AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yep, I'm back with another chapter. And for all those wondering, I will get into the plot soon, I swear. I'm just trying to get Miroku and Sango at a more comfortable level with each other, since right now it's basically grope, slap, antagonize. So, this chapter is sort of fluff… ahem, I mean, characterization. Yes, that's it.
ABOVE AND BEYOND
Chapter Four: A Beginning to Companionship
Blue.
That was the first thing Sango thought when she woke up. Yes… blue… a mosaic of different colored blues, ranging from the cloudy gray of an impending storm, to a deep violet, thick and lush.
The blue was very pretty, she decided. It was a shade unlike any she'd ever seen before.
"Good morning."
So the blue talks, she thought, a bit hazily. It took her a moment to comprehend the meaning of that thought, and when she finally did, she bolted upright in her bed, colliding heads with the person who had spoken. She let out a hiss of pain, bringing her hand up to her forehead.
"Miroku…" she muttered, wincing at the pounding ache of her head. "I thought this was in our ground rules."
The monk had toppled to the ground when their heads had banged together, but he still looked as awake as ever. "No, actually," he put in. "Waking you up wasn't on our ground rules."
"You weren't waking me up!" she accused. "You were watching me sleep!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's…" Why couldn't she come up with a reason? It was wrong, and weird, and… "It's wrong because… because it's creepy," she finished lamely. "So don't do it, okay?"
He shrugged. "Sure. But I heard your father knock on the door a minute ago, so I figured I would try waking you up." He frowned. "You don't wake very easily."
It was only then that she noticed a light hand-print on his face. Must've slapped him in my sleep…
"Sorry," she mumbled in apology. "I, uh… didn't mean to hit you or anything."
He shrugged, brushing it off. "It's fine."
She pulled her hand away from where she had been rubbing her throbbing head and stood. She glanced at Miroku, who was still standing there, watching her. "I have to get dressed," she said, a silent inquiry to leave.
Inquiry? Command was more like it.
"Okay."
He didn't move.
"I meant, leave," she explained, pointing toward the door.
"But Sango," he protested, "Your father will see me. And it was part of our agreement that I don't reveal myself to your dad, remember? Also, teleporting this early in the morning wouldn't be wise… what if I need to do it later on?"
"What, so you can only teleport once a day?" she asked him in confusion.
He shook his head. "No, I can do it as many times as I want depending on how much energy I have. And teleporting takes a lot of energy."
She lowered her eyes at him suspiciously. "Does it now?"
"Oh, yes," he replied seriously. "And what if I find a clue to Naraku's hideout and must rush over there immediately? I would need my energy."
Sango wasn't quite buying it, but she knew there was no sense in arguing with someone as persistent as him. "All right," she replied grudgingly. "But go into the closet so you can't see me."
"I don't know, Sango," he said, frowning. "I mean, I am your Beyond now, so if anything happened to you…"
"Just go!" Yanking his sleeve, she shoved him into the closet, then pushed a chair against it so she could be sure he wasn't peeking. After examining it closer, she determined that it was impossible for Miroku to look without her noticing. Satisfied, she turned back and rummaged through her drawers to find her school uniform.
"Stupid uniform…" she muttered as she pulled off her shirt, revealing her flimsy tank top that lay beneath it. She had felt uncomfortable enough as it was with her uniform on when she went to school alone… now she was going to have Miroku following her around wearing that…
I should have asked for a bigger size, she thought with a sigh. Well, it was too late to do anything now.
She rummaged through her drawer, pulling out a mismatched pair of undergarments and throwing them on the bed. She was just about to pull her tank top above her head when she heard a loud thump. Panicking, she whirled around, holding up her hands to her chest in embarrassment, even though her chest was covered by the tank top, skimpy as it was.
Miroku was crouching in the little space under her desk where her chair usually went, rubbing his head in pain. She glanced from the closet, to Miroku, then to the closet and back again.
"Miroku…" she said slowly.
He gave her his holiest, most innocent look, blinking his wide eyes and smiling serenely.
Oh, please.
She refrained from saying anything until she had pulled on a bigger shirt—her tank top may have covered her chest, but it still wasn't something she wanted that lecherous monk to see her in. As soon as she had done that, she turned back to him. He was still giving her that I'm-purer-than-water look. She wasn't buying it.
"May I ask you something, Miroku?" she asked, her voice syrupy sweet.
"Uh… sure," he replied. He was nervous, she could tell. Good. He should have been.
"Why is it," she began, smiling brightly, "that you are crouching under my desk when I specifically told you to stay in my closet?"
"Uh…"
"And how is it, exactly, you managed to do so, considering you claimed that you can't be teleporting now, due to the fact that you're 'conserving energy' for the battle with that Naraku?"
"Well…"
"And why, when you promised me yesterday that you wouldn't, did you spy on me deliberately—"
"Actually—"
"—which is in the guidelines," she cut in, "as I think it would qualify as something perverted, don't you?"
"Er…"
"Well?" she snapped.
He shrank back as far as he could against his little niche in the desk. "Okay, Sango, okay!" he gave in, raising his hands in surrender. "I peeked on you!"
"Damn right you did!" she yelled, letting her anger unleash itself. "Have you no decency at all? You call yourself a Beyond? What the hell kind of an angel are you, anyway! Breaking your promises, spying on girls while they're changing, downright lying—"
"I know!" he interjected, stepping out of the desk. "And I know I betrayed your trust and all, but I just couldn't help it. But I promise you, I swear, I won't do it again."
"Why should I believe your promises?" she asked suspiciously. "You didn't do very well this time, did you?"
"Trust," he put in. "And I know you don't trust me now, but you will."
"Right," she snorted. She glanced down at her uniform. "How am I supposed to change now? Obviously I can't do it with you around."
"I won't peek."
"Yeah, like I'm believing that a second time."
"I won't, I swear." She arched an eyebrow at him, and he sighed. "I really won't, but if you're so skeptical, change in the closet. You would see if I teleported in there."
"What if you did that invisible thing that you did when you first saw me and you groped my butt in school?" she challenged.
"I can't become invisible to you," he replied truthfully. "I could before because I wasn't tied down to you as a Beyond, but once I chose you, I lost the ability to do so. I can make myself invisible to anyone but you, and I am not allowed to physically hurt you." He paused. "Not that I would, anyway."
"I'm still not sure if I believe you," she said grudgingly. "How about this? I go in there and change, but you have to stand out here counting so I know you're not peeking."
"Fair enough."
Still glaring at him, Sango backed up into the closet with her uniform, changing at the speed of light while listening intently to his counting. When he made it to 16, she was done.
"That was quick," he commented.
She shrugged. "It's a gift. Now, I have to go to school, but while I'm gone…"
"While you're gone?" he repeated blankly. "But I'm going with you."
"You can't follow me to school, Miroku," she pointed out, trying not to panic at the thought of bringing that pervert near school grounds. "People will notice if I take some guy in with me, and the teachers definitely wouldn't allow it."
"That's why I'll go invisible so that you're the only one who can see me. And when I talk to you, you'll be the only one who can hear me."
Sango hesitated to think about it. Having Miroku by her side the entire day wouldn't be the worst thing, she supposed, though she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. And she could really just ignore him the whole time, since she was in school and was supposed to be focusing on her studies. It was a lot more preferable than leaving him in her room where he would likely dig through her underwear drawer again or watch porn on their living room television.
Kohaku knocked on her door. "Sis?" he called. "We're leaving soon, are you ready to go?"
"You can come," she murmured at last. "But make sure you stay invisible."
He gave her a quick thumbs-up, which Sango took for a yes.
"I'm coming, Kohaku," she yelled. "Hold on!"
Grabbing her backpack, she hefted it on her shoulders and opened the door, holding her breath as Miroku passed by her right to where Kohaku was standing. What if Kohaku did see? How would she possibly explain having a guy in her room?
"You coming?" Kohaku prompted.
She held back a sigh of relief. He didn't see…
"Told ya," Miroku teased in her ear.
"Shut up," she grumbled.
"What did you say?" Kohaku asked.
"Oh! Uh… nothing… just, uh, thinking aloud, you know…" God, she was bad at this. If this was going to work, she'd need to brush up on her lying skills.
"You've been acting really weird lately, sis," he commented.
"Uh. Have I?" Before he could answer, she rambled on, "Well, of course I've been acting weird, Kohaku! I mean, I've moved to a new city and a new school and I'm just, you know, really overwhelmed and stuff, so…"
"Whoa, calm down, I don't need to know your life story," he teased, but he was smiling. They reached the living room and Sango fished out her key from the pocket of her too-short skirt to lock it. Leaning down, she set the key into the lock, grinding her teeth together in irritation as she heard Miroku's snicker of pleasure at the extra flesh shown. Having him follow her around would be harder than she had thought, especially when she couldn't talk to him without looking crazy.
It was then that she felt him put his hand on her butt. Sango ground her teeth until she thought they might crumble, thinking carefully. She couldn't let him think he could get away with groping her all the time… in any normal situation, a slap was the most obvious answer. But this wasn't a normal situation, and Kohaku would think she were insane if she were to slap something invisible.
She sighed. No slaps, then.
So she did the next best thing: she slammed the door straight into his face, grinning as she heard him wince at the grunt he made on impact.
And it felt pretty damn good, too.
Sango hastily scrawled down the problem on the board, trying to ignore how odd it was to see Miroku leaning against the window, drumming his fingers across the window making a sound only she could hear. He had, at first, been very excited with the prospect of school, which, to him, was a bunch of a girls with small skirts. He was also intrigued to see that Sango had befriended Kagome, having spoken to her before one of her classes. He'd hoped Inuyasha would be there, too, but was nowhere in sight. Most likely he had gotten in a fight with Kagome again. Now, in the middle of pre-calculus and almost four hours at this school, he looked about as bored as the other students.
"Hey." Miroku suddenly appeared behind her. "When does this class end?"
Sango scribbled down 10 minutes before going back to her worksheet. She was erasing often, running a hand through her hair and letting out little hisses of irritation. He glanced down at the work she was doing and winced. He wasn't stupid, that was for sure, but the bunches of numbers and contraptions around them all looked terribly confusing. He was beginning to regret his decision to accompany her to school; while the girls in short skirts were all over the place, there weren't too many attractive girls with legs that could compare to Sango's. He felt a rush of pride at the thought.
I've chosen well.
Miroku glanced up at the clock. It was a strange contraption, but one that was simple enough to figure out, as it was a bit like a sundial. He could tell now that the bell would ring in about seven minutes.
"Sango?"
She darted her eyes up toward him momentarily to show she was listening.
"May I just say that you look absolutely lovely right now?"
She hastily wrote something on her notebook. Miroku leaned down to read it: Shut up, you pervert. I'm trying to work here. And what's with the random compliments?
He shrugged. "Well, you do look ravishing," he remarked. "I would think a lady can't be told that too many times."
She rolled her eyes, but he could see that she was blushing.
Thanks, but I don't need the compliments, she wrote.
He shrugged. "All right, then." He began to drum his fingers again, tapping his foot along with it to further show his boredom. Sighing, he began to count the tiles on the walls, then the number of tiles on the floors as well.
"Sango?" the teacher said loudly, cutting through Miroku's thoughts. "What's the answer?"
"Um…" Sango glanced down at her paper and flushed. "I haven't solved it yet."
The teacher frowned, looking irritated. "You were given a sufficient amount of time," he replied sharply. "If you can't keep up with this class, then I'm afraid you're not suited for it."
"I… I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, ducking her head down and struggling to finish the problem. Miroku gaped in shock at the teacher. No man, elderly or otherwise, should speak to Sango, his Sango, in such a manner.
"Why didn't you say something?" he demanded to Sango. She didn't bother responding. He waited for her to finish up her problem—and thankfully, getting it right—before asking again.
Because I don't talk back to my teachers, she was writing. I'm not disrespectful, unlike some people I know.
"The way he talked to you was completely rude," Miroku pointed out with a frown. "There was no reason for him to speak to you that way." He was surprised to find that he actually was a bit angry; he'd seen women being acted upon more harshly by their own husbands while he was alive. And Sango was right, it wasn't the smartest to talk back to a sensei, yet still… he didn't approve of the way the man spoke to Sango as if she were stupid, when he knew she was anything but.
Before Miroku could say anything more to Sango, the bell gave its usual ear-splitting shriek, signaling the end of the class. The students shot out of their seats like catapults, and Miroku followed suit, just as eager to get out of the classroom as the rest of them.
He paused at the doorway, glancing backwards. The teacher was writing something upon the board, probably preparing for the next class. Miroku narrowed his eyes and the chalk exploded in the teacher's hand, spraying chalk dust all over his shirt. He gave a silent laugh at the man's horror when he saw that not only had the chalk seemingly exploded of its own accord, but now his neatly pressed white shirt was covered with yellow chalk dust.
Sango, waiting in the hallway, saw none of this. "Are you coming?" she muttered to Miroku.
He gave one last look at the teacher, just to remember his gawking face. Then he turned back to Sango, "Yeah," he replied, and followed her out into the hall.
AN: Okay, I realized just what a terrible authoress I am when I saw that a bunch of writers have been responding to their reviewers, and all I've basically been saying is thanks. So, I wrote out some responses to the reviewers of the last chapter, and I'll probably keep doing this for every few chapters.
Taishoku Kurayami: Yes, I agree with that theory. And it's odd, because Kikyou and Kagura are my second favorite females after Sango, too… and let me guess, Miroku and Sesshoumaru are your favorite males?
Nessa03: Aw, thanks! I hope you like it… as for the lemon, I don't think I'll be writing one for a while, since I'm still only a freshman in highschool and my mind is as pure as a spring field (okay, who can tell that's a complete lie?) But… yeah. I'm not really comfortable writing that kind of stuff yet. But yeah, I'll have some fluff. My other story, "In the Dark Places," will have lime, but no lemon.
Pobbin: Heh, Sango really does need to learn subtlety. I think it's more that she just panicked and did the first thing that popped into her mind (tackling her brother, that is… hey, she has got a warrior's mind). Thanks for the compliments, I'm so glad you like it! I feel a bit like I'm going off track into Fluff Land here, but the plot really will be introduced soon. And I was thinking about Kohaku turning on the TV, but decided it would be even too cruel for me to do. The poor boy's the purest thing since mineral water, after all.
Aamalie: smiles Hope you liked Miroku's little spying scheme… I didn't do a bathroom scene yet, though. I have to wait until I've mastered the pairing enough to write something as intense as a bathroom scene. even more of a dork
Blood Red Emereld: Thanks a lot! I'm glad you like the story so far… keep on reviewing! I love reading 'em!
heart of flame: Heh, I'm guessing you liked the first bits of fluff? Well, I hope so, at any rate. And I'm glad you're thinking it's funny… I was really worried it wouldn't come off too funny to those that read it, but I'm happy at least one person thought it was.
lodz: Yes, I made another person laugh! And I'm glad you liked last chapter… hoped you liked this one too.
FlamingRedFox: You're right, Sango will never have a moments' peace with Miroku around. And thanks for the compliment! I don't exactly think this story is as wonderful as you say, but I certainly hope others think so!
Irasuto: Yay, another person who enjoyed the chapter! Heh, and you're right, Sango's far from perfect, in this story and the actual series. But we can't all be perfect, you know.
Lily Thorne: Thanks for the review! I always like getting new reviews, and I hope you keep on reading.
And just in case anyone mentions this in the future, I'd like to address the matter of high schools. Normally, in a Japanese high school, the students would stay in the same classroom and the teachers would be the ones moving. Also, there would be school on Saturday and there would be different type of lockers, if there were any at all. However, since I am much more familiar with US high schools, as after all, I attend one myself, I figure I shouldn't write something I don't really know about, ie Japanese high schools, and spare myself from sounding like an idiot.
With that aside, let me continue on my shameless self-promotion: Review, people! It makes my day!
