Feudal Christmastime

By Ekonika

Chapter 9: Headed to the Party

Disclaimer: Ok, read my homepage, the little hypothetical note on the bottom. Tell me what you think. It's all hypothetical, so don't get carried away, but to the group of Inu-Kag romance fanfic writers that don't own InuYasha (which I am part of) don't you think it might be (hypothetically still) a good idea?

As the sunlight shone across Higurashi shrines, Kagome woke slowly. She looked around, blinking in the light. Light? I thought I closed my curtains last night…She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and stretched. As she looked around, the window was open, and a cool breeze was lifting the curtains from their regular position. Kagome swung her legs over the edge of her bed, and saw two slight indentations in the carpet. She placed her foot in one, and confirmed they were footprints, but they were bigger than her feet. InuYasha…of course. It kind of weirded her out that he'd been watching her sleep, but she also felt a strange comfort.

The young girl left her room in her pajamas to go get some breakfast. As she walked down the hallway, she heard voices coming from Sota's room. She smiled. The boys are talking. InuYasha finally gets to talk to another guy, as does Sota. They must be pretty happy. I wonder what they're talking about? Kagome thought as she headed for the stairs. She'd made it down two stairs when she suddenly heard a sentence clearly.

"Were you just in Kagome's room!" Sota exclaimed groggily.

She argued with herself in her mind over whether or not she should listen, when InuYasha yelled back.

"Is it not okay to check on my girl?"

Kagome's temper flared. How dare he say she was his! But… what if she was? She loved him, didn't she? Didn't that mean that she was devoted to him? By now, she was outside the door, listening with interest, forgetting her train of thought.

"InuYasha, you're hopeless."

Well, I could have told him that…

"You little brat, what would you know?"

"A bit more than you think! Remember, I'm her brother and I lived with her before she ever met you!"

"Alright, just shut up!"

"Why?"

"Just be quiet."

Does he know I'm here!

"Whatever. You know, it has been a while since you two have been here, on this side of the well."

"Yeah? What of it?"

"How have you two been getting along? Have you hugged, or kissed, or anything like that? Who said 'I love you' first? Does she just sparkle to you?"

"What?" InuYasha jumped up from where he'd been sitting. He spun away from Sota and sat down again, clearly irritated, insulted, embarrassed, and mostly surprised. "No. Why would we have?" He muttered, just loud enough for Kagome to hear. She started to sigh, but caught herself. She looked through the keyhole and saw InuYasha's ear flick towards the door. She held her breath until he turned it toward Sota again.

"Well, it's obvious you two love each other!"

"Is your head ok?"

Kagome's mind reeled back to the time he'd asked her the very same question. That time, she'd pushed him out over a stream on a meek bridge, and 'sat' him. She returned to listening with a small smile.

"My head's fine. Come on; just tell me how you two are doing! Please?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"I'm her brother! I could tell you things about her!"

"Alright alright, just hush! You're shouting again."

"So?"

"So what?"

"So… who said 'I love you'?"

"No one."

"Have you hugged?"

"Not recently."

"So you have?"

"Next."

"Hmm… have you kissed?"

"Well…"

"So you have? I knew it!"

"No! That was to break a spell!"

"Riight…"

InuYasha spun away from Sota, who had run around and stood in front of him. He lay down on the pullout mattress and stared at the ceiling, clearly done talking. Kagome blushed as she realized she'd been standing there for a little longer than she expected, and silently moved towards the stairs.

When she got downstairs, her mom was waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Kagome! Good morning! You do your chores today! First, you can make breakfast, and then you can clean the well house from top to bottom. Also, you need to sweep the grounds."

"Okay, mom…" Kagome got to work on breakfast. Just before the first batch of pancakes was done, Sota ran downstairs, followed by InuYasha. She looked up from the stove and found InuYasha glancing at her. He looked at her for a second before coming over to her and sniffing the food. He took a plate and held it out for her to put a pancake on. Sota followed suit, and she served them two pancakes each.

As the third batch was cooking, Kagome finally got to eat one. Sota had finished, and the rest of her family had had breakfast. InuYasha finished his 10th pancake, and went to put his plate away. Kagome leaned back against the counter, holding her plate and eating her second pancake. As InuYasha left, he spoke

"Thanks, Kagome." She nearly dropped her plate, mostly in surprise, to hear his voice break the silence that seemed to hover over the kitchen.

"What?"

"I said thanks! Got a problem with it?" Kagome sighed.

"No. I was just a little surprised."

"Whatever."

How can he change so much? It'd be a miracle if I ever actually said the right thing. But… he did say thank you…She smiled as she finished her pancakes, and a slight charred scent flitted across her nose. InuYasha, who'd just gone around the corner poked his head around to see what was burning, concerned for Kagome. Kagome turned around, and barely saved the pancakes. InuYasha went upstairs as Kagome packed up breakfast. She washed off her plate and put it in the dishwasher, then got to work on the well house.

As Kagome walked out of the house in a cleaning apron, dust mask, and holding a bucket of water, a scrub-brush, and a broom, InuYasha watched from the balcony. He jumped off and took the broom from her. Kagome looked up, surprised.

"You had to sweep the grounds, right? Well, while you scrub the well, I'll get that for you." InuYasha said, and got to work. Kagome was seriously confused, but didn't want to spend all her time worrying about behavior, so she thanked InuYasha and got to work on cleaning the well house.

When Kagome walked out of the now-sparkling well house (except for the dirt floor) she was stunned at the yard. Not only had it been swept, the trees had been cut, and there was no evidence of this. All the branches and leaves were gone, and the shrine seemed new. She saw a pile of branches 'walking' over to her left, and ran over to where she'd first seen them. There were the remains of a pile of branches on the ground, so she swept the twigs, splinters and leaves into a dustpan and threw them out. When she went back to where she'd left the supplies, InuYasha was picking them up. Kagome took the empty water bucket, and put the brush in it and took them inside. InuYasha put away the broom, and came inside.

"InuYasha."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for helping me."

"No problem."

"Well, it got my chores done a lot faster. It's only noon."

"Half-demons move faster than humans. Your welcome."

Kagome smiled and put her jacket on.

"I'm going outside mom! I'm going to be by Goshinboku!" Kagome shouted up the stairs.

"Okay, dear! Make sure to take your coat with you!"

"I've already got it!" Kagome went outside, and leaned against the tree. Well, now that my chores are done, what's left? I could start cooking the feast… Presents! Ahh! I have to get them over to the feudal era tonight! I can't come tomorrow morning, not to drop off the presents, anyway. I have to bring the feast. She was already inside, and closing the door behind her.

"I'm back, mom!"

"That was fast." Her mom replied from the kitchen.

"Yeah, well, I realized I still had to wrap the presents." Although I wanted to rest out by the sacred tree for a little… it would have been a good place to think.

Kagome walked upstairs, restraining herself from sprinting, which she had been more than inclined to do these past few days. She picked up some scissors, tape, and wrapping paper, and got to work. She wrapped the Kimonos' boxes in wrapping paper, because it was easier than wrapping the fabric itself. Her bedroom was once again a workshop, and she put all the finished labeled presents on her bed. When the last of the presents was wrapped and neatly situated on her bed, she took her backpack, emptied it, and filled it with the wrapped presents. As she headed out to the well, she met InuYasha on the grounds, coming from the well house.

"Watch out, that ladder's got a bad step." He said, before moving on. So he's moving over his presents, too. Kagome jumped into the well, and was greeted by Miroku and Sango on the other side. They helped her up, and she unloaded her backpack.

"I have to go make the feast now." Kagome said as she waved goodbye from the edge of the well. She jumped in, and as the pink light enshrouded her, she felt herself grow weightless again, as she always seemed to. When she got back to her side, she tested each step in the ladder, finding and skipping the loose one InuYasha had mentioned. She climbed out, and walked off to her room to put on her gold necklace, and make sure the red one was safe. When she got there, Buuyo was rolling around on her bed, with none other than her gold locket. Kagome sighed and took it away from him gently, then picked him up. She took him over to the door, but before she threw him out, she decided to bring him with her downstairs, leaving the locket glistening on her bed.

Ahem: Reviews Please! Thanks. Enjoy. Oh, Kagome goes downstairs, makes the feast and packs it all up. There are now 11 chapters. Thanks again!