Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter Sixteen: September 18th

I didn't particularly want to wake up so soon, but the incessant mumble of voices in polite conversation next to me was becoming too hindering to my sleep. I cracked my eyes open reluctantly, squinting in the sterile, bright white room and trying to decide how angrily I should react. The voices quieted at noticing me roll my head around, and an unfamiliar feminine voice gasped my name in attentive excitement.

"Miroku?"

I grunted irritably in reply, blinking a couple times as Hachi's relieved and smiling face fell into focus. "Hachi?"

"Good to see you awake, Miroku-sama," he said, nodding at me from his spot sitting in a chair to my immediate right. "You were looking pretty rough for a while there."

I nodded vaguely, wincing as the movement reverberated in dull pain throughout my skull. "I was?" I asked slowly, "Where am I?"

"The hospital," Hachi answered dutifully. "Yamaguchi-san had you checked in around two or three in the morning."

Remembering some of the more painful moments of last night, I nodded again, running my tongue along the inside of my bottom lip and noting the tug of at least three or four stitches. I frowned. I hadn't though the cut was bad enough to need stitches, though my focus on my split lip was fleeting as I recalled my worst injury of the night. Glancing down at the bed, I surveyed my right hand apprehensively as it lay tucked next to my side and completely wrapped in stiff, thick white gauze. I looked back at Hachi, my eyes wide and questioning.

His smile faltered for a bit before crossing his face in full again. "It's fine. The doctor was able to repair the nerve damage, but…"

I blinked slowly. "But?"

"You'll have full movement in it again," he assured me quickly. "But it looks like you'll need skin grafts to fully restore it. To remove as much of the scarring as possible"

I looked back down at the wad of bandages and gauze that had become my right hand. I wondered how bad it must've been for the doctor to suggest that I needed skin grafts just to repair scarring, though right now, I didn't want to think about it too much. Focusing on the fact that the nerve damage had been repaired was going to be my saving grace in this situation.

"How long was I out?" I asked Hachi, turning back to my friend and business partner.

Hachi scratched his neck in thought, and I noted the five o'clock shadow of a night without a shave. He glanced at the clock on the far wall. "It's almost seven p.m. now, so … sixteen hours, maybe?"

"Sixteen hours?" I was shocked. Had I really been out that long? I supposed my concussion had added to my downtime, though it was still unbelievable. The infiltration attempt at Kumo, the fight in the tunnel with the two henchmen, and the final confrontation with Hakudoshi-san; that had all been nearly two days ago.

"I've been worried sick about you!" The feminine voice from when I'd first awakened reasserted herself in the conversation and I looked to Hachi's side, squinting in befuddlement as I sluggishly identified Koharu-chan. Why hadn't I recognized her voice before? I remembered that she and I were still technically engaged, though she seemed almost completely foreign to me now.

"Koharu-chan…" I finally mumbled, working the name back into familiarity in my mouth. Suddenly recalling that she had initially been informed that my disappearance was due to an out-of-town business trip, I scrutinized her carefully, unaware of how much I could say to her. Thankfully, she answered that question for me as she continued.

"I can't believe you and everybody else lied to me!" she bemoaned, sounding slightly selfish in light of everything that had happened. I should've known she'd want to focus on how my being in protective custody affected her, how my almost dying interrupted her life. "How could you do that to me? Do you have any idea what I've been through, not being told the whole truth for so long?"

"Sorry," I huffed unapologetically. "It was for your own protection, you know."

She ignored me, jumping to the next matter of importance. "We were supposed to be married a whole week ago, Miroku. All of my preparations and hard work, all of that almost went to waste!" Waving her hand blithely, apparently dismissing the inconvenience, she smiled and patted my leg happily. "But that's okay, better late than never, right?" She winked.

I swallowed heavily and exchanged a look with Hachi. He understood immediately, and I was relieved to see him nod discreetly in agreement rather than try to talk me out of it for my own good.

"I'll leave you two alone," he said, getting to his feet and patting his pockets as if searching for something. He smiled down at me again. "I'll come back later, Miroku-sama."

I nodded, waving with my uninjured left hand as he excused himself from my hospital room and shut the door soundly behind him. I stared longer than necessary at the closed door, suddenly wishing that I had not been left alone with Koharu-chan. I knew that I had to break of my engagement; I knew that it was now or never. But that still didn't make me want to do it. Sighing heavily, I turned back to her, groaning inwardly as her smile widened and her grip on my thigh tightened.

"I'm so happy, Miroku. Everything is finally going to be alright." She made to stand, presumably wanting to give me a kiss, though I quickly stopped her before she fully straightened up.

"Hold on, Koharu-chan," I said hastily, trying to ignore the confusion written across her face and just concentrating on what exactly I was going to say. "We need to talk."

Despite the universally known hint for a bad conversation, Koharu-chan's smile never flinched, though she did take her hand off my leg. Straightening up in her chair, crossed her legs and threaded her fingers together around one knee, giving me a clueless look that clearly said she expected me to discuss the details of our wedding.

I gulped, taking the time to mentally prepare myself one last time before I trudged forward into the horrible, uncomfortable, and despairing bit of ending a relationship. My mind was drawing a total blank. Dammit, this was harder than I thought. I had no idea how to approach it. Do I attempt to awkwardly lead up to it or do I just jump in, like I always do? Neither approach would end well anyway, so I supposed it didn't matter.

"I don't want to get married," I said in a rush, keeping my head forward and watching her apprehensively through the corner of my eyes.

Finally, she cracked from that eerily pristine pose and crumpled a little, dropping her knee as both feet came to the floor in a self-imposed move for stability. We stared at each other for a moment, the silence unbearable, though neither one of us moved to break it. I tried to gage her reaction; would she be angry, upset, devastated, or all three? For some reason, I hoped she'd be more angry than anything else. I was more accustomed to anger, and was usually really good at defending myself.

"W-what?" Koharu-chan asked at last, her voice watery and small. I grimaced. Evidently, this was more heartbreaking than maddening. "What do you mean, Miroku?"

I shrugged lamely, an emphatic gesture that still fell short. "Just that," I explained vaguely. "I don't want to get married."

Her brow creased heavily in an effort to understand. "So… We're just dating then? What about that company meeting? I thought you had to…" she trailed off, looking even more dejected as the look on my face leaned towards the negative.

"As far as I know, that decision still holds," I admitted, focusing on the medical tape holding the IV to my left wrist. I pretended to be morbidly interested in the way the needle to the IV made my skin pucker around it. "I just … I just don't want to marry you…" I raised my eyes to hers again and immediately regretted it.

She looked completely and utterly shattered, frozen somewhere between disbelief and betrayal. I was rudely reminded of the night Sango was first arrested; she'd had the same look on her face then, too. Then I blinked. Why hadn't I thought of her before? I cursed myself mentally, sufficiently distracted from Koharu-chan as tears silently poured down her face.

Was Sango checked into the same hospital? If so, where was she now? I remembered how badly her shoulder had been torn up from the messy and close-range impact of Hakudoshi-san's fired bullet and wondered exactly what type of repair that needed. Surely it required surgery of some sort, but would she still be in the operating room, sixteen hours later, or would she be in recovery?

"Um," Koharu-chan muttered, her voice distorted as she talked through her relatively calm crying. "I'm not sure I'm getting this. Are you breaking up with me?"

I stared at her momentarily, still caught up in the urge to run around the hospital, banging in doors until I found Sango. It was amazing how quickly that girl could completely distract me from reality. I'd nearly forgotten I was still in the midst of a break-up.

"Yeah," I confirmed, nodding guiltily. "Yeah, I am. I'm sorry, Koharu-chan, I just don't—"

She cut me off hurriedly, putting a sole finger in the air and closing her eyes, as if warding off any attempts of painful honestly. "Please don't say that. I don't want to hear it."

She seemed to know intuitively what I wanted to tell her before I could get it out. I began to wonder if she was as clueless as I'd initially pegged her regarding our one-sided relationship. Feeling an outpouring of pity, I clammed up obediently, watching her uselessly as she wiped her eyes and sniffed delicately.

"I'm going to go," she informed me after cleaning herself up as best she could. Tears still prickled up at the corner of her eyes persistently, though she gave me her best attempt at a smile as she stood.

"Okay." I could feel my mind being overwhelmed with the uncertainty of Sango's current well-being and I figured I'd better keep my answers simple. I didn't want to risk admitting to the less monogamous things I'd engaged in with Sango as a last-ditch effort to explain myself.

Koharu-chan stood there for a moment, looking down at her shoes before she left, not uttering a goodbye or even a wave. I caught a glimpse of her briskly walking down the hallway with her head down before the door started to swing shut. At the last second it was caught and pushed back open, and Hachi poked his head in.

He exchanged a look with me, then stretched his neck to look back at Koharu-chan as she presumably made her escape. "That bad, eh?"

I shrugged, shaking my head in consternation. "I'm not sure, actually. I think it could've been worse."

Hachi chuckled sympathetically as he lowered himself back into the chair he'd vacated a short while ago. "Worse than Nanako-san leaving the hospital in tears? Do tell."

I frowned, picking at my heavily bandaged hand restlessly. "Well, yeah she was crying, but you know… She didn't get mad at me or hit me or anything."

Hachi laughed again, taking delight in my admittedly childish view of the traditional break-up. "Of course not," he finally agreed once his laughter more or less abated. He sighed almost wistfully and rested a hand on his protruding belly in thought. "I'm sure you'll find somebody, Miroku-sama. She's out there somewhere. We just have to get the Board to have patience."

I nodded, and something about his words made my mind flick back to Sango. It occurred to me that Hachi might know something of her condition and I dared to ask. "Hachi, that girl who was arrested, Mizushima? She was with me last night. Do you know if she's in here too?"

His brow creased, assumingly both in surprise and concentration. "I'm sorry Miroku-sama, but I don't know. I wasn't able to actually talk to Yamaguchi-san, and the doctors haven't said too much about anyone else."

I frowned again. I guess it was going out on a limb to ask him what he knew of Sango; I should've expected as much. The guilt I felt from not thinking of her condition earlier was somehow worsened by the fact that I now couldn't know anything about it. Content to just stew in the remorse I began to pick at my bandages again, not making an effort to prolong the conversation with my oldest friend. A comfortable silence fell between us, the only sound a soft tapping noise as Hachi idly rapped his finger on the wooden arm of his chair.

After a bit, he sighed again. "Well, it's late," he said, casting another glance towards the clock on the wall. "I should probably get going."

"Yeah," I agreed, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive about spending another night in the hospital by myself. "Say hi to Minako-san for me, will ya?"

He nodded, cracking a final smile as he hefted himself to his feet again. "I will. She'll probably want you by for dinner as soon as possible."

I laughed gratefully. "I wouldn't miss it. I'll see you around, Hachi."

He waved, and I was forced to wallow in lonely silence as I glanced around my room lamely, wondering if I should call for a nurse or just wait until they got around to me again. Despite a slight headache left over from the concussion, I actually felt really good, and I was sure that I should be able to leave tonight if possible. Because of the lateness of the hour, they might force me to stay overnight, but I wasn't above pulling a few strings.

Just as I thought this, there was a light rapping on the door before it opened, and a stupid, relieved grin split my face as Kagome-chan poked her head in through the doorway.

"Miroku-sensei!" she cajoled happily upon seeing me up in bed. "You're finally awake!" She stepped all the way into the room, and my grin widened as Inuyasha, now sporting a leg brace on his shin and a pair of crutches, followed in after her.

"Kagome-chan," I responded in kind, sweeping a scrutinizing eye up and down her sweater-and-jeans-clad figure. "How are you, are you hurt at all?"

She laughed genially, holding her hands above her head and shaking the baggy sleeves of her sweater down from her wrists. Displaying them in front of me, Kagome-chan shrugged lightly. "They're still a little raw from being tied like that for so long, but other than that I'm fine." She sat on the edge of my bed, being careful to avoid sitting on my legs. "I'm so relieved that it's all over, you have no idea."

It was my turn to laugh. "I think I might have an idea, actually," I joked sarcastically, before turning to Inuyasha. "What about you? How's your leg?"

"It feels fine," he insisted gruffly, slowly making his way over to the chair Koharu-chan sat in earlier, fumbling with his crutches and collapsing backwards into the seat heavily. "But the damn doctors are telling me I need to walk with these stupid things for three weeks!"

"Oh stop it," Kagome-chan scolded him mildly. "Weren't you complaining just ten minutes ago?" She turned back to me. "How are you doing, Miroku-sensei? Your lip's looking a little better," she glanced down at my thickly-wrapped stump of a hand apprehensively, "And your…" Letting the question hang in the air unfinished, Kagome-chan shifted a little awkwardly.

I attempted lifting my hand for the first time, unaware if the movement would cause any pain or not. It didn't, though the bandages added quite a bit of weight and I waved my hand slightly, the heavy momentum causing the wave to be much wider than I intended. Kagome-chan watched me carefully while Inuyasha rolled his eyes impatiently and slouched in his chair.

"It's alright," I said slowly, unsurely. "Hachi said the doctor repaired the nerve damage, but it seems that the scarring will be really bad."

Kagome-chan winced, but nodded solemnly, exchanging a private look with Inuyasha. She suddenly developed a fascination with her nails and started picking at them as the atmosphere grew tense. I let the three of us stew for a moment before I couldn't take any more.

"What's going on?" I demanded, clumsily pushing myself up with one hand as I looked back and forth between Kagome-chan and Inuyasha. "Seriously, fill me in here."

Inuyasha grunted irritably. "It's Sesshomaru. He wants you to come by the station tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?" I hedged nervously, "Why not tonight?"

"You won't be checked out till morning. Doctor's orders," he explained, flicking his hand dismissively.

"What's going on?" I asked again. "Why do I have to talk to him? I thought he was tired of me."

Adjusting his slumped position in the chair, Inuyasha winced subtly as his braced leg hit the side of the empty chair next to him. "The case against Hakudoshi looks hopeless," he informed us bluntly, "And he seems to think that you're the one to persuade him to cooperate."

I shook my head quickly. "No way. There's gotta be somebody else…" Something occurred to me and I turned back to Inuyasha, intensely curious. "What about Naraku? Did he get away or—"

"He's dead." Though it didn't show, there was a nearly undetectable hint of satisfaction as Inuyasha delivered the news.

His words floored me, and I slouched back into the thin pillows propping me up. Naraku was dead? Could things like this really end this simply? I couldn't believe it.

"Are you—really?" My question was jumbled and confused. Both Kagome-chan and Inuyasha nodded.

"What about Sango?" I inquired desperately, coming back to the question that had evaded me for an hour and a half now. "Does she know? Somebody's gotta tell her and—is she alright? Have you guys seen her? Where is she?"

"Miroku-sensei!" Kagome-chan interrupted my scaling rant, putting her hands up in the air emphatically. "Calm down! Will you let me talk please?"

I looked back at her incredulously before I allowed myself to relax, letting my back hit the pillows again limply. "Okay." I took a deep breath for effect and tried again. "Have either of you seen Sango?"

Smiling at my effort like a doting teacher to an assimilated student, Kagome-chan nodded. "I have. I had to go see her, I—well, I um," She blushed unexpectedly, looking slightly ashamed as she twiddled a lock of hair around her index finger. "I wanted to thank her for saving my life."

"Well how was she?" I forgot to mind my tone and impatience slithered its way back in.

Kagome-chan shook her head sadly. "I only saw her through the window in the door before they took her to emergency surgery. She's been out ever since."

I didn't care if she was unconscious or not I still wanted to see her. "Can we see her now?"

Again, Kagome-chan shook her head. "She's in intensive care, no visitors allowed. She was … she got hit pretty badly. She still has two more surgeries to fully repair her shoulder."

With a gruff clearing of his throat, Inuyasha injected himself into the conversation again. "That's another thing," he said, getting a very strange look on his face. "Sesshomaru apparently wants to talk to you about Sango too."

I looked at him quickly. "What? Why?"

Inuyasha shrugged, though I was able to identify the strange look on his face as disagreement. But what was he in disagreement about? Sesshomaru-san wanting to talk to me about Sango or what he had to say about Sango? I had a feeling that Inuyasha knew that answer as well, but it didn't look like he was coughing it up.

I nodded, made a quick decision, and started kicking the bed sheets off my legs.

"Hey!" Kagome-chan jumped off my bed to avoid getting knocked around and watched me, dumbfounded as I struggled to stand up; getting tangled in the IV tubes for my effort.

"What are you doing, Miroku?" Inuyasha demanded exasperatedly, grabbing his crutches and using them to boost himself to his feet.

"We're going to see Sesshomaru-san," I informed the both of them astutely, "If he wants to talk to me so badly, why not go tonight?"

"Because you can't be checked out until morning!" Despite her protest, Kagome-chan reached out to steady the IV pole as I accidently knocked it over as I finally climbed out of bed.

I turned to her, grabbing the open back of the hospital gown I wore as a sudden breeze chilled unaccustomed areas. "Kagome-chan," I feigned reproach, giving her a haughty smile. "Kagome-chan, Kagome-chan, Kagome-chan. Have you no faith in my persuasive abilities?"

Exchanging another look with Inuyasha, Kagome-chan rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in defeat. "Why do I even bother?"

To say the look on Sesshomaru-san's face as we pulled up to the police station promptly at nine-fifteen was less than pleased would be a horrendous understatement. He had apparently been the last one out of the station that night and was just locking the gates on the entryway door as our cab pulled up. I stepped out quickly, clothed in jeans and a T-shirt and wearing a sling to help support my heavily bandaged right hand.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded angrily, his face reddening in ire as Inuyasha climbed out the cab last.

"I heard you wanted to talk," I said coolly, walking over to him offering my left hand in a wary, but more or less friendly gesture. I'd figured we could put the tumultuous nature of our relationship behind us now that Kumo was ended, but it didn't appear to be that way. He eyed my offered hand with disdain and didn't take it.

"You can wait until morning," he insisted coldly, and continued marching towards the parking garage next door.

"I'm afraid I can't, Sesshomaru-san." I jogged clumsily to catch up with him, my strapped-down arm making the motion slightly unbalanced. "You see, Inuyasha told me you wanted to talk, and well, the sooner the better, right?"

Behind me, Inuyasha huffed in irritation and grumbled under his breath. "Dammit, keep your mouth shut, Miroku."

I ignored him, following after Sesshomaru-san resolutely until we reached his car and he suddenly paused before unlocking the driver's side door. He turned to me, looking nothing short of impatient and absolutely furious as he studied me momentarily.

"I take it Inuyasha also informed you that the case of Hakudoshi looks to be going nowhere?"

I nodded, cautiously surprised at his apparent agreement to talk with me tonight.

Sesshomaru-san nodded as well, narrowing his eyes into contemplative slits. "I had hoped that perhaps with your cooperation, we'd be able to get something from him, but I was wrong." He stuck the key into the lock on his car door. "Apparently, he won't talk to anyone but Mizushima."

My brow furrowed in befuddlement. "But why? Hakudoshi-san hates Sango."

Sesshomaru-san sighed heavily and turned the key in the lock before he looked back to me. "Yes, but seeing as the two of them are the only ones left from Kumo with even remotely warranted statuses, he seems to have taken an interest in camaraderie."

I nearly choked and my eyes widened in morbid amazement. Holy shit! Sesshomaru-san had managed to take down nearly all of Kumo conglomerate in one night.

He continued, "However, it doesn't matter now. I was thinking that you'd be the one to convince Mizushima to talk with him, as you see; further interaction with any members of Kumo was not part of our plea deal. It would simply be a favor, though it may persuade the judge to lighten her sentence passed what I've offered."

"Uh," my mind was furiously trying to understand exactly what Sesshomaru-san wanted of me. At first, his need to talk with me seemed unnecessary, though I quickly figured out what he meant by convincing Sango to grant him his "favor."

"What exactly is yours and Sango's bargain?" I finally asked slowly.

"Merely less prison time in exchange for a guilty plea and aiding officers with the dismantling of Kumo conglomerate."

I was taken aback. "That's it?"

Sesshomaru-san waved his hand dismissively. "There'll be some legal manners we'll sort out regarding her brother, but essentially yes, that's it." He opened his car door and looked at me pointedly. "Are there any other matters pressing you so urgently or am I free to go home?"

I shook my head, though even I wasn't quite sure what I was negating. "If I have to persuade Sango to do something I know she doesn't want to do, then there's got to be something better in it for her."

Sesshomaru-san cocked a perturbed eyebrow. "Like what?"

Again, I shook my head, though my intent was clear. "I don't want her to serve any time. At all. She's already been through so much; let her go."

The chief of police's face turned so red I swore literal steam burst from his ears. "Absolutely not."

Inuyasha wacked the back of my leg with one of his crutches reproachfully. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he hissed lowly.

"I'm serious," I insisted, ignoring Inuyasha and the pain he'd caused my calf, "Pin everything on Hakudoshi-san and leave Sango out of this."

"No," Sesshomaru-san reiterated angrily. "Even if I were to agree to this asinine plan, there's no evidence to back up the claim."

I shrugged this off. "Sure there is. According to Sango, killing me in the first place was Hakudoshi-san's job. You heard her yourself; he's the one who planted that bomb, remember?"

Sesshomaru-san's eyes narrowed again dangerously. "Your word with the word of an admitted killer will not hold water with the judge and jury, I assure you."

"What about my word?"

I whipped around, surprised by the sudden interjection from Kagome-chan, who stepped up to Sesshomaru-san from her spot next to Inuyasha. The chief slowly let his eyes slide to hers intimidatingly though she didn't waver. Extreme gratitude and pride began to percolate in my chest; it seemed that Kagome-chan had finally developed a sense of loyalty to me and was now willing to jump to my defense and aid. The fact that Sango had, as she herself said, saved her life didn't hurt matters either.

"Pardon?" Sesshomaru-san snapped irritably.

"In the underground tunnel," Kagome-chan elaborated. "Sango said she wasn't even supposed to be involved and that Naraku only put her on the case when Hakudoshi-san messed up."

I jumped in again, eager to once again add my two cents. "And besides the poisoning, she didn't want to actually carry out the contract anyway." During her confession, Sango had admitted to being the one who'd poisoned me that night, and I was starting to wish she'd left it ambiguous, as I initially had. It would be a lot easier to clear her name now if she had. At the last minute, I quickly added, "Against which I won't be pressing charges, by the way."

Sesshomaru-san's nostrils flared in indignant anger. "We have video evidence of her willingly obeying Naraku's order to kill Higurashi. That coupled with Higurashi's testimony—"

"I won't testify against her," Kagome-chan interrupted hastily. "She saved my life, and besides, let's not forget Inuyasha's quick-acting on getting the officers in there in time to make sure she didn't pull the trigger."

Out of my peripherals, I noticed as Inuyasha subtly puffed up his chest, smug and enjoying the praise from his girlfriend.

Sesshomaru-san eyed us scornfully for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh. I watched him carefully, trying to figure the mental gears ticking in his brain as he weighed his options. Even he had to admit that the case against Sango was looking pretty bleak too; any so-called concrete evidence had, unfortunately for him, remained too vague to be admissible in any fair court.

Finally he spoke, looking nothing short of highly pissed both with me and at the situation. "I expect you to hold up your end of the deal," he informed me pointedly.

I nodded quickly, immediately knowing he was referring to my convincing of Sango to talk to Hakudoshi-san.

"I still don't trust her," Sesshomaru-san continued, folding his arms and leaving his car door opened as he explained his revised plea deal with the three of us. "I want her under supervised probation. At least six months."

I could tell he was trying to be reasonable, but I still didn't like it. Shaking my head, I countered, "Three."

"Six months or no deal," he shot back, hotly emphasizing each word. I had no choice but to acquiesce.

"Fine, but just assign her an officer," I insisted, "None of that ankle-monitor shit."

Sesshomaru-san tilted his head slightly, silently, if somewhat crossly, confirming my terms as agreeable. He went on describing more conditions, "I expect her to come by the police station, for recorded sessions with Kikyo, once a week until I myself discontinue them."

Again, I nodded, though this time somewhat begrudgingly. My sessions with Kikyo hadn't helped shit, what good would they do Sango?

"I want that brother of hers enrolled in a good school, and I'll leave it to you to keep him out of trouble," he finished, giving me an expectant look.

Giving him a third and final nod, I briefly wondered when I had become Kohaku-kun's supervisor. I suppose I had promised Sango I'd look after him, but that was back when we both thought she was going to jail.

Sesshomaru-san exchanged a disgruntled look with Inuyasha before he climbed into his car, making his much belated departure. "I'll trust you to inform Mizushima of this recent change." He appeared to be directing this at his brother, but I took the initiative anyway.

"I will," I promised, issuing frustrated looks from both Sesshomaru-san and Inuyasha.

The chief of police didn't address us further, opting to slam his door and start the engine almost hurriedly. He speeded out of the parking garage, leaving Inuyasha, Kagome-chan and I behind and in need of another cab.

Inuyasha turned to me, clearly miffed and scrutinizing. "What the hell was that, Miroku?" he demanded, and for a moment I was a little afraid he was going to brandish his crutches as me like a weapon again. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

"Yeah," I insisted, choosing to play dumb. "I gave Sango a chance at a real life."

He sighed heavily, shaking his head in disagreement. "Sometimes people don't get a chance at a life," he told me, his voice low and almost remorseful.

I looked at him with incredulity. "You're saying she doesn't deserve one? Dammit, Inuyasha, whose side are you on? I thought you liked Sango." I actually didn't have any proof to back up that last statement, just assumptions.

"It doesn't matter if I like her or not!" he retorted, too feverishly to be an unfeeling denial. I didn't miss the present-tense change to the verb. My assumptions were right: Sango had grown on Inuyasha, and if my experiences with her were any indication, it wasn't surprising. She had that effect.

"This is about right and wrong," Inuyasha continued assertively. "This is about making sure somebody pays for all the shit Kumo's been up to for God only knows how long."

"Inuyasha," Kagome-chan unexpectedly inserted herself into the conversation again, touching his shoulder comfortingly. "Sango isn't a bad person, and you know that."

He turned on her, looking indignant and offended that she wasn't taking his side. "So what if I do? Like I said, it doesn't matter!"

"But it does," Kagome-chan stressed over his words, "Because you know, deep down, that if Sango goes to jail, it wouldn't be right. She's redeemed herself, and Miroku-sensei and Yamaguchi-san have given her a chance." Abruptly her calming and almost motherly demeanor altered and she grew fierce. "Don't take it away from her!"

Inuyasha glared at her for a moment before finally breaking with a frustrated huff. "Fine," he said simply, turning his gaze upward and away from her. Kagome-chan smiled and shook her head amusedly at his childish pout.

I grinned gratefully at Kagome-chan, slightly impressed with the power she had over Inuyasha. I took back what I said to Kikyo-san; this relationship wasn't the result of some sort of hero-fetish. This was a couple meant to last, I was sure of it.

The three of us shared a cab home, and I climbed out of the passenger seat as the cab pulled in front of my apartment complex, our first stop. I caught a glimpse of the rather comfortable looking pair in the back seat and doubted seriously that they'd spend the night alone. I chuckled once to myself, enjoying a private joke made at their expense tapped in the entry code to the complex, digging around in my pocket for my penthouse key.

Though I'd stopped by briefly after charming my way out of the hospital tonight to change, this was the first time in over a month that I'd really been back in my apartment, back home. It was strange, seeing it exactly the way I left it. The only clue to my absence was sitting right by me as I walked in the door: the suitcase I'd packed for my stay in protective custody. I figured Sesshomaru-san had somebody drop it by for me when we'd first got back a few days ago.

Too exhausted to enjoy the nostalgia of being home again, I immediately traipsed off to my bedroom and collapsed on the mattress, fully clothed and uncaring. I wondered how much longer I could put off going to work; now that I was home and more or less better, I supposed Hachi would prefer me return as soon as possible. I decided to give myself at least a day to catch up on sleep, adjust to the painkillers the nurse had given me, unpack and visit Sango. Sighing, I rolled onto my stomach and groaned into my pillow. My day of rest was already sounding tiresome. The sixteen hours of rest I'd gotten had done nothing to prepare me.

I was on the brink of sleep when something occurred to me, jarring me almost completely awake.

It was when Hakudoshi-san had the gun aimed at my forehead, and in my panic I'd compiled a list of last regrets, one of which being remorse at not being able to tell Sango something. Even back then, I had no idea what I wanted to tell her specifically, but the overwhelming feeling of importance and necessity behind the urge made the regret feel like a damning mistake. And right now, as I laid in bed those same feelings were enough to make me want to run back to the hospital now and demand to see her.

I shook my head, trying to calm my thoughts. I could see her tomorrow, talk to her tomorrow. A tired, stupid grin came to my face as I relaxed. Tomorrow. Sango would still be here tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after that. She'd have a life, one actually worth living, and now I actually believed I could be a part of it.

Sleep overtook me easily then, and I fell into slumber with that same stupid grin on my face. Naraku was dead, Hakudoshi-san arrested, Kumo permanently defeated, Sango was a free woman and I made it out alive. Things were finally going to be alright.