Author's Note: Well, well, well. It took me awhile. I'm going to resign myself to typing this story for the rest of the night because I've been such a bad, bad authoress. I apologize for the wait. It was my fault because I was just being lazy. Hopefully the next chapter will come faster.
Thanks to my reviewers:
Soli-chan- Hey, hey, hey! He can't tell the difference because he hasn't met the real Lady Savanna yet. Does that answer your question? And yes, Miroku is so perfect in this, and he's like a character from a musical. It's crazy. I like it that way, though. There needs to be some poetry here and there, right? Well, thanks for the review!
KeeraSango- I am so sorry! I took way too long, you probably hate me now. I am very, very sorry. I will keep groveling until you forgive me. I'm sorry! But, I still want to thank you for the review! Thanks!
Aamalie- Yes, chaos. But it has only begun! Bwahahaha! Ha! Ha…ha. I will continue to terrorize the characters until they beg to be placed back into the canon setting! Oh well, I like them this way. And thank you for the review!
Daisydoom666- Me hatey. Sometimes. It okay. Right? Is it okay? You reviewey. Thanks for the review.
pNay iN a b0x- Hey there buddy! How's it hanging? Well, as you can see, I finally updated. Good for me, right? Go me! Sorry for Sesshoumaru's vulgarness, he's a little crazy in the head. I told him not to do it, but he made me! He's a monster! And Capitulus means chapter. Just so you know! Thanks! And more thanks!
Irasuto- Why thank you very much! You're such a complimenter and wow, just thanks! I was hoping I got this poetry stuff down right. Well, actually, no, I'm very poetic I just never did it with a story. Thanks again!
Aprill May- No! They shall never meet again! Never! Never, wait, I mean, they do. Darnit. I was wrong. Thanks for the compliments! Thanks! Thanks, and thanks!
A Poet's Muse
By Kikanemi
Miroku did not return home that night, not even to begin on his newest page with the bout of inspiration. He wandered the streets with a silly smile on his face, ignoring all of the girls who he bed throughout town and were giving him suggestive looks. None of them mattered anymore, not that any of them really did in the first place.
He was a lover who had sprouted wings and now was touching the most unreachable places in heaven. He was on top of the world, breathing in the thinnest air but still feeling so alive.
Miroku wanted so badly to see her again, even if it hadn't been long because he did not want to forget her sweet face. He didn't want to forget the way he felt when she looked at him; he felt something surge through him, affecting the way every system in his body worked. His lungs felt like they were caving in, his heart clenched, his stomach harbored so many butterflies. He was in love. It was unlike anything he ever felt for another woman. Sure, with other muses he thought they were the one, but they had never brewed such a potion to make his insides feel as if they were on fire. He was flying, falling, spinning, twirling, dancing, and soaring all at the same time.
He had fallen. Hard.
----------
Morning came and Miroku woke to find himself huddled on the ground, under a lamppost. Sitting up slowly, minding his sore back, he looked around to find many other men just dozing in random areas of the street. Last night must have been some hell of a party.
He decided to retire to his home, standing up and dusting himself off. He walked inside to a sight that was none too surprising, seeing the amount of alcohol Inuyasha must have consumed the night before. Let us just say that Miroku's bed was occupied at the moment. Miroku only shook his head and smiled, sitting down on his stool.
He took out his black feather, dipped it in a vat of ink, and wrote. He scribbled so many lines as they spilled from his soul. One after the other, line by line, creating a story that was more passionate than anything he had ever managed to write before.
----------
Sango woke up in bedding so fine that she felt she had been snuggled into heaven all night. She felt the light of day warm her face and heard the birds of the morning bidding for her to wake, but she only ignored their requests.
"Come on, girl. Time to get up an' at 'em." A voice beckoned beyond her sleep and nudged her lightly, back and forth.
Sango groaned loudly, swatting away the intrusion, "No, I shall not."
"I do not have time for such games. Come on now, up!"
Unable to bear the incessant burdens on her sleep, Sango sat up and rubbed her eyes. "And who are you?"
"Me?" she pushed Sango from the bed and started to make it, "I am Kagome."
Sango began to nurse her head, "Who is Kagome?"
"I am another maid. I should not even have to explain such a thing to you! It is preposterous! You are a maid just like me. I should not have to answer to you. But then again, I am the nice one, or so everyone tells me."
"Do you know you ramble?" Sango suggested, slipping on her maids uniform.
Kagome pivoted quickly, "I what?"
"You do not ever stop talking. Did you know you had such a bad habit?"
The girl blushed, but continued her work, "Oh, I know I do it, but it is so hard to stop. I mean, I have always been the talkative type, but-"
"You are doing it again." She felt Kagome come behind her and tie the corset like part of her outfit tight.
"How was the ball?" she continued even as Sango grunted and winced, "The way Lady Savanna talks about them I would have to say they are positively boring."
Sango shook her head, remembering only the weightless dream like state she was in all night. "No, it was wonderful."
Kagome patted Sango's back lightly, signifying she was done. "Well, it is off to work with us then. I am still amazed you could have any sleep considering Lady Savanna was with another one of her 'suitors' last night. I admit, you have a nicer room than any of the maids, but you are unlucky to have such a loud neighbor."
"With another… 'suitor'?" Sango followed Kagome out the door and into a stone corridor.
Kagome nodded and peered into a room with an open door, quickly she shut it, "Yes, I suppose there is a lot about Lady Savanna you do not know. Come on, this way."
"For instance, she sleeps with a new man every night?"
"Yes, there is that fact and many others I am sure you will learn by just sleeping in the next room over."
Sango blushed, thinking over the many implications of those words. Kagome led Sango into a room crowded with dirty, soot covered young girls. Sango shifted uncomfortably from side to side, not sure where to start or where she would fit in with the situation.
"Sango, this is Kagura."
Sango opened her mouth to greet the on comer but Kagome gave her a look that advised against that idea.
"Listen here, girl. Just because Lady Savanna is all buddy buddy with you now does not mean you get any special treatment with all of us. You are a maid, you will get dirty, you will get bloody, and probably sweaty. And I do not want any complaining from you. Got that?"
Sango nodded meekly.
"Good. I am putting you and Kirara in charge of the maids quarters today." Kagura paused to give her a toothy evil grin, "Good luck. You will need it."
Sango felt a bit faint from the sudden rude awakening she felt. Kagome put a gentle arm around her shoulder, "Kagura hates Kirara because she is little and she can push her around. Do not worry, she basically hates all of us."
"But why will I need luck to clean the maid's quarters?"
Kagome laughed slightly, "Well, imagine twenty girls or so, dusty and sooty and smelly retiring here every day. It is entirely disgusting." She took in the horrified look on Sango's face and giggled, "Do not worry. I got laundry duty today, I will be done first and I will come to help."
"Thank you."
Kagome and the other maids bustled around the room gathering what they needed and soon emptied out except for a small girl who had already begun folding up blankets from the night before.
"I suppose you are Kirara and we have a long day ahead of us, am I correct?"
She nodded slowly, "Um, mm, yes."
Sango busied herself by grabbing a broom and sweeping relentlessly at the dust coated floor. She sighed and wiped the sweat forming on her brow before she continued this time taking a rag and going over the floor a second time.
"You are a hard worker. You do not have to do that, but yet you are." Kirara commented from behind as she herself was cleaning out the disgusting moldy tub that stood at the side of the large room.
Sango gave her a small humble smile and scrubbed harder, "Well, I thought it may need it."
An hour and a half later Kagome walked in with a basket full of various maid and/or butler's uniforms. She immediately fell onto a mattress in a dismal corner of the room. "I am exhausted but ready to help. What?" She sat up, "There is no mess!"
Kirara blushed, "Because of Sango it is done."
Sango came up behind her and put her hand on her shoulder, "No, it is because of us."
----------
Miroku rapped once, then twice, then three times to make sure someone heard. A girl answered, looking almost as stunned as he, and his jaw dropped. He was at a loss for words. This maid, messy with a smudged dirt face, looked almost the same as his love. Even her eyes. He felt something spark within him, a jolt.
"I, well, I, uh."
She leaned against the doorframe coolly while she crossed her arms over her chest, "Yes, sir?"
He shoved something towards her, a piece of paper. "It is something for my love, Lady Savanna. Would you be so kind to deliver this to her? Unless she is free to talk with me."
"I well," she blushed when she took it from him, feeling their hands touch for the briefest of moments, "Yes, I will give it to her. Gladly."
She turned around and began to shove the door shut with a pang of pain within her when he said Lady Savanna's name in place of hers, when Miroku got a look. A look at her sweet, round, delectable rear end and just had to have a touch. He took the opportunity and rubbed her.
At first she wanted to melt, but she would never admit that. Her fists balled at her sides, her cheeks flamed at the indecent touch, and she turned on her prey. He almost seemed to cower under her gaze, but because he was a man he could only stand tall.
"Why…you…" she growled and stalked closer before raising her hand high and slapping him across the face, leaving a large handprint in its wake.
Miroku felt the sting almost immediately. He looked at her, his eyes wide and trembling in their sockets. He wanted to yell, for she was the first one to ever lash out at him with such a response, but more importantly, he held respect for her now. She wasn't going to take anything from anyone, she had courage, and she beautiful. He shook the last thought off.
"You are very brave, I must say."
She blushed and turned around quickly, huffing a bit. "Yeah, well, that was very lecherous of you. I will not take that from anyone."
"And I have the marks to show for it," he heard her stifling a giggle from behind, "Say, a beauty such as yourself must have a name."
She pivoted to face him and gave him a pointed look, "Why yes, I do. But what does that have to do with you?"
"It would honor me to know it. You are, after all, in my highest respects."
"Well, I will not give you the satisfaction of knowing it, especially since Lady Savanna is your lady love."
And with that the maid's chambers door was slammed shut. He could only shake his head and try to remove the girl from his mind, but he found she imprinted a small place in there as well. "What a woman…"
----------
Sango stomped to her room, ignoring Kagome's interrogation and Kirara's quiet questioning. Inside she was bursting with joy, but she was also dying ever so slowly within her heart. When she made it into her room, she shut the door behind her, and slid to the ground with the wood against her back.
She read the letter to herself, whimpering every so often and letting out soft cries thinking about the cruelty of it all. Miroku and she were in love, but because she was not Lady Savanna, she could never be the real woman he wanted. If he ever found out he would be disgusted that he had actually fallen for her, not the wonderful woman he wrote such a beautiful sonnet to. She would keep it inside, so that he could go on being happy with his so called love, and so that he would not have to suffer when he found out she was a fraud.
After all, she was not the girl who sauntered in ballrooms wearing fancy petticoats and immaculate jewels. She was just a dirty maid, and that was all she was ever going to be to him.
---------
Miroku dodged villagers left and right, running soundly to his home. Hopefully he could still catch Inuyasha. Otherwise he would have to go to the playhouse and face the devil himself. Sesshoumaru. His insides curled at the thought of him. He was vile, even for one of the Queen's players. He acted with a passion, but conducted business with such a fury.
He caught a glimpse of Inuyasha's silver hair and with a burst of speed made it to him quite nimbly, stealing the apple from his companion's grasp. He took a generous bite before replacing the food.
"Hey-! You barbarian!" Inuyasha smiled in greeting to his friend and shied away when Miroku ruffled his hair. "Why the smile?"
"What have you been wishing for? Come on, name it." They both began strolling side by side; wordlessly knowing they were heading towards Miroku's one room home deeper into the city.
Miroku didn't miss the light flush taking over Inuyasha's cheeks, "For a woman to love and love me quite heartily in return."
Miroku never expected that answer and grinned at Inuyasha's sudden far off look. "That is not exactly the answer I was looking for. You are more like a lover than a drunk than I thought."
"I can be romantic too. I am more than just an actor in your plays, after all. I still have feelings and emotions too. Beyond what your pages make me portray." He sighed and looked away, still thinking of someone to call his own.
"I thought Kikyo would be the one to finally suffice for such a thing."
He shook his head and brought his attention back to the real world, "She is a wench. A common whore. She may like me but I do not like her."
"Besides that. The love. What else do you pine for?"
"Hmm. Wine?"
Miroku shot him a look, "No."
"Fine dining?"
"No."
"Riches?"
"No!"
He shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, there is nothing else I can think of except maybe perhaps your pages but even that is beyond my wildest dreams."
"Then your wildest dreams have now become reality." Inuyasha looked at a small stack of papers Miroku had just offered to him. "Here. For Sesshoumaru. I assure you after I next see her there will be plenty more."
Inuyasha beamed, "Who is she? Is it really like how you write? Or is it even more than words can express?"
Miroku was already walking away, "She is a lady. Someone who is far too perfect to be dirtied with my words. Until later, Inuyasha." He waved and made it home.