Chapter 25: It is Party Time?
Story by: Eric Lentz aka Aero Tendo

(Kagome's Time)
(Kagome's Home)

Kagome's mother was smiling as she hummed the Christmas song, "Jingle Bells" and Sota was eating the leftover cookie dough with his Grandpa while the cat was sleeping in the living room.

There was a lot of snow on the ground, and still lightly snowing with the snowflakes no bigger than peas at this point. No one had gone outside in hours, long enough for even the lightly falling snow to cover footprints but there was a pair of footprints leading from the well that lead up to the living room window where the curtains were not drawn and someone was there, watching.

The silent figure watches them even as Kagome's mother walks into another room while Sota and Grandpa sit at the table and talk about how Kagome is supposed to be coming home tomorrow.

The figure's eyes glow briefly before turning and walks back towards the well, and closes the door before hoping down the well with only two wet drops that are tears from the silent figure on the edge of the well being markers that quickly freeze up in the cold weather and become small balls of ice. Even as the snow outside starts to become heavier, filling in the footprints within an hour.

(Feudal Era)
(Elder's Home)

Kagome was smiling as she watched her friends having fun at the party. She saw Shippou and Soten having fun with the sparklers with the dancing light dancing over their laughing faces and the way the light danced over the white snow and casting away the shadows. She watched as Miroku and Sango danced apart using a style Kagome had shown them after Miroku's hand had started to rub her rear, causing her to slap him hard enough that his face was red though that hardly seemed to bother him. Kagome shook her head as she thought, "When will Miroku ever learn?" before her eyes wandered to where Inuyasha and Koga were just staring at each other and 'trying' to talk to each other without fighting because of the promise that they'd both made to her. She had to wonder just how long the peace would last and if they two of them would ever grow up, with the last part making her laugh loud enough that two of them looked at her with confused expressions upon their faces which only made her laugh again.

Shippou and Soten came up to Kagome quickly and Shippou says to her, "Hey Kagome! Do you have any more sparklers? We used up the ones that you gave us." Kagome nods and says, "I think I do, let me go check my backpack Shippou" and got up with Midoro's eyes following her leaving.

Midoro let out a soft sigh as she wondered when she'd work up the courage to tell Kagome how sorry she was for her role and about the pact that she'd made with Naraku.

Aneko came up behind her and saw the expression on her mother's face for a second before she managed to paste one of happiness on, but she wasn't fooled and thought to herself, "I guess she doesn't want to share whatever is bothering her." She reaches out with a drink and says, "Well Mother" and pauses at the way that sounds before smiling at her, "You know it feels strange after all these years to call you that, much less even talk to you."

Midoro smiles more genuinely as she says, "You don't know how many times I have wished that I could see you and Shippou, to hear you both call me Mother…" and her eyes get watery before she continues, "I am so very happy that the two of you are alive and healthy after all this time. I never stopped thinking about the two of you for a single day." Tears slowly fall down her cheeks until they drop off her chin to the floor below.

Aneko wraps her arms around her Mother and says, "I love you Mother, I always have and I know I always will." Stepping back and turning her head to where Shippou is, she says, "I know from the look on Little Fire's face that he is very happy to have a Mother again. I don't think anything or anyone will ever break up our family ever again."

Midoro smiles and remembers the painful secret that she carries before softly saying, "Thank you Aneko, I have truly wished for us to be together as a family ever since I discovered I still had one. I was devastated when I thought everyone was lost."

Aneko gives her Mother the most warm and loving smile she can and says, "I know exactly how you felt. When I learned that my home had been destroyed, along with Shippou and Father… I cried my eyes out until Kaede came and helped me. She knew I'd want to see the home for myself and was a supportive friend in a time when I needed her."

Midoro nods and says, "Well, I'm glad that you and your friend came when you did or we might have missed each other. For that, I owe your friend a debt of gratitude for helping bring our family back together."

Aneko smiles and hugs her Mother again before whispering as they hug, "I'm happy too Mother." And they stay that way for a few moments before breaking the hug.

Meanwhile while all this was happening, Kagome had gone into the bedroom where her backpacks were kept and while searching for sparklers she found some mistletoe that her Mother had put in to remind her of Christmas.

Kagome giggles and then grins as she gets an idea on how to liven the party up even more. She takes the mistletoe and the extra sparklers that were next to them before she then moves to the other backpack where her gifts for her friends were.

She gets the gifts out and says, "It is almost time, I guess I can give them their gifts early." Before picking up each of them into her arms and carries them out to where everyone is.

Everyone notices that Kagome was coming back with just more than sparklers and it is Shippou who comes up to Kagome and says, "What are you carrying Kagome?" before Kagome giggles and says, "Another thing about Christmas is the tradition to give gifts, and I have one for you in this pile Shippou."

Shippou hops up and down in the spot while saying, "Really! Can I see!" which makes Kagome smile and says, "In a second, I'll pass out all the gifts and then you can all open them together."

Miroku says, "But we don't have any gifts for you Kagome, it wouldn't be right to accept any from you." With Sango saying as well, "You didn't have to get us anything Kagome, being here at this party is enough."

Kagome says, "Don't worry about it! I want to do this and I am not expecting anything in return. Christmas doesn't work that way after all, just take the gifts and your smiles will be my gift from you guys."

Miroku is silent for a moment before saying, "Very well Kagome, in honor of your Christmas I'll accept the gift that you have to offer."

Shippou looks up at Kagome with big, eager eyes as any kid would on Christmas and wanting to know what they got. Even Soten looks eager even though she doubted that there'd be a gift in there for her.

Inuyasha looks at Kagome and says, "I don't need a gift…" and then changes his mind when Koga says, "Hey Kagome, if Inuyasha doesn't want your gift I'll be more than happy to accept it!" Inuyasha growls, "Hey! Are you trying to take my gift away!" to which Koga laughs and says, "I thought you didn't want a gift from Kagome!"

Kagome laughs and says, "Don't fight you two! Remember your promises!" which makes them both shut up but they glare daggers at each other until Kagome says, "Besides Koga, I have a gift for you too. I think you'll like it."

Koga seems to inflate in pride while Inuyasha grumbles but remains quiet while Kagome passes out all the gifts to everyone, starting with Miroku, then Sango and so on with a gift even for Kirara, which makes her meow curiously.

Shippou stares at his gift and hugs it before looking up at Kagome and says, "Can I open it yet? Can I? Can I?" while Soten looks down at the small box-shaped present in her hands and smiles in eagerness at the chance to open it.

Kagome says, "Not yet, I have one more thing to do before you can all open them." And pulls out of her pocket the mistletoe before she pins them to the top of the doorframe. She smiles and says, "There… now we're set." Turning to her eagerly waiting friends, she sees that Kirara is curiously pawing at her gift without actually breaking the wrapping. She giggles and says as she claps her hands together, "You can all open your gifts!"

The sound of wrapping paper being rapidly torn and ribbons untied is loud as Kagome watches them all tear into their gifts in record time.

Soten smiles as she says, "Thank you Kagome!" and holds up the box of crayons that she got from Kagome while Shippou is playing with the keys on his gift of a small toy piano, making musical notes come from it. Shippou looks up at Kagome and says, "Thank you Kagome! This is great!"

Sango got new clothes as her gift and smiles, "Thank you Kagome! I love the clothes!" to which Kagome replies, "I thought you would, I'm glad you're happy!" and smiles back at her friend.

Miroku looks at his gift and it is new beads and staff polish, smiling at Kagome he says, "Thank you Kagome, the gifts are wonderful."

Inuyasha looks at his gift from Kagome and it is a kit for his sword as well as some of the instant ramen that Inuyasha liked so much. Looking up from the stuff in his hands, he smiles, something that he didn't usually do and says, "Thank you Kagome!" before walking out of the room to make the instant ramen in the kitchen.

Kagome grabs her friends Miroku and Sango, pushing towards the door when Aneko and Koga walk towards the door to go out. They stop when Kagome shouts out, "Hold on you two!"

Koga and Aneko turn to face Kagome and Aneko says, "Yes Kagome?" Kagome has a big smile on her face as she points at the mistletoe above their heads and says, "Look up! Do you two know what that is?"

The two look up puzzled and then Koga says, "No, what is it Kagome?" with Aneko looking at Kagome for the answer as well.

Kagome giggles and says, "That is a mistletoe! When two people meet under the mistletoe together, they have to kiss!"

Miroku and Sango immediately get the idea of what Kagome was trying to do when she was pushing them and with a brief shared thought when their eyes met, they look away with both of them having blushing red faces.

Koga says, "No way! That can't be true!" before turning his gaze to look at Aneko who was blushing and he blushes red. He turns his head to look at Kagome and says, "Isn't there any way out of it?"

Kagome shakes her head, "Nope! You have to kiss or else!"

Koga gulps and turns his head back to see Aneko before Midoro says to Aneko, "Go on Aneko! We don't have all night! Kiss him! He looks handsome enough to me!"

Aneko blushes even more red than she ever thought possible and says in a pleading voice, "Mot-her! You're making this harder for me, so please!" Which only gets a chuckle from her mother before she takes a sip of her drink.

Koga and Aneko stare at each other for the longest time before Kagome says, "Kiss already!" The two of them look deep into each other's eyes, very nervously and being drawn towards each other slowly. Their hearts beat harder and more quickly until it becomes the only sound that they can hear in their ears over people telling them to kiss.

Koga thinks to himself, "I can't believe this is happening… this is almost like the first time we met." And parts his lips in preparation for the kiss and reaches out to put his hands onto her.

Aneko thinks to herself as she licks her lips, making them moist before parting her lips receive her kiss from Koga, "Finally… I've been wanting this since I met him." And trembles a little before closing her eyes as Koga gets very close. She can feel his breath upon hers, mixing with hers as she brings her hands to touch his cheek.

Koga slowly pulls Aneko closer to her until their lips meet and he kisses her softly, lingering and enjoying the feeling of the kiss with her. He feels her hand move from his cheek to the back of his head where his ponytail is and how good her fingers feel to him.

Aneko parts her lips more and slides her tongue into his mouth until she feels his tongue dancing with hers as her heart races even more within her chest. She has no idea how long the kiss lasts before she pulls her tongue back into her mouth, feeling the warmth of his strong wolf body so close to hers and presses at the back of his head where that cute ponytail of his is. She runs her fingers through it tenderly even as they slowly break the kiss.

The two of them just stare at each other before she whispers, "We're still under the mistletoe…" to Koga who only nods and presses his lips to hers again more quickly, more passionately with them both forgetting that there were other people in the room. They wrap their arms around each other and pull each other close even as Kagome grabs Soten and Shippou, and leads them out of the room through another door.

Miroku and Sango watch and glance at each other, with Sango blushing more red than Miroku was at thought of kissing Miroku that way. Miroku couldn't get Sango out of his mind, and whenever he looked at Sango, his eyes either met hers or he would look at her lips and wonder about those lips.

Koga and Aneko were really getting into their kiss as Aneko was pulling at the back of Koga's head as he slide his tongue into her mouth this time and he was pulling her closer which only made them want each other even more.

Midoro thought to herself with a smile on her face, "MMmmms, this takes me back to when I first met her father… He was quite the kisser too." And idly turns her fingers, making the liquid in her cup move about a little. She tilted her head a little and notices how hot they were going at what was supposed to be a simple kiss before thinking, "How could I have missed that they were in love with each other? Well, after this I am going to do my best to help my little girl and the one she loves get together."

Kagome comes back through the other door just as Inuyasha comes back from the kitchen with the instant ramen made and is just finishing his bite of the ramen when he sees Koga and Aneko kissing each other hot and heavy.

Inuyasha says loudly enough to penetrate Koga and Aneko's state of mind, "All right Koga! About time you found yourself someone other than Kagome!"

Koga breaks from the kiss and looks at Aneko, looking into her eyes before looking at Kagome and seeing her shout at Inuyasha, "SIT BOY!" several times, which makes him pound into the ground several times even as he tries to save his precious ramen from spilling onto the floor.

Koga runs off into the gently falling snow and out of the range of the candles to disappear into the darkness with Aneko crying out, "KOGA!" Her arm is outreached towards the direction he ran before she looks down at Inuyasha and shouts, "How could you Inuyasha!" and kicks him hard enough to flip him into the snow with Inuyasha somehow managing to hold onto the ramen cup so that it doesn't spill onto the snow.

Aneko takes off into the direction she saw Koga run off in and used her special ability to run fast so that she could catch up to him even if he used the jewel shards in his legs.

Kagome says, "Inuyasha! Sometimes you can be so DENSE!" and then she turns her back to him before shouting "SIT!" which makes him sink deep into the snow until all that's left is an arm sticking out, holding the ramen cup.

Miroku and Sango are still standing in the same spot as when all of this started while Kagome storms off into her room. Leaving Midoro and the Elder the only ones left and Midoro just stares out into the snow as she thinks to herself, "Aneko, I wish you the best of luck catching up to Koga…" before turning her head to look at the three still in the room with the Elder saying, "My… this has been quite the exciting party!" and gives a brief laugh.

Miroku clears his throat and says, "Sango… I think it is obvious what Kagome was trying to do. So, maybe we should leave before she gets the idea of pushing us under the mistletoe."

Sango turns to face Miroku and says, "M-maybe that'd be best… after all, who'd want to kiss a monk like you?" The Elder looks back and forth at the two of them and says, "Go on you two! Get under the mistletoe and kiss each other, I can tell you both really want to!" which makes the both of them go so red that people would swear steam came out of them both.

Sango turns to the Elder and shouts, "You can't seriously mean that! Why would I want to kiss a monk like him?" with her face very red the whole time. She doesn't get a chance to say anything further on the matter because at that moment, Miroku's hand rubs at her bottom and she turns to slap him!

The Elder winces at the loud slap and shakes his head side to side slowly even as Sango turns and says, "I'm leaving before you get any more strange ideas Miroku!" and walks out of the room passing under the mistletoe and out towards the other rooms, leaving Miroku following her and apologizing.

The Elder looks at Midoro and says, "Those two youngsters, they have it really bad for each other. I wonder why they fight it?"

Midoro looks after the departing two before her eyes drift to the snow outside and says in return, "I don't know…" with her thoughts on her daughter more than Miroku and Sango.

The Elder sighs softly before raising the tea up to his lips to slowly sip it, and not talking about it any further. He could tell when people wanted to talk, and Midoro didn't look like she was in the mood.

AN: Well people, I hope you all like this chapter update! Please read and review! I want to know what you all think:) For all you Koga fans, at least he didn't kiss one of the regulars like Kagome:) Prepare for the next chapter! That's right everyone, I've been on a writing spree! Just don't expect things to get any better right away!