Ahaha…yeah, so hey, funny story…__ well, It's been a while, so let me know what you think. You get to find out a bit more about Sango in this one~ fun, fun!! Sorry for the wait and thanks to everyone who still bothers to read my monstrosities. 33

(dis)Claimer: If it were mine, Sango would probably be the main character

Be My Escape

Chapter 4

xxX POISON Xxx

Flick. Flick. Flick.

Miroku sighed as he flicked yet another crumb off the table in the downtown Beso Burger.

'I wonder why she…'

His mind flashed back to the day's events, the fight, forgetting his jacket, Sango giving him his jacket and taking off…

He sighed once more. This had been the first time a girl had ever stood him up.

"Heh. I'm not giving up though!" He grinned, and the young waitress arrived with his double-double cheeseburger with extra ketchup, giving him a weird look because he was talking to himself. He cleared his throat.

"Miss, may I say that you look absolutely beautiful tonight. What time do you get off of work?" He said, hoping to distract her with flattery.

"Uhm, my boyfriend is picking me up, sorry." And with that, she sped away from his table in record time.

'Ugh…rejected twice in one day. I must be losing my edge.' He sighed for the third time that night, unwrapped his burger, and took a gigantic bite out of it.

'Their tables may be dirty, but the food is great! Not to mention that this is the first thing I've eaten all day and it's already-' here he paused his chewing to look at his watch.

'-5:30' He thought as his stomach grumbled a complaint. He hailed to its request and resumed eating the massive burger.

She jumped to attention at the sound of a car horn blaring past her and sighed in relief when she realized someone had only gotten cut off before the intersection.

'I've gotta pay attention before I get mugged or something…' She looked up and surveyed her surroundings- she'd merely been wandering around up until now, so she figured she should find out where she was and think of a place to stay for the night.

She recognized a few of these shops…Rose Nail Salon, The Sony store, Beso Burger, the Laundromat…she was downtown.

"Okay, now that I know where I am-" She was interrupted by her stomach grumbling rather loudly. "Ah. Come to think of it, I haven't really eaten much today, have I? I think I have a couple dollars to spare…" She looked up at the Beso Burger and shrugged. A few unhealthy, vein-clogging meals were good for you every once in a while. She pulled the hood on her jacket up over her head so the cashiers would not see her face clearly. She vaguely wondered how bad it looked, and wasn't too keen on anyone else finding out before her. 'If only I were the type to carry a mirror on me all the time. It seems more and more like a good idea nowadays…' She carefully crossed the street and pushed the door open to Beso burger, the chime on the door drawing the attention of the cashier.

She was a young girl, who couldn't have been much older than she could, with blonde shoulder length hair and a disgusted look on her face. Sango thought for a second that maybe it was because of her face, but then she followed the girls gaze and saw the last person she wanted to run into at a time like this.

She very nearly turned on her heel, but that damn girl at the register just had to blow her cover by calling out loudly:

"Excuse me, can I help you??" Sango let out a string of curse-words in her mind, because just as the young lady called out, it caught the attention of none other than Miroku Houshi, the cute weirdo from school- Er, the weird weirdo from school. She shook her head.

'I need to get some sleep- BIG TIME.' She quickly faced in the opposite direction and ordered under her breath whatever she saw first. Some double cheesy nonsense. She didn't care so long as long as it made her stomach stop growling at her. She quickly paid the cashier-lady and walked to the other end of the restaurant to wait for her order to arrive.

She tapped her foot anxiously, and in her desperation attempted to use telepathy to make the cashier bring her food faster. She received a strange look from the girl in return.

'Please, PLEASE, just don't let-'

"Excuse me." a currently unpleasant sound entered her ears.

Sango tried to ignore it.

"Uh…Excuse me?" The voice said a bit louder. She acquiesced with a hefty sigh.

"Sango…?" He said almost uncertainly, his eyebrow raised. She gave a weary nod.

'I should've known it wouldn't be that easy.'

He gave a little chuckle, but this one was lighthearted- completely opposite to the one she had heard not too long ago. She shivered despite herself and hoped he didn't see.

"I thought you were some homeless person for a second there." He said cheerily. If he noticed, he showed no signs of it. Her eye twitched a little at this particular comment.

'What is WITH this guy???' she thought frantically but she started a bit at the seriousness of his voice in the next question he asked.

"So...What happened to you today?" Her eyes sprang to his face, and there were no traces of a smile, or that lighthearted chuckle. She panicked, wondering how things had managed to turn so serious so suddenly.

'Uh-oh…' "I, uh- I suddenly remembered that…I had to baby-sit my brother…" well, not a complete lie, right?

"Oh. Where is he?" He looked directly at her as she spoke.

"He's…at his friend's house." She said wearily. She decided she'd put the brakes on this trip down memory lane before it brought her back to a place she'd rather not be right now.

"Uh, I should really get going-" Just then, the cashier handed to her the double-double cheeseburger and Sango turned on her heel to make a beeline to the door but her sleeve was caught on something. She realized that unfortunately for her, it was Miroku's hand. He was holding it firmly, his eyes solemn and he said her name firmly. She yanked her arm in an attempt to escape, feeling tears form in her eyes like pinpricks. She briefly glanced behind her seeing the cashier lady looking on in interest and was vaguely aware that if she did not do something soon, she would end up showing a side she didn't necessarily want either of the other two people occupying the restaurant seeing.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure people don't get marks like that on their face from babysitting." His voice was sharp and clear, and she felt the blood drain from her face as she started panicking.

Dear gods, he saw it. He saw it.

"Sango. Please tell me what's going on with you…let me help y-" She slapped him across the face, used his surprise as an opportunity to yank her hand free at last and bolted out of the restaurant before he saw anything else.

'I can't drag anyone else into this…' she wiped her eyes roughly with her sleeve as she darted down main street and skidded around the corner to a connecting street.

"Hey?! Wait up!" He shouted, tearing after her through a crowd of confused pedestrians right outside of the restaurant.

'What?? He's chasing me after I did that?' "Quit following me!" She sped up and began weaving in and out of the crowds in an attempt to lose him.

'Oh no you don't!' he sped up as well and swerved off the curb to avoid the pedestrians altogether. She darted off to a side street and glanced behind her, disappointed because he was still hot on her trail.

"Just stop already!" he was gaining on her from a lack of obstacles in the street, and when he saw an opening he dived out at her, arms outstretched.

"Stop!"

"Augh!" They collided with a thud and skidded along the dusty sidewalk, ending up in a sprawled out heap with Sango haphazardly laid atop of him.

Both parties lay panting, exhausted. Sango pushed up with her arms to try to keep running, but she was stopped in her tracks when he grabbed her by both arms this time.

"Let go of me!" She choked out.

"No!" It wasn't until he felt something splatter on his cheek and forehead that he noticed she was crying.

He sat up and licked his lips nervously. She had stopped struggling. Then, "Just let me help somehow." His voice sounded strangely small to him.

"After all, I hate to see such a pretty girl cry…" She looked up at him finally, seeing that he had an uncertain smile on his face- something she wouldn't have expected to see on the face of someone who seemed to be so confident and cheery. Realizing that this situation was very awkward for the both of them, she supposed she should cooperate. Even if he had tackled her.

"I…can't go home." She began to cry.

"I'm sorry-" she coughed. She was still out of breath and the crying wasn't exactly helping to remedy that. He pulled her into a hug to calm her down, rubbing her back and making soft shushing sounds every so often.

"You don't need to apologize for anything." He said gently.

"Yes I do…I made you lose your dinner…" It was then that it dawned on him. He'd left his poor double-double cheeseburger with extra ketchup behind. Then he noticed that her own burger was smashed when he…ahem…brought her to a halt.

He sighed (was this becoming a habit?) and said softly into her ear, "Don't worry about that…I was…done…anyways…." He cried on the inside for his delicious meal but he now had something better in mind.

"C'mon," he stood and stretched his legs out, "you can't go home, right?" He said while offering her his hand. "Why not stay with me?" he inquired. Her eyebrows shot up past her hairline. She almost thought she didn't hear him right.

"H-huh?" came her intelligent response.

She looked at his hand with both eyebrows still raised, then up to his face hesitantly, and he reassured her with a kind smile and a "Don't worry; I'll keep my hands to myself."

'Well, I DID slap him…and I kinda stood him up…and I ran away from him…and I got him into a fight…and I made him waste a perfectly good burger…I guess it's the least I could do for everything I've done to him in the past 24 hours. Plus it's not like I have anywhere else to go…'

"Well…okay- but I'm not staying for long."

She looked up at his hand, still outstretched to her, unwavering, and she took it.

The door made a clicking noise as key turned in the lock, and after some effort on Miroku's part, the door shoved open with a horrible scraping noise.

"Ehehe…when the air gets moist, the doors swell…" He said scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, here we are, home sweet home." He was first to enter, and he slipped off his shoes, setting them in one of the cubbies by the door and grabbing a pair of slippers.

"I mean it," she called after him down the hallway, "I'm only staying for dinner!!"

Sango said while she entered very cautiously.

She slipped her shoes off and set them in the cubby following Miroku's example and grabbing some slippers as well.

"C'mon, you and I both know you don't have a place to stay for the night. Just relax." She gave in and continued examining her surroundings. She wondered briefly what his family situation was like, but figured she should save that for another day.

"You still hungry?" She followed him into the kitchen and nodded in the affirmative. He scratched his chin and turned around to face the cabinets. Sango took a seat at one of the barstools at the kitchen island.

"What'll you have, miss? We've got Spaghetti-O's, Ramen…and Spaghetti-O's." He said from inside the cabinet. (2)

"Some ramen sounds nice." She replied to his back.

"Yes, ma'am." He said turning around and winking.

After "dinner", he gave her a brief tour of the house. Facing away from the front door, directly to the right of the entrance was a landing in front of a staircase. Down the hallway to the left was the archway to the kitchen. Further down the hallway on the left was the bathroom and further down on the right was a dining room. She couldn't help but get the feeling that this house was empty a lot. His words echoed down the hall as if to make it seem more desolate, and a chill ran up her spine.

"No one ever uses it anymore, so it's just kind of collecting dust." he said with a light laugh. He pointed to the very end of the hallway that opened out into the living room,

"That's the living room, you can have my bed and I'll sleep on those couches there, so if you need anything, just come tell me."

"But- that's your bed, I can't just-"

"Nonsense, I'm not leaving my guest to sleep out on the couch. C'mon, I'll show you to my room." And with that, he proceeded to lead the way back down the hallway, up the stairs and straight ahead to the very first door.

He swung the door open lightly, and let her step in first. His room was rather tidy, considering the fact that he was a guy. Most of the guys Sango knew were messy as they came.

His desk was positioned along the wall to the right of the doorway, his dresser on the wall opposite the door, and his bed and nightstand on the left wall. The room had a bluish- purple tint to it, and there were unlit candles sprinkled tastefully throughout it.

"W-wow…it's so…" she couldn't quite find the right words.

"Purple? Yeah, I know." He rubbed the back of his neck while turning towards the door and announced, "Well, it's been a long day, so I'm gonna go hit the sack-" Here he looked pointedly at her over his shoulder.

"But know that I expect an explanation for those marks on your face in the morning." He said sternly. She stiffened a little as that uncharacteristically serious tone from before crept into his words.

"Now, if you need anything-" The tone disappeared just as suddenly as it had come.

"You're right down stairs." She bit her lip and hastily added,

"Houshi…thanks for everything." She sighed, but gave him a real smile this time, which he gladly reciprocated, though he raised his eyebrows at hearing his last name.

"Now that's a look I wanna see more often. It was my pleasure." She blushed a little out of embarrassment, causing him to smile once more. He gave her a quiet chuckle "And that one to. Goodnight Sango." With those parting words, he let the door click shut quietly.

Sango blew her bangs out of her eyes, and turned back around to the bed and flopped her tired body down onto it. She inhaled deeply, catching a whiff of his scent in the process. He smelled of spices and herbs and it made her relaxed and sleepy and invigorated all at the same time.

She sat up, looking down at her attire- her clothes from the day- and figured she should find some proper pajamas. In five minutes time, she managed to round up and change into an extra large t-shirt and some boxer shorts.

'Hope he doesn't mind…' She took her cell phone out of her pocket and seeing that it was dead, she chucked it into her backpack and flopped back onto the bed, inhaling one more time.

"Goodnight." She muttered to the ceiling, and she drifted off to dreamland.

Thursday

Miroku poked his head through the door he had cracked open to check on his temporary guest and seeing she was still sleeping, he slipped quietly in.

'Hm, she looks so cute and innocent when she sleeps…'

He set down the clothes he had washed for her at the foot of the bed. It was the least he could do to clean the dirt marks out after he tackled her to the ground.

"Mm …stayoutta the light…" Miroku chuckled quietly. It seemed Sango had some interesting dreams.

"Mm…notthebaconmonster…!" Some very, very, interesting dreams indeed.

He turned on his heel, before she started shouting about French toast, but just as soon as his hand touched the doorknob-

"Mm…Houshi…? That you?" He sighed.

"Yep, it's me. How did you sleep?" he said turning around to greet her-

'WOAH!!' There in his bed was Sango I nothing but his t-shirt and boxers. 'T-they look better on her then they do on me…' He was brought back to focus with her reply.

"Hm? Oh, just fine, I guess. Sorry, I borrowed your clothes without asking." She said rubbing her eye with the back of her fist sleepily.

"I-it's fine…" He forced himself to turn around to prevent himself from staring. "Breakfast is ready- I hope you like bacon…" he trailed off and left the room, unaware of Sango's suddenly horrified facial expression.

"So tell me." He said before forking a square of waffle into his mouth. "H- huh?" She hid her face by pretending to drink some orange juice. "Sango, I haven't poured the orange juice yet. That cup is empty." He said dryly, shaking the carton as proof. She set down her cup slowly, revealing a glare.

"Whatever, I still don't know what you're going on about."

"Oh, yes you do. We agreed last night that you were giving explanations this morning, and this morning is now." He emphasized his point first by pointing lightly toward her face, then by poking the countertop.

"Oh dear, it was so late, I can't seem to recall-"

"Sango…" He gave her a look that she interpreted to mean something like: cut the crap, but this is Sango's brain at 6:50 we're talking about, so who knows, really?

"Wh- okay! But even if I tell you, its not like it's gonna magically fix the problem anyways…" She said while absentmindedly poking a slice of bacon. She still didn't trust it…

She looked up when she felt a hand land on top of hers. His eyes- downcast and not quite meeting hers.

"I know. I just…" She sighed. Jeez, way to make her feel guilty.

"My dad- well, I guess that's not the right place to start eh?" and here she set her fork down next to her plate.

"Right after my brother was born, my mother died from complications of labor." She paused.

"Mhm…" He prompted.

"We struggled for a long time, because my father was so torn apart by my mother's death, it was difficult for him to hold a job. About…six months after my mother passed away, my father finally got so sick with grief that he went on to join her." He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb, and met her eyes to show that he was listening.

"For the next few months, my brother and I traveled from orphanage to orphanage. We were just lucky to be able to stay together all that time." "There was one point in time when we were separated. I was scared to death because- He's all I've got left." She let out a sudden, humorless laugh. "About a month and a half later, we were sent to the same home again. I think that moment was the happiest I've ever been in my whole entire life."

Now she paused to collect her thoughts.

"I guess, I was so happy to have my brother back with me, I don't quite remember keeping track of how long it was until we were adopted. By that time, I was in sixth grade, Kohaku was in third grade. We were told that we were being adopted by a man named Toshiro Takahashi- Owner of one of the largest electronics companies in Japan."

Miroku's eyes snapped up at the same time hers did, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"You mean he-"

"Let me finish- Please."

"It wasn't so bad at first. Things were great, actually. We finally had a real home- I mean, sure, he was busy a lot of the time, but at least we had a father again. In fact, that's when I met Inuyasha. But, of course, a time came when he didn't feel so sure about raising two kids on his own, so he found himself a wife. That didn't last too long either, because she wasn't really ready to settle down and raise children, so she left him. He was devastated, he started coming home drunk, always mumbling about how his life had gone down the tubes…" She shifted in her chair, and licked her lips. He moved his thumb in a circle on her hand. It was a small gesture of comfort, but it was enough to get her to continue.

"I think the first time was right after I hit 7th grade. It's only gotten worse since then…even my brother now…I'm supposed to be his big sister- I'm supposed to protect him and take care of him no matter what-" She had to stop there or else she would be sporting puffy red eyes to school-

Oh, crap.

"Ah- School! I gotta go get ready!!" she stood from her bar stool and dashed up the stairs to gather all her stuff.

"Ah-…" He sighed and gave in, as she was already upstairs. He definitely couldn't just let this drop, though.

After breakfast (she never did finish that bacon), Sango returned back to her own clothing (much to Miroku's dismay), and the pair got ready for school just like it was a normal day. They walked to school with Sango putting in comments like: "Ugh, it NEVER takes this long for me to get to school" or "Oh, I've never seen this part of town before…" all the way to the campus doorsteps, and although he suspected she did this to avoid the situation turning awkward, he appreciated the company.

"SAAAANNNGOOOOOO…!!!"

Oh Jesus, she forgot to call Kagome. Well technically, it wasn't her fault her phone died, right?

"WherethehellhaveyoubeenI'vebeenworriedsickaboutyouwhydon'tyoucallpeoplewhenyougorunningofflikethat?!?!" She went on to comment that she was wearing the same clothes from yesterday and how she had come to school with that guy with the ponytail, and how she was worried since she ran off yesterday etc. etc.

A brief thought flitted through her mind, and she was glad she brought all that makeup with her the previous day, or Kagome would have a lot more to yell at her about than just forgetting to return phone calls.

'Maybe I shouldn't have run off like that in the first place…Me and my stupid impulsive ideas…' She sighed heavily and just barely heard Kagome's side comment about how some hot guy took over that other jerk's seat. As she flopped into her seat (She negotiated and let Inuyasha have her old one, since the teacher couldn't see her so easily if she fell asleep in her new seat), she thought to herself that Kagome was in for a big surprise and only vaguely heard the conversation taking place in front of her through her still-groggy state.

"Feh, it's not my fault the pencil broke, it shouldn't have been sitting in my seat in the first place, wench!"

Then, silence…

"Ah-..Y-….IT'S YOU!!!!!" (3)

She glanced over at Houshi and as he caught her glance, he only shrugged. Sango lay her head down in her arms.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

'Ah, right on time' Sango thought.

Hey, everyone, me again. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and again, sorry for the wait. I get sidetracked so easily these days- Oh, gotta feed my hamster-

I'm back…With the reference section!!! Ooh! There's three today!!

1) Beso Burger – Well, I'll make this as short and simple as I can. I needed to find a name for a cheap burger joint, so I looked around the room, and I was drinking a Sobe. I'll let you do the math. English. Whatever.

2) Hot damn, I love spaghetti-o's. If you have never had them before, you need to get yourself to a store. Now.

3) I'm assuming you all know that Inuyasha transforms during the night of the new moon? That's why it slipped Sango's mind and why Kagome didn't recognize him at first. Heh…

Er, please don't think I'm characterizing Kagome as some crazy bimbo who only cares about yelling at people and hot guys. I'm working on it. Promise.

And yeah, the real reason why it took so long was because:

1- I had no internet for a while, and 2- I wrote this chapter out before, but I was pretty much just unsatisfied with it, so I've been editing it the whole time. All for you lovely people's reading pleasure~ :D see? I make you wait out of love…Don't hurt me!

-Panda out.