Title: Bitter Cold
Author: kawaiichiisaikitsune(piratekiari)
Rating: K+
Pairings: Implied HoroRen
Summary: Ice. Bitter and cold. It has nothing to do with him. Yet, it does. (One-shot Collection)

Kiari-san wanted to make a Christmas Shaman King fic and so here she has written one. She knows this idea may be a bit over used for Christmas fics, but she likes the idea of it. Besides, she's got a bit of twists and turns all lined out for it. Oh, and there are going to be other pairings here that some parts may be mainly about. Not just HoroRen this time, sorry. Well, she hopes you enjoy her Christmas fic now.

Disclaimer- Kiari-san does not own Shaman King, no matter how much she wishes.

Secret Santa
(Part One)

The holidays were coming up quick. After Thankgiving a light drizzle of snow began to fall. Days after that the roads and houses were layered in an inch or so of the white stuff. That was when Asakura Yoh realized it; Christmas was well on its way.

The brunette took to skipping around the inn, decorating it in the Christmas spirit. His spirit ally, Amidamaru, and best friend, Oyamada Manta, helped him in anyway they could. In no time the Funbari Inn was decorated inside and out with lights, streamers of red, green, gold, and white, and many other holiday decorations.

A couple days after that Yoh stumbled upon an idea. It wasn't a very original idea, but fun nonetheless.

Proud of it he announced the idea to the occupants of the inn. Most of them agreed to the idea and the spirit allies, wanting to have a little holiday fun of their own, began planning something for themselves and their shaman masters.

"I have a hat," Manta announced the next day, holding up the mentioned cap, "In it are all our names on a folded slip of paper. One at a time you'll come up and draw a name from the hat. You shall be their secret santa."

"Yeah!" Yoh cheered from beside the blonde boy, "You'll be their secret santa for five days. Starting on the twenty-first."

"From the twenty-first to the twenty-fourth you will give the person on your slip presents without exceeding the 2000 yen budget. Then on the twenty-fifth, Christmas, you will buy one more present. Using no greater than 6000 yen and no less than 2000 yen." (A/N: If anyone would like to make corrections on this, Kiari-san would appreciate it. She tried to do a bit of conversion and make it sound even, but she's not too good with money.)

"Now to draw!" the brunette cheered happily, "Anna, you first."

Without argument Kyoyama Anna rose from her lying position in front of the television to walk over to the hat. She sunk her pale hand into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper. She didn't unfold it until she returned to her spot in front of the television. When she did she found a scribble of bold black ink. Obvisouly Yoh's handwriting, she mused; he wrote all the names.

Next Usui Horohoro was called up to pick a name from the cap. When he revealed the person on the paper to himself he laughed, stating that this would be an easy one.

Then the timid, pink-haired Tamamura Tamao came up to draw from the hat. When she peeked at the name on her slip of paper she blushed a soft shade of red.

Umemiya Ryu went up to the hat next, pulling out a slip of paper. After reading it he went back to where he was situated before, puzzled as to what to get his person.

Tao Jun was next as she daintly pulled a folded paper from the hat and carefully read the name, making sure no one but she could see. Her lips curled into a small frown as she realized just who the person on her slip was.

Next Chocolove was up to bat as he walked over to Manta and Yoh, drawing a name from the hat in the shorter boy's hand. As he looked at the name scribbled upon the slip of paper he went from surprised, to clueless, to smug.

After him Usui Pirika skipped up to the hat and drew a paper happily. Seeing the name upon the paper she nearly squealed. She got just who she wanted and knew exactly what to get them.

Lastly Tao Ren was to pick from the hat. With a displeased grunt he pulled a name, looked at it, and frowned deeply. Just who he wanted.

Once everyone had pulled a name Yoh pulled one of his own leaving the last one for Manta. They both took a peek at their slips of paper and groaned inwardly.

"Who'd you get?" the brunette whispered down to the shorter boy.

"Jun," he answered, "You?"

"Anna," the other moaned.

"Good luck."

The next day was December 17th and snowflakes were slowly drifting from heavy clouds in the gray-blue sky. All the occupants of the inn had decided it was best to go shopping now for their secret santa gifts. So all together the shamans, spirits left at the inn, went off towards the mall. It was the best place to find just about anything you needed.

The group of ten split into three smaller groups and went their seperate ways once at the mall. Yoh, Manta, and Ryu went in the general Robinsons May direction. Team The Ren grouped and headed toward the food section of the mall, thanks to Horohoro's stomach. And lastly, the girls decided to stick together and went in the general JC Penny direction. (A/N: Kiari-san doesn't know of any Japanese stores so she'll just use the American ones she knows.)

"Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna," Yoh chanted, thinking, "What does she like?"

"To make you train," offered Ryu with a shrug.

"To watch soaps?" Manta, also, offered the pondering shaman.

"When you don't bother her," the tallest offered again.

"Scarfs?" the shortest replied, jumping when the brunette suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Scarfs, that's a good idea," Yoh congratulated the blonde with a smile.

"Thank you," Manta replied happily and the three continued on their way towards Robinsons May.

:-:-:-:-:

Meanwhile the girls had stepped in line as they wandered the mall, still going generally in JC Penny's direction.

"Does anyone have one of us here?" Pirika suddenly spoke up above the soft chatter that had started amongst the group. When the others shook their heads or answered with "no"s she smiled. "Good! Then it's time for some openly discussion of secret santa gifts."

"Who did you get?" Tamao asked the Ainu meekly.

"Ren," she chirped happily, "And you?"

"I got Yoh-sama," she replied with a soft, almost involuntary blush.

"What about you Jun?" the blue-haired girl questioned.

"Ryu," Jun answered evenly.

"And you?" she turned to Anna.

"Manta," the blonde answered simply.

Pirika grinned, linking her arms with the two at her sides who happened to be Tamao and Jun. "We all have such easy people. This secret santa thing will be so simple and so fun," she announced to the other three as she led them into their first store.

:-:-:-:-:

Horohoro chomped happily at his meal as the other two members of team The Ren watched him. Ren was slumped in his chair to the immediate right of the blunette, thinking. Chocolove was at Ren's right, trying to tell the chinese shaman a couple of his jokes. That only resulted in a punch to the gut and he was silenced.

"So, who are you shopping for, Renny?" Horo questioned, not liking the silence.

"Don't call me that," he snarled in return.

"But who did you get?" the blunette drawled out.

"We're not really suppose to tell."

"Aww.. Give me a hint."

"Baka."

"Come on!" Horo whined.

Ren sighed exasperatedly, "That was the hint."

As the Ainu silently started thinking Chocolove, who had been silent the whole time, shot up in his seat. "I know who it is!" he exclaimed, giving the chinese a sly look, "But I won't tell."

The purple-haired shaman looked relieved, if not more annoyed. "And who did you get?" he asked, motioning his hand toward the ice shaman.

"I can't say, but I'll give you a hint," Horohoro grinned, "We hang out with him."

Both Chocolove and Ren raised their eyebrows at the proud Ainu. Quickly shaking it off the chinese turned to the afro boy, "And you?"

"I got Pirika," he answered simply.

"Oh, she's easy," the blunette stated to his dark team member, "Just get her jewelry or clothes and she'll go all ga-ga over them."

:-:-:-:-:

Later that evening the group of ten all met outside of the mall and headed back to the Funbari Inn together. Once there each shaman went to their respective rooms, Manta went into Yoh's with him, and planned out their gift giving. Their spirit allies helped their masters loyally if they wanted.

Kiari-san knows you all must still be gawking over the title. "Part One!" Yep, Kiari-san thinks this one fic of hers would be better in parts. She's guessing there's only going to be three or four parts and at this point she should have them all done. However, instead of updating them one after the other she's going to space them with a day inbetween. So she hopes you enjoyed the first part and check in thursday(22nd) for part two.

Flames are ignored, constructive criticism is highly appreciated, and praise is great for Kiari-san's ego.