A/N: Welcome to my Christmas fic! (Yes, everybody's got to do one...)

Disclaimer: I still don't own Inuyasha. And probably never will. But I can dre-eam...

Warnings: Language and that's basically it - may change in later chapters. Oh, and this isn't your run-of-the-mill Christmas fic either. And, uh, Hojo-haters, beware.

Reviews encouraged ^.^ They make me write faster...

***

"Kagome! Are you sure you should be up?"

"Yeah, we heard your bunions were acting up again. Are those orthopedic shoes?"

Kagome sighed, fighting the blush down from her features. "I'm fine; they're normal shoes. Now come on."

"I've gotta commend your timing, Kagome," one of her friends said as they rushed to class. "After next week we have Christmas break!"

"Which means I'll have a nice bit of time to make up all my homework," Kagome replied sardonically, sliding into her desk. "Although this year is basically shot for me anyway."

True to form, she found herself surrounded by caring faces trying to cheer her. "It'll be okay, Kagome, really!" "What's a year anyway?" "Maybe there's still time!"

Kagome managed a smile, pulling off her gloves with her teeth. "Thanks."

*

"Kagome! Hey, how are you doing?" His eyes shone like jewels beneath perfectly manicured eyebrows, drawing attention to his handsome face. "You've been having a really rough time, huh?"

Kagome shrugged. "I guess so. Thanks for the stuff your mom's been sending me, Hojo, I really appreciate it," she lied. The chill wind picked up and she shivered, stuffing her gloved hands into the pockets of her jacket.

Hojo reached out an arm. "C'mere; you'll just get sick again," he teased, affection evident in his voice. Kagome flushed warmly, slowly accepting his offer. As he walked her home, he spoke to fill the silence.

"I'm glad you're feeling better. It's been a while since I last saw you, and a really long time since there's something that -hasn't- been affecting you. It's good to talk to you like this."

Kagome stared up at him, unsettled by the anomalous openness of his speech. She hadn't heard such language from a boy that wasn't fabrication or fantasy. She felt the romance in him like a current between them, the warmth and weight of his arm around her shoulder a sudden, sweet link.

Hojo wasn't imposing or brash; he was welcoming and gentle. Hojo wasn't possessive or caustic; he was caring and innocently genuine. As Kagome compared him to Inuyasha, even to Kouga, suddenly he seemed a comfortable fit.

"So," he murmured, turning his attention down to her. She blushed as she realized she hadn't really been listening to his soft monologue after the first few sentences. "What are you doing over the break?"

Kagome shrugged; she hadn't really thought about it. "Spend some quality time with my family, I suppose. We don't celebrate Christmas in the religious sense, but Souta loves the trees. And the videogames under them." She laughed a little. "And mom, she'll make cookies and we'll wrap presents..." Kagome stopped as she realized she'd been rambling. "Oh..."

Hojo smiled down at her. "Sounds nice." And he adjusted the long, plaid scarf wrapped about his neck. "I'd like it if we met sometime, too. If that's okay."

Before she could stop herself, Kagome replied, "I'd like it, too."

*

Kagome peeled the heavy jacket from her shoulders once in the warm of her front room. She kicked her shoes off, padded in socked feet to the closet, and hung her jacket inside before the gravity of her acceptance of Hojo truly hit her. "Wow."

"Wow what?" Souta asked, popping his head out of the kitchen with a cookie in his mouth.

At that moment, Kagome could think of no witty retort. "Nothing." She dragged her bag upstairs and flung it onto her bed, groaning under the weight of it. So many subjects, so little time, so little importance.

Still, some of it held her attention. In biology, for example, there had been a unit on Darwinism and other evolution theories. She wondered how youkai would have factored into their equations. Trigonometry and algebra brought to her an understanding of angle measures compared to the trajectory of her arrows. She had a good laugh at some passages in her history text.

These little comparisons got her through a vexing and tiresome school week. Being away from the pattern of the schedule for a prolonged period of time made it highly difficult to sit stationary in a desk and take notes on something she felt did not relate to her. Coupled with the overwhelming urge to love Hojo for all his kindness and innocence, the week zoomed past like frigid molasses.

She had never been away from the Sengoku Jidai so long, had never dared venture away from the volatile world for more than a few days. But she had left ten days prior to gather supplies and her own wits. Kagome couldn't even remember what the fight had been about but she knew it had something to do with Kouga and Inuyasha's obsessive possessiveness over her right to even carry on conversation with the wolf. She had given a certain command and left Inuyasha with a nosebleed and a headache.

Kagome frowned as she gathered her books at the last bell that Friday, refusing to regret having left. He had no right to order her about, to dictate to her the people with whom she was not allowed to speak. Especially when one counted -his- personal endeavors.

Kagome winced. Oh, that too. Kikyou had been part of the fight when Kagome played her as what she thought would have been a trump card. But it backfired in a way that hurt her more deeply than even she realized it would. And she had gone home and melted immediately into Hojo.

She hurried out of the school, hoping not to see him, but his smiling eyes caught hers before she could look away. He trotted over and walked with her, hands in his pockets. He never once assumed he was allowed to put his arm around her just because she had agreed the first time.

Kagome had to admit she enjoyed the respect.

"Break time," Hojo declared cheerfully, strolling languidly down the frozen sidewalk. "I love this time of year."

Kagome smiled. "No school."

Hojo shrugged. "More than that, it's the kind of time where it's good to be outdoors."

"When you're walking with someone," Kagome finished for him, catching the supposed subtlety of his hints. Hojo grinned, caught in his own trap.

"You win."

"I'm cold."

And Hojo held his arm out to her again. Kagome gladly entered the warmth of his embrace, matching his steps and wondering in shock at herself.

*

Guilt lathered itself thickly upon her as she made her way to the shrine. She had promised Hojo she'd see a movie with him, a feel-good romance, the day before school restarted at the end of break. But she had been away for too long and missed the faces of Shippou, Sango, Miroku. And, though she somehow could bring herself to enough anger even after ten days to hate it, Inuyasha.

Thus, she filled her backpack to brimming, jotted a note to her mother, and dove into the well.

*

When her feet hit solid ground, she looked up into pouring rain. She muttered something vaguely unladylike and hauled herself out of the well and dropped her backpack into a huge mud-puddle. The oath was repeated and she trudged toward the nearest village and the welcome warmth of Kaede's hut.

"Goodness, child, what have ye been doing?" the woman asked in greeting.

"Good to see you too, Kaede," Kagome murmured. "There's a swamp by the well."

"Well then let me get ye clothing and ye may wait until the others return. Take those wet things off."

Kagome glanced around, saw no other prying eye, and began to peel off her sodden shoes and stained socks. Kaede returned moments later with an outfit similar to her own, surprisingly familiar. Kagome stared at it a moment before slipping into Kikyou's old robes, remembering the first and only time Inuyasha had seen her in them. The memory, the accusation in his voice, burned at the corners of her eyes.

"Shouldn't hurt so much," she muttered, hunching over her knees as Kaede laid out Kagome's wet clothes by the fire. Either the woman's hearing was going, or Kaede pretended not to notice. The uncomfortable silence was broken by a familiar wet-dog smell, followed by a familiar wet dog.

"Wetter 'n a fish's balls out there," he griped loudly, shaking off and spraying droplets all over the floor. Kagome cried out in annoyance and only then did he notice her.

"Oh, you're back, are you?" He glared at her, blinked, and then asked, "What the hell are you wearing?"

"Clothes," Miroku answered, coming inside as well. He and Sango nodded respectfully to Kaede before sitting gratefully by the fire. Shippou barreled into Kagome, crying her name in exuberant joy.

"Hi, everyone," Kagome greeted, happy despite Inuyasha's eyes on her.

"What ye wish dry by morning, place by the fire," Kaede admonished, looking pointedly at Inuyasha. He huffed in indignation and crossed his arms. The motion resulted in a rather comical squishing sound of compressed water escaping into less-soaked areas of fabric.

Miroku suppressed a grin and pulled the outer layers of his robe off. "I can't wait for the rain to end."

Sango nodded, wringing out the length of her hair. "It's been going on for how many days now?"

"Four." Miroku ran a hand through his own soaking bangs. "Feels like longer."

"Shippou, you're freezing. You should go sit by the fire," Kagome murmured, stroking the shivering kitsune's head. His little hands tightened at her collar and she smiled, moving closer to Sango because Shippou showed no sign of willingness to detach himself.

Miroku turned his eyes to Kagome. "You were gone a long time," he commented, rubbing his bare arms to bring some warmth to them.

She nodded. "I have my obligations there. I'm sorry it took me so long, but I actually don't have school next week so I figured I could stay a little longer when I was required."

Miroku smiled. "I see the logic in it. But I wish you would have told us." He cocked his head toward the golden-eyed hanyou in the corner, the innocuous smile turning into a mischievous grin. "Inuyasha wouldn't let us go more than a few miles without doubling back to see if you'd returned."

Inuyasha reddened and he glared at the monk. But he didn't deny it.

"I'll have to go back in a few days, though," Kagome added.

Inuyasha's jaw dropped. "What? You just got back and you're going to go again? What's the point of you even being here?"

She turned her back to him and continued talking to Miroku and Sango as if Inuyasha did not exist. Shippou stared over her shoulder at him as he seethed.

"There's a holiday in my time, called Christmas. It's why we don't have school. It's a time for gathering with your family and my real family is in my time. I don't see them enough as it is."

Sango nodded. "I can respect that." Miroku seconded the motion with a nod.

"But I wanted to come back to make sure everything was okay," Kagome added, smiling a little. "It gets boring after a while."

Inuyasha snorted from his corner in the darkness.

"Hey, -I'm- glad she's back," Shippou protested, turning his back on the hanyou.

"You know, you're really good at ruining a reunion," Kagome commented, her voice caustic with sarcasm.

Miroku sighed. "He missed you and he's sorry."

"No, I didn't! And I'm not!"

"Sit, boy," Kagome murmured, exasperated. But when she caught Miroku's eyes, she smiled.