InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ On a Leash ❯ Christmas Memories ( Chapter 14 )

Chapter Fourteen: Christmas Memories

The school bell let out a shrill ring, and Kagome practically leapt out of her desk in glorious rapture quarter past ten AM. She had made it through finals. For a week of sheer hell, she'd studied and studied till she thought her eyes would shrivel up, and the fun of test taking would last for three days with two to three subjects each day. While she had sat during her Trigonometry final, all that nibbling Kagome had done on the eraser of her pencil while filling in her study guide came flying back, answers and all.

Now she was free to enjoy her winter break.

Sango had exempted from her last final (Kagome had exempted from her first period final which had been literature) and had said she and Miroku were going to spend some time together this holiday season. Kagome had only smiled, having not forgotten the little tryst in the photo booth only two weeks earlier. Right now, she was ready to finish arranging the house for Christmas.

Kagome caught the bullet train home, declining Kouga's invitation of walking her home. To be honest, she was not in the mood to freeze in the whipping snow outside. When she arrived, Mama had begun to string popcorn while Souta and Grampa tried to eat it instead.

Inuyasha padded downstairs, his tail swaying back and forth rather happily-regardless the look on his face was trying to say otherwise. He lay before her feet when she found her seat on the couch next to Mom, untangling the popcorn string as it steadily grew longer.

"Isn't this a lovely way to start the holidays?" Mama asked with a smile, threading her needle through a corn puff.

Kagome nodded, holding out a piece to her dog. "You bet. I love the magic Christmas always brings. And with semester exams finally over, I can enjoy it instead of memorizing equations. Ah, winter vacation is a wonderful thing." She giggled as Inuyasha's warm tongue slipped the offering from her fingers into his mouth.

"Good. Now, you won't stay up so late and make me lose sleep with you."

"Like anything bothers you when you sleep," Buyo joked from the cushion behind Mrs. Higurashi's head.

"You sleep like a log, Inuyasha, so I don't think you should complain any," laughed his mistress.

"Keh."

"Oh, yeah," Buyo shot the dog a yellow-eyed glare, "thanks for the flea." He scratched the side of his neck with one of his hind feet.

Inuyasha grinned in return. "Hey, it was your Christmas present."

Buyo flicked his tail once before flopping to his other side, showing the dog his rear.

"Kagome," Grampa began, stealing some more popcorn from the bowl in Mama's lap, "why don't you get the rest of the decorations from my room?"

"Sure. Want to help me, Souta?"

Her younger brother bobbled his head.

Together, the Higurashi siblings made their way to Grampa's room. Various collectable, 'enchanted' items littered the edges of the chamber. It reminded Kagome of some antique shop with some creepy curator that seemed to teleport right behind you as you searched along.

Souta asked, wrinkling his nose at a bottle of some kind of olden day hair tonic, "Is it just me, or is the stuff in Grampa's room even weirder and older than he is?"

"Probably," his sister replied, digging behind a box of key chains. "Aha! Found 'em." Kagome ran a finger over the packaging tape that kept the battered cardboard lid of the box in place. Many fond memories took precedence above any of the girl's other musings as she maneuvered it around the container of key chains. She and Souta carried the heavy rectangular carton to the front room.

Mama smiled. "Thank you." She took the needle and slit the tape open, after puncturing it a few times first.

Curiously, Inuyasha sat up to peek at the decorations that spilt from the sides of the container. There was some gold garland, brightly colored bulbs, a knot of lights, and an assortment of homemade ornaments.

"Oh, remember this…?" cooed Mama, pulling out a macaroni flower. "Kagome made this when she was in preschool."

The girl, also digging in grinned softly. "Hey, it's Souta's glue ball that he painted like a giant cookie." Kagome dangled the globule from the loop of pipe cleaner jammed in it. "Still trying to catch him?" She simpered as he stole it from her hands.

He clutched it close to his chest. "I still think Santa might fall for it this year, Miss Smarty Pants." Souta stuck his tongue out at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Right."

Gingerly, one by one, trinkets were pulled out. Inuyasha knew they held deep sentimental value by the way everyone 'ooh'ed and 'ah'ed, chattering in soft voices about happenings past.

He supposed it made sense to hold onto things that only a family could really cherish and know what it looked like, but for Inuyasha, he'd didn't really remember Christmas with his family very well. His folks had died when he little, and he didn't have any fond childhood memories to reflect back on like Kagome and Souta. He had been too small to remember as much about his mom and dad as the said pair did.

For the most part, he had spent Christmas either in some kind of shelter, in an alleyway, or bitterly pleasant ones with Kikyou. They did have a sedate celebration, yet it still was not the same. He wasn't all that versed with Christmas customs either.

While the Higurashis continued to remove their ornaments, Inuyasha was able to make sense of it but he longed to be sitting beside Kagome like a normal humanoid being rather than the negligible cur he had been cursed to be since the moment he was conceived.

A knock pounded from the front doors, and the canine smelled pine.

Mama set the bowl to the side and headed for the door. "That must be the men bringing the tree."

Sure enough it was a couple of high school boys who hauled the evergreen in. They were even kind enough to place it in its stand. The pair had accepted Mrs. Higurashi's Styrofoam cups filled with hot cocoa and payment eagerly, wishing the shrine family well. No doubt that they had labored quite a bit to bring the seven foot high tree up all the temple steps.

Inuyasha would have growled at them for checking out his mistress, regardless they were not lewd looks, but he was trying to help Kagome untangle the lights.

"Back up a little more, boy," she said, taking one end and weaving it through the ball. "Ok, a bit more."

He was careful to not bust any of the bulbs in his mouth as they coaxed the strings apart. It took them about fifteen minutes to get the strings all undone, while the rest of the family in the meantime had strung garland and the popcorn string around the evergreen. The dog admired their handiwork as Kagome and Souta chased each other around the tree, winding the lights around it like ribbons around a Maypole.

Lying down, his heart feeling a bit more content, Inuyasha watched Gramps and Mama carefully hook glass balls and the homemade ornaments on the boughs. He tipped his head to a side in question as Mrs. Higurashi sighed, touching an ornament carved out of wood before pulling out four others ones like it.

"That's Mr. Higurashi's," supplied Buyo, reading Inuyasha's mind. "He passed away when Kagome was about eight. He'd had a brain tumor. He passed away on Christmas Eve. Everyone gets a little choked up." The cat gave a little sniffle himself. "He was a very good man and it was a shame to see him go. I was only a kitten then, but I was old enough to remember that he put the star on top every year, and those ornaments Mama has he made while he was in the hospital."

"Oh," was all Inuyasha could say, watching as Kagome lifted Souta so he could hang a candy cane near the top of the tree.

"Hey, Sis, can we take Inuyasha for a walk, please?" Souta begged as his sister set him on the ground.

She looked to her mother. "Can we?"

Mama laughed gently behind her hand. "Sure. While you're out, why don't you walk those Christmas cards to the mailbox on the corner?"

"No problem. Come on, Inuyasha," she smiled, "let's go for a walk."

~*~*~*~*

The wind was much more relenting than the previous days, but the snow sent off a blinding glare that made all three squint their eyes. Even so, the fun they were having didn't damper. Kagome and Souta continued to make snowballs to lob at each other while they were in wide stone courtyard, the greeting cards tucked safely away in the girl's inner pocket.

Inuyasha was free of his leash and allowed to play along. A few times he knocked his mistress back into a particularly high drift, barking at her distress as she hollered that he was a creature that thrived on sadism.

Eventually, they crossed the stairs and got to the sidewalk. Their trip to the mailbox was filled with danger and treacherous foes, or so Kagome and Souta liked to say as they wove an elaborate tale together. Inuyasha only sniggered, but took his role as the duo's fearsome demon dog very seriously.

"Souta…" Kagome rasped, dramatically whipping out the cards from her pocket as they neared the letterbox. "You have to…place the magic seals into…the giant slat."

"No, Kagome!" the boy feigned crying before accepting the 'magic seals' and dropping them through the slat.

"No, Kagome, don't die on us," Inuyasha barked, standing on his hind legs to place his forepaws on her stomach and whimper mournfully at her.

Smiling, Kagome ruffled her brother's hair and slipped an arm affectionately around his shoulders as they headed back to the house.

Inuyasha shook the flurries from his fur once they re-entered the house. He trotted inside, his body hungrily absorbing the heat from the air. The siblings followed soon after, with their wet shoes tucked off to the side.

The tantalizing smells of lunch grabbed hold of the three triumphant 'heroes', and they bumbled their way to the kitchen. Mama had left a pot of soup on the stove and some grilled cheese in the microwave. The human pair snatched their food and sat down at the kitchen table to indulge.

"Don't stand too close to me, Sis," Souta said, lifting a spoonful of tomato soup to his lips.

"How's that?"

He pointed upward. "Mom and Gramps put up mistletoe again. I don't wanna get stuck with you."

"Don't be such an annoying, little twerp, Souta." Kagome rolled her eyes again, crunching some butter crackers into her own bowl.

After a bit, Souta sped off to go play video games in the den again, and left his sister with the task of cleaning up after him.

Kagome hummed away her annoyance as she washed the dishes in the kitchen sink. "Come here, Inuyasha."

Obediently, the unsuspecting canine left his spot near the fridge and toddled the six feet to her. "What?"

She took a handful of soap bubbles and wiped them on his snout; he snorted and pawed at his nose while she giggled.

"You evil wench!"

"I'm just playing with you, boy," she laughed, enjoying the disgruntled face he made. She rinsed off a final dish and set it in the rack to dry. Kagome wiped her hands off on a dishtowel and headed for the door with her aggravated dog at her heels. She knew he had ideas of doggy revenge-she could tell by the glint in his eyes. Glimpsing up to the top of the threshold, Kagome stopped.

Smiling, "We're beneath the mistletoe, boy."

Inuyasha blinked at her. "So?"

Kagome knelt down and kissed him on the tip of his wet nose. "Merry Christmas, Inuyasha."

He blinked double time at her, feeling extremely hot in the face. "Yeah…you too." He stared into her cheerful, cobalt orbs as she stopped to scratch his head fondly. Then, he tentatively gave her a small lick on the cheek.

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck to hug him. She sighed happily into his silky fur, "I love you, Inuyasha."

Albeit he knew she meant as her pet…why did it still make his heart thump a little faster?

~*~*~*~*

Kagome ripped off strip after strip of wrapping paper--so far, so good.

For Souta, she had managed to find him a new fighting game for his PlayStation and had already covered it with wreath-bedecked paper. Gramps was going to get some warding incense and a fancy new burner. A silver locket for Mama with pictures of her and Souta, to replace the one she had lost on their trip to Kyoto two summers ago.

She had just finished wrapping Inuyasha's large present, and she smiled at the idea of getting to watch her dog mutilate the paper come Christmas morning-only three days away. After break, she and Sango would exchange gifts, so the merry sentiment would start off the new semester.

In the meantime, Kagome cleaned up all the spare trimmings and trappings and tossed them into her wastebasket. "It's nice and quiet right now." She peeked outside. The sky was starting to get dusky, but the silhouette of her little brother and dog making a snowman in the grove was still visible.

Gathering up the bright colored packages, tied up with ribbons and bows, Kagome made her way downstairs--sprigs of holly, long vines, and white lights wove around the banister.

It took her two trips, but she managed to get all of her gifts placed under the tree. The living room seemed to sparkle from all the beautiful decorations she and Mama had so painstakingly placed. Four days since the beginning of winter holiday, Kagome had helped her mother spread Christmas cheer to every nook and cranny of their little shrine-house.

Some unlit candles sat strategically around the room, and Kagome couldn't wait until Christmas Eve to light them like the family did every year. Four stockings were tacked up on the wall, waiting to be filled with gifts from 'Santa Claus'. Even after all these years, Kagome smiled to herself when she remembered how she caught her dad filling them when she was only seven, a year before he died...

Kagome crept down the steps as quietly as she could. She heard someone sneaking around the family room, and she knew instantly it had to be Santa. She wasn't supposed to see him putting the presents for her and her one-year-old brother beneath the tree, or shoving trinkets in their Christmas socks, but she couldn't help herself. She had waited all year for this moment, and it was going to come down to this.

A plate of soft chocolate chip cookies in one hand and a tall glass of milk in the other, little Kagome reached the landing and made her way to the man clad in red. She was so nervous. She remembered Daddy telling her that Santa Claus knows if you've been bad or good, so she had been an extra good girl this year by being a good big sister to Souta. She wondered if what she was doing was going to make him think she was naughty.

"Santa…?" young Kagome asked quietly, tiptoeing over to him. "I…I brought you some cookies. Mommy says their your favoritest."

Slowly, Saint Nick turned, grinning behind his snowy white beard. "Why yes, Kagome," he chuckled in a very deep voice. "Chocolate chip is my favorite kind." He took a cookie from her and winked. "Now you better get off to bed before-"

Kagome's eyes widened as the beard came lose. "Daddy?"

"Er, uh, no…" he spluttered.

She gave him her fiercest 'Mommy look' she could muster. "What are you doing up, Daddy?"

"W-well…." Her father had sweated a bit, and Kagome knew now how much he didn't want to break her heart by telling her Santa didn't exist. So instead… "Santa got very busy this year-you see, Kags, Comet got something in his hoof and Santa's got to get it out. So, he asked me to put all of our gifts in here for him. Guess you caught me, huh, Kagome? Well, he let me borrow his suit, too, but I have to return it pretty soon. You should head back up to bed though, sweetie, so I can get undressed."

She nodded. "An' I get to open ALL my presents tomorrow?"

Daddy laughed. "Of course, Kags, of course."

That was nearly eight years ago. Dad had been the only one to call her 'Kags'. Everyone just either called her 'Kagome' or 'Higurashi'.

Or 'the chick that lives in a shrine'.

I visited the altar in Mama's room, Daddy, Kagome thought, sitting on the sofa, watching as the dim room dappled in the multicolored Christmas tree lights, winking off and on. I miss you a lot. Too bad Souta doesn't remember you so well, but he has me tell him stories a lot. I think he feels left out. Our dog is pretty funny, and he's a great companion for all of us. You would've liked him, Dad. You always did like dogs. I'm really confused though, right now.

The girl twirled a lock of hair around her finger, settling into the cushions. A month ago, someone tried to break into the mini-shrine, and I'm scared there's someone really bad after Tetsusaiga. A really nice security system was installed, and I have ofuda and other wards on it, but I'm still really worried.

I wish you were here, Daddy.

~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha wondered where the Higurashis were taking him. It was Christmas Eve, though still morning, and all the shopping had been done, the food prepared, but here they were readying to leave. However, when he saw the black clothing and reverent looks on their faces, he figured out where they were heading.

Kagome had begged for him to come along with them, that she really needed him there, and Mama had eventually agreed. The leather band around his neck was already black, so he was dressed for the occasion, cynically enough. The girl was currently clipping the chain link leash to his collar, her face extremely somber with tears brimming her stormy eyes. It bothered him to see her like that so he put a paw on her shoulder and offered her pleading look and gentle nuzzle to her cheek.

She grimaced before standing up, the moderate charcoal skirt swinging just below her knees. Following after Mama and Grampa, they walked abreast to Souta, who played nervously with the cuff of his blazer.

Thankfully for the family, the city was lacking its normal, boisterous nature today. Their footsteps shuffled the snow across the stone as they marched down the shrine steps and started for the cemetery.

Everyone kept mum, Inuyasha included. Though he never knew Mr. Higurashi, he could tell that he must've been a great person-the family he left behind was wonderful. He thought it only fair to be as observant as the people who had adopted him.

The lead was drawn up tighter to Kagome, and Inuyasha was moved closer to her side. A single, chilled teardrop pattered against the side of his snout.

Passing between the open double gates, the Higurashi family followed the worn, cobblestone walk until they came to a dormant sakura tree. Tall headstones ringed around it, like diminutive vassals to their lord and higher power. The group approached the grave nearest the base of the cherry blossom tree.

Grampa respectfully took some incense from the inside of his suit's pocket-probably the only suit he owned, as he usually only wore the priest's garb-and a lighter. With a flick of his weathered fingers, he clicked it on and touched the tip of one stick of incense into the fire before doing so with another. Holding both in one hand, he stowed the lighter again and set the two sticks into the holders set directly on the slab that jutted from the front of the tombstone, bowing as he did so.

Mama held a bundle of Japanese violets and passed them off to Souta.

The little boy blinked confusedly at her. "M-me?" he whispered. Mama nodded at him. Souta swallowed once before shakily bowing and setting the cloth-tied bundle between the smoking rods. He quickly backed away and tucked himself against his sister; she simply draped an arm across his chest and hugged him close.

Turning to her, Grampa inclined his head to the grave.

Kagome handed the leash to Souta and stepped around him and her dog. Inuyasha observed quietly as she made a deep bow, obsidian waves crashing over her pale face, sweeping back as the wind teased it enough to reveal rosy cheeks and sparkling blue-grey eyes. Then she lowered herself to her knees, pressed her palms together, and said a silent prayer that touched the entire company's hearts and while it remained unspoken, it rang true in each of their minds with words each would have expressed.

Inuyasha felt Souta grip the leash even tighter than his sister had. He glanced up to see the little boy sniffling inaudibly.

"I wanted to know you, Dad…" he heard Souta whisper to himself over trembling lips, chapped and burned. The boy's shoulders quavered slightly, head lolled onto his chest. Inuyasha half-expected it when the child wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his nose into the long fur there.

Inuyasha whimpered lightly, gold eyes darting around the lone scene. Not another living soul stood with them in the alabaster-powdered necropolis, a small city of the dead. Elongated curls of indigo smoke disappeared into the bare boughs of the sakura tree as Kagome prayed and some celestial radiance, whether it was light or power was not pertinent, bathed the gravesite.

A tear slid down Mama Higurashi's cheek, but she made no effort to dispel it.

Gramps face was cast into a mask of true sagely comprehension and sorrow.

Kagome looked oddly peaceful--somehow also powerful yet delicate, and still Kagome.

Gently, Inuyasha nosed Souta's shoulder. "I'm sure your old man would have been happy with all of you. He knew you, Souta, so that should matter to you, kid. …I guess as long as you remember the people you love, they live on…in your heart anyway….

"My parents still do."

~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Wow…this was not at all what I had planned. Once again, please review each chapter separately. I was just recently quoted in my local newspaper so, pretty cool stuff. I'm babysitting again so, but it's only every-other week. In any case, I hope you liked this and I promise things will pick up again soon. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon and all you'll have to do is press the NEXT arrow.

~Moonlight Shadow