Christmas Lights
Pairing: None (General)
Fandom: Kanjani8
Genre: Half comedy, half melodrama
Rating: G
Summary: All Kanjani8 wanted was to spend a quiet Christmas Eve together, enjoying the pretty lights on their Christmas tree. But in their crazy little world, could that be possible?!
A/N: Something I dug out of Master Key forums. Written for a Christmas Challenge in 2006. Not sure if the winner was ever announced.
Chapter 1: Plans go awry
The date was December 24th, and everyone knew what that meant. Only, what of the tree?
Everyone crowded around Yoko. Click. Click. Click click click click…
“Right Yoko, stop it! It’s not going to be of any use abusing it like that.” Hina urged his increasingly impatient friend.
Yoko lifted his finger from the switch, frustrated. “Darn thing. Why did it have to screw up today, of all days!” True, the rest of K8 were disappointed as well. After all, what was a Christmas tree without lights?
From where he was, Subaru mumbled, “And it’s the first time I bothered to turn up early too.” The group gave a collective sigh.
One by one they moved dejectedly away from the little corner, choosing to find comfort in the big couches and fluffy cushions.
For a while, nobody said anything. It was already 10 at night. Very soon, it would be Christmas, and if nothing gets done, they’d have broken their yearly tradition of enjoying the Christmas lights together. It may seem like a trivial sort of pleasure for most people, but to Kanjani8, the act of crowding near the Christmas tree, watching the lights dancing in midst of the surrounding darkness in silence, was a welcome break from their busy schedule throughout the rest of the year. They did it every Christmas Eve.
“No worries guys! I thought of something!”
Self-satisfaction was written all over Maruyama Ryuhei’s face.
Chapter 2: Plan A
“Ok, turn right.”
“You sure, Maru?”
“Yep, there’s only one shop there.”
Turns out, Maru’s great plan was to get out of the warm, cozy inn they were staying in for Christmas to trek to the nearby hardware store; something which he insisted would be all the more fun if they did it together. It wasn’t all that bad though. Given the location, there weren’t that many people around, and the cold night air was oddly refreshing.
“Ehm, guys, do you see what I see?” Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Yasu with puzzled looks, before following the direction of his gaze.
“OH MY GAWD!”
“Run!” Hina shouted.
With that everyone started zipping through the streets as fast as their legs could carry them, occasionally breaking to avoid knocking over any confused pedestrians. Not surprisingly, Ryo and Uchi were well ahead, their hair flying in the wind. But even they were not fast enough.
Exasperated, Ryo resorted to banging on the wooden door. “Open up! Come on! Open up, please!” No answer. “Hello?! Anyone there?! Please open the door!”
By then the other six had caught up, panting hard. Still, despite their exhaustion, they joined in with the shouting. “Open up please!”
They heard a click on the other end of the door, before a flea-bitten old geezer waddled out peering at them with shortsighted eyes. He wasted no time in lecturing them. “WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE AT THIS TIME OF THE NIGHT?! YOU’RE DISTURBING MY PEACE! Youths these days! No respect, whatsoever! Why, if you were my grandchildren I would waste no time in SPANKING all of you! An old man needs his sleep, IDIOTS!! And not to mention…”
Eight pairs of eyes (or fifteen and a half in grand total) stared incredulously at the old man as he ranted on, his words punctuated with projectiles of phlegm. Every one of them was lost for words. At the back of Subaru’s mind was the thought: Surely he needn’t make such a big fuss…right?
As if reading his thoughts, Ohkura turned to look at him, his eyes still widened in confusion. He shrugged.
“Ehm…” Hina bravely tried to interrupt the never-ending string of verbal abuse, “Excuse me.”
“WHAT?!!!” The man screamed.
The guys jumped back in fright.
“Eh, well, we just wanted to buy some, ehm, Christmas lights from you.” Hina continued.
“Ah yes yes!” Subaru added, trying to sound as energetic as possible. “It’s kind of urgent.”
The disagreeable old fart squinted hard at them. He gazed at each one of them slow…ly. One by one they felt his death glare pierce right into them. Most of them couldn’t help but give a shudder.
Once he was done torturing them, the snarky devil proceeded to walk back into his shop, and in agonizing silence, he closed the door behind him. K8 stood on the cold cement path, frozen and still under the power of his glare.
It was Uchi who was the first to recover. “Scary…”
He, like the others, was still staring in shock at the closed door.
“Argh! There goes our hope!” Yoko groaned.
With that, the spell was broken, and the guys promptly came back to ‘life’, complaining to each other about the mysterious shop keeper’s behaviour.
“Eh, Yasu? What’s wrong?” Maru gently asked his friend.
Yasu’s eyes were glistening with tears. “Ehm, nothing. I’m just…I’m just…so sad that we won’t be having pretty lights this time.”
Maru pat the smaller guy on the head. “It’s alright nya.” But he only succeeded in making things worse, as evident by Yasu’s soft sobs.
In fact, his disappointment was echoed in everyone’s hearts. Uchi, feeling the hurt, pursed his lips into a little pout. Seeing all this, Maru drifted into deep thought.
“Hey! I’ve got a great idea.”
“I sure hope it’s better than your LAST idea.” Yoko remarked sarcastically. Maru ignored this comment, knowing full well that the issue with the lights was affecting Yoko badly.
“How about, instead of relying on technology, we use candles instead?”
“Eh…I suppose that could work.” Ryo replied.
“Yea. Wouldn’t it? Eh?” Maru gave everyone his signature puppy look.
Hina frowned, “Hmm…yeah, I suppose it would.”
“Yes! Let’s get to it then!” Maru grinned as he pushed his band mates back towards the direction of the inn.
Chapter 3: Plan B
Back at the inn, Ohkura pulled open a dusty drawer. “I remember I left some here, leftover from last year…Ah, here it is.”
Coughing, he swiped the dust of the cardboard box. “Not bad, they are still in good condition. Good thing we didn’t use them last year.”
“Yeah, because last year the dumb lights actually worked,” Yoko snapped.
Hina smacked him on the head. “Get over it!”
Tacchon handed the candles out to them. Excitedly, Uchi received his pink one. The group had bought the candles together precisely for this reason. It came in their colours.
“Alright! I’m gonna light it now!” With that, the baby of the group rushed off with a twinkle in his eye.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Ryo shouted as he struggled to get on his feet and follow his friend into the living room. Sometimes, it seemed like they were inseparable.
The rest took their time getting up and strolling down the corridor and the stairs, chatting lively as they made their way. Everything was finally going well.
Or so they thought.
Once again, it was Yasu who first noticed something was wrong. “Minna…do you smell something?”
Like some form of déjà vu, the group turned collectively to face him again. All of them held a questioning look on their faces, before realization hit them.
“OH MY GAWD!”
“NO WAY!”
They scrambled down the bottom half of the flight of stairs and hurried to the living room. In his haste, Subaru nearly ran straight into a familiar figure running in the opposite direction.
“Hoi! Ryo?!” Subaru exclaimed.
“Help! Uchi set something on fire!”
The K8 members reached the living room, finding Uchi pacing up and down near a burning curtain, his long arms flailing.
“Aaaa! What to do? What to do?! What to do?!” He rambled on and on to himself.
“UUUUUCCCHHIIII~~!!” Hina screamed, “COME OUT HERE NOOOW!!”
Still, Uchi was lost in his own thoughts, obviously in deep panic. Seeing this, Yasu braved the heat and walked straight in to pull the poor boy out.
Once they made sure Uchi was ok, everyone hurried to get pails of water. The fire was beginning to spread, and the smoke was making their eyes tear.
In a minute or two, everyone was back at the entrance of the living room, each with a pail of water in hand. Choking, Yoko cued them. “Alright,” he paused to cough, “Everyone ready?”
They nodded.
“1, 2, 3. NOW!”
Together, they poured the water on the flaming curtain, effectively dousing the fire.
“WHOOO HOOO!” Maru and Baru exclaimed, giving each other a high five in the process.
All around them, the other K8 members either smirked or leapt up in happiness, fist pumped into the air.
Still, their joy was short lived.
K8 started at the ashy remnants of what was once the curtain. No hope was left. Not one ounce of it. After the previous burst of energy, even Maru had nothing cheerful left to say. They all knew that there was nothing else they could turn to.
Uchi whispered while tearing up, “I’m sorry. Really.”
“It’s ok,” the rest assured him. What would they gain if they blamed him anyway? It wouldn’t change anything. In any case, they were relieved that nothing had happened to their young friend.
Chapter 4: Sometimes, unplanned surprises are the best of all.
11.45 pm, and all of K8 were seated on the couch, the smell of smoke still lingering in the air. Someone had turned off the lights, Yasu perhaps. They were facing the tree, each trying to remember what the Christmas lights looked like last year, hoping that perhaps, if they could conjure up a memory, they could pretend the lights were on the tree this year too.
They tried, but it wasn’t much of a success. After the night’s activities, and surprises, they were too tired to think. So they sat, surrounded by pitch darkness, a darkness that much resembled the state of their hearts.
Suddenly, a small glint of light caught their attention. They perked up, but the light never appeared again.
Curious, Subaru walked over to the window and looked out. The rest, having nothing better to amuse themselves with, followed suit.
Nothing. Just trees, snow, and darkness glazed with just enough light for one to squint through.
Yasu’s subsequent chuckle managed to baffle everyone for the third time that night. As they peered suspiciously at his face, he breathed, “Not that way, look up.”
A beautiful sight greeted them as they did as they were told. There it was, thousands of glistening stars littering the night sky.
“Our Christmas lights…” Uchi remarked as he looked on in amazement.
“Let’s get out there!” Maru decided.
“And what, sit on the freezing patch of snow?” Hina wondered aloud.
“We’ll drag the couches out.”
Yoko began, “Out of all the brilliant ideas you’ve had today Maru…”
But Ohkura was already starting to lift the couch nearest to him. “Oh come on, there’s eight of us, and we’re all fit aren’t we?”
He had a point.
As they carried the couch out into the open, Ryo grunted, “Guys, you’re all mad.”
“You should have realized that when we dressed you up and called you Ryoko.”
Everyone burst out laughing at Yoko’s comment. Nothing could go wrong this time, they were sure.
Soon, they were seated in a line, under the infinite sky, taking in the sheer gorgeousness of that Christmas Eve night. Uchi was right, they were so much like their old Christmas lights, prancing around in the vast expanse of night. No, actually, this was much better. Much better.
Contented, Yasu laid his head on Baru’s shoulder, not taking his eyes off the scene above him. Baru threw a quick, startled glance at his friend before giving a small smile. He placed his free arm around Maru’s shoulder, who was sitting to his right. One by one each followed suit, until all of them were connected in one way or another. That’s the way it always was and always will be. Kanjani8 as one.
Inside the inn, the clock struck 12. The date was December 25th, and everyone knew what it meant. It was Christmas day. A day to celebrate love and friendship.
Fandom: Kanjani8
Genre: Half comedy, half melodrama
Rating: G
Summary: All Kanjani8 wanted was to spend a quiet Christmas Eve together, enjoying the pretty lights on their Christmas tree. But in their crazy little world, could that be possible?!
A/N: Something I dug out of Master Key forums. Written for a Christmas Challenge in 2006. Not sure if the winner was ever announced.
Chapter 1: Plans go awry
The date was December 24th, and everyone knew what that meant. Only, what of the tree?
Everyone crowded around Yoko. Click. Click. Click click click click…
“Right Yoko, stop it! It’s not going to be of any use abusing it like that.” Hina urged his increasingly impatient friend.
Yoko lifted his finger from the switch, frustrated. “Darn thing. Why did it have to screw up today, of all days!” True, the rest of K8 were disappointed as well. After all, what was a Christmas tree without lights?
From where he was, Subaru mumbled, “And it’s the first time I bothered to turn up early too.” The group gave a collective sigh.
One by one they moved dejectedly away from the little corner, choosing to find comfort in the big couches and fluffy cushions.
For a while, nobody said anything. It was already 10 at night. Very soon, it would be Christmas, and if nothing gets done, they’d have broken their yearly tradition of enjoying the Christmas lights together. It may seem like a trivial sort of pleasure for most people, but to Kanjani8, the act of crowding near the Christmas tree, watching the lights dancing in midst of the surrounding darkness in silence, was a welcome break from their busy schedule throughout the rest of the year. They did it every Christmas Eve.
“No worries guys! I thought of something!”
Self-satisfaction was written all over Maruyama Ryuhei’s face.
Chapter 2: Plan A
“Ok, turn right.”
“You sure, Maru?”
“Yep, there’s only one shop there.”
Turns out, Maru’s great plan was to get out of the warm, cozy inn they were staying in for Christmas to trek to the nearby hardware store; something which he insisted would be all the more fun if they did it together. It wasn’t all that bad though. Given the location, there weren’t that many people around, and the cold night air was oddly refreshing.
“Ehm, guys, do you see what I see?” Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Yasu with puzzled looks, before following the direction of his gaze.
“OH MY GAWD!”
“Run!” Hina shouted.
With that everyone started zipping through the streets as fast as their legs could carry them, occasionally breaking to avoid knocking over any confused pedestrians. Not surprisingly, Ryo and Uchi were well ahead, their hair flying in the wind. But even they were not fast enough.
Exasperated, Ryo resorted to banging on the wooden door. “Open up! Come on! Open up, please!” No answer. “Hello?! Anyone there?! Please open the door!”
By then the other six had caught up, panting hard. Still, despite their exhaustion, they joined in with the shouting. “Open up please!”
They heard a click on the other end of the door, before a flea-bitten old geezer waddled out peering at them with shortsighted eyes. He wasted no time in lecturing them. “WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE AT THIS TIME OF THE NIGHT?! YOU’RE DISTURBING MY PEACE! Youths these days! No respect, whatsoever! Why, if you were my grandchildren I would waste no time in SPANKING all of you! An old man needs his sleep, IDIOTS!! And not to mention…”
Eight pairs of eyes (or fifteen and a half in grand total) stared incredulously at the old man as he ranted on, his words punctuated with projectiles of phlegm. Every one of them was lost for words. At the back of Subaru’s mind was the thought: Surely he needn’t make such a big fuss…right?
As if reading his thoughts, Ohkura turned to look at him, his eyes still widened in confusion. He shrugged.
“Ehm…” Hina bravely tried to interrupt the never-ending string of verbal abuse, “Excuse me.”
“WHAT?!!!” The man screamed.
The guys jumped back in fright.
“Eh, well, we just wanted to buy some, ehm, Christmas lights from you.” Hina continued.
“Ah yes yes!” Subaru added, trying to sound as energetic as possible. “It’s kind of urgent.”
The disagreeable old fart squinted hard at them. He gazed at each one of them slow…ly. One by one they felt his death glare pierce right into them. Most of them couldn’t help but give a shudder.
Once he was done torturing them, the snarky devil proceeded to walk back into his shop, and in agonizing silence, he closed the door behind him. K8 stood on the cold cement path, frozen and still under the power of his glare.
It was Uchi who was the first to recover. “Scary…”
He, like the others, was still staring in shock at the closed door.
“Argh! There goes our hope!” Yoko groaned.
With that, the spell was broken, and the guys promptly came back to ‘life’, complaining to each other about the mysterious shop keeper’s behaviour.
“Eh, Yasu? What’s wrong?” Maru gently asked his friend.
Yasu’s eyes were glistening with tears. “Ehm, nothing. I’m just…I’m just…so sad that we won’t be having pretty lights this time.”
Maru pat the smaller guy on the head. “It’s alright nya.” But he only succeeded in making things worse, as evident by Yasu’s soft sobs.
In fact, his disappointment was echoed in everyone’s hearts. Uchi, feeling the hurt, pursed his lips into a little pout. Seeing all this, Maru drifted into deep thought.
“Hey! I’ve got a great idea.”
“I sure hope it’s better than your LAST idea.” Yoko remarked sarcastically. Maru ignored this comment, knowing full well that the issue with the lights was affecting Yoko badly.
“How about, instead of relying on technology, we use candles instead?”
“Eh…I suppose that could work.” Ryo replied.
“Yea. Wouldn’t it? Eh?” Maru gave everyone his signature puppy look.
Hina frowned, “Hmm…yeah, I suppose it would.”
“Yes! Let’s get to it then!” Maru grinned as he pushed his band mates back towards the direction of the inn.
Chapter 3: Plan B
Back at the inn, Ohkura pulled open a dusty drawer. “I remember I left some here, leftover from last year…Ah, here it is.”
Coughing, he swiped the dust of the cardboard box. “Not bad, they are still in good condition. Good thing we didn’t use them last year.”
“Yeah, because last year the dumb lights actually worked,” Yoko snapped.
Hina smacked him on the head. “Get over it!”
Tacchon handed the candles out to them. Excitedly, Uchi received his pink one. The group had bought the candles together precisely for this reason. It came in their colours.
“Alright! I’m gonna light it now!” With that, the baby of the group rushed off with a twinkle in his eye.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Ryo shouted as he struggled to get on his feet and follow his friend into the living room. Sometimes, it seemed like they were inseparable.
The rest took their time getting up and strolling down the corridor and the stairs, chatting lively as they made their way. Everything was finally going well.
Or so they thought.
Once again, it was Yasu who first noticed something was wrong. “Minna…do you smell something?”
Like some form of déjà vu, the group turned collectively to face him again. All of them held a questioning look on their faces, before realization hit them.
“OH MY GAWD!”
“NO WAY!”
They scrambled down the bottom half of the flight of stairs and hurried to the living room. In his haste, Subaru nearly ran straight into a familiar figure running in the opposite direction.
“Hoi! Ryo?!” Subaru exclaimed.
“Help! Uchi set something on fire!”
The K8 members reached the living room, finding Uchi pacing up and down near a burning curtain, his long arms flailing.
“Aaaa! What to do? What to do?! What to do?!” He rambled on and on to himself.
“UUUUUCCCHHIIII~~!!” Hina screamed, “COME OUT HERE NOOOW!!”
Still, Uchi was lost in his own thoughts, obviously in deep panic. Seeing this, Yasu braved the heat and walked straight in to pull the poor boy out.
Once they made sure Uchi was ok, everyone hurried to get pails of water. The fire was beginning to spread, and the smoke was making their eyes tear.
In a minute or two, everyone was back at the entrance of the living room, each with a pail of water in hand. Choking, Yoko cued them. “Alright,” he paused to cough, “Everyone ready?”
They nodded.
“1, 2, 3. NOW!”
Together, they poured the water on the flaming curtain, effectively dousing the fire.
“WHOOO HOOO!” Maru and Baru exclaimed, giving each other a high five in the process.
All around them, the other K8 members either smirked or leapt up in happiness, fist pumped into the air.
Still, their joy was short lived.
K8 started at the ashy remnants of what was once the curtain. No hope was left. Not one ounce of it. After the previous burst of energy, even Maru had nothing cheerful left to say. They all knew that there was nothing else they could turn to.
Uchi whispered while tearing up, “I’m sorry. Really.”
“It’s ok,” the rest assured him. What would they gain if they blamed him anyway? It wouldn’t change anything. In any case, they were relieved that nothing had happened to their young friend.
Chapter 4: Sometimes, unplanned surprises are the best of all.
11.45 pm, and all of K8 were seated on the couch, the smell of smoke still lingering in the air. Someone had turned off the lights, Yasu perhaps. They were facing the tree, each trying to remember what the Christmas lights looked like last year, hoping that perhaps, if they could conjure up a memory, they could pretend the lights were on the tree this year too.
They tried, but it wasn’t much of a success. After the night’s activities, and surprises, they were too tired to think. So they sat, surrounded by pitch darkness, a darkness that much resembled the state of their hearts.
Suddenly, a small glint of light caught their attention. They perked up, but the light never appeared again.
Curious, Subaru walked over to the window and looked out. The rest, having nothing better to amuse themselves with, followed suit.
Nothing. Just trees, snow, and darkness glazed with just enough light for one to squint through.
Yasu’s subsequent chuckle managed to baffle everyone for the third time that night. As they peered suspiciously at his face, he breathed, “Not that way, look up.”
A beautiful sight greeted them as they did as they were told. There it was, thousands of glistening stars littering the night sky.
“Our Christmas lights…” Uchi remarked as he looked on in amazement.
“Let’s get out there!” Maru decided.
“And what, sit on the freezing patch of snow?” Hina wondered aloud.
“We’ll drag the couches out.”
Yoko began, “Out of all the brilliant ideas you’ve had today Maru…”
But Ohkura was already starting to lift the couch nearest to him. “Oh come on, there’s eight of us, and we’re all fit aren’t we?”
He had a point.
As they carried the couch out into the open, Ryo grunted, “Guys, you’re all mad.”
“You should have realized that when we dressed you up and called you Ryoko.”
Everyone burst out laughing at Yoko’s comment. Nothing could go wrong this time, they were sure.
Soon, they were seated in a line, under the infinite sky, taking in the sheer gorgeousness of that Christmas Eve night. Uchi was right, they were so much like their old Christmas lights, prancing around in the vast expanse of night. No, actually, this was much better. Much better.
Contented, Yasu laid his head on Baru’s shoulder, not taking his eyes off the scene above him. Baru threw a quick, startled glance at his friend before giving a small smile. He placed his free arm around Maru’s shoulder, who was sitting to his right. One by one each followed suit, until all of them were connected in one way or another. That’s the way it always was and always will be. Kanjani8 as one.
Inside the inn, the clock struck 12. The date was December 25th, and everyone knew what it meant. It was Christmas day. A day to celebrate love and friendship.