Wait a minute, haven't I seen this name before? At first I thought I was confusing the current reading with all my prior readings of this story, but when I went to check if there were multiple instances of "Hijiri" in Inuyasha's canon, nope. It's not my imagination, the island with all the flowers on it back in the Shichinin-tai arc is called Hijiri too! Well that's awkward. RT must have really been running out of ideas at this point to overlook the reuse of this one. From what I understand, it means "holy", but there must be some synonyms somewhere in the language for her to have chosen from. Or something punny. Remember when this comic was a little more punny?
Those were the days.
With the door knocked in and everything. Not suspicious at all.
This is being discussed by a couple of women with naginatas appearing to patrol the outside of this castle, adding that though they're happy the mistress and her newborn son are okay, they wonder if it was a youkai's work. More like an ASSHOLE'S work. Inside, the mistress is still laying on her futon while her husband is cradling the baby by her side, who tells her not to worry, because he's fortified the guards all around the grounds. He expresses some relief that they were blessed with a successor, which suggests they may have had trouble with this in the past. I guess Naraku may have just taken advantage of an issue he observed after all instead of creating it, making him MARGINALLY less of a douchebag. Marginally. The master of the castle promises to protect his son with his life, as Shnooky 2.0 snoozes quietly in his arms.
Meanwhile, his "mother" is questioning if this is REALLY the baby she gave birth to. She has a hazy memory of Kanna, and has apparently tried to chalk her up to her own imagination, but that's a rather vivid imagination she has, if so. Still, she's confused and uncertain about the whole thing, and the trauma of not only losing the child as well as a number of people around her, ON TOP of the trauma of childbirth, is probably not doing her memory any favors.
Narrow blank transition panel! Inuyasha and company are moving through the forest, Kagome and Shippou on his back, and the rest of the team on Kirara's. Inuyasha is cursing up a storm, while Miroku acknowledges that they're stuck and don't have a single clue. Sango, in her extermination expertise, says that the nest of these flying vampire creatures would obviously be up on a high, rocky mountain, but she trails off. Kagome picks up the thread by adding that if Abi is protected by Naraku's barrier, then the nest would undoubtedly be so as well. Inuyasha scoffs that he'll rip the barrier apart with nary a thought to HOW.
Shippou leans over his shoulder to point out that he can't CUT the barrier if he can't FIND it, and Inuyasha yells at him to shut up because he knows that much.
I should think that would be a familiar feeling to you by now - Naraku is never NOT leading you losers by the nose!
Kagome calls for Inuyasha to look ahead, he and his two passengers staring wide-eyed at an old couple on a high hill path. The old woman is sitting on her knees and insists that her companion go on without her, because she's absolutely done. The old man tells her to hang in there, though, not letting go of her arm to pull her along. Inuyasha and company must have met up with them, because there's some disconnected dialog about how no one knows when they'll be attacked by the youkai vampire birds, and everyone in the area is fleeing at the moment in response to a question as to their awful situation.
While Inuyasha complains about it all coming down to carrying the old woman, and Kagome pointing out that it's always this way, there's a group of small children riding on Kirara now as they pick their way along the trail. Miroku is asking the man if they have a destination down, and he responds that they're heading for a mountain town on the other end of the pass, wanting to ask a "Hijiri-sama" for help and possibly get some protection from the birds. Inuyasha and Kagome perk up in interest, the latter repeating the name with curiosity.
Miroku asks if that's a Buddhist priest, and the man admits he doesn't know, but they've heard a lot of rumors about the person. From Inuyasha's back, the old woman adds that no one has seen this Hijiri-sama's face, so Inuyasha asks what she means.
Inuyasha mutters about how pathetic he thinks it is for someone to relying so heavily on a rumor like that. Says the guy who almost lost his girl to the rumors of a LITERAL INFANT. Sango asks for confirmation that indeed EVERYONE is heading to this place after hearing the rumor, looking a bit worried. The man answers in the affirmative, so Sango throws Miroku a critical look, telling him that they need to hurry, and he agrees. With some trepidation, the man asks what the matter is, to which Inuyasha replies with urgency that the birds show up where a lot of people gather. He calls to Kagome to get on his back (balanced precariously next to the old woman, I guess) and she complies with only a small stutter. As the group speeds ahead now, the man starts to apologize, possibly for his gullibility, but Miroku cuts him off to assure him that they'll be dropped off somewhere safe.
Some distance ahead, the majority of the migrants are assured by one of their own that they'll get to Hijiri-sama's town just over this pass. A shame I have no idea who said it to be able to hand over that chapter title award this time. Darn.
Ugh, it's THIS little asshole.
Kagura walks up behind Hakudoushi, and with the most disdain that it is possible for her to express in a single panel, asks what he's up to now. Hakudoushi scoffs, and tells Kagura to look at all that birdfeed down below. Kagura kneels next to him with a confused noise, so Hakudoushi clarifies that all the people currently clogging the pass will be contributing every drop of their blood toward a path to the boundary between this world and the next, but this just seems to perplex Kagura all the more. I'm sorry, did I say "Hakudoushi"? I meant Haku-DOUCHEY.
First time that joke's ever been told.
Anyway, the vampire birds appear in the sky as a distant cloud, rapidly approaching. An old man in a hat looks up at the motion out of the corner of his eye, and it looks like he's not the only one who noticed. A semi-toothless guy cries out that the birds are coming, barely before the birds are already bearing down on them. The man in the hat and yet another man cower against the rock wall bordering the pass, stammering for help. A splatter of blood covers the next panel, you know, for dramatic effect.
Aw, we never expected anything less. Cut it damn close, though, as always.
Sango shreds some birds with her Hiraikotsu, and Miroku whacks one into oblivion that was going for a man and woman as well. At a whooshing sound above him, Inuyasha looks up, and has to hop out from under what he identifies as one of Kagura's crescent wind blades as it slams into the rock below. She's indeed hovering in the air on one of her feathers, the vampire birds and Entei suspended a bit beyond her. Atop Entei, Hakudoushi smarms that Inuyasha and company are wasting their efforts, because they basically have a shit-ton of dactyls. Those are my words - I don't know if Sengoku Japan has that kind of mock measurement for a bad thing. Kagome and Miroku react to Hakudoushi's presence with an alarmed shout. Perhaps they were expecting Abi herself.
Inuyasha demands to know what this little bastard Hakudoushi is here for, and Hakudoushi tells him not to waste his breath too, because while they're focusing on him and Kagura, the humans are liable to die. As if to illustrate this point, another couple of people are being targeted by the flying menacing for their blood, and Miroku manages to slice through the birds with his staff at the last moment before they reach their intended victims.
Honestly, I don't know if it makes too much difference if they move or not, but they may as well stay behind the defense force in any case.
Inuyasha lets off a Kaze no Kizu and destroys a clump of the vampire birds. Meanwhile, Shippou tells a shocked Kagome that he thinks Hakudoushi is trying to keep them from passing. She agrees, and turns to the rest of the team to remind them that there should be MANY more people gathered at this Hijiri person's settlement, passing on her alarm to Inuyasha in turn. Hakudoushi chuckles that they figured it out, and I'm not sure which is more insulting; that Hakudoushi implies it's a feat for these dumb kids to figure out such a basic plan, or that SHIPPOU was the one who essentially got it before everyone else.
But Hakudoushi says they're too late anyway...
Miroku groans in disgust, and accuses Hakudoushi of also spreading the Hijiri-sama rumors to desperate villagers, which is the first reasonable conclusion he's come to himself for a while, given historical precedent. However, Hakudoushi says he wouldn't go to that much trouble making up a savior for these people, and speculates that this Hijiri person is probably a bland-as-fuck exorcist. He further suggests that the cowardly humans put the ordinary Hijiri on a pedestal to relieve their fear and give them some hope, and clung together. Some humans on the ground gape up at him, and I wonder if they can really even hear him clearly, given his distance up in the air. Seems unlikely.
Anyway, Hakudoushi says they just happened to hear the rumor too, and that's why they're here taking advantage of the long train of blood supply. Inuyasha has heard enough, and with a scoff, yells at Hakudoushi to stop screwing around while throwing a Kaze no Kizu at him. As per usual, the barrier around Hakudoushi ripples and absorbs the tendrils of the attack.
Hope there weren't any humans hanging out where you were standing.
Hakudoushi chuckles that it's a trivial matter returning Kaze no Kizu to Inuyasha, to which Inuyasha just curses in frustration.
On an adjacent ridge, what looks like a small child stands there looking across at the smoking hole in the pass that Inuyasha's rebounded attack created, and the flying creatures around the obnoxious bubble hanging in the air above it. The child speaks to a cloaked and shrouded figure on a horse behind her, asking Hijiri-sama if they see what she's seeing; it's the same vampire birds that attacked the town. Silently, a bandaged hand nocks an arrow in a bow.
Gee. I wonder who THAT could be. *Insert eye-roll here*
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This is the first time in a while where I can say things seem to be progressing in an interesting way. It's been a minute since RT has had her unwieldy mass of characters fully utilize what resources are available to them at the moment, so I'm very pleased to see everyone at least behaving somewhat rationally. Our main group's speed in realizing that the migrants were in serious danger was believable, as was their revelation that the ones who had already made it over to the promised safe zone. Miroku's accusation that Hakudoushi had himself spread the rumor about Hijiri-sama was understandable, given how Hakudoushi's previous incarnation had fooled them all with a similar rumor in the past. It was also perfectly diabolical and calculating of Hakudoushi to spring on the opportunity the rumors of a safe place to move to afforded him. These are all really great actions and reactions, and blissfully, no one appears to be drawing conclusions they shouldn't be able to yet, or being excessively dense for the sake of plot. It's a miracle!
The only issue I have with this chapter is the appearance of our "mysterious" Hijiri-sama at the end here. It's no spoiler that it's Kikyou, no matter how hard the story tries to cast doubt on that fact for the next couple of chapters. I suppose it's a little ironic that a rumor confirmed Miss Kikyou's death a few chapters ago, and a rumor is now confirming that she is still alive. And I almost wish Hijiri really WAS Hakudoushi's fabrication, because the extent to which Kikyou's return here damages the dramatic nature of her demise after the destruction of Mt. Hakurei is pretty large. Death means even less now than it did before, if that's even possible.
And that panel of her above? The shadow that outlines her hair and face underneath the hood? FAR too small to fill out that whole outfit she's draped in. Or her head has shrunken in the miasma wash, and her arms have lengthened to an unnatural degree. She could almost pass for an internet cryptid. *shiver*
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