I recently bought the rites to both Miroku and Sango.
And if you believe that then I have a bridge to sell you.
And man! I'm sorry I took so long! Please forgive me! I had computer trouble!
And masked bandit, leave your e-mail! And the flashback was from the manga, duh!
When Tomorrow Starts Without You
By:
Chapter 8: ...Beautiful...
"What is it Sango?"
"Something...evil..." Inuyasha's grip on tetsusaiga tightened even though the mighty fang could not transform and he felt disgusted with himself for not being able to sense the aura. "It's inside the inn."
"Let's go then!" Grabbing her bow Kagome leapt forward and ran through the open shoji. "Come on Sango!" Without even bothering to don her battle gear the taiji-ya was racing down the hall followed closely by Kirara, Shippo and Inuyasha.
"In this small of a space we won't be able to do any fighting!" Calling forward she made the racing miko stop and look back, mere walls away from the youkai. "We'll have to get it out side."
"I have to get it outside!" The monk screamed inside and willed his heart not to lurch so. Yume was there. In the claws, in danger...and there was nothing he could do.
"Feeling anxious?" The demon hissed sending drool snaking down its chin into the thick bulging neck muscles.
"Give her to me." The young man rasped back, the tightness in his throat growing. The claws gripped tighter, drawing blood that trickled in tiny crimson rivulets down the precious face.
His heart clenched. Yume whimpered.
"Let her go." Frantically he tried to think of a plan as the youkai drew a deadly paw across the tender white throat.
"But...I am not done..." it bared its sharp teeth in an ugly grin.
"Done with what?" He struggled to remain under control; one wrong move and Yume would die.
"Draining her life energy...of course...silly houshi-sama..." Violet eyes spotted something white gripped in Yume's sweaty palm. The scroll.
"Yume!" Her eyes flickered open. "Yume! Open your hand!" The demon paused, unsure of what was happening while the little girl hesitated and sweat dripped off the priest. "Please! Listen to houshi-sama!"
"Hou...houshi...sama..." she whispered and opened her tiny fingers. The youkai laughed as the tiny strip of paper fluttered to the floor.
"D, damn it!" He cursed as the o-fuda just missed the demon's toes. If it had only landed in the right spot...
"Is that it? A slip of paper! Stupid little man!" It stepped forward and crushed it with one taloned foot, shrieking in pain and throwing Yume into the air. Rushing forward he gathered her in his arms as she fell and raced down the halls followed closely by the roaring demon.
"Yume," he whispered gently, "are you all right? Can you hear me?" His bare feet pounded the floorboards and in his frantic haste almost slipped as he took a sharp corner and burst through the shoji joining the outside hall and the foyer together. The thin wood splintered and dug into his arms as he protected the quivering bundle he held in them. Finally, as the demon nipped at his heels, he was able to rip open the door and tear into the silent night, yelling for help and shattering it with his screams.
"Come back here! Face me so that I may eat you!"
"Please Yume, be all right..." the young monk muttered holding her tighter with one arm and a handful of o-fuda in his fist. He smirked. "Come and eat me if you think you can."
"Over here," Kagome whispered, pointing, "the youkai is outside-huh!" Her hand flew to her lips and she ducked back to the others. "Miroku-sama...he's out there!" Tears overwhelmed her and she wiped them away with her free hand and then let them fall. "He's fighting it, I know it's him!" Her smile faded at the bitter disbelief that stained the taiji-ya's face. "Sango-chan? What's wrong?"
"It can't be him..." she whispered bitterly, "we saw his body...I saw his body...bleeding, lifeless...Kagome, it can't be him!" Flinching as Kagome gently touched a hand to her shoulder she looked up briefly then hid her face in Kirara's fur. "It can't be..." How could the world be doing this to her? Why? Hadn't she suffered enough? If he was dead then let it be, why did it have to haunt her over and over again? Why did it have to remind her?
"Sango-chan...it is, even the glove that covers the kazaana is there, it can't be anyone else." The taiji-ya shook her head but inside she remembered what Kagura had told her and she resounded to believe in those words.
"By no means give up hope...I never have..."
"I saw him dead," Sango murmured, "but I did not see him die." Quietly she stole to the broken doorway and looked around the outside just in time to see Miroku's body go flying.
"Stupid priest! You think a strong will and a slip of paper will defeat me? How dare you!" The beast roared forward and the young man knew at once exactly who he was fighting.
"Obaa-san?" He whispered, frozen in place, before his body was flung away by a powerful cuff of the youkai's claws.
"Hiraikotsu!" The demon was sliced in half and the flying bone returned to it's wielder. "Houshi-sama!" The voice again, the one he had heard in his dreams, was hovering over him. Weakly he coughed and blood flecked his lips as he clutched Yume closer.
"Yume..." he gasped and sat up holding her in his arms, cradling her dying form, not noticing the woman embracing him from behind. Smiling, a tear trickled down her cheek mingling with the young man and the tiny girl's blood as he bent closer to the small one, trying to discern the mumbled words.
"Houshi...sama...she is...beautiful..." gently Yume sighed and looked upwards at Sango, grinning as she closed her eyes forever.
"Damn you...stupid bitch!"
"What?" Inuyasha started forward with the untransformed tetsusaiga, holding it out defensively shielding Kagome from the resurrected demon, now of which there was two.
"Houshi...you know me...I helped you...you won't hurt me again...will you...?"
"Uh?" He made as if to speak but was cut off by Sango stepping in front of him.
"Back off! You won't take him from me again!" However she failed to see just what was happening behind her as she took the demon pair on with Kagome and Inuyasha by her side.
"Miroku? What's wrong? Miroku!" Shippo couldn't reach the despondent houshi even by shaking and grabbing his clothes. He just kneeled there with the dead child in his arms and a glazed look, being tormented from within...
"Kill them all..."
"...N...no..."
"Do it..."
"No...I...I can't...they..."
"They are the enemy...they killed Yume...they are murderers..."
"No...The demon..."
"Is your ally...your friend...she will help you regain what is lost..."
"...No...It's not the truth...no..."
"...Yes...kill them...kill them for what they have done...for what they will do..."
"...Enemy..."
"...Yes...the enemy...look...they are trying to kill your ally..."
"...Ally...friend..."
"...Yes...kill them all...kill them all!"
"...Kill...them...?"
"Miroku?"
"I must..." his body shuddered as he placed Yume gently on the ground beside Shippo and rose shakily to his feet. "I...must..."
"You must what? Help them Miroku! Use the Kazaana!"
"...Kill...them..." His fingers clenched into fists. "...Murderers..." Slowly he made his way towards the trio of fighters all of which were holding their own and ignoring him for the most part. This was a fight for him, to protect what they had just found. They wouldn't lose!
"Houshi-sama! Are you going to help us? You should be resting; we can take this demon!" They were trying to kill it without severing any other parts and it was proving difficult...but if Miroku could just suck it in...
"...kill..."
"...kill..."
"What? Are you going to use the kazaana?" He swayed and Sango looked at him with worry in her eyes. Kagome stopped firing arrows and Inuyasha stopped beating at the youkai with the flat edge of the tetsusaiga and even the demons paused and just looked at the monk.
"...you will pay...for what you did..." he steadied and looked around at all of them. "...I will...avenge...her..." His voice was flat and dull, his eyes half-lidded and foggy.
"What?" Sango asked, taking a step closer to him and placing her hand on his shoulder he covered it with his own.
"I will kill you all!" He grabbed the hidden wrist blades and wrenched them from Sango's arms holding the broken metal with his bare hands, making them bleed. He slashed at her before the others could move and if she had been any slower would have removed her head. All she received was a cut on the cheek.
"Houshi-sama...why...?"
"Who cares why!" Inuyasha cried, "fight him back, I'll take care of the demons!" She looked at the raging priest, fear held deep in her eyes not for herself but for what she might have to ultimately do...and after just now gaining him back...
"I...can't..."
"What!? Ahck!" Blood streamed down Inuyasha's front as Miroku rammed the broken blades into his back. "Mi...roku!" The hanyou turned human threw the monk away from him and hoped Kagome would be all right. For all he knew Naraku would appear out of nowhere and kill them all without them even knowing it. Anything could happen now.
"You...killed...her..." Sango choked back her tears. Miroku was obviously sick and injured and only more blood dripped to the ground from his new wounds and she couldn't help him, only watch him lunge forward for another attack just like she when Naraku controlled her...
"Sango!" Inuyasha whisked her out of the way with inches to spare. "I'll take care of him if you can't." He spat blood, hoping that the bright streaks on the horizon were the sun and not his ebbing vision, and bunched himself on the ground preparing to spring forward.
"I will...kill you all!" Broken metal flashed in the air as the two collided, Inuyasha holding the other's arms by his sides. "Let me go! I'll kill you all!" Miroku struggled; screaming until his houriki found it's way back to him through his shattered memories and burst through his body searing the hanyou's hands raw. But still Inuyasha held on, determined to make Miroku listen to him.
"Stop it! Miroku!" The blinding flash of powerful energy made the others close their eyes and vaporized the demons left behind.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed.
"Miroku!" The clawed grip weakened and the monk screamed louder, lost in his blood rage.
"I won't let you kill her! Sango!" Slowly the light lessened and he slumped lower until only Inuyasha held him up. "I won't let you kill...Sango..."
"Miroku?" His look was that of a frightened animal, confused, hurt and afraid. Slowly he looked around at everyone, lingering on Yume's still face and then drifting back to Inuyasha's.
"You can't..." abruptly everything stopped and the violet eyes closed.
"You stupid bouzu." Sango, Shippou and Kagome stood silent.
"Ho...Houshi...desu..." the monk smiled shakily and Inuyasha, taken by surprise, dropped him to the ground where he lay face down in the dirt.
"Houshi-sama?" The taiji-ya took a hesitant step forward and knelt beside him, rolling him over into her lap and brushing away the inky strands that covered his eyes. They cracked open and he frowned slightly, lifting a hand to her cheek where the dried blood stained it.
"I...hurt...you..." he said bemusedly as if he still wasn't fully awake. "I...am...sorry...Sango..."
"It's nothing, really." Tears began to flow down her face and drip onto his. "I, I thought..." she cried harder and squeezed him tighter. "I thought that you were dead!" She murmured into his chest, breathing in his scent heavy with sweat, dirt and blood. "I thought you had left me alone...like everyone else..."
"I'm...sorry..." Miroku felt his eyes close and the pain racking his body and racing down every nerve subside. The last thing he saw was the rising sun framing her dirt smudged face and he felt filled with warmth and love for the woman cradling him in her soft arms, the one he finally remembered as Sango. Forcing himself awake one more time he pushed her face off his chest to gently trace his bloody fingers down her chin and let it drop back down to his side as his eyes closed. His lips moved in one word which even Inuyasha could not hear and Sango had to strain to catch: "...Beautiful..."
That was a longer chapter I think, and one that was very hard to write too. For some reason I got stuck after Miroku's memorable "Uh." Like you guys care anyway...; I think it's almost done. But I could make it longer if you guys want. Ja! Thanks for the reviews!