What the deaf mute heard
By LunaGirl20001
Chapter 12: Miroku's feelings for sheep
"Papa! Kohaku! I'm back!"
Sango slipped off her shoes and walked into her living room, to find her little brother glued to the Television.
"Is it so hard to even say 'Hi Sango, where were you'?" Sango asked the ten-year-old.
Her little brother didn't take his eyes off the video game he was playing. "Hi Sango. Where'd you go?" Kohaku said monotonously.
"I went to visit my friends. Thank you for asking Kohaku! Where you worried about me?"
"No."
Sango stopped trying. She knew it was pointless. "So, where's Papa?"
"Don't tell me you didn't notice..."
Sango stared at the boy sitting on the floor. "... Notice what?" she asked cautiously.
"Take a sniff."
She did. "Smoke... PAPA!"
Sango sprinted to the other side of the house, opening the door to her kitchen. It was filled with a thick gray smoke.
"Papa! How many times do I have to tell you, you don't cook!"
Sango's father laughed. "Is that you Sango? How are you doing?"
Coughing, Sango opened a window and pushed her father away from the stove. Using an oven mitt she picked up the pan he was using and put it into their metal sink. Her father calmly opened a few doors, and soon the smoke was cleared from the kitchen.
"Well, Sango, you weren't here. We had to eat, and Kohaku's too young to use the stove."
"Papa, he's ten. He's more than capable to--"
"Anyway, where were you?" Sango's father interrupted.
Sango sighed. "I went to visit some friends."
"I certainly hope it was an emergency. You left without a word to anyone."
'He expects me to be a modern-warrior, but he worries when I go out for a stroll.' She thought. "It was, papa."
Sango's father thought a bit. "Say! By 'friends', you don't mean that idiot Miroku, do you!"
"Miroku's my best friend. I'd appreciate it if you didn't call him an idiot--Papa! You're sleeve's on fire!"
"Gah!" Sango's father grabbed a thick towel out of a drawer and put out the flames on his suit jacket sleeve, while Sango turned off the burner on the stove.
"Now do you realize why I am the only one who cooks? What were you trying to make anyway?" Sango nagged.
"Oatmeal."
"In a frying pan!"
"How else would you cook it?"
Sango sighed. "For future reference, you cook oatmeal in the microwave with water."
Her father tossed aside the towel revealing that his jacket sleeve was the only thing the flame had burned. He tossed the ruined towel aside. Sango picked it up off the floor.
"Aw... This is the bath towel I hand-embroidered." She said.
"What's it doing in the kitchen?"
Sango held it out to her father. "That's why."
Carefully embroidered into the side of the towel was the image of a sheep, which was jumping over a fence.
"A couple days ago, Miroku came over when I was hanging up laundry... You know how he is about sheep. I threw it in here so he could calm down enough to talk. Must've forgotten about it.."
Sango's father rolled his eyes. "No matter how old I get, I'll never understand what you see in him. That boy has serious issues." He turned around and left the kitchen.
Sighing, Sango started cleaning up the mess her father had made. She grabbed a sponge and started cleaning the frying pan. Glancing back at the ruined towel, Sango started laughing.
"Miroku, only you could be terrified of sheep." She said being reminded of the first time that she met him.
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Ten years ago, when Sango was only six, she and her father went to a petting zoo-- mainly because her pregnant mother was really annoyed with the two of them, and the petting zoo was a good way to get rid of them.
Her father bought some sheep food and handed it to Sango.
"You give this to the animals. They'll eat out of your hand and then you can pet them." He said.
Sango nodded, and walked into the gate. When she was about to feed a small lamb, it turned away running. Confused, Sango chased after it. She entered a small barn, and found around fifteen sheep surrounding a cornered boy.
"Somebody! Help meeeee!" He shouted, his eyes two waterfalls of tears.
He was about the same age as Sango, with blue eyes that matched his blue overalls. His black hair was tied into a small ponytail on the back of his head, and he wore a purple strip of cloth around his right hand that was tied on by a set of Buddhist prayer beads.
He had made the mistake of stuffing the sheep food in his pockets, and apparently the sheep wanted some. The huge crowd of sheep ran to the boy, making him fall to the ground. They bit at his chest and pant legs in attempt to find the food he had hidden.
"Augh! Help!" He wailed, "Please! Someone help!"
Sango ran over to the hungry sheep. "HEY! SHEEP!" she shouted holding out the pile of food her father had bought for her.
Over half the sheep turned around and started running for her. She threw the food aside and she sheep quickly followed.
Pushing aside the sheep that were still biting the boy, she grabbed his hand and started running. The group of sheep bit down on his pant legs. They didn't want the boy gone without their stomachs full.
"Quick! Take off your overalls!" Sango shouted.
Without a second thought, the boy undid the straps to his overalls and the sheep pulled them off. Sango grabbed the boy's hand again and pulled him past the sea of sheep and outside of the barn.
Once safe, the boy's eyes welled up. He put his head on Sango's shoulder and started crying. Being good-natured, she didn't force him to stop. He was really scared. Since he was only wearing sneakers, underwear, and a t-shirt, you could see his arms and legs were covered in bite marks and bruises he got from the sheep. After a little while, he pulled away from Sango and wiped his eyes.
"Thank you... You saved my life!"
Sango laughed. "Of course! I am a warrior after all!"
"I'm Miroku. Will you be my friend?"
"I'm Sango! And sure! I just hope I don't have to save you again."
Miroku scowled and turned toward the barn. "Stupid sheep! I'll make you go away forever!" He shouted and held out his right hand. With his left hand he started to undo the beads around his wrist.
"Miroku! NO!"
The two six-year-olds turned to see a large bald man in monk's robes running towards them. He grabbed Miroku's right hand and pulled him away.
"Don't use… why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
"Mushin-sama!" Miroku protested, "I was going to make the evil sheep disappear!"
"No Miroku! Don't!" Mushin looked over at Sango, and then started pulling him away. "We're leaving. Now."
"Bye bye Sango! I'll find you!" Miroku called as Mushin pulled him out of the petting zoo.
Miroku kept that promise too. Later that day, Miroku walked away from the temple he lived at and knocked at the door of every house he passed until he ended up at Sango's house: more than four blocks away.
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"As much as he tries to hide it, he hasn't changed a bit." Sango said to herself, "He's still the sweet little boy who doesn't think when he acts."
Sango re-played the last part of her flashback again. 'I wonder why Mushin was so worried about Miroku taking off his beads...'
She shrugged. 'He still wears them now. It must be something that has to do with becoming a monk.'
Deciding to focus on reality again, she started working on the kitchen again.
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Inuyasha left the bathroom with his hair soaked. He had put his head under the sink to help the alibi that he told Rin.
"Stupid chocolate. The tastiest food in the world, and I can't eat it without vomiting. That girl's evil… where is she anyway?" He looked around where he left the girl, and she was nowhere in sight. "Oi! Rin! Where'd ya go?" Inuyasha called as he paced the huge Japanese castle he and his brother lived in.
'A building this old and this huge... she could be anywhere!' he thought, his dog-ears listening for any sign of the girl.
As he listened, the sound of a voice appeared. The voice wasn't Rin, but someone older. Her voice was beautiful, but the lullaby she sang struck fear into the very core of Inuyasha. He instantly ran outside to the garden where the voice was coming from.
Yoru no machi wa shizuka de...
...fukai umi no you
Tsuzuku michi ni tada atashi hitori dake.
Tooi koe wo tayori ni...
...aruite yukno.
Zutto sagashiteru...
...sotto hikaru omoi.
hikari...
Inuyasha stopped in front of a woman sitting on a stone bench in the middle of a group of white flowers. She wore a blue and white dress with the bottom of her dress singed and torn. Her long brown hair was pulled back, so you could easily see her beautiful face and cobalt blue eyes. In her lap Rin was curled up with her head resting against one of the woman's arms. She was fast asleep. Inuyasha snatched Rin away from the woman.
"Rin! Wake up!" He said to the girl he was holding, "Wake up now!"
"Calm down Inuyasha." the woman said, "I didn't kill her. I just wanted to ensure we weren't interrupted."
Inuyasha scowled at the woman. "Like I could possibly believe anything you say."
The woman smirked. "Inuyasha, after six months you still are the exact same person. A doubt-filled, terrified, little freak."
"I am not scared of anything. Quit trying to intimidate me. It ain't working." Inuyasha growled.
The woman's expression didn't change. She looked down at Rin.
"So, Inuyasha. I see you're finally getting a friend."
Inuyasha went pale.
"So, why is she here?"
Inuyasha hid how nervous he was. "If you're talking about Rin, you're complaining to the wrong demon."
"Oh? How so?"
"Sesshoumaru's keeping her."
The woman glowered. She slapped Inuyasha across the face so hard he fell to the ground, just barely missing landing on the child on his arms.
"Liar." The woman said scowling, "I made sure he wouldn't care for anyone years ago."
"Feh!" Inuyasha said, standing up again, "I suppose after 500 years in hell, you've gotten a little rusty."
The woman's eyes filled with extreme hatred. "I would suggest you show respect where it's due."
"I am."
The woman stared at Inuyasha's expression. He was filled with confidence... and something else.
"You have changed." She said staring into his gold eyes.
"How so?"
"Your eyes." She answered, "You are always miserable. I ensure that. Yet you seem like you've been smiling again."
"Perhaps I am a masochist."
"No, you aren't." She pulled away, a ring of fire surrounding where she stood.
"Expect to see me again soon. I want to see what you're doing to try and erase my curse."
"Did you forget?" Inuyasha said confidently, "A curse cannot bind you to the earth."
The woman was unfazed. "There's a loophole in everything."
The ring of fire became huge and then dissipated, with the woman gone.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Inuyasha sat down on the bench.
"Sometimes I wonder if fate loves to be against me." Inuyasha said to himself, "But why didn't she just fry me with fire like she usually does? She only slapped..."
He was interrupted by a yawn. He looked down to find Rin waking up.
"What a weird dream..." Rin said as she looked up at Inuyasha, "Why are you holding Rin like a baby?"
Inuyasha instantly let go of her, making her fall ungracefully onto her rear.
"I was not." Inuyasha joked.
Rin laughed. "So, would you like some more chocolate?"
"Ugh... n-no thank you Rin... I'm full." Inuyasha said walking back into the house, when suddenly he stopped.
"Chocolate..." Inuyasha repeated, "Ha! That's it! It's because of tonight! She couldn't do anything because of toni..."
Rin stared, very confused. "What're you talking about?"
Inuyasha gave Rin a smirk. "I'm just saying how happy I am that I'm part human. It's nothing."
He walked back into the house. "Come on Rin. I'll make a real meal for the both of us."
Rin ran after him.
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"Did you know that there is going to be a new moon tonight?"
"I'm praying Mushin!" Miroku called from his bedroom.
"You're reading those dirty comics of yours! Now come out!"
Miroku set down the manga he was reading. 'How does he do that?'
The monk in training got off his bed and left his bedroom. "Honestly Mushin, you should have more faith in me. Do I look like the type of person who would--"
"Yes."
Miroku decided to change the subject. "So, what about the new moon?"
"It's going to be very dark tonight." Mushin said, "I want you to find that demon you saw before."
Mushin walked away. Miroku followed.
"Master Mushin, I may be able to find the demon again, but what happens when I'm fighting a demon with no weapon?"
To be honest, Miroku was only trying to think up an excuse. He knew that no matter how powerful Inuyasha may be, Kagome cares for him very much. So he won't kill him until he has reason.
"You have multiple weapons." Mushin answered.
"Like what!"
"You have your staff. That can uphold force fields, and can hit much harder than any regular staff."
Miroku thought for a moment. "But what if the demon snatches the staff away from--"
"You have spiritual sutras that can paralyze and it, and on lesser demons can even kill them."
"But--"
"And if worst comes to worst, you have a weapon that can destroy anything." Mushin finished, "So no excuses. At dusk, go and find this demon."
Miroku mentally groaned. Mushin was too stubborn to listen. "Yes. Mushin."
"Today has been wayyyyy too long." Miroku said once he was back in his own room. First, he finds out that his classmate isn't human, then that Kagome knows, then that Sango overheard, and now he has to go out and hunt the "demon" he found.
'Maybe, I should go out and...' Miroku looked down at his right hand. It was wrapped up in a purple fingerless glove with prayer beads wrapped around his wrist.
"A weapon that is stronger than anything. A black hole... a Kazanna. A secret I've kept from even Sango."
Miroku shook his head. "Kagome cares for him. I couldn't possibly kill him."
'And for some reason... Inuyasha seems like an old friend I've never met...' His mind added.
He looked out his bedroom window. Dusk would start in one hour.
"Might as well get ready."
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As the orange sun began to set, the Higurashi shrine was finally open for business.
"Now all we need is some customers!"
"Grandpa..." Kagome said, "I don't really think that people who pray should be labeled as 'customers'."
"Of course not!" Kagome's Grandpa said, "The people who buy blessings and good health cranes, and good luck charms! Those will be the ones I call customers!"
Kagome's little brother came out of the house. "Hey sis!"
"Yeah?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"What!" Kagome pulled her little brother's ear. "Don't even think about trying to pin things on me that aren't mine!"
"Owww! Leggo!" Souta protested, "I'm not saying anything! There's just some guy here that says he knows you, and he won't tell mom how you guys met!"
Kagome's jaw dropped. Slowly, she let go of Souta's ear."...what did he look like."
"Blue school uniform... loooong hair..."
Kagome started running to her house. 'Inuyasha! Why are you here?'
She slammed open the door to her house. "I'm back!"
Her mother walked to the doorway. "Oh Kagome! Welcome back. Can you please explain something?"
A tall young man followed her. He had long black hair and large purple eyes. He wore the uniform to her school, but other than that, nothing about him was familiar.
"Um... who are you?"
The young man laughed nervously while Kagome's mother looked daggers at him. "Ha ha! Kagome, you kidder! Please don't pretend that you don't know me! Your mother will slaughter me!"
Kagome recognized his voice. 'Inuyasha?... he's not wearing a hat! And... his ears! There's no dog-ears anywhere! He looks... human!'
She examined his face carefully. It was without a doubt Inuyasha.
'This is too weird...' she thought, 'is he a clone?'
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Confused? Yeah, I'd be too. Just come back in the next chapter, and all your questions will be answered! Thanks again for reading!