The temple was vast and sprawling, beautiful in a way that was different from the palace.
Miroku led the way, announcing his return once he found the old drunk leaning against a pillar that faced the way they'd come.
Sesshomaru was shaking off the haze of his dog form when a sutra landed on his sleeve, hesitant and ticklish. The old man had been smart to realize Sesshomaru as a threat, but his sluggishness and diverted attentions made him a sitting duck.
"These are my friends," the young monk stressed, just like an embarrassed teenager introducing his friends to his embarrassing father, "this is Sango-,"
"Thank you for having us!" She waved sweetly and the old man was sold.
"And Sesshomaru." He was hardly as kind and his acknowledgement came in the form of a tilt of his head, "he's a man of few words. Most days." Sesshomaru rolled his eyes at Sango's happy smile when the young monk grabbed InuYasha's hand and tugged him close, "and this is InuYasha, my boyfriend, you met him once before."
Mushin was tolerant and had few rules for them to comply with. However, two of them were wholly inconvenient.
"Not having sex on the premises isn't that bad," Sango giggled, it had hardly been two days and yet, Sesshomaru was moaning as if the world would end at any moment.
His dramatics were not interested in her reason.
"Some of us don't have sex lives as healthy as yours," Miroku sighed, "you shouldn't complain when you've clearly been blessed."
"If you weren't so obsessed with penetration we wouldn't have this issue!" InuYasha was often too loud and this was one of those times. He instantly flushed, glaring at Miroku as if he'd been the one to spill the secret.
"If you didn't like it so much I wouldn't ask so frequently." Miroku found it funny when InuYasha brightened further, "demon, tell me a secret."
Sesshomaru found that to be a strange request. He was notorious for not divulging secrets.
"Like what?"
"Like," he turned to face him, "what are you afraid of?"
"Why should I?"
Miroku shrugged a bit, "because I want to know you. You are the missing piece, the quarter chunk of the pack that alludes me as I try and piece us together."
"Knowing what scares me won't help you there." Sesshomaru felt himself becoming difficult once more. If there was one thing he knew, it was that the monk wanted him for his body. And he hated being coveted. Once upon a time the monk's fire had enticed him, but now that he had quenched that thirst he found that he was wholly unwilling to be someone's fetish.
He was more than pretty hair and he didn't feel that the monk appreciated that, so he held him at arm's length.
"It would be a good start, don't you think?"
Sesshomaru didn't acknowledge that. Instead, he scowled at the waterfall they'd walked towards. Sesshomaru and InuYasha were to purify themselves first.
"Clear your mind and rid yourself of evil thoughts," but all of Sesshomaru's thoughts were evil. He'd die beneath the rushing water.
Miroku sent them both towards the water with stern hands upon their backs.
They'd added lumps to Miroku's skull in unison when his hands had fallen lower.
"It's always so worth it," he'd sighed, his hands twitching as he remembered their firm roundness. He didn't doubt that he'd meet an early death this way, but he was hardly willing to stop.
It had taken several returns to the falls for the brothers to be cleared of impure thoughts. The white juban had gone see through and Miroku's heavy, leering gaze got them returned to the falls. He'd claimed that they hadn't rid themselves of violent thoughts, all the while inspiring said violent thoughts.
"Sango," Miroku patted the rock beside him, never letting his eyes leave the men beneath the crashing water, "give me some advice?" When she only stared at him, curious and wide eyed, he explained, "Sesshomaru and I are at odds, however, I sense that we are the ones blocking the flow of the natural order."
"And what should I do about that?" She shifted beside him, watching Sesshomaru with an aching fondness, "his secrets are his own."
"I'm not asking you to tell me anything too personal, but if we can't get along then everything crumbles." He considered his request, "I am looking for a hint. Something that will help me connect with him on a level beyond the physical."
"Stop groping him," she said with certainty, "he's so pretty, people must chase after his looks endlessly. Grabbing him only reaffirms that you aren't serious about exploring him as a being."
Miroku stared at his hands. Those hands were made for ass grabbing- it was in his very blood.
"Seriously?"
She nodded. They were approaching, silver hair sticking to their collarbones and running down chiseled jaws.
"Support me?"
She swallowed the lump in her throat, "I'll do it for both of us."
When they came close enough, dripping and irresistible, she slunk behind them. This was God's work.
Their reaction to being groped was a bit different when it was her. InuYasha had gone red, bouncing away from her as he tried to explain why her actions were inappropriate and welcome and he wasn't scared he was just shocked.
Sesshomaru had dropped his elbow on her head, "don't let that monk influence you."
"You had no right to leave that waterfall looking as godlike as you did. Take your punishment for being so…," she gave him the same look that always pushed him over the edge, "perfect."
"You will not cloud my mind, woman." He placed a chaste kiss to her forehead, "I will not return to that waterfall."
XxXxXxXxXx
Miroku sped through his chores, feeling as if he were twelve again, desperate to get back to his book. Washing the bedding was first on the long list of things Master Mushin wanted from him, but it was also the most time consuming.
If he could get everything spotless and hung to dry by the time dawn bled to morning then he would be able to make quick work of the sweeping, the dusting, and the yard work.
Meanwhile, his friends didn't have to do chores. Master Mushin insisted that they were guests and not to be bothered with hard labor.
"Want any help?" Sango was trotting up to him, dressed in a comfortable cotton kimono she'd swindled his Master out of, "Sesshomaru, InuYasha, and I didn't think it was very nice to watch you work all day."
He snorted, she didn't think it was very nice and now she'd dragged the other two into it.
It would turn out that Sesshomaru had never done a chore in his life. Washing bedding had started off fine, he was perfectly capable of washing his own clothes, sheets weren't much different. However, when it came time for beating the futons...things got hairy. Sango and Miroku found themselves chasing after both InuYasha and Sesshomaru, yelling for them to put their swords away or stop punching the cotton
So they gave them another task, "dusting is easy," Sango had told the two, "just cover your nose and mouth and gently brush it away with the duster."
Master Mushin's drunken cries were all that alerted them to the nonsense inside.
Sango found them both staring into the corners of the prayer room, being scolded by the portly monk who raised Miroku.
"What have you both done?" There were holes in the rice paper doors and the tatami had- somehow- been scuffed to hell.
InuYasha was yelling and Sesshomaru declined to admit to any involvement and she quickly decided that eternity was too long.
The gist of it all? Sesshomaru called InuYasha a mutt. He'd reacted violently, because he had as many brain cells as he had humanoid ears, and got his duster lodged in the rice paper.
Sesshomaru had not let this attack slide though, that would have been too kind and Sesshomaru was nothing if not unkind. He'd thrown InuYasha into the tatami, grinding his face into the straw as if they were twelve and not creatures that were armed with fangs.
She didn't know where the other holes had come from, but she found herself suddenly exhausted.
"Sesshomaru, mend the floor. InuYasha, mend the doors. If I return and everything is not exactly as you found it…" she was at a loss for words, she'd sent them to dust. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she'd be in love with a man as stupid as Sesshomaru seemed to be.
"We'll fix it," InuYasha muttered, he was halfway out the door, searching for the proper materials, "but it still wasn't my fault."
That was it.
Sango didn't enjoy laying hands to her friends, but if he wanted to be insufferable then far be it from her to deny the training her father instilled in her. A demon slayer's job, after all, was to handle troublesome demons.
He screamed when she landed on his back, locking her legs at his waist and tugging his cheeks as if they were made of Mochi, "why do you have to be so difficult!"
"Me?" His words were distorted by the cheek pulling, "he started it!"
"I didn't ask who started it. You two are supposed to be helping Miroku, not making everything harder!"
He was trying to remove her fingers from his face, but to no avail. She'd latched on tight and his only option was cooperation as her strong legs squeezed tighter.
"Okay! Gods! What more do you want?"
She thought about it for a moment, "say 'I was a bad puppy' and I shall release you." When he began to struggle again she abandoned his cheeks and gripped his ears.
"I'm not saying that! Get off of me!" He was trying to remove her legs as gently as possible, not willing to hurt her for her teasing. However, without the ability to harm her, he was stuck.
"Sesshomaru come and get your wench!"
She tugged lightly, her teasing sending indecent bolts of lighting south, "don't call Sesshomaru! He won't help you! Now, obey me." The feeling was building and she was none the wiser.
"I don't have a wench. I'm too busy fixing the tatami that your wreck of a face decided to destroy."
"You're supposed to be my brother, you traitor!"
"I have no brother."
Sango tugged his ears sharply again, "don't you forget about me! Admit that you're a little puppy or lose your ears."
The static that shot straight his core was becoming hard to ignore and he knew he'd need to be free sooner than later. Never again would he be caught dead moaning in an office over her assault on his ears.
She almost got him. The pads of her thumbs pressed against a bundle of nerves and he felt his body betraying him, "fine! Fine! I was a bad puppy."
Her fingers left his ears and she landed deftly behind him, "how does anyone put up with you?" He darkened under her roaming eyes. Her eyebrows shooting into her bangs.
"Seems like you're more fond of me than you let on." She shrugged, "maybe if you can keep the destruction to a minimum I can give you a gift." She disappeared outside before he could demand that she expound on what kind of gift.
"Fucking tease."
XxXxXxXxXx
Sesshomaru often prided himself on his slightly above average intelligence. It was rare that one was awarded brains, bronze, and beauty, but he had to wonder…
How stupid did he have to be to not notice that the cuffs that bound him and Sango together, had been removed. They'd broken the curse days ago and, as he watched Sango fold the many futons that littered the floor, he realized that the love of his life was just as stupid as he was.
For the first time in centuries, Sesshomaru felt bad for Haruki.
"The cuffs are gone."
She paused, letting the cotton pad fall from her fingers as she ran her fingers over the pale, blue designs that had soaked into her skin.
"The cuffs are gone."
They stared at each other for the longest while. Then Sango was blubbering like a big baby, rubbing her wet, snotty face into his chest as she wailed in that garbled, mermaid language.
He hadn't a clue what she was trying to say and so he simply patted her back until she was calm.
"You trusted me," and then she was crying again, happy, choking sobs that made him fiercely uncomfortable, "I love you. So much. You horrible man." Sesshomaru pulled away from her, just a bit, a fondness for her ugly crying filling him and trickling into her.
"I love you too. Now please, stop crying."
XxXxXxXxXx
Miroku was sitting with InuYasha, reading by candlelight as InuYasha occupied himself with whatever he'd been weaving.
There was a moment where he felt the body beside him flail, but he was faced with Sesshomaru holding his hand over InuYasha's mouth and typing his hands behind his back.
"You saw nothing."
When both brother's disappeared into the forest he returned to his book.
He'd be fine.
XxXxXxXxXx
They left Mushin's temple the next morning, each of them ready to return home for very different reasons.
Miroku was already irritated with both brothers. All morning they'd been bickering, taking unnecessary jabs out of one another and stopping to fight whenever the mood struck. Whenever they started up again he was overwhelmed with the desire to cut chunks out of their pretty, silver hair. How any two beings could be so gorgeous and so enraging was beyond him.
He had no idea how he'd planned to deal with those grouchy men for his entire life.
If Miroku was being honest, he'd admit that he was also being a bit grouchy. All of Miroku's attempts to get to know Sesshomaru were met with vicious and bitter rejection.
He wouldn't tell him his favorite color.
He wouldn't tell him why he insisted on sleeping naked.
He wouldn't tell him the name of his first pet- or even what it was.
There was not a solitary detail that the demon was willing to offer him despite the fact that he wanted to know him.
Not only would he go completely silent when questioned, but the ill tempered demon also snapped at him to leave him be.
If he wanted nothing to do with him, why did Sesshomaru lend him his mother's ancient possession? Why had he helped hunt him down? Sesshomaru was hardly the one to go so far for friendship.
"Dandelion for your thoughts?" InuYasha handed him a flower with a fuzz ball instead of petals.
"I'm frustrated with your brother. Everyone else has their life changing relationship with Sesshomaru, but no matter what I try it's like I can't get past the first hurdle."
InuYasha seemed to be thinking, searching for a solution that he didn't have the power to solve, "he's not as socially intelligent or as emotionally mature as me." He kissed Miroku's cheek, "besides it's kind of confusing to go from being alone to being suddenly ...liked. Maybe he just needs more time to get a feel for you."
"He's not even giving me a fair chance!" Miroku whined, "showing no interest got me nowhere. Showing some interest got me nowhere. It's like he's intentionally making it difficult."
InuYasha screwed up his face, "it's easy to judge. It's more difficult to understand," and then he smiled a bit, "I think that's the way it goes."
Miroku nodded. His irritation fell away, like shaking flower petals from one's hair and he beamed at his InuYasha. His darling InuYasha, "understanding requires compassion, patience, and a willingness to believe that good hearts sometimes choose poor methods."
He ran his purple clad shoulder into InuYasha's. The words fell from his lips before he could talk himself out of them, "I love you, InuYasha." The stuttering and muttering that followed caused laughter to fall around him.
Quietly, through clenched teeth he heard him mutter, "I love you too."
XxXxXxXxXx
Sesshomaru nearly flinched when Haruki came into view. He was sitting at the gate, fire in his eyes.
And his lecture was legendary. He berated them for leaving over the wall without a word, spat and raved for getting absolutely nothing done. By the time he was done dragging them through the mud they all looked properly scolded.
"You will be meeting with the final contestants for the board tomorrow, have your bills prepared or so help me there will be hell to pay. Am I perfectly understood?"
A chorus of, "yes, Haruki," was satisfactory enough and he stomped away without a bow as a goodbye.
So when they got into the castle, weary from their travels, but also not willing to be ripped to shreds again, they headed to Sesshomaru's office. InuYasha and Sango worked closely together, both wanting to be useful, but falling short in different areas.
Sesshomaru, instead of working, watched them whisper about the things they wanted included in the human-half-demon-and-everyone-else bill. The name could use work, but he didn't have the heart to bring them down at the moment.
They were so close that their hair intermingled and the candle that was undoubtedly too close for InuYasha's sensitive eyes cast them both in a romantic glow.
But neither noticed.
"You're ruining your parchment." The monk's cracking, whispered words sent an involuntary chill down his spine, but he moved the brush away from the scroll anyways.
"Don't you have anything else you'd rather be doing?"
Miroku shrugged a bit, "well I came over to ask your input about the agreement with the Eastern lands-,"
"Just give them what they want."
He didn't notice when Miroku's eyes went to the back of his head, "that's- why would we send half of the soldiers there? That would spread the guard impossibly thin."
"Then we recruit new guards."
Miroku was quickly realizing why Haruki was always so tense. Sesshomaru, for all of his grace and silence, was better left as the pretty face behind the politics.
He only thought about instant gratification and lacked the compassion to realize that working his guards for twelve hours instead of eight would only run them into the ground.
If there was an attack of any sort the guard wouldn't be at its best.
He was sacrificing one of the most sensitive branches of a functioning society for the sake of appeasing his aunts and not having to meet with them to further discuss the denied proposal.
"Do you have any idea how long it takes to train new guards?"
Sesshomaru's liquid gold eyes landed on him, lazy and uninterested. The wood of his brush was between his teeth, his pointed tongue wrapping and unwrapping around the handle.
It stole his breath out of his chest.
"We- you-," Miroku considered looking away, but that was what Sesshomaru wanted. He was trying to intimidate him into walking away, "stop that."
He trailed his tongue along the length of it, gaze never wavering, "stop what?"
"You know what, you foul demon. Stop trying to distract me and-," something about the curling around the handle was making his stomach flutter. He turned his back on Sesshomaru, accepting that he was playing a game the monk never stood a chance at winning, "you're a real bastard. I'm telling them no to the guards."
"Do whatever you'd like," a strong hand gripped his back end, "monk."
