¡Hola, mis amigos¡Fiesta en mis pantalones ¡Y tu invitado! …Okay, I'll stop now. Ha, speaking Spanish badly is fun. Yay! What's better then a Christmas fic for the middle of July! Nothing of course! Anyhoo, to make this a little more realistic, my brother and I actually picked names out of a hat for it. So, yeah. Double yeah.

It was a cold winter day, about two weeks before Christmas, but the inside of Shigure's house was warm and cozy.

"You've really outdone yourself this time, Miss Honda," beamed Yuki. Tohru blushed and continued to hand out mugs of hot chocolate.

"Oh, it's nothing, really," she said. "I just thought it would be a good way to spend some time together before you all go off for New Year's. Pretty silly, huh?" Yuki smiled.

"No, it was a brilliant idea. Sohma house isn't a particularly cheerful place for most of us, so this is a chance to relax." There were 13 of them; Tohru, Kyo and the rest of the zodiac, save Kureno who had decided against attending. It had been Tohru's idea to have a sort of Sohma secret Santa this year for a little change. She intended it to be a family bonding sort of thing, but Yuki and Shigure finally convinced her she should be involved too, much to her protests. Most everybody loved the idea, even if they were pretending they didn't really care.

Eventually, everyone had been supplied with hot chocolate and the hat was in the hand of Tohru. Before she could start passing it around however, Yuki stopped her.

"So…what are the rules for this?" Tohru looked at him blankly.

"Rules? …well, you just pick a name, and you get a present for whoever name you pulled! And if you get yourself, you have to pick a new name. Okay?" Everyone nodded. This seemed easy enough…

"Oh! And you have to keep the name you pulled a secret until the day!" …not so easy. Finally, Tohru passed the hat around and everyone picked a name (Shigure picked an extra one to give to Kureno later). Some peoples faces fell, some brightened. Some people were just easier to shop for then others.

Tohru picked last. She looked at the crumpled bit of paper in her hand. Hatori.

The day of the exchange came. Much to certain peoples displeasure (or delight), the presents would be given one at a time, so everyone could see. Tohru clutched her gift closer to her chest. She really wasn't sure if he would like it.

"So, are we ready to start?" asked Yuki, glancing at Tohru. Tohru nodded happily. "Then why don't you start, Miss Honda? It was your idea after all."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly-" she protested. Hiro rolled his eyes.

"Oh, get on with it! The rest of us are waiting!" Kisa looked at him reproachfully and Kyo muttered something like 'shut up, damn punk', but Tohru just smiled and blushed a little. She handed her neatly wrapped present to Hatori, who blinked in surprise and began to unwrap it. As she watched him, Tohru recalled the day she had gone out Christmas shopping. She smiled at the memory…

It was a chilly day. Snow had just started to fall. Tohru was grateful for the warmth of the stores. She pulled out her shopping list and smiled widely. Let's see…she still had to get gifts for Uo-chan and Hana-chan, and she also had to get her gift for Hatori-san. She wanted to get a present for Kyo-kun too, though she blushed slightly at the thought. It wasn't really against the rules; they had never really specified that part, but she didn't know how he'd react. Making him uncomfortable was the last thing she wanted to do.

She shook her head. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. She also wanted to get Sohma-kun and they others presents too, but she really didn't have enough money.

'I know!' she thought. 'I'll make a big dinner, with all kinds of good food, and then everyone can have something to eat before we exchange presents!' Excited by her stroke of brilliance, she turned her attention back to her gift shopping. Her brow furrowed in contemplation. What would Hatori like? She looked around the shelves. They were packed with all sorts of interesting trinkets, but nothing really struck her as Hatori's style.

She thought of maybe getting him a nice little fishbowl where they could put him if he transformed. She could put in pebbles, maybe a few plants, maybe a cute little castle or something…Then she reprimanded herself for her stupidity. Of course he wouldn't like that! He was already embarrassed about his animal, no matter how cute it was. That would just make it worse.

Maybe…something that would help him in his job? But what would a doctor need that his job didn't already supply? Anyway, Tohru wanted it to be something he would really like. Something special. She was just about ready to give up hope of finding something too.

'Well, maybe I'll make him some special ongiri,' she thought to herself as she walked back towards the door. And then she saw it. The perfect thing. She smiled to herself, and went to pick it off the shelf.

Tohru watched Hatori anxiously as he carefully opened the package without ripping the paper. She had been so sure he would like it at the time but now…

A look of surprise came to Hatori's face as he removed the last remnants of the paper. There on his lap was a beautiful wooden box. The top of it was inlaid with some kind of dark blue material, and right in the center was a small bronze seahorse. Tohru watched him as he ran his hand over the metal.

"I really hope you like it," she said quickly. "I just sort of stumbled on it, and I thought of you the moment I saw it, but if you don't like it, I'm sure you can return it and get something better…"

"It's wonderful," he said with a smile. "Thank you." Tohru smiled widely. Hiro cleared his throat loudly.

"If you don't mind, could we get a move on?" he asked. "Some of us have to go to school tomorrow!" There were some annoyed sounds but Tohru looked up quickly.

"Ah, yes! Hatori, why don't you go?" Hatori nodded, and got to his feet.

Well, that's the first bit. There will probably be a total of 15 chapters, pretty much laid out like this. I hope you like it!