The Gift of Deceiving

Author's Note: I told myself, 'write something short and fun'. But who could I write about? It had to be Dan or Juri, I thought. Why not write about them both, eh?

When the cheering subsided, many of the workers and scientists began to speak amongst themselves, some of them overly optimistic and grateful while a few took the opportunity to let their skepticism shine. The year had not been a tremendous success, and yet the leader of S.I.N., Seth, announces that the workers were allowed time to return home for Christmas? Seth wasn't a good leader in the sense of morals, but he was a good leader when it came to those below him, and when it came to efficiency. A small vacation for the holidays was the perfect distraction from the failures of the year, which included setbacks on the BLECE project as well as an absence of a winner for the recent tournament.

One of the workers assumed that Seth was simply relieved, if not shocked, by the fact that S.I.N. managed to retain their operations after spending resources on the tournament. She ultimately came to the conclusion that his reasons for the break didn't matter, as she would be granted the chance to return home to her daughter. She smiled and nudged her way out from the sea of her colleagues, focused on the warm thoughts of baking holiday cookies with Lauren and getting back in touch with old friends. If it was a paid break, all the better for Crimson Viper.

Still, work needed to be done today before her leave could commence tomorrow. As she readjusted her yellow-tinted shades and grabbed her clipboard, she caught a glimpse of a certain worker leaning up against an archway. Perhaps assassin was a better word for the woman, as the only work she ever did involved her getting her hands dirty instead of squinting at data flying across screens. Her raven hair was arranged again in its horned style and her clothing was comprised of her taekwando outfit and purple accents.

Turning to face the woman, Viper noticed her small violet eyes weren't bustling with mischievous energy as they usually were. Her gaze was directed to the floor, her arms were crossed, and her lips were pressed together: three signs that the Korean was drowning in thought. Every now and then her foot would twitch and her toes would wiggle slightly. The way she looked was perturbing, as she should have been seen with a smile upon hearing about the break from work. Well, perhaps not a genuine smile. She usually substituted those for smirks and sneers.

"So, Juri," Viper said as she passed her, "got any plans for this Christmas break?"

"I got nothing," she confided, sighing.

Viper stopped and spun on her heel, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing? Nothing at all?" she questioned, letting her smile fade. "But you always have something planned for these kinds of events. Nights filled with debauchery, a prank on the guards, beating the living snot out of someone for no reason!" Juri shook her head. "Really? None of those things interest you?"

"I don't drink," Juri replied in a bored tone. "And the guards have the personality of toast; the last one didn't give a care in the world over laxatives in his coffee."

"Aren't you glad we have such stalwart security?" Viper quipped. "And he did run fast. Faster than any man I've ever seen."

"Seth told me about the break thing long before he told you, and even then I didn't have the foggiest idea what to do," Juri continued, ignoring Viper's quip. "What do you do on the holidays?"

"Me? I go home, bake cookies, put up lights, spend time with family, that kind of-" Viper stopped talking as Juri looked away. "Oh…"

Although she didn't show it, Viper knew Juri wasn't exactly in the best mood for talk of families and home. The Korean had her family taken away from her at a young age, and because of the event, she no longer had a home in her country. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't bother her, but now, with nothing else to do, she was to dwell on those painful thoughts. Her partner in crime wouldn't allow them to plague her much longer though, but she couldn't exactly give her a clear-cut idea. Who was she to tell the stubborn woman what to do?

'Damnit, Christmas is supposed to be a harmonious time, not some opportunity to mull over memories,' Viper thought, shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it," Juri muttered, referring to Viper's unintended reminder of her past. "I'll think of something."

"I'm sure you will," the crimson-haired agent said, nodding. She made to continue walking but stopped and looked back at Juri. "Hey, Christmas by yourself sure is lonely..."

Juri looked at her with a sarcastic expression.

"Really? I never would have guessed." Narrowing her eyes, she pressed on, "What are you up to?"

Viper smirked.

'What an uncharacteristically kind gesture,' Juri thought, stuffing her hands into the front pockets of her black parka jacket. Her fingers brushed against a folded piece of paper, which she took out and looked over for a moment. 'Don't know how she managed to buy a ticket with all the festivities going on, and I don't really care. All that matters now is getting to the party before it's over.'

Taking the chance to go to China to see her rival was a fantastic opportunity, and she silently thanked the crimson-haired agent again for giving her the idea. If it were any other day, meeting the famous Chun-Li would be simply business, if not accidental. Now, on Christmas morning, it would only be a social visit. Juri contemplated what would happen when she showed up to the woman's little social gathering. It wouldn't be anything good, and one of them would very well get knocked out and dragged off somewhere much to the pleasure of the other.

Smiling lewdly, Juri chuckled.

'If that's the way it's going to be, I hope I'm the one who wins.' She mentally slapped herself, disgusted. 'Really? Come on girl, you've got some sense of decency, so use it. It's Christmas!'

With that thought her attention was brought back to the piece of paper in her hands. She opened it up carefully and studied it, reading over the few lines that were hastily scribbled inside. It was fortunate for her that her face wasn't yet recognized by the world, which made it easy to pop an innocent question to a local citizen. Directions were given without the need to pry, bribe, or intimidate, which both surprised and warmed Juri. People simply gave things away at this time of year without even thinking about what they would receive in return.

Her Chinese target was just a few blocks away from where she stood now at a bus stop. Just because everyone she ran into didn't scream and alert the authorities didn't mean she could walk around with her hair up in its devilish fashion and with her taekwando outfit on. It certainly was much too cold for her usual attire, and the snow beneath her boots would sting if she were barefoot. She let her hair fall to her shoulders, wore a full jacket, put on some comfortable pants, and wore boots as well as black gloves. In essence, she looked like any other citizen from afar, which was her intention.

She didn't amount to much on Christmas Eve. All that she did was ascertain that she had a place to stay for a few days during the holidays. Counting herself lucky for finding a motel worthy enough, she spent the rest of the night and a bit of her morning gathering information on Chun-Li's whereabouts. The officer had a nice apartment that was just a stone's throw away from a nearby harbor and public park, which Juri would have to cut through to find her.

The park in question was right in front of her. Trees were coated in a thin, crisp sheet of snow. Lights were strewn around the branches; each set comprised of a myriad of colors connected by green wires. A cobblestone path directed pedestrians through the middle of the park, occasionally deviating or circling points of interest. Benches littered the path, and a few of them were even occupied with the occasional couple or outsider visiting relatives. The snow in the park was nearly two feet high, and it sparkled in the late morning light. It was a beautiful park, and it seemed that it was the only place for miles that looked so peacefully disconnected from the troubles of the world.

Juri stepped through the small park entrance, pocketing her directions as she went. The snow crunched beneath her boots, and, given that aspect, it would most likely stick together if one had something creative in mind. She quickened her pace. Although the children building a snowman to her right were interesting enough to stay and watch, she needed to get to Chun-Li's apartment before someone saw through her disguise. She wasn't really worried about it though. Even if someone knew who she was, who would have the guts to confront her?

As she came to a fork in her path, she swore she could hear someone rapidly approaching from the path to the right. A tree blocked her view, and instead of waiting like a sensible person, she continued to move forward. With eyes as wide as dinner plates she wandered right into the path of an oncoming man. His body collided with hers with such force that both were sent off the path and into a high snow bank.

"Nnnggg! Get off of me you idiot!"

Shocked, disgusted, and enraged all at once, Juri pushed the man off from on top of her and scrambled to her feet. She whirled around and scowled at him, failing to notice that he couldn't see it with his face buried in the snow. Meekly raising his arms to push himself up, he cocked his head in Juri's direction and returned her expression with his own agitated version. Sure it was his folly that caused the both of them to end up in the snow, but she should have looked down the path before crossing in front of him! She had to share the blame for this blunder!

"What are you getting mad at me for?" the man snapped back. "You're the one who stepped in front of me!"

As he got to his feet, Juri took in the appearance of the clumsy idiot. His jacket was an amusing shade of pink accented by fluffs of white cotton around the neck and sleeves. Instead of pants, he wore what looked to be black pajama bottoms, giving the idea that he just woke up and/or simply forgot to dress himself properly. His eyebrows were comically arched and his hair was held back in a tiny, insignificant ponytail. A pink pair of earmuffs covered his ears from the elements, but couldn't protect him from the fact that he looked utterly ridiculous and feeble in the eyes of the Korean in front of him.

"That's no excuse for running into me. You could have stopped yourself you know," Juri growled, struggling to keep her scowl from turning into a sneer.

"It's not my fault! There was ice there!"

Juri glanced over to the path the man had come from and, finding no ice whatsoever, turned right back to face him again.

"What ice? I don't see any ice!"

The man squirmed a little and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sure there's ice… It's uh… black ice! You know… the ice that's invisible to the eye?"

Narrowing her eyes, Juri replied:

"That's only on roads and bridges." When she didn't receive an answer after a moment of awkward silence, she sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "Ugh… I can't stand men like you. You mess up and don't even admit it."

"Mess up? There was ice there! Do you think I'm a clumsy guy?"

"I think you're worse than a bull in a china shop."

The man pouted his lips and folded his arms, unaware that he was potentially causing a scene in the middle of the park. A fight was on the winds, and in the whispers of bystanders. Juri leaned forward and shook her head, raising her eyebrows at the man's body language.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I want an apology," the man muttered.

"Me? Apologize to you for something that was clearly your fault?" Juri bit back a howl of laughter at his tenacity, stifling it into a cruel chuckle. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

At this the man flashed a grin and scratched his nose in an arrogant fashion.

"Who am I? Why, I'm none other than Dan Hibiki, master of the Saikyo arts!" His grin disappeared in the blink of an eye. "And you are?"

The question was turned around so quickly that Juri found herself conflicted between two outcomes. She couldn't reveal her name because she feared it would come with an obvious and guilty tag. The people looking on in earnest would most certainly remember her name; they didn't look as idiotic as the pink man. Writing the man off with a few words of spite didn't sit well with her. It was Christmas, and there were kids around who didn't need that behavior in their lives just yet.

She would have to make up an alias. Covertly glancing around, she found a small pink package on the ground nearby, no doubt belonging to Dan. She was about to leave it be when she noticed there was a white label on it. On it were written the words To Chun-Li, from Dan. The man was going to Chun-Li's apartment! With a gift! Lost for words, she left her mouth hanging open for awhile before Dan cleared his throat.

"Well? Should I just call you crazy for now?"

"Yuri," Juri quickly said without thinking. She hissed softly and returned her attention to Dan. "Yuki! My name is Yuki!"

Her thoughts drowned out anything Dan may have said to her. How could she forget about a gift for her darling officer? Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without gifts! She needed to get one, and fast. Was there a store nearby where she could buy something from?

'Buy something?' Juri thought to herself. 'When was the last time I ever bought anything? Well, the candy and soda during that one heist was on a whim, so… Wait, when have I ever bought anything for someone else?' She looked back at the pink gift, finding Dan had picked it up and placed it aside on a bench. The gears in her head turned and spat out a cunning plan. 'Never. And I'm not going to start now.'

She smiled mischievously and put her hands on her hips.

"I've got an idea, pal… Since none of us can agree over who's to blame," she gestured to the snow bank they fell into, "why don't we have a little duel?"

"A duel?" Dan repeated, scratching his head. "What kind of duel? Do you mean a street fight? I kinda like to do my fighting in tournaments… especially after that incident with the cook and the goat…" he muttered, pressing his fingers together sheepishly.

Before the man could continue his rambling, a chunk of snow hit him directly in the face. He wiped the icy substance away and glowered at Juri, who tossed a perfect snowball around in her hands nonchalantly. He was about to say something, but then he took another snowball in the face.

"Snowball fight!" Juri shouted, her voice filled with glee.

Dan crouched down and scooped up a handful of snow. He was confused by the woman's immediate attitude change and the conditions of the duel, but he wasn't about to skimp out of a good snowball fight, especially against her. What honor would he bring to Saikyo if he lost? Come to think of it, how could he lose? What were the rules again? Were there any rules? Does he just fling snow until she gives up? If so, the fight was in the bag. Dan Hibiki wasn't known for giving up easily.

He rolled to the side, dodging an icy projectile as he got to cover behind an occupied bench. The occupants sighed and shuffled away from the conflict. They weren't interested in getting pelted today. Dan poked his head out to toss a snowball at Juri, scoring a hit on her midsection. She laughed and brushed it off before creating ammo. It wasn't as fun as a real fight, but still, it was a fight nonetheless. If things went as planned, she would very well get what she wanted soon.

She waited until Dan ducked behind cover again before throwing a snowball at a group of teenagers, hitting one of the males in the back of the head. They whirled around and looked between the two combatants, aggravation evident. Thankfully, they believed Dan threw it since they could see he completely missed Juri and pegged a passing couple. The Korean would be sowing chaos yet again, but it would be good-natured chaos. What was wrong with spreading merriment in an icy form?

Already Dan began to notice snowballs being flung his way that didn't belong to Juri. Instead of standing up and calling foul, he grinned and went along with the fight. He scooped up a good pile of snow for himself and threw balls left and right, every action done with some sort of childish antic. When he wasn't a pig-headed buffoon, Juri thought him to be actually quite fun. A shame she couldn't stay and observe him, though. She pelted a few more people to get them involved in the fight, even managing to unintentionally attract the attention of a patrolling police officer, who amazingly joined in on the action.

Juri ducked a few wayward snowballs and made her way to the group of children creating the snowman she had seen earlier.

"Psst," Juri exclaimed surreptitiously to a small, pudgy girl. She gestured to a large ball of snow she and her friends were creating, smiling sweetly. "Mind if I borrow that? I'll make it worth your while…"

"What is the meaning of this?" huffed an old man in a purple robe as he looked into the park.

"Dunno," replied one of his younger companions wearing a ball cap. "But I'm not missing out on this!"

"Besides, it's Christmas," remarked another young man, leaving the company of the older man to pursue his brother.

"Bah humbug," the old man muttered humorously.

By now the park was the location of one of the biggest snowball fights the quiet little town had ever witnessed. Snowballs were being chucked left and right, hitting anyone who was engaged in the action. Those who weren't participating were left alone, and they sat on the sidelines taking pictures, sipping coffee, and laughing wholeheartedly. Someone would get pegged in the face and brush it off with a chuckle before retaliating with a larger piece of snow. It was mindless fun, and Dan especially was enjoying every minute of it. He almost forgot about the Korean woman from before had it not been for her sneaking up on him behind.

Juri held a ball of snow that was twice as large as her head high above her. She grinned devilishly and struck Dan with it, finding to her amusement that the ball completely covered his head like a bucket over one's eyes. She jumped back as his arms flailed around comically in vain. He looked absolutely ridiculous, and as much as Juri wanted to revel in his embarrassment, she moved over to Dan's bench and casually picked up his pink gift. As she slinked away from the excitement she made sure her little accomplices saw her off, a few yuans richer.

'Well, that went better than expected,' Juri thought as she exited the park, deflecting a wayward snowball with her hand. 'I wonder what's inside this box…'

She took a much closer inspection of the gift in her hands. Cardboard box held together by pink wrapping paper? Check. Tag identifying the recipient? Check. Contents? Well, gathering knowledge about the contents was as simple as opening up the present and looking inside. Juri ducked into an alleyway and carefully undid the tape holding the paper together. She set the pink paper aside and opened the revealed white box, hoping to find something of value. Instead, nestled within tissue paper she found a piece of white paper with someone's scribbles on it.

Juri took the paper in her hands and read the lines, narrowing her eyes in disappointment. Dan Hibiki. Other than a self portrait of the man, she saw only those two words on the scrap. Dan Hibiki. It was… an autograph? What man writes his name down on a picture of himself and gift wraps it? Perhaps it was a joke. Wasn't a very funny one though, in Juri's opinion.

Her hand wanted to clench into a fist and destroy the sorry excuse for a gift, but something in the back of her mind stopped her. The man in the park wasn't that bad of a guy, just stubborn, clumsy, silly-looking, childish, arroga- Well, those adjectives weren't helping his case. He put effort into this little drawing of his, even going as far as to color it. It was his gift to Chun-Li, and she felt a little guilty for having stolen it. Besides, it was Christmas!

'Hmm… that's going to be the excuse for everything now, isn't it?' Juri thought. 'Juri! There's a spider in my coffee! Oh no, it's ok, it's Christmas. Juri! You broke every bone in that guard's body! It's ok! It's Christmas!'

She laughed nervously, trying to find a better reason not to leave the gift in a trash pile. She poked around in the box that the autograph came in and found that there was a lot of room in there. Too bad it was neglected by just one piece of paper. But… if something were placed in there, it could easily be covered up by the autograph. A plan surfaced in her mind, prompting a wide grin to appear across Juri's face.

If stealing something didn't sit right and buying was out of the question, Juri would just have to give Chun-Li something that she was already carrying now. The best gifts were personal ones, after all. After a minute of shuffling and shivering she inserted her gift into the bottom of the white box and covered it with tissue paper. It was a stroke of good luck that she carried a pen with her today, as she took it out and signed her own autograph on the back of Dan's before placing it back in the box. She then redid the wrappings and picked up the tampered gift, finding it heavier but not noticeably so.

Now she would play the kindly and apologetic stranger card and return the gift to its courier. She gussied up halfheartedly for the encounter and strutted out from the alleyway with the package under her arm. The recent snowball fight had died down completely, leaving many citizens with a fond memory and Juri a clear path back to Dan. She held in a giggle at the sight of his rear in the air and his head in the snow. No doubt he noticed that his gift was missing and that he believed it would be under two feet of snow.

Juri set the gift aside on its previous resting place, the bench, before nudging Dan's leg with her foot. His head shot out from the snow and whirled around to face Juri. He had a wide-eyed look to him and his rosy cheeks were stained with iced-over tears.

"There you are, I've been looking all over the park for you," Juri lied with a smile.

"Ehya?" Dan exclaimed, flinching back. "Hey, don't throw anymore snowballs, you win!"

"I win? Oh I don't care about that anymore. In fact, even if I won, I'm going to apologize for getting in your way back there."

Dan stood up straight and sniveled before running a finger under his nose.

"Really?" he asked, his voice a mixture of fear, uncertainty, and shock.

"Of course," Juri replied with a wave of her hand. "One hundred percent my bad. You've got places to go; sorry for holding you up with a little snowball fight."

"Uh… heh, I don't mind the snowballs. I'm pretty sure I would have won the fight if not for… uh," he paused, blushing from embarrassment. "Hey!" he snapped, changing the subject and avoiding humiliation, "apology accepted and all, but did you happen to see a pink box lying around? I've been looking all over for it just now."

Juri turned to point at the bench from before.

"It's right there. How could you miss it?"

"It wasn't there the last time I looked…" Dan muttered, furrowing his brow.

"Maybe it was invisible?" Juri replied with a sheepish grin.

The Saikyo master placed his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes at the woman. It wasn't that Juri cared about the idiot enough to buy his trust, she just wanted the gift back in his hands so he could lead her to Chun-Li's apartment. It occurred to her that her answer was a stupid one, and under no circumstances would anyone fall for such a thing as 'it was invisible'. However, she stared at Dan for awhile until his gaze tilted up thoughtfully. Was he actually considering her answer to be true?

"That does explain a lot…" he mumbled, rubbing his chin. "A lot of things I put my name on tend to disappear." He wandered over to the bench and picked up the gift carefully. After inspecting the sides and bottom- and asking a random passerby if they could see it- he put it under his arm and turned back to Juri. "Thanks, I guess. Huh… I wonder what would happen if I signed my clothes…"

Thankfully he turned around and started to walk before he could expand on the thought. He didn't hear the soft crunches of boots on snow following him.

It didn't take too long for Dan to quit his lollygagging and commit to finding Chun-Li's apartment. Juri found that the building he went into didn't seem that much different from a set of neighboring buildings. She had expected more from her officer but knew better than to judge a book from its cover. She waited until the door closed before walking around the building to find an old fire escape, which she leaped up to effortlessly. From there she jumped over to an adjacent building's balcony, counting herself lucky that no one saw her yet.

No, most people would be inside with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate, warming themselves by the fire as they unwrapped their gifts rather than rough it outside in the cold weather. Grabbing onto a ledge above her head, Juri hoisted herself up another level and shimmied across another balcony before settling her eyes on the building her mark lived at. There were large glass windows for many of the balconies, some which were obscured by blinds and others that opened up into living rooms that could accommodate a dozen people. She dropped into a nearby balcony and searched for officer Xiang's room.

When the Korean spotted a flash of blue in one of the windows she dropped into a crouch behind a resident's conveniently placed poinsettia plant. Poking the leaves out of her way, Juri could see the China doll bent over a fireplace with a poking iron in her hands. She let out a string of curses in her tongue, disgusted that she didn't get someplace closer to get a better look. There were others in the room, but no one that Juri recognized. Perhaps they were fellow Interpol officers.

She looked past her alluring target and saw a large Christmas tree nearby. The tree was decorated in every color of the rainbow. Ornaments littered its branches. A small wooden angel sat at the top. A bunch of presents were scattered around the base of the tree, differentiating from each other by size.

"Well, well… you've been a goody-goody all year," Juri muttered, shaking her head. "Surprising? I think not!"

A cream colored cat sat near the tree, hunched over and eyes wide. It ran to a ball ornament and energetically bopped it around with its paws before it crouched down and looked up at a rapidly approaching human. The woman bent her knees and picked up the cat, her two long blond pigtails trailing behind her. She seemed to be scolding the little animal for its behavior, but her expression was one of forgiveness. Juri frowned at the sight, for she knew that the woman was Chun-Li's unofficial partner that served in Delta Red.

She wasn't involved in her plan, so her presence didn't matter. On the contrary, all the better that she was here to witness the outcome of Juri's deception. On that note, the Korean smiled again when she noticed Chun-Li was standing and speaking to her pink dupe. She smiled sweetly and accepted the pink gift that was thrust into her hands, although Juri could clearly see that the officer knew what was inside. Correction, she thought she knew what was inside.

As Dan went to bug Cammy, Chun-Li placed the gift on a counter and carefully undid the wrappings. She opened the box and heaved an annoyed sigh at the piece of paper that caught her eye. Despite her disappointment, she smiled and rolled her eyes, mouthing the words 'every year' a few times. She was about to close the box and set it aside when she caught a glimpse of purple sticking out from underneath the tissue paper.

Juri held her breath.

Curious, the Chinese woman grabbed the violet and pulled up, lifting the object out from its container. At first she was confused by what she was seeing. In her hands were a purple pair of panties that seemed just her size. She looked over to Dan, then back to the panties quickly, wondering what could have gotten into him to break his autograph tradition. It was a thoughtful gift, sure, but that didn't ebb away how awkward it was to receive such a gender-specific piece of underwear.

She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could muster up her voice she noticed something unsettling about the panties. There was no clothes tag. In fact, there was nothing to convince her that the little piece of purple had been bought recently. The satin didn't feel brand-new and a few tiny threads stuck out from the top. Her eyes widened in shock when she discovered the panties had been worn recently. Very recently…

Chun-Li's cheeks burned and her eyebrows practically disappeared into her auburn hairline. Cammy, who was looking on in earnest, caught her partner's expression and scowled. She went to Dan and grabbed him roughly by the shoulders to turn him over to Chun-Li. Almost managing to choke on a cookie in shock, Dan wiggled free and grabbed his autograph from the box. He held the piece of paper up to the women, gesturing between it and him as he tried his best to explain himself. All that amounted to was a bunch of incoherent squeaks and stammers, for Dan had no idea something else was in the box.

By the time he held his autograph up Juri was laughing maniacally from her balcony position. She held her sides as Chun-Li dropped the panties and ripped Dan's autograph away, catching Juri's name on the back written in her handwriting. She reread the name over and over again, each time adding fear and disgust to her already teacup-wide eyes. Her lower lip quivered as she struggled to find words to say, and her partner shifted back and forth from terrified to furious in a matter of mere heartbeats.

Tears of joy formed in the corners of Juri's eyes as she attempted to quell her bout of laughter. Succeeding and turning it into a fit of giggles, she stood up and vaulted over the balcony ledge to land in snow at the base of the building. The sound of a glass door sliding open and hurried steps greeted her ears, and soon Chun-Li appeared in her balcony with an almost paranoid look about her. She whisked her head around until she caught sight of Juri, who flashed a wide, crazy grin and winked.

"Merry Christmas!"

And with that she turned and ran, laughing as she went.

Author's Note: I hope each and every single one of you has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!