A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS
('TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS)

Disclaimer: I don't own either poem or InuYasha Charecters. Poem by Clement Clarke Moore InuYasha by Rumiko Takahashi Story by Shadow Youkai87 Some parts of the poem were omitted, as I couldn't work them in.

'T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,

But who cares about some mouse when there is a dog demon standing on the roof, looking down at the quiet Higurashi household as a grandfather clock struck midnight in the living room. InuYasha looked down at the red and white scarf with his name embroidered in neat kanji, all hand made by Kagome as a ka-ri-sa-ma-su present. She had gotten everyone something; box of crayons and a colouring book for Shippo, a golden necklace for Sango, a hat, also handmade for Miroku, and a blanket for Kilala.

Of course, InuYasha had demanded a reason for the gifts, suspecting she wanted to sneak off home and was bribing him with the gifts. She told them about the baby Je-sa-su being born and three kings and blah blah blah before getting to the bit that she wanted to spend the next few days with her family to celebrate the holiday. That prompted a fight, which sent her home with tears in her eyes and a shout of a rather upset 'Me-ri Ka-ri-sa-ma-su'. For the next while after she had left, he felt his guilt grow, and, after being egged on by his so-called 'friends', he decided he'd come back and apologize.

Her sleeping quietly, dreaming some pleasent dream, changed that plan. She'd be madder if he woke her up, and the yelling that was sure to follow would only wake her family, which would only make things worse. So, starting to walk away, he fell down the chimney, ONLY because it was dark, AND NOT because he was thinking about how Kagome would never forgive him if she found him in her room while she was sleeping.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Kagome woke to a loud noise coming from the downstairs, followed by some shouts. Of all times for someone to break-in, Christmas eve was not the best, but, maybe it was something not so sinister...

She got up from her bed and looked out the window at the newly fallen snow. No, no sign it was just InuYasha. Actually, there was no sign there was anything at all outside, except some animal that had left its tracks by the well house. Wait, they looked like.... footprints? Okay, so maybe the the hanyou was there.
While she was grinning, the door of her room opened to reveal her little brother excited as a cat on cat nip.

"Didja hear that sis? Didja?" Souta called, beaming, "That was Santa! I just know it! C'mon sis, let's go see him!" he grabbed her hand and began pulling her out of her room. "C'mon sis! C'mon!"

"Don't get your hopes up, Souta," Kagome grinned as she followed him to the stairs. "Has Santa ever made so much noise?"

"What if he's hurt, sis? He needs your help! C'mon!"

"He'll sure be hurt by the time he leaves if he's here to fight," she mumbled as her brother handed her her first aid kit.

"You say somthing, sis?"

"Nothing."

As they reached the living room doorway, they slowed down and walked silently hoping to catch 'Santa' unawares. What they saw only made Kagome laugh and Souta gape.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.

He wassprawled out upside-down in the fireplace, his red outfit covered in soot and his white hair was all over the place, covering his face. At the sound of Kagome's chuckle, he shook the hair out of his mouth and away from his eyes, causing Kagome to chuckle louder.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His golden eyes were shing in a mix of anger and embaressment and his checks flushed as red as his outfit, adding to the obvious embaressment.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

His mouth was slack and his hair gave the appearence of a beard. His entire head was surrounded by a cloud of dust, as was the majority of the room.

"InuYasha?" asked Souta, "Since when are you Santa Clause?"

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.

"Sa-n-ta Ka-ra-su?" InuYasha asked, struggling to get out, "I ain't him, runt, NOW HELP ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Quiet InuYasha!" Kagome hissed, "You'll wake Grampa!"

"So help me already!"

After much heaving and pulling, Kagome and her brother were finally able to pull the hanyou out of the fireplace and into the room, causing another wave of chimney ash to coat the room and choke the trio. Still upset at his previous position, InuYasha looked away from Kagome and, instead, inspectd the room, which had changed drastically since his last trip.

There were large socks hanging from the fireplace, and small, sparkly things hanging off the walls. The windows had frost in the shape of candles and stars and the like, but the largest change of all was the tree. A small pine covered in lights and glass balls and more sparkly things and was atop of different sized boxes all in brightly coloured paper. He had never in his whole life seen something as grand as that tree, or Kagome standing in the glow ofthe shifting colours of lights, now red, now green, now blue.

"It's nice, isn't it?" she asked suddenly, so quietly, Souta most likly hadn't heard.

"Yeah," he replied, the flashing lights calming him, "Uh, Kagome? I kinda came to apologize..." he mumbled the last bit under his breath.

"I know," she replied, taking hold of his arm with a hand. "Souta, why don't you head back off to bed? Santa won't come if you're awake."

"So why do you get to stay up?" demanded the boy, yawning slightly.

"Because I need to make sure InuYasha doesn't hurt him," she replied softly, already pushing him upstairs. "Now get to bed!"

"Okay," mumbled the kid, "'Night sis, 'Yasha."

"'Night runt," he smirked, "You go right to bed, ya hear!"

"Mmkay," came the reply before the sound of snoring hit his ears.

Leaving him and Kagome alone. She lead him to a clean spot near the tree and sat down, leaning her head on her shoulder. Half-conciously, he began to stroke her hair.

But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT."

And sitting like that, with their arms around each other, was how her family found them the next morning.

The End

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