Poison

Disclaimer: I think it will be very clear very shortly that I am in no way the proprietor of this series, but if it’s not, then know that I don’t own the characters or the world. One day some world may be mine, but not this one.

Rating: NC-17

Genre: YAOI, angst, substance abuse

Codes: Mir/San, Mir/Sess

Notes: Time for the truth…

Poison Chapter 9

Kirara took them back to InuYasha, Kagome and Shippo very quickly and Miroku wasn’t finished preparing for what was about to happen when he stepped off the feline.

“Are you ready to tell us what’s going on?” InuYasha growled. Miroku sighed and looked back in the direction they had come. It was now or never.

“I have become… addicted… to Sesshomaru’s poison,” he confessed. “I have been returning to him so that he might continue… infecting me.”

“You’ve been getting high,” Kagome said, shocked.

“High? Yes, I suppose that can describe what happens…”

“It’s slang,” Kagome said, “for the act of using a drug.” Miroku looked at her in confusion and she realized the word was too new for them. “A drug is… like opium,” she said, hoping that they might have heard of it. Their blank stares told her that they hadn’t. “It’s something that makes you feel good, but makes you want it all the time and slowly kills you,” she tried and Miroku nodded. InuYasha looked horrified.

“You’ve been killing yourself?” the hanyo spat out, furious.

“I didn’t intend it… I only wanted to experience it again, not to die.”

“By letting my brother poison you? What kind of an idiot are you?”

“InuYasha,” Kagome reprimanded, “Even in my time, when people know the dangers of drugs, they still use them. It sounds like Miroku didn’t even know what he was doing or what was happening to him.”

“Thank you, Kagome, for understanding,” Miroku said, feeling relieved. At least she didn’t hate him. InuYasha looked like he was on the verge of killing him, Sango looked ready to run away again and Shippo just seemed confused.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Kagome asked.

“Can you help me?” Miroku asked. Kagome blushed and he nodded. “That is why. Even if I had told you, you would not have been able to save me from this.”

“I could have at least told you it was a bad idea to go back,” Kagome said.

“I don’t get what could possibly be worth risking your life over. Especially something so painful,” InuYasha growled.

“It was not that way for me, InuYasha,” Miroku tried to explain. “It was painful in the beginning, yes, but it quickly changed—”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass,” InuYasha said, turning his back. “If you go back again, you can stay with him.” With that, he stalked off. Kirara made a noise that sounded very much like agreement and followed him, not bothering to transform to her smaller form.

“InuYasha—” Sango protested, but then stopped herself. “No, he’s right,” she said, clenching her fist and glaring at the ground. “If you can go back again after last night…”

“Sango,” Miroku whispered—fear and rejection filling him.

“If you go back, then you are accepting that you’re dead,” Sango told him, “and so will I.” She turned and followed InuYasha away from him. Kagome shot him a look of sympathy before following everyone else and Shippo hopped on her shoulder, glancing around in confusion. Miroku felt like someone had hit him in the gut and he almost fled from the depression that took hold over him. He followed behind his friends in silence, trying to convince himself that he wouldn’t go back to Sesshomaru this time, even if it killed him. Now that everyone knew, it was actually easier not to go. Especially since, after the conversation that morning, no one brought it up again the entire day.

That night, Sango pulled Miroku away from everyone else again and didn’t give Miroku a chance to ask any questions before she kissed him. He was more than a little surprised, with how cold she had been in response to his confession, but he certainly wasn’t going to complain. However, when he slid his hand down into Sango’s clothing and she didn’t protest, he had to stop himself.

“What if you become pregnant?” Miroku whispered.

“I have given it more thought,” Sango answered, “And what I have concluded is this: if I die fighting Naraku, then I will die as the last member of my family. I don’t believe anyone else will endeavor to save Kohaku and…” Sango looked off into the dark. “So we are in the same boat, as Kagome would say. It would be comforting to know, if we die, our legacies do not die with us.”

“We would leave our child an orphan?” Miroku asked. “I can’t approve of that. My mother died giving birth to me and my father was never there, due to the search for Naraku—”

“We would find a family to take the child if something happened to us. As Mushin raised you,” Sango said. “I, too, lost my mother when I was young, although I was lucky enough to have my father until recently…”

“And what if you are with child when the final battle with Naraku occurs?” Miroku asked.

“Then I will not participate,” she answered. “If you are my husband and you defeat Naraku, you have avenged my family as well as your own.”

“You still want to marry me?” Miroku asked, surprised.

“I told you that I would,” Sango said, smiling at him. “I never took it back.” Miroku leaned in to kiss her again and this time, he had no intention of stopping.