InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ With Her ❯ Part One ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

 

This fanfic was inspired by episode 161, the episode involving Shima.

 

A woman comes, claiming she and Miroku had a close relationship once. He does not deny anything she says, making Sango create her own assumptions. Relationships can be complicated.

 

“Sango… we can discuss this.”

 

“Don't come near me.”

 

“…”

 

“Somehow… I don't think this will work out.”

 

“… won't work out?”

 

The whole thing had been a misunderstanding. Yes, the monk had stopped by to help Shima, but he had done nothing else… save for the usual question of, “Will you bear my child?” and of course the groping that usually came with the question.

 

Was he serious?

 

Miroku was never serious about the question, at least not in terms of the woman he asked. Sure, he did need an heir to complete his mission against Naraku if he failed to complete it himself, but other than that, he didn't care about the woman in a personal way. The only thing that he really noticed about them was their beauty.

 

Until he met Sango.

 

She was different from the others. She had seen her family killed in front of her eyes, and had fought death itself to be able to avenge them. At first, he took any and every possible opportunity to try and rub her ass. It usually worked for all of five seconds at most. Then he would either get a rather violent slap across the cheek, or his head would attain a rather large bump from the impact of her Hiraikotsu hitting his skull.

 

It wasn't that he was dense, or that he liked to annoy her. It wasn't for any other reason other than the fact that he, the lecherous monk with the cursed wind tunnel known as Kazaana, had started to like the demon exterminator.

 

No, not like. More than that.

 

He had fallen in love with her. Even before he realized it, he had fallen in love with her. Before they had confessed their feelings to each other, he would silently admit to himself how much he cared about her safety and often observed her while she slept, if she managed to, that is. Most nights she woke up, cold sweat lingering on her skin, caused by a nightmare involving her brother Kohaku. He pretended not to notice as she sometimes cried herself back to sleep. Her tears were only silent, but whenever he saw them, he wished he could ease her pain.

 

During various battles with demons, he had kept an eye out for her as well as himself, always trying not to appear too concerned if she somehow got injured. She was courageous in battle, her hair flying behind her in a ponytail and her taijiya outfit showing off her firm figure. No matter how much training she had learned while she was younger, she was not invincible. While she had not sustained any injuries from Mount Hakurei, her life had been in danger at one point, and he had risked his own to save her, willing to take in all the poison from the Saimyoushou to give her a little more time to live.

 

He was willing to die for her because he cared about her.

 

She had fallen in love with him, too. Almost against her will. She had tried hard to avoid him; she slapped him whenever he attempted to make a perverted move on her, and avoided being alone with just him during the late evenings. She often went to think by herself, Kirara being a silent yet comforting companion to have around.

 

About a month ago, he had proposed to her, asking her to bear his child. She had told him yes.

 

“You won't cheat on me, will you?”

 

His answer was a careful avoidance of her slightly accusing gaze and a rather awkward silence. Ever since that time, he had groped other village women a little less, although he never stopped asking the question and tended to stay closer with her during their travels. Kagome and Inuyasha were both aware of the growing relationship between her and Miroku, although they said nothing about it. Kagome's smile was enough to tell Sango that she knew.

 

The whole event with Shima had been a complete misunderstanding, and Sango easily forgave Miroku. Even before they had found out Shima's lie, Sango couldn't help but feel depressed. At one point, she had not wanted to be around him. She did not want to have to see Shima `flirting' around with her Houshi-sama, nor could she stand to see him so completely obvious to the young woman's advances. If he wasn't oblivious, he certainly wasn't shrugging her off, either.

 

But he had apologized, even after they found out he had done nothing wrong, so she forgave him. After all, he had not intended to marry Shima in the first place.

 

“You could have at least told me the truth. Why?”

 

“I assumed you would understand. I'm sorry if I made you think otherwise. I guess it's just an old habit of mine.”

 

“It's okay. Besides, when you saved me… I was really happy about it.”

 

And all was well again in their relationship. It looked like things would work out after all.

 

One particular afternoon, they came across a youkai. None of them was really in a fighting mood except for Inuyasha, but they had heard rumours about some jewel shards being located in a village just north of where they were heading, and the youkai just happened to be in the way. It didn't take much to defeat. Inuyasha wanted to get rid of it with one swipe of his Tetssusaiga, but Sango insisted that she destroy it.

 

“Hiraikotsu!” The large boomerang sliced the worthless creature in half.

 

Miroku pulled back the beads that restrained the void in his hand and shouted, “Kazaana!” The now mutilated demon was swept into his hand, of no more bother to anyone. Sango strapped Hiraikotsu to her back and Miroku pulled the cloth back over the hole, the beads once again preventing the Kazaana from getting out of control.

 

“Well, that was easy,” the taijiya commented.

 

Inuyasha growled. “It could have been easier if you'd have let me use Tetssusaiga. The last time I tried using it, Miroku did all the work,” he complained.

 

The monk's cheeks flushed. “Well, I had to save Sango from the cat youkai, and I was in the middle of a lake,” he said. Sango looked away, blushing at the mention of their previous fight and argument. “What else could I have done?”

 

“You could have let me handle it!”

 

“Inuyasha… sometimes it's not your place to help win a battle,” Kagome said.

 

“What's that supposed to mean, wench?”

 

The miko sighed. “I don't think it's something that can be explained.” The hanyou snorted, and as he opened his mouth to retort something, a young woman came running up to us, colliding into Miroku with such a force that he was almost knocked to the ground.

 

“Oh, Miroku! I thought you weren't coming back!”

 

She was wearing a light blue kimono and her hair was done up in a low ponytail. Her eyes were a sparkling dark blue, and she wore no eye shadow, her expression a joyous one as she clung fiercely to the monk. Kagome automatically looked over to see Sango's reaction to this, but when she did, she actually took a step back from her friend.

 

The taijiya wore an strange composed expression, but there was a hint of restrained jealousy in her eyes. The jealousy and anger at seeing someone else cling to her companion like that was creating a frightening aura. Inuyasha must have noticed it, because even he backed away, although Sango had not seemed to notice that she was unintentionally scaring her friends. Her attention was focused solely on the way that this woman was flirting with her monk.

 

“Oh, Miroku, how I missed you! I thought I would never see you again!” The woman was rambling on about whatever it was that had previously separated them, but Sango tuned out her rather girlish sounding voice. The woman's hands were looped around the monk's neck, her face just inches from his as she spoke. “Where have you been all this time?”

 

To Sango's shock and fury, his hands went down the woman's waist, not even close to touching the inappropriate area he normally did, and his chin rested on her shoulder. He had closed his eyes, so he was oblivious to the death glare that the taijiya was giving him. Making a noise that could be classified somewhere in between frustration and hurt, Sango decided to continue on, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the way that Miroku held onto the woman.

 

“We should get going,” she said, somehow managing to keep her tone steady and not reveal how close she was to going up to Miroku and smashing Hiraikotsu so hard that it would create a permanent dent in his skull.

 

Inuyasha blinked and followed her, making sure to stay out of range of her weapon. He knew she was pissed; forget that, she was beyond pissed, but he did not dare say anything about it. To do so would trigger her temper and he always managed to be on the receiving end of Kagome's wrath; he did not need to be added to Sango's.

 

Kagome knew instantly what was going on, but she decided it would be best not to say anything until after she and her friend were alone. Plus, Sango didn't look like she was in a talking mood right now and Kagome couldn't blame her. She hoped that this event would not be like the one that had happened with the catfish.

 

On their way to the village, the woman had not stopped talking to Miroku. She didn't give anyone else a chance to interrupt their conversation, and Miroku kept his around her waist the entire time. Sango kept hoping that he would come back to his senses and rejoin her, but he didn't, so she stayed silent, although her anger wasn't too far from reaching the surface.

 

Once they got to the village, they were invited to stay the night on behalf on Miroku. The monk looked slightly embarrassed, but did not protest the offer. They sat down in the main room. Inuyasha and Kagome sat next to each other, Shippou in Kagome's lap. Sango sat by herself, and even though Kirara, who had known her ever since she was a year old, was beside her, she still felt as though she was in another world. The monk who had proposed to her about a month ago was starting to act like she didn't exist, and no one else wanted to question that odd behaviour. The only reason for it was that other woman.

 

Miroku was sitting diagonally across from her, but he hadn't so much as glanced in her direction ever since that young woman had clung to him. The woman was cuddling next to him, taking his hand in hers, and her shoulder brushed against his every so often, making the fiery anger inside of Sango threaten to erupt. She didn't know how, but she was miraculously controlling her temper.

 

“Houshi-sama,” she finally said, keeping her tone calm. “You haven't introduced us yet.”

 

For a moment, his gaze connected with hers and he smiled, but even then there was no real emotion in it. She felt like he was deliberately trying to block her out now that this other woman was here. “This is Miyuki,” he told them. “We've been very close friends for a long time.” His gaze travelled back over to meet Miyuki's, and she smiled at him.

 

Very close friends? Are you sure you weren't involved in some kind of romantic relationship? Sango was dying to ask those question, to try and regain back her Houshi-sama, but it would have been extremely rude, and even if she was jealous of Miyuki-san, this gave her no reason to be rude to Miyuki-san. She settled for giving the woman a genuine smile, and she smiled back, looking nervous.

 

Kagome was the first to break the tense silence, sounding as polite as usual whenever she met new people in the feudal era. “So, um, did you have any sort of relationship with her? I mean, past that of friendship?”

 

Sango was a bit taken aback at her friend's blunt question, but inwardly she took a deep breath to calm myself. Maybe she would be lucky, and Miroku would say that he used to have a close relationship, but that he didn't feel as friendly with her anymore. No such luck.

 

“Ah, yes. In fact, we went out for a while,” he admitted, a dull flush creeping over his cheeks. Miyuki let go of his hand, so she could sit up and talk properly without looking like she was using him for shoulder support.

 

“Hey Miroku, maybe I should tell them about our… history,” she said.

 

Sango bit her lip and looked away. She did not want to hear anything about their relationship. In fact, she did not even want to acknowledge that he had been with the woman called Miyuki, but she had no choice except to hear it. Kagome noticed her distress, and put a hand on her shoulder. Miyuki began to speak and Miroku put an arm around her shoulders.

 

“We were friends for a very long time, perhaps since age 6, but we did not have a strong relationship until we were both in our teenage years. Miroku protected me from youkai and trained me how to fight with a staff, but I was never very good at fighting and rarely improved. At one point, after I had been kidnapped by a youkai, he came after me and defeated the monster. He cleaned up my wounds, and that's when I realized I had fallen in love with him,” she said, turning around to gaze at him with the look of one who has not seen her partner for a long time, perhaps years. He held her close and she closed her eyes, content to be in his arms.

 

Sango was having a hard time forming speech. She just wanted to get up and leave so she would not have to watch Miyuki-san go all over Miroku like that, but she restrained herself. Almost angrily, she bit out, “And you're not ashamed to reveal your relationship with Houshi-sama?”

 

Miroku looked at her, surprised at her question. “No, why would she be? Unless it is a lie, which it is not, why should she be ashamed to tell about something that really happened?” Kagome looked from Miroku to Sango, realizing that the taijiya's question had actually been a silent challenge of some sort.

 

“Never mind.” Sango folded her hands in her lap, the anger in her eyes and voice gradually fading to be replaced with something that Kagome couldn't quite distinguish.

 

“Well, our relationship reached a point where we decided to have marriage, but unfortunately, that was the day I found out that Naraku had been the one to curse my father with the Kazaana, and I had to leave her,” the monk said quietly. “That was about a year ago.”

 

Marriage?

 

Sango failed to control the way her voice wavered. “Marriage?” She laughed weakly, but Kagome, Inuyasha and even Miroku himself flinched. It was not a pleasant sound. “You - you're kidding, right? It was just another one of your `will you bear my child' lines, right?”

 

“No,” Miroku answered, completely serious for once. He met Sango`s gaze directly on. “I really did want to marry her. I told her that myself.”