Family Christmas
Old Fiat
I've given up using Oka-san and Oto-san…
EIJI'S FAMILY:
Go—oldest boy, 24
Sakura—oldest girl, 20
Michiko—youngest girl, 19
Kojiro—second-to-oldest/youngest boy, 16
Eiji—youngest, 15
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The Kikumarus
"Hoi! Hoi! Hoi! Hoi!" Eiji bounced around the hallway. Kojiro rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Shut up…" he said quietly, almost a whisper.
"It's CHRISTMAS!" cheered Eiji.
"That's right," said Mr. Kikumaru, his flannel bathrobe wrapped tight around him. "It's Christmas. And give your mum a few more minutes to finish up the food."
"Hoi! Hoi! Hoi! Hoi! Hoi!" bounced Eiji. "Hurry up, mummy!!" he called down the stairs.
"You can all come down now!" called Eiji's mother, and there was a loud pounding as all the Kikumarus descended the stairs.
The living room was a big and cold, but Mr. Kikumaru turned up the heater and they all began to open their presents. Eiji was so excited, he dodged around the breakfast his mother attempted to hand him and attacked his pile of presents.
"Grandma! Grandpa! Thank you so much!" he chirped, his layered hair bouncing with the rest of his body.
Finally there was only one present left.
It was well under the tree, Kojiro, being the tallest, had to lie on his stomach and reach as hard as he could to grasp it. He pulled it out; the silver wrapping had a red ribbon on it and a fair amount of pine tree needles. Small holes were cut in the wrapping paper and the box itself. He flipped up the tag.
"Eiji," he handed it to him.
Eiji looked at the tag too. To Eiji, From the Seigaku Tennis Club. Eiji thought it was odd that he should get a present from the whole club; he'd already gotten one from Oishi and one from Fuji. He also noticed he hadn't seen it when he had looked around under the tree last night before bed.
"Mummy, Daddy, when did this come?"
"Tezuka-kun brought it over after you had gone to bed," Mrs. Kikumaru grinned. "He was ever so polite."
"Hm…" Eiji ripped off the wrapping paper and pulled off the lid of the brown cardboard box to find…
"A KITTY!!!!" Eiji shouted. His smile grew. The little kitten meowed, its white fur had spots of brown and black and around its neck was a little collar. The tag was heart shaped and said Chrysanthemum.
In the bottom of the box was an envelope. Eiji opened it and read;
'Kikumaru-sempai-- This is Ryoma, but the whole team help really. I hope you like the cat; I found it on the side of the road and couldn't help but pick it up. I knew Oyaji wouldn't let me have another cat, so I took it to Bucho, but he has allergies. So we all decided to give it to you, have fun with it. –Ryoma Echizen
Eiji's eyes filled up with tears.
"Chrysanthemum!" he said with glee hugging the little kitten.
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A/N: The kitten is named Chrysanthemum because Kikumaru (according to Yoshiko-chan's site) means 'chrysanthemum of perfection'. So I thought that would be good.
-OFSI