"Shut up already!" Inuyasha barked. "You don't need to keep repeating the same stupid lecture over and over like that."
Miroku schooled himself to inner serenity as his friend's temper flared. Inuyasha would understand what Myouga was trying to tell him… eventually. The rest of them merely needed to be patient, however challenging that might be.
Indeed, Myouga was becoming clearly agitated each time Inuyasha refused to acknowledge the inevitable. "I won't stop until you promise!" the flea reiterated. "You must not neglect the Tessaiga ever again!"
"Bah," Inuyasha countered. He hadn't said as much in words, but it was clear he did not intend to make any such promise.
Miroku had not expected him to be quite so painfully stubborn about this. Hoping he might add some weight to Myouga's plea, he chimed in, "Surely you don't mean that."
"Maybe it's a little heavy," Kagome agreed, but Inuyasha cut her off before she could continue.
"Yeah, you all keep acting like it's so easy," the hanyou grumbled. He drew the sword and held it out over the mountain stream that he was sitting beside. Sure enough, the weight of the blade sent him toppling over the edge and down into the water.
Miroku watched him go, chuckling as he allowed the current to carry him further downstream toward where Toutousai was assisting Sango with her weapon. He supposed that was one way to get out of an unwanted lecture.
And with Inuyasha distracted, he had an opportunity to speak frankly with Kagome. "What do you think, Kagome?"
"What do you mean?"
"I think we should tell Inuyasha the truth," he told her.
She got a distant look on her face, like she was thinking really hard about it. "You mean about the sword sealing his youkai blood?"
"Yes." He considered how best to explain his position before going on. "I believe that Inuyasha would be less quick to give up on the sword if he understood its true purpose."
"You're right," Kagome said, but it still sounded like she was hesitating.
"You mustn't tell him!" Myouga insisted. Miroku had not noticed the flea make his escape from Inuyasha's shoulder, but was rather unsurprised to find said flea now hopping up and down on his own shoulder, as if to emphasize the importance of his words.
"Why not?" Miroku asked, trying not to sound too dismissive.
Myouga's response was more forceful than Miroku had thought a flea could be. "Inuyasha wishes to become a full demon! If he knew that the sword kept his youkai side bound, he would abandon it immediately so he could transform into a full youkai. There is always a part of him that would rather fight with his own brute strength and claws than with the sword. We mustn't give him more reason to do so."
Kagome looked distinctly unhappy about the possibility, but Miroku could see the sense in Myouga's orders. If Inuyasha really did still wish to become a full youkai, here was a way to do it without using the Shikon jewel's power. He might just decide to take that opportunity. And there was no telling what he might do once he became a full youkai. Kagome's subduing spell had been able to control him before, but Miroku was not sure just how far they could rely on that, particularly if their friend's personality changed dramatically with his transformation. Selfish as it was, if allowing Inuyasha to transform meant they would lose him, then Miroku wanted Inuyasha to stay just the way he was.