Reiko lay down with a quiet sigh on the bed and slept deeply. When he woke up, it was evening and was turning dark. He stared up at the ceiling, as was his custom. His eyes slowly began to drift around the room, taking everything in with interest, noting down every detail. Boxes were strewn everywhere, making navigation difficult, but yet creating the feel that someone was at least living here. The walls were a faded white, turning to grey, a sign that this room was probably used more for a storeroom than for anything else. A flash of something caught his eyes as the sunlight blocked out by the blinds fell across one box. Reiko turned away but his gaze was drawn back to the box when he was distracted by another flash from the direction.
He got up and walked towards the box curiously, beginning to pick out flashes and glimmers. He blinked. Glitter? Couldn't be. The box was torn at the seams, ready to fall apart, as though it had seen many years of use. Now it lay neglected. Reiko blinked and pulled at the corner slightly and blinked in surprise when he saw the contents that lay inside.
Christmas Decorations. Different sizes and shapes. All different colours. Some of them were multi-coloured, others stayed in just one. Silver, gold, red, blue, green, some shiny, others dull, some leaving glitter in his hands. He smiled nostalgically and then laughed as he saw a green overhanging branch fall directly in front of him. He reached up to touch it and smiled. It was obviously one of those artificial ones, but it was something he remembered so very clearly from his own childhood. The Christmas tree that his family had used wasn't quite as big as this one, but it was also artificial.
He paused and tensed as he heard someone coming up the stairs and knock on the door.
'Reiko? Are you asleep?'
'No. Not yet,' he said swiftly, sitting on the edge of the bed. Trish came into the room and blinked seeing all the boxes around.
'Strange…Dante's never let me use this room, let alone see it.'
'It has no windows.'
'So I see.' Trish looked around curiously and then she too started moving towards the battered box. Reiko watched and grinned to himself. It was almost as though the box had some kind of magic quality that drew everyone in the room to it. Reiko watched her, curious as to whether she was just going to stand there and admire or actually do anything. Outside, the snow continued to fall and Reiko felt a lump come into his throat as he remembered how the snow shimmered during that magical and yet nightmarish time on the mountains.
'Christmas Decorations?'
'Complete with a tree,' said Reiko hopefully. Trish noted the wistfulness in his eyes and grinned.
'How about we surprise Dante?' Reiko looked doubtful.
'They've obviously got layers of dust on them for some reason.'
'But it's Christmas!' Reiko said nothing but sat on the bed, watching, looking doubtful and nervous. Trish smiled at him, his tone of voice replaying in her head. It was strange really, why she was doing this. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have wanted to bother Dante by putting up a Christmas tree. It would be too much hassle, too much bother to do it by herself. But in Reiko she could see the same love for Christmas as she had. All it needed now, was some persuasion.
'Reiko?'
'What is it?'
'Could you help me with some of this stuff?'
'I don't know…I mean…I don't think this is a good idea at all…' Trish grinned and then tugged at the Christmas tree, shrieking when it suddenly fell down on top of her. Reiko leapt to his feet in an instant and hauled the tree off her. Trish smiled inwardly, silently laughing at the vampire. She was a demon, she would have been able to push the tree off herself; she didn't need his help. It was sweet though; actually, it was more stupidly cute than sweet. She smiled and then started lugging some other boxes out of the way.
'I could do with a little help, Reiko.' He nodded silently and then smiled, picking up the tree with one deft move and walking downstairs with it. Dante blinked and looked up only to see Reiko carrying a tree about with him. He blinked as he recognised it.
'Which room did you go in?'
'The room on the right…like you said.'
'I said left.' Reiko's eyes seemed to flicker slightly and he looked sheepish. 'Do you mind telling me what you were doing looking through the stuff in there?' Reiko blinked and looked around for Trish, who had just come down the stairs.
'It was my idea. It's Christmas!'
'But…' Trish grinned at Reiko, silencing Dante.
'He's always been a regular scrooge.' Reiko blinked but said nothing. Dante threw his hands into the air and flopped down on the couch and closed his eyes.
'Fine fine fine. Go and decorate the stupid tree. I don't see what the big fuss is about.' Trish and Reiko exchanged looks and the two jumped when Steph came in from the kitchen and walked up to them.
'I was wondering what you guys were going to do for Christmas.' Reiko yawned.
'I'd love to stay up and help but I'm tired.' Trish nodded. Dante straightened up and glared at him.
'Room on the left.' Reiko nodded.
'Room on the left,' he repeated sheepishly before going.
Reiko woke up a little afterwards and blinked seeing that the room had all of a sudden been decorated with random bits of tinsel thrown everywhere. It was evident that Trish didn't know the first thing about decorating tastefully. He slowly went out of the room and blinked seeing tinsel hanging from everywhere, even the bulbs from the ceiling.
'…ummmm?' Trish bounded up out of nowhere, her blue eyes twinkling.
'What do you think? Pretty right? This was my first time ever decorating! What d'you think? Huh?' Reiko looked around as though thinking hard. One word sprang to mind. Tacky.
'Uh…' Trish watched him expectantly. Reiko immediately felt bad and grinned. 'It's great, Trish.'
'Really?' She looked like a kid who had just walked into a toy store for the first time.
'Yep.' Reiko dodged past Trish and walked down the stairs, blinking. The couch was covered in tinsel and Dante was asleep. Reiko stifled a chuckle when he saw that Trish had gone so far as to put a Santa hat on him as well as throw random stray bits of tinsel on him. It was a miracle that he hadn't woken. Reiko blinked as his gaze was drawn elsewhere.
The Christmas tree was far from tacky. Colours were carefully thought out and Reiko blinked seeing that only gold and silver baubles were hanging from the branches. Fairy lights twinkled on the branches and he smiled. It was strange however that it was that particular colour scheme. The tree in the hotel lobby that Christmas had also been gold and silver. He blinked and turned to look out of the window, lost in his own thoughts.
He felt someone come close to him but didn't move to see who it was. What did it matter anyway? Trish and Steph exchanged looks. The saddened expression on Reiko's face had not been lost upon them. Trish had explained to Steph while Reiko was asleep the real reasons behind her wanting to decorate for Christmas. To her surprise, Steph had willingly joined in. But judging by the looks of it, both of them had failed. Trish's eyes moved to a point above Reiko's head and Steph smiled seeing what it was.
Reiko felt someone tap his shoulder and he turned around only to see Steph standing directly in front of him. Before he could even say anything, she had kissed him lightly on the lips. Reiko blinked before he found himself beginning to respond. Steph smiled into the kiss but then reluctantly pulled away.
'Merry Christmas,' she whispered. Trish was grinning but her smile quickly disappeared as she heard someone sneeze behind her and then roar.
'WHAT THE HELL?' Trish bolted up the stairs, leaving Reiko holding Steph. He soon came crashing up the stairs like some kind of wounded bear and tackled Trish onto the bed. Trish writhed underneath him but Dante spread the whole of his weight on her, effectively squashing her.
'Dante! Let go!' she hollered. Dante said nothing but then grinned.
'Apologize!'
'For what? You were being a Scrooge!'
'Bah Humbug…' he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. Trish continued to struggle but then stopped as she wore herself down. 'Well?'
'Okay! Okay! I apologize! Now get off me!'
'No.'
'What?'
'No.' Dante grinned. Trish scowled at him and threw him off. Dante rubbed at a sore spot on his head as Trish sat up.
'If you get that angry about what I did to you then I don't think you'd want to see what I did to your swords!' Dante's eyes widened as he ran back down the stairs. A few minutes later, Trish smirked as he heard him yell.
'TRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!' Trish lay back, chuckling. Christmas…was great.