Here I am being sarcastic again. And I don't even have any bread to concentrate on this time. Darn it.
Kouga lands in a crouch and palms on thighs, way behind Inuyasha because Inuyasha just charged right underneath him when he jumped in the air. Inuyasha growls and whips around when asked what he's so pissed off about. He says that Kagome would be happier if she came with him, rather than with the weak Dog-Turd. Inuyasha insists that the idea that Kouga is stronger than him is laughable, but he doesn't LOOK like he's about to bust up.
Kagome yells up at them to stop fighting, because she hasn't been hurt or anything.
Kouga is thinking along the same lines, wanting to waste Inuyasha to ensure Kagome doesn't have any inexplicable lingering feelings for some other guy. I hate to tell you, bro, but you have NO IDEA how feelings work if you think they disappear the moment the person they're for bites the dust. Ignorance never stopped morons, though, and Kouga cracks his knuckles in preparation. What is it with all these dudes and cracking their knuckles anyway?
With a grin, Kouga bids Kagome just wait a little longer to be free to fall in love with him. Kagome is dumbfounded, wearing a blank expression and speechless. Sango delivers the greatest understatement of the chapter by calling Kouga a "pushy" guy, and Miroku corrects her, saying it's just that Kouga has a very envious attitude. I would use the term "entitled little piss-ant", but that's just me.
Inuyasha has veins popping all over his head and is grinding his teeth. He mocks the way this bastard Kouga says Kagome's name, and then leaps at him, screaming not to call to Kagome with such familiarity. Tessaiga cleaves a load of rock, but Kouga has jumped over the blow again, hanging in the air as he scoffs at Inuyasha. He's undoubtedly seeing the problem Inuyasha has had with his aim for the ENTIRE SERIES.
He readies the arm sporting the Shikon fragment and threatens to take Inuyasha's head clean off, but Inuyasha barely dodges the blow. Below, Kagome is struck by a sudden feeling, and yells at both the guys fighting over her to watch the fuck out, because she senses a Shikon fragment right above them.
The next panel shows what the page above leaves out, the headless torso still streaming blood from its severed neck on the right side of the living twin, who's screaming about how someone killed him. Kouga is somehow caught unawares, literally, by the giant teeth of the bird body of the vengeful torso above. His arm spurts blood, and Two-Toned yells Kouga's name at the sight while Kagome gapes in horror.
The newly lone gokurakuchou promises to bite Kouga's arm off, but you get the feeling Kouga's not really listening because he's being dragged through the sky by his arm and his elbow pointing the wrong way and oh shit the pain. All he utters is a groan, though. He swings a leg up and into the teeth pinning him and shatters them with the extra strength of his kick, calling the gokurakuchou a bastard in the process. More like only child, but do they even have a word for someone without a brother like bastard? I don't know why they would.
Kouga yanks his bleeding arm from remaining teeth, and a small glow is left behind. It's the Shikon shard, that Kagome describes to a gaping audience as having been taken, but I feel like it wasn't so much as fortuitously scraped loose. Ah, the inexact nature of language. Kouga falls, bouncing off the side of the mountain as he goes, and lands smack on his back at the base with Kagome leading the charge to his side. She and his wolf pack are calling his name in concern, but he pushes himself to his knees and yells at them not to come near him. Kagome protests that his injuries are too terrible NOT to flock to while the wolf youkai all gape at Kouga in confusion, but he explains he's the gokurakuchou's only target, and it's heading down for another attack.
The gokurakuchou chuckles, planning to eat both of Kouga's legs now. No doubt the yummy magic rocks in each one are his motivation.
He smells the youki, which the chapter defines of youkai energy, being carried, and therefore senses the method that brings out the technique he just learned. He's still at the stage where it's really new, and he's got to go through every step in his head, so it doesn't come as any surprise when he has to say the name of it at the end as he's following through on the swing of his sword.
Kouga's wolf youkai are in awe as well, recapping the gokurakuchou's split into a million pieces through their wide gapes. As the gokurakuchou's flesh rains down in front of him, Inuyasha scoffs. Now that the interference has been eliminated, he swings around, ready to finish settling things between him and Kouga. His invitation to continue their business isn't received well, though.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? As annoyed as I am by the continued high school boy awkward fight, I can't help but be a little intrigued by the the triangle set up here between all three players. Kouga has picked a fight with two enemies, one of which he takes seriously, and the other he doesn't. The one he doesn't take seriously can't lay so much as a scratch on him while they're scrapping, and the one he does is quick to injure him and get one of his valuable assets in the process. All of this suggests that Kouga was right to consider the gokurakuchou the bigger threat, but then the LESSER threat swoops in and takes out the bigger one with a single move.
These separate fights aren't really about who's stronger, as the title misleadingly suggests. This isn't Dragonball Z, after all. It's about what the fight is worth. When Kouga and Inuyasha are grappling over Kagome's affection, the stakes just aren't there, for anyone involved. Kagome said herself that she's not hurt, so there's no reason for them to be pissing at each other. They only continue to do so because Inuyasha is already riled up and Kouga is trolling him. Neither one of them have any reason to give it their all.
But the gokurakuchou is really going for Kouga's life. That's where Kouga's drama is, and that's where he's got the most to lose in terms of his actual ambition. In turn, if Kouga is killed by the gokurakuchou, Inuyasha won't get to defeat Kouga in any capacity, so he has to get it out of the way in order to pick up where he left off. Since this is a real life-or-death situation, the stakes are a bit higher, and Inuyasha can actually put in more effort.
Not to mention, the audience has already been presented with Kouga's characterization, giving him the reason to be at their current fighting ring to begin with. If Inuyasha just mowed him down in the middle of the war Kouga started, it would just make us like Inuyasha less rather than establish who's stronger. Gotta keep our main character in good standing with the readers.
As for how Kagome ended up sticking up for the injured Kouga and Inuyasha got so flabbergasted... I think that's an explanation that will go better at the end of the next chapter. Drawing all I can from just two panels when I know damn well that a whole chapter covering just this subject is coming up next would just be silly.
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