Disclaimer - I don't own InuYasha, nor do I own the song too far gone by the all American rejects.
Chapter 3
"Well Miroku, what is ye going to do all day?" Kaede asked as she put a spoonful of rice in her mouth.
"I guess I'll help you out." Miroku said as he smiled.
"Help me out with what?" Kaede asked.
"I don't know, I guess I'll help you clean this pigsty." Miroku said and chuckled a little bit, earning himself a smack over the head from Kaede. "Stop hitting me!" Miroku whined as he rubbed the back of his head where there was a small knot.
"How can I help you?" Sango asked as she struggled to walk over to Kaede.
"Young woman, ye shouldn't be up and about, ye should be resting." Kaede said as she walked over to Sango to help her.
"No, I'm fine, I want to help." Sango said as she walked over to the small kitchen to put away some of the food. "Please, it's the least I could do after putting all of you through this mess that I bestowed upon you." Sango said.
"Well...okay, just don't overwork yourself." Kaede said as she walked over to sit back down.
"Kaede, what about me?" Miroku asked.
"Ye can water my garden, and then ye can harvest the vegetables that are ready to be harvested." Kaede said.
"Okay." Miroku said and headed outside. Miroku glanced around, he had never realized how big Kaede's garden was until now. "This is gonna take a while." Miroku said under his breath then sighed as he picked up the water canister. 'Damn it its empty.' Miroku thought to himself as he glared at the canister. Slowly, he walked behind Kaede's home to retrieve water from her small well.
"Hello." Sango said as she saw Miroku approach the well that she was standing by.
"Hi...what are you doing?" Miroku asked as he placed the empty water canister on the well.
"I'm getting water to wash Kaede's clo-" Sango stopped as soon as she felt a sharp pain in her back; she tightly clung to the well.
"Are you okay?" Miroku asked with concern in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's already happened three ti-" Sango got cut off to yet another sharp pain in her back causing her to collapse right into Miroku's arms. Miroku quickly caught her.
"Come on Sango, you should go lay down." Miroku suggested.
"No, I have to help...I have to..." Sango's voice trailed off as sleep had overtaken her body.
Miroku picked up Sango and took her back inside.
"What did ye do to her Miroku?" Kaede asked.
"Nothing, I guess she just overworked herself, she was quite determined to stay awake and help you." Miroku said.
"It's best that she just sleeps, go lay her down, I'll come back with her some blankets." Kaede said as she left the room. Miroku carefully laid Sango down on the futon, trying not to wake her.
"Miroku?" she questioned as she strained to keep her eyes open.
"Yes?" Miroku asked. "I gotta help her. Move, let me get up." Sango said as she struggled to sit up.
"Sango, don't get up, you'll only hurt yourself in trying to help her." Miroku said and tried to lay her back down.
"No Miroku, I'd rather help than act helpless." Sango said.
'Why is she so determined to pay us back?' Miroku questioned himself as his lavender eyes met with hers. 'I wonder what she's feeling right now, she's seems to be showing no emotion in her eyes.' Miroku thought to him self as he was drown into Sango's eyes.
'Why is he looking at me? I feel so uncomfortable.' Sango said as she started to fidget. Miroku noticed that she seemed very uneasy with him staring at her.
"I'm sorry about that," Miroku said as he turned his head away in shame.
"It's okay." Sango said as her eyelids started to become heavy.
"You should get some sleep, your back needs to heal." Miroku said.
"No, I don't want to sleep." Sango said as she lay down on her stomach trying to let some of her pain pass through her body. Sango could feel two warm hands rest on her back; she slightly shivered when she looked up to see it was Miroku. "Wh-what are you doing?" Sango asked as she looked up at Miroku a little embarrassed.
Miroku's face turned a light shade of pink. 'What am I doing?' he asked himself. "I was going to massage your back, to help ease some of the pain." Miroku said.
"Okay." Sango said with no emotion in her voice. He gently started to make small circles just under her shoulders, making sure that he wasn't hurting her; he deepened the massage and started to circulate his hands all over her back. 'Wow, he's good at this.' Sango said to herself as she took a small glance at the monk, she could see that his hands were shaking. "What's wrong?" she managed to say.
"Huh?" Miroku asked as his face turned a light rosy color. 'Great, now she's watching me.' Miroku said as he quickly lowered his head. "N-nothing is wrong." he managed to say without making to many errors. Miroku's purple eyes looked up to see if she was still watching, she was.
"Are you sure?" Sango finally asked.
"Well...yes." Miroku said. Sango looked curiously at Miroku, wondering what the nervous man was thinking. Sango turned her head back to the ground and closed her eyes. Miroku noticed this, he quickly shook his hands then resumed giving Sango a back massage.
"Ouch!" Sango yelled as Miroku accidentally hit her cut in her back.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean too!" Miroku freaked out whenever he hurt her.
"I think its bleeding." Sango said.
"Bleeding? Oh no that can never be good, I'm so sorry Sango, It's my fault that it's bleeding a-" Miroku started but Sango leaned up to put a finger to his mouth.
"Its okay, just check it to see if it is even bleeding." Sango said as she pulled her hand back.
"O-okay." Miroku said and let out a heavy sigh. "Umm...Sango, you're going to have to take your top off..." Miroku trailed off.
"I can't, you'll have to." Sango said. Miroku eagerly brightened up.
"Okay!" he said.
"On second thought..." Sango started to say but Miroku had already removed Sango's top. He carefully examined the bandage then say that blood was seeping out.
"It's bleeding, do you want me to go get Kaede so sh-"
"No, don't go get her, she's done enough already, you can do it by yourself." Sango said.
"Are you sure?" Miroku asked.
"Yes." Sango said.
Miroku's hands quivered when he started to unravel Sango's blood stained bandage. He calmed down a little bit when the bandage was about halfway off. 'Oh shit, I'll have to take it off over her boobs.' Miroku thought to himself as he blushed shyly. 'Get a hold of yourself Miroku; you've seen a woman's breasts before.' Miroku assured himself, as he confidently took the old bandage off, slightly touching her breasts in the process. Sango didn't take too much offence to this though, since she thought he was trying his best. Little did she know that the perverted monk had planned it all out. After he removed the old bandage, he examined her wound.
"Your brother did this to you?" Miroku questioned as he sighed when he lightly grazed his fingers over her back causing her to wince. Miroku received no response, he sighed again, wondering what the young woman was thinking.
"Shouldn't you finish?" She said staring the dark-haired monk.
"Oh, yes." Miroku said as he took one last glance at Sango's back as he cleaned and dressed the wound.
"Thank you." Sango said as she rolled over on her side, exposing her stomach and a little bit of cleavage, well, enough to make Miroku notice.
"Your welcome." Miroku said and gave her a warm smile. "Now get some rest, you look exhausted." Miroku said as he looked into Sango's eyes once more.
"O-okay." Sango stuttered out as her eyes started to become heavier by the second.
"Goodnight..." Sango mumbled before she had fallen asleep. "
Goodnight." Miroku whispered as he sat staring at the young woman as she inhaled and exhaled. 'After a few days, you'll be gone.' Miroku thought to himself as he sighed. As if on cue, Kaede finally returned with the blankets for Sango.
"You've been gone long, why?" Miroku asked nosing into Kaede's business.
"Let's just say that the blankets got up and moved." Kaede said and chuckled, thinking that she was funny. Miroku rolled his eyes earning himself a whack over the head.
"Oww..." Miroku said and rubbed his head.
"How long has she been sleeping?" Kaede asked referring to Sango.
"She just now fell asleep." Miroku said. Kaede walked over to Sango and put two of the blankets over Sango's body.
"I think ye have a job to attend to?" Kaede said and pointed outside.
"Right." Miroku said as he walked outside. He went out to the small front yard. "Where did I put that canister again?" Miroku asked himself aloud as he looked around the garden in search of the canister. After about 5 minutes, Miroku remembered. "Oh yeah, that's right, it's on the well." Miroku said as he made his way around the back of Kaede's hut. He retrieved some water then carefully poured the water into the canister. Miroku went back to Kaede's garden and started to water the vegetables.
'Curse my generosity.' Miroku said as he watered what seemed to be squash. After he had watered what seemed all of the vegetables, Miroku was ready to start harvesting. "Hmm...What should I start with?" Miroku questioned himself aloud.
"How about tomatoes?" a soft voice suggested.
"Huh?" Miroku said as he turned around to see Sango standing with a vegetable basket, a small rake and a hoe.
"Sango, you shouldn't be out here, you've only been sleeping for maybe an hour." Miroku said.
"I don't care, I still feel like I'm not offering enough to help." Sango said as she approached Miroku and smiled.
"Tomatoes it is." Miroku said and smiled back at her. The two of them walked over to a patch of tomatoes and sat down. Both quiet not saying a word to each other as each of them harvested different tomatoes. 'I wonder what her life was like before her village was destroyed.' Miroku said as he picked some tomatoes. "Sango, do you mid of I ask you a few questions?" Miroku asked as he pulled out another tomato.
"What kind of questions?" Sango asked suspiciously.
"Questions about your life before your village was destroyed." Miroku said as kind as possible. Sango turned away from Miroku; she could feel a lump form in her throat and stomach. 'Oh great, now I'm going to make her cry again.' Miroku thought to himself as he let out a soft sigh, catching Sango's attention.
"I...I..." Sango said searching for the right words to tell him. Miroku listened intently on what Sango was going to tell him, not missing one syllable that she uttered. Sango noticed that Miroku was looking at her, which only made her more uncomfortable about the situation. 'What can I tell him?' Sango questioned herself as she gently bit her lower lip.
"I understand if you don't wish to talk about it." Miroku said, telling the complete truth.
"Thank you." Sango simply said then continued to pick the tomatoes.
"Young woman! I told you not to go outside!" Kaede yelled as she came up behind Sango and helped her up. "Your body needs to rest." Kaede said.
"No!" Sango protested loudly as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Sango, what's wrong?" Miroku asked as he saw tears fall off of her face. "She's treating me like a child!" Sango yelled as tears fell form her face harder.
"Sango, she's only trying to help you, please just receive her help." Miroku said. Sango calmed down a little bit then leaned into Miroku and gave him a hug.
"My father, he treated me like a child." Sango whispered only loud enough for him to hear.
"Shh...Just calm down Sango." Miroku said as he held her close, trying to comfort her when she needed it the most. That's when Sango had realized something that Miroku was who she was looking for.
Miroku noticed that Sango had quieted down a little bit and pulled away from her and looked at her eyes. "Sango, will you please rest?" Miroku asked as nicely as possible. Sango wiped away a few of her remaining tears and nodded her head.
"Okay." Sango said and smiled through her tears.