Book Eleven: Cats and Dogs Living Together
Page 1
Full-figure of IY in demon form sitting cross-legged, cradling a cat in his lap and gently scratching it behind the ears while looking at it in a gentle manner.
Page 2
Panel 1
Legend: Tokyo, October 1998
Aunt Barbra (holding a box of flyers or something) and Ms. Habib are outside the door of the Japanese room, as Koinu yells at Kagome (from the end of the previous book).
Barbra: What the hell…
Ms. Habib: Uh-oh. Trouble in kiddieland.
Koinu (in the background): Onore temee!Dai kirai!
Panel 2
Repeat view from last chapter of Koinu stumbling to the door, except the POV is pulled back to show Barbra and Habib talking in the foreground.
Ms. Habib: Tell me we’re not supposed to be chaperoning them.
Barbra: Koinu, what the fuck!
Panel 3
Koinu rushes down the hall, hands over his mouth, as at end of previous book
Barbra: Oi, Koinu! You listenin’ to me?
Panel 4
View of Kagome (from previous chapter) silently eating noodles; we can see Habib peeking through the door in the background.
Panel 5
Barbra storms in to confront Kagome, who is holding the cup of ramen.
Barbra: All right, you little git! What the hell did you do to Koinu?
Kagome: Ah…ah…Houjou-kun…Koinu-kun…ah…not in room. He…go…into…some other place…
Panel 6
Barbra screams down at Kagome.
Barbra: He’s in the fuckin’ loo, pukin’ his guts out and cryin’ like a baby!
Kagome: He…Koinu-kun…he…not here! I think he is to…come soon…
Panel 7
Barbra faces off with Kagome, who is beginning to get angry as well.
Barbra: Koinu is the best kid in the world! What did you do to him, you little bitch!?
Kagome: He…not name Koinu! He name is Inuyasha! Koinu name for baby dog!
Panel 8
Barbra and Kagome face off in the foreground. Koinu appears at the door, looking very subdued. He has changed clothing to a pullover shirt, with pocket, open at the collar, and jeans.
Barbra: Look here, you fucking little nip . . .
Koinu: Don’t go on at Higurashi, Auntie. Really, she’s an awfully nice girl. And you can’t bully her, I don’t think she’s afraid of anything.
Page 3
Panel 1
Barbra talks to Koinu. His freckles are visible.
Barbra: Puppy-chan, what the hell did she do to you?
Koinu: Nothing, Auntie. I just remembered something that was bad.
Barbra: This shit is about Musashi’s domain, isn’t it?
Koinu: I didn’t say that. Please, Auntie.
Panel 2
Koinu speaks to a dubious-looking Barbra.
Barbra: So now this bitch says I’m supposed to call you Inuyasha?
Koinu: No, thanks. You say it like my parents do. Like I’m in trouble. You can still call me Koinu.
Barbra: I’ll call you whatecer I fucking feel like, puppy-chan. You sure you’re okay?
Koinu: It’s cool, Auntie.
Panel 3
Close-up of Koinu talking to Kagome. He looks pale, she looks determined.
Koinu: Kagome, we really need to work on your English.
Kagome: Ha! You threw up first, didn’t you?
Koinu: Yeah.
Panel 4
Koinu covers his nose and mouth with his hand, looking distressed. Kagome grabs the noodles to move them.
Koinu: Um…
Kagome: Oh! I’ll get rid of this.
Koinu: No, I want you to eat…It’s…the smell.
Kagome: I ate most of it while you were gone. I’ll move it out of the way.
Panel 5
Koinu sits back, eyes closed, as Kagome looks on.
Kagome: Got your uniform, huh?
Koinu: Mostly my shirt.
Kagome: When your stomach settles I’ll fix you some tea.
Panel 6
Koinu and Kagome face to face.
Koinu: I’m supposed to be taking care of you.
Kagome: We take care of each other. Tell me the rest of the story.
Koinu: The rest of the story?
Kagome: Where did you go after that? What did you do?
Panel 7
Same view.
Koinu: I…nothing, really. I heard about the Shikon no Tama, and I started looking for it. After a couple of years I found it and then I just tried to get through Kikyou. The rest you know.
Kagome: Where did you live? How did you live?
Panel 8
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: I didn’t live anywhere. I snuck around, stole stuff, slept in trees. When I felt like it I tried to steal the Shikon no Tama, but Kikyou was tougher than I was.
Panel 9
Close-up of Kagome looking at Koinu.
Koinu: Whenever I could I grabbed chickens, rats. I ate a lot of rats. Stole stuff from storage sheds. I couldn’t eat anything at all like a dog. And cats…
Page 4
Panel 1
Head-and-shoulders of Koinu.
Koinu: I don’t know. Cats are…cool. I like cats a lot. I always liked that cat you had. I’m not allowed to have one. When I grow up, I will. Once, one place there was a shed, like a little barn, and they had a cat there. That was a really nice cat.
Panel 2
Close-up of Koinu.
Koinu: The first time I saw it, it came right up to me like I was its friend. I could have just reached out and killed it and eaten it right there.
Panel 3
Side view of Inuyasha petting a happy-looking cat.
Koinu: It’s just…It started purring and…you had to wonder, who was so nice to a cat that it just expected people to be good to it? I didn’t…I didn’t want it to find out what the world was really like.
Panel 4
View of Inuyasha stretched out asleep in the shed cradling the cat in his arms.
Koinu: I hung out with that cat for a couple of weeks, both of us catching mice. It was ok. They had a lot of rice in the shed, and there were plenty of mice. It wasn’t a bad place. Kind of warm and pleasant.
Panel 5
A woman in peasant dress stands in the doorway of a house, holding a bowl.
Koinu: Every day a lady used to set out a bowl of milk for the cat. You could see why it was so happy and why it liked people so much. Even me. Sometimes I would sneak over and drink a little of the milk myself. I always left plenty for the cat.
Panel 6
Close-up profile of Koinu.
Koinu: One day I looked and next to the bowl of milk there was…a bowl of rice…with chopsticks. After that I moved on. I…I ate the rice first.
Panel 7
Close-up of Koinu, looking serious.
Koinu: Now that I’ve read all those fairy tales I worry that…that they hoped I would come in and be their son, or something. I would have made a pretty miserable son. I hope they never got their hopes up.
Panel 8
Close-up of Koinu and Kagome, face to face.
Kagome: How long did you…live like that?
Koinu: I don’t know. A few years. Until Kikyou shot me. Or—until you woke me up, I guess. I wasn’t as bad as I had been—I tried to, you know, keep myself kind of clean.
Page 5
Panel 1
View from the first volume of Inuyasha: Inuyasha sits on the ground in the forest as Kagome, Kaede and villagers walk away from him
Koinu: Then that first day you used your spell on me—the osuwari spell—and then everybody just—went home…so I just got up and followed. Nobody turned around and told me to go away…
Panel 2
Inuyasha stands among a group of wide-eyed villagers, who pay him no particular attention.
Koinu: When I got to the village, everybody was standing around Kaede’s door. But they stepped aside to let me in…I mean, not scared, just polite…just let me go by, like I belonged there.
Panel 3
Inuyasha scowls in the background as Kaede treats Kagome’s wound (from the centipede woman).
Koinu: I went and sat down and waited for somebody to tell me to leave. But nobody did. That’s when I found out 50 years had gone by and…Kikyou…was gone. That maybe she had come back as you.