A/N: Hey people! Just a little something to tide you over while I work on everything else. Twelve little drabbles of the twelve days of Christmas featuring our very own Kai and Tala, and a hint of Bryan and Rei. I will endeavour to upload one every day, the last being Christmas day. This idea was based upon my partner and I, her being the Christmas enthusiast, me being more of a sceptic. Obviously not to the extremes of Tala, but fairly close. I do hope you enjoy!

III

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS: THE TREE

III

He couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. No, if he opened them, he would have to get up. If he had to get up, the day would begin. It was almost Christmas. That sentence alone made him curl up tighter under the duvet. Twelve days to go, and since the beginning of December, he had been made to watch as Kai became more and more enthused as the holiday drew closer.

Nobody would believe him if he said he hated Christmas. Nobody would believe him if he told them that he despised all things red-ribboned, wrapped and sparkly under a decorated tree. Nobody would believe him if he said he had never believed in Santa, or that he hated sending cards or going to parties to sing drunken songs about a baby born who-cares-when. Being born and bred in Russia meant that snow was nothing special. He just didn't see the point. Why celebrate something people didn't even believe in? Why waste hard earned money on presents for people who should care for more than material things? It was all consumerist bullshit!

On the other hand, nobody would believe him if he said that Kai loved Christmas. Nobody would believe that every year the bluenette picked out different decorations for the house, whichever one they happened to be staying in at the time, arranged a plate of cookies and milk on the table near the fireplace on Christmas eve and even went so far as to leave carrots in the garden for 'the reindeer'.

Tala huffed as he slowly drew back the duvet, wincing at the bright light streaming in through the window. The temperature was frigid and the meagre light from the early dawn was amplified by the snow littering the garden beyond the curtains but England was nowhere near as cold as Russia, so it wasn't really a hindrance. It was just that sometimes Tala really disliked waking up early. He wished he had the ability to stay in bed all day like a spoiled child, but unfortunately he had been raised to make every second count meaning he had little time for idleness.

Kicking his legs out from the warm cocoon of the sheets, he braved the cold, tugging one of Kai's cast aside shirts over his bare shoulders as he trudged out into the hallway. He didn't bother with the buttons, shaking his loose red bangs out of his eyes, wrapping the large shirt around him and tucking cold fingers into the crooks of his elbows, not bothering to shield his mouth as he yawned.

He had woken to an empty bed this morning. That meant one of many things. Kai was out frolicking in the snow? Highly likely. Kai was sneaking off to feast on the advent calendar he had stashed somewhere to stop Rei and his sweet tooth from stealing it? Highly likely. Kai was making breakfast? Not a chance in hell. Tala felt his lips into a smile as he began his descent down the large staircase.

It wasn't that Kai was a bad cook; he was actually a really good one. It was just that he was a cook that had to be inspired. That usually left Rei and Bryan in control of the kitchen. That was probably for the best. Tala would be the first to admit that he would more than likely blow up the kitchen than make something productive in it and thus, he had been herded away from it if ever he felt the intent to get creative.

The tantalising aroma of coffee rose up the stairs to greet him and Tala inhaled deeply, using the scent of freshly ground caffeine to guide him towards full consciousness. His bare feet touched the chill of the lino flooring as he moved in the general direction of the bitter ambrosia that would wake him up, but he was not so much asleep as to miss the other foreign scent in the air.

It was strange. Glancing around Tala noted that the doors and windows were all closed. The house would have been as cold as the arctic had it been otherwise. The smell hinted at the outside, dark nights, trickling water, moonlight and woodland. It was deep and musky. Tala was baffled. Turning, he changed direction, moving away from the heavenly beckoning call of coffee to discover what this meant. His search took him to the closed door of the main sitting room and he tested the handle.

When he pushed open the door, the breath he took caught in his throat. It had begun.

Posed tall and regal, first point of attention in the sitting room was a large fresh fir tree, recently cut down oozing out the scent of clearings and pine needles. It was huge. Tala had to crane his neck ever so slightly to see the crown of it, every bristled branch his eyes ran over on the way to the top filling him with dread.

This meant Kai had started. Someone had to have brought it in. It hadn't been there yesterday. It wasn't even decorated yet. If it hadn't been decorated yet, that meant someone was planning on doing it. Tala looked around, eyes wide in panic but there was no one there. The redhead turned around, only one thought in mind. Go back upstairs and go back to bed. This whole thing was a nightmare.

As he turned, intent on doing exactly that, he pulled up abruptly. Kai was stood in the doorway, lips curved up in a sly smile, arms full of the most gaudy looking gold and red combination baubles and tinsel Tala had ever seen. This was so much worse than last year. The theme of ice, blue and silver had been marginally less repulsive than the eye-burning discolorations Kai was planning on stringing about the house this year.

"Morning, lover. Sleep well?"

Tala resisted the urge to frown. It was hard.

"I'm still dreaming. Only it's more of a nightmare."

Rei burst in behind Kai, raven hair flying behind him like a cloud of ink in water, nearly unbalancing the ugly decorations in his arms as he darted around the bluenette, not even noticing Tala as Bryan chased after him, expression clearly not amused.

"Rei, it's not even 7am!" The lilac-eyed Russian barked, tone sharp, "Give me the candy-canes!"

Tala felt his eyebrow rise in question as Bryan clutched after the flitting Neko-jin with claw-like fingers, each and every time the slender Chinese boy evading his grasp, arms folded tight around a multicoloured box cradled to his chest like treasure. The fact that Rei was clad only in pyjamas made it awkward. The fact that said pyjamas were covered in little sushi rolls with smiley faces made it less awkward and more hilarious but Tala refused to laugh.

Instead, he looked back at Kai who was holding an overly glittered golden star in his extended hand, almost offering it. Ice blue eyes studied it with distaste, lips twisting and making his opinion more than obvious. Kai merely smirked at him, knowing well enough by now the younger's take on his favourite holiday, "I suppose you don't want to help me decorate the tree?"

The redhead moved to brush past the bluenette, only then offering him the hint of a smile he reserved for Kai's moments of adorable sweetness. They were few and usually did not involve girly looking sparkly objects but Tala was hard-pressed to say Kai didn't know how to read him well. In fact, pretty much the only time Kai couldn't understand the boundaries of what Tala would and wouldn't accept, was Christmas. That acknowledged, the blue eyed Russian was fully prepared to endure the madness that would ensue until this hellhole of a holiday had passed and he had another year of peace to look forward to.

"I would rather die." The redhead cooed sweetly into the bluenette's ear, sliding a whisper of a kiss over the familiar blue mark on the elder's cheek, "I do have one request though. Make sure Bryan takes some green tea before he has a violent relapse and if Rei eats any of those candy-canes, make sure you put the cat out."

He could hear Kai's laugh all the way up the stairs.