Lia walked along the hall, meet with the sweet smell coming from the kitchen. She took in the Christmas scent and followed it into the kitchen where Kazuki and Himeko were decorating gingerbread houses and glittery Christmas music was playing.

"It's done," Himeko said.

Her and Kazuki gave each other a big high five with both hands then Himeko noticed Lia in the doorway.

"Lia!" Himeko waved her over. "Come on, help us with some of the baking."

"Alright," Lia replied.

She went over and Himeko's finished gingerbread house. Lia was lost for words as she's never seen anyone put so much effort into it. There was so much detail in it like she was telling a story with her baking. Little gingerbread children skating on a frozen lake and she was able to create the smoke coming from the chimney on a cold winter night.

"Himeko, it's really beautiful."

"Thank you," she sang. "I got Kazuki to help me out a bit." She looked at her gingerbread house and gave a soft smile. "To be honest though, I kind of wish I had a challenge like that on Christmas morning. Somewhere that snows. It doesn't snow here."

"You had a pretty good childhood despite it not snowing here," Kazuki added.

Himeko closed her eyes and smiled. "That is true but I can't help thinking what it would have been like to experience snow here. Especially as a young child."

Kazuki gave her a warm smile. "I see what you're saying. I recently got the chance to experience it." He looked over at Lia. "It actually was the day you were supposed to die. Those frozen white snowflakes were something."

"The day I was supposed to die huh," Lia replied but looked down at the floor.

"But Himeko," Kazuki cut in to change the subject. "You spent some time in New York too. It snows there too, doesn't it."

"Oh it does," Himeko sang. "It definietly was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I would go back in a heartbeat. Anyway, Lia would you like to help us out?"

Lia met Himeko's eyes and forced a smile.

"I would like to."

Kazuki grabbed Lia an apron out of the pantry and the three of them baked all kinds of Christmas treats. Once they finished all the baking, they cleaned up the place and then Kazuki had to leave the house for a bit so the girls were left on their own again.

"So," Himeko said. "Have you thought about what you're going to wear to the festival tonight?"

Lia's eyes widened. "Festival?"

"Why yes," Himeko sang. "It's Christmas Eve! Tonight everyone is going to gather in the center of the city and the celebrations will begin at around nine tonight. It's actually supposed to be a really nice day today. It's going to get up to sixteen degrees which should make the night a lot milder."

Lia shook her head. "It sounds like fun but I haven't given Christmas much thought."

Himeko took Lia's arm and began to run through the hallway, eventually leading Lia to Himeko's bedroom where she had Lia sit at her vanity.

"Please, let me do your hair!"

"Okay," she replied.

Himeko began styling Lia's hair but she noticed dead expression hid behind the smile that she was forcing. She continued to style Lia's hair but caught a glimpse of her blinking back tears she has been holding back. She pinned her hair into a french twist, then got up and admired how it looked on her.

"It really is beautiful. You're really amazing, Himeko."

"It's no problem, really." Himeko paused and looked straight at her. "Lia is there something bothering you?"

Lia closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm really grateful that I'm alive. I couldn't ask for a better gift. I'm really happy."

"That's great but that's not what I asked you." Himeko brought one hand to her hip. "Lia, what's going on?"

Lia turned her head and looked down at the floor.

"You know it helps to talk about things," Himeko said

Himeko took a seat on the edge of her bed and Lia's head lifted up to face Himeko.

"I really grateful for Kazuki. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead right now but..." Lia took in a deep breath. "I miss my family and..." A single tear fell from her eye but she wiped it away quickly. "If I'm feeling like this, I can't imagine the pain they're going through right now. Because of me, I caused them a lot of pain. I remember the look on my sister's face when I told her I wasn't going to be there anymore and the despair my husband felt all at one moment." Lia brought her hand to her heart and crunched at her kimono. "The truth is, I knew I had cancer since I was in high school but I was too afraid to go to the doctor. I didn't want to hear the fact that I could die." Lia wrapped her arms around herself. "But then around two weeks after I found out I was going to die, I met Kazuki and he turned my dark fate around. However, I feel like I'm being selfish for feeling this."

Himeko got up and wrapped her arms around Lia.

"You silly girl, there's no way you were being selfish."

Lia took in a sharp breath.

"When Kazuki offered you that proposal, you knew being healed would mean leaving your old life behind?" Lia nodded. "You had no idea what lied ahead of you if you chose to go with him, yet you took the chance. You were probably thinking of those around you where if you survived, they would get the chance to see you again. It must have been scary and I think that was one of the most selfless choices you could have made. Dying would have been easier. This was the harder decision."

"But, they believe I'm dead and I..."

"You're not wrong for feeling the way you do. Besides, the homesickness that you're feeling right now, will eventually pass."

*

Lia waited at the Christmas festival like Himeko told her to. It wasn't quite ready yet and she wondered if she was too early. She looked down at the purple furisode kimono, Himeko insisted she had to wear. Then Kazuki finally came over to meet up with her and Lia was surprised to see him only wearing a kimono and not have any hakama with it.

"Lia." He analyzed the kimono she was wearing and smiled. "You look beautiful."

Lia cheeks turned pink and smiled at the ground. "Thanks. Himeko actually insisted that I wore this kimono, not sure why though." She giggled and then made eye contact with him. "I'm surprised to see you in a kimono though."

"It's a festival so it's the tradition for everyone to wear one but, it was Himeko who really wanted you to wear that kimono?"

Lia nodded.

"I see. So this was her doing." He smiled gently at Lia. "It belonged to my mother."

"Your mother," Lia asked.

Kazuki nodded. "Yes, and it looks very lovely on you." He offered Lia his hand. "Shall, I escort you this fine evening?"

Lia took his hand and smiled. "Yes, you may."

Kazuki escorted Lia towards the theatre where they would see the performance of the Nutcracker. Lia took in the surrounding of the theatre and was amazed at the sights the moment they walked through the door. She looked around at the lobby, taking in the beauty of the theatre, making her heart beat slightly faster.

It continued to beat faster with the excitement of the ushers leading them to the first balcony. The auditorium amazed her even more. She couldn't help but smile. When they took their seats, Kazuki looked down at Lia's big eyes taking in the sights of the theatre and smiled. He placed a hand on her shoulder and pointed at the orchestra pit.

"You can't see her, but Himeko is part of the orchestra tonight. She plays the cello."

"Himeko does!"

Kazuki nodded but then the lights in the theatre began to dim and the overture began to play, filling the theatre with music and prepping the audience for the show to begin. The moment the show began, both of them were drawn in.

*

Kazuki and Lia walked out of the theatre into the crisp night air. The two walked together towards the city center where the Christmas festival was being held.

Lia's heart skipped a beat the moment they were close enough to the festivals. The lights all around giving it a very Japanese feel to it. All the festival stands to go check out with a giant Christmas tree in the center creates a warm feeling in their hearts. It's a nice way to spend the night before Christmas. She took in all the sights around her, amazed by all of it.

Kazuki took a few steps in front of her with his long hair flowing behind him. Lia loved the way his hair seemed to dance in the night air, making his appearance look very Japanese but the way his purple eyes shimmered in the night reminded her that he wasn't exactly human. Even so, she somehow knew that things were going to be alright now. That she could accept her new life among these aliens.

"You coming," he called.

"Right coming," she said and caught up with him.

They entered the festival, surrounded by carnival game stands and food stands to spend the night. People all around dressed in kimonos for the event. Lia took in the sights, taking in a few deep breaths to contain her excitement. Her heart continued pounding, walking through the festival.

"Come on down," one of the guys working a stand called out. "Step right up! Step right up! Come try your luck at a game of balloon darts." He pointed at the crowd. "How about you young man, you look like you have a good aim." He disappeared into the crowd. "No? How about you young lady? No! You're not going to try it either? How about the lovely couple over there?" He pointed over at Kazuki and Lia. They both raised their eyebrows and pointed at themselves. "Yes! You two right there. Want to try a game of balloon darts?"

Kazuki and Lia walked over to his game stand of balloon darts. The stand had a Christmas tree base with small coloured balloons to give the Christmas tree decorations illusion.

"How much is it," Kazuki asked.

"three dollars for five darts and five bucks for ten."

"We'll go with ten."

"Alright!"

The guy collected the payment and gave the darts to both Kazuki and Lia. Lia picked up the first dart and aimed at the balloon near the middle. She shot the dart but it landed an inch beside the balloon.

"No," Lia laughed. She covered her face and began to giggle. "Okay, let me try it again!"

She grabbed another dart and aimed at the same spot but this time it landed right above her target.

"Dammit! Kazuki you try!"

Kazuki picked up a dart and aimed at the same spot Lia was going for.

"This will be embarrassing if I miss."

He shot at it and it bounced off one of Lia's dart.

"Ah no." Kazuki put head down and started laughing with Lia joining in with him. "Did it seriously bounce off of one yours?"

"I think so." She continued laughing but took in a deep breath and picked up another dart. "I'm going to try and go for one of those top ones." She threw her dart and actually succeeded in popping one of the top ones.

"You got one," Kazuki cheered.

"I did?" Lia jumped up with excitement after seeing she did. "Oh! I got one."

The two continued popping the balloons right until they had no more darts left. They did good enough to win a small prize. They walked around the festival some more but with the crisp air, the two decided to get some hot chocolate to warm up and Himeko finally joined them. Then they came across an interesting game.

"Is anybody up for a game of Christmas trivia," the lady at the stand announced. "How about you three over there? Would you care to try it."

They walked over to this interesting booth that looked circular with handles and a place to stand. It looked like one of those gyroscope rides expect, it looked like it was meant to tip someone off of it.

"How do we play it," Himeko asked.

"I'm going to give you some trivia questions and I'm going to need one of you to stand on this thing over here. This will be your snowball and the goal is to stay on it. As I'm asking you questions, it will try to tip someone off every time you answer wrong. You want to get all of them right. As soon as the person on here jumps or falls off, it's game over. Want to give it a try?"

"I kind of want to be the person on the snowball," Himeko admitted.

"Let's get the strongest one in your group to go on the snowball. How about that guy?"

She pointed right at Kazuki and agreed to go on it.

"Alright, you ladies can either keep him on their or laugh at him when he falls." Himeko and Lia giggled at that. "Alright, first question! In the song, 'Frosty the Snowman,' what made Frosty came to life?"

"An old silk hat," Himeko answered.

"Good! Nice easy one to start. A recent holiday fad in the human world. What spy hides around the house, reporting back to Santa on who has been naughty and nice?"

"Oh," Lia jumped in on the answer. "Elf on the Shelf!"

"Correct again!" She turned towards Kazuki. "You're going to have an easy time back there with these girls. Next question. One of Santa's reindeer shares a name with a famous symbol of Valentine's Day. Which reindeer is that?"

They both looked up with their eyes. "We all know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer," Lia sang. "Comet and Cupid..." Lia then realized the answer. "Is it Cupid?"

"That is correct. What Christmas-themed ballet premiered in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1892?"

Himeko started waving her hand back and forth. "Nutcracker!"

"I actually just saw that with Kazuki earlier this evening, Lia announced. "It was so good!"

"It's such a good show, the lady said. "I take my kids there every year."

"I actually got to be a part of the orchestra this year," Himeko said.

"Did you really?"

"Oh yeah," Lia realized. "You did so well this evening."

"Thank you," Himeko replied.

"But anyway moving on. Name the animatronic cassette-playing bear toy that every kid wanted for Christmas in the mid-80s."

"Freddy," Himeko teased and then smirked right at Kazuki.

"That is incorrect. The correct answer was Teddy Ruxpin." The lady pushed a button, causing Kazuki's snowball to tip slightly forward where he had to grab on to the handles to stay on.

"Himeko," Kazuki shook his head. "Why would you say, Freddy?"

"I wanted to see what would happen!"

"Freddy," Lia asked. "Do you mean Freddy from Five Nights at Freddy's?"

Himeko and nodded her head. The game continued where the questions got harder and Kazuki was tipped so far forward at this point, his arms began to shake as he was holding on.

"I'm surprised you still have the strength to hold on," the lady teased. "Usually people have fallen off at this point."

Kazuki lifted his head up. "I'm not about to give up yet."

"I see. Last question then. What horned figure punishes naughty children at Christmas time?"

"It's Krampus," said Lia.

"Correct!" The lady had the machine lift Kazuki back up to its original position. "You guys managed to win." She grabbed the giant polar bear and handed it to Himeko then turned towards Kazuki who had his hands on his knees and was trying to catch. "How you holding up back there?"

Kazuki lifted up his head and hopped off the machine. "I'm doing fine."

The three of them walked towards the big Christmas tree and started taking pictures around the festival. They took a few near the games but the nice pictures were by the giant tree. An orchestra played Christmas tunes and the counted down to Christmas began. The clock towers hands struck midnight and everyone stared into the starry night sky where glittery Christmas themed fireworks took over the sky, welcoming Christmas.