**Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Inuyasha depicted in this story are the legal property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Publishing, and Viz Media, and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is being made.

**Rated M for: Language and Lemons

Author's Note: I've always loved Miroku and Sango as a couple and wanted to give writing a story about them a shot. I am more of a fan of the manga than the anime, though, and I've decided to stick with the manga for the backdrop rather than try to mesh the two mediums. This also means storylines and characters made for the anime will not be included. This story opens right after the arc with the vanishing mountain, Gakusanjin, and just before the entrance of Goryoumaru (Vol. 35).

Chapter One: Hot Spring

Inuyasha and Kagome weren't speaking. This usually meant that Inuyasha had said something tactless, probably regarding Kagome's cooking or Kikyou, and gotten more "osuwaris" for it than he felt he deserved. But this was different and Sango, Miroku, and Shippou were beginning to worry.

Kagome wasn't just angry, she was subdued and wouldn't participate in any sort of interaction with the rest of the group. Inuyasha's behavior was more alarming. He treated her with extreme care and reverence, not even nagging for her to pick up the pace or to make him ramen. When he did speak to her, it was only about the most mundane and impersonal things, and his voice was tentative. Whatever had happened must have been really, really bad if Inuyasha understood that he had done something wrong and was actually trying to apologize for it.

They had just fought Mouryoumaru and Hakudoushi for the Fuyouheki and Inuyasha had been in his usual bad temper at the tender goodbye Kouga had given Kagome. But all that was normal, none of it could possibly be the cause of this. Normally Kagome would spend days coddling Inuyasha after a run-in with Kouga to reassure him of her affections, but nothing had seemed to go the way it should this time.

Having no prior experience with anything this serious, the taiji-ya and the houshi were at a loss. Normally they would just sit back and let the two of them work things out, periodically suggesting to Inuyasha that he apologize, but two weeks had passed with no improvement.

Sango walked beside Miroku, her arms wrapped around herself. She didn't know what to do for her friend. She wanted to know what had happened, but every time she tried to talk to her, Kagome made it clear simply by the tone of her voice that she did not want to discuss Inuyasha. But truly, Sango wanted to talk about her own problems, too.

She glanced at Miroku next to her, then quickly away again. A faint flush stole over her cheeks and she pulled her arms in closer to herself. She didn't want him to catch her staring. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on in his head, though.

It had been a month since he'd asked her to marry him and she'd accepted his proposal. After the exchange that had followed, in which he hadn't quite managed to hide his intention to continue frolicking with other women, Sango might have wondered if perhaps the proposal itself had merely been a ploy to get her to allow him liberties with her body, but he had kept his hands to himself completely—he hadn't even tried to watch her bathe since. This spawned another worry altogether. What if he had asked her to be his wife merely to placate her feelings? He knew she loved him—her jealous rampages and not-so-subtle doe-eyed stares had seen to that, and her last tantrum had left him bloody. True, this was more the fault of a brainwashing, mystical lizard, but she had gotten herself into a bad situation. Was it possible he had simply asked her because he was afraid of her stabbing him again? The thought depressed her so thoroughly it made her want to.

"Fucking shut-up already!" Inuyasha growled.

Kirara was walking next to Sango, Shippou sitting on her back chattering relentlessly to compensate for the four silent members of the party. The particular story he was telling now had gone on long enough to annoy anyone who was actually listening to it. Unfortunately for Shippou, that happened to be Inuyasha.

"There's a clearing through those trees," Miroku said. "It looks like a decent campsite."

"And I can smell a hot spring," Shippou added enthusiastically, hoping that they were finally stopping for the day.

Inuyasha was aggravated. "We've still got a good hour of daylight left," he argued.

"And we started an hour before sunrise this morning," Shippou countered, his tail twitching.

"So that we could get an extra hour of travel in," Inuyasha snapped. "You're not even walking, so what do you care."

"My butt's sore from Kirara's bony back."

Kirara screwed her head back to look at Shippou, offended.

"I'd like to stop."

Everyone looked at Kagome, startled. She hadn't spoken much in the last several days.

Inuyasha visibly struggled with his temper. "Fine. Go set up camp, you lazy pansies." He turned to go.

"Are you leaving?" Miroku asked placidly.

"I'm going to go scout ahead," he barked back.

After he had disappeared, the rest of the group moved to the campsite. Miroku immediately set to building a fire while Shippou disappeared briefly. Sango lifted the bundle off her back with a sigh, rubbing her shoulders, while Kagome dug through her pack for food.

Shippou came bounding back on all fours. "There is a hot spring!"

Miroku looked up from his work. "Why don't you girls take your baths now while Shippou and I set up camp?"

Shippou groaned loudly, "But I want to go now, too."

"You can wait," Miroku said.

Sango felt a twinge of irrational temper. How could that perpetual pervert suggest she bathe without even a hint of a leer? Perhaps Sango was not the only one to be possessed in the village of oni women. She didn't know who this ass was, but she knew he couldn't be Miroku. She might have picked a fight with him, but she didn't have the energy to do anything but agree. Kagome didn't seem to either, and the two girls gathered their supplies without a word and headed down to the hot spring.

When they were settled in the water and Kagome began to soap her arm, Sango couldn't contain herself.

"He hasn't grabbed my butt in three days."

Kagome looked up, mildly surprised at the abruptness and intensity of the conversation. "Is that different?"

"Yes, usually I'm peeling his hands off me three or four times a day."

"That often?"

"Yes—it happens mostly while we're flying on Kirara."

"And, I take it, you're not happy about this change."

Sango looked down, blushing. "No," she admitted.

"Have you told him this?"

Sango's eyes widened, "Of course not!"

Kagome actually smiled. "I was just asking. Why have things changed, do you think?"

"I was hoping you could help me with that one."

"Ah," said Kagome, "I see. I hate to disappoint you Sango, but I really don't know."

"Oh," Sango deflated a little. "I only asked because you seem to be able to read him pretty well. I have too many feelings to see him clearly sometimes."

That seemed to make Kagome gloomier. "That's what happens when you love someone."

"I just don't understand—what did I do?"

"Probably nothing."

"It kind of started after I agreed to bear his child."

Kagome considered this, her lips twisting a little unpleasantly. "Well, that's likely it. No matter what they may pretend, guys don't actually want what they say they want." She finished rinsing off then climbed ashore to where her towel waited.

Sango stared after her, blinking. Kagome hadn't been talking about Miroku at all—in fact, Sango had the sneaking feeling Kagome just told her what had happened with Inuyasha.

Slowly, Sango followed her friend out of the water. The two dressed in silence, then headed to camp, where Inuyasha was sitting sullenly in a tree, Shippou was playing with Kirara, and Miroku looked up from the pot hanging over the fire.

"It's boiling," he told Kagome. "We'll hurry with our baths." He rose. "Come on, Shippou, Inuyasha."

Shippou jumped and scampered down to the hot spring, followed by Kirara. Inuyasha didn't move.

"Are you coming?" Miroku asked.

"No," Inuyasha said from his tree.

Miroku sighed and headed into the brush.

Kagome was opening a package of food and dumping it into the boiling water.

"Would you like some help?" Sango asked.

"No," Kagome said, "it's just ramen."

Sango nodded, sitting. She wrapped her arms around her legs and tapped her feet on the ground. This was awkward—alone with Inuyasha and Kagome. Kagome busied herself straightening the bedrolls Shippou and Kirara had disrupted. Sango looked from her to the barely-visible hanyou in the tree. Was that really what had happened? Kagome offered herself to Inuyasha and he refused? That seemed so sad somehow. Even more depressing, could that be what had happened with her and Miroku as well? Did he want her only so long as she was saying no?

Sango rose suddenly and headed toward the hot spring. She had to catch him before he undressed to talk to him, to demand that he tell her what had happened to her ass to make it less enticing than it was a month ago. Forcefully kicking aside bushes and pushing branches away from her face, Sango made her way to the path, then stopped cold.

Down the slope, by the shoreline, Miroku was stepping out of the last of his clothes. He paused to scold Shippou, then entered the water.

Sango turned around immediately, and began heading back to camp, trying not to think of what she had just seen. His skin had been pale in the twilight as he had faced away from her. She had seen the muscles of his back flex as he pointed at the young cub, his arms sculpted, hard beauty. Then there was…. A hot blush warmed her cheeks and tried to stop the thought from coming, but it came anyway.

She had never given particular attention to men's backsides, but one glimpse of Miroku's was enough to change all that. It was fascinatingly fleshly and…touchable—a shameful thought as it made her realize she now vaguely understood why Miroku would want to squeeze that part of her. Still, she couldn't decide if it was beautiful or not, couldn't decide whether she liked it or not. It wasn't particularly handsome, just interesting. Her cheeks burned, her hands shook, and her stomach fluttered. And she felt something else, something she didn't wholly recognize, a twitching, stirring hot sensation beneath her stomach.

She walked back into the campsite and sat down on the log she had been using before, saying nothing to either Kagome or Inuyasha. Stiff and shy, she waited until Kagome called that the food was ready and the bathers returned.

Sango could hear Miroku talking pleasantly with Kagome, could hear him coaxing the hanyou out of his tree, but she did not look up. She was startled when she heard him say her name softly.

"Yes," she answered, glancing up at him too briefly to meet his eyes, her face glowing in embarrassment.

"I got a bowl for you as well." He was holding it out to her.

"Oh," she said stupidly, taking it from him, "thank you."

He sat beside her, causing her nerves to jump. This shouldn't have surprised her. He always sat next to her when they ate, and usually she enjoyed the proximity, but right now she'd rather he were fifty feet away.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded a little too vigorously.

"You just…seem a little tense."

"It's nothing," she managed between bites of noodles.

"I know what's wrong," Shippou volunteered.

"What?" Miroku asked, more for humoring the cub than any real expectation of finding an answer.

"You don't grab her butt enough anymore and she misses it."

Sango choked.

"Shippou-chan!" Kagome admonished.

"You shouldn't lie, squirt," Inuyasha said, his mouth full.

Shippou was offended. "I'm not lying. I heard her say it to Kagome while they were taking a bath."

Sango knew the expression on her face was giving her away, but ever kind Miroku, though clearly surprised, just changed the subject.