Summary: It's just a cringe-worthy Valentine's Day Special. Heed this warning. Look, it even has a generic title!
A/N: I can't believe I did a special event story around the actual time of the holiday.
It's going to be a 2shot, the 2nd chapter will be posted during the Valentine's Day. Until then you can flame me for posting this.
Sweet Gifts
The gang was on a hunt again, looking for shards or rumors to follow.. Kagome was glad that for the duration of winter she had decided to wear something warmer than a skirt. And, even if they were going out of Kaede's village for a hunt, their trips were shorter and Inuyasha wasn't throwing a fit if she wanted to spend more time in her era between their journeys. She imagined that, whatever he was telling them about not feeling that cold,Inuyasha didn't like to run around barefoot in the snow.
Anyway, right now they were on their trip, one that was going to tale them to a trading village near their headquarters. They hoped to gather some leads from traders there. The trip was going to last a couple of days, so everyone had all they could carry with them.
Kagome was walking between Sango and Miroku, talking with them and smiling at the back of the hanyou, who was carrying her yellow bag and Shippou sitting on top of it. She was daydreaming and Sango, who was walking between her and Miroku, was glancing her way to make sure her miko friend wasn't going to fall over something. One glance towards where Kagome was looking was enough to make Sango pretty certain she knew about what the other girl was thinking. The exterminator grinned and looked at the pair of tiny youkai nestled on top of the huge bag, hitching a ride.
Kirara was practically buried in the spot between the bag and the hanyou's neck. The kitsune was munching on something he was holding in his hands and Sango was a bit surprised he still had that chocolate bar Kagome had given him the day prior. She was almost sure he already had devoured it.
The young miko at her side seemed not to care, she thought about spending this day with Inuyasha in her time. In her daydream he asked her to go on a date with him, gave her flowers and took her to see a movie - at least that was what she had thought at first. Then she adjusted the daydream to the hanyou she knew and loved. After the little tweaking so it would be more real, this special day played out in her head a bit different. Instead of flowers she got a bunch of herbs he knew, instead of a date he took her for a long walk through the forest and instead of the movie they watched stars appear in the evening sky, with her snuggling against his chest as he held her in a branch of a tree. Kagome's smile widened - this was much closer to Inuyasha and she decided she'd actually like it more than an ordinary boring date.
Soon she had to drop her daydreaming about snuggling against the dog hanyou because her other companions were talking to her.
When the evening came and the gang decided to make camp in a cave Inuyasha found. They quickly split into pairs and went about setting the camp, collecting firewood and preparing beds and food. When the dinner was all but finished Kagome reached for her bag and smiled at everyone.
"Okay, guys. I want to tell you about the holiday that is today in my era," she said. It was always fun to share stories about things that were so ordinary to her, since in this time they were unheard of.
"A holiday?" Sango asked. "Why aren't you spending it with your family, like that Christmas earlier?" she asked and glared sideways at Inuyasha, suspecting he was the reason Kagome was with them. She missed her family greatly, so she always made sure that her friend, who still had hers could visit them as often as possible.
"Oh, I shared my gifts with them before leaving," Kagome waved a hand. "Anyway, the name of the holiday is the Valentine's Day and it's the day of love and friendship."
"How peculiar," Miroku said and smiled. "Does that mean that people are encouraged to follow their hearts that day and confess love?" he turned to Sango, his hand already drifting to her backside. "My dear-"
He trailed off, because for a moment Sango looked like a youkai, with a dark aura included. The monk decided to retreat his hand before losing it.
"Actually, yes," Kagome giggled at her friends' antics. "It's a Western tradition to confess love or propose today. But we also give gifts to those we love and care for."
"Gifts? What gifts?" Inuyasha asked, glaring at her suspiciously.
"Kagome!" Shippou tugged at her sleeve and gave her a shiny white rock with a hole in it. "I care for you a lot," he said, offering his little present to her. Kagome giggled and plucked the rock from his hand.
"Thank you, Shippou!" she stroked his hair. "But today it's the girls who give gifts, boys do it the next month, during the White Day. And we usually give chocolate."
The boy's smile vanished for a moment, but returned when he saw her putting his rock in the shikon shards' bottle, showing how much she treasured it.
"Keh," muttered Inuyasha when Kagome looked his way. He was sitting close to the mouth of the cave, Kirara sleeping curled next to him. Kagome blinked at seeing the feline so peacefully resting in Inuyasha's presence. She was in total opposition to Buyo, who would never sit in Inuyasha's lap, let alone fall asleep next to him. Kirara on the other hand, seemed to like Inuyasha almost as much as she liked Sango.
"Anyway, I brought gifts for you, guys," Kagome said and resumed her search in the bottomless bag of hers. She retrieved from it a smaller bag containing her gifts. Well, most of them. There was a special chocolate in a separate pocket, meant for a special boy. She blushed, hoping he would accept it.
"Oh, Kagome, you didn't have to..." Sango started. "We don't have anything to give to you in return..."
"That's fine," Kagome beamed at her friend and handed her a bar of chocolate wrapped in a red paper adorned with pink hearts and Sango's name on it. "I just wanted to make you smile."
"You are too generous," Miroku said as he got hold of his chocolate, wrapped in the same paper. "I have an idea, we can share out chocolate, to uphold the tradition of sharing sweets with friends, what do you think?"
"That's a very good idea!" Sango nodded and gave Miroku a brief smile of appreciation that made the young man preen a little. "This way you'll get some chocolate too, Kagome."
"Thanks, guys," Kagome smiled and handed Shippou his gift. The boy eyed the rest of the packages in the bag.
"Wait, Kagome, why do you have so many of those left?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with hope that he could weasel out of her a second bar of the sweet. Kagome removed the leftover chocolates from the bag to show them to the rest.
"Oh, I want to give those to our other friends," she explained. "I have one for Kouga, Ginta and Hakkaku, for Jinenji, for Kaede, for Rin and Lord Sesshomaru..."
"Feh!" Inuyasha snorted. "He won't take food from you! You can just give his chocolate to Rin."
Kagome smiled when she heard his remark. It made it clear that he was paying close attention to what was happening around the fire, despite looking out of the cave most of the time. Now he moved to crouch beside her, his eyes scanning the vividly red and pink packages, each with a name of the receiver written on it in Kagome's handwriting. Others looked at the pile of sweets too, Sango even reached a hand to spread them on the floor, looking at it in confusion.
"Kagome, where's the one for Inuyasha," she asked, shock clear in her voice. How could her miko friend forget about preparing a gift for the boy she cared the most for? "There is no chocolate signed with his name."
"Yeah," Shippou giggled. "I guess he doesn't deserve a gift after being so rude and stupid."
"Shippou, that wasn't very nice," Miroku scolded while Kagome exclaimed his name in displeasure at his behavior and looked sideways at the cute puppy ears drooping. Inuyasha looked away and stood up, his hands in his sleeves.
"Feh! As if I wanted some sticky brown stuff," he grumbled, failing at fake indifference. Shippou's words didn't bother him, after all the kit was speaking like that pretty often, repeating all the shit people told him since he could remember. He was a hanyou, he didn't deserve nice things. Hell, he didn't deserve any things. But the fact that Kagome haven't brought him that stupid chocolate, while she had remembered about bringing it even for the fucker wolf and his bastard brother... That stung.
Kagome looked at the hanyou and grabbed a fistful of his hakama before he could walk away. She offered him a warm smile when his guarded yellow eyes looked down at her.
"I didn't forget about you," she blushed and couldn't help her heart speeding at the sight of the spark of hope in his eyes. Assured he wouldn't bolt away, she let go of his leg and went to her special pocket to get his chocolate. It was pretty special indeed, because she actually had made it herself. It was twice as big as the other chocolates, shaped like a heart and wrapped in a plain green paper with a tiny white dog holding a small heart in its mouth. She thought it was cute and hoped he would appreciate the drawing of the dog she had spent hours to make perfect. It had his ears, of course. She hoped he wouldn't deem it too 'girly',
She was so excited and anxious about giving it to Inuyasha that she didn't mind that she was in the center of the attention of the group. Miroku and Sango were smiling their special 'I know something you don't' smirks while Shippou was just curious to see why Inuyasha's chocolate wasn't with the rest of them. She was aware of only one pair of eyes following her hands as she reached into the pocket and looked for the package that was very easy to find due to its size.
That was why she was pretty surprised when she haven't grasped it after reaching into the pocket
"Huh?" she pulled the bag closer and peered in the pocket, moving a few items to make sure that the package wasn't under them. It wasn't. Confused and more than a bit anxious, she started to dig through the whole bag, spilling her belongings carelessly on the floor.
"Kagome?" asked Sango, looking at her friend frantically throwing stuff around herself.
"It's missing," Kagome muttered, unfolding her clothing to make sure it wasn't stuck between the folded fabric. "It's gone."
Sango's eyes widened when she saw tears filling Kagome's eyes. The exterminator looked up to Inuyasha's face, but he was already looking away.
"Feh, whatever," he grumbled, his voice dark and his ears practically hidden in his hair. Sango just prayed he wouldn't say anything she would have to kick his butt for saying. He was a glutton, but for some reason she was sure he was unhappy he wouldn't get a gift from Kagome more than that he wouldn't get his own chocolate. She guessed he haven't gotten many gifts in the past. That was why she wasn't surprised that his voice sounded soft and dejected when he added after a moment. "That's fine."
"But... Inuyasha... I made it for you," Kagome turned to look at the hanyou, who shrugged and walked towards the mouth of the cave. "I had it when we stopped for the lunch, I swear..."
"It's fine," he repeated flatly. "I'm going to scout around to make sure nothing is sneaking up on us."
And with that he was gone, swallowed by the darkness of the winter night, leaving in his wake a stunned Miroku, a confused Shippou, a half sympathetic half annoyed Sango and Kagome, who started to cry and look through her stuff again, as if the lost item could appear under the next thing she picked up.
Kagome was going through her backpack again, trying to keep her hands from shaking and her tears from blinding her. That was bad, very bad. What friend would lose their gift? What girl would lose a gift for the boy she loved? She had put so much work into making it and storing it safely between her books so it wouldn't break. And now, she was sure of this, Inuyasha was thinking that she had lied about having the chocolate for him in the first place or something like that. And after seeing that she had brought chocolate for all their friends, even those he didn't like much. She practically could see him sitting somewhere, thinking she didn't care and feeling left out. That wasn't what she wanted for him!
She just had to find the chocolate and go find him, show him how much she loved him, that he wasn't left out, that...
She felt Miroku's hand touch her shoulder and shake her gently.
"Kagome..." he said softy and she looked up to see all her friends, even Kirara, looking at her in concern.
"I can't find it and he thinks I don't like him," she sobbed.
"Oh, Kagome..." Sango sighed and hugged her friend. "Please, stop crying. It will be fine."
"Tell us how it looks like and we will help you find it," Miroku suggested and Sango looked at him thankfully. This was a second time this evening he had a good idea. In addition she really appreciated he didn't try to touch Kagome's butt. Kagome wiped her eyes and gave them a watery smile.
"Thank you, guys," she said and with her hands made the shape of the package. "It was this size and shape, wrapped in green paper with a white dog on it," she described the lost item. Her heart squeezed. "I made it myself..."
"Uh-oh."
The three young adults had no time to move before a ball of orange hair and fur landed in Kagome's lap and latched itself to her, bawling.
"I'm so sorry!" Shippou cried. "I ate it! I ate your chocolate! I wouldn't if I knew, I swear!" the little boy cried out in distress. Poking fun at Inuyasha was one thing, but eating a gift meant for him, while it was obviously important to Kagome to give it to him was an entirely different one. He knew Inuyasha and Kagome loved each other and were stupid in the most annoying way that made them blind to the most obvious signs from each other. And now, because he hadn't bothered to ask Kagome for a permission to eat the found sweet, Kagome was going to be sad, not mentioning Inuyasha that was sure to be lethargic and no fun for days to come.
"Shippou," Miroku sighed as he looked at the boy pressing his tear stained face into Kagome's blouse, for once not feeling envy for the little kit. Kagome glanced down at the boy before looking at Sango, her face set in an expression of determination and sadness.
"Can I borrow Kirara?" she asked the exterminator.
A/N: See? I warned you it's bad. And it's going to be worse in the second part. (:
Feedback is most welcome, even if your brain is fried from the flames you want to pour into the comment section. Let them loose :)
