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Christmas is considered the most festive and enchanting time of the year, due to all its decorations, food, romance movies, gifts, Christmas magic and snow. As it was also a date capable of bringing her entire family together, Rin looked forward to the month of December. She loved the competition of who wore the ugliest sweater, the secret friend tradition and, after she was seventeen years old, she began to like mistletoe very much, so much so that she insisted on putting at least one in her house. And that's because this small plant with green foliage was simply responsible for uniting Rin with her current husband and the great love of her life.
As a teenager, she had found herself in love with her best friend, Sesshoumaru. Inevitably Rin was afraid to tell about her recent feelings and end up being dumped, as well as losing the friendship she cherished so much. Rin was aware that it was a typical teenage drama, not least because she watched a lot of movies and, in most cases, one of the protagonists went through the same situation as her.
Even though she knew communication was key, Rin couldn't help it. Insecurity was stronger and, in the end, it always prevented her from saying anything. That's why she kept that secret for months, until Christmas arrived and, as usual, Sesshomaru's family was invited to spend the festivity with Rin, the same way she and her family spent New Year's Eve in the boy's house.
Christmas dinner went deliciously well, as well as the reveal of the secret friend was a lot of fun in front of the warm fireplace, leaving the living room floor full of boxes and wrapping papers. As everyone began to get ready for bed, Sesshomaru invited Rin to the porch for a cup of hot chocolate. This was a tradition that existed only between them, where the two enjoyed the stillness of the night and each other's company.
Sitting on a wooden bench and wrapped in a blanket to better protect themselves from the cold, Rin and Sesshoumaru watched the small snowflakes that began to fall from the sky. The girl was a little nervous and her heart was racing due to the proximity to her passion, however she tried to take a deep breath to keep calm.
A strong and frantic knock on the window glass made the two friends jump in fright and, when they looked to see who it was, they saw InuYasha, Sesshoumaru's younger brother. “ You are under a mistletoe ,” the six-year-old boy said. “ Now you need to kiss ”, he added before being dragged away by his mother, who said it was too late for a child like him to stay awake.
With her heart seeming faster than before and her face feeling red with embarrassment, Rin looked at the boy next to her and, unbelievably, he too looked a little embarrassed. One thing she had always envied about Sesshoumaru was his ability to keep his cool and unwavering facial expression in any situation. Very different from her, who was an extremely expressive girl and could never hide what she felt.
“ We don't need to kiss, you know that, don't you?”. She asked Sesshoumaru, who was staring at the small branch of mistletoe hanging high above where they were sitting.
“ Wouldn't we be going against tradition? And you like to follow them all ”, he countered, raising an eyebrow as he directed his eyes to the girl beside him.
“ Yes, I like it, but I also don't want you to do something against your will ”.
“ And who said it would be against my will? ”
This line took Rin by surprise, so much so that she was left speechless as her mind tried to understand that Sesshoumaru also wanted to kiss her.
“ By any chance, you don't want to kiss me? ”, Sesshoumaru asked, through all the silence that followed and the astonishment stamped on the girl's face, which made him feel a little sad for thinking that Rin didn't have the same interests as him.
As if returning to reality, Rin understood that her lack of response was not being well seen, so she immediately tried to take the initiative and demonstrate that she was! She really wants to kiss her best friend.
Rin grabbed Sesshomaru by the collar of his sweater and pulled him into a kiss, which started out a little awkward, but gained pace and intensity as the two let themselves be carried away by the new sensation.
After this event, many other kisses came and with them the request for a date arrived. Years passed and the engagement took place, until, after all the preparations, a beautiful and emotional beach wedding took place.
Rin and Sesshoumaru led a quiet and normal life like any other couple, full of ups and downs, until a much awaited moment for both happened: Rin became pregnant. And a big, lovely surprise came when they found out they were going to be twins.
The pregnancy went smoothly, Sesshoumaru did everything in his power to make his wife happy and comfortable — as he always did — and, in the end, holding the two girls in his arms was a unique experience for him, who promised himself that he would care for them and protect them with his life if necessary. Another unique experience was seeing Rin holding her daughters for the first time and naming them Towa and Setsuna.
Those memories would certainly be recorded not only in the male mind, but in Rin's mind as well, who felt like the happiest and most accomplished person in the world because of the family she was building alongside her husband.
A few months after the birth, another Christmas arrived and, keeping the tradition alive, Rin prepared the whole house for that time of year. Even though her daughters were very young and knew they wouldn't keep any memories of that date, Rin still wanted it to be something special, after all it was the twins' first Christmas.
For that occasion and competing — at his wife's request — in the family's ugliest sweater contest, Sesshoumaru wore a red sweater with the design of a green goblin with bulging eyes and a pointy nose. On the other hand, Rin also wore a sweater of the same color, however its print was of a dragon with two heads using reindeer horns. No one in the family understood very well where they got those clothes, but the attention was not on the couple, but on the twins.
The two girls wore overalls to keep warm — since they were still very young and Rin didn't want them to catch a cold — but the difference in the outfit was due to the print. Towa wore a white one with the print of a fuzzy dog with a Christmas hat, while Setsuna wore a lilac outfit with a horse with horns, or at least that's what Rin thought that design was. She wasn't sure, after all the white outfit was a gift from her paternal grandfather and the lilac one was a gift from Kirinmaru — Sesshoumaru's uncle.
Family photos were taken, although Sesshoumaru is not very fond of photographs and rarely smiles in any, especially when InuYasha is present; since the brothers are always teasing each other and most of the time the teasing is initiated by the youngest — although they have a good relationship in general.
When all the guests seemed to forget about that year's hosts, Sesshoumaru called for Rin to the porch of their house, while carrying the girls in his arms. Without understanding anything, the woman followed him and was surprised to hear her husband say that he would like to take a photo with just the three women in his life.
Trying not to get emotional with the simple statement, Rin pulled her cell phone out of her pants pocket and opened the camera, taking a picture of the four of them together; where Sesshoumaru showed a soft look and gentle smile, while Towa and Setsuna — in their father's arms — looked at him and smiled. To close that selfie, Rin was also smiling, but at the same time fighting the tears of joy that filled her eyes at the beautiful and cute scene she witnessed between her husband and daughters.
Knocks on the window scared the four of them, making Sesshoumaru face the person with hatred, after all his girls started crying because of the scare they took. Certainly, InuYasha should be grateful that his brother had his hands full, otherwise he would be hunted down and he would get a good punch for interrupting that family moment.
“ You are under the mistletoe ,” said the boy. “ You already know what must be done ”, smiling, InuYasha returned to the party and Sesshoumaru counted to three mentally, not believing in that boy's inconvenience.
“ Well, we must follow tradition, dear ”, Rin tried to take the situation calmly and took Towa in her arms, placing kisses on the girl's cheek, who gradually stopped crying and started laughing.
Following his wife's example, Sesshoumaru also kissed Setsuna's cheek until she stopped crying and by the end, even he was smiling.
To the sisters' delight, small snowflakes began to fall from the sky and both soon stretched out their little hands wanting to play. Sesshoumaru believed that a few minutes in the cold wouldn't hurt, so he convinced his wife to take Towa and Setsuna to touch the snow for the first time and so they did, enjoying the laughter the girls let out as they tried to catch a snowflake in their hands.
In the midst of that heart-warming scene, Rin realized how grateful she was to Christmas mistletoes, after all, that little plant that carried a simple tradition, was responsible for giving the initial and necessary push to the beautiful relationship that she and Sesshoumaru had in the present, and would carry into the future.