Hey guys! It's been a long time since I was here, but I'm back in business and ready to entertain expectant readers once again! I'm trying out Inuyasha fics now, so please read and tell me what you think. And for those who have no clue who I am, please check out my other stories. I don't own Inuyasha. The only thing I do own is this plotline. Again, please tell me what you think. I'm always trying to improve, but keep the criticism positive and constructive please! Okay, on with the story! Hope you enjoy it!
Oh and I recommend you listen to Evanescence's song "Missing" while you read this. It adds a lot to the tone and feel of the story. This first part is based on this song, so the music adds a lot to it.
Rain continued to pour down on the young taijiya's head as she fell on the muddy earth. Thunder boomed overhead and lightning struck in magnificent patterns across the sky and on the ground. She picked herself up, and ignoring the mud, continued her running through the dark forest. She'd decided to run from her friends, practically the only family she had left, because she was scared she would betray them once again. The only thing she left behind was her faithful cat that had traveled with her for almost all her life. So she continued on towards her goal, which was to spare her friends from her mutinous ways. Tears started to well up in her eyes and motivated her to run faster.
'Where am I going to go? If I go back to my village they'll just come back and convince me to go with them again. I've got to go where they won't dare come looking for me. I know! I'll go north to the mountains. They wouldn't worry coming after me with the thought of the mission still in their minds.' The young warrior turned north, still running with all her might.
Back at the campsite, a young monk stirred and opened his eyes to check on everyone. All the sleeping bags were full, but one held a strange look to it. The young man furrowed his eyebrows on confusion and stood, going to examine it, hoping that nothing was wrong with the young woman who occupied the sleeping bag. He gently shook the bag, hoping to find his friend's hand coming up to slap him like always happened when he woke her up. When the pillow fell out where her shoulder should have been, he looked around and saw all her armor and weapons gone, save her cat, and the door slightly cracked. A bone crushing chill ran down the young man's spine, causing him to jump up immediately and grab his belongings as well. As much as he tried to be quiet, he wasn't able to get out without stirring the young girl in the other sleeping bag.
"What's wrong Miroku? Where are you going?" The young monk turned towards her, a hint of worry in his voice, which caused his voice to falter as he replied in a whisper.
"Sango… she's gone… and now I'm going to look for her. Please don't try stopping me." The young girl stood up, grabbed her bow and arrows and went to the door, much to the young man's dismay.
"I'm coming with you Miroku. We can cover more ground and-"
"No Kagome. I need to do this by myself. You stay here and look after the others. If I need help, I'll send Kirara back to get you."
"Fine, I'll give you a few hours, but after that, I'm going to start searching as well."
"Deal, then I'll leave Kirara here with you, so you have some back up. What about Inuyasha?"
"I'll let him sleep, then leave a note in case he wakes up. Bring her back safely Miroku." Miroku smirked slightly and nodded solemnly. He turned from the door and closed his eyes, holding back a lone tear.
"Please be safe Sango. I don't know what I'd do if you were gone…" With that he searched for any tracks Sango left behind in the mud and took off into the foreboding night.
Sango couldn't stop now. As much as she wanted to return to her friends and cry on their shoulder, she considered herself a threat to them, so she continued running, ignoring the thorns that scraped across her shins, making her wince as she continued on. Finally after what seemed like hours of running, she couldn't take anymore and fell on the muddy forest floor panting heavily. She pulled Hiraikotsu off her back and stuck it in the ground next to her. She looked at her travel pack and decided to rid herself of anything she didn't need, after all, she'd be traveling light so it made sense to make it easier on her. She pulled out her hunting supplies, her taijiya outfit, and some snacks Kagome had given her when she last came through the well. The last thing was an intricately designed ring Miroku had given her as a promise that he would marry her after the whole ordeal with Naraku ended. She welled up with tears knowing she would likely never see Miroku or the others again. She changed out of her regular clothes into her slayer outfit and, with tears flowing freely, folded it with her promise ring and laid it by a nearby tree.
"Miroku… I'm so sorry, but I can't… I can't take the chance of betraying and possibly hurting you or the others. Even Kirara has to stay with them. She'll protect them well." A large bolt of lightning lit up the area, causing Sango to look around, making sure no one was following her. She stood slowly picking up her bag and Hiraikotsu. As she slung the large boomerang over her back, a faint cry could be heard over the rain.
"SANGO!" Miroku shouted into the dark night, taking a break from running at speeds even Inuyasha would have trouble keeping up with. Another large bolt of lightning illuminated the area, giving Miroku a split second's look around the area. Just before he couldn't see again, he caught a glimpse of a pile of colors next to a nearby tree, and tracks that led up to it. Miroku silently ran up to it, finding Sango's regular clothes and the ring he had given her.
"I had asked Kagome to get me a promise ring so I could give it to Sango." Miroku picked up the ring and placed it on his pinky finger. He then looked to the ground, and noticing no tracks after the clothes, raised his head to the trees and shouted at the top of his lungs over the rain
"Why Sango? Don't you want to be with me? Sango! Where are you? Please come out and talk to me! We can get through this together! Sango? SANGO!" Miroku shouted as he fell to the ground tears forcing their way down his cheeks. Sango watched from a few trees away, tears freely cascading down her face.
'Houshi-sama. Forgive me. I'm doing this to protect you. Please don't follow me.' With a new set of tears freshly falling, she stood and leapt from tree to tree, hiding her tracks to the north. A faint roar was heard from behind Miroku, causing the monk to turn around. Kagome and Kirara bounded up to Miroku and landed beside him.
"Any sign of Sango?" Miroku's eyes gave away his answer. Kagome's eyes started to tear and she jumped off of Kirara, ran into the forest and shouted into the dark night.
"Sango! Please come back to us! We need you here with us! Sango!" Kagome said, her voice faltering as she shouted. Miroku and Kirara walked up to Kagome and Kirara howled into the night as if asking her beloved mistress to return to her.
"We'll find her Kirara. Don't worry." Kagome said while stroking the cat demon's head. Kirara whimpered and turned back towards the campsite. Kagome climbed on her back and turned towards Miroku.
"We'll try again in the morning, Miroku. Right now the best we can do is get some sleep and wait until we can see well. At first light we'll resume the search." Miroku looked down at his hand, specifically his pinky finger and shed a tear which was quickly swept away by the rain. It was everything Miroku could do to get on Kirara and go back to the camp.
'I will find you Sango. I'll use whatever means necessary. I still don't understand why you ran. Is it because of the "betrayal" you said happened? That has to be it.'
"Miroku?" Kagome asked to get his mind out of the daze.
"Kagome, I understand your concern for Sango and waiting until daylight, but I have to go find her as soon as possible. I think she's still worried that she'd betray us again to save her brother, so that's why she left. Kagome, please, let's keep searching for a little while longer." He said pleadingly to Kagome, his voice faltering. Kagome also started to tear up and nodded her head in agreement.
"C'mon Kirara, let's look some more." The cat demon growled in acknowledgement and turned back towards the last place they searched.
"There has to be a sign of where she's going. We'll just have to track her down. Kirara can help sniff her out and before she left Sango showed me some tracking techniques that the slayers themselves use to find people or demons." Kagome said, trying to lighten up the mood a bit. It seemed to help Miroku a bit and he sighed solemnly.
"Thank you Kagome. That helped me calm me down. Let's go find Sango." With an encouraged nod, Kagome patted Kirara on the shoulder, signaling her to go faster.
Sango continued jumping from tree to tree, ignoring the stinging of the branches hitting her arms and legs. She miscalculated how far a branch was, slipped and tumbled down to the ground, landing hard on her shoulder. She cried out as she felt her shoulder separate. She was slow to get up, but managed to do so and continued on towards a village she could get some help from. She didn't notice, however, that a piece of her armor on her injured shoulder had broken off, leaving a pink reminder of where she had been. Once at a village, she was able to get lodging for the night and a doctor to look at her shoulder. The doctor and his apprentice entered the makeshift doctor's room and had Sango lie down.
"Now Miss Sango, I need you to lie very still so we can set your shoulder back. This will hurt but you must not tighten up, otherwise the shoulder won't go back. Koune, please stand on the other side of her." The doctor instructed as he prepared to set the shoulder. He grabbed Sango's injured shoulder gently and asked her to completely relax her shoulder. After a few seconds Sango felt a white hot pain run down her arm from her shoulder. She cried out and instinctively went to grab her injured shoulder, but the young apprentice held her down.
"There you go Miss Sango. I'm glad I could be of service to you. If you don't mind me asking, how did you injure yourself like this?"
"I was fleeing and slipped on a limb in the trees. I landed hard on my shoulder and then came here." The doctor looked at her for a second, then his eyes widened slightly.
"I remember now. Those uniforms are from a group of taijiya that came to a village I used to live in. What has become of the other slayers? I wish to thank the leader." Sango's eyes clouded with tears but was able to hold them back.
"I am the only survivor of my village. My family was killed by a demon called Naraku and my younger brother was forced into servitude by him. I'm fleeing from some friends because I don't wish to put them in any danger." The doctor solemnly nodded and opened his bag that was next to him. He pulled out several pouches of herbs and handed them to her.
"Don't worry about payment young taijiya. These herbs will cure many ailments, such as poisoning, sore limbs, and these two special herbs are said to have the ability to heal wounds in half the time they would normally heal and the other will increase your energy, giving you an extra boost in case you need it." Sango was stunned. No one had ever just given her such powerful tools to aid her, a total stranger. She smiled gratefully at the doctor.
"Thank you very much. If you ever need assistance, just call for me." The doctor nodded and stood, leaving Sango in her room to rest recuperate from her grueling ordeal.
"Miroku… please forgive me. I did it because I love you. Please understand." Sango said, hoping that somehow Miroku would somehow hear it even though they were so far apart. She shed a tear of sadness and regret and then closed her eyes, plummeting into a dreamless sleep.
Miroku punched a nearby tree. They had still been searching, but there had been no sign of the slayer anywhere.
"Anything Miroku?" Kagome asked hopefully. Miroku shook his head and fell to his knees, exhaustion setting in. Kagome helped Miroku to his feet and onto Kirara.
"Let's go back now. We've tried and we're both exhausted. We'll get Inuyasha to help us later." Miroku finally nodded in agreement and conceded to be taken back to the camp. As they landed, the rain seemed to pour all the harder, bringing Miroku's beaten spirit further down. He looked at the sleeping Shippo and Inuyasha, glad that they weren't brought into this just yet. He watched as Kagome kneeled by Sango's empty space where she once slept, a tear slowly sliding down her cheek. Kirara went by Kagome's side and rubbed her ankle. Kagome picked up the cat and set her by her own bed, giving Kirara someone to sleep next to. Miroku reluctantly lay down in the spot he left behind before looking for Sango.
'Sango… please… be safe and wait for me…' Miroku thought just before he fell into a restless sleep.
Okay guys, please let me know what you think! The more reviews I get, the more motivated I get to continue the story.