Hello again. Well, it looks like I WON'T be changing the format. I just got the cold. Lol Anyways, here's part one of the Christmas story. I don't expect to finish it until after New Year's, though. Of course, with me, anything can happen. Lol

I do not own Love Hina. The rights belong to Ken Akamatsu.

Chapter 6

Shopping with a cold! Or

The Mandatory Christmas Episode

A few weeks had passed by after the Yami Shinobu incident. Su had told the girls what was discussed between Brandon and her while he was cleaning up. Most of the girls forgave him. The only two who didn't were Motoko (for obvious reasons), and Shinobu, who was still mad from Su kissing Brandon. She then realized HE wasn't the one who instigated the kiss, and went to apologize.

That's when Brandon came down with a cold.

"Achoooh! Great,", Brandon says (with all the girls except Motoko),"now I've got a cold…"

"That's too bad", Kitsune says, "Hey, Su, Shinobu, do you remember when Keitaro got that nasty cold right before his exams?"

Su ponders, then says, "Oh, yeah! We all read him stories!"

"The dork was one thing,", Sarah pointed out, "he's another. Let him recover. Besides, we need to Christmas shop."

"Not me", replies Shinobu, "I need to study for my upcoming tests. You should do the same, Su."

Ema, not paying attention to Shinobu, slams her fist into her other palm and says, "That's right! There's only five more days left until Christmas!"

Everyone slowly leaves the room. Once the last person was out, Brandon said to himself, "Okay, then. Even with a cold, I still need to shop for gifts. May and Peter I know told me what they want, but what to get everyone else?"

Suddenly the idea hits him like a bag of steel. "That's it! Too bad Japan doesn't have Tiffany's…"

He quietly sneaks out, knowing if the girls caught him, they might think he was doing something perverted, or worse (at this moment), wise to what he really was doing. He manages to get out okay and checks him wallet. "Damn,", he says, "this is going to take a lot out of my checking account."

Meanwhile, the girls went their separate ways to shop for each other (not knowing Shinobu also came along). Peter decided to tag along with Su, since he got along with her the most. "So Peter", Su asks, "What should I get Brandon? I mean, he has tons of stuff, doesn't he? Kinda reminds me of me a little…" :3

"How so?", asks Peter.

"Well, he's heir to a major video game company, and I'm a princess."

At this, Peter's mouth drops. "Y-Y-Y-You're a PRINCESS?!!"

People begin to stare and whisper. Su bonks him upside the head. "Quiet! I don't need people knowing who I am!"

"Sorry.", Peter mutters.

Meanwhile, about a block away, Shinobu was looking for a present for Motoko. "She's always the hardest to find for…", she thinks.

Someone then catches her eye. "Was that Brandon?" She follows the figure, trying to blend in with the crowd. She then sees a man with roughly the same height and hairstyle that Brandon has enter a toy store. "Heh, silly me. Just a coincidence, I guess."

Shinobu then hears someone yell, "Hey! Some guy fell down here!", and goes to see what the problem is. She sees the backs of two familiar people. "Su? Peter?", she asks, and the two whirl around. "Shinomu! How's your studying going?", Su exclaims. Shinobu responds, "I was lying about that. I didn't want anybody to know I was going to shop." Su teases her, then explains the situation. "We heard this ruckus and came to see if we could help." Peter then adds, "Unfortunately, we don't know who it is yet, having not seen him and all…"

They make their way through the crowd and see a young man lying on the ground. Peter immediately recognizes him.

"Bro!", Peter exclaims, " What are you doing here?!"

Brandon weakly smiles and replies, "…Christmas shopping…" , before passing out.

"We need to get him back to Hinata House!", Shinobu says.

They take Brandon (as well as all the things they, bought, which made it more difficult) back to Hinata House. As Peter helps him to his futon, outside the room, Shinobu and Su were talking.

"Why would he shop with a cold? I don't understand…", Shinobu says.

"I think he wants to make it up to us.", Su replies. "Here, take a look at these…", she adds.

Su pulls out two small boxes that are clearly from a jewelry store. Shinobu opens one and is awestruck by the diamond necklace she pulls out. On the tag, it says, "To Maehara Shinobu From Miyamoto Brandon. By the way, sorry I screwed things up."

"It's beautiful…", Shinobu gasps.

"It's one point three charat diamond, and its FLAWLESS." Su replies. "He really wanted to make it up to us."

"That dummy…", Shinobu says. "Now I'll have to get him something completely different…"

Su chuckles, "Heh heh, how about we BOTH give him something special?"

Shinobu ponders, then says, "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

Sorry this chapter was shorter than the others. Yes, Brandon went all out to make up for messing up (although he really didn't mess up, he just got a nosebleed). Anyways, next chapter, there will be fan service. Lmao. Yeah, I aim to please. But I haven't said what KIND of fan service it was. You'll just have to wait. Please review, and the next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it up (with this cold and all).