Sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. My computer was running out of memory, so we bought some more, but it wasn't compatible with the system. Then we tried putting the old memory back in, and it didn't work. So I was computer-less for about a week… however, I do have the next chapter completely ready in terms of rough draft (it's amazing how much you can write out without having a computer!), and I shall get started on that once I'm done posting this. Enjoy!

Blusorami: Yep… Hmmm… what are Miroku and Inuyasha going to do:looks thoughtful: I have some things in mind. I guess you'll find out during this chapter, won't you? Uh… the word "soon" cannot really be used when writing out this story simply because I have schoolwork to do, plus it takes considerable time to do a well thought-out plot, which I'm still working on as I go.

AddictedtoInuyasha: Oh, no. I couldn't do something nice like that… this adds a bit more of a twist. I'm just a bit manipulative when it comes to the characters, especially Sango.

gypsymuse: Really? I thought that the whole dream thing might be a bit repetitive, since this is not the first time it's been done. You think -my- romantic bits are fluffy:laughs: This is nothing… you should read the PoF's fanfics. However, I'm still practicing my fluffiness "levels" while writing out this fanfic, so… yeah.

Xxxroxyxxx: Yes, of course. I love putting down cliffies, however there won't always be a cliff hanger for each chapter.

YoukaiTaijiyaSango: Thanks!

Ninalee-chan: I'm working on it… cliffies are evil, aren't they?

I had a feeling, that when Inuyasha came into my room, shaking me awake and hissing something about the strong smell of blood, that something was wrong. And it involved Sango, because when I sat up and looked over, still trying to clear my head from sleep, she was not there. Inuyasha told me that he had not bothered to wake Kagome or Shippou. He didn't want either of them to panic, and besides, Shippou was still just a kid.

We went out into the hallway, heading in the direction where the smell was coming from. Just as we approached one of the last doors on the end, Sango stepped out of it. All three of us froze instantly. Inuyasha's eyes widened in shock and disgust as he stepped backwards just a bit. The smell must have been too overpowering for him, especially human blood. Any questions I was about to ask her died in my throat as I took in her appearance.

Her face looked slightly sweaty, as if she had been in a battle, and her hands were covered in blood. Her gaze was barely able to meet mine as she lowered it to the ground. I started to panic, thinking she might have gotten hurt, but then realized that we all would have heard some sort of commotion, especially if it had been a youkai. Certain areas on her robes were stained a deep crimson, and as I examined her, I noticed that the knife protruding from her wrist was at her side, also covered in blood. Drops fell steadily, hitting the floor. Something was not right.

Inuyasha was the first to react. He walked swiftly over to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Sango, what the hell happened here?" he snarled, breaking the silence between all of us. She didn't answer or look at him, but remained almost as still as she had been when she saw us coming down the hallway, her head lowering more so that her bangs obscured her face.

I opened my mouth to tell him to back off a bit, to leave her alone for the moment. I assumed that something horrible had happened, but I could never have imagined what Inuyasha described. The hanyou caught a glimpse by craning his neck slightly to look behind the door, and an fairly loud curse came from his mouth, though when he spoke, he did not sound angry.

"Miroku, the little girl from earlier -" He paused, the disgusted expression in his face becoming more apparent as he angled his head a bit so I could just see the warning and anger in his eyes. He let go of the taijiya's shoulders and moved to the front of the door past her. "- she's dead. Her stomach's been ripped out, there's a bloody mess all over," he reported, keeping his voice low. I chanced a quick glance at Sango; her head was still lowered but her body had stiffened at his words. Did she have anything to do with this?

I headed over to check it out, but he swung an arm in front of me just as I caught a glimpse of the stained sheets, but nothing more. "No, I think you'd better check up on Sango." I was startled at the compassion in the words, but knew what he meant. If something had happened earlier to her… I turned around to ask her if she was alright, but she wasn't there. However, I had a feeling I knew where she had went, and it wasn't long before I found her.


She was kneeling by a river, her hands in the water. It was gradually turning from a light pinkish colour to a faint red. I sat down next to her. She was perfectly still, save for the movement of leaning over to get all the blood off. There were no tears in her eyes, yet I had a feeling she was only acting this way to try and cover up whatever pain she was in.

"Sango," I began very quietly. She seemed to be in a very fragile state, and shouting at her would not be the best way to find anything out. "What happened?"

"I killed her," she whispered, now rubbing her hands in a methodical motion. "Now… now I can't get the blood off…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, almost fearing her answer.

She still hadn't turned to face me, but her hands stilled like her body and her voice had a slightly cutting tone to it, almost as if she was trying to act casual about it. "Didn't you see back in that room." It sounded more like a flat statement than a question.

"No, and I don't want to." I reached in the now dark red water and took her wet hands in mine. Tiny drops of water mixed with blood slowly dripped from her wrists back into the water, each drop echoing in the silence.

"You should have," she said in a low voice. It seemed she wanted me to accuse her, but I wouldn't. I would not accuse her or anything; only calm her and assure her it was not her fault.

"No, Sango. It wasn't your fault. You could never do something like that," I said. "Even if it did happen, I'm sure you didn't -" I paused, not wanting to hurt her more than she was already hurting, but I couldn't help mention the unwanted possibility that came to my mind. "- you didn't mean to."

Wrong choice of words. She pulled her hands away from mine, allowed her hair to obscure her face as she dropped her gaze back to the ground, shifting her hands back into the water. Her body had started shaking, just a little bit.

"Sango…" I only wanted to understand what had happened. I must admit that while Sango would kill a demon to save a village, no matter how weak the demon could be, she would never kill an innocent or help someone else kill an innocent to save a village, least of all a child.

She started washing her hands again in the same methodical motion, lowering her head even more as she half-heartedly dried them on her yukata. "Please… leave me alone."

I put my arm around her shoulders and she flinched, cringing slightly. "It's alright. I'm sorry for what I said. I'm not going to leave you, Sango," I told her firmly.

She held up her wrist with the blade still sticking out. "You see this?" she said very quietly, her voice cracking as she turned to face me, part of her face still shadowed. The knife still had spots of blood on it, staining the top end of it. "I used this, Miroku. I have this hidden in my sleeve for when I have to save my own life situation… but I never realized it could be used in the sense of ending another life. I never imagined I would have the ability to do something like that."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what had happened obviously only minutes ago, and she was too distraught to tell me. What she did tell me did not make any sense. But then again, she wasn't exactly in her normal state of mind, and I couldn't blame her for that. As I opened my mouth to tell that to her again, to offer her some sort of reassurance, a concerned voice cut me off.

"Sango-chan!" Footsteps sounded behind us. It was Kagome-sama. She ran up to us, looking mainly at me. "What happened? I woke up from all the commotion…" She opened her mouth to ask another question, then the sound died in her throat as she noticed the stained river. "Sango-chan?"

Sango did not show any reaction to her name, nor did she turn around. I could not explain anything in words - I would have to show Kagome-sama the awful sight. I stood up and led her back into the inn, back to Kirishi-san's room.

Kagome froze at the sight of the girl. "What happened?" she asked a number of times, no one able to answer her right away. She kept glancing down the hall in the direction that the taijiya was.

Inuyasha had been cleaning up the blood and gore, at the same covering up the body with a clean blanket, bundling it up to prepare it for any sort of burial the villagers would want to give it. He tried not to show any emotion, but there was a slight frown in his expression. Then again, the smell of blood must have over-filled his sense. "Don't know," he answered roughly as he finished cleaning it all up. "This room is going to start smelling like dry blood soon. The smell actually woke me up earlier, so I went to wake up Miroku." He laughed dryly as Kagome took a step backwards, slight fear in her eyes. "Miroku just had to tell me he had a feeling that something was wrong, so we went to investigate. Sango was covered in blood," he growled, then gave me a questioning look. "Did you get any information out of her, Miroku?" I shook my head.

Kagome looked at him, then at me as she asked her next question. "Inuyasha, do you know what happened?"

"Obviously not," he said. "But I'm willing to guess that Sango had something to do with it."

"Shut up!" I snapped at him. "You have no idea…"

"So, did she?" he asked, turning to look at me, the blanket covering Kirishi's face

"She was washing blood off her hands," Kagome stated quietly.

Inuyasha and I both stared at her as she said that statement. It was true; Sango had been washing blood off her hands, but it might not have been any of the reasons we thought it was for, and Kagome had no right to assume anything of the obvious just because the evidence seemed to support it.

For Kami's sake, she was practically accusing her best friend of murder! I raised my hand as if to slap her, and Kagome turned her fearful gaze in my direction, faltering and taking a step back. Inuyasha's hand caught my wrist, applying a painful amount of pressure. His voice was a dangerous growl.

"Touch her, bouzou, and I'll break your wrist, right here and now."

Kagome's voice trembled slightly. "Inuyasha…"

"It doesn't mean she did anything!" I defended angrily, glaring at her. Turning around, I managed to jerk my wrist out of Inuyasha's grasp and headed outside.


She was still sitting there, scrubbing her hands in the water. The blade had been clicked back into her wrist. A look of intense concentration was on her face. I went over and knelt beside her, pulling her hands out of the water. They were almost raw from being scrubbed so roughly together, and I hadn't taken her hands in mine, she would have rubbed the skin off.

"Sango," I said, looking at her. She was looking down at the ground. "I know it wasn't your fault." Her lip trembling as she looked back up at me, she attempted to find some reason why she should be feeling this way; why she should let herself feel guilty.

"I'm - I'm sor -" But I silenced her by putting my finger on her lips.

"No, Sango. You don't need to apologize," I told her. She started to open her mouth to argue, then what little composure she had she lost, dissolving into tears on my lap. I stroked her hair and her back, trying to calm her. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"No," she whispered, her tears sliding off of her face and dampening the material of my robes. "That girl - Kirishi-san, she was Hiromi's daughter, Miroku!" Sango's voice broke as her fists clenched.

I let her cry for a little while, just holding her lightly. After a bit, her crying ceased. I stood up, taking her hand and helping her up as she leaned against me, her head resting against my shoulder and my arms wrapped securely around her. She was quiet, her breaths still a bit shaky as she held onto me.

"It's okay," I told her again. She remained silent but allowed me to take her back to our room. We entered it and she sat down on the bed, leaning back against the headrest.

I sat down next to her, noticing the way she stared unseeingly at the blankets, the way her bangs almost hid her eyes from view. Her hands were still dirty from the outside, and a bit raw from all the rough washing. I looked at her closely. "Sango, I'm going to get a clean cloth and -" I paused, not wanting to say anything that sounded accusatory. "- wash your hands again. The river didn't… well, it didn't do a good job."

She raised her hands, palms up, to her face. The faintest smile appeared on her face, and it chilled me. "Now I know how it feels," she said, no emotion in her voice. I doubted her statement was meant for me, but I had a funny feeling about it.

"Now you know what 'what' feels like?" I asked. She didn't answer, but kept staring down at the blankets, putting her hands back down. "Sango? What are you talking about?" When I received no answer from her again, I went to the bathroom, found a clean cloth, and after rinsing it, made my way back over to the bed.

I came back in and she was lying back on the bed, her eyes closed and her breathing steady. I thought she was sleeping until she opened her eyes partway, looking tired. I sat down next to her and began gently wiping her hands, the cloth absorbing the pinkish tint.

"Dothey think I did it?" she asked, not looking at me.

"To be honest, I don't know," I answered. "Kagome-sama is still worried about you and Inuyasha doesn't know what to think. Neither do I. You haven't told us anything, Sango," I continued, noticing that her gaze slowly travelled upwards to meet mine. "All we saw was you coming out of the room in a mess, the girl's body, and you washing your hands at the river. There was no demon aura around, at least none that Inuyasha could detect, and there were no rumours of a demon around. So… unless you know something…?"

She shook her head and looked away. "No."

But I had a feeling that she was hiding something from me. If she didn't trust me, that was one thing, but what if…

What if she wasn't telling me because she knew that it was too dangerous?


The next morning we prepared to leave. Kirishi's death was not unnoticed by many of the villagers. A lot of them thought Inuyasha was the cause of it all, even though Sango refused to meet eye contact with any of them. Her silence was simply assumed as "compassion" towards the death of a child.

We were in the middle of eating breakfast when Hiromi entered. She looked tired and she looked like she had been crying for hours; her eyes were red-rimmed. When she spoke, it was like someone else was telling her what to say; she didn't seem like the healthy, happy woman who had greeted us so politely barely a day and a half ago. "I'm afraid you will have to leave as soon as you are done eating. My people do not want… your type around any longer." She looked at Inuyasha, who had set his bowl down and was growling at the unintended insult.

"You say that again and next time I will be the one to kill -"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded in a panicked voice, tugging at his sleeve.

Surprisingly, Hiromi didn't seem fazed by his threat.

Meanwhile, Sango had set down her own bowl and was staring down at the floor. I moved over to put my hand on her shoulder, perhaps to offer some sort of reassurance, but she shifted away, not looking up at anyone even as Hiromi called her name.

"Sango-san, could I talk to you for a moment?"

She nodded, the movement barely perceptible. The two women left the room for a moment, closing the door.

A few minutes later, Hiromi returned, but Sango wasn't with her. Kagome looked worried, and Inuyasha and Shippou exchanged glances. I was the first one to speak up. "Where's Sango?"

Hiromi fidgeted with her hands, not looking at any of us. "After I asked her about - about Kirishi-san -" Her voice shook at the name of her daughter, and for a moment I thought she wasn't going to continue. "- she left. Didn't say anything about where she was going. Why?" She looked directly at me as I stood up.

"Because I have to talk to her," I answered, brushing past her. The others stared at my abrupt exit, but no one said anything.

It didn't take me long to find her. She was standing in front of a cherry blossom tree, her hair gently being blown by the breeze, a few strands of hair moving freely across her face. Her hands were clasped almost in a praying position, her eyes closed. They opened when I approached her from behind. She remained silent, not moving as the sakura petals floated down into her hair, making her look more innocent in her beauty than any other women I had seen before, but I knew it was only the appearance. It was likely contrary to what she was feeling inside.

"Sango… are you alright?"

After a moment of silence, she finally spoke as I wrapped my arms around her waist in a comforting gesture. My chin was on her shoulder, but just at the edge.

"I never knew guilt could feel like this," she said, moving one of her hands down to cover mine. It was her way of letting me know my presence was appreciated. "I always thought you could be forgiven, no matter what."

So she knew something had happened, but had she been a part of it? "Sango, why did -"

"That girl, Kirishi-san - she suffered so much pain. She didn't even have a chance to live."

"Sango, how could -"

"She was only a child. She barely had a chance to see the world before it was taken from her."

I tried to cut in. "But it wasn't -"

"It was my fault, Miroku. All of it." She turned around as I moved my hands upwards, just below her shoulders. There were faint tears in her eyes as she looked at me. "A little girl died. A boy lost his sister because of me. I was too weak. I barely raised a hand against it." She quickly covered her mouth and looked away.

"You were too weak against… it? You barely fought what?" I asked, trying not to sound pressuring. Why did I have this feeling that there was more going on than what we had seen?

"I'm weak, that's all," she said, not looking at me. "You think I'm strong, but I'm not. I was ready to give up when Kohaku came, after he was ordered to kill Kagome-chan. I was going to kill myself," she admitted, looking down at the ground. Her voice lowered. "I'm not strong at all. I let it happen."

I moved in front of her and took her hands in mine, causing her to look at me. "Do you trust me?"

It was such a simple question, but to both of us, it meant something other than pain, tears and death. She looked back at me, the sunlight making her hair shine. A tear ran down her cheek and I knew it was more than any physical pain at work. Something else was hurting her, and I hated it for doing this. I hated the fact that I didn't know what it was that was hurting her, and I also hated the fact that she was deliberately refusing to tell me, and I didn't know why.

She knew I would risk anything to help her… sometimes risking too much just to see that she was safe or uninjured, and it nearly caused my death several times.

"Sango," I repeated, being completely sincere. "If there is anything wrong, you can tell me. I will not abuse your trust." I wiped away the tear, pulling her against me, and she resisted.

"What if I told you there was nothing wrong?" she said. She was silently challenging me, and I accepted it.

"Then you would be lying. I know you are hiding something… I can tell by the look in your eyes. Please, tell me."

She pulled herself out of my grasp. "You know me too well, Houshi-sama," she said quietly, a faint smile softening the troubled expression on her face. "Some things are better left unsaid."

What did she mean by that? Why did she have to be so secretive about everything all of a sudden? Why couldn't she just tell me?

She turned around, and I caught her wrist, gentle but firm enough to make her pause. She flicked the hidden blade at my sleeve, ripping the material and causing a thin line of blood to appear as a hostile look came into her eyes. It was almost hatred, but not quite; it looked like she was extremely angry about something, but the anger wasn't directed at me.

I didn't jerk my wrist back out of harm's reach, but my body tensed as if instinctively preparing for a fight of some sort. "Sango, what are you doing?"

She yanked her wrist out of my grasp, raising the blade on her other arm as a silent warning. It was like she didn't recognize me.

"Sango!" I repeated, slightly alarmed.

Suddenly, she shook her head, lifting the wrist with the blade up to her face as if to examine it. "Miroku, did I…" She looked up, twisting her wrist slightly so that the blade slid back in, her gaze glancing at the cut on my skin, panic filling her features.

"Sango, what happened?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. She still seemed to be a bit dazed.

"Huh?"

"Sango," I repeated, trying not to sound as alarmed as I felt. "What happened? It was like - it was like you didn't know me."

She pulled herself out of my grasp, a flicker of understanding in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, looking away. "It won't… happen again."

"That's not what I'm asking you," I said, more of my patience wearing away. "Why did you… change like that?"

She shook her head, unconsciously biting her lip. In nervousness, I guess. "I… I don't know." I could tell she was lying because she wouldn't meet my gaze.

Why won't you let me help you? I can't heal your pain if you don't tell me what's hurting you.

I sighed, accepting the fact that if she was even planning on telling me, she would do it when she was ready to. Until then, I would continue to support her as best as I could. Somehow I don't think that was enough.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked suddenly, breaking the few moments of awkward silence between us. Concern was hidden in her voice behind the fear.

"No," I said quickly, trying to reassure her.

She reached out to touch the cut on my wrist, her fingers trembling. Maybe I was not supposed to hear what she said, but I caught a few audible whispered words.

"It's getting stronger."

Just as I opened my mouth to ask her what it was, what she was talking about, Inuyasha and Kagome interrupted us.

"Miroku, you coming?" Inuyasha hollered.

"Sango-chan, we need to get going," Kagome called.

She looked at me for a moment longer, then turned to join them. After another moment, wondering why Sango felt she had to hide things from me, I headed over to them. Obviously Inuyasha felt that we should not waste any more time getting ready to leave.


For the first time in months during our travels, our group had switched places. Inuyasha was in front of Kagome and Shippou, and he motioned for me to walk by him. Kagome forced a smile as she waved back at Hiromi-san and Shippou followed, Sango walking with them behind Inuyasha and I. The atmosphere that surrounded us was filled with tension, and none of us spoke until we were well out of sight from the village.

The sky was a bright blue colour, a gentle breeze passing by every now and then. It would have been very peaceful if the situation wasn't so tense. The hanyou waited until we were separated from the girls and Shippou by at least a few feet so we were out of hearing range, then he leaned over.

"So," he began in a low voice. "Have you noticed Sango's odd behaviour? She seems to want to keep to herself even more ever since that little girl's death."

"Yeah. She won't tell me anything."

The hanyou snorted. "I wonder why. You're such a pervert, Miroku."

"True." I decided to let the insult slide. "But it's almost like she's afraid of being near me at times. I don't mean because of my hands, I mean that she really does seem to be scared of me, not what I'll do." I fully expected him to retort a comment about my lecherous abilities, but he didn't.

"Think about what happened. She practically murdered -"

"Shhhh!" I hissed, trying to glance back at the others without them noticing. Kagome was talking to Sango in a low voice, concern evident, and the taijiya kept staring at the ground, few words leaving her mouth. "I think you're right, that something's going on. But until she is willing to tell us… we have to respect that fact."

Inuyasha turned to look at me. "You know," he said slowly, with just a touch of rare gentleness, "I bet you and her would get along really well if you weren't such a lech."

That statement both filled me with happiness and stung with the realization of what it really meant.

Did Inuyasha of all people just say that a relationship between Sango and me was possible?

"Sango are you sure you're okay?" Kagome asked her friend.

"I'm fine." The older woman didn't look up.

"Are you sure? You've been quiet ever since - ever since last night," Kagome continued, careful to watch the taijiya's reaction, or rather, non-reaction.

"I know."

"Inuyasha told me about it last night, after Miroku-sama left to find you."

Sango froze and when we looked back at her, she was glaring at Inuyasha, which shocked him. "Just because I tell Kagome-chan a lot of things doesn't mean I wanted her to know about this!" She stormed past us, not bothering to look at us.

I caught up to her, but she still refused to look at me. "I don't want everyone to know about it! And I don't need sympathy! So stop bothering me about it!" As angry as she tried to sound, I knew that the only reason she yelled at us was to hide her guilt. The rest of the way was silent.

We stopped for lunch, settling down to eat some ramen Kagome had brought. None of us had much of an appetite except for Inuyasha, so he prepared his own bowl. Kagome was snacking on some chips, and Shippou was licking a lollipop, one of Kagome's treats from the future.

Sango excused herself, and Kagome and I gave her looks of concern, although she pretended not to notice. "Come on, Kirara," she said softly, and the neko lightly jumped up from her curled position to follow her mistress. She walked out of sight, talking to the cat, and disappearing from our view.

I exchanged another look with Kagome. "I'll go check on her," I offered, and she nodded in understanding.


I headed off in the direction Sango had taken. A few minutes passed and I found her, sitting on a grassy hill with Kirara, telling her some things I bet she wouldn't have said if she knew I was listening. After all, Sango's closest confidante was Kirara, of course, so the neko did get to listen to a lot more secrets about her than I would ever know.

" - shouldn't tell the others, but I can't hide it forever. They'll notice if I'm acting strange and that one time, when I was forced to hurt Houshi-sama… I couldn't remember doing it - I think it's starting to take control of my mind as well. I think he's angry with me…" Her voice lowered more, so that I barely caught her next words. "… I'm so scared… I don't want to hurt the others, but what if it gets too strong?"

The cat mewed and snuggled closer to the taijiya. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I don't know how I can even fight it…"

So she had been in the possession of a demon. Somehow that didn't surprise me in the least. I knew she had been hiding some sort of secret from me, I just didn't know what it was. Well, I still didn't really know what kind of demon it was, but now I knew why she seemed even more quiet and withdrawn than usual. That explained a considerable amount. I chose that moment to reveal myself, and she stood up quickly.

"Did you - were you listening?" she demanded, Kirara scurrying away from her mistress back to the lunch area. The cat had no reason to; Sango would never take out her anger on her closest companion, but I guess Kirara sensed that we needed to talk.

"Not for very long. Honest, Sango," I said quickly, not wanting her temper to build up any more than it was already. "I only heard you tell Kirara that someone was trying to control you. That's all."

She was flustered. "You - you -" she spluttered, unable to think of a remark to send back at me for eavesdropping. "Damn it, why can't you listen! I wanted to be alone."

"You never told you wanted to be alone," I said, closing the distance between us. She backed away, making me feel like I was cornering her.

"Could you tell?" she shot back. "No, of course you didn't," she said almost harshly, continuing before I even had a chance to answer, "because you've always been unobservant about my feelings!"

That hurt just a little bit. I had noticed her feelings, how quiet and upset she seemed to be lately.

"Sango…" Other than denying her lack of faith in my considerations about her feelings and emotions, I didn't know what exactly I should have said to that, but she asked another question, saving me the trouble of having to think or something to say.

"Why did you follow me?" she said softly, turning and sitting down, staring into the distance.

"I was worried about you," I said. "Ever since last night… I can understand that you would be feeling this way, but -" I sat down next to her. "- I'm still worried. I understand it is not something you can just ignore, but I'll be here if you need me."

She looked at me, then put her arms around my waist, holding close and resting her head against my shoulder. "I know. Thank you." I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm… I'm sorry for yelling at you. I didn't mean to snap. It's just… with everything lately, I… I don't…"

"It's okay."

After another peaceful moment of silence, I stood up. "We should head back or Kagome-sama and Inuyasha will start asking questions." I held out my hand to help her up, and she complied, rising to lean against me, her eyes partially closed.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. "Just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night." I didn't push the subject, and we headed back to the others.

Thankfully though, most of the afternoon was uneventful, save for a few arguments about the jewel shards between the hanyou and miko.

Sango laughed or smiled when Inuyasha got slammed into the ground as the result of Kagome-sama's temper (sometimes arguing with a stubborn-minded hanyou just didn't get us anywhere), but I could tell it was forced. She had other things on her mind, and I couldn't blame her for feeling this way. Shippou just looked bored with the whole thing, but he did seem to notice Sango's fake laughter and smiles, and from time to time he glanced at her, concern obvious in his gaze, but he didn't say anything about it in case she wasn't willing to talk, and Kagome was busy scolding Inuyasha for his bad manners and lack of patience for the shards.


When early evening came, it was starting to rain, so we looked around for a shelter of some sort to stay the night. I suggested that we find an inn to settle at and the others agreed, although Inuyasha frowned, as if he thought I was thinking about a variety of ways to "steal" us a room. Sango looked a bit apprehensive. I would do no such thing… at least not while the mood in the group was so sullen. The only person in a relatively good enough mood to at least smile half the time was Shippou, and that was because he was only a kid. Even Kagome-sama didn't seem her usual self, but it was probably due to concern and curiosity about the taijiya's lack of enthusiasm about anything.

We did find a village not too far off. The rain was starting to really come down. Kagome did not look too happy even at the prospect of being under shelter; then again, she was wearing her usual school outfit, which didn't provide her skin with too much coverage from the rain, so Inuyasha wrapped his haori around her. Kagome was shivering, but she sent a tentative smile in the hanyou's direction; he made a noise that clearly meant he was trying to show he didn't really care about her well-being, but he looked away, his cheeks taking on the slightest hue of red.

Entering the place, we immediately noticed how quiet everything was. Everyone was inside, but it was still filled with an eerie quiet. Then a woman came running out, putting a hand over her eyes so she could see through the increasing downpour of rain.

"Who are you?" she called, hurrying to us.

"I'm Kagome," the miko introduced us quickly, still shivering but maintaining her polite attitude. She motioned with her head to each of us. "That is Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippou."

The woman nodded. She looked young in general; her eyes were a dark blue and her hair was tied up in a bun at the back. She was wearing a light blue kimono with silver designs. "Please, follow me. This weather is not suitable for travelling conditions."

We followed her into a hut bordering the village. She led us into confines of the hut. It was lit by a few large candles, making some nearby trees cast creepy shadows on the sides. We gathered around her at a small table. All of us sat on cushions around her except for Inuyasha; he stood in back of us, glaring down at her in his usual brisk manner. A steady sound of rain hit the sides of the hut and the woman started speaking in a low tone.

"I am so glad you have come. My name is Kaori." Her gaze looked at each of us in turn and stopped at Sango. "I assume you are a demon slayer by your outfit. Am I correct?"

The taijiya nodded, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Good. I need your help in exterminating -"

"Okaa-san!" A kid ran in, his clothes more than a little wet from the pouring rain. He had dark brown eyes, black hair, and the look of an innocent child who has not seen anything other than the village in which he grew up in, still curious to see the extent of the world and what it had to offer to him as a child.

"Reichi!" Kaori said, standing up and drying the boy off with a towel. "What have you been doing in the rain?"

"I came to tell you that another one has disappeared!" the boy replied, a little out of breath from running. So far he hadn't noticed the rest of us in his haste.

"Another? So soon?" Kaori said, looking worried. "Stay here for a minute and greet our guests."

He turned to face us, looking a bit nervous and scared at Inuyasha, managing a shy smile at Kagome, smiling at Shippou simply because the kitsune was cute, giving me a polite smile, but when he reached Sango, he looked even more nervous. The taijiya was staring at him, a wistful look in her eyes. No, she wasn't staring at him, she was staring beyond him, seeing something unattainable through him.

"He," he said at last, his voice gentle with a bit of nervousness.

"Hi," Sango answered, but she sounded like she was elsewhere. Kagome glanced uncertainly at her friend, but said nothing.

Kaori told him to sit down, and he did so, uneasy under Sango's constant gaze. I nudged her and she quickly looked at Kaori, but I could tell that whatever had been on her mind had not left yet and I made a mental note to ask her about it later, although I had a faint idea of what might have been on her mind.

"There have been disappearances of children from this village," Kaori began. "We figured out that it had to be a demon. A lot of people have not seen it, but they have claimed that they have heard it, so we think that there is a possibility it could be an invisible youkai of some sorts. Demons are not too common in this area, nor are they powerful by any means, but they are still a threat to the people that live here, and that is why we seek the help of a demon slayer. We have no fighters in this village, none in any of the closest villages that could be walked to in less than a day, but even if we did, we would not be able to do much. We have not tracked down where it has taken them."

"I'll do it," Sango said, determination coming into her voice.

Inuyasha looked at her. "No, I'll do the job. You don't have the extra senses to track down its scent," he pointed out.

I spoke up and the two of them looked at me. Shippou had become bored of the conversation long ago, and was asking Kagome for more candy. "You can track down the direction of the demon, and Sango and I will head off to destroy it," I suggested.

Apparently Kaori only wanted a demon exterminator to get rid of it. "But you have to be careful… we think it's an invisible demon."

Inwardly I snorted at her narrow-minded thinking. We didn't travel together for nothing. Inuyasha was not the only one who had extended hearing; Sango did too, only her hearing senses weren't as good, as she was only human, but she was still good at detecting certain scents and tracks. Most of the time, anyway. It was just that Inuyasha usually did that part of the job at the villages or in forests.

"I'm a hanyou," Inuyasha said sharply. Kagome looked at him in surprise; he rarely wanted anyone to mention that fact aloud for fear he would be misinterpreted as either a weak orharmful demon, of which he was neither. That usually angered him but I guess he was getting impatient with Kaori's lack of realization of the type of people in our little group. "What?" he barked at her, and now she looked startled. "I figured that I would have to tell Kaori this, otherwise she'd never bother to take notice that our little group has weapons. Fighting demons is no problem for any of us, except for Shippou, because he's so weak, and having to fight one that's invisible just makes the fight more interesting."

Kaori looked grateful at our requests to take down the demon, although she didn't comment at the "hanyou" part. Surprising indeed, but none of us pointed it out due to respect for our friend. "Thank you. Reichi, show them to their huts. I'm sure they must be tired."

The boy stood up and headed out of the hut. We followed him to two more huts that were placed across from each other and separated by a dusty path near the end of the village. We could tell there were already candles lit in both of them from the outside. Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippou would take one; Sango and I would take the other. Reichi didn't say anything as he left, but he did bow politely and offer us a genuinely shy smile.

Inuyasha and Kagome went into the hut across from us. I waited until their tent flap closed, knowing that they would be discussing other matters and not bothering to try and "spy" on us. Not that we did anything like that!

I turned to Sango, who lay Hiraikotsu on the ground next to her tatami mat and spread out her sleeping bag. She sat down and used a blanket to cover up to her waist.

"Houshi-sama, could you - could you turn around for a few minutes?" she asked tentatively, pulling out some clean robes.

I obeyed. "Aren't you taking a risk by undressing in here?" I asked, lightly teasing her about the rather uncomfortable situation. "Aren't you afraid I'll try and peek?"

"I will trust you this time, as I don't have any other choice," she said, her voice low, and my mood dulled considerably. "Besides, after the events of these past few days… I doubt you would take advantage of this circumstances. You're a monk, anyway, so you should know how to respect a person's dignity, especially at a time when things have to be… as they are."

She remained silent and I could hear the fabric rustling as she took it off and put on the white sleeping robes.

"Sango… do you really trust me or are you just saying all that to get me to respect you about doing something like that?" I questioned.

"Well… I'm not trying to make you do anything," she said quietly. "I just thought… you would have at least enough honour as a monk to respect a woman's privacy. But yes, I do trust you. At least, I try my best to, although you don't always deserve it," she added, and her tone hardened just a bit. Then it softened. "You can turn around now. I have your sleeping robes."

I took them from her and she turned around without having to be asked.

"Sango?"

"Hmmmm?"

"I want you to know something." Actually, I was really just trying to stall for more time while I changed, because I wanted to see her reaction.

"Okay."

I hesitated, dressing quickly and turning around. She had drawn her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms over them. The dim light of the candles lit up the other side of her face. The darkened side that I could see was full of wistfulness and some longing.

"Don't… don't hide from me. If you are upset, I will always be here for you. I know you have not been yourself lately, and back in Kaori-san's hut, you were deep in thought about something, and it was worrying you. I could tell." I moved closer to her, my shoulder lightly brushing hers.

"I'm not upset, Houshi-sama,' she said. "I was just thinking about Kohaku, that's all." She looked away. "I'm sorry, it must be tiring for you to deal with… with…"

"No. Your brother is important to you. I know that," I told her firmly, but keeping a reasonable quality of gentleness in my tone. "But don't give up or dismiss my words about Naraku as false hope. We will defeat him, Sango." Slowly I reached for her hand and held it, offering some small support. She blushed very faintly, looking back at me.

"I'm glad you care so much, Miroku," she said. "It's always nice to know that someone cares about your thoughts and feelings. Reichi-kun did remind me of Kohaku. Always shy, polite, willing to help others… trying to act more mature than he really was…" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she reached up to wipe them with her sleeve.

I knew what she was trying to say and I silenced her, putting my arm around her waist. She was thinking about when Kohaku was training to become a taijiya, and I hated it when she was upset. The memories of her brother were hurting her, but it wasn't her fault that he had been used by Naraku to play on her emotions as an older sister. We sat in companionable silence, each thinking our own thoughts. We had a fight to win tomorrow.