duende

.:platonic:.
chapter ten

"Ooi, Takai-san!" the merchant called out as he caught his customer lifting a bag heavy with rice. "Let me help you!" He hurried to his customer's side and hefted the second bag into his arms without waiting for a reply.

"Thank you."

Nodding, the merchant smiled as he set the bag of rice in the cart. "I'm sorry I don't have more to sell you right now."

"That's alright," Takai said, wiping his brow. "This will be a great help. We have a lot to be thankful for, it could have turned out a lot worse."

The merchant raised a brow. "It was that oni, wasn't it?" he asked sotto voce, already well aware of the troubles facing Takai's small village.

Takai frowned but said nothing.

Leaning toward his customer, eyes wide, the merchant whispered, "Tell me what happened."

"There's really nothing to tell. It's dead. You'll never believe what killed it, but it's dead."

Curiosity piqued, the merchant could only raise his brows as he waited for his long-time customer to continue.

"A Yourouzoku killed it."

The merchant stared blankly for several seconds. A Yourouzoku?!

Silence stretched between them as the merchant simply blinked dumbly. Then realization hit and his lips cracked into a smirk. Leave it to Takai to find a way to work in a joke! Takai's village must not be too far-gone if he was displaying such levity. The merchant's smirk grew into an amused grin that quickly dissolved into hearty chuckles.

"Come on!" he exclaimed, smacking his friend on the shoulder. "Be serious here!"

"I am."

"Takai-san!"

"I'm telling you the truth."

The merchant snorted, his eyes doubtful. "You do realize that Ichiro-sama hired a taiji-ya to kill the last surviving Yourouzoku, don't you?"

"Of course, we—"

"There aren't any Yourouzoku left," the merchant interrupted with a half smile. "Stop kidding around here."

"Haru-san, I'm telling you the truth." Takai said slowly, "A young female taiji-ya, the one Ichiro-sama recommended to Yasuo, that's the one we hired."

"And?"

"And, the oni was winning. Then her 'friend' suddenly appeared. He killed the oni and left the village taking her with him."

The doubtful look remained, though slightly less harsh. Haru cleared his throat, "You're certain this 'friend' of the taiji-ya was Yourouzoku?"

"Yes," Takai said with a sigh. "I told you that you'd never believe what killed the oni, but have you ever known me to lie, Haru-san?"

The merchant pursed his lips together. No, Takai was not one to lie. He could certainly tell some pretty good jokes and highly amusing tales, but he wasn't a liar. Still, a Yourouzoku?! They were all dead.

At least, they should be.

Haru clenched his jaw. Takai certainly seemed sincere. In addition, he was one of the few customers Haru trusted enough to allow to purchase goods on credit.

"You are certain this Yourouzoku was a friend of the taiji-ya?"

"She claimed him as her friend. She even called him by name. I think Kano said she called him 'Kouga' or "Kaga'... something like that."

Haru lips quirked downward.

"I know it sounds strange, but I witnessed the whole thing myself. The way he acted around her, especially when he picked her up... I'd say they were more than friends."

"She's taiji-ya! And human!"The merchant grimaced, disgusted.

"I know."

Haru shook his head, his eyes reflecting the same distaste that Takai felt.The thought of human beings and youkai together... like that... abominable!

Takai cleared his throat, distracting the merchant from of his thoughts."I should start back."

"Do you think you have a few minutes to spare?" Haru asked quickly, "I know you need to get home, but I'd really appreciate it if you could tell Ichiro-sama what you just told me."

Takai glanced toward the horizon, quickly gauging the amount of daylight he had left.

"I know Ichiro-sama would be very interested in hearing about this 'Kouga' beast and since you were there and saw everything..." Haru trailed off, refraining from repeating the question but still pressing the point home.

"Only for a few minutes," Takai said with a nod.

"Of course."

• • •

Sango slowly lifted her arm as she observed her injured shoulder. A wry quirk of her lips and a gentle hiss signaled the limit of her mobility and she relaxed her arm to her side, disappointment marring her features.

She still wasn't able to hold her arm straight out and she couldn't detect any improvement in her mobility. Even so, she was still recovering well overall. It took five days for her to regain enough strength to move around freely and another four for her to convince Kouga that she could do so without him following her everywhere. He still insisted that she was too pale, right up to the day they decided that the stitches needed removed.

That was two days ago.

With the stitches out and her overall strength returning, Sango wanted to get back into the pattern she was accustomed to. She wanted to practice her throws and train with Kirara and work in the garden... but she still wasn't ready yet.

"Here," Kouga said, startling Sango as he held a small bowl out toward her.

She took the bowl from him with a word of thanks and placed it in her lap. Sighing morosely, the taiji-ya rubbed some of the freshly made salve into her wounds.

"Stop making that noise."

Sango glanced up at the wolf sitting across from her, "What noise?"

"That sighing-pathetic noise," he mimicked the sound and rolled his eyes, emphasizing his point.

'You're one to talk,' she thought as she shot him a dark look before turning her attention back to her shoulder. As far as Sango was concerned, she was entitled to a little gloominess. She could barely lift her arm without lip-biting agony, let alone raise her hand over her head. How was she supposed to throw Hiraikotsu, let alone catch it, if she didn't have full use of her arms? Handling the Hiraikotsu required the ability to rotate one's shoulders.

"You're healing fine," he commented casually, as though reading her mind.

Sango swabbed another glob of salve on her shoulder and worked it into her skin without a word. Of course, she was healing fine. It wasn't as though she was unaware of how close she came to being skewered. She knew. The thing that caused her gloom was the uncertainty she felt. She simply couldn't shake it, nor could she ignore it.

Her concerns were all legitimate. She wasn't one to sweat the small stuff. Sango knew perfectly well that she'd inadvertently made the injury worse the night of the oni attack by continuing to fight. Adrenaline blanketed the pain that should have made her incapacitated. Of course, that adrenaline also provided her with the strength to fight and survive, but it came with a price. She wasn't naïve enough to think otherwise.

Healing took time. She knew that. She just had to be patient. One day at a time and all that... but damn if she wasn't sick and tired of feeling so bored and useless all the time. Not being able to keep herself busy meant that she spent most of her day thinking about her current situation. This "thinking" naturally transformed into "worry" as she questioned her future ability to effectively use Hiraikotsu again.

Sango concluded that in another week or two, once the pain subsided to more manageable levels, she would dedicate more time to building up her strength and flexibility. At which point she figured she should be able to determine the true amount of damage done to the muscles and tendons in her shoulder and chest.

Then, she would know. Once she knew, she could figure out what to do next. Until then, she could only worry. And worry she did.

"So now we've moved from that annoying sighing noise to that face."

Sango twitched at the sound of Kouga's voice. She didn't bother to look at him as she wiped the excess salve from her fingers. "What 'face' is that?" she asked, her voice dangerously even.

"That, 'I'm worried' face. The one you keep telling me you don't have. Like that weak sighing-pathetic noise."

"So what if I'm worried."

"You'll be able to use that boomerang again," Kouga remarked as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes.

Sango glanced at him, her eyes darkening.

"And even if you can't, you'll just have to take up another weapon and learn to compensate."

Teeth clenched. "I know that."

Kouga's eyes seemed far too smug for her liking. "Then why all this worry?"

"Because, what if I can't!" Sango retorted, her frustration beginning to boil over.

Much to her chagrin, Kouga smirked.

"Then I guess I'll just have to stick around and keep you out of trouble."

She blinked and peered at him, "Eh?"

"It's not as though you're an invalid," he continued, unfazed.

"And you're not totally helpless, especially for a human. Fighting that oni wasn't very smart, though. I wouldn't have let you go to that village. That was pretty stupid."

Jaw clenched. "Is this your way of trying to cheer me up?"

Kouga leaned back, "I guess so. You've been sighing like that since the stitches came out and I'm getting tired of it."

The taiji-ya's expression grew hard.

"Why wouldn't I try to 'cheer you up'?"

Sango blinked, her features immediately softening as Kouga once again threw her off guard. He was being so damn casual, so... open. Since the afternoon she awoke in her home with her shoulder freshly stitched and Kouga tending to her, she'd been at odds with his attitude and demeanor toward her.It wasn't that she didn't appreciate what he was doing, it was just so... unexpected.

And... nice.

Really nice.

That was probably what bothered her the most. It was just so... weird

"Kouga," Sango asked in a small voice, mesmerized by her cuticles, "why are you suddenly acting so nice to me?"

Silence answered her and she looked up to see Kouga staring off into space with a rare look of introspection. She shifted as she waited, regretting her question with every passing second.

"You called me your friend."

Sango raised an eyebrow.

"When I was trying to take you out of that village, one of the humans tried to stop me. You told him that you trust me, that I was your friend."

Sango's brows drew together, "I... I thought you knew that already."

Kouga snorted. "Yourouzoku don't have non-Yourouzoku friends, especially human 'friends.'"

"Even when we fought together? What about Kagome?"

"We were united against Naraku out of hatred toward Naraku, not because we were friends and not out of any loyalty. Kagome wasn't my friend, I wanted her as my mate."

Sango digested his words, watching his expression until she felt her cheeks begin to flush. "Sooo, because I called you friend... you decided that you're my friend, too?"

Kouga's brows creased, "Not exactly."

Curious, Sango dared to look at him once more only to see his eyes focused on some distant point beyond the cabin wall. She waited expectantly, ignoring the growing warmth in her cheeks.

"You saved my life and I was cruel to you," he said, fidgeting with his wrist brace. "I owed you."

"That's why?"

He rubbed his nose, trying to hide the slight blush that began to surface."Partly."

"Partly?"

His prolonged silence and spreading blush caused Sango's heart to suddenly pound furiously in her chest as an answer jumped to the forefront of her mind. Kouga's senses perked up at the sudden changes in the human sitting across from him and he ventured a look in her direction.

A charged silence fell between the pair, each feeling suddenly and strangely shy.With Kagome, Kouga wanted her for what she could do for him... but Sango...

Sango was different. Moreover, he still wasn't certain why Sango was different and why that difference made him feel so unusual. It wasn't a bad thing. Not really. The emotions were strong and unfamiliar, but exciting, too. They left him feeling puzzled, frustrated and affected without ground reason. Kouga vowed that until he has an understanding of what he felt, he was going to keep his peculiar feelings to himself.

"We're alike, you and I," he said at last, his eyes finally finding hers."We've both lost everything. We're both the last of our kind."

The taiji-ya's lips curled up, giving him a ghost of a smile. Cheeks glowing with an attractive flush, "That's true. We're both survivors."

He smiled in reply, the first genuine smile she remembered seeing directed at her since the day they first met.

"It's good to have a friend."