Reality for the First Time
A/N: Yay for chapter three! Sorry this didn't come out sooner today, but I was very very busy! Nothing else to say right now so I'll let you get to the story.
Once again, review responses at the bottom!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
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Chapter ThreeO
(In Sango's room)O
Sango was having fun. Lots of fun. After all, nothing beat playing mind tricks on an unsuspecting visitor, while making him extremely frustrated in the process. Sango was highly amused, and easily entertained. Miroku was what she would call her distraction from life.
Presently, Miroku was rubbing his temples, praying that Kouga would come and tell him he could leave for the day. He looked up at Sango, who was sitting on her cot with the same smug countenance she'd worn throughout the entire visit.
Oh you think this is funny, do you? Miroku thought bitterly. Time for a taste of your own medicine.
"Never have I met a more repulsive, annoying, and egotistical girl in my life!" He spat.
Miroku had no idea what he was getting into.
Sango's eyes flashed in anger and in one fluid movement, Sango was across the room, wrapping her spindly hands around Miroku's throat.
"Say that again," she said coldly. "I dare you to say something so awful to me, I'll have no choice but to be sedated. Go on, say it again!" she whispered in his ear. Miroku shuddered, wondering what this girl would do to him. He was stuck in a ditch; either he says something to her and gets mauled, or he keeps his mouth shut and gets mauled anyway. Not many good options.
"Look!" Miroku gasped as she released her grip on his neck. "I-I'm sorry about that, but I got sick of hearing you outsmart me like that. It really does make you seem arrogant," Miroku said honestly.
SLAP!
"Ahh! That hardly called for such brutality. I was apologizing, wasn't I?" Miroku whined, rubbing a sore red spot on his face.
"Suck it up. You still have no right to insult me. I'm the vulnerable patient here, not you."
"You don't seem all too vulnerable to me," Miroku muttered.
"You wanna die!"
"Nooo!" Miroku squeezed his eyes shut.
Kouga strolled in at that instant, handing Miroku a pass showing that he had volunteered for one day so far. He was ordered to get the pass stamped every day he was here until his sentence was up. Then Miroku would be free again.
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(In Inuyasha's room)
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"Inuyasha, I'm your doctor now. You're going to have to talk to me sooner or later," Kagome said with an edgy tone.
"I ain't gotta do nothing!" He retorted. Kagome let out a growl, causing Inuyasha to look up. He was amazed that this woman was growling at him. How strange.
"Well, I've been here long enough. I'll see you tomorrow, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a false smile. Not waiting for a response from Inuyasha, (nor expecting one) Kagome turned on her heel and left.
"Oh, Kagome-san!" Kouga called out as he saw the gorgeous doctor depart from her patient's room. Kagome rolled her eyes, not wanting to converse with the possessive doctor at the moment. "Allow me," Kouga gushed, pushing open the front doors of the hospital.
Kagome continued on through the door, neither acknowledging the annoying doctor, nor thanking him.
"Women," Kouga mumbled, shaking his head before descending the steps as well.
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(In the hospital)
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Sango raised her tired head from her pillow as she heard three soft knocks on her door. She listened as the door handle rattled, telling her that Inuyasha was picking the lock again so he could visit her.
Seconds later, Inuyasha was in. He smiled at his friend and sat down on the floor next to her bed.
"What is it?" Sango whispered. She was much too fatigued to have a conversation right now and really wasn't in the mood for more visitors.
"I'm glad to see you're alright. That damn Kouga always gives you such strong medicine, sometimes you're asleep for the whole day!" Inuyasha exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Sango said, closing her eyes. "So how was your day?"
"Heh. Horrible. I've got some new know-it-all doctor pestering me about 'getting to know each other better'. No thank you!" Inuyasha answered.
"Sounds fun. I got an annoying visitor today too," Sango's eyes flew open and her hands gripped both sides of her pillow. "That moron called me annoying, arrogant, repulsive— oh it was horrible! He made me so mad!" Sango stuffed her face into the soft pillow.
She stopped talking, suddenly wondering why Miroku's words affected her so badly compared to everyone else.
"I'll teach him a lesson if he shows up here again, don't worry," Inuyasha said protectively. Sango smiled at her 'older brother', as she once called him.
"Thanks," and she drifted off to sleep.
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(Next day at the hospital)
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"Greetings!" Kouga said cheerfully, watching Miroku trudge up to the front entrance of Hideko Institute.
"Hi," Miroku grumbled. Mushin had told him earlier to look at the bright side, only four more days of this. Even with that small of a number, Miroku wasn't reassured.
"Ready to start?" Kouga asked.
"Yeah, hold on a second Kouga. Why is it I have to spend time with the patients? I thought I'd just be sitting in some office sorting papers or something easy like that," Miroku said.
"Well, we're not going to let you get off that easy, did you really think we would?" Kouga smirked. "Your guidance counselor specifically told me to make sure you interact with the patients so you learn some manners."
"I've got manners!" Miroku protested.
"Yeah? Where are they?" Kouga said. He grinned and headed inside.
Miroku stood outside, watching the revolving doors go round and round. Had Kouga just insulted him? The nerve!
Miroku followed Kouga yet again, feeling a bit sick to his stomach. Was it just his imagination, or were they headed in the direction of that Sango girl's room? She was the last person Miroku wanted to see that day.
"Miroku!" A voice called from behind. Both Miroku and Kouga turned to see Koharu rushing over to Miroku's side. Kouga raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"Miroku, I'll be waiting in room 241," Kouga said, nodding to the pair.
Koharu was breathless, staring up at Miroku's face, which was at least two heads above her own. Miroku smiled at her, suddenly wondering if she was a stalker. Perhaps she had been a bad choice…
Koharu raised herself by standing on her toes and planted a small kiss on Miroku's cheek. Without another word she ran off.
Yeah, probably a stalker. Damn. Miroku thought.
Turning, Miroku began his search for room 241. And as fate would have it—
"Takashi Sango? Again!" Miroku cried out, reading the name on the small brass nametag beside the door. "What did I do wrong in my life to deserve this!" Miroku asked himself.
Miroku entered to find a shocking sight. There sat Sango, crying her eyes out on Kouga's now wet shoulder. He could hear Kouga whispering words of comfort to the shaken girl, but to no avail. Miroku stood transfixed, wondering what was wrong with Sango. He stared into her reddened eyes, not fully aware that he was moving towards her step by step.
I thought she was strong. This was the girl who had wrapped her hands around my throat in attempt to throttle me yesterday, right? What's going on? Miroku wondered.
"Kouga, what's wrong with her?" Miroku asked.
Kouga patted Sango's back as she let out a tiny hiccup. The doctor smiled down at her, and looked back up at Miroku with a grave expression on his face.
"She ends up like this almost every morning. She has nightmares of her past and doesn't get much sleep or peace because of it," he explained.
"Well, what happened to her in the past?" Miroku questioned.
Kouga looked at Sango again, waiting for her to give the okay. She nodded slightly before covering her tear-stained face with her hands again.
"Sango's family died about a year ago. They were murdered in cold blood. A man named Naraku—," he noticed Sango shudder at the mention of the horrible beast. "He broke into Sango's house and killed everyone there…except for Sango. According to the files, her mother was raped and killed, her father decapitated, and her younger brother was stabbed brutally until he finally died," Kouga described in detail, going off on a long rant.
"Stop it!" Sango screamed at him. Kouga realized his mistake a bit too late - not too smart for someone who was supposed to be a well-trained doctor. Sango kicked Kouga in the side, forcing him off the bed and onto the tiled floor.
Miroku was in terrible shock. What he had heard just now was horrifying. Not even he-who-watches-horror-movies-everyday could imagine that kind of tragedy. He instantly felt extremely guilty for being so callous while visiting yesterday.
Kouga's pager went off with a loud string of beeps, disrupting the silence and completely killing the tense atmosphere. Kouga read the message and excused himself, leaving Miroku and Sango alone once again. Either Kouga was an extremely busy man, or this was some kind of dating service where contestants were stuck alone in a room together for at least an hour until they liked each other.
Miroku felt helpless. Here he was standing in a white room with a woman he now had mixed feelings about, and being forced to comfort her, nonetheless. Miroku presumed that he would be the one in need of solace once he got out of there. Might as well check him into this hospital as a patient right now.
"Why are you still here? If you want to make my life even worse then go right ahead, but I have backup," Sango said fiercely.
Backup? What did that mean? "I promise I'll never say such horrible things to you again, okay?"
As if that reassured her. "I don't want pity," she said, narrowing her eyes dangerously.
Miroku gazed at her, noticing that when she had a bit of color on her face, she was actually a beauty. Sadly though, her face was pink from crying her eyes out all morning.
"May I sit down?" Miroku asked slowly.
"Go ahead, do what you want," Sango answered dully. Miroku took a seat next to her, sighing while thinking of something to say to her.
Sango kept her eyes from wandering to him by staring at the wall with sheer determination. She felt as though she were suffocating every time he was near her. She either hated him that much, or didn't know what to think of him. The unknown was a frightening tool.
Sango continued watching the wall diligently, when a warm and strong arm snuck around her shoulder and drew her in. Not expecting such actions, Sango's slightly puffy eyes widened in surprise.
"What do you think you're doing?" She sputtered.
"You told me to do what I want, didn't you? And I want to make you feel better," Miroku answered, smiling up at the ceiling.
"You're probably just trying to get an early release for good behavior," Sango supposed. Miroku blinked at the ceiling. The girl was shrewd.
"Just trust me," he said soothingly. She obliged, wondering how opinions of people could be altered in the blink of an eye.
Sango couldn't argue with him, so she sunk into his embrace, wondering why he was being so kind all of a sudden. But she couldn't deny the lighthearted feeling of contentment as she listened to his heart beating strongly within him.
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(At the hospital cafeteria)
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As promised, Miroku ate lunch with Koharu, though he found his thoughts lingering back to Sango throughout the whole ordeal. Miroku also found himself becoming more and more uncomfortable as he saw Koharu slide closer and closer to him out of the corner of his eye. Normally, he'd go in for the kill, being quite the ladies man, but this girl was a bit, what's the word…scary.
Miroku's shoulders slumped, and he resigned to the fact that he had brought this upon himself and couldn't change things. To make matters worse, he spotted the one and only Sango only a few tables away, sipping tea.
"Oh…shit," Miroku whispered to himself. Without thinking, he ducked under the table, briefly wondering why he was hiding from Sango in the first place. Perhaps it was because of what he had done earlier, which was completely on impulse. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea about him, especially if she saw him with Koharu.
The table jerked to the side abruptly when Miroku hit his head. Koharu heard his soft curse and bent down to peer at him underneath the table. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"I…" Miroku started. "I dropped a chopstick, I know its down here somewhere," Miroku said, pretending to look around for it, hoping Koharu would ignore him.
Unfortunately, Koharu was a bit smarter than Miroku had hoped. She raised an eyebrow at the pair of chopsticks lying innocently next to Miroku's dish, before snatching them up and stabbing him in the back with them.
"Ouch! What is it?" Miroku complained.
"Found em," Koharu frowned, holding out the chopsticks for Miroku to see.
"Oh, heh thanks," Miroku said, giving the nurse a lopsided grin.
Koharu pouted. "What were you really doing?"
Miroku tried to find another excuse as fast as possible, but nothing came. As a distraction, he scanned the cafeteria and found Sango's table was empty. She was gone. Miroku sighed in relief, not caring that Koharu was giving him a foul look.
"Fine, don't tell me," Koharu said sharply, picking up her tray and storming away.
Touchy little bitch. Miroku thought cynically.
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(In the hospital's main office)
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Kouga beamed at Miroku, apparently very pleased with his work today. "I'll see you next Saturday, all right?" He said.
"Yeah, can't wait," Miroku mumbled half-heartedly.
"Neither can I!" Kouga winked. Miroku grumbled at the enthusiastic doctor.
Kouga chuckled and turned on his heel and left the room. Miroku was about to follow suit when something caught his eye. He noticed the filing cabinet was open and out on the desk were a few of the patient's records.
Miroku glanced around the room, double-checking to see if anyone else was present. He was alone. Miroku held his breath as he went through a few folders, and finally came upon Takashi Sango's files. He silently sifted through a few papers, describing her past and the event that brought her here. Then Miroku came upon gold. In his hand was a picture of Sango, taken just a year ago before tragedy struck in her life.
Miroku continued to stare at the precious item he had discovered. He detected the bright gleam in her eyes and the happy smile on her face. It made Miroku want to scream in frustration, and he found himself hating the person who had destroyed her once happy life.
Miroku stuffed the picture into his pocket, slammed the folder shut, and made his way out the door, pleased with his prize.
(Here come the O's)
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(Wasn't that fun?)
A/N: Well I for one loved Miroku's little 'change of heart' in this chapter, how bout you?
Review Responses: (Cuz I'm in a good mood, I'll give you ALL a response!)
Miroku's Priestess: Your cameo is in chapter four, remember? Haha. And thank you for beating me senseless while you were reading this chapter.
Medlii: You are too kind! Reviewing two of my other stories like that, ah I heart you so much!
MonkeyFeet180: Glad you like my story, and by the way, if you look on my profile page it says that I'll probably update this story every Wednesday (or try my hardest to do so) so that answers your question!
SanMirLover: If you think Miroku was weirded out LAST chapter, what did you think of this chapter?
Lilsanoku105: You're thanking me for updating? Haha, well you're very welcome!
Ennariel: Yea…Sango's mood swings are also dangerous, as Miroku has learned.
Kura-chan15: When will I update? Why, I believe I updated today! Heehee. Like I said to MonkeyFeet180, my updating schedule is in my profile, which I update a lot out of boredom, so you can always go check there to see my progress.
Sealingpoo: Who isn't a Koharu-hater on fanfiction . net? Haha.
Foxylove: Sorry to disappoint but this isn't an Inuyasha Sango fic. But uh…I hope you like it anyway!
NEXT CHAPTER: Miroku's classmates question him about Sango's picture.
