"Yukiko!" Shouted out a small reindeer. "Where are you?"

"I'm over here!" The girl replied. "Chopper, come look! It's snowing outside!"

"Wha?! Really?!" He shouted and trotted over to her. He found her sitting in front of a glass window with her face pressed against in. He sat down next to her and did the same.

"It's so pretty," Chopper said as he watched the snowflakes fall.

"Yeah!" Yukiko agreed. "It looks so magical!"

"Shut up, you idiots!" Shouted a shrill voice. The two giggled as they recognized the voice of Doctor Kureha. "We live on a damn winter island! It's always snowing!"

"Yes," Yukiko sang out as she stood up. "But it's not always Christmas!" She twirled around in place, but only for a few moments before she started to feel faint.

"Are you alright?!" Chopper asked in concern when he saw her face start to pale.

"Of course!" She said, sending him a huge grin. "I'm always gonna be alright if I have a doctor like you by my side."

"Calling me doctor isn't going to make me happy, you dumbass," Chopper replied with a giddy grin on his face. "Oh, that's right!" He said, growing more serious. "It's time for your medicine." Yukiko pouted.

"But I don't wanna," she said childishly.

"You have to," he said. "How can you expect to get better if you don't?" Yukiko gave him a sad smile.

"Of course, Chopper. Sorry. Doctor's orders, right?" She said softly as she followed him into Doctor Kureha's office.

"Alright, Doc," Yukiko started. "I've been feeling this fluttery feeling in my tummy and my heart has been racing a lot more often. I know I'm not a doctor, but I think I may have caught Christmas-itis." Kureha sighed.

"Why do I keep you around?" The doctor asked herself as she prepped the girl for her medicine.

"Because you're a good doctor," Yukiko answered. Kureha frowned at the girl who was sitting on one of the clinic's beds. She was swinging her legs back and forth, humming a Christmas tune as she watched Chopper organize some medical supplies.

"This is going to—." Yukiko cut Kureha off.

"Sting," she finished for her. "Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. I've been—OW!" She shouted as she felt the needle suddenly pierce through her skin, the usual burning sensation spreading across her arm.

"There was no need to be so rough. That was uncalled for," Yukiko whined as she rubbed her arm.

"You shouldn't have cut me off, you brat," Kureha told her. Chopper hopped onto the bed next to Yukiko and placed a bandaid over where the shot had been given. Her face lit up as she looked at the design of it.

"Are those candy canes?!" She shouted. "Are these Christmas bandaids?!" Yukiko jumped off of the bed, grabbing hold of Chopper and hugging him tightly. Kureha shook her head at the pair and left the room.

"You're the best Doctor ever!" Chopper reacted to the compliment as he usually did. She set him down on the floor and squatted down in front of him so that she could be face to face with him.

"Can we go outside and make snowmen?" She asked him.

"No!" He said. "You're still sick. If you go outside, it'll make it harder for you to get better!"

"Chopper," she started softly, but the reindeer didn't let her finish.

"No! No disease is incurable! You're going to get better!" Yukiko frowned as she saw tears start to gather in his eyes.

She didn't want to see him like this, but she didn't want to lie to him either—she knew that there was no 'getting better' for her anymore. She had been ill for so long. And it had only been getting worse not better.

Kureha and her both knew that she wasn't going to have much longer; Yukiko was certain Chopper knew that too, but he didn't seem too keen on accepting that reality, which didn't surprise her. They had grown so close during her time there as a live-in patient.

"Have I ever told you the story of Rudolph?" She asked him. Chopper shook his head. Yukiko grinned at his answer. She sat back down on the clinic bed with her legs crossed. Chopper followed after her and crawled into her lap. She wrapped a blanket around the two of them and Chopper snuggled into Yukiko's sweater.

"Rudolph reminds me of you a lot, y'know?" She told him.

"Huh?" He questioned looking up at her. "How?"

"Well, he's a reindeer for one thing—just like you. And he also has a strange nose." Chopper lifted up his hooves to touch his blue nose. "It was also a special nose," she continued. Chopper let his hooves fall back down

"Was it blue?" He asked quietly. Yukiko shook her head.

"It was bright red and really shiny. And it glowed like a lightbulb does." Chopper tilted his head to the side. Yukiko giggled at his reaction. "I told you it was strange."

"So what happened to him?"

"Well, the other reindeer were mean to him." Chopper frowned. "They would laugh at him because his nose was different from the rest; and they would call him all sorts of mean names. They never even let him play with them in any of their reindeer games!"

"But it's not his fault that he was different!" Chopper shouted as he looked up at Yukiko; unadulterated sadness covered his face. Yukiko grinned at him.

"I know. He didn't deserve to be treated that way. But, y'know what? He got what he did deserve in the end."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Yukiko paused; she relaxed herself and then began to sing. "One foggy Christmas eve, Santa came to say: 'Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?'" Chopper's face lit up and he started to grin at the words. Yukiko had told him all about Santa Claus so he knew that Santa Claus was a really good person.

"Then how all the reindeer loved him," Yukiko continued to sing, "as they shouted out with glee: 'Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history'."

"I'm so happy that something so good happened to him even though he was different," Chopper told Yukiko when she was done. She nodded.

"It's because he was such a good little deer; just like you are."

"Do you think that something like that could happen to me?" Chopper asked while looking down at his hooves.

"That a man who wears red will pop up and ask you to join him? Hmm. Maybe." Chopper looks back up at her with hopeful eyes.

"Will you come with me if it happens?!"

"If I can, I will," she said. The first half of her sentence echoed in Chopper's mind. He knew what she was implying. "I want you to promise me something, Chopper."

"Huh?"

"If you get a chance like that, promise me that you'll take it. Even if I can't go with you. If you have the chance to be someone's light, like Rudolph was Santa's, and you are mine, then take it." Chopper remained silent for a few moments.

"I promise," he said quietly. He watched a large smile spread across her face. She held him tightly in her arms.

"Good," she said softly.

Chopper blinked away a few tears as he recalled the memory.

"Oi! Chopper! Sanji made Christmas cookies!" Luffy shouted before shoving them all into his mouth.

"Don't tell him that if you're just going to eat them all!" Usopp screamed at him.

"That was for the ladies, you dumbass!" Sanji shouted at their captain while sending a kick his way.

"Are you alright, Chopper?" He heard someone ask. He turned to his right to see Robin next to him. "You seemed to be lost in thought." Chopper shook his head.

"I was just thinking about how much I love Christmas! And how happy I am to have you guys." Robin chuckled.

"I'm glad."