Christmas Mission:

It was late into christmas eve, Everyone was asleep in the house where the old woman and her three granddaughters lived. That is, aside from two six year old children who were still awake past their bedtime, sneaking their way to the living where the Christmas tree stood.

"I think we're safe, nobody heard us." the boy whispered.

"Are you sure? Grandma may not look it, but she has really good hearing…" the girl whispered back.

"If she had heard us she would have stopped us already."

The girl nodded, the two kids let out a sigh of relief before taking a seat next to the tree.

"Now we just wait, The Christmas Mission can start! Objective: Meet Santa and prove he exists!" Said Kairi.

"Yeah! Santa, not real?! we'll show you Riku!" Sora said.

"Totally! He's gonna look really silly when we tell him we met Santa! I bet he already put him in the naughty list for what he said!"

"How long do you think it will take for him to show up?"

"Well he has to go through the whole world and we don't know where he'll start, so it might take just a bit… or it might take the whole night."

"Huh… I never stayed awake a whole night… that's… a lot of hours…"

"Hey! you're not getting cold feet, are you? If you leave me alone I am never talking to you ever again!"

"W… What?! Really?!"

"...No." she admitted. "But still, don't leave me alone, it's scary…"

"I wasn't going to! I want to prove to Riku how wrong he is too, and I would never leave you alone!"

"Okay… I believe you." she nodded. "I guess now we just need to wait."

And they waited, and waited, and waited more.

"It's a bit boring, isn't it?" asked Kairi eventually.

"Yup." Sora Nodded.

"How about we play a game to kill time? Grandma taught me a pretty fun and easy one." she suggested.

"Beats doing nothing, how is it played?"

"One of us must think of something, and the other must guess what it is, To find out they can ask questions but only Yes or No ones." she explained.

"Sounds simple enough."

"Alright, I'll start then, think of something and I have to find out what it is."

"Okay, hmm… Done, I thought of something."

"Is it in an object?"

"yes."

"Do you use it often?"

"yes."

"Your wooden sword."

"What?! Already? How did you…"

"I just know you too well, Sora." she giggled. "My turn, give a moment…"

She took a moment to think about it. Soon enough she had decided.

"Go ahead." she said.

"Alright, is it an object?"

"No."

"Is it a person?"

"Yes."

"Someone you're close to?"

"Yes."

"Someone you dislike?"

"No."

"Someone you like?"

"I eh… Yes…" She answered, feeling her cheeks starting to heat up.

"Someone you like a lot?"

"Well… Yes…" Her heart was beating faster.

"Is that someone in this house?"

"... Yes."

"I got it! Your Grandma!" he said proudly. "She's the person you like most in the world, It has to be her, right?"

"... Yes, You are completely right, I was thinking of no one else." she lied with a nod as she started calming down. "Your turn!"

They kept playing for a few more rounds, managing to forget about their boredom for a while.

"Alright, next…" Kairi said as she tried to think of something else for him to guess, but a sound came and put an end to the game, as Sora's stomach growled loudly.

"Wow, sounds like someone is really hungry." Teased Kairi, before her stomach growled just as loudly.

"And I am not alone." Sora teased back. "Didn't bring anything to snack on though…"

His eyes darted towards the milk and cookies on the table, but Kairi was quick to bring him back to reality.

"Don't even think about it, No one touches Santa's cookies!" she warned.

"I know… I know…" he said, shaking his head.

"Besides, Kairi came ready!" she said, looking through her pocket and bringing out a bag of Gummy Blocks. "Only managed to snag one without Grandma noticing. She doesn't like me eating sweets at night, but we can share."

"Don't you think disobeying your grandma is a bit… Naughty?" he asked.

"This is for an important mission! Santa will understand." she assured him.

"... Well if you say so!"

Opening the bag, she put her hand in and picked one randomly.

"I wonder what taste I'll get first… and it's… oh." She looked at it with disappointment. "Black licorice Chocobo… Ugh…"

"Hey, if you don't want it, I'll take it."

"Still can't believe you like black licorice…"

"Hey, it's not my favorite, but it's still good."

"You weird me out sometimes… whatever, as long as I don't have to eat them." She took the black chocobo and stuffed it in Sora's mouth. "Means more of the good ones for me."

She grabbed a raspberry Ifrits gummy, tossing it up so it would land on her mouth, as it did she looked up and noticed something dangling above them.

"Hey Sora, Look at that."

"Hmm? what is it?" he asked before looking up as well. "Isn't that one of those things they hook up during christmas? the Missile toe or something like that?"

"Yeah, I think so…" she nodded.

"I didn't see it before… Isn't that the thing where if two people are under it they have to…"

Sora's sentence was interrupted, as he suddenly felt Kairi's lips hit cheek, making him panic and stumble.

"W… What are you doing?!"

"W… W… Well it's a rule of christmas, isn't it? T… that means Santa must have come up with it." she stuttered. "I Don't want to be put on the naughty list because I didn't follow the rules."

"You think that can happen?!"

"Well it's like at a school, isn't it? If you don't follow the rules you get punished."

"Right… eh… Kairi… I don't want to go on the naughty list either… So… Can I…"

"I… I don't want to be best friends with someone on the naughty list! so go ahead…"

Both of them were glad they were in a dark room and they couldn't see each other's red faces. The nervous boy got closer to the girl's cheek, her heart pumping faster the closer he got. When his lips touched her it was less of a kiss and more a quick peck, the boy too flustered to make it last any longer, but it was enough to make the two of them so embarrassed they couldn't speak a word for quite a bit.

The awkward silence settled in, both of them stewing in their embarrassment, the only sound left was of them munching on the rest of Gummy Blocks, until the bag was empty and there was nothing left but silence.

Some more time passed, and the two of them had started feeling sleepy, Sora almost dozed off a couple times. But then he noticed Kairi rubbing her hands together and blowing on them, it had gotten pretty chilly since they got there.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"Just a bit… But I'll be alright…" she said, rubbing her hands faster.

Seeing she didn't seem to get any warmer, Sora got scooted closer. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

"S… Sora…" she blurted in surprise.

"Whenever It gets cold, My mom always hugs me, and it starts feeling warm." he explained. "Is it working?"

"Yes… I think it is." she smiled and hugged him back. "... You Miss your mom, don't you?"

"I do, but she'll be back soon, so it's alright." he assured. "Thanks for asking your grandma to let me and Roxas spend Christmas here."

"It's nothing, You know she loves you guys, you're always welcome here."

Their voices started getting weaker, the warmth they gave each other making them even more sleepy.

"I… Can't sleep yet… I can't… leave you alone…" Sora said, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Don't be silly… Even if you sleep, you're not leaving me alone… You're always with… me…" Kairi was struggling just as much.

Sora was the first one to fall asleep, his head landing on Kairi's shoulder. The girl could tell she would follow him soon, so she rested her head on his, sad that their mission was a failure…

But as she was on the verge of dozing off, she heard a bell, and then someone walked into her line of vision. While her tired eyes and the dark made it impossible to see their face, she recognized the iconic red and white outfit, But she could also see it was a woman.

Who she assumed was Mrs. Claus approached the tired girl, kissed her forehead, opened her hand and put something in it. Kairi wanted to say something, but she couldn't stay awake any longer. Her eyes closed and she drifted to the world of dreams.

"I swear I saw her!" Kairi said the next morning when she and Sora met up with Riku.

"I don't believe you." Riku said stubbornly.

"She came! She even gave me this Sleigh Bell!" she insisted, showing him the gift she found in her hand in the morning.

"You could have gotten that anywhere, Just grow up already guys, there's no Santa Claus and there's not Mrs. Claus either, the sooner you admit it the better you'll feel."

With that Riku walked away from the both of them.

"But… I saw her… I am not lying…" she said with sadness in her tone.

"I believe you." Assured Sora. "Sorry I fell asleep, If I could have seen her myself…"

"Don't apologize, I fell asleep not too long after… Just, Thank you for believing in me."

"Well I know you're no liar… well most of the time." he teased. "I wonder why Miss. Claus showed up instead of Santa."

"Maybe the world is just too big, even Santa needs a little help, so they work as a team."

"Kind of like us, huh?"

"... Yeah, kind of like us."

Out of sight, Kairi's grandmother was listening with a smile.

"Children should be allowed to dream for a bit longer." she thought to herself.