A/N: Hi all! Welcome to 'The 12 Pains of Christmas' Inuyasha style. I've decided to do a holiday fic and wait a bit on Never Fall in Love With Laboratory Escapees chapter 2.

Disclaimer: I want 'em, but that doesn't mean they're mine. And the song is from the Twisted Christmas CD.

The 12 Pains of Christmas: chapter 1

     Inuyasha grumbled as he sat in Kagome's living room. Mrs. Higurashi was there, looking at him with her eyes.

     "Feh. Fine. Just tell me what I have to do," he growled, and Kagome's mother began to jump up and down in happiness.

     "This is so great! Thanks a lot Inuyasha-niichan!" Souta cried. "Kagome! Inuyasha said he'd do it! Get off your lazy butt and let's go!"

     Kagome mumbled something about dead little brothers and levered herself off the couch. The two had just come from the Feudal Era and Kagome had just sat down to relax for a moment. But her mother had come up with the brilliant idea for the family to go chop down their own Christmas tree. Now the four of them (Jii-chan had opted to stay home, away from his granddaughter's demon friend) were making their way out to the car. They were heading to a beautiful little forest just out of town.

     Kagome sighed and watched things fly past out the car window. There goes a house…an apartment building…another house…three telephone poles. 'Oh this is so much fun,' she thought sarcastically. She had never been much of a Christmas person, deciding long ago it had become very commercialized. Sure she liked the gifts, but to her it felt like that was all it was. No longer did families care to get together and eat together, and only the select religious few went to church for the midnight mass. It made her kind of sad to think that so many people didn't care anymore.

     When her mother had suggested they all go out together, like Inuyasha was part of the family, her heart had soared. Kagome would get to tell her friend all about the importance of Christmas, and show him what it was truly all about. She was shaken out of her stupor when the car stopped and she heard her mother's shout of, "We're here!"

     "Yay! I'm gonna go find the best tree in the place. You'll see!" Souta shouted, already out of the car and disappearing into the tree line. Soon his puffy red winter coat couldn't be seen through the thick pine trees. Inuyasha was growling and cracking his knuckles, getting ready to attack his car door because it wouldn't let him out. Kagome sighed and quickly showed him how to lift the little handle and push.

     When she exited her side, she saw her mother had already vanished into the forest, too.

     "Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice was quiet.

     "Yeah?"

     "What is a 'Krismass' tree?" he seemed hesitant to ask.

     "It's a tree that we cut down and take to our house. Then we decorate it with little lights and glittery garland and ornaments. My mom will put an angel on top and then on Christmas Eve, we all set our presents for each other under the tree," she explained. She knew some people bought artificial trees, but she didn't want to confuse the poor hanyou any more than he already was.

     "Feh. I knew that," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

     Kagome made a small sound of frustration and left him standing in the parking lot. Unfortunately, he caught up to her relatively fast and started to sniff out her missing family members.

     Finally they found Souta, staring up at the top of an enormous evergreen. It must have been at least 20 feet tall. Of course, Souta didn't care that it wouldn't fit in the house. He wanted it because he thought it was the best in the whole place. Also, he wanted this excursion over as soon as possible so he could get back to his Gameboy. Eventually Mrs. Higurashi wandered over and tried to convince Souta to find another, smaller tree. It certainly didn't seem like she was getting through to him until he reluctantly left in search of another. The next one he found was only a little bit smaller, and wide enough to take up most of their living room. The next was relatively the right size, but still too wide.

     Inuyasha and Kagome were getting antsy. Kagome was just tapping her foot impatiently, but the hanyou was beginning to growl and fidget. 'Why can't the little runt just pick one already? What makes any of these trees so specially that we have to sit here for an hour thinking about it?' he thought. 'They all look the same to me.'

     "All right, Souta. We'll take this one. Inuyasha?" Mrs. Higurashi said, turning from her son to the boy standing next to her daughter.

     "Yeah?" he answered gruffly.

     "Can you…I don't know, cut this one down?" she asked.

     "Feh," was all he said before attacking the trunk of the tree. In no time the evergreen started to sway dangerously in Kagome's direction. Creaking was heard as the last inch or so of bark gave way and the tree rapidly fell. The girl wasn't paying all that much attention to the group, instead looking up into the sky as snowflakes began to fall.

     "Kagome! Move!" Inuyasha shouted, diving for the shocked girl.

     They both let out a grunt when they hit the ground, Inuyasha on top, protecting her. But when Kagome opened her eyes, she could only see his golden ones looking down at her and his silver locks framing their faces in a snowy curtain. The baseball cap that had hidden his ears had been knocked off; leaving them twitching adorably every time a flake hit them. She reached up slowly and started to rub the base of his ears, feeling a rumble grow in his chest where it was pressed to hers. His eyes drifted shut in contentment, but then snapped open again when he heard Kagome's mother say something.

     "Kagome, Inuyasha, are you both alright?"

     "Yeah, mom, I'm just fine. Inuyasha?" The girl under him answered.

     "Just dandy. Watch out next time, wench." He couldn't help it. It was his immediate reaction to push her away after what had just happened. He shoved off the ground, getting to his feet and offering Kagome a hand up. She just knocked him away, rising on her own while glaring at him. 'Uh-oh. I know that look,' he thought with dread.

     "Wait, Kagome! Don't—" but he was cut off.

     "SIT!" she shouted, watching as the magic rosary glowed for a moment before he was slammed face first into the ground. She stormed off, leaving her mother and brother to deal with the rude dog-boy. 'How dare he make it my fault…even thought it kinda was. All right it mostly was. But he didn't have to be so rude about it, did he?' she asked herself. When no little inner voice answered, she sighed. Reaching the car, she rested her back against it, waiting for her family to appear with the tree so they could head home.

     The snow was falling heavier now, coating the grass and parking lot in sparkling sugar. Everything was already becoming covered in white, and she wished her mother would hurry. It would be dangerous to try and drive in this soon. Just as she was getting ready to go find them, three figures emerged from the woods, one carrying the large blur she assumed to be their tree.

     Suddenly, the hanyou sneezed. The sound shook all the snow from the hanyou's head and the tree over his shoulder. Kagome saw that the leaves were all but blinding him, and figured one must have tickled his nose. She giggled quietly at the cute face he was making before helping strap the tree to the roof of the car for the ride home.

     ** More later. I'll try and finish this by Christmas. Expect 12 chappies, and maybe an epilogue.

The first thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me

Is finding a Christmas tree.