Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

These won't necessarily go in order, by the way.


Word Count- 495

Here Comes Santa Claws

"Hello, Akemi, Hitoshi," Mrs. Higurashi greeted her sister and brother-in-law, opening the door for them. Kagome stood behind her mother with a smile. "You remember Kagome, of course. Souta's already gone over to a friend's house for the night, but he'll be back in the morning."

"Kaori, it's so nice to see you!" Aunt Akemi exclaimed, enveloping her sister in a hug. "And this is our new daughter, Emi. I'm so sorry we haven't had a chance to come over in so very long." The toddler looked up at the other people in the room with big, deep brown eyes. She had a pink bow clipped into her wispy black hair.

"She's precious," Mrs. Higurashi declared, looking at the little girl clutching her father's hand.

"Kagome, has it only been three years?" her aunt asked incredulously.

"Yes, you've grown so tall," Uncle Hitoshi added, grinning.

"Well, I am fifteen now," the teen answered her family with a smile. "And how old are you, Emi?" she asked, crouching down to look the little girl in the eye.

After a moment of babytalk, Emi answered, "I two!" with a shy smile.

"Such a big girl already!" Kagome told the child, and took her by the hand to play elsewhere while the adults sat down and caught up over tea.

They were up in Kagome's room playing with some of her old dolls about half an hour later when a familiar person made himself known.

"Yo, Kagome!" Inuyasha said as he balanced easily on her windowsill. Emi looked over with her huge dark eyes as she took in the sight of the red-clad hanyou with his long silver hair, perched on the narrow ledge. For a moment, Kagome feared a hysterical outburst from the small child. But then she laughed, and started unsteadily walking across the room towards him.

"Santa!" she giggled. Kagome had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from bursting into uncontrollable laughter.

Inuyasha just looked baffled. "Uh… Kagome? Why is there a little girl in your room? And did she just call me a 'sandy cloud'?"

This time, her mirth simply could not be contained, and she erupted into wild giggles.

"This is… my cousin, Emi," she finally managed, "and her family… is staying here until… Christmas." She broke out into laughter again for a moment. "And, she thinks… you're Santa Claus!"

"What! There ain't nothin' wrong with my claws!"

Kagome didn't have the ability to explain for several minutes, during which Emi decided she wanted to pet Inuyasha's ears.

"What is it with these Higurashi girls and my ears?" he grumbled, although he allowed Emi to climb all over his shoulders and tug on the twitching white appendages. After she explained about 'Santa Claus' and his involvement in the Christmas holiday, Kagome grinned at the cute scene.

"What can I say, 'Saint Inuyasha'? Must be a family trait." And she laughed once more at his disgruntled expression.

~/~/~


Author's Note- So yeah, I'm waiting till six thirty to post this one while I get another little story ready for you. (: I'm estimating seven chapters for this? Maybe a little more? Depends. ;) Review pretty please!

-Lady E

(Yeah, yeah, forty five minutes late. Whatever. ;)