I went back and forth on whether to respond on a comment all evening, and since my motivation is ruined I might as well, cause if one person said it thereās probably some others that were thinking it. Spoilers for the chapter of Mercury that I just posted so if you havenāt read ch 7, itās on you if you click under the cut.
Kagome is not a prude.
This entire chapter is essentially a bottleneck episode in that we donāt see InuKag do anything beyond bathing, and I did this solely for the purpose of them coming to grips with the reality of being switched. You have two very insecure people that can talk a lot of smack, but theyāre not going to handle their routine being different. You see people all the time making jokes about how fun itād be to be the opposite sex for a day, but chances are if it were you in the situation youād be apprehensive too.
Kagome and Inuyasha are 19, getting close to 20. It feels like a slap to someone at that age whose not promiscuous to any degree to even suggest that a character who hasnāt had the experiences a reader might have had be called prudish. As someone who dealt with being called similar names at that age, it really stings. People have their reasons for why they donāt run out and explore every Tom, Dick, or Allen, and that doesnāt make them prudes. Sometimes itās just a choice. Sometimes something personal pushes that person to make that choice.
Canon Kagome was never a prude. She was a 14/15 year old that had other priorities, believe it or not. She was raised to be respectful and not throw out her bits and bobs because it wasnāt considered a trait that people would favor. It would be bad character. Which brings me to my next part of the comment: just because she has a little brother and a grandpa thatās aĀ ādirty old manā and lives in the modern world, doesnāt imply she should be more open.
First, Souta is roughly 9-10 in canon. In Mercury I think I made him 15 and ended up closing the age gap between him and Kagome. Either way, thereās enough of an age gap that sheās not going to want to see her brother naked. And I am well aware about families bathing together but in canon even this would be a stretch. Kagome is going to want her privacy. If it were implied that the siblings bathed when they were younger, it wouldāve been a very small window because Kagome probably wouldnāt want to share a bath with a toddler once she started developing. If thatās up your alley, more power to you.
Second is calling Grandpa Higurashi a ādirty old manā. I havenāt read through the manga but Iām sure if there were any instance of him being a perverted old man someone wouldāve said something by now. I donāt know what anime was confused with this one, or if thereās some other fic out there were Grandpa is a dirty old man, but I have not and will never write that. The very notion has had me physically ill all evening. Not sure if this is just a trope that the reader has assigned to all grandpas in fics or if this is an assumption about grandpas in real life - someone will have to tell me because I donāt have a grandpa anymore.
Furthermore, I havenāt written Grandpa into this story yet, and the only time Souta has featured has been chapter 1. Nothing about him telling Inuyasha āI really don't want to hear what you want to do to my sisterā says that heād be open to seeing his sister naked either.
So how is Kagome considered a prude, then? Sheās spent her teenage years fighting demons and trying not to fail her classes. Thereās not time for dealing out handjobs or whatever the hell people assume all teenagers do. Is she late in getting around to exploring her feelings for Inuyasha? I donāt think so. I think itās a matter of seeing the bottom of the plate for the first time in years, so she has a moment to really think. Itās hard to think about the future when youāre drowning under everything else. When her thoughts keep circling back to agreeing to moving in with Inuyasha, itās because that future is more real now than it wouldāve been while she were in school.
Her having an existential crisis about seeing and having to clean Inuyashaās body while she inhabits it is basically her being thrown head first into the pool again. She has no experience with the situation. Itās not something sheād seek out within the family to answer questions, so she has limited knowledge from the books she read. Frankly if she went to her brother or grandfather and asked, Iād be horrified, but thatās just me. Also should point out that if Iād written Kagome in such a way that she had no qualms about getting to business and scrubbing away without a care while in Inuyashaās body, it would be deemed OOC or sheād be accused of being improper.
On the flipside, because Inuyasha was never mentioned once in the comment, I think it really says a lot about reader views in general. Itās fine for Inuyasha to look over Kagomeās body and ask questions, but Kagomeās not allowed to be nervous? Inuyasha is equally nervous - like when he has to ask Kagome if itās okay to take her panties off. Itās new territory for him too, but because heās more outspoken and blunt itās fine. For Kagome to internalize her anxiety is wrong? She doesnāt want to make Inuyasha feel like heās disgusting (he already assumed that from her grumbling and it was discredited at the end of the chapter) so she tries to be mindful of what she says.
I donāt know...Iām just...tired. This story was one that I have been nervous to even dig into, and when I started writing parts of it here, no one seemed to mind. Iām in the process of editing ch 8 but havenāt written any more, and tonight my motivation sunk. Iāve read this chapter twice today, but not once did I think Kagome read as a prude. Iām confused at what part made someone choose to leave that comment, but if youāve read it and felt the same way, I hope this explains why I wrote it the way I did.
