4- The Red Queen
"Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman." - Augustine
-
I've never been in such awful form going into a tournament. The nametag attracted a few raised eyebrows and whispers, but they did nothing for my ego. My satellite is in an hour, it's been almost three days since I got a decent amount of sleep, I can't even eat.
If only I could just have a few words with Sango.
She's my good luck charm, you see. She has been since we met. Until we got married and had them framed to hang above our bed, I carried in my wallet the King of Diamonds and the Queen of Hearts from our first match -snitched from InuYasha's deck that same night. They were accompanied by other tokens collected over the past few years that now carry my banner: pictures of Sango alone, Sango with me, Sango with Kagome and InuYasha, and the most recent, Sango six months pregnant, before she declared that if I came at her with the camera one more time it would go out the window. I wear the earrings she gave me our first Christmas together, and my wedding ring, of course.
My wife is my poker goddess, and I can't help but feel that even with all these offerings and proof of my love, my goddess is frowning on me today.
If I don't even make it past the satellite, I'm as good as dead.
She has to know that.
I have to know she knows that.
I have to call someone, somewhere, so I call Kagome.
"I can't believe you're calling from Vegas." Her voice is icy and I wince. I can only imagine what Sango's told her. "And from Spiderwebs. If you family would've just stayed out of there, you wouldn't have this problem in the first place."
"But I do have this problem, and I'm here to fix it. You know that. We've always talked about it, Sango and I."
"Yeah, that was before she was pregnant. Miroku, she could have the baby any day!"
"I know."
"You know, and you still went."
Is there no one in this world on my side?
"I want to be there to see my child grow up. To have other children. This might be my last chance." She sighs. I sigh. "Kagome, please, is Sango there? I need to talk to her."
"She's not here. I haven't seen her since yesterday."
"But she won't answer our phone-"
"I don't know where she is, Miroku, I'm sorry."
What do I say to that? Do I beg her to tell me if Sango is still angry? Do I ask her to wish me luck? Do I tell her that I'm sorry for all I've done, I messed up big time, I shouldn't have-
"Hey man." And InuYasha saves the day by taking the phone from Kagome.
"Hi?"
"Look, I dunno what to tell you. Sango was pissed with a capital T when she came over yesterday, and I swear to gods she looked like she might just kill me in your place."
"Thanks. You know, because that's what I wanted to hear. I play my satellite to qualify in-" I check my watch, "Forty minutes, I haven't eaten since I left home, I haven't slept since before that, and you tell me my wife wants to kill me. I mean, do you have any other great things you'd like to share with me before I go blow everything?"
"Yeah."
"Well?"
"Good luck."
"Excuse me?"
"Good luck. Break a leg and all that shit. Call if you need us to fly down."
And then the conversation is over.
-
My story with Sango doesn't go in a very exciting fashion. I didn't woo her slowly, from afar, waiting until the time was right until I confessed my love, she confessed hers, and we fell into bed.
I didn't keep her at bay with gropes, or try to drive her crazy by flirting with other women until we tearfully confessed our love and then fell into bed.
I asked her to dinner and a rematch a few days after the game at InuYasha and Kagome's. She said yes, though neither of us knew why. I guess she liked me better the second time around because we didn't make it through one round of Hold'em or even out of her apartment before we fell into bed, and then we ordered in pizza, played cards and made love until dawn.
I missed all of my classes the next day, including the one I TA-ed for, and I didn't bother to call in. I was ass over knees for her, and have been ever since.
You see the one thing I love better than cards is women, and the one thing I love better than all women is Sango, my beautiful Sango, my wonderful, perfect Sango.
And what makes her even more special is that Sango is, as I mentioned before, an excellent poker player. Many of our following dates involved local poker tournaments, and when we were there no one else took first and second. We drove down to New Orleans once to compete there. She took second, I took third, and we spent it all our winnings on expensive dinners, hotels, and were broke by the time we came home.
Kagome told me she'd never seen Sango happier.
InuYasha told her he'd never seen me more monogamous.
But one evening when I told her that during our first game I'd made a deal with the poker gods that if I won, I would marry her, she threw the entire deck we were playing with in my face and told me to leave.
Whenever she's upset, she always aims above the neck.
-
I choke down half a roast-beef sandwich before I feel like I'm going to throw up and go check my seating assignment. The satellite rooms are already full of players, reporters, spectators, dealers, and a few of the managers of Spiderwebs - it's their eyes that I draw when I walk into the room.
They've either identified the McHoushi legacy on site, or they're worried I'm going to vomit on one of the felt tables. They are both distinct possibilities.
There's a lot of big names here, and a lot of great competition from people I've never heard of before. I blink to focus as I think I see InuYasha's older brother across the room, but Sesshoumaru would never lower himself to a competition like this.
Sitting down in my seat, I survey the others as they begin to filter through the crowd and take their places. A lot of them are demons, which only makes sense. If you want respect in the poker world, and in Vegas, you come to Spiderwebs and you play Naraku's game. It's the only time when you can mostly count on him not stabbing you in the back.
For at least a few days.
I see a few women meandering around, and it makes me smile, if ever so slightly. I've always felt poker needed more women, but then I've always felt every vocation needed that. It's another thing I was taught by my father before his death: to respect and love the fickle nature of both the cards and women, and they'll reward you.
Sango and I have talked about coming here together and playing for the real deal.
Had might be a better word.
If she were here right now, there'd be no question I would win the whole shebang, but I've got nothing and no one but the shiny paper faces on the pictures I pull out of my wallet, laying them in chronological order at my place.
She might be busy hating me right now, but as long as this ring is on my left hand and I still have my right, her face is going to be my lucky charm, and my baby a reason to win.
At the very least, having her pictures here will keep me from puking on the table.
I hope.
