Title: I’m waiting for you
Author: Darial K.
Disclaimer: I do not own!
Rating: PG
Summary: She didn’t want to spend it alone.
A/N: Yup, I’m back with this. The Beyblade one sucked a** but hopefully this will be A LOT better. *crosses fingers before gets snuggled* No beta, folks.
Song for the day: Santa, Can You Hear Me? by Britney Spears


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Cursing as the candle burned her fingers once again, the blonde blew the flame. Waving away the smoke from the extinguished candle heart, she kept cleaning the window. How the window had pasta stains, was beyond her, but did it matter?

She was lonely, both of her parents were gone and she had very few friends. She had managed to get to know few people during the tournament, Zafina, Bob, Steve and Lars being the nicest of them. And then we get to her problem.

See, she asked if any of them wanted to spend Christmas with her. Bob seemed to like the idea, but being the momma’s boy, he chose to go home. Steve muttered something about going to Hong Kong with Lei Wulong, which Leo didn’t understand why the heck he was going there. Lars was an interesting persona, but he seemed to have lost part of his sanity during the tournament and hung out with the annoying Lee Chaolan. And receiving constant death glares from Kazuya Mishima. Leo thought it extremely weird, but if the Swede wanted to destroy his mental health, she wasn’t going to be there and pick up the pieces.

Zafina… She was the one who caught her eye from the second she stepped into the hall and walked to sign herself in. Exotic. And dangerous. That was proved when even Dragunov seemed to limp after their match. Well, we still don’t have the problem in our hands yet. Problem is, Leo really likes Zafina. The Egyptian is mysterious just as half of the fighters, but she’s still something that makes her stand out.

The sweet scent of gingerbread makes its way to Leo’s nose and she snaps out of her musings when she realizes she needs to take the gingerbreads out of the oven before they are ruined. Her fingers almost burn despite the oven mittens and she releases another colourful stream of German swearwords. Letting the cookies cool, she puts another load in and leaves to finish the living room.

“I’m going to regret this… She doesn’t even celebrate Christmas…” she said quietly and unplugged the lights, instantly missing the magical feeling of the red lights. She had considered everything she could, so that Zafina wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

Kliesen had hesitated to ask Zafina, knowing that Egypt had way different traditions, but the dark haired beauty had agreed, telling that she needed something different. If she was going to come. She wished the other woman did, but doubts were always there. Nothing is permanent, they used to say.

Finishing with everything, she sat down and watched the candles to burn, the wax melting and pooling around the thick stumps on the plates. When her doorbell rang, she almost fell from the couch and just caught herself from falling on her head.

“Hey, Zafina! Glad you could make it. I hope the flight was good?” she half babbled as she let her friend in. The other just smirked and nodded, before putting a Christmas hat on Leo’s wild locks, effectively trapping them.

“Merry Christmas or how you say it. The flight was good. Boring but good. Did you bake? I can smell cinnamon.”

“Yes, I made some gingerbread and buns and stuff. I hope you like them…”

Zafina looked at Leo, smiling. “No long faces now. Now, tell me what is the “Magic of Christmas” I keep hearing about?”

Their evening went well, Leo was surprised when Zafina walked straight to the red lights and plugged them, smiling as she did so. She had said Leo shouldn’t hide anything from her. That if the lights and pork and all belonged to Leo’s Christmas, she was going along with it as far as she could. The Egyptian had adored the gingerbread house the other had built few days earlier and tried every food her religion allowed.

“This is a cliché of the worst kind, but I want to sit by the fire. We… used to do that a lot…”

“Leo, no depressing now. They want you to be happy, we both know it. That’s why I came. You need to remember to enjoy the holidays.”

“Have I really deserved a friend like you?” Leo asked shyly, putting a few logs into the fireplace.

“Leo… I would like to be more than your friend. If you let me.”

The matchbox dropped from Leo’s finger as the digits suddenly grew cold, along with her whole body. Had she heard right?

“I’m sorry; we don’t need to talk about it.” Zafina said, putting slips of paper among the wood and taking the matches. After the fire was crackling merrily, she looked back at the silent blonde.

“I’m… I’m guessing it could be nice…”

Snow was falling behind the window, flakes glittering in the light coming from the house. Two birds sat on a branch, huddled close to each other, wings touching. Mirroring the two inside the warm house. Magic of Christmas? You find out by yourself.

Title: It sucks to be me
Author: Darial K.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: No profit made and characters aren’t mine.
Summary: Lee’s Christmas is spent with … read and find out
Song for the Day: Ryuichi Sakamoto – Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence


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“It sucks to be me.”

His companion gave him an irritated sideways glance, but resumed the TV watching.

“You know what I mean. Yeah, I’m the richest guy around, but no decent woman wants to spend the Christmas with me.”

“…”

“I know… I sleep with guys too… I’m not going to mess with you, though. Not my type, you know.”

The younger man next to him closed his eyes for a moment, getting even more irritated by the minute. Lee was pretty sure he would hide the eggnog as he didn’t want any other revelations about him. Perhaps his little brother wasn’t tipsy enough.

“Want more?”

Another set or glare daggers and Lee reached for his cigarettes. They were watching some random American Christmas show dubbed in Japanese.

“Eh, even though you keep me as a weird playboy and an alien, I’m grateful you came. I might not be Mishima blood for real but you, for a change, are finally one sane Mishima.”

“…”

“Why did you come here if I irritate you so?”

“I don’t have any other place to go. Lost my troops, my friends, my home… Everything I had.”

“I thought you had a mother.”

“Dead…”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re not.”

“Let’s not argue about this.”

Switching the channel, Lee let Lars cool down for some minutes and while contemplating what to say next, he saw just the perfect girl on a commercial.

“Well look at that hottie. Don’t you think? You might like screwing her.”

Lee had to congratulate himself. Lars had gone from irritated to depression mode and now he looked utterly harassed. And all that in two minutes.

“You’re hopeless, you know that?”

“But of course! Everyone tells me that!”

Even though Lars wasn’t fond of sitting in a rather cool penthouse with someone who smoked too often, he had nobody else. But three days with an old perv was perhaps making him nuts at this rate. He yawned and put his mug away; trying to ignore the stinging in his eyes caused by the cigarette Lee was smoking.

“Can’t you smoke outside?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Not. What? It’s cold out there.”

“I’d like to toss you out if this was my own apartment.”

“So you don’t want come live here?”

Lee knew his brother would never really accept that offer. His pride wouldn’t let him. And he was too polite. Sometimes, even though they didn’t meet very often, Lee felt like he was by far ruder than Lars.

“You know, I’m sure your mother is proud of you, wherever she is…” he said quietly before heading to the balcony, leaving his brother alone.

“I wish I knew…” the Swede whispered and left for his bedroom. He was fast asleep when Lee came into his room, putting a small present on his nightstand. Sneaking back out, as he didn’t want to wake up an elite Tekken Force Member, he wasn’t stupid, he smiled sadly before leaving for his own bedroom.

Could things start getting better?

Title: White and angelic
Author: Darial K
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don’t own and I definitely don’t make profit.
Summary: This was almost his environment, just lacking all the blood.
A/N: No idea where Dragunov is from but does it matter?
Song for the day: Heavy Metal Christmas Guitar - Trans Siberian Orchestra


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It was his environment. Freezing and completely white. Frost covered everything and his breath was like clouds around him as he stood there, at the bridge over the river Moskva. All the trees were white and the riverbanks were frozen. This was his land. Even though the snow was yet to come, the chilly -10 degrees Celsius felt perfect against his skin, the harsh wind was pricking parts of his cheeks that weren’t covered by the scarf. He was off duty and had taken a little walk. He was from Krasnoyarsk, yes, but Moscow was where his life was.

He saw a young, perhaps a twelve-year-old emerge from beneath the bridge, walking the riverbank with wobbly legs. He probably was one of those street kids. They were pretty much done for after they got their hands on substances like glue and markers and started sniffing them. But this boy didn’t seem like he was one of those, actually, because a group of other kids were chasing him. The kid slipped on the grass and fell on his face.

He wasn’t the most sentimental guy in the world, but he went down there nonetheless, helping the kid up before the group could beat him up. The boy’s face was a mess. Hiding his disgust, Sergei began to drag the boy away. He took the kid into his apartment, cleaning his face. The boy was silent, obviously scared shitless, but that was understandable. After he actually found his face from underneath all that grime and blood and sticking a bandaid to the kid’s forehead, Sergei realized the child looked familiar.

Then it all came back to him. This boy resembled very much his former friend, former by meaning he had been killed. The man had been proud of his son and even dared to show Dragunov the picture. Grabbing the boy by his arm, he pulled him back outside and took off down the street. He stopped by one door, the name Җукова on the door. Ringing the bell, he yanked the boy back at his side as he almost ran away. An elderly lady opened the door, a teakettle in her hand. She smiled upon seeing Dragunov but she almost dropped the kettle as she saw the boy.

“Маленький Миша! Где ты был?”

She all but yanked the boy inside, flashing a grateful smile to Sergei, inviting him in. He declined and left, trying to ignore the fuzzy and warm feeling in his chest. Seeing the babushka happy gave him a weird sensation, but he couldn’t afford getting sentimental. He was Angel of Death after all…


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A/N2: Lady’s name is Zhukova. What she said: “Little Misha! Where were you?!”

Title: Innocence of the children
Author: Darial K
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I make profit.
Summary: He was back home, glad he could see them again.
A/N: This was a tough one. God I’m so tired… Sorry this is short.
Song for the day: Tonttu – Lauluyhtye Rajaton (acapella)


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Glancing his jaguar mask on the table, King let out a sigh and continued towel drying his long black hair. He set the towel on the back of the chair and pulled a pair of boxers and sweatpants on. He then took any random t-shirt he could find and after putting it on, he left his room, walking silently through the orphanage. The children were all tucked into bed, sleeping peacefully.

Little Maria had been tossing and turning again and her covers were on the floor, the girl herself curled up in the middle of the bed, trying to will the cold off in her sleep. King silently entered the room and picked up the covers, tucking her in once more, petting her hair for a moment. Her roommate, Esperanza was completely covered, only the tip of her long, black braid peeking from beneath the red blanket.

This was his routine when he was there. Making sure the kids were fed, happy and safe. He had made a promise, and nothing could make him break it. This was his reason to fight. The children who didn’t have much. They adored him. And he loved them more than anything. He left the twins, Oscar and Alejandro into the same bed, they were inseparable.

This was worth fighting for. To see them live, grow and learn, run, play and laugh. This was what he was devoted to do. He smiled before he made his way back to his room, feeling happy.

Title: Snowman
Author: Darial K.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not the song nor the characters
Rating: G
Summary: Every child loves snow.
A/N: Character for today? Hwoarang as a kiddo.
Song for the day: Frosty the Snowman


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Small figure dressed in dark green winter overalls was bouncing around the yard, giggling as he went. Reddish locks were escaping from beneath the woollen hat he wore to cover his ears. His clothes were slowly getting wet from the snow when he suddenly scooped down to make a nice, hard, round ball from the slowly melting white substance. He then started rolling it on the ground, gathering more and more snow around it.

He was so happy that he didn’t notice first how huge the ball was getting, until he simply couldn’t get it move an inch. That was when he really looked at it. It was rather round from all angles and he decided to make a snowman. A big snowman. He then patted snow to the gap between the ball and the ground, making sure he did a smooth job.

The redhead then went back to the biggest snow bank and started to make another ball. After it was decent sized, he faced a problem. There was no way he could get it up there. Crunching of snow under boots brought him out of his musings. He whipped around to see a familiar face smiling down to him. Together, they hoisted the ball onto the first one and then filled the gap so it didn’t fall off easily.

Soon the third one was up there, the snowman looked huge to the child, who beamed and bounced on the balls of his feet, as if on springs. His helper disappeared for a moment before returning with a weird hat filled with some coal, carrot and a scarf. Plus a broomstick.

They looked proudly at the big snowman, which was casting a coaly smile and standing straight with the broom. Then the boy did something that was the best described as random. He hugged the snowman happily.

“Hwoarang? What are you doing?”

“Huggin’ the snowman.”

“Come, let’s get inside, you are soaking wet. He’ll guard us.”

“Ok!”

Baek then took Hwoarang’s small, gloved hand and led him inside.

Title: Shopping spree
Author: Darial K.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Do not own
Summary: Christmas shopping
A/N: Cameo: Nemesis, my loyal friend and beta. SOrry this is late again, and shitty again, I really am running out of time and patience. With my family... Some of these are really getting redone.
Song for the day: Jingle Bells Rock, something that is always ringing in stores…


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Flipping her platinum blonde hair back, Lili Rochefort practically glided through the largest mall in Tokyo. She was highly irritated for two different reasons. She had a ball to attend and her perfect outfit lacked perfect shoes. And that the same song was playing over and over in every store she had been in. Spotting yet another shoe store, she made a beeline towards it, poor Sebastian trying to balance the load of packages and keep up with her.

The clerk almost dropped the box she was holding when Lili practically burst in and started to launch questions at her.

“Hello, I’m looking for perfect shoes for my gown. What kind of high heels do you have? Any decent shoes for dancing? What colours do you think that fit with silver?”

Nemesis, the clerk, deadpanned and silently led the blonde to the section she requested within the multiple questions. Lili, however, eyed her from head to toe, making a mental note to praise her style later. Goth-ish style was something that appealed her, not always whole black, but anyway.

“Any particular style of shoes you are looking for? And what is your size? Silver, white or black?”

After trying at least a dozen pair, the teen was disappointed at the variety. And the store seemed to be more and more untidy in her eyes. Perhaps that was her own fault, but she didn’t see it. The clerk packed some of the shoes away and put the others to the shelves.

“Got those in silver colour?” Lili asked and pointed one of the most expensive pair. Nemesis gave a sideways glance to the blonde teen and was assured that the girl was one rich bitch, so to speak.

“No. Only white and diamond.”

“My size… 37.”

“These here are… 39, but I can go check if we have 37 in the storage room. Excuse me…”

Leaving Lili there, Nemesis escaped to the storage room, trying frantically look for the right shoes. She didn’t want to spend more time with Lili.

“Here, 37, diamond shade. Try these.”

The shoes were gorgeous. And so was the price. Sebastian almost fainted at the price of those shoes. But even if he said that to Lili, she would have bought them no matter what. He swore that some day, Lili’s Christmas shopping was going to be the death of him.

“Your outfit is very stylish, by the way.”

“Thanks, but I’m still not giving you extra discount.”

“At least change the song!” Lili was loosing her nerve.

“Sorry, no can do. Central radio. Credit?”

“Here you go…”

“Thank you. I’ll put these to a bag for you.”

Lili, her mood almost darker than before, didn’t respond and just kept sulking.

“Here you go, have a nice Christmas.”

In stead than giving the bag to Sebastian, Lili took it and her credit card before stomping out of the store, her butler in her tow.

“One tough customer…”

Back in the limo, Lili was all hearts and daisies and sunshine again.

Tekken 7th of December
Disclaimer: I do not own and do not make profit.
A/N: Not likely, but it’s nice to fool around. I'm sorry this is late. And sorry for the quality drops. I'm getting a hang of this way of living so I'm gonna improve the earlier chapters. I'm so so sorry for the inconvinience. Don't go anywhere!
Song for the day: Walking in the Air by Tarja Turunen.

~~~**~~~

“Mother?” Steve asked while he leaned against a tree. They were standing at the edge of a clearing in the woods. Everything was covered in snow; the trees were beautiful in the crispy air, frost covering every branch. Nina gave her son a small smile and carefully made her way to him, balancing the precious bundle in her arms.

“I recall we used to come here often. But that was long ago. I haven’t regained so much of my memories.”

“But you remember something. That is good. You still have a chance of regaining them.”

“No, Steve. I don’t. But I’m glad Anna finally told me the truth. I don’t miss her as much as I should.”

Steve let out a sigh, adjusting his mittens as he walked into the clearing, breaking the serenity with footprints. Nina followed her son, coming to stand next to him.

“You have us now. Me, even though I’m grown up and the little bundle of joy here.”

The former assassin glanced at the baby she was holding. The air wasn’t too crisp, but still you could barely find the baby’s tiny nose from the clothes as they were securely around the tiny and vulnerable body.

“I… For some reason, I feel secure now. Even though I still have enemies.”

“I’m here, mother. And you know he’ll protect you with his life. You both.”

Nina felt tears pricking her eyes, but she willed them away as she hummed her favourite song and rocked the child who slept soundly. She took the other mitten off her hand and brushed infant's soft cheek. She was sad that she hadn't seen Steve grow up, but Steve was raised well, perhaps even better than she ever could.

"You're well raised. I can barely dream that this child would ever become anything near close as you."

"You'll do well. And you are not alone. Remember that."

Yes, Nina had changed. She had changed so much that those who knew her before were very surprised. From bloodthristy assassin to a calm woman who was looking after her baby. And in stead of trying to kill Steve, she protected him. The boxer wrapped his arm around his mother and they headed back. Upon reaching the gate, they saw Nina's boyfriend opening the door and waiting for them. The man cared deeply for Nina, no matter how tricky she was occasionally, and he simply adored their baby. And Christmas was coming. The house, a manor almost, was decorated and felt like you entered a different world instantly as you say the lights and the scent of cinnamon.

She wanted her momeries back. She got a new family instead and with them, they brought new memories to be cherished.

A/N: I’m in big trouble. Anyway, this belongs to the Pairing Game universe that was started in the Tekken Slash Tournament. You could call it AU, with canon tendencies. Oh, and I suck in Swedish...
Song for the day: Sylvian joululaulu (original Swedish version: Zacharias Topelius, most popular Finnish translation: Martti Korpilahti)

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Yes, he had been stupid and should have stayed home. Now he was stuck in bed for the entire holidays. With a concussion and stitches. Lars Alexandersson was a rather normal young man, 14 years of age, epileptic and very unlucky. Yesterday, he had gone shopping with his family, mother, stepfather and half-sister. They were almost done with their shopping, when flashing lights triggered his epilepsy and he had crumbled then and there. Now the back of his head had stitches only because neither of the adults had noticed early enough to grab him from hitting his head on the concrete.

Equipped with a kickass headache and a bandage around his head, Lars was somewhere in the middle of blankets and pillows, not really sleeping. He heard a gentle rapping at the door, knowing it was his stepfather. Shifting a little, he watched the said man enter, holding a tray. Lars was very fond of Markus, the man was nice and treated him like his own son. And he was the only one of his mother’s boyfriends who acknowledged him. And they looked alike. Hadn’t his mother, Elisa, told him his real father was Japanese; he could have thought Markus was his real father.

“Hey there, how are you feeling?” the man asked gently and set the tray on the nightstand. His hair was also sandy brown, eyes darker blue than Lars’.

“Feeling like shit… Did you get the licence plate of that truck?” he joked feebly, light hurting his eyes. Perhaps he was catching a cold as well. On top of this all. Where had his luck gone this time?

“Eh, sorry. Just missed it. Caught the last letter. You do look like shit. Hey, you are a bit pale, feeling ok?”

“Could you turn off the lights?”

Markus just smiled and went to switch the main light off, leaving only the Christmas lights on.

“Better?”

“A lot… Blue doesn’t hurt my eyes so much,” he said while trying to get himself up from the hole he had dug into the bedding, pillows and extra blankets. “I wish I could get out of this room…”

“No such luck, huh? I could carry you downstairs, you could stay on the couch but your mom is pretty adamant about this. So, we went and bought another Christmas tree, a tiny one and decorated for you. I go get it for you.”

“You spoil me…”

“Nah, we love you. And we both know how much you love the Christmas time.”

“Sometimes I’m thinking, what I have done to deserve you as my dad.”

“Many guys would kill to be accepted as your father.”

“Or they’d rather kill me.”

“Lars!” Markus scolded as he exited the room, leaving the teen to look through what they had sent him on the tray. Ham, salads, cookies, hot chocolate… Samples of the whole Christmas table downstairs. His granny and aunt were over for Christmas, and there were more than just them. Then again, Lars was sensitive to noises at the moment, so perhaps it was good to be stuck there. His little sister was just a baby, so her squeals were ear wrenching.

“Here we go.”

He looked up from his mug of hot chocolate and saw the little tree, about half a meter tall decorated in blue and silver. This Christmas was blue for their family. Otherwise Lars preferred red, gold, black and white. His mother brought a stack of presents and set them to the foot of his bed as the tree was set in front of his closet. He smiled, watching his little sister Minea flail when Markus took her.

“God Jul, älskling.”

“Tack det samma.”