Truly this is a sign. A sign of how I'm going to need ever more patience the longer I linger in this life.
Furthermore, what kind of cat IS Kirara. Not only does it seem against a cat's very nature to willingly swim through water, but this one has FLAMES on it's paws in its transformed state. Shouldn't that be uncomfortable for Kirara? Or the fish in the now boiling water?
Out of the mist ahead, Sango indeed starts to make out a shape, which Taroumaru identifies as the Suijin's Torii gate. Inuyasha glares at the emerging gate as he takes a wild guess about what this means.
Kagome gapes at the fact that there's a huge-ass shrine right in the middle of a lake. Ah, that's nothing! The sheer weight of the gold in Venice's grand architecture is sinking it. At least this building is made with the practical material of WOOD.
Miroku seems much more concerned with the sacrifice that's already inside, which actually appears to REMIND Taroumaru, stirring him into a panicked stutter in his orders at the mains to hurry up their rescue. He insists that they have to save his friend before Suijin finds out that his dad made a switcheroo. But he quiets down when he spots that there are a couple of fish-faced guards on either side of the entrance holding spears and looking menacing. Taroumaru ducks, telling the others to hide from them, but Inuyasha leaps above his head straight toward the entrance and the guards, asking what hiding will get them.
Meanwhile, the kid in the mask from the palanquin is within the compound, being escorted down a walkway by what appears to be a couple of catfish on legs. They reach a large room partially hidden by screens, which they kneel in front of to present the sacrifice. There is a person sitting on a cushion far back behind the curtain, who acknowledges them rather dismissively. He tells his sacrifice to come close to him and said sacrifice stands to walk through the small opening in the screen in front of him. Then, shaking, he falls into a bow again.
The hollow-cheeked and heavily eye-lined water god utters a questioning noise when he sees the boy's scratched and dirty hands. He calls the boy on this, deducing that he is not the village head's child. The boy twitches in alarm as the Suijin stands and asks what the meaning of this attempted deception is. The child begins to beg the god, asking for pardon on behalf of his friend and for Suijin to eat HIM instead. Suijin's arm extends out and stretches, the claws at the end catching the kid in his masked face so hard, he's blown backwards by the force before being lifted by his head.
Of course, the kid is speechless, probably only partially due to the fact that his mouth is being held shut by Suijin's crushing grip on his jaw. Cracks are appearing in his mask. Suijin promises the child he'll be torn apart and fall down on the village with the rain. How is that a WORSE punishment than being eaten? He's going to die either way, isn't he?
Suijin is distracted by a few thuds and a crash happening off frame, which is exactly the kind of commotion we were waiting for.
More jerk fish come running at them with their spears, calling Inuyasha and crew scum while reminding them that they're on holy grounds. Someone should probably remind Suijin too, huh? Inuyasha opts instead to just keep his fists flying, letting them do the talking. The fish-faced guard he clocks falls to the walkway and most of his body dissolves away, leaving a scuttling crab to skitter out of the fancy clothes he was in.
As Miroku knocks one of the guards off the walkway and into the water below, Sango says that they don't have to kill the guards. Miroku agrees, and when the fish-faced guard hits the water to turn back into a regular old fish-faced fish, he alerts everyone else to the fact that these guards are nothing but creatures from the swamp.
A moment later, they all barge in on Suijin holding up the little servant boy by his face, and Suijin gives them another extended questioning noise. Inuyasha is confident in his own assertion that this must be the people-eating Suijin. Last in the room is Taroumaru, who is shocked by the scene in front of him. The kid in Suijin's grip somehow manages to utter Taroumaru's name, and Taroumaru calls out to the other kid in turn, whose name happens to be Suekichi.
Suijin is still holding Suekichi aloft as he stares at Taroumaru for a moment. He looks pleased when he notes that, though dirty, Taroumaru must be the REAL headman's son. Well done, Veronica Mars. *eyeroll*
Taroumaru lunges forward, fully prepared to be the sacrifice if it means Suijin will let his friend go, but Inuyasha asks with annoyance what it is Taroumaru hired them for. Inuyasha then accuses Suijin of actually being a youkai. He lunges at Suijin, promising to reveal the god's true nature as he draws Tessaiga. But
But to be fair, Inuyasha probably wasn't going to notice it even existed unless you were holding it. I mean, I didn't, and I pick apart every aspect of every chapter.
Inuyasha makes to run at Suijin again, without Tessaiga, about to ask what the fuck that matters when Miroku holds out an arm and warns him to wait. Before Inuyasha can get a protest out, Miroku says with some nervousness that this is bad, because he's observed that the halberd is a true holy weapon. Inuyasha is snide when he asks so what, either out of arrogance or ignorance or both. Kagome is picking up what Miroku's putting down, though, slowly concluding that the child-eating monster who has finally put Suekichi down but is still gripping him by the back must be a read god, given that he has a real holy weapon.
Still defiant, Inuyasha mocks them for chickening out when they came all the way here, stating that, god or not, Suijin is just as bad as any youkai. Sango steps forward and says that Inuyasha is being stupid, because dealing with a god is much worse than dealing with some puny youkai, and angering them could result in being cursed for life. Miroku agrees, rephrasing that it's dangerous to attack recklessly.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The same natural dynamic between the main characters is at play here, with a little more focus on Sango as the new addition to the group. I like how her expertise works its way into the chapter, and I like that Miroku appears to be on the same page with her every step of the way. They have a similar background in dealing with youkai, though his is more on the spiritual side of things and hers the more physical. They already seem like they're getting along splendidly, but not to worry, because Miroku is going to fuck that up real soon.
I also like the emerging dynamic between Sango and Inuyasha. While Sango isn't necessarily antagonistic toward Inuyasha, she's not afraid of shutting down his more reckless ideas. She didn't disagree with him when he said that Suijin basically may as well be a youkai, implying that she's come across issues like malevolent gods who are capable of causing much more destruction than a youkai on a more personal scale as well as a larger one. Sango's expertise even backs up Inuyasha's passion here, though she does end up insulting him while she's using it. So, while the two of them will very quickly make a phenomenal team, they'll also grate on each other's nerves quite a bit.
As for Suijin's likeness to a youkai here, despite his "real god" status (for now), I'm beginning to realize that this is yet another example of how the system of good and evil don't seem to mesh too well with reality in practice. It's not just a concept that breaks things down into easily digestible but impractical bits, but a real tangible force in the world, given how the "good" holy weapon easily overcame Tessaiga's "bad" youkai transformation. Yet, the "good" weapon is clearly being wielded by a remorseless monster, while Inuyasha's "bad" weapon is a force for justice here. There is a HUGE disconnect between the colloquial terms associated with these weapons/characters, and their actual messy roles in the story and world.
Perhaps we're just using the wrong words here? *shrug*
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