A/N: A Christmas/New Years present for precious, precious friend Ale (amaayasha is her user on here), because I know she loves friendship fluff as much as I do. She's the sweetest thing ever and she deserves to have gotten this earlier, but I'm terrible and this took longer than usual :(

I hope you like it!

"Isn't it a lovely day out, today, Inuyasha?" Miroku commented as they walked along the path. His arm rested carefully around Sango's waist, who, despite being near the end of her pregnancy, insisted on getting exercise outside of Kaede's hut.

Inuyasha grunted. "Guess so. Would be better if I could stay in and not have to baby-sit you two."

"You didn't have to come with us, Inuyasha," Sango said. "We'll be fine on our own."

"Kaede doesn't trust the lecher to be alone with you too far from village," Inuyasha said with a smirk. "She thinks if anything happens to you, he won't be any help."

"That's not true!" Miroku piped up. "I am willing to risk my life for my beloved Sango." He pulled her close gently and pecked her on the lips. Inuyasha blinked at their display of affection, and something in his heart twinged. The tips of his ears dropped the slightest bit. Hoping Miroku nor Sango would notice, he hung back a little, giving them space to walk ahead of him while he trailed behind.

Sango stopped when she noticed Inuyasha was no longer right beside them, and turned around, stopping Miroku as well. "Come on, Inuyasha, walk with us, not behind us. It's been awhile since we've all talked together, anyways." She tugged her hand out of Miroku's and awkwardly made her way back to Inuyasha, giving him a gentle hug and patting his shoulder. "Don't feel left out, you're our best friend. We're always going to be together anyways, you might as well get used to it."

Inuyasha's eyes widened, darting from side to side as a blush rose to his cheeks. "Y-yeah." He glared at Miroku's grinning visage over Sango's head, and the monk put up both his hands in a show of defense.

Sango's hand twitched on his shoulder, and then her fingers clutched the material tighter. Suddenly, she gasped and flinched, both her hands flying to her stomach. "Sango?" Inuyasha took her shoulder and pulled her upright. "What's wrong?" Miroku ran over, holding his wife and earnestly trying to look at her face.

"Sango, is it the baby?" She nodded, her pain stricken face chilling Miroku's heart. Sango, both stronger than him and the most fearless person he knew, looked so weak at that moment.

His face paled, and his hands shook, coming off of her shoulders.

Inuyasha snarled. "I knew you both shouldn't have gone so far from the village! Come on, let's get her back to Kaede's, who knows what could be going wrong?" He stepped back in the opposite direction they'd been going, hesitating when neither one of them moved.

"Sango? Can you move?" She nodded shakily, and took a few steps towards him, wincing as another contraction hit her. "Damn Miroku, come on!"

But he stood stock still, staring at Sango with his mouth open and his eyes shining with fear.

"Stupid, good-for-nothing lecher…" Inuyasha mumbled under his breath, leaning down to carefully sweep Sango into his arms. "Kaede was right, Miroku, you're actually pretty useless." Sango flicked him in the nose. "I'm taking Sango back to Kaede's. Catch up with us, all right?" Without waiting for an answer, he began to bound down the path as quickly and smoothly as he could as to not jostle Sango.

"Inuyasha, you can't just leave him behind," Sango protested, "he has to be there."

"Oh, he'll be there, all right. Right now we need to get you there first, we can worry about where he is later." He looked down at her, inspecting her face for signs of pain. "You okay?"

Sango inhaled deeply. "I'm fine, I just didn't expect this to happen now."

"Does that mean that the baby's coming?"

"I'm not sure," Sango said worriedly. "It could just be pain, but it's too likely." Looking behind Inuyasha, she gnawed on her lip when she didn't see Miroku behind them. "I want Kagome," she said quietly. "She knew so many things about childbirth from those books and school of hers…"

Inuyasha grit his teeth. "Kagome's not here right now, and Kaede has never failed us. Stop worryin' so much."

Sango was silent for a while, one of her hands coming to rest on her stomach while the other lay loosely around Inuyasha's neck. Her breath caught in her throat, and she leaned into Inuyasha's shoulder, hiding her face in it. "Are we almost there?"

"Yeah," he muttered. "Don't worry, Sango, you'll be fine. You're probably made out of tougher stuff than even I am."

She let out a small laugh at the joke, and tried to swallow her discomfort. "Thank you, Inuyasha. I just hope Miroku catches up."

"I'll help you pound him if he doesn't," Inuyasha promised.

"Kaede!" Inuyasha bellowed as he barreled into the village. "Sango's hurt!"

"I'm not hurt, Inuyasha," Sango grumbled. "I am with child!"

"Same thing," he scoffed, and winced when she smacked him over the head with her palm. Even in pain, the force of Sango's hits were strong as ever.

Kaede pulled back the screen at the door and beckoned them towards her. She held the screen open so Inuyasha could duck in. She pulled the futon from the corner into the center of the hut, gesturing for him to lay her down on it.

"Fetch Rin and another village girl," Kaede ordered, "and don't come back in here, Inuyasha, unless I tell you to."

"But—"

"Go!"

Grumbling, Inuyasha did as he was told. Rin was easy to locate, behind the hut pulling weeds from Kaede's garden.

"Hello, Inuyasha-sama!" she said, waving from her position kneeling on the ground.

"Hey, kid. Listen, Kaede needs your help right now. Can you grab another girl from the village and go to Kaede's hut? They think Sango's about to give birth."

Rin nodded, wide-eyed. "Yes, Inuyasha-sama!" She hopped to her feet, dusted off her skirt, then ran around him.

"And stop calling me Inuyasha-sama!" he yelled after her. He heard her giggles as she raced into the village.

"Inuyasha!" he heard Kaede call. "Come in here, now!"

Cringing and bracing himself, he peeked into the hut, and when he saw nothing out of the ordinary, sighed in relief and strolled in. "What is it?"

"She is in her second stage of labor. Stay by her side and hold her hand."

Inuyasha blinked, but did as he was told. "Why?"

"Ouch!"

"That's why."

Inuyasha winced as Sango squeezed his hand, her nails digging into his skin with the bruising strength that only she could have.

"Where is Miroku?" Sango demanded. Her eyes were scrunched close very tightly, and her mouth twitched. Rin and another village girl Inuyasha didn't recognize ran in, armed with towels and a basin of water.

Inuyasha raised his head and sniffed the air, doing his best to ignore Sango's death grip on his hand. "He's on his way, finally. Should be here in a few minutes."

"Good," she ground out. "When he gets here, I am going to murder him. Stupid, no-good lecher wants kids so badly, he can give birth to them himself next time."

"Would love to see that," Inuyasha snorted. "Handling two of them at once, too, at that."

Sango's expression froze for a moment before she rolled her head slowly to look right at Inuyasha. "What do you mean, two?"

Inuyasha looked puzzled. "Didn't you know?"

"Know what?"

"You're having two kids, twins, you know?"

Sango's eye twitched. "No, no I don't know! And how do you know this?"

Inuyasha's ears twitched, and with his free hand, he slowly pointed to his nose.

"You had better not be joking, Inuyasha, or I swear—!"

"I'm not joking, geez!"

"Then why didn't you tell me before?" she exclaimed. "Did you not think it was important for me to know I was having twins?"

"I thought I did tell you!" he said in defense.

Sango lunged off the futon and grasped at his ears, almost reaching them for a violent twist before he carefully let go of her hand, causing her to fall back onto the futon. The sound of footsteps approaching grew louder, and Miroku burst into the hut, out of breath. Inuyasha scrambled to his feet and leapt out the door.

"Good luck, monk!"

Miroku stared after Inuyasha before rushing to kneel by Sango, taking her hand in both of his, wincing when her hand contracted harshly around one of his.

"Is everything okay, dearest?"

"Does everything look okay to you?"

"No," Miroku sighed. "I'm sorry for arriving late, it's just—"

"Never mind that now," Sango snapped. "Did you know we were having twins, or am I not alone on this?"

Miroku gave her a strange look. "Of course I knew. Don't tell me you forgot?"

"Forgot? No one told me in the first place!" Sango put a hand on her face and moaned. "I'm going to kill you and Inuyasha after this…"

Kaede fixed Miroku with a pointed glare. "Don't make her any more stressed than she already is, Miroku. Get her to think about something else."

"The joy of knowing that the next child you give birth to won't be as painful as this time?"

"That's it!" Sango shouted. "Get Inuyasha back in here, he's much more tolerable than you."

"Surely you're joking," Miroku said desperately. "I'm your husband, your one love—"

"Miroku…"

"Inuyasha! She wants you!" Miroku scrambled to his feet and stumbled away from her, not wishing to distress his wife further.

"Me? What for?" Seeing Miroku's panicked expression, Inuyasha's mouth set into a straight line. "What'd you do this time?"

"Just go in," Miroku grumbled, "and tell me to come back in when she's not mad at me anymore."

"What did you do?"

"Go!"

Inuyasha snarled, but stalked into the hut anyways, plopping down beside Sango again. "Miroku told me to come in."

"And I'm the one who told him to tell you," Sango deadpanned. "As far as I'm concerned, you're both imbeciles, but you're the more tolerable imbecile right now."

"Thanks," he muttered. He opened his palm for her to place her hand in, and braced himself this time for the pain from her tight grip.

Sango's face was twisted in an expression of pain. Her eyebrows scrunched together, and her jaw was so visibly clenched that Inuyasha was worried she might end up getting it stuck like that. His own face contorted in concern, and he leaned forward to brush her bangs away from her forehead with his free hand.

Her skin was warm, and for once, Inuyasha was glad he had cool fingers to help calm her down. Kagome always did like to joke that dogs were warm and that his hands were too cold. His fingers stroked through her hair slowly, and he carefully lifted her head to move the hair under neck away.

Sango cracked an eye open, watching him curiously. "What are you doing?"

Inuyasha's cheeks reddened. "Uh, Kagome always liked when I played with her hair. Said it made her feel calm or something." His fingers paused, still slightly angle in her hair. "Is it bothering you?"

"No," she mumbled. "It feels nice, keep going."

So he did, relaxing into a more casual position and moving his sword off to the side of the hut to get it out of the way. Her forehead and hand grew sweaty, and both he and Kaede gave her soft words of encouragement.

Miroku popped his head back in after a while, and once he made sure Sango wasn't about to kill him anytime soon, joined Inuyasha by where Sango lay, watching her with concern and patting her leg in a soothing manner. Rin and the other village girl were in and out of the hut, either to fetch something new that Kaede needed, or to keep prying villagers away.

Even with the occasional sound of pain from Sango, the hut fell into a nearly still and silent calm as they awaited the arrival of the new members of the village.

Once again, both Inuyasha and Miroku had been booted out of the hut. Miroku winced every time one of Sango's shrieks reached his ears, and Inuyasha had to grab his sleeve to keep him from rushing back inside.

After a while, the screams ceased, and a quieter one made Inuyasha's ears perk up. With a grin, he nudged Miroku in the ribs and tilted his head towards the hut. This time, Inuyasha couldn't hold him back before Miroku leapt to his feet and made a beeline for Kaede's.

"They're here?" Miroku cried as he ran inside. Kaede gave him a dry look and gestured towards Sango, whose face was still contorted in pain.

"Only one of them, Miroku-sama," Rin said. She was sitting on her heels, and in her arms and lap sat the crying child who Inuyasha had heard moments ago. She nodded him over. "Isn't she pretty?"

Miroku leaned over her to gently take his daughter from Rin, grinning at the baby's crying, bright-red face. "Of course she is. My daughter… But where is her sister?"

Kaede looked irritated now. "Wait a few more minutes and you'll see her soon."

Rin looked bemused. "You didn't think they both came at once, did you, Miroku-sama?"

"They don't?"

The next thing he knew, Miroku found himself being pushed out of the hut, his daughter tucked safely into his arms. He nearly stumbled over his own sandals but caught himself at the last second.

The crying had stopped, and the baby was now cooing quietly, wriggling back and forth slightly in the small blanket Rin had wrapped her in.

"Oi." Inuyasha appeared suddenly beside him, peering over his shoulder curiously. "Is that one of them?"

"Yes," Miroku said wistfully. "Isn't she adorable?"

"It's bright red and there are tears on its face."

"Her face, Inuyasha, not it."

Inuyasha snorted but said nothing else. "Second one is coming soon?"

"Kaede said to wait a few more minutes, and then we'll have both." Miroku clutched his daughter tighter. "Two children, Inuyasha. I feel so blessed."

"Can you even handle two?" he retorted. "At least you finally got those children you've been asking women to bear you for months."

"And I couldn't be happier." Miroku tilted his head in thought. "Maybe only if we have more."

"Wait 'n see how these two go first," Inuyasha grunted.

Once the screams of the second child permeated the air, Miroku had carefully thrust his first child at Inuyasha, eager to rush in and see his second daughter. Huffing, Inuyasha looked at the baby awkwardly cradled in his arms. The baby's nose twitched once, and it moved restlessly in the blanket. Afraid she would begin crying, he hurried to follow Miroku.

Upon entering the hut, the first thing he saw was Sango sitting up with Miroku arm behind her back to support her. Moving closer, he saw that between the two, they held the second baby, identical to the first twin, right down to the color blanket she was being held in.

Inuyasha blinked, unsure of how to break their peace and hand the baby to them, when Sango looked up at him with a broad smile. She looked tired; her hair was rumpled and her eyes were halfway closed, but her smile was bright.

"Come on, Inuyasha, sit with us. You're part of this family too."

Hesitantly, he squatted in front of them, brandishing the now sleeping baby he was holding. Sango shook her head. "You can hold her, Inuyasha, I trust you."

"Ah," he looked taken aback, "all right." He collapsed into his usual sitting style, resting the baby on his lap.

"You'll help out with the kids, right, Inuyasha?" Sango asked hopefully.

"S'not like I have anything better to do," he said. "Sure thing."

"Thanks, Inuyasha," she said tiredly. "I'm really glad to call you family."

Though he tried to hide it by ducking his head, Sango could make out the blush on his cheeks, clear as day.