AN: Look, another chapter cause I'm boooored and I don't really mind that only one person reviewed. Bwaha. Actually, review if you read this. Comedy is my forte, but writing a romance is like 'WTF am I doing?' Once again, the chapter will make no sense. It will...soon. Soon-ish.

Rewritten

- A place to begin -

Light flooded into her eyes when she opened them, causing her to blink them closed and then open again as they adjusted. After changing into her yukata, she went through the process of arranging her thoughts. There was something she had meant to do today...

"Ane-ue!"

Sango smiled fondly as Kohaku came running up to her, greeting her in a spontaneously happy manner, which he then tried to cover up by informing her of a demon she had been hired to slay.

"And there's the one at the castle tonight as well," she murmured, threading by several villagers. Kohaku followed in her wake, though he wasn't quite able to do so quite as gracefully as Sango and several times she heard him say 'excuse me' after bumping into someone. She turned to face him, not hiding her look of amusement at his slightly embarrassed face. "You're quite fleet-footed as a taijiya Kohaku, but when it comes to the more simplistic of movements you're at a slight loss."

Kohaku looked down slightly. "I'm far from fleet-footed," he muttered. "What if all I do is disappoint Chichi-ue tonight?"

Suddenly it occurred to Sango that speaking to Kohaku was what she had been meaning to do. It had almost slipped her mind just how anxious he was about becoming a full-fledged taijiya, because of his fears of both disappointing his father and, she suspected, of demons themselves. "Even though he can be strict, Chichi-ue isn't that way because he doubts you, Kohaku," she said reassuringly, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It's because he cares so much about you, and worries because this is the first time you'll have gone demon slaying. But that, remember, is why we fight together."

Kohaku had been silent during this slight monologue, but he smiled when she finished. The things she said were those he had already been trying to tell himself, but they felt more... believable coming from his sister.

"We're siblings," she said, "We'll protect each other."

"Thanks, Ane-ue."

-

It was the middle of the night, and as good a time as any to assume that his comrades were asleep. Regardless, the houshi had barely gone ten feet when a pair of ears twitched. Seconds later, a golden pair of eyes opened to confirm the fact that Inuyasha was indeed awake. "Where are you going?" he asked suspiciously.

Miroku swore under his breath, which the irritated hanyou no doubt heard, and turned around to face him. Inuyasha took note of how his fingers had been wrapped around the rings of his shakujo to silence them.

"So?" he persisted. "Where in hell were you running off to?"

The inclination to lie crossed Miroku's mind, but he disregarded it when he glanced at his shakujo. Even Inuyasha wouldn't be fool enough to believe that he'd wanted to take a walk. He concealed the frustration he felt at the fact that Inuyasha had caught him now of all times. After all, he'd gotten away once before, and the entire group couldn't find him, not until Hachi had gone to retrieve them. Then again, he supposed it would be difficult not to sleep lightly when one was tenuously balanced on the limb of a tree. Instead of haphazardly trying to come up with an excuse, he decided to try honesty, as much as was possible, anyway.

"There's a village that I've heard of in my travels," he explained. "Which consists entirely of demon slayers. No doubt they've accumulated a jewel shard or two, and if this is the case, it would be best to retrieve said shards before Naraku is able to."

Inuyasha's suspicion didn't lessen. Miroku was useful in that he was protective of his allies, but sometimes his loyalty was questionable. The houshi himself had admitted to not being the type to work with others, and Inuyasha, several times, had given him a look that almost seemed to say 'I dare you. I dare you to prove Kagome wrong. I dare you to make it that much easier for me not to accept every damn thing she does, including yourself.'

He was receiving that very same look now.

"So," he asked coolly, "Why is it that you've decided to do this alone?"

Miroku fought back the urge to laugh. Putting up a mask of indifference was something he'd perfected over the years; it had spared him many a confrontation, and in some of his lower moments he'd held a bitter pride in his ability as an actor. It certainly wasn't Inuyasha's forte, however. Even in the darkness, he could tell Inuyasha was on the brink of an outburst, given the right provocation. When Miroku's thoughts delayed his answer, a slight creak of wood could be heard as the tree limb was abandoned, and he was suddenly face to face with the rather irate hanyou.

"What, are we in competition for the jewel shards again?" His voice was in a low growl. "Are you planning something?"

Much to his annoyance, the other man merely laughed in a way that was almost... derisive. "It's ironic you should say that," he said, "But you're wrong in your suspicions. It's no offense to you or Shippou, but you are youkai, and though taijiya honor the fact that many youkai are of a good nature, they'll be less than welcoming if we're overly eager to barge in on them, or if you say outright that you plan to steal the shards."

Inuyasha seemed a bit more at ease, though not entirely convinced. "Okay, then. But why the hell are you leaving so suddenly?"

Miroku seemed uncharacteristically weary in the way he sighed, in that his hand went to his temple; his words with less authority yet more determination than usual when he spoke. "There's..." he hesitated.

'The woman I love is in that village. You've never met her, and she's never met me, yet I know everything about her, and in some equally twisted reality she was my fiancée. And now I'm trying to save everyone she's ever known from being massacred, and I can save you from being blamed for yet another murder.'

"I have the feeling that Naraku's already set a plan in motion," he continued. "So whether or not you intend to follow me, I'm going to find this village." 'If lying were a language, I'd speak it fluently,' he thought to himself scathingly.

Several hours later, The hanyou, the miko, the kitsune, and the houshi were on their way to visit a village of taijiya. None of them understood why Miroku was so adamant on reaching the place before noon. They weren't going to bother asking.

'What would I tell you? That I'm changing almost a year of your lives? That keeping you blissfully ignorant through my own lies is what I do in gratitude?'

'That I ignored all of the failed cases we've seen of it; ignored the nagging voices in the back of my head; even ignored common sense?'

'That I made a deal with a youkai?'

-

Sango had returned home a few hours later, having slain the demon, and having found a piece of the Shikon jewel as well. She was greeted by Kohaku and her cat Kirara, and after finding a suitable temporary home for the shard, she took some time to relax before the next job that was lined up. That is, she would have. It had only been a few minutes after her return when Kohaku came running up to tell her that a strange group of people had come to the village claiming to have important news. A group of people that included a man with dog-ears, a boy with a tail, and a girl in foreign clothing.

Still, in her line of work, such things were to be expected. In a sense.

-

He was starting to realize that complete dishonesty ran his operation, and if it weren't for the possible outcome, he would have abandoned it. He had to fabricate a story for everything – how he knew of the taijiya, and more importantly, why he seemed to have memorized the path there. It was quite obvious that they'd noticed his seemingly overnight changes in character. Usually he was the laid back one who held no objectives in slowing down for Kagome's sake, even when Inuyasha insisted that they move as quickly as possible. This was one of the many reasons he had wanted to sneak away in the middle of the night - feeling guilty for pushing Kagome even slightly over her limits was not something he wanted. As well as that, it was now inevitable that he'd have to leave the group. It was only a matter of when.

After many hours of traveling, the gate of the village had loomed in front of them. Kagome verified the presence of shards within.

"Oi, Bouzu."

Miroku, who had been staring blankly at the aforementioned gate, turned his head slightly, regarding Inuyasha as if he'd only just noticed him there. "Hai?"

"Exactly how are we supposed to get in there? It's basically a fortress, and I doubt they'll roll out the welcome wagon if I just jump over that wall."

"To tell the truth, I'm not entirely sure." The only times he'd seen the village it had been in a decimated state. For a brief moment, Miroku entertained the thought of Inuyasha's sensitive nose against the powdered poison of several youkai taijiya. That would be a riot. Then again, they could end up resorting to violence, which would be decidedly less funny.

Kagome leaned on her bicycle and glanced back towards the wall that shielded the village. "Are we supposed to kno – oh!"

Inuyasha, Miroku, and Shippou glanced upward in the direction of her gaze to see a man in the watchtower, regarding them oddly, and most likely waiting for at least one member of the group to say something. Miroku took it upon himself to be that person, seeing as he was the negotiator of the group. The words of a houshi (albeit a corrupt one) were more likely to be taken as valid than those of a youkai. 'Then again,' he mused 'Their combined intelligence is much higher than that of the average village. They won't simply send us away because of what Inuyasha and Shippou are. They'll acknowledge the fact that any one of our group could be either good or evil, and will treat us with caution, but certainly not hostility. There's less judgement by appearance here.'

"We've come with important information regarding the Shikon jewel, as well as the welfare of the people within these walls," he called to the man. "Is it possible that we could speak to the headman?" 'Or his daughter,' a voice in his head goaded him. They waited as the watchtower became momentarily vacant, and for a small period of time, the only sounds that could be heard were of leaves blowing in the slight breeze, of birds, and of crinkling paper as Shippou rummaged through Kagome's knapsack and found the sweets he was looking for. He then went back to the spot that he most preferred at the current point in time: the basket of Kagome's bicycle. Inuyasha was naturally the one to break their brief silence. "Hey Kagome, if you have that stuff Shippou likes, then you must have that stuff I like too, right?"

Kagome blinked. "You mean the ramen? I have some... but you ate most of it a few nights ago, don't you remember?" The hanyou gave her a look that clearly said 'no.'

"Well, you did. There's not really enough for all of us now, so I can't really make it tonight."

Inuyasha looked peeved. "Well maybe you should have brought more of it from your home!"

"Have you seen how much stuff I have to carry around in this thing?" As if to prove her point, Kagome opened her bag and faced the contents in his direction. "Six textbooks, food, and clothing doesn't exactly make for a featherweight, okay? I mean, do you think you'd like to carry it? H – don't nod your head like that! I – fine then, take it!" She exclaimed, lifting it with some effort and pushing it into his arms. Miroku and Shippou, who were momentarily relegated to watch and put their two-cents worth into the conversation when the time came, took notice of how Inuyasha's expression faltered slightly at the weight. He recovered quickly though, and feigned indifference.

"Keh. This is nothing. You humans just like to complain."

"Yes, I'm only human, and you're a hanyou. And I know you still think it's heavy."

Aware of the fact that he was coming close to losing the argument, Inuyasha racked his brain for any possible retaliation. When he heard himself say, "Well maybe you should go back to your time and get more ramen," he mentally cursed his not-so-quick wit. Now everyone was going to jump at the chance to mutilate his last sentence.

"Inuyasha," began Miroku with his typically calm expression "You seem to be contradicting yourself."

"Yeah," agreed Shippou as he took a leisurely stretch in the basket and closed his eyes. "You get really sulky when Kagome's not around. So stop being so mean to her and telling her to go away, 'cause you really aren't helping yourself at all."

Both Inuyasha and Kagome turned red, though for completely different reasons. The former began muttering under his breath. "If you don't shut up, you little runt..."

Then he heard a little inhalation of breath from Kagome signifying that she was about to say a certain word that he hated. With this he ran out of steam, and his threats dissolved into inaudible mumbles.

"He really is just a harmless little puppy, right Miroku-sama?" stated Kagome, and not without a bit of pride at her victory. Miroku didn't respond, however, and she looked to see that his attention was somewhere else entirely. The gate was now open slightly, and someone who could naturally be assumed as the headman was walking towards them, along with a young woman.

'Sango...'

Inuyasha scoffed. "I bet you the rest of your ramen he tries to grope that girl."

-

AN: I like ramen. Oh...and review and stuff...