Well, there were a whole lot of you who were less than pleased. Well, I can't blame you. Raidon is an ass (if you could only meet his real-life counterpart…). As well, I use the word iinazuke again, and it means 'fiancé/. Oh! Kudos and Pocky to Aamalie who helped me with Miroku's angsting, which takes up a lot of this chapter. I had a question this time, so I guess I should get it taken care of…

Kazaana the Furyou Houshi: slaps Iie.

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Day Six: Self Pity does No Good

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Miroku sighed. He and Kagome had departed, with the agreement that they would stay the full week, but that he was welcome to come to the future any time he needed. How had this happened? He honestly didn't know how Raidon managed to – he paused. The man had said that he saw him with someone. Did that mean he had followed him to the well? Had Raidon seen him hug Kagome? That was the most plausible idea.

So he had seen that, and twisted it. Taken one of the few innocent moments he had and made it into a lewd one. There was, of course, no reason for Sango to disbelieve her fiancée. He was just an echii houshi who grabbed bottoms and asked women to bear his children. And the one woman he would have asked in all honesty was having nothing to do with him. So now she was engaged to this . . .

Miroku dropped his staff as the realization hit him full force. Sango was engaged to Raidon. There were no more chances. No more hopeful moments. No more dressing wounds, no more joined forces against a youkai (or hanyou, if Inuyasha was being unreasonable). She was leaving them forever, and it was entirely his fault. There was no reason for her to stay. After all, she had to accept that she would have her life destroyed if she came after Naraku. But what about her brother? Was she just going to leave him? A wry grin made its way to his face.

'He's already dead. We'd be forced to take the jewel eventually, and then all that would be left was a corpse. She knows that. Maybe she's finally moved on.'

Of course she had. She'd moved past her brother's death, past his lechery, past their friends. She didn't owe them anything. All he had wanted was her, and that's what he had lost.

As he began the journey to Mushin's Shrine, a single tear escaped his control and slid down his cheek.

---

Sango sighed as she and Raidon walked down the road. He was a few paces ahead of her, but she didn't need to see his face to know what look would be plastered all over it. Smugness oozed from him, in his walk, in his easy glance over the shoulder to look her over. He had won some sort of battle back there, and he knew it.

Part of her wanted Miroku to com bursting onto the road, demanding that she come back with him. She quashed it down, insisting to herself that he had been in the wrong, and that this was the best thing to do. After all, he had gone off with some . . . well, Raidon said that he had gone off with someone, in any case. In any other situation, she wouldn't have believed the man, but Miroku . . . he had been so good about not touching her. It only made sense that he'd have to get it elsewhere.

Raidon slowed, and came to wrap an arm around her waist. He flashed a honeyed smile at her.

"What's bothering you, iinazuke?" he asked. She shook her head and forced a smile.

"I'm fine, thank you," she said. He shook his head.

"Don't bother thinking of that houshi, Sango. He's not worth it." When she winced, his eyes took on a triumphant gleam.

"I knew it! You were thinking about him," he crowed. She looked down, and he chuckled, squeezing her hip. Sango wondered briefly if this was what she was meant to be doing.

Should she have stayed? Could she have stayed, knowing he was going off to meet someone. Could she have looked him in the eye the next time he smiled at her, or offered her his shoulder, or . . .

She stopped herself. There was no point to thinking about the kisses he had given her. They had obviously meant nothing to him, however much they had meant to her. Wait – they didn't mean anything, did they? Sango was confused, and hurt. For some reason she felt as if she was in the wrong, like she should be running back to beg Miroku's forgiveness.

As she and Raidon continued on the way to her new home, she didn't look back more than twice.

---

Miroku stopped to bow to Mushin's grave – he had died long ago. The only thing that Miroku regretted was not being there. He had been away, and by the time Hachi caught up to them, the old monk had passed away. But Mushin had always told him that he could come to the temple any time he chose, it was his home as well. Hachi stood at the door, waving to him. He staggered forward, feeling the weight of the past day coming onto his shoulders. The tanuki sighed.

"Are you drunk again, Miroku no danna?"

Miroku smiled wryly and shook his head.

"No, old friend. Though I wish I was," he sighed. Hachi shook his head, and lead him inside. Once there, he offered the downcast houshi a drink – Miroku turned it down.

Hachi gulped.

"Are you certain you're okay, danna?"

"I'm . . . fine," he sighed. The tanuki nodded.

"Ah, I see. You're finally deciding to act like a proper monk. You're going to give up women, sake, lying and thieving and settle down. Good for you, though I must ask, why now?"

Miroku sighed, realizing something. Hachi had pointed out all the things that made him well, the echii houshi he was. It was no wonder Sango didn't trust him. He did like sake a little too much, and he never treated love seriously. But now . . . now that he himself was in love, it was a different matter altogether.

Was that what pushed her away? Was it the fact that he lied and stole, then turned around and 'comforted' the woman of the house he stole from?

'That was a rather stupid question' a voice inside him chided. 'Of course that's it. Gee, let's think about this, bouzu. "Hi Sango, I'm a monk who flouts his vows daily and has grabbed other women's asses often, wanna marry me?" or "Hi Sango, I'm a strong hunter from your past life come to take you back home where you belong, you were supposed to marry me in the first place". Somehow, I don't think the monk is gonna win this one.'

The terrible, cursed thing about little voices is that they were always right. No matter what. He sighed again, looking at Hachi.

"You know what, old friend?" he said in an almost acerbic tone, "I really do love her, dammit all. Even if it meant giving up everything – drinking, women, thieving, the whole lot – I'd be with her. Even if it meant I had to stop looking for Naraku, and just enjoy a few years of calling her my wife, I'd do it. Just to be with her."

Hachi gave Miroku a shocked look. Who was he talking about?

"Danna . . ." he whispered, but Miroku shook his head.

"Goddammit, though, I don't want to give up searching for that bastard! I want to hunt him down, and kill him. I want to be able to grow old with her. I want to be sitting there next to her when she's old and gray, telling our grandchildren about the echii monk she fell in love with. I want to make a family with her, and be there to see it grow!" he gave a bitter laugh that cut through the taut air like barbed wire. "But that's never going to happen. It's all because of my damn habits! Just because I can't keep my hands to myself, I never managed to truly earn her trust. Not that I deserve it."

Hachi shook his head.

"Danna . . . tell me what happened," he said, and Miroku explained. After he recounted the tale, Hachi shook his head.

"Don't worry, danna. I think we can fix this."

---

Vocab:

Hai: Yes

Nani: What

Gomen (nasai): Sorry

Arigato: Thanks/Thank you

Onegai: Please

Hentai: Pervert

Houshi: Low-level monk

Bouzu: Disrespectful term for low-level monk

Taiji-ya: (Demon) Exterminator

Hiraikotsu: Flying bone (Sango's boomerang)

Hanyou: Half-demon

Youkai: Demon

Miko: Priestess

Ramen: Instant noodles

Kitsune: Fox

Neko: Cat-Demon

Kazaana: Air Void (Miroku's Wind Tunnel)

Shakujo: Miroku's staff with the rings (it has little blades on it, I'm serious)

Ano: Um…

Danna: Master