Should I keep updating every few days, or is it too fast? Does it ruin the dynamic tension? Let me know.

Klutz82 - I'm glad you changed your mind, it makes me very happy. I think a lot of people are just passing it over, which makes the people who actually do read it that much cooler. I'm thrilled to see you're enjoying it too. I update for the continuance of your love!

A. Nonny Mouse - You're welcome! Or thank you! Whatever! :)

Vilja - Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, and I've read it over enough times to make sure I tied up all the lose ends. My last response was from a Weird Al movie...basically you pointed out the one thing that no one else has commented on. Miroku was thinking about going to a strip club because he's pissed at Sango and her treatment of him - it would be a way to get her back-, and Kohaku's "I just talked to her" was meant in the sense of "I have just seen her and spoken to her, therefore you must be insane if you think she's not here." I'm glad I've become more less obvious. I hope to throw a few more unexpected curves in before the end. ;)

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10- Straight

"Las Vegas got a pinup girl/ They got her armed..." - Tori Amos

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Sango got knocked up on our couch during a very busy week at the beginning of September, a little more than a year after out wedding.

Classes at the university had just started, and I was busy trying to balance my preparations for my TA class, my seminar, and working on a very overdue section of my dissertation. Sango was researching and writing an article for Harper's, an assignment that had been transferred to her at the last minute, and she was going to come in just under the wire.

We had barely seen each other for days. There were papers scattered all around the house, take-out boxes in odd places. We had no groceries, the laundry was piling up, Sango had forgotten to renew her birth control pills and I had no rubbers, so when we fell onto the couch in desperation and sheer horniness, we relied on that "natural family planning" bullshit, and Sango assured me she was in the clear.

She had counted her days wrong.

We thought she had the stomach flu, but when she'd been feeling unwell for two weeks, both of us knew.

Neither of us could say it, however.

We wanted a family, of course. The problem was my hand.

I'd started waking up in the night, my hand throbbing, barely able to hold a pencil or fork the next day. The pain would fade for a week, and then come back.

Time was starting to run out.

We were having a quiet dinner when, after two months without her period, Sango put down her fork, folded her hands, rested her chin on them and said.

"I'm pregnant."

I looked up at her.

"I know."

"I just thought I should say it. Finally get it out so we can't ignore it anymore."

"Baby," I reached across the table and pried one of her hands loose, taking it in mine, "I don't want to ignore it."

"Are you happy?"

"What kind of question is that? Unless I'm not the father, of course I'm happy."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Start letting your jeans out?"

"This is serious, Miroku!" Sango pulled her hand from mine. "You know what I'm talking about!"

"The Spiderwebs WPS is in May. You'll be pretty far by then, but-"

"No."

"No what?"

"No you're not going to risk everything on that."

"Well what else do you want me to do?"

"Find another way."

"What other way? You know that Naraku doesn't take deals, bribes, or anything unless you win the game."

"There's always another way!"

I heard the break in her voice, and I got up, walking to her chair and kneeling down in front of her.

"Sango, let's not fight right now. Please let's not fight. Let's be happy." I gave her the best smile I could. "We're gonna have a baby, Sango, and I'm going to be there at the end like I was at the beginning, right by your side."

I lifted up her shirt and kissed her stomach, and she hugged my head.

By the time she got her first ultrasound two months later, I already knew I was going to play the biggest game in town.

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Mumbling.

Something cool and wet on my forehead.

A soft hand rubbing mine.

"I think he's waking up."

"Miroku? Can you hear me?"

My eyelids weight a ton, and when I finally get them up the mishmash of blurred colors is so sickening I can barely keep from gagging. Eventually things start to smooth out, and Kagome's face is peering down into mine, concern etched into every bright young feature on her pretty face.

"Miroku?"

Kagome/here/InuYasha/we've got a plane to catch/Ayame/Kohaku just talked to her/barefoot and pregnant/124-

"SANGO!" I bolt upright, sending Kagome flailing off the bed as InuYasha runs from where he's been leaning in the corner to catch her.

"Shit, man!"

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?" I can feel tears in my eyes as I clench the comforter beneath me. All the lights are on - Vegas's day-lit night has come while I was out. I take a deep breath. "And how long was I like this?"

Obviously, enough time for Kagome and InuYasha to get here from Chicago.

"You were exhausted." Kagome takes her seat on the bed again and pushes me down. I slap her hands away.

"Answer the other question."

Her expression sours and she folds her arms.

"We didn't do anything to you. Sango called us this morning saying she was here, you'd both qualified, and she wanted us to come to support you both. We got on the next flight we could. Your phone was off and besides, we thought you knew. Kohaku knew."

She points to the chair by the window, where Kohaku is sitting with Kagura in his lap, their hands linked together over her stomach, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut and force my brain not to think about Sango and I in that same position not so long ago.

"That's why I was so confused earlier today." His voice is soft, it's hard to be angry at him. "When you said you came alone. Cuz I'd just talked to her down on the floor and she hadn't said anything about you two being... whatever you are right now."

I swallow and nod.

"Kouga and Ayame?"

"They went to find a KFC." InuYasha's voice is bitter, probably because he and Kouga used to be rivals for Kagome's affection, and he's never quite forgiven the other demon. "Said you'd be hungry when you woke up."

"And they didn't know either?"

"Miroku, why would anybody know?" Kagome picks up the washcloth that had been on my head before it wets the sheets too much. "She didn't tell anyone. I can't even imagine what would possess her to come right now."

"She's angry at me." I say. "She wants to stop me from winning. She didn't want me to come, and now that I'm here she wants to wreck my chances. She came to yell at me and throw more books at my head."

InuYasha raises his eyebrow at the last part, but he shakes his head.

"Sango wouldn't do that to you. She's probably still really pissed, but I don't think she came to fuck you over."

I can't nod. I don't trust his words. I look at the clock beside my bed, and groan. It's 11:30. I have exactly 12.5 hours, and then I'm due at my date with destiny. And Sango will be waiting.

I lay back down, rub my face, hoping to clear away the tears that I can still feel.

At least now I know why Sango wasn't answering the phone.

Somehow, it's no comfort at all.