InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Eight-Fold Path ❯ Insight ( Chapter 3 )

Insight

 

That scar on her back was diamond-shaped, and he wondered why he'd never realized it before. `More than twelve seasons together and I didn't see it?' Crouched in the bushes above the hot spring, he sat and wondered if that made him feel like any more of an asshole.

 

He had almost stopped going into the village after the first week. Most of the men there patted him on the back, congratulated him for having fathered an heir at such a young age. He'd turned into an idol among the men in the village and he hated every second of it. In the second week, after seeing Sango's subdued manner, others had encouraged him for “showing Sango her place” - while her efforts to protect the village she now lived in were more than welcome, the fact that she did so while also living the life of a wife disgusted most of the men, who felt belittled being saved by a mother of three (`now four,' he corrected himself).

 

The comments and congratulations sickened him. From what Kagome said, he was far ahead of his time - perhaps it was because he had traveled with her on a deadly quest before settling down, but Miroku had always seen Sango as a companion, a teammate… a friend, in addition to a gorgeous woman. He refused to see her as an object, as a piece of property.

 

Miroku wished he could hear what the women were saying. From his angle, it looked like tears were streaming down Sango's face… but she'd been so strong the past three weeks, it was hard to believe. Shoulders back, head held high, Sango went about her business calmly, though she still spoke to him little, and Miroku's palms were beginning to itch; he hadn't touched her luscious body since bringing Haruo home.

 

Miroku had just begun to crawl closer to the edge when his vision was flooded with fire-bright red… he trailed his vision up. `Oh… shit.' InuYasha glared down at him, one dark eyebrow quirked. It was obvious how little he was thinking when he was unable to respond smoothly. “I'm not looking at Kagome!” Miroku blurted out loudly, before cringing and clamping a hand over his mouth.

 

“Feh,” InuYasha scoffed, twitching an ear in the direction of the springs, “Knock it off; they didn't hear ya'.” He leveled an intense stare at Miroku before continuing, “And I know you weren't lookin' at Kagome. There's nothing to see, she's just soakin' her feet.”

 

Miroku's eyes widened. He'd been so deep in thought contemplating Sango he hadn't even noticed. “What are you doing here?” Miroku asked, hoping to get the conversation away from him before InuYasha started down that train of thought. The hanyou still was fairly quiet (when he wasn't killing things) but had loosened up with Kagome at his side.

 

“Protecting my mate, baka,” InuYasha responded. “What are you doing out here?”

 

Miroku thought about lying. He thought about adopting the lecherous, flippant attitude he had used as a mask while on Naraku's trail to hide his terror that the kazaana would suck him and his friends in. But he needed information too badly.

 

“I wanted… no, need to hear what they're saying,” Miroku muttered, knowing InuYasha would hear. “Sango won't talk to me. I-I…” Miroku sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I don't know what's upsetting her.”

 

InuYasha's startled look clearly stated, `You've-got-to-be-kidding-me.' Miroku shook his head. “No, I mean, I know what started everything,” he leveled a glare at the hanyou. “I'm not that stupid. I just don't know… what about the whole situation is hurting her. Has she talked to Kagome about it?”

 

InuYasha's eyes narrowed, “Yes, bouzu, she has. And if she upsets the wench one more time, I'm not going to be all sensitive like Kagome told me to and I'm going to kick her out of my hut. Kagome's pregnant and doesn't need her shit on top of our own.” He gazed over his shoulder in the direction of the springs. “C'mere. And for fuck's sake, be quiet.” InuYasha considered for another moment before adding, “And you didn't see this from me. Or hear anything. In fact, leave me the fuck out of it or I'll tell Sango what you told me a month before your wedding.”

 

Miroku nodded vigorously, eyes wide.

 

The monk followed the hanyou as quietly as he could humanly manage through the rock- and brush-strewn hills before coming across a rocky, sandy section. Miroku realized he could hear Kagome's soft voice through a wide crack in the rocks closest to the hot spring. He gasped as he peered though to get a perfect view of Sango's rounded ass. `Thank Buddha… I could almost reach out and touch her.'

 

His growing arousal wilted as he realized she was crying.

 

“He wouldn't do that, Sango,” Kagome insisted.

 

“I just don't know anymore, Kagome.” She sniffled, slapping at the water as though it offended her. “I mean, they supposedly only had one night together and she bore him a son. He always wanted an heir, and our first children were twin girls.” Sango sighed, “Perfect for the large family I want. Nowhere near the heir he always talked about.”

 

“You did give him a son,” Kagome reminded, before adding, “And he wanted an heir back when he was fighting the kazaana and Naraku. Now it's not as much a problem.”

 

Sango made a non-committal noise, sinking back under the water almost right under Miroku's nose. “He…” here, Sango sounded embarrassed, and splashed at the water before forging ahead. “He keeps trying to touch me. And I just keep thinking of them. I can't help it and I don't know why… but it makes me angry and then Haruo's there and it just makes it worse.”

 

Kagome hummed sorrowfully, but pulled herself back as Sango leapt to her feet. “I'm a horrible person, Kagome! I'm trying so hard to be a good mother but he's not even mine and all I can think sometimes is how much I wish he were back where he was born! But they treated him awfully, and I can't think of it for long because,” Sango choked, “b-b-because he… he makes me think of Kohaku. He even looks like Kohaku at that age.”

 

“Sit back down,” Kagome said softly, “or you'll catch a cold.” Sango slipped back underwater, sighing a little as the tension drained from her shoulders. “You're still angry,” Kagome pointed out after a moment of silence. “There's something else that's worrying you.”

 

Miroku was impressed. Kagome had truly grown up in her years back home; she had become more perceptive and, if it were possible, even more caring.

 

Sango was silent.

 

“You can't let this fester in you,” Kagome prodded. “You don't have to tell me… or Miroku. But you have to tell somebody, or yell it to the trees. If you keep thinking about it, it's going to get worse. You'll think about it more and more and you'll be angrier and angrier or more hurt and soon it'll affect everybody around you.”

 

Sango remained silent.

 

Kagome sighed, then forced a smile. “Come on, we should head back before InuYasha comes looking for me.” The miko slipped on her sandals and was about to gather her items when Sango broke the silence.

 

“He-” She stopped, cleared her throat. This was clearly hard for her to say. “The night we… after we were married,” Sango clarified, looking relieved when Kagome nodded. “He told me that he'd been with other women. I just… I never thought he'd have a child already.”

 

“He obviously didn't, either,” Kagome pointed out.

 

Sango nodded absently, going silent for so long it appeared she had forgotten Kagome was there. Staring up at the sky when she finally spoke, her voice was a mere whisper; as though she were confiding in the stars.

“But... I'm afraid.  What if there are more?”

 

 

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“The Eight-Fold Path” is a serialized fic, written based on prompts from the mirsan_fics community on LiveJournal.

“Insight” was originally posted May 14, 2009

Word Count: 1,323

Prompt: “Stars”