An annoying Christmas Elf
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Soon the bells will start
And the things that will make them ring
Is the Carol that you sing
Right within your heart
Inuyasha groaned as he rolled over on his stomach and covered his head with the pillow, trying to drown out the sound coming from the apartment upstairs. He flattened his ears on his head and pressed even harder on them, but to no avail.
Sometimes, an infallible hearing had its flaws... especially if you were the equivalent of the Grinch and your neighbour was a freaky Santa Claus elf who liked to sing the same songs every hour of the day – literally every hour.
It was Sunday morning, for heaven's sake. Casting a glance at the clock radio on his nightstand, he saw it was barely seven o'clock. What on earth was she doing at that time of day with the music blaring? All that was missing was...
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your front door
Sure it's Christmas once more
Well, never mind, Michael Bublé's voice was joined by that of the elf. Which, sure, was a very melodious and cute voice – the half-demon had to admit it –, but after a hellish week at work, all he wanted on Sunday morning was to be left alone, not to hear songs that could get him diabetes. She might have had the best voice in the whole of Japan, but at that moment, it would still get on his nerves.
When he was certain that nothing could tune out the sounds coming from the apartment above his, Inuyasha sat up with another sigh and a fierce frown on his face. Anyone who saw him at that moment would surely declare that it was not a good omen.
But, honestly, he had had enough.
It had been going on since the first of December, and Inuyasha wasn't willing to put up with it even one more second, let alone weeks!
Sango had told him that he had to relax – after all, everyone is nicer at Christmas; even he could make an effort and be less grumpy –, but there was a limit to what he could stand. If he had known Miss Elf would have started her concert on Sunday morning, he would have gone to unplug her sockets on the first day.
Putting on a pair of sweatpants in a hurry, without even bothering with a T-shirt or slippers, the half-demon hurried out of his apartment, ready to give the tenant upstairs a piece of his mind.
However, in front of the aforementioned tenant, his thoughts took a decidedly unexpected turn. That was definitely not the weird elf he thought lived in that apartment. He may have been antisocial and admitted to never interacting with his neighbours, but he couldn't believe he'd never noticed her.
He tried not to stare at her too much, despite her skimpy shorts and top, as he struggled to find words and his cheeks took on all shades of red. However, whatever effect Santa's sexy sidekick had had on him ended as soon as the girl spoke, her melodic voice the same as the one she used to sing Michael Bublè's entire discography.
Inuyasha shook his head and immediately began. "Look, woman, I have no idea what your intentions are, although, looking at your hideously decorated apartment and the absurd amount of lights, I have half an idea. But I'm definitely sick of your songs and your voice at seven in the morning. If you're not going to stop, I'm not only going to file a complaint with the building manager, but before that, I'm going to personally unplug all your outlets or even blow your electric meter. Then, I want to see how you turn on all these blinding lights. Seriously, how do you not become bl-"
He stopped, suddenly smelling tears. He had been so engrossed in his speech that he hadn't noticed the girl looking at him with first her mouth wide open and then her eyes glistening. Finally, tears had definitely rolled down her cheeks, and by then, she was sniffling, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Even with her face down, it was impossible to hide that she was crying.
Inuyasha completely panicked. He didn't like people crying, even less, women crying. They made him uncomfortable, and more importantly, he didn't want to be responsible for them.
So much for 'try to be a little less of a Grinch this year'.
The half-demon frantically began to move his hands in front of her and babbled nonsense that might have gotten the woman's attention, but the sobs only increased.
"Hey, no, no, stop it. No, I didn't mean to." He made to reach her and place a hand on her shoulder, but he reconsidered. Human women never reacted well when they saw his clawed fingers, and this one was already crying; there was no need to give her a heart attack. "No, come on, I promise I'll at least let you turn on the lights. I didn't mean it like that. I'm not really going to unplug your outlets!" But the woman continued.
Okay, enough; he was fed up. He didn't want to comfort a whiny elf – even if the said elf was sexy, had a heavenly scent and an equally divine voice. "Really! Stop crying; nothing happened!"
She gasped and finally raised her face to look at him in the eyes, half frightened.
There you go, Inuyasha. All you needed to do was scare her. It's not enough that girls usually run for the hills as soon as they see the yellow eyes and furry ears.
"I—I... sorry. I didn't mean to b-bother you," she sniffled again. "It's just that it's—it's a tradition. I used to sing Christmas songs with my—my f-father. And now—now he's gone." She began to cry again, even louder than before. "He's gone, and I—I just wanted to bring his spirit back for the holidays."
Oh, fuck, Inuyasha thought at that point. On the list of insensitive things he'd done, that definitely ranked in one of the top spots. He stuttered for a few seconds, not knowing what to do.
A moment later, a couple of heads popped out of the nearby apartments attracted by the noise – sure, not by the Christmas songs – and fixed him with beady eyes.
Without thinking too much about it, Inuyasha grabbed the girl in a half hug, pushed her inside and closed the door behind him. He didn't intend to put on a show for meddlesome old hags.
By the time he looked around and realized that, from outside, he hadn't really noticed the enormity of the Christmas spirit that reigned in her house, she had already drenched his neck with tears. He immediately remembered he hadn't even worn a shirt before going upstairs and turned red to the tips of his ears.
Embarrassed and definitely unable to handle the situation, he started patting her awkwardly on the shoulder, repeating "come one, come one" until her tears became mere nasal noises.
Heck, why did this girl sound sexy even when she was sniffling? He wasn't supposed to be moved by her. He was on a mission!
"I'm sorry, I really am," she repeated.
Inuyasha sighed. He really had been an asshole, hadn't he? "Um, that is... I'm sorry too, um..." He realized he didn't even know her name.
"Kagome," she offered with a giggle. "You're Inuyasha from downstairs. You always help Kaede with groceries despite all the complaining you indulge in."
The half-demon was surprised she had noticed him for something that wasn't what, according to others, made him by all accounts monstrous. He scratched the back of his head nervously and stammered an uncertain "Yes". Then, he shook his head and returned to the topic of discussion, this time with a decidedly less gruff tone. "Um, Kagome, listen... about what I was telling you earlier..."
Her eyes widened, and she raised her hands, gesturing. "No, please. It was my fault. I didn't even consider I might be bothering you. I was too caught up in my memories; I'm really sorry."
Looking at her sad expression and the dry tears on her cheeks, Inuyasha felt like an even bigger asshole. Mom always said him that, with his ways, he managed to get on the wrong side of things every time.
"Here... why don't we forget what just happened if I let you sing all the songs you want and you promise not to wake me up at this ungodly hour anymore?"
A smile that made him skip a couple of beats spread across Kagome's lips, and she nodded. "Only if you promise to stay for breakfast and give me a chance to make it up to you. I just baked some cookies and was planning on making hot chocolate."
One year later
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
"Kagomeeeee," Inuyasha whined from his side of the bed, trying in vain to cover the sound with his pillow – he never could.
Next to him, Kagome groaned and then snuggled against him, burying her face into his chest. "I forgot to turn my alarm off," she muttered without moving a finger toward the devilish device.
"And since when is your alarm clock this irritating Christmas song?" her mate huffed as he reached out and put an end to the damn sound that had woken him up at that hour on a Sunday morning. "Kagome," he exclaimed again, before hugging her and burying his face in her hair, trying to go back to sleep, "it's barely seveeen a.m."
"That's the alarm clock I have for work, Inu. And it's the first of December! The ringtone always changes automatically on the first of December!"
The half-demon grunted before he pulled the woman even tighter to him. The elf had succeeded again, but he wasn't really upset. Not if he thought that, compared to the previous year, that first of December was looking decidedly more interesting.
N/A:
Hi there everyone! I know it's not Christmas yet, but it's still the right time to publish this. I wrote it after reading a prompt in an Italian forum that said: "Person A hates Christmas. Person B lives upstairs and loves to sing Christmas songs". It just screamed "Inuyasha" at me and I had to write it. So, here we are. I hope you liked it or made you smile.
Review as you like and be safe! Until next time!