Gem: This is dedicated to my mother and an awesome friend who has helped me with so many things. She knows who she is. Aside from that, I don't own the characters.

Miroku stared silently at his friend. A friend who currently seemed to be going through some sort of either emotional or spiritual crisis. Far as he knew said friend wasn't spiritual in the least. He wondered if he would be able to get his friend to do something he did on occasion. Visit his mother's grave.

"You really need to stop beating yourself up about this. Besides it might make you feel better."

"No."

"And why not my dear friend?"

"Feh."

"That is not an answer. Sango and Kagome are gone. Go visit your parents. And quit scaring the village. They trust you but with the way you've been, I swear that you're going to snap and then have a very angry miko on your tail."

"Fine. I'm going; I'm going."

Miroku watched as his friend leapt into the trees with ease and headed off towards the west. He smiled and turned back to the village. Maybe now his friend would stop moping.

XXXXXXXX

A young man walked up to the base of a tree. There was a marker there but it was well hidden. He was surprised that it was still there after all these years. And it surprised him every time he came.

"Hey mum. I'm sorry I haven't stopped by in a while. I've been busy. We're almost done finding the fragments of the Sacred Jewel and a friend pestered me into coming. Told me I needed to quit moping. Remember how I told you about Kagome? I'm in a bit of a rut. I like her but I'm not sure if I like her past that. Would you be able to help?"

Inuyasha felt a slight breeze come up and he realized with a start that the answer was already staring him in the face. How could he have missed it? He had been rude to her at first and tried to protect both of them by pushing her away. But she proved to be just as stubborn. She came back to him time and time again.

"Thanks mum. If you see dad, pass the word along."

As he leaped through the trees back to Kaede's village, he realized what exactly Miroku had done. Parents were wonderful people even if you had caused them grief. And the visit to his mother's grave had helped. He had a strange pack. In some way each of them lost their parents. And he realized the slight irony behind everything. Sango and Kagome were practically sisters but they had lost the parent of the opposite sex. Same could be said of him and Miroku. Was that the reason the girls would always tend to leave around the same time? Were they visiting the graves of the people they loved?

Maybe he should do this more often.