Disclaimer – I don't own The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi franchise, any of the characters, or scenarios. Haruhi and all related characters are the property of Nagaru Tanigawa. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made, thank you.

It was the 14th of December, and Kyon was certainly starting to notice the amount of Christmas cheer around his neighborhood. His mother had already informed him that he was to be attending no less than five dinners on and around Christmas day, consisting of several aunts and uncles and a few neighbors.

He shook his head as he walked up the hill to his school, marveling at the dedication of some people who would climb up onto their roofs to string Christmas lights around the place. Haruhi probably had something insane planned as well, so perhaps that wasn't too shocking once put in perspective.

Watching his breath fog in the air before him, for once he was rather eager to get to school, if only for the simple reason that it would let him out of the cold, in which it felt like his fingers were already frozen, and his face was quite possibly turning blue.

Thoughts about the cursed weather carried Kyon the rest of the way to school, and he sighed as he stepped through the front doors to the blast of warm air that was being supplied.

Letting his frozen features once more return to a normal temperature, he headed towards his locker, preparing his books for the day.

"Good morning!" A voice shouted in his ear, making him freeze. He turned slowly to see the beaming face of none other than Suzumiya Haruhi, the bane of his existence ever since starting at this school.

Deciding to ignore her, he turned back to his locker, only to have it slammed shut in front of him, narrowly missing his hand.

"Dammit!" he cursed, turning to look at her. A calculating and pleased look was in her eye.

Now that you've got my attention, what do you want?

"We're going to have a meeting after school in order to determine exactly how we're going to celebrate this Christmas. I was thinking that perhaps we would arrange a dinner for us, and I got put Mikuru-chan in an adorable Santa's helper outfit!"

Now that, I wouldn't mind seeing. Are you going to be wearing one yourself, Haruhi?

She glared at him, and he shuffled uncomfortable under her gaze, having the strange feeling that she could read his mind.

"You had better not be picturing her in the costume just yet, Kyon," she warned, to his immense relief.

"Of course not. That would be completely inappropriate and I would never dream of objectifying her like that," he informed her smoothly, abating her glare for the time being.

She eyed him suspiciously for a few moments, before grabbing his arms, almost toppling his books in the process.

"Come on! Time to go to class!"

He followed along dejectedly, wondering exactly when it was he had become her toy.

* * * * *

"Sorry I'm late," Koizumi, the last member of the Brigade to arrive at the clubroom smiled. "I had to speak to one of my teachers about the homework over Christmas break."

Haruhi waved him off, while indignant rage filled Kyon at the thought of his punishment were he to be late.

"Speaking of Christmas break, I have talked the school into allowing us to continue using this room over those few weeks. So even though you won't have classes starting this Friday, you are still expected to show up here so we can do our own preparation!" Haruhi announced enthusiastically, to the stunned silence of the rest of the room. Well, stunned on the parts of Kyon and Mikuru, he couldn't speak for the others.

"And what, pray tell, are we preparing for?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"This!" she pulled out a piece of paper with a drawing of what was clearly their clubroom, but with several alterations. The addition of a large Christmas tree was the most notable.

Kyon blinked at the drawings, mentally cataloguing how much effort would have to be put in to make the room look like this.

"You realize this is insane, don't you? There's no way this is going to happen," he passed the paper back to her, only to be shocked at the look of dismay in her eyes.

"But…Oh I'm sorry, I just wanted to have a good Christmas with all of you, because you're like…my family…it's stupid, right?" she mumbled, her eyes filling up with tears.

Kyon was stunned. "Uh- no, no of course I didn't mean that – I think it's wonderful…I mean…Please stop…" he stammered, completely unsure at what was going on.

"Excellent, so we're doing it, then?" she chirped, the grin returning to her features. Kyon slumped onto the table as he realized he had just been had.

"Yeah…whatever you say…" he muttered, wondering what on Earth he was getting himself into.

* * * * *

The rest of their afternoon was spent planning shopping trips in order to get everything Haruhi desired. It was decided that Kyon and Koizumi were to get the tree, a task which usually fell to the males of the family, after all. Mikuru would be the cook, and make them a lovely Christmas lunch. Haruhi would collect decorations and then direct the others on where to put them, later in the week, and Nagato was to find them a good Christmas story or two.

"And the last order of business…" Haruhi announced after a substantial amount of time had passed. "Secret Santa gifts!" Kyon sat up, suddenly much more interested. Secret Santa, eh? Maybe he would get Mikuru. That would be brilliant. Although he couldn't buy her any outfits, she would never look at me the same, but still…

Kyon was pulled out of his somewhat lecherous thoughts by Haruhi banging a ruler on the desk.

"Fill out your name and put it in the hat! Go!" she pointed at a pile of uniformly cut paper, probably so nobody could cheat, and I took mine slowly. With a sigh, he wrote down my nickname. There was no point anymore, everybody already knew him as Kyon. Folding the paper in half, he placed it in the hat alongside the four other neatly folded names.

Grinning, Haruhi shook the papers around, before holding the hat out to each person in turn, starting with herself and ending with Kyon. She gave him a sharp, knowing look as he took the last name, making him acutely nervous. Carefully, he unfolded the paper to reveal impeccably tiny, neat handwriting spelling Nagato Yuki. He sighed. It wasn't Mikuru, but at least it wasn't Haruhi. Some obscure book would probably be fine for her. Kyon glances around the room, judging the reactions of everybody else as they read their gift recipient. A blush crept across Mikuru's face as his gaze passed over her.

Could it be…Ah, Mikuru, if you got me I would be happy no matter what I receive, as long as I know you picked it out…

Kyon stared coolly back at Haruhi's curious gaze, wondering whether she had wanted him to select her name so that she could mock him for whatever gift he eventually chose. Too bad, Haruhi, better luck next year.

Haruhi looked carefully at her name, before scrunching it up and throwing it in the bin.

"Now, no telling anybody who you got, and no swapping," she announced, looking directly at Kyon as she did so. He rolled his eyes at her, just waiting to go home.

"Dismissed!" Haruhi exclaimed, tapping on the desk again with the ruler, which was evidently her new favorite way of getting attention. Kyon dreaded the day she found herself a gavel. Judge Haruhi, now there was a scary thought. He snickered as he walked down the corridor to his shoe locker, already planning what he was to do that night. Probably get online and talk to some of his overseas friends, or play one of his games.

Pulling open the door, he was surprised to see a note fall slowly to the floor. Thinking that it would be from either Nagato or Mikuru, he bent down warily to pick it up, wondering what task would be set for him now.

In a cursive scrawl were the words:

First day

Wondering what on Earth it could mean, he pulled out his shoes only to find a tiny woodcarving of a bird holding a heart in its beak.

Smiling to himself, he put the gift into his blazer pocket very carefully, along with the note. Perhaps some cute girl had decided to leave him an early Christmas gift?

Who knows, perhaps it was even Mikuru! A grin spread across his face as he pictured her adorable shy look if he were to ask her about it, and he practically skipped home, for once, not complaining about the cold.