Walking into the diner that he had found a week ago Miroku settled into a cozy booth. The blue plastic seat make a 'whoosh' noise as his body weight pushed all the air out of cushion. He rubbed his hands together, he had not layered enough, the green baseball tee, the grey hooded front zip jacket and his dark blue collared jacket was not enough to shield him from the snow.

He was taken by surprise earlier when Sango called. He might not have answered the phone at all if it weren't for the fact that he hadn't turned it on silent.

'Do you want to meet up somewhere?' Sango's voice was so soft, he thought he was dreaming.

He denied that he was sleeping, and when she had asked him if he wanted to meet up he instantly thought of, 'In my bed' as a suggestion. He would like to be in his bed though, tangled in all the warmth of his feather comforter, with his cotton sheets and his multitude of pillows. He loved to jump into it; he loved the feeling of the sheets and different fabrics on his bear chest. Just thinking about it he was beginning to doze off to sleep again.

"Hello?" The waitress asked taking a drag from her cigarette.

"Oh, uh…" Disoriented for a moment he remembered where he was

"I take that expression to be and order of coffee." She said

Miroku nodded

'Where is Sango, this place was practically ten minutes away from her apartment.'

………..

Taking a moment to comb her hair up into a ponytail with her fingers Sango took one last look in her car mirror. She slapped on some chap stick and parked. Walking down the long street to the hole in the wall diner she was starting to freeze. She tucked her face up to her nose into her big fluffy white scarf wrapped around her neck and draping down to her knees, stuck her hands in the pockets of her black petty coat and trudged closer to the only lit windows of what she assumed was the place

'What am I doing here?' She thought, 'why did I even bother Miroku at all? I could have waited for the sun to come out at least.'

She tried to look on the bright side she was out in public again.

She got to the door and opened it; the bells above jingled her arrival. She walked in shaking off any snow flakes on her shoulders or caught in her hair. She spotted Miroku brooding over a cup of coffee.

She squeezed into the booth and sat in front of the very tired looking man.

"So this is the place?" She asked peeking the rest of her head out of the scarf.

"Huh? Yeah. You won't be disappointed, they have amazing pancakes. They can cure hangovers by the way."

"Oh" Sango feigned interest. "And how would you know?"

"It cured the massive one I had after New Years. I wouldn't suggest the restrooms though…"

The waitress brought the second cup of coffee around and placed it in front of Sango. She nodded in appreciation.

"The pancakes will be out shortly." She said as she put out the butt on the table behind Miroku.

"This is a lovely place, a health inspectors dream." Sango said sarcastically.

"Just wait you will be surprised. Anyway, is it just me or is the city slowly being taken over by ice?"

"No, it isn't just you, my blood almost turned to ice, but fortunately my walk wasn't too long."

Silence

"So…" They both said at the same time

Sango lifted her mug and slowly sipped. Miroku took note of her naked fingers…no ring in sight.

"You wanted to talk? What about?" Miroku asked

"I want you to know something Miroku."

He waited, "yes"

"I promise you that I am not engaged to Kuranosuke. He had asked me, but I couldn't say yes because I am not in love with him. He is my friend; he has been for a long time. The tabloids took those pictures in the wrong context I haven't really given an answer to tell you the truth." She began explaining.

Miroku was quiet, he sat back and listened. He looked closely at her while she explained. He watched for any sign she was lying, but he couldn't find one.

"Why haven't you corrected them? You know lying about something like an engagement is kind of big." He said

"I know, Kuranosuke said he wanted us to wait before we correct the press, I just think that he wants to wait for the whole thing to blow over, maybe to save his reputation."

"I just think he wants to use them to pressure you to say yes." Miroku said bluntly

"He's not like that." Sango shot back

"Oh, well you haven't heard my side then."

Just then two large stacks of pancakes and what could have been a gallon of syrup was set on the table.

"Should I eat while I listen to your story?" Sango said taking three pancakes off the stack and scraping the butter off in place of more syrup.

"Sure." Miroku said

Sango filled her mouth, they were very good and she was surprised.

"Better than you thought right?" Miroku said taking pleasure in Sango's reaction

She nodded and took a sip from her coffee to help wash it down.

"Let me start off by telling you that Takeda was a good friend for a while. We had fun together but he was always concerned with money, he talked business all the time. It was kind of scaring off the girls."

Sango shot a death glare

"He he, only you can kill me with a look Sango." Miroku said nervously

"Continue Miroku" She said

"Right, anyway, my father died and I left school for a while to take care of some family business. When I got there I find out I am supposed to take over what my father had left. But because I have not even finished university I didn't want to make our situation worse considering we were facing bankruptcy. I let the best alternative and only person who could have really run the business Mushin take over. After all the legal and funeral arrangements the Takeda family starts to harass us. They claimed we owed large amounts of money and demanded we dissolve the company into part of Takeda's media. Mushin was not about to see that happen so soon after my father died. There had been talks about merger before and I know that our fathers talked frequently about it but we didn't want to end our families business altogether as they wanted. When it came down to it Kuranosuke was a pawn of his father, he wanted to manipulate me into taking over and cracking down under the pressure. I wouldn't stand for it, if we were going under it was going to be with a fight. Kuranosuke agreed not to let business ruin our friendship. On a trip back home Mushin told me some things that really upset me. He had noticed papers that said after my father died the Takeda family was to take over, they were 'signed' by my father and had been sent back because the signature looked like a fake. Mushin suspected that my fathers' death in the fire was foul play and the Takeda Family were number one suspects."

Sango nearly choked.

"Wait, you don't mean that. There is no way that can be true. They are not… corrupt, they are honest and a hard working family. Besides why would Takeda Sr. try and kill your father when just years earlier he had an attempt on his life?" Sango said

"Wait… do you mean?" Miroku thought for a moment, "Are you talking about the body guard that was shot during that attempted burglary? It was all over the news we all boosted up security after that." A look of deep thought washed over him, "I wonder what happened to that poor man's family, I hear he had kids," Miroku said. "Any way, how do you know so much about the Takeda family?"

"Because I was one of those kids, the murdered man was my father." Sango said looking up at Miroku.

Miroku was shocked. This was the same girl Kuranosuke had been talking about years ago.

"You? He was your father?"

"Yes, after his death the Takeda family took us in. Me and my brother were orphans and they supported us. My father was a very good friend with Takeda Sr. that is how I know so much and how I know they wouldn't do anything like that" Sango explained

Miroku was quiet, he had to soak it all in.

He sighed and continued, "Either way, the case ran cold, we had little proof of anything more than forged papers. When we got back things were different. Kuranosuke and I had too much hostility between us and our families to be friends." Miroku said

"Understandable," Sango looked into her coffee cup and wondered if there was any sort of connection at all with Takeda Sr. attempted burglary and Houshi Sr. murder. Her reporters' mind was whirling. There were some answers in of all of this and she wanted to find them out.

She looked up to find herself staring into Miroku's eyes; she didn't turn away this time.

A few minutes later in an attempt to make lighter conversation he spoke after coughing nervously.

"Well then considering you have honored Kuranosuke with a date will you do the same for me?" He asked smiling

"What do you mean? " She squinted her eyes in suspicion.

"I mean, there is this party. You remember the caterer of Takeda's New Years thing, well it is his birthday on Saturday and it's at some rented out loft on the other side of downtown and I was wondering if you wanted to…"

"Be your date?" Sango smiled.

"That wasn't too hard." He said sighing a little bit

"Sure, but on one condition."

He looked interested

"You can't propose to me." She laughed

Miroku coughed and pretended to break out in hives, "Eww, scary word. No Sango I will not propose to you, besides that is reserved for the girl with no legs and a weak pulse."

"Huh?" She didn't get it

"Remember, you said I don't have a type... as long as she's got legs and a pulse"

Sango laughed, "Oh, right how could I forget, legs optional."

(…………

Sango awoke on Saturday, the day of the party, in time to catch Kagome walking out of the door. She told her about what had happened, in a very brief conversation. No doubt Kagome was now running 20 minutes late for work but hey, one has to keep their closest friends informed. She invited Inuyasha and Kagome to the party but they were unsure if they could make it.

She sat herself down and opted not to turn the TV on, there were still some media coverage about her and Kuranosuke, it died down a bit due to the strong hold Kuranosuke had on them. She had worked yesterday in the office; luckily Kuranosuke was not there he had to meet with some clients. Sango was bothered by some thing she had heard in the office.

-Flashback-

Sango needed a cup of coffee. But, the coffee maker on her floor was broken so she went to the one on the lower floor. She walked out of the elevator and was headed into the employee lounge. She stopped when she over heard some thing, she peeked into the doorway and listened for a while.

Office Worker One: So it seems Sango is back in the office again.

Office Worker Two: Yeah, you know I was thinking, have you ever wondered how she became an editor so fast?

Office Worker One: What do you mean?

Office Worker Two: Well, her writing is good, but not THAT good. Some of the other writers have been around longer and why haven't they been given that much of a raise or a position like hers. I mean, now that they are engaged it all makes sense.

Office Worker Two: You mean Takeda is playing favorites?

Office Worker One: Well that or she just found a soft spot in his heart.

Office Worker Two: You mean his bed right?

Office Worker One: Now you get it.

Both Giggled

Sango was furious, is this how all the girls thought about her? She boldly walked into the lounge.

The two women stopped laughing.

"Hello ladies" Sango said as nicely as she could

They both looked down and said a hurried "hello" before they walked out the door.

She made her coffee and headed back up to her desk, she felt eyes burning on her back on the way there.

--End

It hurt her feelings that people thought she was some kind of conniving money grubbing witch. She wanted to forget about that, those two women had a point though, it did look suspicious.

She went back to her cereal. After she finished she checked in on the sleeping Shippo and headed to the shower. She couldn't help but wonder about the party. She was happy Kuranosuke was out of town again on business, but she still feared a paparazzi explosion.

(……………………………………………………………….

The thought couldn't help but flash through his mind. Him and Sango, would they walk in like she had done with Kuranosuke on New Years? Would she lock arms with him, walk in with a bright smile and a hint of nervousness. This wouldn't be the first time that Miroku walked in with a beautiful girl on his arm, but it was the first time he could remember that he actually felt butterflies. Never the less he looked in his closet. Though he was a very good at working hard at the grocery store and he enjoyed his previous wealthy life. He still had the leftovers, his expensive apartment, his second closet full of tailored suits and clothes, and his car (hardly in use). He was spoiled because he really didn't have any payments to make so his grocers paycheck sustained him from using any more money from his family business. He had come to the conclusion that until or if he ever, began working for his families business that would be the only time he would live off a paycheck from them.

Looking in to his closet choose a black suit, blue shirt which had somewhat of a shimmer to it and a jet black tie. He wasn't one for flash. He readied himself, showered, brushed his teeth, shaved and added after shave and topped it off with a set of fifty pushups (an attempt to buff up as well as work out any fluttering butterflies).

One last glimpse in the mirror was all he needed to add a last touch of confidence to his aura. His apartment was immaculately clean in case Sango would want to come over.

…………………………………………….

The door man opened the door for Miroku. He called Sango from the car in order to give her a heads up. Shippo had gotten picked up from the apartment by a babysitter. He rode the elevator, and as he walked down the hall, closer to her apartment his confidence shattered.

He knocked on the door a little jingle of beats, and waited for her to answer. He could hear the apartment stir inside.

Sango mockingly asked who it was and Miroku answered "House keeping". He could hear her laughing. She opened the door smiling and his jaw dropped.

She stood before him in the damn near sexiest thing he ever saw. Form fitting, V neck, black cocktail dress, her hair was straight and hung down beyond her shoulders she was glowing.

"You look…very sophisticated." He said entering.

"I think I look like I will be freezing. Is it still snowing out?" She asked brushing off his compliment.

"Uh, yeah." They stood there at the door way and Miroku wanted to touch her.

"Would you like a glass of wine before we go?" She asked

"Definitely!" Miroku was happy the awkward silence was broken.

"Lets see I have this…" She held up a blushing light wine, "It is dry, if you don't mind."

"Not at all." Miroku handed her two glassed and poured it out for the both of them.

"So…" they both said in unison

"To a good evening," Miroku said as they clanked there glasses together.

The best is yet to come! Sorry I haven't updated but winter break is here now! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! -NINA