I am currently writing to Rumiko Takahashi to sign over the rights of InuYasha to me. So far, no luck.
While Kagome had managed to convince InuYasha to let her go home for Christmas, he was not so lenient about New Years' Eve.
'Kagome, you just got back! Now you're telling me you want to go home again?! Do you even want to complete the jewel?!'
While that had earned him a nice mouthful of snow and gravel, InuYasha kept his foot down. So, Kagome sighed and decided that he was kind of right, in his own, stupid and shortsighted way. Nevertheless, she wasn't going to spend the night without fireworks.
The last day of the year found Kagome trying to wrestle her big, yellow backpack out of the well. She had snuck out of Kaede's hut earlier to go to her own time and buy all sorts of fireworks, which now made her backpack almost burst at the seams.
InuYasha came to get her. He was not so pleased that she disappeared for a few hours while he was trying to peacefully eat his last batch of ramen, but his foul mood quickly evaporated when Kagome dangled a plastic bag full of the savory noodles in front of his face.
Darkness fell, and while Kagome tried to tell them they were supposed to wait until midnight, the group was far too eager to see the spectacle from the future. She sighed, and started to root around for some small fireworks. She also handed some earmuffs to InuYasha, Shippo and Kirara.
'What the hell are these for?' InuYasha grumbled.
'You'll see,' said Kagome as the she adjusted Shippo's pair to better cover his ears.
They all went outside and gathered around Kagome as she wedged a bottle into the snow and made sure it would not fall over before putting in a rocket and lighting it. Everyone stared as the fuse got closer to the gunpowder casing and eventually reached it. Nothing happened for a moment.
'That's it? That's your stupid future fire-'
InuYasha didn't get to finish his sentence, and he scrambled to press the earmuffs tighter onto his ears as the rocket went up with a loud screech and ended in an even louder bang somewhere above the trees. Kagome smiled.
'That's what they are for.'
He could only nod, still staring stupidly at the point where the rocked had evaporated.
The later it got, the heavier the fireworks became. Kagome explained that lighting fireworks was a tradition to sound in the New Year and ward off the demons so as to have a good start. InuYasha grumbled that it was a failsafe way of accomplishing that and clamped his earmuffs even tighter over his ears as Kagome lighted another piece of firework. As it exploded in a multitude of colors, everyone's eyes were suddenly fixed on the forest instead of the air.
'Something's coming,' Miroku said in a low voice.
While they had all sensed all the youkai in the area gradually removing themselves from the nasty bangs and whistles, now there was one coming at them with great speed. It took a few moments for InuYasha to sniff him out over the vapors of gunpowder, but he finally yelled that it was his bastard of a brother a few moments before said bastard burst out of the trees with a livid look on his face.
Kagome hadn't seen him since the fetch-incident, and she was lightly tempted to throw another snowball, but decided against it on the grounds that he already looked ready to kill and needed no further provoking. Miroku was the first to speak.
'To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, Sesshoumaru-sama?' he drawled.
'This Sesshoumaru demands to know what you are doing, and that you cease it immediately,' Sesshoumaru said in a dangerous voice.
Kagome was the first to realize that he could probably hear the sounds of the fireworks from wherever he was, and that it could not have been pleasant on his sensitive hearing. She bent down, rummaged around in her backpack and drew out a little plastic bag. Fisting it, she walked over to the ticked off taiyoukai, ignoring the calls of her friends, and held the little package out to him.
He straightened up to his full height and glared down his nose at her, but she wasn't the least bit scared of him. Well, maybe a little. But she sighed, and opened the little bag herself. Inside were two bright orange Styrofoam cones. She held them out to him. His glare got worse, but he took them from her hand.
'They go in your ears,' she whispered so that only he could hear her,' They'll muffle the sounds.'
Sesshoumaru glared at her for a moment longer, but then he perplexed them all by actually plugging up his ears with them. He was mortified by the change. Suddenly, he could no longer hear the stream that ran a little ways away from here, or the soft thumping of snow falling from over-laden branches in the distance of the forest, or even the breathing from the group of sorry little persons right in front of him. Even his voice sounded alien to him as he spoke again.
'Miko, what have you done to this Sesshoumaru?'
'Wait a moment, I'll show you,' she said.
As Kagome hurried to find something to light up, Sesshoumaru wondered if this was all that humans could hear. He almost pitied them for it. His attention was drawn by a spark coming from the direction of the miko, and he watched as a small length of rope burned closer and closer to a small container of some sort. He narrowed his eyes as the flame got inside of the container, and only barely managed to contain his surprise as it suddenly shot up into the air with impressive speed, and, once at some height, exploded into a bright blue ball of sparks.
The miko had been right, however, in that the sound now didn't bother him so much. He gave her a curt nod, before disappearing into the forest. The little group stared after him, and then resumed their activities as if he had not been there at all. But he didn't go far. Instead, he reined in his youki and jumped up a tree so he could watch the miko's magics from a distance.
Happy New Years Everyone! See you in 2010!