A/N: Thanks for all your love, guys! This is a short chapter, so I'm putting it up sooner. If all goes well the next one will be up around Sunday

The Monk People Watches

A few days passed since his arrival to the Higurashi Shrine. Miroku was still staying there - he wasn't in a hurry to get back to the little temple managed bu his master. And the old man didn't expect him back soon, he was always getting home in a round about way. One never knew if on his way he wouldn't encounter someone in need of an exorcism or a blessing.

The young monk busied himself by taking care of customer service in the gift shop. He had a natural talent to make people purchase more than they'd initially wanted. Besides, with Kagome's permission, he added the various sutras and blessings of his own to the array of goods the shrine sold.

The shrine was a quaint little place, lovely and well cared for. It wasn't crowded with patrons, but there were many of people coming there during a day. And beside the patrons, there were many people involved in preparing the upcoming festival - Miroku often had to point them to where Kagome or her grandfather were. In short, this was a wonderful place to indulge in one of Miroku's favorite pastimes - people watching.

Mr Higurashi was a kind person, happily chatting with old friends or telling vibrant stories to the patrons. Lady Kagome was a lovely young woman, who at the same time had a huge heart and flaring temper. Lady Sango was visiting the shrine from time to time, along with a two tailed cat Kirara. The stubborn slayer was... entertaining. Whatever tricks Miroku used she was not swooning and it was... exciting. For once he wanted to get to know a woman, to learn how she thought and how to earn her smile. A part of him was for once not interest in flirting, but really getting to know a girl. It was a pity that it had only the array of one-liners and womanizing experience to work with. Sango didn't like his compliments that much and he wanted desperately to get her as interested in him as he was in her.

And there were the youkai - Myouga who loved to brag about his victories in the field of love, but fled at the mere huff of annoyance from anyone. Kirara, who'd eyed Miroku suspiciously and then flicked her tails and went for a nap on his last clean shirt, adorning it with cream colored hair. And, of course, the shrine guardian Inuyasha, the hanyou, who Miroku used to entertain himself when Sango was absent. Oh, it wasn't like Miroku didn't like him or had something against hanyou. It was simply because Inuyasha was a man with mix of characteristics that didn't conjure in one person often.

Miroku sighed as he looked at the pretty girl standing by the gift shop counter. She was dressed in a yukata, her hair pinned up in a stylish bun. Her rusty brown eyes looked intently at the array of key chains on the counter. One could almost miss the sweeping glances she gave the surrounding area.

"May I suggest this glitter butterfly?" he pointed to one of the key chains. "It will look quite fetching, adorning your keys."

"Oh, Inuyasha!" the girl said, turning her head to the side at the first glimpse of silver white. Miroku glanced that way to see Inuyasha approaching, a straw hat covering his head, carrying a box of various items to restock the gift shop. He almost chuckled when the hanyou cringed at the sight of the girl, who blushed a bit when he approached them.

'Here comes a lucky dog,' Miroku thought. Not only had the shrine guardian the obvious affection of the miko, this young lady had that certain spark in her eye when she looked at him. Miroku shook his head at the clear unfairness of the world, he'd been trying to charm this girl for the past five minutes but as soon as Inuyasha cleared the horizon, she lost interest in him.

Personally, Miroku blamed it on the white hair. Girls, especially those reading lots of manga, seemed to dig pale hair. And it wasn't like Miroku's hair wasn't longer than most men, it was longer than usual. It just was plain black... Hm, maybe he should try to bleach it? Or add a colored streak? Briefly, he wondered if Sango would be curious about a purple strand appearing in his hair. He could treat her to a story about its meaning... She seemed to be somewhat interested in the modern culture...

"I was about to buy a key chain, but I can't pick one, Can you help me?" the girl asked and cutely tilted her head to the side when Inuyasha put his box on the empty part of the counter.

"Ask the monk. He's here for that purpose," he grumbled and Miroku beamed at them.

"That's right! But, Inuyasha, what can we do, if a patron wishes to have you aiding her in her purchase, I will gladly step aside for a minute," Miroku waved his hand in the direction of the key chains laid out on the counter.

The girl cast him a grateful, albeit surprised look, but then focused back on Inuyasha, who looked uncomfortable with her wide smile. Miroku bit the inside of his cheek not to chuckle.

It didn't take him long to realize that the shrine guardian had feelings for the young miko. It was plain as day, but it seemed the poor lad wasn't aware of it yet, or just was terrible at romancing girls. Either way, it was going to be amusing to see the two of them finally realizing their crush was mutual and working out the fine details of a relationship. It was bound to prove hilarious and it was the second reason Miroku didn't want to leave the shrine too soon. The first obviously was Sango.

Inuyasha glared at hm.

"Just pick the one on the top and get over it," he shrugged. "It's not important what shape it is as long as you don't lose the keys, I guess."

The girl and Miroku both looked to the one on the top of a practical stand holding a whole bunch of them. It was a pink ball, nothing fancy.

"Huh?" the girl picked it up "This one?"

But when she turned Inuyasha was gone, replaced by Mr. Higurashi, who beamed t her.

"Ah! This is the Shikon no Tama. An excellent choice, Miss Ito!" he praised. "The Shikon no Tama is a sacred jewel of great power,. It was said to grant you any wish."

And with that the old man launched in a tale of an ancient miko named Midoriko, who had fought a lot of vile youkai. The girl looked around as if trying to find a way to leave without being impolite. Miroku just sat down on his chair and wondered how Inuyasha managed to get out of sight so fast.

.

Nothing moved in the small valley, only wisps of smoke that swayed like tails of an excited animal. A panther and a moth knelt side by side heads bowed.

In front of them on the sliver of ground that separated them from a big stone wrapped in a rice rope, laid two objects. One was an ordinary looking bow and the other was a fox skull, adorned with jewels and golden wire that held the beads of quarts and sapphire. Two chunks of onyx filled the eyes of the skull. The panther and the moth tried not to look into these eyes as much as they tried to avoid looking at the stone and the wisps of the smoke coming from the candles scattered around the boulder.

They felt as if the looming presence looked at them through them.

"We found the bow Empress," the panther said, smiling as she spoke. She felt a bit less uneasy than her companion, since her kin actually had done what they had been told to.

"And we... I sent two of my best followers to take the sword from the great dog," the moth spoke just a tiny bit too fast to sound casual. "But it turned out that his is not the one we are looking for. My servants paid with blood for that knowledge and others are looking for the sword as we speak. In the meantime, we discovered your corporal skull, held in one of the kitsune shrines."

"It's useless," spoke a voice that sounded like a whisper of a deadly gas crawling down a volcano slope. "When this one will be freed, she will take possession of a living body, not a husk. Bring the sword."

And with that the wisps of smoke dissipated and the pair was alone in the valley again