*I DO NOT OWN SEKIREI*
Speech: "Home is where the heart is."
Thoughts: 'Can i really go through with this?'
Whispering: "I will do anything and everything I can do to help."
Beyond The Wings Of Fate - Special 2
A Merry Christmas
Everyone in the Kanzaki household was feeling especially chipper because one of, if not the most important holiday was coming. That's right, Christmas! It would be everyone first Christmas together not only as Ashikabi and Sekirei, but as family. Everyone in Shino Teito was out and about doing their Christmas shopping to have a smile come across their loved ones face as they open up presents on Christmas day. Even the shopping mall was getting into the Christmas spirit as cheerful, jolly music and decorations filled the mall as shoppers went from store to store, searching for the best deals while a giant Christmas tree stood in the middle of the mall. Surrounded by ornaments and lights with a star sitting ever so gently on top.
"When Is Antonio coming back with the tree?" Asked Kuu with pure excitement in her eyes as she looked up towards Miya who had just bent down and gently patted Kuu on her head.
"He'll be back soon." Replied Miya as she tilted her head and smiled. The space in the living room/kitchen area was sizeable enough to fit a large tree in a corner which made Kuu happy.
"You've been more happy than usual recently, it's kinda creeping me out." Said Haihane as she and Benitsubasa walked down the stairs to the front foyer from their respective rooms.
"That's because Christmas is coming Haihane! God, where's your christmas cheer!" Replied Benitsubasa."
"Same place you hid your padded bra." Shot back Haihane, causing Benitsubasa to become red with embarrassment. Before Benitsubasa could form a comeback of some sort, the pair had seen the front door being opened by Yukari as Minato and Antonio brought the tree inside their home. As Yukari closed the front door and locked it, Minato and Antonio carried the Christmas tree into the spacious living room/kitchen area.
"Let's sit it down here Minato." Suggested Antonio.
"Ok, Hmmph." Replied Minato as he, along with Antonio sat the tree down so they could properly set up the stand for the tree before sitting it upwards.
"Oh wow!" Kuu said with excitement in her eyes as she stared upon the tall tree. "Will we get to decorate this Onii-chan?" Asked Kuu as Benitsubasa and Haihane walked into the living room.
"Of course Kuu, we all can. Let me go get the decorations from outside." Said Antonio as Kuu jumped up and down with glee as he went outside to grab the box of decorations. When he went to grab the box of decorations from the van he and Minato were in, his phone started ringing. He dug into his right pocket to pull out his phone and when he did, he looked upon the screen to see Momoyo was calling him with her name and caller ID appearing on the phone's screen.
"Hey Momoyo." Said Antonio.
"H-Hey Antonio, what are you up to?" Asked Momoyo.
"Nothing really, just getting back home from getting a Christmas tree and some decorations so everyone can have a chance to decorate it."
"Sounds like fun." Replied Momoyo.
"Speaking of Christmas.." Said Antonio, catching Momoyo's attention as she sat upon the couch at her and her friends secret lair. "What do you want for Christmas Momo-chan?" Asked Antonio, causing Momoyo's face to become bright red with embarrassment at the sound of that nickname.
"I.. I hadn't really thought about it." Replied Momoyo.
"Then how about I surprise you then?" Questioned Antonio, causing Momoyo's eyes to widen.
"Surprise me with what?" Questioned Momoyo, causing Antonio to click his tongue three times.
"Well It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you now would it?" Replied Antonio as he grabbed the box of decorations with his left hand. "I got to go now Momo-chan, I'll see you on Christmas!" Said Antonio.
"D-Don't you hang up on me!" Replied Momoyo as she didn't want to be kept in suspense about the surprise Antonio is going to give her. After hearing the disconnect tone on her phone, Momoyo had only brought it away from her ear and just looked at wallpaper of her and Antonio. "Baka." Momoyo said to herself quietly before having a smile slowly forming upon her face. 'I wonder what he would like for Christmas?' Momoyo thought to herself. As Antonio walked back into his home with the box of decorations, he had seen all of his Sekirei, along with Minato's and Yukari's.
"Hey, hey Onii-chan! Can we start decorating it? The Christmas tree." Asked Kuu. The young Sekirei had then seen her Ashikabi bending his knees down and gently placing his hand on top of her head.
"Of course we can Kuu." Replied Antonio. "If you need help putting on an ornament, just let me know." With that, All of Antonio's Sekirei, along with Minato, Yukari and their Sekirei, even Chiho placed ornaments and lights on the tree and after a couple of minutes, the Kanzaki Household had its first Christmas tree, filled with ornaments, some peppermint candy canes while the rest were ordinary. Lights and a star sitting atop the tall tree.
"So pretty." Said Chiho in a soft tone of voice which caught the attention of Antonio as he turned his head slowly towards his right, catching Chiho looking at the beautifully lit tree.
"Say.." Said Antonio catching everyone's attention. "What do you all want for Christmas?" When Antonio asked this, Chiho had took a few steps back as Yukari lunged herself at her cousin, rubbing her left cheek against his right cheek.
"I want a car Niisan!" Said Yukari who wasted no time stating her wish as Antonio could only sweatdrop.
"You driving is a scary thing Yukari" Said Antonio softly, causing Yukari to pout as her cheek was still touching Antonio's.
"That's rude! I'll have you know that I have my license." Replied Yukari.
"What about you Minato?" Asked Antonio. He had seen that Minato began to scratch the back of his head as he pondered on the question he was asked.
"Well I guess it would be…"
"A new car!?" Said Yukari who interrupted, causing Minato and Antonio to have a deadpanned expression on their face as sweatdrops appeared on their faces as Minato pulled Yukari away from Antonio. Antonio had then felt Benitsubasa wrapping her arms around his left arm which earned her his attention.
"I would like some new shoes, and some ugg boots Antonio." Said Benitsubasa.
"There are some new anime out on blu-ray that I want." Said Haihane as she played with some of her hair.
"Well there have been these new pots and pans I'd like to try out." Said Miya as Antonio nodded his head. As Antonio heard the things his Sekirei wanted for Christmas, Antonio turned around to where his face was looking at Chiho.
"What about you Chiho? What do you want for Christmas?" Asked Antonio.
"What I want?" Chiho said to herself softly. After a couple minutes of thinking, she walked over to Antonio, stood on her tippy toes and kissed Antonio on the cheek. "I already have the best christmas gift of all, you and my new family." Said Chiho as she tilted her head and smiled.
"Hey, hey Antonio-sama." Said Musubi catching Antonio's attention. "What do you want for Christmas?"
"Simple, to see all of my Sekirei, all of my family have a smile upon their faces Christmas morning." Replied Antonio, causing all of his Sekirei and girlfriend to smile.
The Next Day - Shino Teito Grand Mall
As Christmas drew closer and closer, shoppers were busy buying items off the lists they were given and having them wrapped up and placed under the tree, waiting to be opened Christmas morning. This wasn't different as Antonio who was accompanied by Minato and Yukari who were at the mall themselves buying the things their Sekirei wrote down on a list. Antonio knew that this would be Chiho's first Christmas outside of Higa's hospital, so he wanted to make it as special as possible as well as get something to surprise Momoyo.
"Are you still upset about yesterday?" Asked Antonio.
"Of course! You said the way I drive was scary." Replied Yukari before she pouted, causing Minato and Antonio to sweatdropped.
"What I said was that you driving was scary, not the way you drive." Said Antonio, causing Yukari to quit pouting.
"So does that mean that…"
"But knowing you, the way you drive might actually be terrifying." Said Antonio before Yukari could finish her sentence.
"Hey!" Said Yukari with an annoyed face, causing Antonio and Minato to laugh as it was all in good fun. Antonio went to stores with Minato and Yukari as they bought items that were on their Sekirei's wishlist before starting his own shopping. To start off his shopping, Antonio, Minato and Yukari walked into a jewelry store.
"Welcome to Inazuma Diamonds." Said one of the well dressed workers there as they bowed towards the trio as they walked into the store which was filled with a lot of beautiful jewelry. As Yukari went off to look as some expensive looking jewelry, Antonio and Minato were looking at some bracelets, necklaces and watches.
"May we help you find something interesting today?" Asked a female worker behind the display case as she had seen Antonio and Minato browsing the jewelry.
"We're just looking right now." Said Antonio.
"These prices are in the thousands to tens of thousands." Minato said softly to himself. The female worker had heard what Minato said about the prices being too high and had immediately looked at Antonio and Minato.
"If you want, I can show you our 'discount jewelry'." Said the female worker in a condescending tone of voice.
"No need." Replied Antonio. "I want to take a look at this gold necklace, as well as this bracelet and those two watches." Said Antonio as he pointed to each item that was in the display case that the female worker had then taken them out of the display case for him and Minato to 'observe'.
"The watches are one thousand dollars a piece but with our deal that's going on, you can get both for seven hundred and fifty dollars for both. The bracelet is six hundred and sixty dollars while the necklace here is seven hundred dollars." Said the female worker.
Later
"Thank you kindly for your purchase and please comeback another time." Said the greeter as Antonio, Minato and Yukari left the jewelry store.
"That lady behind the display case was a total snob." Said Yukari.
"That's common." Replied Antonio. "When people feel that they have seemingly better jobs than other people, they tend to look down on others. Oh well, time to finish the rest of our shopping." Said Antonio as he and his two cousins walked around the mall, helping him find items that some of his Sekirei wanted for Christmas, buy them and have them professionally wrapped and have names placed on them with colorful ribbons. Antonio knew he would be buying a lot of presents which is the reason why he decided to drive the van and store the presents in the back and take them home.
Kanzaki Residence
"Hello everybody!" Said Mizuki as she poked her head into the living room.
"Ahh Mizuki-san, welcome!" Said Miya as she walked up to Mizuki while drying off her hands as she was preparing lunch. Mizuki had then looked around the living room to see her son wasn't around but had seen the wonderful looking Christmas tree.
"Where's Antonio?" Asked Mizuki.
"He called me not too long ago and said that he was returning from doing some Christmas shopping." Replied Miya.
"Well it makes sense, going out and buying gifts for his beautiful Sekirei." Said Mizuki, causing Miya to blush.
"We're back!" Miya and Mizuki had seen Minato and Yukari carrying wrapped presents into the living room/ kitchen area and placed their presents underneath the tree while Antonio was carrying a ton of presents. He was moving slowly as too not drop the presents before he careful bent down to safely place the presents on the floor before placing them around the tree.
"Oh my, look at all these presents!" Said a shocked Mizuki before approaching Antonio. "I'm assuming I have a gift?"
"Of course you have a gift Mom. I placed it under the tree." Replied Antonio.
"Not that kind! I'm talking about my grandchildren!" Said Mizuki as she pointed to Miya's stomach.
"Hey Mom, it's rude to point!" Replied Antonio, causing Miya to chuckle sheepishly as she had seen Antonio flicking Mizuki square center on her forehead.
"Mizuki-san, would you care to stay for something to eat?" Asked Miya.
"I'd love too." Replied Mizuki as she was still rubbing her forehead where her son had flicked her.
As the days passed and the holiday drew closer, the weather had begun to change as well. It began to snow! Excited as some of the Sekirei were, they would look outside their windows to see the snow slowly descending towards the ground and began to pile up. Antonio and Minato would go out and shovel snow off the walkway towards the front door while the city would use the snow trucks to shovel snow off the streets and place ice melt down to make the ice melt.
Christmas Morning
As the Morning finally had came, an excited young Sekirei raced towards her Ashikabi's room, opened the door and walked inside.
"Onii-chan! Onii-chan! Wake up, It's Christmas!" Said Kuu with an excited tone of voice, who was still in her pajamas. She had seen Antonio slowly awake as he raised his head off his pillow and yawn.
"Oh Kuu? Merry Christmas." Replied Antonio. "Give Onii-chan a couple minutes ok and I'll be downstairs." As Kuu nodded her head, she raced out of Antonio's room and back downstairs. When Antonio went to scratch his head, he heard his phone start to ring on his dresser. As he got out of his bed to check to see who was calling, he had seen that Momoyo was calling and didn't hesitate to answer before he stretched.
"Merry Christmas Momo-chan." Said Antonio.
"M-Merry Christmas Antonio." Replied Momoyo.
"So what are you doing today?" Asked Antonio.
"Nothing really. Yamato and Miyako went to visit his parents, Capt, Moro, Gakuto as well. Chris decided to visit her family while Mayuuchi went home for the holidays. It's just me and Doggie."
"Well then how about I come scoop you guys up and you all can have Christmas with us." Said Antonio, causing Momoyo to blush.
"A-Are you sure we won't intrude?" Asked Momoyo, causing Antonio to frown.
"Don't say stuff like that. Not only are you my girlfriend, you are apart of my family." Replied Antonio, causing Momoyo's face to freeze. "I'll be by to pick you guys up in a little bit. See ya later, Momo-chan." Said Antonio.
"O-Okay." Replied Momoyo before Antonio, disconnected the call. Afterwards, Momoyo had lowered her phone and had simply looked towards her left to see a wrapped box with a ribbon on top with a name written out to Antonio. Half an hour later, Antonio returned to the Kanzaki Residence with Momoyo and Kazuko. When they walked into the living room/kitchen, they had seen everyone sitting around the breakfast table, Mizuki and Takami included who thought having. Miya thought having a family breakfast before opening presents would be a good thing. After they got done eating, Antonio went over to the tree and started digging through presents with Minato and Yukari.
"Benitsubasa, here you go." Said Antonio as Benitsubasa excitedly made her way over to Antonio and graciously grabbed the wrapped box from him. He had seen her tear the wrapping paper away and seen a symbol that had the letter's 'LV'. When she had seen this, she started to squeal seemingly uncontrollably as she opened the shoe box to find a pair of Louis Vuitton boots with red bottoms.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you Antonio!" Said Benitsubasa as she hugged Antonio as tightly as she could. Not even Haihane's snickering could stop Benitsubasa's onslaught of kisses on Antonio's cheek.
"Haihane, here you go." Said Antonio. He had then seen Haihane approaching him and stuck her arm out and graciously accepted the gift. Antonio seen Haihane's eyes widen as she removed her gift.
"All three seasons of my favorite anime, and it's limited edition and it's blu-ray.." Said Haihane as she softly clenched her newest collection to her chest as her face began to turn red as she had seen Antonio's warm smile. As she had returned to her seat on the couch, Miya had seen Antonio gesturing her to come to him as he also had a gift for her.
"Here you go Miya, Merry Christmas." Said Antonio as he had seen Miya kneeling down next to Antonio, unwrapping the paper as gently as she could until she was met with a box that had the non-stick pan that washes easily. Miya wasn't a material being, just the thought that Antonio got her a present was enough to make her heart flutter.
"Thank you so much. Now it'll take less time washing dishes with these." Said Miya who smiled and tilted her head. After being called one by one, all of Antonio's Sekirei received their gifts and were happier than words could explain, even Kuu was bursting with energy that almost matched Musubi's which is seemingly a scary thing to imagine.
"Here mom, Merry Christmas!" Said Antonio as he handed his mother his gift.
"Hehe, let's see what you got your mother, in addition to my 'other gift'." Hinted Mizuki, causing Antonio to sweatdrop. As she opened it, she had seen it was a silver bracelet with diamonds all around it with hints of blue, the same colors of her eyes. "Oh my, thank you my wonderful son." Said Mizuki before bringing her child's head down to where she didn't have to get on her tippy toes to kiss her son on the cheek to which afterwards Antonio started scratching the back of his head.
"Minato, Yukari, catch." Said Antonio as he had taken out small, white boxes that could fit in the palm of someone's. Minato caught his while Yukari juggled it before getting a firm grip on it.
"What is it?" Asked Yukari as she fully examined the outer box. When they were given the ok, they opened the small box by untying the ribbon, and when they had see a black smart key that a three symbols on it, two of which showed a lock being opened and staying locked, the last showed the trunk of a car being opened. "Wait, isn't this…?"
"Why don't you two grab your coat's and take a peek outside." Without hesitating for even a second, Yukari grabbed her coat with Minato following behind her and when they stepped outside, they had seen two vehicles sitting next to each other. "Merry Christmas you two." As the two hit the unlock button on their smart keys, Yukari had seen that her smart key unlocked a stylish twenty sixteen BMW seven series in white and black four door car while Minato's smart key unlocked a twenty sixteen nissan maxima four door in A glossy black color Yukari stood frozen in time seemingly before charging into Antonio with almost enough force to knock him over, embracing him and a hug, along with Minato.
"Thank you so much!" Said Yukari. "Now I can show you that my driving isn't…."
"No thanks." Said Antonio as he chuckled sheepishly.
"Hey!" Said Yukari before she started to pout. She, along with Minato had went to examine their newly gifted car further before parking them and returning them inside.
"This has been the best Christmas so far!" Said Yukari as her face was filled with so much happiness.
"I haven't forgotten about you Aunt." Said Antonio as he handed his Aunt Takami a wrapped box.
"Ohh? Let's see what's inside." Said Takami as she had seen the a black box was underneath the wrapping paper and when she took the lid of the box off, all four sides of the box fell to reveal a beautiful, stunning diamond watch. "Oh my…" Said Takamai.
"Merry Christmas Aunt Takami." Said Antonio with a warm smile on her face. Usually Takami is a serious person, so she had to take a deep breath as to not let a tear of happiness escape her eyes before standing.
"It's beautiful, thank you nephew." Said Takami before giving Antonio a firm hug. "Here, this is from all three of us. Me, Minato and Yukari." As she pulled out a card inside of a envelope from her purse and handed it to her nephew and watched him opened it and read the quote on it.
'Family is a wonderful thing. An eternal love and bond that stretches across the divide and cannot be broken. We hope that you have a Merry Christmas.'
"Thanks Aunt Takami." Said Antonio. He had then noticed that Takami also had an extra gift from her and her two kids to him. He decided to wait and open it after he given out the rest of his gifts. Momoyo and Wanko had then noticed that Antonio went back to the tree to come back with a box that was the same size as the one he had given to Takami and a envelope.
"Merry Christmas you two." Said Antonio as Momoyo took the box and Wanko took the envelope. "I know you don't like flashy things Wanko, so I hope that check will suffice." When Wanko opened the envelope and seen the check, her dog ears emerged on top of her head.
'With this, I can get better equipment for my runs!' Wanko thought to herself with a smile. As Momoyo seen the smile on Wanko's face, she had looked down at her gift and opened it. When she fully opened it, she was beyond speechless when she had seen it was a gold watch with diamonds around the glass.
"If you look on the bottom of the watch.." Said Antonio, catching Momoyo's attention. "It has the date that we met, etched in roman numerals." Momoyo flipped the watch upside down carefully to see it had the roman numerals of the exact day, date and year that the two met which made her smile so much to the point that she lowered her head so that Antonio couldn't see just how much she was smiling as her face was as pink as a freshly bloomed rose.
"H-H-Here, M-Merry Christmas." Said Momoyo softly as she slowly held out her gift. She had felt Antonio's soft fingers touch hers which made a visage of steam escape her ears.
"Thanks alot Momo-chan." Said Antonio as he sat the gift he received from one of his girlfriends down next to the gift he got from Takami.
"Last but not least, Chiho." Said Antonio as he looked at Chiho. He had then started to pat down his pants pockets as if he 'lost something'. "Hey Chiho, I think my phone maybe underneath the cushions of the couch, could you check for me real quick?"
"Sure." Replied Chiho before she turned around and lifted the cushion she was sitting on. When she lifted it up, she had seen a slim, rectangular wrapped box that was addressed to her.
"I know you said you didn't want a Christmas gift, but I couldn't resist." Said Antonio before he smiled warmly, Chiho then had looked upon Antonio's face while still having held onto her gift. "Merry Christmas Hidaka Chiho."
"Don't just sit there girl, open it!" Uzume said softly. As Chiho nodded, she tore off the wrapping paper until it was completely gone, she had slowly lifted the lid off the box and what she was met with was a gold necklace with two curves, housing a diamond in the middle. Chiho's attention was purely stuck on the diamond as it rotated with the two curves with the diamond itself being in the middle.
"Do you like it?" Asked Antonio. He had then seen Chiho wiping her eyes with her arm before smiling genuinely.
"I-I love it." Said Chiho softly. "You didn't have too."
"I wanted to do it though." Said Antonio. "I wanted to make your first Christmas of your new life as special and meaningful as possible." Said Antonio, causing Chiho's eyes to slowly widen. "As I said before, you are apart of this family now and as long as I am alive, I'll make sure that you enjoy every moment." Next thing Chiho knew, small tears of happiness started to leak from eyes.
"I appreciate you Antonio, I truly do. Thank you once again." Replied Chiho softly.
"You're welcome Chiho." Said Antonio before he looked over to everyone else. "Merry Christmas once again everyone." Said Antonio as he closed his eyes and smiled warmly.
I hope you guys enjoy this Christmas Special of Beyond The Wings Of Fate. I will be taking a break to enjoy the holiday coming up and will be back afterwards.
Everyone, have a Merry Christmas and a safe New Years.
