Slayer Love
By YoukaiAlchemist2
I don't own InuYasha! Stop thinking that I do so I can stop writing these disclaimers!
Dedicated to a dear friend, and Sango lover: Inu80Yasha. Also, I'd like to thank adaya-sama and Kitsune-chan for helping me in the revision process. Domo arigatou gozaimashte!
"I wonder why the sky is always dark when I'm sad," sighed a tanuki as he gazed at the sky with his blood red, drunken eyes. He had no true name. In fact, his only title was "Ai no Tanuki" the Tanuki of Love. He was average hight, with spiky brown hair, and a long, ringed tail that almost reached the ground. His dark "mask" of fur around his eyes had become matted down from tears and rain.
"Perhaps it is because of her…" he sighed again as he watched the clouds roll in.
One hundred years before:
Ai was watching the sky again. The white, fluffy cloud rolled in and out of view. "What is my name?" he thought to himself. "I have no trace of my past, and yet this land, this tree I sit in seem so familiar…" Ai fiddled his newly found jewel shard between his fingers. He knew what it was, what it did, but he didn't want it.
"I sense the jewel over here!" The voice of a young girl cried out.
Ai poked his head out of the leaves of the tree. "Hand over the shard of the jewel, before I slice you to pieces!" It was a honyou who called out the threat. Next to him was a rather pretty girl in an odd outfit, and a kitsune child. Then in flew a nekomata with a monk and-the most beautiful, heavenly looking woman he had ever seen. From her long, black hair to her shiny brown hair, right down to every perfect curve of her exquisite body. Who was she? Ai had to know.
He jumped out of the tree and landed gracefully on the ground. "You, there! The pretty woman! What is your name?" Ai asked, sounding a little bossy.
"You mean me?" The girl in the odd dress asked, pointing at herself.
"No, the woman behind you. The slayer. What is your name?" Ai asked a little more nicely.
"What does it matter!" the honyou shouted, "Give us the jewel shard or I'll blast you away!"
"I don't want this damn thing." Ai shook his head. "But since you all seem to be so intent on having it…" Ai leapt into the air and landed next to the slayer, "…Consider this a gift. A token of my affections for you, my beautiful lady." He took a bow and handed her the shard. "Please, I beg you, tell me your name."
"I am Sango," the slayer said, looking slightly confused.
"Sango-sama," Ai smiled, "your name describes you so perfectly. You are as beautiful as the coral your name is derived from. Maybe even more so!"
"Something's wrong here," the honyou glared, "No demon would willing just hand over a shard of the Shikon Jewel!"
"I assure you, I am not pulling any tricks. I have no need for the shard, because I have no idea what I would use it for. I have no memory of my past, and all I want is to remember. The shards of the Jewel cannot help me, so I have no need for them."
"You don't remember anything?" the girl in the odd dress asked. "Not even your name?
"The only clue I have to my past is this," Ai held up a medallion that read Ai no Tanuki. "You may call me 'Ai' or love," Ai bowed deeply to the girl in the weird clothes. "I am sorry for my rudeness earlier. You a very pretty as well."
"Thank you. My name is Kagome ," she smiled sweetly.
"Kagome-chan?" Ai repeated.
"This is Miroku, Shippo, Kilala and InuYasha, " Kagome me said motioning to each of them.
"Nice to meet you," the monk smiled. "I'm glad we did not have to fight."
"What's up?" Shippo asked.
Kilala turned into a kitten and rubbed up against Ai's leg.
"WHY DID YOU TELL HIM THAT?" InuYasha demanded.
"I think he just wants to be friends," Kagome replied.
"Me too," added Shippo.
"Fine, but I still don't trust him," InuYasha scowled.
"THIS IS DELICIOUS!" Ai exclaimed as he took another bite of food Kagome and Sango had prepared.
"Thanks," Kagome smiled, "It's called 'spaghetti'."
"I've never had anything like this!" Miroku smiled.
"It's great," Shippo said through a mouth full of food.
"I can't believe how easy it was to cook," Sango said to Kagome. "I thought that it would be harder to fix foreign food."
Ai scooted closer to Sango. "I want you to have this, too." Ai handed her his locket.
"Why?" Sango asked, once again confused by Ai's actions.
"Well..." Ai began to blush, "I…I love you! I love everything about you!"
"What!" Sango stammered. "I kinda like you, too, but I haven't known you for more than a day. I can't really say that I love you. Besides, I have to defeat Naraku before I can marry anyone, so even if I did love you back I wouldn't be able to do anything."
"Yeah, and Sango loves Miroku!" Shippo blurted out.
Ai looked at Sango, then to Shippo, and finally Miroku, "So Sango loves you, huh?"
Sango gave Shippo a glare that made Shippo scared for his life. "I think you got that backwards, Shippo." Miroku tried to convince Ai.
Ai's eyes filled with sadness as he stood up and dropped his bowl of food. "Well," he sighed, "unrequited love. I'll see you later…" he turned and walked away, making a vow that he would win Sango's affections no matter what it took.
For the following months, Ai was never far behind his beloved Sango, giving her presents, and constantly proclaiming his love for her.
"My love for you is
More eternal than the great,
Dark vastness of space," Ai mused.
"He's worse that Kouga!" Ai heard InuYasha say.
"That's a beautiful haiku," Kagome smiled. Sango, however still did not return his love.
He noticed that Miroku stepped up on his charms and was trying to woo Sango as well; bringing her gifts and writing her poetry. Ai didn't worry about this, though, because he knew that the monk's perverted nature would always end up with him getting slapped.
"Sango," Miroku smiled, embracing Sango in a hug, "You know that my true affections are for you."
Sango blushed; she secretly returned his feelings even thought she would never say it out loud. And then she felt that hand, again. SLAP!
"Pervert," she scowled, turning her back to him.
Then, finally, on a cloudy day in July, the two of them confronted the beautiful demon slayer. "Who do you love more?" Ai asked, his eyes dewy.
"What?" Sango was confused by Ai's questions again.
"We want to know," Miroku explained, "who you love more. Me or Ai?"
"I honestly can't say…" Sango tried to avoid the question.
"Choose…please…" Ai pleaded.
"I…I choose…" Sango stammered, "I choose-!"
Ai took his eyes off the sky and looked at the two, twin grave markers. "Miroku…" Ai sighed, taking a drink of sake, "the better man won the love of the perfect woman…" He remembered back to that day…
"Ai," Sango sighed, "I like you as a friend…but I truly love Miroku…" She added under her breath "Even if he is perverted."
"I see…" frowned Ai as he hung his head in disappointment.
Sango reached into her carrying bag, "Here," She smiled, "you will need this when you fall in love again."
"Th-thank you," Ai said with his eyes tearing up…
Ai set his locket on Sango's marker. "A token of my love…take it with you…"
Then he turned back to Miroku's marker. "Here. Consider this a token of good will," Ai set his sake bottle next to the monk's grave, and turned his eyes back to the clouds. He thought he could see both of them, smiling and happy in heaven, and his heart suddenly felt much lighter. "I still love you, Sango…I always will."
This was my first shot at a romance story. My InuYasha's Present story was technically a romance-comedy. I hope you enjoyed this story and I would appreciate a review, on second thought make that a bunch of reviews.