"What's the meaning of this?" Kagome asked him angrily, vile full in her voice. Miroku was standing next to her in Inuyasha's chamber and the door was closed to keep their conversation private.
Inuyasha did not respond to her. Rather, he grinned arrogantly—though not at her—from where he was sitting at the round table, in the middle of his room. Almost idly, he pulled his legs and draped them rudely onto the table. Crossing his arms, he sighed as if he was bored and smirked once more, then made a show of flicking his eyes over to her, giving her his attention. "Yes?"
Kagome, irritated, placed her hands on her waist in a bossy manner. "You heard me! What the hell's going on?"
"I know!" Miroku suddenly butted in for no reason. "You heard her!"
Inuyasha glared at the other boy venomously. Miroku gulped and steered his eyes elsewhere. "What's going on?" Inuyasha repeated as he turned back to the girl standing before him. "Nothing really. It's just that I had a really lovely lunch with the royal family, thanks to the both of you." Here, his eyes shot to Miroku abruptly, sending chills up the other boy's spine. Turning back to Kagome once more, he continued, "I want to repay you."
"I'm really glad you had a great lunch," Kagome conveyed, a devious smile on her lips. "I did too."
"Damn right we did!" Miroku interrupted once more, this time laughing his head off as he remembered the fun of voodoo. Another glare from Inuyasha shut him right up.
"As I was saying," Kagome continued, walking up to Inuyasha and leaning her hands on the table, "I will NOT accept being your personal maid. And that is that."
Inuyasha scoffed and started to lazily poke his ear, yawning rudely. "Oh yeah? You and what army is going to take me down? I'm your legal owner now. The queen let me have you. You can't do anything about it. From now on, you're my personal maid. End of story. Should I say more?"
"Arg!" Kagome clenched her fists, wanting to punch that smirking face.
"Hey, don't blame me for your misfortune," Inuyasha informed her. "You brought his upon yourself, lady. There's a price to pay for humiliating me. You too, Miroku."
"Ahem." Miroku turned away nervously as Inuyasha turned to face him.
"You're the worst of them all!" Inuyasha shouted to his friend. "I thought we grew up together! I thought we were friends! I thought you would stop them, but to find you in this scheme!"
"I'm sorry, Inuyasha! I don't know what I was doing!"
"I know what you were doing! You were laughing your ass off and goading them on! That's what you were doing! This calls for punishment! You!" Inuyasha faced the girl maid and pointed to her. "You're my personal servant now. I'm gonna so work your ass off! Make you suffer from exhaustion! Teach you to mess with ME! And YOU!" Now, he turned to Miroku.
Miroku closed his eyes tightly shut, as if preparing for a flying rock to hit him.
"I forbid you to see Sango for a week!"
"NOOOOOO!" Miroku wailed dramatically, after hearing the punishment. He dropped to his knees and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling, yelling, "NOOOOOOOO Not see Sango for A WEEK? Impossible!" Sadly, he crawled back on over to Inuyasha. "Please! Give me another punishment! Any punishment but this! Please! Not seeing her will DESTROY me, Inuyasha!"
Kagome quickly ran over and dragged Miroku away. "No! You can't stoop this low!" she yelled to him. "You can't! It's only for a week! It won't kill you not to see her for a week!"
Miroku turned to her and returned seriously, "Yes it will."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Gather yourself! You don't need to beg this jerky bastard."
"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Inuyasha instantly shot up from the stool he had been sitting on. "WENCH! Who are you callin a jerky bastard? I'm your master!"
"Forget you!" Kagome released Miroku and left him sniffing on the floor, still depressed about not being able to see Sango for a week. She straightened herself and stood tall and proud, her chin up.
Inuyasha glared at her and moved closer, so that they were now face to face. "What the hell did you just say?"
"I said, 'Forget you!'. Are you deaf?" Kagome challenged.
Inuyasha's blood was boiling. His mouth open, he was about to spit out some nasty comeback when he stopped himself. 'Calm down. Calm down,' he guided himself mentally. 'Don't degrade myself to arguing with her. I am her master, after all. Masters don't argue with their servants.' Inuyasha took one deep breath while glaring at her. 'Let her say what she wants to say. The more she says, the more she pays. I'll make her life a miserable hell being my maid.'
Kagome stared at Inuyasha as if the guy was nuts. A moment ago, they were arguing and spraying insults at each other, but now, Inuyasha stood there before her snickering to himself as if she weren't there. It was annoying. Very annoying. "Will you just cut it out?"
Inuyasha stopped momentarily and looked at her seriously for once. "No." And that was it before he jumped back into his snickering madness.
"Arggggggggg," Kagome growled low in her throat, clenching and unclenching her hands by her sides. "Shut up!" She knew he was planning something against her, and it probably wasn't pleasant.
Inuyasha flicked his eyes over to hers cockily. "Make me." He watched in satisfaction as her face wrinkled into a scowl of contempt.
Forcibly, Kagome turned on her heals and "hmphed."
"That's right," Inuyasha said, contented that she couldn't retaliate. "Starting tomorrow, you work for ME. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Wench. I've got LOADS of work for you. You're gonna LOVE being my maid."
Kagome gave him a powerfully hateful, nasty glare. So intense it was that if there had been a metal wall between the two, her glare would have melted it down.
Inuyasha only smirked. With his hand, he waved her off towards his door. "Well, I'm done with you now. Since you are my maid now, you don't follow anybody else's order but mine. But since I've got nothing for you to do for the rest of the day, I advise you enjoy this time while you can because five o'clock tomorrow morning, you're reporting to my chamber." Inuyasha's smirk widened. "Got that?"
Kagome did not respond. Rather, she stared at him incredulously, as if he had just said the craziest thing. "Report here at FIVE? Are you SERIOUS?"
Inuyasha's smirking face conveyed that he could care less. "And so? Get used to it. You're MY maid now." He watched in delight as the girl before him scoffed in disbelief, shaking her head. "Yep yep. Suck it up. Now, I'm tired of you. Get out of here." The girl didn't budge from her spot, still staring at him disbelievingly as if she didn't hear the last command. Inuyasha raised his hands and grabbed her shoulders. Facing the door just a few feet in front of them, Inuyasha pushed her towards the exit with each approaching step, making her stumble backward. He sighed as he did so and said, "I said, I'm tired of you. Please take your leave, maid."
When Kagome had stumbled backward out of his room, Inuyasha released her shoulders, smirked annoyingly once more, and closed shut his door—right in her face.
In the next moment, the maid was found angrily stomping her foot and shouting every imaginable curse. Afterward, a string of profanities followed. Kagome had never hated a person so much before, never knew she could hate a person so much. Of course, she had never met anyone like him before either.
The more she thought about him, the more she wanted to slap him. The more she thought about her future as his maid, the more she was convinced that jumping off a cliff would be better than serving HIM. God, of all people she had to encounter—HIM! Arrrrrrrg!
The sun was setting and it was getting dark. Now that she was his maid, she was excused from doing her regular chores. She no longer had to wash dishes in the kitchen or wash clothes for servants and maids. At that thought, Kagome allowed herself a small smile. HowEVER………Those duties were replaced with serving that impossible bastard. At once, that smile reversed into a discontented frown.
The next thing she knew, Kagome found herself propelling to the royal kitchen. At this hour, it was crowded and humid with maids and servants bustling around preparing dinner for the royal family. Entering the busy place, Kagome searched for Sango to tell her misfortunes to.
"Yo! Kagome! Way to go!" called out a voice. Kagome spun around to find Taka, a friendly servant. He was on his way out of the kitchen when he spotted her. Smiling mischievously, he nudged her shoulder while saying, "So, heard you're a personal maid now. Heard the Lord Inuyasha personally requested you, eh?"
A maid who was slicing meat overheard and pitched in, "Waaaaaaa! How lucky!"
"You must be really happy, aren't you? Busting with joy!" chimed another maid as she carried a basket of water across the kitchen.
"I know!" another servant, a friend of Kagome's, contributed. "Kagome must have been the ideal type of maid! Your hard work must have really appealed to the Lord, so he wanted you to be his personal maid! Don't you think so?"
Kagome was about to contradict that and say she didn't think so in the least, but was interrupted by some other maid.
"She's so awesome! One day, she was just any ordinary hard-working scullery maid when bam! She's a personal maid! Her rank shot up in barely just a moment! Other maids had to work really hard and were promoted rank by rank, but Kagome just became one just like that!"
"Eh………not really," Kagome told all the maids and servants. "I think it would suit me better to be a scullery maid than the Lord's personal maid. If I could, I'd hand this position to you."
"Nah, you're just saying that," Taka told her. "Being a personal maid is luxury!"
"Luxury my ass," Kagome muttered low so that no one heard. "Don't even mention it. By the way, have you seen Sango? I don't see her in here."
"Ah, she overworked herself and wasn't feeling all that well, having fainted and all, so Maaya-san gave her the day off. She's resting in the servant's quarters now," responded a servant.
"Oh," Kagome soaked up the information. "Thanks. I'll go see her now. Bye everyone. I'll see you later!"
"Seeya," they returned before Kagome headed in the direction of the servant quarters.
Kagome found Sango sitting idly at the wooden round table when she entered the room she shared with Sango and Miki. The other maid was doing nothing in particular and jumped up as her friend came in. "Kagome!" she shouted as she ran over to her friend. "Is it true? What everybody says? Are you really Inuyasha's personal maid now?"
Tiredly, Kagome made her way over to the table and sat down, not responding. She laid her head on the table and sighed. Sango, too, seated herself across from the other maid, anxious for Kagome to answer. "So did you really become his maid? Does he own you now?"
Kagome closed her eyes and whined in despair. "Sangoooooo! I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him soooooooo much! I wish he'd just DIE! But it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon, so I want to pull out his hair, draw on his face, jump on him, punch him, kick him, and a whole lot of other things! Sangoooooo! I hate him so so so so MUCH! Waaaaaaaaaaa!"
Sango sweatdropped. "Since you responded in such a way, then the rumors I've heard today must have been true. So you really ARE going to be his personal maid from now on………"
Kagome did not respond, but continued to whine in misery. "Waaaaaaaaaa………"
Sango reached over and patted her friend's shoulder comfortingly. "It's ok, Kagome. It's ok—although I don't know heck why you are crying when you should be happy. You just jumped from a scullery maid to a personal maid. Being a personal maid is so much easier and more beneficial advantages! I wish I could be a personal maid too."
"That's where you're wrong," Kagome returned. "You do NOT want to be that bastard's personal maid. That guy is not going to give me any chance to survive. He's out to destroy me over the voodoo incident and in public, I can't do anything about it. After all, that guy IS a lord and no matter what, I am still a servant. Sango, I'm doomed!"
Sango continued to pat encouragingly. "There there, don't worry. He won't kill you. Yet."
At the mention, Kagome only wailed louder. "You're not helping! Oh! By they way!" She lifted her head of the table and snapped out of her misery as she suddenly remembered. "Sango, you fainted today?"
"But it was just for awhile though. You see, there were so many robes to wash today and I was the only one at the stream again, and I had to finish before five o' clock. I guess I got so stressed and then, yeah, fainted. After I woke up, I was in here with Maaya-san. She said for me to take the day off and so here I am, bored like heck," Sango explained. "You know what's weird? I haven't seen that pervert around. Usually, he'd be tailing me wherever I go, but I haven't seen him recently."
"Oh," Kagome comprehended, nodding her head. "I have some news that will make you happy."
"What is it?" Sango asked.
"That jerk found out that Miroku was in on the fun today and guess what? He got punished! And his punishment was to not see you for a whole week! When he heard that, he got so sad and fell down to the floor and just laid there. So for one week, you won't find him following you around!"
"Yeah!" Sango jumped up in joy. "No perverted lech for a week! Whoohoo!" She did a little dance and afterwards, she and Kagome slapped hands together.
"And—And—Do you know what?"
"What?"
"You know I told you last time how I bumped into a woman and she invited me out to tea? I saw her again today! And guess what!"
"What!"
"Oh my god, Sango! You would NEVER believe that woman was the Higurashi queen!"
"No way!"
"I was sweeping a courtyard in the North Wing when I bumped into her and Kikyou. I recognized her as the woman I'd met in the marketplace, Sango! She was the Higurashi queen! She recognized me too and told me to walk her back to her room. I was doing so when Inuyasha suddenly popped in the scene and—and—and—" At the miserable memory, Kagome wailed again in despair.
"And what! And what!" Sango, wanting to hear more, anxiously asked. "What did he do! Or say!"
"—and he asked the queen if I could be his personal maid while smirking that stupid smirk at me. I'd rather jump off a cliff than be his maid! And the queen gave him permission too!" Sadly, she sat back down and laid her head on the table once again, sighing.
Sango once more returned to patting her friend's shoulder compassionately. "You know what?" she asked while yawning. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth as she did so. "Go to sleep and don't worry about it until tomorrow. As for myself, good night, Kagome."
Sango yawned again as she made her way over to her bed on the far left of three beds. Catching her friend's infectious yawn, Kagome yawned too and rubbed her eyes. "You know what, Sango? You're right. Forget the guy. He can't kill me—er, maybe he really can—but who cares. I'm going to sleep!" Kagome, having decided so, banged the table with her fist.
"Good for you," Sango yelled to Kagome as she pulled her blanket up. "But hey, when you stand up, blow out the candle for me, ne?"
"No!" Kagome refused, but blew it out anyway. In the darkness, Kagome yawned again and fumbled to her bed. 'So the guy has me in his grip now. So what?' she bitterly thought as she climbed into bed. 'I won't let him stress me out. In fact, I will do the exact OPPOSITE.'
Gently, Kagome knocked on his screen door and awaited for his permission to enter his chamber, all the while with a very evil smile—so evil, it was almost maniacal. In one hand, she held a platter with a full cup of tea balanced on it. And in the tea was—
"Come in," his voice echoed from within the room.
With her free hand, Kagome pushed the door opened. After stepping into the room, she turned about and secured the door shut, the smile still on her eyes. That done, she spun around and faced him, he who was sitting at his wooden round table reading something—a piece of parchment, she discovered as she got closer.
"And just what the hell do you want with me?" he asked her, not even bothering to look up at her, his eyes glued to what he was reading.
"Oh no no no," Kagome answered modestly. "Not like that at all." Carefully, she set the teacup and platter on his table. "I heard you caught a cold today. I mean, I am worried—somewhat. I am your personal maid after all. Well so, yeah. I brewed some tea for you. Here." All in a fluid motion, she slid the cup across the table so that it was right in front of him, ready to drink. "I know what you're thinking. Why am I doing this for you? What's actually IN this tea? Will I die after I drink it? Don't worry about it. I couldn't put any poison into it even if I wanted to—and trust me, I really DID want to. But Maaya-san, the head maid, was there. I had no choice but to brew it normally so yeah, it's all safe."
"Really………" He dropped his gaze on the parchment and looked down at the cup of tea and the swirling leaves at the bottom, not interested one bit.
"Really!" Kagome persuaded.
"Eh," was all he said, uninterested as he picked up the cup and led it towards his mouth. Kagome watched in anticipation and excitement as he took a sip, swallowed, and took another sip. Suddenly, a flick of pain crossed his face and he dropped the china cup of tea. The cup, upon impact of meeting the ground, shattered into pieces. The smile on Kagome's lips only widened as his hand moved to grasp the front of his chest, where is heart was.
"You—you—GET THE HELL UP!"
Suddenly, a sharp shot of pain passed through her stomach and all she could see was black. The image of Inuyasha's painful face faded, leaving only darkness. 'What the hell………' Kagome thought, her eyes closed but half conscious of the things around her. And it was such a great dream too! Why was it so noisy and why did her stomach had to hurt ,destroying such a beautiful dream? She was about to see Inuyasha suffer! She was about to see him contort in pain! And he was supposed to say "You—What did you PUT in here!" and NOT "GET THE HELL UP!" It was totally a superb dream gone wasted.
The pain on her stomach intensified and she could hear someone yelling, though in her sleepy state, she could not make out any words. "Hmm………" Kagome brought a hand to her stomach and rubbed the area where it had hurt, all the while pulling up the covers over her head with her other hand. But less than a moment later, the blanket was pulled away from her, rather roughly. "I'm sleeping," she muttered to who-ever-it-was and defensively pulled her blanket back. "Let go and let me sleep!"
"Didn't you HEAR me? I said, GET THE HELL UP!"
A little more conscious now, still sleepy but not so much as before, Kagome could make out what the person was saying and suddenly realized whose voice it belonged to. In an instant after recognition, she jolted up in a sitting position, fully awake. Kagome found herself staring face to face with a very angry Inuyasha. The room was dark, but not pitch-black. Very tiny light filtered into the room. The sun had started to rise. Kagome said what first popped into her mind.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Inuyasha looked at her incredulously and scoffed, not believing her. "What the hell are YOU doing here at this time and place? It's past five o' clock! Didn't I tell you yesterday to arrive at my chamber at five? I did, didn't I? It's already past five-thirty, you stupid maid! What the hell are you still doing here in bed! What the hell am I doing here? I'm here to wake your sorry ass up!"
Kagome sighed nonchalantly and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Oh yeah………THAT………" Tiredly, she yawned and brought a hand up to cover her open mouth. "I forgot."
"Damn RIGHT you forgot! Now get up and follow me back to my chamber this instant!" Inuyasha abruptly turned from her and headed out of the small room. He opened the door and a little bit of light crawled in. As he left, he looked back once at her, and yelled for her to hurry up.
"I'm coming! Geez!" Kagome complained. She looked over to Sango and the other girl and to her relief, found that they were fast asleep, having not been affected by Inuyasha's loud voice. Sleepily, she gathered strength to push herself of her bed. After folding her blanket and straightening her pillow, she followed the guy out of the small room she shared with the two people.
The two were standing right in front of Inuyasha's room and Miroku was lying lifelessly right before the entrance.
"Hey, Miroku," Kagome called out worriedly, kneeling down next to him. "Are you ok? What are you doing, lying on the dirty ground like this?"
"I miss Sango," was all he said, not even bothering to look at her. "I'm surprised I haven't died yet."
"Oh yeah, Miroku. Sango fainted yesterday, ya know," Kagome called up.
"SAY WHAT?" Immediately, the boy sprang up and dusted himself clean, staring at Kagome intensively.
Kagome nodded to emphasize. "Yep. Just what I said. She fainted, Miroku, she fainted! FAINTED! But too bad! You can't see her!"
"NOOOOO!" Miroku yelled dramatically, in despair as he gripped his hair. Running over to Inuyasha, he flopped down onto his knees and grabbed Inuyasha's sleeves. "Please, Inuyasha! Let me see her! She fainted! FAINTED! It was probably too much for her, being away from me! I beg you, lift this punishment!"
Inuyasha grabbed his sleeve back and rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not taking it back! Relax! It's not like she died or anything."
"She FAINTED!"
"That has nothing to do with me. YOU were the one who decided to betray me. It's natural that anyone who tries to make me suffer should suffer. Now step aside. I need to tell my maid what I want her to do. So, if you would please."
"Never!" Miroku yelled back, gathering himself up from the ground. "Forget you and your stupid punishment! I'm going to see her! Right now! RIGHT now!" Having seemly enough of the punishment, Miroku raised his head and folded his arms across his chest uncaringly. "Hmph! Goodbye!" was all he said before walking away in the direction of the servant quarters.
Inuyasha just stood there and shrugged without trying to stop his friend. When Miroku had faded from sight, he turned back to the maid sitting on the ground. "Okay. Now YOU. What you do is this." The white-haired boy walked over to his room and roughly pushed the doors open.
Oh good Lord. What Kagome saw was a nasty sight. The room was a pigsty with everything littered everywhere. Clothes where carelessly thrown here and there. Near the table, there was a smashed vase. The walls were stained with mud, the floor was covered with mud, the curtains were covered with mud, the bed had mud all over and so did the pillow. There was mud everywhere. Kagome had to close her eyes, afraid that if she kept them open any longer, they'd pop out. "No way is this happening." She knew what he was up to. Kagome shook her head, hoping that when she opened her eyes, the room would return to looking sparkling clean.
"YES way is this happening," Inuyasha ensured her. "You're job is to make this room look beautiful—the way it was before I destroyed it."
Kagome continued shaking her head. "No, no, no, no. This is not happening."
Inuyasha smirked annoyingly. "Yes it is. And you had better get started. You're not getting any breaks until you finish. Let's see. You got about six hours to finish until it's lunch. If you don't finish by then, then say goodbye to your lunch break."
Kagome gave a loud wail of despair. "You evil bastard!" she screamed out. "I have never met anyone as vile and despicable as YOU! Go jump in a ditch and DIE!"
"Unfortunately, that won't be happening anytime soon, so forget that. Anyhow, you get started on my room while I go to the kitchen and see if there's anything to eat. Ok? Ok. Great idea. Have a good day cleaning!" Inuyasha yelled to her as he headed off to the royal kitchen. "Oh yeah! And while you're at it, don't forget to break a bone or two. It'd make me really happy."
Kagome sighed deeply, trying to keep calm. "Don't worry about it." When he had disappeared from her sight, she took her anger out on the ground and started to jump up and down furiously, as if she was trying to break the cement. She hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him hated him. He was sooooo impossible! She knew he would do something like this, messing his room up just for her to clean. That guy was just plain evil. When Kagome was panting, having tired herself out by spending too much energy stomping, she stood straight and tall. She took a deep breath and exhaled ten times. Then, when she was truly calm, she took another look at the atrociously dirty room and decided to start with cleaning up the broken vase.
Her face itched. She brought a hand up and scratched her cheek as she shifted her body to lie on her back. A while ago, it had been so noisy with Inuyasha intruding into the little room to retrieve Kagome that she couldn't sleep. After those two noisy people had left, she was able to sleep for a while, but had awoken when her cheek started to itch. After scratching to her content, Sango flopped her arm away from her body. Her arm met something hard but soft. It was peculiar and it didn't feel like the bed at all. Sango reluctantly opened her eyes and saw—
"Good morning," Miroku greeted her with a charming smile.
Sango opened her mouth; ready to scream when his hand shot up and covered her mouth.
Miroku sighed tiredly and closed his eyes. "Don't worry. I didn't do anything—I swear to God. Don't scream. You'll wake everyone in the castle up. And don't kick me off your bed either. I'm cold." He snuggled closer to Sango, whose eyes were so widened they threatened to pop out of her eye sockets. "Oh. I brought Kirara too."
At the mention of her name, the tiny cat, which was lying on Miroku's stomach, perked up and meowed. Kirara trotted over to Sango, who had calmed down a little bit. Sango patted the cat and pushed Miroku a little ways away from her and placed the cat in the middle.
After sensing that she wasn't going to scream, Miroku released his hand over her mouth. She didn't scream. Miroku sighed in relief. When suddenly, her fist impacted with his abdomen. Hard. He grunted and his hands traveled to his stomach, where they tried to rub the pain away. "Sango………why did you………" he uttered.
Sango made an angry face at him. "Well, what kind of a girl WOULDN'T when she finds a guy on her bed! A pervert, nonetheless! Now get off!" She was grateful that the sun was only starting to rise and that it was still a little dark. He wouldn't be able to see that her cheeks were red from embarrassment. Of course, it WAS the first time she woke up to find a guy next to her—and to top if off, it was Miroku. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. She could hear her heart vibrating.
"Aaaw," Miroku whined. "But it's warm here. I don't want to get off."
"Kagome's bed is right over there," Sango pointed out to him. "Right over there! Use her blanket and pillow!"
"Nope! I'm staying here, whether you like it or not!" Miroku declared. "It's warmer over here than over there, where there's just a blanket. Over here, there's you and Kirara."
His statement only made her cheeks redder and once again, she was grateful for the little bit of darkness that was there. "Hmph! F-Fine then."
After that, the room quieted down and it became silent. Sango didn't know what to say to her, and so she decided not to say anything at all. She reached next to her and patted Kirara, not having anything else to do.
"So………are you feeling better?"
"Eh?" Sango turned in his direction to look at him, and found him staring into her eyes.
"I heard from Kagome that you fainted yesterday."
"Oh," Sango whispered. "Since when did you start caring for my welfare? And I though you were banned from seeing me for a week. Why are you here now?"
"Well………" Miroku laughed nervously. "I missed you."
"Oh," Sango found herself saying again. "Well, at any rate, it's no big deal. It was just stress and overload of work, was all that it was. All the maids didn't want to stay and wash the robes, so they made excuses about having to do something else and gave me all of their loads. I just couldn't take it all and collapsed. But as you can see, I am fine now, so please get off my bed."
Miroku ignored the last comment. "What?" he asked in angry disbelief. "All the maids left you to do the washing by yourself? What the hell's wrong with them? Damn maids! Working you like that! They need to be PUNISHED!"
Sango patted his shoulder compassionately, as if he was the one who had been cheated. "Calm down, Miroku. It's no big deal. It happens most of the time anyway. Kagome is so lucky, getting to be a personal maid. She doesn't have to bother with these kinds of things anymore. I wish I could be a personal maid like her," Sango wished.
Miroku suddenly smiled. "Really? Would you really like to become a personal maid?"
"Of course! I just told you so," Sango responded, irritated. "But like that's ever going to happen. I'm stuck with being a scullery maid and I don't think I'll ever get promoted. There aren't a lot of chances here to show people what you can really do."
"Hm, but I don't think it's impossible for you to become a personal maid," Miroku contradicted, the grin still on his face. "I think that it can really happen, if you want it to. But say, Sango, if you really do became a personal maid, whose maid to you want to be?"
"Whose maid?" Sango reflected. "Well, I don't really know."
"Maybe………be a maid for someone like………me?"
Sango looked at him and snorted, causing Miroku to frown. "You? Yeah right. Not in all my life. Who knows what kind of things you'd make me do."
"Well, nothing really but let you do whatever you want. And to………stay by my side."
The blush that had died down resurfaced again. It was getting lighter and lighter, and Sango was afraid that he could see her burning cheeks. Quickly, she landed her arm across her face to cover her cheeks and yawned to hide that she had placed her arms over her face for a reason. "I guess………that sounds like a pretty good deal—except the staying by your side part, anyways. That would be cool, not having to work so much and be spared the life of a scullery maid."
Miroku grinned again. "Is that so?"
Sango peered once at him. "But of course, like it'd be in your power to make me a personal maid. I mean, you yourself are merely a servant like any other, not someone like Inuyasha, who can own a personal maid," she reminded.
"Maybe not as good as Inuyasha, but still better than the rest," Miroku told her. He sat up and pushed the blanket off of him. "Anyway, it has been a nice morning. I gotta go now before Inuyasha yells again. So see you, Sango. And don't give up on becoming a personal maid just yet. I think you will become one for sure. And maybe, you might turn out to be my personal maid. Wouldn't that be great?"
Sango only rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like that would ever happen."
Miroku shrugged and led himself off the bed. When he was on his own to feet again, he stretched his sore arms. "Think whatever you want to think," Miroku told her, "but I think you will become one. Come on Kirara," he beckoned to the cat. "Let's go now." Kirara complied and jumped onto his arms. With a last wave, Miroku left the little room.
Somehow, Sango felt a little colder when he was gone. It was warmer when he was still there.