Because you KNOW everyone would be claiming credit and we'd all have to figure out who did it just to know whose hand to shake. Bit of a reverse on the normal Clue characters avoiding blame, but I wouldn't hold it against them. Still a fun mystery.
Kouga cracks the knuckles on his right hand, showing off the scar from his and Inuyasha's last encounter, the new "Shikon" shard glowing within it. There's no Gokurakuchou to distract this time. He says it's about time he completes his revenge for all his buddies lying dead across the ground around him. Shippou freaks out about the likelihood of Inuyasha's death while clinging to a speechless Kagome's shoulder. She's leaning forward, eyes locked on Inuyasha's Tessaiga, mind set on returning it to him.
She'd better hurry, because Kouga's powerful fist is flying through the air again as he tells Inuyasha to say his fucking prayers. Inuyasha lunges forward to deliver a blow with his Sankon Tessou, something we haven't seen in quite a while. There might be a reason for that, because this move and Kouga's punch merely glance off one another midair when they meet with a big crack. Kagome gasps at the sight. When both guys skid to a stop past one another, Kouga turns and scoffs, asking if his punch scratched him.
Meanwhile, inside the rumbling halls of the spooky castle, Sango and Miroku run up to where they see a silhouette beyond a series of screens dividing a big room. Sango doesn't hesitate and throws her Hiraikotsu to smash through those screens. Hope it wasn't some innocent waif or prisoner stuck in there or anything, girl. Of course it's not, though, because Naraku's baboon-clad form is revealed by this action. As Sango catches her returning boomerang, Miroku shouts Naraku's name in anger.
No one else cares, though, because Miroku has a more pressing question - why did Naraku kill Kouga's wolf-brethren? Naraku chuckles some more, claiming that their greed cost them their lives, one could say. Or, one could say you're deflecting the blame for your murders to the victims OF those murders. Tomato, toMAHto. Naraku says he spread some rumors that the lord of this castle had some Shikon shards collected, and the wolves took the bait. Naraku has been taking a leaf out of Mortdecai's book, I see.
But naturally, it took a bit longer to draw out the LEADER of the pack. And something a bit more substantial than rumors, now, don't forget that!
Miroku works out that Naraku is after Kouga, or more specifically, the Shikon fragments in his legs. Naraku laughs again, this time at how considerate Kouga is for his friends, for a youkai. He suggests that perhaps Kouga will be able to kill his friends' enemy, which he has implied is INUYASHA. Miroku makes a noise of disgust and Sango just looks pissed. Respectively, they spit about how it's always the same bullshit plan of setting people against one another, and how old this song and dance gets.
With another giggle, Naraku's power surges as he's surrounded by his Saimyoushou. He mentions the business in the garden may take a minute to settle, so until then...
Back outside, Kouga tells Inuyasha that he's not getting away as Inuyasha jumps out of the way of another blow from Kouga's fist. Inuyasha is shielding his injured arm with the rest of his body, turning to keep it out of the way. Kouga kicks Inuyasha in the face again, who goes spiraling off. Kouga runs to catch up, cracking the knuckles on his right hand as he pulls them back in preparation to land another blow.
Kouga jumps up and then shoots down straight on top of Inuyasha, shoving his fist into Inuyasha's gut while shouting that this is the end. As a crater forms beneath them from the aftershock, Inuyasha wears one eye open in stunned shock and the other squeezed shut. Kagome screams his name, and it takes a moment for the dust to clear enough to make out Kouga standing hunched in the center of the crater, his right hand dripping fresh blood. Inuyasha lies beneath him motionless with his torso leaking blood, as well as the corner of his mouth.
Kagome shouts his name again in a panic, running to his side. She sits next to Inuyasha's prone form, assessing the damage closely while Kouga stands in the background. He still looks enraged, though he seems to have concluded that Inuyasha has dropped dead now. A voice from behind him asks if he's cheered up now that he's avenged his friends, prompting both Kouga and Kagome to turn to see who this is.
It's the woman with the fan, walking over to them through the fog and corpses. Her eyes are shut for a moment as she smirks girlishly, and says that surely Mr. Wolf has no regrets over this whole situation. Kagome stares open-mouthed, wary of this new person in their midst. Silence for a moment while everyone stares at one another, before Kouga asks who this bitch is.
Oh look, zombies! Perfect distraction! Kouga's wolf youkai brethren are standing up once more, to his utter shock and horror. As they slowly make their way to their feet, Kagura says that they died in a way much like this. It takes no time for Kouga's teeth to grind at the one actually claiming credit for all the bodies. He lunges forward, promising to waste Kagura, but with a scoff and a wave of her fan, he finds the corpses of the other wolf youkai flying at him.
After and initial moment caught off balance, due in no small part to his own revulsion, I'm sure, Kouga calls Kagura a bitch again and pulls back his fist. He's frozen by a stab of pain, though, and collapses to his knees as he loses strength, unable to move. Kagura chuckles much like Naraku as she hides her mouth behind her fan. She says that poisoned fragment he inserted in his arm must be starting to work its magic now. Kagura lifts the fan, claiming it's about time she started, and brings it down in an attack called Fuujin no Mai. A cluster of crescent-shaped slashes issue from her toward Kouga, who cringes away. It doesn't do him much good.
Kagome leans on her hip beside Inuyasha, gripping the cloth at his chest as she watches the new carnage brought on by the new girl. She stutters Inuyasha's name, begging him to get up. His eyes remain closed.
Kagura's attention is still focused on Kouga, bleeding and helpless. She asks for confirmation that he can't move, blaming the Shikon fragment he's using once more. It's fake, of course; a solidification of miasma and poison. A further condensed version of Naraku's particularly noxious farts. And Kouga put it in his arm.
Gross.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Kouga and Inuyasha's fight was brutal, the end turning scary when Kouga stood silently from his final punch to Inuyasha. It wasn't just Inuyasha's condition, which by itself was a horror. Still, we've seen him recover from some similar conditions before, one of which was inflicted by Sesshoumaru, and the other while he was HUMAN. While it's really awful and I don't doubt Inuyasha is in some serious hurt here, I also don't doubt that he's going to get through this.
No, what really struck me at the end of that battle was Kouga's expression. He didn't look satisfied at all, and was still angry. Either this is a comment on how revenge would never have done him any good anyway, even if it had been on the right villain, OR there's a part of him there that might have thought it was a bit too easy. I'm leaning on the latter, because even though Kouga had a power-amplifier here where his friends did not, there were still too many of them to be taken down by someone who went down so easily himself. There may have been a feeling of something not being at all right with Kouga for that moment between his victory and being told outright that Inuyasha wasn't the one who did this. It makes sense, what with his strong intuition and everything.
And that's not where the skin-crawling ended for me. Seeing Kouga rendered incapacitated by the very enhancement he used against Inuyasha was gruesome. The look on his face not only contained the shock that you might expect, but some genuine fear there too, with the realization that he's not going to be ALLOWED to fight anymore. Wearing the same look when he was sliced up by Kagura's attack had me almost feeling worse for him than for Inuyasha.
It's a shame that Miroku and Sango had to be led off to the side so they can engage in some busy work while the real show is happening outside, but that's just what happens when there are more characters than you know what to do with in a scene. I still prefer this to the standing around gaping at the action bit, though, because not having ANYTHING to do at all bugs me in real life, so in fiction it just sticks in my craw. I know I was expecting this to happen a lot, but knowing its inevitability doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Like death, it's a part of life, but that doesn't mean we have to LIKE it.
And guys, what's with all the "K" names? RT got some sort of thing for them, or what?
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