Merry Christmas everyone! This is just a pointless little short story I decided to write. I think it's cute! (actually my sister thinks it's flaky. That's where the name came from: my sis think it's flaky and snow's romantic in anime!)
Disclaimer: Yes, of course I own Inu-Yasha! *gets dragged away by security* Oh, that's what happens.
Snowflake
"Keh, I hate this weather." Inu-Yasha growled as a cold snowflake landed on his nose. He brushed the offending, wet object away with a flick of his forefinger, leaning against the tree that had unofficially become the watch post for the well that led back to Kagome's world. The biting wind had already frozen most of the small plants and now, joy of joys, it was cold enough for the heavens to send water down in a cold, white form. Inu-Yasha would shake every once in a while, getting the powdery flaxes off of his red kimono and out of his hair.
"Inu-Yasha!" A tiny, childish voice called out and Inu-Yasha grumbled.
"Oh hells." He muttered, then added a loud "What do you want?"
The tiny fox-demon child climbed up the frozen tree, with it's leafy branches now white with the sudden coming of the light flurry. Shippo's old garb was replaced with much warmer furs, to protect him from the grip of Jack Frost, administer by one of the village women no doubt. His light red hair and bushy tail were nearly as white as Inu-Yasha's now, as was his clothing; tell-tale sings of frolicking in the disgusting white stuff.
"Has Kagome come back yet?" Shippo asked, shaking himself. Inu-Yasha scowled as some of the half-melted flakes landed on him, making him wetter and more miserable than before.
"You think I'd be sitting here if she was?" the hanyou growled, trying to flick the annoying child away. Shippo avoided Inu-Yasha's half-hearted lashes with ease, the child soon sitting on the branch above the irate dog-demon and watching him with wide eyes. "Isn't that outfit cold?"
"I'm fine." Inu-Yasha snapped, not in the mood for Shippo and his annoying… annoyingness. Shippo just looked at him innocently.
"Kagome said she was bringing presents, but I don't think she'll give one to you. You're acting too much like an ass right now." The fox observed. A slight twitch was beginning to form on one of Inu-Yasha's eyebrows. Shippo, not noticing, continued his reflections on Inu-Yasha's bad mood aloud. "In fact you'll probably greet her with a 'where the hell were you?' or 'what took you so long?' like you always do. Then she'll get mad at you and 'sit' you and then she'll pay attention to me, since Kagome loves me more…" Shippo's eyes lit up. "Maybe she brought me chocolate!"
A clawed hand gripping the back of his kimono brought Shippo back down to Earth. "Listen fox I don't have time for this!" Inu-Yasha growled, throwing the little fox away. Shippo landed in a deep indention in the snow and his muffled voice called out from the hole. "I'm telling Kagome!"
"Yeah, just go ahead." Inu-Yasha grumbled, resettling himself back in the tree to watch the well again. "What the hell is taking her so long?" She said she'd be a little longer getting back but she wouldn't say why, except for presents. And she always brings us presents, so I don't see what the hell the big deal is anyway." He glared at the well, trying to will it into spiting up Kagome. Suddenly a pile of freezing snow fell on his head. His eyes glinting red he shook the snow off and glared at the perpetrator.
"Kya! Inu-Yasha, don't hurt me!" Shippo squealed, running across the snowy tree branches as fast as he could, the snowy-white dog-demon close behind him. Inu-Yasha grinned as he ran up and snatched the little fox-child up just as Shippo was about to seek refuge in the well. "I'm going to enjoy this."
"Inu-Yasha?" Both demons froze as they turned to look at the young girl that had suddenly appeared, looking at them curiously while leaning over the well's lip. "What are you doing?"
"Uh…" Inu-Yasha swallowed, looking at the frightened fox in his hands, knowing no matter what he did he'd get in trouble. "Nothing." He tossed Shippo to the girl and sat down, waiting for his 'sit' to be called.
Kagome caught Shippo with one hand and looked at him curiously before putting him down and climbing out of the well. That's when Inu-Yasha noticed what she was wearing. A red jacket with a red shirt, both trimmed with what looked like white fur. She was also wearing a hat in the same fashion, except the stupid thing came to a point and had what looked like a rabbit tail on the end. In one hand she was carrying a bag that she was trying to pull completely out of the well but the deep snow wasn't giving her a good enough grip. The dog-demon sighed and jumped up to help the strange girl from the future.
"What's in this anyway?" he inquired, opening the sack and looking inside, sniffing curiously. Kagome snatched it from him, a little roughly, and shook a finger under his nose. Then she shivered and hugged herself tighter as a biting wind blew through. "Now let's get back to the Kaede's, okay? I want to see Miroku and Sango, plus it's cold out." She added with those big eyes she knew the hanyou couldn't resist.
Inu-Yasha blinked at her, if she was cold why didn't she wear actual clothes, then sighed and started walking forward. "Fine then, let's go back to the village." He snorted, although curious as to what was in the bag. Normally Kagome would just give them their stuff straight out but now she wanted to keep it a secret. And those weird clothes and everything… he sighed, knowing he'd never understand the strange girl.
"Inu-Yasha, wait up!" Kagome called out, having trouble moving in the deep drifts in those pathetic black things she called shoes. Inu-Yasha snorted and kept walking. "Wear proper stuff next time!" he called back.
Kagome glared daggers into the back of the half-demon, then glanced at the cold Shippo on her shoulder, who grinned and nodded, knowing now that he was going to get back at Inu-Yasha for chasing him. Kagome paused for a second to put some distance between them, so to not get hit by falling snow, and took a breath.
"Inu-Yasha, sit!"
The result was quite satisfying.
Miroku and Sango were as curious as Inu-Yasha as to what Kagome was doing. First, after arriving with a white, wet hanyou she had gone and taking a bunch of branches off of some of the trees in the forest and had propped them up against the wall. Now she was taking a bunch of brightly coloured balls and other strange objects and was decorating the pile of branches with them. When she was done she took a step back and surveyed her work. "That looks good, doesn't it?" she inquired.
"Oh, yeah, sure." The others nodded, not having a clue as to what Kagome was doing. She smiled, knowing that they were just being agreeable, and proceeded to take the gifts out of the bag. As she placed the boxes, wrapped in brightly coloured paper, around the branches she explained to her friends the rules of the strange holiday she was introducing to them.
"It's called Christmas." She said as she put the last present in place. "It's a holiday back home where family and friends exchange gifts to one another." She smiled at her work, shoddy as it was. It looked Christmas-y enough, she thought.
"Why is that?" Sango asked curiously, looking from the odd set up in the corner to Kagome. The younger girl through for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno. It's fun."
"It sounds stupid to me." Inu-Yasha snorted.
Miroku rolled his eyes. "Inu-Yasha, every sounds stupid to you." He then smiled at Kagome, who was glaring at the dog-demon. "Kagome-sama, I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. But what can we get you?"
Kagome beamed. "Oh, you don't have to get me anything. You guys have saved my life enough times, so this is just my holiday spirit way of saying thank you!" She noticed Shippo was sniffing the present labelled to him curiously. "And you can't open them until tomorrow."
"T-tomorrow?" Shippo repeated with large eyes. "But Kagome, why not now?"
Kagome smiled as she picked up the young fox. "Because now isn't Christmas., silly."
"Another thing Kagome-chan, what about your family?" Sango asked. "You see them less than us these days, so why not spend it with them.
"Because I already have. Actual Christmas was two days ago." Kagome said simply.
"So why can't we have our presents now?" Everyone chorused. Kagome just gave them an evil grin.
"Because two Christmases are better than one! Besides, this is fun!" she giggled, clapping her hands together. Inu-Yasha sighed and got up. "I'm going outside."
"But Inu-Yasha, it's rather cold outside." Miroku argued but Inu-Yasha gave him a glare colder than the wind blowing in the wild outdoors at the moment. Miroku shut his mouth.
Kagome frowned as the hanyou left the building, then she decided not to brood about it and turned to her friends. "Well, since Mr. Party-pooper doesn't want to talk about it, how about I explain it all to you?"
"Kagome, can't I have a piece of my present now?" Shippo wailed, trying to understand this strange holiday of child torture that Kagome found fun. Kagome shook her head and Shippo hung his. Kagome laughed and sat down. "Now, about Christmas…"
"Stupid winter." Inu-Yasha muttered as the cold wind blew right through his clothes to hit his bone. "Stupid snow, stupid cold, stupid wind, stupid everything. I hate this time of the year." Even if the change of weather had caused Kagome to wear something more to his colour he still hated it. Everything of it, and he'd probably hate this stupid Christmas too.
He sat there, brooding about everything stupid and everything that he hated and everything he hated that was stupid, ignoring the cold as the sun sank lower in the horizon. Why couldn't he have his present now, and what was with that stupid pile of branches with balls on them? They were all stupid and Kagome was just crazy in the head. He snorted a snowflake off of his nose, glaring at the sky. "Stupid winter." He grumbled.
"You're going to catch your death of cold out here." His ears flickered around at the sound of Kagome's voice but he otherwise didn't move. The girl, now wrapped in a warm blanket for the outdoors, walked up beside him and looked at him. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine." He muttered. "I just hate winter."
"You hate winter?" Kagome repeated with some surprise. "I though all dogs loved to play in the snow."
"I'm not a dog." Came the gruff reply. Kagome laughed.
"I know, I'm just teasing." She giggled. "Come on, lighten up. It's Christmas eve."
Inu-Yasha glanced over at her, and eyebrow raised. "You said it was Christmas two days ago. So unless you lied, tomorrow's not Christmas and tonight's not Christmas eve."
"What if I did?"
"Eh?" Inu-Yasha looked at her fully now, as the rising full moon illuminated her features. She looked sad for a second, then her face lit up. "Look Inu-Yasha, isn't it beautiful?"
Inu-Yasha followed her gaze into the forest. The fresh snowfall had lined the trees with a delicate white blanket that covered everything and shone brilliantly in the moonlight like a powder of crushed diamonds. The light snowfall also shone in the night light, looking like brilliant feathers falling slowly to the ground.
Inu-Yasha watched it, half-stunned and half thinking about what Kagome said. She had lied? Did that mean she'd rather be with him than with her family? Was that what she was trying to say? "Kagome –"
"We should go inside." She cut him off and answered his question right then and there. If she was avoiding the subject than she defiantly was staying in the feudal age for this Christmas rather than her family. But why? He had to think of a way to keep her outside so he could worm the answer out of her. If something was wrong he wanted to know and now. Then an idea struck him.
"Kagome." As the girl turned around he heftily picked her up and dumped her into a nearby snow bank. As she popped back up looking like a snow demon and glaring fire at him. He laughed at her appearance, even though he knew he was going to get a sit for this, plus it was keeping her outside with him. "You should see yourself, snow-face!" he laughed.
Kagome glared at him, then smiled in her own way. She scooped up piles of snow and balled them together in her bare hands, not noticing the cold. As she packed it all together she took careful aim and threw.
Inu-Yasha was still laughing when he got the snowball right in the face. He jumped up with a yelp and shook his head, his ears filled with snow and the sound of Kagome laughing. As he brushed the snow out of his hair he glared back at the girl. "What's the matter Inu-Yasha?" She asked, smiling. "I thought dogs loved to play in the snow."
"Why you –" Inu-Yasha jumped forward and landed in the snowdrift beside Kagome, dumping a whole armful of snow of top of her. She gasped as the sudden cold as some snow trickled down her back, then she decided to return the favour. Grabbing the back of Inu-Yasha's shirt she shoved a handful of snow down it. Inu-Yasha yelped again and danced around, trying to get the cold, wet lump out of his shirt before it completely melted. He stopped when he realized how stupid he looked and growled playful, packing up a giant snowball. Kagome shrieked and started running as he chased after her, purposely leading her away from the hut.
Miroku sighed as he moved away from the window. "Perhaps Kagome-sama is right and tonight is indeed a most romantic night." He glanced over at Sango who was working on a small gift for Kagome, not wanting her friend to be the only one without a gift. Feeling the monk's eyes on her she looked up and her eyes narrowed. "Don't even think it." she warned as she inched away. Miroku wisely took the hint, but wondered if perhaps the snow trick would work for him as well.
Kagome hid behind a large tree as the half-demon with the lethal snowball in his hands circled it, playing with her since he knew he could very easily outrun her and return the favour of cold snow down the back. Kagome squealed as he almost caught her and she hid behind another tree.
"Come on Inu-Yasha it was a joke! Inu-Yasha! Don't!" She wriggled and screamed as Inu-Yasha grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up, shoving the snow down her back. He pressed her tight against him so that she couldn't wiggle free and get the snow out. They stood like that for a moment until Kagome stopped struggling and started shivering. Inu-Yasha suddenly realized that she had dropped the blanket at some point in the chase and what she was wearing now, no matter how soft it felt, was definitely not warm enough for a winter's night. "Stupid." He muttered, placing her down and taking the top of his kimono off, wrapping it around her. "You're going to catch your death of cold."
Kagome just nodded, not going to tell him that part of her shivering was due to how he was holding her. His warmth seeping into her and the feel of his body pressed up close to hers, not to mention his warm breath on her neck. She sat down against a tree and hugged Inu-Yasha's kimono around her. The hanyou sat beside her and she looked at him curiously. "Aren't you cold?" she asked. Inu-Yasha shook his head.
"My demon blood is keeping me warm from most of the cold, plus that chase." He added with a grin. Kagome blushed and huddled into a smaller ball to hide her embarrassment. Inu-Yasha's expression changed to concern. "Are you okay?"
"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Kagome nodded quickly, not wanting the boy to worry. His arm wrapped around her and pulled her close to his side. Kagome gasped slightly at the shock of it and she looked at Inu-Yasha in surprise.
His amber eyes were staring directly into her brown ones and she had to pull back. His face was awful close… she blushed again, wondering if the Christmas spirit was getting to her.
Inu-Yasha studied Kagome's face with concern. She seemed awful flushed and there was a chance she might be catching something, with the rapid change in temperatures and that run to wear her down. He was suddenly aware of how close she was… because of him. It was his arm that was wrapped around her waist, his face that was close to hers. He could smell her so clearly, her wonderful scent mixing in with the pure, clean scent of winter. It was everything not to just bury his face in her hair and just sit there, breathing her smell in. She wouldn't like that, he told himself.
"Inu-Yasha?" Kagome turned to look at him and found their noses almost touching. She blushed again and turned away. Inu-Yasha looked at her careful while he ignored the weird, woozy feeling he was getting. "You're face is all red. I should bring you back to Kaede's before you get sick." He started to pick her up but she grabbed his sleeve.
"No, wait." She said and something in her eyes made him stop. He felt nervous but he didn't know why. Kagome was shaking slightly but she took a deep breath.
Now or never girl. She told herself. "Inu-Yasha… there's this thing about Christmas… and presents…"
"Yeah?" Inu-Yasha nodded, wondering what the hell she was talking about.
"Well… there was this one present I really wanted to give you… but I don't know if I can tomorrow…" she seemed really interested in her hands, feeling her face get redder.
"Well…" Inu-Yasha glanced at the sky and smiled slightly. "It's midnight. So technically," he told Kagome as she looked at him curiously, "you can give it to me."
Kagome just stared at him, then at the moon, then at him her gaze flickered over to where the house was before she looked at him again. She seemed nervous and flustered and then got a look of determination on her face. "Okay…" she said, seeming like she was steeling herself up for something. Before Inu-Yasha had a chance to feel nervous or worried she put her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.
She let go of him almost immediately, bright red at her bold action. Inu-Yasha seemed frozen, blinking for a few seconds as he tried to register what had just happened. Then, slowly, a smile crept over his face. He looked at Kagome as the smile got bigger and turned itself into a huge grin. "Was that it?" he asked. Kagome nodded, he face still doing the impression of a cherry.
Inu-Yasha couldn't stop grinning. "Then I have a present for you." he said, pulling the girl into a kiss before she could protest. Her arms wrapped around his neck as he pulled her in closer, the two sharing the moment as long as they could. Finally, when both needed breath, they pulled apart. Kagome's face felt hot and her heart was beating rapidly against her chest, but she had never felt so giddy in her life.
Inu-Yasha couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her, doing what he always wanted and burying his face in her hair, inhale her wonderful scent as he nuzzled her neck. Kagome stiffened for the fraction of a second before melting into the warmth of the one she loved, snuggling into his chest. Inu-Yasha just couldn't stop grinning, feeling happier than he ever had in his life as he pulled Kagome in for another kiss. "You know, this Christmas crap isn't so bad."
And that was Ama's little Christmas fluff story! It has kept me from boredom! It has stopped me from killing the Playstation! It has allowed my muse to revive and continue writing Guardian Angel! Woot!
Have yourselves a happy holidays, whoever you are.
Lots of love!
~Ama