Author's Note: Hiya readers, sorry about this mess... I decided to make a few alterations and repost this.I hope you enjoy. Chapter two will be up within the next week or so (hopefully). This is my first story, so please be gentle! By the way, FaBzZ, thank you for the favorite and the review, I really appreciate it! Blushes Anyways, onto the story...!
It all started onone sunny but cold afternoon. I got to thinking, Why do I love him? The catalyst for such an introspective thought: Kagome. Yes, my dear friend Kagome sucker-punched me with this question as we sat next to one another outside the campus building one day. She sat cross-legged on the green grass as she gazed into the azure sky...
"Why?" She said. The corners of her lips pointed downward in a pensive scowl.
"Why what?" I asked her. I figured she was getting philosophical on me again, so I shifted to face her, expecting one of her hour-long lectures on existence. Kagome and I had been friends since we started school here. Our personalities – similar in process but different in desires – kept each other in check and overall sane. We could tell each other anything: it's more than likely she or I already experienced what the other is feeling. It was kind of a kindred spirits sort of thing.
She stared at me. There was something different about her today. It's just like there was a different aura about her today. Her eyes, too, they were different. They just seemed… darker. "Why are you with him, Sango? I just don't get it." my dear friend Kagome blurted out, a strange cringe contorting her normally lively face.
I felt a jolt course through my body, then a sinking sensation in my stomach. I always figured Miroku was well-liked within my circle of friends. I now realize that I was wrong. And honestly, I was stunned. I questioned, "What do you mean, Kagome? I thought you always liked Miroku."
Awkward silence. We were sitting together, but we are alone. The wind blew with a fearsome hollow gust that complemented the shock I felt, the hollowness in her eyes.
Breaking this silence as she shifted uncomfortably, she spoke. "Um… honestly, I wouldn't go that far. I really don't know what to make of him, Sango. He's… weird." She stated this matter-of-factly. A little too matter-of-factly for my liking. My pulse sped up, anger and fire flowing through my veins. How long has she been hiding this fact? How long as she been pretending? How long? She continued, interrupting my mental tirade. "Inuyasha and I were talking about this the other day. He's not one of us, Sango. He's so flamboyant, he's immature…"
"Hey!" I interrupted, resisting all temptation to smack some sense into her. "Have you even tried to get to know him? Because though he is eccentric, he is good to me. Being my friend, you should appreciate that, if nothing else. What about Inuyasha? He's not exactly the pinnacle of maturity himself, you know."
"Inuyasha has something going for him. At least he's still in college – "
"Yeah, for the seventh year." I retorted. Kagome gave me a glare that would usually make me shudder and cower in fear, but not today. I was fired up and on a roll; I wasn't going to step down. "And for a business degree, no less! Wow! He must be aiming high!" I said with mock enthusiasm.
Kagome collected her bearings and looked at me. "Listen, Sango. You're my friend and I care about you. You're like a sister to me. I'm just saying this for your own good. How is this man going to provide for you later in life?" She shifted her position, turning towards me. "Miroku… for lack of a better phrase… lacks ambition. He's a college dropout works as a freight worker at a Wal-Mart, for God's sake! You can do so much better! You're beautiful, so smart, and funny… you can do so much better than Miroku! He just has no direction in life! That man will be a liability to anyone who marries him."
I shook my head, refusing to take in my friend's verbal assault. I love Miroku. I have for a long time. I never thought my feelings for him would be called into question… by a close friend, no less! I looked into her dark eyes one more time, desperately seeking any sort of indication that she was joking. I saw nothing. I stood up, brushing myself off physically and mentally. Finally, I asked her, "We done here? Because I'm going. I have a lot of work to get done." And a lot of thinking to do…
I walked away, my pain and anger deafening me to everything else in the world but my own footsteps and the rustling of the wind through the trees.
