Chapter 7: Card Games.
Sango walked her ten speed bike to the porch of Miroku's house. Last night she had a short but pleasant conversation with Miroku asking about the demo tape he promised her. He said it would be perfectly fine for Sango to drop by his house after school as long as she didn't mind waiting for him to get back from silent pines later that afternoon. Luckily for her, his home was a mere three blocks away from hers. Miroku and his family lived on Dogwood lane, just three houses away from the fabled witch's tree and the even creepier abandoned house that stood on that particular property. Funny, she must have passed by his house a zillion times on her bike route but she never knew who lived in the light bluish-gray two-story house towering before her. She sat her bike against the white wooden cross-hatch fence of his front porch, careful not to crush the roses in the flowerbed next to it.
At times like these Sango wished she had a car of her own instead of a stupid bike. She had her license already and she knew how to drive fairly well but her father said he wasn't setting foot at a car dealership with her until she graduated high school. Sango understood his reason for making her wait for her ride, he wanted that milestone to be extra special for her. Sango walked up the front steps to the door. Lifting the bronze knocker on the door, she knocked a couple of times, patiently waiting for someone inside to answer. She rolled her shoulders back feeling a little nervous about entering Miroku's house as he had mentioned to her in a previous conversation that his family was very traditional, as in shoes off in house; bow to your elders traditional. Sango hadn't used respectful honorifics in years as her family mostly spoke English in her home. Lucky for her, she never really forgot how to speak Japanese. Her parents made sure that she and Kohaku didn't forget their native tongue, mostly because of her relatives that would come to visit from the island around the holidays either spoke really broken English or did not speak English at all. Not to mention the fact that being bilingual looked really good on her college applications. Sango nervously wrung her hands as she heard the door knob turn. "well, here goes nothing."
A short preteen girl with layered black hair styled in a side ponytail answered the door. Sango realized that this girl must be Miroku's little sister, Rin. The preteen certainly looked like she would be his sister as they both had the same complexion and nose. Rin's eyes were different though, instead of a steely deep blue like Miroku's eyes, Rin's were a bright brown, similar to Sango's own eye color. The girl wore what looked like denim shorts and a baggy off the shoulder orange and white striped shirt with a black tank top underneath. Rin was barefooted as it was to be expected of her to be inside the house.
"Can I help you?" the girl asked.
Sango cleared her throat, "Um, hi. I'm Sango, I'm a friend of Miroku's. Is he home right now?" Sango already knew that he wasn't home but what else was she supposed to say?
Rin looked down at her freshly painted nails, "Nah, he's still at the crazy place but he should be home in like 30 minutes or something, you're welcome to come inside and wait for him if you'd like."
Sango nodded in appreciation. "Thank you, that would be just fine."
The preteen gave Sango a toothy smile, pulling her into the house. "Great! I'm Miroku's sister Rin by the way."
"Well Rin, it's very nice to meet you. Your brother has told me so much about you."
The preteen let go of Sango's hand. "You're welcome to make yourself at home on the couch."
Sango removed her shoes, placing them by the front door next to Rin's sandals.
Rin took a spot next to Sango on the couch. Sango noticed that the preteen was eyeing her up and down. She crossed her legs, smoothing out the wrinkles in her school uniform skirt. Sango placed her hands elegantly in her lap as she looked around Miroku's living room. It definitely had a much different aesthetic from her own home. The way this house was decorated was a little too organized, almost like a professional interior designer lived there. From the faux flowers in antique vases to the artwork on the walls, everything matched perfectly.
"So, Sango do you go to a private school or something?" Rin asked, pointing to the school uniform Sango was wearing
"Yes, I'm actually a senior at St. Catherine's, why do you ask?"
Rin shrugged. "No reason, you just don't look like the type of girl that my dum dum brother usually brings home. You actually seem well, normal."
Sango wasn't sure what the young girl meant by that statement but she was nonetheless intrigued. "Oh, and how so?"
Rin gave Sango a puzzled look, could this Sango girl not know that her brother goes through girls like a goldfish goes through fish flakes?
"Well number one, you aren't dressed like some kind of over-made up floozy and number two you probably don't know that he goes through girls very fast. Like, they will be here one day and then he will never bring them over again. I don't know if he's actually dating these girls or what. But as soon as one leaves, more take their place. Everywhere we go there is always some girl that knows him."
"I see." Sango gripped the ends of her skirt, realizing that the nagging feeling she had about Miroku being a complete lech turned out to be true. He did seem a little overconfident when she first met him. Now it all made sense with the constant staring and the flirting he did with her. Maybe Miranda was right, maybe he had lured her here under false pretenses to try to get in her pants. As if she would ever let him touch her like that, it's not like they were even dating or anything in the first place.
"Yeah, he always has lots of girls calling the house too. It got so bad that our parents had to install an extra phone line just for him in his room. I've spied on his phone calls a couple of times, for a guy with a lot of girlfriends he seems to like phone sex a little too much."
If Sango had something to drink, she would have spat it out upon hearing Rin's remark about phone sex. Rin was way too young to know about that kind of thing. Then again kids these days weren't really all that innocent in the first place. One time she caught Kohaku not-so-stealthily trying to hide a copy of Hustler between a stack of comic books, he was probably around ten at the time of the incident. She shuddered to think how many more porno mags her little brother had hidden within the confines of his room now that he was much older.
"I do have to admit you are really pretty, no wonder my brother gets really antsy when he's on the phone with you. It's like he's nervous or something. There's none of his usual cheesy pick up lines or anything, just him pacing around his room fidgeting with the phone cord in his hand."
Sango tried to contain a giggle, Rin's plan to out her brother to one of his potential crushes was downright devious. She did have to admit, it was fun hearing the preteen gossip about Miroku.
Sango shot the preteen a devious smirk of her own. "Why are you telling me all this? Did he eat the last ice cream cone or did he hog all of the TV privileges?"
Rin was positively flabbergasted at her observation. "He did eat the last ice cream cone! How did you know?"
Sango cocked her head up. "I have a brother of my own so I kind of know these things."
Rin looked down at the floor, embarrassed at the fact that Sango wasn't as gullible as the other girls her pervert of a brother brought home.
Miroku parked the Camaro in his usual spot on the curb next to his house. At last, he was finally home. Today had been an extra brutal day at Silent Pines as it was arts and crafts day in the rec center. Once the patients were done crafting; they left an endless sea of glitter, glue, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks in their wake. Thank goodness Miroku decided to skip wearing his beloved battle jacket today as he was drenched from head to toe in multicolored glitter flakes courtesy of Billy and Hector, ultimately looking like some kind of walking disco ball. Jimmy and the guys would have a field day with the fag jokes if they could see him right now. He tried shaking out more of the flakes on the lawn; no good, that shit was stuck in his hair until he decided to take a shower. Fuck that, He wanted to get the unicorn scabies off now! Sango was probably waiting for him inside the house and he would be damned if she saw him like this. He crawled into the backseat of the Camaro, looking for one of the mini bottles of shampoo that he would occasionally snatch from motels. It was a complete mess in his backseat but he did manage to find an unopened bottle of shampoo nestled underneath the passenger's seat next to some old concert ticket stubs and an empty Pepsi can.
Miroku removed his black band shirt, shaking out some more of the glitter. He unraveled the water hose from it's perch on the side of the house. Miroku quickly unbound his hair, sticking the elastic in his jeans pocket so he wouldn't lose it later. He turned on the hose, the feel of cold water rushing over his scalp felt really relaxing to him. After pouring the contents of the tiny bottle of shampoo on his head, he began to lather up his hair. Once he was finished, Miroku rinsed the glittery lather off of his scalp. Turning his t-shirt inside out to the clean, glitter-free side, he dabbed his hair dry. Miroku crawled back into the Camaro to retrieve his pocket comb from the glove box. He stood in front of one of the rear view mirrors combing his hair back so he could retie it with his pony holder. He also needed to make sure that his water hose bath got rid of his glitter problem for good. Miroku took one last look in the mirror, so far everything looked okay. Only a tiny bit of glitter flecks had been left behind in his hair. He was sure once his hair dried some more, the remaining glitter flecks would eventually fall out.
Wadding his damp t-shirt under his arm, Miroku turned the doorknob of his front door. When he stepped inside the house to remove his shoes, he noticed a very familiar pair of black school loafers next to his sister's sandals.
The first thing Sango noticed when Miroku walked through the door was that the guy was shirtless and soaking wet. She tried not to gawk at his shirtless form but it proved much too difficult of a task. Miroku wasn't overly muscular but he was toned. She never really paid much attention to mens bodies before but something about seeing him in that state of dress had her really hot and bothered. His arms and defined abs were nice and all but she especially liked his chest. Sango soon found herself fantasizing about how nice it would feel to reach out and touch it. She scolded herself, Bad Sango! Why was she even thinking about him like that? This was no time to be eating whatever eye candy he had to offer.
Miroku tried to focus his attention off of Sango's aforementioned Care-Bear stare. Ever since he walked through his front door, her eyes had not left his body. It was obvious that she wanted him. She wanted him bad. There was one problem though; would she be able to admit it? Based on what he knew about Sango, she was the type of girl that played hard to get. In layman's terms: she was a tease. Albeit a really cute tease, but still a tease nonetheless. Not that it fazed him since he was going to have just as much fun teasing her back. All Miroku needed to do was find out what kind of tick would set her off.
Miroku grinned, slicking back his bangs. "Like what you see, Miss Sato?"
Sango's blush darkened, she quickly moved her eyes to the floor. "I-I wasn't looking at that...If this is a bad time...I could..."
Miroku stopped her trail of thought. "No, no. It's not a bad time at all. I apologize for my lack of attire, my shirt had a run in with an unfortunate mess earlier."
Rin giggled. "Don't lie, Onii-chan. You just wanted an excuse to show off in front of her."
Miroku gave his kid sister a really hard but affectionate noogie. "Such a precocious little girl you are, Rinny-Poo."
"Ow that hurt you dick!" Rin squealed, removing her brother's knuckle from her head.
Miroku leaned over his sister on the couch and whispered in her ear. "Look Rin. I don't ask you for much but I'm begging you. Don't screw this up for me."
"What's in it for me?" She asked with a sly grin.
"I'll take you to to the park on Sunday to get a sno-cone, how does that sound?"
Rin shook his hand. "Deal."
Miroku turned his attention on Sango, who was now standing up beside the couch, lost in her own little world obviously trying to avoid looking at him. "Follow me upstairs, Sango, so I can give you the demo tape you requested."
Sango snapped back into reality. "Right! the demo tape, of course!"
Sango followed Miroku upstairs, her eyes planted firmly on his equally toned back. A little further down the hall Miroku stopped at his bedroom door. On his door hung a yellow diamond shaped sign that said "Keep Out." Next to the sign was a small poster of a scantily-clad zombie woman holding a machine gun between her thighs. Miroku turned the doorknob, opening the door to his bedroom. He turned around to face Sango.
"Well this is it, Casa de Miroku. watch your step coming in, the floorboard kind of sticks up. Wouldn't want you to..."
His warning fell on deaf ears as Sango tripped on the wonky floorboard, knocking both of them to the floor in the process, her breasts firmly planted on his face. Miroku absolutely reveled in the sensation of her soft breasts smashed against his face but his favorite part of her body remained sadly neglected. In an instant he brushed his naughty hand up against Sango's ass. Part of her skirt had shifted in the fall so he was pretty much feeling the outline of her cotton panties. He gave her ass cheek a soft squeeze.
Sango's heart thumped wildly in her chest. What had just happened? One second she was about to cross the threshold into Miroku's room. The next second she wound up lying on top of him. It was already bad enough that he was shirtless to begin with, now she could actually feel the heat radiate off of his body. Despite the awkwardness of the situation Sango found the warmth of his body to be quite pleasant. Sango shook her head. No! She had to get off of him like, now. Just as she was about to scramble to her feet, she felt something equally warm rub her butt. She soon realized that Miroku was taking advantage of the awkward situation by feeling her up. Sango clenched her hand into a fist. "That pervert!" She would have to get back at him later for that, right now all that mattered was getting off of him and fast.
"Miroku, Would you mind removing your hand from my butt?" She hissed.
Miroku jerked his hand away from Sango's ass. "Sorry about that, I guess my hand slipped in the fall or something."
Sango rolled her eyes. "Right, pervert. Just try to keep it to yourself from now on okay?"
Sango rose to her feet, adjusting the parts of her uniform that got messed up during the fall. She stepped into Miroku's bedroom. It was a typical guy's room. Dirty clothes piled up haphazardly in the corner, a TV, a weight bench, posters of swimsuit models on the walls. Miroku had a little more of a macabre flair to his decorating than the average guy with all of the mini skulls, black lights, and heavy metal artwork on his walls. But all in all his room was definitely the domain of a dude. The last thing Sango noticed in Miroku's room was his guitar and amp perched against the wall next to his stereo, which was currently doing double-duty as a makeshift side table.
Once Miroku was off of the floor, he wasted no time to find a clean shirt to wear out of his dresser. This time instead of one of his usual black band-shirts he chose a fairly plain indigo colored t-shirt from his bottom drawer.
"You can take a seat on the bed if you'd like. I apologize for the lack of places to sit in my room. It's usually only just me in here."
"Oh, okay." Sango sat down at the foot of his waterbed, trying not to fall over. She wondered how in the hell he could sleep on something so unstable?
"Here it is!" Miroku handed over the copy of the demo tape he promised her.
Sango studied the tape in her hand, it was an exact copy of the master tape, the only difference being that this copy had a small heart on it drawn in permanent marker next to the band's name. How typical, even on something so mundane as a cassette tape he had to flirt with her.
Miroku sat down next to her on the bed. "Y'know I think you are the first girl I've ever burned a copy of that tape for. It's really rad that you are actually interested in my music, most girls who find out I'm in a band tend to cling on me just so they can get into free shows. Not you though."
Sango tucked a tendril of her hair behind her ear, the sincerity of his observation was eating at her. It became clear that for reasons unknown she actually wanted to get closer to him but she knew she couldn't go through with it. In less than three weeks school would be over. Her college acceptance letters were already pouring in through the mailbox. The hopeful possibility of getting accepted into her dream school loomed on the horizon. If she got accepted in, there was no way she could possibly keep up a long distance relationship with Miroku without the fear of ending up completely heartbroken once she left him behind. She'd only known Miroku for a month or so but already she felt a strong bond towards him, something that went beyond mere platonic friendship. What would she say if he did ask her to be his girlfriend? More importantly, how would she be able to turn him down?
"Is everything alright Sango? You look spaced out." Miroku asked, concerned about his friend's sudden silence.
"I-it's nothing. Thanks for the tape. I really appreciate it."
Miroku smiled. "Glad you like it."
Sango noticed the spiral edge of a plain black sketchbook lying next to her thigh. She picked up the sketchbook, tracing the rough cover with her fingers. "Hey Miroku, what's this?"
"Oh, that's just my sketchbook of band logos and doodles. Just something I do in my spare time. Feel free to flip through it if you'd like."
Sango flipped through the pages of the sketchbook, pleasantly surprised that Miroku was actually a really good artist. His pen work was amazing, each one of the little details in the strokes were crisp and defined.
"These are really good Miroku, how come you're not in art school? With your talent you could already have a fantastic portfolio for advertising." Sango asked, setting the sketchbook back in it's original spot.
Miroku sighed. "I thought about it after I graduated but I realized, college isn't really for me. Art school seems nice but It's also terribly expensive. I'd rather just focus on my music."
"So, what do you do for a living? You must have a job or something, all this music merchandise and equipment probably isn't very cheap."
Miroku laughed. "No, it isn't cheap. Not in the slightest. That amp over there probably cost a little under $500 and the guitar I bought with it was even more expensive considering that it's a limited edition model. Hell, my first guitar was about the same price as the amp. As for a job it's simple, I make my money by being a psychic reader, fortune telling, that sort of thing."
Sango raised an eyebrow at his job description. "So basically, you're a con artist."
Miroku scowled at her. "I'm offended you would think that, Sango. The psychic arts are indeed real and if someone inexperienced tampers with the unknown, it can cause serious consequences."
Miroku's face softened into one of his usual peaceful grins, He couldn't stay mad at Sango but he could show her that his craft wasn't just smoke and mirrors either. Even though part of him refused to admit it, Miroku had always considered himself somewhat of a spiritualist. Maybe being raised as a Buddhist since childhood had something to do with it. Perhaps he might have been a priest of sorts in a past life. Whatever the case, he truly enjoyed what he did. Years ago, Miroku found the art of psychic reading on a whim while trying to hook up with this one super cute new-age chick at the library. He never ended up scoring with the hot hippie but she did leave a long list of books and shops that he should check out. Once Miroku found out he had a real knack for divination, prophecy, and the like; he decided to do readings for profit.
"How about this, to prove I'm not a phony. I'm going to give you a reading right now. Take a seat on the floor, Sango."
Sango shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever you say o' great guru."
Miroku reached under his bed, grabbing a black suede drawstring pouch with a silver Om stitched on it. Inside of the pouch resided a deck of tarot cards and a couple of assorted power crystals. He shuffled the deck of cards around in his hand.
"Alright, so what do you want to know? Your reading could be about pretty much anything so feel free to take your time."
"I don't know, surprise me I guess."
Miroku rolled his head back, finishing up his shuffling of the cards. "Alright Sango, close your eyes and take three cards from the ones in my hand. Just three. When you are done, you can open your eyes and hand the cards back to me but don't look at them."
Sango nodded. Closing her eyes, she took three of the cards.
"Okay Sango, you can open your eyes now."
When Sango opened her eyes she saw that Miroku had horizontally lined all three of the cards face down.
Miroku flipped the first card over. The card showed what looked like to be a woman and a man toasting two glasses. "Ah, the two of cups. This one signifies a partnership of sorts, possibly hinting at a new relationship."
He moved on to the second card. This card showed a hand with a chalice that had five streams of water flowing from it, there was a bird hovering above the chalice with a wafer in it's mouth. "This is the ace of cups, this card signifies love, happiness, creativity and compassion. Positive energy and emotion will come your way, A new romance could be on the horizon."
Miroku was down to his last card. His heart skipped a beat when he realized what card it was. "This one is called "The Lovers" this card indicates an incredibly strong romantic bond formed between two people. Both the desire and the attraction of an individual dictated by this card suggests a very strong sexual connection that goes further beyond mere lust and instant gratification. Some would interpret this as finding your soul mate."
His eyes locked on hers with such passion and intensity unlike any other that Sango had ever seen. "When taking the two other cards into consideration; this reading is as clear as day. Sango; you are in love, true love."
The intense way Miroku was staring at her felt like it was enough to make her heart melt into her ribcage. Sure, she had a crush on him but could she truly be In love with him? Sango never had a real boyfriend before for Christ's sake. Then again, no other guy had ever made her cream her panties like Miroku either. What was with her today, first it was the shirt and now this "reading" of his. The butterfly feeling in the pit of Sango's stomach increased as she felt the all too familiar sensation of blood trickling down her upper lip.
Miroku cupped her cheek with his gloved hand. "Sango, You're bleeding. Let me go get something for you to wipe that off."
Miroku locked himself in the bathroom. He raised his fist in the air letting out a very loud "YES!" He knew Sango was into him! The cards had not failed him this time, there was no mistaking her reaction. He was the one that the cards predicted she had fallen for. He yanked one of the washcloths out of the cabinet, soaking it with some of the running water from the faucet. As he wrung out the washcloth, Miroku looked at his reflection in the mirror. With a determined look plastered across his face Miroku decided it was now or never, he was going to make Sango his girlfriend. That was a promise!
[A/N] This chapter was originally a lot longer, so I decided to split it up in two chapters to avoid wall-o-text tl;dr insanity. Don't worry, chapter 8 should be up shortly. I just have to run it through a couple of more pairs of peepers. When I was doing research for this particular chapter, I had to consult an old friend of mine who actually does tarot readings for a living as I knew almost jack squat about how it works and all. Even though I am a pagan, I never really felt like I needed to learn tarot since it has little to nothing to do with my personal beliefs. I hope I at least got a basic understanding on how a three-card spread works. Even though this is a very modern non-magic AU, I still wanted to keep some aspect of Miroku's spirituality so I hope I succeeded in that regard. Also a big shout out to all that left reviews! You guys are freaking awesome! I'm super stoked that people actually enjoy my writing!
MIX TAPE:
Track 1: Misfits- Teenagers From Mars
Track 2: Billy Idol- Rebel Yell
Track 3: Blondie- Heart Of Glass
