Splintered Coral – Part Two
Important
Notes:
Either Sunday or Monday, I will be posting another M/S fic
as a birthday gift to my friend. It will be called Sweet Tooth, and will
basically be about how Miroku falls in love with his
dentist (Sango...) and well... Tries
to seduce her onto a date. Humor/Romance, just like
always. Anyway, enjoy chapter two!
Disclaimer: Yes! I do own Inuyasha! *coughcoughNOTcoughcough*
Erm, excuse me... Throat felt a bit dry. ^.^;
---
"Can't
you cursed humans move any faster?" Inuyasha snapped, glaring back at Miroku
and Sango. Kagome, who was hitching a ride by way of hanyou-mobile, gave a sigh.
"Just
leave them alone Inuyasha... It's the middle of the
night," she admonished, her grave stare quickly becoming comical as she
yawned. "Too late to be awake."
"What's
your point?" he snapped, stubborn as ever.
"Don't
make me make you put me down, because I will use the word if
necessary." Inuyasha then did something
remarkable.
He shut up.
Sango, for her part, was feeling a bit envious of Kagome and the sleeping
Shippou. After all, the lucky miko
(and fox youkai) did have a ride, and a
trustworthy one at that. And what about her? Oh yes...
She was stuck walking next to
Right?
Well, never
mind that. She was too tired to care.
And by tired
she meant tired. Tired enough to actually let her thoughts travel down
the path towards where she was actually considering begging a similar ride from
a certain monk. Realizing such, she quickly trashed that idea with a spasm of
horror. No, she'd continue walking, or at least until Kirara,
who was dozing in her arms, was feeling up to carrying her.
"Sleepy?" came a familiar voice, interrupting her
annoyingly disobedient thoughts. She gave Miroku a
dry look.
"How long
did it take you to work that one out?" Miroku
merely gave an understanding smile.
"I
figured as much by the way you awoke," he said, rubbing the nearly faded
handprint that adorned his cheek with a reminiscent wince. Sango
wrinkled her nose at him.
"Well, if
you hadn't have been so close to my face..."
"My dear Sango, well is an extremely deep subject, and in certain
cases involves the act of traveling into a different time." Sango couldn't help but smile a little, and a snort was
heard from up ahead. "And would you rather that I dump water on you next
time we must leave in a hurry?"
"No..."
Miroku's eyes twinkled at her lack of a sharp retort.
"Anyhow,
just clear your mind of all of its cobwebs. It wouldn't be good to go into
battle when you're only half aware of your surroundings."
"I know
that... But it'd be easier if there wasn't so much fog."
"It's not
natural," Kagome said, peering back at them through the mist. "There
are traces of youki in it everywhere. That's why
whatever it is feels so close."
"It
probably made this fog to throw us off," Sango
reasoned, shifting Hiraikotsu on her shoulder,
"Probably so that it'll be able to catch us off-guard."
"Yes, but
I doubt it actually made this. It's much more likely that the mists are
being manipulated, if there are only traces of youki
in it."
"Manipulated
to hide its progress so that it can sneak up on us," Sango
replied stubbornly. Miroku chuckled, but nodded. Sango was cute when she was tired...
"Of course." With that, the group fell into silence, which
wasn't necessarily a good thing, as Sango's thoughts
decided to take another turn towards what she considered a deadly subject. That
is, Miroku.
Life wasn't
really on her side today, apparently.
As she was
mulling over the finer pros and cons of giving into temptation and getting a
nice, warm, moving, pillow- hentai pillow... Mustn't leave the hentai part out.
Too dangerous otherwise- Inuyasha abruptly stopped.
"What is it
Inuyasha?" asked Kagome groggily, forcing her
eyes open. "Is something wrong?"
"No sh- shit!" the hanyou
snarled, jumping back in alarm as something exploded in front of the group,
blowing the thickening fog into swirling, impenetrable eddies. "Damn! What
the hell was that? Kagome, stay close." She
nodded as she clambered down from his back, holding Shippou
and her overly large backpack cautiously. The smell of smoke and sulfur tainted
the air, and it was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead with all of
the fog.
"Where
are the others?" she asked, noticing that both Miroku
and Sango were missing.
"Be
damned if I know... Come on... We'll find them."
*
Cursed youkai and their cursedly sneaky
tactics. Had to go and blow the whole road right in front of them. Well,
at least she'd landed on some moss, or grass, or something. A rock would have
been highly uncomfortable... Well, at least now she was more mentally aware
now. There's nothing like getting blown a few or more yards to knock the early
morning stupidity right out of you. At least temporarily, that is.
Sighing, Sango raised her head, looking around. Everything was
white; the twisting mists obscuring any long-range vision. All in all, that in
itself was quite annoying, as the taijiya couldn't
see a soul, friend or foe, and somewhere in her unplanned flight she'd lost her
grip on Hiraikotsu.
"Kirara?" she called out tentatively, hoping her
companion was nearby. After, with her youkai senses
and ability to fly above low clouds, Kirara would be
pretty helpful right about now. Unfortunately, Sango
received no response from the two-tailed neko.
Okay... So time to try again. "Kagome-chan? Anyone?"
"Do I
count as 'anyone'?" muttered the lump of grass she was lying on. Quickly
rolling off, Sango let out a cry of surprise as the
'lump' sat up, its features rearranging themselves into a familiar face.
"Houshi-sama?!" He stole a glance at
her, rubbing the back of his neck as he smirked.
"Well, Sango. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd wake up
with you on top of me."
Yes, he was asking
to be slapped.
Wait...
Slapped?
"Kuso!" Sango
exclaimed, hitting the heel of her hand against her forehead. Miroku blinked. That hadn't been the expected reaction.
"What is
it?"
"I
forgot!"
"You
forgot what?"
"To count
how many slaps you deserve before we left! Stupid, stupid,
stupid!"
"..."
Did she expect him to complain? Miroku sure hoped
not... After all, getting away with a few fun comments was a good thing! Well,
better distract her before good goes to bad. "Erm,
Sango. Don't you think we should maybe focus on the
situation? After all, we are separated from the others, and whatever it is out
there doesn't like us enough to be chucking explosive things right in front of
us."
Blink. Blink.
Oh yeah...
"Right. Business first, slaps later. Shall we?" Sango said, standing up and looking around. Miroku rolled his eyes, but stood up as well.
Yes, Sango definitely needs her sleep when she's this
tired.
Really. She was getting scary...
"I
suppose we shall. Let's stay together. Who knows what's out there."
"Houshi-sama, I'm tired. Not stupid."
He merely gave
her a semi-apologetic smile, heading into the mist. Shaking her head, Sango followed, keeping a lookout for anything out of the
ordinary.
*
Things were,
in short, going to plan. The group had fallen apart with her explosion, the
means of which known to very few and mostly unused in this area and era of the
world. The hanyou and his miko,
with the little kitsune, were wandering around, her
mists apparently distorting his senses, as they were supposed to. The same was
to be said for the neko youkai,
but neither of those groups mattered.
The target
that had be specified to her was the girl, and with good cause. Youkai exterminators were dangerous people, and this one
was supposedly one of the best of her kind. Or so she had been told. The girl
hadn't quite proven herself yet. Also, the girl was obviously under her
element; water. Even her name hinted as such. It was perfect.
Hovering just
out of eyesight above the two humans, she drew a shell from the pouch at her
waist. Smirking, she took careful aim, intent on the space that separated the taijiya and the houshi.
*
"Sango, is something wrong?" Miroku
asked, looking back at the demon exterminator with some worry. She was
teetering along in such a way that it was made apparent she wasn't quite fully
awake.
"Mm? Nothing's wrong, Houshi-sama.
I'm quite..." she trailed off, stifling a yawn, then
continued, "Quite fine, thank you." Miroku
was about to speak when a small something dropped between them, revealing
itself to be a shell on closer examination.
...Eh?
Any words that
could have been spoken at that moment were blown away by the force that
suddenly shoved the two apart. All chance of finding one another again was cut
off by the soupy fog...
---
Aamalie: Finally got this out... I stopped sooner than
I planned, but I did get 32 reviews... ^^; Thank you for all of them, by
the way...
Taena: I wonder how many we'll get for Sweet Tooth...
Maela: Doesn't matter, really... It's AU and all. So not our best
work... But hey! It saves money. *sticks tongue out at Sara*
Aamalie: Money... *drools* Money equals manga. Manga equals FUN! ^___^
Review response time! *sweatdrops*
Samster The Hamster: Oh really? And why
wasn't it first? HMMMMMM?
Inu-shounen: Partially. Basically, Sango
gets split up into two halves somewhere next chapter. So therefore, you have a
splintered 'coral'. Get it?
Zero27: Thank you! I could say
the same about your new fic... Only it's more like,
WONDERFUL job there. ^.^; I like your fics... Could you tell?
Sango-to-miroku: YOU SAW THE EPISODE 132?!?!??!?! I
HATE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I WANNA SEE THAT SOOOOOOOO BADLY!!!!!!!!!!! *bangs head on
desk repeatedly, wishing she had Cartoon Network*
Kai-Aki
Tai:
*picks you* Yeah... For some reason, a lot of people got confused. No worries
though, Chapter 1 was just sort of character and plot development.
Corisu Li: You noticed... ^^ It's
fun implementing jokes into fics. It really is...
*Grins as she makes Miroku paste ofudas
all over Kuno-chan's prison*
My-Name-is-Moo: Eh heh...
Let's just call that one of Inuyasha's many
unanswerable questions for now... It may be revealed in good time. Though I
still wonder what day Naraku turns human, being hanyou and all...
Vampire-Elf:
Hmmm...
I don't know... *shrugs and glomps you anyway* Too
much thinking required to answer it otherwise. ^^ And I don't blame you... Even
the best beta can't fend off the Elders of Evil... A.k.a. Parents...
Chiisai-tori: LoL... Loved your review,
to be honest... Nice, long, and full of compliments... Many of which could be
returned to tell the truth. ^^; Only problem is, I'd never remember... *shrugs
and huggles Sess and Miroku* Update your ficcie soon!
PriestessMiko: Or what else? *blinks*
Erm, never mind. I REALLY don't wanna know... Here's your chapter. *backs away* And thank you... *turns and runs*
dEeYaN: Yeah... Lots of
reviews, I know... I didn't think I'd have this many people continue to read my
fics... *glomps the lot of
them, including you* Thank you!
Lancer272spoot:
Kakera means shard, so 'Shikon-no-kakera'
means Shikon shard. ^^' And yes... I'm perfectly
aware of the review count... And I'm perfectly stunned by it too... And writer
is singular... I just have like having a split personality while writing...
Gives perspective, if you will...
Aamalie: That's all folks! See you next time... Thank you's to everyone who reviewed!