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Chapter 2 A Spirit Named Sango

"And after the village survived the harsh winter, they then had to re-build what was left of it after the demon attacks..." Father Sento drowned on, as Miroku stiffed another yawn.

He had only been here for a week, and already he hated this place with a passion. There was absolutely nothing fun to do, and all he's done so far was listen to boring stories of villages that were probably made up. That, and sit in a dark room and pray. It had been a L-O-N-G week.

Now he was in his history class, learning about the history of the monastery. Like he was ever going to use that in real life. He took a look around the room. Most everyone looked the same way he did, bored out of their mind.

"Miroku!" The monk said sharply, slapping a ruler on the wall that Miroku was leaning against. "Is this story boring you?"

Miroku sat up straight, clearing his face of all sleep. "No. Of course not."

Father Sento looked at him hard. And then smiled. "Well, I was getting a little tired of this myself. Let's read something more interesting."

Miroku blinked. He didn't get yelled at? Wow, was this guy pretty cool.

"I know these stories don't hold the attention of you young men these days. All you want to hear about are car crashes and killings." The old monk said.

'Don't forget bikini clad women.' Miroku thought with a grin.

Sento grabbed another scroll from the self. "You'll enjoy this one. It has quite a massacre that evolves humans and demons."

"Yes!" All the other younger monks-in-training in the room shouted, glad for a change of pace. Everyone seemed to be awake now.

He began reading:

"500 years ago, back in the feudal ages of Japan, there lived a secret town of demon exterminators that lived off of the killing and selling of demon parts. They were very well off, and over the years they prospered as they created new weapons that no demon could defeat."

"The very best demon exterminators were sent all over the land to help with the problems other villages had. They were very giving, and always helped out whenever they were needed."

"One faithful day, they were sent to an old lord's house to exterminate a deadly demon that had been causing destruction throughout the entire village. This was an especially dangerous demon, so they asked for the very best exterminators to come."

"Their best demon exterminators left that day, and traveled to the lord's house about a day's travel away. Nothing seemed to be out of place when they got there, and exterminated the gigantic spider demon without much trouble."

"The exterminator's grew suspicious of how easily they defeated this demon, since the lord had so urgently requested their services. But they paid well, so it was never mentioned."

"Tragedy struck. The lord that the exterminator's were hired by was a demon himself, able to control minds with the help of his own spiders. He enjoyed seeing people suffer, and these exterminators were his next victims. With one of his mind control spiders, he took control of the least experienced exterminator."

"He forced the young boy to kill every single one his comrades, including his own family. The exterminators never expected it, and before they could react he had killed all of them."

"The village itself could no longer protect itself without there best exterminators, and was ultimately destroyed by one of the many demon enemies it had made over the years. There were no survivors of the village. The ways of the demon exterminators were lost, along with the poor souls of their village."

He stopped reading, and looked around the room. Most everyone had stopped listening half way through.

But Miroku, on the other hand, had gotten the true meaning of the story. "So, everyone in the village died?" He asked, astonished.

Father Sento nodded. He put the scroll back on the self.

Most of the boys had never lost anyone they cared, so he knew they wouldn't really understand the pain of death. He did. But still, Miroku couldn't imagine having pretty much everyone he ever knew dead.

"What does this story have to do with the history of the monastery?" A boy from the back asked.

"Well," Sento started. "The lord's house where the exterminators were sent to was this monastery. They where murdered here, and are buried here."

This got the attention of the boys.

"You mean, there were real demon exterminators that fought here?" Another boy asked.

"Yeah. That's what I just said." Sento answered, rolling his eyes.

A bell from the distance rang, signaling the end of class. The boys packed up their books and began to leave.

"Read chapter five for homework tonight." Sento said to the rushing class, getting his own things together. "Oh, and Miroku, I'd like you to stay after to discuss your punishment."

"What!?" Miroku said. He could hear the snickers of his friends in the background. "What'd I do?"

"You weren't paying attention. Good-bye boys." He said to the guys who were standing around, waiting to hear what Miroku's punishment. They turned around and left quickly.

'Great.' Miroku thought, getting his things ready. 'Another exciting day at the old monastery.'

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"So," Yokata said. "What did the old man give you?"

Miroku had just sat down on the lawn with his lunch and already everyone wanted to know what he was sentenced to. This must be a slow week.

"I just have kitchen duty in the morning all week." He said, taking a bite of his rice. "Nothing major."

It was lunchtime, the only time of the day where Miroku could actually enjoy himself. And even that wasn't that great. There were no group of buddies to talk to, no females to flirt with, and the food wasn't that much better than what they severed at the cafeteria. Plus, the group of guys at this place hadn't exactly accepted him yet. Apparently, you have to do something, sorta like a dare, to be considered one of the guys.

A group of boys sat down next to him and Yokata. "Good job getting the monk to actually read something that didn't put me to sleep this time." The leader Kenji said.

"No problem." He replied coolly, glad they were talking to him. As far as he could see, this monastery was just like a high school, minus the girls. There were very distinctive groups, including the nerds, the troublemakers, and of course, the popular people. Kenji was obviously the leader of this group, and since Miroku was the most popular guy back at his old school, there was no reason he shouldn't be one here. He knew he only had one chance to make it with them, and it was about to come up.

"Hey, you guys know about the ghost old man Rei has been trying to get rid of." Kenji said, staring at the guys.

"Yeah. He says it's a real evil one." Yokata said, looking at Miroku. So far, he hadn't told anyone about his little encounter with a spirit, and hopefully he would keep it that way.

"They say he was able to seal it in the graveyard. But it must be a strong one, because he hasn't been able to vanquish it yet." Another boy Miroku did not know the name of said.

"You know what would be cool," Kenji said, looking around the group. "is if one of us stayed out all night in the graveyard and tried to capture this 'evil spirit.'"

"That'd be awesome!" A different boy yelled.

"The question is who's going to do it." Kenji looked at Miroku.

"Me?!" He said, looking at the entire group. "Why do I have to do it? I'm already in enough trouble with these monks, and I don't need another strike against me."

"Well, we'll understand if you're too scared to do it." Kenji said, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean you're from the city right? And we all know that city people can't really do anything. They're cowards, of course."

Miroku understood what he's saying. If he didn't go on this dare, he wouldn't be part of his group. Years of high school had prepared him for his answer.

"I'm no coward. I'd be happy to go ghost catching tonight."

"Good deal." Kenji said, smiling. "Here are the terms. You have to stay there ALL night. No going back to your room at midnight or anything. Yokata, don't you have early morning cleanup?"

"Yeah."

"Good. You'll be checking on him tomorrow morning." Kenji grabbed his tray and stood up. The rest of his group did the same.

"We're expecting you to come through on this, Mirinku. Don't let us down."

As soon as he and his group left, Yokata burst out laughing. "He doesn't even know you're name!"

Miroku shrugged, trying to brush it off. "I'm sure he was just joking."

Yokata rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, right.'

They grabbed their books and started walking to their next class.

"Miroku, you don't have to go through with this whole graveyard thing, you know. I'll just tell Kenji you didn't chicken out when he asks me tomorrow." Yokata, being the good friend he is, said.

Miroku shook his head. "That's okay. I'll just go through this dare and get it over with. It won't be a problem."

He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he wanted to go to the graveyard, although it did have its risks. The ghost may be the one he encountered that time in the woods, and he wanted to see it again.

He and Yokata walked into their prayer class, his mind on other things as it went on.

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'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' Miroku thought, as he opened the gate.

The moon shone brightly on the dust-covered graves, giving the only light in the graveyard. It was a chilly night, and he was glad to have his monk robes to keep him warm through the night.

It was completely creepy out here. The only sound that could be heard was the quiet talking of the crickets, and the gentle whispers of the wind. The moon played a shadow effect on the graves as he took a seat on one of them in the middle of the yard.

He didn't think this was a good idea anymore. It was just way to scary to be out in a freakin GRAVEYARD, for Buddha's sake. Ghost or no ghost, he was beginning to think this could wait till morning.

'No!' He thought. 'You can't leave now!' He tried to think of other things.

'What should I get Kagome for her birthday? It's coming up soon, isn't it? I probably won't be able to get out of here by then, considering they only let the good kids visit their friends, and he far from a model student. Maybe if he pulled a few strings...'

'What was that?!' His heart stopped as he whipped his head in the direction of the noise. A pile of leaves fluttered in the wind. 'Breath, man, breath! Don't let this get to you! You can do this. Come on, settle down!'

And that's pretty much how it was most of the night, with Miroku jumping up at every little sound that he heard. As the night went on, and he continued to fight the drowsiness that threatened to take him, he wasn't sure if he could take much more of this. He was bored and scared out of his mind, which wasn't a good combination.

Another noise drifted to his ears. At first, he couldn't tell if it was wind or just his imagination, but when it continued to go on, he had no idea what it was. It was like a low, moaning noise, so soft it was barley audible.

He began walking toward the sound, going as quiet as possible. His feet were silent against the leaves and sticks scattered all around him as the sound got louder and louder. He looked from behind a large statue to see what was making the noise.

His breath caught in his throat. It was the spirit girl again. Her silver hair shimmered in the light of the moon, as her body seemed to dance while it lay still. She was beautiful..

She was sitting next to a small gravestone covered in flowers, and his ears caught the sound of her soft humming. It was soundly he couldn't make out the tune, yet it sounded lovely.

He closed his eyes and sat there for a moment, just enjoying the music. He didn't realize when it stopped, or when the spirit moved.

It was standing right in front of him.

He did realize she had moved when he felt an icy cold feeling place against his throat.

His eyes shot opened as he came face to face with black, narrowed eyes. The hand that was wrapped around his throat pulled him to his feet and slammed his head against the hard statue.

"What do you want?" The ghost asked in a hard voice.

Miroku wasn't exactly in the position to talk, as he struggled to breath. "S-s-so.c-cold." He managed to get out.

The ghost blinked, as in realizing what she was doing to him, before letting him go.

He fell to the ground, gasping for air. His throat felt like ice. He waited a few moments before meeting the eyes of the ghost again.

Her eyes were still narrowed as she looked down on him. She grabbed him by his shoulder robe and pulled him up against the cold marble.

"Why are you following me?" She asked, the pressure on his shoulder increasing. Her eyes never left his face.

Okay, Miroku would be lying if he said he wasn't scared right now. In fact, he was very close to doing something in his robes he wasn't going to be proud of. He had never had a ghost a talk to him before, and he certainly never had one almost beat him up. He wondered if it counted being beat up by a girl if she was a ghost.

"I-I don't want to hurt you." He smacked himself inwardly for saying that. He wasn't exactly in the position to hurt anyone right now!

"I mean, I won't hurt you!" He knew he sounded utterly pathetic right now, but it didn't matter as long as she let go of him!

He felt her grip loosen a bit, and her face didn't hold as much anger as it did before. She seemed to be thinking over what he had said. He continued.

"What I mean is, I'm sorry that I was following you. It's just that I've never seen a ghost before, and...I dunno, I just wanted to talk?" He really didn't know why he followed her that day, or why he was hoping for her to show up tonight. It was just a feeling he had.

He breathed a sigh of relief as she let go of him. He rubbed his sore shoulder, waiting for her to speak.

"Just leave me alone." Was all she said, before turning back to the gravestone she was tending to before.

Miroku never did listen when girls told him to bug off, so why should this girl be any different? Oh yeah, she was dead.

He walked up behind her.

"Are you still here?" The ghost asked him, her voice hard. Miroku brushed it off.

"Was that someone you knew?" He asked her, referring to the grave.

She whipped her head toward him, her face full of anger. "That's none of your business!" She turned around and started walking toward the woods.

Of course, Miroku followed.

"Can't you find some other spirit to bother?" She said angrily, not bothering to turn around.

"Nope, you're the only one around." He said, flashing her a charming smile she would have swooned for if she had been looking at him.

He could hear her muttering something about 'annoying pests' and 'whatever happened to peace after afterlife.' Miroku found it funny.

They reached the end of the graveyard.

"Where are you going?" Miroku asked, hoping she would at least look at him.

She was getting ready to jump over the fence to the woods. "Somewhere where you're not!"

Suddenly a bright light flashed around the graveyard. The spirit was thrown back, and fell against Miroku's chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her. And towards a place he probably shouldn't.

"What the-?!" He heard her say.

"Hentai!"

Smack!

"It was an accident! You ran into me!" Miroku said in defense, rubbing his now red cheek. Wow, she hit hard.

"Ow." She said, rubbing her own face, the part that hit the invisible barrier.

"I don't think you can leave." Miroku said, coming up next to her again.

"Gee, really. You think?" She said sarcastically, being wary of his presence. She plopped herself on the ground. "Now what am I going to do?"

Miroku sat down next to her. "Where were you planning to go anyway?"

She put her chin on her arms. "I don't know. Nowhere, I guess. I don't have anyone anymore." He could see tears in her eyes.

"What happened?" He wasn't sure if he should be asking such a personal question so soon, but he really wanted to know how a girl so gorgeous could possibly end up like this. "How did you die?"

She sighed, meeting his eyes this time. "I don't know." She said quietly.

'What?' Miroku thought, confused. 'How did someone know not know how they died. Then again, I've never died before, so how should I know?' He listened as she continued.

"I mean, how could I not know how I died? You'd think it'd be something I would remember, but I just can't!" Small sparkling tears fell down her eyes and left a trail down her cheek. Miroku's heart reached out to her.

"What do you remember?" He asked gently, hoping not to disrupt her any further. He put a comforting shoulder around her, and felt her stiffen.

She turned towards him, as if suddenly realizing what was happening. An angry expression was on her face. "Why should you care?! It's not like any of this matters to you anyway!"

She got up and ran towards the place where she was when Miroku first saw her.

Well, Miroku had never been one to take a hint. 'She never said I couldn't follow her.'

He chased after her, determined not to be shaken off by her slight unfriendliness act. "Wait! I really do care!"

She whipped around at him, making Miroku suddenly stop. "Just leave me alone! I don't want to talk to anyone!"

"Why not? I mean, even the dead get lonely sometimes, right?" Miroku's mind was on full blast, trying to think of anything that would make her stay. He knew he was touching a delicate situation, but it seemed to be working. She hadn't started running away again.

She stared at the ground, not meeting his eyes. "I guess it can. I mean, I am dead, right? So I should know."

Miroku couldn't help but pity the girl. "I take it you don't know why your still here?"

She shook her head. "I have absolutely no idea."

She sighed, and Miroku could almost hear the tears in her voice as she spoke. "I must have done something so bad, so evil that I couldn't even be allowed to be reincarnated. That's the only way I could be here, without any memories of my past life."

Miroku shook his head. "No. That can't be it."

Her eyebrow shot up. "What? How would you know?!" She asked in more of a demanding tone than a questioning one.

"Because," He said, taking her hand. It wasn't nearly as cold as when it was pressed up against his throat. He was lucky he caught her off guard, because she was to surprised to throw him off. "You haven't tried to do anything bad to me yet, even though it seems like you've had plenty of opportunities. And that I might have deserved it."

Even through her glittering appearance, he could still see something of a light blush spread across her beautiful face. He smiled to himself.

"Don't you think someone who was really evil in their past life be a little more aggressive to someone as defenseless as me?"

"I did hit you, though." She said, the blush spreading rapidly.

"Well, I think I deserved it." He said smiling. His smile widened even more when he saw a smile creeping across her delicate features.

"Maybe we should start over. My name's Miroku." He drew out his hand.

She looked confused for a second, like she didn't exactly know what he was doing. But she took his hand, the lovely smile returning to her face.

"And my name's Sango."

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Well, this could quite certainly be considered the strangest day of his life. And it has just begun, considering how the sun was just about rising. He had better get to his room fast and try to catch up on his sleep before he had to go fulfill his earlier punishment.

So far he had met the most amazing, not to mention the first, spirit ever. He had stayed up all night talking to her, mostly about the future and himself more than anything else. She seemed to be fascinated about the wonders he knew of that he didn't get the chance to ask about her past.

'Sango.' His mind thought over and over again, testing it on his tongue. It was a beautiful name. But it suited her, as she was definitely the most beautiful creature he had every laid his eyes on.

Now, if he could only figure a way to meet with her every night without anyone noticing...

"Miroku!" A sharp voice called out.

'Uh, oh.' Miroku thought, knowing instantly who it was. He was in trouble now.

He turned to find one of his teachers, one who he always goofs off in his class, shouting at him and looking fairly angry. "What are you doing out here so early? And coming from the graveyard! You know that place is restricted, unless with a teacher."

"Well uh, you see..." Miroku tried to think of a way to talk his way out of this predicament.

"No! Enough of your excuses. I'm taking you see Father Rei. He'll deal with you." He took his arm and whipped toward the direction of Father Rei's hut.

Miroku sighed. This was quickly turning into another typical day at the monastery.

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END

Oh yeah. I'm done.

Very, VERY long time since I updated. I've been working on my other Sango/Miroku romance, 'A Love Sonnet' And I haven't been paying attention to this one. Sorry! I also won't be updating this fic as fast my other one, mainly because I really really want to finish A Love Sonnet. The only time I actually write for this fic is when I lose inspiration for my other one. So, updates might be a little long.

Question: Do the prayer beads around Miroku's hand holds his wind tunnel, or does the glove hold it? Or both? If anyone knows, I would greatly appreciate it if you told me!

Next Chapter:

Miroku receives his 'punishment' and finds out Kagomes sick! And right after her 15th birthday, too. How strange...

Please, don't forget to review!

~Zephor~