Chapter Five
As viewed from what had been her mother's hospital room, there was an abandoned and empty lot surrounded by a mass of prickly, thorn filled bushes, twice as tall as the regular person. She had found a way into the weed-strewn plot of land the day her mother had died, miraculously - her eyes had been blurred by tears. And she had also been running. But fate had been kind to her that day, as it had not been any other it seemed, and she had noticed the opening in the hedge, walked through, and then marveled at what she beheld.
There were roses. Hundreds of them, thousands of petals swirling in the autumn wind, fall of her thirteenth year.
They smell like heaven..sometimes I imagined them falling from the skies like a gift...
It wouldn't have been entirely accurate to say that she had been comforted by the roses. They were plastered by wind against the thorny support of an intricate tangle of branches, delicately withstanding the breeze curling itself relentlessly around the buds and slender flower hearts. Similar to how the impending grief winding its way around her own heart.
Deja vu, really. Sango managed a grim smile as she pushed past the prickly hedges, ignoring the stings of protest from various gnarled, ancient branches pressing through the material of her sweater, ignoring the last few moments of conversation with Miroku...
She came through the bushes, brushing away the last prickly embraces of wayward stems, expecting...
Well she didn't know what she was expecting originally...
but certainly not the dead, twisted branches that she was met with. A few had managed futile tries with green shoots, but even the climbers had been unable to withstand the battle with nearby weeds and wild grasses, years without care having finally brought down their hold on the wrought iron gate of their support.
And there were no roses.
Even the lingering ghosts of flowered perfume had faded away.
Sango blinked for a few moments, almost not comprehending. Already the pent up emotions from years of regression after her mother's death were choking her....there was an almost tangible sense of the feelings to give up...
No.
They would not take this away from her as well. They had Kohaku, holding him, covering him with their richly encasing arms of the lasting generations of the Miazaki family's power. They would want her to break down and lose herself in this reopening of an old wound.
But she would not.
Sango steeled herself against an invisible force, her poise returning, her face hardened. It would not do to loose the battle now, not when she had put so much of her time, her effort.... and she had sacrificed her lifelong dream to bring her brother back..
Turning swiftly, Sango walked through the wall of rose bushes, pushing her way through, ignoring the slashes of pain.
She did not notice that a stray thorn had cut her cheek until her lips were met with the taste of blood.
Sunlight shined fiercely bright and blinding as Sango walked out of the abandoned lot and past the hospital, onto the sidewalk. It shone with a relentless purpose to drive away darkness, but did nothing to alleviate the bitterly cold wind.
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Well. That was strange.
Miroku blinked, frowned at the closed door of the room. The dull buzzing sound he acquainted with hospital machinery ceased to annoy him for a few moments as he contemplated what had happened.
From what he had noticed, it seemed to be a state of regression more than anything else, considering how Sango had a rather obvious look of dawning realization on her face.
After all, such acts of burying the past did often come back to haunt you.
He was readily able to recognize such signs.. well it wasn't important why. He was more interested in figuring out the reasons behind that facade Sango was inclined to put up whenever she was around him.
Miroku wondered what she had gone through. Yes, he was rather curious... after all, something about her..
She seemed to be holding in quite a bit.
And of course, he was worried. The look on her face...
Deja vu, much?
"Oi, Bouzu."
When did he get here? Well, Miroku had more important things on his mind.
"Wonderful to see you, Inuyasha." He said distractedly.
"No need to sound so enthusiastic," Was the cryptic reply.
"Mmm? Oh, sorry."
"What's with you?"
"Nothing, nothing." Miroku waved it away dismissively before turning Inuyasha's question back onto him, "Whats with you?"
"Don't bother saying nothing," He added, and Inuyasha huffed.
"I wasn't going to."
Miroku grinned. "Kagome is it?"
Inuyasha positively gaped.
Right in one.. Miroku thought with satisfaction.
His mood lifted considerably.
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She had spent the whole of the previous evening studying, and with refreshed zeal, poured over files and such from the previous case that hadn't even made it to actual trial.
Overruled, since she didn't have enough claim...
Of course the Miazaki family would have influenced the court's decision. Just a little.
Sango had barely slept, and going off to the University campus first in the morning just really wasn't her cup of tea. Coffee would be good actually...
Sighing, she willed herself to stay awake.
Classroom politics came into play, almost as soon as she stepped in, five minutes before Kaede would start off another lecture.
What fun.
But surprisingly...
Sango scanned the room, immensely gratified that there were only a few obvious signs of reproach as far as she could see. Well, at least Miroku was right about the whole thing smoothing over.
No problem...
"Miroku-kun!" came the screech from her left...
"Where have you been?!" and her right....
Sango grimaced.
Headache, anyone?
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"...Comprehensive analysis of how gender relations affect power holdings inside the family, based on "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams. It will be due in two weeks and will be a duet essay, complied of two-"
Duet? As in partners?
Miroku's diminishing interest in Kaede's lecture perked up again. If he could partner up with Sango, possibly he could get wheedle some information out of her... no, no not out of her past...
"Damn. I dunno what to do about her!"
"Waving your arms around isn't going to help you..."
"Thanks for the observation. Now use those years of girlfriend experience to help me."
"Girlfriend experience? Your eloquence never ceases to amaze me, Inuyasha."
"Get on with it already!"
"Like I said...waving your arms isn't- ok, ok! No need to throw things at me! So. You want to, re-establish your relationship with her is that it?"
"Dunno. She just confuses me. Keep getting mixed signals. First she said all that 'be friends' crap. Then just yesterday her friends gang up on me saying that if I'm not good to her they'll castrate me, I mean what the fuck?!"
"She's got bodyguard friends. Go figure...Anyways, from what I can understand, you should respect her wishes. Pursuing something else may simply just ruin what friendship you have already. Perhaps later on you could consider.... well just tread carefully where this is concerned."
"If you say so."
"Really...tread carefully...you know, be cautious about what you say and do around her...and for your sake, as well as mine, don't jump her!"
"The hell?! You're the perverted one!"
"Well there was that time when you-"
"Shut up!!"
"...Partnered according to last name. First person with last, second with second to last, and so on..."
Kaede went down her list of students.
As if on cue, disappointed and bitter groans were heard as his name was called...followed by Sango's.
Of course, who else would Miroku be paired up with besides the one girl who wasn't mentally calculating the order of names to see if they would end up with him?
Typical irony and all that.
Wrote this in a sudden burst of inspiration..then took a while longer to fix a few mechanical errors, edit html, reword a few things , etc etc...
Well, I felt like setting off this event from everything else. *points away* Muse insisted. Don't look at me..
Next chapter should be considerably longer in length. ^_^