As Miroku approached sango took a few involuntary steps away to the side to allow for a wider berth between them. He noticed and his eternal smile lessened for an expression that verged on pensive. They walked in silence for a while before he took an experimental step closer. She reacted the way he expected by taking a step further away it really was tiresome.

"My dear sango do you feel that a wolf is evil for hunting the deer?" he asked amiably

"What kind of question is that monk?" her tone was guarded as is waiting for a trap of words

"Humor me; good conversation can make a long journey feel short"

"If the wolf does not hunt it cannot eat and would surely starve, it is not evil" she recited it as though it were a creed on some levels it might have been for she herself was a huntress.

"To hunt demons is sustaining?" he encouraged

"Of course! It supported an entire community and time honored traditions while keeping villages in the surrounding areas safe" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion "It wasn't as though we went about picking fights and killing needlessly"

He ignored the edge she put in her words and cordially continued "Are humans solitary or of a pack mentality?"

She was starting to see where he was going with this "It's not the same houshi, it differs for each person you can't just generalize our race completely."

"Of course not," He agreed readily "Wouldn't you say that our merry group is a pack of sorts"

Inu-yasha had been casually eavesdropping but now he and Shippo pricked their ears and attention towards the conflicted human woman. Feeling their gaze she looked back feeling hedged in. Rather than answer she set down kagome's pack in the gathering twilight.

"This is a good spot to stop for today, there's water nearby." With that she stalked off the trail and through the grass towards the tree line.

Shippo called after her "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Hunting" she called back at them.

Miroku began building a small fire pit and inuyasha came closer to squat next to him muttering a sympathetic "Ouch," he didn't even bristle when kagome came to give their friend a comforting rub on the arm. Miroku continued the little chores of setting up camp and shrugged "Like the good lady said, it's not the same."

Whether any of the group wanted to believe it or be part of it or not, the rag tag assortment of sentient beings was the closest to thing to family any of them were going to get for a while if at all.
If he tossed the first of the firewood into the ring of stones with less than a good natured air no one faulted him for it. Shippo and kagome brought back enough water for both tea and ramen and the group ate sparingly of their provisions. By the time Sango returned it was fully dark and she seemed spattered by the gore of her kill. A young doe fat on the spring grasses was slung over her shoulder; Inu-yasha quirked an eyebrow at it from his roost.

"We're not going to be able to eat all that before we leave tomorrow" He chided

"We won't have to," she didn't explain further but took a seat next to miroku and offered him a small leather pouch before beginning the work of skewering the meat on sticks to roast over the fire. If he didn't know better the monk would have called the gesture apologetic. Inside was a collection of dried and candied nuts and fruit his favorite, they had all received a similar portion after helping a village a number of weeks ago. Everyone had eaten theirs except her apparently.

"I was not aware that you have no fondness for sweets" he assumed

"Its not that, I simply thought they might be useful."

"Is that your way of saying you saved them for me?" he flashed his most charming smile and added in a sassy wink as he popped an apricot into his mouth with delight.

She huffed in laughter that didn't reach her eyes "It wouldn't be the first time I've taken offense where none was given,"

"People don't like thinking about difficult comparisons" he had meant it to sound reassuring and placating, but after it left his mouth it sounded quite the opposite. Keeping a chestnut he drew the strings of the pouch closed and sat it on the ground a respectful distance away from her person and smiled once more "Thank you for sharing"

She nodded curtly and buried her small knife with a deep stab into the deer and stood to stretch.

"Kagome would you like to bathe with me? Shippo can you put on a little extra meat to cook?" She posed both phrases as a question for the sake of politeness but both queries were spoken as statements and both of the addressed persons complied.

Shippo settled into his chore with glee, in the sense that he would put a chunk on a stick for roasting and then take a piece for himself the way a human child would with berries. Inu-yasha jumped down shortly after to help in the endeavor for the same reason. Trying to speak around a mouthful of venison he observed dryly "Wonder what crawled up her ass and died recently, she's not on her courses"

Miroku blanched slightly "Lovely dinner conversation my friend, but as to her state of mood I'd like to claim it's me but the prospect of getting anywhere near her rear seems unlikely with her formidable defenses"

"Who's bein' gross now bozou? Cut your losses while you can she ain't some naïve village girl" He offered

"It will be with difficulty if at all" he sighed dejectedly

Inu-yashas eyes widened slightly then narrowed suspiciously "Are you saying you got feelin's for her?"

Judgment,
pre-conceived notions,
lack of basic understanding…

"Whether I do or do not is a trivial topic" he grabbed one of the cooked skewers and occupied his mouth with something other than words and attempted to fill his mind with nothing but the flavor, with the feel of the night air, the waxing moon, and the unforgiving soil he lay on. As the Buddha would say you can't always change the world but you can always change how you see it. Miroku went over several scriptures in the back of his mind he still saw lack of trust in his companions maybe they were not a pack after all.

As he finished the skewer he tossed it in the fire and came to the conclusion that tonight he simply was not a good monk and went a short distance away from the fire to curl up for sleep. He would wake up with a refreshed perspective especially is there was leftovers, and if not he would at least be rested. As he drifted off to dreaming he tried to envision naïve village girls, concubines, and other paramours that he had or had not courted successfully, it worked for the first five minutes and after that he knew no more.