1. Favorite character
The winter wind was howling overhead, yanking the tree limbs and making the dry leaves fall like rusty snow. It smelled of snow, actually and he guessed somewhere north from there it was a blizzard. Soon the winter would come to his own forest.
Winter was always hard for him before. In the cold, damp snow it was harder to hide his tracks. Wild animals and youkai were more desperate for food. Humans huddled together around fires in their dwellings and even armies settled down for the worst of the winter/. Which meant it was harder to steal their foo. There had been no one willing to share with the likes of him, no fire where he would be welcome to warm his body.
The nights were long and dark, especially the new moon was dreadfully long. It had been a depressing, stressful battle not to starve, get eaten or killed by cold. The gloomy days of pain and loneliness that morphed into endless nights full if tension and despair. Months of being chased away, hunted and hiding. Of missing the warmth of the summer and the abundance of fruits in the woods.
Inuyasha winced when his ear was tweaked.
"Oi!" he glared away from the mouth of the cave in the forest and at the girl kneeling next to him and grinning at him. Behind her more people were gathered around a small fire that lit up the space and provided warmth.
"Sweet bean dumplings," Kagome offered him a vessel of sweet smelling balls. "Eat before Shippou devours your share."
"Feh," he took the container from the future-born miko. "He will become round like these if he doesn't keep himself in check."
"Oi!" the kitsune scoffed from his spot between Kagome and Sango. "I'm not getting round!"
"You kinda do," Sango giggled and others laughed good-heartedly at the boy's pout.
Inuyasha smiled and stuffed his face with dumplings to hide that.
Winter was coming.
And foe the first time in his life, he was not chased away from a warm shelter. He was welcome to sit around the fire with people who cared for him and for whom he cared deeply. They were humans, so pack dynamics was kinda not their thing, but deep inside he considered them his pack. He was offered true morsels, sharing them with his friends teasing each other and playing games to pass the time during long evenings. He would protect them and knew they would do their best to keep his back. Even the brat, who so often tricked him.
For the first time in his life, Inuyasha didn't dread the approaching snowfall.
The winter was coming, but he was no longer a lone dog, struggling to survive.
He knew there was hardship and cold ahead, times of hunger and cold. But there was going to be laughter and comradely, the sense of belonging which was so new and dear to him.
Miroku started telling a story about his tanuki friend becoming so fat that he rolled down the temple steps. Giggles erupted around the fire when the monk added flailing gestures and exclaimed things in Hachie's voice. Inuyasha almost missed the soft, content pulse of Tessaiga next to his hip. His hand brushed against the worn hilt of the sword. It seemed Tessaiga had been waiting for friends to care for and protect for far too many winters too.