With the way words just disappear into thin air before they ever reach my mouth, being able to perceive some method to the madness might be helpful. But, alas, those words must have been taught by that elusive term that itself describes going unnoticed or unable to be seen. What is that term again?
Kagome demands that Toutousai explain this supposed ultimate technique of Tessaiga to Inuyasha. Touousai's eyes seem even wider than normal as he stares at the two brothers and tells Kagome that it's impossible to explain and that Inuyasha has to figure it out on his own. Kagome doesn't like that answer, but there's nothing she can do but mutter disbelieving exclamations. Meanwhile, Toutousai knows that mastering Tessaiga will be impossible for Inuyasha if he can't figure this technique out by himself.
Sesshoumaru holds up the claws of his dragon's arm and scoffs, saying that Inuyasha doesn't have a clue. He lunges at Inuyasha in his defensive stance with another swing of the arm, shoving both the sword and him back, while declaring that Inuyasha having the sword doesn't mean that a lowlife like him will be able to use it. Tessaiga's barrier crackles around him, and as Inuyasha sweats, he wonders why Sesshoumaru can see this technique that he can't.
He remembers the human arm that Sesshoumaru turned up with the last time he sought Tessaiga, easily disintegrating 100 youkai with a single swing of the sword. Inuyasha describes the effect as the air having been torn to pieces, and asks himself if THAT was the Cutting Wind. NO, it was ANOTHER impressive move that you hadn't known the sword could pull off until that very moment.
While he's contemplating the world's simplest questions, Sesshoumaru swings at Tessaiga again, and Inuyasha manages to dodge to the left, his sword hand lowered to the ground and just beyond Sesshoumaru's reach. Sesshoumaru's blow lands on the ground instead, scattering rocks everywhere. On the landing, Inuyasha loses his balance, falling over onto his side. He worries that he's unable to keep up his strength, and Kagome calls his name with Shippou on her shoulder shouting a query at him regarding whether his stomach wound hurts.
RT is getting pretty desperate to get a line out of EVERYONE here, isn't she?
Anyway, Sesshoumaru uses his right arm (the one he doesn't have to replace every five seconds) to slash at Inuyasha again, who goes flying. Sango runs forward with Hiraikotsu raised, shouting that she can't stand around anymore watching, and lets the boomerang fly. Sesshoumaru looks over his shoulder at the oncoming projectile, with a large measure of disinterest. Seriously, this fucker does not seem to give two shits that he's about to be hit upside his head with a giant bone.
Maybe he was planning to catch it in his teeth? Like the dog he is underneath it all? I don't know, and no one ever will, because Hiraikotsu's trajectory is stopped before it can get to him. Kagome and Shippou stand in awe of the method by which it happens too.
Sango begins to argue but Miroku bids her to quiet down and watch instead. Well well, someone is feeling extra chauvinist today. He says that even if it was only the one time so far, Inuyasha did manage to master Tessaiga. Sango asks if that wasn't on accident, looking anxious, but Miroku argues that even though it wasn't intentional, it showed that Inuyasha was at least capable. Kagome counters this argument in her thoughts with the express worry that he'll be killed if he doesn't use it NOW, which is quite the valid concern given Inuyasha's current appearance.
Sesshoumaru smirks at Inuyasha, warning him that he'll regret refusing to be saved. Strange that he's implying that Inuyasha could very well HAVE been saved back there, but I guess Sesshoumaru WAS present for their previous round of... whatever the fuck this is. Inuyasha demands that Sesshoumaru shut up as he runs at his brother, sword raised, and shouting that he'll figure out this Cutting Wind thing. Sesshoumaru stops the swing with his dragon arm once more and pushes back, telling Inuyasha to not even bother. While he's being shoved around yet again, Inuyasha wonders if there's some reason Sesshoumaru can see this move and he can't.
In a similar way to how he did it last time, Inuyasha leans into Sesshoumaru's pushing, hugging Sesshoumaru's dragon arm with his own free one as it continues to lay heavy on the flat of Tessaiga's blade. He mutters about the kind of person Sesshoumaru is, which is an asshole, I'm sure. Then THIS happens:
The dragon claw falls to the ground and Sesshoumaru, without missing a beat raises his remaining hand, knuckles cracking. He says that resistance is futile, like he's The Borg, before slashing Inuyasha straight in the face again. Inuyasha's eyes look misty and blank while he falls back, mouth agape when he realizes that the direct application of poison has taken his sight. This of course means that he's unable to dodge what's coming next.
As he lies in the dirt and Sesshoumaru walks toward him, Inuyasha's chest wound hisses. He strains to prop himself on his elbow, his eyes still blank. Of course, the indispensable Shippou has now noticed the state of them, and Miroku also exclaims that it looks like Inuyasha can't see. Well shit, if the peanut gallery can clearly pick out your weakness, you KNOW your enemy can.
Said enemy continues his slow approach, knuckles cracking like crazy, lines on his face becoming jagged and his eyeliner looking like it was painted on by a three-year-old in the dark. Oh, what? It's not eyeliner but some sort of demonic marking? Try explaining that to the guys at the bar hitting on you. They don't believe it. Trust me, I've tried. Sesshoumaru growls that compared to him, Inuyasha has never been any good, and shouts that he's a damn dirty
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? It is forever a burden of language in general to describe things that not only are invisible to the eye, but are often just concepts that will never have a physical representation outside of one's head. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, this burden should be lifted somewhat by how an image can more concretely show what cannot be said, in the most literal sense. However, that's very often not the case, and in fact with a lot of things that are not visual in nature, it can be somewhat more confusing when represented with a picture. The interpretation of an image can be a lot more fluid when the thing it depicts isn't an actual physical object.
That's why comics as a medium can be so fascinating, given that methods of storytelling have to be in some ways MORE creative than a novel with the same content, because a language designed specifically to describe intangible concepts is always going to be more adaptable to depicting emotions or feelings of the invisible than a picture, the only mode of which is sight. There's only ONE sense being used with pictures, whereas with language you can get one more with sound and hearing. I value a comic that can use very little language and a lot more pictures to get across the concepts it's trying to convey, because that means, to me, that the author is using the medium to its very best potential and giving me a good visual of something that I can't normally see.
So why did I go on a two-paragraph ramble about the limits of pictures and the language that supplements it? First of all, because I wanted to set up why I'm taking back my sarcastic jab at the person who translated the title as "Unseeable" Method rather than "Invisible". I understand now that this may have been deliberate, to invoke more readily the idea that this method that Inuyasha was trying to "see" would not make itself apparent through that sense, but instead through his sense of smell. Sure, "invisible" MEANS "unseeable" and the two aren't functionally any different, but "invisible" doesn't contain the word "see", and therefore is ill-equipped to really bring home the idea that someone might be able to sense it in other ways entirely. Even the wind isn't generally discussed as an "invisible" force, even if it technically is, because we do SEE the physical effects of it. Cutting Wind, or Kaze no Kizu, as I may be calling it more often, doesn't even have THAT going for it, so it's necessary to make that distinction that sight isn't involved at all here.
Which is why Inuyasha was so confused by why he couldn't "see" the technique, and spent so much time during the chapter trying to figure it out. Kaze no Kizu is a misleading term, given that it mistakenly evokes the term "wind" where he figures out that it's not REALLY wind at all. It's a collision between an aura, which has no physical effects one can see, and the air that may not even be moving fast enough to qualify as wind. The two are coming together in such a way as to create the illusion of wind with a scent, but not in visuals, and only barely distinguishable (to Inuyasha anyway) in smell. RT created a very interesting combination of language and picture here that support each other in every way, and all of it without cluttering her work and making it look overly complicated. It's really admirable.
It does beg the question why Toutousai couldn't just TELL Inuyasha to use his nose to find the answer, though. I'll grant that not having the visual the audience got would make explaining the technique a little more difficult, but couldn't he have at least given that little hint? Then again, Toutousai is definitely not a dog youkai like the brothers are. In fact I'm not really sure WHAT the hell he is. Maybe he doesn't sense Kaze no Kizu by scent at all and didn't know it could be done that way. It's plausible, but a little head-canon-y.
And Sesshoumaru needs to explain to me how he can be so self-aware and so the opposite randomly throughout an appearance! When he first showed up in this arc, he didn't want to hear that Toutousai didn't like him and kicked Jaken in the face for saying it, then in this chapter he's over here admitting he would probably have backed off if Inuyasha had let his friends join in the fray. It was an astonishing bit of cognizance about his own tendency to just give the fuck up if he's getting too much resistance from too many angles, but he doesn't have the same for the fact that nobody likes his snobby, preening ass??? What the fuck??
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