In the Absence of Miracles by naqaashi

Deck the Halls

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Warning: The story deals with mental illness.

A/N: Many thanks to Slightly Psychotic, formerly ItsyBitsySpider, my awesome beta! Also, the characters portrayed here are Sesshoumaru and Kagome. I have deliberately avoided using their names.

Deck the Halls

The man sank into the armchair, cradling a mug of chocolate in his hands. He was humming along to the carol playing on the radio. Through the steam wafting from the liquid, he could make out a distorted feminine figure as it twirled gracelessly across the room. Occasionally, it would pause, and continue after a moment, leaving behind a picture frame or chair or some other fixture of the room smothered in Christmas greenery and glitter.

Finally, she ran out of ornamentation and teetered to a halt before him. A large grin split her lips as she proudly presented him with her masterpiece – a clumsy wreath of holly and mistletoe – and plopped it on his waiting head.

He fingered the crude twist of leaves and twine and pondered the effects of deviating. But she was poking him insistently, smile still at two hundred watts. The juice of the odd crushed berry was dribbling into his hair. The desire to rebel was rising in him and forming words and reaching the very tip of his tongue and…

He squashed it. “Now I can be your Prince Charming, and you’ll be my princess forever!” And he caught her sticky, grasping hands in his own and whirled her round till she was panting and giggling and gleefully forgetting all about her Mommy’s warning about it being bad for the tummy.

Later, as he tucked her into bed and headed for the shampoo and shower, he congratulated himself on dropping his too-small crown just thrice through the evening – though her smile had dimmed a little more with each plop to the floor. The memory threatened to burst his self-satisfied bubble and point out that wasn’t the perfect Charming after all, but he sternly pushed it away. After all, it was two less plops than last year. So he ignored the tired tears gathering under his eyeballs and congratulated himself yet again on the successful completion of another small step towards perfection and a smile bright enough to light up his world for the entire damn season. 

Reviews are highly appreciated! So please take the time to send me a line!