Sango looked at her pack critically, biting her finger. She couldn't think of anything else she needed to bring, and she knew she had to leave soon anyway. Had she been traveling alone, the schedule would have meant nothing, but she had a companion whom she'd told 'tonight', so she was leaving tonight. She heaved her pack onto her back, already regretting it, and knowing her muscles were going to complain after a long journey such as this was going to be, but she knew that if they were going to be sore, they weren't strong enough yet, so she'd bear up.
She sighed, going out into the streets and went to Kaede's guest hut. She wanted to say goodbye to Miroku, and bid him his farewell. She also wanted to understand more of why he was angry, but she had a strong suspicion that she wasn't going to get an answer to that. She took one look in the single room hut only to find it devoid of people. She sighed. Nothing was going well the past couple of days, was it? She wandered to Kaede's hut next door, her heart heavy.
"Miko Sama?" She asked, startling Kaede out of her work, which had engrossed her so.
"Yes? What do you need, Taijia Sama?" asked Kaede. Sango swallowed, pretty sure of what her answer was going to be.
"Do you know where the Monk went?" she asked. "I can't find him, and I wanted to tell him goodbye before I started." Kaede looked thoughtful for a moment, as if struggling with her moral code. Perhaps she didn't know the answer. She'd been expecting a simple 'I don't know', but this looked a little less innocent than that.
"He asked me not to tell you where he was," said Kaede, visibly gritting her teeth. "But I will tell him you said goodbye." Sango's head drooped, and she suddenly felt as if her heart couldn't have been heavier if it was made of led. She felt unbearably cheerless, and she could feel as her stride matched the stride of her companions the day before as she turned to leave Kaede's home. She felt an overwhelming uselessness suddenly come on.
Miroku didn't want to see me? Why…? She nodded to Kaede, and left. She didn't want to go without seeing Miroku one more time, without seeing his goofy little smile that always made her feel cheerful, even though she didn't admit that to anyone. She didn't want to be robbed of the sight of him this time. She sighed, and toyed with the idea of delaying, and leaving the next day, or the day after, but the chanced of Miroku wanting to see her then weren't very high either. Her eyes stung gently as they warned her that tears were ready. She battled them down, not wanting to cry. Her depressed walk carried her to the edge of town to find InuYasha, with all his belongings on his back - other than the ones that he claimed Kagome demanded back. Sango forced a smile when she saw him, covering up her earlier distress.
"Hey there. You ready?" She asked, forcing all the cheer she could muster, which wasn't a lot. InuYasha shook his head sadly, then took a step back as if trying to get away from her a little.
"I talked with Miroku just a little while ago," he said. Sango didn't let her wince show through when he said the Monk's name. "He doesn't want me to come with you, so I'm gonna stay," he said stoically. Sango glared, suddenly no longer depressed, but outraged. First Miroku would deprive her of his company, then also of InuYasha's? And as if that wasn't enough, Kagome was gone! No, this was not acceptable!
"What?" she said loudly, her words tempered with anger. "If he's not going to give me an explanation as to why, then he certainly can't restrict anything!" she shouted, breathing heavily to stop herself from hitting someone. The sorrow from earlier had ignited, burning brightly, and becoming a ripe fuel for her fury. InuYasha looked as if he was about to growl, and loose his temper, then he stopped, and drooped a little suddenly looking down.
"I know why he doesn't want me to come," he said in a whisper that was barely audible. If Sango had been in any other mood she would have put more thought into the timid edge in his voice, and had the tact to have been unnerved, and she would have questioned about it more, but she was angry, and she didn't care right then. InuYasha wasn't allowed to be depressed right then, not when Sango had all the reason to, and he had so little, as Sango could tell. She found herself hoping he would be back in a foul temper.
"Well, why not?" She asked hotly, stepping in front of him.
"B-because he still thinks I took what he has," said InuYasha hesitantly, looking quite puzzled, and taking a step back. He seemed to be worried about her current temper, and he chose his next words very carefully. "He's being foolish about it, but he's…" InuYasha gritted his teeth around the word, his jaw muscles working vigorously to stop the use of so foreign a word, but he prevailed in the end. "He's my friend… So I'm going to respect that wish, and not come," he said. Sango glare at him sternly. This wasn't going to do at all. Her words burned on the tip of her tongue, and they came out very quickly, having the effect of glairing real daggers.
"Do you want to come?" InuYasha looked a little gloomy, and seemed to consider his next response.
"Well, yeah, bu--"
"Then come on," she said, grabbing his hand and starting off, Kirara jumping out of a tree and onto her shoulder. Miroku got what he deserved, as far as she was concerned. She didn't care what he thought. She didn't give a damn.
She shook her head. No, no, she did give a damn. She cared a lot. Right now, she wanted to disobey all orders he gave, because at least then he'd have a reason to not want to see her, and at least then she wouldn't feel so much pain at the mention of his name. She wanted to see him, and as far a she knew, she hadn't done anything yet to make him not want the same. But if he already didn't want it, then she'd give him a reason not to want it. She wanted him to grieve for the loss of her affections, and she wanted him to apologize to her for being a foolish idiot.
…
That night Sango set up camp, calmed a great deal by the walk. Upon thought, she realized how foolish, and childish an action like that was, and was too ashamed to admit it and go back. It was stupid to think that doing everything Miroku didn't want her to do was going to make it better. She didn't even know how that logic went, and it had made so much sense at the time, she didn't understand how she couldn't have seen the flaws. No, what she really didn't understand was how she saw any merit to that plan… She had been beating herself up for being so angry and for inflicting her wrath on him when it really had very little to do with her, if anything at all. She sighed, trying to calm herself down even more.
InuYasha had almost snapped back to his old self, which was endlessly reassuring, and was actually assisting in her attempts at relaxation, as she'd wanted to do. He was up in a tree, complaining about how easy the demon they fought was. Sango had actually let out a chuckle when she assured him that it had been a real crow, not a demon. She explained the reason it smelled like a crow demon, which was because it had been in crow-demon blood. He had only paused briefly after this explanation, then seemed to think that it couldn't have been the case, and he continued his critique.
A thought occurred to Sango, and she pondered over it some time before allowing herself to verbalize it.
"InuYasha?" She asked quietly. He looked down at her from his tree, his mouth finally shutting for a moment at the sound of her tone.
"Yeah?" he asked, masking slight concern with a casual sounding voice.
"Are you leaving Kagome and Miroku to gather the jewel themselves?" She asked. She was surprised that she hadn't thought of it earlier, and didn't really know why she was setting off to go home before the jewel's line was ended.
InuYasha shrugged. "Not like they really want me around anymore…" he said vaguely, though he looked a little bitter. That did seem to be the case… "Anyway, they can handle themselves. It's not like they always need me around; they're capable." He said. How he had managed to praise them with an air of arrogance was beyond Sango. She was shocked as she stared into the fire.
Complements? This can't be InuYasha… Can it? It simpl—
InuYasha jumped out of the tree, effectively shushing her mind. She looked up at him, and his countenance showed that he was watching something.
"Someone's coming…" he told her quietly. "They're downwind, so I can't make out who…" That had not been the right thing to say to ease Sango's mind. She was in her uniform before she even finished standing up, and she watched it too.
There was a moment of tense silence, the kind of silence you drown in, the kind of silence that has seemingly no end. The tension associated with this silence was tighter than a drum, making Sango's hairs stand up on the back of her neck.
Sango could hear the rhythm of her own heart as she stood, awaiting whatever was coming her way. There wasn't any evil here, and that wasn't right. If it were a demon she probably would have felt it, unless the demon was powerful enough to mask its aura. After another moment of that same silence she began to hear footsteps, slowly traveling through the brush. She cursed the fire in her mind, which ruined her night vision, and made them a target to anything that wanted a hot meal.
Silence, broken only by the afore mentioned footsteps, ensued. The wait, which Sango was sure was only a few seconds, managed to last all entirety, trapping her there in silence, with InuYasha, and blind to whatever the night held in store for them.
A figure stepped out of the bushes, though it was silhouetted by firelight in the dark night. Sango couldn't make it out, though she tried. It stepped forward, effectively glooming it more. Eventually, it spoke.
"I thought you weren't going," was all it said. InuYasha stepped back. Sango had recognized the voice as well, and they no longer needed it to step into the firelight to establish who it was. It did so anyway, and now it could be seen that Miroku was glowering at InuYasha. She dropped Hirakotsu in sheer relief. Miroku's features, lit as they were, almost made him look demonic. At this, Sango swallowed, wishing she hadn't been relived.
She heard InuYasha draw breath to speak – And Sango was sure it would be more like a thing normal InuYasha would say – but she cut him off, not allowing him to rob her of any interrogation of Miroku.
"If you're not going to tell me why you're so mad at him, you're not allowed to set any restrictions of my life! Besides, he didn't take whatever it is you think he did," she added. The last part didn't make much sense to her, but it had the effect of calming the air behind her, where InuYasha was, whilst simultaneously aggravating Miroku.
"Hah!" said Miroku without humor. His expression was no longer a glare. No, this was loathing, and something much darker than a glare, but he made dead sure not to look at Sango. "Here he stands with it. I can see it. I told him not to go, and yet he went anyway!" he roared. Why was he yelling? What had happened to Miroku? This wasn't right! Sango looked pleadingly at him, hoping desperately to uncover what was troubling him. She was determined to make this about her and Miroku, and leave InuYasha out of the picture. InuYasha stepped forward, into her view, his shoulders squared, looking ready to fight Kiroku, if necessary. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to make it about her and Miroku…
"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" she said instead. That was more important than resolving whatever conflict Miroku had to deal with, anyway. This was both Miroku and InuYasha, and she was not at charity with either, what with how they had handled the situation.
She saw InuYasha open his mouth, but the Monk interrupted him sharply.
"No," he said coldly, chilling Sango's bones. Sango'd never heard that tone from Miroku. She'd been hearing anger recently, and even distain, but she had never, not from anyone heard a tone so dark, so cold, so unfeeling as this, and to top that off, his glare was now fixed on her, and only her, so intently that it made her want to flinch back, but she stood firm instead, never willing to look like a coward. Sango didn't know what else to do at that point but retry her tactic of cooling him down, so she moved closer to him.
"Houshi Sama, please? I'll--" Thud. Sango didn't feel it at first, but she knew her head was jarred. She didn't believe it was possible, even though all her sensed told her otherwise. It seemed to take forever to hit the ground, and it was so far down that she though she'd never stop falling. When she finally was on the ground, after a moment or two she felt the tiny picks of pain in her cheek and jaw. Her eyes were so full of tears, which had come so suddenly that she couldn't defend herself from them, that her vision was blurred beyond the ability to see. She felt a foot to her side, which added to her agony, and carried her farther away from Miroku. Through the cloudy tears she saw red in front of her. She knew it was InuYasha's leg, and she could feel him standing in front of her, protecting her from any more blows the Monk wanted to get her with.
None of the other pain mattered. She knew her ribs were probably broken, and she could tasted the blood in her mouth from the Monk's punch to her cheek, but the rest of her body felt numb, and unimportant as her heart shattered.
He hadn't… Had he? He couldn't have…Why? Doesn't Miroku love me? I… I…
Before she could clear her vision enough to look hurt up at him, Miroku had turned on his heel and left. She sobbed on the ground for a while before InuYasha bent down and helped her up.
"I should go…" he told her. "Miroku was really serious," he added with disbelief while checking her wounds. Sango tried stupidly to reply, but she was mute with shock. How could that have happened…? Her knees buckled under her, suddenly realizing how heavy she actually was. She sat down on a rock, afraid that she would fall if she tried to continue standing. Every wail hurt like daggers in her side as she jarred her broken ribs, but they hurt even more to her heart, which ached in her chest, leaving the rest of her feeling hollow, and useless. She threw her head back a moaned.
"How could he…He… How?" she asked between howls of pain. InuYasha looked towards town as if he wanted to go back, or perhaps as if he was worried Miroku might return. He sighed, and seemed to decide something, and then he sat down next to her.
"If I told you he'd be even more upset, so I have to keep you in the dark," he said miserably. "I'm sorry," he added, looking down.
"And what the hell is wrong with everyone!" She screamed, her face red, and wet with tears. "You're not sentimental, Kagome Chan and Miroku Sama aren't violent unless they have to be!" she yelled. "And I'm… I'm not normally caught in the middle…" She added in a whimper, putting her face back in her hands and weeping into them. InuYasha looked around as if scared someone would see him, and shifted uncomfortably. He watched her, and she could feel his eyes on her back, she could almost see his struggle with how to cheer her up. She certainly wasn't expecting what happened next. The universe must have gone out of sync. It couldn't have ever happened. It was… physically impossible. InuYasha looked after where Miroku had disappeared to, then he drew her up from her slouch, and wrapped her in his arms, his chin on her head. "You're gonna be all right, Sango," he said, reassuringly. His tone was soft, and he almost purred out the words, letting them drift down to her ears. "This'll all blow over…" he said, and hugged her closer and stroked her back comfortingly. Sango didn't care anymore whether this was InuYasha or not. She sought comfort, and he offered it. If he was going to let her cry on his shoulder, she was going to cry her heart out, even in such little pieces as it was in.
"I promise, Sango," he told her, his head now side by side with hers. For a brief moment he pulled her head back to look into her eyes. "You'll be okay," he told her firmly, gripping her shoulders tightly. She nodded weakly. At this he smiled warmly, and let her back down.
"Thank you…" she wailed into his chest.
End Chapter Two