CHAPTER TWO

*

"Damn," Miroku said, almost to himself. "I knew he was reluctant, but I didn't know he was... well, that innocent."

"Er, if you don't mind," Myoga said, wriggling in Miroku's grasp. "Might I be put down?"

Miroku absently set the flea on his shoulder, thinking back over the months he had known Inuyasha. The young half-demon always acted like someone who had seen it all and punched it in the face. But there were a few things that always embarrassed him -- such as Shippo's too-probing questions about certain topics. In those situations, he usually blushed and refused to talk further.

When Miroku had been told of Inuyasha's "thing" (as Kagome put it) for the priestess Kikyo, and the basics of their history, he had simply taken it for granted that their relationship had progressed to what Miroku considered normal levels. After all, he reflected, Inuyasha WAS a healthy young male. Even if his first lady-love had shot him against a tree for fifty years.

There was a rustling in the trees overhead. Miroku saw a flash of red, white and green as Kagome and Inuyasha darted by, in the direction of the campsite. "Yo, Miroku!" Inuyasha called, pausing on a branch. "Seen Myoga anywhere?"

"No," Miroku lied.

Myoga jumped down into his sleeve and huddled inside.

Inuyasha growled a little. "When I find that rotten little flea-"

Kagome whispered something into Inuyasha's ear. The half-demon nodded and vanished into the treetops.

The monk watched them, frowning. If he had a girl like Kagome around constantly the way Inuyasha did, he wouldn't even hesitate.

"Well, there's only one thing to do," Miroku murmured.

*

Miroku settled himself on a nearby rock, with his staff across his knees. "Inuyasha?"

"What?" Inuyasha sniffed the roasting rabbit suspiciously. "This thing smells funny. I wish I knew what Kagome put on it." He picked up the discarded box and stared at it. "This isn't a picture of a rabbit."

Inuyasha sighed, turning the spit a few times. Kagome and Sango were buying vegetables in a nearby village -- what Kagome called "girl time." Shippo, after raiding a stash of Kagome's candy, had spent two hours bouncing hyperactively around the camp, giggling like an idiot, and was now passed out in Kagome's bicycle basket. Myoga was still hiding. Little coward, Inuyasha thought darkly.

He rested his legs on a rock and watched the sky.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku asked again. "How close were you to Kikyo?"

Inuyasha could feel himself blush a little. "None of your business, monk."

"And you've been travelling with Kagome for many months, yet you've never become... close to her?" His emphasis on the word "close" couldn't be missed.

"Like I said before, none of your business, pervert." Inuyasha looked up. "Why are you askin'?"

"Oh, no reason," Miroku said with feigned innocence.

The half-demon was still staring at him with narrowed golden eyes, but he reluctantly accepted what Miroku said. After all, Miroku was a lot better than he was at keeping secrets. He wouldn't tell unless he wanted to.

As the sound of girls' voices, Inuyasha sat up and took the rather overcooked rabbits off the spit. Kagome and Sango came into the clearing, holding baskets of vegetables and whispering to one another.

"Did you two have a good time?" Miroku asked smoothly.

"Good enough," Sango said, kneeling by the fire. "We managed to buy enough provisions for a week or two."

"Assuming Shippo doesn't go on another candy high," Kagome said, looking at the ball of fur on her bike. "How can somebody so small eat so much?"

"It all goes into his tail," Inuyasha said sarcastically. "Or his head, to fill up all that empty space."

Kagome gave him a swat with the cooking spoon.

Miroku accepted his portion of the rabbit from Inuyasha. He continued thinking while the others talked, Kirara and Shippo snored. If Inuyasha really hadn't been intimate with either Kikyo or Kagome, then Miroku had some immediate plans to make...

TO BE CONTINUED