Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters, mainly Sesshoumaru in this story. I do however own everyone and everything, including the rights to this story, in this story… that sounded kinda weird… oops.
Summary: Sesshoumaru Fukai, owner of Western Lands Co., has been left behind during the holidays while the rest of his family has gone on a cruise. A co-worker, Kadasa Mori, offers him a place to stay during the Christmas break. He accepts and then finds out she has 6 adopted brothers and sisters living with her. He'll have to survive through 'church' her family, shopping, and two teens and 4 toddlers for Christmas. Maybe he should've just stayed home…
Warning: Sesshoumaru is very much so out of character. Please excuse that…
Author's Note: Hoping you're having a happy holiday, here's The Meaning of Christmas: Part V
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The Meaning of Christmas
Part V - December 25th
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Sesshoumaru slowly gained consciousness and was instantly given the feeling of being under attack. He looked around carefully then at the clock which ready 7:30. He frowned and looked around once more before lying back down and beginning to drift to sleep.
"It's Christmas!"
Sesshoumaru awoke quickly as pounding feet followed by shrill shouts of joy sounded. His door flew open and four kids jumped, landing on his bed, almost sending him flying. They got to their feet jumping up and down.
"It's Christmas Mr. Sesshoumaru!" they cried. Rin wrapped her arms around his neck laughing.
He glanced at the doorway seeing a sleepy looking Yuki trying to tie his robe on backwards and Carrie trying to help him out.
Kadasa suddenly walked in laughing, as she pulled a silky royal blue robe over her arms but didn't tie it shut. "All right guys. Leave Mr. Fukai alone."
"Asa!" they cried and grabbed her, pulling her onto the bed and hugging her.
"Merry x-mas sissy!" Crescent said shyly.
She kissed her on the forehead. "Merry x-mas Cree." She turned and gave everyone a kiss on the forehead before ordering them off the bed.
"Everyone in a line!" she ordered.
They all climbed off and all lined up by the door. She climbed off the bed and turned to Sesshoumaru.
"If you'd like, you can go back to sleep," she said softly.
"Awww!" came from the kids.
He sighed and stood. "I don't think I'll be able to go back."
"Sorry sir," she murmured, under her breath.
He shrugged nonchalantly. "So, what now?"
"Presents!" the kids cried.
"Yeah!" Kadasa cheered leaping to the front of the line. "Let's go!" She marched out of the room, shouting the lyrics to Frosty.
Sesshoumaru shook his head and followed after the parade. She climbed down the steps and motioned for everyone to stop then peered around the corner.
She turned back around with a sigh. "Looks like Santa didn't come this year." (A/N: My father does this to us every year…)
"Let us see!" Neal called back. She stepped into the living room and everyone came in.
"Yay!" they all shouted.
"Everyone to their designated spots!" she ordered and they all jumped onto couches next to their stockings.
Sesshoumaru walked in and was about to head for the kitchen when a hand grabbed his.
"Your sock next to mine Mr. Sesshoumaru," Rin said.
He hid his surprise and allowed himself to be guided over to the couch and settled between Cree and Rin.
"All right," Kadasa called. "Stockings first!"
They all started pulling through their stockings. Sesshoumaru glanced at her then at the bulky stocking.
She smiled and nodded, grabbing her own and sticking a hand in, retracting a bag of small chocolate coins and sitting back to watch.
"Asa! Lookie what Santa brought Rin!" the girl cried, holding up a beautiful sunflower clip.
"Oh," Kadasa cooed. "It's beautiful Rin. Want me to put it in?"
"Yeah!" Rin climbed off the couch and rushed over to her, handing her the clip. She spun back around and Kadasa carefully put the clip in.
Rin grinned and rushed back over next to Sesshoumaru. She noticed he hadn't touched his stocking.
"Mr. Sesshoumaru?" she asked in slight worry.
To keep her from worrying he put his hand in the stocking, grabbed something and pulled it out. His eyes widened as he saw a huge bag of m&m's. He glanced at Kadasa who was helping Neal put batteries in his toy car.
He scowled mentally. Inuyasha must've blabbed. Continuing on, he found several other bags of candies that he loved as well as a portable mouse for his laptop (he hated the little squares) a few colorful ties, a deck of playing cards for when he was bored in the office and a chip to save data on instead of disks.
He glanced at Kadasa again who now caught his eye. 'Inuyasha' she mouthed with a wink. He scowled slightly and mouthed back 'damn brother.'
She chuckled and turned to Hatsu as he climbed into her lap asking for help opening his candy.
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Two hours later, after finishing with their stuffed stockings and opening their presents, Kadasa ushered everyone into the kitchen.
"All right!" she cried as everyone was seated at the breakfast buffet and she put her robe on Cree. "What to eat? We've got pancakes, waffles, sausage, hash browns, cinnamon rolls-"
"Cinn-mon rolls!" the kids cried.
"Hot dogs, hamburgers," she continued as if she hadn't heard them. "Cereal, milk, soup-"
"CINN-MON ROLLS!"
"All right, all right," she giggled. "Neal! Count us up!"
"Cree, Rin, Carrie, Neal, Yuki, Hatsu, Asa, Mr. Sesshoumaru." He counted on his fingers. "Eight!"
She giggled. "Good job. Now. If there's 8 of us, and we each want 3… how many should I cook?" He frowned. "It's all right. Here." She pulled out 3 cans of cinnamon rolls that you could see the rolls inside. "Count these."
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!"
"Good job and since there's 8 of us, that means we each get one."
"Each one!" Cree and Rin cried.
Kadasa nodded. "If there's 8 in each package, and we each want three, how many packages do we need?" He looked confused again. She bit her lip but Sesshoumaru reached out and took the cans, spreading them out in front of him.
"Okay. We each want three," he said, tapping his finger on the first can. "One for you, one for Cree, one for Rin, one for Carrie, one for Yuki, one for Hatsu, one for me and one for Kadasa. That's eight." He put the can aside. He tapped the next one.
"One for Cree, one for Rin, one for Carrie, one for Yuki, one for Hatsu, one for you, one for Kadasa, and one for me. That's two each. How many cans?"
"Two!"
"Good. Next. One for Cree, one for Rin, one for Carrie, one for Yuki, one for Hatsu, one for you, one for Kadasa, and one for me. That's three each. How many cans?"
"Three!"
"How many did we each want?"
"Three!"
"So if there's 8 rolls in a can and there's 8 people and we each want three, how many cans do we need?"
"Three!" He nodded and handed Kadasa the cans. She sent him a grateful smile before peeling them apart and sticking them in the oven.
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"No! Get it away!" Sesshoumaru cried as Rin and Cree with sticky fingers reached for him. He grabbed a wipe in each hand. "No! I shall defend myself with this lemony-wipe!"
They giggled and leapt at him. He grabbed both of their hands in one of his and wiped them, pulling away. He grinned triumphantly. "I have won the day!"
They shrieked and jumped on him. He let out a yelp as he fell over then put a hand on both of their stomachs and lifted them into the air. They laughed hysterically as he used them like weights.
"What are you doing?" They turned to find Kadasa standing there with a raised eyebrow.
He sighed. "Looks like our fun's over girls."
"Aw…" He laughed and put them on the ground, ruffling their hair. They giggled and ran into the other room.
She smiled and shook her head. "We're getting ready to go build snowmen."
He nodded and walked upstairs, pulling off pajamas and pulling on gray sweatpants and a gray sweatshirt over a white tee. He pulled his hair into a low ponytail and went down the hall into Neal's room where he and Hatsu were playing a video game.
"We're going to build snowmen. Coming?"
"Yay!" they cried and leapt to their feet running past him. He followed at a much slower pace and reached the first floor as they came running by, now fully clothed in a jacket, boots, coat, hat and mittens, Cree and Rin hopping behind pulling on boots and mittens. Yuki sighed but pulled his things on. Carrie already had her hat and boots on and was pulling her jacket on.
Sesshoumaru turned to Kadasa who came walking in, dressed already. She handed him his coat and he tugged it on, then gloves, boots and a hat before everyone headed outside.
Kadasa set the carrots, extra gloves, scarves and hats, sticks and rocks in the center of the driveway in piles. "Neal, Hatsu, Yuki and Sesshoumaru, you've got the ride side of the house. Rin, Carrie, Cree and I've got the left. You know the rules. No grass showing and as many snowmen as possible in 10 minutes." She looked around then nodded. "Ready… set… go!"
They all rushed to their sides and Sesshoumaru looked at Yuki. "Just make snowmen?"
"You and I will make the snowmen. Hatsu and Neal will smooth out the snow and make sure there's no grass showing then decorate. If they get way behind, we'll help decorate then continue until time's up."
Sesshoumaru nodded beginning to roll the bottom of the snowman.
Ten minutes later at Kadasa's whistle they all froze and stepped back. Kadasa's team had made 7 and ½. Sesshoumaru's team had made 8 and ½.
"All right!" Kadasa called. "Sesshoumaru's team wins! Finish your last snowman and get inside for hot chocolate."
Now, with everyone sitting at the breakfast bar she walked in with a small box.
"To the winners of the snowman contest of 2005!" She handed out little silver trophies with snowmen on the top and 'Winner of the Snowman contest of 2005' engraved on the bottom.
"And to the… non-winners of the snowman contest of 2005." She handed the girls the same trophies but engraved on the bottom was 'Snowman Contest of 2005.'
"We'll get them next year Rin-chan!" Carrie said scowling at Neal who stuck his tongue out.
Rin giggled. "Yay!"
"Yay-yay!" Cree cried.
Kadasa laughed. "Now, to all contestants, into the living room to watch Frosty the Snowman."
"More snowmen?" Sesshoumaru asked as they followed the kids into the living room.
Kadasa grinned. "Of course."
"Great."
She giggled. "I live to torment you Sesshie."
He scowled. "I know you do."
"Good. Now come sit and watch Frosty with us." He sighed but followed her into the living room. "All right!" Kadasa called. "The order of movies; Frosty then Year Without a Santa Claus. Then we are going to send the chilids into the other room to watch their movies while we watch Van Helsing and other types of non-Christmas movies."
Carrie and Yuki cheered, Neal, Hatsu, Cree and Rin pouting but turning to watch the movie. Sesshoumaru shook his head. I'll never understand this family…
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Sesshoumaru sighed in relaxation, leaning against the couch, watching the flames flicker. Kadasa had just gone upstairs with the last out cold child and he was waiting for her to come back. A soft noise made him turn to find Kadasa walking in holding two mugs of hot chocolate. She handed him one.
"You must go through this like crazy," he muttered. "You have like 7 cups a day."
She scoffed. "I buy 5 cans every time I go."
He shook his head. "It's a good thing you make a lot of money."
"Tell me about it." He chuckled and leaned back into the couch.
"Thanks again for all the help you've given the kids," Kadasa said, settling in next to him holding her own mug of hot chocolate.
He nodded. "It was… amusing." She smiled. "And I had fun."
She grinned widely. "Well I guess you'll have to come back next year huh?"
"I guess I will." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something handing it to her.
She blinked then looked up at him. "What's this?"
"My gift to you."
"You already got me a few things." He shrugged. She turned and opened the small box. Her eyes widened and she looked at him. "I thought you didn't see me looking at this!"
He smirked. "Well I did."
She fingered the crescent moon necklace then pulled it out and put it on. She smiled at him. "Thanks. I love it."
"You're welcome." They leaned back on the couch, Sesshoumaru putting his arms on the back of the couch, one behind her. "So. What are you doing next Friday?"
"Next Friday? I'm not sure. It's the third right?"
"Yes. I've got tickets to a comedian downtown. Would you like to come with me?"
She looked over in surprise. "Is that what's called a date?"
He glanced at her. "If you'd like it to be."
She smiled. "Well then, yes. I'd love to."
Peeking around the corner, Carrie and Yuki drew their heads back and silently high fived. They raced upstairs into Carrie's room where she hugged him.
"Yes! Kadasa's finally got a good guy! Maybe this one will stay!"
Yuki nodded. "Smart, already owns a business, good with kids,"
"-good looking."
He scowled at her. "That's all you think about isn't it."
She batted her eyelashes. "Aw Yuki. You know you love me."
He rolled his eyes and headed for the door. "Good night sis."
"Night Yuki. Sleep tight."
"You too." He shut the door behind him and leaned back against it smiling. A moment later he went to his room and shut the door.
Downstairs Kadasa curled up next to Sesshoumaru playing with his long hair as he drifted off in front of the flames. She glanced up at him and smiled leaning into his shoulder.
Christmas really is a time for loved ones, she thought then giggled silently. Or stoic ones to express their feelings for those loved ones. She snuggled in closer. Merry Christmas Sesshoumaru.
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