Only In Dreams

By: Cecilia McCoy

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to the genius of Rumiko Takahashi

Summary: pure S/M fluff

Rating: PG

AN: You like? Read, enjoy, and review!

**************

"Hnnuh? Wha . . ." Miroku rubbed the sleep from his eyes, rolling to a sitting position and yawning loudly. Something had woken him up in the earliest of the early morning and yet it was something he was grateful for. That dream . . . Flinching, he shook his head as if trying to clear it from memory. Then stretching and yawning once more, he glanced around and saw Sango, eyes wide with shock, crouched a good ten feet away and staring at him. He gave her a strange look. "Something wrong?"

She jumped slightly, as if startled out of her stupor, then calmed down. "It's time for your watch." Her eyes darted to her wrist and the strange mechanism there as if she was trying to verify to herself that what she had said was true. "Yes, time for your watch, Houshi-san," she repeated, unbuckling the band that circled her arm and holding it out to him. That's what Kagome called it, he realized, it was a watch. Nice name.

Miroku reached out and took it, still keeping a careful eye on her. "You sure everything's ok?" Especially you? his mind continued for him, Because if anything happened to you I'd just give up. Don't let anything be wrong, Sango, I care about you . . . He stopped himself in mid thought. No. This can't happen, remember that, baka. You're the lech. The lech who's gonna turn into a crater within the next year or two. No attachments, I won't do that to her.

A nod was his first answer. "Everything's fine." Silence hung thick between them and she refused to look him in the eye. Instead she sat on the ground at the base of an old tree, her arms hugged around herself and facing away from him. She seemed to be deep in thought. Miroku looked down at the blanket at his feet, then at the shivering girl, then back at the blanket. He picked it up and carried it over to her, and feeling her stiffen at his touch he made sure that his hands did not stray as he tucked it around her shoulders. He then sat beside her, his own cloak pulled tight around him. For a few minutes they both stared out at the stars until Sango broke the silence. "You were having a nightmare?"

That got his attention. How had she known? Kagome was the only human he knew with any magical abilities. Speaking of Kagome . . . he looked over to where the girl lay fast asleep, Inuyasha on the tree branch above her acting almost as a guard. Probably from Sessoumaru, he mused, laughing to himself considering the triangle between the three. Inuyasha and his full-youkai brother hated each other and there were only three common factors between them. Their father--and a mutual desire for a sword and said sleeping girl. But when Sessoumaru had kidnapped her something strange had happened. Somehow the human girl had wound the demon around her little finger. When Inuyasha arrived to rescue her, the two were wrapped in each others' arms, giggling and whispering. From then on Kagome would disappear periodically to visit her 'Sesshie-chan' and it pissed off Inuyasha to no end. Realizing that his thoughts were drifting Miroku turned back to the subject at hand. "How did you know?"

"You talk in your sleep."

A simple question and a simple answer that led to a rather complicated train of thought. "What did I say?"

Sango balked slightly, but recovered and responded quickly. "It sounded like someone was dying."

He swore quite vehemently under his breath, making careful sure that her huntress' ears didn't pick it up. If she knew who was in his dream and why it hurt so badly she would never look at him the same way again. Miroku hoped and prayed that he hadn't said too much while under the influence of dreams or shifts in character could crack at their team's stability. But she wasn't finished speaking. "May I ask you a question, Houshi-san?"

"Hai."

"When we talk in our sleep, can we lie?"

He was silent for a few moments, pondering his answer and seriously beginning to think that he had said more than she let on. "Iie, Sango-san, I don't think can. In dreams our subconscious takes over and we have no control in what we say and thus anything we do must be true. Why do you ask?"

Again she was quiet before she answered. "I've just been wondering."

"Sango-san?"

"Hai?"

"What did I say. Truely."

A longer silence this time as she twisted her head around to stare at the stars farthest from him. She stalled for as long as she could, not wanting to tell him but at the same time unable to lie. She had been brought up to always tell the truth, to know that even omitting something was to be false, and yet all she wanted now was to changed the subject and not answer. But he would just come back to it and come back to it until she finally gave him. "You- you said something about the person that had died," she told him, "You said that you loved her."

There was no swearing this time, he was too shocked. "Did I say who?"

Her voice shook audibly. "H-hai."

"Oh." It was all he said out loud, but inside his train of thought expanded on it much further. Oh shit. Oh shit she knows. She knows, she knows, this is not good. I was just supposed to get over her and go on with life until I did myself in. But now she knows and this is not good. It was the most agonizing silence he had ever sat though. Every second stretched into eternity and just when he thought it was over another took its place. Finally with nothing other to do he spoke, if only to break the uncomfortable quiet. "I dreamed it was the last battle against Naraku and-"

She cut him off. "You don't need to explain it to me."

"Oh." He realized that he was dropping back to monosyllables but had nothing else to say. There was another long pause and he dreaded to know what he was thinking. "I apologize if I at all offended you . . ."

Sango violently shook her head, then calmed down. "No, no. It was just very, well, unexpected to say the least."

He bit his lip and bowed his head, hating what he was about to say. "I don't expect you to return it, I know you don't feel the same way. I didn't want you to know because I didn't want some strange sense of obligation to fool you into loving me, a man who is going to be sucked into his own hand. But now, I guess I'm glad you know, even if it is completely one-sided, because now you know why I never asked you."

"Asked me what?" All the information he was giving her had thrown her brain into overdrive.

Miroku slowly met her eyes. "I never asked you to bear my child, did you realize that?"

She smiled and laughed. "Of course I did, Miroku-chan, I couldn't have not . . . noticed, um, . . . " Her voice trailed off as she caught her slipup at about the same moment he did. Her eyes went wide and she clapped a hand over her mouth. "I mean, uh oh, Houshi-san, I mean Miroku-chan, er, Houshi, um, well." She was stammering and shocked and making no sense whatsoever.

He was busily trying to keep his face calm. "Dare I ask," he said quietly, "But do you return my affections?"

Sango blushed heavily, even in the darkness he could see the blood that gathered in her cheeks. "Love I don't know about," she admitted to both him and herself, "But I do care for you quite a bit. I think."

Smiling broadly, Miroku reached to wrap his arms around her but instinct after months of being grabbed at kicked in and she jumped slightly. His grin dropped a little but he kept his voice light. "Still afraid I'm going to grope you?"

"You couldn't. This blanket completely hides me."

"Believe me, Sango-chan, when I say that nothing could hide your beauty."

Again she blushed, dropping her eyes to the ground. "Thank you," she whispered, "I don't think anyone has ever told me that before."

He reacted as if shocked. "How they ever could have missed it I will never know," he told her, lips at her ear, "But now I know that you are sleepy and a tired goddess is something I cannot allow on my watch. So you get some rest and I'll stay up." Blushing to heavily to speak without the risk of stammering again, she just nodded her thanks and then to his surprise, leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Before she could drift off completely, he took her chin in one hand and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Her eyes snapped open but she didn't pull back, instead she leaned into him for a few seconds before dropping her head back to its original position. Miroku smiled lightly and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her tighter against him. His smile only broadened when he heard the words she whispered in her sleep.

"Aishiteru, Miroku-chan."

**************

short fic, no? that's the end, no sequel unless it's requested--multiple times. but please let me know what you think of my writing.