In the days following the youkai attack on Edo, the sun didn’t quite seem to rise, as if it couldn’t muster the strength to lift the abiding gloom. Ash gray skies brooded over the ruined city. Only the cries of vultures and carrion crows rent the heavy silence, their dark winged shapes peppering the broken, wasted earth like living shadows, ferrymen of the damned.
The fortress was in shambles, but the town hadn’t fared much better. Little could be salvaged among the muck and debris. Still Kagome and the uninjured soldiers picked their way through the wreckage, helping people to recover what they could. Casualties were high, and not just among the fighting men. Funeral pyres burned day and night throughout Edo, the clouds of black smoke so many and dense that it was impossible to tell where one ended and another began.
It was as though a dark shroud had been cast over the entire city. Though no fire burned beside the dilapidated house where Kagome paused, the pall of death was upon it still.
“Miroku?” she called faintly to the hunched, robed figure perched stiffly on the porch outside.
Shadows hung beneath the monk’s staring eyes. The soft round flesh of his face seemed to sag from his skull, sallow and waxy. A jar of sake sat beside him, unopened, as though he were too wretched even to bring himself that small mercy. Kagome’s own mouth went sour and dry. She knew the answer to her question even before the words came to mind, but she couldn’t stop herself from asking him anyway.
“Sango-chan,” she said thickly, “is she…?”
“She lost the baby,” Miroku said, his eyes fixing upon her, flat and hollow. “The stress was too much for her to bear. But the bleeding has stopped—at last.”
Kagome looked toward the door, moved toward it. “I should go in to her. I should see her.”
“No,” Miroku said, “you should not.”
The miko halted, her expression torn. “Miroku, please…”
“No,” he repeated, cold and low. Standing, he let his baleful look settle upon her in full. “You have done more than enough. Do you think I’m a fool, Kagome, that I don’t know you dropped the barrier on purpose?”
Kagome clenched her jaw. “I had no choice. Ren had to be—”
“No choice?” he spat, a spark of vibrancy returning to his dead violet eyes. “I gave you a choice—and so did Ren. You could have left. You could have stayed in peace, but you didn’t. Instead, you imperiled us all—and for what? To rule over this.” The monk gestured sharply with his hand at the wasteland around them. “Are you happy with your spoils, Kagome?—well?”
“This was never what I wanted, Miroku. You must know that.”
“It doesn’t matter what you wanted,” he said bitterly. “This is what you have wrought.”
Bowing her head, Kagome turned from him and walked away.
Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi
Updates on this might slow down a bit next week since I’m working on a SessKag Smutmas special feature 😉 Have a great weekend y’all! <3
In hate miroku. He now acts as a martyr and a good husbad. The hipocrite man.
Now i think rin is pregnant and what will do kohaku.
He will be forced to marry her.
Poor kagome her home is destroyed.
Yeah it’s sad 😢
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! <3
Lol Miroku shutttt the fuck up you snake ass weasel. Wish his ass would’ve burned up in the fires lmao Glad Sango’s alivw tho!
Lol yeah what he says is a bit rich, isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing, mim!! <3
Wait, how could the barrier have been maintained permanently if she had left? I thought it was her power that currently sustained it. If baroque or anyone else in the village had the power to sustain it, her dropping it would have made a difference.
*If Miroku or anyone else in the village
WOULDN’T have made a difference.
(The joys of typing when you’re sick)
Good question! I guess Miroku would’ve expected Kagome to pass that mantle on to Rin 🙂
Hope you’re feeling better! <3
Would Rin have been powerful enough? And even if she was, did he have confirmation she was? I feel like these are questioned she should be asking him, publicly, where everyone can hear his answer.
Personally, I don’t give a shit about Miroku’s “tragedies.” He’s been neglecting hearth and home for a while to sow his own ambitions. I’ll bet he’s more in mourning for his prosperity than his child. Kagome wasn’t the only one willing to sacrifice a friend for her home, so his censure feels sanctimonious and hypocritical. And I hate to say this, but Sango losing her baby due to Kagome’s actions seems like karma to me. She surely didn’t think she could get away with forcing an abortion on her comatose friend to pave the way to her own happiness without suffering some consequences, right? Miroku and Sango both made their choices and chose their allegiances—now the have to face the consequences .
Looking forward to Smutmas👀 Where will it be posted?
” Miroku and Sango both made their choices and chose their allegiances—now the have to face the consequences .” – yep, well said. Karma is a bitch…
Glad you’re looking forward to Smutmas!! The eventual home will be the Ao3 collection (https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sesskag_smutmas), but the story will be posted here first <3
All of this coming from the man that would come home to Sango smelling like alcohol and other women. Yeah, Sango knew how he was but even she didn’t deserve that. He talks about ‘stress’, I’m pretty sure knowing the love of your life whom you’ve already had children with won’t commit to you is a pretty stressful thing to have to deal with. Maybe Sango found something out about Miroku and terminated the baby herself. Damn, that would be a horrible dark turn 🥺
“Maybe Sango found something out about Miroku and terminated the baby herself”…..
Shit, that las sentence gave me chills
“He talks about ‘stress’, I’m pretty sure knowing the love of your life whom you’ve already had children with won’t commit to you is a pretty stressful thing to have to deal with.” – for sure… 😢
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Blackberry! <3
I haven’t been on your site to read since before the pandemic started so I’ve had a lot of catching up to do. You have been my favorite fanfiction author for years. I’m actually glad it’s been a long time, because I’m able to see YOUR growth and development so clearly. As always, you continue to blow me away with your knowledge, creativity, understanding of people, and a wisdom far beyond your years, Char. You’re an amazing and talented woman. I respect and admire you so much.
SAGE!!! Welcome back, friend! 💕💕💕
Thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement! Writing is such a journey, and it’s awesome to hear how far you’ve come 🙂 The pandemic kind of put the brakes on me creatively for a while, and I still feel like I’m shaking off some of that rust. So I appreciate the support and feedback tremendously 🥰
Hope you and yours are doing great! Thanks again and take care!! 💕