Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation or any of its characters. "A Christmas Carol" is, of course, a novel written by Charles Dickens.

"I told you before. No Christmas date for me."

"Whyyy, Yuki?"

"I don't do Christmas. I'm a Buddhist monk, remember?"

"But you had a Christmas party with Seguchi-san this afternoon!"

"How do you…?! Ah… Those damned Polaroids! He forced me to."

"I'd rather say he bribed you… But… how many of those shortcakes did you eat?!!!"

"It's none of your business what I eat. I'll clean this up tomorrow. Now I'm going to sleep."

"What? You're not even willing to spend Christmas Eve with me?"

"Nope. I'm sleepy. You should have come home sooner."

"You know I had to work!"

"Too bad. Good night. And don't be noisy when you slip into bed."

"Yuki…"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Ah!!! Tastuha! What the heck are you doing here?!"

"Good evening big bro! I'm your Christmas Ghost!"

"What?"

"Christmas Ghost. Like in the anime with Scrooge McDuck."

"Remind me to offer you a book sometime..."

"Meany. You know what I really want for a gift. And you know you bought me exactly that…"

"I'm in a dream, that's right?"

"Yep."

"That's so cliché."

"Well. It's your dream so blame yourself."

"I will. Now, what do I have to do to make you disappear?"

"Oohh. Shuichi is so cute when he sleeps. In the dark, his silhouette looks exactly like Sakuma-san's!"

"Just focus on here please!!! I asked you a question! …I wonder why I chose you to be in my dream..."

"Ola! Two questions bro? OK. OK. I answer. About why you chose me, maybe it's because you have absolutely no friends, and I'm the only family member you can stand discussing with? Beside, you wouldn't like to see an 'actual' ghost in your dreams, would you? Anyway, don't ask me, it's your dream. As for the first question…"

"The only one I actually asked you about…"

"Yep. This one! I'm your Christmas Ghost therefore I'll have to show you some Christmas related event so you can become a better person by tomorrow morning!"

"What a program…"

"To be more precise, I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present."

"I would have guessed there would be something like that…"

"You're so smart, aren't you?"

"…"

"Well. As the G.C.P…."

"…"

"Try to be a little less enthusiastic so you could fall into coma and I'd be able to haunt you for the rest of your miserable life."

"The doctor who said I was cured was a con."

"You know you're cured so let's just move on, shall we? I'm going to show you Christmas present."

"… We're still in the bedroom."

"I know. However, this is the middle of the night, and actually, there's nothing left to show you. The few people you know are sleeping. Beside I bet you really don't care to learn whether or not Mizuki has put a Christmas tree in her living room."

"True."

"Or… Do you? Anyway, I just can't answer that for the simple reason that I couldn't possibly know what you do ignore."

"All of this is pointless."

"Is it?"

"Stop wondering around like this!"

"OK. Well, since I'm nevertheless the Ghost of Christmas Present and I'm here with you, let's take a closer look at this room. Hum… It's dark, quite comfy, and oh, look at you sleeping! It seems you're having a bad dream!"

"I've eaten too many cakes. It's all Seguchi's fault."

"Is it?"

"I've told you to stop with those lousy questions!"

"Right. So… Nothing else to see here? You sleep, Shuichi sleeps. Everyone sleeps! That's all for Christmas Present!"

"Now, you'll go?"

"Ha ha… Now you'll have to meet with the Ghost of Christmas Past!"

"Of course… Wait, this is not the right order. In the book, the Ghost of Christmas Past was the first Ghost to come."

"Dreams are often incoherent."

"I guess. Why are you still here?"

"I'm also the Ghost of Christmas Past! Told you I was the G.C.P. bro!"

"You don't even change outfit?"

"It's a low-budget production."

"Even my dreams are cheap… What's on the floor?"

"Pick it up."

"Ten Dollars…"

"Exactly."

"You don't have to show me my past. I remember it."

"It's not the day you're thinking at. Look."

"I forgot Mika ever was that young"

"She would love to hear you say that. And look at me! Am I not cute?"

"You were six. That's the day before I left for the U.S. That's why you're crying. I was packing my bag and I let down some of the dollars Mika brought me back from her first trip to New York to see Seguchi. She saw me picking them up as they were treasured things and she laughed. I told her I didn't want to bother Seguchi, so the least I could do was to bring my own money. She replied that there were really few things I could buy with such a few bills and that Seguchi didn't consider me as a burden at all."

"You surely had a sweet smile back then."

"Again, there's no point in seeing all of this."

"Look! Now we have a scene in which I'm just a little baby..."

"Knock it off. I've no interest in the past."

"Nothing to see in the present, no interest in the past... You're a tough customer, aren't you? Or do you just refuse to have any life?"

"Shut up."

"OK then, I'm sure you will adore your future."

"No third Ghost?"

"You're already tired of me?"

"Yes."

"Nonetheless I won't go away. I'm not the Ghost of the Christmas Yet to Come but I can't let you alone with him."

"I have a bad feeling about it…"

"Tatsuha-san!!! Am I late? I just arrived from Narita airport."

"Not at all Sakuma-san! Your part is just about to start."

"How come this guy can be in my dream?"

"Because I frighten you, Yuki-san. Furthermore, I'm an actor now, you know. The Christmas Carol is a masterpiece of English literature. It's very important for my career to prove that I can perform any role."

"Oh no, Sakuma-san! Don't go into serious mode so soon!!! You're so cute when you look helpless!"

"Tatsuha, I don't need your filthy phantasms in my dream. You're no longer part of this story so remain quiet if you want to stay here!"

"Yuki-san, let's just begin, shall we?"

"If that's the quickest way to put an end to all of this…"

"As the Ghost of the Christmas Yet to Come, let me take you to what awaits you…"

"Where are we?"

"Your new apartment. It seems you like to move, Yuki-san."

"It's the better way to keep the media and the fans away. Beside, I've never found a house where the parking facilities had been totally satisfactory."

"I see. Anyway, this apartment seems smaller than your previous one, don't you think?"

"I recognize this neighbourhood. There are many garages around."

"It's calm."

"I don't like noisy places."

"You don't find it unusually calm, Yuki-san?"

"What do you intend?"

"You know perfectly what I am talking about."

"…"

"You know that someday he will leave you. Because someday he will realize… and you won't do a thing to prove him wrong. You will simply let him go, pretending to do as if he never had been there. That's why you refuse to do anything special with him. You refuse to give him special memories of your time together because you want him to be able to erase you from his life, as you would vainly try to erase him from yours. But you know that's not possible, Yuki-san. You know that Shuichi himself is special. He didn't enter your life, he melted with it. If he would go – 'when' should you say – you'd just have to live with one more ghost. And you'd become a ghost for him too. Even though, you keep trying every single day, somehow aware that the only thing you will achieve is to lead him away from you. Isn't this a terrible vicious circle, Yuki-san? In order that at least one of you don't suffer, you hurt both."

"…"

"You're looking away… Hence, you're admitting I'm right. No wonder, actually, since we're in your dream. In here, I'm just a voice in your mind expressing loudly your inner thoughts. However… as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, I have to tell you that some part of this argument is inaccurate."

"What do you mean?"

"Curious, aren't we? Well, do you know why this apartment is so perfectly quiet? Because there's really no one in here for the time being. Didn't you notice that you weren't here as well? I'll show you where you are and you will understand…"

"I know this place! It's Mika's home! There's a party going?"

"That's right Tastuha-san. Look, you're here too, about the same age I am now."

"And where are you, Sakuma-san?"

"Actually, I don't know. Your brother's mind doesn't care much about me so it didn't even bother imagining my future."

"Exactly. So will you shut up Tatsuha! Let's finish this, Sakuma."

"Alright. Yuki-san wants to know how it ends. Look carefully at the people gathered around the Christmas meal."

"So what?"

"You don't recognize that tall blond man on the middle chair ecstatically happy while his lifelong lover is spoon-feeding him with some Christmas delicacy?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"It was just a nightmare… Eh? Shuichi! You damn brat! Wake up! You're dribbling on me."

"Yuki... I love you… I love you so much… I will never leave you… Yuki..."

"Wake up now! You hear me?!"

"Eh? Yuki? Is it morning already?"

"Yeah I guess it's morning. Yet I think it's still early..."

"Merry Christmas then, Yuki"

"Right, it's Christmas."

"You still don't want us to go on a date today?"

"Of course, the date..."

"You will??? Really?"

"Eh? No, absolutely not."

"I thought so…"

"However I strangely feel like eating turkey."

"Well, I guess some Christmas special lunch is better than nothing!"

"…Special…"

THE END

NB : English is not my native tongue. If some of the sentences feel wrong, don't hesitate to tell.