So here we are, the second of my little Christmas treatrs for you lucky lucky readers. It's not fluff! YAY! Ahem, enjoy

Everyone piled onto Ah-Un while Sesshomaru tried to work the sat-nav. Lazuli had given the directions and address for her mother's house, and told him to be there at four. She said it was a tradition in her family that everyone who would attend Christmas dinner had to help put up decorations.

The sat-nav repeated the address back and zoomed through the route. And they were off. Rin practiced her new way of life by meditating on Ah-Un's back, Sesshomaru was watching traffic, and Jacken was being pounded in the face by dozens of late insects.

'Turn left, thirty yards ahead,' said the sat-nav in its cool voice. They were currently on a motorway going over a bridge with a river running through the bottom.

'Stupid thing,' muttered Sesshomaru crossly.

'Take the next right,' instructed the sat-nav. It was a one way street, and they were going the wrong way.

'You are in a field,' said the sat-nav. They were, in fact, about two streets away from Lazuli's mum's house, in the middle of a condensed mining village. Well, that was it. Sesshomaru lost his patience and the sat-nav broke the world record for furthest flying inanimate object.

'You have reached your destinaabs non,' the sat-nav amended meekly.

They dismounted and the demon lord told Ah-Un sternly that he was not allowed to destroy any more cars. Ah-Un dropped his heads sadly.

They knocked. A small woman opened the door and Christmas music drifted out onto the street. She peered at the trio carefully and said. 'No thankyou. Whatever you're selling, we're not buying!' and slammed the door in the demon lord's stunned face.

'Maybe we got the wrong house?' Rin suggested.

'No, lazuli definitely said number 8,' Sesshomaru replied. Just then the door opened again and a harassed looking Lazuli leaned out, apologising for her mother.

'I forgot to tell her you were coming over,' she explained.

Lazuli's mother (Carol) inspected them all one by one as they filed through the door. She glared suspiciously at Sesshomaru, took an instant liking to Rin, and did a double take when she got to Jacken.

'Are you sure this thing's sanitary, Sylvie?' she asked.

'He's fine, mum,' Lazuli sighed back.

'Well, why don't you take everybody into the living room and show them what to do? I'm just getting the last of the boxes from the attic.' Lazuli led all three of them into the living room, where there was a box of lights, baubles, tinsel, but no tree.

'What do you have to get from the attic, mum?' she called up the stairs.

'Just the tree, dear.'

Lazuli's eyes widened in horror. Glancing pointedly at Sesshomaru, she followed her mother up the stairs. 'Let us do it, mum,' she said hurriedly. They pushed past her mother to get to the upper hall, when two blurs ran past the opposite way and nearly knocked Lazuli over. 'Lord Sesshomaru, meet the twins, Toby and Daniel. Don't bother to figure out which is which, because I still can't tell.' She grinned.

The hatch to the attic was open, and a ladder reached into the gaping black hole like a car into Ah-Un's mouth.

'Why does your mum call you Sylvie? And why am I the one going up the ladder?' Sesshomaru asked as he climbed.

'She calls me Sylvie because that is my first name. Lazuli is my second and I like it a lot better. Secondly, you're going up the ladder because I don't like heights.'

'Why isn't your mum doing this?'

'Because she refuses to step on the ladder.'

Sesshomaru's head disappeared into the dark recess of the attic. 'I can't see anything,' he called down. Lazuli told him to look for the lightswitch that should be behind his head. He felt around for it, and brushed the catch for something. All Lazuli heard after that was a huge thud and an 'oomf!'. The door of the attic had fallen on the demon lord's head.

'Are you OK?'

'Just my skull,' Sesshomaru replied. He had finally found the switch. 'So, what am I looking for?'

'The big box with a Christmas tree on the side,' she replied. 'Yeah, that's it.'

He brought down the big box and met the eager stares of two ten-year-old boys.

'Are those real swords?' one of them asked.

'Can we touch them?' asked the other. Lazuli came to the demon lord's rescue.

'Leave Sesshomaru alone. Go on, do something useful and take this downstairs,' she instructed, handing them the tree.

'Hey, Lazuli! Do you want to see Percy? You can come too, Sess. . .'

'Sesshomaru.'

'Yeah, that – come on!' Toby yanked on his sister's hand and dragged him into his bedroom. Percy, it turned out, was a cockatoo. He flew onto Sesshomaru's shoulder as soon as the cage opened.

'I think he likes you,' Lazuli said. There was a dull squelch and Percy flew onto Toby's shoulder instead. 'Or not. Come on, let's get you something to wipe that off.'

'What did he do? What did he do?' Sesshomaru demanded, trying to turn to see what the parrot had done on his back.

A few minutes later, the tree was unpacked and Toby and Daniel were somewhere in the house, trying to kidnap Jacken in the box. Lazuli and Sesshomaru could hear them following the imp's terrorised screams up and down the stairs. Rin was in the kitchen, helping Carol make the Christmas cake, leaving Lazuli and Sesshomaru to set up the tree.

A lot of branches had fallen off since last year, and it was the demon lord who figured out how to put them back on, so Lazuli left him to do that while she disentangled the lights. There was a sudden crash as the tree came loose of its brackets and fell on top of Sesshomaru, who was sprawled comically underneath. She couldn't help but laugh as she hauled it off him.

'What was that?' Carol called.

'Nothing mum, just the tree trying to kill Sesshomaru,' Lazuli laughed back.

'That's all right then.'

'Don't worry, Sesshy, she likes you really,' she reassured him.

'Don't call me Sesshy!' Sesshy protested.

'Help me put the lights on.'

They wound the lights all around the tree, and there were so many they had to do it again, and again and again. Once, Lazuli emitted a strangled sound because she had somehow managed to wrap the lights around her neck and it took five minutes to get them off.

Next came the baubles. Lazuli just put them on randomly, deciding where they looked good, but Sesshomaru was more systematic. He laid all of his half out in order of colour and size. Suddenly there was a fluttering of wings as Percy flew into the room and perched on the top of the tree.

'You're not the Christmas angel,' Lazuli murmured.

'What was that?'

'Oh nothing, just talking to the bird,' Lazuli replied.

'You know, talking to animals is meant to be a sign of insanity,' Sesshomaru pointed out.

'No, that's talking to yourself,' Lazuli corrected. 'Second sign is hairs on the palms.' Sesshomaru quickly glanced down at his hands. 'And the third sign is looking for them,' she giggled. Suddenly her eyes widened. She bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Tobi was putting crumbs of bird food on Sesshomaru's head so lightly that he didn't notice. He put a finger to his lips and pointed at Percy.

'What is it?' Sesshomaru asked when he saw her expression.

'Nothing,' she mumbled, turning away. Percy was watching Sesshomaru avidly. Suddenly he flew down onto the demon lord's head. Sesshomaru squeaked and fell of his chair, and Lazuli couldn't breathe for laughing. She high-fived her little brother and shooed him away before Sesshomaru had chance to use Tokijin.

'That bird messed up my hair!' he complained.

'Oh, come on, Sesshomaru, it was funny!' He just scowled in a very Sesshomaru-like way.

Carol came through to inspect their handiwork, sniffing at the good job they had done. Toby and Daniel had managed to get Jacken and were holding him hostage in the Christmas tree box, telling Sesshomaru that they would only let him out if he gave them one of his swords. Sesshomaru eventually gave up under threats of Percy, and let them play with Tenseiga for a while. After all, what harm could they do with a sword that wouldn't kill anybody? Quite a lot, apparently. They managed to fell the giant bookshelf in the hall, despite it being attached to the wall. At which point they gave Tenseiga back and said it was all Sesshomaru's fault. Carol glared at him in a very Carol-like way, not nearly intimidating to Sesshomaru.

They all got to stir the cake mix before they left, and make a wish. Jacken's wish was to be allowed out of the box, after which he obediently crawled back inside and awaited rescue. Rin wished for world peace, and Sesshomaru was hoping that Lazuli would never make him dance again. It really annoyed him that he didn't know what Lazuli had wished for, and that her face was strangely smug when she left the kitchen.

Two weeks later, on Christmas day, Sesshomaru, Rin and Jacken came over for Christmas dinner. It smelled wonderful. Sesshomaru was so enthralled by the scent of goose that he forgot about the low-dangling hall light and walked into it. Lazuli sniggered.

'You're just in time,' she said, 'Mum's plating up now.'

'Sorry, Lazuli, Ah-Un had a stomach ache, too much exhaust, I think, and we had to get a taxi.'

'It's fine.' And Lazuli was glad to see that Sesshomaru had turned up in the outfit he wore to the Christmas party. He had even left his swords behind.

They all sat round the dining room table in candlelight. Daniel caught sight of Jacken and made him sit between them, pretending he was a giant monster out to get 'princess Rin'. Lazuli went through to help bring out the starter (grilled mushroom with cheese and bacon), before sitting down between Sesshomaru and her mother.

'Cracker, Sesshomaru?' she asked, holding one out teasingly. There was a quiet bang that sent Jacken diving under the table.

'It's OK, mate,' Daniel said. 'It's only a cracker.'

'This is the worst holiday ever invented,' Jacken moaned. 'First a man in a blood red suit who eats children, now guns!' it was too much for his tiny imp mind to take in.

'Come on Sesshomaru, put your hat on,' Lazuli demanded, unfolding it for him.

'I don't want a hat,' he said stubbornly. Lazuli, therefore, put the hat on for him and pulled it down over his eyes.

'There,' she said, grinning, 'It's not a hat anymore.' She pulled another cracker with Rin and won, and Sesshomaru got his revenge by pulling her hat over her eyes and keeping it there.

When the goose came out, Jacken's eyes went wild. It was bigger than him!

'Help yourselves,' said Carol happily, scooping roast potatoes onto her plate. Jacken didn't quite get the idea. He abandoned his plate and lunged at the goose. Daniel and Toby thought it was a great idea and joined in. Lazuli held her head in her hands. Percy flew down and landed on Toby's shoulder, where he squatted while being fed titbits of carrot from his master's mouth.

'Toby!' said Carol sharply, 'Not at the table please.'

Rin, meanwhile, was annoying Daniel with the toy feather duster in her cracker. They were swapping favourite movies, and they had surprisingly similar taste.

'I like the Care Bears,' Jacken piped up, afraid he was being left out. Everything around the table stopped moving and Jacken seemed to melt into his chair.

Afterwards was the present swapping. The twins had opened most of theirs already, but were only too happy to receive one more each from Lazuli and Sesshomaru. They got model planes from Lazuli, and toy swords from Sesshomaru, which they started whacking each other with immediately.

Lazuli got Rin a flying pig, Jacken got a My Little Pony, and Sesshomaru got a three in one board game – reversi, checkers and chess.

'Do you know how to play these?' he asked dubiously.

'I know the rules,' she replied with a shrug.

'Your turn!' He pulled out a squashy package which turned out to be one of those really comfortable pillows. Carol was given a Japanese cookbook, and in return the demon lord got a Christmas cake, because he had liked licking the bowl when the mixture had gone into the oven.

For the rest of the night they played monopoly. Lazuli and Rin, Sesshomaru and Jacken, the twins, and Carol were all on separate teams, but by the end, and Lazuli's random and none existent strategy (buy everything and get round quickly), they won. Sesshomaru pouted and Jacken burst into tears as the duo high-fived each other in victory.

Finally, when Sesshomaru insisted on it be way past Jacken's bedtime, they left. A fine blanket of white had settled on the ground, and more snow was falling.

'Yay, snow!' Rin cried.

'Shh! Keep it down, Rin, you don't want the twins to find out,' Lazuli whispered. 'I'll see you around, yeah?' she said, hugging Rin. 'Merry Christmas!'

'You too!' came the replies.

A mound of snow was placed invitingly on the gate of the house, and Lazuli just couldn't resist. Smack! A large wad of snow hit the demon lord just below the ear, and when he turned round, furious, Lazuli was standing there innocently, trying not to laugh out loud.

'So, that's the game you want to play, is it?' he said mischievously, picking up his own snowball. Instead of throwing it, he walked determinedly to where Lazuli was standing, watching with delight as her expression grew more and more wary. He struck suddenly, ramming the snow down the back of her top and sprinting away before she had chance to murder him. A procession of death threats and swearing followed him up the street.

'That's not ladylike behaviour, Lazuli!' he called back, chuckling.

ah, that's much better, Sesshomaru getting snowballed in the head and a tree falling on top of him. What would we do if we didn't have physical comedy?

See y'all in the New Year!

Shadowxwolf (PS, review please)