NOTE: This is a terrible time to start this story, because I'll be starting classes tomorrow. Oh well, better late than never. It sucks that I couldn't have gotten this out before Christmas, but gotta make do with what we got. I hope you all enjoy this story regardless.

Enjoy and Review!

Chapter 1: Yukiko's Dream

Ben impatiently tapped his finger against his desk, staring up at the clock. His teacher's voice practically turned into background noise as he tried to focus on the impending conclusion to the last day of school before break. He felt a sense of Deja vu, thinking back to how he ended his last year of school before summer.

"And once you divide by the-" The teacher was interrupted by the loud school bell, signifying the end of class. He hadn't even turned around before hearing chairs moving and children cheering. Sighing at the loss of an unfinished lesson, he turned around to face his class. "Don't forget to finish your holiday homework! Be sure to not procrastinate and wait till the last day of break! Be safe and have a merry Christmas!" He finished as the children were halfway out of the room.

"Aw yeah! Christmas break! I've been waiting for this!" Ben exclaimed, hurrying for his locker. Next to him was his partner in crime, the young werewolf who was just as excited as he was. Bella had cut her hair down to her shoulders; she was tired of people mistaking her for Alice.

"Seriously! I felt like I was gonna die from boredom in there! Why do classes always go so slow on days before break? Thanksgiving was the same way." Bella said.

"Because school enjoys torturing us kids. I swear that teachers go slow on purpose." He and Bella shared a laugh as they grabbed some stuff from their lockers. Ben turned to his best friend. "So, what do you guys have planned for Christmas?" He noticed her flinch from the question as if she wasn't expecting it.

"Oh…well, mom said she was gonna show us some old Maplewood traditions they do on the farm. Our old Christmases with dad weren't really that…fun, so it's gonna be pretty different for us." Bella grabbed something from her locker, hiding it from Ben's view. "I will admit that it's much better than Halloween. The idea of some fat guy delivering gifts in a single night is just too funny! Who would even believe in something like that?"

"Hehe…yeah, totally funny." Ben kept the fact that they've actually been to Santa's workshop to himself. That entire ordeal wasn't something that needed to be mentioned again. "Welp, we better get to the Rustbucket before Grandpa gets bored enough to cook us some snacks." He turned around, but felt Bella grab the back of his shirt and yank him back. "What?!"

"Here!" She shoved something into his chest, knocking him on his butt. Before he could yell at her for the shove, he felt the object in his hand and looked down at the wrapped gift.

"Huh? What's this for?" Ben asked.

"You're going to Japan to spend Christmas with Yukiko, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then, I won't be seeing you till after break, so Happy Birthday." Bella was blushing, looking away from Ben.

The hero was surprised by the generosity and unwrapped the gift. His eyes widened at the present that Bella had given him. She had gotten him Sumo Slammer themed headphones, Ishiyama printed on both sides with the game's title across the rims. "Woah…thanks, Bella."

"D-don't think too much of it, idiot!" Bella exclaimed, waving her arms about. "I got something for Gwen too since you guys share a birthday!"

"Ugh…don't remind me."

"And Alice has something for you too, so like I said, don't think too much about it!"

"Okay, guess I'll sell these for money then-OW!" Ben cried when Bella's fist sent him flying down the hall.

"DON'T SELL MY GIFT, IDIOT!"

"I WAS JOKING, BITE-MUNCH!"

The other kids in the hallway continued on with their day, far used to their constant shouting at each other by this point. Even Hall Monitors had learned that it was best to let them calm down on their own instead of trying to stop them.

Ben stared at Alice's gift, which was a Sumo Slammer themed watch. He didn't see the need of having it, but the oldest of the twins told him that the Omnitrix was a useless watch that couldn't tell time. "I can't wear two watches, I'll look like an idiot."

"You look like an idiot regardless, doofus." Gwen spoke from the front seat. "Besides, I'm pretty sure you could benefit from having a watch that can tell the time."

"The only watch I need is the one that lets me kick bad guy butt." Ben held up the Omnitrix.

Max, who was taking them home, reached into the glove compartment. "That reminds me... Here, Ben!" He tossed something small at him, which Ben caught in his hands.

"Uh? What is it, Grandpa?" He held up the tiny device.

"Stick it to the bottom of the Omnitrix."

Ben did as told and gasped as the watch vanished from sight. "What the heck?!" For a moment he assumed the watch was removed, but he could still feel it attached to his wrist.

"What did you do, Grandpa?" Gwen asked.

"That little device I handed you should hopefully cloak the watch's signal, so that you can get through TSA without any issues. It would be a pain trying to get you through an airport otherwise." Max explained.

"Cool, thanks, Grandpa!" Ben appreciated the help.

"No problem, Ben, think of it as an early birthday/Christmas gift." Max responded.

"Speaking of birthdays…did you guys get Yukiko's presents?" Gwen asked, much to Ben's confusion.

"I already have everyone's gifts all nice and wrapped." Max responded happily.

"Her gifts? What do you mean? Her birthday has already passed." Ben's ignorant question caused the other two to groan.

"Can you learn to pay attention once in a while?" Gwen glared at him.

"We all agreed to celebrate her birthday along with yours, Ben." Max added.

"Kenny and I already got gifts for her, did you?"

"I'm a kid! I don't have money!"

"And how do you think I got money to buy her a gift, doofus?"

"By being annoying?"

"Ben." Max intervened before an argument could start. "Try to think of a gift to give Yukiko."

"I just put my name on whatever my parents got her, no big deal."

"It's a big deal to her, Ben. Yukiko would love to receive a gift that you spent the time to get her." Max stared at the boy through the rear view mirror. He saw Ben's face shift into annoyance, his attention fully on the window. Max sighed, hoping that Ben would figure out something to give his big sister.

After getting dropped off back home, Ben raced towards his room, running past his mom as she vacuumed the floor. Sandra looked at her son with a frown. "Benjamin Tennyson, no running in the house!"

"Yes, mom!"

"And did you finish packing?!" She asked.

"Yes!"

"Packed enough clothes and underwear to last the entire two weeks?"

"Totally!"

"He didn't…" Sandra sighed, knowing she'll have to look over his suitcases especially. "Just make sure to look over your things! We leave for the airport tomorrow morning!"

"Yes, Mom!" Ben groaned, then stopped as he was approaching his room. Turning back to the stairs, Ben looked down at his mom. "Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, Ben?"

"What do you think of Yukiko?" He asked.

She paused in her cleaning, turning off the vacuum cleaner. Sandra gave her son a weird look. "Why are you asking?"

"I…um…well you guys haven't met her yet." Ben rubs the back of his neck.

"Ben, we've met her once."

"Huh?! When?!" He leaned over the railing with questions racing in his head.

"She was a baby when your father and I, along with your aunt and uncle, had met her. Which was some time before you or Gwen were born. If you're wondering if we love her then I think the answer is obvious." Sandra explained, smiling.

"I-I know that!" Ben exclaimed. "It's just that she's not a baby anymore, so I was wondering-"

"From what we've heard about her, thanks to your Aunt Yuki giving updates from time to time, she's a wonderful young woman. Someone who I'm happy to see has such a positive influence on you." Sandra looked smug at her son's blabbering red face.

"S-she didn't have any influence on me! Where did you even hear that from?!"

"Your Grandpa Max loves to gossip, believe it or not."

"Ugh…!" Ben pulled back from the railing, slogging back to his room.

"Ben!"

"What?!"

"If you were asking that to try and get an idea for a birthday gift, then you're out of luck. You need to come up with something on your own." She burst out laughing after hearing the increased pace of his footsteps and door slamming shut. Turning back to her cleaning, Sandra thought back to when the kids returned back from the summer trip.

"Here, Aunt Sandra!" Gwen handed her aunt a large album.

"A photo album?" Sandra read the title of the book, surprised to see that Gwen was carrying this along.

"Yukiko made us stop at a photocopying store to make a bunch of copies for us. She wanted to get you guys and my parents a gift since she wouldn't be able to do it in person." Gwen explained to her aunt. Of course, she and Max made sure that nothing revealing the truth behind the Omnitrix or their adventures made it inside the albums.

Sandra had to admit that the gesture and effort was appreciated. Max updated them on the stops they made and how the kids were doing on the trip, but to have physical evidence of the things they did was lovely. Sandra flipped through the pages, taking note of the pictures.

A photo of the four of them sitting around a campfire.

One of them all covered in cake frosting, she was gonna have to ask about that one.

A photo of Ben dancing with Lucy at Camille and Joel's wedding, which was immediately followed by him falling and tearing Max's family heirloom. Oh, she was gonna tease him about this one.

One of the photos was taken at a little league baseball stadium, Ben dressed in the Cannon's uniform. She had heard about the incident that took place there on the news, but nothing showed that the kids got caught up in all of that.

A photo of Gwen dressed in a beautiful blue kimono with a magnificent floral design, the young girl's hair tied up in a ponytail, and a cute cat-themed hair clip to keep her bang from coming down. Standing behind her was Yukiko, who looked like a proud mother. Sandra was blown away by how beautiful her niece looked in this photo.

The next photo she looked at confused her, she knew the location was Planetary Studios, but all the people in the picture were what stumped her. "Who are these people?"

Gwen looked at the picture and smiled softly. "That's Miss Yukari, she's an actor for Featherman Rangers in Japan. And the girl next to us is Haru, she's a friend we made during our time there."

Sandra nodded her head, happy to hear that the two had made a friend. But what caught her attention the most was the way Haru stood really close to Ben.

The mother's brain went to several conclusions, but decided to hold off on them. If she ever meets this girl again, then she'd start to do some…pushing.

The rest of the photos seemed to be more with family and some other people she didn't recognize. But what Sandra was able to conclude was that Ben and Gwen had grown very attached to Yukiko during this trip. The way they seemingly clung to her and vice versa spoke volumes.

Sandra nodded her head to herself as she left the memory behind. "I really can't wait to see her again. Just to see how easily she managed to get Ben and Gwen to accept her in their lives as easily as she did.

Gwen placed the limited edition Princess Rescue novel that Alice had given to her as a birthday present into her carry-on bag. She was going to need something to keep her busy for the extremely long flight, so she appreciated it. Her eyes trailed over to the magicians guidebook that Bella had given her. Gwen made a note to get some payback for the joke, but appreciated the gift anyway. "Might as well bring this one too…"

"Bring what?"

She jumped, tossing the book with all of her might. Her big brother was lucky that his reflexes had been honed from the summer vacation or that book would've taken his head off. The item crashed against the wall, tearing some of the paint off and leaving a dent. "Jeez! I just wanted to see if you were alright!" Kenny squealed.

Gwen winced, levitating the book back over to her before fixing the mess in the wall with her magic. "Sorry about that, but you know better than to sneak up on me."

Kenny rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah…guess I should think twice before sneaking up on the 10-year-old girl with super powers."

"Ah! I'll be 11 soon, so you'll have to change that." Gwen corrected him.

"Right-"

"And refer to me as 'sorceress' too, while you're at it." She added smugly. Her big brother rolled his eyes, clearly not interested enough to call her that.

"Didn't think magic gave super strength." Kenny commented as he took a seat at her desk.

"I didn't think so either until I punched Upchuck and Bella through three walls after they irritated me enough. Usually I would've had to enhance myself with mana, but guess my powers must be growing, huh?" Gwen flexed her arm.

"Isn't that a bad thing? I mean…what if you break something?" Kenny looked concerned.

"It's fine. Grandpa has been helping me learn to control it, so that Mother and Father don't find out." She walked over to her nightstand and grabbed her spellbook, tossing it into her bag as well.

"Are you sure you should bring that?" Kenny questioned.

"Why not? I can keep myself busy on the plane ride and study a bit more magic while I'm at it. Besides, it's not like anything is going to happen while we're in Inaba." Gwen responded.

"I don't know…trouble usually follows our family wherever we go." Kenny reminds her.

Gwen sighs, having a full understanding of what he means. She'd be lying if she said she didn't agree with what he was saying, but there wasn't much to worry about. All of their enemies seemed to be keen on keeping quiet so far and most troubles they've encountered have kept to Bellwood. A two week trip out of the country shouldn't be anything too troublesome. "I think this time we'll be fine. We'll be seeing Yukiko and the others again. I'm sure you're excited to see a certain idol too."

"E-eh?!" Kenny's face erupted into red coloring, stammering like an idiot. "T-t-t-that's none of your business!"

"Heh, don't act like I don't know about you two emailing each other since the summer ended." Gwen giggled.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THOSE?!"

"I didn't, but thanks for confirming, bro." Gwen took a ton of satisfaction from his complete embarrassment.

"I-I'm going to finish packing…" Kenny slowly trugged out of her room.

Twirling around the two-story home within the small town of Inaba was none other than Yukiko Amagi. The heiress had been full of energy for the past couple of days as the countdown of her family Christmas reunion was almost upon them. The Tennysons would be arriving in Inaba for the first time (or second time for Ben), and she wanted to ensure that everything was perfect for them. Even though the Tennysons would be staying at the Amagi Inn for their stay here, they would be coming over to their home for Christmas and the birthday celebrations.

"You're in high spirits." Yukiko turned around from decorating the living room to see her mother approaching from the kitchen. Her mother, Yuki Amagi, was what most would call a natural beauty. The two are almost a carbon copy of each other if it wasn't for the mature features of an older woman.

"Of course, Mother! Everything must be perfect for when the Tennysons arrive! I want them to experience the full unfiltered experience of Inaba and the Amagi family's customs!" A fire was lit in the heiress' eyes.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, sweetheart." Yuki cupped her daughter's face with her hands. "You've been planning this since you came back from that road trip. If anything goes wrong, we can just blame your Father."

"Of course!"

"I heard that!"

"Pfft! Snrk!" Marcus walked into the room, grumbling at the laughing hyenas in front of him. He looked at all of the extra decorations that Yukiko had put all over the place.

"Are you sure you're not overdoing it, Yukiko?" He asked his daughter, who tilted her head at him.

"Overdoing it? I don't think I'm overdoing it." She disagreed with him.

"You're literally planning the clothes that they should all be wearing on which day." He pointed at her list of activities. She looked down and read how she had planned out their outfits, especially for Ben.

"Ben has a habit of wearing the same thing everyday. I need to ensure that it doesn't continue to be a habit." Yukiko spoke as if this was the most important issue going on.

"I-I'm sure it's not that big of a problem. He's a kid, so they do stuff like that." Marcus said. He backed away suddenly when a dark aura started to pulsate around his daughter.

"Father…I would appreciate it if you left matters regarding Ben to me." She warned him.

"R-right…"

"As long as you understand!" Her attitude did a complete 180, smiling as if everything was right. Yukiko turned back to her list and frowned. "Oh, dear."

"What is it?" Yuki asked.

"I forgot about the dinner arrangements it seems. It might be too late to contact the staff and ask them to prepare meals for the holiday dinners for us. They'll be too busy with the Inn and all…" Yukiko cursed herself. She felt her mother's hands grip her shoulders, and was suddenly turned to face the matriarch.

"My darling little snowflake, I think you're forgetting something." Yuki wiggled her eyebrows. Her daughter blinked at her repeatedly, staring into her mother's eyes as they had a silent conversation. Marcus, who was regaining his composure, felt a shiver down his spine. Whenever something like this happened it was never good, because it meant that the two most wonderful women in his life were planning something dangerous.

"Mother…" Yukiko started, her eyes covered by her bangs. Marcus started backing away from the two, but he was too late to escape. "THAT'S A BRILLIANT IDEA!"

"I KNOW! I'M SUCH A GENIUS, AREN'T I, DARLING DAUGHTER?!"

"YOU ARE, DARLING MOTHER!"

The two Amagis were so blindingly bright that Marcus had to cover his eyes or else risk going blind. It wouldn't be the first time the two almost blinded him by their sheer ability to synchronize their minds.

"I'll go get started on buying the necessities!" Yukiko bolted out of the living room and towards her bedroom. Leaving the parents alone for the time being, the matriarch turned towards her husband. She watched as he stared at the direction their daughter went, and then to the rest of the room. Yuki slowly crept up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It's too much…" He muttered.

She rested her head against his chest. "Hm… I don't agree."

"She didn't have to do this much. It's just two weeks, nothing more than that."

"It's more than that to her, and to you too." Yuki countered. She felt his arms wrap around her waist, hugging her tighter. "We've talked about this before, but you can't keep running from them. You can't keep running from your Father."

"...I'm not running." He weakly argued. She just hummed against his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.

"Do you remember how happy she looked as she explained her experiences with the Tennysons?"

"...Yeah."

"How much she spoke of how she loves Father-in-law and her cousins."

"...Yeah."

"Then don't ruin this for her, don't ruin the one thing our daughter has been looking forward to for months." Yuki pleaded. When he didn't respond, she looked up at him. "Look at me." She ordered, and he complied. As he stared into her eyes, Marcus found himself falling in love with her all over again. "Our lovely daughter told me she has a dream."

"A dream? Is it to finally learn how to cook?" He was swatted on the back for the joke.

"No, but it's one of her dreams." Yuki sighed. "The dream she told me about is one she's been seeing constantly whenever she goes to sleep. It's one of the things that pushes her to keep moving everyday."

He was confused. Why had he never heard of this dream and its importance?

"Yukiko's dream is to see all of us sitting at a table together, laughing, eating, and having fun. You, me, her friends, and the Tennysons.. All of us together as one big happy family. That is Yukiko's dream." Yuki explained, voice soft but strong.

Before Marcus could respond to what he just learned, Yukiko came rushing down the stairs in her winter outfit. "I just called Chie-chan to meet me at Junes, so we'll be coming back together with everything needed! We may stop to visit friends, so don't worry too much! I'll call you guys later!" The heiress rushed out of the house before her parents could say anything else.

Yuki giggled. "I can never get tired of seeing her so full of energy. Can you?"

"No… I love that smile of hers too much." Marcus agreed.

"Then don't be the one to take it from her." Yuki warned him, giving off that dangerous smile. "Or else you'll have to deal with me, okay?"

"R-right…" Marcus shook his head as his wife broke out of the hug.

"Good! Well, I'll go get ready to head for the Inn! Be sure to grab the clothes I ordered for the festival, okay?" Yuki reminded him as she headed upstairs.

"I will." Marcus responded as she left for their room. The patriarch released a tired breath and dropped onto the couch. His mind lingering on the conversation between them that had just happened. Yukiko's dream sounded wonderful…perfect even, but no matter how hard he tried Marcus just couldn't do it.

He couldn't see the image that Yukiko was so desperately wishing for.

Chapter End

NOTE: I hope you guys enjoyed this starting chapter! We get some looks at our main characters and the beginning drama. Will Ben find the perfect gift for Yukiko? Will Yukiko's dream come true? Did Gwen jinx their vacation plans? Find out next time on Priestess 10 Z Kai!

Have a great day!