Go Sango and Miroku! One day Ravyn and me were all like, "Dude, we haven't had any Miroku-Sango stuff happen at all! Maybe we could write a chapter all about it and have something totally dramatic happen!" (Okay, that so did not happen… but you get the picture). And Yoshiko's aunt shows up again, so if you care then there you go… Whatever…
I was looking back at the other posts and noticed that one chapter was all in bold and I'm sorry about that… I'd fix it but I'm too lazy. I also noticed when I explained about Ravyn's Anime Music Video she made the website didn't show up. So here's the website: animemusicvideos (and the ". org" part. I took it out because I think that's why the bold and the website was all screwy in the first place).
I'm in a Koga mood. Koga hasn't been on InuYasha lately (I watch it on adult swim). He's never on the show, it sucks! And the "Jaken Falls Ill" episode was boring… and Sesshomaru was weird in it… almost out of character… Whatever. I'm bored… I'm writing Chapter Nineteen but I'm sort of bored with it… not that it's boring I just can't think of anything! Pauses Japanese music is really weird… I downloaded all these InuYasha theme songs and a few Love Hina ones (it's another anime if you're confused by the times I've said I stole Keitaro's name from it… it's about this loser of a guy named Keitaro ((wow, so amazing! My Keitaro isn't a loser though, just a nerd… Not trying to insult nerds though, I'm a nerd!)) who gets kicked out of the house because he failed the exams to Tokyo University AGAIN ((you have to take a difficult exam to get to college in Japan)) so he goes to live at his Grandma's hotel… but it's not a hotel anymore, it's a ALL GIRL'S DORMITORY! Dum-dum-DUM! It's actually kind of funny… the anime, I mean. I only read the manga though, the show isn't on the channels I have). Anyways, I downloaded a bunch of InuYasha and Love Hina theme songs and they're all in Japanese and they're weird… cool, but weird… and I don't know what they're saying! You realize how hard it is to find translated lyrics for these songs! Anyways, I should hurry up—I haven't even written the disclaimer!
DISCLAIMERThat looks so dramatic… My hair's really short. It went below my chest and I couldn't brush it so I was all, "Mom, I need a hair cut. Like, NOW!" so I got a hair cut. Now my hair goes to my chin… I like it, it's just….. SHORT! Ravyn says I'll get over it in a few days (Not that she's a hair expert or anything, but whatever). Anyways, to the disclaiming! (what a weird title for a thing like this). Uh……………. I don't own InuYasha. Or Koga. Or wolf demons…. I'M IN A KOGA MOOD, DAMMIT! Thank God the Koga-Ayame episode is repeating today. Ayame's awesome! I should have her show up in the fan fic again… Oh, I don't own her either. Let's see… what do I own? Um… oh yeah, we don't own anything from the show or manga's or action figures or trading card games (they have an InuYasha trading card game. Can you believe it!) or the calendars (miniature new moon InuYasha is so cute!) or… or… thinks oh yeah! There's the InuYasha plushes, the InuYasha cars (okay, one car that some dude custom painted. Wahoo…), or… I can't think of any other InuYasha merchandise… hmm… wait, it'll come to me! Um… oh! T-shirts! They have those too! Wait, what was I talking about before! Whatever, anything not from show/book we own, okay? I haven't even had caffeine today, so what is wrong with me!
Apparently in the third InuYasha movie we learn more about InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's daddy. Anyone know where I can find that movie! I want to watch it, dammit! Whatever, have fun with the Miroku-Sango romance, even though nothing much happens romance wise (I don't think…) but whatever. Oh, and replying afterwards would be extremely nice…
Chapter Sixteen: Sango and the Tiger Demon's Plot
As he lay out in a thing that Kagome had once called a "sleeping bag" Miroku felt small wet things fall onto his face. His eyes opened slowly and notice that it had begun to snow. In fact it probably had been snowing for quite some time because everybody was quite covered with the white stuff. Sitting up, he started brushing it off of his robes and turned to the sleeping figures of his companions. His first thought was to brush the snow off of Sango. But after he had felt Yoshiko she would probably think he was making a move on her. Miroku sighed and dropped his head into his hand.
"Achoo!"
Immediately Sango and Sueko sat up and looked around as if expecting a demon attack. Miroku looked around as well and turn to Yoshiko who was now coughing. He got to his feet, picking up his staff as he did so. Once the girls figured out where the sound had come from they scrambled over to Yoshiko and started asking if she was okay. InuYasha, who had still seemed asleep, opened one eye and shook his head. When Sueko continued to fawn over Yoshiko InuYasha sighed and stood up.
"I guess we'll have to go to the nearest village," muttered InuYasha.
"Village!" cried Yoshiko, her eyes going wide.
"Where else do you expect to get medicine and herbal tea to help your cold?" asked Miroku, smiling down at her. He soon turned away when Sango narrowed her eyes at him.
"But…" started Yoshiko. Then she stopped and sighed, getting to her feet.
When she finally stood up all the way she started coughing again. Sango ordered Kirara then to transform and carry the half tiger demon. So it was that the group traveled through the ever thickening snow toward a near by village. Sango and Sueko continued to ask Yoshiko over and over if she was okay. Miroku and InuYasha did there best to stay out of it. But Miroku had a feeling that if it had been Sueko with the cold InuYasha would be a bit worried as well.
'Sango would never get a cold. She's too strong for that,' thought Miroku proudly.
"What are you grinning about, monk?" growled InuYasha, his arms crossed.
"Grinning?" said Miroku, looking puzzled. "Oh, nothing."
"Maybe I don't want to know," muttered InuYasha, looking away.
After an hour or so they finally reached a village. Miroku and Sueko took it upon themselves to look for a place to stay. They thought it would be best not to have InuYasha and Yoshiko walking into the village as they certainly weren't human.
"Maybe she shouldn't have worn her new dress during winter," sighed Sueko as they approached the inn.
"Well, she's had nothing else to wear but her kimono for who knows how many years," shrugged Miroku.
"Yeah… Who knows how many years…" muttered Sueko.
Once they had procured a room and ordered some tea, Sueko went back to collect the others. As Miroku sat in their room pouring out a large glass of tea for Yoshiko, a young woman passed by the doorway. She was beautiful, with waist length black hair and unusually green eyes. At first he thought her a princess of some sort. But another look at her bare feet, callused hands and peasant garb chased that thought out of his mind. Despite that when she smiled at him he felt himself falling in love.
'Now, now, Miroku. You travel with three very fine young ladies. All of which will kill you if you touch this women. What would Sango think anyways?' thought Miroku, closing his eyes and sweating with guilt.
"What are you thinking?" came a familiar voice, causing Miroku to sweat even more.
"Oh, nothing at all," said Miroku, looking at Sango and grinning.
"Uh huh…" muttered Sango in disbelief.
"Ah… ah…. AHCHOO!"
Everybody turned at once toward Yoshiko who was blushing in embarrassment. At that moment the innkeeper, an elderly looking women, walked in and put a large wool blanked around Yoshiko's shoulders. In surprise Yoshiko looked up at the women.
"Th—thank you!" she said.
"Don't worry. We get many young folk with colds around these days," said the old women. "I'll make you some of my special cold tea."
As the old women walked away Yoshiko stared after her with wide eyes.
"Wow… there are some pretty nice people in these villages," she muttered.
"Normally the older men and women are nicer than the others," said Miroku, handing Yoshiko her tea.
When he was sure that everybody was preoccupied with something he stood up and started out of the room. However Sango wasn't as preoccupied has he thought.
"Where are you going?" she snapped.
For a minute Miroku stood halfway out of the door thinking. Then he turned around, grinning.
"I thought I would ask around for news about the stones," he lied.
"Then I'll go with you!" said Sango, getting to her feet.
"No, no, that's okay," said Miroku, hurriedly, waving his hands about.
Sango's eyes narrowed as Miroku smiled at her. Then she sat down, crossing her arms and looking away from him in a huff. He sighed and walked out of the room sadly. As he walked down the hall he found himself running into somebody. Miroku looked up and found himself looking into InuYasha's face.
"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.
"InuYasha! I didn't see you there!" laughed Miroku guiltily.
"You're going off to womanize, aren't you?" growled InuYasha.
"What makes you think that?" laughed Miroku, patting InuYasha on the back.
"Sueko didn't get you that book for nothing," said InuYasha, his eyes narrowing.
"Well… I should probably get going," said Miroku, making his way past InuYasha carefully.
When he made his way around InuYasha he started running. Finally he found his way outside where he was able to breathe freely. Luckily InuYasha hadn't followed him so he was able to look around for some young women. Almost instantly he saw the black haired women that had passed by their room earlier. Before he could walk over to her she looked up, grinning.
"Hello monk," she said, bowing in respect.
"May I ask what your name is, lady?" asked Miroku, walking down the stairs toward her.
"It's Emiko," said the lady, still smiling brightly.
"Well, Emiko," said Miroku, taking her hands in his. "Would you be so obliged to bear my children?"
Emiko's eyes went wide, looking up into Miroku's serious face. She then looked down at their hands and Miroku almost though she was crying.
"Did I say something?" asked Miroku, now worried.
As in answer Emiko looked up, her eyes narrowed and void of tears. In fear Miroku took a step back, his hands still clasping hers.
"What about your girlfriend?" snapped Emiko.
"G-girlfriend? I—I don't have a girlfriend," stuttered Miroku.
"You are dense!" said Emiko, turning around and her hair whipping in Miroku's face.
The monk was left completely dumbstruck, mouth open in shock and his hands still held out in front of him.
"What girlfriend?" cried Miroku.
Finally he sighed and hung his head. As he closed his eyes a picture of Sango laughing at him flashed. This caused him to moan.
"Even when she's not here she haunts me!" cried Miroku, shaking his head and walking off. "Might as well live up to my lie…"
'This is only to be expected,' she thought to herself. 'The same thing happens every time, and most people would just be used to it by now.'
Despite this, Sango found herself angry with Miroku when he again went off by himself, knowing that he was doing a little more then just finding out information about the shrine stones.
"Sango, if you don't hurry up and eat your food will get cold," said Sueko timidly, sitting across from her.
"I'm not hungry," said Sango, pushing her plate of food away from her and crossing her arms while looking away.
"You might not be hungry but if you'll have a better chance of getting what Yoshiko has if you don't eat," said Sueko persistently.
"Hmm…" said Sango, looking down at her food in a threatening way.
Shippo, who had already eaten his dinner in about thirty seconds (beating InuYasha by two whole seconds), went over to Sango and cried out, "Can I have your food, then?"
"Shippo!" cried Sueko, reaching over to hit Shippo on the head, but she leaned over too far and fell over. "InuYasha, can you hit him for me?" she muttered while on the floor.
"Yoshiko, help me!" whimpered Shippo as he cowered under InuYasha's fist.
Yoshiko's feeble response was a small sneeze. Just as InuYasha's fist made contact with Shippo's head, Sango got up and left the room.
"Wait, don't go!" cried Sueko.
"I just want some time alone," said Sango quietly before closing the screen door.
The cold night air bit at Sango's face and she hugged herself close, wishing it for it to be summer, not winter. Even if the snow was pretty…
"Stupid monk!" Sango muttered to herself, walking down the hallway as her eyes narrowed in their fury. "Stupid beautiful woman that he always has to go chasing over!"
She continued walking and not really seeing her surroundings or feeling the coldness as she was so caught up with her anger and thoughts. Why was it that she liked the one guy that never paid attention to her?
"Excuse me, miss?"
"Huh?" said Sango, finally seeing out of her eyes and feeling the cold again as she got back to reality and she noticed a young woman standing before her.
"It's awfully cold out here," said the young woman. "You might want to get back inside before you catch a cold."
"So I've heard," said Sango tiredly but she went along with the woman's advice and headed back to their room, thinking that if she didn't Sueko would probably hunt her down and drag her back anyways.
The next day Yoshiko's cold wasn't doing any worse. In fact she had a horrible temperature. InuYasha sat around half the day in a huff, saying they were wasting time. But of course nobody was listening to him because the girls were busy keeping Yoshiko comfortable. So Miroku was left all alone. He tried to find some nice young ladies… but the inn was run by a set of old people who had their friends over often. The monk didn't want to leave the inn just in case Sango jumped to conclusions when he wasn't around.
When finally he couldn't think of much else to do he decided to ask people about Emiko. Apparently nobody had heard of her name or knew anybody by her description. Not even the owners of the inn seemed to know anything about her. It was almost like Miroku had imagined her. Which was quite impossible because… well nobody else had seen her but he had held her hands. Then again she had just disappeared…
'What am I thinking?' Miroku scolded himself. 'She was perfectly real.'
Almost as if summoned by his thoughts, he turned to find himself looking into Emiko's strange green eyes. In surprise the monk took a step back. Before he could say anything, the young women came forward and hugged him. At first he was just shocked. Then he took advantage of the situation and hugged her back. He was just about to touch her behind when she spoke up.
"Monk, I've been thinking," said Emiko, pulling away enough to look at his face. He grinned guiltily.
"What have you been thinking about, my dear?"
"About what you asked me," Emiko said, as if it was obvious.
"Oh!" said Miroku, his eyes going wide. "Really?"
"Yes," said Emiko, nodding her head in a very cute way. "And I believe we shouldn't just rush in like that. Let's take it one step at a time."
For a minute Miroku just stood there, looking down at the women in his arms, blinking. He had not idea what she meant but not rushing in. Besides they couldn't take their time because he would be leaving soon. Hopefully. Well, if Yoshiko's cold went away. Which at the rate she was taking to get better would probably be a while. Just when he was about to say something, Emiko put a hand on his face.
"I knew you would agree," she whispered.
With that she raised herself up and placed her lips right onto Miroku's. His eyes went wide in surprise. But soon he felt himself losing all reason and kissing her back. It wasn't until they both heard breaking china that they pulled apart. Miroku, feeling a bit hazy around the edges, looked over to see Sueko standing in surprise. At her feet was a broken teacup. Like a whisper Emiko disentangled herself from Miroku and left. The monk was left under Sueko's angry glare feeling like his brain was numb.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, jerk?" cried Sueko, holding up her fist.
"That probably wasn't the best thing for a child to walk in on," said Miroku, crossing his arms and thinking about it.
"Wh—what…" said Sueko, her eyes wide.
Miroku's mind had been wandering all over the place. Suddenly he was brought back to earth when Sueko hit him over the head. For some reason it didn't hurt Miroku as much as he knew it should have.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked calmly.
"I'm sixteen, bastard!" snapped Sueko.
"Oh, excuse me. Then not a child but a young lady," said Miroku, nodding his apologies.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" cried Sueko, hitting him on the head again.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And is that really necessary?" asked Miroku, grabbing Sueko's wrist as she attempted to hit him on the head again.
"Yes it is! I just caught you kissing a girl that wasn't Sango!" snapped Sueko.
As Miroku continued to stand there in utter confusion InuYasha came walking around the corner, arms crossed.
"What are you yelling about?" mumbled InuYasha, as if extremely tired.
"Miroku is cheating on Sango!" snapped Sueko, pulling away from the monk.
"I didn't realize they were dating," said InuYasha, his eyes narrowing. "Besides it's not your business what he does and personally I don't want to know what he does."
"But… but… Oh fine!" cried Sueko, walking off.
"Where are you going?" asked InuYasha, raising an eyebrow.
"To go get another cub of tea," said Sueko huffily.
"How do you manage to get girls so pissed off at you?" muttered InuYasha.
"I didn't realize she was mad at me!" said Miroku, eyes wide.
"Hey, are you okay? Maybe you're getting sick too. We should probably head back," said InuYasha, walking off.
Miroku stood there for a while. But when he finally realized InuYasha was walking away he followed.
'I wonder where Emiko is doing…' he thought as they walked into their room. Without saying a word, he lay down and went to sleep.
Three days later, Yoshiko's cold had yet to go away and there was so much snow on the ground that traveling would have been pointless anyways. Sueko was still mad at Miroku and had chosen to just pretend he didn't exist. Which actually really annoyed InuYasha because she was really cranky to everyone and he was bored out of his mind and had nothing to do. He had actually been bored enough to take away Shippo's GameBoy thingy when he wasn't playing with it but he found Sueko's game really boring. Something to do with these cute little animals called Pokèmon fighting each other all the time… what a drag! There was nothing else to do except to either sit there and stare at the walls or sit there and talk to someone but what in the hell was there to talk about!
Besides, Sueko wasn't the only cranky person in the room. Sango looked as though she was trying her best not to strangle Miroku (which was odd because she didn't know about the kiss thing. Well, she might… InuYasha didn't think so. Maybe she just knew something was up…), and she also seemed to be loathing the opposite sex, which wasn't exactly pleasant for InuYasha. Shippo was Shippo; he was never entertaining, just annoying. Yoshiko and InuYasha talked for a little bit but she mostly just tried to sleep off her cold… and he couldn't play around with Kirara because she'd probably bite his hand off, or maybe his whole arm.
For InuYasha, these last three days had been extremely dull.
If there was one thing he noticed in his boredom, it was Miroku. Pretty much everyone except Shippo and Yoshiko had been watching him like a hawk lately, but InuYasha felt that he was the only one noticing something different about the monk. At first he really couldn't put his finger on why the monk was acting different but just knew he was. Then the fact that Miroku was usually just sitting there staring at nothing at particular became more evident, and the fact that he never really spoke except to say something along the lines of, "Yeah, whatever," really weirded InuYasha out. It was like something Sueko would do which was even weirder. But the weirdest thing at all would have to be the fact that he was staying inside their room, not going out to "find information about the shrine stones" (in other words, he wasn't going lady-hunting!).
As interesting as this information was, InuYasha was still bored!
"You really should be in bed, you know," Sueko said for the tenth time since she and Yoshiko had gotten outside.
"I think a little walk would be good for the cold," said Yoshiko patiently. "Besides, that room is so tense…"
Sueko swallowed guiltily at that last bit. She knew exactly what made that room so tense but telling Yoshiko wouldn't be the wisest thing to do…
"You know, don't you?" said Yoshiko. "Spill! Is it something between Sango and Miroku?"
"Well…" said Sueko slowly, crossing her arms and then uncrossing them in her nervousness. "You see…. Um… well…"
"I don't have all day, you know," teased Yoshiko.
"I caught Miroku kissing a girl, okay!" cried Sueko.
"Oh…" said Yoshiko.
"That's it? That's all you're gonna say?" cried Sueko.
"What else am I supposed to say?" asked Yoshiko.
"I don't know, I just expected a little more then just, 'Oh.'"
They didn't talk much after that, just walked around as Sueko felt more and more guilty for telling—after all, it sort of wasn't her business and it really wasn't Yoshiko's business either. But then Yoshiko stopped walking and turned around, going back to where their room was.
"What are you doing? Do you want to go back inside?" asked Sueko, rushing back over to Yoshiko.
"Not quite…" said Yoshiko. She wasn't looking at Sueko but looking ahead this look full of determination. A look Sueko really, really didn't like.
"What are you up to?" Sueko asked tonelessly.
"Well, someone has to get Miroku and Sango back together, right?" said Yoshiko innocently.
"No!" cried Sueko, stopping in her tracks and waving her arms. "No, no, no! This is their own thing! They can fix it by their selves! We don't need to get into their mess!"
"Oh, come on!" said Yoshiko. "Those two need all the help they can get!"
"What do you mean they need all the help they can get?" said a voice in front of the two girls.
"I—InuYasha! What are you doing here?" cried Sueko, startled.
"You've been gone for an hour," said InuYasha, crossing his arms casually.
"You've been counting the minutes?" asked Yoshiko with raised eyebrows.
"I'm bored, okay?" cried InuYasha. "What are you two doing out here for that long, anyways? The cold isn't good for your illness and Sueko could get sick too!"
"You don't need to worry about my welfare," muttered Sueko with pink cheeks.
"I needed a breath of fresh air. And hanging around with Sango had to be bad karma. Then again, if the guy I liked kissed some girl I'd be mad too…" said Yoshiko thoughtfully.
InuYasha's eyes went wide. "You told?" he cried to Sueko.
"She forced it out of me!" cried Sueko in defense. "She has a way with making you do whatever the hell she wants you to do!"
"No, that's just you," said Yoshiko.
"Hey!"
"You're not supposed to be telling everyone about it!" cried InuYasha.
"How do you know, anyways?" asked Yoshiko.
"I walked into Sueko yelling at Miroku," shrugged InuYasha.
"So Sango doesn't know?" asked Yoshiko.
"No."
"And it's going to stay that way!" cried Sueko.
"I may be sick but my brain works just fine," said Yoshiko.
"If your brain works fine then why are you making them get together!" cried Sueko.
"Are you two trying to fix it?" cried InuYasha. "Man, I should be able to make you sit!"
"Why would I need to sit down?" asked Sueko, blinking. As InuYasha crashed to the ground she cried out, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, honestly!"
"Yeah…" muttered InuYasha, glaring up at her.
"Well, you two have fun," said Yoshiko, turning around to walk away. "I have business to attend to."
"Oh, no you don't!" cried Sueko, using both hands to grab a hold of Yoshiko's arm.
"I'm not going to do anything major!" said Yoshiko, pulling Sueko off her arm. "I'm just… going to help them along a bit…"
"No!" yelled both Sueko and InuYasha (he was now able to stand again).
"You can't stop me, you know!" cried Yoshiko. "You can try but you know I'll be able to do what I want somehow!"
"Who says?" snapped InuYasha.
"Oh, please," said Yoshiko, rolling her eyes.
"Why do you even bother?" asked Sueko. "I mean, this is a totally personal issue. Only they can fix it. There's nothing you can really do to make them get together."
"Watch me!" said Yoshiko, turning around and heading back towards the room.
Sueko and InuYasha sighed in defeat, following Yoshiko wearily.
'Maybe you should slow down and think about this. You have had a cold for the last four days. Or is it five? See you can't even remember how many days have gone by!' thought Yoshiko, as she went stomping down the hall. 'What am I thinking? Sango and Miroku need me!'
As she finally made up her mind she slid open the door to their room to see a young women setting down a tray of tea. The women looked up, startled, her green eyes matching with Yoshiko's identical ones. There was something familiar about them. It wasn't just the color either. InuYasha and Sueko finally caught up with her and stared over her shoulder at the women. Suddenly Miroku's eyes seemed to actually see what was going on around him.
"Emiko! What are you doing here?" he asked, getting to his feet and walking over to the kneeling young women.
"What do you think you're doing?" cried Yoshiko, as Miroku held out a hand to help the women up.
"Monk…" muttered Emiko, taking his hand and falling into place right in his arms. "They wished to harm me…"
Just to make things incredibly worse, Sango wandered depressingly in through the other door. Her eyes wandered up the pair of feet up to see Miroku comforting the beautiful young lady. At first her face was only covered by shock. Then it was soon replaced by anger, which was followed quickly by a look of pain.
"Crap…" whispered Yoshiko.
"I guess… I guess you finally found someone, monk," said Sango, her voice wavering as tears seemed to fill her eyes. "I'm happy for you."
Either in respect or to hide her tears, Sango bowed then turned and ran out of the room. Miroku looked up and his arms dropped to his side as the last of Sango's hair disappeared out of view. Almost as quickly Emiko slipped out of sight as Sueko strode across the room and hit Miroku over the head. He was unchanged. Staring after Sango as if not really seeing anything. After a minute of waiting for him to do something, Yoshiko finally sighed and strode after the demon exterminator.
She found Sango sitting in a corner, crying into her knees. Almost in annoyance, Yoshiko sat down next to her and didn't look at her. When Sango continued to cry without speaking to her she finally looked at the women and put an arm over her shoulder. Yoshiko smiled reassuringly at her as Sango looked up in surprise.
"You should talk to him," said Yoshiko quietly.
"Ha," laughed Sango, through her tears. "And what exactly would I say?"
"Well would you much rather he went out with another girl without knowing how you feel about him?" asked Yoshiko. "Maybe he only chose her because he wasn't sure you liked him."
Sango sighed and put her head back on her knees. At least she had stopped crying.
"Besides, if I felt I had one last chance to tell Sesshomaru how I felt for any reason, even if it meant he hated me, I would just so I knew that I had," said Yoshiko. "For my own sake of mind because NEVER being able to say it would drive me crazy."
There was a moment of silence as Yoshiko waited for her words to sink in. In fact she had to think about what she was saying.
'I really should take my own advice… just like InuYasha said,' thought Yoshiko, as she stood up finally.
As she stood there, looking down at Sango, the demon exterminator looked up smiling. She got to her feet and turned to Yoshiko. Just when the half-demon was ready to leave Sango alone, the women turned and hugged her. Yoshiko's eyes went wide in surprise. Why was Sango hugging her?
Before she had gotten use to the idea of being hugged, Sango pulled away and started walking back to their room. Yoshiko hesitated before following after the brunette women. When they reached the room they found it completely void of Miroku or Emiko. Of course Sueko and InuYasha was there, Sueko standing there with her hands on her hips. When Yoshiko entered the room Sueko's eyes narrowed but she didn't dare to say a word in front of Sango.
"I thought the monk went after you," said InuYasha.
Suddenly Sango rounded upon Yoshiko with almost the same expression as Sueko.
"Well?" she snapped.
"I swear! He didn't follow me!" said Yoshiko, eyes wide, and holding her hands up.
Suddenly she went into a coughing fit. Sueko and Sango's angry expressions melted away as Yoshiko slid to a sitting position. As if drawn by this the old women that owned the inn came bustling in with some special tea. She handed it to Yoshiko who managed to stop coughing long enough to smile at the women. After another minute of coughing she forced herself to drink half of the tea.
"I told you walking outside wasn't the smartest idea," muttered InuYasha, not looking at her.
"Bite me," said Yoshiko hoarsely.
"I could if you really want me to," said InuYasha.
"Not while I'm in the room!" cried Sueko.
"I wasn't serious!" said InuYasha and Yoshiko simultaneously.
During this exchange Sango and managed to slip out of the room. But since she had left the door open Yoshiko was able to watch her walk down the hall. Just when she opened up the door to leave the inn she stopped. Snow was blown into the inn, making Yoshiko start to shiver. In an attempt to warm up she took another drink of her tea. As she watched Sango she heard somebody come walking down the hall behind her. But her mind was starting to go numb that she didn't really notice.
Suddenly Miroku's fist came through the doorway, hitting Sango in the stomach. She cried out and doubled over in pain. InuYasha jumped to his feet and grabbed his sword. Before he could leave the room Yoshiko found herself being dragged to her feet and held there forcefully. A cold but familiar laugh filled her ears.
"Did you really think I would let you walk off with my stone?" whispered Rheda.
"You witch!" cried InuYasha. "What do you think you're doing?"
Out of the corner of her eyes Yoshiko saw as Miroku sent Sango flying down the hallway. He came walked toward her as Sango struggled to get back up. When she got to her hands and feet he brought his staff down hard on her back. While this was going on Rheda had pulled out Yoshiko's dagger.
"You were Emiko!" screamed Sueko, drawing her sword.
"Hmm," smirked Rheda. "Took you long enough."
"What… what did you put in the tea…" muttered Yoshiko, feeling her vision start to haze at the edges.
"Nothing deadly, if that's what you're wondering. Just something to make sure you staid long enough for my spell over the monk to take a full effect," cackled Rheda.
Yoshiko threw out an arm, causing her aunt to let go of her. She felt a sharp pain in her side as she collapsed to the floor at InuYasha's feet. The half tiger demon was able to raise herself up enough to see Rheda holding out her dagger, which had a bit of blood at the end. Her blood on it. Standing behind her aunt was Miroku, his eyes glazed over and carrying an unconscious Sango over his shoulder.
When Yoshiko's arms gave way and left her with her face in the floor Rheda laughed a long cold laugh. InuYasha dropped to his knees next to her. The sound of that laughter caused her blood to boil. Old memories came to her mind, each just as bad as the next. Soon she couldn't stand it anymore. She reached out, grabbed the hilt of InuYasha's sword, got to her feet and lashed out at her aunt. In surprise Rheda only had enough time to jump back. The front of her dress ripped open and she dropped Yoshiko's dagger.
"How! How can you still be awake?" cried Rheda, her now hazel eyes blazing with an inner dark fire.
Since she hardly had the energy to be standing up, Yoshiko didn't answer. Instead she kicked out, hitting Miroku in the stomach. More out of reflects than out of pain he dropped to his knees. Sango slid off his shoulder and onto to the floor behind him without waking up. As if out of annoyance, InuYasha strode over took the Tetsusaiga out of Yoshiko's hands and held her up with his other hand.
"So, what are you going to do now?" asked InuYasha, pointing his sword at the tiger demon.
As if in answer Rheda, in a blink of an eye, pulled Sango up in front of her by the hair and lashed out at InuYasha. Because he was holding onto Yoshiko he couldn't move back fast enough. Slender yet strong fingers wound themselves around his neck. Now there wasn't enough room for him to use the Tetsusaiga. Rheda smirked as she saw InuYasha's thoughts in his eyes: drop his sword or drop Yoshiko. Either way there was still the chance he could hurt Sango.
"InuYasha!" cried Sueko, trying to figure out a way to get past the doorway to Rheda.
"Why do you keep such a silly girl around?" asked Rheda in a singsong way.
Before InuYasha could answer, he found himself with Rheda's lips upon his own. He tried to pull away but the hand around his neck only held on tighter. Yoshiko was finding it harder and harder to keep her eyes open, or to even stand up. In one last chance to get out of here, she took Sango's shoulder and started shaking her. The demon exterminator moaned and her eyes started to open slightly. At the same moment Yoshiko noticed Miroku's eyes, still glazed over, open in shock.
"Yoshiko…" mumbled Sango.
The half tiger demon tried to smile reassuringly but found it hard to do much of anything. Just when she was sure InuYasha was going to give in to the kiss Rheda cried out in pain, dropping Sango and stumbling backwards. Blood ran down her leg from a wound from her thigh. She cursed a couple of times before disappearing in a column of flames. Awkwardly InuYasha sheathed his sword and wouldn't face anybody. In the mean time Sango had gotten to her knees and was looking in Miroku's glazed eyes.
"Are you guys okay?" asked Sueko, rushing to InuYasha's side and sheathing her sword.
"I'm fine," said Sango, helping Miroku to his feet.
Yoshiko nodded numbly and swept away InuYasha's hand, holding her up. In utter exhaustion she stumbled back into the room and collapsed, for the last time hopefully, on her bed. She heard Sueko giggle softly but didn't work up the strength to glare at the girl. When finally InuYasha and Sueko had entered the room and sat down as well, Yoshiko opened an eye to see Miroku and Sango.
The monk's eyes were still glazed over, but apparently Sango didn't notice or care. She was holding his hand tightly and blushing something fierce. As if noticing that nobody was in the immediate area she started to lean in as if to kiss Miroku. But even in his possessed state it seemed some things never changed. In fact he didn't just get a large red handprint on his face but ended up with his face planted on the ground with Sango's foot on top of it. Yoshiko moaned and leaned her head back on her mat all the way.
Suddenly Miroku looked up, his eyes completely clear.
"What is going on?" he asked, Sango's foot still on his head. "Did I miss something?"
Crying out in annoyance, Sango went stomping out of the room. Sighing, Yoshiko closed her eyes and decided to get some sleep. Hopefully her cold would go away in at least one day and they could leave. She wasn't in the mood to comfort Sango or explain it to Miroku.
And obviously neither was Sueko or InuYasha.