This was done in response to Walter205's "Christmas Challenge."
Due Date: December 14th
Min/Max Word: Min - 500 words, but has to be a oneshot or drabble.
Challenge - S/K Christmas story, but include Jaken in the role of the Grinch.
Canon/Non-Canon - Canon settings please, within the Feudel time era.
Rated: M for caution. ^^
Word count: 2,501
Summary: Who stole the presents and why?
How The What Stole Christmas?
By
Fluffy Lady
The day was fading, the sun setting in the east, as Kagome, huffing, hauled her overstuffed bag out of the well. Sweating but smiling, she dropped the faded yellow backpack on the ground as she stretched this way and that: loosening the tense muscles in her back. She smiled prettily when she felt strong, large, calloused hands replace hers and rub in just the right spots.
"Ooh..." she moaned as her lover and mate worked out a particularly tight knot. The young miko's awareness of the world around her faded, leaving her with the tunnel vision of her mate. "Sesshoumaru..." she moaned again, leaning back into his warm and caressing touch.
After a moment, she felt the hands leave her back and spin her around, pulling her flush with an armor plated chest. Cruel, thin lips crashed upon her sensuous and innocent ones as the couple were locked together in a passionate embrace. They parted only for air, and only for a short time.
Sesshoumaru growled his lust for the woman in his arms. There was nothing about her he didn't love. From her short temper, to her loud mouth even to her battle-scarred body, he loved all of her. The Daiyoukai ran his sword-calloused hands over her softly curved body, cupping her firm rear in his large palms and giving a gentle squeeze. He relished the moan she released into his mouth, releasing one of his own into hers at the way she felt in his hands. Gods above, she fit him so perfectly! The thought of the way she felt when he slid inside of her made him instantly hard.
Kagome gasped when she felt his throbbing member rub against her. Releasing a tortured breath, her eyes rolled back into her head at the way he felt. He was so big that he stretched her every time! She loved the overly-full feeling he gave her.
As the couple continued in their passionate frenzy, neither noticed the small, dark-haired child that approached the worn-out bag and began to dig through it. They only noticed the girl when she stopped and looked up at two lovers, making an insightful comment.
"Lord Sesshoumaru, is Lady Kagome hurt? Why is she moaning?" Rin asked, her head tilted to the side like a curious puppy.
"Ky--ouch!" Kagome yelled, startled by the child's presence. She jumped at the girl's voice, causing her to accidentally hit her knee on a piece of Sesshoumaru's armor and causing the Taiyoukai to bite down a little too hard on her lip. She dropped to the ground, her face flushed a bright red as she held her knee and cursed under her breath, all the while nursing a bloody lip. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! I was just about to ... and he was going to... Damn it!"
Sesshoumaru watched with a bit of concern as his mate threw a hissy-fit on the ground. Turning with a stern glare on his face, he fought against the ever-rising ire and sexual frustration. "What is it you seek, Rin? Were you not told to remain at the hut with the old priestess?" The girl's adoptive father let some of his irritation color his voice, a rare thing, but the girl knew what he meant when he did that.
"Well... Inuyasha-sama said that you were back and Lady Kagome had said that when she came back she'd have gifts! And Rin wanted to see what kind of gifts she brought so I decided to come and see. Well, when I got here Lady Kagome was moaning like she was hurt and you were grabbing her so I thought--" She would have continued if a large hand had not found its way over her mouth.
"Rin, be quiet please. Lady Kagome is fine. Now, is that the only reason you came? To see what presents she brought?" He watched as she nodded, his hand still over her mouth -just in case. "Then you will have to wait for tomorrow." He frowned slightly-nothing more than a small downward tug of his lips-at her sad look. No! I must be strong!
Kagome stood to her feet-still mumbling curses under her breath-and brushed herself off. With a sigh, she walked over to her heavy bag and lifted it, grunting a bit at its weight. Suddenly, the gravity-heavy object was taken from her hands. The young woman looked up with a smile as her lover shouldered the heavy sack of gifts. Her smile increased even more when a sleepy Rin grabbed a hold of Sesshoumaru's pants, her thumb casually stuck in her mouth, and leaned her head against his leg.
Her cerulean blue eyes glittered as she mouthed the words "Isn't she too precious?" to her mate. She giggled slightly as Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes slightly before scooping the little girl up in his arm and planting her on his hip. Instantly, the child's head was leaning on his shoulder, her eyes slowly sliding shut.
As the pair walked into the darkening hut, Kagome grinned at the out-cold monk. "He just couldn't wait, could he Sango?" she laughed.
The slayer smiled at her sister-friend. "Hai, he couldn't. Not that he knew I was going to let him grope me for an entire day without being hit. But he still couldn't wait."
Blue eyes met with honey-amber as Kagome looked in Inuyasha's direction. Even though he wasn't looking at her-or her backpack-she knew that he was curious as to what his gift was. Smiling, she took the backpack from the burdened Taiyoukai and dropped it near the small, artificial Christmas tree in the corner of the hut. She smiled at all her friends-practically her second family-as she unloaded the gifts, placing them beneath the tree. When she was through, she kicked the empty backpack into a corner near the tree.
With a happy sigh, she stood back up and smiled as she watched Sesshoumaru place his daughter on her little bedroll, close to the warming fire in the center of the hut. She flashed a coy smile in her mate's direction before darting off to the back room.
Smirking, the Taiyoukai quickly followed.
As the occupants of the hut slowly settled into sleep, none noticed the shadow depart from the edges of the room and slink to the tiny tree, glaring enviously at all the gifts wrapped in pretty paper and tied with shiny bows. The tiny figure smiled darkly as it grabbed Kagome's forgotten bag and re-stuffed it with the gifts. Using every lost drop of its strength, the being dragged the heavy backpack from the hut and out into the surrounding woods. There, panting and sweating, they dropped the handles and flopped to the ground, trying to catch their breath. As normalcy of breathing began to return, the creature slowly slipped into the realms of sleep.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Rin woke up bright and early the next morning-as most children were want to do on Christmas morning-and ran to the tree. She promptly dropped to her knees and searched all around its base, looking for the gifts that she knew should be there. Confused, she sat back up and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place and everyone seemed still happily asleep... Now really curious, she ran into her adoptive parents' room and flung herself on their bed, promptly waking the two sleeping adults up.
"Lady Kagome!" she called, shaking the older woman's shoulder, "where are the gifts you brought for Rin? I want to open my presents now!"
The priestess slowly sat up, clutching her sleeping robe to her as she tiredly rubbed her eyes. Sesshoumaru followed suit, not bothering to cover his bare chest. "What do you mean, Rin? I put them under the tree last night," she yawned.
"Nuh-uh, Rin looked all around the tree and didn't see any presents. Where did you hide them, Lady Kagome? Or did Santa come and take them back?" The little girl's lower lip started to tremble and her eyes became teary. "Rin was a good girl. She followed everything that Sesshoumaru-sama and Lady Kagome said to do. Why did Santa take the gifts back?" Tears poured over her chubby little cheeks as she continued to cry, sniffling to accent her distress.
"Oh, it's okay, Rin. I'm sure you just missed them. Besides, you've been a very good girl this year; I'm sure Santa wouldn't take your presents back." The young woman gathered the crying girl in her arms, holding her close and stroking the child's hair as she watched her mate get dressed. Once he was, she handed the nearly-sobbing ten year old over to her adoptive father and took the opportunity to dress herself before making her way to the commons of the little hut.
Once in the living room, she brought the fire back to life, stirring its stoked depths and placing a couple of logs on it, before dropping to her hands and knees. As she looked under the tree she was surprised to find that, sure enough, the presents were missing. Standing back up so fast it made her dizzy, she looked around the room trying to see if someone had moved them in the night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but her backpack was missing. With a scowl, she walked over to the Inu-hanyou and nudged him in the side with her foot.
The silver haired hanyou came awake with a start, scowling right back at the little priestess. "What do you want?" he snapped. He had been having such a good dream... Kikyou was there, alive of course, and so was every female that he had rutted with before and after the now undead priestess. And the things they could do with their hands...
"Inuyasha!" Kagome bit out, frustrated with his wondering attention. "Did you see anything strange last night?"
Jerked rudely back to the present once more, the dog-eared young man glared up at her. "No! I was asleep all night, like normal people! At least, I was after you quit your screaming and him his moaning and growling!" He smirked at the blush that invaded her face. "Damn... and that was such a good dream... Anyway, now that I'm up we might as well open presents. So give me mine!"
The priestess felt her right eyebrow begin to tick as she tried to inhale deeply in hopes of not getting angry with the half-demon. "If you would take a look around you," she growled out, "you'd know that somebody stole the gifts in the middle of the night!"
She was almost knocked flat on her back-and would have been if Sesshoumaru hadn't caught her with his free arm-as Inuyasha jumped up and rushed passed her to inspect the tree. Sure enough, the presents were gone. He swore colorfully and Sesshoumaru scowled ferociously as Kagome covered Rin's ears.
Both inu's noses tickled when the wind picked up slightly, stirring the remnants of the scent of the thief. The exchanged a look over Kagome's head and Sesshoumaru swiftly handed off a now quiet Rin to her before the brothers fled the hut. The followed their noses to just outside the village to a little copse of trees. Of course, they didn't need their noses because there were drag marks all along the dusty road. Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow at Sesshoumaru who just gave a slight shrug. Apparently their thief was a weak, incompetent idiot.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The present thief lay surrounded by the gifts, trying to decide which to open first. He picked up one wrapped in turquoise blue and chocolate brown and shook it gently. Something of medium size and weight rested within it. Putting that one down, he picked up a small blue and white envelope with a yellow astral on it with some funny lettering on the front. Setting it aside-it was small, so therefore unimportant-he continued with this routine until he had decided which gifts were most likely the best.
He didn't notice when two large shadows covered his own smaller one or when the owners of said shadows looked at each other in shock. Who would've guessed?
"Jaken," came Sesshoumaru's smooth baritone.
The little toad/imp squealed in surprise, jumping around three feet into the air before plummeting back to the earth with a dull thud. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" he cried fearfully, a hand clutched to his frantically beating heart. "You surprised this humble Jaken! Is there something you desired for me?"
Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha had matching scowls on their face as they looked down on the ugly toad-imp-thing. The two brothers advanced on the diminutive youkai, their knuckles cracking louder the closer they came.
"Oi, toad, imp, thing!" Inuyasha bit out. "Why did you steal the gifts?" He growled and cracked his knuckles again, emphasizing his shortened patience.
The green youkai suddenly became a more lime shade than his normal forest hue. However, his color paled even more when Sesshoumaru's voice once more rang out. "You have yet to answer, Jaken, and I doubt Inuyasha is in a patient mood."
Suddenly, a dam of words broke and there was no stopping the flow. Sesshoumaru was not about to place his hand over the imp, toad, thing's beak and Inuyasha wasn't any closer to doing it either. "I'm sorry!" he wailed. "I just wanted some attention... and the gifts... I was left out... nothing for the servant... always so faithful!" He went on like this for about ten minutes before he collapsed from lack of air.
The two brothers once more shared a look. Wtf? Sesshoumaru gave a light shrug, Who cares? and picked up the gifts, placing them back in the bag and hefting it over his shoulder. He turned to leave, not bothering to look back as he spoke, "We will deal with you later, Jaken." He was very satisfied with the dull thud that indicated the imp, toad, thing had fainted.
Inuyasha snickered and caught up to his brother. For a short time, they walked in quiet before Inuyasha asked a question that had bothered him since he had first seen Jaken. "Sesshoumaru? Just what kind of youkai is he? I mean, is he a toad or imp?"
"I don't know. I never bothered to find out," the elder brother said in a monotone.
The hanyou nodded, accepting the explanation. "So, Christmas was almost stolen by a thing?"
"Hn."
Inuyasha was in a fit of laughter the rest of the way back to the tiny hut.