When Sango Taijiya told her professor that she was going to Hawaii to study the culture of the locals for her year-long thesis (technically two different semester theses with connected topics, thus year-long), this wasn't exactly what she had in mind.
Gritting her teeth, she analyzed the area. Two - no, four kupuas were surrounding her. This normally wouldn't be so much of a problem if they weren't all ka-poe-kino-manu - people who had bird bodies. In this case, humanoid bird bodies with opposable thumbs so of course they could hold weapons. Joy.
Letting out a quiet snarl, she gripped her throwing axe and began mentally calculating. All of the sudden, she threw the axe with all of her strength at one of the kupuas, watching as it sliced through the one she had aimed at and, with still enough momentum, embed itself into the chest of the kupua next to it. As she twirled around, she drew twin daggers from their leather sheath attached to her belt and stabbed one of the remaining kupua in the chest, kicking it away. Facing the last one, Sango suddenly ran towards it, rolling in between its legs and stabbing both daggers into its back. Bull's eye.
She watched, breathing heavily, as the kupuas that had surrounded her fell to the ground, all dead. She would feel worse about killing them if they hadn't been tricking the nearby local town into giving them whatever they wanted or else they would set fire to it.
"Keh. You're getting better with the daggers, at least."
"Shut up, Inuyasha." She withdrew her daggers from the back she had stabbed them in, pulling out an old cloth to clean them of the blood on them. Putting them back in the leather sheath, she went over to retrieve her throwing axe and inspected it. Seeing how much blood was on it, she sighed and sat down on a rock, beginning to clean that one too.
Inuyasha just sat down on the rock in front of her, sitting Indian-style as he recounted his own weapons. Sango glanced up at him, eyes particularly drawn to his tattoos. Even now, after so many months of being in his company, she was still so fascinated by them. The giant Sun on his knees with the turtle shells, the inked necklace around his neck and collarbone drawn with shark teeth and spear heads…everything about him was something out of this world.
And that was saying something, since Sango personally knows many yōkai back in Japan.
Hell, Inuyasha still wore loincloths as his preferred thing to wear. It was extremely distracting at the beginning, but Sango had learned to roll with it. Especially since it had some sort of underwear along with it - for that she was grateful.
"I still don't know why you need so many spears and daggers," Sango spoke, frowning at the shear amount that he had. How exactly does a sling and a leather sheath contain all of that weight?
"If you don't understand now, you'll never understand, city girl," he snorted, and Sango threw the cloth at him for calling her by that stupid nickname. He meant no harm by it, she knew - he was just a socially awkward person who had no idea how to explain himself properly. She gave him a look that made him look like an extremely embarrassed teenager.
"I prefer weapons that can be both long and short range, so I need different kinds," he gruffly explained. "Also, if I lose one, I have multiples to replace it."
"Was that so hard?" Sango slung her axe into its sheath on her back, and then stood up and offered him a hand. Months ago, he would've stared at her hand for so long that Sango would feel awkward standing there with an outstretched hand. Now, he took it as easily as breathing and let her help him off the rock.
"Feh. You don't need to worry about the amount of weapons you have to carry around, anyways - you're already deadly with the ones you have." Inuyasha eyed her axe warily. "Sometimes I almost regret giving that thing to ya."
"Almost?" Sango couldn't help but notice his wording. Unconsciously, she gripped his hand tighter.
"Yeah. Almost." His gold eyes were locked with her own brown ones, and Sango hated to admit that she was the first one to look away, but at least she had the satisfaction of him being the first to pull his hand away from hers.
"We better go back to the town to tell them that we killed the kupuas." Inuyasha picked up the head of one of them, and snickering at her slight wrinkle of the nose. "Spoils of war, you know that."
"Doesn't mean I still don't find it gross."
Inuyasha wordlessly looked at the kupua she had sliced in half.
"I mean carrying it around! Can't we just take a picture and show it to them for proof?" Sango knew she was leaning towards the whining, but she couldn't help it. They had been going after these kupuas for nearly the entire day. She skipped lunch even though Inuyasha offered to stop, but now she was tired, hungry, and dirty.
"You know they would just think it's witchcraft." Much like he did, Sango remembered amusedly. Wild dog boys didn't have much contact with the modern world, so he had freaked the first time she had taken a picture with what he called her "tiny rectangle."
"Fine. But we're staying at that nice hotel, I need to send an email to Kohaku and submit some of my notes for the thesis and I need Wi-Fi for that," Sango compromised, and Inuyasha just grumbled at the idea of having to wear western clothing, but easily gave in. He began to walk, and Sango followed, staring at the large tattoo on his back which was partly covered by his hair, but went over his shoulder slightly. She had bandaged his back enough to know the tattoo by heart: a half-circle made up of two rows - one of ocean waves, the other with the Marquesan cross.
Still staring at his back, Sango wondered how on earth she had managed to change from just researching caves for her thesis to fighting with a half human, half dog messenger man.
All it was supposed to be was a walk in the moonlight at the beach. The locals had recommended it, so why not?
Sango watched with awe at how the sand seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. It was physically impossible, but that was the best way to describe it. It was completely amazing, how similar yet different Hawaii was from Japan.
The wind suddenly blew her hair into her face, and as she pulled it away she saw the bright light of fire on torches. Frowning, she began to approach it. Did a local come get her because she stayed out longer than expected? But why would they bring an entire group? She hadn't been gone that long…
Walking rather slowly, she felt something in her gut telling her that something was…wrong about this group. The people carrying the torches were slowly coming into focus, and there were things that they were awkwardly holding - thin and feathered at the top…
As she got closer, her eyes widened at seeing that they weren't holding something thin - it was embedded into its chest, and it wasn't a stick, it was an arrow.
Holding her breath, Sango couldn't move as the group continued to march forward. Too late, she noticed one of them turning its head to look at her, and she still couldn't move but she knew she couldn't meet its eye, something bad would happen—
"Get down!"
She felt a pressure on her back, and she was tackled to the ground by a hard body. A hand pressed down on her head, keeping it down. "Wha—"
"Shut up," the person who had tackled her - a man by the sound of his gruff voice - hissed. "Stay on your stomach, stay quiet, breath shallowly, don't move, and whatever you do, don't make eye contact unless you want to march for eternity with the huaka'i po, wench."
She was about to retort angrily - how dare he tackle her in such a way! - when she felt him tense up and saw through her peripheral vision the light of the torches come closer. Deciding to listen to the man, she breathed as shallowly as possible, heart pounding as she felt the heat of the torches all around her. Something nudged her ribs, and it took all of her strength to not react.
It took way too long for them to leave, but still she waited until the pressure on the back of her head was released. As soon as it did, Sango pushed herself up to rest on her knees, brushing the sand off of her clothing.
"What was that?" she demanded, turning to glare at the man, before blinking in shock.
The man wasn't exactly a man - at least a human man. He had the body of a human, but his coloring wasn't something a human could ever achieve. He had tanned brown skin, with long silver-white hair that reached his waist, and canine-like eyes that were a glowing amber. He wore only a red loincloth, and his body was covered with local Polynesian tattoos. Something moved on top of his head, drawing her attention to it.
Dog ears twitched on top of his head, the same color of his hair. They were swiveling around as it listened to its surroundings.
She had never seen him, but somehow she knew exactly who he was.
"You're Inuyasha." Sango wished she had kept that comment to herself. The glare she got was something dark, something she never wanted to see again directed towards her.
"Of course they fucking told you about me," he grumbled under his breath. Then, louder, he said, "And you're the city girl from Japan. Didn't they tell you not to walk through the beach at night?"
"The locals said it was fine!" Sango wondered for a single moment why he was able to speak perfect Japanese. Then she remembered the old lady Kaede, elder of the locals in the area, telling her how Inuyasha was the son of a Japanese immigrant and a sacred dog messenger of Pele, the Fire Goddess.
She didn't even want to think about how that coupling happened.
"Feh! Seriously, these locals keep forgetting their fuckin' history…" Inuyasha shook his head. "The huaka'i po roam in large battlefields, wench. This beach had a huge battle centuries ago - ton of blood shed, and of course the fuckin' locals can't even remember it."
"'Huaka'i po'? Night marchers?"
"Keh, you know Hawaiian a lot better than I thought you would." Inuyasha stood up, looking to the side and frowning. "Shit, tourists decided to walk too…gotta save their ass before they join the huaka'i po—"
"People are in trouble?" Sango stood up too, his hand darting out and gripping his wrist. "I'll come with you."
Inuyasha glared at her, and then cursed as he looked at the direction that he had heard the tourists. "I don't have time for this - just do what you want, wench."
Sango had helped him with the tourists for most of the night, and then she had needed help to save a family in one of the caves she had been studying, so he had come. And somehow, with just that, she began traveling through the island with him to help people. Sango couldn't bring herself to regret it.
###
"I despise people from the mainland," Inuyasha declared as he practically tore his shirt off and threw himself onto the hotel bed.
"I despise some of these locals." Sango threw her bag down with far too much force and sat down at the desk the hotel room provided, mumbling something so low that even Inuyasha couldn't understand what she was saying.
"Wha-why the locals?" Inuyasha scratched his the top of his head. He knew that something the locals had said had pissed Sango off, but going through what they said there was nothing worth getting angry over.
Sango turned around in her chair, eyes wide. "You mean you didn't hear those nasty comments they said about you? It's because of you that those kupuas didn't get their hands on this entire town, and yet they have the audacity to call you—!"
"Half-breed, mistake, monster, demon, whore spawn?" he began to list, bored as he ticked it off on his fingers. "Am I missing anything? I feel like I am."
"Inuyasha!"
"Sango, what they say don't bother me." Not as much as they did before, but that wasn't important. "I'm used to it."
"That's exactly the point!" Sango stood up and began to pace, waving her hands around wildly. "You shouldn't be used to it! No one should, but you especially shouldn't! It's wrong! You didn't ask your mother to fall in love with a dog—"
"Oi, you know just as well as I do that he had a human form—"
"I don't care if he was a dog when she fell in love with him or a bird! The point is that you didn't decide to be born, they did, so these locals shouldn't be judging you for something that isn't even wrong! People fall in love all the time," she ranted, still pacing across the room.
"And you know what? I'm glad they decided to fall in love because then you would've never been born and then I never would've met you—"
Inuyasha's eyes widened at the exact time that hers did. She slammed her hand over her mouth, glancing at him. Her entire face was red as they sustained eye contact.
He slowly sat up, his eyes still locked with hers. "What…what do you mean by that." It sounded more like a statement than a question, but that didn't matter. She knew what he was asking. In just a little before half a year, Sango had gotten to know Inuyasha far better than she had ever imagined.
Her heart pounded at the implication. A part of her was afraid to admit it, out loud or mentally or at all. But looking at the raw look in his eyes, as if forcing himself to not even dare to hope, she decided: Screw it.
Sango got onto the bed, kneeling in front of him. Her hands shaking, she slid them onto his cheeks, holding his face for just a moment. His face was surprisingly smooth, especially against her hands that had become so callous. She closed her eyes for only a moment when she leaned her forehead to touch his, and then opened them to look at him directly in the eyes.
"You're…you're so important to me, Inuyasha. I…I don't want to…I don't know why, I just know that you are and…" She let out a shuddering breath, wishing she had a way with the words like some of her friends back home did, hating herself because she just couldn't say it, but suddenly she froze. Because Inuyasha's hands - even more calloused than hers - slid to cup her face, and he closed his eyes. His forehead didn't leave hers.
"You're…you're important to me, too."
###
Sango stared in horror at a sight that she had never thought she'd see.
"No! Inuyasha!"
Was that her voice? This voice so filled with anguish and heartbreak was really hers? And why was her vision so blurred? Was it because of the snow caused by Poli'ahu? But if that was so, why did she taste saltwater?
Choking out a sob, she fell to her knees, and taking advantage of the situation managed to throw off the snow monster that had been holding her back. Reaching into her fallen bag, she grabbed a handful of dry branches and embedded them into its chest, and in that same motion clicked a lighter under them.
She felt an ugly satisfaction at seeing the snow monster melt, but that wasn't important. Nothing else mattered but getting to Inuyasha in time, before something awful happened to him again—
She stumbled to him, falling to her knees to grab his still body. It felt so cold, and Sango actually felt her tears burning her cold cheeks, but she didn't care. Pulling out her daggers, she frantically cut away at the ice spear that was nearly as thick as her torso, and when it loosened she grabbed it with her own two hands and pulled it out of his gut.
She felt bile rising in the back of her throat as blood began to drip onto the snow, turning black a second after it hit the ground. But she couldn't let it distract her, as soon as she bandaged it he'd be fine, he'd have to be—
She stripped herself of the sweater that she had put on when it had gotten chilly and tore at it, creating a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding. Her cheeks stung with her tears, and she could barely see what she was doing, but that didn't matter, not until he got better and oh Kami, what would she do if he died—
"Inuyasha, wake up." Her voice cracked, and a sob managed to escape her. "Y-you have to wake up, you can't just die on me, you hear me? You're such an idiot, got that? If this is your idea of a practical joke it's not funny!"
Inuyasha didn't answer, his eyes closed and his face looking far too peaceful for her liking. "Inuyasha, please," she begged. "I-I can't lose you, please wake up—"
Poli'ahu watched her with something akin to confusion, but at the moment Sango didn't care about the snow goddess, only making sure that Inuyasha would survive. She couldn't even find herself to be angry at Poli'ahu for doing this until the dog-boy fucking woke up.
"I do not understand," the goddess spoke. "He is the spawn of one of Pele's faithful dogs. Why do you shed tears for him?"
Sango's heart leaped at seeing Inuyasha cough, turning his head to the side, seeking her warmth. She drew him closer to her, clutching him tightly to her, as he would disappear if she let go. And maybe he would, but Sango wasn't going to give the god of death a chance to get him.
"You should've never involved him into your spat with Pele," Sango whispered, looking up only slightly to give Poli'ahu a glare with brown eyes that seemed to burn. And maybe it was just her, but the snow around her seemed to melt back into water, but that just could've been the temperature messing with her.
"He is the spawn of one of Pele's dogs, he was involved the minute he was born," Poli'ahu dismissed.
"No, he wasn't!" she hissed. "Inuyasha never wanted to get involved with Pele or you - all he does is help people! He never wanted to get involved into this spat, so don't do it for him! Because of you, I might lose him and I'd hate myself forever because I never told him—" She was cut off by a mangled cry, and she buried her face into his hair, knuckles turning white as she gripped him.
"Why do you shed tears for this mongrel, human?"
"Because…because…"
"Say it."
Sango shook her head quickly. This goddess knew exactly why she was so angry and heartbroken over Inuyasha's injury. Why is she forcing her to say it out loud? Was it to make her see that it was real? That her feelings for him were true? That she had been in love with the idiot for so long she couldn't remember when it had first started?
…love?
"I love him," she whispered to herself, opening her eyes slowly at the realization.
"What was that?"
"I love him," she repeated. "I am in love with this so-called 'spawn of Pele's dog.' And so help me, if you lay a finger on him again—"
Sango never got to finish her threat. Lighting flashed, and wind blew hard, making her hair fly into her face, temporarily blinding her. All she could feel was the warmth of something in front of her - something so warm it felt like she was directly in a bonfire.
"Thank you for loving him, child."
And with that, Sango fell the toll of the day go through her body - all the exhaustion and fear she had kept contained - and she slumped over Inuyasha's body, unconscious. And when she woke up, it was with her head on Inuyasha's lap while he stroked her hair, his injury only a slight scar.
And the realization that what she had said wasn't a lie.
###
Inuyasha knew that Sango was different, but he hadn't thought about why. But after being saved by her this afternoon and then this luau, his face just felt permanently hot and his eyes couldn't leave her.
Inuyasha had always known his partner was amazing, even when he hadn't liked her all that much. She was courageous, and shared many of the morals his mother had taught to him. She was selfless, and a good older sister to her brother Kohaku (whom he had never met but heard enough video chats to know how the kid was like).
He had also always known she was considered pretty, but he had never cared before. She walked around with him in a sleeveless aloha shirt with jean shorts and beat-up tennis shoes, with dirt under her nails and mud splattered on her legs, her hair pulled up in a high ponytail and in complete disregard of her looks. So why should he care if she didn't? It was her body, Inuyasha has no right to tell her what she could or couldn't do with it.
So why now? Why was it now, at this luau, wearing a pink aloha dress with green hibiscus printed on it, was she so beautiful to him? Why was her accepting the thanks the locals gave her made him think that she was the kindest woman he knew? Why was wearing the pink hibiscus that one of the children have given her behind her ear made his face so hot? And why was her wearing the ilima flower lei he had made for her on a whim bother him so much—
"Remember, Inuyasha," his mother said softly as her expert hands made leis with ease. "Orchids are to say 'welcome'. Kukui nuts is to show respect. And ilima flowers represent love."
Inuyasha stiffened. Shit.
Ilima flowers. Of course. How had he been so stupid to not realize it as he made it? He hadn't thought it through enough - he had just seen the flowers and thought that they reminded him of her and that he wanted to make her a lei out of them. Had he unconsciously remembered their meaning? What did this mean? Stupid, stupid, stupid, you were never supposed to feel this way about her—
"Inuyasha?"
He blinked out of his thoughts, looking up at Sango. So lost in his thoughts about her that he hadn't even noticed her approaching. Was this what it felt like, to be—
"May I sit down?" Sango looked at the empty space next to him on the boulder. Wordlessly he nodded, gesturing to the space with his hand, wondering when he exactly had stopped sitting in the center of these boulders.
"Thank you." Sango smoothly slid to sit next to him, smoothing her dress skirt once she had sat down. She was clutching something in her hands, but before he could ask what she was holding, she asked, "What are you doing all the way out here?"
"Keh. Don't like being in the crowd of luaus." Inuyasha looked at her through the corner of his eye, noting with fascination how the bonfire lit her face up to make it seem like it was glowing. His face heated up.
"If you say so." Sango turned to look at him, fiddling with the thing in her hands. "I made something for you."
"Huh?" Inuyasha barely blinked before she unraveled the thing in her hands, and quickly put it on, fixing his hair so that it wouldn't get caught. When he looked down at it, his breath caught.
It was a kukui nut lei. It contrasted widely with his neck tattoo, but Inuyasha didn't care. He gently grabbed it, letting it rest against his palm. He looked up at her, wondering if she knew what this meant, what this implied.
"I did some research and…I really do respect and appreciate you, Inuyasha." Sango went to turn her face away, but Inuyasha quickly touched her cheek. It was a feather-light touch, with only his fingertips on her cheeks, his claws just centimeters away from her skin, but the only thing she did was close her eyes and raise a hand to put over his, pressing his hand fully onto her cheek. Looking at her, Inuyasha knew he was lost.
"…Thank you, Sango."
You were never supposed to fall in love with her.
###
Sango was getting real sick of these gods.
"Remind me again why this god is so angry?" Sango called to Inuyasha as she hacked away at the kupua followers the psychopath god had.
"Kaulu killed Pele's mother, Pele has been after him ever since, and I think she's tried to kill his wife." Inuyasha jumped over one and threw one his spear, and it lodged itself into the chest on a ka-poe-kino-lau.
"Let me guess - Kaulu wants to use you to hurt Pele." Sango used the anger sparked by this fact by jumping onto the back of a ka-poe-kino-manu and grabbed hold of his head, twisting it forcefully to the side.
Crack.
Sango jumped off, landing on her two feet and she looked around frantically. There were still locals trying to escape, and her heart leapt to her throat when she saw a young boy pinned down by a fallen tree trunk, struggling to escape.
The boy didn't even remotely look like him other than the ponytail, but his dark skin turned into a lighter tone, and freckles began to decorate his nose, until it was a younger Kohaku staring at her, pleading, "Sister, help me—!"
Sango began to run towards him, waving her axe around to kill the kupua around her in autopilot. She knew when she could throw it and when to pick it up, but her only goal was to get to the boy. Kohaku!
Sango knew that this boy wasn't her little brother. She and her brother had put their demons behind them a long time ago. But at the same time she knew, this boy had a family that he couldn't afford to lose, and damn her if she wasn't going to help him.
"Hold still!" Sango dropped her axe momentarily, getting hold of the log. With strength she wasn't even aware she had, she lifted the log off of the boy, and he frantically began to crawl away. With a groan, she let the log go, then knelt next to the boy. Without realizing it, her hand began to search for her axe, finally gripping the handle. When did her weapon bring her such comfort?
"Are you alright?" she asked, her other hand stroking his face in an effort to calm him. He breathed shallowly, but the hysterical look in his eye was gone. He slowly nodded, but winced when Sango touched his lower back. Nothing was broken, but his tailbone was definitely bruised.
"Sango!" Inuyasha knocked down kupuas, turning momentarily to look at her. "Go take him with the others!"
Sango bit back the first retort she wanted to say - "No way I'm leaving you!" - when she noticed that there wasn't all that many kupuas left, only a few flanking the cackling Kaulu. "Will you be okay?" she asked instead.
"Feh! Just go!" Inuyasha pulled out his favorite spear - a thick handle, with an extremely long fang at the top. Sango knew why it was his favorite - it was his last gift from his father. Tetsusaiga.
Sango nodded and put her axe in its sheath, before picking up the boy, holding him close to her chest as she began to run towards where the locals had gathered. She maneuvered herself around fallen trees and destroyed homes, finding the group rather quickly and let a terrified mother grab her son from her.
"Stay safe," she told the group, before pulling her axe out again and running back towards the battle - Inuyasha against Kaulu. Her heart in her throat, she watched in horror as Inuyasha was struck to the ground over and over and over—
Eyes widening with both an idea - an idea filled with her desperation - she prayed that it would work as she threw the axe at the still-fucking-laughing god.
Her aim was perfect. It sliced against the wrist holding up his shark tooth club, making him cry out in pain. She stood there, with only her daggers still in their sheath, her chest heaving as she breathed heavily, staring down at the god. As soon as he turned his glare to her, she turned around and ran.
Her estimation of the size of a god's ego was right. Looking back momentarily, Kaulu had turned his entire body towards her - leaving his back unprotected right in front of Inuyasha. Knowing that Inuyasha would know what to do, she pushed her body harder to run faster, faster, run until he was defeated—
Thunk.
Sango froze, feeling sharp into her back, and all that came out of her throat was a cough that tasted like cooper. Blood trickled down the corner of her mouth.
"SANGO!"
That anguished cry was the last thing she heard before everything went dark.
###
Inuyasha lay next to Sango's sleeping body in the usual position he was in - one knee up, his left hand holding up his head, and his right hand stroking her face, taking in every detail.
Her face was still pale, but there was a rosy hue to her cheeks. She lay on her left side - his right side - apparently comfortable enough to do so. She wore no shirt, just a bandage that covered her entire torso. She breathed easily, no longer coughing up blood.
"She'll be alright, child," Kaede assured him. "Ye better get some rest, ye don't want to worry her when she wakes."
But Inuyasha couldn't sleep. Any rest he had was uneasy, filled with nightmares and the same thing, over and over - Sango trying to give him an opening to attack, Kaulu throwing his shark tooth club at her, and that club imbedded itself directly on her back, and all the blood…
Inuyasha swallowed with difficulty, pulling his hand away from her face. It was his fault. This injury she had gotten, the scar that it would leave behind…it was all his fault. If he had just defeated Kaulu sooner—
Sango let out a whimper, face scrunching up, and he immediately cupped her cheek again, trying to calm her. Her face immediately relaxed, only this time she had a small smile on her lips.
Even in sleep, she was beautiful. And not just her outer appearance - everything about her was beautiful. The kindness she had shown to the boy she had saved. The way she analyzed a battle and somehow know what to do to win. Everything about her seemed unreal.
His thumb stroked a piece of hair that had fallen into her face away, slowly tucking it behind her ear. Her ears were so cold, compared to her warm cheek.
"I can't lose you," Inuyasha whispered, voice dry. "Don't you dare die on me."
And right then and there, her eyes fluttered open. His breath caught, and before she could even analyze her surroundings, he wrapped his arms around her lower back and pulled her to his chest, hugging her tightly, nearly sighing in relief. He buried his face in her hair, trying to ignore the sting of tears in his eyes.
"Inuyasha…?" Her voice was muffled against his chest, and he pulled her away just a bit to give her room to breath, but she slowly wrapped her own arms around his chest, pulling him back.
"Shut up." His voice was raspy, and he mentally cursed as he curled himself into her. "Just…let me hold ya for a bit, city girl."
Sango didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. Her own immediate curling into him gave him all the answer he needed.
###
It took just under a month for her scar to heal.
Well, not really heal - but by then her scar had flatten out and she could move her back without any pain. It was nice, lounging around with the locals near the town that Inuyasha's mother had immigrated towards. This was where Inuyasha was more often than not, and because he helped so much and sometimes got rich rewards, they had sturdy homes, with electricity and Wi-Fi and running water, but they choose their way of life. Sango enjoyed that about them.
The nicest thing about staying here for so long was that Inuyasha let his guard down ever so slightly, and that caused him to be more open with her - something Sango had always enjoyed.
But something had changed in their dynamic. Nothing bad, but it was…different, now. Inuyasha no longer slept in trees or sitting up, but he slept right next to her. And sometimes, if Sango would wake up in the middle of the night, it was because he was stroking her face with a look of awe in his eyes. She had reassured him that it was okay for him to do this, but it still made her heart leap into her throat.
Even she was behaving differently. Sometimes they'd stay up late, not saying a word, but she would trace his face, trying to memorize every feature. All he would do would be stare at her, as if…as if he was drinking in her face, trying to memorize it just by looking at her.
It was a strange, but a pleasant change of what they usually did. Right now, she was cleaning each shark tooth of her throwing axe, leaning against Inuyasha's back, but she knew what he was doing. The grunts of frustration and flipping of a paper told her that much.
Surprisingly, Inuyasha was a good artist once he sat down and just concentrating on drawing. He didn't do it often, but he did have an old drawing pad that his mother had left for him that he'd occasionally pull out to draw. He had been working on something for the last few days, but every time Sango asked to see, he had just hidden it and blushed a bright red, stammering out that it wasn't ready yet.
The curiosity was admittedly killing her, but she wasn't about to force him to show her something he wasn't ready to show yet. She could wait.
"Child, may we speak to you?"
Sango looked up automatically. Kaede walked slowly towards her, using her spear as a walking stick with the bubbly Rin skipping alongside her. Sango recognized Rin from around - she was half local, half Japanese, and Sango distinctly remembered that Rin did most of the tattoos of the people in the area despite being still a teenager.
"Of course, Kaede." Sango went to stand up, but Inuyasha had always been faster than her. He rapidly stood up and offered a hand to help her up. Unable to stop the small smile from forming, she took it and let him practically pull her up.
"Sango, ye have done many things for us," Kaede began, looking up at the young woman with a twinkle in her own good eye. "Because of your many good deeds, we've decided to honor ye by giving you our tattoos - only if ye so wish."
Sango was actually glad that Inuyasha was there to support her, because she swayed in spot as soon as Kaede stopped talking. "M-me? But I thought—"
"You've done a lot of things for us in the short time you've been with us, Sango!" Rin began listing things off her fingers. "You became friends with Inuyasha, you've saved us countless of times, and you saved my brother from that log - you deserve to get these markings!"
Sango looked over to Inuyasha, worried - over what, she couldn't really put a name to it - but he was just looking at her with those piercing gold eyes.
"Rin's right, Sango," he spoke. "You deserve them. If you want them, you can get them."
Sango looked at him for a moment longer, before turning to look at Kaede and Rin and slowly nodded.
Rin squealed and grabbed Sango's arm, beginning to pull her away. "Oh, I have so many designs ready for you!"
The young woman looked behind her, looking towards Inuyasha and Kaede in confusion, but Kaede was just smiling her old-lady smile, and Inuyasha was just full-on snickering. Traitors.
###
Sango's eyes widened dramatically at seeing the tools Rin was pulling out. "Oh my Kami - what on earth - that doesn't look sanitary!"
"Oh, don't worry, I clean them!" Rin told her brightly. "Being completely honest, it will hurt a little bit, but I'll be talking the entire time to keep you distracted, so it won't be too bad!"
Sango eyed the tools warily, but one puppy dog look from Rin made her sigh in defeat and the young woman just nodded.
"Great! Now, remember that the tattoos, with this ink, it'll only take today to completely heal. Inuyasha was so nice to accept this gift, it's really saved my life. Anyway! Until then, follow every rule I told you - ask Inuyasha if you can't remember any, with the amount he has he knows the procedure well," Rin reminded her. "Any last thoughts on the designs we picked out?" Sango shook her head. And so Rin began.
The first thing Rin worked on was the collarbone/neck one. Sango couldn't even bring herself to be embarrassed about the fact that it was similar to Inuyasha's - shark teeth forming the "chain," with spear heads as "pendants," for lack of better word.
"Shark teeth represent a lot of things, but for you, they represent shelter, power, ferocity, and adaptability," Rin explained as she made them. "And spear heads are a mark of a warrior."
After Rin finished with her collarbone, Sango resisted the urge to touch it as she applied a bandage on it before she started to work on her arms. It was a half-sleeve that went from her shoulder to mid-way to her elbow, with the ocean as a circle, and waves inside it as the first row. Then shark teeth became the second row, and then straight in the middle of it were three spear heads, all horizontal, one over the other.
"Ocean and waves are super important - ocean universally means life, while waves mean death and underworld. You have a sort of balance, which is why we're putting in both. Ocean also means persistence, which I think fits you very nicely. The placement of these spear heads actually mean defeating an enemy, which you do on a daily basis, so…"
Once both arms were finished, Rin took a long drink of water from her container, before looking at her in concern. "Are you sure—?"
"I'm sure." Refusing to lose her nerve - and thanking all the higher beings she could think of that sticky bras existed - Sango laid down on her stomach, flipping her ponytail up, giving Rin the view of her completely bare back with a scar in the middle of it.
Gently, Rin began to work on her back, careful not to hurt the scar. This one was probably the one that Sango wanted the most - a giant Sun over her scar, with wavy sunbeams and curling waves in the middle of it.
"The Sun is extremely important to us - it represents many things when combined with other symbols. For you, with the waves inside and covering your scar, it represents rebirth. But with everything else, it also means eternity, leadership, brilliance…you're an amazing person, Sango."
This one was the one that took the longest. After Rin had applied the bandage to her back, Sango sat up, gratefully accepting the container of water to take long gulps of it. Between the two of them, the container was quickly emptied, and that was when Inuyasha slipped in, drawing pad under his arm.
"I'll go refill the container," Rin said quickly, standing up and rushing out. Sango nearly wanted to groan at how obvious the teenager was being, but it couldn't be helped. She watched Inuyasha shift awkwardly, cheeks pink, eyes darting to the sides before finally settling on her. He sat down in front of her, clearing his throat.
"How was it?" he finally asked, placing his drawing pad on his lap.
"You could've warned me about the tools from hell, you jackass." Sango mock-glared at him, but a smile fought its way through.
"Keh. Look, Sango…" His voice got more nervous, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "A-are you done with all of your tattoos?"
Sango slowly nodded. "Yeah, Rin just finished the one on my back. Why?"
"How would you feel about having another?" His face turned dark red, and he began to babble, "Well, technically two, but they go on each wrist and match so—"
"Inuyasha, you're stalling."
"Feh." Inuyasha opened his drawing pad, flipping through the pages until resting on one. Her eyes widened as he turned the pad towards her. And without him even telling her, she knew exactly what this was - the thing he had been agonizing over for nearly a week.
For reference, Inuyasha had drawn a wrist from every possible angle, and on those wrists was one of the best tattoo designs she had ever seen.
The tattoo was designed to be like a bracelet, with turtle shells acting as the wristband. And along those shells, interrupting their flow for a while, were alternating shells acting as charms - between normal sea shells, and bivalve shells.
Tears stung her eyes. It was beautiful - because they were his, and he had agonized over them for a week, trying to find the perfect design, just for her.
"They're amazing, Inuyasha," she whispered, rubbing her face to try to stop the tears from falling. She knew he hated to see her cry, just as much as she hated to cry in public.
"…I'll be getting them too."
Sango's head shot up, her mind catching up with the situation, and her eyes widened as she realized — every design had a meaning.
"Though shells aren't a part of any of the tattoos we chose, they're important for you to know. Turtle shells symbolize longevity, wellness, and peace — three things you deserve. Sea shells represent shield and protection, while bivalve shells symbolize intimacy and is what couples would use."
"Why don't I have any shells in my tattoos, then?"
Rin's mysterious smile was her only answer.
"You…you…"
Inuyasha's ears dropped. "If ya don't want them—" His voice was gruff, but Sango could hear the layer of heartbreak underneath them, and she quickly grabbed his wrists.
"No! I want them!" Her face heated in embarrassment since she had nearly yelled it, but she continued on, "I want to have them. And I want you to have them too."
"You mean…?"
Sango nodded, her throat closing up as a single tear managed to escape her, and Inuyasha quickly went to rub it away. She laughed softly, resting her forehead against his.
Even if he hadn't said it, and even if she hadn't said it, they both knew what getting these tattoos would mean. And neither of them cared, too ecstatic to know that their feelings weren't unrequited.
###
After that, things weren't all that different in their relationship.
They didn't bother putting a label on it - Sango thought the word "boyfriend" was too juvenile to what Inuyasha was to her, and Inuyasha just didn't care. They both knew what they meant to one another, and for them that was enough.
On the outside, people really couldn't tell. Neither was a big fan of PDA, and wouldn't get close enough with strangers to really tell them the complexity of their relationships while explaining how things hadn't changed all that much. Sango still teased Inuyasha, and Inuyasha still called her city girl. It was only watching closely and paying attention did Sango realize that some things had changed.
Sometimes, after a fight, the first thing Inuyasha would do would be grab one of her wrists and bring it up to his lips, kissing the inside of it - right over her tattoo. Sango would rest a hand on his cheek whenever he got angry in order to help him calm down. Inuyasha would spend hours tracing her new tattoos, and she enjoyed doing the same to him. Sango leaned against him fully when she was tired. They would set up camp and lay down normally only to wake up to find they had drifted towards one another in their sleep.
Also, Sango discovered that Inuyasha was a notorious cuddler.
Which is why it hurt so much when she realized the day she was scheduled to leave back to Japan was closer than she had originally thought. And why every single day, she would clutch his hand tighter, and hold him a little bit longer, trying to memorize the feel of him before she'd have to go.
###
Sango hated airports. She hated airplanes. She hated university. She hated deadlines on theses.
And she hated the idea of leaving Inuyasha in Hawaii all alone.
Inuyasha clutched her hands between them, staring down at them. He was wearing Western clothing - something he hated to do, but did it for her anyways. His shirt and pants hid all of his tattoos except the ones on his wrist. He wore the kukui nut lei she had made for him so long ago.
Sango bit her lip, raising his hand to kiss the inside of his wrist. "Are you…"
"Don't have a passport."
"Right." Sango bit her lip harder as she glanced up at him. His face was, for once, open - and all she saw was the man that did everything in his power to save people, even when they didn't deserve it. The man who could take an ice spear through the gut no problem but would stammer and blush when trying to talk about feelings.
The man that she had somehow fallen in love with in a year trying his hardest to let her go.
"You know I'll come back, right?" She looked up at him. "I'll come back as soon as I can."
Inuyasha nodded, his eyes telling her everything he didn't say.
You'll be busy with graduating. You'll want to catch up with your brother and your friends and will probably never need me again—
"Stop it," Sango immediately ordered, and his eyes cleared up. "I will. I promise. I-I care for you too much, I can't just never see you again."
"Sango." Inuyasha released one of her hands to rest his fingertips lightly against her cheek, and she pressed his hand fully into her cheek, tears stinging and probably ruining her makeup, but she just didn't care.
His ears twitched and he dropped the hand he was holding, the other one going to the top of her head and pushing her forward to press his lips against her forehead. "You should get going if you want to catch your flight."
Sango wordlessly nodded, grabbing her carry-on bag and looking up at him one last time before turning around. She kept glancing behind her at him as she walked towards security, her heart and mind in a constant battle.
I can't just never see Kohaku again—
Kohaku's legally an adult and has a passport, he doesn't need me anymore.
What about the thesis? We can't just not turn that in.
Who cares about a thesis if I'm hurting someone I love AND myself trying to turn it in?
Inuyasha is important but as soon as I graduate I can come back to visit him.
I want him to meet Kohaku, and I want him at my graduation, and I want to live with him—
Sango stopped right in front of security, her knuckles turning white around her carry-on handle. Without saying a word to the confused airport worker, she dropped her bag and turned around, sprinting back to Inuyasha. Inuyasha caught her just in time, and she clung to him, unable to let him go.
"Sneak onto the plane," Sango whispered into his chest, knowing he'd be able to hear her. "It's a practically empty flight. Or swim all the way to Japan - anything. I want you to meet Kohaku and be at my graduation. After that, we can come back here."
Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her tightly, smiling into her hair. "You're insane, you know that?" Tilting her head upwards, he pecked her lips - a bold move for someone who refused to kiss in public - and gave her a subtle nod. "I'll be on that contraption."
Was it highly dangerous? Yes. Was it stupid? Insanely so. But, if she was being completely honest with herself, Sango thought it was worth the risk.