InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow's Warrior ❯ A Dinner and a Date ( Chapter 5 )

For all you readers who love this couple, you'll like this chapter. I hope I got it posted fast enough for all of you. Enjoy.

Eef aka Fefe

Alone in a crowd she wanders forever. Unseen, alike by loved and not.

Unable to escape a path she has chosen. She wanders and runs till she falls apart.

- - - - - -

.

`I wonder if he is home yet.'

It was nearing dusk by the time Sango finally left Kaede's and headed back to Miroku's house. On her way back she headed straight through the town, on nearly the same route she had used entering Agnus a few days earlier. Most of the villagers were already home and having supper with their families. Everything was pleasant and surreal. At times Agnus could have a story-book-type perfection, an uninterruptible peacefulness that struck one's heart.

Coming at last down the road that held the officer housing, she saw that Miroku's house was lit. Little wisps of smoke were curling out of the chimney and Sango for a second let herself imagine that she was returning home. It wasn't though, and she needed to remember that.

She walked up the steps and let herself into the small house.

"Welcome mil'lady," Drawled Miroku who was, amazingly enough, standing over a pot in the kitchen stirring what seemed to be soup, "I see you have been busy today, the house is immaculate."

Sango grinned a little at the greeting. She had had her own house in Celedig, so it had been a long time since she had come home to anything except an occasional cat. Having a warm lit house and food ready for her was a most welcomed occurrence.

"Yes, your house was an absolute disaster before, and I had little to do today. I also took a walk around to see if much has changed."

Miroku smiled back, "I hope that the walk was pleasant, and that it made you sufficiently hungry."

Sango walked in farther and set down a bundle of food and herbs Kaede had given her.

She peered over at Miroku's concoction. "Just what are you doing? I thought liquor was the only thing consumed in this house."

"Ahh yes back to my former cupboards." Miroku sighed as he turned back and tasted his cooking. "I decided that what I had was not fit for someone such as you and decided that I would make a welcoming feast."

"A feast?" Sango asked curiously, "And just what have you been making?"

"Well so far, I have soup. Old recipe I learned on my travels, very good." Miroku moved the pot off of the fire as he said this and went to grab some bowls from the table.

"Only soup for an entire feast?" Sango joked, feeling more at easy by Miroku's simple action of making her dinner than she had in years.

"There is always the infamous selection of alcohol I keep, to round the meal out." Setting the bowls down he pulled back one of the chairs, "Now mi'lady your feast awaits."

"Why can't I ever get past the feeling that you are up to something, Miroku?" She eyed him suspiciously, "For now I'll try to ignore that feeling and enjoy the food."

Sitting down across from her Miroku raised an eyebrow. "When have my intentions been anything but noble?"

Sango just rolled her eyes and started to eat.

The soup was very good and the conversation was kept light. Miroku told some stories he had learned on his trip and Sango added a few of her own. Like before, both avoided things that sat like lead between them. Neither spoke of the time that had passed or the tragedies that had occurred. To them it was like it had been when they were children.

- - - -

A ten year old Sango sat on her porch strapping on the armor that she wore to train. Her father was going to stay after today and teach her a new move.

"Hey San, what are you doing?" Miroku was coming up the path on his way to the old monastery where he lived.

Sango stood up proudly and grabbed her practice sword. "My dad is going to teach me a new move. If you want to come he can help you too? I always need a sparing partner."

Miroku looked a little downcast, "Mushin wants me to go home and study." Sango's face fell a little. "Don't look like that San."

Taking a step forward he whispered in her ear. "I'll try to sneak out and make it."

Sango jumped back beaming, "Really you'll try, Roku?"

Pausing he grinned back. "Ya I'll try."

Then Miroku made an elaborate bow, kissed Sango's hand, and departed. "Until we meet again."

Running off down the path, he left a very red faced Sango frozen in place, staring at her hand.

- - -

After they finished eating, Sango insisted on cleaning up. Miroku was telling a story about how he escaped an angry father who wanted him to marry his daughter when there was a knock at the door.

"I've got it." Miroku walked over to the door and cracked it open. His playful demeanor faded at once replaced by a more serious military façade.

Sango looked at him questioningly. Miroku gave a grin that didn't meet his eyes.

"I'll be right back." With that he ducked outside and shut the door.

The light hearted mood had faded around Sango as well, and she wasted no time moving to the door and trying to catch the conversation. Now was time for business.

A low, gruff voice spoke, "Captain, you are required tonight."

"I told him, I can't stand watch tonight." Miroku's voice sounded strained and frustrated.

"You won't be standing watch. He needs to speak to you about security. It can't wait and you know how much he dislikes being defied."

"Fine, I'll go but give me a few minutes I…" Sango heard Miroku's hand start to turn the doorknob and jumped back hurrying across the room to tend to the fire. A few seconds later Miroku stepped in, his calm and joking manner had been put up once again, but to Sango could see that the lighthearted manner spread little farther than his smile.

"Who was that?" Sango questioned nonchalantly.

"Someone from the fort." He answered tersely. "A fight broke out among some of my men and I need to go sort it out.

"You'll understand if I have to go?" Miroku questioned.

Sango acted as though nothing had happened and answered casually, "Yes, of course I understand. I'm tired as it is, so I'll just go to sleep. See you tomorrow morning." She went to her room and closed the door.

"Well enjoy your night my lovely Lady Sango." Miroku called after her before he exited and walked hastily down the street.

Sango waited little more than a few seconds before pulling up one of the floor boards in her room and fishing out the extra bag she had brought with her from Celedig. In it she kept what she really needed during her stay in Agnus.

A fighting outfit with armor similar to the one she wore as a child was on the top of the bag. It was tight black and covered nearly her entire body making her at almost disappear in the dark, a very useful thing for spying. With it came pieces of pink and black armor, her feminine touch to the whole outfit. She didn't need the armor tonight so it was left in the bag. Under that lay a mask that covered most of her head. She would need that tonight.

As soon as she was dressed, Sango stuffed some extra clothes under the bed covers, just incase she wasn't back in time, and grabbed her dagger and a coil of rope. Tonight she would spy or do recognizance, so it was best to travel light.

Exiting through the window, she took off in the direction Miroku had taken. It wasn't hard to catch up with him, and as soon as Sango got within seeing distance she slowed down and stuck to the shadows.

Miroku had taken a path that headed straight for the barracks and then veered off into the woods. For Sango, her luck couldn't have been better. She thrived in the woods. It gave her unlimited places to find cover and she could barely be seen or heard by even the most alert animals.

The moon was large over the trees but clouds were moving fast covering its light from time to time. Trees swayed in the wind and shapes danced across the path Miroku took. If anyone suspected they were being followed, they probably played it off as tricks of the night.

Winding through the forest Miroku followed the path with ease as though he could find his way even in his sleep. Sango shadowed him not far behind, snaking her ways through the trees with equally perfect ease. Around them the forest grew dense and the night got more reckless. Branches knocked against and tangled with each other, wind howled through the woods and the moon's light became even more unstable.

Suddenly, the trees became sparser and the ground became uneven and rocky. Sango remembered the area they were now in a little from when she was very little but had been banned from playing near there later in life. It was a rough area with numerous rock formations and a sharp cliff not far off. A small river ran nearby and created a sizable waterfall. The whole place, once you got into the rock formations, was a maze of caves, tunnels and caverns.

Walking straight forward out of the woods, Miroku led to a cave with a very narrow, heavily guarded opening. Sango considered her options on following but decided against it. She could easily take out the guards but that would only alert people to her presence.

Sango crept away from watching the entrance and started looking around the rocks for another opening.

After ten minutes, she discovered a draft of air warmer than the night around her. Tracing it back to the rocks she found a small crack through which she could barely slip.

Glancing around, she squeezed her way into the opening. It was a tight fit for the first few feet but then it widened and Sango found herself in a narrow, dimly lit passage way.

The passage way was a civilized version of a cave. Its floor seemed groomed and it was well lit but the walls were still rough and jagged.

After barely a second of catching her breath, foot steps sounded behind her that were closing in fast. Sighing and silently cursing she wedged herself back into the crack and waited till they passed. Two ominous looking guards soon walked silently by her as she held her breath.

Once they passed she checked both ways and followed in the direction they headed. The path went straight and slanted down deeper into the ground. Before long the walls became damp and the air around her became more humid. Sango guessed they were heading closer to the waterfall but without a map or any landmarks to mark their journey, guessing was all she could do.

The guards led to a fork in the road and headed left. Sango decided to take her chance and went right. Her risk was rewarded by a door not far off the main path. It was solid wood and official looking. The bottom of it sat flush against the ground so it was hard to tell if a light was on or not in the room it guarded. As she reached to touch the door, its door knob turned and someone opened it.

"I don't know what your thinki… hey Hiten did you just see something?" A large, fat man walked out the door. He scarcely missed Sango as she jumped up, grabbing and clinging to the rocks above her near discoverers' heads.

"No, it's your imagination. Come on Manten, we can't be late." The skinnier man pushed ahead of the other and continued down the hall. Shrugging the heavy one followed letting the door fall close on its own.

Sango dropped softly and caught the door with her foot. Standing she listened closely to hear anyone in the room and then slowly eased the door open.

The room was small and empty. It was dimly lit by a torch on the nearside wall. Sango shut the door securely behind her and started to go through the room.

It was some type of guard quarters she decided, judging by the extra food and clothing in the corners. A table in the center, with a few random chairs, was the main focal point of the room. Various papers lay strewn across this table in an unorganized fashion.

Sango walked over to the table and picked up the first few papers. After a cursory glance she set them down uninterested and picked up some other papers. That was when a large paper in the center of the table caught her eye.

"What have we here?" she picked it up, brushing off some food crumbs that dusted it.

The paper was a crudely drawn map of what seemed to be the cave system. The symbols were a little bit abstract on it but the basic layout of the area was pretty easy to read.

Folding it and tucking it away in a pocket she headed towards the door. Almost as if by command, the door again opened leaving Sango to dash for cover.

The rotund man from before came into the room, "Why does he always boss me around, `How do you not know the way?' `Did you forget the map again?' Well I'll get him that map. I left it right… O no."

Sango took that as her exit cue and darted out the door and down the hallway while the fat man frantically looked around the room. She sunk back into a corner as the thinner man from before came her way.

"HITEN!!! HITEN!!!! It's gone. The map is gone." Wailed the larger man as he ran down the passage.

"What do you mean it's gone? It couldn't have just disappeared." The other man scoffed back.

"It was the shadow, it stole the map. This place is haunted."

"The shadow? What are you talking about now Manten?"

"When we were leaving before I saw a shadow. It was a ghost. Remember the stories that these caves are haunted. It's true, it's true."

"O come on I'll help you look, you big oaf. You probably just stepped on it."

Both men headed back to the room and Sango made for an exit.

Pulling out the map briefly she paused and examined it. The whole thing was like a giant winding maze and it would take a lot more time than she had to be able to find her way around. Putting it away again, she headed back the way she had come in down the larger hallway searching for the crack. Once again she heard people coming

"…time is limited tonight." It was Miroku. She knew his voice, and he was coming this way if she wasn't mistaken.

`Where is it? I know that crack is right here.' Sango moved faster running her hand along the wall looking for her entrance.

"I assure you, everything is secure. You need not worry. I do not see the need of setting up extra precautions."

Miroku, and whoever he was with, were just around the corner now and there was no where to hide.

`O God where is it?' she kept her well schooled cool hunting for a hiding place but her actions grew more jerky. She couldn't blow this, she couldn't get caught now.

The steps sounded only a few feet away as Sango's hand finally slipped into a welcome crevice in the rocks. She quickly leapt up and squeezed into safety as Miroku and company came into sight.

"You are young to have such confidence, young and foolish." Miroku's companion drawled out in a calm, venomous voice.

Sango almost gagged at the familiar and hated voice. The cool sickening tone that chilled bones with a clammy undertone that made one feel greasy and slimy, she knew the voice better than she ever wished. It commanded respect and obedience from fear and sickening deception. The voice, like him, would always be implanted on her soul, heart, and mind. She could never forget it. It was him, General Naraku.

Every once of Sango's strength was used not to murder him. She could have him now, fulfill her revenge but that would be pointless. Her mission would become fruitless for she would never get out alive. She needed to get the seal and papers. She had to get them before she destroyed him. Only after she acquired everything could Sango perform the assignation.

The oily voice continued, "Despite what you presume, it is necessary for us to enact extra safety measures. You will have everything taken care of by next week's banquet I presume?"

Miroku bowed, "Of course General we'll have everything in place. Can I take my leave now?"

They walked off down the tunnel and Sango breathed again. She needed to learn what they were talking about but tonight was not the time. She had had enough for tonight. Now she needed to make a break for it to get back before Miroku.

Edging her way back through her entranced, she came upon a pitch black night with the taste of rain in the air. Wind wiped her face and already hints of moisture could be felt.

`Great, if it rains I'll track water into the house with me.'

She broke from the path and took a short cut through the forest. Hoping and praying that someone was smiling down on her she headed for Miroku's, racing both the weather and her host.

When she came through the last covering of trees, Sango breathed a sigh of relief. The weather had held and Miroku could be seen rounding the corner of the fort a good ways off. With one last dash to the house, she wrenched open her window and slid inside just as drops of water started to hit the ground. She'd made it, her luck had held.

Stripping hurriedly in the dark, she stuffed her clothes, supplies, and the map into the floor again. Sango slid the board closed over the hiding place as she heard the front door open. Quietly she slipped into bed and closed her eyes.

The foot steps stopped in front of the door. Silently the door cracked open and Miroku's face peered into the room. Sango held her breath. After a moment, he shut the door and walked to his own room.

After a few minutes, Miroku's room went silent. Sango rose from her bed and crept to the window to watch the rain.

It came in sheets, blanketing the world. Thunder rolled across the sky, mixed with the sound of pounding rain and wind still howling through the forest and village. The entire night was covered in black.

- - - - -

Lighting flashed against the nearly black sky. Thunder cracked sharply and water beat down on the already inundated landscape.

A fifteen year old girl stood alone in a clearing staring at an unseen adversary, poised to strike.

Water blurred her vision as she dodged and thrust at an invisible enemy. Every step, every action was planned to perfection and then repeated.

Again and again she went through the movements as familiar as her own breathing. No thoughts occurred in her head as she focused entirely on every minute movement she took.

She wouldn't stop; she couldn't stop, until she was the best, until everything was perfect.

"SANGO!!!" A voice cut through the rain, mildly registering on the warrior in practice.

"SANGO!!! Where are you?" The voice again, making more of an impact this time, but still brushed aside.

"There you are." Miroku stood at the edge of the clearing staring at his best friend as she worked herself harder and harder. Training to be something she had learned today she could never become. She had disappeared earlier that day when a notice from the Empire banning female's from combat was posted at the base. He had been looking for her most of the day.

"Sango, come back home. Your family is worried they couldn't find you."

Sango ignored him and kept working through her exercises.

"Did you hear me? It's raining. You are going to get sick." Miroku's voice was getting worried, unsure of what to do.

"I can't go back. I need to stay out here, to become better." Sango's spat back between breaths.

"Sango you can't be out here. They'll find you." Miroku walked step by step closer.

"If I'm good enough they won't care if I'm a girl." She hardly paused as she spoke, continuing through her drills. "They'll allow me to fight, you'll see. Then I can grow up and serve the Empire just like my father. I'll become a great general."

"There is more to life. You can do something else you know." Miroku reached out to touch her hand but she backed away.

"You wouldn't understand, Roku. This is all I have. This is who I am. I'm a soldier and warrior. I don't know anything else." She finally stopped and stared at Miroku. Water had plastered hair against her face and her breathing was labored.

"You would never understand." She continued with a slightly mad and feverish look to her face. "Everything I've worked for my entire life is gone. I don't belong anywhere but here. You would never understand; they want you. They don't want me to fight; they want me to just disappear, to sit at home being everything I'm supposed to be, to blend in to everything around me."

Miroku met her stare. "So you'll let them win Sango? Everyone wants nothing more than to find you out here training against the law. Then they can lock you away. What better place to pretend you don't exist than behind bars. Come with me Sango, we'll figure it out. There is more to your life, more to you than fighting." Miroku grabbed her hand again.

"NO! Let them take me. I'll fight the entire time. Then they'll see I'm better than any boy, that I am an amazing soldier." She tried to snatch her hand away but he wouldn't release it.

"San, listen to me; listen to yourself. You know what you are saying isn't true. You are already sick; what you are thinking is delusional." He let go of her hand only to grab her wrist. "I'm taking you home."

"Let go of me Miroku." Sango seethed through her teeth.

"No, you aren't well. I won't leave you."

Miroku barely caught sight of her leg as she twisted around and kicked him in the head. He hit the ground hard, face slamming against the mud. Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to strength. He really did not want to try what he had to do.

Jumping up Miroku faced Sango.

Sango took her familiar fighting stance. "If you want me to go home, then you'll have to beat me. You are supposed to be better than me. Why don't you prove it?"

"Don't do this Sango. You know I think the new rules are idiotic. You're a better soldier than anyone I know, but this proves nothing. You're sick and a wreck. You shouldn't be fighting now." Miroku pleaded but Sango made no move to stand down. Sighing one last time, he sunk into ready position across from his best friend.

She moved first, faking a jab and following through with an up kick. Miroku saw the bluff and blocked. He swung around with an elbow but Sango easily twisted away, took a step back and then attacked again.

Sango again made the first move, feinting a high kick and then going low, she hit his legs out from under him. Quickly recovering Miroku caught himself by his arm and sprang back up trying a midsection kick that Sango merely jumped back from. Both resumed positions across from each other and tried again.

It continued this way for a few minutes, neither friend gaining the upper hand. Miroku grew more distressed, Sango was exhausted and growing weaker. Her movements became desperate and less precise. He was having a hard enough time just blocking her moves.

With one last punch Sango launch herself forward but she'd made a mistake, Miroku finally saw his opening. He sidestepped and hit the back of head. She paused a minute before falling unconscious into the mud at his feet.

Sinking into the mud beside her, he rolled her over and checked to see if she was alright.

Satisfied that she would be fine he laid, back in the mud beside her, letting the rain wash over him.

"Sango, you are a great friend, but damn! You make one hell of a scary enemy."

Thanks for reading. If anyone caught the allusions to episode 132 in the last part, props.

As always PLEASE REVIEW, it makes me write faster.

Thank you to Skylark624, chocolatechipp, DarkHeartKeyBlade, Nasa Ow/d Maxwell, Steph Silverstar, Keera Sango. I really appreciate your reviews.