Chapter 4 - Part Four

~A few hours later~


"We're baaaaaaaaaccck!" Kei sang as she bounced through the door.
Tori looked up from her spot on the couch. "About time! That sure took you forever!"
Yuffie looked up as well. "So what kinda tree did you get?"
Cloud sighed as he walked in through the door, carrying a box with a Christmas tree
printed on it and the words "100% artificial" in red and green letters. "Kei wouldn't let us chop
down a real one, so we got a 100% fake one."
Koji had a somewhat disappointed look on her face. "I was hoping for a REAL tree!"
Tori blinked. "You fell for yet another one of her Christmas tree jokes!"
Kei grinned. "Look on the bright side, no trees were harmed!"
Koji frowned. "Yes, but look on the dim side, we can't enjoy the wonderful smell of a
fresh cut tree."
Kei shrugged. "So, Tori always passes out after a few days of smelling that anyway.... or
else she gets high off of it."
Tori suddenly found interest in her magazine again.
Kei grinned evilly. "Yessiree, I recall a certain Tori a few Christmases ago, dancing
around wearing her under wear on her head, using candy canes as pistols and believing she
was an old western person."
Tori's face turned red as she looked closer at her magazine.
Yuffie burst out laughing, Aerith giggled at the image, and Leon and Cloud both raised
their eyebrows and stared at the brunette on the couch.
Tori sunk deeper into the couch, her fists tightening around the magazine.
Kei poked Tori as she giggled. "See, we do not wanna provide anyone with any
disturbing images now do we Tori?" She asked cheekily.
Tori narrowed her eyes as she felt her cheeks burn. "I can't help it if I react that way to
Christmas trees!"
Koji blinked at Kei. "Uh.... I think that's enough for now, don't you think so Tori?" Tori
sunk into the couch more and grunted in reply.
Kei shrugged, pulling out a Christmas CD and popping it into the stereo. "Well, lets get
started!" She said cheerfully. "We gotta assemble the tree first!"
Koji grinned and ran into the kitchen, coming back out with a knife, she slit the box open.
Kei sweatdropped. "You could have just opened it up by the opening you know."
Koji shrugged. "I was hoping to shred the instructions so we could buy a real tree."
Kei grinned as she pulled the instructions out of her pocket. "I figured as much."
Koji grumbled under her breath as she grabbed the instructions out of Kei's hands and
looking them over. "Man, this is complicated!"
"Nice try Koji but we are putting the tree up," Tori said from the couch.
Kei grinned as Leon and Cloud sighed, Yuffie cheered, and Aerith went to make snacks.

~Another few hours later~

"Finally!" Leon sighed as he and Cloud placed the top onto the tree.
Cloud flopped onto the couch. "Stupid Christmas tree." The blonde sighed, eyeing the
tree.
Tori looked at the finished tree. "Now to put lights and ornaments on it!"
Kei bounced and cheered. "YAY!"
"I've got all the lights!" Koji said from behind a big box that she was carrying down the
stairs.
Kei poked Leon and Cloud. "Can you guys get the ornaments?"
Leon rolled his eyes. "Fine..."
"Oh, and don't forget, you have to put the lights on the tree... you're the tallest of us" Koji
grinned, setting the box down on the floor next to the tree.
Cloud twitched. "...I shoulda stayed at the coliseum..."
Koji grinned again. "Yes, but if you stayed at the coliseum you would of missed Aerith!"
Cloud groaned, running a hand through his blonde hair as Kei giggled, sucking on a
candy cane.
"Now go get the ornaments before Kei gets so hyper from her candy cane that she
knocks the tree over," Koji said pointing to the stairs.
Cloud sighed and muttered something inaudible before trudging up the stairs.
Tori sighed. "There must be something good on TV," she said turning on the TV and
flipping through the channels. "No... no... no.... ah, here we go... South Park!"
Kei bounced onto the couch. "YAY!"
Koji stared at Tori. "That isn't good," she said running over to the couch and grabbing
the remote control, "We gotta find something Kei can watch."
Frowning, Tori grabbed at the remote but Koji just held it farther away from her. "Oh
come on Koji, South Park is good!" Koji shook her head and continued to flip through the
channels.
Kei whined. "Darn it."
As Koji flipped through the channels her smile faded and became a frown. "We need
satellite... cable just doesn't cut it," she said throwing the remote onto the couch, having gone
through every channel twice.
Kei shrugged. "I know!" She said, running upstairs.
Yuffie blinked. "...She's not getting anything dumb is she?"
Tori shrugged. "Knowing her... You'll never know."
Kei ran back down, waving videotape in the air. "Woot! It's the ZIM Christmas special!"
Tori blinked and Koji sighed. "I've already seen that twice."
Kei grinned. "So!? I've seen it twenty times!"
"Yes, but you don't get tired of anything." Koji said, sighing again.
Kei only continued to grin, popping the video into the VCR. "Dun worry, you'll still like it."
"But I-" Koji began to protest but Tori hit her upside the head.
"Quit complaining!" Tori snapped. Koji rubbed the back of her head and glared at Tori,
but the brunette just shrugged and turned to watch the video.

~ A few minutes later, after Cloud and Leon struggled with the lights~

"BOW DOWN! DOW DOWN! BEFORE THE POWER OF SANTA!"
Tori blinked in utter confusion and Koji sank into the couch, "No more..." she groaned to
herself.
"OR BE CRUSSSSSSSHED, BE CRUSSSHEEED, BYYYYY HIS JOLLY BOOTS OF
DOOM!"
Tori blinked again and Koji sweatdropped. "I think I'll go help with the lights..." she
groaned again. Koji hopped off the couch and bounced over to Leon. "Need any help... I
KNOW you do!" she hinted.
Leon's eye twitched as he attempted to untangle the lights that Cloud had somehow
become the prisoner of.
"... I'll take that as a yes," she said stooping to the ground and grabbing one end of the
lights.
Leon shrugged. "No, it's okay, you don't have to help." He stated as Cloud attempted to
free himself from the lights.
"But I don't want to go back to that movie," Koji whined.
"It's NOT a movie, it's a TV show!" Kei called from her spot on the couch.
Koji sighed. "Whatever... I'm helping." Koji insisted, weaving the strand of lights over
another section, attempting to untangle them.
Cloud said something, but his mouth was blocked by the lights he was tangled in, so it
came out like "Ank O."
Leon laughed and shook his head. "The moron says thank you." He said with a laugh.
Koji shrugged. "You're welcome... it's not all that hard."
Leon groaned. "Cid shoved these up here last Year...you don't want to know what that
old geezer-"
"I AM NOT AN OLD GEEZER!"
"...Uhhh.... Cid can do to lights."
Koji laughed. "I think I've already found out what he can do," she said weaving the string
though another section, loosening Cloud from his "coils" just a bit more.
Cloud mumbled again and Leon shook his head. "Just don't even bother talking,
Chocobo. Figures, only you or Kei could get yourself so hopelessly tangled you can't move
that big mouth of yours.'
"Tidus could too," Koji pointed out.
Leon sighed. "Yup, three blondes, three idiots."
Koji laughed. "Good thing I'm not a blonde, I don't know if you would survive!"
Leon sighed again. "Yeaaaah."
"As I said, you can keep everybody in order with your Gunblade," Tori chimed in from the
couch.
Leon grinned. "Yeaaah..." Cloud grumbled something and mock-glared at Leon.
"And you can fend of Leon with your buster sword, Cloud." Tori grinned from the couch.
Cloud mumbled something again and this time he looked a bit more cheerful.
"Maybe we could have a duel!" Koji suggested.
"Uhhhh.... No." Leon stated and Cloud mumbled what sounded like the same thing.
Koji shrugged. "Just a suggestion." Koji wrestled with the lights a little more, enabling
Cloud to talk.
Cloud breathed. "FINALLY!"
Koji grinned. "I'd figured you like to be able to talk again."
Cloud attempted to jump for joy. "WOOT-" WHUMPH! "...Ow..."
"You just can't move yet..." Koji said looking down at Cloud.
Cloud twitched and Kei bounded over just for the purpose of poking his eye before going
back to singing.
"Now we can just yank the lights off you." Koji sighed, pulling the end of the string, which
was slowly coming off.
Cloud cheered. "Don't get too excited or I swear I'm gonna call Kei over here, she's hyper
and she'll bug you to no end." Leon warned.
"Yeah, you are quickly becoming poking material," she said pulling on the string harder.
"Everything's poking material with that girl." Cloud mumbled.
"No, just people who are older then her." Leon stated with a shrug.
"Darn these lights!" Koji said trying to pull more string off Clouds body but was just
tightening the string around him.
Cloud sighed and attempted to untangle himself from the lights
Koji frowned and looked up at Cid. "No more light duty for you, Cid!"
Cid blinked. "What!? They looked FINE to me!"
Koji stared at Cid like he was crazy. "Do these look good to you!" the said pointing to
one very tangled Cloud.
Cid nodded. "Yup, looks fine to me."
Cloud glared at him. "You're very lucky my hands aren't free at the moment." He stated.
Koji grumbled out loud. "I'm just about ready to take a knife to these lights!"
Cloud shook his head. "Uhh, no, I'm kind of out of munny after the tree incident."
Koji blinked. "I wouldn't even touch you."
Cloud shook his head again. "It's not that, I don't have any munny to buy any more
lights."
"We don't need to rip you off, we can rip someone else's munny off" Koji grinned.
Kei walked over and blinked. "Why does Cloud-san look like a Christmas tree?" She
asked.
Koji sighed and pointed at Cid.
Kei grinned. "You guys aren't doing it right."
Koji stepped back. "Be my guest," she said motioning to Cloud.
Kei grinned, walked over and grabbing a strand of lights and looking closely at the
strands for a moment. She ran her hands along the single strand and whenever she got to a
tangle untwisted it. Eventually she seemed done. "Okay, Cloud, if you end up twirling and
running into a wall or something, it's not my fault." Kei stated before bouncing around Cloud
and the strand of lights followed. The girl just sort of bounced along, and as she did the lights
came off of Cloud. Finally Kei pulled the last strand off. "There we go!" Kei said brightly.
Koji blinked. "... Thanks... Kei...."
Kei grinned. "No problem!" She said before prancing off into the kitchen, dragging the
strand of lights behind her while Cloud and Leon stared after her.
Koji blinked again as she watched Kei prance into the kitchen. "... Well.... back to the
lights?"
Leon shrugged and Cloud reached for a candy cane to munch on.
Koji pulled another strand of lights from the box. "Now to untangle these."
Cloud and Leon groaned, and Cid cackled evilly,
Koji turned and glared at Cid. "You meant to do this, didn't you!?" she said pointing at
him.
Cid only grinned. "Maaaaaaybee."
Koji groaned loudly. "Why am I not surprised?"
Kei popped in, chewing on a cookie. "Cause he's an old geezer." She said cheerfully
before getting a candy cane chucked at her head.
"You wanna untangle these lights?" Koji said holding out one very tangled string of lights
to Kei.
Kei shrugged. "Okay."
"Hey, I'll even give you a special Christmas offer! The whole box for free!" Koji said
handing the whole box to Kei.
Kei grinned. "Fun!"
Koji sighed with relief. "Yay, no more work for us!" Koji jumped up from her spot on the
floor and ran to the couch. Grabbing the remote she searched through the channels until she
found a program she liked.
Tori looked up from her magazine. "Good, something other then that TV show Kei was
watching!"
Koji grinned. "You liked it that much?"
Tori sighed. "It was so funny it was stupid."
Kei only continued to untangle the lights contentedly

~ Several minutes later ~

Tori turned around in the couch. "You almost done Kei?"
Kei held up the lights and grinned. "Yup!"
"Good!" Tori smiled. "Now Leon and Cloud can hang them up!" she said looking over at
the two.
Both men groaned.
"Oh come on!" Koji said bouncing off the couch. "Where is your Christmas spirit?!" she
said walking over to Kei and picking up a handful of lights.
Kei nodded. "No reason to send a man to do a women's job!"
Koji nodded along with Kei and handed Tori a string of lights. "Now to light up this tree!"
Kei nodded. "Yup!"
Tori looked at the lights handed her. "This is going to be the best one ever... well, it
would be better if it was a real tree but since Kei doesn't want to hurt a tree this will have to
do."
Kei grinned, weaving the lights through the lowest branches since she couldn't reach the
high ones.
Tori reached up high with her string and started at the top. "We can just make it smell
like a real tree by hanging those car scent things in it."
Kei blinked. "Why would you want that Tori, you'll get all high on the scent and wear your
underwear on you're head and stuff."
Tori shrugged. "That's what I do in my room."
Everyone gave Tori a bug eyed look. "Too much information..."
"Hey it's my room!" Tori said glaring at the others.
Koji blinked. "I always wondered why your room had a pine tree smell to it."
Kei shrugged, popping yet ANOTHER candy cane into her mouth. "Whatever."
Tori went back to the tree and continued to wrap the top with lights. "You are going to
get SO hyper, Kei."
"How many does that make today?" Koji said while wrapping lights around the back of
the tree.
Kei grinned. "Twenty-nine!"
Tori stared down at Kei. "You're buying the next box!"
Kei only grinned. "Okay!"
"And the one after that," added Koji.
Kei only continued to grin, sticking yet ANOTHER candy cane into her mouth.
"Leon, you should take the box away from her unless you want to have a jumping bean
for the next thirty-six hours." Tori said struggling to reach the very top of the tree.
Leon shook his head. "Nuh uh, I dun feel like being ATTACKED by a keyblade-weilding
idiot and having to chop off any more fingers.
Tori shrugged. "Fine, she'll just be extremely hyper and attack you because she feels
like it."
Leon groaned. "She's ALREADY gonna be hyper anyway."
"Yeah, that's true," Tori said, shrugging again.
Cloud shrugged as well." Besides, I figure all we gotta do is find an extra strand of lights
and tie her up once she gets too hyper!"
"But you'll still have Tidus to worry about!" Tori grinned.
Leon twitched. Cloud just grinned. "Ah dun worry, Auron's gonna be here, he'll take care
of Tidus."
"I can tell you're REALLY looking forward to this, huh Leon?" Koji grinned from behind
the tree.
Leon grinned. "Yes! See, apparently all them stupid HYPER people fear Auron! See, this
makes me happy!"
"Fear?" Koji laughed. "No stupid hyper person will even be sober enough to think about
their own health!"
Leon only continued to grin. "Then they really have it coming to them."
Koji just rolled her eyes. "Yeah I can see it now... Kei, Tidus, and Cloud lying
unconscious on the ground in front of Auron."
Leon continued to grin. "Yup...that's gonna be very entertaining to watch."

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment