Chapter 2: Happy Birthday!

"I don't get this at all." Sango complained while Miroku tried to help her study. However, the effort wasn't mutual. Miroku rolled his eyes.

"I told you I wasn't the prime choice to help you study for math. Luckily, this stuff I know, for the most part. And it's a lot easier than you think." Miroku said.

"Then enlighten me." Sango challenged.

"Okay." Miroku agreed. "You know the angles in triangles always add up to 180 degrees. This triangle," Miroku continued, indicating a triangle in the textbook. "is a right triangle so we know this angle equals-"

"Ninety degrees." Sango finished for him.

"Right, the measure of this angle is given to you as well. This angle is the missing link." he explained, pointing to an angle marked 2x+10. "So to find x, you add up the two other angles. Sango wrote '90+32122'. "Right, now you subtract ten then divide by two, and you'll find x."

"So ultimately this is a simple addition/subtraction problem?" Sango inquired.

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Miroku received a slap across the face for his answer.

"Why didn't you just say so, instead of feeding me all that garbage?"

"You said you didn't understand it at all!" Miroku objected.

"What, you think I'm too stupid to comprehend addition?" Sango spat out angrily. Miroku buried his head in his hands.

"No Sango. I do think you're spending a bit too much time around Inuyasha though, jumping to conclusions like that." Miroku explained.

"You're confusing me with Kagome. She can barely pry herself away from him; she's so fucking in love with him." Sango replied.

"You think so?" Miroku questioned. "If she is, she seems to do a pretty good job of concealing it."

"Well, it's what she doesn't do that makes it so obvious." Sango continued.

"Such as…?"

"You know how Inuyasha is always calling her wench? Have you ever seen her get angry?"

"No." Miroku admitted. "But she goes out with Hojo. How do you counter that?" Miroku said with a victorious air, thinking he had won the argument.

"That means little. I go out with Kuranosuke, and I…" she trailed off.

"You what?" Miroku asked.

"Nothing." Sango replied quickly, beginning to turn the same shade of red she had at lunch earlier in the day.

"I KNEW it! I knew you liked someone else! Who, who, who?" Miroku interrogated.

"I don't like anyone else Miroku." Sango said with fake confidence.

"Is it Koga?"

"I don't like anyone else."

"Is it Shippo?" Sango shot him a quizzical look.

"Miroku, Shippo is like three feet tall.

"Is it him, is it him?" Miroku yelled like a little boy.

"Miroku, I don't like anyone else!" Sango said with fire in her eyes.

"Hojo? Sesshomaru? Jinenji?" Miroku persisted.

"It's not any of them because I don't like anyone else. If I did, wouldn't it make more sense for me to be dating him?" Sango said in her defense.

"Maybe he's blind. Maybe he's a loser. Maybe he has bad taste." Miroku answered, name the only three people types he could think of that would refuse to go out with Sango.

"Quit trying to flatter me Houshi. I've known you too long to not be familiar with your 'moves'." Besides, I have a boyfriend, remember?" Sango reminded him.

"I'm serious! Besides, I'm not thick enough not to know don't steal your friends girl." Miroku defended himself.

"Just because you never have done so before doesn't mean you don't know how." Sango complimented him. "Besides, you said it yourself, only blind losers with bad taste wouldn't go out with me."

"And you said it was just flattery. Please Sango; give me a little more credit. I don't steal other guys' girlfriends. I didn't come over here so we could talk about each others love lives."

"No matter. I don't really need to study anymore." Sango stated, slamming her textbook shut. Miroku looked down at his watch.

"I still have a little over an hour before I have to be home. What could we possibly do for a whole hour?" Miroku said suggestively, a knowing grin on his face, which was replaced with a red handprint milliseconds later.

"Dream on pervert." Sango said in a dangerous tone.

"Ow! Lighten up Sango, it was just a joke!" Miroku complained.

"As much as I'd like to believe that…"

"Besides, you know you want it." Miroku cooed, another sly smirk on his face, earning himself another smack.

"You never learn do you?"

"Maybe I don't wanna learn." Miroku responded impudently.

"If that's the case then get out of my house." Sango countered curtly.

"That cuts real deep, Sango. Don't you love me anymore?" Miroku asked with innocence as fake as his pout. Sango knew he was putting on a big act, but she decided to not care.

"I'm sorry Miroku. I still love you." Sango sighed.

"Prove it then." Miroku said with that famous lecherous grin of his. Sango slapped her forehead, and Miroku's cheek followed shortly thereafter.

"Not like that. Get a life."

"Life's are over-rated, or so I've heard." Miroku said smartly. "I'd much rather spend all my time with you."

"Isn't that sweet? I'm sure Koharu would love to hear that." Sango joked.

"I don't care if the whole world knows. Anyway, it's never very hard to improve Koharu's mood." Miroku declared coolly.

"Oh really? Show me how."

"You sure you wanna know Sango?" Miroku warned.

"Yes. Show me."

"If you insist." Miroku put his hands around Sango's waist, pulled her closer, and planted a fervent kiss on her lips. Sango's first instinct was to push away, but her conscience told her otherwise.

"Come on, milk it for all it's worth." her conscience advised. Sango complied without protest and her arms found their way around Miroku's neck. After a few seconds her brain took over. "Idiot. You're totally blowing your cover you know. And Miroku isn't the type to keep this sort of thing secret." This time her conscience didn't try to overrule logic. She quickly pushed away. "What the hell was that? Pervert!"

Miroku just shrugged. "Sorry, but you asked me to show you, twice. And you can't say I didn't warn you." Sango 'humph'ed and Miroku's overused sly grin slowly crept across his face. "Liked that, didn't you?"

"A little." Sango mumbled with a blush. "BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT! IT'S A MATTER OF PRINCIPLES!" Miroku winced at her yell.

"Lord, Sango. I'm surprised you didn't raise the dead with that." Miroku commented. Kohaku opened Sango's bedroom door.

"What was that all about? I could hear you all the way downstairs, even though I had the stereo turned up." he questioned.

"It's not important. Miroku and I are going out for a little while. Tell Dad I'll be home at six, okay?" Sango requested.

"Sure, no problem." Kohaku said as Sango and Miroku left.

"Miroku, let's get one thing straight." Sango said in a warning tone as they left her house. "You are to tell no one, and I mean no one that we-"

"Gotcha." Miroku replied before Sango could finish. "You think I want that to become common knowledge?" Sango gave him a knowing glance. "Okay, maybe I wouldn't mind, but we both now how everyone would take that news."

"Yup." Sango agreed. "The wrong way. And I don't think either of us wants to know how Kuranosuke would react." Miroku nodded in response, as they reached his house.

"Hey, Sango, can you wait out here for a second? I've got something for you."

"You do? What is it?"

"You'll see in a minute." Miroku said with a wink. He came back out of the house with something hidden behind his back. "Happy Birthday." he said, revealing what he had behind his back. It was a three stone necklace. A sterling chain with a pendant at the bottom, were a diamond was below and above a blue sapphire. "I know it's a week early, but I didn't want to keep it from you any longer."

"Wow! They're beautiful!" Sango exclaimed, admiring the three gem stones.

"Yes, you are…I mean they are." Sango gave him a look.

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asked.

"So would anyone with eyes." Miroku said with a genuine grin, not his usual suggestive one. "You like it?"

"I love it." Miroku's grin got wider at Sango's answer and wider still when she added: "but not as much as I love you." Sango took a look at her watch. It was five minutes till six. "I gotta go. See you tomorrow!" she said after giving Miroku a kiss on the cheek.

"Life is good!" Miroku thought out loud as he went up the stairs to his house.