Pure Breed: Chapter 15
Inuyasha woke up the next morning still under the tree he and Kagome had sat in last night. Inuyasha's fire rat robe covered them both. It took Inuyasha a few moments to notice the sun was already high in the sky, and he and Kagome had very little covering either of them, out in the open no less. He shook Kagome rather vigorously. "Kagome, wake up! Quick!"
"Five more minutes." Kagome mumbled sleepily.
"We don't have five more minutes! Koga or Miroku or Sango will show up any second and-"
"So what?" Kagome grumbled, obviously worn out by last nights 'events'.
"May I remind you were out in the open and uh…inadequately dressed?" Inuyasha said in his annoyed tone.
"Fine, as long as you quit complaining." Kagome said grumpily as she struggled into her school uniform. Kagome, like most teenagers was anything but a morning person. Once they were both garbed the couple headed back to the village. They made there way towards a crowd to see what the commotion was about. They center of attention was none other than Miroku, who was jovially giving out palm readings, as he often liked to do whenever the group was settled at a village.
"Your lines tell me this years harvest will be great and prosperous." Miroku said, studying the palm of a man who looked like he was in his early thirties. Kagome and Inuyasha walked over to the monk with looks of fury on their faces.
"What do you think yer doin' monk?" Inuyasha asked, annoyed.
"Slaying the dragon of the keep. What does it look like I'm doing?" Miroku responded sarcastically. Kagome slapped him, knowing that's what Sango would do if she were around.
"I believe you're forgetting about a certain demon slayer who will be crushed when she hears about this." Kagome scolded.
"It's not like I'm flirting or anything. Besides, don't you have any hobbies Kagome? Like those 'homework' and 'test' things you're always going on about." Miroku said in his defense. Noticing he had abandoned some of his usual palm reading antics, Kagome and Inuyasha decided to let it go for the time being. Miroku continued reading the palms of whoever was in line.
"You have prosperous lines indeed. You will enjoy a long life and will be blessed with many children." He told a young girl about the age of fifteen.
"Maybe we ought to go back to my hut and test that theory." the girl replied seductively. Miroku gave her a quizzical look. He was confused. Now was when the women wanted to bear his children? After he had a girlfriend and when he didn't ask?
"You're joking." Miroku replied, hoping she was. The young woman giggled.
"No I'm quite serious Lord Miroku." Miroku took a second look at the girl.
"K-k-Koharu?" he managed to stutter out. Koharu threw her arms around Miroku's neck and hugged him tightly, almost cutting off his air flow.
"You remember me! I'm so glad to see you again Lord Miroku!" Koharu cried as Miroku tried desperately to break her vice-grip. When he finally loosened her arms from around his neck, Miroku asked:
"What on earth are you doing here? What happened to the village we left you in?"
"It was attacked by bandits. I traveled and heard of a village where the half-breed Inuyasha, a dog demon with many shikon jewel shards resided. I remembered you were traveling with him last time I saw you, so I came here." Koharu replied happily, giving Miroku another hug that was a tad too tight. Miroku pulled her off him.
"I'd love to catch up with you, but I must leave for reasons I will explain later!" Miroku spat out in a frightened stutter. He quickly made his way back to Kaede's hut, where the rest of the group was eating a stew Kaede had prepared for lunch. She poured Miroku a bowl and he sat down and began eating. Sango and Kagome both noticed the shocked and concerned look on his face as he nervously ate.
"You okay Miroku?" Kagome inquired. "You don't look so good." Miroku put on a plastic smile and laughed nervously.
"Heh heh. Actually, you won't believe who I just ran into."
"Who?" asked Sango.
"Koharu." Miroku replied.
"Who?" Sango asked again, jealous anger now present in her voice. "You had better be joking Miroku."
"Come now Sango! You don't suspect me of anything unorthodox do you?" Miroku asked nervously.
"Who's Koharu?" Koga whispered to Kagome. Kagome whispered back to Koga the whole story about Koharu. This caused Koga to laugh. "I wouldn't have expected you to be a ladies man Miroku!" Koga chuckled. Miroku, however, didn't hear. He was busy trying to convince Sango nothing had happened between him and Koharu.
"Please Sango! It's not my fault Koharu fell victim of my natural good looks! I don't even like it!" Miroku vainly tried to reason with her.
"You'd love me to believe that, wouldn't you?" Sango shot back.
"Only because it's the truth! I swear!" Miroku pleaded. Kagome rolled her eyes. "And I thought Inuyasha got jealous easily!" she thought.
"Whatever." Sango replied. Miroku sulked as he finished his lunch. Since he wasn't in a friendly environment, he got up and left.
"I'm off." he said. "I'll be back later."
"Where are you off to? Back to your girlfriend?" Sango snapped. Miroku didn't answer and left. "Feh. Stupid, cheating, lecherous monk!" Sango continued to grumble as she took another bite of her stew.
"Good Lord Sango!" Inuyasha said after a few seconds of stunned silence. "What was that for?"
"What do you think? You heard what he said. He's probably been sneaking around behind my back for ages. I can't believe I actually trusted him." she responded.
"I dunno. All he said was he happened to meet that girl. Was it really necessary to blow up in his face like that?" Kagome added.
"You know how he is. Besides, I can read him like a book. He wouldn't have acted so nervous when he came in if he didn't have anything to hide. You're giving him more credit than he's worth." Sango simply stated.
Miroku pushed back the thin screen that was the entrance to Koharu's hut.
"Are you there Koharu?" Miroku asked as he entered the hut.
"I'm here alright." Koharu said as she walked towards Miroku. She put her arms around him again and continued. "Now, where were we?" She leaned in to kiss him but Miroku backed away.
"Uh, Koharu I'm not really sure how to break this to you but-" Miroku got no further. Koharu had pulled him back towards her and gave him a deep kiss. Miroku wanted desperately to break it, or push her away, but his body wouldn't obey his mind. He finally managed to push her away, due to the fact he was nearly out of air. "Koharu," Miroku gasped out while breathing heavily, "I can't do this." Koharu's smile quickly turned to a look of concern.
"You can't? Why not?" Koharu asked innocently. She was very confused, because even though she thought Miroku really did love her, she was as aware of his lecherous nature as anyone.
"Uh…well, you see Koharu, the thing is I, uh… sort of have a... well…" he stuttered out.
"What? Tell me!" Koharu cried.
"I'm sorry Koharu, but I'm sort of already with somebody." Miroku said gravely.
"You are? Who?" the young peasant girl asked, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Please don't cry Koharu. I'm sorry, but when I promised you I'd return to be with you, I didn't think I could love anyone else." Miroku apologized, but it didn't help Koharu's mood at all. She buried her face in Miroku's robes.
"But you promised!" she sobbed.
"I know. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
Meanwhile, back at Kaede's hut, Sango was rethinking whether she really had the right to get so angry at Miroku earlier. She had thought Miroku had left her before, and it turned out he had left to save her brother from an evil demon. Besides, if he had wanted to keep anything secret, he wouldn't have told the group he met Koharu again in the first place. She decided to go find Miroku and apologize. "He'll forgive me." she thought confidently as she left the hut. "He does love me after all."
