It's Hard To Remember

By: Silver Teardrops

Warnings: It's getting angsty now, well to me it will. So I hope you understand from my first chapter how things will go from now on.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to its rightful owner, and henceforth that is not me.

Chapter 2: Times Of Changes part 1

Sango smiles down at a big pair of puppy eyes.

"Ma, ma, Misao-chan, I told you once, I cannot take you today, maybe tomorrow." Sango said refusing to crumble to the spell of those foresaken eyes of her husband.

"O-kaasan! I wanna go today!" Misao whined, trying to fool her okaasan with her fake tears. Sango smiled sadly at Misao and then gave in.

"Omedeto, you win Misao-chan." Sango was rewarded with a tight embrace around her legs.

"Domo!" Misao then ran off into her room to get her jacket on and a few toys she would want to show off. Sango smiled as her husband entered their home.

"Tadaima!" Miroku annouced dropping his suitcase and moving towards Sango with arms wide. Sango accepted it merrily, then Misao came in the kitchen and whined.

"Not again! I wanna go now!" Misao crossed her arms in front of her, and her face set in a demanding facial expression. Miroku had to chuckle at his daughter, she was quite a girl, only the age of 5 and she was this demanding already.

"Takes after her Okaasan I presume." Miroku joked and that earned him a hit in the stomach, hard enough to hurt, but soft enough not to leave a mark.

"I will, just let me tell your otousan first." Sango shooed Misao into the living quaters. She then turned around to face the grimacing face of Miroku's.

"I thought you would've learned after all these years you've spent with me. DON'T MESS WITH ME!" Sango yelled as she pulled Miroku with her to the same room Misao sat waiting.

"So Otousan is coming with us? YAY!" Misao jumped off the floor and started running circles around the two adults. They both sweatdropped and Miroku bent down to pick up the speeding girl.

"Ano, Misao-chan, where are we to go?" Miroku asked quite confused, because Sango said she would tell him, but she yelled at him instead.

"To the park! I hear Kotarou is going to be there! Inuyasha promised me that he was going to take Ko-chan there today." Misao held onto Miroku as he chuckled and nodded and signaled something to Sango.

"I just called Inuyasha, he said he'll be there in less than 3 minutes, after all, their house is closer." Sango packed her cell into her pocket and the family left the house and was making way to the park.

*****

"Hey Sango! Over here!" Kagome waved wildly in the air and Sango waved back just as energetic. Miroku ran over to Inuyasha while imitating an airplane for Misao's sake. Inuyasha chuckled as Miroku set down Misao and she ran after Kotarou who was taunting her.

"Nani? Misao wanted to fly, so I let her." Miroku glared daggers at Inuyasha to make him stop. He did, but he was smirking now.

"Misao-chan, has you wrapped around her tiny little fingers, doesn't she?" Inuyasha made it sound more of an obvious statement than a question and Miroku jsut sighed, giving it up.

"Aa, she does. You happy? I love her a lot, so she gets what she wants. I'm so sorry I show her no discipline." Miroku replied sarcastically but he had to take in a breath so he stopped there. Inuyasha just shrugged it off.

"Man, time sure flies. I remember our wedding day just like it was yesterday." Miroku brought up a subject while he stared admiringly at Sango who was laughing with Kagome at something. Inuyasha then glanced at his own wife and smiled.

"Yeah, demo I remember the wedding NIGHT, hehe, if you get my drift." Inuyasha was chuckling slightly as Miroku smiled a little, he didn't want to say it aloud but he remembers their wedding night also.

"And look what happened, we turned older, and that night became the day that started to make Kagome quite irritated. But after 9 long months, we had a son-who is now what, 5 1/2?" Inuyasha reminiscence about it while grinning at his pride and joy-Kotarou. Miroku stared at Inuyasha and smiled too, he didn't act like it sometimes but-over the long quiet years, he's settled into a wonderful otousan, occasionally he still beats up a few, but only if they do something to him or to his family and friends.

"Miroku, Inuyasha, what are you two otousans doing here? Gossiping?" Kagome chipped in, walking over to the two men and Sango following along.

"Why? Us? Gossping? Why you ladies do that, not us men." Inuyasha defiantly took a stand against Kagome, but she scoffed.

"Then what were you talking about, that included staring at us and then at the children?" Sango added in and Miroku gulped, so she knew he was observing her after all.

"Um, yeah Inuyasha what were we talking about?" Miroku was inching away from Sango as he saw her evil glint. Inuyasha shook his head disapprovingly at his cowarding friend.

"We were just talking about how we remember our wedding day and our gifts- Kotarou and Misao. Sheesh Sango, you're scaring your husband, that's not good for his health at all." Inuyasha wrapped an arm around Kagome and Kagome giggled at the joke, hey they can joke about their friends now. Sango smiled sweetly and innocently at all of them.

"What? I do? I could do no such thing, I'm not capable of scaring my husband Miroku." Sango hugged Miroku from behind and he sweatdropped.

"Uh..." Miroku was at a loss for words and Sango burst into laughter as so did the others.

"I do scare him, but at least he knows I do it for love, and equality, ne Miroku?" Sango asked him at the end and Miroku straightened up and nodded.

"Aa, I love you as much not to hurt you." Miroku then was given a kiss on his cheek from behind and Sango laid her head on his back smiling to herself. She had it all, a wonderful life, wonderful friends, a perfect husband and a kawaii daughter. She had the fairy tale life she's always dreamed of.

Kagome saw her best friends sigh dreamingly as she laid her head on her husband's back. Miroku was also smiling gently at the sweet gesture. Kagome then held onto Inuyasha, making him alert and looked down at her eyes.

"They look, so, right together don't they?" Kagome asked her eyes searching for the answers in Inuyasha's soft gaze.

"Aa, so do we." Inuyasha kissed her forehead and held her closer as both of them stared at Kotarou being tackled by the fierce Misao and laughing away without a care in the world. Then suddenly a loud audible gasp was heard that brought the two from the scene back to Miroku and Sango.

"Sango?!" Miroku turned aroung quickly and held her at arms length, trying to find out anything wrong with his wife.

Sango was gasping like it was for her dear life. She held her heart closely, tightly, gasping all the more.

"It-it-it hurts." Sango whispered and Miroku caught it and Inuyasha with his spetacular hearing. Kagome read her lips and knew what she said. Misao and Kotarou looked at their parents to see if they were looking but Misao saw her okaasan in pain and she immediately ran towards them, Kotarou, the older one knew that she was running into trouble and ran to stop her until they come get them; but Misao pushed him aside and ran full force towards her kaasan.

"Sango? What hurts? What?" Miroku was already telling Kagome to dig for a cell and call emergency. Of all the days to walk to the park, they had to choose today, all of them?

"My heart.." Sango then let out a loud shriek and suddenly collasped to her knees. She was drained of energy drained of life almost- and she smiled bitterly. She had a perfect life, she admit so herself, maybe it's time for her to leave then.

"Okaasan!!! Okaasan!!!" Misao ran and ran until she was just a few steps away and suddenly her foot didn't touch the ground anymore. She looked up into the eyes of her supposidly 'jisan' and she started to cry.

"Why Inuyasha-jisan? Let me go to my Kaasan, she needs me." Misao cried and Inuyasha hadn't the heart to let her face reality at such a young age, her eyes were so deep and vulnerable at that moment. Kagome held onto Kotarou as he was watching Sango's painful movements.

"What's going on kaasan?" Kotarou asked Kagome and she was crying already, knowing exactly what was happening to her best friend. She was having a heart-attack.

"Miroku! Is she unconcious?" Inuyasha shouted at him, for he was shivering and stuttering nonsense.

"No---she's, she's just fallen. WHEN'S THE DAMN EMERGENCY GOING TO COME?" Miroku yelled looked around frantically. Then as he said a blaring car came towards their direction and even before it braked, a person jumped out of the back and ran towards them.

"What happened? How did she get to this condition. MEDIC!!!!" The man screeched toward the same car and two more popped out from the back and brought medical materials. And the driver jumped out leaving his door ajar and quickly brought out a stretcher rolling it at high speed towards them. Apparently, medic was the term used for critical conditions.

"What happened to her? Tell me!" Miroku demanded as he ran with them back to the car. They looked at him in the eyes.

"What relation are you to this woman?" One woman asked.

"I'm her husband, and I got the damn right to know what the hell happened." Miroku couldn't help his profanities, it was purely out of anger.

"She has a heart attack, and from the looks of it, something worse is combined with it." And slam, the door to the back shut and Miroku was riding away to the nearest hospital, which happens to be near their house.

*****

Inuyasha held Misao tightly as she cried more. Kotarou was silent once he knew the grave seriousness of it all, since his own tousan was crying, who never ever cried- or so Kotarou was led to believe.

"Misao-chan. shh, we're going to go see your okaasan, don't worry your otousan is with her." Inuyasha tried to comfort Misao some more and he couldn't help himself from crying. Kagome was crying silently with no arm around her to comfort her, and she had her hands full with Kotarou who suddenly had the urge to punched things or kick. He inherited his otousan's anger.

"Let's go now, Inuyasha, I think they'll be there." Kagome tried her best to keep her voice even through her tears. Then as Inuyasha manuvered Misao in his hold he got one arm free and wrapped it warmly around Kagome.

"It'll be alright, I promise." Inuyasha silently annouced into her ears, even though both of them knew he had no power to promise anything that God had the power over. Kotarou managed to reach out and kicked a passing tree and after he removed his leg, there lay an imprint of his shoes embedded about a good 2 inch into the wood.

"Kaasan, I promise to hurt the ones who hurt Sango-basan, and Misao-chan." Kotarou vowed and Kagome responded with a nod, she couldn't comprehend anything other than, 'Is Sango going to be alright?'

*****

"Atsui desu ne?" Miroku murmured to his spouse as he held her hands in his. Her shallow breathing was heard as the response, and of course that continious beat of the heart monitor. Miroku had entered just shortly, about an hour ago, and still he wanted to believe, this was not true-that this was not possible.

"Sango, onegai, just open your eyes, or say or move or something, so I will know you can hear me." Miroku pleaded, his facade was falling, and he was sucumbing to the thought of the deadly illness his wife held. Out of nowhere a hand was placed on his shoulder he looked up but saw no one, then he shivered then as if feeling him being frightened, Sango moaned.

"Sango!" Miroku exclaimed a loud smiling, and tears were coming from his eyes once again. The doctors had told him-it might be a while till she comes to, but here she was defying them wrong.

"Miroku..." Sango's lips moved, and Miroku knew her lips well and knew she was calling for him.

"Yes, anata?" Miroku kissed her hand gently-slowly, and yet painfully, Sango opened her eyes and looked into the teary eyes of her husband.

"Where's little Misao?" Sango wheezed but she collected herself before Miroku could panic.

"She's waiting outside with the others, do you want her to come in?" Miroku asked, his right leg already stretched outward for a long leap to the door.

"Hai." And whoosh, Miroku left and came back with Misao in his arms. Misao was sitting quietly outside, and suddenly she felt her body being snatched and soon she found herself in her otousan's grasp and seeing her okaasan.

"Kaasan...are you...okay?" Misao asked timidly as she slowly reached her little hands up to her Sango's face. Sango looked at her child through teary eyes and smiled.

"H-hai, just stay with me and I'll be alright." Sango said trying in vain to keep her tears from falling but it fell just as the raindrops were falling outside. Misao looked sad, yet she was glad that her kaasan was talking and seemingly fine, maybe a nap will cure her.

"Misao-chan, would you like to snuggle with your Okaasan?" Miroku asked as he bent down to her level. Sango looked at Miroku thankfully, she had no idea why but she wanted to hold onto Misao as if this was her last day-and remember her fairy tale forever.

"Hai hai!" Misao beamed, bringing more cheerfulness into the dim room. Miroku half-smiled and picked up his daughter and placed her beside Sango careful not to disconnect any tubes that was coming out from her. Misao looked at Sango then held on tight.

"Go to sleep Misao, go to sleep." Sango lulled her and she nodded and obeyed her kaasan's soft cooings and soon went to sleep, the much needed one. Miroku saw tears still coming out of his wife and he knelt by her and placed some loose hairs behind her ears. Sango kept her eyes glues to Misao's kawaii face.

"Nani Miroku?"

"Why are you still crying?" Miroku softly caressed her cheeks. She was awake and he was grateful for that at least- just don't let anything else happen, oh kami-sama he doesn't have the strength to handle anymore.

"I- truly don't know. It's weird anata, before I had that, episode, I was thinking about how my life was perfect. Wonderful life, wonderful friends, perfect husband, and a wonderful and cute daughter. I had it all." Sango began to stroke Misao's cheeks softly.

"Have." Miroku corrected her solemnly. Sango chuckled melancholy.

"Well, if you say so. I was thinking, of that and I guess I finally realized I have nothing else to fulfull, and I guess that was the time Kami-sama thought was best for me to-" Miroku's eyes widen and he shook with rage he never knew he had.

"Sango. You are still here, and don't you EVER think about letting go of us, of Misao, of me-so easily." Sango was quite shocked at the outburst that emitted from Miroku but she sighed, maybe she should just keep her thoughts to herself from now on.

"Hai, you're right. I, I don't know what I was thinking." Sango corrected and then a light feathery knock was heard on the door. Miroku annouced them to come in and Kagome, Inuyasha, and Kotarou came into the room.

*****

"Can we come in?" Inuyasha asked softly, afraid that Sango was asleep.

"Of course." Sango's voice replied and Kagome's tears that had already stopped started to flow out again.

"Sango, are you feeling alright? Do you need anything?" Kagome instantly stood by her side showering with questions of concerns. Sango smiled sadly and shook her head no, she was the only one who thought that her life was going to be over soon.

"Kagome, thanks for being a great friend. And a sort of a little sister to me all these years." Sango earned a loud sob from Kagome.

"Don't say things like that, I know how you feel, just don't-make it sound so final." Kagome tried her best to stop but it just couldn't. Sango thought to herself, 'It is the last time, I could feel it.'

"Sango, you stay and rest alright, don't worry about work tomorrow, I'll tell the boss about it." Inuyasha butted in moving forward. Inuyasha and Sango worked in the same place, of course Inuyasha was at a higher rank, since he was in that company longer but Sango was just as important-that's why they only had to show up a few days a week. Sango nodded, even though it wasn't worth anything.

"Sango-basan?" Kotarou was holding onto Inuyasha's pants but he was brave enough to step forward too. Sango looked down at him and he smiled.

"You're okay, ne?"

"Hai, Kotarou-chan." She chuckled as Kotarou pouted at his name.

"Don't call me -chan, I'm bigger than most kids my age." He said egotistically. Everyone in there-minus Misao-laughed along with him.

"Alright, you promise Kotarou, that you will take care of Misao-chan for me, even Miroku-jisan alright?" Sango reached her hand out to him and he grasped it with his own small, but strong hands.

"I will, but I want to take care of you too," Kotarou was confused as were everyone else, Sango was not making any sense.

"You can, but it'll be a waste of time. You protect your parents too, don't forget them." Sango joked and Kotarou nodded and she let go of his hands.

"I love all of you, you made every little things possible." Sango whispered and it rang loudly in the silent room, even above the pitter-patter of the rain outside.

"I am quite tired, if you don't mind." Sango looked at everyone adn they knew what she meant. Everyone left to the waiting room, except for the sleeping Misao.

*****

"KAASAN!!!!! HELP HELP!!!!" Misao screeched and soon people came rushing in. Misao was asleep and suddenly she was awoken by a sudden surge and it happened to be her okaasan.

"Little girl go outside now!" A doctor yelled at her and she started to cry, because of Sango shaking uncontrollably and the man yelling at her for trying to help. A nurse came up and scooped Misao in her arms and exited the room. She went to the waiting room and annouced who was Misao's parents or guardian.

"I'm her otousan." Miroku came up and carried the bawling girl.

"Why is she not with her okaasan? What happened?"

"The woman she was with, is under-going critical stage, it might be-" The nurse looked away, she was not sure if she was the right person to tell such delicate news that had yet to come true.

"She might be what?" Miroku asked as he felt his knees buckle.

"I-I have to go back in to help, we will soon send you news of what has happened." The nurse scurried away before Miroku could catch her. Misao was crying and sahking in Miroku's arms and he looked down, knowing Misao knew what had happen.

"What happened Misao-chan? What happened to Okaasan?"

"She-she- Started to shake and boucing on the bed and her hair messy! Otousan is Okaasan going to be alright???" Misao's description hit all those who knew Sango hard, she was seriously, ill.

"I have no answer to that." Miroku whispered as he himself felt tears falling from his face, joining Misao's as they fell. The daughter shook in her tousan's embrace and the two of them, unsure of what the future brings.

a/n: I know I know, very long, and the still awaited scene has not arrived, well yeah, sorry. It's because i want to make at least two chapters and this one was a catch-up with the family then the other half was the beginning of their changes. Yeah it is a long jump from being just married to married for about 6 years, it does piece together but it is rather a long wait. heheh Well review. I just am so into this fic that I don't care if i get no reviews, it's one for my sake. Heheh Well if your reading I hope you enjoy!

*_ Silver Teardrops _*