Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters, mainly Sesshoumaru in this story. I do however own everyone and everything, including the rights to this story, in this story… that sounded kinda weird… oops.
Summary: Sesshoumaru Fukai, owner of Western Lands Co., has been left behind during the holidays while the rest of his family has gone on a cruise. A co-worker, Kadasa Mori, offers him a place to stay during the Christmas break. He accepts and then finds out she has 6 adopted brothers and sisters living with her. He'll have to survive through 'church' her family, shopping, and two teens and 4 toddlers for Christmas. Maybe he should've just stayed home…
Warning: Sesshoumaru is very much so out of character. Please excuse that…
Author's Note: Hoping you're having a happy holiday, here's The Meaning of Christmas: Part I
.
.
.
.
.
The Meaning of Christmas
Part I - December 20th .
.
.
.
.
He sighed as he leaned back in his chair, looking at the computer screen. He'd just finished typing an e-mail to one of his co-workers about a new project they'd need to start working on after break since the co-worker was currently on vacation.He shut his eyes briefly in the dimly lit office. It was only 5:15 but the sun was already setting. He ran a hand through hip length silvery white hair, the cause of being attacked by many rabid women on a daily basis.
Intertwining his fingers and placing them against his mouth, he chuckled. He of course gave them such a dark look with his amber gold eyes that they high-tailed it out of there. He opened his eyes slowly. The only person to ever not be intimidated by his glare, other than his family, was-
Knock. Knock. Knock.
He glanced towards the door then pulled his hands away from his mouth. "Come in," he called in his cool stoic voice. The door opened slightly and a female walked in, holding a stack of papers. She nudged the door shut behind her with her foot.
He mentally sighed. Great. More paperwork. I just wanted to get home and enjoy my peace and quiet and lonely apartment.
She plopped them on his desk with a slight huff. Then turned to him grinning. Bright blue eyes that were always grinning, blond hair pulled into a messy bun against protocol for neat hair. She wore a simple black tee shirt over a light blue turtleneck and a ruffled black skirt. She also wore a black choker with a silver crescent moon on it as well as big hoop earrings and several thin silver bracelets on each wrist and black flat heeled shoes. She wore all of this just to annoy him, since it of course, went against protocol.
He knew that she knew, no matter how bad the threats were, he'd never fire her. She kept this business running and therefore, without her, it would crumble.
She slapped a hand down on the pile of papers.
He raised an eyebrow. "Mori. What are those?"
"Mr. Fukai," Kadasa grinned. "Fan letters."
He let out an irritable sigh and reached forward pulling the top one off. After a few moments he tossed it. She snatched it up.
"Dear Sesshie-kun, I love you so much! You are like the moon in the sky, the diamond in the rough, the man who should marry me since I love you so much." She made a face. "Jeez. Even I could to better than that."
He gave her a dull look. "Have you ever written a love letter?"
She nodded. "It was to my dog, on the top of his birthday cake. It said 'I love you Fido'. He liked it but he died two weeks later." She made a face. "Was probably my fault. All that chocolate." He rolled his eyes and she laughed then picked up the pile. "Shall I dispose of this for you?"
"Go ahead."
She walked to the hall. When she walked back in, she was holding a long black coat, buttoning it up and pulling on a black cap, holding a pair of gray mittens in her hands. "I have to go Christmas shopping still. Are you ready to leave?" He sighed and nodded, shutting down his computer and grabbing his black coat to throw over his silver shirt and black pants.
"So what are you doing for Christmas?" she asked as they headed for the elevator.
"Nothing," he replied gruffly, still having mixed feelings about his family ditching him to go to the Caribbean.
"You know, when most people say nothing, they mean going to family and friends' houses and spending a nice quiet Christmas at home with them."
"I'll be spending a nice quiet Christmas at home, alone," he growled.
She looked startled as the elevator doors pinged open and they stepped into the main lobby. "Alone? As in no Inuyasha or anyone?"
He shook his head. "They went to the Caribbean."
"Sesshoumaru," she scoffed (slightly surprising him since she always used his last name) as they exited the building into the chilly night air. "You've got to be kidding."
"Sorry to say I'm not."
"Well you can spend Christmas with me!"
He looked at her sharply, eyes narrowed as if trying to find a hidden joke that would bite him if he agreed. "And what does this Christmas entitle?" he asked as they headed for the garage.
"It entitles going to my brother's house on Christmas eve, spending a nice quiet evening with him, his wife and kids, and my sister and her boyfriend. Christmas day will be filled with presents from my adopted kids or siblings. Christmas afternoon we're going sledding followed by making snowmen and having a big snowball fight. At night we'll watch Christmas movies and roast marshmallows and have hot chocolate. The day after Christmas, I'm not sure. We usually just hang around or my family comes to my house to hang out. After that, we do normal things, play video games, watch TV, annoy siblings. You can come for part, you can stay overnight, whatever you'd like. Christmas isn't a schedule it's a tradition. That means as long as you get every tradition completed, then you're good to go."
He glanced at her then leaned back against the car. "How many adopted kids do you have?"
"Five." His eyes widened slightly. She giggled. "Plus Cree, who's my youngest sister. Luckily my mom had me and Ally when she was younger."
"Wow…" he muttered.
"Yup. My house is always busy. There's Neal, Cree, Rin, Carrie, Yuki and Hatsu. Three girls, three boys. My brother's got four kids, Alex, Taiyo, Tsuki, and Edmund, all boys. My sister's got a boyfriend."
"So… 6… 9… 11… 15…17 people to get gifts for?"
She blinked then frowned. "You don't have to get gifts."
He gave her a dull look. "Write down something for me to get each of them since I don't know any of them." When she looked torn between him getting gifts and being ecstatic he was coming he sighed. "Look. I'm not coming unless I can give gifts."
She sighed. "All right. I'll e-mail it to you or something."
He nodded and opened the door to his car as she headed for the front of the garage. "Hey!" she called back and he looked over his shoulder. "Which bus goes to the mall?" He raised an eyebrow. "My car's broken and Mira already left. Which one?"
He rolled his eyes. "Get in."
She raised an eyebrow this time. "Excuse me?"
"Get in. I'll take you. This'll save me a trip to the mall later. You can tell me what to buy the kids now."
She blinked then smirked and put her hands on her hips. "I don't take rides from strangers. Mommy told me not to."
He reached into his car, searched then pulled out a Hershey bar. "How bout a stranger with some chocolate?"
She laughed and walked over, plucking the bar from his fingers. "That I'll do." He rolled his eyes again, something he was getting used to doing from being around her too much. She flopped into the passenger's seat and held out a piece to him.
He declined. "Where to?"
She popped the piece of chocolate in her mouth. "The mall, south side near JcPenny's please."
.
.
.
.
.
Sesshoumaru glanced at Kadasa as she roamed the jewelry section. "Hm…" she murmured. "Ooo, Diamonds." She glanced at Sesshoumaru. "Fukai, would you get me diamonds for Christmas?"
He gave her a dull look. "No."
She pretended to pout but a giggled escaped and she resumed her hunt.
"Mori. What are you looking for?" he asked suddenly.
"I love how you ask me that 10 minutes into searching," she mumbled before answering. "It's this pretty sunflower clip I saw for Rin-chan. She really liked it."
"Hn."
She giggled and resumed her search. As her eyes whisked over the many different jewelry they fell on something that drew her attention. A soft 'oh,' escaped her lips and she glanced at Sesshoumaru who hadn't noticed.
Letting out a mental sigh of relief she carefully fingered the necklace. It had a black string with a silver crescent moon dangling from it, smaller than a palm but larger than a quarter.
"Have you found it yet?" Sesshoumaru suddenly asked.
Her hand flew from the necklace like she was touching fire and she looked over. He had his back turned. "Nada," she chirped, forcing herself to move to the next table. "Oh…" She sweat dropped. "Found it."
It was right behind me the entire time, she felt her eye twitching but ignored it and bounced over to the counter, ringing up the clip.
She turned to Sesshoumaru who was standing behind her. "Found it. Next store!" With that she took her bag and started bouncing towards the front doors. "So next stop is the book shop for my dear sis-" She stopped and looked around. "Sesshoumaru?" She started back towards the jewelry section only to see him come up towards her growling. "What happened?" she asked.
He scowled, glancing back towards the center of the store. "Met up with an annoying fan girl."
She giggled then wrapped her arm around his. "Come on," she ordered dragging him towards the bookstore.
"Why here?" he asked.
"Because, one of the kids I adopted, Yuki, is the most avid reader at 16 I've met in my entire life. He loves the fantasy series. He's also quite a good artist. They sell really good drawing packs here."
"What series?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"Well he just started Lord of the Rings, the first book."
"What are you getting him?"
"A new artist's pack. Why?"
"I'll get him the other two books."
She blinked then smiled. "That'll make his day."
He nodded and quickly headed for another section of the store. After he'd found the rest of the series he found Kadasa who showed him the art set.
"See! It's got a notepad, colored pencils, regular pencils, pens, markers, pastels, watercolor- it's got everything!" He shook his head softly, a small chuckle escaping his lips. She giggled then hooked her arm through his. "So we've both got Yuki covered. I've got all the stockings covered. I've got Rin-chan covered. Oh yeah!" She dragged him towards the new releases section and skimmed through the books before grabbing a red hardcover called 'Eldest' with a picture of a dragon on it. "My sister," she offered as he gave her a questioning look.
After ringing up their purchases, he looked at her. "Now what?"
.
.
.
.
.
"Thanks," Kadasa said with a smile, grabbing their drinks and heading for the table. She handed him his vanilla milkshake while she sipped her chocolate one.
She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Let's see…" She crossed off Rin and Yuki with blue. Neal, Cree, Carrie, Hatsu, Alan, Ally, Alex, Taiyo, Tsuki, Edmund, Senni and Wren were already crossed off.
He raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of people."
"Yeah well…" She shrugged. "Large family."
He glanced up at her. "Think they'll be offended if I get them gift cards?"
She blinked then giggled. "Fukai, they'll just be happy if you spend Christmas with them."
He watched her momentarily then looked back at his drink. "Gift cards it is."
She let her head hit the table with a thunk. "You don't understand the meaning of a gift doesn't have to be material."
He chuckled. "Maybe I do. Maybe I'm just playing with your mind."
She scowled at him. "You're always playing with my mind." He chuckled again, leaning back. She pulled out a red pen and crossed off Yuki. Leaning back she grinned. "Well you got one."
He sighed. "Nice. I just spent 2 hours doing nothing."
She giggled. "Well you can just get Senni, Wren, Ally and Alan gift cards. Alex, Taiyo and Tsuki all love anything with dinosaurs and Edmund's only 18 months so he'll enjoy a nice toy that will drive his mother nuts." He nodded. "Which is all at the discovery store!" she chirped suddenly, grabbing his arm. "Come on! I know something perfect you can get them!"
Luckily their bags were back in the car so the half the mall trek was easier than expected. By the time they'd reached the Discovery Store they'd thrown out the empty containers that once was their huge drinks.
She led him in and to the corner. She tossed her arms out at the video selection. "Ta da! Dinos!"
He nodded and grabbed a random one called 'Walking with Dinosaurs'. She grinned. "See! Cheap and effective!"
He grabbed the other two that were there then looked around. "And the baby?"
"You don't have to get all three!" she cried then pointed to another wall. "Baby stuff." He ended up getting a few annoying baby toys and two more dino movies just to tick her off.
.
.
.
.
.
"There!" she chirped. "You're all covered! You've covered Ally's family and my kids/siblings! No one left."
"What would you like?" he asked suddenly.
She blinked then waved a hand. "Nothing. I like giving, not getting."
"Mori."
"I mean it Fukai. Just stay the night Christmas eve and I'll be happy." He raised an eyebrow in suspicion and she winked. "I won't have to keep track of every kid. Cause if one disappears I can blame it on you."
"Sadist."
"You know it."
He pulled up to a three story mansion. "It's a good thing you make a lot of money. How much do you spend on Christmas every year?"
She shrugged. "A few grand. It's not much compared to what I could be spending." She winked. "Thanks for the help." She glanced at the clock. "Goodness. It's already 9 o'clock. Hopefully the kids are in bed by now."
"Who's watching them?"
"My darling Carrie and Yuki," she said. "They're old enough being 16. Well anyway, good night."
"I'll help you unload the car."
"Into the garage. And for thanks, you shall receive a nice plate of cookies to go home with."
He sighed. "Mori."
"Don't try to argue. You're getting cookies."
He sighed again but gave up, pulling into the garage where they emptied all the presents and she covered them with a blanket, locking the door from the outside and going out the side door.
She led him to the front door of the house and stepped in. "Hello? I'm home!" she called softly.
"ASA!"
Four small bodies suddenly ran out of the living room and collided with her. Luckily Sesshoumaru caught her as she started to fall or she would've hit the floor.
She laughed, sending him a quick thank you glance before turning to the little kids, two older kids in their teens coming in as well from back in the den, a boy and a girl.
"Hey guys! Did you miss me?"
"Why were you gone so long?" a boy with dark green hair and green eyes asked.
She ruffled his hair. "I was getting Christmas presents Neal!"
"Presents!" the toddlers echoed.
She giggled and nodded. "Presents. And guess what? We have a guest for Christmas!" She turned to Sesshoumaru. "This is Mr. Fukai. Say hello!"
"Hello!" three toddlers cried, the other looking shy and hiding in Kadasa's neck.
The teenage girl, who had auburn hair and blue eyes nodded. "Hello."
The boy stayed silently, hands in his pockets, short silvery gray hair pushed back and violet eyes watching him carefully.
"Cree, Yuki. Say hello."
"Hey," he said as if he didn't care looking away.
Sesshoumaru nodded and glanced at Kadasa. "Yuki doesn't talk much as well." Kadasa turned to the girl still in her neck. "Cree say hello." She giggled shyly and curled up tighter. Kadasa sighed and shook her head lightly.
"Mr. Fukai?" A girl with auburn hair asked. "You're really tall you know that?" Yuki rolled his eyes.
"One, yes I know. Two, just call me Sesshoumaru." Kadasa sent him an amused look but he ignored it.
"Kay Mr. Sesshoumaru!" the toddlers cried.
Kadasa smiled all the same. "Come on! Everyone into the kitchen! We need to give Mr. Fukai-"
"Mr. Sesshoumaru!" she was yelled at.
"All right, all right!" she laughed. "Sesshoumaru needs some cookies. Come on."
"Yay! Cookies!"
"Then to bed."
"Aw….."
"How about a story first then bed?"
"Yay!"
"We're finishing our movie," Carrie said, turning and walking back into the living room.
"What are you watching?" Kadasa asked.
Yuki shrugged. "Something lovey-dovey. I'm on the computer."
Kadasa shook her head then jumped to her feet. "Then it's up to us to retrieve the cookies!"
"Yay!" the toddlers cried, running to the kitchen.
Sesshoumaru shook his head watching them run away. A hand grabbed his and he found Rin tugging him towards the kitchen.
They walked into a huge kitchen, a long breakfast bar for all of the kids, a true dining room in the next room. The kitchen had black counters and honey brown wood cupboards, stainless steel sinks and appliances, and hardwood flooring. She went over to the counter and grabbed a small box of chocolate chip cookies before turning and walking over, handing them to him.
"Cookies!" the kids cried.
"Here ya go!" she chirped. "When will you be coming over?"
He watched as she spun back around and grabbed another box, opening it and holding it out. Each kid took a cookie and climbed onto their designated spinning chairs at the breakfast bar.
"When should I come over?"
She shrugged, spinning back around, giving a cup to each child. "I don't care. As long as you don't show up before like 9 o'clock. I need some time to clean up around here and the kids won't be off the couch."
"Hn." He glanced from her pouring milk to the clean house. "It's clean already."
She scoffed. "That's a laugh. Wait till you see the kids play room."
"Hn." He turned, heading for the door. "I shall see you the day after tomorrow."
"Kay! See you then. Say good bye everyone!"
"Bye Mr. Sesshoumaru!" He paused in the doorway, glancing back before nodding curtly and heading for the front door.
"All right! Everyone go get ready for bed! Then I'll read you a story!"
The toddlers scampered out the door towards the stairs. Kadasa turned to Yuki who'd just walked in.
"Is he really staying?" he asked.
"Yes he is."
"…" Yuki glanced at the door then back at her before turning and walking back to the den.
She glanced back at the empty doorway Sesshoumaru had disappeared through. Pray that he's in a good mood for the next few days.
.
.
.
.
.
