Inuyasha's Christmas Carol
One Christmas Eve, long ago, it snowed very hard in Tokyo. A thick blanket of snow covered the roots and window sill and the carriage wheels left tracks in the streets. Gently falling snowflakes tickled the townsfolk hurrying homeward, laden with Christmas gifts. But one person was not thinking about Christmas trees or gifts. He paid no attention to the gaily decorated houses - for his name is Enmei Sato.
Enmei Sato hurried past a group of carolers.
"Joy to the children far and near, What a wondrous time of year," they sang.
"God bless you, sir," one of them called out. "Please spare a coin for a poor hungry child!"
"Bah! Humbug!" replied Sato. "Stand aside there - I have no time to waste. Not a coin will you get from me! If the poor want to be rich, then let them work as hard as I do."
With his cane, Sato angrily knocked down the snow from the sign above his office door. He was thinking about his partner, Junichiro Murakami, who had passed away seven years ago on this very night.
"He was a good one! He robbed the widows and swindled the poor. In his will, he left me enough money to pay for his tombstone - but I had him buried at sea! Ha, ha!!" Sato chuckled to himself.
Even though it was Christmas Eve, Sato's clerk, Inuyasha Takahashi, was busily working. He had been copying letters all day, and although he wore a scarf and gloves, his teeth were chattering loudly.
"A-A-CHOO!!" sneezed Inuyasha. "It's freezing today. Surely, Sato won't miss one little piece of coal." Inuyasha carefully lifted the coal bucket but did not see who was coming up the sidewalk.
Suddenly, Sato burst into the room. He tossed his bag of dirty laundry on the floor and waved his cane in the air.
"Caught you!!" he shouted at Inuyasha."Are you trying to ruin me? That coal costs a pretty 1-yen coin, you know."
"Heh, heh," stammered Inuyasha. "I was just trying to thaw my ink."
"Bah! You used a piece last week," the miserly Sato replied. "Now get back to work!"
Old Sato sat down at his desk and lovingly polished his coins and banknotes until they glowed brightly. Rubbing his hands together with glee, he weighed the coins and banknotes on the scales and stacked them carefully on the desktop. With a quill pen, he scratched figures in an enormous book. Suddenly, the door flew open with a bang.
"Merry Christmas!" someone cried. Inuyasha looked from his work and gave a hearty greeting to Sato's nephew Miroku, who stood in the doorway, grinning broadly.
"What's this, Uncle Enmei?" Miroku exclaimed. "Poor Inuyasha still working on Christmas Eve?"
"Bah! Humbug!" snorted Sato. "We never close!"
Inuyasha Takahashi looked sadly at his ledger."So what brings you here, nephew?"
"I've come to invite you for Christmas dinner, Uncle," he said, handing him a wreath with a bright red bow.
"Oh, will you be having teriyaki chicken with potato salad?" asked Sato, tossing the wreath aside. "With cream stew and a layer cake with strawberries on top?"
"Yes!" Miroku said, beaming. "Will you come?"
"Are you daft, boy?!" Sato cried. "You know I can't eat that stuff! Now get out, out, OUT!!!"
Inuyasha Takahashi covered his ears as Sato slammed the door behind his nephew. Seconds later, the door opened again. This time, two townsfolk, holding little collection cups, peaked timidly inside.
"Donations for the poor, Mr. Sato?" one asked.
"If I gave to the poor," Sato retorted gruffly, "they'd no longer be poor, would they?"
"Well, ah..." they stammered.
"Then you'd be out of a job, wouldn't you?" Sato continued. "Oh, don't ask me to put you out of a job, especially not on Christmas Eve."
"Oh, we wouldn't want that, Mr. Sato," they replied as they hurried out the door.
'Oh, to spend Christmas Day at home,' thought Inuyasha as he stepped down wearily from his stool.
"Not so fast, it's not quite seven o'clock," snapped Sato. "And I suppose you will be wanting tomorrow off?"
"Why, yes. Yes," stammered Inuyasha in amazement.
"Then mind you are in even earlier the day after, and don't forget my laundry!"
Inuyasha snatched up the bag of laundry and was gone in an instant, shouting a "Merry Christmas" as he went.
Sato locked up his office and hurried home through the swirling snow. As he climbed the dark steeps steps, he took an old key from his pocket. Suddenly, Sato took a closer look at his door-knocker. Then he gasped.
"Am I seeing things? No, it couldn't be... Junichiro Murakami? Is that you?"
The face on the door called softly, "Sato!!"
Frightened, Sato yanked open the door, ran inside, and slammed the door behind him.
Sato flew up the stairs three at a time, but behind him, he could hear the sound of chains clanking. Looking over his shoulder, he froze in his tracks. The ghost of Murakami had come back to haunt him!
Sato ran into his bedroom and slammed the door shut. In a jiffy, it was locked and bolted.
"That's it - no ghost can get through that," he said, trying to convince himself. But in the dark shadows of his gloomy townhouse, Sato shivered. The dust sheet on his chair fluttered and made him jump.
Click...Clank...Click...Clank... The chains dragged closer.
Sato sank down in his chair, with his teeth clacking like castanets. He knew that no door had ever kept a ghost out - although this ghost knocked politely before he floated in.
"Sato, don't you recognize your old friend?" asked the ghost. "I was your partner, Junichiro Murakami."
Suddenly, a great rattling of chains could be heard as the ghost tripped over Sato's cane. His legs shot into the air and he landed in a heap on the floor. Then a deafening thud shook the room as a heavy chest fell beside him.
Sato, with his fright forgotten, shot from his chair. "Hah! Hah! You don't fool me," he said. "The real Junichiro Murakami was never this clumsy."
"Silence!! Do not mock me!!" boomed the ghost. "If I am clumsy, it's because of these chains I must always carry with me."
"What about that chest?" exclaimed Sato. "Hand over the keys, Murakami. Let me take a look."
"Stop!!" thundered the ghost. "Not so fast, old man. This chest is heavier than all the treasure in the world. All my miserable deeds are locked in here, and chained to me forever. I can never be free." The ghost shook his chains fiercely, then continued, "I come to warn you, Sato. Change your ways or you are doomed!" Murakami raised his hand and Sato's knees began knocking together.
The ghost was not finished. "You will be visited this night by three spirits," he said. "Do not send them away. Listen to them well, for only they can save you now." In an instant, Murakami was gone, and only the faint Clink! Clank! of the chains could be heard.
Sato stood for a moment in a daze, then he quickly pulled on his nightshirt and cap, hopped into bed, and pulled the covers right up to his nose. He wondered if it had been a dream, and was almost asleep when a dark shadow appeared on the wall. He had another visitor.
Out of the shadows stepped a little figure with a top hat on his head and an umbrella under his arm.
"The hour has come, Mr. Sato!" he called. "Hurry! There is not a moment to lose."
"But...but...who are you?" croaked Enmei.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past," the figure replied. "Do as I say."
"A midget!!" snickered Sato. "Go away. You do not frighten me."
"Silence!!" ordered the Ghost. "If men were measured by their kindness, you would be smaller than a grain of sand!"
"Catch hold of my coattails," commanded the Ghost, "for we are going back to a time when Christmas was not humbug!" Sato hesitated, but remembering Murakami's terrible warning, he grasped the Ghost and held on tightly. The window flew open, and instantly, Sato and the Spirit of Christmas Past soared over rooftops and chimneys, with the Ghost's red umbrella keeping them afloat and Sato's nightshirt fluttering in the chilly breeze.
They came to a stop outside of a brightly lit house. Peering through the window, Sato couldn't believe his eyes.
"Why, it's Kikyo Asahara!" he cried, remembering suddenly the girl he'd once loved. "But who is that she is dancing with so merrily?"
"That man was you, Sato," whispered the Ghost, "in the days when you too, were kind and cheerful." They gazed through the window a moment longer, with the Ghost whisking Sato away to another scene.
The Sato of many years ago sat behind his desk laden with money. His fiancee had turned her back in disbelief. "Isn't that my office?" said Sato to the Ghost. "Why is Kikyo crying?"
The Ghost gave Sato a withering look, and suddenly, Sato remembered. He had foreclosed on her house and lost Kikyo forever.
The Ghost turned from the window. "Your greed drove her away, Enmei. You were to marry, but you loved only money."
"No, no..." moaned Sato. "Kikyo!! I wanted us to be happy...to be rich..."
"You left her with nothing!!" accused the Ghost.
"Oh please, Spirit," groaned Sato. "I cannot bear these memories. Take me home."
"You fashioned those memories yourself, Sato," the Ghost said sternly.
Suddenly, Sato found himself once more in his bed.
'That couldn't have happened,' he thought. 'I couldn't have flown through the air. That was just a bad dream.'
Then he thought of Kikyo, and how his love of money had ruined his chance of happiness with the girl he had loved. Only the lonely tick! tock! of the clock be heard.
Sato was sobbing into the pillow when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present!" boomed a fierce-looking giant.
"Oh please!!" cried Sato. "Spare me!"
The Giant picked up Sato by his nightshirt and examined him very closely.
"Hah! Hah!" he chortled. "So this is the rouge who swindles ladies. See if your money will help you now!!"
"No! Don't hurt me, please! Have mercy - take my treasure - you can have it all!!"
"Keep your treasure, Sato, it is of no use to me," the giant Ghost replied. "Money cannot buy happiness, only generosity can save you now. Have a grape, why don't you?" With that, the Ghost an enormous bunch of grapes from his pocket and dropped Sato onto it none too gently. Slipping and sliding, Sato called out for help, but the Ghost laughed.
"I have the power to give you life, but what have you ever given? Let us take a look."
"There's no time to lose," the Ghost cried, scooping up Sato and putting him in his pocket. He pushed open the roof and stepped out, as though from a doll's house. His big red nose glowed brightly in the night.
"At least it's warm in here," Sato murmured as he peeked out of the pocket. "But I wonder where we are going."
In seconds, the Ghost and Sato had arrived at a tiny run-down house.
"What a dreadful little house!" exclaimed Sato, looking in the window. "Who could live in such a place? Perhaps a miserable beggar?"
"Look closer, Sato," advised the Ghost, "tell me what you see."
Sato pressed his face against the glass for a better look. "Why, it's Inuyasha Takahashi, my clerk!" he said with surprise. "Does he live here?"
The Ghost scowled. "Look how he lives, thanks to your generosity! Look at the food his family must eat on this Christmas Eve because it's all they can afford."
The hungry Takahashi family sat at their table, about to carve up the smallest chicken Sato had ever seen in his life.
"That's a very tiny chicken," he commented, "but what is in that huge pot on the stove?"
"That, Mr. Sato, is your laundry!" said the Ghost Sato hid his face in shame.
As Sato watched, a small boy hobbled into the room, leaning on a little crutch.
"Who is that boy, and why does he walk so slowly?" asked Sato.
"That is Itsuki," replied the Ghost. "He will soon be one less mouth for the family to feed."
"Yippee! It's a chicken - what a treat!" Itsuki cried.
"But where is Itsuki going?" Sato asked fearfully.
"Itsuki is very sick. He must have good food every day to make him well again," said the Ghost. And as they watched the frail boy's joyful face, a tear rolled down the Giant's cheek.
Suddenly, the scene shifted and although the Ghost and Sato were looking in the same window, it was a later time.
"What's wrong?" asked Sato. "Where is Itsuki? Why are the Takahashis crying?"
Suddenly, the church bells began to toll, and Sato knew, even though the Ghost didn't answer his question, that poor Itsuki Takahashi was dead.
When Sato stepped back from the window, the Spirit had disappeared. A smoky haze hung in the air. Shivering, Sato was blown into the air by a gust of freezing wind.
"Help! Help!" he called. "Don't leave me here... Come back!!" The swirling smoke was much thicker now.
Sato sneezed so hard that he went flying through the air, then landed with a thud in some deep soft snow.
"W-w-w-where am I, and why are there so many tombstones?" he wondered. But Sato was no longer alone. A horrible specter, with his face as black as soot, stood silently before him.
The Ghost took off his hood, and Sato saw what had made him sneeze: a gigantic cigar glowed in the Ghost's horrible mouth. Suddenly, he spoke. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Who are you looking for in this lonely place?"
"Please sir, help me find Itsuki," begged Sato. Very slowly, the Ghost raised his hand and pointed to a tombstone.
Sato looked and saw Inuyasha Takahashi placing Itsuki's little crutch on a grave. Tears rolled down Inuyasha's face. Sato's heart sank. He wanted to say how sorry he was when suddenly, the bell began to toll once more.
Sato turned away, with tears in his eyes. He saw another grave gaping in front of him.
"Who - whose lonely grave is this?" he asked the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
"Why, yours, Enmei!!" laughed the Ghost, lighting another cigar. "The richest man in the cemetery!"
Sato peered anxiously into the dark hole, but he could see nothing.
"Oh please!!" he cried. "I'm so sorry! Tell me these events can yet be changed!!"
But the Ghost just laughed and slapped Sato on the back.
"Help!!!" screamed Sato as he went flying into the pit. As he fell, he remembered all the people he had robbed and swindled in the past.
"I'll change!! Let me out!! Let me..."
Suddenly, another bell could be heard. Sato opened his eyes, and with utter joy, he found himself in his bed.
"Hooray!!" he shouted, with tears of happiness rolling down his cheeks.
"My bed," he said lovingly.
He jumped up and down to the window. The sun shone brightly, and the bells were ringing. It was Christmas morning.
"But, but, if it is still Christmas morning," stammered Sato, "what the Ghosts showed me last night has not yet happened. Itsuki still lives!"
Sato threw on his hat and coat and ran outside.
"There is not a moment to lose. I have got a lot to do and it won't wait!"
"Merry Christmas!" the carolers called to Sato.
"And a Merry Christmas to you!" replied Sato. The carol singers could not believe their luck as Sato pushed coins and banknotes into their hands.
"Merry Christmas, Miroku!!" Sato cried to his nephew. "I've no time to stop, but don't start dinner without me! There's just one thing I must do. Mind you cook the teriyaki chicken just how I like it, and don't forget the Castanea crenata!" Miroku was so surprised at his uncle's cheerfulness, he almost fell off his carriage.
Rat! Tat! Tat! Inuyasha Takahashi heard a sharp knock on his door and ran to open it. Itsuki wasn't far behind. Inuyasha's face fell when he saw who was standing on the step: it was Sato, with a big brown sack on his back. He looked very cross.
"Why, Mr. Sato, what do you want?" Inuyasha stammered.
Sato pointed his cane at Inuyasha. "As you're not working today, I've brought a sack of dirty laundry," he said. "See that it is done today!"
Kagome Takahashi, Inuyasha's wife, stepped forward, with her lip trembling as she spoke. "Surely not on Christmas Day, Mr. Sato," she said.
"Oh! Look!" cried Itsuki to his sister Moroha as Sato walked past. "Isn't that a teddy bear in Mr. Sato's pocket?" Itsuki reached out his hand...
...just as Sato swung around. He looked very angry, but instead of boxing Itsuki's ears, he threw the sack on the floor. "Open it!" he cried.
Parcels tied with bright ribbons and bows tumbled from the sack. Sato laughed as the children's faces lit up with joy. Itsuki, Moroha, and their brother Hoshiki carried the gifts to the Christmas tree to open them.
"Oh! It's a doll!" cried Moroha. "Just what I always wanted!"
"It's a rocking horse! God bless you, Mr. Sato!!" cried Itsuki, running over to give him a big hug.
"There are more surprises, children," chuckled Sato. "Look at the marvelous teriyaki chicken, and there are Castanea crenata, pudding, and even a chocolate layer cake! What a Christmas you shall have," Sato looked at Inuyasha, and continued, "A very Merry Christmas to you all, and especially to you, Itsuki!" Sato gave the boy a wink.
The whole family danced with joy. This was to be the first of many bountiful holidays, for they would never be poor again. Inuyasha was to become Sato's new partner, and Itsuki wouldn't go hungry and would grow stronger each day.
And Enmei Sato, seeing their smiling faces, felt very, very happy indeed. 'How good it is to be generous and kind!' he thought.
"God bless us, everyone!" said Itsuki Takahashi. And they all lived happily ever after.
