Inuyasha Manga: 152 Fired Arrow

Not much of a surprise there. Kagome wasn't ever going to try to weasel out of taking action in favor of pissing and moaning at Naraku that he's a garbage person. There is a rather long list of people I could go to in real life to watch impotent whining about how horrible someone is, in my own sliver of the political spectrum alone. As much as I love a good piss and moan about the evil in my world, it's so systematic that it becomes rather frustrating that the piss and moan is the most one can do. It's nice to be able to retreat to a fictional world in which evil isn't untouchable, is condensed into a single target, and that target can be obliterated by one fired arrow.

What a lovely fantasy.

I've never seen the old "I'm rubber, you're glue" defense used so literally before. Come to think of it, that's probably why Kanna looks like a school-child. Makes sense.

Kanna lifts her mirror and the arrow arcs straight into it. Kagome flinches back from the burst of light resulting from the collision, but it quickly dies down, the mirror appearing out of the intense glare without the arrow anywhere to be seen. Kanna looks down at it blankly, while Shippou gapes in a trailing question about the missing arrow. Kagome, mouth also hanging open, works out that her arrow was actually swallowed by the mirror. Kanna just thinks that it couldn't be bounced back.

Regardless, the mirror's surface ripples as it chooses Kagome as a target, reflecting her image leaning in the dirt. An aura of energy surrounds Kagome and she looks uneasy at the stirring in her. The aura starts to be drawn toward the mirror, creating a wind that whips her hair as well, and Shippou reiterates in alarm how the rest of her soul is being sucked out due to her appearing in the mirror. Thanks for the reminder, Shippou, I'm sure Kagome is very appreciative of that description of the horrible thing that's happening to her, AS IT'S HAPPENING.

Kanna holds the mirror dutifully as Kagome's soul rushes into it. Shippou pulls Kagome's sleeve, urging her to run away, but she's not convinced that's necessary at this rate. She thinks that if the mirror could have taken in her whole soul, it would have already, so she stays hunkered down with a determined glare on her face. Probably couldn't have run anywhere either, even if it was the best course of action, to be fair.

At this point, Kanna is trembling as her mirror continues to be bombarded by more soul. Naraku asks if she's the one shaking the mirror like that, but Kanna turns her head to tell him that it's the other way around, and the mirror is no longer responding to her commands.

And you spent all that effort collecting them too.

Cut to Miroku, who is actually still fending off that hoard of soulless villagers. Oh yeah, that's a thing that was happening... I may not have been paying attention to him, but he was paying attention to what was going on behind him. Or maybe all the souls flying around is difficult not to notice, because he shouts about it as he whacks a weapon out of an old man's brittle hands. The souls jump every which way from the mirror, but a good hunk of that mass lands on Kagome, who flinches at its impact.

The rest of them head out toward all of the brainwashed villagers, and they look like they're trying to dodge their own selves, funnily enough. Kagome pushes herself into a sitting position with more strength this time, noting that her soul and those of the villagers have returned. She shouts at Miroku to use his Kazaana, and he rips the sealing beads from his right hand without question, warning Naraku that this is the end for him.

Shippou and Kagome lean forward, the latter wondering out loud if the bad guys were gotten. Unfortunately, as the final wisps of his miasma disappear into the air, Naraku says that Miroku was too late. And a stupid giggle, too. Miroku is stunned for a moment before re-wrapping his Kazaana, cursing Naraku for being so fast at escaping. It's like his one real talent, dude, you've got to hand it to the guy. He would have been long dead by now if he hadn't known when to fold 'em.

What he's NOT so great at is knowing when to shut his yap on a cool one-liner. No, he has to go above and beyond by projecting his voice over the bastards that he'd like to let know that he's leaving with their lives for now. Methinks thou dost protest too much. He also addresses Inuyasha specifically, bidding him not to forget...

I guess, but look on the bright side! It's in better shape than you! At least it's still in one piece.

For now.

The villagers all grumble, stumbling around and complaining about the feeling of a vacant head. You sure that's anything new? One guy asks what the hell they're doing there. Koharu wakes up too, leaning on her elbow to put a hand on her head. She wonders aloud what happened to her after she collapsed, then finds a crinkling piece of paper in her fist, one of Miroku's paper charms. As the rest of the villagers examine the trenches dug into the ground and speculate with alarm that they're claw marks of some giant monster, Koharu stares wordlessly around her, clutching the paper charm to her chest.

Don't get all hung up on Miroku, girl. Go find someone who gets to know you a bit first.

Among some rusting trees, our heroes have found yet ANOTHER disused hut sitting half-buried in a hill beside it to which they have retreated. Seems to be one to rest in every few feet or something. Inside, Kagome dabs at Inuyasha's face bloody face with a cloth as he lays sleeping. She leans over him, whispering his name in concern. Miroku advises from his seat behind her that Inuyasha shouldn't be moving around for a while with those bad injuries. Kagome makes an uncertain noise before turning to Sango and asking if her injuries are alright.

Sango is at least awake to answer, so that says leagues already. She assures Kagome that her wounds are "just about" okay, but she's more concerned if Kagome is sure that Naraku has collected most of the Shikon no Tama. Kagome and Miroku look on wordlessly, but they both remember Naraku's most chilling statement as he held out his significantly larger Shikon shard; Kikyou was the one who gave him the majority of it.

Kagome wonders WHY Kikyou would do such a thing, considering the shard has increased Naraku's powers a ton. It seems unthinkable that Kikyou wouldn't have known it would give Naraku an advantage, so Kagome is leaning toward the interpretation that Kikyou wasn't ignorant. From there, Kagome has to assume this means that Kikyou doesn't care if Inuyasha gets killed, while she looks down at the bloodied guy in her care. His eyes are open now, but he doesn't say anything, pondering Kikyou too.

It's Valentine's Day, friendo. She could have any number of reasons for wanting you murdered.

Inuyasha further wonders where she is now, which is a segue over the hills and through the woods, not to grandmother's house, but one outside which a few injured soldiers are hanging out. Their wounds have been bandaged and one of them is propped on a crutch.

Yup, that's the serene expression of a woman who is plotting the death of her ex-boyfriend.

Kikyou kneels next to a couple of men sitting on a mat, asking how they're faring. One of them identifies her as Kikyou, as if he has a possibly new audience to alert, and the other answers that they're feeling much better. She says she's glad to hear it, but then her smile drops and she looks around, distracted.

In the next panel, she's left her patients and headed down a cobbled path into the forest adjacent. When she's sufficiently concealed, she glares into the trees and asks whomever is there to come out, because she's known they were hanging around for a while now.

And now, she's wearing the annoyed face of a person who's sick of this idiot acting like he's dropping gossip in middle school.

"Herher, I heard from Amy who heard from Helen who heard from her cousin that Duncan doesn't LIKE you anymore..."

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I'm always delighted when Kagome gets to out-tough everybody and save the day. That being said, the reason she was able to do this is still a bit obscure. I've concluded this "large soul" deal must be a function of a reincarnation-based cosmology, which might go toward explaining why some people would have greater spiritual abilities than others, due to their multiple accumulations of experiences in the cycle. I could be totally wrong here, though, and I really have any evidence to back it up - I only know that Kagome is the reincarnation of another powerful priestess, and her power seems to have compounded. RT hasn't expounded upon how the cosmology in this world works, and I again must stress that the rules seem to fluctuate, due to the mythological structure of the content. Since this story reflects mythology and, yes, fairy tales in its construction, I'm willing to be a little forgiving on the inconsistencies. It's not meant to make all that much sense, in my opinion, since it relies just a little on the dreamlike quality of the setting and character archetypes.

Whether my interpretation is correct or even really fits is beside the point. I feel a little saddened by Kagome's hold-out here, because of how little of it was in her control. The last time she stood up to Naraku, she was in full badass mode and blew him away. In this instance, she just had to withstand the storm with an advantage that wasn't accumulated or earned, but innate. Maybe this was the point - the survival wasn't earned with skill, but stolen with a birthright the villain didn't anticipate, and only when no one could really fight. It's obviously not supposed to feel like much but a function of fortune, and perhaps rock-bottom has been found. I mean, if the only reason you're alive is because your friend's soul was too big for a magic mirror's stomach, your skill and strategy may be severely lacking.

Not that skill and strategy can overcome Kikyou's giant middle finger to Inuyasha and co, though. Granted, I don't think it's a DIRECT middle finger, since her ultimate goal appears to be, as I mentioned, to restore a warped sense of balance in the world. The jewel is SUPPOSED to be whole and/or gone from the world, she AND Inuyasha are meant to be dead in her view, and Naraku is SUPPOSED to be stuck in immobile obscurity in his half-actualized state.

Funny thing about "supposed to be" though, is that it can never actually "be" because it's always in the past. And unless you're Kagome... WELL, I'm guessing that's another reason altogether for Kikyou to be jealous of her reincarnation.