VERY.
Elsewhere, Miroku is following a sullen Kagome as she pushes her bike through a thick tall grass. He asks if it's really alright that Inuyasha went to meet Kikyou by himself, but Kagome doesn't answer, mind stuck on the memory of when he haltingly said that he wanted to go alone. She mutters that it's probably because he's still in love with Kikyou. Miroku makes a questioning noise while Kagome explains that this is her reasoning for why it's better they don't go with Inuyasha.
Confused, Shippou asks Kagome if Inuyasha DIDN'T go to kill the youkai. Kagome joins in this confusion, stuttering a moment before wondering just WHY he would go after all. Gazing off to the side, Miroku says he thinks that would explain things, prompting both Kagome and Shippou to look askance at him. He tells them that the girl that Inuyasha once loved might have changed completely, and he may not want strangers to see her in the new way. Shippou is indignant about being referred to as a stranger while Kagome hangs her head wordlessly. It's about the only part of this strange and disjointed conversation that makes sense.
Shippou asks Miroku what it would mean if it's worse than he thinks, and Miroku answers that if it were HIM, he would get back together with Kikyou, for the time being.
Shippou has transferred to clinging to Miroku as he freezes in terror, saying he gets the feeling he was the subject of a very cold look just now. Shippou informs him it's not his imagination. Kagome continues to push her bike ahead, seething and realizing that she's just pissed off now. She remembers when Inuyasha told her that he wants her by his side, and trails off in a thought that now he might be going back on that sentiment.
Miroku cautiously addresses Kagome, which she responds to with annoyance. He suggests that they CAN go after him, but Kagome protests the idea, glancing back to ask him why she would when she catches sight of something strange. The sky above has become strangely clouded, and a dark energy swirls around Miroku and Kagome as they stare in shock. Kagome immediately identifies the feeling as that of youki. She and the others look around at a point of light shining through the trees, and they see one of the soul-collectors waft past.
Miroku breaks into a sprint, urging Kagome to join him in going after the creature, and Kagome stutters out an agreement. It speeds ahead for a while, and though Shippou isn't bothered by the chase, riding on Miroku's shoulder, he asks how far it's going to go. Miroku suggests that Shippou ask the youkai that question, because seriously, how the fuck should HE know?
Oh, never mind, that's actually a BARRIER that they bumped up against, as Miroku explains to a dazed and questioning Shippou. Shippou's confusion only grows as he looks beyond the barrier, observing that Kagome is suddenly gone. Good job for losing her, guys!
Some ways ahead, Kagome is still chasing the soul-collector, down a hill. She grabs a tree next to her after she slides a bit and calls behind her for her companions to watch out for the slippery ground. When she's greeted by silence, she's surprised she's alone, looking this way and that for her friends. Kagome attempts to climb the hill again, but that slippery ground trips her up and sends her tumbling down, screaming. She lands on her backside at the bottom of the hill, groaning with a tear in her eye. That tear is quickly blinked away when she looks up ahead of her again, because the sight is quite the shock.
Her eyes remain closed while Kagome stands there with a thundering heart, supposing she must be asleep. So, Kagome creeps closer, peering at Kikyou with the silent question of if Kikyou doesn't somehow look different than her. Then Kagome makes the judgment that Kikyou is indeed quite beautiful, slumbering away like that. Kagome has gone from zero to creepster in about ten seconds, guys.
Kikyou mutters that Kagome managed to get through her barrier, and a still cringing Kagome stutters that she didn't know there WAS a barrier. After a moment of pause, Kikyou voices a realization that Kagome would be able to get through because Kagome IS her. Sweatdropping, Kagome utters a noise of uncertainty, eventually admitting that she thinks that's sort-of wrong. Kikyou doesn't give a fuck WHAT Kagome thinks, and turns her head to look around the tree, asking Kagome a trailing question about Inuyasha and why Kagome isn't with him.
Kagome frowns, pausing before casting her gaze to the side and admitting that Inuyasha went looking for Kikyou. This news doesn't appear to faze Kikyou, who follows it up with asking Kagome what she is to Inuyasha. Kagome's noise of confusion comes out again, and she looks down as she tries to figure out the answer. Again, she remembers Inuyasha saying that he wants her by his side, but can't think of a thing afterwards that really spoke to their relationship in a significant way.
Okay, enough of THOSE creepy thoughts.
Kagome realizes that she's been rendered completely immobile by this weird touch, standing stock still in front of Kikyou as Kikyou lifts her chin to look into the nearby trees. I'm guessing this is where the soul-collectors are floating, and Inuyasha is shuffling through the grass after them, cursing the fact that he's right back where he started. He thinks Kikyou SHOULD be where those youkai are headed, but if that's the case, why is he heading in circles?
One of the soul-collectors comes to rest on Kikyou's raised hand while she tells Kagome that Inuyasha seems to have come back. I guess he was there before and Kikyou led him in a giant circle so she could have a little nap? *shrug*
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I have to say, this is the content that I've always liked the LEAST about Inuyasha. Even when I was reading it for the first time in my teens, the same age as the characters, I couldn't stand this crap. It always just seemed like drama for drama's sake to me, and I kind of rushed over reading it because it never interested me as the stuff that had a more direct impact on the plot.
But by taking a closer look at it in this review, I have to admit that this content DID have its place. Kikyou is not only resurrected from a horrible death seeking revenge on the person she thinks was responsible, not only implied to be consistently rejected from all the various places that she has tried to pick up the broken pieces of her former life, but now it appears to her that she's been replaced by a girl who is essentially HER 2.0. That has to STING. Kikyou is obviously going through as much jealousy and heartache as Kagome is right now, if not more. Kagome is at least living a real life that isn't shattered and unnatural. Because Kikyou is stuck in the moment she died, feeling betrayed by the one she loved, those feelings of betrayal can only be magnified by Kagome and her presence in Inuyasha's life. This was just the more subtle way for Kikyou to express all of that, and I appreciate that this wasn't spelled out for the audience.
I wish the conversation at the beginning of the chapter had been as interpretable. I tried looking at it from quite a few angles, but I just couldn't parse how Kagome went from assuming Inuyasha went to catch Kikyou alone because he's still in love with her to questioning it again. Nothing about what Shippou said should have led her to question her initial assumptions. And Miroku's explanation about Inuyasha not wanting strangers to see Kikyou in her changed state seemed to come out of nowhere as well, like his statement that he would get back with her if he were Inuyasha. It was such a bizarre mishmash of sentiments that went together about as well as oil and water.
Sure, the characters can be so similar-looking that you could mistake them for another if you took off their hair, but their conversations can't be coherent? Okay.
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