A/N: This entry is late; I kind of slacked off because the site was being buggy - my apologies!

DAY 4

Miroku: Obsessed

They were passing through a village in the late afternoon and Miroku performed a fake exorcism, as per usual. He was also shamelessly flirting with all the women in the village, which was, unfortunately, as per usual. After watching Miroku ask the fifth woman if she would bear his child, Sango snapped.

"Why are you so obsessed, Miroku?!"

An angry Sango was a terrible and glorious thing to behold. Her beauty, her fiery eyes, the color in her cheeks - she was so lovely. But also terrifying. If looks could kill, Miroku would have died a long time ago. She had also never asked why he behaved the way he did, just told him to knock it off. As a man who liked to live dangerously, he decided this would be rather fun.

"Obsessed with what, my dear Sango," he inquired innocently, hoping to make her blush. Sango was so very cute when she blushed or got flustered.

"Obsessed with continuing your family line," she growled back, managing to keep her composure and look him in the eye.

"Oh, that," Miroku scratched the back of his neck, a nervous tick of his. She really had jumped straight to the point, but not the point he initially thought (or, more likely, hoped for). "Can I, uh, tell you after dinner?"

Sango was instantly suspicious, but a little hopeful - what could Miroku possibly be embarrassed about or want to keep private? Inuyasha often had to tell him to shut up, because Shippō was nearby. She was curious.

"Alright, but you'd better not try anything funny," she warned.

"Me, try anything funny," he asked, holding his hands up as if he were innocent, "why I am insulted at the insinuation, dear Sango -" she silenced him with a glare and he immediately backtracked - "That is, to say, of course I won't. I believe the headman has a small garden we could converse in?"

After dinner, they found themselves in their host's aforementioned garden. Miroku was enjoying the beauty of the garden, while Sango waited impatiently for him to start talking.

"So," she asked when it was clear he wouldn't break the silence without prompting, "you are going to answer my question from earlier, aren't you?"

"Oh, uh, yes, of course." Miroku was unusually flustered. "Well, you see, I guess it's partly about my Wind Tunnel."

"Your Wind Tunnel?" Of all things, Sango had not expected this.

"Yes. Anyways, I've always been told that if the family line is not continued - and the curse of the Wind Tunnel passed on - when the time comes for my Wind Tunnel to consume me -" Sango looked somber but did not interrupt. "Well, it will consume the whole world. A curse like that can't just vanish, not without Naraku's death, so it has to go somewhere."

"Then we have no choice but to defeat Naraku," Sango replied, determined, "Either we defeat Naraku, or the Wind Tunnel kills you - taking the whole world with it, or gets passed on to an innocent child."

"Yes, neither are ideal options," he replied.

"But how do you know that it's true," Sango asked.

"Mine and my father's Wind Tunnels only appeared when my grandfather, and then my father, died," Miroku answered solemnly.

"Oh." There was no disputing that, then. Not deterred, Sango pressed on. "You said it was partly about your Wind Tunnel? Is there another reason you're so obsessed? And -" Miroku was about to respond - "if it's something perverted, just say so and I'll be quite satisfied to let it remain a mystery."

"You wound me," he exclaimed, "oh, how little you think of me!"

Sango just glared at him. She always did cut right to the chase… Hmm, I wonder how that translates to other things…

"Well," he began, "when I was young, it was really just Mushin and me. My father was often away, probably trying to find a cure for our family's curse, and my mother died before I was old enough to remember her. And while Mushin did a fine job raising me," Sango rolled her eyes at that, "it was kind of lonely. I decided that when I was old enough, I would start a large family of my own and we would all be very happy," he finished with a cheesy grin.

"And you think that the perfect time for that is while we're on a quest to reclaim the Shikon Jewel and defeat Naraku," she asked skeptically.

"Well, when you put it like that…" Sango really did see right through him. "I guess it's more of a habit than anything else now… you see my own personal quest began years before I joined Inuyasha and Kagome's quest…"

"Years before? But you're not even that old!" It was true that one could be wed as young as fourteen, but it was also uncommon. Then, another thought occurred to her. "And, in all that time, no luck? I guess the women you flirt with must have some common sense…"

"Sango! How could you be so cruel," he teased her.

"Easily, very easily," she replied dryly.

Changing tact, Miroku asked, "Would you like to go back inside now, or, perhaps, do you wish to while away the hours with me in this lovely garden, dearest Sango?"

"Nice try, pervert," Sango said, poking his chest, "but I think not."

She turned around and walked back towards the room they had been given for the night and Miroku enjoyed the view. That is, until she turned around and asked whether or not he was coming. He hurried to catch up with her and they both entered the house together.