On the list of reasons why Sango wanted to murder Onigumo, his choice in timing was closer to the top than she wanted to admit. Because her phone pinged while she was in bed. With Miroku. Naked.

Leave it to Onigumo to spoil the first sex Sango had had in over a year. And worse? It was good sex. Miroku was tender and skilled. He knew where to put his fingers, where to drag his teeth, how to curl his tongue and… well… how to move his hips at just the right angle.

There was nothing less sexy than a hasty 'I need to go' tossed at a man as she was throwing her clothes back on (she was one sock down) and scurrying out the door, toward CPW Towers. With one quick text to Kagura, Sango was off, wishing that she could still be in bed with Miroku, pretending like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Except, apparently, Miroku was no ordinary man.

"I'm coming with you."
Who even says that when someone is running toward the gateway to hell? Because from the live feed and the buzz on the police scanners, that was what she was currently heading into.

"No, you're not," Sango declared, but then Miroku handed her a sock, and brandished the glock on his belt. His jeweled indigo eyes were set, and grave.

"I'm coming with you."
He was not going to take no for an answer. And everything about the way that he was looking at her told Sango that he did know what he was signing up for.

Apparently Miroku was coming with her.

"I don't know how much Kagome has talked about what we do, about what is going on right now, but you are completely and utterly unprepared for it," Sango snarled, jogging down the stairs and toward her motorcycle.

"And you're better prepared at this moment?" Miroku asked, keeping pace with her steps. "I've been keeping tabs on what you're getting up to. I saw that monster outside of WPIX. I even read Kagome's book."

"How do you think you're going to take down a demon? By shooting them?" Sango had a suspicion she sounded hysterical. She didn't care.

"Why not?" Miroku answered. "Besides, right now, all I see with you is a gun. So… are you planning on shooting a demon?"

Sango growled. Because there was no retort. She was running toward danger with nothing but a gun, and so was Miroku. She really really didn't want Miroku to put himself on the line, because… she liked him and sort of believed that she was currently running toward her death and didn't want him to be running toward his death, too, but it didn't look like he was going to give her that option.

As she reached her bike, Sango sighed.

"Take this," she handed Miroku her spare helmet, and climbed on, "and hold on tight."

"With pleasure," Miroku teased, and he seated himself behind her. She hated that it took her a moment to collect herself because his skilled hands were reminding her body of what they were doing just prior to this.

"Do not distract me!" Sango said it before she could stop herself. Miroku's answering chuckle made her frown even bigger, but she felt his hands retreat, and choose their holds more carefully.

Sango fired up her bike and took off for Central Park.

The sounds of booming gunshots stopped Sango inside of the park, about a half mile away from the action. Even as she wanted to run toward the sounds, to try to help, to add her bullets to the rest, her instincts told her to stop. Because the demons were still coming, barely aware of the efforts to resist them, so whatever weapons the NYPD was employing, at least at the moment, were not sufficient. And if the SWAT team could not hold off the demon hoards, her and Miroku's firearms did not stand much of a chance.

Where are you?
Sango frantically typed to Kagome.

We're coming into Manhattan now
Kagome's reply was immediate.

It's BAD Kagome.
Sango paused and looked down at the message, then up at the wide eyes of Miroku.
Miroku came with me.

Meet us at Rudin Playground. WAIT FOR US
Kagome's text had Sango running, as quietly as possible, for the meeting place.

Sango swallowed down the frenetic energy that kept finding its way to the surface, urging her to charge into the action. She knew what she was seeing. Still, she crept forward, toward the mayhem to reconnoiter. Whatever was happening was definitely localized to the towers, but beyond that, Sango couldn't say much. She would need to get closer if she was going to gather any additional information.

"Where the hell are you going?" Miroku asked, tugging Sango back toward the trees that they were currently using as cover.

"We're meeting them at the playground," Sango answered, "but if I just get a little closer now, I would be able to—"

"Fuck that," Miroku snapped, holding even more tightly to Sango's hand. "I know what gunshots sound like. And near that place there are a lot of them. You said Kagome's meeting us? Then let's hide and let's wait. Anything besides that has a high probability of getting us killed. I'd like to have a fighting chance and… Kagome is how we get one."

Dammit.

Miroku was right. Miroku was so right. It was more likely that Sango would get hit with friendly fire if she charged forward than getting even an ounce more information than she already had. But she hated feeling so damn useless again! It was infuriating. She started to prepare a diatribe, then made the mistake of looking into Miroku's eyes. Miroku's terrified eyes. He was there, as helpless as—no, more helpless than—she was. If they waited, they had a chance. If they charged in, they were probably dead.

"Fine." Sango scowled; she couldn't bring herself to actually admit how right Miroku was, or even how scared she was. But… when his eyes softened, she knew that he got it.

She took his hand and they ran for the little metal house in the play place. It acted as a decent shield against shrapnel, and was out of sight of the writhing noodle beasts. Finally, in the 'safety' of the fort, they huddled together, to wait for the 'cavalry' to arrive.

"What… bad timing," Miroku moaned, his eyes fixed on the area in front of them where most of the shouts and gunshots were coming from.

"Excuse me?" Sango was trying to make sense of Miroku's words.

"I… finally get a chance to go out with you and the world ends?" Miroku let out an uncomfortable chuckle. "Just my luck."

Sango turned, throwing him the most incredulous look that she was capable of producing.

"You're thinking about… us… when there are literal demons attacking New York?" Sango tried not to laugh, but it was hard.

"No time like the present," Miroku deadpanned, then turned to face her. "It's easier to think about that than it is to think about…" Miroku gestured toward the mayhem, "that."

"Yeah… I… guess it is." Sango allowed herself a little smile, though she had already begun scanning both for more demons and for her friends.

"If it's not too presumptuous," Miroku reached out and grabbed Sango's hand, "if we survive this, would you be interested in…" she didn't even have to look at him to know that he was smirking, "continuing where we left off on our last date?"

Sango groaned. Sex. Sex was where they left off on their date. Literally sex.

"If we survive this," Sango rolled her eyes, because even from her peripheral vision she could see Miroku's eyebrows waggling, "then we can have a second date. And… see where the night takes us."

"I won't argue with that," Miroku chuckled. Sango liked his chuckle, like the playful toot of an oboe.

The sound of a stray bullet clanging against a piece of the playset silenced them both. They needed to wait, to sit, to be unseen until it was time to be seen. Sango knew this, but still it turned her stomach. She hated feeling like a sitting duck. But, she and Miroku both had guns and both had ammo, so worst case, if a demon discovered them, she figured shooting it in the eyeball (or eyeballs—those things sometimes had multiple…) would buy enough time to find a new hiding place.

Neither Sango nor Miroku commented when their hands found one another. Or when an explosion spooked them both and Miroku's arm came around Sango's body. Sango didn't mention that she was resisting the urge to go running into the firefight by picturing the way Miroku's hands felt touching her skin, and the way that his eyes roved her hungrily and cherished her in equal measure as they had sex. It kept her grounded, kept her patient, kept her waiting.

Can you see us?
Kagome's text broke Sango out of her fog.

She glanced around, looking for movement. Finally, toward the edge of the playground she saw them approaching. The demon hunters. Her friends.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sango was really really relieved to see them.

After one quick glance that the coast was clear, she and Miroku were out of their hiding place. As Sango suited up, Kagura passed Miroku some of the reiki and yōki grenades that she'd been working on.

"These really going to explode those demons?" Miroku whispered, and Sango merely shook her head at him.

"You'll have to see for yourself," she whispered back. They didn't need to wait long.

One demonstration from Inuyasha and Miroku didn't seem to doubt the egg-shaped devices (or Kagura's skills) anymore.

"Looks like they work," Inuyasha chuckled, and unhooked another one. "You ready to walk into hell?"

"Yeah," Kagura piped up, "I think that we are."

"Then… let's start walking," Sango commanded, her hand on the trigger nozzle of her aura blaster (bedazzled with Sango across the back), and she led the way.

A lot of the fighting had died down in front of them, but it was clear that the humans were losing. Badly. The demons were still streaming from the top of the pillar, taking off for the city.

As soon as the demon hunters cleared the park, gleaming eyes were all on them.

"Don't forget, reiki and yōki obliterates these things easily, so… don't get trigger happy," Kagura ordered. "Miroku—I hope that you have a good arm."

"I do," Miroku confirmed, pulling out the first of the grenades. "Mind if I do the honors?"

"Be my guest!" Kagura bowed.

Miroku pulled out the pin and he launched the grenade. Not as far as Inuyasha had thrown it, but a respectable distance. Another blast (red told Sango it was a yōki bomb) and another mass of the wormlike demons were vapor.

"Damn, you weren't kidding about these things!" Miroku chuckled, throwing a wink at Sango.

"Time to light up some demons," Kagura smirked, and unhooked her blaster from it's nozzle. "Let's go."

Sango looked at her friends, at the determination on each of their faces as they walked forward, drawing the attention of the demons streaming into the sky. She unhooked the nozzle and activated the toggle. Her aura blaster began to purr. It was time to see if all those hours and band-aids and bribes to neighbors and fire extinguishers had paid off.

"They see us," Sango blurted, watching as the stream of beast-headed worms headed their direction.

"Good," Inuyasha growled. "Let 'em get close."

Sango eyed Inuyasha. She'd watched how many bullets it took to take the things down, but… she had also just watched two of Kagura's devices waste them like it was nothing. She had to have faith. She had to have faith. The river of demons continued their advance, getting closer and closer, until Sango could make out the individual scales and hairs on their grotesque faces.

"Now!" Inuyasha called, and Sango depressed the trigger, unleashing a jet of bright red.

The advancing demons didn't shudder, they didn't collapse: they evaporated. Every time the beam of light touched one, it exploded into a shower of dust.

"Holy shit!" Sango wanted to kiss Kagura as she took down the 6th demon in no more than ten seconds.

When Sango feathered the trigger, the stream turned into bullets. She aimed precisely, one energy bullet per demon. On contact, the demons exploded into a shower of ash, which rained down on the battlefield. Soon, their beams and bullets (and Miroku's 'booms') were pushing the demons back, clearing dozens—no, hundreds—of them.

They were winning. Decisively.

So decisively in fact, that the concentration of advancing demons was dwindling.
They were… retreating.

"Fuck!" Inuyasha seemed to notice that the river of demons were scattering away from them at exactly the same time Sango had. "They know… come back you assholes and fight!"

But it was too late. Mindless as the demons were, it appeared that they had a sense of self-preservation too, and scattering was their survival strategy. And given there were only six demon hunters, it was a successful survival strategy.

"What the hell are we going to do?!" Kagura shrieked. She was not the person that Sango had thought would shriek about it.

They needed to stop the demons from coming into New York.
They needed to close the gate by destroying the source of the portal.

"We need to get to the source," Sango automatically said, "and turn it off."

Kikyō's almond eyes turned to Sango. Sango knew that constipated look. It was the look that Kikyō got on her face when she had a half-idea and was trying to find the rest of it.

"Yes…" Kikyō said. "Yes… we do."

Sango stepped to Kikyō's side. When she was like this, it was usually a good idea to cover her.

"I'm guessing it's through the door of that building?" Sango pointed to the tan bricked building where the light originated. Although the path was strewn with bodies of demons and humans alike, it was now clear of anything that was actively trying to attack them.

Damn cowardly demons.

"Before we go…" Inuyasha pulled their attention away just as Sango took her first step, "the things that were comin' outta the other portals were more powerful than the damn noodles. It's possible that Onigumo has something a lot meaner in there guarding him, so… keep your head."

"We will," Sango answered, pleased to hear the same words coming out of Kagura's mouth too.

As everyone else headed into the building, Sango hung back, gently tugging on Miroku's shirt.

"Please stay out here," Sango whispered, leaning into Miroku's body. "We… don't know what's there or what's coming and…"

"I'm not leaving you." Miroku crossed his arms, his frown now matching Sango's.

"If something happens to you, I'm—I'm not going to be able to forgive myself," Sango admitted; honesty was the only way she could possibly win this argument. "I like you and… I really do want to see what's here."

"And you think I'll forgive myself if something happens to you?" Miroku's frown grew deeper, but his eyes were softening.

"It's what you sign up for when you date a cop," Sango sighed. "I need to walk in there, because for the past several months I've been training for this." Sango let her fingers feather Miroku's jawline. "And if I am worrying about you, I'm going to make mistakes. And mistakes could cost everything." It was a speech she'd practiced so often on the force, but had never used. It was a shit ton harder than she thought it was going to be. "Miroku, please. You need to trust me."

The moment she pleaded, she watched something break in Miroku's eyes. As if, for the first time, he saw what was happening around them clearly.

"I should have taken Kagome more seriously." Miroku pulled Sango in for a hug. "Maybe then… I would be able to protect you."

"Demons are still being assholes and you're still holding grenades," Sango said, then kissed Miroku on the cheek. "Just because you're not walking into the building does not mean that you're not still protecting us."

"Don't patronize me, Sango," Miroku sighed, though his words had no bite to them. "It's okay if you want me to be the lookout. But… I'm gonna be pissed if you go and get yourself killed before we get that second date."

Sango laughed, then leaned in and kissed Miroku with everything she had. He was no ordinary man, not at all. And Sango found that to be one of his best qualities.

"Your apartment. Tomorrow night. If this is… done," Sango said, pulling away from Miroku's delectable lips, "I'll bring wine."

"That a promise?" Miroku ran his fingers through Sango's hair.

"It's a promise," Sango agreed, then she turned around and headed into the building.

She had no doubt that Miroku was standing sentry right outside the door, grenades in hand, ready to protect them all if another onslaught of demons attacked.

Yelling and bright pink lights greeted Sango as she entered the building.

"Fucking hell, there are two of those things?!" Inuyasha was barking as he slashed at the air. A mantis-like demon with light pink hair was hissing and crawling across the ceiling, moving too fast for either Kagura or Kikyō's beams to make contact.

Kagome had currently thrown up a barrier as a larger meatier light-pink-haired demon lumbered toward her. Sango sprinted toward Kagome, opening up her nozzle and firing a jet of light pink (Kagome's reiki) at the demon. Sango's beam had caught the demon by surprise. It screamed in agony, and began sprinting toward Sango, but Kagome's reiki beam quickly combined with hers, and the demon exploded.

Inuyasha had managed to wound the mantis demon when it was momentarily distracted by the death of its brethren, having slowed down just enough that they could follow its movements, though still not enough to successfully hit it. Sango and Kagome joined the others, using their beams to corral it into a corner. It started muttering nonsensically as it hissed, trying to find a way out of the net that they had created.

"Oh fuck off, you stupid bug!" Inuyasha snarled. "Thing is saying something about the reckoning and that we're gonna pay for killing its brother."

"Don't care," Kagura barked back. "Just kill it!"

"Inuyasha, change your beam over to yōki," Kikyō yelled, eliciting a gasp from Kagura. "I… need to see something."

"You do remember the boom the last time we did that, right?" Kagura asked (Sango sure remembered 'combine reiki and yōki' day. The scorch marks in her basement remembered too).

"Yes, but do it anyway," Kikyō commanded. "Lowest setting."

Inuyasha squinted, then nodded. "Everyone except Kikyō and me… contain the bug but don't attack it. Let us light its ass on fire."

Sango kept her beam steady, forcing the bug into a smaller area. Combined with Kagome and Kagura's beams, it had lost most of its mobility. Soon dark red and magenta bullets were emanating from Inuyasha and Kikyō's weapons, whistling toward the bug. The yōki and reiki hit the thing at exactly the same time.

The boom that it produced was so loud that it left a ringing in Sango's ears. And where there had been a demon in that corner before, was now no more than a pile of ash.

"Okay. Okay!" Kikyō sounded excited. "So… I think I know how we close the portal!"

"Cross the streams?" Kagome deadpanned, but instead of rolling her eyes, Kikyō let out a cackle.

"Yōki and reiki. Let them mingle," Kikyō declared. "But… do it carefully. If you have both streams hit your target simultaneously—"

"Really really big boom," Kagura laughed.
"Really really big boom," Kikyō agreed.

"Good to know… because those two were a lot worse than the ones outside," Inuyasha growled. "I'm not lookin' forward to findin' out what's comin' next."

"Well whatever it is, it looks like it's up about 20 floors," Kagura frowned. "Are you all ready to climb some stairs?"

"Yeah," Sango answered, and she plunged into the stairwell to start the ascent. "Let's go light some more of these assholes on fire!"

With a fatalistic laugh, the others joined her. As she ascended, Sango's mind lingered on Miroku just for a moment, standing vigil at the door to the tower. Guarding the mouth of hell as best he could.

She really really hoped that she would get to have that second date.