"Earthworms?" Sango asked. Hayden made a face of disgust.
"Yes." Miroku confirmed. "She has earthworms borrowing into her arm. We need to get these out, now. Or she could have a serious infection."
"From worms?" Hayden asked in disbelief. "How do you know so much?"
"I went to school to study psychology, but that's also medical school. You learn things on the way." Miroku said, casually. "Hayden, do you mind getting me a pair of sterilized tweezers, and some containers."
Raven was crying hysterically behind him and as soon as Hayden took off down the hall, Miroku was back by her side. "Raven, don't touch the wound, OK? You have to keep your hands off it."
"Don't hurt my worms!" She screamed, crying hysterically. "Please, don't hurt them!"
"I won't hurt them, I promise." Miroku said. "I'm just going to get them out of your arm."
Raven, at this point, began to rock back and forth as Miroku watched in disgust as the earth worms borrowed themselves deeper in her arm. Sango looked at it as well. "I'll get some medicine prepared so you can wash the wound after you remove the worms."
"That's a good idea." Miroku agreed, Sango left the room, just as Hayden reentered with the supplies he asked for.
"Here you go." She said, with a smile and a wink.
"Thank you." He said, smiling back. Then it was time for the dirty work. After this, he could only hope he still had an appetite for tomorrow night's dinner date with the lovely Sango Noriko.
After the worms were removed, Miroku realized he had stayed well over his shift. Of course, he'd be receiving overtime pay. His 'surgery' on Raven's arm took at least a couple of hours.
Raven smiled at him the entire time he fixed up her arm. Wearing gloves, he rubbed an antibiotic cream on the wound, then wrapped her arm with a bandage. All of the earth worms were put in a container and Hayden released them outside to go back to their homes in the flower garden surrounding the hospital.
"So, Raven…" Miroku said casually, grateful now that she was calm. "How'd you get earthworms in your arms?"
"I am lonely." She replied. "No family. No friends. Earthworms are family. I picked them up from the dirt outside."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh. That's uh…interesting." He decided that as long as he was in there he would familiarize himself with this patient. "What happened to your family?"
"Put me in a dumpster." She said, not looking at him. "Smelly trash. Dumpster."
Miroku's face softened and he felt a lump rise in his throat. Kami, he wasn't strong enough for this job sometimes. Especially when it came to women. "How old were you when that happened?"
She began to rock back and forth, then held up her hand with all five fingers. She had been only five when that happened to her and Miroku felt a mix of anger and sympathy. "Well, you know, we all here at the hospital think you're family."
"Really?" Raven asked. "Even Nurse Hayden?"
Miroku laughed. "Even Nurse Hayden."
"Even you?" She asked, hopefully.
"Even me." He confirmed, standing up from his kneeling position. "But listen, I have to go. I'll be back tomorrow, maybe we can talk more?"
Nodding, she laid back onto her pillow with a smile. "You are cute." She said, shyly.
"Thank you." Miroku said, politely. "You are a beauty yourself." He said, kindly, then he turned around to see Sango smiling at him.
"Your sweet, Miroku." She said.
"Just my nature." He replied, as he closed Raven's door behind him. "Sometimes it gets in the way of my work though. Some of these stories they tell me are terrible."
Sango touched his back lightly and he walked her down the hall. The light touch sent something soaring through him, but he didn't let it show. She had such an affect on him and she didn't even know it.
He made sure she made it to her car safely, said his goodbyes and watched as she took off down the road with the fading sunset. Suddenly, he couldn't wait to get back to work, if it was just to see her again. And even more thrilling to him, was his date tomorrow night with her. He felt like the luckiest guy on earth.
Nelly exited the building after his shift, said goodbye to his partner Inu Yasha and then spotted the doctor leaned against his car in an almost dream-like state. "Hello? Earth to Miroku?"
"Huh?" Miroku snapped out of his daydream, which was very pleasant, to see Nelly in front of him. He and the police officer had become good friends over the past week and he could hardly believe that the week had passed by so quickly. He was actually enjoying working in a crazy house, even if it was because of a certain brunette beauty.
"What you thinking about, man?" Nelly asked. "That nurse?"
Miroku laughed. "Is it that obvious?"
"Yea!" Nelly exclaimed. "Jay told us you got a date tomorrow with her. Good luck with that. I've been here a year and I still can't ask the Bingo girl out. I don't even know her name!"
"Bingo girl?" Miroku asked, pulling his keys from his pockets.
"Yea. The girl who runs the bingo games in the recreation center." He smiled as he thought about her. "She's a hottie!"
Miroku shook his head. "You're crazy." He looked out over the horizon where Sango's car had disappeared to. "I'm crazy too, I guess. She's way out of my league."
"Don't be so hard on yourself." Nelly said. "She did say yes didn't she?"
"Yea…"
"Then, I'm sure she likes you." He said. "Just don't go up on her too fast."
"Yea. You're right. I'm going to take things slow." Miroku promised to himself, he opened his car door and slipped in as he said his goodbyes to his newest friend. Then, he headed home.
"B-5!" Amber called out cheerfully from the front of the room.
Kagome helped Mr. Banks mark the number on his card, then he proceeded to draw on the table with the washable ink. Kagome quickly wiped it up without his notice.
"G-54!" Amber called out a moment later.
Nelly and Miroku stood at the back of the Bingo room, since Miroku had escorted Raven down to the recreation center by her request. He had been so nice to her the day before that she had taken to Miroku as if she felt safe with him, even though, at one point, she did ask to see what was inside his pants.
"Isn't she gorgeous?" Nelly asked, leaning back against the wall and bearing the same dream-like face Miroku wore the day before.
"I-16!" Amber's voice rang out again and Miroku checked her out. Long, wavy brown hair, brown eyes, nice body, cute voice. No wonder she was the bingo girl. He had even fallen for the Bingo girl at the retirement home he interned at as he studied Alzheimer's patients for one of his courses.
He even dated her for a couple of months, but he couldn't recall her name now. He had only been out of college a year, and his next birthday he would be 24, yet he couldn't seem to recall that girl's name to save his hide.
He shrugged his shoulders and looked at his friend. "She's alright. Definitely pretty. Just ask her out."
"0-67!" Another number was called.
"She'll reject me!" Nelly said.
"You're a big, strong, many police officer…and you can't ask the girl who calls Bingo out on a date?" Miroku laughed then gave him a confident grin. "I did it, and Sango's kind of mean to me."
Nelly shook his head. "I'm just not as confident as you are. I mean, look at you. You're always dressed so nice, you're smart, you're funny, you're good-looking, you're--"
"Whoa!" Miroku cut him off and backed away from him. "That good-looking comment was too weird."
"Sorry." He apologized. "But, c'mon. You know it's true. Me…I'm just an average looking good who arrests…" He stopped and looked around the room. "C-R-A-Z-Y people."
"Look, just go up to her, ask her out on a date." Miroku said. "The worst thing that can happen is she tells you no."
Nelly nodded, then looked over towards her.
"N-34!" She called out again.
"The way she calls out those numbers…" Nelly bit his lower lip and Miroku rolled his eyes and laughed.
"You are weird, dude." He said. "I'm going to head back upstairs to see if there is anything else I need to do before I go home and get ready for my date!"
"Alright. And good luck tonight!" Nelly called out.
There was a knock on the door, and Sango checked her watch, wondering why Miroku had shown up so early. When she saw that her digital watch read 8:09, she then wondered how she lost track of time. Last time she looked at the clock it was only 6:30, did she really take that long getting ready to go on a date with this man?
"I'll get it!" Her little brother, Kohaku, called out, racing from the kitchen.
"Be nice, Kohaku." Sango warned from the bathroom as she quickly took the rollers out of her hair after she finished with her make up.
Kohaku opened the door to find, Miroku, slightly dressed down from what he usually was at work. He wore a dress shirt and tie, without the jacket, black slacks and a pair of dress shoes. In his hand was a bouquet of red roses and Kohaku just blinked in confusion.
Miroku looked down at the 12 year old boy. "Is Sango here?"
Kohaku nodded. "She's in the bathroom."
Sango heard him and felt mortified. Stupid little brother! "Fixing my hair!" She quickly added. She didn't want Miroku to get a mental picture of her on the toilet.
Miroku simply smiled and came in. Kohaku offered him a seat, which he gratefully accepted. He knew from experience that women take a really long time to get ready, and the longer you wait, the more that woman likes you. At this rate, Sango must really, really like him, even if she wasn't ready to admit it.
He heard the bathroom door open and his heart raced. Kohaku saw her coming and quickly dashed out of the room, then peeked his eyes around the corner as if to spy.
Miroku stood up and as she rounded the corner, he almost dropped the roses. And he thought she looked good in the nurse uniform… If she came to work looking like she did now he'd never get any work done.
Her normally straight black hair was curled into large curls that fell around her shoulders, her brown eyes were intensified by smoky black eyeliner and she wore a black dress with a red rose and rhinestones on it, that was a little longer than he would have liked, but still left little to the imagination. At least he could see more of legs now.
"Wow." He said, smiling.
Sango smiled back at him and felt awkward standing in her own living room.
"Uh…these…" He said, almost dropping the roses again. "Are for you." Miroku didn't know why he was becoming clumsy, but his knees just felt extremely weak and his hand couldn't quite grasp the dozen roses wrapped in plastic.
"Thank you!" Sango took them graciously and smelled them. "They're beautiful."
"Not nearly as beautiful as you, my dear."
"There you go with your flattery again." She said, laughing. He was really beginning to love that laugh.
"Shall we go?" He asked, holding out his hand. "It's not a date until you hold my hand."
Sango looked at him for a moment, then took his hand almost hesitantly. Then, as he closed his hand around hers, she realized she could actually like this feeling. He laced his fingers with hers and only separated from her long enough to get into his side of the car after opening the door for her.
Yes, tonight was going to be perfect. She could feel it.
By the time they reached the restaurant she could hardly believe she was actually out on a date with a guy she met just four days ago. He was an incredibly distinguished man, he had a swagger and a confidence about him, that, strangely, excited her.
They sat in a dimly lit corner booth with two wine glasses filled with white wine. He admired the way the recess lighting reflected off her dark hair and the way it made her eyes sparkle. He was so glad the weekend was finally here and he wouldn't have to return to the hospital until Monday. Though, at the same time, he hoped he could see Sango over the weekend.
Miroku didn't know what it was, but he didn't want to be without her. He was captivated and loving it. "You see anything you like?"
Sango looked up from her menu, to Miroku, then back down again. "Well, yes but it's all so expensive. You really didn't have to do this."
"I don't mean to brag…" Miroku said, confidently. "But I got money coming out of my yin yang."
"That doesn't impress me, you know." Sango told him. "I have money too."
"And I wasn't trying to impress you." He said smoothly. "I got other, more enjoyable ways of doing that." He gave her wink and Sango felt herself want to melt into a puddle of ooze.
"Oh?" She asked. "Like what?"
When that devilish grin came to his face, she immediately wished she could take back her words. He leaned across the table, the candlelight from the center danced on his handsome face and his eyes shimmered with mischief. "Let me come home with you tonight and I'll show you."
Sango blushed and then brushed him off with a chuckle. "Oh no. I'm not that easy…"
"But you do like me, don't you?" He asked, his voice held a hopeful note.
"I…I don't know, Miroku." She said, not able to make eye contact with him. He seemed to be unfazed by her reply.
"You don't know?" He asked a bit confused, and he saw the look of sadness on her face. "I'm sorry if I'm pushing you to fast."
"No. It's not you." Sango said. "It's just, I got out of a really bad relationship just three months ago. I've been on a few dates with other men, but that was it. Just one date and then I didn't talk to them anymore."
"So, are you saying you're not going to talk to me anymore after this?" He offered her a grin and she quickly shook her head.
"No. I mean…I…just…I…" She closed her mouth before she said something offensive. Then she felt stupid, but he simply chuckled and she calmed down considerably.
"Hey, look, if you want me back off and give you some time, I will." Miroku told her. "Just tell me. I just…really like you, a lot. I'm sorry if I'm coming onto fast. I know you just met me four days ago at work, in a mental hospital of all places."
Sango giggled and looked at him for the first time all night. "Thank you, Miroku. You're the first guy that's ever said that to me."
"I told you, I'm different from the rest." He said, leaning back into the booth to gaze her. Right now, he felt like the luckiest man in the world.
Miroku opened the car door for her when they were in front of her apartment again. Sango could see through the sheer curtains at the flickering blue light of the television. Kohaku was probably up watching a movie or playing video games.
He walked her to the door, but held both her wrists gently, so she couldn't open the door and run inside. "I had a really, really nice time to night. I mean that. Genuinely. And I'm not able to say that with a lot of dates."
Sango smiled shyly up at him. "I did too. I really did. Thank you for dinner and the movie."
Yes, the movie. The two and a half hour long chick flick he let her choose that he tried to kiss her through. Of course, she had cut him off by leaning back, turning her head, or even keeping her head on his shoulder the whole time. He said he'd back off, but he couldn't help it.
"Look, can I see you more this weekend?" Miroku asked. "I mean, if you don't have other dates. I'd really like to take you out again."
Sango thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. I'm not doing anything tomorrow, if you want to see me then."
"Sure." Miroku said. "I have a psychology class I teach on Saturdays for an extra income, but I'm out of there by 5. How's 6:00?"
"6 sounds great." Sango told him. She was reading all of his signs, he wanted a goodnight kiss. But she was always the type who didn't kiss on a first date, and she didn't exactly count lunch together the other day a date. "Well, uhm…goodnight."
She saw his shoulders slump, and she felt like she had crushed his ego. "Goodnight." He said, staring at her for a long moment. She watched as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip and she wondered how that tongue would feel on her own lips. The mere thought made her dizzy with want.
Sango closed the door behind her and peaked out the window as he got back in his red Camero. Once his car was out of sight, she left her sleeping brother on the couch to call Kagome.
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