The words drifted like smoke into Inuyasha's mind as he slowly floated up into consciousness. They were a soft coo dancing on an unusual rhythm, and under their sway he was teased and beckoned away from sleep. At first they seemed too far away to understand, but as he began to awaken he found he could make sense of them.
"Tasukete yo te yobeba…"
Inuyasha furtively opened one eye. Sango was hovering over him, changing his improvised bandages. And singing. She spoke each syllable carefully, the words falling from her lips with the practiced precision of a song sung many times before. He found himself watching her lips delicately form each word.
"Toki o koete, umi o koete, nami no…" she continued, wringing a bloody cloth out onto the ground.
Her clothes had been soaked through with not only water but with stinking demon blood, and now she wore nothing but Inuyasha's cloak as her own clothing dried on the bank. Inuyasha's keen nose picked up the faint scent of smoldering cotton, as if the hawk's blood had begun to burn through the discarded kimono. He surmised that the bandages wrapped around his chest were likely from the few scraps of cloth that hadn't been ruined by the noxious ichor.
All things considered, she was a vision. Inuyasha felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he silently admired the supple sculpting of her legs and the graceful curvature of her hips. Her dark brown hair spilled over her shoulders, framing the creamy skin of her throat and collar. A tantalizing wedge of her flesh was visible each time she bent over him, his cloak spilling open to reveal much of her finely carved body.
Averting his eyes at last, he found that they were in a small cave. The river was visible behind Sango through the mouth of the cave, and by the darkness he judged that it was already late evening. A fire crackled nearby, so tiny that it provided light but little heat, and beside it lay the Tetsusaiga.
"Sango?"
She seemed startled at the sound of his voice and immediately stopped singing. She looked around for a moment as if floundering for something to say.
"I didn't know you could sing." Inuyasha said, his voice so quiet that it sounded strange in his own ears.
"I can't." Sango blushed, looking at the ground.
"Weren't you singing just now?"
Sango cheeks seemed to glow with embarrassment.
"That's…that's just a song an old woman in the village used to sing when I was a child," she explained, nervously twisting the cloth in her hands. "There are supposed to be more verses, but I don't remember them. She was an islander from the south and most of the song was in another tongue…"
"It was nice." Inuyasha said.
Sango's blush darkened a shade. It darkened yet again when her eyes fell back to Inuyasha and she saw her hand resting on his bare chest. Her fluster at its peak, she nearly lost her balance in her haste to pull her hand away.
"Do you remember why you were sleeping, Inuyasha?" She asked, changing the subject.
He thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"You were losing a lot of blood and finally passed out ." She explained as memories of the fight with the demon hawk and its crushing talons surged back into his mind. "You had me worried for a moment, but your wounds have already begun to close themselves."
Inuyasha nodded, experimentally sitting up to test the wounds on his chest. Already the injuries which the monster had dealt him were little more than deep scratches. He arched his back, twisting from side to side. At any moment he expected the flare of pain that came with a shattered rib piercing an organ, but it seemed as if everything was in place. Finally satisfied, he pushed himself up against wall of the cavern and relaxed against it.
"Where are the others?" He said, finally asking the obvious question.
Sango shook her head.
"I didn't want to leave you here alone while I went to look for them."
Inuyasha nodded, surveying the scene. Though the smell of the river flooded his senses, it carried with it the scent of more demon hawks. For him to be able to smell them over the overpowering scent of the river meant that there must be several of the creatures nearby.
"There are more of those things out there." He said at last. "Are you up to fighting our way out?"
"I lost my sword when we went into the river." Sango replied, the implication obvious.
Inuyasha's face turned sour.
"I have no intention of waiting here to be rescued," he began, his voice softening as Sango's eyes locked with his. There was a long pause before he completed his sentence. "But I suppose we should wait 'til morning before we try to get out of here."
*****
Inuyasha hadn't spoken much since he grudgingly acceded to her request to remain in the cave overnight. Sango shifted uncomfortably, well aware of Inuyasha's irritation at the arrangement. At least three times she caught herself playing with her hair, swearing at herself for her childish behavior. Finally her own fidgeting annoyed her to the point that she hugged her knees to her chest, deciding that if she couldn't relax she could at least make herself sit still.
Before tonight she had rarely had occasion to touch Inuyasha's cloak, and she was surprised at how soft it was. Not that she had given much thought to such things, but she had always assumed it would be coarse, more fitting with Inuyasha's personality.
Not that he's as coarse as you thought he was either.
She nodded in silent agreement with herself. The cloak, naturally, smelled strongly on Inuyasha. Sango had expected this, but what she didn't expect was the comfort she took from being surrounded by his warm, earthy scent. She guiltily realized that she was vaguely jealous of Kagome for having been wrapped in this cloak so many times.
And in his arms.
She winced. That thought sent a pang of longing through her, followed by an equally discomforting pang of all-too familiar guilt.
I've no right to have feelings for Inuyasha, she thought bitterly to herself.
You've every right to have feelings for whomever you wish.
But I don't wish for these feelings. I just have them, she thought despairingly.
Be that as it may, you have them and it is your right as a woman to do with them what you will.
"Sango, are you alright?"
She jumped, startled to hear a voice that wasn't her own. Inuyasha's warm-honey eyes were upon her, and she immediately felt herself blush under the caress of his gaze.
"I'm, I'm fine." She stammered, fixing her glance on the dwindling fire to avoid looking into his eyes.
Her heart leapt in horror as her next words came without her approval.
"No, I'm not." She said in a low voice, her words escaping her lips even as she tried to halt them.
Inuyasha cocked his head to one side, seemingly perplexed. Frustration burned in her heart, and with tears stinging her eyes she realized it was pointless to hold back any longer. Rejection could never be more painful than not knowing. She sat up on her knees, her fists clenched desperately, and fought with herself momentarily as she struggled to form the words that flooded her heart. Inuyasha was sitting with his knees drawn up, and she put her nervous hands on them as she fumbled for words. She could feel him tense beneath her touch, his eyes were wide with bewilderment. He had raised his hands almost defensively.
Sango shook her head in aggravation, abandoning speech and succumbing completely. She pushed his knees apart, falling desperately between them, and hugged herself against him, her face buried in his lean, muscular chest. Inuyasha uttered a small cry of surprise, and she was dimly aware of him flailing about for a place to put his hands. Tears streaked down her face.
"Is it that bad, Inuyasha?" Sango cried, her voice choked with sobs.
After a long moment she felt his strong arms encircle her, and then he lay his head down against hers.
"It's not like that, Sango…" he said quietly.
She realized that she was nestled against the very shoulder which had felt the bite of her sword when they first met so long ago. She nuzzled her lips gingerly against the spot where the wound had once been. Growing bolder as she released her pent-up emotions, she twined her arms around his neck, curling her fingers in his cold white hair.
"Sango…" Inuyasha began, his voice trailing off.
She stared into his eyes for what seemed like a very long time, letting herself get lost in them. She didn't realize she was going to kiss him until her lips were already fluttering against his. His breath trembled softly. Sango could feel herself shivering with anticipation as his arms tightened around her. At last, finally succumbing to the long-neglected woman within her, she pressed lips firmly to his. Her eyes drifted shut as she sighed quietly into his mouth.
Surrendering her first kiss to Inuyasha was much easier and more natural than she had ever expected.
She soon found that the same was true of her second kiss.
And her third…