Secret-Santa 2021!
Giftee: kaorimizunya
Prompt: I love so much to see InuKag with Moroha playing with snow!
Merry Christmas, kaorimizunya! I hope this little surprise will make you smile. It was lots of fun to write for your adorable prompt!
I wish you creative, happy and safe holiays.
And a thousand thanks to the admirable Cstorm86 who betad this fic.
Edit: You might wonder how is this close to the prompt, maybe? Long story short - my terrible eyes mixed with december made me misread it and I noticed that after posting it. A thousand apologies for that, dear!
Silly, Naughty and Obnoxious Wanderers
'There's nothing qyuite like the fresh snow, powdery and pure,' thought Kagome as she watched the glimmering expanse in front of her, tinted blue where the shadows of dark trees sprawled over the soft mounds of snow.
Snow in Tokyo was rare, soggy and dirty, nothing in what a sane person would want - or dare - to frolick. This sow wa so pure she barely could believe it.
Shje admired the scenery, the pines surrounding the meadow in the mountain forest with their branches weightened down by pillows of fluffy whiteness, the distant rugged peaks clearly visible in the crisp air. The world in the rays of low hanging sun seemed to be made of magic dust and fable light, not of perfectly normal things
They had found the vacant hut of coal makers high in the mountains, where their road had taken them. It had been a lucky thing, because the snowfall Inuyasha had been grumbling about for the better part of the previous day, had started shortly before the sunset.
Now, Kagome stood in the door of the humble dwelling, her cheeks flushed from the cool air, eyes bright at the lovely sight in front of her. She wondered how much coaxing it would take to make Inuyasha allow them to stay there for a day or two and just soak in the beauty of this place. They had enough supplies and weren't in a hurry.
As she watched, one of the trees surrounding the meadow housing the hut - a frail, half dry and somewhat bent pine - exploded suddenly with a loud crack that resounded with a familiar cry.
'Sankon Tessou!1'
"Oh" Kagome gasped, pressing a hand to her chest, admiring not the toppled and broken tree, but the spray of snow that the sudden event dislodged and sent flying, catching the sunlight like a cloud of silver glitter.
"It seems Inuyasha took care of the firewood,' Sango said, stopping beside Kagome, hands lifted to fix her ponytail before she pulled over her head a furry hood of a winter coat. "The pile in the hut was barely able to ward off the cold in the night."
"It appears so," Kagome nodded. She had been lucky, she had been able to steal some of Inuyasha's natural warmth when she'd dozed off leaning against his shoulder.
"Have you seen my…" Sango started, but at the same time they heard a certain delighted voice
"Oh, dear Sango, your heavenly posterior is firm and smooth…'
As if on cue both women turned to look behind them, the slayer raising her hand to slap…
The resident (not-so-holy) monk of the team was nowhere to be seen.
"Eh?" Sango lowered her hand and blinked. Usually such words were an indicator that the monk wanted his face treated to one of her 'love pats' as he called it. But now all they could see was a small, dark room of a humble hut, sorely lacking in naughty, cheeky monks.
"I wonder if I could sculpt your waist to be thinner," mused the unseen Miroku and Kagome turned to the corner of the hut, pointing a silent finger. With a nod Sango started that way, followed by the miko. As they rounded the corner, stepping over piled up snow, they found the missing member of the team.
Kagome was able to stare only, for a long moment, while her friend beside her grew red in the face.
Miroku, the innocent, pure monk who he was, was busying himself this fine morning by making a snowman.
A snow woman.
A snow Sango, judging by the fact that the figure leaned for support on the giant bone boomerang belonging to the slayer.
It was a pillar of snow in a rough feminine shape, Miroku's deft hands had done their best to form a human figure from the dense, wet snow that had been packed up so it wouldn't collapse easily
"Is that supposed to be me, monk?" Sango asked in a low voice, causing Miroku to jump up in surprise. "And you gave it my weapon!"
"Oh, my lotus flower of heavenly grace, good morning!" he greeted and stood up from where he had been crouching, working on defining the knees of the figure. "Hello, Lady Kagome."
"I'd start running if I were you," Kagome advised kindly, covering her mouth to prevent a giggle from escaping.
Leave it to Miroku to make a snowman of his beloved Sango with exaggerated behind and bosom and with a bunch of twigs tied together for hair..
"Oh, this is merely a little figure I made to pass time and enjoy the outside while you two still slumbered inside," the monk said cheerfully. "I took the liberty of borrowing Hiraikotsu to help it stand upright. I'm sure it is not a reason… to…"
HiJos words faltered as he watched Sango stoopping down to scoop some of the snow in hand and form a ball. She patted it firmly, her face not quite calm, her eyes focused on the monk.
Kagome burst with laughter when the man turned around and scurried away his black robe swishing as he ran, dodging the cold projectiles sent after his head by a slayer that gave chase.
"Don't be mad, my love, I couldn't capture your celestial curves, the medium of snow is not the best to work fine details in!" Miroku called back to Sango, who threw a snowball at him.
"I swear, I'll make a snow sculpture out of you, monk!" she threatened.
"Oh, fair one, first you have to catch me!" Miroku sounded delighted at the fact that for once it was a girl chasing him.
Kagome shook her head, watching the pair run into the forest. 'I'm sure Shippou would have had a great time,' she thought, 'playing in the snow with them. Sometimes I forget Miroku and Sango are pretty young themselves, they had been through so much… And, thinking about people who could use some harmless fun…..'
"Oh, Inuyasha…" she called in a sing-sing voice, grabbing a handful of snow and turning to where the hanyou was about to deposit a load of firewood next to the door of the hut.
"Huh?" the hanyou turned to face her as soon as he dropped the pile of wood.
While Miroku and Sanog had put on winter attire, Inuyasha had resisted and was still dressed in his usual red kimono. He seemed to be warm enough in it probably due to some weird youkai magic. Kagome waltzed up to him and peered up to his face from the spot just next to him. He blinked and blushed at her proximity.
"We can stay here for a day or two, right?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him. "We all could use some rest…"
"Feh, I knew you would say that," he grumbled. "That's why I got more fire-"
Kagome rested her free hand on his chest and let it slide up his torso to where his collar was. His yellow eyes followed the slow motion with a sudden gleam. A flush that had little to do with the cold spread over his cheeks and his ears stood perked up.
"Awesome," Kagoe said with a wide grin "I almost feel sorry."
"Sorry? For what?" he asked, his ears twitching as he glanced down at her face.
And missed her fingers hooking on the edge of the fabric to peel it away from his warm body. And the other hand, that stuffed a handful of snow down his front.
"For that!" the future-born miko wasted no time in fleeing from the hanyou.
"Oh!" sadly, the chase lasted not even a dozen paces and Kagome gasped when a sudden weight pushed her to the snow drift. She was rolled on her back and grinned up at the scowling hanyou. Some of the snow got under the collar of her jacket, but it didn't matter. Inuyasha's hair fell over them like a silk veil of shimmering light. Hair that got so wind-blown had no business being so luxurious.
"The game is that you let me get away," she informed him. "It's called chase."
"Tough luck, we on't play that. With such deep snow you'd get in a crack in the ground covered by the white shit and I'd have to rescue you," he snorted.
"I Wouldn't!"
"Sure you would!" his face was just above hers, warm breath fanning over her cheek. "And what was that handful of snow for, huh?"
"Oh, Inuyasha, don't be so grumpy," she shifted under the surprisingly warm body of their pack leader. "It's the first real snow this year."
"A shit-load of snow," he grumbled.
"And we are duty-bound to have fun with it," she finished as if he hadn't saidy anything.
"By stuffing it in other people's clothes?" a dark brow was raised.
"That, too." The girl grinned again. "And making snowmen…"
"I saw the big ass Sango that Miroku wasted the wholme morning on," an ear was cocked towards where - Kagomme suspected - he could still hear the yells of their friends.
"We saw it too. And, you know, we can make snow forts and make snowball fights…"
The adorable ears perked up and turned to focus solely on her. "Snow forts?"
Kagomme giggled and gently pushed at her (secret) crush to move so she could sit up and explain more of the wonders of enjoying the snow.
She figured that for Inuyasha, being an ostracized survivalist that had seen the winter as the time of hardship and cold, this all was a new concept. But he was not alone anymore and she wanted to make him see winter in a new light.
Together they set out to make a fort - Inuyasha erecting walls of packed snow and Kagome preparing lots of ammunition. Once in a while one would go back to the hut to tend the fire and check on the roasting rabbits that were going to be their meal.
They were half-way done when Inuyasha froze and turned his head to where she crouched next to a stack of snowballs.
"They're coming," he informed with a grin that she usually saw when he went to battle.
"Good," she scooted closer to him and handed him two projectiles before she peered over the uneven wall.
Miroku and Sango emerged from the forest, cheeks red and breath coming out in clouds. They had snow stuck to their clothing and hats. Sango seemed to be still irate and Miroku was wagging his silver tongue to appease her.
"I swear, lovely Sango, your ass is perfect in shape. Like a heavenly peach, like a lotus flower about to bloom… Ah!"
Kagome giggled as Inuyasha rose to his full height and threw a snowball right at the monk's chest. The pair stopped and stared at the wall that partially obscured the hut.
"I am the Inu no Taisho and you are trespassing on my land!" Inuyasha yelled at them. "Bow down or be destroyed by my might!"
"Wha…?" started the confused man, stopping brushing off the snow from his person.
"Retreat!" Sango grabbed his shoulder and dragged him towards the trees while Kagome and Inuyasha threw more snowballs at them.
"Release the miko, foul youkai!" came Sango's cry from the shelter of the forest.
"I'm here of my own will!" Kagome exclaimed before Inuyasha could retort. She glanced up and saw his sunny eyes full of wondrous sparks looking down at her. Suddenly the ay wasn't that cool anymore.
"Okay, then at least let us get some food!" this time it was Miroku who called to them.
"Swear allegiance or be crushed!" Inuyasha seemed to enjoy his new position on top of the wall.
"So it is war, then!" Sango yelled, leaped out of the cover provided by a tree and threw a snowball that arched in the air and missed Inuyasha by a foot.
"Bring it on!"
It took the monk and a slayer a couple of minutes, but just as Kagome was getting curious as to what they were planning, the pair emerged from the woods, holding pine branches as shields.
"Charge!" Sango ran first, braving the rain of snowballs sent her way by the defendants of the wall. Snowballs flew in both directions, often missing the agile targets, each hit exploring in a flurry of white powery snow,eager battle cries and laughter.
In the morning light, far from any village, five centuries before her birth, Kagome laughed and fought valiantly with her hanyou to defend a now wall from her friends until the ammunition was exhausted and the brave attackers scaled the fortifications. Sango was no longer red because of annoyance, Miroku was too breathless to speak and put his foot in his mouth, Inuyasha was no longer grumpy, but grinning and flashing his fangs. All of them were panting and laughing, the snow around the hut trampled and no longer so pure. Both sides claimed victory and it took a gust of wind blowing a wisp of the scent of cooked meat to make them drop the matter and go inside to leave their outer garments to dry and to eat.
Kagome, as she held a cup of hot tea and a plate full of rabbit thought that, really, she was the one who won. She got to spend some time with her friends, the worldly matters forgotten for a precious short time. Seeing them acting as young, carefree people was worth trampling the pristine freshly fallen snow.