Maybe it just couldn't be found. I imagine that with projectiles like arrows, you try to collect as many of them as possible after shooting them, but sometimes they're bound to get away from you. Especially when you're actually targeting an enemy, there might be complications in the retrieval of your ammo, in particular if you didn't manage to kill your enemy or there are many enemies that might target you in turn if you get too close. I mean, in this comic, there isn't a lot of room dedicated to practice shots. Kagome could tell you that one for free.
Hakudoushi tells Inuyasha and crew to just sit back and watch as the humans around them get turned into birdfeed, one of the cowering migrants behind them letting out a fearful noise. Inuyasha is in no way about to give up, though, and he scoffs at Hakudoushi's measly barrier as a red tint starts clouding into Tessaiga. He declares that he'll just cut right through it while he swings down, sending a new Kaze no Kizu at the bubble in the sky. It bends and twists around the barrier, Shippou identifying that barrier-cutting red Tessaiga that we all totally remember, and Kagome wonders aloud if it worked or not.
The visual noise of Inuyasha's attack clears to reveal...
Of COURSE it is. Heaven forbid that these attacks aren't completely defunct by the time they would really come in handy.
I seem to be the only one who isn't surprised here, though. Inuyasha trails an unfinished question in disbelief, Sango stutters her shock, and Miroku appears completely flabbergasted that even Red Tessaiga couldn't pop the bubble. I can't be too hard on them, though. I have read this exact event four times now, so I have the benefit of foresight, hindsight, AND disillusionment.
Kagura is less shocked, but still looking a tad disappointed that even Inuyasha couldn't cut Hakudoushi, silently cursing in her frustration as she hovers on her feather outside the barrier. She turns a nasty glower on Hakudoushi and wonders just what it will take to kill this brat. As is tradition with most insufferable little jerks - something EXTREMELY obvious.
Speaking of, something speeds through the air toward the barrier from behind! What could it beeeee?
Hakudoushi can't help but question just what that was. Just in case we were unclear about what just happened, while Shippou on her shoulder and Miroku in the background gape in continued shock, Kagome exclaims that the barrier has been popped. Inuyasha grunts and jumps into action, sending Hakudoushi another Kaze no Kizu in short order.
ENTEI DOWN! The horse has exited the hospital!
With a mix of confidence and lingering shock, Miroku declares Hakudoushi GOT, with Kagome and Shippou staring up at the carnage with open mouths. Hakudoushi's head is all that remains of him intact, and it groans in agony before yelling at the nearby Kagura to pull him up. She's nothing if not prompt, because Inuyasha is soon shielding his face from the updraft she creates as she grabs Hakudoushi's head and rockets up on the wind, out of range. Sango observes that they got away, and Miroku says only Entei died. A little victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Kagome is wondering what the thing that broke Hakudoushi's barrier was, and she seems do have an idea, though is reluctant to consider it. She turns to Inuyasha, who's staring up at the cliff-face where something is sticking out of the rock. He jumps up to examine it more closely, identifying it as an arrow before twisting to look over his shoulder toward where it must have come from, but he sees no one there.
Indeed, it appears that the figure on horseback and their child attendant have already headed off down the road.
Narrow sky transition panel to a remote tree-covered mountain, on the side of which is perched a lone building on a rock outcrop. Kagura is inside, sitting against the door as she watches the pieces of Hakudoushi swirl around in a new barrier. He's mentally cursing whoever the fuck broke his barrier while his disparate parts knit back together. Kagura is merely sour about what a tough little brat he is. Soon, his torso begins to re-form, and Kagura notices something on his back that causes her some surprise.
Though I suppose it's technically something under that familiar scar on his back - she at first wonders if her eyes deceived her for a moment, but her certainty only solidifies when she thinks that though there was the sound of a heartbeat coming from him, the inside of his chest was actually empty. She staggers to her feet, his almost whole body still curled within his bubble, as she concludes that his heart is actually elsewhere.
Back at the absolutely ruined pass, Inuyasha's whole group is standing in front of him, examining the arrow he's retrieved from the cliff above. Kagome in particular looks crestfallen at it while they acknowledge that the arrow broke Hakudoushi's barrier where Inuyasha's Red Tessaiga couldn't. We're still utterly flabbergasted that Red Tessaiga has been rendered useless, I guess. That wasn't predictable at all. Miroku, Sango and Shippou also appear to be drawing a certain conclusion of where the arrow must have come from if it could do that. Inuyasha hangs his head in moody contemplation.
No disguise can hide it.
Except Inuyasha doesn't think so - in fact, he states outright that it's NOT her, much to his friends' collective surprise. Miroku points out that none of them SAID anything about it being Kikyou, but Inuyasha bets that they were all pretty much thinking it. I mean, it is the OBVIOUS conclusion to come to, after all. As Kagome looks on with concern, Inuyasha admits that he was thinking it too, at first, but he says there's none of Kikyou's scent on the arrow he's holding at all. It's some other kind of scent, one he's smelled before, but not Kikyou's.
Sango asks if it's not someone they know, just before Miroku has decided to chip in that the power he felt at the time when the arrow was fired didn't feel as strong as Kikyou's to him either, as though Inuyasha's certainty gave him the "courage" to doubt it was Kikyou too. Joke's on you guys, then. Kagome is looking real melancholy as she wonders whose arrow it could have been that saved Inuyasha, then.
A few migrants come forward to suggest that it was Hijiri-sama's divine protection, and oh yeah, these guys exist! Kagome looks over her shoulder, appearing sadder than ever while she ponders this Hijiri person, which just goes to show that she is not buying a SINGLE BIT of this "not Kikyou" narrative RT is trying to spin. Miroku meanwhile urges everyone to hurry on to Hijiri-sama's town in order to intercept the large flock of vampire monsters headed over there, no doubt suddenly reminded of this by the interjection of the migrants.
Elsewhere, the "mysterious" Hijiri is galloping on their horse, their little helper child flying beside them at top speed, telling them that they've almost reached the town.
"... I mean, we are PRETTY late, what with stopping to help out your ex-lover or whatever."
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I actually CHEERED when Entei bit it. That horse was overly large and it made Hakudoushi look even weirder than he already does, like a little fly on this massive creature's hide. It wasn't exactly intimidating, so I think Hakudoushi's image could only improve now that Entei is out of the picture.
But otherwise I'm not much of a fan of how RT is trying to lead me in this one. She's attempting to play off Red Tessaiga's impotence as some sort of shocking development, as opposed to the inevitable power-creep it is. I think she might have shot herself in the foot, too, because while this is a legitimate setback to Inuyasha's race to catch up to Naraku in power in order to be able to defeat him in the long run, it also sets a precedent. A more critical look seems to indicate a pattern of seeking out increasingly oddly-specified tools and tricks to shortcut his way to being on equal footing power-wise. That's going to be a real big problem later on, and cause some ridiculous twisting/justification to get it set on the right track again. I'm sure anyone who's read this one before too can see what I'm talking about, but suffice it to say for now, Red Tessaiga represents the beginning of a long and frustrating trend.
Also, the weak-ass reasons that Inuyasha and Miroku have for NOT believing that this arrow came from Kikyou are just kind of insulting. We already know that Naraku's scent has been disguised before with a lot of flowers and water, and that guy is stank-as-hell. Also, a reduction in power is EASILY explained by injuries/illness due to falling in that poison river. I feel like RT realizes her audience has already figured out this is Kikyou, especially since it LOOKS like Kikyou under the bee-keeper getup, but she's really trying to preserve whatever surprise reveal she had planned anyway. She needs to cut her losses with this one, because the way she set this up was not subtle, and it's honestly embarrassing that she's over here insisting there are reasons for the characters not to believe it's Kikyou.
Girl. Come on.
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