Note: I am aware
that Quatre is Arabian and probably does not celebrate Christmas. I did write
this, however, without taking that into consideration. Please forgive the
inaccuracy.
The
Twelve Days of Christmas
The snow was falling gently as two figures exited a red-bricked
house whose chimney was currently emitting white smoke. The smoke quickly
dispersed into the cold air, blending itself with the rest of the atmosphere.
The taller figure was walking gracefully
with both hands in pockets while his companion skipped playfully beside him.
Every now and then, the 'rope-like' braid behind his head would whip the back
of his unmindful companion.
"So, Trowa, how long are you going to be
out?"
"Not long."
"Are you going to be back before
Christmas?"
"...don't know"
"Have you told Quatre?"
"Yes."
"How'd he take it?"
"He's fine."
Frustration was inevitable for the braided
one who stopped his companion. He reached one hand out at Trowa. He put his
thumb on a cheek, four fingers on the other cheek and forced the uncooperative
mouth open. Looking unsuccessful, he continued, this time using both hands to
attempt to elicit a sound from the unwilling vocal chords.
"Trowa, has anyone ever told you that
you're not a very good conversationalist."
"Yes."
Duo let go of the unreceptive face and
looked at him quizzically.
"I wonder how Quatre gets along with you?"
"He manages."
Duo sighed knowing that he should have
gotten used to his silent companion by now. An irritated look crossed his face
but it faded just as quickly as it came.
"What are you going to give him for
Christmas?"
"I don't know."
Suddenly, the blank face was filled with
confusion. It was quite obvious to Duo that Trowa had no idea of what he was
going to give Quatre for Christmas. He thought for a moment and then remembered
a romantic gift that he had thought of previously.
He took his friend's arm and pulled him forward,
drawing out a surprised "Duo!"
Unfazed, Duo continued tugging and said
"Trowa, I promise you, by the time you get back, Quatre will be all over you."
******************************
"Now..." Duo was talking to himself.
"Before I look for these things, I have to know what they mean."
He opened up a dictionary and began writing
a list.
"This will be my year's good Christmas
deed!" he said proudly.
******************************
Day
One:
Quatre got up early in the morning and
opened the front door to get the daily newspaper. To his surprise, there was a
very large box with an equally large ribbon attached to it laying right before
his eyes.
"I wonder what this is?" he thought to
himself.
He picked up the card attached to the box.
"From your true love." it said.
At those words, his eyes sparkled with
mirth and his heart instantly radiated, melting with the thought of just how
sweet his true love had been.
He pulled out the ribbon and when the box
opened, it revealed a shrub of some sort with a bird attached to it on one side
and a fruit on the other. The tape that held them together was coming off as
the bird furiously tried to break free.
"What the ...?" Quatre trailed off as he
scratched his head in confusion.
******************************
On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to
me
A partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Two:
Quatre had just put aside Trowa's peculiar
gift in the backyard when the doorbell suddenly rang. Excited at Trowa's
possible return, he ran for the door and opened it. To his disappointment, it
wasn't Trowa. There was, however, another present before him.
Once again, he couldn't contain his
excitement as he opened the box.
"Ahh! It's a mutated turtle!" he shrieked.
He hesitantly looked at the gift before him
and noticed that it wasn't a mutant after all.
On his front step were two turtles, each
with a dove taped to their backs.
"Huh?" he asked no one in particular. He
just shrugged and picked up the card that had fallen on the ground. It read
"From your true love."
******************************
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to
me
Two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Three:
Quatre was having some tea in the backyard
while watching his newly acquired presents, contemplating on what Trowa had
meant by those presents.
He was immediately interrupted, however,
from his silent reverie when the doorbell rang. This time, he was not as
excited when he made his way to the door calmly.
As expected, he found another box with a
card that read "From your true love."
He opened the box and to his surprise, three
hens suddenly jumped out of it.
He fell
back from shock and picked up one of them. It had a card taped to it's back. He
plucked it out and read the message.
"Elisabeth" it read.
"Umm, he named them?" he asked himself.
He continued doing the same with the two
other hens. The next card read "Antoinette" and the last one read "Beatrix."
******************************
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to
me
Three French hens, two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Four:
Quatre wrung his fingers together and
started debating with himself if he should call Trowa and ask him about the
presents right away. He was seriously getting nervous. He didn't know when
Trowa was going to return and he honestly did not understand the unconventional
gifts.
As before, the doorbell rang. He headed for
the door and hoped that this time, it would be Trowa. Unfortunately, there it
was again, another box that had a card that read "From your true love."
He had second thoughts about opening the
box but decided that he was just becoming paranoid. He opened it and,
immediately, four birds struggled to come out of the box. They each had
telephone receivers taped on them.
Not far away, a voice could be hear yelling
"Young man! Stop playing with those poor animals!"
******************************
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to
me
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Five:
"I think that I'm going crazy!" Quatre said
to himself. He looked from left to right, up and down, and checked for anything
that would indicate otherwise.
He looked outside and noticed his growing
collection of birds. The doorbell rang again and he walked slowly to the door,
very afraid of what new type of bird he was going to get that day.
He started to doubt that it was Trowa
sending all those presents. For all he knew, it might have been some other
secret admirer with a sick, twisted mind. Yes, that was it! Trowa couldn't
possibly be that crazy to send him uncanny presents.
The person on the other side of the door
seemed to grow impatient as the doorbell rang over and over again.
Quatre grabbed the vase from a table nearby
and opened the door, intending on pounding whatever was on the other side.
Just as he was about to hit the vase on the
head of the person who had visited, his eyes met another set of familiar eyes.
He put the vase down and calmed down his growing hysteria.
"Duo, what are you doing here?"
Duo handed Quatre a small velvet box and
said, smiling brightly "From your true love."
Quatre looked at him, question evident in
his eyes.
"Your true love .... Trowa, of course!"
Quatre opened the box and his eyes sparkled
yet again as he found a golden ring carefully located within. He looked at it
lovingly from all angles and then noticed an inscription on the inner side.
"Made in China?" Quatre asked out loud,
once again confused.
The words seemed to frighten Duo as he
handed Quatre four identical boxes and ran off to an unknown direction.
"I'm not that rich, you know!" Duo said to
nobody in particular as he ran across the street.
******************************
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Six:
Quatre woke up even earlier that morning.
He walked down the stairs and held on to the handrail. Oh his fingers were the five golden rings he
had received the day before. To his surprise, his newest present had already
been left on the front door.
He didn't bother looking at the card
because he already knew what was going to be on it. He opened the box and, just
as he predicted, birds were inside, geese in particular.
"And I thought my true love gave up on
birds." he said dryly. He put a bird under each arm, intending on placing them
in the backyard together with all of Trowa's other presents. When he came back
for the four others, he was surprised to find the box filled with eggs.
"What? Is this egg laying season?" he
screamed to the top of his lungs.
******************************
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Seven:
Quatre's veins were throbbing from his
forehead. He hadn't slept well the night before because his new 'pets' were not
getting along with each other. Who knew birds could be so loud?
When the doorbell rang, he stomped to the
door, anger filling his entire being. As expected, there was another present by
the door. This time, though, it wasn't placed in a box.
His hands were shaking in annoyance as he
reached for a card stuck on one of the birds' forehead. It read "From your true
love."
He ripped the card in half and started to
pull the blow up, child swimming pool to the backyard, ignoring the protests of
the swans who were now being soaked by the unsteady flow of water.
"Seven more lovely additions!" Quatre
screamed.
"Trowa, if you wanted me to build a bird
sanctuary, then you should've just told me about it in the first place!" Each
word was said with increasing volume, getting the attention of the entire
neighborhood.
******************************
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Eight:
Duo picked up some reading glasses and
looked over a list that was on his table.
"Ok, that was eight. A few more and I'm
done."
He checked off the accomplished tasks and
bit the end of his pencil as he tried to figure out how to acquire the rest of
the things he needed.
"This is costing a lot of money!" he said.
"Those birds were easy but this ..." he
tapped his pencil on the paper "... is getting harder. Quatre should be
receiving those cows and ladies any time soon."
******************************
On the eight day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six
geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
********************
Day
Nine:
"I don't care if your true love sent these
to you, young man!" an old lady said as she was scolding Quatre. "This had
better stop, NOW!"
"Yeah!" three more angry neighbors joined
in.
"How would you explain all those women over
there?"
"...dressing them up as milkmaids! You are
a very corrupt young man!"
"...and don't forget about his nine newly
acquired private dancers."
Quatre stood in the middle and kept his
mouth closed as four furious neighbors lectured him on the 'rights of animals'
and the 'morals of proper young men'.
While listening patiently, he promised
death upon the return his true love.
******************************
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven
swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Ten:
"Duo, this better be good." Trowa's voice
was calm as he talked to Duo from the other end of the line.
"You should thank me. I've been delivering
your presents to Quatre."
"My presents?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah, remember what we talked about?"
"What?"
Trowa couldn't continue any further on the
tight rope while holding the phone. He fell off and landed gently on the net
below.
"Quatre's going to kill me." he said. "I
better find away to fix this."
He counted with his fingers and stopped on
number ten.
"Where in the world would Duo get ten lords
a-leaping?"
******************************
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids
a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Eleven:
"Ok, let's see ..." Quatre said as he was
counting his presents from the stairway.
"We're pipers." a man said.
"... and what are you supposed to do?"
Quatre asked.
"We're supposed to play pipes?"
"I know that!" Quatre was furious, rage
threatening to endanger anyone within his reach.
He was very tired and he knew that he had
to look forward to another restless day. He had to share his room and his entire household with eight milkmaids,
nine women from some dance troupe, ten Russian male ballet dancers in weird
outfits, and now he had eleven new lovely pipers.
"... and you are?" Quatre had to ask.
"Why, from your true love, of course."
Quatre, having gone through enough shocks
for the past few days, gave into his exhaustion and fainted.
His 'presents' quickly ran to his side,
including his new collection of birds who had made themselves at home in the confines
of the Christmas tree.
******************************
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to
me,
Eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine
ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese
a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
******************************
Day
Twelve:
Quatre was almost in tears as he sat
hopelessly on the floor in front of his door. In the past eleven days, he had
gone from excited, to confused, to paranoid, to absolutely furious. Now, he was
just desperate. He was desperate to rid his house of everything he had acquired
and he was also desperate to see Trowa. Twelve days had been more than enough
for him to completely loose his mind.
The doorbell rang as it had been doing ever
since he got his first gift. He took out a shotgun, almost in the brink of
hysteria, and opened the door. As soon as it opened completely, he pointed the
gun at the very first object that came into contact with it.
"Whoa!" Duo was caught off guard. "What's
wrong with you?"
"Who are you supposed to be?" Quatre didn't
answer the question.
"Why, the twelfth drummer boy, of course.
From your true love."
Quatre couldn't help but break down in
tears as he offered entry to all the elegantly dressed drummer boys that were
standing by his front door.
"What's wrong, buddy?" Duo asked.
"Trowa" was all Quatre could say between
sobs.
"Quatre! All of these are Trowa's presents.
Twelve drummers, eleven pipers, ten lords, nine ladies, eight maids, seven
swans, six geese, umm..." he paused to think.
"Five golden rings!" he exclaimed, starting
to sing the rest of the Christmas song. "Four calling birds, three French hens,
two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree!"
He finished proudly, admiring his memory
skills, but Quatre interrupted his self-admiration.
"Duo."
"Yes, Quatre?"
"Shut up!"
Before Duo could even protest the rude
remark, the back door opened and a smooth, deep, calm voice called out.
"Quatre, your true love is home!"
Quatre looked back and forgot all about his
recent death threats. Without a second thought, he quickly ran over to his true
love who was dressed in a Santa outfit. His arms clung to Trowa's neck and his
legs to the waist. He sobbed uncontrollably on Trowa's neck as Trowa glared at
Duo.
He tried to calm down the weeping bundle in
his arms and said "Merry Christmas, love."
Quatre wiped away his tears and stopped
crying, but he just clung on harder. Trowa rubbed his back in comfort and then
noticed just how disorganized his place had become since the last time he had
seen it.
Strangers were all over the place. He was
assuming they were all part of 'his' presents. They had their pillows and
blankets all over the living room. That meant that they had been staying over
for the past few days.
Birds were flying everywhere in groups that
seemed to be in battle with each other. The Christmas tree now had nests
embedded within them. Something peculiar also caught his eye. Off to the far
corner were a couple of eggs hatching.
He looked at Duo and gave him another one
of his looks that promised death. Duo just shrugged and gave Trowa a wicked
smile. He said "I told you he was going to be all over you."
Trowa smiled at his now sleeping present
and kissed him on top of his golden head.
******************************
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me,
Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten
lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans
a-swimming, six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings.
Four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle
doves
and a partridge in a pear tree!
******************************
Christmas Song from: http://www.myholidayplace.com/christmas/carols/12days.htm
