Here's hoping a girl's heart isn't palpitating something fierce like a woman's right now. It's like all the anxiety of the past 10 months has fused into the second biggest knot in my stomach that I've ever experienced, my whole abdomen twisting and writhing in agony. The only thing that surpasses the sheer mental anguish was the bout of separation anxiety I had when my husband was miles away from me in A School, which led to me starting this blog in the first place just to get out of my own head for a few hours every day. Having my husband here with me during THIS ordeal makes it significantly better, but I'm still biting my nails, afraid to venture too far into the depths of social media. I don't want to see discouraging content, to be sure, but what I'm really afraid of is HOPEFUL content. That's the stuff that really kills.
It's like she's the year 2020 personified.
Sango rushes through the fog praying that Miroku stays safe until she gets there. The mansion emerges out of the clouds of mist, so I guess Sango was just running in a random direction and happen to stumble across it? Did the (old)men point her in the right direction? Seems plausible, we'll just go with that.
This is the scene that Sango runs in on, which must have taken her a while to find in such a big house. Either that or the (old)men gave Sango very SPECIFIC directions indeed. She recoils from the sight of Miroku's lips descend upon the princess's, mumbling at her as he does so. Multiple veins pop on Sango's head while she stutters in apoplectic rage. When she stops tripping over her tongue, she yells at the lecherous Miroku to wake up, swinging her Hiraikotsu back for a forceful throw.
The princess's already open eye bulges at the sound of a female voice, and with a rustle, her hair turns white, nose lengthening into a muzzle.
The transformation was so fast, there wasn't even time for her outfit to rip. It just got bigger with her.
Sango realizes the giant bitch can't see her, just before Miroku shouts at her to wait. Bewildered, Sango asks if he didn't fall under the youkai's spell, seeing him crouched on the floor ahead, neither in a stupefied state nor exceedingly old. Miroku tells her to be quiet, so the youkai won't know where she is. Definitely NOT because he's a bit of a chauvinist who's annoyed with her bursting in on him while he's getting busy. Sango lifts her wrist to eye level to examine the bracelet Miroku had given her earlier, coming to the conclusion that her invisibility must be from its power. So it is now established that Miroku walks around with bracelets that can make one invisible to youkai, and I have SO MANY more questions that I have a feeling will never be addressed.
Once again, Sango is bewildered, this time at Miroku referring to the wild dog youkai as the princess. When the charms land and the youkai convulses from the resulting jolts, it becomes a little clearer for her.
And you know that's that, because not only does the wild dog youkai dissolve as is right and proper of a truly dead foe in this story, but so does the whole castle around them. Sango watches everything turn to mist around her while she catches Hiraikotsu. She turns to ask Miroku what the hell is going on, but clams up and sweatdrops at the sight of Miroku embracing the princess beneath a gnarled tree, apologizing for the rough treatment he gave her. He suggests that she was lonely, having to be by herself for so long, and she confirms that the youkai had taken advantage of her weakened heart. When Miroku tells her that she'll be okay, and he'll accompany her to the village, she expresses her gratitude, fading away. The princess dissolves as well, into a cluster of floating lights right in Miroku's arms. Sango murmurs that she disappeared, and Miroku states that it's was the princess's soul she just saw.
A less gorey succubus. Got it.
Back in the village, Miroku kneels in front of a fresh burial mound with some incense smoke rising from it, bowing his head. He explains to the gathered crowd of villagers, plus Inuyasha and Shippou, that he's transferred the princess's bones to this location, where they can hold a service for the good chance that her spirit will protect their village. One of the women says that they're all very grateful, for this as well as bringing their husbands back, who are are sparkling in their restored youth in the background. I'm not even going to ASK how they got their years back, but they sure look satisfied with how things turned out. One of them comments that it's like he's had a nice dream.
Ew.
When Miroku's stood again, Kagome approaches him, and her asks what her deal is. She asks him if anything happened on the mountain, since Sango seems depressed after their return. Eyes wide with innocence, Miroku says he hasn't a clue, can't think of a thing. You know, for the guy who's supposed to be the smartest, he sure does take on that Inuyasha-ish density when it's convenient, doesn't he?
On a nearby river bank, Sango sits pouting at the water, thinking she somehow feels like an idiot. Miroku walks up behind her, calling her name, to her mild surprise. She doesn't answer him at first, choosing instead to look in the opposite direction when he sits down next to her and asks what's wrong. After a pause, Sango haltingly says that he really would have been fine without her tagging along. Miroku's got that dipshit expression on when he wonders aloud what she means, since she's the one who slayed the youkai. Sango folds her hands over her knees, rests her chin on them, and sighs that it's obviously because he LET her do that part. Miroku says Sango's name, with the SLIGHTEST amount of patronizing spice in his expression. I'm prepared for some major mansplaining now.
The next panel is panned out to reveal some eavesdroppers; Kagome, Inuyasha and Shippou lurking just over the crest of the hill. They're all staring wide-eyed at the scene, though Inuyasha still seems to be on the skeptical side. He says Kagome has GOT to have the wrong idea, since there's no way Sango would be in love with a lecherous jerk like Miroku. Kagome doesn't even respond, muttering that there sure is a "mood" now. What KIND of mood is debatable, but go off I guess.
Anyway, back to Miroku's patronizing. He asks for confirmation that Sango came with him because she was worried about him. Sango blushes, tripping over her own tongue as she explains that of COURSE she was worried, because he loses his head when it comes to women, and his lecherous mind always takes over and it's not like she likes him or anything, baka. I would have brought up that one example of how he almost got his playing ass killed by a single giant praying mantis youkai because he can't resist the opportunity to fuck, but that's just me.
Surprisingly *insert sarcasm here*, Miroku is rather encouraging of Sango's flustered state.
Sango yanks her hand away and turns away as her flush overtakes her face, cradling her burning cheeks in her hands and stammers a question about just what he's saying. While she's wondering just what the hell she's supposed to do in this situation, in full panic mode, Miroku takes her back(side) turned to him as an invitation and grabs her ass. After a moment of frozen shock, Sango lifts a trembling fist, veins popping out all over her head where she had DARED to think he would try to comfort her or something. Trying to keep the anger in her voice under control, she refers to that hand of his, but it elevates to a yell over the slap sound effect when she asks if he can't do anything ELSE with it.
If Kagome wasn't wrong before, Inuyasha, she sure as hell is NOW, for not yelling at Miroku for assuming he had permission to touch someone without asking. Will no one ever call this habitual sexual harrasser on his bullshit???
Yes. The answer is obviously yes, no one will EVER call him out.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I have a split opinion about chapters revolving around or developing Sango and Miroku's impending relationship. I do like them as a couple - I find Sango's shyness very adorable, and Miroku being coy and teasing is rather cute as well, in addition to them just having very compatible personalities as the two most down-to-earth members of the main group. They balance out the actively childish way that Inuyasha and Kagome can act toward one another, and I appreciate that more as I've gotten older.
However, Miroku's regular predatory behavior is always adding bricks to the wall between me and actual enjoyment of the ship. Sango's impression of how she found him at the beginning of the chapter was proved incorrect from Miroku's full consciousness when he told her to be quiet. It's implied here that Miroku was planning on following through with banging the youkai with the princess trapped inside before he bothered to actually assist the princess's spirit. The princess was NOT in a position to consent to intercourse with him, but he was going to take advantage of her lack of capacity to turn him down anyway, again in a FULLY CONSCIOUS MANNER.
I don't want to say that Miroku is canonically a confirmed attempted rapist, buuuuut...
And as if this isn't bad enough, RT thinks she can make all these nasty implications AND play it off like Miroku is just clueless and horny in the end. The joke about how he just assumed that Sango was wordlessly "asking" to be touched in the final panel is so insidious in how it makes sexual assault out to be some sort of miscommunication, when Miroku had been ready to ignore the lack of consent of a woman being used as a costume for some fucked-up creature at the very beginning of the chapter. It's hard to know if RT realizes just how pernicious her refusal to portray Miroku as responsible and conscious of his shitty behavior is, since Kagome, modern though she is, treats him like his stupidity is genuine, and tries to "advise" him on how to consider Sango's feelings. That he doesn't CARE about Sango's feelings, or the feelings of the princess he nearly raped, or anyone's except his own, doesn't seem to have crossed Kagome's OR ultimately RT's minds. The idea that Miroku is somehow a sexual predator by bumbling into the role is funny to our author somehow, and not a calculated strategy by real men to never suffer any blowback or repercussions for hurting women. Isn't it just so amusing how Miroku manages to touch and prod and penetrate because he's too stupid to understand the concept of permission, especially when he's been set up as the smartest, more reasonable person in the main group? Ha. Ha. Ha.
So anyway, I hate this chapter and what it represents. Sorry.
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