Bless you, chapter. I've been sneezing a lot myself, since I've spent the past two weeks packing up all my garbage to move to a new apartment. Some of that garbage has collected a LOT of dust over the past year, and that's just in my tiny little one-bedroom hovel. I can't imagine what the upkeep on an entire TEMPLE would have to be, but I'm guessing that Mushin wasn't really bothering with even the small amount I was laboring over.
That's probably why it got infested with a demon that took over his body. Gotta dust regularly, kids.
Inuyasha starts to bust out a lecture at that bastard Miroku, likely about running off without telling anyone and inconveniencing them all with his drama, but Miroku appears to be too listless and limp to care. Also, Inuyasha's rant is cut off by Shippou using his head as a springboard to launch himself at Miroku, wailing his name. Kagome elbows her way past Inuyasha to get to Miroku as well. Miroku weakly acknowledges them before Shippou latches onto his chest and calls him a dope, asking why he kept all this to himself and disappeared.
Kagome also chastises him for being cold and worrying them. Sango flies by to express her relief that he's alright. He looks somewhat ashamed, hanging his head while he trails a thought about what everyone is doing there. Kagome turns to demand that Inuyasha say something too, I guess because she forgot that Inuyasha WAS going to say something before she and Shippou cut him off. Rude. Inuyasha pauses and then with a slight flush shouts that that's enough. He's miffed that everyone else already said what he wanted to.
When he hears footsteps behind him, Inuyasha twists around.
Regardless, possessed!Mushin says he'll punish Inuyasha, which Inuyasha says sounds fun. Kagome, girl, you got a KINKY one on your hands, further proven by Inuyasha urging possessed!Mushin to try it if he wants him. Miroku interjects, still weak and being supported by his tanuki buddy. Miroku begs Inuyasha not to kill Mushin. Possessed!Mushin chuckles and mockingly says the same, citing the fact that he's the one who raised Miroku. Inuyasha sweats, recoiling and looking irritated. Then he charges forward with Tessaiga resting on his shoulder, shouting that he has no choice but to hold back on that crooked priest.
As he throws his giant string of beads, possessed!Mushin gives Inuyasha thanks for that reduced effort. When the beads make contact with Tessaiga's blade, now down and in front of Inuyasha, even though he said he'd hold back, they flash and send a powerful wind blowing in his face. That's what he gets for swinging a sword at a guy he said he'd keep alive. And, of course, Tessaiga's transformation being rolled back so it's all rusty and chipped again. Peeking over the nearby lip of the crater are Kagome, Miroku, the tanuki, and Shippou, the last of which states with shock that the beads have undone Tessaiga's transformation.
They go on to wrap themselves tightly around Inuyasha with possessed!Mushin calls out some sort of incantation, to his alarm. He's dropped Tessaiga before he even tips over to land in the grass with a thump. Kagome calls out his name in shock as a whole slew of the surrounding snake-like youkai come flying at Inuyasha, intending to kill him in various horrible ways. Inuyasha groans, pushing up from the ground to whack a youkai's open jaw clean off with his Sankon Tessou. Possessed!Mushin is already sitting on the edge of a nearby porch with a bottle of wine (I'm guessing), chugging that shit and watching the show like he's tuned into HBO.
When he's done guzzling, possessed!Mushin says Inuyasha is doing pretty good for being tied up in his Houriki beads. He steeples the index and middle fingers on both his hands, asking Inuyasha how long he can keep it up. Suddenly, Inuyasha is hit with a hard shock, setting his teeth on edge. As this happens, the silky protrusion from possessed!Mushin's mouth makes another appearance, which Kagome can't help but wonder what the hell it is in a panicky way. A voice from her shoulder (right, I forgot Myouga was there) tells her that it's Kokochuu.
OOOOOH, that WASN'T a sneeze. My bad.
Kagome says Myouga's name, and he continues to explain that Mushin has been mind-controlled with them. Miroku asks if Mushin can't be saved, Myouga answering that pointing the tsubo-pot with the Kokochuu inside is the answer, as long as they can steal this pot from the user hiding somewhere nearby. Once the pot is pointed at Mushin, the Kokochuu will return to the pot and leave his body. Miroku and Kagome stare intently absorbing the information, then Kagome jumps up to go find that tsubo-pot, telling Myouga to join her in the search. Myouga doesn't seem too keen on this, but Miroku marvels at Kagome's spring to action. She only pauses to look back at Inuyasha, who's swinging at youkai left and right, fighting his binding beads. She silently urges him to do his best until she comes back.
On her way running in a random direction, Sango flies low on Kirara and lets her know that she's gotten rid of the lot in the air and asks what Inuyasha is getting up to over there. Before explanations can be given, Myouga jumps up onto Sango's shoulder, saying he's glad she's arrived. She look mystified by this, but Kagome immediately realizes with tears in her eyes that Myouga thinks it's safer with Sango. He is conspicuously speechless at this accusation.
Inside the temple, a rumbling is issuing from deep inside that storeroom from earlier, where the nightmare creature with the tsubo-pot is whispering some weird incantations into it or something. I don't know, it's bizarre. He's distracted from this by being surrounded by smoke all of a sudden.
Sango tells Kagome that it'll be a problem if the tsubo-user leaves the compound, so they'd better get after him while they can. Kagome prepares to draw another arrow from her quiver, eagerly agreeing.
Back outside, in the midst of a pile of youkai corpses...
Shippou is still hiding with Miroku and the tanuki behind the lip of the crater, commenting that Inuyasha's body won't be able to take much more at this rate. Miroku silently curses himself, wishing he could do something with HIS currently useless body. Those painkillers Mushin gave him must be the real deal...
Possessed!Mushin steeples his middle and forefingers again, saying that it's about time he twists off Inuyasha's head. Inuyasha groans, but musters enough energy to leap at possessed!Mushin, with fist drawn back and advice not to get his hopes up. Shippou gasps while Miroku and the tanuki stare in shock.
He says that he's been putting up with all this nonsense per Miroku's request until now, though he still hasn't gone as far as actually taking possessed!Mushin out yet. Possessed!Mushin even encourages Inuyasha to go ahead and kill him, but to also keep in mind that if he does, Miroku will lose the only person who can possibly repair the damage to the Kazaana. Miroku is propped on an elbow over the lip of the crater, looking desperate to be able to move, while Inuyasha stares at possessed!Mushin in alarm.
Inuyasha loosens his grip on Possessed!Mushin, and is promptly shocked by those beads again for his release. Possessed!Mushin calls Inuyasha a damn fool for the mercy call, as Miroku and Shippou gape at the scene with horror. Inuyasha has gone limp, being held up by possessed!Mushin grasping a giant bead and advising Inuyasha to just give it up, since everyone at this temple will be dead soon. Inuyasha seems confused by this statement, and by the subsequent burst of light and stir of power in the sky just visible behind possessed!Mushin's head.
Shippou and the tanuki freak right the fuck out about the fresh wave of crazy monsters while Miroku continues to gape. Elsewhere, Kagome squeaks at the new onslaught and Sango curses it, though how she can see through the thick layer of smoke she's made around the storeroom is beyond me. Inuyasha groans again, and possessed!Mushin reasons that he won't have strength enough to contend with this new hoard. Man, those Kokochuu may look like gross stupid worms, but you can't deny when they have logic on their side.
But what their logic doesn't account for is MIROKU being the one to take action, ripping the beads off his Kazaana in haste, much to his tanuki buddy's alarm. Kagome and Sango are close enough that they can see this action unfold, with a mixture of disbelief and plain terror.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The reactions of the tanuki and Shippou were a bit difficult to cover here, being commentary that isn't necessary. The only things they had to say were reiterations of what was happening, just breaking up the flow of the action itself. I know that RT was trying to find a way to include them in a chapter that really had no place for them despite their HAVING to be there, so it's not as though I'm not sympathetic. Still, it manages to be really irksome when we keep going back to these characters and their reactions every five seconds because they're next to Miroku.
I think the irritation might have been reduced if Shippou had gone with Kagome and Sango to obtain the tsubo pot, but that also ruins the point of Shippou staying with Miroku. Since the beginning of the chapter, Shippou, being a sensitive child, was clinging to Miroku like he'd just found him after hours of being lost in a department store. The kid was so worried that he'd never see Miroku again that he's now loathe to let him out of his sight anymore. If the other members of the group didn't have some job attached to saving Miroku's life to be getting on with, I'm sure they'd be staying close too.
Not least of all Inuyasha. All of his bluster is a poor cover-up for the fact that he's really relieved that they made it before Miroku got torn apart, and he's doing everything in his power to make sure that he continues to be in working order far beyond this incident. It's clearly not just because Miroku is a strong and valuable member of the team, either, otherwise he wouldn't have instinctually heeded Miroku's request not to hurt Mushin before he even knew that Mushin was the only one who could heal the Kazaana. He's protecting Miroku out of pure affection, and you can interpret that how you will.
However you do, there's no denying that it helps the new development what comes at the end of this arc.
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