Crash!

"Woooooooooooo!"

Crash!

The wind blew violently through my hair as we sped around the corner. I floored it as we approached the straight-away part of the road, able to see everything and nothing all at the same time, surrounded by fields and country. Today felt too familiar. Another cloudless blue sky. Except it was getting hotter all the time.

You've been gone a month…

"Miroku!" I tapped him on the arm. "My turn?"

"You're driving!"

"Yeah and as the driver, I'll drop your drunk ass off in one of these rice paddies."

"You wouldn't dare!" I tapped the brakes enough for him to jerk forward a little. "Fine, take it! But only a sip, 'kay?"

"Whatever," I took the bottle of sake from him and took what I considered a small sip. My tolerance was high enough; I'd be fine and he knew it, too.

"How do you like the new job?" asked Miroku, taking the bottle back. He placed it closed and safe back on the floor and instead pulled another beer bottle out of his 'adventure bag'.

"It's okay," I answered. "It's a warehouse. It pays me well and I don't have to deal with people."

"But you're in school to be a therapist. That deals with people, you know that, right?"

"Yes, but they're not customers; not really, anyway."

"Fair enough."

I stole his beer and took a sip before shoving the bottle back into his hands. "It's a job. I'm bored. I have all A's for the first time in my entire life. I need something else." I hated waking up early for it, though. Tuesday through Saturday 07:30 to 11:30, sometimes 10:30 or 12:30. But, it gave me my afternoons and evenings off for school and shenanigans. I was content.

Miroku downed the rest of the beer and then launched the empty bottle out the window. It hit a metal billboard and exploded with a rather lovely sounding 'crash'. How I fell for this one once upon a time, I would never know… But he knows how to have fun. And he had a brain in there, somewhere. A beautiful brain. He would do great things someday, I just knew it. His drinking worried me a little, but aside from that, Miroku was a wonderful person.

"Miroku, Sango, let's go! We've been here for hours."

I was so tired of hearing Mei bitch. All she ever did was nag and gripe and bitch at Miroku. I was lucky to have the early afternoon alone with him cruising around the countryside and causing mild mayhem. Mei was just up his ass constantly anymore. And he allowed it. He even welcomed it. I held my tongue as I made no physical motion of having heard her and just continued to shoot every zombie on the screen in front of me.

"Nice shot, Sango! Fuck these zombies!" Miroku cried out. He picked up a power-up in game and whooped loudly. The boy wasn't even drunk anymore.

"Fuck 'em!" I agreed and held out my fist to him. He bumped it and we continued our killing spree.

Mei sighed loudly behind us. "Sango, he's being an asshole. Can we please leave soon?"

"Maybe one more round?" I asked. I tried to stay out of their squabbles and drama but at the same time, I missed my bro. Mei frowned at me. "Come on, Mei; I paid for half a day."

"And it was what, only twenty bucks for both of you?" asked Mei.

"And ten for you," I said. I tried to keep my expression neutral. When Mei offered no other words, I turned back to our game.

Needless to say, we lost track of time.

"It's been over an hour, guys!" said Mei, clearly frustrated.

"And we're still on our last round," said Miroku, not turning away from the TV. "Not entirely our fault that we're that good."

Mei shoved him out of his chair. I stood up protectively and clenched my fists. "Mei, what the fuck?!"

"You guys are fucking assholes!" Mei stormed out of the arcade.

I put my hand to my forehead. Fuckkkk…

Miroku just blinked stupidly and climbed back into his chair. He picked up the controller like nothing had happened. "She'll be fine."

"Miroku," I said, "that is your girlfriend." As much as I hated the idea of going after her and I barely tolerated her company, it was the right thing to do. We were kind of being rude, I suppose.

Miroku sighed. "God dammit, I guess you're right." He got up and turned the game system and television off. "Let's go find her."

Mei was nowhere in the immediate vicinity of the dead shopping mall. We both spent several minutes calling out to her, our voices echoing throughout the deserted complex. Nothing. We even tried calling her from both our phones. Sent to voicemail every time.

"Me, too?!" I was annoyed. "Ugh, Miroku, I'm sorry, but fuck her!"

"I know…" Miroku agreed, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"Do you find all your bitches in the same store or something?" I accused him.

"Sango…" Miroku turned to me. "Fuck off."

"Duly noted, sir." I sat on a bench and looked up at the ceiling. The place was truly remarkable, even though it was quickly falling into a state of disrepair. "So, what do we do? We can't leave without her."

"The fuck we can't!" exclaimed Miroku.

I glared at him, trying so hard to stay the voice of reason. "Miroku…"

"Fine!" he sat beside me and crossed his arms like a child throwing a temper tantrum. "I knew we shouldn't have brought her along."

"It was your idea, Romeo."

"Shit, you're right."

We sat in silence and stared at the ceiling for what felt like eternity. I closed my eyes intermittently and remembered vividly when this place was bustling with activity and teeming with life during my childhood. I came here with my parents and Kohaku often when we were younger. There used to be a ferris wheel, carousel, mini-golf course, and the best play area of my entire childhood. I smiled at the memory, wishing so hard that Miroku could have seen this place and wishing even more that we had grown up together instead of meeting in college.

"Well… if she's going to ignore us and hide out around this rotting corpse of capitalism, we should at least make something out of it," I offered.

"Agreed."

Miroku and I spent the remainder of the evening walking around the near-abandoned mall and trying to sneak into some of the closed storefronts. We made it into an old anchor store and managed to hotbox a janitorial closet within. We emerged from the abandoned department store feeling much calmer and less heavy-hearted. I didn't expect to see and appreciate all the details of the garish décor and faded pastels; Miroku later informed me that he laced our smoke with dabs. I wasn't even mad.

Still no sign of Mei. We even checked the massive parking lot and three-story garage, traversing it by skateboard, of course. To our delight, one of the boards sealing up the abandoned failed nightclub had fallen off, inviting us inside. I took photos of the tasteful graffiti behind the counter and Miroku took a piss in the corner.

Mei called me while we were in the middle of adding our own mediocre graffiti to the otherwise ugly art museum in the women's bathroom. Her mom had picked her up. I was initially a little angry that we had stayed at the dead mall all evening on the pretense that she was around here somewhere; however, I ended up having a great time with Miroku, so it was not a complete loss. We had a laugh at Mei's pettiness and ended our arcade and dead mall excursion skating the surrounding parking lots. We even found a fire extinguisher to play with; Miroku found out it was still charged. Luckily, I had one of his spare shirts in the trunk of my car.

I used to have discussions as a child with my friends about how we would promise to bail each other out of jail if such a thing ever happened…

I hadn't seen Miroku or heard from him in over a week. Per social media, he was still alive, though. I was not too concerned at this point. I was more worried about my schoolwork. I had immersed myself in my studies over the past month, as summer semester had picked up in full swing and I was not particularly fond of two of my three courses this time around. Inuyasha and Kagome were even putting in extra effort this time, in their own ways.

Kagome was the overthinking, overachieving, outstanding student of our little group. Inuyasha was the laid-back one who somehow managed to smoke himself into oblivion every day, multiple times per day, and still ace every test and complete every assignment with little to no difficulty. I hovered somewhere in between the two of them. Inuyasha grounded us, I provided the comic relief, and Kagome took the best notes and paid the most attention in class. It was a very efficient system. Miroku had just graduated with his bachelor's degree, also in Psychology, like the rest of us.

I was so thankful it was Saturday again. My Friday. From work, at least. School never stopped. I barely slept the night before, dreaming of Mother every time I closed my eyes. I had officially finished my second week at the warehouse. I fucking hated it, I think. They always put me in Outbound loading trailers. I felt too short for that shit and I felt weak, despite having spent the better part of the past two years on a regular gym schedule. I could outrun Miroku and Kagome in a mile and damn near keep up with Inuyasha. But I could not build walls out of boxes. At least, it's only temporary…

I leaned back on my couch and closed my eyes. I was so thankful this new apartment had central air conditioning and not a shitty window unit like my last place did. I opened an eye and checked my phone. No notifications. I hadn't literally spoken to anyone since class Thursday, aside from random Shift Leads at work who were assigning things to me. I wasn't sure if I was relieved or bummed out that no one had tried contacting me since then.

Just as I began to drift off into an accidental nap, my phone rang. Mei? I answered it.

"Sango?"

"Yo." I was not happy to be talking to her. What the fuck does she want?

"I know you're probably not too happy to be talking to me right now," Mei continued.

"That's not—whatever—what's going on?" I asked, not even attempting to hide the irritation in my voice.

"Miroku's in jail."

"What?"

"We went to a party at Jakotsu's a few nights ago and he got really wasted. He blacked out, Sango. Miroku blacked out and we got into a fight."

"Is he okay?!" I worried myself awake.

"His mother came to get us and when we got back to her place, he chased her husband with a ball bat!"

I couldn't help but feel the smallest bit of pride at that. That man was a menace. I was all too acquainted with stories of Miroku's teen years. His foster mother was a literal angel but she may as well have married a demon when Miroku was thirteen. The first time we talked about our parents, Miroku confided in me that his foster father had thrown him down the stairs more than once and had broken a kitchen island once body-slamming him into it. When he was only fifteen. His birth parents died when he was really young; his mother died in child birth and his father fell victim to cancer when Miroku was only five years old.

"Sango, are you still there?!"

"Yes." Unfortunately…

"We gotta get him out!"

"How?" I leaned back once more and sighed. Miroku, what have you gotten yourself into this time?

"His bank card is probably still at his mom's house. He left everything there. He called me once; he said to use his savings for bail."

This bitch better not be lying about that…

I didn't trust her. But I had to do something. Miroku was my best friend. He had really been there for me over the past few years, through good and bad, and we had a strong yet odd connection. Yes, he made mistakes. Often. Yes, he was an asshole. But he had a heart of gold. He was one of the most honest and selfless people I had ever met.

Miroku had just graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was the first from both his birth family and adopted family to do that. Miroku wanted to be a social worker for children, so they may have a better life than he did; so they could maybe be protected somehow. Miroku wrote to government officials and donated to causes, even though he was a pizza delivery boy. Miroku volunteered at orphanages and children's hospitals just because he wanted to help and spend time with the kids. The dude was holy in my book.

I'd give half my inheritance to bail him out, if that's what it took. He had a better chance than me to do good, anyway.

Mei paced around the parking lot and I laid on the roof of my car, staring at the sky, which was slowly turning orange and pink with the setting sun. I flicked the ashes of my clove cigar and inhaled deeply, closing my eyes and stifling a cough.

Mei wasn't so bad after all. I think. Possibly.

After I got off the phone with her this afternoon, we began our mission to save Miroku. Our side-quest began at his mother's house, where we were able to find his bank card, as Mei said we would. His mom was a mess. She hugged me and cried into my shoulder. Apparently he had gotten his foster father a few times with the ball bat. And destroyed the living room. They had a restraining order against him and his foster father was pressing charges. I was a little mad at her for agreeing to it, although, a small part of me could not necessarily blame her.

We withdrew Miroku's savings. I was impressed. With as much money this sleazy, sketchy pizza delivery boy spent on cigarettes, booze, weed, Red Bull, and strip clubs (pre-Mei), he actually had about 100,000 yen in his savings. He never ceased to amaze me. However, that still left us with 200,000 yen left for bail.

I paid it.

It was a no-brainer. I couldn't leave him to rot in jail like that. Miroku was destined for greater good, despite his flaws.

The sun was finally going down when we saw him. Miroku walked out of the police station and slowly traversed the parking lot to my car. "Miroku!" I slid off the vehicle's roof and landed gracefully to my feet. Mei rushed up and hugged Miroku tightly and pressed her lips to his cheek. The young man said nothing. His clothes were dirty and disheveled and he looked exhausted and very guilty.

Once Mei released him, Miroku rushed over to me. "Sango!" He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my head. He began to cry audibly.

"Miroku…" I hugged him back and slowly pulled him to the ground, where we sat with our backs against my car.

"I'm sorry…" sobbed Miroku. "I'm a fucking idiot…"

"Miroku, mistakes happen…" Mei glared at me very briefly. She smiled at me and then sat on the other side of Miroku, likely thinking she was sly enough. I didn't care. I had no romantic interest in my hot mess of a friend. I only wanted to be his comfort.

"Sango, what have I done?" Miroku finally looked up and loudly rested his head against the car door. "I'm such a fuck-up!"

"You're not a fuck-up—"

"Sango!" Miroku turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. I noticed he had a black eye and a smaller bruise on the opposite side of his handsome face. "I just graduated college! That means nothing now! I'm a fucking felon!"

"You're not a felon!" I protested, putting my hands on his forearms.

"I assaulted my foster father with a fucking baseball bat!"

"And he fucking asked for it!" I was angry. Yes, Miroku made a very poor alcohol-infused decision, but moping and crying about it wouldn't fix anything. He would get out of this. He had to.

"Sango, I have nowhere to go. Mom said they're kicking me out and pressing charges…" Miroku once again held his face in his hands. "I fucked up my future! I had the world in my hands and I flushed it down the toilet!"

"Miroku, you can stay with me for a while," I offered immediately. Mei opened her mouth to protest but I think she quickly remembered that her mother hated Miroku with a passion. The woman wasn't the most fond of me, either, but I could care less.

"Sango, you mean that?" asked Miroku. "You do realize I probably lost my job, too, right? I have no money to give you for rent… and what about my dog? I know Hoshi can't come…"

That legitimately made me sad. I had to leave my cat, Kirara, with my father when I moved out of his house. I was never home and she was getting old and was comfortable at Father's. It was only fair to her. "We'll find somewhere for Hoshi," I reassured my friend.

"Sango, you already bailed me out of jail… with your money! I can never repay you… how much was it?"

"Don't worry about it, Miroku," I said. "Honestly? I could give a fuck about the money. You're worth more than that. You're my best friend and you're capable of so many wonderful things. I couldn't just let you stay in jail, not when I could actually do something about it… You don't belong in there…"

Miroku threw his arms around me again. "Sango, you're too kind. Really…"

The three of us stood up finally and embraced each other in an awkward yet very loving three-way depression hug in the middle of the police station parking lot.

"I swear I'll repay you one day, Sango."

Miroku was doing better. He stayed with me on and off until he could secure a spot with Koga and some of our other friends in their rented house. Koga's girlfriend's mother owned it and lived there; the other four—now five—just paid rent and kept the house and yard clean. We were even able to make an adventure out of moving Miroku's handful of belongings down the street to the Okami household.

The mattress was the best part. Koga's girlfriend, Ayame, drove the car to her place while Koga, Miroku, Ginta, and I held the mattress to the roof with our bare hands while we each halfway hung out the windows. Hakkaku rode the mattress the whole way there. It was nice not to have Mei around for this. She was fighting with Miroku again, mad that he wouldn't just officially move in with me since I lived closer to her. That was part of the reason he opted to stay with Ayame and Koga. We even found a place for Miroku's dog to go—Inuyasha's older brother, Sesshomaru, begrudgingly agreed to foster the shiba until Miroku could get his own place.

Miroku, Koga, and the others had apparently been good friends since elementary school. I loved their dynamic. It was a healthier parallel to the one I left behind in lieu of my pursuit of higher education. Miroku and Koga were the only two to go to college. Ayame never finished, deciding instead to pursue a trade. Koga was about to start his last year. I spent a lot of time at the Okami household. Miroku's core friend group always made me feel at home.

I missed them all already.

Growing up, I had a reputation for being both a 'good' kid and the 'weird kid'. I was essentially a closeted hoodlum. I got good grades so the teachers never suspected a thing from me. As I grew older and realized that high school probably never mattered anyway, I finally began to pursue the finer freedoms of fast cars, late nights, and adventure. All within reason, of course. I even waited to really drink alcohol until I was of legal age to do so.

One of the reasons I fell for Miroku initially almost two years ago was because he was just like me in that sense. He was a good boy who got good grades. He was easily the best and most involved in each class I had with him when secretly, he was still drunk from the night before every Monday. He was just as likely to come over for a study session as he was to come over for a smoke session. Miroku was always up for an intellectual debate with anyone about anything and he was always down for a midnight cruise or random party. Miroku was easily the most fun person I had ever had the pleasure of calling my friend.

Not that I didn't love Inuyasha and Kagome, too. They were still very fun to be around and two of the most supportive people in my life. However, they arguably (Kagome more often than Inuyasha) made the… better… choices out of our friend group sometimes. They balanced the outrageousness of mine and Miroku's shenanigans. Miroku brought out the devil in me and broke my halo. I was the angel on his shoulder who tied his wings in.

I blame marriage for taming Inuyasha. Kagome was by far the opposite of boring but since their wedding, Inuyasha was certainly less ridiculous now. Sometimes I longed for someone to come along and knock me down a peg. I was well aware of my status as an adrenaline junkie; I had known that since high school. I craved adventure and I was meant for far more than the life of the mundane. And here I laughed to myself at the thought I once had that maybe Miroku would be the one to claim and tame me. Absolutely not.

I had only gotten worse since befriending him. Hell, I left the country with him last year. Granted, it was for school, but still.

I knew I wanted to get married someday, and that time was coming. I was twenty-three. I was in no rush to find someone, but I was lonely. I had always been the odd one out, it seemed. I dated a few guys here and there, a few girls… nothing serious ever happened of any of it. None of them kept my interest long enough. Or I couldn't keep theirs. The only person that ever made me swoon hard enough to fly too close to the sun was Miroku. And those feelings had long since dissolved into instead an unbreakable bond of friendship. And I wouldn't trade that for the world.

I laid in bed, contemplating the universe. Thoughts of romance, adventure, music, homework, and boxes filled my mind. Images of my mother's face would weave in and out of those aforementioned topics, ruining the random encounters in my stream of consciousness. I thought once more of Inuyasha and Kagome. They were perfect for each other. He brought out the fire and courage in her and she kept him grounded and focused. I wanted that, very badly. I was lonely. Now more than ever.

It's cold here, alone.