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Title: Fairytale
Author: seinakyou
Theme: Set #1, Theme #59, Ghost
Genre(s):
Pairings: Miroku/Sango, Miroku/Kagome, Miroku/Inuyasha, Miroku/Kikyo, Miroku/Sesshomaru… etc.
Word Count:
Rating: PG-13
Summary: When you put it in another perspective, life becomes so simple. Miroku wonders, then, how it all went so wrong.
Miroku feels, more often than not, lost.
He simply does not know what he is doing, and sometimes that scares him more than anything.
o.O.o
"Miroku, tell me a story!"
"Shippo, it's late."
"Pleeeeeease, just one."
"…Fine.
"Once upon a time, there was a boy and his father. Neither were very good people, but they did the best they could."
o.O.o
At first, it didn't really sink in. He was seven, and he didn't yet know the stench of war or plague or famine, or even death.
Reflecting back, what a simple child he was.
He just looked at his unmarred right hand with a sort of wonder, and thought that he might be god.
o.O.o
"The boy lived with his father, and they were as happy as they could be.
"Sometimes, the boy wondered where his grandparents were, but he didn't ever think to ask. He just thought that they had died, like so many do in old age."
o.O.o
"Papa!" he shrieked, the wind whipping the tears from his eyes. "Papa! Don't go!"
The priest holding him fought to keep his grip as the child tried to escape. He struggled, feebly, before collapsing and looking up at the priest.
"Why?" The child asked, "Where's he going?" his voice suddenly cracked, as he looked feverishly at the ground. "Why won't he answer me?" He yelled, cringing into the priest's grip.
Silence. The man had no response for the child.
He still didn't really get what was happening, but was starting to. He stared at his father, eyes bone dry but the tears still welling up, and suddenly felt despair.
This, he thought, this is death.
This is the death of everything I know and ever will know.
And as the wind whips through his hair, he realizes that he can't see his father anymore. He thinks he sees something, and for a second his mind goes black.
o.O.o
"His father, you see, passed away, and didn't leave anyone to care for him. This child, he was completely alone."
o.O.o
He wakes up what he guesses is an hour later, only because the sun is shining right in his eyes. Reaching to shut out the sunlight, the child cries out in sudden agony, clenching his burning hand to his chest.
He looks around but recognizes nothing. There is nothing. Standing up, wincing, the child moves towards what seems to be a crater. As he hobbles towards it, he trips over something and lands flat on his face. Rolling over, he sees what he tripped over, and wants to cry. He thinks it's a grave, but his father's name is on it, so it can't be.
He gets up again, the picture of determination, and moves again towards the centre of the crater. He's still not sure why his hand hurts, though.
He finally gets to the edge, and peers into the hole. Looking down, he sees a strand of old, worn out prayer beads.
Horror and realization dawn on him in the exact same moment. If he puts his ear close enough to his right hand, he can hear a high pitched keening, like the whistling of wind.
o.O.o
"What happened to the boy, Miroku?"
"He… walked. He found religion along the way, so he kept walking."
o.O.o
The boy lies in the hole, vision clouded, and he wonders what exactly happened to the priest holding on to him.
As he slowly understands, he begins to laugh, a terrifying sounds. He now has religion inside of him.
o.O.o
"He fell in love a few times, but once they found out about his past, they all left him."
o.O.o
The waif of a girl stands at the entrance to his room. He's not sure why, it was only about a week ago he slept with her, she shouldn't she back for more already.
Upon seeing his naked chest, the girl blushes beet red, and stammers "Ah… M-Miroku-sama, I…" She trails off seeing the girl lying in his bed, eyes half lidded. The girl in his bed smirks slowly, before purring "Come back to bed, won't you, Miroku-sama?"
He turns his eyes back the girl, who's now trembling, though whether with sadness or rage he doesn't know.
"I have to go." She says abruptly, and as she turns to leave, tears stain the floor.
He shrugs, and tries to remember whether she was a virgin.
o.O.o
"He had a difficult life, but his religion stayed with him and gave him strength."
o.O.o
Again the boy walked along a road with no end in sight, feeling as if the journey would never end.
"Oi, this sucks." He griped, crouching on the road and holding his head in his hands. "Where am I going to get food?"
He groans and look out from under his left arm to a house on the side of the road. He sees a young servant running out of the building, and the boys finds himself being asked in rapid, blurred words if he was a priest, because there was a ghost in the building, and if he was a priest please help them.
Of course he consented, he was a virtuous man. A virtuous man who had a need for food and shelter.
o.O.o
"He always helped those in need, even those who didn't know that they needed help."
o.O.o
"Ma'am, I think your house in being haunted. May I exorcise it for you?"
"Oh no, it's no problem."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly… well, if you insist, I could stay for one night."
"Please, it's not necessary to throw a feast for me…"
"Sorry. I'm not interested in marriage."
"I do think, however that you daughter is possessed by a malevolent demon. Do I have your permission to try to help the poor girl?"
"Fabulous! I'll do my best to make sure she feels perfectly well by morning. Please don't enter the room, it may be dangerous, and I can only contain the demon so far."
"…Ignore any yelling, as well, sometimes negotiation goes ugly."
o.O.o
"Somewhere along the way, he lost his identity."
o.O.o
"Oh god, please no, please no…"
He stares in horror at the hole in his hand, which he now realizes must always be sealed.
That poor man.
o.O.o
"So he went back to his roots."
o.O.o
He wanders along a road, not sure where it leads him. He walks a lonely road, he thinks, but that doesn't bother him. He doesn't need much. He just needs to know that he will continue, that he will make his mother, his father's love, proud.
Wait.
He could have cried, if only he knew how to.
What an illusion, he thinks, and goes off to find another woman to lie to, to tell that he loves her, to bear him a child so that maybe one day his son will be able finish this, when he knows he can't won't, will never be able to finish it himself.
A tear drips onto the hem of his robe.
He grips his staff a little tighter and walks forward, back straight even though it feels like his soul is dying.
o.O.o
"He found nothing there, so he moved on and found a new place to reside."
o.O.o
He walks through this town. He doesn't know its name, why should he bother? It'll just be another town, another place to pass through, and another land to rob of innocence.
He doesn't care about this place. No one cares.
o.O.o
"But one day, he met a princess."
o.O.o
The cold eyes stare through him, and he tries not to flinch beneath their gaze.
"This Sesshoumaru is curious as to why you follow him, human."
He licks his lips and opens his mouth to answer.
"Do not lie to me, human, I will know." He suddenly finds a sword at his neck.
He blanches, and in a sudden burst of stupidity blurts out the first thing that comes to mind.
"Will you bear my child?" he asks, before his eyes widen in horror and he recoils. "I… I mean."
He is pinned with the foulest glare yet, before the man snarls and turns away.
"You're not even worth killing." He states, before taking a step and disappearing into the dark woods.
o.O.o
"However, she was a cold, cruel person, and though he was very much in love with her,"
o.O.o
"Ah-h, Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Dispense of the formalities, human."
"SESSHOUMARU!"
o.O.o
"She would not, could not love him, so he moved on."
o.O.o
As the sky begins to turn gray with dawn, he slips on the purple robe he will someday be famous for, and stalks silently out the door, all the while aware of the gaze pinned on him by the male who regards him with calculating eyes.
"Nothing changes from this, monk."
He pauses in the doorway, before turning around and shooting him a sad smile.
"Of course."
o.O.o
"Then, one day, he met another girl. His heart was still on the mend from his last encounter, and he needed more security."
o.O.o
"Your hair is rather amazing." He murmurs, bringing a lock of it up to his lips. "Like fire."
Ayame blushes a bright red, and snatches the hair back from him. "Shut up. I'm engaged, you know." She protests feebly.
"I won't tell if you won't."
o.O.o
"But she was set to be married, so he moved on."
"…Miroku, why does this man never get love?"
"At that time, the man didn't know what he wanted, Shippo. But once he found what he was searching for, he fell in love. Deeply, truly in love, with the hope of it being returned."
o.O.o
He looks at this rag tag group with poorly concealed shock. A half demon, a fox demon, and a human girl wearing the strangest clothing he's ever seen.
But they extend a hand towards him, and ask him to join them on their journey, and he gladly accepts.
He wonders what they want of him, and prepares for the worst.
o.O.o
"He found a family, a family he could be with for absolutely no reason other than that they wanted his company."
o.O.o
He's not a whore, he really isn't.
But he still can't help wondering which one is eventually going to require… services from him. He has no illusions: he knows he is attractive, he knows he is fit, he knows that when others see him, they want him to lay with them.
Will it be the white-haired hanyou, with beautiful eyes and coarse personality?
Will it be the fiery demon slayer who claims to hate him and enjoys abusing him?
Will it even be the strange young girl who honestly seems to want him to be happy?
He knows it isn't the third, he knows that she doesn't desire him, and for the first time, he may be jealous.
o.O.o
"But his love, she was desperately in love with another man. He was crushed, and went back to his search for love."
o.O.o
"Keh, monk, what the hell do you want?"
"Inuyasha… have you ever been with a man?"
A sword, suddenly at his neck. "What the hell are you suggesting, idiot?"
He leans in and kisses the man. "My offer will always stand."
o.O.o
"But it always came back to his one true love."
o.O.o
"Miroku-sama~ Would you like some water?" She smiles sweetly and leans down, and he wishes that she wasn't so pure.
He knows if she wasn't, he would've already done something. But she is an angel – and no matter what, he won't taint her like that.
o.O.o
"Eventually, though, he found himself ensnared by another woman. She was his love's equal, her twin, even, but he was tormented by the fact that he wasn't with his love."
o.O.o
Kikyo stares at him impassively, before asking: "Monk. You seek my company?"
Miroku looks at her and thinks maybe, he can pretend she's someone else. "Yes, I believe I do."
She continues to stare with eyes that seem to see through his very soul. "You know this will hurt him, and hurt her, the stupid girl."
He can only nod. "Yes, I believe it will."
She lets a smile flicker across her lips. "Come then, monk." She says, opening her arms. "We have both been too long without the touch of another."
o.O.o
"Why would he do that, Miroku? I thought you were always supposed to be faithful to the one you love?"
"Well, you are, Shippo. But he didn't know this, he didn't even really know what love was. He just though it was normal, so he tried to move on."
o.O.o
"Will you marry me?"
Sango gaped at him, before turning bright red. She nodded silently.
He tried to ignore the aching feeling that was beginning to strangle his heart. He didn't need love. He couldn't afford love, not when he was so very cursed.
So even though she was nothing like his love, he could still smile at he and tell her that her loved her, because honestly, in a way he did.
o.O.o
"He moved on. He moved on too well, and his love found someone else."
o.O.o
He stares, heartbroken at the two of them standing there looking so in love. He feels his pregnant fiancée sidle up beside him and murmur "Hey, monk. What's the matter?" as she squeezes his hand.
Holding down the sob that threatens to break forth, he looks at her with a careful mask and replies "Nothing at all!"
He's gone too far to be able to look back.
o.O.o
"But eventually they both realize that the ones they were with just weren't good enough, that they need more than just security and complacency. So one night, they meet up underneath a cherry tree and share a beautiful, wonderful kiss, and in the morning, after they've returned to their spouses, they break the news. Their partners aren't happy, of course, but they've always known something wasn't right between them, so they let them go. The boy and his love eventually marry, and they all live happily ever after."
o.O.o
Shippo beams at him. "That was a good story, Miroku. Thanks so much!" He scampers away, paws scrabbling against the rocky ground.
Miroku turns his face away, and his gaze catches Inuyasha and Kagome together by the fire, cuddled up together and bantering playfully.
"Yes," he whispers, "A great story," and he turns away from them, wondering when he became so invisible again.
ANII: Hurp durp. How depressing. Review? Please~