As the doorbell rung for the first time and Kamui answered, he immediately cursed the moment he invited Keiichi to spend Holidays at the Imonoyama mansion. His hugs were deadly strong, and combined with the enthusiastically loud MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Not the best way to spread heavenly peace. But on the other side, his hug was warm despite the rests of snow on Keiichis jumper, and his tone unusually serious as he almost whispered
"Thanks for the inviting, Shirou-kun"
"Oh, theres nothing to thank for yet." Kamui suppressed the heat in his cheeks. "I just hope you will enjoy this evening. The others here are sometimes a bit…"
"I think I will like them!" Reassured Keiichi with his usual cheerfulness back, and managed somehow to put off his jumper and walk across the room to the large Christmas tree in the corner in less than five seconds.
"Hi!" came the merry greeting for the young girl in a short dark green dress and strange red-white striped stockings. "I saw you already; you go every morning with Shirou-kun to school."
Yuzuriha jiggled. It was the first time she heard someone call the Messiah Shirou-kun.
"Thats a cute necklace, are you a cat fan?" Keiichi continued with friendly smalltalk, as he saw a really sweet pendant with a little silver kitten on her neck.
"Actually, my name is Nekoi, Yuzuriha Nekoi. Thats why it is a cat." said the girl, and went in three seconds as red as the stripes on her stockings. "It was a Christmas present from…ahem…"
"From someone special to you, hn?" Keiichi added with a reassuring smile.
She nodded and went a few more shades red, so Keiichi went on with his introducing.
"My name is Segawa Keiichi, pleased to meet you!"
"It's my pleasure too!" She looked a bit confused and asked "Is Keiichi-san OK?"
"Of course it is!" Keiichi beamed. They both beamed.
Watching the scene, Kamui suddenly understood. Keiichi was a perfect match for the slightly crazy pack of his roommates.
"Can I help you with the decorations?"
"Im almost done; Keiichi-san, only the illumination is missing."
"So what about the Christmas cake? I go and help a bit in the kitchen." The blond boy already headed for the said room.
"No!" Kamui and Yuzuriha both exclaimed.
"Sorata and Arashi…"
"Our two other roommates…"
"Are alone there…"
"And Sorata-san asked us…"
"To let them decorate the cake without interrupting…"
"The funny looking boy with a bouzu hairstyle and the girl that never smiles, am I right?"
Keiichi smiled an understanding smile.
Arashi was cutting the strawberries. Which itself wasnt a hard job, but being constantly distracted, it was somehow difficult to make perfect fourths of the red fruit. The object of distraction was on her left, incorporated in the shape of Sorata, who was decorating the cake. Ornaments from whipped cream were a real masterpiece.
"…and another heart, special for my Nee-chan! You like it?"
Arashi suddenly awoke from her microdream.
"Ah…its…nice…"
"Dont worry!" Sorata dipped a strawberry fourth in the rest of whipped cream and ate it with a pleased grin. "In five or six years, well fix your baking skills so youll be thousand times better than your darling!"
The sudden shock from the attack in her personal space made Arashi swallow a strawberry Sorata put in her opened mouth.
The faked choking that followed made her run to the sink and spill out. Sorata pouted and turned to his cake. Therefore wasnt able to see the tears on his Nee-chans cheeks.
The bell rung for the second time, and since Yuzuriha and Keiichi were fully distracted by the lights on the tree (to fix the colorful chain on the pine was far more complicated than both of them ever imagined), it was again Kamui who opened.
The hug that came this time was completely different from the lively squeeze he got from his classmate. Subarus arms were sensitive and empathic as always. And it was Kamui himself who whispered "Im glad you are here."
"Of course Im here." answered the usually quiet Seal, and made the younger one blush by the feeling of breath in his hair.
"Subaru-san, merry Christmas!" Yuzuriha yelled from across the room. Keiichi greeted with a polite bow, Subaru answered equally.
"Its like a miracle that it snows in this campus. There wasnt snow in Shinjuku since I live in Tokyo. My sister was often angry it werent real Christmas without snow." He smiled a sad smile, which made Kamui want to hug him again. And again.
"Oh, right, Subaru-san was born in Kyoto. I always adored those beautiful photos with temples covered in white." Yuzuriha looked once more happily at the blizzard outside. "I never saw anything even similar to snow in Mitsumine."
"Seems like you all are from far away" pondered Keiichi."The tall boy speaks Osaka dialect, as far as I remember."
"Hes from Kouya san." Commented Kamui dryly (and kind of happy Keiichi didnt spoke about his childhood memories, which would certainly make him want hug him as well.) "And the long haired girl is from Ise."
"Sounds like a romance between a Buddhist monk and a miko!" laughed the blond boy, and wondered why nobody joined him.
"How do you do it, Kachou? Is the Imonoyama zaibatsu powerful enough to control the weather?" Suoh asked, pulling the bed cover over his shoulders.
"Santa always brings to the good boys what they wish for." Nokoru smiled his almost-childlike smile. "Lets say we all need lots of Christmas peace right now." He finished the conversation and closed his eyes, snuggling closer to the other mans bare chest.
"God bless you all, on this holy day!"
Keiichi opened the door to let in the third guest, and helped than a tall woman with hair like curled fire took off her long coat. On her large breasts, pushed forcefully into a tight snow-white sweater, hung a beautiful decorated cross.
"Im sorry for being late, but I had to wait until Yuka-chan bakes her chocolate cookies." Karen explained after complimenting on the decoration and being introduced to Keiichi-kun. "Here, best wishes and the cookies as a present from Aoki-san." She took a small packet with angels on wrapping paper from her handbag.
"He apologizes for not coming to celebrate with the others, but he wanted to spend holidays with his family." She managed to smile without any shadow of melancholy. "But Im glad we all are here to celebrate our Lords birthday."
Keiichi was pleasantly surprised. It was the first time in his life that he spend Christmas with someone who felt something spiritual for it, not only things like Christmas cake and Christmas date.
"Good evening, Satsuki-chan." Yuuto greeted with his usual politeness. "Look, the scarf I got from you matches perfectly with my coat."
"Im glad." Satsuki felt sudden warmth spreading from her stomach, although her hands were ice cold. She was waiting in front of the now not-working fountain for about 20 minutes, and refused to see it was because she was looking forward to the evening meeting.
"Is French food OK for our Christmas date?" Yuuto asked and Satsuki starred for few second fully mesmerized at his smile.
"Christmas date?"
"Of course, how do you want to call it?" he asked, putting his hand on her hip a few centimeters lower than he usually did. "We better go; our reservation is for seven p.m."
Arashi walked slowly, watching every step. It would be a real waste to destroy the beautiful piece of art on the silver plate. The author of the perfect combination of caramel biscuit, cream and fruits walked behind her, undoing his apron.
"Merry Christmas to all of you!" His voice was even more powerful than Keiichis. "Is everybody here? When yes, we can start with the cake!"
"Where is Subaru-san?" Asked Arashi, as she controlled the count of people present.
"On the balcony, he didnt wanted to bother us with his cigarette smoke." Yuzuriha answered. "Ill go and get him."
The garden around the dorm, covered in snow, was beautiful, Subaru through, as he shivered a bit without his coat. He breathed in the perfect mixture of ice-cold fresh air and nicotine – and almost choked on it as he felt the familiar itchy feeling in the back of his hands.
„No, Seishirou-san, you cant possibly come to the idea to come to the Seals headquarters on Christmas Eve." He hissed under his breath, seeing the pentagrams shining a bit.
The answer came prompt, as he felt the aura of particular someone behind him. He was already used to the fact, that in case of the current heir of the Sakurazukamori clan, it was useless to ask how he got to certain places.
„Subaru-kun"
Not good, thought the said young man. The purr-like voice was tempting him to turn around and melt in the offered embrace.
„I wanted so much to do something special with you on Christmas Eve, but since you decided to spend it with other dragons of your kind, it looks like Ihave to wait until December the 25th."
Subaru tried really hard to cumulate all his psychic strength, than finally turned around.
„Seishirou-san, what are you..."
„Look, Subaru-kun, mistletoe!"
He could swear the green branch wasnt there at the time he entered the balcony. Yes, he really could swear, but at the time the smell of blood and cologne filled his head, and a pair of strong gloved hands pressed him against the doorframe, he really couldnt care less.
Yuzuriha had a very suspicious look as he tried to explain, that his red cheeks, and his swollen lips are the result of the icy weather.
It was a nice evening, Kamui thought, sitting in his almost dark room, after all the guests left and he and Yuzuriha washed the tons of dirty dishes. Everybody managed to look happy and relaxed, the cake was really tasty and Karens prayer at the beginning of the meal was something, that left deep impression even in him, who never thought about the Christianity and all the things about it. And, although he would never talk about it in front of the others, he was also very thankful for this years White Christmas, since Okinawa was always hot enough to swim in the sea in December. But despite of the nice summarization of the evening, his eyes were still unsatisfied searching for something in the darkness outside.
As his window silently opened and closed, he felt a slight shiver, and not only because of the cold air that filled his room.
"Merry Christmas" Fuuma said the this years final greeting, and tried to get rid of his shoes.
"Youre late!" Kamui pouted.
"Sorry, but you do understand how important this holiday for kids like Nataku is." the other boy was already sitting on his bed next to him.
"Is your Twinstar not important enough?"
"Come on, its Christmas, and we have the whole night for the two of us. Can you imagine how long I waited for my present?" Fuumas hands found their path under his shirt.
Kamui grinned. "Do you think naughty boys like you get what they wished for?"
"Thats not something a present should decide. Come on, help me unwrapping."