That sounds like the worst ice cream flavor ever. I kind of had a feeling that Ben & Jerry's was going a bit too far these days, but making a BONE SWIRL? I suppose it's well-timed, though. I saw every manner of ceramic jack o' lantern on display at Target when I was on my way to the pharmacy the other day. It's getting to be that time of the year again, and all the big companies are putting out their best products to drum up excitement for what will more than likely be a very disappointing Halloween for a lot of people.
Keeping that in mind, a swirl of bones would probably be the least upsetting part of part of this All Hallows Eve.
Kagura is the only one I trust to create an entertaining Halloween product this year. Bring out those rattling bones, girl!
A wave of skeletal soldiers rushes at Kouga, skulls shattering on the arm he's holding up to shield his face. He swings the other out to crush another skull out of frame, scoffing that these are mere distractions. Kagura then starts throwing a battery of wind blades in his direction with a big sweep of her fan, and he calls her a fool for it. He leaps between two wind blades that destroy the skeleton soldiers on either side of them and swings an outstretched leg down at Kagura, to her mild surprise. When his kick lands, cratering the ground around it, a great updraft prompts Kouga to look up, finding Kagura had merely jumped up to avoid him.
Kouga curses, as Kagura hovers there a moment, her still substantial skeleton army crowding around them ominously. She says she'll stop him from running, and snaps her fan shut, calling this move a Dance of the Dragon-Snakes.
Gothic. A close cousin of METAL.
A great tornado encompasses Kouga, not unlike the one he produces with his own speedy traveling style, completely obscuring him with the spiraling bones. Kagura drops to the ground while he grunts and groans within the creepy skull vortex, fists shattering every bone that gets a bit too close. The problem is, not only are his windmilling arms breaking up the bones into sharp little fragments, the SWORDS of the dead soldiers are swirling around in there too. He's basically in a "death by a thousand cuts" kind of situation.
Kagura yells at him to chose: he can either be chopped up by the skeletons in the tornado, or he can be minced up by her when he jumps out of there. Mohwak and Two-Tone peer at the vortex, the former asking what they can do, and the latter replying that it looks like there's NOTHING they can do. After one of RT's sky-view transitions, showing the stars twinkling, the next panel shows Kagome in shock over the news of Kouga and Kagura embroiled in battle. She stands next to Miroku, who sits by a roaring campfire, while Mohawk and Two-Tone sit on the other side, making their appeal. Two-Tone says the situation is KINDA bad. Bad enough for them to not even attempt to intervene themselves while they were already there, I guess.
But Inuyasha can't help but contemplate the meaning of why Kagura attacked Kouga to begin with; he thinks it must mean that Naraku's castle is in the area after all. This seems to clash with the fact that Naraku was supposed to have put up a powerful barrier to keep them from getting close in the first place, though, and Inuyasha can't help but be worried.
Sango ties up her hair in the back of the 500th abandoned shrine building they've happened across thus far, in full slayer regalia. Inuyasha gives her a critical look as she explains that she's got to investigate, then encourages him to stay here with Kagome so he can keep his human form a secret. Guess what happens next.
Go on. Guess.
Right on the money. Easiest guess I've ever made.
Back with Kagura and Kouga, who is now represented by his tornado encasement, Kagura is smugly asking Kouga what's wrong, and if he's too scared to come out of there. She speculates that he might have already dropped dead inside there too, but nah. He's still swinging his arms wildly at each skull flying at him, now bleeding profusely and cursing. The skeletons whirl around him, bones and blades blending together in their windy assault. He realizes that, no matter how many of these skeletal soldiers he crushes, he's getting nowhere. He's also pretty sure even HE wouldn't survive trying to jump through the swords flying around in front of him. Though, Kouga DOES seem to have an idea, and looks up.
Meanwhile, Kagura supposes it might be about time to let him out of there, since it might be difficult to find the Shikon shards if Kouga's been all ground up. She hears a shout to stop her pathetic worrying before she stops the tornado, though.
I guess powerful legs aren't JUST capable of running really fast. As he lunges toward Kagura from his height, trailing strings of blood from his wounds, Kouga tells her to prepare for death. She doesn't look the least intimidated, just scoffing that he's pretty tough. Or, at least this is what she says he wants her to say, because she's already duly familiar with men and their assumption that women find every mundane thing they do impressive. She pretty much immediately takes back her fulfillment of that expectation with another wave of her fan in Kouga's direction, which brings the swirling column of skeletons down on Kouga's unsuspecting back. Kagura grins, calling Kouga a fool, able to run and jump, but unable to escape her wind.
She throws a couple more wind blades out to punctuate her point.
The Shikon shards in his legs pop right out of his wounds - Kagura's a little TOO precise for someone who shouldn't be able to see the jewel pieces like Kagome or Kikyou. Odd. Anyway, Kouga notices the shards have separated from his legs immediately, but no sooner does he come to this realization than he's swept aside by another barrage of wind blades. With him out of her way, Kagura leans down to pluck them off the ground, gloating to the bleeding and groaning Kouga that she's taken both the fragments from him. As she holds them in her palm, she wears a smug little smile, telling him that he's just an ordinary youkai now. Imagine someone referring to a creepy supernatural creature as an ORDINARY creepy supernatural creature. Kagura gives no fucks about how ludicrous this sounds, though, she just figures it's time for her to finish Kouga off.
Before she makes good on her threat (of a good time, by the sounds of things), Sango and Miroku come barrelling in there atop their flame-footed Kirara, yelling her name. Kagura freezes in her alarm at first, then plucks a feather from her hair with an annoyed expression and spits that Kouga managed to narrowly avoid death today. With that, and a massive updraft, she escapes high into the air. Miroku notes with alarm that she got away as he follows her retreating feather with his gaze, but Sango is more concerned with the scene on the ground, drawing his attention to Kouga's condition. Mohawk and Two-Tone are already kneeling at his side, the latter appalled at the state of his bloodied legs, which Kouga winces and groans at. Kagome is the first person to actually COMPLETE her statement that Kouga's Shikon shards were taken, and Shippou, hanging tight to Inuyasha's shoulder, asks with worry what they're going to do about this.
While you're still in human form? For the sake of a guy you hate?
Yeah, sounds legit.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm honestly having a hard time wrapping my brain around the actions of Kouga's subordinates. It's just odd to me that the first course of action they would take would be backtracking to find Inuyasha's group for help. The two of them plus all the regular-looking wolves automatically outnumber Kagura, so it seems weird that they wouldn't try to distract and rush her first. Wolves being pack animals in general, you would think they would have a flanking strategy or some such thing.
Am I supposed to take from this that they're cowards? Incompetents? I suppose that would be a deeper characterization than just "slow" as we've been getting so far. But I would have appreciated some sort of setup, like Kouga complaining about how they're so opposed to fighting or don't pay attention to the plans he details to them. Perhaps Kouga didn't want them interfering in his particular fight? Again, that interpretation would have benefited from an actual mention of this wish by Kouga before this point. As it stands, I don't know what to think of this. Except, of course, that RT wanted a simple, clear one-on-one battle, and sent the spares off elsewhere so things wouldn't get over-complicated.
And I'm not sure I buy Inuyasha being SO comfortable with Kouga and friends by this time as to want to reveal his vulnerable human form to them. But at least they've fought in tandem before; there's at least a small history of alliance, even if it was somewhat strained. It's clear Inuyasha doesn't really view Kouga as a physical threat, just a romantic one.
Yet, I don't know how Inuyasha's usual anxiety around this vulnerable time of the month translates into an eagerness to get into the action now. He's fought in human form before, but those were times when he really had no choice. The best explanation I can come up with is that Inuyasha's worry that Kouga will get a shot at Naraku outweighs his worry of his human form being discovered. I suppose it makes a little sense - poor boy is entangled in a mesh of insecurities and the compensations he's built for them, and as someone who's had their share of THAT pathology, I can say I've RANKED my fears a fair few times before myself.
So, I guess I'm just a bit confused on the whole. But Kagura's pretty straightforward. Nothing confusing about her, so there's one part of this that works well I suppose.
No comments:
Post a Comment