A/N: I was trying not to do an author's note for the past few chapters because I don't want to ruin the mood/tone of the story. Just wanted to write a short one to let you know that I DO read all reviews, each time feeling giddy when I see praise (and yes I do get annoyed at the bad ones) but nonetheless, I'm happy. Don't let the title of this chapter fool you haha ;)
Someone Out There
Chapter Twenty Two: Love Will Find You
Miroku set out small trays of paint for each table. Today they were going to paint pictures of their family. There were brown paint, peach paint, yellow paint and black paint. He made sure he covered at least the basic skin colors so no kid would feel bad. He'd hate to deal with crying children and parents accusing him of being racist or something. There were also other vibrant colors, neon colors and even glitter paint.
"The things people come up with these days!" he cried incredulously. They're only in kindergarten and they get all this fancy schmancy paint? What are they going to come up with next? Peel-able paint so they wont stain your clothes? Miroku chuckled at the thought. Day two of teaching kindergarten. He was certainly a lot more calmer than yesterday since the kids like him. Or maybe bribing them with his name "Midori" worked. "I wonder what the parents would think," he mused.
"Good Morning Becca," Miroku greeted the braided-hair girl warmly. "What are we doing?" she stared wide-eyed at the paint on the tables. "We are going to paint our families today." He gave a little flourish to the large pieces of paper waiting for creativity to be splattered on. Becca clapped and ran over to a table and started painting. She picked a brush and dipped it in pink glitter paint. "Wow, glitter paint," commented Becca's mom. Miroku smiled wryly and nodded.
Several other children came and they gladly started off the morning by painting. Miroku suddenly remembered that kindergarteners weren't exactly graceful, especially around things that can break, spill or have an on switch. He dashed quickly outside to find garbage bags as "aprons" for the kids.
He jogged back in to hear one mother complain to her son, "Is it customary for teachers to leave a room full of students unattended?" The child whom Miroku recognized to be Tommy, shook his head.
"It was an emergency," said Miroku putting on his charming grin. If anything, he hoped his charm would work now. The woman turned around and both widened their eyes. Tommy tugged on his mom's shirt but she motioned for him to go paint with the other kids. Tommy stomped off muttering, "Stupid Midori." Miroku ignored that comment and continued to look at her with uncertainty. It felt too good to be true. After all these years, of all places, he meets her here.
"Sango?" he whispered, afraid if it was some mirage, or he mistaken someone else to be her. Sango took in the full sight in front of her. Her best friend that she left was standing in front of her, of all places. She looked up and down quickly and notice the changes. There were no longer rings or chains around his neck. The scruffy rich school boy was gone and in replacement was a man, same tousled hair cut but overall more modesty in appearance. Miroku smirked as he caught her looking.
"Of all places to see you again," she said, tilting her head with amazement. Miroku shrugged as he put his hands in his pocket. "What'd you expect me to be? An ice cream man?" he looked up shyly, smiling as his mind ran down memory lane. Sango laughed, "No, I'd always thought you'd be a firefighter." They both imagined some heroic escape made by Miroku, and laughed hitting the same image.
Miroku shook his head and said, "Nah, I'm an English teacher at a high school." Sango raised an eyebrow, "Then what are you doing here?" Miroku took his hands out of his pocket and sat down on small chair. Looking up he replied, "Substituting for a week."
"Oh, no wonder." she nodded. Sango felt uncomfortable of the small talk they were doing. Small talk, meaning short conversations, which also mean that they were going to run out of things to say, which meant awkward pauses and silences or even interrogation of events in the past. Still, she remembered the reason why she left. It was her who left and that meant it was her who had explaining to do.
"Sango?"
"Huh? Oh sorry what were you saying?" She completely blanked out for a moment. Miroku waved it off saying it was nothing. Sango shifted her weight, thinking of what to say next. "So how have you been?" Brilliant, she thought darkly. "I'm fine, enjoying the domestic life right now." he grinned. The garbage bags laid completely forgotten. Sango started laughing. "What?" he said, confused. She pointed to the box of garbage bags in his hand. "Oh shit," he muttered, "Be back in a minute, don't you go anywhere." Her feet rooted to the floor.
Somehow things just don't change through the years. Sango was convinced that she no longer had feelings for him, but look at her now: gawking like a little girl. She swore she was convinced that the feelings were gone. Never had she thought they actually never left but stayed dormant until they met again. She shrugged it off, realizing it was only a week before she walked in and then out of his life breezily.
Miroku returned panting slightly, "Don't they look cute?" he asked, pointing to the class of little kids in garbage bags.
"They look like they're working at a sweat shop," she snorted. Miroku smiled, recognizing the old fiery attitude his best friend always had. "So you're the Midori that my son complains about," she said suddenly. Her son.
Miroku's heart sank a bit. "So that little munchkin is yours, huh?" he joked. "He's a good kid," she said airily, looking at Tommy painting a picture of himself and his mommy. "I better go," she wanted to leave before he started asking questions. "So quick?" he asked.
She nodded and waved good bye to her son and left. Miroku watched her go, still a bit shocked from seeing his best friend again. He never got to ask her those questions that had been nagging him for all those years. Seeing her only made him want to know so much more.
He walked over to her son and kneeled beside him. "I just talked to your mom," he said to Tommy. "What are you up to?" Tommy asked frowning.
"Nothing. Did you know me and your mommy were best friends?" he asked. Tommy put down his paint brush and thought, "Nope, mommy never mentioned having any friends." Ouch. Quickly changing the subject, Miroku said, "That's a nice painting." Tommy smiled proudly and showed him. "This is my mom," he pointed, "and that is me."
The painting was blobs of peach paint, a dot for the nose and green dots for the eyes. It vaguely resembles the two humans, but hey, Picasso wasn't any different than this. "Where's daddy?" he asked curious. Miroku wanted to ask Sango that too, but it didn't feel right intruding like that. "I never met my dad," Tommy said quietly resuming his painting.
Miroku chose to leave at this point before he asked anymore questions that would make Tommy sad. His mind ran through millions of possibilities. Who could the dad be? How come Tommy never met him? Did that bastard run away from Sango because she was pregnant? He felt anger surge through him for a moment. I'd kill that bastard, he thought darkly. He walked around to each children, complimenting their pictures and asking simple questions. His mind was occupied elsewhere.
… … … … …
Miroku opened the door to the club. Sandy was talking to someone while serving them a drink. He made eye contact with Miroku and nodded for him to sit down and wait. Miroku sat a few seats away from the girl he was serving and waited patiently. Sandy held up a finger, showing he'd be back in a minute. Miroku nodded go ahead and went back staring off into space.
The girl that Sandy was serving sauntered over and plopped herself right beside him. Miroku tried to hide his annoyed look and ignored her. She didn't get the hint. "Hey," she said huskily. She pressed her palm into his, slipping him a piece of paper. "You sound like a man," he blurted out. The girl slapped him in the head with her purse and walked off to find a new victim. "What a way to turn ladies away," Sandy appeared, laughing. "Shut up," he muttered motioning for a glass of water.
"I know you haven't had a date for years, but still, that's a bit rusty for a play boy like you," he continued handing him the glass. Miroku kept his cool and chuckled a bit as he drank the iced water. He tore up the phone number the girl handed him to little shreds. He didn't mind anymore whether girls liked him or not.
He remembered so clearly the words Sango told him the night they went out for a drive- "Stop worrying so much Miroku, if you can't find love, love will find you." - These past years he has kept his cool about it. Even when Kagome left him, it didn't leave as big of an impact as he thought it would.
"If I didn't know, you're becoming gay," Sandy joked. Miroku nodded absentmindedly, not really paying attention to what he was saying. Sandy poured himself some Sprite and sat down on the barstool next to him. "What's on your mind pretty boy," asked Sandy, using the nickname he deemed him years ago. The nickname stuck. Miroku didn't mind that much anyways.
"Why didn't you tell me Sango was back?" Miroku asked, springing the question suddenly. Sandy stopped moving not knowing what exactly he should say. "I met her today," said Miroku. He turned to look at Sandy. "Where?" asked Sandy. "At the elementary school Tommy goes to," said Miroku, emphasizing the name of Sango's son. Sandy winced slightly, speaking slowly, "Sorry I never told you."
"About what? Tommy or Sango coming back?" asked Miroku. He must've come off stronger than he intended to because the next moment he saw guilt and a dash of distress on Sandy's face. "Both, I guess." said Sandy. The two men stared at their drinks. "So how was Sango?" asked Sandy. "I haven't seen her in a few weeks." "I don't know, I haven't seen her for 5 years." retorted Miroku. Sandy hmphed and went back to his Sprite.
"Do you know who the father is?" asked Miroku. If anyone would know, it'd be her cousin. "Did Sango tell you to ask me?" said Sandy, cautious. Miroku looked a bit embarrassed for being so nosy, but he wanted to know. "No," said Miroku, "But I want to know. I want to catch up with her, talk to her…we haven't talked in such a long time." He sighed, reminiscing a bit.
"I think that's something you should do with her, not in this bar sitting here asking me." said Sandy. "Maybe," said Miroku finishing off the glass of water.
"Hey I'm going to go," said Miroku, "Here's the glass. Water is free right?"
Sandy looked at him as if he was an idiot. Some things just never change, Sandy chuckled inwardly.