Author's Gibberish: Ha-ha! I have done it! I have defeated the demons of writer's block and tragic literature. And, of course, the result is completely out of place and very random. I'm going to treat you all to a little bit of Christmas in July. Please note that I am not pushing this Holiday, or the religions that some with it, on anyone. I hate writers that do that in their fanfiction; though freedom of speech and expression is a fantastic tool to have, I don't agree with someone turning their writing into a less violent version of a crusade.

All that aside, I'm sorry for the delay. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. Please feel free to leave a review! I'm battling writer's block, and the encouragement help a great deal! Oh, and a huge shout-out to my beta Kinyo! She was a major inspiration to me, with her bad luck and Christmas cheer.

Tawnybmw

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Get that? Nothing. I'm legally incapable of owning anything. In truth, my parents own me.

Hitomi Kanzaki stretched, her entire body reaching upward toward a strand of inconveniently placed colorful lights-gaining a rather painful poke in the eye from a pine needle-to reach the single tiny bulb that should have been glowing. It wasn't, and so she was stuck in quite a quandary.

She had nudged the silly glass tube with the tip of a-very pointy, definitely metal-star ornament. And, unfortunately, that exact bulb was the most temperamental on the entire strand.

The product was a sickening jolt! that left Hitomi's hand slightly numb and the entire upper half of the tree an unlit-and therefore very unhappy-mass of angry Christmas decoration.

So, after finally getting the feeling back in her hand, the eldest Kanzaki child found herself trying to untwist the burnt-out light without undoing an entire three-hours worth of work. After many, many attempts, she found herself-scratched, flustered and annoyed-with no result. The little light hung just out of her reach.

"You fricken little… Come here! Damn it!" There was a chocked laugh, and Hitomi had to pull her face out from a natural version of the iron maiden to find the source.

Van stood at the doorway-holding something that looked somewhat similar to a llama with antlers-grinning boyishly up at her as if he had just found his brother in a dress rehearsal of "The Ballerina Boy," where Folken was the unfortunate-and possibly gender confused-lead roll. Hitomi really wanted to punch him, but had to settle for heated glaring in stead.

The idiot seemed to always choose the worst times to be open with his thoughts. "You look like you've battled a forest and lost."

"Huh!" That was it. Hitomi was done with decorating, with its temperamental light bulbs, overly friendly trees and stupid boyfriends that came traipsing into her living room for no reason. She jumped down from the ladder and headed straight passed him.

Really, she hated his quick reflexes the most of all. His arm snaked out and grabbed her wrist, turning her around to face him in one smooth, practiced motion.

"I didn't mean that and you know it."

She did, but it was hard to admit it. With a loud, exasperated sigh that grated her nerves, Van pulled-more dragged, and very similar to leading a hell bent mule-her head under his chin and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I'm supposed to be the stubborn moody one, remember?"

The joke pulled a muffled laugh from her throat, and Hitomi snuggled into his shirt. His lips found her forehead briefly, and Hitomi found herself calming to a far less flustered state. "Sorry. I can't reach this stupid light up there that burnt out and I think I'll be finding some sharp and green surprises in the shower tonight."

"Better than me finding them, I guess-Ouch! Don't pinch me again or I won't change that stupid light for you." Her hand, having grabbed at his arm in protest against the dirty joke, fell back to his waist as she pulled away and found her arms stuffed with the weird llama-reindeer mutant. "Hold this."

The bulb was easily switched out after a moment of searching, and Van hopped down with a grace that made Hitomi jealous. He was quick to snatch up the deformed-plug in creature, and gave her lips a quick peck before standing next to the tree again.

"This is some old thing Folken and I made at a place in the mall when we were little."

Hitomi grinned, trying to skid around the darker subject of his recently deceased sibling, and choosing to distract her brooding beau with her own rare bout of sarcasm. "Is that why it looks like a llama?"

He glared, leaning over to plug it into the already overloaded extension cord for the tree. "It's supposed to light up and sing. I wanted to see is it still worked."

She didn't get a chance to stop him, barely realizing what might happen if the wall outlet was supporting too many electrical appliances as he crammed the thing into the last available spot.

There was a jolt! And the entire tree-bright and shiny with an entire day's work of lighting, ornaments, tinsel and candy canes-went completely black.

"Van!"

There was only one saving phrase that would come to mind. "Uhm…Marry Christmas?"