Maybe Someday: A Miroku x Sango Love Story
*Disclaimer: * Feh. As if I could ever author an incredibly popular manga, which has been running for seven years and counting, has had two movies made of it besides an animated series, and has 14-18% of the population of Japan watching it.
A/N: I got so many reviews! Thank you so much!!!
Lady Pyro: You have my full permission to host my little fic on your website… thanks so much for the offer!
And to Keika- 'east of the sun and west of the moon' is not "shiz-nit." It's practically stock in trade for an adventure. Besides, I thought it sounded pretty cool.
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By midday, Miroku, Sango and Kirara felt tired. The sleepless night was taking its toll. Kirara landed in a clearing ringed by trees, bathed in golden sunlight. Sango slumped against a tree and Miroku sat next to her.
"Houshi-sama," Sango said, after a few minutes of silence, "why and where are we going?"
"We are journeying to a place called the Lake of Crystal Waters," Miroku replied. "Yesterday, when I had my fortune told, it was revealed that I would die within the fortnight."
Sango couldn't repress a derisive snort. "And you believed the hag?" she asked.
"She knew about the Air Rip," he answered. "She knew of the curse and…of other matters." The faintest tinge of pink appeared on his face, remembering what the fortune-teller had said about 'his beloved.' Sango glanced curiously at him but didn't press further.
"The Lake of Crystal Waters, hm?" Sango said, changing the subject. "I've heard of that. It is reputed to have great powers- one sip of water can give someone wealth, power, and it can revitalize life and even resurrect someone."
"There must be something wrong then," Miroku said, "or else no one would have need of the Shikon Jewel. Surely journeying to a lake is simpler than fighting for a jewel."
Sango furrowed her brow in thought. "I did hear something," she admitted. "The path to the Lake is perilous- there are demons whose sole purpose is to protect the path to the Lake. And there are other obstacles… I cannot recall…."
Miroku shook his head. "Don't worry. I'll fight to get there. I am not ready to die so soon."
They resumed walking. Presently, Sango had another question.
"Houshi-sama," she started, "where exactly is 'east of the sun and west of the moon?'"
Miroku thought of this for a few minutes before replying. "To tell you the truth, I don't know-"
"What?" Sango burst out. "You're leading us on a nothing-path?"
"No, no!" Miroku hastened to reply. "I do not know if there's a physical direction…but the old woman said that I would reach there." He smiled confidently at her. "And I have this feeling that I'm going the right way."
Sango muttered that he'd be feeling a lot more if they did end up hopelessly lost, but Miroku only chuckled. "Have some faith," he said. "We'll get there. Don't worry."
Sango replied that a 'don't worry' from him was the same as coming from a wolf that's watching the chicken coop. But now Miroku was getting a little annoyed.
"Sango, please," he said. "You made the choice to come with me. Just trust me!" Sango looked a little surprised at this show of emotion from the usually easy-going monk.
"Sorry," she mumbled. Miroku glanced at her, her face angled downwards.
"Sango," he said firmly, "I think you need to sleep. And some food would do you good also."
"No, no!" Sango replied. "Houshi-sama, I am not a weak little girl!" But even as she said it, her steps faltered and her head started to spin from lack of food. Miroku came next to her and braced her with his hands. They were at her shoulders now, but Sango was still on her guard.
"I didn't say that," he said softly, his breath tickling the fine hairs on her neck. Her heartbeat quickened and her breath came a little harsher.
'Houshi, please get away…' Sango pleaded regretfully in her mind. Did he know what he was doing to her? Why wouldn't he go away, so that her heartbeat would slow and her blood would course through her veins instead of the fire that was in her body now? Luckily though, his wandering hands slipped down to her breasts and Sango found some strength to slap the monk.
"Hentai!" she yelled. Quickly, she stepped far away from him. 'How could you have let yourself get all worked over how close he was to you?' she thought furiously. 'He's right…we're all alone, we can't risk friendship…or loving…even if it is one-sided….'
*****
It was almost dusk when a demon jumped out of nowhere.
He was a huge, horrible snake-demon, its eyes glowing a demonic crimson and its glossy scales jet-black; large fangs protruding from its mouth dripped with a blue poison.
"Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled, as she threw her boomerang at the snake demon. It deflected the boomerang, so the weapon came back and almost hit Sango. She grunted as she deftly ducked out of the way, then ran back to retrieve her weapon.
In the meantime, Miroku had jumped out and was preparing to bash the monster's head in. He wove in and out of the snake's dark coils, all the while hitting sensitive spots with his staff.
'I would open the air rip,' he thought, even as he dodged a spray of poison. 'But if my dream does come true…' With a yell, Miroku thrust his staff into one of the creature's slitted, red eyes. The creature hissed loudly in pain and attempted to bite Miroku in half.
"Houshi-sama!" Sango called. "Get out of the way so I can use my Hiraikotsu!" Miroku leapt back and nodded to Sango to quickly throw her boomerang. Because of its injury, the demon couldn't block the weapon, and the giant boomerang-bone easily decapitated the demon.
"Any Shikon shards?" Sango asked, as she inspected the snake demon.
Miroku shook his head. "No," he said, almost thankfully. "Naraku didn't send this demon after us."
**
On the trail once more, Sango couldn't help but cast surreptitious glances at the monk. He was walking straight ahead, his head slightly bent. 'No monk living in a monastery all their life,' she thought, 'could fight demons like that.' She took in how his thick robes were burned through with tiny bits of poison, and how his staff still showed residue of the snake-demon's blood.
Miroku glanced back for a moment and noticed Sango looking at him, absentmindedly stroking Kirara at her shoulder. He grinned and fell back so he was walking abreast with Sango.
"Couldn't resist me, eh?" he teased. Sango scowled.
"You should get your staff and robes washed, Houshi," she replied, avoiding the question.
"We're in luck, then," Miroku said cheerfully. Sango glanced at him suspiciously before they cleared the forest ((A/N: This is a different forest, not the Fukai Mori.)) and a small town came into view. Sango gave a grateful sigh.
As expected, Miroku went to the first prosperous-looking inn they saw and asked to speak to the owner.
"I sense a dark cloud hanging over your establishment," he started seriously. "If you will permit me to perform an exorcism…"
"Bah!" the proprietor said. "I know about people like you, trying to fob off innocent people like me. Besides, I don't have any room for you and your wife- who was, by the way, rolling her eyes during your little routine." And with that, he slammed the door on them.
Sango blushed furiously at being called Miroku's wife and at being found out. She hadn't honestly meant to roll her eyes and give Miroku away. The monk, however, took it all in stride.
"So now we're married," he said, somewhat happily. "Now, all we need is a room…"
"Two," corrected Sango. "Two rooms."
Miroku gave an exaggerated sigh. "Who ever heard of a husband and wife sleeping apart?" he asked plaintively. Sango let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes once more.
"We are *not* married," she told him shortly.
"Couldn't we pretend?" Miroku said.
Sango gave up. "C'mon, Houshi, let's just find a place to stay."
Finally, the proprietess of a seedy-looking inn believed Miroku's rigmarole and allowed the monk to perform his 'exorcism.'
"We have one room," the old woman wheezed. "Perfect for you two newlyweds."
'Why oh why does everyone think we're married?' Sango thought confusedly. Miroku grinned and winked at Sango.
"That is wonderful, right, dear?" Miroku said. He came up to her and placed an arm across her waist.
"Watch it, Houshi," Sango growled in his ear. Miroku only chuckled, but his hands stayed where they should be as they followed the woman up a rickety set of steps into a small room.
"It's the Newlywed Suite," the woman announced proudly. Sango looked about with her eyebrows raised. The room was covered in rough yellow linen and had a single horsehair mattress with a few ratty blankets on top. "This room is far from the others so you can have your privacy." Sango blazed a bright red and Miroku looked even happier than ever.
"This is getting better and better!" he said to her. Sango just made that growling noise again. "Do you offer a laundry service?" he asked the owner of the inn. The woman nodded and Miroku grinned. "Then can you take my robes for washing?"
Sango blushed again and intervened. "Houshi-sama, I'll wash your clothes," she said hurriedly. There was no way she was going to give Miroku's only set of clothes to a complete stranger! The proprietess protested, but Sango insisted it was no trouble, and in fact, in her village, the wife always washed the husband's clothes.
**
After Sango took her bath in the partially heated water of the inn, she told Miroku to go. Taking his robes and making sure not to look at him, she carried the thick robes downstairs where she found a willing maid to scrub them. "Uh, only wash the outer robes," Sango said. "I'll take the inner robes." 'Besides,' she thought, 'the inner robes aren't stained too badly…' Sango took the inner robes back upstairs to Miroku and gave them to him. ((A/N: I don't know the specifics of a monk's attire, but I'm assuming that they wear an inner robe just like women in kimono.))
Unfortunately, there was still the problem of where to sleep.
"You take the bed," Miroku offered. "I'll sleep on the ground."
"Oh, no," Sango replied. "I'll sleep on the floor, I don't mind…" However, Miroku came up to her and gently but firmly pushed her down on the bed. He hung over her for a fraction of a second before straightening.
"Sleep," he said softly. "I won't be lying down of course, I'll sit up near the door." Sango was too tired to argue. She murmured thanks before drifting off into sleep.
**
Midway through the night, Sango woke up because she was shivering. Burrowing down in the blankets, she saw Miroku by the light of the full moon. He was sitting cross-legged, staff lain across his lap. However, in only his thin inner robes, the cold affected him more than Sango. Unconsciously, in his light sleep, the monk was shivering, his shoulders shaking at times with their-the shivers'- violence.
In the morning, Sango wondered what had gotten into her, but at that time she was sure she wasn't thinking.
"Houshi-sama," she said softly. Instantly, Miroku was up, his staff raised in order to protect them from any harm. Soon he realized that it was only Sango and he walked over to her, raising an eyebrow in a question. "Would you like to sleep in the same bed as me?" she asked unblushingly. Miroku was taken by surprise before Sango started drifting back to sleep. Nodding, he climbed onto the hard mattress and curled up next to Sango.
*~*~*~*~*~*
When the sun streamed through the bamboo blinds and cast golden shafts of sunlight into the small room, Sango woke up abruptly. She didn't open her eyes in that moment though, reveling in the warmth of her bed. She snuggled closer into the body of the arm that was draped protectiviely over her side.
Then she really woke up.
Sango barely stopped from screaming. What was this monk thinking, climbing into her bed in the middle of the night? She glanced at herself and saw that she along with he was fully clothed. Flaming, Sango remembered that she herself had invited Miroku to share her mattress.
'But he didn't have to get so close!' she fumed, as she carfully tried to extricate herself from the tangle of limbs that was her and Miroku. Miroku protested, mumbling for her to stay and pulling her closer to him with his arm. Sango sighed, resigned to her fate, and decided to enjoy the extra rest.
However, she couldn't rest. This closeness to Miroku was making her restless, her breath coming in short gasps. She realized with some surprise that his chest and stomach muscles were pretty well-developed, his arms lean and muscular. 'What kind of monk is he?' she couldn't help but wonder. 'His own kind,' Kagome had said once. Sango smiled slightly. 'He's certainly his own kind,' she thought amusedly. She couldn't repress the chuckle that came to her lips when she thought of his 'exorcisms.'
The light breath from her chuckle tickled Miroku's ear and he too woke up. For a moment, he was confused as to why he was lying down on a matress, and what's more, he was warm. He opened his eyes to look into Sango's own. Quickly, he climbed out of the bed and straightened his robes.
"Sango?" he said tentatively. "Did I…really get into bed with you?" For some reason, he seemed nervous, as if he wanted the answer to be no.
"I asked," Sango said, averting her face from his. Miroku breathed out in relief.
'I couldn't stand myself,' he thought, 'if I had taken advantage of Sango like that…'
"It was innocent," Sango mumbled, still trying to hide her bright red blush.
"You shouldn't blush so much," Miroku said. "It obscures your natural beauty."
Sango muttered something incrompehensible about monks and men in general before she too got out of bed and directed Miroku downstairs to collect his robes. After Miroku was fully dressed, they set out on the trail once more.
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A/N: This chapter was pretty slow, not a lot of action, but it was a little more…what's the word…fluffier? I guess? I don't know. The next chapter will be a continuation of this same day, and will probably be a lot more of looking into Miroku's past, since that's something that's been really obscure since the beginning.
And two people can sleep in the same bed without 'sleeping together,' if you get my meaning.
Please review, because obviously if you're here you've already read.