Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter Thirteen: September 15th
Her back was to me, her long brown hair hanging loose and ending at her waist rather than being held back in its usual bun. For a moment, I was distracted by the chocolate-colored locks; I had no idea her hair was that long. I immediately decided that I liked it down far better than I liked it up. There was no doubt that she knew I was standing a mere three feet behind her, though she made no move to immediately turn around. She seemed fixated on a small decorative table pushed up against the wall and the bowl of selected fruits sitting on top of it, one hand folded behind her back while the other perused the fruit interestedly. Inevitably my eyes were drawn lower, and remained focused on her behind, preoccupied by the width of her hips, the sloping dip of her lower back as it rounded out, and the overall firmness of it. Why hadn't I noticed before? Her ass was absolutely perfect.
Finally, she spoke, and guiltily my gaze jumped up to the back of her head, worried that she somehow sensed my admiring and less-than-gentlemanly thoughts.
"Did you know that this is real fruit?" she asked, turning around to face me at last. She popped a grape into her mouth. "That's the sign of a good hotel you know, when their centerpieces are real instead of that plastic crap."
She rolled the grape around to the inside of her cheek and bit down, her pouting lips forming a closed 'o' shape as she closed her mouth around it. I found myself suddenly feeling very jealous. Of a grape. Frowning indiscreetly, I folded my arms defensively, as if closing myself off from any further stimuli she unwittingly fed me. What the fuck was wrong with me; being jealous of a fucking grape?
Sango wasn't waiting for me to reply, and instead started wandering around the living room, completely disregarding my obvious discomfort. It wasn't like I wasn't happy to see her—I was, especially since I didn't think I ever would again. I was just trying very hard to not be aroused by her very presence. Again, I was both stymied and offended by my body's reaction. I was thirty-fucking-one years old. I was way too old to be battling stupid hormones like some zit-faced scrawny teenager.
Figuring a conversation would help distract me further, I finally inquired, "How did you get in here?" It came out sounding much more demanding than I intended, and I cursed under my breath as she whipped around to face me, clearly surprised.
She pointed to the glass doors of the balcony. "It was easy to unlock." It might've just been my imagination, but she sounded a little sheepish, as if ashamed of her breaking and entering.
I followed her finger, frowning as I approached the balcony and looked down the side of the building. We were on the fifth floor, and the outer wall of the hotel was more or less sheer. How the hell did she get up here?
"How…?" I trailed off, realizing that Sango's attention had once again been diverted.
She was running her finger along the scrollwork of the loveseat, looking almost fascinated at the gold-painted frame and the rich, purple velvet cushions. I was amused watching her; it was like she'd never seen a place this nice before. Then it hit me: she probably hadn't. I couldn't imagine the life of a more or less nonexistent assassin afforded very many luxuries.
"It's nice, right?" I said teasingly, taking a brief moment to marvel in the fact that Sango and I were having a civilized conversation, legitimate enough that I felt brave enough to tease her.
Again, she looked back at me sheepishly, withdrawing her finger and curling her hands into self-conscious fists. It was then that I noticed her wrists, covered in thin, but deep cuts and angry red welts.
I went to her, grabbing her arm before she could pull it away and bringing her wrist closer for inspection. "What the hell happened to you?" I asked, grimacing as I took in opaque pieces of ripped up skin barely clinging to her wrists. The cuts looked desperate to scab over, though they were too deep for the process to be quick. They needed to be cleaned in the very least.
Sango tugged on her arm defiantly, blushing under my examination. "It's nothing," she insisted. "Getting out of handcuffs without a key or a pick is kind of hard. I'll get over it."
I shook my head, refusing to let her slip out of my grip, but also being mindful of her injuries. "Come on," I said decisively, leading her back into the bedroom, "These need to be cleaned up."
It was lucky that there was a vanity separate from the bathroom, as Kagome-chan was still soaking in the tub. This was another stroke of luck really, because I wasn't quite sure how I would explain Sango's appearance to her. I turned the water in the sink on to lukewarm, testing it with my own finger first before I subjected her cuts to it. There weren't any disinfectants in the cupboards, but I figured a thorough wash with the regular hand soap was good enough. It did claim to kill ninety-nine point nine percent of germs.
Sango didn't even flinch as I peeled the ripped skin the rest of the way off, though I did my best to swallow my gag. I gently dabbed her wrists and hands dry with a washcloth, never minding as the fluffy white fabric became stained with blood. Thankfully, there were bandages, and I utilized almost the entire box to ensure all her cuts on both wrists were completely covered. I held her arms up to inspect my work.
"Better?" I asked, my gaze rising from her bandaged wrists to meet her own.
She took back her arms, twisting her hands around and examining my work for herself. "Much," she acquiesced dryly. "Though I think you might've overdone it with the band aids."
I shrugged this off; still certain that I'd saved her from a rather nasty infection. We sat in silence for a moment, standing awkwardly in front of the vanity. Sango kept her eyes focused on her hands, though my gaze never wavered from her face. Finally, I felt the question I should've asked long ago bubble up to the surface.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, and at last Sango raised her eyes to meet mine. I pressed forward, "I mean, why did you come here? You know Inuyasha rented this room for us; why come to a place where you could get caught?"
Sango stared up at me for moment, as if testing me to see if I was worthy of an answer.
"Or," I hedged nervously, "Did you just come to finish the job?"
The question startled her and she glared up at me, almost looking offended, before she apparently dismissed it, turning away from me and wandering back into the bedroom. She took a seat on the bed Kagome-chan and Inuyasha shared, hefting herself up to be able to perch on the edge of the oversized mattress. Only the tips of her boots touched the floor.
I followed her, stopping at the foot of the bed warily. Everything that had happened since I first discovered her in the hotel room seemed out of sorts when compared to our previous encounters, including our kiss two nights ago. I was starting to let myself hope that she'd abandoned her contract to kill me, though I was still too cautious to let go of skepticism completely.
Finally, she spoke. "You were right," she admitted, carefully avoiding my gaze and instead focusing intently on the room service phone on the nightstand between the beds.
It wasn't much, but it was something. I braved coming closer, lowering myself to sit beside her on the bed. "I was right about what?"
Sango visibly tensed as the mattress gave a little to my weight, and though her head turned towards me, she still didn't look up. "You were right … about me hating Kumo. Honestly, I was kind of glad I got caught, because I thought I was through with it all."
My brow furrowed. "So why did you escape?"
"My brother," Sango answered diligently, and I was surprised at the immediate response. "He's seven years younger than I am… And we're all we have. But if I stayed there and left him with Naraku, who knows what would've happened to him?"
I let this sink in. She did seem defensive and protective of her brother when she first brought him up in the interrogation room. I wondered if this brother of hers was the missing link I'd been looking for, the reason behind her actions.
She continued, speaking more to herself than to me. "I've got to get him out. I can't take it there anymore." She looked up at me finally, and I was taken aback to see tears lining her eyes. "You were supposed to be my last job. Then Naraku was going to let us go. But I just… I just couldn't take anymore killing and I kept stalling and stalling, and Naraku was getting more and more impatient with me. So, then I figured I would just rather get us out now, than risk the repercussions of not killing the most dangerous threat Kumo's had in almost a decade."
I raised an eyebrow, shamelessly impressed. "I'm the most dangerous threat Kumo's had in ten years? Really?"
Sango gave me an exasperated look. "That's not a good thing," she informed me flatly.
"Sorry," I apologized weakly. Silence fell between us once more as I mulled over the first bit of her confession. I had found it strange that she kept drawing out her appearances; she'd chalked it up to "fun," though when two weeks had passed with no sign, I'd begun to wonder if it wasn't for another reason altogether. My hope that she had reformed her ways had risen exponentially. Though I felt bad for pressing, I was curious to know more.
"If you hated Kumo, why did you work for Naraku? I mean, you were so young… How did you even get involved in the first place?"
A tear escaped down one cheek, though Sango quickly wiped it away and lowered her head again. I suddenly didn't care if her confession to me would end all of my and Sesshomaru-san's problems, I felt horrible for making her cry.
"Sorry," I hastily apologized again. "You don't have to say…"
She shook her head miserably. "It doesn't matter. They're going to make be spill my guts on everything when I turn myself in, so I might as well tell you."
Her statement caught me off-guard—she was planning to turn herself in? When? And what would happen to her brother? I didn't get a chance to ask any of these questions as Sango trudged forward bravely.
"I was eleven. My parents got involved in something bad; I'm not sure what, but I know it directly involved Naraku. He and two other members broke into our apartment one night, intending to kill us all. He got my parents, and he went for Kohaku, my brother next. He was only four at the time, so I'm not sure how much he remembers, but I begged. I cried and begged and pleaded with them to spare at least him.
"Naraku entered the room then. His stooges were just going to kill me to get me to shut up, but apparently Naraku had taken a shine to me. He offered to spare my brother and I, and offer Kohaku protection, but for a price: he wanted to train me to work for him. I didn't want to, but I was desperate. I agreed…"
She trailed off, her eyes looking far away and appearing to be unknowing or at least uncaring of several more tears that had escaped down her face like the first one. Guilt exuded from her heavily, and I wanted to hold her to make it all go away. I at least braved putting a hand on her back and rubbing it comfortingly.
"It wasn't like I didn't know what I was getting into," she whispered remorsefully. "But I couldn't just let Kohaku die… He was all I had left."
She broke down completely then, burying her face in her hands and crying quietly. My hand went from rubbing her back to embracing her shoulders, my other hand coming up to cradle her head to my chest. The image of the confident, hard-edged assassin that I had thought her to be shattered completely as a new image of a protective and loving sister who was just looking out for her little brother formed in my mind. She suddenly struck me as extremely noble and dedicated, and far more brave than I had originally given her credit for.
I looked at the digital clock sitting on the nightstand, my eyebrows raising to find that it was already almost two in the afternoon. Kagome-chan had been in the bath for almost two hours now. I briefly wondered if she'd fallen asleep before I quickly felt extremely grateful that she had felt the need to soak in the tub for so long. It had enabled me to have time with Sango all to myself. My hope that she could escape the hotel room undetected rose a little.
As her cries eventually quieted, I cleared my throat, another question burning on the tip of my tongue.
"Hey," I said quietly, alerting her. She withdrew from my embrace a little bit to be able to look me in the eyes inquiringly. "Can I ask you one more question?"
Sango nodded, pulling the rest of the way out of the embrace and twisting so she could face me better on the bed. I frowned indiscreetly at this; I missed holding her so close to me, though I didn't voice any complaint, instead focusing on my original intent.
"The other night," I started, choosing my words carefully. I was worried if I alluded in any way to our kiss, it might put her out. "When you yelled at me for wondering around town by myself… That wasn't out of any sort of inconvenience I caused you, was it?"
Blushing brilliantly, Sango slowly shook her head, once again looking down at her hands. "I was watching out for you. Naraku's got a couple scouts following me around; to make sure I go through with the contract. If they saw me interacting with you, they would've killed the both of us right then and there."
I stiffened. I was worried that those scouts had seen us kiss, though judging by Sango's dismissal, they didn't seem to be there that night. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Her blush reddening considerably, Sango tucked a lock of hair behind her ear shyly. "And I, um, I-I wanted to thank you actually … f-for the kiss. It was … I guess awesome," she let out a soft chuckle, "Like you said. S-so, thank you…"
Now that was an unexpected yet extremely desirable response. Here I was worrying about making her uncomfortable if I talked about it, but there she went, bringing it up herself. I smirked to myself triumphantly. This girl just may be falling for my irresistible charm yet.
"Yeah?" I verified mischievously, coolly. "I'm glad you think so too."
Startled, she looked back up at me, then pulled her face back in surprise to see how close we were. The tips of our noses were mere centimeters apart. Her lips pushed out into a defensive pout as she scrutinized me.
"Well yeah," she muttered cautiously. "In my line of work that stuff never happens, so it was kind of nice, you know."
She was trying to brush it off as nothing, though she had already slipped up: I caught on to her sincerity long ago. Deciding that she wasn't going to be let off the hook that easy, my fingers came up to her chin, forcing her face closer to mine and making her gaze meet mine. Her eyes widened upon deciphering my intent, though I wasn't about to back down. She unwittingly gave me an opening, and dammit, I was going to take it.
"So, if it happened a second time… What would you think?" My lips brushed against hers briefly before I captured them fully in a fiery kiss. Sango gasped sharply from the sudden contact, and I took the opportunity to slip my tongue in through the opening, forcing her mouth open wider as I reveled in the chance to explore like I wasn't able to the first time.
She tasted so sweet, and as her hands came up to hold either side of my face and pull me in closer I resisted the urge to moan lightly. I had to balance myself on the bed with one hand, though I dragged my free hand up her thigh slowly, kneading the flesh and glorying in the noises she made. My self-control slipped a little and my hand leapt for her ass, cupping it and giving it a slight squeeze…
Sango slapped me, hard and right across the face. I was stunned. One minute, I was enjoying quite a vigorous kiss; the next, my cheek was burning with pain. I stared at her dumbly, cradling the bruised side of my face and looking at her in bafflement. She looked just as surprised as I did, and hurried to apologize.
"S-sorry!" she stammered, placing a hand on my chest. "I was—it's just that… I-I've never … never… And it surprised me, a-and so—" She cut herself off, pushing her lips back to mine and lifting both arms up to wrap around my shoulders.
I suddenly forgot about the stinging pain in my cheek and returned the kiss roughly, once again slipping my tongue in her mouth and letting it roll with hers zealously. This lasted a mere moment, and just as abrupt as her slap, she was slipping away, and for a second I was worried that she was breaking the kiss again. Then I realized that her arms around my shoulders had not loosed their embrace and she was dragging me onto the bed with her, on top of her. Eagerly, I complied, my hand coming up to guide her back gently onto the pillows.
Our kiss soon turned plural and became punctuated with quick, gasping breaths as our moment together prolonged. My hands wandered again, though this time instead of slaps, I was greeted with soft moans of pleasure and encouragement. I felt as her own small hands began feeling around, curious and shy and arousing all at once.
The twisted position I sat in began to wear on me and clumsily, I moved my legs, trying to blindly settle them between hers. She seemed to understand my intention, and helpfully spread her legs to give me room. A thousand devilish ideas suddenly popped in my mind in light of this more intimate position, though I fought to control myself. My struggle to contain myself must've not gotten through to Sango, however, as her hands slid down my sides purposefully and she hooked her index fingers through my belt loops. With a quick tug, my hips roughly collided with hers, causing a low grunt to escape my throat while Sango sighed contentedly.
I broke my lips away from hers, ignoring the small noise of protest as I instead fixated on her neck, sucking, biting, and licking at her pale, soft skin. Sango's hand came up to tangle in my hair, pressing me closer while the other wrapped around my shoulder and grabbed a fistful of my shirt. She started squirming underneath me, intentionally or unintentionally I didn't know, but it didn't help my current state of affairs any.
I grunted again and pushed my hips down on hers, and for the first time we both became aware of our arousals. Sango groaned at the sensation and, encouraged, I built up a steady rhythm, almost forgetting our clothes were still on as I worked my hips against hers. Slowly, almost shyly, she bucked her own hips upwards, meeting my rhythm as I slammed mine down. Groaning, I bit down harder than intended on her neck, quickly massaging the mark with my tongue as she let out a soft gasp in pain.
I had completely forgotten myself now, and my hand started wandering more fervently before, slipping over her breasts before dipping to the cut-off hem of her tube top and slipping my fingers across the soft, hidden skin. Delighting in the burst of warm goose bumps rippling across her stomach at my touch I pushed higher, my fingertips brushing the underside of one of her breasts. It was almost disheartening to realize that despite the sleeveless nature of her shirt, she was indeed wearing a bra, though it didn't stop me from cupping the mound and massaging it gently.
Sango moaned, long, drawn-out and throaty, and with that single moan I became fed up with foreplay. I worked my hand back out from under her shirt, trailing back over her flat, toned stomach until I reached the waistline of her black leather pants. Practiced hands thumbed the button through the hole expertly without needing to see, and I had just grabbed her zipper when I heard a choked gasp sound from behind me.
I stopped kissing Sango's neck, though I didn't back completely away, and I could feel as my shallow breathing warmed her skin. Sango had tensed as well, and we stayed more or less frozen in our embrace. I didn't need to pull away to know who had gasped so terrifyingly anyway. It could only be one person.
"What the hell is going on here?" Kagome-chan demanded shakily. From the sound of it, she'd just barely walked out of the bathroom and happened upon us, completely confused and startled as to why I was currently dry-humping the very person out to kill us. We must have been quite a sight.
Watching her neck move as Sango swallowed hard, I mulled over the possible excuses I could give. I supposed I couldn't use "she's not who you think she is!" as Kagome-chan had already gotten more than a good look at Sango and could've recognized her anywhere. That left me with the highly complicated truth, which, given my current state of fighting to get the blood rushing back to my head instead of lower parts, I didn't particularly have the patience for.
Slowly Sango and I disentangled ourselves and I stood up from the bed while Sango remained sitting, bowing her head and hiding behind the long curtain of her hair. I watched Kagome-chan's eyes flick downwards momentarily before the squeezed them shut quickly, and groaning in disgust. I followed her gaze, huffing at her unexpected immaturity when I realized what had grossed her out. It was like she had never seen a boner before.
"Listen, Kagome-chan," I explained carefully, putting my hands up to affirm my innocence. "This isn't what you think."
She scoffed disbelievingly. "Really?" she snapped, "Tell me, how is it not what I think? Because, from the looks of things, I think it's exactly what I think!"
"Hey!" I shot back irritably. "I know I may not be the most virtuous guy around, but you and I both know I would never do something like that!"
"So why are you doing something like that?" Kagome-chan was almost in my face now, looking desperate and angry for clarification all at once.
I threw my hands up in exasperation. "I wasn't! Maybe if you would just listen to me—"
"I am listening! And from what I'm hearing it sounds like complete and utter bullshit if you ask me!"
Growling in frustration I turned back to the bed, urging Sango to help me out when I paused. She was gone. Kagome-chan followed my gaze and gasped sharply upon seeing the now vacant bed, and she glanced around the room nervously.
"Where'd she go?" she asked, withdrawing into the comfort of the fluffy white robe bearing the hotel insignia she wore.
"I don't—" I was interrupted again as Sango reappeared, right behind Kagome-chan. Before she could react, Sango restrained her arms behind her roughly, grabbing a fistful of her hair and forcing her head to tilt back so she could look her in the eye.
"Sango!" I protested, though both women currently ignored me, entirely preoccupied on each other.
Kagome-chan's eyes were wide with fright as she looked at Sango, terrified of what she might do.
"Why don't you just shut up and listen for once, okay?" Sango sneered, putting her mouth close to Kagome-chan's ear and speaking in a dangerously low voice. "I'm getting real tired of your holier-than-thou bullshit, and if you keep it up, I may just rethink myself and kill you right now."
Maybe thinking she was a completely changed person already was a bit premature.
"Sango," I repeated, edging closer to the two girls, displaying my hands cooperatively, "Just let her go. She's just being ignorant, it's alright. We all know why she was upset right?"
Both girls glared at me, not amused with my attempts at persuading them to calm down. I dropped my hands, feeling foolish for trying to reason with temperamental women. This was obviously over my head.
Finally, Kagome-chan worked up the nerve to speak for herself. "A-alright," she agreed, closing her eyes and wincing as she tried to move her head away only to have her hair pulled for her effort. "I'm listening, just please, let me go."
Begrudgingly, Sango obliged, shoving Kagome-chan back to her feet perhaps a bit rougher than necessary. Wincing again, Kagome-chan rubbed the back of her head where Sango had her by the hair, looking nervously from me to Sango.
"Alright," she said again, much more calmly this time. "What's going on here?"
"Well," I began, sighing heavily and trying to condense the story in my head while I told it, "For starters, I think the most important thing to get out here is that Sango's not going to kill us."
Understandably, Kagome-chan didn't look convinced; Sango's recent threat was still fresh in her mind. She looked at the reformed assassin warily. "Really?"
Sighing, Sango held up her hands in a more or less friendly gesture. "Really. I'm getting out of the game."
Kagome-chan looked back to me. "What does she mean?"
I turned to Sango before I answered, waiting for her go-ahead. "You and I were supposed to be her last job before Ueno Naraku let her quit. She was blackmailed into working for Kumo; she's been stalling all this time because she's sick of doing his bidding."
"Blackmailed?" Kagome-chan's eyebrow creased in curiosity.
I shrugged her off, not particularly wanting to go into the highly personal story of Sango's brother, Kohaku. "It's a long story, not important. What matters is that Sango is on our side. She's going to help us." I looked back at Sango for verification.
Sango nodded, folding her arms resolutely. "Anything to set the record straight. And to get the police off my back."
"Hold on a second," Kagome-chan said thoughtfully, "Just how are we going to get Yamaguchi-san to hear her out? Knowing him, he'll probably lock her up and throw away the key the second she turns herself in."
Sango and I exchanged a look; we hadn't thought it out that far yet. We got preoccupied by … other things. Then something occurred to me and I turned back to Kagome-chan, eyes alight with an idea.
Kagome-chan looked nervous at my look. "What?" she hedged apprehensively.
"Inuyasha," I declared decisively. "We're going to Inuyasha first."
"What?" Kagome-chan's eyes bugged. "No way! There's no way he'd believe us!" I could understand her doubt; she was still having a hard time herself trying to wrap her head around everything.
"Yes he will," I insisted, remembering his curious and bemused look in Sesshomaru-san's office after watching the recording of Sango and I in the interrogation room. "He just needs the right person telling him things." I gave Kagome-chan a pointed smile.
Again, she balked. "No, no, no way!" She looked from me to Sango desperately. "Come on, guys," she pleaded, "I don't even know what I could say to… I just—can't one of you…?" She trailed off helplessly as she took in our determined looks. Even she understood that she was our best option.
As if on cue, the three of us listened as the keycard slid into the hotel room's lock. Inuyasha had returned. Sango and I turned back to Kagome-chan, ushering her forward. She still seemed reluctant, but allowed her to be shepherded into the living area of the room where the door was.
"Do your best, Kagome-chan," I whispered supportively as I slipped back through the dividing French doors. "We'll be right in here."
The door opened finally opened and Sango and I peeked around the corner to watch as Kagome-chan began to explain to the best of her abilities just what had happened since Inuyasha left this morning.
It look a little longer than I thought it would to convince Inuyasha, however, I knew that convincing his older brother would take an even bigger amount of skill and time. And it seemed like having Kagome-chan explain the ordeal had softened the blow like I'd hoped, though Inuyasha remained angry at being kept in the dark for so long. Most importantly, he agreed to help us persuade Sesshomaru-san to join our side as well.
After all was said and done, I found Sango sitting on one of the plush couches in the living room, once again tracing her finger along the designs in the frame. We'd given ourselves until morning to prepare our story for the chief of police, as surely Sesshomaru-san would need a bigger and more thorough explanation than what was needed to convince Kagome-chan and Inuyasha. It seemed like we could finally have a moment to relax, though something still seemed to be bothering Sango.
"Hey," I said quietly, alerting her to my presence. I sat next to her on the couch. "How are you holding up?"
She shrugged limply. "I dunno. Okay, I guess."
My brow creased at her tired and withdrawn demeanor. "What's the matter?" I pressed.
Shaking her head, Sango gave a great sigh. "It's nothing really, it's just… It's strange, to finally have an end in sight, you know?"
I nodded, though I knew that we both knew that Sango's end involved a hefty prison sentence, no matter how much information she surrendered. "Are you … doing alright with it?" I asked, knowing that she'd understand what I meant.
She nodded assuredly. "Yes. I'm just worried about Kohaku." She looked at me sadly. "I can't protect him from jail."
"Maybe not," I agreed solemnly, "But I can." Sango looked at me strangely, almost unwilling to believe what I was offering.
"Tsujitani…" she muttered, and I chuckled at her insistence on addressing me by my last name, even after our little session earlier this afternoon.
"Just Miroku, please," I told her, wrapping my arm around her and sliding her closer to me. She came willingly, and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Alright, Just Miroku," she said teasingly, stifling a yawn. "I hope you don't mind if I fall asleep on you."
I chuckled again, trying not to disturb her too much as I settled into the couch. "Not at all," I assured her, though her breathing had already deepened and evened out, signaling the beginnings of slumber. I kissed her forehead. "Stay as long as you like."