a/n: I've been...nevermind, I've got nothing. Oh, but Soli-chan and I are having a who can update the slowest competition. That is somehow supposed to get us to update faster. I don't know all the rules yet. But that's my excuse.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Even though he's like, not present at the moment.

#-#-#-#-#-#-#

A Rustle of Silk

2: Over and Again

#-#-#-#-#-#-#

"Oh Miroku, not again," Koharu sighed as she walked in carrying a stack of papers. "What happened today?"

She set the pile down on a table and joined his prone form slumped on the couch. "Miroku, how did it go today?" she asked in a gentle, non-threatening manner.

Groaning, he leaned against her and blew out a small puff of air. "A slight notch down from the absolute horrendous experience it was last week."

"My poor baby," she teased, patting his hand sympathetically. "Tell me all about it, again."

"Higurashi told me I didn't have to see the two boys today."

Koharu opened one of her notebooks, leafing through the pages. "And then?"

"I had to stay with the girl."

She shut the notebook, rested her hands over top of it and winked at him. "So isn't that a good thing?"

Closing his eyes, he shook his head. "Not really. She despises me."

There was a flicker of amusement in her eyes, while she simultaneously looked genuinely concerned. "Your first time groping her left her with a bad first impression of you, dear."

Flicking a speck of lint off of his pants, he tossed Koharu's notebook back onto the table and she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Did you at least get to know her a little better?"

"I don't want to." He rested his chin on her shoulder. "There's a beautiful girl who waits for me at home already."

"Don't flatter me," she chided, patting him on the back. "I'm telling you, it sucks now, but that will only make it feel all the more better once it's all over."

"It's barely begun!" he complained, playing with the length of Koharu's hair; a shade between brown and black, that fell just past her shoulder blades. He had to admit she was more than correct concerning one aspect. The horrible weekends only made his time with her so much more enjoyable. Sitting with Koharu now made the dismal parts of his day much more forgettable.

"I told you just to be optimistic!" she lectured, slapping his hand away as it moved down her back. "And usually you are!"

"Well, I'm not as capable of being as cheery as you," Miroku argued, frowning comically. "It bothers me how someone can be so quick to anger like that.. "

Koharu looked deep in thought again. "Well, what happened?"

#-#-#-#-#-#-#

Remember what Koharu said, it's only six months.

That was the mantra he played over repeatedly in his head as he stood outside the doors of the hospital, contemplating how the next few hours would progress.

"How long are you going to hang around out here, sir?" Kagome's head poked out from between the doors. "Come inside."

Only six months. He smiled cheekily at a passing nurse.

Only six months. Kagome led him up a few corridors and through a familiar hallway.

Who am I kidding?

"Who are we seeing first?" he piped up, trying not to sound as though he were dreading the answer.

"The girl," she said cheerfully, tapping the walls as she walked.

"What was her name?"

Kagome glanced at him over her shoulder. "Actually I didn't give either of you each other's names. I really want you to get something out of this work, court-ordered or not, so you're going to build nice, proper, makes-you-happy relationships."

He tightened his slackening jaw and began to grind his teeth together. "What do you mean?"

She stopped him outside the door. "I mean, you'll introduce yourself properly and be civil." She peeked through the glass.

"Civil? Didn't you hear what she said last -"

"Shh," Kagome interrupted, placing her hand on the doorknob. Muffled sounds reached his ears through the door. It opened a crack, and he couldn't help but listen.

"I'm finished," a female voice said in a forlorn tone.

"Miss Hanako," a different voice said encouragingly. "Try to finish everything."

Something metal clattered on plastic. "I'm done."

"Are you sure? How about one more bite?"

"I'm done," the girl repeated sharply.

"Does it hurt?" The other voice sounded a bit concerned. "Would it be better for me to feed you the rest?"

A sniff and the faint sound of hair swaying furiously. "I can do it myself."

Kagome pushed the door open to enter and Miroku watched as the moody girl from the week before lifted a spoon to her mouth, only to touch the food to her upper lip and wince.

"Damn it," she swore, holding her chin. "This doesn't need vision to do correctly!" Another hiccup and she touched her chest gingerly.

Dropping the utensil, she clutched her tray and spoke in a sharp tone. "Who's there?"

"It's just me, Kagome. How are you doing Sango-chan?"

"He's there. I know it."

Kagome gestured to the lady helping her eat and she quickly gathered up the cutlery and containers, preparing to leave the room.

"He's here to see you."

The aide flashed a quick smile to Kagome and Miroku before leaving the room swiftly, looking grim.

"He's here because he has to be," Sango's response pierced the air.

Miroku stood a few feet away from the bed, putting distance between himself and the girl, just in case she chose to lash out at him in a blind fury, no pun intended.

"I'll be right outside the door," Kagome said to Miroku, her head bobbing encouragingly. "I'll check in once in a while."

"Excuse me, what?" Miroku asked in a shocked tone. "You're going to . . . leave?"

"Only for a minute," she sang, walking out the door. "I'll just leave you two for a bit." It swung open and shut so fast the blinds rattled.

"Stay back," she shot at him as he shuffled forward.

"I'm going to sit down," he explained crudely, sitting down in an armchair. He looked despairingly at the generic quartz clock on the wall, watching as it ticked by each passing painful second with glee.

"So," he offered, letting his eyes drift over to where she was lying facing away from him with her arms crossed. "You know why I'm here, so why are you here?" If possible, he could almost feel the chill of ice radiating off of her. He braced himself for the impact.

An incoherent snort escaped the lump on the bed. "I don't know why you're here. All I know is you have to be here. What did you do, sexually assault someone? Again?"

He looked a tad miffed, but he didn't really care since she couldn't see him anyway. "I obstructed the law."

"So it's safe to assume it was sexual assault. Isn't there a law against people like you being able to volunteer here?"

"Something you should learn is that assuming gets you nowhere. It makes an - "

"Ass of you to me?" she supplied, cracking her knuckles. "How can I make an ass out of myself to someone who is, arguably, the champion of all asses?"

That hit a nerve. "Listen again," there was a sharp edge to his voice. "I groped you once, not by accident, and I apologize. Let's put the incident behind us so I can actually get something out of this whole experience."

"Fine." A shuffling as she rolled onto her back. "Do your good deed, your time, feel good about helping someone worse off than you and forget this ever happened so you can get on with your life."

He tried to ignore the fact that she was speaking the biting truth. "That's not what I'm here for."

"If you say so." She pressed her hands flat against her stomach and breathed quietly, the only sound that filled the sterile room.

"And what are you here for?"

She nudged the foot post of the bed with her leg, indicating the little plastic slot where a clipboard rested snugly alongside a pen. Pulling it towards him, he skimmed over the contents of the first page, looking for words he understood.

"Read whatever you want on my chart, and say nothing else about it. Imagine, giving a stranger access to my information."

"You seem eager enough to share it yourself on some occasions," he commented idly as he dropped the clipboard back in its place with a clatter. "Hanako Sango, that's quite a pretty name you have."

A stubborn half-snort and noise of indifference. "Don't even start."

"I couldn't think of a reason why I would."

She crossed her arms again and shifted her body upwards onto her pillows. If she were able to see she would have been facing him directly.

"As for a total stranger; with regards to that, wouldn't you like my name as well?"

"Not really." She drew a chunk of hair apart from the rest and began to braid it.

"I'm going to be seeing you for the next six months."

"And?"

"It's Miroku."

"You only have one name? Are you illegitimate?"

"Yes."

He watched for indications that that casual bit of information had any effect on her whatsoever. Of course, it was much harder without her eyes visible.

She brushed the instance aside quickly. "I'm not going to call you that."

"Why not?"

"Give me your last name."

"I don't want to."

"I'm not calling you by your first name if I don't even know you. I don't even know what you look like."

Raising a finger, he opened his mouth.

"Spare me," she cut him off before he could interrupt. "I need no physical descriptions."

The legs of the chair scraped and marked the floor as he pushed it backwards into the corner of the room. Letting his head roll backwards on his shoulders, he stared up at the off white ceiling.

"Besides," her stingy voice interrupted his attempt to speed up the time he spent in this room. "Your last name would be the polite way for me to refer to you, correct? Isn't polite high on your list of qualities?"

Somehow he didn't think that this was leading somewhere favourable on his part. "You noticed that?" he said cautiously.

"I would have if I hadn't experienced firsthand how perverted you are."

"You're one that likes to live in the past, I see." He couldn't help but feel a bit amused. "I wonder if you'll hold that one time against me forever."

Her lips tightened moreso.

"Well?" he prompted.

Her hands fisted around her sheets. "Don't act like you know everything about me."

"That wasn't my intention." He kept his patience in check, and stared at her.

"What is your intention then?" she snapped. Miraculously, she made no reference to the groping.

"If you don't want me to act like I know everything, then tellme about you. Tell me something, anything." He had no idea what had possessed him to say those words. If he had to guess, he'd have wagered his money on curiosity.

One of her fingers twined around a thin rope of her brown hair. She spoke again, her voice noticeably softer, but still harsh. "You have no reason to care. Just like you have no personal reason to be here."

"Give me one."

"How about," she began coldly, "you never come back here again."

He sat back in his chair, his hands unknowingly twitching where they rested on his legs. "Don't tell me you're one of those people."

"What 'people'?" she snapped.

"You have in you the ability to smile, but won't try. I think that you weren't always like this."

Both her hands fell to her sides, and lay atop the sheets crumpled at her hips. "Hey," she nearly whispered, the sound as potent as the delicate scratching of a pencil upon paper. "It's not worth it. "

#-#-#-#-#-#-#

"After that, she turned away and refused to look at -- say anything more to me," Miroku told Koharu. "Did anything I say sound remotely offensive?"

"I can think of a few things," Koharu answered. "I won't elaborate," she said after seeing the look he gave her. She surveyed him with a thoughtful expression gracing her youthful face. "What happened after that?" she asked finally.

"Nothing. Well, I did go to the washroom. That was probably the only time I wasn't on edge."

"Come on," she said soothingly. "You're making it out to be worse than it really is."

"This time I'm not," he assured her with a dull stare. "This is the first girl I've met that despised me on first contact."

"Maybe," a hint of sarcasm was laced through her tone. "If your first contact wasn't with her ass -- that seems to be the entire reason for her hostility. "

"Even so," he argued in good nature. "I had the grace to continue in a polite manner. I don't get what is wrong with her. Even if I hadn't . . . Of all the women -- I'm baffled."

Koharu turned to him inquisitively. "Miroku, just why is that girl in the hospital anyway?"

He recalled scanning her chart, but nothing immediately rose to the top of his mind. "All I remember is that most of her face has to be covered and she can't move around that violently. Somehow, I reason with myself that I should be a bit glad for that fact."

"Miroku!" Koharu exclaimed. "Don't say things like that!"

"I was just joking." He hugged her again, playfully. "I think I've talked all I can about how my day was."

"Maybe you scare her," she mused, tilting her head.

"Why would that be?"

"There was the whole groping thing," Koharu reminded him. "And then the whole 'I don't want to be here' thing, and now the 'tell me about you' thing."

"I see," he responded, leaning back into the cushions. "She doesn't know what to expect of me, does she?"

He slapped himself on the forehead. "Enough of this, I'm done for the next week."

"So now we can work on making it better?" Koharu asked slyly.

All his tiredness dissapated into the air at that moment. "After dealing with her, I need to relax."

She rolled her eyes. "You're over thinking this."

He frowned. "No, you're the one over thinking this. Can we do something else Koharu?" he whined.

"Well," she continued offhandedly. "You don't visit the patients all the time, now do you?"

Miroku sighed, complying. "I have other odd jobs. Clerical duties, help with the support groups, answering the phone . . . I think I have to send the mail too."

She raised an eyebrow. "They're trusting you to help with a support group?"

"Hey, I can so run a support group," he insisted, smiling in amusement. "Okay my dear, why don't you stand up and introduce yourself. Like this." He stood, acting as though he were nervous. "My name is Miroku, and I have a problem."

Kohaku kicked him in the shin. "Laughing at the expense of others is a no-no, Miroku," she lectured. "And you'll be saying that soon enough if you keep up this attitude."

"My name is Miroku and my problem is my girlfriend," he sang, ignoring her and moving out of her reach. "I gave up freedom for her and now I have to spend the next six months with an almost-but-not-quite comatose boy, a loudmouth, and a girl who thinks I am the scum of the earth."

"Not the scum of the earth, just a pervert," Koharu corrected with a giggle.

"And a whole lot of other unsuitable words," he shrugged. "Koharu, who cares?" he demanded, pulling her up by her wrists. "I'm going to take you out, so get ready. Then you can regale me with the stories of little brats running around you all day."

She rolled her eyes and gave him a skeptical smile. "Well this is what you get for being stupid. I could be doing the community service and enjoying it right now, silly."

"Not stupid," he countered, his chest puffing up in pride. "Chivalrous."

Koharu shook her head, her eyes shining. "Right now, I could have been best friends with that girl you speak so ill of."

Miroku was already waving her coat at her. "From this point on, we end the discussion of what I'm putting myself through for your sake, darling."

Shrugging her coat on, she stuck her tongue out at him, walking towards the door. "You might even, well, fall for this girl," she said mischievously.

His face took on an expression of disbelief as she threw open the door, letting in a blast of cool air. He took off after her, sneaking his arms around her waist and picking her up while she struggled, her laughter musical.

"You did not just say that," Miroku sniped at her. "I have you!"

"I'm just teasing," she explained, her cheeks rosy from the cold. "Don't be so sensitive! Just because you have a little crush," she mumbled.

He began to tighten his arms around her in a semi-bearhug. "Okay, okay I apologize," Koharu gasped, wheezing.

"Anyway," he said, brushing the brief conversation away. "Let's go somewhere."

She grinned. "Of course. Surprise me."

The light contact of her holding the crook of his elbow was a sweet reminder of the stability that had come along with her entrance into his life. It was like he had always known her, and was always meant to have been with her. Miroku smiled to himself.

If there is one sure thing in my life, it is the girl that is with me now, with a laugh and smile that brightened the sky.

#-#-#-#-#-#-#