CHAPTER 3

"I wonder if Mao might like this more"

"Oh, this is PERFECT for Raspberyl."

"Asuka and Kyoko would like this, hopefully…"

"I bet Master would like this"

"Well, Sapphire DOES like cute things"

Almaz came in with a huge bag over his back.

"Hey Almaz, what's with the big bag?" Raspberyl asked to almaz when she saw the enormous bag.

"Oh, You'll see tomorrow." Almaz replied with a smile.

Mao walked in. "Almaz, is that big bag part of this holiday?"

Almaz froze. "A-ah, its n-nothing, Lord Mao…"

Mao examined Almaz's nervous face. "You're hiding something aren't ya?". Mao's glasses gleamed along with his smile. "What's in the bag, eh?"

Almaz's blood froze. "N-n-nothing, y-you'll see tomorrow!"

"Leave him alone. He said he'll show us tomorrow" Raspberyl said as Mao kept staring at Almaz.

"Grr, fine, I'll wait. But it better be good!" Mao said as he snapped out of his curiosty and went upstairs.

Almaz has a sign of relief. "Thank goodness. I thought he would find out for sure….

"Don't worry, Our Lady can persuade Sir Mao into nearly everything. But, even he has a limit…" Asuka explained

"Oh? What limit is that?" Almaz wondered

Raspberyl beckoned Almaz to bend down to her height so she could whisper is his ear. Almaz had a shocked look on his face.

"Yikes, I'm a human, but even I wouldn't do that". Almaz said with the shocked face

"Yes. Oh, its late, we'll miss curfew!" Raspberyl said when she looked at a clock. She started to run. "See you tomorrow, Almaz!"

"Good night, Sir Almaz!" Asuka and Kyoko said as they waved goodbye and ran with Raspberyl.

"Good night to you all!" Almaz yelled as he waved goodbye to the three.

Later that night, Almaz put all sorts of sizes of gifts under the tree. Ah, that just about all of the gifts. Now to just to wait until tomorrow" Almaz said to himself. "Wow, the tree sure does look nice. It feels good to have something that actually has light in a place thats so gloomy." Almaz said to himself as he was in awe at the tree.

"Almaz, what are you doing?" came a voice.

"oh, sorry, did I wake you up, Princes- I-I mean, Sapphire?" Almaz said nervously.

The Princess came into the room in her blue pajamas. "Oh, you put up the presents you got".

"Yeah, Now we need to wait until tomorrow to see whats in them." Almaz said as he walked up to Sapphire.

"Alright, I'm sure that everyone would be happy" She said drowsily.

"Yeah. Now, lets go to bed." He said as he Held Sapphire's hand.

"I'm tired. Can you carry me? Sapphire said