Casualties
Chapter 2
By Kayla Chavi
Rating: R
Email: kaylachavihotmail.com
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Here is the next chapter. Again, this is uncomfortable and many will feel like Miroku is acting like an asshole—which he is.
Please take the rating seriously.
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After a week of just laying there and not talking to anyone, Sango kicked me. Literally. Hard and in the ribs.
"Up. You're going outside."
"I don't want to go outside," I snapped. "I can't move enough to go outside."
"Don't be such a baby. Your back is healed enough for you to move around. You're going to get lazy and fat if you don't move." She was completely rude and blunt as she threw pants at me. "And if you don't get better, you're no use to us."
I blinked and then shot a look at her. Her expression was just as closed as it had been the day they brought me back.
"How dare--"
"Put those on. I'll be waiting outside for you." She turned and walked out of the hut.
I just gaped after her. How dare she tell me what to do? How dare she imply that I was useless to the team? I've sacrificed more than anyone for the mission. It's more than likely I will die before its even completed and she had the gall to tell me I was useless?
I yanked on my pants, fumbling at the ties before throwing on my shoes. I was going to slap her for what she said. She had no right to say that. She's a woman, a bitch, a slut and she--
I punched my sealed hand into the wall and forced the anger drain out of me. I swallowed my frustration and the sharp tang of tears, making myself breathe.
It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her.
I had to repeat it over and over before I was ready to go outside. She was the only one waiting out there. She held my staff in one hand and then raised an eyebrow.
"No shirt?"
"I don't own one."
"What about your robes?"
"I don't exactly qualify as a monk anymore, Sango."
"And you did before?"
"Shut up. You have no idea what you're saying."
"Oh come on, Houshi-sama," she snorted. "You probably have six or seven heirs out there that you don't even know about. You were never a priest."
"I told you to shut up, woman." I wrenched my staff out of her hand. She had no idea how close I was to hitting her. Gods, I don't want to hurt her. "You have no idea what my life was like before I met you."
"No, I only have what I can hear." She crossed her arms over her chest and her dark eyes were unafraid to meet mine. "The little princesses you've screwed weren't exactly quiet, Miroku."
Miroku. She was calling me by my name. For the first time in our history, she was saying my name. No. That isn't true. She said it before, when she was cleaning me up. Twice. Twice.
"Jealous?"
"Excuse me?"
Finally, a real reaction from her. She thought she had it all figured out. Thought she had me all figured out. Women are so stupid sometimes. I had the satisfaction of watching emotion come back onto her face.
"You heard me." I didn't try to hide my smirk as I closed the distance between us. "Are you jealous it was them instead of you in my bed?" I took an unnatural amount of gratification in her blush and then the anger that brightened her eyes. She thought she had me all figured out. Dim-witted woman.
Then her eyes narrowed and in a movement worthy of her heritage, her sword was at my throat. I didn't even have a chance to defend against it.
"Of course I was." She had the audacity to smile after such a frank statement. "However, I respected that I was incapable of giving you what you wanted."
"Incapable?" Maybe there was a slight possibility that I didn't understand her either. I thought she was very capable of giving me what I wanted. Who the hell did she think I was imagining with all of those girls? Maybe she really is that naïve.
"You want an heir, Miroku. I didn't want to get pregnant before I get my brother back and avenge my family."
I gaped at her like a fool. The conversation was not going the way I wanted it to. And she had just admitted that there was more than just friendship between us. However, as I was now, it didn't stir me the way it should have.
And she knew it. I saw a flicker of pity in her dark eyes.
I brought my sealed hand up and gripped her wrist painfully. Her hold on the sword did not waver and she didn't even flinch. She continued as if I hadn't reacted at all.
"I want you to promise me something." Her voice held the opposite of her actions. It was gentle and caring, instead of tense and controlled. "Promise me, when the time comes that you're ready for that," in any other situation her embarrassment would have been entertaining. She blushed, unable to come out and actually say it. "Ready to do that again, you will come to me. Not some whore. Not some princess. Me."
"I thought you were incapable."
She rolled her eyes at me, her naivety gone. "There are other ways to go about it, that don't result in me being pregnant."
"You're serious." I let go of her. There wasn't much that could shock me now, but Sango had just done it.
"Completely. Promise me, Miroku."
It was out before I could stop it.
"I promise."