Control and power. Full stop. Forgive me, but I'm a little sick of hearing well-meaning perpetually shocked folks always asking the rhetorical question, "Why are they doing this??" The answer is always that they want power and control over the rest of us, and if you look at any of their actions through that simple truth, you'll find it makes sense. Working ridiculously hard to take away necessary and popular health care procedures? Control and power. Permeating weapons of war throughout society's streets despite their proliferation meaning near constant death and destruction? Control and power. Ousting elected public officials from legislature because they had a mind to actually speak for their constituents instead of rich lobbyists? Control and power.
Sango and Miroku fly by on Kirara, dodging all the clumps of weird flesh falling from the ceiling that they were wading through before, and telling Inuyasha and Kagome that they need to get out of there before the miasma kicks their sorry asses. Inuyasha curses, then calls to Shippou, who pops up on his shoulder asking what it is. Inuyasha orders him to transform and take Kagome out of there first, and questions if he can manage it, to which Shippou responds with another perplexed noise. Kagome leans over Inuyasha's other shoulder and demands to know what will become of HIM in the meantime, and he asks if she WANTS him to save the wimpy wolf or not. He asserts that there's no way he can carry ALL of them and move freely, then repeats his command to go already.
At least there aren't any drawn-out arguments about it.
Inuyasha dives downward among the falling fleshy debris, curling his arm up by his nose and complaining that the miasma is nasty. No need to state redundancies to no one, dude. He spots the falling bubble containing Kouga, cracks his knuckles, and slashes down at the sack with a Sankon Tessou. It bursts and no sooner is Kouga free then Inuyash looks up to see a MASSIVE hunk of flesh descending on them at speed. Kouga doesn't appear to be conscious, so with another curse, Inuyasha pulls Kouga's arm over his shoulders and leaps him out of the way.
He notes with alarm that the sack Kouga was in appears to have been melting him, now that he's got a feel of the chemical-looking burns on his hand and arm. Inuyasha supposes that the bastard Naraku was really trying to absorb Kouga, along with his Shikon shards. I guess Naraku just didn't want to take the time to poke and prod through Kouga's legs with his little tentacles to retrieve the fragments. He was in a bit of a hurry after a minute, after all.
Kouga coughs and a lot of fluid is expelled from his mouth - stuff that was presumably BURNING his insides. Inuyasha welcomes him to consciousness with a caustic observation that the wimpy wolf is awake, and Kouga answers with Inuyasha's WAY better nickname (Dog Turd) in a little bit of a daze. Then he starts freaking out about where Naraku is and what happened to their mutual enemy. Inuyasha yells at him to leave the details for later, since they've got to get out of there. Like, YESTERDAY. Inuyasha pushes off from another flesh ball to begin their ascent.
From her safe-ish distance, Kikyou now observes that Mt. Hakurei is collapsing. Really sucks for the people living there, huh? It turns out that Kikyou's distance is not even as safe-ISH as I thought, though, because cracks start forming around her feet, branching out like a lightning strike. Another object is flying through the sky above her, but unlike Kagura, this one is descending rapidly right on top of her.
Between the two, I would have preferred Kagura as a visitor.
Kikyou says Naraku's name by way of disgusted and disdainful greeting, and Naraku chuckles at Kikyou that it's been a long while since they've interacted face to face. By Kikyou's expression, I'd say she's wishing it had been a LOT longer.
Now THAT'S what I call collapsing. Volume 36.
Sango repeats the assessment that the big mountain is on its way down, and Miroku wonders if this means that Mt. Hakurei is no longer necessary to Naraku. Oh, I think its period of usefulness was just about as brief as anything else the guy uses and throws away. Kagome and Shippou stand at a distance from the mountain, just like Kikyou, and though the ground around them is rumbling ominously, Shippou worries aloud that Inuyasha is awfully late. Kagome just holds onto that fire-rat coat the way she was on the edge of the burning river a few chapters ago, once again terrified for Inuyasha's safety.
I don't know HOW, but she's able to make out a couple of figures emerging from the debris and dust, hugging Shippou to her as she identifies Inuyasha. Shippou adds happily that Kouga is there too. AMAZING eyes, these kids. A massive rock is coming up fast at Inuyasha and Kouga's backs, and Sango calls for them to watch out, like they didn't notice. Kouga's foot pushes off the ground in a hurry.
As Kouga touches down on the ground, Inuyasha presumably right behind him, and Kagome runs toward him thanking goodness that they're okay, he mopes about failing at what he INTENDED to do. He then grabs Kagome's hands and apologizes for their earlier separation in the cave, saying she must have been scared. Before Kagome can confirm that it was indeed pretty fucking scary watching him get swallowed up by the ground, Inuyasha punches Kouga on the back of his head, cursing him for acting like he got out all by his lonesome.
Shippou chirps at Kouga that he could AT LEAST express some gratitude, and Kagome reveals that Inuyasha went to save Kouga even before she ASKED him to do it. Kouga actually looks a little humbled by this information, but when Inuyasha barks at him not to misunderstand, that he just didn't want Naraku to get the shards in Kouga's legs through complete inaction, Kouga says he sees and refuses to thank him. Still, Inuyasha encourages him (in a rather threatening, in-your-face manner) to say thank you, and Kouga asks which Inuyasha wants, because an expression of gratitude and surly refusal to acknowledge help are apparently on the same footing in his mind. Shippou dryly says Kouga KNOWS Inuyasha wants Kouga to say thank you. Kagome just closes her eyes in exasperation. Probably counting to ten in her head, these boys are just too annoying.
"So, I see the Youkai Haute Couture project is in full swing."
No, seriously, Kikyou asks Naraku what the deal is with his new form with a less-than-impressed expression. Clearly, she and I agree that he's looking pretty iffy right now. Naraku asks if she can't tell by looking that this is his new body, but Kikyou AIN'T buying it. She tells him not to make her laugh (though she looks the furthest thing from that reaction), and assures him that she's not blind. DEAD, but not blind. Kikyou says that this new body of his is flashy, but for show, and asked him what he sent out of Mt. Hakurei after spending so long holed up in there until the holy barrier came down.
Naraku smirks, calls Kikyou as sharp as ever for noticing that, and Kikyou confirms that she spotted Kagura fleeing the mountain's impending collapse cradling something in her arms. She then lifts her bow, arrow nocked, asking what his true objective is. With a creepy glare, Naraku promises to tell her, if she really wants to know. Something tells me this was going to become apparent to her whether or not she even asked. Naraku lifts his forearm so that that horn on his bone armor lengthens, stating that he has something he really needs to get done no matter what.
And it's not changing into an outfit that doesn't make his head look like it shrunk in the wash.
An almost imperceptible flash later...
Elsewhere, Inuyasha suddenly whirls around from Kagome, a panic in his face as he wonders what this foreboding feeling is.
Contrivance, perhaps?
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? Things felt like they accelerated quite a bit in this chapter, in a good way. Since the collapsing mountain wasn't waiting for them to argue about what was going to be done and who was going to do it, there was very little deliberation over most of them escaping the mountain while Inuyasha stayed behind to rescue Kouga. And as Kagome noted to Kouga later, Inuyasha didn't wait for Kagome to suggest that he should save his "rival", it was an automatic impulse. And Kouga pretty much immediately showed the SAME impulse when he sped them away from a falling boulder later. Their unique bond may be built on their scraps over Kagome, but it's becoming more and more apparent that it's not really about Kagome at all - it's about them getting a rise out of the other one and enjoying the goofy mock fights they have because of their generally low stakes. They have some of their most ridiculous arguments after escaping the most intense life-or-death situations, which speaks volumes about how effective they are at releasing that tension. And if the characters can take a moment to relax with a humorous moment, the audience is given a small breather too.
Even though, at the same time, the tension between Naraku and Kikyou is mounting just a short distance away. We've seen them chatting before, and while it's been dripping with disdain on both ends, the danger to either of them has been minimal. Neither has made any true attempt to kill the other one, despite the clear distrust between them. So that's why it comes as something of a surprise that, after all this time, Naraku has finally struck Kikyou. Obviously it was a long time coming, and it's not all that shocking that it happened at ALL, but because it took so long to get to this point, I think I had become complacent in my expectations that the moment would eventually come around. I supposed they would just continue to lurk around each other's periphery and try to manipulate the result they wanted less directly. I believe Kikyou would still like to do that, considering her plan was to let the guy put back together the whole Shikon no Tama in order to purify them together.
I'm kind of glad that there's some consequence to her waiting around for that moment, honestly. Despite my respect for her as a VERY interesting character and a general badass, I still think it is a VERY unsound plan.
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