Disclaimer - Not mine, never was.

When Kouga began to stir that evening, finally waking from the venom induced sleep, he was surprised to feel another warm body lying next to him. He unconsciously pulled the person closer to him as he woke up. When he was wide awake, he looked over and found Kagome lying on her side, facing him. He blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what she was doing there when Keiko walked through the curtain separating them from the main living quarters. She smiled at the close proximity of the two before noticing he was up.

"You are up, my Lord." she said. "Very good." She set the small bowl of water down and looked at him.

"What's Kagome doing in here?" he asked, looking at the old woman. Keiko smiled and turned around.

"I think we should let Lady Kagome sleep." she said. "Come, I will tell you of what has happened." Kouga frowned and got up from the pallet, but not before covering Kagome up with a light blanket. He followed the woman out of the curtained off area and out into the evening sky.

"What happened, Keiko?" he asked. Keiko sighed and told him about the venom and her healing him with the power of the Shikon jewel. Kouga did not know what to think after she finished. He was surprised that she had used the Shikon as a way to heal him, instead of purifying him, but Keiko said that it was time to tell Kagome why he wanted her back.

"What if she doesn't believe me?" Kouga said. "What if she thinks this is some kind of elaborate plot to win her to my side and turn her against dog-turd?"

"The only way you will find out is if you tell her." Keiko said gently. "She has the right to know. I am sure you have noticed that the mark on her neck is slowly fading."

"I noticed." he answered grumpily. Keiko nodded and walked away.

"I suggest you find the kitsune and bring him with you when you tell her." she said. "If he is there, I am sure she will listen to reason." Kouga stared after the old woman and shook his head. He had to tell Kagome what was going on. He just was not sure how to do it.

Meanwhile, in another part of Feudal Japan…..

Kohaku was helping his father and Miroku put some supplies in a small shed when they heard a yell pierce the air. Two seconds later, Sango came storming from out of the house, her anger very apparent and her temper flaring.

"Sango?" her father asked quickly. "What's wrong?" Sango looked at her father and glared. She pointed her finger accusingly at Miroku before turning to walk away.

"He's the problem!!" she growled. At that moment, Sango's mother came to the door of the little hut, her own temper flaring.

"Sango!" she yelled. "How dare you speak to me like that. I am your mother! I am only looking out for your own future! It was only a suggestion!"

"Quit playing matchmaker! My future will not be with someone who can't…….." Sango started, but stopped when she looked up at Miroku's surprised face. Her stomach suddenly flipped and she looked down at the ground, lowering her voice to an almost whisper. "Never mind. I'm leaving, I'll be back in a few hours." She picked up her boomerang and left, walking down the street towards the outskirts of the village.

Kohaku looked at his mother and frowned. She and Sango had been fighting about the monk since they left Kaede's village. He glared over at Miroku and shook his head. The monk just did not understand the way his sister thought. If he ever found out though, he might actually have a chance.

But right now, his father was trying to find out what that last outburst was all about. He had went into the hut, leaving Kohaku alone with Miroku once again. This time though, the monk seemed withdrawn, and even a little hurt. The little boy looked over at the young man and frowned.

"You have any idea what that was about?" he asked. He watched as a sad expression fell on the monk's face. He even saw the moisture gather in his eyes.

"I have a vague idea." he mumbled. They finished stacking the wood and Kohaku shut the door to the shed. Miroku glanced towards the horizon, where Sango had walked off to. Kohaku sighed, knowing that the monk was thinking about his older sister.

"You know she's a stubborn one, Sango." the little boy said quietly. Miroku looked over at the younger boy with a surprised look on his face.

"I know, Kohaku." he said. "I know." Miroku picked up his staff and shook his head. "I just thought I might have been able to get past her defenses. Sadly, I was mistaken."

"Sango does care deeply for you, monk." Kohaku said quietly. Miroku raised an eyebrow at the suggestion before dismissing it completely.

"I doubt that, little one." he said with a snort. "Your sister cares nothing for me."

"So you're going to give up on her?" he asked. Miroku looked down to the ground and sighed.

"I wish it were as simple as that." he said. "If it were, I would have done it a long time ago."

"So you love her, then?" he asked. Miroku frowned and looked over at the boy. He seemed to be in a rather talkative mood this evening, which was odd in itself.

"I don't see what…"

"Just answer the question, Miroku." Kohaku said with impatience.

"Yes. I do love her." he answered. "I have for a long time." Kohaku shook his head.

"I think she loves you, too." he said.

"I am afraid you are mistaken once again."

"Listen to me." Kohaku said. "You're the one that can get her to laugh anytime. I've seen that since I've been back. I've seen how you two interact with each other, and you don't hide your feelings very well. She's just scared. She's had to carry a large burden since we died. And she felt guilty about being left when we were gone. You may not notice it, Miroku, but the rest of us do. Even though you can't see it, Sango does cared about you."

"If she does care, then why does she hide it?" he asked.

"She's afraid to get hurt, or hurt anyone else." he answered. Miroku looked confused.

"I'd never hurt her." he said defiantly.

"Not you." Kohaku corrected him. "She's afraid of hurting you. She's also afraid that you might get your fill of her and leave."

"I wouldn't do that to her." he said.

"Then prove it to her." Kohaku said with all the finality he could muster. "Show her you're not going to leave."

"But the longer I stay, the more Sango and your mother fight." he said solemnly. "I am causing discourse to spread in your family." Kohaku grinned and shook his head.

"Who? Mother?" he asked. "Ahh, don't worry about that. She and Sango have always butted heads when it came to important stuff."

"Really."

"Yeah. Especially when Sango decided to become an exterminator, like father and I. Mother went crazy, saying that a proper lady did not do things like that. They learned how to cook, clean, and keep their husband happy." The little boy grinned and hit the monk on the shoulder. "In fact, that's the first time that Sango told mother that her husband would have to deal with her the way she was because she wasn't going to change just to suit his tastes." Miroku laughed, knowing that Sango would say that exact type of thing. "Needless to say, they were at each other's throats for weeks. Mother finally gave way and let her go, knowing she would find a way to do it no matter what."

"But this time, I'm the reason they're fighting." he said. "I don't want that."

"You want to know why they're fighting?" he asked. "It's because Mother wants you two to get married." Miroku blinked rapidly, wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"Huh?"

"You moron!" Kohaku said. "You don't catch a thing, do you?" Miroku said nothing, just kept looking at the boy. "Mother and Father approve of you, Miroku. They both think that you and Sango would be happy with each other. But, like these kinds of discussions go, Sango will fight with Mother until the bitter end, even is she does agree with Mother deep in her heart."

"So, you're telling me that Sango might agree to be with me, but because her mother suggested it, she fights against it?" The little boy nodded and Miroku was even more confused. "Why do they fight if they agree then?"

"Sango doesn't want to become like Mother." Kohaku said. "She told me that herself. She doesn't want to have to change who and what she is because of the man she's to marry. You see, Mother was a lot like Sango in personality when she was younger. She went against what was expected of a young woman. And when she married my father, she was forced to become something she wasn't, even though my father didn't want her to."

"She doesn't want a family?" Miroku asked with a frown.

"No, she wants a family. And a whole bunch of kids to go with it. What she doesn't want is to become some domesticated house wife, when all she's ever known was exterminating." he explained. "Now don't get me wrong. She would quit if she ever became pregnant, but up until then, she's going to do what she was taught." Miroku looked towards the horizon and shook his head.

'I'm going to regret doing this later.' Kohaku thought, pulling a box out of his pocket. ' But maybe it'll help them. Miroku's not that bad and he really does love her. She could do worse, and at least we know he helped keep her safe and somewhat entertained during their hunt for the shards.'

"Miroku?"

"Yes?" he asked, turning to the boy. "What is it?"

"Go to her." he said, handing him the box.

"Excuse me?" he said.

"Go talk to her." Kohaku said again. "And take this with you to give her." He handed the monk the box and turned to walk away.

"What is it?" Miroku asked.

"A set of combs that I was going to give her before I was killed." he said sadly. "They were something that she wanted a long time ago, and I was going to give them to her for her birthday. But I never got the chance." He smiled and nodded to the monk. "Maybe they'll help you out with her."

"Kohaku….I"

"Go. Miroku." he said. "You've got my whole family's consent to her. That's rare. Don't waste it."

"Even yours?" the monk asked carefully, knowing the boy was overly protective of his older sister. Kohaku nodded gravely, giving his acceptance to the monk.

"Even mine." Miroku watched as the boy was about to walk into the hut and a sudden question popped into his head. "Wait a minute." he called.

"What?"

"Why did you change your mind?" Miroku asked. Kohaku smiled and shook his head.

"I'm young, Miroku." he said with a grin. "Not blind." Miroku nodded and Kohaku walked into the hut, leaving him to go after Sango alone.

As the evening stars began to shine in the sky, Sango let her boomerang fly one more time. It hit the bark of a nearby tree and came flying back at her. The crack of the bark made some of her pent up frustration leak out, but it was not nearly enough to calm her down. She caught the gigantic boomerang effortlessly and sent it sailing again. Each time she would send it flying, she would picture Miroku's face as the target. She was angry. And an angry Sango with an oversized boomerang was not a good combination.

When she had left her hut that evening, her thoughts were full of malicious intent towards the monk for putting her in a spot with her mother. Her mother wanted her to marry the monk, Sango did not want to share her life with someone she could not trust. She wanted someone who would love her, and only her. She caught the boomerang again as it rebounded off of a tree. She had been up to this all evening, ever since she had left the village, trying to work off some of the nervous, pent up energy she'd had inside of her. She let the weapon fly again, throwing it harder than ever before.

"Stupid Miroku." she muttered. "He's always doing this to me." She watched as the weapon put another knick in the tree bark, wishing it was some demon that would fight back in order to get her mind focused on something else besides the monk. "Always making me laugh and then doing something to make me hate him the next minute." She caught the boomerang one last time and let it fall to the ground as her tears began to spill over again and the adrenaline slowly left her bloodstream. "It isn't fair." she whispered through her tears. "Not even Kagome and Inuyasha have this many problems." She sat down at the base of a tree and hugged herself as she cried some more. "Why can't I be happy?"

Miroku came upon the angry girl and watched in fascination as she continuously launched the boomerang at random trees. Her face was a mix of hurt and determination. He could tell she was greatly upset by the argument with her mother, but watching her now made him forget everything, even his reason for being there. Sango was a strong woman, who held high moral values in her heart, but she could also be a strong advisary. And right now, she looked like some mythical war goddess on the rampage, at least in Miroku's eyes. Her unbound hair whipped from one side to the next, creating a dark halo around her face. She jumped with the agility of a trained warrior, and stayed completely focused on her task at hand. Which at the moment seemed to be to knock down as many trees as possible. What surprised the lecherous monk the most was when she caught the over sized boomerang and crumpled to the ground, crying and talking to herself. She had tried never to cry in front of him, or any of the rest of their group. In fact, the only time he had seen her quite this upset was when Kohaku had still been controlled by Naraku, and had no memories of his sister. He caught the last sob-filled question and decided it was time to make his presence known.

"You can be, if you let yourself." came Miroku's calm voice. Sango looked up and wiped the tears from her eyes quickly, throwing a look of indifference on her face. There was Miroku, the root of most of her problems, standing at the end of the clearing in all his glory. She groaned and got up from the base of the tree. Before she could get her clothes dusted off, he was by her side wiping the tears away from her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, quietly. She was not really angry at him. After all, it was not his fault her mother was so stubborn and opinionated.

"I thought you might like some company." he answered. "I'm glad I came, because you do not need to cry anymore. What's wrong?" he asked. Sango looked up at him and nearly broke down into tears again. He was so nice to her and all she could think about was hurting him because of what her mother had said. Any time she was down about anything, he would find a way to get her mind off of it. It had always been like that, ever since she had met him. She would be upset or worried, and he would distract her from whatever it was, usually by getting her angry at him for groping her.

"My Mother." she said simply. Miroku smiled and nodded.

"What did she do?"

"She thinks that it's time I was married and settled down." Sango said in disgust.

"And you don't want to?" he asked, hugging her gently.

"I want to," she said quietly. "But I don't ….. agree with her about certain things."

"Like?"

"Like who I'm going to marry." Sango said with a frown, pulling out of his embrace, and fixing her gaze firmly on the ground in front of her. "She's got everything planned out as if I don't have a mind of my own."

"So who's the lucky guy?" Miroku asked with a sly smile.

"Need you ask?" she replied sarcastically. "You know as well as I do who it is."

"Sorry." he said. Sango nodded and turned to face the trees, a small smile on her lips as she thought it over.

"It seems as though you've captured the hearts of my family." she said stiffly. "All of them except Kohaku, that is."

"Actually, young Kohaku is the one who sent me to come after you." Miroku said.

"You're kidding." she said, finally looking back up at him. Miroku shook his head.

"No, I am not." he answered. Sango shook her head and looked up to the sky.

"Well, with my family's backing, there isn't much I can say, is there?" she said sadly. Miroku walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sango," he began. "I do not care if all of Japan was behind me, they can not make you do something you do not want to. If you did not voluntarily want to marry me, I would never force you, even with your family's insistence." Sango looked up at him and gave a weak smile. 'Kami, I can't stay mad at him.'

"Thank you, Miroku." she said quietly.

"It's not a problem, love." he said with a sad grin. " You know I love you, and I will wait for you as long as it takes." Sango looked at him and frowned.

"Miroku, don't wait around for me." she said. "I'm liable to have you hanging for the rest of your natural life." Miroku grinned and hugged her.

"Sorry," he said. "But if I can not have you now, I will wait until I can." Sango felt her carefully constructed walls around her heart come tumbling down. She looked at the man standing before her and almost started crying again. There was nothing but sincerity written on his face. His now healed hand reached out and pulled a strand of her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. 'He actually means it.' she thought. 'He actually means what he is saying.' Before she could think of what she was doing, she flung herself into his arms and hugged the monk for all that she was worth.

"I...don't think ….you'll have to wait…….very long." she whispered into his robes. Miroku, caught off guard by her sudden change in disposition, caught the girl and wrapped his arms around her in a comforting manner. He only smiled at the girl as he heard what she mumbled to him. She was his, finally. After the years of toiling around Japan, he finally had the love of his life in his arms. He hugged her tighter to him, and she did not pull away. She was still crying when he pulled her away from him ten minutes later.

"Dry your tears, Sango." he said gently. "I have something for you." Sango, unaccustomed to receiving anything but a grope from the monk looked at him carefully.

"What is it, Miroku?" she asked cautiously. He pulled out the small, beaten box and presented her with it.

"Something you should have had a long time ago." he said. Sango took the box and opened it carefully. Inside of the thin whispers of paper were two ivory hair combs with flowers carved on the edges. She took them out and held each one. The flower carvings were lacquered with an overlay of mother-of-peal.

"Miroku, they're beautiful." she said breathlessly. "Where did you get them?" Even though Sango was a tomboy in every since of the word, she was still a woman at heart. And this gift of something so feminine made her feel like she was a real woman, not just someone doing what was considered a man's job. The monk smiled and took her hands.

"You can thank Kohaku for procuring them." he said with a grin.

"Kohaku?" she asked, confused as to why her little brother would have something like this. "What's he got to do with this."

"He said he had bought these right before your village was destroyed." Miroku explained. "He was going to give them to you on your birthday, or something like that. But never got around to it. He gave them to me, to give to you ." Sango smiled and placed the combs back in the boxes.

"They're beautiful." she said again. "Thank you." Miroku only smiled and wrapped his arm around her.

"I think it is time we get back to the village." he said. "Your mother was awful angry when you left." Sango only grinned and rested her head on his shoulder.

"She's always mad at me for something." she said. "It's nothing new. I'm not a proper young lady, I'm not dressing like a lady of my age should, a lady should not be running around chasing demons in a leather outfit that leaves nothing to the imagination of the lecherous men in the world…blah, blah, blah. She's on me all the time about that, even before the village was destroyed." Miroku grinned.

"I like the outfit." he said. Sango blushed and kept on walking. "And it leaves plenty to the imagination. Besides, who ever called you a proper lady to begin with, I shall never know."

"Miroku!" she scolded him. He laughed and shook his head. "Well, at least my Mother proved that the lechers liked the suit. I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't tight enough to catch their attention." she teased.

"I'm not a lecher, anymore, Sango." he said suddenly, looking at the girl with love sparkling in his eyes.

"Oh, really?" she asked.

"Um-hm." he said.

"And what makes you think that?"

"Well, I have you know. So why would I worry about any other woman." Sango smiled and shook her head.

"You don't have me as well as you think, monk." she said.

"No, but I am getting there." he said with a grin. In a sudden, heady move, he stopped the demon exterminator and kissed her. Sango, not expecting the brash move, tried to resist. It did not do any good. Her feelings for the monk had changed so greatly in the last few months that she was almost willing him not to stop his assault on her mouth. Her eyes fluttered shut and as she took in what the monk was doing to her. When he finally let her go, she was blushing redder than Inuyasha's haoiri. Miroku gave his usual cocky grin and hugged her again. "Nope. I have not got you yet." he said. "But it will not be long."

Sango only shook her head, mostly to remove the stars that had formed in front of her eyes. She looked up at he handsome young man and smiled.

"You're going to be the death of me yet, Miroku." The monk grinned and the two of them walked back to the village in the beginning light of a waning moon.

A/N - Hey people. Hope you enjoyed this chappy. To be completely honest, I have no idea where it came from. I like Sango and Miroku, and well, I don't know where it came from, but I hope you enjoyed it. It just kind of wrote itself. I'm no good with the whole lovey-dovey scenes, so bare with me. The next one is better. I promise. Later.