Standard disclaimers apply.
A/N: Thank you for all your reviews and your constant support! Chapter 9 is now here, and Sango and Miroku sat down to talk after meeting at their favorite izakaya (Japanese drinking tavern).
Enjoy, and review!
Title: Rewind
Chapter 9: Thank you.
(Miroku's POV)
I removed my tie, unbuttoning the top button of my shirt before exiting my car. I have already got off work, but I didn't feel like going back yet.
Not when there's nothing to look forward to at home.
Heck, it's hardly a home now.
But I have a responsibility. For now, I'll not think about it. Thinking will only make me more vexed.
Is this how my life is going to be from now on? Just because of a mistake?
I used to wish that work would end earlier so I could go back home as soon as possible, back to where warmth and comfort is, back to where I felt I belonged.
There would be a simple but delicious home-cooked meal awaiting me, and a woman I love sitting across the table.
Now, I wish work would never end.
I dread seeing the clock strike six. I dread going back to a place where I would only get more tired.
Closing my eyes, I willed myself to stop thinking of the mess on my hands and pushed the sliding door to the izakaya to the side. The fragrance of warm sake greeted me as I stepped into the cozy interior of the small tavern. It provided a bit of warmth compared to the unbearable cold outside.
This is my favorite izakaya. No, this was our favorite izakaya.
It pained me to know that while the izakaya was still here, it would no longer be "our" favorite.
For there is no longer going to be any "our" in existence.
"Osake ippon, onegaishimasu." I called out to the friendly old boss at the counter, taking a seat in front of him. I can't force the thought of her away, but I can drink it away.
"Ahh, Miroku-san!" The boss greeted with a hearty laugh, before reaching to retrieve a bottle of the rice wine. "Why haven't I seen you around for so long?"
"I've been busy." I returned his greeting with a small smile. "Work."
He gave me a conspiratorial grin. "Ahh…of course. Sometimes I really miss the days when I was still wearing a tie and rushing off to work at Yoyogi, before I took over this place."
Nodding, I asked him in return. "What about you? How have you been doing, Ikeda-san? Is business good?"
"Me? Well, just like that…as usual." He shrugged good-naturedly, holding the bottle of sake and a small porcelain cup in his hands. "Oh, I have good news to share though! My son made it into Keio university!"
"That's a very good university! Please help me congratulate Hayato-kun." I smiled and nodded, waiting for him to place the rice wine down in front of me, but he did not.
I frowned. What was he waiting for?
"Thank you, I'll tell Hayato that. Miroku-san…this way, please." He tilted his head in the direction to one of the seats behind, before adding with a wink. "You don't plan on sitting there forever, don't you? She has been here for more than twenty minutes."
"Eh?" What can he be talking about?
Mr. Ikeda stared hard at me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Surely you know your wife is sitting over there, don't you?"
"My wife?" Sango is here as well? Right in this izakaya?
I must have looked terribly surprised, for Mr. Ikeda gave me a disbelieving look.
"Yes, Miroku-san. The very same one you married and always came here with. And I believe her name is Sango."
"Ah…" I was at a loss for words.
What should I do? Should I leave? If I stayed, it would cause her misery. But I want to see her so badly…even if it is just for a mere few seconds. Even if she does not wish to see me, I'll take a chance.
"You sure are acting weird today, Miroku-san…Sango-san was acting equally weird earlier on when I asked where you were."
Recovering my composure, I quickly gave a smile to the confused izakaya boss, replying. "Of course I knew she was meeting me here…I just didn't expect her to reach earlier. Please lead the way, Ikeda-san."
He nodded, and with him in the lead, I came to the table where she was at.
Ikeda-san placed the sake down on the table on the opposite side of her, and she spoke up with a smile, "I didn't order one more sak-"
She turned, and her eyes met mine.
The smile withered.
Beautiful brown eyes widened in shock, before the rest of the sentence died away. Her lips were slightly apart with the momentary surprise, before she hastily broke our eye contact.
Staring straight ahead at her half filled sake cup, she remained speechless.
"I'll have a plate of edamame, and ebi-fry for her, please." I said, somewhat awkwardly, to Mr. Ikeda. "With extra mayonnaise by the side."
This was what she always ordered when we came here.
"Hai." He nodded, and excused himself, obviously sensing something wrong in the atmosphere.
Clearing my throat softly, I picked up courage and took the initiative to sit down opposite of her. The obvious stiffening of her back did not go unnoticed.
She still did not say a single word.
"Konbanwa." I said, after another moment of suffocating silence. I knew this was dumb, to start off with a "good evening", but I really didn't know what I could or should say at the moment.
Her lips were pressed into a straight line, before she replied, bowing slightly.
"Konbanwa."
People would have believed us to be complete strangers, who just happened to share a table.
"So…how have you been?" I continued, half-expecting her to stand up abruptly and throw the sake in my face. But she did not. In fact, she was being very calm.
Disturbingly calm.
"I'm fine." She said, still keeping her eyes glued to the table. She hesitated for a few seconds, before adding, "You?"
"I…I'm fine too." I lied, despite wanting so badly to stand up and pull her into my embrace, telling her how I could never be fine until she was back with me. "Thank you for asking."
I could clearly see how she closed her eyes, her knuckles whitening from gripping the edge of the table. Maybe I should just leave, but I couldn't bring myself to. Not when I might never see her again if she decides to hide from me.
"Are you used to staying at Sesshoumaru and Kagome's place?" I followed up with another question.
"Eh? How…" She looked up, surprise etched all over her face yet again.
"I found out from Sesshoumaru."
"Oh." She said, evidently calming down a little. "But I won't be staying there for long."
"Why?"
"I don't wish to impose on them." She took a small sip of her sake, before looking away again. "Besides, I…I will be leaving as soon as I manage to find a one-room apartment."
"Stop looking for one." Something in me snapped, and I said immediately, "Come back, Sango. Please. Come back and stay with me."
She stiffened, and the empty porcelain cup slipped from her fingers to fall onto the table with a small thud.
"Do...do you know what you're talking about?" She asked, bewildered.
"I need you, Sango." I replied as sincerely as I could manage in the tense atmosphere. "The house needs its female owner too."
She shook her head, before adding bitterly. "You already have a new female owner. There's no place for me."
"No, that's not true."
She did not reply, and instead, reached out to reposition the cup on the table. I picked up her bottle of sake before she could, and filled the cup for her like I always did in the past.
Drawing her empty hand back to herself, she sighed, before looking out the window at the crowded streets of Shinagawa at the peak hour. A minute of silence went by, before she spoke up.
"Have you signed it?" She asked, as if she was commenting on the weather. How could she be so nonchalant when talking about the divorce papers?
"No." I answered her as firmly as I could. "I'll not sign it."
She exhaled audibly, biting her lower lip before her lips parted with a small pop sound.
"Why?" She asked, her voice heartbreakingly soft and vulnerable. "For what do you keep clinging on? Is there really a need to do so?"
"I-"
"Miroku…why do you keep torturing me like that?"
Her words hit me like a sledgehammer, pounding my heart or whatever was left of it into smithereens. I opened my mouth to speak, but the food arrived before a word could leave my mouth. Mrs. Ikeda was the one who served us.
"Why those long faces?" The kindly lady boss asked, placing our respective orders in front of us. "You guys quarreled?"
An embarrassed smile from me and a no response from Sango prompted her to go on. "It's alright for a young couple to get into disagreements from time to time. What matters the most is forgetting it after you've cooled down and not let it affect your relationship."
I nodded slightly.
"Don't mind me for being nosy, but I used to quarrel so often with my husband when he made the decision to quit his office job and take over this shop from his late father. Our relationship was so bad; I thought it was the end of us. But we still worked it out, and I hope you guys will too."
If only she knew how condemned my situation was. It was so much more than simply switching jobs and taking financial risks.
My case was hopeless.
Placing a hand on Sango's shoulder, Mrs. Ikeda said gently. "Now, don't let the unhappiness get to you! Put your smiles back on…good food is meant to be enjoyed with a happy heart!"
We both bowed slightly after her, before turning back to face each other.
Neither made a move to touch the food.
The words from Mrs. Ikeda sent us into another stony silence period, before I decided to say something…anything, to salvage my marriage.
"Sango…"
She looked up at me, her eyes questioning.
"I…I think Mrs. Ikeda is right." I started, picking up a snow pea from my plate and opening it up for her. She did not take it.
"I hope we can be like Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda, and overcome this problem together. Being able to get together in this lifetime is fated...how many reincarnations have we gone through to be joined in matrimony now?"
She looked at the plate of ebi-fry in front of her, her face expression except for the quivering of her lower lip.
I could feel my voice quivering too, before I swallowed to hold the rising tears back.
"Can we give our marriage a chance, Sango? I love you so much…I cannot lose you."
She closed her eyes, and two teardrops slipped out from underneath her eyelids to roll down her cheeks.
"No…" She whispered through her crying, before watery eyes opened to look directly at me. "We are different from them. Mrs. Ikeda was not useless enough to let Mr. Ikeda cheat on her with another woman."
My heart broke when she said that. She didn't even blame me; instead, she blamed herself. She thought herself to be useless because of a man like me, when in real fact; she was the best wife any man could wish for.
I could not say anything. For in Asami's womb, the evidence of my betrayal, despite unknowingly, to Sango's love was growing.
"Let's not cling on to this, alright?"
"But I love you, Sango…Can't we try to be like Mr. and Mrs. Ikeda?"
"You know it's not just a quarrel, Miroku…this is so much more, and I cannot take it anymore." She said, her tone utterly defeated.
"Sango, please…we can work this out-" I said, hot tears blurring my vision, as I reached out for her hand.
She made sure it was out of my reach, before she started sobbing. "No…please…please just let me go. I…I don't know how I can stay sane…"
"No! I won't….You know I won't." I shook my head stubbornly.
"Just…Just take it as a final request I have of you." She took a deep breath, not bothering to wipe her tears off. "Please, sign the papers."
"Sango…" I stood up, gripping her hand tightly in mine.
She did not struggle, but instead, removed my hand gently. Her eyes looked at me with so much pain, before she leaned in and gave me a quivering kiss on my lips.
It was chaste, and so excruciating at the same time. Like the warm sake, soothing yet leaving a bitter, dry aftertaste.
With a final sentence, she left me.
"Thank you."
To be continued…
A/N: That was just, if I can say this, too sad. I don't even know what else to say now. Hope you guys felt as much for them as I did.
Glossary:
Osake ippon, onegaishimasu – One bottle of sake, please.
Edamame – boiled snow peas
Ebi-fry – Fried breaded prawns
Hai – Yes
Konbanwa – Good evening