Disclaimer: I do not own the Inuyasha characters, manga, anime, movies, etc. They belong by copyright laws to Rumiko Takahashi et al.

****Wait! If you did not read Her Knight to the very end, please do so now!****

A/N: I apologize to all of you who are ready to tear into me for the way I ended the last story. I wanted to give Sango and Miroku their own romantic tale while at the same time explaining what happened while Inuyasha and Kagome were in Modern Japan. Also, I wanted a bit of a plot in this one so I left a cliff hanger in the epilogue of Her Knight. If you haven't read the last chapters of that story, please do so now because this won't make sense to you if you don't.

Her Monk

Prologue

Sango and Kagome were making themselves comfortable on the edge of the hot springs' clearing when Miroku came snooping by. His excuse was of course that he was worried about them and he had apparently been very convincing because both young women spotted the red of Inuyasha's haori in the trees. "We're fine," Sango gritted out, refusing to have an audience for her recitation.

"Inuyasha, take Miroku back to the village. Kirara will protect us if anything happens." The half demon noticed his beloved's smile but also saw the warning glint in the miko's eye.

"C'mon, Miroku. The girls are fine, they're even dressed. I can hear them if they yell." Not wanting to anger Kagome to the point that she "sat" him, Inuyasha pulled the monk away.

Kirara watched their progression and kept an ear out until she was sure they were once again with the elderly priestess. "Mew!" she said to let the girls know it was all clear. Shippou had long since fallen asleep which was just as well. That way he couldn't repeat what the demon slayer said to the guys.

"Okay, so I guess you want me to start at the very beginning."

"From the night we got hurt onward, please."

"Well, we were sitting with Kaede as usual when Inuyasha came to tell us he was leaving to check on you. We thought he was merely anxious to have you back with him so we didn't pay any attention until he didn't come back with you the next morning. And since the night of the new moon was that night, we were even more startled that you guys weren't back by sundown."

"You guys became worried."

"I tried shrugging it off as you getting him to stay in your time where it was safer. Miroku was confident that was the reason." Sango rubbed her arm, a spot on it tingling with the memory. "It was finding Shippou at the well waiting that finally convinced us our worries weren't just our overactive imaginations."

"I'm sorry," Kagome placed her hand on Sango's arm, pulling back in surprise at the heat radiating from the spot she had been rubbing. "Sango, your arm!" the miko pulled up the slayer's kimono sleeve to find a pink emblem seemingly burned into Sango's flesh. The crest of the Taisho clan was clear to both girls and Kirara mewed with concern. "That's the Taisho crest, what is going on?"

Getting a closer look, the fire cat roared and transformed. The surge of youki shocked Shippou awake. "What's wrong?"

"Get on Kirara, Shippou, we have to get to Lady Kaede's immediately."

Inuyasha met them half way, having felt Kirara's demonic energy flare. Miroku was already having his arm looked at by Kaede but so far the elder miko had nothing to offer in the way of advice. "It's my family's crest but I don't understand how it got there." He tried to comfort both girls but saw it wasn't working.

"I believe, Inuyasha that you are going to have to apply to your brother for help." The half demon didn't like the notion but he would do it if it meant the members of his pack would be safe.

"Yeah, first thing, I'll go look for him. You two stay here." The two marked humans nodded in agreement. Kagome placed her hands on their arms, hoping to purify the energy and get rid of the crest. Power sparked but other than removing the burning, her reiki did nothing to the mysterious marks.

As it turned out, Inuyasha didn't have to go looking for his brother at all. He had spent a good portion of the morning arguing with Kagome about going back home so by the time he was ready to leave for his search, it was midday. By then he could feel his brother's youki so he waited with the rest for the demon lord to come to him.

Kohaku, who had left the morning after the first celebration, was being forcefully dragged back and dropped at his sister's feet. "You have misplaced something, slayer."

"Kohaku?" she asked, not wanting to anger the taiyoukai at the moment. She needed his help after all.

"I wish to travel with Lord Sesshoumaru for a while, aneue. You're going to be marrying Miroku-sama and you don't need me in the way."

"Kohaku, you are never going to be in the way. As for traveling with Lord Sesshoumaru, you will have to ask his permission."

"Can I, sir? I want to learn from you to become a better taijiya. I'll look after Rin when you have to leave her. Jaken isn't the best nursemaid."

"You insolent brat! How dare you insult me…" The imp along with Rin and Ah-Un had caught up to the others.

"Jaken." The boy slayer had a point and it would be a fair trade. Rin was not the easiest child to keep track of. While he enjoyed her frequent escapades that bedeviled the retainer, he didn't like it when she got into trouble because of her curiosity. "Very well, then. You may come and study with me in exchange for looking after Rin." It went without saying what would happen if the little girl got hurt on Kohaku's watch.

"Thank you, sir. Aneue?"

"Come back and visit, Kohaku. I've missed my little brother."

"We will, Sango-sama!" Sesshoumaru almost grinned when Rin took the option out of Kohaku's hands. He turned to go but Inuyasha halted his leave taking.

"Oi, we got a question for you. What does it mean when the crest of our clan appears on a human?" Thunderous didn't come close describing the demon lord's face, Kagome thought when the two brothers suddenly came nose to nose. Inuyasha was being held up by his haori, startled by his brother's reaction.

"Who gave you the authority to bring humans into the clan?"