Chapter 6: Presents!
"Merry Christmas! Tee Hee!" Kagome heard. She opened one eye to see Sami's round face hovering an inch or two over hers.
"Yaah! Sami!" She yelled at the blond, "It's Christmas?" Kagome asked, still not quite awake.
"Uh huh, C'mon down and see your tree!" Sami replied and dashed down the stairs, still in her pajamas, Santa hat bouncing. Kagome got up and followed her perkier friend silently down to the living room. What she found was the first big surprise of the day.
"Oh wow," she gasped. A six-foot fir tree stood in the center of the room covered with twinkling lights and painted glass balls. At the highest point was a glowing star. The base of the tree was hidden by presents.
"Merry Christmas Kagome!" Shippo cried happily as he crawled out from under the tree.
"Yes, Merry Christmas," Sango and Miroku said as they entered the room.
"Do ya' like it?" Inuyasha asked from the front door.
"You knew about it?" Kagome asked in a shocked voice, "But how'd you, where, Sami?"
"It's a Christmas tree. You decorate it and keep it up all December. Inuyasha helped me get it in and decorate it," The blond explained. "And now, she proclaimed, "To the presents!" Sami plopped herself down on the rug and pulled a gift towards her in true
Five-year-old-on-Christmas-morning fashion. "This one's to Miroku from Kagome" she said and handed the gift to the monk. Inuyasha stiffened for a moment, 'But she probably got something for everyone,' his mind countered, and forced his muscles to lose their tension.
"Books? Why . . ." He flipped through the pages. "Oh my! What good taste you have Kagome! I shall cherish this gift and never read these books without thinking of you." He quickly found a chair and opened the book, scanning pages.
"What did you get him?" Questioned Sami, who looked very confused.
"Ranma ½," Kagome smiled.
"Tee Hee," Sami giggled, suddenly catching on, "Here's one, 'To: Sango +Kagome, From: Miroku'. Well, here you go Sango," the blond said, passing the box to the demon hunter. She carefully began to unwrap the gift, while Kagome came to look over her shoulder.
"Wha . . ." Inside were two bathing suits, bikinis to be exact, one red and one white. Both girls glared at him, faces red with fury.
"Heh Heh, well . . ." Began Miroku, knowing that one wrong move would have him thrown to the lions (Or Inuyasha at least). "Lady Kagome had a suit for bathing in for a time, until it was destroyed when a demon blew-up her pack. And Lady Sango and you always hate it when you catch me spying; so new clothes for bathing seemed almost necessary. Sango still looked as if someone had painted her face red, but Kagome had and evil look in her eyes.
"So frilled bikinis were your wonderful solution," she said, clutching the white suit that folded small enough to fit neatly in the palm of her hand.
"The woman selling them said something like, 'they were all the rage in Paris,' whatever that means," Miroku told her, silently praying to the gods. Kagome whispered in Sango's ear and the demon hunter's frown turned to an identical wicked smile. Quick as lightning, Kagome ran to Miroku, dropping a prayer-bead necklace over his head, and started mumbling an incantation.
"Now! The word of subjugation!" She yelled at Sango, who nodded.
"Down Boy!" Became Miroku's command. And down he went, his face smashing into the hardwood floor.
"So that's what I look like," Inuyasha said after a moment.
"I was wondering if it would work on humans," Kagome said cheerfully, "And thank you for the bathing suit Miroku." And walked to her seat.
"And to thank you for that," Sango turned toward her friend, "Merry Christmas!" She said, pulling a large box from out of nowhere. Kagome tore at the wrapping and pulled open the box.
"Hey! A new pack! Where'd you find it?" She squealed as she pulled the huge yellow pack from the box.
"The mall," Sango replied, "I was looking around and saw a shop with tents and sleeping bags and then I saw your pack. Is it the right one?"
"Sure is!" She said, and gave her friend a big hug.
"Ahem," Sami interrupted, "Well Miroku seems to be fairly happy with his gifts;
(He was fingering is prayer beads, with gold circles instead of fangs, and was again deeply immersed in his comic) so lets go on shall we?" She said and reached for another gift.
"My turn, my turn!" Shippo yelled, grabbing a box from under the tree. "I put everyone's present in this box, so there's one for all of you!" He said and began running around, handing out the bars of chocolate.
"Chocolate, thank you Shippo," Kagome said and proceeded to unwrap her tasty gift.
"What's this 'chocolate', Kagome?" Questioned Sango, who was eying her bar suspiciously.
"It's candy and it's really sweet," said Kagome, "Try some." Sango took a cautious bite, her eyes widening from the sweet chocolaty taste, and quickly took a much larger bite.
"Mmhmm, fank oo Fippo," She mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate.
"Inuyasha, why aren't you eating yours?" Shippo asked.
"Dogs can't eat chocolate," He huffed, "Here." He threw it to Sango, who snatched it out of the air. She pulled it to her, looked around, and began to devour that bar as well.
"Well at makes jus one more estremely appy camper," Sami mumbled through her own mouthful. "Who's next?"
"You are," Kagome said and rushed towards the kitchen, "Merry Christmas," she said and handed a plant to the blond. It had green leaves and bright red flowers.
"Poinsettia," smiled Sami. Kagome smiled back and replied.
"Yeah, the woman at the flower shop said it was a Christmas flower."
"They're my favorite, thank you!" The blond said and gave her friend a hug. Kagome pulled off a blossom and fixed it into Sami's left pigtail.
"Shippo," the girls chorused, "We got you something, too." Kagome picked up a package while Sami put down her plant.
"What'd ya get me, what'd ya get me?" The Kitsune cried as he bounced at the feet of the girls. Kagome handed the box to him
"We got you," Sami began as Shippo tore away the wrapping paper,
"Chocolate." Kagome finished. The wrapping came off, revealing a box of assorted chocolates.
"Ugh, don't say that word," Shippo groaned, "I spent most of my money on that stuff, then ate it all the way home. Hey, ya guys don't mind if I eat this a little later, do ya? Like in 50 years? Ooff!" He flopped onto his back and held his stomach with one paw, his beloved chocolates with the other.
"You can eat 'em later Shippo, we don't mind," giggled Sami and Kagome.
"Inuyasha, I got you something," Kagome said and held up a package. The hanyo blinked. (He'd been kind of asleep during the girl's present fest)
"Yu-you did?" He asked, turning pink.
"Uh, huh. C'mere," she replied, holding out the box. The half-demon took the box and slashed open the wrapping paper.
"Hey Ramen! Chicken, beef, shrimp. Thanks Kagome," Inuyasha said in a tone as close to happy as Kagome had ever heard. 'Kikyou may be his old love, but she doesn't have Ramen' Kagome thought evilly. "Oh yeah, wait over there while I get your present," He pointed to the side of the room, near the doorway. Kagome turned a bit pink, but shrugged and headed away from him, while the half-demon ran in the other direction. He opened the front door and from the left-hand side picked up her gift. "Don't turn around!" He yelled over his shoulder as her closed the door. With the gift behind his back, he started towards Kagome.
'What am I doing? I sound like Shippo when he's trying to get out of trouble; all sickly sweet an stuff. Well then; I won't be sweet.' He grinned to himself and stepped behind Kagome. She was still facing the hall as he walked up, and didn't turn when he stopped. 'What's he doing back there?' She wondered, until she felt his clawed hand cover her eyes. "Merry Christmas," he said quietly. She heard the sound of crinkling plastic. The half-demon pressed something into her hand and moved his clawed fingers from her eyes.
White roses. Still slightly covered with ice crystals from being left outside all night. He had gotten her white roses for Christmas.
[Flashback:
'These ones,' Inuyasha said, holding up the flowers.
'About time! I swear you've smelled every flower in the place and, hey . . . nice choice. Mmmmm, white roses, very classy,' she said, examining the blooms.
'They smell like her,' he replied gruffly.
'They do?' she asked, sniffing the flowers.
'Sort of. Their scents are similar,' he told her, and started to walk toward the counter.
'You should tell her that someday,' Sami told him as he passed over the bills.
'That she smells like white roses?' Inuyasha asked, chuckling.]
"Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome said, clutching the roses to her. Tears formed in her eyes. Turning she thought, 'Second surprise of the day; what next?'
"H-hey! No crying!" the surprised hanyo told her. "Kagome, yer' not supposed to cry on Christmas, Hey!" She pulled a lock of his hair, drawing him closer. "What was that for? I give you flowers, you cry, now . . ."
"Shut up, Inuyasha."
"Nani? What?" He looked into Kagome's teary eyes. Teary eyes that didn't seem sad anymore, but joyous. She put a finger to his lips, quieting him.
"If you don't shut up and close your mouth, how am I going to do this?" She asked and kissed him, (snogged) whole-heartedly on the lips. He had been kissed twice in his life now, and both by the same soul. But this one was filled with so much love and light that it was blinding him, making him close his eyes.
When she finally pulled away, all he could do was whisper, "Why?" Kagome smiled at him, and pointed up.
"Mistletoe, Inuyasha. Mistletoe."
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