Christmas at Kamiya Dojo, a rurouni kenshin fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters.

This is a Christmas one-off fic.

Christmas at Kamiya Dojo

Christmas was something fairly new in Japan in the early Meiji era. So it would be no surprise that the three guys of Kamiya dojo scratched their heads when Kaoru brought up the idea. For a while there was a silence then… "C-Christmas party?" Kenshin queried cautiously and braced himself for an outburst.

"Hai!"Kaoru chirped. "I've invited Yutarou-kun and his mentor, Doctor Hans, over for Christmas. I guess Doctor Hans might feel a little homesick at this time of the year, so I decided we are going to celebrate Christmas with him the way they do in his country." Yutaro had returned unexpectedly in summer with his mentor, Doctor Hans. The German doctor was now a lecturer of modern medicine at the newly established medical department at the Tokyo University.

"Kaoru-dono, we don't have any idea how they celebrate Christmas in Germany…" Kenshin said.

"What's this Christmas thingy? Do we get to eat good food and drink, like at Tae's?" Sano stretched lazily. "More work for us… How come you are being so nice to Yuta- OW!" Yahiko yelped as Kaoru ground a fist into his head. "Stop being so selfish, Yahiko! Besides, Yutarou will be helping us. He knows how they celebrate Christmas in the West…"

Days later, Sano stopped in front of a tall tree. "Is this the tree?"

Kenshin glanced at the picture Kaoru had provided him with. It showed a smiling Western family gathered around a Christmas tree alight with candles and tinsel. "Nope," he shook his head. "We'll never find a tree like that in the forest…" Sano hefted his Zanza on his shoulder.

"Not only that. This tree is still too tall for the dojo…"

"So we will take a little off the top. We have been tramping the forest between Yokohama and Tokyo for days to find Kaoru-san's freaking tree!" Sano raised his Zanza and sliced through the trunk like a hot knife through butter. Kenshin leapt clear as the tree fell with a tremendous crash that shook the earth.

Yahiko gaped at the sight of the tree being dragged through the gate. The top of the tree had been sliced off to give a flattish top. It was huge. "It looks kinda weird…" he said before hastening off to hang the crepe streamers up.

Sano and Kenshin gingerly manoeuvred the tree into the dojo. "Sano, I still say it is too tall to fit…" the redhead ruronin said from somewhere deep in the mass of fir needles.

"It will, trust me…" Sano hoisted the tree upright. There was an ominous crack as the top of the tree poked through the roof of the dojo. "Sano! You dolt! What have you done to my roof?" Kaoru hollered when she heard the commotion and saw the damage wrought. Oh-oh…

The day before the party…

"Presents! We must swop presents… Look what I got for Doctor Hans!" Kaoru beamed and held up a scarf. "Have you guys got your presents ready?" The three guys exchanged looks and felt in their very empty pockets. "And we roast turkey and bake cookies! I got this recipe from Tae…"

Yahiko sniffed the air. "What's that burning smell?" There was something distinctly burning. "Argh! My cookies!" Kaoru dropped the scarf and dashed to the kitchen.

"They sing songs around the tree…" Yutarou said. He had dropped by to visit and help with the preparations, which were in his honest opinion, heading for disaster. Kenshin had bought a chicken, turkey being in short supply in Japan at this time. The squawking fowl had flown the coop and was flapping about the top of the tree, which was still poking through the roof of the dojo hall. The hapless swordsman was chasing the bird with a large basket. Kaoru was tossing out her eleventh batch of failed gingerbread, which had the consistency of charcoal. Sano had fled the premises under the pretence of shopping for presents.

"You mean like this? Ame joho owari… Kaku kaku keku piong…" Yahiko started singing a children's song.

"No, I mean like this..." Yutarou cleared his throat. "Deck the halls with boughs of holly…"

"Damn, you don't expect us to be singing German or English, do you?" Yahiko said.

"I will try to look for some Japanese carols then…" Yutaro winced as Kenshin and chicken skidded off the roof and landed in a heap on the firewood pile. "The chicken's fine…" Kenshin moaned from among the logs. The unscathed fowl hopped out of the pile and strutted off.

"Kenshin's cooking, isn't he?" Yutaro nudged Yahiko. "Sorry if we got your hopes up… Kaoru-sensei's cooking. Ask Doctor Hans to bring enough stomach medicine for all of us," Yahiko advised as Kaoru tossed out yet another batch of failed cookies. Megumi and Gensai-sensei's family had gone to Yokohama to visit a relative as well as look into the feasibility of Megumi setting up her own clinic there. It was time for Takani-san to set up a clinic of her own.

"Are you sure it wouldn't be wiser for you to suggest we dine out at Tae's?" Yutarou added.

"You want to tell that to her?" Yahiko asked and pointed at Kaoru chasing Sano with a pot for skiving on his duty to buy candles for the tree while shopping.

"Point taken…" Yutarou made a mental note to prepare some activated charcoal pills before the dinner. "I will bring Doctor Hans tomorrow night at seven… See you then…" he waved to Yahiko and went on his way.

Half an hour to the party…

Yahiko was listening to some Christmas carols on a radio Kaoru had borrowed from Dr Gensa and singing along the best he could as he swept the yard.

Deck the halls with balls of folly

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

'Tis the season to be sorry

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

Inside the hall, Kaoru was arranging the candles on the tinsel-decked tree. "Kaoru-dono, I think we shouldn't light those candles…" Kenshin advised as he looked about the hall. Wooden floor, wooden rafters and wooden walls do not mix well with open flames in his opinion. There was also the crepe paper streamers stuck onto the rafters…

"Relax, what can go wrong?" Kaoru smiled and struck a match. She lit the candles one by one with Sano's help.

"I've roasted the chicken, baked the cookies and we'll have everything ready when Yutaro brings Doctor Hans," Kaoru chatted. "And sake, don't forget the sake," Sano added.

Kenshin busied himself arranging the gifts underneath the tree. "Kaoru-dono, are you still cooking something?" He suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.

"No, Kenshin, why?" Kaoru stopped. She also sniffed the air warily.

"Hey, I smell burning too…" Sano said. There was definitely an odd burning smell in the air. "Fire! The tree is on fire!"

In the yard, Yahiko glanced towards the dojo hall and gave out a shout. "FIRE!" He ran for the well. Flames were starting to lick the top of their Christmas tree and spread to the roof. The adults dashed out of the dojo. There was a mad rush for buckets. A human chain was formed and buckets of water passed to put out the flames.

Seven o'clock…

"Kamiya-sensei invited us over for a traditional Christmas. Here we are- oh my goodness!" Yutarou blinked when he saw the charred remains of the dojo roof and the exhausted occupants of the dojo lying or sitting in the yard. "What happened?" Doctor Hans asked.

"Fire. The tree caught fire," Kaoru explained. "Anyone hurt?" the two doctors asked. "I think I sprained my ankle," Yahiko replied. "I got some embers blown in my eye," Sano rubbed his eye.

"Don't do that! I will wash it out for you…" Yutarou said. He started treating Sano's eye while Doctor saw to Yahiko's ankle. "I guess dinner's ruined…" Kaoru said with a sob.

"Don't you worry, Kaoru-dono… we still have Tae-san's…" Kenshin suggested. They would need to ensure that the fire was put out for good. It would never do for the house to burn down while they were out.

Hours later, the Kamiya dojo occupants and their two guests were tucking into a hearty beef sukiyaki meal at Tae's restaurant. "Yummy, this beef sukiyaki is delicious, better than roast goose," Doctor Hans exclaimed. He deftly snatched the tastiest piece of beef off the grill to Sano's chagrin. He had his eye on that piece too. Yahiko was chatting to Tsubame the waitress. "Hey, Yutarou, sing a carol…" Doctor Hans urged. "You young ones have fun carolling…" the doctor was sounding a bit tipsy now.

"I'll start," Sano waved an empty sake bottle in the air. Kenshin gently restrained him before the bottle hit anyone. Yutarou shyly cleared his throat.

We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy New Year…

"Don't forget the presents!" Kaoru handed a slightly sooty box to Doctor Hans. "We managed to salvage the gifts. Hope you like it…"

"Arigatou, Kamiya-san. I also brought something for my hostess…" Doctor Hans took out a beautifully wrapped bottle of wine from his briefcase. "You're too kind… Sano, Kenshin… don't just stand there like some store dummies, exchange your presents."

"Er, I got this for you, Kaoru-san…" Sano handed Kaoru a dog-eared cookbook titled "Cooking Made Easy". He had helped himself to it from some old stuff his pal was throwing out. "There are missing pages and it smells like stale bacon…" Kaoru looked suspiciously at the tall teen. "You gave me a piece of wood…" Yahiko turned the ungainly wooden block about in his hands. "Same here," Yutarou held up his wooden block.

"They are paperweights! Show some gratitude," Sano snapped. Kenshin looked at his gift from Sano. It was a piece of rag. He shrugged and proceeded to distribute his little gifts, cute little wooden figurines he had carved. "Here's a little something for you, Kaoru-dono," Kenshin offered her the little gift. Kaoru looked at the wooden raccoon dog. "Kenshin, it is so… wait, this is a tanuki! Are you hanging out with that Miburou cop? So you think I'm a crazy tanuki too?"

Oops, he had forgotten the former Shinsengumi captain turned cop Saitou delighted in baiting Kamiya Kaoru by referring to her as that crazy tanuki woman Battousai hangs out with. "Sumimasen…" Kenshin trembled as Kaoru rolled up her sleeve. POW! Everyone winced. She had clocked him one on the jaw. "That's nasty…" Yutarou said. "Right?" he turned to his fellow kendo student. "Yahiko?"

The young student had slipped out unnoticed in the commotion.

In the back room, Yahiko took Tsubame's hands shyly in his. "Tsubame… I don't know much about Christmas or presents for girls… but here. Merry Christmas," he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a little ring woven from dried grass. "Oh, that's so sweet of you…" Tsubame smiled and before Yahiko could react, she gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Tsubame, we need some help here!" Tae called out from the kitchen. It was a busy night. "Hai!" the young girl ran off. Wordlessly, Yahiko touched his cheek where he had been kissed.

"Whoa, way to go, sempai…" Yutarou teased. "Too bad I don't have mistletoe. I can picture that. Yahiko and Tsubame sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N- Ow!"

"Hey, I'm the senior here, you dolt! Show some respect!"

"Respect? I'll show you respect all right…"

"Watch it, you brat…" the boys started scuffling with each other. Still scuffling, the pair rolled back into the party room.

"This is the best Christmas ever… cheers!" Doctor Hans toasted Sano. The spiky-haired teen nodded and gulped down his sake. Kaoru was chasing Kenshin about the room. Yutarou and Yahiko were scuffling with each other. Yes, all was as it should be. Merry, though not exactly peaceful at Tae's restaurant.

Author's Notes:

Merry X'mas and a happy New Year to all.