((Author's note: This is a little one shot I put together for my friends. One of them drew an adorable picture of the three demons ready to attack with candy canes as weaponry. It was begging to be made into a one-shot. Let me know what you think.:) Oh, and Vince Guaraldi's "Skating" from the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack helped. :D ))
Persona 4 AU: O, Christmas Tree
"Hm." Dojima scrutinized the dark patch on the Christmas tree wherein small colored lights should have completed the picture of a perfectly lit holiday masterpiece.
He checked the plug stuck firmly into the wall outlet near the TV., and jiggled it a little just in case any wires were loose inside. The tree stayed lit save for that one spot. The flimsy box the lights came coiled in lay open on the table behind him, so he couldn't blame it on aged wiring. He'd plugged them in to test it before wrapping the line around the tree, and the whole strand had lit up brilliantly. Only one conclusion made sense after exhausting every other option.
Sometime between then and now, one miscreant bulb failed to do the only job for which it was created.
He grumbled under his breath in annoyance.
Nanako wanted Yu's friends to come over for a party later tonight where they could decorate the tree. It was now late afternoon. He had 1 hour to get the rest of the supplies from Junes before people started showing up. Over the past few months, he'd become closer to his only child, and didn't want anything to spoil her holiday.
One bulb rudely put itself in the way of that happiness. That meant spending the rest of the afternoon searching for the guilty party. He didn't have time to humor this thing.
He heard his nephew pad down the stairs in his socks, and smirked at the sudden bought of good luck. There may be a way out of this after all. "Yu."
The youth paused at the base of the stairs. Good god, what did he do now? "Yes, uncle?"
"There's a bulb out on this tree."
"That sucks."
"Find it for me, would you?"
"But—"
"Spare bulbs are in the box," he gestured lazily to the box sporting a picturesque photo of a perfectly lit holiday wonderland home. It was false advertising in his opinion.
Yu eyed the tree, then the box. "That could take me all night," he stated blandly.
"Better get started, then." Dojima grabbed his jacket from its hook by the front door and slipped on his shoes. "You know how to check, right?" Just twist each bulb until they all light up. The one that doesn't light needs to be replaced. Good luck." And with his order given, he left the menial task to the young man, knowing the lights would be in excellent working order when he returned with the rest of the party supplies. Yu rarely gave up on a challenge—a part of his personality that undoubtedly came from his mother. It wasn't in the Dojima family line to roll over, and he knew this –it's why his sister held the title of champion Kenjutsu master. Thus, he would use it to his advantage.
"Uncle, I—" Yu began, though soon found himself talking to a closed door. He looked back to the bald-spot tree just off to the side next to the tv, and exhaled slightly. He had planned on going over to Yosuke's to kick the fox demon's butt at Ninja's Creed before Nanako's party. This tree mocked him with its impossible mission. His uncle had these lights more tightly wound around this 7 foot pine than a monk on crack.
He picked up a bell-shaped, iced sugar cookie from a plate on the counter and nibbled on it in thought. There had to be a way to quickly sort through this... how many lights were on this tree, again? He picked up the box.
1000 BRIGHTLY COLORED LIGHTS!
And one of them was dead.
Just one.
Only.
One.
"..." Sigh.
Yu dug his cell phone from his pocket, pushed '2' on speed dial, and waited.
Yosuke picked up the phone on his end after he shoved the last of a sandwich into his mouth. "Y'ello?" He muttered around a mouthful of food.
"Hey," Yu held the box in his hand as he spoke. "I need your help with something. Think you can get over here quickly?"
"Yeah, I'll be over in a sec. I'm still in my PJ's. Gimme a bit."
"Kay." Yu hung up, leaned against the counter while he crunched on the cookie, and waited patiently for the fox demon to arrive.
Ten minutes later, Yosuke rolled up on his bicycle, leaving tire tracks in the snow. He leaned it against the inside of the front yard under the awning and entered the home. He'd been in and out of here more times than he could count, and never once did he bother to knock. This was his other home, after all –the first place he had seen beyond the gas station's back room, the box, and the shrine. "Hey, I'm here. I brought the system and Ninja's Creed so we can play," he slipped his shoes off and pulled the red scarf down from where it sheltered his nose from the crisp winter wind. A light snow had begun to fall, so his jacket carried a soft dusting of powder. "So, what's the emergen—Dude, your tree's bald."
"I know."
"Oh...kay? Details, man. I need them."
Yu explained the problem as the two boys moved to examine the tree.
Yosuke's eyes widened. "You mean we have to check every single one? You're kidding me, right?"
"I wish I was."
Yosuke removed the warm hat that was covering his ears and tossed it onto the dining table. He sat down on the red and green tree skirt to start checking bulbs. They spent about five minutes wordlessly employed in their task when Yu's cell phone rang. The fox demon kept searching the bottom row for the evil light until his friend hung up.
"I need to go get Nanako. My uncle's stuck in the parking lot of Junes. He just broke up a fight over a flat screen and has to stay on scene. Sorry."
Yosuke shrugged. "It's cool. Don't worry, man. I got this."
Yu nodded in thanks, grabbed his coat, slipped on his shoes, and left Yosuke alone in his home.
Yosuke finished the lower row and stood to look up at the top of the tree. He bit his lip. This would take him forever and a healthy century to finish. He needed help if he was going to have this entire tree lit by the time his friend returned. Although he was sure he could do it himself, an idea curled the edges of his lips. He knew exactly what to do.
However, he would need help.
Yosuke sent texts to the only two people in Inaba with the intelligence, agility, and ability to complete this mission.
About fifteen minutes later, Naoto and Chie walked through the front door shaking snow from their coats.
"It's really coming down out there," Chie rubbed her arms to warm up though she was wearing a green sweater and yellow scarf. "The weather man said it would be a light storm. He should get his head examined."
"Then it's probably best we're here early anyway." Naoto was already two cookies in from the plate on the kitchen counter as her friend spoke. She'd barely given the tree any thought. Her eyes immediately locked onto the baked goodness –burned slightly around the edges just the way she liked them.
Yosuke ate a cookie and joined the two in the kitchen. "We have less than an hour until Yu comes home. The easiest way to find the dead bulb is to attack these lights our way from the ground up. Yu's counting on us to have this tree looking epic before Nanako's decorating party starts."
Chie took off her gloves. "It would be a good way to work out some stress. I had a rough lunch arguing with my dog over the last piece of bacon, and the dojo has a class right now, so I couldn't get my aggressions out. Muku actually has some good points." She snagged a cookie. "I'm changing his food, by the way."
"We would be faster in our natural forms," Naoto calmly agreed. "The inner bulbs will be easier to reach." She knelt, set the rest of her cookie on a cloth napkin on the kitchen floor, and in a swirl of energy, shrank down to her normal 12" height. Eating a cookie as large as her head was a much better idea than changing it with her. Her ears twitched as she happily sank her teeth into the treat.
Chie and Yosuke joined her at her level a second later. The cabinets towered around them, blocking their view of the rest of the house aside from the hall way and bathroom door. "We need a plan," Yosuke's tail swished from side to side. "Naoto, you're good with climbing, so you can take the top and work down. Chie, you take the middle, and I'll work my way up from the bottom."
"Got it." Chie rolled up her sleeves. "That tree is goin' down."
"We've fought shadows," Naoto walked out of the kitchen crunching on the last bit of the cookie. Her fingers were stained by green icing, which she happily licked clean. "We can do this. It's just a tree. How hard can it be to find one stupid little burned out bulb?"
The three of them looked up at the giant pine tree. The tip barely touched the ceiling, so for three animal demons –the tallest at 15"—this was a very young sequoia.
Her jaw slacked. "I take it back."
"Ok, team," Yosuke began. "This is going to take guts,"
"And strategy. Lots of it." Naoto said.
"Diligence," Chie said
"And courage." Yosuke clenched his fist.
"It'll be painful," Chie stated.
"...But not too painful,"
Chie eyed the fox boy and sighed. What a wus.
Naoto cracked her knuckles. "Let's do this."
The seriousness of this serious business hummed nearly tangible in the air, and Chie could have sworn she could hear the theme music to Mission: Impossible.
Yosuke tipped back his headphones, and spun dual mini candy canes in both hands. He was ready for action.
Naoto shoved her hands into the mini candy cane bowl and came out with six perfectly curled instruments of holiday weaponry between her clawed fingers. That bulb didn't stand a chance.
Chie tied off a mask made from another napkin over her nose and mouth and strengthened her stance to face their towering target.
This mission would be a success even if they died trying. Her right ear cocked upward slightly. She wasn't imagining the music. Her friend was humming it through teeth clenched around a candy cane. The instrumentals blasted from his headphones.
"Yosuke?"
"I'm not Yosuke, I'm Fox," His tone changed to mimic Sean Connery. "Agent Fox."
"Riiiight," Naoto gave him a derisive narrow-eyed glance.
"Could you turn that off?" Chie growled behind her mask.
"Fine." The button clicked off easily and he ate the candy cane. "I was just trying to set the mood."
Naoto slid her sleeve up to check her watch. "We have just over a half hour to find that bulb."
"Then why are we still talking?" Chie ran up to the tree and jumped to pull herself up onto a lower branch. It bowed from her weight. Motion to her right and left told her the other two had pounced into the tree.
Yosuke crouched on a lower branch, grabbed two bulbs, and twisted them back and forth. The bulbs clicked off, then on. He climbed up a level to lay across a branch –avoiding the prickly pine needles—to test a few more bulbs with both hands and feet.
Chie swung up to another branch, testing lights along the way. She ducked under a curved branch harboring large clusters of needles, and caught a bulb on the way. So far, everything she checked was in good working order.
Naoto quickly climbed to the top most branch that would support her weight and dug the claws of her feet into the wood for stability. By her logic, the dark zone of lights had to be controlled by a line of wiring that went to the top cluster of bulbs. From here, it should be a simple matter of working her way down the tree.
The three small animal demons climbed through the tree checking every bulb from all directions – upside down, sideways, overhead and from behind. That corner of the house flickered like a strobe light each time a light went through the quality check process.
The backyard neighbor stared curiously at the flickering lights next door with his arms laden with fire wood. That house was getting weirder every week.
Yosuke had reached the middle of the tree on the side near the door, and reached for the next bulb on the line when Chie's hand wrapped around it at the same time.
"Hands off, Chie," he narrowed his eyes. "This one's mine."
"Say's who? The Bulb Police?" She pried at his fingers.
"I saw it first. Go get your own." He twisted the tear-shaped light, but she turned it back on. "Let go."
"You let go." She shoved him back. "This is my section, Hanamura."
"Says who? The Tree Police?" He snarked.
"Real inventive come-back, genius."
Both growled at each other with ears flat. She blocked his attempt to touch the light, but he returned her attack. They countered, hitting each other's hands away in rapid succession until it was a blur of motion.
Naoto looked down from an inner branch at the fighting duo. "Guys, we're on a case here."
Yosuke upper-blocked her hand and grabbed at his prize. Her hand clamped over his as he twisted the bulb and she turned it back. Back, forth, back, forth, back, forth,.. SNAP!
The little light slipped out of their hands to bounce down to a lower branch where it settled on a clutch of needles.
Naoto poked her head out of the tree. "Would you stop fighting before you—!"
The whole tree went dark.
Her ears drooped, as did the tenor of her voice, "—jeopardize the mission."
Both glared daggers at each other and yelled simultaneously, "Look what you did! You broke it! I did not! You did!"
Yosuke's eyes widened as his anger disappeared. Yu was going to be stoically furious, and Nanako would be upset. Worse than that, Dojima would likely put him in that dreaded hamster ball. "I got it!" He dropped through the tree, swinging on branches to the get to the bottom.
Chie followed. She'd get there before he could, and return the tree to it's partial brilliance before he had a chance to screw anything else up.
His very future of free movement rested on fixing this problem now. He grabbed a line of lights and jumped to swing around the tree right for the bulb's resting place with his hand outstretched. "Yaaaaaaah!" He snagged the bulb, though his thrilling sense of achievement was crushed under the attack of his foe.
Chie dropped past and grabbed the bulb out of his hand. He hit the tree trunk. "Yip!"
"Haha!" Chie jumped up branch to branch to return the bulb.
Yosuke shook out his ears, clearing his head. He spotted her, growled, and thrust out his hand. "Garu!"
A cloud of needles exploded from the tree against the sliding back door.
Chie blinked at him with needles prickling her face, ears, sweater, and tail. She shook them off, growled menacingly, and slammed her hand down on the branch he stood on. "Bufu!"
Ice crawled along the wood right for him. He jumped up barely in time to avoid frost bitten toes.
Satisfied she turned, though arched a floppy ear at the rustling of needles behind her.
Naoto dove out of the upper part of the tree with a mighty 'meow' right at the dog demon. "Gimme that bulb!" They had an objective to complete, and she wasn't going to let the tantrum of the fox and the dog ruin their victory.
Shocked at the newcomer to this battle, Chie jumped up to a branch. She growled. Now it was on. "You asked for it, cat."
Naoto screwed the light back into place. Thankfully, it and most of the tree winked to life, though they were stuck with their original problem. Movement caught in the corner of her eye and she leaped up to sink her claws into a branch as Chie landed right where she'd been standing.
The two girls looked up in time to see Yosuke swinging on a branch right for them. They both dodged as he landed. "I had that bulb! Why did you have to be so bossy about it?"
Chie dangled from two slim sticks holding four lights. "Why do you have to act like a kid all the time!"
"I am a kid!"
The cat demon moved between them to try to calm the situation when she suddenly yelped from a sharp pain spearing up her spine from the base of her tail.
"Hurts, don't it?" Yosuke laughed mischievously.
Naoto's face flared red with anger. "That was my tail, fox." She growled.
"eh..." Yosuke gave a goofy grin. "Oops. I meant to grab hers."
"What?!" Chie dove to attack.
The chase was on! Naoto, Chie, and Yosuke ran, jumped, climbed, and swung on lights through the entire tree. Chie snapped a branch back, hitting Yosuke in the face with it. Naoto pulled handfuls of needles from an upper twig and fired her tiny missiles at the other demons. She giggled slightly despite the rage. This was starting to become fun.
"Owowowowowow!" Chie shielded herself from the needle assault with both arms crossed in front of her face.
The tree wobbled unsteadily from side to side from the rough, erratic movements.
Yosuke launched himself from on a springy branch right past Chie, caught the light string, and up to Naoto. He'd tackle her off the top, and then he would become king of the tree. Because the Tree King's orders are absolute!
Naoto's dark eyes widened at the flying, grinning fox boy and she ducked.
How could he miss? His trajectory was perfect. He grabbed hold of the very top branch sticking up close to the ceiling to keep from flying into the t.v—literally.
"Whoa!" He held on as his weight tipped him downward in a wide arch.
The tree tilted dangerously from side to side, increasing as the animal demons moved to escape. They weighed just enough for this to be a problem. Yosuke's hands slipped from the needles, and he fell right into the middle of the tree. "Incoming!"
If Chie hadn't been standing in that exact spot when he hit, they probably would have been fine. However, the impact knocked both of them over the branches. Unfortunately, that gave the already unstable tree the extra push it needed.
Naoto's claws cut into the trunk. The animal demons held on as the tree tipped toward the couch, and cried out when it didn't stop. They tumbled into each other, getting tangled up in lights. It hit a box of ornaments sitting on the couch, sending the trimmings flying all over the room.
The tree slammed hard into the floor, sending needles everywhere. Water from the stand pooled onto the tatami mat and soaked through the cotton skirt.
Yosuke dropped out of the middle of the tree head first, though didn't hit the ground due to the fact that he was completely tied up in glowing, colorful lights.
Chie's upper body and legs were caught in the wires with a couple of bulbs circling her head like a red and green crown. She lay on her back on a cluster of branches that supported her, though bowed downward.
Naoto lay under the tree on a branch just ahead of the water with both hands reaching out toward the dining table. She'd almost made it out of the tree...almost.
A couple of colorful Christmas ornaments rolled lazily by. She blinked through the lights that entwined her as well, and sighed heavily. "Good job, Yosuke."
"Ow..." Yosuke moaned, upside down.
"I think I broke something," Chie removed a snapped twig from under her back.
All three of them froze when the lock in the door jimmied from the sound of a key. Oh shit! They locked terrified, big eyes on the entrance. There was no way they could hide this in seconds.
Yu, Dojima, Rise, Nanako, Yukiko, Kanji, and Teddie walked in, shaking snow from their coats.
"It sure is cold outside. I'm glad we ran into you," Yukiko hung her tan overcoat on a hook.
"Yeah, thanks for the ride. I didn't want to have to deal with this bear in the car on the way over alone," Kanji brushed snow out of his hair.
"We could have walked," Teddy whined. "I love snow."
"Eh, there was room in the car," Dojima said. "Barely."
"Daddy?" Nanako stopped at the living room. "Why is the tree on the floor?"
The group stared at the sight, not bothering to set down the bags they carried full of items for the party.
The tree lay on its side across the living room, and ornaments littered the floor as if Christmas had exploded in their home. And the three guilty parties dangled, sprawled, and draped in clear, tangled-up view. They all stared with wide, unblinking, petrified eyes at their friends.
"She did it," Yosuke pointed to the dog demon up the tree.
She growled back him, in a high pitched bark.
"This was his idea," Naoto blandly added.
"Hey, you're not totally innocent here!" He shot back.
Yu facepalmed around a heavy sigh. He'd given the fox one thing to do. One. How does something like this even happen?
"...I need two more hamster balls. Don't touch them." Without another word –aside from a grumble—Dojima walked back out to the car, started up the engine, and drove back to Junes.
The tiny fox demon let out a long cry of horrid defeat.
A light snickering grew from the middle of the group where Yukiko and Rise were standing. Yukiko's giggling soon escalated to full out loud laughter. She clutched her arms across her stomach as the laughing fit took over her ability to speak.
The mirth tickled its lambent sound at Nanako, and she joined in, This was the funniest sight she'd seen in a very long time. Her sides hurt.
Rise soon joined in, setting down her bag of goodies for the party.
"Naoto, what happened here?" Kanji demanded.
Naoto reached slowly to her left and slightly turned one last bulb. The entirety of lights on the sideways tree brightened to full, colorful life. Two simple words then managed to find a guilty voice from the small cat demon.
"...Found it."
Yu had to admit that this was turning out to be the most interesting Christmas of his life.
((Merry Christmas!))