Merry... New Year's, everyone. I understand it's a little late to write a Christmas story, but I didn't have time to revise this one properly until today. I hope it warms your hearts a little anyway!

Kairi sighed as he removed the roll of wrapping paper from the closet. Yet another Christmas had arrived, and that meant more housework than usual, annoying commercials on the television his sister loved so dearly, and excessive cries of "KAIRI! MORE BEER!" booming from his older sister every 5 minutes. Despite the hassle the holidays carried, Kairi managed to not only survive the crisis, but also enjoy the spirit of the season. In fact, he looked upon Christmas with a merrier perspective this year, now that he was able to spend it with the valuable friends he had made.

Tadase Hotori, the king of the guardians, was both a faithful friend and worthy rival in love. The queen of the guardians, Rima Mashiro, appeared cold to anyone at first, but cared quite a bit if only one could gain her trust. Kukai Souma, the cheerful jack who preceded Kairi, could be... rather annoying... at times, but he was loyal and dependable in times of disaster. Nagihiko Fujisaki, the jack following Kairi, was a kind, bright fellow who shared many interests with him. Although the Ace chair, Yaya Yuiki, was often childish and silly, she was a sweet girl in her way.

Around the time the two collected poppies for this year's graduation ceremony, Kairi started to suspect that Yaya was in love with him. However, he knew Yaya would have to suffer many tribulations to pull him from the grasp of the Joker, Amu Hinamori. While Kairi had failed to confess to her a second time, he was still madly in love with her, which was no surprise. After all, she was the one responsible for warming his once-cold heart in the first place. His feelings for her had only strengthened over the past months. Not even the rival affections of Amu's other suitors could shake the recurring thoughts of her from Kairi's head. Although he couldn't help but desire her as his own, he only wanted her to end up with the man who could make her the happiest. He desperately hoped he was that man...

As he started to wrap the presents, he tried his hardest to ignore the "mumblemumblewhere'smybeermumble" coming from the hall. The "Hmph. Well, I appreciate the thought," his sister would give him on Christmas would be worth listening to the droning complaints. He hoped for joy on everyone else's faces (Well, except maybe Rima's) once they received their gifts. He had expended a lot of time and effort into each of the presents, carefully picking them to suit everyone's interests.

The first one he wrapped was a special edition DVD of the Guardian's favorite movie for Nagihiko. The deleted scenes and bonus soundtrack were certain to please him. A cute keychain with a character Yaya adored was sealed in a small yellow box with a ribbon the same color as the ones in her , Kairi wrapped a pack of cleats in turf green paper. Kukai had been complaining about the wear on his old cleats for a while, so Kairi decided to surprise him with new ones of the same brand.

For Rima, he wrapped a small squirting daisy in red tissue paper and boxed it. He wasn't quite sure what to buy for her at first, but then one day he saw Rima and Kusukusu giggling at the flower, and thought it as an appropriate gift. (Of course, he was also prepared in case they decided to soak him with it.) He also found it hard to find a gift for Tadase, but noticed the king was fretting over his lack of envelopes and pens, so Kairi bought a stationary set and pack of pens for him.

After wrapping each gift, he realized he forgot to wrap the gifts for Yukari, Utau, and Ikuto. Of course, Yukari was his sister, so he had to give her something nice. While he did not consider either Utau or Ikuto close friends, his sister was Utau's manager, and Ikuto was Utau's brother, so Kairi felt he should gift them as well.

The other guardians were a different matter. While Kairi knew it seemed a little crazy to give presents to so many friends, he felt he owed them greatly after all they did for him. Once he finished wrapping their gifts, he thought to himself. If he hadn't met the guardians, where would he be now? He never would have discovered the true path to his dream. Perhaps he would still be at home, shifting through endless piles of work that his old school assigned. He could have even forgotten his dream, and then Musashi would've been around no longer. Yet here he was, supervising Kairi as he started on his final project.

"Kairi, those stitches are too far apart."

"Oh, you're right. Thanks."

Now that he realized exactly how precious the things his friends introduced him to were, he couldn't just ignore everyone on Christmas. He didn't care if he received anything more from them, so long as he properly thanked them. He was never obsessed with the aspect of getting presents on Christmas, anyway...

A few hours passed, and soon, Kairi finished his final present. Unlike the other gifts, this one was handmade by Kairi himself. He made sure to wrap his special gift carefully in shimmering pink paper. Finally, he tied a ribbon he had decorated himself onto the box. Musashi rolled his eyes at the distorted drawings. Okay, so maybe Kairi wasn't the best artist, but he was pretty sure no one would care about the ribbon. After all, no paper, bow, or even present would ever matter as much as the thought put into them. Kairi was sure that the person receiving the gift would understand. Although his sister kept begging him to tell her who would get the cool present, he refused to do so. He decided not to let anyone know until Christmas day.

But if one saw the card suits drawn onto the ribbon, one wouldn't find it hard to figure out the intended recipient...

I'm pretty sure almost any reader could guess by now.

Hope you enjoyed this tale. I tried to keep everyone's character as accurate as possible (except Yukari's, for comic relief).

See you!