O Christmas Tree

Strawberry'd

Heiji x Kazuha

Dec 14/06

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;

Toyama Kazuha stamped her feet and rubbed her hands together. Of course she wouldn't get any warmer, but there was to harm in trying, right?

She scanned the large crowd, searching for a glimpse of dark skin, and a yellow scarf. Heiji had gone out wearing a yellow scarf (which she bought him) and his skin… well, there weren't many people in Japan that looked like Heiji.

"Where is he?" She muttered, desperately trying to stay warm in the freezing outdoors. "I don't see a point in this at all."

A few minutes later of grumbling, Kazuha decided that perhaps he got lost and needed her help. He was, after all, a man.

"Heiji, you ahou," Kazuha said, taking a deep breath and instantly regretting it. The cold air burned her lungs. She started on her trek shivering, with lips pursed and hands stuffed deep into pockets.

For a while, Kazuha merely mingled with all the other people that were there, growing more and more frustrated as time went on. Heiji was no where to be found! There was so many people here… how was she to find one specific person out of the hundred?

"Think," she told herself. "What's a means of communication that could get to him without having to yell my heart out…?" And then it dawned on her. She had a cell phone. He had a cell phone.

She mentally kicked herself for not thinking of this before. Heiji would never let her live this down.

Whipping out her cell phone, Kazuha stared at it in disbelief. It was… off all this time? She giggled nervously as the mobile phone slowly started up again. 32 Missed Calls…

"Oh, no," Heiji was probably furious. A little anxious, she listened to the 17 messages she had on her voice mail.

"Ahou! Where are you? It's freezing! Get back to the car!"

"Kazuha, you ahou! I thought I told you to stay by the car!"

"The car, Kazuha! Where the hell are you?"

"If you make me go look for you, Kazuha, I swear…"

And the rest of the messages went on in the same fashion. Grimly, she deleted all 16 messages from Heiji (one was from Ran), and started back for the car. She braced herself for the tirade that would await her return.

"And then I got back, lugging the stupid tree, and you weren't even there!" Heiji snapped at her, driving rather haphazardly.

"I know, I'm sorry. Please keep your eyes on the road."

"And it was freezing out there! For some reason, you had the keys, so I couldn't even go into the car to warm up!"

"Like I'd trust you with car keys!" Kazuha retorted back, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I don't even know why you're driving right now! You're going to get us killed!"

He took his eyes off the road for a long moment to glare at her. "At least I keep my cell phone on for emergencies!"

"It was an accident! KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD, AHOU!"

Kazuha sighed, clutching the seat belt. It was going to be a long ride home.

Heiji squinted at the large evergreen sitting in his living room. "It's slanted."

Kazuha sighed, boredly, flipping a magazine. "So fix it."

"Help me."

"No."

"Ahou."

"You're the ahou, ahou."

Heiji was about to retort something back, but thought better of it. "Pleaseee?" He wheedled, giving her his best puppy-dog-eyes.

Kazuha looked up from her magazine and gave the tree her undivided attention. "Tilt it towards the left." And then went back to her magazine.

"Kazuha! Help me! You were the one that wanted to have the tree!"

"Fine, fine." Kazuha knew she'd give in anyways. Besides, it was her idea. "Okay, where'd you put the lights?"

"Lights…?"

"Heiji!" He chuckled and ducked her oncoming fist.

"I'll go get them, don't panic." He grinned cheekily at her, and started for the attic. Kazuha rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips.

"It's not a very straight tree," she said, trying to push it the other way.

"I don't think we should be pointing out its sexual orientation," Heiji smirked, hearing her offhand comment on his way downstairs. "I'm sure the tree wouldn't like that."

Kazuha took the box of lights and set it on the floor. Next came the box of ornaments, and Kazuha placed that down beside the lights. The ornaments were a present from her mother, after she and Heiji moved in together. That's right. They were dating.

Heiji sat down on the couch and was about to reach for the magazine Kazuha had left when she slapped his hand. "If you're making me help, you have to help too." She thrust the box of lights in his general direction. "Here, untangle them."

He stared at his daunting task. "And what are you going to do?"

"I," she said with a flourish, "am going to make some hot chocolate."

She smiled, listening to him grumble as she opened the fridge to get some milk.

Two hours, six cups of hot chocolate, and eighteen "ahou's" later, their tree was complete.

"There, isn't it pretty?" Kazuha grinned triumphantly at the Christmas tree she just decorated. Bright coloured lights twinkled back at her, nestled as they were between the boughs of the evergreen tree. The fresh scent of pine filled the room and Kazuha felt at peace.

"It's still not straight."

She snorted, and sat beside him on the couch, nursing her fourth glass of hot chocolate. "I think it's perfect."

Heiji wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer to his side. "Probably. But it's still not straight."

"Ahou," she mumbled, lulled by the warm cocoa, the crackling fire, and the rise and fall of Heiji's chest beneath her cheek.

"I love you, too."

AN: And that's it. 973 words, written in about 30 minutes. This is the first in 12 Christmas fics that I'll be writing this holiday season! Three Heiji/Kazuha, three Shinichi/Ran, three Kaitou/Aoko and three mystery pairings will sum up my fic. I hope you all liked that. It's a little ooc, since I don't have a great grasp for their characters. XD;; I hope I don't totally screw up the other pairings. Uhhh, dedicated tooo Candyland for writing awesome DC fics. I hope you all like it, and happy holidays!