A/N: Hi! You all are making me so happy. Never have I had so many reviews for one story! I feel like a kid on Christmas.
Disclaimer: ::sigh:: Can't take credit for anything except Riku, Kurai, and Ryo. (I do so want to, though!)
The 12 Pains of Christmas: chapter 8
"Inuyasha!"
"Inuyasha!"
"'Yasa!"
Faintly reminiscent of the other day, that was how Inuyasha woke up in the morning. Three little boys, each in their dinosaur footy pajamas, were all bouncing on his bed. He had been bunking in Souta's room, and looking over, he saw that his partner in crime was suspiciously absent. Sure enough, muffled giggles were heard from the hallway. The runt had set these little monsters on him! He brushed them off his chest and sat up, growling loudly.
"Oooooh! Silly puppy!" cried the littlest one. He couldn't quite remember its name.
"I am not a silly puppy!" he said indignantly. Then the oldest one stopped bouncing for a second to tug on his ears. The growl doubled in intensity. Luckily the twerp chose that moment to come back in, worried for his cousins' safety.
"They're just children, don't kill them—" Souta stopped himself when he spotted Inuyasha just standing there while all three climbed on him. Ryo sat on the hanyou's shoulders, shrieking happily while tugging on his ears. Only an occasional wince escaped. Riku was laughing while swinging back and forth on one arm, and Kurai was wrapped around one of his ankles, contentedly sucking his thumb. Souta wiped imaginary sweat from his brow with an overly dramatic sigh of relief.
"You had me worried for a moment there, Inuyasha," he said accusingly.
"Feh. Like I'd actually hurt the rascals," Inuyasha answered, trudging towards the door and breakfast.
The laughter of three young children passing her door woke Kagome. She let out a yawn and slid out of bed, heading for the bathroom. Mom wouldn't let Inuyasha do anything to her cousins, so it was safe to stay up here another half an hour to shower and dress. A nice hot shower was sounding real nice right now.
Downstairs, Inuyasha was sitting at the table, a pup on either side, stuffing his face with ramen. Of course, the little ones were copying exactly what he did, and every time Mrs. Higurashi tried to take away their bowls, they howled till they got them back. Souta just sat watching with a smile on his face, a spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth.
That was how Kagome found them a while later. Her mother was attempting to take away the almost-empty bowls from in front of Riku and Kurai while they screamed and whined. Souta still had the same spoonful of cornflakes midway from his bowl to his mouth, and Inuyasha was completely oblivious to it all as he finished his third helping of ramen. Oh what fun these next few days would be.
"Good morning!" she called loudly, earning everyone's attention. They all paused for a second and chorused a "morning", and then went right back to whatever they were doing. Totally ignored, Kagome walked over to the refrigerator, avoiding all the tiny toys on the floor and the splatters of broth everywhere. She pulled out a pair of waffles from the freezer and some vanilla ice cream to put on top. She stood leaning on the counter as she ate her breakfast, observing her wacky family.
Her little cousins finally relinquished their empty bowls ten minutes later. With nothing left, they really had no reason to cry as Mrs. Higurashi placed their bowls in the sink. The two of them pouted for a bit, then scrambled off their chairs and headed for Souta's room and all his videogames. Souta quickly followed them. Ryo had been happy slapping his hands onto the shelf of his high chair, spitting ramen all over himself. But he, too, didn't fuss as her mother pulled him from the chair to give him a bath. Inuyasha had finished long ago and was now lounging in his chair, rubbing his full stomach. He looked at her with a strange look in his eyes.
"Is your family always like that?" he asked, finally looking away from her in favor of the door where all her family had vanished through.
"No. I think you've had a bad influence on them, Inuyasha." His head whipped back to her with an innocent expression.
"Who? Me?" She couldn't help laughing.
"Yes, you," she managed to answer through her giggles. She got a sudden inspiration, "What do you say we go downtown later?"
"'Downtown?'" he repeated, cocking his head questioningly.
"It's a part of the city with lots of little shops and stuff. It's a nice place to visit this time of year. All the trees are lit up and there are decorations everywhere. The big tree in the middle of it all is amazing and I've been meaning to go see it," she answered.
"Feh. Will we have to take the pups?" he had the strangest urge to leave them here and go see this place with Kagome only.
"I would think so. Mom can't watch them all by herself," Kagome answered, not catching his disappointed frown before it was quickly banished from his face.
"Fine," he sighed. She bounced on her heels for a moment before leaving him alone in the kitchen, going to tell the pups.
~*~
"Hey, Riku. What do want Santa to leave for you this year?" Kagome asked a little while later, pushing Ryo in his stroller. They were walking down the sidewalk on their way to the center of town to see the tree. There had been only one incident while getting the kids dressed to walk outside in twenty-degree weather.
~Flashback~
Kagome had just finished tying Kurai's scarf and zipping his jacket. She was bending over to help Riku tug on his boots, when Kurai had leant over and whispered in her ear, "Kagome I hafta go to the bathroom!"
It had been a minor miracle that they stripped him of his winter stuff in enough time for him to still make it to the bathroom. Little boys had infamously small bladders. It had stalled their walk for a bit, but not long. When he was done, Kagome started the whole process of winterizing him all over again. Soon they were on their way.
~Flashback~
"I want a Beast Wars transformer for Christmas! And some candy. Not the yucky stuff with the nuts, but bubblegum and chocolate," he said, launching into a long list of things that would have bought out a whole toy store. She nodded whenever he looked over at her, not really paying attention. She'd have to get Inuyasha to watch the three of them for a little while so she could stop somewhere and get them all something little. Previously, she hadn't expected to see them for Christmas, so she didn't have anything.
When he finally finished with "some packs of Yu-Gi-Oh cards," she asked Kurai the same question. It was fishing for ideas, she knew, but they were little and didn't understand that was what she was doing. So it was justified in her mind.
"I just want to see Mommy and Daddy. They always bring cool stuff for us from wherever they go," he said, and Kagome was really impressed. His brother wanted just about every toy available, and yet, all he wanted was to see his parents. But that wouldn't help her with shopping.
"Are you sure there's absolutely nothing else you want this year?" The little boy was about to shake his head when suddenly he paused and his face brightened.
"Snow! I want it to snow on Christmas! Oh, and a new copy of The Cat in the Hat. I've read mine to Ryo so many times it's starting to come apart," he looked so proud of himself for remembering. She smiled down at him and made a mental note. Just then, Ryo started bouncing in his seat, pointing and gurgling. They had reached the big tree. Kagome looked over at Inuyasha. The look on his face was absolutely priceless. His jaw was slack and his eyes wide as he looked at the giant tree decorated with all sorts of ornaments. There were fancy jewel-bedecked pieces alongside ratty thirty-year old nutcrackers. Hundreds of lights blazed from angel to trunk and huge empty boxes wrapped like presents wreathed the ground around it. It truly was a beautiful sight.
Inuyasha couldn't believe his eyes. That tree had to be taller than most of the ones in his forest. And it was even more glitzy and sparkly than Kagome's. He stared so hard that when he looked away, a purple after-image remained imprinted in his vision. Around their feet, Riku and Kurai skipped and jumped. They were just happy to see the big tree. They didn't care if they walked downtown or not. But Kagome had to get their presents.
Eventually Kagome was able to lead the boys away from their spot on the corner. They talked about nothing important for a while, and she surreptitiously peered into shop windows, looking for any advertisement of books and transformers. She was about to give up when she spotted something in the last store on their side of the street.
"Inuyasha, I just need to stop in here for a moment. Don't lose them," she warned, pointing to the happy little munchkins dancing around him.
"Feh. More shopping, woman?" he snapped. He wasn't too happy about being stuck with all three pups until she came back. That look was coming back in her eyes. He had refrained from calling her 'wench,' but it wasn't much of an improvement.
'Dog-boy is lucky I won't sit him here, in front of all these people,' Kagome thought, turning her back on a shocked hanyou and heading through the sliding doors into the warmth of the little shop. She picked a transformer toy from the row of different models, and then went in search of The Cat in the Hat. After finding it, made her way back to the cashier. The elderly man rang it up with a cheerful smile.
"Thank you for coming, miss. And happy holidays to you!" he called as she left.
"Same to you!" she replied before making her way back to Inuyasha, who was once again being used as a jungle gym for her cousins.
"Alright, everyone. You ready to head home?" she asked, lifting Riku off Inuyasha's head ('I wonder how he got up there. I swear he's a monkey,') and tugging Kurai off his leg.
Then they began the walk home, Inuyasha pushing the stroller with one hand and holding Riku's little hand in the other. Kagome was carrying Kurai and holding Riku's other hand. All of them, very content to appear a family to all they passed.
**I tried to get this out last night for everyone, but my computer was being stupid. There might be another chapter late tonight, but don't count on it.
Thankies to all my great reviewers. I'll start writing comments again next time.
The eighth thing at Christmas that's such a pain to meI want a transformer for Christmas!
Charities, and what do you mean your in-laws?
Five months of bills
Oh, making out these cards
Oh, Edith, get me a beer, huh?
What? We have no extension cords?
And finding a Christmas tree.