Elsewhere, a young man drops his staff at a fork in the road. It lands to the right, and he kneels next to it, stating that he should go to the right, then. But 2 men pass by, talking about a supposedly lovely single woman at a rest house ahead. The young man stands and moves the staff with his foot until it points towards the left, where the men went. "Divine Intervention."
Unfortunately for the young man, the "lovely young woman" isn't as lovely as the men made her sound. But he overhears the men again, talking about a lord nearby who is in search of a priest, as his daughter has been possessed by a demon, and has taken to her bed.
The young man is found to actually be a young monk, who takes a great interest in the possessions of the lord, saying that his vassals must resent the lord's wealth.
The monk is taken to the place where the princess is lying before a statue. The monk asks to look at her, then comments that her face is remarkably swollen. The lord yells that it's always like that, and asks if he's really a monk.
The monk looks over at the statue, and asks about it. The lord says that it's a blessed idol he received from an impoverished nobleman. The monk stands and looks closely at the statue before announcing he is ready to begin. He tells the lord to stay far away with his men, and not to enter, no matter what he hears. The lord agrees and walks off.
The monk looks over at the statue and demands, "Come out at once peacefully, and I shall show you mercy." He points his staff directly at the statue, which begins to shake, and the face changes to a more demonic look.
A weasel demon leaps out of the statue and attacks the monk, who leaps over him and lands next to the princess. The monk sees a glow in the demon's forehead and claims it's a shard of the Shikon jewel. The demon attacks again, but this time, the monk jumps into the air and brings his staff down onto the weasel's head.
Outside, the men and lord are talking about what they're hearing, and one person comments that it sounded "less like an exorcism, and more like the mansion's being pillaged."
That evening, the lord returns to the house and finds the weasel's body on the floor, and asks his daughter if that's the demon that possessed her. She agrees, and he asks about the monk, which causes her to blush as she says that he left no name, but stole her heart. The lord is called by one of his men, and he arrives in the main room to see all of his valuables have been stolen, including 3 of the best horses.
The valuables are actually on a cart being drawn by the horses, which are being led by the monk, who is trying to decide where to sell the items off at.
That night, the monk relaxes in a hot spring as he mourns over the small price he received for the valuables he sold. He holds up the Shikon shard, and states that it made it worth his while.
His thoughts are interrupted when Kagome's voice is heard, delighting in the joy of a hot spring. He moves to look around the rocks he's resting against and sees Kagome as she's getting into the water.
He hides himself again, peeking just enough to look at her easliy, but not be caught. He sees the jewel shard around her neck and stares in shock. He moves to come out in the open, but Kagome tells someone nearby not to even think of peeking at her.
Behind a nearby tree, InuYasha tells her that he has no interest in looking at her. Annoyed, Kagome swims off to another set of rocks.
InuYasha looks over at Shippou, who's quickly stripping down. He asks the fox what he's doing, and Shippou says he's going to join Kagome. InuYasha tries to stop him, and an embarrassing conversation is held, with Shippou asking why Kagome and InuYasha don't bathe together. In the end, Shippou is getting beaten up while InuYasha yells at him.
Kagome sinks up to her nose in the water, thinking darkly about how she's not the beauty that Kikyou was. A shadow appears from behind her, and she looks over her shoulder, then cries out.
Worried, InuYasha and Shippou jump into the hot spring and race over to her to see what's wrong, only to have Kagome spin around and slam a rock down on Inu's head. She tells him she's fine, and for him to go away, while Shippou stares at the monkey tugging on a lock of Kagome's hair.
Behind another tree, Miroku finishes getting dressed as he thinks to himself. "So she's with another man. Too bad. I hate having to resort to violence."
Farther in the woods, the monk is kneeling as he hits a raccoon in the head with his staff. The raccoon declares he just wanted a guarantee, and the monk assures him that he'll be comnpensated.
The next day, Kagome's trying to make Inuyasha stop sulking by saying that their even, since she hit him in the head, and he saw her naked. He yells that he saw nothing, and Kagome asks Shippou if InuYasha did or not. Shippou says he doesn't know, since he was looking elsewhere.
Farther up the cliff Inu and Kagome are walking on, the monk is speaking to the raccoon, who asks if it's the fellow in red he's supposed to attack. The monk agrees, and states that he's going to make off with the girl. The raccoon asks the monk why he doesn't just use his powerful right hand, and the monk reminds him that if he were to use his hand, everyone in the vicinity would die.
The raccoon mutters that he hopes the monk remembers who his friends are, in case something happens. The raccoon places a leaf on his head as the monk assures him that he'll remember. The raccoon then leaps into the air, flipping over.
Below them, InuYasha and Kagome look up to see a large boulder-shaped demon falling down at them, yelling as it knocks into InuYasha, knocking him and Shippou farther down the cliff while Kagome pushes her bike and jumps out of the way just in time. Kagome looks over the edge of the cliff, calling for InuYasha, but is picked up by the back of her shirt and lifted onto the monk's lap as he sits on her bike, pedaling them away as he explains that he's a simple monk, who wanted a jewel shard and got a girl in the process. "What am I, a consolation prize?!"
InuYasha's holding off the boulder-demon when he sees Kagome and the monk. He calls out to Kagome, wondering who the guy is, and finally ends up punching the boulder to knock him away before drawing Tetsusaiga, saying he has better things to do. The boulder yells in fear, and with a puff of smoke turns into the raccoon, who is cowering from the half-demon.
Above them, the monk stops the bike and looks down at InuYasha, calling him a violent one as he pulls the blue beaded rosary from his right hand, and holds it out towards InuYasha.
Inu's standing over the raccoon with the Tetsusaiga, demanding to know why he was attacked, when a powerful wind pulls the sword from him and draws him head-first up into some rocks.
Kagome yells out to InuYasha, and jumps off of Miroku. He lets her go, wrapping his beads around his hand again, and saying that he has what he wanted. He holds up the necklace with the jewel shard on it before pedaling off on Kagome's bike.
Kagome slides down to Inuyasha, asking if he's okay. InuYasha calls the monk a creep, and asks about him. Kagome tells InuYasha that the man called himself a monk, but that she didn't know what the deal was with his right hand. InuYasha thinks to himself about the winds that came from nowhere, and how they were drawn to his hand, pulling in everything in its path.
Kagome realizes that the monk took off with her bike and stands up to yell after him, but InuYasha yells at her, saying that her being kidnapped was more important. Kagome apologizes, saying that InuYasha was worried about her, and sits back next to him. He blushes and insists that he was worried about the jewel, that was all.
Kagome looks at him nervously, and tells him that the monk stole the jewel shard, too. "WHAT?!"
At a nearby village, people stare in shock as InuYasha runs by, Kagome on his back. The people really stop and stare when InuYasha crawls on his hands and knees, his nose to the ground as he tries to track down the monk. Kagome is trying to get Inu to hurry, as people are talking about them. Then the villagers talk about Kagome, letting her see how it feels to be different.
Kagome tells InuYasha that the monk may not have come through the village. He insists that he can smell the monk, and Kagome sees her bike parked outside of a nearby shop.
Inside, a group of geisha try to entertain a calm monk, who is drinking sake while muttering about the lack of beautiful women in the group.
When the door slams open, revealing InuYasha, Kagome, and Shippou, the monk stands up and hurries over to them, saying how glad he is to see them. He surprises Inuyasha by walking right past the half-demon to grasp Kagome's hand, calling her a sight for sore eyes.
InuYasha swipes at the monk, who deftly jumps backwards, to the other side of the room. Inu demands for the jewel shard, which the monk tells him does not belong in the hands of a demon.
InuYasha jumps and swipes at the monk, who turns around and leaps out the open back of the room, running off down the main road, InuYasha following behind.
InuYasha draws the Tetsusaiga and leaps at the monk, swinging it at him, but the monk blocks the sword with his staff, causing energy to spark from between them.
The monk finally agrees to fight InuYasha, who jumps back and holds up the sword, saying that the man is no monk. The man insists he IS a monk, and introduces himself as Miroku.
Kagome arrives as Miroku and InuYasha are about to face off, InuYasha demanding for their jewel shard, saying that they went through a lot of trouble to get it. Miroku still refuses, saying "it's in better hands with me, InuYasha."
"So you knew who I was all along."
"Not at all. Was it that beautiful companion of yours that called you by name, or the young fox?"
Kagome blushes, praising the monk for his good taste, and Shippou tries to remind her that the monk was the one who stole her jewel shard.
InuYasha rushes at Miroku, swinging Tetsusaiga, but every strike is blocked with the monk's staff, and Miroku thinks to himself that InuYasha isn't strong enough to defeat him.
Unfortunately for Miroku, he trips over some firewood, and ends up falling backwards, his staff being knocked away with Inu's swing. InuYasha points Tetsusaiga at Miroku, demanding the jewel once again, but Miroku jumps up and flips backwards to land in his feet before spinning around to race off, InuYasha chasing off after him.
Miroku yells for the villagers to run away as far as they can, and finally stops and faces InuYasha before they reach the woods. InuYasha holds up his sword and calls himself the victor, but Miroku holds up his right hand, and says that he's a very sore loser.
He pulls the beads from his right hand, pointing it at InuYasha as he yells "Wind Tunnel!". The winds pick up again, causing InuYasha to brace himself with the sword as anything not holding firmly to the ground is pulled towards the monk. Inuyasha's wondering where the wind is coming from, and sees the black hole in Miroku's right hand, realizing that it's his hand that's drawing everything in.
Miroku challenges InuYasha to see how long he can last, as the sword cuts the ground as it's being drawn towards the monk.
Nearby, Kagome's hiding behind a tree with Shippou on her shoulder, trying to figure out a way to make Miroku close the hole in his hand. She remembers his warning about the villagers running away, and realizes that he didn't want anyone to be hurt.
Miroku tells Inuyasha to surrender before he's sucked into his hand, since once he is, he'll never get out again. InuYasha finally stops fighting the wind, saying that he'll slice Miroku's hand off first. Miroku insists that his hand will pull InuYasha in before he can touch it.
Then they both see Kagome flying through the air, InuYasha calling out to her as Miroku wraps the beads back around his hand. Kagome knocks into Miroku, making him fall back with her on top of him, Miroku falling unconscious.
Kagome sits up and looks at Miroku's hand, realizing that the beads are what seals up the hole in his hand. Kagome thinks that since Miroku sealed the hole by choice, he can't be all bad. InuYasha runs over to her, asking if she's nuts for almost getting herself killed. She tells him that she wouldn't have done it, if she had had any doubts. Kagome points out that with a hand like that, Miroku could have killed them long before.
Just as she asks for InuYasha to give Miroku a chance, the monk starts to wake, and his hand reaches up to rub against her rear end.
Kagome yelps and crawls into Inuyasha's arms, saying for Inu to kill him as the half-demon holds up his un-transformed sword, telling Miroku that he just blew his last chance.
Miroku asks to be allowed to explain, and as Shippou eats in a nearby tree, the others sit down to hear the monk's story.
He tells them that he's gathering the shards of the Shikon jewel so that he can destroy a terrible demon named Naraku. He explains to them that it was Naraku who put the cursed hole in his right hand, but that he knows very little about the demon except that he's wicked and thought to devour people.
Miroku tells them that his grandfather used to battle Naraku over 50 years ago. He tells them that Naraku could change forms, and that the last time he fought against Miroku's grandfather, Naraku took on the form of a beautiful woman. Kagome guesses that the grandfather was a lecher, and Miroku agrees.
Miroku then explains that Naraku pierced his grandfather's hand, leaving a black hole that would be passed down to each generation, until either Naraku died, or none of their line was left.
Miroku tells them that the hole in his hand grows larger each year, and the winds are more powerful, until one day he will be devoured by the hole, killing him.
Miroku tells them that he's willing to accept his fate, if that's his destiny, but will continue to fight Naraku until then. He explains that Naraku will no doubt try to gather the jewel shards for himself to grow stronger. "I am sure of it. I know because he once came close to getting the jewel 50 years ago. In doing so, he slew the priestess protecting it."
THAT gets InuYasha's attention, as Kikyou was the guardian of the jewel then. He realizes that Naraku must be the demon who disguised himself as InuYasha and attacked Kikyou.
InuYasha runs forwards and asks Miroku what Naraku looks like NOW. Miroku tells him to calm down, saying that if he knew, then he would have killed Naraku already.
InuYasha goes thinks about the trap Naraku must have set, and declares to himself that he will hunt down Naraku and avenge Kikyou's death. Kagome just watches him worriedly.
Kagome pulls out the jewel shard and proposes to let Miroku join them, since if they keep collecting jewel shards, they'll eventually run into Naraku. Kagome asks if InuYasha's going to give him, which he strongly refuses. Miroku tells her that he's used to traveling in his own company, but she points out that if they don't hurry, he won't even have his own company to enjoy.
Miroku asks if she's worried about him, and when she says "sort of", he moves in front of her and grasps her hands, then asks for her to do him a favor, and bear him a son.
Both Kagome and InuYasha stare in shock, and Kagome asks Miroku why she'd do that. Miroku tells her that in the event of his death, he'd like his son to carry out the family mission.
InuYasha shoves Miroku and Kagome apart, telling Miroku not to ever touch Kagome like that again. Miroku apologizes, saying he thought they were merely companions, but that Inu is obviously in love with Kagome. InuYasha hurriedly stutters that Kagome is just a jewel detector, which really makes Kagome mad.
"A jewel detector?! Is that all I am to you?! Oh, how could I forget? You've got a thing for DEAD girls!"
After having both the guys stare at her in shock, Kagome starts debating over which one of them she should help, claiming that Miroku is a lot nicer than InuYasha, who yells that Kagome wouldn't dare betray him. As the two men argue, Kagome sometimes adding in her own thoughts in Miroku's favor, Shippou continues to eat, saying that there goes the hope for a peaceful solution.
Kagome: "You could learn a thing or two!"
Miroku: "Like being more gentle."
Kagome: "Yes!! Exactly!! Like being more gentle!"
Miroku: "Like this..."
Kagome: "YAAH!"
InuYasha: "I told you not to touch her!!!"
