SS-Happy holidays everyone! Hope you've all been well…me? I'm recovering from a slight fever. *sniff sniff* I'll be fine though, hopefully I won't be sick for Christmas.
Tym-We can only hope…if you're sick then you can't open presents…and if you can't open your presents…you'll never find the box of cookies I gave you!
SS-…How sweet.
Tym-And if you don't open them then how can I help you eat them?! *cries*
SS-I knew you had some kind of ulterior motive…but don't worry everyone, the gift giver in this fic isn't selfish like Tym…now really anyway…
~*~*~*~
Indulgence
One-shot
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or it's characters. Neither does my digi assistant Tyrannomon. We're just borrowing them for my little story here.
~*~*~*~
So, it's that time of the year again. When everyone is rushing to finish their holiday shopping and decorating their houses like there's no tomorrow. What about our famous team? After getting together at Tyson's house and talking about gift ideas, the group discovered that their wallets weren't quite full enough to pay for separate presents for each team member. Now, maybe it was the magic of the holiday season, or it could have been the bun he had for breakfast. For whatever reason, Tyson had a brilliant idea, one that no one (Not even Kai) could truly disagree with.
"Tyson…is this really necessary?" Kenny asked as he handed Tyson his slip of paper. The hyper blue haired boy nodded and tossed the slip in his hat with the others.
"Of course it's necessary Chief! How else are we going to do Secret Santa if we don't know who we're buying presents for?" The brunette slumped into the chair behind him sighed.
"That's not what I meant." Max popped in from the kitchen and leaned against the back of the chair.
"But you got to admit, this is one of Tyson's better ideas."
"And this is the only logical way to decide." The blonde smiled and agreed with Rei who was currently writing his name on his piece of paper. "Here Tyson, I'm done." Tyson grinned as the raven-haired boy added it to the rest, fueling his enthusiasm.
"That's the spirit Rei! Now, is that everyone? Oh, Kai are you done yet?" The bluenette was leaning against the wall, his pen and blank slip in his hand. Tyson fumed. "Come on Kai! You're part of this team too! Hurry up and finish! It's not that hard to put your name on a piece of paper, is it?" The stoic captain remained quiet and replied with a silent 'hn'. "Argh!!!" Max, Kenny, and Rei shared a laugh while Tyson grumbled.
"He does have a point though. If we want this thing to work, Kai has to participate." Max pointed out. "He's our captain, it wouldn't be right if we all got gifts and he didn't."
"True. So why don't I just write his name and put it in the Tyson's hat?" Rei shook his head, climbed off the couch and walked over to Kai.
"No need Chief, I got this one." Hearing the boy coming, Kai opened his eyes and looked at him. "Hey Kai! Mind if I borrow that paper?" Glancing down at the slip in his hand, he held it out to Rei. The younger smiled. "Thanks, how about the pen?" With a sigh, Kai handed it to him. "Ok, now I need you hand." That got some words out of him.
"What?" [So it's only one word…that's a lot for him.]
"I said, I need you hand." Before Kai could protest Rei had taken hold of the bluenette's hand, put the pen in it, and covered it with his. Using the wall behind them as a sturdy surface, Rei moved Kai's hand smoothly, spelling out his name in seconds. All the while the older boy kept his gaze on him, a light blush rising to his cheeks.
"There we go, done!" Dotting the I and adding a decorative smiley at the end, Rei removed his hand from Kai's, capped the pen, and handed the paper to Max. "Here you go." The blonde accepted it with a giggle as Kai turned away to hide the red on his face.
"Thanks Rei, you always get the job done in your own way." He tossed it into Tyson's hat.
"Well technically, Kai did write it, so I didn't do anything wrong. Now hurry up and let's start." Taking the raven-haired boy's cue, Tyson mixed up the names and started explaining his brilliant plan.
"Right, now here's how it goes."
"Tyson I think we all know how Secret Santa works…"
"Shush Kenny, I want to say it anyway. Now where was I? Oh yea! So here's how it's going to work. After I'm done shuffling up the names, we'll all pick one and that'll be the person we have to buy a gift for." Rei nodded.
"It actually is a good idea since most of us are borderline broke." Kenny shook his head.
"I'm not broke…I just don't have enough money to buy four gifts."
"In other words…we are all broke, now let me finish! Once we all get our names, we'll go to the mall and finish our shopping! Now how convenient is that? Our Christmas shopping for each other will be taken care of in one afternoon." He gave his hat one last shake.
"Yes it's ingenious, now let's pick already!" Tyson stopped and nodded.
"You're even hyper about picking names? The holiday season really perks up your spirits doesn't it Maxie?" The blonde grinned. "Ok, here we go. You can pick first since you're so enthusiastic about my idea." Max reached into his hat and pulled out a slip. After he had read the name over he looked up.
"By the way, what happens if you pick your own name?" Tyson frowned.
"You picked your name Max?" Kai scoffed.
"So much for your clever idea." Tyson glared at him as the blonde shook his head.
"No I didn't. I'm just wondering." The boy tossed the names around.
"Well, it won't happen." Rei walked up to him.
"They do have a point Tyson. What if we do pick our own name? Or the last person is left with their own slip?"
"Don't be pessimistic. It won't happen and if it does we'll figure it out later." He held out his hat to Rei. "Go ahead. Pick and see if you got your own name." Glancing from Tyson to the hat Rei sighed and picked up one of the pieces and read the name. "Well?"
"I didn't get myself." The bluenette smiled.
"See? No problem!" Turning around he faced Kenny. "Go on Chief."
"All right." Pulling out another piece of paper, the brunette nodded. "I didn't get my own name."
"And you all thought there would be a problem. Ok Kai, you're up." Sighing the captain picked up the second to last one and read the name.
'Rei.' His ruby eyes darted to the raven-haired boy who was sitting next to Max, no doubt talking about gift ideas. 'This ought to be interesting.' Tyson pulled out the last one and put his hat back on.
"I knew this was a great idea! Ok, who did I get-argh!" Everyone looked over to him.
"Did you pick yourself?" Max asked.
"No…but can I trade with someone?" The blonde laughed.
"I guess that means he got Kai." Rei nodded.
"No trading Tyson, and you're not supposed to tell anyone who your person is remember? You said earlier that it spoils the surprise." Tyson 'hmphed' and slumped into the chair. "Anyway…we should head over to the mall." Kenny stopped them.
"Wait a minute. Is there a limit to how much we can spend?"
"With our budgets I don't think so Chief." Replied Rei.
"No, hold on. I think he's on the right track."
"What do you mean Tyson?"
"I don't think we need a limit, I think we need a minimum." Rei echoed him.
"A minimum?"
"Yea, to make sure we all get each other something nice and not something cheap." Kai looked up.
"Why are you directing that to me?" Tyson crossed his arms.
"I didn't say that."
"But you meant it." Sensing another fight approaching Max spoke out.
"Ok, that sounds like a fair idea. How about a minimum of $15 dollars? I think we all have at least that much." Tyson gawked at him.
"$15 only? I think we can afford a little more then that." Rei shrugged his shoulders.
"Ok, how about $25 dollars?" Again Tyson gaped.
"You think I have $25 dollars?" Both boys sighed.
"All right Tyson…how much do you propose?"
"Hm…how about $21 bucks?" Rei stared at him.
"Why $21?"
"Uh…that's how much I have." Before another suggestion was given Kenny got up and walked over to the door.
"$21 dollars sounds good, can we go now?" Max nodded and strolled over to the brunette.
"Sounds like the best idea I've heard all afternoon." Everyone else filed out behind them.
"Hey Maxie I thought you said my Secret Santa idea was good?"
[Don't know who has who? Let's see…Kai has Rei, Rei has Max, Max has Kenny, Kenny has Tyson and Tyson has Kai. Wow, that's a mouthful ^^]
~*~
When the gang reached the mall, they walked to the center fountain. There, Tyson handed them plain, red plastic bags, another part of his plan. Kenny decided to ask about it while he folded his up.
"Care to explain this Tyson?"
"It's simple. Just put whatever you buy into it." The computer genius tilted his head.
"Yea…I already knew that that was what a bag was for…"
"No! Because if we all use the store bags we bought our gifts from, we'll know where the presents came from!"
"And that would spoil the surprise, right?" Tyson grinned.
"Now you're catching on Chief. Ok…it's almost two o'clock now, so how about we meet back here around four?" Everyone nodded. "Then let the shopping commence!" Rei shook his head as he walked off.
"I think the Christmas spirit has finally gotten to him." Kai agreed as he brushed past him.
"Thank god it only comes around once a year." Rei laughed and changed direction, heading for the escalator across from him. It was going to be a long day.
~*~
"Ok…and the grand total is…$24.45. That seems pretty good. I'm just glad that it all fits in Tyson's bag." Rei had finally finished his gift getting for Max, surprisingly it had taken longer than he had expected. Now he was putting everything into the red bag and throwing the others away. "Hm…I still have some time left, guess I can get something to eat." He got up and started walking back to the food court he passed about half an hour ago. Along the way he spotted his blonde haired teammate inside one of the stores.
'Wonder if he finished yet.' Jogging over to the store he called out to him. "Hey Max!" Said boy turned and smiled.
"Oh, hey Rei. Did you finish all your shopping?"
"Uh huh. I was just about to get some food. What about you?" The blonde shook his head.
"Not yet, I still need something to top it all off."
"I see. And you plan to get it from here?" The blue-eyed boy laughed.
"No way! I'm not made of money. All this stuff is too expensive for me." They started walking through the store, pointing out things along the way.
"Same here, not that I would get any of this anyway…oh hold up!" Rei tugged on Max's shirt, stopping him.
"What is it Rei?" Putting down his bag, the raven-haired boy reached up to one of the shelves and brought down a scarf. It was a lengthy one, but not nearly as long as Kai's. The color of choice was red, and fell like sand through his fingers. The ends were decorated with mahogany stars, and trimmed with loose strings of wool. What caught Rei's attention though was the picture woven into one of the ends, a small (You guessed it) cat adorned with a Santa hat chasing a bird. Surrounding the picture was a sentence in black lettering. 'Catch me if you can'.
"It's so soft." Rei experimentally tied it around his neck, smiling at the texture of the material.
"I didn't know you liked scarves Rei."
"After seeing Kai wear one for so long I figured they must be nice. And I definitely like this one." Max nodded.
"Then why don't you buy it Rei? Think of it as a little something extra for yourself." Thinking it over, the older boy started looking for the price tag.
"I don't know Max…do I really need it?" The blonde waved away his doubt.
"You know you'll use it, and besides, it's Christmas Rei. Indulge a little." He smiled at Max's optimism; however, his happy expression broke when he finally found the price.
"I think indulgence costs a little too much Max." He flashed the tag to his friend, who gaped in response.
"Wow…I didn't think that a little scarf like that would be so expensive." Rei sighed and took the scarf off.
"Like you said earlier, everything in this store is pricey. And this is definitely out of my ballpark." Folding it up nicely, Rei reached up and put it back on the shelf, letting his fingers linger on its soft fabric for another second before coming back to earth.
"It's out of both of our ballparks Rei." Nodding, the raven-haired boy picked up his red bag and followed Max out of the store. "Oh! But maybe you can tell your Secret Santa about it and he can get it for you." The raven-haired boy shook his head.
"We're not supposed to know who our Secret Santa is. And besides, that scarf costs too much, whoever my Secret Santa is probably can't afford it either."
"Guess you got a point there. Maybe next year." When they were a few feet from the store, Max motioned over his shoulder. "I have to go this way. I think I can finish my gift idea at a shop there. So I'll meet you back at the fountain in a few minutes, ok?" Rei nodded.
"Sure thing. See you then." Waving the blonde off, he turned and headed to the food court, never noticing the boy behind him.
~*~
"Excuse me sir, may I help you?" Nodding, he picking up a red scarf from the top shelf he nodded and handed it to her.
"Yea, can you gift wrap this?" She smiled.
"Of course I can. One moment please, I'll meet you at the register." Walking over to the counter, the boy took out his wallet and handed the girl two bills. As she rung up his change the boy took out the red bag he had put away earlier. "Here you are." She handed him the change. "Would you like a card too?" He shook his head.
"No, I already have that."
"Ok." She put the finishing touches on the ribbon and cut off the end. "Whoever you are buying this for must be really special." There was a slight pause, but a strong reply.
"Yes, yes he is." She smiled again and handed him the box.
"I'm sure he'll like it. Enjoy the rest of your day, and thank you for shopping with us!" He took the package, put it gently in the big red bag and nodded.
"Thanks." Walking out of the store, he turned and headed for the rendezvous site.
~*~
"Thank you." Rei took the drink from the counter and walked towards the fountain. It was 3:57pm according to his watch, so the others should be there soon.
"Is that part of your gift?" A little surprised, Rei looked over his shoulder and smiled.
"No, this is just for me. I already finished my shopping. What about you Kai?" The bluenette motioned to the red bag in his right hand.
"Same. It wasn't too hard." The raven-haired boy glanced at the package; whatever Kai had gotten was really small. Did it even reach the minimum?
"It doesn't seem like a lot…you only got one thing?"
"Tyson didn't add a rule about it having to be more than one item, did he?" Rei shook his head.
"No."
"Then forget about it. I just happened to find something good in one store."
"Wish I could have done that." He checked the numerous gifts in his red bag. "I think I went to seven different stores to find something Max would like and that would add up to the minimum. Oh…oops…" Kai shrugged his shoulders.
"I won't tell him." Rei looked up at him with a smile.
"Thanks. Don't want to spoil the surprise, right?"
"Hn." He nodded as they approached the fountain as well as one of their friends.
"Hey guys." The younger of the two waved back with his drink in hand.
"Hi Kenny!" He picked up the pace and sat down next to the brunette who was tying up his bag. "How long have you been here?"
"Not too long, maybe ten minutes or so."
"You must have had an easy person to buy for." He shrugged.
"I guess so." Taking his time, Kai made his way over to them and took a seat next to Rei.
"They're late." Rei checked his watch.
"Don't worry, they still have a few seconds." Glancing around, Kenny pointed to his right.
"There they are." The trio got up to meet them. "You got here just in time." Jogging over, Tyson and Max leaned on the bench and caught their breath.
"I knew we'd make it." He nudged Max's arm. "And you thought we'd be late."
"I wouldn't have cut it so close if you hadn't asked me to help with your gift." Kenny picked up his bag.
"Wait, so now Max knows who your person is? Tyson I thought you said we're not supposed to tell anyone!" Rei nodded.
"Yea, you said it would spoil the surprise. Talk about being hypocritical." The accused bluenette tried to clear his case.
"Hey! My person is probably way harder to buy for then both of yours combined. I needed some help!" Both shook their head and walked towards the door. "Really! Next year you'll want my help!" Rei, Kenny and Kai were already at the exit, deaf to Tyson's ranting. "Guys!" He and Max ran to catch up to them, his need to convince them almost as strong as his current hunger.
~*~
It was now Christmas Eve, about a week since the shopping event, and the BladeBreakers were meeting up at Tyson's house to open presents and to celebrate. They would unwrap the gifts at midnight, spend the night, and go to enjoy Christmas with their families later on, apparently it was the end of Tyson's ingenious plan.
Rei shivered as he began to jog to Tyson's house. It had begun to rain half way on his trip and he was shielding his gift under his coat, trying to keep it as dry as possible. When he reached the door he went in without knocking, for the hyper bluenette said that he would leave the gate open for them. Tyson must have heard him coming since he opened the door for him.
"Hey Rei! Looks like you got caught in the storm." Rei shook his head, loosing some of the excess water before he got the floor too wet.
"Yea, guess I should have left earlier." Tyson handed him a towel and grabbed an umbrella.
"Next time maybe you'll listen when I say to come at 6pm sharp instead of 6:15pm." Rei merely toweled off his raven locks in response to the boy's advice. "Well I'm going to close the gate."
"Hold on," Rei peeked into the living room, Kai was nowhere to be seen. "What about Kai? I don't see him." Tyson opened the umbrella and shrugged his shoulders.
"I didn't think he would actually come. I called his house a little while ago and there was no answer." Rei shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe he's on his way."
"Pff, I doubt it."
"Then maybe you should have a little more faith in your captain Tyson." He nearly jumped out of his skin at Kai's sudden appearance. Rei laughed and handed Kai the towel, as it seemed like he was caught up in the rain on his way over here as well.
"You should stop doing that Kai…that can be your New Year resolution." With that Tyson ran off to lock the gate before going back inside, leaving the two eldest bladers on the threshold.
"Come inside Kai, you don't want to catch a cold." Rei closed the door firmly behind them and wiped some of his damp tresses out of his face. "Yesterday Tyson told me to hold onto my gift until midnight, so don't put it anywhere. It's probably another part of his brilliant plan."
"Hn." Was Kai's only response as he dropped the towel on the nearby chair and followed Rei to the others.
The rest of the night went by smoothly. It was filled with holiday movies, jingles of spirited music, and a seemingly endless supply of gingerbread men, candy canes and eggnog. It was when things started to die down that Tyson took the floor.
"Ok guys, it's almost midnight…time to put the last part of my plan into action." He had asked everyone to stand near him with their gifts in hand. "Here's how it's going to work, everyone's name is written on a card and is placed somewhere in the living room. I'm going to turn the lights off and then we can put the presents where they're supposed to go and meet here again. The lights come on, we open our gifts, and that ends the Secret Santa game!" Everyone else sighed.
"Tyson, why can't we just give the person the gift? Do we really need to go through all this trouble?"
"Of course we have to Rei! It's all part of the plan. You aren't supposed to know who your Secret Santa is until you read the card!" Max poked Rei as he shook his head.
"Mine as well play along, otherwise we'll never get this over with."
"Yea, I know…" Tyson ran over to the light switch.
"Ok, everyone know where the cards are? Max's is on the couch, Rei's is on the chair, Kenny's is by the table, Kai's is next to the window and mine is by the tree. 3, 2, 1, go!" Everything went black and there was a bunch of shuffling in the room.
"OW! Who bumped into me?"
"Wasn't me Kenny, I'm done already."
"Not me, I'm next to Max."
"AH! Hey, get off of me!"
"What? Dang I'm stuck!"
"Tyson hurry and turn on the freaking lights!"
"Wait, is everyone done?" There was a unified answer.
"YES!!!"
"Ok, ok, here goes." Light thankfully returned in seconds as Tyson flicked the switch. "See, that w-wasn't too bad…" He tried to stifle a laugh at the sight before him. The other BladeBreakers obviously didn't like this idea as they were all on the carpet, having tripped, fallen, or bumped into something or someone during the drop off. Rei was flat on his stomach on Kai's back with Max's soft hair in his face. The blonde was upside down looking at the laughing Tyson with a glare in his eyes. Lucky Kenny was on top, readjusting his glasses and blinking from the sudden burst of light. Kai, who was on the bottom of the pile, drummed his fingers impatiently.
"Will you guys get off me or do you intend to use me as a chair all night?" The others quickly got up and went to their gifts before the bluenette lost it.
"Ok…so it wasn't one of my better ideas…but it got the job done!" The clock on the wall chimed signaling that it was officially the 25th. "Merry Christmas everyone! Let the gift opening begin!"
[Sorry I'm still sick-ish so let's skip to Rei ^^]
"Hey Rei, why haven't you opened yours yet?" Max asked, holding one of the stuffed turtles Rei had given him. The raven-haired boy shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. I guess I wanted to see your response before I opened mine." The blonde smiled and squeezed the fuzzy animal for emphasis.
"Well you already know I loved it. Go on already!"
"Ok, ok." Not wanting to get yelled at again, Rei began to tear off the paper seeing as there wasn't any card on the outside.
"No card? Well, by a process of elimination I'm betting your Secret Santa was Kai." Rei nodded and took off the last bit of paper.
"Guess so. Oh, here's the card." It was a plain note tucked beneath the last ribbon holding the box shut. He pulled it out and opened it.
"Rei, Indulge a little. Merry Christmas, Kai."
"What's he mean by that?" The blonde didn't have a sufficient answer.
"Why don't you just open it and find out?"
"Seems like the only thing I can do." He tugged at the silver ribbon until it came undone, then he lifted the cover and pushed the tissue aside only to gasp. Hidden under the thin sheets was the same red scarf he had seen at the store. Running his hand over the kitten on top he lifted it out of the box and held it gently. His eyes lit up.
"Hey Rei it's that scarf you wanted from the store! How cool is that?" Tying it loosely around his neck and rubbing the fabric Rei smiled.
"It's…it's amazing! But how did Kai know?" Max sat back and shrugged.
"You know Kai, he has a sixth sense or something. You should thank him." Lost for words, Rei nodded and walked over to the bluenette, who was off to the side leaning on the frame of the doorway. Kai looked up at his arrival.
"Kai…h-how did you know?" The captain smirked.
"I have my ways…don't you like it?"
"Yea, I love it! But, it's so expensive. You didn't have to."
"Isn't Christmas about getting things that you really want?" He nodded, still holding onto the end of the scarf.
"I know…but you could have just gotten me a stuffed animal or something."
"And miss the look of your face? I think this is much better. And you're welcome by the way." Realization hitting him, Rei remembered that he hadn't said thank you yet. Without warning he attached himself to Kai, hugging him tightly. "Rei…"
"Thank you! Thanks so much Kai! I absolutely love it!" Kai hadn't been ready for a semi-tackle from the boy and felt himself falling backwards.
"Rei!" Luckily the wall stopped his descent, but the boy was still holding onto him. "Rei…"
"I promise to repay you…I mean, if I got what I wanted you should too, right?" He looked up into Kai's confused ruby eyes. "What do you want Kai? I mean I know Tyson was your Secret Santa, but I doubt he got you what you wanted."
"Uh…" Sensing his unease Rei let go of him with a laugh.
"Sorry about that. But really, what do you want? I got to thank you for this scarf."
"It's Christmas Rei, you don't have to repay me."
"But…"
"Hey Rei!" He turned to meet Tyson's snickering face. "You picked a bad place to thank Kai."
"Why?" The boy only pointed up. Rei followed him and looked up with a sigh. "You're joking, right?" Max leaned against Tyson with a grin.
"It's tradition Rei! You got to kiss under the mistletoe!" He tilted his head and turned back to face Kai.
"Sorry, I didn't see that before." Putting his hands on Kai's shoulders to help with the height difference, Rei got on his tiptoes and leaned towards him, placing a soft, chaste kiss on his lips. Expecting to fully get back on the ground again, he was surprised when Kai's lips met his again, a little longer this time but nothing too intimate seeing as their teammates were watching. When he released the confused and now blushing tiger, the others laughed.
"Don't worry Rei, as long as you stay away from that doorway again, you won't have to kiss him again." Max nodded with Tyson's statement and they returned to their conversation. When Rei was on the ground again (Both physically and mentally) he glanced up at Kai. The bluenette just leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"That's all I wanted." Leaving it at that, Kai walked towards the kitchen and Rei was left with a redder blush and a smile on his face.
"Merry Christmas to me…" He hugged his scarf and strolled over to the others. It was going to be an interesting night.
~*~*~*~
SS-Actually, that's the end. ^^;; I wanted a little cliffie for the end of my holiday one-shot.
Tym-What kind of present is that?!
SS-That's how I want to end it. See now the readers can imagine what happens. They can make their own ending to fit their holiday wishes. *crickets chirp* But I guess if enough people think like you I can add a true ending next year. =) Heh, next year…that sounds so funny.
Tym-I'm just going to close up before she cracks up. Please review and happy holidays! We're going to go wrap some last minute gifts now. Ashes!
SS-Yup! See you all in 2004! ^U^