What the deaf mute heard

By: Lunagirl2001

Chapter 8: A monk's duty and a hanyou's memory

(running for dear life from angry readers) OK!!! OK!!! I'm updating!!! Just please don't kill me!!! (wipes off all the rotten veggies that has been thrown at her) where's the love?! (sob)

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"Ok, Miroku. I'm not going to kill you anymore. Now will you quit hiding and come out already?!"

No response.

Sango sighed. 'I wasn't that threatening was I?' Miroku's been gone for a while and even though she hated to admit it, she was beginning to get worried.

"Oh, thank you kind sir!!"

"Oh it was nothing. I'm just being the gentlemen that I am."

Sango smiled. She recognized that voice! "Miroku….kun?"

Miroku turned. "Oh, Sango-chan, how nice to see you again!"

Miroku was still dressed in his dark blue school uniform, sitting down at a bus stop with a girl a little bit older than him sitting down on his lap while he carried her wedding-style against his chest.

"Oh, this is Miohshi. She sprained her ankle, and I couldn't help but stop to assist her." Miroku explained with a small smile on his face.

"Oh really."

Miohshi nodded. "he was even so kind to offer me to sit on his lap so that I could be comfy until the bus comes!"

Sango couldn't decide which was more surprising, the stupidity of this girl or the fact that Miroku was doing this and actually trying to call himself a 'gentlemen'.

Sango put on an innocent smile. "Anyway, Miroku-kun, shouldn't you be getting back home? You wouldn't want Mushin-sempai to worry about you…"

"Mushin?" Miroku said, "I doubt he would worry-"

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Sango said with that same smile on her face, "You should head home." Still smiling, she slammed her fist into a concrete pole and Miroku became wide-eyed as large chunks cracked and fell off leaving a considerable dent in the pole.

"Well?"

"Y-you really should quit Karate Sango-chan…"

v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-v

"you call yourself a monk."

"Monk in training see the difference?"

Sango rolled her eyes at the monk walking next to her. She insisted to walk him home.

"You're pathetic. I don't understand how we've been friends for so long." Sango said while snapping her knuckles.

Miroku smiled. "That's easy. My good looks, great sense of humor and many talents!"

"Nah." Sango teased, "More like, you wouldn't ever leave me alone since when I saved you from all those-"

"Please. Don't remind me." Miroku interrupted, "And I can't help it, I was always this way. All of my life I've just enjoyed Videogames, Junk food, and mangas to rituals, fasts and sutras."

"yeah, it's kinda hard to visualize you any other way." Sango agreed.

Both teenagers smiled. Then suddenly one's was replaced with an angry scowl.

"You stupid pervert!!!" Sango shouted slapping Miroku's face as hard as she could.

Miroku sighed as Sango stormed off. "Every day another slap. One of these days my face is going to go numb…" He couldn't help but grin at that. "but then again, she'd probably find out another way to hurt me."

His self-conversation suddenly ended as a unusual feeling swept over his body. It felt as though there were a bonfire glowing right behind him and it just kept on getting hotter by the second. He turned around to only find a crowd of people walking behind him.

'I…probably was just imagining things.'

But no sooner he thought that, the feeling rushed towards him again. He once again looked through the crowd, and noticed something different-there seemed to be a dark red light faintly surrounding one person. Miroku blinked and looked again, but the light was still there. And as this person grew closer, the fiery heat became stronger.

'what's going on?!'

The person walked past him, his long white hair reflecting the light surrounding him. He stopped and turned to the Monk that seemed to be staring at him.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku asked still having that confused look across his face.

Inuyasha pulled out his notebook, wrote something down and threw the page at Miroku. Then he walked away, not even looking at his classmate again.

Miroku glanced at the paper on the ground.

"Freak"

"Oh, Like you're one to talk!-or not talk!" He ignored how stupid that sounded and bent down to pick up the notebook paper.

"Ouch!" Miroku pulled his hand away from the paper. His fingertips felt like they just touched acid!

'Ok. This just crossed the line between odd and inhuman. Maybe I should see Mushin after all…'

he picked up the paper by a tiny corner and promptly stuffed the paper into his pocket.

"DEMON BE GONE!!"

"MUSHIN!!! MUSHIN!! IT'S ME!!!"

The short, old monk lowered his staff and smiled. "Oh, Miroku. Your friend told me you'd be home early. She seemed a bit peeved, for whatever reason."

'ever-reliable Sango.' "That's not important now." Miroku reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out the paper that still felt likefire when you touched it.

Mushin gasped. "Get away Miroku!"

"W-what?"

Mushin pulled out three of his sutras and threw them at the paper-causing the paper to emit a huge puff of red smokebefore itturned into dust.

Miroku stared.

"What were you thinking bringing something with such a powerful youki to our temple!!" Mushin shouted.

"Youki? Nowadays? You're joking!"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"no, you look drunk."

"I'm not drun-focus will you?!" Mushin shouted, "Where did you get this?!"

"a classmate threw it at me." Miroku answered.

Mushin looked seriously at Miroku. "Miroku, this youki couldn't have come from anything besides a powerful demon. A demon filled with evil."

'Kagome-chan!'

"Now, let's get something to drink ok?" Mushin said with a drunk grin.

"MUSHIN!!"

"Kidding. I'm kidding." Mushin put on his serious face again. "Miroku, you must have protection while you are around this person." He threw the staff he carried at the teenage monk in front of him.

"What's this for?"

"That staff is a powerful heirloom. It's an important tool for monks and you can create barriers with it." Mushin said. "You should keep this with you at all times."

"Wait a minute! What do you mean 'at all times'?!"

"With a lousy monk like you you're going to need all the protection you can get."

"Hey!!"

Mushin turned his back to Miroku and headed inside. "I'm going to get something to drink-see you tomorrow."

"Hmp. He calls me lousy." Miroku put the gold-and-wooden staff over his shoulder and followed the old monk in.

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Inuyasha pulled his hair into a low ponytail and picked up his mop.

'sheesh. Can't there be one day where the mall just stays clean?!' He pushed his bucket of sudsy water across the floor in silence. The mall had closed an hour ago, and he was the janitor.

"If only I were normal, then I'd get a better job." He grumbled quietly, "or at least I'd get to listen to something. Damn security guards."

'Normal…' Inuyasha sighed, 'that's been my only wish all my life. If there was only a way I could somehow 'get rid' of my demon blood then I'd be able to live as a human. I wouldn't have to put on this act-as well as it may work.'

(flashback)

"Please, spare some money for food…please…"

Inuyasha stared at the old man sitting by the road. He sat there every day begging-he was blind and homeless.

'poor guy.' Inuyasha thought.

"I haven't eaten in days." The old man pleaded.

A bunch of teenage boys who were walking by stopped and laughed.

"yeah, sure old man." One of them said pulling out a coin. He threw it so hard into the cup that all the money inside spilled out into his open hand.

The old man smiled. "Thank you so much sir, may god bless you."

"No, thank you….sucker…." the boy said while he and his friends ran off with the old man's money.

Inuyasha gasped. 'How could they do such a cruel thing?!' he thought running back to his house as fast as his legs could carry him. When he came back he had a shopping bag full of any food the nine-year-old could grab.

"Mister! Mister!!" Inuyasha shouted handing over the food he had brought. He placed a muffin into the old man's open hand. "I was here earlier and I saw those boys. They-"

"they stole my money. I know."

Inuyasha gawked. "How did you-"

The man smiled and pointed to one of his ears. "I heard the money drop. But it's alright."

"How is it alright?!"

The old man smiled at the confused boy. "What's your name kid?"

"Inuyasha."

The old gentleman rested his hand atop the boy's head. "Inuyasha, you're a good kid. But the world we live in isn't a happy place. People avoid those who need help, because they're too focused with their own busy schedule, they don't want to be bothered by the blind, crippled, deaf, mute… it's a rare sight to find a person who would take the chance to stop."

"But-"

"Don't worry Inuyasha, those kids were just being human. But a person who actually would stop, well…that's a miracle."

Inuyasha smiled. "thanks."

"Now, what do we have to eat here?" The man asked with a smile.

"Let's see…that's a banana-nut muffin, I also have a few slices of pizza and some celery andsome fried chickenand-"

"What're you trying to feed? Me or any army?!"

"Well you looked hungry!!"

(end of flashback)

'Feh. Was he ever right, Being both deaf and mute has made people not want anything to do with me…except for…Kagome…'

But a person who actually would stop, well…that's a miracle.

Inuyasha smiled and continued his work.

I'll probably get a lot of flames for this chapter, but I kept on getting questions wondering why Inuyasha bothered to be mute along with deaf. He figured that if one would make people ignore you, then two disabilities would be the icing on the ignorance cake. (puts on raincoat for veggie protection) Anyhoo, please keep reviewing! I'll update by next month! Promise!!