Little Miroku and the Wandering Child

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Inuyasha, it's characters and all related materials are copyright Rumiko Takahashi.

A soft wind's gust allowed fallen leaves to blow past the three people standing together, watching the evening slowly turn into night. Inuyasha stood in-between the two girls with his arms crossed tight and an annoyed look on his face. There was an impatience about him that was greater than any demon's aura they had ever sensed. Shippo cowered on Kagome's right shoulder, as far from Inuyasha as he could safely be. Kagome merely sighed at Inuyasha's attitude and closed her eyes, attempting to ignore him.

Sango glanced over at Inuyasha and looked behind her slightly. She was much better at concealing it, but it was true that she was becoming rather impatient, also. For the first time since arriving at this village, Sango broke the silence with a quiet voice. "There may be a village onward a way."

To any stranger, this may have sounded like a statement, but the group had been together for so long Inuyasha knew it was a suggestion and with little thought he nodded his head and mumbled an approval.

Sango nodded back and left the group to approach the monk some ways away who had been desperately trying to explain to the headman of the village that they were plagued by a terrible demon. However, the headman continuously kept looking back at Inuyasha with fear and assured the monk they did not need his help. He knew allowing them to help would mean they would have to grant them a bed. They also knew the headman was afraid of Inuyasha, which made Inuyasha very angry for being prejudged, so it was assumed they had might as well leave anyway.

"Houshi-sama," Sango whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He turned to her immediately, recognizing her voice and stepped away from the headman to listen. "Inuyasha is ready to leave. Maybe we can find another village up ahead."

Miroku glanced back at the group who was still waiting and nodded. He turned back to the headman and bowed his head, thanking him anyway and wishing them good luck with any demons that may enter his village. Sango smiled at his last attempt to get them a place to stay and they walked back to the group together.

"There's a river up this way," Inuyasha grumbled, still angered by the prejudice the man had shown him which always gave him flashback to his childhood. "There's gotta be people livin' by it."

Kagome stopped when she felt something hit her shoulder. Inuyasha to her left did not stop, but his ear twitched when he felt the same thing hit him on the head.

"It's raining," Miroku sighed. "What a day this has been." Indeed it has been quite a day. A surprise attack by a demon injured Inuyasha, although he was mostly healed by now Kagome still wanted him to rest somewhere. Sango's leg had received a gash from the demon's teeth, and she was very tired from the battle. Although she claimed she was fine, and Kagome's medicine was helping, Miroku wanted them to rest also, for her sake. To top it off, they had tried staying in two villages already with no luck, and now they were out in the rain not even certain if there was a village nearby or not.

"There's a forest that way," Shippo pointed to the right. "We can stay there for the night, right?"

"We'll probably have to," Inuyasha replied. "Sango's been walking on that leg all day."

Sango sighed at the fact everyone worried about her so much. There were times her being such a strong warrior made her feel as if no one looked at her as a woman, and then there were times she felt she was pitied for the same thing. "I've said I'm fine," she spoke up. "You don't need to stop now because of me."

Miroku and Kagome smiled at Inuyasha. Miroku, because of the fact that Inuyasha cared about Sango's health and tried his best not to show it. Kagome, for the same reason but also because she knew Inuyasha not only wanted to rest for Sango, but because he needed to lie down for a little while, too.

The rain picked up and fell heavier now, and the canopy of trees looked more promising than ever. "It's fine, Sango-chan," Kagome said as she strolled in the direction of the forest behind Inuyasha. Sango shook her head but followed suit with the others, Kirara mewing her agreement in the back.

"Here we are," Kagome smiled. She was sitting on her knees digging through her bag and had found another blanket. She handed it to Sango, who thanked her with an equal smile and walked over to make her a bed on the ground. "Do you want a blanket, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha was poking the small fire he had made with a stick. He glared over at her and turned back to the fire. "What kind of a question is that? Have I ever used one?"

Kagome frowned. "I was just asking, because you're wet. I don't want you to get sick."

"Keh," Inuyasha replied. Before Kagome could snap a response, Miroku returned from the depths of the forest carrying a large armful of logs.

"Here's some more, Inuyasha," he said as he bent down to set them by the fire. "They should last the whole night."

Behind him, Shippo came trailing in. He dragged one small log behind him that anyone else in the group could have carried one-handed with no problem. "Here's another," he chirped. "I helped, Kagome."

Kagome smiled at him, as did Miroku. "Yes," he said, "you're a very good helper, Shippo."

Shippo beamed at the compliment and with a newfound pride managed the urge to drag the wood next to Miroku's pile. Inuyasha, as usual, felt the need to pick on him.

"Nice work," he mumbled. "That twig'll come in handy all right."

Shippo glared at him. "Oh yeah, Inuyasha? At least I don't complain about every little thing! What is your problem?" And the two began to argue with Kagome attempting to referee. Miroku had long left the three to sit by Sango's side.

"Do you need any more bandages?" He asked with a worried look on his face. Sango sat on the blanket Kagome had given her idly petting Kirara on her other side. A small blush crept upon her face at his concern and, sure to avoid eye contact, she looked down at Kirara and shook her head.

He smiled at her, and crossed his arms. "Inuyasha was angry after all the damage that demon did that there was no jewel shard."

Sango gave a short laugh, and even though it was not much, it made Miroku's heart lighter to know she was happy now. "Inuyasha's always angry."

This comment made Miroku chuckle. Sango glanced over at him, thinking of how nice it was to hear him laugh like that. Their eyes met, and Sango did not know what to do, but surprisingly Miroku was first to look away.

"I have to go collect some more wood," he said finally. Sango watched curiously as he quickly stood up and left their small campsite, the other three not noticing as they were in argument. Sango glanced over at the fire and thought she was certain that Miroku had already gone to get wood.

Creeping through the forest, Miroku tried to retrace his steps from a few minutes ago. Finally, he found the big group of bushes and wandered over to it looking around for what he had seen earlier. Pushing past some branches, he spotted it immediately. A young woman of exceeding beauty was standing by a bush, holding a bucket, and picking berries to put into it. A very large grin spread across his face, he remembered how he had seen her and began to approach her when Shippo popped up and he knew he would have to return. Now, however, he was alone. He stood up and brushed the branches away, walking in-between two bushes to the young woman's side.

The young woman looked up when she sensed his presence and smiled at him. "Ah, Houshi-sama," she acknowledged his robed immediately. "Is there something you need from, an innocent village girl such as myself?"

His grin spread even more. The question she asked was almost perfect and the way she said it almost teased him had she really known him. "Well," he began taking in her beauty some more. "I would like to ask you a question. A simple one, in fact."

"And I would like to ask you a question," she giggled in return, turning to face him directly. He hair was not bound like most village girls, it was free, though it only came to upper part of her back. It was a dark brown, which matched her eyes. She was very beautiful, but somehow had a sense of cuteness among her like that of a child, although she had to be close to Miroku's age.

"And what is that?" Miroku asked playfully, giving her a wink.

She smiled at him an reached into her little bucket, pulling out an oddly shaped berry that he had never seen. It was mixed of green and orange and a bit larger than most berries. "These are very common around here, although most travelers have never seen them. They are my favorite, won't you try one?"

Miroku held out his right hand and the young woman placed it in his palm. He inspected it for a second and then ate it without much thought. "Hm, yes it is quite delectable," he mused as he looked back up to the young woman. Surprise overtook Miroku when he realized that girl was no longer there. He looked around and saw no sign of her. Confused, rubbed his head and slowly began the brisk walk back to the campsite before suspicion was spawned.

"No wood?" Sango asked dryly, wondering where Miroku had gone off to. Kagome and Shippo had already fallen asleep and Sango and Inuyasha sat around, wide awake.

Miroku forgot his excuse and thought quickly to come up with an excuse. "No good dry wood, I must have gotten it all the first time," he responded calmly.

Sango eyes him for a moment before laying down and closing her eyes to go to sleep. Miroku's eyes trailed from her to Inuyasha, who sat by the fire watching him with narrowed eyes.

"What have you been up to?" Inuyasha asked straightforwardly.

Miroku shrugged, took a spot near the fire against a rock and closed his eyes hoping sleep would consume him soon – and quickly.

End of Chapter 1

A/N: Wow, I have emerged from the kazaana that is not writing fanfics. It is so much more fun doing this, and I'm glad to be back at it. This story won't be the best, but it will help me get back into the swing of writing fanfiction after so many months without it. And I need to learn new rating system... This story, sadly, is not as Miroku/Sango centered as I could have made it (I realize as I write chapter 2) but I'll try my best to put my favorite anime couple in as much as possible. Be sure to look for the second chapter by the weekend. As with all my writings, thank you for spending your time reading this, I appreciate it:)