Hey guys. I know you're all probably thinking "UGH YOU'RE LATE AGAIN!" Have no fear, this time I did it on purpose! Well, it's posted later in the day than I would have liked, but today was the day for it's arrival. That's because I just couldn't get myself to break this gift into two seperate chapters- because if I had, then day nine would have been a long one and day ten would have been a good...four paragraphs. So here you have both days nine AND ten!

"These are the most perfect gifts ever," Odd muttered to himself as he walked through the store, eyes down on the two bagged boxes in his arms. He had seen the items in a catalogue back when he'd first started this little gift venture, and he had immediately ordered them. He had been a little miffed that they had come in a day late, but he figured it didn't matter too much. At least he had them in time for today. He just hoped that Aelita would like-

"Hello Odd!"

Speak of the warrior. Odd quickly tucked his two boxes into his coat, thankful that the plastic bags helped disguise their shape, and then turned around to greet his pink haired friend. "Hey Aelita, what are you doing here?" he asked, eyes finding the bag for the clothing store they were both in hanging from Aelita's arm. "Christmas shopping?"

"Sort of," Aelita said with a smile. "I needed to exchange a size. You?"

"Just getting a last minute gift," Odd said. "I don't want to show up on Thursday a gift short." Aelita laughed.

"That's true. It's not much of a gift exchange without gifts."

This year, since none of the gang was going to be away from the school for Christmas, the group had chosen to get together Christmas day in Ulrich and Odd's dorm and exchange their gifts then. They were all excited about it, and had begun preparations two weeks earlier (they needed to stock pile food so that Jim wouldn't get suspicious of the party worthy amount of groceries that were going to appear in the boys' room).

"Speaking of gift buying," Aelita said suddenly, "You know who else I saw in the store today?"

"Who?" Odd asked.

"Everyone," Aelita answered. "I passed Jeremy when I was coming in and I saw Yumi at the counter, Ulrich was looking through a rack and now here you are."

"We must be stalking you," Odd said jokingly. He noticed Aelita's expression fall ever so slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," Aelita said, immediately brightening back up. She motioned to the bag she was carrying. "I'd better get this back to my room and wrap it." Giving Odd a final smile she headed past him and towards the exit. Odd waited until she was all the way outside before pulling his gift from the cover of his coat.

"She must think she isn't getting any more gifts," the blonde said to himself as he wandered into the racks of shirts and sweaters. "Oh well, tonight will change that. But first, Jeremy needs a gift." And with that Odd delved into the racks of sweaters, trying to find one he thought the blonde might like.

As he was digging through one side of a circular rack which held a red turtle necks, Odd noticed a familiar mess of brown hair sticking up from the other side of the rack.

"Hey, Ulrich!"

The head of Odd's roommate popped up from behind the sweater rack like a gopher from a hole, the brunet scowling at first, but then smiling when he caught sight of Odd. "Hey," he said, "Christmas shopping?" Odd nodded.

"You?"

"Same," Ulrich said. He glanced down at the rack of sweaters. "Well, I'm going to get going now."

"Me too," Odd said.

The pair continued to stare at one another for a few more seconds before scurrying off in different directions. However Odd hadn't gone far before he ducked down behind a shelf and crept back over to the sweater rack, grabbing one of the garments before hurrying off.

Unfortunately, do to his stealth, Odd missed seeing Ulrich as he too nabbed a one of the red sweaters.

Aelita sighed, having finished a sweep of her room, checking for any presents she might have missed. She had found nothing the day before that looked like dancing ladies, nor had she today found any leaping lords. It made her worry that her mysterious gift giver had not been one of her friends after all, but had caught on to her as she worked to catch them and were therefore scared off. Sighing one more time Aelita left her room, going early so as to meet up with Jeremy and ask him some questions about their math work before heading off to eat.

Dinner was uneventful, and neither Ulrich or Odd vanished off during the meal, leaving Aelita sure that neither one was the gift leaving culprit. Either way, when she got back to her room she would have one more look. If nothing turned up then she would assume the gift giver had vanished, and that was that.

After returning to her dorm Aelita knelt down to open the drawer under her bed to search out her toiletries before looking around and then heading for the shower. When she did, she caught site of two wooden boxes sitting atop her neatly folded sleep garments. Suddenly flooded with excitement, Aelita fumbled the boxes out and set them on her bed. Taking a deep breath, she opened the first of the two.

As the lid lifted a small carved ballerina painted in delicate shades of pink and white emerged and slowly began to spin. Accompanying the beautiful little dancer was music.

Some not so beautiful music.

Wrinkling her nose at the discordant sound of high notes, Aelita shut the box and turned to the next one, opening it warily. From inside this box came a carved man in a red and white ensemble-Aelita was instantly reminded of the nutcracker in Jim's office-and as with the first box, more music.

More not so harmonious music.

Shutting this box as well, Aelita frowned. These were strange gifts. Maybe they had come with some instructions, which she had left in her drawer? Checking , she rummaged about for a minute until she found the lost scrap of paper.

"Days nine and ten," it read, "Sorry for the delay. Open together!"

Raising an eyebrow, Aelita set the note down, and then did as it said, opening the two boxes at the same time. This time, the two different melodies came together, creating music that was, to Aelita, absolutely gorgeous. Resting her head in her arms she sighed, content to listen to the music for at least a few more minutes before she left.

Whoever it was leaving her all of these wonderful gifts, Aelita really hoped she would get to thank them.