Disclaimer: If I owned the rights to Inu Yasha, I'd take all of the money and buy myself an island. Now, since I don't have my own island, what must I not own?

Chapter Two

Miroku was waiting back at the campsite and was starting to worry. He'd thought that since Sango had left her armor, cat suit, and weapons, that she would be coming back shortly from her walk. Two hours later though, he was beginning to wonder if something had happened.

Really though, he had only himself to blame. An old friend, another monk, had sent him a letter requesting his assistance with the removal of a demon that had possessed the headman's daughter. Because it was a simple, routine procedure, he'd opted to leave Kagome and Inu Yasha behind and him and Sango had set out alone.

Of course the demonized girl turned out to be beautiful. Perhaps he shouldn't have flirted so shamelessly in front of the demon exterminator once the girl's body had been evacuated of unwanted beings.

Sango, understandably, became upset so he had decided not to accept the headman's invitation of staying the night. After they had pitched camp, Miroku had expected a slap and maybe an earful from his companion about his behavior, but to his surprise, she had remained quiet and never raised a fist to him.

Knowing that Sango had to be at a whole new level of anger with him, he hadn't stopped her when she had announced that she was going on a walk and made it quite clear that she was going alone.

I should have gone with her, the monk thought. I definitely hurt her feelings today and not offering to go with her, despite her conviction that she'd go alone, probably made her feel worse.

As Miroku sat belittling himself and calling himself seven kinds of idiot, something crept up behind him. The only thing that alerted the young man to its presence was when it made a wrong step and a leaf crunched. He picked up his staff and spun in the direction that the sound had come from. He scanned the area, but nothing was there.

Something bumped him in the small of his back and he whipped his staff around, stopping only inches from the center of its head. It took him a moment to realize it was Kirara. When her mistress didn't appear behind her, he asked the beast, "Where's Sango?"

The demon grabbed his robes gently in her mouth and tugged slightly, a clear indication that she wanted the monk to follow. She walked into the forest growth and he followed close behind her.

Kirara led him through the brush for twenty minutes before they came to the clearing.

Miroku noticed Sango lying under the tree right away. He rushed to her side and knelt down and sat her halfway up. The demon exterminator's head rolled to the side and her body was completely limp. The monk's heartbeat sped up and he feared the worse.

His terror subsided though when he saw her chest rise and fall. Good, she's breathing, he told himself. "Sango," he called. When she didn't wake up he tapped her cheek lightly and said her name again. The girl's eyes opened slowly this time.

"Are you ok?" Miroku asked, concern heavy in his voice.

"Ok," the demon exterminator replied groggily. She smiled sleepily at him and noticed that with the light of the moon behind him, the monk's face looked like it was glowing. Sango saw Kirara hovering over her shoulder and she clumsily reached out to reassure the demon cat. Her movements were heavy and slow with sleep.

Miroku lifted her up and the girl leaned all of her weight on him and then promptly fell asleep. The monk maneuvered her so that he could carry her on his back. Once he had, he followed Kirara back to the camp.

--

Sango woke up the next morning with a headache and an itchy throat. She didn't immediately get up; instead she lied in her bedroll and tried to recall last night's events. The girl remembered the strange woman and blacking out, but had no idea how she'd gotten back.

Miroku noticed that she was awake and brought her some bread to eat. The demon exterminator felt ravenous and she consumed it greedily. The monk smiled and asked, "So, how do you feel?"

She brushed the crumbs from her hands and off of her clothes and tried to answer him with a, 'Not so good,' but what came out was, "So, how do you feel?" Miroku cocked an eyebrow at her answer. Sango cleared her throat and tried again, but still got the same result.

Now she was just getting annoyed with herself. This time she gave her full concentration to saying the words, 'Not so good.' As soon as her mouth opened though, something clamped around her throat. Filled with panic, she tried to claw whatever was stopping her speech from her skin, but only managed to scratch up her neck.

"Sango, what's wrong?" Miroku asked her. He grabbed her hands to make her stop attacking her flesh.

She tried to tell him, but the awful restriction returned. It hurt and made breathing hard. In the end she pointed at her throat and said, "Wrong."

Sudden realization dawned on Sango. That disgusting woman! she raged in her head, I can't speak anymore! No, I can talk, just not my own words! She stood up and tried to convey this to the monk but all she could do was scream, "Sango, what's wrong!"

Miroku looked at Kirara, who looked just as perplexed as he was, and asked the girl, "Why are you echoing me?"

She looked him straight in the eye and picked out one word from his last sentence. She pointed at herself and said, "Echoing."

Miroku was still left in the dark.

A/N:You know, I woke up this morning and for some reason I was dead set on taking this story down. Don't know why...but then I saw the reviews and I decided not to. Man, you guys rule! I was hopping around going, "Yes!" all morning. I didn't think anyone would like this. That last bit was kind of tricky for me to write. I had real difficulty trying to express what was happening. If you've read the myth about Echo and Hera, well then your good to go, I just improvised it a little. Sango can't speak, but she can pick out what she wants to say form whatever she's heard and put her own inflection on it. Does that make sense? I hope so. Later you guys will see how this is supposed to make her "lady-like."