DISCALIMER: I do NOT own Beyblades, only my OCs.

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Chapter 4: Oh Tannenbaum

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The Hiwatari's winter retreat was not what you would call a cabin at all. It was more of a large rustic house. It was a two-story log cabin type building but at the moment the front was hidden because it was covered with snow, which was piled up to the balcony on the second floor.

"You said it might snow mom," Amara grumbled stepping onto the slushy driveway, her skate shoes soaking in the water as she got out of Brian's truck. "You didn't say there was already going to be about ten feet of it."

"Oh Amara," Nancy rolled her eyes.

"This is a snow retreat Ams," Brian came up behind Amara and handed her the ratty brown suitcase. "There's going to be snow." Amara stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"You made it," Vicki Hiwatari came out of the cabin to greet them.

One look at Vicki Hiwatari and there was no doubting where her oldest daughter got her looks. The girls had inherited their sandy blonde locks from their mother. She was very young looking, no one every thought she was her age. People had mistaken her and Leanne for sisters at times. She was always a sociable hostess. Amara had always liked the woman she was like a second mother to her. Of course Amara had seen less of Vicki when Kai and her stopped being such great friends. Vicki had obviously noticed it too since she kept hugging Amara and telling her how much she missed her.

"You look great," Vicki gushed leading Amara into the house with one arm around the younger girl's waist. "I remember you being such a pudgy little thing but honey there isn't an ounce of fat on you." Amara offered up a weak smile but didn't know what to say. She silently allowed herself to be guided into the front entry of the house.

"And she doesn't even try," Nancy added filling in the blank air that Amara had left. "She's young, the pounds just drop off her."

"Mom," Amara hissed with a quick glare. The group who had just arrived had now entered the kitchen where Kai, Holly, and Neil were sitting at the table playing cards. "Can we please skip the weight talk?"

"Oh honey," Nancy rolled her eyes.

"Amara!" nine-year-old Holly jumped out of her seat and hugged Amara. The younger girl was only three inches or so shorter than her. "I missed you."

"Hey Holls," Amara greeted her after the shock of the warm welcome had worn off. "Long time no see."

"You need to come over to our house more," the small blonde pouted. "With Lee lee gone, I need at least one big sister." Holly crossed her arms and stuck out her bottom lip. The angelic blonde was use to getting her own way.

"Sorry, Holls," was all Amara could reply very much aware that everyone else in the room was watching and listening.

"Well Amara, it's good to see you again," Neil Hiwatari stood up and embraced the girl that had once been like a third daughter to him.

"You too," Amara mumbled against his sweater. Neil stepped back and smiled at her. Amara smiled back, the first genuine smile she had given anyone all day.

Neil Hiwatari had been her father's best friend and a second father to Amara and Brian. When Amara stopped being around their family it was as if she had lost two fathers instead of just one. Amara could never hate Neil or Vicki. Their son on the other hand was a different story. She stole a quick glance at Kai, still sitting at the large wood table with a hand of cards.

"Come Amara, we'll set you up in a room," Vicki spoke breaking the moment between Amara and Neil. Amara gave Neil one more smile then followed Vicki out of the kitchen.

The kitchen moved into the dinning room and living room. The far wall opened up with all windows and a vaulted ceiling. The fireplace was in the center of the couches. It was round with a red vent that traveled up through the open second floor and through the roof. There were two bedrooms off the living room. Upstairs was the loft and two more bedrooms. There was also a basement, which held the pool table and then two more bedrooms.

"Nancy, you can take the room upstairs beside ours. Brian can bunk downstairs with Kai," Vicki rambled. "Amara you can either sleep in Holly's room or take the other room downstairs."

"Stay with me! Stay with me!" Holly clapped her hands together and jumped up and down in front of Amara, her blonde curls flying.

"Well I guess Holly made my decision for me," Amara shrugged and allowed the child to lead her to the room that they would be sharing for the next few days.

The room was on the main floor and right next door to Leanne. The room contained a bunk bed, a dresser, a desk with a computer, and a telephone.

"You can put your clothes in the closet," Holly said excitedly. Amara had hardly noticed the little girl had been talking to her. "I left two of the dresser draws for you too. I wasn't really sure if you were staying with me but I thought I should leave them for you just incase."

"Thanks." Amara put her suitcase on the bottom bunk and opened the lid to empty it. She placed her shirts in one draw and hung her snow gear and sweatshirts up in the closet. Holly watched her from the comfort of the top bunk.

"You gonna snowboard tomorrow?" Holly asked. The small girl was lying on her stomach with her chin resting on her hands with her blonde ringlets framing her face.

"I guess. Who else is going?"

"Mommy doesn't ski or snowboard so I think she's gonna stay here with Aunt Nancy. Daddy is skiing with me and I don't know what Lee lee and Brian are up to." Amara smiled as the little girl rattled off all the information. "I guess that leaves Kai to snowboard with you."

"Yeah," Amara replied half-heartedly. She knew there would be no way around it.

Her mother would never let her go by herself and she didn't want to miss going. She hadn't been able to get up to the ski hills since she had been working most days since the season started. It looked like her only option was going to be to spend the day with Kai.

"Holly… Ams… do you want to go with dad to find a tree," Leanne called from outside of the room.

"Oh goody," Holly jumped down from her bed and scampered out of the room. Amara laughed at the girl's enthusiasm. Amara followed behind her at a slower pace.

There was a time when the thought of going and hunting down a tree was exciting to her too. The thought of finding one with Kai Hiwatari around didn't really giver her reason to jump for joy.

Fifteen minutes later Amara joined Holly, Kai, Brian, and Neil in the Hiwatari's SUV. Leanne, Vicki, and Nancy chose to stay behind and find all the decorations that they kept in the cabin.

"Are you sure you don't need me to help?" Amara had asked trying to avoid going with group to find a tree. As much as she wanted a say in picking it out she didn't really feel like being with Kai. It would probably be best for everyone if Amara stayed away from Kai, well that was her theory anyway.

Vicki had urged her out the door. "Go have fun with them sweetheart. The three of us can manage."

So now Amara was crammed in the SUV between Kai and Holly. Brian had gotten the front seat since he was the oldest and of course Neil was driving. Holly was chattering away excitedly to Brian and her dad. Kai chose to stare out the window. He was doing a good job of tuning out his sister. Amara envied him a little. It wasn't that she didn't love Holly but she was a little too annoyed to take much of anything at this point and the child's mindless chatter wasn't helping.

"Here." Kai handed Amara a small earphone. Amara hadn't even noticed that the small headphones had been in his ear. Kai had on a toque, which covered his ears. Amara smiled at took the earphone from his hand.

A familiar song filled her ears drowning out some of Holly's chatter. Amara was pleasantly surprised in Kai's taste in music. The song belonged to a local band that most people she knew didn't listen to. She couldn't help but sing along with the lyrics.

The ride was much more bearable after that. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the tree farm. Amara took the earphone out of her ear and handed it back to Kai. He too took out his earphone and left the portable CD player on the seat. Neil borrowed an axe from the owner of the farm then the five of them tromped through the snow to pick out a tree.

"Oh, this one daddy," Holly skipped through the snow and pointed at the first tree in their path.

"I think we'll need one a little bigger than that, sweetheart," Neil told his youngest child. Holly frowned for a second but was not discouraged. She continued to run ahead of the group and point out random trees. It didn't seem like she was taking her father's words to heart because she kept picking trees that were smaller than the first one. Amara smiled at Holly's enthusiasm.

"How about this one?" Amara found herself saying at the same time as Kai. They were both standing on opposite sides of the same tree and pointed it out simultaneously. Kai looked over at her and smirked. Amara shot him an evil look and then turned to see what Neil thought of the tree.

"Well I'm not sure which one of you to give credit to but good choice," Neil said walking over. Brian followed.

"Good choice you two," Brian complimented the two teens.

"I like this one daddy," Holly bounded over and offered her input.

"It's a good tree isn't in munchkin," Neil patted the child's toque covered head. "Kai and Amara have good taste don't they?" The small girl nodded her angelic curls bouncing.

Brian and Kai took turns swinging the axe at the thick tree trunk.

"Care to take a whack at it, Ams?" Brian paused to ask his sister.

"Why not," Amara shrugged and took the axe from her brother. She worked up a bit of a sweat trying to cut it down. Finally it looked like it would fall. "Timber!"

"Nice work Amara," Neil praised her with a smile. Amara smiled back feeling as if she had accomplished something even if she only hit the tree a few times.

The three males picked up the tree and they started the walk back to the shed to pay for it. Amara followed close behind carrying the axe. Holly skipped beside her singing 'Oh Christmas Tree' at the top of her tiny lungs. Neil paid for the tree and then the three men tried to tie it to the roof of the SUV.

"One…two…three…heave," Brian dictated as the three of the lifted the large evergreen onto the SUV roof. Amara stood there waiting with the rope in her hands.

"Okay Ams, throw the rope over to this side," Neil called from the opposite side of the vehicle.

"Heads up," Amara called back throwing the rope as she said it.

A few minutes later they had the tree secure and they headed back to the cabin. Again Kai offered Amara the tiny earphone and she willingly accepted. Holly had started chattering again as soon as they were all back in the vehicle.

" Wow, that's a big tree," Vicki told them as Neil, Brian, and Kai stood the tree up in the stand in the living room.

"Oh Tannenbaum," Leanne said with admiration. "That is one nice tree. Who do we owe the credit to?"

"Kai and Amara," Neil replied casually shifting the tree to the best side.

"Really?" All three women turned to the two teens with looks of surprise and delight.

"Yes," Neil answered not really picking up on the importance that the woman were taking out of the situation.

"Well isn't that nice," Nancy smiled wrapping an arm around Amara's shoulder in a sideways hug. Amara rolled her eyes. Kai just stood there rather shell shocked.

Women read into things way too much. Who ever thought that something as simple as agreeing on something would mean so much to them.

"When we gonna decorate? When we gonna decorate?" Holly asked excitedly turning everyone's attention away from Amara and Kai. Amara made a mental note to thank the younger girl later.

"As soon as someone puts the lights on," Vicki answered giving Holly a hug.

"Well I think that's a man's job," Brian said puffing out his chest. Leanne chuckled. "Come on Kai, you and me."

Kai and Brian pulled the tangled strands of lights out of the box and attempted to untangle them. Unfortunately the two of them kept knotting up the other person's strand, which just made the whole thing even worse. The woman sat back and watched them in amusement. Finally Leanne couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, I'm helping you," she took the strands away from Brian. "It's painful to watch." Everyone in the room laughed except for the two boys.

"I think we were doing a fine job," Brian told his girlfriend defiantly. Leanne smiled and gave him a quick hug in worry that she hurt his feelings.

"A fine job of making a mess," Amara quipped from her seat on the couch. She thought she had just mumbled the comment to herself but Kai had better hearing then she betted on.

"You think you could do better?" Kai addressed Amara holding the lights out to her.

"Yes, I do," Amara got up and snatched the strand out of his hand. Amara and Leanne set to work on the light strands leaving the boys to do nothing. They stood back with their arms crossed and watched the girls work.

"Well that was a little easier than I thought," Kai shrugged his tone was low as if he didn't want the girls to hear him but hoped they would.

"And you doubted me," Brian elbowed him. "I told you we could get them to do it if we just made a mess of it all."

"What was that Brian Jones?" Leanne looked up and glared at him.

"Nothing," Brian replied with an innocent look. Leanne got up ready to knock him out. She did manage to wrestle him to the floor, playfully smacking him. By the end they were both laughing.

The adults in the room just sat back and watched the interaction between their children. It was like how things use to be before Amara pulled away and Brian and Leanne moved to California. Their families had always been tight. Vicki and Nancy had been friends since elementary school and their friendship had passed through many trials but was still as strong as ever. It was hard seeing two of their children not getting along.

Amara and Kai stood back and watched the interaction between their older siblings. There had been a time when they would have done the same thing to each other. Sometimes they would join in and the four of them would all wrestle each other to the ground. It was usually a girl versus boy game. Instead of joining in they just stood there. Amara stole a glance at Kai and realized he was looking at her. He smiled then looked down at the two people on the floor.

"Say uncle," Leanne shrieked with a huge smile on her face. She had successfully pinned Brian to the ground.

"Never, vile woman," Brian growled back. Leanne continued to cackle at his discomfort since a girl beat him.

"You two are so childish," Amara rolled her eyes at them. She sat on the floor and diligently tried to untangle the light strands. All eyes in the room were on her but she told herself not to look at them. Amara knew she had killed the moment

"Well…" Neil broke the uncomfortable silence that was hanging around them. "Why don't you kids finish decorating the tree while me and your mothers get dinner started."

"Okay daddy," Holly replied naively. She didn't seem to understand the situation or she was trying to help it. The others followed suit taking the ornaments out of the boxes. Brian took the light strands that Leanne and Amara had untangled and started to drape them around the tree.

An hour or so later the tree was done and so was dinner. The two families crowded around the dinning room table and sat down to the warm meal that Vicki and Nancy had prepared.

"Everything looks great," Neil complimented them.

"I hope you all enjoy it," Vicki smiled placing a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.

"I hope your daughter cooks half as well as you do Mrs. Hiwatari because I can't cook at all," Brian said stealing a glance at his girlfriend who was sitting beside him.

Slowly everyone else looked up from their plates and eyed the young couple. Amara looked at the people around her. Nancy and Vicki looked a little surprised by the comment but Amara could see them calculating. Neil looked as if he knew what was going on and was smiling like a man with a secret.

"That's an interesting statement, Bri," Amara eyed her brother critically knowing he was up to something. He was never very discreet when he had a secret.

"Well since it seems I have all your attention now would be a good time to tell you that Leanne and I are going to get married." Leanne beamed at Brian clasping his hand in hers.

Suddenly the table was in a total uproar. Everyone seemed to be talking at once. Congratulations and questions were thrown back and forth. Amara followed suit getting out of her seat and hugging her brother and future sister in law. Her big brother was getting married which meant even more change to Amara's already quickly changing life.

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THANKS TO ALL THE REVEIWERS

StarAngel Caelum SunSoar: You are lucky…thanks for the review.

Midnight-Devil: I am the queen of stopping at the good part…lol…but I thought I wasn't being that torturous in this story…Thanks for the great review ;)

Obs3ssi0n: I'm sorry there was no Kai in the last chapter, I promise there will be more of him in chapters to come. I didn't even realize that he wasn't in there until you mentioned it…lol…he was talked about a lot though. Thanks for the review ;)

x1nfernal: Thanks for the review ;)

Shaedowe: They will more than likely get together later but not for a while since Amara still hates Kai. Thanks for the reviews ;)

renamineangel: Wow, I'm glad you like my fics so much. Thanks for the review ;)

Scarlet Witch 41: Thanks for the review, I know what you mean about school being hard and then it keeps you away from things you love…like reviewing…lol. I'm glad you still found time to review though. Thanks ;)

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Till Next Time

Miss Wright