Author's Note :D : This story is not beta'd on account of my lovely inaligrimalikn working herself to the bone! Poor muffin. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. I wanted to thank my reviewers for being so wonderful!

Please keep those amazing reviews coming! They lift my spirits!

Updated: February. 6, 2012


The weather was decidedly no longer the warm summer temperatures that Miroku had come to expect. The change had been happening for a week or more now, but this was the first time that he had stopped to enjoy it. The leaves on the trees were bright reds, oranges, and yellows, and the ones that had already fallen to the ground were brown and crunched under his feet.

He'd always love autumn more than any other season. It wasn't too hot, nor too cold. Perfect for Goldilocks, and apparently also for Miroku Takeuchi. There was something about the freshness of the air that made him feel alive. This morning he couldn't resist walking to FoxFire, humming a tune as he did so.

It wasn't a long walk and only took him about fifteen minutes before he stepped into the store. He thought to himself how accustomed he'd become to these visits, and how he had come to enjoy it. He realized that for a few months leading up to his books signing he had been bored. Not just bored, plain old depressed. He hadn't doing much more than moping around his apartment, renting movies, and avoiding unpleasant people. He'd gained five pounds in that time, or so said his scale. He couldn't tell where this new weight had put itself, but was thankful that it wasn't visible.

He waved at InuYasha and Shippo as he passed them on the way to the library. The blue glow surrounding the door was less obvious, and more transparent to him and a light bulb went off in his head. He must be becoming acclimated to the aura's of the demons that he was around on such a regular basis. He shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the handle, turning it and slowly swinging the door open.

A coffee sat on his end of the wooden table, but there was no one in sight.

"Hello," he called out. No answer. "That's odd." He'd never been in the room alone. He'd either been met by a silent stare from Totosai, or the ever studying Sango, and that was how he liked it. He shrugged again, and began to wander the isles of boxes in the back of the room. Each rectangular box held a scroll. Some were ornately decorated, others were plain as possible. He didn't even notice when he began to hum again. He did notice, however, when he began to sing out loud. Eventually he couldn't hold himself back, and he began to dance.

"Baby, you're all that I want, when you're lying here in my arms! I'm finding it hard to believe we're in heaven!"" He sang with a pencil held up to his mouth, acting like it was a microphone. Then he turned around and made eye contact with a comically smirking InuYasha. "Oh, InuYasha! I didn't hear you come in!" He remembered the pencil, and dropped his hand to his side.

"I can see that." Miroku could see that the hanyou was trying to hold back his laughter. To his embarrassment, InuYasha didn't drop it. "I never took you for a vocalist. You've got some skills." They ever present smirk turned to a grin.

"Yeah, I was in choir and the drama club in high school."

"Interesting."

"How so?" He couldn't help that his voice was a mite defensive.

"Sango's a theater minor. She's actually at an audition right now. Romeo and Juliet, of all things. We're waiting to hear the news." This news actually shocked Miroku. Of all of the things he may have expected Sango to be interested in, theater was not even near the top of the list. He pictured her dressed up as Capulets daughter, and his breath was nearly taken away by how captivating she would look.

"Well, I wish her luck, though she can't hear me," he offered. "I take it, since you are 'waiting to hear,' Sango won't be here today?" InuYasha yawned and scratched the nape of his neck.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Miroku, but that's right. She'll be calling later if you want to wait." Miroku looked at his watch. It was about one in the afternoon. Being in a slump, he'd had nothing lined up on his calendar for quite some time. He had nothing BUT time. The only downside was not seeing Sango.

"Of course I'll be here. I've got to catch up on my reading anyways." He paused. "InuYasha, have you read any of these books/" The hanyou nodded.

"I've read a few, why?"

"Can you suggest a book to me then?" Miroku was wary of reading another sleep-inducing book so close to the last. He noticed InuYashas ears twitch. It wasn't an agitated or particularly uncomfortable movement, and he couldn't really tell what feeling it portrayed. Interest maybe? There was a pause before he got his answer.

"Sure, let me see..." InuYasha wandered away from the scrolls and down the short hall that led to rows of bound volumes, and Miroku followed. His nose twitch slightly, indicating that he'd decided to sniff out the scent of the volume he'd been searching for, then it wrinkled as if smelling something unpleasant. Miroku could have sworn that he heard him grumble, "the bastard's scent is on everything," but made no comment. He watched the golden eyes search each shelf. Finally a spark of recognition lit them up, and InuYasha reached up, pulling a large tan colored book from the topmost shelf. He held it out to the author at his side. "Here, this one is good."

"Thanks," Miroku took the book, "I really appreciate it. The last one I read was brutal."

"I hear ya'." Then the door to the library opened and Kohaku burst in, closely followed by Shippo and a girl whom Miroku had never met before. A few strands of hair had fallen free from Kohaku's rather surprising ponytail. It was the first time that he'd thought about it, but Miroku had to guess that Kohaku's hair was probably about as long as his sisters. Right now the freckled face had a look of utmost excitement.

"Sango called! She got the part! She's Juliet!" There was a chorus of cheers around the room. Miroku and the new girl joined in just as enthusiastically. He was caught staring at her and she turned, extending her hand to him with a smile.

"I'm Sayuri. I'm... I come here a lot." He shook her hands.

The girl in question looked to be in her mid teens or so, and was not quite as tall as Shippo, who was standing rather close. She had close-cropped chocolate brown hair that still looked feminine, and a sunny smile. Her nails were painted neon green and bitten down to the point where they looked like they may bleed. She was in a blue and white high school uniform, suggest that she may have come straight from her lessons. In her pretty and uncommonly shaded green eyes, he could see a glimpse of the spirit that her reiki had hinted at. She was not shy this one, yet she wasn't reckless. By her earlier verbal slip, he guessed that she had a thing for the kitsune.

Miroku gave himself a second to imagine what a kitsune hanyou would look like. He knew there had never been one before. He had read it in an article once. All he could imagine was a smaller version of Sayuri in a fox costume. Cute.

"Hello Sayuri, I am-"

"You don't need to introduce yourself, Mr. Takeuchi."

"Please, call me Miroku, my dear." He turned her hand over in his own and kissed her knuckle gently, making her giggle. He felt more than saw blue youki rush out around him. He held back a chuckle. Her kitsune was quite taken with her as well. Even if he had not said it, he had subconsciously protected what was, or he hoped to be, his. He released her hand from his bigger one and smiled. The youki around him dispersed. Then he turned to Kohaku, noticing how Sayuri stepped back and took her place next to the shop owner as soon as she was released.

"you'll congratulate her for me?" He asked. "I mean, I'll do it once I see her, but it'll come four days too late." A grin came before the answer.

"I already did. She said thank you to everyone, and asked for no one to buy her any gifts or anything. She said that if you do, she will re-wrap them and hand them back on your respective birthdays." That amused everyone.

"But really, shouldn't we get her something?" Sayuri asked. InuYasha was first to respond. He shook his head.

"Sango usually doesn't like for people to make big deals of her accomplishments, though she has made many. She'd much rather just receive a pat on the back for a job well done. HE taught her that." Everyone seemed to accept this as an appropriate answer. Miroku was the only on who seemed to wonder at the last statement.

"Who are you referring to when you say he?" Everyone exchanged amused glances. InuYasha even chuckled.

"You'll see soon enough."


End Note: No Sango this chapter! And *gasp*! Who could this mysterious man be? Read more to find out, my little lemon drops ;p