Author's Notes: OMG, the 13-year-old inside of me is SCREAMING! I can't believe YITM has hit 500 REVIEWS! My readers are the best, seriously, I could not do what I do if it weren't for all of you! I've been dreaming of hitting such a review count for a very long time, so I want to thank all of you for making that dream happen for me! Hopefully you are all enjoying the story and continue to enjoy it until the end!

Another crazy goal you helped me to achieve is 100,000 VIEWS on YITM. That's a lot of clicks, and again, I could not be more grateful! Please, if you are leaving reviews here not signed in, PLEASE go to my tumblr because I am answering each and every review of yours, I swear! And this leads me to…

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to xXShadow-KissedXx, who, not only pushed my review count to 500, she hopped on and reviewed every single chapter! You left such lovely reviews, and your words really spurred me on to continue writing! Thank you so much xXShadow-KissedXx, I really appreciate all the effort you went through to let me know how much you enjoyed YITM! I hope you liked the sneak-peek of chapter 33! Now here's the rest!

Beta: Penthesileia

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter 33: Renewed Solidarity

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Sango

Time went by.

Impossibly slow or incredibly fast? Sango had lost all sense of it. The monk insisted that she was safe, that Hojou was nearby, but Sango had no proof of his words. Every time her conscious surfaced, every time she became aware of her surroundings, the monk was there. Humming the same tune, giving her small sips of water. Sometimes he spoke. Sometimes he was silent.

Sango took every moment she could to watch him.

She was desperate for information, for anything that might help her when she was finally able to move again - if - she were able to move again. She was becoming increasingly frustrated that the monk's face was a mask. The only emotion he spared was a small smile of amusement every once in a while, which in and of itself was incredibly frustrating.

His touch was gentle. The few times he smiled was gentle. If he were just someone I'd met randomly on the street… Would I…?

Stockholm syndrome was a thing. Sango knew of it well. She'd been trained on it. She knew her thoughts were turning traitorously against her. She knew it the first time she dared to think he was 'nice.' And just like the first time she had the traitorous thought, she shoved it down.

She couldn't afford to feel anything other than anger. Quiet, calm, calculated anger.

"Your mind is racing again," the monk said. "It's easily read on your face."

"I have nothing to do but think," she replied.

"You will move again one day, Slayer."

Sango frowned. "So you keep telling me."

"The old woman has seen to that. You were far more injured than your companion. You are just taking longer to put back together again."

Hojou, he meant. She turned her head, unwilling to look at him. "Again, I've seen nothing to prove that what you're saying is true. All I see when I wake up is this room. The only person I see is you."

His elongated pause caused her to face him again. His lips were curled up in that same damn smile. His head tilted back slightly, and he laughed.

It wasn't a big laugh. It was soft, just as soft as his spoken words. But it was genuine, more so than the smiles he'd shown her so far.

"Yes, very true. You're smart to question what I say to you. Sorry," he added, once he caught the irritation on her face, "it is just very refreshing, to speak to you as I have been able to so far. It has taken me by surprise if I am honest. I had almost forgotten over the years what regular conversation is like, free from Kikyou's listening ear."

"You call this regular conversation?" she asked.

"Amusing, I know," he admitted. "But you're correct, you are taking a very long time to heal. It must be fate that you brought it up since I have a present for you that will help."

"I don't want anything from you," she spat.

"And I understand why. I believe that this, however, will cause you to reconsider." he reached into his pocket, the bells on the end of his staff tinkering along with his movements.

It was pinched between his thumb and index finger, a small shard of glass. It was a dull pink color, like Himalayan rock salt she'd seen in fancier restaurants. But so what, it was just a piece of glass, what could she possibly want with that?

"By the look on your face, I can safely assume you do not recognize the jewel."

"Jewel?" she asked.

"I'm surprised the hanyou did not inform you of it. This jewel is why he and your friend were so desperate to leave this place before you healed."

It clicked then. She remembered the first night she'd met Inuyasha, how Kagome had convinced her to stay in the museum after-hours, how she had pulled him out of the mirror… How his hunger after so many years locked up in the mirror had caused him to double over in pain. And then the explanation, sitting outside of the fast food joint, Inuyasha finishing the last of his mountain of burgers and fries, he and Kagome explaining the story…

Her eyes widened.

"This is it?" she breathed, "this is the jewel that was ripped from Kagome's side?"

"The Shikon no Tama. You have heard of it, then. Yes, it is the same that was ripped from your friends' side. Although," he said, sighing heavily and sitting back onto his heels, "it is just a piece."

"You ripped it from her side," she corrected, pinning her gaze to his own. Bastard wasn't going to try and brush his actions off like they were nothing and get away with it. She watched as his smile turned sad. Or… what is just her imagination?

"Ah," he finally replied, "another act to atone for, one of the many, I'm afraid. When Kikyou demands actions from me I must obey."

"Why? Just tell the bitch no."

"I cannot."

"Why?"

His mouth returned to its habitual, straight line, his expression masked once more. "Slayer, we have discussed this already. You know the answer."

Just trying to catch you in one of your lies, she thought, not daring to give away her tactics out loud. She clenched her teeth against the urge to say it. He knew she was perceptive, but there was a chance he wasn't sure how perceptive she could really be, and just as her father had trained her to for seventeen years, she wasn't about to reveal any information she didn't have to.

"I have no use for the jewel," she finally said, purposely directing the subject back to the shard, "What am I going to do with a useless piece of rock?"

The monk's head tilted to the side. "Didn't the hanyou tell you what it can do?"

"He told me he can use it to help him get rid of Kikyou, but details aren't his strong point."

"He was correct. However, the Shikon no Tama does much more than that. This very shard, in fact, is going to speed up your healing process." he paused, watching her for any change in her expression, probably. "I am sorry I could not bring it to you sooner. It took a bit to track this piece down. It's not easy to do, I'm afraid."

"I don't want it."

"Slayer, it could take you ages to heal. You may be an old woman before you walk again, if you walk again. Do not waste your youth due to your refusal of this gift."

"I don't believe you."

His lips pressed together, the only sign of his annoyance. A spark lit within her; pride that she could bother him so.

"You do not have to believe me. Not yet." He moved then, his hands lifting her head up and his knees slipping under.

"Don't touch me!"

"Hush. When you wake up, you will feel better."

"No, don't!" She tried with all her might to struggle against him, but her body lay still, useless and defeated.

"N-no…" she was losing consciousness again, her lids drooping, her vision hazy.

"N-...no…"

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"Kaede! Kaede!" Footsteps pounded - quick - sending vibrations through the wooden floor. Sango could feel it, even through the futon she was laying on. A door slammed open.

"Kaede! She's awake!"

Sango opened her eyes. She was in that same damn room. She was sick of waking up and staring at the same freaking ceiling every morning. Something was different, though. It took a few seconds for her foggy brain to realize she hadn't awoken to that soft, calm humming she'd become accustomed to.

She fought back the sliver of disappointment that tried to surface.

She almost called out for the monk when the vibrations from those footsteps became stronger, grew louder. Two large, brown eyes filled her vision. They were wide and… Terrified? Elated? She couldn't quite tell.

"Sango!" he breathed. "You're awake!"

"H… Hojou?" Sango asked, now convinced she was still unconscious and just having a really, really believable dream. Her mouth fell open. The last time she'd seen of Hojou he was on the floor of the attic, and by all laws of nature, dead. His head gashed open, his skull cracked through. No way had he survived. No way.

"Sango, you've been out of it for such a long time! How do you feel? How is your head? Can you move? Can you sit up? Are you thirsty? You must be thirsty, one sec!" His words were jumbled together, fast and eager. In contrast, Sango's brain felt slow and moronic, like she couldn't keep up. Her hand shot out to grab onto his arm as he started to move away.

"Is it really… you…?" She asked, not quite ready to believe it was. She had been so convinced that the monk was lying, that he was holding her hostage and trying to get her hopes up that she was really safe.

"Of course it's me!" He beamed. "I have a lot to tell you, but I know you're probably uncomfortable, but you're moving around, that's such a good sign! Kaede will be happy." He took her hand and held it in both of his, giving it a squeeze along with a genuine smile. "I'll be right back, I'm going to get you some water." With that, he dropped her hand and left again.

But when he let go of her hand, Sango kept it in the air.

In front of her face.

Slowly she turned it over to look at her palm. It shook under the strain of her underworked muscles.

Tears sprang to her eyes.

It's not possible. It's not… The tears welled over her lashes and fell down her cheeks. Slowly she lifted her chin up to see her other hand - it moved! Her fingers curled and uncurled, she gripped them into weak fists, and her arm shook again with the effort. She tried to sit up, her abdomen muscles screaming in pain. She could only move a few centimeters, and her body vibrated with the attempt.

"Hey, whoa, wait a second, I've got you," Hojou said, setting the tray on the ground and kneeling next to her. He wrapped his arm around her back and helped her sit fully erect. He kept his arm there as she worked at steadying herself.

"This is so great, Sango, it really is! When I first came to my thoughts were completely jumbled and I couldn't remember a lot. I even forgot my own name for a bit." He removed his arm once she was steady and picked up the glass of water from the tray. "Thankfully my memories came back, pretty quick and now I feel normal." He lifted the cup to her lips, but Sango moved her head to the side.

"Sorry, just… can I do it myself?"

"Of course!" he replied, unfazed, and held the glass out for her to take. Again, she felt weak as she gripped her fingers around it, both arms straining to carry the weight of it. Slowly, she lifted it to take a sip.

She wanted to break down and bawl like a toddler right then and there. She had all but given up hope that she would ever be able to do such a simple task again, had given up hope that the mere idea of sipping water on her own threatened to overwhelm her.

She would never take for granted such small freedoms ever again.

"I went back, you know," Hojou babbled on, turning and opening the dresser behind him. "I went back to that… place and I got back what I could."

Sango heard the rattle of chains and metal. Her eyes widened as her youkai hunting weaponry fell out of his arms and clattered to the floor beside her. Hojou smiled wide, waiting for her to finish her drink. But she couldn't move. Her mouth fell open.

"What-"

"I got back all your weapons from there," he said. "When Inuyasha got us out he left everything behind. Good thing it was where we left it."

She turned towards him, unable to allow everything to sink in. "Where are we?" she asked.

"In the forest, on the outskirts of Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture," he said, his face suddenly serious.

"Wh- how did we get here? We're six hours south of Tokyo!" The glass slipped out of her hands and fell empty onto her lap. Sango cursed as she reached out to pick it up again.

"It's… a long story," he said, all excitement gone. "I'm still trying to process it myself. Kaede will explain it to you."

"Is… is the witch here? The monk…? Her words trailed off and she felt her bottom lip quiver ever so slightly, afraid of his answer.

"No, no of course not," he said, shaking his head and taking the glass from her. "We're safe, Kaede said Kikyou cannot find this place. "Plus, I also brought that back." He pointed behind her, and she turned over her shoulder to see her hiraikotsu propped up in the corner of the room. The top of the giant boomerang almost touched the ceiling.

Why did he keep harping on her weaponry? It wasn't important right now. "Are you sure you haven't seen the monk? Because… he's been in this room. I've seen him, I've-"

Hojou leaned in, his arms wrapping around her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug, cutting her words short.

"He's not here, Sango, I promise you. I had dreams too, you know. Vivid, realistic dreams about that fight. I thought for sure we were still in that attic when I first woke up."

Could it be? Had her visits with the monk been completely conjured up in her brain? Had she really just been asleep this whole time? Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Hojou's waist, a feeble attempt to hug him back.

School, classes, Sango's boringly-normal-but-wonderfully-comfortable life seemed so far away at this moment like memories pulled from someone else. Hojou had been a big part of that life, constantly in the background before he and Kagome had made a connection, and then constantly in the forefront when Kagome wouldn't shut up about him. He was always nice, but was he always this friendly?

Yes. Kagome had gushed as much about his kindness as his good looks back then. Sango appreciated his kindness now, bringing just a bit of nostalgia of that normalcy back to her now.

...And she had to go and ruin the moment by asking such a ridiculous question, of course.

"Hojou, can you do me a favor and check my legs? And my back? It… it feels like there's something embedded in me somewhere, like a piece of glass or something." It didn't. Her body just felt sore. But the last thing she remembered, whether it was a dream or real life, was the monk threatening to embed the jewel shard in her somewhere. And she wanted to make sure… she wanted to make sure she was really making it all up.

He stiffened slightly, but when he pulled away, that smile was still on his face.

"Sure, I can do that for you. Here, we'll do it slow," he said. Carefully, he lifted the futon covers up off her legs and pushed it to the side.

She was wearing a simple cotton yukata, with pale blue flowers dotting the hem. Through the slit in the fabric, she could see her legs. She had half been expecting they'd be withered and shriveled and pale, but they looked strong and only slightly less tan than she remembered.

Hojou's touch was gentle, and she was overcome suddenly with gratitude. Up until this point, she had considered Kagome as her oldest and truest friend. But with recent events… Once her father had given her Hojou's number, once she realized who was on the other line… Once Hojou had promised her, sincerely promised her that he would help her, he had slowly been nudging himself into first place in that competition. The knowledge that he understood her, that he knew exactly what she was going through as a slayer himself… it meant something.

He peeled back the Yukata from her legs and lifted them gently, one at a time, looking them over with proficient eyes before coming them back up again.

"Okay, hold it together here while I check your stomach," he said, pointing to her lap. Sango tried to suppress the blush that crept over her cheeks as she held the fabric together in her hands. Hojou untied the yukata at her waist and slipped it open. She was glad to see her breasts were loosely bound, a rudimentary bra since her modern once had probably been completely ruined by her brothers' blade.

Don't think of that now, she berated herself as Hojou nodded, his assessment of her midsection done.

"Nothing here, Sango. Let me check your back."

Wincing at the feeling of all the small muscles in her shoulders and back coming to life after such a long time, she gently shrugged the fabric off her shoulders and let it fall around her waist. She felt Hojou's fingertips at her back. They were tracing something, a shape she couldn't make out.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's a scar," he said quietly. "It's a big scar, it takes up a good portion of your upper back. No glass, though. Looks kinda like a spider..."

"Great, a giant spider on my back, just what I wanted," Sango muttered. They were both quiet for a moment, and Sango let his words sink in. She knew what the scar was from.

"I have to apologize," Hojou finally said, his hands leaving her back, "for what happened in that house."

"It's not your fault," she said, probably too quickly.

"I was overly confident in my abilities. I thought with you and me together, we'd be able to get in and out, no problem. I didn't stop to think that the way we do things might not work when it comes to an evil that's not youkai."

Sango winced again as she shrugged back into the yukata and began to re-tied it at her waist. She turned her head to look at him.

"We both know what went wrong in that attic, Hojou, and it wasn't overconfidence on our end," she tried to hide the spite in her voice and failed. It was a few moments before he replied.

"...I know what you're thinking."

"How could I not think it? We both know it's true."

"You blame her," he said, without hesitation, "I can't say I wasn't… disappointed in her actions too."

"It doesn't matter anymore," she muttered, not wanting to think about it. "It killed her, so none of it matters."

"Hey," he said, eyes widening slightly. "Kagome's alive, you know."

It was a slap in the face.

"What?" She said, her hands freezing on the yukata tie.

"Kagome's alive. She's not here, but she's alive."

The acid built up and threatened to bubble over in Sango's stomach.

"You're sure?" she asked, half expecting him to take it back. At his nod, she gripped onto the sheets in her lap. "Where is she?"

Hojou's brows furrowed together. He sat back against the wall and propped his elbow on his knee, his eyes turning to gaze out one of the many windows that encircled the room.

"Inuyasha," he said, a muscle in his jaw clenching. "She's with Inuyasha."

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Hope you all enjoyed chapter 33! I'm very excited to get moving and get chapter 34 up for all of you to see! Please, as always, let me know what you think! I really love to read everything you have to say about it!

~SugarRos