DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any related characters. The story and art is property of the great Rumiko Takahashi. This fan fiction is for entertainment purposes only, and in no way will be used for my betterment. I wrote this because I admire the owner's work and wish to daydream about the characters.

Thank you all! Here ya go! nreep!

YOU MAKE ME BREATH

Chapter 2: Please smile

Miroku's body was in such an odd position. He looked like he had collapsed out of shear, unadulterated exhaustion. His robes were water logged, much like Sango's, and along the underside, stained a dark brown by the fresh, moist mud that caked it. Someone, or something, had ripped at his clothing, revealing several areas of bare skin. The jagged edges of the fabric made faces at her, looking like evil smirks. Smiles that taunted Sango. But the odd the was the way his body was contorted. Through her blurred vision Sango could make out the tilt of his body, and the way that his arm rested on the ground as if holding someone closely and tightly, and some of his hair had come loose.

Her pain-filled head started buzzing. Thoughts flew from one side to the other, bouncing off the walls at top speeds, colliding into each other and sticking. It didn't take her too long to figure out that he had been holding someone, and that that someone was her. And his arm had been in a very common place for his hand to wander...

"Hentai" she shouted, her voice barely above its normal volume, and Sango brought her hand in a week and pathetic slap. Her arm felt so tired and empty of all strength, and her shout made her as comfortable as slamming her head against a wall. If the increase in the throbbing wasn't so great her stomach wouldn't be churning nearly as badly. Sango's stomach threatened to empty itself.

She expected Miroku to wake up and give her some lame excuse for his lecherous behavior. But he didn't stir at all except for rolling over due to the momentum of her slap. Sango decided to risk leaning into his face, just to see if he was smirking his usual perverted grin because her vision had blurred so badly again that she could just manage to make him out.

No smile lingered on his face, no slight upwards lift of the lips. It wasn't even the collected look that she was so familiar with. Instead it was the same sort of expression he had in the the few times that his concern or worry escaped. Seeing this worried Sango, and somehow in a way she couldn't explain, frightened her more then the dream that had woken her up.

"Houshi-sama... I need you to smile now..." Sango whispered. She suddenly felt lost and confused, standing alone in the dark. Panic began to raise up in her. Where was she? What had happened? Where were Inuyasha and Kagome? Sango couldn't tell what was worse, the pain in her head, or the pain in her heart. Miroku may have very well been completely innocently protecting her from something. And she had put one and one together and gotten three.

"Please...please smile"