InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ I Still Love You ❯ Come Back Home ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I do not own Inuyasha. See, Rumiko Takahashi can be trusted with the kawaii koinu whereas I cannot. :) I don’t own the lyrics to Picture either. If I did, I’d be spending the revenues instead of sitting here at work writing.

Based on the lyrics to Picture performed by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.


Miroku closed his eyes against the bright light of the midday sun and groaned, rolling over in the bed in an attempt to block out the blinding light. “Who’s there?” He moaned, pulling the sheet over his head.


“It’s me, Inuyasha,” came the gruff answer as another set of curtains were thrown open, spreading more light through the bedroom.


There was a feminine gasp from the other side of the bed and he could feel the mattress and covers move as his bedfellow sat up. “Who’re you? What’re you doing here? Miroku, baby, why is there a strange man in your bedroom?” She demanded, giving him a pretty pout.


He slit his eyes open to look at her. She had blonde hair and he honestly didn’t recognize her, though that didn’t mean a lot given his activities over the past few days. “Mornin’ doll,” he slurred sleepily.


“Miroku -“


Inuyasha cut in, picking up a dress from the floor and throwing it at the girl. “Get out. Miroku and I have to have a talk.”


She picked the dress up and looked at it, then brought innocent doe eyes up to look at Inuyasha. “This isn’t mine.”


“I don’t give a flying fuck who’s it is!” He roared angrily. “Put it on and get the hell out of here! NOW!”


“Do you mind keeping it down? My head’s killing me.” Miroku sat up and leaned against his headboard as the woman quickly threw the dress over her head and scurried out. When she was gone he yawned and reached to the bedside table for a glass of water only to find last night’s vodka instead. He downed it in one gulp. “What is it my friend?”


Inuyasha scowled and picked up a shirt from the floor, throwing it and a pair of blue jeans onto the bed for Miroku to dress in. “Kagome’s in the living room. I don’t want her seeing what the rest of Tokyo obviously already has.”


Miroku rolled his eyes and pulled the shirt on before fumbling through his bedside drawer for pain killers. “Ah, so the perfect Master Inuyasha has come to lecture his lowly friend once more, is that it?” He threw his head back and swallowed the pain killers without a drink and started tugging on his blue jeans. “Wasn’t it only, what? Two weeks ago that you were still sleeping with Kikyo behind Kagome’s back?”


He was not all that surprised when Inuyasha’s fist sent him reeling back onto the mattress. The recently ended affair was still a very sore subject between the couple and Inuyasha hated having it used against him by anyone.


“I was wrong and I’m man enough to admit it. And I’m strong enough to insure that it never happens again,” the young man growled, violet eyes flashing menacingly in the sunlight.


Miroku sat up, rubbing his sore jaw. “The point is, I don’t want or need your lectures. I’m a big boy and can handle myself. What I do with my life is my concern.” He glanced at his alarm clock and made a face. “Gah, I don’t think I’ve been up before sunset in the past three days. Was there something else, Inuyasha?”


His friend shook his head. “Man, you don’t know what a good thing you’re giving up.”
The other boy shrugged and pulled his shoulder length hair back in a small band. “Sango will forgive me in a few days and we’ll be back like we were. She always does.”


“Keh. Not this time bro. She left this morning; took a job in Kyoto and says she ain’t coming back. You lost her man.”


Miroku fell back onto the bed and stared at the wall, hands limp in his lap. “Gone? Really?” He looked to Inuyasha who nodded and then glanced at the dresser. He’d turned over all the pictures of Sango that were in the room so that he wouldn’t feel she was watching him while he relieved himself with other women, but he’d never imagined she’d actually leave him. “Damn.”


“I’d get my act together if I were you, dude. With some luck, you might still have a chance.” He glanced at his watch and then back at Miroku. “Look, Kagome and I are going to dinner tonight. You wanna come?”


Miroku smiled slightly. “Nah. I think I’ll just stick around here and clean up a little. I’d probably just make Kagome uncomfortable.”


“Be careful bro.”


“You, too.”


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Sango made her bed thinking about the month before. Kagome had taken her out to a new club in town in the hopes of making her feel better. However, when they’d walked through the hotel lobby towards the club entrance, she’d seen Miroku at the registration desk with three skantily dressed females hanging all over him. She’d confronted him of course, and he had tried to think of some excuse while the receptionist and the three girls looked at her with something akin to pity in their eyes. She hated that look more than she hated Miroku’s lecherous tendencies. It was as if they felt sorry that she couldn’t do better than a skirt chasing sports reporter.


Not once since she’d left had he called her and she couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to. When Kagome had moved in a few days before, she had told her he’d spent most of the first week after her departure in a drunken haze. It didn’t surprise her. That’s how he usually spent the time during their fights. What had she ever seen in him anyway?


The water shut off and she heard movement in the bathroom that separated her room and the guest room, now Kagome’s sleeping quarters. Suikotsu would be coming in in a few minutes to get dressed for work. Once her boyfriend had started staying overnight, she had gone through and removed every trace of Miroku from the apartment, hoping to erase any ties to that part of her life.


They were over and good riddance to him. At least this way Miroku could have all the women he wanted without her to tie him down and she could find the serious relationship she’d been searching for.


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Kagome walked with Sango to the lobby. The two were on their way to visit Kagome’s mother at her grandfather’s shrine on the other side of town. They had both grown up together in Tokyo and Mrs. Higarashi was like a second mother to her and this would have been her first visit since Kagome had moved back in with Inuyasha.


She still wondered at her friends ability to forgive her two-timing boyfriend, now fiancé. Then again, it wasn’t as if Inuyasha had made a habit out of his unfaithfulness unlike his life-long friend. Why couldn’t Miroku have been more like that? She wondered. If it weren’t for the affairs he would have been a really great guy to have in her life.


As they started for the door the doorman opened it for an incoming guest. All three stopped in mid-step to stare at each other. She knew Inuyasha had made plans to go watch the game at some sports bar with a friend of his, but she had never dreamed that it would be him.


“Oh! Miroku,” Kagome greeted, glancing nervously between the two. “I thought you weren’t meeting Inuyasha for another half hour.”


He shrugged, his eyes never leaving Sango. “I thought I’d drop by a little early. I forgot you had a guest.” He nodded to her. “Sango...how have you been?”


She forced a smile. “Good, thanks. I’m working for a big publishing company in Kyoto now. Kagome probably told you about it. She worked there for a while when she and Inuyasha split up.”


He nodded, his eyes flicking to Kagome and then back to Sango.


“So, how have you been, Miroku?” She asked conversationally, personally ready to flee. “Still working for the newspaper?”


“I am, actually.” He nodded to them both. “Well, it was good seeing you again.”


“You, too.”


Kagome linked her arm through Sango’s and tugged her towards the door. She peered at the girl from the corner of her eye, giving her an appraising look. Sango quirked her brow curiously. “What?”


“You’re not over him,” Kagome stated and held up a hand to halt her arguments. “Say it all you want to, but it won’t make it true. I know, I’ve been there, remember? I could argue till I was blue in the face that I was past Inuyasha, but in the end my heart always belonged to him. Just like yours still belongs to Miroku.”


Sango narrowed her eyes. “Please, it was so obvious you still had feelings for Inuyasha. You wouldn’t even date anyone a year after you split up! I, on the other hand, have moved on to bigger and better things.”


Kagome laughed. “Oh my gosh! Moved on? Sango, you’ve had how many boyfriends in how many months?”


The other girl glared down at her friend. What did it matter? “Seven in eighteen months, which is not that bad. And I had legitimate reasons for breaking up with each and every one of them.”


“Okay,” the other girl said slowly, thoughtfully. “What about Suikotsu?”


Sango snorted. “Way too bi-polar. One second he was cute and cuddly and the next he was distant and mean.”


Her friend nodded. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. How about Menomaru?”


“How can you even ask that? He was way too pretty boy. Come on Kagome, did you see how long he spent on his hair?” She chuckled. “You know, sometimes I wonder if he might have been better off with Jakotsu.”


Kagome rolled her eyes. “Houjou?”


“Too clingy.”


“Hiten?”


“Oh, come on! What kind of guy doesn’t like sports?”


“Hakkaku?”


Sango made a growling sound in the back of her throat. “Alright! Alright! You’ve made your point already. Look, just because I haven’t found the right guy yet doesn’t mean I’m not over Miroku.”


Kagome gave an exasperated sigh. “Sango, I’m just saying that you should think about it. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you haven’t compared every single one of those guys to Miroku and that’s the real reason you broke up with them.”


Sango opened her mouth to contradict her, but nothing came out and she sighed, unable to argue any longer.


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Miroku groaned loudly and tossed his jacket on the back of a chair. “You didn’t tell me your guest was Sango,” he accused, glaring at his supposed best friend. “She and Kagome were leaving the lobby when I came in.”


Inuyasha shrugged. “I didn’t see the point in bringing it up. She didn’t want to see you and you didn’t want to see her...did you?”


“Even if I wanted to see her, like you said, she doesn’t want to see me.”


Inuyasha shoved a beer in his friends hands and popped the top on his own. “Dude, you look like shit. When was the last time you slept?”


He popped the lid off his beer and took a long gulp. “I don’t know. I met some chick Friday night and took her home with me. I spent the last two days trying to get rid of her without having to say her name.” He grinned sheepishly. “I didn’t remember it.”


Inuyasha shook his head put on his own jacket, dropping his keys in his pocket. “Don’t you ever get tired of it? Don’t you ever just want to say to hell with it all and try a serious relationship.”


Miroku shrugged on his own coat and gave a reluctant sigh, following his friend out the door. “Honestly? Yeah, sometimes I see you and Kagome together acting all lovey-dovey and I think that it might be nice to have someone to be like that with; someone worth getting to know for more than just one night...”


“But?”


“None of them can even compare to Sango.”


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Sango folded her few clothes and packed them into her small suitcase. Kagome and Inuyasha had gone to Souta’s soccer game as it was the final of the season. She had needed to back and so had opted to stay home.


The house phone rang and, out of habit, she answered it. “Taishou residence.”


The voice on the other line faltered slightly. “Sango?”


She set down the small pile of pants she’d been about to lay in her suitcase and sat on the couch. “Yes, this is she. Miroku?”


“Yeah.”


“Inuya sha’s not at home. He and Kagome went to her brother’s soccer game. They probably won’t be back for another few hours, but I’ll tell him you called.”


“Uh...well, Sango...I wasn’t calling to talk to Inuyasha,” he admitted. “I actually was hoping to talk to you.”


To say she was shocked would have been an understatement. “About what, Miroku?”


“I was cleaning up today and I came across this old picture...the one of us from a New Years a few years ago? I hadn’t seen it in ages, but I started thinking about you and...well...I realized some things.”


“And what would that be?” She sounded skeptical.


He sighed. “I realized that I haven’t really been happy since you left. I realized that I was an idiot to ever let you go in the first place and...well...I miss you Sango. I miss being able to talk to you and see you.”


She bit her lip to keep from admitting she’d been feeling the same way since her visit to Tokyo. “What’s your point?”


“What I’m trying to say, Sango, is that I was hoping you might give me another chance - not as a boyfriend,” he added quickly, “but just as a friend. I know I was wrong and I want to change. I can’t promise overnight results, but if you give me the chance maybe I can prove to you I really mean it.”


“I’m not moving back to Tokyo.”


“You don’t have to.”


“And I won’t stop seeing other guys, if I find one that I want to date.”


“I didn’t expect you to.”


She paused, thinking it over. “Just friends?”


He smiled. “Just friends...for now.”


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A/N: Okay, just to save on confusion, this oneshot takes place during the same time as the previous oneshot. When it starts out, Inu and Kag haven't separated yet but Sango and Miroku have. In the middle, Kag's living with Sango during her fight with Inu. At the end, Kag's moved back in with Inu and is engaged.:) Got it?