When Inuyasha dropped out of the sky and started calling him a coward, Miroku was certain he must be imagining things in his final moments. But Inuyasha certainly sounded real when he said, "Oi, Miroku, listen here, you bastard..."

He knew he wasn't seeing things when Kagome and Shippou came rushing over in Inuyasha's wake. While Kagome slid down the slope of the grave, Shippou catapulted himself to land on Miroku's chest. "You idiot!" the kitsune shouted, no doubt to mask his fear, "What were you thinking running off without us like that?"

"You worried us!" Kagome added.

For once in his life, he was at a loss for words. Or perhaps he was just too weak to think of anything after losing so much blood and maintaining his protective barrier.

Over Inuyasha's shoulder, he saw something moving in the sky, cutting down the masses of youkai that gathered there: Sango. Somehow, he had not been expecting her to come along with the others.

"So you're still alive, houshi-sama?" she asked, shouting to be heard. He thought he saw a hint of a smile cross her face, though the distance between them made it hard to tell.

"Inuyasha, you say something, too," Kagome prodded.

"Enough of this," Inuyasha said. His ears twitched suddenly and he turned an instant before Miroku heard the footsteps in the grass. From his angle Miroku could not see who had approached, but he recognized the voice immediately.

"You lot have brought trouble to my temple," Mushin said warningly. The moment he heard the old man speak, Miroku tried to get to his feet. He knew that if he didn't stop Inuyasha, the hanyou might very well kill the old monk. He couldn't let that happen.

"I'll have to punish you," Mushin went on, oblivious to the danger.

"If you want me, just fucking try," Inuyasha challenged.

"Inuyasha." Miroku stumbled and would have fallen on his face if Hachi had not rushed over to support him. "Please do not kill that person."

"Yes, don't kill me," Mushin sneered. "After all, I'm the one who raised Miroku here."

Inuyasha growled. "Guess I have no choice then. I may not be able to kill you, but I'll hold you back, you corrupt priest!"

From here, Miroku could see that Mushin had not come unarmed. The old monk carried a large strand of houriki beads over his shoulder, and he used them against Inuyasha now. Against an ordinary youkai they would have been deadly, but Inuyasha used the Tessaiga to block. For a moment it seemed as if he might be able to slice his way through, but the beads merely undid the sword's demonic transformation and wrapped around him anyway.

When Inuyasha was well and truly tangled in the strands, Mushin charged the beads with enough holy energy to make the air crackle and hiss. Kagome and Shippou clustered beside Miroku and Hachi as they watched Inuyasha collapse to the ground.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried out in horror as a group of youkai split off from the main horde and headed over to investigate. She was right to be alarmed; Mushin was not the only threat, after all. As soon as they realized that Inuyasha had been weakened, the youkai moved in for the kill.

With Inuyasha weakened and the youkai to do his dirty work, Mushin walked off to sit on the edge of the temple porch and drink from his ever-present jug of sake. Miroku looked away as Inuyasha faced down the youkai. Even with the houriki beads affecting him, Inuyasha was stronger than these youkai by far. It was their numbers that made them dangerous, and Sango was helping with that. So in the meantime, Miroku was determined to figure out what was going on with Mushin.

One moment the monk would act almost as if nothing were out of the ordinary, and the next he would try to kill someone. As if in response to Miroku's thoughts, Mushin laughed and said, "You're doing very well for being tied up in my houriki beads. But how long can you keep it up?" He charged the beads up again, and from somewhere out of Miroku's sight Inuyasha cried out in pain.

Miroku couldn't afford to see what trouble his friend was in. He wanted more than anything to figure out what was controlling Mushin. If the could just cure the monk, Miroku was certain they would put an end to this whole mess. But first they needed to know what was wrong.

"What's that?" Kagome asked. "Something just came from the old man's mouth when he spoke..."

"That's kokochuu."

"Myouga?" Sure enough, the flea youkai was sitting on Kagome's shoulder. Miroku wondered how long he'd been watching.

"He is being mind-controlled by them," Myouga went on.

"Can he be saved?" Miroku asked. If Mushin could not be saved, there might be no hope of healing the torn kazaana... and Miroku did not want to think about that.

"There should be a tsubo pot user nearby," Myouga said. "If you can get the pot away from him and point it at Mushin, then the kokochuu should return to the pot."

"Then we've got to go find that tsubo pot user!" Kagome decided. "Come on, Myouga!"

"What, me too?" the flea protested, but Kagome was already climbing out of the depression in the ground where they had been hiding. Miroku attempted to follow, but he was too weak yet to match Kagome's speed, especially uphill.

"Kagome-sama," he began, but she was already up and out, and was not listening to him. "Be careful."

As she ran off toward the temple building to search for the tsubo pot user, Sango, on Kirara's back, swooped down out of the sky to hover next to her. After a brief conversation, the two went off together.

Sango's willingness to help surprised him, and made him feel somewhat better about allowing Kagome to go off in search of the tsubo pot user alone. He had done nothing in particular to merit this sort of effort from her, or any of them, really. And yet here they all were, willing to do whatever it took to keep him safe and sound. Even though he'd kept his secrets hidden, even though he'd left them and done his best to cover his trail.

When had he found such loyal friends?