Disclaimer: If I owned InuYasha, I wouldn't have to be using a fanfic site, now would I?

Author's Notes: This is an idea that I pulled from the murky depths of my imagination. I guess it'll show you that I can do more than call people crazy and throw them in a glass case! (You would've had to have read my other fanfic, A Day at the Shrink's, to get that one.)

Sango sat with her chin resting on her knees, absently watching a clear, blue river. There was so much that had happened since InuYasha, Kagome and Miroku had entered her life. All the demons they had faced, all the perils they had braved and all the times she had gotten to slap Miroku senseless.

She smiled vaguely. The amount of all three was too many to count. Over the course of her sad life, she had managed to make such good friends. There was just something nagging at her, something that always lingered at the back of her mind.

That thing was Miroku. Sango wasn't sure how long she had known him, but she still couldn't understand him. Miroku had always smiled and been polite (if he wasn't groping her ass) and treated her as a comrade in battle. Yet, in some very special cases, he allowed Sango to see a different Miroku. He allowed her to see the Miroku that she loved, and that loved her. At least, that was what she hoped.

But Sango reprimanded herself every time she got too friendly with the monk. Why was that? She loved this man, she truly did. So why was she ashamed of it? Why did she try to sever her emotional attachments to him? Why was she so afraid to admit it?

Her last thought hung in the air, glaring down at her. It stayed for a while, before again fading into the back of her mind.

"Sango-chan!" She looked up to see Kagome running towards her.

"What is it?"

"It's Miroku-sama!" Kagome explained through gasps of air, "He's vanished!"

"Vanished?" Sango repeated, "As in to the nearby village so he can get friendly with the women?"

Kagome shook her head, "No! There's no trace of him! InuYasha-kun can't even detect his scent anywhere! It's as if he was never here at all!"

"What?" Sango was stunned. How could this have happened? "Where could he have gotten off to?"

"And how did he get there?" Kagome added.

"It must be a youkai of some sort," Sango suggested, "What else could've done this?"

"I'm not sure, but we better start looking!"

Sango nodded, following Kagome back to their camp. She mounted Kilala, joined by Shippou, and Kagome climbed on InuYasha's back. Then, the search for Miroku began.

After what felt like hours, the four finally decided to stop at an inn and continue looking in the morning.

"Excuse me," Sango stopped the inn hostess as she was about to go upstairs, "Have you seen a monk pass through this village?"

"Many monks come here," the hostess shrugged, "Describe him."

"He has black hair in a small ponytail, wears a robe that's mostly purple, has blue eyes and…" Sango looked at the hostess, "He's a pig with women."

The inn hostess raised an eyebrow, "Well that certainly narrows it down. I might've seen the monk you're looking for," she paused, "And I might've slapped him."

"I believe that's the monk," Sango smiled, "Did he say anything about where he was going?"

"No," the hostess scowled, "He just relentlessly gave my rear a massage."

"Well, I'm glad you gave him proper punishment," Sango sighed inwardly. They still had no information about Miroku, "Arigato. Good night!"

The inn hostess inclined her head before continuing her journey up the stairs.

Sango found the room she and her friends were staying in, lying down on her bed. How the hell could they find him? How they even guarantee that he was alive?

The horrible thought stayed in her mind, like a great dark bird, watching its prey before going in for the kill.

Sango had no idea, how true that would become.