Must be nice. I've got a flickering lamp in my office area, and I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong with it. The cord is fine, so there aren't any critters getting in here and chewing through it, thankfully. I tested the outlet it's plugged into and that's working perfectly, providing uninterrupted power to my laptop and my old keyboard, so I'm also thanking my lucky stars I don't have to rip open the wall to check the janky wiring. Next step is to rip open the lamp itself, or, maybe just get rid of it. I kind of like it, though. It's one of those tall floor lamps with a couple of shelves built in? It's handy.
Not as handy as a human geiger counter for a supernatural bead, but, you know, useful.
Kagome says that it's a bit strange if a Shichinin-guy is the host of the shard, which draws a confused noise from Inuyasha. She explains that so far, all the fragments of Shichinin-tai members have been dark and corrupted, but the feeling of this one is totally clean. Makes me wonder how the one keeping Kohaku up and running feels, because I don't know if that's a possible alternative that Kagome is considering or not.
Narrow... blank transition panel? Maybe it's just one of those really monochromatic cloudy days. Someone shouts for Suikotsu, crying out that something is really bad and begging him to treat it. He comes out of his medical hut at ask what's up with a couple of approaching men, one of which is sweating, his arm slung around the shoulders of an older helper. The older man says the other guy fell down and cut his leg on a sickle, and sure enough, the next panel shows the injured man is dragging a heavily bleeding leg behind him. Suikotsu looks VERY unsettled by the sight of this wound.
Kikyou comes out to ask if there's anything she can assist him with, and Suikotsu tells her that her help would be much appreciated. As she helps to hold the injured man behind with his friend on the other side while he's propped on the floor in front of Suikotsu dressing his wound, Suikotsu says he's relieved that the injury isn't as bad as he feared. But as the man groans in pain and Kikyou peers at Suikotsu over the patient's shoulder, he's not LOOKING as relieved as he says.
That would be MY reaction to a sufficiently gruesome injury in front of me, but then again, I'm not a doctor, so...
Kikyou points out that Suikotsu is sweating profusely, and offers to take over for him. I assume he let her, because next time we see them, they're sitting out on the porch with a couple of those kiddos he's got running around, no patient to be seen. Either that, or he really botched the damn thing. Either way, Suikotsu's sitting hunched, moaning about how undignified his behavior earlier was. Kikyou tells him it's okay, and the little girl on Suikotsu's right pats his knee, stating that he's disturbed by the sight of blood, in question form for some reason. Kikyou remains silent at this information, peering at Suikotsu out of the corner of her eye. Something she does an awful lot, come to think of it. Side-eyeing everybody all the time...
Suikotsu confirms that it's sometimes even worse than it was a moment ago. He says even though he's a doctor, he gets hardcore shivers in his body every time he sees blood.
Kikyou asks Suikotsu if he's always been this village's doctor, but Suikotsu tells her he was born farther east, and was a bit of a traveling medic for a while, giving care to a whole bunch of villages all over the place, only to settle down here. He sings the praises of this village, and though he acknowledges it's poor, he says it's so isolated to the north that it's practically untouched by war.
Who wants to tell him he's practically the HARBINGER of war in this little peaceful town?
Kikyou just kind of stares, thinking she can't quite figure him out. She's been observing him for several days now, but there's not a lick of evil in him, only the face of a good doctor.
Why? A little miffed that he's doing the purification job better than you did in life?
Anyway, fast-forward to a little later, I'm assuming, when someone comes by looking for Suikotsu, whom he's told has gone out for a moment gathering herbs. Kikyou tells the visitor that she's (and the many children milling around, as usual) standing in for Suikotsu, and the old man acknowledges this, but we don't stick around to find out what he's there for. Instead, we cut to Suikotsu, who has taken the rest of his adopted brood with big baskets strapped to their backs. A little girl brags to Suikotsu that she's found some of something, which he identifies as an herb good for the stomach called senburi. He turns to the other little girl next to him, suggesting they head back after picking it with a smile. She agrees, returning the expression.
It's all very wholesome and sweet, until a bare foot steps into frame, the owner of which they look up at in question. It's INUYASHA and his crew, who are looking varying degrees of serious - not a smile in the bunch.
Why did you even bother asking, Inuyasha? There is LITERALLY no right answer to this.
Another sky transition panel, and I thought they were a little excessive before... Someone is talking about how doctor Suikotsu waltz on into the community shortly after the Shichinin grave was ransacked. It's the old man who came to the medical hut earlier, Kikyou pressing a bandage onto his arm. Huh, I would have guessed a back injury by the look of his posture. Kikyou encourages him to elaborate on this train of conversation, and he also trails in mention of the name Suikotsu, no doubt having noticed how it fits into the overall naming scheme for the members of the group. Like Inuyasha and company did, Kikyou gets an ear-full of the Shichinin-tai legend, the story of the mercenaries being chased into the area over ten years before and beheaded, and the old man even adds that Suikotsu was the name of one of the mercenaries too. Apparently, the villagers raised something of a stink, suggesting that the doctor might be a zombie from that very grave.
Kikyou stares, turning over the concept of a Shichinin-tai zombie in her head while trying out the suggestion out loud. The old man waves his hands in his denial, insisting that the two have NOTHING in common but their names. He even says he remembers pretty clearly what happened with the actual Shichinin-tai (and Suikotsu) back when he saw it over a decade prior.
Back with Suikotsu himself, he's backing away from Inuyasha, waving his hands in disavowal, asking if Inuyasha doesn't have the wrong person. He says he's a doctor, and asks who in the world these weird people accusing him of being an undead mercenary are. Inuyasha snarls at him that it's futile to play dumb, because his body has something in common with the rest of the Shichinin-tai he's dealt with recently. As he rushes forward with his claws held at the ready, Inuyasha reveals it's the smell of corpse and burial soil.
While Suikotsu stands alarmed, silently questioning the claim in disbelief, the girls standing on either side of him call his name in fear. He responds with a plea that they run away. On the other side of the impending conflict, Miroku yells Inuyasha's name, Kagome imploring him not to hurt the children. Inuyasha snaps over his shoulder for them to shut up about shit he already knows.
That close call could have fooled me, kiddo.
Suikotsu slides down the steep hill, one of the children calling out to him from the top as Inuyasha stands there with his hand still raised like an idiot. It's here I realize that one of the other kid is actually a BOY where I'd been calling him a girl this whole time - he turns to kick Inuyasha, calling him a bastard and asking what he's doing. Sorry for misgendering you, little boy. Inuyasha does NOT apologize for pushing his nice adoptive dad down a hill, though, standing glaring at the boy instead.
The kids both rush down to Suikotsu's side while he gazes shocked at his attacker above, asking if he's alright. Miroku steps up beside Inuyasha to peer over the edge of the hill too, observing that Inuyasha looks a bit like a brute picking on an innocent man. Inuyasha protests, but Miroku reiterates that the feeling of this guy is WAY too different from the rest of them. Inuyasha scoffs that it's an act, but soon his attention is drawn by something happening in the distance.
The little girl stutters out Suikotsu's name as Suikotsu himself panics about the state of the village. Inside of it, several people are running from the flames, meeting with a no-nonsense Kikyou with her bow and arrows, demanding to know what's happened. Before the man in front of her can do much more than utter her name, a giant explosion propels him and the others around forward. Kikyou somehow remains standing, though. Must be her sturdy, earthy construction material.
... Probabaly bad.
Kikyou turns at the sound of her name, finding Suikotsu stumbling toward her with the same question she had a moment ago. The one that wasn't answered, so they're both on the confused side. As he reaches Kikyou, a voice from the approaching man-vehicle conversationally comments on the DUMP they found Suikotsu in. Renkotsu gives Suikotsu a short greeting, Ginkotsu one that's even SHORTER, and not actually made up of anything but an extended gurgle, and Jakotsu complains about how much trouble Suikotsu gave them. Suikotsu just looks completely baffled, not appearing to recognize a one of them.
With a smirk, Renkotsu urges Suikotsu to get on their convoy, so to speak, because they came all this way to pick him up. The other two just stare expectantly.
Take it from someone who's committed to thinking too hard about it for years; it's not worth it.
So, what did I think about this chapter overall? I'm once again concerned about how messed up the passage of time seems to be turning out here. How long EXACTLY has it been since the Shichinin grave was destroyed? Because it seems like Suikotsu is WAY more accepted as the village doctor than even a couple of weeks would afford him, and this with his name resembling that of one of the mercenaries so much, as well as his timing coming into the village according to Kikyou's informant. He's managed to collect a whole shitload of kids whose families died. He's got folks coming to him for all manner of injuries. We've seen NO ONE who is at all suspicious of him, we're just TOLD that there was a time when someone was. I just don't buy that folks, especially those as mostly isolated from the outside world as they are described by Suikotsu, would shrug their suspicions as fast as that, no matter how good a doctor the guy is. I feel like he'd need whole YEARS before people would warm up to him enough for this to be feasible, and maybe a name change.
I'm not even certain I understand how much time has passed between Kikyou's arrival and now. She says she's been watching Suikotsu for a few days, but is that more or less than three? Five? The prior chapter gave the impression that she stumbled upon Suikotsu at about the same time that Inuyasha's friends narrowly avoided death, and it would make some sense that they would have to rest for a bit of time. And yet, you also get the impression that Inuyasha is rather impatient to get to hunting down the Shichinin-tai before they can be hunted themselves again, despite how understandable it would be for him to not want to leave his friends alone to accomplish this end, for fear of them being caught unawares again. I am curious to know how long his new paranoia could be pushed down in order to ensure his friends' safety while they recover. They do, after all, still seem a little on the subdued side, but that could just be my own sympathetic exhaustion with their situation talking.
Speaking of Inuyasha's creeping paranoia, and the desperation he has to get rid of the threat to his friends, I'm concerned with how readily it's being dismissed in this chapter. It's strange, because it's addressed pretty bluntly through Inuyasha attacking Suikotsu regardless of how passive Suikotsu comes across, Miroku out-and-out stating that it's not a GREAT look for him to be throwing hands at a guy who for all the world doesn't look like he could hurt a fly. But before Inuyasha has a chance to reflect on his behavior, or consider if the presence of LIVE props indicates that there's more going on here than in Renkotsu's ruse, the village is on fire and everyone's attention has shifted. I'm not saying that Inuyasha isn't justified in his suspicion, because it's clear that Suikotsu is absolutely one of the Shichinin-tai. Inuyasha after all can't really afford to fall for another trap. But paranoia run rampant can be more destructive than not in the long run, and I happen to know for a fact that RT does not use this opportunity to explore the ramifications of Inuyasha's fear of the Shichinin-tai getting the drop on his group again. I at least would have like to have seen someone come up with a decent argument as to why Inuyasha should be a little more delicate in the future.
Maybe the SMART ONE, or the closest thing to such a one, could have come up with something? Miroku, wanna give it a shot?
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