Light My Candle

“You seem upset.”

Sango looked up from her dinner at this, a side benefit of the stay Miroku had conned out of the inn owner. The monk was looking at her, his food set aside as he stared at her with a small frown on his face. She sighed and took another bite of her rice, chewing and swallowing before she answered.

“I’m fine.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kagome glancing at them curiously as she said something to Inuyasha. She hardly could worry about what her friend was thinking when Miroku suddenly put down his chopsticks and took her hand in both of his.

She knew that look in his eye. It meant nothing good.

“Dearest Sango, if you are displeased with the way I praised the owner’s daughter so highly earlier, I must assure you...”

“Houshi-sama—” Sango vainly tried to interrupt. Miroku’s hands tightened ever so slightly.

“...you are like a flame, bright and true. You, Sango, are the only one with the ability to light the candle of my passion and turn it into a raging wildfire.” His eyes twinkled deviously. “Would you like to feel the heat?”

Pressing her lips together thinly—it was the only way to stop herself from smiling—Sango pulled away from her fiancé with a dry look. “You must have a fever, Houshi-sama. Only that could explain the ‘heat’ that has so addled your brains. Perhaps a walk outside in the snow will cool you down.”

“Ah, but the moment I caught sight of you again, my temperature would shoot right back up, I’m sure. I’m also fairly certain that, as you are the one who causes this minor problem, you must be the one who can alleviate it as well. What do you say we give it a try?”

He smiled enticingly up at her, and the both ignored the way their companions were gawking.

Suddenly, Sango smiled back.

The next thing Miroku knew, he was outside, face-first in a snowdrift.

‘Well,’ Kagome thought with an exasperated sigh as Sango settled back down to finish eating, ‘that’s certainly one way to cool him off...’