Yuri sat on her futon, her blankets scattered everywhere and her pillow hugged to her chest. In her hands she held the present, still wrapped and virtually untouched, given to her today by whom she had decided was her bestest friend in the entire world. The young girl had barely said a word to anyone that day and had been careful to handle her backpack gingerly; for all she knew, Kagome's present was fragile and Yuri did not want to break it.

It was curious though; Kagome's family didn't celebrate Christmas, even if it was now considered a secular holiday in most of Japan today. Once, Yuri had worked up the nerve to ask her mother about it. Her mother had smiled that wistful, crooked smile of hers and said that it was most likely the religious implications of the holiday that stopped them from enjoying it. "It's sad, Yuri-chan, " she had murmured softly. "But remember that Kagome's grandfather is a shrine keeper. One day someone will have to take his place and some people - only some, mind you - still think that Christmas encourages Christianity. As silly as it sounds to us, Yuri, maybe he's afraid that if his descendants convert to God, there will be no one left over to watch the shrine when he's gone."

The girl fingered the delicately tied bow adorning the gift gently, her brown eyes thoughtful as she regarded the present in her lap. And yet, she thought. And yet, Kagome still remembered and gave me a gift. Just for me, even though her grandfather would be angry if he ever found out.

The thought made her smile, closing her eyes with delight before opening them again, regarding the present fondly, like she would a treasured object. Yuri still hadn't opened it; she was almost afraid to. She was still a little embarrassed after actually crying in front of Kagome, right in front of her family's shrine. Her cheeks burned just thinking about it.

The wrapping paper was generic; a crimson red with holly leaves decorating the foreground. The edge's jutted out messily, betraying the fact that gift-wrapping was not exactly Kagome's forte. Nonetheless, just looking at it made Yuri smile and she decided it might as well be time for her to open it. Christmas wasn't for a matter of days still, but yet…

Her thoughts were interrupted as a chill ran up Yuri's spine, making the back of her neck prickle. Frowning, she turned and faced the window, finding it wide open. "What? How did that happen?" She was certain it had been closed and locked when she entered her bedroom, yet there it was wide open and ushering in the bitter winter breeze. Her expression frustrated and uncertain, Yuri rose to her feet and moved towards the door to close it.

She nearly screamed as a pair of ethereally golden eyes glared back at her from the shadow of the late evening's moon.

Yuri almost tripped over herself as she scrambled backwards from the window and the hateful eyes that peered at her from beyond it's sill. The lupine gaze recalled the terrible bedtime stories her otousan used to tell her at night to scare her to sleep, of little red-cloaked girls and wolves that gobbled them up alive.

Her voice found life, but not much. When she managed to speak, her voice came out hoarse and shallow. "What… What do you want…?"

"Feh. Are all girls in this era stupid?"

Yuri blinked thrice. "What-?" The third blink brought clarity to her vision and gifted her with her golden-eyed stalker's identity: an extraordinarily pale boy with bleached- white hair and strange garb that resembled a kimono and hakama dyed a dark pink. Her terror slowly bled away as she and the strange boy matched stares, then was all together replaced with cold realization as it dawned on her just who this was. A frown touched her lips and she spoke, her voice frosted over:

"Sho-kun sent you, didn't he?"

The boy blinked. "Huh?"

Ah-ha! Yuri's eyes narrowed to thin slits as she moved forward, scowling. "He didn't, didn't he? Just to scare me, the jerk! God, I don't why I put up with him! Where is he? Downstairs, probably rolling around laughing, I bet… That's it! I'm telling Mom and Dad! I'm sick of him picking on me!" With that, Yuri whirled around and stalked towards the door, completely forgetting about her "visitor" until his voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Who's this Sho-kun?"

The question caught her off-guard. Slowly, she turned around again to face the window. The boy had moved from the tree branch outside and now perched on the windowsill, regarding her with a bored, quizzical expression. Yuri laughed uncertainly: "Oh, come on. It's a little late for that to work, don't you think?"

"No, I don't," the boy answered, his voice betraying an annoyed edge. "Who is he?"

Yuri caught the bitter reply that leapt to her tongue before it escaped. One glance at his eyes, so unbelievably yellow, and whatever cold remark she had conjured instantly died away. Her jaw went slack for a long moment, then she closed her mouth very slowly. It's not a costume! she realized, feeling her stomach tighten. His hair wasn't bleached, but the fairest of blue white, soft and flowing like clouds in the sky, and now that he was in the room she could see that it wasn't make-up that made him seem so pale. His complexion truly was that white.

"Get out." The schoolgirl's voice was tremoring dangerously. "Get out of my room now or I'll scream. I mean it. Get out."

The boy - if he was a boy - regarded her for a moment, arching a thin, white brow, then flashed her a terrible grin. His lips curled back to reveal sharp canines and bone-white teeth, whiter than his complexion, if at all possible. His eyes seemed to burn like fire, their irises no longer metallic, but alive. A claw-tipped hand reached up, taking hold of the wall, and he straightened so that he stood, silhouetted in the window. "No."

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name… "I mean it," Yuri said louder, moistening her dry lips. "Get out of my room. Get out, you… you freak! Get out!"

Something glittered in the boy's yellow eyes and the grin vanished from his face, replaced with a scowl that made little Yuri's blood run cold. She unconsciously stepped away from him, one step… two steps…

"Fine - but I'll be taking this with me!" He was lightning fast, suddenly inside the room and snatching the precious gift Yuri had abandoned on her futon at the very beginning, then leaping out the window again, vanishing into the night.

"NO!"

Yuri shrieked and darted forward, but he was already gone. The winter wind whipped through her short hair, blowing ebony strands into her eyes. Tears smarted her eyes. "No, wait! Please, come back! Don't take that! Please… oh, God… Wait…!" It was no use: the demon-boy was gone, no sign of him at all. The tears in her eyes brimmed and overflowed, dashing down her cheeks in silvery rivulets. The strength left her legs and Yuri fell, supported only by her two arms as they clutched the windowsill, a valiant effort to keep upright.

"Yuri-chan? Yuri-chan, are you all right? Yuri-chan!"

Her father's voice intruded on her thoughts as his fists knocked insistently at the door. Yuri couldn't bring herself to answer, the fear still painful in her mind and her sorrow and disbelief thick in her throat. Eventually she heard the door open and she felt her father's strong arms supporting her, sweeping her to an embrace she hadn't felt him give since she was young and little enough for him to carry her on his shoulders.

"Yuri! What happened? Are you all right? Why is the window open? Why are you crying? Yuri-chan?"

"Oyaji," she whispered tearfully into her father's shoulder. "Oyaji, I was so scared! Oh God, I was so scared…!"

Mr. Kurosawa felt something in him run cold at the pain and fright in his daughter's voice. His hug tightened, keeping her close as he stared out the window, eyes narrowed slightly against the bitter wind. "It's all right, sweetheart," he murmured gruffly, trying his best to reassure her. "It's all right. I'm here. Oyaji's here..."

"…I won't let anything hurt you."

 Inu-yasha perched atop the girl's roof, one arm cradling the crimson package and the other set beside him, keeping his balance. The night wind caught hold of his hair, flinging it back dramatically as he faced the breeze, a smile curling. That was easy, he thought. A lot easier than I expected it to be!

His keen hearing let him - no, made him - listen to the girl's wailing. He could barely screen it out and he wished that he could leave, but with her family alerted there was no way he could leave now without being detected. With the moon out, there's no way a white youkai could even fly through the indigo sky without being caught sight of. So Inu-yasha waited, fingering the present idly.

Eventually the girl's crying died down enough for him to screen it out. Her parents had arrived on the scene by now; her father, a gruff-sounding man with a gentle burr to his voice, made Inu-yasha flinch. His own father's voice had been like, rough and growling, yet always with that gentle, calming undertone when he let it bleed free. The pain in his heart made him clench his teeth and close his eyes. The girl is lucky to have a father like that.

The thought popped into his head before he could stop it. Inu-yasha shook his head quickly, clearing all the noise away and shoving it into a little black box in the back of his mind, where he could ignore it and maybe pretend he didn't remember it. Baka! He swore to himself. Lamenting over the past like some fool-headed… fool-headed human! Feh!

"…maybe out on the roof…"

The girl's father's voice interrupted Inu-yasha's conflicting thoughts. The half-demon sat straight up, his eyes widening to golden saucers. Oh shit! In a blur of motion that no human eye could keep track of, Inu-yasha leapt from the roof to the welcoming branches of a nearby tree. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled, then all fell silent as the halfling youkai crouched close to the trunk with his stomach to a branch, waiting.

Not a moment too soon. A yellow beam of light split through the night-dark air as Mr. Kurosawa climbed up on to the roof, a frown on his whiskered face as he swept the flashlight one way, then the other. "That's strange," he mused aloud. "I thought I heard something up here…"

Mr. Kurosawa searched for a while, each moment punctuated by the pounding of Inu-yasha's heart in his ears. Human or not, inconvenient or not, he didn't want to kill the girl's father! But it would be very difficult for Inu-yasha to escape without doing so and revealing himself, or putting the guy in traction… But his worries came to naught as a frown crept across Mr. Kurosawa's face and he shook his head, climbing back down the ladder and abandoning the roof in silence. Inu-yasha couldn't suppress his sigh of relief as he relaxed against the tree - and almost fell off in the process.

Swearing softly to himself, the half-youkai darted off into the night.