I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.

Scars and Cuts

Chapter Three

You Don't Know How You Betrayed Me!

Now that everyone knew my secret, I waited for them to say something. Inuyasha didn't look very shocked, just more hurt. But Kagome…she was really crying now. For a long time she didn't say anything, all she did was cry and gasp until finally Inuyasha had to tell her to calm down already. She looked up at me and spoke.

"Why didn't you say anything to me, or to any of us? Did you think that we were going to think you were a liar?"

"I didn't think it would be a big deal…it's already the end of the school year and I was going to move out as soon as I turned eighteen and I was going to get a good job and support myself and then get custody of Kohaku…I didn't want to burden you with this until after I was free…"

"Now that we know, what are you going to do?" Inuyasha asked me. "You obviously have to have some kind of a plan,"

"Right before you got here we were discussing that," Miroku answered for me. "The only thing we came up with is that maybe she could talk to a lawyer and see what could happen,"

"I can ask my dad about that," Inuyasha answered.

"But won't that mean he would know that Sango left?" Kagome asked him.

"He won't send her back if he knows what's going on," he said. "He could even talk to the police about it and send her with her mother or into a foster home."

"I would rather live anywhere but those two choices," I spoke. "As much as I would love being with Kohaku, my dad said he would press charges on my mom with kidnapping if I lived with her. If my mom went to jail we'd end right back with him and back in square one."

"She does have a point, Inuyasha," Kagome agreed.

"You're right, she does," he agreed also. I watched as he began rubbing his chin while he thought about a solution to my problem. "I know, I'll talk to my dad today about it and see what he says. If you guys want you can come over to my house and hang out."

"You know, Inuyasha," Miroku spoke. "You're being awfully nice,"

He blushed, "I'm trying to help out a friend you idiot! Now if you're going to come then let's go!"

I had to hide my laugh from him, because I knew he would glare at me and I didn't want to be glared at. I got up from where I was sitting and walked back into my room to grab some socks and my vans. Once those objects were retrieved I dug around in my bag and pulled out my magenta eye shadow and quickly put some on before I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I could hear Inuyasha and Miroku talking about something and I could hear nothing from Kagome. I guess she was just sitting there staring off into space like she does sometimes. I spit out the used toothpaste and rinsed my mouth out before I retreated back into my room. When I walked in Kagome was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall. She looked up when she heard me walk in and she gave me a small smile, she obviously wanted to talk.

"How are you feeling about all this, Sango?"

"It's a little hard to get used to, you know, the fact that you guys know." I said honestly. Kagome deserved only the truth from me. I grabbed my socks and slipped them on both feet and continued. "But if you meant about the whole abuse thing, then I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm only worried about how Kohaku is feeling in all of this mess. I hope he's happy with my mother, as happy as he can be after only a day of being with her and her new boyfriend. I just really don't want him to worry about me,"

"I'm pretty sure he is, Sango. I know how close you both were and I wish that he was here with you instead of with your mother. If not that, then that you both were with her."

"I wished that at first also, but it would have meant leaving all of you guys behind and I didn't want that anymore then leaving Kohaku behind,"

"Are you going to see him?"

"Of course, I just don't know when, but hopefully it'll be soon,"

"Will you two stop talking? Let's go already!" Inuyasha yelled from the living room.

"Oh Inuyasha, ever so graceful," Kagome said making a face.

I laughed at her and she got up and walked back to the living room so she could put on her shoes. I grabbed mine and jogged to the living room where Inuyasha and Kagome were glaring at each other. I looked at Miroku and he shrugged his shoulders, obviously just as confused as I was. I figured it was just their normal, so I proceeded to put on my shoes. Once we were all ready we walked out but not before Miroku grabbed his car keys.

"Aren't you going to ride with us?" Kagome asked.

"No, this way when we're done we can come back home,"

She nodded her head and walked to the passenger side of Inuyasha's car. Miroku and I got into his car and he started the engine and we were greeted by loud music. I covered my ears and glared at Miroku and he just grinned back at me. After lowering the music he backed out of the driveway and followed Inuyasha to his house. The ride was mostly silent again with just the music playing. I guess he didn't have anything to say either because I was just as quiet as he was. We followed Inuyasha's red car all the way to a nicer part of the neighborhood.

Tall houses were all I could see once we did enter his neighborhood. Three story and even four story structures were all around us making me feel very much like an outsider. Despite knowing Inuyasha for as long as I had I never had gotten used to his own house that he shared with his parents. One thing I did like about his house was hat it was the only two story house in the whole neighborhood. At first they had lived in a huge four story mansion but, according to Kagome, they moved into a smaller one when first, Sesshomaru, their older half-brother moved out, and then later when Akira moved to New York.

While I was thinking back on my thoughts I hadn't realized that we were already at Inuyasha's house, Miroku had to snap at me to catch my attention and I knew that I had, one again, started blushing. We stepped out of his car and headed towards the front door where Inuyasha and Kagome were busy taking off their shoes and bickering about who knows what. Once we entered into his house I let a small smile grace my lips. It had been awhile since I had been to this house, and seeing the cream colored walls again made me feel warm inside, a feeling I hadn't hand since who knows when. I put some of the guest slippers they had while Miroku and Kagome both put on their very own pair of house slippers. They had been coming here for so long it almost seemed natural for them to have their own.

I then noticed how quiet it was in the house, apparently his dad was still at work. His father was, obviously, a lawyer and his mother had been a very successful fashion designer/model before she retired after having Akira. We all walked into the loft area and sat down on the red velvet couches they had in there, they were very comfortable, despite their appearance. Inuyasha was the first to grab the remote and began surfing through all the channels at his demon speed, not giving us a chance to say we wanted to watch something, I guess he did that on purpose so he could watch what he wanted to. What an ass…

"Won't your mom get mad if she finds out were here?" Kagome asked in a bored tone.

"You know she's not gonna care, I'm sure she can even write us an excuse saying that we were all sick after doing who knows what last night,"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders and kicked off her house shoes and placed her legs up onto Inuyasha a few inches above his knees. They were so comfortable around each other it was weird. I suppose people think that about Kohaku and I also…we don't have a typical brother and sister relationship like every other brother and sister have. Perfect example was Kagome and Souta. They argued a lot more often than Kohaku and I had. Maybe it was only because we were abused…that could possibly be it. Seemed most logical than anything else. I watched as Inuyasha finally settled onto some random cartoon on a random channel. For awhile it seemed as if we were just here hanging out like we always did. But no…we were here to ask questions, questions that would have never been brought up to the surface if no one knew. There I go pitting myself again…

"Is anyone hungry?" Inuyasha asked.

"We ate before we got here," Miroku spoke.

"Speaking of food," I said. "Did you ever get those five other flavors of ramen, Inuyasha?"

"You told her Kagome!" Inuyasha nearly yelled.

"Of course I did! It was ridiculous that we had to wait in line just for some new flavors of soup! What is it with demons and ramen anyways?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything; he just glared at Kagome who just ignored him like they always did. I rolled my eyes and Miroku noticed it and laughed out loud which caused both of the angry teens to glare at us. Kagome got a light blush over her face and Inuyasha just ignored us and went back to his T.V. show.

I guess two hours had passed by the time Inuyasha's mother got to the house. They told me I had dozed off while watching T.V. with them and why they woke me up I wasn't sure. After all it was Inuyasha's mom and not his dad but I guess it was so I could say hello. A few moments later while I was rubbing my eyes, Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother, walked into the room wearing a huge smile on her face. When she saw me her smile only widened as she walked over to me with her arms outstretched. I stood up quickly and hugged the older woman.

"Sango, I haven't seen you in almost a month! I hope everything is well for you!" she said while hugging my tighter. I had to bite my lower lip to refrain from crying out in pain. As quickly as the pain had come it left as she let me go and walked around to give hugs to the rest of the gang.

"Mom, when is dad coming home?" Inuyasha asked after placing a kiss on her cheek. I had only seen Inuyasha show affection to only two people, Kagome and, of course, his mother.

"I'm not sure dear," she said while scratching her arm. "You can always call him if you'd like. I'm sure if you asked him to come home early he would."

"Thanks, mom, I'll call him now," he said while heading out of the room so his mother wouldn't hear his conversation.

"As wonderful as it is to see you guys, why aren't you in school?" Izayoi asked. I looked down at the floor as her eyes swept over to my face. "Are all of you kids sick or did you just not feel like learning today?"

"We didn't feel like learning," Kagome answered for us. Miroku and I nodded our heads eagerly and Izayoi laughed.

"Alright you guys, we'll I'll be in my studio. I may have retired but it seems as though people are waiting for me to just start designing clothes again," she muttered laughing to herself. "I'll see you kids later,"

We all waved goodbye to her and watched as she disappeared back into the main room. Kagome had grabbed the remote during our talk with Mrs. Takahashi and changed it to a cooking show and we all watched, obviously Miroku was more engrossed in it than Kagome had been. A few minutes later Inuyasha walked back in the room, his expression unreadable.

"What did he say?" I asked him after he sat down next to Kagome who had already put her feet back where they had been.

"My dad said he'd be here in fifteen minutes," he answered while looking at the T.V.

"That was rather fast," Miroku stated as the T.V. went to a commercial. "Was he upset?"

"Nah, he said that he was a little concerned because of my tone of voice."

The butterflies I had tried so hard to ignore finally demanded their presence be known to me. My stomach was doing summersaults and I had to admit, I didn't like it. I would soon find the answers I wanted and I was a little scared at what I would hear. While the others talked back in forth about who knows what, I thought more and more about it. I decided that I wanted to talk to him alone; I didn't want anyone else there if I started crying or whatever and I figured it would be best if I could ask him anything without being embarrassed with my friends there. I carefully leaned back onto the couch and let out a sigh. Inuyasha's ears twitched but he didn't say anything to me; all he did was simply look at me then back to the T.V.

After the fifteen minutes were up, we heard Inutaishio's car pull up. The car door opened then closed and the sound of the alarm turning on was heard. My heart began racing nervously each second that passed by and the only one staring at me was Inuyasha since he could obviously hear my heart pounding in my chest. A few moments later we all heard the front door open and close and seconds hand passed when Inutaishio came into the room, his fierce golden eyes focused on Inuyasha.

"What's the problem?"

"I need to talk to you in your study," Inuyasha said standing up. He looked over at me and my heard started pounding faster, if that was even possible. "Sango, come on. You two wait here, we won't be long,"

I stood up and avoided Inutaishio's questioning gaze. I looked over at Miroku who gave me a small smile and when I looked at Kagome she had a big smile, encouraging me to be brave. I followed both of the dog demons up into Inutaishio's study. Once we entered Inutaishio closed the door and made his way to his desk where he sat in his huge cushioned rolling chair. Inuyasha took the seat on the left side of his fathers' desk which left me the seat on the right. Once I sat down Inuyasha launched into my story. The moment he said I was abused Mr. Takahashi put up his hand, silencing Inuyasha.

"You're being abused, Miss. Sango?" he asked me, daring me with his eyes to lie to him.

"Yes, sir, I had been…"

"Does this mean that you aren't being abused anymore?" he asked again.

"No, sir, I ran away last night," I watched the dog demon nod his head, encouraging me to keep going. "I didn't know where to go, but I guess in my panic I ended up at Miroku's house and I ended up staying the night there and—"

"You stayed at Miroku's house of all places?" Inutaishio asked in shock. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No, sir, I swear!" I answered defending Miroku's honor. Well, if there was any left. "He was a perfect gentleman the whole time I was there."

"I see," the great dog demon said. "So what do you need my help with?"

Before I could answer Inuyasha spoke again, telling him about how my mother got a court order to only take Kohaku away and how she left me there even though I could have easily gone with her. Inuyasha explained that I needed help knowing what I could do to stay independent and to not go back with my father.

"Seeing as you're going to be turning eighteen in January, I would suggest finding a family friend to stay with, seeing as you don't have any other family members,"

"We never had any family friends," I answered truthfully. My dad had been an only child and when my grandmother was giving birth to him she died and my grandfather had died a little while after my parents had gotten married. As for my mother, she had a sister but they hadn't been on good terms since my mom was pregnant with me. There's no way she'd want me, plus the last we had heard she was living in Washington D.C. "The only people who are even like my family are you guys and Miroku and Kagome."

"Hmm…" Inutaishio leaned back into his chair and began rubbing his chin, obviously thinking of some kind of solution. "What you could do is get a job now anyways, it won't be easy to juggle work and school but I believe you would be able to. Now, here's the thing, you can't obviously get an apartment seeing as you don't have the funds. I have a solution, but I would have to get a court order first, but until you get on your feet to live on your own you can live here with my family. Akira's room is available for you to sleep in."

As much as Inuyasha liked me, I could tell he was not comfortable with me sleeping in Akira's room. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't have wanted anyone sleeping in Kohaku's room either, but I suppose under these circumstances I wouldn't have minded much. I guess Inuyasha was being his usual asshole self. Inutaishio noticed Inuyasha's discomfort with the idea and let out a very loud sigh that almost made me jump out of my seat.

"I know you don't like it Inuyasha, but what do you want me to do?"

"Let her live with Miroku, I think she'd like that a lot better than living here with us,"

Inutaishio looked over at me and I guess he could see that Inuyasha was right. He let out another sigh and leaned back once again into his chair. He began rubbing his chin again and finally sat back up and looked at me.

"I'll tell you this much, Sango, we might not even be able to get permission for you to live there. Seeing as Miroku is already eighteen he can provide for himself but since you are a minor it will cause a problem. I might have a hard time getting a judge to let you live there with him, and, also, since you are a minor I would need your parents consent for you to live there. Both of your parents,"

"But wouldn't it be easier just to say my dad is abusive and that I shouldn't be around that? Or will the judge say the same thing like what my mom said?"

"He just might, but it also wouldn't hurt to try that approach," Inutaishio said while grabbing his personal phonebook out of his top drawer. "You're quite lucky that I don't have any cases at the moment and that I can handle this immediately. But, I have a feeling that even if I did have about five cases I was all working on, I would have dropped them all to help, I know how much you mean to this family," he looked at me and smiled and I couldn't help but blush for the umpteenth time. "You two can go now, I'll call you back when I get a hold of the family judge,"

I stood up and bowed while thanking him over and over. Inuyasha thanked his dad also and we both walked out of his study and back into the living room. When we walked in Kagome wasn't in there and Miroku was lazily flipping through the stations. I walked over to him and poke his forehead which freaked him out because he shot up so fast that if I hadn't moved at the last minute would have given me a major bump on the head. I couldn't help but laugh at him and soon enough he joined in laughing with me. Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and sat down where he had been sitting before.

"What's Kagome at?" he asked while placing his feet on the coffee table.

"Your mom needed help with something so Kagome offered to help her out," Miroku answered while he began searching the channels again. "I was going to go with them but your mom gave me a really dirty look and told me to stay. I guess Kagome was going to be the model for whatever outfit she's working on."

I sat down next to Inuyasha and watched as Miroku settled on another cooking show. We all watched the show in silence and as the minutes dragged on I feared the worse. What if no judge wanted to let me stay with Miroku? What if I was forced to go back with my dad? I was pretty sure that if I was forced to go back, he would kill me the moment I entered the door. I prayed that it wouldn't come down to it. I didn't want to go back to having to hide the bruises, I didn't want that live anymore now that I had a taste at what life could really be like. It may have been small, but being able to go a whole day, a whole hour, without being hit once, was like my personal heaven on earth. There was no way I was giving that up. Even if I had to move back with my dad, I would just leave again, that is if I lived thru that beating. I would go back to Miroku's house, maybe even Kagome's house, and live there until I could support myself. And whenever that did happen, I was going to demand Kohaku live with me, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

"Hey, Sango, are you listening?"

I looked up and saw that Inuyasha was standing by the archway leading towards his fathers' study. He spoke again and said that while I was staring off into space his dad had called for us to go into his office. I stood up and this time I didn't look at Miroku, I just walked passed Inuyasha back to where his father was waiting for us. When we entered I sat down in the same chair as before and waiting for him to talk. After instructing Inuyasha to close the door he spoke.

"I talked to the head judge of family court," Inutaishio said while fixing up some papers and placing the phonebook he had pulled out earlier back into its original spot. "He said that he would listen to your case, which is a very good thing. I will represent you, obviously, and I will help you as much as I can, free of charge,"

"Thank you so much, Mr. Takahashi," I said while smiling widely.

"I must warn you though, Sango," he said getting serious. "This might not even make it that far. I talked to him about how you wanted to live with Mr. Houshi and, these are his words, not mine, that in order to live with him, you'll have to get married."

I literally felt the color drain from my face. Marry Miroku just so I could live with him? That can't be right! Teenagers live with each other all the time and they didn't have to get married! I looked up at him and he continued.

"But, I informed him that it would only be temporary until you can get a job and save up enough money to support yourself, in which he said that would be fine. But you have until a week before you eighteenth birthday to come up with some money so you can live on your own. If you don't, you'll have to go right back with your father."

"Can I even find a job that would pay me that much money? The only places I can get hired at are fast food restaurants and they don't pay that much." I started ranting. I stopped when Inutaishio raised his hand so he could continue.

"I know of some places that are looking to hire part time students. I'll put in a good word for you at those places and hopefully you can get a job there. If not I'm sure either Izayoi or myself can secure you a job working with one of us for awhile so you can gain some kind of experience."

At this point, I was speechless. I couldn't believe that he was doing this much for me, and for free none the less! I spoke a little more on what could happen if it went to family hearing. My mom would have to show up, as well as my dad, and the judge would decide if my dad was mature enough to take care of me. He also said that I could stay with Miroku until my trial would take place which he would hear about in a week or two. I smiled so wide that I could feel the corners of my mouth tear some from how wide my smile was. I can't believe I got to keep living with him! After he explained everything to me he dismissed me so he could talk to Inuyasha privately. I all but ran back into the living room where Miroku was now looking out the window that faced the backyard where their large outdoor swimming pool was located. When he saw me he stood up and right when he was going to ask me what happened I ran full force at him and gave him a big hug.

"I might be able to live with you after all!" I said smiling up at him. "Mr. Takahashi said that until my trial starts I can live with you! It'll be at least two weeks until my trial starts!"

"Wait, trial? What are you talking about?" he asked me curiously. I didn't fail to notice that he arms had snaked around me and he kept me close to his body, but I chose to ignore it for awhile as I began to explain to him everything that Inutaishio said. When I was done he smiled at me and hugged me again. "I'm so happy you get to stay with me,"

"Surprisingly, I am too," I said honestly. I felt his body start shaking from laughter and I couldn't help but laugh too. "You know this means you're going to have to feed me every day, right?"

"Well damn, this sucks. I guess all my food is going to go away," he sighed.

"That's not nice, Miroku," I said glaring at him. He grinned at me and I couldn't help but smile again. "Anyways, I think if you want we can leave,"

"Nah, I want to stay,"

"You seemed pretty bored earlier. Why do you want to stay all of a sudden?"

"I want to go swimming, so let's go swimming," he said while grabbing my hand and all but dragging me out to where the pool was.

"We don't have anything to swim in Miroku!" I said looking down at my pants and wife beater. "I don't want to swim in blue jeans it's gonna suck!"

"Come on, Sango, it'll be fun," he whined while giving me his best puppy dog look. I sighed in defeat and he grinned. "You're going to have fun, that's why I don't know why you were trying to get out of it."

"Maybe it's because we don't have permission," I said stubbornly.

He grinned again and kept leading me to the pool without answering me. When we finally made it to the pool he stripped off his shoes and socks and placed them on top of one of the pool chairs. He also took out his wallet and removed his belt and placed them with his other items. I slowly took off my shoes also and placed my hair tie on the table too. I looked at Miroku and he just smiled and took off running into the pool. There was a huge splash as his body was attacked with water. He came back up and shook his hair back and forth.

"Come on, Sango! The water is just right!" he yelled while diving back underneath.

"I'm coming! Just chill out," I said while moving closer to the water. I really hated swimming in blue jeans…I wondered briefly if I would be able to borrow one of Akira's bathing suits when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and I saw a maid holding some shorts.

"Miss. Higurashi asked me to give you some shorts so you could go swimming," the maid announced. She handed them to me and I smiled at her.

"Thank you," she bowed her head in respect than went off to do whatever she was doing before. I looked at Miroku who had witnessed the whole exchange. "I'll be right back," I said as I ran to the nearest bathroom. I quickly stripped off my pants and pulled on the shorts. They were incredibly short! I should have just gone swimming in my panties! I let out a sigh and walked back out caring my jeans. When Miroku saw me his jaw dropped.

"You know, those are shorter than you're school uniform skirts," he stated the obvious.

"Stop staring at me like that, Houshi," I said glaring. I didn't want him to know that his staring was making me have butterflies. I walked towards the edge of the pool and sat down with only my feet in the water. "You were right, it's perfect,"

"Hurry up and get in so we can make out underwater," he teased.

"Ha ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically. I very carefully lowered myself into the pool, trying not to hurt my bruises or anything, and when I was in the water reached right underneath my breasts. I think Miroku noticed that too…

"Want to race?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"So you can stay behind and watch my behind? I'll pass," I said walked slowly towards the other side away from him. He followed me easily and stood right in front of me.

"I really want to race; I think it'll be fun,"

"What if I accidentally hit the bruises on my back and I end up drowning?"

"I'd save you,"

I glared at him once again and instead of answering I dove underwater so I could wet my hair all the way. I had never been a very big fan of swimming. I guess it's because water can be shaped to whatever it's in and I suppose it reminded me of, well, me. I had been molded into something abnormal, something I had never been before. I had been contained to just one shape when I should have been able to be any shape I wanted to be. I guess now I had that freedom to be what I wished to be. I came back up for air and Miroku was just staring at me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked him irritated.

"Those are some really short shorts," he commented while swimming towards me. I let out an irritated sigh and when he reached me he places his hands on the wall, trapping me in between the wall and his body. "You look amazing when wet,"

"Will you stop joking around?! Someone is going to see us and question if we're a couple or not!" I said panicking. Out of all the times, this was the first time I felt really vulnerable. For one, he could see pretty much everything and you could probably see my hard nipples through the thin material of my bra.

"I'm not joking around," he said while smirking. "You know, Sango, I've always thought her were beautiful," I watched as his hands went to push some of my hair out of my face. "But the way you look right now, I must say you looking fucking hot,"

There was no way this was really happening. This had to be a dream! I was going to wake up any second now and I was still going to be at Miroku's house, barely waking up. I looking into his blue violet eyes and when I felt the very same hand that had been pushing my hair out of the way land lightly on my hip, I knew this was my reality. Or more like my personal hell. Didn't he get that I couldn't date right now?! He obviously knows my feelings for him, if he didn't know; he wouldn't be doing this to me. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him back a few inches, he seemed shocked.

"Stop talking like that," I said as emotionless as I could. "You know very well I can't be in a relationship, and you're my best friend, Miroku. I don't want to ruin that with you, no matter how much I like you,"

"Sango—"

"I'm not finished," I interrupted him. "I told you twice already that I couldn't, and you just badgering me with your flirtatious ways isn't helping me at all, just stop while you're ahead and before I get hurt even more than I already am," and with that I swam away. That was until Miroku caught my ankle.

"Sango," he said pulling me back to him even while I protested the whole time. "I'm not doing this to hurt you, and I know what you said about not wanting a relationship, but I just can't help myself," he said honestly. "I want to be more than just friends with you, I always have and you know that, but now that we have this opportunity to be more than just friends, you're pushing me away. It's alright to be scared about what might happen, because I'm scared too, but I promise, we'll always be friends first, lovers second. Please, Sango, give me a chance,"

I looked into his eyes once more and for the first time, ever; I saw just how much he loved me. But I just had to stop myself from saying those three words. I sighed while I looked down into the blue water. I could feel myself shaping into something else now; I just didn't know what it was yet. When I looked back at him, he was still waiting.

"Miroku…"

"Hey you guys! Are you hungry yet? Inuyasha is already whining about how he wants food," Kagome yelled from the doorway. She couldn't tell that we were having a very serious talk.

"We're fine," Miroku answered for both of us. He looked down at me. "Are you even hungry?"

"No, I'm fine," I said swimming away from him to be caught yet again by my ankle. When I turned around he was smirking. "What is it?"

"You didn't answer me,"

"Yes I did, I said I wasn't hungry," I said looking confused.

"I meant the other thing,"

For a long time, all we did was stare. I was more confused than I had ever been in my life. This should have been simple! It was either yes or no and God only knew how much I wanted to say yes, but instead I heard myself saying:

"Now isn't a good time, Miroku, let's just get this whole thing with my dad out of the way before we commit to anything," I felt his grip on my ankle loosen and I swam away towards the shallow end before getting out completely.

While I was talking back to my clothes I heard Miroku get out as well, I guess he wasn't that much more enthusiastic about swimming as I was. When I reached my clothes there were two towels there as well. I grabbed one and began drying myself off carefully. When most of my body was dry, I grabbed my clothes and walked to the bathroom, leaving Miroku standing there dripping wet.

After getting dressed I stuck the towel into the dirty clothes basket and made my way out of the bathroom. I looked outside and Miroku was sitting there in the sun, I guess he was letting his clothes dry. I shrugged it off and walked to the front door, I had this sudden urge to just take a walk and let out all of my anger. I put on my shoes quickly and walked out of the door, I was more than sure that the two demons in the house heard me leave, but I didn't care. I walked all the way down their driveway and turned left.

The sun was beating down on me and I could already feel myself beginning to sweat. Why the hell was it this hot in the fall? I shrugged my shoulders and kept walking, not sure exactly where I was going. My eyes never left my feet as I kept walking, and when I finally looked up I realized I had at least walked five or six blocks away from Inuyasha's house. Hopefully they wouldn't look for me any time soon. I walked a few more steps and spotted a payphone on the other side of the street. Without thinking I ran to the phone and picked up the receiver. I started searching my pockets and cursed, I didn't have any money on me. I let out a small sigh of frustration but then I decided I could just call collect.

I dialed the number I had forced myself to memorize so that every time she called I'd know it was her. Hitting the numbers quickly I waited for the operator to connect me. It rang three times before my mother's voice came over the phone.

"Hello, sorry we couldn't answer the phone, but right now we have taken a quick vacation with my son to the United States. I hope you have a wonderful day and we'll return your call once we get back. Thanks, goodbye!"

Did I just hear that right? Did she really say they were in the states? I was speechless. I had already heard the beep signaling me to leave a message, but I couldn't. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I spoke. Well, more like yelled.

"Curse you Karou! I trusted you! And you betrayed me…just like dad…" I let out a sob as I threw the phone at the box. It bounced off and hit me in the arm which made me curse before letting out another loud sob. I sunk to the floor, utterly defeated.

Why did she leave so suddenly? Did she really not want me anymore? I had hoped that I could have at least seen Kohaku before all of this started happening. But no, I couldn't be happy, I realized. Everyone had betrayed me; the only person I could trust was me.

"No one loves me…" I said out loud. I wasn't really expecting any kind of answer.

"I love you, Sango, and you know I do," I looked up and saw Kagome standing over me. She had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill out at any moment. "C'mon, let's go back to Inuyasha's house. Everyone is worried about you,"

She reached her hand towards me and I grabbed it before helping her pull me up. She hugged me tightly and I couldn't help but hug her back just as tight. I could feel her tears landing on my shirt and I'm sure she could feel my tears landing on her. She finally let me go and gave me a big smile and we walked off holding hands together. When we made it to Inuyasha's house we could see Inuyasha and Miroku walking towards us. Inuyasha spotted us quickly and I swear I could hear him growling. I didn't realize I would have gotten into that much trouble…

"Where the hell have you been? We were worried about you!" Inuyasha yelled once we were in range of hearing. I'm pretty sure the whole neighborhood heard him though.

"I went for a walk," I said simply.

"You could have at least told someone!" he yelled again. "Your dad could have been out there or something!"

"My dad wouldn't come over here and you know it!"I yelled back.

"You never know! He could have been driving around just to drive and he could have seen you walking around!"

"Well he didn't! I'm fine and you can see that so will you stop yelling at me already!"

We glared at each other for a good five minutes before he just growled and walked back into the house. Kagome let go of my hand and walked in after him, probably to calm him down. All that remained was Miroku and I. He was the very reason why I went on my little walk. I wish he had never said those things to me, because now I could feel a complication. It was there and it would stay there until something happened. He looked at me and smiled.

"Do you want to go home now?"

I didn't answer right away. I was scared that my voice would come out sounding weak and pathetic and I didn't want that. So after a long pause I nodded my head yes. He said he would collect the car key and say goodbye and that I was to wait here for him. I just nodded again and sat down on the steps leading up to the front door. The only thing I could hear were my thoughts yelling at me and cars passing by. I asked myself again and again, why did she leave? What purpose was that for? Was it to take Kohaku's mind off of things? How was I supposed to know he was alright? I let out a sigh and felt the tears coming back but I shook them off. I didn't want Miroku to see me crying. Awhile later he came back out with the car keys and I followed him to the car; Kagome came out awhile later and waved goodbye to us while we drove off.

The ride was like every single other car ride with him, quiet as hell. This time it was more of a reason to be quiet; I was still a little…warmed up at what happened. I think he knew how much I wanted to be with him, but he also knew how much I couldn't be with him. Regardless, by the time we reached his house not a single word had been said and I just wanted to run up to him and kiss him until my lips fell off. It didn't sound to ideal, but it would have made me happy and I'm sure he would have been happy. If only we could…

He put the car in park and turned it off. I noticed that he didn't park the car in the driveway; I guess he was leaving somewhere. I got out at the same time he did and as I was following him to the door we could hear the phone ringing. He cursed lightly and hurried to open the door. Once he did, he ran in and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" he answered. I closed the door behind me and locked it, something I had grown used to when I lived with my dad. "Oh hey, no I just got home. Why what's up?"

I took a seat on the couch and looked around, not really paying attention, or trying not to pay attention, to Miroku's conversation. He talked a little more to whoever it was and I looked up suddenly when I heard him say:

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there in a few minutes,"

After that a few more words were exchanged and then he hung up. I kept staring at him but he wouldn't look at me for whatever reason. He reached where we kept our shoes at and he put his back on. He grabbed his keys and before he could even unlock the door I spoke.

"Where are you going?"

"Out,"

"Who are you going out with?"

"You don't know her, so don't worry about it," and with that he opened the door and left, locking it behind him.

I sat there, just staring at the door not sure what to do. A few moments later I heard the car start then pull away. I tore my gaze away and stared at the floor. I didn't know her huh? I stood up from the couch after sitting there for a couple of minutes longer. I walked to the guest room and looked through my bag for some clean clothes. I pulled out a long sleeved shirt and some black yoga pants. I peeled off my clothes and put on fresh undergarments and the clothes I just pulled out. Grabbing some socks, I put them on quickly and headed for the front door. When I touched the handle I felt myself freeze. Inuyasha's words came rushing back into my head.

"He could have been driving around just to drive and he could have seen you walking around!"

I didn't want to risk him seeing me, so I let go of the doorknob and walked back to my temporary room. When I walked in I stripped down to only my bra and panties and I lay down on the bed. I stuck my head into the pillow and before I knew it, I was crying. Tears upon tears were just running out of my eyes and I could clearly picture myself drowning in my tears, similar to how Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" almost drowned herself. I knew that ending my life would never make anything easier; it would only make everything harder for the people who were still living. I would never take my own life though; I could never go out that way. My eyes were already getting swollen from my tears. I rolled carefully onto my back and looked at the ceiling. The tears had finally stopped and all that escaped my mouth were a few sobs.

A dull ache in my back is what woke me up. I carefully sat up and looked over at the clock on the end table. It read twelve forty six A.M. I stood up and walked over to the door and opened it as quietly as I could. When I poked my head out all the lights were still on. I guess Miroku still wasn't back yet. I let out a long sigh and just to double check I walked into the living room and peeked out the window. Sure enough, his car wasn't there. My shoulders slumped and I dragged myself back to the room I had been sleeping in.

As carefully as possible, I lay back down on my back and again looked at the ceiling. The time turned to one, then two, and when the clock struck three there still was no sign of Miroku. He had given up on me already…betrayed once again. I let out a sigh and before I fell asleep, one tear slid down the side of my face and disappeared into my hair.

Another chapter finished. How am I doing so far? I hope I'm doing alright. A past reviewer had said I had to much dialog and I'm trying to refrain from that as much as possible. It's kind of hard but I think I'm doing a good job at it. This chapter seemed to take forever and it seems a little…like a filler chapter. I will get into more of the really big important stuff in the next few chapters. I'm just trying to add some fluff in before all that stuff happens, teehee! Anyways, I must thank a few people:

Cousin Sam: Why the hell didn't you sign in and leave a review? You're dumb! The next time I see you I'm gonna slap you in the face and steal your iPod! Thanks for your review, cousin, I love you!

Miroku: Inuyasha ruins everything for my favorite couple in this story! Just a minor heads up ha-ha. Oh and your review made me laugh how you reviewed twice. When I read the first review I was like "what the hell?" and then the second one I couldn't stop laughing hahaha. I hope you keep reading this story!

Alright, so I don't know when I'll update again since my muse comes back and then leaves and it can be pretty annoying. I'm going to start college soon and when that happens, I'm sure I'll be swamped with homework that I never had in high school. But, anyways, until we meet again!

Remember, reviews make the world go round.

Inumel-mel

Follow my story on twitter! Inumel(underscore)mel