Author's note: I have read the very end of Inuyasha (the manga). This fan fiction takes place almost immediately after the end of the series. There will be spoiler-like details. You have been warned.
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...Fulfilling Gifts.
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The saccades were almost deafening in the last hours of sunlight. Inuyasha and Miroku walked the dusty road back to the village while carting bundles of rice: their payment of another job well done.
"This is the easy life…" Miroku mused.
"Keh, that's because you're not pulling the cart." Inuyasha hoisted the cart slightly.
Miroku chuckled. "Surely such a feat is easy though, compared to all of our trials."
"Yeah…" Inuyasha sounded slightly melancholy.
"You don't miss the old days, do you?" Miroku pondered.
"Well, it's not that I miss Naraku or any of the Shikon no Tama's problems, I just miss… something…"
"The adventure? The excitement? The danger?"
"Maybe… I miss protecting Kagome."
"What? You still do."
"From what, bed bugs and fleas? There's nothing that bothers us anymore. It makes me feel…"
"A little useless?"
"Say what?" Inuyasha raised his fist in anger, but quickly had to place it back on the cart to keep it from tipping over.
"It's alright Inuyasha. You can admit it. It's not a big deal. I myself felt similarly when my wind tunnel disappeared."
The hanyou looked at his dirtied feet as they continued on in silence for a moment. "But you don't seem to feel useless anymore."
"Oh, no. I don't."
"Why?"
"Because, even though Sango has never been a stronger fighter, she suddenly needs me more than ever. And nothing makes a man like me feel better than when a beautiful woman needs me."
"You sound disgusting… but of course Sango needs you. You made her have three kids in less than three years while Kagome was gone."
Miroku couldn't help himself from smiling.
"Stop that. You look like a creep when you smile like that."
Miroku laughed, "Well, anyway. Do you feel unfulfilled because you think Kagome doesn't need you?"
"No."
"Well, I think that when you get married next week, you won't feel like this anymore. You will find all sorts of new fulfillment. You should be excited."
"I am excited. But you don't have to put it like that."
Miroku snorted, "Are you a man or aren't you? You act like you haven't-"
"I haven't!"
"Oh, well, I didn't know you were waiting… like Sango made me."
"Of course I'm waiting! I have morals!"
"I have morals too! But that's beside the point…"
"The point being- I won't be feeling 'useless' when I get married?"
"Indeed. She will have you running about for strange requests of food. And she will want you to massage her aching feet all the time. And she will ask you if she looks fat and you must say she is beautiful. And you will probably get 'sat' a lot even if you're doing everything perfectly."
Inuyasha ran through Miroku's list and realized he had seen Miroku experience something similar with Sango. He flushed slightly. "Why? Because she'll be having… kids?"
"Exactly. Children are the most fulfilling gifts. You should have lots."
