When Miroku and Sango had joined their pack, she had never felt more safe and loved. Their presence gave her the support system she needed to survive day to day in an unfamiliar world with a boy she tried to force herself not to love and a child to care for. They made everything feel like she was in the closest knit family you could get. They helped with the homesickness. They helped with the occasional loneliness. They helped with the many arguments between her and Inuyasha. They supported her studies and tried to occupy Inuyasha so she could focus on them. They were great people and she was glad to have them in her life.

Of course, she'd been extremely wary of Miroku at first. Why wouldn't she be? He had kidnapped her, stolen her jewel shards and bike, and felt her up. After the first beating from Inuyasha, the womanizing had stopped. And after Sango had joined them, she gradually stopped feeling his eyes on her. Not that he'd had much of a chance to ogle her, Inuyasha had seen to that. She supposed she was most grateful to Miroku for making her feel like Inuyasha wanted no other's eyes on her but his. Even if she'd never felt Inuyasha's eyes on her, she pretended he was just exerting self-control. She only pretended like that on the bad days. The days when she had no idea how she could keep living this double life. The days where she was so exhausted she didn't how to continue on. The days where she was so lovesick it almost made her physically sick. Miroku was able to pick up on it a lot. And he would provoke Inuyasha or Sango or both to get a rise out of Inuyasha. It always worked. Inuyasha would protect her. She would feel loved. And she would smile again.

Sango was Kami sent. There wasn't much in the way of gossip, but their girl time helped her vent about her feelings and frustrations and fears. She felt bad about ranting about such seemingly trivial things when Sango no longer had a home and her brother was a mindless puppet of Naraku. She mentioned it once and told Sango to tell her to shut up if she needed to. Sango had only given her a small smile and told her that she was grateful for the distraction. She had still felt guilty about being shallow and self-centered but Sango mentioned that angry gossip sessions made her feel like she hadn't lost her entire village and brother. That she was still there bathing with her friends near the village talking about the exact same things. That had shut her up. And made her feel loads better. And also ridiculously sad. But she was grateful that she could do something to help her friend. A friend who cared so much and listened so well and watched her back as they worked together to bring down enemy after enemy. A friend who had grown so much and lost even more. She just hugged her friend and they cried together, mourning the loss of innocent and good men and women and children and vowing that they would be avenged in Naraku's death.


He for sure hadn't wanted Miroku in his pack. He thought he was trouble. And a rival male. Even if he wouldn't let himself have Kagome, Miroku sure wasn't gonna have her. No way in hell. So he fought the idea. Hard. But Kagome had won him over. Of course she had. And he had kind of saved their asses with the ink painter and a few times since then. Gradually he came to accept and even be grateful for the monk's presence. Their first time against the saimyoushou had illustrated exactly how strong the man's will and constitution were. That little display had won Miroku his respect, which was not easy to do. But all of his pack had earned it. And with that respect came loyalty. It didn't matter that he didn't like it or that Miroku might not either, he trusted Miroku to protect him, his not-but-should-be mate and his not-but-should-be son. And that's all that mattered.

He felt better about Sango right from the get-go. Kagome had softened his heart too much. But Sango was an exceptional fighter and made it easier for him to protect Kagome. She helped protect Shippou and she worked extremely well with the monk. The subtle attraction he smelled on Sango and Miroku for each other made him worry much less about the monk and his advances on Kagome. Sango's fighting skills, honour, and loyalty to friends, family, and cause made her his beta immediately. Out of everyone besides Kagome, he trusted her to have his back the most. And probably most importantly, the friendship she gave Kagome was invaluable. She brought an eager and instant smile to Kagome's face, much like the one she'd shown up in the Feudal Era with. Her smile had started fading a bit as they had journeyed and fought on, learning more about the past and wondering about the future. But Sango's introduction to the pack made Kagome so happy. And he couldn't deny her that, just as he couldn't reject the support. Or another lost soul.

Even if, as he'd already learned, he really hated sharing her.