犬夜叉 Volume 51

Chapter 499

Kagome works on purifying Kohaku’s shard as the two discuss how Naraku actually purified the shard with Kiyou’s power, meaning her power is still within the Shikon no Tama and is the light that Kanna showed Kagome from within Naraku. Since Kohaku is keen on fighting Naraku, Sango dissuades him. Inuyasha thinks the others are being to soft on him. As Miroku ponders his spreading shouki wound, Sesshoumaru is visited by Byakuya, whom Sesshoumaru tries to kill immediately. Byakuya discusses the Tenseiga/Tessaiga issue which irritates Sesshoumaru, but when he grabs Byakuya, he gets a mirror fragment from Kanna’s Mirror Monster. By using the mirror shard on Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru can take Tessaiga’s power. Sesshoumaru returns to the group and even though he knows this is a Naraku trap, he tells Inuyasha to draw his sword.

Chapter 500

Sesshoumaru attacks with the Meidou so Inuyasha counters with a Kaze no Kizu but nothing happens. Sesshoumaru’s Tenseiga transforms to look like Tessaiga and Sesshoumaru uses the Kaze no Kizu. This shocks the group and Byakuya arrives to explain how Sesshoumaru can now do this. To prevent interference from either Inuyasha’s or Sesshoumaru’s group, Byakuya sends the combatants to a place filled with low-level youkai to Sesshoumaru’s satisfaction. As the others ponder what all this means, Sesshoumaru wonders to himself if Inuyasha is truly so weak. He tells Inuyasha that if he is weak, Sesshoumaru will kill him and dispose of both swords. Sesshoumaru wants Inuyasha to prove he’s Tessaiga’s successor.

Chapter 501

Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha battle in the secluded location while Byakuya’s youkai eye observes and allows Naraku to see. Naraku felt that even though Sesshoumaru would know this was a trap, he’d go for it anyway and thus rid him of Inuyasha. Inuyasha takes a beating, but reverts to his youkai form as Tessaiga is seeking his youkai powers as it did when he fought the Mirror Monster. This results in Tenseiga and Tessaiga resonating as Inuyasha attacks and obsorbs the stolen Kaze no Kizu power back into Tessaiga. Realizing this, Sesshoumaru decides attack with a Meidou Zangetsuha for Inuyasha to take if he can.

Chapter 502

Sesshoumaru’s Meidou Zangetsuha begins sucking Inuyasha in hell. While this is observed with satisfaction by Naraku, Sesshoumaru decides that if Inuyasha, the supposed heir of Tenseiga, is sucked into hell, he has no need for Tenseiga. He tosses the sword into the Meidou and thus into hell. That causes Tessaiga to adopt the Dragon Scale form and to create a youki swirl within the Meidou sphere. Inuyasha wonders what all this means since the only youketsu to cut is his own, which should, as Naraku notes, kill him. Since his only other option is to be sucked into hell, Inuyasha trusts his sword and cuts to youketsu which causes his own youki force to expand and begin to consume the Meidou.

Chapter 503

As Kagome and the other wonder about Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, Toutousai arrives to explain that Tessaiga and Tenseiga will soon become one sword. Meanwhile as both Sesshoumaru and Naraku (from his hidden location) observe Inuyasha begin to absorb the Meidou, Naraku decides to end Inuyasha himself by taking control of the discarded Tenseiga via the mirror fragments. Inuyasha is stabbed by huge diamond spears from Tenseiga. Sesshoumaru sees that Inuyasha is weakening, so enters the Meidou to end Naraku’s influence and retakes Tenseiga. He attacks Inuyasha but Tenseiga breaks and Tessaiga absorbs the Meidou Zangetsuha power. However, Inuyasha returns to hanyou form and and with his youki force gone, the Meidou is sure to consume both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru.

Chapter 504

Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha are trapped within the Meidou to Naraku’s delight. Inside, Inuyasha is unconscious. Sesshoumaru acknowledges that Inuyasha is only a hanyou despite his not liking Inuyasha’s weakness. He removes the large diamond spears from Inuyasha and punches him awake. Sesshoumaru explains that if they are to return to the land of the living, it is up to Inuyasha. Inuyasha sees Tessaiga turn black and remembers the fight with Sesshoumaru and mentions that he felt that Sesshoumaru purposefully broke Tenseiga. Sesshoumaru calmly points out they he doesn’t have time to yack since they are fading. Inuyasha begins frantically trying to figure out the solution as he doesn’t want Sesshoumaru’s death on his conscious. He senses light and the outside world and so cuts the source of the light. A Meidou appears over Kagome’s group along with light and Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru emerge. Jaken is stunned that Sesshoumaru isn’t carrying Tenseiga, which Sesshoumaru claims to be uninterested in. Toutousai tells Sesshoumaru to take Tenseiga and Inuyasha realizes that the source of light within the Meidou was Tenseiga. Sesshoumaru isn’t interested in going around saving people and so leaves, but Rin takes the sword for safe keeping for when Sesshoumaru changes his mind. Toutousai knows that Tenseiga is soon to be not a memento of Sesshoumaru’s father but Sesshoumaru’s true sword.

Chapter 505

Night falls and before the group can make a camp, Shippou is tagged with a leaf and the number 77 on it. They discover a youkai mansion which Miroku confirms. However, seeing the balcony filled with attractive Japanese women, he forgets that and decides they should spend the night there. An irritated Sango comes but a bunch of slips of paper flow to the girls and they all suddenly get masculine voices and talk about advancing in rank. The in is filled with kitsune youkai who are all taking a test to determine their rankings based on how they can trick people. Upon learning this, Shippou decides to get his friends out of there since they are worth maximum points for tricking. Inuyasha finds him instead and after an argument, Shippou gets away with a giant top and discovers he advances several ranks for it, to the envy of the other kitsune. While the others begin failing in their attempts to trick Kagome and the others, Shippou decides he will take advantage of this situation.

Chapter 506

The kitsune work overtime to fool the group and advance their youjutsu (youkai magic). Shippou gets another one on Inuyasha but because he’d advanced so many ranks previously, he now had to get Inuyasha several times in order to advance again. Kagome gets tricked by kitsune faking tears over Inuyasha and get points. Miroku allows himself to be tricked for the ones that become Japanese women. But then he has some reverse fun as well when he pulls one on a bunch of kitsune, causing them to fail. Sango gets fooled by a fake Miroku. Meanwhile Shippou does what he can to advance at Inuyasha’s expense. Dawn is approaching and he’s almost out of time to gain the last little bit to get to the next level, but when he tricks Inuyasha into chasing him into a trap, Shippou gets his advancement and a beating from Inuyasha.

Chapter 507

Hitomiko-sama (a miko) is taken by some villagers to a dead body with strange stuff coming out of his mouth. The villagers don’t want to take the body into the village and sure enough, a mass of threads spew out of the mouth of the corpse which are deflected by the miko. A few days later, Inuyasha and company arrive at the village, where Kagome sees Naraku’s spider webs descending into the village. The villagers report that Hitomiko-sama had died as a thread from the webs spewed at her had attached to her. She asked them to cut off her head when she died, but they refused to do so out of fear. As such, they buried her, but she now stands before them, which Inuyasha senses is a corpse. Inuyasha cuts the now apparent webs and Hitomiko tells him that won’t work and is whisked away. Kagome notes that despite being dead, Hitomiko’s warning was not from Naraku’s control. In Naraku’s lair, Naraku notes that controling Hitomiko has been difficult but eventually she will be his and she will then take Kagome’s power and kill her.

Chapter 508

Hitomiko’s shrine is covered in webs and nothing can get through. Hitomiko appears and chastises Inuyasha’s efforts as she is not a youkai. Kagome sees small bells that are serving as barrier markers and shoots one to take it down, but that causes her to be pulled into the shrine. Hitomiko tells Kagome that the person that brought her back to life (Naraku) wants Kagome’s life and powers taken, but she doesn’t see the the point. Kagome says she came to help Hitomiko, which Hitomiko finds absurd as she places a barrier around Kagome which causes Kagome to be unable to move. Naraku reveals himself, which causes Kagome to overcome the barrier and shoot him with an arrow. Hitomiko now understands that what Naraku fears isn’t Kagome, but the power of the bow.

Thoughts: I thought it was time to do another Inuyasha volume, so here goes. Sesshoumaru is always fun to see. However, in the end, we just got another typical Inuyasha sword “version up” moment with the promise that Sesshoumaru and Tenseiga will soon be something special. Shippou’s story was pure filler of course and fun I suppose. The start of the new story with Hitomiko and another Naraku plot just makes me weary, though I do admit to turning the pages to see how things will go.