Chapter twenty: Memories

Sengoku Jidai. 1602 a.C.

Sango bowed three times and knelt down, then, closing her eyes, kissed the tip of her fingers and took them to the dark stone in front of her.

Inuyasha felt a strange tingle in his stomach at this and turned his head to the sky. The clouds were white as cotton and the sunrays warmed his face. How different was the weather that year… even if no doubt, there would still be rain.

"Even since the last battle, there's a rumor about this place being haunted," she said with a little smile. Kirara, who had been resting on her shoulder, jumped down and started chasing a couple of butterflies that passed over her head.

Inuyasha looked around; it wasn't strange that such stories surrounded the tomb, well, if it could be called a tomb. There were shriveled trees around the clear and many fallen, blackened logs and shattered, teeth-like rocks adorned the periphery, giving an unnatural air to the surroundings. Also, despite green, tall grass that moved along with the wind garnished the place. There were many patches here and there where only bare dirt could be seen, and where, he was sure, nothing would ever grow again.

And they were standing right in the middle of the largest of them. Well, more than a patch, it was a deep, sterile hole, and there was where the black monolith rested; it was the only physical testimony of a man who existed once and whose name was Miroku.

Inuyasha's mind returned to the last time he had been there; he was still a hanyou and he and his friends were battling for the tama, and for their lives.

Miroku's last seconds on this earth returned to his mind with a painful throb in his guts and also all of what came to pass after that; how the completed Shikon no Tama had landed at Kagome's feet, and how it had been purified at her single touch, turning into a beautiful, bright shade of pink. Pure and ethereal.

He also remembered how Naraku… that filthy, repugnant thing that had been born into existence from that poor bastard Onigumo, lashed at her, ready to crush her frail body between his miasma filled tentacles.

Inuyasha recalled looking around in desperation, discovering Kirara passed out, Sango shocked, unable to move, and Miroku gone. Luckily they had managed to get rid of Kanna and those youkai at Naraku's service. Naraku himself had killed his servant Kagura just weeks before.

But still, he wouldn't be able to vanquish that thing alone, he knew it, his pride hurt and he felt maniacally homicidal, but yet, he knew it. It didn't matter if they got the tama and ran away, it didn't matter if they hid forever, Naraku would always follow, and in that very moment he was about to kill again.

And it would be Kagome.

So Inuyasha did the only thing he could think of to save her; he jumped to her and took her in his arms, escaping from Naraku's limbs by a mere second.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing?" asked Kagome with trembling voice. Her eyes were red and her face showed her sorrow at Miroku's fate. Inuyasha placed her carefully on the upper branch of a tree and forced her hand open, retrieving the tama.

He looked at her, trying to transmit all of what he was feeling at the moments. The words wouldn't come to him. "Trust me," was the only thing he said, next he jumped down in front of Naraku, ignoring Kagome's cries, resolute. He knew what he had to do… A pure wish.

So the tama would be gone forever, and with it, all the pain and disgraces it had caused… and any power it had granted. Including Naraku's.

"I'm glad, really, that way people won't come here to disturb my Houshi-Sama's tomb," Sango said while she cleaned the dry flowers around the stone, the ones she herself had placed there last year, and carefully laid the freshly cut ones she had gathered. Inuyasha's mind returned to the present.

"There you go, Miroku," she whispered, her eyes fixed on the monolith. "Here I am again, as I promised, and this time Inuyasha's decided to accompany me."

All that devotion, those caring words… he felt that angry tingle again.

"Why do you talk to him? I though you believed he had transcended," said Inuyasha grimly, his arms crossed over his chest. Sango turned her profile to him, the recriminating gaze made him regret his words at once.

"If you're not going to pay your respects, then the least you could do is to hold you tongue, Inuyasha."

Her eyes remained hard as they turned to the stone. Inuyasha became speechless as a wave of shame washed over him, he didn't know why he had said such thing; it was Miroku's last place on earth where he was standing on, his friend. He, who fought along him and who gave his life for all of them… but more specifically, for Sango, the girl who he loved and who loved him back. Another tingle.

Anyway, he shouldn't have said that. He knelt down next to her.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that," he mumbled and bowed twice, as Sango had done.

Her face became soft again when she regarded him. "It's okay, I'm glad you came, really, just try not to be your old self," she said with a faint, but roguish smile.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know, you had been so agreeable during the whole trip until now."

"Keh!" She chuckled at his classic response but it was replaced with a long sigh.

"What?" he asked.

"I do believe he has transcended, but still it feels nice to talk to him, I like to think that somehow, wherever he is, he can listen to me and that he's watching over me, you know? I like to feel he hasn't totally left me."

Inuyasha made a face and looked at the stone.

"You still love him, don't you?" he asked before he could stop the words.

Sango looked at him a little startled. They usually talked about many things but he almost never asked her that kind of questions. "I… well, yes, I do, though not as much as you still love Kagome, I guess." She shrugged her shoulders, positively avoiding his eyes.

What was that supposed to mean?

Before Inuyasha could voice this, Sango continued, "although, it's different since I know that no matter what, Miroku will never come back to me and I am resigned to that. I suppose the issue is easier for me, because it's over, but you… well, Kagome didn't die, she just left, and one day she might come back, or she might not… I bet that must have been killing you all these three years."

Inuyasha was agape, he didn't know he was that transparent, or perhaps, it was only that Sango knew him that well? And did he note a hurt tone when she said the last part?

"I… um… sort of…"

"What would you do if she returned? Let's say, if she were at the village when we came back?"

Inuyasha scratched his head, his brow furrowed. "I—I don't know, I'd be happy I guess. Why are you asking me that?" he rushed to say.

"Why did you ask me that about Miroku?"

"I was just curious alright? Can't I ask a simple question?" He stood up and dusted his clothes. "I'll go hunt s'mthing, I'm hungry as hell, ain't you? It's already past noon, what d'you want? Deer or rabbit?" He said all this so fast that he barely understood his own words.

Sango blinked a couple of times and then pointed at the north with her finger. "Um… there's a village about three hours walking from here, but we can go on Kirara if you're so hungry."

"Fine, whatever."

Sango looked at him with a strange look while she called for Kirara, who transformed right away into a great fire neko. The youkai lowered her body so Sango could climb up.

"Ok, let's go, jump up." She patted the spot behind her.

Inuyasha could feel his hands starting to sweat. When hunting youkai, rarely had they had to mount on Kirara at the same time, but he had to accept he enjoyed those times very much. And now there was the chance again, and this time without the pressure of a dragon slashing at them or a giant firefly throwing venom at their heads.

Of course he knew he was physically attracted to Sango, who wouldn't? The girl was beautiful, and her eyes… and her body… but something pulled him back each time he started to feel that way, maybe because it felt like he was betraying Kagome, maybe because he had known her for so long and he didn't want to mess up things, or maybe just because he didn't want to get hurt again. What the hell was he thinking?

"Inuyasha? Are you coming?"

He craved for it. No wait! He didn't want to! Well, he did, but he didn't! Oh what the hell!

Inuyasha dropped his shoulders in defeat and climbed behind her as her silky hair brushed his face. He embraced her slim waist with one hand as the other held her by the shoulder. He breathed in her essence and allowed his mind to feel dizzy and his lower belly to feel electrified.

Well… there was nothing to do about it… As long as Sango didn't realize it, this little bliss wouldn't harm anyone.

Inuyasha was so lost in his own sensations that he didn't notice when Kirara took off, or the wind passing through his black hair, or that the girl sitting in front of him was shivering, her heavy eyelids closed at the feeling of his chest against her back, and the hand surrounding her sensitive waist, and the heat emanating from him, mixing up with her own.