Kagome had been acting strangely all day, Inuyasha thought. First she had insisted that he not work in the fields today, and they had instead spent the day sitting in front of the fire and reminiscing about their adventures three years prior.
And then she had insisted on making a fancy meal, her own attempt at ramen that she had been trying to perfect ever since she had returned to the Feudal Era. It had been delicious, and he certainly wasn't complaining, but still. It wasn't like her.
And now she was insisting that they go for a walk to look at the stars. At night. In the snow.
"Aren't they beautiful?" Kagome asked, leaning into him. He had brushed the snow off the edge of the well and they were sitting on it, gazing up at the stars. Their sparkle was bright and only occasionally obscured by passing clouds. It was a perfect night for stargazing, but why did it have to be so damn cold?
"Yeah, real pretty," Inuyasha said, returning the gesture and putting an arm around her shoulders. If he was cold, he couldn't imagine how she must have felt. She was always more susceptible to temperature changes than he was, because of her fragile human body. "Are you sure you don't want to head in, though? It's kinda chilly out here."
"In a minute." Kagome squirmed out from under his arm, and Inuyasha pulled away, but she grabbed his hand and pulled him back. She shifted around so she was sitting sideways, her knees perpendicular to his leg. She squeezed his hand, and he instinctively squeezed back. "I actually didn't bring you all the way out here just to look at the stars."
"Really? Then why are we here?"
Kagome dropped his hand and began rummaging around in her pockets. "I actually have something for you."
"You do? What?" Inuyasha's ears pricked at the sound of rustling paper. She had gotten him… a piece of paper? That was worth this long, snowy trek in the cold? But when she pulled the package out, he saw that it just had paper wrapped around it, tied with a thin ribbon.
"Here." Kagome suddenly seemed shy as she thrust the paper-wrapped object towards him.
"Um, okay." He took it from her and unwrapped it. Inside was… another piece of paper, this one all rolled up. Wonderful?
"Thank you?" Inuyasha tried to make it sound sincere, but some of his confusion leaked into his voice. She had brought him all the way out here to give him a piece of paper inside another piece of paper? Was she feeling all right?
"No, you have to unroll this one," Kagome said breathily. She let out a nervous laugh as she picked it up and rolled it out. He took it from her and looked at it. It was a scroll painting of them, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, Rin, and Kaede. Miroku was holding his staff as Shippo perched on his shoulder, and Sango was standing next to them. Kaede had her hand on Rin's shoulder. And Inuyasha's picture-self had his arms around Kagome, who was beaming up at him.
"Uh… why did you get me this? I'm not forgetting something, am I?" Inuyasha's mind ran through all the possible events that he could be missing. A birthday, or was it an anniversary…?
"No, silly, it's Christmas Eve!"
"It's Christmas what now?" Inuyasha knew he couldn't have forgotten this one, because he'd never even heard of it. What on earth was she talking about?
"Christmas Eve! It's a holiday in my time where couples give each other presents and have a romantic dinner at a restaurant." Kagome blushed. "I-I couldn't do it exactly right, but I tried to make it as close as I could get!" She bent over a little, curling in on herself as though she thought that by saying the whole idea aloud, she was making herself sound ridiculous. Which, Inuyasha had to admit, was kind of true, but now that he understood what she had been trying to do, he realized it had been kind of fun.
"Was that what was with the ramen?" Inuyasha asked. She nodded furiously, red creeping further up her cheeks. "Do the stars have something to do with it too?"
"Of course!" Kagome brightened, opening up again as she explained. "In my time, couples go on a walk to look at the Christmas lights, but of course we don't have those here because they need electricity, so stars are almost basically the same thing."
Disregarding her comment about elecktricity (whatever that was), Inuyasha examined the picture again. It was wonderful, with its confident ink strokes and vivid colors. It was obvious she had spent a lot of time on it. Then a thought dawned on him.
"But I don't have anything for you."
"Oh, that's okay. I kind of just sprang this on you. Anyway," she said softly, lacing her fingers through his, "you're a good enough present for me."
Inuyasha didn't know what to say to that, so he picked up the picture again. "When did you make this? I woulda known if you had brought ink into the house. Woulda stunk up the place for days."
"I actually got Sango and Miroku to hide it for me at their place," Kagome admitted. "They didn't really get the whole Christmas thing, but they were happy to help out."
"Okay." Inuyasha was still struggling to wrap his head around the Christmas thing, so he said the next thought that came into his mind. "Uh, what exactly is this? I mean, I see it's a drawing of us, but… why?"
"It's a family portrait," Kagome said. "See, there's you and me and everybody…." Her voice trailed off as she unnecessarily pointed everyone out to him. She paused, then added, "I just wanted to make sure you knew you have a family. It's all of us."
Suddenly, Inuyasha's throat felt all choked up. This paper was more than a portrait. It was a symbol, a gift of all the things he never had until now. He tried to say something, failed, then just pulled her close and put his arms around her like in the picture.
They sat like that for a while, watching the wind blow the snow around. The night was silent yet full, the darkness surrounding them like a blanket even as it chilled them to the bone. Kagome snuggled closer, and he wrapped his arms more firmly around her. He could finally feel his voice returning.
"Next time, you gotta tell me beforehand. I hafta get you something too, you hear?"
Kagome gave a quiet laugh. "Next time."
They lapsed back into silence once more, until Kagome broke it in a thin yet determined whisper.
"Merry Christmas, Inuyasha."
"Merry Christmas, Kagome."
AN: I wrote this story as a gift for my friend for last Christmas, and I didn't want to put it online in case she saw it before I could give it to her. But it's been a year now, so I figure it's all right to put it up! (Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, not me!)