A/N: This is my gift for the Sousei Secret Santa for Giushia. Hope you'll like it!^^

Christmas Traditions and Surprises

"Ohhh, that is so cool!" the dark haired boy jumped from the ladder and yelled in front of him. Unruly strands of hair bobbled up and down while he grinned at the shiny and colorful decoration which came into being with each bauble, cone and star that Mayura handed him.

Shimon sighed. Enmadou always got too worked up about things. Yet – letting his gaze run over the place he had to admit – the living room of the Enmadou house, the old Adashino house, was shaping up into a festive space.

"We aren't finished yet, Rokuro. Now get up the ladder again and let's finish the rest," Mayura told him, standing between them while holding a sparkling red bauble in the air for Rokuro to fasten it to the higher space of the Christmas tree. Everyone had been cautious since Rokuro insisted on being the one on the ladder to finish the decorations. So far that hadn't been a problem but the boy with shark teeth was too enthusiastic right now before they were even finished.

"Right! Sorry. I am just so excited. I hope Benio will come soon so she can see this," Rokuro replied with a small blush and a big smile that made Shimon uncomfortable to look at.

Seriously, this guy was not very good at hiding his emotions. Likely, he didn't even try.

His eyes left the boy who climbed onto the ladder. Shimon's gaze got stuck on the blonde holding a bauble in her hand. She had dressed for the occasion, he guessed. A white blouse and red skirt made her look feminine and nice. Something Shimon did not want to think about too much. Just like the fact that he wore a white shirt that was unintentionally fitting to her outfit.

Tearing his gaze off from her, he looked at Tsuchimikado Arimori who had been the first to join the Enmadou house. He stood there wearing an apron, broom in hand and sweat dropping at Rokuro. So far the young boy had done a very good job at directing Rokuro and telling him where to put which piece of decoration, while sweeping up the needles fallen off the tree. It made Shimon wonder, why they had asked Mayura and him to help in the first place. The son of the head exorcist took care of two jobs at the same time while making sure Rokuro wouldn't get too distracted.

So far all Shimon was able to do, was to bury his hands in the pockets of his trousers and shrug at the younger people in the room. It wasn't like he had his own stuff to do and own things to prepare. Nevertheless, he hadn't been able to reject the request when Rokuro had gone to see them on the schoolyard. Mayura had been very excited about the idea and for some reason Shimon had not been able to say, "No."

He surely was growing too soft around them.

"I am sure, Adashino-san would like this," Mayura said before bending down to retrieve another bauble.

"We could leave the Christmas decorations for a while, so there is a higher chance she will see it," Arimori – or Arisu like he wanted to be called – suggested.

"For how long?" Rokuro asked with a slight frown.

"Well in some countries they leave the decorations on until the 6th of January while others celebrate Christmas in January."

"Great! That gives us more time," Rokuro agreed while picking up the blue bauble. "Though, I always thought Christmas was on a fixed date. What is it about anyway?"

Now the silver haired boy began to smile smugly. He was very knowledgeable after all. Something that Shimon had learned very quickly about the young Tsuchimikado. He blinked at Arisu while this one started with his explanation waving a forefinger in the air, "It is a religious tradition of the Christians which got spread all over the world and was picked up with various traditions in different countries. Did you know that Santa Claus is an invention of the Coca Cola company? He even got banned in Peru because he is not part of the real Christian tradition."

Rokuro blinked at the silver haired with widened eyes. The bauble dangerously dangled from his fingers in midair while he asked, "Santa never was real?"

"Ughhh..." Arisu sweet dropped and giggled awkwardly before letting go of the broom and turning around. Bending down to pick up a garland out of one of the boxes on the ground he said, "I meant in other countries they celebrate Christmas differently."

"Oh," Rokuro huffed and smiled at Arisu's back. "You sure know a lot, Arisu."

"Whether it is originally a religious tradition or not, I like Christmas, it is fun," Mayura said, interrupting the fresh awkwardness of the situation.

Shimon nodded at Mayura and she smiled sweetly at him. The corners of his mouth lifted on their own in response.

"You are right, Mayura. Anyway, thank you both for the help," Rokuro said while fastening the bauble to a rather fickle twig. "It's great you came, before I asked, I thought you guys would rather be on a date than here."

Splash! The sound of glass shattering pierced through the room.

"A-a-a date?" Mayura stuttered. Her hand still held up in midair with a bauble less.

"Yeah, like the other couples," Rokuro replied.

Feeling very hot and uncomfortable all of a sudden Shimon dragged his gaze from the conversation to the floor. There was a pattern of red spurted from the center where the bauble burst. What a mess.

"We are not a couple," Mayura said, emphasizing the negation.

No, they weren't. Hearing her talking about it like this stung nevertheless.

Shimon felt the need to do something. He did not want to be part of this conversation at all, even though it was partly about him. Going onto his knees in front of the burst bauble, he began to scatter the shards. His face felt hot but he tried not to show his inner commotion. With tensed muscles and grit teeth, Shimon knelt on the floor and picked up one shard after another.

"You aren't?" Rokuro asked as if it was the surprise of the day.

One shard after another, one shard after another and one shard after another was picked up by Shimon –

"NOOOO~!" Mayura exclaimed.

Ouch!

Shimon's hand twitched and he hissed at the stabbing pain in his finger.

Damn, he picked up a shard too fast and now it was buried within his finger tip. With a frown he plucked it out. The blood started running. Putting the finger in his mouth, to prevent the blood from ruining his white shirt, he let his eyes swipe over the room to look for some help.

Mayura was glaring with a beat red head at Rokuro, who cowered in fear on the ladder.

It truly stung. Like the shard but only in his heart and not his finger. Was the idea of dating him so outrageous to her? He tried not to let his disappointment show. His eyes skipped over to Arisu who stared back at him with a frown, holding the garland like he had before. Shimon could have sworn he saw sympathy in the young boys eyes but he wasn't sure if it was for his finger or – the other thing.

Shimon cleared his throat and asked Arisu for a band-aid who dropped the garland and quickly walked away to get one.

That finally broke the verbal tug of war that Mayura and Rokuro were having. Though it was obvious who was the winning one with Mayura having stemmed her arms into her hips and looking angrily at the other boy.

Mayura's eyes met Shimon's and he was transfixed by the transformation within hers. In one blink of an eye the sharp glow of anger vanished and worry filled her big, blue eyes. In the very next moment she was at his side, kneeling on the ground as well, "Shimon, are you alright?"

He pulled out the finger of his mouth and said, "It's nothing. Just a small cut because of the Christmas bauble."

"Oh, I am so sorry, Shimon." she mumbled pitifully.

"It's not you fault."

"It is. I dropped it," Mayura insisted. A blush covered her face again and she looked away, being shy for whatever reason.

Noticing just in time that the blood had started running over his finger again Shimon stuck it into his mouth again. He wished he had a handkerchief with him. It must look silly how he sat with a finger stuck into his mouth.

Finally Arisu arrived, bringing not only a band-aid but a complete first aid-box. Compassionate and prepared for everything, that was Tsuchimikado Arimori. Shimon had a hard time figuring out what he had in common with his father despite the looks, while he watched the young boy, search for a band-aid.

"There!" With a smile the young boy quickly walked over to Mayura and Shimon who still knelt in front of each other.

"Let me," Mayura said to Arisu softly.

After taking the band-aid out of the other one's hand, she opened the seal. Plucking his finger out of his mouth and holding it out for her, Shimon was surprised when she did not immediately wipe the band-aid around his finger, but bowed down instead and softly blew on it. A cooling sensation ran over his hand, a tingle rushed up and down his spine and his heart picked up a beat.

Rising an eyebrow he stared at her. "Huh?"

"Okasan used to do that when I got hurt. Every time she said, it helps to make the pain go away," Mayura smiled softly at him. His heart skipped a beat.

Damn. That it did.

He swallowed hard and almost missed how she wrapped the band-aid around his finger.

"There you go," she whispered with a tender voice and gentle eyes.

"Thanks," he said while his heart raged in his chest. Ripping his eyes off of the sweet girl in front of him, Shimon looked over to Rokuro and Arisu. The first one was grinning and started whistling when he was detected. The other looked shyly away as if he had walked into an inappropriate scene.

Was he being that obvious?

Mayura, being unaware of the other two guys, started to pick up the rest of the shards while Shimon glared at them.

He just hoped they would be finished here soon, so he wouldn't feel placed under supervision anymore. Also he needed time to get his own business at home done.

Rubbing his thumb over the band-aid, Mayura wrapped around his finger, he questioned his reasons for asking her earlier to come along after this.

------------------------------------------

"You know, you could have stayed for a cocoa," the redhead, walking next to her, said. His hands were buried in the pockets of his dark coat and the ends of his scarf swung up and down due to the slight but freezing breeze.

Right now, Shimon looked cool, almost hard, serious and unapproachable as most times. Something that made the girls in her class swoon and sigh, she noticed. Mayura, on the other hand, preferred him cute, showing his soft side and kindness towards others, especially his family. – Or cute like earlier when he had sucked onto his finger, staring at her with big eyes, as blue and expressive as the endless sky.

Suppressing the warm bubbles in her belly at the image of him kneeling on the floor with a finger stuck in his mouth, Mayura chose to concentrate on his question instead.

"No, it's okay. I can have cocoa all the time. Besides I came to help and since you need help, I am glad to come along," she replied and winked an eye at him.

"You already worked two hours at Enmadou's place," he said, looking at her with observant eyes. She had noticed, how he often looked at her as if he wanted to read her. He did it now again.

"Don't stress about it, Shimon. Also, if it is for Sayo, I am even more happy to help."

It was true. She wanted to help. Not only because she liked Shimon but his family as well. Sayo was a sweet girl living with a harsh fate. When Shimon had told her about his plans to decorate their place for Sayo, Mayura had been glad to offer a hand. Moreover, when Shimon explained to her that it was a tradition of his since a few years ago to decorate the Ikaruga house because Sayo wasn't allowed to go out and see other places, Mayura's heart had clenched in compassion for the poor girl who carried a heavy burden and the big brother who would do everything for his younger sister.

This year, he'd said, he planned for a special wonderland because of the snow outside. Mayura couldn't wait to see it for herself and felt giddy when the Ikaruga estate finally came into sight.

Her giddiness did not decrease during their chore in the cold outside, while they lay what must have been miles of cables with bulbs of all sizes within the gardens and placed Chistmas figures made of wire and bulbs on certain spots. Working hand in hand they quickly finished decorating the garden and continued to work inside.

Boxes filled with all kinds of Christmas adornment and his structured and relentless commitment to the task were signs of his devotion to his sister and Mayura was surprised at how easily she fell into the rhythm he set.

Compared to the amount of work and time at decorating Rokuro's house, Shimon and her were finished very fast, hanging garlands over entrances and dressing up bonsai as cute, little Christmas trees.

Right now they just needed to hang up a few little things, Shimon used every year because Sayo liked them so much. He stood on the ladder and hung whatever she was giving him to the ceiling. It made her wonder, if he always hung those things randomly or if she was just doing a good job at picking them out of the dozens of things in the box she was hugging with one arm.

She grabbed for a frizzy thing, a twig of some sorts, and held it up for him. When he shifted his weight to take it, she recognized what the item was. Her fingers clenched tightly around the object as she stared agape at the mistle toe in her hand.

When he could not take it out of her hand for her very tight grip, he looked at her surprised. "What is it?"

Nervously she stuttered, "Sh-Shimon, do you know what this is?"

He rose a shoulder to a small shrug, "Not really. I hang it every year. Does it have a special meaning?"

"Have you never seen romantic Christmas mov –?" His risen eyebrow answered her question. It figured. Why would she even think that her would know? Shaking her head, she explained, "It's a mistle toe. If two people stand beneath it, they have to kiss."

He blinked, once, twice, before a red hue spread over his cheeks. He did not say a say thing though and simple took it out of her hand before fastening it to the ceiling.

Surprised Mayura watched him. She wondered what was going on in the head of his, if he did not understand what she said, if he was choosing to ignore this Christmas tradition or if he thought up a strategy to circumvent what was demanded.

Unsure about what was going on she slung the other arm around the box.

Then he stepped down the stepladder and turned towards her with a gaze of determination. The red hue was gone except for a little tint.

Oh. Oh.

Was he seriously considering – ?

He wasn't, was he? Ikaruga Shimon wouldn't kiss a girl simply because a twig told him to, right?

His gaze of determination did not dissolve though. It hardened when he took a step towards her. Only the box she held in her hands was now between them.

She swallowed.

Her eyes searched his. Her raging gaze only found his calm one.

Dropping her eyes to the box, she wondered if this was how it ought to happen.

She wasn't prepared for her first kiss though. Didn't they need to have a moment? A situation that was not planned but more spontaneous? A moment in which he did not look like he would be ready to head into battle? Perhaps a moment like earlier. When he had smiled so cutely at her before she wrapped the band-aid around his finger, that her heart soared. She –

All of a sudden she felt something warm on her left cheek.

Lips.

His lips were pressed onto her cheek.

Mayura gasped.

It clicked and there was a flash of light.

His warm breath graced her hair and ear while he placed a peck on her cheek.

Her heart stopped.

"Gottcha!" Somebody yelled.

Confused Mayura blinked.

When Shimon pulled away, she saw Sayo standing there with a photo camera in hand. That explained the click and the flash.

"Chiiko!?" Shimon exclaimed rather shocked, while Mayura was still trying to calm down.

Shimon had kissed her.

On the cheek.

"This will make a perfect Christmas card!" Sayo exclaimed, grinning from one ear to another.

Slowly Mayura came to understand the situation, as Shimon stared at his grinning sister with a beat red head. Shimon had kissed her on the cheek and not only were there witnesses but also was there evidence. The warmth on her face turned into heat of embarrassment.

"Delete the photo," Shimon told Sayo.

"Nope, never," the girl replied, folding her arms behind her back and hiding the camera within the process.

"Then at least don't use it as a Christmas card?" Shimon tried again.

"What do I get out of it?"

A sigh left Shimon. "What do you want?"

"Another motive. You two hugging!"

Mayura couldn't help but silently witness the negotiations between the siblings while she almost crushed the box in her arms. Soon they decided on another motive, one that wouldn't put only Shimon and Mayura on display and would certainly not imply something that wasn't there.

Later as they made a family photo with Mayura in the middle next to Shimon with all of the Ikarugas framing them – she could have sworn Keiji pressed his brother even closer to her, she thought what a strange and funny day it had been. Christmas was surely fun. Exhausting but fun.

After the photo session, they lit the lights outside. All over the gardens soft, golden, warm lights appeared, giving it a sublime and cozy glow. It was magical. 

Mayura felt the spot on her cheek tingle and smiled.

"It is beautiful," she murmured.

"It is," Shimon agreed, standing next to her.

--------------------

A few days later in a house in Narukami a man was checking the mailbox of his partner.

Within it he found an envelope between bills and brochures, addressed to Otomi Yukari and Amawaka Seigen. It made him frown. The man, sporting dark hair and a pony tail reaching over all of his back, asked himself, who would write both of them. There weren't many people who knew that they were a couple again.

Walking back inside he opened the envelope to find a Christmas Card. It was a picture of the Ikaruga family with his own daughter standing between them. He rose an eyebrow in surprise at first but the surprise ebbed away soon. In his mind the explanation was clear: The Ikaruga's always had been an odd but kind bunch. Well, except for Shimon's father. He had been silent and serious, just like his son.

Seigen turned the card in his hand. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!, it yelled at him.

The dark haired man put the card on the table and sighed. As much as he was glad that his daughter was not treated like garbage where she was, he was sure his ex-wife and current partner would insist to send a card to the Ikaruga family in return. She had forced him before and would do it again, for certain.A shudder went through the man with droopy eyes, while he recalled the Santa costume that he had tried to burn behind his ex-wife's back before. It had appeared again and again, no matter how often he burned it to crisps. (Unbeknownst to him, did his woman know about his attempts and bought the same costume every year during the time he had lived with her.)

While Amawaka Seigen sat at the kitchen table and recalled the reason for his personal nightmare of Christmas, he took notice about something else sticking out of the envelope. Under further inspection he discovered that it was another card. 

Pulling it out Seigen saw –

"HUUUUUUH?!" he spurted out upon seeing the silent and serious boy, he had thought about just a few moments ago, kissing his daughter on the cheek.

Angrily Seigen flipped the card to the back and there he read, A special gift from a Secret Santa. MEEEERRY CHISTMAS!