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"I beg you, please, gramps! Sōta!"
Inuyasha was crouched low on the floor, a heap of red fabric with silver hair on one end and bare feet poking out the other, as he pressed his forehead into the floor of the Higurashi's living room.
"Oh, my!" said grandpa Higurashi, eyeing the hanyō with both pleasant surprise and suspicion all at once. Dogeza was not a position he ever expected to see the proud Inuyasha in. 'Perhaps this is what Kagome seeks to achieve when she says "sit boy,"' he wondered to himself.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha remained in his supplicant prostration with bated breath. A drop of sweat ran down his forehead to the tip of his nose, only to drip down onto the tatami. He stared at the wet spot as he waited for an answer, his mouth the driest it'd ever felt. He could not recall when he'd last felt his heartbeat in his throat like this—or if he'd ever had his heart beat there in the first place.
Finally, Sōta replied. "Yeah," he said, turning back to his video game. "I guess you can marry my sister. It's not like we get to choose that in this time period. You'd have to ask her fir—"
"Not so fast, young man!" grandpa Higurashi exclaimed. "Your sister is worth more than just pretty words. If Inuyasha wants to marry our Kagome, he must first prove himself worthy of her!"
Inuyasha looked up, elated. He couldn't hide the relief on his face—schooling his features had never been his forte. If all it took to gain the Higurashi's approval was to prove his mettle through combat, that was easy! He would be able to ask Kagome for her hand before dusk.
Interest piqued, Sōta turned away from his game, sharing a look with his grandfather. Grandpa Higurashi took a deep, smug breath, clearly sensing opportunity. Based on the gleam in his eye, they were thinking the same thing. Both turned leering grins on Inuyasha, whose stomach suddenly plummeted like a lead weight. They clearly had some weird intentions. Did proving one's worth mean something different in Kagome's time? Maybe he had to beat Sōta at one of his vi-di-oh games?
"Er... what do you mean?" His joy had turned to concern.
"You must succeed at three tasks before we even consider letting you ask our Kagome for something so scandalous!"
"Scandalous?!"
"Yes, scandalous!" grandpa insisted. "So you must accomplish these tasks to remain proper and avoid bringing dishonour upon our girl."
Grandpa went over to Sōta and whispered something in his ear. The young boy nodded grimly and turned to Inuyasha with a serious look. He had never seen Sōta look so grave. "First," Sōta said, pointing at Inuyasha importantly. It would have looked like childish bossiness, had it not been for the deep frown on the boy's face. "You must find us the family-sized, special Christmas edition party barrel!"
Sōta thought this was a particularly clever idea, as these special edition buckets had sold out in pre-orders well back in November. There was no way Inuyasha would find one on Christmas Eve! Then again, if there was anyone who could do it, it would be the hanyō—Sōta was sure his hero would succeed.
Inuyasha frowned. The words Sōta had said were very strange... He had heard of 'Christmas' from Kagome before. But the rest...?
"A what?”
“Oh, you know, a KFC bucket,” Sōta clarified to little success.
Inuyasha tried to decipher the strange words slowly. “Kei-fu-ji…” he mumbled to himself. “A view of Mount Fuji Monster Souvenir?"
"That's right! It's a monster bucket full of delicious seasonal treats that get hogged by only the worst people! We never get our hands on it, though we try year after year," grandpa said, weeping theatrically into the crook of his elbow.
Inuyasha nodded grimly. He felt sorry for the Higurashis, who clearly desired this bounty so badly. He would get them what they wanted. And a yōkai bucket that hoarded food and souvenirs should be easy enough to defeat, even if it did come from sacred Mount Fuji!
Grandpa Higurashi stopped crying very suddenly—all signs of crocodile tears vanished from his face. It was his turn to point dramatically at the hanyō. "Next is Christmas shopping! You must do all our last minute Christmas shopping before the shops close at 5 PM!"
"Shopping? Yeah, I guess I can handle that..." Inuyasha took the list Grandpa Higurashi had materialised out of nowhere from his hands, looking at the items. Looking at the list, this seemed an oddly easy task.
"Aaand!" Sōta and grandpa now spoke in perfect sync—something Inuyasha found particularly unnerving. "You must confess your love for Kagome in a perfect haiku poem!" they declared.
"Huh?!" Inuyasha's eyes went wide. A poem? He could barely read, much less compose a poem! That was all courtier stuff. He'd never been interested in it. When he and his mother were shunned by the nobility, he'd always been excluded from those stuffy lessons anyway. Composing the poem, by far, would be the hardest task. Inuyasha swallowed hard, but his throat refused to cooperate.
Behind him, the door slid open. A sweet, gentle fragrance wafted in, one he knew well. Had he not been so concerned with the challenges ahead of him, he would have noticed it sooner.
"Oh, Inuyasha! What a surprise!"
Kagome had arrived, smelling of her wonderful self and the cold winter air. Her arms were heavy with bags of produce from the supermarket—food for the evening’s festivities.
Inuyasha's heart leapt into his throat and his stomach exploded into the fluttering butterflies. He almost felt queasy from it. He had hoped to ask her for her hand when she got home, but... He glanced back at Sōta and grandpa. No. He had tasks to accomplish first. He would prove he could be a reliable husband to her and that he could make her happy! He turned his glare on Kagome—glowering severely to cover his nerves—but the faint blush dusting his cheeks was beyond his control. He could only hope she wouldn't notice.
"Yeah, er... Hi, Kagome. How are you faring this morning?"
Kagome titled her head to the side like a curious cat. What was up with Inuyasha? His speech had never been this stilted and formal before. He had to be hiding something."I'm... fine, I guess," she said, putting down her bags of shopping. "Are you staying for supper then?"
"Apologies, but I cannot. I must go and slay a bucket demon."
"A... what?"
Before she could get an answer, Inuyasha had jumped out of the living room window and vanished into the grey winter sky.
"What's gotten into him?"
"How should I know?" Sōta shrugged, looking completely innocent—which, of course, meant he was anything but.
"That boy is a complete mystery," grandpa agreed, taking a sip of his tea. Kagome eyed them suspiciously but said nothing. She had only come to drop off the groceries. She still had last minute Christmas shopping to do.
...
"What's that guy doing?"
"Must be a cosplay thing…"
The girls behind the information counter at Marui Marui looked at the strange man sniffing the floor. Clad in red, the strange man wore a violet baseball cap low over his face, his long mane of silver cascading down his back. That just... wasn't normal.
"Is he a gangster?" one of the girls whispered to the other when the stranger suddenly stopped sniffing around to get right up in her face.
"Eeek!" the girl squeaked, shrinking behind the counter as far as physically possible.
"Hey," the man said gruffly.
"Y—yes?"
"Is this OiOi?"
The shop girl blinked, confused. "Th—this is Marui Marui, if that's what you mean...?"
Inuyasha's nose wrinkled. This was the only store that matched grandpa Higurashi's description. He looked at the list he had been given and the letters forming the name of the store. It clearly said OiOi—and Inuyasha had seen a sign saying exactly that outside the building. This had to be right, he thought.
He sighed and held grandpa's shopping list up to the girl's nose. He didn't know half the items on the list and hoped the shop girls might help him. He'd gone back to the Higurashi household once Kagome had left, but no one really elaborated on what he was supposed to get. Mrs. Higurashi had apologised for his trouble and thanked him in advance for his help. Then, she’d told him what a wonderful idea these tasks were and handed him a hard pink and white square—made of that stuff Kagome called "plastic"—and told him that he could use it as payment.
"Just tap it when they tell you, dear," she'd said.
"Do y’all have this stuff?" he asked the girls behind the counter.
"Erm... I can go have a look."
"Great. Here."
He gave her the plastic square Mrs. Higurashi had given him. The shop girl gave him a confused look. "We don't need your credit card yet, sir."
"My what?"
"Your card, sir," the girl repeated, pointing at the square in his hand. "You'll only need it at the time of payment, should you choose to buy anything."
The shop girl shuffled off with the list, while the other girl eyed Inuyasha warily, back pressed against the wall behind her.
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey, are you okay?"
The girl nodded frantically, though there were tears in her eyes. Inuyasha felt a little sorry. He seemed to have that effect on a lot of people in Kagome's time. Then again, people feared hanyō in his time, too. He couldn't blame her.
"I'm not a bad hany—" Inuyasha realized he'd never heard anyone say 'hanyō' in Kagome's time. But he heard 'gangster' whispered behind his back everywhere he went. It was a word Kagome's friends sometimes used, too. It had to be a modern word for yōkai.
"You don’t need to be scared," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "I'm not a bad gangster."
The girl looked about ready to faint.
At that same moment, his nose caught a familiar fragrance. It was the only scent in the world that could make his heart beat so wildly it made his head spin. He jumped behind the counter with the distressed shopgirl, who turned bright red and squeaked like a mouse.
"Shh!" he breathed, ducking low behind the counter. He peered over the edge to see Kagome buying something at a perfume counter nearby. His cheeks grew hot as he watched her smile at the shop attendant. His mind went foggy whenever he looked upon that pretty, gentle curve of the lip. Redder than his kimono, Inuyasha waited until Kagome turned her back and disappeared further into the store.
When the coast was clear, he turned back to the shop girl next to him. "Hey... Do you know where I can find a view of Mount Fuji monster souvenir?"
The shopgirl blinked in confusion.
The girl blinked in confusion. "A kei-fuji-bake-what?" She repeated the syllables slowly to herself. The realisation dawned on her, eyes going bright. "Do you mean a 'party barrel?'"
Inuyasha recalled that Sōta had used that strange word before, too. Surely, they were talking about the same thing. "Yeah, that," he nodded. "I have to defeat one."
The shop girl almost choked in her efforts not to burst into laughter. Who fought against a bucket of food? The man had to be a foreigner and something was getting lost in translation. It was the only plausible explanation. She schooled her features in her best customer service expression, but the edges of her mouth still twitched slightly.
"Erm... you'll want to ask at a KFC Store." She took out a piece of paper and wrote out the letters. "There is a store across the street. Look for these characters on a sign and ask at the shop."
Inuyasha gave her a polite and deathly serious nod. "Great, thanks."
"Er... sir?" The first shop girl had returned. She had her arms full of stuff. "I've found everything you requested."
He peaked over the edge of the information counter, ensuring Kagome was nowhere to be seen. He thought he could still smell her, though it was hard to tell through the plethora of other scents in the Marui Marui building. The coast looked clear enough. He emerged from behind the counter.
"Thanks," he told the shop girl sincerely. "Do you need this now?" He handed her the plastic square.
The girl gave a strained smile. "Sure, just let me ring you up first."
She brought Inuyasha to a different counter where she ran a fancy pan, one of those books Sōta liked to read, something that smelled horribly medicinal for grandpa, and, finally, something pink and dainty with 'Cosme Princess' written across it in sparkly lettering in front of something that beeped horribly. His ears ached from the high pitch. Someone at the end of the till started to wrap everything in colourful paper. She placed everything in a bag and gave Inuyasha a practised smile. "That will be eighteen thousand yen, sir. Please tap your credit card now,” she said, pointing at a black box with glowing numbers. Inuyasha did as he was told, so concentrated on getting it right that he didn’t notice the familiar presence nearby.
Just two counters over, Kagome was perusing a stand with medical heating pads, thinking one would be suitable for her grandfather. Looking up for just a moment, she saw a flash of red, along with what she thought was silver hair. Her eyes went wide with horror. What the hell was Inuyasha doing here?!
Silver-hair turned around. It was a tall young woman in a silvery-white wig and red velvet suit. Kagome realised the girl had to be one of Santa's elves. And she had suspected Inuyasha. She felt a pang of guilt for coming to the wrong conclusion, not noticing the hanyō sneaking out of the store behind her.
By evening, a gentle, fluffy snow had started to fall. Kagome, arms laden with gifts and trinkets, nudged the front door of her house open with her elbow.
"I'm back!" she called into the house. "Merry Christmas!"
She heard wild scrambling from the living room, but the hallway remained otherwise dark. Her eyebrows rose.
"Mom? Grandpa? Sōta?"
There was no answer.
"Hellooooo?"
The door to the living room slid open and was hastily closed again. But not before someone had forcefully stumbled into the hallway.
Kagome blinked. She thought she was hallucinating. Before her stood a tall young man, handsome with cute, fuzzy dog-ears—blushing fiercely. The golden eyes and strong brows definitely belonged to Inuyasha, but... His silver hair was worn back in a braid and—
"What in the world are you wearing?"
"Huh?" Inuyasha's face went from pink to nearly fuchsia with embarrassment. "Your grandpa said... He said I had to wear this if I wanted to do things right."
Kagome swallowed a giggle. She recognised the outfit now. Inuyasha was decked out in a teal suit with a satin trim and a flouncy collar. It was the same suit grandpa was wearing in the photo of her dad's elementary school graduation. It looked lurid and awful, but—with his silver hair and pouty mien—Inuyasha almost pulled it off. He looked very cute, at least.
"Do what right?" Kagome was finally able to speak without the chance of a laugh slipping through. She wondered what had gotten into Inuyasha—and why in the world he was wearing that suit.
"Erm... Kagome..."
The words seemed stuck in his throat. His eyes softened into pools of molten gold as his gaze found hers. It was Kagome's turn to blush. She felt the heat creeping into her cheeks like steam rising from a boiling pot.
Inuyasha cleared his throat and tried again. "... Kagome..."
"What is it?"
He pointedly looked away, his eyes suddenly looking far above her head.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to compose a haiku—"
"Wait... what!?"
"And I know I didn't actually defeat the souvenir monster from Fuji."
"Huh!?"
"But I will forever regret it if I do not try. So, please, forgive me for being out of line, Kagome. But I... I'd like to ask you for your hrnnmmarrj." His words faded into an unintelligible mumble.
"My what?"
Inuyasha tightened his fists and closed his eyes as he endeavoured to speak clearly. "I'm asking you for your hand in marriage!" he all but yelled.
The silence that rang through the hallway after his request was louder than any shout. Kagome looked up at Inuyasha unblinkingly, as if frozen. Inuyasha's heart pounded like a war drum, painfully bruising his ribs as he waited for her answer with bated breath. Her lack of reaction was making him twitchy.
"Look, I... I know I didn't succeed at the three tasks, but your mother said—"
"Tasks?"
It wasn’t the reaction Inuyasha had hoped for, but at least she’d said something and was no longer frozen on the spot. "Yeah. Sōta and your grandad said I'm only allowed to ask you for… you know… They said I had to accomplish three tasks. And I…" he couldn't quite finish, embarrassed. A fang poked out as he bit his lip, his gaze lowered as he braced for rejection.
"You idiot."
The word struck Inuyasha like a stab wound. He should have known. She had finally realised she was too good for him. He could never deserve her…
"Next time, just ask me directly."
"Wha—?"
Before he could say any more, he felt her gentle hands clasp around the back of his neck. He couldn't tell if she was pulling him down or if she was bracing against him to get up on her tiptoes, but her lips met his faster than he was ready for. Despite the softness of her lips, Kagome was kissing him with a fierceness he hadn't felt from her before. If he'd had any lingering doubts about her being the same as Kikyō—not that he had any—this proved definitively that she was her own amazing, wonderful person. Kagome was the woman he loved.
Inuyasha melted into her kiss, his tongue slipping past her lips—seeking her warmth and that sweet taste that was hers alone.
They stayed in the hallway, kissing passionately for what seemed like an eternity. They neither knew nor cared.
Finally, they broke away from each other, both panting for air.
"So...?" Inuyasha asked between gasps. "Does that mean—?"
The door to the hallway opened again and Sōta poked his head out.
"Hey, you two, hurry up! The poor smashed KFC party barrel is getting cold."
"Smashed KFC barrel?"
Inuyasha looked away, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
"Yeah, heh... long story..."
FINIS.