(A/N: Yes I know! It's a miracle! I'm not dead and managed to produce another chapter! XD Sorry for not updating for so long. O.o; I didn't realize it's been like half a year already. I somehow managed to pull myself to type up a chapter after some people actually wrote messages to me. XD I didn't know I still had such dedicated readers. Well I hope you er... somewhat enjoy this chapter; there's not much going on till the end :P)
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. This is solely unprofitable entertainment.
Chapter 27:
"Get up!" the voice thundered throughout the clearing. Inuyasha's voice startled both Sango and Miroku out of their sleep and their hands automatically flew and gripped their weapons before realizing the source of their bewilderment was just above them. It was then Sango loosened her grip on the Hiraikotsu and started to rub the sleep away from her eyes and yawning in the process.
"Why are we in a rush? The sun just came out," Sango managed to say between yawns.
"Kikyo said she sensed some jewel shards not far to the north-west. It might be from that bitch the stupid wench gave the jewel shards to. If we don't hurry, they'll get away! So move your slow asses already!"
"I wonder what crawled up his ass…" murmured Sango. Miroku shook his head with a smile on his face. Sango never was a morning person, especially on days like these. Usually Kagome calmed down the grumpy girl before anything bad happened or 'sat' the hanyou for getting on her nerves.
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It had been a few hours now and they were heading west. Miroku and Sango were riding on Kirara while Inuyasha was carrying Kikyo on his back.
"Look he's already replaced Kagome! What a jerk. If it wasn't for the fact that all this is just a way to defeat Naraku, I'd leave right away," Sango seethed. It was then she felt a hand brush against her backside and heading down to her butt.
"Hentai houshi!" Sango spun around and slapped Miroku who nearly toppled off of Kirara.
"Can't you stop being a pervert for just one second!" she yelled.
"But dear lady Sango, I don't know what you mean," Miroku said while fringing a look of innocence, "That's the first time I've touched you since this morning. Surely that's over a second."
A tick was starting to form as Sango continued to listen to Miroku talking about how a 'humble' monk such as he would never be such a pervert. Another slap echoed through the air.
"Much better," mumbled Sango. Miroku had been knocked unconscious again. His head rolled a bit before slowly resting on Sango's back, his arms resting limply at his sides. A small blush made its way to her face before realizing he wasn't doing anything perverted.
"Houshi, what are you doing?" stuttered Sango. She could feel his head resting on her shoulder and the rest of his body pressed against hers. "I mean it!" She slowly turned her head around and found Miroku's peaceful face. Her blush deepened before mumbling, "Stupid monk."
The trip was relatively quiet until Miroku woke up and started the routine all over again.
"We're resting for a while!" yelled Inuyasha. It was odd, usually it wasn't Inuyasha who proposed to have a rest. But they've been travelling for a long while so they readily agreed. They settled themselves by a stream nearby and decided to catch some fish and build a fire.
Inuyasha had disappeared a few minutes after they had landed with Kikyo. Both Sango and Miroku were too tired and hungry to care much.
They placed five of the fish they had caught, courtesy of Kirara, near the fire for roasting. Just as the fish had finished cooking, Inuyasha appeared out of the forest alone. He quickly plopped down and took two of the cooked fish, one in each hand, and had started to eat.
"Hey! You can't just do that! We worked hard to get the food ready! You didn't do a single thing!" screamed Sango.
"Well there's three more, and you humans can't eat them all anyways," he replied between bites.
"Those were Kirara's!" she said between gritted teeth and Kirara mewed her protest.
"Inuyasha, at the very least, you could have said 'sorry' or 'thank you'," said Miroku.
"Or you get your own food instead!" Sango settled herself back in her seat and gave Kirara one of the fish they still had while she and Miroku took the other two.
"Sorry Kirara. Even when you caught these, it doesn't seem like you'll be getting the biggest portion," said Sango accusingly. The hanyou continued eating oblivious to what she had said about him. Kirara looked at her food a little sadly before continuing on with her meal.
"So Inuyasha, where did Kikyo go?" asked Miroku as he tried to change the subject.
"Oh she said she's going on ahead to check out a nearby village," he said absentmindedly.
"What village? I saw nothing for miles before we came down here," said Sango suspiciously.
"I don't know. Maybe you're just blind. If Kikyo says there's a village nearby, there's a village nearby," growled Inuyasha.
"Maybe you're just too blind to figure out that Kikyo is betraying us!" she retorted.
"She is not betraying us!" Inuyasha snapped back.
"Calm down. There's no point in arguing amongst us. Maybe Kikyo simply need to take care of some business and the soul-snatchers brought her there," Miroku tried to calm them. Sango sent a dirty look towards him and turned her attention elsewhere.
Sango couldn't believe what she was hearing. Miroku was siding with Inuyasha, the guy that had chased away her sister-like figure. She and him both know that Kikyo was betraying them, so why? She felt incredibly alone.
Kirara sensing her master's depression, rubbed her head against Sango's leg affectionately. Sango absentmindedly gave Kirara a pet on the head.
They had stayed in that area until sunset as Inuyasha hadn't wanted to leave unless Kikyo came back. The fire they had built since the afternoon had died down some and they were running out of firewood.
"Inuyasha can you go get some firewood?" asked Miroku.
"Feh. Why would I want to do that?" he said while crossing his arms.
"You might be able to see if Kikyo needs any assistance if she's coming back," suggested Miroku. Inuyasha's ear perked up at the sound of Kikyo's name.
"Fine," he rose from his seat and headed off into the forest leaving both Miroku and Sango in the silence. Finally sighing in defeat, Miroku decided to confront Sango.
"Lady Sango," he said but Sango continued to ignore him.
"I know that you're mad about what I said this afternoon but if continued to argue, no doubt Inuyasha and us would separate into different ways. You have to remember that Kikyo is sneaking off behind Inuyasha's back,"
"Then why did you practically go against what I said about Kikyo!" she snapped.
"Inuyasha is too blind to see that she is sneaking off. So we have to watch Kikyo carefully. If we get chased away right now, it'll be hard to keep track of what Kikyo is doing. Please understand Lady Sango… we have to stay in order to find out what she's up to," Miroku closed his eyes after his explanation trying desperately to get Sango to see what he was saying.
They sat there in silence yet again. The only sounds were coming from the crackling fire and the soft jingles as the wind brushed by Miroku's staff.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. Miroku cracked one eye open and stare at his beautiful female companion. The campfire highlighted her lean figure and delicate features.
"Don't worry, no harm was done," he said reassuringly.
"I shouldn't have acted so childishly. He just makes me so mad at times. Especially when he defends that clay pot," Sango admitted while gently stroking Kirara.
"It's understandable," smiled Miroku. They sat around the campfire enjoying the silence. It was a nice change without the loud mouth Inuyasha around. The only sounds were the crickets chirping and the wood crackling in the fire.
"AHHHHH!" a scream replaced the peaceful silence. Both Miroku and Sango immediately grabbed their items and mounted the transformed Kirara and began to make their way to the source of the sound.
They alighted down in the clearing with Kikyo surrounded by hundreds of demons. They scanned the area but Inuyasha wasn't in sight.
"Shit!" cursed Sango, she tried to herd Kirara the other way but the whole clearing was surrounded.
"Kikyo, what is the meaning of this?" yelled Miroku from across the clearing. He held his staff in a defensive position as did Sango with her weapon.
"I'm sure you'd figure it out if you haven't already," she said.
"Where's Inuyasha?" asked Miroku
"He's… temporarily occupied. But don't worry, he won't die just yet. I still need him for the jewel shards and the death of my reincarnation," replied Kikyo. She turned around and began walking away. The demons parted for her but she eventually disappeared in the crowd of demons. A soft whisper in the wind reached their ears, "Goodbye and see you in hell."
As her voice faded, the demons began their attack. The three of them attacked, blocked, and watched out for each other's backs. But after so long, each one of them was beginning to tire. Due to exhaustion each one of them endured small scratches and bruises.
Kirara gave an almighty roar and tore threw a demon with her fangs and claws but more just kept coming. Both Miroku and Sango stuck close to Kirara in hopes of a clear pathway were they might be able to make an escape. So far, there was no such luck.
"Stand back Lady Sango," Miroku knew they were both tired and about to collapse. He knew he shouldn't risk it with Naraku's saimyoushou around, but it was his last resort. "Wind tunnel!"
Just as expected, those wasps flew out of the safety of the trees and flew straight towards Miroku's right hand. Miroku could already feel the beginning of the poison spread through his veins but he stood his ground.
The poison burned his insides and was starting to make his head pound and spin. Sango watched him worriedly. Sweat beaded his forehead. He knew he couldn't keep it up much longer and almost instantly collapsed onto Kirara. The number of the youkai diminished and seemed if only half of them were left.
Sango tried her best to protect them, but it proved to be very difficult. Kirara with Miroku on her back was restricted to only dodging.
Just then a loud growl filled the area. Many of them faulted and with a swing of her Hiraikotsu, killed several of them at once. She quickly scanned the area for the source of the noise and her eyes landed on the silhouette of a very large dog demon standing on the cliff above them.
It gave another loud growl and jumped off the cliff, and started heading towards them.
