These characters do not belong to me.

Choosing a Partner

Chapter 9

By Kenzie Kennedy

Lunch went fine with Miroku and Inuyasha helping to carry out the food. Kagome went to another spare room to start cleaning it up while Sango went to her room to finish her homework.

Inuyasha went with Kagome into the room. Kagome wandered around looking at stuff and mentally plotting out what needed to be done. This was the first room they had filled up with junk and most of what was in here needed to be thrown away. There were two junky closets filled with old blankets that they didn’t use any more. Containers filled with Kagome’s old clothes. A lot of papers and things that were just clogging space. Things they didn’t want to throw away at the time but now were obsolete. Like the television in the corner that still ran, it was just that they had better ones now.

Kagome gave a triumphant shout and stepped over an old computer. This was what she had hoped to find! A bureau! Too old and beautiful to be trashed, but not wanted currently by anyone living in the household. Well, that had changed.

"Inuyasha!" she called out. "Come look at what I found!

Inuyasha saw where Kagome was standing and saw an old armchair with the stuffing coming out of one arm. He readied himself and leapt through the air to pounce on it.

"Wow…" Kagome breathed. That had been amazing! One second he was over there, the next he was beside her crouched like a cat on the armchair. She turned back to the bureau. "How about we leave this here, move your stuff in, and this can be your room?"

"If that is what you want, Kagome." He said.

Fine, if that’s the way he wants it, Kagome thought. No, he’s a person. I can’t order him around, it makes my stomach do somersaults. "I’d like this to be your room. If you don’t want it, then we can ask Miroku if he’d like it. This one is closer to my room, though."

"If you want it to be, Kagome," Inuyasha said with a dull look in his eyes.

"Would you like to help me clean out this room or stand there?" Kagome asked. "You have a choice."
"Slaves do not have choices, Kagome," Inuyasha said disheartened.

Kagome scowled at him. "Let me explain this to you. Somewhere in your mind is someone or something saying, do I want to help her or is there something I’d rather do? I’m going to clean in here. If Sango were finished with her homework, I’d ask her to help me clean. Since she has something more important to do, she’s not helping me. I need help to clean out this room. I am asking you, Inuyasha, to help me clean this room."

Inuyasha looked at her and his eyes unfocused for a moment. "What would you like me to do to help you clean the room, Kagome?"

Kagome sighed. Well, it was a start. At least she’d gotten him to answer even if it did feel like he was reverting to slave regulations. "For starters, could you ask Rimiko to come and tell me what I can do with it all?"

Inuyasha nodded and went to find Rimiko. Kagome looked around the room again. There’s so much stuff, she moaned mentally.

When Rimiko came back, Kagome smiled. "Could you look around, Mom, and tell me what I can throw away?"

Rimiko observed the room. "It would be easier to tell you what you couldn’t." She moved a few toys out of the way, inspected the blankets and their closets, the computers, television, and began sorting the paperwork. Once she had it sorted neatly into the ‘goes to the library file cabinets’ and ‘throw away’ piles, Rimiko looked back to her daughter. "All right. The toys can go into bins and be stacked against the wall. You might want some of them someday. The blankets and the closets have to be thrown away along with the computers and television." She paused. "Unless Inuyasha or Miroku would like it for their room." She frowned. "I thought…" She moved a table and peeked behind it. "Here’s another one so they could both have one. The table has to go out to the garage. It’s an antique."

"Won’t Sango be upset over the computers?" Kagome asked.

"I don’t think so. You could ask after she’s done with her homework. Just leave them alone for now and let her carry them out." Rimiko looked around the room. "The shelves need to be broken apart and put out on the lawn for the trash collector. This pile of papers can go in the trash and I’ll take these down to the library and file them." She gathered up the stack of papers and nodded to them as she left.

Kagome looked around. "I guess I’d better start with the papers." She held up a box of trash bags and extracted one. "You hold it open and I’ll dump them in?" she asked Inuyasha.

He nodded and took the bag from her shaking it open. Kagome began to dump papers inside. After they had gotten all the papers out of the way, Kagome began sorting through her older clothes. There wasn’t much in there she could wear anymore. She was just going through them for the remembrance value. All of them went into the bag Inuyasha held out. The blankets went the same route.

Kagome looked at the rest of it. She started packing up the toys her mother had wanted saved and found a few she wouldn’t mind packing up herself. When she straightened up from moving those around, she looked at the stuff remaining. The shelves, table, computers, televisions, and the bureau. "Well, I want to keep the bureau in here for you," she said slowly. "I’ll have to get a hammer and see if I can knock the shelves apart…"

"Why, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked.

"Because you take a hammer to the other side of the shelf and hammer on it until the shelf comes loose," Kagome told him. "That way you end up with a stack of lumber to carry out instead of a huge bookshelf." She glanced at the shelf. "It must have been here when Sota and I still liked bedtime stories."

Inuyasha walked over to the bookshelf. "Can it be damaged, Kagome?" he asked.

"Sure. It’s just going to be put out for trash," Kagome said.

Inuyasha ripped one of the sides off and then pulled out the five shelves with a terrible squeak. He stacked the boards in a pile and then turned around to her.

Kagome’s mouth had fallen open and she stared at the boards. "H-how did you do that?" she asked.

"I’m strong, Kagome," he said.

She nodded. "I guess so." She looked at the table. "Um, could you help me carry the table out to the garage?"

Inuyasha nodded. He walked to the table and grabbed it around the middle. He lifted it easily and carried it out the door. Kagome blinked for a moment and ran after him to show him where to put it.

***

While Kagome was in awe over Inuyasha’s strength and they were also busy carrying stuff out to the front curb, Sango was just wrapping up her homework. She stretched and sighed happily. The program was running perfectly.

"Is there anything you need, Sango?"

Sango’s head whipped around. "Oh, it’s just you, Miroku. No, there’s nothing I need." She turned back around to admire the lovely craftsmanship that was her program.

A cough made her turn back around. "Yeah?" she asked.

"I’m sorry to have disturbed you with my cough, Sango."

She nodded and turned back around. A second later, she felt a hand on her back. "Yes?" she said turning around.

The hand slid around to her front in a very inopportune place.

A black look came over Sango’s face. "I’ve had it!" she said loudly.

Miroku retracted his hand almost sheepishly. "Will you send me back to the center now, Sango?" he asked mildly.

Sango’s face turned a complete blank. Then she blinked at him in surprise and stared. Miroku didn’t move a muscle. "Why would you say that?" she asked finally.

"Because you are upset with me, Sango. I am not what you intended, Sango."

Sango heaved a huge sigh and rubbed her forehead with her right hand. "No, you’re not," she admitted. What am I supposed to do with him, she thought. I’m not sending him back to the center right away, not until I know if we could get to know each other better.

Deciding to change the subject, she asked, "What do you think about your curse?"

Miroku looked down at his hand. "That is the reason you are sending me back, Sango." He stopped. Sango waved him on. "It has prevented me from being considered to be a husband, having the expectancy for a long life, and from being in several good households, Sango." He looked up and waited for her response.

Sango tried to find some words. She was feeling a surge of compassion and wanting to help him, but she usually got into trouble when she leapt into something without thinking it through first.

She peeked up at him. He was just standing there looking at her. "Miroku, would you sit down in that chair over there?" she asked. Miroku walked to the chair that she liked to lounge in and sat down. She cleared her throat. "I’m not sending you back to the center."

No change in his expression. "Miroku, what do you think about that?"

"Slaves generally do not think, Sango. I will do as I am told, Sango."

Sango tried to keep the anger off her face. "Miroku, I want to know what you think."

"I do not know why you would keep me, Sango," he answered.

Sango interpreted that to the best of her ability. He’s unsure why I’m keeping him if I’m not happy. "You said that your curse has kept you being in several households. What happened?"

"My hand wandered to several ladies including my masters, Sango. They did not like it or the cure so they sent me back, Sango." Miroku answered solemnly.

"They all sent you back because they didn’t want to marry you?" Sango asked. Miroku nodded. "And that’s why you think I’m going to send you back?" Miroku nodded. "No."

Miroku just sat there.

Sango nodded firmly. She pointed at his face. "That’s why I’m not happy."

"It’s my face that makes you unhappy, Sango?" Miroku asked mildly.

Sango shook her head. "Uh-uh. It’s your attitude."

"I can try to be more pleasant."

Sango clasped her head in her hands. "I don’t want you to be a slave." He stared at her blankly. "Throw something. Get angry. Tell me your opinion about what clothes you want to wear. Anything!" She looked at him expectantly.

"I cannot, Sango."

Sango stormed out of her chair. Before Miroku knew it, she had one hand on each arm of the chair and was leaning forward. "Let’s see if this computes. I won’t marry a drone. I might marry Miroku," she said forcefully.

It was such an easy step for his head to tilt up towards hers and kiss her.

Sango felt soft lips meet her own and for a split second she enjoyed it. It was the first motion he’d made on his own.

She pushed away from the chair and Miroku. She stared at him with confusion in her eyes. "Was that Miroku or the curse?" she asked stammering.

"I don’t know, Sango," he said.

"Find out," she suggested.

"Sango?" Kagome called from outside the room. "I’m almost through cleaning the spare room. Did you want to come take a look at some stuff?"

"Sure!" Sango called back. She turned back to Miroku. "How about we go to the library after dinner?" Miroku nodded.

***********************************

Yani Cardaria: In the beginning, I had planned on adding Shippo as either Kagome or Sango's brother. When it came time to write, I completely forgot about him. So, no, he's not in the story.

ArtemisMoon: Well, you read it before anyone else did and commented on it. That's why I said you edited it. I'm shy, darn it!

Princess Sapphire: Yes, Naraku has a small cameo appearance in this and so does Hojo.

Unnamed person: Which idea was that?

DemonZora: I'm engaged, so I'd have to have my Ryan tag along.

HiaiHakusho: Like I said above, I'm shy. The people who have my stories asked for them.

IceFire: No, this going to be a 'get these two couples together' fic.

Kenya Skadi: No, Sesshoumaru is not Kikyo's slave.

Chibi Neko-chan: My site doesn't have the dubbed version. I can't figure out why anyone thinks it does. It has sound files from the dubbed version on Cartoon Network. You want to download WinMX for the dubbed versions.