Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

Summary: Lloyd & Co. are having their annual Christmas party in the Irving household and Raine finds herself under the mistletoe with someone she didn't expect. Raine/Yuan. One-shot.

Mistletoe Kiss

It was snowing hard when Raine arrived at Lloyd's house, but she doubted that any sort of weather could dampen what her student had prepared. Tonight was Christmas Eve, and as usual, a holiday party was going on in full form in the Irving household. Normally Raine came early with her brother and Colette, but today she had been at the Renegade Base again…leafing through Yuan's private library and trying to convince him to come to the Christmas party. She had been unsuccessful, but no one could say she hadn't tried.

Colette greeted the silver haired half elf with a bright smile and ushered her inside to where the other guests were gathered. Lloyd was chatting animatedly with Genis and Sheena by the fireplace, Presea sitting off to the side, listening with a smile on her face. Regal and Dirk were wedged in the kitchen, hurrying to finish off Christmas dinner. Zelos ran merrily about the room, hanging ornaments and whatnot. Raine made a mental note to keep tabs on him, not trusting that too-merry grin in the least.

Raine moved to join conversation with the others, letting time role lazily on. Outside, what light there was had soon faded, and Lloyd seemed about to announce dinner, when there was a knock at the door. Raine motioned for Colette to sit back down, she could get it herself. Moving towards the door, she opened it to find a slightly embaressed looking Yuan, his wings unfurled.

"Oh!" Raine started. "Yuan, I didn't think you were coming..."

Yuan looked determinedly upwards at the doorframe and decidedly not at her, muttering something about having nothing better to do. Raine's eyes widened in surprise - had he, could he possibly have come to the party as she'd asked, despite all his swearing that her company was dull and not worth his time? A hesitant smile began to creep onto her face, when suddenly she noticed that the room behind her had gone very, very quiet. Turning slowly on her heel, she saw Zelos grinning broadly, and her worst fears were confirmed.

"The Professor and Yuan are standing under the mistletoe!" Colette squeaked delightedly, and Zelos smirked.

"Can't break tradition now, my ultra cool beauty!" he said with enough spirit to make the half elf glare daggers at him. Everyone seemed to be looking at them now, all wearing those ridiculous grins. Raine had half a mind to go strangle them one by one, but before she could move, a hand touched her shoulder. It was Yuan, glaring over her shoulder at the culprits. She had so been hoping to possibly get him inside, but it was likely that he'd leave this second and all her efforts would be ruined. Damn Zelos.

Only, Yuan wasn't walking away. He was still standing there, glaring at them with something like defiance, his grip on her shoulder tightening almost imperceptibly. She looked at him, puzzled only for a moment, until he did something she did not expect, leaning down and...

Kissing her.

Oh, it was not her first kiss, to be sure, and time didn't stop for her, but Raine was almost coaxed into forgetting everyone else in the vicinity except him, even though she suspected he was only putting on this show to spite them. And yet, it took her breath away...

When they broke apart, she could hear Zelos whooping, and the lot clapping and cheering. And though she did not see Genis' look of utter astonishment, she could guess enough to know what he was thinking. But what concerned this scholar more was what the blue angel-half-elf standing in front of her was thinking. For she could not tell if that kiss had been purely spite, or perhaps something else. Feeling that she was trodding on dangerous territoriy, and blushing profusely, Raine pulled away and hurried the suggestion that they might eat now. Eventually, everyone settled down and gathered around the food. For the moment, the kiss was forgotten.

Yuan was not beside the food, and Raine began to suspect that he had fled, but when she poked her nose outside, she saw him standing out in the snow. Shutting the door softly behind her, the silver haired woman walked slowly over to him.

"I'm sorry I made you come," she began. "It wasn't...they...well, Zelos can be..."

He shook his head. "You did not make me come. I came...because I wanted to."

Raine raised an eyebrow. "Now that's something I didn't expect. Dare I ask about the kiss as well?"

Yuan looked over at her thoughtfully, but said nothing. She sighed, and sat down in the snow at his feet.

"If your goal was to spite them, I think they were sufficiently shocked. The village will be in an uproar, I'm sure."

Yuan looked down at her and made as if he were to crouch down, but dicided otherwise and took her arm, pulling her back to her feet.

"Is that why you think I kissed you?" he asked very softly. Raine looked at him for a long time.

"I couldn't be sure, though I'd say yes," she said tersely, feeling annoyed and disoriented. There was something about that look that he was giving her...that...made her want to kiss him again, and she was angry at him for making her feel this way in the first place. Damn him and everyone else.

"Well, it's about time you learned that logic cannot be applied in all circumstances, anyway," he muttered, and let go of her arm. Raine found herself stumbling into his arms, and he kissed her again, this time without any of the cold anger that he'd shown her companions, but with gentleness that she had never suspected him to have.

Breaking away, the two looked at each other for a long time in silence.

"Well, I didn't really want to go to the party either, anyway," Raine said at last, and Yuan smiled for the first time since arriving. The angel took his wingless partner in his arms and flew into the snowy evening, leaving all others behind.

Fin.