Authoress here.

Okay, more background information needed? I can do that.

I need to figure out how old Miroku is. Anyone know? I can't find it anywhere! Tell me in a review if you know! It's a little hard to say what they were like six years ago when you don't know exactly how old they were...but I try.

START CHAPTER

"Miroku, what's it going to be like?"

Sitting on the riverbank in Karai with their feet dipped in the water were two children, the woman and Miroku. It was six years earlier, and they were still filled with dreams and ideals for the future. Even as they were too young to be married, Matori still dreamed that a childhood love could develop into something more serious.

The monk had chuckled. "Well Matori, we'll have a big house away from here. Far, far away. You'll never have to worry about demons or anything."

She had sighed wistfully, imagining it in her younger mind. "Miroku," she had said suddenly. "Why do you wear that glove on your hand."

"This?" Miroku had stared out into the glittering water where the sun cast a setting reflection. "No reason."

Matori was convinced, and let the subject drop. She kicked her feet in the water, splashing Miroku, to lighten the mood. He laughed and splashed her back, and soon a water fight had started.

"Is she okay?" The present-day Miroku's voice was blocking out the voices of a memory.

Water flew, soaking them both. The air was filled with their laughter.

"I hope so. It would be a shame if we never got the rest of the story," Sango replied, her mouth twisting into a thoughtful frown.

As Miroku reached out to her in the memory to pull her up from where she had stumbled trying to escape a large splash, her eyes opened to see the monk leaning over her.

As he leaned back, she sat up to see a group assembled around her. A fox, a cat, a half demon, and three humans stood around her. Reaching a hand up to her forehead, Matori asked weakly, "What happened?"

"You passed out when you saw Miroku," Shippo offered. "Personally, I don't think he's a scary as Inuyasha."

Matori flinched as Inuyasha slammed a clawed fist onto the young demon's head. "Shut up, Shippo!" he growled.

Matori stood up shortly afterwards, brushing off her tunic. "Sorry to be a bother," she said without expression.

Miroku was staring at her. "Matori? Is that really you?"

She didn't turn to face him when he spoke. "It is. Are the other girls with you also women you lied to?"

"What?"

"You lied to me, Miroku." Her voice quavered with anger. "You said you'd come back for me, and I waited. What a fool I was, to believe everything you said to me."

Miroku sighed. "I'm sorry. Things...came up."

She turned towards him sharply. "You broke my heart because things came up?"

"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"

Kagome and Sango looked away uncomfortably. Inuyasha sat listening with one eyebrow arched, clearly interested.

"Sorry won't cut it this time, Miroku. It's too late for that now." She was speaking bitterly without a trace of sorrow. She was good at hiding and bottling up her true emotions, which she was doing when she spoke to Miroku. Her face was a mask that concealed her true feelings.

The monk looked concerned and bewildered. "It's...too late?"

"You should've come back two years ago. I couldn't take it when the fifth year passed without you returning." Her voice shook now.

"It's not really too late," Miroku offered, not wanting her feelings to be hurt by what may have seemed like total lack of caring.

"I've shed too many tears over you already. So many long hours waiting, hoping...dreaming." She paused, then glanced at the house she had stumbled out of roughly a half hour before. "I'm engaged, Miroku."

"You're...what? Where's the ring?" he asked, gesturing to her left hand.

She crossed her arms to hide the bare hand. "I took it off while I was cooking dinner."

Miroku was silent for a moment. "Who are you engaged to?"

The door to the house opened before she could answer, and out stepped the drunk from before, still holding the now empty bottle of sake.

"Miroku, this is Shinji. My...fiancé. We're getting married tomorrow." She drew herself up and gave her hair a small shake so that her vision wasn't obscured. "You can come, if you'd like."

Shinji listened until she was finished, then draped a beefy arm over her shoulders. "If you're friends o' hers, you can come. I don' care," he slurred drunkenly.

Matori was silent as she stood by the man who was to be her husband.

Shinji pushed her off towards the house, giving her a swat on her backside and letting loose a hearty chuckle. "Go on and finish makin' supper ready, Tori."

Matori nodded with her back to him. After opening the door, she cast a glance back at Miroku. For a moment, the mask that hid her true emotions flickered, and her sorrow was visible for a second before she looked away and entered the house.

Shinji stopped laughing and grinned. "Ain't she a pretty one?" he asked Miroku, who he had noticed was watching her leave.

Miroku nodded stiffly. "She's quite a catch indeed," he replied quietly. Turning to Inuyasha, he said in the same quiet voice, "Let's find somewhere to stay the night."

"You can stay here!" Shinji offered, oblivious to the rocky situation between Matori and Miroku.

"That's alright," Miroku replied. "I'm sure we can find lodgings elsewhere. I wouldn't want us to be a burden."

"I won' take no for an answer," Shinji responded firmly, steering the group into his house. "Tori, make dinner for..." He hurriedly did a head count of the people around him. "Seven people! Your friends are staying the night!"

"How lovely," came the reply, thick with forced kindness. "The girls and I can stay in the guest room if you want, Shinji."

"Yeah." Shinji nodded, making it clear that thinking wasn't his strong point. "Yeah. Do that. That'll work real good."

Kagome glanced around once before saying abruptly, "Sango and I are going to go help her make dinner." She grabbed Sango's arm before she could protest, and went into the kitchen. Kirrara bounded after them.

"Need a hand?" Kagome asked when she saw Matori trying to stir three pots at once so that nothing would burn.

Matori considered the question as she brushed back some unruly hair that had escaped from underneath a scarf she had tied around her head. "It wouldn't hurt," she admitted.

As the three girls cooked, Kagome decided to start a conversation. "So...you and Miroku were friends?"

"You could say that. He left here six years ago, leaving me with only memories and a promise," she answered, stirring the stew she was making.

"So you were close?" Sango prodded.

Matori smiled wistfully. "Six years ago, we pretended to get married. He told me we'd really get married someday...and that thought kept me waiting around for him for five years." As she realized the stew was burning, she decided to leave her answer at that and pay more attention to her cooking.

"He's not really worth it. You waited for a pervert, you know." Sango didn't take her eyes off what she was doing, but her words had an impact even without eye contact.

"Miroku is not a pervert," she snapped defensively.

Sango laughed lightly. "He may not have been six years ago, but he is today. He asks every girl he meets to bear his children, all because of that stupid Wind Tunnel."

"Wind Tunnel," Matori repeated, her tone going from snappish to confused.

Sango looked over at Matori, startled. "The Wind Tunnel. The hole in his hand that can suck things into a void. He...never told you? What did you think was hidden by the glove on his hand?"

"I asked him before, and he said there was no reason for wearing it," she replied weakly. "He wouldn't have lied to me back then."

"Maybe he didn't want you to feel sorry for him," Kagome offered, placing a lid on the stew to let it cook.

She shrugged. "It's possible."

"I saw the look on his face, Matori," Sango said quietly. "He didn't look too happy when you said you were getting married tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Kagome agreed. "He looked really sad."

It may have been the heat of the kitchen, and it may have been thinking about Miroku that caused a tear to slide down Matori's cheek. Whatever it was, she quickly brushed it away with the back of her hand, letting the bandage there absorb the wetness. "It doesn't matter now. It's too late for anything to change. I'm marrying Shinji tomorrow, and I can't stop that."

Sango set down the bowls she had removed from a cupboard. "Do you love Shinji?"

Matori's cheeks flushed. "Well...no, but I have to marry him."

"Why would you have to marry him?" Kagome questioned skeptically.

The redhead woman sighed, moving to lean against the windowsill. "My family was poor at the time, and Shinji was rich. We needed money so badly, that when Shinji offered to pay my parents for my hand, they accepted without talking to me. A short time afterward, the shop my father runs was getting more business than ever, and we no longer needed the money from Shinji." She sighed.

"That doesn't sound like a pleasant way to start off a relationship," Kagome commented sympathetically.

Matori chuckled a bit. "It was too late to spare me from marrying Shinji...and he's not really the type of man I'd dream of marrying. But I have to marry him anyway. I can't leave him because he would...probably kill me."

Kagome and Sango exchanged worried glances. "He'd kill you?" Sango inquired.

She nodded in reply. "Why do you think I'm so beaten up? I tried to tell him I was leaving him, and he was angry. He's violent and merciless, even to an unarmed woman."

She paused to shiver and close the small window the block the cool breeze that had picked up as the day drew ever closer to the end.

"He doesn't mind hitting me...I guess he thinks it's a way of keeping me under control to insure that I'll obey him every day. Fear is a weapon."

"You have to do something! Come with us when we leave!" Kagome said hurriedly.

Matori sighed. "I can't. I don't want to cause any trouble."

Back in the living room, Shinji had rambled nonstop for a few minutes before the others had stopped trying to politely listen. Miroku and Inuyasha had exchanged rather bored glances a few times, and it seemed the half demon was trying very hard not to just tell Shinji that he didn't care.

After a few minutes, Shinji had shouted to Matori to set out dinner, which they had just finished with the combined efforts of three women. They set the table and dished out the stew, then sat down to eat.

At dinner, Matori felt someone poke her leg with their foot. Her eyes roved around the table until they landed on Miroku, who was looking at her. She nearly dropped her spoon with shock. She had been rather rude to him, and was startled that he still wanted to communicate with her.

He mouthed, "We have to talk."

END CHAPTER

Okay, so that was a bit longer and more abruptly ending than I had planned, but since I'm being forced off the computer, it's the best you'll get. After I ice my wrists, I'll get to work on the third chapter.