Strange

Kaede had long since emerged from the hut, stating firmly that she had done all she could to lesson his pain. Unspoken, but understood nonetheless, was the fact that Miroku's time was drawing near.

His moans had subsided a while ago, and now it sounded as if he rested quietly, if not peacefully, within. And still, Sango had not returned.

"I wonder where Sango went off to?" Shippou voiced aloud for probably the twelfth time since the girl had left. Kagome sighed.

"She just needed some time to be alone," Kagome replied confidently, though she didn't feel nearly as secure as she sounded. The young slayer was undoubtedly strong – no one questioned that. She had already dealt with more loss than anyone should in an entire lifetime, and still she fought on as fiercely as the rest. Though she put on a brave front, Kagome knew that the other girl kept her melancholy to herself, fighting it on the inside, alone as ever. The only signs she ever gave of her silent torment were the silent, longing gazes you could sometimes steal from her when she thought no one was looking.

Kagome loved Sango for that, she loved her as truly and deeply as a sister. She admired the girl, and even though she herself was extroverted and wished her best friend would open up more often, she couldn't deny the kind of strength it took for the slayer to handle the long-lasting grief mostly in solitude. Sango had mourned and then moved on with a kind of determination that amazed the young miko.

Ever since the very first signs at chemistry between the demon exterminator and monk, Kagome had been overjoyed and ecstatic about the potential romance. Though sometimes things had been rocky, these past months things had slowly been changing between Sango and Miroku. Things were far from perfect – but, at least to Kagome, it was clear that the two cared for one another (well… except maybe to the ever-oblivious Inuyasha).

Kagome had found it so endearing; she had been congratulating herself on a match well-made since the very beginning.

She wasn't congratulating herself today.

The true gravity of Miroku's cursed hand had never really dawned upon her until today. The fact that he was always so close to death's door hadn't really occurred to her. But the moment the monk, who was usually so nonchalant about his own injuries, had been seized by pain so great he had been unable to go on by himself, it had finally sunk in.

Naraku had eluded them for too long.

Belatedly, Kagome felt guilty and sheepish for having tried to match-make between the slayer and monk. Though on some level, she realized that it had all happened without her interference, she couldn't help but to feel a rush of shame for her own eagerness towards the matching. Sango had lost everything, and now she was going to lose Miroku.

Well, Miroku wasn't dead yet, and that optimistic part of herself (which usually was the vast majority) insisted that they could still have time… But the rest of her noted, with sickening realization, that for every step closer they came to Naraku, the deceitful demon seemed to be able to maneuver two steps back. It was doubtful that now would be any different.

And so, Kagome hadn't even attempted to stop Sango when the girl had rushed from the village. She couldn't even imagine the kind of preemptive anguish the girl was experiencing, and while she wanted to help, she knew that it was probably best (for now) to let Sango deal with it the way she knew best: alone.

So, the young miko sat with a falsely calm composure, waiting patiently for her friends return, her hands twitching from the idleness. The sun had long since traveled its idle path across the sky, and was probably slipping beneath the horizon. Though the forest around prevented her from seeing the sunset, the growing dark announced its arrival. The shadows of the trees were stretching, shrouding the earth in growing darkness.

"It's getting dark. If Sango-chan doesn't come soon, we should go look for her," Kagome decided tentatively.

"Feh. She's coming right now," Inuyasha announced, sniffing. His nose curled a little in disdain, but whatever scent it was that caught his attention, he apparently decided not to announce it. Sure enough, however, Kagome's worried brown eyes picked out her friend slowly making her way through the shadows towards the village.

"Sango! Are you okay Sango? Kagome-chan said you needed time alone, and we were going to come and get you, but then Inuyasha smelled you coming –" Shippou was immediately off like an arrow. He bounded to the other girl, babbling on in his chipper child-like innocence. "Kaede-sama said that Miroku shouldn't be in as much pain now, so he's going to be fine –"

Kagome clenched her jaw slightly; she had tried to call Shippou back, but once the kitsune got excited, he was nearly uncontainable. As it were, the miko blanched slightly as he babbled on to Sango, and she half expected the other girl to cry.

But Sango did not. Instead, she listened intently to everything the young fox-demon had to say, and nodded solemnly. "Can I go in to see him?" she asked instead, surprising everyone.

"Yes, Sango-chan. Of course," Kagome replied uncertainly; her brown eyes shone with worry for her friend, but the taijiya seemed oblivious. The slayer held herself aloof, and there was a certain calm composure about her that surprised and confused Kagome.

'She… is taking this well,' the priestess finally decided, uncertainly. She noted her friends scraped knuckles, though, and decided that the slayer was simply too graceful to have tripped and skinned them so badly on accident; no, Sango must be feeling some inner turmoil. The blood must have been what Inuyasha had smelled. At any rate, Kagome decided it was probably best not to bug her about it.

"Thank you, Kagome," Sango replied calmly; instead of walking straight past her into the hut, however, the slayer paused and grabbed the miko into a whole-hearted embrace. Before Kagome could react, the girl whispered again, "Thank you for everything. You've been such a good friend to me, always, and you've been so good to me."

Surprised, Kagome quickly returned the embrace, not quite understanding what had brought about the sudden change in her friend. "That's what best friends are for, silly!" she tried to banter lightly. The slayer just smiled and nodded in reply.

After Sango had quietly disengaged from the hug and entered the hut, her companions stared after her in quiet confusion.

"That was weird," Inuyasha huffed finally, crossing his arms and tilting up his nose dismissively.

"Yeah. I guess," Kagome replied, still staring after her friend, gentle confusion nagging at the back of her mind. Something seemed – off – about the way her friend had just acted…

"I'm hungry – shouldn't you be cooking or something?" Inuyasha interrupted her train of thought with one of his typical rude comments. Kagome quickly abandoned her mild bewilderment in favor of admonishing the hanyou, and all consideration of Sango's strangeness was quickly all but forgotten.