The tenth thing of Christmas that's such a pain to me...batteries not included.

Hiro groaned as he took in the hideous dolls in front of him. "Yuck," he muttered. "Look at this!"

Kisa giggled. "I think it's cute!" she exclaimed, reaching out and pulling the fluffy sheep doll from the shelf. She hugged it close, smiling brightly. "Look! It's supposed to talk!"

"Sheep don't talk," Hiro muttered. "They bleat."

"You do both!" Momiji said. "You bleat and talk!"

Hiro scowled. "I do not bleat, you darn Rabbit!"

Momiji sniffed, eyes filling with tears. "Wahh! Haru! Tohru! Hiro is being mean to me!" He choked when Haru shoved a lollipop in Momiji's mouth.

"Here," the Ox said simply as Momiji blinked in surprise. "Don't make a scene."

"We are almost done," Tohru promised. "Just a few more things and then we are finished!"

"You've been saying that for the last twenty minutes," Hiro grumbled. "And then we've got to walk back with all this stuff! It'll take twice as long!"

"Nuh uh," Momiji said as he sucked on his candy. "I called Hatori. He's picking us up soon."

Tohru beamed. "Wonderful!" She then frowned. "Oh! But he didn't need to go through all of that trouble!"

"Trust me," Momiji said simply. "He actually sounded relieved." He shrugged. "Can't imagine why though."

Tohru still looked uncertain, though she slowly looked back at her shopping list. "Alright," she said. "I have the gardening books for Yuki, and that other book Shigure wanted." She gasped. "Oh! I still need to look for Kyo's gift!"

"Kisa," Haru said softly, watching his younger cousin. "Do you still want to look at the Hiro toys?"

"They do not look like me!" Hiro exclaimed.

Tohru smiled kindly at the Tiger. "I won't be far," she promised. "Just three shelves over!"

Kisa looked reluctant before slowly nodding, a small smile on her face. "Okay!" She grabbed Hiro's hand. "Come on Hiro! Let's go look at the sheep!"

"I'm coming too!" Momiji shouted, following after them, leaving Tohru and Haru alone.

Tohru looked up at Haru, beaming widely. "Want to help me find Kyo's gift?"

Haru nodded simply, following the young woman. "Sure," he said.

Hiro tried to duck and avoid the gaggle of happy children running by, mostly the girls. He grimaced as two little girls, possibly sisters, ran by and nearly collided in with him. Momiji, however, did not seem to care if a girl would accidentally bump into him and cause him to transform.

Kisa did not seem to be having any trouble with avoiding the chaos of running children. She was happily cooing and observing the stuffed animals.

Hiro's eyes swept over the shelves before his face softened. He grabbed a small animal on the display shelf and approached Kisa, holding the toy out. "Here," he said, gesturing to the toy tiger in his hand. "It talks."

Kisa smiled and took the tiger, pressing the tiny button on the paw and causing the tiger to purr. She giggled. "It's so sweet!"

"Just like Hiro, you big goop," Momiji teased, elbowing his cousin.

Hiro scowled at Momiji. "Knock it off," he grumbled. He then looked back at Kisa. "Maybe we could get everyone an animal based off of their Zodiac."

"Oh!" Momiji exclaimed happily. "There's a snake for Ayame! And a horse for Rin!" He hastily gathered up all of the animals in his arms, disrupting the careful display. He then frowned thoughtfully, his arms full of stuffed toys. "What should we get for Akito?"

Haru scowled. "Who says we need to get him anything?"

"This jade pendant," Kisa said softly, holding up a pendant of a jade emperor.

Momiji frowned as he examined the pendant. "That's Buddha," he stated.

"It's jade, so it'll work," Hiro grumbled. "The cool thing about these toys is that they will talk."

Momiji frowned, doing the math in his head. "If each stuffed toy is worth four bucks, we'd need forty-eight dollars for all of these, plus whatever amount the jade pendant is worth." He paused. "Plus the amount of batteries we would need."

Hiro blinked. "Batteries? But don't they come with batteries?"

Momiji laughed. "Nothing ever just comes with batteries! That's not how the market works! They make most of their money off of the product you buy, plus the batteries, and the extra pieces you've broken. Then once you have everything you need, you come back to buy a whole new set because something is broken or missing!"

"Let me see that," Hiro growled, snatching a stuffed animal from Momiji's hands and scowling at the rooster toy he was holding. After examining the toy for a few seconds, he found what he was looking for. Sure enough, on the tag, it stated plain and simple: batteries not included.

He sighed, closing his eyes. "Fine," he muttered. "So what do we need? Double As? Triple As?"

Kisa examined her tiger toy. "My needs triple As."

Momiji frowned. "The horse needs a double A. I think the pig needs triple." He frowned, narrowing his eyes as he tried to read the writing on the tag while balancing the other toys. "I think the dog needs...is that a triple A or a double A?"

"The snake needs laser pointer batteries," Kisa commented, helping her cousin.

Hiro blinked. "What are laser pointer batteries?" he demanded.

"The small round ones," Momiji explained.

They set the toys down, looking at what batteries were needed. So far, two toys needed the laser pointer batteries while six required double As. The rest needed triple As.

Momiji did the math on his head, looking upward. "Alright," he declared. "So, the double As are twenty dollars, while the laser ones are just two." He glanced at the batteries Kisa had found him off the shelf. "And the triple As are six dollars." He muttered under his breath. "That is...twenty eight dollars plus the...seventy-six dollars!" he yelped.

Hiro dropped the toy dragon. "Nope. Don't love the family that much."

Momiji shrugged as he picked up the toys and started putting them back with Kisa. "Then your love is cheap."

Hiro opened his mouth to object when a small little girl ran by, giggling happily. She did not watch where she was going, and Hiro was not fast enough to jump out of the way as she collided into him. Hiro let out a yelp as a puff of smoke overcame him, and he was turned into the Sheep as the curse activated.

The little girl squeaked as she fell, rubbing her eyes. She glanced down at the Sheep at her feet, her eyes wide as her mouth parted slightly. Hiro stayed frozen, not daring to even move his eyes.

"How cute!" the girl squealed, catching both Momiji's and Kisa's attention. Both Sohma's noticed Hiro's pile of clothes on the ground as the little girl picked up the still frozen Sheep.

Momiji yelped as he scrambled forward to try and reclaim his cousin. "Um, excuse me-"

"Mama!" the little girl yelled, running towards a dark haired woman. "Look! I found a toy! See, it talks when you squeeze its stomach!" The little girl proceeded to squeeze Hiro's sides, causing Hiro to blink before letting out a weak 'bleat.'

"Ha!" Momiji exclaimed suddenly. "He does bleat!"

"Can we buy it?" the little girl pleaded to her mother. "Please? I've been good all year!"

The mother looked thoughtful as she took Hiro from her daughter, eyes wide in surprise. "Oh my," she muttered. "It...it looks so real!"

The little girl nodded happily. "Can I have it?"

The mother hesitated for just a moment before smiling gently at her daughter.

"Found it!" Tohru exclaimed happily, holding up the cat toy. "Isn't it cute?"

Haru blinked and tilted his head before a smile tugged at his lips. He nodded his head. "Yes. Cute."

"Tohru! Haru!" a sudden voice shouted, catching the two older teens attention. They both looked up to see Momiji and Kisa running towards them, expressions of panic on their faces.

"Momiji, Kisa!" Tohru exclaimed, worried. "What is it?"

"Hiro has been kidnapped!" Kisa said breathlessly.

Haru looked up sharply. "What?" he demanded.

"Hiro transformed!" Momiji explained in a rush. "And then someone bought him as a sheep thinking he was a toy!"

Haru paused. "That's not kidnapping. I would call that a purchasing mistake."

"Who cares what you call it!" Momiji exclaimed, waving his hands around frantically. "A bunch of strangers took Hiro!"

"We have to get him back!" Tohru said, rushing off in the direction Momiji and Kisa had originally come from. "Where is he?" she asked, looking around with panic.

"There!" Momiji shouted, pointing at the woman who was getting in the car with her child. "There's Hiro!"

"Hiro!" Tohru screamed, rushing towards the car that was pulling out of its parking space. Tohru shrieked when she felt Haru pull her close into an embrace. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his arms encircle her, right as the sound of his transformation took effect. She opened her eyes just in time to see the Ox charge past her and chase after the car.

"Kisa! Hide!" Momiji shouted, shoving her into a porta potty. "I can only afford to lose one adorable cousin today!"

Kisa blinked as she was plunged into the darkness. "Momiji? Momiji!" But no one heard her as she knocked on the locked door.

Momiji raced after Tohru who was frantically trying to catch up to the car, but Haru was already charging at full speed.

He did not take his eyes off of the car before he leaped in front of it. The woman driving the car had finally took notice of the ox that was keeping pace with her car, and she was already hitting the breaks before Haru had leapt in front of the car.

Haru was breathing heavily, not breaking his gaze with the terrified woman who was staring at him with wide eyes. The little girl in the back seat was cooing in awe at the large animal outside the car, her excited shouts easy to hear.

Momiji panted as he stumbled up to the car. He let out a tired gasp as he wrenched the door open before grabbing Hiro. The little girl let out a pained gasp as she watched her toy get stolen.

"Meanie!" she screamed, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Mama! He stole my toy!"

"Here!" Tohru said, breathless from the running as she tossed the cat toy to the little girl. "I am so sorry, but take this one! Merry Christmas!"

The little girl sniffed as she stared at the orange toy that had been thrown on her lap before looking up to see the girl and the blonde haired boy running off with the sheep and the ox chasing after them.

"Here!" Tohru exclaimed, tossing a black shirt to Momiji who was still holding Hiro. Tohru then blinked, startled. "No! Wait! That's Haru's shirt-"

She was cut off as Hiro transformed in his cousin's arms. The naked little boy blinked as Momiji struggled to try and cover him up in Haru's shirt.

Tohru turned to the Ox that was staring at her. "Um," she stuttered, blushing a light pink. "Here," she said, holding out his long white coat. "You can-"

Poof!

Tohru let out a startled squeak as Haru transformed and her pink blush turned a deep crimson. Haru calmly swiped his coat from Tohru before shrugging it on and struggling into his pants.

Hiro frowned as he was forcefully dressed in Haru's long, black shirt. "Where's Kisa?" he asked.

Momiji blinked. "Oh, I left her in the porta potty," he stated.

Haru frowned as he turned around, and Tohru ducked her head when she realized that, while he was wearing his pants, his jacket was open to reveal his bare chest. "You mean that porta potty?" he demanded, pointing to a porta potty that was being loaded onto a truck.

Momiji let out a horrified gasp while Tohru shrieked. "Kisa!" Hiro screamed as he raced after the truck. He stumbled and nearly tripped on the long shirt he was wearing, but Haru scooped him up and once more charged after the vehicle.

"Wait!" Momiji gasped. "Stop!" He, along with Tohru panted as they ran, tired and out of breath.

But Haru leaped into the middle of the street with Hiro still in his arms. He stood straight and tall, his white coat blowing in the breeze and exposing his pale upper body. His gaze was steely, unlike Hiro's, whose expression was wide with panic. He quickly started struggling in Haru's hold.

"Haru!" Hiro exclaimed as he watched the truck come closer with no signs of stopping. "You are not some magna hero with incredible powers!"

"No," Haru stated. "But I am a cow." He paused, the breeze moving his hair in the most dramatic of ways. "A cow with a curse." He glared at the truck, as if daring it to run him over as he held his left hand out.

The truck driver, however, was already hitting the brakes and tried to avoid the white haired teen that was standing before him.

As the dust settled, Haru did not move and only watched the truck curiously. Hiro was still trying to escape the Ox's tight hold, aware that being in Haru's presence was dangerous.

"Hey!" the truck driver yelled, leaping from his vehicle. "What do you think you are doing? You trying to get yourself killed?"

Haru just simply turned to look at the screen and stare into the eyes of the readers. "Dear readers, please do not try this at home. Had any of this happened in real life, Hiro and I would most certainly have been crushed by the truck. But as this is fanfiction and the author does not possess the guts to kill us off, we were able to perform this reckless act with ease."

"You shouldn't have done it either way!" Hiro screamed, kicking his legs. "And who are you talking to?"

The truck driver just stared at them, open mouthed. He then looked back to witness Tohru and Momiji clambering onto the back of his truck. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing up there?"

"Kisa!" Tohru exclaimed as she swung open the door to the porta potty. Both she and Momiji blinked when they stared at the empty space.

Momiji gasped. "They moved her!"

"Moved what?" the man snapped. "And get off my truck!"

"You kidnapped her!" Momiji yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the driver.

"He did what?" Hiro demanded, eyes flashing.

The man stumbled back, put off by the sudden hostility coming from the two boys. His eyes narrowed as he pulled out his phone. "I'm calling the cops," he warned.

"Please don't!" Tohru exclaimed. "If you do, they cops will put Haru, Hiro and Momiji in the electric chair!"

"They're going to put Hiro in the electric chair?" a surprised voice asked.

Everyone turned to see Kisa standing by, her gloved hand covering her mouth in shock as she stared at the truck driver. Tears filled her eyes as she regarded him.

"Please sir," she begged. "Don't kill Hiro!"

The driver just blinked. "Eh?"

"Kisa!" Tohru said happily, clumsily jumping down from the truck and running to embrace the girl. "Oh! I was so worried!"

Momiji blinked and looked at Kisa, then back at the porta potty. He shrugged before leaping down and racing after his cousin to embrace her. "Kisa!" he exclaimed happily.

"You chased after the wrong porta potty, idiot," Hiro muttered as Haru finally let him go.

"Hold up!" the driver exclaimed, blinking. "I demand an explanation!"

"Merry Christmas," Haru said simply, tossing him a toy cow. "It speaks, but you will have to buy the batteries." He then strode away, leaving the sputtering driver behind.