The Opposite Of Attraction – Part Eleven: The Game

Sango couldn’t help but be in a decent mood, even though the day had started off a tad shaky. Once again, she had woken up cuddled up to Miroku, which (admittedly) wouldn’t have been so bad if his hand had not been somewhere completely inappropriate. Had Miroku actually been asleep, making the touch accidental, she may have just sighed and moved it somewhere less offensive. Unfortunately, he’d been very much awake, and when she’d taken to reprimanding him, he’d make a stupid comment about not getting her panties in a twist… Frankly, it’d all gone downhill from there.

However, after a fulfilling meal, a long shower, and the prospect of a beach trip just around the corner, Sango was feeling much better; better enough, even, that she was prepared to deal with Miroku and his…eccentricities…again. That happened to be a very good thing, as he chose that exact moment to breeze into the room.

“Hello there, beautiful,” he declared cheerfully, slipping up behind her and setting his hands low on her waist. She could feel his smirk when he dropped several soft, flirtatious kisses onto her bare shoulder.

“Always on the go, aren’t you, Miroku?” she muttered dryly, continuing to double-check the contents of the bag she had packed for their upcoming trip to the shore. There was no way, she assured herself, that she was going to let Miroku’s amorous tactics distract her. Thus, when she didn’t respond to his affections, Miroku sighed, and she could hear the pout in his voice when he next spoke, even without seeing his expression.

“Is this a cold shoulder, Sango? What happened to that passion—” he drew the word out, enunciating each syllable, “—that I saw from you yesterday in the spa, hmm?”

“There was no passion.”

“Was too.”

“Well, I’m a good actress then.”

“No, you aren’t,” he said after a short pause, “you blush and get embarrassed too easily.”

She huffed. “Whatever. Just stop making it sound dirty. All that we did was kiss a few times.”

“For a few hours, you mean.”

“Not nearly that long.”

“Near enough.”

Sango finally glanced back at him, unable to hide the amusement in her eye. “You exaggerate too much.” He chortled, taking advantage of the new angle of her face and kissing her again, this time on her mouth.

“Well, that may be true, but I certainly wouldn’t object to spending hours in a day kissing you. Preferably today. And tomorrow. And so on…” He caught her lips with his again. “Mm… Definitely a new hobby.”

She made a rather derisive noise. “You lecher. Can’t you see I’m trying to do something?”

“Yes, but I can’t say I care,” he said with a self-satisfied grin.

“Well, I do.”

He paused. “Well, what if I were to tell you I didn’t care what you thought, pushed you up against the wall and ravished you senseless?”

She frowned at him. As fun as his affections could be at times, his open desire to ‘ravish’ her, as he had put it, was unnerving. It was too rushed, too hurried, with far too little regard for any possible consequence. And besides! He had openly admitted just yesterday that he wasn’t as trustworthy as she had hoped to believe, regardless of how he seemed. She had to keep her head on straight and her defenses up until she found more solid proof that he was truly worthy of her trust and good faith.

“Is something wrong?” Miroku asked, his carefree teasing replaced with a note of concern. Sango quickly gave him a reassuring smile.

“Never mind. I’m ready to go.”

He gave her a critical look, before nodding and cheerfully offering her his elbow. “Let’s be off, then.” Forcing herself to be of a good nature, Sango picked up her bag and linked her arm through his. They set off to meet the limo, which was due to pick them up and take them to the beach. It arrived within minutes of their arrival at the front door, and they were soon on their way.

At first, the ride was relatively quiet. Even though the two were sitting side by side, Sango was lost in her own thoughts, unable to drag herself away from the gnawing worry and doubt that wouldn’t go away. At the same time, she couldn’t help but consider it stupid, the way she was fretting over the mystery of Miroku’s motivations. She had come on this vacation of sorts to enjoy herself, and here she was, too busy being suspicious of her sole companion to do anything of the sort.

Fortunately, Miroku was always on top of things when it came to making things interesting. No pun intended.

Having taken note of Sango’s lengthy silence some time before, he decided to take action and draw her out from the walls she had so suddenly put up. Smirking to himself, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. “Hey, you. What’re you thinking about so intensely over there?”

She shook her head. “Nothing of importance.”

“Nothing? Well, why are you frowning over nothing then? I miss your beautiful smile when you hide it from me,” he told her, kissing her lightly next to her ear.

“That’s cheesy, Miroku.”

“Is that too much a bad thing?” By now, his lips were going everywhere that they could reach, as though Miroku was taking advantage of the fact that no visible camera was filming them; for some reason, the cameramen had taken a separate car. Then, suddenly, his mouth met hers and he was kissing her in a way that was both undeniably sweet and irresistibly sexy at the same time while his fingers slipped under the hem of her shirt and made small shapes right above her hips.

Several long minutes later, Sango broke away, trying to keep her breathing regular. “Stop it,” she demanded, inexplicably irritated and very frustrated. For a moment, Miroku stared at her in bewilderment. She could pinpoint the exact second that understanding flickered across his face.

“You’re still annoyed over yesterday,” he stated. When she opened her mouth to protest otherwise, even though he had hit the nail on the head, he raised a finger to her lips, having removed his hand from her waist in light of his revelation, of course. His other arm was still around her back. “Don’t bother, Sango. It’s alright, anyway. I don’t blame you.” He gave her and understanding grin that didn’t fully reach his eyes.

She could see his buried disappointment as though it were written on a page of one of a well-read book, and a small part of Sango was scared that she could interpret his emotions so easily. She knew she shouldn’t have been able to, not yet. That sort of ability wasn’t the kind that was learned overnight. Attempting to dispel her unease, Sango focused on responding to his words.

“I…I’m not mad. I just need some time,” she said. “To, you know… Regroup my thoughts. Figure out where I, um…stand.” Sango felt her cheeks burn, and she looked away to futilely try and hide her embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I’m saying this wrong. I don’t want things to be weird and hard and awkward between us, because we’ve settled into a nice kind of routine. I just need a little bit more space.”

“Space?” he prompted.

She glanced at him briefly. “I mean, I need you to not…touch…me so much for a little while.”

Rather abruptly, he removed his arm from where it had still been resting around her. She caught his hand quickly though, and stared at him with her lips pressed together and brow furrowed.

“I said that wrong, too,” she sighed.

“I don’t think you did,” Miroku replied, a tad tersely.

Sango squeezed his fingers. “No, I really did. I didn’t mean, general, companionable touching. Just the…kissing and those touches.” She sought for the right words to describe what she meant, before settling on, “The romantic sort of thing.”

“Romantic,” he repeated, looking at her as though seeing her in a new light. Silence prevailed for a short time as the limousine accelerated after having halted for a stop sign, and Sango’s jaw dropped as she realized the implications of what she had just said. By defining what had originated as just actions that were part of a plan as romance, it was like she had just verbally forced their relationship to a whole new level.

Blushing wildly, Sango told herself to get over it. “That’s what it is, isn’t it?” she said firmly, and Miroku laughed unexpectedly as the limo slowed to a final stop.

“Yes, that’s what it is.” He chuckled again. “Alright, have it your way. No more romance until the lady says otherwise. Fair enough?”

The driver—that aggressive one again—opened the door, and Sango gave Miroku a more relaxed smile.

“Perfectly.”

—

Almost as soon as they had climbed out of the limo, Kagome and two others who they had never seen before greeted them. One of them was a smiling young woman of medium height, whose vibrantly red hair was pinned back into pigtails so that the wavy curls were out of her face. Her companion was a man, taller and definitely several years her senior. His hair was long and pulled into a ponytail, and his half-way unbuttoned shirt displayed tanned skin and muscles. His teal-blue eyes gave Sango a sneaking suspicion that he was wearing contacts.

“Right on time!” Kagome quipped, ever cheerful, as she beckoned them over, careful not to knock over the large bag at her feet. “Let me introduce Ayame—” she pointed first towards the redhead, and then to the contact guy “—and Kouga. They’re the other Opposites Attract couple! Kouga, Ayame, this is Miroku and Sango.”

Sango blinked, and then glanced at Miroku, who seemed totally unperturbed by anything as he shook hands with Kouga, and then placed a polite kiss on the back of Ayame’s hand. Trying to ignore the temptation to smack him upside the back of his head for his greeting methods, Sango also shook hands with both of them and said conversationally, “I wasn’t aware that there was another couple for the show.”

Ayame laughed. “Neither were we, until today. Apparently, you guys are the opposite part of this little ‘experiment’. Kouga and I seem to have been put together for our similar personalities; for contrast I suppose.”

“Similar personalities, eh? In which way?” Miroku asked, sidling closer to Sango to slip his arm around her waist. She darted a glance at him, but didn’t protest. After all, she hadn’t specifically ruled that out. If he groped her, however…

“We’re argumentative, apparently,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Speak for yourself,” Kouga said, speaking for the first time. “If you weren’t always so insistent about how I’m supposed to be here for you, we’d get along just fine.” Ayame gave him an annoyed look that deepened to a hurt scowl when he stepped sideways and took Kagome’s hand in his. The hostess looked highly embarrassed; not that Kouga noticed. “I keep telling you, Kagome’s the woman of my choice! She’s the reason I breathe.”

Sango looked at Miroku. “And I thought you were bad.”

Behind them, the door to the limo opened, and the driver stepped out, looking rather aggravated. Kagome saw, and quickly pulled her hands out of reach. “Anyway,” she started, her smile looking a little forced, “let’s move on, shall we?

“Today, we will be having a contest of sorts that will examine your ability to cooperate; you four will be the competitors, two against two. Of course, your teammate will be your partner, and you will be playing the other team in a game of rally volleyball! The team that wins the best out of three games will get a prize,” Kagome continued, pausing to give them all a wink, “but the losers will go home empty handed.” She bent down to the bag beside her and pulled out a volleyball, which she tossed to Ayame. “The net’s over there. Any questions?”

The four looked at each other for a moment, before turning back to Kagome. “What’s the prize?” Miroku asked.

“A secret!” Kagome said, beaming.

“Err… And will there be a ref?” Ayame inquired in between exasperated looks at Kouga, who appeared to be considering making another move on Kagome. “Or at least someone to keep score?”

The show hostess nodded. “That’d be me!” When no one spoke up with any more questions, she clapped her hands together. “Alright, everyone! Let’s go get these games started. Good luck!”

Everyone began heading towards the court.

—

The first game all but flew by, with Miroku and Sango coming out as the victors of the round. Miroku had turned out to be excellent at spiking the ball, not that Sango couldn’t hold her own quite well, as she played the occasional game with her friends back at home. However, she had the sneaking suspicion that they hadn’t won on superior talent alone.

At the beginning of the match, Ayame had played spectacularly. That is, until her and Kouga’s score reached about seven, while Miroku and Sango’s was at a measly two. Sango had then overheard Kouga muttering to his partner, with a none-too-subtle look towards a certain scorekeeping brunette, not to hog the ball so much.

Afterwards, anytime that the ball touched Ayame, it went anywhere but over the net. When Miroku and Sango’s score soared past theirs and finally reached twenty-one, she did nothing but walk off to sit in the shade of one of the umbrellas that had been set up, Kouga fuming in her dust.

Sango, after exchanging a celebratory high-five with Miroku, grabbed two of the provided bottles of water and followed the redhead.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked, tossing the bottle to the other woman.

Ayame grinned. “Not at all.” She twisted the cap off of the water and took a long sip. “Thanks, and congratulations. You and your hunk were pretty great out there.”

“Thank you,” Sango muttered, a bit embarrassed at having Miroku called her ‘hunk’. “You weren’t bad yourself for a while there.” She angled a look at Ayame. “But, no offense, was it just me, or did I sense a little bit of self-sabotage out there?”

A guilty look crossed the young woman’s face, and she busied herself with fixing one of her pigtails before she answered. “Yeah, you did.” She sighed. “I know, it was low, but it’s so annoying how he fawns over Kagome like she’s God’s gift to humankind. Don’t get me wrong, I think Kagome is very nice and I’m by no means on bad terms with her… But sometimes I just want to smack him upside the head.” Ayame gave a sheepish giggle. “And, well, the opportunity just presented itself…”

Sango found herself looking towards Miroku, who was chatting with Kouga a ways away, with a slight smile on her lips.

“I can relate perfectly.”

Ayame laughed genuinely this time. “Somehow, I’m not very surprised. His name is Miroku right? And you’re Sango?” She smiled in relief when she got an affirming nod in reply. “Good, just making sure. So, Sango, how’s your life with Miroku? Anywhere as near to wanting to yank your hair out like I’m about to yet?”

“Been there, done that,” Sango said, a tad dryly. “He’s something of a pervert and a ladies’ man, so living with him is like…” she trailed off, trying to think of an adequate comparison.

“Living with temptation?” Ayame suggested with a wink.

“Hn…” Sango shrugged. “He has his sweet moments, but he flirts and puts the moves on me every chance he gets. And he gropes me, the stupid lecher, and then he acts like he’s been done a great injustice when I smack him for it.”

The redhead sighed knowingly. “But you can’t help but like him anyway, even if he is a complete idiot sometimes?"

“I guess you could say that.”

The conversation trailed into silence, and a minute later, the boys began to wave them over, signaling that they wanted to start the next game.

They both stood up, dusting off all unwanted sand. As Sango prepared to head out into the sunlight, Ayame stopped her.

“Do me a favor, alright?” she pressed.

“What is it?” Sango asked.

“Just…” her voice dropped to a whisper so that the cameraman filming them couldn’t overhear. Neither of them were wearing microphones due to the match. “Just be careful, okay? You’re a nice person, Sango. Don’t take anything here for granted.”

“What do you mean?”

Ayame shook her head. “Trust me, make sure you watch your step for the rest of the week. If you can do that, you’ll be fine.” Giving her a small smile, she headed out towards the court.

Several confused seconds later, Sango made her way back to the net as well, and took up her position beside Miroku, who tossed her the ball. When she didn’t return his bright smile, he asked her if something was wrong.

“It’s nothing,” she told him, causing him to raise an eyebrow. “Only something I don’t fully understand yet. I’ll tell you about it after I think on it.”

With that, she served the ball, never catching the way Miroku’s eyes flashed with just the slightest hint of worry.

—

The second game finished quite a while later, having ended up with a rather close score. Ayame seemed to have decided that Kouga had been punished enough, and was now on top form. And Kouga, well, he had smartened up and had wisely kept his mouth shut. However, by some stroke of luck, Miroku and Sango had managed to pull off another win, which meant that a third game was unnecessary. Ayame took the loss much more gracefully than her partner, who seemed to be mortified that he had been ‘disgraced’ in front of Kagome, and cheerfully declined the suggestion of playing the final match anyway, just for fun.

“No,” she had said, with a wry glance towards Kouga, “not today. I think it’d be better if I just dragged him back to the house.” She then sighed. “He’ll be in a right state later on. But, never mind that. Have fun!” Then she had gone to collect her shell-shocked partner and head home.

The first part of Miroku and Sango’s prize for winning ended up being a surfboarding lesson. It was something Sango had never done before, though Miroku seemed to have some experience. Of course, this meant that every time she fell off, he laughed, remembering his own first tries at surfing. That lead to Sango glaring at him, which only made Miroku laugh harder.

The lesson ended when the sunlight began to fade, and they dried off and headed back to their limo for what was a relatively short drive.

When they got out next, they found themselves at another beach. It was deserted, almost as if it had been reserved for them and them alone. It was far enough away from any main thoroughfare that the only sound came from the waves and the only light was that of the newly risen moon overhead and the small fire that had been lit a ways off.

“Shall we investigate?” Miroku asked, offering his hand to Sango.

She grinned and took his hand, letting her actions speak for her. They took their time getting there, just soaking in the quiet night and the pleasant company. When they did reach the fire, they found that a large blanket had been laid out near it with several baskets nearby. The pair exchanged a glance before sitting down on the blanket.

“It seems as though we’re having a picnic,” Miroku said cheerfully, as Sango opened one of the baskets. He shifted to look at the contents. “Oh! Look, Sango. Oysters!”

She gave him a cool look. “Subtle.”

A few minutes later, they found that the only beverage that had been provided was more wine. Miroku didn’t seem to mind at all, but Sango began to suspect that the people running this show had something in mind for them tonight. Manipulative scoundrels.

The meal passed with only quiet conversation permeating the peace, though Sango passed on the oysters—fake aphrodisiac or not, she didn’t want to encourage Miroku’s tendency for perverted thoughts at all. When they had eaten their fill and stuffed the leftovers back into the baskets, they just sat there awhile, watching the moonlight reflecting off of the ocean.

“Thank you, Miroku,” Sango said at some point.

He looked at her, vaguely admiring the way her profile looked in the warm light of the low fire. “What for?”

Sango smiled at him, scooting closer so that she could lean against his shoulder. Almost automatically, he lifted his arm to wrap around her shoulders. “For keeping your word today. I appreciate it.”

He stared down at her, something in him making it hard to speak. Finally, he found his voice. “Your welcome…”

The waves broke on the sand, as they had for so many millions of years and would for ages more, even after this night was long past, no more than a whisper of a memory or a single note in a song. And a realization found its way into Miroku’s unsteady thoughts as he sat there, Sango by his side.

He couldn’t bear to hurt this woman.

———

Aamalie: So, um, that took long enough. But just a heads up, I probably won’t be updating again for a while. I’ve been severely blocking on this, and therefore… Updates will be few and far between. Call it a semi-hiatus, if you will. Just know that, even if it takes forever, I do intend to finish this story. It will just be on my own time. Or, rather, on my muse’s.