My Heart
Chapter Ten:
My Heart Is Singing
Christmas arrived on a brisk, grey morning. The dark clouds that filled the sky held the lucrative promise of snow. Kagome was up before dawn, too excited to sleep any longer. Though Christmas didn't carry the same religious connotations in Japan as it did in the West, the holiday still meant a great deal to the anxious college-student. It was her favorite time of year, hands down. It held nothing but good memories for her. There was a certain peace and merriness that permeated the air near the holiday, a certain degree of good will toward all human and youkai kind alike. The world was in harmony.
Christmas was a suspension of reality, a lull in the record, making everything feel smooth and seamless with no harsh edges, like Vaseline spread over a camera lens. Kagome loved everything about Christmas: the lights, music, treats, present-giving, the congenial attitude, the spike in volunteerism. She even loved the air. It seemed special somehow and all she wanted to do was breathe it in, hold her breath, make it last.
The first thing she did was call her family. Usually, she would spend the holidays with her mother, grand-father, and little brother, but exams had prohibited prolonged travel this year. Even though Kagome had already made plans to visit her family on the new year, she was still a little homesick and missed her family very much. She even found herself missing her amiable, obese cat.
By the time Kagome got off the phone and brushed her teeth, she could hear Inuyasha moving around downstairs. She trotted off happily, running into the yawning hanyou. He blinked lazily at the pajama-clad woman, who wrapped him in a quick hug. Kagome cut the hug short when she belatedly realized the bleary, golden-eyed boy was wearing only his pajama bottoms. His lean torso was bare and very warm despite the early-morning chill.
"Merry Christmas, Inuyasha!" She smiled brightly, swiftly averting her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas," He echoed with less enthusiasm as he rolled his shoulders, loosening the joints. "You're sure up early," he noted, eyeing the merry reindeer on her pajama pants. Her enthusiasm for the holiday was kind of endearing, as only small children seemed to cling to the holiday hype. The dancing reindeer were also a little childish, Inuyasha thought, until his gaze slipped north and he noticed her red sweater was cut a bit low, revealing an appealing amount of cleavage. Blushing, Inuyasha looked away and rubbed the back of his head self-consciously.
"I can never sleep in on Christmas morning. I'm way too excited. When my brother and I were younger we'd wake Mama up and she'd cook us a big breakfast, then we'd all exchange presents and play games…" Kagome paused in her rambling as Inuyasha gave her a pointed look. She belatedly noticed he was hesitating outside of the bathroom door.
"Oh, sorry," Kagome giggled and blushed lightly. "Um, I'm going to go wake up Sango and Miroku," she announced before dashing off to Miroku's bedroom. The couple was sleeping soundly, curled close together as they slumbered peacefully, until Kagome took a running leap and landed on the bed.
They startled awake as Kagome jumped up and down, singing, "Wake up! It's Christmas!"
"Kagome-chan, it's so early."
"Indeed. This is highly inappropriate."
"I'm dreaming of a whiiiite Christmas…"
Inuyasha leaned on the doorframe, regarding the scene before him with wry amusement, grateful he hadn't received a similar wake-up call. Miroku and Sango managed to tackle Kagome down on the bed and tickled her mercilessly in retaliation until she shrieked with laughter. Inuyasha smiled faintly, the tip of one fang sliding over his lip, as he picked up one of Miroku's sweatshirts off the floor and slipped it on. It seemed everyone was feeling childish this morning. Maybe It was contagious. They'd never made a big deal out of Christmas before Kagome started coming around. Her enthusiasm and excitement for the holiday caught like wildfire.
Eventually, once everyone was up and ready, they turned on some festive music and began making breakfast, crowded around the cozy kitchen. They decided to make pancakes, generally a western-style breakfast, but Miroku thought it was more festive then a traditional Japanese breakfast. "Today is a special day - it requires a special breakfast!"
No one argued and soon the house was filled with the lovely smell of brewing coffee, warm pancakes and syrup.
"C'mon, Kagome. You've gotta' flip the pancake before it burns."
"I'm trying to flip the pancake!"
"Here, give it to me." Inuyasha pushed Kagome to the side and took hold of the spatula. With a powerful flick of his wrist he flipped the pancake, sending it so high that it bounced off the ceiling, forcing Inuyasha to rush to catch the falling pancake with the skillet.
"Please don't get pancake on the ceiling," Miroku begged good-naturedly, wearily eyeing the overzealous hanyou who seemed to cause problems every time he entered a kitchen.
"Show off," Kagome mumbled and Sango giggled helplessly as she tried to pour coffee evenly into four mugs.
Outside, it was finally morning. The sun tried to peek around dark, pregnant clouds. It was indeed a white Christmas.
Replete after their large breakfast, everyone moved into the living room with their still-warm coffee mugs. Miroku started a fire in the fireplace, stoking it into a high blaze and they all settled down to digest and watch a parade on television in a post-breakfast stupor.
Presents were next on their schedule. Over the weeks, presents had begun to grow under the tree at a substantial rate. Shimmering paper and bright gold and silver bows glowed attractively in the firelight.
"Present time!" Kagome announced, having caught a second wind, jumping off the sofa so she could take up her role as distributor.
"Hey, Kagome-chan, why don't I hand out the presents and you take your rightful place as photographer for the evening." Miroku smiled, looking cozy in his velvet bathrobe.
"Oh, of course." Kagome grinned cheekily and darted off to grab her camera. Kagome settled into her new role as shutter bug and began, quite happily, to snap pictures of everything. "First thing is first! Let's get a picture in front of the tree," Kagome demanded, herding everyone together.
Groaning, Inuyasha allowed himself to be positioned on either side of Miroku. Grinning boyishly, Miroku wrapped one arm around Sango's shoulders and the other around Inuyasha, pulling them in close.
"Okay, Miroku, please tilt your chin down," Kagome suggested kindly, adjusting the lens, as Miroku obediently tilted his chin a fraction.
"Great. Sango-chan, move in a bit closer." Sango obliged, moving in until her hip brushed Miroku's. He caught her eye and winked.
"Perfect. Inuyasha, smile a bit, yeah?"
"Keh."
"Kagome-chan, you should be in the picture too," Sango insisted.
"Oh, well, I guess I can set the self-timer." Kagome quickly fiddled with her camera and then angled it on top of the fireplace mantle so that it would pan out and catch them all posing in front of the tree. Once it was set, Kagome ran and took up her place beside Inuyasha.
"Okay, everyone, smile!" Kagome cheered, feeling Inuyasha slip a casual arm over her shoulder. Surprised, she glanced over at Inuyasha, pink tingeing her cheeks. The flash blazed; the shudder snapped, capturing the moment.
"Alright! Back to presents," Miroku enthused, clapping his hands together. They all settled around the tree and accepted their respective presents. Inuyasha sat cross-legged, watching Miroku, Sango, and Kagome collect a small pile of gifts. He felt almost shocked when Miroku handed him his own gift. "Here, Inuyasha. This one's from Sango."
Inuyasha glanced over at Sango who smiled and winked playfully. Using his claws he carefully ripped the paper away, revealing a small-ish white box. Tossing the lid away, Inuyasha took out a watch swaddled in wrapping paper. "A watch?" He observed, taking in the clean, bold face and the rich brown leather band.
"I know you have a hard time showing up to places on time. Now, you don't have an excuse." Sango laughed.
Inuyasha chuckled cynically and offered a gruff, "Thanks, Sango."
The pleased hanyou sat back and watched the proceedings. Miroku gave Kagome a beautiful scarf, which she was delighted with. Kagome, in turn, gave Miroku a cook book, a nice pair of gloves, and a bottle of champagne.
Kagome and Sango exchanged myriads of small gifts, candy, chocolates, and a plethora of makeup. Kagome gave Sango a beautiful, vintage jewelry box and Sango gave Kagome an adorable Maneki Neko figurine, which Kagome was in the habit of collecting. "I need all the luck I can get," Kagome often joked.
Without his noticing, Inuyasha's own pile of gifts was growing. He had a small assortment of candy and cakes and two gifts from Kagome. He glanced up at the raven haired girl who smiled shyly. The first gift was a book about motorcycles.
Inuyasha blinked at the book as if he'd never seen one before. It was a big book, quite heavy, more like the motorcycle Bible. Along with historical tidbits about the earliest cycles during the 1890s and the use of bikes during both world wars, the book provided sections devoted to racing, touring, motocross, and customizing. It featured U.S. bikes, classic British models such as Triumph and Vincent; Italian, French, and Scandinavian bikes, German military models, bikes from companies such as BMW and Hunch, and, of course, the Japanese giants: Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha.
As Inuyasha flipped through the book, full-color photographs virtually leap off the page, and their captions pointed out pertinent facts (a snapshot of a vivid red 1988 Electra Glide was highlighted by the bike's disc brakes and its separate gearbox, and made Inuyasha hum with jealousy). It was an incredibly thoughtful gift.
"Wow, Kagome. Uh, thanks."
"You're welcome! I'm really glad you like it. I hope you like your other gift too," Kagome said quietly, anxiously fiddling with the hem of her sweater.
"Other?" Inuyasha reached for the second package and ripped it open. It was a similar box to the one Sango's gift had come in. He opened the box and gingerly lifted a necklace. It was construed of dark, round beads that gleamed softly in the firelight and bone-white magatama beads broke up the dark beads at even intervals. As Inuyasha held it in his hands he felt the remnants of power sleeping in the beads. Though it looked freshly polished, Inuyasha knew the necklace was very, very old.
"The woman at the store said it was once used for protection. When I saw it, I thought of you," Kagome admitted with a gentle smile. "Do you like it?"
"Uh, yeah. I do, actually," Inuyasha assured her. Chocolate-brown eyes glowing, Kagome reached over and offered to place it around his neck. Inuyasha lowered his head and allowed her to slip the necklace over his head.
"Interesting," Miroku noted, eyeing the necklace, always intrigued by historical objects. There were few presents left to dole out. Miroku got Inuyasha a punching bag to hang in the garage. "For when you need to vent your frustrations - hopefully, you'll spare the drywall from now on."
Miroku and Sango were shocked and touched to discover Inuyasha had gotten them a gift card, enough to cover a dinner for two, to their favorite restaurant.
"This is so sweet of you, Inuyasha!" Sango gushed.
"Keh. It's not a big deal."
There were only two presents left. One was from Sango to Miroku which contained a small karaoke machine. That was a gift everyone was excited about. The last box was very big and had Sango's name on it.
"Is this the last gift?" Miroku asked.
"Oh, wait. I forgot Kagome's present." Inuyasha remembered.
Kagome's eyes widened. "You got me something, Inuyasha?"
"Yeah, hold on. I'll be right back." Inuyasha rose gracefully to his feet and trotted off to his room. He'd been keeping Kagome's present in his room, sitting quite plainly on his dresser, so he'd been sheltering it from view with a bath towel every time Kagome was around. Luckily, she hadn't noticed and ruined the surprise.
Kagome felt her mouth fall open in surprise when Inuyasha reappeared a minute later, carefully carrying a small, round, glass tank. Inside were two koi fish, no longer than the length of Kagome's thumb. Kagome forgot her camera and squealed excitedly as she jumped up to get a closer look.
The small koi simply swam in circles around each other, slightly disturbed by the movement going on around them. Kagome stuck her face up-close to the glass. Both fish had pearly luminous scales and were mottled with black and red splashes of color. Kagome could only tell them apart from on another because one fish was mostly black and white with only a prominent dot of red on his head.
"They're so cute!"
Inuyasha sat the bowl down on the coffee table. "They won't get as big as most koi, but they'll still need a bigger tank when they're older. Just let me know when they've outgrown this one."
"Oh, Inuyasha. Thank you." Grinning, Kagome threw her arms around Inuyasha's neck. "Thank you," she mumbled again, the words muffled as her mouth was pressed into the juncture of his neck and shoulder.
Inuyasha shivered despite the warm room. He patted her back gently before taking a step back. "Jeez, Kagome. It's just some fish."
"Well, I love them."
"They are rather cute," Sango agreed, crouching by the table to get a good look at the newest members of their home.
"For fish," Miroku added, smiling mischievously at Inuyasha. "I'm impressed, Inuyasha. I didn't know you were so thoughtful."
"Shut up, Miroku," Inuyasha angled a half-hearted glare at him.
Miroku smiled softly. "Well, it seems there is only one present left."
"Aw, is it over already?" Kagome asked sadly, eyeing all the discarded paper and bows strewn across the room.
"I'm afraid so." Miroku handed the last present to Sango. "I hope I'm able to top Inuyasha's creative gift to Kagome-chan."
Sango accepted the large box from Miroku. "I'm sure I'll love whatever you got me," Sango assured him, beginning to tear apart the wrapping paper. Sango opened the lid to the box and pulled out…a slightly smaller box.
She shot Miroku a curious look, who simply grinned, eyes shining mysteriously, and urged her to keep going. Sango sighed and removed the wrapping paper from the new box. She slit the tape with her nails and opened the box and pulled out…yet another box.
"Miroku!" Sango said, exasperated. "What is going on?"
"Patience, dear Sango," was all Miroku would say.
Venting a frustrated sigh, Sango pulled her long chestnut hair away from her face, securing it with a tie. "Okay, let's try this again." She impatiently tore the paper away, and opened the box.
"Another box!" Kagome giggled and crawled closer so she could help Sango remove the sticky tape from the lid.
Inuyasha eyed Miroku perceptively. "What are you up to?"
The dark haired man feigned innocence. "Nothing at all," he promised demurely.
"Right," Inuyasha said cynically, moving so he crouch down on the other side of Sango and easily severed the tape with the tip of one claw.
While Sango was feeling rather impatient, Kagome thought the boxes were good fun and began taking pictures of the boxes in sequence, from largest to smallest. Slowly, the size of the boxes grew smaller and smaller until Sango was sure there couldn't possibly a smaller box inside.
"This must be the last one," she guessed, shooting her boyfriend a peevish glare. Inuyasha and Kagome leaned in closer, almost as curious as Sango was. The determined brunette tore through the paper for what she hoped was the last time. She slowly opened the lid of the tiny satin box and felt her heart skip a beat. If she'd been standing, she'd have fallen down.
Kagome sucked in a breath, a giddy smile suddenly breaking over her face, and grabbed Inuyasha's arm excitedly as Miroku suddenly kneeled down in front of Sango.
"Sango, if I could have just one wish, I would wish to wake up everyday to the sound of your laughter, to see the sight of your smile, to feel the warmth of your lips on mine,the touch of your fingers on my skin. I want to fall asleep to the sound of your heartbeat every night, secure in the knowledge that I could never find this feeling with anyone other than you, that I could never love anyone as much as I love you right now." Miroku took the box from Sango's shaking hands and removed the shining diamond ring.
He took her hand and placed the ring on her hand with tender precision. "Sango, will you marry me?"
Sango was crying, tears coursed down her pretty face. She swallowed hard and smiled through her tears. "Yes," she whispered and Miroku swept her up in one easy motion and crushed his lips to hers.
Inuyasha glanced over at Kagome who was crying and laughing and applauding like she was part of a studio audience. Inuyasha chuckled, feeling bathed in the love that filled the room. He picked up Kagome's camera, figuring that someone ought to catch this moment on film and quickly snapped a picture.
"She said yes," Miroku cheered as he swung his bride-to-be around in a circle.
"Yeah, we were there," Inuyasha reminded him, earning a swat from Kagome.
Miroku released Sango and found the bottle of champagne Kagome had given him. "This is a time for celebration!" he announced, enthusiastically pouring everyone generous amounts of champagne into their empty coffee mugs.
Kagome picked up her mug, holding it up in the air as she made a toast, "To the happy couple, may your lives together be full of joy and laughter, and to the best Christmas ever!"
"Here, here!" Miroku grinned and everyone clinked their mugs together. The festivities progressed to an intense singing contest on Miroku's new karaoke machine. Inuyasha opted out of the competition, not one for singing, though he enjoyed watching a tipsy Kagome sing her heart out as she performed a duet with an equally tipsy Sango.
Inuyasha tried to place the emotion flooding his system. Was it the champagne? No, he'd been feeling this way since before the alcohol. Happy, his brain supplied the word. I feel happy?
Guilt crept into his conscious as he glanced out the window to see the lengthening shadows that foretold the oncoming night. He thought of Kikyou, the one person he should have been with on this day. How could he be happy when he hadn't seen or heard from her all day? He knew she was out of town for the weekend, but still. It felt wrong, like he shouldn't have been anything but miserable.
Kagome collapsed on the couch beside him with a small, sleepy smile. 'Kagome shouldn't be the one beside me right now. It should be Kikyou.' He glanced over at Miroku and Sango, who were momentarily lost in their own little world. When was the last time he'd had a moment like that with his fiancé? Had he ever felt that way? More importantly, had Kikyou?
Sango's loud voice distracted him from his thoughts as she whirled on Miroku with wide eyes.
"You want to have how many kids?"
"What? Is twelve a bit excessive?"
A/N: Ugh…can you imagine twelve kids? Ew.
Anyways, I got my computer back! In celebration, here is another (longer than usual) chapter. Can you tell I'm feeling festive today?
Good job guessing what Inuyasha's present to Kagome was. Everyone who guessed fish, go ahead and pat yourself on the back. I got some rather interesting inquiries. Turtles and ferrets never crossed my mind, but the latter would have been fun. Ha-ha! (now, does anyone have any idea for the names of the fish?) Those of you who are ready for some action and some plot, I promise I won't be making you wait much longer. Also, I'm glad everyone seems comfortable with the pace of Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship. Remember: patience is a virtue!
Thanks for reading!