An Off-White Christmas by UnknownRandomness
Quality Family Time Leads To Reflection
Prompts: Snow Angel, Snowman, Star
Word Count: 1,030
Their tender moment probably would have turned into many tender minutes had they not been interrupted by Sesshoumaru receiving a snowball to the back of the head, courtesy of Souta. A vicious snow-feud followed, the Higurashi siblings against the great inuyoukai. He thrashed them easily. Now they were cavorting about in the darkness, trying to make snow angels, illuminated by the lights from the house.
“Seriously Angel-sama, have you never made a snow angel before?”
At his blank look, Kagome laughed.
“Well, you’ve certainly been missing out! Okay, you have to lay on your back in the snow – and it has to be a relatively deep snow drift or there won’t be enough to leave a good imprint – and you wave your arms up and down to form the wings of your angel and you open and close your legs to make the robe. Like this!”
And with reckless abandon, the miko threw herself onto the ground before moving her limbs furiously, then carefully sitting up onto her haunches and jumping out of the perfect imprint in the ground.
Sesshoumaru craned his head to one side and then the other, before decisively stating,
“I do not see the resemblance.”
Souta and Kagome rolled their eyes in unison before adopting twin grins of pure trouble. As though they had planned it, both rushed forward and pushed the inuyoukai over, his expression of mild surprise causing them to erupt in noisy giggles. Tentatively, Sesshoumaru began to wave his arms, and then rolled out of his hole, mashing one of the wings in the process. When Kagome informed him of his destructive actions, she received a gigantic snowball in the face for her trouble.
Snowmen were quickly compiled – all three had made one alone, clearly trying to outdo the other two – and daikon radishes were stolen from the kitchen for their noses. Laughter echoed around the courtyard, and Sesshoumaru basked in it, glad that they had (been forced to) amend their differences over this festive season. He really didn’t enjoy fighting with Kagome. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. He very much enjoyed the challenge of coming up with tricks to play on her, but their relationship had suffered during their war and he was glad that it was now over.
Eventually, Gramps called them back inside to have dinner and to ‘stop them from catching their deaths in the cold’. A delicious meal followed and the dai began to see the appeal in Christmas as he looked at the smiling faces around the table, heard the happy conversation and generally felt more relaxed than he had done for quite a while.
Thank you, Kagome. I understand your desire now.
“I guess it’s time to retire for now.”
Sesshoumaru blinked; startled that time had passed so quickly. Glancing outside, he noted with surprise that even with his superior eyesight he could barely make out the snowmen they had made earlier, the darkness of night had descended with a vengeance, and all over Japan, he was sure that eager children were sitting up in bed for the moment Christmas would arrive.
Glancing over at his mate, he noted her excited expression and the way she eagerly jumped up to help her mother clear away. Yep, there was one grown-up kid here who couldn’t wait for Santa to sneak in.
Once all the tidying up had finished and everyone had wished one anther good night, Kagome led the way up to her room. Upon entering, Sesshoumaru thought that perhaps he had wondered into a fun fair.
“It is a lot… pinker than this one remembers.” The demon couldn’t help but comment after he stepped inside.
Kagome’s radiant smile was accompanied by a short burst of laughter.
“Sessh, it’s always been this pink. If anything, it’s less pink since you last saw it.”
He raised a dubious brow and she giggled again, before escaping to the bathroom with a set of (pink) pajamas and the instruction,
“Try not to destroy my room, I know how much this colour offends you!”
He may have deserved that, but it didn’t stop him from sneaking a quick tickle to her ribs as she danced into the brightly lit room.
Whilst waiting for his love to come back so he could snuggle into the lacy sheets with her, Sesshoumaru stripped himself of his work clothes and quickly changed into his own night wear, before sitting on her desk and staring out of the window, thinking of his first meeting with a scared eight year old girl. It was almost ironic that they would be like this now… It had turned out better than he could have hoped.
A glimmer caught his eye, the bright light distracting him away from his viewing of the roofs of Tokyo. Glancing up at the annoyance, his golden gaze widened when he realised the light came from a star, its brightness strong enough to pierce through the smoggy atmosphere and light pollution. A vague memory of one of the movies Kagome had subjected him to flashed through his mind.
When you wish upon a star…
The Western Lord snorted. Those who were stupid enough to wish for an astronomical body to grant their desires didn’t deserve to have them, as far as he was concerned. Hard work and perseverance was far more reliable than a feverish prayer whispered in the dead of night. But as he stared up at that star, he was reminded of his mate’s tenacity and shining eyes. It was soppy and twee and all things he despised, and yet, he couldn’t really find it in himself to care. The feelings of goodwill must be especially contagious at this time of year, he reasoned.
“Just so y’know, I am not going to let you hog all the duvet, Mr. Duvet-Hogger – I have come up with a battle plan to counter your devious…” Kagome trailed off as she caught sight of Sesshoumaru’s face.
“Is something wrong?”
He smiled and held out his hand. She took it and pulled herself closer towards his seated form before kissing his neck sweetly, her perfect face illuminated by that single, burning star.
“Not at all. Quite the opposite.”