, and demands Kouga not ever call him "dog-turd" again. Kouga doesn't respond to this, just hums contemplatively while he continues to stare at her. In the meantime, Kagome thinks about how she says she's seeing Inuyasha, but they haven't even kissed.
Be prepared for this to NEVER be a thing that happens, friends.
Eventually, Kouga declares that this will be fun, bringing Kagome back around to confusion, and then wide-eyed wariness when Kouga says that if Inuyasha is killed, her relationship to him won't be a problem anymore. Oh, Kagome, my poor sweet baby child, this is why you never tie your rejection of someone to your relationship to someone else. I learned that one the hard way too.
Shippou looks up at Kagome on the sly, thinking that he's not going to let her endure this shitstain for much longer. He holds up a little mushroom, the spores of many like it he had already sown on their way there reaching their maturation right about now, surely leading Inuyasha straight to them. Well I'll be goddamned and go to hell, Shippou's version of breadcrumbs is a pretty smart idea! Not sure why it was needed, given Inuyasha's sense of smell should be able to lead them over there too, but...
Speaking of Inuyasha, he's running through the forest, looking a bit frantic as he curses and wonders where Kagome is. I guess Kouga didn't leave much of a scent in his hurry to leave the area? I dunno. Miroku shouts at Inuyasha to wait, having spotted something off to the side of Kirara where he's riding behind Sango again. He must have phenomenal eyesight, because the mushroom that popped up from a fallen tree trunk was tiny, though maybe he saw it wiggling around instead, because that's a little odd. When Miroku and Sango get up real close to it, it starts to let out a cry that you definitely COULDN'T miss.
Wide-eyed, Miroku suggests this is a message from Shippou, turning to Sango and realizing something now that he's mentioned the little guy. Sango looks a little surprised too that they didn't seem to notice that Shippou was missing as well. Instead of dwelling on the fact that they're the worst surrogate guardians of a child OF ALL TIME, they point out that there are even more mushrooms, sprouting and crying, in a very specific direction of the woods. Inuyasha charges in that direction, commanding his friends to come along.
A new setting greets us; the craggy, jagged outline of a mountain, with silhouettes of familiar bird-things flapping all around it.
While the bird-monsters dive for them, Kouga lunges upward, telling Kagome it's time to go. With one arm around Kagome's waist, he rips right into a Gokurakuchou in midair. Kagome shields her face with lifted arms from the debris of the dead bird, mentally begging Inuyasha to arrive quickly, because this shit is scaring her.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Kouga is really living up to his role as contrast-character for Inuyasha. The arrogance is turned up to eleven here, a product of the fact that he has been a leader of his fellow wolves for a long time and therefore is in the habit of making decisions for everyone with very little pushback. Sure, his pack questions his intention to make a human girl "his woman", but all he has to do is provide a little justification for it with her ability to see Shikon shards, and they're suddenly on board. Everyone is now on board with him going to war with the world to get these jewel fragments. You can tell he doesn't have to be too persuasive in order for them to think his ideas are all good ones.
Which is how his exaggerated "wild man" persona is developed too. He never has to answer to anyone but himself, so the consideration of others not having his sensibilities just doesn't occur to him. While Inuyasha struggles with social niceties and often comes across as rude, Kouga is completely devoid of a sense for others. He doesn't consider that Kagome's dietary needs are different than what he's used to, and he CERTAINLY doesn't consider the possibility that she wouldn't be interested in getting together with him to the point of physical rejection. He not only looks shocked, but confused by her slap, and takes her admission to seeing someone else as the point of objection entirely. It simply doesn't occur to him that someone he's interested in wouldn't be interested back.
And since this is such a common attitude of men the world over, I'm glad to see this kind of thing portrayed from the female side of the equation here. So often we see this kind of declaration depicted as a good thing from a strong, confident guy, that we really needed the contrast that we see in this chapter. Kouga is rightfully framed as overstepping his bounds, and Kagome has to APOLOGIZE to him not because she was wrong to hit him, but because she feels she has to have reasons to object out of fear of violence otherwise. It's no coincidence that Kagome mentions here that she and Inuyasha have never even kissed - it drives home the fact that despite her lack of a SOLID romance with Inuyasha, she had to use it as an excuse for not being interested in this other dude. I think it makes a profound statement about how girls have been convinced that their own feelings aren't good enough to excuse them from relationships they don't want.
Feminist rant aside, though, I'm a little annoyed that Inuyasha's sense of smell was completely ignored in this chapter. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked that Shippou ended up being instrumental in his and Kagome's eventual rescue, because it's been a LONG-ASS time since he's done anything important at all. BUT, if Inuyasha was unable to detect Kouga's scent, a reason should have been given for that. Something like the wind from Kouga's speed scattered his scent and made it hard to narrow down or detect when he changed direction? It's pretty flimsy, admittedly, but it's better than just ignoring Inuyasha's nose altogether.
Fuck, the previous arc REVOLVED around him using his sense of smell to figure out a new technique. You can't just pretend it doesn't exist a few chapters later, RT.
No comments:
Post a Comment