Disclaimer: I think you've all pretty much gotten the idea for this thing. No more writing these after this chapter. Check one of the first three if you ever get the urge to make sure I'm not some miraculously English-prone Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter Four
She hated hospitals.
So much white, stretched across the rooms.
Pale as death.
And too clean.
How could a place that was a myriad of injury and death be so void of blood to the passing eye? There were no tears in sight, and day old, weeks old wounds were camouflaged by tranquilizers, morphine, and the like. A heavy layer of disinfectants settled over the rooms.
It was too quiet, Sango noted, as she sat next to Miroku's bedside, talking, emersing herself in the conversation. Anything to distract herself.
There were no yells of horror from patients waking from old nightmare wounds bleeding anew. At least, not any she could hear in the calm quiet of this hospital room. No muffled screams of pain from injections of excruciating pain. And the opaque walls and heavy doors enclosed and blanketed the internal suffering.
Perhaps this was a rather morbid description. But Sango had her reasons.
Her father had died here. Followed by her mother. Kohaku had been welcomed back to the Miyazaki family with open arms, after she had left on her own. After she finally couldn't take it anymore, and left the care of her foster family without him. Something which she still regretted today. It didn't matter that she was trying to make up for it now. Didn't matter that no one knew except for herself. And Kagome. She had hated herself for the decision.
And six years later, she was still paying the price.
____________________
"So. What high school?"
"Kouroshima. Of course not as prestigious as the one you went to." Miroku said grinning.
Sango rolled her eyes. "I try."
"Ok then. What are you majoring in?"
A grimace. "Business."
"Somehow I don't think you're ecstatic about it. But shouldn't you major in something you're interested in? Or is this a parents thing?"
"My choice." Sango said, her voice edged with bitterness. My parents, he says. What parents? The dead ones definitely aren't giving me any advice. And I sure could use some right about now...
"-to leave-"
"Eh?"
Miroku gave her a strange look. Oh, great. Here comes the typical "Are you ok? Something wrong?" bit.
His expression returned to normal. "I said, I can't wait to leave and get out of this place."
Or not.
"Don't like hospitals?"
"No." Was the short reply. His eyes unfocused for a moment, probably in a similar fashion to Sango just before.
I wonder who she is.
Some could call it jumping to conclusions, but this time, there wasn't much jumping involved, considering who he was. "Akusou."
"Eh?"
Maybe he's waiting for the typical "something wrong?" bit, too.
"You'll get your wish in two days." Sango allowed her lips to curl, somewhat reluctantly.
Well he wasn't going to get it either.
He smiled back.
"So. Am I forgiven?"
Sango rolled her eyes at him and stood up, brushing away the last shreds of their conversation. "I better go, don't want to be late for work."
He, however, wouldn't let the subject drop. "Am I?"
Sango looked at him for a moment. His face had lost all signs of teasing, and, she noticed with some surprise, he was waiting expectantly for a truthful answer.
"I suppose." She finally managed. Then her eyes flashed. "But if you do something like that again, I'll..."
Her voice lost a bit of its momentum at the huge grin that had spread on his face. It was the sort of grin indicating that he thought it had been worth getting hit by a car and having to stay in the hospital just to hear those words from her.
Or, Sango thought with a sigh, it was because of the attractive,make-up plastered nurse that had just walked in.
____________________
"I still can't believe you left me there." Sango grumbled as she and Kagome walked to their morning classes the next day.
"Well at least you got it over with." Kagome replied reasonably
Guessing from the fact that Sango wasn't trying to kill her at the moment, the visit to the hospital hadn't been entirely bad. "So, to hear more detailed information, how is he?"
"Fine."
Kagome looked at her, exasperated, before throwing on a rather unreadable smile and asked, "Really? So what did you guys talk about that made you stay for nearly three hours?"
Sango turned her head sharply to face Kagome, "What?"
"Don't act surprised. A small group of Miroku's many fangirls decided to pay him a visit, and I over heard them telling some other people that they saw you leave the hospital room. At noon."
"Really?" Sango stared off keeping a carefully disinterested look on her face, but of course she felt none of that. Trust Kagome to find out about this sort of thing.
"So did you judge the book by its cover? Any chance the playboy is actually decent?"
"N-" Sango stopped. It wouldn't be quite fair to say 'no' necessarily. "Maybe." She finally said, in an evasive tone. "How did studying with Inuyasha go?"
"Eurgh. Don't remind me. I don't understand why he signed up for a chemistry major of all things in this world."
"Kagome, is he still...um..." Sango started hesitantly.
"No." She replied flatly. "Cut off all relations after he went to study abroad."
"So then he's not doing any of that illegal-"
Kagome shook her head wildly as Ayame approached them.
Sango snapped her mouth shut and instead waved a greeting at the brown haired girl walking towards them currently grinning from ear to ear.
"So." Ayame stopped and gave Sango a mischievous look. "I never would have though this would happen....not in a million years."
"Eh?"
"Seriously, at first I thought you hated him, but wow. That was a really fast turnaround, Sango."
Sango raised an eyebrow. "Ayame, plain English would be good."
"You. Miroku. Together." Ayame said each word slowly and clearly.
It took a long time for Sango to recover from her shock. Kagome's unbelieving look (which later on transitioned to an endless stream of questions and giggles) didn't help much.
____________________
The sharp, persistent ring of her alarm clock at six in the morning rudely awakened Sango from sleep, forcing her to lift one arm from under the warmth of her bedclothes to reach out and slammed down to quiet its emission of shrill, ear piercing noise.
Her arm retreated back under the sanctuary of blankets and Sango laid there, eyes closed, enjoying the last bit of peace she would have for probably most of the entire day.The nagging sensation of classes in an hour, however, soon forced her out of bed.
Splashing cold water on her face in the bathroom, Sango soon was awake enough to remember the cause of the uncomfortable sensation she felt in the pit of her stomach.
That stupid rumor.
She had no idea how it had happened, but the original scene told by the group of girls who had witnessed her walking out of Miroku's hospital room had become twisted entirely out of proportion, enough so that she had gone pale when told of what was floating around the entire campus... Sango threw her towel violently back onto the rack. Did Miroku have to be so damn popular?!
Sango sighed frustrated. If possible, she hated gossip even more than hospitals.
First off, she'd already had already worked up a headache trying to convince Kagome and Ayame that there wasn't anything going on between herself and Miroku.
Then there were the whispers just out of her hearing range but the subject of which was painfully obvious, and glares from many girls sent her way as she walked throughout the campus. It had been annoying to the degree that she was distracted enough to give out the wrong change four times behind the register yesterday afternoon. Even though Sango didn't particularly care what others thought of her, the fact that she had been reduced to the level of those other simpering girls was enough to rile her irritation. Just a bit.
And her stupid conscience kept her from just ignoring Miroku for the rest of her life. It wasn't as if this was his fault. He didn't do anything. Except save her from getting hit by a car..
The oh so eloquent phrase of Miroku is an idiot was constantly repeating in her head the entire time she walked to her first class. However, the fact that he wasn't there to participate in class was more successful at silencing her mental chant than anything else.
But not for long.
As she went to find a place to sit, she found to her disgust that all of the girls, while sniffing disdainfully in disgust or jealously, she didn't know, made sure the empty seats around them were occupied by any means.
Sango felt the sudden urge to throw something at a wall...or at a person...oh wait, make that at a certain hospital patient's head.
Miroku is an idiot, Miroku is an idiot...
________________
Miroku sighed frustratedly, whilst glaring at the tray of food in front of him. Here he was, stuck in a hospital bed, unable to even stand for more than five minutes, and you can guess what he used those precious minutes for, but still able to give Sango the worst day of her life.
Now she has an even better reason to hate me. Miroku thought glumly. The one, single, solitary time he had utterly horrible luck with a woman, and it had to be the one he might possible was serio-
"Akusou?"
Miroku's head snapped up to meet Sango's even gaze. When did she get here?
"Sango?" His voice held more than a little surprise.
She sat down unceremoniously into a chair and handed him her notebook. He stared at it for a few moments until she finally said "Kaede's lecture notes."
"Oh. right."
Relieved of the notebook, Sango crossed her arms and leaned back with a sigh. "Did you know asprin is my new best friend?"
"Morphine is mine."
She threw him a withering look. "I have you to thank for this."
"It was your choice to come here!" Miroku replied sharply, but almost immediately regreted saying it.
"Oh, so you just had to lead those twittering girls on like that before?
"Well it's not my fault I happen to be attractive." Miroku said with an air of mock indignance. The argument was fast loosing gravity.
"So I should just let it die down?" Sango looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "That is what you're saying, right?"
"Well, not like theres much else you can do." Miroku shrugged. He was happy to note that there wasn't a sharp jab of pain as a result.
Sango stood up then. "Is it just me or is it stuffy in here?"
"Go open the window then," Miroku replied absently, massaging his temples. Good thing he was leaving the hospital tomorrow. Three days in here was not exactly a good way to spend one's time.
________________
There was something familiar about this....what is this? This room...It feels like...just like... Sango suddenly found it hard to breathe, walked haltingly past the bed. Just a moment ago it had been a lighthearted argument with Miroku..
"Go open the window then, dear-
A wave of nausea hit her, Sango stumbled cross the final few steps to press her hands against the window ledge.
"Isn't he....beautiful..? Such a darling...baby..your brother-
Her eyes were burning, and it was unbearable in that room, staring out at the same deserted field behind the hospital with the same raggety weeds strewn haparzedly .....the same scenery as-
"Do you know, mommy loves roses. When-when you grow up, I hope you love them too. They smell like heaven..sometimes I imagined them falling from the skies like a gift...oh, don't cry, see, here. Take this. Now you watch over your brother....and I'll do my watching over you. Even if you can't see me. Just remember this promise. Forever and ever.
Room H106.
Good lord. This was the same hospital room her mother had.....had.....
Teetering dangerously Sango spun around and hastily ran to her grab her bag.
"Sango-what-"
She rubbed her eyes furiously with one hand, and swung her bag over her shoulder with the other. "I-I need to go. I'm late.. for a-an appointment-"
She was gone, the door swinging shut behind her, before Miroku could say another word.
_________________
Kagome was your typical girl. She was mostly happy and very energetic and a regular, if maybe somewhat higher than average, student. And she tended to like cute things, like small, furry kittens, and romantic things, like walks on the beach with some incredibly good looking and near perfect guy.
She surprised herself more than anyone else when she began to date Inuyasha in the second year of high school.
He was, in essence, the opposite of the regular boyfriend an average sixteen year old girl would have. Except for the good looks. He had that.
She remembered her friends tell her not to get involved with him. She ignored it. They said he had a complicated life and an even more complicated past. She ignored that too.
What she didn't ignore was the fact that he understood. He knew what it was like to loose a father.
And that was all that mattered.
Not that melodramatic pity and sniffle sessions ever occured. The mutual knowledge that both of them had gone through similiar circumstances was better than any apologetic and slightly uncomfortable looks from friends. After all, there is always difference between awkward sympathy and true understanding.
And then, in a truly unexpected form, his confession shook the foundation of her world.
Two years is a long time.
Too long if you're trying to forgive.
And not long enough if you're trying to forget.
________________
She couldn't sleep.
After tossing in bed for nearly two hours, Kagome gave up and got out of bed. For some stupid reason, the events from morning kept replaying in her head.
Kagome sighed and rested her head on her arms propped atop her desk. Stupid, stupid reason...
"Ok, lets look over your notes again. Remember, always study the concepts, not just memorize the definitions. Your unit exam is tomorrow, so I'll test you one more time. Just as long as you've sorted out that problem with-"
"Ok, ok, just give me the damn paper."
"I'm trying to help you Inuyasha. This is out of my own kindness. I could be spending my time doing somthing important...like finishing up my thesis for inst-oh!"
"What?"
"I forgot, I need to return Hojo some of those notes I borrowed from him last time on our study date-"
"What?!"
"Don't give me that look Inuyasha, it wasn't a real date, I mean not unless you count a five hour highly detailed analysis of shakespeare's Hamlet to be romantic-"
"Five hours with that hobo?!"
"Oh will you give it a rest! It's not as if we- why am I trying to defend myself anyways? It is perfectly normal for me to spend time with Hojo, even date Hojo- HOJO, not hobo-just as much as i have a right to da-study with you!"
"So you only have a right to study with me?"
"That wasn't the point! And I-I never said only study!"
"Your face is red."
"Shut up Mr. Tactless."
"Just, quit hanging around hobo boy or whatever, and I won't hurt you for calling me that. Whatever tactless is."
"You are completely and utterly hopeless Inuyasha. I'll trust you know what that means. Now, take the paper- TAKE IT- and I won't hurt you for calling hobo- argh! I mean, Hojo hobo. Right, and I'll test you one more time-Inuyasha! Stop eating all of my cookies! You already cleaned out my supply of ramen!!-and then I've got to go check up on Sango. Make sure she got through the visit at the hospital."
"You left her there with Miroku?"
"Yes I did."
"..."
" ....why are you looking at me like that?! Stop it! I REFUSE TO FEEL GUILTY!!! And quit laughing!!"
".."
"-Oh just take the damn paper!"
"Now who's the one with crude language?"
"Shut up and read."
Outside, the beginnings of dawn stretched its way across the morning sky. Inside the bedroom of the small apartment, Kagome had fallen asleep at her desk. There was the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.
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