Banshee: Hi everybody~! I was listening to the '12 Pains of Christmas' song recently, and it gave me an idea for a little string of Christmas one-shots. Here is the first one. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but by OC and the plot.

Chapter One: Finding a Christmas Tree

The first thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me

Is finding a Christmas tree…

…

"Why are we doing this?" Roxas asked as he and Nikki trudged through the heavy snow. "Why can't we just go out and buy a tree?"

They were out in the middle of nowhere, walking through some God-forsaken forest looking for a Christmas tree to put up in the castle. So far, they were having no such luck. The trees they came across were either too small, too big, had birds or squirrels living in them, or they were just plain ugly. It wasn't like they would be able to spot a good tree anyway. Visibility was shot because it was snowing so bad and the wind blowing the little ice crystals around didn't help either. The temperature must have been at least ten degrees or less, it was dark, and the snow was up to their knees.

It wasn't like they didn't try to buy a tree. They did. But it was so close to Christmas and all the good trees were taken or set aside for someone else.

"I told you Roxas, we can't buy one because all the good ones were already gone by the time we got there." Nikki reminded him, adjusting the ax she was holding so it was more comfortable on her shoulder. "We were supposed to get a tree, but a certain someone didn't go down to the tree farm and put one on reserve. So we're stuck looking for a wild one."

The 'certain someone' was Saïx. He was supposed to find the tree because he was the second-in-command; and he had an eye for detail and would be able to tell a good tree from a sub-par one. But he didn't, and claimed to have 'forgotten' about it in the midst of all the chaos surrounding all the Organization's Christmas preparations.

How 'convenient' that he happened to 'forget' a few days before Christmas Eve. It was also 'convenient' how it was snowing like hell on the day he had Roxas and Nikki go out and find a wild tree to cut down.

Truth is, the blue-haired berserker hadn't forgotten at all. He just liked making things more difficult for Nikki because he's an 'asshole,' as she put it.

"Oh! Nikki! There's one over there!" Roxas exclaimed, pointing to a moderately-sized tree in the distance.

They ran up to the tree, which was bigger in person, and Nikki inspected it. It's branches had fallen perfectly, flaring out to a near-perfect triangle shape. The bristles were a rich green color, and there seemed to be nothing living in it.

"How is it, Nikki?" Roxas asked.

"It's perfect!" She exclaimed. "This is the one!"

"Great." Roxas sighed in relief. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself when he felt a strong wind. "Now p-please cut it d-d-down already so we can go back to the c-castle.. It's so c-c-cold out here…"

Nikki took the ax and positioned it at the trunk of the tree, then struck it as hard as she could. Some of the snow fell off the branches, and they heard a slight rustling. A pair of eyes appeared among the many bristles, followed by another, then another, and another, until the whole tree was full of little eyes staring at them from the branches.

"That's not good.."

They were suddenly running for their lives as a swarm of birds erupted from the tree and chased after them, pecking their heads and chirping angrily; a loud, shrill noise that could be compared to a banshee, or nails scraping across a chalkboard. When they got far enough away, the birds turned around and returned to their home.

Well, so much for the tree…

"Nikki?" Roxas asked, panting.

"Yeah, Roxas?" Said Nikki.

"Maybe we should just go to the store and buy a plastic tree…"

…

…

"Yeah.. That's a good idea…"

…

…