The front door opened and Miroku immediately jumped up from his chair. "Sango…"
"Go away, houshi, I don't want to talk to you." Sango said, brushing past him and was pleased to see Kirara was curled up in a ball on the couch, her tail wrapped almost completely around her. "There you are."
"Hey, since you're leaving me here all alone, you can at least let me keep the cat." Miroku said, as if this was her fault for their fight. Smug bastard.
"She's my cat! Who do you think you are Miroku?" Sango picked Kirara up, disturbing her from her sleep and then stalked off into the kitchen to gather her food bowl.
"I'm your husband, the one you promised to honor and cherish until death do us part?" Miroku asked. "C'mon, don't you want to hear what I have to say?"
"No, Miroku, I don't." She said. "Because I know you're only going to say what I want to hear. Besides, you kind of broke our marriage vows earlier when you kissed Emma." Her fist clenched. "I knew when she moved in here it would be a mistake!"
"OK, first, she kissed me." Miroku told her. "I had something in my eye and--"
"Don't lie to me, Miroku!"
"No, I really did." Miroku said, sadly. "You never did trust me did you?"
"Can you blame me?" Sango asked. "You flirt with anything that has breasts and moves! That's how we got into the mess right before we got married and you got shot."
Miroku sighed. "Sango that was 5 years ago, besides that woman was psycho. That wasn't my fault…"
"You always have to come out looking like the good guy, don't you?" Sango asked, rolling her eyes. "Well, whatever I'm done. I have to go and get the girls fed and bathed, they have school tomorrow."
"Hey, wait…" Miroku said. "You're just mad right? You are coming back home, aren't you?" he reached out and grabbed her wrist gently, pulling her back to him.
Sango wriggled out of his gentle grasp and tears came to her eyes. "I don't know, alright? Just…leave me alone." She stooped down and gathered Kirara in her arms, then quickly exited their apartment again.
"She must really be mad this time." Nelly said as he reclined back on the black cloth couch. "She hasn't come back and it's 11:00."
Miroku glanced at the clock. "She won't be back either. The girls are usually asleep by this time of night." He sighed, miserably.
"Hey, man, cheer up." Nelly had been trying to lighten his mood for the last half an hour, but all of his attempts failed. "Look at it this way, you won't have her nagging you about this and that…"
Miroku chuckled. "I'd rather have her nagging me than this awful silence."
Nelly was quiet for a moment, and then, "We could order some playboy."
"I don't think Amber would be too happy about that." Miroku reminded him with a smile.
"True." Nelly sighed. "Well, I've never been in your position, dude. Amber was always the one who used to cheat on me, I never cheated on her."
The monk peered over him. "Don't remind me of how much of a complete idiot I am."
"Sorry…"
"I mean, she used the word 'divorce'. That's a serious word…"
"Very serious." Nelly agreed. "Maybe you should call her."
Miroku flipped on the television. "I've already called her 6 times in the last hour, she won't pick up. I think she turned her phone off." He propped his feet on the coffee table, which he was never allowed to do before. OK, so having her gone meant he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted. He could enjoy this for a couple days.
"Oh! Turn that back!" Nelly exclaimed. "Jackie Chan adventures."
"Jackie Chan adventures sucks." The monk laughed, but settled in for the show, which Nelly seemed to really be into. "Man, and I thought Hello Kitty was annoying."
Nelly watched the television intently. "You got any beer?"
"There's some in the fridge." Miroku replied and Nelly stood up, never taking his eyes off the television. It amazed Miroku he managed not to bump into anything on his way over to it.
"You want one?" Nelly asked, holding up two cans.
Miroku thought for a minute. "Nah, I better not. I got an early day tomorrow."
Nelly cracked open a can. "Oh, well…I'll go back home after this, so you can get to bed."
"As if I'm going to get any sleep…" Miroku snorted. "It wouldn't be so bad if Shiori was still here, but she's moved out with Pierre. It's just kind of lonely here without my family."
Nelly took a sip of his beer. "Maybe you shouldn't have kissed Emma."
"I didn't kiss her!" The houshi exclaimed. "Well, I did, just…not on purpose. She kissed me."
"Did you tell Sango that?"
"Yes!" Miroku exclaimed. "She didn't believe me. Then again, I don't blame her. I've never been the best boyfriend, fiancé, or husband a woman could have."
Sango climbed into bed shortly after midnight, but wasn't tired at all. The entire house was too quiet and the bed too cold, too lonely. She missed Miroku's strong, warm embrace and the small kisses he would place on her neck before he whispered goodnight into her ear softly.
He had done it almost every night since they had been together, and for the first night in a long while, she didn't have that. It was an alien feeling, not having him beside her. Her back was cold, as a matter of fact, her entire body was cold.
Something shined in the darkness on her hand, and she realized it was her wedding ring. The same one he had placed on her finger over 5 years ago, and never took it off. Sango often wondered if it had grown to be a permanent part of her hand sometimes. "Stupid ring…"
She twisted it off, along with a lot of physical pain. She thought she might feel better once it was off, but as soon as she placed it on her nightstand, she discovered it only made her feel worse.
Sango glanced down at her bare hand, no ring, nothing. It was just like it used to be before he asked her to marry him, before she had thought he was truly committed to her. Before she gave him two precious daughters that he didn't even seem to care about!
He hadn't even chased after her! He just stood there and let her leave! How could he do that? Then realization struck her like a bolt of lightening.
Because he wanted her gone! He wanted her out of his life so he could go out and do whatever he wanted with his friends and flirt with every whore on this side of the planet!
Stupid, stupid, monk.
Stupid, Stupid, Sango. She thought to herself. You should have known better, you should have known he was too good to be true.
She closed her tired brown eyes as a tear slipped down her cheek. "Stupid Miroku…I don't miss him." She said aloud, to Kirara. "I'm not going back, not this time. He's really made me angry, and no matter how much I love him, I'm never going back!"
Miroku awoke the next morning to the sound of his clock radio. He winced at the loud high pitched sound in the early morning light and he turned over onto his side, his back towards the clock. "Sango, hit the snooze button…"
Nothing happened.
"Sango?" He sat up. Oh that's right, she wasn't here. He sighed and smacked the alarm clock. "Damn…morning already." He said to himself, surprised he had slept at all. Their bed was too big for just him and he was more than happy to get out of it.
When his day started he could act like nothing was wrong and he could occupy his time working and being with his friends, but at night when he went to bed it was a cruel reminder he was lonely.
He meandered into the bathroom and took a look at himself in the mirror. "Buddha, I look terrible." He needed to shave and crawl back into bed for another day or two by the looks of his scruffy face and tired blue eyes. Why did he let it bother him so much?
So she wanted a divorce? Big deal, he was handsome, funny and smart, he could find another women just like that if he wanted to, he didn't need her. He reached for his razor and turned it on and shaved his face, but not entirely. He simply didn't have the energy.
Miroku ran his fingers over his rough, prickly skin. The apartment was eerily quiet, usually by this time of morning his daughters were up preparing for a day of preschool and Sango was cooking him a wonderful breakfast. But instead his apartment was still dark, silent, and sleepy.
He walked out of his bedroom and walked into the kitchen. He might be able to cook up something, though it probably wouldn't be too good. Or maybe just a bowl of cereal while he read the newspaper.
Miroku reached for the box of Cheerios on top of the refrigerator and pulled down a bowl. It wasn't the most appetizing meal, but at least it was something. The sooner he ate the sooner he could leave his apartment and act like nothing was wrong.
He sat down at the table and read his newspaper, mainly the sports' section. That still didn't distract his mind from the fact that he was alone and Akira wasn't kicking him in the knee like she did every morning, Hitomi wasn't throwing Cheerios at his paper and Sango wasn't wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him goodbye.
This was absolutely terrible. He lost his appetite just thinking about it and he closed his newspaper and laid it on the table. He still needed to get dressed, as much as he didn't want to go back into that bedroom, he had to. His clothes were in there, along with everything else he owned.
After quickly changing into his blue, thinly-striped work uniform he grabbed his keys off of his dresser…their dresser…and walked out. He stepped out into the open air of the outside, slightly chilly, but the sun was warming the earth quite well at this time of year.
Late September had always been Miroku's favourite time of year. It was comfortable, breezy and he liked preparing for the holidays with his family and his thoughts turned dark. What if he didn't make up with Sango by then? He, of all people, knew that the former exterminator could hold quite a grudge, especially against him, she almost seemed to enjoy making him squirm and beg for her forgiveness.
He slipped into his car and drove off towards the small convenience store he worked at. He turned on the radio and immediately heard a song about breaking up, not something he needed today. Miroku agitatedly turned volume down and stared straight ahead.
Everywhere he went reminded him of Sango, every street corner, every restaurant, especially the hospital she had given birth to his daughters in. She was everywhere and he realized how much of a fool he had been to think he could just replace her.
He parked crookedly in front of the convenience store. His boss, Reggie Bush, was sweeping the floor and restocking the candy shelf when he walked in. Reggie was also one of Miroku's housemates and was even married to one of his ex girlfriends, who he dated almost 7 years ago now. Wow, how time flies.
"Hey there, Keseki, how are you feeling?"
"I feel great." Miroku said, taking his place behind the register to clock in.
"I heard what happened between you and Sango…" Reggie informed him and he saw the monk's expression turn hard and determined, his jaw was clenched and square, his eyes never left the keys of the register.
"I don't care if she's mad." Miroku said, with a chuckle. "At least I don't have her around nagging me all the time about this and that…" He tried to make his voice sound deep, and sure, but it wasn't fooling Reggie.
"Well, hey, if you need to talk, I'm here." Reggie said, and then stepped into the backroom with his broom and dustpan.
Miroku drummed his fingers on the counter and was not looking forward to the 8 hour shift ahead of him. It was almost 7 A.M. and he Miroku already felt like going home.
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