Kikyou admits she failed to take Inuyasha's life, prompting Kaede to sigh in relief. Not commenting on this, Kikyou moves on to tell Kaede that Kagome said something to her about a guy named Naraku being her real enemy. Kikyou glowers as she demands that Kaede tell her everything she knows about Naraku. Kaede stutters out an agreement, thinking that if Kikyou is alerted to the truth, then maybe her hatred for Inuyasha will dissipate and she'll no longer be bound to this world.
Back in the forest Kikyou vacated some time ago, Kagome is climbing over a log while her mind goes over and over Inuyasha saying that he never stopped thinking about Kikyou every single day. She mutters that she's being made fun of, Inuyasha sneaking around behind her speechlessly. He's not alone, because Shippou pops up on his shoulder and Miroku approaches from behind, Shippou suggesting that Inuyasha stop Kagome from going home. He's not listening, sweating and fretting that she did indeed see the kiss he and Kikyou shared.
Miroku asks what happened with Kikyou, and Inuyasha repeats the question before answering that it was what Miroku is always doing to girls. Miroku's eyes widen and he recoils, asking if Inuyasha really performed such an indecent act in front of Kagome. Inuyasha is appalled, accusing Miroku of thinking of something ELSE altogether. Ahead of them, Kagome stops suddenly in her angry hike through the woods, Inuyasha staring nervously.
Back at Kaede's place, the fire in the center of the hut crackles as Kikyou confirms she understands Naraku is formed from the bandit Onigumo. Kaede says it all began with Onigumo's evil thoughts, and his summoning of many different youkai to eat him so the demon Naraku could be born. After the explanation, Kaede stresses to Kikyou that Inuyasha was also deeply wounded by Naraku's trap. She doesn't finish her thoughts because Kikyou gets up and goes to the door in preparation to leave. As she's pushing aside the curtain over the door, she says she had only wanted to know the reason for her death.
Kaede gapes at Kikyou's melancholy expression until Kikyou asks if it appears that Inuyasha has changed. Her sister isn't able to utter much more than a hesitant noise, so Kikyou continues by saying that his face looks a lot kinder than the one she knew, when it expressed universal distrust and general peevishness. She asks Kaede if Kagome was the one to change Inuyasha, and Kaede admits that Kagome is quite a mysterious child. She speculates that it's Kagome's strength that is curing Inuyasha's heart.
Kikyou goes from a shadowed glare to a bitter smirk, chuckling that what SHE wanted to do, Kagome is doing instead. Oh come on, Kikyou. Surely you weren't attempting the old "I can change him" rotine. Say it ain't so. Kaede seems to be as disappointed as I am, but I'm pretty sure it's for different reasons.
Kikyou slouches out of Kaede's house, and Kaede leans out of the doorway after her, calling her name. She asks if Kikyou has finally cut off her lingering feelings. Kikyou turns to tell Kaede that they'll meet again, which I guess is a "no". She's surrounded and carried off by her soul-collectors again, with Kaede staring up at her and wondering how long she's going to wander like this.
Shippou observes that Kagome and Inuyasha have passed by at least five times by now, Miroku correcting him that it's actually been seven. Kagome complains that she's right back where she started, huffing out a question about where the damn exit to this place is. Inuyasha stalks after her, looking more annoyed than ever, and thinking this is getting ridiculous. You've been going round in circles seven times now and THIS is when it's getting ridiculous?
Inuyasha suddenly questions why he's so nervous about this and breaks his silent follow with a shout at Kagome. However, he sees tears pooling in her eyes while she stands hunched in profile, so he throws himself behind a rock in alarm. He sweats about her crying, while Kagome yawns, acknowledging she's super exhausted, which makes sense since she thinks she's been up since the previous day. Inuyasha's heart pounds, worrying that something is bothering Kagome after all, and worse, that it's his fault.
Deciding once again to face this problem head-on, Inuyasha comes charging from behind the rock and jumps in front of Kagome's path, demanding she listen to him at least while calling her a bitch.
Inuyasha begins with his suspicions that there really is something wrong, and she's angry about the kiss. Kagome is speechless a moment, surly in her internal admission that it was that too, but she eventually shouts that this isn't correct. She scoots around to yell in his face that he doesn't understand anything, causing him to lean away in wide-eyed shock.
Again, Kagome uses Inuyasha's confession that he wants her by his side as a reference when berating him. She asks if that or him being unable to forget Kikyou for a single day is true, assuming they're mutually exclusive, but in Inuyasha's gaping disbelief...
Inuyasha looks down speechlessly for a moment, until he begins to explain that Kikyou was killed fifty years ago and her spirit can't move on to the afterlife, which he considers partly his fault because he didn't trust and believe in her at the time. This is Inuyasha's reason for not being able to forget about her, Kagome giving him a pitying look. She scoots back around, confusing Inuyasha, and says that there's one more thing. He recoils and sweats, like he's expecting this one more thing to be painful.
Kagome hangs her head while she asks if she's after all just Kikyou's replacement. Inuyasha is taken aback only for a moment, before leaning toward Kagome and claiming that he's been saying that's completely wrong. He turns his back to her too, saying that he DID think Kagome and Kikyou were similar in the beginning, but now he's convinced that Kagome is Kagome and there's no replacement for her. Kagome's eyelids droop as she leans back.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I don't blame Kagome for falling asleep at the end. Boy oh boy, what a snooze-fest. It was an entire chapter dedicated to speculation on Inuyasha's feelings with Inuyasha only vocalizing them toward the end. I don't mind when the topic takes up a portion of the chapter, but when that's the WHOLE THING? BO-RING. I can at least say that it was somewhat cute watching Inuyasha chasing after Kagome as she stalked around in a bad mood, but "cute" isn't the same as action. This comic has done a good job up until now keeping the tension pretty high, but this chapter really sunk the pressure of the series in a hurry.
Not that I think it was bad Inuyasha got to explain what he meant by not going a day without thinking about Kikyou. This was a good romantic conflict, because as I explained before, men in that society RARELY say anything directly. In that case his saying to Kikyou that he hasn't been able to forget about her WOULD seem like a love declaration to Kagome very similar to the one he made to her, the difference being that he said he wanted to be WITH Kagome where he didn't express that same sentiment to Kikyou. Maybe if the conflict had been spread out over a few chapters interspersed with actual plot-driving action, I would have liked it more.
But you know what no one really needed here? This regressive bullshit about girls CHANGING boys. Forgive me for going off on a feminist rant here, but girls are taught from day one that they should be exhibiting nurturing and coddling capabilities toward those they think are vulnerable or broken in some way, whether those are children or grown-ass men. Why the hell do you think we give little girls their own babies to take care of in the form of dolls? By the time girls reach their teens, they've been encouraged to home in on those who fit that description, the childish or troubled, to lavish with their feminine wiles in an attempt to "fix" them. Ever seen someone pissing and moaning about girls liking "bad boys" or those that treat them poorly? Yeah, they're actually complaining about the above bullshit.
And Kikyou seems to have bought into it hook, line and sinker. She was supposed to "heal" Inuyasha with her womanly nurturing love, but someone else is doing it instead. Newsflash, Kikyou: if Inuyasha's heart wasn't "healing" under your love, it's because he didn't WANT it to. People aren't changed by others, they're changed when they damn-well wanna change. Someone may be inspired to change by another person, but that individual is ultimately responsible for their own change in the end. No one else.
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