"Come on," Miroku suggested. "Let's walk to the well with her."
Sango nodded, perhaps a little reluctantly, and followed him out.
Everyone was quiet on the way to the well; it was not a short walk under any circumstances, but the uncomfortable quiet and the forced smile on Kagome's face made it seem even longer. Something was wrong, if only she could tell them what it was. But she held on to her silence and her forced smile, as if she could make these things real by pretending hard enough.
It made Miroku's heart ache with sympathy for her. All she wanted was to be near the man she cared about, while he seemed to want only to push her away. Miroku could see no way out of this that did not leave somebody hurting. He only wished it could be Inuyasha who felt heartsick in Kagome's place, since it seemed to Miroku that his actions were the cause of the trouble.
At last they reached the well, where Kagome bid them a frighteningly cheerful farewell before leaping into the depths.
When Kagome was gone, Miroku sat down on the edge of the well.
"She really looked unhappy back there, didn't she?" Sango asked.
"Yes," he agreed. "Though it's not very hard to guess why."
If he had to guess, he would say that Inuyasha had gone through the well after Kagome and ended up starting another fight with her. Or else those strange lights over the forest, the souls of the dead, really had been present because of Kikyou, and that was the cause of the fight. If Kagome knew that Inuyasha had gone to see Kikyou again… Whatever had really happened, it inevitably came back to Inuyasha.
He expected Inuyasha would arrive soon to look for Kagome, and he intended to intercept. All he had to do now was wait.
And he did not have to wait long before a familiar figure emerged from the darkness between the trees.
"Inuyasha," Sango greeted. Her voice was measured and neutral when she spoke, as if she were still trying not to pick a side in this fight.
"It's you two," the hanyou said, seeing that it was Miroku and Sango waiting for him, rather than the person he must have hoped to see.
"Kagome has already gone back to her home," Miroku explained.
Inuyasha looked disappointed. "I see." Even his voice sounded unusually subdued. This might have elicited sympathy, if he were not at least partly to blame for his own predicament. If he could just rein in his jealousy of Kouga a little, and show a little more restraint where Kikyou was concerned, he might find that he got better results in dealing with Kagome. Alas, trying to explain this to him would most likely be a futile endeavor, so Miroku did not bother.
Instead, he asked, "You met with Kikyou last night, didn't you?" Better to confirm it and get the truth out in the open, rather than deal in suspicions and assumptions, at least when he was not the one being asked to be forthright and honest. He knew Kikyou was a sore spot for Kagome, much like Kouga was for Inuyasha, so her presence nearby would only have added fuel to the fire. He added with more conviction, "And Kagome saw it all. Or am I wrong?"
"Yeah," Inuyasha admitted, "I saw her."
Up until now, Sango had carefully avoided taking sides in what must have seemed to her to be a silly argument, but this was too much. It seemed she could no longer maintain her neutrality. She burst out, "Have you no shame?"
Inuyasha did not visibly react to the accusation. In fact, he had barely seemed responsive to anything they said this whole time. He just looked vaguely resigned and downcast. It was almost eerie, particularly given Inuyasha's tendency toward hotheadedness. His tone dry with disapproval, Miroku asked, "Inuyasha, what's with the enlightened look? Your face is like the Buddha's all of a sudden."
"Is that how I look?" Inuyasha asked, but there was no malice in it. Miroku had never seen him look so discouraged and resigned before. Whatever had happened with Kikyou and Kagome, it was as if it had drained all the fire out of him.
This could be very bad indeed. If he had lost the will to make amends with Kagome, what would that mean for the rest of the group and their mission?