Even after so many years with Sango by his side, it never got any easier for Miroku. In fact, as time went on, he found that he needed her more and more. It positively frightened him, the depth of his desire, and the abject misery he was plunged into during her numerous absences from the village.

Kaede watched him from afar. What a pathetic shell of a man he'd become since Sango had left on her latest excursion, this time to a week-long taijiya's convention in Edo. This latest trip was absolutely the worst. His robes draped haphazardly on his frame, smeared with filth and food. Instead of a neat ponytail, his unkempt hair hung in greasy strands on his shoulders. He smelled pretty bad. She eyed him as he stumbled down the main village path, burdened by a heavy bundle he was carrying, a desperate look in his bleary, sleep-deprived eyes.

Each time his path crossed that of a woman, he asked the same tired question. "Please, miss, will you bare my child? It's a matter of some urgency." Of course, he got the same response from all the maidens he accosted- they fled, without even bothering to slap his face. Kaede hated to see the helpless state Miroku was reduced to without the woman he loved.

As if an answer to prayer, Inuyasha stepped out of one of the village huts and into the pathway. "Inuyasha!" Miroku cried. "How fortuitous that I've found you! Please friend, I must ask you- will you bare my child?" Miroku's left eyebrow was twitching by this time.

"Kuso!" swore Inuyasha. "So...looks like Sango left you alone with the kids again. For Kami's sake, yes I'll help you change the baby's diaper, ya pathetic loser. Hand 'im over and we'll bare his little ass and get the job done."

A/N: Would you believe, when I first started reading fanfics, I was all freaked out, thinking, "OMG, all my life I thought it was BEAR my child; I'm so stoooopid!" I looked it up this week, turns out I was right all along...