Disclaimer~ I don't own Inuyasha; the only characters that are mine are Nayamashii and Kayou.

Dialog~ "Meep meep meep."

Thoughts~ 'Meep meep meep.'

Authors note~ I'm surprised by how many people like the story so far, I didn't think it would be that much of a catch. A huge thanks to all my reviewers! I really, really love getting reviews from you guys. In this chapter we find out more about the mysterious woman Kayou, and Sango copes with the loss of her beloved houshi. There's going to be some twists and turns, you don't want to miss this chapter.

Chapter 4

The warm morning sun shone brightly in Miroku's eyes, he cringed at the sudden shock of the bright sun in his eyes. He opened his eyes wearily; he was sleeping on a futon, in a small hut. He sat up and took a small look around. 'It looks like I'm in a small hut; nobody seems to be around though. Where am I? What's going on?'

Kayou walked in the door of the small hut. She smiled and sat down next to Miroku. "How are you feeling?" Kayou looked over at Miroku, her eyes full of concern.

Miroku just sat there a moment. He had a dumbfounded look on his face. 'Ok. Now I'm really confused. Who is this girl? Did she take me in? What in the hell is going on?' "I'm feeling pretty good, tell me though. Who are you? What's going on?"

Kayou smacked her head. "I'm so stupid, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kayou. Who are you?"

"My name is, Miroku. Tell me, what happened? How did I get here?"

"Easy, I can only answer one question at a time. I was walking back to the village after a late night stroll and I found you lying on the ground unconscious. I didn't want to leave you out there, so I took you back to my home. Are you sure you're alright?" She moved slightly closer to him, her face full of worry.

Miroku was taken back at her sudden advancement on him. He moved away from her slightly. He had almost a scared expression on his face. 'Not again, I don't want to have to go through this, again.'

Kayou looked at Miroku she was very confused by his actions. "Did I scare you? Are you afraid of me?"

A small bead of sweat dripped down Miroku's brow. His breathing was getting heavy, and his head was spinning. 'What should I do? Can I trust her? I'm not sure that I can.' Miroku took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye. "A little bit, I guess."

She looked at him very strangely and slowly backed away. The next words to escape her mouth were light and caring. "You don't have to be afraid of me, I don't want to hurt you. I only want to help you."

Miroku showed a sad expression on his face. He looked down at the floor. "I'm very sorry, It's hard for me to trust." He looked up and put his hand to his heart. "Someone hurt me deeply in the past, and the pain is still fresh in my mind. Being here, with you reminds me of that pain."

Kayou looked at Miroku with a very sorrowful expression. 'That poor man, he's suffering inside. He's hurting deeply, I wish I could help him.' She smiled and moved closer to him. She put her hand on his hand, which was resting on his heart. "I wouldn't do anything to try and hurt you. You can trust me."

The warmth of her Kayou's hand on Miroku's hand sent chills running down his spine. He let down a large gulp. 'She seems sincere, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to trust yet. I still haven't healed my paper heart.' Miroku slid his hand out from under Kayou's and put it to his side. "I'm sorry, I'm just not ready to trust, yet."

Kayou shot Miroku a warm smile. "Don't worry about it, you will when you're ready. Oh, hey, are you hungry?"

Miroku looked down at his stomach, he could hear it growling for food. He looked up with a light smile on his face. "Ya, I guess so."

"Alright then, I'll fix us something to eat. Just rest for a while, you need to let your body regain its strength."

Miroku nodded solemnly. "Aye."

Sango sat in her small room at the Inn, eating her lunch. She looked around at the empty room and sighted. 'Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippo all left to go searching for more jewel shards, which means I'm here, all alone. This really sucks; they should have taken me with them, instead of letting me sleep. I wish Miroku-sama was here, he'd keep me company.' A small band of tears rolled down Sango's cheek. "Miroku-sama, I'm so sorry, I wish you'd come back, I miss you. I didn't mean those things I said, I really care about you, I'm in love with you, so please come back to me. Come back, Miroku." Sango broke down, her soft tears turned into violent sobs.

"Here you are, Miroku-san." Kayou handed him a small plate of rice. She smiled and sat down next to him.

Miroku looked at the plate of rice with hungry eyes. "Arigato, I'm very hungry." Without hesitation Miroku dug into the rice.

Kayou smiled and did the same. "Miroku-san, once your well rested what are you going to do. Where are you going to go?"

Miroku stopped eating his rice and looked over at Kayou with a grim expression on his face. "I'm not sure actually, I don't know where I'll be going, or who I'll be going with. So much has happened to me lately, I'm not sure of anything, anymore."

Kayou had a small frown on her face. "I won't try to pry, but can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Miroku looked at her uncertainly. 'Is she trying to pull something, or is she trying to be nice? What should I say, should I tell her anything?' "I guess I could tell you a bit about myself. What do you want to know?"

"I can't say really, I just want to know more about you. Your family, your past, your friends, or anything."

"My mother died after I was born, my father died when I was very little. A monk named Mushin raised me. I lived at his temple until I was eleven, then I set off on my own."

"I'm sorry, your life sounds like it's full of hardships. Why did you set off when you were only eleven, what was your purpose?"

Miroku lifted up his right hand and showed it to her. "This hand contains a curse, one which has been passed down to me, from my father. It's this curse that killed him. My right hand contains a wind-tunnel; it takes in everything in its surroundings. One day, the tunnel will devour me, as well."

"That's awful! What are going to do about it?"

"The only way to get rid of the curse, that I know of, is to kill the demon that bestowed the curse upon me. That's why all those years ago I set off on my own, to find the man who did this, and destroy him. I have to kill Naraku, or die trying."

"I see, god handed you a cruel fate. I'm very sorry for you, it must be hard."

Miroku shook his head. "Don't feel bad for me, I've done many things in life to deserve this fate. I'm not a saint, I'm a sinner, I hurt someone very dear to me, now I can never go back."

'He hurt someone? Who is he talking about?' "Who did you hurt? I found you alone, remember?"

"That's because, I ran away. I hurt someone deeply, she hurt me worse, and now I don't have the courage to go back."

"Miroku-san, just because she hurt you doesn't mean you shouldn't try to make things right." "I want to be with her, but I'm not ready to see her again. She told me she wished I was dead. She told me she hated me, I have nothing to say to her."

"She said those things because you hurt her, she cares about you obviously and whatever you said drove her off the deep end. You should really make up with her."

"I will, when I heal my paper heart."

"If you say so, lets go to the hot springs later. They would really do you some good, please for me." Kayou looked at him with a puppy dog face.

'She better not be planning anything, I don't need another incident to happen with this girl.' "Fine, just don't try anything funny."

"I wouldn't, I'm not that kind of girl. You can trust me."

'I hope so.' Miroku only nodded. He stared down at his empty plate of rice. "Thanks again for the rice, it was really good."

Kayou smiled. "Sure, it wasn't a problem."

"That's good, I'm going to go for a walk. I'll be back later."

"You really shouldn't go, you're still weak."

"I'll be fine, promise." Miroku smiled and walked out the door. 'Finally, I needed some time to clear my head. I wonder, what's Sango doing right now?'

Sango stood before the tree she was sitting under when it happened, when she told Miroku off. She put her hand on the tree and closed her eyes. All the memories of that night came rushing back to her. Over and over again she heard those cruel words ringing in her head. "I wish that stupid hole in your hand would just swallow you up." 'How stupid I was, I can't believe I said that to him. He didn't deserve that; he deserves a better friend than me. I said all those horrible things to him, I made Miroku cry, I really am a bitch.'

Tears ran down Sango's cheek, like a small river of over flowing emotions. She slumped down under the tree, holding herself tightly. She looked up at the clear blue sky; she saw Miroku's smiling face in it. 'Miroku, I can't get you out of my head, I need to find you, we need to talk. I want to feel your warm embrace again, I don't want to be alone.' "MIROKU!" Sango burst into tears. 'Miroku.'

Miroku looked up a moment. He had been taking a quiet walk in the forest to clear his head. 'I could have sworn I heard Sango calling me.' Miroku shook his head. 'No, I must be imagining things, it couldn't be her.' The scream replayed in Miroku's mind. 'It had to be her, I know it was her, I have to find her.' "SANGO!"

Sango's heart seemed to stop for a brief moment. 'Miroku, I can hear his voice, I can hear Miroku calling to me. He's here, somewhere.' "MIROKU! I'm here, I'm under the tree, the same tree from before!"

Miroku stared wide-eyed; he was standing directly behind Sango. He could see part of her kimono as she lay against the tree. He let down a large gulp. 'What should I do? Should I go to her? No, I can't, I'm just not ready, but then again." Miroku took a step forward; he put his hands on Sango's shoulders. "Sango, I'm here."

Sango could feel Miroku's hands on her shoulders. She put her hands on top of his and held them tightly. "I've been waiting for you, we need to talk."

"I agree, we do, but I'm not ready yet. I have so many things to tell you, but you need to understand, I'm just not ready. I'm sorry, Sango." Miroku retracted his hand from her tight grip and walked off. 'I'll find you again Sango, I won't leave you, don't worry, I'll be back.'

Sango sat there for a moment shocked. 'No, I can't loose him again, I won't loose him like this.' Sango got up and tackled Miroku to the ground. She held him tightly; tears were beginning to swell in her eyes. "No, we aren't done yet. I need to talk with you. I need to be with you. Don't go, please stay here with me."

"Sango." Miroku got up and patted the dirt off of his robes. "I know we need to talk, I'm not ready though. I can't talk with you right now my heart is still torn. Let me mend it, and then I'll come back to you. Be patient with me, please."

"How can I, Miroku? My heart has been aching for you, and now I find you and you want me to give you up. How can you expect me to do that?"

"If you care for me you'll let me go." Miroku put his hand out to her. "You can take me back and I'll stay with you and still be broken, or you can trust me and let me heal before I come back to you. The choice is yours; you can decide my fate this time. What do you want to do?"

Sango began to tremble. 'He's letting me choose. Why? Why would he do that? He's trusting me to make the right choice, can I though? What is it? What's the right choice?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of chapter~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, I'm evil and I left it at another cliffhanger. I can't help but piss you guys off. Hope you liked this chapter, thanks to all my reviewers.

Inu-shounen~ Glad you liked the verbal beat down. Inuyasha laid it down thick on Sango. He's so good at making others feel like shit. I'm glad you found it all to be fabulous, and as promised I've given you more.

Jen of the Wildfire~ YAY! A new reviewer! I feel so loved, knowing that I made it on someone's author alert. I'm glad you too liked Inuyasha's verbal beat down. No, you can't kill Nayamashii, I still need her.. YOU DIDN'T HEAR THAT! YOU LIE, I SAID NOTHING! NOTHING!

Cyberdemon~ YAY! Yet another new reviewer. Glad you find the story good, and I tried to update as soon as I could.

Kikenami~ Yay, another person saying my story is great. It's nice of you to ignore a friend to read my fic, I appreciate it.

Chris-Redfield26~ Thanks for the hint, I'm not angry. I appreciate the honest help. Hope this chapter suited your need for better dialog, and moving a bit slower. Any way, thanks for the nice review, glad you find the story nice so far. Sango-chan~ Thanks for reviewing for this chapter. I'm glad you find this to be another great story.

Rissi-Sama~ YES! I REMAIN TWISTED! I don't know how I come up with them, strange things go through my head I find some of the parts funny, so I don't think it's just you. Thanks for the compliment, of me doing a great job.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers! I want to see you guys back again for this chapter. You have to read the next one, it's a major part of the story in a way. Eh, hard to explain, just read it.

Zero