Chapter 7
~~~~~~~
Feliz Navidad
~~~~~~~
"What the...?" Kyo asked walking in after school one day to find the house covered in...junk. He didn't know how else to describe it.
"Kai-San, it's so festive!" Tohru exclaimed, giving her friend a hug.
"You think so?" Kai asked. "Shigure-San and I have been working on it all day instead of working on our deadlines. Mii-San even chipped in before she left."
"All in the spirit of the holiday," Shigure added.
"What's with all the green and red stuff?" Kyo asked.
"It's called Christmas, baka neko," Yuki said with an eye roll. "If you hadn't been secluded from society for so many years you'd know that."
"How has your genealogy research been going, Kai-San?" Tohru asked.
"Well, I'm almost to the bottom of the box."
"Box?" Kyo asked.
"Genealogy?" Yuki added.
"You get your family history from a box?" they both asked.
"Well," Kai started. "It was either a huge box my parents left me with or praying to dead family members."
"Well, is there any mention of the Sohmas?" Shigure asked.
"No, still no mention."
"When is Christmas?" Yuki asked. "I haven't paid attention to the calendar lately."
"A week," Kai and Shigure said with a sweat-drop.
"What's the purpose of Christmas exactly?" Kyo asked.
"You buy the people that are important to you presents," Kai explained.
"And if you're a good boy, Santa will bring you something," Shigure added.
"You don't think he'll...." Kai started.
"What's he look like?" Kyo asked.
Everyone else sweat-dropped.
"That was intended as a joke, Kyo-Kun," Kai explained.
Kyo shrugged it off and would have gone off somewhere if he hadn't felt a small kiss on his cheek. He slowly looked over in fear. "KAGURA?!"
"Merry Christmas, Kyo-Kun!" she said cheerfully, holding a small plant over his head.
"W-what's that?"
"This is mistletoe! It's a tradition that whoever's standing under the mistletoe has to be kissed. And what a coincidence, you're standing under the mistletoe!"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! YOU PUT IT OVER MY HEAD!!!"
Everyone braced themselves as the brunette rolled back her sleeves and anger-knotted. "Oh, dear," she said, realizing what she was doing. "I promised myself I wouldn't do that."
"EH?!"
Kagura sighed. "Well, I've been thinking. If I'm in my second year college and I want to be a good wife for Kyo, I should at least learn to be more mature about my feelings."
(AN: yes, I know she just went completely OOC there, but I always thought she and Kyo would make a cute couple if she were calmer.)
"Good for you, Kagura," Shigure said with a smile.
"I'm so happy for you, Kagura!" Tohru exclaimed, giving her a hug.
"Don't people usually make self-revelations during New Year's?" Yuki asked.
"The Sohmas aren't usual people, Yuki-San," Kai said, shaking her head. "You should know that."
"Shigure-San..." a pathetic voice came from the front door the next day. The only people in the room---Shigure, Kai, and Tohru---looked in as a young woman walked in. "I'm terribly sorry to intrude in your festivities, but my mother says I should be more sociable. I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!! I'M SORRY, SHIGURE-SAN, I'M SORRY, TOHRU-SAN!! AND I'M SORRY---I don't know who you are.I'M SORRY FOR NOT KNOWING WHO YOU ARE!! I DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE, I'M SORRY!!"
"Ri-Chan-San," Tohru said with a smile. "Merry Christmas! We're always happy when you visit!"
"Oh," he said with a sniff. "You are?"
"Of course we're not," Shigure said with a plastic smile.
"You're not?! WELL, I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW! NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ME IN THIS WEATHER, IT WON'T BOTHER ME!!!" Ritsu declared, darting for the door.
"Ri-Chan-San, don't leave, you just got here!" Tohru exclaimed, throwing her arms around her before she could get away. Shigure and Kai looked up at the familiar puff of smoke.
"Talk about deceiving first appearances," Kai said with a blink.
"Kai-San, this is Ritsu Sohma," Shigure said, shaking his head. "As you can see, he's the monkey. And he's also a bit insecure." (AN: the biggest understatement of the millennium...)
Two days later everyone showed up at Shigure's house for name drawings of who got to buy who a present:
Yuki would buy Tohru a present
Tohru would buy Yuki a present.
Kagura would buy for Kyo.
Kyo would buy for Kagura.
The Mabudachi and their Damsel in Distress would buy for themselves.
Kisa for Hiro and vice versa.
Kai and Tohru volunteered to buy for Ritsu.
Ritsu volunteered to buy for everyone.
Haru and Hatori would buy for each other.
Ayame and Momiji.
"Is this thing rigged or something?!" Kyo hollered. Everyone turned around to see Kai and Shigure looking away, whistling innocently.
"Yuki-San, please?" Kai asked, the day before Christmas Eve.
"I refuse to have anything to do with him," the silver-haired boy answered.
"Please, Yuki-Kun?" Tohru added.
"Honda-San, you should know why I won't have anything to do with him."
"But, Yuki-Kun, he wants to get closer to you as a brother."
"I'm sorry, Honda-San."
"He's my best friend, Yuki-San."
"More like girl friend."
Kai shook her head.
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but I just won't."
Yuki blinked as both Tohru and Kai looked as if they were about to cry.
"Not the puppy-eyes, Shigure does that enough as it is! Fine! I'll do it!"
"Hey, Kyo!" Momiji happily greeted, walking up to his cousin. "Sign this!" he said, holding out a folded sheet of paper.
"What is it?"
"A piece of paper, silly!"
"Okay," he said with a shrug, scribbling his name down.
"Kyo," Kisa said, later that day. "Would you mind reading something to me?"
"Sure, what am I reading?"
"A piece of paper."
"Sure."
"Just wait until that red light goes off..."
(AN: either Kyo has a hard time saying no to kids, or he really is that dense)
Finally Christmas came, and everyone went to Shigure's house.
"What did you get, Tohru-San?" Kai asked. Before, they had drawn names to see who would go first.
"Oh, it's a scrapbook!" she exclaimed, opening a box. "And a little charm bracelet with red butterflies. Yuki-Kun, you remembered my mom's nickname! Arigatou!"
"A variety package of seeds for the base. Thank you, Honda-San."
"I got a bear-claw necklace," Kyo said, holding up disembodied claws on a string.
"I saw it and thought of you," Kagura said with a smile.
Kyo blushed.
Shigure opened his package. There was a sign that said "BEWARE OF DOGS." And one that said. "QUIET, ARTIST AT WORK." "What's this?" he asked, looking at the back of the dogs sign. "There's a switch." He switched it on and waved his hand in front of it. Everyone else but Kai, Hatori, and Ayame sweat-dropped as the sign...growled. "Thanks, minna!"
"Kai-Chan picked them out, I paid for them, and 'Tori-San did the driving," Ayame said with a cheerful smile.
"Hm," Kai said, picking up hers, which was the shape of an official envelope. She opened the paper and the envelope. After she read the documents, she started laughing.
"What is it, Aunt Kai?" Kisa asked.
"These say that Anji is a purebred husky AND a purebred wolf hound."
"Merry Christmas, Anji-San," Shigure chimed, petting the sleeping dog.
"We didn't know whether to get him one that said he was a purebred husky or a purebred wolf house, so 'Tori-San suggested we use both," Aya chimed in.
"My turn!" Ayame exclaimed, reaching for his packages. "Hm, there's something attached to the card...
'I, Momiji Sohma---at risk of my own life---, hereby declare "Yuki's Day of Romance" an international holiday.'
Thank you, 'Miji-San!" he said, throwing his arms around his cousin.
"You're welcome!"
"There's something else," he noticed. Yuki winced. He opened the small box and opened a picture frame. "It's Yuki!"
The strange thing about the frame, was it kept repeating in a very monotonous voice. "Aya, you're the best brother in the world. I love you, big brother."
"I love you too, Otouto!" Aya exclaimed, nearly strangling his brother.
"Ha'ri-San, your turn," Shigure said in a sing-song voice.
Hatori bent down and picked up the smaller gift first. It was a green dragon mirror charm. (AN: um, you know, those things you hang up on your rear view mirror. And technically, he's the chauffeur of furuba.) "Thank you, Hiro."
He opened the parcel and smiled. It was obviously from the Mabudachi. A small snow globe with a silver dragon in the middle. "Arigatou."
Kisa blinked a picked up her own present and unwrapped it. "Thank you, Hiro-Chan," she said, holding up a tiger's tooth necklace.
Hiro blushed and picked up the package from her. "Little Bo-Kisa?" he asked.
"Kisa-San wrote it," Kai explained. "And she asked me if I would illustrate it for her."
"Don't you like it, Hiro-Chan?" Kisa asked.
"H-hai," he said with a smile.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Ritsu insisted. "I don't deserve it!"
"Of course you do, Ri-Chan-San," Tohru said with her smile.
"We bought it just for you!" Kai added.
"Okay," he whimpered, unwrapping the present. "It's bubble bath. And a lot of it! Mother's been asking me about buying bubble bath!"
"Okay," Haru said, bending down. "A gold chain and a silver chain." He looked to Hatori. "Why are there two?"
"One for when you go Black," Hatori answered.
"Okay."
"Yay!" Momiji exclaimed, jumping down to his present. "Yay! Hand-puppets! There's a cow, and a mouse, and a tiger, and a rabbit---ooh! That's me!--- and a dragon, and a snake, and a horse, and a sheep, and a monkey, and a rooster, and a dog, and a boar, and a cat, and two rice balls! It's just like us!"
"I didn't think anyone had that much lung capacity!" Kai exclaimed.
"Who gave him sugar?" Hatori asked.
Kagura laughed and picked up her gifts. She opened the envelope first. She read the letter with a sweat-drop. "This looks like something Shigure- sensei would write, but it's signed by Kyo-Kun..."
"That was the 'piece of paper', was it Momiji?" Kyo growled.
"There's another," she said opening the other. It was another talking picture frame. But this one said "I love you, Kagura." And it didn't repeat, like Aya's did. "Eh?"
"Another piece of paper, courtesy of Kisa, this time," Kyo said, rolling his eyes.
"Arigatou, Kyo-Kun," she said rather calmly. (AN: I'M SORRY SHE'S OUT OF CHARACTER!! I'M SUCH A BAD AUTHOR!! NOW I'M GETTING OUT OF CHARACTER AND ACTING LIKE RITSU!! I DON'T DESERVE SO MANY PEOPLE READING THIS!!!)
Kyo suddenly got up and held out a gum-ball ring. She looked up with a blink. "I've been thinking. And, if you're gonna be mature about this...so am I."
"Kyo-Kun?"
"I know it's not much...but...will you marry me for real this time?"
"Kyo-Kun, of course I will!" she nearly squeaked, giving him a hug.
After the finally sat down, Ritsu dramatically rose. "I have a present for everyone for putting with me!" With that, he walked outside and back stumbled in brandishing a huge banner that read "GOMEN NE SAI, MINNA- SAMA!!!" Everyone sweat-dropped.
"YOU DON'T LIKE IT?!" he asked, peeking over the top. "IT'S TOO BIG, ISN'T IT?! I MESSED UP AGAIN!! I'M, SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!! I'LL APOLOGIZE TO THE WORLD!! I'M SORRY TOHRU-SAN, BROTHER SHIGURE, BROTHER HATORI, BROTHER AYAME, KAI-SAN---!!"
While Ritsu was running around the room apologizing to everyone and everything, Shigure turned on his "BEWARE OF DOGS" sign and held it up. The young man fainted to sound of large dogs growling. "Thank you, Kai- San, it really does work!" Shigure said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
~~~~~~~
Feliz Navidad, Minna-San!!
Prospero Año!!
Merry Christmas, Minna-San!!
Happy New Year!!
~~~~~~~
Feliz Navidad
~~~~~~~
"What the...?" Kyo asked walking in after school one day to find the house covered in...junk. He didn't know how else to describe it.
"Kai-San, it's so festive!" Tohru exclaimed, giving her friend a hug.
"You think so?" Kai asked. "Shigure-San and I have been working on it all day instead of working on our deadlines. Mii-San even chipped in before she left."
"All in the spirit of the holiday," Shigure added.
"What's with all the green and red stuff?" Kyo asked.
"It's called Christmas, baka neko," Yuki said with an eye roll. "If you hadn't been secluded from society for so many years you'd know that."
"How has your genealogy research been going, Kai-San?" Tohru asked.
"Well, I'm almost to the bottom of the box."
"Box?" Kyo asked.
"Genealogy?" Yuki added.
"You get your family history from a box?" they both asked.
"Well," Kai started. "It was either a huge box my parents left me with or praying to dead family members."
"Well, is there any mention of the Sohmas?" Shigure asked.
"No, still no mention."
"When is Christmas?" Yuki asked. "I haven't paid attention to the calendar lately."
"A week," Kai and Shigure said with a sweat-drop.
"What's the purpose of Christmas exactly?" Kyo asked.
"You buy the people that are important to you presents," Kai explained.
"And if you're a good boy, Santa will bring you something," Shigure added.
"You don't think he'll...." Kai started.
"What's he look like?" Kyo asked.
Everyone else sweat-dropped.
"That was intended as a joke, Kyo-Kun," Kai explained.
Kyo shrugged it off and would have gone off somewhere if he hadn't felt a small kiss on his cheek. He slowly looked over in fear. "KAGURA?!"
"Merry Christmas, Kyo-Kun!" she said cheerfully, holding a small plant over his head.
"W-what's that?"
"This is mistletoe! It's a tradition that whoever's standing under the mistletoe has to be kissed. And what a coincidence, you're standing under the mistletoe!"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! YOU PUT IT OVER MY HEAD!!!"
Everyone braced themselves as the brunette rolled back her sleeves and anger-knotted. "Oh, dear," she said, realizing what she was doing. "I promised myself I wouldn't do that."
"EH?!"
Kagura sighed. "Well, I've been thinking. If I'm in my second year college and I want to be a good wife for Kyo, I should at least learn to be more mature about my feelings."
(AN: yes, I know she just went completely OOC there, but I always thought she and Kyo would make a cute couple if she were calmer.)
"Good for you, Kagura," Shigure said with a smile.
"I'm so happy for you, Kagura!" Tohru exclaimed, giving her a hug.
"Don't people usually make self-revelations during New Year's?" Yuki asked.
"The Sohmas aren't usual people, Yuki-San," Kai said, shaking her head. "You should know that."
"Shigure-San..." a pathetic voice came from the front door the next day. The only people in the room---Shigure, Kai, and Tohru---looked in as a young woman walked in. "I'm terribly sorry to intrude in your festivities, but my mother says I should be more sociable. I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!! I'M SORRY, SHIGURE-SAN, I'M SORRY, TOHRU-SAN!! AND I'M SORRY---I don't know who you are.I'M SORRY FOR NOT KNOWING WHO YOU ARE!! I DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE, I'M SORRY!!"
"Ri-Chan-San," Tohru said with a smile. "Merry Christmas! We're always happy when you visit!"
"Oh," he said with a sniff. "You are?"
"Of course we're not," Shigure said with a plastic smile.
"You're not?! WELL, I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW! NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT ME IN THIS WEATHER, IT WON'T BOTHER ME!!!" Ritsu declared, darting for the door.
"Ri-Chan-San, don't leave, you just got here!" Tohru exclaimed, throwing her arms around her before she could get away. Shigure and Kai looked up at the familiar puff of smoke.
"Talk about deceiving first appearances," Kai said with a blink.
"Kai-San, this is Ritsu Sohma," Shigure said, shaking his head. "As you can see, he's the monkey. And he's also a bit insecure." (AN: the biggest understatement of the millennium...)
Two days later everyone showed up at Shigure's house for name drawings of who got to buy who a present:
Yuki would buy Tohru a present
Tohru would buy Yuki a present.
Kagura would buy for Kyo.
Kyo would buy for Kagura.
The Mabudachi and their Damsel in Distress would buy for themselves.
Kisa for Hiro and vice versa.
Kai and Tohru volunteered to buy for Ritsu.
Ritsu volunteered to buy for everyone.
Haru and Hatori would buy for each other.
Ayame and Momiji.
"Is this thing rigged or something?!" Kyo hollered. Everyone turned around to see Kai and Shigure looking away, whistling innocently.
"Yuki-San, please?" Kai asked, the day before Christmas Eve.
"I refuse to have anything to do with him," the silver-haired boy answered.
"Please, Yuki-Kun?" Tohru added.
"Honda-San, you should know why I won't have anything to do with him."
"But, Yuki-Kun, he wants to get closer to you as a brother."
"I'm sorry, Honda-San."
"He's my best friend, Yuki-San."
"More like girl friend."
Kai shook her head.
"Anyway, I'm sorry, but I just won't."
Yuki blinked as both Tohru and Kai looked as if they were about to cry.
"Not the puppy-eyes, Shigure does that enough as it is! Fine! I'll do it!"
"Hey, Kyo!" Momiji happily greeted, walking up to his cousin. "Sign this!" he said, holding out a folded sheet of paper.
"What is it?"
"A piece of paper, silly!"
"Okay," he said with a shrug, scribbling his name down.
"Kyo," Kisa said, later that day. "Would you mind reading something to me?"
"Sure, what am I reading?"
"A piece of paper."
"Sure."
"Just wait until that red light goes off..."
(AN: either Kyo has a hard time saying no to kids, or he really is that dense)
Finally Christmas came, and everyone went to Shigure's house.
"What did you get, Tohru-San?" Kai asked. Before, they had drawn names to see who would go first.
"Oh, it's a scrapbook!" she exclaimed, opening a box. "And a little charm bracelet with red butterflies. Yuki-Kun, you remembered my mom's nickname! Arigatou!"
"A variety package of seeds for the base. Thank you, Honda-San."
"I got a bear-claw necklace," Kyo said, holding up disembodied claws on a string.
"I saw it and thought of you," Kagura said with a smile.
Kyo blushed.
Shigure opened his package. There was a sign that said "BEWARE OF DOGS." And one that said. "QUIET, ARTIST AT WORK." "What's this?" he asked, looking at the back of the dogs sign. "There's a switch." He switched it on and waved his hand in front of it. Everyone else but Kai, Hatori, and Ayame sweat-dropped as the sign...growled. "Thanks, minna!"
"Kai-Chan picked them out, I paid for them, and 'Tori-San did the driving," Ayame said with a cheerful smile.
"Hm," Kai said, picking up hers, which was the shape of an official envelope. She opened the paper and the envelope. After she read the documents, she started laughing.
"What is it, Aunt Kai?" Kisa asked.
"These say that Anji is a purebred husky AND a purebred wolf hound."
"Merry Christmas, Anji-San," Shigure chimed, petting the sleeping dog.
"We didn't know whether to get him one that said he was a purebred husky or a purebred wolf house, so 'Tori-San suggested we use both," Aya chimed in.
"My turn!" Ayame exclaimed, reaching for his packages. "Hm, there's something attached to the card...
'I, Momiji Sohma---at risk of my own life---, hereby declare "Yuki's Day of Romance" an international holiday.'
Thank you, 'Miji-San!" he said, throwing his arms around his cousin.
"You're welcome!"
"There's something else," he noticed. Yuki winced. He opened the small box and opened a picture frame. "It's Yuki!"
The strange thing about the frame, was it kept repeating in a very monotonous voice. "Aya, you're the best brother in the world. I love you, big brother."
"I love you too, Otouto!" Aya exclaimed, nearly strangling his brother.
"Ha'ri-San, your turn," Shigure said in a sing-song voice.
Hatori bent down and picked up the smaller gift first. It was a green dragon mirror charm. (AN: um, you know, those things you hang up on your rear view mirror. And technically, he's the chauffeur of furuba.) "Thank you, Hiro."
He opened the parcel and smiled. It was obviously from the Mabudachi. A small snow globe with a silver dragon in the middle. "Arigatou."
Kisa blinked a picked up her own present and unwrapped it. "Thank you, Hiro-Chan," she said, holding up a tiger's tooth necklace.
Hiro blushed and picked up the package from her. "Little Bo-Kisa?" he asked.
"Kisa-San wrote it," Kai explained. "And she asked me if I would illustrate it for her."
"Don't you like it, Hiro-Chan?" Kisa asked.
"H-hai," he said with a smile.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Ritsu insisted. "I don't deserve it!"
"Of course you do, Ri-Chan-San," Tohru said with her smile.
"We bought it just for you!" Kai added.
"Okay," he whimpered, unwrapping the present. "It's bubble bath. And a lot of it! Mother's been asking me about buying bubble bath!"
"Okay," Haru said, bending down. "A gold chain and a silver chain." He looked to Hatori. "Why are there two?"
"One for when you go Black," Hatori answered.
"Okay."
"Yay!" Momiji exclaimed, jumping down to his present. "Yay! Hand-puppets! There's a cow, and a mouse, and a tiger, and a rabbit---ooh! That's me!--- and a dragon, and a snake, and a horse, and a sheep, and a monkey, and a rooster, and a dog, and a boar, and a cat, and two rice balls! It's just like us!"
"I didn't think anyone had that much lung capacity!" Kai exclaimed.
"Who gave him sugar?" Hatori asked.
Kagura laughed and picked up her gifts. She opened the envelope first. She read the letter with a sweat-drop. "This looks like something Shigure- sensei would write, but it's signed by Kyo-Kun..."
"That was the 'piece of paper', was it Momiji?" Kyo growled.
"There's another," she said opening the other. It was another talking picture frame. But this one said "I love you, Kagura." And it didn't repeat, like Aya's did. "Eh?"
"Another piece of paper, courtesy of Kisa, this time," Kyo said, rolling his eyes.
"Arigatou, Kyo-Kun," she said rather calmly. (AN: I'M SORRY SHE'S OUT OF CHARACTER!! I'M SUCH A BAD AUTHOR!! NOW I'M GETTING OUT OF CHARACTER AND ACTING LIKE RITSU!! I DON'T DESERVE SO MANY PEOPLE READING THIS!!!)
Kyo suddenly got up and held out a gum-ball ring. She looked up with a blink. "I've been thinking. And, if you're gonna be mature about this...so am I."
"Kyo-Kun?"
"I know it's not much...but...will you marry me for real this time?"
"Kyo-Kun, of course I will!" she nearly squeaked, giving him a hug.
After the finally sat down, Ritsu dramatically rose. "I have a present for everyone for putting with me!" With that, he walked outside and back stumbled in brandishing a huge banner that read "GOMEN NE SAI, MINNA- SAMA!!!" Everyone sweat-dropped.
"YOU DON'T LIKE IT?!" he asked, peeking over the top. "IT'S TOO BIG, ISN'T IT?! I MESSED UP AGAIN!! I'M, SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!! I'LL APOLOGIZE TO THE WORLD!! I'M SORRY TOHRU-SAN, BROTHER SHIGURE, BROTHER HATORI, BROTHER AYAME, KAI-SAN---!!"
While Ritsu was running around the room apologizing to everyone and everything, Shigure turned on his "BEWARE OF DOGS" sign and held it up. The young man fainted to sound of large dogs growling. "Thank you, Kai- San, it really does work!" Shigure said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
~~~~~~~
Feliz Navidad, Minna-San!!
Prospero Año!!
Merry Christmas, Minna-San!!
Happy New Year!!