Yuki got a very nice coat for Christmas last year. Very nice. But now it's a new Christmas and Yuki's broke. What can a rat do?
A/N: Look! It's been about half a year since my last story and now there's this! How many of you just went 'OMIGODWTF!' when you saw ME in your mailbox? Hee, ok, not many of you… Anyways, I want to THANK THANK THANK Blu-chan and her marvelous help with a title and summary, as I am brain dead and have never been known to come up with a good title and/or summary. Now get to reading and reviewing!
-.-.-.-.-
Just one Christmas before a certain Tohru Honda would move in to Shigure Souma's house and no one was aware of it. Shigure was pulling on a coat near the front door as Yuki leaned on the windowsill staring out at the snow. He'd been ready to go the main house for almost an hour. Procrastinator, Yuki thought about Shigure accusingly.
"Ready, Yuki?" Shigure called. With a sigh, Yuki started towards the door grudgingly. Shigure watched him with a thoughtful look. "Hey, what do you say you open your gift from me here?" Yuki looked up from the floor at him questioningly, not quite understanding why. He shrugged anyway and went into the living room to sit.
Shigure handed him one of the many colourful packages from his arms. Yuki instinctively shook the thin rectangular box near his ear. There was no sound from it. He carefully out of habit took off every piece of tape before removing the wrapping paper. Upon opening the box, he pulled out a beautiful hunter green trench coat. Instantly, Yuki slipped off his old coat and put on the trench coat, which looked much warmer. He figured this was why Shigure had offered for him to open the gift before they left. Giving Shigure his princely smile, Yuki stood and buttoned up the coat. "Thank you, Shigure," he said.
The whole way to the main house, Shigure ranted about the coat. "I picked it out all on my own! And paid for it, as well! Ok, well, Hatori told me about it and gave me a loan to get it, seeing as I'm a little broke at the present, but other than that, I saw the coat and said 'That would look absolutely marvelous on little Yuki-kun!', not that you're little or anything, but you're kind of thin and short, so, you get my reasoning…"
-.-.-.-
It was the first Christmas Tohru was in the house and Yuki was befuddled as to what to get her. It had to be nice, nothing crappy, and special, nothing without heart in it. He leaned on the windowsill of his bedroom, scratching the hell out of his poor head. He was partially broke. Every month, he got money from the main house, but Shigure'd run out of money earlier in the month and had to borrow from Yuki to fix the house. So there was Yuki's dilemma. It was the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and no gift for Tohru.
Also, Tohru was sick. That morning, thoughtlessly, she'd run into town to pick some things up and had forgotten her coat. It was dumb, and now she had a bad cold. Downstairs she sat with Shigure sipping tea and building up a Mt. Kleenex.
Yuki blew some hair out of his eyes as they landed on his coat thrown over the post of his bed. He thought for a second and picked up the gorgeous coat, putting on the older coat that he'd abandoned exactly a year ago. It was smaller now and slightly uncomfortable, but he'd live. And he was off down the stairs, moving quickly.
Sadly, Tohru's calling to him stopped him. He skidded to a halt. She was coming from the living room to the hall, a knitted blanket wrapped around her shoulders, one from Shigure's bed, Yuki noted.
"Are you going somewhere?" Tohru asked, her eyes on Yuki's coat in his arms.
Swiftly, he made an excuse. "Ah, there's a tear… on my coat. I'm going to get it mended," he said with a faux smile.
She began to take it from him. "Oh, don't worry about that, Yuki! I'll fix it for-" But before she could finish, Yuki tugged the coat back nervously, slowly slipping out the door.
"Oh, no, Miss Honda! I mustn't have you working while you're sick! Don't strain yourself!" and with that he had slammed the door behind him and was running through the ankle deep snow into town.
Tohru opened the door to watch him go as Shigure came up behind her. "Is he okay?" she asked, looking at Shigure.
The man smiled, watching his cousin as well. "Yes, it's the just effects of a beautiful girl on a boy," he said with a mischievous grin as he patted Tohru on the head.
-.-.-.-
Yuki, panting from the exertion, walked into a pawnshop and placed his coat on the counter. The man behind the cash register, a short older man with a cigarette in his mouth, who'd been reading the obituaries in a newspaper, stood and picked up the coat, squinting at Yuki through thick eyeglasses. "How olds this coat, son?" the man asked, now turning his eyes on the coat.
"Only a year," Yuki said, catching his breath and looking around the shop. It looked respectable enough. He didn't want to get cheated.
"What do you say I give you 7000¥ for this nice coat?" the man said. Yuki figured that Shigure (no, Hatori) had gotten the coat for about 9000¥, so he decided this was a fair price and agreed. He left the shop counting his 7000¥, very pleased with himself. It was hard to part with the coat, since he liked it so much, and seeing as it was the best gift Shigure (no, HATORI) had ever gotten him and probably ever would.
His next stop was a local jewelry store. He thought he'd get Tohru something to go with the necklace Shigure bought her when she first moved in. It was a gold chain adorning a pretty charm with intricate designs on it. It made Tohru look even lovelier as it complimented her neck.
But nothing looked good enough for Tohru as Yuki looked under the glass case. He shook his head slowly as he examined every piece. Suddenly, as if in a dream, he happened to see a little golden box with little etches of the animals of the zodiac in their order of the years. He studied it for awhile and figured that it matched Tohru's necklace nicely and she could store it there while not wearing it. He nodded, examining the price, finding that he just had enough. He asked the girl behind the counter to get him the box and paid just a little extra to gift-wrap it. All together, it came out to 5,874¥. Yuki held the gift protectively all the way home.
-.-.-.-
Stepping in the front door of his house, Yuki called "I'm home," and vaguely saw Tohru throw a coloured object behind her back in the living room, but thought absolutely nothing of it. He, as well, held her gift behind his back as he grinned at her and slipped up the stairs. She returned an identical grin. Shigure smiled sneakily as he sipped his tea.
Safe behind his room's door, Yuki sighed, relieved. He had a gift, but had given up something near and dear to him. He figured it was worth it, as it was for Miss Honda. He put the gift under his bed and collapsed on his bed, passing out with his clothes and even his coat still on.
His sleep was a fitful one, as most are for most people before Christmas Day, the excitement of the day of gifts and love swimming around his head. The worries of whether Tohru would or wouldn't like the box were the main cause of Yuki's restlessness.
-.-.-.-
The next morning, a call echoed through the house at the crack of dawn as Tohru went through the house, knocking on both of the boys' rooms and Shigure's with a call of "Wake up! I have presents!". Yuki was up before Tohru got to his door, since he heard her knocking on Kyo's door down the hall. Now he was changing into pajamas, because he didn't want Tohru to know he'd gone to bed in his clothes; that sounded slobbish of him. He put a robe on over his pajamas as Tohru got to his door, yelling "Yuki-kun, wake up! I have a gift for you!" Somehow, Yuki couldn't evade the general shock that came with the fact that Tohru actually got him something. He knew she'd get him something, but he couldn't help getting a little fluttery in his stomach in actually hearing it from her and a smile eased itself onto his lips. He gathered the gifts for Shigure and Tohru and headed out his door and down the stairs.
Tohru sat on the floor in front of the poor little tree, a little Santa hat cocked atop her head. It was a picture perfect sight. Kyo thundered past Yuki on the steps, growling something Yuki couldn't decipher and didn't care to. He finished his way down the steps and into the living room and sitting across from Tohru as she handed him his gift and he handed her hers. She grinned and turned to watch Kyo sort through the gifts beneath the tree and pushing aside Shigure's and Yuki's and only picking out his own and handing Tohru hers.
Suddenly, she turned to Yuki and nodded at the colourful box in his hands. "Go ahead and open it, Yuki-kun!" she exclaimed smilingly. Yuki looked down to the present, noting that it looked a lot like the gift Shigure had gotten him last year. Must be the same wrapping, he thought as he unwrapped it in the same fashion he had unwrapped the coat. He removed the lid to the box beneath the wrapping paper and pulled out a beautiful hunter green scarf. "I thought it would match your coat, Yuki-kun," Tohru explained. Yuki started to smile, but then frowned as he recalled selling his coat to buy Tohru's box. "What's… wrong?" she asked, worried.
Yuki sighed, gesturing to her gift. "Go ahead and open yours, Miss Honda," he said, rather than telling her. Tohru gave him a look then tore off the paper, much unlike Yuki had unwrapped his gift. She beamed at the little golden jewelry box she's uncovered.
"Oh, Yuki-kun! This is so cute!"
Yuki smiled and told her, "I figured you could keep that necklace that Shigure got you in that."
Tohru's smile, as well, fell off her face. "Yuki-kun… I sold my necklace to get your scarf," she said, sounding more than a little disappointed.
Yuki felt shocked. "Really? I- I sold my coat to get that box!" He laughed a bit, as this was an amazing coincidence. He almost couldn't believe that something like that could actually happen in real life. He'd read a short story in seventh grade about it happening between a poor couple, but never thought anything so ironic would happen to him. "Well," he said. "I'll wear the scarf anyway, even though it doesn't exactly match. Who wants to match anyway?" He finished with a grin.
Tohru grinned back. "And I'll find something else to keep in my box."
Shigure whined ever so much all day about how each of them had sold a gift from him.
-.-.-.-
As Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure put on their coats that night to head to the main house, Tohru approached Yuki to fix his scarf. "Oh, its crooked, Yuki," she muttered as she did so.
Shigure coughed and shifted awkwardly not five feet away. Yuki looked over to him and said "What's wrong with you?" Shigure gestured up above the twos' heads. Both of them looked up to see a little bit of mistletoe dangling above them.
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick," Kyo muttered, stepping outside to start walking.
Yuki and Tohru both glowed bright red. "Look, Miss Honda, you don't have to—" Yuki started, but was cut off by Tohru's coming up and pecking him on the cheek. Yuki blushed even more as he left the house, Tohru waving at them from the door.
Shigure elbowed Yuki in the ribs, muttering, "You little playboy, you," and snickering the whole way.