Writing can be tough sometimes if you think too much about what already happened in the story, especially with freeform fanfics like this one. Scatman John taught me that in part, though he was probably talking more about how to live a happy life than how to write fanfiction ^_^;

I really should listen to him more often. As great as Touhou music is, it gets kind of old after a while, especially if at least 50% of your music is related to the series. Maybe I should make a playlist of all my non-Touhou songs so that I can take a break from the epic music when I need to.


Eleven days to Christmas…

"Alright," Byakuren said, addressing the Myouren Temple residents in front of her.


"Okay," Toyosatomimi said, looking at the other Taoists of the Dream Palace Mausoleum.


"As you all know, there's ten days left until Christmas Eve. Buying a gift for everybody is something we've always done here, but I suspect we'll all be a little busier this year from five more gifts to buy apiece. I'm not sure if Toyosatomimi and her crew celebrate Christmas or not, but she and I have already discussed it over and Christmas this year is going to be at their Mausoleum to symbolize the peace that we all came to right before the start of the month."

"That's quite an idea, Byakuren," Shou said admirably.

"It just sort of came off the top of my head~"


"I'm sure at least a couple of you noticed that there have been new additions to the Dream Palace Mausoleum, both in faces and construction. While none of the new faces around here aside from the Myouren crew are specifically significant, the new halls that have been built around here are to accommodate the eight new visitors we're having this Christmas. Byakuren and her followers are coming here to symbolize the melting away of past hostilities and a new era of peace between them and us, so I won't condone roughhousing."

"When did you ever condone roughhousing in your mausoleum anyway," Seiga asked.

"Now that you mention it, I never have. And I won't start anytime soon."


"Alright," Byakuren and Toyosatomimi said to their followers. "I'd say it's about time to get some Christmas shopping done. But first, we'd better decorate."


Ten days to Christmas…

"Yoshika, be a dear and hold these for a little bit," Seiga said kindly, handing her cute underling a long string of numerous colored lights. "One of the most important parts of Christmas is the colored lights, or so I've observed." It was kind of hard to not make such an observation; the entire Human Village was lined with lights of various colors, and even at night the place was beautifully alight. In fact, the snow-covered Human Village was an even greater sight at night because of the thousands of lights that were along the walls and roofs of its buildings. "It truly is the most wonderful time of the year, isn't it?"

"Hmm…" Was it really the best time of the year? Christmas was cold, and for a jiang shi, while one would assume the dead had no issue with cold weather, that was because they were rotted. Yoshika, who took exceptional care of her hygiene, still suffered from wintry weather. So on the up side, people exchanged presents and the entire world seemed to light up in a brilliant plethora of colors. On the down side, it was cold and when Yoshika got cold, she got hungry. "I kinda like Halloween better."

"Really? Why's that," Seiga asked, floating up along the walls and hanging up lights.

"Because people dress up in costumes and I meet lots of other jiang shi like me!"

"Um, Yoshika…I don't think they're really jiang shi as well. They're just people wearing costumes, dear."

"…I still get lots of delicious treats!"

"Indeed you do." Halloween night was the one night of the year that Seiga took over for Yoshika's gatekeeper duties so the jiang shi could run around and collect delicious sweets to munch on the following day, but Yoshika usually just came back with an empty basket and a large pile of candy wrappers.


"They look great," Byakuren called up to Murasa. She was watching the ghostly sailor hang up the Christmas lights, and like always, she was doing an exceptional job with it. "How do you arrange the lights so well, Murasa?"

"Because I understand everything about boats," Murasa called back down. Standing up on this icy roof without any kind of support was probably a bad idea, but what was the worst that could happen to somebody that was already dead? "I was born on one, died on one, and now I live in a temple that used to be one."

"Speaking of death, be careful up there! I don't want you to slip and break your leg like last year!"

"That was only a fluke," Murasa said boldly. "Spending a lot of my life on the sea, I learned how to establish and hold my footing, okay? Quit worrying so much and-WHAAAA!" CRASH! Murasa slipped. At least she was uninjured by some miracle.

"I hate to say I told you so, but…"


Eight days until Christmas…

"It looks great," Toyosatomimi said, looking at the decorated Dream Palace Mausoleum. "Very Christmas-y. Now that we're done with that, we'd best get to the Christmas shopping. Remember, everybody buys one gift each for everybody else, so we're all buying a total of eleven presents each. It sounds kind of daunting, but just take it one step at a time and we should be done soon enough." Toyosatomimi already knew most of what she was going to buy. And she already had Byakuren's present set aside. And the greatest part was, nobody would ever find it, no matter how hard they searched. Not even Nazrin or Shou would be able to find what Toyosatomimi was getting.

"Goodness, you bought all of those today, Nue?" Byakuren was shocked to say the least. In Nue's arms were boxed gifts for, if Byakuren was counting right, nine of the eleven she had to buy presents for. "May I ask which presents are for who?"

"Of course not," Nue teased, walking right past the Youchrist in the hallways. She had to get all of this into her room and hide it so that nobody could sneak into her room and try to find out what they were getting. Nobody took the secrecy of their gifts as seriously as Nue did; Byakuren and Shou left their purchased and wrapped gifts under the tree whenever they bought them, and everybody else usually let the receiver of the gift shake the box to get an idea of what was inside. Nue was the only one who didn't. The only gifts left at this point were those for most of the people at the Myouren Temple; only Murasa's gift was purchased as of yet out of the others here at the temple.


Three days until Christmas…

All the gifts were purchased for this Christmas, and Toyosatomimi had invited the Myouren Temple crew down to the Dream Palace Mausoleum for a great feast to celebrate the upcoming Christmas the two establishments were about to celebrate together; Byakuren promised to fund and cook the food when it was actually Christmas in exchange for this sudden generous dinner.

"It's delicious," Byakuren complimented. Better than the food at the Myouren Temple in its own ways, but on the other hand, Myouren meals were better in their own respects. "How did you and your followers make this, again?"

"Long-lived family secret," Yoshika answered for her Saint, the zombified girl taking in another bite Nue fed to her; it was easiest for everybody this way, Yoshika figured. "Little-known fact is that I was a chef in life, and my family's secrets in the kitchen were buried with me. Then Miss Seiga came and resurrected me, and now the Miyako family secrets are alive once again, but only from me."

"You don't meant to imply you cooked this? I imagine that it would not only be difficult with your arms as they are, but those poisonous nails of yours would make it…hazardous." As delicious as this food was, it wasn't something Byakuren was willing to die for. No, the "to die for" slot was already reserved for world peace. "Also, I have an important announcement for everybody."

"I hope it isn't bad news," Toyosatomimi said, listening intently to what Byakuren had to say.

"I'll have to remain at the Myouren Temple this Christmas. Leaving it unattended would be downright silly; no telling what kind of folks would try to break in and try to steal my valuables." Witches dressed in black and white came to mind in particular.

"That's most unfortunate. Shall I bring your presents to the Myouren Temple personally?"

"Oh, there's no need for that," Byakuren said, waving off Toyosatomimi's self-invitation into the Myouren Temple. "I'll just come by and pick them up the day after."

"…" Toyosatomimi looked cautiously at Byakuren. Toyosatomimi had to deliver her gift on Christmas, anyway, whether Byakuren wanted her to or not. Any other day and it would lose all of its value. It cost her nothing to buy but a moment of her time, and to anybody but Byakuren, it would be taken for granted. It was the perfect gift to get for her. If anybody else had gotten it for her in the past, Toyosatomimi wouldn't have known how badly Byakuren wanted the single gift nobody would give her.


Late at night on Christmas Eve; Myouren Temple…

Hey, I'm going to head out to the Mausoleum early," Nue said to her peaceful leader who currently stood next to Shou, making her way out the front door as she informed Byakuren of her soon-to-be whereabouts.

"Enjoy yourself, Nue."

"Mononobe told me the stars are best seen on Christmas Eve," Murasa said, following Nue out the front door. "I'm going to go see her about that."

"Have a nice time, Murasa."

"Unzan and I are stepping out," Seiga said, riding out on the back of the pink cloud youkai. "We usually get the best stargazing view from the skies themselves on Christmas Eve, but I usually fall asleep up there with the thin air and all. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"You two enjoy yourselves. I'm sure Murasa and Mononobe would love to join you up there."

"Hate to say it," Nazrin said, walking past both Shou and Byakuren. "But I've gotta make sure Nue doesn't do anything she shouldn't. People like her have a penchant for getting in trouble, so if you'll excuse me."

"Watch out for those Yakumo people," Byakuren said cautiously as Nazrin left. The mouse youkai was known to be at odds with one of the Yakumo family, but Byakuren wasn't quite sure which one; she'd yet to meet any of them in person. "That just leaves us, Shou."

"Indeed it does. But I'll need to be on my way as well come morning; I'd hate to disappoint the Taoists by not showing up without explaining beforehand on the first major event we'll be sharing together. If you'd like, I'll bring back your gifts."

"Oh, there's no need for that. Like I said the other day, I'll just go pick them up the day after."

"If you insist," Shou said as the two made their way down the hallways to the bedrooms.

Along the way, Byakuren looked at the first clock she could find. Eight o'clock on the button in the PM hours. Four more hours until Christmas started. Only four hours left…


Remember when I mentioned something earlier? About someone doing something? I've done an excellent job of setting that up, and Toyosatomimi's present is something that is exactly what I said it was; taken for granted by all but Byakuren, but priceless for the Youchrist. If Toyosatomimi gave her the gift on any other day of the year, it would lose all of its value, and it's something nobody had given her for Christmas.

Any ideas what it is? I'd like to hear what you have in mind!