U/N: When we had planned the massive story for these children (before deciding against writing it of course) Mai was the character I was most looking forward to writing as, but oddly she was one of the hardest for me to do. I still really like her and she's in my list of top five favourite children here, probably beaten only by Tenshi and Chika. I dunno, I like her anyway, I don't know how well her personality comes across but there was a lot planned for her and she's pretty complicated so we had to really strip back what we had planned. Dunno if it comes across well though.

Title: Here Comes Santa Claus

By: UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Chapter 13: No One

Mai Ichijouji:

"Mai, you can tell me anything," Louisa was saying in a genuinely interested voice. I thought for a moment I could tell her, but I just knew something else was up with her. I had listened to her talk about her day and the whole time something felt off, like she was digging for something. I wasn't going to give her any information if she was going to pry for it. That was my job. I was the detective and the one who knew how to sift through lies and deceit. I could see Louisa coming a mile away!

I adjusted the phone so it was rested firmly between my ear and shoulder as I continued folding the laundry I had recently pulled from the machine. "Louisa, there's really nothing going on with me, I swear." Of course I was lying.

"Well, if you say so," Louisa pouted. I couldn't see that she was pouting, but she definitely was. She was silent for a moment as my pile of folded clothes began to grow, and then she said, "Tenshi's audition went well."

"I heard, actually," I said. I was quite proud of him of course, but I did not see why it was crucial information to say over the phone during our 'emergency conversation' as Louisa had dubbed it. "That's wonderful news though."

"Yeah," Louisa agreed, "And Kana's getting into school, and Renjiro probably will too." Of course I knew that Renjiro hadn't received his college acceptance yet, but Louisa was on a roll, so I wasn't going to question where she was going. "Yeah, my friends are doing pretty good." She paused, "What about your friends?"

"Oh," I said—though I hadn't meant to voice my realization, so I would have to work on how I reacted when receiving important news. It was a little amusing to think that Louisa was calling me to find out more information about Haruki. I wasn't about to tell her anything he'd said about her, because that would be breaking his trust, and that meant a lot to me, but I didn't see any harm in talking about him, especially if it helped the two of them finally get together. "Well, his tennis racket is going unused."

"Oh no!" Louisa gasped dramatically.

"I know," I said, nodding along, and trying to hide my smile by keeping my voice steady. Poromon noticed me forcing my smile away and fluttered from my bed over into the pile of unfolded laundry. He wanted to hear too. I set the phone down and turned it to speaker so we could both listen. "He's just really busy, but I miss going to his games."

"Me too," Louisa sighed, "He was so good!"

"Well he did have a scholarship," I explained.

"What about soccer?" Louisa inquired, not at all subtly, "He was teaching kids to play soccer, is he still doing that?"

"I don't believe so," I said, remembering back to when he had tried to rope me into that job too. I wasn't much of a sports person, much to Dad's dismay. I could catch a ball, and sometimes even keep up with Dad in soccer, but only when he let me. I still enjoyed playing though. It was one of the wonderful parts of having a large family. Dad teamed up with Taro and Josei, while Osamu and I helped Mom and Hawkmon. We got a larger team because Dad was just so good at the game. Wormmon was jealous that he couldn't play, and had once turned to Stingmon, but he had popped the ball and the game ended pretty quickly, so he was the referee now, which he liked just as much. "Like I said, he's busy with school."

"So he doesn't even read to the blind orphaned children anymore?" Louisa asked, aghast.

I paused and looked up to Poromon, confused, "He never did that, Louisa."

"Oh that must've just been in my head." I heard her gasp at what she'd said, but Poromon threw his wings over his beak to stop himself from outright laughing. "I mean—Haruki isn't in my head." Louisa denied.

I decided I'd let it slide, but if she really thought she was being secretive, she clearly didn't think very highly of my deductive reasoning skills. "You know," I said finally, "I think Haruki might actually be home right now. He may be studying, but you could always call him."

There was a pause as Louisa thought it through. "You think he'd be okay with that?"

"I can't see why not," I urged, trying to encourage her to go through with it.

But then she sighed, "I'd better not, I have school soon," she sighed again, this time even more disappointed sounding, "Thanks for talking to me, Mai."

"It's no—" I had started, only to be cut off by Louisa who sounded embarrassed and nervous.

"Are you in love with Haruki?" she blurted out with such force that Poromon rolled backwards with shock. When he steadied himself he looked up to me with one eye raised. I felt my mouth curl into a frown at the thought. No, I was not in love with Haruki. It wouldn't work between us anyway, but I couldn't really explain that to Louisa because she wouldn't pay attention. Or she wouldn't be able to hear properly anyway. She was always lost in the trees on her way to the forest.

"I am not," I assured her, "honest. Haruki is single—as free as a bird." Poromon fluttered into the air to show how free he was as well and I flashed a smile in his direction, because I was proud at how well he was flying again after his injury—which was entirely his fault. He now knew that he could not carry something and fly at the same time. Simultaneously he learned that jumping off the roof of the house was in fact one of the very worst ways to start off an experiment.

"Hmm," Louisa hummed, "If you say so." I heard someone at the door downstairs, hitting the doorbell and I turned back to the phone to tell Louisa I had to go, but she was one step ahead of me. "I'd better get out of your hair then," she said, still sounding like she didn't believe me at all. "It was nice talking to you, Mai."

"You as well, Louisa," then, as I heard a knock on my bedroom door, Louisa and I hung our phones up. There was another knock on the door and I tossed my phone aside, catching sight of myself in the mirror. I straightened out my hat, and turned to the door as whoever it was knocked once more.

"Oh you are here," Taro said as I pulled the door open. "I told the girl to wait at the door, I've never seen her. I didn't want to let her in if she was a thief." I was confused but set off toward the front door as Taro continued talking. "She seemed nice and she said she knew you." I was barely paying attention now as I jumped down the last couple steps. "her hair was pretty—"

"Clio?" I felt complete shock run through my body and I straightened the glasses on my face. Clio was standing in the door, her blonde hair was messy and hung over one shoulder, as the other side of her head was cut very short. She was so cool. Her shirt had little hearts all over it, but her necklace had a shark's tooth strung up. She was wearing leather boots, and a black skirt, but her tights were flashy and matched the violet streaks in her hair. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you," Clio said, rolling her big bluish-green eyes.

I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her into the house, closing the door behind her. I dragged her through the living room and toward the stairs where Taro was waiting. I stepped around him and was halfway up the stairs before he said anything, "Mai, I'm hungry."

"Uh—" I hesitated. Mom had taken Osamu and Josei out to work on their Secret Santa gifts. Taro was supposed to go too but whoever he had been expected to buy for already had the 'perfect' present all wrapped up in Taro's room. "Ask Hawkmon." I turned to the stairs again and was dragging Clio, but apparently Taro wasn't satisfied.

"Hawkmon is with Mom," he shouted up.

"Then I'll be down in a minute, I promise," I called to him, but I was already rounding the corner to make it up the last few steps. I threw the door open to my bedroom and saw Poromon sitting in the window seat, staring wistfully out at the clouds. "Mai," he said without looking to me, "I was wondering... why is Louisa going to school so late at night?"

"Time difference," I explained simply, closing the door finally.

"She's using the Time Key?" Poromon asked in total shock, rounding toward Clio and I. He paused when he caught sight of Clio, but then he smiled, mostly with his eyes. Because he was a bird. "Hello, Clio!"

She waved to him and kindly stepped over the laundry basket to sit in the seat with him. She pulled him up into her lap and he giggled as she hugged him closer, "A time difference is just what happens on Earth because the sun rises at different times in different places."

"So since you live in America, you wake up at a different time?" Poromon's inquiry seemed to amuse Clio who grinned. I couldn't help but smile too, because her smile was so infectious. I fell to my knees to continue my laundry as my heart fluttered excitedly.

"Exactly," Clio said, still smiling. "I just woke up."

"But it's like nine o'clock in the evening!" Poromon shrieked, appalled, "You lazy butt!" Clio laughed loudly because it seemed like Poromon just wasn't going to understand. It wouldn't be the first time. He was still sometimes startled at how many people we could fit inside the TV—though I think he assumed it was more like the Digital World, and that we were simply using some kind of magical box to view their lives. He didn't like the idea because he thought someone might be watching him. I hoped that things made a little more sense to him whenever he grew to a higher stage, but he had been this way for nineteen years. With no reason to fight, there wasn't much chance of him showing his new forms very often. I had seen him become a rookie once, but it hadn't lasted long, and good thing too because Hawkmon wouldn't be very pleased that he became a Falcomon instead. I didn't mind though. If ever the time came, I had the crest of Purity to help get him all the way to a mega form!

"Mai," Mimi said sweetly as she ran a brush through my tangled hair. We had spent the day at an amusement park, and while it had been fun both of us had been blindsided by how windy it would be at the top of the taller rides, and our long hair became a mess. "You're old enough now to know about the Crests."

"Sure," I nodded, "Honour keeps the world in check and kindness keeps hearts open and loving. And the others exist too, but I don't hear about them as much."

"Would you like to?" Mimi wondered. I nodded and she smiled. "Well, my Crest is Purity. It means a lot more than the name implies." That seemed to be the case with most of the Crests, so I believed her. "It is about honesty inside yourself. It means to always be true to the person you are, even if the entire world is against what you stand for. I can't tell you how many times Koushiro has been embarrassed by something I've said in public, but it's who I am, and I have to love that about myself, no matter what anyone else says."

"That's so sweet," I smiled, liking the sounds of it already. "My speech for school last year was about bullying. I had a lot of information pooled together from the whole school and it turns out that more than ninety percent of the student body had been bullied by someone about their appearance or personality. I think we should all love ourselves and each other."

"I think you're right," Mimi said, and I looked back to her quickly when I thought I heard her crying. She was crying. There was a single tear slipping down her cheek. I rounded on her and looked up, scared that I'd hurt her feelings. I could do that sometimes when I got into my reporter mode. Osamu used to cry all the time when I bombarded him with questions. "That's why you're perfect for the job."

"I'm too young for a job," I sighed, "Dad said so." I really wanted a job at the local newspaper place!

Mimi shook her head, "This job can only be done by someone young and pure, just like you." I nodded my head slowly, unsure where she was going. "Mai," she said, taking my hands, "will you take my Crest and bear the burden of Purity in your life?"

"Burden of Purity?" I asked, "That doesn't sound like a burden at all. It sounds like an honour, Mimi." A few more tears came from her eyes as she began to glow, and my body tingled as the warmth of her Crest was passed over to me.

At the time I hadn't realized how much of a burden it could actually be to be endlessly pure and truthful about the person you were. It wasn't as easy to do when the world wanted to see you fail.

I looked back over to Clio and Poromon and interrupted their conversation without putting too much thought into it. "Clio, why are you here?" Clio looked affronted, but then a smile crept onto her face. She set Poromon aside and hopped to her feet, pulling her bag up and reaching her hand inside.

"Louisa," Clio started, before putting a little more effort into digging through her cluttered bag, "she—she told me about the Christmas thing you guys were doing. I didn't even know that Japan celebrated Christmas differently, but I did some research, because it's only fair to learn about your culture." My heart fluttered again as Clio pulled a thin black box out of her bag. She smiled at the look on my face and she gently pushed the clothes basked aside with her foot before sitting on the floor in front of me.

"Clio," I said in awe, staring to the box. It wasn't even opened yet and I was shocked. She smiled and popped the top off the box and revealed a beautiful sparkling necklace with what looked to be diamonds encrusted into a beautiful golden heart. My mouth fell open and I just didn't even know what to say, so I just stared.

"Do you like it?" Clio asked, and all I could do was nod. She laughed and began pulling it from the box. "I knew you'd be busy on Christmas, and my Grandmother wants me with her tomorrow since she won't have the rest of her grandchildren around—anyway, this was the closest to Christmas I could get." She motioned with her finger for me to turn around and I did so. She pulled my—now—short hair out of the way and dangled the necklace in front of me before hooking it up in the back. "Go see," Clio urged, pointing to my mirror.

I jumped to my feet and hurried over to see, and found myself staring into the reflection of a completely mediocre girl with a necklace that was sparkling from the overhead lighting. Of course I didn't actually find myself to be less than pretty, but the necklace was taking all of my attention. "Clio," I said in a breathy voice, turning to her as she hurried toward me. "I don't have anything ready for you yet."

"That's okay," she said, taking my hands, "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful," I gasped before Clio leaned in to kiss me. She took me by surprise, but I always loved Clio's surprises.

When Poromon cleared his throat, I pulled back and looked to him. He was pointing—very obviously—to the bedroom door. I spun around, my heart skipping a beat, to see Taro standing, his grip slipping from the shiny glass knob. When his arm fell to his side he took a nervous step back.

"T-Taro," I called out, begging him to stay. He seemed to deliberate, wondering what his best option would be, and he finally decided it would be okay to come back in. "Can you sit down?" he nodded and moved across the room, nearly tripping over the rug, but he finally pulled himself up with Poromon, and I noticed Leafmon bouncing along behind him. I hadn't seen him at first, but really, anything Taro knew, Leafmon knew. There was no sense forcing a secret between the two of them. "Could you maybe… not tell anyone?"

"I won't," he promised, nodding his head. Leafmon nodded his own head in agreement, but Poromon was looking to him skeptically. Leafmon wasn't known for his wonderful secret keeping skills. "I—why did you—is that okay?"

Clio looked to me, urging me to answer him but I didn't know the delicate way to explain this to him. He knew of Kiyoko and Hideto, right? They were together too! They were two men, and surely that would be able to ease the explanation, but I wasn't really sure anyone had ever explicitly sat him down to tell him about the two of them. "Some people don't think it's okay," I told him softly, "But I do."

"Me too," Clio added, "A lot of people don't see that love can come in many different forms," I was so thankful for Clio just then, she was really saving the day for me. "There are so many people who don't see it that way though. The world is on its way to seeing that love is love no matter what it looks like." Taro nodded, confused, but interested.

"And sometimes it's hard," I said, "Because doing what is expected of you is sometimes a lot easier, but when you fight against what others want from you to do what you know you need for yourself, you find that you're a lot happier." Clio smiled through pursed lips and reached her hand out to me. I grabbed hers and squeezed gently.

"Sometimes it isn't safe to hold hands," Clio said sadly, looking down to our intertwined fingers. "Some people see it as a personal offense and they can get pretty aggressive."

"That's why we don't want people to know," I told him softly, "We want each other to be safe, you see."

"Well you're safe with me!" Taro said excitedly. I was glad he was so excited about the prospect, but I wasn't sure I could really identify why he was taking it so personally. "I think that's great! Girls loving girls! Wait—boys can love boys too, right?"

"Hideto and Kiyoko are married, you know?" I prompted. Taro's face lit up and he grinned really wide.

"Great!" Taro exclaimed, and suddenly the pieces fit together in my mind. It was possible Taro was developing a little bit of a crush on his best friend, Yukai. Surely it would go nowhere—he was seven years old—but it was cute and brave that he was experimenting with his feelings while being so young. "I promise I won't tell anyone," Taro said with a big smile, "I'll make sure Leafmon stays quiet too." He pulled the digimon into his arms and he headed for the door again, but he stopped halfway and looked back, "But maybe you should tell others anyway?" Clio and I looked to each other nervously. "I think others should hear what you just said. Maybe the bad guys would understand if you told people about it. Maybe other people too."

Then he was gone.

It wasn't long before Clio decided she should leave, since she was skipping school to be here with me, and I had also promised Taro that I would cook him something to eat, and so Clio, Poromon and I were on our way down the stairs when the front door flew open. Dad was in first, with Josei bouncing along behind him, singing a loud song about how happy she was.

"I bought a doll," she sang. "A pretty doll, a girly doll, a doll that's dressed in pink! And it's for Kana! Because I drew her name for Secret SANTA! And she's gonna love it, because she loves pink too!" She jumped in the air for her big finish. "Probably." She added, wandering off with a shopping bag dragging along behind her. I could see the princess doll through the plastic of the bag.

"Don't worry," Mom assured me as she walked in, "I bought her a book to go along with it, just in case she doesn't like the doll." She wouldn't like the doll, but I wasn't about to say anything in front of Josei.

Osamu and Wormmon were last through the door as Hawkmon hurried off, carrying both Minomon and Pururumon in his chase for Josei.

"What did you get?" Taro asked Osamu, appearing in the kitchen doorway. Osamu was pulling his shoes off and didn't seem to really notice. "Osamu?" Taro prompted. "Hey, Osamu, what did you buy?"

"Who's that?" Osamu asked, pointing up to Clio who I had nearly forgotten was standing on the stairs with me. My family was so large that it was sometimes hard to keep track of everyone. With four children, two parents and a digimon for each of us, it was no wonder Poromon didn't want to evolve—there just wasn't enough room!

I looked over to Clio and panicked, "No one," I shrugged off his question. I knew immediately it had been the wrong thing to say, but the look on Clio's face helped back up my conclusion if my own guilt wasn't enough proof. Her lips pursed, and she was hurt. I could tell she was hurt, but she shrugged it off and set off down the stairs.

"I was just leaving," Clio said, "It was nice to meet you all," she said briskly before closing the door behind her on her way out. I nearly groaned, realizing how stupid I had been, but Osamu stubbed his toe and cried out in pain as Josei began shrieking with Hawkmon wrapping his wings around her tightly. I hung my head. They had been back for only a moment and I was already getting a headache.

"Hey Mom?" Taro asked at the same time as she let out a loud sigh, and made her way to the couch, not having heard him.

"What a day!" she shouted, exasperated.

"I'm hungry!" Taro shouted. I looked to him but he wasn't paying any attention. He wanted Mom. Probably for the better because I wasn't much of a cook anyway, and I was not in a good mood anymore.

Osamu was on the floor now, clutching his toe and silently embracing the pain. When he finally released his foot he flung himself back to where he laid on the floor. "Is no one going to ask why I'm so upset?"

"Why are you so upset?" I asked immediately.

"And no one even asked me how my shopping went either," I ignored him and he continued, "I need a present for Aika. Mom and Dad were no help—will you help?"

"Why don't you make your own decisions for once?" Taro asked, annoyed, but no one listened.

"Sure," I nodded, looking around to the mess of a family. "Yeah, of course." I grabbed Poromon out of the air and turned back to the stairs, marching straight back up. I would come down again when they managed to quiet themselves or go to sleep. My tired family was always more outgoing and loud than usual, and right then—in a state of mind where I just hurt the feelings of the one person I was supposed to never do that to—I just need the world to be a little quieter.

Featured Evolution Line: Mai: Nyokimon—Poromon—Falcomon—Peckmon—Crowmon—Ravemon