Christmas Shoes by Tal

Christmas Shoes

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the Song, "Christmas Shoes," or the Inuyasha universe. I'm just borrowing them for Christmas.

Christmas Shoes

Sesshoumaru hated Christmas.

He grimaced, wishing it was the old days, when he could simply kill all those who stood in the way. He was the last in a long line in a store that should have closed by now. As it was, the police would frown upon him for dragging them out for multiple homicide on Christmas Eve. No, he would have to wait in line.

Why, oh why, did he have to read Rin's letter to Santa before all the stores closed? He had gotten a majority of the presents she had requested weeks ago, but on her list were a few things he had not anticipated. So, as soon as Rin had gone to bed, he had ordered his servant Jaken to watch the house and Rin, along with dire warnings if anything bad should happen, while he went out and suffered through the madness that is Christmas Eve shopping.

He really did not like Christmas. Over-commercialized, and reduced to greed, Sesshoumaru thought the holiday had no real purpose other than for him to spend great amounts of money on presents that he had to accredit to Santa. Before he could think more dire thoughts about Santa, and Rin's belief in the jolly bearded elf, his attention was drawn by the line moving forward one person, and the fidgeting of the person in front of him.

Even though Sesshoumaru might harbor fond thoughts of slaughtering all the people ahead of him in line, he knew he could not have slaughtered the child in front of him. For one, he was far too honorable to kill a defenseless child. Also, Rin would be mostly displeased.

He had nothing better to do, so Sesshoumaru, bored, started to focus on the child who was ahead of him in line. The body attached to the fire-red hair fidgeted, and the taiyoukai believed that if the child wouldn't lose his place in line, it would be pacing.

Male kitsune, his mind supplied after a subtle sniff. Full youkai, too, not hanyou. Now, that was interesting. What business did a full-blooded kitsune have in a store this late at night? Sesshoumaru was mildly annoyed at the thought of a child there without supervision, but he supposed it was none of his business. Another quick glance at the child's clothes told the taiyoukai that the kitsune was probably in the lower ranges of the middle-class, so maybe that explained it. He was also far too dirty to belong to the wealthier people around.

As the child fidgeted once more, Sesshoumaru took a subtle glance at the item the kitsune was holding. It was a shoe box, and one that looked too big for the child. Ah, a gift. Well, he could understand the need to go out and buy a gift unawares.

He briefly pondered on why in the world the child wanted to buy shoes specifically, but then put it out of his mind. The kitsune, even if was full blooded youkai, was a child, and they sometimes had odd ideas of what constituted as proper gifts. Rin had, one Christmas, bought Sesshoumaru a stuffed cat. It had taken all his self-control to say he was happy with the gift.

This idea lasted until he was finally the next in line, right after the child. It was then that the child spoke up, carefully placing the shoe box on the counter, and tip-toeing to see the cashier.

"Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please. They're just her size, and I know it's late on Christmas Eve, but I could only get them now."

The cashier smiled at the little boy. "No problem. Saved all your money, did you?"

Red hair bounced in the kitsune's ponytail. "Yes sir. Um, could you hurry, sir, please? Grandpa says there's not much time."

Sesshoumaru watched as the cashier's eyebrows furrowed. The kitsune also noticed that, and strove to explain. "You see, Mama's been sick for quite a while. And I just know that she'll love these shoes, and smile like I haven't seen in a long time, and I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight."

Behind the register, the cashier blinked back the tears that sprung to his eyes, and gulped down the lump that grew in his throat. Sesshoumaru, who had been listening, noticed this, and the heaviness that grew in his own chest. Dear heavens, how he had misjudged the lad!

Before either of them could say something, the little boy dug deep into his pockets, and started pulling out change. He hurried to place them on the counter as soon as they were out, and Sesshoumaru noticed that there was a great deal of copper, with only a few glints of other colors among the mass multitude. Frankly, both cashier and Sesshoumaru were surprised at how much change the boy had produced from his small pockets.

"Wow, you were really good at saving! Let's scan these shoes, and see how much money you've got." The cashier tried to sound encouraging.

Sesshoumaru's eyes glanced at the total displayed for the shoes, and then shot a glance at the change on the counter.

Eventually, while the cashier tried counting as fast as he could, which still took a while, and surreptitiously counting a few pennies twice, he came up to the same conclusion that Sesshoumaru had had. "Son, there's not enough here for the shoes."

At that, the child frantically searched his pockets, digging for all he was worth. He came up with only lint, and started to look around, eyes searching desperately.

"Mama… she always made Christmas good at our house, even though most years she just did without." Sesshoumaru found that the kitsune's teary green eyes had turned towards him. While he was sympathetic towards the child's story, did the kitsune truly expect him, the great Sesshoumaru, to help him out?

"Tell me, sir, what am I going to do? Somehow, just somehow… I've just got to buy her these Christmas shoes! They're just her size, and I want Mama to look pretty if… if…" Oh, he did.

Sesshoumaru cursed inwardly for only a moment, and then set his own treasures on the counter besides the shoe box. When did he have such a soft heart? He used to kill those with nary a thought who were less worthy than him.

Oh, right. Rin. It was all her fault.

"Ring these up, and I will pay for all of it." Sesshoumaru said, watching as the cashier's eyes lit up with tears at the event.

The kitsune looked up at the tall inuyoukai, green eyes streaming tears again, but this time more happily. As the shoe box was placed in a bag, the kitsune smiled up at the taiyoukai, a more brilliant smile he had never seen but for on Rin.

"Mama's gonna look so great! Thank you, thank you so much!"

Sesshoumaru looked up, sighing. He had a feeling the look on that kitsune's face would stay with him for a long while. He just knew he had glimpsed a bit of heaven's love. Nothing else could explain the, and Sesshoumaru hated to admit it, good feelings that rose up at doing this good deed.

When was the last time that had happened? When he had gifted his half-brother a house as a wedding gift? Inuyasha and Kikyo had been thrilled, but even those good feelings then didn't compare to now, at the simple gift of spending a comparatively small gift for a stranger.

Maybe this little boy had been sent especially to him, by God, to remind him about what Christmas was really all about. It wasn't about presents, but the thought and love behind them. And about a really special gift, given long ago by a God whose justice was only eclipsed by his mercy and love; a gift that wasn't what was expected, but ultimately, was the one that was most needed.

Before the little boy could run out, Sesshoumaru grabbed his hand. Oddly enough, he didn't mind the accumulated dirt on the kitsune's hand, where normally he would never deign to touch something so dirty.

"Let me escort you home. I would hate for that gift to not reach its destination."

And so, the great taiyoukai, Lord Sesshoumaru of the Western Lands, walked the little boy home, listening to the boy's chatter about how beautiful his Mama was going to look and how these shoes would make her give a really big smile.

He did not escort his temporary charge to the door, as the kitsune had insisted that that would make his family worry, and he wanted this present to be wrapped up first, and it would be easier to sneak in his bedroom window, the same way he had snuck out. Instead, Sesshoumaru watched as the kitsune finally showed he was more youkai than he seemed, and jumped up to a second-story window with his package in his tiny hands.

When the child was safely inside, Sesshoumaru walked away, cataloguing the scents he smelled at the residence. As they were identified, Sesshoumaru started to frown. Well, wasn't that interesting?

* * *

Shippou was the one to answer the door early in the morning, as most of the family was asleep. His all-too-human mother definitely needed hers, and Great-Grandpa was getting old. Grandma and Souta both were up late wrapping presents. Plus, as a youkai, he generally didn't need as much sleep. It made times like these ideal for the all human family who had shown him so much love, and this was all he could do right now.

"Hello, may I speak with your mother or father, please?"

The kitsune frowned at the sight of the man on the doorstep, dressed in a suit, briefcase, and red Santa hat. "I don't have a father, and Mama's sick and needs her sleep."

That didn't deter the man. "Ah, yes, well then, can you take me to her?"

Never mind that it was Christmas, Shippou was decidedly mad. "I just said she needs her sleep! I don't know you from Adam, and Mama always told me to not let strangers in the house."

"That is good advice. Let me introduce myself. My name is Doctor Suikotsu, and I am under the employ of Lord Sesshoumaru. I am sure a fine youkai such as yourself knows of Lord Sesshoumaru?"

Shippou ignored most of his speech, and focused on one particular aspect. "Doctor? You're a doctor?"

Suikotsu nodded, and turned what Shippou thought was a briefcase and revealed it to be a doctor's bag, complete with medical insignia. "Yes, I am. And, as I said, under the employ of Lord Sesshoumaru. And your name, young man?"

The kitsune began to feel some hope. "Shippou. What would Lord Sesshoumaru want with the likes of us?"

"I have been instructed to work my, oh, let's call it magic, on your mother." Suikotsu grinned at the surprised look on the kitsune's face. "I don't know how Lord Sesshoumaru knows, but he was quite insistent that you, and your mother, receive a Christmas miracle, and I would very much like to see that happen. Now, may I go see your mother?"

Across town, a few hours and a Rin-caused tornado of wrapping paper and glee away, Sesshoumaru glanced at the text message that flashed on his phone's screen. Mission accomplished. He smiled as he realized he quite enjoyed Christmas.

* * *

A/N: This is pretty much an exact re-post of this story a year ago from ff.net.  I copied pretty much everything from that, even the author notes.  I know that some of you don't visit fanfic anymore, and I don't blame you, but I thought I'd try to share this story with you.  I know I've been a way for a while... this past semester killed me, finals sucked, and I haven't been much in a writing mood.  I'm going to TRY to write a follow-up oneshot to this soon, but please don't be mad if I don't.  I love you all, and things have just not been going my way this past semester.  Merry Christmas, and I hope you enjoyed this.  Now, to the original and very slightly modified author notes.

Merry Christmas!  As always, I encourage you to listen to the original song "Christmas Shoes," sung by Bob Carlisle. As with other Christmas songs, it's been done by other artists, but I like that version. Sesshoumaru may seem OOC here, but, hey, that's cuz it's Christmas! Even the grouchiest taiyoukai can be turned around! I also chose to end it a bit... differently. Who knows, maybe I'll write a sequel to this that involves Kagome wearing her Christmas Shoes when she's introduced to Sesshoumaru? :)

Also, I wanted to emphasize the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I believe that the greatest gift to mankind was sent to earth a little over 2000 years ago in the form of a little baby, Jesus, who would one day save us. If you want to know more about Jesus, and what I believe, then PM me. I'd love to talk about it. If not, well then, please don't flame me for it. I'm really not trying to push my beliefs on any of you.

If you liked the story, recommend it to your friends. If you didn't like it, recommend it to your enemies. :)

And, again, Merry Christmas!