Mister Niceguy
Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha, simple as that.
Chapter 12: Backfire
Dinner had passed hours ago for our hours and the calming cloak of night had long since swallowed up the village. The denizens of the small community were by and large committed to their restful slumber and the occupants of the chief priestess' hut were no exception. The elderly miko lay on her modest futon at the far end of the room, and throughout the rest of the hut were sprawled her youthful companions.
Kagome slept snugly tucked within her red sleeping bag, with a contented Shippo nuzzled soundly next to her. Sango, unused to the more lavish comforts of those not trained in the harsh combative arts of demonslaying, slept on the bare floor. No pillow, no blanket…the only extra warmth she had was what her feline companion, curled up next to her abdomen, provided. Even Miroku, despite constantly contending with bouts of internal rage, had managed to find solace in the hands of sleep, leaning against a wall close to the door.
Some hours into the night the demonslayer began to stir. Something had driven her from her sleep and persisted to the extent of making a return to dreamland impossible. Upon realizing that such efforts would be fruitless, Sango gave up trying to go back to sleep and shifted to lay on her back and stare at the hut's ceiling. Immediately she began to lose herself in her thoughts as she gently petted her sleeping Kirara.
Her thoughts cycled through the various and diverse events that had filled the eventful day. She had struggled with a fit of depression, but was later rescued from it by Inuyasha's companionship. She'd helped Kagome slay a youkai, playing a part in the rare role of being the hanyou's savior. And she'd stood up against Kouga when he had kicked her dog-eared friend while he was down, having experienced an unusual sympathy and concern for Inuyasha's feelings.
The various events quickly played in her mind with little notice save for one factor that was common to all of them: Inuyasha. Today had been very strange for the taijya, and that strangeness had all originated from him.
Sango had been bombarded by a blitzkrieg of new and unexpected feeling about the half-demon in the past twenty-four hours. Before, she had always known that he was really a kind-hearted person under his crude exterior, as evidenced by his unique and indirect expressions of his compassion; he always seemed to understand how she felt about the situation with Kohaku, and even if he didn't always show it she knew he sympathized with the pain it brought her. He'd even gone so far as to forgive and ignore her initial misguided attempts to kill him and accepted her as a friend and ally and member of the team.
Yes, she'd always viewed Inuyasha as a true friend, but the day's events and the new feelings that resulted from them had led her to feel a troubling confusion in regards to her relationship with her silver-haired ally.
When the sight of the scar on Inuyasha's back, left by the wound that was ultimately the source of ALL of the odd occurrences of the past few days, had reminded Sango of her suffering and spellbound brother and loosed an almost crippling wave of depression upon Sango, Inuyasha had been the only one able to comfort her. It seemed to her that his new attitude had gifted him with a sense of empathy that surpassed even Kagome's.
He'd spoken to her, and reassured they would all make Naraku pay for his crimes against her and her brother, and Sango had felt better. And then he had embraced her…hugged her…THAT was where the confusion had all truly begun.
Affection was one skill that training in the secluded taijya village hadn't prepared her for. Being so devoted to her duties had left any relations with boys solely one sided, as Sango obliviousness to Kuranosuke's infatuation with her had proved. She had only ever been truly comfortable being close with her family, and hugs were something that still felt out of place when delivered by anybody else.
And then Inuyasha had captured her in a very heartfelt embrace. It had been unexpected and almost nerve-wracking, and the flux of jumbled emotions was almost unbearable. But after the initial shock had hit, Sango began to realize that it felt good…Talking with Inuyasha had helped to ease her grief and misery, and it seemed that the hug had taken it one step further. His encouraging words had told her that he cared, and his hug had shown it to her.
After that little episode, she'd felt happier than she had in quite some time. And…it was all because of Inuyasha…?
Sango tossed and turned a little to try to shake the thought from her mind, but once she'd resettled herself she found that she could not escape that thought.
'Do I have…feelings…for Inuyasha?'
It was certainly beginning to seem that way. The way she'd worried when she thought he was in danger and the way she so forcefully defended him against unwarranted slander….
Then it finally hit.
'I…do…I do have feelings for him.'
Even though everyone else was asleep, Sango turned around to face the wall in an effort to hide the blush that had crept across her cheeks.
The notion of liking Inuyasha was beginning to set in.
'It's not that outlandish, is it? He's kind and caring now…' She almost jumped on the idea that it was just his new attitude that had resulted in a little crush for him, but quickly found that she couldn't accept that. 'He's…always been caring, he just hasn't always been so open about it. He always puts his friends first, doing everything he can to protect us. And…now that I think about it…he is pretty handsome…'
Sango's blush grew deeper, and she shook her head to try to drive those thoughts away. In doing so, her gaze briefly fell upon Miroku, and her thoughts took another turn.
'But…what about Miroku? Don't I have feelings for him, too?' She started to think on that. Miroku was usually perverted with his constant groping. She'd always been angered and embarrassed by that, but it had never paralyzed her like Inuyasha's hug. Was that because she knew Miroku was being perverted and she should be angry with him, or was she actually more comfortable being touched, even if in such an obscene way, by him?
'No, that can't be it. Nobody likes being groped and treated like piece of meat,' she insisted to herself.
But, what about all of the times when he was actually charming to her? When worse came to worst he'd put her safety above his own. He'd actually shared the feelings he bottled up inside (the less base and primal ones, that is) with her on occasion…Feelings about the torment his curse brought him and how impending death loomed over him every day…Feelings he'd shared only with her…
'Miroku…'
But then, every time, he'd do something to ruin the moment. Another inappropriate touch, another perverted comment.
'But…maybe he just has trouble with those feelings just like I do…All of those other women don't get him worked up, but maybe…could I…be different in his eyes?'
She pondered on that for awhile, until her thoughts returned to something else that had happened earlier that day.
After the game of Hide and Seek, when she'd returned to the hut with the others in a bright and cheery mood, she'd tried to offer Miroku a friendly greeting. But he'd completely ignored her—not even a lewd remark or outlandish line professing his love for her beauteous body.
'Maybe…he might've felt something for me…But even so, now he's ignoring me and even stopping his "charming" advances…No, what was I thinking? Miroku doesn't have any feelings for me.' A twang of sadness formed as she articulated that thought. When she sensed it, though, she swiftly tried to usher it away. 'Hmpf, whatever. What do I care? Why should I want a pervert to have feelings for me?'
With that she sat up and glanced around the room, and realized something was amiss. It took her a few seconds, but then she realized…
'Hey…where's Inuyasha?'
Usually she never thought twice about his absence at night, especially when they were at Kaede's. It usually meant he was lounging about in a tree, mulling over whatever was on his mind alone. But her new revelations and acceptance (or the beginnings of it, anyway) of her feelings toward Inuyasha led her to get up and search him out.
Moving carefully to avoid disturbing Kirara, she stood up. With a meticulous stealthiness she quietly padded to the door so she would not disturb the others. She gently pulled back the curtain on the door and stepped outside in search of the absent hanyou.
--
Despite her efforts, Sango's exit had not gone unnoticed. She moved about in perfect silence that would prevent any sleeping person from stirring, but that does little to help against one who is already awake.
Much in the same way that Sango was randomly forced from her slumber, Miroku, too, had woke up during the night. It was by chance that his slumber ceased just as Sango was making her exit, sparking the monk's curiosity.
'What could my dear Sango be doing leaving the hut at such an hour?' he thought.
Given his recent mood, Miroku was suspicious of any odd behavior. As such, he decided to follow his beloved and find out what was up. Taking the same amount of care to remain silent that Sango had, the monk quietly slipped out of the hut unnoticed, then proceeded to stalk about in secret pursuit of his highly adored demonslayer.
--
Sango walked through the forest for sometime in her search for Inuyasha. She squinted in the dark as she scanned the treetops, expecting to find the hanyou who had found his way into her thoughts sitting and brooding on a branch high above ground as he had been known to do on many occasions. About fifteen minutes had passed and Sango had experienced little success in locating her silver-haired crush. A little frustrated, she stopped for a moment to let out a sigh.
'Where could Inuyasha be?'
As that thought passed through her mind, a faint sound reached Sango's ears. Too faint to make out, she strained in every attempt to identify the intruding noise.
'What IS that?' she wondered. Her curiosity piqued, Sango started walking in the direction the sound was emanating from.
As she moved closer the sound became more defined.
'It sounds like somebody's yelling,' she thought as she began to make sense of the racket. Short bursts of noise would sound every few seconds or so, but at random; there wasn't any pattern to them.
'What is going on?' She continued walking closer until she reached a wall of shrubbery. The yelling was very distinct and clear at that point, and Sango listened intently, trying to interpret its meaning.
'Those yells…they're obviously kee-yahs…Battlecries…' A sense of understanding dawned on the taijya. 'Somebody must be fighting…Somebody might be in trouble!'
Without another thought Sango rushed to charge into battle. Her father had always taught her to never be caught off guard and to always have a weapon with her at all times. And while she had left Hiraikotsu back at the hut, Sango pulled her katana out from a hidden spot in her skirt where it always rested, somehow, along with the rest of her demonslayer gear. Armed and ready to render assistance to the faceless fighter she slipped through a hole in the shrubs and unleashed a battlecry of her own.
Surprise was the theme of the hour in the clearing she found herself in. A quick and precise visual sweep of the area revealed no threat; no injured villagers in peril and no vicious demons wreaking havoc. The only being there was the one she had been looking for in the first place: Inuyasha.
Sango's terrifying howl of combat had surprised him and drew his attention to her. He stood a little dumfounded, looking at her with a wide-eyed sense of surprise. They stood silent and frozen in place for a moment, Inuyasha with his expression of confusion and Sango in a battle stance with a rapidly growing blush overtaking her features as the embarrassment of the situation sunk in.
"Um…hi Sango…Erm…whatcha doing there?" Inuyasha asked. The question only served to deepen the embarrassment she was feeling and Sango relaxed her tensed muscles as she dropped her head.
After a long moment of staring at the ground in humiliation she quietly answered. "I…I thought somebody was being attacked or something and came to help…"
Inuyasha smiled a little and walked over to her. "Oh, I see. In that case your charging in here and yelling and scaring the pants outta me makes a lot more sense."
Sango couldn't help but to smile a little herself as she looked up in response to Inuyasha encouragingly placing his arm on her shoulder. The blush was still there and she was still really embarrassed, but Inuyasha's attempts to make her feel more at ease about the situation were helping.
"T—thanks, Inuyasha."
After vocalizing her appreciation for his understanding in that most embarrassing situation, Sango started thinking. She'd established that there was no enemy to face and identified the mystery sound, and in doing so she'd stumbled upon Inuyasha as well. But…what was Inuyasha doing out here in the first place? She looked at him in search of some kind of clue and noticed he was holding his untransformed Testusaiga. A bit confused, Sango looked up from the sword to his face to ask a question…
"So, what exactly are you doing out here at this time of night?'
…but was beaten to the punch. Inuyasha asked her the same question that was on the tip of her tongue and she felt a little put on the spot when it was directed towards her.
"Uh…well…Actually I couldn't sleep and noticed that you weren't around and, well…I came out to look for you to make sure everything was okay."
'Ugh, that probably sounded really WEIRD and CREEPY...God, I might as well have just gone out and told him "Gee Inuyasha, I think I have feelings for you and just wanted to come STALK you because I can't stop thinking of you…"' She was tempted to keep thinking like that and continue mentally kicking herself, but thought better of it and decided to take action to hide her NEW embarrassment.
"So…what were YOU doing out here at this time of night?" she asked. Inuyasha, who was oblivious to Sango's nervous thoughts, answered with a great deal more calm than she had. He moved the arm that he was holding on to Tetsusaiga with to bring attention to it.
"Well, I was out here practicing some sword techniques."
Sango was visibly surprised. Inuyasha…training? Well, that thought in itself wasn't too outlandish, she reasoned, but the only times she'd ever seen Inuyasha train in swordsmanship was when some new obstacle made it absolutely necessary, like when Tetsusaiga had become almost impossible to wield after it had to be tempered using one of Inuyasha's own fangs. And even then it hadn't been swordsmanship training so much as it had been training to get used to the swords newly augmented weight.
And yet here he was saying that he'd been practicing some sword techniques. Testusaiga was even in its nicked and dull untransformed state instead of its massive enchanted form, convincing Sango that precision and technique had been the focus over Inuyasha's concentration on brute power.
"Practicing? I don't think I've ever seen you practice swordfighting before."
Inuyasha smiled again and continued to explain.
"Well, earlier today Kagome was saying something about how impressed she was with how I was handling myself and my sword when I was fighting with that ogre…How I was a lot more focused."
Sango thought back to that fight. 'That's right…he did seem a lot more focused and careful than he usually is…'
Inuyasha went on.
"Well, it got me to thinking…It'd probably be good if I worked on my form and technique a little instead of just throwing my big heavy sword around like a giant club. I figure it'll help me protect everyone better if I put some more effort into it."
Sango blinked and felt her jaw drop. 'After all that's happened in the past couple of days you'd think that this wouldn't surprise me.'
Inuyasha playfully pouted, "What? Is it so unbelievable?"
Sango quickly tried to compose herself and find something to say. 'Well, yeah, actually it kinda is…' she thought, but unaware of the lack of seriousness behind Inuyasha's question she decided not to voice that particular response.
"No, no, not unbelievable just a little…unexpected." She didn't think she sounded very convincing, so she decided to shift gears a little bit. "Um…how bout you show me how you're doing so far? I'm sure your practice has been paying off."
Inuyasha was amused by Sango's attempts to protect his feelings in response to his deceptive show of disappointment. He smiled and nodded and stepped back a few steps, then knitted his brow in concentration as he settled into a fighting stance.
He held his sword in a secure grip with both hands, and after a few seconds of silence and stillness, he cried out and began making a flurry of swift motions with his sword against an imaginary target.
Sango watched on with a smile on her face, a smile that became more and more forced as the hanyou's display went on. As impressed as she was that Inuyasha was taking the time and initiative to practice his technique, her earlier assessment that it was doing him good was proved incorrect as she actually observed him in action.
She fought back the urge to cringe at some of Inuyasha's moves. While they exhibited a level of skill absent in most of their prior battles, which had always been compensated before by his brute strength and force of will, Inuyasha's motions were for the most part sloppy and amateurish, and if she hadn't been so concerned with how he would react, she probably would've either laughed or cried.
When he finished fending off his imaginary sparring partner, he looked up to her, panting a little from exertion but bright-eyed and eager for encouragement. He looked like a little kid who had just finished teaching himself how to jump rope or ride a bike or tie his shoes and wanted to show his mom his proud accomplishment.
So when he asked, "So, whaddaya think?" Sango didn't have the heart to tell him how awful that had been. But she didn't want to lie, either, so she came up with something else…
"Um…well, how about I help you train, Inuyasha?"
"Huh? You'll help me train?"
"Sure!" she smiled and raised up her katana. "I was trained by some of the best back in my village, and even if I do prefer Hiraikotsu most of the time, I am pretty skilled in kenjutsu, if I do say so myself." With that she turned, unsheathed her sword and performed a masterful kata, then calmly resheathed her sword and turned back to look at Inuyasha and asked, "So, how about it? Want me to give you a few pointers?"
Inuyasha was impressed by her show of skill and happily agreed. "You bet!"
Sango smiled as she motioned for them to get started.
'Well…this is an interesting development…Me helping Inuyasha practice swordplay…And it lets me spend time alone with him to boot…' With that thought she began to blush.
"So, what do you want me to do, Sango?"
She jumped a little as she was brought out of her infatuated reverie. She quickly shook away those thoughts and shuffled him into a fighting stance, then settled in to one of her own.
"Okay now, watch what I do and then try to do the same thing yourself…" she said as the lesson began…
--
Miroku wasn't having such a pleasant time. He'd managed to keep track of Sango for a little while, but after what he thought was a close call that required him to duck and cover to avoid detection, he'd lost sight of his prey and found himself stumbling around in the dark for any sign of his Sango.
And since Sango had encountered Inuyasha already, he was left without the series of yells to lead him to his target. So he kept trudging along, looking for any sign of the demonslayer, but failing to look where he was going. So he managed to trip a number of times, and after about an hour in the forest he had quite a collection of scrapes on his body and a fair amount of dirt and leaves clinging to his robes.
The light rumble of yelling began to sound in the forest again, and Miroku managed to pick up on it. Like Sango had done some time before, Miroku decided to follow it to find out where it was coming from.
Eventually he found himself at the same wall of shrubbery hiding the clearing. He heard the two sets of yells sporadically sounding off from the other side, and recognized them as belonging to his dear Sango and the accursed Inuyasha.
He cautiously and quietly parted a small hole in the bushes to spy through and was quickly infuriated with what he saw.
Sango had just finished demonstrating a sword cut to Inuyasha and was standing behind him to observe and coach him. He had attempted the somewhat complex strike but lost his balance and tripped, falling backwards and toppling over Sango in the process. The result was Inuyasha and Sango flat on the ground in a heap, laughing good-naturedly at the situation.
But Miroku didn't find the situation particularly amusing. Of course, he didn't perceive the situation as being what it really was. In his eyes, Inuyasha was making his move on Sango, going so far as pouncing on her and giving way to his sick desires.
'He's got her so under his spell that he's just jumping right to it!' He almost lost control and jumped in to rescue his bewitched demonslayer when they stood up and resumed whatever activity they were engaged in before the fall.
Miroku took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
'I need to maintain control,' he told himself. 'This is a most opportune development. It seems I'll be able to put the plan into action earlier than expected.'
He stood up and started making his way back to the hut. 'I'll go fetch Kagome and show her what distasteful antics that half-breed is up to and then Kouga and I will…' Miroku kept moving but became troubled by something. How would he contact Kouga? Surely the wolf wouldn't have expected the plan to be put into effect so soon, and surely he hadn't begun following him yet. How would Kouga know?
Suddenly, a rustling in the trees caught the monk's attention. He swirled around into the direction of the sound and placed his left hand on the beads wrapped around his right, ready to defend himself by means of his Wind Tunnel should the sound be caused by something hostile.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" he shouted, far enough away from the shrouded clearing to be unconcerned with alerting Inuyasha and Sango.
The rustling started up again and Miroku clenched the beads holding back his Wind Tunnel a little tighter as a something dropped from the trees to the ground in front of him.
Miroku squinted and saw that it was Kouga, and began to relax.
"Sheesh, monk, don't get so worked up. It's just me."
Miroku noticed something odd about the wolf, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. In reality, Kouga was acting rather subdued…or empty. He was saying all the right things, but without the usual energy behind them. Not that he didn't have any energy, as his quick drop from the trees showed, but it was a very different force behind his actions, a force brought about by Naraku's tampering, and a force that would be unreadable to anyone who fought him. In battle he would be like a rag doll, looking harmless and sedentary, suddenly animated with an insane exuberance and lust for battle.
But for now, he was hiding that bloodthirst and Naraku's control was doing its best to mimic the wolf's behavior and speech despite the lack of Kouga's essence driving them.
And apparently it was enough to fool Miroku. The monk sensed that something was off, but unable to identify what, specifically, he shrugged it off and treated Kouga normally.
"It is quite fortuitous that you showed up just now. I need to tell you that the plan is ready to be put in to play now. I'm on my way to get Kagome and bring her back to see Inuyasha seduce Lady Sango, so you'll need to be there if you want to help cut him down to size afterwards."
Kouga nodded and smirked. The smirk was far more sinister and malevolent than anything Miroku had ever seen from the wolf before, but aside from feeling a little more unnerved by it than usual he thought nothing of it.
"Good. I'll be close by and I'll step in when the time is right. Soon we'll give that hanyou the punishment he deserves." With that said Kouga quickly leapt up back into the trees. He looked odd, like a lifeless puppet but moving at an incredible speed. He was like some martial arts master who was so relax and calm that it appeared his body was weak and lifeless and yet it was only because the enormous strength within it was so well hidden.
But again Miroku did nothing to act on the oddity, and simply nodded, turned back and resumed his trip back to Kaede's hut at a brisk pace.
--
"Nnng….C'mon Mom, I don't wanna wake up and go to school…Can't you tell Gramps to call in with some crazy sickness so I can sleep a little longer?" It seemed that as much as Kagome worried about missing school and hated all of the humiliating sicknesses her grandfather used as excuses when she was awake, the future born schoolgirl was far more privy to both notions when it came to being woken up prematurely.
And the middle of the night was definately premature. Someone was shaking her vigorously to steal her from her slumber, and finally she gave in and opened her eyes. Her gaze was met by an anxious, fairly male face, topped with a mass of tied back black hair.
It took her a second, but Kagome finally registered the image as Miroku's, and with a shriek she slapped him.
"Miroku! What're you doing standing over me you pervert!"
Somehow Kagome's outburst hadn't woken up Shippo, Kirara or Kaede, and Miroku whispered a small prayer of thanks for that. He rubbed his face a little then began whispering.
"Please forgive me, Lady Kagome, but I meant nothing by it. I awakened you because I have something very important to show you. Please get ready so we can go at once."
Kagome, who had pulled her sleeping bag up to her chin in an somewhat pointless effort to hide her fully-clothed form from the lecherous monk raised her eyebrow disbelievingly.
"What do you need to show me?" she hissed.
"There's no time to explain. Please hurry up and come with me. Everything will become clear shortly, I promise."
'Everything will become clear alright,' a menacing voice uttered in his mind.
Kagome was distrustful of the monk and looked to the side to see if Sango was awake, the prospect of support in punishing Miroku's gawking at her in her sleep very appealing. But she found only Kirara laying in Sango's spot, the taijya nowhere to be seen. She looked around the hut and still couldn't find her, and soon enough she noticed that Inuyasha was gone, too.
Her look of annoyance turned to one of worry at the absence of her companions. She turned back to Miroku and began to re-evaluate her perception of events.
'Has something happened to the others? Is it serious?' A number of possible scenarios passed through her mind, none of them pleasant. Convinced that something terrible had happened to her friends and that they were in danger, Kagome thought, 'I guess Miroku really wasn't trying anything' and got up.
"Sorry for slapping you, Miroku. Let me get my bow and we can get going."
"No apology is necessary, Lady Kagome," he said. And then to himself he thought, 'No, nothing can keep me down knowing what's about to happen.'
After arming herself, Kagome rushed to the door and followed the monk. They both dashed into the forest.
--
In much quicker fashion than it had taken on his earlier excursion, Miroku found himself facing the massive hedge once again. This time he found himself with a pretty young miko in tow, one who was anxious and confused and concerned about her missing friends.
"So where's Sango and Inuyasha? Are they in trouble?"
Miroku placed a finger to his lip and whispered, "Please be quiet, Lady Kagome. They are in no danger."
Kagome relaxed at hearing that, but where her anxiety and fear had been lessened, her confusion had been compounded more than enough to compensate.
"Then what are we out here for, then, Miroku?" she whispered.
Miroku motioned for her to look through a gap in the hedge and merely said, "Look."
Kagome was still confused, but complied anyway and peaked through the hole. Miroku stood next to her and looked on as well.
Kagome saw Inuyasha and Sango in the clearing, safe and sound. Inuyasha was holding his sword out and Sango was standing behind him, apparently giving him instructions. Inuyasha began to go through some extravagant motions, slowly and a little awkwardly, but with a skill and concentration that reminded her of the way he had fought off the ogre.
'Inuyasha…is training! Sango is giving him sword lessons!' she gushed mentally. She seemed to have gotten a little more acclimated towards Inuyasha's new and surprising actions than Sango had and wasn't quite as surprised as the demonslayer had been when she had discovered this development. Instead, she was much more impressed and excited that Inuyasha was working on improving his skills.
But…why would Miroku need to show her this? Sure, it was unexpected, especially in his eyes seeing how he'd been gone for most of the day and hadn't seen the various happenings that had occurred. But it still didn't explain why Miroku would have seen it necessary to drag her out in the middle of the night to watch something like this.
She kept watching, though, because it was so cute to see Inuyasha working hard like that.
'And of course, Inuyasha is always cute even when he's not working…It's hard to tear my eyes away from him...' She giggled to herself a little and kept watching.
--
Inuyasha was finishing up his one last form. Sango could see that the brief lesson she'd given him had paid off. He was no master swordsman yet, but he'd improved dramatically in the brief time they'd been working. Sango was surprised that anyone who had handled their sword as poorly as Inuyasha had earlier could make so much progress so quickly.
With one final downward swipe Inuyasha finished his form. He was sweating, both from the intense training Sango had put him through and from the equally intense concentration it took to pull off his new moves. He turned to face Sango and thank her for her help.
"Thanks for the help, Sango. Is there any hope for me?"
Sango smiled brightly. "Don't worry about it. You improved a lot already. It won't take much to make you a master."
Inuyasha was almost giddy at the complement. "Thanks again, Sango," he said, and then scooped her up into a friendly hug.
Sango, still unused to such displays of affection and still a little at odds with her feelings for the hanyou, hesistantly returned the embrace with a faint redness on her face.
"It…was my pleasure, Inuyasha."
'Yeah…that sounds about right…'
--
Miroku was getting jumpy as Kagome watched the heartwarming scene. He pointed at them and said, "See! Do you see that!"
Kagome responded, "Yeah…Isn't it cute?"
Miroku took his eyes off of the hugging pair in the clearing before him and turned to look, shocked and astounded, at the girl beside him.
"W—what!"
Kagome turned to look to face him and furrowed her brow. "What?"
"Don't you see that! Doesn't that make you angry?" Miroku was raising his voice, so Kagome did the same.
"Angry? Why would that make me angry? Inuyasha and Sango are getting along…Being friends. I think its sweet and I don't see what your problem is!"
Miroku was losing it. "Being friends! Sweet? Are you blind! Has that scoundrel got you so under his spell that you can't see anything wrong with him two-timing you and trying to steal Sango away from me!"
Kagome's eyes widened. "WHAT!"
Her cry had been echoed by another. Both she and Miroku turned to find Inuyasha and Sango at their side, having been drawn to them by their yelling.
Miroku was staring at Sango, silent and dumbfounded and a little frightened. He had just referred to Sango as his…and she had heard it. She was staring at him now with a hurt and betrayed look in her eyes…And anger. He could tell that she was angry as well.
The scene was tense and silent.
Finally Sango spoke up.
"H—Houshi-sama…What did you just say?"
Miroku wasn't sure what to say. He'd already said what he said, and there was no hiding it now.
"Inuyasha's trying to take advantage of you! He's trying to steal you away from me!"
Oops, he'd slipped again.
"Steal me away…from you? Take advantage of me?" Sango's voice was dangerously calm as she struggled to make sense of what he'd said.
"Miroku, what are you talking about? I'm not trying to take advantage of anybody."
The monk turned to Inuyasha with a vitriolic disdain.
"You bastard! You still deny it! Kagome wasn't enough for you, you had to steal my Sango away from me! This whole act of being nice isn't fooling me! You're just a sick monster trying to steal my love away from me!"
The biggest slip. He'd just said that he loved Sango.
Realizing what he'd said he turned to face her again, but before his eyes met her lovely face a sickening CRACK! sounded and the only thing he saw was the ground as he was knocked down on his face. Pain rushed through his jaw, and he tried to gently rub it to see if it was broken but was unable to touch it without a blinding and searing pain cutting through his flesh.
What had just happened?
A moment passed until he was finally able to look up.
He found Sango staring down at him, her eyes filled with tears and an anguished and yet still angry look on her face. She had a clenched fist still raised and held up next to her face, her knuckles white. Kagome and Inuyasha were staring at her, both shocked by something.
It took another minute of watching this from down on the ground until it all clicked.
"Y—you...punched me…"
Miroku was no stranger to Sango striking him. All of his grabs to her behind had led to uncountable slap marks on the cheek and bumps on the head as a result of her punishments. She'd slapped him or bopped him on the head plenty of times.
But…she'd never actually punched him before. Hiraikotsu's weight had let him realize that she was a great deal stronger than him, but he'd never known it just from all of the times he'd been slapped.
But that punch…that punch had really, really hurt. He was still having trouble thinking straight, although it was certain that she had punched him. He began to regret everything...to regret having hurt her so badly that she lashed out so violently in response…But it was too late now.
She stared at him some more, and lowered her fist.
"How…how could you…How could you say those things…"
Kagome saw how hurt her closest girlfriend was and felt an enormous sadness and sympathy. She cared for Sango like a sister, and even though Miroku was her friend too, she had to side with her one this one.
"Why, Miroku? Why'd you do all of this? Why were you so jealous? It's not like Sango and Inuyasha were doing anything wrong. They were just hugging...friends give friends hugs, y'know? There's nothing wrong with it, nothing at all. I'm pretty sure Inuyasha and Sango don't have any feelings for each other romantically, and even so, Inuyasha would nev--"
Kagome went on telling Miroku that nothing was going on, and soon her calm and reasonable lecture turned nastier as what Miroku had done and said had sunk in; once she finally figured out that he'd dragged her out in the middle of the night to try to get her angry at Inuyasha she began to wish she could put Inuyasha's rosary around HIS neck.
Meanwhile Sango was resigned to her thoughts. She thought about the betrayal she felt, the anger and the sadness the Miroku had inflicted on her.
'He...he called me 'his love' and he got so jealous that he thought someone was taking me away...Why? Does he really love me?' She wasn't sure how she felt at the prospect of that anymore. 'Do I want him to love me? I could've dealt with him being a pervert...But he went so far...He got so angry...What could have made him think that Inuyasha would do those things? Why was he so hellbent against me and Inuyasha...being together...?
'But even if he did love me...does that matter? What if I do really like Inuyasha? Miroku's never tried to actually express his feelings for me...what right does he have to act like I'm his now? What right does he have to take away another chance for me to be happy with someone...with Inuyasha...?'
Sango couldn't stand to look at the monk anymore. She turned away and looked at Kagome, who was still berating the injured monk...She was doing it all for her, too. Seeing her friend's loyalty made Sango feel even worse as she realized what she'd been doing.
'And Kagome-chan...I hadn't even thought of how my feelings for Inuyasha would affect you. How could I have ignored how you feel about him? And he feels that way about you, doesn't he? You were right Kagome-chan, Inuyasha just sees me as a friend. It looks like I made the same mistake Miroku made...I misinterpreted his actions, too.
'I don't deserve to have a friend like you Kagome-chan. I don't deserve to have you defending me.'
Kagome had stopped yelling at Miroku now, as she was basically saying the same things over and over, just louder and less politely. Once again she mentioned that there was nothing wrong with Inuyasha and Sango being friendly.
"Like I said, it's not like they have feelings for each other."
"That's not entirely true, Kagome-chan."
Kagome twirled around speedily, causing her long, raven hair to go flying in her face. Once she brushed it aside she asked, "What are you talking about Sango?" She started getting a little worried and looked up to Inuyasha. 'Could Inuyasha actually have feelings for Sango?'
Inuyasha was looking at Sango, perplexed and confused. He didn't have a clue what Sango was talking about either. Sango was a friend and he cared for her a lot, just like he cared for all of the others. Well, maybe not just like he cared for Kagome, but he wasn't exactly sure what his feelings for her meant... But at any rate, he knew he only viewed Sango as a friend. Did that mean...?
"I...I don't deserve to have to defending me, Kagome-chan. I—I think...maybe...that I DO have feelings for Inuyasha."
Kagome was surprised. She would almost think it was cute that Sango had a crush on Inuyasha if it wouldn't change the dynamics of their group so much. Or if she wasn't around all the time and wouldn't pose a threat for HER feelings for the hanyou.
But no, she wouldn't think like that. She felt bad for Sango. Kagome had been most open about her feelings for the silver haired boy to Sango during their trips to the hot springs. She realized that Sango had developed an infatuation for her hanyou, and was only now realizing the conflict that would arise. She knew Sango must feel guilty, and she was touched that Sango valued their friendship so much that she would worry about hurting her because of her own feelings.
"Sango...it's...it's okay." It wasn't really, she knew, but she wanted it to be.
"No it's not, Kagome. I know how you feel about Inuyasha, and I still felt that way about him, too. I betrayed you, Kagome." Sango was crying again.
Kagome couldn't stand to see her friend this way. She looked over at Inuyasha, and saw sorrow present on his face, too. What was he thinking right now? A lot of hidden feelings had been openly dumped in front of him. How was he taking it? She knew that he was a lot more sensitive now, and a lot more concerned with other peoples' feelings. She suspected that Inuyasha only viewed Sango as a friend, and that maybe he would be feeling guilty for making her sad by not being able to reciprocate her feelings for him.
'Maybe it would help to have him talk about this...Or maybe to find out when Sango started feeling this way...Or maybe...'
She heard a cough come from by her feet, followed by some sniffles. She looked down to see Miroku crying, too. Hearing Sango say she had feelings for Inuyasha had hit him hard. She couldn't tell if it was the revelation that Sango didn't love him that was hurting him or guilt that he caused everyone such pain by thinking that Inuyasha was impressing his desires on her, rather than Sango being the one who actually had feelings for the hanyou.
The scene was filled with sorrow and hurt, and Kagome thought the only way to solve it all would be for everyone to talk through it. Seeing that everyone else was crippled by their respective griefs, she knew it fell to her to start the little therapy session.
But before the first word could flow from her mouth, a familiar sensation was close upon them. An intense aura, that feeling she felt whenever the Shikon jewel was near, was emanating from somewhere close...VERY close. Kagome had never been so surprised by it before; she usually began sensing the jewel from father away and with less intensity. But this was like it just popped out of nowhere right on top of them.
But where was it coming from? She looked around frantically, drawing the attention of her friends.
"Kagome? What's wrong?" Inuyasha asked, a bit concerned by Kagome's odd behavior.
Before she could answer, a familiar rustling rattled and out of a tree dropped Kouga, still looking like a supercharged, limp puppet.
"Kouga? What are you doing here?" Kagome asked.
Miroku had mixed feelings about what he knew would happen next. Part of him wanted to tell Kouga to rip Inuyasha apart for ruining his chances with Sango...But then another part of him felt guilty and remorseful for what he'd done and wanted to call off the plan. He argued with himself inside, oblivious to what was going on around him until he looked up almost too late.
"Sango, Inuyasha, look out!"
The two were surprised and only narrowly managed to dodge a lightning fast swiped of the wolf's clawed hand. They got a hold of themselves again and fell into defensive stances, in desperate want of answers.
Miroku had seen it coming. Kouga was going to strike Inuyasha...But not just Inuyasha...He was aiming for Sango, too! But it wasn't just a normal punch he was trying to land; he'd noticed a dark aura surrounding the Wolf Prince's hand and those claws were out and intended to kill! The plan didn't have any provisions for lethal force, and so Miroku had tried to warn his lost love and his new rival.
"Kouga! What are you doing!" Kagome's voice tore into the quiet of the forest. Kouga didn't respond; not only did he remain silent, but he didn't even look back to twitch or anything. The sound of Kagome's voice had absolutely no effect on him; he just stood staring at Inuyasha with a sick grin and a blank look in his eyes.
Miroku was staring at the wolf. He remembered sensing something was wrong earlier and it seemed that his instincts had been right. He should have realized it before, but he'd been too wrapped up in getting revenge on Inuyasha that he'd ignored the signs of Kouga's bloodlust...And in doing so put Sango in danger.
But what had happened to Kouga? He hadn't acted like this earlier in the day when they were forming their scheme. What had made him act so strange?
A new fire began to burn in Kouga's eyes, but it did not belong to the wolf. Cold, sinister and purely evil glares poured out from behind those eyes, glares that Miroku and the rest knew all too well.
'Now it all makes sense...' Miroku thought as he recognized the source of Kouga's odd behavior. And he wasn't the only one...
Inuyasha bared his fangs as he growled, "NARAKU! I'd know that stench anywhere!"
Those evil eyes that had taken over Kouga's face stared on, and then the wolf's mouth opened. A laugh came forth, frightening and malicious, but it was obvious to everyone that the voice did not belong to the body before them. As he laughed, the corrupted jewel shards in his chest began to glow a dark purple and became visible through the wolf's flesh and armor.
Then the voice began to speak.
"That's right, Inuyasha," Naraku's voice slithered to the ears of all present, making their skin crawl at the sound. "I am in control of this mangy wolf's body, and with the gifts I've given him I shall use him to put an end to YOU!"
Before Naraku's voice had finished Kouga made another charge towards Inuyasha, claws glowing and going for Inuyasha's throat. Distracted from Naraku's remote oration, Inuyasha was unaware of Kouga's approach until he was only inches away...Too close to dodge the strike. Inuyasha found himself staring down Kouga's claws of death, unable to stop them...
"Inuyashaaaa!"
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A/N: I really hope that I'm right on Kagome's sleeping bag being red. It's amazing how hard it is to find out that one little detail without having a whole bunch of episodes readily available. So if I'm wrong, someone please tell me. In fact, if someone is really REALLY well-versed in Inuyasha-minute-details, I think I might need a little help in coming chapters and it'd be easier if I could ask someone than having to dig stuff up.
And there's another chapter. I wanted to have it out sooner, and it's actually been written for a couple weeks, but I couldn't muster up the energy to proofread it and I thought the end needed some work...But when I finally got around to looking over it again, I was happy enough with it so here we are. I dunno, I like a lot about this chapter, but I'm not sure it's exactly what I had in mind. It's definitely a lot longer, and for the most part I think it reads better, and at least for the first 2/3 of it it flows like I wanted it to. I hope everyone's enjoying it despite my lacking writing abilities, but I think/hope I'm getting better. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review. :)