Author's Note: Happy holidays for all you kids out there. After having noticed that there's quite a number of Christmas fics out there, I decided to try tackling one of the not-often-touched holidays in this season. You know. The one with eight days and dreidels. Unfortunately, that was last week, but close enough, right?

No offense intended towards any of my Jewish brothers and sisters out there. You're all cool.

In any case, keep watching this space. There will be eight ficlets in all, one for each of the most popular 'ships in this fandom. Spread the love, right?

Day One: Ash x Misty

Outside the pokémon center, snow fell so heavily Ash could barely see much further than the edge of the street, save for the soft lights of the buildings across the way. He leaned back in the chair, staring out at the winter wonderland in thought. Part of him was feeling some sort of sadness – a vague feeling he couldn't quite define. He was missing something, but he couldn't say off the top of his head what.

Turning his head, he caught glimpses of his traveling partners. Dawn was trading tips with other trainers and showing off Piplup. Brock, meanwhile, was where Ash left him, with both hands on one of Nurse Joy's and a sonnet on his lips. Croagunk, apparently, decided to leave him alone because the Joy kept looking over her shoulder in disinterest.

He was about to get up and walk towards one of them when, across the booth, someone else slid onto the other plastic bench. Someone he didn't really expect. Snapping his head towards her, he stared at his old friend with wide eyes.

"Misty!" he cried.

Smiling, the red-head flipped back the hood of her pink snow jacket. Her face was just as beautiful as Ash remembered, except with the reddish-pink tinge of a blush on her pale cheeks (He guessed it was from the cold, although with their relationship, who could tell?), her beauty took on an added glow. As she slipped her hands out of her blue gloves, her turquoise eyes sparkled and fixed only on him.

"Hi, Ash," she said softly.

Raising his eyebrows, Ash leaned forward. "What're you doing here, Mist? Aren't you supposed to be in Cerulean City?"

She shrugged. "There's water pokémon here I want to get for the gym. Crasher Wake told me all about the buizel in Sinnoh, and I just had to get one. Oh, that reminds me!"

Slipping her bag – the familiar spheal-shaped bag – from her shoulder, she plunged one hand into its depths and pulled out a box wrapped in blue wrapping paper. She placed it on the table and slid it towards Ash.

"Happy holidays," she whispered.

He gave her a confused look, but he wasn't one to turn down a gift. Taking it, he tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box underneath.

With a gasp, he exclaimed, "Misty! How did you…? Wow!"

Cautiously, as if the thing would disintegrate if he moved it the wrong way, he pulled the ultra ball from the depths of the box. Its black and yellow top hemisphere was polished to the point where he could see himself in it, and its pale bottom half looked like pure silver. Lifting it to the light, he examined it carefully as it reflected light off its smooth shell.

"Oh wow," he breathed. "Misty, you really shouldn't've. I didn't get you anything…"

Shaking her head, she smiled broadly at him. She loved it when he acted that innocent.

"Today's all about giving, Ash," she told him. "Besides, there's something very simple that you could give me without having to run off to a store."

Ash tore his eyes away from the ball to stare at her. He blinked his dark eyes and frowned a little.

"Really?" he asked. "What's that?"

She leaned across the table, her blush reddening a little. "Oh, I think you know. It's something I think we've both wanted all this time."

"Oh yeah!"

Reaching into his pocket, Ash pulled out a battered wallet. Thumbing through its folds, he pulled out a piece of paper and passed it across the table.

"I found this when I was in Eterna City," he said. "Look! It lets you get a brand-new bike for half off!"

Misty sat back with a fwump and stared at the coupon on the table. Then, with a huff, she stood.

"Happy Hanukkah to you too, Ash," she snapped as she walked away.

In response, Ash blinked. Then, he shrugged and grabbed the ultra ball. Twirling it between his fingers, he went back to staring forlornly out the window. It was then when he finally realized what he was missing: the ability to go outside and get back to training. Sure, there was something important that just happened here, but suddenly, all he could think about was training again.

A few hours later, what Misty meant before she stormed off eventually dawned on him. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in his opinion), he was never that quick on the uptake.