Human Compensation

"Sango!” Miroku ran into the building ignoring the danger that it might cave in on him at any second. The only thoughts going through his mind were finding her and wishing he had told her his true feelings. “I know I’m not a saint. I’m probably the worse scum on earth, the only thing good in my life is her. Please, please, don’t take her away from me,” he prayed as he ran up the steps. People were pushing their way down making it difficult for him to go up. The first explosion had happened on the fifteenth floor at the very top of the skyscraper. Whoever was bombing the place wanted to get Sesshoumaru first, luckily, he had left work early today. The building shook with the second explosion, then a third, and a fourth. He wasn’t going to make it to her in time!

“I’m sorry,” Miroku whispered to the panic-stricken people as he opened his right hand. He turned away overcome with guilt as the innocent people were sucked into his air void, clearing a way for him to go up the steps.

Sango was trapped. She stood in the hallway trying to keep from getting trampled by the herd of people rushing past her. She couldn’t go down the steps; they were already packed with people like sardines in a can, some of them getting trampled to death. She couldn’t take the elevator, and the explosions were getting closer. The impact shattered the windows causing the glass to fly. She held her arms over her face feeling a million pieces of glass cut into her skin. The ceiling began to rumble; the floor above her was beginning to cave in. There was nothing she could do but prepare for her death. The screams of the employees, the roar of the fire and the rumbling of the collapsing building made her cover her ears and close her eyes. She’d never been so terrified in her life. ‘I’m sorry, Miroku. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner how I felt,’ was her last conscious thought as the explosion rung in her ears.

Miroku found her arm sticking out from under a pile of dead bodies, rubble, and cement. The ceiling had crashed on top of them. He coughed in the thick smoke and the smell of burnt bodies stung his nose. With strength he never knew he had, he pushed everything off of her and lifted her limp, unconscious body into his arms. He didn’t have time to check to see if she was still alive. The explosion on their floor went off as he ran down the steps. He was one step from the fire that billowed out from behind him. It licked at his clothes and burnt the back of his neck. Holding Sango close, he made a huge leap and landed on the next flight of stairs. His feet and legs ached painfully with his weight and the extra weight of Sango as he leaped from staircase to staircase until he finally made it to the bottom. He barely made it out the door before the entire building crumbled down into a huge heap of cement, glass, and metal. The powder from the cement covered the entire area making him choke and cough as he ran blindly away from the place that had once been a second home to him.

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Kagome and Rin watched in horror on the television as the building crumbled. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru arrived just in time to see the building crash. They hadn’t used their cars to get there because of the traffic. Instead, Sesshoumaru flew and Inuyasha ran on foot, both going faster than any car ever could. Inuyasha sniffed the air trying to sort through the scent of blood, burnt bodies, smoke, cement and melting metal to find Miroku’s and Sango’s scent. He gagged two times at the intense smell of death, but he finally found them. Letting his nose lead the way, he shot through the thick, powdery, substance that covered everything like fog. Miroku was covered in white powder looking like a ghost when Inuyasha approached him. He was kneeling on the ground, holding Sango’s limp body close to him and shielding her from the rubble the debris landing around them.

“Miroku, are you okay?” Inuyasha asked, kneeling in front of him.

“Is she alive? I can’t tell. My ears are ringing from the explosion and my body seems to be numb right now,” he asked, his face pressed against hers.

An intense wave of anger and sorrow went through Inuyasha as he gently pried Miroku’s arm from around the unconscious girl. He cradled her body in his arms and lowered his head to her head to her chest.

Miroku watched, his eyes wide, his chest rising up and down as he waited the longest seconds of his life to hear Inuyasha’s answer.

“She’s alive,” Inuyasha said at last.

Miroku whimpered in relief, his hands fell to the ground and his entire body relaxed.

“We have to get her to the hospital, quickly. Her heartbeat is very faint and I can smell some internal bleeding coming out of her nose,” Inuyasha said. “Climb on my back,” Inuyasha ordered, turning his back to him.

Sesshoumaru stared at his destroyed business and began to laugh softly to himself. Naraku’s scent polluted the air. Did he actually think a bomb could kill him? Did he actually think he could destroy him by destroying his business? The fool, didn’t he know the only people he was hurting were the people who lived in the city? Sesshoumaru didn’t need the building to continue his business, he was quite capable of running it from his home. He had a file on everyone who had ever borrowed money from him in his secret office. Naraku had just wasted the life of hundreds, maybe even thousands, for no reason. And, he’d wasted his time. He turned his back to the scene and flew away.

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The hospital...

Miroku watched as they put Sango on the bed and rolled her away. Her body was covered in black soot, blood, and white dust.

“I thought I had lost her,” he mumbled.

Inuyasha laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “She’ll be okay, now.”

“We don’t know that!” Miroku snapped.

You saved her life.” Inuyasha said.

“I was suppose to protect her. It was the reason why I stayed at her apartment,” Miroku said, gravely. “I failed.”

“You did protect her.”

“She’s hurt because of me. I left her in that building. I should have made her come with me.”

“Miroku, snap out of it! You can’t blame yourself for what happened if you didn’t know about it. If there’s anyone to blame it’s Naraku! Take your anger out on him!” Inuyasha shouted at him.

“Naraku,” Miroku said in a vile manner. “I’m going to enjoy sucking up his body parts one at a time in my air void, starting with his testicles.”

Inuyasha winced at that. Miroku was beginning to scare him. “Come home with me, you can rest there,” he suggested.

Miroku shook his head. “I’m not leaving here until I know she’s going to be okay.” He sat down in a chair. “You go ahead and do what you need to do.”

Inuyasha nodded he turned to walk away, but glanced back at Miroku before he left. He couldn’t imagine what he was going through now. What if it had been Kagome instead of Sango? He shivered at thought.