Chibi: This is my favorite chappy so far. You get to see some more relationship developments. Also we'd like to apologize to anyone who finds Mary Sue's offensive (self inserts.)

Disclaimer: We do not own InuYasha.

Chapter 6

A moment (or two)

Later that night, Azurine sat on a bridge over a shallow flowing river. Weeping Sakura trees were blossoming. It's so beautiful. Not like home. Home is scary.

(Chibi edit: You mean the snake demons weren't scary? Geez! How bad was their life in the future? Azure: how bad do ya think? With Cain and all… but in part two of the story, Azure's life gets better! Yes. There will be a part two.)

"Azurine! Azure?" Someone called her name.

I'm not here. I'm not here. I'm not…Ah! I'm really not here! Where'd I go? She had turned invisible. Ah! My hands did it again!

Sarah walked onto the bridge closely followed by Yuto. Azurine slipped a little ways down the bridge so they wouldn't trip over her.

"I wish we could find her…" Sarah mumbled. "She just disappeared with out a trace. I hope InuYasha finds her before Mirouku does because, well, yea. Shippo is with him, though, I don't know how much that'll do, of course."

"We'll find her. Don't worry. She can't just disappear. It's not possible," Yuto reassured her.

Heh, heh. Heh, heh, heh. Azurine stifled giggles. It's not?

Sarah smiled weakly. "Yea I guess so."

"Uh, you know, Sarah. You're pretty when you smile," he said in a hushed voice.

Oh no. They're going to have a moment. Sarah's so clueless she probably doesn't even realize it!

"Uh…um…thank you …I think." She blushed. "W-why are you saying this?" she asked flustered.

"Because. Because you are. And because I want to do this."

He suddenly bent down and kissed her. They stood like that for a moment before Yuto pulled away, blushing. "Sorry. I guess that was a bit too forward of me."

Sarah stood there, her face stuck in a look of shock. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open a little. "Um," was all she could mutter. She whipped around so he couldn't see her. She placed her hands on her quickly warming cheeks. She was too embarrassed to even look at him. "Excuse me," she managed to squeak out. She took off, running, leaving Yuto standing looking after her.

"I shouldn't have done that. What was I thinking? I better go find her."

Just as he was about to give chase, he distantly heard Sarah yell 'STAY!' and Yuto was frozen to the spot.

Once Sarah was completely out of sight, Azurine flickered back into visibility.

"Problems, Yuto?" she asked casually.

"What the-? Where did you come from? Were you watching?" Yuto wailed, as his body began to work again.

"Yup." Azurine nodded. "Don't worry. Sarah's just shy. She probably enjoyed it." She nudged him in the side.

"Azurine! I'm going to…" Yuto began.

His threat was cut off by the appearance of Miroku and Shippo. They ran onto the bridge and Shippo jumped on top of Azurine's head.

"Hey," Azurine giggled. "Is it comfortable up there?"

"Yup!" Shippo replied. "And there's a great view!"

Azurine turned back to Yuto. "Go find her. She'll explain herself. Don't worry about it."

"I'll come, too," said Shippo, switching heads.

"I guess there's no point in telling you 'no', is there?" Yuto sighed. "Come on."

Azurine watched Yuto and Shippo walk off the bridge in search of Sarah. Shippo cast continuous glances back at her.

"I have a divine feeling," Azurine muttered, turning to look at Miroku, "that I've been set up." She sank down to the floor of the bridge and dangled her feet over the side.

"I have a divine feeling you're right," Miroku replied, sitting down next to her. He set his staff beside him. "Are you okay?"

She gazed off into the distance, sighing and not even paying attention. Miroku rested his hand on her knee. This, too, she failed to notice.

"Azurine? Are you okay?" he repeated.

"Huh? Who, wha? Oh, sorry Miroku," Azurine said and blushed. "I-I didn't…"

"How is your neck?"

She rubbed the bandages wrapped around her throat. "Getting better. I don't think I said this before, but, thank you. You…sort of…well…you saved me."

"You saved yourself." Miroku smiled. "Was there anything specific you were talking about?"

"I miss my guardian. Very much."

"It's okay. I don't have family either," Miroku sympathized. "I feel your pain."

Azurine laughed "Really now? You feel my pain? From my view, it seems more like you feel my leg."

He quickly pulled his hand away. "You can't blame me for trying."

"I can. If this weren't the feudal era, I'd wonder how you of all people got to be a monk. You're such a perv." She sighed. "Why?"

Anime hand wave from Miroku. "It's not important. It's not relevant or pretty to hear about."

"Don't make me laugh. I've seen 'not pretty', and your story has to be prettier than that."

"If you insist…" Miroku then proceeded to convey to her his sorrowful tale. Once finished, Azurine had a strange urge to hug him but she held it back.

"You're right. Not pretty," she agreed. "So…now you have to kill this Naraku or else the wind tunnel will kill you. And if your mission fails, you want an heir so they can take over to fight the curse. So that's why you ask everyone to bear your child…"

"So, now that you've heard my story," Miroku asked, picking up Azurine's hand, "will you even consider bearing my child?"

"If I was older, we were married, and I didn't live in the future, I would possibly consider it."

"So…there's a chance?" Miroku asked hopefully.

"Um…nope. Not one in hell," Azurine grinned.

Miroku pulled an anime-fall. "B-but, next year you'll be older. I'll ask you to marry me and you'll live here with me," Miroku planned.

Azurine laughed until tears formed in her eyes. Miroku looked at her crestfallenly. She stopped instantly. "I'm sorry. But…all right. I'll think about it, okay? Ask me in six months. I'll tell you what I'll do then."

He embraced her.

"Hey! Didn't I say 'no touchy'?" Azurine warned. Though reluctantly, Miroku released his grasp. "But I'll make an exception, this time." She threw her arms around him.

At that moment, Shippo returned. Azurine heard his loud utterance of "Ewwwww!" from behind Miroku. Shippo poofed into the Shippo-ball and gnawed on Miroku's head. Miroku grew a large sweatdrop. Azurine pulled back. "Shippo! Leave him alone!"

He poofed back into his normal form and clung to Miroku's head. "B-but Azurine!" he whined. "Kagome said to protect you from him."

"Aww. Shippo! I don't need protecting." She opened her arms and Shippo jumped into them. "That hug was my fault."

"That's all that's been happening today. First Yuto and Sarah, now you two. Yuck!" Shippo stuck out his tongue, disgusted.

"Shippo…It's just a hug. Are you jealous or something?" she teased as she squeezed him.

"No. You future girls are weird," Shippo grumbled.

"And you are cute!" Azurine replied, rubbing his hair. "You look tired. Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'm not tired! I wanna stay up!" he protested. He finished off the statement with a particularly large yawn.

"Please sleep? You're not going to be any use to me tomorrow if you're exhausted," Azurine pleaded.

"Well…okay." Shippo cuddled in her lap and curled into a little ball. "G'night." He fell asleep.

Tears suddenly burned in Azurine's eyes. Is this what it feels like? Is this what it's like to have a family? Miroku, Shippo, Tanpopo; even Yuto, InuYasha, and Kagome; they're closer than anyone I've ever known… She held Shippo close and never wanted to let him go.

(If I was Azure, I would, too.)

Miroku stood and held out his hand. "Are you ready to go back, now? InuYasha and Kagome are worried about you. And we should find Yuto and Sarah along the way before Shippo's not the only tyke running around here."

She took his hand and laughed. "I don't know about Yuto, but Sarah's too innocent to even think about that at this point in a relationship. Trust me. She blushes when she thinks about hugging let alone…you know…that."

"I have no qualms about that sort of thing whatsoever," Miroku smiled.

They found Sarah and Yuto by the river and continued back towards the village. InuYasha spazzed when they arrived. "Where in all the hells were you? Do you want to die?" he yelled.

Azurine grimaced. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't want to worry you."

"You didn't," InuYasha retorted, turning his back to her.

"You did," Kagome whispered. "He's just too proud and stubborn to admit it." She looked at Shippo. "Is he okay? What happened?"

"He's fine. He's just tired. Don't wake him up." Azurine smiled.

"He's tired?" InuYasha cried out exasperatedly. "He didn't do anything!" He stomped forward, intent on bopping the kitsune on the head.

Azurine turned away protectively. "Leave him alone. He's only a kid!"

"Why should I?" InuYasha asked.

Multiple anger marks popped up on Azurine's forehead. One of those scary fire backgrounds appeared behind her. "Because, if you don't I'll get angry. Very angry. So just leave Shippo alone!" she roared.

InuYasha backed away. "Never thought a Deltan could be that scary…"

The flames extinguished. "What do you know about my family?" she asked cautiously.

"Nothing important," InuYasha sighed.

It was then that Sarah noticed the sun setting. "We should go to bed," she suggested. "Not much else to do today." She pulled Azurine over to the side as the rest of the group began to set up camp. "You're being really overprotective of Shippo, you know? What's up? Is there something wrong with him?"

"No. But look at him! He's so cute! I can't help but be overprotective of him." She gave him a small squeeze. She then looked up mischievously. "So…?"

"So what?" Sarah asked, shifting uncomfortably under her friend's stare.

"What happened between you and Yuto, huh?" she prompted, winking.

"Uh…um…nothing of particular interest." Sarah blushed and looked away.

"Fine, Tanpopo. Be that way," Azurine said disbelievingly as she rubbed her friend's hair. She walked back towards the busy group. "Coming Kagome!" She left Sarah standing there, wallowing in embarrassment.

Bean: I wasn't going to have the moment, but then I realized that if I didn't, Chibi would hurt me.

Chibi: Yes.

Bean: There's more in-depth moments towards the end of the fic but that's only because Chibi got a hold of the manuscript.

Chibi: hee hee hee ha ha ha!