A/N: Hello everyone! I just have one thing to say: You knew the fluffiness was coming!
And: the last chappies should be out tomorrow.
Oh, and: this one's much shorter than my recent chapters. It's barely over 1,400 words.
Disclaimer: If you don't know by now, then I feel sorry for you.
The 12 Pains of Christmas: chapter 11
"Oh, look Kagome! It's all the Christmas movies from when we were kids!" cried Souta, turning on the T.V. after all the presents had been unwrapped and all the toys ripped from their boxes. Itty bitty pieces were scattered everywhere. Kagome could have sworn a bomb had gone off in the living room.
On the screen were the cartoons that had been playing since the late eighties. Every year without fail they would play over and over in twenty-four hour marathons. This year 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' must have won the lottery, because in the corner, tiny words appeared. They read 'Miss anything? Don't worry, Dr. Seuss' 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' will be on again next!' That meant it would be on for hours to come. Kagome couldn't say that she was anxious to see it. She had watched the exact same shows every Christmas day since she was a child.
Riku and Kurai, however, were fascinated with the old animation. It was nothing like the stuff they usually watched on T.V. There they sat, for the next hour and a half, watching and absorbing. Occasionally a muscle twitched or an itch was scratched, but other than that, they were perfectly still. Amazing how little kids could do that.
Inuyasha, too, was sucked in by the moving pictures on the screen. He particularly liked the mean green figure that resembled something between a demon and a human. The dog, Max, was kind of funny as well.
Gradually Riku began to wiggle and squirm in his seat. Kagome knew the potty-dance all too well, and tried to shoo him into the bathroom.
"But I don't wanna miss the movie!" he complained, focused more on the screen than on anything else. Finally it got so bad she feared for the rug. Not being all that interested in the movie to begin with, Kagome simply scooped the boy up and walked to the bathroom. He struggled and fussed at first, but then found that he could still see the screen over her shoulder. When she closed the door, his whining began anew.
"The faster you finish, the faster you can get back to the movie!" she shouted through the door. Immediately all noise within stopped. She heard the flush of the toilet seconds before Riku flew through the room back to his seat. Kurai barely looked up during this whole exchange, but Souta was quietly laughing at the potty-escapades. Seeing no reaction from anyone else, Kagome sighed and went to find her mother and grandfather in the kitchen.
"Hi, Ryo! Hello, Mama. Good morning, Jii-chan," she said, pulling out a chair to sit in. Ryo clapped his hands and cried, "'Gome! 'Gome!" Her grandfather murmured something that sounded like a reply, but it was lost in the newspaper he was reading. Just as she was remembering that, in all the excitement, she hadn't eaten yet, Mrs. Higurashi laid a heaping plate of pancakes with syrup in front of her.
"Yum! Pancakes!" she cried happily. Her mother made the best buttermilk pancakes for breakfast every holiday. Usually the whole family was sitting around the table to eat them, but today most of them were busy watching the old T.V. specials. And now it was almost time for lunch.
"I know how much you like them, Kagome. I wouldn't forget," her mother said, turning back to the stove to cook up some more of the delicious flapjacks. Soon the buttery smell had filled the entire house. One by one, the people in the living room began to find their way to the kitchen.
The smell even managed to pry Riku away from the screen, although grudgingly. It was with a loudly grumbling stomach the little boy wandered to the last empty seat. He heaved himself up to find a large plate of hot pancakes waiting for him. The frown was gone in a minute as he drowned the poor things in syrup and generously doused them with powdered sugar. More of it covered his face than got into his stomach.
After the table was cleared and the little ones back in the living room watching more vastly-overplayed T.V. movies, Mrs. Higurashi pulled a tall pitcher of eggnog from the back of the refrigerator. Pouring herself a glass, Kagome offered it to Inuyasha next to her. He vehemently shook his head, switching his glass to the hand plate farthest from Kagome.
"I learned my lesson. No more of that stuff for me!" The hangover memory was still to fresh in his mind. He shuddered, he never wanted to go through that again. Kagome tried to tell him that this 'stuff' wasn't alcoholic, but he plugged his ears with his fingers and started humming.
With a shrug, Kagome gave up and passed the pitcher down to her mother again. She put it back in the fridge and sipped her own glass.
"So are you going to wear your new dress to the party tonight, Kagome?" she asked, casually leaning on the counter behind her. The smile wouldn't be held back as her daughter choked on her eggnog. She coughed a few times and turned bright red.
"Yeah, I g-guess," she said, trying to act natural, not realizing her blush refuted any chance of that. Inuyasha just stood back and watched the exchange.
"And can I assume Inuyasha's coming with us?" Mrs. Higurashi inquired, looking pointedly at him.
"Feh. Of course," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Kagome's mother beamed at the two of them.
"Great! Just remember to watch out for the mistletoe!" she warned before walking out of the kitchen. Inuyasha looked at Kagome puzzled, but she was staring at the spot her mother had just left. 'She's in on the matchmaking, too! Gees, everybody's out to get us together!' she thought before trying to explain mistletoe to a confused hanyou.
Mrs. Higurashi stood pressed against the doorway, listening as Kagome tried to explain why people kissed under "some funny-looking plant" as Inuyasha put it. 'I can't wait to be a grandmother! I wonder if they'll have little doggy ears like their father?'
**That's all for tonight. I meant to get this up earlier, but I snuck away to play my brother's Soul Caliber II when he wasn't looking. It's the only way I get to play. He's a little GameCube hog, that he is.
Thankies lots to:
sashlea, Musical Nymph of the Rose Forest, hannahec88, Defafaeth Mechqua, kittykathy, strangerthanthou, The Turmoil Twins, Demongirl6381, Lei Xang, and xo-Kagome-ox.
Again with the going backwards thing. From most recent to first for chapter 9
sashlea: Maybe. But it would be a different song or something. I'm already thinking of doing something like this for Harry Potter next year. I enjoyed my Christmas very much, thank you. What's your major? I figured his natural balance had to kick in sometime. It doesn't take long to get the hang of ice-skating either way.
kittykathy: Nii-chan basically means 'brother.'
strangerthanthou: With my family…yes! It is!
The Turmoil Twins: I tried to hold off the cute-and-fluffyness as long as I could. The vast amounts of plot bunnies that spring from the fluff, however, refused to be ignored.
Lei Xang: I wouldn't be able to tell you if the lyrics are right, because I'm just going by what I hear.
The eleventh thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me
Stale T.V. specials!
Batteries not included
No parking spaces
But I gotta go to the bathroom!
Charities
She's a witch, I hate her
Five months of bills
Oh I don't even know half these people!
Oh who's go the toilet paper, huh?
Get a flashlight, I blew a fuse!
And finding a Christmas tree.