Roy: Wow, that was fast.

Well, I've been working all day. I'm feeling rather proud of myself.

Marth: Good Job. Today's special guest is... Katan herself!

Katan: ... (blink)

(Crickets)

Link: You don't have to shy. This is just a pre-story talk.

Katan: Um... Hello.

Good girl! Now someone disclaim please!

Link: Pyro Aru doesn't own squat.

Marth: except her ideas.

Roy: She does have plans on taking over Nintendo someday. And giving me more credit.

Katan: Don't look at me!

Young Link: Onward to Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Under the Mistletoe

The next week past, with the usual group making a lot of trips to Eula's weapon shop to autograph the replicas of their weapons Eula had made. The five sword masters made sure not to set down their actual swords, in fear of mixing them up. The replicas were very well made.

Finally, the morning the meeting was to be held came. The smashers meet in the Main Common room instead, after a change had been made. Luan had yet to return, and the killer had been silent. Someone did thought they saw someone sneaking away from the building though. DK was still recovering, but he was now allowed out of the hospital wing. He had thanked Katan so much, Katan was beginning to wonder if she should have just left him. (Lets just say she was getting annoyed.)

"Welcome, Smashers. Today is the day that the Cursed Mistletoe will be getting hung up, so you'd all better watch out whom you hang out with while walking through the halls. First I shall talk about the dance. I have gotten several requests to allow outsiders in for the dance. Crazy and I have decided to allow outsiders in for dances from now on."

There were some cheers from the smashers. Master Hand silenced them. "Also, we will be voting for a cutest couple at the dance on Christmas Day." Murmurs came from the crowd. "And all smashers are not required to come, but it is also a Christmas party, so please attend. Now, we are also going to have Secret Santa!"

Cheers came from most of the smashers. "Now, I have put everyone's names into this hat. Luan's name is not going to be in here, since he told me he was going to be out until a couple days after Christmas." Katan nodded. "So everyone's names are in here. Who ever gets Zelda and Sheik, well, I wish you good luck. I will be hanging a list up on the Main Hall doors that includes everyone's biggest wish for Christmas. It will only include the wishes for those who actually put their wishes on there, so please go and sign it as soon as possible.

Mario took the hat and past it around. Samus and Young Link got themselves while choosing, so they had to choose someone new. Roy reached into the hat and pulled out a name. He quickly covered it with his glove, then peaked at it. Katan. It said. His heart leaped. He had gotten one of his friends!

Ganondorf blinked at his paper. Popo seemed to look frightened, yet confused at the same time. Fox grinned at his. Kirby held his close, as if taunting someone to look at it. The smashers all had their own ways of expressing what they thought of their choice.

"Psst, Roy." Link whispered. "You, me, going to the mall, Saturday, okay?"

"Okay. Who did you get?" he whispered back.

"Marth. You?"

"Katan."

Link grinned. "Maybe we should take Zelda along." Roy nodded.

The smashers all began to chat. Master Hand then silenced them. "Now, bring your presents anytime, preferably when there is no one in this room. The tree will be brought in tomorrow. This year, who wants to help with the tree?"

Hands went up. Link grabbed Roy's hand.

"Okay, how about Link, Roy, Marth, Katan, Mario, Fox, and Captain Falcon, Mario being the leader. Meet here tomorrow afternoon. Peach, Jigglypuff, Popo, Nana, and Zelda are in charge of decorations, Ganondorf, Kirby, and Luigi are in charge of meals for the next couple of weeks. Samus, Mewtwo, Bowser, Ness, and DK if he feels up to it are in charge of firewood. Pikachu and Pichu are in charge of lights, and Young Link, Dr. Mario, and Falco are in charge of drinks. Agreed?"

A chorus of yes hit Master Hand. "Well then, we'll get to work tomorrow. And before you go, I'll warn you that the Cursed Mistletoe will change its own position every hour. It may end up in your doorways. So be careful! Dismissed!

The smashers almost left the room together, when they saw something hanging over the door. It was mistletoe. The Mistletoe was silver and gold, with little red berries. Cursed Mistletoe. Zelda grabbed Link and walked under it, giving him a giant smooch on the lips. The mistletoe shook, as it were alive, then let some fine dust fall from its cursed leaves. Zelda sneezed, while Link gave her another kiss and they were gone. There was some laughter as other couples walked under it, kissing their girlfriend or boyfriend. Katan couldn't help but laugh. Peach and Mario were about to go under, when it suddenly disappeared. It had moved somewhere else.

The rest of the day was spent dodging the randomly appearing mistletoe. Katan stayed with Samus and Zelda most of the day, not even daring to walk under it with the two girls, though they proved it didn't work with same sex couples.

Katan laid down wearily in her bed. She felt more tired than she should have. The day had been filled with laughter, especially when Popo and Nana had been caught in a door way by the cursed mistletoe. She couldn't wait. Peach and Samus had invited her to go to the mall to get their gifts for secret santa after a bit of decorating and getting the tree tomorrow.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door, and a little soft "Pi…" Katan got up and opened the door. There was Pichu, looking terrified. He had gone to bed early, like a good youngster should.

"What's the matter, Pichu?" Katan asked.

"I had a nightmare." Pichu cried. Katan scooped him up in her arms.

"There there, tell me what happened." Katan cooed softly, closing her door and taking Pichu to her bed.

"There was a monster…" Pichu hiccupped while he was sniveling and crying. "And he pushed me in the water. And I couldn't swim, so I died!" he let out a wail.

Katan smiled. Her brother used to have nightmares. "Its okay, you can sleep in here tonight." Katan offered.

"Really?" Pichu looked at her, sniveling.

"Yes. Shall we go get your blankey and scarf?" Katan asked.

"Yes, I'd like that." Pichu hiccupped again. Katan smiled, then carried him out the door, sticking her dagger in her pocket. They trudged silently down the dark corridor to Pichu's room. Katan opened the door…

Suddenly, water came whooshing out of the room. Katan jumped back, but she still got soaked. Pichu let out a little screech.

"Pichu!" Pikachu and Jigglypuff came flying out of their rooms, and Marth and Peach also appeared.

"What's going on?" Marth asked sleepily.

"The Killer just tried to kill Pichu!" Katan wanted to scream, but she managed to keep herself calm. She squeezed the little mouse, who was now wet like herself. She imagined seeing a shadow disappear through Pichu's window inside.

"It's okay." Roy appeared, holding a towel. Katan then realized Pichu's room was next to Roy's room.

She gladly took the towel he handed her and began to dry off Pichu, who was now sobbing harder than ever. Marth and Peach had hurried off to find Master Hand, while Pikachu and Jigglypuff bravely entered the room. Almost everything was soaked. The stuff on the shelves were dry, seeing as the water had only been up to about Katan's height. Katan stepped in, still hold Pichu, and looked at what was on the shelves. Then, with relief, she saw Pichu's scarf, along with some extra bedding for the cute little mouse. She grabbed these, giving Pichu his scarf.

Dr. Mario arrived and looked over Pichu. He looked to Katan. "Keep him warm and dry. He's gone into shock and needs a lot of comfort right now."

"Yes, sir." Katan nodded. Mewtwo and Ness appeared, and they went into the room, kicked out the two other pokemon, and went to work with their psychic powers.

"Katan, bring Pichu to my room. You two can sleep with me." Roy called, looking a bit grim.

"Thank you, Roy." Katan walked back to her room, Roy following for protection.

The next day, Pichu and Katan could not be separated. Katan got taken off the group for fetching a tree and instead got to help with the lights. They worked on untangling the lights, and allowed Pichu to amuse himself by allowing his unused electricity to turn the lights on. It helped a lot, allowing Katan and Pikachu to find dud lights and replace them.

By the time the tree arrived, the mansion had gone through a magnificent change. Peach's toads were running to all the rooms and giving them a change for Christmas. It was amazing. Almost all the rooms now had a cozy fireplace with large overstuffed armchairs. The firewood group brought some firewood in and stacked it in the firewood closet near the huge fireplace in the Main Common Room. Dreamy smells came from the kitchen, while the drinks groups had gone off to buy all the drinks they could use.

Fresh bread was cooling off in the kitchens while the cooking group was making a meal out of whatever was left. They were going to go out and go on a major grocery-shopping trip.

Finally, the tree arrived. It had taken all of the group to carry it in, it was so large. They took it into the Main Common Room, where Katan helped out.

She stuck the base on the base of the tree. She then pushed down while the others pushed up on the thinner end. The tree flew forward suddenly, nearly squashing Katan's foot, but Pichu pulled it out of the way in time. The tree was big, at least three times the size of Bowser. Almost immediately, toads, Zelda, Jigglypuff, and all the other decorators attacked the tree. Soon, the three who had been working on the lights joined in. Peach had her toads decorate the rest of the mansion with lights as well.

The Garden in the middle of the mansion (The mansion is shaped as a giant square with a hole in its middle. There is a garden and fishpond in the middle. There are a few balconies that over look the garden, while the outside ones overlook the fields, forest, and the fountain.) was soon covered with tiny lights and the few little trees in it were also covered with lights and weather proof ornaments.

One of the trees was covered with silver tinsel. Each of the smashers put an ornament on that tree and the one in the Main Common Room. The ornaments were "hand made" by Master Hand and given to the smashers. Each one was something they liked; a dove, lovebirds, a music note, a spark of lightning, a scarf, a dragon, a sword, whatever the smashers liked. Some of the smashers gave each other ornaments for their personal trees that the Toads set up in the rooms too. Candles were set out, holly hung around rooms, Cursed Mistletoe getting in the way, and so much activity going on. Soon, the mansion was done. Decorations were everywhere, stockings hung over the fire place, and the tree, the beautiful tree. The decorators had done a marvelous job on the tree. It almost didn't look real, it was so beautiful.

Finally, Master Hand inspected the house. He looked at the decorations, the food in the kitchen, and the tree in the common room. He looked at the tree, then reached into a pocket and brought out a star. It was glowing softly. He lifted himself into the air and put the star at the top of the tree. Everyone began to cheer. It was going to be a good Christmas.

Another week came and went, leaving only a day and a half until Christmas Eve. Roy still couldn't figure out what Katan would love. He had already gotten her some chocolate caramels, like it had said on the list that she liked, and a new dagger, but he wasn't quite sure what else she would want. He had also put a silver ribbon in a little box to give to here to tie her hair up. He was very curious of what she had gotten for her friends, or what his secret Santa got him. He wrapped the dagger carefully in tissue paper before wrapping it in a special paper his father had sent him for wrapping. It was supposed to be made from a plant on the Dread Isles and that Lord Pent and Lilina made it for him to give to his special someone. He remembered how he had once had a crush on Lilina. But Lilina loved someone else. His friend Wolt. Now he was glad she didn't love him, but was only a close friend. For now, his mind was focused on Katan.

He couldn't deny her beauty, or her mastery with a blade. Even in battle she was beautiful. He wondered if she felt the same.

"Roy?" Link banged on his door.

"Come in, its unlocked." Roy called.

Link came in. "Hey Roy, how is your gift wrapping going?" Link grinned. Roy thought about the bow that he had gotten for Link from Eula. He hoped that he liked it.

"Great, this is the last one. For you know who." Roy told him. Link suddenly grinned.

"Roy, you should tell her how you feel." Link smiled softly at his friend, who stiffened up. "And don't deny it. You've been so caring for her ever since you two met."

Roy blushed as he finished wrapping the present. "I know I should, but…"

"You're too timid." Marth finished. He stood in the door way, closing the door behind him.

"Yes." Roy sighed.

The three were silent. "Say, can you help me carry these presents downstairs? I can sneak in my secret gift." Roy asked.

"Sure." Roy picked up Katan's secret gift. The not secret gift he had gotten her was a carving of a little dragon with blue eyes. Not anywhere as blue as hers, but still a pretty little blue.

The boys carried the presents downstairs. The looked and saw several smashers outside playing in the foot and a half of snow. "Lets go join them!" Marth put the presents under the tree, then rushed to his room. Link and Roy grinned, then disappeared to their rooms. When the three came out, they were dressed for the cold temperature. Marth even had a hat. (Not that Link still doesn't have his hat.)

Popo, Nana, Pichu, Pikachu, Ness, Katan, Young Link, Zelda, and Samus were outside. Katan and Pichu were making a snowman that looked like a deformed version of Kirby. The Ice Climbers, Young Link, Zelda and Pikachu were making an igloo, while Samus and Ness were having a snowball fight.

"Hey there, mind if we join you?" Marth asked.

"No, we don't mind." Young Link grinned. Marth joined the snowball fight, Link building the igloo, and Roy joined the snowman building.

Marth threw another snowball, but it missed both Samus and Ness, and hit Young Link. Young Link thought it was Roy, so he threw one at Roy. Roy threw one at Popo, and soon the snowman and igloo were forgotten as the smashers split into teams for a major snowball fight.

Ness threw a ball and hit Katan in the neck. She let out a shiver. Great Katan, you didn't wear a scarf. She yelled at herself.

"Here." Roy gave Katan his scarf. "I think it's a little too warm for me."

Katan stared at him for a moment, her heart beating. She slowly took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. It was warm and smelt of Roy.

"Thanks, Roy." Katan smiled at him.

"No problem." He smiled back.

The snowball fight lasted until after dark. Only then, when the smashers were freezing, did they go inside, kicking the snow off their boots. Katan and several of the others took hot showers to get the feeling back in their numb bodies. After she dried her hair, Katan slipped her bare feet into some slippers and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. She stopped at Pichu's room and waited for the little mouse. Finally, he hopped out and cuddled in her arms. She really couldn't wait for the dance tomorrow. But she still didn't have the guts to ask Roy if he was still free.

While she made her way to the Main Hall for dinner, she ran into Roy.

"Hey Roy!" she tried to feel brave. Every time she ran into him her heart seemed to flutter.

"Hi, Katan." Roy smiled at her.

Pichu had spotted the food in the Main Room. "I'm going ahead, Katana." He squeaked and zipped into the Main Hall, leaving Roy and Katan alone.

Roy looked at her. He wanted to ask her if she was free for the dance. But he couldn't open his mouth.

"Say Kat…" he managed to begin.

"Yes?" she blinked at him.

"I was wondering…" Roy hesitated. It shouldn't be this hard! "Well… I was wondering if you wanted to go to the dance with me…"

Katan blinked. "Um… Sure, I'd love to Roy!"

As if someone were making fun of them and the awkward position they were in, a bit of the Cursed Mistletoe suddenly appeared above them. Katan didn't notice, but Roy did.

"Oh…" Roy looked at it dumbfound. It seemed to be mocking him. Katan looked at what he was looking at, and her face went first white, then red.

The looked at each other. "I guess… we have to kiss…" Roy gulped.

Katan blushed some more. "Yeah…"

Each waited for the other to make a move. Finally, Roy grabbed her around the waist and kissed her.

It wasn't a short little embarrassed kiss. It stretched out. Roy was surprised that she didn't pull away. He wanted to go further, but he couldn't breath. They broke apart at the same time. Looking back up, the mistletoe was gone, but the little powder was sprinkling down on them. Suddenly, they heard clapping. Looking over, they saw Link, Zelda, Marth and Samus. Marth was clapping, his eyes looked teary.

"Our little Roy and Katan are growing up." He leaned over on Link's shoulder and began to fake cry. Katan laughed, very embarrassed. Roy joined in, and the group went into the Main Hall. Katan seemed a bit distant now. Pichu waved to her from his place with the other young smashers. She waved back weakly.

Dinner wasn't very extravagant. Just some pasta Luigi had made. After that, the smashers retired to their rooms. Pichu and Katan disappeared into her room, Roy to his, and the rest of the usual group to Marth's room.

"It's too bad they kissed because of the mistletoe." Zelda sighed. "I know that Katan really likes Roy."

"Same with Roy. He told us he was too timid to tell her though." Marth was actually acting serious for once.

"We should try and set them up some how. Go to the mall, send them into some store together, do something." Samus told them. They looked at her. "What?"

"Although Samus doesn't usually talk about those kind of things, she's right." Zelda said.

"Roy's secret Santa." Link looked up. "Roy got Katan a present for secret Santa. We could talk to Master Hand about it. Have the 'Santa' take his or her secret Santa out of the room to give them their presents. I know Roy doesn't like what he gave Katan. He wants to give her something else. Maybe we should hint at telling her?" Link planned out.

"Yes, its perfect." Zelda smiled. "I'm going to Master Hand right now. Link, come with me, would you?"

"Yes ma'am." Link grinned, and winked at Marth.

Zelda and Link hurried to Master Hand's office. They knocked, and heard a gruff "enter" from Master Hand.

"Hello Master Hand." Zelda smiled. Peach and Mario were there too. They might be able to help. "Link and I, and Marth and Samus have a request to make."

"Yes?" Master Hand sat back in his chair.

"Well, you see, Roy and Katan, they sort of have a crush on each other." Link explained. "But they're both too shy to tell each other how they feel."

Master Hand 'nodded' at Link.

"So, we were wondering, if when we open the secret Santa gifts tomorrow night (They decided to open the secret Santa gifts on Christmas Eve) we could send each pair into the hall, or behind the tree, or into another room." Zelda explained.

Master Hand looked thoughtful. "I like the behind the tree idea. It will leave them hidden. I like it, but what will make sure they realize that they like each other?"

"Letters." Peach grinned as she saw the wondering look on her friend's faces. "We'll send them both letters."

"That's a good idea. We'll slip them under the door. We could wait until they are asleep and have Ness and Mewtwo get them to write their own letters too." Link grinned.

"That's-a great-a idea! You-a are such-a nice friends for-a them." Mario then pressed some buttons on an intercom. "Will Ness and Mewtwo please report to Master Hand's office?"

After five minutes, the two psychics came in through the door. "You called?" Ness looked at them both.

"Yes. Okay, here's the plan. We're going to…"

Roy opened his balcony. It was one of the inner balconies. He stepped out, looking at the snow in the garden.

"What about those ones?" came a squeaky voice. He looked and saw Katan and Pichu. They were looking at the stars.

"That is the Pegasi. He flies on wings of pure white with a mane of gold whipping in the wind. His hooves are like diamonds, hard and nearly unbreakable." Katan told the little mouse.

"Wow. Where did you learn all of this?" Pichu asked.

"From where I grew up, a place that isn't reachable by Nintenians, except the dragons. We had the same night sky, and my mentor showed me them all. I think I might invite my mentor and his lady to the get together. They were the only family I ever knew…" Katan looked sadly to the sky. "Other than Luan."

Roy smiled sadly and went back inside. He was tired. He climbed into bed, and was immediately asleep. As he slept, a tall dark figure snuck into his room…

Katan and Pichu looked at the stars for over two hours before Pichu finally fell asleep. Katan picked him up gently. He reminded her of her brother when he was little.

Katan settled into her bed after tucking Pichu into his little box where he now slept. Katan was like his big sister, and he was too frightened of the water in his room to sleep in there again. But Katan understood and gratefully took him under her wing. She thought of little more as she finally drifted off to sleep.

Roy: You wouldn't dare.

Heh heh heh...

Marth: How sad, Katan is going to be so sad.

Katan: I'm right here.

Link: Well, we don't want to make this long, so Read And Review!

I'm not so sure if I'm going to be able to finish another chapter tonight. Maybe. Also, we need someone for our next Special Guest. Suggestions are welcome.