greetings and salutations! first, a warm thank you to everyone who read this little Christmas tale as well as to those who actually took the time to leave a review...i appreciate your continued support of my writing endeavors...i hope you will enjoy this next chapter as well...and in the spirit of the season, why not give ALL writers of ANY story you take the time to read in these next few weeks...a gift of your own...the gift of YOUR words in a review...Merry Christmas yall!

"No amount of manifest absurdity...could deter those who wanted to Believe, from believing."
~Bernard Levin~

CHAPTER THREE

Something was tickling the side of her face causing her cheek to twitch involuntarily. Reaching a hand up, Natsuki absently swiped her fingers across her cheek and felt...a spider? Eyes snapping open, the girl sat straight up, slapping at her face with one hand, struggling to wake up. What? Wake up? I've been asleep? Blinking in confusion, it took her a moment to acclimate herself and figure out what had just happened. It was dark in her apartment and she was sitting in the floor beside the Christmas tree, the only light on in the vacuous space the illumination given off by the multicolored strands of lights strung around the tree.

"What the HELL?" she asked aloud, rubbing at her face, only now realizing that it hadn't been a spider crawling over her cheek but the drooping branch of the Christmas tree which had tickled her into wakefulness. She'd fallen asleep in the floor underneath the damn tree! Kuga you IDIOT! she chided herself, fighting with a string of blinking lights that had become tangled in her hair as she sat up. She yawned with a one-armed stretch before scrubbing her knuckles against her eyes in an effort to wake up. "Falling asleep beneath a damn Christmas tree! Gah! How lame!" she reprimanded herself in a snide voice. Crawling a few feet away from the reaching arms of the tree, Natsuki climbed to her feet and blinked dully before suddenly giving a startled gasp. What time is it? Jesus, if she was late for the dinner engagement Mai would never let her hear the end of it.

Glancing outside, she cringed to see that the afternoon sunlight had vanished, leaving in its wake a blanket of darkness which had encompassed the docks below. Street lights were aglow as well as the festive, holiday lights decorating several of the buildings across the way. She could see the huge Christmas tree constructed of green and red bulbs welded onto a frame of meshed wire winking merrily as it sat atop the warehouse owned by the Banzai Brothers Brewing Company.

"Shit!" Natsuki cursed, jogging towards the kitchen and the only clock she had in her apartment; the one built into the face of the fridge. It was dark in the kitchen, the sound of the refrigerator humming quietly the only sound she could hear. But she didn't need a light on in order to read the glowing green numerals of the digital clock shining from the surface of the refrigerator door. 6:30. She'd slept the afternoon away. "Dammit!" she huffed, heading back towards the living room. That didn't give her much time to get ready and make her way to the restaurant. Pausing to switch on the track-lighting hanging from metal bars over the couch, she peeked out one of the windows, wincing at the scene below. In the time she'd wasted snoozing under the tree like an unwrapped Christmas present, the weather outside had turned decidedly nasty. An inch or more of snow had fallen in the interim, covering the streets in a milky, white powder, some of it already piling up in the corners of the buildings and on top of the vehicles. An errant gust of wind blew across the window, sending snow and crystallized ice pellets pinging against the glass. It was not going to be an easy drive through the streets of Fuuka City tonight.

Maybe Mai will cancel, she thought cheerfully, walking back over to the couch, hoping to see a message from the girl on her cellphone. A quick flip of the cover revealed no new messages nor missed calls. Letting out a disappointed groan, Natsuki dropped the phone back onto the coffee table, resigned to the fact that she'd need to get ready and leave now in order to make it on time, when the phone chirped for attention. She knew immediately that it was Mai based solely on the ring-tone she'd chosen as the girl's personal ring. It was a brassy rendition of Adam Ant's song "Goody Two Shoes." Natsuki had the song playing on a loop so all she heard were the words 'Don't drink, don't smoke, what do ya do? Goody two, goody two, goody goody two shoes' playing over and over. It amused her and pissed Mai off. So she kept the ring-tone.

She tried to keep the excitement of a possible cancellation out of her voice as she answered. "Hey Mai." Natsuki's heart gave a little leap of joy as she vigorously nodded her head at the girl's first words. "Yeah. I know. I just looked out the window. I was like...oh MAN! Guess we'll have to call off..." Her exuberant smile wilted into a scowling grimace. "Wait, WHAT?" she shouted, stomping back over to the window and peering out. If anything, the snow was coming down even harder. "What do you mean 'it looks beautiful tonight?' I thought you were calling to cancel!" She ran one hand through her dark hair, biting back the acidic comment poised on the tip of her tongue as she listened to Mai prattle on about what a lovely backdrop to the festive evening the snow was going to make tonight. Natsuki flinched as several of the fingers she'd been combing through her hair snagged, discovering to her dismay, an area of sticky sap from the Christmas tree which had matted her hair into a clump.

She rolled her eyes, forced to endure yet another of her friend's expostulations on the glories of having the first official snow of the season dumped on them on a Christmas Eve. Natsuki, however, couldn't even pretend to understand her friend's depth of enthusiasm, cutting Mai off with a harsh, "Yeah well, it's easy for YOU to talk. You're gonna be in a nice, warm cab all the way over to the restaurant. Unlike me. It's gonna be HELL trying to drive through that mess." A pause before Natsuki blurted in indignation, "Of COURSE I can drive in weather like this! I've been riding and racing motorcycles since I was...I only meant..." Giving one last forlorn look at the snowy streets below, the girl hung her head in submission, making her way to the bathroom. "Yeah," she mumbled into the phone. "I said YES!" she amended heatedly. "I'm gonna get ready and leave now." She chewed on her bottom lip in irritation as Mai continued to spout her Christmas rhetoric before giving in with a small upward curl of her lip in what she assumed was a smile, but which in actuality looked more like a sneer. "Sounds good. I won't be late. And yes, I'll meet you out front. Merry Christmas to you too Mai," she finished, stuffing the phone into the front pocket of her jeans as she entered the bathroom.

Flipping on the lights, she fingered the area of her hair gooed over with the tree sap and groaned. How the hell was she supposed to remove a glob of sticky tree sap from her hair? If worse came to worse, she guessed she could always just cut it out. Either that or have a permanent knot in her hair, which would never do because even the girl in question had to admit, she was extremely vain when it came to her hair. Shedding her clothes into a pile on the bathroom floor, Natsuki jumped into the shower, yelping as the cold water rained down over her body. In her worry over her hair and agitation with Mai, she'd forgotten to adjust the temperature of the water.

Fifteen minutes later Natsuki stood in front of the bathroom mirror, wrapped in an overly large towel, kitchen scissors gripped in one hand, the offending glob of sappy hair in the other. Try as she might, she hadn't been able to wash the crap from her hair. If anything, the shampoo had only served to make it even stickier. And running a comb through it was clearly a mistake. Not only had it hurt like hell but it had also spread the sticky substance to other unaffected strands. Her only recourse was...cut it out. She winced. It was gonna show. Oh well. She'd rather deal with a little lopsided hair than walk around smelling like one of those pine-tree shaped incense things people with no taste hung from their car's rear view mirrors. With her continued bitching and moaning, she wasn't even aware that she'd made the cut until her hand fell away from her head, the sticky hair clutched between her fingers. Shuddering, she dropped the blue-black hair into the wastebasket. So this is how Sampson felt when Delilah cut his hair, huh? She chuckled at the comparison, leaving the light on as she headed for her bedroom.

The bedroom in the loft apartment had been constructed above the main floor. A set of sculpted metal and wood stairs led up to Natsuki's bedroom which had an open front coming up from the stairs. A matching metal and wood, glass paneled half wall was constructed so that once in the upstairs area, one could look out and see the entire apartment spread out below, from the bedroom. The foreman of the company she'd hired to do the refurbishing of the warehouse had suggested the idea to her. He had pointed out that with the ceilings of the warehouse so high, it would not only allow for a very unique design to the loft but would also save more space on the main floor, which turned out to be perfect for her plans on using an area of the apartment for her motorcycle prototyping. Plus, it didnt' hurt that she'd also received an enthusiastic thumbs up from her realtor on the idea as well.

Climbing the steps up to her bedroom, Natsuki wondered what she had to wear that would fit Mai's description of 'dressing festive.' Turning the knob which controlled the recessed lighting in the room's low ceiling, the girl ambled over to a large metal box on one side of the room. It was her closet. She'd had the inspiration to make one large, free standing closet out of metal, which when finished, had the appearance of a gym locker. Not that she loved phys ed so much that she wanted a locker to remind her of the stupid class, but rather because the locker-like closet just looked cool. The two black, metal doors folded in and out on both sides when she tugged at the handles, exposing the clothes inside. Natsuki stood framed in the closet doors, one hand on her chin, the other playing with the ends of her recently cropped hair. Most everything in her closet was either denim or black; a few pieces made from both. She just wasn't into the whole fashion scene as most of the other girls she knew. In fact, the most colorful article of clothing she owned was her Fuuka Academy uniform and she'd be double damned if she was gonna wear that tonight!

Sighing, she began rummaging through the hanging clothes, shaking her head as she cataloged her gear. "What the fuck, Mai!" she growled. "I don't own anything even remotely 'festive!' Like I have a grandma sweater with a Christmas tree on it or something. Gimmie a break! I don't even have anything green OR red." Giving her head a rueful shake, Natsuki gathered up what she intended to wear and closed the closet. Dumping everything onto the black and maroon bed spread, she pulled open her lingerie drawer; one of many. Pawing through the contents, she selected a red, lacy bra and a pair of red mens boxer shorts, the fabric printed all over with martini glasses. She smiled mischievously as she let the towel she was wearing drop to the floor at her feet. Shivering as the cold reached out to lay it's icy fingers on her exposed flesh, Natsuki let out a bark of laughter.

Let Mai ride me tonight for my lack of festive clothing, she chuckled mirthfully, pushing her arms through the straps of the red bra, reaching around to the back and hooking the clasps. I'll give her an unexpected peep show of my red undies. Ho, Ho, Ho! She laughed aloud as she stepped into her boxers, pulling them up with a flourish and a snap of the waistband.

Within minutes, Natsuki was dressed. Another trip to the closet for a pair of shoes and her attire for the evening was complete. Standing in front of the full length mirror mounted on the wall beside the metal closet, the girl eyed herself skeptically. Not very festive, but who even cared anyway but MAI. In her opinion she looked perfectly fine. She'd chosen a pair of skinny jeans, a thick black leather belt with a silver buckle, a long-sleeved, thick, white t-shirt topped off with a black button up vest. She'd even put on a thin, red necktie and her red leather Converse high tops. Sticking her hands in the front pockets of her jeans, she slouched, affecting an air of James Dean indifference, her signature stance, and flashed herself a Cheshire Cat's grin. Almost perfect. There was one other thing she wanted to add to her evening attire.

Leaving her wet towel in the floor beside the bed, she went back down the stairs. Pausing at the bookshelf to grab her box of smokes, she reached out to set the picture she'd earlier slammed face down back into it's original position. As she placed the frame beside the other one, something caught her eye and she picked up the photograph, bringing it closer for a better view. There was a slight discoloring on the picture of her straddling her motorcycle that wasn't there earlier. Wiping her thumb over the glass, she frowned. What the fuck? Was it mildew? A water spot caused by condensation? Or maybe the fluctuating temperature in the drafty apartment had caused the picture beneath the glass to warp. She glanced at the other photograph, the one with all her friends at the karaoke night. It was in perfect condition. No discoloration at all. Natsuki chewed on her bottom lip a moment, eyes locked on the strange discoloration that had appeared directly behind her as she sat grinning on her bike. No other area of the picture was marred. Just great! She grumbled to herself, putting the picture down, continuing her trek towards the kitchen. Guess I better get someone in here to see if the heating and cooling unit needs tweaking. Don't need an infestation of mildew in the place. She shuddered. Gross.

She flipped on the kitchen light as she entered the area, pulling open a drawer beside the stove she'd never used and immediately began rummaging around inside, pawing through all the accumulated junk that either had no other place to go or else very little significance. Where was that ziploc bag? She fumed, yelping as she inadvertently pricked her finger with an open safety pin laying hidden in the depths of the junk drawer like a booby trap. Sticking the finger into her mouth, the coppery taste of blood slid across her tongue as she sucked on the smarting fingertip. Still digging through the odds and ends, she smiled triumphantly as she located the bag she'd been searching for. Fishing it out from beneath a takeout menu from a local Mexican restaurant, she pushed the drawer closed with her hip and trotted to the bathroom, wincing at the time on the fridge clock. 7:09. I can't believe I'm gonna actually waste time doing this, she chided herself, pulling out a length of red string from the ziploc bag. The day Mai and Mikoto had showed up with the Christmas tree and the gift, they'd also left a bag full of assorted Christmas paraphernalia that Mai claimed she might need in order to wrap her own gifts. Even after she'd told the girl she didn't believe in the giving of gifts for the holiday, her friend had just smiled and said, "Ya never know."

She planted herself in front of the oval shaped mirror, pulling out a long length of the red Christmas ribbon usually used in adding a finishing touch to holiday gift wrapping. Tonight, the ribbon had another purpose. The material was soft with a deep, crimson coloring. It felt good slipping between her fingers. Combing out the shorter strands and tying the ribbon onto a piece of her dark hair, she begin braiding the ribbon into it, looping it over and under and back again until she had turned the uneven mess into a festive looking, thin braid that hung down beside her face. She stretched a tiny rubber band around the ends of the braid and wrapped a few more loops of the ribbon around the rubber band, tying it off. She then gave the end of the ribbon a quick snip and reached back into the ziploc bag, pulling out an assortment of miniature bells. Choosing a small silver bell, she attached it to the end of the ribbon. She smiled a crooked smile and gave her head a little shake, the sound of the bell tinking barely audible to her ears.

A huge grin replaced the crooked smile as another idea blossomed in her head. Picking up the length of ribbon left over from the braid, she threaded it around her wrist, on the outside of her long-sleeved t-shirt. Giving it several generous twists, she finished looping the ribbon before securing it with a sturdy knot. Instead of a bell, which she'd been planning on using to add the finishing touch, she instead, pulled a blank gift tag from the bag full of Christmas accoutrements and affixed it to the end of the ribbon. It dangled from her wrist like a paper charm.

"How's that for Christmas flair, Tokiha?" Natuski asked her own reflection, a merry sparkle suddenly lighting up the depths of her emerald eyes. She giggled, a wave of unexplainable giddiness pushing the unnatural sound past the stupid grin plastered across her face.

A look of startled mortification replaced the merriment in her eyes. Trying to regain a sense of self-control, she slapped one hand over her mouth to stop the insidious sound of Natsuki Kuga...giggling? "You must be losing it!" she accused the girl in the mirror, wondering how she'd miraculously transformed from the level headed Christmas skeptic into the wide-eyed Cindy Lou Who who believed in the spirit of Christmas, even as it was being stolen right from beneath her very nose by the Grinch.

Speak truth to dispel the lie lived.
Believe.
The Spirit of Christmas is upon you.

The cheezy words on the slip of paper she'd discovered in the candy cane burned their way back into her mind and she frowned, unwilling to believe something as random as that could have any effect over her life. And yet...it wasn't until after she'd read those words that she'd tried to call Shizuru. And all that had accomplished was to make her feel like shit when she realized that the girl didn't want to have any further contact with her. Who cold blame her? After what she'd said to her. And still, a small seed of...belief had been planted in the once barren ground of her icy heart. She could find no words to define this sudden shift in her heart and mind. No tangible reason to still feel so hopeful even after she'd discovered Shizuru no longer wanted to receive her calls. The old Natsuki would've been full of repressed anger and bitterness at not being able to reach Shizuru. Unlike the resilient manner in which she found herself dealing with that knowledge now. Maybe it was the fact that she'd finally faced up to the realization that she actully needed and wanted Shizuru in her life. The old Natsuki would never have had the...courage to admit to something like that.

Old Natsuki? the girl pondered. That's TWICE I've refered to myself as the OLD Natsuki. Since when did my feelings before a few hours ago become the way 'old Natsuki' would've reacted?

Speak truth to dispel the lie lived.

No way! There is no way something as arbitrary as a holiday fortune pulled from a piece of candy could make me go all Christmas Crazy! But the truth was, she DID feel different. She was even acting differently. She gave her head a quick shake and was momentarily surprised to hear the silvery tinkling of the bell she'd tied to her braid. Natsuki had to laugh at the look of confusion sketched across the reflection of her own face in the mirror at the sound of the bell.

Giving her hair a flip over one shoulder, she let the questions concerning her odd behavior drop. Whatever! she jeered. She was running late enough already. She certainly didn't have time for a philosophical debate with herself over the sudden shift in her attitude. She'd just accept it as...Christmas spirit. Man was she EVER gonna kick Mai's ass for infecting her with this holiday zeal.

She snatched up the pair of dirty jeans she'd left discarded in the bathroom floor after her shower and pulled out her cellphone. A quick flip of the cover revealed she had no missed calls or unread text messages. She heaved a small sigh of disappointment. But what had she expected? For Shizuru to have returned a call she'd never received in the first place? A quick brushing of her teeth and Natsuki flipped the bathroom light off, finally ready to leave.

Retrieving her jacket off the back of the couch in passing, she stuffed her arms into the sleeves and zipped it up as she strode towards her bike. A pair of fingerless, black leather gloves were in her jacket pocket and she pulled them on once she reached the motorcycle, grabbing a light gray scarf off of the coat rack beside the elevator. She wrapped it around her neck a few times, snagged her keys from the small metal table on the other side of the elevator door, and eased her bike off the kickstand, pushing it into the crate elevator.

She was already shivering by the time she had managed to push the Ducati out of the elevator and to the exit on the bottom floor. It was cold in the warehouse downstairs because she didn't want to waste the expense of heating and cooling an area she didn't use. She was seriously running low on funds as it was.

As soon as she'd gotten the bike out the warehouse door and locked up behind her, Natsuki knew the ride to the restaurant was not going to be fun. The snow was coming down hard. The streets already holding a loose packing of the stuff, hiding potentially dangerous patches of ice beneath.

"Mai," she growled, throwing one leg over the bike, turning the key in the ignition and gunning the engine, the fingers in her fingerless gloves already burning from the cold, "if I kill myself trying to get to your stupid dinner tonight, I promise my ghost will haunt you until the day you die. And then, I'll kick your ass!" A smile flittered across her face at that thought before it was replaced with a frown as she jammed the open faced helmet down over her head. Flipping on the bike's headlight, Natsuki eased the motorcycle out into the street and began her careful drive to the restaurant.


After Natsuki had secured her bike in the restaurant parking lot and draped it with a canvas tarp to protect it from the weather, she checked the time on her cellphone and discovered she was a few minutes early. A quick stroll through the crowded restaurant showed no signs of Mai nor Mikoto so she decided to step back out front to have a quick smoke. Huddled under the awning which was snapping smartly in the wind, she pulled a Dunhill from its box and fired it up, her shoulders hunched protectively around the cigarette to keep the snow from blowing in on her and the smoke. Nothing sucked more than trying to smoke a wet cigarette.

She took a quick drag, her fingers numb, ears stinging from the cold and blew the pungent smelling cloud of smoke out in a long exhalation. Where the hell is Mai? If she's late, I'm going to...deck her halls with my fists. She laughed, choking on a mouthful of smoke at the image of this scene as it played out in her mind; Mai screaming 'Where's your Christmas spirit Natsuki?' as she pounded the girl with tinsel wrapped fists. "Fa-la-fucking-la!" she sang, unable to supress a chill that started at her frozen toes and worked itself up.

"Why Natsuki Kuga. Wanna tell me why you're standing outside shivering in a snow storm, singing obscene Christmas carols to the wall?"

Natsuki's heart thudded heavily inside her chest. She didn't even need to turn around to know who it was that was addressing her. Just the sound of the girl's heavily accented Kyoto born speech was enough. Raising her head, lowering her hunched shoulders, Natsuki slowly turned around, her face a mix of surprise, fear and unadulterated joy. "Hey...you," was all she could manage to say to the girl standing before her. She wanted to say more...much more; but it seemed her brain was just as frozen as the fingers holding the cigarette.

Shizuru Fujino was the very last person Natsuki expected to see tonight, or anytime soon for that matter. And yet, here she was, a quizzical smile pulling the corners of her lips up, crimson eyes alight with a fire that burned eerily in their twin depths. The girl's light brown hair was pulled up on one side of her head; an intricately carved, wooden comb holding her hair back away from one ear. A few strands of hair had been left to artfully dangle down beside her cheek, the exposed ear pierced with a silver hoop earring; the metal flashing as it caught a glint from the wall mounted sconce on the wall. She was dressed in a cream colored sweater with ribbed cuffs and a large, open necked ribbed collar, exposing the pale skin of her neck. As she stood with one hand on her hip, the sweater had slipped off of one shoulder, revealing the strap of a maroon colored, silk camisole beneath. Her skirt was maroon as well, corduroy, well fitted, hugging Shizuru's hips before ending slightly above the knees. The belt threaded through the loops on her skirt was thin and beige, hooked in front with a silver linked chain loosely hanging around her waist, the silver clasp fashioned in the form of her initials. A pair of thick, thigh length knit leggings extended up her shapely legs, a pair of dark brown ankle boots on her feet, several boot charms dangling from the zipper of one boot. All of this Natsuki took in with one look, her eyes devouring the sight of the girl she hadn't seen in over five months. She'd never seen anyone so...breath taking.

She had to work moisture back into a mouth gone suddenly dry in order to speak. "How did...why are you...?" Natsuki couldn't get much more than that out as she struggled to process the fact that Shizuru was standing right in front of her. In her state of confused shock, she wasn't even aware she was still holding a cigarette until she felt the stinging burn of the flame as it ashed out against the tip of one finger. "Fuck!" she cried, hurriedly dropping the cigarette butt and sticking the burned finger into her mouth.

Shizuru arched one cool eyebrow and frowned. "Since when did you start smoking again, Natsuki? Such a nasty habit! I thought you'd shrugged that little vice off years ago?"

"I...I did. I mean...just recently...I," she protested, feeling like a fool for trying to talk while sucking on one finger. Putting both hands behind her back, she swallowed and tried to regain a little bit of composure before asking, "Did Mai call you? Is that why you're here?"

"Now why on earth would Miss Tokiha call me?" Shizuru questioned. "However, I was sitting at the bar having a drink with a friend from school when..."

Natsuki lost the rest of what Shizuru said as emerald colored eyes narrowed, her fingers curling around the palms of her hands into fists. She felt suddenly weightless, the throbbing buzz of her heart filling her own ears as the green fingers of jealousy mercilessly began to squeeze the breath from her lungs. Of course she's here with someone. A girl like Shizuru, she wouldn't have to spend Christmas Eve all alone. Anyone would be glad to... She gave herself a mental shake as the rest of Shizuru's words penetrated the suffocating confinement of her discontent. "Wait. What? What did you just say?"

"I said I thought I saw Miss Tokiha and some of her party arrive about ten minutes ago." Shizuru wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, watching the strange mix of emotions vying for control on Natsuki's face.

Damn you Tokiha! Making me stand out here in the cold and you're already here. You told me to meet you in FRONT of the restaurant. She was interrupted from further silent Mai-bashing when she felt Shizuru slide her arm through hers and give a gentle tug.

"Let's get you in out of this cold weather and into a warm drink. They make the most fabulous spiced wine here. And quite frankly, I'm starting to loose feeling in my fingers." She laughed, the resonance of her laughter rich and full, a sound Natsuki thought she would never hear again. She felt the warmth of her love for the young woman radiate out from her heart, speeding along every nerve in her body, warming her better than if she were standing in front of a roaring fire.

"God, I've missed you Shizuru." The words came without thought. An impulse of heartfelt feeling that would not be denied; a truth that found freedom on the cold breath of a Christmas Eve confession.

Stepping through the restaurant door as the dark haired girl held it open for her, Shizuru hugged Natsuki's arm closer against her own body, the raw emotion in the girl's voice causing her to stare momentarily, an uncertain, yet at the same time, loving look in her eyes. "It was difficult being apart from you for so long," she agreed, pausing to let Natsuki shake the snow from her jacket and scarf before continuing into the restaurant proper. "I don't know how we managed," she finished with a quiet laugh, giving the girl's arm a commiserate squeeze.

Natsuki stopped just inside the door, a puzzled look on her face. Why is Shizuru acting as if nothing happened between us? Has she forgiven me for the hateful things I said that night five months ago? And what the hell is she doing here if Mai hadn't called her and told her about the dinner party? She reached out and placed her hand around the other girl's arm, halting her in mid step. "Shizuru..." she began, a million questions fighting to be asked first, but as luck would have it, she was interrupted by a loud, obnoxious clamor.

"There you two are!" the clamoring continued, materializing into the shape of a busty blonde, hands on her hips. "I thought I was going to have to organize and send out a search party. Because I sure as hell wasn't about to get out in this weather and look for you." Haruka Suzushiro was standing beside a stool at the bar. She reached out with one hand and casually snagged the drink that had been sitting in front of her. Pushing her way through the crowd milling about the interior of the restaurant, Haruka approached the two girls, one looking a bit dazed, the other wearing an amused smile. Neither girl made any type of comment as Haruka stopped in front of them. "Well?" she demanded imperiously, violet eyes darting from one girl to the other. "Are we just gonna stand here like a bunch of mandolins or are we gonna go have a seat?"

A quiet voice piped up from behind the imposing form of Haruka. "Ummm, I think you mean mannequins Haruka and NOT mandolins." Yukino Kikukawa emerged from the sea of bodies surrounding the bar. Her cheeks wore a faint blush from drink, brown eyes behind her half wire-rimmed glasses a bit glassy. She was smiling merrily as she walked over and stood beside Haruka. Like her friend, she also held a glass clutched in one hand. "Miss Kuga, it's good to see you again." Yukino hiccuped. "I've been busy with the student council the past few weeks, so many meetings with the faculty members concerning the upcoming years lineup of activities. I sure needed this dinner party Mai threw to unwind a bit."

"Uh..." was all that Natsuki could get out before Haruka took over the reigns of the conversation yet again.

"Well, now that Fujino has finally located her missing date, let's get back to the party. My uncle, who just so happens to own this place," she boasted showily, elbowing her way past a couple waiting to be seated at the bar, "said we could have the private dinning room for as long as we wanted tonight. There's a D.J. booth and a small dance floor in the private party room as well. And yes, before you ask Natsuki, it's an open bar. Drinks and food are on the house. We Shuzushiro's know how to be generous to those less fortunate than ourselves."

Everything was moving too fast. Natsuki's mind was reeling from all the disjointed information overloading its cognizant thought circuits. She couldn't process all of it at once. The first issue she was dealing with was the realization that the 'friend' Shizuru had been having a drink with was in actuality Haruka. And yet, the girl had claimed to be sitting with a friend from school. Since when did Suzushiro drop out of Fuuka Academy and enroll in Shizuru's school in Kyoto? Better yet, why? As far as Natsuki knew, Shizuru's was a fashion design school and Haruka had been majoring in business administration. The green cloud of jealousy which had descended on her upon hearing Shizuru was here with a friend began to dissipate, only to be replaced with a heightened sense of disorientation. What the hell is going on?

Before Natsuki could pull Shizuru's attention to her and indicate she wanted to talk, she shuddered as she felt someone's eyes boring into the back of her head. Craning her neck slightly, she scanned the crowd surrounding them, her eyes roving over the people seated at the bar, the area from whence she felt the gaze on her originated. Too many people. She'd never figure out who, if anyone, was the perpetrator with all the activity in here. Maybe it was just paranoia. This had already been one hell of a day, and the evening seemed to be lining up to be just as weird. Wait! There! Her eyes abruptly locked on a pair of white colored eyes, eyes belonging to a man who was watching her intently from a seat at the bar. He was dressed in the black coat she remembered from this morning, shoulder length white hair gleaming like newly fallen snow. Lifting the glass he was sipping from in a toast towards her, the man smiled. Natsuki wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the word 'Believe' pass his lips before he was lost from sight behind a man wearing a Santa Claus suit who stumbled into her.

"S'cuse me girlie," the man who bumped into her slurred, continuing his drunken path towards his next drink. Cursing the idiot who'd caused her to lose her mark, Natsuki tried to relocate the strange man again in the crowd at the bar. She found the spot where she'd last seen him. The stool on which he'd been perched was empty, the glass he'd raised in greeting to her, abandoned. Either she'd imagined the whole scene at the bar or they guy had moved. Was he behind all the madness this evening? And just who was he anyway? Why had he given her that stupid piece of candy this morning? Of all people, why her? Things like that just didn't happen in the real world. She'd wanted to confront him and ask what the hell he was playing at, but her chance had apparently slipped away.

The sound of Shizuru's voice captured Natsuki's attention, bringing it back to the girl walking so close beside her. "Yes Haruka. You're quite the philanthropist, donating a dinning room to Mai for tonight's get together." She caught Natsuki looking at her and winked, rolling her eyes in Haruka's direction as if to say 'She's so full of herself'."

Natsuki pulled her mouth into a grin, a forced smile for the benefit of the girl walking beside her. But she didn't feel like smiling. She felt like throwing her head back and howling, "What the FUCK is going on?" at the top of her lungs. She barely manged to suppress a crazed cackle.

There were less people in the back of the restaurant where the private dinning rooms were located and the three girls followed the blonde as she strode like a general heading to the front lines, leading them to the room reserved for Mai's dinner. Throwing her voice over one shoulder, Haruka stated suspiciously, "I'm not sure just what 'philanthropist' means Fujino, but it better mean I'm something good."

"Oh you're something alright, Miss Suzushiro," Shizuru responded in a deadpan voice.

"It means you're good at giving to those less fortunate than yourself; that you care about the welfare of others" Yukino explained, shrugging her shoulders at Natsuki and Shizuru as if to apologize for her friend's insufferable behavior.

"Excellent word choice Fujino! That word describes me to a TEETH!" Haruka exclaimed, stopping in front of a set of wooden doors with a handmade posterboard sitting on an easel by the side. It read "Mai Tokiha's Holiday Party! Tis the season for friends and family. Merry Christmas! "For the Spirit of Christmas fulfills the greatest hunger of mankind." The entire board was covered in a mess of glitter and tinsel.

Natsuki would've laughed at Mai's placard if she even understood a half of what was going on tonight. She felt Shizuru's fingers lightly gripping her elbow as the girl leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "Well, shall we join the festivities?"

Natsuki was helpless. She was desperate to talk to Shizuru alone. She needed to figure out what was happening. She was also curious to know when and why Mai had turned an intimate Christmas Eve dinner into a party that required a private dinning room. Had she missed something? Had her friend planned this all along? Had the world as she knew it suddenly turned upside down? She wanted answers dammit! But all she could do was stand in mute silence, her heart pounding inside her chest as Haruka threw open the doors to the private dinning room, ushering the three girls waiting behind her in with a flourish and a bow. Then... Natsuki's life got even stranger!