Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or Rent.

Thank you so much to my wonderful, supportive reviewers. I promise, I'll reply to your reviews as soon as I find time between school, life, and writing this fanfic. Just know that I sincerely appreciate all your kind comments and constructive criticisms.

I've written halfway through the play so far, meaning I just finished with 'La Vie Boheme B' (that's 53 pages!), and I'm trying to post chapters by song. I'll probably post at least a chapter a day.

This scene only occurs in the play and is actually meant for the stage. What I mean by this is that this scene is extremely hard to capture with mediums such as film and writing, and can only be experienced fully if seen on stage. It is not in the movie. Despite the difficulty this scene presents, I tried my best to capture it as well as I could in words. I'm sorry if I didn't succeed, but I couldn't leave this out. It's a brilliant song, and those of you who have heard it can attest to that. I just love how there are so many individual scenes, conversations, and songs are going on, but everything blends so wonderfully together so that, even if you tried your hardest, you couldn't just pick out and follow one event straight through. You pick up on something else, and then get completely lost in the commotion. Personally, I think it's fabulous.

If you haven't already, please read the list of Important Notes in Chapter 1.

CAST LIST for Chapter 11

Kurama: Tom Collins (gay; teacher; anarchist; addicted to weed; has AIDS)

Touya: Angel Dumott Schunard (street performer; drag queen; has AIDS)

Hiei: Mark Cohen (filmmaker; Jewish)

Yusuke: Roger Davis (guitarist; former junkie; HIV positive)

Keiko: Mimi Marquez (exotic dancer; junkie; HIV positive)

Karasu: "The man" (drug dealer)

Koenma: Benjamin Coffin III (owns the apartments and the lot next to them through marriage to a wealthy woman)

Botan: Maureen Johnson (lesbian; performing artist)

Shizuru: Joanne Jefferson (lesbian; lawyer)

Enjoy and please review!

…………………

A choir of homeless people in St. Mark's Place, hoping for some post-Christmas charity, sang, "Christmas bells are ringing! Christmas bells are ringing! Christmas bells are ringing—on TV! At Saks!"

A man with a squeegee ran up to cars at the stoplight. "Honest living! Honest living! Honest living! Honest living!" he shouted.

"Can't you spare a dime or two?" the homeless begged passers-by in song. "Here but for the grace of God go you. You'll be merry, I'll be merry—though 'merry' ain't in my vocabulary! No sleigh bells; no Santa Clause; no Yule long; no tinsel; no holly; no hearth; no—"

One man shouted, "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!"

"—Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!" the others echoed. "No room at the Holiday Inn, oh no! And it's beginning to snow!"

Street vendors began to shout their wares.

"Hats!"

"Bats!"

"Shoes!"

"Booze!"

"Mountain bikes!"

"Potpourri!"

"Leather bags!"

"Girly mags!"

"Forty-fives!"

"AZT!"

"No one's buying," one older vendor complained. "I feel like crying."

"No room at the Holiday Inn, oh no!" the homeless sang. "And it's beginning to snow!"

Off to the side, Touya and Kurama were looking at the items a coat vendor was selling.

"How about a fur—in perfect shape—owned by an MBA from uptown?" the vendor asked. "I've got a tweed broken in by a greedy broker who went broke—and then broke down."

"You really don't have to do this," Kurama protested as Touya looked through the coats.

"Hush your mouth. Yours was stolen, and it's cold. Consider it my Christmas gift to you."

"I don't deserve you, Touya," the redhead sighed. "All you do is give. Why won't you give me some way to show how you've touched me so?"

Touya looked up from his search and smiled. "Kiss me—it's beginning to snow."

Kurama obliged.

While they walked to the performance space, Yusuke was finally telling Hiei about his first encounter with Keiko.

"Let me get this straight," Hiei growled. "She asked you to light her candle, and she put on a pout…and then later she wanted you to take her out somewhere?"

"Right," Yusuke replied. "She was more than okay, but I got angry at her…I pushed her away…I just had to get her out of my sight."

"What's wrong with you?" Hiei exclaimed. "You said she was sweet!"

"Let's go eat," said Yusuke, changing the subject. "Might as well get fat…it's the one vice left before I die."

"Wait," Hiei hissed. "Isn't that her?"

"Botan?" Yusuke asked, hopeful it wasn't…

"Keiko!" Hiei muttered. "God, she's gorgeous. You should talk to her."

"No, I…"

But Hiei was pushing him toward her. "Hey, it's beginning to snow," he realized as a flake settled into Yusuke's hair.

A few cops standing around in the distance mournfully sang, "I was dreaming of a white, right Christmas…"

Some drug addicts, including Keiko, were following an extremely pale, raven-haired, purple-contacted man in a black trench coat.

"Follow the man, follow the man with his pockets full of the jam. Follow the man, follow the man—help me out, daddy, if you can!" they sang. "Got any C, man?"

"I'm cool," the dealer replied.

"Got any D, man?"

"I'm cool."

"Got any X? Any smack? Any horse—any jugie boogie, boy? Any blow?"

Keiko was passing money off to the drug dealer when Yusuke practically knocked her over.

"Hey," he said as he tried to both recover from the shove Hiei had given him and glare back at his roommate.

"Hey," Keiko replied, looking down.

"Look…I just wanted to apologize for the way I blew up the other night," said the musician.

"It's no big deal. Forget it."

"Well…can I make it up to you?"

She looked up at him. "How?"

"A few of us are getting together for dinner after the show in the lot tonight. Do you wanna come with me?"

Keiko smiled. "Sure. I'd like that."

"Hey, lover boy," the drug dealer snarled, pushing Yusuke aside. "You steal my client, and you die."

"Lay off, Karasu," Keiko said. "He's not—"

"You didn't miss me, and you won't miss her!" Yusuke shouted, shoving Karasu back. "Look around. You'll never lack for customers. C'mon, let's get outta here."

Keiko sent an apologetic glance to Karasu, and then left with Yusuke.

"I'm willin'—I'm illin'! I've gotta get my sickness off!" the junkies sang, crowding around the dealer.

Then, they spotted some cops. "Gotta run, gotta ride, gotta gun, gotta hide—gotta go!"

They scattered, and the drug dealer smiled innocently at the officers. "And it's beginning to snow," he sang.

Koenma drove down the street in his Range Rover. "Hi, baby," he said, talking to his wife on his cell phone. "Yes, the protest is on. One of the investors is coming? It's your father? Damn…well, wish me luck. Bye." He hung up and continued driving toward the lot.

"Hi," Hiei and Keiko said awkwardly upon meeting.

Yusuke said, "That's right, you haven't been officially introduced. Hiei, this is Keiko."

"I think we've met…before the other night, I mean," Hiei said, confused.

Keiko laughed. "That's what Yusuke said."

"She works at the Cat Scratch Club," Yusuke explained.

Recognition filled Hiei's face. "That's right…I used to go there…"

"Here's a new arrival," the coat vendor said to Touya, showing him a coat with a sleeve missing.

"That's my coat!" Kurama exclaimed, grabbing for it.

"We give discounts," the woman assured.

"Honey, the sleeve's missing. Let's get a better one," Touya soothed.

"But she's a thief!" Kurama shouted.

"Still, she brought us together."

Kurama sighed as Touya squeezed his hand. "Fine…I guess I'll take the leather."

Touya smiled. He kissed his lover again as Kurama slid the new leather coat over his shoulders.

"Anyway, we really should get to the lot," Hiei said.

"We're headed to Botan's performance," Yusuke said to Keiko.

"Who is Botan again?" Keiko asked.

"Hiei's ex," the guitarist replied.

"But I'm over her," Hiei said confidently.

A large squad of cops walked down the street toward the lot where they would be stationed for the protest. They sang a jumble of already forgotten Christmas carols as they walked:

"I was dreaming of a white, right Christmas! Just like the ones I used to know! Jingle bells—prison cells! Fa la la la la—fa la la la la! You have the right to remain—silent night, holy night! Fall on your knees—oh night divine—you'll do some time! Fa la la la la—fa la la la la…"

The homeless people continued to sing simultaneously:

"Christmas bells are swinging! Christmas bells are ringing! Christmas bells are singing—in my dreams—next year! Once you celebrate, you all go—to celebrate in Tuckahoe! You'll feel cheery, I'll feel cheery—though I don't really know that theory! No bathrobe; no Steuben glass; no cappuccino makers; no pearls, no diamonds; no "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire!" Chestnuts roasting on an open fire! No room and the Holiday Inn, oh no—"

At the same time, a group of junkies had come up to Karasu yet again, begging for their drugs:

"Got any C, man?" they sang. "Got any D, man? Got any B, man? Got any X? —crack? I'm willin'—I'm illin'—gotta get my sickness off! C-D, help me!"

Karasu saw the procession of cops coming down the street and tried to move away.

"Follow the man!" the junkies sang. "Follow the man—follow the man! Any crack, any X, any jugie boogie, boy, any blow, any X, any jugie boogie boy? Got any D, man? Got any C, man? Got any X—and crack—any jugie boogie?"

Back with the coat vendor, Touya was trying to bargain for Kurama's new coat.

"Twenty-five," the vendor said.

"Fifteen," said Touya.

"Twenty-five."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty-five."

"Fifteen."

"No way. Twenty-four."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty-four."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty-four."

"Fifteen."

"Not today. Twenty-three."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty-three."

"Fifteen. It's old."

"Twenty-two."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty-one."

"Fifteen."

"Seventeen."

"Fifteen."

Finally, the vendor relented. "Fifteen."

"Sold!" Touya exclaimed, and happily paid the woman.

Keiko smiled and tried to slide her hand into Yusuke's as they walked along.

Yusuke pulled away. "Let's—not—hold hands yet."

"Is that a warning?" Keiko teased.

"Nah, he just needs to take it slow," Hiei said.

As everything else was going on, Keiko and Yusuke looked at each other and softly sang, "I should tell you, I should tell you, I should tell you, I should tell you, I…"

Everyone reached the performance space at exactly the same time. They all sang, "And it's beginning to—and it's beginning to—and it's beginning to…"

A young, blue-haired woman dressed in motorcycle gear ran into the middle of everything. "Shizuru! Which way to the stage?" she shouted.

"…snow!" everyone sang, and music swelled a finale.