Kagome hadn't been far from the truth when she said Inuyasha was getting around just fine. The hanyou certainly seemed to be having no trouble sprinting toward danger. In an instant he disappeared down the path in the direction the dead man had come from, leaving the rest of the group to follow… or not.
Despite her angry words and clear frustrations, Kagome raced after him. Miroku kept pace with her, as much to avoid leaving the girls alone and unprotected as to avoid winding himself too much before the imminent battle.
At first he had been afraid that Naraku's offspring had turned once more to the village where he and the others had left Koharu, but this path took them in a different direction entirely. It seemed that Kagura and this mysterious new youkai had chosen an entirely different village to torment—though it remained to be seen whether that would be better or worse. As he ran, he braced himself for the likelihood of walking into another village of the dead. Such situations had been bad enough before. With Kagura's ability to raise the dead and turn them against her foes, they promised to be even worse now.
Even though he had tried to prepare himself in advance, Miroku was still struck by the appalling waste of life when they reached the village. Not even the livestock had been spared. Everything lay dead, bones and mangled flesh littering the streets.
And in the middle of it all, Inuyasha stared down what had to be the third youkai. It was huge, towering over the ruined buildings of the village, its head topped by enormous horns. Having put itself between Inuyasha and his friends, its back was bared to the newcomers, revealing the prominent, spider-shaped burn scar there. There could be no doubt: this was Naraku's offspring.
"The spider sign," Miroku said aloud as Kagome and Sango came to stand next to him. "I believe we've found the third of Naraku's offspring."
The creature rumbled with laughter, turning its misshapen head to regard the newcomers. "That's right, monk. I am Goshinki. My elder sisters are as nothing compared to me."
"You talk too much," Inuyasha called. "Let's see what kind of power you really have!" He rushed in, brandishing the Tessaiga as if nothing were wrong and this was just another battle. It was beyond foolhardy, even for Inuyasha, but Miroku could do nothing to stop him from this distance. Though with the creature between him and Inuyasha, there was always the chance that he could use the kazaana to put an end to this.
Inuyasha threw himself at the youkai again and again, but it seemed almost to anticipate his moves, countering and dodging each time before he had even really begun to strike.
"I told you," it said, catching Inuyasha off guard and sending him to the ground with a precisely aimed blow, "The others are as nothing now that I, Goshinki, am here: I can read minds. I know what you're going to do before you even start to move. Evading your foolish efforts is child's play." It thrust Inuyasha aside as if he were a doll, blood spattering and the Tessaiga clattering uselessly to the ground.
Miroku stepped forward, reaching for the prayer beads that bound his curse. "There's no choice," he muttered. "I'll just have to use this—" Yet before he could even finish his warning to the girls, the monster had begun to turn toward him… and a cluster of poisonous hell wasps emerged as if from nowhere, clouding around the creature. If Miroku tried to pull it into the kazaana now, he would not be able to avoid the poison.
Mentally cursing, he looped the prayer beads back into place. He would just have to find another way to stop this madness; the kazaana could only be a last resort.
"Going to use your curse on me, monk?" the towering creature asked. It sounded entirely too pleased with itself. "That won't work now, will it? Not with these insects around." It laughed again, as if the situation amused it. "I know all of your weaknesses." Fixing its gaze on Kagome, it said, "I could kill you before you could even draw that bow of yours." At Sango, it barked a laugh. "And you were struck so hard by your own weapon that you can't even fight."
It turned back to Inuyasha. "And you…"
"What about me?" Shippou demanded. "Why are you ignoring me?"
"Just ignore him, Shippou," Miroku told him. "He's just trying to rile us."
"Well, it's working!" Shippou said.
But even he fell silent as Inuyasha struggled to pick himself back up.
Miroku stared, transfixed in horror as he realized the village wasn't as completely devoid of life as he had believed: two young children cowered behind Inuyasha, and they clutched what appeared to be severed human heads. At first he thought these might be more youkai—after all, Kanna had appeared as a small child—but Inuyasha addressed them as if they were human.
"What are you still doing here?" he demanded. "I told you to run away."
Miroku felt a pang of compassion. Of course they hadn't run away. Everything they knew and loved was here, even if all the other people were dead.
Inuyasha realized it, too. "Those are your parents, aren't they?"
Heedless of his injuries as he always was when he had someone to protect, the hanyou pushed himself back to his feet. He held the Tessaiga at the ready and planted himself between Goshinki and the children. He even almost managed to look like he wasn't about to fall over.
Goshinki merely laughed. "So you think you're going to put an end to me, do you, Inuyasha?" Of course it was amused; it could see right through the act to Inuyasha's inner thoughts. "You are only half-youkai," it went on, "you don't know the pleasures of being a full youkai. You have youkai blood flowing in you, yet you have never eaten human flesh."
"Shut up!" Inuyasha snapped, swinging the Tessaiga as he prepared to use the wind scar attack.
But Goshinki knew what he was up to. It chuckled. "And now you think to cut me apart with your wind scar."
And it knew, too, how to defeat the wind scar. It tore straight through the wind scar and went for Inuyasha before he could use his attack. If Inuyasha realized his danger, he did not slow down or draw back.
"Ah, damn," Miroku muttered. He had a bad feeling that Inuyasha was about to take the situation from bad to worse through his recklessness. In his desire to protect his friends and those orphaned children, he was not going to let anything stop him. He was, Miroku thought, a stubborn fool, even if his heart was in the right place this time.
Yet even Miroku wasn't pessimistic to expect what happened next. Inuyasha leaped toward Goshinki, intending to end it with one swing of the Tessaiga, wind scar attack or no. But Goshinki knew every move he was about to make and countered with ease. It caught the Tessaiga's blade before Inuyasha could bring it down.
And then, with one powerful twist of its jaw, Goshinki snapped the Tessaiga in half. It spat out shards of broken metal and began to laugh again—a sound that Miroku was beginning to find extremely irritating. Nothing about this situation was remotely funny.
Inuyasha appeared unhurt when he landed, but Goshinki gave him only a moment to stare in shock at the ruined remains of his sword before landing a powerful blow that left the hanyou lying motionless in a growing pool of his own blood.