A/N; This one follows the plot of the previous chapter. It's also a response to the last 200th prompt, suggested by Cyrus559.

The Thing

The Higurashi family was a force one should never underestimate. On the surface they were like any other family of three generations, but there was far more to them than what one could see. They were stubborn, intelligent, not without the sense of humor. And their greatest strength was the ability to cooperate, despite their differences.

After a minute or two of enjoying Souta's brilliant pictures of Inuyasha's sunshine-kissed claws the family got to work. There were no directions needed, everyone already knew what to do.

While Kagome and her mom worked in the kitchen, finishing the last cooking, Souta and grandpa went to the living room. The boy rearranged the furniture while the old man sprayed some flower scented air refresher. Then they went to grandpa's room to bring in a couple of boxes and put them under a decorative cloth.

Half an hour later the table was set, the pillows prepared and the whole family sighing in pleasure after their labor. And they were just in time, since they heard a thud overhead. Mama Higurashi rushed everyone to their respective spots.

.

Inuyasha woke up groggily. He blinked when he realized he had been sleeping on Kagome's bed again. That was at the same nice and annoying, he shouldn't be sleeping. He was supposed to watch over...

...Wait a minute, where was the wench?!

He sat up quickly and saw that her chair was empty, her notebooks left open on the top of the desk. Inuyasha growled and sniffed the air. The window was open to let in the fresh breeze, but he still could smell Kagome wasn't there for a while now and that there was a trace of a certain dizzying scent he had once smelled. He frowned as he tried to remember.

Nail polish! That wench just had to paint her nails with him around! He glared at a bottle of the cursed thing left on the desk. He scowled when he remembered that she never painted her nails when she wasn't going out in this time.

Which meant...

The wench went on one of those cursed date!

Thinking about the crafty girl who had knocked him unconscious to sneak out of the house, Inuyasha jumped off of the bed and ran to the door. He was going to follow that wench and bring her back here, kicking and yelling, then dump her in the well and...

As soon as he opened the door a sweet floral scent filled his nose.

Sneaky vixen had covered her scent by some modern perfumes. He smirked. It was smart of her, but it wouldn't work outside, even if the artificial floral scent filled the whole corridor... Besides, he was going to outsmart her and ask her mother for her location. He leaped down the stairs and entered the living room. There he stopped and stared.

The table was set with the most wonderful looking (and smelling) food. The whole place looked like the family was expecting someone important to come, they even had a tea brewing set prepared in the corner. There were other new things too, but he didn't pay them much attention. He stayed there for a second, just smelling the food. He was a man who enjoyed eating and never shied away from it, but he wasn't a pig, he wouldn't eat food that wasn't meant for him (well, unless it was a lesson for the brat to eat faster). But then he decided to go look for Mrs. Higurashi and ask where Kagome had went. It was better to catch her before the important guests arrived, so he wouldn't bother her or cause problems.

As soon as he turned to leave he was stopped by four people standing behind him. He blinked at the whole Higurashi family standing in the doorway, everyone in silly triangular hats on top of their head.

"Eh?" Inuyasha blinked and tilted his head. Well, Kagome was home, it saved him the trouble of going to drag her back. He just hoped to get some answers/

"Happy birthday, Inuyasha!" the miko approached him and put a similar red hat on top of the stunned hanyou's head.

"Birthday?" he blinked at her. She nodded with a warm smile, the one that made his knees go weak.

"Happy birthday!" Souta ran to bump his fist against his side in a mock punch. The old man just nodded and grunted in a friendly manner.

"Yes, happy birthday," Mrs. Higurashi waited for her daughter to hug Inuyasha before she did the same. He was so surprised he did nothing to free himself from their embraces.

"What's... birthday?" Inuyasha looked at the smiling humans n front of him. They made no sense to him.

"Birthday is your own holiday," Souta said and pulled him to one of the pillows by the table. "You have a feast and get gifts from everyone!"

"It's a celebration to honor one's anniversary of birth," Mama added. "So you know that you're appreciated by those around you."

"I asked Myouga for the date," Kagome confessed and took a seat next to him. "Say, do you like it?"

She looked a bit anxiously at the silent hanyou. Inuyasha lifted his eyes from the bowl in front of him. He looked uncertain.

"Why someone would want to celebrate the anniversary of my birth?" he asked.

"We do," Kagome said. "Because we are your friends. Sango and the rest would be here too, if they could cross the portal, you know. I have the gifts from them, but you will have to wait to see them."

"But... There's nothing to celebrate," Inuyasha muttered.

"Of course there is. I'm sure your parents were very happy to have you," Mama said in an encouraging tone.

"They died the day I was born," Inuyasha's ears drooped. The Higurashi family's smiles faded. "I mean mom was wounded with a spear when I was about to be born and died from blood loss. Then my old man came and revived her, but he got killed by the same bastard who had wounded her. Sesshomaru said that the night of my whelping was the darkest one in the family history."

Everyone just stared at him for a second.

"Dear," Mama said softly. "They loved you and I'm sure if things were different they'd be happy to see you grow..."

"And don't you dare think that Sesshomaru was wrong," Kagome cut in. "Now, we put a lot of work into this, so you better appreciate it and cheer up. It's your holiday and you can eat as much as you want to!"

"Yeah! And then you'll see how cool gifts we have for you!" Souta nodded enthusiastically. The hanyou glanced at the four humans, who had invited him to eat with them, who treated him like a normal person, who wanted to celebrate an anniversary of a half-breed's whelping. And, even if he had some friends in the past, he knew that they were there only because of a certain miko babbling beside him.

He didn't care much about the gifts, since he already had all he could ever want, right there, at his side. He outstretched a hand to touch her when...

...His eye caught something flashing. Something yellow.

"What the hell!?"

"That's more like the hanyou we all know," grandpa muttered to his daughter-in-law, giggling behind her hand and watching the silver-haired boy glaring at his granddaughter rolling on the floor and laughing.