Author's Notes: Took me long enough didn't it? Happy Holidays!
Lights, Camera, Action!
Chapter 13- Home for the Holidays
Inuyasha started packing up his car and his father's with all of his possessions since he'd be moving into a new townhouse next semester. His nerves were getting to him, though. Kagome was going to be spending the holidays with him, and then they would be spending a semester together under the same roof. This just made things even more complicated than they were before. He was hoping a little time away from her would give him some time to get his scrambled thoughts sorted out. But now...
Still, it couldn't be all bad. He just had to stay cool and not worry about it too much. Picking his confidence back up, he finished packing everything in.
"Aren't you cold?" came a voice from behind.
Inuyasha looked over his shoulder to see Souta. It was true that the air was pretty chilly out... Alright, that was an understatement. It was 10 degrees, sans wind-chill. But Inuyasha was never really bothered by temperature. Which was why he standing out there right now in his usual jeans and T-shirt. "Meh, I'm fine," he said dismissively. He was about to get into his car, when Souta's voice caused him to stop dead in his tracks.
"Hey, Mom? Can I ride home with Inuyasha?"
Inuyasha looked up at the Higurashis, not daring to betray a single emotion. He didn't want the desperate "NO!" look to touch his face. For one thing, he'd probably offend them, and for another that would just prompt Kagome to give Souta the go-ahead.
He glanced over at Miroku and Sango as they packed up their cars, hoping to get some help, but they just smirked at him. Bastards. And he didn't have to look over to know that his father was giving that infuriating smirk that Inuyasha had inherited.
The whole fucking world was against him.
"Well..." Mrs. Higurashi paused and looked to Inuyasha then Kagome. "If it's alright with your sister and if Inuyasha doesn't mind..."
"It's okay with me, Mama," Kagome said cheerfully. You bitch.
"I don't think Inuyasha will mind," Inutaisho said from behind his son. "I think he enjoys having a fan." You'll pay for that later, old man.
"Well, alright then," Mrs. Higurashi said with a smile.
Souta smiled ear-to-ear and hopped in the passenger-side of Inuyasha's car. Heaving a quick sigh, Inuyasha climbed in and started the car up, glancing at the boy beside him. Hopefully putting on a couple CDs would keep the conversation to a minimum. He was not good with kids.
He started up the car and immediately tried to settle on a CD. He decided against Iced Earth. He had just found this morning that the band had called off touring until next year due to medical reasons, so the concert he had gotten free tickets to wasn't going to happen. He instead decided on some Edguy.
Of course, right from the synth/spoken intro, Souta had to start talking. "What band is this?"
"Edguy, Hellfire Club," Inuyasha answered flatly. There was silence for a minute as they slowly pulled out of campus and the opening song, Mysteria, went into the first verse.
"This singer sounds kind of like Bruce Dickinson," Souta remarked. "The guitars sound more like Judas Priest, though."
Inuyasha's eyebrow shot straight up and he looked at the boy next to him from the corner of his eye. "You like Maiden and Priest?"
Souta smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
That one came out of left field. Inuyasha glanced back and forth between Souta and the road several times. When they reached a stoplight he turned to face the boy. "Hey kid?"
Souta looked over at Inuyasha who promptly gave him the Horns, a gesture which Souta was all too happy to return.
-x-
Kagome stared out the window at passing traffic as they slowly made their way out of Redrock. Spending the holidays with Inuyasha was definitely going to be interesting. Hopefully her friends would understand. Though maybe this would give Kagome a better chance to find out just what made Inuyasha tick. Trying to figure out what went on in his head was trying to decipher the ramblings of a madman. Just with more profanity. Speaking of which...
"I hope Inuyasha remembers to keep his language under control," Mama remarked. "Inutaisho told me that boy has quite a mouth on him."
Kagome had to smile. Her mother was always so protective. But Inuyasha would know to watch his mouth around Souta. He had a sense of decency despite all odds. "I don't think it will be a problem."
A couple minutes later, they pulled up to a stoplight beside Inuyasha's car and Kagome burst out laughing at what she saw. She tapped her mother's shoulder and pointed to the car opposite them. The music was loud enough to faintly hear it through the glass and over the engine. Inside the car, Souta was headbanging and playing air guitar while Inuyasha sang along.
The pied piper never, never, never, never dies
Oh he never, never, never dies
Never, never, never dies
Never, never dies
Never, never dies
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never dies, right!
Oh yeah!
"I think they'll be getting along fine," Kagome said with a smile and a wink.
The rest of the drive passed with light conversation. Mama kept checking the directions to the Takamura house, and within a couple of hours, Kagome found herself in an upper middle class neighborhood with fancy Victorian styled homes and big lawns and gardens all covered in a blanket of snow. With all the decorations and lights out, each and every lot looked like it could have been on a Christmas card.
They pulled up to a house and parked in the driveway behind Inuyasha and his father. No sooner had they all climbed out of the cars, than a little dark-haired girl burst out of the front door and charged at Inuyasha. He knelt down and held open his arms, which the girl jumped into with a shout of joy. "You're home! Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas, Rin," Inuyasha said with one of his rare genuine smiles. "We brought some friends."
Rin smiled and waved at everybody. "Hi!"
Kagome smiled and waved back. So this was Rin, eh? She was adorable!
"Inuyasha," Rin said mischievously, "can I open one of my presents today? Sesshoumaru said I can't."
Inuyasha lifted an eyebrow. "I don't know. Have you been giving him a hard time?"
Rin just giggled and shook her head. "Nope."
"Not the answer I was looking for, but..." Inuyasha dug around in one of the thigh pockets in his carpenter's jeans and fished out several Yu-Gi-Oh! booster packs. "Let's just keep this between you and me, eh?"
Rin squealed happily and hugged Inuyasha around the neck. "Ooh, thank you, thank you!"
"I told you not to spoil her," came a cold voice from the house. Kagome looked over to see a tall young man a few years older than Inuyasha with insanely long platinum hair... or was it a tall young woman? No, no, it was a guy. The voice was too masculine. Whoever this guy was, he was almost too handsome for masculinity. Which was kind of hot and kind of creepy at the same time. Kagome wasn't quite sure how to feel about that just yet. Either way, he had a look that could make birds drop dead out of the sky.
"Is it just me, or did it just drop another 10 or 20 degrees out here," Inuyasha quipped with a smirk.
"Inuyasha, I didn't know you had a sister," Souta remarked looking at the newcomer.
At that, Inutaisho tried to hold back his chortling while Rin erupted into a fit of giggles and Inuyasha lost his composure after only a second and burst out laughing. Kagome and her mother had to try and stifle their own desire to laugh.
"That would be Inuyasha's older brother, Sesshoumaru," Inutaisho said after composing himself.
Sesshoumaru gave what might have been a scowl on his placid face when Souta, rather than apologizing just laughed along with Inuyasha and Rin. Gramps humphed and mumbled something about "disrespectful youngsters," but the scene was just too priceless to let go.
"Let's get out of the cold," Sesshoumaru said flatly. "Rin, come along."
Inuyasha set Rin down who waved at everyone again and trotted off into the house with Sesshoumaru. "Alright," Inuyasha said once Rin was with his brother, "let's get unpacked. I hate snow."
-x-
That evening, Inuyasha stood out on the back porch with a mug of hot chocolate. Gourmet white chocolate, to be exact. So he had a sweet tooth. He wasn't ashamed of it. It was odd how he took pleasure in this sort of thing. It was below freezing outside, and he hated snow, but he liked watching it fall. So he just stood out there sipping on hot chocolate and watching the snow fall in jeans and a hoodie. It was one of the few things that helped him relax that didn't involve loud music and lots of movement.
Inuyasha heard the French doors open behind him and caught the scent of Kagome's shampoo. Normally, that kind of thing bugged him to no end. But this particular scent seemed natural. Whatever it was she used, it seemed to have been made particularly for her. It smelled like... damn it, it was too difficult to describe. "Hey," he drawled softly.
"Hey," she returned. Kagome stepped up beside him in a sweater with her own mug of hot chocolate. "You people have great taste. I love chocolate raspberry."
Inuyasha quietly filed that away mentally. He had Christmas shopping to do tomorrow. The cards he gave Rin were just something he had done for the last two years. It was becoming a tradition to give her something small early. Right now he had to shop for his father, Rin, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara... Sesshoumaru, unfortunately... and now he had to add Kagome to the list. But he wasn't even sure where to start. "You going Christmas shopping tomorrow?" he asked conversationally.
Kagome nodded as she sipped from her mug. "I still have a few people left on my list. You?"
"Likewise," he answered flatly. It wasn't necessarily a lie. Just sort of implying... stuff... or something like that.
"You know," Kagome started wistfully, "I used to watch the snow with my father. We would sit outside like you and I are now and talk about the most unimportant things in the world... watching the snow fall the whole time."
Inuyasha looked down out of the corner of his eye at Kagome. She had a sad smile on her face. He could sympathize. He still missed his mother after all these years. "Yeah," he said. It came out kind of a throaty purr, but he didn't really care.
A moment of silence passed. Kagome shivered lightly and smiled as she turned to the door. "I'm going back inside. I've got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow. Good night, Inuyasha."
"Night," Inuyasha replied. He watched her go back inside and shut the doors behind her.
Christmas. Much as Inuyasha had a hard time getting into the season, he did take the gift-giving seriously. It was something his mother instilled in him. Finding a gift that someone would appreciate was a sign that you took the time to know them and the things that made them happy, and that you wanted to make them happy.
And with Kagome, it really had to count. After all, the crew wouldn't be where they were if it weren't for her... Wait a minute... That was it. Inuyasha smiled softly as he realized just what he could do for Kagome. He'd have several stops to make at the mall tomorrow. There was a couple of clothing stores he'd have to stop at, as well as the bookstore. And he'd have to put a call into Shippo for some digital photos. But if this worked out, Kagome would really appreciate this.
Inuyasha turned and stepped back into the house with a grin. He was patting himself on the back for this idea right up until he went to bed.
-x-
Author's Notes: Better late than never. Unfortunately, the true Christmas episode will come about a day or two after Cristmas Day itself, but just think of it as a belated gift. Between this and my screenplay (which I plan to actually produce after graduation in 2007) guess where my priorities lie?
Anyway...
InuGoddess: It's good to know that I have a knack for character actions. At college, I learned even more about it than before, and I think it's helped significantly.
SakuraBaby: I assure you, there is fluff on the horizon.
Divine-Red-Crayon: Relax, it's just your imagination. Next chapter, you'll all get a full explanation for why Inutaisho is acting around Mrs. Higurashi the way he is.
Mimiko: As you may have guessed by now, yes I will be writing out the Christmas togetherness. In graphic detail. Feel free to interpret that any way you want. Also, there's another karaoke scene coming up featuring Rin. Watch out for it.
Gina (Sea Temptress): Just wait and see how the townhouse scenario pans out. I think you'll all be quite amused by it.
Izayoi: Unfortunately, cyberspace deminishes the power of feminine wiles, so I ended up putting schoolwork higher on my list of priorities than these stories. Good try though.
jess16: I figure there's really no reason for me to lie around here. In a community like this, you can wear your emotions and thoughts on your sleeves.
Concrete Angel: I'm assuming that right about now, your roommate isn't around to smack you. Go ahead, make some noise!
Fanny T: If you want hilarious, check out Running Wild. They sing about pirates! It doesn't get much cooler than that.
bluefuzzyelf: Again, it's all in your head. I hope by now you've gotten around to checking out Nightwish. They're one of my favorite bands. I'm watching their website like a hawk so that I can nab some good seats the instant tickets go on sale for their concert in Worcester, Maryland.
Araine: I'd love to see the lyrics you wrote to A Method to My Madness. I've actually been experimenting with songwriting and am currently working on a rock opera about Vlad the Impaler. Morbid, I know, but if you do your research, it really is a fascinating story.
Yabou: I've had moments like that.
Hanyou-ass: I haven't given up yet. I've still got a lot of work to do. As mentioned before, I'm working on a screenplay that I hope to have produced in a couple of years, so a lot of my energy outside of schoolwork is going to be dumped into that.