"No, you canNOT have my soul to put in your Kikyou doll!"
Ouch.
He looks up in time to see a big leaf descending upon him, much to his confusion. Atop that leaf are Kaede and Shippou, the latter of which asking if Kaede if she thinks Inuyasha is okay. She says that he wouldn't die even if he did fall. Or got squished by a giant leaf thing.
Later, after Inuyasha has emerged to tell them he's just fine (thank you very much), he's alarmed at the news that Kagome was kidnapped. Kaede asks Inuyasha if he remembers the first time Kagome appeared, and Kaede herself speculated that Kagome was a reincarnation of Kikyou. After a short pause, Inuyasha wonders what this has to do with anything, and Kaede prompts Inuyasha to tell the truth about what REALLY happened between him and Kikyou fifty years ago. Inuyasha's expression turns from that of shock to annoyance as he wonders what she's implying now. Kaede tells him it would be better for her to know everything in advance, because if all of this is what she THINKS it is, then they'll be meeting Kikyou again really soon. Inuyasha puts back on his look of shock.
Meanwhile, back at the farm...
Urasue giggles, telling her replica!Kikyou that it won't be long until her soul is drawn from her reincarnation's body. Kagome is able to move enough to shoot Urasue a withering glare, and deliver a scathing rant about how she's said a million times already that she's not someone's reincarnation. That's right, Kagome, you're a special snowflake and completely without precedent. She asks Urasue how she's going to take responsibility for all this harm she's done if she's wrong.
Uhhhh, Urasue is a youkai who stole someone's bones and made a living doll from them. You think she's going to care if she breaks a few eggs in her pursuit of Kikyou's soul?
Urasue is amazed Kagome's still talking, considering her potent herbs would have normally kept her from speaking as well as moving. After all, it's no fun having your kidnapping victim blabbing on and on and it's just a PAIN gagging them. Suddenly, Urasue sees a glow at Kagome's chest, and is delighted that it's the glow from the Shikon shard Kagome is carrying. Kagome is too weak to display true alarm, but she is looking pretty worried. Urasue, giddy at her good fortune, reaches into the tub to grab the jewel off Kagome, despite Kagome's warnings that she shouldn't.
Urasue stares at her smoking hand in surprise, muttering about the barrier around the tub. After some halting speculation, she realizes that the barrier is actually holding in that soul that's trying to escape. A shot of replica!Kikyou gazes listlessly off to the side.
Shippou bounds ahead of Inuyasha carrying Kaede on his back as they trek up a steeply inclined path back up the cliff. He's quiet as he recalls how Kikyou told him that he could become human with the Shikon no Tama too. Inuyasha always wanted to become a full youkai, which was why he was drawn to that jewel that Kikyou protected, but Kikyou's perception was so sharp that it was beyond Inuyasha to even get near her.
At one point, when Kikyou had somehow pinned Inuyasha up on a tree with several arrows around his joints (HOW? She'd have to be an IMPOSSIBLY quick shot...), Inuyasha asks her in his frustration why she doesn't just finish him off. She twists around to tell him to just not wander around here anymore, because she's wasting her arrows on him.
Inuyasha admits that he really had no intention of killing Kikyou in his plans to steal the jewel, and Kikyou refused to kill him too. In Inuyasha's flashback, Kikyou is sitting on a hill, calling for Inuyasha to come out because she knows he's there. He pops his head out of the tops of the trees he's been lurking in with an irritated expression before he comes to sit down near her, though still keeping his distance. Kikyou asks if this isn't the first time they've sat down to talk like this, and Inuyasha barks a question about what that's supposed to mean. Kikyou says Inuyasha's name again, contemplatively.
Kikyou's sad expression made Inuyasha more aware of all those shitty things he'd done, and they worried him for the first time. From that point on, all his thoughts were dedicated to Kikyou, which he silently curses back in this present moment. Kaede asks him why he's stopped talking, and leans over his shoulder to speculate whether or not it's because he's remembering how he really LOVED Kikyou. For a moment, Inuyasha looks surprised, remembering those words about becoming human from Kikyou again. But then puts back on his scowl and scoffs, saying that he was just deceived by Kikyou is all.
She had promised to meet him the next day at a certain spot, when she would bring the Shikon no Tama with her. Kaede is surprised to learn that Inuyasha was going to become human, and Inuyasha says with some annoyance that it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Like an impulse buy at the grocery store counter. Unfortunately, on that day Kikyou was supposed to bring the jewel for him to become human, he called her name curiously, and was met with a hail of arrows instead of Kikyou's promised Shikon no Tama.
Kaede, however, isn't buying this version of events. Some part of it sounds wrong to her, and she wonders if there isn't some alternate explanation.
At the kiln again, Urasue is backing away from the growing barrier around Kagome in the tub, mumbling about how if all this is the soul, then it's HUGE. Kagome has screwed her eyes shut and grit her teeth, haltingly talking about how nauseated she feels. Urasue speculates that the soul is resisting its relocation so much because its previous life had ended in some abominable way. Replica!Kikyou stares on without expression, while Kagome prays for Inuyasha to come help her quickly.
Kagome's prayers are answered, because help arrives with a shout of her name.
Kaede is shocked as she calls out her favorite title for her sister, Inuyasha glancing back at her out of his periphery.
A mysterious voice comes to Kagome in all her pain, begging for her name not to be said. Kagome wonders what this voice is, as Inuyasha stares at the replica!Kikyou in alarm. He apparently didn't hear the voice, because he says Kikyou's name, and this causes Kagome's eyes to widen and dull in a great pulse.
Here Inuyasha goes, taking every man's nightmare of the ex-girlfriend and the new one meeting in a room to the absolute limit.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I liked the reveal of Inuyasha's feelings for Kikyou over the course of the chapter. He was mostly quiet and showed some hesitation in talking about what happened. His language was really careful, even in his own reminiscences of the course of events that led to him being bound to the tree. He never actually SAID he loved Kikyou, but this description Kaede and Kagome have been using seems to be pretty accurate anyway. Inuyasha is just reluctant to label what he's feeling, which gives the scene of him remembering everything that much more depth and personalization to him, as a character. Inuyasha ISN'T the kind of person who would even be ABLE to give his feelings for Kikyou a name because his lack of socialization would have made this difficult, as well as his inability to delve into those feelings meaningfully until prompted to do so. It was a really subtle but extremely powerful way to solidify Inuyasha's character just a bit more.
And can we talk about how Kaede did the prompting here? She is no-nonsense, telling Inuyasha that he'd better lay it all on the table, because it's not just his problem anymore. If Kikyou is resurrected, EVERYONE is going to be affected by the likely tantrum Kikyou is going to throw over her death, and transparency is the best policy for dealing with it. After all, we can't talk this through if we're denying bad shit happened in the past, right?
Can I just... BE Kaede in my old age? She is just the absolute best.
No comments:
Post a Comment