Right, so, I know I must apologize for waiting so long to update. Especially after leaving you all with such a cliffhanger ending. (Which, strangely enough, I didn't see as too cliffhangie, after all - I knew what was going to happen. Took my husband to point it out. Heh.) I'd love to say that I've spent the time honing each sentence and phrase of this new chapter, sweating over every word, but sadly - no. I was wrapped up in boring, deadliney, job type things. Poo. So the usual foolish mistakes will occur. Things may go wildly OOC. Men will pale. Women will faint. And, despite my best efforts, names may be misspelled.
And, erm, thank you to Arium for pointing out that I've flipped Miroku's wind tunnel. See, this is why no one will include me in their world domination plans. "Take China!" they'll say. "Right-ie-o!" I'll say cheerily. And then I'll invade Russia.
Chapter Seven: In which our hero breaks some things and a discovery is made.
Rain beat down in an unstoppable flood; the roar of its passage was like a thousand oceans. And Miroku was drowning. He struggled weakly against the force of his own death, but without much needed air, his attempts were worse than useless. Every time he moved he was pressed tighter to the tree and his lungs had less room to expand. Logically he knew that his one chance of survival was to stay passively still, but his body could not accept that. So he kept on struggling. And dying.
Light left him, darkening down to tiny pinpricks. His body felt strangely weightless, otherworldly, as though it was preparing him for the journey beyond. His one coherent thought was that this was an incredibly stupid way to die. But then, inexplicably, the pressure behind him lessened. Miroku felt himself slipping down the tree, rough bark scraping his face as he sank to the ground. He greedily sucked air into empty lungs, his ribs creaking painfully as they were finally allowed to expand.
Suddenly his robes tightened around his neck, cutting off his air. Again. And he was flying through the rain; thrown with an inhuman strength to land on the wet ground heavily enough to drive what little breath he'd gained back out of his body. Desperately, Miroku ignored the protest of his body and reached into his robes. The rain was falling thickly enough to be blinding, but if he could bring an ofuda into play, he didn't think accuracy would be too important. But before his fingers could even brush against paper, his wrists were grabbed.
This time, both of his hands were wrenched over his head, pinned down to the ground by a humiliatingly unbreakable one handed grip. A weight settled onto his stomach, and then his assailant was leaning over him, blocking the deluge as he stared grimly down at Miroku, hair a dripping curtain around him, rain running down his face like tears, ears flat with rage. And Miroku realized that the only reason he was alive right now had nothing to do with mercy and everything to do with the demonic lust for torn flesh. Suffocation would not be satisfying; there needed to be blood-spray.
"Wait," he gasped. "Inuyasha, please -," He was cut off by the half-demon's hand wrapping around his neck, claws digging into tender skin.
"Wait for what, Miroku," Inuyasha spat. "For you to explain? You honestly think you can talk your way of this?"
"It's not what you think!"
"Stop lying to me!"
And Miroku was flying through the air again, though this time he hit a tree with a crunching sound he didn't want to think about before he crumpled to the ground. Inuyasha was on him before Miroku even had time to register that his hands were free. And then he was pinned again, hands over head, Inuyasha's knee on his stomach, his claws at Miroku's throat, ribs screaming out a protest that brought back the whole thrown-into-a-tree thing that Miroku was doing his best to ignore.
"Inuyasha don't! Listen to me, it was just a kiss. Just a harmless kiss!"
Inuyasha looked down at him, rage and betrayal twisting his face into a snarling mask. "I heard you. And I," he looked slightly nauseous, "I smelled you. And when the rains came I fucking saw you! You and her - " Inuyasha's eyes blazed. "You shouldn't of ever looked at her you filthy shit! You shouldn't of ever THOUGHT about her!" His hand tightened.
By all the demons in hell, Inuyasha had seen them at the cave? Miroku's mind went blank. There was no reasonable explanation for what had happened at the cave. Nothing he could think of to stop Inuyasha from tearing his throat out. He tried to come up with something, anything, but his persuasive abilities abandoned him. And Inuyasha sneered down at him, lips twisted into a terrible parody of a smile.
"What? No more lies, Miroku? Are you done betraying our friendship? My trust?"
Miroku choked out Inuyasha's name. Because he was wrong. It wasn't like that at all. Inuyasha ignored him.
"She's pure, Miroku. She has an innocence I would die to protect, that you should have died to protect, and instead you treated it like a challenge." Inuyasha spat out those last words, his voice dripping with disgust.
"Inuyasha, no. It wasn't like that!"
Inuyasha's hand tightened.
"She came to me!" Miroku stared up at Inuyasha in shock. He hadn't meant to say that.
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "Stop. Fucking. Lying!" But his grip lessened. Just a little bit, but it lessened, so Miroku decided to damn all of his principles and go with the truth.
"I'm not! Damn it, listen to me! She was tired of being untouched. Tired of being overlooked, and she wanted it to be you, but you kept her at a distance, so she came to me." Miroku closed his eyes and turned his face away. "She came to me, but she always wanted it to be you."
Inuyasha shifted, and his knee came off of Miroku's stomach, and Miroku was starting to think that maybe he'd get out of this alive. But then Inuyasha laughed, a dry, unamused laugh, and his hopes plummeted.
"You are so full of shit."
Miroku looked up and Inuyasha was smiling down at him again, and somehow that was not comforting. Not comforting at all.
Inuyasha leaned closer. "I told you, I heard EVERYTHING, bastard."
He started to dig his claws into Miroku's stomach, and Miroku had seen men disemboweled, and it wasn't pretty and it smelled worse and he sure as hell didn't want to die that way. He could see his staff, gleaming in the rain, just a hands breadth away, but impossibly out of reach. He tried to twist away from Inuyasha's claws, but as soon as he started to move, the half-demon brought his knee down onto Miroku's thighs, and he was trapped and he was going to die, and damn Inuyasha to the ninth level of hell, he'd been telling the TRUTH!
"Listen to me you fucking moron, SHE. WANTED. YOU!!!" And Inuyasha blinked down at him in surprise, but Miroku was too pissed to notice. "Do you think it's been easy, being your fucking stand in! Do you think I enjoy being second choice, knowing that every time she closes her eyes, she's picturing you! It's been fucking hell and it's all because of you and your damn indecisiveness and your complete inability to notice when paradise is being offered to you on a fucking platter!" With a roar of rage, Miroku twisted out of Inuyasha's grasp and rolled onto his feet, grabbing up his staff as he moved.
Inuyasha leapt to his feet as soon as Miroku had gained his, claws at the ready. And it looked like he was thinking. Which was terrifying in its own way. "So I'm supposed to thank you for your sacrifice? Is that it? You really do think I'm stupid." He made a feint at Miroku, and Miroku swung his staff up protectively.
"But let's say you're telling the truth," Inuyasha stalked slowly towards Miroku, forcing him back out of the tree line and into the clearing. "Let's say it's me she wants and you're just doing me a favor." He was grinning a small, angry, bloodthirsty grin, and there was a calculating look in his eyes. "There's an easy answer to this whole thing."
Miroku tightened his grip on his staff. His robes were soaked and the rain was driving his hair into his eyes. And just to add to the excitement, his footing wasn't all that great. The grass was rain slicked and slippery with mud and he knew that if he went down, Inuyasha would be on him in less than a heartbeat, his claws digging into something vital. And even as he contemplated that, Inuyasha suddenly turned into a red blur, and he brought up his staff as his mind screamed, too slow, too slow, and something tugged at his side, and then Inuyasha was behind him.
"Surprised someone as smart as you never thought of it." Inuyasha stared thoughtfully at his reddened claws, watching the color mingle with the rain and drip down his hand to circle round his wrist and run down his arm.
As Miroku turned to face him, he slipped down to one knee, a stinging pain flaring in his side. Blood, he realized. The red on Inuyasha's claws was his blood.
Inuyasha looked down at Miroku, a dry grin twisting across his face. "I'll take it from here. And you never touch her again."
Miroku shook his head, throwing rain soaked hair out of his eyes. "What?" Nothing Inuyasha said made sense. Take what from where?
"Bitch has needs. Obviously I've been neglecting them. So thanks for the assist, but I'll take it from here." And still Inuyasha wore that tight, angry, calculating, grin.
It was funny, because the rain was warm, but Miroku was suddenly cold. He knew he was gripping his staff, but he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel the squelching mud beneath his knee. He couldn't even feel the pounding rain. It was like his entire body had gone numb. His mouth opened, but he had nothing to say.
Inuyasha, examining his blooded claws again, was oblivious. "You always make out that you're this huge gift to women, but how hard could it be? If she wants it so badly, I can give -,"
Miroku had no memory of consciously deciding to move. One moment he was kneeling in the mud, the next he was charging at Inuyasha, staff crackling with holy energy he didn't remember calling forth. The first swing took Inuyasha in the face, Miroku's arm thrilling with the feel of breaking bone. And then he was reversing direction, going in low to sweep Inuyasha's legs out from under him. The half-demon crashed to the ground and Miroku speared his staff down for the final deadly strike.
Feeling returned. Sound returned. And someone was screaming. It was a sound of pure fury and Miroku was shocked to realize it was coming from him. His arm muscles were trembling with the effort of pushing downward, and Inuyasha was gripping the bottom of his staff, barely holding off the lethal blow Miroku had aimed at his throat. The staff was burning with power and Miroku knew that it must be causing Inuyasha a huge amount of pain. He was a half-demon after all. But he was laughing. The crazy son of a bitch was laughing.
Miroku took a step back, pulling his staff out of Inuyasha's grip, shaking his head to clear it of the bloodthirsty wrath that had been coursing through him. "What's so funny? Inuyasha, I almost killed you!" And even though Inuyasha had been trying to kill him, Miroku was still horrified. Inuyasha was the one who flew into murderous rages. Miroku was supposed to be more disciplined.
Inuyasha pushed himself up into a sitting position, taking the time to spit out some blood and what looked like a few teeth, still chuckling as he massaged his injured hands. "And you call me a moron," he said half under his breath. He looked up at Miroku. "Gonna change your story now?"
Miroku took another step back, holding his staff up protectively. Just because Inuyasha seemed passive at the moment did not mean it was wise to lower his guard. "What do you mean?"
Inuyasha chose to ignore him. "I have to admit you're sure as hell not my first choice. But you're better than that fucking Hojou. At least you can fight." He grinned slyly at Miroku. "When you're properly motivated anyway."
"Inuyasha -,"
"There will be a few ground rules," Inuyasha said right over Miroku's weak attempt at an interruption. "First, no kids. Not now. You wait 'til we're done. Second, nothing goes on in my hearing range. You groan like a wounded pig, monk." Inuyasha leapt to his feet, and Miroku took another step back, tightening his grip on the staff. But Inuyasha merely pointed a stern finger at him. "And third, no more sneaking around. You start treating her with some damn respect."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Miroku felt like his head was going to fall off. Or explode. Or at the very least spin around a few times. Because Inuyasha was making no sense at all. None.
"You really are stupid." Inuyasha said tiredly, like Miroku was the one being difficult. "She's yours now. You made a claim, you backed it up, and now she's yours."
Miroku sat down. Stupid thing to do when being confronted by an angry demon, half or otherwise. But his legs just stopped working. Even when Inuyasha squatted down in front of him, leaning in so that all Miroku could see was the golden burn of his eyes, there was no way the monk could make himself move.
"You do make a claim, don't you Miroku?" Inuyasha whispered, the cold threat of sudden violence rippling through his muted voice. "She wasn't just some idle entertainment was she?"
'No! No. I just..." Miroku looked away from Inuyasha's fierce gaze. "It's just... doesn't she get a say?"
Inuyasha snorted, "Yeah. Sure." He waved a hand in dismissal of Miroku's very real worry and stood up, obviously satisfied with whatever had just happened.
Miroku's head was still spinning, but he was able to climb to his feet. "I think," he said tentatively, and then with greater authority, "I think I need a drink."
Inuyasha laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Fuck yeah! Now you're talking sense."
"You're going to drink with me?" That had never happened before.
"Hell yeah. We're family now," Inuyasha said cheerfully. Then added in a mutter, "In the weird kind of fucked up way that seems to be my life," as he headed off towards the village. And Miroku, who decided he was no longer going to be surprised by anything, ever again, stumbled after him.
Miroku picked up a large quantity of sake from his usual village source, while Inuyasha lurked around the corner. Neither of them had discussed it, but they both knew that while the villagers tolerated the half-demon's presence, and some even thought of him as a sort of good luck charm, a possibly-soon-to-be-drunk demon would have caused worry. So Miroku got to look like he was about to embark on a major drinking binge. Which kind of fit with the reputation he'd built up. The local brewer didn't blink at the size of his order and if the man was startled by Miroku's disheveled appearance, he had the good grace not to let it show.
Under the same theory that 'drinking demon' equaled 'unhappy villagers' they avoided any public gathering areas and settled into the same shed Miroku had used to store the bandit's takings earlier that day. Very little light seeped through the one narrow window as dusk, unperturbed by the torrential rainfall, crept steadily across the land. So they kept the door open to coax what dim light was left into the small room.
Miroku tried to find a comfortable position, gave up after discovering the tenth previously undiscovered injury, and instead broke into the sake. It wasn't the best he'd ever had, a touch too sweet, but it got the job done. So he let his head drop back against the wall behind him (and yup, there was another bruise) as he enjoyed the slow burn of the first few swallows. The sound of rain was wonderfully hypnotic, and as the darkness grew, Miroku gained a strange sense of equilibrium, helped of course by the sake. He still felt like he was spinning just a little left of reality, but now at least, reality seemed ready to spin along with him.
Inuyasha was just a dark shape in the shadows, and Miroku didn't realize he'd been staring at the half-demon until yellow eyes blazed out at him. "What?" Inuyasha asked irritably.
Well, since he asked. "No kids? As your first ground rule?"
"Yeah well, pregnancy can do weird things to women. And Kagome's not very steady with her priestess skills to begin with." Inuyasha looked away from him to stare back out at the rain.
"You've thought about the effect of pregnancy on Kagome?" Miroku tried really hard to match that sort of responsible thinking with the Inuyasha he knew.
"Not on Kagome," Inuyasha said quickly. "I... just... Let's just say that I've thought about priestesses and pregnancy before." There was the sound of copious amounts of liquid being swallowed.
Miroku frowned at the Inuyasha shadow. Kikyou sprang immediately to mind, and he started to get a fuzzy picture of Inuyasha's earlier meeting with the dead priestess. Blech. "Recently?" he asked.
And Inuyasha was back to the glaring. "No, not recently! Before, when I... I mean, she... Fuck, Miroku, just drop it, okay?"
Miroku was more than willing. Kikyou was beautiful, but there was the whole being dead thing to get over and the visuals were not fun. "You didn't kill me," he said by way of a topic change, then winced. That was supposed to be a topic he avoided. Damn, damn, damn the sake. How much had he had anyway?
But Inuyasha was laughing, a quiet easy laugh. "Yeah, but I could have, monk. Didn't think it'd be that easy."
"You surprised me!" Miroku said petulantly. And he hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"Next time I'll give you plenty of warning. Look out, Miroku! I'm coming to kill you!" Inuyasha was really laughing now. Oh yeah, the man was a wit.
"Yeah, well, I got you in the end," Miroku said defensively. And damn it, that was supposed to be another avoided topic.
Inuyasha hiccuped a few times. "Yeah. You did. Once I got you going."
Miroku stared back out at the rain. It was starting to die off a little. He could see the lights of the village now. And he really had almost killed Inuyasha. In a moment of passion. His mouth twisted sourly. That was not what he was supposed to be like. With the kind of weapon he walked around with, he needed to be fully under control. All the time. Instead he'd almost killed Inuyasha. He was a horribly shitty monk.
"You are a shitty monk. But you didn't really try and kill me."
For a heart-twisting moment Miroku thought that Inuyasha had developed the ability to read thoughts. Then he realized he'd been thinking out loud. So much for control. He sighed. "Yes, I did Inuyasha. And if you'd been just a little slower I would have succeeded."
The Inuyasha shadow leaned a little closer, eyes burning. "No way you could kill me with just your staff, wimp. If you really wanted me dead you'd have to release your wind tunnel." The eyes focused back out at the night. "And even then, you'd fail."
Miroku blinked at him for a few moments, then stared down at his covered palm. He hadn't even considered the wind tunnel. Why? It was hard to remember what he'd been thinking at the time. Miroku wasn't sure that any thinking had occurred at all. All he could recall was a burning need to see Inuyasha's brains sprayed across the grassy clearing. And he'd wanted to feel the blows. He could remember that. Because Inuyasha had threatened to take Kagome away from him. Which lead to a truly terrifying thought.
"I think," he murmured, then louder, worry clouding his voice, "Inuyasha, I think I love her."
Inuyasha snorted. "Really."
"But I can't! Inuyasha, I can't have her! I'm - tainted! And - I'm a bad man, Inuyasha. Very bad. And - and - I'm..." Dying. He was going to say dying. But some things should never be said. Never. "I can't have her," he said quietly.
Inuyasha continued to stare out at the rain, now just a gentle shower. He sighed, and Miroku didn't think he'd ever heard him sound so despondent. "Too late, Miroku," he said. And the rain stopped.
"No. Inuyasha, this wasn't supposed to happen. I guarded against this. I had it all carefully planned."
"Yeah, well no one screws up a plan like Kagome." Inuyasha laughed fondly. "I think it's one of her secret powers."
Miroku dropped his head against the wall, idly reminding himself that he had a bruise back there, and stared at the shadowy darkness of the ceiling. "Shit," he murmured.
"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed.
There was more drinking, and some more talking, but on much safer topics. Places they'd been, foes they'd defeated, the usual things. By the time the sake ran out and they started making their way home, Miroku was trying to teach Inuyasha a dirty song he'd picked up while on the road. At a fishing village he thought, though that part was a bit fuzzy. One thing was certain: Inuyasha could not sing. What he lacked in pitch, however, he made up for in volume. So they were both singing with great enthusiasm when they stumbled through Lady Kaede's door, each trying to prop the other up.
"...and washed her clothes away!" Inuyasha bellowed, swinging the arm not tangled around Miroku out widely.
"Away! Away! Away!" Miroku added in a rather beautiful counter point harmony if he did say so himself. Then he noticed the lack of lights. "Inuyasha! We need to be extra quiet! Everyone's sleeping!" Okay, so that wasn't quite the whisper he'd been going for. Something was wrong with his volume control.
"Not any longer," a voice said dryly. There was a spark and then a flaring light illuminating Lady Kaede's unamused face. She gave them her best glare and then her good eye widened in surprise. Someone gasped.
"What happened? Where's Kagome?" Sango moved forward into the light, her sleep lined face twisting with worry. "Who attacked you?"
Miroku squinted in Sango's general direction, partially blinded by the sudden light, and partially confused by Sango's panic. He glanced over at Inuyasha, a 'what the hell's wrong with her?' look all ready to go, and then he saw what the commotion was about.
"Inuyasha! Look at you!" The side of Inuyasha's face was one angry, mottled, bruise. And his cheekbone looked - wrong. Like it had slipped out of place somehow. Though with the swelling it was hard to tell. The wild grin Inuyasha was giving him did nothing to improve his appearance. Especially with the missing teeth.
"You should see the other guy," Inuyasha said with a chortle. Then he let Miroku drop. "There's the one you get to poke at, old woman. Kagome went back to her own time and I'm going to bed."
There may have been some argument over that final statement. Miroku wasn't sure, because hitting the floor had been a really bad idea. First there was the pain, and then there was... No, it was all pain. Damn the sake and its insufficient numbing properties. He made a pitiful moaning sound and Lady Kaede was leaning over him, blocking out the steadily increasing light.
"Sango, leave the lamps for a moment and help me get him onto a bed."
Which sounded like a fluffy good thing, especially compared to the hard wooden floor. But there was moving involved, and Miroku was afraid that he didn't handle it in quite the stoic manner he was usually so good at. But no one commented so maybe he'd been okay, and once he was there, the bed really was nice.
There was another not so great moment when his upper garments were removed. He'd completely forgotten about the wounds in his side. He remembered them now. Material had matted into his blood as it dried and he thought that Sango was trying to be careful as she pulled his clothing away from his side, at least she winced with every slow tug, but it was still an experience he would have rather faced while in a drunken stupor. Which he'd failed to achieve.
"What's this?"
Miroku blinked blearily over at Sango as she pulled something from his robes to show to Lady Kaede. There was a flash of shiny black, and Miroku was struggling to get up, reaching out towards Sango, and shrugging aside Lady Kaede's restraining hand. "That's mine!" he cried as he grabbed at the package. "It was given to me!"
Startled, Sango let him have the bag, and Miroku collapsed back down, hugging it to his chest. "It makes me a billboard," he earnestly explained to Lady Kaede. "She likes billboards."
And she nodded down at him, stroking his hair out of his face. "Of course, child. We'll keep it right here beside you." She tucked the package on the floor beside him, and put his hand on top of it, so he could feel that it was there. She smiled reassuringly, and he smiled sleepily back at her.
He faded in and out after that. Lady Kaede and Sango bathed and bandaged his various hurts, and he must have cracked some ribs, because there was a not so soothing part where he had to sit up while they wrapped his chest. But he even slept through that a little. And finally they were done, and Lady Kaede made him drink a truly foul tea, which he figured was punishment for waking her up. Though she just smiled at him when he muttered as much, and said he'd thank her in the morning. Then she made him drink another cup of it, so he just shut up and drank, and finally he was allowed to drift blissfully into sleep.