Chapter 8

Mariko had been watching her pre incarnated self for a few days with utter fascination. Although she knew Miroku would never admit it, she could tell he was deeply in love with Sango; and although Sango would rather be ripped apart limb by limb than admit she had any romantic feelings towards the perverted monk. It was more than just a mere look here and there at each other; it was their chemistry together, and the way they reacted around each other.

'If in my present life time, I don't get paired up with a soul mate, than Miroku might as well be partnered up with his. I'm just gonna play a little devil's advocate.' The only problem remaining was how to get these two people together and then it hit her.

The group had moved about 15 miles away from the mountain before they set up camp for the night. Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Mariko set up their sleeping bags or mats on one side of the fire while Inuyasha and Miroku put their sleeping mats on the other side. They were eating dinner in groups: Mariko and Miroku, Sango and Shippo, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Khali.

"So in the woods, the men who attacked you said 'Merrick will not be pleased.' Did you know him?" Kagome asked.

" You really don't need to know about that right now. It is not relevant to the mission right now." Khali responded.

"Sorry, no information, no alliance. You know a lot more about us than we know about you. Call it 'leverage.'" was Inuyasha's snide remark.

"Merrick and I were engaged. The night before the wedding I had a vision of him before we met. He was talking to his most trusted operative, the guy who ran away when Inuyasha showed up to help me. My vision showed him scamming other women to get what he wanted. He pretends to be in love with them. If I had married him, he would have found out about the Shikon shards and your fighting skills."

"We could have easily taken him!" Inuyasha boasted.

"Not quite. He's joined Naraku. His first mission is to find me and make sure you and I never meet. Since we have, if Merrick or his men catch me, I'll most likely die or stay locked up in his headquarters." Khali responded.

" You like her, don't you?" Mariko said quietly. Before Miroku could answer, Mariko answered for him, "You do. If you wait to tell her, she could move on or die. I know what I'm talking about."

"What do you mean?" Miroku inquired.

"I had this guy friend Stephan. A lot of my friends could tell that we liked each other. He didn't show his feelings I guess because he thought he was too cool, a playa you know. I didn't show my feelings because I was afraid to show him how I felt. After years and years I was finally ready in high school. We had reached a point in our lives when he wasn't dating anyone, and I wasn't dating anyone. I walked over to his house to find that he had been robbed and shot. He died that night before the ambulance came in my arms. That happened last year. I don't think anyone will ever compare to the way I felt about him. Your world is more dangerous than mine once you add in the demon factor. Sango could die without ever knowing."

"'A playa', 'an ambulance'" Miroku asked both taken aback by words he had never heard before and sadden to learn that his future self had to live through all this sorrow.

"'A playa' is someone who is smooth, too cool for one person. Ask Kagome to explain it to you. 'An ambulance' is kind of like a vehicle that takes you places like Kagome's bike, except it's bigger and is only used for emergencies." Mariko said.

At this new revelation, Miroku's gaze turned back to Sango.

"I'll die a very happy woman even if I never meet anyone that I feel for about as much Stephan, if I know that in my past life I found my soul mate." With that said Mariko lied down on her sleeping mat while she let Miroku ponder this newfound information.

The next day Mariko woke up early to catch Sango while she was in the spring alone. This would be a perfect time for Mariko to put the second part of her plan in the action. She rushed down to the spring and then slowly emerged from the tall grasses.

"I can hear you hentai!" Sango yelled as she swam to the middle of the lake where she would be more covered.

"Relax it's only me. I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a little swim." Mariko responded coolly.

"Oh." Sango replied as she loosened up a little.

Mariko swam out to the middle of the lake so that they would be within 2 feet of each other. They started talking about ordinary things: the weather, cherished childhood memories, most embarrassed moments; things like that.

Then Mariko got to the subject that kept nipping at her, " So Miroku likes you."

"Yeah, me and about all of the women on the Earth." Sango laughed.

"No really, he does, I can tell in the way he acts around you and the way he looks at you when you're not looking." Mariko responded.

Sango blushed, "No way, he asks everyone to bear his child."

"The only guy to ever look at me like that died before I could tell him how I feel. If you could through the rest of your life like that well fine, but if I had a second chance to tell him I would. Do you know how long he has until his air rip swallows him up?" Mariko responded.

"No, actually." Sango said.

"Well, I gotta go change and head back to camp. Maybe I'll actually sleep." Mariko said as she swam back to shore.

Mariko had gotten halfway back to camp when someone grabbed her. She couldn't see, but she heard one of her captors.

"Are you sure it's her?" one asked.

"Of course I am sure, I sound sure don't I. I've seen her a million times, this is her." The second captor lied.

"Good. Johanna, go back to Master Merrick and tell him we have Khali."