Dealing with the aftermath of a tough battle had never been Sango's favorite part of a mission. She recognized that it was a necessary one, since of course not every battle would be an easy victory, but she always hoped that her companions would emerge from battle unscathed and would not need much in the way of care.

Unfortunately there was little hope of that today.

Inuyasha had refused to make camp too close to the site of the battle, and Sango and the others had been forced to agree. Too much of Juuroumaru and Kageroumaru's evil aura remained for that place to be a safe campsite. So they had set off yet again, injured and weary as they were, in search of a safer place to hunker down for a while.

By the time they reached a suitable place to make camp, the monk was looking even paler and more out of sorts than he had during the fight. She had known it was a bad sign when he agreed to let Kirara carry him, but to Sango this seemed even more alarming.

While Kagome and Shippou worked to get a fire going, she helped Miroku down from Kirara's back. For once, she almost hoped he was exaggerating the seriousness of the situation as an excuse to touch her. To her dismay, it quickly became clear that this was not the case.

"How do you feel?" she asked, uncomfortably aware of just how heavily the monk was leaning on her just to stay upright.

"At least it didn't tear the kazaana open wider," he said. Which, of course, said nothing about all the blood he'd lost or the possibility of venom in the youkai's bite.

Frowning, she helped him to the ground and seated herself beside him.

She could have left at least some of this to Kagome, she knew. The other girl had miraculous potions that could prevent infection and pills that reduced pain, and admittedly hoped one day to be a healer in her own right. Kagome would have been happy to help, had either Sango or Miroku been inclined to ask. But Sango was not inclined to ask this time. This time it was personal. She needed to see to it herself. And that was because, as conflicted as it made her feel, Miroku had received most of his injuries while protecting her. Tending to his wounds herself was her way of showing that she appreciated him looking out for her. It also meant he wouldn't get stuck in the middle of Inuyasha and Kagome's ongoing squabble, so it was really the least she could do. Even if it made her feel unaccountably nervous.

She still had the first aid kit she'd purloined from Kagome's bag during the fight, so there was no reason to delay. "Let's see to your arm," she suggested. He didn't object, submitting obediently and quietly to her directions as she worked.

She tended to the bite wound first, judging that to be the worst of the injuries. Slowly and with the utmost care, she began to remove the bandages she had applied so hastily earlier. Miroku was far more subdued than normal, watching her work as she wiped away blood with one of the cleansing cloths from the first-aid kit. She supposed it must have unnerved him to have an injury so close to the kazaana. If Juuroumaru's teeth had caught the prayer beads instead of his arm, the result could have been disastrous.

She supposed that meant she was lucky to merely need to treat a bite wound and some cuts. Still, as she finished cleaning up the dried blood and began to inspect the damage, she felt anything but lucky. The bite wound was ugly—ragged edges and a chunk of flesh simply missing from his arm—but was smaller than she had feared. It was still oozing blood, but the bleeding was much slower than before. The pressure from the bandages had helped, after all. There had been so much blood and so little time during the fight that she hadn't been sure anything she did would make a difference.

All in all, it was better than she had expected. And once she got past the initial hesitation, it was easy to fall back on her training and years of experience. She'd seen to many wounded fighters in her life; in the end, the monk was no different. She shouldn't feel so flustered.

She focused her attention instead on something else: tending the monk's wounds made her feel more like a part of the group. He had watched out for her in a fight, and acted when he saw an enemy about to get past her guard. She would have done as much for any of the other fighters of her village, and they would have done the same for her. Even though it meant Miroku had been injured, there was a certain comfort in knowing that at least one member of the group could be trusted to look out for her in battle.

This was what she was accustomed to, and what she expected of her companions in battle. Unlike Inuyasha's brash and solitary approach to fighting, this was something she could feel comfortable with.

Once she got her bearings and fell back on her training, the monk turned out to be an ideal patient. He was calm and not too jumpy as she patched up each of his injuries in turn. He even had enough sense to stay quiet and let her concentrate on her work, though as she finished stitching up the last of the deep cuts, she wondered if she ought to worry that he hadn't said anything suggestive the entire time. Was it worse than he was letting on?

"That's the last one," she told him. "The other cuts are all small and should heal on their own."

"No mortal wounds, then?" he asked.

Wondering how he could make a joke at a time like this, yet relieved that he had, she shook her head. "We should probably put that arm in a sling," she went on, "but otherwise I've done all I can."

It was times like this that made her wish she had studied healing more diligently; she had built her hopes and plans on the assumption that she would always have a well-rounded team of trained slayers ready to assist. Now that future had been wiped away, but the gaps in her skills remained.

She had to force aside the painful truth, that what had been lost was so much greater than she could ever hope to restore even if she lived to see this adventure through. If she let that truth consume her, there was no way she could do what needed to be done.

"Thank you for that," Miroku was saying. She felt a little embarrassed at having been caught with her mind wandering. If he had said anything else, she had been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to hear it, but the monk didn't seem to notice. Or at least it didn't bother him. He continued, "You were much gentler than Mushin ever is."

"Well if that's your point of comparison…"

"Point taken."

"Just rest here for a bit," she told him. "Try not to move around too much so the wounds don't reopen. I'm going to go see if Kagome needs any help with Inuyasha."

She had done what she could, and Kagome's medical supplies would certainly help, but Miroku still did not look good. He needed rest and a real healer. She did not relish the thought of explaining this to Inuyasha, who was likely to be even more irritable than normal after dealing with Kouga, but it needed to be done.

She would argue for what Miroku needed, even if it meant tangling with Inuyasha. Up until now, the monk had always been the one patching her up after a fight left her injured. Now she had a chance to return the favor, and she did not intend to squander it.