Do I sound appropriately crotchety yet?
"Listen you big shit, I've seen that kid a hundred times before, so stop questioning my sense of recognition!"
Myouga actually appears not so much annoyed as still reeling from the shock when he confirms that was indeed without any doubt Sango's little brother Kohaku. Kagome looks confused when she recalls Sango telling her that Kohaku died at Naraku's castle, only to see him alive now.
Meanwhile, beyond the misty barrier Naraku set up, he chuckles at Sango. She stands well back from him, even keeping a gap between her and Kohaku, though he's much closer. Naraku tells Sango that she should be thanking him, and she angrily asks him to repeat himself, because bitch could not POSSIBLY have the balls it would take to demand gratitude from her. Naraku explains that he deserves it because he extended Kohaku's life, who just stands there staring listlessly forward.
Sango probes him for what he actually means, and Naraku obliges by saying that back at the castle, Kohaku should have died from his injuries. He reaches beneath a fold in his baboon fur to pull out something he says saved Kohaku. It's of course a glowing Shikon shard, which Sango gives a dirty look. She obviously remembers what kind of saving it gave her not too long ago.
Back on the other side of that swirling barrier, Miroku is talking about the same thing, asking for clarification from Kagome. She says that she saw a Shikon fragment in Kohaku's back as he was running away, looking nervous the whole while. Again we switch to the other side of the barrier, because RT still hasn't realized that hopping back and forth like this kind of sucks. Sango asks if Naraku revived Kohaku, and Naraku affirms this with a chuckle. The reason he's so giggly becomes clear fairly quickly when he says that if the shard is removed from Kohaku, he'll die on the spot. Sango grits her teeth. It can't be very comfortable seeing Naraku's proximity to Kohaku, given that he's not so far from demonstrating that very mechanism either.
Naraku begins to tell Sango that Kohaku's life is in HIS hands, but then backtracks and puts that responsibility on her instead. And there's a reason for that.
Sango is determined to know which it is, demanding an answer as to why Kohaku is protecting Naraku. Naraku answers for his little bodyguard, saying that Kohaku has forgotten Sango and everything that happened before he woke up from death. He's essentially a faithful dog right now, according to Naraku. A tabula rasa that's been thoroughly graffitied with all kinds of pro-Naraku propaganda.
While Kohaku stands at the ready to defend his master, Sango's glare remains, but a worried sweat breaks out on her temple. Suddenly, Naraku let's one rip - a blast of miasma, that is - and giggles like he's twelve. It splashes toward Sango, who retreats with her arm over her nose and mouth to avoid getting any of that shit in her face. This doesn't last long, because the miasma shoots up into the sky in the next panel, carrying away Naraku and Kohaku out of Sango's reach. If she doesn't think to hop on Kirara again. Which she doesn't.
Oh well, that slow cat probably couldn't keep up anyway.
Sango glares up at the place Naraku disappeared, where instructions are still echoing through the air; he'll be waiting for her to bring him Tessaiga. Now, WHERE he doesn't say. I guess she's supposed to just come back here? I don't know...
And we're back outside the barrier where it's wavering as Kagome, Miroku and Shippou notice that it's disappearing. Kagome emerges while it comes down, her silhouette hanging its head. Her friends look on, Kagome with pity, Miroku with compassion and her name on his lips, and Inuyasha with wariness. She notices them with a helpless and shocked look herself, speechless when Kagome jogs up to her with a trailing sentence about that boy. Myouga is on Kagome's shoulder and is less gentle about it, straight-up asking her to admit that it was Kohaku. Sango, as you can imagine, isn't having any of that shit.
Sango regains her composure in record time to make a request of a curious Miroku: giving the murdered villagers a memorial service. There are an awful lot of bloody corpses littering the ground back at the village, and while Sango is dragging one of them to a grave on a mat, she thinks of Kohaku smiling the way he did before all this mess. She mentally insists that he was a kind-hearted child who wouldn't be capable of this kind of cruelty, so it couldn't have been him.
Well, maybe not in his non-brainwashed mind, anyway.
Inside one of the mass graves they're digging (judging by the size and depth), Kagome holds a basket for Miroku to shovel dirt into, asking him what he thinks. Miroku's face is one of wide-eyed innocence, like he has no idea of what she is speaking, so she elaborates. Kagome says she wonders what happened inside that barrier. Miroku's only response when he looks over to behold a crouching Sango is that something happened alright. Kagome seems desperate for a gossip when she says that this all appears so heartbreaking. So, Miroku gently tells Kagome that they should all just leave Sango alone for now, until she feels like she wants to talk about it on her own.
Inuyasha has arrived with a few logs hoisted over his shoulder, for some reason that's not readily apparent to me, and of course calls this talk too soft for his liking. Kagome and Miroku stare at him with alarm while he states that since the kid had a jewel shard in him, the chances are that Naraku is involved in some way. He moves to confront her, or "beat it out of her" as he puts it, cracking his clawed fingers on the way. He gets sat for his trouble, before he can reach Sango in her hunched depression. As he munches dirt once again, Kagome sits next to him to lecture him on how he has no decency. Kagome, need I remind you that YOU were just itching to talk about Sango's issue behind her back with Miroku earlier? I think you're more than capable of your own brand of indecency.
Miroku crosses his arms in a long-suffering, exasperated way. He tells Inuyasha not to be in any hurry, because Naraku will show up on his own if they just wait. He DOES have a habit of showing up briefly to taunt everyone, even if it's only in dirt-puppet form.
Fast-forward to evening.
Looks like he's not the only one forgetting things, because she must have let it slip her mind that she didn't realize Naraku was her nemesis until AFTER the whole castle incident and Kohaku's death. There's no way he could have known in the first place.
Sango has opened her eyes now, thinking that she'd like to bring Kohaku back to normal and away from Naraku. She knows that Naraku told her to steal Tessaiga for him, and after a small pause, she props herself on an elbow and twists to look at Inuyasha across from her. He's got his arms crossed over Tessaiga, but looks fast asleep, as do the rest of her companions. She creeps closer, assuming that this is the best moment.
Sango recoils, taken aback. Inuyasha's glare softens a bit when he asks her if she feels like talking yet. She merely says his name, probably still trying to get her heart rate under control. Inuyasha takes a wild stab at an explanation of what happened, that Sango went after her little brother but failed to get him, though he never thought she would make a mistake like that. Sango is silent and sweating.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? You may have noticed that this recap was a bit lighter on the pictures than most, and that's because there just weren't very many visually interesting panels. A lot of the chapter consisted of talking, and not much action at all, which can get pretty repetitive in RT's clean and simple style. That made the chapter a little bit of a slog, if I'm honest, though the dialogue was short and sweet in most parts. The characters expressions came through and fleshed out the brevity of the speech bubbles, which is always a treat to see. Still, I always prefer action if I can get my hands on it, and this was a chapter that revolved around discussion.
Not that the discussion wasn't necessary and interesting in itself. The complexity of feeling in this strange blackmailing situation was palpable. It's got Sango all twisted up inside, being hopeful one moment, elated at learning this is her brother, in denial when he's been made to do terrible things, and rationalizing the next moment. When she can't convince herself that it wasn't actually Kohaku, she's dwelling on how desperate she is to get her only family out of Naraku's clutches. Oddly, she wasn't hesitant about denying Naraku that deal when he made it, only pausing for a moment with an "are you fucking serious" look before making to lay the smack-down on him. But Naraku knew that giving her time for consideration was the best thing to do, backing off immediately to leave her with overwhelming thoughts. The new information got mixed in with old feelings and had a little time to stew, bringing Sango around.
Though Inuyasha's part was minor, his reactions to the situation were very interesting as well. He made a big show of attempting to beat up Sango for the truth, but if he was going to, he would have done it long before he eavesdropped on Kagome and Miroku's discussion. The fact he eavesdropped at all was a little telling, because it shows that he, like Kagome, was testing the subject out for broaching. He may not have wanted to hear that they should wait until Sango was ready to talk, but he at least waited long enough to bounce his more violent notion off the others first. More surprising still, when he finally DID get to confront Sango, he was measured and calm, even though I'm pretty damn sure that he knew she was heading for him while he supposedly slept. Inuyasha is being, however imperfectly, pretty sensitive to Sango here, and is aware that she's in a certain amount of pain.
He's expressing a level of empathy that he normally doesn't. Not that it's important or anything...
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