Chapter Text
***Disclaimer! I do not own these characters! They are property of Rumiko Takahashi! I gave names to 3 nameless children, but the characters are not mine!****
"Miroku!" Sango called. She nearly had dinner ready. She had asked him to take their rambunctious children outside while she finished up. Today they were on her last nerve. The twins, Izumi and Shinju, had managed to find and quietly exploit a nearby mud puddle. They got so completely filthy, that on top of her usual daily chores, she had to stop and give them each a bath, as well as wash their kimonos. After that, they decided to take tiny Kichirou and practice acrobatics with him. Izumi lay on her back and hoisted Kichirou into the air by laying him on his stomach on her feet. He had his arms out wide like a bird as Shinju somersaulted overtop of them both. No one was injured, but Sango's heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Since then, she'd kept all three of them within her deadly sights, anxiously waiting for Miroku and InuYasha to return to the village.
Now they were all outside the house, Miroku laughing as his daughters wanted to terrorize poor InuYasha's soft puppy-dog ears. At least Kichirou seemed content to sit in his father's lap and suck quietly on his thumb. Kagome would be coming up from Kaede's any moment with Rin in tow, and within the hour Shippo would be coming back as well. Just a normal evening for Sango these days, since Naraku's defeat and Kagome's celebrated return.
"No, no, that's not how ya do it!" she heard InuYasha say. "Watch me!" Sango groaned. As much as she loved InuYasha, he had yet to become a father, although he and Kagome had just found out that she would be giving birth in the fall. He had no idea that four year-olds would mimic every word and every movement they found interesting or funny. He should have learned his lesson after she caught Izumi and Shinju saying "fuck" back and forth to one another and laughing hysterically. She had to spank both the twins and InuYasha that day! She wished Kagome hadn't relieved him of his subjugation beads; she would have traded anything for a nice series of "sits" on him.
She peeked out the door to see what her children would be learning next. InuYasha took a running start and flipped through the air, twisted halfway through, and landed facing the direction that he started from. The short statue that Miroku placed in the yard to ward of evil spirits was easy enough for InuYasha to clear, but she was sure if her daughters tried such a move they would be banging their heads against the stone.
"InuYasha!"
He stopped in his tracks. He knew that tone of voice, and was afraid to look at Sango, who glowered at him in the doorway. Finally he swallowed and met her gaze.
"Monkey see, monkey do, remember?" Her eyes were furious.
His face lightened. "I know! That's why I was showing Shinju the right way!"
She marched out the door and bonked him on the head with the spoon she was using to stir dinner with. "I'm still a demon slayer ya know! Just because I got married and had three kids doesn't mean I can't still take you out with the Hiraikotsu!" InuYasha shrank away from her, obviously a little more than afraid of what she could do with her enormous boomerang.
"And you sir-" she glared at Miroku, "you should do a better job of keeping InuYasha… what is it Kagome says? Oh- kid friendly!" She turned back to InuYasha. "He could keep you from getting into so much trouble if he wanted to. All he has to do is tell you to stop being stupid in front of them. Blame him for the lump on your dull head!" She smiled sarcastically in Miroku's direction and then giggled on the way back inside.
"Hey! I'm not the bad guy here!" Miroku smiled down at his son. "Those women, always ganging up on us men, aren't they?" Kichirou only smiled as he continued to suck his thumb.
"You said it!" InuYasha agreed. He looked up to see his lovely Kagome walking up the path from Kaede's hut, looking happy and already very pregnant, tired and ready to rest. He went to her and carried her the rest of the way, and as soon as her feet touched the ground she was overcome by tiny hands and faces, each wanting her attentions. Her face glowed with happiness as the girls asked her questions about her day, and Kichirou only wanted to smile and bat his lashes as she held him and patted his back.
"A real lady killer, just like his old man," InuYasha told Miroku. "Just wait till he gets his first slap. That's gonna bring back a lot of memories I bet."
"Ha!" Miroku laughed. "Kagome says that your child is going to be the able to kick the heads off demons on the day he's born, with all that kicking and jumping and moving it does almost all the time."
InuYasha smiled. He was so excited about becoming a father. He hadn't known his own old man, but he saw how Miroku was with his kids. Miroku's children were happy and healthy, and Miroku and Sango made sure they all knew how much they were loved, no matter what kind of trouble they got into. If that was the secret, then InuYasha felt he could be just as good a Papa as Miroku, and so most of this time spent around their house was InuYasha's way of studying up on how to be a good father.
"Dinner's ready everyone," Sango said as she stuck her head out the door. "Izumi wash those dirty hands right now please… Shinju you can't bring the rock inside, sweetie."
"Awwww!" she said as she dropped it at her feet. She pouted as she walked in, while Izumi raced to the water barrel at the side of the hut, dipping some water out with a gourd and rinsing the dirt from her fingers. Kagome carried Kichirou while InuYasha spotted Rin and motioned for her to hurry up. Miroku brought up the rear as they all joined together for their usual evening meal together.
Ever since Kagome had come back, they came together this way every night. In their travels, they had gotten used to eating and sleeping together, and at times even bathing together. The time that Kagome spent in her own era caused everyone to feel lost and separated. The day she came back was the day sunshine filled everyone's lives again. So to celebrate their camaraderie and to remember the time they all shared together on the paths and trails of Japan, they'd taken to eating at least one meal together everyday. It was almost mandatory and felt as old as tradition.
"Sorry I'm late guys!" Shippo said as he ran breathlessly in the door. Now the family was all here, and dinner began in earnest. It had a tendency to be loud in the cramped house, after all there were usually eight people (nine if you count Kichirou's jabbering) trying to talk to each other in a small space, and if you weren't talking to the person directly beside you, of course it was going to get loud. No one ever complained though. If someone wasn't there, like Kagome and InuYasha when she first became pregnant and was sick nearly all the time, people remarked how quiet it was.
After their nightly "feast" was over, Shippo helped Rin with the dishes and Miroku and InuYasha went outside to the plum tree where they shared a kiseru* when the weather was nice.
"I remember the first time you smoked, InuYasha," Miroku said fondly, as repacked the bowl of the pipe. "You choked and gagged and swore you'd never touch the stuff again, and now you almost hog all the tobacco for yourself. I think I might need to get a second pipe just for you!"
InuYasha smiled at the memory. It seemed such a long time ago… He had taken to occasionally having a puff with Miroku as he pined away for Kagome during the three years that the bone eater's well was closed off to them. Before either of them knew it, InuYasha had started buying the tobacco about half of the time.
"Yeah, I think you might be right. I never thought I'd catch on to it, but-" he took a puff and then handed the pipe back to Miroku, inhaling the smoke deeply, "I never thought I'd get past the coughing either," he said as the smoke puffed out of his mouth with every word. "Now if I could only blow the rings!"
The sun was beginning to set, and after saying their goodbyes Kagome and InuYasha walked hand in hand back to their house. The others soon left as well, and Miroku and Sango set about getting the children to sleep.
"Mama," Izumi said as she settled under the blanket, "can you tell us about before we were born? Back when you and Papa were out in the countryside?"
Sango smiled. They loved to hear about the adventures she and Miroku shared with InuYasha, Kagome and Shippo. "Well, there was this one time when we were following the priestess Tsubaki…" she said thoughtfully, as she recounted to her daughters how the dark priestess had put up a strong barrier around the temple where she had trained, and then how her temple sisters, the rookie Red and White priestesses, had created shikigami doubles of Kagome and InuYasha from strands of their hair. The girls listened with enchanted eyes as she told them how they over came the giant paper dolls with InuYasha's Kaze no Kizu, leaving out the part where Papa had felt of the priestesses' rears both before and after the fight.
"And if we hadn't fought them that day, history would have gone a different route and I then I would not be so lucky to have you two, or your brother, or your brave Papa." She smiled as her daughters yawned and snuggled down into the blankets. "Now sleep well my dears, I will see you in the morning." She kissed each of them on the cheek, including Kichirou, who had conked out just as the story was getting good. She stepped outside and heaved a sigh of relief, knowing her day's work was finally finished. She stretched her back, hearing a series of crackling pops run up her spine, and then felt her husband's strong hands at her waist as he kissed her sweetly on the neck.
"I love you more with every passing day," he whispered in her ear as he embraced her from behind. She was content in her husband's arms and kissed him on the cheek as his head laid on her shoulder. The only thing that was missing was her nightly puff on the pipe and the little cup of sake. Sango gently stepped away from Miroku to grab the bottle that she sealed and kept in a special trunk on the side of the hut. To the normal eye it looked like a simple storage bin filled with stones. Actually that was just a disguise, because inside was a modest cache of sake, precious oils and sacred incense. The stones were mostly to weigh the top down to keep little fingers from lifting the lid. They also served as a decoy to the common passerby.
Sango retrieved the bottle that was already opened and the two small cups and went to join Miroku under the plum tree. He had packed the pipe for her as she poured them a drink each. After corking the bottle, she lit the pipe Miroku had made for her with a twig from a small fire he'd started between them.
"Mmm," she said as she drew the smoke in. "InuYasha made a good choice this week." She had started when InuYasha did, but she and Miroku were the only ones who knew about her habit. Sango didn't think it was proper for a woman to smoke in front of others. She took exactly three puffs and one cup of sake every night before bed; she believed it relaxed her tired muscles and cleared her mind enough so she could sleep soundly.
"Yes, he's become quite the expert on that new shredded tobacco. I told him he could make a fortune shredding it at his house just using the iron reaver soul stealer!" He grinned at her as she easily blew five smoke rings and then giggled.
"What an honorable profession!" she said. "Beats the hell out of scamming villagers with false exorcisms."
"Hey, what I do is legitimate! I don't cheat anyone!" He sounded angry, but his eyes were smiling. "Besides, we need to keep the food stockpiled around here. You never know when someone's going to come up pregnant and then we'll have another mouth to cook for."
"I hope you're talking about Kagome because we have enough to take care of as it is!" She sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk. "I love my babies, but some days they are truly a handful." She downed the cup in one swig, and took the last puff from the kiseru. She handed it back to Miroku and asked, "Can you fill it again? I'm not feeling relaxed like I usually do."
Miroku thought it strange that she would double up her nightcap. Granted he smoked four times as much, and sometimes more than that. But Sango had been perfectly happy with three puffs for over three years… This was the first time she'd ever taken more than one turn at the pipe.
What surprised him even more was that she had uncorked the sake bottle and refreshed both their drinks. "What's troubling you my love?" he asked as she stared into the fire. He finished packing the bowl for a second time and handed the kiseru to her once more.
She played with it before lighting it this time. She smelled of the unburned leaf shreds, ran her fingers over the delicate carvings on the ivory kiseru, and then palmed the tiny silver bowl.
"Do you ever miss it?" Her beautiful soft eyes were lost in time, thinking back to days long gone. "Do you ever miss the days we spent hunting down Naraku?"
Miroku looked down at his right hand, the wind tunnel having only left a faint scar in the center of the palm. Honestly, he was glad it was over. He was glad to have his peaceful hillside with his family and closest friends nearby. He wanted to live out the rest of his days without having to ever fight a demon ever again. He thought back on those times now, and could only remember the desire in his heart to kill Naraku in order to save his own life from the kazanna in his hand, and to have Sango by his side as his wife. Now that he had finally accomplished both of those goals, and the addition of his three children, he could honestly say he had no desire to wander the countryside ever again.
"I don't know," he said, however, wanting to know how Sango felt about it. "I guess sometimes I miss it. There were some really good times. But there were also some really bad times, and I certainly don't miss all the awkwardness we had between each other. Sango, please tell me what you're thinking."
She lit the pipe and drew the smoke deep, blowing it out through her nose like a dragon, and in that moment, Miroku thought she looked frightening. "I was born to be a demon slayer. I trained to kill from an early age every unholy thing that walked the face of the earth. I have owned eight sets of armor just from doing what I did before we met. I miss the excitement of battle, the rush of flinging my Hiraikotsu, the thrill of victory over my opponent." She had a far away yet lustful look on her face. Miroku could sense the ache in her voice. She sighed quietly. "Now my only victories are when Kichirou doesn't wet himself and I get the wash done and hung up before the girls even wake up" She pulled her second draw from the pipe. "My only excitement is chasing a spider from a dark corner of the house and my only rush is the one I get from the sake at night." As if to reiterate this, she downed the cup again in a single gulp. When she went to refill it a third time, Miroku's hand reached out and touched hers lightly.
"I think that's enough Sango. You'll have a pounding headache in the morning if you go any further with the wine." This was almost too much. Sango seemed sad that Naraku had been defeated and that they were finally a family at peace. Maybe I should stay home for a few days with her he thought. Maybe she's been overwhelmed lately and just needs a little help for a few days.
Sango drew the last puff from her second round of tobacco and then knocked the ashes out of the bowl into the tiny fire Miroku built. She handed the pipe back to him and said, "You're right. I've had too much already. I'll put everything away."
"I'll get it," Miroku said quickly. "Why don't you go on to bed, I'll be in shortly." She smiled and kissed him, and then made her way into the house.
I can't believe she's homesick for the wilderness he thought as he put out the fire. All those nights they slept outdoors on the hard, cold ground; all those days they spent searching for the jewel shards and very nearly getting killed half the time. She was missing the miasma and the treachery of Naraku and his fiendish incarnations? This seemed very serious. Very serious indeed, and he decided then that he needed to spend more time with her to get to the bottom of all this.
He stepped inside the house where she had settled down beside Shinju, and then he settled himself next to Sango, where he held her tightly until she fell fast asleep. Finally he rolled over himself and found his own rest, and the sky overhead silently spun on.
* Kiseru is a long thin tobacco pipe with a small bowl that originated in China in the 13th century. Eventually it made its way to Japan, along with tobacco, where it was first sold in solid leaves and then finely shredded close to the end of the Sengoku period.
Lyrics to Time property of Pink Floyd
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way