1

AN: I am sorry, there seem to have been some technically difficulties that resulted in some mess with the writing. I hope it is now solved...

Hana: Ichigo? Do you know what today is?

Ichigo: Tuesday, the first of December?

Hana: Mhm. The first of December and do you know, what this means?

Ichigo: Ah, I almost forgot. Christmas is within the next 24 days!

Hana: And what do you suggest to do about it? Do you want to sit back and watch it approach?

Ichigo: Definitely not! That would be boring. Let's try something really awesome *jumps up and down in excitement*

Hana: *grins* And what would that be? *titles her head*

Ichigo: Well… I have some ideas for short stories, but they would not make up something extraordinary long…

Hana: We could write them down and upload one story per day?

Ichigo: If you add some too, and I'm sure you have lots of ideas, we could create an advent calendar.

Hana: As you mention it… I do have some ideas. Okay. Let's try to do an advent calendar. And I already have an idea to make it more interesting for us and our reader.

Ichigo: Tell me!

Hana: We could include one riddle per story and who solves the most, answering via PM, can determine one of the stories we uploaded to extend to a "full story".

Ichigo: Now that would be interesting. But it requires a lot of participation from our readers. I hope they are interested. At least I know we will have a lot of fun during the next days.

Hana: I am sure of it ^^ So on with our first "door": I don't own Inuyasha.

The Lord of the kitchen

The doorbell rang. The silver haired dog demon looked up from his book, while he sat on the couch in the living room. Rin's friends are here. Now it is over with the calm and peace this one likes so much. Deliberately Sesshomaru pulled the book closer to his nose, his golden eyes narrowed, as he awaited the immediate reaction his wife always showed, when her friends came to visit.

Sure enough he heard the tapping sound of steps overhead. They wandered towards the staircase, descending in a quick rhythm. "I'm coming!", Rin yelled at the top of her lungs. Sesshomaru flinched. She always has to yell and forget about this one's sensitive hearing when this Sesshomaru is not around… He saw his wife passing the door to the living room. The petit woman was taming her brown hair into the strange side ponytail she preferred since childhood. Sesshomaru noticed the apron she wore since midday, as Rin went to open the door.

Rin pulled her hair into her favourite side tail and dusted her apron off. She opened the door. This is going to be so much fun! Three girls stood in front of it. All, whom were a few years older than Rin – at least according to their appearance.

"Rinnie!", they simultaneously called out and tackled her in a hug. "Hi you guys", Rin laughed. Her big brown eyes shone with mirth. "Haven't seen you in quite some time…"

"And the reason for that is coming right towards us.", the red haired woman said with twinkling green eyes. Her pointed ears twitched slightly and being the wolf demon Ayame was, her prediction came true. A tall figure appeared in the door of the living room.

His golden eyes stared indifferently, if not a little annoyed at the bunch of women in the corridor of his house. Oh no… I forgot about his hearing. Again. "Hello Sesshomaru", the smallest of the three guests said. Her raven hair floated around the middle of her back, as she turned towards the man. "Ayame already heard you coming."

"Hn", was Sesshomaru's only response. She pouted slightly, causing the last of the guests, a tall woman with long light brown hair to giggle: "Still the same. Not even Kagome can make him talk." Kagome grinned at her friend: "Do not worry Sango. He'll talk sooner or later."

Meanwhile Rin had collected all the stuff her friends had brought, put their coats away and just now reappeared beside Sesshomaru. I have to repay him for the screaming… I should apologize to him in the evening after the girls are gone. Ah, well, let's see. "Unlike you I can tell that he talks a lot.", she smiled up at her husband. "Just not in words" Sesshomaru gave her a small smile. A smile only she could identify as such. I like these small signs of his love for me. Though no one else seems to notice them.

Sango gave her friend a look. "You know", she innocently batted her eyelashes, "Miroku does that too. Though I doubt he does it as frequently as his highness here." For a second all of them stared at Sango. Miroku rubs off on her too much. We need to talk about that one sometime later., Rin shook her head just as Sesshomaru growled in the back of his throat at the demon slayer in warning. Not quite understanding his tone, Kagome tilted her head to the side. Although she was with Sesshomaru's half brother and half demon Inuyasha she wasn't used to such feral noises. Ayame however immediately caught on and hastily responded with a soft whine to calm the mighty demon down, if that was even possible.

I am not quite sure, if Sango really meant, what I think she meant… I should probably ask Sango about it. "What do you want to say, Sango?"

"We simply want to be aunts really soon!", Kagome clapped her hands. Oh dear Kami, please! Not again…, Rin prayed to the heavens.

"But you two just go on in your own pace. Don't let us hurry you."

"You wouldn't dare, Miko.", Sesshomaru said. "Indeed, I wouldn't. I like my pretty head where it currently is.", Kagome whined. "Besides we all know, who is going to be pregnant first.", Ayame looked directly back at Sango, winking at her flushed expression. "Whatever. How about we finally start with baking?" Rin stepped away from Sesshomaru and guided her best friends into the kitchen. "I've already got the dough prepared."

"Saves time.", Sango nodded, for once deciding to ignore the teasing of her friends. "But that's less time we got to talk…", Kagome pouted. "I am sure you can handle both. Talking and baking cookies.", Ayame told her while she put her hair into two pig tails.

Mere twenty minutes later the kitchen was covered in flour. Everything from the cupboards to the oven and the women were painted white.

It had all started with Kagome and Ayame repeatedly teasing Sango about her long-term boyfriend Miroku, who had been a womanizer without compare. As soon as the two had started to come back to the problem of children and being aunts, Sango had gotten slightly annoyed. As Ayame and Kagome had dared to ask, whether they wanted to marry first and then have children or vice versa and adding, Miroku most likely would prefer the latter, Sango had snapped. Without much thought she had grabbed a hand full of flour and threw it at her friends.

Ayame and Kagome had stared at her with huge eyes, their hair and clothes dotted white. It had been too amusing to not laugh. Rin had been unable to hold it in. However the laugh had turned into a surprised squeal, as both newly coloured women had each grabbed a handful of flour and had thrown it at poor Rin.

After a short moment of having to get her bearings, Rin's eyes started to gleam dangerously. "Oh you two just wait!", Rin had threatened. With these words the war of flour had started. Fortunately the cookies had been already in the oven, so at least they weren't harmed.

Sesshomaru looked up from his book. He had just returned to his place on the sofa, wanting nothing more than reading and forget about the women in his kitchen. He could bet he would have to clean it afterwards. These females are always trouble… This one wouldn't allow it to have the kitchen destroyed.

And while he thought and read, he heard his wife squeal. His senses perked. Was there any danger for Rin? What were these maniacs doing? At least Rin sounded more surprised than scared and Sesshomaru relaxed a bit.

However soon there were clattering sounds and more squeaks could be heard. These idiots are ruining the furniture, that's sure to this Sesshomaru. This one needs to do something against it. So he decided to go look, what the women, the Miko, the demon slayer, the wolf demon and his wife, were doing.

It may not have been his best idea…

As soon as Sesshomaru entered the kitchen, some kind of powder hit him square the chest, the shoulder – and right into his face. This one should have known. These females always cause trouble. His ears twitched, as he heard three gasps. Finally the women had noticed, whom they had hit.

Cautiously Sesshomaru opened one of his golden eyes again. Across from him he saw Rin staring at him in shock. To the left Kagome and Ayame, completely covered in white desperately tried to suppress their laughter. "I always thought white was the only colour, that would truly bring your eyes out, Lord Sesshomaru.", Sango calmly stated. Sesshomaru turned to glare at her, just as the room burst out into laughter. The women bent over, completely out of it. They laughed at him, they laughed at themselves, they laughed at this whole ridiculous situation. This is humiliating… Why did this one allow Rin to invite them over?

"I am sorry Sesshomaru", Rin forced out between fits of giggles. "I'll clean up this mess. I promise. We are almost done anyway."

"We just need to decorate the cookies.", Kagome grabbed a bottle of chocolate to heat and pour over them. "We'll try to work fast.", Sango added, as she lifted a box of colourful pearls, probably consisting fifty percent of sugar. "And afterwards we will even help Rinnie with cleaning the kitchen.", Ayame innocently toyed with the lid of the nuts. Oh Kami please don't! Don't help Rin to clean… This one can only imagine it will look worse than now. Sesshomaru honestly feared for his kitchen. Those messengers of chaos would not pass through this one's kitchen. However he refused to sink so low, as to bake cookies with his wife and their friends. On the other hand, would he ever be able to repair the damage their baking experiment caused?

Sesshomaru decided the risk of it was too high. So he made a decision: "This Sesshomaru will help you." The women stared at him in utter disbelief. "You what?", Kagome asked. Gently Ayame shut her friend's mouth close. "Otherwise it'll stay that way.", she mumbled more to herself.

Sango started to grin. Without further warning the demon slayer threw her box of sugar pearls towards the dog demon, who caught it without pause. "Don't forget your apron or your clothes won't stay white any longer."

Sesshomaru couldn't quite believe what he was doing. Rin had only one apron left. A frilly something in the most fancy of colours…

Growling at the stupidity of this whole thing. This one is not destined to bake. It is a woman's job to cook and bake and care for the household… Only their stupidity caused this Sesshomaru to stoop so low. Nevertheless he decorated cookie after cookie as Kagome simply dropped chocolate onto them, Ayame coated the cookies with it and Rin, Sango and Sesshomaru had the honour to put pearls, nuts and other stuff onto them in artistic designs. "Be a bit more creative Sesshomaru", Kagome chastised him, once as she glanced over to where the dog demon poured a hand full of pearls onto the chocolate. From then on – though grumbling – Sesshomaru had put single pearls onto the cookies, smearing his claws successfully with chocolate.

At least the women were behaving now more or less. And they didn't ruin the kitchen any further.

After another hour of decorating they were finally done. Literally. Neither Sango nor one of the other girls had enough strength to clean the kitchen. But they tried nevertheless, wiping at the flour on the shelves and the dots of chocolate on the ground. I'm so tired… How can you be tired of just one hour and some odds of baking and decorating cookies?, Rin questioned herself. Sesshomaru seemed to notice their tiredness. "Go into the living room", he ordered the women. They left into the lounge.

"Don't you dare clean up now. I'll do it, when the girls are gone.", Rin gave her husband a chaste kiss on the cheek before exiting the field of war. Sango, Ayame and Kagome had left their aprons in the kitchen, dusted off their face, hair and clothes. Currently they were lounging on the couch. Rin fell down into her favourite chair.

Ayame's ears twitched slightly: "He's cleaning up our mess despite your warning…" Kagome sighed. "I wish Inuyasha would for once clean up the mess he made."

"As if Koga would clean up anything, whatever it is.", Ayame added, causing her friends to giggle. "Well I know one thing, each of your men is loving to clean up.", Rin winked at her friends, before yawning. "They all like their territory neat and clean, I'm sure of it."

"Do you think Sesshomaru will ever again allow us to visit?", Sango mumbled. Rin thought for a moment: He sure didn't like our fight with flour. Sesshomaru even decorated the cookies with us to keep us from messing up the kitchen any further. And now he's cleaning the kitchen on his own. Well… "I don't think Sesshomaru'll ever let you near his kitchen ever again.", Rin closed one eye due to her fatigue. "So what will we do next year?" Ayame rested her head on Kagome's shoulder, who had already fallen asleep curled up next to the sleeping Sango. "Koga and I have plenty of space. And I want to see, if we can get him to clean up as well…", Ayame mumbled close to sleep. "You know what?", Sango suddenly mumbled, obviously not yet completely fallen asleep. "Baking with you girls makes me tired." Rin and Ayame groaned in agreement.

Sesshomaru wiped his hands off. He had cleaned the kitchen himself, as the women were no use. They had been far too tired to do anything beyond falling asleep and hitting their faces in the flour again. They will never ever come near this place of Rin's awesome cooking ever again. This Sesshomaru will know how to prevent them from setting one foot on this ground.

As he entered the living room he was met with three sleeping women. They were curled up into each other and Rin curled up into her favourite chair. A smirk no one would have noticed as such tugged at the corner of his lips. With as much care as the dog demon could muster he picked his wife up to carry her to her bedroom. Instinctively Rin snuggled closer to his warming comfort. This one should call the others boyfriends to pick them up… And give them some of the cookies they baked today.

Riddle: I go on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon and on three legs in the evening. What am I?

Please send the answer as a PM so no one can cheat.