Chapter 10
I sit miserably in my room when I hear a small chime. I open my closet and see the string I had tied on hooks from wall to wall. One-hundred beads are strung along the string, meaning my task is done. I hadn't looked at that contraption since I put it up there when I arrived.
It's funny how just eight months ago I couldn't wait to finish this task and get back home, and now it's the last thing I want to do. I feel Hideko step in behind me, a comforting smile on her face.
"Great job, Keseki. You did it!" She congratulates me respectively, but I simply shut my closet door and peerback at her.
"Yea, I guess I did." I say with a sigh. "Well, you ready to take me home?"
"That's why I'm here."
It's a short, dizzying trip through time and dimensions and once I get back home I was greeted by his old friends.
"Baklava?" My old friend, Nelly asks, holding out a trey of the Greek pastries. Even going eight months without seeing it, the sight of it still made me sick.
"No thanks, Nell." I say. "I'm just going to go to my room."
Hideko watches me as I walk down the long, shiny corridor to my bedroom at the end of the hall which was left untouched. "Poor thing."
Nelly takes a bite of his Baklava and stands beside Hideko. "Is he sick or something?"
"Love sick, perhaps." Hideko half-jokingly replies.
"Hm," He mumbles and licks his fingers clean of the sticky glaze. "Baklava?" Nelly offers Hideko and she, too, refuses.
I gaze at her as she's sleeping. She's beautiful and peaceful. She can't see me anymore. She can't touch me. She can't kiss me and she can't love me, but I can still look at her. I can still be in love with her even though I am no longer part of her world.
I'm in her bedroom. It's dark and sweet-smelling. She's sprawled out on her bed, her long beautiful legs look smooth against the pale moonlight and I wish I could touch them. I want caress her smooth skin and feel her beneath my fingertips once again as I make love to her.
But I know that isn't possible.
She stirs in her sleep, turning over on her stomach, her hands grasp at the sheets. "M-Miroku?" She asks and I feel something leap within me. She can sense my presence, she knows I'm here.
I step towards softly, not sure if I'm really making any sound to her at all. "Sango." I whisper softly into the night air and a smile plays on her lips. I place my hand over hers, but I can't feel her skin, just her presence, her spirit.
"Is…is that really you?" She asks, and I wonder if she's still asleep. She'd have to be in order to even know I was there.
"I'm right here." I tell her, looking around, wondering if she could hear me. I'm like a ghost, unseen but felt. "I love you."
"I-I still love you." Sango whispers lazily and I feel a tear escape my eye.
"I still hold your hand in mine when I'm asleep." I tell her, stroking the hair away from her face. My touch is like a wind and it's almost frustrating that I can't feel her. "I'd spend a lifetime with you, if I could. I hope you know that. I'll always wonder what could have been if this could have been real."
I'm surprised to see a tear spill from her cheeks and onto her crisp white pillow case. The material soaks it up and I think about how unphysical I am. I look at her full, luscious lips and I long to kiss her again, but I'm not able to. All I can do is admire her from afar. Is this the way I'm going to spend eternity?
"I do too." She breaths softly. I can feel her heart breaking and mine breaks as well. "I wish you could come back."
I stand up from her bedside. "I do too." I tell her, before I exit her room. I teleport back home. It's surprisingly very noisy where I live and the gods aren't as graceful as one would expect.
However, there's only one person I'm interested in seeing right now. I search the palace high and low for her, and finally find the pretty blond woman in the library reading a romance novel. Every time I see one of those books I think about Sango and it breaks my heart.
"Hideko?"
"Oh, Keseki." She says, looking up at me from her book. "I'm not used to you ghosting around here anymore since you've been gone for so long. What's up? Care for a game of chess?"
"Actually," Miroku said, looking down at the chess board that materialized on the desk in front of her. "I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"Anything." She replies cheerfully.
I sigh and take a seat across from her, staring at the chess pieces absently. "Sango is miserable without me. Please, Hideko, isn't there anyway, anyway at all, that I could go back."
Hideko sits back, crosses her legs and laces her fingers together around her knees. "Well, Miroku, there is one way, but I don't think your going to like it."
My eyes light up and I stand up from my chair so fast, I knock it down behind me from the force. "I'll do it. Whatever it is."
I watch her as she searches through her briefcase and pulls out an official looking document. "The only way your going to be able to live on earth is if you sign this document, stating that you will give up your immortal life to live on earth as a mortal, grow old and die."
I'm shocked by the dilemma, but there's no question in my mind. I want to go back to earth and live my life with Sango. I want to be the father of her children, her husband for as long as I shall live.
I look back up at Hideko and she's waiting for my reply. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
"I suppose I forgot." She says with a wide smile, but I'm not entirely shocked. She always was a little scatterbrained. "Now, I should warn you, Miroku." She tells me sternly, her demeanor quickly changing to a more serious tone. "If you sign this, you'll never be able to come back here. You'll be permanently earthbound."
"I understand." I tell her, my voice deep and rough, sure and positive. And with that, I sign my life away.
Misty's helping me fix my hair for prom. I look at myself in the mirror and I do feel pretty, however, I'm not entirely psyched about it as Misty is. Marcus will be here any minute and I grab my purse.
The doorbell rings and I see Brock and Marcus both arrive at the same time. I'm almost envious of Misty because she looks completely in awe of Brock. Marcus looks devilishly handsome, but I can't get my mind off Miroku. It's been three long, terrible weeks since he told me goodbye and I've been Marcus Cooper's girlfriend for almost two weeks.
He's shown me off to his friends, and while I'm grateful for the attention, my heart is still telling me I belong with Miroku. I have this feeling it's going to keep telling me that for the rest of my life.
We arrive at the school, the gymnasium is decorated beautiful with laser lights, pale blue balloons, and a DJ booth in the corner. Misty pulls me to the dance floor when an upbeat song is queued up. I decide to push Miroku out of my mind, it's my prom night, not just any prom night, my senior prom night and I should be having fun, not pining over him.
However, when a slow song comes on, and Marcus takes my hand, Miroku comes flooding back. I remember that night at Ash's party in that dark corner. The way he danced with me, the way he kissed me, the way he loved me that night. I lay my head on his shoulder and I allow my mind to drift back to him, though I should be feeling guilty for thinking of him when I'm dancing with Marcus.
But in the back of mind, I'm still dancing with Miroku.
I close my eyes and try to fight back the tears. It seems like he's so close, so close now that I can almost smell his cologne, his shampoo, his scent. I can almost feel his presence, like I did the other night. I know he was there somehow, trying to tell me he still loved me.
I open my eyes only to have my heart leap in my throat. My eyes must be playing tricks on me because he's standing there, a bouquet of roses in his hand and a grin on his face. I blink twice and he's still there.
"M-Miroku?" I asked.
He takes off his sunglasses and peers at me with those, rare, beautiful indigo eyes beneath the stark, black hair. "Hey there, gorgeous. Remember me?"
I separate myself from Marcus and run into his arms. He embraces me, smells my hair, strokes my back lovingly and for a moment all the world is still. It's just us in the room, beneath the laser lights and disco ball. The soft music plays and he sways with me unrehearsed.
"Excuse me?" Marcus asks. "But she's my date."
Miroku laughs and tucks his sunglasses in his coat pocket. "Not anymore, she's not." He leads me away, into a dark corner where we are isolated. He kisses me and looks into my eyes and I feel my very soul melting.
"Sango, I love you." He whispers to me, before kissing me again.
"I love you, too." I manage after a moment against his lips. And for a moment the whole world revolved around us.
-Fin
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