Welcome to the outtake-ish holiday special.

This is going to be more of a "typical" piece for me. Everyone will be running around, getting in each others' business, driving one another nuts, and being snowed in the Granger dojo for anywhere from 2 days to 1 month.

See where this is going?

Oh, by the way...

Warnings: cursing (hell yes), an OC, insanity (sugar high Tala, Hilary, Kira and various undisclosed others)...that's all I can think of for now.

You were warned.

Info-ish things:
"Talking"
'Thinking'
/Bitbeast speaking/
"Speaking in Russian"
Speaking in Chinese
Scene split: 0x0x0x0
Beginning/End: -x-x-x-x-

-x-x-x-x-

Chapter One:

What's going on?

Serene crimson eyes surveyed the white landscape that was mere inches from their owner's face. While his expression was lacking in emotion, it was clear that the Russian was uncomfortable.

But not for reasons one would expect.

It wasn't because Tyson had invited Zeo, Kenny, Daichi, Hilary, Ray, Mariah, Mariam, Max, Tala, Brooklyn, Kira, and himself over for Christmas.

It certainly wasn't because there was mistletoe hanging from the top of every doorway, making it impossible for anyone to walk around the house without splitting up every time they entered a room.

Even the fact that Hilary was coming and was apt to stay by his side wasn't affecting him. Well, right now at least.

"Thinking," came a familiar voice from a close proximity. Shifting his eyes in the direction of the speaker, he found the only other two guests who had arrived yet were standing there, eyes on him.

He gave a slight nod as a reply, causing fiery purple-grey orbs to twinkle, and deep blue ones to hold a masked questioning look.

"Better not have anything to do with-" Kira calmly ducked as she continued her walk towards the door, safely evading the pillow tossed in her direction, "Hilary!" With that, she dashed through the doorway. Just in time too, as a flock of pillows were chucked in her direction; this time with much more force behind them.

"I'd like to see her when Brooklyn comes," Kai muttered rebelliously, causing a certain red headed Russian teen to smirk.

"Don't worry..." Tala's tone caused Kai's gaze to be drawn towards him. "Nothing'll happen: my word on it..." The evil look on Tala's face was slightly disturbing, even for Kai, who had known Tala for a while.

"I don't even want to know," was all he got in return as the other teen swept from the room after Kira.

'You've got that right, Kai,' Tala smirked and slipped off to a side room to work on the to-scale diagram of one of his many plans.

0x0x0x0

Kira did not even look up from her sketch as Kai entered the room.

"Lemme guess...Tala's cooked up some harebrained scheme to torture Brooklyn as well as me," Kira effectively illustrated Tala's plan and presented Kai with the finished sketch.

"Pretty much," the edgy Russian returned along with her sketch. The blonde shook her head and began packing up her drawing supplies.

"What's your damage?" Kira sweatdropped when Kai just gave her the 'blank stare', then laughed. "Sorry, spent a liiittle too much time in America. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kai mumbled before quickly leaving the room.

'So you say...' Kira mentally retorted before vanishing along with her sketch pad and sketching supplies to the room she knew she would be sharing with Hilary.

0x0x0x0

.:An Hour Later:.

Bored out her mind, Kira had returned to one of the two main areas, careful to avoid Tala, Kai, and Tyson along the way, as well as any boughs of mistletoe.

'This is way too much like mission impossible,' the girl decided and prayed that Hilary would get there soon. Tala, Tyson, and Kai were pretty cool as far as guys went, but she wanted someone who would talk a bit more, but also had a sense of when not to talk. Grumbling in Russian, she sat down on the couch near the front door to await any more arrivals.

Tala had joined her right as shouted came from the hallway nearby. Kenny, who had entered through the back door, had just escaped the fray and sat down near Kira when the yelling escalated.

"-FUCK-"

"Let's hope he doesn't do that in the hallways either," Kira commented blandly in Russian. Tala fell off his chair, shaking. Kenny hesitantly approached to find the Russian was trying extremely hard (and failing) not to laugh.

After a few moments of half-choking, he gave it up and started laughing. Kenny, freaked beyond belief, backed away.

"Is he usually like this?" He squeaked from behind a nearby piece of furniture.

"No...he just had caffeine."

Amused and somewhat disturbed, the two watched the Russian ball of energy bounce around, mumbling incoherent things in his native language. After a few moments, tiring of the spectacle, they pulled out some cards and were in the middle of go fish when Brooklyn and Hilary entered, each carrying a gift for their Secret Santa.

Kira, glancing up, smirked before looking down at her cards. Once she collected the one she needed from Kenny, she placed them down. Chief groaned and flopped down on the table.

"Houston, we have a problem," he moaned dramatically.

"She's beating you," Hilary teased as she and Brooklyn walked towards the doorway.

"No." Kira replied. "Houston, our problem is him." She gestured without removing her eyes from the cards to the still insanely hyper Tala, who was currently wrapping himself up in pink ribbon.

Both Hilary and Brooklyn just stared at him in a mix of shock, amusement, and horror.

"Yeah, we know: it clashes with his hair!" An irate Tyson shouted from where he was, causing Kira to snicker as Hilary and Brooklyn exchanged disturbed glances.

"Be careful coming in," the card wizard warned. "The mistletoe fairy went a lot overboard."

"HEY! I AM NOT THE MISTLETOE FAIRY!"

"Then how did you know to whom I was referring," Kira shot back. The sullen silence indicated that Kira had won that argument.

"...um...?" Hilary began but Tala-the-pink-ribbon-Christmas-mummy, Kenny and Kira all gestured at the top of the door, where many boughs of mistletoe hung.

"...eh?" Brooklyn looked a little frightened.

"Beware Tyson during the holidays," was the cryptic warning. Exchanging glances, Hilary and Brooklyn entered each room separately before they came upon the room where coats and presents were to be placed. Once making it there and back, they returned in time to see Kira win the game and Tala start making himself into a multi-neon-colored mummy.

All four teens watched as Tala began in his quest to be a colorful Christmas mummy.

"...shouldn't one of us take that off him?" Kenny wondered as he started with a third variation of pink ribbon.

"Nah...it's more fun to wait until he comes off the sugar high and show him pictures of what he did, and watch what colors he turns," Kai commented as he entered the room.

Kenny just stared.

"I'm not even going there," Kira replied. "...although I have been wondering what you did with Tyson..."

"Nothing," Kai responded innocently.

"Ra have mercy," Kira mumbled before diving behind the couch. Hilary, Kenny, and Brooklyn just blinked.

"...do I want to know?"

"...you aren't sugar high?"

"No."

Kira returned to her spot.

"What was that all about?"

As one, Kenny, Brooklyn, Hilary and Kira gestured to Tala-the-pink-Christmas-mummy turned Tala-the-neon-many-pink-shaded-and-others-Christmas-mummy.

"...point taken."

"What. The. Fudge." Daichi chose that moment to walk in the door.

"Don't ask," Hilary replied.

Deciding he didn't want to know, Daichi deposited his present and coat with the others before rescuing Tyson, then rejoining the others.

Kai death glared when he saw Tyson enter the room.

"..." Hilary and Kira exchanged wordless looks before ducking behind the couch and peering out.

"...ano...what are you guys doing?" Brooklyn mumbled.

"Hiding." Kira ducked down.

"From WWIII," Hilary followed suit.

"World War III...?" Brooklyn observed Tyson sitting as far away from Kai as possible, and Kai glaring at him the whole time.

"Okay, Cold War II." Hilary commented from her vantage point.

"Don't get technical on me," Kira groused from her spot.

Rei and Max chose then to walk in with their presents in toe. And stood there, blinking.

Hilary and Kira were hiding behind the sofa, Brooklyn looked on the verge of joining them, Tala-the-multi-shades-of-pink-and-neon-colors-Christmas-mummy continuing his quest to be the best neon colored Christmas mummy he could be, Kai glaring daggers at Tyson, Tyson "eep"-ing and hiding behind Daichi, Daichi shoving him away, and Kenny just observing all this with an attempted calm disposition.

"...okay then," Max mumbled.

"Don't ask," all of them chorused without taking their attention from their previous activities.

"Try not to walk through the doorway together," Brooklyn cautioned and pointed to the mistletoe. Both fled to the coat/present room in opposite directions and returned in them as well.

"Not bad time," Tala-the-multi-shades-of-pink-and-neon-colors-Christmas-mummy commented.

"Okay then...anyone else weirded out?" Brooklyn, Kenny, Max, Rei and Hilary nodded. "Just checkin'."

"Hello?" Mariah entered the doorway while Rei spun around. They ended up almost nose-to-nose. Rei's features reddened as Mariah's cold-caused blush deepened.

"I don't mean to interrupt anything..." Kira's tone indicated that she was going to continue even if she was. "But you may not want to look up."

As one, Rei and Mariah looked up...and their eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets. There, innocently hanging above their heads, was a huge bough of mistletoe.

"Pucker up," Tala-the-multi-shades-of-pink-and-neon-colors-Christmas-mummy cackled. Kai pulled out his digital camera and took a snap-shot for blackmail.

"I want a copy of that," Kira informed him as she vacated her hiding spot to hit Tala's pressure point. "He should be back to normal when he wakes up..." She lay him down on the couch and returned to her spot.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place," Kenny sweatdropped.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to," was the reply.

Rei and Mariah took this opportunity to kiss and get it over with. However, it ended up being a bit more than just a kiss...

"Could you two quit sucking each others' faces off and get your asses in here?" Kira wondered aloud in a mock-thoughtful tone.

Instantaneously, both separated, crimson, and sat down on opposite ends of the loveseat.

"Oops," Kira muttered as Hilary palmed her forehead.

"Take One," Hilary mumbled.

"Action!" Kira added.

"What are you two whispering about," Mariah snapped, peering down at them.

"Nothing," they replied, adopting Kai's previous excuse and tone.

"...wait. Weren't you just on the loveseat?"

"YOU'RE BEHIND THE LOVESEAT!"

Kira "eep"-ed and hid behind Hilary.

"Note to self: never interrupt Mariah and Rei's "private" moments," Hilary mumbled while Kira nodded reverently.

"What," Mariah hissed, venom evident in her voice.

"Um...TALAAAAAA!" Kira yelled before vaulting over the back of the loveseat and throwing herself at the red head.

'Some wake-up call...' "Spasibo," he replied dryly in Russian as he calmly detached the girl. Tala just stared as Mariah advanced angrily on them. "Loveseat?"

"Loveseat." Kira nodded and they both returned to the "bomb shelter". Hilary, who had snagged three sodas, rejoined them.

"Are you two done?" Rei inquired, leaning over the top.

"Three," they chorused up at him; Tala was still slightly hyper, and not back to his usual self.

"Um...okay then. Are you three done?" They nodded emphatically and crawled out from behind the loveseat. The three took the seats farthest from Mariah and also out of the way of Kai's one-sided glaring match with Tyson.

"So...now what?"

"I say we wait for everyone else before we do something," Rei piped up.

"Sounds good," Tyson commented before hiding behind Daichi.

"Ra help us," Kira murmured as Mariah continued to glare in their direction.

"I think we'll need more than Ra's help," Hilary muttered, causing both to laugh.

"Psst! Rei!" Confused, Rei leaned over. "Can you go kiss Mariah again?"

Said neko-jin became a tomato-faced being and took up residence in the vacated "bomb shelter". Confused, Kira observed him before turning to Hilary and Tala.

"Was it something I said?"

Her answer was both of them bursting into peals of laughter.

'O-kaaaay then...' Sweatdropping, Kira joined Rei. Soon they were chatting quite amiably about strategies, parts and the like. Neither noticed murder in the eyes of the pink haired neko-jin. Only when a dark shadow loomed over them did they realize Mariah had been watching...and that she was pissed. Okay, beyond pissed. Either way, a certain golden eyed neko-jin and a certain fiery purple-grey eyed girl were both in serious trouble.

-x-x-x-x-

Well, that went...well.

Poor Rei. Poor...anyone who pisses Mariah off...

Ah well.

No notes (For once. Don't get used to it.)

Pairings: MariahRei KaiHil MaxMariam Brooklynx?

Forgot to put that up top sheepish look

Immi's note: ooooh. Fun fun. This will be...interesting.

From hyper to serious/menacing. That means this'll be good.

Stay tuned in!

Emma

Ps: um...I lost my disclaimer. I'll post it when I find it (which might take a while)...