We had our first good rain shower in weeks today, and some lightning came in this nice little gift as well. While not an explosion, thunder can certainly SOUND that way, and I feared that little Grimalkin might be frightened, given this is the first time she's ever heard such a thing. I should have known by the fact she's the only cat I've ever known who is not afraid of the vacuum cleaner that she wouldn't even leave her cat-tree perch next to the window when the rumbling began. This tiny kitten is FEARLESS, and only seems mildly perturbed by things I swear she'll be hiding under the furniture over.
Which is why I'm convinced that in THIS situation, Grimalkin would already have clawed those Shikon shards out of Renkotsu and Ginkotsu, and be batting their bones around in celebration. Just TRY and stop me from writing that fanfiction.
Kouga admits to himself what I said in the previous chapter's recap - he doesn't know where these shards he's looking for are. He takes a stab at it, or rather, a swipe, when he slashes at Renkotsu's shoulder at the end of his leap with a cry questioning if it's there. Renkotsu looks shocked as blood spurts from the claw gashes in his collar, but the Shikon shard shines for the audience from his throat. Renkotsu realizes that Kouga's aim is the fragment with alarm, and calls him a bastard through the jet of fire he spits from his lips at the chief wolf. Kouga grunts at the new flames surrounding him while he spirals away, even though he was pretty thoroughly covered in fire before. His flunkies call out in concern.
Kouga is still in the air on more fire than ever when Renkotsu cranks around the barrel of Ginkotsu's gun to aim at him again, threatening to blow him to smithereens. Renkotsu automatically realizes something is terribly wrong when he fires again, and Kouga somehow has a moment to brag that he stuffed the armor he tore off Renkotsu into the gun barrel before the backed-up blast just fucking explodes.
Yeah, you didn't think that wasn't going to lick you too, did you?
Ginkotsu's tank bulk has been blown apart, gears and mangled metal raining down on the landscape, as well as his skull, his Shikon shard having been dislodged in the backfire. There's a random bone bouncing around back there too, so that wasn't ALL the organic matter left in his cyborg body, but who really knows how much more there really was than that? Mohawk and Two-Tone have gotten to their feet to scan the debris in panic, stuttering Kouga's name as a question, but I wasn't worried the first time I read this and I'm not worried now. Kouga's too stubborn to be gotten rid of as easily as gurgling Ginkotsu.
After RT surprisingly switches it up with a misted forest panel rather than a narrow sky transition, we find an annoyed Jakotsu warning Suikotsu not to turn into a nice person randomly in the middle of the upcoming battle as they tromp through the underbrush. Suikotsu asks him to PLEASE shut up about his shame, reminding him that this is why they deliberately separated from the barrier. He seems to forget that just being NEAR the thing is enough, or is denying this fact on purpose. He curses the doctor half of his brain, silently complaining about how the nice personality will push him aside and take over given half a chance. Suikotsu admits out loud that it's really hard pushing the dude back, and Jakotsu absently says he sees, clearly not really listening at all. He just suggests they go ahead with their plan.
So, you just stood around waiting for these guys to catch up? With vulnerable folks in your presence? I feel like we should crowd-fund some parenting classes for this dude or something.
Suddenly, Sesshoumaru leaps up the slight incline leading to the cliff face, Jaken again calling to Sesshoumaru in question and alarm. Sesshoumaru placidly observes a flashing jagged bolt heading straight for him, and slashes Tokijin at it to deflect, revealing that it's a familiar series of connected blades. Because neither Jaken nor Rin has seen this little display before though, they are in awe and disbelief over what Rin notes in question is a sword, but is behaving pretty strangely.
Jakotsu pulls back these blades into their tidy little line at the hilt as Sesshoumaru touches back down on the ground, identifying Jakotsu as another of Naraku's little agents.
Being uncharacteristically polite about Jakotsu's stench here, Sesshoumaru.
Jakotsu croons that Sesshoumaru has a good nose, and it's just what he expects from Inuyasha's honored elder brother, swinging his sword out again. Sesshoumaru give him a sharp look and barely seems to move anything other than his arm as he waves Tokijin in a deflective motion once again. Once there's a sufficient gap in the blades, Sesshoumaru lunges forward with his super-speed, RIGHT up into Jakotsu's personal space, much to his concern.
His very well-founded concern. I'd personally be concerned enough if this guy were within several miles of me, so I certainly couldn't blame him regardless.
Crawling away as Sesshoumaru slashes his sword with ease, Jakotsu pants that it was a close one. From the peanut gallery, Jaken laughs that stupid human Jakotsu should just give up and die already, while Rin appears a bit more unnerved and frightened by the situation. Turns out the latter has cause to be, because a lightning bolt of blades smacks into the ground right in front of Jaken for his mocking outburst, forcing him and Rin to scramble backward away from danger. As Jakotsu asks in annoyance what Jaken thinks he's got to say about the matter, Jaken trying to recover some dignity by stuttering in indignation, Sesshoumaru lunges up behind Jakotsu again. Jakotsu notices as much, but he appears a little more ready for it this time.
No doubt aware that Jakotsu has adjusted to the factor of superhuman speed Sesshoumaru introduces to the battle, he addresses Jaken over Jakotsu's shoulder as he approaches. Jaken's sudden recollection causes more stutters in his affirmative. He starts to shoo Rin along, telling her they're leaving, though Rin is a little hesitant at first. Jaken assures her that they're just in Sesshoumaru's way, and Rin gives him a halting agreement while they cross the rickety-looking rope-and-board bridge leading over the cliff edge. Oh boy, we've been down THIS road before.
Sesshoumaru has positioned himself, in his speedy way, in front of the bridge and blocked it off from Jakotsu. Jakotsu smiles sardonically at him, making a mocking noise.
Awww, I missed funny Sesshoumaru. Where's he BEEN all this time?
Swinging his sword, Jakotsu asks if Sesshoumaru will fight freely now, because he doesn't much give a shit about the dig at his undead status. He leaps into the air pretty easily to avoid the flash of blades, but Rin is still straining to look over her shoulder at him in concern as she trots across the creaking bridge. The fact that she's not facing forward and dedicating her WHOLE attention to not toppling off this rickety death-bridge is freaking me right the fuck out now. She turns to ask Jaken if Sesshoumaru will be alright, not an unreasonable question from a girl who witnessed Sesshoumaru incapacitated in the woods for a few days back when they first crossed paths. But Jaken calls her a dolt and asking her ironically how Sesshoumaru could lose to a mere human.
The words are hardly out of his mouth when they notice a figure ahead of them on the bridge, wearing tacky faux-claw gloves. Insert eye-roll here.
Whatever, we're back to the status quo with a narrow sky transition panel, a whooshing sound effect for emphasis on the next panel in which Inuyasha is zooming through the trees with Kagome on his back. Kagome expresses some discomfort about not staying back where they were to meet back up with Miroku and Sango later, but Inuyasha refuses to sit around and wait for them like an idiot. His words, not mine, BTW. Besides Inuyasha alerts them to the fact that something smells like it's burning to him, assessing this emergency as a big explosion. Shippou peeks blearily over Inuyasha's shoulder, Kirara hovered over by Kagome.
Inuyasha adds, SILENTLY, that he smells a wolf's blood. It's not long before they run into the scattered parts of Ginkotsu and the fallout from his demise.
Don't cry, guys, Kouga is far too useful for romantic drama for RT to kill him off.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The name is certainly a bit misleading. You'd think it would be about the lead-up and aftermath of the titular explosion, but most of the space in this one was taken up by Jakotsu and Suikotsu springing an entirely avoidable trap on Sesshoumaru. I am by no means upset that the struggle between an injured Kouga and Renkotsu/Ginkotsu - I think it was a good move to keep this particular portion of the conflict on the shorter side, because Kouga was already not believably coming across as critically injured by that point. His actions here got across a lot better his urgency to end the fight by ANY means, and his expression during conveyed how much BIGGER the effects were than he had anticipated. My only real complaint was how he had even a MOMENT to explain that he stuffed Renkotsu's armor into the gun barrel, as I feel like there wouldn't even be that much time for exposition of the sort. Besides, there were better ways of conveying this information than having Kouga say it outright, so it came across as very clumsy.
Circling back to Sesshoumaru, you gotta laugh at his palpable arrogance. He very authentically acts like a guy who as recently embraced his power to bring people back from the dead; his lack of concern for the lives of his companions (no, not JUST Rin as Jakotsu mentioned, but Jaken too) is just dripping with that careless attitude a rich kid might have with his favorite toy in the knowledge that he can just have it repaired or buy a new one. Sesshoumaru is awfully lucky that he doesn't learn a certain lesson here that he does later about the finite nature of life and the powers of Tenseiga. Then again, he might not have cared as much here as he will down the line, so who really knows.
I do object to the selective suspension of Sesshoumaru's olfactory senses, though. He should have been able to detect Suikotsu sneaking around on the bridge, especially after Jakotsu got up close and personal and another touch of "eau de corpse" was wafting around at a distance. But given that Inuyasha is often a victim of having his hound dog sense shut off for plot convenience, I can hardly be surprised that this would happen to Sesshoumaru too.
Doesn't stop me from being disappointed by it, though.
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