Happy Holidays SuWan!
Title: The Ghost Of Christmas Past
Author/Artist: sakura_dragon10
Recipient: SuWan
Rating: T
Summary:
Original Prompts: "Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home." ~Carol Nelson
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha walked into the supermarket and immediately realized that it had been a mistake going shopping the day before Christmas Eve. Not only was the store extremely crowded with last-minute Christmas shoppers, going around in happy little groups, but the excessive decorations and holiday music blaring from the speakers were already making his head and ears ache. He tried to navigate through the aisles as fast as possible and get home before he completely lost his temper.
Inuyasha had always loved Christmas and it had been his favourite holiday since he was a child. For one thing, it was the only time that he and his half-brother Sesshoumaru could be persuaded to get along, even if grudgingly. He’d always spent Christmas with his parents and later with his wife Kikyou. But she had died a few months previously and he was all alone this year. The fact that he had practically become a recluse and pushed all of his friends away after her death didn’t help.
The approach of the holiday season had made him feel lonely and miss his beloved wife more and more every day. Somehow, his idiotic mind kept forgetting that Kikyou was gone and kept making plans for the both of them before he remembered the truth and became depressed. The previous Sunday he had woken up with the feeling of something missing and had roamed the house aimlessly until he remembered that Kikyou would bake cookies and gingerbread on the Sunday before Christmas. He’d been so overpowered by the memories of happier times that he’d curled up in a corner and cried.
Despite his best efforts, shopping took a long time and traffic was so bad that by the time Inuyasha managed to get home his mood was really bad and all he wanted to do was get to bed. The alarm clock on his nightstand proudly proclaimed that it was already Christmas Eve. He wished that he could just go to sleep and only wake up after the holidays were over. He drifted off to sleep with these unhappy thoughts.
Inuyasha’s nose was assaulted by the smell of cookies and eggnog, and he caught loud noises coming from downstairs. He knew that pretty soon he’d have to wake up and go downstairs to help his parents get the house ready for Christmas. His sensitive ears caught the sound of his own name and he buried his head under the covers. His father would come bursting cheerfully into his room in just a minute and drag him out of bed to do his part.
‘Just five more minutes, mom,’ he grumbled, his sleepy mind reverting back to the mantra of the old school days.
His eyes shot open and he jumped out of bed fully awake as his brain caught up to reality. He wasn’t a boy anymore and he’d moved out of his parents’ house years ago. But, most importantly, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else in his house. Nobody, as far as he knew, had keys to his home. He crept slowly to his bedroom door and peeked out, taking stock of his surroundings. He couldn’t see anyone but heard the sound of slightly familiar voices arguing from the general direction of the living-room. He grabbed the first thing handy, a tall silver candlestick and walked across the hall and to the stairs. As he climbed down, it dawned on him that burglars wouldn’t rob someone’s house in broad daylight, nor make so much noise about it.
Once downstairs, he hesitated for a few seconds between the kitchen and living-room doors before choosing the kitchen and slowly pushing the door open. It creaked slightly. The room was a bigger mess than he ever remembered it being. In the middle of it all was a young woman, furiously pulling things from a cabinet onto the floor.
‘Sesshoumaru, do you have any possible idea where Inuyasha keeps the cake pans? Or whether he even has any?’ she said, slowly getting to her feet and turning around. She seemed startled to find Inuyasha dumbstruck in the doorway.
He continued to stare at her for a long time. When he’d first entered, he’d thought for a second that it was Kikyou, but when she’d spoken he’d realized that it was in fact Kagome, who he’d known since middle school. He belatedly remembered that when he’s moved here he’d given his father a set of keys, which to his knowledge, the older male had never actually used until now. Kagome’s voice brought him back to attention.
‘Inuyasha, you’re finally awake. I thought you’d be down ages ago with all the noise we’d been making. Your father was just about to go up and check on you.’
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked starting to feel flustered and slightly angry. He’d thought he was going to be lonely and miserable for Christmas, but here his friend was, being cheerful and apparently baking cookies. The door behind him creaked again and a booming voice startled him.
‘Inuyasha, my son! You’re up! I was going to send a search party for you!’ his father laughed, clapping him so hard on the shoulder that he pitched forward. The candlestick he’d still been holding flew from his hand and clattered on the tiles. There was silence for a moment as everyone stared at the silver object.
‘What were you doing with that candlestick?’ Kagome asked.
Inuyasha stayed silent. He was feeling very foolish and very angry and didn't want to embarrass himself any more by admitting that he'd intended to use the candlestick for protection. From the corner of his eye he noticed his brother was also there. His ears burned red. He’d had just about enough.
‘What are you all doing in my house?’ he growled.
‘It’s Christmas,’ Kagome answered, her smile slipping slightly at his tone. ‘I thought you wouldn’t want to be alone so we’re helping you celebrate.’
‘I don’t want to celebrate Christmas,’ he said through clenched teeth. His father put a conciliatory hand on his arm.
‘Come now, son. I understand how you must feel, but…’
‘You don’t understand,’ Inuyasha shouted, shaking his father off and storming out of the kitchen.
The living-room door was open now and he looked inside. Apparently his family hadn’t invaded his house alone. Lights and boxes of decorations were strewn on every available surface. A large tree waited in a corner to be decorated. Myoga and Jaken, his father and brother’s old retainers were arguing in shrill, squawky voices about the placement of a string of lights. His lecherous friend Miroku was trying to drag his girlfriend Sango under a sprig of mistletoe. Sango’s brother Kohaku along with Kagome’s brother Souta were helping Rin and Shippou search through a huge box. Inuyasha was shocked by how tall Rin had gotten. He recognized the box as the one containing his and his brother’s childhood toys and games. Shippou pulled out a model train set that Inuyasha remembered their father buying for them and which they had set up together every year in a loop around the Christmas tree.
Feeling completely invaded he continued on along corridor and out the back door into the garden. He headed for the swing, Kikyou’s favourite place, and sat down with a huff. It was a clear day and it hadn’t snowed at all but it was still the end of December so he soon became aware of being outside in only a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. As his mood also began to cool down, he began regretting his earlier childish behaviour. He had known Kagome for a long time and shouldn’t have been so mean to her. He remembered that in middle school she’d had a crush on him but he was already too much in love with Kikou to even notice. His brother had not been so foolish. He began to feel even more miserable and he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his chest in an attempt to keep warm.
Someone put a blanket around him and Inuyasha opened his eyes to see Kagome sit down beside him on the swing.
‘Stubborn as well as childish,’ she chided. ‘Are you trying to catch a cold?’
'Weren't you and Sesshoumaru supossed to go abroad for the holidays or something?' he asked, remembering the plans she'd told him about the previous year.
'Clearly we didn't go.'
'Because of me?'
'No. Because your brother is an idiot,' Kagome said, in a tone of voice that warned him against asking any more questions.
He didn’t say anything and the awkward silence lasted for several minutes before Kagome spoke again.
‘You shouldn’t have been so mean to your father earlier.’
‘I know.’
‘He was only trying to comfort you.’
‘I know.’
‘And he does understand, you know. After all…’
‘I know,’ Inuyasha said, slightly more forcefully than necessary.
The subject of their dead mothers was a touchy one for both him and Sesshoumaru.
‘I know you miss Kikyou a lot, but it’s not right being alone and depressed for Christmas.’
‘How can I be happy when she’s gone?’
‘I’m not saying you should forget about her. I know that it’s going to take a long time. But you shouldn’t isolate yourself like that. We all care about you and worry about you. And you’ve always loved Christmas.’
‘Yes, but now everything relating to Christmas reminds me of her and it’s too painful,’ Inuyasha sulked.
‘That’s silly,’ Kagome said, almost laughing, but sobered up when she saw his expression. ‘What I mean is: you’re thirty. You’re only spent ten Christmases with her. What about the other twenty? Don’t tell me you don’t have a single happy memory of the holidays that doesn’t involve Kikyou.’
Inuyasha was going to give Kagome a snappy reply, but then he closed his eyes and really thought. Setting up the Christmas tree and decorations, helping his mother bake and decorate cookies, going sleighing with his father, fighting with his brother over the last pieces of candy on the tree, the smell of the pine, the flickering lights, staying up late to try and catch Santa, the train set and many other memories from his childhood came back to him. All those filled him with a sense of nostalgia and warmed his heart. He opened his eyes and looked at Kagome who was studying him.
‘Well?’ she asked.
‘Maybe there are a few good memories,’ he admitted sulkily. He hated it when Kagome was the voice of reason, which had happened to often during their friendship, and even more often since she’d married Sesshoumaru.
‘You see. I told you so. Now we should get into the house before we freeze to death. Your father was asking something about extension cables and tools earlier. And I’m pretty sure you want breakfast. I know I do. I can’t believe there’s almost no edible food in your house.’
As she got up, still talking, something that had been nagging at Inuyasha since he first saw her finally dawned on him.
‘You’re pregnant.’
‘Took you long enough to notice.’
‘You could have told me.’
‘That would have involved you answering my calls and not avoiding me like the plague whenever we meet,’ she quipped. ‘Or your father, for that matter. The baby has been his only subject of conversation since he found out.’
‘Sorry,’ Inuyasha mumbled, feeling guilty.
‘Never mind that now, but I might reconsider unless you buy me a huge present.’
'Is that why you didn't leave on holiday?'
'Yes. Apparently Sesshoumaru is too paranoid about something happening to me or the baby,' she said, putting his arm around his shoulder and tweaking his ear. ‘Let’s get inside and get ready for Christmas.’
As they walked together through the frozen garden, Inuyasha felt more lighthearted than he had felt in months. He knew it would take a long time before he stopped missing his wife and before he stopped thinking of all their happy memories together, especially at the holidays. But he was ready to move on and make some new happy memories with his friends and family.
His eyes lit up when they walked into the living-room and he saw that Shippou had spread the pieces of the train set on the floor and was frowning at them critically.
‘Here, I’ll show you how to put that together, runt,’ he beamed, letting go of Kagome and walking purposefully toward the little boy. ‘It’s not as easy as it seems.’
‘Well?’ Sesshoumaru asked his wife.
‘Nothing I couldn’t handle,’ she replied as Shippou and Inuyasha began a fierce argument over the assembling of the railway tracks.
Author/Artist: sakura_dragon10
Recipient: SuWan
Rating: T
Summary:
Original Prompts: "Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home." ~Carol Nelson
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Inuyasha.
Inuyasha walked into the supermarket and immediately realized that it had been a mistake going shopping the day before Christmas Eve. Not only was the store extremely crowded with last-minute Christmas shoppers, going around in happy little groups, but the excessive decorations and holiday music blaring from the speakers were already making his head and ears ache. He tried to navigate through the aisles as fast as possible and get home before he completely lost his temper.
Inuyasha had always loved Christmas and it had been his favourite holiday since he was a child. For one thing, it was the only time that he and his half-brother Sesshoumaru could be persuaded to get along, even if grudgingly. He’d always spent Christmas with his parents and later with his wife Kikyou. But she had died a few months previously and he was all alone this year. The fact that he had practically become a recluse and pushed all of his friends away after her death didn’t help.
The approach of the holiday season had made him feel lonely and miss his beloved wife more and more every day. Somehow, his idiotic mind kept forgetting that Kikyou was gone and kept making plans for the both of them before he remembered the truth and became depressed. The previous Sunday he had woken up with the feeling of something missing and had roamed the house aimlessly until he remembered that Kikyou would bake cookies and gingerbread on the Sunday before Christmas. He’d been so overpowered by the memories of happier times that he’d curled up in a corner and cried.
Despite his best efforts, shopping took a long time and traffic was so bad that by the time Inuyasha managed to get home his mood was really bad and all he wanted to do was get to bed. The alarm clock on his nightstand proudly proclaimed that it was already Christmas Eve. He wished that he could just go to sleep and only wake up after the holidays were over. He drifted off to sleep with these unhappy thoughts.
Inuyasha’s nose was assaulted by the smell of cookies and eggnog, and he caught loud noises coming from downstairs. He knew that pretty soon he’d have to wake up and go downstairs to help his parents get the house ready for Christmas. His sensitive ears caught the sound of his own name and he buried his head under the covers. His father would come bursting cheerfully into his room in just a minute and drag him out of bed to do his part.
‘Just five more minutes, mom,’ he grumbled, his sleepy mind reverting back to the mantra of the old school days.
His eyes shot open and he jumped out of bed fully awake as his brain caught up to reality. He wasn’t a boy anymore and he’d moved out of his parents’ house years ago. But, most importantly, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone else in his house. Nobody, as far as he knew, had keys to his home. He crept slowly to his bedroom door and peeked out, taking stock of his surroundings. He couldn’t see anyone but heard the sound of slightly familiar voices arguing from the general direction of the living-room. He grabbed the first thing handy, a tall silver candlestick and walked across the hall and to the stairs. As he climbed down, it dawned on him that burglars wouldn’t rob someone’s house in broad daylight, nor make so much noise about it.
Once downstairs, he hesitated for a few seconds between the kitchen and living-room doors before choosing the kitchen and slowly pushing the door open. It creaked slightly. The room was a bigger mess than he ever remembered it being. In the middle of it all was a young woman, furiously pulling things from a cabinet onto the floor.
‘Sesshoumaru, do you have any possible idea where Inuyasha keeps the cake pans? Or whether he even has any?’ she said, slowly getting to her feet and turning around. She seemed startled to find Inuyasha dumbstruck in the doorway.
He continued to stare at her for a long time. When he’d first entered, he’d thought for a second that it was Kikyou, but when she’d spoken he’d realized that it was in fact Kagome, who he’d known since middle school. He belatedly remembered that when he’s moved here he’d given his father a set of keys, which to his knowledge, the older male had never actually used until now. Kagome’s voice brought him back to attention.
‘Inuyasha, you’re finally awake. I thought you’d be down ages ago with all the noise we’d been making. Your father was just about to go up and check on you.’
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked starting to feel flustered and slightly angry. He’d thought he was going to be lonely and miserable for Christmas, but here his friend was, being cheerful and apparently baking cookies. The door behind him creaked again and a booming voice startled him.
‘Inuyasha, my son! You’re up! I was going to send a search party for you!’ his father laughed, clapping him so hard on the shoulder that he pitched forward. The candlestick he’d still been holding flew from his hand and clattered on the tiles. There was silence for a moment as everyone stared at the silver object.
‘What were you doing with that candlestick?’ Kagome asked.
Inuyasha stayed silent. He was feeling very foolish and very angry and didn't want to embarrass himself any more by admitting that he'd intended to use the candlestick for protection. From the corner of his eye he noticed his brother was also there. His ears burned red. He’d had just about enough.
‘What are you all doing in my house?’ he growled.
‘It’s Christmas,’ Kagome answered, her smile slipping slightly at his tone. ‘I thought you wouldn’t want to be alone so we’re helping you celebrate.’
‘I don’t want to celebrate Christmas,’ he said through clenched teeth. His father put a conciliatory hand on his arm.
‘Come now, son. I understand how you must feel, but…’
‘You don’t understand,’ Inuyasha shouted, shaking his father off and storming out of the kitchen.
The living-room door was open now and he looked inside. Apparently his family hadn’t invaded his house alone. Lights and boxes of decorations were strewn on every available surface. A large tree waited in a corner to be decorated. Myoga and Jaken, his father and brother’s old retainers were arguing in shrill, squawky voices about the placement of a string of lights. His lecherous friend Miroku was trying to drag his girlfriend Sango under a sprig of mistletoe. Sango’s brother Kohaku along with Kagome’s brother Souta were helping Rin and Shippou search through a huge box. Inuyasha was shocked by how tall Rin had gotten. He recognized the box as the one containing his and his brother’s childhood toys and games. Shippou pulled out a model train set that Inuyasha remembered their father buying for them and which they had set up together every year in a loop around the Christmas tree.
Feeling completely invaded he continued on along corridor and out the back door into the garden. He headed for the swing, Kikyou’s favourite place, and sat down with a huff. It was a clear day and it hadn’t snowed at all but it was still the end of December so he soon became aware of being outside in only a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. As his mood also began to cool down, he began regretting his earlier childish behaviour. He had known Kagome for a long time and shouldn’t have been so mean to her. He remembered that in middle school she’d had a crush on him but he was already too much in love with Kikou to even notice. His brother had not been so foolish. He began to feel even more miserable and he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his chest in an attempt to keep warm.
Someone put a blanket around him and Inuyasha opened his eyes to see Kagome sit down beside him on the swing.
‘Stubborn as well as childish,’ she chided. ‘Are you trying to catch a cold?’
'Weren't you and Sesshoumaru supossed to go abroad for the holidays or something?' he asked, remembering the plans she'd told him about the previous year.
'Clearly we didn't go.'
'Because of me?'
'No. Because your brother is an idiot,' Kagome said, in a tone of voice that warned him against asking any more questions.
He didn’t say anything and the awkward silence lasted for several minutes before Kagome spoke again.
‘You shouldn’t have been so mean to your father earlier.’
‘I know.’
‘He was only trying to comfort you.’
‘I know.’
‘And he does understand, you know. After all…’
‘I know,’ Inuyasha said, slightly more forcefully than necessary.
The subject of their dead mothers was a touchy one for both him and Sesshoumaru.
‘I know you miss Kikyou a lot, but it’s not right being alone and depressed for Christmas.’
‘How can I be happy when she’s gone?’
‘I’m not saying you should forget about her. I know that it’s going to take a long time. But you shouldn’t isolate yourself like that. We all care about you and worry about you. And you’ve always loved Christmas.’
‘Yes, but now everything relating to Christmas reminds me of her and it’s too painful,’ Inuyasha sulked.
‘That’s silly,’ Kagome said, almost laughing, but sobered up when she saw his expression. ‘What I mean is: you’re thirty. You’re only spent ten Christmases with her. What about the other twenty? Don’t tell me you don’t have a single happy memory of the holidays that doesn’t involve Kikyou.’
Inuyasha was going to give Kagome a snappy reply, but then he closed his eyes and really thought. Setting up the Christmas tree and decorations, helping his mother bake and decorate cookies, going sleighing with his father, fighting with his brother over the last pieces of candy on the tree, the smell of the pine, the flickering lights, staying up late to try and catch Santa, the train set and many other memories from his childhood came back to him. All those filled him with a sense of nostalgia and warmed his heart. He opened his eyes and looked at Kagome who was studying him.
‘Well?’ she asked.
‘Maybe there are a few good memories,’ he admitted sulkily. He hated it when Kagome was the voice of reason, which had happened to often during their friendship, and even more often since she’d married Sesshoumaru.
‘You see. I told you so. Now we should get into the house before we freeze to death. Your father was asking something about extension cables and tools earlier. And I’m pretty sure you want breakfast. I know I do. I can’t believe there’s almost no edible food in your house.’
As she got up, still talking, something that had been nagging at Inuyasha since he first saw her finally dawned on him.
‘You’re pregnant.’
‘Took you long enough to notice.’
‘You could have told me.’
‘That would have involved you answering my calls and not avoiding me like the plague whenever we meet,’ she quipped. ‘Or your father, for that matter. The baby has been his only subject of conversation since he found out.’
‘Sorry,’ Inuyasha mumbled, feeling guilty.
‘Never mind that now, but I might reconsider unless you buy me a huge present.’
'Is that why you didn't leave on holiday?'
'Yes. Apparently Sesshoumaru is too paranoid about something happening to me or the baby,' she said, putting his arm around his shoulder and tweaking his ear. ‘Let’s get inside and get ready for Christmas.’
As they walked together through the frozen garden, Inuyasha felt more lighthearted than he had felt in months. He knew it would take a long time before he stopped missing his wife and before he stopped thinking of all their happy memories together, especially at the holidays. But he was ready to move on and make some new happy memories with his friends and family.
His eyes lit up when they walked into the living-room and he saw that Shippou had spread the pieces of the train set on the floor and was frowning at them critically.
‘Here, I’ll show you how to put that together, runt,’ he beamed, letting go of Kagome and walking purposefully toward the little boy. ‘It’s not as easy as it seems.’
‘Well?’ Sesshoumaru asked his wife.
‘Nothing I couldn’t handle,’ she replied as Shippou and Inuyasha began a fierce argument over the assembling of the railway tracks.