Christmas Love

Chapter 12

"It's for me..?" Flipping the card attached to the present over, he read 'For InuYasha. Merry Christmas, from Kagome', which answered his question before anyone else could.

"Thanks, Kagome.." He flashed a gentle smile towards the reincarnated priestess seated beside him before he used his sharp claws to unwrap the gift, rather nervously. His nervousness was due to that he felt everyone's eyes on him. He most certainly wasn't used to all this attention. This "Christmas" holiday of Kagome's had some weird traditions, of that much InuYasha was certain. That being said, he didn't mind the kiss that they had shared a little earlier that evening because of the mistletoe tradition, whatever that meant.

His face flushed upon seeing the beautiful kimono which had been hiding under the pink wrapping paper. It had a beautiful dark blue color to it and was elegantly decorated with a golden dog pattern. After feeling the soft fabric with his fingers, InuYasha guessed it must have been made of the finest silk. It must have been quite expensive as well because of the fine material that he guessed was rare to find, even in Kagome's era. He'd never seen a kimono quite like this one before.

"Why don't you two go try on those gorgeous kimonos so you can show us how they look on you both, dear?" asked Mrs. Higurashi, smiling at her daughter and breaking the silence that appeared after their guest had opened his only present. He was too baffled to say another word than 'thank you', a phrase he felt he could not repeat often enough to express his gratitude for the beautiful gift Kagome had gotten him. But Kagome seemed so excited to try on her brand-new kimono that she didn't notice InuYasha's loss for words. Quickly agreeing to her mother's suggestion, she took his hand in hers, and before he knew it, InuYasha was dragged up off his feet and towards another room so he could change, while Kagome disappeared up the stairs to her bedroom in a flash to try on her kimono.

Just as Kagome had thought, InuYasha looked absolutely handsome wearing that dark blue kimono, decorated with the golden dog pattern. And InuYasha certainly thought the same about her, once he laid eyes on her in the brand-new pastel pink one. But perhaps cute, or maybe even stunning was a better word to use to describe how she looked. However, he couldn't bring himself to utter such a compliment out loud. Paying others compliments had never been one of his strong suits, nor accepting comments of that nature from others, even from those people he thought of as his friends. Luckily for him, though, Mrs. Higurashi helped him express the words that he could not.

"K-Kagome, you look so-"

"My, both of you look absolutely wonderful!" With those words, Kagome's mother had left for the hallway, only to return to the living room after a few minutes, with a camera. InuYasha's white dog ears flicked and his eyebrows dipped into his signature frown. He wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of getting his picture taken, but it seemed he was outnumbered before he had the chance to state his opinion on the matter because Kagome, Souta and even their grandfather were all too quick to agree for him to protest. And so, the young couple were quickly ushered into place next to each other in front of the Christmas tree. When the picture was taken, there came a bright white flash from the camera that almost blinded InuYasha and made his ears flick so cutely again.

And the picture that was taken on that day, would most likely be seated in the Higurashi family's living room for many years, perhaps even until Kagome someday would have a family of her own, with the hanyou by her side.