Chapter 3

"Luka?"

"Yes?"

"What are the numbers on Lily, Rin, and Len's necks?"

Luka turned her head, raising a brow. She wasn't expecting a question like that from the young girl. It didn't really bother Luka, only if the question didn't dwell too deep. "Lily's number is '012', Rin's number is '062', Len is '063'."

"Do they have any specific meaning?"

"Well the ones with lower numbers are older and the ones with higher numbers are...uh...younger."

"Where do the elves come from? How old are you in human years? Where are the two elves before? Is Santa an elf?" Miku asked, bombarding Luka with questions.

"I'm a couple hundred years old by human standards. Elves can still die like by accidents or other means but not by sicknesses. We're immune to disease. And yes, the old man is an elf." Luka answered without missing a beat. She carefully avoided answering some of the questions and thankfully Miku didn't notice for they arrived in front of Santa's workshop.

Miku sprinted for the building and Luka followed until she noticed the other three just standing outside. "What do you three think you're doing?!"

"Watching the human isn't our job," Lily remarked.

"I don't want to go in there until another ten months. We worked on toys for the last two months nonstop," Rin complained.

"Even some of the elves went crazy from making so many toys," Len pointed out.

Luka sighed and ran in after Miku. It was true that this year particularly were hard on all of the elves. So many kids wanted so many things and it were the good kids that were greedy. Some kids would be bad the whole year then magically become nice in November until Christmas. The old man was also too generous for his own good which became quite dangerous the elves.

Luka gasped as she saw the state the shop was in. It was basically a danger zone for a human like Miku who was nowhere to be seen. There were tools still running, pointy objects in the open, and broken wood. The shop consists of several floors, all of which could be seen from the first floor.

Luka suddenly felt a thousand times more scared and afraid. From the corner of her eye, a sliver of teal running across the second floor like some excited, innocent kid in a gun store. Luka ran up along some tables, closing the distance between her and Miku. She jumped and grabbed the railing on the second floor and pulled herself over it.

Miku had ran into a random room that looked the most interesting to her. She walked around looking at all of the broken toys. There were several large bins with labels that separated the toys by category. Miku heard footsteps from the hallways and suspected it was Luka. As the childish kid she was, Miku instinctively ran and hid behind a bin.

"I know you're in here, Miku," Luka panted as she ran into the room.

Miku held her breath and her heart beat fast from the suspense of being found. She heard Luka walk around the room but nowhere near her. After a minute or so, Miku thought she heard Luka leave the room. Miku peeked over the side of the bin and saw no one and heard nothing but running tools.

"Gotcha!"

"Ahhh!" Miku squealed as Luka suddenly appeared in front of her. Luka tackled Miku to the ground and pinned her arms up beside her head. Miku's heart was racing not only from her surprise but how close Luka was. She was basically sitting on top of her.

"Hah! I found you! How does it feel to be tackled, huh?" Luka smirked with a sense of pride, completely oblivious by the fact she was on top of the tealette. "Wait, are you okay?" Luka asked, furrowing her brows. "Why are you all red? Did you get hurt?"

Miku shook her head and looked to the side with a blush. "No, I-I'm fine. It's j-just that y-you're...on...me." Miku was a deep shade of red at this point.

Luka blinked for a second before processing what Miku said then she turned into a deep shade of red. "Oh, I'm s-sorry!" Luka apologized, jumping off of Miku. Her back hit a bin and a couple of broken toys fell on top of her. "Ow!" Luka hissed as she cut her finger on one of the toys. A trickle of blood began oozing out of the tip of her finger.

The next thing Luka knew her injured finger was in Miku's mouth. Her warm tongue was lightly sucking her finger. It stung at first but then it quickly felt good, really good.

Luka buried her face in her free hand, trying to hide the massive blush on her face. She peeked through her fingers and at that same moment, Miku opened her eyes and looked up. Both girls made eye contact and the look they gave eachother startled them.

Miku took Luka's finger out of her mouth and turned around. Luka looked at her wet finger then back at the tealette. Both had scarlet faces that were redder than Santa's suit and their hearts beat louder than all of the running tools.

"Miku-"

RIIIINNNNGGG!

Both jumped at the sudden noise but it seemed to rid of the awkward silence.

"It seems the old man has landed," Luka stated, standing up. She held out her hand for Miku. "Let's go meet him."

Miku turned around and took Luka's hand. "Okay."

Luka noticed Miku didn't sound as excited as Luka thought she'd be. But she quickly proved wrong when they got into an elevator that led straight into Santa's private workshop. Miku was practically jumping off the elevator's walls. She was speaking so fast that the only words Luka could understand were "Santa" and "cookies".

Once the doors opened, Miku exploded into the room with Luka hesitantly walking behind her. To the left was a huge table with several blueprints and toys on it. To the right was a hangar where Santa himself was getting off his sled.

"SANTA CLAUS!" Miku screamed, running and standing behind him, waiting for him to turn around. He was a big old man in his typical red suit, black boots, and long white beard. Everything Miku had imagined him to be.

Santa turned around, stunned to see an excited human girl standing before him. He was about to shout a few obscurities when he heard someone cleared their throat rather violently. He looked up and saw Luka, giving him the "don't you dare" look. He glared at her with eyes that said "what the hell is going on?". Luka just gave him the "just go along with it please" look with a sheepish face.

Santa sighed and looked back down at the young girl who was still staring at him as if he was a god. He put up a fake smile. "Hello, little girl," he greeted. "Who might you be?"

"My name is Miku Hatsune!" Miku said. She went up and gave Santa a big hug.

This threw Santa off guard. "Oh and Miku, what is a human like you doing here?" He looked at Luka who was deliberately avoiding his eye contact by closing the hangar and tending to the reindeers.

"I just wanted to see you because I knew you were real," Miku explained with a happy look. "Now this has been the best Christmas ever!"

Santa couldn't help but to smile at the girl's enthusiasm. Believers like her are hard to come by these days especially ones her age. Most kids stop believing half her age. It was like a breath of fresh air. "I'm glad. I have to talk to Luka now. How about you feed my reindeer? Maybe Rudolph will light his nose for you."

Miku perked up. "Okay!" She ran to the sled.

Luka gave her a bowl of food and watched her name and pet each of the reindeers. She walked over to the old man and gulped.

Santa gave Luka a stern look and gestured her to another private room. "We need to talk."

I'm not sure 'reindeers' is a word but it just sounded better to me. Whatever XD Also if you see the words 'running tools', it just means the tools are on. And the numbers in the beginning don't mean anything in particular. Just Luka's number is the important one.

Forgive me for any mistakes.