InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bittersweet Rhapsody ❯ Tenderness ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Inuyasha.

Miroku almost did a double take at the sight of Kagome lying in a bed in the middle of his kitchen floor, but managed to compose himself speedily. "Insane?!" he countered in amusement, pretending to look wounded. "I thought she made a rather intelligent choice!"

Kagome shook her head, unsure of whether she was going to barf, cry, or perhaps do both. "Sango, are you SURE you were in your right mind when you did this?!" she asked, still staring in disbelief. "You just didn't wake up one morning with a bottle of sake in your hand and his arms around you or something?!"

Miroku shrugged. "Well, I tried that once, but it didn't seem to work..."

"Kagome, I was not drunk," Sango clarified, a smile playing on her face while still managing to glare at her husband. "Once he figured out that he should ask me instead of trying to grab my-" Suddenly she wheeled around to face him, looking very livid. "Will - YOU - GET - AWAY -" she choked out, slapping his hand away from her posterior. "Not when there's guests in the house!"

"Guess he hasn't changed much," Kagome muttered in exasperation as she watched Sango glare daggers at him while he rubbed his many-ringed hand, trying his best to look innocent. "Hey, how old is Kyoko, anyway?" she asked them curiously, causing them both (luckily for Miroku) to turn their attention back to her.

"She has just turned two," Miroku stated proudly.

"Wow, you DID get busy after I left, didn't you?!" Kagome exclaimed incredulously.

"Of course!" he responded, his lecherous grin growing exponentially.

Sango rolled her eyes. "Sorry about him. He's still as strange as ever." She paused thoughtfully. "But you get used to it after awhile. After three years of him I swear that sometimes he almost seems norm-"

Miroku coughed loudly. "Honestly, Sango!" he cut in, the corners of his mouth twitching. His humorous expression, however, then quickly faded into his usual austere one. "So how did you manage to come about, Kagome?" he asked her steadily. "After what happened almost four years ago we thought we'd never see y-"

"DADDY!" A happy squeal could be heard nearby as a little orange and black streak cannon-balled towards Miroku, grabbing his robes and causing him to grin happily again.

"Well, well, if it isn't Kyoko," he put forth, hoisting her up into his arms. "Have you been a good girl today?" He slowly shifted her weight to his left arm. "No, no---don't touch Daddy's beads-" Kagome had seen the shudder he had tried to suppress as she attempted to play with the beads keeping his wind tunnel covered...

"Well, anyway," Sango cut in in a businesslike voice, trying to pretend she hadn't seen that last exchange. "What were you going to say?" Although she looked as tough as ever, Kagome could have sworn she saw tears glistening in her eyes...

Miroku had noticed it as well. "Why don't I take Kagome outside and explain everything?" he said smoothly, although giving his wife a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eye. "I won't deny that there's a lot that's happened..."

"I think that's a good idea," Sango replied quietly, reaching out for Kyoko. "C'mon, Kyoko, come help Mama make dinner..." Miroku silently nodded to Kagome, gesturing towards the door.

It took Kagome a moment to manage to get out of bed, as the bump on her head still caused her to feel a little disoriented, but she eventually managed to follow him outside into the shady yard. The two sat under a large tree near the house. Kagome then explained her story to Miroku, about the monster and the shard and the well, Miroku looking more and more grave with each word she said.

"That was no coincidence," he said simply as soon as she paused, out of breath. "I'm sure of it. I know all about those wards you put up, for one thing; we tried to break them ourselves not long after you left."

"So you DID try to come after me?"

"We tried, but they were too powerful. At any rate..." He paused to think for a moment. "It is very likely that Naraku sent that demon to retrieve you. He has been quiet for some time, and-"

Kagome's widened in shock. "What, Naraku's still ALIVE?!" she gasped, staring at Miroku incredulously. Damn, she had never really thought about it, had she? That while she was safe but unhappy in modern-day Tokyo that Naraku still might be running around here somewhere...It wasn't a thing to be proud of, abandoning her friends like that, come to think of it...

Miroku merely raised his eyebrows. "Of course. Without you to find more jewel shards, our search became hopeless rather quickly. And then Naraku eventually confronted us and stole what few shards we had collected after Kikyo took the first necklace..." Kagome could have sworn she saw his eyes flicker towards her momentarily when he mentioned the dreaded name...

He cleared his throat, continuing on, "We all dispersed after that last battle. Naraku now has almost all the shards and lives in a walled fortress on the opposite coast. He frequently sends bands of demons out to terrorize villages and is trying to build up an army, but can't do much else, as he does not have every shard of the Sacred Jewel. However, if he ever DOES get all of the Shards..." He gave off an involuntary shudder that had absolutely nothing to do with the coolness of the day.

Kagome gritted her teeth, tears welling up in her eyes. HOW could she have been so selfish like that?! HOW?! Leaving everyone defenseless like that, giving the rest not even a fighting chance against Naraku---it was at that moment that she finally realized the consequences of her actions.

"And so that's why I believe that it was Naraku that tried to abduct you," Miroku was going on calmly, playing at the grass with his staff. "He can't see the few remaining Jewel Shards. He does not have the Sight like you, Kagome. He needs you to find the last ones for him...and so equipped a demon with a Jewel Shard so that it would be able to go through the well and carry you away."

"But HOW?! Kagome asked, still feeling stricken. "Can Naraku even DO something like that?!"

Miroku shook his head. "I have no idea...I really have no explanation for it, either. But it all seems to make sense. A normal demon would not have had the luck to have removed the wards, go down the well, AND happen to have a jewel shard."

"Probably..." An embarrassed silence followed, in which Kagome had nothing to say. Were Miroku and Sango angry with her? Did they believe that she had cruelly abandoned them? "Miroku?" she asked him quietly, turning to look at him. "Did you feel like I betrayed you and the quest when I left?"

He stared at her surprised for a moment. "No..." he replied slowly. "No, I don't believe so...It never occurred to me to become angry, Kagome. After all, I DO know what happened..."

Kagome jumped in her place. "What?!"

He nodded. "Well, with you running away crying like that and then Inuyasha running after you shirtless about five minutes later, I HAD to put two and two together, didn't I?"

Kagome's jaw was scraping the floor by this time.

Miroku nodded again. "He wasn't too happy when he found out that you left, but he never did say much about the whole episode. I must say, he really got it from Sango, though; she was furious." He laughed quietly.

"Well, what does he care?" Kagome spat bitterly, looking away. "He shouldn't have been so upset; I'm just, after all, a jewel detector!"

She felt Miroku's hand touch her shoulder (thankfully). "It's not your fault, Kagome. Think about it; things such as these happen for a reason. Perhaps your relationship in the end would have done more harm than good to you both."

She nodded silently as she heard Sango call them for supper. She sighed as she slowly tramped back into the cheery little house---Miroku's point had been subtle, but it had definitely been there. Would she have tried? Would she have tried to be the Kikyo he wanted or would she have stayed Kagome Hirugashi? Perhaps she, in the end, would have just preferred to live a lie...

***

Miroku gave off a sigh of satisfaction as he pushed his plate away from him. "Ahhhhhh...good as always, Sango-chan," he said lightly, getting back onto his feet and grabbing his staff (no, not what YOU'RE thinking). "I suppose I'll be off now; there's another exorcism I have to perform yet tonight." Kagome was practically forced to roll her eyes as his hand caressed Sango's cheek in what he probably thought was a debonair manner. "You will stay up and wait for me tonight, won't you, Sango-chan?" he whispered seductively into her ear.

He was rewarded with a slap on the wrist.

Miroku looked angst-ridden. "Oh, why won't you just be an obedient little wife, Sango-chan?" he lamented, rubbing his wrist.

"You knew what you were getting into when you married me!" was the angry reply. "With the fact that we've got Kagome sleeping in our kitchen, not to mention me having waited for you at least four times already this week, I think you can keep your snake in its cage for tonight!"

"Aw, Sango-chan!" was the last anguished wail that Kagome heard out of him before he left the house.

Sango got up and began to scrub the pot she had had the soup in quite furiously. "Well...once a pervert always a pervert, right, Sango?" Kagome commented sagely, feeling amused that something at least hadn't changed during her absence.

"Well, THAT part doesn't bother me at all, if you catch my drift, Kagome." Sango gave off a rather uncharacteristic smirk, watching as Kagome looked ready to gag where she sat.

Kagome shook her head. "You really...love him...don't you?"

Sango smiled as she turned back towards the table. "Yes, I do."

"I don't know - I just never really thought that you two would actually-" Kagome stuttered as the other woman urged Kyoko to eat the last of her rice. "I always thought that Miroku really didn't stand a chance, really...That he'd-" -here she made some rather creative gestures- "-you know, with - with tree stumps or with himself or something..."

Sango raised her eyebrows. "Even now, I probably wouldn't be surprised."

"That honestly...scares me," Kagome replied, secretly even more scared that Sango was nonplussed. "To tell you the truth though, Sango, I honestly had no idea that you loved him back. I could tell that Miroku was smitten, but you never left any clues..."

"I didn't have any idea myself at first either," Sango admitted, grabbing the plates and throwing them into the washing tub. "I was just confused, I suppose...I had enough going on in my head the way it was with my family just dead, with my village completely destroyed..." Here her voice cracked just slightly. "And I didn't believe he meant it, that he did it to every girl so that did not make me any more special...I figured he wouldn't be able to handle my past, be repulsed by my scarred body..." She trailed off.

Kagome shook her head resolutely. "He was different when he was with you." She stood up to help Sango with the dishwashing. "He groped you a lot more than everyone else combined, for one thing," she added on an afterthought.

Sango sighed as she plunged her hands into the soapy water. "THAT, unfortunately, hasn't changed." She shook her head in disapproval of Miroku's ever-wandering hands. "Every other woman on the planet may be safe now, but not me. Our being married means that he just concentrates on me now," She looked at Kagome with raised eyebrows. "Do you know what it's like to be groped every living, breathing minute, Kagome?"

"Fortunately, no," Kagome replied steadily as she stared at Kyoko, who was just outside chasing what looked like butterflies. "...You know, Sango, the two of you have such a cute little girl. She looks a lot like you, but she has Miroku's eyes..."

Sango gritted her teeth. "Oh yes, I remember when she was born just like yesterday...That day was the longest twenty-four hours of my life. And when things started to get intense Miroku tried to bless the house and the child and split until it was over, but-" Here she gave off a look of grim satisfaction. "...But I was crushing his hand to powder."

Kagome laughed at her story as the two exited the house and out into the warm evening sunlight, leisurely going towards the tree in the yard where she and Miroku had discussed Naraku's goings-on not long before. "I'm surprised you two don't have a hundred thousand kids right now, actually!" Come to think of it, that WAS a little weird, knowing Miroku's insanely high testosterone level...

"Believe me, if there's a way around that, Miroku knows it." Sango rolled her eyes as she seated herself under the tree's shade. "Sometimes I wonder if those are the ONLY charms he learned from his studies."

Kagome sat and stared as Kirala, who had hitherto had lain curled up near the front door, jumped up and joined Kyoko in her pursuit of the butterflies. They circled around in unpredictable patterns, the little girl laughing as she suddenly began chasing the demon's puffy tail.

"So..." Sango began, suddenly sounding uncomfortable. "What about you? Have you - have you gotten over -"

Kagome knew exactly what she was talking about. "I don't know," she sighed. "In hindsight I guess I should have expected it sooner or later, but I - but I-" She swallowed hard as she tried with all her might not to let forth any tears. "It just wasn't fair!'

Sango looked alarmed. "Kagome," she began hesitantly, "honestly, if you don't wish to talk about this, then I'll be more than happy to drop the whole-"

"No!" Kagome was crying openly by this time. "No, I WANT to talk about it! D'you realize how it's been for me, Sango?! I went back...ALONE...I couldn't share it with anyone, not anybody! I had to keep it inside me for three years..."

She felt Sango's delicate hand touch her shoulder. "Kagome, you KNOW it wasn't your fault...men can be tactless most of the time, with a lot of them ALL of the time, in fact." She glowered.

"But was it me? Was it something that I did?!" She snuffled pathetically. "Or maybe it's just because I'm just Kagome...and being Kagome isn't good enough for him...and I'm not a beautiful, kind priestess who everyone wants!"

"Stop this, Kagome!" Sango grabbed her friend's shoulder almost desperately. "It wasn't you! You didn't do it! He's the one who went off with Kikyo, HE'S the one who wronged, and it's his loss and your gain, I say!"

"But - but-"

"But nothing!" Sango interjected, her face looking grimmer by the minute. "Kagome, be glad that you saw him for what he was when you did! Otherwise...otherwise..." She trailed off frustratedly. "Listen, be glad that it happened. Because then - because then -" She swallowed hard. "-Then you don't have the - the - the constant worry..." Kagome stared open-mouthed as she suddenly burst into tears herself.

"Sango?" Kagome choked. "Wha - what's wrong?!" She wouldn't answer; she only just sobbed harder and buried her face into Kagome's gray sweater. "Sango...please," Kagome said softly, "What's happened to you?..."

"N-nothing yet!" she wailed. "Absolutely nothing, Kagome! And that's the problem! He's a wonderful provider, a gentle lover, a perfect father to Kyoko...why can't it stay like this forever?!"

A bright light suddenly shined within Kagome's brain. "Sango?!" she gasped, feeling alarmed. "It's - it's Miroku's wind tunnel, isn't it?"

"Y-yes, It's - it's Miroku," she sobbed, her tears leaking without direction onto Kagome's sweater. "H-his wind tunnel...It's getting bigger. It won't stop- it'll never stop!" Kagome hugged her tightly as she continued on with some effort, "H-he says he doesn't have long, a c-couple years at most. And- and that he'll have to-" -At this she let out another sob- "-he'll have to l-leave us when the time comes." She grabbed Kagome's shoulders more tightly. "Don't you see, Kagome? I want to be there for him - I at least want to be there when he finally goes! And - and I'm even denied that!" At this point she couldn't even compose herself; she began to cry so hysterically that even Kyoko started to stare open-mouthed at the scene.

(I 've cried this hard,) Kagome thought bleakly. (I cried like this when I realized that I'd never be with Inuyasha. That my dreams were hopeless...)

Sango looked miserably up at her, wiping her eyes with her delicate hands. "Don't you see, Kagome? That's why he works so hard as Kaede's assistant---why Kyoko and I barely see him. He wants me to be well off, not to be a poor widow. But then we never get to spend time with him..." Kagome stared at the well-kept little house nearby, realization suddenly dawning upon her. So THAT was why Sango had seemed so well off; Miroku was determined to at least leave her with something when the inevitable came and he died...

"And then there's Kyoko," Sango continued, her voice still wavering almost uncontrollably. "I want more children---I want t-to - I want to remember him, be reminded of him, b-but... He can't stand it, he says it would burden me further. And he's al-already so sad about Kyoko...I wish I c-could comfort him, but I c-can't. I have no comfort myself..." She let out a small whimper before bursting out into another torrent of fitful sobs.

A few tears still slipping down her face from before, Kagome continued to hold Sango tightly, feeling even more guilty about her absence than before, if at all possible. Yes, it WAS due to Naraku that Miroku would eventually die and that Sango would be grief-ridden thereafter, but she had gotten rid of their last chance, that last chance to be rid of Naraku once and for all. If she hadn't run off, if she had just looked past her own troubles and tried to overcome her overpowering hatred for Inuyasha earlier... If she had just done that then she wouldn't be witnessing this right now... Compared to this, her problem with Inuyasha was insignificant.

"Ladies?" a nearby voice inquired, making them both jump. They looked up to see a tall, middle-aged man on a large horse a few feet away.

Sango jumped up, still sniffling as she grabbed Kyoko by the hand and away from the dangerous hooves. "W-what is it?" she called up to him, keeping her head down so that he was unable to see her flushed, tear-stained face.

The man seemed to have noticed their tears, but he seemed to be otherwise preoccupied. "Listen, mistress," he went on urgently to Sango, but looking at them both piercingly, "Your husband sent me down here from the village to warn you. The village has been attacked---by a giant horde of demon monsters."

"WHAT?!' Sango shrieked, letting go of Kyoko and grabbing the man's sleeve.

He nodded grimly. "There's hundreds of 'em. If you want my opinion, I don't think we stand a chance against 'em. But we might as well have at it..." He wheeled the horse around to go back the way he came. "Oh, and your husband wanted me to tell you something else," he added on an afterthought. "He says that under no circumstances are you to come to help. He wants the three of you to get as far away as possible."

Sango glowered as the man slapped the horse's rear and went back towards the village at a gallop. "Oh, that fool!" she exclaimed though her tears, shaking her fist in its general direction. "How dare he...I can fight!"

Kagome shook her head. "But he's right," she told her quietly. "If there's that many demons, then no one stands a chance. It'd be suicide to go in there right now, Sango..."

"To hell with that!" she snapped, beckoning Kirala with a wave of her hand and running to grab her boomerang from the side of the house. "I can't allow this---he is NOT going down alone! He'll suck up the whole village with his Wind Tunnel and kill himself!" She climbed onto the feline demon's back. "Kagome, take Kyoko and go as far into the woods as you can," she ordered darkly. "Shippo lives there---he can help you if anyone can!"

But Kagome shook her head resolutely. "No, we're going with you!" she shouted, grabbing Kyoko and climbing onto Kirala herself. "Those demons can move almost instantly---they'll find us no matter where we run! No...I'm planning on being useful for once!"

Preview of Chapter IV:

"This is it," he said in a deadly calm voice when the house shook yet again and the wavering transparency shielding them all finally shattered. "Get behind me, everyone! Get behind me and there's a good chance that you won't be sucked in!" And with that he slowly began to unfurl the charm beads from around his cursed hand...