The sound of hand across cheek cut through the air. Nobody bothered to look back. What had happened was obvious – it wasn't a rare occurrence. Or rather, it was, but when it did happen no one worried. They'd be laughing together by the time the travelers stopped for the night.
"Sukebe…" a dark-eyed young woman muttered under her breath, her expression one of resignation. The kitten on her shoulder mewed in agreement.
They reached a village – one of the ones plagued by demons and scattered at exactly the right intervals to attract weary anime characters before the first commercial. They paid for room and board only because the monk wasn't with them when they bunked down. He had disappeared not long after they arrived.
The resignation felt by the young woman deepened.
The innkeeper's explanation for the minimal supper wasn't out of the ordinary either. The demon plaguing this particular village stuck to attacking the fields, apparently preferring the taste of vegetables to flesh. It ignored all attempts to discourage it – mind you, these were limited to rocks thrown by bold children.
A pretty girl in odd clothing offered to solve the problem; to the annoyance of the hanyou travelling with them. She subdued him quickly, and accepted the innkeeper's thanks.
The monk was still nowhere to be found.
The oddly-dressed girl kissed the forehead of a sleeping kitsune as she, the hanyou, and the other young woman left for the fields early the next morning. They were ready for battle, but not expecting anything too difficult. The fields were heavy with mist, the sort that stuck to hair and clothing and soaked through to the bone – the sort that caused you to stumble on the moisture condensing in the grass and beneath your feet in your sandals. The sort that made vision difficult – so difficult that the women could not see their hands in front of their faces. The oddly dressed young woman was riding piggyback with the hanyou, and the other rode atop a large demon-cat.
The dark-eyed young woman maintained that she could take care of it herself, but this was met with a scoff from the hanyou. He refused to be left out of the action. The young woman sent him a fierce look, and repeated her request to take care of it herself. The hanyou backed down.
It was as she had suspected – nothing big. She had been right to leave the neko behind; it wasn't even worth the effort the demon would put forth. A wavering shape that didn't even reach her waist had formed in the mist. When she slipped around behind it, the form moved, and she could only assume it had glanced up, not that it could see her. The young woman raised her weapon to kill it.
By the time she realized that it was a shakujo which caused the blaze of pain that ran from her left shoulder to the bottom of her ribs all Sango could see was white.
Miroku stepped out of the mist, and looked for the demon's corpse.
I wrote this while listening to Keith Urban, so I apologize for how it turned out. I assure you, it's not at all what I intended. The original inspiration was "She's Gotta Be" but then when it changed tone in my mind; it became "Tonight I Wanna Cry". In case there's any confusion, Miroku went searching for the demon – that's why he was gone.
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha – and if this story is any indication we can all be very thankful for that.