Of the many rides Sango had taken on Kirara, this was not the longest, but it most certainly seemed that way. Perhaps it was the lingering pain from her battle wounds, or the incredible hardships she had faced along the way that made the trip seem exponentially longer than normal, but most likely it was the uncertainty about what was waiting for her at the end.

"A warm welcome home or a village in ruins?" The demon slayer bitterly pondered as she gazed down at the scenery beneath her. She couldn't help considering the possibility that she would experience dealing with the same fate of her own village a second time.

There had been much time in the air to reflect on all she had been through with Miroku and her intrepid demon cat over the course of her journey. It had been less then a week since she had set out to complete the one demon hunt from her youth that had never been finished, but it felt like she had gone through an entire lifetime. She had pushed herself and her companions more ruthlessly and rigorously then ever before. They had fought multiple battles against all manner of enemies in the most adverse of environments. And against all odds, they had prevailed, if only by the narrowest margin.

Sango knew she should feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment, but bitterness still lingered in the air. What had it all been for? Even if her friends were safe and the village intact, Naraku was still out there, and Kohaku was still under his grip. Whatever the case, many more bloody battles still lay ahead, and Sango couldn't help but wonder if she would ever find a sense of peace and stability in her life.

"We should be coming up on the village soon," Miroku suddenly spoke up from behind her. "Just a bit longer now".

Miroku's sudden statement snapped Sango alert. "Yes I suppose we will. The question is will it still be there waiting for us." Although Sango had done her best to convince Miroku her companions back home could handle whatever Naraku threw at them, now that their fate would be revealed, she couldn't help but fear the worst.

Miroku responded by wrapping his one usable arm tightly around her waist and gently kissing the back of her neck. "I'm sure everyone at home is fine, Sango. You said yourself that they can take care of themselves. After all, we survived. Why should we expect any less from them?"

Sango gently leaned back into Miroku's embrace and put her hand over his, basking in his touch and reassurance. If there had been one tangible reward for all her troubles, sharing the experience with Miroku was clearly it. Through all the obstacles and struggles, both physical and emotional, sharing the hunt with him had brought them closer than ever. If there had been any lingering doubts about Miroku's commitment to their future together due to his swindling and womanizing lifestyle, this adventure had forever put them to rest. Miroku had proven he was completely dedicated to her in every way possible, and while their long term survival was still very in doubt, their future together was not.

"You're right Miroku...but you know, the place could still be under siege. We could very well be heading into another battle," she pointed out half-jokingly.

"Well I'd like to think they've taken care of everything by now," Miroku replied. "Because if they haven't, we sure as hell won't be much help-"

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a great roar from Kirara, alerting them of contact ahead. Sango immediately turned away from Miroku and saw what she was warning them about.

"Miroku! Look!"

Miroku already saw what Sango was pointing at. Great plumes of thick, black smoke were visible from the direction of Kaede's village. Though they couldn't be certain, they seemed to be coming precisely from where the village was.

"Oh god, Miroku. You don't think..." Sango was almost beside herself with grief.

Miroku was quick to cut in. "Don't panic Sango. We don't know what this means. It could just be..."

But his words were lost on Sango, who had instantly transitioned from panic into command mode. "Kirara! Take us up! Get as high as possible!"

"What are you doing?" Asked Miroku as Kirara started to rise.

"If the village has been overrun be Naraku's demons, I don't want them spotting us when we fly overhead. We'll have to assess the situation from long range."

"Sango, isn't that a bit much?"

"I'm not going to let our concern for our friends get us killed!" She hastily retorted. "If it's really too late for them, we'll need to be in position to make a fast escape."

Miruko sighed and conceded her point. "Okay, but don't go jumping to conclusions over this. It's not going to be like it was before. I promise."

"I believe you, Miroku, I really do," said Sango as Kirara reached her maximum altitude and resumed course. "But we have to approach this from a pragmatic standpoint. Considering our condition, it would be too dangerous for anything less."

By the time Kirara flew over the village, she had reached a height where little was visible below. Sango quickly spotted a great mass of life on the ground below, but at their distance they appeared to be mere masses and specs, with no way to determine if they were demons or humans. But one thing was clear. The village had taken a pounding. Many collapsed damaged huts and buildings were present, while great plumes of fire raged from multiple locations.

Sango was about to consider their next move when suddenly Miroku came to a great revelation. "Kirara! Take us down! Everything's okay!"

"Miroku!" Sango shouted back. "Slow it down, we can't be sure of what-"

"Sango, trust me. Everything is fine. Look of the locations of the fires. They're all on the outside of the village. None of them are in the perimeter. Just take us lower, and I think you'll find they are a symbol of victory."

Sure enough, Sango could see he was right. And while it didn't actually prove anything, Sango decided it was enough to take a chance. Quite frankly she was sick of always having to keep her guard up and maintain a sense of hyper-alertness. It was time to relax and throw caution to the wind. Taking a deep breath, she nodded her head and gave Kirara the signal to descend.

Her efforts were rewarded as the scene came into plain view. The village was battered and showed signs of a great battle, but for the most part it was still standing. The vast majority of key structures had survived, as had the inhabitants who soon came into view. Sango could see a vast mix of human villagers and wolf demons from Kouga's tribe, all decked out in various degrees of armor and weaponry. Just as Miroku expected, the raging fires were not from burning buildings, but from great piles of demon corpses, which had been set up outside the village for disposal.

A great sense of relief flooded in as Sango scanned the mass below, and she soon found exactly what she was looking for. All her companions were accounted for. Kagome, Shippo, and a fully recovered Inuyasha were standing clearly out in the crowd, along with Kouga and his demon lieutenants Ginta and Hakkaku close by.

It wasn't long before someone below spotted Kirara and her riders, and soon a great cheer burst out from the crowd in response. All around the village, wolf demons and humans alike pointed their weapons up and let out shouts of triumph as Kirara swooped in for a landing near Inuyasha and the others at the center. Sango could hardly believe this was happening. After so many obstacles and turns for the worst, everything was finally coming together, and she couldn't help but bask in the glory and attention she was receiving. Memories of the celebrations her own village would hold after coming back from a mission quickly came flooding into her mind.

"Well this isn't quite the welcome I'd be getting in my own village after a successful hunt," she happily thought to herself, "but it sure is good enough!"

"Sango!" Kagome shouted, rushing up to hug her freind as Kirara touched down and Sango weakly pulled herself off. However, she immediately stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw the extent of the Tiyajia's injuries: The bloodstained bandages on her leg and forehead, the noticeable limp in her walk, and most of all her face, of which a massive portion was swollen, cut, or bruised.

"Good lord, what on earth happened to you two?" Kagome asked as she noticed Miroku's massive wounds and broken arm as well. "And here I thought we were the ones had it rough."

Indeed, Sango noticed Kagome's futuristic uniform was torn in several places and sporting a nasty bloodstain from a cut on her arm. "Well I'm afraid our foe wasn't willing to go down without a bit of a tussle. But in the end we prevailed. I'll be happy to tell you all about it later, but what happened here?"

"Oh nothing much...just a massive assault from Naraku's minions that kept us in constant battle for the last three days." Shippo cut in sarcastically as he rushed forward to pet Kirara, who by now had shrank down to normal size. "But we sent we sent those goons packing. You should have seen it, guys! With my fox magic, I was unstopp-"

"Oh give it a rest, Shippo!" Inuyasha interrupted. "You guys were on the verge of collapse until I came in to turn the tide. Once I got back in the game , Naraku and his worthless hoard didn't stand a chance!"

"And who was it that kept you safe until then?!" Kouga shot back. "If it wasn't for me and my demon warriors, you'd have been feeding the worms in a matter of hou-"

"Well we all did our part," Kagome quickly interjected, trying to assume her natural role as team peacemaker. Then she turned back her newly arrived friends. "I'm just glad the three of you made it back safe. We were just about to go and look for you once Kaede recovered to take over things here.

This caught Miroku's attention. "Kaede? Is she alright? I hope she wasn't injured in the ordeal."

"Oh don't worry, she's just resting," Kagome assured him. "This whole thing was quite exhausting for her. She took charge of the village the whole time and barely had any sleep over the last few days."

"Yeah I gotta hand it to the old crone, she was quite the field general," added Inuyasha. "Turning this peasant rabble into such a formidable fighting force."

This comment did him no favors with the surrounding audience. "Hey! who are you calling rabble!" came a shout from from a large battle-worn villager behind him.

"He makes a good point, Inuyasha," Kouga smugly interjected. "This 'rabble' sustained the fight a hell of a lot longer than you did!"

Inuyasha's nerves immediately began to rise. "You know I've had just about enough of you, Kouga! You agreed to leave once Sango and Miroku returned here, so take your tribe's scrawny hides back to your caves and have fun hunting rats."

Suddenly Kouga swept in close to Kagome and stood protectively in front of her. "You know something, dog turd, I don't think I should. Whose going to protect MY woman if I go? The monk and Tiajiya clearly are in no condition for it, and back in the woods you clearly showed you aren't up to the task."

As Kouga and Inuyasha started heating up, Sango could only roll her eyes in disappointment while watching the ordeal play out, despite Kagome's feeble attempts to intervene. This was certainly not the type of homecoming she was expecting.

"Have they been like this the whole time?" she whispered to Ginta, who was watching the event play out nearby.

"Oh you have no idea," he grimly answered. "I'm actually glad Naraku showed up to attack when he did. Without a common enemy to fight, I don't think we could have held them back much longer..."

Meanwhile, the tension between the two demons continued to spiral out of control as Kagome fought a losing battle to contain it. "Cut it out, you two! Kouga, it's time-"

Before she could finish, Kouga suddenly wrapped his left arm around Kagome and pulled her in close. "Yeah, better listen to her, Mutt. I'd hate to spill your guts in front of my m-"

Finally, Inuyasha could restrain himself no longer. Before Kouga could finish, the dog hanyou laid into him with a massive right hand punch, decking him with a force so great it sent him into the air for a brief moment and then skidding along the ground. But Kouga quickly recovered and used the blow's momentum to pull his legs up and spring back on his feet.

"What was that, Kouga?!" Inuyasha bellowed in rage, while the surrounding crowd of demons and humans fell deathly silent. "Finish that sentence, I dare you!"

Kouga stared blankly at Inuyasha for a few tense moments. Then a smile crept across his face. "Nah, I take it back. I won't mind this one bit!"

With that, Kouga stormed back at Inuyasha with blinding speed. Inuyasha again attempted to swing at him, but Kouga's jewel shard-enhanced legs were too quick. Ducking under the errant attack, Kouga countered by slamming his knee into Inuyasha's ribs and followed up with a straight-on punch of his own, catching him right in the jaw. The impact wasn't enough to knock Inuyasha to the ground, but it sent him back several paces.

The fight only progressed from there, as both participants continued to rain blow after blow on each other, with the surrounding crowd wildly cheering them on as if it were a sporting event, and Kagome desperately trying to rain them in. She considered breaking up the fight with a sit command, but did not want to seem as if she was supporting Kouga over Inuyasha. There still remained bitter memories of what happened the last time this was done.

Meanwhile, Sango and Miroku could only watch in awe. "See Miroku!" Sango pointed out. "I knew bringing Kouga here was going to cause all sorts of trouble."

"Oh come now, I think a mere fistfight is a worthy price for saving the entire village, don't you? Just wait, I think this ordeal is about to come to an end."

Sango merely sighed, grateful that at least the two participants had enough restraint to not use their weapons. "Well, I guess this is at least proof Inuyasha's made a full recovery..."

Eventually, Mikroku's prediction came true as Kagome found the opportunity she'd been waiting for. At that very moment, Inuyasha and Kouga locked arms and started wrestling along the ground, enabling Kagome to use the subjugation beads against both of them equally. Shouting out Inuyasha's least favorite word, Kagome's command crushed both fighters into the earth, where they lay panting for several seconds before Inuyasha rolled off Kouga and slowly pulled himself up.

A tense lull in the action commenced as both demons took a moment to recover, and before they could continue, Kagome stepped in between. "That's enough, both of you!" She shouted in anger. Then she turned to address Kouga.

"Listen Kouga. I appreciate everything you and your tribe did to defend the village. But now it's time for you to go. Please."

Not wanting to turn Kagome against him, Kouga reluctantly gave in. "Yeah I suppose we may have overstayed our visit." Then he turned to address his the warriors from his tribe. "Come on guys, let's head out. We've got a good home waiting for us and a great victory to celebrate."

As Ginta, Hakkaku, and the others started filing away from the village, Kouga turned back to Kagome for some parting words. "Don't worry, Kagome. You'll see me again soon enough. And if this worthless mutt ever fails to measure up again, you know you can always count on me."

This final comment was nearly enough to get the Tetsaiga out of its scabbard, but before Inuyasha could reply, Kouga had turned into his tornado form and was gone in a flash, with his demon subordinates lagging behind. As the surrounding villagers moved on and resumed their tasks, Inuyasha found himself with no one left to take his anger out on, and it ended up going to Kagome.

"Kagome! What the hell was that for? I can't let that mangy wolf's challenges go unhee-"

"Oh you're so selfish, Inuyasha!" Kagome shot back. "We've got bigger things to deal with right now!"

Inuyasha quelled his anger. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. After all, now that I'm recovered, we've jewel shards to hunt down. I hope you're ready."

Now Kagome practically exploded. "Are you kidding? Look around you! The village is still in need of repairs, I've got loads of schoolwork to catch up on, and Sango and Miroku are badly injured. At the very least, we won't be going back out until they recover."

"What? You mean I have to play nursemaid and handyman until their frail human bodies mend? That'll take forever!"

"We can handle it. Naraku will be laid up for a while himself after the mauling we gave him. Besides, need I remind you of all the things I had to do during YOUR recovery? Those Ramen meals and antibiotics didn't fall out of the sky!"

And so it went on back and forth, while Miroku and Sango could do nothing but watch their routine. Suddenly Sango started chuckling to herself, realizing this was one aspect of her homecoming that she had not considered: enduring the endless bickering that came with the troubled relationship of the hanyou and teenage priestess. Sometimes their fights were so intense that they seemed to be the most bitter of enemies. But even so, Sango had full confidence they would thrive and endure.

Smiling slightly, she turned to face Miroku. "After all, if we could go through all those trials and come out stronger than before..."

"Well Sango, it appears this is going to go on for quite some time. Feel like sticking around and watching the fireworks?"

Sango merely shook her head. "I don't know about you, but right now I'd really like to lie down."

"My thoughts exactly," replied Miroku. Then he turned to Shippo, who all this time had been playing with Kirara. "Say Shippo, is there any place close by would could use as a temporary lodging?"

Shippo looked up from Kirara, who was rolling playfully in the grass as he rubbed her belly. "Sure. try that hut over," he said, pointing to the nearby structure. "We've were using it as a makeshift storehouse during the siege, so it's a little crowded, but no one's living there, and there were a few empty cots inside."

"That will do just fine," replied Miroku calmly. "Though I suppose getting there may be a bit of challenge all the same. Shall we, Sango?"

Sango laughed in response. "Indeed. Let this be our final task for the evening."

However, with Sango's severely injured leg and Miroku's crippled knee, this task turned out to be a surprisingly arduous one. Gritting their teeth, Sango and Miroku leaned on each other for support and quietly shuffled away from the bickering Miko and Hanyou.

"You know Miroku, until we get better, we'll have to talk to Kagome about bringing us some mobility aiding items from her time. As of now, this method is most inefficient."

Miroku merely wrapped his good arm tightly around Sango's waist, pulled her closer to him, and whispered seductively in her ear. "Perhaps, but it also has its perks."

"Miroku!" Sango replied indignantly, but unable to hold back laughter. "This is serious. Do you even realize we've got months of of grueling recuperation ahead of us?"

"Maybe so. But as long as I'm going through it with you, how bad could it be?"

Sango settled down as they neared the empty hut. "Well, I suppose you win this round," she replied happily. "I guess our road to recovery is just the next step, and we'll get to through it together. We always will..."

Meanwhile Kagome and Inuyasha were still going at it, not even realizing the subjects of their argument were leaving the scene.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, at her wits end. "I've had enough. We're not going on any more jewel shard hunts until Miroku and Sango get better. Now I want you to apologize to both of them right now..."

Kagome turned and pointed in the direction where her friends had been, only to realize they were no longer there. All that remained was Shippo, playing happily with Kirara on the ground.

"Hey, where'd they go?"

"Oh they went over to the supply hut to get some rest," he replied, calmly pointing in their direction. "Watching you two go at it does get tiresome after a while."

Kagome looked over to see Sango and Miroku shuffling painfully away, leaning on each other for support. Upon further inspection, she saw they had their arms around each other and appeared to be holding on a bit tighter and closer than necessary.

"Say, Inuyasha... you notice anything particular about them?"

"Yeah I'll say," responded Inuyasha. "Miroku's in such close proximity to Sango without trying to stroke her butt. He must be in a lot more pain than I realized-"

Even after all this time with him, sometimes Kagome was still taken aback by Inuyasha's bluntness and refusal to look at the big picture. "Dammit Inuyasha, that's not it! Just look at them. Seems like battle wasn't the only thing they were experiencing while they were out on the road."

Inuyasha remained as stubborn as ever. "Ah, you're kidding yourself. It's just because of how badly injured they are. Just wait. You'll hear a loud slap from inside that hut in a matter of minutes."

"Sure, Inuyasha. Anything you say," said Kagome, deciding that trying to change his mind was a lost cause.

"Well he does have a point, Kagome," Shippo spoke up as the three of them watched Miroku and Sango walk inside. "They sure seemed like they're hurt really badly. You think they'll be okay?"

Kagome was beaming as she looked down at the kitsune to respond. "Yes Shippo. No matter what they have to deal with in the coming days. I can tell they'll be just fine."

The End

Author's note: Well that's it for this story. Hope you enjoyed it. For those who would have liked to see what happened back at the village rather than hear about it second-hand, I'm sorry. I thought about including some chapters describing what was going on back on the homefront, but decided against it on grounds that I wanted this to be Mir/San's adventure, and I wanted the whole thing to be from their point of view. Perhaps someday I'll make a different story on the events that took place in the village while Miroku and Sango were away, but this part is and will remain their story.