"Damn bureaucracy!" muttered the red nose reindeer vehemently. Rudolph was angry. His hoofs smashed onto the majestic marble floors, repeatedly. They'd been standing for hours outside the main office and the line wasn't getting any shorter. There were still dwarves, centaurs, elves, hell's minions... and ,he shuddered, werewolves. Rudolph's shoulders kept on shaking. But it wasn't because of the werewolves anymore. He searched wildly for the others. It was happening to them too. His mind was in total confusion; it wasn't supposed to happen now. A new Santa couldn't have possibly been chosen! But no matter how unfathomable, his front legs did bend and all seven reindeer bowed to their new master; who was not present at the moment. The dwarves snickered, leaning against their axes. They knew somebody had fucked up.

North Pole reindeer, however, had some dignity to uphold. They got up stately and politely said farewell to their line companions. Afterwards, they quickly fled to the North Pole by portal. When they arrived at the front gates of Christmas heaven they all stared at each other.

"Do you think they noticed?"

"Of course they did! Did you see their faces?"

"But I hope not. Christmas is loosing enough credibility as it is."

"What was that anyway?"

"I don't care, obviously somebody has taken care of the problem for us."

"What about the presents?"

"They were all brats this year anyway."

"..the sleigh?"

"Old man's on it. He can carry his fat ass himself, for once," retorted Rudolph. He was still angry about having to bow. His bloodline had pride to carry and he would not take any offence lightly. Yes, he was a jerk at times. But he had a red nose.. They all sighed and followed him. No one could deny that they didn't want the warmth of their stall. So they trudged inside. They would get some answers tomorrow.

Sango slowly woke up. The sun was filtering through her window, slowly, peacefully. Sango jerked upright. She recounted the events of yesterday and quickly glanced around for Sirius. He was on the floor next to the bed, but there was something unexpected too. A ghostly form of a dog rested on top of him. She silently slipped out of bed, and knelt next to the dog. Her hand reached cautiously for Sirius' hilt. Lightly holding it in her hand, she shook him.

Wake up, There's a ghost!

Wha? Wha?

The dog opened an eye and glared at her

Stop that. It's me, I wanted to stretch a bit.

oh.

Sirius growled, and closed his eyes again. Go, shoo. Enjoy Christmas while you can. A faint paw waved her away and she took the hint.

The morning was spent in the festive opening of the few presents. Her parents didn't really go for the gift giving; but they still enjoyed having a fake tree in their living room. Kohaku was pleased anyway. He got a fishing rod the boy has odd hobbies. I got a gun. Dad heartily explained that since I didn't seem to be proficient with the sword, a projectile weapon might be more to my liking. She sighed, one of these days her Dad was going to get her into big trouble.

Breakfast was eaten and the tree honored. By midday, the household activity had reached a lull. When, a faint knocking was heard at the door. Sango's mother went to open it and soon a very well dressed woman walked in. Sango looked up from her book, her interest had roused when she heard another soft thump. It was coming from the stairs. Craning her head she caught a glimpse of what looked like Sirius the dog coming down the stairs, the katakana dragging behind him. He stopped at the last stair and nudged his head toward the living room. He then nodded once.

She's your professional liar. Called her from the GIA yesterday.

Sango nodded back. The book flopped back onto the sofa as she began to climb off the couch. Her mother burst into the room.

"Honey, I'm so proud of you! A lady from that prestigious boarding school in the city said you got in! All expenses paid too. Oh, mummy's so happy." She then began squeezing the innards out of her daughter. The rest of the family soon trailed in. Kohaku looked sympathetic, but dad looked miffed. He wouldn't be able to further her knowledge of lethal violence if she was away... at some school! But it seemed like it was going to happen anyway. Her mother was muttering about packing for her right away since she had to leave soon. Sango glanced at her innocent brother, crazy father, and then at her cute blubbering mother. And she hugged all of them, starting with who was closest. She felt guilty lying to them and insecure about leaving the warm consistency of her home, but she told Sirius she'd be Santa, and she wasn't going to back out.

Twenty minutes later, Sango was outside her house with a duffle bag in hand. Her dad lifted it into the trunk of the woman's car and they had one more round of farewells. But the car door soon clicked behind her and the mountain scenery was soon left behind.

A/N: akka. i was so shocked that i got a review that i was persuaded to write another chapter. --;; too bad it was hard to write this one. maybe it isn't late enough, maybe i need to have more things to be procrastinating about?