A Tale For The Holidays

katzeiason69 : Thank you for the review and I believe the two brothers will get along soon in this story.

kougaslover: I removed the section about the circumcision. My son was circumcised as a newborn and so I was thinking of him when I put it up. After reading more about Japan I found that usually the males who want to be circumcised are older or in their teens. It is more of a fad there than anything. It was not meant to be abusive so I apologize if that is what people thought it was, but it is gone now so no worries.

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And now for some more traditional songs…………

Let It Snow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
And I brought some corn for popping;
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally say good night,
How I'll hate going out in the storm;
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we're still good-bye ing,
But as long as you love me so.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

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Morning came and it was snowing again except it was the soft powdery kind that merely floated down as each individual snowflake danced casually down to earth.

Sesshoumaru liked this kind of snow as he floated towards the small village where his brother was residing leaving Jaken and Aun behind to deal with things at the castle.

Tucked in his arm was the blanket he picked for Rin. He hoped she would like it and perhaps he would stay to inquire about her well being this time. Sesshoumaru rarely stayed due to the fact he hated how the humans smelled in the village.

It wasn’t so much Inuyasha’s group of friends that stunk, but the villagers that lived with them.

Outside he saw Rin and Kohaku throwing snow at each other as Rin tried to run only to have Kohaku capture her in his arms and fell into the powdery white laughing like small children. It was amusing until they kissed.

Sesshoumaru felt his heart drop when he realized Rin was becoming a young woman and no longer was the small child that he had follow him for what seemed only a few years ago. It meant Sesshoumaru was no longer her only sun and moon any longer. Rin had found someone to fill the void he left when he departed the village leaving her to learn all she could from humans.

Rin then pushed Kohaku away playfully until she looked up and saw that her Lord was descending.

Giving Kohaku a death glare Sesshoumaru walked up to the young couple. Sesshoumaru did not like that the young man he had protected for a time had kissed his ward without his permission.

Both Rin and Kohaku stood up immediately and bowed to their Lord.

“Rin…”

Rin looked up at her Lord feeling a faint blush come to her cheeks for being caught kissing Kohaku.

“Yes Lord Sesshoumaru?”

“Go inside. Kohaku you will remain out here with me.”

Rin ran back into Kaede’s house as ordered while Kohaku stood nervously waiting for Sesshoumaru to punish him.

“You do not have my permission to kiss my ward. If you wish to court her you will do so only with my consent. Now tell me what you have to offer Rin and I will consider your worth.”

Kohaku explained that he was going to protect Rin with his life and that he had amassed some wealth from slaying demons so that he could provide for them and even showed Sesshoumaru the small house that he was building for them.

“Rin will live in a castle, not a small house here in this village. You both will come with me to my home and we will see how to use your wealth to her benefit. I approve of your courtship. You make my Rin happy and as long as she is happy you may vie for her hand.”

Kohaku smiled and bowed.

“Thank you Lord Sesshoumaru.”

Sesshoumaru just nodded.

“Where is Inuyasha?”

Kohaku bid Sesshoumaru to follow him to the tiny house that his brother and mate were residing in. Then Kohaku rushed back to Kaede’s hut to tell Rin the good news.

Sesshoumaru did not bother with knocking as he just walked into the room where his brother and Kagome slept with a tiny bundle between them.

“Inuyasha wake up.”

Sesshoumaru stated waking Inuyasha immediately as he went to grab his sword only to find he left it by the wall last night.

“Sesshoumaru……”

Inuyasha stated as he tried to get his eyes adjust ted to the light reflecting off of his Ani.

“The pup is born. You know what you must do.”

Sesshoumaru stated as he departed the house allowing his Otouto to get his wife prepared to come with him.

While standing outside, Sesshoumaru noticed the many decorations on the homes of the people in the village. It was very strange.

Inuyasha had his wife dressed, but told her to wait in the house until he was done talking to his brother. It really wasn’t the best idea to take a newborn pup out into this kind of cold. Sure Sesshoumaru could handle it, but not everyone was born with their own furry blanket wrapped around their shoulder.

“Sesshoumaru, we need to talk.”

Sesshoumaru looked down at his little brother unsure if he wanted to hear some lame excuse on why he couldn’t leave yet. Inuyasha lost the battle, it was as simple as that and he would indeed be going to the castle with him.

“Otouto, nothing you could say will change my mind. You are going home with me even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming since I will destroy this village if you refuse to come with me.”

Inuyasha frowned.

“You haven’t even heard what I was going to say.”

Sesshoumaru just stood there looking down at Inuyasha like he was a speck of dirt on the pure white snow.

“You forget I read minds.”

Inuyasha huffed.

“Well then you know why I shouldn’t be going with you. My pup has just been born and my wife needs time to rest since she just gave birth. It would be foolish to drag a human adult let alone a newborn infant across this snow covered land just to go to your castle.”

Sesshoumaru whistled and Aun came flying to the ground with a rather large chariot.

“This is for your wife and the pup as well as for your friends and my ward. The old woman may come as well, but it is up to them to decide. I will not rush you, but you will come home with me Otouto this very day so I suggest you get everyone prepared.”

At that Inuyasha went back into his house to get his wife so they could say goodbye to their friends since Inuyasha knew that Miroku and Sango were planning on staying in Kaede’s village until the taijiya village was repaired.

Kagome and Inuyasha met everyone in Kaede’s house except for Sesshoumaru who remained outside looking at the colored decorations wondering how the group was able to get such bright colors onto parchment. It had to be a spell of some sort.

The other villagers stayed in their homes until the powerful diayouki left since they did indeed fear the Lord who seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the homes that were decorated with pine branches and berries.

Meanwhile Inuyasha and the others sat together in a very crowded little house trying to find a way to keep Inuyasha and Kagome there.

“It seems your brother is now accepting you Inuyasha, but it could be a trick. We all have seen how he has tried to kill you in the past.”

Sango stated and everyone nodded.

“But, he did protect me when I was inside of Naraku’s body and he has changed a lot.”

Kagome stated defending Sesshoumaru which everyone had to admit was true.

“So anyway, we know Rin and Kohaku have to go with him. Why is it that he wants you to go Inuyasha?”

Inuyasha frowned. It was so embarrassing to admit he was weaker than his brother let alone have to admit it to his friends.

“He thinks that I am unable to beat him in a fair fight because I have lived with humans for so long. My Ani is clever enough to know that I will leave this village in order to protect everyone here. I do not have a choice, but all of you do. I would like to see you all again if nothing else. I just hate that this is happening around Christmas. We always made it such a happy time of year for all of us.”

Shippo piped up.

“Maybe Sesshoumaru will let you guys come back for Christmas. I mean we all worked so hard on making gifts to give each other and it really makes the people in this village happy to celebrate it.”

Inuyasha thought about it. Sesshoumaru didn’t say he and his family couldn’t come visit.

“I will ask him. I don’t see why he would not let us come here.”

Kagome smiled. She too would feel better if they could still keep in touch with their friends.

“Ok, than before we go you should ask Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha.”

Inuyasha nodded and headed out the door looking around for where his brother went.

“Inuyasha. What is the purpose of these?”

Sesshoumaru stated as he poked at the paper made decorations, the pine branches, and the bright red berry strings.

“Oh, that is what I came out to talk to you about. They are for this Holiday named Christmas. It is a tradition in Kagome’s family so we decided to celebrate it here every year.”

Sesshoumaru broke off a piece of pine and chewed on it a bit.

“A Holiday? What is a Holiday?”

Sesshoumaru asked. Inuyasha didn’t know how to explain it all, but had a good idea.

“Look, if you want to know what a Holiday is and learn about Christmas than you can come back here for the whole story since Miroku is the one who explains about the Holiday better than anyone.”

Sesshoumaru frowned.

“Why would I have to come here?”

Inuyasha sighed.

“Because I don’t know how to explain it.”

Sesshoumaru continued chewing on the piece of pine.

“Why do I have to come here when your wife and child are coming with me? I can learn it from her without coming here.”

Inuyasha pouted a bit.

“Look, my friends don’t want to go with us to your castle since their home is here and Christmas just isn’t the same without friends.’
“I mean do we have to stay at your castle forever or can we come visit our friends once in a while?”

Sesshoumaru took the pine out of his mouth and threw it behind him.

“You can visit if you wish, but only if you do exactly what I say you need to do when you get home Otouto. I will not have you running back here to learn more human things when it is clear that is why you are weak. You lived with humans too long. You don’t know enough about your demon side. Since Father would have wished I taught you I avoided doing so for years. I am not going to teach you for that reason since I am nothing like Father. I am only going to do so because I feel you are lacking what any decent demon is capable of. Then we will battle again and I will decide if you deserve to live much longer.”

Inuyasha growled.

“So you just want to bully me around some more. I get it.”

Sesshoumaru sighed.

“I am not bullying you. I am training you. You should not be this weak.”

Inuyasha grumbled that his Ani was a fucking bastard as he turned tail and headed back to Kaede’s hut to fetch his wife and son.