~ This is a Christmas gift!fic and fanfanfic for tsuki-llama, set on her amazing One Hour at a Time, Distractions, and Distracting Drabbles AU. You'll probably be confused if you don't read them, so go!

~ Below is the more polished version of the one originally published in tumblr at my account (search for my somebodylost-chan profile at tumblr, or click my profile link).

~ WARNING: Lemonade! Remember kiddies, too much citrus can ruin your stomach!

His lips descended on hers. She freely opened her mouth when he wordlessly asked, and he explored her slowly, torturously, until her breath came in pants. Heat started to spread to her body, and it was just so hot and cumbersome with all these clothes between them that she had to reach for his shirt.

A vice clamped on her wrist.

"No."

Wide, brown eyes took in the hand the held hers. She was nudged until her back touched the back of the sofa, and his arm reached behind her to move his knives away from her head.

All the while, his eyes didn't leave hers, before he released her hand and spread her legs on either side of her. One of his hands held one of her thighs while the other ducked down to grab one of the discarded controllers. It was a reminder of her childhood, and now it was going to be used for adult pleasure. For some reason, tainting the innocent toy with the promised passion felt so tantalizing.

Her breaths quickened in anticipation; she told him she would do anything he would ask, but the curiosity was literally killing her.

"Don't move," was his low command, and she could only shakily nod.

His hand from her thigh drifted up to the edge of her shirt, and he lifted it until he reached the upper portion of her breasts. He then tied the shirt behind her, tightening the loose parts.

Her bra, simple and comfy, was then dragged down to rest underneath her mounds. Her peaks hardened at the excitement and cool air, and her lover's eyes darkened further.

Leaning forward, his tongue darted forward to taste her, but what was unexpected was the surge of electricity. It died as sudden as it appeared, only to come back in unpredictable times as his mouth assaulted her chest.

Her hips rose and ground into him, feeling his very hard arousal through their damnable lower clothes. Sounds of female ecstasy permeated the air, drowning out the music from the TV, even as it bathed the lovers in colorful lights.

Her hands twitched to touch him, only to realize that he had bound them.

"Wha—?" she can only gasp as he grabbed the edge of her shorts. This, too, he didn't remove all the way, only at the length were it will impede her movement.

A finger trailed on her underwear, before it started stroking her lower lips through the flimsy fabric. His lips were working in tandem with his hands, nibbling on her earlobes. Hot breaths washed on her ear, before she heard him say —

"Yin."

Hei nearly jumped when the normally sedate girl slammed the notebook she had been reading shut into the counter. The thump was loud on the wooden surface, and the glass bowl beside her palm wobbled slightly as her right hand twitched, nearly spilling water, most likely to echo what the other just did. Yin then became so still, moreso than normal, that she could easily pass as an honest-to-goodness porcelain doll.

When the doll failed to reply or even move after a long moment, Hei threw a glance to the empty street; it never hurt to be cautious despite that it was nearing sunset and people were sparse because everyone is still in holiday mode. Then he stepped into the shop.

"Yin?" he asked this time as he leaned on the wall beside the counter, hidden from the outside. His eyes scanned the tobacco store; the usual impersonal small room with a door to the back, a door to the bathroom, and a sink. The only things that stood out from the lifelessness are the floating specter, some pencils, and the various CDs, a CD player books, and notebooks easily within Yin's reach, all piled neatly at the corner of the room.

And the barely-there red tint on her pale face.

"Are you sick?" Hei reached for her forehead. Before he can touch her, Yin flinched.

Hei frowned. "Yin, what's wrong?" He let his hand fall back as his mind raced to scenarios on why Yin would act like that.

Before the moment stretched long enough, Yin woodenly shook her head.

The corners of Hei's mouth deepened further as he slid down to sit on the floor. He took a moment to cross his legs, before speaking, in a quieter voice, "We're partners, Yin. You can tell me whatever you need."

A hesitant pause, before the silver head shook again, but this time with less of the stiffness. The pink also almost faded back to her pale face, and her hand lost some of the alarming intensity anchoring the notebook.

Dolls would usually stay put and simply follow orders, but Yin's independence was growing, her self-awareness making her… somewhat human.

And Hei was… glad for her. But it was making it difficult to help her in the moment.

An awkward silence fell, which was really surreal because Hei realized that it was the first time he had one with Yin, of all people. Silence with Yin was usually calming. To fill the disquietude, Hei pocketed his hands and came in contact with paper.

Which reminded him of Misaki… and curiously, her friend, Kanami.

Ishizaki Kanami, who had asked in Christmas Eve about Yin's daily life, how she was doing and such. Like a friend asking how someone she knew because she was curious and she cared and she liked that person.

Kanami had asked about the doll like Yin was a normal human.

The thought of Yin as a normal human was strange, yet he himself wasn't treating Yin exactly as a doll, was he?

Actually, how does he treat Yin? He certainly didn't treat her just as a tool — in fact, he could admit that he looked after her — but there was a certain delicate sense around dolls that made him tread gently (hindsight, thanks to Misaki), but he wasn't sure if he had completely treated her as a normal human.

How does one treat a normal human?

That really wasn't explainable, but if Yin was a normal human, would he have treated her differently?

What if she was a contractor?

Hei closed his eyes as his brows furrowed. This was confusing, and he wasn't sure if his newfound awareness of his relationship with Yin was good.

He really didn't have much examples to compare to. Amber was the prime example of what not to do. Bai was just one-sided affection from his part — although he could see some similarities between his relationship with his sister and the one he currently has with Yin.

He has a shared history with Jiao-tu and a sort-of camaraderie with Kanami — and even then, he hasn't called the latter by her name, or initiate conversation at all, actually — so they were moot points. And Huang and Mao was rarely interacted with outside of missions.

Misaki was the one normal human to see all sides of the Black Reaper, Hei... and Tian. Maybe even deeper than he knew. And she was his lover, and obviously, that wasn't a good basis on how to treat Yin, but it led him to think:

What would Misaki do?

Strategize and attack in another angle.

There was a fondness from using Misaki's method that tempered the frown that firmed into a displeased line. He knew ways to weasel information from humans when undercover, but it was just wrong to manipulate Yin despite his intention to help.

At the same time, should he even know if she didn't want to tell him?

Yin rarely kept secrets from him. She was his partner and they help each other, sometimes going beyond that. Compared to the others in their team, they have a sort closeness that prompted little secrets.

Which meant, if she was keeping information from him, that this was personal.

It was an uncomfortable thought, and somewhat worrying, to have Yin keep a secret from him. Yet this one is another sign of the doll's emerging humanity.

And Hei couldn't take that away from her.

"Yin?"

Slowly, Yin's head turned to face his direction.

"You'll tell me if it's serious?" he straightened from his slump, his tone solemn. He glanced at the bowl one of her hand was submerged in; her specter served as her sight, so he wasn't sure if he should focus his gaze at the glowing blob or at Yin's sightless eyes to convey his seriousness and sincerity.

Though it turned out he didn't need to worry; Yin understood and visibly relaxed at his unspoken assurance of letting her be. She nodded.

Satisfied, at least for the moment, Hei leaned back and closed his eyes.

Five minutes passed before he became aware that the silence was now, well, not exactly awkward, but not really peaceful. More like, expectant?

He opened an eye; Yin was looking down at the counter while her hand in the bowl moved slightly. The specter calmly floated with the motions, and even though he didn't know which way the specter was facing, or if specters even face one specific direction, he had the innate hunch that it was watching him.

Compared to being watched when on missions or on his everyday life, this was just unnerving. Maybe she was expecting something from him, because before coming here, she was reading.

So that meant that she didn't want him to see what she was in the notebook.

Hei angled his head for a better look. Now he was curious, but it was probably another one of those disturbing fanfictions that the pink-haired girl — who else? — often shared with Yin. He eyed the other notebooks stacked neatly at the corner with blatant disapproval. Yin could read whatever she wanted; besides, she probably has seen a lot worse.

That didn't mean he liked it. Hei's curiosity finally died when he recalled the short passage about the masked man and the talking cat that he saw in passing that Yin had been reading a month ago.

Though it was strange that Yin would hide this one if that short passage was already disturbing because of the —

Hei coughed. As if the action would wave distasteful memories aside, he reached into his pocket and brandished one of the packages he had been touching. He held it out to his partner.

"Merry Christmas."

The silence shifted to shock as Yin froze. Slowly, she faced him again.

"For me?"

Hei simply nodded at her flat tone.

Careful fingers of one hand opened the unwrapped box. The other remained in the bowl, the specter's attention within acutely focused on the cover of the CD case.

"I'm not good at music, so I didn't know if you'd like it, but…" Hei gestured helplessly at the picture of a European man smiling kindly as he leaned on a grand piano.

Yin was silent for a long time as her fingers trailed the Eelis Kastinen words on the plastic.

Finally, as moisture gathered at corners of her eyes, she whispered, "Thank you."

Hei's mouth softened into something like a smile.

Then he took out another gift from his pocket.

"From Misaki."

He was almost sorry for causing Yin to go through multiple shocks in one hour. To distract from his amusement, he removed his gift from her slack fingers and pressed his lover's box down at Yin's palm.

On top was a card with decorative snowflakes surrounding a simple message of:

You're not pretty — you're beautiful.
Merry Christmas, Yin. - Misaki

The box itself was small and easy to unwrap, but Yin took her time, fingers shaking slightly from small tremors. Hei resisted the urge to help when he noticed a tear fall down her cheek.

Inside were two black clips, each adorned with bows on top; one of the ribbons was violet, the other silver.

Yin opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She closed and opened it several times until her flat tone shakily whispered, "Can you help me?"

Hei wordlessly took the accessories and gathered her bangs to one side. He wasn't an expert in hair care, but it was easy enough to clip the two things at Yin's hairline.

Another bout of silence fell as Yin stared at her specter. Then she asked, "How do I look?"

Hei replied just as quietly, "Very beautiful."

More tears fell, and, very hesitantly, Yin leaned to the dark corner and hugged her partner. She felt him stiffen until he relaxed and placed his hands on her back.

They stayed that way for a while until Yin shifted to lean back to ease the weight off her knees. Her tears left tracks on her cheeks, but her voice was steady when she said, "I didn't get any of you a gift."

Hei shook his head. "It's fine." Before he can say more, his stomach grumbled.

Might as well, he sighed as he stood up; he had to go back to his place so that he can rest early for tomorrow. "See you," he nodded to Yin as he walked past. Before he can reach the back door, he heard his name called, and paused.

Yin quietly greeted, "Merry Christmas."

Hei smiled over his shoulder and opened the door.

-o-

Minutes have already passed since Hei has since went away, but Yin still hasn't tired of staring at herself through her specter. They were only two clips, yet they still managed to create a profoundly new image that she couldn't believe could exist.

Melodies of a piano crooned softly in the background reminiscent of her lessons long ago. When she played it with the CD player Kiku had lent to her, the tears have started again. It was fortunate that there had been no customers in the late afternoon, but she couldn't find it to care if there have been any.

The moon was high in the sky when the last song finished, and Yin was starting to replay it back to the first track when two familiar friends slid at the electric line above.

"Hello," Yin greeted. She paused at the replies before inaudibly greeting, "Merry Christmas, Gustav, Eunice."

"Merry Christmas, too, Yin. Those clips look nice," Gustav complimented.

"Merry Christmas. The purple matches your dress and the other one matches your name," Eunice observed.

"Thank you," Yin raised her free hand to touch her new clips again. "It was a gift from a friend." Then she asked, "How was your Christmas?"

Her friends launched into a tale of the best Christmas they could remember for a long time, simply because it was different. Chief Ishizaki had ordered her people to wind strings of Christmas lights around their tubes and the dolls' specters had spent some alternating hours traveling through the colorful lights. It was nice, they concluded, to see the other dolls' faces cast in party lights.

After the tale, the two inevitably moved into the main purpose of their visit.

Yin blinked and moved her gaze down to the notebook; she forgot that it was there from all the events that happened so far. Shyly, she opened the cover and leafed through the pages, until she arrived to the place she had been reviewing. She then opened it fully as she presented it to the specters patiently waiting above.

She asked, aloud, "Am I improving?"

~ This was my first complete one-shot since forever! I'm rather deliriously happy that I managed to finish even a one-shot because I'm notorious for starting a lotta things then promptly disappearing.

~ That was my first almost-lemon. If that was a bit melodramatic, that was because I was trying to convey Yin's fledgling progress in the erotic arts… Kinda like me… Huh.

~ I sincerely apologize if they're too OOC. I tried my best, but I think that I sucked at the doll-conversation part. T_T

~ Thanks for reading,