Inuyasha Manga: 178 Kohaku's Memory

If it's of his own name and other important personal details, he has none at all. If it's of handling a dangerous blade on the end of chain in flippant circus-clownish ways, he has ALL OF THE MEMORY. Amnesia seems to be extremely selective in that way - blocking out the information closest to one's identity and leaving alone weird skills. I guess one could argue that muscle memory is a bit different than ACTUAL memory, and that I don't KNOW for sure that swinging around a sickle and chain isn't a bit like riding a bike...

... I'm just saying that, for the purpose of a story, it might be interesting to see that amnesia scene play out a little in the opposite way from time to time.

The weird bug dude doesn't seem to care that the cavalry has arrived, and giggles, bidding Kohaku die as his tongue lashes out at the boy like a frog's. Kohaku has to leap out of the aggressive lick before it smashes apart the ground where he once stood. While he's ducking and dodging every which way, Kagome gapes at the shining pinprick of light from his back, and states that the weird bug man is trying to steal Kohaku's Shikon shard. Noooooo, you don't saaaaaaaay. Got anything else to add to the scene, Captain Obvious?

Except, I guess Sango hadn't picked up on that particularly plain bit of information yet, because she responds with bristling disbelief. The knowledge that Kohaku's life is tied to the Shikon fragment, and he'll die if it's taken out, puts her in a panic. The badass kind of panic.

The kind of panic that puts you in hyper-defense mode.

Kohaku sits there in stunned speechlessness, watching the chunks of youkai fall to the ground. He follows the path of Sango's giant boomerang with his eyes, to see Sango catch it like a fucking BOSS. Her hard expression softens significantly when she looks down at him and says his name, but she can't help but recall that he was being controlled by Naraku the last time she saw him. He guarded the evil fucker with his own body and extermination skills. She's aware that Kohaku should have been at Naraku's castle, and trails a question about why he's here.

After all, packing away a little boy should be SO much easier than a castle.

Awkward sauce.

And the initial awkwardness transitions into one of those empty huts that seem to be in such high supply in the fantasy feudal era. Seriously, you'd think there was some sort of weird housing bubble expanding in which the average villager can't afford the inflated prices of the average domicile and so they just sit empty. Capitalism isn't a thing yet, though, so I don't know how that could be. Unless...

This is Naraku's most insidious plan yet. The long game. The plot that no one even noticed. He's invented REAL ESTATE.

Anyhow, Kagome sits in front of her backpack, unpacking her first aid supplies, while Sango demands to see her amnesiac brother's wounded arm to wrap a bandage around it. It's kind of a tense atmosphere. Kohaku chances an exploratory noise, and when Sango responds encouragingly, he asks if they've met before. Instead of allowing Sango to answer, Kagome asks him in turn if he really remembers nothing of running away from the castle earlier. A little like the butting-into-the-reuniting-of-estranged-siblings form of a cock-block.

No. Forget I said that. It just reads poorly.

Kohaku apologizes for not remembering, and Sango asks if he's forgotten about Naraku too. He squints at the floor, considering the name, and that memory of being told by the featureless man that there's no need for him to live so he should join his father and fellow exterminators crops back up again. Kohaku speculates that this might be Naraku. He's super good at this series.

Despite Miroku's natural suspicion, though, he can't help but compare the mindless puppet-like Kohaku with his soul taken out before with the different one now. Maybe the acting involved in going from A to B seems a liiiiiiittle too complicated for a kid like him to pull off. Kagome hesitantly steps onto the scene, looking over her shoulder, while Shippou clings to it and wonders out loud if it's okay to leave Sango and Kohaku alone. Kagome says that Sango DID want it that way, though it's obvious that she has her doubts about how good an idea it is. Both Miroku and Inuyasha cast apprehensive looks over their shoulders at her too. They are all getting the distinct feeling that this whole thing is a bit fucky.

Inside the building, Sango and Kohaku sit side-by-side, the latter looking over at the former curiously as she stares into space in front of her. Kohaku is asking about this exterminator village she must have mentioned, and she wistfully says that's where they used to live. Kohaku just HAS to follow up this answer with a request for confirmation that he ALSO exterminated youkai and such. Kid, you have extremely specific skills that can be translated into exactly ONE other use than wood-cutting tricks. You do the math.

But Sango designates him as but an apprentice, recalling that the cursed night they went to Naraku's castle was Kohaku's very first time out with the pros. That leads to the painful memory of her father getting stuck in the neck with Kohaku's chain-sickle, when Kohaku's mind was controlled by Naraku, as well as the knowledge that he killed all the other exterminators that night too.

She's broken out of her dark reminiscence when Kohaku requests that she tell him everything she knows. Very politely. She looks at him, stunned, as he picks up small-form Kirara and sighs, admitting he feels a bit helpless and asking how he ended up here. This puts the ghost of a smile on Sango's lips, because he sounds like the old Kohaku, timid and quiet.

Oh, DOUBLE awkward sauce. I guess my note on the nature of Kagome's "cock-block" being a particularly non-sexual kind was entirely warranted. Because Kohaku's a little pervert. Sango is far too preoccupied to give the little gag much thought, though, thinking that Kohaku has come back and escaped Naraku's clutches. At least, she realizes this is what she WANTS to believe.

Outside, Inuyasha suggests that giving Kohaku two or three fists to his noggin might bring out his true character, but I think he's just really eager to hit somebody. Kagome begins to reprimand him for this, and Miroku says he doubts it would be so simple to expose a deception. According to Sango's point of view, whether it's a trap or not, Sango's brother has appeared to returned as the person he once was. Kagome hangs her head and agrees that if this IS a trap, it'll DEVASTATE Sango, which Miroku points out is what Naraku lives for - toying with the emotions of others.

Inuyasha swivels his head to cast a glare in another direction, nose twitching. He stands, stating that a mysterious swarm is coming, a dark cloud that can be seen off the slope of a nearby hill.

The saimyoushou were just the scouts. Now they've brought in the troops, mother fucker.

Inuyasha identifies the giant wasps and Miroku calls them agents of Naraku, as if it was necessary or something. We all remember them, dudes, no need to give us a refresher course. From the dense pack of youkai comes a crescent-shaped gust of wind that Inuyasha has to sweep Kagome away from, and Miroku has to dodge a little as well before it carves into the ground under them.

Well it sure as hell wasn't going to be wallflower Kanna or Naraku himself!

Kagura seems super annoyed when she looks past Inuyasha and company altogether to call at the hut to Kohaku, asking a rhetorical question about if he's in there and then demanding he come out. When Inuyasha makes a noise of disbelief, Kagura mistakes it for stupidity and tells him not to play dumb. She refers to Kohaku as the kid Naraku "raised", which has some... implications. Naraku must be the absolute WORST father substitute.

Kagura explains that in the confusion (of what she doesn't specify), Kohaku ran off, escaping with the Shikon shard in his back. The audacity! Sango and Kohaku kneel by the door, peeking through a crack in it and listening in on Kagura's exposition. With an exasperated expression, Inuyasha asks if Kagura has come to take him back, but Kagura smiles, saying that the only thing Naraku wants her to retrieve is the Shikon fragment. She claims that Naraku would grant Sango her brother's corpse, though. I don't know, sounds a little too considerate for Naraku.

Inuyasha and Kagome glare at her and Miroku calls her and her minions bastards. Meanwhile, Kohaku gathers his sickle and chain, Sango looking back at him in alarm. He says he's the one they're after, heading for the door with the intention of going out alone. Before he can open the door, Sango grabs him by the shoulders, ordering him not to leave again with a somewhat desperate look. He's her only brother. Kohaku stares speechlessly.

How ambiguous. I hope you're compensating him for this garbage. Although, if Naraku IS claiming a fatherly role for the boy, he might just assert a father's privilege and demand labor out of his kid without having to pay him. It seems like the kind of shit he'd pull.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? That this was a plot orchestrated by Naraku was a certainty, and RT knew it, so there was no point in trying to convince the reader it wasn't. I'm glad she put more of her effort into showing the degrees of suspicion that each character had over Kohaku instead, because he can't be wholly accepted OR rejected within the fold. There's always a chance that he's performing to Naraku's ends, but there's a chance he's sincere too, and the odds seem a lot different to different people. Inuyasha obviously thinks there's a much higher chance Kohaku is acting because he's only ever seen Kohaku in the context of working under Naraku, mindless puppet or not.

Sango on the other hand is more inclined to view the chance of Kohaku being genuine as better, because she KNOWS this kid. She knew him all his life. It's likely why she wanted to be alone with Kohaku to begin with - she was vetting him, examining his behavior, and finding that he was a whole hell of a lot more like the Kohaku she knew before the tragedy than the mindless puppet that was doing Naraku's bidding the last time she saw him. But she's no fool, which is why she can never be 100%  sure. There's always a chance that her interpretation is wishful thinking.

This is complex, no one here is framed as "stupid" for their suspicions, or for their comparative LACK of suspicion. Every character's reaction is understandable, and in addition, there's a lot of sympathy for Sango in her position. They all know, no matter what, that she WILL want to believe that Kohaku is for real. Even her. It's the smallest hope that keeps her hanging on. That they're aware and supportive of this (some more than others) is another reason why these guys make such a cool, cohesive team, even when they disagree. The collaboration process shown here between Inuyasha and Miroku is a solid example of how great these characters mesh under psychological strain as well as physical.

The ending panels above were the only real downside, because they were a tad ham-handed. The wink-and-nod implication that Kohaku is being purposefully deceitful almost gives away the game that he's NOT, so kind of had the opposite effect there. Maybe should have kept your elbows to yourself, RT.