An Inu Yasha Christmas Production

By Luana

Disclaimers: Don't own the series or the characters, yada yada yada… I DO own my own copies of all the currently digisubbed Inu Yasha episodes and the first movie tho ^______^ ! ::suddenly hugs her computer protectively:: And no, don't go begging them off me, they're mine! MY precious! Oops, too much LOTR ^_^;;;

Author's notes: Yaaaaay! I finally finished a fanfic after my, what, three year drought? What a concept! Hee hee ^.^;;;; No guarantees that there's anything else coming quickly after this tho, I'm amazed I even got this one done. I really didn't have that much time to finish this one, but my muse refused to leave me alone until I did! NEways, this probably takes place any Christmas time later in the series when Inu Yasha is a bit more tolerant of Kagome's "projects". It's meant to serve as a random bit of seasonal laughter and kawaiiness, so enjoy and don't forget to comment! Thankies!

The village children filed into the makeshift outdoor theatre, talking among themselves as they took their seats on the rocks and logs that had been set up to serve as benches. No one seemed to know much about what they were here to see, but Kagome had hinted that it would be worth their while. Meanwhile, the parents outside were simply happy that their kids would be kept busy for the next hour or so.

Sango walked out from behind the curtain wearing long green leggings and a green top, her hair pulled back into her normal pony tail. She started shaking a bundle of little bells that jingled merrily to get everyone's attention.

"Attention minna-san! The show is about to start! Can everyone in the back hear me?" A few affirmative yells assured her that they could. "Good! Then welcome to our Christmas production! We begin our story the night before Christmas at the North Pole, where Santa's elves are working hard on making toys and treats for good little boys and girls…"

The curtain slowly opened to reveal only half of the stage behind it as Sango moved out of the way. Little tables were piled high in wrapped presents and partially finished toys. Several Shippos dressed in green and red elf suits scurried back and forth to pick up presents from the finished pile and take them somewhere behind the other half of the curtain. Other Shippo elves were sitting at the tables at work on the partially finished toys. Offstage behind a pile of rocks that had been placed there to hide the offstage actors, Kagome turned to Inu Yasha.

"Good thing Shippo can do a body split, ne? It would have looked a little strange if we only had one elf!" She whispered. Then she noticed that Inu Yasha still hadn't finished getting his costume together. "Inu Yasha, you go on soon! Hurry up and put that beard on!"

Inu Yasha scowled and grumbled as he struggled to attach the Santa beard. "How did I end up getting dragged into this anyways?"

"Because if you don't do your part, then you can say goodbye to your ramen cups!" Kagome shot back with her hands on her hips.

Back on the stage, Sango continued to narrate. "Santa has one night to deliver his presents to all the good children in the world. Such an amazing feat would not be possible if it weren't for the help of his flying sleigh and faithful reindeer!" The half of the curtain showing Santa's workshop closed, while the other half drew back to reveal a sleigh sitting in the snow and piled high with presents. Eight wolves with fake antlers had been harnessed to the sleigh. Sango still was not sure how good of an idea it had been to ask Kouga for his help, but she had to admit they probably would not have found many other good reindeer substitutes. Kouga had quite willingly let them borrow his wolves when Kagome mentioned that it might keep him from getting added to the cast. Sango winced and hurried to change the audience's attention as one of the wolves turned to try and taste his neighbor's antler.

"But equally important to the success of this Christmas flight is Mrs. Clause who gets Santa off his lazy butt to do his job!" At this, Kagome started pushing a very reluctant Inu Yasha in a Santa suit out onto the stage. The children cheered once Kagome came out onto the stage, but there was one voice in the cheers who definitely sounded out of place…

"Go Kagome-sama!" A familiar male voice called.

Kaede turned to see Miroku clapping behind her. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Good monk, aren't you supposed to be up there doing the special effects and scene changes?"

Miroku sweatdropped and put his hand behind his head. "Eh heh heh heh… That's right, I am, aren't I?" He quickly got up and headed back behind the stage grumbling, "Rats…"

Meanwhile, back on stage, Kagome was trying to force Inu Yasha into the sleigh with Shippo's help.

"Quit it woman! Ramen cups or no, I'm not doing this!!"

Kagome hissed into his ear. "You are or else I'll say the magic word until you've left a crater!"

Sango attempted to keep a straight face as she went on with the narration. "Everything seems to be ready for the trip, but what's this? A fog storm is rolling in!" Miroku lit Sango's demon-exterminating herbs from off stage and wafted the smoke across the scene. Inu Yasha immediately stopped fighting with Kagome and Shippo as he tried to hide in the sleigh to escape the smell.

Kagome belatedly remembered that in the pre-show costume confusion, she had forgotten to give Inu Yasha the nose plugs that would have kept his nose from getting overpowered. It looked like she would have to say his next few lines for him.

"Oh whatever will we do?" She wailed loudly so everyone could hear her. "With this fog, the reindeer won't be able to see where they are going! But the time to fly is almost upon us!" She whispered to Shippo out of the corner of her mouth, "Get Inu Yasha backstage away from the smoke and give him the nose plugs!"

Shippo nodded and motioned to Miroku to come help him. Between the two of them, they managed to pull him off the stage while Kagome stalled. Backstage, Kirara in her battle mode waited for her turn on stage. She was tolerantly ignoring the antlers that had been strapped to her head, and was already wearing a harness similar to those the wolves wore onstage while hooked up to the sleigh. As Inu Yasha woke up and saw Kirara, he turned to Miroku.

"Didn't Kagome say Kirara was supposed to wear a red nose?" He asked, having grudgingly deciding it would be easier just to get his ordeal over with.

Miroku picked up what looked like the shattered remains of a blinking red Rudolph nose. "Yes, but it shocked her when I tried to put it on. This is what's left. Last I checked, none of us knew how to fix things from Kagome's world."

"But what about my lines?" Inu Yasha scowled, remembering the hours Kagome had made him go through them to make sure he would remember.

Miroku shrugged. "Improvise."

As Inu Yasha sputtered, Sango chose that moment to peek her head backstage. "Are you guys done yet? We're running out of ways to stall!" Miroku shoved Inu Yasha and Kirara out onto the stage.

Kagome looked immensely relieved at Inu Yasha and Kirara's entrance, but she frowned as she noticed the missing red nose. She edged back towards the side of the stage by Miroku to ask about it, and sweat-dropped when he showed her the shattered remains.

Sango had returned to her job as narrator. "Oh, look at this, boys and girls, Santa seems to have found an answer to the problem with the fog!"

Inu Yasha fumbled with his words as he tried to improvise. "Oh Kira- oops, Rudolph, with your… your… feet so bright! Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

Kagome sweat-dropped again. "Not exactly traditional, but it does work…."

Kirara padded over to her spot at the front of the "reindeer" line, but didn't seem all that eager to turn her back to the wolves as Inu Yasha tried to attach her harness to the rest of the line.

Sango turned back to the audience to finish narrating. "So Christmas was saved by Rudolph the, ummm, flame footed reindeer!" The sounds of a fight broke out behind her as Kirara took a swipe at the wolves for biting her tail. Sango tried to maintain her smile as she hissed at Miroku through gritted teeth, "Get the curtain closed!" She turned back to the audience, and noted with relief that Kagome had gotten in place at the back of the rows of seating with a basket of candy canes. "Thank you all for coming and Kagome-chan has special candy for all of you on your way out! Goodbye!" She yelped and jumped aside as a wolf crashed through the curtain beside her.

Between the offer of candy, and the sudden ripping of the curtain from the fight behind it, there was little doubt why the theater quickly emptied. Once the dust had settled, and the wolves had been "encouraged" by Inu Yasha to go home, Kagome turned to her friends with a grin on her face.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" She said, smiling brightly. "Maybe we should make this an annual thing!"

Her suggestion met stony silence for a moment before everyone simultaneously began throwing the left over candy canes in response.

"Okay, okay! I take that as a no!" Kagome yelped and ducked behind the remaining stage scenery for protection.

~*~Owari~*~

And there you have it! Comments, flames, any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated! Thankies!

~Luana