Sango's hands were gentle as she peeled back the ruined fabric of Miroku's gauntlet to inspect the damage Juuroumaru had inflicted. He was seeing spots from the pain; it was all he could do to focus on her face and try not to pass out.
"We'll need to stop the bleeding right away," she was saying. She paused, frowning, her hands lingering on his arm. "Are you okay?"
He was the opposite of okay, but he settled for, "I'm just glad Inuyasha didn't cut my arm off."
She gave a slight nod and slipped away. At first he worried that she planned to rejoin the fight, but she returned a few moments later with a roll of bandages from Kagome's bag. With Kouga and Inuyasha working together, it seemed their enemies were sufficiently distracted for her to risk going after supplies. That or his injuries were just that worrisome, a possibility he would rather not consider.
Miroku tried to keep one eye on the battle, so they at least wouldn't be taken unawares if they needed to move, but it was difficult to concentrate. Between the pain and the blood he'd lost, and the unexpected intensity of having all of Sango's attention focused on him… her hands on his arm… his blood on her hands. To be fair, that last one wasn't something he really preferred, but it was nice that someone cared. Especially when that someone was a woman and, better yet, one who knew what she was doing.
She worked quickly, starting with the bite wound, which looked exactly as horrible as it felt. She cleaned it carefully with the medicines from Kagome's first aid kit that would prevent infection. He did not like to watch, and eventually had to avert his eyes as she worked. Spilled blood and torn flesh were one thing—years of tending to the dead had done away with any squeamishness he might have felt. His blood and flesh, however, were a completely different matter.
The pain sparked into a fresh inferno as Sango finished cleaning the injuries and began to wrap bandages around his arm. His entire arm seemed to throb and burn; surely she had pulled the bandages far tighter than she should. But she knew what she was doing, so he gritted his teeth and leaned hard against the tree at his back. At least this way he wouldn't fall over. It might not be so obvious just how much he was struggling.
He didn't realize he had stopped paying attention until Sango said, "Houshi-sama, how does that feel?"
He tried opening and closing his fist a couple of times, and was relieved to find that he could. It hurt like hell, and the tight bandage was not helping with that, but at least he could still move his hand. "Good enough for now," he told her. "But I'm afraid I won't be much help in this fight."
"I'll keep you safe," she promised.
Somehow he had not expected her to say that, but he was glad she had.