Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, but I really wish I did so that I could have included Koga in the final battle.

Follow My Smile

"No. I'm your new guard. Got a problem with that?"

Sango was almost surprised by her own boldness, but she held her ground, and the two stared at each other, almost as if they were sizing each other up. She would have paid to be able to hear what Miroku was thinking.

He was silent for a long moment, before he took a step forward, a wide grin overtaking his features. "Not at all, Tiny. I suppose we should sit down then, huh? Get acquainted."

"Sure, as long as you promise to leave the god awful pick-up lines off the table."

"Alright, but only if you can tell me what else I can do that will get you to smile."

Sango scowled, "Don't push it."

"Are you at least going to tell me your name, or is that classified information?" The slight raise in Miroku's eyebrows told her that he was kidding, but she still felt uneasy.

"Sango."

"You're a woman of many words, Sango."

The pair settled in at the table, sitting across from each other. Miroku leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, while Sango crossed her ankles and placed her forearms and interlocked hands on the table. They stared at each other for a moment, before Sango finally spoke.

"You don't believe that a woman is capable of guarding you." It wasn't a question, more of a statement, though she was a little surprised to see that the accusation genuinely shocked him.

"That's not it at all. In fact, I was just reflecting over how I can't believe my luck that such a beauty is in charge of my safety and protection." Miroku's expression had returned to one of pleasant neutrality. He paused, and then tacked on, "I will say that I am more than capable of protecting myself, but seeing as this agency has deemed it necessary for me to have a guard, I will not refuse your help. In fact, I'd be rather unintelligent to do so."

This surprised her, and the shock must have shown on her face, because Miroku chuckled. "I suppose you have an opinion on that."

"No. Well – yes." In Sango's experience, the ones who were trying to cause ripples were the first to accept help and protection when it was offered, because they knew how much danger they were really putting themselves in. Either this man was stupid – which he didn't strike her as – or there was something really insidious going on.

Miroku was looking at her, waiting patiently for her to continue.

Sango wasn't sure how to voice her opinion into words that wouldn't condemn her, so instead she used his tactic from earlier and switched the topic. "I'm sure that you've been told we'll be sharing a house together?"

"Ah, yes, I have. And might I say, I am certainly not disappointed by this fact either."

She took in a large inhale and resisted the urge to rub at her temples. "I feel like I should warn you that I intend to keep things strictly professional."

"As do I, beautiful, as do I. We're not breaking any decorum if we ask a few questions to get to know each other, though, are we?"

Sango quirked a brow, "You really want to play twenty questions?"

Miroku grinned, "I want to play twenty questions."

The last thing she wanted to do was get to know the man she would eventually end up killing. The more humanized he was, the harder she knew it would be to kill him, even if it were for the greater good. That's why jobs where she could ultimately be detached were the best. There were probably a hundred different things she could have said, each one of them more biting than the other, but instead she leaned back slightly in her chair, shrugging. There was probably no point in refusing, especially since they had time to kill. Kikyo had said that they would be called for when the car was ready to take them to their new residence.

"Alright."

"Alright." Miroku echoed. He was still grinning, and Sango couldn't help but feel like she'd just lost some sort of game she wasn't aware she was playing.

"I'll go first", he leaned forward onto the table, bracing himself on his palms. "What do you do when you're not working?"

"You mean like hobbies? Uh …" Sango couldn't remember the last time she'd actually done something for herself that didn't revolve around her job. "Go to the gym, I guess. I used to read, but I don't have much time anymore." She didn't mind shopping, either, when she got around to it, but that sounded a little shallow, and if nothing else, she wanted him to take her seriously. "What do you do?"

"I'm actually a PhD candidate. Going for a doctorate of philosophy, but I've also spent time studying world religion." Miroku sounded as if he was trying not to brag, but he did sound proud of himself. "Favourite movie?"

In all honesty, Sango was a little impressed, but she tried not to let it show. She could tell, by his smirk, that she wasn't successful, and made a mental note to work on masking her emotions better. "I don't have a favourite movie."

"What? Everyone has a favourite movie."

"I don't watch movies, I don't have time." Sango sighed; he still looked like he was waiting for an answer, so she said the first one that came to her mind, "Alright I guess – I don't know, The Sound of Music. Yours?"

Miroku chuckled, "I wouldn't have taken you for a musical lover. American Hustle."

Sango hadn't seen it, but he must have mistaken her indifference for judgment because he held up his hands in mock defense, "Alright, alright. You caught me. It's Marley and Me."

"The dog movie?" Sango chuckled against her better judgment. She reminded herself that she had a job to do, and she needed to get in then out as quickly and silently as possible; and she found herself willing the universe or whatever force was out there to send Kikyo back to them to break up the inquisition.

Miroku winked at her, and then was silent for another moment. "What's your favourite memory?"

Sango gaped at him for a moment, in her mind he had very quickly crossed the line to entirely too personal and she wasn't sure she wanted to answer. Her best memory was a relatively mundane one, but for her birthday a few years ago, before her father had gotten sick, they had spent the day together with Kohaku as a family, forgetting about work and pretending to be tourists in their own city. She wasn't sure if they ever would have a day like that again.

Thankfully, her prayers came answered, and a knock on the door saved her from having to answer. Quite honestly, she had no interest in hearing about his favourite memory, either.

Miroku was watching her carefully, and Sango shifted uncomfortably. It still felt like he was sizing up her every move, though she couldn't tell if he was merely curious and she was being overly paranoid, or if he actually suspected she was a threat to him.

The door opened, though neither of them took their eyes off of each other until Kikyo spoke. "I see you two have gotten acquainted. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to where the car is waiting. Everything you should need is at the house, but should you feel the need to venture out, make sure that you take the necessary precautions."

Sango waited until Miroku stood up to do so herself, and the pair followed behind Kikyo in silence, down a hallway that Sango was sure she'd never seen before. The silence stretched on for such a period of time that none of them seemed to want to break it, and Sango found herself wondering bitterly where Mr. Talkative and Charming had disappeared to.

Finally, after a long walk in silence, where Sango found herself wondering more than once what Miroku was thinking, the trio found themselves in an ordinary looking lobby. There were two people sitting down; a pretty but young looking girl with long, dark hair, and, Sango was a little taken aback, the same man with the golden eyes she'd run into earlier. He still had the bandana over his head, which confirmed her suspicions that he must have lost a bet.

"Miroku, Sango. Meet InuYasha and Kagome, they'll be your housemates for the next while."

InuYasha gave a halfhearted wave to the pair of them, but Kagome jumped up and made an overexcited show of shaking both of their hands, introducing herself excitedly and chattering away.

"We're going to have a good time, aren't we? Well, besides the 'people want to kill us' part, but I trust everyone, I think that InuYasha and Sango will be able to keep us safe, and then the threat will be taken care of, and everything will end up just fine! Thank you so much for giving up your free time to come and look after us! I hope you don't feel like a babysitter. I mean, not that Miroku and I are babies or anything, we won't give you any trouble, will we Miroku? I mean…"

Sango shot her a smile and then tuned her out, now really curious as to what kind of a threat this girl posed to the political balance of the country, and she made a mental note to research what she could into Naraku's agency, and this one. Right after she called Kohaku to explain this mess to him.

"Sango?" Miroku touched her arm, snapping her out of her reverie and she nearly jumped right out of her skin, immediately pulling her arm away as if she'd been zapped. He held up his hands, and she couldn't tell if he were amused or confused. Or possibly a mixture of both.

"The car is here."

She took a deep breath, nodded, and followed the rest of their party out of the building and into the car that was to take them to their new home. A new home she was about to share with three strangers, and as far as she'd been told, at least one of them was a threat to the collective security of the entire country.

If there was anything she was certain of, it was that everything was about to change.

Sango put her head against the glass window and tried to fight the urge to be sick.

It had been a few hours, and Sango was still in awe with how beautiful their new house was. The sick feeling of unease hadn't quite passed, but if nothing else, she could admire the beauty of their new home.

The first thing she had done the very second she had a moment alone was call Kohaku and let him know what was going on. He didn't seem too bothered, and she wondered if that made her feel better or worse about the entire situation. After a short conversation, she decided to ask him not to tell their father, as she didn't want to worry him. Kohaku understood, and promised not to tell Takumi, so long as Sango promised to take care of herself. He was old enough to take care of himself, but Sango still felt as if she were abandoning him.

The house wasn't overly large on the outside, though it was beautiful on the inside. They each had a bedroom, two bathrooms to share between the four of them, a kitchen, a sitting room, and even a well-equipped gym.

Sango decided that she needed to get as acquainted with it as possible, check for all possible exits and scan for anything that struck her as odd, though she hoped that she wouldn't run into any of their housemates as she did her scan. As soon as she could, she needed to go home to grab some of her belongings, but the house seemed well equipped enough to last her for a few days until she could do so.

After a good half hour of her detailed exploring, the last part of the house she needed to check out was the gym downstairs, and thankfully, she hadn't run into any of her housemates, and figured they were all getting settled in as well.

When she opened the door to the basement, she immediately became quiet, and shut the door behind her as quietly as possible, for she heard voices. No – just one voice. A voice that was distinctly male, and gruff.

"Alright, InuYasha. You can do this. It doesn't matter that she's the first person to be under your protection, you still have what it takes to protect her. You passed the same tests and trials as everyone else. They wouldn't have let you out into the world if they didn't think that you were ready."

Sango wasn't sure whether she was amused or alarmed by the monologue, though she almost felt bad for him. She couldn't imagine the stress of actually having to care for another human life.

So concentrated on his voice, she didn't realize that she had taken a step forward, and the floorboard squeaked underneath the weight.

"Oi!" In a flash, InuYasha had rounded the corner, flicked on the lights to the hall, and was scowling at her, arms folded across his chest.

Sango stared at him, raising her eyebrows slightly, more than a little jarred at the open hostility.

"What's the big idea? Sneaking up on me like that, you some kind of creep or somethin'?"

He seemed way angrier than he needed to be, and she folded her arms across her own chest, mirroring him and keeping her stance wide.

"I was coming down to use the gym but I can see it's already occupied. Relax amateur, if you don't want anyone to know this is your first mission, then your secret is safe with me."

InuYasha paled, his voice rising in volume with every word, "Hey! Who are you calling amateur? Bet I've been at this longer than you!"

"Bet you haven't." Sango shot back, and then shook her head, "Look, I didn't come down here to argue with you, especially since we have to work together for the next few months. If you happen to mature in the next few hours, come find me."

"Keh."

Sighing, she turned and raked a hand through her hair in frustration. Sango had just begun to climb the stairs when Kagome appeared at the top of the staircase, and clapped her hands together.

"There you are! I was looking all over for you. Have you seen InuYasha?"

"He's just downstairs."

"Oh, perfect! I was thinking that we should all have a roommate dinner tonight, you know, to get to know each other, since we're all going to be living in the same house for the next little while. What do you think?"

That was the last thing she wanted to do, but for appearances sake, she nodded. "Sure. Sounds great."

What could go wrong at a simple dinner?

A/N: Will Sango ever feel comfortable around her housemates? Will she ever see Miroku as anything other than the enemy? And what about Naraku, you know he's up to something somewhere...

Alright, another chapter! I feel like Sango is a little more abrasive than she is in canon, but I also feel like modern Sango would be sassier, especially around people she believes to be the enemy, so here we have it. I love me some Mirsan banter, so I apologize for the large amount of banter that'll be in this fic.

Thanks again so much to everyone for their support and feedback (special shout out to the anon I got about this fic on Tumblr) and thanks for reading!