INUYASHA CHAPTER 456 - "AZUSA YAMA"
"Azusa Mountain"

Volume 46, part 7
written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi

NOTE: Azusa means "catalpa tree."

PAGE 2

1
A view of Byakuya, looking over at Kohaku. Kohaku is covered in snakes.

BYAKUYA
Give it up, Kohaku.
You can't escape from Naraku.

2
View of Byakuya from Kohaku's POV, starts to seem clouded/hazy.

3
Kohaku's eyes glass over a bit; he looks stunned.

KOHAKU
!?

PAGE 3

1
Kohaku falls to the ground with a thud.

2
The snakes that have wrapped around his body are biting into his legs...

3
Side view of Byakuya ...

BYAKUYA
That's shouki poison.

4
View of Kohaku, eyes shut tight (in pain?), with the shard glowing from his back.

BYAKUYA (off)
Before I take it, I should make sure the Shikon fragment is polluted, shouldn't I.

5
As Byakuya kneels over Kohaku, a blast of energy shoots out from the trees behind Byakuya.

BYAKUYA
!?

PAGE 4

1
It's the MEIDOU ZANGETSUHA!!
Still at crescent-moon shape/size, it slices through one of the trees above Byakuya,
who has a hilariously surprised look on his face...

2
A slightly wider shot as the Meidou Zangetsuha rift slices through the tree...

PAGE 5

1
Enter Sesshoumaru, holding Tenseiga in front of him, and looking quite... well, as Sesshoumaru-like as ever.

2
View of Byakuya, and Sesshoumaru, as he moves and stands a bit over Kohaku.

BYAKUYA
Sesshoumaru.

PAGE 6

1
Close up of Byakuya.

BYAKUYA
Well ---, that sure surprised me.
What the heck was that technique just now?

2
Side view of Sesshoumaru, overlaid on a panel of Mouryoumaru.

SESSHOUMARU
Mouryoumaru's scent vanished.
Naraku has devoured him after all, didn't he.

3
Side view of Byakuya. Looks a little smug.

BYAKUYA
....
So?

4
View of Sesshoumaru, still standing over Kohaku...

BYAKUYA (off)
So, did you come to save Kohaku?
You don't seem the type to get into that habit.

[NOTE: literally something like, "I don't see you having that kind of pattern."]

5
Close up of Sesshoumaru

SESSHOUMARU
I came to get rid of an annoying scent.
That's all.

PAGE 7

1
View of Byakuya, holding one of his paper cranes between his fingers.

BYAKUYA
Then that's that...

2
And SWO-O-O-O-OSH!! goes Byakuya. (Tussling Sesshoumaru's hair in the wake, no less.)

3
View of Byakuya in the air, on his giant paper crane.

BYAKUYA
Well, I'm not sticking around.
Would hate for some random passerby to be chopped up, after all.

[NOTE: Have I ever mentioned that I both hate and adore Byakuya's slangish dialogue??]

4
Rin and Jaken peer out from behind the bushes.

5
Rin runs out towards Kohaku.

RIN
Kohaku!

6
But as she goes to touch him...

SESSHOMARU (off)
Don't touch him, Rin.

PAGE 8

1
Side view of Sesshoumaru.

SESSHOUMARU
Those are poison snakes.

2
A wider view of the scene shows, though, that....

RIN
Jaken-sama got bitten.

Indeed, a snake is hanging off of Jaken's sleeve. Jaken's eye is tearing up...

SESSHOUMARU
..........

3
Cloudy frame - Scene change.

4
A view of Inuyasha, running, with Kikyou in his arms.

5
Ahead of him, he sees the tree that Sesshoumaru had sliced up before, using the Meidou Zangetsuha.

INUYASHA
!

PAGE 9

1
Close up of Inuyasha

INUYASHA (thinking)
Sesshoumaru was here...?

2
Kikyou, looking a bit distressed, in his arms...

KIKYOU
Where's... Kohaku...?

3
View of Inuyasha and Kikyou.

INUYASHA
He's not here. The smell breaks off here.

KIKYOU
.......

4
Close view of Kikyou, looking determined.

KIKYOU
I must... look for him...
If my barrier doesn't protect him...

5
Frame of the Shikon fragment...

KIKYOU (voiceover)
The purity of Kohaku's shard will...
not be guaranteed...

6
Sharp, crackling energy (pain?) suddenly strikes Kikyou...

PAGE 10

1
Inuyasha looks down at her, very alarmed.

INUYASHA
Kikyou!?

2
Inuyasha puts her down on the forest floor, and rests her against a tree.
He kneels beside her... but she looks very much in pain.

INUYASHA
Your body....
The shouki is spreading, isn't it!?

KIKYOU
It's alright...

3
A panel showing Kikyou's hand on her bow, which is missing its bowstring.

KIKYOU (voiceover)
However... If Kagome doesn't bring back the bowstring from the mausoleum...

4
View of Kikyou, looking off to the side. Worried, perhaps?

KIKYOU (voiceover)
My body will wear away...

PAGE 11

1
A view of a mountain (the mountain that Kagome and the others were supposed to find in the previous chapter...)

KIKYOU (voiceover)
If Kagome... doesn't truly think the can save me...

2
A view of Kagome's group --- Kagome is still riding on Kouga's back,
and Shippou, Sango, and Miroku are on Kirara, beside them.
They're looking up at a long stairway, lined with trees on each side.

Panel of Kagome, overlaid.

KAGOME
This is Azusa Mountain...

PAGE 12

1
Another view, looking straight up the stairway. From this angle we see, it's a very LONG staircase.
Up at the top is a very faint building of some sort.

2
A nice panel of the group's reactions.
Shippou, Sango, and Miroku all look up, rather open-mouthed. Kagome, too. Kouga, on the other hand...

SHIPPOU
What a long staircase.

KOUGA
Heh, not a problem...

3
A closer view of the little faint building, waaaaaaaaaay up at the top.

4
Close up of Kagome.

KAGOME
There's the mausoleum.

5
Kouga looks ready to go.

KOUGA
Alright, then!
Let's get to it!

PAGE 13

1
Forest scene - scene change.

2
View of Inuyasha and Kikyou, once again. Inuyasha is still kneeling beside Kikyou.

KIKYOU
The mountain temple is...
Proteced by an un-shaped power...

[NOTE: "Un-shaped" ("katachi no nai") literally means "without a form or shape."
Or basically that the power can take on the form of anything it desires.]

3
Close up of Inuyasha, looking a bit confused, perplexed, or something....

INUYASHA
An un-shaped power?

4
Back at the mountain...
A view of the steps that the others are trying to climb. Apparently even with their fast movement,
the stairway seems just as long as it had been before...

5
A view of Sango, Shippou, and Miroku.

SHIPPOU
Man, it's not changing, is it?

SANGO
Yeah, it's still so long, even though we're climbing it...

6
Side view of Kouga and Kagome, still running...

KOUGA
Well, shit, what the hell is going on!?

PAGE 14

1
A view of the building up at the top of the stairs.

KAGOME (thinking)
I can see all the way up to the top, though...

2
Closer view of Kagome.

KAGOME
It's not getting any closer...
but why!?

3
Flashback of Kikyou, overlaid on top of a close up of Kagome's eyes.

KIKYOU (flashback)
If you don't truly think you want to save me -----

KAGOME
!

4
Close view of Kagome, looking a bit troubled now.

KAGOME (thinking)
.oO(It's my fault...!?)
.oO(Am I faltering...!?)

5
Cloudy panel...

KAGOME (voiceover - thinking)
Becuase of these things about Inuyasha and Kikyou,
I'm hurt, and I'm upset, but...

6
Dark panel...

KAGOME (voiceover - thinking)
I can't help that!!
I'm not a god!!

[Edit - Given that Kagome is not Christian, I changed this line... ^^]

PAGE 15

1
Another view of the temple mausoleum in the distance.

KAGOME (thinking - voiceover)
So if I just let it go, and not feel anything...
We can reach that place!?
That's just...

2
Close up of Kagome, suddenly noticing something.

KAGOME
!?

3
On the stairway, a figure wearing a long-sleeved kimono, appears.
It seems to be surrounded by glowing energy, too...

4
View of Kagome and Kouga.

KAGOME
That's...

KOUGA
A youkai!?

5
Suddenly, something starts to happen, and fog surrounds Kagome and Kouga...

KAGOME
Mist!?

6
Close, cloudy frame, showing only Kagome's face...

KAGOME (thinking)
I can't see... anything...

PAGE 16

1
Kagome falls to the stairs. Kouga is no longer there.

KAGOME
Ah!

2
She looks around...

KAGOME
Where is everyone...!?

3
Suddenly she realizes that the figure from before is now right in front of her.
It's kneeled on the steps, one hand slightly raised. It has long (colorless?) hair,
and no face...

KAGOME
!

PAGE 17

1
A closer view of the figure's head, which... has no face...

FIGURE
A human... aren't you...

2
Kagome looks visibly shocked.

KAGOME (thinking)
It... has no face!?

3
Forest scene - scene change

4
Again, back at the forest with Inuyasha and Kikyou...

KIKYOU
The shapeless power...
Is Azusa Mountain's spirit...

5
Closer view of Inuyasha and Kikyou.

KIKYOU
Meaning it can be in the form of a god... or a demon...

[NOTE: She says "kami no sugata" and "mamono no sugata", which I think could, at its
simplest nuance, mean "a form of good" or "a form of evil."]

PAGE 18

1
The figure in front of Kagome covers its face with a sleeved arm.
Its hair appears to be coagulating into something more "solid" (and developing a color)...

KIKYOU (voiceover)
That form is decided by the heart of the beholder.

2
The figure lowers its arm, and reveals Kikyou's face...

3
And Kagome... reacts accordingly. With a very wide-eyed, shocked expression.

KAGOME (thinking)
KIKYOU!?

Written by Rumiko Takahashi

Inuyasha © 2006 Shogakukan, originally published in Shonen Sunday
Original translation posted: May 11, 2006
Last modified: May 11, 2006

English translation by Kuro
This translation may not be used for profit