"Miroku. Miroku, wake up, " she lightly shook his body.

The light touch to his shoulder was enough to wake him up. Purple eyes peeked open to see who it was that was disturbing his sleep, before fully opening. He continued to lay there as he regarded her. Even in his sleepy state, he could tell something was wrong, nevertheless, there was a more pressing question he had in mind.

"Kagome, how did you get your guard to let you leave and come here?"

"Good Morning to you too."

"Kags, " he looked at the darkness filling his room, "Come here"

He scooted around on the bed, giving her a spot to crawl into. She did and curled up into his bare chest. He said nothing. He didn't have to; she would open up soon. She always did when the group was deep in sleep and she needed comforting.

A suppressed sob tore through her tiny form. He rubbed soothing circles into her back. She needed to cry it out; he just had to be there for her.

She didn't cry. Not a single tear escaped from her eyes, yet the atmosphere was charged with her melancholy.

"Hey, bun, What's wrong?"

"I messed up, Roku. I've made a grave mistake. I seem to have started to give my heart away once more"

"Oh bun." He held her closer to him at the confession.

He went through the possible men that had a hold on her heart. There was no way it was Koga or Inuyasha. That only left Sesshomaru and Natsu. There was also Eiji and Fubuki, but they were too new to start any wild emotions within her, although Kagome had such a big heart.

"But I can't love him. I simply can't be with him. He's a powerful high noble."

A powerful high noble? That didn't clear anything up. All four males we're, ironically, high nobles and were considered sone of the most powerful demons of their generation.

"Why not? The Akayashi cares little about race. Everything is power to them"

"They don't? Then why do they despise hanyou?

"To the Akayashi I could only ever be his mistress, if I'm lucky his second wife, and I can't accept that. I can't handle not being the only one again."

"But we're holy people of great power, bun. If we genuinely love a yokai, any children from the union can be full-blooded if we so choose. Even if you couldn't give him a full-blooded heir, any child borne from you would be powerful, no matter if the child is hanyou. Look at Inuyasha. His mother had no power, yet he's respected amongst the Akayashi."

"But they don't know that about holy people, Miroku! They wouldn't even chance that our union will not bring a preferred heir. All they'll see is a cardinal lord following in the dangerous footsteps of his great father."

It was Sesshomaru. She was falling for Sesshomaru. He wouldn't lie to himself; he felt a great relief pour through him knowing it wasn't Natsu. He had suspected the attraction had grown between them. The way she spoke of the lord to him when they were alone was always full of adoration. He knew that the main reason she began to train her powers had to do with the lord. In his own silent way, Sesshomaru had emboldened her to take care of herself. During the months spent travelling together, her confidence, which had taken a thorough beating from Inuyasha over the years, had steadily been on the incline.

Unknowingly to the lord, he was the one that finally stifled the dying embers of Kagome's naïve love for Inuyasha with one sentence. That was the phrase that began their friendship in Miroku's eyes. Secretly, Miroku had hoped for them to be in a romantic relationship between them

Yet to see her so shaken up by the realisation of what she felt...

"I can't let him go through that. He doesn't deserve that. I refuse to bring him into ridicule for fleeting emotions."

"Are you going to tell him? Maybe see how he reacts? You might find-"

She pushed off his chest and looked down at him. Her blue eyes wide and frantic stared into his own with deep-rooted insecurity. She couldn't say it: she did not believe the lord should love her.

"He doesn't need to know." She turned her back to him and wrapped her arms around her raised knees.

There was little he could do. Her mind was made up. She was just as stubborn as the man she fell in love with, if not more.

He sighed and got off the bed. It's best he got dressed for the day. It didn't make any sense to return to sleep, from the look of outside, it would soon be sawn. As he walked away from his bed, he saw that on the bannister of his balcony held an arrow.

"So, what are you going to do?" He said as he changed behind a screen, "Obviously you are going to throw yourself into sorting and finding him the perfect woman to be with."

"What are you asking?"

"Don't you deserve happiness?"

She flinched at the familiar wording. It wasn't exactly what Sesshomaru had said, but the impact was what he wanted. She was stubborn but he knew how to work around her.

"I suggest you move on. If you choose to not give him a chance, then it makes no sense pining over him."

"Nani?"

He huffed at her before taking a seat next to her on the bed. He pulled her head to rest on his shoulder with his arm hugging her to him.

"I'm not telling you to just throw him out of your heart. That's all but impossible to do. I'm advising that you open up yourself to new opportunities including him."

She stared at the wall before them blankly. The air around him seem to vibrate in irregular, slow, concentric patterns along his skin. So, this is what confusion felt like.

"This is the Mating Games after all. Many males in one place that you can take advantage of, and after your little display yesterday, wants to take advantage of you."

"Miroku!" She said smacking his chest in reproach

"If you agree, I'll also take the steps to move on." It was about time.

"Really?"

He simply nodded leaning his head on top of hers. He meant it. It was about time he moved on from Sango; she clearly didn't love him anymore and wasn't going to again. Or he could take this time to win her over a voice whispered in his ear.

The conflict showed clearly in her eyes and broadcasted through her aura to become a physical feeling to him before she came to a decision. She began taking concentrated rhythmic breath patterns, something that Toga would have taught her. The air went back to normal.

"I'll try."

"You don't even have to try. You already have at least one admirer."

She scoffed at him incredulously. Of course, she wouldn't believe him or even worse, think he was referring to Koga.

"You never did answer my first question"

She opened her mouth to answer and stiffened snapping her head to the window simultaneously with him.

Something was approaching. Fast.

"I may have given him the slip."

well, they were in for some trouble. Miroku quickly dropped the barrier and let the enraged demon inside. the moment it dropped, the demon was inside his room, body tense crackling with electricity.

"Good morning Eiji. It seems I must apologize for my nēsan. She was distressed and needed to speak to me,"

Miroku took in the dog demon before him. His chest was heaving, and one may confuse it for rage but there was a look in his eye. It was small but he knew it was. The guard was worried about her. He may have thought that the person trying to poison her had decided to be hands-on and kidnap her from under his personal care. A quick look at Kagome showed that she sensed that through her powers. A blush painted her face and she was a familiar necklace around her neck refusing to look at her guard.

"However, she should have just asked for you to escort here."

She still refused to look up. Eyes trained on the floor; bottom lip thoroughly abused by her with an extremely guilty look on her face. He crossed his arms and nudged her to attention. If Natsu thought her well, then she would know what to do.

"Gomen'nasai, Eiji-sama. I was brash and irresponsible. Do with me as you see fit…" she trailed off with her neck outstretched.

The general calmed down slightly at her words. His demeanour returning to the one the monk was accustomed to. Miroku on the other hand had his eyebrows high on his forehead. He had not expected her to basically relinquish herself over to the demon for as long as he saw fit for her transgressions. Gold and silver eyes turned to him as her brother for permission. Miroku nodded although, in the dog's eyes he saw the seeping of red. Hopefully he wouldn't use her sexually, granted it was in his right due to her wording.

With an 'eep', Kagome was picked up and tossed over Eiji's wide shoulder then grabbed her bow. He turned to him with a cocky grin.

"I'll try to bring her back in one piece." He said before walking out the door.

Kagome's blue eyes stared at him with both apprehension and anticipation. She continued worrying her lip with a blush along her cheeks and what seemed to be a small smile. She gave him a small wave.

Kami! She liked what was happening. If Sesshomaru-sama didn't do something quick, his best friend might steal Kagome's heart from him.

*pretends that I didn't disappear for two weeks*
Hi guys, how you doing? So this chapter was about 4k words and i felt that the pacing was weird. Luckily for you, i've decided not to the time skip and just make those days a singe chapter for each day that i was going to skip.
What do you think about Miroku?