Here's chapter three of A Kiss in the Dark. This chapter contains sexual tension but not to worry, definitely within the rating category :) Some parts are a bit serious, just a warning. The story of Tomiko is not real, just made it up to explain certain things, and as I am well aware Miroku has no problems with caves in the anime it very much adds to this story. Besides, it's my story, I can write whatever I want! Mwahahaha... authoress powers... Something I've neglected to mention way back from two chapters ago... '...' represents thinking. As you know, the star thingys I so much loved to use in the past is no longer allowed.

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha, or the kick-ass soundtrack. Enjoy

------Back to the cave------

Sango watched him incredulously, his presently weird behavior being quite out of character, to say the least. "Miroku, calm down, there is no youkai in here," she said.

Miroku turned away from the rock. "It's not the youkai, I just don't like being in caves, especially if I'm trapped in one."

Sango got up and walked over to him. "Well yeah, I'm not too particular of caves myself. Somehow the cold dark thing really dosen't do it for me."

"You don't understand, Sango, I have to get out of here," he said quietly, with his head down.

"You're right, I guess I don't. Why don't you enlighten me then?" she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Just forget I said anything," he said and walked past her and sat down on a rock and put his head in his hands.

"Okay, what's your problem? You freak out and expect me to not be concerned about what's upsetting you?" she asked, her curiousity getting the best of her.

He sighed and kept his head in his hands. "Its just that I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just say that I've had a bad experience in a place like this."

When Sango heard this, she felt horrible. 'What was I doing? He's going through a rough time and I'm making it worse by badgering him with all these questions. I should know better than anyone about having things I would rather not talk about' She came and sat down beside him. "I'm sorry, Miroku. I shouldn't have done that. It's fine that you don't want to discuss it, really. Just know that if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here," she said and smiled at him.

He lifted his head up from his hands and smiled at her. They sat together for a long time, not really saying or doing anything, just enjoying being in each other's company. 'He's not that bad to be around, when he's not being a jerk' Sango thought to herself. 'This is pretty nice'

After a while, Miroku finally spoke. "You know, it's not that bad being in here," then he looked over at her. "Since you're with me. Being with you makes me feel better."

"Thank you," she said, blushing. This must have been one of the few times he had complimented her without there being something perverted behind it. 'He is acting way too weird. Maybe its the cave doing something to him. Yeah, that's gotta be it'

Sango looked around the cave and sighed. "Being in here reminds me of when me and Kohaku used to play hide and seek in caves sometimes," she said and rested her head on her knees.

Miroku looked at her for a while without saying anything. 'Maybe it's time I finally told someone, besides, Sango knows better than anyone else how it feels to lose someone you love' He looked over at her. "Sango?"

She looked over at him. "Yes Miroku?" she asked.

"I've never told anyone this before but," he took a deep breath. "I had an older sister. Her name was Tomiko," he had a harder time saying her name than he thought. 'I haven't talked about her for so long... I even tried not to think of her too much either'

Sango was shocked to say the least. 'I never knew he had a sister... come to think about it, he never really mentioned his family before, the only person I know of is his sensei' She didn't say anything.

"After my father died, my mother fell ill and died soon after so then it was only me and my sister," he stopped and paused. Sango still couldn't say anything, she was still so shocked. He continued. "We were on our own and we had to make a living by doing odd jobs for people and sometimes when things got rough, we had to steal to survive. She was so protective of me though, she always made sure that I was taken care of. She became like a second mother to me. We were all we had, it was if it was only us in the world, we were so close. She always put my needs before her own, she was so selfless.

"Then one day our village was attacked by demons, and we had narrowly escaped them by hiding in a cave. One of the demons came after us though. We were small enough to fit in a corner where it had a hard time reaching us. She covered over me, protecting me from the attacks the demon was able to swing at us. Eventually, he was getting too close and she... she told me to stay there and got up to face the demon. She got a stake and drove it into the demon's heart, before it died it managed to give her a fatal wound," he said and then looked down.

Sango still didn't know what to say, she was so overcome with sympathy for him, so she just put an arm around his shoulder.

He continued in almost a whisper, "S-she was on the floor, bleeding to death... I didn't know what to do. Then she looked at me and told me that she loved me and that she was sorry... I was holding her, I tried to stop the bleeding but it was too much... I couldn't stop it... then her eyes closed and she hung in my arms... And then I ran away," he said the last sentence as if he were angry with himself and then he looked over at Sango. "I ran away," he repeated. "My sister was dying and I ran. She was always there for me and I couldn't even be there for her when she needed me the most. Some brother I was."

Sango looked at him with tears in her eyes. She could feel the turmoil he was going through. Watching the ones she loved die without her being able to do anything about it was more painful than anything she had ever been through. "It wasn't your fault, Miroku," she said and hugged him. "I'm sure she understood that you were scared."

For once he kept his hands to himself. "I was a coward, Sango. I was a coward then and I am a coward now. I ran away. She was always so strong for me, but I couldn't even stay with her. I didn't even allow myself to think of her all of these years. I still keep running away."

Sango let go of him and looked in his eyes. "That's not true, Miroku. You are a very strong person, you're one of the strongest people I know. I know it feels like hell to lose someone you love, but you have to stop blaming yourself."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Then why does it feel so impossible?" Then he opened his eyes and looked at her. "I do feel better now though, Sango. Thanks for listening."

She blushed slightly. "Oh, it's no problem."

He gave a embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry to bring down the mood with all of this emotional stuff, being in a cave is depressing enough-"

"It's okay, really, I don't mind," she cut him off, "Just know that you can always talk to me if you need to talk to someone." She gave him a reassuring smile.

He smiled back at her. "You are such a sweet, caring person, Sango. That's one of the reasons I love you," he said without thinking. 'Oh crap! Did I just say that out loud!' he thought fervently to himself. The look on Sango's face answered his question. He then turned a dark shade of crimson.

'Did I just hear what I thought I did? I couldn't have,' Sango thought to herself. 'There's no way he said that, I hope I wasn't hearing things' But then she looked at him and unmistakable look in his eyes seemed to say otherwise. However, she still needed to make sure, just in case her imagination was getting the best of her.

"What did you say?" she asked him softly, feeling as if her heart was goning to beat out of her chest.

'Damn, how could I let that one slip? What should I do now?' He looked at her. 'Is this really the time for me to tell her?' He sighed and then made up his mind. 'I have to tell her now, it's the best time to, besides I think she may still feel sorry enough for me from before to not beat me up if what I say offends her.'

The monk took a deep breath. 'I will tell her' "Sango, I have never felt this way about any other girl I've ever met like the way I feel about you," he took her hands in his, "you are beautiful, smart, sweet, courageous, I love everything about you. And... I guess what I'm trying to say here is, I love you."

She didn't say anything for a bit, as in taking in his words. Then she pulled her hand from his grip and smacked him hard across his face.

"You jerk!" she yelled and stomped over to the other end of the cave and turned her back to him. Miroku sat there dumbfounded, with a pink handprint growing ever brighter on his face.

'Okay, so I guess she was offended...' he thought to himself as he started to rub his face. "Umm... Sango?" he ventured, being wise enough to stay far away from her at this time.

"How could you look me in the eyes and tell me that I'm special when you go after every girl you see? How do you think that makes me feel?"

He paused as he went over her words. 'Wow... I never knew that me hitting on other girls bothered her so much... I'm such a fool, I credit myself for being able to read women fairly well and all the while I was hurting her so much... At this rate I'm just as clueless as Inuyasha'

"I'm sorry, Sango, I never intentionally meant to hurt you, I... I was just being an insensitive jerk, I guess..."

She turned around and looked at him. "That's an understatement," she said in disdain.

'...I deserved that' he thought to himself. "I do mean all of those things I said, you are very special to me... that's the thing. I tried to hold back my feelings because you deserve the best, and I don't think I would be able to give it to you; I have no money, I don't even know if I'm going to live too long, I just want you to be happy..." he trailed off as she walked back towards him.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?" he asked her warily as she sat down beside him.

Sango glared at him. "Maybe I will..." she said and then sighed. "I'm still mad at you, though. Who gave you the right to determine what should make me happy?" She looked down at her lap. "If you think that I care about money, you're crazy. You should know I'm not like that. And... we are all going to die one day. What's important is not when you die, what's important is how you live your life while you're still alive." She looked back at him, "What we have here isn't perfect, we may always have our lives in danger battling demons, but if it means being with the people I care about, I wouldn't trade it for the world." She smiled shyly at him, "Especially since I'm with you."

Miroku didn't respond but instead looked into her eyes. Sango looked into his eyes as well and then they got closer to each other until they shared a soft, passionate kiss.

After a couple of moments, the two finally broke apart. "That was wonderful," Miroku said smiling amusedly. "Wow Sango, I didn't know you had it for me like that."

She gasped and turned as red as a beet. "That... that was just a momentary lapse of sanity," she said as she fidgeted with her hands. 'That kiss was... amazing...' she sighed to herself.

"Admit it, you enjoyed it just as much as I did," he continued, enjoying seeing Sango get so flustered.

"I... well..." she said, floundering for a way to change the subject, "We don't have time for this, we need to figure a way to get out of here!" She said and then got up and inspected the rock, "There's got to be a way to get this thing to open."

"There's no use trying to move the rock. It's sealed magically, is it not? At least that was what you told me," the monk said, a teasing grin on his lips.

"Oh... right," the painfully embarrased girl mumbled. 'I am sooo gonna kill Kagome and Shippo when I get out of here'

"Come sit with me," Miroku said, as he patted his lap.

"Well don't you seem quite comfortable in here now," she said wryly as she instead sat down about a good two feet away from him.

"Well it's like I said earlier, it's because you are here with me," he replied as he scooted closer to her. "I have much happier memories associated with caves now."

"So do you now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh certainly," his grin widened mischievously. "However, we can add some unforgettable magic to this occasion; I'm sure we can find a way to make the remainder of our time in here... most enjoyable," he said as he put his arm around her waist.

Sango gave the monk a murderous look. "If you value that arm of yours, you would be best advised to remove it right now."

Of course he paid no heed to her threat, he just smiled at the demon exterminator, who was growing more pissed by the second.

"Come on sweetie," he said while while leaning in to her and starting to kiss her neck. "It'll be fun..." he murmured.

For a little bit she seemed to be falling under his spell, but she quickly started to berate herself. 'What am I thinking? I can't let him... ohh...' she started to lose her train of thought for some distracting reason.

For at this point, he put his other arm around her and started to caress her hair, and his kisses moved up to her lips and they kissed again, though more passionately this time.

'... this is wonderful,' she thought. ' Wait! What am I thinking! I can't possibly do this, not now. There's no way I can give into him that easily!'

She pushed him away suddenly and in her haste, they both fell off the rock onto the floor. Miroku just stared at her in the way a child looks at their mother when they take away their favorite cookie just when they were only halfway through. Sango was breathing heavily, and she was shaking a little, not to mention her cheeks were a bright crimson.

She jumped up. "There's no way I'm going to do that in here, anyway that's something I would only do with my boyfriend!" she blurted out.

"I see," he said quietly from his spot from the floor. He slowly got up and took her hands into his.

"Forgive me, Sango. No doubt my behavior was unacceptable."

'Hmm ok... well yeah, that'll teach him' "Yeah..." she said, still a little startled by his abrupt change of mood.

He began to rub her hands. "Please forgive me, I was so stupid. How could I have forgotten to ask?" He looked into her eyes. "I guess it's because I was so caught up in the moment when I realized you have the same feelings for me like I have for you."

'Okay, what is he talking about? Are we even on the same page now?' She twitched uncomfortably in his hands. "Um, what do you mean-"

"Sango, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?" He kissed her hands.

She almsot fell over. 'Is that what he was going on about? Oh crap, he must have mistook what I said as some sort of cue to ask me...' she started to blush. 'But I didn't mean it that way'

'Sure you didn't' A voice in her head taunted.

'Of course I didn't! I was just trying to emphasize the unlikelihood of him ever getting any from me in here, that's all...'

'Or maybe you really were just giving him cues' the growingly annoying voice said.

'Oh shut up, you! What do you know? Just go back in whatever hole you crawled out from!' she thought angrily.

'Oh, getting defensive now, are we?' the voice said obnoxiously.

Before she could argue with herself further, she was cut off when Miroku gave her a weird look.

"...Sango, are you okay?" he asked in concern.

"I'm fine," she said quickly and then smiled when Miroku continued to look at her wierdly.

"Ok, sure... Well anyway, you have yet to tell me your answer."

Her smile turned into a glare. "Well, my answer is no!" At that, she yanked her hands out of his grasp and "hmphed" and turned away.

Once again, the monk stood there, dumbfounded. 'Uh, did I do something to offend her again?' And he racked his brain to try and figure out if anything he had said recently sounded wrong. After a few moments, he decided that he was pretty much safe throughout, and so he didn't have too much to lose by asking her what his offense in question was. After double-checking just to make sure, he gathered up his courage to ask her. Hey, it was better safe than sorry, right?

"Hey Sango," he started timidly. "Um could I have possibly done something for you to-"

"You've done quite alot!" she exclaimed, turning back to him. "More than I could possibly take," she sighed and sat back down on the rock. "I know that you're sorry about hitting on other girls but at the same time I'm still going to find it very hard to trust you. I don't know if I can have you as my boyfriend, with you being the way you are."

Miroku didn't say anything.

"I don't get it," she said quietly. "If you loved me so much, then why would you continually hit on other girls? Is it that you can't help yourself or something?"

He sat down beside her and looked at her. "Actually, there was indeed a reason I was doing those things," he paused. He hesitantly said the next part. "I guess I was doing that because I was trying to get your attention..."

Miroku's answer surprised Sango. 'What does he mean, get my attention? It wasn't like I was ignoring him or anything... of course not...' Before she could say anything, though, he continued.

"What I mean is, when I flirted with other girls, you would get upset and try to pull me away... I guess what I'm saying is, I liked it when you got jealous, it made me feel like you wanted me for yourself and well... I know that was selfish of me, but I couldn't help it..."

She was too stunned to speak. 'That was the reason for him doing all of that?'

"I'm very sorry, Sango. I wanted to tell you about my feelings, but I was too afraid to be up front with you. Every time I wanted to tell you how I feel, I would lose my nerve and end up doing something stupid."

Sango still didn't know what to say. She was still absorbing everything he told her.

"That's what I meant earlier when I said I was a coward. Even then I was too afraid to tell you how I feel. I'm sorry to have put you through all of that pain, and I'll understand if you don't-"

"Telling someone you love them is a very hard thing to do, that dosen't make you a coward," she said, cutting him off, "It would be hard for anyone." She smiled at him. "You told me now, didn't you?"

"You mean you understand, you're not mad at me anymore?"

"No, but if I catch you flirting with another girl, there will be hell to pay," she said while looking at him threateningly.

"Does that mean-"

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend," she said, holding back a giggle.

"Oh, Sango, you don't know how happy you've made me," Miroku said as he hugged her.

"However, that dosen't mean that you can have your way with me, it's still not here, not now," she said while returning the hug.

"Is it my imagination, or my insane happiness, or is it getting lighter in here?" he asked, as he let go of her and looked around.

"It is!" Sango exclaimed, as she looked over at the large enchanted rock. "The spell is being lifted!"

"That's the second best news I've heard all day," Miroku said, smiling, as he got up. "Coming, Sango?" he asked as he offered her a hand.

She still sat there, not paying attention to what Miroku was saying.

"Hey Sango, come on, before it decides to close on us again," he said, as he took her hand and started to pull her up.

"Hold on," she mused, as she yanked him back down on the rock beside her," this must have been the plan the whole time, to have the spell lifted only when we would get together... Quite ingenious if I do say so myself..."

"Can we worry about that later, when we're out of the cave?" he asked impatiently.

She ignored his plea. "Even though her scheme worked, I still can't let her go around thinking that she can just meddle around in other people's affairs without there being some sort of payback," a mischievous smile spread across her face.

The monk cringed. He knew that look.

"Miroku," Sango said, her grin growing wider, "I have just the plan to get back our dear friend Kagome, and I'm going to need your help."

"I had a feeling you were going to say that," he mumbled as she started to go over her perfect plan with him.

And so, just what is this plan that Sango is speaking of? How will she get back at Kagome? Answers to these in the last installment of A Kiss in the Dark. Plz review