Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi created Inu-Yasha and all of its characters, including Sango and Miroku. I created this story and a lot of other insanities that aren't relevant here. Go ahead and sue me… you won't get much, for I own very little.
Author's Note: You have now reached the beginning. If you don't remember the contents of the Prologue go back and read it. ^_^. This is still a sequel to Sango's Ordeal and you will notice that in certain comments that the characters make to and about each other.
Just a side note: remember fusuma leads to hall, shoji leads to outside.
Miroku's Worst Fear Chapter Three: The CurseIn the early morning light, Sachi snuck into her friend's room. "Rika-chan," she whispered so as not to wake the old miko.
The scent of sake drifted through the air of the little hut. 'Party last night? Get a few travelers together and get them drunk, was that your plan or the baa-baa's, Rika?' She sighed mid-though, 'too bad though, because he was rather cute.' As she turned to where Rika slept she saw that her futon was folded in the corner with the blankets on it. Rika's never up this early. "Rika-chan?" she said a little louder. 'If she's not here then perhaps…'
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A few hours passed and the sunlight shone off the water in the onsen in the center of town. A community inn was built around the largest part of it. The center rooms opened up to it as a courtyard.
In his room, Miroku slept soundly until the early-morning hours had passed. He would have slept much longer had it not been for his rather rude awakening when a cat pounced on his chest.
"Mm…cat," he muttered in his half-awake state as he brushed his right arm across himself to knock the cat away. No sooner than his hand had stopped moving, his eyes shot open. 'What was that?' Miroku thought to himself.
As he had brushed his hand across his torso to chase off the cat he graced an arm resting across his abs. Gently feeling the soft skin, and confirming where his other hand was, he began to follow the arm over to his left side. There, sleeping peacefully next to him was a girl with long, dark brown hair.
Her hair pooled out around her head as if she had just flopped down to his side a few moments ago. Miroku knew that she had to have been sleeping like this for hours, but dared not wake her by pushing back her hair to see her face. Looking her up and down to try and identify the sleeping maiden, he noticed her shapely figure wrapped securely beneath the sheet and her feet sticking out of the end of it where the cat was now grooming himself. Nothing about this scene gave him any clue except the cat. Who's cat was it? It must be her cat. Of course, he was only with two girls last night and he can rule out one of them ever agreeing to this. 'Oh great! Sango! She is going to have my head when she finds out about this,' he thought trying to figure out how much that little shrine maiden, what was her name again, had given him to drink. 'I must have been really drunk, last night,' he thought gently rolling away from her leaving the silk sheet and her arm behind, 'I don't even like her.'
Miroku sat up slowly, realizing his nudity. 'Where are my clothes?' he located a black, white, and gray pile of cloth, 'Those aren't my clothes,' he thought continuing to look around the room and fining nothing. It was then that he noticed the faint smell of sulfur in the air and the warmth radiating from the floor. A hot spring? I don't remember there being hot springs here. They must keep them well hidden. Taking a moment to make sure that his companion was still asleep he gathered himself up and headed for the door.
Gently sliding back the shoji he saw it, the most beautiful onsen he'd ever seen. There were a dozen rooms that opened up to this terrace; each had a wooden bar just outside the door. Taking a small pink towel to hide his nudity, Miroku continued to take in the sight. The rocks were arranged so that the occupants of each room could have their own little pie slice of the onsen. In the center it seemed to open up a little with large flat rocks forming a circle. All around the onsen, except in front of his room, were small sakura trees; their branches made the veranda of each room a little separated from the next. His room lacked tree cover but only because the hot spring continued around the rock and under the room. It went down into the ground shortly after the room and popped up again across the street—not that Miroku knew this. The petals were at the end of their bloom and falling from the trees into the hot spring below. "Kirei," he whispered, "this town may be cursed, but they must have some magical soil to get the trees to grow by the hot spring like this." Walking around in awe of the hidden beauty in the village something caught his eye.
On the side of the open shoji to his room was a scroll pinned up with two little kanji on them. "Shinkon?" he said out loud. Snatching the paper off the doorframe, he stepped back over the threshold of his room. His sleeping companion was wrapped up in red silk sheets. Sticks of incense continued to burn to their wicks around the orange blossoms and roses at the head of the futon. 'The cat, the flowers, the silk…' Miroku gulped, looking back to the pile of clothes. A white kimono made of pure silk—a shiromuku—lay rumbled up with a black haori, more specifically a kuromontsuki, and gray hakama. "Oh shit," Miroku breathed.
Quickly and quietly he flew through the room, gathering the clothes and shoving them into the futon cabinet. Next he thought to get rid of the flowers and incense but as he approached the futon, the girl began to stir. Panicking, Miroku raced back out the door leaving the flowers and the cat behind. The cat. He could get the cat out. Or so he thought, squatting just outside the shoji he tried to coax the cat from the room. The gray tomcat lifted his head towards Miroku. "Here neko neko. Here boy," Miroku whispered repetitively. As if to spite Miroku the cat began rubbing his head on the bared feet of the sleeping girl. Miroku saw her feet move to ward off the cat. This alarmed the cat and he made a move to bite her toes. That's when it happened. She moved enough that from his crouched position at the open shoji he could see her face clearly. His heart began racing so much that all he could hear was its beat in his ears. "S-S-Sango?" he breathed slowly backing away from the open door.
He backed up so much that he didn't even notice when he walked right off the veranda and fell into the onsen. Hearing her stir inside he scurried to hide himself behind a rock in the center of the spring. Breathing hard Miroku sunk deep into the water. 'Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!' he thought with every heartbeat. 'I-I-I and with Sango! This is unreal! I know she said she'd bear my child and that we'd do this in the future, but… but I didn't think the future would be so soon! What the hell happened last night? I mean I spent the entire day hitting on women who deep down I knew were married. Not that they acted married; probably because they were all miserable. But that's not the point! I was only flirting to see that little jealous look cross her face. How much did I drink? Hell, how much did she drink?! She should not have been in the mood for…for this!' Miroku's mind continued to race. He heard noises in the background but wasn't paying enough attention to identify them. He opened his hand a little to read the little scroll that he was somehow still clutching. 'Shinkon. It really does say shinkon; I didn't misread it. Oh shit…now she's really going to kill me!' Miroku thought growing more worried with each moment.
"Houshi-sama?" a voice called out, practically in his ear.
Miroku's heart skipped a beat. 'I can't let her know. That's it I'll just pretend nothing happened,' he thought quickly. "Hai, Sango?" he responded quietly not wanting to alarm her with his presence. Giving the paper one last glance to be sure he crumpled it in his fist just before Sango sank into the water on the other side of the rock.
"I knew you were out here somewhere," she sighed.
"Oh? I didn't realize we were so connected that you could sense my presence," he said smiling forcedly.
"Um… no. I just know you and figured you couldn't be too far from a hot spring when there wasn't any barrier between male and female lots."
Miroku sighed, "Ah, you've caught me. I'm sitting behind this rock just so I can spy on the pretty girl across the way."
"As long as you're not staring at me," Sango said sourly, folding her arms across her chest. 'Why does he always have to go out of his way to point out that he's still chasing other girls. I mean…I practically told him that I would bear him two sons.'
"Ano… Sango?"
"Hm?"
"Do you… do you remember what happened last night?"
Sango searched her memory. "That's strange. I can't remember a thing since dinner. I think Rika over did it with the sake."
'Rika! That's her name.' Miroku breathed, 'Whew, if she doesn't remember then it'll be easier to deny it.'
"Houshi-sama?"
"Hm?" he said coming out of his reverie.
"Do you remember?"
"Remember what?"
"Last night. After dinner."
"Not very well."
"Where are Shippou and Kirara?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't seen them all morning." Miroku was starting to get antsy sitting just on the other side of the rock from her. Then one realization rang through his head 'Uh-oh…Shippou probably knows!' Miroku jumped up from his seated position without thinking and began to turn to head back to their room. Their room? How was he going to explain that?
"Houshi-sama!" Sango said sinking further into the water before balling up her fists. But Miroku didn't even glance her way.
"Gomen nasai, Sango," he said before racing past her.
"Houshi-sama?" Sango whispered watching him go, 'Something's wrong. He purposely didn't look at me at all.' She wanted to spend more time soaking, but Sango didn't want to loose this chance to figure out what was going on. Rising to her feet and securing her towel in place she chased after him.
Walking up to the shoji, Sango could see him staring down at the futon and misplaced sheets in his dripping wet towel. Trying not to focus on the towel she kept her eyes focused on his. "Houshi-sama?" she said softly so as not to startle him.
That didn't work. Hearing her voice once again so close he jumped turning to face her. "Sango, what are you… I thought you were soaking."
"What's wrong?" she asked ignoring his frightened animal expression.
Miroku closed his eyes, 'Focus. Focus' he thought reopening them to lock gazes with her. "No-nothing is wrong. I just…I just…" he stammered not sure of what he was going to say. For some reason today he couldn't think of any plausible sounding lies, and he couldn't lie to her if he wanted to.
Sango let her gaze fall to the floor. Looking around the room she noticed that there weren't any clothes. 'That's odd.' Snapping her head back to the bed something dawned on her. "Why are you in my room?"
"Be-because it's my room," Miroku closed his eyes knowing what was coming next.
"Tell me you woke up on the futon," she breathed.
"Would that make you feel better?" Miroku asked stupidly, wondering why he didn't just agree.
Sango sank to the floor, "Oh god…Oh god…Oh god…" she said hugging her knees and staring off through the flowers.
Watching her regress was more than he could bear. He took a deep breath and walked over to her. Sitting down before her with his knees bent to either side he placed his hands on her arms, "Shh…shh…it's okay. It's okay…" he whispered—not really believing his own words.
She sunk her face into her knees and allowed him to hug her placing his head on her own. They sat like this for about a minute while she came to her senses. Opening her eyes, she remembered how little they were wearing. 'How much of last night did he say he remembered?' she thought eyeing him suspiciously. "Don't touch me!" she said sternly moving her arms out to get him to let go.
Miroku raised his hands in surrender. He didn't want to offend her any more than he already had. What he wasn't expecting was what she said next.
"You did this didn't you? You got me so drunk that I wouldn't know what I was doing, and you took advantage of me. Don't ever touch me again!" she said slugging him across the face as hard as she could.
Storming across the room she tore back the noren and flung the fusuma open. At her feet were two piles of clothing neatly folded. Turning briefly she saw that he wasn't watching her and she quickly dressed in her own clothes before leaving.
Shippou and Kirara were sitting on a bench outside of the inn. When they saw Sango dart past, Kirara followed her and Shippou turned to run inside. Coming upon the open doorway to their room he picked up Miroku's clothes and brought them inside. "Your weapons are still in the shrine house," he said setting the clothes down at Miroku's head. "Whoa…what did you two do in here last night?" Shippou smirked looking around the room.
"I have no idea. I can't remember anything," Miroku said holding his face and not moving.
"Anything?" Shippou asked. "So… you don't remember…"
Miroku held up the little wet scroll. "No. I don't. Neither does Sango, and I'd like to keep it that way," he said finally cocking his prone head to see the little kitsune.
"Well I won't tell her but there were a lot of townspeople there."
"Wonderful…" he sighed sitting up. "Where is she now?"
"Walking around the marketplace with Kirara."
Miroku grabbed his clothing and began to dress, "If that's the case, I'd better tell her before someone else does."
"So you guys really don't remember anything?"
"No," he said pulling material over his head.
"Then that must be how the curse works," Shippou said following Miroku out of the room as he tied the last part of his ensemble together.
"What?" he asked pausing to place his shoes on his feet as he exited the inn.
"You guys must have gotten caught up in the curse. I mean that's what happened to everyone else…" Shippou said, but Miroku wasn't really listening. As soon as he hit the street he was concentrating on locating Sango.
Walking up to the first person he recognized. "Have you seen Sango?"
"No. I haven't. So how are you two doing this morning?"
Miroku touched his cheek. "Fine. No different than usual," he said walking away. Coming up to the next vendor, an old man he had not met before, he asked, "Have you seen a brunette in pink walk by here with a cat?"
"You mean your girl?" a man in his mid-twenties asked turning around to greet them. "It's okay grandpa, I'll take care of him." The old man nodded and turned to help someone else.
Miroku nodded not knowing how else to respond to that.
"Last night was quite some night for you wasn't it?"
"I'm sure it was. Not that I can remember any of it," he sighed. 'This small talk crap isn't getting me anywhere.'
"Don't worry, it'll all come flooding back to you eventually. She's just went that way about five minutes ago," he said pointing down the road.
Nodding Miroku took off down the road.
Sango's walking around calmed her down a bit. 'Houshi-sama isn't that perverted. He wouldn't just do that…would he?' Sango shook her head, 'No, he wouldn't. Besides what was up with our clothes sitting outside of the room like that? We didn't strip down in the middle of the town did we?' Sango began to look around her. No one was staring at her oddly as if she'd exposed herself to an entire town the night before. Breathing again she realized how hungry she was. Entering the little diner they had eaten at yesterday, she waved to the older man who owned the place and waited for him to greet her like he did yesterday at the door. Instead the old man looked right past her as if he couldn't see her. "Did I become invisible?" she whispered to Kirara.
"Mew," Kirara assured her.
Sango took a step forward, leaving her zori behind; maybe he didn't recognize her without Rika. "Excuse me?" Sango said trying to get his attention as he walked past.
One of the serving girls came up to her. "Don't mind him. He's one of those old fashioned men. Believes that the woman can't make decisions for herself even when she's alone. Insists on speaking with her husband."
"Husband?" Sango repeated not sure she heard correctly.
"Yeah, it happened to all of us the morning after we got married. It's like single women seem to have a mind of their own, but we must give it away somewhere in that ceremo…"
Sango didn't wait for her to finish. She dashed back out of the door. Picking up her shoes she saw Miroku talking to someone across the street. "Husband?" she said louder looking at Kirara for advice.
"Mew?" Kirara replied sheepishly.
Sango raced down the street nearly knocking over a vegetable stand and flew back into the inn. Running down the hall to the room where the door was still open she stood with her mouth agape, heart pounding, and breathing uneven as she pushed through the noren to enter the room. "Red silk sheets…flowers and incense…" she began to sink to the ground. "And wasn't there even a tomcat?" Running her hands along the edge of her rumpled bridal sheets she turned to notice the design on the noren. "Cranes…" Looking to the other side of the room she noticed a corner of white cloth protruding from the cabinet. Gingerly getting to her feet, she reached out trembling arms to pull back the door. Inside she found the most beautiful white, silk kimono she had ever seen. Dropping back down to her knees she noticed a pair of feet just beyond the fusuma. "Did you know?"
Miroku slowly pushed through the noren to join her, shutting the fusuma behind him. "Only after I found this attached to the outside of the shoji," he said pulling the crumpled, damp paper from his pocket.
"Shinkon," Sango sighed. "So it's true. We didn't just share a bed we got m-married."
Miroku nodded.
Sango dropped her head into her hands. "How did this happen? Why did this happen? I don't… I don't understand."
"If it makes you feel any better it was a beautiful ceremony," Shippou said from the doorway.
Sango glanced up, "And why can't I remember?" As she spoke her heart began beating faster. "This is not right. It's just not right. This isn't the way things were supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to give in… we weren't supposed to do any of this until you beat your curse!" she said raising her voice and her finger.
Not taking to well to the fact that he was suddenly the bad guy again when as far as he could remember he did nothing wrong, Miroku shouted back the only thought that came to mind. "Relax would you? I want to be married to you even less than you want to be married to me! Can we just drop this blaming…" he didn't finish because of what he saw next.
Upon hearing his words, tears began to well up in Sango's eyes. "Why?" she began calmly and quietly. "Am I not feminine enough to be your wife?" she said getting to her feet and turning away from him as fast as she could. Through the still open shoji she ran out of the room. She ran so hard and so fast that she forgot her shoes when she hit the wood.
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Author's Dictionary:
Kirei: Pretty
Kimono: traditional Japanese clothing. Straight-line, one-piece outfit that can be worn by men, women, and children without body shape going into consideration upon creation of kimono.
Shiromuku: the technical name for the pure white wedding kimono.
Haori: a half-shirt. It resembles the kimono only it falls just below the waist and is worn with some form of pants. Usually worn by only men.
Kuromontsuki: Black haori with the family-crest painted on the back. Only worn for special occasions—such as weddings.
Hakama: trouser-like split skirt. It looks like a skirt, it has pleats, but it's not a skirt it's a pair of pants. Samurai wore these in everyday wear (like Kenshin does).
Neko: Cat
Shinkon: …. ^_^. (I'm not telling…)
Zori: sandals made out of soft straw.
(incase you forgot)
Onsen: A hot spring with high mineral contents.
Noren: A hanging curtain with split panels. This one is a three panel… so it's most likely that to pass through it one would push the middle panel up or to the side. It is hanging over the interior door (fusuma) on the inside of the room for decoration.
Author's Notes:
Okay… I promised in the prologue that I would explain the symbolism running rampant in the room when I caught up with it in the story. Well… here we are in this room by the hot spring, yet again. Here we go deep breath I did a lot of research on traditional weddings in Japan, both Shinto and Buddhist, and I couldn't find any really set pattern that existed pre-1900's. But… I haven't found anything to tell me exactly what weddings would be like in the 1550's… so… I spliced and created my own wacky wedding system for this town. The shiromuku worn today is very, very elaborate and worn in layers and with a hood, umm… Sango's was pretty simple. The kuromontsuki and a pair of gray, sometimes vertically striped, hakama are worn by the men today… I know they existed back then, but I don't know if it was common for men to wear them to their own wedding or not. I don't mention it because it's not all that important, but the crest on the kuromontsuki is obviously not Miroku's—because how the hell would the villagers know what that was and I doubt Miroku-sama just carries one around in his "back pocket"—so I've designed it to be a generic symbol that the village uses for weddings.
Now onto the random room decorations: I picked red silk sheets, because red is a traditional wedding color and for other joyous occasions, that and… never mind. In the Shinto tradition, the women of the family would prepare a bridal bed for the newly-married couples first night together. They would adorn the bed with flowers (and in Buddhism, incense as well). The flowers at the headboard are roses and orange blossoms because it has been said that the scent of these flowers relax the muscles and release nervousness and are often placed in the rooms to help the young virgin brides relax. I couldn't find a scent of incense that was specific to weddings, so I just didn't mention what it was. And as for that cat… a tomcat was also put with the bridal bed to ensure fertility. Nice huh. The cranes are a symbol of fertility and faithfulness because they mate for life.
Okay…I think that's it for wedding Japanese-style information. If you wanna know more just mail me and I'll either send you to where I got my info or just tell you what you want to know ^_^.
So… what do you think of it now? For all of you who don't know what connubial means… it's synonymous with matrimonial. Should they stay married or should I let them just pretend what they can't remember didn't happen? Review to let me know what you think.
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Coming up in Chapter Four: (tentatively named) The Answer
Sango waited for him to continue. Wondering what half-truths he was going to spout next to try and comfort her. She wasn't going to fall for them so easily.
"I'm…I'm afraid."
"Afraid? Afraid of what? Afraid of getting close to someone? Afraid of letting them in?" She stormed throwing her hands out on each thought…