Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I haven't been updating this one much, my reasons are below. The other reason is that I've been busy with Return of the Bat and I Love Being a Bad Guy, my Kuronue fics (and quite possibly the best fics I've wrote).

I may get this fic done by next X-Mas LOL I was going to rush it when I started, but since the PC breaking down until I'd already missed X-Mas, I didn't see the point in hurrying. Besides, this way I can get it pretty-well finished, and throw up a bonus chappie when the holidays roll around again.

I own nothing. Enjoy!

"What do you mean I can't use this card? I stopped by the bank yesterday to check the account balance and I checked it again over the phone before I went to bed last night! I know the account isn't empty!"

'How could this be happening?' He knew he had the money in the bank! Why was the computer rejecting his debit card? He hadn't got a credit card yet, and he hadn't brought his checkbook because he had the card. All he had was a couple twenties in his pocket. 'If the card won't go through, how can I pay for all this?'

The cashier in the blue vest took a step back when the customer service rep in red came to the counter. The red-vested woman tried the card as the mile of people behind Kurama in line started to say things about him that were a million times worse than anything the demon fans had accosted him with in the tournament. He was starting to think that Makai might be a safer place to spend Christmas...

"Still not working," the customer service woman said. She flipped the card over and read the telephone number on the back, then dialed it. She rattled off a few lines, what kind of card it was, her merchant number, all those goodies. A few minutes later, she thanked the person on the phone and hung up. "It seems that there was a little problem with the computer at your bank. They said that it should be up and running again tomorrow, but they can't get the debit cards to go through today. Can you write a check or do you want to pay cash?"

"I don't have my checks, and I put all my cash into the bank," he said. He thought about going to the bank to withdraw the money, but a lot of the things in the cart would be sold out before he got back, and with all the traffic, that was assuming that he made it back before the sale ended. The ATM was standing a few feet from him, but if the card wouldn't work, that wouldn't do any good either...

"Do you have ten percent of the total?" the red-vested woman asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You can put the stuff on lay-away for the same price as it was on sale if you have enough to pay ten percent down. Then you can come back and pick it up when your bank gets their computers fixed."

Kurama looked through the cart, did a little calculating, and decided he could do that. Too bad he didn't know what the lay-away line was like...

"Where is the lay-away department?"

"It's at the main back of the store, right out front from the stock room."

Kurama was horrified. 'The main back? I just spent hours trying to get this far, and now I have to go all the way back there again?'

There was no point fighting it. He could see a picture in his mind of Shiori opening her gifts. He had to do it. He kept reminding himself of that as he fought his way back toward the lay-away department...

On the way, he spotted an old lady that lived a few houses down from him. He used to rake leaves for her when he was a child. She was riding one of those battery-operated scooter-like contraptions with her cane propped up beside her legs.

"Good morning, Mrs. -"

"Outta my way!" she said, picking up her cane and whacking him with it, then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she ran over his feet with the scooter...

'I think I'm going to need medication by the time this is over...'

Just then, he saw Kairi and Shizuru. They were pushing carts, Shizuru in front and Kai right behind her. There was something funny about it... 'What's this?'

Both girls were coming out of the cleaning supplies aisle, and he saw some long things sticking up from the carts. 'Broom handles!' Shizuru had two brooms in her cart, at the main front, and they were crossed in an X shape, their ends hooked into the wire of the buggy to hold them in place. They were serving to part the sea of shoppers, or give them concussions; either way, people were moving. Kairi had done the same thing with a broom and a sponge mop.

'Next year, I'm staying near them...'

He turned to look over his shoulder, and saw Kuwabara at the check-out line, a big Spirit Sword over his shoulder? No. That couldn't be. He looked again and saw what it really was. One of those light-up toy swords. The expandable ones. He was thumping people over the head when they tried to cut in line. 'Even Kuwabara had a strategy this morning. If nothing else is accomplished here, I will have at least had a learning experience...'

He tried to fight his way to the back of the store, but he just wasn't going to get there. He thought for a few minutes, mostly about Kuwabara and the girls. Then it came to him. There was a steady line of people going to the toys department. He followed...

He looked around at some of the cheaper toys that had been placed on plastic strings here and there around the aisles. Impulse-purchase stocking-stuffers, basically. Finally, he saw exactly what he was looking for.

A jump rope.

It was one of the flimsy ones. Not much more than a vinyl string with a couple handles on the end, but that's what he wanted. They were in Christmas colors; some red with green handles and others green with red handles. He grabbed a green one. 'Perfect.' It was reminiscent of a certain whip. He removed it from the card it was stapled to and slid down one of the handles to reveal the knot that kept it from sliding off the end. He untied the knot and slipped one handle off. Now they'd get out of his way...

He stuck to the far end of the aisle, right next to the outer wall of the store. 'Fewer witnesses.' He waited until no one was looking then-

SNAP CRASH THUMP

He snapped the 'whip' at a pile of puzzles and board games at the end of an aisle, making them all fall and scatter on the floor. The people around started to panic and flee, not knowing what in the world just happened. The fox strolled on by the mess, rather proud of himself. Then the pride faded when he remembered that Kuwabara had been the one to give him the idea... It killed him to not be able to take full credit for this craftiness.

After taking out a few stacks of empty boxes, furnace filters, and shoe boxes, he made it to the lay-away line. Not because he had traveled all the way to the other side of the store, but because the line stretched out to the halfway point! And it branched off in all directions! There was going to be a heck of a battle when he got to the point where the line started forking off. He'd be here all day without the line cutters!

He noticed Yusuke was almost to the part where the line started branching off. He held up his right hand and pointed it like a gun! 'He wouldn't! Not here!' He was aiming for a man who was trying to cut into the main line. Things seemed to move in slow motion. Yusuke's standing thumb cocked back, something blue shot from his finger tip! The man grabbed his neck and cried out in pain!

Kurama was stupefied! How could he fire his Spirit Gun in public? And at a normal human, no less!

Then he happened to notice something at the man's feet; something blue...

A rubber band.

Kurama felt a wave of relief followed by a moment of doubt in his own intelligence. What had made him think that Yusuke would fire off a finger-round here?

Though he had definitely done damage. That much was sure. The line cutter was getting a bright red whelp on his neck where Yusuke had flipped the rubber band at. And it didn't help that it was one of the thick ones. That was going to leave a mark worse than any hickey the man had had in his entire life... If, that is, the balding, sweaty, little man in the t-shirt with the deep-yellow pit stains had ever had a hickey...

Yusuke had a whole bag of those things apparently. And he was not afraid to use them. He kept the cutters out of the lines, and probably saved the fox at least an hour of waiting in line...

The fox paid for the lay-away, and practically ran for the front of the store. He wanted out of here! And now! Just as he got outside of the exit – and his jump-rope-whip had provided plenty of assistance in getting him that far – he found yet another problem.

The man who had punched him was talking to a deputy outside. When he saw the redhead, he pointed and said, "That's him! That's the guy, Officer!"

All this, and now he was going to get arrested! The fox thought about running, but where could he go? There was another cop in the patrol car right in front of him! He couldn't use his powers out here!

Just when the cop started to walk to him, he heard a horn blaring. He looked up to see Shizuru leaning over from the driver's seat of her mom's SUV and throw open the passenger door.

"You coming?" she asked, smiling as she lit the first smoke she'd had in hours. Kuwabara and Yusuke were grinning through the window in the back.

He smiled and bolted for the SUV, the cop chasing him halfway there.

"Hey! Get back here! I need to talk to you!"

He dived into the passenger seat and Shizuru floored the gas, causing the door to slam shut just as the fox got his legs in.

"Rough day?" she asked.

"Where were you when I was a thief?" he asked. "You would have made an excellent get-away driver."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" Kuwabara said from the seat behind him.

"Yeah, don't remind me," Yusuke said, looking a little nervous.

Shizuru's road-rage kicked in full-gear. She was dodging pedestrians, slamming on the horn, yelling profanities that may have been too much for even Kuronue, and weaving the SUV in and out of the streams of traffic like she thought she was driving a hot-wheels car. Kurama was suddenly figuring out why they put those little handles on the roof right above the window.

It didn't get any better when her 'partner in crime' bolted out on that Harley. Kairi's pipes were loud, so the other cars heard her coming and slammed on the brakes. That let her get through and Shizuru could follow before they got moving again. There were a couple times the space was so tight that Kurama thought they must have greased the SUV down before they left this morning; there was no other way he could imagine it being able to squeeze through...

When they finally made it back to Kurama's house, he thought about falling down to kiss his driveway. He cancelled that when he thought about how foolish he would look. He didn't have to think much, though. Yusuke demonstrated.

"You guys go on home," he told the Kuwabara siblings. "I think I'm gonna hang out here with Kurama for a little while."

Kurama saw that the color still hadn't come back into the other boy's knuckles.

He was finally home. Out of the way of the holiday madness. Or so he thought...

"Suichi," he heard his stepfather calling. "I'm glad to see you're home. I need to get these lights up. Think you could help me?"

Of course he could help him get those lights up. What could possibly go wrong?

You know he's not getting off that easy! Please review! Just let me know you're still reading! That's why the other fics get updated sooner. Return of the Bat is getting mighty close to 200 (And Good Lord I can't wait to see that number!). See why they get priority?