Kagome cringes back from the oncoming blur that Kageroumaru has become, Shippou clinging to her arm in weepy terror, while Inuyasha remains limp against the tree stump behind her. Kouga makes a lunge for her, uttering a classic "oh no you don't", but he has to leap off course when Juuroumaru swipes at him from the side. Kageroumaru laughs that Kouga won't make it, smirking over his shoulder at him. Kagome squeezes her eyes shut against the anticipated pain. There's a splatter of blood.
Kageroumaru is in disbelief as the end of his scythe-arm is sliced clean off. Kagome says Inuyasha's name in breathless relief, but he's a bit too busy to respond, swinging his sword down again in a rage at the bastard who threatened to eat her. The whole ground beneath him is shattered into a million pieces by the force of his blow. Sango and Miroku are in awe of this, the former noting that he's wielding Tessaiga with one hand now, and the latter wondering if the sword has gotten lighter for him. They both seem to lean toward the explanation that the blood's gone to his head and he's forgotten the weight, because he's an idiot. I guess they've never heard of the sudden super strength people sometimes get when lifting heavy objects off their loved ones. It's probably not a choice subject for youkai to gossip about.
Upon landing on the ruined ground, Inuyasha glares out of his periphery at Sango and Miroku, asking who they're calling an idiot. Miroku appears quite surprised that he heard them, what with the deafening sound of Tessaiga tilling the soil and everything. Inuyasha shifts his anger to the ground he broke, complaining that Kageroumaru ran away into it yet again. When Kagome latches onto his shoulder, he asks if she's alright, but she says he should be looking over his own grievous injuries instead, since he's covered in blood.
As he's dodging more relentless blows from Juuroumaru, Kouga takes a moment to acknowledge, with disdain, that the Dog-Turd is in fact still alive. Kagome tells Inuyasha that Kouga has had his leg injured, and Inuyasha's response, with Tessaiga slung over his shoulder, is that Kouga isn't any use at all. Says the guy who is constantly getting a new hole ripped in his stomach. By his own admission. Kagome asks with a hand raised her mouth in concern if Inuyasha will be okay, and begs him to be careful. He barks back at her that she should know how tough he is, and not to lump him in with the Wimpy Wolf.
Kouga bristles at how annoying Inuyasha is, still dodging Juuroumaru's blows like a pro. Damn, boy has an attention-span three miles long. He even successfully jumps straight in the air so Juuroumaru's hand goes beneath him and chops down another tree behind him instead. Inuyasha still thinks he can do one better, and shouts at Kouga to get out of the way so he can rip Juuroumaru apart as he starts to run for the fray. The run ends pretty much immediately when Tessaiga's weight pulls him backward and the point sticks in the ground at his heel, bending him awkwardly the wrong way.
Sango asks if Tessaiga got heavy again, but Miroku attributes the sudden lightness to Inuyasha's whole-hearted desire to protect Kagome in the moment it mattered most, and know his super-strength has been sapped. Oh, Miroku HAS heard of those stories! Kouga, on the other hand, thinks it's cowardice that keeps Inuyasha rooted to the ground, and says so as he leaps to the side again. Inuyasha starts out flustered, but tells Kouga to shut up and puts the extra effort into forcing he and his sword forward, claiming he'll slice both Juuroumaru and Kouga together.
Juuroumaru lands a short distance away from the two convenient allies. Inuyasha refuses to thank Kouga, even though Kouga is demanding that he be thanked. The usual bullshit. Juuroumaru looks unimpressed as he sits and stares blankly at them. Inuyasha is a little unnerved by how listless Juuroumaru is even though Kouga kicked him.
Sango is convinced that even Inuyasha's body will give out if the battle continues much longer, which Miroku says is due to their inability to predict from where Kageroumaru will strike in the wide expanse of ground. This gives Sango an epiphany - if Kageroumaru can be prevented from going underground, they've got a shot at ending this thing. She asks Miroku for his staff while she lifts one of her shoulder adornments to reveal an honest-to-goodness clam shell stashed underneath. Miroku assumes she has a plan for it, obviously, and she explains as she dips the end of the staff into a sort of gooey paste inside the shell. It's a poison that she says won't last a long time, but at least it'll get Kageroumaru out of the ground.
She throws the staff like a javelin, angled toward the ground and it spears the earth. Kagome and Shippou notice this, the latter stating that a red spot is spreading from the point of the staff's point of piercing.
Kouga zooms up into the tree too, spitting Kageroumaru's name threateningly, and Kageroumaru flees from the tree, casting a nervous glance at Kouga behind him. The moment of distraction causes him some surprise when he finds Inuyasha is waiting for him on the ground, sword at the ready, and vowing he's not going to get away.
Inuyasha collapses face-first into the ground, to which he's accustomed by the point, considering how often he's sat. Kouga on the other hand manages a little more dignity in his landing, on both feet, fists clenched, and asking what the stupid jerk Dog-Turd over there thought he was doing. Inuyasha groans in response as his pushes himself out of the ground, and Kouga hums in question, then starts to lecture Inuyasha on how careless he is to be dying at THIS point.
Kagome runs up from behind Kouga, yelling Inuyasha's name, which appears to confuse him at first. Then he assures Kagome she can take it easy; he's got this threat all wrapped up on his own. Yeah, not likely. Inuyasha glares up at Kouga with an affronted look. Careful, kid, for how often you're wearing that expression, your face will get stuck that way. Kouga's already turned to Juuroumaru, though, planning out loud to deal with the dumb one now that Danny DeVito isn't around to meddle.
This gets Inuyasha thinking with worry that he doesn't sense Kageroumaru anymore.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Sango coming to the rescue with a creative move involving Miroku's staff was a great way to get the two characters involved again where it was becoming awfully conspicuous how absent they were from the fight. With Kageroumaru and Juuroumaru so free to pick their targets over the past few chapters, I really was starting to wonder why they weren't more involved. Other than the obvious answer that writing more random ambushes on the sidelines would have just dragged on this little arc further than it needed to go, of course. Involving Sango and Miroku in a more active role, even if it was a very small one, helped to tie them realistically back into the action instead of just gaping about.
I got enough of that from Kagome and Shippou, thank you. The latter I can understand, but Miss Kagome had a fairly reliable weapon that I'm a little miffed she's never tried to use this whole fight. What happened to the bow? Because I don't think I've seen it this whole time. At the beginning of the arc, it's clearly visible along with arrows and her big backpack, but all of those seem to have disappeared for no reason. And with their disappearance, our main female character, normally badass, has been reduced to a cringing waif.
At least the other one got a little boost. It was fun learning more about the little things Sango has at her disposal that are more covert weapons. We got a taste of this before, but Sango's other youkai extermination tools are a big part of her cool-factor, and she seems more and more like a movie spy the more she pulls out of her skin-tight black outfit to save the day, as well as how she uses it in novel ways.
I don't know if I buy a poison so thick and gooey would spread through the ground like it did, but that's just a tiny nit. Nothing to see here.
I'm more concerned about whether Kouga is going to forget another part of his character at the beginning of the next chapter. Kouga is the one with the superb intuition, so Inuyasha shouldn't be quicker than him to point out an obscure danger. I hope we haven't ignored yet another of Kouga's key characteristics again. Once an arc is already too much.
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