Chapter 50


Hitomi brushed a lock of brown hair behind her ear while she was speaking to her father over the phone. "So yeah I picked up the boxes yesterday. Took them to my place."

"Good, Henry said to bring them over to the kitchen later. I'll be there too after I finish up here." Joachim said and she could hear the sound of things being moved around in the background.

Hitomi looked over to the one semi-big box and various small boxes. "I'll have to go on foot with those, so I'll be going soon. Gonna be a busy day."

"Sure will. See you later."

"Bye." Hitomi said and hung up, then went to dress up and picked up the boxes, placing them one over another and carefully left her apartment.


Leifang was currently sitting in the Zeitzone cafè, looking down at the capuccino. It was the last day before Christmas Eve and boy did she feel nervous. And it wasn't only because there was still the thing with Hitomi's love confession hanging over them.

She would meet Hitomi's father tomorrow. The brunette had assured her that her father would welcome her with open arms, but could she really be sure?

If she was in his place she would only see someone that had hurt her daughter and caused her a lot of grieve. She would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified. And it only got worse as the day approached.

With a sigh she drank from the cup and looked out of the window. At least the semester was over. That would give her more time to spend with Hitomi.

She smiled to herself and ran her finger across the rim of the cup, wondering if she should give her a surprise visit.

Finding no reason why she shouldn't she finished her cup, paid her bill and headed out of the cafè.

Right in time to run into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she said as she saw all the boxes falling to the ground. "Please, let me help you."

She knelt down to the ground to help gather them up when she realized who she ran into.

"Hitomi?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. What was she doing here?

"Hey." Hitomi waved at her as they gathered the boxes. Hitomi placed three small ones on a single big one and stood up, while Leifang held two in her hands.

Hmm those are pretty light. Leifang thought and looked at the two boxes.

"I was just thinking of seeking you out. Where are you heading with these?" Leifang asked. Hitomi looked at her for a second before realization dawned on her face.

"Damn I totally forgot to tell you what I would do today, didn't I?"

Leifang giggled. "Seems so."

"Well I can show you, if you want. It's not far from here."

"Sure, why not?" Leifang said after a moment's consideration. She kept holding onto the two boxes as they walked down the streets.

"I really should've told you about it. Sorry." Hitomi said.

"It's alright, really. What are the boxes for though? They are pretty light."

"Well it's plastic cutlery after all." Hitomi said matter-of-factly. Leifang gave her a curious look at that.

"Plastic cutlery?" she repeated.

"Yeah. And I'm to deliver them. Picked them up yesterday after our dinner." Hitomi looked her over and smiled. "You look really pretty today."

Leifang felt herself growing a little warmer at those words. Maybe it was only her but ever since the confession she noticed a lot of things about the Karateka, and all these compliments were part of them.

"Thanks." she said.

They walked in comfortable silence and Leifang couldn't help but wonder what would make Hitomi love her in the first place. Looking back she had only taken her for granted these past months. So why?

Before she could ponder more on the subject she noticed that Hitomi had stopped in front of a building. She halted in her steps and looked at it. From the outside it looked like your average youth center. A note hung at the door, but before Leifang could read it someone opened the door for them.

"Ah, Hitomi. Come in." a young woman ushered them in.

"Thanks. Where should we put those?" Hitomi asked, holding the boxes up.

"Just put them in the back for now."

"Alrighty." Hitomi said and walked in. Leifang followed her and looked around. The room they stepped into was very large and many people were busily running around, putting tables and chairs in rows.

They entered a much smaller room that was already filled with other boxes and placed them on top of a much larger one. As the walked out Hitomi turned to her.

"I need to talk with my father for a moment. You wanna come with me? Would be the perfect time to meet him."

Leifang immediately shook her head. "No, no. That's alright. I'm sure he's busy right now so I-I'd rather meet him tomorrow."

Hitomi gave her a strange look, but then shrugged and told her that she'd be back soon and went into the kitchen. It was as busy as in the main room, if not more so and the smell of various types of food that were being cooked hung in the air.

She found her father standing at one of the stoves, stirring the sauce that was cooking in one of the big pots.

"Hey, Papa." she greeted him and he turned to her, giving her a quick hug before resuming what he was doing.

"Hey, sweetheart."

Hitomi looked at the sauce in the pot. Goulash sauce. She grabbed one of the spoons that were lying around and tasted some of it.

"Tastes a little bland. Needs more spice." she said and grabbed salt and pepper, generously adding some to it.

"What would I ever do without you?" Joachim asked drily.

"Bland goulash, that's what."

He chuckled at that. "True enough."

"So are you ready for later?" she asked.

A frown formed on Joachim's face and he stopped stirring for a moment. "I'm afraid I won't have time. Someone got sick and I was asked if I could fill in for him here. This place is gonna be buzzing and they need all the help they can get."

"I see." Hitomi said. She grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. "So Little Miss Santa again?"

"Yeah, Little Miss Santa." he said with a grin of his own.

"Oh yeah, before I forget." She said. "Leifang and me are gonna come by around late afternoon tomorrow."

"Sure. Come by whenever you like, I'm home anyways." he grimaced. "No way am I ever going out to buy something on Christmas Eve ever again."

"But speaking of her, she's here."

"Oh, really?" he looked around, trying to find the Chinese.

"Not here. She's outside. I asked her if she wanted to meet you, but I think she's a bit scared of you." She teased him for a moment but then said seriously. "So don't be too hard on her tomorrow. No 'Buchfink Talk'"

"I already told you I wouldn't do that. But if it makes you feel better I promise not to put the screws on her."

Hitomi smiled. "Yeah it does." she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Bye."

"Bye."

Hitomi headed out of the kitchen and found Leifang pretty much where she left her, looking around the room curiously. "I'll have to head over somewhere else. Thanks for helping me out, but you don't have to come with me if you don't want to."

"Of course I'm coming with you." Leifang said. "I wanted to spend time with you anyway."

"Ok, then let's go."

Both of them headed out and boarded the tram, then got off after two stops.

"So tell me what that was all about." Leifang asked as they walked through the crowd of people.

"That was a food bank. My family had always been big on charity, so every year we join together with other volunteers to help out people that can't spend Christmas like we do. Homeless people, poor families and so on. We're also affiliated with the Caritas." She looked at her and smiled. "It feels good sharing something with these people."

Leifang didn't know what to say, just simply looked at Hitomi. That was definitely something new.

"So where are we going to next?"

"To the organizer of the whole thing. I need to pick something up from there." They walked for a few more minutes until they arrived at a small office building. Inside was the same hustle and bustle as in the food bank and Leifang remained at Hitomi's side as they walked until they arrived to an office.

Hitomi knocked against the wooden frame since the door was wide open. "Hey Henry."

A middle-aged, rather thin man looked up from his desk. "Hitomi." he greeted and walked over to them, shaking her hand before turning to Leifang. "And that is?"

"My friend. Leifang."

"Nice to meet you." he said and reached out his hand towards her. Leifang grasped and shook it.

"Likewise."

"So where's the costume?" Hitomi asked and Leifang gave her a questioning look.

"I've had it placed in the storage room down there," he pointed down the hall. "Just put your things in one of the lockers, but you know that already. The costume is in the third one."

"Thanks." Hitomi and Leifang walked down the hall and Leifang could only ask "Costume?"

"You'll see."

They entered the storage, and Hitomi looked around if someone was there, then pulled Leifang in and closed the door. Knowing what would come next the Chinese wasted no time, grabbed Hitomi's face and pulled her into a kiss.

"Almost thought I'd have to go without the daily kiss." Leifang giggled.

"Well I would've done it at the food bank, but it was a bit busier there." Hitomi said and gave her another peck on the lips before walking over to the locker and telling Leifang to turn around.

Leifang decided to humor her and turned around, even closing her eyes for good meassure. She couldn't help but let her mind wander as she heard the rustling of clothes.

"Alright you can turn around." Hitomi said and she turned around to see her standing there dressed in a Santa themed red dress, complete with fur trimmings and adorned with a black belt. She wore matching, fingerless gloves and a fur collar with a bell. On top of her head she had, of course, a Santa hat.

"How do I look?" Hitomi grinned and did a pose.

"Cute." Leifang giggled, even though a few other things came to mind as well. Especially since the dress did wonders for her cleavage.

"Great. Now I'll only have to get the presents."

"Well if there's anything I can do to help, just say it."

Hitomi looked her over for a moment and rubbed her chin in thought.


"I can't believe that you actually convinced me to do that." Leifang said and lifted one of the silly looking frills of the costume that she was sporting right now.

When Hitomi presented her with the idea that she could dress up as a Christmas elf she just laughed at it. But here she was now, walking through the streets, wearing a silly costume and the plastic elven ears to match.

And those shoes! By the end of the day she was sure she'd want no bells in her vicinity for half a year minimum.

"Now don't make such a face. You look cuuuuuute~" Hitomi said and bumped her hip against hers. She had a large, brown sack slung over her shoulder.

Leifang let out a huff, then asked "So where are we going?"

"A kindergarten. The Caritas have a lot of those in various cities and the children always get presents every year because their parents usually can't afford them. So we buy them with some of the donations we got over the year and Santa delivers the presents. Well today it'll be Santa's daughter though." Hitomi told her.

"So you have done this a few times already?" Leifang asked her.

"Yeah. Though not in this one."

As they approached the building they could already see the kindergartener waiting outside, occasionally looking inside the building. She ran over to them as soon as she spotted them.

"Hello. So you're the people sent to bring the presents?" she asked.

"Hi." Hitomi shared a look with Leifang. "And yeah we are. So where are the little rascals?"

"Just follow me. We didn't tell them anything to not spoil the surprise. But to be honest I thought they'd send a man."

"Yeah, my father was going to come, but he had to fill in for someone else. But don't worry I've done this a few times now. I know how to handle them." Hitomi said and gave the woman a thumbs-up.

The woman let them in and told them where they had to go. Leifang followed Hitomi as she headed for the main room.

"HOHOHO!" Hitomi called out as soon as they entered the room, striking a rather dramatic pose with the bag over her shoulder. "Who was a nice kid?"

The children looked at them strangely and didn't say anything for a moment until one of them pointed at Hitomi. "You aren't Santa!"

"Very right. You see Santa couldn't come. He's waaaaaay too busy at the North Pole right now," she walked over to them, grinning from ear to ear. "So he send me. I'm his daughter you know."

"Liar. Everyone knows Santa has no children." another kid said. Hitomi gave him a mock insulted face and tsked.

"What is that supposed to mean. Santa has a wife right?" The children all answered with a collective "Yes!"

"Well of course he's gonna have children then."

"So you're really Santa's daughter?" asked a girl sitting near her. Hitomi knelt down to her.

"Sure I am. I also have an older brother, but he's too busy sunbathing and being lazy." she rustled the girl's hair, making her giggle. "So have you been nice?"

"Yes."

"And what do you wish for?"

"I want a dog! A really cute one."

"A dog huh?" Hitomi tapped her chin with her index-finger. "Hmm, that's a huge responsibility and I'm afraid I'd have to talk with your parents on that one but for now," Hitomi opened the sack and rummaged inside it for a moment before pulling out a stuffed toy dog. "I'll give you this one."

"Thank you!" the girl said and eagerly took the plushy from her.

"You're welcome. Now who's next?"

All the children eagerly shouted "Me." over and over, making Hitomi laugh.

"Easy, everyone gets a turn."

"Hey." a boy said, then pointed towards Leifang, who had been standing on the sidelines the whole time, not knowing what to do. "Who's that?"

"I-" Leifang started.

"That's my elven companion." Hitomi said and turned towards her, smiling at her. "I'd be a total klutz without her."

Leifang returned the smile and walked over to the children, kneeling down as well. "Hi. I'm called," she thought about it for a second. "Lei-Lei."

"Hi Lei-Lei." they all said together.

"Okie dokie then." Hitomi said and randomly picked one of the children. "You're next."

As they handed out the presents to the children Leifang found herself glancing at Hitomi. The German really was the nicest person that she ever knew and as she watched her she felt something stir deep inside her, making her finally realize it.

She loved Hitomi.


I always figured it was a damn shame that we only got Santa outfits, so here you go with a Christmas elf outfit for Leifang. Hope this one's making up for the short chapter last week. Next two chapters are going to be good stuff for you all, I promise ;)

So until next week.