So here's a one-shot I wrote. It's just something to keep everyone occupied until I update Professional Interests. Yeah.

This story is a very, very late birthday gift to Mysa.

Circumstance

-----

Sango sighed and fished the ringing cell phone out of her purse. "Hi Kagome. Now, before you even ask, the date sucked."

"Was he a dud?"

"No, he half-flaked on me..."

"How can you half-flake on someone?"

"Well, what he did was he waved to me when he got to the restaurant, started walking to our table, and then turned around to follow some scantily-clad nitwit who was leaving the restaurant's bar."

"…Oh. Do you want me to pick you up? I can just call Inuyasha and-"

"No, you are not canceling on Inuyasha. It took years for him to ask you out and I refuse to let you ruin this. I'm going to walk home; the apartment is just around the corner."

"But Sango…"

"No, I'm outside already and I have my umbrella. I will either see you before you leave with Inuyasha or tomorrow morning. Bye!" With that, Sango pressed the 'End Call' button on her cell phone and shoved it back into her purse. Opening up her umbrella, Sango started walking towards the apartment she was sharing with Kagome for the week, wishing that she hadn't worn high heels.

Turning the corner, she was only moments away from reaching the nice, comfortable warmth of her home. Even though it was incredibly dark out, she felt relatively safe. Growing up in one of the more unpleasant neighborhoods of New York had taught her that there were scarier things than walking home alone in the rain.

Sango hummed a little melody as she looked up and watched the rain fall. Suddenly, a dark figure dropped from the sky right in front of her and pushed her into a dark alley.

Sango thrashed about wildly, instinctually screaming and fighting off the person that was holding her so tightly. He simply grabbed her arms and clamped his hand over her mouth, pushing her against the brick wall. He quickly murmured a "shh!" but it did nothing to stop Sango from fighting. When the man gained some control of the situation, he whispered, "I'm not going to hurt you. Just be quiet, please." Once Sango calmed down a bit, he loosened his grip.

They stood there silently as a very large and frightening man cursed loudly and ran down the sidewalk, past the alley that hid them. When the man could no longer be heard or seen, Sango glared at the man who had rammed into her and dragged her into the disgustingly filthy passageway.

He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that. My landlord was a little upset about the rent…Or, I guess, the lack thereof. After growing up in the quiet, stereotypical suburbs of Seattle, I'm not exactly accustomed to the New York 'system.' Name's Miroku Nichiren," he said, holding out his hand.

Sango, still in shock, slowly took his hand and shook it. "I'm Sango Kobayashi…" she said, looking at him and examining his features. He had dark hair that was pulled back into a tail at the nape of his neck. His eyes were a brilliant shade of violet and she saw that he was soaking wet. Moments later, she realized that she was drenched too, and felt really cold. Suddenly feeling a cold hand on her already cold behind, Sango punched her new acquaintance.

"Sorry. I was just checking to make sure that I didn't hurt you when all of this happened."

"Sure you were," Sango said, picking up her purse. "Ah…question. The 'New York system?'"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's the, uh, the unspoken code of any place that a person must follow in order to live there peacefully."

"Oh! That." Sango laughed and Miroku smiled. She hopelessly shook off some of the water on her umbrella and turned to Miroku again. "Well then…" Sango froze for a minute and then "Good night, Nichiren-san," she huffed and with that, she turned and walked out of the alley, intent on getting back to her apartment. Miroku simply stood there, not even responding.

However, just before she left, Sango slowly turned to face Miroku once more. She sighed, feeling bad that the situation would probably leave Miroku out on the streets for a while. "…I guess you don't have a place to stay tonight, do you?"

Miroku looked at her and shook his head.

"I'm going to regret this, especially if you're some sort of criminal, but… come with me to my apartment and you can stay there for the night." Miroku smiled and made his way toward her. "Also, my friend is visiting for the week and will be staying in the other room. If you pester her, I'll have to sic her ferocious and extremely protective boyfriend on you."

"You make him sound like a dog."

"You don't know Inuyasha."

"…Good point," he said, wrapping an arm around Sango's waist and giving her a suggestive wink. "So if your friend is in one room, I suppose I'll be staying with you in the other?"

She took his arm and quickly twisted it behind his back. "Not so much." Letting go, Sango smiled sweetly and began walking home again with Miroku at her heels.

-----

One year later

-----

Sango groaned as she picked up her cell phone. "Miroku, stop calling me, I'm walking up the stairs to my apartment right now. Bye." She knew it was rather rude, but it was eight o'clock, she was exhausted, and he'd been calling her all day long.

Stepping into her apartment, Sango made her way to the light switch when the door shut behind her and she was left in the dark.

Sango rolled her eyes. "Miroku, what're you-"

"Shh!" Miroku hissed, grabbing her and holding her against the wall. He nuzzled her neck and she laughed, lightly punching him in the arm. She then pushed him away and turned on the lights.

When he wrapped his arms around her waist, she turned to look at him and asked, "Just what was that all about?"

"Well, it's the one year anniversary of the day, er, night that we met."

"And?"

Miroku shrugged. "I just thought it would be funny to reenact the whole fiasco… Without the whole angry landlord thing."

Sango raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what night you've been thinking about but that's not how things played out that night."

"It's called artistic license, darling. I only changed it a little bit. Unless, that is, you enjoy being pushed into brick walls…" Miroku trailed off, leering at his girlfriend suggestively.

Sango rolled her eyes again saying "I should never have taken you home."

"Probably not." Miroku mumbled.

"Yeah." Sango sighed. "But I'm glad that I did."

-----

So that's it. Impressed? Disappointed? Confused?

I hope you all enjoyed it. So… that's it. You may now review.