A gentle wind breezed through the castle. Realizing that he was somehow still alive, Miroku relaxed his grip on Sango, Shippou, and Kirara. Miroku sucked in a grateful breath and found the air still foul-smelling, but breathable. The worst of the miasma had already dissipated.
Breathing more freely now, he gently lowered Sango to the ground, placing Kirara beside her with equal care, and sat up to have a look around.
Naraku's castle might as well never have existed, for all that was left of it. A few ruined buildings crumbled nearby, hinting that such a castle had once been sited here, but the area was now fully overgrown. This place had been abandoned for a long time. And now it was abandoned once again: there was no sign of Naraku or of Sango's brother. Miroku and the others were all that remained.
He knew better than to hope that Naraku might be dead.
"The castle's gone," Shippou observed, hopping up to cling to Miroku's shoulder. Shippou shivered slightly and Miroku did not blame him. The battle had been harrowing. They had all of them come close to death.
"It was a fake," Miroku murmured. "An illusion the whole time…" An illusion that had been frightening in its realism. If Naraku could do something like that, they would have to be extra careful in the future. Anything and any place could be a trap.
From somewhere behind him and to one side, Kagome called out, "Inuyasha, look! The Tessaiga!"
Miroku turned to look and found that Naraku had indeed abandoned the sword. He had used it to force Sango to betray her companions before coming here, but it clearly had no value to him. If Naraku could use the Tessaiga, Miroku felt certain he would have taken it with him. That he'd left it behind was telling.
He picked up his staff from where he had dropped it during the fight and rose to join Inuyasha and Kagome; Shippou hopped down from his shoulder to stay with Sango. Her expression was tense, but she was still unconscious. Miroku suspected that she was going to be in a lot of pain in the coming days, but at least for now she could rest, however uneasily.
Inuyasha retrieved the Tessaiga and sheathed it. He was clearly pleased to have the blade back in his possession, but he still seemed ill at ease. Miroku felt much the same. They had only barely survived, but it almost seemed too easy.
"Naraku escaped?" Inuyasha asked.
"Yes," Kagome said glumly. "I don't sense the Shikon fragment anymore, so he must have got away somehow." She was standing with her back to them and would not turn to face them. She gave a shuddering sigh. "I'm sorry. I couldn't do it. I wasn't good enough. I didn't kill him."
"If you hadn't been there, Kagome-sama, then all of us would have died," Miroku pointed out when Inuyasha failed to reassure her. He fixed the hanyou with a stern look.
"It seems like you're actually the most amazing of any of us," Inuyasha said at last. It was a shocking admission, coming as it had from Inuyasha, but it was undeniably true. Miroku had never seen anything like the display of sheer power Kagome had unleashed when she fired her arrow at Naraku and ended the fight. It felt as if his eyes must have deceived him, and yet he knew what he had seen. More than that, he knew what he had felt. The power had been palpable.
Kagome lowered her head, anger rippling visibly through her again. "When he started making fun of Inuyasha, I just snapped," she bit out.
Inuyasha's face went blank as his cheeks flushed. "What a stupid reason," he muttered.
"What do you mean, stupid?" Kagome demanded, finally willing to look at them.
Miroku chuckled at their antics, feeling some of the lingering tension from the battle slough off. If they had the strength to bicker with one another, they were going to be okay. On the other hand…
"No, Sango, don't move!" Shippou urged.
Miroku turned to find that Sango had somehow managed to retrieve her weapon and was attempting to stand in spite of Shippou's protestations. "Sango!" the kitsune repeated, tugging hard on her torn kosode.
Sango paid him no heed. She struggled nearly upright, stood there trembling for a moment, and then her strength gave out. If not for the bone boomerang she leaned upon, she would have fallen to the ground.
"Sango-chan!" Kagome called out in alarm.
"Where are you going?" Miroku asked mildly. He kept his tone gentle to mask his surprise. That Sango was even able to move was remarkable.
"I'm sorry," she said, "but I- I can't stay with you anymore." She clung to her weapon as if it were the only real thing left in the world.
She's afraid, he realized suddenly. She wants to leave before we cast her out.
He didn't know how, but he was certain he knew what she was thinking in making such a choice. He was equally certain that if they allowed her to leave, she would die. She was in no condition to fend for herself right now. Naraku might be grievously wounded, but he would not let such a golden opportunity pass him by.
"Sango." He stepped closer, but still she did not acknowledge him. "If this is about your brother, and Naraku manipulating you… we all accept that. We understand."
"That's why!" The sound of despair in her voice was heart-rending. She whirled to look at him then, and he saw that it wasn't just despair. It was desperation to save her brother. It was fury that Naraku had manipulated her so easily. And it was stark terror that he had never expected to see on the face of a warrior like her. "I'll betray you again! Naraku has Kohaku completely under his control. I'll do whatever it takes to save him."
"Sango-chan," Kagome's voice was little more than a whisper in the silence.
"Sango, you intend to defeat Naraku on your own, don't you?" Miroku asked. He was stalling. The more he kept her talking, the more time they had to dissuade her from this suicidal plan.
"It's the only way," she said. Her voice was dull. Defeated.
"No," Kagome said. "That's not true. Let's all look for Kohaku-kun together." She rushed over to Sango, ignoring the way that the slayer tried to push her away. For once Sango was not strong enough. "But first we have to see to these wounds."
"You can't match him alone," Miroku pointed out. None of us can. But together… They had struck a decisive blow today. Perhaps together they really did have a chance to win.
"Why?" Sango demanded, her voice grating. "Why are you all –"
"You're a strong fighter, that's why!" Inuyasha burst out suddenly. Miroku glanced to him in surprise, taken aback by the vehemence of his answer, but he saw that Inuyasha was being earnest. He'd complained enough when they first took Sango in, but it seemed he had come to care for her just as much as the rest of them. "It's better when we're all together."
"Inuyasha," Kagome murmured. "That's so kind of you!"
Ignoring Kagome, Miroku seized upon what Inuyasha had said. "Even when you had stolen the Tessaiga and run off, Inuyasha said this same thing," he told Sango. It was close enough to the truth, although Inuyasha shot him an angry look for it. "There is no problem if you stay with us."
"You saying I'm an idiot or something?" Inuyasha groused.
Miroku sighed. "I'm saying you have a big heart."
Kagome still clutched at Sango's elbow, and Shippou at her knees. Watching her now, Miroku was fairly certain they were the only things keeping her on her feet. If they kept this up, she would pass out from blood loss and solve the problem for them, at least for now.
"Do you hate us?" Shippou asked, and Miroku knew they had her.
She trembled visibly and clutched even harder to her boomerang. "Is it really okay if I come with you?"
"We already said so!" Inuyasha shouted. He had put up a valiant effort, but he had reached the end of his patience. "What's your problem?"
He looked suitably chastened when Sango released her boomerang, flung herself into Kagome's waiting arms, and burst into tears. Wracking, powerful sobs shook her entire body. Watching the tears flow down her face, Miroku realized he had not seen her cry at all since she joined their group. She had not even really allowed herself a chance to grieve over her fallen family and the destruction of her village. Instead she had trapped it all inside and tried to seek revenge first, without acknowledging the powerful emotions she was feeling.
Such behavior was dangerous under any circumstances. With Naraku involved, it had almost been deadly.
Kagome smiled gently, reassuringly, at Sango and sank to the ground. She carefully folded Sango in her arms so as not to cause further injury. "Oh, Sango-chan," she murmured. "It's okay now."
Inuyasha and Miroku could do little but watch awkwardly as Sango cried herself out in Kagome's arms.
"Why is she crying?" Inuyasha asked, managing a quiet tone of voice for once. "Was it something I said?"
"I'll explain it to you later," Miroku promised. "For now, we must get Sango to someplace safe."
Her outburst had drained the last of her energy. Already she was slumped against Kagome and her powerful sobs had subsided into a stream of silent tears. Soon, if Miroku was any guess, she would be sound asleep. And good thing, too. She would be easier to move that way.
Kagome was reluctant to hand Sango over to Inuyasha, though the two of them seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement that letting Miroku carry her was out of the question. He settled for scooping up Kirara, who was still huddled where he had left her earlier, and letting Shippou hop back up to his customary place on his shoulder. He wasn't sure how far he would have made it carrying Sango, anyway. He was still pretty winded from chasing her – and from Inuyasha's punch in the gut.
So he trudged along behind Inuyasha and Kagome in silence save for the ringing of his staff. Sango did not even protest as Inuyasha hefted her onto his back and set off down the first path that presented itself.
In a way Miroku was glad to let Inuyasha lead the way. He really had no idea where to go. If Kirara had been in flying shape, Kaede's village was the obvious sanctuary. But with Kirara and Sango injured for the foreseeable future, they would have to find a place to shelter somewhere close by.
Unfortunately the only place that he knew was nearby was the ruined village that Sango's brother had destroyed. In the rush to catch up with Sango, Miroku had not taken note of his surroundings. They might have passed right by a suitable shelter.
"Where are we going to go?" Kagome asked after they had left the ruined castle behind, her voice quiet with uncertainty.
Inuyasha grunted. "Hell if I know."
Gloomy silence fell over the group, even Shippou and Kagome. They followed the main path through the forest without speaking for what must have been half an hour. Miroku wasn't surprised by the silence or the remoteness of the castle ruin. Not really. He was exhausted, and suspected that the others must be as well, although Inuyasha would never admit to it. It was a long time yet before night would fall, but they would need to find somewhere to take shelter long before then. That didn't leave much energy for idle chatter.
Frankly, even Miroku would have been happy to set up camp alongside the road and take a well-earned break, and he never slept outside except when he couldn't avoid it. But Inuyasha just kept pushing them onward, determined to find somewhere safe to see to Sango's injuries.
Eventually Miroku could take it no more. It felt as if his feet would not carry him one more step. "Inuyasha."
"Look," the hanyou said, pointing.
Up ahead, a hut stood beside the path where it grew wider and intersected with a more heavily used road. It looked deserted. Miroku might have been more suspicious of the sudden turn of good fortune if Inuyasha had not been with him. The hanyou's senses would have alerted him long ago if there were people in that hut.
Since Inuyasha was with him, Miroku walked right up to the hut, pushed past the mat that covered the doorway, and found it was blessedly if predictably empty inside. It had seen better days and there were thick cobwebs in the corners, but he didn't care. It was shelter. They could hole up here for several days if they needed to, and in all likelihood no one would pass by during that time.
Kagome followed him inside, and seemed to share his relief. "Inuyasha, this is perfect!" she said, poking her head back out the door for a moment. "Come on, Miroku," she went on, "let's get this cleaned up a bit so he can bring Sango in…"
Sighing heavily, Miroku got to work.