Inuyasha Manga: 153 Kikyou's Real Intention

Trust her, It's not what it looks like! Haven't heard THAT one from people who have stalked and attempted to murder exes and their new lovers before. I'm sure she has a VERY good explanation as to what she thought giving Naraku a powerful object she stole off Kagome would mean for Inuyasha. I'm sure she could explain why handing Naraku the means to develop a more effective way of killing the guy he spends ALL HIS TIME trying to kill would not ultimately end in that guy getting close to if not outright killed.

I eagerly await the amount of ducking and weaving this is going to take to make Kikyou look even marginally better for it - no sarcasm tag required.

Though I have said before that Kikyou's feelings seem to be a bit more complicated than outright hate...

Yes. The answer is yes. For all functional intents and purposes, YES.

Also, the person who's calling Inuyasha's name in the last panel there is actually Shippou, who has to do it again in order for Inuyasha to open his eyes in alarm. Shippou suggests to him that he was having a bad nightmare, but I wonder if Inuyasha could really have been ASLEEP with so much internal screaming clouding his cortex. I mean, I lay awake at night pondering the horrors of wording innocuous questions to my landlord, so I assume that anything more than a waking hallucination is beyond him at this point. But that's just me.

Shippou asks Inuyasha if his wounds hurt, but Inuyasha doesn't answer. He looks over at Sango lying on her side on the other side of the small room silently, then asks Shippou where Kagome is. Shippou says that Kagome and Miroku went looking nearby for food and medicinal herbs, twisting to also look on the (genuinely) sleeping Sango. The reason she hasn't gone too is because she also has to heal; Shippou says Sango's trying to look tough, but she was whacked by Hiraikotsu after all.

Outside, Shippou holds a bucket up to the trickle of a stream out of the side of the hill engulfing the side of the house. Man, this place even has a TAP. Why is it abandoned? Man, I would KILL for a place like that if I were in a technologically desolate time per - Oh. Never mind.  Sighing, Shippou questions just what is going to happen now. What a narratively-appropriate inquiry. I don't know, why don't you ask those Shinidamachuu weaving around in the air behind you, kid?

Man, I absolutely thought a tiny child would have been able to look after and take care of our incapacitated hero who is also wanted dead by at most other characters. This is so unexpected!

Alarmed by the appearance of the flying snake-things, Inuyasha wonders if this means Kikyou is around. By the next panel, he's come to the obvious conclusion, because he begins to roll off his straw bed with a fair amount of effort. Still not as incapacitated as I thought he was, though. Using his Tessaiga in its sheath as a crutch, he half-crawls from the hut, passing an irate Shippou shouting his name because the little guy can't do much else with a couple of Shinidamachuu wound tightly around him like that.

Inuyasha doesn't pay any attention to Shippou, however, all of his concentration going toward the effort it's taking him to follow the rest of the Shinidamachuu. His head is only with Kikyou, even as Shippou yells that he shouldn't go. Kid should know this guy has a one-track mind.

Yikes. Is seeing the very person who's responsible for your fucked condition even worth it? Talk about bearing your crosses...

As Inuyasha lays with his eyes squeezed shut, energy spent, footsteps approach him. Kikyou's form appears out of the surrounding forest, surrounded by her twisting Shinidamachuu. She kneels next to him, softly saying his name, and his eyes open in response. His slightly dazed look doesn't last long, turning into a concentrated glare as he begins to prop himself on his elbows and growls Kikyou's name in return. She comments blandly that he's still alive. Yeah, BARELY.

Then...

.... Glad enough to cradle his head in a manner that can easily snap his neck if she was so inclined. Good thing she's NOT!

Inuyasha growls, surprised look overtaken by a new glare. He manages to sit up quickly enough (don't know HOW, but...) to push her away from him, holding her shoulders at arm's length, demanding to know what the fuck she thinks she's playing at. He asks if she really gave Naraku the Shikon fragment. She doesn't hesitate to confirm that she did, claiming that it'll help finish the villain off.

Understandably, Inuyasha wears an incredulous look at this. He asks what she means, because as far as he's been able to see, her gift increased Naraku's powers, to the point he's been able to create NEW youkai from his body. A good point, but the counter to it is delayed as we pan to see that Kagura is surreptitiously leans against a nearby tree, eavesdropping on the conversation. Apparently, the fact that Inuyasha and Kikyou share a relationship is news to her. The only thing Naraku told her is to follow Kikyou, the crafty woman she is, and find out her real intentions. Kudos to him referencing the title here.

Back to Inuyasha, who suggests that Kikyou gave the shard to Naraku because she wanted him dead. Phrased as a question, though, it's given a somewhat hopeful note, and gives Kikyou an opening to start denying. She insists that she won't give Inuyasha's life to the likes of Naraku, as though she has any control of how Naraku uses that fucking NUKE she gave him. She then starts lecturing Inuyasha on how he shouldn't forget Naraku is the hated enemy of the both of them. He DIDN'T forget! Did YOU???

Kagura peeks around her tree at the two, internally scoffing about how boring it is just watching Kikyou's movements. She taps her chin with the tip of her fan, pondering how Inuyasha is on the edge of death and hasn't noticed her scent. She flicks it open with the intent of getting them both with one strike. But that fan is loud in the quiet woods, and Kikyou picks up the sound, grabbing the bow from her side. She stands and nocks an arrow in one swift motion.

Was the woman who is supposed to be the fucking WIND slower at flicking her wrist than someone who had to stand, turn around and draw a bow? Weak shit, Kagura. Weak shit.

Inuyasha sits there stunned and confused by Kagura's presence and what's going on in general. Kikyou has already nocked another arrow, and says that she's aiming for Kagura's head this time. Kagura doesn't waste time now, cursing as she pulls a feather from her hair. Her flight causes a massive updraft on Kikyou and Inuyasha, but Kikyou keeps that arrow trained on Kagura. Girl isn't fucking around.

Presumably, when Kagura has disappeared, Kikyou's expression relaxes, and she offhandedly comments on Kagura's escape. Since Kikyou didn't actually SAY anything for Kagura to communicate back to Naraku, I can see why she's so relaxed about letting the little spy get away. She's back to glaring when she addresses Inuyasha, though, but it's straight ahead as he stares up at her back. Kikyou warns Inuyasha that Naraku's powers will continue to increase from this point, and that he should avoid dying until she can remove Naraku AND the Shikon no Tama from this world.

Inuyasha frowns at her, failing to ask HOW she plans to do this, and why she has to assist Naraku in getting stronger at all. So, not obligated to give an actual explanation, she lowers her hand to him.

"Okay, I'm not willing to give away your life, so that's why YOU'RE responsible for making sure my empowering of your mortal enemy doesn't kill you. Make sense?"

And with this gesture of creepy possessiveness, Kikyou turns and walks back off into the woods, leaving Inuyasha kneeling there staring after her. Still injured, still weak, and now out in the open where he could get ambushed by any number of enemies, including Kagura, who could still be hovering around the area waiting for her to bugger off. Kikyou may not be willing to GIVE AWAY Inuyasha's life, but she sure as hell likes to just walk off and abandon it like a brand new camera in a Las Vegas bathroom.

And yet, Inuyasha wears a softened look as he ponders her name. Not a loving one, by any means, but one that isn't filled with confusion and rage like it should be.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Well, we certainly got Kikyou's intentions, the barest minimum. The problem isn't just that without the reasoning behind them, neither Inuyasha nor the audience can actually determine whether they are genuine or not. That alone presents a host of problems, from the fact that her tight-lipped refusal to explain herself should have raised at least 500 red flags for Inuyasha, to the possibility that RT is maybe buying time to actually think of a legitimate reason why making Naraku more powerful would eventually lead to his downfall. Kikyou might also have to, as a character, maintain a certain level of mystique and mysteriousness, in order to continue surprising the audience with seemingly cruel acts of antagonism.

All that aside, Kikyou's tone throughout this whole conversation is infuriating. She's so condescending and insulting, talking to Inuyasha like he needs to be REMINDED that the guy who almost obliterated him is an enemy. DUH. But she obviously knows this, and she's counting on him feeling some guilt and shame for questioning her relationship to Naraku and why she gave him the shard. Her demeanor comes across as one that suggests SHE'S insulted by Inuyasha questioning her motives for her actions, and thereby he should be ashamed for not assuming the best intentions from her, given that they both had to endure that horrible deception from Naraku. It appears that Kikyou is relying on Inuyasha clinging to their shared experience being tricked by Naraku, given that it's the only thing they really have in common anymore.

This is especially reflected in how her patronizing attitude takes on a possessive note in the end. She's reminding him here of their fundamental connection and the emotion leading up to that moment. Again, she is stuck there because she's technically dead. This prevents her from just moving on with her life like Inuyasha is, because she doesn't have a life to move on with. All she can do is try to imitate that state of being she had before the moment of her death, because the effect of time changing and evolving people just doesn't work for her. She expects Inuyasha to be this way as well, whether this is just the natural perspective of someone who can no longer experience the march of time, she considers him in the same boat as he was resurrected from her pinning him to a tree (a killing blow for any MORTAL), or because he was such a fixture in the moment she's stuck in that she can't build an accurate representation of her lost life without him. 

Speaking of Kikyou's possessiveness, I find it pretty interesting for a female character to be expressing this trait on a male character. Usually it's the other way around, so it's a fascinating role reversal. Kikyou had to do this in a uniquely feminine way, as opposed to the traditionally masculine bravado attached to claiming their lover, and I think RT really pulled it off.

She also really pulled off that pose with Kikyou cradling Inuyasha's head. I'll be honest here: I'm strangely fascinated by that panel. It'll pop up in my head as the STANDARD by which I judge art that depicts two characters in an embrace or otherwise intimate pose, kind of a measuring stick that I can figure out if something is better or worse than what I've come to think is a very fluid-looking stationary picture. Despite the fact that it's not depicting action, it's very good at showing the characters in motion in the little ways, like how Inuyasha's hands are searching to balance the pull of his head into Kikyou's lap.

Also, it's just a unique-looking embrace that feels somewhat natural. It's just a very specific example of how RT is really good at drawing characters in interaction so they don't look stiff or penciled into the arms of someone else. The figures aren't independent, but entwined. It's all very pretty.

Still, Kikyou does look like she could snap Inuyasha's neck here. I guess that's why we should trust her? Because she doesn't?