CHAPTER FOURTEEN

*

Miroku slept soundly through the night, content in the knowledge that he had finally arranged for Inuyasha to become a man. Sure, it had taken several days, blows to the head, a sacrificed moonlit walk with Sango, quite a bit of money and a bottle of sake, but thankfully the young half-demon had finally given in. He'd be all the better for it -- perhaps it would improve his attitude.

Sango didn't seem to agree. The lovely demon-slayer spent the night on the far end of the room. She seemed determined to sleep with her hands clamped over Shippo's tiny pointed ears, apparently to keep out the sounds of Inuyasha and Kagome from the next room. Shippo didn't seem too happy about this idea.

Though he spent most of the night sleeping. Miroku was woken occasionally by more thumping, scrabbling, grunts, whispering and the occasional overexcited squeak on the other side of the wall. It went on more or less through the night, with only brief pauses.

My, Inuyasha has much more stamina than I'd given him credit for, the monk thought, smiling. I guess he's making up for lost time. Yawning, Miroku rolled over and went back to sleep.

*

The next morning was sunny and mild; Miroku woke in an extremely good mood, after an extremely pleasant dream about a fluctuating number of pretty courtesans. All of whom had borne a remarkable resemblance to Sango. I think the symbolism of that dream is fairly obvious, Miroku thought, rubbing his chin.

No sooner had Sango woken up, still clutching Shippo's small red head, than the door slid open. It was Inuyasha, looking worn out and groggy. "G'morning," he mumbled. Sango shot him a withering glare, as she began packing her weapons.

"You look tired, Inuyasha," Miroku said.

"I'm worn out. I barely got a wink of sleep until the sun rose." Inuyasha rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know," Miroku said, hoping that his smile wasn't turning into a leer. "You were quite audible through the walls."

"I was?" Inuyasha said, pausing in mid-scratch. "Whadja hear?"

Kagome's voice floated from out in the hallway. "Sorry, Miroku. I tried to keep quiet the whole time, so we wouldn't wake you guys up, but Inuyasha couldn't manage it. He kept making these little growling noises."

"I couldn't help it," Inuyasha said over his shoulder. He yawned and rubbed his drooping dog ears. "I don't know how I kept at that all night."

Miroku chuckled and clapped Inuyasha on the shoulder. He'd be sure to ask about it later. "Well, it doesn't really matter. I'm just glad you managed to finally do it. Even if it DID take you quite some time."

Inuyasha looked slightly startled, but nodded. "Okay."

"I'm very pleased that things have turned out so well," Miroku said warmly, hoping he sounded like a worldly older brother. When it came to the ladies, he practically was one for Inuyasha.

"Well, it wasn't easy, but I think I got 'em all." Inuyasha thrust something in Miroku's face. "You might wanna tell your friend that his best room's got a rat problem."

Miroku was too stunned to react for a moment. It was a dead rat.

Sango's eyes widened. "There were... rats in your room?" she said slowly. Shippo bounced onto her head and made a face. "Ewwww..." he called.

"Dozens of 'em," Inuyasha said grimly. "We were getting ready to go to sleep when one of them ran over Kagome's feet. She squealed, jumped up on a chair and wouldn't come off it. So I chased the rat and killed it-"

"I've never seen you run into the walls like that," Kagome said, sticking her head into the room. "I thought your head was going to break through the wall. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Inuyasha said, dangling the rat by its tail. "Anyway, I killed it, and another one comes out of there. I spent the whole night running into the damn walls, trying to grab the rats. Kagome spent the night on the chair."

"Partly because you ripped up the bedding," Kagome said.

"A rat ran in there."

"So? You didn't have to go crazy and try to shred it!"

Miroku frowned. "Uh, Inuyasha... did anything else happen?"

Inuyasha thought it over. "Well, that incense was making me dizzy. So I threw it out the window. You might wanna tell your friend about that too."

Inwardly, Miroku groaned. This night certainly hadn't turned out the way he had intended for it to. "Ah well," he said with a slight smile. "I suppose nothing turns out perfectly."

TO BE CONTINUED