Hi! Wow that was quick. I just sat down and the words flew off my fingers. ANYhoo. I think I worked out this chapter pretty well. Soon I might actually be able to squeeze in some romance. Does that sound like fun? (smiles) But I've got to stop ending my chapters so introspectively and end with some evil cliffhangers. (insert evil laugh here) Not much else to say. Oh! Thank you, reviewers! Your comments pushed me on even when I wanted to give up cause someone read over my shoulder while I was working and laughed at me.

And to the question is Miroku still a virgin... (She gets out a public relations speaker.) I'm appalled that anyone would ask that. I should think that the answer is obvious and so will not dignify it. (He's not.) Quiet, you!

Disclaimer: (Ahem) Inu-Yasha is the product of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz and Adult Swim. I in no way own or have ever owned Inu-Yasha. The Methods of the Heart by Fanfic Connoisseur are my work and my property but not the characters contained within. WOOHOO! I got through that whole thing without cracking a joke... Wait. Is this mic still on? Uh...

Chapter Six: Friendship Set on Fire

After Sango had revealed her past to him, she and Miroku had begun chatting casually. She told him how her father was a mercenary that retired after hurting his leg and how he taught her all he knew about fighting. He had told her about how his mother had died in childbirth and his cursed hand—how it would swallow him up one day. They talked of other things as well but for the first time in two months he felt as though Sango were letting him into her life.

A few days of pleasant conversation later, it was sometime around mid-morning that Miroku lost sight of Sango. He had a question about a minor detail he wanted to ask her, and so set out to find her, wondering vaguely where she'd gotten off to.

As he wandered about looking here and there, he passed the women making dinner. Kagome, spotting him, immediately volunteered him to get them more firewood from the wood shed. He attempted to petition against it, citing his opposition to such strenuous work, but there was no getting out of the task.

He sighed. Kagome was truly relentless.

SPLASH. giggle

Miroku's ears perked up. He knew that laugh. He heard it very rarely, but he knew it.

Instead of heading into the woodshed and getting the wood like he was supposed to, he turned to look off the cliff side, at the bottom of which he knew there was a small waterfall.

Vaguely, a whispered conversation between Kagome and Sango came to mind. Something about bathing. And somewhere in the back of his head he remembered Kagome telling him that if tried to spy on any of the women of the village while they were washing again there would be hell to pay on the back of his head, courtesy of Inu-Yasha.

He had an almost perfect six-month record—of not getting caught at least.

It was very public here. He could be spotted. He would be missed if he didn't bring back the firewood soon.

He casually pushed some brush aside and sure enough, there was Sango, swimming a little downstream of the waterfall.

And she was naked.

In the last couple of months, with living arrangements being as they were and the platonic relationship he had with Sango being on rocky ground at best, he had started to (more by necessity then choice) regard her as he did Kagome—like a sister.

In all the time he'd known her, he'd only spied on Kagome once; she'd been thirteen and while he hadn't regretted it then, as he got older he'd started to regret it.

This was, inexplicably, quite different.

He watched, transfixed, as she dove under the water and resurfaced, gasping to bring more air into her lungs, causing her chest to heave. Her body was taut, like a bowstring, every muscle humming with strength. Yet she was so relaxed and...content; there was no other word for it.

He knew he should have stopped peeping by now. Somewhere in the very back of his mind, he knew that. Since Kagome's threat, he had learned to regard a nude female form as one would look upon the sun: glance briefly and turn away. Somehow his brain wasn't getting that message. He couldn't seem to force himself to stop watching Sango.

Her body was tanned lightly and very long, almost skinny, but there was an unquestionable athleticism to her appearance, a rhythm to the curves of her form. Her hair was almost auburn as it fanned out in the water; yet when it clung to her body like a second skin, it was as dark as obsidian.

He had to stop himself from falling off the side of the cliff when she dove in the water, revealing those ever so long legs to the air, and without question, that perfect ass. And as she rose out of the water, he watched her sigh softly, floating along on her back.

He never knew his Sango was a water nymph in disguise.

She had to be. Though he was certain she hadn't seen him – his head was still attached – he felt like she was enticing him to dive in. And oh, how he wanted to. It was a short path down the hill and then into the water and he could just touch her, even just her arm, to make sure she was real and that he hadn't hit his head somewhere between the cooking area and the wood shed and was now hallucinating.

"Miroku—"

"GAH!" The monk in question had to shove his hands into the dirt to keep falling forward and, without a doubt, to his death. Not necessarily from the fall, but certainly from Sango strangling him.

He quickly got to his feet and turned around to regard Inu-Yasha, incidentally also taking a few inching steps away from the cliff edge. Six months. Six long months of barely taking peeks at women. Kagome had finally started to trust him around water. "Oh Inu-Yasha! I'll bring the legs—logs—in a moment. Please ask Kagome to forgive the delay."

"Uh-huh. What were you doing?" Inu-Yasha knew better than to take what Miroku said at face value.

"If you carry a few logs as well the task will soon be complete!" Miroku attempted to usher Inu-Yasha away but the hanyou pushed past him to look for whatever Miroku had been watching.

It didn't take him long. "Hey, lecher." He looked away, uninterested. Kagome was the only woman for him. "What did Kagome tell you about spying on girls takin' baths?" Inu-Yasha cracked his knuckles at his side.

Miroku started backing up very slowly.

The monk turned to run but barely got a step before Inu-Yasha grabbed the collar of his robes. "Don't I get ta beat you up now?" Inu-Yasha frowned for a moment. "Nah. I got a better idea. Hey, SANGO!"

Oh shit! This was so much worse! Miroku would rather have taken his chances with Inu-Yasha.

"I caught someone spying on ya. A certain monk friend of ours."

"He WHAT!" was the shriek that came from below. In minutes she had pulled on her clothes and scrambled up the cliff path.

When she got there, eyes lit with fury, Inu-Yasha grinned. "He's all yours, Sango." The half demon thrust the fist containing Miroku towards Sango.

But all he held was the collar of empty robes.

Sango actually growled. "Miroku...!" she hissed. She knew he was nearby. "When I catch you. I'll...! I'll! ARGH!" She couldn't even think of a curse that would fit this situation. "Death won't come too fast! You understand me!" She huffed again and stomped off to lunch.

Miroku let out a silent sigh of relief from his hiding place down the mountain. He couldn't stay there long; Inu-Yasha would sniff him out. Climbing partly down a cliff in sheer desperation was hardly safe. Perhaps it was for the best if he missed lunch and dinner today. She needed some distance from the event. Give her time to cool off.

'Some time next year should be safe,' he thought sourly.

Sango didn't really eat her lunch so much as stab at it multiple times. Everyone at the other tables avoided her, even Kagome, as she muttered dark curses under her breath and attempted to kill her food. Hardly any of it made it to her mouth. When she finally pushed her bowl away and stood up, she was still fighting mad and crimson-faced.

Early during her stay, Kagome had managed to think up a solution before Sango was thrown out of the village for her destruction tendencies. She had filled a burlap sack with sand, tied it off, and painted a face on it with grease. Sango could hang it outside the village and practice on it until she felt a little calmer.

Sango said nothing, just took the bag of sand and left. She tied it to a tree just out of the village, then began to beat it senseless. But that wasn't quite adequate this time, so she added a couple sticks tied together with rope hanging from the same spot at the bag to make it look like a body. It helped her exercise but it didn't make her feel better.

So she imagined it wearing purple robes. She started to feel much better.

She couldn't believe he'd watched her! She gave the dummy a hard punch in the face.

Of all the low things to do. She kicked it in the side.

She didn't get it. She gave him an inch and he took it a mile. And why her of all people? If he was that desperate to spy on a naked girl, shouldn't he at least pick someone pretty? She mentally shrugged. It was probably just availability.

The dummy received a series of punches and kicks in perfect rhythm. She cursed herself for getting this out of shape. It had only been an hour and she was winded.

She gave a low snarl at the dummy as she barreled into it, punching vigorously, taking out her rage on the mock-up of an opponent. Finally, almost out of energy, she punched it again half-heartedly before grabbing on for stability as she caught her breath.

"Here. You look thirsty." Miroku held out a water flagon to the exhausted Sango.

She took it graciously. "Thank you." She took a couple sips then let it fall to the ground, crouching down and sweeping her leg in a half circle in an attempt to knock Miroku's legs out from under him.

If she wasn't tired and he hadn't been expecting it, he would have landed flat on his face. Instead he leapt a couple feet back. "Still mad, I take it?"

"Mad? MAD!" She jumped up and into a kick, landing where Miroku would have been if he hadn't moved out of the way. That was, without question, a warning shot. She seethed as she frowned up at him. "I passed mad halfway through lunch, Hoshi-sama."

He winced a bit. But the title was fair after what he did. "It was a compulsion that was wrong of me, Sango. And I apologize." He smiled sweetly, adding sincerity as he spoke. He moved his head six inches to the left and her fist hit the tree trunk behind him.

That had not been a warning shot. That had been fast thinking and a lucky dodge. Miroku noted how she certainly had her second wind now. And he had thought it would be safe because she would be too tired to fight him. It was very true what they said about a woman scorned.

"It's not enough, Miroku." She twisted around to hit him again but he was getting used to the pattern, so he grabbed her wrist and threw her forward, using the energy she'd put into the punch. It didn't knock her off her feet but she did have to force herself to halt and turn around.

"Please. Sango. Let's not fight." He frowned.

Her eyes narrowed. "Why? Because you know I'll win?" She spun, putting momentum into a very powerful roundhouse, which he barely managed to duck under. But she followed it up with an upper cut he didn't see coming, knocking the wind out of him briefly. Not good in a fight.

She hesitated for a second, not completely expecting to hit. Shaking it off, she went for a cross punch to his face, but he caught her arm instead and twisted it around her back in no time.

"Yes. You'll win, Sango. You're stronger than me. But that's not why we shouldn't fight," he whispered in her ear while he held her in an arm lock, subdued and close to his body.

She didn't like the proximity and began to struggle. "Let me go!" And he did. Mentally, she criticized herself for being so out of shape that she didn't even dodge such a simple counter attack.

Miroku tapped his chin, trying to think of something he could offer her to make up for this. As tempting as it was, he doubted she wanted an offer to see him naked in return. Just as her fist was balling up, a thought occurred to him and he momentarily wondered why he hadn't considered it before. "If you're willing to accept both my apology and my promise that it will not happen again, I could show you the history of this mountain?"

How many nights had she asked Kagome about their people over dinner? All she ever got were partial answers in bits and pieces since small children rarely ate food without a fuss. What he had overheard was being used against her. But the temptation was far too great. She looked at him carefully. He'd better keep that promise, though.

"All right."

Miroku wasted no time in fulfilling his end of the bargain, leading Sango off in a direction she'd never been. Before she could ask any more he'd started telling her about how Koga first crossed paths with Kagome and how she and Inu-Yasha were still "flirting," if you could call arguing back and forth flirting. After that it didn't take much to start a conversation going.

"So your father didn't teach just you and your brother to fight?"

"No. He taught anyone willing to learn how to defend themselves. Even when it was outlawed to teach others attack techniques." She shrugged. "Kohaku was never very good at it though. He'd always get so scared when I'd come at him and back down." She smiled sadly.

"Do you think that's why your village was overrun? Because of the teaching?"

Sango shook her head. "No. They went through every house and smashed things. Even valuable things. They were trying to find something." She shrugged. "It's hard to remember."

Before her face could become overcast with sadness, Miroku grabbed her wrist. "We're almost there." He pointed ahead.

"Where are we going anyway?"

Miroku smiled secretively. "I'm taking you to meet the forgotten."

Sango sighed. That was hardly an answer.

It wasn't long before he stopped. Sango stared at the sight before her. It was some kind of mass grave! It bulged out of the earth like a large hill and several grave markers and stones had been placed around it. At the very top was a large stone which read 'Gone but never forgotten.' Miroku recited a prayer as he bent his head over the grave site.

"These are the forgotten. We're fairly sure they had a name once but we don't know what it was. They lived here a long time before Kagome and I came. Even before Inu-Yasha.

"They were a spiritual and peaceful people. But the times they lived in were anything but, and an evil dragon claimed this land as his own and demanded they pay tribute to him. But they had nothing, so the demon dragon slaughtered them.

"Before they died they put a sanction on this mountain. Any who wish freedom from being hunted by evil things are safe here."

"But... That would be nearly impossible. One ill thought towards someone else and you'd be forced from this place."

Miroku nodded, walking down the path they had been on. "Correct. But that changed when she came. Her name was Midoriko."

He stopped in front of small stone building completely sealed off. It looked just big enough for a single person to sit in. "When Naraku came into this world she stood against him. She finally fell in the battle against him and came here, where she would have starved to death. Instead she meditated and changed this place. Those who fight to stop Naraku's evils are welcome here and may live in safety."

"So that's why you're able to hide from Naraku here?" Miroku nodded, passing both graves and heading along yet another path that led even higher up the mountain. Sango wasn't sure higher was possible. They were already so high.

"But Naraku can still send in people that hate him yet are under his control. Once they're past our wards they can do us damage. So new arrivals are watched very closely for about a week to a month."

"Which is why I wasn't allowed to leave at first."

Miroku scratched the back of his head. She was really catching on to their way of life fast. "Normally when someone is brought into the camp, we stop at some safe location and check for any forms of control." He looked at her. "I... We didn't have time with you."

She crossed her arms. "Is that why I'm confined to the village most of the time... and no one ever wants my help?"

Miroku chuckled nervously. "Actually... I thought you could use the time to think things over."

Sango stopped, turning him around to glare daggers at him. "You mean the reason I've been bored out of my mind is because you told everyone not to ask me to help?"

"Oh look, we're here!" Miroku half-jogged the rest of the way to a small alter on which an urn had been placed.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Sango went to catch up to him but he'd quickly lit a candle, which he set at the base of the altar, and started reciting the same prayer for the dead. Sango grumbled, letting him off for now.

When he finished he turned back to her. "This is where Kikyo's ashes rest. She was also a priestess and she once loved Inu-Yasha. But Naraku saw her only as a means to an end. This was about fifty years ago... When he started to create his little family like Kanna. Kanna told him that a child by Kikyo might protect him from death. So he ordered her to be his wife. Kikyo refused, professing her love for another.

"Naraku did not take this refusal kindly. He tricked Inu-Yasha and cursed Kikyo. He made Inu-Yasha believe that Kikyo wanted to be with Naraku and was plotting Inu-Yasha's demise. His curse upon Kikyo was to kill Inu-Yasha when he came near her or die herself."

Sango looked at the altar. "Then… She chose death?"

Miroku sighed heavily. "Yes. She tried to get away first. She thought here might be safe. Finally she bound Inu-Yasha to a tree and made this mountain safe from all deception. In time, all lies are revealed here."

"And all wounds healed." She smiled slightly.

Miroku returned her smile in kind. "Has anyone ever told you, you have the memory of a steel trap?" He started back down the mountain and towards the camp. "Kikyo died by saving Inu-Yasha but she's still around. She was the woman Kagome and I followed."

"A ghost?"

"That's the theory. She brings orphaned children back here to be safe. But no one over the age of twelve has ever seen her."

Sango stopped, counting back in her head. "So... Maybe... if I'd been younger... or died in the raid on my village my brother-"

"Don't. Don't say that." Miroku had stopped a few steps in front of her. He thought she'd finally gotten past this suicidal notion. Didn't she understand that her death wouldn't have changed anything for the better? Her life was precious. How could she... How could ANYONE think so little of herself?

"But it's true, isn't it?" She looked down.

He wanted to turn around and hold her; drive out her demons; make her understand. He wanted to force out her pain like it was a living thing that possessed her and then she would stop talking like this. Her dying wouldn't have changed anything except to put her in a shallow grave!

And they... would have... never met.

He took a deep breath and turned around slowly, keeping himself barely in control. She was still looking at her feet so he lifted her chin to make her look at him. "Everything happens for a reason, Sango. But I'm confident that you will travel the same path as your brother again. And then he will need you more than ever."

'So stop thinking death is the answer, dammit!'

She nodded, walking down the road. "I understand."

Miroku resisted the urge to swear. After all, she wasn't going to change her mind overnight. He had to stop thinking he could fix her right away. On the walk back he changed the subject to something less morbid than death.

He'd ask her about it later.

When they got back it was already dark. Dinner had been over for hours, leaving them to eat what little scraps were still available in Miroku's hut. Miroku had told Sango more stories of his two best friends, leaving her laughing. He also asked her about her life in the arena.

He timed his moment right for the question he really needed an answer for. "Sango. Can you just tell me one thing?"

"Sure. Anything." She took a sip of water from her mug.

"Do you still think about harming yourself? And please don't deny you've thought about it." The way he looked at her seemed to say 'I know when you're lying'. "All truth revealed, remember?"

She considered her words carefully. "For a while when I first came here I considered it. Especially when no one would let me leave." She looked outside. "Now.…. No." He let out the breath he'd been holding in. "Yet... I can't stop blaming myself for my brother."

"You shouldn't. What more could you possibly do?"

She turned to look him straight in the eye, her face dead serious. Miroku briefly wondered if this was what someone combating with her saw. "If something were to happen to Kagome, and you could have done something to stop it… Would you hold yourself responsible?"

Miroku nodded. "Fair enough." He picked off what little meat was left on his chicken bone. "One last question?" When she raised her eyebrow he continued. "Will you ever stop?"

She stared into the fire for a long moment. Miroku began to doubt that she was going to answer. It startled him when she did speak. "Yes. When I can hold him again. Tell him everything is okay because his big sister is here and the last four years have been a horrid nightmare."

Miroku nodded, feeling assured that at least Sango's wounds would eventually mend. He was happy to know she wasn't shattered beyond repair.