InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ Q & A ( Chapter 16 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi. Any original characters do belong to me.

AN: Thank you very much to inufan625 for acting as my beta once again. An additional thank you goes to Knittingknots for her help as well. I greatly appreciate the time they've taken to help make me a better writer and this a better story.

Thank you very much for the reviews. I read each and every one of them, and greatly appreciate those of you that took the time to leave one. For responses to, please check my LiveJournal at doggieearlover.livejournal.com/174185.html.

Minoue

Chapter 16:Q & A

Miroku found that attempting to sit up made his head hurt worse, so he remained slumped forward over Kirara's shoulders with his arms draped loosely around her neck. The cat padded silently along the path towards the house, having already discovered it in her prowls around the property.

Sango had been holding Miroku loosely at his waist to make certain that he didn't slip off to one side. She gasped as they emerged from the path through the wood into a clearing, and InuYasha's home loomed before them. Though simpler, it looked more like the house of a lord - like part of a castle from a bygone era. Kirara walked up the few steps to the sprawling veranda that ran the entire front of the dwelling. Sango slid from her back to open the door leading to the genkan. Kirara stopped just inside the door, allowing Sango to remove her shoes and then Miroku's. However, once she had his shoes off of his feet, he threw his leg over Kirara's back so that he could ease off of her.

“Kirara, you'd probably better go back to your smaller size before we go in. Sango, would you mind helping me? I wouldn't ask, but I'm still a bit dizzy,” Miroku said.

Sango moved to him and placed her left arm around his waist as he draped an arm over her shoulder. He tried to make certain to keep to her left side as well, in spite of the fact that it was more awkward. He had to fight himself not to reach down and grope her butt.

“You ready?” she asked.

“I think so. Let's try the kitchen first,” Miroku answered.

“Just tell me where to go,” Sango responded.

They stepped up onto the raised wooden floor of the house, and Miroku directed, “To the left. The hall leads right to it.”

Considering how old the house looked from the outside, Sango wasn't expecting the modern kitchen, complete with all stainless steel appliances. It was large enough that in addition to the island, which gave additional counter space with easy access from the refrigerator, stove, and sink, it also held a table for four. Miroku indicated that he wanted to sit in one of the chairs. He sat with something of a thud. “I probably should put some ice on my head where it bounced off of the floor. Would you mind getting the stuff for me?”

Sango shook her head, so Miroku told her where everything he needed could be found in the kitchen. Fortunately, InuYasha kept Ziploc bags for leftovers; so with one of those, some ice from the freezer, and a kitchen towel, she put a pack together for his head.

“Here you are, Sensei,” Sango said softly as she handed the towel wrapped bag of ice to him.

“Miroku, please just call me Miroku when we aren't at the dojo or at school,” he responded.

“You can call me Sango,” she said, almost shyly.

“Thanks, Sango. I don't know about you, but I'm getting kind of hungry. There should be some sandwich meat and cheese in the fridge. The bread is in the pantry, in the upper door next to the refrigerator.”

Sango found the ham and cheese and then laughed. “He must really like mayonnaise.”

Miroku couldn't help but to grin. “Yeah, he puts it on just about everything. He stocks up on it when he goes for groceries, since he doesn't like to shop any more than he has to. He gets a lot of his stuff delivered. Would you see if you can figure out which is the open bottle and get it? The stuff is actually pretty good on sandwiches.”

“He doesn't have any of the wasabi mayo, does he?” she asked as she looked through the bottles. “These all look the same. No, wait; he has the Sesame dressing and the Tasty dressing. ” Sango pulled out one of each of the different flavored dressings and then found the bread.

“InuYasha doesn't like anything hot. You won't find any kind of curry, much less anything like wasabi, anywhere in the house,” Miroku responded. He pointed towards a different cabinet. “You can find some plates up there, and the utensils are in the drawer below.”

Sango was surprised at how well organized everything was as she pulled out the items she needed. Setting everything on the table between them, the two of them each made themselves a sandwich.

They were eating in relative silence when Sango finally asked, “So… Sensei InuYasha… and Kagome… are they…” then her voice trailed away.

Miroku set down the sandwich half he was working on. “Why do you ask?”

“It… it's… it's just that when he was… glowing… she ran to him without hesitation and kissed him. It kind of surprised me… that's all,” Sango responded.

“I'm not certain exactly what happened there… I've never seen InuYasha transform like that before. Something happened when Kouga threatened Kagome. She seemed to know exactly what to do to bring him back to himself though. But to answer your question, and only because of what happened, the answer is yes. It hasn't been for very long, however - only since her birthday. They'd been fighting their feelings for each other for a long time. Nonetheless, it'd be best not to bring it up around them. They've been keeping it away from the dojo and out of public until today.” Changing the subject, Miroku asked, “What happened to you and Kagome? She said something about his accomplices running off with their tails between their legs?”

“We were attacked by two men when we went out back to practice. Kagome said they were ookami youkai, but how did she know? I still don't understand,” Sango commented.

“I'm not brushing you off, but I think it'd be best for InuYasha and Kagome to get here before we start that discussion. That's if you don't mind staying around for awhile today to baby sit me and wait for them to finish the afternoon classes,” he replied. “All I can tell you right now is that she has the spiritual powers of a priestess and can feel their presence.”

“So that's how she knew about Kirara?”

Miroku nodded his head in confirmation, and then slapped his hand to his head. “Ow; I'd better remember not do that again.”

“So she told you?” Sango asked.

Miroku started to shake his head and then stopped himself. “No, I already knew.”

“InuYasha told you?”

“I could tell myself. Kirara has a rather powerful aura in that small body.”

“That must mean that you have spiritual powers, too,” Sango deduced.

“Yes, though I've known about mine for a lot longer than Kagome has,” Miroku offered.

Sango sat in silence for a few moments before she asked, “Is that how you ended up teaching a class on Buddhism? You seem so knowledgeable and enthusiastic about it. I thought maybe you were a monk.”

Miroku didn't answer immediately and picked up his sandwich to take another bite.

Sango looked down at her plate. “I'm sorry; I shouldn't pry.”

He barely shook his head as he chewed. He was trying to decide what to tell her. While he normally didn't disclose his past to his students, Sango wasn't just any student. Plus, maybe she'd eventually open up to him if she knew more about him.

When he swallowed and after he took a drink, he said, “I was abandoned as a baby when someone left me at the Buddhist monastery. I was raised there, and they are the only family I've ever known.”

“I…I… I'm so sorry,” Sango whispered. “You don't know anything about your family?”

“Not really. Apparently my mother died shortly after I was born from complications, and my father couldn't deal with raising me alone. He thought that at least I would be fed and cared for by the monks. Well, that's what they told me the note that was left in the basket with me said. I don't think they really believed it though. One of them eventually told me that because there's up to five years in prison for abandoning a child, the monks thought that they'd been given misleading information. They figured it was more likely that I was the result of an affair or born out of wedlock, since it was unusual for boys to be abandoned. Still, they took it as some sign from the gods and kept me rather than putting me up for adoption. It was all I really knew until I was old enough for high school and then college.” Miroku took another swallow of his drink.

“So you're not a monk, but you could be,” Sango reasoned. “How did you end up teaching the class?”

“Actually, one of the monks from the monastery where I was raised used to teach it, but he was ready for retirement. I had just finished my undergraduate degree and started on my Masters when he suggested that I should apply for the job. The university thought it was a good fit. I was raised in the monastery and basically as a monk, but I had been in the outside world long enough to understand it. They believed I would be better able to relate to the students than someone who spent his entire life sheltered from the world. I agreed to try it for a semester, and I've been teaching it ever since. My classes have grown and they're considering adding another level for me to teach. It has worked out well for the college and for me.” Miroku rubbed his head. “And I don't want to appear rude, but my head really hurts. I think I had better go lie down for awhile.”

“Oh! I'm so sorry. Do you want some more ice?” Sango asked.

Miroku slid the bag that now contained mostly melted cubes across to her. “Thanks, that'd be great.”

She refilled and rewrapped the bag and then followed him to what he called the TV room. She understood why when they entered it. There was a comfortable sofa along with a couple of overstuffed armchairs with ottomans and a television that took up a great deal of the wall they faced.

“There's the remote. You can turn it on to whatever you want to watch,” Miroku said as he stretched out on the sofa and pulled a throw over himself. “I hope you don't mind that I'm going to hog the couch. The chairs are pretty comfortable though.”

Sango took the remote and pushed the power button. When the television turned on, all she could ask was, “How big is this thing?”

He had to shove aside the first thought that entered his head. That was not what she was asking, after all. However, Miroku did have to cough to camouflage his grin. “It's a sixty inch high-definition plasma television. I don't think he even watches it that often, except when I'm over here. Then again, you never know. Sometimes he still surprises me. Go ahead and see what you can find. There are over five hundred channels on that thing. I'm going to close my eyes for a while and see if I can make this headache go away before InuYasha and Kagome get here.”

Sango nodded and surfed through the channels, amazed at the quality of the picture and the sound when she realized he also had surround-sound. She found herself caught up in a program about the history of dragons in Japan and China. She looked over at Miroku and determined that he was probably already asleep. She smiled at how innocent he looked as he lay there. She settled back to watch as Kirara jumped into her lap and curled up, contentedly purring.

~ ^~^ ~

“Can I help?” a voice said as Kagome and InuYasha began to wipe down the floor.

“Souta! When did you get here?” Kagome asked. She glanced at InuYasha as she did so wondering what, if anything, her little brother had seen.

InuYasha met her eyes and then looked up at the boy. “Yeah, Souta. Grab a towel. Did you see what happened?” The hanyou was pondering how much he was going to have to explain. The scents of the ookami youkai were so strong that they'd completely obscured the scents of any humans, not to mention that InuYasha was so used to Souta being around that it didn't register when he had come in.

They worked in silence and quickly wiped down the floor. When Souta had thrown his towel into the bucket, he sat on the floor and said quietly, “I saw the sensei from the other dojo… he had Sensei Miroku around the neck, and he threw one of the students against the floor. I saw you and the others set the broken bones on those two boys; I don't understand how he can come back next Saturday if his leg is broken. Then I saw Sis kiss you.”

InuYasha looked at Souta. “I've been thinking I should talk to you anyway, man to man. Kagome, I'm going to take Souta out back so we won't be interrupted. We should be back before time for class to start.”

Kagome nodded and gave her brother a smile. She couldn't help but to blush as her eyes met the hanyou's when he stood.

InuYasha led Souta to one of the benches in the clearing immediately behind the building. “Have a seat, Souta.”

The hanyou sat down next to the boy and said, “What do you want to know first?”

“Are you going to marry my sister?”

“You get right to the point, don't you?” InuYasha responded.

Souta nodded. “You always said it's best to be direct and honest.”

InuYasha thought that he should have known his own words would come back to bite him in the ass one day. “I can't answer that yet because I haven't asked her,” he said softly.

“Do you want to?” the boy prodded.

The hanyou nodded. “But please don't say anything. I need to speak with your mother first.” Which was true; she'd given him her blessing, but he really didn't know when he should ask Kagome - or how long he should wait. Plus he needed to introduce Kagome to his brother as a courtesy and, if that went well, his brother to the rest of her family.

Souta grinned. “So, you'll be my brother-in-law? And I'll be an uncle some day?”

InuYasha couldn't help but to smirk, just a little. “I hope so. But let's keep that between us for now, keh?”

“Okay,” the boy agreed. “Mama said that Kagome is staying with you a couple nights a week to make sure that you're compatible. She said that it doesn't matter how much two people love each other if they can't get along well enough to live in the same house. Mama said she sure hoped it worked out because you both seem a lot happier.”

It was InuYasha's turn to flush red to the roots of his hair. “Your mother said all that?”

Souta nodded in response while the wheels turned in InuYasha's head. He hadn't thought about how they might explain Kagome sleeping over with him twice a week. He was lucky the old man hadn't tried to purify him again. Shaking his head and wondering what else he might be in for, he asked, “Next question?”

Souta followed not with just one question but a whole barrage of them related to the ookami youkai, the broken limbs of the two boys, the sensei from the other dojo, the large two-tailed cat that Sango and Kagome rode in on, and the semi-transformation that InuYasha seemed to go through right before Kagome kissed him. From his observations, he'd been there to witness quite a lot of the main events of the morning. And since he was pretty bright, he noticed just about everything.

The hanyou stammered a few times, but he made it through most of the questions. The one he didn't have an answer for at all was his red aura, eyes, and demon markings. He couldn't exactly tell Souta that the only times he'd seen them before was when he'd had sex, doggie style, with his sister. It had happened again when they used that position and especially around the full moon. But even then, he didn't think his eyes had glazed over as red as Souta described, and he was pretty certain that his aura had not been visible. On the other hand, he and Kagome had been kind of preoccupied, and it was possible that they simply didn't notice. So, regarding that, InuYasha told Souta that he honestly didn't know and was planning on discussing it with Sensei Miroku and Kagome after classes were over for the day. The hanyou didn't mention it, but he was also considering making a visit to his brother to see if he knew anything about what had been happening to him. However, that would be more of a last resort. They weren't enemies, but they weren't exactly best buddies either.

When Souta was finally satisfied with what he'd been told, InuYasha asked, “This is just between us. Not everyone will understand what happened here this morning. We've been having the ookami youkai coming separately from the other classes with good reason. I also don't want to make my relationship with your sister public until we eventually announce the engagement, all right?”

“I understand, InuYasha. I wouldn't have believed any of it if I hadn't seen it for myself, anyway. And Mama already explained to me about not talking about you and Kagome even if I am excited about it,” Souta replied.

“You're really happy about it?” InuYasha asked softly.

“Yeah, I am,” Souta said. “The sooner you're part of the family, the better. You're over often enough, anyway.”

“Thanks, Souta,” InuYasha said gratefully. “That means a lot to me.” He stood, signaling it was time to go in. “Come on. We don't want them to start without us.”

The boy was practically bouncing with joy as he followed the hanyou into the building.

~ ^~^ ~

It was mid-afternoon when Sango got up to get some more water from the kitchen and noticed that Miroku had kicked off the blanket he'd thrown over himself, and that it was on the floor. Shaking her head at how domestic she'd been acting today, she bent over to pick it up and then place it back over him.

Miroku was groggy as he gradually awakened. His eyes slowly opened, and he couldn't help but to grin as he looked at the shapely posterior that was wiggling in front of him. It was so perfectly round, and it was so very close. It was just begging for him to reach up and gently caress it. And so he did.

~ ^~^ ~

“So, did you get everything settled with Souta?” Kagome asked as they followed the path towards InuYasha's home. “He seemed pretty happy when you came back in.”

InuYasha stopped and turned to face her. He couldn't help but to cup her face in his hand as he caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Yeah, he had a ton of questions, but I was able to answer most of them. He was pretty happy that we're together.”

Kagome grasped him gently at the waist, looking up into his eyes. “I thought he would be, but I didn't know how to break it to him. I guess when I ran up and kissed you, it kind of gave it away.”

The hanyou nodded and ran his thumb across her bruised lip and the place where it'd been split by his fang. “Are you sure you're okay? Are you certain I didn't hurt you?”

Instead of responding verbally, Kagome moved her hands up to his head and pulled him towards her as she stood on her tiptoes. This kiss was soft and tender with none of the ferocity of the earlier one. When she pulled away, she said quietly, “If they weren't waiting for us at the house, I'd show you just how good I am.” Then she blushed; that wasn't quite how she intended for that to come out.

InuYasha grinned. He knew what she meant, but it sounded so… seductive… coming from her. Leaning over, he whispered against her ear, “Stay the night, and I'll let you.”

“You're on,” she answered when she met his eyes. “Come on. The sooner we have this talk, the sooner we can get on to… other things.” Kagome took his hand and they continued along the trail.

Even Kagome's human ears heard the resounding slap when they entered the genkan. Kicking her shoes off, she hurriedly followed InuYasha through the house.

They entered the TV room to find a seething Sango, both hands planted firmly on her hips, glaring at Miroku. Miroku was sporting a bright red hand print across his face. For the first time that InuYasha could remember, his friend looked speechless.

“What have you done, Monk?” InuYasha demanded. He had no doubts as to who the instigator was here.

“I… I… I… I…” was all that came out of his mouth. He fell back flat on the sofa, clutching his head and closed his eyes. “What have I done?” he muttered.

“What have you done?!” exclaimed an angry Sango. “You groped me!”

“I… I… I…” Miroku started stammering again. “I'm sorry.” He was silent for a moment as he tried to get his brain and mouth in sync with each other. “I woke up… disoriented… I forgot where I was… I'm so sorry, Sango. I… I… I… I thought… I don't know what I thought…” His voice trailed away as he struggled to sit back up. “Shit, that hurts.” He lay back down.

“Oh, gods. You probably have a concussion, and I slapped you! I'm so sorry, Miroku.” Sango seemed to go from angry to concerned incredibly fast.

“No, no, no, it was my fault. I should have remembered where I was and that you were with me. I think I was having a dream from one of my younger, wilder days when I had a headache like this from drinking too much,” Miroku answered. “I thought you were a girl I used to know.”

InuYasha was thinking that those days weren't so long ago, and that he seemed to find his velvet tongue fast enough. Still it was better to smooth things over. He turned to Kagome, “Would you mind fetching the bottle of aspirin? I think he could use them.”

Kagome nodded and went for the pain-killers while Sango took the remains of the ice bag from him to take back to the kitchen. When both girls were out of earshot, InuYasha said, “I'd hit you myself for that if she hadn't done such a good job already. It looks like your ploy backfired this time.”

Miroku whispered, “I really didn't realize it was her, InuYasha. I woke up and just saw her lovely bottom, and I couldn't help myself. I swear I didn't do it on purpose.”

He looked so sincere that InuYasha almost believed him. In fact, he actually wanted to since Miroku seemed to be slowly changing for the better since Sango had come into his life. Even he had noticed that he didn't come in smelling of sex nearly as often as he used to. In fact, it'd been a while since he carried the scent of being laid at all. Maybe he really was trying to clean up his act…

“Here you are,” Kagome said as she came in with the aspirin. She had a glass of water to go with it.

InuYasha had Miroku close his eyes while he assisted him to sit up. “Hey, that seemed to help,” Miroku said when he opened his eyes.

“Do you mind if I order some food for us all?” Kagome asked.

“Find out what Sango wants and go ahead. You know what I like, and he'll eat almost anything,” InuYasha commented.

Kagome nodded and went back to the kitchen.

It was a good forty-five minutes later when Miroku felt like moving to the kitchen with InuYasha watching over him like a mother hen. However, he started feeling better, and his headache had begun to dissipate. His appetite kicked in when the food arrived, and the scents of the different dishes hit his nose.

Once everyone was seated at the table and had a plate, Sango asked, “Okay - how come everyone knew about Kirara but me?”

InuYasha slurped up the noodles he was working on before answering, “Actually, in a way, you knew. Or at least you knew she was different. Haven't you noticed how you can carry on a conversation with her?”

Sango looked surprised. “I… I hadn't really thought about it. I thought it was my imagination that she is able to understand me.”

The hanyou shook his head. “Nope, not your imagination. She's very intelligent. She can't speak our language, but somehow you and she communicate with each other. Where did you find her?”

“That's the funny part. I didn't find her; she found me. The doorman at the apartment told me she'd belonged to an elderly woman who had just passed away. I don't know why, but she seemed to like me and just ran through my door one day. When I went to find out where she belonged, Ryota told me what had happened and that he wasn't sure what to do about her to find her a good home. She's been with me since then.” Sango looked down to find Kirara sitting by her chair and looking up at her. “For some reason it seemed natural.”

“Her kind usually act as guardians. Only Kirara knows why, but she's decided to stay with you and to protect you. As long as you treat her right, she'll probably be with you the rest of your life,” InuYasha offered. “Fire cats are very loyal as well as intelligent.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Sango asked.

“Would you really have believed any of us unless you witnessed her transformation for yourself?” Miroku asked.

Sango sat back and considered it. “No, I guess you're right. In spite of having Sensei as living proof there are youkai and hanyou, it's still hard to think of them as anything other than as legends from the past. I would have thought you were making fun of me.”

“And there really was no reason to try and tell you. InuYasha told us when he knew what she was, that Kirara would reveal herself to you when the time came, if it were needed. That time came today,” Miroku added. “You have a powerful ally there.”

“Mentioning power, that was quite some display Kagome put on this morning. For that matter, Sensei, too,” Sango asked. “Are you going to explain that now?”

Kagome turned a very bright shade of red and looked to InuYasha for guidance. She didn't know how to answer that.

Sango noticed Kagome's embarrassment and then glanced at InuYasha. He was flushed, too. Suddenly, it dawned on her. “Oh, no, I didn't mean… I didn't mean…” Her voice trailed away to a whisper. “I didn't mean when you kissed him… ”

Miroku interjected, “I think she meant when you were glowing like a neon sign. I've never seen anything like it.”

“Yeah, you were, InuYasha,” Kagome added.

“Keh. I wasn't the only one,” he responded.

All three looked to Miroku for an explanation.

“Why… why me?” Miroku asked. “I just said I've never seen anything like it.”

“Maybe not, but you usually have a pretty good guess as to what's going on,” InuYasha told him.

Miroku sighed as he drummed his fingers on the table. “As far as Kagome, there are ancient scrolls at the monastery that talk about priests and priestesses with so much spiritual power that it became visible at certain times. It appeared to be especially true when they were younger and had not totally gained control of them. It seemed to happen most often when under stress, such as when angry, or under attack. Kagome, what were you feeling this morning when you aimed that arrow at Kouga?”

Kagome didn't have to think much about her answer, “I was really mad. He was choking you and holding you hostage and had badly hurt two of his own kind. I was already pissed that he'd sent those other two to grab us and bring me and Sango to him. For all of his big talk, he was acting like a total coward. I wanted to blow him to Hell but not harm you in the process.”

“I don't know if you noticed, but all of the other ookami youkai scattered when they saw you. None of them wanted to get in your way. Demons are hard to hurt, but an arrow powered with the amount of spiritual energy you put into it surely would have. They weren't taking any chances. And while the arrow itself may have injured me if it hit me directly, the power it contained wouldn't have. However, I'm glad we didn't have to test it.” Miroku's gaze changed to InuYasha. “He had the good sense to run from you, my friend.”

InuYasha's voice was soft, “Do you have any idea what happened to me?”

“My best guess is that Kouga's threat against Kagome brought your youkai to the surface to protect her. The aura that normally surrounds you changed to something even more powerful and deadly. However, I have to admit the markings on your cheeks weren't nearly as disconcerting as your eyes turning the color of blood. Have you ever had anything happen like that before that you're aware of?” Miroku responded.

The hanyou's eyes met Kagome's and both sets of cheeks filled with color. Kagome finally said, “Your eyes haven't turned that red before, at least that I have noticed. And the markings on your cheeks were really dark today. It took a lot longer for them to fade.”

“So you have-” Miroku stopped himself. It suddenly occurred to him when the markings might have appeared. He pinched himself - hard - to keep from either grinning or saying something stupid.

InuYasha sighed. “Yeah, Monk, but never before… well… recently...”

“He said they are like his father's,” Kagome offered.

“But when…” Sango uttered, still trying to work out what hadn't been said. “And how did you know that he would calm back down if you kissed him?”

Kagome was a lovely shade of red by now. She buried her head in her arms against the table and muttered, “Just shoot me.”

She felt a clawed hand reach over and gently rub her head. “Kagome, considering what happened today, maybe it would be easier to just get it out into the open, at least here. I still don't want it to be public knowledge - not yet, anyway.”

Kagome raised her head enough to peek over her arms at InuYasha. “You want me to tell them those markings appear when you make love to me?”

Miroku couldn't help but to grin at that statement. Sango's mouth dropped open, and then her face quickly matched the shade of Kagome's.

“Well, I wouldn't have worded it quite that way…” InuYasha mumbled. “I was thinking something a little more subtle.”

Kagome buried her head again, and everyone else fell silent and poked at the food on their plates.

Kagome heard dishes rattling and scuffling noises and when she finally raised her head, she and InuYasha were alone in the kitchen. He was looking at her with concern, even if his cheeks still were a little pink.

“You're mad at me, aren't you?” she whispered.

He surprised her by scooping her out of her chair and placing her in his lap. “We've been through this before. I'm not mad at you. Miroku already knew, and Sango suspected. You just confirmed it for them.” He tipped her head up so that she was forced to look at his face and then captured her lips with his.

When they parted, InuYasha pressed his forehead against hers. He held her on his lap and rubbed her back while she leaned into him.

“Are they gone?” Kagome asked quietly.

“Not yet, but I'm afraid that Miroku has a concussion. It isn't bad, but I don't want him to drive home and then spend the night alone. I'd rather he stay here with me. I hope you understand; it has nothing to do with what you said. I do think we need to go and face them though.” A resounding slap rang through the house. “That's if Sango hasn't killed him yet.”

Kagome sighed. “All right, let's go.”

InuYasha set her on her feet and took her hand to lead her through to his den. They found a scene similar to the one from earlier with an incensed Sango and Miroku with an imprint of her hand on his face.

“Don't you ever learn, Monk?” InuYasha asked though he couldn't help but to smirk. It looked like Miroku had finally met his match.

“He… He… He…” Sango stammered.

Miroku fell back on the couch. “I couldn't help myself. My hand is cursed.”

“You… you… you're nothing but a lecher!” Sango exclaimed.

“Looks like she has your number, Miroku,” InuYasha added.

Miroku closed his eyes and placed his arm over his aching forehead. “I'm just misunderstood.”

To be continued…

*******************

The second round of InuYasha Fanfiction Guild Nominations for the Third Quarter of 2007 (July - September) was completed on November 10th. Voting began Sunday, November 18th and continues through Saturday, December 1st. Thank you very much to Mage Delbene, Shannah, Patty, malitiadixie, Farawayeyes , Quirkyslayer, Lady Griddlebone, thatsmyfiasco, Deborah, Priestess Skye, adeaneri, stonesneatstuff (aka knittingknots), LavenderRose, Ravenreux, akapiratequeen and dreaming_trees for the nominations and seconds received, or for even trying to (but someone beat you to it). I really appreciate it! I'm very grateful that everything eligible was seconded. Thanks so much to each of you.

Best AU/AR - Minoue

Best Drama - Minoue

Best Inu/Kag Romance - Minoue

Best Lemon - Come Undone

Best Oneshot - Art is Life

Best Inu/Kag Romance - Art is Life

Best Vignette - Reminders on the Wind

Best Canon - Reminders on the Wind

Best Characterization - Reminders on the Wind (Kagome)

I hope everyone who is a member of the IYFG will take a few minutes to go and vote for your favorite fics, no matter what they might be. I'm sure the authors will appreciate it just as I do. Thanks again and good luck to everyone in the polls!