Santa Claus is coming to the Dojo

Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply. !

A/N: I started this Christmas fic about two years ago but couldn't figure out how to finish it until now. Christmas has a way of doing stuff like that I guess. Hope you all enjoy it. Happy Holidays!

The snow fell lightly around the vicinity of the dojo, covering the ground in a filmy white blanket that was deep enough to reach the foot of the porch. Kenshin stood outside looking out over the snowfall, feeling uneasy. Kaoru, Yahiko, and Sanosuke were inside asleep for almost an hour, and Kenshin was far from getting there, staying awake and worrying about something unknown.

I could be asleep in my warm futon right now-but I feel a presence drawing near...

A gust of cold air blew snow into the Dojo. Kenshin turned to slide the door shut when he finally sensed what it was that he waited for. Through the whirl of the wind came the strange sound he had heard rumors of in those countries overseas. At this time of the year they were always visited by some individual who made his presence known with the sound of jingle bells-and at that moment the noise grew louder as something drew closer.

Kenshin looked up. His eyes bulged, larger than usual, and all he could utter at that moment was a faint, "Oro?"

A glowing light in the shape of a coach made its way through the air and passed over the yard to land on top of the Dojo. Pulling the coach were eight animals which Kenshin had never seen before, and leading them was a very large, old man dressed in a bright red outfit. Kenshin watched in awe as the old man stepped out of the coach, and surveyed his surroundings with a mixture of dread and confusion. The sack that was slung over his shoulder surpassed the size of the coach, and Kenshin marveled at how this old man was able to handle it with no effort.

This man is very strong, he thought as he made up his mind to confront this stranger. He was after all, on top of Kaoru's roof. How was he going to explain, a strange man with eight cattle standing on top of her house? Kenshin jumped off the porch, and leapt up to the roof, landing right in front of the animals. One of them glared at him angrily, and charged at him with its long antlers.

"Oro!" Kenshin found himself slipping on the roof and sliding down when he felt a hand grasp his wrist breaking his fall. He looked up gratefully to see the old man looking down at him. Kenshin noticed the plump red cheeks, and thick white beard that covered the face. He had never seen anyone quite like this before, and from the look on his face the old man felt the same as well. He pulled Kenshin up next to him and looked him over with interest. He spotted the sakaba sword that Kenshin wore, and gasped.

"Little boy, what are you doing playing with such a sharp object? If you keep on playing with such dangerous things I won't leave anything in your stocking. Now you're supposed to be in bed. Run along, and let Santa do his work." He paused and looked around again. "How am I supposed to do that? Where exactly am I?" he muttered under his breath looking uncertain.

Kenshin answered his question with his usual Rurouni politeness. "You are at the Kamiya Dojo, Santa-san. Kaoru-dono is the Master of Kamiya Kastushin Ryu, and MiyojinYahiko is her most important student. May I ask why you are on top of her roof, when we usually receive our guests at the front door?"

Santa regarded Kenshin with wonder as he gave the samurai the once over. I must have made a wrong turn. I don't remember having to make a stop at the Camel Cashmere Dojo, or whatever it's called. That's it! When I get back to the North Pole, that damned Navigator Elf is fired!

"I was looking for your chimney. I always slide down the chimney to get inside a house." Santa looked around. "Where is your chimney?"

Kenshin scratched his head at that one. He looked cluelessly at Santa, and shrugged his shoulders. "Gomen, I don't think that we have one, de gozaru yo."

"What? No chimney? What am I supposed to slide down? I have all of these toys for-" Santa stopped to unravel a scroll. He scanned the paper, and then turned to Kenshin. "- Ayame, and Suzume. My list says that they have been good little girls, and I have lots of special things to deliver to them. I also have another name here." He read the list. "Miyojin Yahiko? Does he live here?"

Kenshin was too astounded to speak. This old man must be some sort of magician. How can he know who lives here? He is not even Japanese, and we can understand each other perfectly. I have never seen him before. Where is he from?

The old man glanced up at Kenshin. "I come from the North Pole. It is very far from here, and I have a lot of homes to visit before Christmas Day arrives. Don't you know what day it is?"

Kenshin gasped. "How...? I didn't say a word."

Santa smiled and tapped the side of his nose. "It is my job to know. I know what it is that each and every person wants. You for example want to live a peaceful life and atone for all of the wrongs that you have done. Miyojin Yahiko wants to become strong like you. Kamiya Kaoru wants to be with you," Santa paused to note the red that colored Kenshin's face. He giggled inwardly and decided to tell his friend Cupid that he had a major job to do with this Rurouni.

Then he continued, "Sagara Sanosuke wants his gigantic tab from the Akabeko to paid off by a very understanding lady friend..."

"Megumi-dono," Kenshin guessed out loud interrupting Santa who reprimanded him. "Excuse me! I work alone, and I am the only one who is all knowing here!"

Kenshin looked sheepishly at Santa and bowed. "Gomen nasai. I did not mean to intrude on your work. Is there anyone else I know of who is on your list?" he asked and Santa turned to scan his list for a moment. "Why of course. Takani Megumi wants a rooster to get smarter, whatever that means. Makimachi Misao wants to make her Aoshi-sama smile; Shinomori Aoshi wants inner peace, which means he wants Misao to relax and shut up once in a while; Okina wants a carriage full of under-aged girls to pull up in front of the Aoiya," Santa paused again and muttered under his breath, "Dirty old man. Why is he on this list?"

"Oro?"

"Oh nothing. Hiko Seijuro wants a lifetime supply of Sake, and Saitou Hajime-"

"ORO!! How did SAITOU end up on your good list?"

"Aku. Soku. Zan."

Kenshin sweat dropped. "He's not in the Shinsengumi anymore, Santa-san."

"But that won't stop him from using his Gatotsu technique on me if I forget to leave something for his wife Tokio. That would be considered AKU. Now enough of this, I have to get to work now. Show me how to get inside of this Dojo."

Kenshin immediately complied and pointed down toward the ground. "Our entrance is down below, but how are you going to get down there without a chimney?"

Santa pondered that for a moment, then turned to Kenshin. "How would you get down?"

"Oh, I usually do this," Kenshin said and leapt into the air, disappearing from Santa's vision for just a split second. Kenshi reappeared on the ground looking up at him expectantly. Santa face-faulted. This freak isn't human! How am I going to do that without being squashed by this bag of toys! Being crushed to death is not what I had in mind this Chirstmas.

Kenshin gestured for Santa to hurry. "Ano, Santa-san if you want to make it to the other side of Tokyo and Kyoto, then you should hurry. Oh, and Yahiko may be a heavy sleeper but his warrior instincts have developed quickly. He will notice your unfamiliar presence soon and attack."

Santa sighed heavily and decided reluctantly to ride his sleigh down to the Dojo's yard. He looked wearily at his reindeer and hoped that they would behave. Being confined always made them run at the walls with their antlers, or take off at top speed in different directions so that they ripped his sleigh into eight pieces. He decided to tread softly to the sleigh.

Santa wondered what God decided to choose him for this job. He decided that next year, he would have Mrs. Claus do this job for change. She complained so much about doing all the housework, and cleaning up after a bunch of sloppy elves. She should try working with those elves. The good ones seemed to be getting old and dirty on him, carving wooden toys that were anatomically correct, and dressing the dolls in Victoria's Secret thong and bra sets. The new ones were worse, since they didn't have the faintest idea on how to carve wooden toys, much less dress up a doll. He peered through the snow, down at the red-haired young man who waited patiently for him. He wasn't a bad person, but he wasn't normal. If this nice soul was such a freak then what would the other inhabitants of this house be like? He sighed again. This was going to be a long night.

* * * * *

It was going to be a very long night, indeed. Santa limped into the Dojo muttering his desire to barbeque those damned reindeer, and dumped his wet bag of toys on the floor so that it made a puddle of melted snow. Kenshin looked at this and grew nervous. He didn't want Kaoru-dono's floor to be ruined, because Kaoru-dono would somehow blame him for it and bludgeon him with her wooden sword. He looked over at Santa-san. The poor old man had such a hard time he marveled that the entire Dojo hadn't woken up. For reasons that were unknown, the herd of cattle had gotten restless and broken into a run all over the Dojo roof dragging the sleigh with them. Santa chased after them, but he slipped and fell off of the roof. Thankfully the huge bag broke his fall.

Santa was tired of carrying the bag so he dragged it the remainder of the way, and left a meandering trail of slush behind him as he walked into and out of each room of the dojo's main area. He seemed to be looking or something, and Kenshin watched him with some curiosity until Santa stopped dead in the middle of the room and glared squarely at him. The rurouni felt his spine grow rigid at the intense look he received from the old man.

"You don't have a Christmas tree, do you?" Santa asked, as if that shouldn't surprise him. Kenshin shook his head. Santa nodded his. "I see." This had to be a joke. Sure, these people were on his list, and the sleigh did lead him to this house, but they had no idea who he was. The freak was nice enough but he wondered what the others were like. They might not understand why he was there; they might demand to see some sort of identification, or proof that he was who he was. Well, he would have to explain WHO he was first.

"Oi, Kenshin! Who the hell is this?"

Starting now, Santa mused. He turned to where the voice came from but realized that he didn't have to look very far out. He just had to look up and into the dark, dangerous eyes of what looked like an overgrown rooster. Santa recognized him immediately.

"Sagara Sanosuke," he murmured, and the taller man widened his eyes in shock at the old man. But the awe left quickly and he grabbed a handfull of Santa's collar and leaned into his face.

"How do you know me? Who the hell are you?" He ended his question with a growl, which made Santa sigh. He really didn't want to put this guy on the bad list.

"Sano, please let him go. His name is Santa Claus and he knows who everyone is," Kenshin said hoping that would calm the gangster. Sano's gaze only grew darker.

"Is that so? Why is it that you know so much about us?" Sano asked curling his right hand into a fist, "Who sent you?"

Santa gave up. Great, now I'm going to get creamed by this guy. This night just keeps getting better.

"Sano, wait!" Kenshin pleaded.

Sano let go of Santa but not because Kenshin's words got through to him. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell face first to the floor. Santa wasn't sure what to make of this. The girl who had caused Sano to fall stood with her bokken poised and her gaze intense. When her heavy breathing tapered off she lowered the wooden sword.

"Santa, are you okay?"

Kenshin was taken aback. "Kaoru-dono, do you know who this man is?"

She nodded, and smiled sheepishly. "Of course I do." She turned to the magical old man. "You're Santa Claus. I've always wanted to meet you."

Santa smiled and winked at her. "I know. You've been good for a very long time. It's time you got what you really wanted."

Kaoru's face brightened. "Really?"

He nodded. "In time, you will get what your heart desires." He moved in close and clasped her hands. "Just have faith."

Kaoru's mouth gaped open and she just nodded happily. Kenshin was glad to see her so happy. He always thought she gave much more than she received. She never complained, but he was glad to see that she would finally get something that she really wanted. Santa went to work setting presents underneath a beautifully lush tree that stood in the middle of the dojo. Kenshin blinked, not sure if he was seeing things. It had been a very strange night so far, and he was in desperate need of some sleep. But he knew it wasn't there before. He looked to Santa for an explanation, but the old man merely tapped the side of his nose and continued with his work.

Sano finally came to and immediately went to help Santa. He was given ribbon and holly to hang since he was able to reach the points that Kenshin and Kaoru couldn't. They both walked around awe-struck with the beautiful decorations that suddenly appeared and almost tripped over a box that was positioned by the tree. They rummaged through it and found colorful, shiny balls with hooks, and glittery gold and red rope so thick that Kaoru wrapped it around herself as if it were a shawl. Santa giggled and pointed out that it was to be wrapped around the tree.

"Oh, I see," she said, and when she was done the tree looked pretty. Kenshin held out the ornaments and together with Sano's help they hung them on the branches as Santa pulled out festively wrapped packages from his sack and place them around the tree. When it was all finished they all stood back to admire their work.

"Wow, it's so lovely," Kaoru said dreamily. "Ayame and Suizume will be so excited."

"Yes, they will. And I'm sure that Yahiko will be happy too."

"This was nice of you to do old man," Sano said and clapped Santa on the back. Kenshin was surprised that Santa didn't fall over from the impact. Sometimes Sano didn't know his own strength.

Santa closed his bag and hoisted it up onto his shoulder. "I like giving to those who truly deserve it. I'm surprised that I didn't know about this location sooner. Well, my work here is done. I've got lots more to do before Christmas morning arrives." He headed for the door and then stopped suddenly and turned to face the three of them. "Before I go I just have one more thing to add here," he said and closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them he looked to the ceiling of the dojo and everyone followed his gaze. A pretty plant hung above Kenshin and Kaoru, and sprinkled glitter all over them.

Kaoru's eyes brightened. Kenshin thought that the plant was lovely, almost as lovely as the smile on Kaoru's face. He was surprised that he never noticed it before. He felt himself drawn to the soft curve of her smile until he pressed his lips against hers. Kaoru's eyes grew wide but her gaze immediately softened as she melted against him.

Sano watched the scene before him, beaming happily at his two closest friends. He turned to thank Santa again for everything and found that the old man was gone. He went to the door and looked out into the snow but all he found was snow. It was as if he had never been there. The snow was undisturbed, the dojo looked clean, and his two friends were still underneath the strange plant kissing as if they were the only two people in the room. He didn't know what just happened but he knew that it was all good. He left Kenshin and Kaoru so that they could have some time alone together, and decided to go back to sleep. It was going to be an exciting morning for them all. He settled down next to Yahiko who immediately rolled over and used him as a pillow. Sano was in too much of a good mood to shove the young samurai away so he let him be and lay on his back with his head resting in his hands, thinking of how happy the kids would be when they saw what was left for them. Then an idea came to him.

Maybe I'll go visit the Foxy Doctor tomorrow. I saw something nice in the market yesterday that reminded me of her. I hope she likes it, he thought and with that he fell asleep feeling a lot better about the future than he had in all of the Meiji Era.

-The End-