Hey! Sorry it's been almost…what…a year? XD And you thought I forgot about this story! Well, I kinda did, when I didn't have any free time. I decided to do well in school this year, so there really wasn't time for writing. BUT….Here I have….a sequal to a one-shot which actually has two chapters. So…I really don't know what that makes it. A two-shot? A three-shot? Well, whatever. But enjoy it anyways. If you haven't read Miroku's Prisoner of War, you might want to do that before you read this. (But, if you don't feel like it, this story kind of has an individual plot away from that one. So, this will still make sense.)

Sango knew that expression.

Her friend entered the room with a huge, brilliant smile adorning her face that didn't fade even after she sat down to greet Sango. It was the expression of elation that accompanied this so-called "love" that everyone spoke so highly of.

Last week's events seemed to be a distant memory, or a dream, even. Something that hadn't quite happened. Ever since then, everything had been exactly the same. They didn't hold hands, as Inuyasha and Kagome sometimes did. The only time their hands touched one another was his coming in contact with her rear and hers coming in contact with his face.

They'd been politely distant, as if both of them were embarrassed to speak of what they had done. But, as Sango watched Kagome open her mouth, she thought it might have been better that way, sparing both of them a lot of humiliation.

"Oi, Sango chan. What's going on?"

Sango merely tilted her head and smiled. "Nani mo…but something's obviously up with you, ne?"

Kagome blushed. "Is it that obvious?"

Sango grinned. "Spill, Kagome chan."

The blush crept further up her cheeks and her smile couldn't have gotten bigger if she'd won a million yen. "Okay…" she appeared to be gathering herself up here, "Okay. We finally did it!"

Sango's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "Nani?!?! How old are you Kagome? Fourteen??"

"I'm fifteen," she corrected her friend in a slightly offended tone, "And that's not what I meant!"

Sango put her hands on her hips and stared at her younger friend. "Well then?"

"He…he finally kissed me," She said, her voice escalating into a sigh at the end of the sentence.

At that Sango just smiled. "Omedetou! I knew you could do it," she said, resisting to ask Kagome the question most girls ask their girlfriends when they'd just received their first kiss.

But Kagome sensed the curiosity in Sango's eyes. "You wanted to know what it was like?" She asked.

"Eh…" Sango was now starting to blush. "I didn't say anything. But if you want, you can tell me."

They both knew that Sango was dying of curiosity, but as long as neither of them said anything, it was all right.

"Well…you get all warm inside….," here she paused to gather herself together, "His lips were very soft, for someone who is half-youkai. I don't even know how it happened. We were outside and it was kinda cold, so he gave me his haori. And then when we sat down, we started getting cozy…and then…he got this look on his face. And I got that look on my face. And then it was like we were getting drawn together by a magnet, and then…we were kissing. And then we kissed again…and then…well…" Kagome trailed off, and Sango sensed that the story went into the gutter from here.

"That sounds nice," She said, aware of the wistful tone in her voice.

Kagome seemed to have picked up on it right away. "Matte, Sango chan. Does that mean you haven't kissed Miroku?"

Sango nearly choked, feeling the small blush that had just been evaporating flame up again. "Na-nani?? Why would I want to kiss him? That womanizing, perverted, houshi has no common sense! There's absolutely no way on earth I would-" She stopped when she realized Kagome was sitting there silently with a little smile on her face, and she could tell that she didn't believe a word of it. Well, why should she? She had seen them last week about to kiss one another, so she had no reason to.

"It was-it was all a fluke," Sango stammered, "You know. You know the way that houshi is."

Kagome nodded. "Hai, I do know. And I also know that you wimped out and are afraid to kiss him."

For a moment Sango's mouth opened and closed, reminding Kagome of a fish out of water. "That's-that's not how it is! And besides, I didn't see you kissing Inuyasha until today, anyways!"

Kagome nodded. "See, there's this thing you need. You need the mood. It has to be a good time, not just any time. You have to help create a nice mood or take advantage of one that's already there."

Sango felt slightly foolish listening to this Kagome, who was younger than her, on advice about her "love life."

"and," Kagome continued, "there have been many opportunities when you didn't take it. And the mood left. So that is why I think you're afraid."

"I'm afraid of his wandering hands, that's what I'm afraid of. I don't want to be sexually harassed while I'm trying to kiss him!" Her words hovered in the air, and quickly she covered her mouth-the traitorous bastard. Now it sounded as if she'd wanted to kiss him.

"Ah, so you do want to kiss him. I knew it would come out eventually." Kagome smiled, satisfied, while Sango sat there groping for words.

"I just-no, I don't! I was just speaking metaphorically! I didn't-I didn't mean-that exactly- it's just that…"

"How about this, Sango chan? I dare you to kiss him. You don't have to be embarrassed about it if you do it once. Then you don't ever have to say it's never happened to you before!"

"D-dare?" Sango repeated.

"It's like I'm challenging you. That's what we call it in my world."

"Hmph. That's stupid," Sango muttered. "If I wanted to, which I don't, I wouldn't do it just because of that."

But Kagome had already left.

That night, Sango lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

For some reason, Kagome's words stung. A challenge, that's what it was, and she was backing down from it. Granted, it wasn't the same kind of challenge she was used to-fighting youkai and the lot, but still, her warrior spirit burned with wanting to accept this challenge. Especially since her heart was urging her so.

Fine, then, she thought grimly, I'll do it. But I won't like it.

And she tried to ignore the voice inside arguing with her.

Crawling off of the futon, she made her way over to where Miroku was curled up, sound asleep. If she kissed him while he was asleep, it would count, wouldn't it? She hadn't said anything in the dare about the person being awake.

When she reached his sleeping form, she stopped and looked down. Gods, he was so adorable when he was asleep. He looked almost like a little boy, and Sango didn't realize how her heartbeat was staring to quicken by just looking at him.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she leaned down and closed her eyes.

And then, in a second, she felt her lips come in contact with something that definitely wasn't his lips.

Her eyes flew open and she saw that she was kissing the very tip of his nose.

Augh! Screamed the inner voice again. Kagome hadn't specified that it would be so difficult! She'd made it seem like such a simple action, like waking up in the morning, something that was so commonplace and ordinary that she didn't need to give it any thought.

Staring at his nose, Sango blushed. In a few hours, they would be awake and on the rode again, and that perfect face would have been marred with a single hidden kiss.

Unless…unless he was awake and faking the entire time.

"Miroku?" She whispered. No response. But, dangit, she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep unless she found out for sure that he was asleep.

"Miroku!" Shaking his shoulder, she watched his face suddenly come to life. It was an interesting thing to see-suddenly the black eyebrows drew together and the eyes squeezed shut for an instant, before flying open and glancing around.

"Nani ga, Sango?" He asked, his voice still cracking from sleep.

Quickly she fumbled for an excuse while he stared at her, bleary-eyed and confused. But all her stupid mind could focus on was how cute he looked when he was confused.

"…Sango?"

"It's nothing, houshi sama. Go back to sleep."

His slow-growing grin didn't pass Sango by; she knew what prospect was passing though his mind at the moment.

"Mmm, Sango. What were you trying to do, sneaking up on my while I'm asleep?"

"Ano….watashi…." damn that lecherous monk and his ideas!

"I'd think that you of all people probably do worse things to me while I'm asleep!" She said hotly, her voice practically a screech.

"Calm down, Sango. Come here," he patted the spot next to him on the one-person futon.

Sango snorted, wanting to slap him but not wanting to wake the others.

"I'm going back to bed. To my bed. Good night."

And so she lay there, staring at the ceiling again. I have failed…she thought agonizingly. But there's always tomorrow…and besides, Kagome didn't know about her first failed attempt. And she never would.

The next day saw Sango sulking, bringing up the rear of the group. Miroku noticed, of course. He noticed every little change with Sango-instead of using his monk perceptions for evil premonitions, he used them , unknown to Sango, to learn every little thing about her.

But he wanted to keep it that way, so he let her trail at the back, pretending not to notice.

When they reached the next town, Sango and Kagome disappeared into the tavern, leaving Miroku and Inuyasha standing in the rented room.

"Oi, Miroku. Where did our women go?"

Miroku, who was not the type of person to become flustered, stammered, "Our? Whatever do you mean, Inuyasha?" And this was all punctuated with a nervous laugh.

Inuyasha looked at Miroku-long, hard. "I saw you last week. I saw you after that mountain youkai. I saw you after that Kuranosuke guy! Now don't play dumb with me, you ass. Go get her before it's too late."

Miroku felt that by that sentence he not only meant physically, but to claim her now, forever. But instead of showing the slightest bit of comprehension, he simply ignored the ranting hanyou and stood up. "I believe I will go take a walk, Inuyasha. I will be back soon."

Kagome had never been inside a tavern before. They'd stopped there to rest, but the boys had always ushered them upstairs before she could get a decent look around. But since Inuyasha was nowhere in sight, she and Sango were free to explore the place.

The place was filled with drunks, as was expected in a tavern at night. Sango glanced around and was met with the bleary-eyed expressions of a hoard of them before glancing back at Kagome. Her face held an expression of determination, and in a moment she was plowing through the crowd, heading for the counter.

"I want sake," she said, in an almost demanding tone. The man behind the counter merely raised an eyebrow at her before he silently gave her the drink.

"Sango…what are you doing?" Kagome asked, perplexed at her friend's odd behavior.

Sango turned to her with an odd, un-Sango-like smile, and only said, "You'll see."

Kagome had all but forgotten about the dare she'd made to her last night, but she vaguely wondered if that had something to do with this.

Sango's reasoning made perfect sense to her, and even more so once she got the first drink in her system. Tonight was going to be the night. The indirect approach obviously didn't work-there had to be another consenting, conscious person involved. So Sango resolved that she would do it now. Take him out for a walk and then she would just randomly kiss him. The thought had appalled her at first. She would never be able to look him in the eye again if she did that.

So she decided that she'd get herself good and drunk. She was going to humiliate herself anyways, and perhaps if she was only in a half-conscious state of being, then maybe the humility would alleviate. Especially if she couldn't remember what happened the next day. And being drunk would help, she convinced herself. She'd do things that she normally wouldn't do if she was sober, so it would be easier.

She didn't think that being drunk would force her to embarrass herself even more.

"So what did you wish to speak to me about, Sango?"

She looked at him and giggled. "I lied. I just want to be with you," she said shamelessly, and then latched herself onto his arm.

Miroku was taken aback, and for a moment he was speechless. What in the…what in the world was Sango doing?

Usually he was the one to shock her speechless, not the other way around. She would never openly admit to even remotely liking him, but this?

"Ano…Sango?"

"Come on, let's take a walk," she said giddily, letting go of his arm and prancing ahead a few steps.

When Miroku caught sight of her glazed eyes and her reddened face, he knew that she was drunk. He wondered if someone had slipped her something without her knowing.

"Alright…" he said hesitantly, following her.

Sango talked. About what he didn't know; she made no sense entirely.

"Houshi sama…" she said huskily, and stopped. Before Miroku knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed his face and tried planting a kiss on it! Luckily, with her dulled senses, he was able to avoid it.

What in the world was she trying to do?

"Sango, I think you had better go inside and lay down."

If she had been sober, he would have been thrilled. But she was so drunk that she could barely walk in a straight line.

"Come, now," he said firmly, and took her arm and guided her back towards the tavern.

"Houshi sama…" she said pitifully, and in the back of her mind, mentally cursed her second failed attempt.

Please review! The faster I get reviews, the faster I post the ending!

xAurorax