InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Filling the Void ❯ There for You ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. He is the property of Rumiko Takahashi y Viz Productions.

 

Note to Fanfiction.net people: If you read this before Saturday morning, I've made the tiny change of the prince's name. I had it grossly miss spelled originally, but after wasting superb amounts of time on the internet, I finally found it at where else? Adult motherfucking Swim.

 

A/N: Ok, this is the continuation of “Speechless or the Trouble of a Puppy Nose.” I wasn't going to do a squeal, and I felt “Speechless” spoke for itself. But this story has been rolling around in my head, and so I decided I might as well give it is a shot. This story will probably only be a few chapters long—I really don't have time for more right now. I am not attaching it to “Speechless” because I'm a little proud of that story, and this one will probably read more like a bad romance novel or soap opera, which is fine and good and all, but I just need the two separate for my own writing health.

 

I don't know if you can get by on this one without having read “Speechless”, but did I try to write this so you could skip the first part. I guess if you're reading this and you have a WTF? moment, go read “Speechless” for clarification.

 

Anyway…on with the show…

 

Chapter 1

 

It was raining…again.

 

Sango could remember other rainy journeys but they had been so much easier to endure when she had not been weighed down by the indignities suffered by a pregnant woman.

 

Behind her, trudging with his black-haired head down was her companion. They only spoke in awkward and abrupt sentences, and never for more that a moment. Neither seemed to know what to say to the other nor were things looking up.

 

Sango wondered not for the first time how this was going to work out.

 

She was taking the father of her child back to her village, and she couldn't help questioning her sanity. What would the people say? Would they still trust her to lead them if they knew she had dishonored herself so? Everything she had worked for, everything she hoped to accomplish would be shattered if she lost the trust of her villagers.

 

Unfortunatly the opinions of the men and women living in the newly formed demon slayer village were the least of her worries.

 

Stealing another greedy glance over her shoulder at Miroku, Sango couldn't stop the soft sigh from slipping between her lips. All of this would be all more bearable if only he were willing. He had said he chose to come with her, to stay by her side, but his actions spoke differently.

 

He acted like an animal caught in a trap, willing to gnaw though its own leg to escape.

 

She hadn't meant to, but she had trapped him. No one in their little band would have known it before, but the houshi did have some honor; he would not abandon his child. She had locked him to her by his sense of duty and obligation.

 

Another wave of guilt washed over her followed quickly by an upsurge of nausea to powerful to ignore.

 

Not again, she moaned as she dropped her bags in the muddy road and took off at a sprint to the roadside where she hunched over, as her stomach heaved up the contents of her noon meal.

 

To say she was surprised when she felt warm hands brushing across her neck as they gathered her hair was an understatement. She attempted to look up at Miroku, if for nothing else to know that it was really him who was helping her and not some passing stranger on the road, but more pressing matters distracted her.

 

All the other times the sickness came on he had stood frozen in his last step looking worried and very uncomfortable.

 

Now she felt him gently holding back her hair, and when he was sure she was done, he let the locks loose in favor of rubbing feather-light circles over her back in an effort to sooth her.

 

Sango could not bring herself to move. This was the closest her and Miroku had been in a long, very long time. And she liked it.

 

She missed him. They hadn't been together when they were together long enough for her to miss the intimacy they shared, but she missed the friend and travel companion Miroku had been before. Sango longed for his smile in her direction—not the ever-present nervous glances he sent her way—his laugh, his support. First and foremost Miroku had been her friend and from there it had been easy for her to love him. After spending all her young life around the course men of the youkai village, Miroku had been so kind and sensitive…

 

Even if he was most sensitive when he was trying to group her, he had been there for her. It had been Miroku to gather her father's armor in his outer robes, it had been Miroku to come to give her comfort after their run ins with Kuhaku.

 

She might have questioned her sanity in loving the monk, but she never questioned the fact itself.

 

But the uncertainty that really gnawed on her gut was how could he love her? She was violent because she didn't know how to say in words how she felt. She hated when he treated her like everyone else, all of those other girls.

 

And wasn't that what he had done? Treated her like everyone else? Used her like so many girls from so many villages from all across Japan?

 

For moment anger flared up in Sango, but then the soft circles being soothed into her back registered.

 

He was here with her. Maybe it was that he had the child he had always wanted and now that Naraku was dead he had time to enjoy fatherhood, but still he had come with her.

 

Raising her head, Sango met Miroku's concerned gaze for the first time she could remember for the longest time, she smiled at him. A genuine smile, not the forced ones she had been making in vain attempts to ease the awkwardness.

 

“Thank-you,” the demon exterminator said, standing up straight. The spell of her reflection was broken and she noticed the rain was still falling. It didn't matter. “I'm glad you're here.”

 

There was the slightest moment in his eyes that she could tell her was thrown off guard, but Miroku quickly recovered. “I'm glad I'm here too. Is there—”

 

The bear youkai came crashing out of the trees, paws waving in the air as it slashed at the two journey-worn travelers.

 

Sango's first reaction was to reach for her boomerang only to find she had left it in the middle of the road. In the time it took her to notice the missing weapon, Miroku had seized her by the hips and swung her out of the way. Grabbing up his staff he went after the bloodthirsty demon himself, calling out for Sango to stay where she was.

Not likely, Sango snorted, gathering up the boomerang from its place in the muddy road and quickly returned Miroku just in time to see his form fly through the air to where it landed with a skid in the roadside's ditch.

 

Without missing a beat, Sango was in the air, swinging the boomerang towards the monster. It connected beautifully, catching the over-sized bear squarely in the throat, ripping and tearing through fur, muscle, and bone as it decapitated. The demon slayer's attack would have gone off without a hitch if she had only been a little quicker. As the bear's paw fell to the ground, its claws slashed down her arm as Sango attempted to jump away from the spot where she had landed after throwing her weapon.

 

Though she managed to get of the way before she was crushed completely under its weight, she knew before she had landed on the safety of the road that her arm was badly injured.

 

Prying her fingers away from where she found herself clutching the wound, Sango grimace at the deep slashes oozing think dark blood.

 

It could have been worse…She thought tiredly as she began to make her way back to their travel supplies, which had become soiled with rain and mud.

 

Sango was so distracted with staunching the blood that she didn't see Miroku until he was already beside her; she didn't notice he was angry until he roughly pulled her arm to him, snatching the bandages she was fumbling with out of her hand in the same movement.

 

Quickly and with practiced hands he wrapped the wound, practically shoving it back at her when he was finished.

 

“That should hold you until we can get it properly cleaned,” he muttered before turning abruptly to gather up the bags.

 

Unsure of his sudden coldness, Sango tried to reached out to him, “Miroku I—”

 

Before her hand could reach his shoulder, he had whirled around on her, eyes burning with an anger very much out of place on his usually serene face.

 

“You have never been a reckless fighter—I don't see how now of all the blessed times you have to throw yourself in harm's way!”

 

Sango was speechless for a moment, her words shocked out of her. Quickly however she recovered. “Its not like you were doing much good! What was I supposed to do? Wait for you to save me?”

 

Miroku went pale and his lips were a thin, tight line. “I just wish while you were in your condition you would be a little more careful.”

 

Sango felt steam pour out of her ears. “Do I need to remind you that you don't have to be here? Its not like you're ever around when I actually need you!”

 

She had to clamp her and over her mouth and turn from him as soon as she spoke. Why did she say things she knew would hurt him? He had only been concerned for the baby.

 

The baby. That was it. She hated most the moments when she knew he was only there out of duty. It was not that she didn't want a father for her child; it was that she wanted the father of her child to love her as much as she loved him.

 

Miroku stared at her turned back for a moment, and he felt his hands start to shake. “Fine.” He muttered, to cold from her words to say anything more. Hoisting the bags on his shoulder he began to walk down the road.

 

Hearing the splash of the mud under his feet, Sango turned. Seeing him leave made something in her stomach clinch.

 

“Miroku,” she called softly and was surprised when he stopped even if he did not look back.

 

“Miroku don't go, I—I'm sorry.”

 

“I wasn't leaving, but you do need to get of the rain. We'll find some place to tend to your arm.” He paused, not moving, not really even seeming to breath. “I'm sorry too.” With a glance to her over his shoulder, he began down the road again.

 

Sango stared after him. He wasn't leaving her? It had just seemed—

 

A small bit of hope flickered in her chest…. Maybe?

 

But she stomped out the flame. It was fine to love someone who only tolerated her, but she refused to even think of hurtful things like him caring for her too. The day she found he really did not hold her dear too, she would break.

 

It was better this way. It had to be.

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

The rain had stopped and the moon had risen high in the cloud-free sky. Sango felt woozy for pain, but she was trying to hide it from Miroku. She didn't feel comfortable with him knowing her weaknesses at the moment.

 

Still, in the way he kept glancing at her she had a feeling he knew she needed to rest soon.

 

Rounding a bend in the road, the two travelers found themselves before the entrance to a castle sitting high in the hills.

 

Sango held back as Miroku approached the guards. Expecting him to be economical with the truth and beg his way into the manor with stories of demon attacks, Sango was thoroughly surprised when he motion toward her as she stood in the shadows and she distinctly her him say “with child”. The guards regarded the monk for a moment before nodding to allow him entrance.

 

Turning to her with a more relaxed expression on his face than she had seen since the bear attack, Miroku beckoned for her to come. As they passed by the sentries, Sango blushed as the men stared shamelessly at her abdomen, which was only starting to show signs of the life growing with in her.

 

“What, no demons?” She hissed at him in a hushed tone once they were out of earshot of the men.

 

Miroku looked at her pointedly. “I had to make sure we had a place to stay. Telling them there was an injured pregnant woman with me seemed more of a sure thing than demons.”

 

Sango was silent for a moment. “So you just happened to have a pregnant woman as your traveling companion?”

 

Miroku visibly swallowed. “I told them you were my wife.”

 

Sango felt her face burn in the moonlight. His wife? She felt light headed for a moment, before remembering he only said it so they would let us have a place to stay for the night, and to save face for the both of us…

 

I mean nothing to him.

 

She tried to cool her heart with the gloomy thoughts, but it was stubborn. She could not ignore the fact Miroku would say they were married. Even if it meant nothing to him, it would be something to her, something to allow her to forget the bad when—

 

Her thoughts were cut through when she thought she heard her name. Looking up at Miroku, she found him not looking at her, but staring at something over her shoulder, the pleasant, calm look to his face gone. He looked angry and, though it was not an emotion she was used to seeing him use, afraid.

 

Turning, Sango found herself suddenly being engulfed in the arms of someone she had never dreamed nor never wished to see again. Kuranosuke.

 

 

A/N: Any thoughts? Keep writing or waste my time on another story?