by Ironraven
editorial assistance by Lachesis-chan
Disclaimer: Inuyasha and company aren't mine. They are the property of Rumiko Takahashi-sama.
Last time we looked, Miroku had just run away into the night, with murder on his mind. Inuyasha may have knocked some sense into him, but the monk has still faked his death.
---
Two days had passed since Miroku had disappeared into the night. Sango had moved slowly, painfully, not speaking for the first day after arguing with Inuyasha about seeing where Miroku's void had swallowed him. The hanyou's stubbornness beat out her grief, insisting that he had been told not to let her see the crater by the monk as he disappeared.
Stumbling, Sango followed her friends, refusing to be helped, even by Kirara. Kagome spoke little, aching inside as she watched her friend's world crumble into dust yet again. Shippou walked at Sango's side, he and Kirara ready to catch the huntress if she couldn't recover from her fall, as he tried not to sniffle. Even Inuyasha, so brash and boisterous was subdued as he led the group in near silence. Kiyoshi took up the rear, respectfully silent, sitting away from the others as they ate, not trying to start conversion.
On the second day, they found the shards they had heard rumors of, four of them. Conveniently lodged in the body of a bear demon. The beast towered above them, his knees on eye level to the searchers, a massive, crazed beast, covered in long, matted fur.
"Inuyasha, go high; I'll go low! Kataidenko!" Kiyoshi pulled his no-dachi from it's sheath across it's back, running towards the demon as it reared up, bellowing.
"Don't give me orders!" Despite his protest, Inuyasha could see Kiyoshi's plan. The hunter would cut the beast's feet out from under it, while Inuyasha went for the head. His blade taking it's true form, Inuyasha leapt skyward.
Behind and below them, Sango slid the Hairikitsu from her shoulder, holding it at the ready. But she could not throw, not yet. As she watched, the two blades bit into the demon in unison, cutting muscle and tendon at knee and shoulder. With a pained howl, the giant ball of lethal fur tried to strike at both enemies at once.
Stepping into his foe, Kiyoshi thrust up, into it's belly, while Inuyasha slashed down it's back. Almost before his feet were on the ground, he jumped away. Kiyoshi dropped to one side, rolling sideways as he pulled his steel free, coming to his feet alongside the panting hanyou.
"Hairikitsu!!" Putting all of the grief and anger she could into the throw, Sango launched the boomerang with an explosive grunt. It slammed into the beast nearly vertical, crashing though it's breast bone, shattering it's skull on the return. Sango caught the weapon as it sought it's home in her hand, but the force combined with her exhaustion staggered her, sending her to one knee.
"Sango! Are you ok?" Kagome knelt at her friend's side, ready to try to drag the grieving warrior if the demon charged them. Kirara, in her large form, crouched before the girls, hissing and spitting, as the bear fell like a puppet with its strings cut.
Sango fought her way to her feet, shaking Kagome off. "Kirara, get out of the way!" With that warning, she threw her weapon again, letting it walk up the bear's spine, shattering everything it touched. The male hunter and the hanyou leapt out of the way, the massive bone cleaving the air where they had stood a moment before.
"Hey! Watch it, Sango!" Glaring at her as she was again dropped by the impact of her returning weapon, Inuyasha stayed in a crouch until she dropped the weapon, hugging her knees to herself, rocking.
"She needs this, Inuyasha. Let her be, neither of us were hurt." Flicking the filth from his blade, Kiyoushi approached the bear wearily. "Think it's truly dead?"
"Yeah, it's dead. For now- we need to get those shards."
Nodding, the dark haired warrior followed the white haired one, drawing a long, slender throwing knife from his sleeve. With blade and claw, the two soon dug out the shards. One had been lodged in it's lower leg, just above where Kiyoshi had first cut, while the others were in it's brow. "From what I've heard of the shards, this is a lot in one demon, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Naraku must have been behind this." Pulling the other shard from the hunter's hand, Inuyasha dropped it in his palm with the others. Quietly, he walked to Kagome's side, nudging her shoulder. When she looked up, he pressed the shards into her palm, saying nothing of the white-robed fiend. Only Naraku has that many shards. But why wasn't it after us, then?
---
Atop a tree. some ways away, Hachi watched the battle. "Oh, they made that look easy."
At the bottom of the tree, seated meditatively, Miroku drew a ragged breath. Yeah, I bet Kiyoshi was a big help. "What are they doing now, Hachi?"
"Lady Sango is kneeling- I hope she didn't hurt herself with that weapon of her's. Lady Kagome is with her." Shading his keen eyes with his hands, the tanuki youkai peered at the little knot of figures in the distance. "It looks like Master Inuyasha and the other guy are talking."
'The other guy'. I guess I'm not the only one who dislikes Kiyoshi. "Any other signs of trouble?"
"No Master, none." Hopping down, Hachi landed with surprising lightness for someone so round. "Lady Sango looks ok, she's standing. I think she was crying again, Master."
At the last piece of news, Miroku's heart clenched tight, the pain radiating through his body, dwarfing the ache in his hand. Thanks for that, Hachi.
---
From with in the twisted branches of an ancient hemlock, another set of bright eyes watched the houshi and tanuki. These were set into a burned, scarred face. The silent watcher faded back into the greenery, concealed by his grey and green clothes, a sharp, evil smile on his lips.
---
Fighting to speak evenly, Sango's eyes met those of each of her friends. "We have to tell Mushin. It is only right." Her eyes touched Kiyoshi's last, and flicked away quickly.
"I shall join you. You were a party of six. Six we shall be."
Looking up at him, Shippou frowned, confused. Tugging at the hunter's pant leg to make sure the man heard him, the kit's question was simple. "But what about those bandits you were hunting?"
"I wasn't hired; I was after the bounty on them. Someone will get them, and take the price on thier heads." Pausing to ruffle Shippou's hair, he continued. "I was the last person to speak to Miroku, and I think he and I would have become strong allies. I feel that I must help avenge him. And your fight is with my enemy as well, Shippou."
Sango pinned him with her gaze, like a fowl on an arrow. Not having spoken once to her former lover since striking him nearly two days ago, her words to him were not kind. "What makes you think you are wanted?"
Wilting under her gaze, Kiyoushi lowered his head. "Sango, what would have had me do? He told me not to follow, and that was it. Not even a warning to make sure you did not follow. Even if I had known what was to happen, what could I have done?"
Resting a hand on her friend's shoulder, Kagome spoke softly, quietly. "There was nothing anyone could do. Only Miroku could control his void; if he was loosing control, all you could have done would have been to die with him."
I wish I had, Kagome-chan, don't you understand that? "I know. I'm sorry, Taijya-kun."
Using an outstretched finger to tilt her chin up, his storm grey ones met her eyes, smiling gently, warmly. "It's alright, Sango. I will always forgive you." So easy to prey on them while they grieve.
I hope Miroku breaks those fingers, slimeball. If he doesn't, I will. Count on it. Looking up at the sun, Inuyasha turned to the others. "Come on, then. We can be there in five days."
---
That night, after they made camp, Kiyoshi walked into the forest, saying he needed to find a place to bathe. He walked for several minutes, before finding a small, noisy brook. Shedding his clothes, and leaning against a boulder, he whistled a warbling bird call. He was answered several minutes later by a stealthy footstep.
"Kaban, looks like our days as highway men are over."
"Master?"
"Well, after you ate..." Stroking his chin, Kiyoshi tried to remember tha name that had been on the tip of his tounge. "Oh, what his name? The stupid fellow."
"Kaijou was his name, Master."
"Yes, Kaijou. After you ate Kaijou, the three bandits became two. And the bounty was for three. So no way we can collect that bounty, unless we find another group, with a demon and two warriors."
"The pickings were not lessening though, Master. We could have stayed there and continued to rob the merchants and pilgrims. Sooner or later we could have found some suckers who fit the description. Even if we had to pick them off one by one, and just took back their rotting heads..."
Grabbing the scarred tanuki by his vest front, Kiyoshi yanked him closer. "Listen to me, flea bag! I said the scam was over! Got that?"
Shaking slightly, the youkai lowered his head in submission. "Ye-yes, Master Kiyoshi."
"These friends of Sango's, they are looking for the Shikon no Tama. Do you know what that could do for me, Kaban? You would be the servant of a kami, with all the sweet, juicy, plump little eats you could want."
"Besides, I'm not about to walk away from these two. Sango is still the best little bed warmer I've had, and she will be mine again. I wonder if she remembers all the pleasing things I taught her. And Kagome looks like she'd be fun. So shameless, flaunting her legs like that, but so trusting, so innocent. She's practically begging- and that stupid mutt can't see it." Closing his eyes, the hentai enjoyed a thought. "Maybe they could be taught to share. They would look so pretty together... Kaban, how close do you think they really are?"
"Hmm.... they do look tasty, Master..." Lost in depraved thought, Kaban licked his lips. "And the little kitty looks like it would make a nice stew."
Chuckling softly, the hunter shook his head. "She'd probably end up eating you, baka." Pausing to glance at his servant, Kiyoshi grinned slightly. "At least I'm assuming you are talking about Kirara, not the kitsune."
As Kiyoushi stood and shook the water from his now loose hair, Kaban smiled like a cat at a plate of fish, turning to business. "Master, I have news that may interest you. It seems that you've not been told the truth about the monk's so called death."
---
It was midday as they entered Mushin's temple grounds, with a light drizzle falling from a leaden sky. Everyone was soaked, and not just because Kagome had fallen into the river while crossing the rocks.
"Where is he?" Shippou looked around, feeling a drop of water from Kagome's hair land on the back of his hand.
Inuyasha sniffed the air, before grunting. "Everything around here smells like him. HEY! YOU OLD DRUNKARD, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"Inuyasha, you could be a little more couth. We are here to tell him his student is dead." Kagome glanced at the beads against the white of Inuyasha's creamy shitagi, a silent warning that was clearly understood. He cringed, looking at Kagome's red-covered form, waiting for her to say the word, but before she could utter it, she was distracted.
Kiyoshi had slipped open the door to the storage shed, and was examining the contents closely. "Is this him?"
"Yes, it's him." Sango slipped past, checking the bundle of robes. Without any warning, she kicked the empty sake jar from under the fallen monk's head, letting his skull bounce on the floor, unthinkingly doing as Miroku had done so many times. You taught him all of those bad habits!
"Hmmm" Smacking sticky, chilled lips, Mushin looked about, finding Kiyoshi with rummy, hung-over eyes. "Miroku? When did you start dressing like that?"
"My apologizes, sir, but I am not he."
Without any preamble, Inuyasha began to speak from the doorway. "Miroku is dead, old man. His hand did it, eight days ago." You know, the more you tell the same lie, the easier it is to do.
Sighing softly, Mushin shook his head. "I told him not to use the kazaana as a weapon. I told that stupid boy to be more careful." Rising slowly, unsteadily, he fumbled a jar of more spirits from the shelf. Raising it to the ceiling in a quiet toast, he drank deeply.
Stupid old man, don't you understand, he's dead! Houshi-sama is dead! Sango hugged herself, and lowered her head, disappointed in the monk's memorial. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder, a hand she'd not felt there for a long time. Kiyoshi's.
As Mushin lowered the jar, he took in the sight of Sango's hand reaching up to cup the other hunter's. Didn't take you long enough to replace my boy, did it? "So who's the new guy? It is uncanny."
Straighten himself, coming to his fullest height, his head high, Kiyoshi's eyes bored into the old man's silent accusation. "I am Kiyoshi, a Taijya, as Sango is. My sword and I have been pledged to avenge your foster son's death, to slay his enemy. I knew him for only a part of a day, but he was my friend." Letting his hand slip from under Sango's, he reached past the monk, taking down a jar, and silently toasting the houshi's memory. With five loud gulps, he drained the jar without taking it from his lips. As the others watched in amazement, he hurled the pottery to the floor, shattering it. "Every breath, every drink, is a reminder of him. And when the time comes, our enemy will be as that jar, shattered and empty, to be tossed on a trash heap!"
Sango and Kagome shared a look, as the younger girl tried to identify the scent in the air. Testosterone.
---
"Master?"
"Over here, Hachi." Crawling out from under the boulder that had been his hideaway as a boy, Miroku definitely was the worst for wear, disheveled, his nails and robes dirty, his eyes red-rimmed. "How are they?"
"Lady Kagome hasn't cried today, even when she fell in the river. Shippou is in fine spirits, and Inuyasha..."
Miroku smiled as the tanuki informed him of his friends' day, desperately clinging to anything that was ordinary to him. That is so like Kagome, to fall like that. Inuyasha probably had to fish her out, and grumbled as he wrapped his haori around her. And they are still the same, even without me there.
Even without me.
"You didn't tell me about Sango, Hachi."
He doesn't need to know about Him getting closer to her. "She's as well as can be expected, Master. She's eating, and she's not stumbling over everything." She looks like she's half dead, Master, and I can't get close enough to their camp to hear, but I can smell her tears every night. "They say time heals all things, Master."
"And what of Kiyoshi?"
"Oh. Him." Looking down at his feet, Hachi couldn't think of a convincing lie, so he settled for the truth. "He and Mushin are drinking and toasting your memory. The pile of empty jars is almost as tall as those two are right now."
Without a word, Miroku slithered back under his rock, curling into a ball. Damn him. Damn him. He's stealing my life. Damn him. He's already stolen Sango. Now he wants Mushin. What's next?
Buddha, I know this is a lesson, but hurry up and get to the damn point!
---
"OK, that's the last of the ramen, everyone." Kagome's news brought scowls all around, even from Sango.
"But, Kagome, don't you need to go home soon? You can get more ramen and chocolate and everything else then, right?"
"Of course, Shippou, there's plenty there. Don't worry."
"What, no way, wench, you aren't going anywhere!"
"Really, Inuyasha? Then I guess you don't want that ramen feast Kagome promised you the night..." he died. Sango looked down at her cup of noodles, fighting the sadness, trying to push it back. It was the first time in nearly ten days that she had even spoken of that night aloud.
The silence hung heavy over the travelers for long moments, before Kiyoshi spoke. "Kagome, I know I have said this, but I would like to see your land. I am interested in those who would make such equipment."
Kagome, don't let him sucker you- you know what Sango told you. "Well, I'm really the only person who can go there, and Inuyasha. Even if I could bring people with me, it's a very different place, and you would stand out." As they got closer to the well, Kagome had worried more and more about how do hide when she went. "Besides, it isn't a good idea to have a lot of strangers running around, someone might notice."
"Feh! It smells funny there, anyway- I've been there Kiyoshi, people wear masks just to breathe with all the crap they burn."
Good, he remembered my warning. I know Sango won't slip. The only possibility is Shippou.
"You can go home, and I'm coming with you to make sure all you do is get ramen and stuff. None of these damn tests."
---
During the two days back to Kaede's, Inuyasha and Kagome argued about her going back, but he could tell it was a loosing battle. If given the choice between the food here-and-now, even beef, or ramen, Inuyasha would want the ramen, and since it was only available on the other side of the well, he couldn't argue very much. Not unless he wanted his belly to fight with him to.
"And I'll bring my bike back. The roads have hardened up enough so that I can ride it. Plenty of ramen, and sweets, and everything else, to."
"Kagome, two days, and I'm coming after you."
"You do, I'll sit you!" Even spoken without meaning, the magic word was still the magic word. Kagome's mind immediately thought back to the time she subdued Inuyasha on this bridge. Fortunately, this time, she was standing on it, and he was on the bank.
"Bitch, what the hell did you do that for?"
Angered by the pain, Inuyasha's face was fortunately hidden in the dirt. That way, Kiyoshi couldn't see the blush of humiliation from the hunter's laughter. This was the first time he had actually seen the trick, and he didn't bother to hide his amusement. His laughter was so fierce, that he knocked Shippou from the shoulder the kit was drowsily clinging to. So, dog boy, she has you well leashed, doesn't she?
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, I didn't mean it. It just sorta slipped out."
"Feh." Pushing himself up from the ground, Inuyasha stomped off, heading for 'his' forest. It wasn't the sit, it was that bastard laughing. If Miroku doesn't kill him, I will.
"Inuyasha, wait! I need to talk to you, before I leave."
"Fine, whatever. Just keep up."
Watching her friends walking off, Sango scratched under Kirara's chin while the little cat sat on her shoulder. Now what?
"Come on, Sango, let's introduce Kaede to Kiyoshi!" Recovering quickly the wake up call he'd received, Shippou urged the others in the other direction, towards the old miko's hut. "Kaede, there is someone you should meet!"
Coming to the door of her hut, Kaede looked over her returning students with a keen eye. Hmmm... New boy, looks like a samurai. Not bad. "Who would yea be? And where are Kagome, Inuyasha and Miroku? Has she gone back to her own time already?"
Bowing formally, Kiyoshi then lowered himself to one knee in reverence to Keade's position. "I great you, Kaede-sama. I am Kiyoshi of the Taijya. I regret to inform you that Miroku has died." 'Her own time'? What does that mean? Raising his head, Kiyoshi rose. "He succumbed to his curse. Although I knew him only for a few hours, I feel honor bound to take my friend's place in the quest to restore the Shikon no Tama, and avenge his clan along with my own."
Her own time. Kagome's time. No wonder it is far away.
---
"Ok, Kagome, what was it you wanted to talk about." Crossing his arms in annoyance, Inuyasha stood in front of Kagome, blocking her path just short of the well.
"Well, I just wanted to thank you."
Inuyasha's ear twitched as he stood there, silently, knowing there was more.
"For taking care of us, especially Sango. And for not slipping around Kiyoshi. Me and Sango just don't think he needs to know when I come from."
"Feh."
"And I wanted to ask you about this." Fishing about in a pocket, Kagome pulled out a little scrap of black cloth. It was frayed along two of its three edges, and it had a snag in the middle. "I found this on a branch outside of Mushin's shrine. It's Miroku's, isn't."
"Kagome, he's dead." Damn, I can lie with a straight face about it now. "It's probably just something that had been left there for a long time."
"No, it wasn't. It wasn't a perennial I took it off of, and it isn't faded. We haven't been there in months, not since last autumn. That plant was alive when I took this off." Shrugging off her nearly empty pack, Kagome knelt to open it. "He's alive, and you know it. I should be furious with you both for doing this to Sango, but he has his reasons. And he's close- I've felt someone watching us at night. I figured it was just my imagination. I mean, you didn't go to check on it or anything, at least not while we were awake."
Kagome dug through her pack for several minutes while Inuyasha sweated. "He's alright, right?"
"Yeah, he's alright physically. He just needed some time away."
Kagome shot her companion a hard, cold look. Yeah, now you get to see what you and Kikyou do to me, Inuyasha. If it wasn't for the Jewel, I might run away too.
"What?!"
"Never mind, you wouldn't understand. Keep an eye on Shippou while I'm in my time, and don't let him tell Kiyoshi about the well." Seeing that he wasn't going to say anything on the subject, Kagome lifted four familiar objects from her pack. "The last four cups of ramen. I was saving them, just in case."
Inuyasha's brows shot up a hair, as he tried to figure out where they came from. "I thought you said you were out." And I looked.
"A secret." Smiling her too-innocent-to-be-innocent smile, Kagome stood, holding the cups out to Inuyasha. "Two are for you, two are for Miroku. I know he's close, and I know you can find him. When he comes back, unless Sango kills him, I'm going to ask him if he got these."
"Uhhh... Kagome? I thought you said you were angry at him."
He slinging her slightly emptier pack, Kagome started to walk to the well. "Of course I'm angry at him. But he's my friend. He has his reasons for running, and I think I understand them. He'll know who they are from. Just tell him to hurry up and come back. Sango is needs him here, not hiding in the bushes."
"Two days, wench. Then I'm coming for you!"
"The new moon is in two days, Inuyasha." With a flash of white and green, the miko was gone down the well, and through time.
Inuyasha looked down at the bounty in his arms, and debated for a moment. After finding the answer he sought within, he stuffed the ramen in his jacket, and jumped up the side of the Go-Shimboku. Picking that one scent from the others of the forest was difficult, even for Inuyasha's nose, but he found it.
He's at that spring, with the blue fall flowers. Leaping off, Inuyasha landed with a grunt as his feet found the grass below him. Looking and sniffing about, he headed off at his normal speed in the direction of the cool spring in question.
---
"Brrrr.... this is almost as cold as the river was." Having first washed his robes of the dirt and mud that had built up over the past few weeks of sneaking about, Miroku settled himself in the chill waters of the spring. Well, I meditate in cold waterfalls all the time. This won't be so bad in a few minutes.
Taking a handful of fine, yellowish sand from the bottom of the pool, Miroku scrubbed the filth and muck from his hair. "Hmm.... That feels better."
"Kagome is going home for a few days, and Hachi is watching the others at the village. Maybe I should just meditate until they go back out."
Taking advantage that it was still cool for mosquitoes, Miroku stretched out his naked form on the grass, letting the sun dry him, as he waited on his clothes. As he lay there, his eyes closed, his thoughts returned to how he was going to explain this to Sango and the others. "Well, it's like this. My hand did eat me, but on the other side I met my father, and was able to use his hand to spit me back out into this realm.... No... That wouldn't work...
"Buddha came to me in a vision, and told me to travel. I just had Inuyasha make you all think I was dead, just in case I really did die... Hmm.. Maybe that would work...
"It was my hand, the one that likes to touch. She took me home and tied me to her bed for a week, and I had to chew through the ropes to escape... No, Sango would beat me until I bled, and He would probably want to know where this person was...
"He's a freak, and I couldn't deal with it, so I ran away, because I thought there wasn't a place for me here anymore because he and Sango already loved each other and I couldn't compete and I ran away like a coward because I couldn't fight him..."
"That about sums it up, bozou."
Eyes flying open, Miroku snatched his staff from where he had driven it into the ground, rising into a crouch. And then he recognized the voice. "Damnit, Inuyasha, I'm going to put a bell around your neck!" Spotting the red and white form of the hanyou, the houshi sat cross legged. "What do you want? Is someone hurt?"
"Well, I just thought I would tell you that Sango and Kiyoshi are going to name their first born after you, if it is a boy, but they need to hurry up with the wedding. She's still got a few moons until she sho...." That was as far as Inuyasha's cruel joke got before Miroku's shakujo slammed into his forehead, knocking him from the tree branch he was sitting on. Miroku's weight pinned the half demon to the forest floor, as the monk started to hit Inuyasha in the head and chest, his face a mask of pure rage.
"NO! I'll kill him, I'll suck him into my void! I'm going to kill the bastard! You just sat there and let him do things to her?!" Despite the surprise, Inuyasha quickly recovered, catching each fist in one of his own, and holding them tight. That seemed to throw a switch in Miroku, who slumped down onto Inuyasha. "How could you let him do that, Inuyasha?"
"Feh! I didn't let him do anything, monk. I was just joking with you." Tossing the naked monk off of his body, Inuyasha sat up, feeling a nice black eye starting to form, along with a split lip.
"It wasn't very fucking funny. How would you like it if I told you that Kagome was going to have Koga's pups?"
She wouldn't do that. She'll have... Silencing his own thoughts, Inuyasha looked over at his friend. "You aren't running off to die alone. You ain't putting that on me. Sooner or latter, you'll have to come back, or I'll drag you back."
"So why did you come here? Just to try to get sucked into my hand?"
"No. Kagome wanted me to give you these." Inuyasha reached into his jacket, pulling out the four cups of ramen, somehow undamaged in Miroku's assault. I'm sorry, Miroku. It was a dumb joke. "She said to hurry up, or she was going to sit us both into next year, whatever that means."
"How did she know?"
"You left something behind." Holding up the scrap of fabric, Inuyasha watched Miroku's eyes focus on it.
As realization dawned on him, Miroku couldn't tear his eyes away. "Who knows?"
"Just me and Kagome."
"Good. Sango can't know. She can't know that I am a coward, not until I redeem my honor."
---
Author's notes:
OK, is there ANYONE out there who likes Kiyoshi still? He's evil and twisted and like most true psychopaths, brilliant.
And for everyone who was thinking I had killed Miroku, I didn't. As you now see, he's alive and well and slowly going a little crazy. Not that I blame him. Inuyasha is lucky he didn't get sucked up.
As for Kaede... Ah, crap! (And I thought everyone was getting ready to blame Shippou for it.)