Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own Inuyasha. Perhaps if I did, I would be as rich as Takahashi-sama doubtless is, and I wouldn't be contributing stories to a site devoted to fanfiction. Knowing me, I would probably still be an anime nut though.

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"Are you sure Shippou will be safe with Inuyasha?" asked Sango quietly as she, Miroku and Kagome walked deeper into the village.

"Of course," said Miroku dismissively. "After all, it's unlikely that he'll get into trouble while Inuyasha's asleep, and Kirara's there if something attacks."

Kagome bit her lip at the mention of things attacking the small hut they were rapidly leaving behind. Sango noticed her grimace and turned towards her.

"Look, Kagome, they'll be safe," she said. "Demons only attack villages when they're really desperate, and even then I think they'd just ignore a nearly-empty hut on the edge of it. Inuyasha will be fine."

Kagome tried to smile, but it was difficult.

"I know," said Sango brightly. "Let's find a hot spring!"

"Ooh!" Kagome's smile suddenly became genuine, and Sango grinned back in relief. "I haven't bathed in ages… plus I'm all sweaty from that last battle…"

"I shall accompany you," Miroku cut in smoothly. "To protect against attack."

"No you won't," said Sango, her hand straying to where Hiraikotsu would be if she had brought it with her. "You can find your own hot spring, pervert."

Miroku rubbed at his chin, trying to look thoughtful. He'd half-expected a whack for that comment, and not getting it had thrown him slightly. "Surely you girls don't want to be left alone, especially in such a compromising place…?"

Sango's eyebrow twitched. "You're the only danger I can imagine us encountering, houshi-sama!"

Miroku sighed. Sango tended to make him do that. "I suppose there's no reasoning with you then… I'll accompany you to the spring, though, to ensure your safety."

Sango looked like she might make another angry remark, and her hand was twitching uselessly in the air right about where it would have been grabbing Hiraikotsu, had the weapon been there. Kagome put a hand on her shoulder, smiling. "Let him, Sango. I mean," she added, raising her voice so that Miroku knew the last comment was to be addressed to him, "it's not as if he'll be sticking around while we bathe, is it?"

Miroku felt like saying nothing so much as Inuyasha's famous 'Keh!' He was beginning to understand why the other man made the noise.

Sango smiled back at Kagome, her hand relaxing at last. "That's true. So, do you know where the hot spring is?"

"I think I saw the steam earlier, while we were approaching the village," said Kagome. "It should be just off to our left, once we reach the edge of the village."

Well, thought Miroku, holding back another sigh, at least they're letting me follow partway. He tilted his head slightly to the right, appraisingly, watching the two women walking in front of him. And I have really do have quite a remarkable view of…

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"So what do you think?" asked Shippou.

Inuyasha leaned back, grinning slightly. "I think it'll work, runt." And it doesn't involve too much running around, he thought. Stupid centipedes. "When do we get started?"

Shippou frowned. "Well, it won't take too much preparation… I think I've got nearly everything I need with me…" He dug his hands into his pockets, spilling out their contents onto the floor.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose as he watched various objects being pulled out for examination. There was that top that Shippou seemed to like so much; there were those infernal statues, that the kitsune had used to bind Inuyasha's hands upon their first meeting; an awful lot of leaves for transforming things, and some toys that had obviously come from Kagome's world. He frowned even harder as what appeared to be a handful of crushed pocky was dropped on the ground— he'd seen the kitsune eating the stuff, and it smelled rather enticing, but he'd never had the opportunity to find out for himself whether it was good or not. If it turned out to be as good as ramen he'd have to do something to the runt… and to the wench, for hiding the stuff from him in the first place.

Some of the objects were a bit less conspicuous. Balls of fluff, bits of string, interestingly-shaped sticks… things that the kitsune had probably just stumbled across at some point or another during their quest and decided to keep.

He squinted at what looked like a dried-up piece of black leather. It looked vaguely familiar… After a moment's hard thinking, he dredged up a vague memory, a small incident whose presence in his mind was mostly overshadowed by the events that followed directly after: after carrying an old man back to his village, the man's son had given him the cast-off skin of a lizard. With no use for it whatsoever, Inuyasha had given it to the one person in the group who had expressed an interest in it.

Shippou had kept that?

Shippou had massed all of this in its own pile: the rest was set off to the side, all of his acorns and mushrooms and other things for making those charms that could be so useful and so irritating at the same time. After one last check through his pockets, he looked up at Inuyasha. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Kirara slept on.

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"Ohh, this is nice," said Kagome, sinking down up to her neck in the warm water. "I'd nearly forgotten how much I love hot springs."

"I'm just glad that blasted monk stopped following us," said Sango, looking off into the trees. "He needs to learn when to keep his prying eyes away."

Kagome laughed. "Ah, well, the women back in the village ought to occupy him." Miroku had seized on them the moment he set eyes on them (or perhaps they had seized on him: it was difficult to tell, and at any rate the end result was the same), and was at this moment probably still back outside the headman's hut, reading palms and whatnot. Kagome wasn't sure if Sango had even noticed. Well, at least it would keep the monk from spying...

Sango stood abruptly, not even caring now that, had Miroku been there, he would have been offered a rather decent view of her body's nude profile. "What! He's going to hit on every single one of them in turn, I've got to stop him!"

Kagome reached out to grasp Sango's arm lightly. She allowed herself another smile. Sango could be so silly… she had never noticed the way Miroku watched her when she wasn't looking. Oh, sure, he liked to look at Sango's rear, that much was true, but there was a look in his eyes that Kagome never saw while he was watching other women… "Sango, I don't think they need our help. Come on, we came here for a reason, right? To relax. So that's what we've got to do." The monk wouldn't really get himself or any of the girls in trouble, no matter how much he thought he wanted to. And Sango needed to calm down... perhaps she felt edgy without any of her weaponry.

Sango looked away almost regretfully for a few seconds before allowing Kagome to pull her back into the middle of the spring. She sank down, up to her neck as well, and leaned against a rock.

Kagome waited a moment or so before leaning forwards conspiratorially. "Sango," she said in a lower voice, "what do you think of Miroku?"

Sango stared at her, bewildered and slightly embarrassed. She didn't know why she would be embarrassed, but the feeling was there. She hoped she wasn't blushing. "Well, he's a pervert, for one," she said, trying to sound haughty and aloof. "He'll grope any woman he sees, he's shameless!"

"Yeah, but aside from that," said Kagome. "What about the rest of him, away from his hands?"

Now Sango knew she was blushing. "Well, uh…" Her mind froze up on her. The rest of Miroku? … Oh, kami, she was getting as perverted as he was!

Kagome noticed the expression and changed tactics. "You know he hasn't been groping other women as often lately," she said lightly.

"What are you talking about?" said Sango in confusion. "He's been groping more than ever!"

"Yes, but only you," said Kagome, watching Sango's face with interest. The other woman was getting redder by the second. "You must have noticed."

"Well," began Sango, her mind racing, "yeah, maybe, but… only because he hasn't had as much opportunity! Running around with you and Inuyasha, it takes away a lot of his chances." She grinned suddenly, her blush fading. "Speaking of Inuyasha… what's your opinion of our dear hanyou?"

Kagome was beginning to regret instigating this talk about men.

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Miroku bent low over the palm of one of the village's pretty women. "I see that you will have great luck in later life," he said to her in his best Sincere Voice. "You will have many children, and have a long and prosperous…"

"Me!" shouted another voice from the crowd of women behind him. "Read mine next!"

"No, me!" shouted another voice. "I was here before you!"

He sighed. Perhaps this had been a mistake. The women of this village were not very pretty to begin with, but they were terribly eager…

He didn't think he had actually made any sort of decision until he noticed the faces of several women who had to be about fifty years old, judging by their wrinkles, poking above the top of the crowd… and heading towards him. He started up with an undignified scramble, gathered up his robes, and, bidding goodbye to the girl whose palm he'd been reading, fled the scene.

"No!" he heard one of them call from behind him.

"Come back, houshi-sama!" called another.

He shuddered to hear that name coming from another's lips… why had he become so accustomed to only Sango using that name for him? It was what he was, after all. Why should one of these women using it disturb him so?

But disturb him it did, and with a faint whimper he pulled up his robes higher and ran. The sounds of a chase faded away behind him quickly—perhaps they didn't really care that he was gone? Now they could go back to… whatever it was they had been doing before he came along.

He leaned against the side of a building and realized that he was nearing the outskirts of the village—not that it was large enough to actually have sizeable outskirts, but this hut seemed to be right beside the forest.

Now that his breathing had slowed down, it didn't take Inuyasha's youkai hearing to detect faint women's voices drifting in from between the trees.

Hang on, thought Miroku, shifting to peer around the side of the hut. He could see nothing but trees. Didn't the girls say that there was a hot spring near here…?

Quietly he walked away from the hut and towards the trees, stopping every so often to confirm the presence of the women's voices. Yes, it was definitely Sango and Kagome, and they were nearby… he crept a little closer, finally leaning around the trunk of a tree to look down at a steaming hot spring. He could feel its warmth against his face, and he could distinctly see the silhouettes of the two women sitting in the water.

"Well, if he didn't always say that I was nothing but a shard detector, I might not mind so much," Kagome was saying. "But I can't help but wonder what would happen if…"

Suddenly Sango shuddered. Stand, stand, Miroku urged her silently.

"Stop," she told Kagome. "I feel eyes…"

Miroku ducked back behind his tree. A splashing noise told him that Sango had, indeed, stood. Desire to see warred with his instinct for self-preservation.

"I don't see anyone," said Kagome, puzzled. "Come on, Sango, get back in."

After a moment there was another faint splashing noise. Ohh, kami, I will be eternally grateful… Miroku thought as he moved back around the trunk of the tree—and froze. The sound he'd heard wasn't Sango sitting back down, but Kagome standing up.

For long seconds, the three just stood and stared. There was no doubt that both of them had seen him.

Miroku swallowed hard as his gaze traveled slowly downwards. So perfect... Seconds later, a yell broke the silence as a good-sized rock traveled through the air and connected with his head.

"HENTAI!"

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Urgh... typos. And sorry about my idiocy with the whole review-thing... it's me who feels dumb, really. For 2 reasons: a), not reading things properly, and b) for letting a few typos slip through in here... it DOES seem a bit hypocritical of me, actually. Ah, well, it's fixed now... and DON'T pick on my beta! I wrote this before I had one, so it's not her fault. Honestly, I was just beng stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, and I feel well and truly idiotic now.

And, here is another chapter. Japanese terms… Hentai means lecher (or pervert), and houshi-sama essentially means monk (houshi means monk, and sama is a very respectful honorific). Sorry if some of the terms seem to change, as I may alternate between the Japanese and English terms occasionally. It's basically just according to my own best judgement.