Happy New Year's! I'll still be working on this story through January/Probably February, but next chapter after this will probably be a ways off. As it is, this chapter has already given me plenty of grief with the dialogue. It's seen multiple revisions, and even now, I'm reluctant to say it's finished, but I'm willing to deem it 'good enough' to be shown to the general public.
Saving kind of messed up on me, and I had to go back into FF and rewrite some of this, so I'm just going to make this quick. No consulting the list, either, because at this point, since no more reviews are coming in, I really don't have a need for it to be present and updated in every chapter. If you want to see the list of requests that I have left to do, simply consult the previous chapter, or take a look at the reviews for this story to see what people have asked for.
So, the requests I have completed in this chapter are for Imperator Justinian, Queen Absol, and Guest 10. In addition, I have done a continuation of SlashPrincessOfHell's request from the previous chapter, where Kanetsugu and Masamune do go under the mistletoe, but are spared. To find out what happens, just read the chapter, obviously. As for my other requests, I hope I did well on them; like I said before, I have some doubts on if I did a good job with them. Queen Absol, I know that I hit your request right out of the park, and had tons of fun finally doing something romantic for one of my favorite SW pairings.
In the meantime, just get to reading the chapter, and I'll talk with you guys again at the end. I hope you all enjoy!
Five to eight. Mitsubachi watched as Meowth climbed the rafters of the main entranceway and hung mistletoe in the doorway that led towards the dining hall. Most of those that had been in the dining hall had left by now, and only a few remained. Things would be ideal for Ryoko to get Ryo and Oichi over here. How successful the end result would be, she couldn't say, but all she had to do was be the catalyst. From there, the rest was up to the energetic girl from Aurora. Meowth tied the plant up to the top of the doorway, and then jumped down into his partner's awaiting arms.
"Good boy." she praised, "We've done our part, and after this, we can head to sleep." she said, "Well, you can, anyway." she smiled, petting her Meowth on the head as he let out a great big yawn. She leaned against the frame of the doorway, but heard voices coming their way, male and female. That must be them. she thought, and went to hide for cover beneath a table. Hopefully once this was over, Ryoko would get off her back and she wouldn't need to take requests from other people.
"It's the same nonsense every year since we've come here with my father when we were little. I hate these parties, and it pains me to willingly throw myself into the fray every year." said a stern female voice, accompanied by strong, meaningful stomps. Crap! It's not them! Mitsubachi cursed. "One stands a better chance of living in the heart of a battlefield than they do attending this party!"
Her companion only chuckled at this rant. "How can you say that? You seem to always enjoy yourself when you come here." Muneshige noted, causing Ginchiyo to scowl at him.
"I endure them with an optimistic attitude, for no other reason than to represent our Kingdom, not to mention our clan!" she corrected him. "Why we can't just have a peaceful gathering of the seventeen kingdoms, I'll never know."
"If gatherings with the other Warlords were peaceful events, I don't think that I would ever want to attend."
"Well, nothing said that you had to come to this!"
"Nothing said that we needed to come a week early." he responded, "Things would have been just as fine if we had come Christmas Eve, and left the day after Christmas."
"I-I simply did not wish to make a bad impression of Violight." she quickly replied.
"You mean that you simply didn't want to miss anything." he corrected her, his smile evident in his voice.
"Oh, yes. Because I've certainly enjoyed all of this so far." she remarked, "Those children running through the halls screaming and causing a racket, the older Warlords getting drunk off of eggnog, of all things, those ninja, and their pranks, like turning hallways into ice skating rinks, almost getting trampled to death by a stampede of Walrein..." she carried on.
Muneshige kept smiling as she listed off all of the things about this party that aggravated her, and shook his head in amusement, glancing at the ceiling absentmindedly. His smile then increased as his eyes made contact with a curious plant hanging above the doorway they were about to walk through.
"Ah, mistletoe." he observed. Ginchiyo, however, was not paying attention, and only nodded at his statement.
"Yes, Lady Aya and her horrendous mistletoe schemes." she agreed, "You would think by now, it would have occurred to her that nothing good ever comes from it."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that." he mused, "There are some that enjoy the old tradition."
Ginchiyo looked at him skeptically, "I'm aware;" she scoffed, "Yukimura's fangirls, and that infernal Magoichi."
"...Still haven't forgiven him for that, hm?" he asked.
"Of course I haven't!" she yelled, "Nor will I ever!"
"There's no need to take it so personally..." he told her.
"Well, I do." she said, leaving no room for argument, "And seeing as you aren't upset about it in the slightest, I need to be upset for the both of us."
He smirked at that, "So, is that what it's really about then?" He asked. She glanced at him, curious as to what he meant by that. "You're upset just because I'm not jealous?"
Ginchiyo blushed and turned away, trying to stammer out a comeback. "C-certainly not, you great fool! Why would I ever want you to get upset over something so petty-!" realizing what she had said, she snapped her gaze back to him, glaring at his still smiling face, "Don't you start playing mind games with me now! That's about all I can take after today's mess! I can't tell you how close I am to leaving!"
"I thought that you would have loved being a part of that snowball fight." he said as he stopped in the doorway while they were directly beneath the mistletoe, seeing his opportunity. "I noticed bruises on Masamune and Magoichi at dinner tonight that could have only come from my Ginchiyo."
Once more, Ginchiyo found herself flustered and looking anywhere but at Muneshige. Why did he always have to be so aggravating, constantly putting her on the spot and such?! "I-I... they... that... snowball fight was a disaster that I am ashamed to say I got mixed up in!" she insisted.
"Really? It looked to me like you had a lot of fun out there." he noted.
"It wasn't fun! It was chaos! No one knew what was going on, there were Pokemon and Warlords everywhere, throwing snowballs every which way; by the time it was done, I was drenched in paint from head to toe, as if you couldn't already tell." she pointed to her head, where she was now wearing a thick wool cap on her head, hiding as much of her now multicolored hair from sight as she could. She had also ruined the kimono and winter wear she had on, which to her had just been an excuse to get back into her usual armor. To Muneshige, it just made her look cuter. "And then, to end on a high note, of course, that Walrein stampede came charging through, and Luxio and I were almost crushed." Her feline Pokemon standing next to her nodded his head in agreement. The blue and yellow Pokemon still had paint smeared into his fur.
"Look on the bright side." Muneshige encouraged, "Aside from your hair, most of that paint came out fairly easy, right?"
"By some act of mercy, yes." Ginchiyo conceded, "That doesn't alleviate the fact that it took me almost two hours of scrubbing soap on my face to get it all off."
He grinned playfully. "Not all of it;" he said, "You missed a small spot."
"Where?" she demanded, running her fingers over her face to figure out where there could still be paint after she had looked herself over five times and ensured that there had been no smears left. Muneshige just chuckled, and took her chin in his hand, lifting her face up to meet his.
"Right... here." he said, before lowering his head and pushing his lips against hers. Ginchiyo's eyes widened and her body went rigid, yet she made no move to get out of the situation she had found herself in. From her hiding place, Mitsubachi dared to take a peek out to see what was happening, and had to hold back a 'squee' with both of her hands as she saw the couple from Violight sharing a kiss under the mistletoe.
D'awww, that is so cute I just can't-! she thought, desperately hoping that she could contain her delight for the sake of her life. Those two made just the sweetest couple!
Muneshige broke the kiss after several seconds, and when his lips left hers, the two stared into each other's eyes, Ginchiyo still stunned and blushing brightly. Muneshige only smiled in amusement at her reaction. Once Ginchiyo had broken out of her daze, however, her starry eyes quickly turned to a hardened glare, and her parted lips were drawn into a thin scowl. The only part of her appearance that did not change was her bright red face.
"Wh-wh-what... What is the meaning of kissing me from out of nowhere like that?!" she yelled. He just laughed and pointed up.
"I couldn't refuse tradition." he explained. She looked up to what he was indicating, and her eyes widened once again when she saw that accursed Christmas plant hanging in the doorway. "I happen to enjoy it as well." he added as she continued staring at it. If looks could kill.
"Y-you... you!" she exclaimed, her shaking hands balling into fists, holding back her desire to give him a bruise of his own. "Haven't I told you before not to just go doing things like that?!"
"You mean being romantic?" he teased.
"I mean just coming out and... graaah! Why do I even bother?!" she snarled, throwing her hands up in the air. "I should be yelling at Lady Aya; this sort of nonsense happens every year because of her!"
"To be fair..." Muneshige spoke up, "The mistletoe was just an excuse. I'd be happy to kiss you whenever you like, dear."
"Enough with your foolishness!" she demanded, turning around to leave, "You're just lucky that no one was around to watch, otherwise you'd be a dead man!"
"Just a warning is all I get?" he asked, "I guess that means you did like it."
"Go outside and get run over by the Walrein!" she shouted as she walked away, still blushing. Muneshige only chuckled and silently followed her, not wanting to press his luck with any more banter. Once the two had departed, Mitsubachi came out with Meowth and looked at where the two had left, then back at the doorway. She blinked and her brows creased as she saw that the mistletoe was gone. Then she looked at the ground, and saw a dark green and red stain on the floor. Ginchiyo had gotten a hold of the mistletoe and had crushed it to a pulp. She groaned and exhaled an annoyed breath. Now she was gonna have to ask Aya for more...
"Hey, Mitsubachi!"
...Crap! She had forgotten about Ryoko, too! She turned around to see Ryoko running over to her, being followed behind slowly by her brother, Oichi, and their Pokemon.
"Hey, you three! Wha-what a surprise!" she said shakily.
"For whatever reason, Ryoko wanted to go the long way back to our rooms." Ryo spoke up as they came over, looking annoyed at having been dragged somewhere against his will for the second time today.
"It's too early to go to sleep, yet!" his sister stated, "We should get a little exercise in and work off that meal."
"I just wanna go to bed, Ryoko." Ryo said.
"Uh, Ryoko..." Mitsubachi spoke up, poking her on the shoulder, "You... kind of got here too late."
Ryoko's eyes widened, and she turned to Mitsubachi. "Whaaat?! Again?!" she whined, "But, but..."
The darker-haired girl raised her hands up, and looked down at the floor. "Someone else got here before you did, and... well..." Ryoko took the hint, and looked down at the ground, noticing the crushed plant that had once been mistletoe.
"Oh, nuts!" she grumbled, staring at the mess despondently.
"Roasting on an open fire." Mitsubachi added, which earned her the confused looks of everyone present. She noticed this, and shot an equal look at them.
"What? It's from the Christmas carol. You know, 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire'...?" This failed to clear up the confusion for anyone present, so she just waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, forget it." she said dryly.
"So, who was it that..." Ryoko trailed off, pointing down at the destroyed plant.
"Ginchiyo." came the simple answer, but accompanied by a great big smile.
"Ginchiyo?"
"Yup. With Muneshige."
"With..." Ryoko stopped her query and gasped before breaking out in a big smile. "Ohmigosh, really?!"
"Yes!" Mitsubachi squealed, equally as giddy about it.
"They did?!"
"Yes!"
"Under the?!"
"Yes! It was soooo cute!" she said, as both girls let out high pitched squees of delight.
"I know!"
"Ohmigosh!"
"I know!"
"It was cute?!"
"The cutest thing I've ever seen!"
"Eeeee!"
"He called her 'his Ginchiyo!'"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Eeeee!"
"I know!"
While the two were fangirling at the cute couple's kiss, Ryo and Oichi looked on, both incredibly confused. Ryo leaned over, whispering to the pink-haired girl, "Do you have any idea at all what they're going on about?"
Oichi shook her head in the negative, "None whatsoever."
"Okay, then." he said, followed by a pause. "We should... probably leave... slowly."
"Agreed." Oichi replied as the two began to back away slowly with their Pokemon following their steps. When they got to the other side of the hallway, they turned and started a fast-paced trot back to their respective rooms.
"Geez!" Ryo groaned, "I thought she couldn't get any weirder, what's been up with her this week?"
Oichi looked at him her brow creasing in confusion. "W-well, she's seemed normal until this afternoon." she noted.
"No, she's had one of those looks on her face since our first day here." he explained.
"'Looks?'"
"You know, that 'Lady Aya' look she gets sometimes, like she's up to something bad?"
"Oh." Oichi replied, "I... haven't noticed."
"Hm; maybe it's just me." Ryo shrugged, "But listen, if she tries pulling us somewhere again, let's run in the other direction."
Oichi nodded, looking determined. "I'm with you there, Lord Ryo."
"Kunoichi, where are we going now?!"
"Huh?"
"Hm?!"
"I promise, this isn't a joke this time, Lord Yukimura!" Kunoichi said, dragging the young warrior down the corridor by his arm, just as she had done earlier. Their Pokemon, Pignite and Sneasel, were trailing behind them. As they ran, they went right past Ryo and Oichi, nearly knocking the two over. As they passed, the Aurora Warlords watched them leave, with matching perplexed faces.
"Again?" they wondered at the same time.
"I heard from a reliable source that it would be right... over..." As her destination came into view, the ninja girl came to an abrupt stop, causing her Warlord hostage to bump into her. She noticed Mitsubachi and Ryoko standing in the doorway where she had overheard the mistletoe was supposed to be, giggling and squeeing to themselves. She growled in aggravation, releasing the still confused Yukimura, and marching over to the other two female Warlords.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" she shouted, "I'm late again?! You know, as a ninja, I'm starting to get offended by this!"
While she ranted, the other two turned to her with smiles.
"Ginchiyo and Muneshige!" Ryoko squeaked out. Somehow, with only the names of the two used, Kunoichi was able to pick up on what the full sentence was meant to be, and she instantly forgot all about her sudden annoyance at not getting under the mistletoe with Yukimura.
"Really?!" she cried.
"Yes!" both girls responded.
"Just now?!"
"He called her 'his Ginchiyo!'"
"Ohmigosh!"
"I know!"
"Ohmigosh!"
"I know!"
"Eee!"
"Eee!"
"Eeeee!"
"Eeeee!"
"It was-!"
"Sooo adorable and romantic!"
"Awww, okay, that's totally worth giving up a chance!"
"I know!"
"They're so cute together!"
"They're like the perfect couple!"
While the three girls continued to go on like this, Yukimura just stared at the exchange, completely at a loss. He didn't understand anything that had been going on today. Especially with Kunoichi. Twice now, she had dragged him around the castle to some random location, and when they got there, there wasn't anything at all, and she would either leave immediately without an explanation, or get distracted by someone else present. He knew that she could be easily excitable at times, and could sometimes get distracted, but this was strange even by her standards. Plus, they kept bumping into Ryoko, Ryo and Oichi. Was that just a coincidence? And now what were they talking about Lady Ginchiyo and Lord Muneshige? He couldn't make sense of any of it. He decided, however, with his captor distracted, that he was free to go, and turned around to leave the three to their... could it even be called a conversation? He didn't know, and didn't want to find out. He just wanted to go to bed, and wake up to a normal day tomorrow.
~Q.N~
I had wanted to go home today... Mitsubachi thought to herself as she sat in Nixtorm's library the next morning, reading through a horror story that she had brought with her from her personal collection back home. The thought was brought on by how close she was to finishing the book, and how she had found out after skimming through the incredibly small collection of fictional works in Lord Mitsuhide's library that there was almost nothing worth reading. She turned to Lord Motonari, who was quietly writing something a ways away, a tranquil smile on his face and Servine snoozing next to him. How she wished that this Christmas party took place in Greenleaf; not that this made very much sense, but Greenleaf's library was the most diverse and plentiful of any other in Ransei. She could spend an entire month in Lord Motonari's castle, completely devoted to reading as many books, scrolls and tomes that she could get her hands on. Equally as good, this Christmas party could be held in her mother's kingdom. Their library could give Greenleaf's a run for its money, as Motonari himself had told her upon his first visit. And she herself intended to only make it more grand when she received her mother's position. Their kingdom would be a hub of knowledge!
The reason she didn't return, however, was Lady Aya. She was still concerned that her lady would go through with her mistletoe scheme on two certain bitter rivals. Masamune, she was sure, was going to take the hint and stay as far away from the two Illusio Warlords as best he could. Kanetsugu was the one she was worried about. Did he annoy her? Yes. Did they not get along? Yes. Did she enjoy finding ways to embarrass him whenever she could? Yes, to the point that it brought a devilish smile to her face just thinking about it. However, she understood there were certain boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. Lord Kenshin and Lady Aya had taken her in and allowed her to live in Illusio castle with them while she was training under Aya for a short time. They had treated her as if she were part of their family. She and Kanetsugu had certainly battled, and his jealousy of how close she had become to Aya made it difficult for them to reach a peaceful relationship, but he had become as much of a brother-figure to her as her own brother. He had even stood up for her whenever he felt that she was being mistreated. Her parents had always taught her the value of family, and how it was not just limited by blood; family was something that encompassed every person you cared for, and every person who cared for you. Because of this belief that her family held with such value, she knew that she had to make sure that Aya didn't force her mistletoe punishment on him; he simply didn't deserve it from her.
She was going to stick around for that reason, and because she still owed it to Lord Mitsuhide to put an end to Lady Aya's mistletoe schemes as she had promised. Yes, she still intended to hold true to that. But it was still too early to do anything about it. Meanwhile, she would be able to hear Kanetsugu's big mouth from across the castle if anything was going on with him that garnered her attention. Thus, here she was, reading to pass the time in Nixtorm's library.
She'd heard some snippets of what was going on today over breakfast, and what people were doing. She'd once again made it to the dining hall for breakfast before Kanetsugu, and as a result was able to sit next to Aya without interruption. However, it wasn't as comfortable as it normally was, as Aya had been glaring over her shoulder at Lord Ujiyasu for most of the time she was there. In addition, Ginchiyo had refused to sit next to Muneshige that morning, and instead was glaring at him from over Lord Shingen's shoulder, while Muneshige stared back at her with a bemused grin, and Shingen sat between them, looking exasperated at having to be the man in the middle. Looking at the couple, Mitsubachi had then remembered she evaded being a mistletoe victim yesterday by telling Aya that she wouldn't mind kissing Ujiyasu. So she only stayed at the older Warlords' table briefly, before going back to her table to relieve Lord Ujiyasu, who was looking completely unnerved at Aya's glaring. As she had left, Lord Kenshin and Lord Shingen had sent her questioning glances, and she responded with a shrug and a playful grin.
She had noticed three absent seats at her table, rather than the two she had been expecting. Aside from Kanetsugu and Kotaro, Hanzo was also missing. Looking around the room, Lady Nene was also missing from her table, and Kunoichi from hers. If she had to guess, there was a ninja battle taking place somewhere right then. The ninja pranksters Kotaro and Kunoichi vs. Lady Nene and Hanzo, in an attempt to get the former two to stop, in Nene's words, their misbehaving. The motherly ninja had likely deputized Hanzo to track down and deal with the pranksters for her, as she still needed to set things up for her Christmas Eve Santa event, as well as spend time with those three weird kids. Glancing over to the next table over had earned her a glance at Ryoko, who noticed her, smiled, and waved energetically, only for Mitsubachi to quickly look down at her food. She really had to get that girl off her back!
Hideyoshi had plans to rebuild his snow fort from yesterday, bigger and grander than before, and was currently having an argument about the matter with Mitsuhide. The Ignis Warlord was insisting that it would be entirely for aesthetic purposes, and would not be built for snowball fights, but Mitsuhide wanted to hear nothing of it. Looking back at her own table, Mitsubachi had been surprised to see Kunoichi sitting close to Yukimura, who had been having a conversation with Ina and Oichi last she had looked. The three had been talking about going to the village where the Walrein had stampeded through and help with what was left of the rebuilding and cleanup. Kunoichi was insisting that Yukimura needed to stay and help set up for the Christmas Eve event in the village instead, on Lady Nene's orders. While this exchange was going on, No had dropped in on the conversation, and had insisted that the girls should go shopping later, including Mitsubachi herself in the plans. Ina and Oichi had nervously tried to get out of it, only to be ever so subtly 'persuaded' to go along with it. Mitsubachi, meanwhile, agreed without any qualms, genuinely interested in spending time with the Spectra Warlord, whom she was just as close to as Lady Aya. Kunoichi was the only one able to escape the woman's iron grip, dropping her own ever so subtle threat of enacting a particularly messy prank on her. The thought of the mutilation of her perfect looks was enough to have No let the mischievous ninja do as she wished. This left two women promising to meet and go shopping later that afternoon, two women terrified of meeting with them later that afternoon, a little ninja girl delighted to have gotten Yukimura to stay so that she could have more chances to get him under mistletoe with her, and a very, very confused Yukimura.
At the other table, Hanbei Magoichi, Keiji, Motochika, Kai and Ryo were talking about going down to a frozen pond near the castle and doing some kind of ice sport that Mitsubachi wasn't familiar with. From what she heard of their conversation, it seemed that Ryo was trying to avoid his twin, Magoichi was flirting with Kai, Kai trying to strangle him and being held back by Keiji, who was laughing at the whole thing, Hanbei was gloating about what a great strategist he was, and Motochika was volunteering to join their group so that they would have an even three-to-three matchup.
When she went up to refill her tea where the drinks were at the buffet table, she had found Masamune talking to Kenshin, asking the older Warlord to save him from Aya, not revealing in so many words just what he wanted to be saved from. Kenshin's response had been: "What makes you think that I have the power to protect you?", and Mitsubachi had to fight back a fit of giggles from that.
"Ow! Would you let go of me already, you crazy lady?!"
"You get over here right this second, young man! This time, you've crossed the line for good!"
Mitsubachi was returned to the present as she heard shouts begin to fill up the once peaceful library, and groaned as she looked up from her book and saw Lady Nene herding the five kids in, holding the big-mouthed redheaded kid by his arm, and gently pushing Gracia in, who looked incredibly angry and slightly teary eyed. Oh, boy. She didn't even want to know what this noise was brought about by this time. Fortunately, Nene was ignoring her, and was heading towards Lord Motonari. Rather than leave before she could be brought into this scene, Mitsubachi chose to stay and observe, confident that her usual talent for being overlooked would serve her well here.
"Lord Motonari, could I have your help with something here?" Lady Nene asked as she approached the older Warlord. Motonari lifted his gaze from his work and observed the small group with an amused smile. Servine looked less than amused, shooting an irritated glare at the noisemakers that were interrupting her nap.
"I'd be happy to lend a hand, Lady Nene." he replied, "Though, I have to say, I'm not much of a babysitter."
"Who are you calling a baby?!" Mitsunari demanded, only to be bopped on the head by Nene.
"You mind your manners now, young man!" Nene said, gesturing to the historian, "Boys, this is Lord Motonari." she began to explain, "He's Greenleaf's Warlord, and is an incredibly famous scholar of Ransei's history, and also of Pokemon."
"We know who he is." Mitsunari insisted, "Everyone knows Lord Motonari."
"Heh. My, I didn't know I was so famous." Motonari replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm flattered by the recognition, Lady Nene."
"Oh, don't be so modest, Lord Motonari!" Nene responded cheerfully.
"Well, if introductions are out of the way, what is it you need my help with?" he asked.
Nene's glower returned, and she directed it at Mitsunari. "This mean little boy," she tightened her grip of his arm ever so slightly. "has been going around filling the other kids' heads with the awful idea that Santa Claus isn't real!" she explained.
"That's because he isn't."
"LIAR! Santa Claus is SO real! He visits Nixtorm Castle every year and gives me presents!" Gracia shouted back at him.
"As you can see, it's upset little Gracia so badly." Nene said, bringing the girl into a hug, "Not to mention his other little friends..."
"Actually, we're kind of used to it by now..." Kiyomasa stated.
"Yeah, he's like this all the..." Masanori added, only for the two to be stopped by a glare from Nene that had them rethinking their words.
"U-uhm, I mean, yeah! It's... hurting my feelings when he says that stuff." Kiyomasa corrected himself.
"Y-y-yeah. Why doesn't he believe in Santa... and stuff." Masanori continued. These answers satisfied Nene, while Mitsunari glared at the two for caving in.
So anyway, Lord Motonari, I want you to tell them the truth about Santa Claus. You're going to tell them that Santa Claus is in fact real, without a doubt, and that if they don't believe, they're all going to get a big lump of coal for Christmas!"
Motonari looked a bit reluctant at this. "Haha, are you asking me to explain it to them because of my knowledge on the subject of Santa, or because I'm as old as he is?" he asked as a joke.
"You mean that you know Santa?!" Gracia suddenly spoke up, to which Motonari only felt more defeated. Not the response that he had been expecting...
"I'm asking you because you're the smartest man in Ransei, and you know everything!" Nene explained, "You'll be able to give the kids the right answer to who Santa Claus is, and that he does exist."
"Is that really what you want, though?" Motonari asked. A glare in his direction was all the answer that he needed. "W-well, alright then, I suppose if you really want me to tell them about Santa Claus." he agreed, getting up and walking over to a shelf with books. "It just so happens that I'm familiar with a bit of Santa's story..."
"Hmph. That's all it is: a story." Mitsunari commented, as Gracia stuck her tongue out at him.
"Nuh-uh!" she replied, "Lord Motonari's met Santa, so he must be real!"
"I-I never said that, Gracia." Motonari said, nearly tripping on his own feet at this response from the girl. "That said, however..." he took a book off a shelf, examined it quickly, and returned to sit down in front of the kids and Nene, who all followed in his step. "The story of Santa Claus has a basis in reality...that is to say that there was a real Santa Claus at one point."
"'Was?'" Kiyomasa asked, "Does that mean he's dead?"
Gracia shrieked, and Nene glared at the historian, who backed away and tried to reclaim his place. "W-well, technically, yes, b-but that doesn't mean that Santa Claus... uh, em... Let me start that over. Santa's origins come from several places, the most popular of which is a man by the name of St. Nicholas. You see, kids, St. Nicholas was a man known for his generosity; he would give gifts to the poor. Most accounts of his physical appearance is of a man with a white beard and dressed in red robes."
"See, kids?" Nene said, "You've all heard of St. Nick before, just like in the Christmas carols. That's Santa Claus right there."
"Well, not necessarily, Lady Nene." Motonari replied, returning attention back to himself, "There are other historical accounts of figures very similar. Even older than St. Nicholas is a character named Odin, who was a godlike figure from ancient times in a faraway land. Before Christmas, ancient peoples participated in a midwinter festival known as the Yule, which is where we get the term 'yuletide' from now when we talk about Christmas. The ancient people believed that during the Yule, supernatural events were more likely to occur... er, magic. Odin was part of the most important part of the Yule, known as the Wild Hunt, where he would fly through the sky on a Rapidash with a mane of gray fire..."
"But he decided that eight Sawsbuck would help him to travel around the world and deliver the presents to the good little boys and girls faster." Nene added quickly, glaring at the historian. "Right, Motonari?"
"Actually," Motonari said, paying her little mind as he became engrossed in his lesson on the holiday icon. "It's rather interesting to note that our idea of Santa Claus was only recently invented... I-I mean... uh, Santa... reinvented himself to keep up with the times! Uh, red and green fur coats have become the new fad around the holidays, so he... started to wear the red suit that we know him by today. And he used to work alone in his workshop at the North Pole, but then he...hired the elves to work with him in order to keep up with the surplus population."
"And what about the cookies and milk?" Kiyomasa asked, "Where does that tradition come from?"
"I have better question:" Mitsunari interrupted, "How do you explain Sawsbuck, a normal- and grass-type Pokemon, having the ability to fly?"
"Er well, from a logical standpoint..." Motonari stumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
"They're magic Sawsbuck! Weren't you listening?" Gracia spoke up, "He said that they have the Yule day magic that lets them fly!"
"W-well, while that was the belief of the..."
"What about the cookies?" Kiyomasa repeated.
"That is actually one of the recent customs that began only a few decades ago. The idea behind it was to give Santa a gift as a thank you for the gifts that he brought with him."
"How does Santa fly around the world in one night?"
"That can be explained by..."
"So are there two Santas, or just one?"
"Santa is sort of a combination of the two..."
"Is Santa Claus a Pokemon?"
"I... don't even know how to respond to that question."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! How can Santa be a Pokemon?!"
"Hey, you all calm down, now!" Nene suddenly shouted, trying to get order back, "One question at a time!"
"I... don't think this was a good idea." Motonari told her halfheartedly.
"If you had just told them that you'd met Santa, this wouldn't have happened!"
"But I've never met Santa..."
"Is Santa a ghost?"
"How old is he?"
"How does he know what we want for Christmas?"
As the shouting continued, Nene finally had enough, and had Crobat use a screech attack. Everyone in the room covered their ears at the loud noise that emitted from the bat Pokemon, and once it had died down, the room had gone silent.
"Alright now, that's enough!" Nene shouted again, "You kids are going to calm down now, or else you might just end up on Santa's naughty list!"
"No we won't, because he isn't real." Mitsunari stated.
"Stop that talk right now, young man!" she scolded, "Lord Motonari has been nice enough to tell you the truth about Santa, and it's very rude to him to still be insisting that Santa isn't real."
"All he's told us is about some man with a white beard, and a myth about a man who flies around on a magic Rapidash. That's hardly evidence that Santa exists." Mitsunari scoffed, crossing his arms.
"You want proof, kiddo?" All heads turned to who was talking. Mitsubachi walked over to them, stopping in front of Mitsunari and looming over the boy. She had been amused at the conversation up until this point, but that screech attack from Crobat just now had been the final straw, and she was sick of having the annoying kids and Nene coming in and ruining the peace and quiet that she was enjoying. In addition, she didn't think it was fair to be putting Lord Motonari on the spot like this, especially with questions about the jolly old elf, of all things. "Well, let me tell you, I've seen Santa Claus with my own eyes, and you should believe in him."
"You've seen Santa, Mistubachi?!" Gracia squeaked, eyes shining with wonder. The other kids present, minus Mitsunari, looked equally impressed by this statement. Motonari looked relieved that the older girl had decided to step in, she being far better with matters of make believe and myth than him. Nene was also looking at her happily. Mitsubachi had a talent for telling stories, to the point that she could make them seem real, no matter how fanciful they were. This sort of 'evidence' would certainly get her moody little Mitsunari to see Santa Claus to be real, and the rest of the children along with him.
"Yes I have, Gracia." she said, sitting down in front of the kids. "Only once, and it is a moment that I will never, ever forget." she smiled, and began to create her story as she went, "And once you hear it, you will, most certainly, believe in Santa Claus..."
~Half an Hour Later...~
The day was off to a good start, in Kanetsugu's opinion. During breakfast, he had entered the dining hall and saw Mitsubachi sitting in her proper place at their table, instead of snuggling up to Lady Aya where the veteran Warlords would sit. Kotaro and Kunoichi had yet to enact any of their wicked pranks upon the rest of the Warlords, that deplorable Masamune had been nowhere to be found, and Lord Kanbei had finally stopped wearing that ridiculous elf hat that Kanetsugu hadn't been able to stop staring at. That last one was more a pleasant bonus than the near-miracle that the other three were, but he appreciated it no less. After all, why would you willingly wear something so ridiculous that all but forced people to stare at it and question your sanity? It was bad enough that Lady Nene was going to make them all wear those embarrassing elf costumes on Christmas Eve.
Another good surprise had been that, with the exception of breakfast, he had seen very little of those five children that had been running about the halls all over the castle for the last few days, screaming and making a mess wherever they went. It really was getting to the point that he would have to talk to Lady Nene about it. She had the idea to bring three of the boys here, and she should know to keep them on a short leash, literally, or at least have them under constant supervision. Ranmaru was behaving just fine, in spite of being dragged along with those other three brats, but Gracia... oh, Gracia. Lord Mitsuhide needed to have better control over his own daughter! He only prayed that Lord Mitsuhide had not designated her to become Nixtorm's next Warlord... it was bad enough they would let a dishonorable fool like Masamune be a Warlord!
His ponderings were interrupted as he passed by Nixtorm castle's library, usually an all-around uninteresting room. But now there were several screams coming from behind the closed doors within the room. Frightened screams! He jumped and turned to the door, the sudden noise nearly giving him a heart attack. But his panic was only momentary before he reacted, reaching for the door and about to slam it open and ask whoever inside what was wrong, thinking of every possible thing that could be happening. But as his hand was but an inch from the door, it flew open, and he was bowled over and then trampled on the ground by five small bodies as they ran away from the room as fast as they could.
"EEEEEEE! Help! Help! Santa's gonna get us!" Gracia screamed as she ran, "Papa, don't let him take me!"
"I-I don't wanna be an elf!" Masanori sobbed.
"He isn't real! He CAN'T be real!" Mitsunari continued to try and rationalize, but still couldn't bring himself to believe it after hearing... that!
As the kids ran away, still shouting about being taken by Santa Claus and having to bake cookies to appease him, Kanetsugu attempted to get up off the floor, feeling blessed that nothing felt broken on him. Children running away in fear? That could be one of several people responsible: Lord Yoshimoto, Lord Kotaro, No, Kanbei, or Mitsubachi. As he continued to try and process what had just happened, he picked up on another scream from inside the room, but this one full of rage rather than fear.
"Wh-wha-what... the HELL was THAT?!" Nene growled, as she had finally collected herself from Mitsubachi's story to reprimand the girl for it. The girl with the striped hair just gave a mischievous smirk as her Meowth snickered on top of her head. Getting Lady Nene to curse? Yep, she was in big trouble!
"Hey, you wanted them to believe in Santa Claus." she said, "Kids are always going to believe in monsters before they believe in magic. When I was thirteen, I still believed in the boogey man, even though I hadn't believed in Santa Claus since I was six."
"Who tells kids a horror story during Christmas?!" Nene continued to rip into her.
"Isn't there kind of a song about that?" Mitsubachi asked. "Like, you know, 'There'll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories~!..."
"You told them that Santa would abduct them and turn them into elves if they didn't leave him cookies and milk!"
"Yeah, that was good!" Mitsubachi agreed with a laugh. "Can't believe I thought that one up on the spot."
"Wait! That also means that you don't even have a little sister, do you?!"
"Well, to follow the canon of that story, even if I did, I wouldn't have a sister anymore."
"You are... terrible!" Nene growled, so angry that she couldn't even think of a better word to explain the girl's wretchedness.
"But, I still got them to believe!" she said, "And really, that's the true meaning of Christmas." she gushed with plenty of sarcasm, placing both of her hands over her heart and looking to the sky with a dreamy gaze.
"Would someone mindtelling me what just happened?!" Kanetsugu asked as he came in and marched over to the two women. Both did a double take as they turned to him, looking over his disheveled appearance.
"Uh, Abra-boy, you kinda got a little..." Mitsubachi said feebly, pointing to her face and waving her hand around in a circle to indicate the child-sized footprints all over Kanetsugu's face. His face remained stoic, and he made no effort to remove the marks.
"It might interest you to know that I was just trampled outside by a herd of small children." he told them, glaring at Mitsubachi. Nene turned back to the girl to do the same.
"Hey, I can't be accountable for his bad luck!" Mitsubachi told the older woman, "A bucket fell on his head once that had been thrown without any direction."
"You threw that bucket." Kanetsugu reminded her.
"The details are... kind of blurry." she replied.
"This naughty little girl just traumatized the younger kids by telling them a horror story about Santa Claus!" Nene accused, pointing a finger at Mitsubachi.
Kanetsugu slapped his hand to his face. "Only you could find some way to make an old man who delivers presents to children scary." he growled.
"Well, in all fairness, that in and of itself is a little suspect. I mean, think about it: Where did Santa get his workforce of elves who make toys for free? What does the Tooth Fairy want with all those children's teeth she hoards? Why does the Easter Buneary leave eggs?" she leaned in close and whispered to them, "It's a mammal; it doesn't lay eggs!"
"You are going to go with me to find those kids, and then you are going to say that you made up that story and apologize to them, young lady!" Nene ordered. Mitsubachi turned to her.
"Soo... you want me to say that Santa doesn't exist?"
"No! Just that monster Santa that you made up!"
"But... if I do that, then they'll just go back to not believing in Santa... and you won't be able to convince them that he is real again, because if I say that I made up the story, then they'll be skeptical about everything else they're told on the subject."
"Heh, she has a point there, Lady Nene." Motonari finally spoke up, regaining his composure after listening to the girl's horrifying, but admittedly brilliant work of fiction. The female ninja turned to glare at him, and he shrunk back, returning to his reading.
"Not to worry, Lady Nene!" Kanetsugu said, grabbing Mitsubachi's arm, "On your behalf, I shall see to it that she repents for her sins and that this whole matter is brought to justice!"
"Okay, you're all taking this waaaay too seriously!" she remarked.
"Come with me this instant!" he demanded, pulling her to the door, "You are going to apologize to them right this second!"
"Hey, wait!" she said, trying to break away and grab for her book, "I wasn't done reading; I was in the middle of finishing up a book on my bucket list-!" Unfortunately, for all her cleverness, her lack of physical strength was failing her up against Kanetsugu, who kept a firm hold on her and lead her away.
"You can read after you set things right." Nene told her firmly, walking alongside Kanetsugu. "And don't think I won't tell your mother about this when I get the chance, young lady!"
"Aw, c'mon, you guys!" Mitsubachi said, continuing to struggle against them, "Ugh! Lord Motonari, can you please return that book to my room later?! Thank you!" she called before she was finally dragged out the door.
As they left, Motonari smiled and returned to his book. "Well... that was certainly interesting." he said. Servine came out from where she had been hiding, waiting for things to quiet down so that she could sleep again. She went over to her partner, circled around, and laid her head down on the floor. "I wish I would have gotten them to listen long enough to talk about Sinterklaas and Christmas stockings, though."
"Tell me, do you even think before you decide to do things half the time?!" Kanetsugu continued to rant as they went down the corridors. Nene was walking a bit ahead of them, calling out the names of the five children.
"Gracia! Kiyomasa! Come out, now! There's nothing to be scared of!"
"Well, of course I thought about it." Mitsubachi replied, "I thought it would be funny, and it was!"
"Wipe that shameless smirk off your face!" he told her, "This is serious business, misleading those children like you did!"
"Children are fickle." she stated, "All you have to do is get their minds on something else, and they'll forget all about what they were doing five minutes ago. Lady Nene, literally all you have to do is bake them some cookies, and they'll be fine again."
"That doesn't cut it, young lady!" Nene said back to her, "You're still going to be made to apologize."
"And your parents will be informed!" Kanetsugu added.
"You say that as though I should feel threatened." she mumbled, shrugging, "I'll apologize; you don't need to twist my arm about it... Seriously, though, stop. It's not pleasant."
"If I release you, you will just run away again!"
She huffed at this, irritated by the fact that he was going to keep treating her like a child. He may have been older than her, but she knew that they were on equal footing intellectually. It made her want to escape and run in the other direction, just to prove a point.
"Kanetsugu, dear. Would you mind telling me why you are being so aggressive to my dear Mitsubachi?" Aya's voice suddenly came from nowhere. Kanetsugu jumped, and turned around to face his teacher.
"M-my Lady! I swear, this time, my reasons for reprimanding her are completely justified! Her lack of honor is...!"
As he realized that Lady Aya was not there, Meowth jumped off her shoulders onto Kanetsugu's head and started slashing his face. As he struggled to get the feline Pokemon off of him, his grip on Mitsubachi loosened, and she broke free. Upon seeing his partner liberated, Meowth jumped off of Kanetsugu and returned to the awaiting arms of Mitsubachi, sticking his tongue out at his victim to add insult to injury, very much literally.
"My dear boy," the girl spoke, giving her best imitation of Aya, which was a near perfect impersonation of the woman's voice. "I assure you, what I lack in honor, I more than compensate for in my cleverness."
"You deceitful-!"
"See you later, Abra-boy." she waved, before taking off down the hallway. But Kanetsugu refused to let her go so easily, and ran after her as fast as he could. Looking over her shoulder, Mitsubachi cursed and went into an all-out sprint. Kanetsugu was also faster than her, and she knew that her freedom was only temporary the moment she escaped his grasp. Even so, it was worth every second that she was allowed to run away from him, laughing as she went.
She had expected to be caught by Kanetsugu tackling her to the ground, or that she would just run out of breath and allow him to recapture her without further struggle. What she hadn't expected was to run into another person and crash to the ground with them, least of all who that person turned out to be.
"Watch where you're going, imbecile!"
Mitsubachi's eyes widened, and she turned to see none other than Avia's Warlord rubbing his head and looking aggravated. As he raised his still throbbing head to glare at her, his eyes widened.
"You?!"
"Me, apparently." she replied.
"Mitsubachi! Get back here this instant!" Kanetsugu cried, coming into view. "When I find you-!" Not watching where he was going, too focused on hunting the girl down, Kanetsugu tripped over her and fell to the ground with the other two.
"Ow!"
"Karma." Mitsubachi commented.
"Argh. Don't think I won't punish you for this, too!" he declared.
"For running away from you? Doesn't everyone do that?" she asked, causing Masamune to laugh, until he looked up and saw his nightmare hanging above him. Mitsubachi noticed his sudden apprehension, and looked up as well, her eyes widening. Mistletoe. She looked down the hall, and saw Lady Aya coming into view. She looked between Masamune and Kanetsugu, and came to a decision. Masamune would have been preferred in this circumstance, but he was the only one of them smart enough to run, so...
Ugh, she hated the ways that karma would haunt a person.
"-And your lack of honor in unfathomable! I had never thought that anyone could be more vile until I met-!"
Mitsubachi rolled her eyes and grabbed his face, trying to brace herself for what she was about to do. "Shut up; it will make this easier on both of us." she said, before just kissing him on the lips. He immediately tensed and tried to get away from it, but she grabbed the back of his head and held him there. Two observers looked at the scene with shock, and partial disgust on Masamune's part, feeling incredible pity for the girl right now. Meanwhile, Aya had just arrived, and didn't know how to feel about this, other than incredibly stunned.
Noticing her audience was still present, Mitsubachi glared at Masamune, and broke apart from the fourth most disgusting thing to happen to her just enough to get out one word: "Run." though, it had come out sounding more like, 'roon'. Masamune still stood there, so she rolled her eyes and tried again.
"Roon, yu idyit!" she said, gesturing with her eyes to Lady Aya, while still trying to hold Kanetsugu in place as he was beginning to push against her shoulders to pry them apart. Masamune got the message, glancing at Aya, who was still focused on her students above everything else. So he took the opportunity to run, sprinting past Nene as he did so.
"Hey, watch where you're going, young man; you shouldn't be running indoors!" she scolded, before turning back to hallway. "Now where have Kanetsugu and Mitsubachi gone...off...to..." she trailed off as she finally found them, in the awkward kiss that they were in. But as Masamune ran off, Mitsubachi finally let go, and the two scrambled away from each other, coughing and gagging over the mutually terribly experience.
"Ugh, you taste like evil!" Kanetsugu said through rubbing his lips to get the taste of her off of him.
"Ugh, you taste like dork!" she rebuked, doing the same, "I'm gonna need to burn the skin off my lips just to get rid of the taste! You're welcome, by the way."
"Why should I be expressing gratitude to you for doing something so-so-so... vulgarto me?!" he demanded.
"I saved you... from a much worser fate. Consider me the lesser of the two evils."
"I can't imagine a worser fate for me than getting kissed by a child of evil!"
"Well, believe me, it wasn't the way that I wanted my first kiss to go, either! But I thought I'd do the honorable thing and saving you from tasting dragon tongue!"
"Are you actually implying that I would have that I would have kissed Masamune?!" he asked, sarcasm clear in his voice.
"Hey, it was her idea!" Mitsubachi said, pointing an accusatory finger at Aya. Kanetsugu, just noticing that she was here, went white and froze, staring at her with wide, fearful eyes. Had she been there the whole time?! Oh, dear Arceus, no! This couldn't be happening again! The only difference was that now, the kiss had been with a girl that Lady Aya cared about, which may even be worse! His mind went into overdrive, trying to think of a way to talk himself out of this.
"M-m-MyLady!" He yelled, turning to face her directly, and bowing as low as he could, repeating the process multiple times as a random assortment of words came out of him. "MyLadyI'msosorryIdon'tknowwhatjusthappeneditwasn'tmydoingIswearsheforcedherselfonmeIwouldneverkissherespeciallyinfrontofyouMyLadyI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!"
"Well, I hope you're happy with yourself!" Mitsubachi said, choosing to scold the woman rather than beg for her forgiveness. "This is what I have to go through to convince you that something is a bad idea. Do you see my level of commitment to our relationship?"
"Mitsubachi..." Aya began, completely ignoring Kanetsugu's unnecessary apologies and focusing on her female student alone. "I... can't believe you just kissed Kanetsugu just so I wouldn't force him and Masamune to kiss each other." she had wanted something more refined and thought-provoking to have come out, but that was all she could muster. It had certainly been enough to stop Kanetsugu's rant, because he looked up at his Lady, completely floored at what she had said.
"M-my Lady?!" he exclaimed, "Y-you mean, you actually had...!"
"Yeah, and you would have done it too, being the kiss-up that you are." Mitsubachi stated, not even aware of the unintentional pun she had just made.
"Is that what you were trying to tell me about last night?!" he asked, turning back to her.
"Yes, and if you learned to not talk over people and jump to conclusions all the time, you would have known. In fact, I'm not even going to blame Aya for this, because this is pretty much your fault that it had to come to this...!"
Aya dug the nails of her index fingers into her thumbs, trying to fight back a look of apprehension. Mitsubachi wasn't going to be happy about this... but it would be completely dishonorable to not tell her the truth.
"Be that as it may, they're not out of the woods quite yet, my dear." Aya said, putting on a sadistic smile.
"Huh?!" the voices of two apprentices said simultaneously.
"I don't think that you've learned your lesson yet, Kanetsugu." she explained, "However, seeing as you've already been sufficiently traumatized for one day, I'll give you another chance, dear."
"M-my Lady?!" he stammered, "You mean... you want me to...?!"
"If you and Masamune can cease your fighting for the duration of the festivities, then I'll let you both off. However, if I catch word of you two battling each other again, expect to find yourself under the mistletoe a second time." she stated, "Surely, you can agree to those terms?"
"Y-yes, My Lady!" he exclaimed, bowing again, "I swear, your faith in me will not go unrewarded!"
"Good boy. Now, away with you. Mitsubachi, I'd like a word with you."
"Yes, My Lady!" he said, bowing a final time, and making a hasty retreat, still looking back on the whole ordeal and dreading what his teacher would do to him later, or even worse, if she would do nothing at all and leave him to wonder at just how she had taken that whole exchange. Either way, he was doomed.
"You can't tell me that I'm getting punished! Haven't I been tortured enough for one morning?!" the remaining girl groaned.
"That's enough, Mitsubachi. Indulge me, as a personal request, rather than a teacher's order."
That got her to consent. Whenever Lady Aya wanted to speak with her as an equal rather than as her teacher, it was enough to get Mitsubachi to go along with whatever she wanted.
Aya sighed in exasperation before continuing. "Well, my girl, it seems that we can consider both of us had, though I'm ashamed to say that mine was an unanticipated product."
"Pardon?" she asked.
"I had never had any intentions of getting Masamune and Kanetsugu to kiss each other." the older woman said, deciding to be blunt about it. Mitsubachi turned to Aya, not believing what she had heard. Had she really just... yesterday, that had all been...
"E...excuse me?" she asked.
"Mitsubachi, dear, they hate each other. I had expected you tell them what you thought that I was planning simply to have them avoid one another, in the hopes of also avoiding accidentally ending up underneath my mistletoe. I... never would have thought that you would go to such lengths to protect Kanetsugu like that." she said, reluctant to say that she had 'kissed him'.
"And you couldn't have told me the truth sooner because...?" Mitsubachi said, still fighting back the urge to be angry, simply because she admired the thought that went into that little plan of hers. She always appreciated Aya's sneakiness whenever it made itself known.
"Of all the things that I've ever been concerned about, you kissing Kanetsugu was never one of them." she said in her defense. Even now, the words were bitter and out-of-place to say. Mitsubachi caught the look of apprehension on Aya's face, and held back a smile, seeing her own small form of revenge on her.
"Well, in case you were wondering, just know that he's a terrible kisser." she said. Seeing Aya blush and turn away from her was enough to appease the wicked side of her personality that sought revenge for her traumatic experience.
"Why would I ever need to know that, you silly girl?" Aya asked, trying to keep her composure. That was certainly not the reason that she was upset about this whole incident.
"I don't know." Mitsubachi said with a smirk.
"Well then, don't even make such inconsequential observations." the ice-type Warlord huffed indignantly.
"But just so you know..." her student continued, "Because of this, I'm no longer going to get you the flowers I was planning on buying you."
"Ah, that is unfortunate." Aya said as her smile slowly returned, picking up on the humor in the girl's voice. If she was willing to partake in some banter with her, than that meant that she was forgiven. "I would have so much loved a pot of lilies and cherry blossoms for my bedroom."
"I may even eat a box of your favorite chocolates in front of you without sharing."
"Well now, you're taking things too far." Aya chuckled.
"Not at all; taking it too far would be refusing to go to the hot springs with you after dinner tonight."
"But Mitsu-chan, that's our special time together." she said.
Mitsubachi couldn't help but laugh, even though she had expected just such an answer. "Well, you have to learn that you can't just take advantage of me all the time without there being some punishment. A relationship is a two-way road, you know!"
As the student and teacher continued their banter, Nene observed the whole thing, not sure what to make of any of it. She was completely lost the moment she saw Kanetsugu and Mitsubachi kissing. At this point, she was beyond caring.
"Oh, whatever." she growled as she walked away, her tone indicating that she no longer gave a crap. "I'm just gonna bake the kids some cookies; I'm sure that'll get their mind off the sociopathic Santa Claus."
Coming to the end of the chapter, and once again, my author's notes were deleted for no reason. I'm just gonna start writing everything in Microsoft Works, because this is hours of my life I'm wasting rewriting what I just wrote! Now, let me try and remember what I wanted to say.
The request that was meant to be this chapter's namesake didn't make it in after everything else had been written, and so it'll be in the next chapter along with the female warlords' battle. Another thing that was cut was that I had originally intended to have Mitsubachi narrate the story she told to the kids, but I cut that for two reasons. For one, it was too long, and it was also waaay too graphic and terrifying for what is supposed to be a happy, fun Christmas story.
As for requests, Imperator Justinian, I hoped that you liked your Motonari request. Sorry that it's so short; I had some issues finding historical facts and whatnot. Apparently, Santa Claus as we know him today was popularized around the twentieth century by such things as Christmas songs like Santa Claus is Coming to town, and the story The Night Before Christmas. There are a few possible candidates for where the idea of Santa Claus may have originated from outside of St. Nicholas, so in addition to him, I mentioned two others. For anyone interested in reading more on Santa Claus's origins, I got all my information from the links provided by Wikipedia's site (I never read the actual articles on wiki, unless it's an article for a fandom or a video game). As for you, Guest 10, I hope you enjoyed torturing my OC (unless you had intended to torture Kanetsugu, in which case I hope you enjoyed torturing him). Same to you, Queen Absol, with your GinchiyoxMuneshige request. I believe I summarized it very well when I wrote, 'squeeee!'
Alright, back to where I was before, albeit an abridged version. Now for some more important news: the next chapter likely won't be out for a while. I've got some other stuff on hold that I need to take care of before the end of January, and that's going to take top priority over this story, which I why I'm currently predicting a February finish for this story, maybe. I'll still be working to finish it, just not as dedicated as at the beginning of December, when I still had time for myself with classes ending. But I've got a special treat planned for a chapter or two from now, so it should be worth it coming back in. Once again, thanks to everyone who reads my stories for their support. I hope that when I'm published, my independent works will have as wonderful a following as my fanfictions!
I probably forgot to mention something or another, but I'm too tired to know, so I'll leave it here for now. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, and I'll see you all again as soon as I can.
R&R at your leisure.
