"What's this all about, Sho-chan?" she asked, that American accent just barely noticeable in her voice.
"Just close your eyes and wait, okay?" he said, bouncing from one foot to the next, waiting for her to do what he asked.
With a smile, she closed her eyes and clamped her hands over her face for good measure. He waved his hands in front of her face, to see if she really could see and was just acting like she couldn't. When she didn't move, he knelt on the ground in front of her and wrote in the snow:京子. Kyoko.
"Okay, Lexi. You can open your eyes."
Instantly, her hands were at her side and her eyes wide open. He pointed to the ground, and she looked.
"What does that say, Sho-chan?"
"What?"
"I can't read that. What does it say?"
"You can't..." He could have hit himself. He had only ever taught Lexi katakana characters, because that was the alphabet that you wrote foreign words in. But the name he had given her was in kanji. "Hold on one moment."
Underneath 京子 (Kyouko) he wrote キョーコ (Kyouko), in katakana.
"Kyo...ko?" she asked, reading it with a little trouble.
"Yep! That's your new name!" he said, proud of himself.
"I get two names?" she asked, smiling.
"Sure! Your mom said that I should give you a Japanese name, so that it would be easier for people like my parents to say it. Grown-ups can't say 'Lexi' apparently."
"Oh..." she said, understanding, and then, pointing to herself, asked: "Kyoko?'
"Kyoko!" he repeated, grinning like a fool.
She threw her arms around him in a childish hug. "Is this like a Christmas present?"
"Huh?" he asked, returning the hug without a thought.
"My new name? Is this your Christmas present to me?"
"Sure..." he said, and then an idea came to him: "In fact, it can be your birthday present too!"
"But...Sho-chan, my birthday is in August. This is December," she giggled.
"Lexi's birthday is in August. Kyoko's birthday is today, December 25th. You get two birthdays too! Happy birthday, Lex...Kyouko!"
She frowned, upset with something. Her lower lip trembled, and he jumped slightly, afraid of her crying again.
"Wh-what's wrong?" he asked.
"I didn't think of another name for you!" she cried, "I didn't even get you a Christmas gift!"
A/N: Basic Japanese lesson of the day: There are three different alphabets, kanji, katakana and hiragana. Kanji are the characters that were taken from Chinese long before any of us were ever born, and look like miniature works of art. Katakana is the alphabet used to describe foreign words (words taken from English, French, German, etc.) Hiragana is...basically used for everything else.
In Japanese, first names can be spelled using any of the three alphabets. For instance, Mogami Kyouko: 最上 キョーコ. "Mogami" is the first two characters, "Kyouko" are the last four. But, for her stage name, she goes by just Kyouko, written in Kanji: 京子