Chapter 2: Baby it's Cold Outside

A/N: Woot! FINALLY, here's the update!

So, I received a question on this, so I feel the need to address it before the story.

These are the reasons why Inuyasha didn't notice Shippo coming up behind him.

A) he was focused on thinking about Kagome

B) he was exhausted because he'd been running for hours and hours with Kagome on his back

and

C) Shippo had been flying in his pink balloon form to the well, so he transformed back to his normal form and kicked Inuyasha in the back of his head after dropping

I'd tried to put it into the story, but it flowed better without it. So I left it out.

Anyways, enjoy!

Kagome had struggling to climb out of the well when she saw a glimmer in the corner of her eye. Bewildered, she turned around, only to see Inuyasha materialize upside-down next to her.

He floated a moment, back to her and legs up in the air in an odd position, before the glow disappeared and he face-planted in the ground next to her, legs twitching above him. (This amused Kagome very much, because for the first time, it had nothing to do with the "sit" beads.) Then the rest of his body followed suit, and he lay flat on the ground.

There was an awkward pause before Inuyasha yanked his head out of the ground, spitting out dirt frantically. He muttered something inaudible as he scrambled to sit up.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed, beaming. "You're coming with after all!"

His head jerked up to look at her, eyes blank with confused shock. (A/N: Imagine an expression like this: `'-')

Eyes shining almost comically, she clasped her hands together and cheered, "You won't regret it!"

Inuyasha stared up at her, dismayed, although Kagome was too excited to notice. That's what you said before, and yet I'm already regretting it… he thought, sighing.

"Mama! Grandpa! Souta! We're back!" Kagome called, closing the door behind her, followed by Inuyasha, who was looking dazed. She took off her several layers of coats and hung them from the coat rack, revealing a long-sleeved red shirt underneath, and quite eagerly kicked off the ugly boots she'd been wearing.

Mrs. Higurashi dashed out to the corridor. She smiled when she saw the two of them. "Kagome! You're here!"

Kagome sighed. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier, I know I promised…"

Her mother shook her head. "No, no, it's alright. As long as you're here now." Then she smiled even wider. "You must be exhausted! You two should go to bed now, it's not like there's anything to do this late… besides, Souta and Grandpa are already in bed."

Kagome nodded in relief. She looked a lot more tired all of the sudden. "Yeah… Thanks, Mom…" She yawned and went upstairs to her room.

Inuyasha started to head upstairs, but then Kagome's mother reached out after him and stopped him. "Inuyasha?" She looked much more solemn now.

Confused and still partially in a trance, he turned. "Wuzzat?"

She let go of him and smiled a little. Her smile was… mischievous? Naw, that couldn't be right. "Inuyasha, there's something that I need to ask you…"

Kagome had a really weird dream that night.

It seemed kind of like the movie of A Christmas Carol, only instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, it was Inuyasha. And instead of Marley being the ghost who came to warn him of his fate, it was Midoriko coming out of the Sacred Jewel with the shell-threaded string tying her to the jewel. Miroku was Mr. Cratchit, Sango was his wife, and then the daughters* were kids she'd never seen before, Kohaku as Peter, and Shippo was Tiny Tim. Fan was Shiori. The Spirit of Christmas Past was Kanna, Present was Kouga, and Future was—gasp—Naraku in his baboon cloak, except he never said anything. At the end of the dream, she saw Inuyasha leave his house all happy, and finally…!

The rest of the movie never happened.

She woke up the next morning, extremely weirded out. That is definitely the weirdest dream I've ever had in my entire LIFE.

With a confused sigh, she pushed off the covers of her bed and headed to the kitchen.

"G'morning, Mom, Souta, Inuy—…" she began, then froze. "INUYASHA?!" Kagome screamed, gawking. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Said half-demon was struggling to get untangled from multicolored Christmas lights, which were wrapped around his body, flashing every few seconds; every time he tried to get unwrapped, he just seemed to get more tangled up in it. Inuyasha looked up when he heard Kagome's shout. "Oh, good morning, Kagome," he greeted unusually matter-of-factly. "I was just…" Inuyasha trailed off as he shifted again, causing the bulbs to tighten around him. He fell over, face first.

Kagome could do nothing but gape.

After a moment, he rolled over and (sort of) faced her. "I'm hanging up Christmas decorations, because no one else can reach the rooftops, and there's no lah-der for them to use," he finally finished.

There was a brief moment of silence. Then Kagome face-palmed.

"Inuyasha…" she muttered with a sigh, "Just let me handle it all."

"But—" he tried to object.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome snapped angrily, rubbing her temples. "Just… just don't do anything stupid, OK? That's all I need."

Kagome sighed. After another moment of awkward silence, Kagome turned to leave, but then Inuyasha called out after her. "Hey! Wait! Kagome!"

She turned around, exasperated. "What now?!"

Inuyasha paused sheepishly. He seemed to blush… No, that was probably just from the lights flashing… "Uh… Kagome, I'm… I'm stuck."

The days came and went. Suddenly, it was only two days before Christmas.

Of course, they'd already done everything so they weren't worried; they'd done the lights, the holly, some wreaths all around the house, gone shopping for presents for each other (when they weren't looking, of course), they'd bought all the Christmas foods and snacks, and the Christmas tree…

Wait…

"WE FORGOT THE CHRISTMAS TREE!" Kagome screamed suddenly, standing up from the couch in a flash. It was around 8 in the morning, and they'd all been gathered around the TV, watching a rerun of the non-cartoony How the Grinch Stole Christmas in silence before Kagome's sudden outburst, thus causing them all to nearly jump out of their own skins; Inuyasha had a reaction not unlike when he'd been "sat".

Kagome's mother gasped. "How did I forget the tree?! I'll go out and get it now, don't worry—"

Kagome cut her off. "No, really, it's fine," she interrupted, smiling. "There's a guy selling Christmas trees around the corner. I can just run over there and get one."

Her mother frowned. "Kagome, it's too cold to walk, and the trees will be too heavy! You're too young to drive!"

She shook her head. "I can carry a tree around the block. It won't take too long. Plus, all that time in the Feudal Era has made my arms really strong." Her mother tried to argue, but Kagome didn't give her a chance before she ran towards the door, shouting, "I'll be back soon! Bye!" and closing the door behind her.

Kagome's mother sighed. "Oh, I hope she'll be all right…"

Needless to say, she wasn't.

Kagome came home, exhausted. Her teeth chattered, and she weakly dragged the tree into the living room and placed it upright on a circular blanket, which was surrounded by presents. "I-I'll d-de-decorate th-the t-tree tom-m-tomorrow," she stuttered out through the chattering. "D-don't wuh-worry…"

She started to fall over, but Inuyasha was by her side in a flash. "Kagome!" he cried, catching her. She passed out almost immediately.

The girl's mother gasped. "Oh, I knew I shouldn't have let her go!" She sighed. "Inuyasha, can you please take her to her room? She shouldn't have pushed herself so hard in the blizzard!" She continued to mutter about how Kagome was going to make herself sick, but Inuyasha was no longer listening; he dashed up the stairs and ran into her room. He tried to set her down on her bed, but suddenly, her arms wrapped around his neck tightly. Still asleep, she whispered sleepily, "Nooo… Inuyasha… don't… go…"

Inuyasha's face turned as red as his robe, but he obliged, not wanting to wake her.

He stood for a few seconds, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, before he sighed. He sat down on Kagome's bed, blushing once more, before propping up in a comfortable cross-legged position on her pillow, her on his lap. Inuyasha inhaled, reveling in Kagome's scent, which coated everything about the room, including Kagome herself, whose head now rested on his shoulder.

He sighed blissfully, enjoying the guilty pleasure, and yawned. I'll just… stay here… a… little while… longer…

That was the last thing the poor guy could think.

A/N: This felt like a really random, really rushed chapter to me… but I was like, "I want to finish this before Christmas, darn it, and I'm going to FREAKING DO IT!" So here I am, trying to get in another chapter before I leave on vacation tomorrow for Indiana, where most of my relatives from my mom's side live. I don't know if I'll be able to update there, but I will try.

I will now address the reference.

*I was referring to Sango's twin daughters, who are in the Final Act. Also, that was a reference to a story I'm going to write for Christmas next year. ^.^

And now, if you are reading this, REVIEW. I don't care what you say in the review, heck, it can just be "lol", but just do it. -_- Seriously. Right now.