Cucumber of Love
By kira
For Sunnie with love…
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"Here you go, Sango-san," the young farmer said as he handed her a basket of eggs. Their hands brushed innocently against each together and Sango blushed prettily as she looked away. She also uncharacteristically giggled at his apology.
"Thank you for the eggs, Yoichi-san," Sango said softly.
"You're welcome, Sango-san. Is there anything else you need?" he asked, slipping a few cucumbers into the basket as well.
"No," Miroku said dryly, taking the basket from his wife. "My wife and I will be going now."
"Bye, Sango-san, I'll see you next market day." The young farmer smiled.
"Good-bye, Yoichi-san," she replied as she returned his smile.
Miroku coughed. "Good-bye." He turned and walked away, getting several steps away, before he realized his wife was not with him. Annoyed, he turned around and walked up to her. Giving her elbow a tug, he pulled her away from Yoichi's farm stand.
They visited the next few stalls in silence, picking up some vegetables and dried fish along with a small measure of rice. At each farm stand, Sango chatted pleasantly with the farmer which often resulted in an extra radish or two and sometimes a handful of dried mushrooms at no additional charge much to Miroku's annoyance. By the time they got home with more stuff than they had bartered or paid for, he had worked himself up into a snit.
What had annoyed him the most was the fact that his darling wife seemed oblivious to how upset he was as she puttered about, putting things away and, starting the evening meal. As he watched her, Sango appeared to be the very picture of domestic bliss, a young dutiful wife hard at work cooking for her husband. She looked beautiful as she made a broth from the dried fish that he felt his anger dissipating. That was until she looked up and smiled at him. It was the same pretty smile she had been flashing at all the farmers in the market, and as the waves of jealousy washed over him, Miroku felt his expression hardening.
"Miroku?" she asked, concern and fear that he was getting sick written all over her face. "Are you alright?"
Her question was met by stony silence from her husband.
"Miroku?" she repeated, and getting up from the fire pit, she came over to him. Kneeling in front of him, she placed the back of her hand against his forehead, checking for signs of fever. "You're not warm…" she said softly to herself. "Are you sure you're okay?"
He reached up, grabbing her wrist, and holding it tighter than normal. "Why were you flirting with all those men?" he asked with deadly calm.
Frowning, she replied, "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You're accusing me of flirting?" Sango blinked. If he were not gazing at her with such an intense, angry look on his face, she would have laughed. "You're joking, right?"
"I'm serious, Sango. You're my wife and it was very unseemly of you to be flirting with the whole marketplace. Tell me, do you do that all the time when you go shopping?"
The play of emotion, which flitted quickly across her face, made him wonder if he should have kept his mouth shut, especially when her features settled into an icy glare. "I have not and never will flirt," she said coolly. As she got up and walked past him without so much as a smack upside the head on her way outside, he suddenly felt afraid. Scrambling to his feet, he hurried after her. "Sango-chan! Wait!"
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"Sango-san, Miroku-sama! Come quickly!" a young boy called out as he raced over to them.
"What's wrong, Koji?"
He stood there, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. Looking up, he cried, "There's a giant oni in the rice paddy!!"
Sango briefly looked over at her husband. "We'll be right there. And, Koji?"
"Yes?"
"Go home where you'll be safe."
"Okay!"
The young boy scampered off as they went inside to get ready, before leaving.
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Angry and barely speaking to each other, Miroku and his wife hurried to the rice paddy on Kirara's back. It was one of the rare times they rode together without him sneaking a feel on her bottom, or cupping her breasts while he innocently claimed he was afraid of falling off. Not that Sango cared, she was so angry at him that she would have ripped his arm off and beaten him over the head with it had he touched her inappropriately.
Circling the rice paddy, they looked for signs of the giant oni, and finding none, the set down to consider their options. A sudden movement in the water drew Sango's attention and she stepped forward to investigate. Nearing the water's edge, a long sinewy arm reached out, grabbing her ankle. The taijiya let out a startled squeak, dropping her weapon, as the creature dragged her towards the water.
Miroku briefly hesitated. He was still angry, but his beloved Sango was in danger. Without giving it a second thought, he threw a couple of sutras at the oni. It yelped, releasing Sango as it surfaced. She landed on her bottom in the paddy, with nothing more than a bruise to her pride. Her husband, placing his hands under her armpits, gently helped her up.
"That's my woman!" the kappa shouted. "I saw her first!!"
"She's my wife and you can't have her!" Miroku replied.
"Oh yeah?" The kappa narrowed its bulbous eyes at them. "We'll just see about that!" He started mumbling a spell under his breath.
Before the kappa could finish, Kirara flared up, scaring the water imp.
Instead of backing away with Miroku, Sango remained rooted to the spot. Her husband was unable to move her as she had fallen under the kappa's spell.
The water imp surfaced. He chuckled. "See, foolish monk, I told you she was my woman!"
Miroku glared back at him in reply, when it hit him. After telling Kirara to stand guard over Sango, he hurried home to get the cucumbers the farmer had given Sango.
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"Hey, Kappa-san! Wouldn't you rather have this instead of the woman?" Miroku asked in his most wheedling tone while he lazily waved a big fat cucumber in the air.
The kappa, who had been kept from harming Sango by Kirara's flames, eyed the cucumber hungrily. He gulped.
"If you promise to let her go and not harm her or anyone else in the village, I'll give it to you and the others I have too."
"Ummm…" The water sprite weighed his options. Every time he went near Sango, the fire-cat would flare up, scaring him. He was very hungry, having settled down to live in the paddy after the rice harvest, he missed the humans. That young boy he had spotted earlier would have made a great meal, but this woman turned out to be even better than he had expected. The trouble was her pesky companions.
"Well?"
The kappa sighed. "I'll promise on one condition…"
"What?" Miroku tried not to breathe a sigh of relief, this was going too easy and he feared what the water sprite would say.
"Could someone feed me cucumbers as long as they're around? And maybe an odd fish or two? I'm a very old kappa…" he said, trying to look as miserable as possible so the monk would take pity on him.
"Sure. Now release my wife and you can have these."
Grinning, the kappa clapped his hands, breaking the spell. As Miroku Helped Sango out of the paddy, he gave the kappa the cucumbers. "Thank you, kind sir! I shall watch over these paddies for as long as I live and as long as someone feeds me…" he said, before disappearing underwater with his dinner.
"You alright, Sango?"
"Yeah…" Sango said. She looked away, holding her hand over her mouth as a wave of nausea passed over her. Having looked in the direction of the paddy, she noticed a cucumber floating on the water's surface. Turning back towards her husband, she said, "That cucumber reminds me… I want to get the ones Yoichi-san gave me this morning and bring them over to Kaede-sama's as a thank you gift."
Miroku hid his surprise. "For what?"
"My stomach hasn't been right these past few days, and the tea she made me really helped." She smiled weakly at him. "In fact, I could use a little more. Come, Kirara!" Sango bent to retrieve the Hiraikotsu.
"Uh, Sango my love…"
"Yes…?"
"We need to give her something else… That cucumber over there," he said pointing to the paddy. "Well, uh…"
They watched as the kappa reached up and pulled it under.
"You idiot!" Sango glared at him. "Kaede-sama specifically asked me to get her some if I saw any in the marketplace! Now I'll have to wait a week before I can her some!"
"Sango, my darling wife, if I hadn't given…" trailing off helplessly, as she stalked away from him, he cried, "Sango! Wait!!" Miroku hurried after her. He was so happy to have her back, he was willing to flirt himself if that would get her the cucumbers she needed.
She huffed wordlessly as Kirara, in her kitten form, scampered after her.
Catching up with her, Miroku reached out to grab her arm. He missed; his hand landing firmly on her bottom. He gave it a gentle caress.
She whirled to face him, her angry expression softening, as he pulled her close for a kiss…