T.Y.O.M. Chapter 5:Oh, Just Find A Healer, Miroku-sama

T.Y.O.M. Chapter 5: Oh, Just Find a Healer, Miroku-sama

Pairing: Miroku x Kagome

Kagome’s ankle throbbed uncomfortably. Out of all the reasons, she happened to be running away from a band of demons and tripped, twisting her ankle on one of the demon soldiers’ decapitated heads, foot in their rotting mouth and everything. Looking around, she found herself alone and weak. Everyone was too busy fighting, even her little baby Shippo. 

Her heart sunk at the crashing and burning pain and insecurities of her own helplessness. Heat crept up her neck, she couldn’t breath under the weight despite her lungs crying for oxygen. She dug her nails into her palms to ground herself but tears welled up in her eyes, she tried so hard to not drag everyone down, but damn it, it was already happening. Her throat itched to scream but she bit down hard on her hand. She’d have to apologize for the needless abuse of her appendages later, she couldn’t risk drawing attention to herself. The demons might come back for her.

Kagome leaned heavily against a nearby tree, testing her ankle. Her unharmed leg shook as she played around with the weight distribution. Hey… It isn’t so bad-- Nope! She groaned, jerking her injured leg away from the offending floor, she can’t even protect the future correctly and now she was going to die at the hands of a weak demon army. Oh Kami, why me?

A dismayed yelp caught her attention and she reluctantly sprung toward that direction, all darkness and apparent pain plaguing her gone. Limping, she notched an arrow on her trusty, surprisingly not broken, bow. The scene before her was just as expected. Inuyasha was fighting fiercely against waves of blood-thirsty demons, swinging his Tessaiga in purposeful albeit reckless movements. Sango and Kirara were the definition of a ruthless, perfect tag-team, slaying various demons left and right. They worked in perfect unison, exposing the center where Miroku was impressively holding up on his own with an injured Shippo at his side, his staff chiming against the blunt force and spiritual sutras thrown with precision. Kagome aimed, projecting a single emotion into the arrowhead, and shot straight through an enemy’s heart.

The arrow flashed, burning bright and pink and dissolving the demons' cries as the impact brought out a weak wave of pure energy. It burned a nearby evil entity, causing it to hiss and focus their attention on her. She froze, the hungry, malevolent look in its eyes was far too unnatural due to its hunger for power. She quickly notched another arrow, aiming only to miss the target rapidly approaching her. She narrowed her eyes, fear fueling her currently weakened ankle, as she grabbed another arrow and ran toward her pursuer. Another burst of her reckless courage, she would later guess. The demon’s bloodlust brought on more demons, all chasing after her slower-paced form. She didn’t connect the shaft to the bow string though, catching the eyes of her teammates. Inuyasha called out to her in protest but she didn’t stop to listen, not this time. Her heart pounded, blood rushing and emotions flying, she already decided. She was going to bring these demons down, she will prove herself worthy of her team. Letting out a warcry, the arrow pulsated, energy multiplying magnificently as pink enveloped her hand. She quickly ducked under the aggressive demon’s hand and stabbed its corrupted heart, gaining deep scratches from another’s claws. The effect was instantaneous, the pulsing energy from the arrow spread to the close vicinity of various demons. Cries of agony rang in her ears as she curled underneath herself, predicting another painful backlash. It didn’t come.

“What…?”

Kagome heard herself utter, glancing at the protective figure in front of her. She expected the heavily saturated red of Inuyasha’s robes and was suddenly shocked at the deep shades of purple instead. It was soothing. “Miroku...sama?” He grunted against the force of a particularly nasty snake demon, quickly assessing her with his unusually swirling eyes.

“Are you alright, Kagome-sama?!”

Kagome nodded, voice too stuck in her throat to properly reply. He didn’t see it, mumbling chants and smacking his golden staff against snarling mouths and vicious claws. After another whine from a nearby wounded demon, Miroku found a small opening between defense and offense and put up a quick spiritual shield. It's a bit fainter. He must have already used Kazaana when I tripped.

“You were limping when you ran, Kagome-sama. Is your ankle alright?”

Good eye, the cheeky-- She shook her head.

"It's a bit hurt right now. I… I tripped over a decapitated head, I think you could see teeth marks if you look hard enough.” Miroku let a small amused look pass through his otherwise battle-ready expression before Inuyasha leapt between the monk and another wave of demons, his weapon sparking against the onslaught of claws and swords.

“Take Kagome and Shippo! We can take care of it from here.”

“Inuyasha! I’m not helpless! I can help here just fin--Whoa!”

Miroku seemed to have swept Kagome up, hands at a respectable distance due to the impulsiveness of his action. She protested at first, her hand already grabbing hold of his chiming staff as prayer beads dug into her lower thighs. He was fast, inhumanly so, causing her breath and her dying comment to catch in her throat. With an unconscious Shippo safely in her hold, Kagome felt blood pool at the edge of her uniform shirt. Her adrenaline made no sense of the pain, blood smearing on Miroku’s staff in her hands. Seconds past, but it felt like time slowed down between them.

“Miroku-sama.”

“Yes? What is it?” His breath was oddly composured despite running a considerable distance with additional weight and fighting against a demon army just moments before.

“I think you’re bleeding.”

“What do you mean, Kagome-sama?”

“There’s blood.” 

Now she was the one who was breathless. Why? Miroku stopped for a second, assessing the blood that seeped into his own robes. Something must have happened, Kagome thought, watching his eyes narrow with concern before he fixed a reassuring smile on his face. It didn’t look right.

“What’s wrong, Miroku-sama? Forget to grope me?”

Her vision blurred and Miroku laughed with a hint of hysteria, running again. His pace was faster than before.

“Yes, Kagome-sama. I did. There’s a village nearby, I’ll take my chances there.”

They reached the skirts of said nearby village, but by that time, Kagome was feeling a bit lightheaded.

“Miroku-sama.”

“Yes? What is it?”

Kagome scrunched up her nose faintly, this conversation sounded familiar.

“I think I’m bleeding.”

Miroku’s grip was tight on her form and she couldn’t focus on anything else really. The pain finally seeped into her consciousness and all she could think was that Miroku’s prayer beads was surely leaving marks on her skin.

“Hey, filthy hands off, Miroku-sama. You could corrupt Shippo.”

A chuckle was her only response as his grip relaxed. She laughed along too, humored by the ridiculous situation, before gazing up at him. He was close. Warm. His eyes, as lovely as they undeniably were, looked odd. In fact, he looked concerned. Oh, we can't have that.

Wasting no time, Kagome brought her unbloodied left hand and squeezed Miroku’s right bicep softly. Humming appreciatively, she nodded with satisfaction, gaining the monk's attention from searching for herbs or otherwise help.

“Nice muscles, monk.”

“I… Now who's groping who?” She had the strength to actually blush, retracting her hand quickly to her chest.

“Oh, just find a healer, Miroku-sama!”

Intro | Chapter 4 | Chapter 6

T.Y.O.M. Chapter 15: Tossing Grapes

Pairing: Miroku x Kagome

Mindless physical intimacy and dumb dumb teens in desperate need of a childhood.

Plop. Crunch. Crunch. Kagome beamed as the light sweetness that burst in her mouth melded into a delicate tart flavor. There’s nothing like catching crisp grapes in your mouth on a warm, sunny day with no demons to worry about. Of course, it's a little boring by yourself when nothing is trying to kill you or kidnap you for your jewel shards, but beggars should definitely not be choosers in this situation.

“Why not play a game, me? ...Hell yeah, me, what kind of game?”

There was no one to answer her self-asked question but herself so she quickly set the rules in her head. Picking one large, juicy grape from her large plastic container, she lightly tossed it into the air, eyes following the little fruit ball and jerking her head back, mouth open, to catch it in her mouth. Plop. Crunch. One point for Kagome. She grabbed another grape, brows slightly scrunched, and threw it twice as high as in the first ‘round’, butt slowly rising to free her legs to move into place. Plop. Crunch. 5 points for Kagome!

The rules didn’t specify the point system but Kagome was definitely winning. She pumped her fist with slightly puffed cheeks before continuing. She was on a roll. A two streak roll but a roll, nonetheless. Locking the bowl onto her waist with a tight grip, she blindly grabbed a grape and tossed it higher than the last round. Her aim was off, feet backpedaling with each anticipated second before she flicked her head back, the grape landing on her back molar with a pop. 9 points!

The rounds kept on going, faster and more risky than the last, she didn’t even have time to chew or swallow the grapes as her stubborn competitive streak became fueled by the chance of ‘winning’ and her pride. 18 points. It kept her sliding, jumping, running and jogging around in circles just to catch the slippery suckers but she caught them all, one after the other. 37 points. It didn’t take long for her to lose all track of her surroundings, eyes glued to the sky for falling grapes. 56 points.

Cheeks full and bowl half-empied, she took one more grape and held it gently in her fingertips. This is it, Kagome. The final round, the crowd is on the edge of their seats, watching. Don’t panic. Breathe. Breathe. It’s all or nothing! Without pause, the grape went high into the sky, seemingly disappearing into thin air.

“Oh shit!”

She tossed it too high. Her eyes burned at the brightness of the sun but she continued to squint, looking for any signs of movement. 

Nothing. Her legs carried her backwards, hair bouncing and flying into her face and feet stumbling over small lumps in the grass. 

There…? She twisted lightly on her ankle and craned her neck with a small pop, eyes landing on something small, something fast...

There!

Picking up the pace and running further and further back, her heart dropped at the thought that she couldn’t make it like this. It almost stopped her in her tracks but, no, she could! Bowl now secured in both hands, she stretched her legs as far as she could running backwards and jumped, praying for a soft landing as her eyes followed the grape. She caught the offending grape in between her lips like a dog with a few too many tennis balls in its mouth. Here comes the ground, she thought ruefully, eyes scrunching closed at the thought of the impact. With a small ‘oof’, she slammed onto something. She expected to be sprawled on the grass in an ungraceful mess and choking on grapes but soft fabric surrounded her exposed skin as her mid back was supported by something. 

“Feeef wike a perffen--”

She still had those goddamned grapes in her mouth, and the one balanced between her lips was without a scratch. Nice. Her pride swelled at the fact as she hummed her victories.

“That was quite the magnificent catch, Kagome-sama.”

Her eyes popped out of their sockets and she sat up from her seat. Her landing spot ended up being Miroku’s lap. She looked down at their laps, then to his eyes, and then to the bowl in her arm. Who knew Miroku’s lap would be so comfortable? ...What the hell, Kagome.

“Wan’ suff?”

She made no effort to hide the cheeky flush in her hamster-rivaled cheeks or the childish sparkle in her eyes, nudging the bowl towards him. He let out a small smile. How ridiculous. There was a glint in his eyes and she didn’t miss it but she realized the intent too late.

“Don’t mind if I do.”

She smiled around the grapes but felt her heart thud as he leaned closer to her face, eyes trailing down to her lips.

“H… Hey!”

She shut her eyes tight, breath stuck in her throat. She could feel his breath fan over her lips and swallowed thickly, teeth slightly indenting the grape in between them. Crunch. There was no brush of skin but she knew he ate something. Testing the waters, she squinted out of one eye and watched him chew thoughtfully with eyes closed. She just stared, frozen like a deer in headlights. It was enough for him to stop his next teasing words.

“Are you ok, Kagome-sama?”

She plucked the grape from in between her teeth, slowly chewing the rest, and choked as her eyes found it to be half eaten. With a fist covering her mouth, she looked at the grape, then into Miroku’s eyes, and for a quick second she briefly glanced at his lips, to which he blew an amuse puff of air from his nose, before burning disbelieving daggers in the innocent grape. Taking her time, she finished off the rest of the grapes in her mouth in silence and Miroku couldn’t help but think that he broke her.

Letting out a nervous chuckle, he started, “Kagome---”

“I--- You---”

“You did offer.”

She took a pause and quickly glanced at his lips again, feeling heat crawl up her neck. He felt sweat gather, he was not used to this submissive Kagome, still in his lap, instead of slapping him into the next life.

“I guess I… I did...”

There was an uncomfortably long pause between them. No anger, no panic, both of which began his slow descent into a fear-induced adrenaline rush. Anything to get Kagome back to normal before the others caught them like this.

“Anyways!” He scratched the back of his neck and grabbed another grape from the bowl,”...these grapes? Fantastic! I’ve never had anything like them.”

Crunch. Chewing slowly, he snuck a glance, she was biting her bottom lip and looking anywhere but at him. This is not good.

“Oh! What was that game you were playing before, Kagome-sama? It certainly looked very interesting!”

No response. She was staring at him now, wide-eyed and ghostly, and he gulped. Sango is going to kill me.

“Would you mind if I tried? Uhhh… Ummm…”

Without a second thought, he threw up the grape with the hand not supporting her still frame and leaned back, his impending-doom-influenced shakiness messed up his aim and it bounced off his nose.

“Oh, ah-ha-ha! Looks like I missed, what’re my points looking like, Kagome-sama?”

Nothing. Kami, please help me. He started panicking and grabbed another grape.

“Ok! One more! I’m betting this’ll be at least 20 points!”

He tossed it high and bounced softly in his seat to catch the grape, it settled in between his teeth and he flashed her a thumbs up.

“Wha’ to you ‘hink?”

His eyes glanced over her entire face with out-of-place desperation.

“Kago-he-sa-ha?”

As if she were a video pressed on play, her face exploded in red and she grabbed his shoulders tightly. He flinched but felt his eyes get drawn in the sudden fire in her gaze. Her jaw was clenched, eyebrows furrowed, and an angry growl erupted in her throat. Here it comes. Accepting his fate, he just let the corner of his lips settle into a familiar ‘can’t-be-helped’ grin. He was prepared for the slap of his life but something he would never imagine happening happened. She dove in quick and fast and bit half of the grape in between his teeth. Crunch. Everything she felt transferred onto him and he felt something burst in his chest. His eyes popped comically, just like hers a moment ago, and he felt the air disappear in his lungs. He didn’t even budge when she pushed herself from out of his lap.

“Now we’re even!”

Her voice cracked but he didn’t even notice, he just stared at her. That did not just happen. Shoving the grape basket into his chest, she covered her mouth with one last glance at him. He couldn’t say anything, let alone breathe, and she ran away, screaming a repeated string of ‘omgomgomgomgomg’. Miroku watched her go, mind still processing the last few seconds, as he mindlessly plopped a grape into his mouth. Grape chewed and swallowed, the reality of what had just occurred settled. Miroku placed his beaded hand over his mouth with a silent groan and a late flush settling on his cheeks.

“Well, that was not what I was expecting.”

Falling onto his back, with the intentions of burying his blush and calming his mind, he inhaled deeply...They were softer than he thought.

Intro | Chapter 14 | Chapter 16

T.Y.O.M. Chapter 6: Caught Ankles

Pairing: Miroku x Kagome

They came as they heard. Rumors of beautiful women being taken away by hordes of demons instantly peaked Miroku’s interest and concern, the rest weren’t as motivated until whispers of jewel shards and possibly Kikyo’s involvement actually got Inuyasha going. That seemed to be enough for everybody.

How dumb, Kagome thought at the memory. Turns out that, yes, the women were beautiful, and yes, they were taken by hordes of demons. There was actually more than one jewel shard, but no sight of Kikyo. How did Kagome come across this information, you may ask? The girl just sighed, her ankles and wrists bound with rope, blood quickly rushing to her head, as her body hung upside down with even more rope. She got captured. Of course, she did. Someone had the brilliant idea to butter her up on a silver platter, call it her post-matchmaker Mulan moment.

Kagome didn’t think it would work, compared to the other scared, stunning women who happened to cross her way in the village but look at her now. She didn’t get the luxury of pants underneath and the unwelcome breeze on her legs was due to the fabric bunched by gravity and rope, panties out for the world to see.

She couldn’t see through her blindfold but she could guess by multiple counts of breathing that they were from the captured women, unconscious hopefully, hung in the same way around her. They weren’t hurt and she didn’t know why but she knew she had to escape. There was a flash of something in the room, the lighting in the room shifted along with a creak at her eyelevel. Were one of the women awake? Silence answered her, a shuffle of feet passing by greeted her from outside.

“Inuyasha will be here soon and everything will be ok.” Kagome’s voice was low as she reassured herself, strength gathered as she swung upward to catch the taut rope at her airborne feet.

“That’s a pretty flattering angle, Kagome-sama.” A voice came from above and Kagome missed the rope, swinging down violently. It was Miroku.

“Quiet, you!”

“Here, let me help.”

“Help the other women! That’s why you decided to go, right?”

There was silence, his staff must have been in another room. Kagome swung upward again, straining until she felt a hand guide hers to the rope holding her, prayer beads against her fingers. Miroku took off the fabric of her blindfold and smiled in reassurance. They were about a good ten to fifteen feet from the floor and Miroku was hanging above her rope from the cross beams. He shrunk back up and started crawling toward another set of rope.

“If you’re that insistent, that’s the extent of my help right now. I’ll get back to you soon, alright?”

Kagome nodded, hoping that her kimono was properly covering what needed to be covered at this point. Paying attention to the situation at hand, she heard faint sounds of a rope beside her being untangled as she ripped into the poorly made knots that separated and somehow connected her ankles. With a grunt, she freed one ankle. Who did these knots? Seriously. Her left leg dangled as she worked on her right, sweat peppering her face. The knot came undone but she forgot to secure herself. The air rushed from beneath her, her eyes closing with the anticipation of an impact, but her leg miraculously tangled into the rope. She fell before the end of the rope’s length stopped her, tightening on her ankle painfully. She swung wildly, dizzy and freely. How graceful, she huffed, hearing soft and uncontrollable laughter from above.

“I’m starting to think you do need my help, Kagome-sama.” She didn’t answer, hiding her reddened face in her still tied-up hands.

“Hold on, I’ll get you--Hnn!”

There was a series of rope snapping and tightening before a heavy weight was swinging just as wildly. Kagome just burst out in laughter at the glimpses of Miroku’s wide-eyed, embarrassed expression passing by like a pendulum. It took only a short time for him to slow down, Kagome’s hands reaching for his causing them to spin with Miroku’s remaining momentum. It took a bit for them both to calm down, the ropes twisting between the two of them. Though it was a little too close for comfort, Miroku’s arm ended up wrapped around her waist and Kagome’s bound wrists around his neck. She felt hot from laughing too hard, a blush on her cheeks, and a joking comment on her lips.

“I think you just fell for me.”

He paused at her small smirk.

“You fell first, Kagome-sama. So have you anything to confess?”

She paused at his wider smirk.

“Yeah. We gotta get out of here, can you untie my wrists? I can’t feel them.”

Miroku nodded, smile still stuck on his face, as he untangled the rope. They fell apart swinging, rope still miraculously stuck around their ankles, before the monk suggested,” How about you climb up and untangle the women and I’ll go down to catch them?”

“And leave them to your lecherous hands? Does that really sound like a good plan?”

“Better than leaving them up there for some demons.”

Her only response was a sigh and a slow climb to the cross beams connecting all of the ropes. Miroku jumped down with a silent huff and waited for falling angels to greet him. There was the first one, he caught her eagerly with every intention to rip the blindfold off of her. He looked with satisfaction at full lips and untied the blindfold. He yelped, catching Kagome’s attention, and almost dropped the girl in his arms.

“Oh! Oh my god, they’re…”

“Beautiful? Grope-able--?”

He glanced down at her awkward and enlarged features before putting her gently on the floor.

“Um...Not my type. Let’s just get this over with.”

She laughed as she played with the rope and then they started again. Untie, drop, catch. It was a cycle of work, each face worse than the last somehow. Was he imagining it? Each time, he would suck in a breath only to let it out in disappointment. He didn’t know how relieved he was when Kagome whispered, “Last one!”

He held out his arms half-heartedly but fell down at the force, it seemed to have dropped from a higher height than the others. Sighing out half of a lung, he practically had to wrench his eyes open and forcibly tilt his head down, looking down to stop at two startling pools of pretty blue.

“Kagome-sama?”

“I’m the last one!”

“Ah, what a sight for sore eyes...” She just giggled.

“Hmm… Kagome-sama, I think the demons are taking their beauty.”

“Or maybe that’s your excuses talking.”

Suddenly, chaotic noises echoing from the door outside had them separate at a reasonable distance as the door broke down. Inuyasha and Sango finally came.

“Those demons looked unnaturally pretty, Inuyasha-san. You don’t think they stole the women’s attractiveness, do you?”

Miroku gave Kagome a slightly smug look.

“Yeah, yeah, monk. You were right.”

“Thank you, Kagome-sama.”

Intro | Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

T.Y.O.M. Chapter 14: Tipped Over

Pairing: Miroku x Kagome

Kinda short sorry!

Her feet reacted faster than her brain. A bad habit, really, and the result was no different than any other time she did it. Even when she stumbled, even when something felt wrong in the way her ankle bent, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. A dark abyss growing and devouring everything in its path made way for a man struggling under its pressure. The battle had escalated past the point of poisoning the poor fool with those damned bugs and it was clear that he was beyond a healthy state of mind and body.

They got jumped on within the depths of Inuyasha’s forest and her stomach churned at the glimpse of the vulnerable Bone Eater’s well behind the monk. He had been cornered and she couldn’t help but direct anger towards herself. He knew the well was important to her and Inuyasha which seemed to be the main factor for his reckless act of unleashing his curse. It was touching but, if he went on any longer, he and the well would both perish. She tripped over a root and cursed her single-mindedness.

“Miroku-sama!”

He glanced over to her with a tremor in his body but he held on strong. There was something about the way he looked, wind blowing across his face and his body tensed under his own weakness. She saw it in the furrow of his eyebrow. He knew the risks and she felt her vein pop.

“Stop being so reckless, you idiot!”

There was a wince in his movements, her ability to insult his decision in the middle of a life-threatening battle while she dove headfirst without a second thought was just astounding. He miscalculated her strength, her determination, her Kagome-ness, and in a moment of deja vu, she jumped straight into his line of sight. His Kazaana pulled her in close but she didn’t waver. Her face conveyed the same expression as the first time they met. Completely trust. Warm determination. Pure naivety.

He scrambled to close the opening, prayer beads tightening around his wrist, as a barrage of left over debris pelted his frantic form. His arms barely had time to envelop her as her arms wrapped around his neck. His thighs hit the edge of the well from the additional weight, and they tipped over.

Intro | Chapter 13 | Chapter 15

T.Y.O.M. Chapter 13: He Felt Alive

Pairing: Miroku x Kagome

Kagome was never one for photos. With an old disposable camera at home, developing the photos or even buying extra cameras were a hassle that she didn’t want to indulge. Why take pictures when you can just enjoy the moment as it is? Maybe it was her naivety that was fueling her irrational irritation but she just didn’t find the use of a camera very useful.

She looked at the cursed camera in her hand and sighed. Out of all the places, it was  stuffed at the bottom of her yellow backpack. She didn’t bother asking how it survived everything that bag went through as memories of her bag being dropped in the river, tumbling over a cliff, and being thrown off her bike in the fields of Japan emerged in her head. It was a miracle of its own.

“When did you even get in there?”

“When did what get in where, Kagome-sama?”

Miroku settled down next to her, the shade providing good reason for their interaction. She welcomed the single clap of a paper fan in his hand as it blew soft, cool air over the two. His movements were relaxed and his hand was busy with the fan so she didn’t feel the need to move.

“I’m talking about this.”

She plopped the instant film camera into his lap and dropped herself back onto the grass. What was I looking for again, she thought as the soft sunlight bleeding through the leaves of the tree distracted her. It was a warm, sunny day. No shards, no stress. Inuyasha’ forest, left alone, looked the same the day she met the hanyou himself and she admired its tenacity. Without air pollution, the air was more bearable. It was humid but it was also all the more delightful. It caused a healthy tint in her deprived skin and she relished the calm that followed the smallest of breezes that teased the greenery around her. Various small blades of grass tickled her ear, the breeze tingling on her partially exposed skin, and she wiggled her toes in her sandals. Her eyelids closed to bask in the warmth.

“...I would be willing to praise an ordinary box if you were any ordinary woman. Anything given to me by a woman is bound to be fascinating enough, of course, but I have a feeling this is more than your average box, Kagome-sama.”

Kagome’s lips didn’t move at first. She stretched lightly, like an indoor cat under the sun, and his eyes followed her small movements without a word. With a small peek at the man beside her, she said, “It’s a specific type of camera. It captures still, beautiful moments and keeps them forever in photographs if you save them. Like a painting but more detailed than that, if that makes sense. Instead of taking hours, days or even months to finish, it takes only a second and you have an instant copy of what you can see with your eyes. It’s very accurate, some cameras need people to develop the actual photo because it doesn’t store it in the camera itself, but mine sort of copies it as soon as the picture is taken. It’s rather finicky with sun exposure so I’m not a huge fan myself but it’s a nice thing to have for memories.”

By the end of her spiel, she had scooched next to the monk with her legs tucked under her. He had a pretty funny expression on his face and she couldn’t resist pulling herself closer to admire it for a good laugh. It was a mixture of disbelief and childlike wonder. She’d like to imagine smoke escaping his ears from the heat of overstimulated curiosity but there was something about the way his eyes shimmered at the future artifact that made her warm up considerably.

“That IS fascinating! Think about all of the women I could capture with this handy little device!”

She smacked his arm playfully. The light quirk of his brow showed none of the ill will described in his words and he carefully placed the camera back into her hands. Any questions he had were stowed away for future sleepless nights.

“I’ll bring some books for you to read later, Miroku-sama. They might explain them a lot better.”

He hummed but internally disagreed. He liked the way she skipped over the details and bounced on the exciting bits. It was just like her to focus on the big picture, especially with such a gap in functionality and innovation in their time periods. Right, time periods. Did the world really change this fast?

“Thank you for sharing this with me, Kagome-sama.”

The way he froze earned him a wary glance from Kagome, who in turn tried to lighten the air.

“No worries, I can’t hog all the comforts of the Future to myself.”

“If you insist, but the things we are capable of--- It’s incredible! I mean, a tool that captures moments before your very eyes and provides living proof of the existence of that specific memory. I couldn’t imagine anything better than that.”

There was a wistful glint in his eyes, hands forming grand gestures as to enhance his wonder and underlying desolation. She swallowed the list of examples that she knew would deepen his overwhelming display of fascination at the subtle hints of bitterness in his voice and reached out her hand to squeeze his. With a soft breath, he collected himself smoothly, the transition between his frenzied erect pose to a cooler laze in his posture practically invisible as though his spiel hadn’t just happened merely moments before.

“Your world…”, he offered a small twitch on the corner of his lip,” It sounds wonderful.”

“It’s your world too, Miroku-sama.”

He blew a small breath from his nose, amused, at her words and the air cooled over her cheeks. She felt the ridiculousness of her words and felt her heart twist. The thought of a future, her Future especially, was something Miroku didn’t have the luxury of exploring. He was chained to this time, to a mortal body and a curse that threatened to pull him under with each growing day, and the well only opened for her and Inuyasha… She could feel her slipping never ending void of depression, one she was sure she could see Miroku delving into before her, but quickly collected herself---though not as smoothly as her well-seasoned friend. Willing herself to think like Kagome, she felt a burst of renewed love for her camera and her Future luxuries, as well as her Kagome-brand positivity, and squeezed her hand over Miroku again, the fan in their grip crinkling softly.

“I would love to show you sometime.”

Breaking out of his ever growing and dark trance, he simply quirked a brow at her words, no doubt questioning her line of thought. They both knew their limits. With a soft smile, she shook her head as to assure confidence in her claim and scooched closer to the man beside her.

“Well, we know I can’t promise immortality, Kami knows we haven’t reached that answer in my time nor can I promise passage to my time…”

He just nodded, resigned to their conclusion, but she wasn’t finished.

“...I think we can start with this.”

She held out her camera for him to see, the smallest glimmer of wonder returned to his eyes and she grinned.

“And I do remember promising a certain monk with books? There’s an endless stock of them just waiting for you---”

Fiddling with the knobs, she continued listing the many ways she could provide the feudal-tweaked tour of the Future, quickly placed a practiced arm around Miroku’s shoulders and brought him close. Quietly thanking her friends’ recent obsession with polaroids and instant film cameras and months of selfie practice, she gave the bewildered monk a quirked brow of her own.

“Just look at the circle here,” she pointed at the lens, “try not to blink---it can get brighter than my flashlight, and… Smile?”

He only tilted his head at her as she redirected her gaze into the open lens. With a giggle, she bumped his shoulder and smiled into the camera.

“Say cheese.”

It came out softer than she expected but she heard him mirror her words and pressed the shutter button. With a small flinch, she untangled herself from him, suddenly warmer at the contact and the barest flash of summer’s heat, and waved the camera around, urging it to develop faster. She chuckled at the laser focus he projected onto the offending camera, unanimated once the picture popped out of the bottom slit.

“Eyes over here, Miroku-sama!”

She thrusted the film into his hands and leaned over to watch the magic happen. As if his gradually shaking hand were any sign of his impression, she took in his sharp inhale as a positive and grinned when their faces emerged from a sea of white.

“What…?”

She quickly became bursting with excitement at his awe and shook his shoulders.

“That’s us!”

Eyes flickering between her bouncing form to the developing photo in his hands, he shook his head vigorously in disbelief.

“I--- How? This isn’t some late joke that I wasn’t privy to, is it? Kagome-sama?”

“Nope, call it Future magic, if you want, but that is the real deal! You couldn’t fake that famous Miroku-rat-tail anywhere!”

With a slowly growing upturn of his lips, he looked down at her and let out a semi-splintered laugh. It was like time froze, a picture developed before her and she wished her camera had the ability to capture the view before her. The way the light bounced off the curves of his face and the smallest smile to grace his face, with soft wind-tousled hair, and a relaxed but truly juvenile admiration air that surrounded Miroku. It was something she didn’t realize she needed from this very broken, lonely man and she willed the memory to dig itself into her most conscious of memory banks.

“It’s yours.”

As soon as it came, the picture in front of her shifted as he glanced back at the photo, barely pinching the edges as if it were a fragile, precious child.

“I couldn’t possibly…”

She could feel his hesitation and patted his shoulder once more. “I insist. Plus…”

She stilled as to fix her gaze on the man. He quickly returned it at her pause and her smile turned cheeky, replicating a familiar smirk that came after a successful fondle.

“It’ll be the first of many! I intend to follow through with my promises.”

With a resigned shake of his head, one of weathered joy, he leaned back onto the grass, as if drained from his child-like behavior and new found discoveries and delicately inserted the polaroid into the folds of his robes, the empty hand then traveling up to cover his face.

“I’ll hold you to that, Kagome-sama.”

At the slightest tremor in his rather smooth voice, she leaned down next to him and looked up to the sky.

“I’ll expect no less with your persistent disposition! I just don’t know where to start! I have some of my school textbooks back at Kaede’s, there are a lot of developmental topics, general and theoretical, or even philosophical, content and intros to some of the basic stuff that I can go over with you. Anything you find interesting, I can swing by the library to pick up too. I find that other cultures from around the world to be particularly enlightening, maybe you would like to browse the religious impacts and ideology first? Of course, I can tickle your fossilized taste buds with the luxuries of Future fine-dining for cheap at the convenience store---”

She rambled on and on, things reminding her of even more things, as a loose plan formed. She wasn’t aware it quickly became a one-woman speech but he didn’t have the energy to reply. He basked in the bubble that Kagome created, almost seeing everything she described in front of his eyes, breath slowing, speeding, and tensing at every turn. He felt alive.

Intro | Chapter 12 | Chapter 14

Ayo Classic Zutara! Hopefully fans can hype this UP. Imagine an ending where these two ended the ATLA series. No Kiss but with the beginning of something.

I got both flipped versions. Anyone wanna do matching pfps??? >3<