Oh man, it's been ages since I posted anything. Wow.

I wrote this forever ago on tumblr for a prompt/challenge. Basically, I proofread it, and decided to post it here. For now, I'll mark this story as complete (since it is a one shot), but there might be more in the future. I have a few stories planned...

Feel free to send me more sanskag (sandbag) prompts here or on my tumblr "kagomes-lover" (link on my profile).

Introduction

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In a post resurgence world where Frisk, with the aid of one confused but willing Kagome Higurashi, freed the entirety of the monster population from the underground, the most dangerous obstacle to overcome has been without a doubt the fearful rejection of the humans.

It is this same fear that causes them to lash out at who they believe to be the instigators of their broken peace and the "invasion" of monsterkind: the monster ambassadors.

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"No, I got caught up at the hospital… yes, everything is fine. Please tell Frisk that I'm sorry for not being able to make it to movie night- oh, and say hi to Toriel and everyone for me, too." She fumbled with her keys, squishing the flip-phone between her ear and shoulder while she rushed to get the door to her one-room apartment open. She glanced behind her a total of four times before finally scurrying inside and locking herself in. Paranoia urged her to peek through the blinds of the kitchenette window, so she did, toeing her shoes off before crossing the small space quickly.

…And remembering she was still on the phone when someone cleared their throat in her ear. Kagome squeaked, "Sorry, Sans, I got… distracted. I'm okay, really… Mmhm, talk to you later." After the line went dead she flipped the device shut and sighed.

It did cross her mind to tell her skeleton friend she was being stalked, by the very same people in the old pick-up truck that just drove past the apartment complex, undoubtable searching for her, but Sans had enough on his plate already.

With Papyrus managing to get into trouble everywhere (not because he wants to of course, his lack of knowledge of human customs simply attracts misfortune), taking Frisk to school, and his own job(s), the former underground sentry was just far too busy. Telling him would only make him worry, and Frisk would be quick to pick up on it, thus dragging all of their friends into it, making one big mess.

A shudder rattled the young woman when she thought of what a certain redheaded monster would do if she ever got word of her dilemma. Oh the bodies they'd have to bury…

That's only if Undyne actually leaves anything behind when she's done…

Well, that certainly was an image she would rather not dwell on. Pushing off the counter she was leaning on, Kagome padded out of her little kitchen and across the living room to her bathroom. A bath and a good night's sleep were exactly what she needed, maybe a pain reliever too even if the effects wore off in minutes.

Little did she know, the following day would take a much harsher toll on her…

… And it'd take more than one pill to fix that.

A lot more.

When he heard what happened – or rather read- , Sans didn't bother disguising his shortcut. There was a faint blue glow around the place he was standing; Frisk watched it dissipate and clutched the abused newspaper closer.

On the front page, the headline: "Monster Ambassador Shot in Aggravated Assault; Culprits in Police Custody"

The hospital was familiar territory for Sans. He was used to phasing in to visit Kagome, usually to remind the woman she needed to eat while on her breaks, not fret over the patients. Although at first she argued, because Kagome was about as stubborn as a pig-headed mule when it was important to her, eventually she accepted his advice, and the occasional lunchbox he brought her. But now, the familiar halls of the bustling place seemed as unfamiliar as the reason he was standing in them. It was like a very, very bad joke. The worst joke ever. Paying a visit to a hospitalized nurse.

He didn't have the time nor the patience to deal with the staff so the skeleton vanished again, reappearing in the middle of a room with blue walls and an occupied hospital bed. A chill swept over him, if he had an actual heart it probably would've skipped a few beats– and not in a good way.

The last time he'd seen Kagome so pale, was when Muffet set her pet spider loose. Now she looked completely drained and fragile. There was a crisp white bandage wrapped around her head, a bruise staining one cheekbone. Then there was her torso, given what he could see thanks to the slit on the sides of the pale blue hospital gown, it was wrapped from top to bottom in more bandages. The knuckles on her right hand were scarring; there was another bandage around her hand.

White hot anger tore at his mind, the promise he'd made to Toriel all those years ago echoing mockingly in his skull. The conversation he had with Kagome herself half a week ago repeated incessantly through his thoughts, when she insisted everything was alright and there wasn't anything to her absence on movie night other than working overtime. He should've known right then it was a lie. She n-e-v-e-r missed movie night. It was almost sacred to her, because it was the one day everyone cleared out their schedules and got together for an evening of popcorn and hilariously bad movie choices. And for her to miss it because of work, and then not even call to give them a heads up? It was suspicious, but he only saw that now, after she'd taken a bullet and landed herself in the hospital.

Almost as if she felt him stewing there by the foot of the bed, Kagome cracked an eye open. "Hey there…" Her weak smile was more of a pained grimace. If she couldn't even muster the energy to nag at him about proper hospital etiquette, it had to be worse than it looked.

The skeleton floated a chair over to the side of the bed and plopped down on it, not the slightest bit happy. His usual grin was wiped clean from his face. She gulped, but needed no invitation to spill the story.

Now, Sans didn't consider himself short-tempered, in fact he thought he was a bone-fide slacker. So when Kagome admitted that she had been followed, for six whole days, by the dirty bastards that hurt her, and didn't tell him, or anyone else (not even the cops) well, something in him snapped.

His tone was drier than his bones. "kid, if this is your definition of everything being "fine", then we need to have a serious talk." He stared her down, or attempted to, because she kept avoiding his eyes. Eye sockets. Whatever.

Her uninjured hand fiddled with a loose string in the white sheet that covered her legs. "No, it's not." She let out a tiny sigh, side-eying him guiltily before focusing on the sheet again. "I… I shouldn't have lied, I'm sorry…"

Sans blinked slowly in wonder, and a fair dose of disbelief. Wow. What was he supposed to do now that she'd apologized so quickly? She was too complicated sometimes.

He leaned back in his seat. Unfair move, Kagome. Nonetheless, he still had to know why he- why they weren't in on her big secret. "seriously kagome, you should've told someone."

She fixed her grey eyes on him again and finally held his gaze. "I couldn't, Sans. Not when it would only worry you, not to mention put you and the others in danger if you got involved- and you know you would've gotten involved." She cracked a half smile, "You don't need worrying about me on top of everything else you've got on your shoulders, or trouble with humans."

For that stupid remark she got a flick on the forehead. As she yelped and rubbed the offended area, just under the bandage, he snorted. "kagome, humans now, with the exception of the kid and you, also kid, are nothing like they used to be. can't even use magic, so the dirty cheaters use guns." He gave her bandaged torso a pointed look, "and all the stuff about not needing to worry about you is stupid. Literally everyone worries about you, especially when you show up as front page news."

At that she froze. He didn't think eyes could get so wide. "F-Front page news…?" She whispered, mortified.

"Frisk needed a copy of today's newspaper for homework purposes. Guess what the big headline is." He deadpanned, enjoying every second of the completely horrified expression she was sporting. Her jaw would hit the floor if it dropped any lower.

"see, this is what happens when you lie to a concerned pal who's only trying to look out for ya. you end up in the news." He shook his head in mock shame. "don't do it again, alright?"

Even though the look he was giving her was pretty stern, the sneaky nurse still grinned at him. She grabbed his hand carefully, like he was the one in the room that was practically a mummy with all the bandages around him, and offered him a smile so sweet Sans could swear it'd give him cavities. "I promise I'll tell you if something happens to me again."

Another unfair move. He was going to have to look away, or else he'd never stop staring at her. He set his eyes on the window instead. "you better, or i'll send pap to stand guard at your front door."

He smiled as her laughter filled the room.

Prompt: "I shouldn't have lied."

Words: 1,571

Please tell me what you think! And send me more prompts or scenarios if you'd like more sandbag content ;)

Thanks for reading~!