Daddy Dearest – Part Five: A Frigid Night

"Damn it, if we wait any longer, we won't stand a chance!" Inuyasha shouted. He lifted the still transformed Tetsusaiga and spun to stare "Come and face me, cowardly beasts! You disgrace your title, hiding that way! FACE ME, DAMN IT!"

"Attack!" a hissing voice bellowed.

The brush all around them began to shudder and a swarm of koketsu exploded into the clearing, mouths gaping and eyes glowing in the dull light of the setting sun. There were dozens of them, some larger than the ones that had attacked them on the road the other day, but most about the size of Shippo. Still, that was big enough!

Inuyasha immediately took what strength he had left and attacked the oncoming swarm, chopping and slicing and swinging the blade in every direction in hopes of killing off as many as possible. He scored on a good number of them, drenching himself in the rank, sticky gore that sprayed from the steaming carcasses as they fell, and those that he didn't kill he crippled by hacking off legs, tongues and eyes as he saw them. His strength was still fading, but as far as he was concerned, he might as well use it while he had it. Scratchy roars and gags filled the air around where he stood as he hacked the beasts to drippy chunks of steaming, hairy, black flesh cubes.

However, for every ten he killed, twenty more tried to slip past him to get to Kagome and the others. This didn't slow him down, though. He kept on massacring anything that was within range of his blade, all the time watching as the sky continued to darken.

~

Miroku was having quite a time fending off the koketsu coming at him from the opposite direction Inuyasha was working in with only his staff, but he didn't trust himself to use the air-rip against them. There were dozens, if not hundreds of them, and he had a good chance of sucking up one of his friends along with a throng of koketsu of he tried it, so he settled for bashing their skulls (?) in with his staff while trying to keep close to Kagome.

The girl was crouched on the ground with Mikiro in her arms and Kirara shielding her, smacking and biting at the koketsu that tried to get close. She only tried actually eating one once, because after one mouthful of sticky, grotesque meat that smelled horrendous, she gagged and spat it out, then spat several times before she commenced hitting them away.

Sango was off to the left side of Kagome, crushing the snap-trap demons as they came at her, and she was managing to hold her own, but she looked tired.

Shippo was hiding with Kagome, because his fox fire had little effect on the smaller koketsu and almost none on the larger ones, so that left Inuyasha, himself and Sango as the only defenders.

"There's no end to them!" Miroku shouted over the nasty cackling of the monsters. Another came at him, mouth open, so he jammed the staff straight into the back of its throat, the pointed top slicing into the soft area right between its eyes. It coughed and died right there and he wiped the golden mounting off on the grass before bashing another. He was becoming quickly exhausted, they were still coming and the night was soon to be complete. The moment that happened, Inuyasha would become fully human, and they would be done for.

Then, suddenly, something hit him from behind and he skidded across the grass with a gasp, barely managing to keep his feet as he came to a halt roughly ten feet away. He turned and was surprised to see that one of the damned larger ones had rammed him and was now trying to get past Kirara without really failing. It was after Kagome and Mikiro!

Miroku whipped around and slammed the staff as hard as he could over its head, but it didn't react. It kept trying to get at them. Why? Because Kagome had their jewel shard? //Damn it, it will kill them!// Tossing the rod aside, he did the last thing he could think of. He took a step back, then literally leapt onto its back (???), locking his hands around a pair of huge incisors and throwing his weight back as hard as he could.

It worked. The thing fell onto its back on top of him, crushing his ribs and lungs with its weight, but it immediately began to fight him, kicking its huge frog-legs and trying to get up. There wasn't a chance in the world that he would allow that. It worked its jaws, trying to saw his fingers off, and squirmed madly, but he refused to let go, ignoring the blood gushing from the abrasions on his hands. The teeth were sharp like knives, and at this rate, he would lose half of each hand if he kept holding on, but he couldn't let go.

"Miroku?!" Kagome cried. "What are you doing?!"

"Run for your life!" he choked. He would have shouted, had he the ability to breathe. The monster outweighed him and was crushing him under itself. "Get on Kirara and have her take you away from here!"

"But--"

He choked again as it bucked, flattening his chest painfully. He couldn't hold on much longer! "*NOW*, KAGOME!"

He watched as she took the boy and Shippo and climbed onto Kirara's back. The neko youkai needed no prompting, for she immediately took off running at a dangerous speed and disappeared into the woods with them.

He finally lost his grip on the koketsu and it got to its feet before he could manage to sit up, then turned on him, mouth open wide. //Uh-oh...//

"Miroku, look out!"

CRACK! The koketsu went flying, launched by the gigantic boomerang that came soaring to his rescue. The weapon landed nearby, but the monster flew a good distance further and it splattered on a tree in the forest. So much for THAT!

Sango came running and helped him to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," he said, wiping his bloody hands on his robes, which were slightly tattered and rather dirty. He snatched his staff and put all his strength behind one final swing and yet another jaw-demon went flying. Now he was out of breath and tired, and holding his staff was painful because of the bleeding, but at least Mikiro, Kagome and Shippo were safe.

"Where did Kirara go?"

"I told her to take Kagome and the boys out of here...no big deal..."

She smiled as she picked up her boomerang. "You're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"I'll say thank you and not argue."

Finally, they stopped attacking, just as the night became complete. Inuyasha fell to his knees with a groan of exhaustion, dropping the rusted katana in his hands to the ground at his side. He was utterly dripping with koketsu blood, which made it difficult to see that he was human now (he was black and gooey from head to toe), but the disappearance of his dog-ears confirmed it.

Miroku quickly caught his breath, then, using the staff and Sango as supports, approached the transformed hanyou. "Inuyasha," he called. "Are you all right?"

Slowly, the tired young man turned and looked at him, still kneeling in the bloody grass. His expression was one of wearied anger, and he stared blankly at the two for a long moment before uttering one word. "Oww..." SPLAT. He fell face-down into the soiled grass and didn't move again.

Sango and Miroku hurried to his side, and the monk quickly knelt and reached to check his pulse, but paused as he noticed something sickening about the blackened grass. The area around their friend was slowly becoming brown, and the source of the sudden color-change was the hanyou himself. He was bleeding from countless gashes and bite-marks left by the demons he had fought so valiantly, and now that he was human, he couldn't sustain himself through the damage any longer.

"Oh no," Miroku whispered. Then, in a louder tone: "We have to get him to a sanctuary of some kind, now!"

"Oh gods, is his bleeding?!" Sango exclaimed.

The lecherous monk reached toward Inuyasha in order to lift him from the ground, then paused again as Kirara returned with her passengers.

"Miroku, what--?" Kagome paused in mid-sentence. "INUYASHA!"

"Oh no, what's happened to him?!" Shippo exclaimed.

"Nothing in comparissson to what will happen to you!"

Miroku looked up as a creature suddenly burst from the brush and flew into the air. It was serpentine in form, at least fifty feet long, with twisted black horns and silver scales. It was enormous. First Hachi an the three- eyed wolves, then the koketsu and now a levitating snake with a big mouth. //Why me?// he thought, aggravatedly.

"It has a jewel shard!" Kagome cried. "In its tail-tip!"

"Foolissshhh girl!" the thing hissed. "You will all die before you take my massster's treasssure!"

Naraku again? It figured.

"That explains why it was so cold last night!" Sango exclaimed. "That's a Hiyou Daija-ka! A flying ice youkai!"

"Can we melt it?" Shippo asked.

"Not that kind of ice! What I mean is--" She stopped, suddenly, then gasped as the beast opened its mouth. "GET DOWN!"

It exhaled and a wave of cold air hit them like a wall, sending Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Mikiro, Kirara and the unconscious Inuyasha flying across the clearing--literally. They were all airborne instantly.

They all landed hard on the ground, Miroku first, being that he weighed just a bit more than the others and had been ready to move before being blown over. The moment he landed, his eyes immediately locked onto the falling little boy, who was shrieking. Leaping to his feet, he slid across the now icy ground and caught little Mikiro in his arms at the expense of his robes and his back, which were both ripped by the frozen grass. He winced as he sat up, then looked at the boy. "Are you all right?"

He blinked, staring him in the eye for the first time in the two days he had known about him. Slowly, he nodded.

Miroku sighed, wincing as his back began to sting. //I wish I could say the say the same for myself...//

Kirara had landed so hard she was now unconscious, as was Shippo, who had, coincidentally, landed on Kirara's head and knocked her out anyway. Kagome had landed conveniently on Inuyasha, who was still out cold, and she was now fussing over him loudly while Sango engaged the youkai with her boomerang, succeeding in very little but making the giant snake laugh.

The Daija-ka hissed at her, then opened its mouth and exhaled again, but this time, spikes of ice shot out with the action. Sango barely managed to dodge them, but she slipped and the skirt of her yukata was instantly nailed to the frozen ground by a stray icicle-bullet half her size. As she fell, the boomerang flew from her hands and out of her reach. "Well," it hissed. "All-powerful youkai-huntresss. How doesss it feel to know you will die?"

Sango struggled against the spike, but it wouldn't give, and the fabric around it was frozen, so it refused to give when she pulled. She was a sitting duck!

Miroku made a snap-decision. He set Mikiro down. "Go take cover behind Kirara, and hold onto Shippo. Whatever I do, whatever you see, STAY THERE until everything looks safe."

Mikiro's lower lip quivered and his eyes began to shine. He was scared, and with good right. After all, a three-year-old had no place in a situation like this.

He sighed. "I know you don't like me, and I know this is scary, but please, you have to trust me. Go to Shippo and Kirara and hold onto them."

The boy nodded, then turned and hurried to his hiding place behind the passed-out fire-cat.

Miroku pulled his aching body into a standing position, ignoring the blood running from the gash on his back and the swollen lacerations in his fingers, then grabbed the boomerang and pitched it with little grace at the snake-demon. "Hey! Pick on someone closer to your own size, reptile!"

WHAP! The weapon smacked the thing in its mouth, flat, grabbing its attention away from Sango, whom it was preparing to freeze to death. It looked at Miroku, its yellow eyes narrowing on him. "Foolissshhh move, monk."

"Come on!" he shouted at it, raising his hands. "I'm even injured already and you still haven't got the slightest chance to eat me! I dare you to make the attempt! You'll never get your jaws around me, I promise you!"

It growled, then flew straight at him from where it was perched above Sango.

He grabbed the rosary around his wrist, then looked at the huntress. "Sango! Brace yourself!"

She quickly grabbed onto the ice spike she had been fighting against. "Miroku, be careful!"

As the creature dived for him, he ripped the rosary off and held his hand up. "AIR-RIP!"

Kagome heard him shout and immediately grabbed onto Inuyasha's kimono, then grabbed a nearby tree and braced herself and him against it.

Miroku braced his hand as the Daija-ka opened its mouth and tried to blast him with the cold gust, but it was sucked into the wind tunnel. The monster itself suddenly didn't look so certain. He smirked. "I TOLD YOU SO!"

The thing shrieked as it was pulled into his hand, but he quickly replaced the rosary just before its tail was pulled in, sealing the air-rip before it was sucked in. There was a Shikon shard in there, and he was certain the others would be mad if it got taken with the beast.

"Kagome!" he called over his shoulder. "The Tetsusaiga! Quickly!"

She hastily got up and grabbed the discarded sword, then hurried and lopped the end of the writhing tail off. It fell to the ground and she scowled with distaste. "Eww..."

"Better get back so I can open this again," he said, eyeing his hand, where the rest of the tail was thrashing, grotesquely.

With a disgusted grunt, she stabbed the writhing, silver cone with the sword, skewering it, then turned and ran off with it, looking sickened. "EWWEWWEWW! THIS IS SO GROSS!"

Miroku removed the rosary a moment, allowing the rip to swallow the rest of the huge demon, then replaced it and made a face. He could almost feel it writhing in his arm, mad about its missing tail chunk. //Bravery has an unfortunate aftertaste,// he thought, scowling. He sighed, then went over and knelt next to Sango, grasping the fabric of her yukata and ripping it from the icicle. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, slowly. "Miroku...that was astoundingly brave of you..." Then, she looked at his hands and gasped, taking them in her own and gently touching the clotting lacerations. "Oh gods, what have you done?"

"It's nothing," he said, gently taking them back. He looked back at Mikiro, who had managed to wake Shippo and was now recounting what had happened while Kirara shook herself awake and shrunk back to kitty-size again. "We have to get Inuyasha to shelter so I can ascertain the damage the battle has done to him. In his human state, he is much less likely to survive out here." He stood and offered her a hand, which she tenderly accepted by taking his wrist instead, then turned and headed to the others.

Sango gasped again and caught a handful of his robes. "Your back is bleeding..." she murmured. "How can you bear to walk like this?"

He let his eyes drift to the little boy again, then sighed. "It's nothing," he repeated. "Come on. We have to get Inuyasha to safety and dress his wounds--"

"AND your own," Sango added.

He nodded, dutifully. "--Then somehow extract the Shikon shard from that chunk of the beast's tail and, hopefully, get some rest." //I hope Hachi hurries back with that aide...after a night like this, I will need all the help I can get.//

**** ~

"Wha'cha looking at, Mikiro?" Shippo asked him along the way.

They were riding on Kirara's back again, only this time, they had an extra passenger. Inuyasha was still unconscious and the gross, gooey stuff dripping from him was starting to harden, so the only real way to transport him was strapping him in a sitting position on the youkai-express.

Mikiro, who was sitting behind Inuyasha and holding onto him to keep his balance, had spent most of the journey from the clearing thinking about two things: his father and his hand. When he had fallen from the sky, Miroku had hurried and caught him without pause, saving his life, then told him to take cover to keep him from harm. That moment when the man had held him in his arms, asking if he was all right, Mikiro had felt his heart thundering within his chest with alarm, and seen for the first time that his eyes weren't bad. It was as if they had suddenly changed when he had sought to sacrifice his body for Mikiro's safety. He had done it twice that night, once with the huge mouth monster and again when he had caught him, and both times, he had hurt himself just to save him.

Did this mean that he really DID care? Possibly. However, throughout the whole trip, he had protected him to some extent, if nothing else. Was THAT what a father was for? Protection? Maybe. It seemed plausible, but it didn't explain why his eyes had suddenly been not bad. He would have to face him with it and see if they were still not bad now, or if it had been just something that happened and was over now.

He was scared to face him, though. He kept remembering how much Mommy hated him and how bad a man he was supposed to be, but he had saved his life twice, and everybody else's too. He'd saved San-san especially. He liked her a lot, though, so maybe that was why.

That brought him back to his hand. He stared at the white cotton bandage he wore to conceal the little dark hole in his palm, curiously. He had been told to keep it covered, because it was dangerous, but until now, he hadn't known why. He could guess now. Miroku had told him that he had a hole in his hand too, and now he knew it was true, just like Mommy had said. Mommy had told him that he would know his father when he met him because he would have black hair like his, blue robes, a long stick with a gold symbol on top and a glove on his right hand to hide the hole there. She had said it was a bad thing, and that it ate everything, and though he hadn't really understood then, he did now.

He had seen Miroku take the beads off his hand and pull that monster into the hole with a dark wind, and now that he knew what the hole did, he wanted to know why his wasn't like that. His hole was just there; it didn't pull things it, even though if he put something through it, it never came back. Why was it different? Was it because he was little, or because he didn't know the words to make it work?

Miroku had used words, but he wasn't sure if that had anything to do with the hole. He couldn't remember what they were anyway, so it didn't really matter.

//Mommy always told me to never take off my bandage because the hole would eat me and everybody else...was that why he made me go to Shippo and Kirara? Because he didn't want the hole to eat me?// He frowned to himself, then blinked as he realized Shippo had been talking to him. The question registered, finally, along with a poking against his left shoulder. He looked back. "Sorry. What did you say?"

"I said why are you lookin' at your hand like that?"

He shook his head. "I'll show you later."

"OH!" Shippo exclaimed. "It's something to do with the air-rip, isn't it?"

"Air-rip?"

The fox-boy nodded. "Yeah, that think Miroku has in his hand that sucks things up. You got one too, right?"

"Yes," he said, showing him his bandaged palm. "But it doesn't do that..."

"Yeah, I saw when your Mom took it off you to show him when you first showed up."

"Why doesn't it work?"

"I dunno," Shippo said, scratching his head. "But I think you should be happy. Miroku hates his, because someday, it'll pull him into it and he'll die."

Mikiro gasped and looked back at the redheaded fox-boy, who blinked and blushed. "WHAT?"

"Oops...I did it again...eh heh, never mind."

"No, you said the hole was gonna pull him in and he would die. Why would that happen? Will it happen to me?"

Suddenly, a hand came back over Mikiro's head and whacked Shippo, knocking him off Kirara backwards with a cry. "Shut...up..."

He blinked, then looked up at Inuyasha, who was now awake. He blinked. "Inu- san?"

The filthy adult smiled, weakly, at him, then leaned forward a bit against Kirara's head. "Don't...listen...to Shippo...overactive imagination..."

"You're hurt," he said, softly hugging him. "You should rest."

"Nah," he said, trying to brush it off. Mikiro could feel his pain and anger inside him. His heart hurt, and he was mad because his body wasn't going to work right for a while. "I'll be okay..."

"Inuyasha," Miss Kagome snapped at him, surprising Mikiro. She took the back of his head and pushed his face down against Kirara's neck. "Don't waste your energy...we're almost there."

He tried to argue, but he couldn't. Now he was mad about that too, but he was glad Kagome cared.

Mikiro smiled. He could feel that she was scared for him--really scared-- but she was happy, too, for some reason. He had a feeling it was something to do with the fact that Inuyasha couldn't get up and run away from her, the way he did a lot because he was scared to get close to her. It was so funny to him that they were like this. Inuyasha liked Kagome, but he was scared Kikyou would hate him if he showed her and that Kagome wouldn't like him back, and Kagome liked Inuyasha, but she was afraid he was going to laugh at her and tease her and tell her she was silly if she told him. If they would both just come out and say it, they would both be happier.

The funnier thing was, he was three and he knew this while they were grown up and they didn't. He smiled to himself. Grown-ups were so silly that way!

Shippo jumped onto Kagome's shoulder and scowled. "If he wasn't hurt, I'd shout at him for that."

"Leave him alone, Shippo," she said, smiling weakly. She was getting scared now, and because she was looking at Inuyasha, Mikiro was sure it was because she didn't like his being hurt. He was supposed to be strong, because he was the biggest one and he had a sword, but now he was hurt and it made her afraid for their safety and his, too. He wasn't sure, but Mikiro had a feeling she was scared to lose him to death.

Inuyasha was scared too, but he wasn't going to say that. Part of him was mean and it didn't want him to admit he was afraid, because it was bad to be scared when you're a man, but the other part of him wanted to cry because he hurt so bad. He just wanted to sleep, but he was afraid of that too. He was scared he'd never wake up.

Mikiro sighed. //I hope I'm not this confusing when I grow up.//

They suddenly came across a big mansion in a clearing that made Mikiro suddenly think of his Mommy, and Miroku made them wait in the cover of the forest while he went to talk to the people living there. Before he could go, though, he paused and waited.

There was a man at the door already, and he looked dirty and hurt. Mikiro felt bad for him. He was talking to a bigger man at the door with a little woman hiding behind him in brown and white robes. She was concerned, and the big man was annoyed.

"Please," the hurt man begged, "There are demons everywhere tonight! They ate my horse, and I was lucky to escape with my life! Please, I ask only that you shelter me until the dawn!"

"Away, beggar!" the big man said, cruelly. He pushed the man off the stoop, then turned and went back inside. "We have no place for useless travelers," he growled, closing the doors after him.

Miroku blinked. "Well, so much for my plan of asking sympathy for Inuyasha's injuries," he muttered. He sighed, then took his staff in his hands and headed toward the mansion, resolutely.

"Oh great," Inuyasha croaked. "Just watch. He's gonna tell some big fat lie to get us in there."

"Would you rather die of exposure?!" Sango yelled at him. She had been worried up until now, but suddenly she had got mad at Inuyasha for being mean. She was even more scared than he was...or, sort of anyway...Mikiro wasn't sure, but it was kinda like fear and kinda like anger and kinda like a lot of other things. She was mixed up.

Miroku stiffened before touching the door, then turned and looked back at them. "HUSH!" he hissed.

Mikiro blinked, then looked at Shippo. "Lie? What is a lie?"

Shippo opened his mouth to answer, but Inuyasha reached out with a weak arm and knocked him off Kagome's shoulder and onto the ground again. The fox- boy growled. "Grrr...Inuyasha!"

"Lying is when...someone tells someone else something that isn't true," Inuyasha said himself. "A lie is an untruth...a fabrication...and a...a liar is someone who makes up things to get something for a reason when they don't deserve it in the first place."

Mikiro blinked. So Miroku was a liar? He had heard his Mommy use that word before, but he hadn't known what it meant. Lying was a bad thing! Why would he lie? Telling the truth was the good thing to do! //Only bad people don't tell the truth...// Mikiro thought. He frowned as he looked at Miroku, who had just begun to tell his fake story to the big man. //That means...that only bad people lie...and he is a liar...that means he is a bad person too. Mommy was right...he's a bad man.//

~

"Another beggar?" the guard boomed. "We have no place for beggars in our lord's home! Begone with you!"

"I assure you, I am no beggar," Miroku said, smoothly. He was privately astonished with himself. He was bleeding and having trouble walking, and yet he could still sound so utterly confident that it was sickening. //I amaze even myself!//

The servant girl behind the guard gasped. "He is a monk! See his staff?"

"I am indeed," he agreed. "I come to offer my services to the master of his house in return for shelter for my band from the perilous night. We have just endured an attack by a great number of youkai that could pose quite a problem to your mansion if it is not protected, but in return for shelter, I will agree to use my powers to protect this place. One of our men is gravely injured, and we have children amongst us. It is the very least you could do in return for absolute safety to harbor us for the night."

The guard looked thoughtful. "How do you expect to protect an entire mansion if you failed to protect your group?"

Miroku mentally scowled, but he had planned for this. "It is much easier to protect a building with time to prepare than a group of people in an open area already under siege. Besides, how do YOU expect to protect your mansion without holy assistance? Without the grace of the gods, you have little chance of surviving the night, and without your shelter, a man may die of his injuries and two young boys of exposure and starvation. From where I am standing, it would be a small price to pay for your master's life."

The guard narrowly looked at him, and for a moment, something seemed familiar about the look, but he brushed it off. "I will inform my master, but first, let us see your injured man."

He looked back over his shoulder at his friends, then whistled to them. Kirara immediately trudged out, followed by Kagome, Shippo and Sango. Inuyasha was unconscious again, and he was still bleeding, so profusely that Kirara's coat was starting to turn red where he was tied down.

The servant girl gasped. "Oh, look at him! What is that terrible substance he is covered in? Ugh, it's horrid!"

"The blood of the youkai he slaughtered, over one hundred at least."

"No normal human man can accomplish that alone!" the guard objected.

"Not in one piece, no. He is quite the accomplished swordsman, and if not for him, I might have come here alone, my friends having been slaughtered."

The guard looked around. "You and he are the only men? Why do you travel with children and women?!"

"Please," Kagome said, suddenly, putting a hand on Inuyasha's back, "He's still bleeding and he's lost consciousness again...he needs medical attention NOW..."

"Could this not be spoken of later?" Miroku asked, tensely. He definitely didn't want Inuyasha to die, because without him, they would have little chance of destroying Naraku and getting the Shikon jewel. Besides, whether he liked it or not, the hanyou was his friend, and he wasn't letting him down. "If you like, I will present my case to your master personally, but these children need food, he needs medical attention and you..." He stopped, scowling. He wasn't sweet-talking this moron anymore. It was a waste of breath. "You need to move aside." He shoved the man back out of the way with one hand, surprised at the strength he had left after the fight and the long trek to this place. Ignoring it, he led Kirara inside and took Inuyasha from her back, lifting the hanyou into his arms without any real effort, then turned and looked at the servant. "I suggest you get a room ready and have a doctor waiting for him."

She nodded and bowed. "Please, bring him this way."

He looked back at the kitsune. "Shippo, if you please, turn into something that can carry him."

"I'm on it." With a little poof, Shippo was five times his normal size, roughly as tall as Miroku, though he looked mainly the same. He was a stretched-out, mature Shippo, but he was Shippo. "Hey, that worked pretty good." He put out his arms and accepted the unconscious Inuyasha, then followed the servant girl away, with the others following closely.

Miroku ignored his soiled and torn state and allowed himself to be led to the lord's chamber, where a cocky-looking man sat on a pillow, reading a scroll.

"This monk says we're in danger of a big demon attack," the guard said, dully.

The lord looked up at him narrowly and Miroku felt a sudden familiarity here too. What was going on? "Speak your business, young monk."

"Your lordship, one of my number is severely injured, and the others are two women and a pair of young boys."

"A shape-shifter and a boy, anyway," the guard muttered.

Miroku frowned, angrily. "We had in our company the finest swordsman of our day, and though he managed to fight off a good number of the beasts, they overpowered him and now he in danger of losing his life. In return for refuge and medical attention for my band, I offer you a defense against these monsters, who are bound to attempt an infiltration in the night without my anti-demon charms. Before you make your decision, however, I must warn you that evicting us and refusing to help us will result in your own death as well as those of my friends."

The lord paused and put a hand to his narrow chin, twisting the narrow beard rooted there around his bony finger. "Hmm...very well, monk. You are hereby given shelter in return for the protection of my mansion."

He bowed his head. "My band and I thank you." He turned to leave.

"Oh, I see you are injured as well."

He mentally kicked himself. His back was still bleeding and his robes were thrashed. He'd forgotten again. "Yes, but my injuries are minor. I am more concerned with the care of my friend than myself."

"Kabul," he said to the guard, "Have the servants draw up a few baths and see that his wounds are tended to as well. Your robes will be cleaned and mended, the nurse Erika will attend to your wounds, and you will be supplied with proper attire for the night."

So the man WAS kind. It was just his guard who was an asshole. He sighed and nodded. "Your kindness will not be forgotten." He took his leave from the lord's presence and exited the mansion, coming to stand before it to look at the dark night sky. //Hachi will be along soon,// he thought. He had left little indicators in the path for the tanuki to follow in order to reach him, putting arrows at crossroads and pebble paths in the meadows. Hopefully, the youkai would take the hint. Of course, he always found him anyway, but this time, he wanted to be sure. He would need a good night's sleep in order to continue in the morning, for this night had been too much for him. He took his staff in his weakening hands and stood it in the ground a few paces from the front door, then turned and went back inside.

"What was that for?" the guard asked.

He sighed. "My staff gives off a holy vibration that wards off demons and the like, and I will soon be hanging charms to reinforce it." Honestly, he had chosen to use the staff as a final marker to draw Hachi to this place, but he needed SOME excuse besides that.

The man nodded. "Come this way and you will be tended by a nurse."

Normally, he would be overjoyed, but he wasn't really in the mood for it now. He followed the burly soldier to a large chamber, where the others were gathered. Shippo had reverted back to his natural state and was now sitting with Mikiro near the fire, where they were whispering to each other about something. Sango was kneeling on the other side, staring into it and fiddling idly with the ripped hem of her yukata. Kirara was resting in her lap. Kagome, however, was no where in sight, and neither was Inuyasha.

The guard snapped his fingers at him. "This way," he said, gesturing to the back of the room. The curtained door to a conjoined chamber lay there, and he followed the large man inside.

Well, there was Inuyasha, sitting bare with nothing but a cloth to cover his lap against a wall while a nurse carefully washed the various cuts, scrapes, bites and lacerations on his chest and arms with a sponge and a pitcher of water. Kagome was here too, watching what the woman did carefully, almost jealously. Miroku wasn't certain if she was watching because she wanted to know how it was done or because she didn't trust her alone with Inuyasha, but whatever the case, she was there just the same.

A pretty nurse--this was Erika, apparently--immediately took him gently by his arm and led him to the opposite side of the room, where he was allowed to strip behind a screen and given a towel like Inuyasha's to cover himself with. The guard was hastily told to leave. Erika waited for him to finish "changing" before she sat him on a small pad that protected his bottom from the bare floor. Another attendant hastily conveyed his robes from the room, and then, the girl poured a bucket of icy water over him.

He gasped in surprise, then shuddered. He hadn't been expecting THAT! "Gods, that was cold!"

Inuyasha smirked at him, weakly. He was barely conscious. "That's what I said..."

"No," Kagome corrected him. "You said something like, 'ah, shit! What the hell was that for?!' Remember now?"

"...Oh yeah..."

Miroku smirked. At least HE was feeling a bit better. He sighed, then winced as the pretty young nurse, Erika, began carefully washing the scrapes and cuts along his back with her sponge. "Well, this is amazingly unpleasant."

"I apologize," she said, meekly. "I am trying to be gentle."

Had he been in better condition, he might have found something dashing to say to make her like him, but he just didn't feel like it. The thought of not wanting to court or flirt with a pretty girl made him wonder how healthy he really was. "You're doing fine," he reassured her. "I simply don't enjoy being injured."

"Who does?" Inuyasha asked, "And it isn't like this is enjoyable in any way, shape or form anyway."

The hanyou's nurse, who was older than his own but no less attractive, frowned, then suddenly smirked and grabbed her pitcher. "Oh my," she said. "You still have some of that black substance in your hair. Allow me to remedy the problem." SPLASH! She poured the whole thing over his head.

"AIIIIEEEE! COLD!"

Kagome and the younger nurse giggled, and Miroku smirked.

"Oops," she said, smirking and shaking the empty pitcher above his head to make certain it was empty. "Is your hair black? My mistake, but better that we be safe than sorry."

Inuyasha visibly decided right there to stop talking.

Miroku smiled to himself, then blinked as the young nurse suddenly pushed a bucket of water in front of him. "What is that for?"

"You must soak your hands," she said, softly. "It would be better to do it without that rosary on your wrist, though."

"Thank you, but trust me, taking it off would be unwise." He steeled himself, then set his torn hands in the warm water and hissed in pain. He'd really mangled them, wrestling that koketsu!

Well, there was a price for bravery. Now he understood why he had spent much of his time being a coward before taking up his quest!

Erika got to her feet and quickly took a position on her knees in front of him, taking his chin in her soft hand and examining his face. From this distance, her beauty was much easier to see, even though she was a servant of sorts. Her wavy, brown hair was pulled back in a kerchief so as to be kept out of her face, and her silvery eyes were set with concentration and concern. She was lovely.

He paused and ran that mental description over in his head again, letting his eyes dart over her features. He had seen a woman like this before...but where?

She smiled. "Do I have something on my face that interests you, sir?"

He blinked. "Um...no." He paused. "Er, what I mean to say is--"

She smiled. "Never mind it, sir." She slowly lifted his chin, then cocked her head and looked at his bare chest. She placed her other hand in the center of it. "There is a bruise forming here," she said, looking worried. "A large one...what caused this?"

He mentally frowned as he remembered being crushed under the koketsu's weight. "Unfortunate mishap. It will be fine."

"I certainly hope so." She ran her fingers gently around the area, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "Anything broken? Do you feel any discomfort?"

He blinked. "Um...I...no, none at all. I believe it is only my hands and back that are injured, save the bruise, but I don't think that is anything to worry about."

She nodded, then gently lifted his hands from the water and looked at them. "What happened here? It looks as if you grabbed a sword's blade bare- handed!"

"Yes, so to speak."

"Why?"

"I was doing what was necessary," he sighed.

Erika blinked, then nodded and took a cloth from a shelf nearby and gently dabbed her palms dry. Then, she slipped a finger beneath his right-hand glove and pulled the cloth from under his ring, revealing the sealed hole in his hand. She jumped. "I thought you said--!?"

"A birth-defect," he muttered, wryly. He gently took the cloth from her and finished drying his hands, then gave it back and adjusted his glove to cover the hole again. "Nothing painful, I assure you."

She blinked again, looking shaken, then nodded and reached up onto the shelf, bringing down a small urn and some clean cotton strips. She opened the little clay jar and dipped her hand inside, coating them in a clear salve, which she spread over the various lacerations on his fingers, palms and wrists. It hurt, but he was certain complaining wasn't going to accomplish anything, so he kept his mouth shut as she wrapped each finger separately, then proceeded to wrap his wrists. Then, she forced him to lay down on his stomach so she could repeat the procedure with his back.

That was less painful and more comforting, because her hands were soft and gentle as she carefully rubbed the disinfectant salve over his entire back. He might have fallen asleep, had he not been told to sit up so she could finish wrapping his wounds. She wrapped the barrel of his torso in cotton as well, then left to get him some clothing.

He sighed as he sat there in silence, watching as the other nurse instructed Kagome on applying the salve to Inuyasha, who was unwillingly being forced to sit still while she attempted it. He mentally frowned. //I envy him,// he thought as he watched this display. //He has a lovely young woman that cares for him and a little boy that adores him like a father when he should adore me.// He sighed. //Well, Miroku, you brought this on yourself. You had all the chances in the world to get acquainted with that boy, and what did you do? You cowered, because you were afraid. Afraid! Of a tiny little boy, no less! Idiot, you conned yourself right out of a perfect relationship with your son and let Inuyasha take it, when he already had enough going for him. Kiori was right--you ARE a fool. The biggest of them all.//

Erika returned with a robe for him to wear while another servant mended his own robes, then helped him to his feet and brought him into the next chamber with Sango and the boys. He allowed himself to be placed on a mat in the corner, relatively close to the fire. He could see either side of it from where he was, and could watch Shippo and Mikiro AND Sango at the same time. Well, there was that. Watching the two people he wanted to be with him entertain themselves with an activity more engaging than himself wasn't exactly how he wanted to spend his night. He wanted to sulk in a dark corner and wait for Hachi to bring the sleep-aide.

"When you sleep, try to sleep on your stomach," Erika said. "Be careful, though. That bruise might give you trouble, and if it does, have a servant let me know, okay?"

He nodded and she took her leave, allowing him silence in which to listen to Mikiro and Shippo play the clapping game Kagome had taught them in hushed voices over the roaring fire set within a squared fire-pit in the floor. Even with the fire to keep him warm, he felt cold inside, and empty, almost to the point of tears, but he fought the urge to cry and sighed to himself. //It will be quite a frigid night.//

To Be Continued

Okay, now to my explanations. Hiyou Daija-ka translates roughly into flying serpent (two words stuck together, actually. What can I say, I don't do Japanese too well). I know, it was cheesy, but I tried. Are we all happy with the Miroku glorifying in this chapter? Huh? I hope so, since there are so many complaints about the Miroku-bashing. I tried, people! Give the stressed out teenager a break! And yes, instead of the others, Miroku DID bash himself. I couldn't help that, though. It's has something to do with that "admitting you have a problem is the first stage of recovery" thingy. Eh.

Once again, I have little knowledge of how Kirara transforms from huge tiger-thing to cute little cat-thing, but I've read and seen pictures, so I'm guessing.