InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Expectation ❯ Chapter 13

*Authors Note - All bow before Ithilwen, the great and terrible! Tremble before her mad beta skills! Or, um, rather, thanks be to Ithilwen for stepping up and helping out while Merith has been abducted by holiday cheer. For this, we love her.

"Oh these little rejections, how they add up quickly.

One small sideways look and I feel so ungood.

Somewhere along the way I think I gave you the power to make

me feel the way I thought only my father could." - Alanis Morrisette

Part 13

Miroku leaned over to breathe into the taijiya's ear, his eyes straining to remain warily fixed on the angry wolf prince standing at the edge of his peripheral vision.

"This is bad."

"Houshi-sama…" Sango hissed back reproachfully, eyes front as she whispered out of the corner of her mouth. "We both knew it was only a matter of time before he found out."

"Yes, but I had hoped to be far away when that time finally arrived," the reluctant monk admitted.

"There's no help for it," she said resolutely, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. "Just be careful, houshi-sama. We're right behind you."

One dark eyebrow began to twitch almost imperceptibly as the young monk raised his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. "As comforting as that sounds, why do I have to be the one to tell him?"

Sango turned her face from Kouga long enough to shoot the monk an annoyed frown. "Because you are accustomed to talking your way out of things," she said levelly, then nudged him insistently in his midsection with the bony part of her elbow once again. "Get on with it!"

"Hey! What are you guys whispering about?" Kouga barked suspiciously from his craggy perch, and in the time it took for the two humans to turn their attention back to where the wolf prince had been standing, he had dropped down off the jagged outcropping and landed before them, less than a few feet away. "You still haven't answered me, monk," the wolf prince persisted, his voice taking on a dark, rumbling edge of impatience. Miroku turned his head to slowly to the left, then the right, casting a meaningful glance over the circle of beasts surrounding them.

"I would gladly answer you, but first I must know if it is your intention to harm us."

Having followed Miroku's wandering gaze, Kouga chuckled softly in understanding, his lips pulling apart in his amusement to revealed an impressive number of pointy, white teeth.

"Who, them?" he asked with questionable innocence peppering his tone, then laughed outright. "Don't worry, they're harmless. As long as I'm here, they won't come any closer. Just the same, I think you'd better answer me before I start to lose my patience," he continued, his smile widening to expose the fangs on his lower jaw, "I've been generous so far because we've been allies in the past, and because you are my woman's companions, but this is the last time I'm going to ask you. Where are Inukuro and my woman?"

Miroku looked first to Sango, who nodded back in accordance, then reluctantly began to explain. "They've been staying in a small farming village just outside of Inuyasha's forest, where the shrine that once housed the Shikon no tama resides. If you follow the river just south of here, it should lead you there. However, there's something-"

Kouga gave a curt nod of understanding, and quickly interrupted. "Thanks monk. That's all I needed to know." Kicking up a cyclone of dust, he sped away, leaving Miroku with his finger in the air, his mouth moving up and down as half-formed words flew in starts from his lips.

"Wait!" Sango called after the whirling dervish, "There's something you need to know first!"

"He can't hear you…" Miroku coughed, wiping his tongue on his sleeve as he tried to remove the thin coating of dust that had been stirred up by the wolf prince's hasty departure.

"Poor Kagome-chan…" Sango sighed ruefully, watching the hazy brown cloud slowly disperse and settle.

"Sango!" Miroku interrupted, giving her shoulder a hard jab, "I can appreciate your concern, but I believe we have a more urgent problem at the moment." Hearing the alarm in Miroku's voice and a low-pitched rumbling, Sango looked back.

The wolves, outwardly tamed by Kouga's presence only moments ago, now seemed to have recovered their senses, and were again behaving like the savage pack they had first encountered. The circle was tightening like a noose.

'As long as I'm here, they won't come any closer,' Sango recalled bitterly, gripping the corner of Hiraikotsu tightly in her fist, willing it not to slip from her sweaty palm. 'Don't worry about them, they're harmless… That is, until I run off and they revert back into a pack of man-eaters! That idiot!'

"Sango…" Miroku repeated, tugging on her free arm. Shaking him off distractedly, she snapped back,

"Get ready! No one's going to stop them this time."

"Sango!" Miroku said loudly and more adamantly, hoping to get through to her, "This is Kouga's pack. I think it would be unwise to remain."

"But the local people-" she insisted, and the rest of her argument was cut short as the circle finally broke.

Sango spun around in alarm as the wolf nearest her sprang into the air, its black maw open wide as it lunged for her throat. Hiraikotsu whirled around to deflect the blow, and the wolf collided with the flat end, stopping with a sickening crunch.

As the first wolf slid down Hiraikotsu and crumpled to the ground, she heard a snarl at her ankle and pulled it up instinctively, narrowly missing another set of snapping jaws. She brought her heel down upon the center of the second creature's skull, driving its head into the gritty turf. The wolf's teeth smashed against one another with a loud, dull clack, and there it remained, motionless.

Sango only had a moment to register the dulling of its eyes from red to yellow-green, when another fierce roar drew her attention around the other way again and she was slammed from the side. Her reaction to the attack had been delayed by a fraction of a second, but it had been enough for the snarling beast to gain the upper hand. Sango felt herself falling down to one side, Hiraikotsu slipping from her palm, carried away by its own weight, leaving her without a shield from the wolf's dripping, chomping, fangs.

Working at a speed born from a life of training, her hand shot down to her waist, grabbing for the hilt of her katana. She pulled it from its scabbard, and in one quick, fluid motion, sliced across the dark monster's chest. In a spray of warm blood, the beast slumped forward, falling onto her torso. Panting heavily, she struggled to push its limp body off of her chest. While the wolf's jaws no longer posed a threat, its dead weight was slowing her down, and the others were already upon her. Sango lashed out, stabbing blindly into the sea of dark faces. The startled yips and howls of pain that punctuated the singular, ceaseless growl gave her a wild sense of satisfaction as she fought them off from the ground.

Even if she knew she couldn't fend them away for very long, she fought. She was suffocating in their horrible breath. They were strong, and many, and they had her down, hurting and alone.

When the wolf had first collided with her, knocking her to the ground, she had heard Miroku cry out from somewhere nearby. Now it looked like the monk wouldn't be able to make a difference. When the end came, you were alone.

As her mind started to slip, Sango's thrusts began to slow and weaken. At the first opportunity, a pair of sharp, cruel fangs snapped down on her arm, tearing through armor and skin. Her hand spasmed, dropping the sword as she cried out in pain. Her eyes squeezing closed against it as she waited for the inevitable.

'The next time I feel the teeth, they will be against my throat.'

But the inevitable never came. Instead, there was a sharp yip, and some thrashing, and then a pair of strong arms was pulling her up and away, out of the hot, foul-smelling tangle of coarse hair and saliva.

Only slightly aware that she was no longer on the ground, Sango peeked out through heavy-lidded eyes. The last thing she saw before slipping into warm, welcoming darkness were the wolves, rapidly diminishing into dark splotches as they were left far below.

'Alone. Always alone… I never meant for you to die alone. How I failed you, Kohaku. I should have taken your place.'

As she regained awareness, the first thing she noticed was that she could breathe clearly again. Next came the familiar feelings of soft fur beneath her fingertips and cool wind toying with the few loose strands of hair that often escaped her horsetail. Then the smell of temple incense. It was a difficult task lifting her eyelids, but after a few moments, she managed. They opened to a smooth triangle of pale flesh, a collarbone exposed by the loose gap in a fold of dark material. It was deceptively soft and hairless, yet she knew it would be firm to the touch. She followed it with her gaze up the long neck and throat, all the way to the hard lines of the chin, the jaw. The soft earlobe, adorned with small, bright rings of gold. His body was soft, but his hold was firm, and the whole of him smelled like a shrine.

'Why? Why did it have to be you?'

She closed her eyes again, leaning into him and breathing deeply.

"You saved me," she whispered, her voice sounding sore and groggy in her own ears.

He smiled at the sound of her voice and glanced downward, his eyes sparkling with a strange light all their own. "I hope you won't hold it against me."

"Don't," she said, her eyebrows drawing together in mild annoyance, "I want to be serious, houshi-sama. You saved my life."

'I want to set things right, I'd willingly give my life to make things right for you…'

"I was merely returning the favor, Sango. I've lost count of the number of times you have done the same for me." He said it lightly, but it sounded forced, and the smile plastered on his face was beginning to look strained.

'…and if the time comes that I can, I will…'

"No," Sango frowned. "I'm the one who should be keeping count. You always seem to be there. For me. You're always there. Why haven't… Why haven't we…" she stammered, a deep blush creeping across her nose, "Why haven't I… b-been kinder to you, houshi-sama?"

'…But the problem is, a large part of me that I can't seem to ignore…'

Her heart was hammering in her chest. Before her brain or her modesty could make her stop, she slid her eyes closed and leaned up, bumping her lips against the startled monk's.

'…wants to live!'

Outwardly, it was swift and clumsy, but to Sango it felt as if she were about to drown inside of her own body. Her eyes fluttered open as she pulled away a moment later, catching Miroku's features in a moment of transition. He'd been right in the middle of swapping a look of shock and confusion for one of concern.

"You really did have a scare back there, didn't you?"

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, nervously biting on her bottom lip. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been expecting, but this hadn't been it. Miroku looked back up at the horizon, feigning intent on their flight, while really trying to avoid looking at her.

"You're obviously still in shock."

"I am not!" Sango protested. What was going on? Was he trying to make a fool of her? When she glared at up him, he cringed.

"Sango. I am obligated by a promise."

"Promise?" she muttered stupidly.

"Yes. You haven't forgotten, have you? I was sworn to behave myself. On pain of death," he said evenly, "and I'm loath to have to pay the consequences of such a promise broken."

'Is that all?' Sango wondered. "What if…" she began slowly, looking up at him demurely from beneath the thick fringe of her half-lowered eyelashes, "What if I were to release you from your promise?"

Miroku was silent for some time, but then he said flatly. "Please try to get some rest. You're not acting like yourself."

"What?!" Sango cried, "I'm fine! It's you! You're the one who's acting strangely!"

"Have it your way, then," he sighed, "Just get some rest."

Sango wormed herself out of his embrace until she sat righted on Kirara's back, elbowing the houshi until he was back behind her.

"You'd better hold on if you don't want to break your head open," she said curtly, spurring Kirara into higher and faster flight. She'd show him who needed a rest! Her arm was sore from the wolf bite, but it hadn't been as deep as she had originally believed. She was sure it had already stopped bleeding. Sango looked down at her arm to see if this was indeed true, and saw that her arm had been bandaged while she had slept, the flow of blood staunched by a torn swath of purple fabric.

'Damn him.' She wasn't going to let this small revelation influence her anger, she simply was not!

"Tell me, do you think we can make it back before Kouga?" Miroku asked conversationally. This was met with an icy silence. She ignored him completely, choosing instead to think back on the inn where they'd recently stayed. More specifically, on the innkeeper's three young daughters. He certainly hadn't been discouraging their attentions, and they'd hardly been interested.

'Even if he doesn't feel about me the way…the way…I mean, I went against all better judgment and practically gave him an invitation to…to…Why did he…I'd thought that he…' She didn't know what she'd thought. Her mind felt like it had been infested with a clutch of mayflies. But by the time they had passed out of the mountain range, past the pale three-quarter moon, Sango had decided that she didn't care if she never spoke to the monk again.