Written for the Gaia 2009 story writing contest. I'd honestly completely forgotten about this until it started snowing today. I didn't win, but I like it well enough, and so decided to post it for the hell of it. Enjoy.

Of Wish Lists and Tree Lighting

Chapter 1

It had been unusually warm that December, and so, thus far, the bugs had all still been buzzing about for the catching and the flowers had been growing, just waiting to be picked and brought to Rina's shop. True, the temperature had been dropping at night, but that was to be expected. The mornings had been tranquil, this morning being no exception-

-POUND POUND POUND-"SUMI-CHAN!! Open up~!" –POUND POUND-

… I stand corrected. This morning was going to be very noisy indeed.

"Perchance she's not home, Asae?" offered the redhead of the pair who WASN'T banging insistently at their friends front door.

The brunette looked back at her, fox ears twitching in mild annoyance. "Don't ridiculous, Kappa-sama. Of course she's home; it's 8:30 in the morning. Where else is she going to be? OI! Let us IN!" x-Asae-x commenced the insistent banging with a new fervor, joined now by her puppy, Benny's, equally insistent barking. After a good two minutes of this, x-Asae-x pulled her hand back and shook it, a slightly pained expression on her face. Benny, in response, stopped barking and instead sat wagging his tail at the two teenagers.

x-Asae-x sighed. "Well, that was Epic Fail. Now what?"

Summoner-of-Tales grinned. "Why don't you use your sweet Ninja Skillz to get us in? Ninjas can get through windows."

'Sweet…?' x-Asae-x's ears perked up happily. "Hey, good idea!" "BARK BARK!" Benny put in his two cents as she began searching through her backpack for the one item that was sure to get Sumizomekon to OPEN THE DOOR ALREADY! If this didn't' work, then she would break in through the windows. Plan C [or Plan D, depending on if you count "Knock on the door and make a racket until she opens" Plan A or not] was to make like Santa and drop down the chimney.

Summoner raised an eyebrow. "What are you looking for?" Asae raised up her left index finger in a "wait" signal while her other hand continued to rummage many jars of bugs and bits of trash she had accumulated in the Magick Backpack O' Doom. And yes, that is a Dark-Hunter reference.

"Ah-HA! Found it!" Pulled from the backpack was a red box, contained in which was the strawberry variety of the best snack known to mankind: Pocky.

Summoner's face lit with joy immediately. "POCKY!!"

"Not for you!" x-Asae-x said, pulling it out of reach. She waved her closer, and whispered into her ear, "It's bait. Just watch." The brunette moved back to the door, knocking more gently this time. "Ohh, Sumi-chaaan~! Open the do-oor and let us in~!"

This time an answer came from the other side of the house walls: a very stubborn "No."

x-Asae-x was not deterred. "Fine then," she said, turning from the door and crossing her arms cockily. "We'll just have to eat all of this delicious Pocky ourselves, ne Kappa-chan?"

The curtains at the window parted, revealing tanned skin, choppy purple hair and gray eyes. "Pocky…?"

The two outside nodded, x-Asae-x waving the box tauntingly in front of the window. "Strawberry Pocky," she clarified. Gray eyes widened before the face they belonged to was gone from the window and lock on the front door was heard disengaging.

x-x-x

"So," Sumi said, munching on another stick of Pocky, "What did you two want so early in the morning anyway?"

x-Asae-x smiled. "What do you want for X-mas?"

Sumi almost choked. "Nothing from you two! I don't need or want my friends spending money on me!"

"Too~ bad! We're going to do it anyway, so you might as well just give us an idea of what you would like."

"You know there's no arguing with her, Sumizo. She's set on it," Summoner reasoned.

Sumi sighed. "Fine! Just get me a gift card or something, if you're going to be stubborn!"

"Yay!" x-Asae-x exclaimed, wrighting down what Sumi had said on her note pad.

"Is that all you wanted? I'd like to get back to sleep, if you don't mind."

"Oh no you don't! It's freaking December and you're running around in sneakers, ninja stockings and gloves, and a T-shirt! When the snow dumps on us, you're going to freeze your not-so-little butt off! We're going shopping dammit!" Summoner looked far too amused at this, considering she had gotten the same wake-up call this morning, but without the Pocky.

"But- but-!"

"NO buts! You two need suitable clothing, and we both know that you, Imoutou, aren't going to bother unless I drag you."

Sumi glared. "You suck, Aneki."

"Zack wishes. Now come! First stop, Ian's!"

x-x-x

After visiting nearly all of the shops, including La Victoire, x-Asae-x declared huger and the three girls and one puppy stopped to scarf down various foodstuffs they'd put into their backpacks before departure.

"Where else do we have to go?" Sumi asked in between spoonfuls of pudding.

"The only place left is Gambino's. By the time we're done there, it'll be getting dark anyway," Summoner pointed out.

"Why do you think we came to the Island last?" x-Asae-x munched on another potato chip before scratching Benny behind the ear. "It's just a short walk to the Tree Lighting tonight."

And later that night, as the tree was lit and the awed gasps of the countless Gaians present were heard, there began to fall from the star-lit sky little snowflakes. Soon, laughter filled the streets as good-natured snowball fights broke out between friends and complete strangers alike. And so, though the day had ended on a much noisier note than it had begun on, no one could be heard complaining about that.

Apparently I'm magical too, because as I was typing that line "there began to fall from the star-lit sky little snow flakes" I looked out the window and it was dumping snow on my house! It hadn't been snowing at all when I'd started typing this up.