It was Christmas morning. Juuzou awoke at 10:30, and he almost jumped out of bed. Then, he remembered he had no work that day. He reached over and grabbed his phone. Juuzou smiled when he saw he had a message from Sen.

Is 8:30 a good time for me to come over, it read.

Suzuya responded that that time sounded good, and then looked around at his apartment. It was a pigsty. He sighed, and climbed out of bed and got to work cleaning his apartment.

It was 7:00 at night when the place was finally presentable. Juuzou showered, and put on his cleanest clothes. He clipped on his suspenders and adjusted them so his whole outfit didn't look so… baggy. He put the red hairpins in as straight as he could, and then nervously ate three bags of gumdrops.

Right at 8:30, the doorbell rang. Juuzou gulped, heart racing. He opened the door to see Sen Takatsuki smiling at him. She was wearing a red turtleneck and black jeans and converse shoes. Her long hair was down. In her hands she held three perfectly wrapped silvery packages, with a red bow on the one on top.

"Merry Christmas!" she said.

"Merry Christmas!" Juuzou said. "Come on in."

Sen entered the apartment and placed the nicely wrapped gifts on the coffee table. "Do you want to make the cookies, and then while they're baking, open what I got you?"

"Sure!" Juuzou said, heart light with joy. He no longer felt awkward, he could be himself around the pretty author. "I got you something too."

"Really?" Sen said, eyes lighting up. "Thanks!"

The two walked into the kitchen.

"I brought my mother's recipe," Sen said. "She worked at a café, so they should be good."

"Alright!" Juuzou said. He glanced at the recipe, and then began to preheat the oven.

He pulled out a giant mixing bowl, and Sen began to tell him about the Christmas party she had gone to earlier.

"Someone spilled punch all over me!"

Juuzou couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not funny!" she said, failing to hide the laughter in her voice.

"Sure it is," Juuzou said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

They pulled out all the materials on the list that they needed and set them on the counter.

"First flour," Juuzou said.

Sen opened the flour, and threw a bit on Juuzou.

"Hey!" he said, unable to hide his grin.

He threw a bit of sugar at Sen, who, laughing, through back more flower.

"You're getting it in my hair!" Juuzou laughed.

Soon the two were throwing the flower and sugar at each other without a care in the world. Tears of laughter rolled down Juuzou's face, and Sen found herself laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. It didn't take long before they were both sitting on the kitchen floor laughing, covered in sugar and flour.

"Should we actually start the recipe now?" Sen giggled.

"Probably," Juuzou said, dusting himself off.

The two finished making the recipe with only a tad bit more throwing of the materials. When the cookies were finally in the oven to bake, Sen and Juuzou went into Juuzou's living room/bedroom.

Juuzou put his bulkily wrapped gift for Sen next the things she had gotten him. It looked even messier next to Sen's neat wrapping job.

"Sorry about how messy it is," he mumbled.

"That's ok!" Sen said. "It's cute."

Juuzou blushed. "Open yours first," he said.

"Ok!"

They sat down, and Sen ripped off the red paper, stopping to tear the red thread that bound it together. She gasped when she pulled out the new new notepads, pulling them out.

"I needed these so bad!" she squealed, throwing her arms around Juuzou.

She continued opening her gift, and she hugged the man again when she found the fountain pens. She hugged him for a third time when she saw the coffee.

"You remembered my favorite!" she exclaimed.

"I also made you a card," Suzuya said, handing her the paper.

She looked at it for a minute, and then she looked at Juuzou. There were tears in her eyes.

"I love it," she said, hugging him once again, this time for much longer. "Now open what I got you," she said when she broke the hug and dried her eyes.

Juuzou ripped open the smallest package. Inside was a set of pastels.

"These are so much better for drawing than crayons!" he said, heart full of joy.

"Yup! These can blend. I must warm you though, they're really very messy."

"Thank you!" he said.

He then opened the medium sized package. Inside was a sketch pad.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed.

"You needed something to use the pastels on," Sen said, smiling.

Juuzou then took the paper off the last and largest package. Inside was a clothes box. He ripped the tape off the sides, took the top off, and lifted off the layer of tissue paper.

He gasped.

Inside was a new pair of suspenders. They were red with yellow polkadots.

"I love them," he said softly, taking them out of the box.

"Really?" Sen said, biting her lip.

"Yeah!" Juuzou said, a glowing smile on his face. He stood up and held them up to himself. "They look like they would fit."

They talked for awhile, and then the oven beeped. Juuzou and Sen went into the kitchen, and Juuzuu using oven mitts, took out the sheet.

"I'm gonna eat that one when it cools," Juuzou said, pointing to a christmas tree shaped cookie.

"I'm not gonna eat any," Sen said.

"What? Why not."

"I don't like the taste. I just like making them."

"Oh."

They went back into the main room and sat on Juuzou's bed.

"Wow, it's already 9:30," Sen said.

"Yeah," Juuzou said sadly. "I'm going to have to be going to bed soon. I have a big day tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?"

"Well," said Juuzou. "Kiniko and I actually did some work, and we located an Aogiri base. It's in some abandoned building in the sixteenth ward."

Sen heart skipped a beat and her stomach twisted.

"Really?" she said, trying to sound casual. "So, you're going to have a raid of the place?"

"Yup!" Juuzou said. "Gonna cut up as many ghouls as I can."

Again, he saw something change in her eyes. It wasn't fear, not quite panic… Juuzou just couldn't put his finger on it.

A raid tomorrow? Sen's heart was racing. There was so much at the base, there was no way they could clear everything out by tomorrow. Plus, everyone in Aogiri had gone home for Christmas night. They would have to stand their ground.

Sen clenched her jaw and grit her teeth.

"That's cool," she said, trying not to stutter.

Her hands shook and her lip trembled, and her mouth was dry.

"Are you okay?" Juuzou asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," she said, his touch jolting her back to her senses. "It's just… my mother was killed by ghouls."

She didn't feel bad about saying that. It may have not been the reason she reacted, but the statement was not false.

"I'm so sorry," Juuzou said, hugging her. No wonder she flinches when I bring up ghouls.

He pulled away and looked into her beautiful green eyes. They were so pretty, and he brushed a teal strand of hair out of them unconsciously. She smiled. She had such a beautiful smile. Juuzou once again felt compelled to kiss her, and he didn't know if could fight it.

So he didn't.

He pressed his lips against hers, right then and there. She stiffened in shock at first, but then relaxed. Sen reached her hand around his neck and pulled him deeper. He kissed her the best he could; he had never kissed anybody before. Her lips were sweet like candy, but once again, there was something faint lingering behind the sweetness; this time a taste.

He could barely detect it, but Juuzou, just for a second or so, could've swore he tasted the metallic tang of blood.

Sen eventually broke the kiss, and she tucked a white curl behind his ear. She smiled at him, their noses almost touching.

"Now that was unexpected, investigator Juuzou Suzuya."