[[I do not own InuYasha, or any related works of fiction.]]
Sango laid cuddled up to InuYasha- the blanket wrapped tightly around them. The cold of winter had set in by now. Nothing like last year, it was cold at night sure- but this winter was proving bitterly cold. Despite the expansion of the family through out the house, it hadn't been but the last few weeks since the kids stopped regularly finding their way into Sango's bed still- usually amidst the late hour, so it wasn't particularly troubling, but on the rare occasion where such an instance had not occurred, it was certainly nice to sleep through the night. Even though her conscious mind began to overcome the subconscious one, she still found herself not wanting to open her eyes, not yet.
"Good morning." Said InuYasha rather suddenly.
"Nnn, it's not morning, don't make up things.." She whined. "..Damn your ears... I could've pretended to be asleep a while longer.." She complained bitterly, making no effort to get out of bed. It was too warm within, and too cold without.
"Yeah, yeah, so you know- even if I couldn't hear the chance, I can feel your heartbeat too-." He said, about to go off into the many reasons why he knew. She quickly slapped his chest.
"That's enough." She said, considering biting him at that moment, but deciding against it- if only because he might flinch and let in cold air.
InuYasha began to move, slinking down beneath the blanket's cover further- little bursts of cold air entering it as he did so, causing Sango to cling further.
"Stop moving!" She whined.
"No!" He retorted, as she ducked into the blanket as well- arguing eye to blanket wasn't working.
"Fine, then get out of the blanket!" She said hastily.
"Fine, I will-" Said InuYasha as he moved forward, rather than back- the direction he had said he would, and kissed the slayer.
Sango didn't mind, they'd kissed on more than one occasion, but InuYasha had a way of sneaking kisses in, rather than placing them strategically. It really spoiled a good fight... "W-Wait!" She said quickly, getting over the initial embarrassment as she clung to him once again.
"Thought I was supposed to get out?" Commented InuYasha smugly.
"Shut up." She said bitterly before leaning up and kissing him this time- it lingered for a good moment, before she settled into their place, now entirely covered by the blanket- it was really warm.
"Mommy! Doggy!" Came three seperate voices, though they said roughly the same thing. Sango's heart stalled at their entrance. "No, don't!" She said quickly, but it was too late. Miroku came running in really soon afterwards, following the sound of the slayer and demon screaming- both literally leaping out of bed as the three children appeared beneath the blanket. "Geez, their like ice!" Said InuYasha, goosebumps covering him- it was at this time he wished that he had managed to keep his robe on. "Wh-why.. isn't the sun.. working.." Shivered out Sango, as she immediately grabbed InuYasha's discarded Robe and wrapped it around herself.
"You two really are incorrigible..." Commented Miroku with a sigh. "Maybe if you didn't sleep all morning, the kids wouldn't be so anxious for you to wake up." He commented.
"Maybe if someone had tended to the fire on occasion, it wouldn't feel like a mountain peak in the bedroom!" Yelled Sango.
"Enough, you two!" Said InuYasha with a growl. "At least argue over a warm breakfast or something, geez." He said as he headed out of the room, brushing Miroku aside in the process.
A moment later, he heard them now arguing about breakfast- evidently Sango felt that since he was already up, it'd have been nice if he didn't let the kids go without breakfast in hopes of Sango waking up to make it. Miroku's statement was simply that Sango did the cooking, so as a result, he simply didn't think about it. InuYasha grumbled further, as he went into the kitchen.
"Fine, I'll cook breakfast then!" Yelled Miroku.
"No, heaven's no, we can't 'force' you to actually be helpful. I'll go cook!" Called back Sango.
"Doggy?" Asked Peru, the youngest- the boy of the group of children. "What'cha doing?"
"Cooking. I figure by time they finish, it'll be time for lunch." He said with a smirk. "Fish okay?" He asked.
"Fish for breakfast? That's kind of strange." Commented Peru.
"You're kind of strange kid- Fish is good all the time." Remarked InuYasha though chuckled at the kid's antics. "Go ask your sisters- maybe they'll have better tastes and outvote you."
Peru ran off a moment later- though the support InuYasha beckoned for failed to come.
"Tamagoyaki!" Called one as she ran in, Kuotsu- Ku for short.
"Aji!" Called the other as she followed suit, Amejiisuto- Ame for short.
"I see, she's got a well developed sense of taste.." Commented InuYasha, motioning towards Ame. "What did you want?" Asked InuYasha towards Peru.
"Rice!" He answered simply.
"That's all you eat is rice... Miroku must be proud." Said InuYasha snickering to himself, they of course didn't get the reference. "Tell you what, Peru- I'll try to make Rice, in exchange- you eat a fish while I do." He said.
"Us too, right?!" Said the twins.
"Fine, fine, fine, I'll see what I can do..." He said, as he set the grilled fish aside for them, and then went on to prepare more food, or try rather- fish was one of the few things he knew well to make, but he had stood around Sango cooking many times, hopefully he could remember enough.
He returned a while later, two and a half fish gone- Peru was being purposefully slow on his, if only to delay for the rice- but InuYasha refused the rice until he had finished- he proved he could eat much quicker when he had rice as a motivator. "Ah, damnit." He said as he peeked outside. "It's about time.. I better get going. Better get my-"
"I am not being difficult! I only think it would be nice if I didn't have to cook EVERYTHING!" Called out Sango.
"You are too! I do plenty of other things around here! Just because I don't generally cook, doesn't mean I don't help!" Called back Miroku.
"Yeah, you help yourself to cop a feel when I'm busy cooking! THAT ISNT HELPING!" She called back.
"Eh, nevermind- I'll survive without it." He commented with a sigh, though admittedly the extra warmth would be nice for the trip. "If they kill eachother, be sure to stay warm until I get back, okay?" Said InuYasha.
"Will do!" Said the kids.
"You kids really are weird sometimes." Commented InuYasha, as the whole of the younger generation stuck their tongues out at him before resuming eating. He smirked. "Heh! Must be what I like about you guys." He said as he raised a hand to wave farewell as he headed out, closing the door behind him as he did- as not to let the warmth of cooking escape the house at least. The wind blew- he cursed Sango's existance for a brief moment as he headed out into the snowy climate in just his pants and his shirt. He envied Sango a moment later for her boots. Not only did they hurt when she kicked, but he bet they weren't as cold in the snow!
Eventually, Sango and Miroku had ceased arguing long enough to come out of the hallway, and found breakfast made. Both looked confused as the kids set the last of their empty trays back onto the table- they'd began developing the eating habits of InuYasha lately, suffice it to say, while InuYasha doing it was mildly endearing to the slayer, her own children doing it was a little irritating to say the least. She decided to return to that subject later, seeing as how they were already finished. "Who cooked breakfast?" She asked, looking to Miroku like it might've been a ploy to surprise her or something. Miroku looked confused for a moment, but soon smiled. "Well, now who's helping?" He said smugly. "Do-" Started Peru, only for Miroku to interrupt him quickly. "Speaking of Doggy, where did InuYasha go off to?" He covered, distracting Sango from the true answer to her question, might as well get out of the dog house while he could. He did note that cooking breakfast on such days would certainly net him some points though, as Sango seemed pleased by it, and that wasn't always easy to do, since she had a natural disposition towards annoyance with him it seemed.
Soon enough, the kids we're roaming around the house playing various games together. Sango and Miroku we're stuck with only each other as company. A fact Sango didn't particularly like- because as usual, it wasn't too peaceful. "Sango- I was thinking that perhaps tonight-" Miroku began.
"I can't- I've got something to do tonight." She said before he could finish.
"You didn't let me finish! I was saying that-" He began again.
"That you want to spend some time together tonight, right? I can't, I have something to do- that's why I answered." She sighed.
"What's so important that you have to do it tonight?" He asked curiously, that same analytic gaze- it wasn't hard to figure out though, anytime Sango didn't offer up details, it meant only one thing.
"Err.. uh.. it's just, InuYasha.. first showed up here.. about one year ago or so... so I thought that.. it'd be nice if we went out with him tonight.. Maybe take the kids to see the stars..." She mumbled, suddenly focusing solely on the food now. Maybe she had learned a bit about how to eat from InuYasha too, based on her method of eating when not thinking about it.
"I noticed a specific lack of taking me in that example." Commented Miroku with a frown.
"It's not like you are excluded- I just am not going to invite you along just so that you can try to mess it up." Commented Sango with a glare.
"When have I ever been less than friendly towards InuYasha?" Asked Miroku defensively.
"How about when you found us sleeping together, the night we fixed up the rooms?" Asked Sango.
"It was morning, I thought you wanted to get up." He defended.
"You didn't need to wake us up by clanging my pot and pan together! You did it intentionally because of InuYasha's hearing- he was hearing ringing the whole day!" She argued.
"You stayed out so late that I got a little jealous is all." Commented Miroku with an offended look.
"And what about when we were going training together? You didn't rally the kids to 'spend the day with Doggy'? Leaving me without a partner?" Asked Sango.
"I offered to go with you!" He clarified.
"For your reasons, not ours- you didn't even know the lesson!" She said.
"I've seen you practicing those moves- didn't look like any kind of fighting to me, nothing but holding and grabbing." He commented most illogically.
"It's grappling, of course it's holding and grabbing, that's the point!" She said.
"What can I say, I wanted to try it too." He said to the side.
"You focus a little too much on the grabbing, and not enough on the holding, if I recall.." Commented Sango, leaving a wounded look on Miroku's face for a moment. "Face it, you're too jealous; that's why I'm not inviting you, because you will let your emotions get the better of you and ruin this night if you came."
"Well, if you've been planning this for so long, why isn't InuYasha here?" Asked Miroku.
"How does that matter about tonight? I don't know where he went- probably just to get something, we aren't glued to one another, we do occasionally have moments where we aren't together." She said, offended that Miroku had implied that she made sure to keep InuYasha with her everywhere, and that if he wasn't, she knew what he was doing and where.
"Sure seems that way to me, maybe it's just me though." He said with a sigh. '..She honestly isn't aware that she spends so much time with him..' Miroku thought as he silently grumbled.
Meanwhile, thanks to Miroku's troubling choice of arguments, now she was preoccupied by the question- where did InuYasha go? '..InuYasha..' She thought as she looked outside for the first time today, subconsciously pulling his robe more tightly around herself as she enjoyed the view.
"SANGO!" InuYasha yelled in frustration, as he held his arms around himself, speeding towards his destination if only to escape the cold, at some point- it sure felt like he was further and further away from any sort of warmth the longer he was out that day. '..Stupid girl... Taking my robe... Damn girl.. making me get out in this weather... Argh, it's too cold today! What the hell happened to the sun, shouldn't it be at least kind of warm in the sunlight?! Stupid girl... taking my robe... Should've dragged her out here with me, bet she'd have relinquished the robe and ran back inside.' He snickered at his vengeful thoughts, he'd never do them, but it didn't hurt to have fantasies to bring yourself some joy, in a cold and distant moment of anguish.
By the time that it was getting late, Sango was clearly unsettled- literally pacing around the house, she'd check on the kids, check on the heat, glance outside, and repeat- she'd checked on the kids every five minutes for the last two hours. '...Stupid InuYasha... runs off on his own like that.. didn't even tell me where he was going, or when he would be back or anything!.. And he didn't even take his robe!' She thought to herself, only really coming to mind because at this point, she was outright wearing it- it really was quite warm.
She checked in on the kids once again, then on the fire. 'Stupid InuYasha.. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid..'
"Hey Sango." Said Miroku as he entered.
"STUPID!" She shouted at him.
"What'd I do?!" He said with a confused expression.
"Oh, Miroku- what're you doing here?" She asked, as if she had said nothing- she probably honestly didn't know she had.
"It's cold in my room." He complained, though he was fairly certain it was intentional that his room was as far from the house as possible, the very end.
"Oh- well, sit by the fire- it's warmer." She suggested.
"Still waiting up for InuYasha, are you?" He asked.
"Who's waiting for him?! I'm just not tired yet, is all!" She denied vehemently.
"I'm going to take that as a yes- could be he's preparing for that outing of yours?" Asked Miroku, offering little comfort considering the kids were asleep already, meaning that was already a bust- but at least it gave some sort of reason to his vacancy.
"He didn't even know about it- it was supposed to be a surprise... A ruined surprise at this point.." She said, definitely a bitter tone there. "It isn't even actually a year until tomorrow night, but I had hoped by doing it a day early, it'd be more of a surprise..."
"Hm, maybe he got asked to go help with a demon slaying?" Asked Miroku.
"Feh!" She said, Miroku sighed as she exhibited another of InuYasha's trademark expressions. "Like I care- I don't give a damn if he stays out forever!" She yelled, tugging at the sleeves of the robe for a moment as if to rip it off, but quickly cowered back beneath it. "Damn.. cold weather... I could just go find him and yell at him if it were warmer..." She muttered.
"I thought you didn't want him back." Miroku teased.
"I DONT! I HOPE HE STAYS GONE!"
"Gee, thanks-" Said InuYasha as he appeared in the doorway.
Sango was up and at him in the blink of an eye, grasping him in a firm hug. "You're home!" She said excitedly.
"Well.. this is a little awkward..." Said Kagome behind him, bundled up to the hilt in clothing.
Sango found herself really embarrassed in a short amount of time, as she leapt back, and flushed. "Kagome? What're you doing here?" She asked, confused.
InuYasha moved aside so Kagome could get in- so that he could then close the door.
Miroku interrupted the conversation, as he noted InuYasha's wardrobe. "InuYasha, what're you wearing?" Asked Miroku, as he observed.
InuYasha tilted his head and looked down, remembering the clothing Kagome had given him to help him stay warm since he didn't have his robe on when he arrived, and was clearly freezing. He had black boots on, some form of shiny fabric in red, of course it was red, with white fur on the sleeve ends, and the bottom of the pant legs, as well as around his collar. He even had on a cap, lined with fur around the rim, and hanging to the side with a small furry ball on the end- holes were made so his ears could hang out of them. "Oh yeah, Kagome gave me these- she said it would help keep me warm, and it.. fit the season?" He asked, looking over to Kagome to ensure he said it correctly.
"Yup!" She said with a smile. "Which is why I'm here~" She said, a subtle segue back to her previous answer to Sango's question. "I asked InuYasha to come and get me, so that I could celebrate christmas here with you guys." She said simply with a smile. "So Merry Christmas-Eve!" She said excitedly.