Miroku almost walked right past the place where Sango was trapped in the vines. She was so tangled up in them that he very nearly didn't see her. Finding Shippou had been much easier by comparison—he'd been not far from where Inuyasha and Miroku had parted ways. Sango, on the other hand, had made her way much deeper into the infested forest.
The vines slithered over her limp form like snakes, seeming almost to caress her. One appeared to be trying to loop itself around her neck. Miroku didn't like that any more than he liked the dawning realization that there was no way to get her out of the vines without touching them himself. The last thing he ever wanted to do was touch those things again. Phantom pain throbbed through his cursed hand at the very thought and brought with it the remembered sound of rushing wind, the feeling of impending doom.
"Sango," he tried, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear him through the vine's illusions.
No response. Still, it had been worth a shot.
Miroku steeled himself against looming dread and set Shippou aside. The kitsune whimpered quietly and curled up into a tight little ball; Miroku hoped he would be safely out of reach of the vines for the time being. He didn't think he could rescue Shippou and Sango at the same time. He wasn't even sure he could keep himself safe. The illusions had already overwhelmed him once.
Yet if the thought of entering the vines' nightmare again was horrifying, so too was the thought that Sango had been trapped there all this time without reprieve. He couldn't leave her like that no matter how much he didn't want to touch those vines.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he plunged his hands into the vines. Pain blossomed in his cursed hand and the sound of rushing wind rose up to greet him. He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on what he could feel: the warm softness of Sango's body. The slithering, squeezing of the vines as he moved aside the one around her neck, and any others that looked like they might impede his rescue efforts. The way his hands finally caught under Sango's arms, promising a firm grip.
Fighting the illusion of rushing wind, he yanked Sango toward him. The vines gripped even tighter. She wouldn't budge.
It took nearly everything he had to start to work her free of the vines. Still fully unconscious, she was more dead weight than help against a trap that didn't want to release her. By the time he'd managed to get her partway free he was sweating, panting with exhaustion, and hoping that Inuyasha would return at any moment to help. But no help was coming. There was no one to save Sango but him.
She had gone so still he couldn't tell if she was still breathing. It all might be for nothing.
"Let her go, damn you!" he grunted, renewing his efforts.
With one last, tremendous pull, she finally came free from the vines. All resistance suddenly gone, Miroku toppled backward, landing flat on his rear with an armful of Sango.
Under different circumstances, this would have been quite a pleasing development. Now he was too far past the point of exhaustion to enjoy himself, and Sango wasn't even awake. All things considered, however, he was still willing to take this outcome over the alternatives.
Shifting her so he could cradle her more gently, he said again, "Sango." She should be able to hear him now that she was free of the vines. He hoped. "Time to wake up."
She stirred, and made a soft, sleepy, feminine sound that did all kinds of stupid things to him. Like make him think that he would be willing to dare the vines once more if it meant they could just stay like this a while longer.
And then with a gasping intake of breath, she came awake. Came awake and shoved herself forcefully away from him as panic overtook her. He managed to hang on, barely, and spoke to her in his best calming tone. If he let her go, she might end up getting tangled up in the vines all over again. "It's all right, Sango. It's all right."
As he waited for her to calm, Miroku wondered what she had seen in the vines' illusion. Only once before had he seen her look this frightened and vulnerable, and that had been in the ruins of Naraku's castle, when she thought her betrayal had turned the rest of them against her. When she had thought she would spend the rest of her days alone.
"Y-you're alive," she murmured, fear and disorientation beginning to fade. "You're still alive."
Her eyes brimmed with tears, and he had a feeling he knew what illusions the vines had visited upon her. If she'd seen him dead, no doubt she'd seen Inuyasha, Kagome, and Shippou in death as well. She had been alone again, everyone she loved slain. Again.
"Yes," he told her. "And Inuyasha and the others, as well."
From her tortured expression he gathered that his words were small comfort.
"You're alive," she repeated, and threw herself into his arms, clinging to him. For a moment he thought he must be imagining this development, because surely this could not actually be happening. And then he decided that he was going to enjoy this moment even if it was just another illusion.
He folded his arms around Sango, let his eyes drift shut as he inhaled deeply. Although he had meant the gesture to comfort her, it brought some solace to him as well. It was a welcome reminder that they had both survived.
"What you saw was an illusion, nothing more," he murmured into her hair. "I was caught up in it, too, until Inuyasha freed me and sent me to find you."
She nodded. Finally, he felt some the tension begin to leave her.
Because it seemed to be helping her relax, he kept talking. "It wasn't real. We're still alive. And once we find Kagome and the others, we'll all be together again."
The more he talked, the more her breathing grew deeper and more even, until he realized that she had fallen asleep—or unconscious—again. The vines had taken everything she had. He had to wonder, if he'd taken a little longer looking for her or pulling her free, would she have had the strength to live? Now there was an unpleasant thought.
Equally unpleasant was the realization that if they didn't move soon, the vines would be upon them again. Through the swirling fog he could see them slithering and twisting, seeking prey. And with Sango already in bad shape and Miroku well on his way to joining her, he didn't think things would turn out very well for them if the vines got another hold.
He struggled to his feet, shifting Sango to rest as comfortably as possible on the ground, and set to work looking for a clear path free of the vines and any sign of their other missing friends. It didn't take him long to find Kirara. Her tails were poking through a gap in the vines not far from where he'd found Sango. It was the work of a few unpleasant moments to get her free.
Only then did he realize that he still needed to retrieve the hiraikotsu. He sighed. The day just kept getting better.
Drawing on reserves of strength he didn't know he had, he worked the hiraikotsu free. This accomplished, he dropped to the ground beside Sango and the others, breathing hard and sweating. There was a part of him that didn't want to go on, that whispered to him how much easier this would be if he would just rest first, like Sango was doing right now. But he knew if he gave up now, they were done for.
Somehow he managed to balance Sango, both the youkai, and the hiraikotsu in such a way that he could still stagger down the path. Exhausted as he was, still bleeding from where the vine had stabbed his arm earlier, he considered it a victory that he was even able to stay on his feet. They would be in trouble if they encountered even a mild obstacle, but with each step he took it seemed that there were fewer vines, and the ones that remained were smaller, lower to the ground, more docile.
A little further and he finally came to the place where Inuyasha and Kagome were waiting. Or not waiting. The two were so engrossed in whatever conversation they were having, a conversation that apparently necessitated sitting quite close together with clasped hands and intense gazes, that Miroku doubted they had spared even a single thought for the wellbeing of their friends.
Having nothing left to spare for his usual mischief, he announced his presence by simply asking, "Are you done?"