Chapter 10
Sango-sama
Author's Notes: I will do the German dance for you....um...yeah... Big thanks to Chira, who puts up with my whining, and to my reviewers. I feel just a bit miffed. >_ Another Kohaku/Rin fic popped up here on ff.net the morning after I posted the last chapter. (Which I like, but my stupid computer will not let me review...) but they said NO ONE had posted any fics for them...well, they didn't get their own story, but they are in here.
::sigh:: I think I need better advertising. And I really, honestly will get some Kagome/Inuyasha stuff in here...but it likely won't be until the end.
Anyways, I decided to sort of "can" the Fate contest, and will instead proceed with a happy Sango/Miroku artwork contest. Well…it will make me very happy! ^_^ Requirements: Must include Sango and Miroku! Other characters (like Kirara) may be present. I think I'm going to make different categories divisions (ie. comedy, romance). A prize will either be a plushie or a doujinshi, characters as per determined by the winner. You may enter as many times as you wish. Entries need to be sent (.jpg is preferred) to KSSladen@aol.com.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Sad, isn't it? I have however, temporarily borrowed Miroku to ravag--err, I mean abuse him in this fic. ::cracks her whip:: Oh ho ho ho ho!
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The hanyou slinking ahead of the pack, looking more than just a little sore. For as much as he boasted that he felt little pain, he certainly seemed to be feeling it now.
'Poor Inuyasha,' Miroku chuckled quietly to himself. 'He probably didn't know what hit him.' He sat, or rather, hovered above Kirara's broad back, right behind the Taiji-ya.
Sango's little outburst earlier had proven quite entertaining. Her face was a deep, angry crimson, her eyes flashing highly dangerous sparks. It was good to not be on the receiving end of her wrath for a change. Sango was a striking beauty when she was angry.
That in itself would have been good enough reason to stay behind now...but she had seemed so fragile when Inuyasha and Kagome had hauled her and his body away from the battlefield.
Miroku was painfully aware that Kohaku was the main reason she was laying her own life on the line to fighting Naraku. Sure, she wanted vengeance for her friends and the rest of her family, but Kohaku was still alive. He was her hope. He was the thing keeping her alive, keeping her fighting against that Baboon-skinned bastard.
When Kohaku had appeared for the second time, with Naraku pulling his strings to kill Kagome, she had been ready to kill the boy. 'And likely herself as well,' he frowned, playing with the translucent violet fabric which used to cover his Kaze Ana. When his body had expired, it seems that power binding the curse to his spirit had as well. As long as the true fabric and beads covered his hand for eternity, the void would never be able to hurt another.
He wasn't about to let Sango kill herself. Suicide from anger, stemming from her pain, would only bring more pain to her and to their friends. She would have to be born again into the cycle, with a heavy black mark scarring her karma. Both as a priest and as a friend, he simply couldn't allow that to happen while there was still time to prevent it.
Although she seemed all too aware of what had happened during that dream, she hadn't known that he really was conversing with him in the realm of her dreams. It didn't seem necessary to tell her all of that...she would simply blush and become flustered. And even as endearing as that would have been, Sango needed to remain on her guard. The Shichinintai were drawing near again.
"You even think about trying something, Houshi-sama," she muttered back to him through gritted teeth, "and I will make you regret it."
He sighed heavily. Perhaps its just as well that she had been so rudely awoken when she did; he had been just about to trail a hand down to her...
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Rin's eyes brightened at the sight of Sesshoumaru-sama. She loosened her hold of Kohaku's shoulders and bounded over to the taciturn youkai, her little feet pattering down the grasses.
She slowed down as she neared him. 'Sesshoumaru-sama...seems quieter than usual.'
In fact he hadn't taken his sharp amber eyes off of the boy, and was making no attempt to mask his murderous glare. "Boy...what did I say about being with Rin alone?"
Kohaku sat speechless on the old tree stump, knuckles whitening as he gripped the edges of the stump for all he was worth.
He tried to suppress the slightest grin at the sight of the boys lower lip trembling. "Tell me, Kohaku. What did I say?"
"T-to s-stay away…" he shivered. The boy may have been strong enough to kill lesser demons and even hi comrades, but he was still a young boy after all.
Golden eyes narrowed. "And did you?"
Kohaku squeezed his eyes shut, as if it would somehow keep him safe from the youkai. "…N-n…"
His jaw set, he stalked towards the cowering boy.
"Sesshoumaru-sama…please stop…" The little girl begged, squeezing him around his waist until he stopped his advance. "Rin gave him a hug because he looked so sad. Rin doesn't like it when people are sad…"
He looked down into Rin's brown eyes, seeing the clear glaze of tears that lay at her eyes' edge. He felt himself caving.
With an almost fatherly gentleness, he loosened Rin's grip on the fabric that hung loose at his waist, fighting to keep his somber expression as the little girl gave him a toothy grin. He turned to Kohaku, scowling. "Boy, you will keep your distance from her…"
Kohaku gulped audibly. "Yes…Sesshoumaru-sama."
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Author's notes in closing: I'm far from an expert in Buddhism, but I have a number of friends from the sangomiroku ML who have pointed me towards some very reliable sources. From what I have been able to find regarding suicide and Buddhism revolves around this notion: if you are an unenlightened person or if you are attempting to kill yourself out of fear, anger, depression, etc. you condemn yourself to the cycle of rebirth known as the karmic cycle. It sort of works on the principle that if you do good for others, you make your own life better for yourself. Conversely, if you are corrupt and evil, that evil will return back to you, perhaps not now, but in another turn of the cycle.
Author's note #2: Can't you just see Sesshoumaru with a shotgun?!?
^_^
"Run Kohaku! Run!"