#Only for the anime to make Shippo do it instead

[shinidamachu]

I also noticed in my reread of the manga that the anime made Kikyo seem more powerful. In the manga Inuyasha easily parried Kikyo’s attack when she was first resurrected and chose to throw aside the sword to reason with her, and even got ready to strike her down and cracked his knuckles in order to bring Kagome back. In the anime he was easily overwhelmed by Kikyo and was only saved by Kagome waking up. I’m seeing Sunrise’s bias 🙄

And there's nothing wrong with making Kikyo seem more powerful. Inuyasha was constantly getting upgrades for Tessaiga without us as much as batting an eye over it.

The difference is that we were there when he found and got Tessaiga. We were there to see him struggle to master it. We were there for each and every single breakthrough. We know the how and we know the why.

Kikyo's power-ups, on the other hand, seem to come out of thin air most of the time. I'm sure she must have worked for it, but it wasn't shown, so there's a bit of a disconect between her journey getting there and the audience, which makes her achievements turn out to be not as satisfying as they could have been.

It's like, we know what the stabilished powers of a pristess are and so we think we know what Kikyo's powers are limited to, but then she does something new that doesn't fit that criteria and our only explanation is that she was the most powerful priestess of her time. Which makes sense, but also tells us that it's not important how she came to be so powerful, only that she is.

So why should we care when she uses a new trick? It's probably something she has known how to do for a while, anyway. We weren't rooting for her to get it right. We weren't anticipating it. We just roll with it.

The problem is that, in order to make Kikyo seem more powerful, Sunrise often gave her scenes where Kagome was originally the one kicking ass and taking names. And that's what I have issues with. Take this scene for instance:

Kikyo is the kind of character who doesn't do anything without a reason, so why would she interfere? She doesn't really knows Koga. She has probably no idea of his connection to Inuyasha — and even if she had, I don't peg her for comeone who'd care, considering how she treated Kagome most of the time. Koga is a demon with two jewel shards. Why help him out instead of taking them from him herself or waiting Naraku's incarnation finish the job to sweep in and do it? Because in the manga, Kagome is the one who saves Koga:

Which makes infinitely more sense and proves that there was no actual reason behind this "creative" change other than making Kikyo look cooler. The entirety of Sunrise's adaptation is full of these little shenanigans. Do you want to see a practical example of how this affects the general perception of the audience regarding the characters?

Here's Kagome diligently destroying a Naraku puppet to save an unconscious Kikyo. She actively uses the bow and arrow she didn't know how to shoot in the beginning of her journey to save someone she judges to be her love rival. And she suceeds without overthinking it or breaking a sweat.

But Sunrise thought it would be better to just do this instead:

The result? People naturally praise Kikyo for being the biggest girl boss in Inuyasha for stuff that was originally done by Kagome:

Don't get me wrong, it's great that people will appreciate Kikyo — this was exactly what Sunrise was going for, anyway — but it rubs me the wrong way that it came with the price of Kagome getting constantly criticized for being a "damsel in distress" who never does anything.

When your adaptation changes the story so much that people wrongfully perceives your female lead as useless despite the many, many scenes you still animated of her saving the day — and specifically saving the life of her supposed rival, who they judge to be much stronger and independent than her — that's when you know you fucked up.

And the worst part is that people are either blissfully unaware of this irony — because they haven't read the manga — or straight up dishonest about it.

The funny thing is: Kikyo didn't need any of that. What Sunrise did was the equivalent of taking original scenes of her being kind or compassionate and giving it to Kagome instead. It wasn't necessary. Kikyo was stabilished as a powerful woman from her very first appearance:

Kagome was the one who needed to prove herself in battle because she was the 15 year modern girl who was tossed untrained in the middle of a feudal era "life or death" situation. She was the one I wanted to see exploring and using her spiritual powers, because that's what her character needed to grow.

What Kikyo needed was humanization, glimpses of the ordinary woman she has always wanted to be. Empowerment is important, but it's also multifaceted and it falls flat when it focuses on power for the sake of power.

I'd gladly exchange any of those changes for scenes of Kikyo coping with taking a human life or using women's souls to stay on the world of the living. Scenes of Kikyo realizing she has become the very thing she used to fight against and how seeking for revenge affected the people she loves.

Scenes of Kikyo regretting decisions she can't take back, scenes of Kikyo bonding with Kaede both before and after her death, scenes of Kikyo acknowledging the part she played on the way her relationship with Inuyasha ended and apologizing for the hell she put him through over it.

That's how you make her character relatable and empathetic. That's how you highlight her complexities and makes her interesting. Kikyo being pretty while shooting arrows is absolutely stunning on screen, but it does little to create a truly emotional attachment to her character, at least for me.

As for the particular scene you brought up, Inuyasha was, in fact, easily overwhelmed by Kikyo in the anime. When she first attacks him, he just... lets her.

While in the manga, Inuyasha is quick to dodge it.

He does try to defend himself in the anime. However, Kikyo's arrow manages to stop Tessaiga's transormation and almost hits his heart.

None of which happens in the anime, where Inuyasha not only defends himself but also actively pushes back.

Sure, Kikyo still succeeds in zapping the hell out of him, but only because Inuyasha threw Tessaiga aside to reason with her, like you pointed out. When that didn't work, he cracked his knuckles in order to strike her down, before realizing he couldn't do it and then Kagome comes in with the save. In the anime, he didn't even try.

And the hug I mentioned, when he's attempting to appease Kikyo and she cries on his arms for a moment? Completely erased in favor of making her push her elderly sister aside twice and hurting Inuyasha more than originally intended while also referring to him as "beast", "monster" and "half breed."

I understand why Sunrise wanted to give Kikyo more screen time – she's a key character and people seem to have a good time drawing and animating her – but they focused mostly on making her look "cool" by kicking up a notch on the whole "vengeful spirit" thing and ended up shooting themselves on the foot by going too far.

They really thought the nonsense added scenes, like Inuyasha watching her bath or telling the audience they were always by each other's side – while actually showing them sitting far apart, Inuyasha being left to chase after the carriage she was in instead of being there with her, etc – would make up for the hug they cut out in order to give Kikyo more "badass" moments.

That's because they realized the couple had no substancy whatsoever and to remedy that, prioritized telling us that they were together for at least a couple of seasons instead of making the effort to show us this so called deep love. The hug was meaningful and made sense. Inuyasha dramatically laying on the ground while mentally screaming her name after telling her she needed to return the last piece of Kagome's soul – which is how Sunrise decided to end the episode – did not.

Especially because in the manga, he checked on Kagome before...

And after he left to try and get the remaining piece of her soul back – knowing what it would mean to Kikyo.

Plus, while obviously sad about Kikyo's "death", he also seems to accept this was for the best and acts like he is pretty much ready to move on.

Not to mention how he panicked when Shippo brought up the possibility of Kagome not being Kagome anymore and how absolutely relieved he was when he realized it wasn't the case.

And if this wasn't enough, he spent a good three panels blushing over Kagome right after the whole ordeal.

Those scenes had two purposes. One was to solidify, once more, Kagome as her own person to the audience and to Inuyasha, as well as a love interest. He had the opportunity to get Kikyo back and still wanted her to return the soul – even if it meant Kikyo would cease to exist – because he didn't want to risk Kagome not waking up or not being herself anymore, since he was already falling in love with her. Kikyo herself guilt trips him about it when he tries to convince her.

The other was to contrast Inuyasha's first reaction to Kikyo's ressurection and the information that they were both set up with his reaction after he was told that Kikyo died for him and therefore he owes her his life. The former consists on him standing up for himself and rightfully seeing himself as a victim, the latter consists on him blaming himself out of proportion based on a blalant lie. That's why in the manga he takes her "second" death so well, while the others really take a toll on him. In the anime, however, it's like he is already blaming himself when she falls off that cliff.

I attribute this change of attitude to another scene Sunrise thought fit to delete:

Of course the anime also has Inuyasha denying Kikyo's accusations, but he is way less effusive about it in there. Originally, when he realizes they were fooled into thinking they betrayed each other, he acts like they were both at fault for distrusting each other and are, therefore, even. So when she "dies" there's nothing he can do but wish for her to rest in peace and move on despite how sad it makes him.

All of this really sucks, because as you can see, the changes they did in favor of Kikyo either didn't work on her favor at all or heavily impacted the characterization of others – Inuyasha and Kagome especially – in a negative way, in addition to creating huge inconsistencies plot and narrative wise.

TLDR: yes, Sunrise's bias is obvious. And ironically, I think if they had liked Kikyo less, she would have been a much better written character because they wouldn't be afraid to give her the development she needed.

[ahimoth-storm]

some relatable quotes (and why)

so i wanted to make a post about some quotes from anime/movies/cartoons that relate to me in a way. there is a lot, to be honest, so for now i'll only put a few. who knows, i might do a part 2 and songs next. if you have any quotes you relate to, feel free to comment them!

now that i look over this....i realized it looks more like a vent post due to me adding why the quote is relatable in parenthesis... shit-

I don't understand why everybody has to be so judgmental. ...."Hey, Cody's just a bum." "Cody's this," "Cody's that," "Cody's this." Cody's me, bro. Let me be me. When is that going to start? ~Cody Maverick, Surf's up (constantly being compared to others, told i should be like this or more like that)

I, am on, *so* much migraine medication you have no idea... The stress is killing me. I dunno how much longer I can last, I have to tell you that right now! ~Mikey Abromowitz, Surf's up (i have chronic migraines; stress makes it worse)

No joy, man. No joy...Fail. ~Big Z, Surf's up (me after telling myself "i'ma have a good day" and it ends up being shit)

Mikey, why don't you head on over to the snack bar and get yourself a big bowl of shut up? ~Reggie Belafonte, Surf's up (me when i am not in a good mood and people make it worse. me when someone pisses me off then tries to make me laugh)

heh heh, this place sucks, bro. ~Cody Maverick, Surf's up (me at school, me at home, me at the store, me in any sort of inconvenient/annoying place)

i promote happiness! can you see the happiness emanating from me!? what's wrong with you? ~Reggie Belafonte, Surf's up (me looking in the mirror when i am one minor inconvenience away from absolutely losing my shit)

*sigh.* why is it that whenever i'm having fun, it's wrong? ~Squidward, Spongebob (me. just me)

what are those neanderthals doing?.... ~Squidward, Spongebob (me with my nosy neighbors, me at the store and people are acting absolutely RIDICULOUS)

too bad that didn't kill me. ~Squidward, Spongebob (me, with just anything)

i hate all of you. ~Squidward, Spongebob (me after i graduated in 2023)

well, it wouldn't be the first time you ruined everything. ~Squidward, Spongebob (me when my family just can't get along, younger me with my little brother 'cause my father always favored him)

wake me up when i care. ~Squidward, Spongebob (me when my little brother constantly woke me up for the damn nintendo wii (i wanted to do what Squidward did when he bashed his head into the register, but to a table or wall instead))

why am i always the one handing out apologies? ~Shippo, Inuyasha (was blamed for everything; grew a habit of apologizing for everything)

...nothing i could've gained was worth losing her. nothing at all. ~Sesshomaru, Inuyasha (i lost my grandma in january of 2021)

i want you to be happy. i want you to laugh a lot. i don't know what i'll be able to do for you, but i'll always be by your side. ~Kagome, Inuyasha (me to my best friend who i've known and been friends with since 2018)

people like you… are the reason why people like me need medication. ~Inuyasha, Inuyasha (many people in the world, and many types of people, are driving me up a fucking wall)

i just don't like giving up, there's a difference! ~Inuyasha, Inuyasha (i refuse to give up on something/someone that means so much to me, unless i absolutely have a good reason (even then, a part of me still wants to refuse giving up))

i can't be at peace until i find out the truth. Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon (there are a lot of things happening in my family, as it was split in half when i was very young. one side says this, the other side says that. i'm in constant turmoil trying to figure out who is and who isn't lying. it feels like the equivalent of being ripped apart)

18 quotes, and now my fingers are cramped T^T they'll only cramp more when i add the tags.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 111 Rundown

Kaguya-sama: Love is War: I ended up quite liking this episode actually, we start with cat ear shenanigans which are always fun, then we get a game of Guess Who which may or may not reveal Chika’s tragic backstory (which she’s rapping because of reasons) like she confirms she was just bullshitting for the sake of the game but Miyuki theorizes she’s pulling a Rick Sanchez and hiding her real tragic backstory in a fake tragic backstory and idk if that’s true but I do know it’s more fun when Chika’s cruel to people than when the others are because she’s fun about it. Also there’s an arc about them going shopping except they don’t go shopping and Miyuki talks to Kaguya with his dick out but even though they didn’t go shopping they still have all the shit for the party so I guess they DID go shopping offscreen but all I know is butler lady is pretty cool and doesn’t afraid of anything. Also French people are there and the school headmaster wants to fuck with Miyuki to test his shonen protagonist resolve but he can’t understand French except he does get the general vibe of it and actually DOES have shonen protagonist resolve before Kaguya steps in and gives the French quivalent of cursing someone out before confessing something to Miyuki in another language he doesn’t understand. Yeah this was a good one, I liked how Miyuki layered the usual conflict with genuine care about Chika for reasons unrelated to their psychotic game and I liked how the shit with the headmaster varied the conflict up a bit, just like we’re only four episodes in and while the show’s very funny the main conflict of watching two awful people making each other miserable because they feel entitled to each other is kinda getting old so it’s nice to have a breath of fresh air like this.

Inuyasha: We’re still on the hunt for Naraku’s flower water but we get a nice little arc about this kid that’s the headman of the village protecting Hijire Island where St. Hakushin did the thing from BotW where all the Shekiah make themselves living mummies to give Link a spirit orb but turns out Bankotsu’s on Hijiri Island because it’s a good balance of a weaker barrier than Mt. Hakurei to not kill or repel Inuyasha outright but make him weak enough to dominate in a fight because the barrier weakens a good demon more than a bad human because spiritual power is racist. Inuyasha actually does open with a Wind Scar for once but the barrier makes it so he basically can’t do anything but normal Tessaiga swings and even those are weaker so Bankotsu has the complete advantage. It’s kind of funny how Bankotsu’s also weakened by the barrier but he doesn’t seem to enjoy the fight with Inuyasha not at top strength. Eventually Miroku rubs some paper on Shippo and that tells him the barrier is in this bauble thing and he and the headman’s kid use their monk staves to break the barrier which is cool. Though now that the barrier’s down both Inuyasha and Bankotsu are back to full power and they realize that they could’ve only put up a barrier here if Hakushin was working for Naraku, so yeah, we get a evil mummy on our hands.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Damn the animation fucking pops off in this episode so randomly like it looks really weird and surreal and fluid like it doesn’t always look amazing but it looks like everything that’s happening is a bizarre coma dream and that’s kind of amazing. Hiei starts summoning the Dragon of the Darkness Flame and everyone flips their shit for ten minutes straight while Bui just kinda t-poses to assert dominance and waits for him to finish. Once he launches it it fucking bodyslams Bui around the arena for a while as he tries to push it off with his DBZ aura powers and he eventually does push it back to Hiei and eats him because it’s a fucking dragon made of hellfire and it’s gonna eat whatever it fucking wants. However Hiei eats the dragon instead and is all ‘now I got a dragon tummy that makes me better at punching shit than you’ and basically turns off Bui’s Super Saiyan and slams him down in one hit. Bui asks him to kill him since he’s hit his peak after Toguro told him to keep growing after he beat him last time but Hiei’s like ‘losers don’t tell me what to do’ and spares him before passing out because having a dragon tummy is exhausting apparently. I’m not entirely sure how this affects the power scaling because idk if he can just go Dragon form at any time now or what but honestly if Dragon Hiei could fight for more than five seconds he might do a decent job against Toguro anyway.

Fate/Apocrypha: So this episode has a lot of dumb Fate stuff but I actually kinda really like it. So Team Yggy pins down Spartacus because he’s basically a naked guy yelling in the forest and they talk like they’re able to take him over and convert him or some shit which is weird. Achilles and Atalante talk about how Team Priest Shirou hasn’t seen any of their Masters except for Priest Shirou almost like they’re some kind of nameless faceless battery charging them but it’s not like that’s possible in this world. Anyway one of the nameless faceless batteries from Team Yggy escapes with the help of their local femboi and is like ‘well fuck why do I even live if I’m gonna die in a few years and Astolfo’s just like ‘bro I died already and am prolly gonna die again within the next few days but fuck it, yolo and all that’ while the two teams basically have battles of proxies with the Archers where Fat Yggy uses two Command Seals to get Siegfried to try and take the fight seriously and just Getsuga Tensho them all because he doesn’t know the rules, Getsuga Tenshos are only for the season premiere and season finale bro. Anyway Fat Yggy corners Sieg and uses his Armament haki to repel his attack which makes Sieg… explode I guess? I mean the guy was basically made of wet tissue as it was so getting his attack bounced killed him. Anyway Siegfried remembers he has to have a character arc after four episodes and rips out his heart and gives it to Sieg to make sure he doesn’t die which is… kinda like Dragonheart? Like it’s kinda the reverse in this case but all I know is one of these dudes should’ve been voiced by Sean Connery. But yeah as weird and abrupt as it is I kinda like how Siegfried saving Sieg because he felt like it lines up with Astolfo’s speech about living just cause you feel like it, it’s a neat theme that ties things together and I appreciate that.

Nisemonogatari: So we finally get into the plot of this arc and start off after Kiyomi bolted the fuck out of Hitagi’s SAW trap to find everything… pretty fine actually, like Hanekawa already picked up his little sisters, I mean Karen has a deadly bee virus (bees, my god…) but other than that the situation is much less urgent than the last episode implied, turns out Hitagi just shat herself because Hanekawa pulled the ‘first girl’ card and threatened to move in on Kiyomi if she didn’t quit being Jigsaw for a sec. Kiyomi is pissed because his sisters are off playing Super Sentai Apparition hunters with legit no clue what they’re doing which aside from some passive vampire powers is exactly what he’s been doing for the past few months too. Hanekawa confirms that Kaiki cursed Karen when she confronted him about giving a bunch of shitty charms that summon demon snakes and shit like that what happened to Nadeko and a lot of other girls have been having problems to a lesser extent. Since his sister is dying he decides to take a bath to not fucking yell at her more since that’ll probably not help the whole dying thing plus you know teenage girls they can’t show symptoms of their deadly bee virus to their big brother. Meanwhile Shinobu comes out of Kiyomi’s shadow in the bath and is also naked, I guess she left her clothes in his shadow or something? Anyway despite this being another naked loli moment for no reason I kinda love Shinobu now that she talks, like apparently she was just being emo on autopilot for a few months because being lolied kinda fucked with her head and she decided she was being kind of a dick but she doesn’t like Kiyomi despite being his vampire thrall and they’ll still be pissed at each other for off-screen backstory stuff but they’ll work together when it suits them both. Apparently Shinobu’s gonna be the new apparition exposition dumper since she basically has a backup of all Oshino’s random-ass anecdotes and fills Kiyomi in on the deadly bee virus (bees, my god…) and is like ‘hey you might have a vampire lifespan now, everyone you care about is gonna die, wanna ditch everyone you love and come chill out with a 400 year old loli?” which is one of the weirdest ways to hit on someone. Also his not-bee-infected sister comes in and almost stabs a bitch so that’s a thing.

Speed Grapher: Now that Suitengu’s dudes are after Saiga he tearasses a way through the city to get as much info about the Roppongi club and Kagura as he can in really creative ways, it’s really kinda fun to watch how he blackmails a senator, uncovers the secret eyes wide shut cult that keeps the city running with the power of orgies and sneaks into Kagura’s home disguised as her tutor in like, a day. It also made me chuckle when Kagura said she’d ‘seen enough’ of her old teacher considering the last time she saw her she was running out of her house naked carrying fat stacks of cash as her only clothing. All the while Saiga baits the goons staking out his house and sends Hibari and her whole fucking police unit to ambush them when they come out, they don’t get anyone important but they do get a handful of mooks so that’s cool, also I love how Hibari’s chief is like ‘just please be normal, stop running around crippling people every day’ but is also way too scared of her to put it any more assertive way. Anyway Saiga gets Kagura out of her house by fucking paragliding her out which is fucking dope and they’re intercepted by the Rubber Gimp dude who just Gum-Gum Rockets right over to where they are. Saiga tells Kagura to meet him under the billboard while he fights with Rubber Dude. Seems like getting a direct shot of him is hard cause he bounces around so fucking much and trying to stab him is just about worthless since, you know, rubber. However he finishes him off in a really cool way when he gets dragged through a window he pulls out the glass shard in his side, tosses it up in the air and takes a picture to make rubber dude’s head explode right when he’s the only one in the reflection which is SO FUCKING DOPE. Like this is basically endgame Lelouch’s strategy form Code Geass and it’s like episode four. Though that does make me wonder how his power works since it didn’t blow up the glass shard itself but what was reflected in it, not sure if it bounced the light off or if it’s because rubber dude was the ‘focus’ of the picture but theoretically all you’d have to do to beat Saiga was wear a suit of reflective plastic and he couldn’t do shit to you but we’re still fleshing out how this works so who knows.

Durararax2: Varona’s angsting over her boyfriend/archenemy getting arrested when she runs into Sloan and Izaya with Sloan telling her to get the fuck out of town because shit’s about to go down but Varona loves the downward motion of shit so it’s not very effective. Walker ends up having a little fight with Izumii who’s still kind of pissed for the whole burning half his face off thing and admits he wasn’t the one who ran over Kadota and Walker agrees because he’d have finished him off, though before Izumii can promise to kill them both some more he gets called off by his boss who I don’t remember who he’s working for at this point or even if we’ve been told that yet. Akabayashi approaches Mikado and decides not to murder his face in but tells him to stop the whole gang war thing before the real mafia has to get involved. Mikado’s kinda gone off the deep end at this point though and tells Celty he’s gonna take out Masaomi’s Yellow Scarves because they’re trying to stop him from beating the shit out of Dollars members who fuck up, basically saying ‘this gang friendship shit is WAY too complicated so fuck it, just gonna beat people up and sort it out later’. We then get a magnificent gambit pileup where Izaya runs over Yodogiri except that was a body double except he also runs over the replacement body double except Kujiragi is actually the leader EXCEPT Izaya knows that EXCEPT she knows he knows and also she’s the owner of the mother of Anri’s Saika and has Sloan fucking body him. Also Celty comes back to her apartment and fucking everyone including the formerly kidnapped Namie are there… end of Part 2 Chapter 2.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 104 Rundown

Inuyasha: So right off the back of last episode Kagome, Sango and Miroku are still poisoned and it doesn’t seem to be something they can just sleep off, leaving Inuyasha, Shippo and Kirara to do the bulk of the work. It’s kind of a neat dynamic, like yeah Inuyasha is 99% of the group’s fighting power anyway but Shippo has to pick up the slack with utility and dialogue and stuff and it’s nice to see him do stuff every once in a while. Ginkotsu attacks and he’s some kind of Feudal Cyborg which I have no idea how the fuck that works given they only just discovered gunpowder exists but he has cannons and mechanical limbs and fucking magnetic buzzsaws strapped to him, it does make for a fun fight though and he’s able to actually stop Inuyasha from using the Wind Scar by tying him up and not giving him enough room to swing (see like I said last time if Inuyasha just fucking opened every fight with a Wind Scar this series would be a lot shoter) he manages to get around it though by sheathing the Tessaiga and dodging the strings manually before getting enough clearance to jump into the air where there are no strings and use the Wind Scar. Guess it fucking misses though because Ginkotsu just gets buried in a big hole instead of getting disinitegrated so guess all those aerial acrobatics fucked up Inuyasha’s aim a bit. Meanwhile Shippo gets everyone to a temple and it’s the temple where Renkotsu is disguised as a monk and puts everyone to sleep to hold them hostage. It’s actually pretty tense because Kagome can see Renkotsu’s jewel shard and instantly knows he’s a Band of Seven member (which I don’t think he knows she can see it) but doesn’t have the strength to say it so it’s kind of a Misery situation where she’s bedridden at the mercy of a madman. He says he won’t kill them because he has a deal for Inuyasha and if he comes by and all his friends are dead he won’t be in a deal-making mood which is fine I guess but honestly just take the chance bro, like not only would you massively cut down on potential problems but Ginkotsu’s fighting Inuyasha to the death right now and made it very clear he wants to kill him so you’re rooting for your best cyborg buddy to fail if you think Inuyasha’s showing up at all, I know Ginkotsu’s a dick but like why not let Ginkotsu in on the plan so he can help instead of potentially fucking it up?

Yu Yu Hakusho: It’s Team Toguro’s time for the semi-finals and taking a page out of Yusuke’s book they decided to also go into it 3v5 since Younger Toguro (god that’s awkward to say why did they never give these brothers first names?) is sitting this one out and they just plain don’t have a fifth member. Mask dude beats up Discount Acid Piccolo by blowing him up and Kurama watches like ‘shit that’s broken’ because he’s watching the matches on Genkai’s advice because she’s the only one that knows how tournament arcs work (honestly it’s kind of weird that everyone they face seem to be using their tricks for the first time since the announcers always act surprised) Hiei meanwhile decides to say fuck it to the old lady’s rules and decides screaming into a bonfire and making bonfire dragons is a better use of his time. Genkai’s giving everyone advice like actually complimenting Kuwabara on his gentle soul and telling Keiko how much Yusuke loves her like she’s walking off to die. Bui beats giant sword guy by becoming even gianter axe guy and swinging a stupidly heavy weapon bigger than he is like it has no momentum which is probably the most concentrated anime thing ever within like a minute’s time. Elder Toguro fights the last three on his own and they have the same lame afterimage deal that we’ve seen a couple times now and murders one of them by just hitting everywhere while making the surviving two beg for their lives only to kill the one that actually begs and reveal that Bui and Karasu were recruited in the same way by getting the shit beat out of them until they joined Team Toguro out of pure spite to become strong enough to kill them. Honestly that’s pretty neat and if they added this last dude as their fifth member they probably would’ve won since if I recall the last round has some shenanigans with who the fifth member is and having an actual alternate would’ve come in real hand but Elder Toguro’s an asshole and murders this last dude too just because his brother’s not here to yell at him for not doing it. Kurama meets the other two in the hallway and they do the anime thing of ‘I’m so fast I could’ve killed you but I won’t’ and Karasu has a big gay boner for Kurama but who doesn’t. Genkai and Toguro meet up and hash out their history, idk why they have to do this now when it could happen during the tournament and Genkai could still contribute to fighting for the team and maybe wear Toguro down a bit if she’s determined to die but I guess they don’t want the tournament structure getting in the way of their fight. But yeah, next episode recap is a solemn speech by Yusuke with no background music and it’s called “The Death of Genkai” wonder what’ll happen.

Fate Extra: Hakuno, Nero and Rin finally reach the last floor and their opponent is that dude from the first episode who killed someone with chess and has only been vaguely mentioned since but we’re supposed to be afraid of them. Apparently Girl!Hakuno only beat him last time because he was having his period that day or something and his broken ability forgot to be broken idk they say things and then refuse to give context, I’d kill for an exposition dump at this point. Anyway his Servant is Gawain who’s been playing groundskeeper for 900 years after Ansem the Twice rescued his Master and the kid started agreeing with him out of nowhere and is like ‘Yeah sure kill all humans with the moon computer why not’ and they said if Gawain fought Twicedude they wouldn’t have lost like Boob!Hakuno did so get fucked I guess. They also steal the scene from Code Geass where they’re talking about past regrets and an unmoveable present but the protagonist wants the Future which is kind of funny because Gawain’s garden does kind of look like the Thought Elevator. So yeah we’re gonna go full Wall-E and have Hakuno reset the world for humans to kind of keep going after a thousand year boot up period even though that means Hakuno and Rin will die because they’re basically computer programs at this point. Leo’s garden area is pretty neat, like the way Gawain doesn’t really wanna fight anymore but is just going off the last thing that made sense to him the whole thing kind of reminds me of a Dark Souls boss which is always fun. Leo wakes up and schools Hakuno and Nero with Gawain’s Sun Kamehameha Getsuga Tensho and shoots them all the way down to the first floor to start a New Game+ speedrun.

Bakemonogatari: So before they can give Black Hanekawa the succ to calm her down, they find out Shinobu’s missing and since she’s the best succ-er around they’re kinda fucked also she’s a nigh-powerless vampire in the body of a child wandering around looking for gas station donuts so someone should prolly take care of that. It’s funny how Hitagi talks about Araragi being equally concerned for Shinobu and Hanekawa and that being a sign of his kindness but to be fair he didn’t even start looking for Shinobu until they needed her to fix Hanekawa so idk if that really checks out, like I’m sure he’s concerned but I wouldn’t exactly call it equal. Black Hanekawa escapes being tied up because cat and also Oshino just kinda peaced out on watching her and is just like ‘well I was trying to relieve Hanekawa’s stress and vampire succ is WAY more efficient than murder so let’s find your vampire loli” and Araragi enlists his whole harem sans Hitagi who’s covering directly for Hanekawa to search the city for Shinobu (also all of them tell him the same jokes from the write-in show from last episode which doesn’t relate to anything I just thought it was funny) Black Hanekawa is just as fun as her memetic sexy ditz status would imply and kind of puts the screws to Araragi about how since Apparitions are creatures that live off of either human suffering or worship just paling around with them casually won’t be enough to satisfy them and Shinobu’s prolly really frustrated about going from busty god of all vampires to glorified utility item loli. Also she tells him the reason Hanekawa’s manifested the same amount of stress in a few weeks as it took for 17 years in abusive household is because she likes him and now that he’s with Hitagi that’s really frustrated her and if they just forget Hitagi and boink then this whole situation can disappear. So yeah, one episode left and that’s where they’re leaving the cliffhanger, I mean anyone with eyes could see that was where this was going all along but there is something kind of amazing about what a pure distillation of the harem genre this has become, like the formation of his harem has literally become the instigator of the plot it’s so dumb and I kind of love it.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So Hotaru meets up with Chibi-Usa in the Shadow Realm and is protecting both her and her crystal from the full control of… fuck I don’t remember Dark Hotaru’s name and I’m not looking it up, I remember it’s a kinky title and a number so I’mma just say Dominatrix Six. So we essentially have a pause on that whole “Mamoru has to stretch his soul out to keep Chibi-Usa’s heart from stopping” which really didn’t go anywhere I guess they just really didn’t want Mamoru to be a part of this climax. Hotaru’s dad has a flashback about he was an ordinary evil genius when he got a message from an evil space god that impregnated his lab assistant and turned him into a SUPER evil genius… as one does. He traps Usagi and the Outer Senshi in an elevator of death that… does… something. Idk it looks like it takes them to the Shadow Realm but Usagi is just like “Oh no I’m scared, wait no I’m not.” And heart-beams it away and he never mentions the trap or what it was supposed to do once they get to his basement full of goo monsters. They stomp the goo monsters and he becomes Purple Piccolo for a bit and is supposedly stronger but Haruka kicks his ass and is about to kill him when Usagi suddenly doesn’t want to murder anymore just because it’s Hotaru’s crazy dad but then changes her mind five seconds later just to steal the kill from Haruka. Ancient Egyptian Laser Beams pop out of the floor and Pluto has to Steven Universe Bubble them out of the way but the Inner Guardians who were on the upper floors get caught up in the blast and them getting hit makes Usagi de-transform from Super Saiyan Sailor Saiyan so it means they’re probably dead maybe possibly or far more likely Usagi’ll cry about it for ten minutes and they’ll be fine thanks to the tear of the goofy goober or something.

Durararax2: We get some info that Ruri has a stalker… well she probably has a lot of stalkers but this one’s actually good at it and takes kickboxing and licks thumbnail pics of her and shit. Anri’s worried about Mikado because he’s… happy? I mean she’s right, but just a weird red flag system, she’s just upset that instead of believing Masaomi would come back on his own he seems to be trying to take action to fix the city so he can make Masaomi come back all the while there’s these dudes dressing like Blue Squares and beating the shit out of any Dollars that don’t follow the rules and also they’re doing Dollars membership by invite only now so basically everything’s changed. It’s gone from “There are no rules” to “There are no rules but if you break these non-rules we’ll come beat you up” and “Anyone can join” to “Anyone can join as long as you get an invitation” I don’t know how you make a vetting process seem evil but that’s definitely it. Aoba got an invite to the chat room from Celty because he basically blackmailed her and Akane’s doing her dojo stuff with cute dojo people and the Orihara twins while Ruri’s stalker trains upstairs and also Celty deflected a rocket launcher and blew up a helicopter but is still scared of one dude on a motorcycle. Kasuka comes to Shizuo for help with Ruri’s stalker except he’s not in the Dollars anymore and was just kinda on their mailing list and I’m not entirely convinced he even knows how to work a computer so he’s of no help but they do have him babysit their new cat so now we have cathead Shizuo which it’s hard to improve on old Shizuo but this may be it here fellas. Also Ruri’s stalker is outside Celty’s house and knows Ruri is there but given he’s just some creepy picture-licking dude that knows some kickboxing and Celty’s house has an immortal dullahan, a super strong special effects artist, a hive mind katana schoolgirl, a yandere doctor and whatever the hell Shizuo is I think they MIGHT be able to take him.

[harmfulot]

Hi!! Before you read this or try to take this down please just consider reading this instead of being so hateful. I don’t mean to spread hate onto any shippers but I do believe that Inuyasha’s fandom has a major problem that needs to be addressed. Trigger warning for pedophila,child p*rn and grooming.

Why Sessrin is problematic.

Sessrin is a very popular ship among the Inuyasha community. If you are a shipper of this pair you won’t have to worry for lack of content for it. Rin is a injured child character that is introduced in the original Inuyasha manga in issue 14. She meets Sesshomaru in the forest and even though she is going through a lot at such a young age her kind self still tries to help him out. Sesshomaru at first does not care for this child who is tending to him. He tells her to mind her business and has her leave. Soon after Rin is killed by Kouga’s pack of wolves and Sesshomaru with his demon power scented her blood and comes to save her with his Tenseiga. After this Sessshomaru decides to take in Rin and protect her even though he had a hatred for humans. A “similarly” shippers like to compare Inuyasha and Kagome’s relationship with but their relationship is not written with romantic tensions..

The reason why Rin was written and VERY important in Inuyasha is because she is the reason why Sesshomaru became a better person. He no longer hated humans or wanted to go against his brother. This broken human child Rin looked up to Sesshomaru who was a powerful older demon. Sesshomaru grew a soft side and it was because of her caring innocence. You could easily see their connection as father and daughter or Sesshomaru as a guardian for her. Never did he have the thought of getting with her when she got older and Rin never developed a crush on him. Why? Because she is a child who lost her parents and now has this person who protects her like one. People may say that Jaken was the father figure for Rin but I don’t agree because unlike Sesshomaru he did not care for Rin and only handled her to please his lord. Jaken would call Rin many negative things and go off at her. Rin was annoyed by Jaken. He is certainly not a parent figure for her. Sesshomaru provided a stay aside him to lead for Rin which she followed. Rin was no longer alone. She had Sesshomaru’s company now. Even if he was not very good at taking care of her he never wanted her to get hurt or killed again. He is new to this “taking care of people” thing after all especially humans...young humans. Sessrin would destroy the growth of Sesshomaru because it can’t be denyed that their relationship represents this much more than a romance waiting to happen. When Kagura came along Rin told Jaken joyfully she bet Kagura had a crush on Sesshomaru this small moment reminds you she a is a child that lost her parents and could be seeing this as a opportunity for Kagura to become her adoptive mother. And most Sesshomaru cosplayers would use their daughter to cosplay for Rin. Usually making the picture taken seem like Sesshomaru is protecting Rin or having them both share a cute bonding moment. Why? Because that is how their relationship is meant to be established. For a Sessrin cosplay to work people would have to age up Rin and her design or else the cosplayers would receive negative feedback. Now moving on to how aging up Rin is not okay either.

People claim they only would like to see these two get together once Rin is older but that is almost as bad as shipping Sessrin while she is a child. Sesshomaru saw Rin grow up. He raised her for a while as his own this needs to stop being denied in the fandom. For Sesshomaru to impregnate Rin is out of character. And seems like a sick fanasty. He is not that kind of character. He wouldn’t touch Rin in that matter. Even if she was in her late 20’s. He respected child Rin and would still respect her older. Sessrin is like if a babysitter got together with the person they use to take care of as a kid. It’s disturbing!! Not cute. Rin does not deserve to be fedished.

It’s actually terrifying how much child p*rn there is of Rin. I feel so ashamed by even coming across one by mistake. Don’t use the excuse that Rin is a fictional character. Enough with that excuse. Let’s throw that excuse away. That excuse of “it’s fictional it does not matter..” only works for certain things like when someone assigns headcanons for their favorite character or ships a non-canon pair that isn’t problematic. Not when we are speaking of drawing nsfw of a fictional child. And fictional or not. Rin is a child and every grown person who has drawn smut of her should be ashamed and even arrested. If you see a fictional child in this matter what knows what could you lead you up to see an actual kid as this too. It’s a big problem because there are so many people who have gotten away with this. It’s so easy to find a image of child Rin without any of her clothes on or being r*ped by Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru would never r*pe anyone. It’s quite sad. Kagome was saved from being sexually assaulted by Mukostu because of Sesshomaru. People has even brought doujinshi comics of Sessrin making love or may I call it child p*rn in disguise? Be honest with yourself. It really is just that.

Everyone finding out would be horrified. Excluding Hanyo No Yashahime which majorly changed the characters. Sesshomaru and Rin being together would make everyone uncomfortable even Miroku who has before asked a child if she would bare his kid. Which Inuyasha,Kagome,and Sango reacted very badly to. And was yelled at for it. They do not tolerate pedos nor grooming. Kagome especially would be against. She referred Rin as the girl many times and puzzled together that Sesshomaru took care for Rin. Many people bring up that Kouga proposed to Ayame when she was a kid but remember that was never in the original. Sunrise created Ayame and added this other plot in order for Kouga to have someone at the end. Which is sad because this could have worked if Ayame met Kouga and gained a crush on him instead. She was a cute character after all. In the manga Kouga remains by himself since Kagome stayed with Inuyasha. Now I am definitely not a fan of Kouga and Ayame. I despise the fact Sunrise only created her to be Kouga’s romance interest but having him tell her he would marry her once she was older was even worse. This was a choice Sunrise made not Kouga’s original character. The reason why Kagome does not call out Kouga on this is because she did not know Ayame was a child at the time he proposed. He never mentioned it but if he did I’m certain Kagome would have not tried to keep setting them up together knowing this information. And just a reminder that even in real life some Inuyasha voice actors such as Richard Ian Cox and David Kaye voice actor for Sesshomaru does not support Sessrin. Adding on shipping Rin with Sesshomaru is like shipping Shippo with Inuyasha or Kagome. Weird right?? In the Manga Sesshomaru’s Mother Inukimi says that Sesshomaru is like his father in the strangest of ways after saving Rin again. No this doesn’t mean that he will soon come to love her romantically because Inukimi did add “In the strangest of ways” and refers to Rin as a girl like Kagome. She means that Sesshomaru had now changed and that he cared about someone who was a human like his dad who also cared for them even though they are both demons.

It’s funny how the sequel claims girl power but does not know how to treat it’s female characters. Kagome and Sango are both introduced as Inuyasha and Miroku’s wives instead of their actual character. Now if you not a woman please do not have a say in this unless you wish to agree but this is very sexist Sunrise. I’m not exaggerating how upsetting and disrespectful it is to see you introduce these strong main female role models like this. Inuyasha and Miroku were not titled as husbands of...so why were Kagome and Sango? I’m sure 99% of audience would know who is married to who. Women are not objects or tools Sunrise. Kagome is the main character of Inuyasha even if his name is on title. She is the reason why got to meet these characters. Sunrise has done female characters dirty many times like making Ayame obessed with Kouga when she could have been a neat character but what they did to Rin takes the cake. Rin is introduced as “The girl who adores Sesshomaru” but apparently now that girl is the mother of his children. Shame on you Sunrise!! We only saw Rin ever as a child even when series ended aging her up to become Sesshomaru’s wife without knowing how she is as a grown person is not a good example for your younger female audience to view. This could have been avoided.

Even though I’m a minor who only been in this fandom for half a year I gather a lot of knowledge of how far this fandom goes. It was definitely most popular around early 2000’s and many say it was their first anime with their first anime crush being Sesshomaru. Inuyasha was an anime I did not look content for till later after finishing season 2. When I discovered Sessrin I was real confused and thought to myself it was just a small part of the fandom but I could have been more wrong. Many accounts I followed that involved Inuyasha shipped Sessrin. Even after finishing many Inuyasha episodes I was very confused on why this was a thing and how could have it gotten so big. I thought something magical would have happened like Rin turning out to be someone much older but that never happened. I was wrong. This ship is just pedophila and nothing else. And I’m sure if Sesshomaru wasn’t “attractive” Sessrin wouldn’t be big. Going back to people crushing on Sesshomaru when they were younger I’m sure the reason Sessrin is not more discussed about for how toxic it is online is because besides people being scared,people like to insert themselves as Rin but this has to stop. Adults should not pair a child and grown up together even if the child is now grown. Especially grown ups with kids. This is not good example to set for your kids. I’ve seen many minors being harassed online for disliking Sessrin by adults. Which is super immature and should be in trouble for. Netruals must know that is not a ship war because there have been people who have gotten horrible hate and were told very graphic things by Sessrin shippers. ( By the way I’m sorry to anyone who has been hurt online even Sessrin shippers. I do not support Sessrin but no one should be told awful things. ) Many Inuyasha fans which dislike Sessrin have left Twitter and Tumblr because of how much hate they have gotten. This is not okay. People should be able to voice their opinion on something without being told to commit s*icide or hoping they get r*ped.

And your point? This sequel is being written in the 21th century. We could write it however we please not everything has to be “accurate” and also this state is just supporting the idea of children being wed with a grown up was okay before because the age of consent was different. Ugh..but this claim is just another excuse. Please stop using it. Many things in the past were allowed which wouldn’t be allowed today. So no this is not a valid reason to ship Rin with Sesshomaru.

Sunrise should not be off the hook for using child Rin clips for the opening as the daughters are shown. It was a wrong decision to make them seem like “moments” since now many actual pedophiles will support this pair as well. Even before this continuing was announced Sessrin was a big thing and “adult Rin” was not. Sunrise should not be supporting Sessrin at all. Nor anyone in the Inuyasha crew. They have many young fans watching and supporting this anime and they are being influenced and will grow up to think grooming is okay when it’s not. Again in 2021 this can not be allowed and it shouldn’t have ever. This sequel was not necessary. The anime ended fine.

If Rin is the mom I will no longer support Hanyo No Yashahime. I’m sorry but I will sadly have to drop it. There are a lot of reasons why Sessrin should not be a thing and Sunrise should know many themselves,because they have joined along these character’s journeys and seen through scripts who they are. And what Sessrin is pedophila and grooming that happened to get a lot of support which is why it is hard to find more people within online media discuss it. I sure do hope it does because I am tired of seeing only few doing it. We need more awareness of how problematic grooming pairs are in anime media. No more portraying children to grow up as romance interests for people they were raised by. Let’s keep Sesshomaru and Rin’s relationship wholesome. There is no need for them to get together. At the end of the day Rin owns Sesshomaru nothing and he knows that. Let’s start viewing them from a different point of view. Let’s see more fanart of them acting like father and daughter. I love that. Thank you and have a good day.

[chenoehi]

The comet, Zero and Riku’s comments, and Sesshomaru’s...age?

To branch off of this post, I was thinking about what was going through Sesshomaru’s mind as he waited for the twins to be born. Like, did he know the comet was coming, did that play a part in his whisking the twins away, or was he just on guard because he knew demons might take advantage once the news spread, etc. That led me down this specific rabbit hole.

So, Sesshomaru presumably knew that the comet was approaching; after all, as Riku told Kagome it was only 500 years ago that his father helped destroy the last one. And Sesshomaru is supposedly 900-1,000 years old. Right? But what’s bothering me is that Zero shows up to let Sesshomaru know she and Kirinmaru will be a threat to his family (as I pointed out in this post, it’s really weird she’d warn him first instead of you know, just, killing them?). And the whole exchange, her pointing out that they need him to destroy the comet, it just seems that maybe...he didn’t know? It could just be bad storytelling, but he seemed urgent after that whereas up until that point he appeared almost relaxed. Jaken knowing where they’d go to destroy it could throw a wrench in this idea, but again, could be poor storytelling.

More importantly, the only reason Sesshomaru wouldn’t know is if he wasn’t born until after the comet passed, and in that case he’s younger than he’s been presumed to be.

No matter what, Sesshomaru is clearly still growing and developing because of how slowly demons age; we’ve seen this time and time again. Toga is physically more mature than his son when he died, and if Sesshomaru is, in fact, less than 500 that means he could have been about 300 when their father died (much closer to Inuyaha’s current age). Inuyasha himself is a hanyo but even he grows slowly. We know by the time his mother died he was still a child or young looking and we know that he now still resembles a teenager, looking a little younger than Sesshomaru. If Sesshomaru is less than 500 years old then he’s not even that much older than Inuyasha, who is ~200 years old (that was already presumed/possibly confirmed and then HNY confirmed Toga died 200 years ago, and since Swords of an Honorable Ruler is anime canon now that’s the same day Inuyasha was born).

I could be 100% wrong, he could have known about the comet, and that’s that, but the interesting thing to me is that the possibility of Sesshomaru being less than 500 years old instead of the 900-1000 years old I thought he was should blow my preconceptions of Sesshomaru’s maturity level to pieces however it honestly doesn’t. If Sesshomaru is only a few centuries older than Inuyasha, that actually would make more sense given how he acts. I’ve always thought it strange that at almost 1,000 years old Sesshomaru could still be so single minded and childish, and physically still look young. If he’s closer to 500 it just makes more sense, so I’d prefer it as the simpler explanation. Ockham’s Razor and all that. And given Inuyasha’s physical, emotional, and mental maturity at 200 years old, Sesshomaru could absolutely be 300 years old or younger in Swords of an Honorable Ruler. He’s visibly younger than his OG/FA future self—smaller, more youthful, and shorter. Similar to Inuyasha now.

On this note about his age: can I just have a moment of silence for Kaede calling Sesshomaru a fool, like yes sis, that’s right he is a damn immature fool. Wise centuries old demon lord my ass, he is a teenager and overall human disaster.

I love this bitch, I do, but he literally spent two whole centuries roaming the countryside whining about how daddy didn’t leave him the better sword until he became a grave robber. Then he tried to kill his little brother (who, fun fact, he actually acknowledged as his little brother before he knew Tessaiga was Inuyasha’s and got big mad, thereafter refusing to acknowledge Inuyasha) because he was jealous. He only started giving up the plot when he discovered that Inuyasha needed Tessaiga, realizing that maybe daddy wasn’t slighting him after all—but he was still immature and petty enough to smack his brother in the face for ‘desecrating their father’s grave’ when homeboy literally used daddy’s bones as a jungle gym months prior. And when everyone pitied him for being used as a tool to complete the Meido, and he seemed convinced at that point his father rejected him, it was his growing compassion for other people and letting go of his desire for Tessaiga (and subsequently his hatred for Inuyasha) that finally allowed him to grow.

He had to suffer his dad’s convoluted trials to grow stronger and mature enough to stop kicking his brother around over a bruised ego and to stop blaming all humans and hanyous for his father’s death. And as shitty as that sounds on the surface, I’m not sure his father would have gotten through to Sesshomaru any other way.

So basically, he’s a perfect mess and totally does not have his shit together, and in no way can I see him as the wise adult people want to make him because, well, he’s ‘a centuries old demon lord’ and a ‘grown man’. That literally means not a damn thing. We are not talking about a human here. It’s not the same as if a 19 year old human had kids with a younger girl. I’m not saying there’s nothing uncomfortable about it or that it’s morally 100% OK. And Sunrise could have done better on...certain points. My issue is that it’s comparing apples and oranges.

Case in point: all the hanyo children on Mystic Island, SHIPPO, MEIFOKU, even Jinenji who is large and not human-like as most hanyous are but yet appears to be extremely innocent despite having to be at least 40-50+ human years old. Full demon true age =/= human age and maturity. Setsuna and Towa (and possibly Shiori) are anomalies as they age at the rate of humans, but the majority of the others don’t. As a full demon aging and maturing slowly, at 900 (or 500) years old Sesshomaru is a sassy, bratty 19 year old. Two centuries prior, dude was looking like a younger, even brattier 17-18 year old when his father died. In another 50 years guess what, he’s still going to be looking like an immature 19-20 year old.

It will literally take centuries for him to mature just into his 20s and resemble his father’s age, both physically and metaphorically. And by that time any human wife he would have had would be long dead, having lived a full human life. Meanwhile, homeboy is just going to be entering his 20s. Which means at some point his human wife will eventually eclipse him in emotional maturity, which for a demon is more significant than physical maturity as they can’t possibly match their human counterpart for any decent length of time. A human lifetime is, after all, a blink of an eye for them and therefore the primary reason that they cannot possibly relate to human notions of age and maturity.

Knowing what we know about his personality and his underlying immaturity (whereas Inuyasha’s is more surface-level), how people thought he’d actually be a perfect non-problematic husband and father (to ANYONE) is beyond me.

All that being said, clearly he loves his family. That much is obvious with the lengths he’s willing to go and the sacrifices he’s willing to make to keep them safe. And yes that includes Inuyasha, Kagome, and their child. He’s saved and helped them, he’s fought with them, he’s long stopped from trying to cause them harm, and letting go of his hatred for Inuyasha allowed him to become stronger. And he doesn’t even bat an eye at Kagome any more, she can literally say whatever she wants to him. No way do I believe he would ever help Kirinmaru kill any of them. I fully believe he’s trying to do his best with poor communication skills and even poorer options.

[britonell]

For @inukag-week​ 2020!

A short and sweet follow-up to Hermit’s Haven, and this time Inuyasha encounters a different kind of visitor...

Rated T for Inuyasha’s swearing.

Hermit’s Dilemma

Inuyasha stared at the cub, trying to ignore the distinct sense of déjà vu.

The Ezo brown bears were pretty common around these parts, at least enough to be a minor nuisance during deer hunting season, but they were almost always adult males. The only time he had come this close to a cub was when he had followed the village fishermen to the waterfalls and a female and her cubs had joined their group, apparently using the men’s presence to shake off a hostile male bear. This time there was no mama bear, just a lone cub.

Said bear cub sat on his furry little haunches, peering up at the dog-eared man.

Wasn’t this the same place where he first spotted Hachi?

More importantly, what the hell was a bear cub doing all on his own, and so damn close to his house? Shouldn’t this scrawny little guy be in a cozy den with his mother, dozing off until spring? 

Inuyasha looked around once more, ears flicking back. Nope, no other bears nearby. Perhaps the mother had gone out to scavenge for acorns one last time and had been struck by a vehicle, or wandered into some other residential area and met the business end of a rifle.

Well fuck-a-doodle-doo.

That was how Inuyasha found himself crossing the icy bridge with a bear cub in his arms, making his way to—

Wait a minute, there’s no way the dogs would stay calm if he showed up with a squirming bear cub. Maybe he could hand him off to Miroku, that guy probably knew more about bears. Crap, was it even legal to bring a bear cub indoors? His residence was technically a shelter, would his non-profit get in trouble? It’s not like he was going to keep the cub. He should head to the agricultural school ASAP, there had to be staff members with experience in handling wild animals.

He froze mid-step and the curious cub glanced up at him.

Shit, shit, shit, he couldn’t go to the school now, Kagome was picking up her mother and grandfather from the airport and she had made him promise, multiple times, that he would be in the village to greet them when they arrived.

He would stay put, he had assured her. He knew how important this was for her, considering she hadn’t gone back to Tokyo for Christmas. He wasn’t gonna disappear like a coward. Not like he cared if city folks visited his village. It’s not like they were the same people that drove him and his mother out of their old apartment. It wasn’t a problem.

Really.

The bear cub let loose a shrill squeal and Inuyasha nearly flung the cub up into the air before stopping himself. Instead, he held the cub in front of him like a ticking bomb.

Did he need milk? Could bears drink cow milk? Maybe he was cold. Did he need to put him in his jacket? Maybe the cub was scared. Should he swaddle him? Kagome did say he had a knack for swaddling the dogs. The chihuahuas usually liked it. And once the bear quieted down he could hide him in a spare room until morning. Right, this would work. Absolutely. Totally.

Mind made up, he went up to Miroku’s house and slid the kitchen window open.

“Yo, keep an eye on the dogs, will ya?” Inuyasha shouted, making sure to keep the bear out of sight. If what he was doing was against the law, he wasn’t going to drag anyone else into legal trouble.

Miroku poked his head into the hallway. “Gotcha! And for goodness’s sake, use the front door.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Inuyasha grumbled. They both knew that wasn’t going to happen. Miroku could just as easily install a lock on the old window, but Inuyasha had a feeling he never would. Miroku had been insistent on not altering the original design of the house.

That was...nice.

“Hi Inuyasha!” Sango called from somewhere down the hall. “We made yakidango earlier. Do you want some?”

“Uh...maybe later. Thanks.” Inuyasha gingerly closed the window and stepped back.

Yeah. That was nice too. The elderly villagers used to offer him food. They were being neighborly, or so they claimed.

Not that Sango was a neighbor. Yet. He knew she was looking at a couple of houses. That fox demon from the agricultural school, Shippo, was probably going to move in soon.

The bear squealed again, prompting Inuyasha to quicken his pace.

Kagome’s front door was unlocked, as usual. He had told her to start locking the door but no one here really worried about security, what with him and all the dogs running around. She had at least promised to lock the door...after making a key for him.

Fuck, he was not blushing at the thought.

He stomped into the living room and rummaged through her dresser until he pulled out a fluffy pink blanket.

Wrap the blanket around like this, tuck the paws in here, rub his head like so, pat his tummy to soothe him, and voila. Inuyasha examined his handiwork with a satisfied grin, which wilted a little at the realization that he was too adept at this.

The bear peeked up over the edge of the blanket and eyed him, as if waiting for something. Inuyasha hoped he wasn’t expecting a lullaby. Then again, Kagome did say music can calm down dogs in stressful situations.

He reached for Kagome’s iPad and scrolled for a while. Hmm, this would do.

Kuma Sanbiki

He sat down cross-legged on the floor and held the bear burrito close to his chest, mumbling the same lyrics that he used to sing with his mother.

Kuma sanbiki issho ni sunde,

Papa kuma, mama kuma, akachan kuma—

“Eep!”

Inuyasha froze and slowly looked up. Kagome was doubled over, shoulders trembling, hands covering her face. He would’ve thought she was in pain if he didn’t catch a delighted giggle. A woman who was clearly her mother stood by the entrance, one hand resting on a suitcase and the other over her heart, watching the bundle in his arms with dewy eyes.

“What’s all this then?” An elderly man walked in, kicking his shoes off in a huff. “Don’t just stand there, we need to—young man, you’re holding the baby wrong.”

Inuyasha could do nothing but sit still and watch the elderly man saunter up to him.

“Now see here, if you want to calm a young one—that’s a bear.”

“What?” the woman, henceforth known as Mama Higurashi in his head, said.

“A bear?” Kagome chortled, her face still red.

Busted.

“Err…” Three sets of eyes were on him. “I found a bear cub,” he finally confessed.

Word got out pretty quickly, mainly because Kagome ran out to get Miroku’s expensive camera equipment “for that money shot,” and both Miroku and Sango came over to greet the guests as well as take a look at the bear cub.

“I can’t believe you swaddled a bear!” Kagome giggled, hours after the fact.

“Bear cub,” Inuyasha corrected, his forehead firmly planted on his kotatsu. It had been decided that Sango would watch the cub for the night and bring the bear to the school in the morning, because apparently the school’s resident bear expert was her uncle.

Stupid, Inuyasha thought. Stupid, stupid, stupid, he should’ve just brought the cub to Sango in the first place. Stupid.

“I can’t wait to get those pictures on my laptop.”

He lifted his head to glare at her. “So you can laugh at me some more?”

“I wasn’t laughing at you!”

“Uh-huh.”

She scooted over to snuggle up to him, ignoring his sputtering protests and unflattering comparisons to Pen-Pen. “I was losing it because it was too adorable for my little ol’ heart. You’re gonna make a girl faint with your paternal instincts.”

He tried really, really hard not to let her words, or the way she was twirling his forelock, affect him. “Yeah, sure. OK.”

“But you know,” she said with a coy smile. “I do have a confession.”

Inuyasha glanced at her suspiciously.

“I would’ve preferred seeing you holding a baby. My baby.”

He didn’t remember much after that because his brain short-circuited and he went on autopilot.

(Kagome inwardly cursed. Asking Miroku on how to confess like a wrecking ball had not been one of her best ideas.)

The bombshells didn’t end there, though. The next morning, after joining the Higurashi family for breakfast, he was helping Mama Higurashi wash the dishes when she nonchalantly proved just how much her daughter took after her.

“You should’ve joined us for dinner last night. Grandpa and I had a question and Kagome had no idea what the answer was.”

“Oh,” was Inuyasha’s reply.

“I’m sure it’s something my daughter has been wondering about for a while.”

“Ah.” Not freaking out, Inuyasha mentally repeated over and over again. 

“And, I must admit, I would like to know as well. This is a good time to ask, don’t you think? No need to be modest when you answer.”

“Umm…” Sirens blared in his head.

“Which do you prefer,” she said airily, “small weddings or big weddings?”

~*~

AN: The Higurashi women sure love to drop bombshells. Inuyasha’s soul temporarily left the mortal plane of existence. He’ll be fine.

For the children’s song I had to decide between what Inuyasha ultimately chose or this one: Mori no Kuma-san. I’m more familiar with the latter but I figured the song about the bear family was more appropriate for the situation.

Also, Inuyasha waiting for Kagome is essentially the Patrick waiting for SpongeBob scene. Oh Inuyasha, you poor, hopeless puppy.

[savethelastdan]

you were made to make it hurt

written for @jh-in, the best SessMir shipper. Go check out his art!!!!

--

Sesshomaru pauses at the top of the hill. Night sky stretches above like the wing of some great creature; from several yards behind him, the combination of Ah-Un, Jaken, and Rin’s snoring make a strange symphony in the air.

The daiyokai’s eyes are trained into the distance, watching a spark of fire waver in the dark. This is where his half-brother’s team has stopped to rest.

Each member of the group is strange. From Inuyasha himself, to the girl thrown through time, to the kitsune of the same age as Sesshomaru’s own ward, to the slayer, each has been unmistakably marked with death.

None more so, however, than the monk.

Tension prickles up his spine, making him clench both hands. A mere human, cursed with a void in his hand--the man’s scent is ​saturated w​ith finality. Even from here, far enough that the foolish hanyou would remain unaware of his presence, it still fills Sesshomaru’s nostrils with a bitterness.

Watching the fire’s shape wink in the distance, he plants both feet in the grass. It is part of human nature to fear mortality, even more so for those who know their end is near. In the few moments he’s been close enough to see the man--​Miroku​--in action, it’s been clear that such worries plague him as well. The monk drinks with abandon, shamelessly seeks the attention of most women (and some men, which Sesshomaru is surprised that Inuyasha has pretended not to notice), throws himself into battle with little regard for his own safety.

It is nothing Sesshomaru has never seen before. It is of no consequence to ​him, ​a formidable yokai with his own goals to master.

And yet, when his mind fills with the image of the monk clutching his right arm with a pained grimace, Sesshomaru’s stolen arm mirrors that ache.

--

“You are quite intimidating to look at up close.” Miroku cocks his head, staring at the marks on Sesshomaru’s face with curiosity. Unlike the reincarnated girl, he knows better than to touch. “Ah, but I hope that you will take that as a compliment.”

Sesshomaru says nothing. Nor does he acknowledge tea that they hurried to offer him. In a hut several yards away, Rin coughs, reminding him of the only reason that the two groups have met for the moment.

“Lady Kagome is very skilled in her healing,” the monk says calmly. “We are lucky that she is willing to share the advanced medicine from her time.”

None that would save you,​ Sesshomaru thinks. ​Does that not anger you?

The slayer joins them by the fire, her animal companion snuggled in both arms. Though Miroku’s eyes light up hopefully, she dips her head stiffly to look at the ground.

“Shippo and I will be going to the next town over to see if they have anything that might speed along her recovery.” Sesshomaru watches her eyes slide sideways. She watches the monk’s cursed hand closely, but from the blush of her cheeks he does not think it is for the typical reason. “Inuyasha probably won’t come back until you’re gone, Lord Sesshomaru.”

It would be foolish to think the hanyou is not somewhere spying on them, suspicious of his motives--but then, Sesshomaru has no reason to make them aware of such things. 

Miroku smiles broadly, as though the daiyokai is a distant relative come to visit instead of only a few steps from an enemy. “We’ll be fine here for the moment, won’t we?”

The slayer doesn’t look convinced; perhaps because she is reasonable, as far as humans go. Once she leaves, Sesshomaru rumbles, “I do not require anyone to remain by my side.”

Miroku’s smile falls from his face, before he erupts in a chuckle clearly meant to cover his natural surprise.

“But of course, Lord Sesshomaru.​ I​ have no intentions to do so. Just trying to stay warm, you see.”

Sesshomaru’s eyes flick to the retreating slayer, then back to the monk. The opportunity was there for him to suggest he go with her instead, and leave the kitsune to rest. There will be no benefit in attending to him; Sesshomaru does not drink, nor share in gossip and entertainment.

The thought that buzzes in his mind slips free. “There is no sense in wasting your time; you are likely to die before Naraku is defeated.”

Miroku stills. His right arm tenses automatically, clenching the prayer beads wrapped around it so hard that his knuckles crack. As though a veil has been ripped off, his face falls into a cold darkness that even the fire’s light cannot soften.

“Whatever time that I have left,” he says quietly, “I will spend as I like.”

Heat stirs in Sesshomaru’s chest; it is not unlike the warning that piques his senses when an enemy is near, prodding the beast in him to awaken. However, his impulses to​ tear, poison, punish, destroy​ are gone, replaced with something that he cannot understand.

Miroku turns to look him full in the face. “So, what do you understand about the situation between Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kikyo? It’s quite the problem...”

--

There is no hope. He cannot be saved.

Miroku mumbles something against his lips, back pressed hard against the tree. His staff is a few yards away, propped against a thatch of bushes. “The rings will give us a warning,” he said, as though Sesshomaru’s superior senses would not alert them to another’s presence long before. Perhaps he only says it as a reminder of his history, in order to give himself a sense of autonomy. ​I’ve had many like this, always because I’ve wanted it, don’t think I’m afraid...

His left arm wraps around to grip Sesshomaru’s shoulder, pulling vainly at the white robes. There is no fear in his scent, despite the fact that there many ways this situation could end poorly for him--whether it is at the slayer’s hands, Inuyasha’s, or even Sesshomaru’s himself. Sesshomaru presses in harder, fangs nicking the monk’s bottom lip. With a noise soft enough to be committed to memory forever, Miroku presses his right hand into the daiyokai’s jaw to angle it just so.

Prayer beads dig into Sesshomaru’s cheek. It ​burns​, but he will not pull away. There are much worse things that one must be forced to bear.

[thejamesoldier]

Every Tomorrow

AO3 Link

a/n: Did I write this fic bc I slammed face first back into the inuyasha fandom after the premiere of yashahime? Absolutely. Did I write this fic so I could get those g o o d domestic inukag feels? Absolutely. Did I write this fic as a way to come to terms with the fact that one of my first crushes as a kid happened to be an animated dog man? Absolutely. Enjoy yall xxx

(this goregous gif isn’t mine!) 

rating: explicit 

pairing: inuyasha x kagome

tags: protective inuyasha, jealous inuyasha, emotionally constipated inuyasha, honestly whats new, youkai mates, soulmates, youkai culture, mate bonds, mate rituals, touch-starved inuyasha, shippo is kagome’s son dont talk to me, mirsan as parents, sesshoumaru is still kinda a prick but we like him now, angst and smut and fluff, domestic bliss, srsly this shit is so soft i should be arrested, non-canon compliant with yashahime, shit ton of inukag being cute tbh

summary: 'Kagome smiles through tears of insurmountable joy as a shadow passes over her. She tilts her head back and finds a familiar silhouette bending over the ledge of the well. The figure is still for a moment, as if frozen in utter disbelief, before a clawed hand reaches down to her and with a shuttering exhale, Kagome takes it. Inuyasha hauls her up into the light and suddenly, he's in front of her -- he's real. His silver hair, his ears, his red haori, those eyes of molten gold that stare up at her with nothing less than his very soul bared for her to see. Kagome observes such belonging in him, such love, and it completes her.'

or

my excuse to write some indulgent domestic inukag and explore their happy ending

Chapter 1 - mizpah 

The day is grey.

Clouds rumble low and thick over the skyline, swallowing the tops of buildings in the distance and casting deep shadows across the shrine grounds. Kagome is supposed to go out today, a few friends asked her to grab lunch at some new bistro that's opened up near campus. She'd been contemplating how to work the impending downpour into an excuse to stay home, never really having the energy for much these days. Parsing out when to expend the limited energy she did have had become a constant chore since being cut off from --

A familiar pain twangs through her chest, the ache almost welcome. It's all she has left of him.

Maybe it's the rain, maybe its the gloom of the day pulling out the worst of her longing, but regardless she finds herself pushing silently out of her room, walking downstairs, slipping outside, and standing before the closed doors of the Bone Eater's well. Drawn back once again to what was stolen from her. Kagome had promised herself she'd stop doing this, stop torturing herself -- stop giving in to the inexplicable sorrow of living a life without him. But just like the other times, the temptation to let the true weight of her loss pour into the gaping hole in her soul and fill her to the brim, make her so heavy with it that she's brought to her knees, is a poison she's unable to resist. She does this more regularly than she knows is healthy, but its the only way Kagome feels whole anymore. If she's not drowning in loss then she's empty, and Kagome isn't sure which is worse. Without a word she shoulders the doors open and descends the rotting stairs.

The familiar musty smell of earth and something not quite alive but not quite dead hits her. Kagome's eyes water at the memories the scent yields. Before she can stop herself her fingers come up to caress the splintering lip of the ancient well. It feels...empty, same as it always does when she comes in here. The sensation is akin to a sense of hollowness, that the shaft of negative space that runs down the well's center is truly all that's left of the magic that used to come alive for her. A silent sob wrenches down her throat, rendering her vulnerable to the torrent of emotion that swells in her. She let's each gasping breath tear her open, tear out all that's left of her. A sick relief floods her as the sorrow emerges fully and, as always, she crumbles to her knees under the burden of it.

Inuyasha...

Just saying his name, even in the privacy of her own mind, tares something vital out of Kagome's core. She hopes he knows, hopes that despite it all he knows that she is still his in every way a person could be. Disassembled and broken as she is, Kagome offers her anguish to the well praying that if it wouldn't return her to him, then it could at least take her devotion instead.

Carry it to him, remind him he's loved...

For a moment she considers descending the well and curling up at the bottom of it, willing her feelings to reach him, but the thought of her mother finding her like that again...she couldn't bare it. Her mom had been so heartbroken, so overwhelmed with worry when she found Kagome lying at the bottom of the well, cheek pressed to the dirt and eyes seeping tears that wouldn't stop. She wouldn't do that to her again. With that thought Kagome tries to rally herself, to yank her heart away from the addicting agony of missing him and prepares to push her mind into the nothingness she utilizes to numb the pain. She had allowed herself this much and it had to be enough for now, anymore and she'd send herself into a deeply harmful depressive state.

Kagome closes her eyes and uses the well to help heave herself to stand, movements slow and body sore, feeling like her limbs are made of lead. Before she turns to leave, Kagome grips the well as fiercely as she can with both hands. A feeling of intensity overtakes her in that moment and she's unable to think of anything but:

Inuyasha, Kagome declares to the emptiness of the well, I want to see you.

What happens next astounds her. Fate smiles in glee as -- finally -- the threads of time align and pull taught. A gentle breeze smelling of sunshine and wildflowers drifts up to Kagome, it's warm fingers brushing tenderly through the hair that hangs in her face. Kagome's eyes open with an audible gasp. Her heart blossoms because there, lying at the bottom of the well, is a cerulean sky -- a few wispy clouds floating lazily by. The sound of birds singing echoes up to her and suddenly, the Bone Eater's well bursts to life. Kagome is embraced by the energy of the well like an old friend as it resurrects in silent sparkling splendor around her. It soaks into her skin, her soul, filling her with hope instead of sorrow. It's pure life, and it beckons to her with such surety that it breaks Kagome's heart.

"Kagome?"

Her mother's voice forces a sharp exhale out of Kagome, she hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath. Kagome can't look away from the impossible sky below her though, she's frozen in shock and wrestles with the possibility that this isn't a dream. She's had so many that happened just like this. Kagome...Kagome doesn't dare to hope...

"What's wrong?" Mrs. Higurashi asks as she makes her way down the stairs and comes to a stop behind Kagome, concern strangling the usual softness of her tone into an unsure waver.

"Mom," Is all Kagome is capable of saying, and it comes out in a hoarse terrified whisper.

Kagome hears her mother give a small gasp of disbelief, before Mrs. Higurashi steps up close beside her daughter and peers down the well too.

"The sky," Kagome hushes, still unable to fully accept what's happening but slowly becoming afraid that this will all be ripped from her. Again.  

A gentle hand wraps around her shoulders and pulls Kagome back from the ledge. Kagome lets her mother do this, lets herself lean into her mother's warmth in the face of all this crushing possibility.

"Mom I," Are the shaky words Kagome tries to preface her departure with, not sure what to even say -- lost in how she's meant to articulate the avalanche of emotion she's feeling. Because even if this is a dream she can't bare to wait any longer, she needs to know if...if maybe the well heard her and is by some miracle answering her prayers.

Mrs. Higurashi turns Kagome around to face her, hands soft as they frame her daughter's shoulders.

"Kagome," Her mother says her name and it holds all the world in it, Kagome looks up and is immediately swept away by the love in her mom's eyes. Mrs. Higurashi smiles at her then -- kind eyes closing on tears that are beginning to fall, and Kagome nearly collapses, "I understand."  

With a sob Kagome embraces her mother for the last time.

"Tell Sota and Grandpa that I love them," Kagome murmurs in a rush.

Her mother only squeezes her tighter and nods. They shake in each other's arms for another breath before both pulling away.

"I am so proud of you Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi says, voice trembling with emotion but warm, always so warm.

"I love you Mama," Kagome responds as tears begin to swell in her eyes.

"Give this to him for me," Her mother requests as she takes Kagome's face in her hands, and leans in close to press a searing kiss to her forehead.

"Oh Mama," Kagome weeps as her mother's love wraps around her heart and fills her with a kind of joy she hasn't felt in years.  

Mrs. Higurashi leans back a little and uses her thumbs to wipe the wetness off of Kagome's cheeks.

"Tell him that I love him, that I've always seen him as a son, and that I am proud to have him be apart of our family."

Kagome deteriorates into a watery mess as the sentiments her mother just shared wash over her. Wordlessly, Mrs. Higurashi helps her daughter climb up onto the lip of the well before they simply stare for a moment, taking each other in one more time. Then her mother bestows her one last parting gift.

"Live Kagome," Her mom hushes, fierce happiness triumphant in her voice, as she releases her daughter's hands and watches as she turns to leap down the well, body disappearing from sight moments later.

Goodbye Mama, Kagome calls back as she sinks into time.

Kagome relishes the sensations traveling through the well give her -- a fierce nostalgia gripping her chest at the bursts of cobalt light, the galactic vastness watching her fall past, the light at the bottom of the well welcoming her home...

When she lands on solid ground a part of her fears so intensely that she's still in her time, that she refuses to open her eyes. What if she were to look up and see her mother staring down at her? Kagome hesitates for a moment, eyes closed, standing so still, terrified that this isn't real, and then something throbs in her chest --

She feels him, feels his youki hurtling towards her and suddenly, Kagome is no longer afraid.

Inuyasha!

Kagome opens her eyes and squints at the sky above her, the breeze she felt earlier encouraging her towards her future. She makes it about three fourths of the way up the well when she hears him. The pounding of his feet against the earth as he races closer, his aura a brilliant thriving thing that feels like the sun against her skin. Kagome smiles through tears of insurmountable joy as a shadow passes over her. She tilts her head back and finds a familiar silhouette bending over the ledge of the well. The figure is still for a moment, as if frozen in utter disbelief, before a clawed hand reaches down to her and with a shuttering exhale, Kagome takes it. Inuyasha hauls her up into the light and suddenly, he's in front of her -- he's real. His silver hair, his ears, his red haori, those eyes of molten gold that stare up at her with nothing less than his very soul bared for her to see. Kagome observes such belonging in him, such love, and it completes her.

"Inuyasha," She says his name, says it just for him, and he inhales, "I'm so sorry, were you waiting here for me?"

Inuyasha's expression shifts and Kagome gasps softly at the chaos he's trying to contain, but then he says her name. Says it just for her.

"Kagome."

A wet laugh escapes her lips at the sound of his voice, at how she used to long to hear him say her name, just like that.

"Inuyasha," Kagome murmurs again just because she can as her fingers play with the ends of his forelocks, eyes jumping all over his face trying to take in every part of him at once.

Unable to help herself, Kagome wraps both arms around his neck, relishing in the feel of his hair threading through her fingers, and presses her lips to his with a sigh. Inuyasha remains still for a moment, like his brain is one beat behind, before he clutches her to him so hard her lungs squeeze in her chest. Kagome doesn't care, in fact she doesn't feel like they're close enough. She wants to crawl her way into him and stay there forever, never to be separated again. The kiss feels like coming home, and it makes the part of her that sat empty for the past three years steadily fill. Inuyasha's lips are slightly chapped, she notes, and he kisses her like she's the only kind of devastation he'd willingly submit to. Impossibly, her love for him deepens further. Kagome pulls back with a gasp, trying to catch her breath as Inuyasha carefully sets her down on the ground, their lips brushing while the two of them tremble in the wake of such sweeping passion.

"Kagome," Inuyasha whispers her name again, like its the only word he knows, and dives back down to reclaim her lips.

She lets a soft noise shake loose from her chest when he tilts his head to deepen the kiss, his claws snagging on the material of her cardigan as he holds her close. Kagome feels a fang nip at her lower lip and, smiling into the kiss, she happily opens up for him. When their tongues meet, Inuyasha's hands raise to cup both sides of her jaw, mindful of his claws near such delicate skin. With something between a groan and a growl, he breaks their kiss to turn her head to the side, smoothing one reverent hand down the exposed length of her neck. Her heart beat picks up when in one long inhale, Inuyasha traces his nose in a steady line from her collarbone up to the patch of skin just below her ear. He makes a tender noise then, nearly a whine, and without preamble presses his face firmly into the arch of her neck, taking deep unhurried breaths through his nose. Kagome leaves one hand wrapped around the bulk of his shoulders, but brings the other one up to hold the back of his head in place against her. One of his ears flicks against her cheek and in a moment of raw delight, a giggle bubbles up from her throat as does a fresh wave of tears. Inuyasha flattens the offending ear against his skull but Kagome remains undeterred and drops a sweet kiss on to the delicate appendage, the soft fur tickling her lips a little. She holds him even closer as he melts against her at the intimate display of affection.

Oh kami she'd missed him so much.  

"Kagome!"

It takes a second for the two of them to come back down to earth, but the call of Shippo's voice encourages Kagome to turn towards the sound of approaching footsteps. Inuyasha makes a firm noise against the skin of her neck -- a warning, like he wasn't ready to let her go yet. He tenses when she ignores him and stiffens even further as Shippo continues to barrel closer. In the span of a heartbeat Inuyasha has Kagome behind him and lets a true growl rip from his throat. Kagome startles against his back, realizing belatedly that he'd just threatened Shippo.

--

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's words come out sounding like an odd mix of admonishment and worry.

Shippo looks genuinely shocked at being challenged with such a territorial threat display, having slid to an abrupt halt at Inuyasha's feet. Inuyasha comes back to himself after a few beats, brain catching up with his instincts, and his aggression falters.

"Slowly," Inuyasha grinds out as he steps to the side to allow Kagome to come forward, working furiously to relax his muscles.

Respecting Inuyasha's warning, Shippo moves very carefully towards Kagome, though he only manages to take two steps before Kagome is crashing to her knees and hauling him into her arms.

"Shippo!" She cries and Shippo immediately starts bawling.

The young kitsune grabs tuffs of her hair in his tiny fists and smashes his face into her neck, repeating her name over and over again unable to help himself. Inuyasha stiffens again at this, but grits his teeth against the instinct to tear the runt clean out of Kagome's arms. She wouldn't like that, and honestly neither would Inuyasha, he knows how much Kagome means to Shippo.

What's wrong with me?

"You, you made it back!" Sango bursts as her and Miroku catch up and come to a stop a few feet in front of them, kids in tow.

"It's been much too long Kagome!" Miroku calls in absolute astonishment.

"Miroku, Sango!" Kagome all but weeps as she rises from the ground, Shippo still held tight in her arms, and rushes to embrace them.

Inuyasha feels that angry tug in his gut again at the idea of so many scents polluting Kagome's skin so soon after getting her back, but the larger part of him can only smile as he watches his woman hug Sango then Miroku -- mindful of the kids in their arms and murmuring little 'hello's to them as well. He can smell the depth of their rapture as they all rejoice Kagome's return. It puts Inuyasha's heart into a state of profound contentment, and he realizes then that he's never felt this way before. Who knew anticipation could be a good feeling? Because damn was he ready to experience every single tomorrow with Kagome by his side.

--

The rest of the afternoon is spent celebrating. Kagome reunites with Kaede, the elder priestess nearly speechless with elation at seeing Kagome push aside the noren of her hut. To Kagome's surprise Rin is also there, the young girl delighted by Kagome's return as well, and hadn't hesitated to gush about how lonely Inuyasha was without her. Inuyasha had only shrugged at this, not denying it but still sent a betrayed glare Rin's way as color rose high on his cheeks. Kagome is welcomed back by the people of the village too, townsfolk she'd gotten to know during her time collecting jewel shards being especially pleased to see her, though they knew not where she'd gone. Kagome and Inuyasha stuck to each other like glue through it all, unwilling to part for even a moment. No one blamed them.

At one point Kagome started to panic because she had to pee of all things, and the thought of loosing sight of her hanyou if only for a minute terrified her. The fear that this was a dream kept gnawing at her, and the possibility that this could all be taken away at any moment made Kagome feel physically ill. She'd held it in as long as she could before walking nearly knock-kneed to relieve herself. It turned out Kagome needn't have worried at all because without a word Inuyasha had followed her, giving her true privacy for only as long as it took to empty her bladder before he was within her sights again. Kagome had blushed furiously when it occurred to her that him being so close while she used the bathroom probably meant that he could...smell it. When she tried to shoo him away he only stared at her, firmly shaking his head no once, and waited. After Kagome had finished she'd made her way back over to Inuyasha, feeling incredibly sheepish about the whole situation. The moment she was close enough though he'd pulled her into a desperate hug and whispered,

"Please bare with me Kagome, I-I can't..." He'd trailed off but Kagome was already hugging him back, refusing to let go. She understood.

They shared a grand feast with Sango and Miroku that evening, Kagome using the time to properly acquaint herself with their children. Shippo sat in her lap for most of the meal, and its as she stared at her friends -- her family, that Kagome realized that she'd been given something truly precious and everything in her vowed to never let it go. This was more than she could have ever hoped for, and the fear that this was temporary strangled her multiple times throughout the reunion. But Inuyasha was always right there beside her, and having him close ended up being the only way to ease the worst of her anxiety. After everyone finished their food and caught up on each other's lives as much as they could in one sitting (the serious questions being left for tomorrow), the pair said their goodbyes for the night. Shippo had fought to retire with Inuyasha and Kagome, but was stilled by Miroku's hand on his small shoulder. Kagome embraced Shippo before delivering a soft peck to his cheek, letting him nuzzle back for a beat or two more before promising to come back first thing in the morning.

Now Kagome and her hanyou are getting settled in a hut the villagers had built for Inuyasha that's set on the outskirts of the village. It's quite obvious to Kagome from the state of the place that Inuyasha hardly uses it, though she knows how lonely he gets by himself and she figures he probably spends most of his time with Sango and Miroku who live more centrally to the village. Inuyasha's hut is mounted at the peak of a sloping hill, the tallest in the surrounding area besides the shrine itself. At first she wondered if the villagers meant to ostracize Inuyasha by putting his hut so far from everyone else's, but as they reach the hill's zenith, she realizes it isn't a sign of disrespect but quite the opposite. The vista from his home has views of the entire village and even overlooks a decent portion of the forest. On the opposite side of the hut, miles of stunning countryside sprawls under the hazy light of the setting sun all the way to the horizon. Inuyasha would be able to spot danger days before it arrived, or gain minutes to whole hours of advantage if the threat was a youkai. The villagers aren't keeping him at a distance, they're treating him like their Lord, giving him the highest ground, the most control over the land -- trusting that he will use it to protect them. It makes Kagome's heart clench with raging pride.

"It's beautiful," Kagome finds herself murmuring as they stand side by side overlooking the village together, the wind shifting their hair about their shoulders.

"Yeah," Inuyasha says, sounding distracted.

His tone makes Kagome shift her gaze over to him but she finds that he's already staring at her. Before he would have turned away with a blush and started spouting some blistering nonsense in order to cover up the fact that he'd been caught, but now he lets himself look. It makes something in Kagome's lower stomach go tight. They take each other in for what feels like a bracketed infinity, the moment sacred somehow, and neither of them are willing to break it. Inuyasha takes a step closer and reaches his clawed hands down to gently collect her smaller ones. He brings her hands up to his chest, cradling them there, not once looking away from Kagome's eyes.

"I promise I'll protect you with my life." Inuyasha declares, his voice low and quiet and meant only for her.

Kagome takes an uneven inhale and her heart skips a beat as she realizes he's repeating the same vow he gave to her in her room the night her family was away at the hot springs all those years ago. It hits her then how utterly hers Inuyasha is, how devoted to her he was in the past and how he has remained that way since. It's his way of telling her nothing has changed. Inuyasha watches this epiphany play out on Kagome's face and his expression softens around the steadiness of his gaze.

"I will allow nothing to take you from me again, and I will never leave your side."

Shuddering in the wake of his oath, Kagome shuffles closer to him and finally says what she's always regretted never telling him directly.  

"I love you Inuyasha," She watches as his pupils drag wide at her confession, "You will always have me, and I will happily spend the rest of my life with you to prove that."

Inuyasha slowly lowers his head until their foreheads touch through the hair of their bangs, his eyes closing as he takes a deep breath in through his nose. Kagome feels a wave of peace come over her then that she finds she's quite content to drown in. She stays like that with him for another moment before pulling away just enough to catch his eye.

"My mother," Kagome hushes and Inuyasha instantly stills, "She asked me to give this to you."

Exactly as her mom did, Kagome extracts her hands from Inuyasha's and reaches for his face, fingers tender as they slide against the warm skin of his jaw. Panic flits across Inuyasha's features then, startled at being handled like he was something precious, and realizing he's horrifically unprepared for whatever is about to come next. Kagome's smile is nothing but fond as she tilts his head down enough so that she's able to lean in and deliver her mother's kiss to his forehead. Inuyasha's hands come up to wrap around her forearms, not to move her away but, Kagome suspects, just to have something to hold on to. His ears flatten under the gravity of the gesture. Kagome closes her eyes and remains there for another beat, before pulling away and lifting his face back up only to touch the tip of her nose to his.

"She also wanted me to tell you that she loves you," She murmurs.

Inuyasha releases a wet sounding exhale and attempts to move away -- overwhelmed by the rawness of all of this, but Kagome holds his face firm and presses on, wanting desperately for him to hear the rest because he deserves to know.

"She said she has always seen you as a son, and is proud to consider you family."

"Kagome," Inuyasha begs, his voice a wobbling mess as he nuzzles closer in defeat, unable to stand the depth of Mrs. Higurashi's gift to him.

After a long moment of them just breathing, he shifts his head and quietly slots their lips together. He releases his grip on her forearms so he can snake his arms around her middle, hands wrapping as far across her back as possible, before pulling her flush against him. Inuyasha keeps the kiss chaste -- utterly humbled. Kagome can only imagine what this must mean to him, and she hazards her mother must have known too.

They stay joined under the warm evening sky as the stars begin to shine through dusk's heavy golden canopy. The sun finally sinks all the way under the horizon, having delayed itself in order to cast as much light as possible onto the pair standing atop the hill -- presenting fate's masterful work to the heavens. A sudden gust of wind picks up around them, and it causes the two to sway a little. Hands clutching tight, lips molding softly, and hair floating around their heads as if submerged in deep water, they know nothing in that moment except each other.

Somewhere far beyond this world, a priestess -- no, an ordinary woman, looks down on Inuyasha and Kagome and smiles.

--

Kagome arranges the light summer quilt Sango lent her over the futon set in the back corner of Inuyasha's hut. She would have to do something (many somethings) in order to make this place livable. A shy glee erupts in her chest at the thought of decorating it, organizing a home for both her and Inuyasha to live in felt surreal to consider even in her own head. She used to daydream about this kind of thing, the fact that she finally gets to fulfill her fantasy -- that it's her life now, takes her breath away.

"Inuyasha?" She calls once she's finished fussing with the quilt, folding one corner down, ready to get into bed.

The hut is dark, the night outside is still, and the fireplace remains unlit so they don't overheat. Kagome tries to swallow the fear cloying up her throat. Ever since she spent a small eternity trapped in endless darkness with the Jewel of Four Souls, she finds she can no longer stand to be alone in the dark. Back in her time, it had to be either her mom, Sota, or Buyo sleeping beside her each night or she wouldn't be able to get any rest at best, and at worst she would descend into an anxiety attack. It wasn't until her grandfather had suggested installing a night light that she was finally able to brave the long nights alone, though she still prefers to have a warm body to cuddle. It was in moments like those that she'd longed for Shippo the most. Once she'd been able to sleep on her own she had the nightmares to contend with, and those always left her feeling as close to true panic as she'd felt when facing Naraku. There are no night lights in the Feudal Era, but Kagome figures she'll be okay as long as she has Inuyasha with her.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome says again, this time unable to keep the quiver of fear out of her voice.

In an instant she feels a rush of air hit her as he drops to a crouch beside her, like he'd bolted to her from across the room.

"Kagome? What's wrong?"

She melts into him and he accepts her weight against his chest easily, strong arms shifting forward to box her in.

"Where were you?" Kagome hopes she doesn't sound as small as she feels.

Inuyasha stills against her for a beat before wrapping his arms around her completely, securing her in his embrace. Kagome accepts this improvement with a grateful sigh.

"Just checking the window." He pauses, then very carefully, asks, "Is...are you alright?"

He sounds worried, crap.

Kagome feels a stab of guilt for freaking him out.

"I'm fine," Kagome assures quickly, "Just, um, I-I'm ready for bed."

Cringing internally, Kagome wonders if that was convincing enough. With that sharp nose of his, she hopes he doesn't pick up on her lingering (but quickly diminishing) fear. How on earth could she convince him to sleep on the futon with her? Surely he won't object? Not after everything that happened between them today?

"Okay, well, I'll uh see you in the morning then," Inuyasha stutters as he begins to untangle himself from her and pull away --

Kagome's panic skyrockets, and before she can say or do anything, Inuyasha must smell the spike in her fear because he immediately winds himself back around her body.

"Woah hey," He hushes, becoming even more alarmed as Kagome all but crawls into his lap.

"I-I can't be alone, at night," Kagome struggles to explain as she takes shelter in his renewed embrace, "The darkness it --,"

She cuts herself off when she feels Inuyasha pillow his cheek against the soft hair at the top of her head.

"I'll hold you till you fall asleep then," He promises in a soft voice, as soft as she's ever heard him speak.

She can feel his words vibrate through his chest, and it calms her nerves some. Kagome wants to argue, wants to push for more -- sleep beside me, hold me all night -- but she doesn't. He doesn't seem to want that, even after promising her he'd never leave her side. Kagome's anxiety gets the better of her and it seals her lips shut. She settles in the circle of his arms and is resolved to be satisfied with this, at least for now, knowing she's much too shaken to negotiate with him tonight. Kagome knows without a shadow of a doubt that she'll wake up the moment he sets her down on the futon, but she doesn't tell him that. Hopefully she can fake being asleep well enough to fool his hanyou senses, and hopefully the knowledge that he's nearby will be enough to stop her from having a full blown episode. If she can hang on till the early hours of the morning, maybe the fragile rays of first light will be enough to cling to. Kagome can admit to herself that she won't be able to maintain this routine for long, but she hopes it lasts until she's plucked up the courage to ask Inuyasha, point blank and without room for misinterpretation, to share her bed.

--

Inuyasha knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, no way would he risk making Kagome vulnerable to any kind of attack so soon after getting her back. His instincts wouldn't have allowed for any other course of action, and on this front Inuyasha is in rare agreement with his youkai half. But he doesn't expect Kagome to share the same determination. He'd panicked earlier when he smelled how fast and how sharply her fear had spiked. Inuyasha vowed to himself at that moment to never allow her to feel that way in his presence again, not if he could help it. She had held on to him so fiercely, and still is even after hours of being in the safety of his arms. Its like she's afraid he'll leave again. This knowledge makes something in his chest shatter and his gut ache. Unable to stop himself, he rubs his cheek where it rests against the top of her head and takes a deep inhale, letting her scent soothe him. Each time he hears her heartbeat slow and she starts to drift off, he waits a few minutes before trying to lay her down on the futon. Without fail though she's yanked back from sleep every time, as if his touch is vital in order for her to rest. A part of him relishes in this level of dependency on him, his youkai half preening at the fact that his mate --

Inuyasha grunts and stands, unwilling to entertain any thoughts about that, and makes his way swiftly out of the hut and into the mild night. He's careful not to jostle Kagome in his arms too much as he lowers into a measured crouch, and launches himself into the air towards the roof. Landing effortlessly on the balls of his feet, Inuyasha pauses as Kagome sighs in her sleep and twists her fists tighter into the material of his han-juban. Inuyasha blushes to himself thinking about how he had all but tripped out of the hut earlier when Kagome started changing out of her day clothes and into a yukata Sango had lent her in front of him.

With a firm shake of his head he banishes that particular train of thought from his mind, and lowers himself down to sit on the angled roof. After a minute of cautious shifting, he gives up and lies flat on his back, arranging Kagome's sleep-pliant body so she's tucked snuggly between his arm and his side. He tells himself this is different than sleeping on the futon with her, that this isn't breaking any 'rules of propriety' Kagome used to always yell at him about.

Screw it, he thinks, if I get sat for this in the morning it will have been worth it.

Inuyasha tries not to think about how much he sounded like Miroku just now, and grumbles under his breath about stupid delinquent monks and confusing female sensibilities.  

The stars are a dizzying pattern above him, the moon is a sliver in the sky, and Kagome is curled safely into his side with her cheek squished against his chest while one of her leanly muscled arms has thrown itself securely across his waist -- Inuyasha couldn't feel more at peace if he tried. Everything is as it should be. He hasn't felt rightness like this since...well, since Kagome left three years ago. A cool evening breeze floats over them then, shooing away the insistent press of the summer heat, and kisses their temples before moving on. Inuyasha lazily picks apart the different scents the wind carried -- sap from the trees in the forest, ash from the chimneys in the village, wet earth from the banks of the nearby river...he lets it all wash over him, one sensation at a time. He remembers Kagome caught him doing this once years ago, and when she'd asked him about it he'd told her it was kind of like how humans count sheep when trying to fall asleep. A self-soothing exercise is what she concluded it was similar too. Inuyasha didn't elaborate that the habit was an old one he'd developed during his childhood. Back when he was too weak to fight any of the youkai that hunted him, he'd find somewhere to hide and rock himself in time with his breaths, carefully combing through the scents in the air until he was sure the threat had passed. There had been a brief pause before Kagome asked what he could smell, no judgment or disgust, just innocent curiosity and a hint of fascination simmering in the umber of her eyes. No one had ever asked him about his sense of smell like that before. Inuyasha's heart had clenched in his chest, and it does so now as the memory unfolds before him only this time without the promise of pain. Reliving cherished moments of his time with Kagome used to only bring him anguish, but now...

Inuyasha turns his face into Kagome's hairline that's level with his nose, flares his nostrils, and proceeds to take a sleepy inhale. Her scent shoots straight up into his head and a sensation that feels bizarrely like dizziness makes his skull feel light, and his mind feel like its floating. Inuyasha attempts to turn away once the moment passes, but his body refuses to comply. Instead, before he really knows what he's doing, Inuyasha finds himself nosing down her forehead, over the bridge of her nose, past her slightly parted lips, and under her jaw. Kagome mutters something unintelligible in her sleep in response to all of his tender nudging (Inuyasha resolutely ignores the way it makes all of his insides go soft), but ultimately allows her chin to be directed up, exposing her neck to him. Something in Inuyasha flares hot at the action, and he's instantly compelled to guide his nose into the notch of skin between her neck and her jaw. This is what he'd been searching for.

Safe, something inhuman in his head rumbles, only here is safe.

Inuyasha couldn't agree more, Kagome had always been ineffable to him. He had known Kagome by her scent before he'd known her by her features, it's what first caught his attention when Kikyo's spell keeping him pinned to Goshinboku started to falter. Inuyasha hadn't realized it then, but he'd belonged to Kagome the moment she'd told him her name. Inuyasha smiles like a complete love-struck idiot as he remembers the way she had puffed out her chest and demanded that he say her name right.

Ka - Go - Me!

He allows himself to continue grinning like a fool against the skin of her neck because no one's around to mock him for it, and because it feels good to be happy. He's happy --

"Inuyasha..." Kagome suddenly hums, his name on her lips the sweetest thing he'll ever hear.

Inuyasha pulls his face back just far enough to take in her expression, and something glorious surges in him when he finds that she's smiling in her sleep.

--

Phew that was hella soft lol, lemme know what you thought down in the comments below if you'd like! I embellished certain moments a little bit to make them more dramatic bc i couldn't help myself, i hope you didn't mind! Tbh it felt so good to write inukag, like im not gonna lie, I grew up watching the show and it feels a little like coming home to get into these characters' heads. Ok I'm gonna go continue my re-watch of the show now xxx

Masterlist

[superpixie42]

Day 1: Acceptance // Pink

Title: Ajisai Part 1: Acceptance 

Rating: M for adult content (the sad kind, not the fun kind) CW: Conversations regarding unpanned pregnancies and abortion, descriptions of mob violence

Words: 4664

Post-Canon

Also on AO3 here will be on FFN later once part 2 is done

The minute Kagome realized she was pregnant she’d wanted to run screaming into the village, making sure every man, woman, child, farm animal, and even the passing birds knew she was going to have Inuyasha’s baby. When she told Inuyasha over dinner that night that she’d skipped her second period he’d dropped and shattered the bowl he’d been holding in his haste to grab her and hold her close. She thought that meant he was excited, overjoyed - and he was - but in that moment he was mostly terrified. 

“You can’t tell anybody” he begged her, his voice barely a whisper and he continued to hold her in a crushing embrace. “Not the hag, not the slayer, and especially not the monk. We’ll worry about Shippo the next time he comes home, but please, please don’t tell anyone.” 

She promised, how could she not when he was literally on his knees begging her? She was going to ask why, but his hand moved down to gently press against her belly and she decided the question could wait, after all they had 30 weeks, she could be patient. 

---

It only took Sango two weeks to become suspicious. Half way through her own third pregnancy Sango was very familiar with the various ways the early days took their toll: Kagome was tired all the time, eating the saltiest things she could get her hands on, and more than once got dizzy when standing too long. She chose not to pry- early pregnancies were fragile. She would respect Kagome’s apparent wish to keep the news to herself until she was more confident it would be successful. Kagome was lucky in that arena since her husband would be able to hear the heartbeat and set her mind at ease. Inuyasha was a good man and despite his obvious discomfort had pressed his ear to Sango’s belly from time to time to settle her nerves. It was unfortunate he was so uncomfortable with touch or he might have listened long enough to realize he wasn’t just hearing one heartbeat and given Sango some warning before the twins came. 

However, once Kagome’s morning (and afternoon, and night) sickness started, Sango couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. Finally, she ambushed Kagome with questions while they were having a bath in the river. 

“Kagome, congratulations! How long has it been since you stopped bleeding? Have you told Inuyasha yet? I’m so excited for you, the twins are going to lose their minds when they find out-”

“No!” Kagome didn’t mean to shout, she knew Sango meant well, but she needed her to understand. 

“Inuyasha knows Sango, of course I told him. But,” she took a deep breath, trying to ignore the stinging behind her eyes. She understood her husband’s reasoning, but it didn’t make it less upsetting. “He doesn’t want anyone to know yet. He’s worried once word gets out he’ll be forced from the village. That letting a hanyou live here is one thing but letting him breed is quite another. I told him that this village is different but…”

She looked over at Sango, hoping to see her laughing at their paranoia. Instead she just looked sad, slowly stroking her swollen belly. 

“I’m so sorry Kagome,” she said, “I can’t imagine how hard it is for you to have to keep this a secret.” She looked over her shoulder, back towards the village, with a pensive expression. “I do think this village is different. Not many places would accept a mother who is also a slayer. Or a married monk. But, this place is special.” 

They finished their bath in silence, Kagome’s mind swirling with the same list of possible outcomes she’d been worrying over for weeks. Would they accept the child of the Village Protector, regardless of blood? Would they accept the demonic child of a priestess? Would they be shunned, or worse run out of town? 

After that first night she and Inuyasha  didn’t talk about the pregnancy. They acted as if it wasn’t even real. Anytime Kagome brought it up, Inuyasha would either change the subject or outright ignore her; going and sitting on the roof until she gave up and went to bed. Once he thought she was asleep he would slide into their futon and place his hand against her belly. He never said a word. 

After weeks of silence she’d decided to talk to him about ending the pregnancy. If they were going to pretend it hadn't happened maybe it was best to stop it from happening at all. 

"I need you to be honest with me," she finally said at dinner the night after her third missed period. "I'm already three months along so if this isn't…"

She just couldn’t force herself to say the words. She knew in her heart she wouldn’t do it. She already loved this baby. She loved this baby more than she’d ever loved anything else in her life... but she needed to know where he stood. She tried again.

"There are ways to… if you really think it's best…"

Inuyasha had understood what she couldn’t say. He’d taken her into his arms, his breaths ragged as he tried to hold himself together. They stared silently into the fire and Kagome actively chose not to mention when she felt his tears soak into her robes. The fire had burnt down to just embers when Inuyasha finally spoke. 

“Please don’t do that. I know I’m a selfish bastard but I want this baby. I want our baby, Kagome.” 

He’d asked her again not to tell anyone, to give him time to figure out how to manage the village. Then the vomiting had started and Kagome could see Inuyasha’s panic grow. She would start showing soon and then there would be no more hiding it. And now Sango knew. Kagome swore under her breath- tonight was not going to be fun. 

--------------------------------------------------

Inuyasha walked from the village to the edge of the forest that bore his name. He was always so happy he built the hut so far from the main road. The closer to home he got, the better everything smelled. No more farm animals, no more rotting vegetables, just the trees, and eventually the sweet wildflower scent of his wife. Walking through the front door he wasn’t shocked to see Kagome wasn’t home yet. She was always out late when she spent the day with Sango. Between the twins, the boy, and now her forth weighing her down that woman was going nowhere fast. 

He took a seat and started rebuilding the fire for dinner. While trying to decide if he should hunt tonight or not he found his vision wandering, settling in the far corner of the room. There next to their bed was Tessaiga, propped against the wall, and his Robe of the Fire Rat hanging from a hook. For a long time, those had been the only two things he had on the entire world. Before Kagome he hadn't even had the sword- just the robe and his word. And yet, it had been enough for her. He had been enough. She could have stayed in her world filled with the most incredible things, things he would never be able to give her. Things she deserved. And yet here she was, living in their house, and carrying his child in her belly.

He was happy, happier than he'd ever been in his life, but he couldn't stop himself from panicking. Having so much in his life meant there was suddenly so much more to lose. So much more at stake. Before, if he had died it wouldn't have mattered to anyone. Sure Kagome would be sad but she'd get over it. Now? Now she'd be a widow. His child without a father, without defense, without a guide through their demon heritage. He'd had Myoga to help him through the growing pains and his first moonless night without his mother - but he wanted better for his child. He wanted his child to know they weren't alone, that they weren't the only one in the world going through this. He wanted his child to know he'd survived thirteen transformations a year and that they didn't need to be afraid.

But fuck, he was afraid now. Kagome didn't get it, not really. Jinenji, Shiori… they were best case scenarios. His place as village protector was unheard of. People didn't accept hanyou into their towns. If they did they accepted it the same way they accepted the fact that some percentage of crops would always fail: begrudgingly. It was foolhardy to expect any village to keep one hanyou; it was suicide to expect them to accept two. At best their hut would be burned down while they were out working for the day. At worst...

His fear only grew when Kagome came through the door reeking of anxiety. He didn't have to wait long to find out why.

"Sango knows."

Two words had never come so close to stopping his heart before. He grabbed the water bucket and doused the fire he'd built. He took two quick steps towards the bed, Kagome at his heels. He pulled his robe off the hook and wrapped it roughly around Kagome's shoulders with one hand and secured Tessaiga to his obi with the other. 

"We're leaving -now." 

"What?" 

"Fold up the futon to take with, but leave the blankets. I'm going to grab a box of food then we're going. DON'T FIGHT ME ON THIS KAGOME."

Her mouth snapped shut with an audible click. He hadn't raised his voice like that to her since she'd come back. Actually, she didn't think he'd ever raised his voice like that to her the entire time she'd known him. In all their traveling Inuyasha always chose fight over flight - but in this moment he was prepared to run as fast as his legs could carry them. 

His legs didn’t have to carry them as far as it seemed, but the journey was constantly stopped so Kagome could empty her stomach in a bush. Her flat stomach meant she was able to keep her usual perch on Inuyasha’s back while he carried a small box and the futon, but without his hands helping to hold her in place it didn’t matter how smoothly he tried to keep his form. Finally, after five stops and ten times that many apologies from a completely panicked hanyou they arrived at a small cave several miles upriver from the village. They were just at the end of Inuyasha’s forest, where the treeline ran straight into a rockface. They broke into a small clearing, the entrance to a cave just visible in the fading sunlight. 

Kagome slid off of Inuyasha’s back and was barely back on her feet before he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the cave. He layed out the futon just inside the entrance and pushed her to sit down on the bedding. 

“Don’t move.”

 He set the box next to her and brushed passed deeper into the cave. He emerged a moment later holding a bundle of sticks and a few logs.  He stacked them a few feet in front of her in what she now realized was a stone-ringed fire pit. Logs, a fire pit. How long had he been planning this?

“What is all this?” she finally asked.

“It’s our new home. For now anyway. Once the baby is born we can look somewhere else if you want but for now you’re too vulnerable to be out on the road.” He said it with a completely blank expression, no room for argument in his voice. This was the only way he could keep her and their baby safe. It was far enough away from the river to avoid animals and travelers. The cave opening was big enough for air and light but small enough that Kagome could hold a barrier across the whole thing if she needed to. The trees provided decent camouflage as well as a quick getaway route that would make them harder to shoot at and track if it came down to it. It had taken him weeks of scouting to find it. 

He could hear how hard Kagome was working to keep her breathing even as she looked around the cave, the fire light now bright enough for her human eyes to be able to see at least some detail. It wasn’t much but there was a large fur layed out to keep the futon from getting too cold against the stone floor. He’d taken her yellow backpack from their hut and moved it to the cave, unpacking her sleeping bag so it lay unzipped and open like a blanket, the small water pot and first aid kit sitting against the deepest wall. There was a sizable pile of kindling and fuel logs, plus now their small box from the pantry. He heard Kagome took a deep breath and he wasn’t sure if she was going to yell or throw-up again.

“Go ahead and yell already, woman.”

“When were you going to tell me about this?” her voice was calm, but the shrill edge to it made it clear she wanted to yell.

“I don’t know. I wanted to let you stay in the village as long as you could. But if the slayer knows then the monk knows and that gossip couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. I certainly don’t trust him to keep one to save yours.”

“You don’t know that-” she didn’t finish that sentence, his growl effectively ending her train of thought. 

“I’m not risking it. I’m not risking you and I’m not risking the baby.” He took a deep breath to try and control his temper. If she wasn’t going to yell then neither would he. He sat on the opposite side of the fire from her, holding his usual closed off pose, Tessaiga resting against his shoulder. 

“You don’t get it, Kagome. Villages will turn in a single night. You don’t think that Jinenji’s mother or Shiori’s lived in those villages for years before they got pregnant? Have family there? And what good did that do them? You’re an outsider.” 

When Kagome opened her mouth to argue he raised his voice again, making it clear he wasn’t finished.

“They were allowed to live because they were useful - Jinenji’s medicinal garden and Shiori’s connection to the bat tribe. Rin training with Kaede while you were gone means your usefulness isn’t guaranteed. You can’t be a priestess married and Rin can take your place as healer and midwife. And neither is mine. I’m protector now but there are still a lot of folks in that village who remember when I nearly burned it to the ground.” 

Kagome sat in silence for a long time, digesting what he’d told her. It wasn’t long before the stinging smell of salt made it to his nose. He stood and crossed the small clearing, gathering her up into his lap and draping his arms around her, letting the sleeves of his suikan wrap around her like a blanket. He didn’t try to placate her, didn’t tell her it would all be okay.  Secretly, he hoped it would. He hoped that out here away from prying eyes they could start over and have a safer life together with their child. It wasn’t exactly the life he dreamed about- living alone in the middle of nowhere, prepared to bug out with less than a moment’s notice, planning escape routes instead of a garden - but he learned a long time ago that hanyou can’t afford to dream. Having Kagome, having their child, it was more than any other half-demon would ever have and he would do whatever was necessary to keep them safe.

--------------------------------------------------

After three days in the cave, Kagome hoped Inuyasha had calmed down enough to hear her proposal. She’d spent the three nights alone in bed while he insisted on sleeping sitting up with Tenseiga at the entrance which gave her plenty of time to be reflective. If it was just to two of them, she may have argued against his highhanded tactics. But he was right, she was vulnerable and their baby even more so. She wanted to salvage as much good regarding the pregnancy as she could. Despite her hope that the villagers would accept them, she’d decided she wouldn’t fight him on living there. Unless she had actual evidence to the contrary, it was better to air on the side of caution and not give him anything else to worry about. If he thought she was going to be angry at him for his efforts to keep them safe it would only make him more miserable than he already was and she refused to add to his distress.

However, they weren’t wanted criminals. They weren’t hiding from anyone in particular and she desperately wanted to still be able to see Sango and her family. Kagome’s only experience with children came from Sango and she knew she was going to need the older woman’s comfort and advice. She also wanted ten minutes in their old home to collect a few kitchen things. She understood their need to be ready to move quickly, but she was going to be eating a lot more than she had when they were traveling. Plus, now that instant ramen was no longer a staple in their diet, she needed more than one small water pot. Not to mention her sewing basket. 

She saw her opportunity on the fourth day while Inuyasha was cleaning fish for their lunch. She gathered up the sticks they used to skewer them and took a seat next to him. 

"Inuyasha," he grunted in acknowledgement, "thank you. For finding this place. For working so hard to keep us safe." She turned her head to look at him and was slightly taken aback by his expression. He had one eyebrow raised up into his bangs, his lips drawn together, and looked altogether decidedly not amused. 

"What do you want, woman?"

"I don't want anything I just-"

"You're full of it and you know it. Just say what you wanna say and you can ditch the flattery act."

"It's not an act! I do appreciate it and…" she lost steam as he continued to stare her down, clearly not buying it, "and okay fine I want something."

"Clearly."

"I want to go back to the village" she threw her hands up in surrender at his immediate growl, "Not to stay! I just want to tell Sango why we left and grab three things from the house. That's all. I promise." 

He stopped growling and let out a long, slow breath through his nostrils. "What three things?"

"The blanket Kaede gave us, my sewing basket, and the skillet pan. A second set of clothes would be nice but I won't fight you on it. With the sewing kit I can make these last a while." 

Inuyasha grabbed the skewers from her hand and finished prepping the fish with a bit more force than was actually necessary. Lunch was almost entirely cooked before he spoke again. 

"We'll go tomorrow at sundown. You can spend some time with the slayer and we'll get the things from the house. Whatever fits in the backpack -- we can't keep too much and get weighed down." 

Kagome nodded her understanding as she claimed two fish from the fire, pleased beyond the telling of it that the smell hadn't made her sick. As they ate their meal in silence Kagome began to plan what she was going to say to Sango. Finishing her lunch, Kagome tossed her bones into the pit and went back into the den to take a nap. To her surprise, Inuyasha came with. 

Helping her strip to just her base layer, he knelt down in front of her and parted the thin robe without untying the obi. Kagome blushed and was about to ask him what he was doing when she felt his cold nose push into the soft, bloated flesh of her abdomen. His velvety ear twitching against her skin tickled terribly as he pressed his face more firmly against her, his hands resting on her hips to hold her still. She felt his grip flex suddenly and he turned his head to look up at her, his eyes wide with excitement.

"I can hear the heartbeat, it's strong and steady." 

Instead of standing back up, she felt Inuyasha's arms snake around her hips, hugging her tightly. He nuzzled his face against her then stilled, wholly focused on the heartbeat again. Despite desperately wanting a nap, Kagome was content to stand there as long as he needed.  She placed one hand on his shoulder and used the other to gently run her fingers through his hair, enjoying one quiet moment of peace together. 

--------------------------------------------------

As promised the following night Inuyasha ran Kagome and the empty backpack out to the village. Truth be told it was a good idea to run the path every few days to check for any signs of activity, something he hadn’t done yet since he couldn’t bring himself to leave Kagome’s side. It was much faster this time, his hands helping to hold Kagome still and the lack of panicked nerves making the trip much easier on her stomach. 

Arriving at the little hut on the edge of the village closest to the river, Inuyasha was unprepared for the tongue lashing he was about to get.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?” Sango wasn’t even out the door before she started yelling. She was so irate she didn’t even seem to notice that her volume had woken up the toddler strapped to her back. 

“Sango I-”

“Save it Kagome, I know you wouldn’t have left without saying anything. YOU however,” she turned a dark glare and an accusatory finger at the hanyou, “YOU however would absolutely pull this kind of stunt!”

Inuyasha was having none of it. After weeks of stress he was not about to stand there and be yelled at for something even his stubborn wife had agreed was a good idea.

“It’s not my fault your gossip of a husband couldn’t be trusted to keep our secret. I did what I had to do and I don’t really give a damn if you like it or not.” 

The gossip in question appeared at his wife’s side, collecting the screaming child so she could go embrace her friend. “That hardly seems fair Inuyasha, I am perfectly capable of keeping information in confidence.” 

“Oh yeah, so nobody knows?” he crossed his arms and raised a brow, daring him to lie. 

Miroku had the decency to flush slightly while Sango winced from her place at Kagome’s side. 

“Fuckn’ thought so.”

Inuyasha had half a mind to tell Kagome to forget whatever was in the house and leave immediately. But one look at how happy she was to hear Sango talk about how she’d started having early birth pains and that they had narrowed down their name choices and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. It was dark, and they were far enough from the main part of the village that there wouldn’t be anyone who could accidentally see them. As the women made their way inside with Miroku following after, Inuyasha instead made one swift leap up onto the roof to keep watch. They would stay as long as Kagome wanted. He’d taken so much from her already, he could at least let her have this. 

Once Kagome was finally ready to go, in that she was falling asleep sitting up, it was nearing midnight. Carrying her on his back rather than letting her walk in the dark, Inuyasha stopped in his tracks a few yards from the house. He could already smell it: old fruit and rotten meat. His whole body sagged. It was decision making time. Should he turn back now and tell Kagome they could go to the hut tomorrow? Or should he keep going and expose her whatever had happened to their home? Seeing it covered in trash with a half butchered carcass on the doorstep would either finally convince her that he wasn’t being paranoid… or it could break her. He’d never lied to her before, and if she was going to be the mother of a part demon child she deserved to know exactly what that meant. He took a steadying breath, hating what he had to say next.

“Kagome?”

“What’s the matter?”

“I can smell rotting meat. I know Miroku said he only told a few people, but based on that stench I’m guessing the whole village knows. If you want I can take you back to the cave and come salvage what I can tomorrow. You don’t have to see this if you don’t want to.” 

She was silent for only a moment before he felt her muscles tense, mentally and physically preparing herself for what she might see.

“Keep going.”

He wasn’t sure if he was proud of her, or concerned over how stubborn she was. Either way he kept walking, though at a much slower pace than before. Once the doorway came into view he was surprised that the house seemed unharmed. There was nothing on the walls, no animal corpse on the veranda, even the garden was still intact. He let Kagome slide off his back and left her standing at the door while he stepped inside. He must have taken too long to come back out because Kagome came in after him even though he told her to stay put. 

“Inuyasha? What’s wrong? Is it … is it that bad?”

Silently grabbing and lighting the lamp they always kept next to the door he waited while she took in the scene. 

Their house was filled with baskets. Some had fruit, now soft from the weeklong summer heat. Others had cloth in different colors and textures, there was enough for at least one kimono for Kagome and a dozen diapers. The stench, though, came from the basket of neatly skinned rabbits, their pelts cleaned and left hanging to dry from the kitchen rafters. There was even a basket filled with firewood. 

Inuyasha wasn’t good with words on his best days. After weeks of being on edge, he couldn’t even process what he was seeing. 

He finally settled on “The fuck is all this?”

Next to him, Kagome was still in shock, one hand holding the lamp aloft and one covering her mouth. At his outburst though, she burst into tears. 

“They’re gifts. They weren’t running us out of town, Inuyasha, they were welcoming the baby.”  

He stood there looking around his home filled with gifts, filled with proof that what she was saying was true, but his head simply refused to believe it. It was Kagome who pulled him out of his silence.

“I know you’re worried Inuyasha, and I am too. But, I think this is a good sign. They could have burned this place to the ground, instead they brought us food.” She reached over and claimed his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers and squeezing tightly. “I think we can stay here.” 

He felt his heart rate spike at the suggestion, but looking around again he immediately began to calm. Sensing his struggling emotions Kagome continued. “We don’t have to stay tonight. But can we come back tomorrow and see who these are from? And go say thank you. Maybe spending some time in the village will let us decide. And even if we do stay here, the den isn’t going to disappear. I understand the benefit of having a plan B.” 

He sighed, feeling the adrenaline finally ebb out of his system. He had been expecting the worst and instead… They would go back to the den tonight and tomorrow explore this unexpected new reality. 

Special thanks to  @inukag-week for the image :)

Tags: @willowandfog @smmahamazing @procellaxletalis @mayarab @lilms-obsessed @ruddcatha

Ajisai Part 2: Instinct coming on Day 5

[mino177]

Opinion and theories

To be fair I dont know how to feel about the new Inuyasha anime. I am both excited, happy and terrified at the same time. I am happy because the new anime can give a boost to this fandom and can give us more backstory and lore about our favourite characters but at the same time it can ruin the characters and the whole story. I personally love Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru… and the others way more than I think I can like the new characters.

So far the story seems interesting but it also kinda bad. I dont really like the implication about how Moroha (inukag daughter) cant remember her parents because she was alone since she was a young kid. That means something horrible might have happened to Inuyasha and Kagome, either they disappeared or died. And both of them sounds awful especially because of Inuyasha’s bad life.

Seriously he cant catch a break, the universe hates him that much? He had a horrible childhood and was abused both by humans and demons and even by his own brother. He lost his parents very early and was left alone to fend for himself and when he finally found somebody who kinda accepted him she died by the hands of Naraku and he was tortured by that lost and guilt for a very long time. His wish to protect himself and finally be accepted by demons was turned against him and he has to be afraid that his demon one day takes control and murder everyone he loves. And when finally I mean finally he finds happiness again with Kagome and people who accepts him and a village he can live in and has his own kid he loses his life or family all again? Are you f*ing kidding me? (this upsets me so much)

They can even make this worse if the fire was caused by Inuyasha’s demon and then he murdered everybody then went hiding to at least spare his daughter. (the backstory better not be this) Even if Kagome and Inuyasha didnt die they lost their daughter for years and didnt see her grow up and couldnt protect her.

But seeing Moroha clothes it seems Inuyasha left his fire rat robe and sword  to protect his daughter which means he is probably dead.

Also:

Wait is that the same shell that was inuyasha mother’s? Which Inuyasha gave to Kikyo? Is this story somebody’s bad fanfiction? So Moroha have an other form which she can activate with that lipstick. (kinda like ÉClair from kiddys grade) Does her demon half also causes problems for her? What is the red pearl? Is it similar to Inuyasha’s black Pearl? Will it lead to Inuyasha’s tomb?

Also if the anime name is: Yasha’s hanyou princess- Does that mean that Moroha suppose to be the ruler now and that in the past Inuyasha was finally recognized as a royality? Did he even took over as the Ruler of the Western Lands? If he did… does that mean that Sesshoumaru died before him? :O Although this explain why Moroha and Sesshoumaru’s daughter would continue the brother’s rivalry.

Or is just how Inuyasha calls his daughter? Yasha’s princess? That is so sweet. :D Or is that the name of Sesshomaru’s daughter? Kinda confused.

While I see the similarities between Inuyasha and his daughter I miss Inuyasha and Kagome’s long and thick hair. And the daughter didnt inherit any demonic features? (if her bow isnt actually her ears which placed pretty far back on her head) She didnt get Inuyasha’s ear or a demon ear or anything? Also the clothes she wears looks like half of Inuyasha’s fire rat robe and the mixture of Shippo, Kouga and Miroku. To be fair she looks more like Inuyasha, Shippo and Kouga’s kid instead of Inuyasha and Kagome.

 Second the children desings dont look that good to me. I have already talked about the Inukag love child but Sesshoumaru’s daughters also look kinda bad. Even though they are hanyous they barely have any demonic features.

 Sure Setsuna has a fluffy tail but her ears look human and she doesnt have any marks like her father. And I also find their hairstyles kinda bad. Bytheway Setsuna also have a weapon with a fur on it. Tessaiga ’s fur was Inu no Tashio’s fur so that means that fur is from Sesshoumaru. So Sesshoumaru also made a weapon from his fangs and gave it to his daughter just like his father did with them. And the daughter is a demon slayer too. I dont think Sesshoumaru would be that happy about that. I have a feeling that he is also dead and his daughter (just like Inuyasha’s) was raised by the new demon slayers aka Sango and Miroku or their children.

It also bothers me that it is Sesshoumaru’s daughter who travels through the well/wormhole becaue Sesshoumaru didnt really have anything to do with the time travel, and she got raised by Kagome’s family while their own cousin/family member stays in the past as a young child withouth her family.

Also Sesshoumaru with a human? Did he get over his hate against half demons? Didnt they stain his bloodline anymore? Did he feel remourseful about how he treated Inuyasha and wanted to murder him? Or it is just didnt matter anymore? and fuck Inuyasha again?

 (I wonder if you guys notice where this picture is from :D)

To be fair the other daughter seems ok to me. I am not fan of her design but her story seems believable. She picks fights regulary and that is what Sesshoumaru did when he was… well himself. :D Although we will have two Sesshoumaru now so I wonder how their sibling rivalry will go. Probably want to kill eachother because Sesshoumaru couldnt handle criticism or to anybody stand up against him.

 And what did they mean by that the daughters will continue the sibling rivalry? For what? Setsuna gonna hate on Moroha because she is a quarter demon now? :D And Sestsuna seems to inherit a weapon from Sesshoumaru why would she need Moroha’s weapon? Makes nosense. I can only imagine Sessy’s daughters having a sibling rivalry between themselves.

Or as I just realized for the ruler position of the west… (although in the manga the whole ruler of the westrenland with Inu no Tashio or with Sesshoumaru never happened)

Also where are the others? Shippo, Kouga?

What shouldnt happen in this anime: Neither Inuyasha,, Kagome, Sesshoumaru or Rin die. Inuyasha shouldnt be responsible for the fire or abandon his daughter.

What should happen: More backstory and lore about Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru and Inu no Taisho. Get to know Sesshoumaru’s wife (preferably not Rin or her child). Sesshoumaru apologizing to Inuyasha for looking down on him and treating him badly. Family time with the kids. Sango and Miroku and their kids making an appearance. Kagome finaly stopping the whole sit boy abuse and just live normaly with Inuyasha and her daughter. Shippo and Kouga reappearance.

[shinidamachu]

Haven't caught up on every Yasha**** ep but...did they really just kill off Shiori's mom with a single line? Wow. Just wow.

I haven't caught up since episode 4, my dude. My spider senses went off like crazy the moment I saw Rin in that three. And from that moment on, every Yashah!me spoiler I've seen only solidified that dropping it was the right decision for me.

I'm too old to keep wasting my time watching something I hate just because it came out of something I love or just because I started it so I might as well finish it. Yashah!me doesn't deserve that courtesy out of me because it couldn't even meet the very low, very reasonable expectations I had for it.

From the start I had a lot of worries about the plot and what it meant for the original characters, but I put them all behind and gave it the benefit of the doubt. Only to learn I shouldn't have.

I empathize with your frustration over Shizu's death and the way it was handled. She is a beloved character within the fandom and deserved way more respect than what she got. But on the other hand... I almost feel relieved she is dead. That way, her character can't be ruined by the writers like the ones who had actual screen time were. Just look at Miroku, Sango, Kaede, Sesshomaru, Rin, Shiori herself.

Not only did they kill off Shizu with a single line, they went out of their way to show us that Shiori loses her dark skin on her human nights (when they could have just... not), heavily implying that dark skin is a demonic feature and they also, accidentally or not, let very clear that it didn't matter all the trouble the Inutachi (Inukag specially) went through in order to help Shiori and other characters like her during their journey: ultimately, it was Sesshomaru (who spend the majority of the show being a intolerant asshole to this very kind of characters) and his daughters that got to enjoy the outcome of the gang's good deeds.

And yes, Inuyasha and Kagome didn't help them with any sort of future reward in mind, but it is tone deaf as fuck that the people they helped wasn't there for their daughter when she needed the most, regardless of what weak ass excuse the writers might have given for it, while simultaneously making the same characters to be there for Sesshomaru's daughters instead. Like Inuyasha and Kagome's legacy didn't matter. Like the impact they had on these people's life never happened.

And the message they left the audience with, which could and should be "plant the good and you shall harvest the good in return" became "do whatever because it doesn't really matter in the long run."

At this point, I'm sad Shiori was even brought in this mess to begin with. I can only hope they leave Shippo and Jinenji alone. And how depressing is that? Most of the fandom don't want to see their favorite characters again by fear they wil be ruined. That's how you know your show has failed.

The good news is that I heard somewhere, unofficially, that the second season will really pick up and be more like the Inuyasha anime was. The bad news is... I don't believe that, even for a second.

[countdown-to-destruction]

Inuyasha Sequel: a rant

Put this up this earlier on a post I re-blogged, tried to edit a part or two where I didn’t like the way I had phrased it, and ended up messing up the whole format I wrote this in. Luckily I wrote this as a draft earlier anyways! So I did a some fixing and now I’m just copy-pasting it again and making it a text post instead. This will be very long and a little nit-picky but I wanted to make a post ever since I heard about the upcoming sequel to Inuyasha, Hanyō no Yashahime. I did put a TLDR at the end for those who don’t want to read everything. Not sure how many people in the fandom still follow me and will see this, as it's been a long time since I was actually active in the fandom, but it's hands-down both my favorite manga and anime of all time and I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately so I had to post something. Before reading this be sure to read all of the translated character bios for Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha so that this makes sense.

When I first heard that Inuyasha would be getting a sequel I was excited! But after reading up on it, to be completely honest I'm not feeling this sequel anymore. I know it’s an unpopular opinion but hear me out. Firstly, it seems like Rumiko is mostly involved in the character design aspect and the writing is up to Katsuyuki Sumisawa. The music will be produced by Kaoru Wada which is great! And from what I’ve seen and read online a number of others who worked on the original series will reunite so hopefully the story will go well. However, knowing Rumiko isn't personally writing and not knowing how much input she has or will give makes me unsure about watching. The original Inuyasha anime followed and was based off of the events in the manga, and there was no manga prior to this for it to be based on. Depending on what happens this could be an alright sequel or a total miss. Unfortunately sequels in general are known to be disappointing in some way. 

Secondly, if I hear anything about Rin being the mother of Sesshomaru's twin daughters I'm out. This part will be a SUPER long and in depth explanation on why I think this way, feel free to skip if you're not interested. Please don't come for me on this, I'm here to explain my thoughts and feelings on the sequel and the theories around it so far, not start an argument. I'm more than aware that there's plenty of controversy out there on this pairing and personally I do not support it. I never saw their relationship as more than a friendship, or something akin to child and guardian as Sesshomaru and Jaken are basically Rin's caretakers up until she goes to live in the village with Kaede. He definitely cares for her deeply but I can't see it in a romantic way, being that Sesshomaru isn't even a character focused on romance to begin with. He learns compassion through Rin's second death but that doesn't mean he loves her romantically. As a reminder his main goal is to seek power and be powerful, and it's stated that he needed to learn compassion and grief in order to mature. It's what helped him learn to wield the Tenseiga at its full potential. In addition, she was really young when they first met and still was when she went to live with Kaede. The idea of Sesshomaru (an adult) having romantic feelings for a kid under ten years old (around eleven at the end of the series, and still a literal child in all ways) and waiting for her to age with the intention of marrying her sits totally wrong with me. Age wise I realize that Inuyasha is decades older than Kagome and that his father was much older than his mother, Izayoi, as well. The difference here is that Kagome was a teen when she met Inuyasha (who not just physically, but more importantly mentally was also a teen) and clearly Izayoi was old enough to conceive Inuyasha and give birth. As far as the audio dramas (more specifically "Asatte") go they're generally considered as an outtake reel and are essentially parodies, or a form of satire. Some will debate on this but realistically there’s plenty of reasons this is true, and those who take the time to properly check them out understand that. For me I've always had a headcanon that at some point in her teen years Rin would inevitably develop a one-sided crush on Sesshomaru and that he would ultimately set boundaries and reject her, seeing her as more of a close companion than a love interest and wanting her to live with someone she can grow old with. He gave her the choice to follow him and it's most likely that she would, but I think that once she began aging he would want her to have somewhere to settle, given that he enjoys roaming and seeking out other powerful beings to battle. It's strange to me that they decided to give Sesshomaru hanyō/half-demon children in general but based on the artwork we've seen it's fair to guess that they might have made Sesshomaru and Rin a pairing in this sequel.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I want to clarify that if you ship them together I'm not writing this here because I want to hate on your ship for no reason, or in order to create an argument on if the pairing makes sense, these are my thoughts and opinions on the matter and I’m voicing them because it’s what I believe. I already know that somebody won’t like this and will take it personally. People usually say that once Rin is an adult the pairing is acceptable but I disagree. I find it quite creepy that someone would think it would be alright for an adult to wait around for a kid to grow up with the intention to marry and/or sleep with them. Watching from a distance is the same exact thing, after making an impression on the child... let’s not normalize this. In this situation it would be grooming. We all have our own opinions when it comes to our ships and fandoms and I try to respect that but I can’t get behind this one.

Next we have the apparent lack of parental figures for the heroines. Where are the original Inuyasha characters at? Moroha's character bio says she barely knows her parents (Inuyasha and Kagome, our former main protagonists) and has been alone since she was young! It makes me think either something has happened to them or some kind of bizarre event separated them. And sorry, not related, but why does she transform by PUTTING LIPSTICK ON?? That part threw me for a loop.

When it comes to Setsuna and Towa their parents are absent too. I find it difficult to believe that Sesshomaru wouldn't keep track of his children given how he treats Rin and reacts to her going missing in any capacity. Especially if he happened to be fond of whoever their mother is. One daughter works as a taijiya/demon slayer for Kohaku and the other mysteriously transports to Kagome's era and is raised by Sota (I thought we had finished with the time jumps when the well closed but apparently not. When the Bone Eater's Well closed after Kagome's return it gave a sense of finality and closure to the story, and showed that Kagome had chosen where she was most happy and felt she belonged. I think that bringing the theme of time travel back into the sequel makes it feel repetitive, like something right out of a predictable fanfic. Props to Sota for taking in and raising a child who showed up out of nowhere though).

Another thing that came to mind when I read these character bios was why Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter and Sesshomaru's daughters are the exact same age. Of course there's nothing wrong with that. It only struck me as odd because suddenly everyone is having kids at the same time. And so far there's no mention of other characters like Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Jaken, Kaede, or Miroku or Sango's three children or where they are. One might expect that a story focused on the children of some of the original Inuyasha's main characters would feature appearances from those who had important roles in the previous series and their children. Which brings me around to wondering what made twin daughters a trend? Two sets of twin girls is a unique choice (Sango and Miroku's twin daughters. For such a small group of parental characters, what are the odds of two sets of twin girls? Where is the creativity and again why the repetition?).

Lastly, Sesshomaru's daughters lack some of the common yōkai/demon characteristics we see on Inuyasha and other characters. Their ears are human, and they have no markings or otherwise (that I noticed) with the exception of Setsuna's mokomoko/fur which is similar to Sesshomaru's. So perhaps they take more after their human mother? Given that Inuyasha seemed to inherit strong genes from his father it's interesting that they did not. Their ages also interest me as they appear to age the same way as humans do. Yōkai/demons are known to have a longer lifespan than humans and appear to slow down or almost stop aging at some point. Perhaps this confirms that the slowdown in aging occurs once they reach the equivalent of a human teen? 

Overall Inuyasha was a fantastic manga and great anime on its own, and I never got the feeling that it needed a sequel. As a stand-alone it was everything it needed to be. I thoroughly enjoyed both formats of the original, though I do have a tendency to disregard certain parts of the anime. I always preferred the manga more when the anime dragged out certain scenes (Shichinintai/Band of Seven arc for example) or straight-up excluded, changed, and added others. Taking that into consideration the sequel might end up being the same for me in that way, but rather than one scene that plays out for too long or an excluded, altered, or unnecessary added scene, if it’s not any good I’ll simply disregard it altogether. When the anime comes out I certainly plan to try watching it out of loyalty to the fandom, and due to the fact that it's "technically" canon (without Rumiko being the writer I don't necessarily consider it canon, much like how some folks do or do not consider the movies canon) but I get the feeling that I'll wind up giving up on it in disappointment.

TLDR; Overall I'm left questioning if the sequel is worth watching (for me) given what I've read and heard so far, but nonetheless I will give it an optimistic try! I'm currently wondering how much we'll see of the original Inuyasha characters, if we get to find out what happened to them, if the number one pairing I'm not fond of will make an appearance (and cause me to drop the whole thing), and questioning parts of the character backstories and designs (why is there a repetitive and recurring theme of time travel and does it end up hindering or ruining the story, why do the protagonists all lack parents, and why do the hanyō/half-demon characters lack common yōkai/demon traits and does it make them more human than demon?).

[ick25]

What I think about Inuyasha’s writing.

I used  to be a huge Inuyasha fan because I watched it in my teen years (The Latin Spanish dub, not the English dub where I find their voices to be pretty annoying). I would stay awake until eleven o’ clock just to watch a new episode on Cartoon Network and sing along with the translated versions of the intros. My early submissions on Deviantart were fanarts of Inuyasha, I used to draw him like crazy, and the show is even one of my original comic’s main inspirations. So what happened?

I love Inuyasha’s character, but as I grew older, I started hating or not caring about the other characters of the show (Except for Sesshomaru, of course) and grew tired of the story because I felt it wasn’t going anywhere. Inuyasha has good writing, but the pacing and how sometimes you can’t really take it seriously ruins it for me.

I want to talk about this now since I just heard about the sequel that is gonna happen soon with Inuyasha’s Lina Inverse of a daughter and Sesshomaru’s very confused twin daughters, and I’m thinking to myself: “How is Rumiko gonna ruin this story even more”. Don’t get me wrong, the creator, Rumiko Takahashii, is a very talented manga artist and writer, and I respect her, at one point I even saw her as my heroine, but now I want to surpass her. 

How can Inuyasha, a story about a half demon, who falls in love with the reincarnation of his ex-girlfriend who can travel through time whenever she feels like it, has a hot demon brother that tried to kill him several times, wields a powerful magical sword forged from the fang of his deceased yet very famous demon father who I want to know more about, a dead human mother who may or may not have been a princess... Where was I going with this? o_o

As an aspiring storyteller/ animator, I want to talk about the problems with Inuyasha’s story, the things I love about it, as well as the bad things in it, and see why Inuyasha isn’t the writing masterpiece everyone likes to believe it is. And by the end, talking about what I would do to improve the story.

This is how I analyze Inuyasha. I never read the manga, so I’m gonna focus on the anime.

1. Inuyasha is a romantic comedy?

Rumiko Takashii is a successful manga artist and considered “The queen of anime”, because her art Style and humor have inspired many of the anime cliches we know today such as the nose bleeds shots, the beach episodes with fan service, and good o’l scenes where the girl calls a boy a pervert before comically sending them flying. She is the creator of another famous work called Ranma 1/2, an anime I used to love as a kid, but now...

I studied how to draw and create mangas and I have learned how to make a good story. After returning to Ranma recently, I have figured out the problem with Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashii’s style is repetitive. Rumiko is capable of writing a good plot and creating very good characters from time to time, but now many of her main characters feel very cliche. In her stories there is always gonna be a pervert, there is always gonna be a bad parent, a rivalry, crazy and or exaggerated situations, goofy looking characters, wise old men or women, beautiful female characters, Japanese or Chinese folklore, fighting, but most importantly, a girl with a love/hate relationship with a dumb, rowdy tsundere boy, where they argue so much that the girl ends up physically abusing the boy and the show passes it for something funny; and those are the ingredients for making a Rumiko Takahashii styled manga/anime.

Rumiko’s forte is in Romantic comedy, sometimes mixing different genres makes a story good and very realistic... If done right, which brings me to my next point.

2. Time travel just for fun.

What is Inuyasha about? It is about a half-demon teenage boy that has to partner with a teenage girl from the modern times, who accidentally travels through time via a magical well that has been in her family’s shinto shrine for generations, to find the shards of a powerful magical jewel that said girl accidentally shatters and scatters all over feudal Japan. This idea alone makes it a very interesting series, either for a book or a TV show.

What went wrong then? I believe the problem started around the third episode were it was shown that Kagome can easily go back to the present, have dinner with her family, take a bath, gather provisions, and even take her god damn bike with her to the past every time she wants without caring about creating a time paradox.

This is played for laughs because of the romantic comedy element, but if you do this in an show with action, deaths, and evil spirits wanting to take over the world, then that fact alone makes the entire story lose credibility, I mean, what is stopping Naraku or any other demon from finding a way to travel to the future through the well to take over a world where demons and magical powers are basically extinct? The fact that only Kagome AND Inuyasha are the only ones who can go through the well? How convenient!

If the time travel well was taken more seriously it could’ve lead to a much more interesting story, but apparently nobody cares about time travel and the effects it could have in the history of Japan. I think there were two instances that I recall from the anime (Before Inuyasha Second Act, because I already stopped caring about the show when it came out) where time travel was or could’ve been relevant; the episode about the man eating mask that had a Shikon shard for hundreds of years, and the second movie of Inuyasha where the whole group was immune to a time stopping spell because Kagome’s medical kit and necklace from the future created some kind of time barrier around them.

And nobody cared about any of those things afterwards! Not the fact that there could’ve been one extra shard, or that Naraku was present during the time barrier incident and never wondered about it. Both the episode and movie scene were just ways to have Inuyasha being the only one who can come to Kagome’s rescue because their love is the main focus. Speaking of love...

3. Frustrating love drama.

Part of Inuyasha’s tsundere personality comes from the fact that he had his heart broken by everyone’s favorite b***, Kikyo.

Kikyo was the young priestess who sealed Inuyasha in a tree for 50 years, at first it looked like the typical holy person trying to protect her village from a dangerous demon, but in reality, she was in a relationship with him and thought that Inuyasha tricked her so he could steal the Shikon jewel from her. This was because everyone’s favorite a**h*** , Naraku, shape-shifted into both of them to trick them into killing each other.

It’s easy to blame Naraku for this, but that actually shows how they didn’t really “love” each other because of how quickly they turned against the other. 

I take this as a cautionary tale for first love. Inuyasha was just infatuated with Kikyo because of her beauty and kindness towards him, and when someone falls in love for the first time they don’t think straight, they don’t know what a real relationship entails, and not knowing that is exactly what happened to these two.

There was a special episode in the anime where we see how Inuyasha and Kikyo met and fell in love, in it we get a scene where Kikyo told Inuyasha that she was gonna give him a gift, which was gonna be the subduing necklace that Kagome tends to abuse a lot, however, Inuyasha decided to give her a gift as well, his mother’s lip balm she left him after dying. A very sweet gesture, right? How does Kikyo react to this?

That’s not a look of love, that’s a look of pity. RECIPROCATE, WOMAN! HE OPENED HIS HEART TO YOU AND YOU JUST FEEL SORRY FOR HIM?!

She does end up changing her mind about the subduing charm, but before this, she didn’t saw him as a person, and she was considered a saint by everyone in the village, but I guess that feeding the poor, nursing people, and playing with children is alright as long as they are humans, that’s almost racist. I hate Shippo, but I bet she wouldn’t be so caring about him or his dad if she saw them.

Kikyo absolutely sucks as a romantic partner! She doesn’t express anything, she doesn’t talk about her feelings, she doesn’t show any emotion apart from anger and slight contentment, and based on what we saw after Naraku set them up, I believe she never told him ANYTHING about herself. Unlike Kagome who he got to know very well as a person, Inuyasha didn’t even questioned her motives for attacking him, he automatically assumed that she manipulated him the whole time, and ran to the village to get the Shikon Jewel.

Rumiko wanted to make Kikyo more relatable so we could feel sorry for her and pass Naraku as an evil monster who destroyed what could’ve been a beautiful relationship, by having Kikyo wanting to live life as a normal girl, but can’t because she is the only one who can keep the Shikon jewel from being corrupted, and ultimately falling in love with Inuyasha because he saw her as a normal person (Unlike her with him). Well, it didn’t work, at least not for me.

I did feel sympathy for Kikyo... When she was alive! The series had a witch bring her back to life in a body made out of clay and using part of Kagome’s soul because she is the reincarnation of Kikyo. Why do this? To create drama by adding a love triangle into this romantic comedy of a show.

Feels like Rumiko doesn’t understand how reincarnation works because I think Kagome would’ve died during that ritual, and I really doubt Kikyo would’ve become such a B just out of jealousy; she wanted to take Inuyasha to hell with her, and he was not even dead yet! If this Kikyo really loved him, she would’ve let him go on with his life instead of roaming Japan feeling sorry for herself, taking advantage of a situation to keep Kagome away from Inuyasha, and barely doing anything to stop Naraku which was supposed to be her main goal. All of this made Kikyo unlikable instead of a relatable character trying to fix her past mistakes before going back to the grave.

4. Inuyasha’s background.

Something I absolutely love from Inuyasha’s story is the fact that it is set during a historical time period in Japan but with magical elements incorporated since many of the Japanese myths and folklore originated during those dark times. I love the fact that since everything was so dark back then, people would often see things that weren’t really there and made up stories to explain certain phenomena or just to keep children from misbehaving.

Inuyasha is full of Japanese folktales and magical creatures, and it clearly took inspiration from “Journey to the west”, a classic Chinese novel that’s one of the best adventure/ fantasy stories of all time, and that’s also been the main inspiration for many mangas and animes; it’s one of my favorites too.

Inuyasha’s background is one of the most interesting ones I’ve ever seen, it’s something common in fairy tales and myths where a human falls in love with a being from a magical race, like fairies, mermaids, gods, or in Asian folklore’s case, spirits or demons. In Inuyasha’s case, his mother was a human named Izayoi who fell in love with a powerful dog demon named Toga who was known as Inu no taisho  (Dog general), animal spirits or demons can take human form, and the dog spirits are very common in Japanese folklore.

The third movie of Inuyasha shows us what Toga looked like before and how he died, and I’m actually more interested in how Inuyasha’s parents met more than his love triangle drama. In fact, Toga’s story sounds much more interesting because he was built up as this great demon lord who fought countless enemies, he was a gigantic dog monster that stopped a demon invasion from China, he could destroy multiple armies with one swing of a sword he forged from one of his fangs, he had disciples and loyal subjects, but he ultimately lost his status, he let his reputation be destroyed because he fell in love with a woman from a race that was considered inferior, and had a half demon child with her.

One of Inuyasha’s motivation’s (the main one being killing Naraku) is proving that he is stronger than his father who was a full demon, while Inuyasha himself is considered a weak half human who is unworthy of the tittle of being a descendant of Inu no taisho. Every time Inuyasha hears about a demon that his father couldn’t defeat in the past, he gets excited because, with the powerful sword his dad left him, he now has a chance to prove to everyone that he is not weak and that he is stronger than his father was.

Inuyasha never met his father because Toga died the very day he was born, so he was raised by his mother who died when he was still a child. His older brother, Sesshomaru, is a full demon that never really forgave his father for throwing his reputation away because of a human woman, and leaving him a magical sword that can also resurrect the dead instead of the one that can destroy numerous souls in one blow.

I’m not really sure, but I think the Sesshomaru from the beginning of the third movie looked like he was around Inuyasha’s age when Toga died.

Before:

After:

I like to think that’s the case.

Inuyasha’s background alone can hold up the entire series, as well as his tense relationship with his only living relative, however, the main focus is something else, something that I personally find very repetitive, boring, and even lame.

5. Is Naraku really worth it?

Note that I am not defending Naraku, he is unlikable, mainly because of all the bad things he’s done to the main characters, but the truth is that I don’t really hate him as much as I should, granted, he is a manipulative b*st**d and I don’t like him, but he is just evil for the sake of being evil in the story. If anything, I see him as pathetic.

Let’s see his main crimes: He cursed Miroku’s family, for some reason, killed Sango’s entire family by using her inexperience demon slayer little brother as a puppet, he basically conned Sesshomaru in hopes of killing Inuyasha, but most importantly, he is the reason Inuyasha and Kikyo broke up! :0

To me, Naraku is just a coward that likes to manipulate others for his own personal gain, he was born from a bandit named Onigumo who was burned in a fire after betraying the leader of his group of thieves so he could take his place, and allowed his bodied to be consumed by demons in order to get... Kikyo! The gross part is that Kikyo was like 15 at the time while he could easily be in his 20′s or 30′s. Kikyo, being a “saint”, found Onigumo’s burned body and nursed him in a cave, this ultimately made the bandit fall in love with her and allowed his body to be devoured by evil spirits in exchange for power, he was then reborn as Naraku who is basically a half demon like Inuyasha.

I heard that the manga didn’t really mentioned Naraku’s past life, but I think that’s for the best. Naraku became Inuyasha’s group’s ( and other characters’s) main target, but every single time they find him and think they got him cornered, he manages to escape in some way because of how much of a coward he really is. Because this happens over and over and over and over again in every season, it get’s tiresome and frustrating, to the point where I even ask myself: “Is this MF even worth it?!” Anyone would’ve just given up a long time ago. I liked it when they focused on fighting other demons and enemies with different motives, but after a while it was just Naraku, Naraku, Naraku!

At some point I even forgot what started this adventure in the first place, the Shikon Jewel shards that were accidentally shattered and scattered through out Japan! One shard alone can power up a demon, this idea alone makes it an interesting story, collect the shards before Japan is destroyed by overpowered demons and evil spirits, but no, turns out  Naraku is collecting the shards too to the point that he already has a nearly complete jewel, well, that saves a lot of time!

I know, killing Naraku will get rid of Miroku’s wind tunnel curse, free Sango’s undead brother from his control, and Sesshomaru and other demons wanting revenge because he tried to use them, but what’s really Inuyasha’s beef with Naraku? Is he just mad because Naraku showed him just how totally incompatible he was with Kikyo? That’s what pisses me the most, to be honest.

As for Kagome, she definitely has no reason to be there, Naraku is the main antagonist and yet, he is kinda indifferent to Kagome. I don’t remember seeing Naraku doing anything bad to her or her family living in modern times that can be accessed through a magical well where he could easily... You know what? I’m done here.

Conclusion.

Inuyasha’s story has so much potential and yet it doesn’t take itself too serious. As I mentioned before, Inuyasha is treated more as a romantic comedy than a fantastical adventure kind of story. there is so much dept to the world building, but when focusing only on Inuyasha and Kagome falling in love, nothing else seem to matter. This could’ve worked if it had better writing. A simple or silly premise for a story can work if it has clever writing, something that Inuyasha really needed at times.

I liked to be surprised with clever writing in movies and shows, but if it was up to me, I’d definitely change a few things.

1. If you want a serious story, make Kagome be stuck in feudal Japan until the shards of the Shikon Jewel are recovered, or if this has to stay, don’t make the the stakes in the adventure so dire, either its a fantastical journey with two teenagers falling in love as the main focus, or a very serious adventure where their love is the only thing that can save the day.

2. Make Inuyasha and kikyo just friends, the love drama is unnecessary, specially since kikyo has almost no personality what so ever, unless you re-write her entire character. Or make Inuyasha fall in love with Kikyo, but Kikyo doesn’t feel the same and just sees him as a good friend, that at least would create some drama instead of the jealous ex-girlfriend that wants to kill everyone because she lost her chance in life.

3. Get rid of Naraku, the ultimate villain troupe gets tired very quickly, specially in a very long show that takes like 8 seasons to end. Or at least write him better and not turn the show into an endless chase for just one guy, specially since the main goal is to collect the shards of the Shikon jewel to destroy it once and for all.

This is just my opinion of course, and if you like the show just the way it is, then that’s alright, but seeing things you like with a critical eye, makes you appreciate them even more.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 68 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch gets Rolo to Za Warudo Suzaku so he can talk to Nunally for a bit before pretending he doesn’t know her. Then they decide to go hijack Nunally’s airship and “rescue” her before she can become the new viceroy. Kallen gets a flying upgrade to the Guren that matches Suzaku’s “Lancelot but with bigger gun” model and now she can fly too which is enough to take out all of Britannia’s airforce apparently. Still Nunally sees Zero!Lelouch and is like “you’re running around murdering people, that’s not cool” and Lelouch is like “I’m murdering people for you damnit” and turns out Nunally asked to go become viceroy so she can continue Euphy’s “Let’s just all get along” plan which was basically pacification by the higher ups anyway so it’s not like she’s NOT being used but she at least has the illusion of agency and Nunally rejecting Zero kind of breaks Lelouch. Also Suzaku flies in and adbucts Nunally and instead of moving the Lancelot’s arm like one foot and fucking punting Zero into a wall to end this whole thing once and for all, he uses the safety triangle go save Nunally.

Inuyasha: It’s filler time again! This time we do have an admittedly adorable version of Inuyasha being duped into household chores for Totosai while taking care of a young lynx demon that reminds him of Shippo, being nicer to Bunza than he ever was to Shippo for some reason. Still Inuyasha breaks the Mantis Demon (it’s always Mantis Demons wtf) barrier and saves the day before Totosai has to come clean and we get way to much information about his hygiene habits but Inuyasha finally gets the real lead on how to break barriers because the Tessaiga is a swiss army knife of stolen techniques.

Yu Yu Hakusho: We’re up to the third Saint Beast and Hiei is not about to stand for some Ice asshole killing someone for being weak which taps into his tragic backstory gland and leaves everyone else puzzled as to why the most stoic person of their group is so triggered by betrayal he definitely would have done himself. Seiryu and Hiei do the ice tango for a bit before Hiei does ninja shit and no-sells the ice to slash him up like it’s nothing. Meanwhile Suzaku gets his info and is like “Oh boy, Yusuke has a childhood friend to exploit” like all the other villains find out sooner or later. Despite the stupid name he gives the song and the corny one-liners from the zombie teachers chasing Keiko, hearing the haunting melody of the Makai Whistle/Flute (seriously that’s not a whistle it’s a fucking flute) while seeing Keiko go about her day before being hunted down by zombies is pretty striking.

Fate Zero: So Kirei’s like “Oh no, Gilgamesh killed my only servant, better hide out in the church till this is all over” only to have like 39 other servants to fuck around with that are gonna try and get some stealth kills based on the fact no one knows they exist. Also Iskander is walking around Waver’s place in booty shorts trying to reenact Citizen Kang on President Clin-ton and fetishizing bombers and jets. Kiritsugu’s got his guns and shit, ready to do his Homura thing but is worried about having feels now and being a dad may make him only able to kill 999 people without breaking a sweat instead of the full 1000. And lastly we catch up with Saber and Iris who definitely knows she’s being thrown into this to die as Saber’s fake master so Saber takes her out for a night on the town to enjoy herself and possibly question her sexuality. Doesn’t last too long though as their lesbian outing is interrupted by Lancer, seems like the Lancers are just the starter bosses in Fate for some reason since UBW started with a Lancer fight too.

Konosuba: So the last member of Kazuma’s party is revealed, Darkness the Masochist Saber has arrived. I mean I really don’t know what to say about these bits because everyone already knows the premise of Konosuba and going too much into it is probably just explaining the joke. Kazuma gets his steal ability and can only steal panties because his luck is so good and haha irony. Cabbage hunting also happens and Darkness has the Dead or Alive 2 jiggle physics on her tits turned up to Age 102 (god I’m dating myself with that reference). But it’s funny, Kazuma doesn’t seem happy about it but everyone’s just kinda having a good time fucking around and being insane. Like I get the joke is none of this is practically useful but I kinda wish Kazuma would stop being such a wet blanket and just enjoy being friends with everybody while he can, the girls seem to get along well enough together and they even give him praise when he does cool stuff, like really this just seems like a pretty positive (if insane) friend group and I wish he was more down for it.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So our third Sailor Guardian is a priestess fresh off of preparing for the Cotton Drifting festival (wait, wrong anime, thank goodness, Usagi just plain would not survive Higurashi). But I love how Ami convinces Usagi to go with her just by saying there’s a pretty girl there, like it’s so ridiculously gay and Usagi’s just all for it. Rei’s probably the most complicated character so far and gives the most thought to why she’s doing this out of the first three, like Rei literally asks Usagi what she’s fighting for and she badly mangles a Spider-man quote. That being said we’re starting to see that group dynamic come together which is fun and other than weird teleportation shenanigans and teleporting right into the boss’s lair and then just leaving making me scratch my head, this was a fun episode.

Durarara!!: This episode kind of reminds me of a pre-school cartoon show, but in a good way. Like they just pick a theme, in this case “lost things” and have all the characters have a small plot around that and kinda navelgaze on it for a while. Obviously the main plot is Celty’s continuing existential crisis over losing her head and Shinra’s insistence that she doesn’t need it despite him being tied to the pharmaceuticals company that almost certainly has it and he probably knows where it is at this point. It’s an interesting philosophical point that the show keeps bringing up, that Celty has made a life in Ikebukuro and the real disembodied head was the friends she made along the way. In other anime that would probably be the answer but it’s more complicated than that because Celty does feel incomplete without it, hundreds of years of her life and something deeply personal to her is just missing. Shinra’s terrified that the person she’ll become once she’s “complete” won’t be the same woman he loves and will leave him behind and Celty wants to balance enjoying the time she has spent in this town with being complete in a metaphysical sense. She should be able to take solace in the life she’s made but you also understand her yearning and that makes some really good moral quandaries right there.

[babyybitchhh]

So yeah, I finally got to the part where Kōga is introduced (I really need to pick up the pace or I’m not going to be finished with everything by the time Yashahime starts airing orz) and I’m not saying Takahashi was channeling 100% horny energy when she came up with that particular storyline but uh ... that’s kind of exactly what I’m saying.

Everything about Kōga just SCREAMS ravagement fantasy and it really feels to me like something that came out of a trashy romance novel. The way he turned to look at Kagome when he realized she could see the jewel shards. The way he tactically retreated to assess the situation and come up with a plan of action to get his hands on her. The way he grabbed her, threw her over his shoulder and ran off before anyone could figure out what was happening. The way he drug her into the wolf den and tossed her on a mound of animal pelts. The way he warned his pack that she was his and he’d kill anyone who took a bite out of her. 🥴 The way he acquisced without a fuss as soon as Kagome said she wouldn’t help him if they killed Shippo - like this part especially got me because he could’ve easily played the bad guy and forced her to do what he wanted but instead he ever so casually took her word as law and dispersed the wolves much like one does when handling big, loveable dogs. It was, frankly, adorable. But back to my point -

The way he was so upfront and leveled with her instead of acting like a brooding asshole about the whole thing. The way he left her with his pack to go hunting 🥴 trusting that the other wolf demons would follow his orders AND that she’d behave herself while he was gone. The way he showed no sign of anger when he returned to find her mid escape attempt and was in fact impressed by her moxie. The way he abruptly decided she was his woman without asking how she felt about that. The way he allowed her to smack him across the face without any repercussions even though he could’ve spilled her guts all over the mountainside without even breaking a sweat. The way he oh so calmly assured her that he would solve the problem by simply killing Inuyasha the next time he saw him so that she’d have no reason to rebuff his advances.

The way he was holding onto her while fighting the harpy demons. 😩👌 Like, he was plowing through their numbers with one hand - ONE HAND! - while the other was busy holding onto her and if that isn’t the hottest concept ever conceived. The way he implicitly trusted her to give him reliable information even though she very well could’ve lied about where the jewel shard was. The way he sat her down on that little cliff ledge but kept his arm stretched across her body to make sure she didn’t fall. It was such a low key power move tbh and I live for subtle displays of dominance. Everything in Kōga’s body language screamed alpha male. The way he grabbed her when the demon attacked 💦 and carried her down to the bottom of the valley where he could’ve just left her to her own devices but NO. He took her to his pack members and told them to keep her safe! Even in the middle of a battle he was still like “this is my woman, human or not, and I’ve gotta make sure she stays in one piece” and that is hnnnnng.

The way he proclaimed his love for Kagome with his whole ass chest in front of not only his entire pack but also Inuyasha & co. Like. There wasn’t a single ounce of shame in that man. He really just SAID it without even flinching and I respect him so much for that. Men often hesitate to commit to the dreaded L word on principle alone but taking into consideration that this is the Sengoku era AND he’s a demon professing his feelings for a human ... y’all. At this point I’m convinced Kōga has the biggest balls of the entire cast. He’s so manly and straightforward, more than confident enough in himself to just say and do whatever he feels inclined to. I really might be a little smitten right now. 🥴

But then as if all that wasn’t enough, he then proceeded to try and square up with Inuyasha even though he was injured just to stake his claim on Kagome and that’s such an attractive move imo. Like he was much more concerned about keeping her out of Inuyasha’s clutches than he was about his own health and that’s like ... so indicative of the type of man he is. Mate first. Always and forever. No questions asked. He really would sacrifice himself for his partner and I’d be lying through my teeth if I said that’s not hot af.

And also the way he was so listless after the fact that he rebuked the other wolf clans offer to join forces, missing out on his chance to get more jewel shards just because he couldn’t get over the fact Kagome was with Inuyasha at that very moment. The fact he was suddenly prioritizing her over the shards says a lot. Like. What a great fucking character, especially in a Takahashi series when she’s known for her tsundere’s. Kōga’s upfront honesty is refreshing to say the very least and I dare say he just might be best boy. 🥺 I honestly forgot how great he is so I’m a little shook about the whole thing but definitely not complaining.

Anyway TL;DR I love Kōga and he will absolutely be getting a trashy supernatural romance styled fic in the future. Believe it. 👍