Contracting Love

A/N: Oh my various gods! Look! Another chapter!! FINALLY! Quick, quick! Read, read!

PS: A special thank you to those who run and maintain AFF.net. You guys are awesome!

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters. I just use them for my own sadistic purposes.

As always, reviews are encouraged, appreciated, and welcomed!

Chapter 16: It’s Never Just A One-Sided Love Affair…

Six empty bottles of Sauza, five old cartons of Chinese food, four empty packs of cigarettes, three pizza boxes from the place down the street, two bad movies, and one passed-out best friend.

It was like a bastardized Christmas song.

Inuyasha sighed heavily as he took in the scene he’d walked into only moments before. Miroku lay sprawled on the couch, one of the empty tequila bottles cradled in his arm. His mouth hung open, a half-hearted snore floating through the room. One of the legs of his gray sweatpants had somehow gotten tangled around his knee and he was missing a sock on his left foot. His navy blue T-shirt was so rumpled it looked as if he’d been sleeping in it for days, which was probably true.

A furrowing of his brows and a stifled groan alerted Inuyasha that his friend would be entering the world of consciousness very soon and likely wouldn’t be happy about it.

“You sure did a number on yourself this time, Bouzu.”

Miroku turned toward the familiar sound and squinted. His eyes were bloodshot and dry from several days of liquor and little sleep and it took a while for the man standing above him to come into focus. His mind, hung over as it was, couldn’t seem to register who it could be, though. He recognized the familiar leather jacket and plain white T-shirt. Even the gold eyes were unmistakable. But the short hair, slightly spiked in style and so fair that white was the only word that could describe it, as blond would have been too dark, defiantly did not register.

Inuyasha smirked. “I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Miroku squinted, his eyesight clearing as his fuzzy mind finally matched voice to face. “Yash?” His voice was so raw he barely recognized it himself. “What did you do to your hair?”

He rolled his eyes. “One thing at a time, Bouzu. We’ll talk in a minute, but, first I’m going to go find the aspirin while you peel yourself off the couch. Then, you’re ass is getting in the shower. You smell like a whore house.”

Miroku started to laugh and then winced from the pain that went slicing through his skull. “That’s what I am,” he said bitterly. “A whore. A filthy, disgusting whore who uses people and then throws them away when I’m done with them.”

“There aren’t words to describe what you are, Miroku.” He headed toward the kitchen. “And if there were, I doubt that would be one of them.”

“Sure it is,” Miroku said, sitting up slowly so as to keep the pain that was lancing through his eyeballs to a minimum. “It’s the most perfect word in the English language to describe what I am. Except maybe ‘fucker’. Did you know that ‘fuck’ can take on almost any function in a sentence?”

After handing his wayward friend two aspirin and a glass of water, he eased himself into the couch. He sighed heavily and prayed for patience. It was clear Miroku was doing a fine job of beating himself up and, though he had actually been looking forward to pummeling the man into the ground for hurting Sango, it looked like that wouldn’t be necessary after all. The fact that Miroku would probably welcome a killing blow, and judging by the state of him that was probably the case, sucked all the fun out of it for Inuyasha anyway. Miroku needed a friend, one who understood both the situation and the lady in question.

That brought on quite a paradox. On the one hand, Sango had been his friend longer than he could remember and had been there through some very dark times in his life. It killed him to see her going through so much pain. On the other, he’d seen how happy she’d been at the reunion dancing with Miroku, happier than she’d looked in ages. So happy, in fact, that even *he’d* thought there might be a glimmer of hope for the future. Miroku had somehow managed to bring out the confidence she’d misplaced since Naraku had treated her so carelessly. It was like seeing the old Sango again.

And then there was Miroku; the first guy Inuyasha had ever met with a thirst for fun, danger, and women that was akin to his own. He knew full well what kind of girls Miroku usually went for, and Sango was the exact opposite. He knew the kinds of games he usually played with women. Hell, Inuyasha had played those games himself. But he remembered the morning Miroku had come back to his apartment after spending the night with Sango and missing their morning workout. He’d seen the look of wonder and amazement when he’d talked about her, like she was some long lost masterpiece that had been hidden beneath the ocean for centuries and he’d just discovered it and brought it to the surface for all the world to see. He’d watched Miroku glare at the other men at the reunion if they even so much as glanced in Sango’s direction. And he’d been shocked to hear of his plan for leaving her untouched and walking out of her life forever even though it was clearly the last thing he wanted to do.

Both had been forever changed by the experience. And it was clear, after seeing how badly Miroku was punishing himself, that neither one would ever be the same again.

“What am I gonna do, Yash?” Sometime during the long silence, Miroku had managed to find a cigarette and light it. He stared at the glowing tip as if in a daze as the smoke curled around him.

“Give me that,” Inuyasha growled, yanking the cigarette from his friend’s hand and taking a drag himself. “Don’t you know these things will kill you?”

“Really?” Miroku laughed bitterly to himself. “When?”

Inuyasha flicked the ashes into an old food container and he blew the smoke out and thought. “You really love her, don’t you?” Miroku stared off into the distance giving only the barest of nods. “You know,” he said, talking another drag, “I’ve never seen anyone hurt so badly over somebody but still continue to love them so much despite the pain.”

“Well,” he said softly, “I’ve never met anybody quite like her.”

“I wasn’t talking about you, dip shit. I was talking about Sango.” The two men looked at each other, Inuyasha willing Miroku to see the gravity behind his words. The other man looked lost, like a child that had it’s most precious possession taken away only to have it dangled before him once more. “She loves you, Miroku. I know she does. She wouldn’t be this hurt if she didn’t. Neither would you if this was just another one-night stand. Now, I’m not even going to pretend that I understand it, but I’m not stupid. Being together is the only way to make both you and Sango happy, and I wouldn’t be any kind of friend if I let you wallow in your own misery without trying to help.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying it’s time to stop feeling sorry for yourself. I don’t know what kind of weird twist of fate brought you two together, but if you don’t hurry up and do something, you’re going to be missing out on the best thing that ever happened to you.”

“But-”

“As I hear it, the whole thing sounds like some great big misunderstanding. All you have to do is plead your case. Sango’s anything if not reasonable. She’ll listen once you get her attention.”

“She won’t return any of my calls. How am I supposed to plead my case if she won’t even answer the phone?”

“Simple. You go see her in person.”

“She’ll shut the door in my face.”

“Not if you go to her office.”

Miroku blinked, staring at his best friend. “You want me to go downtown to the DA’s office, a public building with lots of police around, and beg her forgiveness. You’re nuts! What’s to stop her from having my ass hauled away in handcuffs and locked up for stalking or something?”

“Sango wouldn’t do that-”

“And why not? That would be the perfect way to guarantee she’d never have to see me again!”

“She won’t. Sango *wants* to see you, she just doesn’t know it. Look, she won’t have you arrested if you go to her office. She wouldn’t want to create a scene like that. She won’t have you thrown out, either. Her office is the perfect place to plead your case. She won’t have any where to escape to and, standing face to face, she’ll have to hear you out.”

“But how do I even get her to let me *in* to her office?”

“We’ll just have to get her attention by doing something so obnoxious she’ll have to let you in, if only to get you to stop.”

“Like what?”

“Well… I hadn’t really thought that far. When Kikyo and I used to get into fights, I always used to send her flowers. That would at least get me in long enough to charm her with my smile.”

Miroku started to roll his eyes then stopped, an idea forming.

“But I don’t think Sango would go for something so obvious.” Inuyasha put the cigarette out in the food container. He saw the change on his friend’s face. “What?”

“I think I have an idea.”

***

Sango squinted out the peephole and sighed. Kagome stood on the other side of the door with a large paper grocery bag and a very determined look on her face. She really didn’t want to let her in but she also knew it was useless to fight.

Frowning, she opened the door and leaned against the frame, effectively blocking entrance into her apartment. She gave the other girl a brief once-over and noted the worn-looking sweat pants, t-shirt, and old running shoes. It looked like Kagome was ready to settle in for a long night.

“I’ve got two pints of Ben and Jerry’s, three chick-flicks, and a bag or Red Vines,” Kagome said before Sango could get the first word out.

Sango looked longingly at the brown sack cradled in her friend‘s arms. Ice cream, movies, and candy. Damn. She stepped aside enough to allow Kagome to enter. “I told you, I’m fine,” she said while Kagome breezed past her and into the kitchen.

“You know, Sango,” she said over her shoulder, “for a lawyer, you can’t lie for shit.” Rummaging around she pulled two spoons out of a drawer and laid them on the counter next to the bag. She pulled out both containers of ice cream and put one in the fridge. The other pint and two spoons in hand she turned and marched toward her boss and friend. “Living room. Now.”

Sango opened her mouth as if about to object then decided it was probably in her best interest to comply. She turned and went to the couch, plopping down with an irritated sigh as Kagome joined her. Kagome spent no time opening the frosty treat and handing her one of the spoons before digging in herself.

“Now, talk,” the other girl said before taking her first bite.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” she insisted.

“Sango, I know you. You’ve been my boss and, more importantly, one of my best friends for the past three years. I know when something’s bothering you and, whatever it is, it has to be the mother of them all for you to be this upset.”

She watched as Sango stabbed half-heartedly at the ice cream, not really seeing it. “I’m just not feeling well, that’s all. I think there’s a bug going around or something.”

“Only if it’s a dung beetle,” she scoffed. “You haven’t been acting like yourself since you got back from the reunion with Miroku.” She saw anger flash in Sango’s that was quickly replaced by something else. Understanding dawned on Kagome. “Sango,” she said carefully, “did something happen with Miroku at the reunion?”

“No.”

“Did he say something or do something that upset you? Did…did he hurt you?”

“A man like *him* could never hurt me,” she growled in a tone that said *no one* could ever do anything to hurt her…not anymore anyway.

Kagome put a hand on top of the one Sango was using to stab the ice cream with her spoon. “Sango…” she said gently as the other woman’s shoulders hunched. “Sango…what happened?”

It was so long before she finally answered that Kagome was afraid she wasn’t going to answer at all. But when she head the tremble in Sango’s voice she realized her friend had been holding back a torrent of emotions that were about to be let loose. Good thing she’d grabbed a box of tissues when she went to buy the ice cream.

“He used me. He used me like some…cheep floozy or…or a sophomore who gets asked to the senior prom.”

**That’s a weird analogy.** Kagome shook her head at the thought and tried to keep her focus. “You slept with him.” Sango nodded and Kagome moved the ice cream onto the coffee table and scooted close enough that she could wrap her arms around her in comfort. “Tell me what happened. From the beginning.”

“We went to the reunion,” she said softly between tears. “And everything seemed to be going great. Every body thought that we… He was very convincing. I think we even made Naraku jealous,” a hint of a smile crept into her voice at that. “We danced and…I had too much to drink. He said he’d help me up to my room, which was fine because I probably wouldn’t have been able to get the key in the door by myself. And then…we started kissing in the elevator but when we got to my room he said that he couldn’t. So I told him to leave.

“I turned my back to him. I didn’t want to see him go, so I just turned away. I thought he’d left but he…he didn’t. We…” Her voice squeaked with the effort to hold her grief back. “When I woke up…there was an empty condom wrapper on the night stand and two more in the pocket of his pants. It was like he knew that I’d… He set it all up. The dancing, the drinking… Everything.

“I yelled at him. I tried to…pay him for what he’d…what we had done. I said some really awful things to him, Kags.”

“Oh, honey. He probably deserved it,” she said, rubbing Sango’s arm.

“No,” she said with conviction. “No, I shouldn’t have said those things. I didn’t *mean* them. But I was confused and…and scared.”

“Scared about what, honey?”

“I’ve been trying to hate him, I really have. But no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I tell myself that he’s an evil bastard who used me and needs to have his balls cut off and fed to a wild bore while he watches-”

**Wow. Now *that’s* creative,** Kagome thought.

“-I just can’t. I think…I think I love him!” Her body racked with sobs as Kagome hugged and rocked her. “What am I gonna do, Kags? How did I let this happen?”

“I don’t know, honey. I don’t know. We can’t choose who we love. We just have to hope that, when our heart does get broken, we’re strong enough to pick ourselves back up and learn from it. And I *know* you’re strong enough to do that, even if it doesn’t seem like it right now.”

Kagome sat there holding her best friend and murmuring soothing words to her as Sango cried out everything she’d been holding in for almost a week. It pained Kagome that she couldn’t offer any other comfort, but, then, what were friends for if not to let you get them all slobbery and wet and have them bring you ice cream when you really needed them to?

Yesterday, when she’d been having her usual Wednesday dinner with some of her friends from private school, one of them had told her some peculiar news about the bastard in question. Apparently, Stacey’s mother’s long-time friend had called the agency Miroku worked for on Tuesday and had requested him as her escort for an engagement in two weeks time. Unfortunately, the woman had been told, Miroku was no longer employed at that agency. When asked what agency he was currently working for, she’d been told that Miroku had simply called and quit, quite unexpectedly, and had left no forwarding number to be reached at. The agency had been scrambling all day trying to make other arrangements with women who had booked Miroku for upcoming events.

Stacey’s mother, according to Stacey, suspected that the famed escort had left the business for good and that’s why he hadn’t left a forwarding number. As to why he left, no one could say for sure.

**Maybe it’s not as one sided as you think, Sango. For your sake, I hope that’s true. Otherwise, I might have to borrow your idea. I wonder where you get wild boar in New York?**

***
A/N: Nothing against sophomores being asked to senior prom. I was one of them. But, you know, it’s a stereotype. Older guy. Younger girl. Prom night. What do *you* think he expects to get out of it? …No, I did not do that!

Yep. I’m back. With another chapter anyway. I’m sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long, and I know the story’s going kinda slow, but I’ll try to make up for it very soon. Only one more chapter to go…I think.

Oh, I just remembered I wanted to give a shout-out (who says that anymore? man, i feel old... :-( ) to some of my crazier fands...and such.

hunter: You love Fluffy? *I* love Fluffy! Hehe. Wait 'til you read my next fic.
drake220: always a pleasure and i'm glad you liked "sex hair". It's even more fun when it's *your* hair and not some characters. ;-)
mirsanforever: hey, you think you got pissed at the last chapter? I cried and begged my best friend to tell me it wasn't true. Then she reminded me that I was the dumbass who wrote it. What are friends for, huh?
Hot Gimmick Fan 007: You're right. The Lemon was totally rushed and I would have liked to do a lot more with it, but I find myself being too wordy sometimes (ie, like now) so what you read was actually what happened when I went back and cut a lot of stuff out after my initial draft. but, please, feel free to lurk all you like and leave as many random and funny reviews as possible! I love reading every one of them. really! it's like some kinda weird drug that only affects writers. i think i'll call it "Block", in honor of writers block. whenever I get that, I read some reviews and it helps take the edge off. suggestions?

love you *all*! keep reading and reviewing (i need my Block fix) ;-)