That's right, it's this time of year again! I'm only a couple of days late in starting. Enjoy the silliness again. Beta-d by the lovely Kiterie/SumiHatake.

OOOOOOO

1st Day of Christmas
Theme: Armaments vs ornaments

Christmas was supposed to be the season of good will. That fact, however, was proving hard to remember in light of the roiling clouds of smoke pouring out of his doorway. Iruka took the stairs three at a time, ducking through the doorway to avoid asphyxiation, and slid to a stop in the center of his apartment.

One very chagrined jounin looked up at him.

"Kakashi! Are you okay? I saw the smoke, and I thought..." He moved in far enough to see the empty tree stand in the middle of the chaos. Funny. He was certain he'd left a tree there this morning.

His apartment hadn't been quite so soggy this morning, either, and the scorched circle in his floor was definitely new.

"What happened?"

"You know how you asked me to decorate the tree?"

Iruka nodded slowly.

"I couldn't find your ornaments."

"And...?" Honestly, getting the full story from Kakashi was like pulling teeth.

"I found a replacement that looked exceptionally stylish and was a perfect accent for any self-respecting shinobi tree."

The acerbic smoke was starting to burn his lungs and eyes. Kakashi must have had some super-secret jounin shield erected around him, but Iruka was not going to be able to stand much more. He clapped his sleeve over his mouth and stepped over Kakashi, reaching for the window.

Fresh air spilled in around him, tossing the stack of papers on the windowsill onto the floor. Iruka bent to retrieve them and stared at them for a moment while his brain put the pieces together. "You decorated the tree with EXPLOSIVE tags?"

"It made for a very elegant tree."

"KAKASHI!"

"You really would have liked it, if it hadn't caught on fire."

"They're explosive tags. What do you think they do?"

"You know, you're really not seeing the bright side of all of this."

"There's a bright side to this?"

"I didn't burn down your apartment?"

Iruka took a deep breath, thought about pointing out that not using the explosive tags in the first place would have guaranteed that and kept his belongings relatively moisture-free, but immediately dropped it. The thought of not using the explosive tags would never have crossed Kakashi's mind.

At least Christmas with Kakashi was never boring, and this wasn't nearly as bad as the 'Good Will Towards Men' fiasco he'd endured last year.