"No Kyosuke! That one goes over there!" Manami was shouting at him. He was hanging up Christmas wreaths on the doors around the shop. Apparently the one with the pink bow went on the front door was what he was gathering from Manami's shouts. While he was hanging these, Manami and her Grandmother were in the kitchen preparing cookies and other snacks. Gramps was helping Manami's little brother place ornaments on their tree that stood tall in the living room. That was pretty much it for people that were there, but despite the lack of numbers things were still pretty wild.

"Where? Here?" Kyousuke asked adjusting the new wreath on the outside of the door. He was moving the wreath with one hand, and with the other he was holding a box that had even more wreaths in them. He had the box propped up against his hip, and was holding it there with his free hand.

"A little lower…lower…there! That's good," Manami smiled as he listened to her commands.

"That shouldn't leave too many more right? Just the back door ?" Kyousuke asked her looking inside the box.

"Did you get the side door already?"

"Yeah."

"And the ones upstairs?"

"Done."

"Hmm…and you just did the front door…well then yes, the back door should be the last one."

"Alright. How much longer till the cookies are done?" Manami poked her head back into the kitchen and glanced at the timer on the oven.

"They have a few minutes left. They should be done, or very close to done by the time you get done hanging up the last wreath." Kyousuke smiled as he thought about the cookies. They made all sorts of them, sugar, chocolate chip, snicker doodle, and M&M. Trying to focus on getting his job done first, he walked past the Christmas tree and made his way to the back. On the way, he was stopped by Gramps.

"Kyousuke!" He hollered in his usual tone. Kyousuke turned his head over his shoulder and looked at him.

"Hmm?" He mumbled.

"What did you get our dear Manami for Christmas? Oh ho! Maybe it's the gift of taking if you know what I mean," He laughed as he made implications with his hands. Kyousuke flushed red at his statement.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Kyousuke shouted, trying to quickly walk away from him. Even Manami's younger brother scooted away from the old man. He continued to laugh as Kyousuke made his way to the back of the shop. He sighed as he placed the box on the ground and picked up the wreath that was lying inside. He fussed with it for a few minutes before it finally decided to stay in place. As he finished up placing the decorations, a thought crossed his mind.

"I wonder what Kirino is doing…" He thought. He smiled and let out a chuckle as he continued the thought. "Knowing her, I bet she's tearing my room apart trying to find her present." Once the wreath was in place, Kyousuke picked the box back up, and made his way to the kitchen.

"Damn you Kyousuke! Where did you hide it?!" Kirino shouted as she pulled her head out from underneath Kyousuke's bed. "I've checked under the bead, in his closet, in his clothes drawer, where the hell could it be?!" Kirino gritted her teeth in frustration. She sat down on his floor and placed her index finger on her forehead. Since she had the house to herself, there wasn't anywhere she couldn't look.

"Let's see…if I were Kyousuke where would I put a gift for my dear sweet loving amazingly talented girlfriend...definitely someplace I would never look but…I've already searched in his clothes drawer. That creep better not have hid it someplace in the bathroom! No, there's no place to hide it there...ugh! I need to take a break…" Kirino stood up from his floor. She walked towards his door, and left his room. She then made her way into her room, and took a seat at her computer desk. She turned on her computer and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. While she waited for the computer to start up, she let a few thoughts cross her mind. She was thinking about earlier, and how her present to Kyousuke was interrupted by Ayase. She opened her eyes and glanced towards the clock. '7:55'

"I should probably tell him that I'm home," She mumbled. She pulled out her phone, and pulled up her messages list. She clicked on the last one she had received from him, and hit the reply button.

'I'm home.' Was all the message said. She debated whether or not she wanted to take one last look around for her present before she sent the message. She weighed the idea around in her head for a minute or two, but eventually decided just to send the message. The only reason she didn't feel like looking around again was because that meant she wouldn't be able to play any games. She hit the send button, and placed her phone on the desk. The desktop of the computer was done starting up, and could be accessed freely now. Kirino smiled as she debated which one of her thousands of eroge games she wanted to play.

"Hmm…what to play what to play! So many choices! So many little sisters…" She started to lose her grip on reality as her gaming self took over. She spun around in her chair like a child as she giggled to herself. Eventually she decided on one that had just recently come out, and was Christmas themed. "I haven't played this one since it came out," She mumbled getting the game set up. She sighed as the startup screen appeared for the game, and showed that she only had 27% of the content unlocked. "I remember why I stopped playing…so much content…so many routes…so many choices…" She sighed. She quickly turned her lack of motivation into determination, and stood up out of her chair. "I need snacks, and a lot of drinks!" She yelled. She bolted out of her room and down the stairs into the kitchen. She turned on the oven, and began digging around from some bowls and a cookie sheet.

"Let's see…what to bake…what sounds good? Chocolate chip? Nah to original…snicker doodle? …I don't feel like it. To hell with it, sugar it is," She said as she pulled out the cookie sheet. She put her hair up in a ponytail and dug out an apron her mother often used. She tied it around her waist and started digging out the ingredients.

"These are delicious!" Kyousuke yelled biting down into one of Manami's chocolate chip cookies. Manami's face lit up a little with joy.

"Do you really like them?" She asked, blushing a little. Kyousuke nodded his head vigorously as he continued to demolish the cookie. It didn't take him long to have it gone, and he was soon reaching for more. By this time they were all sitting around the table they had set up in the kitchen. There were cookies of all sorts spread around, along with some other treats. Each person had a glass of milk in front of them also.

"Not so fast, you'll make yourself sick," Manami's grandmother said in her usual cheerful voice. Kyosuke blushed a little as he had multiple cookies in his mouth. He gulped them all down and quickly washed them down with a glass of milk. While he was sipping down some milk he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He finished his drink and set the glass back down before pulling his phone out. He flipped it open and saw that it was from Kirino.

'I'm home.' Was all it said. Kyosuke flipped his phone shut, and stood up from the table.

"Thank you for the treats. I have to head out, but I'm sure I'll be back," Kyosuke said getting ready to leave.

"Wait Kyousuke!" Manami shouted shooting up from her seat. Kyousuke paused and turned his head.

"Hmm?" He grumbled.

"Uhm…could you wait here for just a minute?" She asked bashfully.

"Huh? Sure I guess?" He replied confused. Manami took her leave from the table and went rushing up the stairs. Kyosuke waited around for a couple minutes before Manami finally made her return. When she came back she had a medium sized box in her hands that was wrapped in green and red wrapping paper.

"Merry Christmas Kyo-chan," Manami said blushing. She extended the box out to him, and he took it from her with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"You didn't have to get me a present, now I feel bad because I didn't get you anything," Kyousuke replied smiling.

"That's okay! You helping out set up the shop is enough of a gift." Manami returned the smile back to him.

"You're such a typical girl. The smallest things are always enough," He placed his hand on her head and messed up her hair.

"Well…open it!" She shouted playfully.

"Now?"

"Just do it."

"Fine fine, geesh." Kyousuke began to tear off the wrapping paper, revealing a cardboard box inside. The box had a line of tape going down the middle, keeping it closed. Kyosuke dug his nails underneath, and after a few attempts he was able to rip it off. He opened the box and pulled out a black leather jacket. He was a little surprised when he saw what it was.

"Wow Manami, you REALLY didn't have to spend this much on me," He said sarcastically.

"Well… every time I see you you're always freezing so I thought that if I got you a new jacket you'd remember to wear it more. Besides, I was able to get the jacket with an amazing discount so I didn't spend much on it at all."

"Thanks a lot Manami, I love it." He slipped the jacket on to make sure that it fit, and then decided just to keep it on. "Fits perfectly."

"I'm glad you like it." Kyousuke smiled at her, and then waved goodbye.

"Thanks again Manami, I'll see you around. Bye everybody," Kyousuke said his goodbyes and then he was out the door and on his way home. He wished that the leather jacket had a hood, but he wasn't complaining. He rested his hands in the pockets and made his way back to his house where Kirino was waiting for him.

It didn't take him long to get there, and when he did he opened the front door and slipped inside.

"I'm home," He said slipping off his shoes. He also decided that it would probably be best if he took off the jacket at the door, that way he could avoid telling Kirino that it was from Manami. Once it was off, he began to walk through his house, and the first thing he noticed was that the house was unusually noisy. He could hear Kirino, and it sounded like she was in the kitchen. He could hardly understand what she was saying though because the sound of the T.V. was overwhelming. As he walked towards the kitchen the sounds became clearer. He looked into the kitchen and at Kirino who was standing in front of the oven with her hair in a ponytail and wearing an apron. She had some kind of wooden stir spoon in her hand, and it seemed like she was using it as a microphone.

"Meerumerumeru merumerumerume! Meerumerumeru merumerumerume!" She sang passionately. Her voice was matched with that of the T.V. as it was playing an episode of her favorite anime, Stardust Which Meru Meru.

"Having fun?" Kyosuke asked chucking as he stepped into the kitchen, taking Kirino by surprise. She quickly turned around and shot away from him. Being taken by surprise she threw the spoon at him.

"H- how long have you been standing there?!" She asked blushing. Kyosuke grabbed his face where the spoon had hit him.

"OWWWWWW!" He yelled in pain.

"Idiot! That's what you get for sneaking up on me!"

"You didn't have to throw this at me!" He yelled picking the spoon up from off the ground and waving it in her face.

"Give me that!" she said, quickly snatching it from his hands.

"What do you need it for?! What are you doing anyways? You have on mom's apron, listening to music, and your hair is in a ponytail…are you baking by chance?" Kirino blushed again and looked away, and towards the oven.

"So what if I am?" She sassed at him.

"I just didn't take you for the baking type. I knew that you had some skill in cooking, but baking is a different story."

"Idiot, it isn't that hard to bake. All you have to do is follow instructions, but I guess for somebody like you that isn't all that simple is it?" She sighed as she shook her head. Kyousuke got a little flustered at that statement.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" He retaliated. "And like you should be one to talk about following instructions…"

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" She hissed pointing the spoon at him, just inches from his face.

"I bet you went looking for your present didn't you, even though I gave you instructions not too."

"Those are not the same thing!"

"So you did go snooping?!" Kirino backed down a little since she knew she had set herself up in a trap.

"S- so what! I didn't find it and I eventually gave up."

"I told you not to look! And besides, I told you that you'd never find it."

"Yeah yeah so you're good at hiding, what else is new?"

"Hey!" Kyousuke was about to say something, but the ding of the oven going off stopped him. Kirino quickly reacted, and was by the oven in a heartbeat. She turned it off, and then opened it up. She grabbed an oven mitt, and then grabbed a trey that was in the oven. When she pulled it out, the smell of delicious cookies filled the air. Kyousuke was very intrigued.

"Those smell…delicious…" He said nearly drooling. He slowly crept towards Kirino, who was placing them on the counter. Kyousuke went to grab one when she slapped his hand away.

"Idiot, you need to let them cool down first! You'll burn yourself!" Kyousuke retracted his hand to his side and frowned at the cookies. They looked so good. "Hey!" Kirino shouted at him. He turned his head to her, and saw that she was starting to get the dishes together.

"What?"

"Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful and help me clean these dishes," She said tossing a rag at him. He sighed and walked over to the sink, and started the water. It would take a few seconds before it would get hot, so he helped her gather all the dishes that were around. Surprisingly there weren't that many. The one that caught his attention though was the one that had the remaining cookie dough in it. He picked it up and brought it over to the sink. He stared at it intently, debating whether or not he should eat it.

"You can have some if you want," Kirino said walking up next to him, taking her hair out of the ponytail. It fell to her shoulders with grace. Kyousuke took his index finger and slid it across the bowl, accumulating a good amount of dough. He put his finger in his mouth and sucked it dry.

"You're not doing it right!" Kirino shouted at him.

"How can there be a wrong way to eat cookie dough?!" Kyousuke retaliated.

"Do it like this," Kirino said swiping two fingers across the bowl. Once she had enough dough on them, she smacked her fingers onto Kyosuke's face.

"It's on now," Kyousuke laughed. Kirino smiled back at him.

"Bring it." Kyousuke quickly pulled the bowl towards him, and got some dough on the edge of his middle finger. He then flicked the dough onto Kirino's cheek. She flinched a little, but then made a lunge for the bowl. Kyosuke tried to get a firm grip on it, but Kirino was too quick. She snatched the bowl out of his hands, and put her entire hand in the bowl. She did one quick swipe, and then went after Kyousuke. Once he saw Kirino put her hand in the bowl, he quickly moved. He ran to the kitchen table, and stood behind the chairs. Kirino smiled evilly at him as she stood on the other side. The two played a quick game of cat and mouse, but eventually Kirino made her final move. She quickly dashed around the table, and was able to grab onto Kyousuke's shirt with her hand that didn't have anything on it. She went to smack her hand onto his face, but he caught her wrist in mid swing. With his other hand, and threw it around her waist and pulled her close to him, and then delivered a kiss on her lips. Kirino's hand relaxed as she shared a kiss with Kyousuke. After it was over she looked to her, with a surprised kind of look on her face.

"That was sudden," She said smiling. Kyousuke smiled back, and then let her go. Kirino thought about seizing the moment and delivering the smack to Kyousuke, but she decided not to. Instead she followed him to the sink, and washed it off her hands. They cleaned up their faces and hands, and then started on the dishes

"After we finish, how's about I give you your present?" He said glancing at her. She smiled, but didn't look at him.

"Finally," She replied. Kyousuke sighed and continued to scrub the dishes. It took them about ten minutes to get everything washed and dried, and another couple to put everything back. Once they were done, Kirino walked over to the T.V.

"What're you doing?" Kyousuke asked, walking towards the stairs.

"Fixing the T.V. If mom and dad come home and this is on, it won't be good."

"Good idea. Well when you're done, I'll be waiting in your room." Kyousuke started up the stairs.

"Wait, my room?!" Kirino shouted after him. Kyousuke didn't respond, just continued up the stairs. Kirino let thoughts bounce around in her head as she picked up the remote, and put the T.V. back the way it was before she put on Stardust Witch Meru Meru. Once that was done, she set the remote back on the end table near the couch, and then started making her way to her room. When she was up the stairs, she opened the door to her room and stepped inside. Kyousuke was sitting on her bed, with a small box in his hands. The box was wrapped in snowflake wrapping paper, and said 'To: Kirino From: Kyousuke.' He smiled and held the box out to her.

"Merry Christmas Kirino." Kirino smiled and walked towards him. She grabbed the box and sat down next to him on the bed. She tore off the paper, and underneath was a cardboard box. There wasn't anything keeping it shut though, so she opened it up and inside that was some kind of figure that had notebook paper wrapped around it. There was a strand of tape taping the paper to the figure. She peeled off the tape, and looked at the figure that was in front of her. It was a limited edition version of Stardust Which Meru Meru that was signed by the voice actor that played her. Kirino's eyes lit up with joy as she held the figure in her hands.

"How did you get this?! There were only a handful of them made and they were all sold out in minutes!"

"Saori helped me out a little. She knows the people that make these things and asked if they would make an extra for me if I paid full price for it still."

"Where did you hide it?! I looked everywhere!"

"I told you not to look!"

"Just shut up and tell me,"

"You're unbelievable… fine fine. I just put the figure in the box in the back of your closet. You have so many figures and other stuff in there, you'd never notice even if you looked."

"YOU WERE IN MY CLOSET?!"

"No no no! I just placed the box in there is all!"

"You…" She let her voice trail, but she couldn't help but show the sparkle in her eyes as she ogled the figure. She set it on the bed and then picked up the notebook paper that was taped around it. On it was a letter.

'Kirino-

I'm about as good as you are when it comes to expressing feelings and affection, but I want to tell you that I'm happy with our relationship. At first I was kind of nervous about this, because you are my sister and this kind of things is looked down upon, but I've come to realize I don't care. I'm happy that you're my girlfriend, and even though we might not always get along, and we tend to pick on one another still, I'm glad that you're around. Merry Christmas Kirino

Love, Kyousuke.'

Kirino set the letter down on her bed and leaned her head on Kyousuke's shoulder.

"Like you said, I'm bad at expressing my feelings, but I'm happy you're around too you know. Nobody else would tolerate the amount of stuff you do, and I'm thankful that you can be so patient with me. Sure we clash every now and then, but all siblings do, it's just a part of life." Kyousuke placed his arm around her shoulder. She looked up to him with her clear blue eyes, and he looked back to her. The moment was quickly ruined though when Kirino suddenly remembered the new figure she had. She quickly shot up off the bed and began twirling it around the room. Kyousuke sighed as her otaku self began to make an appearance. He leaned back on her bed when he noticed her computer was on, and had a game loaded up.

"You know your computer is on right?" He asked staring at her computer. She stopped messing with the figure to look at the screen.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You can go ahead and shut it down." She replied.

"What's this? No gaming tonight? That's new," Kyousuke laughed as he stood up off the bed and walked towards her computer.

"Not yet…actually I was thinking…if maybe you wanted to go uptown and look at all the lights that people have put up. Maybe check out the tree that's in the center of downtown. Dad did give us till 10, and what kind of teenagers would we be if we didn't come sneaking in just seconds before 10:01?" Kyousuke looked at Kirino who was smiling at him. She placed the figure on her computer desk, and then walked towards her door. She placed her hand on the door knob and then turned and looked at him.

"You coming?" She asked as she opened her door. Kyousuke finished shutting down her computer, and then made his way to Kirino. He shut off her light as he left her room, and closed the door behind him. They went down the stairs and headed towards the front door.

"What time is it anyways?" Kyousuke asked. Kirino pulled out her phone and looked.

"8:33" She replied.

"That means we can spend about an hour uptown before we should come back."

"Sounds good to me." The two slipped on their shoes, and then their jackets. Kirino quickly noticed the leather jacket that he was putting on.

"Where'd you get that?" She asked, rubbing her hands on it.

"Manami got it for me for Christmas," He replied honestly. Kirino let out a "hmph" before turning out the door. Kyousuke sighed, but soon followed her. He knew that a simple "hmph" was probably the best way things could have turned out. Kirino led the way down the sidewalk with her hands tucked into her jacket, and for the most part remained silent. She would often glance behind her and look at Kyousuke, but she wouldn't say anything. Eventually Kyousuke was able to catch up to her and walk by her side. He thought about trying to hold her hand, but since they were in town and out in public, he decided not to. And the fact that her hands were in her pockets might also be a problem.

"I didn't think you were one for the lights," Kyousuke mumbled as they kept walking.

"It's something to do," She replied. "Besides, I want to see what stores are still open. Maybe I can find a good deal on something."

"Like what?"

"Maybe a brain for you," She smiled as she teased him.

"Hey!"

"What? It's not my fault yours is dysfunctional."

"Maybe it wouldn't be if I didn't have some little sister beating on my head all the time!"

"If I didn't beat any sense into you, who would?"

"…"

"…"

"…Ayase." They both said at the same time. They shared a laugh as they continued making their way down the snowy streets. As they were walking, Kirino suddenly felt something hit her face. She placed a hand on her cheek, and then looked up to the sky. Little white snowflakes were falling gracefully. Kyousuke paused his steps and looked up into the sky as well.

"Snow huh?" He said. They both stood looking at the sky for a few seconds before Kirino spoke up.

"Remember our snowball fight?" She asked him.

"Huh? What fight? You mean the one where you couldn't make a snowball?" Kyousuke chuckled as he reminisced the past. Kirino shot a glare at him.

"Shut up! The stupid snow wouldn't stick together!"

"Uh huh, it was the snow," Kyousuke put heavy sarcasm in that sentence. Kirino looked to her side and at the snow that was on the ground. She thought about making a quick snowball and throwing it, but the snow had been there for a while and it was probably iced over, which didn't make for good snowballs. She decided that she would wait until enough of the new snow had fallen, and then she would strike.

"Hey," Kyousuke said, grabbing her shoulder. She turned around and looked at him. He was pointing his other hand out in front of her, and slightly upward. She followed his hand and saw what he was pointing at. Looking just above a few small buildings, they could see the top of the Christmas tree that was in the center of town. At the very top was a very bright shining star, and below that were hundreds of small ornaments that were spread all across the tree. Kirino looked at it for a little bit, and then decided to keep walking towards it. Kyousuke followed behind her as they walked into the downtown district. A lot of the shops had up various lights of all sorts of colors, some shops had small trees inside, others had larger ones outside. There were also a lot of snowmen that kids had made all over the place. Together they walked down the streets, and admired a lot of the lights, and sometimes even walking inside the store to look at things. They did this for as long as they could, but eventually there time ran out.

"Hey, we should get going soon, it's getting close to 10," Kyousuke said glancing at his watch. Kirino was busy looking inside a store window to respond, but she heard him. "Hey!" Kyousuke shouted, getting her attention.

"Yeah yeah, I hear you…" Kirino replied backing away from the window.

"Come on," Kyousuke said heading back towards their house. Kirino was slow to follow as she kept getting distracted by small things behind glass windows. Eventually though she caught up to Kyousuke, but not before they were almost home. Kirino did notice though that a good amount of snow had fallen, and that it should be perfect for a snowball. Quietly and slowly she slowed her pace, and then bent down to pick up some snow. She formed a snowball with her hands, and then quickly walked up behind Kyousuke.

"Hey, remember when you did this to me?" She said as she dropped the snowball down the back of his shirt. He did a little dance as it slid down his back, and eventually fell out. He turned around to face Kirino, who was laughing hysterically.

"Not funny!" He shouted, throwing his finger in her face.

"Maybe not to you, but to me it's hilarious," She replied sticking out her tongue. Kyousuke let out a soft smile as she repeated the words that he had said to her when he had dropped a snowball down her shirt. Kirino continued to laugh as she continued walking. Kyosuke walked by her side, and eventually they arrived at the front door to their house. Kyousuke glanced down at his watch. '9:57' was the time.

"Made it with three minutes to spare," He said as he pushed open the door.

"We're home," Kyousuke and Kirino said in unison. The house was slightly darker than when they left, and there wasn't any sound being made. They could tell the kitchen light was on, but the living room light was off, as was the T.V. Kyousuke was stepped into the living room with Kirino right behind him, and he saw that their father was sitting at the dinner table, and he did not look happy. He had never seen this look on his face before, and just the look itself sent a little fear through Kyousuke's body. He moved his eyes from his father to his mother who was in the kitchen, glancing down at the counter. She looked like she had been crying. Kirino moved past Kyousuke to see what was going on. She looked around as well and noticed the same things Kyousuke had. Their father remained silent, but his heavy breathing filled the room with noise, as everybody else remained quiet. Before either of them could say anything, their father held up a piece up paper that had been sitting on the table.

"What the hell is this?" He demanded as he held up the paper. Kyousuke and Kirino froze in place as they stared at the paper. It was the letter Kyousuke had written to Kirino.

Oh snap! D: not looking too good for the couple as of now :/ but anyways, thanks for reading! Please review, and also feel free to leave an idea for the title, because as you can tell I'm lacking creativity there. I know this is posted early, but I'm not sure If I'll be able to post tomorrow, so to be safe I'm putting it up a day early. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everybody!