InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Tale of Ever After ❯ Chapter 139

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

I do not own InuYasha or any of the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter 138


There was a ripple of noise as the women filed out and their children ran up to greet them.  A girl’s voice shouted, “Don’t do that!” to the laughter of one of the boys.

“Don’t act like that, boy,” one of the women said. “Your otousan won’t be happy if he finds out.”

“Sounds like Teruko,” Miroku said. “That boy of hers. He would hang out with Aki sometimes. Must have picked up some bad habits.”

Sango nodded her head, but didn’t speak.

Slowly the voices quieted down, and the sounds drifted off as the women moved further away.

“Sounds like they headed into the garden,” the monk said, resting his head in one hand, the other clasping Sango’s.

“I guess,” she replied. Naoya gurgled in his sleep. Sango leaned forward to tug at his blanket to make sure the infant was well covered.

“We have such beautiful children,” Miroku said. “As beautiful and special as their mother.”

Sango nodded, but didn’t speak. Taking a deep breath as he studied his wife, the monk searched for what to say as the room grew quieter and quieter. Suddenly, Miroku tugged Sango toward him, nesting her head under his chin.

“I...” he started, as he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re so strong, Sango-chan. I didn’t even realize any of this...” He kissed the top of her head, running his fingers through her hair. “So strong to be living with this and not letting me know it.”

She pulled back a bit to look up, chewing her lip, her eyes glistening. “I don’t feel strong right now.”

“But you are,” he said. His eyes were serious and sad, yet his face showed his appreciation of the woman he was holding. “Look what you’ve been carrying. I...I had no idea.” He kissed the top of her head again. “That woman...”

Sango reached up a hand and touched his cheek. Her upset was still there, visible in the way she held her mouth, in some ways more embarrassed than hurt. He covered her hand with his own.

“You’re not blaming yourself, are you? What if she called you names because we have twins? You’ve seen her children. Compared to hers, we have nothing to be shamed of.”

Sighing, she nodded.  “It just hurt.”

“Chiya’s good at stabbing people with her mouth,” Miroku said, squeezing her hand. “She did a job of that today not just here, but up on the hill, too. I knew she was a resentful person, but I was too busy thinking about our position in the village. If anybody’s guilty here, it’s me.”

“You didn’t do what she did,” Sango said, shaking her head. “You didn’t tell me I wasn’t wanted.”

Miroku cupped her cheeks with his hands. “You are wanted, my beautiful Sango. So very much.”

Sango pulled away, but took one of his hands in hers. “I don’t think I realized what was going on, really, until today,” She studied his eyes, concerned and penetrating, then rested her head against his shoulder. “I just thought...maybe it was...I was too different.”

“There is no one like you,” Miroku said. He snugged her closer to him.

“Yukinari!” a girl’s voice shouted. “What would Akiko-obasan say if she saw that? Go get the ball!”

“Sounds like the children are giving Yorime a time out there,” Miroku said.

“Children will do that.” Sango sat up straighter.

“It’s worse when they do it as grownups.” The monk brushed a stray lock of hair out of his wife’s face.

She sighed. “Growing up, I knew the other women in my village weren’t sure how to behave around me. It was very rare for girls to be trained like me, and although they meant well, as I grew up, there was this barrier between us, like if they didn’t know if they should treat me like one of the men or just another woman. But I was the headman’s daughter, and a fighter. They didn’t do anything like she did. But here I was the outsider, and a woman trained to fight, and married to a monk. I thought that was the real reason the women kept me on the outside. I didn’t have a headman as father to smooth the way. It made it lonely sometimes, but I thought it was me. It wasn’t until Hisa-obaasan started asking questions that I really figured out what was going on.”

The monk sighed, and leaned his head on hers. “I always loved you because you were different - brave and strong. You were so much not like all the other women I had known.” He sighed, playing with a lock of her hair. “I never really thought of how it would be like for you to settle in a village like this. I’m afraid I’ve made your difference even worse than it had to be.” His arm tightened around her. “What have I put you through?”

“It wasn’t you,” Sango said, leaning into his hold.

A boy outside yelled something neither one of them could quite understand, followed by InuYasha telling him to go find somewhere else to run.

“It sounds like we have a watch dog out there,” Miroku said.

Sango nodded, and gave a tiny smile. “I suspect Kagome’s right beside him.”

“Some people are meant to be together.” The monk sat up enough so he could look at his wife. “She tamed a wild creature and turned him into a hero.” Miroku brushed the back of his hand gently across Sango’s cheek. “You, on the other hand, turned a selfish, cursed, desperate wayward monk into...”

“Into a happy, nosy, wayward monk?” she suggested.

He smiled down at her. “I was always nosy. That hasn’t changed very much.”

“I know,” she replied, leaning against his shoulder. “You always want to know everything.”

“So much for being a nosy monk. I feel...I feel I let you down,” he said sighing.. “As often as I’ve seen that woman...”  

“It wasn’t until today I realized that it was always her or one of her friends that was trying to keep me from the other women,” Sango admitted. “It’s not like it happened every day. There’s always so much to do. I haven’t had a lot of time to even try to fit in.”

“But I knew you were lonely and not making friends, and I knew Chiya was...well, jealous that I was with you,” Miroku said. “I’ve seen it happen before. Women who aren’t really wanting anything more than attention, getting jealous over anybody who takes my time.”

Sango gave him a questioning look that made Miroku give her a small, knowing smile.

“No, not you,” he said, pulling her close. “The fact that you...put up with me, and pulled me away, for all my waywardness...it was your strength that got it through my head what really mattered, and your fierceness...it’s nothing like women like Chiya want. They want to devour me. You,” he said, kissing her on her forehead, before gazing into her eyes, “you are the other half of my soul.” His lips found hers, and gently, and then more ardently showed his feeling. “Before you, there was always something missing.”

“Miroku,” she breathed.

His look grew more serious. “So why, my dear Sango, didn’t you say something about how Chiya was treating you?” he asked.  

Her eyes left his. “I knew you weren’t misbehaving with her. And she seemed so supportive of your work...” She sighed. “I knew she didn’t like me, but until today, with what she said about our daughters, about how I was a scandal...” She looked up at him. “I thought she was just an unpleasant person. I didn’t know how deep her feeling ran. ” Noriko turned over on her back as she slept.  Sango looked down on her daughter, brushed a piece of hair out of her face. “I know how to fight youkai,” she said. “I never learned how to fight mean, dark-spirited women.”

Miroku pulled Sango back into his arms. “Sometimes, it’s the dark-hearted humans you have to live with that are the worst monsters of all.” He nuzzled her ear, just to watch her shiver a bit at the sensation. “And much harder to deal with. There’s no Hiraikotsu or Tessaiga we can use to take care of them. For that, we need friends, and trust, to bring their darkness to light.”

Sango nodded.

“But, woman, if anybody else does something like this to you again, tell me. Or at least tell Kagome-sama. This isn’t the type of battle you should fight by yourself.” He slipped a finger under her chin to get her to look into his eyes. “It doesn’t matter if they support the temple, or anything I’m trying to do. No donor is worth what you are to me.”

“But...” she said.

“No buts,” the monk insisted. “We’ve fought a lot of battles side by side. Remember the time Akago had kidnapped Kagome, and we had to fight all those people, doing our best not to kill any of them?”

“I do. We fought well together, too,” Sango said.

“Sometimes, living in a village can be like that,” Miroku said. He pulled her closer, tucking her head back under his chin. “We will fight and win, and do the right thing and not kill anybody. And best of all, we don’t have to fight this fight alone. We have allies.”

“Kagome-chan and InuYasha?” she said.

“I do believe we have more than that. Look at Hisa-sama. I doubt very little gets away from her once she gets her mind made up. And from the way the other women behaved, I suspect more than just her.” He laced the fingers of his right hand into hers.

“I think you’re right,” Sango said. She gave him a bittersweet smile. “I kind of feel sorry for Chiya. Hisa-obaasan has a lot more pull here than she does. And now...”

“A lot more,” Miroku said, nodding. “And after what she did up by the temple today, Chiya’s going to have even less pull. Some rough times ahead.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“She was arguing with Kimi-sama and InuYasha when - ” Miroku was interrupted when the door to the back room slid open, and Susumu’s son Mitsuo walked out.

“Ha-ha! Where are you?” the little boy said, rubbing his eyes.

“Mitsuo-chan, she’s outside with your obaasan and the other women,” Sango said, sitting up.  

“Have you seen Horsie?” the boy asked.

“I’m afraid not,” she replied. “Maybe your okaasan still has it?”

“I need him. Horsie gets scared when I’m not there,” the boy said.

“Well, then,” Miroku said, “Maybe you should go outside and find her.”

“Ha-ha!” Mitsuo cried, heading for the door. “Ha-ha!” He slid the door open and went outside.

The noise was too much for Yusuko, who popped up, rubbed her eyes, and cried out, “Chi-chi!”

“Well look who woke up,” the monk said.

The girl crawled up into her father’s lap. “Chi-chi!  Time to go home?”

Sango smoothed her daughter’s hair. “Did you have a good nap, baby?”

Yusuko nodded. “Dreamed about a big dragon!” she said, her voice rising as she gestured just how big.  

This brought her sister to alertness, and Noriko crawled up into her mother’s lap. “Ha-ha feel better?” she asked.

“Yes, Okaa feels better, baby,” Sango said.

“Go home?” Yusuko asked again.  

“Not quite yet, my beautiful girl,” Miroku said, “But soon. If Okaa is feeling better, maybe we should go outside and tell the others?”

Sango nodded.  She carefully picked up her sleeping son, and stood up.  “I feel...ready to fight.”

“I told you that you were strong, woman,” Miroku said, getting up himself and picking up his staff.  Are you going to be strong like your okaa when you grow up?” he asked his girls.

Noriko nodded.  

“Like Ha-ha!” Yusuko said.

“That’s my girls,” he said.  “Let’s go find the others.”

And with a nod and a smile from Sango, they headed out of the house.