#It's not my fault it's Naraku's

[shinidamachu]

I think you or someone else discussed how Inuyasha is most likely demisexual because of his lack of interest in nudity until he formed an emotional bond. I was just thinking how the anti’s claimed Inuyasha settled for Kagome, but all evidence points to him loving her *despite* her resemblance to Kikyo. Not hating on Kikyo, just pointing out how Inuyasha kept saying it’s his fault she died because he didn’t trust her, even though trust has to go both ways but whatever, so if he was settling then Kagome would be a daily reminder that he failed Kikyo. Which would sound like hell considering his repeated claims of his fault.

But clearly in the past discussion of Inuyasha being demisexual, we all know he isn’t shallow or ”settling”.

I might have mentioned Inuyasha being demisexual once or twice, but I don't remember posting something that specific. Maybe someone else did and I reblogged it?

I'm glad you brought up the "Inuyasha settled for Kagome" terrible take, though, because you make great points and boy do I have something to say about it.

First, I love that you mentioned trust has to go both ways despite Inuyasha blaming Kikyo's death solely on his lack of trust on her. It always bothered me how quickily and sincerely he owned up to the role he played on her fate when there was zero reciprocity from Kikyo.

He went as far as taking responsability for things that have never really happened and that would be completely out of his control if they had, such as Kikyo "dying to follow after him" even though he didn't ask for it and never would.

The irony is that, between the two of them, Kikyo was actually the one more equipped to realize they were being played and yet, not only she falls for the same trap, but never really acknowledges that her lack of trust on Inuyasha was just as detrimental to their downfall.

Naraku's entire plan was based on both of them doubting each other. If either one had been more trusting, it'd have failed. Inuyasha recognizes this and regrets not trusting Kikyo, immediately treating her like the victim that she is and never once blaming her.

But he is a victim himself and she never extends the same courtesy to him, still thinking her actions were justified because he should have trusted her — not the other way around — and so she never bothers easing his guilt. On the contrary, she purposely adds to it.

The thing about the love triangle — for lack of a better term — is that Inuyasha and Kagome are constantly pushing their feelings aside to empathize with each other's and Kikyo's pain, while Kikyo acts like she's the only one who's hurting.

Which is to be expected at first because she is the one who died and was brought back against her will, but as the story progressed, I kept waiting for Kikyo to see a little bit of herself on the ordinary girl who was entrusted the weight of the world upon her shoulders, had her shoes to fill and the mess she left behind to clean up.

I kept waiting for her to show some sympathy for the boy who lost fifty years of his life because she misjudged him and was willing to die for a debt she manipulated and guilt-tripped him into thinking he had, a boy she supposedly loves.

None of it came, at least not in a way that felt organic or satisfying. That's my main issue with how Kikyo was written. You can't paint her as a complex character and then gloss over her flaws. You can't sell her as gray character and then pretend the bad things she did never happened.

Takahashi wanted her to reap all of the rewards that come with a redemption arc without really bothering to make her go through one, because that would mean having Kikyo face her mistakes for what they were — including her distrust on Inuyasha — and then apologizing or making up for it, a feat that rarely happened in canon, if at all.

Instead, she abruptly stops acting as vicious, so everything can be conveniently forgiven and forgotten because "she isn't like that anymore." The lack of explanation about what motivated this change makes harder for the audience to connect with her and results in many plot inconsistencies.

And the lack of accountability regarding Kikyo's actions keeps her from growing and reaching her full potential as a character, indirectly regressing or preventing the development of the characters around her as well, which I believe is a huge part of why the story feels repetitive and stagnant at times.

Now, you're definitely onto something when you argue that all evidence actually points to Inuyasha falling in love with Kagome despite her resemblance to Kikyo. I've actually talked about it here and here.

While it's true that Inuyasha mistook Kagome for Kikyo when they first met, it would've been unreasonable to expect anything different. Their looks and scents are similar, he had just woken up from a fifty years long spell and up until then he had no reason to believe otherwise, but Inuyasha actually caught up in a decent amount of time.

After that, as much as he still refused to call Kagome by name, he was also very aware she wasn't Kikyo, to the point that it took seeing her with complete priestess attire on for him to even make that correlation again.

And yet, Inuyasha still doesn't go back into thinking they're the same person, but rather that Kagome's a girl who resembles Kikyo. Only eventually, even this starts to change the more time they spend together and suddenly, when Inuyasha has a nightmare about Kikyo, is Kagome he sees first.

Mind you, he has only seen Kagome in priestess clothes once. Kikyo wore those her entire life. It'd be understandable for him to confuse Kagome for Kikyo and yet Kagome was his first thought here when, by logic, she shouldn't have been. From them on, he doesn't even see any resemblance between the two girls at all anymore.

Which makes sense, because even if Inuyasha had tried to use Kagome as a replacement — something he never did — he couldn't possibly have succeded, since both girls are polar opposites — a creative choice that was done completely on purpose — and Kagome wasn't slightly interested on being anyone but herself, making her into the worst Kikyo replacement ever.

That's why it got easier for Inuyasha to distinguish one girl from the other with time. Their distinct personalities make up for completely different dynamics and bring completely different feelings out of Inuyasha, because they represent completely different things to him and, again: this is done absolutely on purpose.

In the manga, this is better illustrated by two very specific panels. In the first one, Kikyo is smiling sadly but genuinely at Inuyasha — which we don't see her do often — and he admitted later on that the exchange made him feel guilty, like he had done something wrong, since he had just been rude to her.

In the second one, Kagome is smiling brightly at Inuyasha, which she does constantly, then we immediately see him blush and think to himself how relieved he is to see that smile

Of course those are very different contexts, but they pretty much set the tone for both relationships and if the arrangement of those panels wasn't a conscious choice — which I doubt — then Takahashi is insanely lucky. It's also worth noting that Inuyasha felt relieved to see Kagome smiling because it was further confirmation that even after Kikyo's resurrection, she was still Kagome.

So I think it's safe to say the physical resemblance actually slowed the romantic process down, considering that the staged betrayal made Inuyasha build his walls even taller than they were when he met Kikyo. This becomes even more clear when you compare their respective first "amicable" conversations.

With Kikyo, even though he was reluctant about her approach and suspicious of her intentions, there was still a part of him that obviously wanted it to be true, so he was at least open to what she had to say.

With Kagome, he was visibly more aggressive and closed off because he has been burned before and she was the reincarnation of the woman who did the burning, which makes her managing to get his trust so quickly that much more remarkable, since she apparently did in less time and in worse circumstances, what Kikyo couldn't.

And Kagome did it precisely because she never acted like Kikyo. She actually took the time to know Inuyasha, to give him her trust and to earn his, to build a solid relationship, based on honesty and real acceptance.

I like to think that, while Kikyo found a crack on Inuyasha's defense she could slip in, Kagome slowly smashed his walls to the ground, therefore leaving an ever lasting impact on him that she couldn't have made by being anyone but herself.

When Inuyasha starts to pursue Kagome romantically, he does so after concluding that there's absolutely no resemblance between the two girls at all and after going through an entire arc where Kagome cried for his sake and trusted him blindly, none of which has anything to do with Kikyo.

People argue that Inuyasha was actually trying to kiss Kikyo here, but why would he do that when he still thinks she betrayed him? And if this was really the case, then why has he never willingly kissed or tried to kiss Kikyo until their final goodbye, Sunrise additions excluded?

At this point, it makes more sense to me that he was avoiding to look at Kagome not because she looks like Kikyo — he has been looking at her just fine before —, but because he has started to catch feelings for her despite his efforts not to and doesn't know how to act. In fact, when he had the chance to kiss Kikyo soon after, this is what we got instead:

And then he hugs her — something the anime cut out — but the important thing is that Inuyasha had this and many other opportunities to rekindle his relationship with Kikyo and simply didn't.

In this particular occasion, he even go as far as to ask Kikyo to return the piece of soul that keeps her "alive" to Kagome knowing full well what the consequences were.

Why would Inuyasha settle for a "replacement" when he could have the real thing instead? Even if you believe resurrected Kikyo to be nothing more than a malicious replica of the original, she's still more Kikyo than Kagome could or would ever be.

I dislike this notion because if it's true and there's not an ounce of Kikyo there, why should the audience or the characters care if she "lives" or "dies"? If she gets a redemption arc or not? It feels like a cop out to only consider her the real Kikyo when she does good things.

That being said, save for maybe one scene at the beginning where Inuyasha shoved a bow and some arrows at Kagome because Kikyo was a master archer, he never expected her to behave like Kikyo, never tried to change her so she would and never acted frustrated or disappointed at the fact that she was her own person.

Inuyasha has his flaws — as any good main character should — but he always respected the inviduality of both girls, which is more than I can say about the people who insist on this baseless take.

To wrongly paint Inuyasha as someone who settled for Kagome because she looks like Kikyo gets especially icky when even Naraku, the villain who was obsessed with her, never redirected said obsession to Kagome.

It's such a common trope that I was actually expecting it, but I'm glad it didn't happen because it's a subtle and yet effective way of sedimenting both girls as separate individuals instead of going for the cheapest option.

And ironically, the only character who treated Kagome as if she was Kikyo was Kikyo herself, but even that was very early on and she only seemed to do it as a way of belittling Kagome, because while mentioning her to other people — or by the end of the story — Kikyo had no trouble referring to Kagome as a different being.

Sunrise's adaptation made very questionable choices but something they were pretty consistent on was making clear Kagome and Kikyo aren't the same.

Besides, something fundamentally wrong with this argument is that Inuyasha comes off as shallow and Kikyo as disposeable. Shallow because it suggests physical appearance is all that matters — which goes against everything his character stands for in canon — and the soul is just a seal of approval.

Disposeable because it hints Kikyo's personality is so forgettable and unimportant that it played absolutely no part on sparkling Inuyasha's interest. She's so easily replaceable that even someone who had opposite world views, thoughts, feelings, temperament and mannerisms could do the trick. The memories they made are so generic that it wouldn't have make a difference if any other character was in her place.

Why do people even like those characters, why do they even ship them together if they truly believe that? That's why I don't buy that they actually do.

You see, considering how huge Kagome's soul is, Kikyo technically has got to be someone else's reincarnation too, but I've never seen anyone making the case that she is anyone but herself or that her predecessor is also the love of Inuyasha's life.

The reason they try to do this with Kagome is so that they can pretend Inuyasha and Kikyo somehow ended up together to cope with the fact that they didn't. And that's the exact same reason they pretend he setled for Kagome as well.

Which is funny because what exactly was Inuyasha settling for? Like, in the great scheem of things, what was Kikyo able to give him that he couldn't get a thousand times better from Kagome with no strings attached and just had to make his peace with it?

It seems to me like it was the other way around: Kagome managed to accomplish everything Kikyo failed to do, so if anything Inuyasha was settling, it was for Kikyo, resigned to spend the rest of his life as human — something he hated to be — just to get "accepted" or to die for something he didn't do just to appease her.

Finally, to say inuyasha settled implies he had no other choice but to marry Kagome. He had: staying single, because now that he has friends and wasn't alone anymore, he doesn't need a lover to fill that empty space in his life if he doesn't want one.

Plus, Kagome wasn't entitled to his love. She jumped trought that well knowing that three years is a long time, that people and feelings change and that what waited for her on the other side was a mystery, but she did it anyway because all she ever wanted from him was to stay by his side and for him to be honest with her.

Kagome would've been fine with a platonic relationship because even though she obviously wanted more, she was ready to accept whatever Inuyasha was willing to give her, but he wanted her to return so he could give her everything, which he couldn't before because he felt in debt with Kikyo. That's the whole point.

Inuyasha was the one who iniciated every romantic moment they had early on: the first hug, both almost kisses, etc. And it was clear that the things Kagome made him feel, such as that sense of peace, of belonging, of unadultered happiness, were very new to him, so the idea that Inuyasha was settling for her is laughable when this is the character in question:

I know a lot of those scenes were deleted or changed by Sunrise but I watched the anime without reading the manga beforehand and reached the exact same conclusions, so I'm still of the opinion that the people who convinced themselves Kagome was a consolation prize either didn't pay attention or have an agenda of their own to push, that won't change by reading the original material.

TLDR; one does not simply "settle" for their soulmate. They come home to them.

[19molly97]

Inuyasha Analysis

 I think deep down, Inuyasha knows he can't have a life with Kikyo not the way she was, just a bitter, walking clay doll, but because the wounds on his heart were fresh, Inuyasha felt really guilty about his last words to her and, he felt responsible for what happened to her even though it was not his fault, it was nobody's fault but Naraku’s. I think what Inuyasha is going through is a form of Survivor's Guilt. That's why at first he was willing to be dragged to the underworld with Kikyo. Whenever the chance comes to see her he takes it and because of the lingering feelings of what he thinks is love, he assumes Kagome likes other boys such as Koga. And he realized that was selfish on his part. 

 But spending time with Kagome must have gotten some sense into him. Afterwards, he must have really wanted some closure with Kikyo before saying goodbye, and that's why he has Kagome to help him get through the loss. And he always, always, comes back to her.

At least in my opinion.

[rayshippouuchiha]

Ray-ray, light of my life, I must know your thoughts on Sango please!

I love her, she's been my favorite since she crawled out of her own grave ❤

Oh Sango is fantastic. She's suffered so much but stayed so kind and strong. She had the resolve to not only drag herself out of her own grave but to pick up the fight against Naraku. And while she has her faults of course she's also open enough to allow her outlook on the world to grow and shift and change over the course of their travels.

In a lot of ways she's equal to Kagome in that they are both, by their very natures, individuals who should hate and/or seek to destroy all youkai and whose circumstances should have made them bitter but they break that mold.

Kagome by stint of being a modern girl, born out of the time period and thus not being raised and conditioned as most other miko were, and just by being outright kind.

Sango was raised to hunt youkai in the name of protecting mankind in a very hands-on manner. To her youkai and the destruction they can cause is a very real part of her everyday life and the cause of a number of her personal tragedies.

But, despite that, Sango joins a diverse group, she travels with youkai and a hanyou (someone who is universally despised for his blood alone), she protects them, fights with them, learns to love them. She opens herself up to Miroku, she's a best friend and sister figure to Kagome, and she stays strong and kind all the while.

[shizuu-chann]

I desperately hope someone else gets these same vibes, but I fucking LOVE the score/background music is BG3. It's all it's own, of course, but I can pick out chords and shit that remind me SO much of other media and it makes me so happy.

So far, certain parts of various BG3 scores sound like scores from:

Lord of the Rings (obvious)

Inuyasha (anime, only plays in the Underdark, I think, like the mysterious/sinister music when Naraku is on screen or something)

The Witcher 3

Dragon Age (Origins specifically)

Mass Effect 2/3

Harry Potter (scandalous to mention, I know, but that score slaps and it's not the composers' fault JKR is a cunt)

And those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. It's just so interesting.

[inu-yasha]

I can understand not shipping Inukik as Inukag is the main ship. however why the rabid hate for kikyo? it's so annoying. a lot of these fans love sesshomaru (seriously? i mean, i do like sesshomaru but he started out almost like a straight up villain) while kikyo suffered a horrible tragedy that nobody emphatizes with? miroku is also generally well liked and negative traits like lechery and thievery are "funny" but with kikyo, everything she does is seen negatively.

The problem is that guys like Sesshomaru have always been better perceived than girls like that in Kikyou's situation. In addition, Sesshomaru is not difficult to understand, and Kikyou requires an in-depth analysis and understanding of her character. More people will watch the anime than read the manga, and Sunrise really made Kikyou a cold woman (who stole my heart, of course). Kikyou stands in the way of the main couple, forgetting that Kagome is the third wheel and is really jealous of herself. This love triangle doesn't make sense, it really doesn't make sense. Sunrise helped a lot to build such a strong hate towards her, and the creator yashahime continues it. Yes it's annoying and just leave her alone she's DEAD but even when Kikyou dead I see this painass all the time! Kagome got what she wanted, but the fact that she can't accept the fact that she will be second and is jealous of the dead woman is entirely HER fault, and her toxic, childish personality. She is completely emotionally immature. This woman is a failure. This ship is a failure, not a miracle in the anime universe. I have met many other ships, much better than inukag, with better dynamics and partnership, it is a toxic relationship and, above all, there is no equality in it. Pathetic.

As you can see, I'm already nervous about all this. Kikyou is Naraku's victim . Oh she was killed and her murderer is more liked than she is.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 145 Rundown

Spy X Family: Yor catches some of the bad guys with the bomb dogs but isn’t able to go after the leader because she can’t leave Anya again so Terrorist Bakugo gets away (it’s really funny that the terrorist boss is voiced by Clifford Chaplin and is talking about explosions all the time). To my surprise Yor actually does find out how serious the situation is with the terrorists and Anya gets a Future Dog Sight vision of Loid getting blown up by the bomb and a lengthy view of how this will also start a World War. So Anya apologizes to Yor for running off on her own and then… immediately runs off on her own again. Loid’s group catches the remaining terrorists so Bakugo is left by himself with one dog that Anya’s dog seems to have beef with so this briefly becomes Up because this dog even kinda looks like Alpha, feel like Doberman Pinschers are up there on the list of dogs that get a bad rap. Anyway Anya finds the bomb and is able to convey the message to Loid without blowing her cover so Loid can go and steal the Minister’s clothes and get Bakugo’s dog to track him instead (idk how long that’d work for like presumably politicians put on fresh suits before big meetings and Loid’s scent would eventually overpower the residuals of his but it’s clever so I prolly shouldn’t think about it too much maybe the Minister’s just a sweaty old guy that never changes idk). But yeah Loid is able to parkour away from Alpha and is just gonna fucking shoot the dog, like he acknowledges it isn’t the dog’s fault and he’s sorry but like I really hope he doesn’t shot that fucking dog like he’s a god damn spy shouldn’t he have tranqs or something?  

Inuyasha: So we’ve entered the Princess Abi mini-arc and she is one of my favorite minor underutilized villains up there with Yura, she’s just pretty dope. She’s using her little pterodactyl birds to suck blood from the human villages around to basically give her phoenix mom a feudal blood transfusion since she was poisoned after eating a big ol’ poison demon. I’m not sure that’s how blood works but it’s the feudal era so the fact that they’re messing with blood at all is kind of a miracle plus idk maybe demon biology is weird. Anyway OG Naraku shows up after not seeing him for a while as Hakudoshi’s currently on Temporary Naraku duty. But he says Abi’s gonna help him get to the afterlife and gives her a bone trident. Because Naraku is the shadiest god damn person in the world Abi and her mother don’t trust him as far as they can throw him but as a show of good will he faces off against the children of the poison demon Mama Abi ate. They start shooting poison and Naraku’s just like ‘aw that’s cute, they think they have poison’ and fucking poison blasts them into the stone age. Abi and Mama Phoenix don’t trust Naraku but their racism makes them overconfident like ‘yeah that guy’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever seen but he’s a half-demon so I can probably still kill him if he gets up to anything’ sound logic guys. Meanwhile Inuyasha’s group is defending the only village in the area left standing and Abi’s Pteradactyls do a pretty cool The Birds parody and start fucking shit up. Of course Abi comes around and Naraku’s gifts of Saimyosho and Bone Trident barriers protect her from the group’s two biggest OHKO moves (prolly still wouldn’t do shit against Kagome’s Sacred Arrow but when was the last time she did shit with that). Since Abi has two brain cells to rub together she puts together that Naraku’s setting her up to fight Inuyasha and dips the fuck out of there because if some shady dude wants you to fight a guy with a laser sword even if you think you can win there’s probably nothing good coming from that. Anyway next week’s a random filler flashback episode that expands on Kikyo’s flashback with Inuyasha, I have no idea why they didn’t air that special BEFORE we started a new story arc with Abi but yeah, what do I know.

Yu Yu Hakusho: I can’t emphasize enough how much this has just become a DBZ fight, like I’ve said that before in this series but Demon!Yusuke vs Sensui is just literally a DBZ fight. It’s kinda funny watching them go through all the DBZ tropes for the first time like the moving so fast you can’t see, the ‘dodge and blow something huge a mile away up’, the casually changing landscape as they demolish rock formations with their sheer manliness, the clash creating weather phenomena, the ‘let’s move this category four brawl to that convenient empty desert so no one gets hurt’ it’s cute, like the meme of the guys on the gallows with DBZ just looking at YYH like ‘first time?’ since with DBZ everyone just kinda got desensitized to it real fast it’s amusing to watch a series with relatively grounded fights just become DBZ and have everyone lose their minds. Also there’s kind of a funny scene where we cut back to the Spirit World SPC and apparently nobody told them S Class demons were really a thing because they wanted to keep their egos up and let them believe they were the strongest since S Class Demons are basically Elder Gods and never interfere with humans anyway, it’s just kind of a bizarre decision to save your police’s sanity by telling them there’s nothing they can’t beat. But yeah Yusuke comes back and is only mildly distressed that his heart isn’t beating anymore which Kurama and Hiei laugh off and are like ‘yeah that happens’ and it’s actually kinda cool that Kuwabara and Kurama and Hiei all get kinda jazzed that Yusuke’s back like it actually gives them a power boost, the comfort of having him return is stronger than the despair of losing him in the first place and it makes no god damn sense on a power scaling level but it’s a nice theme. Yusuke does his DBZ thing and is kinda having trouble getting a read on how strong he is until his demon side just takes over and wants to finish the fight for him and I’m slowly realizing I don’t think Tite Kubo has an original storytelling bone in his body, Bleach just lifted a whole show and gave it a new coat of paint huh.

Jujutsu Kaisen: It’s time for Yuji’s big return! We get a fun little couple of intro scenes and the main takeaway is that Gojo wants Yuji to just cram every finger they have into his mouth right now but everyone else is afraid he’ll explode or some shit if he does it before he’s strong enough to handle or worse turn traitor and let the power go to his head. But yeah Yuji meets back up with Megumi and Nobara and is just kinda thrown into their new squad after not seeing them for two months and NOBODY has a reaction to seeing him alive except for being mildly pissed that he kept it a secret. Megumi vouches for his pure fighting capability outside of Cursed Techniques so the others are on board for letting him join their race to quell a minor spirit while using even minor-er spirits as a tiebreaker. The Yamamoto Kyoto principal dude wants Yuji dead still so he just straight up tells his students like ‘yeah go murder that guy in the games, make it look like an accident if you can but if not no biggie’ like holy fuck even if you consider him a threat, treating him as ‘not a person’ as he calls it seems like Kyoto’s REALLY teaching their students the wrong lessons, aren’t these guys supposed to save people? Guess it goes along with the theme of Yuji having a potentially too high reverence for human life but also the virtue that he places on not killing even the worst people. Todo objects to random murder and more importantly his idol show is on so he’s not gonna go along with that. Meanwhile the bad guys are all healed up and ready to go take the fingers the school has during the event and Gojo warns that the person leading them is probably a school insider of some sort, so yeah we got a standard Chunin Exams situation going on here where there’s a surface test but also like three random backstab plots happening in the background.

Ranking of Kings: So Shield Guy loses an eye and a foot to the chimera things and Hilling cries out to Bosse to save them and Daida!Bosse almost rips his way straight out of his cell to do so but whatever the fuck Miranjo’s got on him to make him do absolutely jack shit in this arc stops him. Hilling doesn’t want to leave shield guy to die so she tries to help and turns out Giant Snake Cerberus is here to save the day and takes out the Chimeras to give Hilling a chance to heal Shield Guy but Gnasty Gnorc is still here and fucks giant snake up. Then Bojji FINALLY returns home and defends the snake and his mom. We get a minor flashback with Despa teaching Bojji how to fucking CUT THE SPACES BETWEEN ATOMS which is badass beyond words. And Bojji uses this power to fucking wreck Gnasty Gnorc’s shit. Bojji wants Hilling to heal the snake but he’s like ten times the size of the stuff she usually heals and she’s out of magical Gatorade. Luckily Kage’s a mobile hammerspace and is able to get her enough to heal the snake AND the chimeras after Bojji feels bad about everyone being hurt. Hilling and Kage are the biggest egos in the room so they clash for a bit but it resolves itself relatively quickly which is kind of funny because if Hilling didn’t trust Kage she sure was quick to drink some mysterious potions he literally pulled out of his ass. But yeah once Gnasty Gnorc wakes up he realizes he’s not about to fuck around with the power to cut atoms and swears loyalty to Bojji which is pretty cool, Bojji’s like gathering his own little One Piece crew to become the Ranking of Kings King. Meanwhile Despa is watching his guards get fucked up by Ouken who’s apparently literally immortal and only gets saved by random unexplained lightning bolt frying him temporarily unconscious. Apparently Ouken used to be a prince of the underworld which I guess would make him Desha and Despa’s third brother? But now he’s immortal and being cut off from the fear of death or urge to watch others grow made him a fucking asshole which is kinda funny because if he really is the third Des brother that means he’s only been immortal for like a couple years probably and it IMMEDIATELY made him an asshole. Also Desha is now arriving at the Underworld gate to beat Miranjo and it’s implied do something to save Ouken.

Vinland Saga: So this is an episode just fucking loaded with religious allegory and how people interpret Christianity and there’s A LOT of room for interpretation so I apologize if I misread anything to leave anything out. It starts with the Those Two Guys of Askeladd’s troupe trying to decipher the kind of love the Christian Priest is searching for and I’ve been forced to read enough about the Four Loves that I’ll spare you the explanation but essentially what the Priest is after is a brotherly love for all humanity that doesn’t distinguish by relation to the person but is compassionate towards all, and only the Vikings telling him of the story of Thorfinn’s dad gets him even close to explaining it. We then cut to a little village where a girl is having an existential crisis about stealing a ring given her family won’t shut up about Jesus and stealing is… you know, one of the Commandments. It’s kind of a refreshingly frank depiction of how generations of Christians use fear and vague moralistic stories to perpetuate the general idea of Christianity while kinda missing some of the details, considering a lot of anime treats Christainity like this weird nebulous mythology to be referenced with cool shit like in Evangelion this is kinda neat to see. But yeah, this is still a story about Vikings so Bjorn breaks into their house while the girl is out and Askeladd’s crew proceeds to fucking murder everybody to steal their food and keep their location a secret. I don’t remember if we see any of their Welsh guardians in this episode and I THINK this part is in England but murdering a bunch of harmless villagers at the drop of a hat should give them some pause about making a deal with these guys. But yeah the ring stealing girl escapes and finds the Coordinate from Attack on Titan and prays to god feeling like her stealing and the Viking genocide is the same deal because Catholic Guilt is a hell of a drug and presumably she dies because she’s out in the middle of the snowstorm with like no food and nothing around, like that’s the reason Askeladd raided the village in the first place so like we don’t see her actually die but I’m not holding my breath for her survival. One thing I wanted to bring up is whenever we get to the pillaging scenes we never see Thorfinn directly participate in the pillaging part like he’ll murder other warriors but we never see him killing civilians on-screen, I’m sure he probably does at some point and that’s part of his infamous turmoil in season two but I just thought that was an interesting choice, like it reminds me of how The Kid is portrayed in Blood Meridian where they’re very vague about how involved he is in the atrocities going on so they leave it up to interpretation of how much blame he carries for it.

[yuhi-san]

inu yasha recently came up and i was reminded of something i thought of before. inu yasha and how he is constantly surrounded by conflict.

Its kinda his thing. he is hotheaded, barsh, prickly and has very little tact or filter amongst other things. he argues with most people and engages in conflict with almost everyone he ever talks to, be it serious or petty. part of it is just his personality, part of it certainly is a byproduct of how he had to live so far.

either way, getting into fights is kinda inu yashas thing and he definitely starts it a lot, if not most the time.

When the group encounters kinka and ginka, inu yasha is the one to note that brothers fighting is stupid and Miroku quickly points out that generally inu yasha is an expert in getting into fights with a sibling. inu yasha quickly insists that it is not his fault at all and there is a joke about how all fighting siblings say that. which is true and also inu yasha often has a ´they started it´ attitude.

The funny thing is that for all inu yasha picking fights all the time, that is actually true.

he never instigates a fight with sesshomaru, at all. really, all he wants is for his brother to leave him the hell alone and fuck off.

inu yasha isn't even looking for a connection, for sympathy or approval. he has not even a desire to prove sesshomaru wrong about himself or anything. he's not looking to build any kind of relationship.

yet still inu yasha does not actually have a lot of hostility for his brother. like yeah he has nothing good about him to say and he doesn't like him and he is angry and bristling whenever they interact (which is fair considering sesshomaru constantly antagonizes him and straight up wants to murder him usually).

but one thing that always very much stuck with me was inu yasha discovering the wind scar and nearly killing sesshomaru. totosai mentions to kagome that inu yasha did not strike with the intention to kill because if he had totosai would have broken tessaiga.

so even then, inu yasha doesn't want to kill his brother, even in the very rare times he has a chance.

later there are more moments. like one time when they fight naraku and Inu yasha does not attack due to the chance of what would happen to sesshomaru (which of course he considers an insult lol).

inu yasha learns about rin but he never really comments on that. like it would be the prime moment for nasty comments, to return some of the scorn sesshomaru has directed towards him, drag the hypocrisies to light. he never does.

inu yasha even starts to extend olive branches, in his crude manner. he agrees that the whole tessaiga set up was a pretty shitty and unfair move from their father, especially after the meidou thing comes up. he does not actually want to take the meidou from sesshomaru.

its been a while but im sure he was even like, ´take it/keep it. not gonna argue that this is yours.´

like not sure what my point is besides inu yasha picks all the fights, all the time, but never the ones with sesshomaru

[love-sapphirerose]

Studio making episodes 147-148 of Inuyasha and Kikyo is because studio baby Kikyou? because of Inukik fan studio? Swear "Kikyo, InuKik if it's a baby then it's a different char, other couple at least it's a prince"

Fact 1: Kikyo defeated the demons so exhausted she fell unconscious.

Analysis: Kikyo is a great priestess of her era. The thing that Kikyo is so exhausted unconsciously can be killed by anyone like this just didn't happen. Because Kikyo was powerful of her era, Kikyo's confidence is a pretty obvious emotion, there's a reason for it.

Fact 2: Kikyo realizes Inuyasha is the one who didn't kill her yesterday while she couldn't defend herself. Then Kikyo didn't want to kill Inuyasha.

Analysis: There is no this scene in the manga. Kikyo doesn't want to kill Inuyasha because Kikyo is so good, because she sees Inuyasha himself as a traitor - and inherits a good human heart, not the kind of being who harms others so that Kikyo has to cruelly fall into his hands. It's not that development is because Inuyasha didn't kill Kikyo first that Kikyo didn't want to kill Inuyasha in a 'revenge' way. Even Inuyasha doesn't understand why Kikyo didn't kill himself. In short, it is defaming the kindness of Kikyo.

Fact 3: Inuyasha is always face to face when attacking. Let Kikyo get ready for the bow, then scream and rush.

Analysis: In the manga Inuyasha described as "always stalking" but because Kikyou was too sharp it made Inuyasha unable to attack. Simply put, Inuyasha also had the intention of stealing the sacred jewel from Kikyo but not that old enough.

Fact 4: Inuyasha and Kikyo sit close to each other and chat for the first time. After saying Kikyo get up and left, Inuyasha said he wanted to give something.

Analysis: In the manga, the conversation ended right now. And Inuyasha's very sincere mind behind Kikyo's sad smile is in that 4th photo. This is the clearest demonstration of Inuyasha's mentality: If Kikyo is sad, it must be my fault. So romantic but the minority keep saying it's not true love.

Secret 5: Remember the sacred jewel and give the necklace. Kikyo used to want to control Inuyasha but after seeing Inuyasha's gift he felt so guilty.

Analysis: Many fans don't notice but antifans do and actually I don't like this information. Because Kikyo's love for Inuyasha is full of respect and warmth. Kikyo never had the thought of controlling, controlling or sitting on Inuyasha'. Kikyo wants to transform and heal Inuyasha completely with a sincere love a love of giving and receiving balance. Having no wrong mind is much better than having and feeling guilty.

Fact 7: Kikyo that Naraku faked talks too much. In manga standing farther says a lot less. Pretending but talking too much, why did you reveal your death? Is it because of this rubbish reciprocation that some minority still don't trust each other despite Inuyasha and Kikyo? In the manga this scene is quick. Basically, Kikyo quickly attacked Inuyasha and did not awaken any morale, so he had to hold the anger and run back to the village, not to stand back and shoot Kikyou (fake) to death.

[blossomingbellflower]

Once, a long time ago, the hanyou had refused to come down from the branches to be in her company. Not that it was her fault—of course not— but the tiny human gremlins surrounding her made him reluctant with their curious stares and constant babbling. Now, that memory was playing before his eyes and tugging at his aching heart as the village kids claimed her attention, briefly pulling on her hands or clothes and showing her the weeds and few herbs they pulled out of the ground. They grew quiet and wary when he approached, slowly returning to playing with each other on the fields as he squatted down by her side. "Dunno how you managed to deal with kids all the time," he muttered after a beat of quiet. "I would've lost it if they wanted to gab my ears off or pull my hair—but you've always been good at it." [ the idea popped in my head and I had to give it to you uwu i missed you too <3 ]

Unprompted asks|| @museguided

🏹 Kikyou’s smile remained on her fair countenance as the hanyou approached. The children, while wary at first, seemed to eventually forget about his presence and returned to their squealing and giggling. Most children had incredibly short attention spans which sometimes worked in their favor. It  also most  likely helped that Kikyou was there to oversee them. Being amicable and a priestess, were just one of the many reasons children gravitated towards her or their parents trusted her to keep their children safe.

No matter the reason, Kikyou had infinite patience for the young ones. After all, she did raise Kaede..until her first passing. One could also say she was gifted with strong maternal instincts, which was why she enjoyed her time with the children. The need to nurture, love and protect them was ingrained into her very soul.

Kikyou had once wanted to have a family of her own. To live simply like any ordinary woman. The miko almost had that..She had been so close..but it was robbed by Naraku. The unborn child in her stomach died that very day alongside her. All her dreams were burnt with her corpse.

“I think it is something that my soul had been born with. A softness for children that simply grew over time.”, she answered lightly, looking towards him. “It is the duty of the strong to care for the weak and..I enjoy it..even when they are causing mischief or trouble.” Slender fingers reached out to gently brush some of those tresses of his from his face.

“There are many explanations for myself  but..you are also pretty good with them. I remember how patient you used to be with Kaede.”, she chuckled softly, brown hues twinkling with mirth. “And Inuyasha..if they did that, your reaction would be understandable.” His ears were sensitive and children needed to learn boundaries. Kikyou could not nor would she fault him if he lost his temper.

That said, a situation like that would need to be addressed carefully and with gentleness.

“At the end of the day, beloved, you will protect them. Keep them from harm and watch over them. It is okay to have a threshold for dealing with children. Just..remember that they are still learning of the world. They are inquisitive. Mistakes will be made as they grow..so as the older ones, we must be patient with them.”

[gottaeattolivegottastealtoeat]

⚠️ What is one thing the muse wishes the mun could have warned him/her about? For any muse ^^

Oh boy. Let me think. I have a lot of muses who have a lot of regrets in life.

Edward Elric: "Listen, I wouldn't change this for the world, but I dunno. I kinda wish mun could have warned me about mom passin' away. It woulda made some stuff easier. Can't tell ya what, because I haven't really thought it through, but... I dunno. Maybe it'd make dealin' with the loss easier. Kinda stupid, I guess."

Owen Grady: "If she could have warned me about the Indominus getting out, I coulda prepared better for Vic deciding to use inGen as a scapegoat so he could put his program into action and use my Raptor Squad as weapons. That way they wouldn't have died. Woulda been nice to know the Indom was made of Raptor and Rex DNA."

Jimmy Kudo: "I want my mun to warn past me about that stupid moment in Tropical Land. You know, when I got hit over the head by Melkior. If I'd known that was coming, I could have done something about it. Ugh... I don't know how to explain it any better than that!"

Kurama: "Amanuma." He doesn't want to elaborate on that one, so it may take some bribing on his actual blog to get him to actually talk about it.

Terra: "Xehanort killing Master Eraqus. I wish I could have saved him. If mun could warn me about that, well... things would be a lot better." He also no longer wishes to elaborate, go and bug him on his blog for more answers.

Lelouch: "I decline."

Okay, I'm interceding on that one, Lelouch. You are not allowed to decline.

Lelouch: "...." A deep sigh. "Euphemia and Shirley. I will always be angry that the world decided to take such innocent lives because my stupidity. I tried to look at all the angles and it didn't work. And they died for it." He's angy at me now, go bug him on his blog for more.

Derek: "Saying what I did to offend Odette. It made her and her father leave and Odette's father died for it. And Odette was trapped as a swan for years and years after the fact in Rothbart's captivity. I would do anything to save her from that. I wish that she could tell me what to say so that Odette wouldn't have left."

Kagome: "Not killing Naraku when I had a chance to. A lot of people say that it wasn't my fault and that I tried my hardest, but if I could have fired another arrow quicker... well, maybe I could have killed him and he would have been out of our hair sooner. So I wish mun could have told me about killing Naraku sooner."

Jack: "Guess my only regret would be letting things come so down to the wire. If I coulda helped beat Pitch sooner, then maybe Sandy wouldn't have had to 'die'. He came back, but still. He was gone for a while. Nobody woulda had to suffer so much if I'd been quicker on the draw. If I hadn't been so obsessed with my past. I dunno. Guess I needed my past to beat him, so it was the only way things could have gone down, but it still seems like if I had known more things beforehand from mun, then maybe I coulda gotten it all taken care of sooner."

Okay, wow. Jack has given the longest answer yet. I think that's everybody who wanted to answer this particular question and LORD they got me good with these. I love my babies so much, these poor little tormented nerds.

[odakuram]

Naraku/Hell Music/Lyrics: Mikito-P Illustration: GAS Singer: RIME

'Sing a melody that will reach nobody from the depths of hell.'

人の目を気にして 生きるのが当たり前 自己否定 染み付いてる 全部 親のせい

To live while minding attention from others is quite normal Self-denial is ingrained within me and it’s all my parents’ fault

雑音が耳を汚す 責任が 肩を叩く 夥しく訪れる日々の闇

Noise strains my ears Responsibilities tap me on the shoulder I invite the infinite darkness of days

逃げろ すぐに逃げろ 壊れてしまう前に 憂鬱な靄がかかる午前三時のマイウェイ 見るな 何も見るな 夢も光さえも 誰にも届かぬメロディ 奈落の底で歌え ららるら

Run away, run away now, before you’re broken Doing things my way on a depressingly hazy 3 a.m. Don’t look at anything, not even your dreams or the light Sing a melody that will reach nobody from the depths of hell! Lalalula…

世の中を恨んで ジレンマを抱えて 成し遂げたことなどない 全部 人まかせ

Cursing society, I hold a dilemma in my arms It isn’t anything I accomplished myself I’ll leave it all to everyone else

手の平で顔を隠して 隙間から覗いた世界 まるでホラー映画でもみるように

I hide my face in my palms And between my fingers, I peeped at the world It’s like I was watching it even if it was a horror movie

連れて行くな どこへ まだ息は出来てる 時が来れば刹那 迎えにこいよ死神 藻掻き 足掻き 夜は 小刻みに震えた 見損いそうになった自分を守るための歌を

Don’t take me somewhere else. I’m still breathing. When the time comes, it’ll be instant. Come welcome me, god of death Struggling in the night, I trembled slightly The song I sing to protect myself might have

さあ すぐに逃げろ 壊れてしまう前に 憂鬱な靄がかかる午前三時のマイウェイ 見るな 何も見るな 夢も光さえも 誰にも届かぬメロディ 奈落の底で歌え ららるら

Now Run away now, before you’re broken Doing things  my way on a depressingly hazy 3 a.m. Don’t look at anything, not even your dreams or the light Sing a melody that will reach nobody from the depths of hell! Lalalula…

[mamabearcat]

Into the Woods - Part 7

We’re taking a break from our romantic duo for a short interlude with Grandpa. Remember, this is meant to be a twisted fairy tale, so Grandpa is not having a good time of it. A mention of suicidal thoughts, so if this is triggering for you PLEASE don’t read it. It’s not entirely necessary to read this to understand the story as a whole - look after yourself, you know what is best for you. Grandpa’s prayer is taken from ‘Shinto Norito: A Book of Prayers’ by Ann Llewellyn Evans

Tagging my two main cheerleaders for this @clearwillow and @keichanz and also @redflamesofpassion​ @xxracheyxx @mcornilliac@inuyashasnook @cstorm86 @xfangheartx @wenchster

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five  Part Six

The shrine was beautiful, everything he’d imagined it to be. The mountain air was crisp and clear, the magnificence of the ancient cedar trees towering over the stone steps, and the many lanterns lining the pathway filled his heart with delight. The steep climb was tiring to a man of his age, but he did not mind. This was a place where he could gladly live out his final years in peace, show his dedication to his family heritage. He didn’t miss the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, just the family he’d left behind. But perhaps they would come to visit. It would do them good to breathe the mountain air and slow down for a while.

He settled into the little house easily – it had everything that he could ever want, along with a small vegetable garden in the open space behind it, before the ground dropped away, ending in a sudden cliff. He’d spoken with the woman at the base of the mountain, and apparently, he could have anything else he needed delivered on a monthly basis. He’d laughed at her warnings of evil, even as he’d accepted her gift of an omamori against harm. How on earth could a shrine be evil – the woman was obviously eccentric.

The day after he’d arrived, he’d walked around the paths surrounding the shrine, eager to get to know his surroundings so he could guide and inform visitors about the surrounding beauty. The area was charming. The ancient Nagi tree in the temple grounds, festooned with a huge shimenawa rope and shide paper tassels filled him with awe, and he was proud to be the caretaker of such an ancient specimen.

The only place had made him feel uneasy was the towering black volcanic rock behind the shrine, almost hidden in a circle of tall trees. The middle of the rock had a huge hole worn by the wind, as tall as a man, and the sound the air made as it pushed through the rock was mournful. The wind felt colder as he left the path to take a closer look at the stone, and a shiver rattled his old bones. If you used your imagination, you could almost hear words in that desolate sound – it was a good thing that he wasn’t prone to believing in such nonsense. But for some reason, he was drawn to place his hand on the rock, as if to console it in its loneliness. The biting cold of the stone against his palm made him jump back. His hand felt almost numb, even from such a brief moment of contact. But it wasn’t surprising really – a massive stone in such a shaded area probably never heated up.

He’d begun to settle in. At first, he had put down his vague feelings of disquiet down to the stress of grief. Even though he and his brother hadn’t been on speaking terms for years, that didn’t mean that he didn’t love him, didn’t feel sad that he was no longer in this world. He was the only surviving member of the Higurashi family line, apart from his grandchildren, and that… hurt. So when he started losing moments, little spots of time as he walked around the shrine, he put it down to stress; the stress of grief, the stress of moving, the stress of living in a new home alone after living with others for so long.

The nightmares, they were probably due to stress too. Dreams of an endless dark void, dreams of calamity where he watched the world burn around him, dreams that had him screaming himself awake, shaking and shivering, covered in sweat. All due to stress.

And then that youkai boy had come to visit, spouting nonsensical tales about Naraku. Ridiculous. As if such a thing were possible. He’d grown up in the town, he’d lived at the family shrine in the village; if there had been absolutely anything truthful in that story, he would have known about it. His brother had been so proud to be selected to carry on the tradition of looking after the mountain shrine. It was an honour, an honour that he would uphold and maintain, and that hanyou was obviously insane. He was glad he’d seen him off the shrine grounds. It was no wonder he lived by himself in the forest. He would have to keep an eye on him.

Then he started sleepwalking. Also obviously due to stress. Although that worried him a little. He was an old man now – waking up at the edge of the cliff behind the shrine cottage was honestly a little scary. But he didn’t want to worry anyone. If he called his daughter-in-law, she would only panic and waste precious time coming to visit. She had worked very hard to get where she was after his son’s death, and even though Kagome had recently moved out, there was Souta to consider. It was probably nothing. He just needed to drink more water, eat more vegetables. He would start taking a sip of vinegar with his meals. Perhaps the next time he visited the village he would purchase a health tonic from the pharmacy.

But then the whispers started. Thoughts that he would never have, disturbing thoughts, about causing harm to others. He wondered uneasily about Alzheimer’s. It was getting difficult to keep up with things - he was not a messy person by nature, but it was all he could do to take care of his basic needs. Perhaps he should call someone? 

And then the voice started speaking to him – a cruel voice, heartless, dominating. When the voice was speaking, it almost split his skull, the pain in his head was so bad. He was terrified that perhaps he had gone insane. The voice laughed at him, mocking his pain.

His daughter-in-law called, and it was all he could do to try and keep up his side of the conversation. He couldn’t worry her. He had to keep it together. She wanted to come visit him, check on him. But he dissuaded her. She wanted to send his beautiful granddaughter, but he talked her out of that too. He didn’t want anyone he loved near the shrine. Because something… something was definitely not right.

He was tidying in the storeroom at the back of the shrine, trying to keep his mind off the voice, when he came across the box of scrolls. Some of them ancient and brittle, others more recent. All of them. Every single one spoke of Naraku, and he realised with horror that the hanyou boy had spoken the truth. He had to find him, work with him, find out what to do. But to his dismay, he realised that he couldn’t leave the shrine. It was like there was an invisible barrier closing him in, closing them both in. The barrier that had been maintained to protect the world from Naraku now effected him too, because Naraku was in him. With terror, he realised that he would have to face this alone.

He stayed up all night, reading the scrolls. He’d realised that he felt more himself the closer he got to the ancient Nagi tree, so he’d carried the scrolls with him, along with a lantern, sitting with his back against the ancient tree, cradled in its roots. By morning, he’d come to a decision. He’d lived a very full life. This demon, this evil, was currently residing in his body, his very human body. If he destroyed the body, perhaps it would destroy the demon too.

After putting the scrolls back where he had found them, he meditated at the shrine for a few hours, trying to find his courage. By the afternoon, he was ready, determined to do what was necessary. He went through the medicine cabinet, but he didn’t have anything that would do the job. He could try taking all the painkillers he had, but he didn’t think that would act quickly enough. His thoughts quailed a little at having to kill himself with a knife. He’d never been a big fan of blood, but if that is what it took to defend others against this evil, he would do it.

He marched into the kitchen, sorting through his drawers hurriedly until the sharpest knife he owned was clenched in his shaking fist. His only regret was that he was unable to say goodbye to his daughter-in-law, his granddaughter, his grandson. He loved them dearly, and hoped against hope it would not be one of  them that would find his dead body. But there was nothing for it. He closed his eyes, held the knife, ready to cut his own throat.

But then a force seized his muscles, tore away his control, jerked his hand and he dropped the knife. It was agonising. He screamed, did his best to find some other way to injure himself, crashing his body around the kitchen. He had to do it, before this creature could escape and harm others. Barely holding on by a thread he stumbled through the back door. The cliff was nearby. If he threw himself off, surely he would not survive. Then everyone would be saved, and his stupidity in not believing the boy would not be held against him by the kami.

He chanted a purification prayer as he staggered towards the cliff, every step more excruciating than the next, and he couldn’t help the tears that poured down his weathered cheeks.

Live in harmony with the way of great nature,

Moving with its changes

Tõ kami

Emi tame

North, northeast, east, southeast

South, southwest, west, northwest –

From all corners of the universe

Kan gon shin

Son rikon da ken

Take away all impurities of myself,

My home, and the world.

Harahi tamae

Kiyome de tamõ

 He could see the cliff ahead, just a few more steps and it would be all over. And then it went dark.

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Read Part Eight

[dabihaul666]

I absolutely love this for you

[inu-yasha]

Please, dont ever delete this blog. I love how you stay firm and true to your convinctions regarding Inukik, you speak your mind and you're not a coward. Sometimes reading the "opposing team" hateful analysis I get discouraged from staying in this fandom, so I'm glad someone shares my opinion. I also still dont get how Kagome's allowed to be shipped with everyone but liking Inukik is forbidden or something. I mean in stranger things fandom byler isnt canon and its more popular than mileven.

Don't worry, I'm not going to delete it. Thank you, your words put a big smile on my face, I'm very happy about it. I, too, went through many hardships and left and came back. It just comes with time. There is no such thing as "forbidden". You have the right to love whoever you want and what ship you want. They have no right to forbid you anything. We are just bothering them, that's why they continue to gaslight. support InuKik get attacked right away and they make themselves the victim, they often use this moralizing talk to show that they are fair It's partly our fault too because we let ourselves get in over our heads when they attacked Kikyou and InuKik we kept quiet /those who attacked us use the aforementioned manipulation and now I see that a lot of people speak up and defend InuKik/Kikyou. Which is good. If they can express their opinion, so can we. And no one has the right to stop us. Anon, express criticism and hatred even towards her. You do it on your own blog or another platform. Your opinion is your business. I don't like it, simple as that. I don't like seeing anti inukik/Kikyou stuff in pro tags either, but does anyone around think about our feelings? NO. So why should I care about the feelings of people who are usually aggressors, and then make themselves a victim and use manipulation to silence us.

firmness really comes with the experience of certain things, and what I can advise is that have to be 100% sure about your beliefs, feelings about the character and the ship. At some point you'll get used to it.

If someone likes Kagome shipping with everyone their business. I don't care about it. And you shouldn't care either. Just ship InuKik and love them and Kikyou. The opinion of others shouldn't affect you. Your opinion should be the most important thing to you, and what other people think is their business.

for example Kikyou is shipping from Naraku which I hate but I don't care because people have different opinions and tastes. Their opinion, their business, and I'm entitled to say I don't like this ship. the same them they can say they don't like inukik/inukag etc.

I hope that you understand me and it doesn't work one way like inukag want.

[dog-forest-spirit]

I think what makes the earlier episodes of Inuyasha so great is that they’re still super wacky like the later episodes might have brief interludes (usually filler) but these have a nice balance of stupid comedy and serious

[sailorstarr-chan4]

Inuyasha: Prince of Thieves

Chapter 5: A New Dawn

On Tumblr: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 Posted also: on ff.net and AO3 Words: 1,981 Rated: M (in general) Genre: Romance & Adventure Setting: Robin Hood!AU, in a fictional land that is neither England nor Japan, but rather an odd fusion of both (ish)

Oops, I did it again.... it's been 2 years since my last updaaate~~ oh baby baby...

To all who remember this ol' thing, enjoy! ❤

~~~

The coming of dawn broke a wave of mixed relief and nervousness over Nottingham village. The red star was gone; the sky was clear and blue once more, and yet its passing took a toll on the people’s fears. 

“Nothing has happened…. yet. Yet. The gods are testing us,” they murmured to one another, making pious signs and hurrying about their day’s activities, nearly every one of them acting like certain doom lingered over their shoulders. 

Whispers wondered what terrible omen would strike their home. Some claimed a drought or famine was fast approaching, others cried of a plague. Some pondered humane disasters, such as a crippling new tax by their Sheriff, or a war in a distant land calling for the blood of their men. A select few were convinced it was the end times, but most chose to brush that aside (even if the thought sent a chill down their spines). 

A few dared to believe that perhaps nothing would come of the red star. Or perhaps, the gods struck elsewhere, but spared their humble village. Most reacted with incredulity at such naivety. 

“Red as blood and wide as the sea,” those skeptics whispered amongst themselves, shivering at the memory. “We dare not hope for anything less than a flood or fire. If we prepare for the worst, the gods might treat us kindly thereafter.” 

And though the fear and apprehension lingered in everyone’s hearts, still, the folks of Nottingham continued on as if nothing was out of the ordinary. For that’s what humans do best: they carry on. 

~

Sheriff Naraku, or Lord Naraku, as he preferred to be called by his vassals, cared not for stars of any color. He was a learned man, in spite of appearances, and knew that it was only a comet passing overhead, nothing more. But he also knew of the power of ignorance and fear. 

He sat languidly in his office, dictating a report to a twitchy scribe, when a sharp rap sounded on the door before opening. 

Wolf demons were excellent tools in warfare. Loyal to a fault, and always obeying their leaders without question, their teamwork was unparalleled, and their fighting methods were swift and concise. But they were also annoyingly obsessed with protecting their own kind above all else. Thus, Naraku struck a deal with a leader of a wolf demon clan decades ago: they and their kin shall work for him as his loyal guards, and in turn, their families will be completely exempt from the brutal, increasingly relentless taxes and have full protection. They do not live luxuriously, of course, but instead healthily, safely, and comfortably, but all of it came at an unspoken cost: 

The moment a single member of the clan betrayed Naraku, Sheriff of Nottingham, Lord of Nottingham Castle, every single wolf, man, woman, and cub, would be brutally slaughtered. 

Few of the wolf demons actually knew this, even if some had surmised it over the years. But the knowledge was passed down from leader to leader, as a warning: protect the clan. Do not betray them. Do your job, no matter how unpleasant, no matter how despised. 

And thus it was Kouga, Captain of the Guard, who entered the scene, shouldering the burden of his forebears. He did not consider it a burden, but rather his duty, thinking of his mate, Ayame, and his soon-to-be litter of cubs due any day now. 

He wore the armor of his late father, chainmail with a brown breastplate featuring an emblem of two silver wolves howling at the moon. At his hip rested a thin sword and a dagger, rarely removed from his side, a steady reminder of his role. 

He bowed courteously before his blackmailer and employer, then stood at attention. “My lord called for me?” 

“Ah, yes. Captain Kouga. I have a job for you.” 

It was a mark of his character that Kouga did not betray the shiver of disgust that slid down his back from Naraku’s slippery tone. His face and voice remained as impassive as ever. A perfect soldier. He remained silent, waiting for orders. 

“You may leave us, scribe,” Naraku said quietly. The frightened man jumped, upsetting his inkwell. He mumbled several hurried apologies, but fled the office, knowing it was better to follow direct orders than to clean up his mess. 

Naraku sighed. “Humans are such clumsy creatures. I’ll have to call up a maid later.” He leaned back in his chair, making no effort to stop the black ink oozing down the side of his desk, creating a dark puddle on the floor. The dripping slowed eventually, each plop onto the stained floor becoming uncannily unpleasant to the eye and ear, almost resembling the consistency of blood. 

Kouga said nothing. It was not his job to offer suggestions. Naraku smiled, his eyes cold and dark, boring into Kouga’s brilliant blue eyes. Kouga suppressed another shiver. 

“Have you ever heard of the Prince of Thieves?” The question came without preamble, and startled Kouga; he almost slipped his composure. 

“I have heard rumors, my lord.” Kouga sounded indifferent, but his curiosity was piqued. He had grown up on tales of the mysterious brigand. “Some say he’s a ghost or an ancient legend.” 

“He is neither. He is very much alive, although in recent memory, he has managed to remain elusive from the commoners’ knowledge, even if some of the elders vaguely recall his true identity.” Naraku scoffed. “The so-called Prince resides in Sherwood Forest and has been a thorn in my side for fifty odd years.” 

Kouga said nothing. He fully expected his orders to gather several of his men and comb the Forest until they find and arrest the mysterious Prince of Thieves. 

Instead, his lord said something entirely different. 

“The time has come to collect another tax.” 

Kouga blinked. It was the only physical sign he had given of his discomfit. “My lord?” 

“Yes…” Naraku dragged out the word, as if savoring a delicious treat. His voice was barely a whisper, but of course, that did not matter to a wolf demon. “I find myself…. sorely lacking in funds at the moment. We shall announce that the Prince of Thieves has ‘demanded payment’ and it is simply, ah, too much of a burden for Nottingham Castle to carry out alone. We need all of Nottingham’s help, from the merchants to the blacksmiths to the farmers.” 

“It must be a king’s ransom,” Kouga said without thinking, inwardly kicking himself. 

But Naraku only laughed quietly. “A king’s ransom, you say? Excellent idea, Captain.” 

A tiny part of Kouga’s conscience squirmed, but he promptly squished it. “How shall I announce it, my lord?” 

“Tell your men that for every barrel of wheat they collect, every gold coin they wring from the grubby hands of merchants and tradesmen, is all for the sake of appeasing one very dangerous man: Inuyasha, the Prince of Thieves.” 

~

“So. So.” 

Kagome squirmed uncomfortably. “My dearest Yuka--”

“Oh no, you will not try to butter me up, my lady! You will explain to me in no uncertain terms exactly why you were not snug as a bug in bed a few minutes ago when I came to help you get ready for the day, and instead were… were… locked in a passionate embrace with a strange man!” 

Yuka’s cheeks were so pink and round with all her huffing and puffing that in any other situation, Kagome would have burst out laughing. But she knew all too well what this looked like. What it was. 

Behind her, Inuyasha seemed equally torn between the comedy of the scene and the utterly real consequences of what they had just committed. He cleared his throat nervously, stepping down into the room and bowing before Yuka, who looked rather like she was considering screaming for the guards. 

“Miss Yuka, pray, do not blame your lady and mistress for committing such folly. I take full responsibility for her ladyship’s actions, for if I had not been there, she never would have let temptation seduce her so thoroughly. Strike me, if you wish.” And thus, Inuyasha offered his cheek, leaning down, his eyes closed in anticipation, but otherwise serene in his acceptance. 

Yuka was taken aback by this sudden gesture of contrition. She blinked, glancing back and forth between her lady (who looked just as shocked) and the stranger now ready to receive his due chastising. 

“I-- you--- ahem,” she cleared her throat. “Since it is forbidden of me to strike my lady and mistress, you shall take her place, master thief.” 

SMACK! Yuka’s hand rang loud and clear against Inuyasha’s flesh, knocking the very wind out of him. He stumbled backwards, crash landing against a magnificent tall vase and shattering it all over the cobbled floor. 

All three stood stunned silent for a moment. Then, Kagome burst out laughing. “Well, now! I hope you’re well and satisfied, Yuka! Never have I seen a slap performed so spectacularly!” Inuyasha joined in her mirth, grinning sheepishly as he rubbed his sore spot and straightened up. 

Yuka blushed, but still looked rather pleased with herself even as she pretended to sniff with dignity. “I never liked that repulsive thing. It is far too dull-looking to be proper furnishings for a lady’s bedchamber,” she said with a disdainful look at the shattered remains of the vase. “I suppose I’ll have to call up a servant to dispose of it. 

“And as for you,” she shot at Inuyasha, who instinctively jumped back, his back colliding with the wall, “you may have charmed me into being merciful this time, but I shall be chaperoning Lady Kagome from now on. No exceptions,” she added, putting her hand up to stop Kagome’s protest. “I made a vow to your good mother, my lady, that I would keep an eye on you while visiting Nottingham until she is well enough to come visit, and I will be generous enough to not report this… this excursion to her, but I will not fail in my role again.” 

Kagome bit her lip. She knew Yuka was in the right, and that this was far too fair a trade in exchange for her scandalous actions. She nodded reluctantly, but didn’t miss the wink Inuyasha sent her way in her peripheral vision. 

Blushing, Kagome pretended to straighten out her dress, while Yuka continued her tut-tutting. 

~

The sun, glaring brighter than ever without the red star’s obstruction, nearly blinded the traveling friar and his companion as they climbed up the hill overlooking Nottingham Village and Sherwood Forest. 

The friar was surprisingly young and slim for a man of the cloth, with sleek black hair not betraying a single strand of gray, tied back in a small ponytail. His eyes were dark brown, alert and sparking with wit, but highlighted by deep dark circles, betraying his fitful nights. 

His companion was a beautiful woman with long black hair and violet eyes, deep and mournful, but shining with affection whenever they looked upon the friar. But what stood out the most was her extended stomach, heavy with child. 

On their backs, they each carried a sleeping toddler, twin girls. Perched on the pregnant woman’s shoulder was a small, black and yellow twin-tailed cat, who every so often nuzzled her neck affectionately and encouragingly. 

“Only one more mile to go, my love, before we reach Sherwood Forest,” the friar called over his shoulder. 

“I am glad to hear it,” the woman said in reply, sounding steady but strained with exhaustion. “But Miroku, why did we travel so far just to meet ‘an old friend’ of yours?” 

Friar Miroku gave a wry smile. He turned his gaze towards the village, nestled on the edge of the forest its inhabitants feared so much. 

“Let’s just say there’s no better place to hide than in Sherwood Forest, home to the Prince of Thieves.”