It's almost weird that the majority of the fics in this section were written before the new anime came out. I guess the original manga/anime was more popular than I thought...

In case this matters, this fic takes place sometime after Ushio and Tora returned from their trip, but before their encounter with that brat Kirio.

"Oi, Ushio. What the hell are we doing here?" Ushio grunted, choosing not to answer his annoying partner. The furry demon was perching on top of Ushio's head, as if he was a small pigeon. Fortunately, Tora wasn't very heavy at all. Ushio had never thought to ask why; he just assumed that Tore could shift his weight at will. Or something. Freaking demons…

"You going deaf on me?" Tora leaned down to stare Ushio in the eyes; well, it was more like his eyes were aligned with Ushio's frowning mouth. Ushio sighed through his nose; he hadn't wanted to explain to Tora, but that nosy demon would find out eventually.

"I'm here to buy something for Asako," he mumbled. Tora's toothy grin was as wide as the Cheshire Cat's as he placed a clawed hand behind an ear.

"Care to repeat that, brat? I didn't catch that!" Ushio grit his teeth. He could feel his face grow red, which he hated. Thanks goodness Asako wasn't here to see him now… Instead of repeating his answer, he pointed his spear at Tora, making sure to get his deadly implication across.

"All right, all right," Tora growled, ducking around the spear to hide behind a tinsel-frosted granite pillar. It then finally hit the beast that they were in a location that they had rarely visited.

"What's this place?" Ushio rolled his eyes as Tora began to openly stare at his surroundings with his fanged mouth hanging open, like a tourist caught in the glitzy headlights of a fancy establishment.

"This is the local mall, stupid. You've even been here before, remember?" Miraculously, Tora chose to ignore the insult in favor of the other part of the rebuttal.

"I've been here before? I would have remembered." Tora crossed his arms, daring Ushio to say otherwise. Ushio quickly glanced around to make sure that no one was staring at him as he seemingly talked to thin air.

"Well, I suppose you didn't get a good look, seeing as you were chasing those demons that were after Mayuko." Tora snapped his long fingers as it presumably all came back to him.

"Yeah, yeah, those pesky Gamin. Tch, they were annoying, trying to steal my food. Of course, without them, I never would have gotten to eat a hamburger. Maybe I should thank them!" Tora leaned back his head to let out a bellow of a laugh, drowning out the classic Christmas tunes playing through the speakers. Ushio took the opportunity to dash away towards one of the escalators. What he sought after was on the third floor.

But the thing about Tora was that he was harder to get rid of than a cold, and twice as annoying. Ushio didn't turn around, but he could feel Tora leisurely float behind him, twitching as he took in all the new sights and scents that he hadn't had time to process last time. The predominant scent, in Ushio's opinion, was peppermint.

"…Oi, Ushio. Why did they dress that tree up?" Ushio didn't even have to look in the direction Tora was pointing to know that he was referring to the large Christmas tree that the mall placed in the center of the lobby every year. When he was younger, he had always wanted to climb it. Screw it, he still wanted to, just to show off in front of Asako.

The Christmas tree in the mall always went with a gold color scheme, from the twinkling white lights to the gold ornaments to the cracked bells. The star, obviously, conveniently fit the arrangement.

"It's a Christmas tradition. People bring trees into their houses and cover them in tinsel, and sparkling bells, and glittering stars." Tora suddenly tried to look uninterested, but Ushio had learned to read the demon in the months they had been together.

"Sounds pointless to me. It's not like the tree will be grateful or anything." Ushio suddenly pictured a future where he spent the next few hours explaining Christmas to Tora. It wasn't a pretty thought. In fact, it was a fate to be avoided at all costs.

Ushio finally turned to Tora, who was poking a rare silver ball on the upper part of the tree. "Hey, Tora. I hear there's a store that sells hamburgers around here. You should go find it." Tora's eyes widened, and his mouth watered at the mention of the tasty but cheap in price food. Not that Tora would be doing any paying…

After Tora zoomed away fast enough to leave a cloud of dust behind, Ushio hurried up the next escalator, stopping to catch his breath when he found the entrance to the "Women's Best Friend" store. Ushio would have assumed that it was a jewelry establishment by the name, but it was mainly a clothing shop. It wasn't super pricey, but it also wasn't bargain bin level, so Ushio felt safe shopping there.

There also wasn't the obligatory "greeter" there to welcome him and wish him a good day; that was the quickest way to turn Ushio off from visiting a store. He wanted to purchase something, not make small talk.

The store had a pleasant atmosphere; calm music played on the speakers instead of any pop music crap, and whoever ran the store did a good job of keeping litter and unwanted clothing from cluttering the floor. Even the tiles were shiny enough that Ushio could see his reflection. He also noticed that he was the only male in the whole store, and he was receiving some pretty suspicious looks.

It took a moment for him to realize that they weren't staring at him per se, but at the spear he was holding. Darnnit, why hadn't he left the spear at home? Well, one never knew when a monster could pop up. He'd be hanged before he let a demon take him by surprise again.

Trying to look as innocent as he could, Ushio ambled over to the blouse section. Asako had told him in no uncertain terms that she hated frilly dresses and that she would never forgive him if he got her one. Especially if it had polka dots.

A blouse was the safe option, as long as it wasn't pink and it didn't have any hearts on it. Navy blue would probably be totally fine, though. Shopping for a girl wasn't nearly as hard as Ushio had heard it was.

"Liar." Ushio jumped, causing a few blouses to fall off the rack and drop to the floor. A sales attendant glared at him. Ushio quickly stammered an apology before frowning at an equally peeved-off Tora.

"What the hell, Tora?" Tora bared his fangs as he jabbed at Ushio's chest.

"You told me that there were hamburgers to be found here, brat. It turns out that there aren't any. Now I'm hungry. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't eat whoever owns this store." Ushio couldn't think of any good reasons, so he simply nodded his head towards the spear. Tora growled in frustration.

"Look, I'm almost done here. We'll go home, and I'll fix something, OK?" Tora grumbled under his breath, which was his way of sulking whenever Ushio threatened him with the spear. It had become a comedy routine, as far as Ushio was concerned. He never really had any intention of using it anymore…

A few more minutes of shopping led Ushio to purchase a minty-green blouse, with a pair of red boots incase the first gift didn't go over so well. It was never a bad idea to have a backup plan. It was one of the few useful things his lazy dad had taught him.

As Ushio handed the items to the surly teenager who seemed to want to be anywhere else, Tora poked his shoulder with his very sharp claws. Ushio had to restrain a wince, lest the intern grow suspicious. Quickly grabbing his bags and letting the teen keep the change, Ushio rushed out of the store, deciding to spend the last of his money on a bus ticket.

Fortunately, he was the only person at the bus stop, meaning that he could speak to Tora with no fear of being discovered. As he looked at the demon, he felt a brief stab of jealousy – having a thick fur coat would keep anyone cozy even during the intense December winds. Ushio's own coat didn't seem to do much to block the temperature.

"You'd better have a good reason for poking me," Ushio grumbled. "Or I might just do some poking back." Tora made a nasty face, before pressing on with his earlier question.

"You can buy that girl a gift any day. Why is this Christmas such an important day to give someone a present?" Ushio scratched his head, wishing that someone smarter were around to answer Tora's annoying question. Then again, who knows what his dad would say?

"Well…I guess you could say that it's another Christmas tradition. Sure, I could have got her these things, say, last week, but giving someone something on Christmas is a way of telling that person that you really care about them. It's special." Also, Christmas discounts come in handy with my small allowance.

Tora slapped Ushio on the back. Hard. "Hoho, so you admit it. You really 'value' Asako, eh? What a sentimental human you are! Hah!" Ushio growled, wanting to strangle the demon with his own tail.

"Oh yeah? Well, what about Mayuko? I bet she'll buy you some extra hamburgers or whatever!" Tora's laughter came screeching to a halt as he pondered the idea. A few rare quiet moments passed as Tora mumbled something under his breath. Finally, apparently done thinking, he turned back to Ushio.

"…Oi. Does this mean I have to get her something too?" Ushio, who had been waiting for this moment, doubled over laughing, only the spear holding him up. Tora stomped on the ground, his eyes now orange slits.

"Since when do you care about human tradition, Tora? Who's the sentimental one now?" Tora roared something or other, and began to chase Ushio around the mall's parking lot. Ushio couldn't help but laugh some more as he jumped over three cars (one of which Tora landed on, leaving a large dent). It felt good to be active; demons had been scarce lately. Perhaps even they celebrated the holiday? Ushio wondered about that.

The next morning, a tired Ushio crawled out of his bed and slithered down the stairs to the restroom. After his morning routine, he trudged to the kitchen, rubbing the last remnants of sleep from his eyes. He wasn't surprised to find that his dad hadn't left him any breakfast. That useless old man…

Instead, what he did find on the table was a small parcel, wrapped in fancy blue paper with gold markings. Next to it was a small, white paper that had his name written on it in bold cursive. The sender was…Tora? Ushio was suddenly wide awake, surprise shocking him into full alert. Had Tora really purchased him a gift?

Ushio's eyes softened. "Oh, Tora." Maybe that beast wasn't so bad after all. Ushio made a mental note to buy Tora a coupon from his favorite burger place as he tore open the wrapping paper.

Ushio's grin vanished as quickly as it had popped up. It was a rock, with the word "dunce" on it. The small paper crumpled under the power of Ushio's angry fist, and if one were to see him now, they would swear that a fiery aura had engulfed him.

A flock of pigeons resting outside of the house scattered when a loud cry of, "TORRRAAAA!" broke the silent morning air.

Hopefully this story managed to make you laugh, or at least smile. I know I did while writing this short one-shot.

And of course, Merry Christmas! :)