It had been almost three weeks since they had all looked at the house together and now it was painted and everyone was moving their furniture in. Well, Ichigo wasn't, her belly was too big and she was supposed to go on bed rest after Christmas. "Oh doesn't the house look beautiful?" Ichigo asked Lettuce as the two walked up the path that was now lined with rose bushes that would be all sorts of colors when they bloomed. "Yes and just you wait, Pai, Kishu, Tart, Ryou, and Keiichiro were busy the other day putting lights up," Lettuce said with a big smile. "Hey Lettuce you never told us what you wanted to name your baby," Ichigo said. "Nashi, if it's a girl, Pai wants to name it if it's a boy," Lettuce said. "I like that name, but we've all picked fruit names!" Ichigo exclaimed. "Let's hope that our mew genes don't pass on," Lettuce said as they linked arms and went inside for a cup of hot cocoa.
Later that evening they all walked out to the front of the house and stood outside the gate and Ryou turned on the lights. The stone walls had icicle lights hanging down from them as well as the porch, the gate had colored lights wrapped around the bars, a light up wreath was on every window, and the columns all had colored lights wrapped around them and the bushes were alternated between colored lights and white. There were even lights lining the path and the top of the roof. "It looks wonderful!" Ichigo said squeezing each man in turn. "Yeah, Pai, Tart, and Kishu did the stuff that went up too high and Keiichiro and I did the safe stuff," Ryou said. All the mews hugged their men and then they went inside and listened to the Christmas carols on the radio while they snuggled with their loved one and drank hot cocoa. "Tomorrow we must put up the tree," Mint said. "Yes, and we have to start shopping and wrapping, boys you are going shopping for girls tomorrow while we decorate the tree, and while you pick out the tree we will buy your presents. Girls if you want to get presents for each other, this goes for boys too, switch lists for your other friends so none of the people receiving the gifts you buy are there," Zakuro said. Everyone nodded and went to bed.
The next morning it was Lettuce's turn to make breakfast so she got up and looked around her room. She stretched and walked into her bathroom, with blue-gray tile and aqua walls, she walked up to the white marble sink with silver fittings and washed her face, hands, and then pulled her hair back into a ponytail so she could see what she was doing with out her now long hair falling in front of her eyes. She put a lime green silk robe over her white nightgown and walked down the flights of stairs to the kitchen. She pulled out eggs, milk, and blueberries. "Let's see what did Minto do with that cook book?" she said and rummaged through the cupboard till she found the large red book. She pulled it out and opened it to muffins. "Okay so I need cake flour, hm," Lettuce said and went over to the series of pink ceramic containers and picked up the one-labeled C. Flour. She made the muffins and they were in the oven when Ichigo appeared in the kitchen. "How'd you sleep tonight Ichigo?" Lettuce asked. "Awful, I had heart burn all night, the when I was ready to fall asleep the baby kicked and woke me up again! I don't think I fell asleep till 2," She answered and pulled out the OJ placing it and a glass on the counter top.
"I'm sorry, you know when you get heartburn you should ask Ryou to rub your back, that might help," Zakuro said entering the kitchen, "And maybe you should drink Apple juice, or something less acidic," Ichigo nodded and handed Lettuce the glass in her hand. She got out another 9 glasses and poured 3 of them full of apple juice and filled the rest with OJ. "I'm so glad I don't have many side affects of being pregnant yet," Lettuce said. "Yeah you're lucky," said a very tired Minto. "Well I made blueberry muffins so that should be okay," Lettuce said and hugged her friends. "Morning!" Pudding said perkily. "Morning," Zakuro, Minto, and Ichigo said in a halfhearted greeting. "What's wrong with them?" Pudding asked Lettuce. "They're having problems sleeping," Lettuce said. "Oh, poor, onee-chans," Pudding said and sighed.
"Good morning!" Ryou, Keiichiro, and Kishu said and walked in fresh and revived from a good night's sleep. A few seconds later they were on the floor with red marks on their faces. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Ryou shouted. "For getting me pregnant," Ichigo said and sat down on one of the bar tables. "I thought you were happy about that!" Ryou said. "Well I'm not because I was sick all night while you slept!" Ichigo said. "I'm sorry I didn't know," Ryou said and kissed Ichigo's forehead.
DING DONG"I'll get it," Lettuce said. A few minutes later, "Thank you! Pai come here and pick up this large package and put it in the dinning room," Lettuce called from the door. "I wonder what it is?" Minto said and walked into the front hallway Pai trailing behind. "It's rather large isn't it?" Zakuro said following. "Yeah what could it be?" Asked Lettuce. Ichigo opened it. "It's a crib with some assembly required." Ichigo answered. "There you go boys one more job to do while we go shopping!" Minto exclaimed as the girls all sat back down. The boys groaned. "Well its time for my shower, I'll meet up with you girls later," Ichigo said and stood and walked up the two flights of stairs and took a shower.
When she came down again all the girls were ready to go on their shopping trip. Ryou had slipped a list in her coat pocket.
Christmas Gifts:
Me: New Lazy boy
Kishu: Gym Membership worth one year
Pai: New Laptop
Tart: Sweetshop gift card
Keiichiro: New iron pan
Ichigo shook her head, 'At least now that he's my fiancé I have right to some of that money of his,' She smiled at the other girls and they were off.
Ichigo's list was already on a different piece of paper in her other pocket.
Christmas List:
Me: Gift card to Baby's Unlimited
Minto: New Mirror
Lettuce: Collectors edition of the complete collection of "Inu Yasha" Manga
Pudding: Cuddle Chimp from Furreal Friends
Zakuro: Husky Pup
She had to slip that into Ryou's hand before he ran out the door.
Minto checked her list again and thought, 'Man I'm going to be running around for a looong time,'
Christmas List:
Ryou: Office chair
Me: Cute boxers 'KISHU!!!!!'
Pai: Supercomputer programming software
Tart: Um... give him a teddy bear I wanna see what he would do 'you idiot he'll destroy it I'll just get him chocolate'
Keiichiro: Cappuccino Maker
Minto fingered her other list and smiled.
Christmas List:
Ichigo: Strawberry Slippers
Me: Parakeet
Lettuce: hm... how about a new pair of slippers
Pudding: Yellow monkey pillow
Zakuro: Purple Rose pillow (velvet) Pre-ordered
Minto smiled and watched the trees go by as Zakuro drove to the mall.
Lettuce was also thinking about what was on the list Pai had handed her before she picked out what she was going to wear.
Christmas List:
Ryou: Laptop
Kishu: food
Me: hugs
Tart: Candy
Keiichiro: mixer
Lettuce thought about the Christmas list she had put in Pai's hand before he went downstairs to help assemble the crib Zakuro's mother had sent them. Of course Zakuro wanted to throw it out but Ichigo said it was a light colored wood and she and Ryou would need it soon.
Christmas List:
Ichigo: Red rose Robe
Minto: Light blue Cloud robe
Me: pillows
Pudding: Monkey slippers
Zakuro: purple leash and purple collar (Ichigo is getting her a puppy)
Lettuce smiled she and Ichigo had been planning on getting Zakuro a puppy for months and finally it was going to happen.
Pudding was jumping up and down in her seat. She couldn't wait to go shopping. Tart was brief in his list but that was all she needed.
Christmas List:
Ryou: Cat
Kishu: cologne
Pai: Cooking lessons
Me: respect
Keiichiro: Cookbooks
Pudding had already asked Lettuce for cookbooks and had asked Keiichiro to give Pai cooking lessons so all he had to do was to shop for the other three. She was worried that Tart would throw away the list she had left in his pocket but she still figured she could go out later with one of the other boys.
Christmas List:
Ichigo: Black cat with green eyes
Mint: Ivory Hair brush
Lettuce: Subscription to Ecology's Future
Me: banana comforter
Zakuro: stainless steel doggie bowl set with Kuroi engraved in it
Pudding was excited to help her Onee-sans with getting Zakuro's present. She couldn't wait for Zakuro-onee-chan to see her female husky pup, Kuroi.
Zakuro was busy driving but she was trying to remember what was on the Christmas list Keiichiro had given her.
Christmas List:
Ryou: Well he's been complaining about his feet being cold, slippers
Kishu: He's been complaining about being bored because he's not fighting anyone... Gild Wars
Pai: Hm... he likes books... and he could always use more bookshelves, so bookshelves
Tart: he needs a really good friend; let's get him a little puppy, how about a beagle
Me: Your love
Zakuro smiled at the thought of what Keiichiro wanted. She also smiled at what she had decided on for her friends.
Christmas List:
Ichigo: She wants things for her baby; let's give her a baby's first Christmas ornament
Minto: She loves birds to death let's give her a dove ornament
Lettuce: She's a fish in the sea let's get her a fish
Pudding: She wants to be young again let's get her an Adventure Barbie
Me: I want to know what I'm going to get!
She smiled and then started concentrating more on what she was doing because she had just turned into the parking lot.
Zakuro parked and they all jumped out of the car. "Okay let's see well who else needs to go to the Circuit City store?" Asked Ichigo. "I do," said everyone except Pudding. "Okay how about we all go to Circuit City first, I'm sure Pudding could walk around with me and help me look for what's on my list," Ichigo said and they all headed towards Circuit City. When the girls finished buying things at Circuit City, Ichigo headed off to get Ryou's present at Lazy Boy. Minto headed off to get Ryou's present at Office Depot. Lettuce headed off to get Kishu's present, she was going to get him a gift card to his favorite restaurant. Pudding headed to the pet store to get Ryou's pet cat, and Zakuro headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get Ryou a nice pair of slippers.
They met up for lunch and went off to finish their shopping. When they finished up they loaded everything into the back of the car and drove home. Luckily the boys were off picking out two large trees, one for the foyer and the other for the living room. The girls hid the presents were the boys would never go, the tanning room closet. The last time they went in there they were killed because Ichigo, Lettuce, Minto and Zakuro had been tanning and they weren't supposed to be in there. (The boys that is)
The boys got back just as the girls were pulling the decorations out of the basement. "Wow, we thought we could catch you sneaking things in, darn!" Ryou said. Ichigo hit his arm playfully, but she had no idea how she was supposed to help Pudding keep that cat hidden in the tanning room. "Ha, got you," Minto said and poked Kishu in the stomach. Kishu frowned. "Boys you better hope you've got your lists! Bye!" Zakuro said and pushed them all out of the door. "Time to decorate!" Ichigo said excitedly. "How are we going to put on all the lights and things up high?" Asked Lettuce. "Hey Minto? Still got your pendant?" Asked Ichigo. "Yup!" Minto replied and pulled it out of her pant's pocket. Minto transformed and they all started to put things up. Soon it was 6:30 and the boys weren't home so the girls went into the kitchen and made dinner. While they were cooking the boys snuck in through the back door and put the things they bought in the workout room.
After dinner they all sat around the Christmas tree with the fire roaring and crackling. They drank hot cocoa and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. When it was over they all left couple by couple till only Lettuce and Pai were left in front of the tree. "Lettuce," Pai said, she looked at him, "How are we supposed to keep a cat and a dog together hidden in the same room? Or is it multiple animals?" Lettuce's eyes grew. "OH NO! Tart was getting a Beagle, Zakuro is getting a husky pup, and Ichigo and Ryou are both getting cats! Well at least OH NO! In each room we've got a cat and a dog pair!!!!!" Lettuce and Pai's eyes bugged out of their heads and they ran towards their rooms to grab the puppies. "Here we'll hide them in the pool house," Pai said and they put the puppies in the pool house.
The rest of the week went by quickly. On Christmas Eve the boys had all gathered in the foyer and they were waiting for the girls. First Pudding came down in her red and green plaid jumper with white turtleneck, white stocking, black Mary Janes, and a plaid headband to hold her hair back. "Pudding you look cute," Tart said and blushed when she took his hand. Minto came down next. She was in a cream turtleneck and long royal blue velvet skirt with a blue rose embellishment in the corner. She wore a blue plaid headband and a pair of black high heels. Kishu wolf whistled and said, "Hi, Sexy Momma, what you doing tonight?" Minto gasped and slapped a hand over Kishu's mouth. "Not in front of Tart and Pudding!" Kishu smiled and just held Minto around her waist. (All of them have their hair down)
Next came Lettuce she was wearing a forest green, knee length, long sleeved, velvet dress that had small blue roses and green vines that were around the collar, the ends of the sleeves, and as trim for the bottom. She was also wearing white stockings and some comfortable clogs. Zakuro came down next, she was wearing a simple purple dress, made of satin, it was long and had transparent sleeves.
Ichigo came down in a nice rose-hued velvet dress. It was strapless and went to her ankles, she also had a rose-hued shrug on with it along with rose-hued satin slippers. They turned on the Christmas lights and piled presents under the tree then left for Mass. When they came home they ate dinner and went to bed.
The next morning Pudding and Tart woke up jumped out of bed and knocked on every door waking everyone up. They got up and ate breakfast then walked into the living room. "Okay boys pick up your gift to your fiance or girlfriend in your case Tart and give it to her, girls do the same," Zakuro said. "Ryou if you want your Christmas gift from me you need to wait till this afternoon when it's delivered, I bought you that Lazy Boy you wanted," Ichigo said and kissed Ryou on the lips. "Thank you, and I know you wanted a gift card to Baby Unlimited but I got you that and this," Ryou said and handed her a small box it contained a girl as a pendant with March's birth stone as the dress. "Oh Ryou it's beautiful!" Ichigo said and Ryou helped her put it on.
Minto picked up a box and gave it to Kishu, "You asked for them," She reminded him when he opened the box to find a pair of boxers with hearts all over them. Everyone laughed and Kishu turned pink. "Well I got you what you wanted too," He said and picked up a silver cage that had been hiding behind the tree. Inside was a very small blue parakeet. "Kishu!" Minto exclaimed and hugged him, "I'm going to call her Buru-Berri!" Minto said. "Blueberry fits her," Kishu said and they kissed.
Lettuce picked up a box and said, "Here you go Pai," He looked confused. "But I asked for hugs," She smiled and said, "Just open it," He did. Inside was a card that said, "I love you and forever is my love, inside my heart is your coupon for unlimited hugs till death do we part," He smiled and they kissed and hugged (of course). "Well I got you what you wanted too," He said and picked up another box. She opened it to find a red heart pillow, "Oh Pai you had Lettuce and Pai embroidered on it!" She kissed him so passionately he looked like he was in a daze after that for about three minutes.
"Uh, here, Monkey," Tart said and thrust a large box at Pudding. "It's the comforter I wanted!" She shouted happily and glomped him. "Oh yes, here," Pudding said and handed him a card. It read, "You are Respected for being you, and I love you too, NA NO DA!" He smiled and hugged her.
Keiichiro smiled at Zakuro and handed her a box, "It's not what you asked for but I'm sure you'll like it," Zakuro smiled and opened the box. Inside was a book on how to train your pet dog. "What?" She asked with her eyebrows raised and Ichigo, Lettuce, and Pudding brought in Kuroi with her leash and collar on and bowl set in Pudding's hands. "A puppy!" Zakuro said excitedly, "I had one just like her when I was a girl!" She was all over the puppy in seconds. "Oh yes for your present," Zakuro said and dragged him under the mistletoe and kissed him.
Minto picked up the last present for Zakuro and coughed, "Hey Zakuro you want your last present?" Zakuro nodded after breaking away from Keiichiro. She opened it and found the pillow that Minto had ordered. "Minto it's beautiful, and soft, thank you," Zakuro hugged her friend and went to fuss over her little puppy.
"Now for Ichigo's presents!" Minto said and handed her a box in which Ichigo found the slippers Kishu had bought. She put them on and said, "Oooh they're soo soft, thank you Minto!" Ichigo hugged Minto and Lettuce came over with her present. "Mine goes very well with Minto's I hope you like it!" Lettuce said and handed Ichigo a package wrapped in tissue paper. Ichigo opened it and put on the robe, "Thank you Lettuce, I needed that, my old robe is kinda falling apart!" Ichigo hugged Lettuce as well. "Here Ichigo-onee-chan!" Pudding said and handed Ichigo another box. Ichigo was about to open it when the box started to move. "What is it?" She asked. "It's a kitty," Pudding said and as if on cue a cat fought its way out of the box. "I'll call it Shokora," Ichigo said and cuddled her cat when Zakuro came over with the last box that was for Ichigo. "It probably won't have any meaning till next year but I think you like it," Zakuro said and smiled. Ichigo saw the small ornament and put it on the tree, "Zakuro, thank you, that was very thoughtful of you," She hugged Zakuro and Pudding and said, "Okay time to spoil Ryou!"
Kishu walked up and thrust a card into Ryou's face and he opened it. "Thanks, my old one was making noises," Ichigo peered at the card. "Oh you're getting a new office chair, goodie," And she started playing with her kitten again. Pai came forward and handed Ryou a small thin box. Ryou opened it, "Nice it's the newest computer on the shelves, I can use it in my new office chair," Ryou smiled and (you know that way that boys hug) hugged Pai. Tart came forward next. His box was also moving. Ryou opened it and a gray cat with blue eyes jumped out. "Nice, I'll call you Vanilla," He said. "It's a boy," Tart said. "So? I'm called Vanilla too," Ryou said and stroked the cat. Keiichiro stepped forward and gave Ryou a box. He pulled out a pair of slippers, "Nice Keiichiro, my feet have been cold," Ryou put on the slippers and said, "We did Zakuro so why don't we do Keiichiro next?" The girls nodded and stayed seated as the boys handed Keiichiro boxes.
Keiichiro opened Ryou's gift. "Thanks Ryou, that old iron pan of my mother's wasn't holding up anymore," Keiichiro smiled and moved on to the next box. "Boy this one's huge," He said and opened it to find the large Cappichino maker Kishu had gotten him, "Thanks Kish." Keiichiro opened the next one. It contained an electric mixer, the next box contained cookbooks. "Thanks everyone, I love them!" He said and smiled pointing to Minto. "It's your turn Minto," Minto's eyes grew and she smiled.
Everyone piled Minto's presents in front of her. She started with Ichigo's. It was a hand held mirror that was blue around the edges and at the top a bird was carved into it and the handle was covered in jasmine blossoms. "Ichigo! It's beautiful!" Minto exclaimed and hugged her. She opened Lettuce's present next. "It's so soft," She said and hugged Lettuce whispering a 'thank you' into her ear. She opened Pudding's present. "How did you get your hands on this?" Minto asked her eyes wide and her jaw on the ground. "Your dad is very nice," Pudding said and hugged Minto. Minto moved onto Zakuro's present and she put the ornament on the tree as soon as she took it out of the box. "Thank you, now Kishu it's your turn," Minto said.
Kishu's presents were stacked in front of him. He opened Ryou's present, "Why do I need this?" He asked. "Because that gym has more equipment than we do, and a karate class," Ryou said. Kishu smiled and opened Pai's gift. "I love STRATON'S!!! Thanks Pai!!" Kishu exclaimed. He opened Tart's gift. "What do I do with this? Make Minto swoon?" Tart nodded and Kishu smiled again. And finally he opened Keiichiro's gift. "A battle game, awesome! Thanks," And Kishu pointed to Lettuce, "You're next."
Lettuce's presents were stacked in front of her and she opened Ichigo's first. "OMG MY FAVORITE MANGA!!" She shouted and smiled, "Thank you!!!" She hugged, I mean, squeezed Ichigo. She opened Minto's gift next. "They're so pretty, look, Pai, they have roses embroidered on them, Thank you," She hugged Minto. She opened Pudding's gift next, it was the first edition of "Ecology's Future" of the next year. "Thank you Pudding!" She hugged Pudding and looked at the side table next to the couch like Zakuro's card instructed. She found a whole group of tropical fish swimming in a tank, "Thank you, they're so calming," Lettuce said and said, "Pai, it's time for your presents."
Everyone's presents were now stacked in front of them and Pai was going to start opening them. "Let's see Ryou gave me a laptop, thanks, Kishu gave me software, thanks, Tart gave me... COOKING LESSONS???!!!!!!!!" Pai glared at Tart who just smirked. "And finally Keiichiro gave me bookshelves that need to be put together, thanks, now Pudding you can dig into your presents," He finished.
Pudding ripped into Ichigo's present and found a monkey. "Oh! Oh! Thank you!!" She said and ripped into Minto's present. "Oh it's soo kawaii thank you!!!" She ripped into Lettuce's present. "Thanks!" She put on the slippers. She ripped into Zakuro's present, "Can I give this one to one of my little sisters?" She asked when she saw the Barbie. Zakuro nodded and Pudding put her head on the pillow and smiled saying, "Go on Tar-tar! It's your turn!"
By now Tart was impatient because he had to go last. He dug into all his presents and said, "Thanks."
"Time for lunch," Minto called 2 hours later. Zakuro, Ichigo, Ryou, Lettuce, Tart, and Minto fed their new pets and then went into the dining room for Christmas Dinner. When they were done they all split up and went to their rooms to take naps. They all slept till the 26th. But that's another story.
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You'll notice things have kinda been oozing out slowly... XD So be patient. Since break is coming up soon I might be posting more stuff. Now I know not all of you celebrate the holiday's I just put in my story but... um... I hope you liked it! BYE!!!!!