Is it weird that I'm seeing this as a nightmare not so much in the fact that this is a RIVER OF BLOOD, and more in the sense that it would be a real pain to clean up? Cis women like myself are no stranger to cleaning stubborn bloodstains out of garments, and more general stains out of everything and anything as well. It speaks to how thoroughly I've been programmed that I see the first double-page spread of this chapter and my first thought isn't how bright that red is for a creature whose heart has stopped beating, how fierce the flow is despite the same, or how much I appreciate a color page, rare as they are. No, my very first thought is to ask myself who's gonna have to clean that up.
Not me! Lol
Inuyasha has the distinct honor of saying the chapter title on the next page, and so very early! Miroku has concluded that this is what connects this world and that border Naraku's been trying to get to, but he still seems in a little disbelief about it. Honestly, regardless of the explanation, a wave of blood is always a bit on the nauseating side.
They are so distracted by the new sanguinary flood that it comes as something of a surprise when Inuyasha and crew at last spot Naraku floating along with the flow, who turns to smirk over his shoulder at them, asking them what they're just standing and watching for - the path by this river of blood will soon be closed. Inuyasha spits that he doesn't need to be told, with Kagome joining him in a eager lunge toward their destination, despite the fact that they WERE in fact just standing there gaping at the whole thing for a moment.
Myouga reappears at Inuyasha's forelock and advises emphatically against going. Inuyasha makes a confused noise at him, and Myouga brings up the very much valid question of how they all plan to get back if they jump in that bloody river.
Have... y'all been observing the same sneaky, meticulous, plans-within-plans Naraku I have this whole story??
Shippou looks off the side of Kirara while clinging to Naraku's sleeve and sees in the undulating current of the blood what look to be thousands of screaming skulls. He alerts Miroku to this, and Miroku, who will one day be father to ten or twenty children by his own reckoning, tells him with perfect sobriety that it's probably the malicious feelings of all the souls whose blood was sucked out for Tekkei. This poor kid. Sango wonders aloud how many people have been killed JUST to make this path, which is certainly a path in itself to depression. Kagome says that they have to quickly stop such things from happening, and Inuyasha agrees.
A bit late for that, don't you think????
After a narrow sky transition panel, Jaken is scouting slightly ahead of Sesshoumaru and the two-headed dragon carrying Rin on its back behind him, trailing in his statement of what he's seeing around the side of the steep rocky hill rising on their right. I shouldn't have forgotten Sesshoumaru exists so soon after we last saw him, but here I am. Jaken looks up at the giant bird corpse with its head missing and expresses some incredulity as Sesshoumaru approaches the scene just as placidly as ever. Sesshoumaru observes the dripping blood from the severed neck, keeping all his surprise that the smell of all that blood that must have come from a body that huge has just vanished to himself. I mean, the smell as well as the blood altogether. I guess NO ONE had to clean it up...
On the hill they had passed behind them, Kagura has appeared, and addresses Sesshoumaru with a slight mocking tone; she says that he's arrived too late to take the entrance that has already closed. Rin shrieks over and over in her alarm over the presence of her former kidnapper, and Jaken stutters Kagura's name indignantly, asking what's with her showing up a lot around Sesshoumaru recently.
Surprised he's not murdering her?
Sesshoumaru asks what she means by this "entrance" she mentioned, and Kagura is in a little shock that he actually took the bait for once. He almost ALWAYS takes the bait, girl, you've just been unlucky in your efforts. Aloud, she tells him she's referring to the path that leads to the boundary between this world and the next, the one that Inuyasha and Naraku have already taken. After a pause, Sesshoumaru says that it sounds from her tone that she knows of another way. She admits readily that she does know of another way, but also that she doesn't know if even HE can pass through it safely. Dude looks half-asleep, as always. Still got a stash nearby, I see.
Meanwhile, in the center of the blood-tunnel Inuyasha and company have been rocketing down, they acknowledge with excitement a point of light that's expanding in front of them. Miroku suggests it's the exit, donning the Captain Obvious hat once more, and Inuyasha tells Kagome to hold on tight. The tunnel is suddenly vanished, and they are suspended in midair with a jagged peak and a couple of bony birds visible in the distance.
A couple of those skeleton birds helpfully come flying up and under Inuyasha and Kagome, who drop onto one of their backs, like they're those cabs that hang out at the airport arrival wing. Convenient. Miroku looks around, taking stock of this place they call the boundary between this world and the next, and Sango also characterizes as the youkai's graveyard. All the bodies that dissolve in the physical world reconstitute themselves here, probz. Inuyasha snaps at them that this is no time to be casually sightseeing, because Naraku got there before them, even if it was just one step. He is not, as far as I can tell, visible anymore, so it makes sense that Inuyasha is a little on edge. He's thinking that it's likely Naraku's plan to hide himself until Kagome can find the outstanding Shikon shard.
Kagome is indeed keeping her eyes peeled, looking intently at the skeleton of Inuyasha's father in the distance. Suddenly, there's a glare that flashes out from that very skeleton, growing in intensity as Inuyasha and Kagome look on in shock.
One of the bone-birds is torn apart by what Miroku calls "shining spears" in alarm, the glittering onslaught continuing to shoot toward them. Inuyasha draws Tessaiga with a curse, assuming that this is Naraku's doing as he deflects the spears with his sword, which is much rattled by the task and passes that rattling up to Inuyasha himself.
A few chips from a spear sprinkle down where Myouga is sitting on one of Inuyasha's beads, and he declares with surprise that this is diamond. Kagome repeats the word as an exclamation, looking to Myouga for further explanation, and he says it's the hardest jewel in the world that the spears are made of. Miroku calls from behind them that he can't sense Naraku's evil aura, so Inuyasha questions who the hell is behind this attack.
Kagome alerts Inuyasha to the fact that there's a Shikon fragment, the one they're looking for, no doubt, INSIDE his father's grave. Inuyasha gapes in yet more shock, and as they get even nearer to the giant skeleton, a voice from off-panel comments bitterly on how the visitors are all still alive.
And while you're explaining THAT, maybe tell me WHAT the hell you are. That is a WILD morphology you've got there, buddy.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The distinct impression I got as to the rush to this arc's end is at last tempered somewhat with the ticking clock. It makes sense that Inuyasha and company would only have so much time to figure out whether they wanted to go ahead and take the blood river to their destination, because Tekkei's body can only have so much blood. While it IS rash of them to jump in there without a return plan, with the frankly BLIND excuse that Naraku has to be hobbled in the same way (not factoring in his extended time for planning for exactly this issue is just brain-dead if I'm being honest), their fears of Naraku getting to that Shikon shard before they do is a valid motivator. Weighing the lack of a path back with the real possibility of Naraku becoming all the more powerful and closer to a complete jewel, it's easy to see why anyone, especially impulsive teenagers, would decide to worry about the former when they got to that point.
For all that anxiety Rin had about Sesshoumaru killing her new friend Kohaku for his role in that little kidnapping scheme of Naraku's, the scene with Kagura might prove all of it moot. Kagura was the one who kidnapped Rin in the first place, and yet here Sesshoumaru is, having a casual chat with her about hints she's dropping, NOT murdering her face. All while Rin is screaming about Kagura being near as well. It's further evidence that this isn't about Rin and the threat to her so much as Sesshoumaru trying to get back at the main villain for catching him unawares. Rin is young, though, and it's probably not going to occur to her that Kohaku seems perfectly safe from Sesshoumaru's wrath, poor thing.
I'm pleased to see that there's been some tie-in to the beginning of this "path to the border between worlds" arc, because the recent death of the youkai jeweler strikes one as kind of a big deal when it's brought up, what with him suspiciously using up all those jewels before he died. Now we've got a shining diamond skull shooting diamonds at our protagonists when they get to the border, which, spoiler alert, is no coincidence. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good setup and payoff, and this one satisfies.
Not the best I've ever seen, but it's far from disappointing.
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