Dedicated to my everlasting inspiration: kc creation

The Recollection of Christmas Past

Christmas wasn't something that Masamune Saga thought he would be celebrating this year, what with his mother's trial season reaching its peak and his father having to be on call and at the hospital 24/7. His birthday was also a date that he had forgotten about-not like he really wanted to remember it anyway. Even with all of his fateful attempts to rid himself of this sickening time of the year, little reminders here and there-such as lovers making holiday plans and sharing Christmas cards-kept poking at Masamune, causing a deep, unsettled feeling to sink down into the pit of his stomach. It's not like he had always hated Christmas. It used to be one of his most treasured times of the year, when he was a child. Now, however, the much older, much colder Masamune saw Christmas as a pointless, over-commercialized day of the year. Why did his birthday have to fall on the evening before it?

As the dismissal bell chimed throughout the school, Masamune simply kept himself put. There was nothing to go home to, so why rush? Making himself comfortable as all of his classmates scurried out of the crowded room, Masamune pulled out his Pre-Calculus notes.

Skimming over his handy-work, checking for errors, Masamune was soon interrupted by a high-pitched voice calling out to him.

"S-Saga-kun!" was what the voice had said.

Reluctant to do so, Masamune turned his head to the source of his name. Standing sheepishly with her knees buckled together, fingers tugging at the hem of her uniform vest, and chocolate-brown locks of hair covering her eyes, off in the doorway of their classroom stood Masamune's classmate; Mihoko Otori.

What did she want? Masamune knew that this girl had a love interest in him, but he thought that he had made it very clear that he did not feel the same way about her in return.

"Yes?" he replied dryly, making it almost obvious that he was not pleased by the sight of her.

Continuing to pull at the edges of her sweater vest, Mihoko shook like a leaf with nerves. Whatever she was about to say was clearly taking all of her courage to get out. Masamune's dark attitude probably wasn't helping her feel very comfortable about it, either.

"What is it?" Masamune persisted. He truthfully could be here all night, waiting for her to spit out whatever it was that she needed to say, but it's not like that's what he wanted to waste his time with.

"U-um!" she stammered. Reaching frantically into her book bag, Mihoko quickly made her way over to Masamune's desk, weaving her way through the multiple empty ones. "I-I, I thought that maybe you would like this, s-so, u-um...here!"

Dropping a petite box down onto Masamune's desk in a hurry, just like all of her other classmates did earlier, Mihoko herself scampered out of the classroom.

Girls confused Masamune. Why did they like him so much? Was it how he looked? He thought that his appearance was decent at best. His personality? That couldn't be it. He was always so cold to the people around him. His eyes? They were brown. Not very fascinating.

Examining the compact box with narrow eyes, Masamune couldn't imagine why a girl that he wasn't even dating, a girl who he had turned down even, would buy him something for Christmas. Could it have been a present for his birthday? Did she even know it was his birthday today? He didn't think anyone knew.

Again, his thoughts were interrupted by a voice. This one was much stronger, much deeper.

"Saga, what are you still doing here? Go home already! It's Christmas eve!" his homeroom teacher had exclaimed. "Your parents will start to worry if you don't hurry along home."

"No they won't," Masamune scoffed, his eyes narrowing in disdain.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir," Masamune sighed. Gathering his notes and shoving the gift that Mihoko had given him into his school bag, Masamune rose to his feet. "Guess I'll head home now."

"You have a nice holiday break, Saga. Stay safe and study hard!" his teacher called out to him as Masamune began to walk toward to classroom door.

"You too, sir," Masamune replied hesitantly. Talking to teachers so casually always made him feel uncomfortable. Still, even though he had said that that was where he was going, Masamune wasn't planning on heading home just yet.

Turning the corner of the fifth floor's corridor, Masamune made his way down to the very last room on the left: the library. Eying the closed door with frustrated eyes, Masamune could vaguely see the outline of a piece of paper taped to the wall next to the door. That was never a good sign. Not for Masamune, at least.

Closed for the holiday. See you next year!

- Librarian

'Well this sucks...' Masamune thought to himself. 'Where can I go now? Home?' He sighed. It looked like Masamune had no choice now but to go home.

Turning around and walking back up the hallway, Masamune sighed again. 'I was really hoping to check out a few books before break started, too...'

When he had rounded the corner once more, Masamune was almost not surprised to see the ever-vibrant Ritsu Oda walking down the adjacent corridor. He was probably heading for what Masamune predicted to be the library.

"It's closed," Masamune said. Even though his tone wasn't particularly loud, Masamune's voice had resounded around the walls of the empty hallway. It caused Ritsu to jolt in fright.

"S-S-Senpai!" he stuttered. He wasn't exactly expecting to run into Masamune in the middle of the hallway. If anything, he thought that he might "casually" bump into him in one of the rows of bookcases in the library, but definitely not right here, not right now.

"Were you going to the library?" Masamune asked, slinging his school bag over his shoulder.

"Y-yeah..." Ritsu's voice quivered.

"It's closed," Masamune repeated, his tone dryer this time.

"Oh, I see...That's a shame..." Ritsu sighed. His disappointment was clearly visible on his face. "I really wanted to check out a book for over the holiday, too..."

Masamune's eyes widened just the slightest bit. 'It seems like the only thing the two of us have in common is the fact that we both love books more than we love air,' Masamune thought silently to himself.

"U-um! I guess I'll be going home then! S-see you-!"

"Come to my house," Masamune said abruptly, cutting Ritsu off.

"...W-what?" Ritsu questioned. He wasn't sure that he had heard Masamune correctly.

"Come with me to my house," Masamune repeated, stepping closer to Ritsu. "Do you have somewhere else that you need to be?"

Ritsu quickly snapped out of his current state of shock. Shaking his head, Ritsu stammered, "N-no!" Tugging on the straps of his book bag, Ritsu continued by saying, "I told my parents that I would be coming home late today anyways, because I thought that I would be spending the afternoon in the library..."

"Come over then," Masamune inquired one last time.

Walking past the underclassman, Masamune was a little surprised with his own self. It's not like he was desperate to have some company with him on his birthday. He was almost repulsed by the fact that he had even fantasized about purchasing a cake large enough for two earlier this week. Such juvenile thoughts.

Tripping over his feet to catch up with Masamune, Ritsu nervously trailed behind the upperclassman. He wanted to say something. He wanted to wish Masamune a happy birthday, seeing as he had recently learned that his birthday was on Christmas eve, but Ritsu wasn't sure if things like that made his senpai feel uncomfortable. The last thing Ritsu wanted to do was make Masamune feel uncomfortable.

Still...what was he going to do with the present that he had bought him, then?

The walk to Masamune's house was short, yet strained. It wasn't the first time that Ritsu had gone home with his superior, but he was still shy about the whole "couple" thing that was going on between the two of them. Based on the number of dates-which was zero-they had gone on, it was almost as if they were just "friends with benefits". The thought of such a naughty, mental topic caused Ritsu's cheeks to flare up a bright shade of red.

"Are you cold?" Masamune asked, his tone hinting with just the slightest amount of concern.

Coming to his senses, Ritsu rapidly shook his head. "I-I'm f...f...f...fi-eechk!"

Masamune stopped walking. Throwing a glance back over his shoulder, he questioned, "What was that?"

Rubbing his nose with the back of his hand, Ritsu sheepishly replied, "A sneeze..." in a quiet voice.

"Bless you," Masamune said. Looking ahead, he continued to walk forward once more.

"Th-thank you..." Ritsu whispered. If he was any more embarrassed, he would probably die. Ritsu already knew that his sneeze was strange, but now that Masamune had heard it, it only made him feel even more humiliated.

"I'm home, Sorata," Masamune announced, greeting his pet kitten. The black and white ball-of-fur greeted him back with a high-pitched mew.

Ritsu smiled, when Masamune picked up the kitten, holding it carefully over his shoulder. The sight brought back memories of the rainy day when he had actually seen Masamune save the abandoned kitten from the side of the road. Everyone else had just passed it by, but not Masamune. He had stopped, stared, and picked the kitten up just the same way as he had now.

"You can head upstairs. I'll get us some-" Masamune dropped his voice. Noting his tense energy, Sorata's ears flattened. Masamune had heard something.

"Senpa-" Masamune pressed a quick finger to Ritsu's lips, hushing him instantly.

Setting Sorata back down onto the wooden floorboards, Masamune motioned for both Ritsu and Sorata to stay put. Creeping toward the source of the noise that he had heard, Masamune's eyes widened.

"My mom's home," he whispered, his tone hushed out of fear that she would hear him.

"Wh-what?" Ritsu replied in a frightened whisper.

Stepping silently back over to Ritsu, Masamune placed a hand on the underclassman's shoulder. "Go upstairs as quietly as you can, go into my room, close the door behind you, and do not make a sound until I come upstairs, too, okay?" Masamune's eyes were fierce, instructing, almost as if he had been faced with this kind of situation before.

Nodding nervously, Ritsu scurried noiselessly up the staircase and padded down the upper hallway to Masamune's bedroom.

Sighing as he ruffled his hair, Masamune slid open the door of his mother's office. "Mom, what are you doing home? I thought you said-"

"I know what I said, Masamune, I just forgot some of my client's files in my desk," his mother had cut in.

"Are you going to be here long?" Masamune asked, his voice clearly disinterested.

"No, in fact, I'm leaving right now."

"Are you going to be home tomorrow? It's Christmas."

"I know what tomorrow is. Still, I don't think I'll be home until late tomorrow night."

"Oh," Masamune sighed.

"Look, I have to go now or I'm going to be late, so please stop asking me questions. I'll hear enough of them tonight in the courtroom"

Masamune looked down at his sock-covered feet. "Mom, it's my birthday today."

Masamune's mother hurriedly shoved her client's files into her leather briefcase and snapped it shut. "Oh, that's right. Happy birthday. I left January's living expenses on the kitchen table. If you want to buy yourself a gift, let me know how much it will cost so that I can put it on my credit card."

Masamune stood silently as he watched his mother leave the room of her office. He listened quietly for that distinct sound of his mother's high heels as they clacked against the hardwood flooring. He heard her yell something at the cat. Masamune held his breath as he waited for the front door to lock shut behind his mother. He heard a click. He exhailed.

Waiting alone in Masamune's room was a dangerous thing for Ritsu. He wanted to do so many things. He wanted to touch Masamune's remote controller, just because he knew that he had held it in his hand, he wanted to smother his face in Masamune's pillow again, because he was starting to remember just how good it had smelled, and he definitely wanted to peek inside of Masamune's daily journal that was sitting in a very quaint manor on Masamune's nightstand.

All of his booming wants were silenced by the sound of his pounding heart, when he had heard Masamune's bedroom door creak open.

Walking into his cluttered, book cave-of-a-room, Masamune held out one of the glasses of oolong tea that he was holding to Ritsu. "My mom left. She was only here to pick up some papers for work."

"For work?" Ritsu asked, graciously accepting the cup of tea into his hands. "What does your mother do for work?"

"She's a lawyer," Masamune answered, sitting himself down onto the edge of his bed. Noting that Ritsu was still standing, Masamune sighed and patted the area next to him, signaling for the underclassman to sit.

Nervously doing so, Ritsu carefully sat himself down onto Masamune's soft bedcovers. He hadn't intended to, but he had accidently sat a little too close to Masamune. With their arms brushing against each other's every time they lifted up their glasses to drink, Ritsu couldn't help but blush. His heart was pounding so hard that his hands were shaking, making it hard for him to hold his glass of tea still.

"You don't have to be so nervous," Masamune sighed, taking a sip of the oolong.

Jumping at the sound of Masamune's voice, Ritsu, forgetting about the cup in his hands, quickly threw his arms into the air to protest. The sweating glass of tea began to slip from his unready hands.

"Careful!" Masamune shouted, stepping up to catch the glass. Grabbing a firm hold on the slippery fixture, Masamune sighed with relief.

Setting the tea cup down onto the floor, along with his own glass as well, Masamune sat back down onto his bed. "Why do you like me so much if you can't even be around me?" Masamune asked, his voice almost angered.

Ritsu's quivering hands clasped a shaky hold of his knee caps, his exterior clearly tense with the current situation. Lowering his head in shame, Ritsu whispered, "Because I l-like you, Senpai...That's why I get so nervous around you..." Gripping at the material of his uniform pants, Ritsu bowed his head even more, his bangs completely masking his eyes. "It's because I like yo-"

"Ritsu..." Masamune whispered, his voice low and deep. Leaning closer to the underclassman, Masamune placed one of his own, firm hands on top of Ritsu's fidgeting ones. Ritsu was nervously trying to push away, but Masamune wouldn't let him. Turning his head ever-so slightly to the side, Masamune made gentle to press a soft, feathery kiss to Ritsu's tightly shut lips.

Opening his eyes for a brief peek at the boy in beside him, Masamune almost chuckled at just how embarrassed Ritsu's face was. That was the thing that confused Masamune the most about this person. No matter what, without a fail, Ritsu would always cause Masamune to do something completely out of the norm.

Breaking from the kiss just moments after it had began, Masamune took in a deep breath. Now even his heart was starting to pound. The things that this boy made him feel...the welling of emotions that he only experienced when he was in the presence of him. What was it? What was so special about Ritsu Oda that made Masamune go crazy inside?

Wrapping his arms around the younger adolescent, Masamune pulled Ritsu closer to his body. Burrowing his head into the soft skin of Ritsu's neck, Masamune inhaled the scent of pheromones and bath soap.

"S-Senpai...?" Ritsu whispered, breaking the looming silence with his fragile voice.

"Mmn?" Masamune responded, his tone soft and relaxed, almost tired even.

Reaching a hand up to grab at the cottony fabric of Masamune's dress shirt, Ritsu sheepishly admitted, "I-I have something that I want to give you..."

Masamune's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Drawing back from Ritsu's collar, Masamune cocked his head to the side. "Something to give me? What do you mean?" He was perplexed. Why would Ritsu have something for him? Was it a present for Christmas? Was it...a present for his birthday?

Uncoiling himself from Masamune's warm arms, Ritsu got down from his upperclassman's bed and searched for his school bag. Retrieving it from its leaning position against Masamune's night stand, Ritsu fished through his plethora of notebooks and folders. Finding his "something" for Masamune with ease, Ritsu trailed his way back over to his senapai's side.

Taking his seat next to him once more, Ritsu carefully handed Masamune the wrapped item from his sideways position. "I-I thought you would like this...so I got it for you..." Ritsu explained, his voice slightly shaking. "H-happy birthday, Senpai..."

Masamune took the gift into his hands. Just like he had done with Mihoko's present, Masamune examined the rectangular object. A curly Christmas bow was loosely tied around the gift, holding the wrapping paper together. "You got me a present?" Masamune asked, even though the answer was quite obvious. Why were people doing this? Why were they buying him gifts? Masamune thought he was sure that no one had known when his birthday was, but it was rather clear that Ritsu had planned for this occasion. The wrapping paper even had "Happy Birthday" written all over it.

"O-of course! It is your birthday, after all..." Ritsu replied. "It's also Christmas eve, too, so..."

Pulling the ribbon upward, causing it to unwind and set the paper free, Masamune's birthday present was quickly revealed. It was one of Akihiko Usami's novels. The novice novelist had been blowing up on the rating charts lately, making for good conversation between him and Ritsu in the library.

"Y-you told me that you hadn't purchased it yet, so I thought that I would get it for you..." Ritsu reasoned.

Taking the book out of its wrapping paper packaging, Masamune allowed his eyes to scan the art design of the front cover, for his hand to aimlessly run over the smooth, hardcover texture of the binding, and for his gaze to gradually shift over to look at Ritsu's strawberry-red face.

"Thank you," Masamune said softly.

"I-it was no problem at all! I hope you enjoy it!" Ritsu smiled. Masamune found that the underclassman's face always looked better when it wasn't hiding or covered with his hands. It was always a nice plus if there was a smile on it as well.

Setting the book down beside him, Masamune rose his opposing hand upward. Using his knuckle to brush a soft pattern into Ritsu's cheekbone, Masamune slowly leaned forward. Pressing his lips to Ritsu's, catching the adolescent unawares, Masamune was lucky enough to snag an open-lip kiss from him.

Abusing this advantage even further, Masamune slipped his tongue into Ritsu's mouth. The notion caused discomfort on Ritsu's end, but Masamune grasped a strong hold on the boy's shoulders, instantly dizzying the both of them.

'Christmas was something that I didn't think I would be celebrating this year. My birthday was something that I wanted to forget.'

"Senpai..." Ritsu whispered, his quiet voice filled with air.

"Ritsu..." Masamune answered, his tone strong and dominant.

'...Thank you. Thank you for making my birthday special this year.'

Shifting his car's gear mechanism into park, the elder Masamune Takano found it trivial to be fantasizing about the "ifs" and "maybes" of life. Sighing deeply after the car's remote hum died out, Masamune turned his head over to his left.

Not to his surprise, his rather silent co-worker was fast asleep. His head was resting carefully on the frost-covered glass of the car's window, his soft inhales and exhales leaving a mask of growing fog on the cold glass.

Leaning over his driver's seat, Masamune reached for the spare jacket that he always kept in the back seats. Grabbing and pulling it forward, Masamune made do to lay the trench jacket carefully over his subordinate's dormant body like a blanket.

Feeling the urge to smoke, Masamune grabbed the old package of cigarettes that he kept in the glove department of his dash. Checking the box for a lighter, Masamune smirked when his handy-dandy matches were nowhere to be found, either.

"Guess this means you want me to stop smoking, huh?" Masamune jokingly spoke to himself. Sighing, he opened his car door and stepped out into the crisp, winter air. Snow was starting to collect and lightly dust the ground beneath his feet. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Masamune strolled over to the stage-railing that he had parked near, the railing that over-looked the entire, bustling city.

His eyes opening slowly as he awoke him his short car nap, Ritsu Onodera breathed in deeply. "I guess I really slept..." he spoke softly to himself. Looking over to his right, Ritsu's eyebrow furrowed. "Huh, where's Takano-san?"

Something white and fluffy catching the corner of his eye, Ritsu turned his head now to look out the window of Masamune's car. To his surprise, the rain from earlier had frozen over. 'Whoah! It's snowing!' he mentally exclaimed.

Throwing the jacket that was lying on his body around his shoulders, not giving much thought as to where it came from, Ritsu stepped out of the compact car and into the frigid, December air. Marveling at the snow as he looked for Masamune, it didn't take Ritsu long to find him.

Hearing gentle footsteps climbing onto the stage-railing where he was standing, Masamune threw a glance over his shoulder to see who it was. "Are you alright?" he asked, after he had realized that it was Ritsu.

"Oh, yes," Ritsu answered, continuing to walk closer to Masamune. "I guess the rain turned into snow," he said, making light conversation.

"Yeah."

"I haven't seen snow in a while...and this view!" Ritsu gasped, looking down to the city below. The street lights lit up the entire town like one, big Christmas tree. It was beautiful...one of the most beautiful sights that Ritsu had ever seen.

"Are you satisfied?" Masamune asked, breaking Ritsu from his daze.

"Huh? Yes, but I'm fine if you're happy," Ritsu replied. It wasn't his birthday today. It's not like he was the one that needed to be satisfied.

Smiling softly, Masamune turned his gaze over to his subordinate. "I just wanted to see this with you," he admitted. Looking out over a large city from a high above place was something Masamune knew he had always wanted to share with the one he loved. The gently falling snow was just the icing on his birthday cake.

Caught unawares by the sudden change in atmosphere, Ritsu turned his head away from Masamune's peaceful eyes. Allowing his hands to grip onto the snow-covered railing of the stage, Ritsu looked down sheepishly. "Um, so...Happy birthday," he said softly.

"Thank you very much," Masamune replied, placing a strong hand on the very top of Ritsu's head.

'Takano-san's warm...' Ritsu thought, his face flushing a light, pink color.

Silence momentarily loomed in the air. Staring with disdain at Ritsu's cowlick, bed-head hair, Masamune scooped a handful of collected from the stage-railing and slammed it onto Ritsu's askew locks.

"That's cold! What are you doing?" Ritsu complained.

"Your hair, it's really bugging me!" Masamune explained, continuing to press the cold snow into Ritsu's hair.

"Huh?" Ritsu exclaimed, his tone clearly annoyed.

Scraping up more snow, Masamune inquired, "This is perfect! Let me fix it with the snow!"

Stuffing more of the snow into his hair, the ever-difficult Ritsu put up a fight. "S-stop! It's dark and nobody will be able to see it anyway, it's fine!"

Forcefully continuing with his messy work, Masamune protested by shouting, "It's annoying me!"

"If it annoys you so much, don't look at it!" Ritsu shot back. Grabbing Masamune's arm, Ritsu's eyes quickly widened. He hadn't noticed it, but the two of them were standing dangerously close.

Quickly releasing Masamune's wrist, for fear of what would happen next, Ritsu's trails were to no avail, because before he knew it, his lips with locked tight with Masamune's.

Pushing Masamune away with a shivering hand after some hesitation, Ritsu abruptly voiced for Masamune to stop.

Noting Ritsu's shaking hand, Masamune asked his subordinate in a cornered tone, "Are you okay? Go back into the car before you catch a cold."

Looking away from Masamune bashfully, Ritsu shook his head.

'What is he saying no to?' Masamune wondered.

Sighing deeply, Masamune fed a strong hand through his own, dark chocolate locks. "It didn't matter who I got involved with," Masamune stated, "I always continued to think about you. I've been in love with you for over ten years now."

Pure shock painting over his reddening face, Ritsu stood in silence. A cold breeze must have chilled him to the bone, however, because Ritsu suddenly sneezed in a very cutesy manor.

"Get in the car," Masamune instructed. "We're going home."

Turning on his heel, expecting for Ritsu to follow, Masamune started off to his car. Fitting his hands back into his coat pockets, the elder Masamune Takano couldn't help but smile to himself.

'You sneeze just like I always imagined you would.'

Such trivial thoughts…

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone that reads this experiences some Christmas cheer! (:

Like I stated up at the top of this story, this one-shot is dedicated to one of my very good friends, kc creation. If you don't know who she is, you should go check her out! She writes amazing stories and she will forever be my inspiration to improve and continue writing on this site. (:

Credits go to aarinfantasy for partial dialogue toward the end of this story.

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and safe New Year! (:

- Chappy