Seiko Maruhana
The Speed of Love
8
Part I: Animate
1.
Polarize me
Sensitize me
Criticize me
Civilize me
Compensate me
Animate me
Complicate me
Elevate me
- Rush, "Animate", stanzas 1-2
Miroku awoke with a sharp pain coursing down his right arm. It stabbed him in short jabs, subsided then stabbed again. He held his arm in his left hand, staring at it and sweating, wincing in pain at each of the jabs. Once again, the pain jabbed his arm, and he cried out, but quickly stifled himself. He looked over at the taiji-ya snoozing lightly next to him, and the fire kitty, Kirara, who was wide awake. He looked across the hut to see Shippou snoring in Inu Yasha's lap, and Kagome laying on the floor near to him. Inu Yasha was sitting up, his eyes closed, even though he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for evil youkai. It figures, Miroku thought. Asleep on the job. He didn't mean it though. They had all had a rough day and deserved sleep. Except Miroku. He bit his lip to silence the cry that had made its way through his vocal cords as pain stabbed him again. He shuffled to his feet, wearing nothing but his underrobes. Quickly, he made his way to the paper shoji and opened it quietly.
"Where do you think you're going, bouzu? " Inu Yasha asked, opening one eye and glancing up at Miroku.
Miroku smiled, recognizing the familiar insult. "Houshi," He corrected. Then, he looked out the door. "I'm just going to get some fresh air is all."
Inu Yasha looked inquisitively at the monk. Either he saw the sweat on the monk's face or he sensed the anxious tone in his voice, because he said, "Be careful, bouzu," before returning to the peace of closing his eyes and dozing.
Miroku smiled a sadness laced smile. "Poor inu-hanyou…" he murmured. "He hasn't got a clue." With that, he stepped from the hut and continued forward to a hill that overlooked a small village nearby.
Sango awoke, startled. She felt around for the houshi's warm body near her own, but found only his priestly robes, still heated from enveloping a warm body just moments before. "Houshi-sama?" she whispered, laying a hand on her Hiraikotsu. "Are you here?" She looked around for any sign of the Houshi. Of course, though, he was nowhere to be seen.
Sango rose to her feet, raising her Hiraikotsu. "Houshi-sama?" she called out again, more loudly this time. Inu Yasha opened his eyes. "The bouzu went out," he said, closing his eyes again.
"Oh," Sango said. Taiji-ya no baka, she thought. Thinking he had been possessed. It would take a lot to possess Houshi-sama. I didn't sense that kind of power.
She walked trough the shoji quietly, to go after him. Before she reaced the hill he was sitting upon, though, she began to feel and ominous presence. All at once, a scream broke out. A manly scream…
"Houshi-sama!" She muttered to herself, running after him.
When she reached him, however, she saw him lying on the ground, unconscious, his Kanzanna unbound and sucking in every thing in its way. She ran to his side, shielding herself from the strong wind. Quickly, she wrapped the round prayer beads around his wrist and re-covered the black hole in his hand. "Houshi-sama, please don't, please don't leave me…………. Don't die………………" Even as she spoke though, she felt warm blood coursing across Miroku's chest, staining her white and pink yukata a deep wine red.
"Houshi- sama…."
2.
"Goddess in my garden
Sister in my soul
Angel in my armor
Actress in my role
Daughter of a demon-lover
Empress of the hidden face
Priestess of the pagan mother
Ancient queen of inner space…"
-Rush, "Animate" stanzas 3-4
"Sango…" Miroku coughed, spitting up blood. "Y-you came for me….."
"Of course! How could I not come? Should have just left you here to die?"
"Does it matter?"
"Don't talk like that, Miroku…… you know I don't like it." She turned him on his back and inspected the wound. "Tell me slowly what happened."
Miroku told her everything, about how he had felt the pain in his Kanzanna, how he left the Inu-ikkou to be far from them when it sucked him in, how the Youkai had come at the last minute and cut the three Shikon no Kakera from his shoulder. All this he told in surprising calmness as Sango repaired the three claw marks slashed across his chest and right shoulder. "I'm… not going to live, Sango. I…… I was not meant to continue further with you. I've lost too much blood to go anywhere. Leave me here… free your brother from Naraku… break my curse. Sango…" He took her hand in his and held it tightly. "I… I love you…" With these words, he lost consciousness again.
"Oh, Houshi-sama…" Sango whispered, laying her head n his chest and letting her tears fall on his torn, bloodstained underrobe. "Houshi-sama… I love you too…"
Miroku awoke in a dark place. As he sat up, he felt a jabbing pain in his right shoulder and upper right chest. He looked down at himself. Although there were no marks, he felt like he had recently been clawed. What had happened? He touched his right wrist… wait. Was that… skin? Disbelieving, he looked at his hand. Sure enough, the gauntlet was gone along with the prayer beads. The black hole also sealed itself back up. What the…? Was he dreaming? He pinched himself. Nope, definitely not dreaming.
"How… what… where am I?" He asked the darkness. To his surprise, the darkness answered.
"This is your worst nightmare," it said.
Miroku looked up, confused. How could the disappearance of his curse be part of a nightmare? "What do you mean?" he asked, laughing a little.
"Think about it. I have control of you. I have plans for the deaths of all your friends. Imagine," continued a voice as a figure of a man stepped out of the shadows.
"Who the heck are you?" Miroku demanded, rising to his feet and absently laying his left hand on his right wrist, ready to open the Kanzanna- if he had had one.
"I?" replied the figure, further stepping into Miroku's imagined light. He had long, brown hair, and was wearing a painted-on kabuki mask of sorrow. "I am Gensai. I may be only half demon, but I am still powerful enough to take over weak houshi like you. Interesting, isn't it?" Tsume replied. "Care to know what I have planned for your friends?"
"I'm sure that you have something quite, shall we say, colorful in mind," Miroku spat. Suddenly he was flung onto the ground.
"First this," Gensai said, leaning down over the houshi's immobile body. "The inu-hanyou will be the first to go. I'm going to suck him into the wonderful black hole you have in your hand. Next will be the strange Miko traveling with you. She will be simple to take. I will use the inu-hanyou's magnificent sword. I shall simply slice her into small cubes. Then the two small demons, I think I shall exorcise them with these wonderful ofuda that you keep in your robe." The hanyou reached into Miroku's hidden robe pocket and pulled out a few of the paper exorcising scrolls. "Now, do you know what I have planned for that precious taiji-ya you care so much about?"
Miroku spat in the hanyou's face. "Nothing I've never tried, I'm sure." he replied, gritting his teeth and straining against the half-demon's iron mind-grip.
"It's useless, houshi no teme," Gensai said, laughing at the monk's pathetic attempts to escape. "And I'm sure you've never done what I have planned. I am going to make her scream. I will rape her and then I will break her, and then I will leave her to die in the wilderness. And you are going to have a front-row seat." Tsume projected an image into the darkness.
Sango laid against Miroku (or rather, Miroku's possessed body) and sobbed into his chest, which was covered in blood. "Y-you bastard…" Miroku said, once again straining at his invisible bindings.
The creature laughed evilly.
3.
"Spirit in my psyche
Double in my role
Alter in my image
Struggle for control
Mistress of the dark unconscious
Mermaid of the lunar sea
Daughter of the great enchantress
Sister to the boy inside of me"
- Rush, "Animate," stanzas 5-6
Sango lifted Miroku over her shoulders cautiously and carried him carefully back to the hut. "Don't worry, Houshi-sama," she whispered to him. We'll get you bandaged up and on your feet soon as possible."
Miroku coughed in reply.
Hang in there, Houshi-sama. We'll have you healed in no time.
They reached the hut as the sun was coming up at last. "Inu Yasha!" Sango called. "Get Kagome! Miroku's injured!"
Within moments, the girl was outside with her white box filled with medicinal herbs and sat beside Miroku, who was lying unconscious, still bleeding profusely. He coughed blood again. Sango, worried, wet a cloth with water from a bamboo tube and wrung it out, placing the cool, damp fabric on the houshi's head. Slowly, the houshi opened his eyes. "Sango…sama…" He said hoarsely. "Get…away… All of you… get back…" Suddenly, his eyes glazed over and began to glow bright red. "Get… away," he repeated, standing jerkily, as if he was not in control.
Sango and the others stepped back. "Houshi-sama… what's wrong with you?"
"I… am… not in control… of my body…." his voice sounded strained as he replied. "You must slay me… Sango-sama…"
"I… I can't do that, you know I can't…."
"You must… try, dear Sango." As he said it, he drew an ofuda from his robes and threw it toward Inu Yasha. "NOW!"
Sango pulled her Hiraikotsu, but the big weapon made her move slightly slower. She was too late. The houshi had already began sucking things into his Kanzanna. Inu Yasha jumped away in the nick of time, but his precious Tetsusaiga did not fare as well. It was sucked into the Kanzanna, and, as it entered, its sharp blade grazed the corners of the Kanzanna, opening it wider.
"Houshi-sama!"
4.
"My counterpart- my foolish heart
A man must learn to rule his tender part
A warming trend- a gentle friend
A man must build a fortress to defend
A secret face- a touch of grace
A man must learn to give a little space
A peaceful state- a submissive trait
A man must learn gently to dominate"
-Rush, "Animate" stanzas 7-8
Miroku laid, helpless, a prisoner of his own mind. He bore all the pain he saw and felt with no expression, watching the hanyou spirit standing near him, searching for a weakness… until the Tetsusaiga entered the Kanzanna. Feeling burning pain in his right hand, Miroku cried out.
The spirit looked back at him, annoyed, and, sensing that death was near for the Houshi, promptly left his body. Miroku blacked out from the pain and fell back into the real world…
He screamed, quickly closing the Kanzanna, sealing it, and falling to the ground on all fours. He vomited, and sweating, fell completely onto the floor.
"Houshi-sama!" Sango exclaimed, running to the houshi's side.
Miroku, partially better, sat up, an ofuda ready in his hands. "Where is he? Where is Gensai!"
"What in the world are you talking about?" Kagome asked. "Who's Gensai?"
Miroku looked around. Kagome, Sango, Shippou, Kirara… "Inu Yasha," He whispered.
"What about him? He's right over-" she looked up. "Hm, that's strange. He was here a moment ago."
"Kagome, you must go after him. Use a purifying arrow. Take Shippou and the others with you as well. Inu Yasha has been possessed…" Miroku leaned forward and vomited again, only this time it was blood. He laid back down. Kagome nodded in affirmation and ran off, Shippou and Kirara trailed behind. "You go too, Sango," He said, looking up at the Taiji-ya. Tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks. "Sango, I'm going to be honest with you. It is likely that I will not survive. You must go help Kagome stop Inu Yasha from falling to this same fate. Please. As a last wish… please."
"Houshi-sama… don't talk like that. It'll be all right. We'll get back in time and Kagome will use her medicine to heal you and…" her sentence was broken with sobs. "Oh, houshi-sama…"
The houshi smiled. "What do I have to do to get you to call me by my proper name?" He coughed blood again, and went back to a pained look. "Go help Kagome."
Looking at him with tears in her eyes, she nodded and followed the path Kagome took. At last in peace, Miroku closed his eyes and laid his cursèd hand over his chest, murmuring his final rights and preparing himself for his own death.
Authors note: This is the third SanMir fic I've written so far (If you include Fall Away). I guess I should explain whats with the same song titles and stuff. This is virtually a songfic based off the Rush album Counterparts (it's a good album, you should get it!). I'm hoping to get lots of reviews for this. I know that these chapters were hastily written, but I can't wait to get to the end where… wait, better not give that away! Oops. The point of the different types of stanza-tation is this: somehow, two stanzas go together to tell a part of a story, sometimes they don't. This is when I only use one stanza, but that shouldn't happen until at least part 3. To warn you, this fanfic will consist of a total of 9 parts, plus an epilogue. The most chapters one part has is 7 in Part 3: Cut to the Chase and Part 7: Double Agent. Also, my evil spirit, Gensai, is actually a real Japanese person. For those of you who know RuroKen, you know that he is the basis for the character of Kenshin. A famous hitokiri, he was difficult to catch, short, and looked like a woman at first glance. Thus, my version came out to look slightly different from the original Gensai. Oh, well. Also, I credit my "Miroku dying and getting possessed by an evil thing" idea to Scribe of Figaro, who wrote "If You Need Her." (It's such a good fic, you should read it!) Well, that's about it for now, other than the little skit that I will be incorporating into all parts of this fic. It's something one of my friends inspired.
Skit part #1
Me: Sitting at the comp, typing and listening to Rush
Inu Yasha: walks in Whatcha doin'?
Me: aggravated Didn't I tell you guys to stay out of the computer room while I'm typing!
Inu Yasha: reading fic "Inu Yasha looked inquisitively at the monk. Either he saw the sweat on
the monk's face or he sensed the anxious tone in his voice, because he said, 'Be careful, bouzu,' before returning to the peace of closing his eyes and dozing." I am nothing like that!
Me: Maybe not, but do you have to make such a big deal out of it? It's my fic, after all!
Inu Yasha: Yeah you're right. Wait until Miroku and Sango see it! runs off to get them
Me: sigh No…. at this rate, I won't even be able to finish part 1…. Well, ja ne, reader, until next time.
Miroku's voice: In the distance What? A fanfic about me and Sango! I have to see this!
End