Inuyasha Manga: 091 Distrust

Uh, yeah, the amount of distrust floating around was already well established in the last chapter. Naraku pretty much oozes suspiciousness, so much so that I suspect it's the main ingredient in that miasma he's always spewing. I bet you can downright SMELL nefarious purpose on his breath when he talks. Or McDonald's. I always get those smells confused. A confusion that might go a long way in explaining why so many people are tricked into doing Naraku's bidding.

I'm just saying, if it smells like someone had McDonald's for lunch while they're telling you to do something, RUN.

Worst. Potluck. Guest. EVER.

Inuyasha rushes forward, shouting that Naraku won't get away, but he and Miroku are suddenly accosted by a wave of miasma from Naraku as he continues to retreat. He flies off, cloud of grossness spiraling behind him while he informs Sango that he'll be waiting for her at the castle, instructing her to kill Inuyasha and then come back. Sango glares up at his shrinking trail of miasma, wondering for the first time if she can really trust Naraku. What tipped you off that he might not have your best interests at heart, Sango?

Kirara pads up to Sango gingerly, and Sango looks at her with surprise before kneeling down to pick Kirara up. Stroking the cat as it hugs her shoulder, Sango is relieved to know that at least ONE of her loved ones made it through this ordeal. Still, she's more than willing to send Kirara off rather than keeping her close, the latter of which would be MY instinct. I'm no warrior, though, so... Sango is glaring at Naraku out of her periphery as she mutters some instructions to Kirara; follow Naraku and kill him if he does anything weird.

Does wearing a baboon mask when baboons aren't indigenous to Japan qualify under that definition? Because it sure would under MINE.

Kirara appears to have a moment of wide-eyed comprehension, then...

Kirara is a BOSS.

Inuyasha makes to go after Naraku as well, telling him to just fucking wait, but Sango's boomerang hurdles across his path so he's forced to lean out of the way of the flying debris it carves out of the ground. Inuyasha looks over his shoulder and groans at the arc it takes to land back in Sango's hand. Sango claims she's going to exterminate him right here, eyes still narrowed and menacing despite her suspicion of Naraku. Inuyasha calls her a bitch for still being stuck on this notion of killing him, but she isn't listening. She trails off in a speculation of what will happen if she doesn't finish him soon, while lifting Hiraikotsu over her head and making for another attack. She knows she'll die soon, and doesn't want her time to run out before she can carry out her final mission.

Sango flings her boomerang at Inuyasha again, forcing him to back off once more. Frustrated, Inuyasha throws Tessaiga straight out in front of him, blade pointed straight at Sango's footing.

She can't quite reach it before Inuyasha gets all up in her face, saying that since she's lost her weapon, it's his turn. Sango throws her poison beads again, but Inuyasha takes a swipe at a strap holding her mask to her head and it pops right off her face. Her eyes widen and she immediately covers her mouth and nose, shocked that she lost the mask. She's even more shocked when Inuyasha grabs her hand and pulls her out of the poison cloud of her own making. Sango is downright flabbergasted that the guy is saving her, but decides not to believe it, since he's the bastard that destroyed her village.

Now that's just ungrateful.

Inuyasha's annoyance increases by about 300% by this point and he calls her a bitch again while he glares. He yanks the sword from his arm, asking how she can STILL not see that she's been deceived by Naraku. He also questions if she even knows she's covered in her own blood. Apparently she didn't, because she shakily asks what he means, which she can see when she looks down to where blood has already dripped into the ground where she's kneeling. Sango lifts her hand and examines it, wondering how, since she doesn't even feel any pain. Couldn't POSSIBLY be that jewel shard you agreed to take from Naraku, could it?

Kagome runs up to Inuyasha to fuss over his injured arm and ask if he's alright, to which he shortly states that he's just fine. Sango still sits on the ground in front of him wordless, her sword stuck in the ground behind him so she can't reach it. After a moment, Sango collapses right onto her face, making Shippou and Kagome freak a little. Kagome drops to her knees beside her, hands hovering like she doesn't know what to do, Shippou shouting that Sango is dead. Kagome insists that Sango has only fainted, but she looks too nervous to be sure.

Inuyasha kneels down next to Kagome to look closer at Sango, and Kagome informs him that Sango has a Shikon shard in her back. Speechless a moment, he eventually realizes this must have given her the strength to fight, though he had known she was badly injured from the smell of her blood since the beginning. He curses Naraku for his intentions to make Sango fight until she died.

Meanwhile, Miroku is running after Naraku's cloud of concentrated nefariousness, shouting that he won't lose sight of that bastard. Just then, however, Miroku skids to a stop in front of a deep fissure in the ground that he can't jump over and he curses. It just isn't his day. Or IS it? He looks up to see something flying overhead.

SUCH A BOSS.

Miroku leans forward and thanks Kirara for giving him a lift, and together they rapidly gain on Naraku. It appears Naraku has noticed this, though it's difficult to tell with the mask, and doesn't really matter anyway. Miroku yells Naraku's name and proceeds to bitchslap him across the baboon face with his staff regardless, slicing through one of those douchebag wasps in the process.

That'll show 'em! Or it would if Naraku didn't just EXPLODE at that kind of violence.

Yeah, I'd be disturbed too if my enemy turned out to be made of a million different branches of mutated intestine. That's what that looks like to everyone else, right?

Until each end of those intestines forms itself into hand tipped with sharp nails and proceeds to lunge at Miroku and Kirara. Death by aggressive groping would be a poetic end for Miroku, despite how he's shredding the intestine-arms that come at him with his staff. Unfortunately, Kirara doesn't deserve this, and is the first of them to be tangled in the web of limbs, by the throat no less. Miroku's left arm is caught next, though I'm not sure why, since it wasn't the arm that was tearing up Naraku's intestine-limbs.

Miroku and Kirara are slammed to the ground by the tentacles coiled around them.

Sentient organs that grope and grasp. It's like looking in a MIRROR, isn't it?

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This chapter really puts a spotlight on just how far Inuyasha's compassion stretches, and it's pretty far. He's in a frustrating situation, having to focus on Sango's attempts to kill him despite his urge to chase Naraku, and all because Sango believed Naraku when he said that Inuyasha killed her village. Sango is forcefully diverting his attention and doing it out of having been duped no less, but Inuyasha never becomes truly angry with her, just annoyed. He showed enormous restraint against someone who had outright hatred for him, someone it would be all too easy to go too far in defending himself against because she was really trying to hurt him.

Sango's situation of being injured and deceived by Naraku must have struck a mighty chord with Inuyasha, considering Kikyou's final situation was so similar. It makes sense that he might be thinking along these lines, and showing restraint with Sango out of empathy, especially considering his face when looking over the collapsed Sango. All that said, knowing Inuyasha's hatred for being inconvenienced and his easy provocation into a tizzy, it's amazing to know how far he can stretch that phase of displeasure before becoming outright angry.

Also, how smart he can get in the heat of battle. It's was a pretty good idea to force Sango out of the line of her weapon's return. Not sure I could have thought of it.

Actually, I'm certain I COULDN'T have.