Mr. Taisho! You have to put on the big red suit! by MontiK

Another Normal Day

Disclaimer:The characters of InuYasha are not mine, they are property of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Yomiuri TV, Sunrise, and Viz Media. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

The young clerk, dressed festively in green tights and a red skirt, hummed happily as she dug through a large box behind the counter. A rather loud "Ah-ha!" was heard as she pulled out a pointed red hat with a bell on top and a green stripe around the hemline, then she gleefully placed it on her head with a slight tilt completing her elf ensemble. She looked around and noticed most of the customers in the half-decorated housewares department she worked in were staring at her with confused expressions. She smiled sheepishly, embarrassed that everyone had heard her outburst and promptly ducked back behind the counter with the rouse of looking for something in the box again.

A few moments later, a familiar authoritative voice saying her name brought her from her fake rummaging.

"Mr. Taisho!" came her surprised exclamation as she tried to stand up and was foiled by the edge of the counter top. "Ow...", she said while rubbing her head a bit and standing up more carefully. She smiled at her floor manager, not noticing his raised eyebrow in amusement, and greeted him cheerfully. "Mr. Taisho, good afternoon."

Hazel eyes flecked with gold gave the girl a once over speculatory look. He took in the green tights and the rather short red skirt, the pointed red boots and matching hat. "Who authorized these uniforms?" he said without a greeting in return.

Kagome fidgeted under his gaze, "Uhh... You did Mr. Taisho. Don't you remember before Thanksgiving? I showed you the catalogue for seasonal uniforms and you signed off on the ones I picked out?" She bit her lip and rung her hands watching his blank expression, hoping that he remembered and she wasn't in trouble.

He merely raised an eyebrow and quietly replied, "Indeed."

Kagome jumped suddenly as she made a slight 'eep' and dove her hands into the box of uniforms. "Mr. Taisho, I even found some things you could wear!" came her muffled explanation as she stood up with a Christmas-themed tie in one hand and a Santa hat in the other. "Here put this on!" she said while reaching over the counter to put the Santa hat on his head.

He eyed the velvety red had lined with silvery tinsel garland with disdain as he snatched it from her hand before she could put it on his head. "I will not be seen wearing a Santa hat nor that gaudy tie." he said with a light sneer at the offending green strip of cloth covered in colorful ornaments and candy canes.

Kagome felt absolutely crestfallen but decided to take it stride, knowing his moods since she's worked there for almost a year. "What about a pin? Small and unassuming but still festive?" she said with a hopeful smile.

He sighed in resignation, knowing she was persistent and wouldn't give up until he had at least one thing for the season adorning his person. "Let me see what you have in mind..."

A quick, "Yay!" was heard before she dove back into her box and came back out quickly with a small thumbnail sized snowflake pin in a plastic package. She held it up to the pocket of his suit coat speculatively and smiled, "This one's perfect! See it even matches your hair!"

He looked down at the pin for a moment and silently agreed with her, he rather liked the small pin. Normally he would take such attention to his oddly albino hair as an insult but he knew from overhearing a conversation previously that she thought his hair 'unique and quite striking'. He let a small smirk pull at his lips before nodding, "Acceptable", without making any move to take the pin from her hand.

She blinked in mild surprise before smiling and quickly taking the pin from its packaging and affixing to his pocket and making sure it was strait. "There!"

He gave another nod before a serious expression was back on his face. "Has the inventory with the new holiday wares been updated in the computers?"

"Almost done Sir, both the inventory and the decorations should be done before six tonight."

He nodded again, noting it was a little after five. He started walking away, clipboard in hand, as he said over his shoulder, "Inventory is to be done first just in case there isn't enough time."

"Yes, sir", was heard as he continued to walk away to check on the other departments on the floor.

"Fitting pin... Mr. Ice Prick gets a snowflake." came the disdainful voice behind Kagome.

"You shouldn't say stuff like that about him!" Kagome scolded. She looked over her co-worker, Ayame, in the new Christmas uniform and smiled. "Don't these look adorable!" she said while gesturing to their elf-suits.

Ayame grinned and nodded, accepting the more cheerful subject change. "We should get to that inventory though, so we can get out of here on time."

Kagome sighed and nodded just before they each turned to their respective computers entering in the information from their clipboards. They alternated helping customers and continued working for about 20 minutes.

A middle-aged woman with slightly graying hair came up to their counter, a small brown-eyed, black-haired girl clinging to her hand, "Is Mr. Taisho around?" she asked in a subdued motherly tone.

Kagome smiled at her, "You missed him not to long ago. Do you need anything specific that I could help you with?"

The woman chewed her lip a bit in indecision. "Well I'm not really sure. I need to get Rin to him. There's been a family emergency and I can't watch her until tonight like usual. Do you think he'll be back around here soon?"

Ayame jumped in to their conversation, "Oh, you never know when he'll come around so it might not be for quite a while. But we could take her until he comes back for the last check of the night, I can see you're in a hurry."

The woman smiled and led Rin around the counter, "Oh! Thank you so much! You don't know how much I appreciate this." She exclaimed.

Kagome took the quiet girl's hand and led her onto a tall stool, level with the counter. "It's nothing. Merry Christmas!"

The woman nodded and waved goodbye, "Good bye Rin and thank you again."

A tiny whisper of, "Goodbye Ms. Kaede.", was barely heard as the small girl buried her chin shyly in her chest and played with the hem of her jacket.

Both elfin clerks smiled, one handing her the previously rejected red-velvet Santa hat and the other handing her a candy-cane. "Don't worry hun; Mr. Taisho should be back in a bit."

Rin seemed to brighten up and gave a small smile and an, "okay!", while she started gleefully munching on her peppermint candy treat.