This is a ONE-SHOT songfic, using Celine Dion's "Stand by Your Side." I think it's sweet, although (sadly) there is no real fluff.
Note: Ummm...It is currently approximately three months after I started this story. -.-;;;; Sad, I know.
Disclaimer: Of course I own them all, isn't it obvious? ...yes, I am in denial, do you have a problem with that??
A little girl stumbled across a landscape of demon corpses. She gasped and panted as she tried to reach the two shadowed figures standing at the edge of a chilling darkness. "Papa! Kohaku! Wait! Please, wait for me!"
The figures suddenly became clear and sharply defined. One was a young boy, about 11, dressed in the typical uniform of a demon exterminator. Although his face was round and boyish, his eyes were cold and hard. He grasped a chain sickle in one hand, the other grasping the second figure's neck. This one was a man, probably in his mid-thirties. He wore armor similar to the boy's, although it was more battered with age and use.
The little girl cried out in alarm as the boy began dragging the man into the darkness. "No! Kohaku, stop! Papa!" She tripped over a huge boomerang made of bone, and watched as they disappeared into the blackness. "No..." she whimpered.
She slowly sat up, her eyes filling with tears. "They left me. They all left me." A pair of arms suddenly folded around her. A soothing warmth enveloped her as an oddly familiar voice said, "Don't worry, Sango. I'm still with you. I'm right here."
"Sango? Sango! Sango, wake up!"
"Uhhh?" The girl, now eighteen, opened her eyes. She lay on a sleeping pallet, the robes she used for a blanket twisted around her. Her magenta eyes groggily took in the moonless night sky. A man leaned over her, lavender eyes dark with concern.
"You were moaning and tossing around in your sleep," he said softly. "I had to wake you up. Are you alright?"
'That voice...where have I heard it before?'
I cry, and you comfort me.
I'm lost, and you hear my scream.
She blinked, trying to act like she wasn't blushing. "I'm fine, Lord Monk." He sat back, allowing her to sit up beside him. His left hand bumped against the ground, and he winced. "How's the wind tunnel?"
He gritted his teeth. "It feels like there are needles buried into every ounce of flesh in my arm. Sango..." he looked at her, abandoning his usual honorific of "Lady". "...I don't have much time. This thing is going to suck me in soon. We have to kill Naraku before that happens, or else I'll die, without even an heir to end this curse. And Naraku will win."
So it's, it's hard to watch you falling,
When you run so deep in me.
You live in me.
She shook her head. "We won't let that happen, Miroku." She, too, threw away the "Lord Monk" that she usually addressed him as. "Even if you do die, Kami forbid, we will avenge you. None of us would be happy to lose anything, or anyone, more to that bastard."
He smiled weakly at her. "Yeah. It's nice to know that you all care so much about me. You know, before I met all of you, I never thought that I would have the courage to make friends. I was afraid to finally have people to love, then lose them. Moments before my father died, I saw pain in his eyes. And somehow I knew that it wasn't all physical. And I didn't want to hurt others, either."
Gonna stand by your side now.
Let me kiss all your tears away.
"Miroku..." Sango sighed. "I feel the same way. When I almost betrayed you all for Kohaku, I was so afraid that it would happen again. That Naraku could once again use my brother to kill you all. I didn't want to be the cause of your deaths. So, I wanted to leave. But, I knew deep down that none of you would blame me for it. And I knew that the best way for me to get vengeance for myself and you guys was to stick with the group. So here I am."
You can stay in my arms now,
And I know I can make you believe again.
The monk nodded in understanding. "You know, that's what amazes me. You try so hard to achieve your goals that it frightens me. There's something inside you that seems to drive you on without hesitation. Even through all this shit that life seems to hand us."
I walk, and you can run through fire.
I search for reasons, and, baby, you inspire.
"We have to deal with it Miroku. We can't change what we're given, only what we make of it."
"What if I don't want to deal?!" Miroku stood abruptly, his face dark. "Why did it have to be me? Us? Why not Naraku? Why shouldn't he deal with the same shit that we do?!"
"Miroku..." Sango stood as well. "That's just it. Life isn't fair."
"Well, it should be!" He stormed off about a hundred feet, fuming with a somewhat irrational anger that Sango never knew he possessed.
She hesitated, then followed him. "I'm sorry, Miroku. I know just as well as you that life should be fair. But who are we to decide, right?"
But I, I know somebody hurt you,
And I know you really need a friend.
Well, you can take my hand.
"...yeah. I'm sorry. It's just..."
"Don't worry about it."
"No it's not that."
Gonna stand by your side now.
Let me kiss all your tears away.
"I'm useless. Half the time, I can't help any of you fight, because of those damn poisonous wasps. And none of you will let me die usefully."
"Miroku..."
"Admit it. I rarely contribute to a fight. Other than the time I split Kaijin-bo's head open, I've never done a thing. My most powerful weapon is useless half the time. So I'm really just a danger to you all."
You can stay in my arms now,
And I know I can make you believe again.
"Miroku, you do plenty more than that. You are probably the most understanding person out of all of our friends, albeit you are the most lecherous as well." The man in front of her grinned mischievously. "You've put yourself in danger so many times to protect Kagome and me. You know so much, and you are the one who put Inuyasha and Kagome on the scent of Naraku in the first place."
When you feel like you can't go on,
Don't you know you never walk alone.
You live in me.
"Thanks, Sango," he said quietly. "But I don't deserve your praise. You are an incredible woman, too. Despite the deaths of all those you cared about, you beat death and tried to avenge them. I don't know if I would be able to go on if I lost all of you."
She tentatively touched his hand. "Miroku, we'd all be devastated if we were the only ones left. We would be if we lost even one person. We're all friends...although Inuyasha probably wouldn't admit that. We all lean on and support each other."
Gonna stand by your side now.
Let me kiss all your tears away.
"Then I am your friend as well, Sango?"
"Of course! If you weren't, I probably would have killed you by now, with all the things you get up to."
He chuckled. "Yeah, you're right." He gently circled her wrist with his fingers as her arm tensed. "You're my friend, too, Sango. You mean a lot to me. So much..." he raised her hand up to his face and kissed the back of it. "...that I doubt it's accurate to call you my friend."
You can stay in my arms now,
And I know I can make you believe again.
"Miroku?"
"Yes?" he said in that innocent, utterly annoying, but incredible lovable way of his.
"Can you repeat what you just said?"
I'm gonna stand, stand by your side,
Kiss all your tears away tonight.
"In paraphrase, I love you, Sango. More than life, death, or anything beyond or in between. And I hope you feel the same way."
She stammered, "I- I-...Well, I thi—"
I'm gonna stand, stand by your side,
Make you believe again.
Miroku smiled and stroked her cheek. "Is it safe for me to assume that you do?"
For once, Sango was grateful for Miroku's usually untimely self-confidence. She nodded, her eyelids suddenly drooping. She knew that, in ordinary circumstances, her heart would be pounding fit to burst, her cheeks red with flames to rival hell's. But right now, in the middle of the night, her eyelashes felt like her boomerang bone was tied to them, they were that heavy.
The monk noticed and sighed. "Okay, maybe we should continue this conversation tomorrow. You look exhausted."
"No, really, I'm fine." She flapped a weak hand at him as she realized that he was making to pick her up. "I can walk on my own."
"Well, just to make sure..." He wrapped an arm around her waist. Ignoring her blushes and sleepy protests, he steered her back to her sleeping pallet and helped her lay down.
See you smiling, see you smiling,
See you smiling again.
She glared at him, saying jokingly, "I hate you."
He grinned and kissed her forehead. "You know it."
As she began to fall asleep, she felt her nightmare tug on the edges of her vision. Her eyes snapped open.
Miroku, eyes concerned and caring, sat beside her and began stroking her hair. "Don't worry, Sango," he said softly. "I'm still with you. I'm right here."
She smiled and let her own eyes close, finally able to put a face to that familiar voice in her dreams.
Well, what do you think??? Wait, wait, don't tell me, I'm psychic. Ommmmm...ommmmm... Aha! You like it so much, you want to review! I'm honored, honored. I really don't deserve it, but please, go ahead.
Yes, I am still in denial. Why do you ask?