Disclaimer: I do not own the series "Hareluya II Boy" or any of its characters. Nor do I own "Santa Claus: The Movie" or any of its characters. This story is purely a work of fan fiction, no profit is being made from it.

Author's Note: Merry Christmas everyone (or whatever holiday you happen to celebrate).

Edited to add: R.I.P. David Huddleston. To me you will always be the definitive Santa Claus.

It was Christmas Eve in the city of Tokyo. Brightly coloured decorations and lights had been put up all over the city streets. Everywhere you looked there were neon reindeer, Santa Claus', elves and such. On street corners people dressed as Santa Claus were collecting money for charity. Best of all it was snowing, leaving every surface with a thick blanket of pure white.

Hibino Hareluya, Makoto Ichijou and Yamana Michiru were strolling down the street, warmly dressed against the cold. Hibino was currently munching on a sweet bread bun made to look like Santa while Ichijou and Yamana were admiring the festive decorations.

"I love Christmas" Makoto Ichijou said happily as he studied a cheerful-looking snowman display in a shop window.

"Me too" Yamana agreed. She smiled wistfully as she thought about her boyfriend, Okamoto Kiyoushiro, currently studying art in Paris.

Noticing Ichijou's concerned look her smile brightened as she added, "don't worry Ichijou. I wish Okamoto was here but I'm still having a wonderful Christmas."

"I'm glad" he replied.

Hibino finished his snack and snorted. "What's so big about Christmas? It's just a ploy to get people to spend money."

Ichijou glared at him. "Why don't you just say "Bah Humbug?""

Hibino frowned. "What?"

"Never mind."

"Christmas is more than that Hibino" said Yamana fondly. "It's a time to remember how generous and caring people can be. It's a time for friends and family to come together and celebrate how lucky they are to have each other."

Hibino didn't answer but an unusually thoughtful look appeared on his face. After a moment he said, "my old man's throwing a Christmas dinner tomorrow. You guys and your parents are welcome to come."

"Of course we'll come" she said cheerfully.

"I wouldn't miss it" Ichijou added.

"Good. After all Ore-sama should not be without his entourage" Hibino said, going back to his typical demeanour. They both kept smiling, not minding at all.

"See, even you can't resist the Christmas spirit" said Ichijou good-humouredly.

"I'll give you Christmas spirit" he muttered as he slowed his pace, allowing the others to get ahead of him. He then scooped up a handful of snow, formed it into a snowball and threw it at the back of Ichijou's head, scoring a direct hit.

"Oh that's how you want it?"

He spun around only to get hit in the face by another snowball. Ichijou hurriedly threw one back but Hibino easily dodged it.

"Too slow!"

Yamana laughed joyfully as she ducked behind a car and joined in, throwing snowballs at both of them. They responded in kind, also laughing merrily.

The three-way snowball fight went on for fifteen minutes until finally Ichijou raised both his hands and yelled, "no more! I give, I give." He was red-faced and panting with exhaustion, each puff of breath condensing in the cold air, but he was also grinning broadly, as were Hibino and Yamana.

"All right" said Hibino. "Since you lost you can pay for tea."

"Deal."

Many miles away in a hidden village in the North Pole, preparations for Christmas Eve were well underway. A long line of brightly dressed elves were carrying packages wrapped in red and green paper to a large canvas sack edged with brass bells and loading them into it. No matter how many presents were dropped into it the sack always seemed to have room for more.

Watching the procedure was a stocky man with a short, full grey beard. He had watched this same process many times before over the centuries but it never failed to make him smile as he imagined how happy the good children of the world would be as they opened their presents the next morning.

For he was Santa Claus. He and the elves had worked tirelessly throughout the year to be ready for this night which would see the culmination of all their efforts. After a while Dooley, the head elf and Santa's second in command, came over to him.

"All of the toys are in place. Everything is ready" he said.

"Splendid. I'll just go an get ready myself then" Santa replied.

He went back to his house to change into his signature outfit of a bright red coat with white fur trim, red trousers, a wide black belt and black boots. On his head was a red nightcap with a white bobble.

"Are you sure you'll be all right Claus?" Anya, his wife, asked him. She clearly recalled one Christmas when Santa had returned home from his journey around the world so exhausted he had fallen asleep at the table and slumped face-first into his soup.

"You worry too much Anya. I'll be fine" he reassured her. "Now that Patch and Puffy have resolved all the problems with the toy production, things have gone far smoother."

Patch's first attempt to mass-produce toys with machines had been a disaster, producing poorly assembled toys that fell apart in the children's hands. Since then however Patch and his former rival Puffy had worked to achieve a compromise between Patch's modern methods and Puffy's respect for careful workmanship and tradition. The result was that Santa's own workload had been reduced. He was fully rested and ready for tonight's journey to deliver the toys.

A little while later Santa climbed into his sleigh. Anya, their adopted son Joe and the elves all cheered as the eight reindeer sped down the now-empty toy tunnel, pulling the sleigh and its precious cargo with ease. They rounded a corner and exited the tunnel, emerging into the cold night air. Their hooves left the ground and they rose up into the air, still drawing the sleigh behind them. Higher and higher they went up into the starry sky until they could no longer be seen.

As he had done through countless Christmas Eve's before Santa soared through the night sky around the world, leaving a trail of stardust and hearty laughter in his wake. Eventually he came to the city of Tokyo.

Santa looked down in wonder at the tall buildings and the glowing lights, all blanketed with snow. "Look at that boys. Isn't it amazing?"

The reindeer all bobbed their heads in agreement.

Santa's good mood deflated slightly as they approached one particular building. He knew that this place was an orphanage. It always saddened him to think of children who had no families to celebrate Christmas with. Still, if his toys could bring a smile to their faces and lift their spirits, even temporarily, then it made his trip all the more worthwhile.

Only then did he realise that, distracted by his musings, he had missed the roof he'd meant to land on. Undaunted he continued his descent and brought the sleigh to a landing on the snow-covered road.

The reindeer glanced at him in mild disapproval but he merely smiled and waved his hand. "Now don't worry boys. No-one's up at this time of night and besides I'll be back in a jiffy."

He lifted his sack and touched the side of his nose. In a burst of light he teleported inside the orphanage.

Unfortunately for Santa he was wrong. There were people up despite the late hour. Even as he began leaving his gifts under the tree, four unsavoury-looking youths clad in black uniforms were trudging through the streets.

"Damn it this sucks" one of them snarled.

"Shut your whining" another one snapped.

"You said there'd be some last-second shoppers we could mug" said the first one. "We ain't seen anybody."

Before the other could reply they all turned a corner and froze in disbelief. Before them was an elaborately carved and brightly painted wooden sleigh with eight reindeer harnessed to it. The harnesses were made of red leather and fitted with bells.

"What the **** is that?"

"It's a sleigh you moron!"

"What's it doing here?"

"How the **** should I know? Some guy's pretending to be Santa Claus I guess. Anyway who cares? Let's just go."

"Now who's the moron? We can sell that sleigh."

"Who'd pay anything for that old thing?"

"No he's right man. Some collectors will pay a fortune for stuff like that."

"Really?"

"Really. Plus we could sell those animals for meat. There's eight of them and they're pretty big. We should get something for them."

"So it's decided then? We take the sleigh."

The others all nodded. With the matter settled they snuck up to the sleigh. The reindeer spotted them and began to paw anxiously at the ground but the punks didn't stop and clambered onto the sleigh. One of them took the reins and shook them.

"Yah, yah" he cried. The reindeer didn't budge. The punk fumed as the others laughed at him.

"Nice job man."

"You got a better idea?" he snarled.

"Actually yeah." He grinned evilly as he took off his belt, raised it overhead and then lashed poor Prancer and Dancer across their backs. The startled reindeer grunted loudly and started to run, as did their fellows in front of them. The punks held on to the sleigh as it was dragged off down the street, leaving deep furrows in the snow.

A few seconds later Santa reappeared.

"See boys what did I…?" His words trailed off as he realised his reindeer and sleigh were missing. He stared at the spot they had been when he left and rubbed his eyes but they were still gone. Santa could only stand in stunned disbelief, his mouth hanging open as he tried to make sense of the situation.

"Hey mister, what's going on?"

He looked up to see a young boy peering down from a window.