I feel like I'm on the border between two worlds myself. Very similar worlds, mind you, with what looks like minimal adjustment, but separate worlds nonetheless. I recently started a new job with a new company in the same industry as my previous one, and they do things a bit differently; until I can get some consistent training and all my systems set up properly, I'm going to be stuck in limbo for a minute. Of course, I'm planning on making that full transition into that next world, whereas that would be a bit of a bummer for our protagonists. They definitely DON'T want to cross over into their inevitable future just yet!
It took you guys a while to give chase, didn't it? What happened, did you have to wash your hair and put on your fancy youkai-murder suits?
Kagome repeats the bit about the youkai with no head with worry, as if they weren't looking for just that, Shippou asking in turn if they're talking about Kanta's dad. Kanta himself stutters that this isn't good, an understatement if I've ever seen one. Because EVERYONE apparently has to speak on this matter, Sango reminds everybody how Kanta said he wouldn't be able to revive his father if the body was cut down, and Miroku calls to Inuyasha to hurry. Inuyasha agrees and assures them that the scent isn't too far off, but at this point he's picking up the scent of a conceited moron. About TIME you noticed.
They book it to the spot Inuyasha smells Kanta's father, over some jagged rocks up a hill, and see Kant's dad's body lying with several spears sticking out of its back in front of good ol' Sesshoumaru. Kagome gasps at the reveal, and Miroku identifies Inuyasha's brother, because they all needed the refresher? Sesshoumaru glares in their direction, his contemplation of a headless corpse interrupted so rudely.
Of course, Shippou and Kanta are much more concerned by Kanta's father's body lying on the ground, the former making an alarmed noise from Inuyasha's back, and Kanta shrieks to his father in horror. He immediately jumps down from his ride and rushes over to tell his dad's severed neck to hang in there. It's Shippou who brings over the head, which he reminds Kanta of gently. Kanta struggles with the knot on the bindle in his panic.
Miroku asks if it's no good, and Shippou stares at a watery-eyed Kanta clinging to his father's unresponsive nose. His wailing to his father begins anew, and Sesshoumaru awkwardly stands in silence for a moment to glance down at the agonized little creature. Then he turns to just walk off. What an asshole.
Inuyasha glares at his back for a moment before calling to him to ask why the hell he's even here, because Inuyasha says he's NOT going to believe that he was just passing by. Sesshoumaru pauses, looking over his shoulder to snobbishly remark that he has nothing to tell to the likes of Inuyasha. Kagome, who is now sitting with the kiddos next to Kanta's dad's body, calls out to Sesshoumaru too, in short order referring to his sword. Whoops, that's a... touchy topic at the moment, and not just because of the accidental SessKag suggestiveness, lol. She stands to run up next to Inuyasha, reciting the ability of Tenseiga to restore life, or "link" life, as the translator put it. Kagome pleads with Sesshoumaru to use Tenseiga to save Kanta's father.
Sesshoumaru says it's not his concern, but he also doesn't move to leave again. This gives a trembling Shippou the opening to rush over in front of him on his tiny short legs, stuttering the whole way.
Kagome and Inuyasha say Shippou's name in pity, while Shippou continues to plead to Sesshoumaru, explaining that Kanta will be all alone if his father dies. I think Sesshoumaru is probably acquainted with the concept of a dead parent, Shippou. Sesshoumaru tells Shippou to move, but his eyebrows aren't drawn down in a glare; his expression seems strangely soft. Kagome comes to kneel down at Shippou's side and situate her arms in preparation to pick him up, trying to coax him away, but Shippou starts to protest.
Inuyasha tells him it's pointless, but Shippou does have his sympathies, because Sesshoumaru isn't exactly a caring do-gooder who goes around saving people, despite how frikkin' awesome that would be. He even speculates that the Tenseiga is useless scrap to his emotionless brother, who just glowers over his shoulder at Inuyasha. Miroku and Sango appear to recall that indeed, one without a caring heart shouldn't be able to use Tenseiga at all, and Sesshoumaru actually appears to confirm this assumption, saying it's just as Inuyasha says. What a liar.
Suddenly, a pulse emanates from Tenseiga at his hip and he turns his glare to it instead, in time for it to pulse again, and crackle with some kind of energy that only he can sense, maybe. He silently complains yet again that Tenseiga is disturbed, and wonders why it seems to be urging him to help the strange otter youkai. He doesn't wait for an answer, probably because it's something to do in his perpetual boredom.
"Alright, I guess I can stand to NOT be a piece of shit. Because my sword told me to."
How's THAT for an innuendo?
Inuyasha somehow ended up behind Kagome and Shippou, and they all three look in question at Sesshoumaru. Much like with Shippou, Sesshoumaru tells Kanta to move, with the same soft expression. Eyes still streaming, Kanta looks up at Sesshoumaru with confusion. He must have backed off, because the next panel shows Sesshoumaru's unfocused, dreamy gaze on Kanta's dad's body, with which he can see the little imp-creatures from the other world crawling over it and prodding it with mini-spears. The ACTUAL spears aren't there, interestingly enough.
Sesshoumaru swings Tenseiga through all of the little creatures in one swipe, and the dissolve into nothing, as is the habit of everything truly dead in Inuyasha. Miroku gives this display a critical look, as does Sango in the back, and they wonder if he CUT something they can't see. For a moment, Kanta's dad looks just as dead as ever.
IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIVE!!! Just call Sesshoumaru Dr. Frankenstein.
Kagome and Shippou look on completely astounded, gaping as a noise of disbelief comes from Kagome's mouth, but Kanta is just so overjoyed that his father is alive that his tears have returned as happy ones. Later, Kanta's sitting in his father's lap as the old guy is pulling spears and arrows from his body, expressing relief since he didn't think he would be able to come back at all. Miroku awkwardly asks him where he went, exactly, with Inuyasha peering at the resurrected otter next to him. He paints the picture of a world shrouded in white mist, jagged outcrops poking out from beneath it, much like Hakudoushi's own description of it. It was just his head floating around, as well as a whole host of other scary youkai heads too. Inuyasha suggests this was the other youkai beheaded by Hakudoushi, but this is ignored by Kanta's father, who wouldn't know who that is anyway. With Kagome still gaping at him, he says he dove beneath the mist and saw...
Don't worry, we don't stay with this little snot for a long time. By the next panel, we're right back with Kagome, Inuyasha and Kanta's dad, the former of which asks the latter about those giant skeletons. Kanta's dad confirms this, and adds that there were a great many of them. He wonders out loud if that's what they call the "next world", but switches to talking about how grateful he is that they saved him.
Kagome perks up at this, suddenly remembering that Sesshoumaru is a person who exists, and turns to thank him too, but he's already walking away. Stuck around long enough to hear about the important bits, though. Sango absently reiterates that he's left, as if any of them should give a damn. I know I don't. As he's strolling off, Sesshoumaru thinks about Tenseiga and what it could possibly have been trying to tell him with THAT. He can't seem to imagine why he might bother with the place he just heard about. I mean, fair, it doesn't really hold GOOD memories for the guy. Lost his arm there and everything.
Hey, anyone know what happened to those villagers that were going to come up and murder the headless youkai they were so intent on getting? Did they get lost or give up or something?
Cut to Kanta saying his goodbyes to Shippou, and Shippou chirping that he's happy everything worked out for the best. Kanta's dad pats him on his little bewildered head.
The girls stand and watch this scene with must be the warm fuzzies, and Kagome thinks this whole thing must have reminded little Shippou of his own dad. Well, at least it wasn't in a way that was refreshing his trauma.
The otters swim off in the body of water next to the farewell spot, and as Inuyasha and Co. start strolling off, Miroku brings up the things that Kanta's dad saw in his brief afterlife, saying that it's very likely Hakudoushi knows about these things too by now. Inuyasha agrees, looking serious. Sango asks what in the world that place could be, and Inuyasha admits after a pause that he thinks he might have been there before. Weird that he didn't include Kagome in this statement, but fine. Miroku seems surprised, asking if Inuyasha knows how they get there, and Inuyasha just affirms he does, not elaborating a bit. He just hangs his head, no doubt knowing how much of a pain in the ass this is going to be.
Kagome looks sideways at him, thinking he's had the same idea she did - white mist and giant skeletons, the borderline between this world and the next, it all points to one place that the reader has probably been screaming at them from beyond the fourth wall for several chapters now.
Can't wait to see the elaborate way they get in there and NOT the way they get out again, lol.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I like how this and the last one bring Shippou and his feelings about his father's passing to the forefront. Because he doesn't have a lot to contribute to most of the arcs in the main story, he all too often fades into the background, or even becomes an annoying commentator on the events to fill unused space. But this small arc helps to remind us not just that he exists, but he has serious trauma around his father's death, and helping another kid in a similar situation was a good way to help him resolve it, or produce a different, better outcome. Shippou is portrayed as empathetic and predisposed to helping others avoid his own situation.
Which is something that particularly struck me when he said to Sesshoumaru that Kanta would be all alone if he lost his father. Shippou ISN'T all alone, he's part of a group that cares about him and his well-being, but I got the impression there was a note of personal loneliness in there all the same. The Inuyasha group is NOT his father, nor the greatest replacement for him, given how much danger Shippou is in on the regular. There's a clear implication that while Shippou is grateful for his friends and how much they've done for him post-tragedy (he did gave some serious praise to Inuyasha's strength in the last chapter), he is still mourning the loss of his father that no one can really fill in for, and he hasn't had much of an opportunity to express that until now.
Strange, since literally EVERYONE in this group has lost their father at some point, and in some pretty horrible ways. Even Kagome's father is absent, though the manga never goes into where he is. It's kind of a miracle the topic never came up between them, really.
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