Author's Note: There isn't much for me to say at this moment except, Merry Christmas! I'll try to update for the New Year but I can't guarantee because I have to work on my Fairy Tail story. Anyway, here's what you've been waiting for! Read, Review, Rejoice!

Chapter 6:
A Holiday Just for You
(Part two)

When the three arrived to the shopping district, Mr. Aoi separated from the group. He said it would be better if they bought the gifts separately, for a better variety.

Shizuma and Nagisa stuck together even though they would be buying separate gifts. Neither knew this, but they both had bad shopping habits. When it comes to grocery shopping, Nagisa can't be beat. She can find the best deals on any food item no matter where she was. However, when it comes to shopping for things other than food, she's hopeless. Nagisa would spend hours on end trying to pick out something if time allowed. Most of the times, she would usually end up going home empty handed and waited until one of her friends needed to go shopping and she'd go together with them.

Shizuma on the other hand, was a compulsive shopper who would buy any and everything she likes, even if she'd never use it. This being the result of having way too much money and nothing to do with it. Separated, they'd be hopeless, but maybe together they'd make better decisions.

"How's this?" Shizuma asked. They were in an up-and-coming clothing store that recently opened.

Nagisa was so distracted by the flashy and overly lavished clothes on the rack in front of her, she didn't bother to look as she responded. "That's great Shizuma."

"At least look before you say that." Shizuma whined.

Nagisa sighed, "Fine." She pushed back the dazzling dress that had caught her attention for quite some time, wondering where someone could possibly wear something of the sort. She looked up at Shizuma and her face instantly flushed red. "Why would you buy something like that… for my mother! It's practically strings!", Nagisa yelled pointing at the violet colored lingerie.

"Obviously I meant for me, but if I did buy something like this for your mom, I'm sure Mr. Aoi would appreciate it." Suddenly she laughed, "Then again, my intentions might be… misunderstood."

"Come on Shizuma! Focus! At this rate, we won't be able to find something… in …time."

Shizuma noticed Nagisa's auburn eyes trailing past her. "What are you looking at?"

"It's been awhile.", an angelic voice called from behind her.

Shizuma quickly turned with a finger playfully placed on cheek. "My, my. I'm not sure whether to call this a stroke of luck or not."

"It's nice to see you again, Etoile-sama." Hikari smiled.

Nagisa quickly ran to embrace her friend, both giggling happily. "I'm so happy to see you Hikari-chan! I'm surprised you're not with Amane-san!"

Hikari blushed. "I am. This place was close-by and I heard it recently opened, and I wanted to shop a little. So Amane brought me,… but it seems I've lost her in my excitement."

"Close-by?" Shizuma interrupted.

"Ah, to the meeting spot I mean." Hikari pointed out.

Nagisa looked up at her wearing a quizzical expression. "Meeting spot? Meeting for what?"

Hikari quickly placed a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I thought you were here because you were called by Chikaru as well."

"Chikaru called us and we heard that she called a few others from Astraea Hill as well." Amane explained as she proceeded toward the three. "I didn't expect to run into Shizuma in a place like this."

"Wherever my Nagisa is, that's where I'll be." Shizuma announced as she held said red-head into her possessive embrace. "But how interesting, it seems there will be an early Astraea reunion for us!"

"Well if it isn't my born rival. What brings you to this side of town?" Kaname asked with slight hostility.

The dark-haired girl in question had been dominating the Karaoke stage of the arcade. In addition there were three others, two of which chose not to sing, while the other was flipping through the selection book.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" she asked.

"I don't recall ever considering you a friend, Chikaru."

"Ah, is that so?" Chikaru feigned ignorance. "And I always thought we were so close. Right Momomi-san."

Kaname looked down at her girlfriend with a scowl, "You knew? And you brought me."

"You're the one who was complaining all that time I was gone about how bored you were and how you needed mental stimulation or else you were going to die." Momomi defended. "Chikaru happened to contact me before your bombardment of calls. At first, I didn't plan to come, but after you kept complaining, I decided that we would come."

"How is this supposed to help me?"

"You wanted mental stimulation, here she is. Who better to challenge your mind with than Chikaru, your sole rival?"

Kaname thought it over for a bit before an arrogant smirk formed on her features. "Fine, I accept this challenge if for no other reason, but to crush my one contender for greatest mastermind."

"Thank you, this will be fun. We can discuss your proposal another time though. Right now, we're waiting for the rest of our invited guests."

"What is this gathering for anyway?"

"Just a get-together for birds of a feather." Chikaru laughed. "It was made easier by the fact that most of us ended up coupling off anyway. Amane and Hikari, Shizuma and Nagisa, Yaya and Tsubomi-"

The fore-mentioned girl shot up, a blush as bright a pink as her hair, covering her face. In a fluster she argued, "Wha… Who ever sa- said that Yaya and I… that over-energetic girl… were a couple!"

Yaya dropped the song book and playfully grabbed onto the younger girl's shoulders. "You'll have to excuse my dear Tsubomi-chan, Chikaru. She's still in the denial stage. I'll loosen her up soon!" the raven-haired girl joked.

"Quit saying those weird things you pervert! Don't just grab onto me like that!" Tsubomi yelled as she whacked Yaya across the head.

"You two!" the blonde girl finally stood, obviously irritated. "As products of Spica you should know better and thus conduct yourselves better and more appropriately in public. Honestly!"

"And of course some people never change." Momomi commented. "Isn't that right, kaichou?"

"We've already graduated, you don't have to stay so uptight. You're not the student council president anymore and we're no longer students of St. Spica." Kaname added. "Well, most of us in any case."

"I see you two have finally hooked up though." Momomi winked at Chikaru.

"We were only waiting on Shion to realize after all. But all that waiting eventually paid off. After all, patience is a virtue."

Shion blushed. "Well, if you already knew you should have just said something." she argued.

"Let's put this behind us, after all, some more of our group has arrived." Chikaru pointed at the group of girls just forcing their way into the building.

Immediately Shizuma made her presence known as she announced, "How dare you all rendezvous without calling me? It's only manners that I be one of the first called!"

"I see you were able to make it after all." Chikaru smiled. "Sorry Shizuma, but I heard that you were already situated in the area, not to mention that you have that impeccable trait of always avoiding meetings and such." she explained. Nagisa laughed.

"That was only when attending meant more work for me. Why would I have done that when I could go patrolling for cute flowers to pluck?" Shizuma retaliated, earning a jab from her cherry-haired lover. "Anyway, we only stopped by, Nagisa and I were shopping and we absolutely need to finish in time!"

"It was nice to see your face again. Thanks for going out of your way just to come see us." Chikaru waved. "I have a strong feeling you might be seeing me again fairly soon."

"Hmm? You say something just now Chikaru-san?" Nagisa asked.

"Me? Not after thanking you for stopping by."

"Well then… Bye guys!" Nagisa waved quickly as she saw the streams of silver pushing back through the crowd, leaving her behind.

When the couple disappeared from their vision, Chikaru stood and smiled. "I think we should probably switch spots now. Moving back and forth through that crowd would probably prove to be a hassle."

"Fine by me!" Yaya agreed. "My throat was starting to get dry and between you and me, no one else was singing anyway. Tsubomi is a waste of a good voice."

"Yaya-senpai is a waste of a good voice! All you did was sing anime songs anyway!" Tsubomi defended.

While the two quarreled yet again, the group continued to discuss without them. "I know the perfect place, why don't we head on over to that new pizza place down the road with the so called amazing recipe. What do you think, Kaname?" Chikaru offered.

"I guess I am a bit hungry." Hikari added. "We haven't eaten for the day did we, Amane?", to which said girl shook her head.

"Ah, come to think of it we haven't eaten either. Guess that would be a good idea." Shion added.

"… Fine, I see where you're going with this Chikaru. However, don't expect any of your bills to lighten my pocket." Kaname decided.

Shizuma and Nagisa returned to shopping, but this time they changed location to a gift shop. A little more appropriate and easier to find little knick-knacks Mrs. Aoi might like. They searched the entire store but they weren't able to find anything.

Next door was another very popular clothing store, and again the pair tried their luck. This time however their gift hunting landed them in a particularly difficult situation. While the two were looking around at shoes, two masked men shattered the doors of the building, on carrying a handgun.

The two quickly made their way to the cashier while another two of their accomplices appeared in the front of the building, again only one of the two armed with a handgun. Those two made rounds through the whole store, the armed one taking the right side, and the other man took the left, the side Shizuma and Nagisa were on.

Nagisa who was panicking only felt her heart leap when one of the gunmen shot a warning fire, ordering everyone to get down. She felt the tears slip out her eyes, this was the first time Nagisa had ever been in this kind of situation. She looked up at Shizuma for comfort, but Shizuma's eyes carried a mysterious glint and she seemed to be slightly smiling.

"Nagisa." She whispered. "I didn't know things like this happened outside of movies, it's kind of exciting!"

"Shizuma don't you realize what's happening here? This is a robbery, we're hostages!" Nagisa explained to her as quietly as possible despite her thumping heart.

Shizuma, who's heart was thumping for a different reason only seemed to get more excited. As the man approached them with a bag, he yelled "Put whatever ya got in the bag! Things will be much cleaner if you cooperate quietly and just put the money in."

"Do you want just the money, or do you want our wallets too?" Shizuma questioned the robber.

"Shizuma!" Nagisa scolded in as hushed a voice she could manage. "Don't provoke him."

"But it was a simple question. I don't feel I asked anything wrong."

"Tell ya what smartass, I'll cut you and yer friend here a deal. Just put the cash in, it's easier to deal with anyway." The man offered.

"Is that all?" Shizuma sighed almost disappointed with the lack of thrill, preparing to pull the bills from her wallet.

"Plus…" the robber added with a grin. "The red-head's coming with me. I like 'em when they got that innocent look on their face. It's fun to mess 'em up!"

He grabbed at Nagisa's arm viciously, only to receive a violent punch to the jaw. Shizuma acted on reflex, but was able to knock the man over. She quickly grabbed onto Nagisa defensively.

As the man got back on his feet, he rubbed his jaw, grimacing with a dark scowl. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE BITCH!"

"Don't you dare lay a finger on my girlfriend!" Shizuma threatened.

The man reached into his pants pocket, grabbing something in his fist. His fist was swift, but Nagisa caught eye of something that shined slightly and made her heart drop.

"Shizuma, Stop!"

Author's Note: Yea, bad note to end my Christmas update on, I know! Oh Shizuma, I've put you in yet another dire situation. I'll try and update as soon as possible, but again I won't be able to have it up by New Year's. Until then, Merry Christmas!