Aura caught the pup easily, used to him jumping at her by now.

"It snowed on us at the cabin," she replied. "Lots of snow."

Hisoka kept up the faint purr, more than happy to oblige Kris and let her keep scratching his ears.

Inuyasha's eyes widened comically. "Snow?!" He knew they'd just gotten snow over the winter but he loved snow. snow was awesome.

Kris grinned and moved her scratching along his neck too, curious to see how much he'd tolerate.

Aura grinned a bit.

"Lots of it," she confirmed. She glanced at Sesshoumaru and then leaned in to whisper conspiritorially into Inuyasha's ear, "And between you and me, your brother is very snuggly when he wants to be."

Hisoka let her for a few moments before rolling his shoulders a bit and shaking her hands off gently. Enough of that for now.

Inuyasha giggled and snuggled into her arms. "He is," he agreed. "It's okay, though. He won't let us tell." He grinned up at Aura.

Kris snorted quietly but stopped, resting against him instead. Hey, he was soft and warm. Although it was warm enough now that she probably didn't need to stay close to him anymore.

Not that that was going to change anything.

Aura grinned back and let him snuggle closer.

"Come on," she said, "let's go inside where it's dry." She glanced up at Sesshoumaru as she spoke.

It didn't take much longer for Hisoka to get them back to the mansion, although he did slow down a bit once they got within sight of the building, so Kris could walk if she wanted to.

Sesshomaru nodded, shifting back to his normal form so he could accompany them inside.

Inuyasha made no move to get down, however. He was quite content to let her carry him inside.

Kris didn't get down until they were basically there. Then she slid down off to the side and started walking.

Aura went inside with them, setting Inuyasha down once they were inside so she could start working her boots off. She didn't want to track wet and mud inside.

Once Kris was walking, Hisoka changed back to his humanoid form and walked with her.

"Aside from the unanticipated snowstorm," he said, "did you enjoy the weekend?"

Sesshomaru slipped off to change and make sure he was clean before he went to go see what she wanted to do. He could always make food if she was hungry.

Inuyasha bounded off to go get Shippou and play again.

"Mostly. It certainly had its high points." Kris grinned briefly.

When the pup bounced off again, Aura was already mentally preparing herself to get jumped on again. After all, only one of the boys had pounced on her when they got home, there was still one more. Once her shoes were off, though, she made her way to the bedroom to change. Real, comfortable not-camping clothes were essential.

Hisoka smiled a bit.

"Good," he replied. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Shippou realized what Aura was doing and so waited until she was in comfortable clothes and then he went to go pounce on her.

Sesshomaru snorted at them but let the pups do what they wanted.

"Next time it won't snow," Kris said, grinning briefly. "Would probably be nice and cool in the summer."

Aura was ready for the pounce, and grinned as she caught the kit.

"Hey, you," she greeted as she cuddled Shippou. "How was your weekend?"

Hisoka nodded.

"It is," he agreed. "It is a particular favorite of the general, he and his sons frequently camp in the summer."

Shippou grinned. "Good. But we missed you. And Kris. Where is she, anyway?" He blinked. He figured they'd all get back at about the same time.

Kris shivered briefly at the mention of the general. She still didn't like him.

"Well, we'll have to be sure not to get in their way."

"She's on her way," Aura replied. "She should be back any minute." Kris and Hisoka were walking together, after all, so Aura expected them to take their time.

"I can make sure there are weekends where the cabin is empty," Hisoka offered. "If you would like to go back."

Shippou nodded and settled in closer to her. "So did you have a good weekend? Did you guys get snowed in?"

Kris was quiet for a moment, contemplating. "That would be... satisfactory." She grinned briefly before she looked inside.

"I think we're going to be jumped on."

"We got snowed in a bit," Aura replied, nodding. "Not all that bad." She ran her fingers through Shippou's hair gently. "The weekend was great, otherwise."

Hisoka glanced inside as well with a slight grin.

"It seems his lordship will have to put up with the boys first," he commented.

Shippou nodded. "Good. Can we come with next time?" he asked rather hopefully. He liked camping, and he wanted to go see.

Kris grinned. "Oh, good. Maybe we can slip in a window or something. I think I'm going to go shower first."

"I don't think that's up to me, kit," Aura replied. "You need to take that up with the one in charge." She glanced at her mate.

Hisoka chuckled.

"I think Shippou is waiting to see you," he said.

"Perhaps this summer." Sesshomaru looked down at the kit for a moment.

"Summer is good." Shippou grinned broadly.

"Hnn." He glanced at Aura.

Kris shrugged. "He can come with," she said dismissively. "But I've been in the same space as a dog for far too long. It'll take weeks to get the smell out."

Aura just raised an eyebrow slightly.

"We'll see what my opinion is on camping once summer rolls around," she said. She still wasn't big on camping, and the past weekend just seemed to reinforce that.

Hisoka snorted softly.

"If you insist," he replied, in reference to her claim about the smell. He gestured to the door. "Go on and get your kit, and then go from there."

Sesshomaru chuckled quietly and inclined his head.

Kris grinned briefly and walked into the house. Shippou immediately jumped up and ran over to her, trying to tackle her. Kris just held him easily.

"I see you didn't get lost," she said to Sesshomaru, smirking.

"It would be hard," he said dryly. "For me. I'm surprised you didn't distract Hisoka to get lost."

"Now why would I do that?" Kris smirked and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to shower. I smell like dog now."

Aura let go of Shippou as Kris came in, letting the kit bounce over to the hanyou. She rolled her eyes at the banter that went on, but didn't say anything about it. It was normal by now. She did, however, step a little closer to Sesshoumaru.

Hisoka watched her go upstairs before turning his attention back to Sesshoumaru.

"If you have no need of me at the moment, milord, I am going to go and clean up, myself," he said.

"Go ahead." Sesshomaru waved his hand to indicate Hisoka should go. He knew the cat liked to keep himself clean.

A year passed quickly, and found Kris back at her house. She lived half there and half at the big mansion. But now she was spending a little more time at home; she had a new little halfling to raise, after all.

Sesshomaru peered into his room, checking on his mate and his new son. He still puffed up a little at that.

Aura was sitting on their bed, cradling their son close. His birth had been rough on her, but she'd started healing well enough and had taken to motherhood swimmingly. At the moment, she was showing the baby to Inuyasha, who had accidentally-on-purpose wandered his way in to try to get a look at the new pup.

Hisoka was spending just as much time at the mansion as away from it. He still had duties to take care of, but he'd also devoted as much time as possible to Kris and their 'improvised' family. He hadn't been surprised in the slightest when Kris had come back one day with a little hanyou in tow and told him that they were keeping the child whether he wanted to or not.

Not that he would have objected.

Going into the house, he went searching for her and found her in the kitchen.

"There you are," he said.

Sesshomaru smiled faintly and moved in to the room, standing next to the bed. He rested one hand on Aura's head before stroking her hair gently. Inuyasha beamed as he looked at the baby.

Kris looked up and smiled a little, placing the cookies on the sheet.

"Didn't know you were looking for me." She plopped the last cookie on the cookie sheet and slid it into the oven. "I trust everything's still fine over at His Bossiness's?"

Aura looked up at him and smiled softly, then turned her attention to the baby when he started to fuss. Gently, Aura nudged the little blanket aside and used a fingertip to softly rub behind one tiny puppy ear. Gradually, the pup stopped fussing and drifted back off to sleep.

Going over to Kris, Hisoka gave her a quick kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Things have quieted down for the moment," he replied. "Most of the household was awake all night."