Shuffle

When they got home, Izumi had holed up in her room and refused to come out or let Rin in. She refused to tell Sango what was wrong, but opened the door for Miroku when he knocked. He brought her some dinner which she promptly tossed in the garbage. She opened the soda and poured it in Rin's bed.

"Stop that, it's not going to change a thing," Miroku said as he jerked the can from her.

"Why, Daddy?" she whined.

"You couldn't understand Zu-Zu. I could tell you but you couldn't understand." He continued to stand as she stomped around the room. "So who are you more upset with? Me or Ju-Ju?"

"Fuck both of you. Fuck all y'all. I hope the four of you rot in the hottest corner of hell."

"Zu-Zu, don't you think this situation here has been murder on me? Don't you think I felt guilty about what I was doing?" He was angry at her because she was looking at this through her mother's eyes. "Tell me Zu, if you were with someone and all they ever did was tell you that there's something wrong with you constantly, and then you met someone who said there wasn't anything wrong with you, what would you do?"

"Hmm, I'd keep the one because she's the mother of my children and fuck the other one because she's a skanky bitch who likes to break up happy homes and suck cock and take it in the ass." She had her arms crossed and her head moving back and forth like it was a bobble head.

"Izumi, I swear to everything that is good and holy that I'm seconds from slapping the taste out of your foul little mouth." Miroku's eyes were flaming. His daughter was dangerously close to provoking him to hit her.

She feigned surprise. "Oh goodie, then I can call the cops and force you two idiots to stay apart! Come on Daddy! Hit me! Right in the mouth!" She jutted her chin out to him, pointing with both hands at her face, "RIGHT FUCKIN' HERE!"

He grabbed her by her arm and jerked her close to him. "Listen child, you'd best calm yourself right now or you'll find yourself with your shit packed and on the front step, you got it?"

"So now you're favoring that little cunt over your own flesh and blood!" Izumi's eyes were dark and seething, sweat beading at her temple and she was shaking when she yelled.

"She is not a cunt, and I don't favor her over my flesh and blood. You are being cruel to her, and she has done nothing to warrant this. Be angry at me, not her."

"You bastard! You don't give a shit about ANY of us! The only thing you ever wanted out of life was pussy! Maybe that's why you didn't have more girl children, the gods didn't want to tempt you any more than necessary."

SMACK!

Izumi held her cheek as she stared at Miroku, the red whelp that mirrored the shape of her father's hand beginning to show clearly.

"Get your shit, I'm done with you." He turned to leave when she threw a shoe at the back of his head. He spun on his heel and grabbed her by her arm once more and threw her out of her bedroom, and she landed sprawling on the floor near the stairs. "Sango! Get your daughter and get her the fuck out of this house!"

Sango came bounding up the steps, "What's wrong? Omigod Miroku, did you hit her?"

"Yes, and if you don't get her out of her I'm going to hit her again. Take her to your mom's or something, just get her the fuck out of my sight!" He was glaring at his daughter, daring her to say something, and she did…

"Momma, he's fucking Rin and he doesn't want you to know about it! That's why he's sending me away because I know!" She was crying and praying that her mother would believe her. Miroku's heart nearly stopped for a moment, then he easily retaliated.

"See Sango! Do you hear what she's accusing me of? Sound a little familiar to ya? You have turned my own child against me. I told you Sango, that part of my life is over. But no, everyone thinks I'm still the bad guy!" He was roaring now, letting out months of frustration and anger and misdirecting it onto his soon-to-be-ex-wife and his almost-disowned daughter.

"RIIIINNNN!" he yelled. She appeared at the bottom of the steps, looking very scared and very much like she wanted to hide. "Pack your shit, I'm taking you back to Japan."

"What?" Sango and Rin said at the same time.

"No, Sango, you have brought this on us. You couldn't go along with things as they were you had to imagine something was there. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Rin or an old woman, I'd still be trying to fuck whoever it was just because they were someone new and different. Well I've HAD IT!" He stormed back into the girls' room, threw open Rin's trunk and started throwing stuff inside.

"Miroku, you can’t just pick up and go to Japan!" Sango helped Izumi to her feet, then watched as her daughter ran down the stairs crying.

"Watch me." Miroku's voice was calm but his eyes were still hot and full of anger. "Maybe I'll do you a favor and I won't come back. I'll lose myself to my addiction and die in a whorehouse."

"Miroku, please don't do this, this must be some kind of misunderstanding here…" She moved to touch his arm and he jerked away from her.

"Get away from me, Sango."

"Miroku…"

"No, it's over. I'm done. I have paid my dues and paid my dues and paid my dues. But I can't ever pay enough. I'm through with this shit." He emptied the top drawer of the chest of drawers right into the 80's style college trunk, tamped down the mountain of underwear and socks, then emptied the next drawer. "You have made her think there is something going on because of the comments you made before you went to Nashville back around Christmas. I'm done. I won't be continually accused of something that I would never dream of doing." Miroku had become quite a skilled actor over the years. All addicts learn early how to cover their trails.

Sango sat down on Rin's bed, right in the middle of the Sprite that Izumi had poured in the middle of it. "What the hell is this?" she asked as she shot straight up from the bed.

"Your little prodigy poured her soda in the girl's bed. All because of something she thinks is going on." He continued packing Rin's things, intending to spend a few nights at a hotel across the river in New Albany while he figured out what step to take next.

"Dammit, Miroku, I never said a word to her about my concerns, and she has acted atrociously since she got home from school today." She snatched a towel out of the linen closet in the hallway and started cleaning up and drying off the bed, knowing she'd have to strip and flip the mattress if Rin planned on sleeping in it tonight.

"Why are you cleaning up after a seventeen year old girl? Get her ass up here and make her do it!" Miroku yelled at Sango.

She straightened her back. He was right, she didn't make this mess, her daughter with the pissy attitude did! "Izumi! Come here!" Moments later the girl stood in the doorway, fists balled up and frowning almost comically.

"Clean Rin's bed up."

"FUCK YOU!" she roared.

Sango's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?" She turned and walked slowly towards her daughter. "You said what to me?"

"I'm not cleaning that skank's bed. She deserved it." Her voice was lower but still laced with venom.

"I'll have you know I bought that bed, I own it, and you will not destroy what belongs to me. Now clean it up!" She now stood toe to toe with Izumi.

Izumi crossed her arms. "Momma, it's nothing against you, but I refuse." What Sango did shocked the hell out of him.

With a speed Miroku doubted she had, Sango grabbed Izumi and knelt, pulling the girl over her knee and spanked the girl on her butt. Miroku tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a big flat wooden paddle brush, to which Sango implemented in her demonstration of motherly discipline. Izumi was crying but made no move to get away. Her thin cotton pajama bottoms were doing nothing to protect her rear end from the stinging swats her mother was landing on her, and soon she was begging for her to stop, that she would change the bed.

Sango let her up. "And you apologize to your father and Rin for acting like such a bitch. And you're grounded for two weeks. No, three weeks." Izumi was flustered but to ashamed to say anything. She knew that he father had set her up. She knew he was covering his tracks and making it so that he could sleep with the little whore again, but no one believed her. She knew that he knew what he'd done because of the way he looked at her when she stood back up. He was making her pay for running her mouth. Another lesson learned: never cross the master of deception.

Sango brought a fresh set of sheets and sat them on Izumi's bed as she watched her crying daughter strip the mattress, dry up what she could and then flip it by herself, Miroku continuing to pack Rin's things up, despite Sango begging him not to. Izumi made the bed, Sango making sure it was made to almost military standards before telling her she could go back downstairs.

"Bring me a Philip's head screwdriver, I'm taking this door off the hinges!" Miroku yelled down after her.

"Why?" Sango asked.

"She thinks anyone who has any amount of privacy has something to hide. Let her learn to appreciate privacy the hard way."

He closed the trunk when it was obviously full, pulled out a duffle bag and shoved the rest of Rin's stuff in it, some books and other mementos she'd gotten during her stay with their family. He checked the closet, checked under the bed and found a single pair of dress shoes that he jammed into the bag, and then he was satisfied that he had everything. He hauled the containers out of the room. Izumi slapped the screwdriver into his palm, only succeeding in getting a nasty look from her father. Her bedroom door was removed and he took it down to the basement.

When he came back upstairs he got a second duffle bag out, his old hockey gear bag. It was huge and he filled it with his own belongings, as much as he could jam into the thing. When he was done he took his wedding band off and handed it to Sango.

"Pawn it or whatever. I never liked yellow gold anyway."

Sango was crying. "Please, honey, don't do this! It's all been a big misunderstanding!"

He hugged her, then pulled away. "I'm not ever going to be accused again. It's over. You'll be getting the divorce papers in a few days." Boy he couldn't have timed that any better. "If you promise not to contest it, we can work things out peacefully. I don't want to be your enemy, I just don't want to be your husband anymore." He watched as she sank to the floor sobbing. "Come on Sango. It's been over for years, we just couldn't bring ourselves to end it."

After a moment she calmed herself enough to speak. "Where are you going?"

"I told you, Japan." He called down to Rin to be sure she had her passport on her. "I don't know if I will be back. Well, I will be back for court proceedings and such, and holidays, but past that I don't know."

"What about our kids!"

"I dunno yet. I'll have to figure that out. For now all I know is I gotta get out of here, and I won't leave Rin to fend for herself, not after you and your daughter have accused us."

"Izumi is your daughter, too!" Sango choked out.

"Only until she reaches eighteen. Then my only daughter will be Shinju. I don't have room in my life for such venomous people, my flesh and blood or not. I don't need to be treated like that anymore."

He brought the luggage downstairs and set it all by the door. Rin took his keys and loaded the duffle bags in but decided to let Miroku handle the trunk. He went down in the basement, quickly boxed up the computer (which was loaded with stills from their homemade porno) and the flat screen monitor and all it accessories, saying he would ship it to Rin's father to hold for him until he got there. He drug that out to the hatchback, he and Rin lugged the trunk out, and then he left her in the passenger seat as went back in to tell his sons goodbye.

When he came to Izumi, she was red faced as he hugged her awkwardly. He whispered in her ear, "I hold the power little girl. I always have. You will never try to force my hand again, got it?" She nodded. "I've been playing this game far too long, and you will not beat me at it." He pulled back from her.

"Daddy… I'm sorry. Please don't go."

"Zu-Zu, it's been over for a long time sweetheart. This is not your fault, and don't let your mother tell you it is." He looked at his family. They were all crying and upset, and it was breaking his heart. He never ever meant to touch his kids with his 'problem' with women, never wanted to see them cry because of what he so desperately needed.

"Don't worry guys. Me and Momma will still be friends, and I'll come to visit after the divorce is over. But right now I've got to get Rin back to her Daddy. Boys, your Momma is going to be going through some tough things. I expect you to behave very well for her, or else I'll have Uncle InuYasha come and discipline you." They all nodded. "I love you all, but it's time I left now." With a final glance, he turned and walked out the front door. Rin sat wide eyed as she watched him come out of the house, his family crowding out to the front step watching him walk steadily to the car. Miroku climbed in, fastened his seatbelt and backed out of the driveway, rolling Rin's window down and hollering across her to them, "I'll call tomorrow Sango." She nodded as she wiped at her eyes. Then the two of them were off, riding aimlessly around town in silence.

"Miroku," Rin began after a long time in the quiet car, "I'm sorry you had to leave your family."

"No, don't you be sorry. I should have done it years ago. None of them understand my hell. Well, the hell that was. You have redeemed my soul." He smiled sadly at her. "Besides, it would have hurt just as bad had I waited any longer. There was no easy way to make the separation." He flipped the radio on. Commercials as always. "If we stay in the states the first thing I'm gonna do is put satellite radio in this fuckin' car!"

Rin put her hand on his shoulder, and he calmed considerably. They were waiting at a red light when the glare of all the lights became visually deafening, and suddenly he wanted to get out of the city. "Rin, lets spend our first official night together out in the country, someplace quiet where we can see the stars."

"I go where you go, Miroku. I'll be beside you from now on."

He smiled, taking her hand from his shoulder and kissing the palm. "I love you Rin. I told you, we're gonna make it." He glanced down into the floorboard. "Hey, hand me that CD book down there please." She reached down and grabbed the small black leather thing and he briefly perused and then plucked one from the sleeve, handing the book back to Rin and giving her the disc he ejected. He slid the new disc in and the sweet and calming sounds of David Gilmour's signature riffs flowed sweetly through the hatchback. Nothing like some relaxing Pink Floyd for the little road trip ahead. Before they left the city, he stopped and got gas, picked up some drinks and snacks, stopped at the ATM and pulled out $500, and then they took off going south. About two hours later they were in a little town called Glasgow. Nothing but a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a Lowe's a Taco Bell, a McDonald's and miles and miles of buffalo and ostrich farms as far as the eye could see. Perfect.

Rin was quickly lost as Miroku wound around and around twisting pitch black roads, until finally they came to a place that looked more like civilization than any other place she'd seen since they left the main drag right off the interstate. There was a simple T-intersection, a house stood dark on one corner, another house stood lit on the other, and the rest was a quiet and dark dairy farm. Miroku left her in the car as he knocked on the front door of the lit house. He apologized for coming so late, but they let him in. A few moments later, he got back in the hatchback and pulled into the driveway of the dark house.

"Pull out a change of clothes for both of us and put them in that plastic bag we got from the gas station." He stood on the front porch, unlocked the door and flipped both the porch light on and the living room light on. This was perfect. The B&B Country Cottage was once of Miroku's favorite spots in the world. His father used to own a boat down at the Barren River Marina and they'd stay here on the weekends. The house was a nice size, a cozy living room, two bedrooms and an eat in kitchen, a big bathroom and laundry room, and out back was a real live hand pump that really pumped water, just like the 'cowboy days' as Miroku used to say when he was little.

Rin walked in and was greeted by a burst of pure Americana: quilts on the walls, roosters in the kitchen, creaky hardwood floors, chenille bedspreads with those little furry knots making little dotted patterns on the bed, antique furniture on squeaky old casters, house plants, the whole nine yards. This was definitely the country.

Miroku took the bag from her and then said, "I know it's late, and I know it's cold, but I wanna take a short walk and look at the stars. Is that alright?" She pulled her gloves on and pulled her hood over her head and nodded with a smile.

They walked hand in hand out the back door, down the leg on that T-intersection, gazing up at the sky. It was a good clear night, and for the first time in her life, Rin saw the night sky as it was intended to be seen. She gasped when she looked up, her hood falling back and her eyes widening. "Miroku!" she gasped, her breath puffing in the coldness of the dark. "It's so beautiful!" It looked like a diamond had shattered across the sky, no large chunks of darkness, only millions and trillions of points of light. Due to the nature of their position, the fact they were in the middle of miles of cleared flat land, there was hardly any obstructions to their perfect view. They could see completely from north to south, and almost fully west and only half way east because of the tree line. Miroku pointed out different constellations, explained how they got their names, and even showed her the ones he could pick out from the zodiac. They stood enrapt in the sky for a long time, until Rin shivered against him. They walked back to the house, where he stripped her in the laundry room, throwing their clothes in the wash but not starting it just yet. He put them both in a hot shower, warming them both considerably as they washed and groomed each other without the lust they usually did so with. Fluffy towels were pulled from the wardrobe there by the washer and Miroku dried them both off. He carried her to the king size bed and deposited her on top of the covers.

"Want me to put another blanket on or do you think that would be too much?"

"Better than too much than too little, we can always kick it off if we get too warm." She wiggled around to get under the covers, letting him throw another quilt on, and then he got in no the other side of the bed. He snuggled up next to her, their skin on skin touches slowly warming them both. There were sweet kisses, tender touches, but nothing sexual. The mood was disturbed a little by her quiet giggle. "Is this gonna be like, my side of the bed? Is this my permanent position now?"

"If that's what you want," he smiled into her hair. "Whatever my little one wants she gets."

"The only thing I want is you, Miroku. You and no other, forever."

Determined not to let this perfect evening end the way their others had, in quick and cautious sex, he used every ounce of discipline in his body to restrain himself and simply kissed her forehead. "I'll be here, Rin. For as long as you want me to be, I'll be here." He wrapped his arms around her and she let them both slip quietly into the dreamscape, their love covering in them something warmer than any blanket, safer than any armor, and more beautiful than the stars they just gazed upon.

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I don't know if it's still in business, and I haven't been to Glasgow in YEARS, but the B&B Country Cottage used to be a real place and it is just as I described it. It was the first time I remembered seeing the stars like that. And for some reason in KY, people think Ostrich burgers are cool, although I've never had one I hear they are popular in that region.