The temple was quiet after Sango stormed off. Inuyasha and Mushin had returned in time to see the worst of Sango's ire, but Inuyasha lingered while Kagome and Shippo snuck off in search of Sango and Mushin departed in search of more sake.
"Don't do anything stupid like that again, got it?" Inuyasha snapped when they were alone.
Miroku considered feigning ignorance, but opted for silence. He had learned his lesson; Inuyasha and the others had given him their loyalty, and there was no going back from that. And in return, he rather suspected they had earned his loyalty, as well. After all, they'd saved his life. Even Sango had been so worried about him that she'd fallen for his stupid ploy and let him feel her up, he recalled with a smile. Sure, she'd hit him for it afterward, but that woman did have a fine ass...
"Wipe that smirk off your face," Inuyasha groused. "I mean it."
"I know," he admitted. He did his best to appear serious, as the hanyou requested, but he would not promise that he would never attempt to leave the group again, no matter how moved he felt by their recent display of loyalty. If he felt that the kazaana threatened them... he knew he would slip away again. They had saved his life. He would not be responsible for taking theirs.
Inuyasha stared at him intensely for a moment, perhaps trying to judge if he meant what he had said. Miroku pretended not to notice.
Finally: "We're leaving when you're ready."
"Of course," he replied. Inuyasha was already out the door and gone, but he had no doubt that the hanyou had heard him.
The past couple of days had taken more out of him than he would have liked to admit, and though he told himself that he would get up and change back into his own clothes so they could be on their way, when Inuyasha had gone and all was silent, he soon found himself fast asleep. And when he slept, he dreamed.
He dreamed that he stood beside Sango, and this time when he grabbed for her ass she didn't beat him for it. Instead, she caught his hand in hers and wordlessly met his gaze. He woke suddenly in confusion, wondering what that dark and hurt look in her eyes had meant, or if it had been all in his head...
And then he was confused all over again because the eyes he was looking into were gold and belonged to Inuyasha, when he could have sworn they should be Sango's warm brown eyes.
"About damn time you woke up," Inuyasha grumbled as Miroku finally came fully awake. "Come on, we've wasted enough time on your sorry ass already."
He could tell by the light that Inuyasha was right. It had been late morning when he had awoken from Mushin's medicine to find the kazaana healed, or as healed as it could be. It was now late afternoon, nearly dusk. He had not intended to sleep at all, much less for so long. But the last of the medicine's effects had faded now. He felt alert and reasonably well. "Give me a few minutes. I know a good place to camp not far from here," he said.
Inuyasha seemed to accept that answer, and left him alone again.
When he had got up and out of bed, Miroku noticed that someone had found his clothes and left them, along with a bowl of rice, near the door to the room. He wondered briefly as he ate who had been so kind, and decided that it was probably Kagome. Sango was probably still too angry to consider being kind to him.
A while later, when he was as ready as he was going to get, he met up with the others on the large porch that surrounded the temple.
Kagome watched him with shining eyes and asked, "Are you feeling better, Miroku-sama?" while Sango stubbornly refused to so much as look in his direction.
"I'm feeling much better," he told her.
"I'm glad!"
Shippou, who was clinging to her shoulder, punctuated the response with a hearty nod.
He appreciated their enthusiasm, but the entire group fell silent and turned to listen expectantly when Mushin emerged from the temple.
"Miroku," the old man began, "I have done what I could to help you. But I must warn you: for at least one month, until the wound has truly healed, you must not open the kazaana under any circumstances."
"I understand," he said. Mushin eyed him skeptically; the old man knew him better than anyone else, well enough to know that if it meant getting a shot at Naraku, Miroku wouldn't hesitate to open the kazaana again at that very moment.
"If you open the kazaana before it has healed," Mushin cautioned, "you will widen the tear, and there may be nothing I can do to help you again."
"I understand," he repeated, and this time Mushin let it go. There was nothing to be done about it. He would do what was necessary to destroy Naraku, even if it meant putting his life at risk. Before Mushin could try to caution him further, he turned to Inuyasha and said, "I'm ready."
"Then let's get moving," Inuyasha said in a tone that brooked no argument.
There were no goodbyes. There never were. Miroku simply followed where Inuyasha and the others led, and did not look back. He could feel Mushin's gaze on his back for a long time after they left the temple.
As they made their way down the road it did not escape his notice that Sango was careful to walk well away from him. He didn't mind, because she also insisted on walking ahead of him. And with Kagome walking and chatting beside her, that meant he had a very pleasant view as they left Mushin's temple behind. If only more days could end so pleasantly...