The Twisted Humor Of St. Nick

Now admittedly, when Inuyasha had sent Kagome to go retrieve his brother, it had been out of self defense. He still never quite understood how she did it, but his brother would do just about anything for her.

That was a major plus, if this little scheme had any hope of working.

So he was completely unprepared for the girl to come tearing down the hall and into the room, gaping like a fish and eyes wide as saucers.

“Kagome…?”

The hanyou’s hesitant voice seemed to bring her back to herself a bit, and she turned towards him, her face as rosy as the lights on the tree.

“Are you okay?”

She sputtered for a moment, before words started emerging. Not that they were terribly coherant.

“I knocked…andandand then there was sounds and doors, thentherewaslotsandlotsofgorgeousskinand…then there was towels and laughing and-”

Kikyo laid a finger over the girl’s lip to quiet her. “Honey, you’re not making any sense.”

“-and there was Sesshomaru!” she finally said in a rush.

There was a rumble of laughter from the open door behind them, and Kagome’s eyes once again resembled a deer in the headlights.

They spun…and their jaws gaped.

The male that emerged from the shadows was like nothing they had ever seen.

Inuyasha actually took a second to scent the newcomer to make certain it really was his brother, before blinking wildly in surprise.

He’d apparently only stopped long enough to get dressed…well, kinda.

He’d thrown on a snug black shirt that would have clung tightly to his beautiful body…if it was zipped. And the jeans he was almost wearing rode low on muscled hips due to the fact that he’d neglected to finish buttoning them.

There was a sudden silence in the room, as everything and everyone came to a sudden halt.

The tall inu came to a halt before the stunned girl and leaned over to nuzzle her in greeting.

Inuyasha suddenly came to his senses. “Fix your clothes, you jackass!”

Sesshomaru crossed his arms, settling his weight onto a hip…and those jeans dropped another half inch, displaying the lower curve of the stripes that wrapped just under the ilium. A silvery brow arc’d in challenge.

Every female in the room felt their heart skip a beat. Inuyasha growled.

Sesshomaru smirked and his clothing was righted in the blink of an eye. The final button slid into place with a click and a playful snap of fangs as he moved away from the astonished miko.

There was a tense moment, before Rin suddenly came through the door with the ham. Her eyes brightened and she hastily set down the platter, throwing herself at her older brother.

He caught her, squeezing her, before setting her down. And just like that, the room came back to life as everyone found their seat around the table.

Strangely, Sesshomaru’s seat was placed directly next to Kagome’s…in a rather dark corner of the room.

Inuyasha and his two co-conspirators exchanged uneasy glances as they took their seats.

The inu was acting very strange…

Granted, he’d always been partial to the miko. But he’d never…flirted…with her before. Actually, now that Inuyasha thought about it, he’d never seen his brother flirt with anyone before.

Maybe this really wasn’t such a good idea…

Koga was having similar doubts. He had originally jumped aboard the plan because he had been worried about Kagome.

When he’d met her as a pup, he’d immediately claimed her as ‘his woman’, even though he’d been all of seven years old at the time. He hadn’t really even understood the significance of such a claim. And he hadn’t known that he’d been betrothed to Ayame ever since they could walk.

He’d felt terribly guilty when he’d found out, though Kagome hadn’t been very upset, as she’d told him for years that she wasn’t his woman.

That was two years ago, and ever since then, he’d been quietly on the look out for some one to mate her.

He was certain he wanted a demon for the girl, knowing that a demon could take better care of her. He hadn’t been stupid enough, however, to tell her that he was hunting her up a mate. He well remembered the ‘rosary incident’ as it had come to be called.

When Inuyasha had suggested the currant candidate, he had been skeptical for many reasons, the main one being the demon’s well known aversion to most humans, the humans of his assorted pack being some of the very few exceptions.

Another reason being…he had been certain the demon was gay. He really had been very feminine looking. And he’d never shown an interest in a female…demon, human, or other.

Apparently that had changed.

Though he did remember that, while growing up and before Sesshomaru had left the country, Kagome was the only one who could talk the inu out of his occasional rages.

He remembered one time, when she had been only eight years old, Sesshomaru had gone off the handle about his father’s choice in summer vacationing locations. He and Izayoi had decided to vacation in France.

Months before, Sugimi had promised to take his eldest son to a class on weapons-forging in London. The younger Inu didn’t speak to his father for a week.

It was on the following Saturday afternoon, that Kagome asked Inuyasha where his brother was. His only response was a shrug. Kagome had scowled at him with all of her eight year old might and gone hunting.

She’d found him almost an hour later in his room, where he’d been all that time. Her knock had been ignored, though she went in anyways.

From what Koga later understood, Kagome had gone straight to the inu and demanded he tell her what was wrong. She hadn’t known that Sugimi had followed her up the stairs, once again intent on coaxing his son to dinner. He arrived just in time to hear his son growl about how he had wanted to go to this seminar for the last year.

The small hug the girl had given to the irritated male had driven a gasp from the father, and Kagome had turned on him. He could well imagine the lord’s shock when the pint-sized girl marched up to him, poked him in the leg, and lectured him about keeping promises. He’d been so stunned that he hadn’t even managed to defend himself.

Sesshomaru had gone to the seminar.

And he had been attached to Kagome ever since.

Now, however, sitting here and watching Kagome blush every time the male even spoke, he was apprehensive.

Why was Sesshomaru acting like a male on the make?


~@~

Kikyo was steaming. Something was going on with her boyfriend and the other two males beside him.

They were up to something, and she knew it!

She and Sango had kept careful eyes on the pair in the corner, as well as the trio in the middle.

Inuyasha was stealing nervous glances at Kagome and his brother, while Koga appeared lost in thought. Naraku was very carefully not looking at the pair as he ate his meal.

And when the table was cleared, and they all took their places around the tree, The two girls stayed within a careful distance of the two.

Kagome sat in front of the tree, this year’s designated ‘Santa’. The fluffy white trim of the hat framed her heart shaped face in a rather attractive way, Kikyo decided.

Exclamations of delight and surprise went up all over the room as people unwrapped things they had been wanting, or had never seen before.

It was as the last of the gifts was being passed around that disaster struck.

Maybe it could have been avoided if the three morons had had more knowledge of a Miko’s physiology, or maybe it was it was simply inevitable. At that moment Sesshomaru, who had been sprawled on his back before the fire, suddenly rolled upwards onto his hands and knees, scenting the air like a beast on the hunt.

His eyes closed as his body gave a faint tremor, before he began crawling…towards Kagome. The girl had her back turned to him as she bent to peak under the tree for any escaping package, rump in the air.

She suddenly stiffened as warm, callused hands wrapped around her ankles before following the line of her legs upwards, tracing over her thighs and lightly squeezing her backside before settling possessively around her waist. Those big hands pulled her back as a large, warm body settled over hers, hips pressing heavily against the curve of her ass.

There was a room wide gasp, before Inuyasha and Koga jumped to remove the male.

They were met with red, feral eyes and a vicious snarl.

They were taken aback, to say the least.

But to Sango, Kikyo, Miroku, and most especially Rin….it was all too clear what had happened.

The others found themselves herded from the room at an amazingly fast clip, the door slammed in their wake.

As Miroku placed a sealing spell over the door, Kikyo and Sango turned on the wayward males.

“Talk.”

Inuyasha winced, and Koga was glad that he wouldn’t have to deal with Kikyo’s temper when he tried to calm the miko. Though, the look in Ayame’s eyes wasn’t too promising either and Koga cringed.

The strangely animalistic growl that emerged from the priestess startled the males, and Inuyasha spilled his guts.

“We were trying to hook them up.”

Now Kikyo’s eyes narrowed in uncertainty. “That doesn’t explain why he…”

Her voice trailed off as Rin suddenly stepped forward…and buried her fist in her foolish older brother’s unprotected gut.

“You colossal MORON!”

Inuyasha gasped and doubled over while clutching his belly.

“You have no idea what you just did!”

They all turned toward the blushing, enraged girl. “Kagome’s just hit her power spike!”

Kikyo’s hand covered her mouth. “Oh, no….”

“What?! What’s happening?!” Koga’s voice was high and panicky.

Miroku seemed to be the only one able to speak, though his eyes were hard. “When a miko of unusually high power reaches the second year of her menstrual cycle, she has a power spike. Their powers unlock and they are able to achieve their full potential. Unfortunately, it also occurs during a ‘heat cycle’, and even then only the truly powerful youkai can pick up on it. Though, in almost all cases, the ‘spike’ drives the demon to battle the miko to prove who is the more powerful. It is uncommon for a miko to survive because of the types of youkai who are usually affected.”

“But Kagome’s eighteen! If she was going to have this spike-thingy, it should already have happened!” Shippo said, voicing the confusion of the rest of them.

Sango looked at him. “Kagome started her cycle late. This is her second year.”

Rin snarled at her wheezing brother. “You never pay attention, baka! Kagome is a most powerful Miko!”

“But Sesshomaru isn‘t that-”

“Sesshomaru was just given Daiyoukai status for a very good reason! He is the youngest to ever achieve such an honor!”

He’d forgotten that little fact…He felt himself turning green.

“We have to save her!” Koga growled.

Rin once again pushed him away. Her face took on an even deeper hue of red, but she continued. “There’s nothing you can do. Kagome has never been the type to hate a youkai, and she is welcomed by Sesshomaru’s beast. He will not damage her…much.”

She also didn’t want to be responsible for the wolf’s death when her brother slaughtered him for attempting to take his bitch.

“But-” Miroku’s hand on his shoulder cut off Inuyasha’s objection.

“I don’t believe he is intending to fight with her to prove who is dominant.”

Confusion…and dread…simmered in the hanyou’s amber eyes.

“Then…”

Rin gave a small shriek of frustration. “He’s going to fuck her into submission, you stupid ass!”

And that’s when the wolf hit the ground in a dead faint. He was followed not long after by an inu-hanyou who’d been knocked unconscious by his enraged girlfriend.

Naraku whimpered as three furious females converged on him

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duhn duhn duhn…