Chapter Text
“Ahhh! Why are they chasing us?” the young miko shouted as she was hanging off the back of an inu hanyou dashing through the woods. “This is uncomfortable, you know!”
“Keh! So I shouda left ya back there! Guess that woulda worked…but ya gotta get that houshi to untie us!” the inu hanyou threw over his shoulder as he raced through the forest. He chanced a glance back, hoping that their pursuers had given up by now. He paused in a tree branch covered by foliage and slowly lifted the young miko from over his shoulder to her feet. His golden eyes lingered on her for a moment, but his ears were tracking sounds of pursuit in the forest.
The miko held her breath, slowing down her heart, too. Quietly, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow, prepared to aid her rather impromptu partner. Her finger twitched the tiniest bit and she frowned, remembering the whole strange afternoon. She waited, calmly, as the sun began to go down. After a few more moments of silence, she whispered, “Anything?”
Instead of an answer, the inu hanyou leaped to the ground, ignoring the indignant huff from the miko he just left behind. She looked down at him and shook her head, her finger somehow pulled towards him.
“I’m sorry, Inu Yasha-san. I had no idea that Miroku-sama would try anything like that.” Her sigh spoke volumes, but Inu Yasha wasn’t interested in hearing it. He moved away, but his pinkie pulled him back. He stood, tense, waiting for her to say something or do something.
“Keh!” He snorted. “You think I wanna be tied to some miko like I’m her pet! Or guard dog?” He sounded more annoyed than he looked. But his frame also appeared ready to bolt. He flicked his moon-like hair over his shoulder quickly and then glanced back up at the miko. “Oi! Be careful!”
Higurashi Kagome fell unceremoniously at the hanyou’s feet. “Oww,” she muttered as she stood up. “It’s almost night.” Her pauses were starting to bother him and he walked away only a few steps before she began following him.
“Umm…I know that you would rather be with Sango-san right now, but could you maybe help me get back?” He turned back, an angry retort on his face, but that melted away when he looked into her warm brown eyes. A soft breath. That was all he could take for she had captured everything else about him. Where was his loyalty?
He stood silent as a statue, his golden gaze turned inward. He couldn’t leave her here, regardless of his wishes and responsibilities. Former responsibilities? ‘Keh.’ They were tied, too, making it impossible for him to walk off heedlessly. A brief breeze distracted him, rustling the branches of the nearby trees. Inu Yasha stared off into the distance. Whatever had been chasing them seemed to have left, but did it? Really? And had those things been chasing him or the miko?
“Houshi-sama!” A few people ducked out of the way as a rather large boomerang flew by. “How could you?” A demon slayer landed in the path ahead of him, grabbing the boomerang as it swung back over her. She took a breath. This was ridiculous. “How could you do this? As if I would ever marry you!”
“But my dear Sango!” The priest rebutted, “This is perfect! I am in love with you and Kagome-chan is in love with-“ his final declaration was cut short as he stared at the boomerang now poised perilously above his head.
“What?” Sango stood still. She knew Kagome, not this hentai houshi! She would know if her best friend was in love with her betrothed. She made a slight face. Not that she wanted to marry him, but her red thread connection to the second son of the Inu no Taisho was a known thing. Well-known. For years. It had bothered both of them because they had tried to be intimate. But that hadn’t turned out well. Things had been awkward.
“Are you sure?” she asked finally. Her brown eyes held the houshi’s for a while, until she realized he was trying to woo her with them. That wouldn’t work, of course. His lovely violet eyes were neither deep enough nor warm enough to…She shook her head. Maybe they were? She took a half step back to break his seemingly sincere gaze.
Miroku finally gave up. It had been worth it to see how his ‘soulful’ gaze had affected the taijya. He shifted his stance and leaned his head to one side thoughtfully. “I thought it was obvious to everyone that the two of them were smitten.” At her wide-eyed surprise he gave an inward chuckle. “Oh well,” he said as he rose from the dirt and resumed his stroll towards the temple. It wouldn’t do to be gone for too long and dinner would be waiting for him as well. His most taxing labors of the day still awaited him, especially since he would have neither Kagome-chan’s lovely laughter nor Inu Yasha’s grumbling physical labor to ease the passage of time.
Over his shoulder, he gave the taijya something to think about. “The spell wouldn’t have worked unless they were destined. And Sango-san,” he turned, aware that he had her complete attention, “I didn’t cast the spell to break anything. I cast it so they could find their soul mates.” He nodded at Sango’s surprised countenance and kept going. He had duties after all. He only hoped that his rough hanyou friend saw this gift for what it really was. The future he deserved. Well, that they all deserved.
Sango stood in the path to the temple, irresolute. Could the threads have become entangled for some strange reason? That’s not how they were supposed to manifest! At the small mew coming from her feet, she absentmindedly picked up her fearsome nekomata, Kirara, now small and then hurried back to her father. Hopefully, he would be able to answer her perplexing questions. For a moment, her heart rate increased and she turned back to look in Miroku’s direction. She was attracted to him. A little. But she didn’t like the idea of her life changing so suddenly.
And where did Inu Yasha and Kagome-chan end up. She looked at the darkening sky, barely turning a darker blue in the east. Inu Yasha wouldn’t abandon Kagome-chan! He was kind under his gruff exterior; but he wasn’t patient. She sighed and headed for home, her heart giving that strange skip beat again. Rubbing her chest, the eldest child of the taijya chief marched back stridently to her home.
“Thing will be better tomorrow, Kirara,” she mused as her adorable companion trilled her reassurance. “At least, I hope they will.”