Sango pulled her white Honda, that she had just gotten out of the shop Friday morning, into the parking lot of a small café. It was empty at this point in the afternoon, after the lunch hour and before the dinner rush, so she figured it would be a good place to meet Miroku to pick up the girls to spend another weekend with their dad.
She saw him standing, by his car, absently kicking at an orange leaf with his foot on the blacktop. Akira twisted around in her seat and waved over the window at him, as Hitomi struggled to see him from her position on the other side of the backseat.
Miroku waved back at them, then looked at Sango as she parked beside him. His eyes were shielded by the same pair of blue-tinted sunglasses he wore just two days before and she didn't even know why he was wearing them, it was an overcast day, calling for rain. But she had to admit, he was stunningly attractive in them.
"Yo!" He called out, as she opened the car. He pulled the sunglasses off and his eyes shimmered like they always did when he looked at her.
Akira unhooked her seatbelt and stood on her knees in her car seat. "Daddy!"
"Hey there. You ready to go spend another weekend with me?" He asked, trying to sound cheerful for his children, but all week he had been dying inside. All four of them being together again just reminded him of how much he missed having a family, and it killed him.
Sango opened the other side of the car and helped Hitomi out, and Akira quickly climbed out of the backseat, ignoring the pain in her arm as she balanced herself against the car. "Daddy!"
Miroku lifted her up high in the air, and Hitomi grabbed onto his leg. "I missed you guys!" He picked Hitomi up and kissed her cheek, then put both of them down. "You guys go on and get in, alright?"
He looked up at Sango, and everything was quiet and awkward for a moment. He wondered what she could have been thinking. He wanted to tell her that he missed her, he missed everything he had with her, everything they were, but instead he came out with something totally different. "I'll make sure Akira sleep on the bed with the wall this time."
Sango brushed a lock of stray hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear and nodded. "That would be a good idea."
"Yea…" He grinned with a small chuckle. "Well, I'll call you tonight, let the girls say goodnight to you."
"Alright." Sango said, then turned away, but he grabbed her hand just as she tugged on her car handle. She sighed. "What?"
"Look at me." Miroku said, softly. She lifted her gaze up to meet his. "Do you miss me at all?"
"Why do you have to do this, Miroku?"
"Because I need to know." His voice was slightly raised and he quickly calmed himself. "Sango, that apartment is so quiet and lonely. I can't even stand to sleep in our bed anymore."
She averted her gaze away from him. "I…I almost forgot their clothes." She said, opening the back door. "Here." She handed him a pink heart-printed tote bag. "It should be enough for the weekend."
Miroku put it around his shoulder, never taking his eyes off her. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair again, lay beside her and enjoy the soft, feminine scent of her skin and savor the taste of her kiss. "Thanks." He said, softly.
So she was really over him, huh? Why shouldn't she be? He was the one who ruined it all. If he would have just pushed Emma away a second earlier…everything would have been alright.
Sango looked away from him, then pulled her hand from his grasp, feeling the cool fall air on her skin. "I have to go, Houshi-sama…"
"Alright, Taijya-san." He said grinning. "I guess we're back to formalities?"
She pulled her car door shut with a thud and gave him a small smile. "I'll see you Sunday, same place, same time to pick them up."
"Alright." He said. "I…I love you."
"Miroku…just…don't…" She said, pulling her seatbelt across her shoulder, then backing out of her parking space. "Goodbye."
Hideko pulled the zipper on Amber's dress up her back. "Sango-chan, get me those cute shoes we saw over by the wall."
Sango kneeled down by the wall and picked up a pair of shiny white shoes, covered in sequences that seemed to make the heels sparkle. "These?"
"Yes." Hideko said, smiling. "Put these on, Amber. Why do you have to be so short?"
Amber scowled down at the half-demon. "I can't help it." She said, slipping on the shoes. "How's that?"
"A little better. Are you sure this is the dress you want?" Hideko asked. "I liked the pink one with the butterfly in it better." She said.
"You're supposed to wear white on your first marriage." Amber argued. "It's only if you get divorced that you--" she stopped, and might as well had shoved both her feet, heels and all, in her mouth.
Sango looked at her and smiled. "It's OK." She said. "It doesn't bother me."
"Uhm," The blond half-demon was beginning to feel quite awkward. "We've been at this all morning! Why don't we take a break? Who's up for lunch?"
Lunch. Sango didn't feel much like eating, in fact she hadn't eaten much in the past week. Despite the fact, she should have been… "Uhm, alright."
"You need to eat something, Sango." Amber pointed out, almost falling over in her heels. "You've gotten so tiny over the past week. I'm worried about you. I know you're sad over Miroku."
"Don't worry about me." She said, gathering her purse. "It's just running after the girls and everything…it's a lot of exercise. Terrible 4's." She said, trying to steer the conversation away from Miroku.
How come every time she was around her friends, they always brought up that stupid, womanizing monk? "And it has nothing to do with Miroku! I like Rob anyway." She exclaimed. "Now where are we going to eat? I'm actually kind of hungry."
"Pasta house?" Hideko suggested. "They have really good oriental Ramen and rice."
"Alright, we'll go there." Amber agreed. "Anyone want to help me out of this dress?"
"No. Not really." Hideko said, giggling, and Sango shook her head and smiled.
"I'll help you, Amber." She said.
Miroku tapped a pencil against the kitchen table repeatedly, zoned out. Nelly peered up at him from over his news paper. "Dude…"
The houshi sat up straight and looked over at Nelly. "Huh?"
"That's annoying!" Nelly informed him, taking the writing utensil from his hand, then continued to read again.
Miroku just sighed loudly. It was a lonely, miserable sound and Nelly found it almost as annoying as the pencil tapping.
"OK, monk, you won. Tell me what's wrong." Nelly said, folding his newspaper.
"Nothing's wrong!" Miroku exclaimed. "I'm perfectly happy."
"It's Sango isn't it?" His friend asked, seeing right through his façade. Miroku looked miserably up at him, through one violet eye, the other covered tiredly by his hand.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yea." Nelly said. "You walk around here like you just lost your best friend."
"I did lose my best friend!" Miroku said, standing up. "I mean, you're my best friend, too. But she…"
"I know what you mean…" Nelly told him. "When I lost Amber to Hamilton, I felt like my whole world had just crashed. But I picked myself up and dated other women."
"Yea, but my situation is more complicated." Miroku argued. "I'm married. I have children. I can't just forget about her." He leaned against the kitchen counter, his back facing Nelly as he peered out the window. "She's the women I built my life with, the mother of my children…"
Nelly frowned and stood up, then placed his hand on his shoulder. "You need to show her who's the man in this relationship. C'mon, I know you. You're still the womanizing pervert you were when you first came here, I'm sure someone likes you."
Miroku turned around and grinned. "Well, there is this one girl…"
"Ah! See? Alyssa was it?" Nelly asked.
"Yea. Alyssa."
"Why don't you call her up and see what she's up to? It's Saturday night, you shouldn't be stuck here." Nelly suggested.
Miroku looked down at his cell phone to see that Alyssa had actually already tried to call him, but he hadn't bothered picking up. "What about the kids?" he asked, flipping his phone shut.
"We'll watch them like we did last week. You should uh…invite her up tonight."
Miroku laughed and shook his head. "If Sango found out about that she would undoubtedly kill me." He said. "I am pretty horny though…. But I'm through with just using women. I'm too mature for that now, I'm not 17 anymore."
"You find her attractive don't you?" Nelly pressed on, winking.
Miroku pushed himself away from the counter. "Why do you want me to sleep with this woman so bad?"
"I don't really care, myself. I'm just saying, I think you should try and move on. I just hate seeing you walk around here so sad all the time." His best friend said. "Besides, you said yourself she was beautiful."
"I said she was pretty, not beautiful." Miroku retorted. "She's not Sango. No one is."
"Well, of course not. No one's ever going to be able to replace her, but you can find someone to fill the void."
Miroku looked at Nelly then at his phone and with a small grin, he flipped it open. "You're right. I'll give her a call."
"Are you kidding me?" Miroku asked in disbelief, as Nelly placed a cold rag on Amber's forehead. "I have to take the girls with me on my date?"
"I'm sorry, dude." Nelly apologized and set a glass of ginger ale beside her. "Amber's sick, I wouldn't want to neglect your girls while taking care of her. You'll be fine, Alyssa's a preschool teacher, she loves kids."
"I know." Miroku said, sighing. "Alright, well maybe we can go putt-putt or something. I think they would like that. Oh, but Nelly, promise me, if you see Sango, you won't say a word to her. I get the feeling she doesn't like girls around Alyssa outside of school."
"I promise, I won't say a word." Nelly promised.
One game of putt-putt later, Miroku sat at an outside restaurant on the beach. Akira had been unusually quiet, and Hitomi seemed just a little upset, but he couldn't figure out why.
"So, Miroku…" Alyssa said. "You alone tonight?"
"Uh…not really." He said, gesturing towards the twins. "I've got them for the weekend again." He said, wondering why he was already making excuses.
"Oh…" She said, leaning over the table a bit so the front or her top fell down, exposing her cleavage and a little more than she bargained for. Miroku's eyes immediately averted to that place of interest and she smiled seductively. "Well, I'm sure they fall asleep pretty early."
"By 11 most nights." He said, nervously. Well, getting her to come into his apartment with him wouldn't be hard at all, she pretty much just invited herself in. "I suppose you could come up for a couple drinks, maybe a movie?"
Alyssa smiled and stood up. "Your girls look pretty tired…we should probably head back now…" She said softly, her eyes were narrowed and shimmered with lust and Miroku felt a rush of excitement.
"Alright." Miroku said, paying for the bill with a few hundred yen. "Let's go girls." He said, lifting Akira out of her chair. "Will you get Hitomi for me?"
"Sure." Alyssa said, picking her up, only to have her wriggle free. She set her down and Hitomi immediately ran up to Miroku and peered up at him with the same blue eyes as him.
"I want mommy." She bleated. "I miss her." She glanced over at Alyssa, trying to put everything together, but she was just too young to understand.
"You can see mommy tomorrow." Miroku said, grabbing onto her hand. "She's taking you guys back tomorrow afternoon."
Hitomi gripped onto his hand and continued to walk towards the car, Akira was slung over his shoulder quickly falling asleep. "I don't know why everything had to change, daddy. Why are you and mommy fighting?"
"Hitomi…please." Miroku said, with a sigh. "As soon as we get home, it's straight to bed for both of you. Now, c'mon, into the car." He said, lifting her up into the car, and she obediently climbed in her car seat. Miroku buckled her in and then did the same with Akira, who's head lolled off the side as she slept.
Alyssa slid into the passenger seat as Miroku settled behind the wheel. "You look gorgeous tonight as always."
Miroku grinned and started the engine. "You've told me that quite a few times tonight."
She giggled girlishly, and let her long brown hair fall over her shoulders. It wasn't quite as long or as pretty as Sango's, but he wasn't going to compare her. He wouldn't allow himself to do that again.
"It's true, though." Alyssa said, rubbing her hands on his shoulders. "You're so tense. I think you need a massage tonight."
"Ah, a massage would be nice." He agreed, turning right down a road. "You give good massages?"
Alyssa nodded. "I was going to be a massage therapist, but then I decided I wanted to work with children."
"Very cool." Miroku said. "And how old are you again?"
"I'm 20." She replied with a smile.
"Hope you don't mind an older man. I'm 24." He said, glancing at her.
"I love older men." She said, winking. "Especially cute ones, like you. They're so experienced…" She leaned her head on his shoulder and ran her hand down his chest. "You have a fantastic body."
Miroku shifted in his seat a bit, feeling a little hot under the collar. Literally. "Thanks…" He said, grateful that the apartment building was in view as he drove up the road.
He parked his camero in a parking space, and quickly got out of the car, allowing the cool fall air to chill his heated body. Why was he doing this? He opened up the car door and unbuckled Akira, who was still asleep, and then Hitomi. He carried them in both his arms as he entered the building and started towards the elevator.
"Which floor do you live on?" She asked, as she pressed the button.
"23."
"Wow." Alyssa said. "Long way to go."
"It's private up there. You can't hear anyone else's noises in the building." Miroku explained. "That's why Sango and I picked it…"
Sango and I this, Sango and I that. He had been doing that all night and it was driving him mad. He stepped into the elevator and put Hitomi on the ground, who tiredly leaned her head on his leg. "Someone's sleepy…"
Hitomi yawned. "I'm not sleepy…"
"Yes you are." He said, punching the 23rd button on the elevator. "It's almost past your bedtime." Alyssa moved closer to him as the elevator started to move upward.
"Wouldn't it be kind of romantic if we got stuck in here together?" She asked. "Well, without the kids…think of all the fun things we could do…" Her voice was sensual and seductive, but all Miroku could think about was when the elevator got stuck at the lawyer's office. And how Sango had kissed him back with such passion his entire body felt like it was on fire.
He chuckled and leaned against the wall of the elevator. "You're a fast one aren't you?" He asked.
"Not normally." She admitted, sheepishly with a blush. "But around you, I can't help myself." She said, leaning her head against his chest. "MMMM, you smell so nice."
Miroku wrapped his arm around her. "You smell nice, too." He complimented just as the door slid open. He walked out with one arm wrapped around Alyssa and the other supporting Akira as she hung over his shoulder, Hitomi obediently fallowed behind him tiredly.
He opened his apartment door, and as if on cue, Akira woke up. "Daddy?"
"We're home." He announced, putting her down. "It's bedtime."
Akira yawned tiredly and wobbled on her feet as he eyes threatened to close again. Miroku closed and locked the door behind him. "Go get ready for bed, I'll be in there in a minute."
"OK." Akira agreed, sleepily and ambled into her bedroom, fallowed by Hitomi.
Miroku turned to face Alyssa who stood in his apartment awkwardly. "Uhm, you can go ahead and make yourself at home. I have to go in here and tell them a bedtime story."
"Oh, Alright." Alyssa said, grinning and then sat down on his couch. "This is a nice place…"
"Thank you." Miroku said, laying his car keys on the kitchen table, then leaned against the wall. "My wife picked out the curtains, and the carpet, and the paint." He laughed. "She said I didn't know how to coordinate colours."
She giggled and checked her hair in her compact mirror. "Well, I'm not too big a fan of your wife, but she did a nice job."
"Daddy." A small voice came from behind him and he turned around.
"Alright, I'm coming." He sighed out, then turned from her. "I'll only be a few minutes."
"Take your time." Alyssa said, putting her mirror away in her purse.
She sat in the quiet of the house, listening to his oh-so beautiful voice coming from the other room as he told some elaborate tale he made up out of his head. The man had a gorgeous voice and she could have sat there and listened to it all night if it wasn't for the fact that her curiosity was getting the better of her.
Her eyes kept averting towards his bedroom and wondered what the inside of it looked like. She listened to him for a few more minutes and came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be done with his bedtime story for at least a little while longer.
She tiptoed towards his bedroom door and slowly squeaked it open. She flipped on the light near the wall and saw that his bedroom was littered with clothes and empty Wacdonald's wrappers. Men. They were all the same.
Alyssa ventured further into his room and looked at his dresser. He still hadn't bothered to take down his wedding picture or family photos. Besides the ones of his wedding day, there was one of him out in the yard with Sango and the girls, another of just him and Sango at the park, and then one of just Sango, that was slightly moved as if he had been looking at it.
That was the one sho flipped down. If she was going to sleep with him tonight, she didn't want photos of her to be visible, but she didn't want to piss him off by flipping over all of his pictures. She could feel herself quickly falling in love with this man, and it hurt her to see that he was apparently still hung up on the brunette that seemed to litter his dresser full of pictures.
Then, she became even more curious and started opening drawers, knowing that she shouldn't have been doing such things.
Back in the twins' bedroom, Miroku finished up his story and pulled the covers over Hitomi and Akira carefully. They were both sound asleep and he remembered to crack the door for Hitomi. He was getting good at this.
He smiled in relief and then walked into the living room where Alyssa was nowhere in sight. He peered around corners curiously. "Alyssa?"
"In here, sexy." She said, seductively.
The monk raised an eyebrow and peered towards his bedroom, what was she trying to do? Get him in bed already? Not that he was complaining… He opened the door curiously and looked over towards the bed where she was laying.
She bounded up to him, dressed in a white see-through bra and panties set, with a sheer midriff and a garter belt. "You like it?"
Miroku's eyes widened as he looked at her. "Yea, I love it. Wow." He grinned. "You waste no time turning me on do you?"
Alyssa giggled shyly and approached him slowly. "I want you."
He peered down at her and he felt her grip both his wrists and force them to her behind, where he took advantage and gave her a nice squeeze. "You like that?"
"Yes." Alyssa said, then placed a kiss on his lips, pulling him towards the bed quickly.
He bumped his toe against the bed post and she pulled away from him quickly. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"
"No…it's alright. Happens to me all the time." He said, laughing, even though his big toe was in mortal pain. His eyes fell on her again as she crawled on the bed. "Hey, I've seen that somewhere before…"
Alyssa looked down at herself. "Seen what?"
"That lingerie set…" He said, furrowing his brow. "I think I saw it…oh…" He paused. "That's my wife's…"
A blush came to her cheeks and she giggled, embarrassed. "I…I wanted to be sexy for you…I…I….are you mad?"
Miroku laughed and shook his head. "No, no, no. I'm not mad. Sango would be pretty pissed off…" he said with a chuckle. "but…no, I mean you actually look…nice." He saw the look of disappointment on her face and quickly changed his word. "Sexy, even." He said, and the smile returned to her face.
"I bet it looks even better off…" Alyssa said, sitting up on her knees and pulling down the bra straps. "You want to help?"
"We can take it slow." He said, pulling them back up, which he didn't even know why he did it. When Sango had worn that for their anniversary, she hadn't even had it on five minutes before he pulled it off and tossed it to the floor.
"Oh!" She exclaimed, smiling, tapping him playfully on the nose. "So you're the romantic type,hm?"
"Somewhat." Miroku said, smiling back at her.
"I bet your horny aren't you?" She asked, positioning herself in front of him and rubbed his shoulders again. "I promised you a massage."
"Oh yes." He closed his eyes. Her touch wasn't quite as soft and delicate as Sango's, but he was still enjoying it. "My neck's really been bothering me."
"Oh it has?" She asked, grinning. Then he felt her run her tongue along the back of his neck. He moaned sensually, then turned around to stare at her again. His eyes scanned over her body and instead of paying attention to her breasts and thighs like he normally would have, he, instead, wondered why Sango hadn't taken these with her.
Maybe she wasn't planning on sleeping with anyone, or if she was, she wasn't going to make a show out of it. He felt relieved at that little thread of knowledge, then he suddenly felt guilty.
If she wasn't out sleeping with other men, like Rob, then why should he be out sleeping with other women? He pushed the thought of his mind for the moment, and crushed his lips to Alyssa's. He was sexually frustrated, and he had been for the past couple weeks. He needed release, but he wasn't sure if this was the form he wanted it to take.
Alyssa rubbed the back of his head, and ran her fingers through his hair, tugging at the small binding at the nape of his neck. "You have beautiful hair." She said, between kisses.
Miroku smiled at the compliment and pushed her backwards onto the bed. "You have beautiful everything." He said with a wink. How many times had he said that to Sango? Only, he actually meant it. Everything about Alyssa was attractive. Moderately attractive. The everyday humdrum of the normal village girl back in the feudal era, or the average woman of this time.
The houshi knew, all too well, that she was a far cry from the exotic beauty Sango had. But that was gone from him forever, and he would just have to except it. He blew it with her, probably forever, and he just had to learn to live with it.
He kept telling himself that in his mind, but he still felt guilty, almost as if he was cheating on her. The scent of the bedroom, the feel of the mattress under his weight, it was all too familiar for him. He almost felt as if Sango was watching him, aiming a gun at his head, which would be exactly what she would be doing if she knew what he was up to.
Alyssa pulled him down towards her and kissed him passionately on the mouth as if trying to pull him away from the momentary distraction he was having. Normally, that probably would have worked, but he couldn't stop himself from looking up and glancing at their wedding picture.
It was a day of happiness, the day they promised to be together forever. The day they said 'I do' until death do them part. And he had ruined it. This had to stop, he had to stop thinking about the past and live in the here and now. He had always been the type of guy to just live in the moment, but right now his mind was stuck in the past, obsessing over something that was over and done with. The only proof of their marriage was the twins, nothing more.
He pulled away from her and Alyssa looked up at him, perplexed by his strange actions. "Miroku, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just…" He walked over towards his dresser and peered down at his picture. "I just have to flip these over…they're distracting…" he said with a small chuckle.
"Oh." She said, watching him as he took one long glance down at his wedding picture, then flipped it over. He flipped over the others too, then came to the last one, which was already turned down. Did he do that?
He couldn't remember, but he knew exactly what it was and he didn't want to look at it. It would only make getting what he wanted that much harder, and it would make him feel that much more guilty.
He walked back over towards Alyssa, determined he was going to do this. Alyssa pulled off his shirt and he pushed her backwards onto the bed. Then she stopped. "Oh, what happened to your shoulder?" She asked, running her fingers over the scar just below his clavicle.
"Oh, this? I…I got shot…" He responded, and she gasped. "It was a long time ago, right before…" He stopped.
"Right before what?"
Miroku sighed, as she sat up on her knees and wrapped his arms around his neck. "Right before Sango and I got married." He finally said. Buddha just didn't want him to get lucky tonight, apparently. It seemed like everything he did reminded him of Sango, even holding Alyssa in her arms he would think about her.
"Oh, wow. I'm…I'm sorry about that." She said softly.
Just then, the bedroom door flew open and Akira leaned through the doorframe and snapped a quick picture, then giggled and slammed the door again.
Miroku quickly jumped off the bed and grabbed his shirt. "Fuck! Damn it! I thought she was asleep!"
Alyssa got off the bed and wrapped a sheet around herself, embarrassed that the lingerie set she had chosen to "borrow" was see-through. "Did she just take a picture of us?"
"I think so." Miroku ran his fingers through his hair. "Don't worry, I'll get the camera tomorrow before they go back with Sango. She won't see it, I promise."
"Oh…OK." Alyssa said, unsurely. "Do you still want to…"
The monk turned back to face her, feeling like a complete fool for saying what he was about ready to say. "Actually, I really don't know, Alyssa. Maybe not tonight, I'm really tired and I have to get the girls back in bed."
She looked down rather sadly and Miroku thought she might actually burst out into tears, but instead she just pulled her clothes from the floor. "Right, well…at least let me keep you company?"
"Sure. I'd like that." Miroku said, smiling. "It would be nice not to be lonely for once, but…no sex. Not tonight anyway."
"I understand." She said, brushing her hand across his arm. "That's what makes me love you. You're still so faithful to her, even though, you're not together anymore." She reached up and kissed his cheek, then went into the bathroom to change.
And he realized. Alyssa was right. He had been faithful to Sango over the past week or so, but he couldn't go on forever like this. He did have needs and since she was no longer around to help him satisfy those needs, what was he supposed to do?
He didn't feel like analyzing it tonight. He just wanted to get some sleep, so he stepped out to make sure the girls were sound asleep in their bedroom. If they weren't, they were doing a good job of pretending. He smiled and cracked the door once again, he knew first thing in the morning, he would have to find that camera.
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