Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me
Chapter Twenty-Four: Christmas Eve
December 24th
Inuyasha glared at the monk, wishing that he could sharpen his claws on him. The lecher had been stealing Kagome away from him every day for weeks now. Sometimes for even an hour at a time! And Kagome, the idiot, goes with him. What in the world is she thinking! I thought she was smarter than that! His loud snarling drew curious glances from Sango and Shippo, but he ignored them.
They are hiding something. They would talk quietly to each other, then change their conversation if he got too near. Sometimes they would draw pictures in the dirt like she would do with Shippo when they got the chance to stop for awhile. Every so often she would steal a glance towards Inuyasha, he noticed every single glance. He would growl every time she would quickly look away.
Inuyasha was beginning to boil in anger. He wasn't sure if he wanted to shake Kagome for her foolishness for choosing a lecherous monk, or if he wanted to tear the monk into a million unidentifiable pieces. He was leaning towards the tearing option…. it was much more satisfying.
As he carefully, and somewhat disturbingly, plotted the demise of Miroku, Kagome surprised him by sitting next to him with a bright smile on her face.
"What do you want, wench?"
Her smile disappeared, but only for a moment. But then it was back, a little smaller than before, but still there.
"It's Christmas Eve, Inuyasha."
"So?"
Inuyasha peeked at her as she watched the kit play with the fire cat at the camp. They were playing with the decorations of yet another tree that Kagome insisted they decorate. All month she had the group decorating trees where they camped. Of course Inuyasha complained loudly and would not participate, but he still liked to watch. Decorating the trees made her happy. Really happy. He wondered at her sanity at times, no one should be THAT happy. Maybe the cold weather was causing some sort of dementia.
He allowed himself a small smile as he thought about her odd behavior all month. She would sing and laugh for no good reason and it was infectious.
"On Christmas Eve we would sing Christmas carols and drink hot cocoa. Souta and I would string popcorn and hang it on the tree. Papa would read us a Christmas story, then tuck us into bed. Souta and I would sneak out spy on them."
Kagome gave a soft laugh. Inuyasha paid attention to the sheen in her eyes. Don't cry don't cry don't cry, he chanted silently, a little worried that her insane happiness suddenly turned into saddness. She turned her head so that her face was hidden from his view. But Inuyasha saw the tear trickle down her cheek.
"That was when Papa was still alive."
She wiped her eyes then looked back at Shippo and Kirara.
"Mama and Papa would stay up late, and that's when they would give each other their special presents. We were supposed to be asleep, but who could be expected to sleep on Christmas Eve?"
Kagome gazed sadly into the fire. Inuyasha knew she was remembering those precious, and far too few memories.
"What kind of things did they give each other?" Not that he was interested of course… he just wanted her back to being happy. It made his chest feel funny when she was sad, and it was a feeling he hated.
Inuyasha's heart skipped a beat at the smile she gave him. It was warm and soft, full of love. Sure, it was love for her family, but still…. a hanyou can dream…
"Little things," she explained, "Things that let the other know that they are the most special person in the world to them. Sometimes they were expensive, sometimes they were things that reminded each other about certain memories, sometimes… sometimes it was special things that they made. Once Papa made Mama a doll out of colorful paper, it was Mama's favorite present ever. It was the last thing he made for her."
Inuyasha watched as she stood up quickly and called to Shippo. She scooped him up, swung him around then hugged him tight, then sat back down next to Inuyasha. She held Shippo as she told him a story about the night before Christmas. It was a strange story about a large man who snuck into the family's home and left gifts, then being flown away by a small herd of some sort of deer demons with the power of flight.
When it was over she hugged Shippo and sang a song about silver and gold, stealing amused glances at Inuyasha's hair and eyes, and put the fox kit to bed.
One by one their little group fell asleep. Inuyasha watched as Shippo fell asleep first. Miroku was next to fall asleep. Sango would never fall asleep before the overly amorous monk. Afterwards she and Kirara closed their eyes and slept. Inuyasha stayed alert as he waited for Kagome to finally settle down. He sprawled out on his tree branch above the group and watched out of the corner of his eye.
Kagome was picking through her overly large bag, throwing looks over at her sleeping friends. She pulled out four items and went over to the decorated tree, placing them underneath. She was looking so proud of herself that Inuyasha had to jump down and inspect them to see what the big deal was.
The items were wrapped in cloth with ribbons tied around them with leaves and berries decorating the top.
"Presents?" asked Inuyasha.
Kagome nodded. "This one is for Sango," she whispered. "It's a pretty comb for her hair. Remember when I ran that weird errand for a lady a couple weeks ago? You know, the one where I had to dress up as a boy and pretend to be courting her to make the guy she liked jealous? Well, she gave me this hair comb as a thank you. Last week I found someone who could dress it up a little and make it pretty."
"The goldsmith with the little demon…"
"…child," Kagome corrected.
"…who refused to leave the burning hut without her cat?"
Kagome smiled. "That's the one!"
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, glared at her, and snarled ferociously. "If you EVER go into a burning building again I will break both of your legs."
She waved his threat away and pointed to another present. "That one is for Miroku. It's a journal, a book of blank pages for him to fill up."
"How did you get…"
Kagome grinned. "Remember when I was asked to watch all those kids a few villages ago when all the women disappeared and you and the others had to go rescue them? Well, this was a payment for watching the kids."
"I remember. There were about a dozen of them. Did you mean it when you said you never wanted a child?" Inuyasha asked.
"Nah. At the time I might have thought that way. But you would too if you had been driven almost to the point of insanity by a bunch of screaming kids! But one day I'd like to have kids of my own."
"How many?"
"Hmmm… maybe one. Or two. I just don't think I could handle more than that. I don't think I could have more kids than I have hands to hold them."
Inuyasha looked at the two presents left. He knew one was for Shippo.
"This is Shippo's." Kagome lovingly touched the largest of the presents. "I made him some new clothes and his very own pillow."
"Another favor for the cloth?"
Kagome laughed. "Yup, you guessed it."
"Must've been the chicken round up incident," he murmured absent-mindedly as he nudged the last remaining present curiously.
"The chicken incident also got me a brush for Kirara. That's her present there."
Inuyasha's jaw dropped. The last gift was for the fire cat. THE FIRE CAT! Which left no present for him!
"Keh," he grumped, "Presents are stupid. Christmas is stupid." And he bounded away.
She didn't get me anything. Nothing! His claws dug into the tree he was perched on. I thought she cared about me! She gave a gift to Miroku and not ME! Inuyasha glared at the sleeping monk and thought up new ways to torture him before killing him.
When Kagome began climbing the tree he was in he completely ignored her. Usually he would offer her a hand up or even drop down and carry her up. Let her fall.
Kagome slipped and his hand shot out without his permission and caught her. As she dangled in the air she looked up at him and gave a smile. I could drop her. I could let her go and she would fall. Maybe break her legs or an arm or something. I'll just let her go. Inuyasha sighed and tightened his grip.
Liar.
He pulled her up. Once she was safely beside him he began to ignore her again.
"I thought you might want to open your present tonight," she whispered.
Inuyasha's eyes snapped open. He watched with wide eyes and a jaw dropped open as she handed him a bundle wrapped in red cloth, tied with a white ribbon. At first all he did was hold it, touching the delicate looking ribbon. Then he looked at Kagome.
She was smiling.
Inuyasha thought back to what she had been saying about the presents opened on Christmas Eve by her parents. They were the special ones. Gifts between mates while their pack slept.
"Open it," Kagome encouraged as she nudged him. Her eyes were bright with excitement. As he pulled the ribbon gently he saw her bite her lip.
She's worried.
Curiously he watched the ribbon fall away and the cloth begin to fall. Carefully he peeled back the material and pulled out a string of beads and fangs. He looked at Kagome again.
"I found the pearls when we went to the beach before we met Miroku." She was nervously playing with the red fabric. "We played that game, marbles, with the few that we found. It was the first game I got you to play with me. Remember how I was spending so much time in the water those three days?"
"I yelled at you…"
Kagome waved his words away again. "I was lucky I found so many. I didn't know what I was going to do with them at the time. But I thought they were beautiful. The fangs are from some of the demons we fought together. I didn't pull them out, of course, you had already knocked them out. I wasn't sure why I kept them, but I did."
She pointed to a fang. "See this one? That's the first demon we fought together. This one is the one from when we found Shippo." One by one she went through the fangs of the battles they fought and won. "I asked Miroku about that rosary he wears on his hand, the family memento. He showed me how to make the holes in the pearls and fangs and how to string them."
It clicked in his head. "That's why you spent so much time with the letch."
Kagome nodded.
Inuyasha looked at the rosary in his hands. She had made this for him. The time she spent with Miroku was to make ME a gift. He grinned. She DOES like me better! That stupid pervert didn't get the special Christmas Eve gift, I did!
He watched as her smile grew bigger and brighter as he slowly lifted the rosary. Then he put it in her hands and her face fell. He could almost smell the tears about to flood down her face.
"Put it on me."
She blinked a couple of times, holding the rosary.
"Put it on me," he repeated.
With a nervous giggle she lifted the beads slowly and put them over his head. She pulled his silvery mane out from underneath, then arranged the necklace under the first layer of his robe.
"What did you do that for?" Inuyasha asked.
"Do what?"
"Hide it. Are you embarrassed you gave it to me or something?" He narrowed his eyes and pulled the rosary out to lay it on the outside of his clothes.
"Don't be stupid! Of course I'm not embarrassed! I just thought you might be… that you wouldn't want them to….dang it, I thought YOU would be embarrassed."
"Keh."
Kagome reached out and touched the beads around his neck. Inuyasha's hand covered hers and held it to his chest.
"Thank you."
"Merry Christmas, Inuyasha."
"Keh."
Inuyasha watched as his friend climbed down the tree and took her place next to Shippo. As she fell asleep, he held on to his new rosary. He knew that the only way it was ever coming off was if she took it off.
"Merry Christmas," he whispered.
