The translation for this chapter I'm using is actually titled "Half-Youkai's Secret", but RT's word for half-youkai is shorter, and I'm lazy. Also, I'm always a fan of made-up language in a story and try to use it as often as possible, because it's the most basic of intrinsic lore. Part of what helps a fantasy world feel more real, at least to me, is the addition of its own terminology for various concepts that are unique to it. It gives the setting more depth with the implication that special features of it get their own name and significance.
It also kind of makes you feel like you're speaking in code when you're discussing this sort of content with people who aren't actually familiar with it, so that's a little bit of a downside. Or another upside, depending on how much of an incomprehensible weirdo you like to sound like. You do you, I'm not here to judge.
Looks like there might be some HEAVY judgment going on here, though. Or maybe just a little assessment of senses. From his perch on Kagome's shoulder, Shippou sardonically asks if Inuyasha managed to reveal his human form to Kagura, and Kagome stutters that it certainly looks exactly like that. Indeed, Kagura is almost certain that Inuyasha looked a bit human for a moment.
Kouga glares up at Inuyasha's jerk back, blurting that Inuyasha must be some kind of moron showing up looking like he did. Miroku still supports him from behind, and reminds Kouga that he'd have been run through by Kagura's tornado if Inuyasha had been any slower. Kouga thinks it's amusing that Inuyasha burst onto the scene willing to reveal his vulnerable secret in order to save him. He looks like the OPPOSITE of amused, if you ask me, but I'm not sure if it's physically possible to reverse his grimace of pain in this situation, so fair.
Kagura recalls that the night before was the new moon, and accuses him of losing his youkai powers every dark moon right to his face. His expression is pricelessly unimpressed. A regular Sherlock Holmes, Kagura is. *eyeroll*
Oooh, Kagura caught on to the hero's flaw, but it doesn't look like she's deduced that he's got the protagonist armor in this story yet. Shame; she could have saved herself the trouble.
As Kagura releases her multiple sharpened tornadoes at Inuyasha, he swings down Tessaiga, yelling out his now automated Kaze no Kizu.
Maybe it's less a protagonist armor and more a protagonist assault weapon.
Shippou exclaims with utter shock that Kaze no Kizu is forcing back Kagura's wind as he clings to a stuttering Kagome's shirt. Evidently RT doesn't trust us to figure out this much for ourselves, as usual. While the extremely slow explosive power of Tessaiga advances toward her, Kagura thinks Inuyasha's attack seems different than before. She's also convinced she can't dodge it, and she's done for.
Still flying around on Kirara, Sango notes the youkai, and Inuyasha stares at the falling chunks of them littering the ground, filling the giant gashes Kaze no Kizu created. Miroku states plainly that they served as Kagura's shield, while Kouga keeps sitting speechless on the ground. When the dust, and youkai gore, settles, Kagura is no longer standing on the other side of them. Inuyasha gripes that she escaped.
He then turns to bark over his shoulder at Kouga to learn from this and never get in the middle of his fight with Naraku again. Or, he gets most of the way through this lecture before he notices that Kouga has slipped past him to dig through the remains of the youkai horde. Kouga triumphantly declares that he's found the Shikon fragments, pulling them out of the monster guts. Without questioning how Kouga managed to find them without Kagome's sight in the sludge of battle, Inuyasha immediately calls him a bastard in protest and lunges to claw at him. Kouga leaps away, called a bastard yet again, but he insists that NO ONE would give those shards to Inuyasha as he inserts them into his calves once more. He tells Inuyasha not to forget that Naraku is his friends' nemesis, and with the sweet youkai steroids enhances his performance, starts running off, shouting over his shoulder that he's going to get Naraku's head before Inuyasha, who should remember THAT too.
Kagome bids Kouga wait, citing Inuyasha as the reason, asking that he not tell anyone what he saw the night before. Kouga scoffs, says he doesn't give a damn what ol' Dog Turd looks like, and kicks up a whirlwind of dust while fucking off. Just think, he could have combated Kagura's death-tornadoes by just running away from the beginning.
The grounded majority of Inuyasha and company stare after him, Shippou supposing Kouga won't tell through a gape. Miroku asserts with confidence that Kouga will be okay, and it's KAGURA they need to worry about.
I think Kagura's worried about herself too. Too much to pay much mind to Inuyasha's state of appearance at the moment.
She sees Kanna heading across the T-intersection at the other end of the hall, and inexplicably decides to follow her sneakily. No wondering what Kanna is up to or anything, just... following her like she's about to yell boo. Kagura tails Kanna quietly down a flight of stairs, where she stops at a trapdoor on the floor. Kagura drops the sneaking biz and kneels in front of Kanna to examine the trapdoor, seemingly surprised that there appears to be another room beneath the dungeon in the basement.
Kagura opens up the trapdoor to peer down the ladder below, and a tendril immediately snakes up through the door and around her neck, pulling her down. She lands in a wince-inducing face-plant on the floor below, and groans when she lifts her head. Surprised her neck isn't broken after that, honestly. Her eyes widen at a question coming from the shadows in the room about if she had fun on the outside of the castle.
Kagura has a stomach of steel, because I don't know if I could see that in person and not regurgitate my lunch. She does gape in horror at the eldritch-looking monster disassembled in front of her, though, in disbelief that it's Naraku. She looks down at the body parts among which she kneels, concluding that they are the youkai that make up Naraku's body, meaning that Naraku is a hanyou much like Inuyasha.
The tentacles and limbs suddenly tighten around her limbs and lift her up like a puppet to meet Naraku on his level.
She winces and looks away, promising to never act independently again. After a pause, the slimy Naraku tells her she won't get a second chance. Meanwhile, Kagura is convinced now more than ever that she won't be able to get away from Naraku without help. She thinks on Inuyasha, and resolves to let that bastard live just a little longer.
Elsewhere, Miroku sighs that it's going to be difficult from now on, unless he and Sango work extra hard. First of all, working harder sounds like it's still going to be difficult, depending on what the work is. Second of all, what work are Miroku and Sango going to be amping up the effort on? There's not really an answer, just Inuyasha scoffing and telling them they worry too much. He lolls his head to look over his shoulder and bets that he'll be the one to finish things in the end.
Assuming he means the destruction of Naraku here, but that still doesn't give us much to go on regarding the work Miroku and Sango have to do. I'm VERY confused.
Annoyed, Sango starts a retort, but Kagome assures her that this is just the way Inuyasha talks. Incomprehensibly?
Abundant trust for someone he has no reason to believe won't rat him out to her master yet isn't exactly a great thing, Kagome.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I've gotta hand it to RT, having the first time Inuyasha uses his automatic, no strategy required Kaze no Kizu be against Kagura was pretty fitting. Her powers over the wind was what really challenged Inuyasha in his use of Tessaiga earlier in the manga, so showing Kagura almost get mowed down by the attack she could easily counter before by her control over the wind before drives home the massive change in Inuyasha's level of sway over fights in general now. It still doesn't feel EARNED, but at least it feels REAL now. Like a tangible, measurable change.
I'm more interested in the visual at the end, though, because we haven't seen anything like it in a good while now. Naraku's countless limbs lifting Kagura right to his face said so much with no dialog. How he towered over her and the bulk of his parts were spread out through the room suggested a far reach, a wide range of influence. How Kagura is hung from tendrils, tied in them like she's a puppet. How Naraku masterfully uses his WEAKEST moment to appear ultra intimidating. The scene communicates so well the level of Kagura's subordination, because even when Naraku is sitting in a mess of his own disjointed organs and bile, he's still got a tight grip on Kagura and is still many times more powerful than her.
And her rejection of Sesshoumaru's suggestion that she be prepared to go it alone in fighting for her freedom is completely understandable as a result. No offense to Mr. OneManRevolution over there, but he doesn't have a CLUE what it's like living and dying at Naraku's whim, and probably still wouldn't if he had borne witness to Naraku terrorizing Kagura like the audience just did. He's still a work in compassionate progress, but while it's true that he has no obligation to help her, it's also true that the job is a bit more than she alone can handle, so she IS going to need some help from someone at some point.
We'll check back in with him later to see if he's up for the task.
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