Part one of my Christmas fic. The second half will be up tomorrow (and hopefully longer then this half)

"We're doing what?" Ulrich asked, raising an eyebrow at Odd.

"A Secret Santa!" the blonde exclaimed happily. "You know, the thing where everyone picks someone else's name at random, then gets them a Christmas gift."

"Yeah, I know what it is," Ulrich said, eyeing the bag in Odd's hand. "But why do we have to do one?"

"Oh, come on Ulrich," Yumi said, giving her friend a nudge. "I think it'll be fun."

"Yeah," William said, cuddling up to Yumi. "I agree. It'll be like getting a gift from a…secret admirer." William then threw his arm around Yumi's shoulder; giving a, in his opinion, romantic growl. But a more threatening growl from Ulrich had William quickly scurrying back to his own personal space.

"Well, even if we wanted to do this," Jeremy said, eyeing his growling friend. "How could we? Christmas is tomorrow, that's not nearly enough time for us to get gifts for one another."

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Sissi said with a toss of her head.

"So do I, Jeremy," Aelita said, giving Jeremy a slightly apologetic smile. Behind her, Odd was grinning triumphantly.

"Then it's settled, five to two. We're going to have the Secret Santa," Odd said, thrusting the bag in his hand forward. "Come on everyone, pick a name. But don't tell anyone who it is!"

Three hands reached into the bag excitedly, with two others a little more reluctant. Odd watched with a smile as, one by one, names were drawn from the bag. Each reaction was a little different.

Sissi, who went first, read her slip with a disappointed sounding sigh. Aelita followed her, giving a little smile as she read her paper. Ulrich was next, blushing when he saw the name on his slip. Yumi, who went after him, reacted similarly. After that was William, who was grinning when he pulled his paper, but frowning one he read the name. Jeremy went last, pulling his slip and reading it, his eyebrow raising.

"Um, Odd," he said, looking up from his paper. "I think something's wrong. I pulled the name-"

"Shhhh!" Odd hissed, covering Jeremy's mouth. "You can't tell!"

"But-"

"Shhh," Odd repeated, bringing his finger to his lips. He then dug around in the bag and pulled out his own slip. He read it with a frown. After a second he looked up, checking that everyone was preoccupied with their own papers, then dropped his slip back in the bag and pulled out another.

"Okay, everyone got theirs?" he asked, tucking the bag into his jacket pocket. Everyone nodded.

"So…now what?" Aelita asked.

"Now comes the best part," Sissi said, linking arms with Aelita. "Now we shop!" She then grabbed Yumi and dragged the pair way. This left the four boys standing together.

"Well, I guess we better get shopping too," William said, shrugging and then taking his leave. Ulrich nodded and followed after him.

"Odd," Jeremy said, turning to the blonde. "I really think I got the wrong name. "

"Why?" Odd asked curiously.

"Because I drew-"

"Shhh!" Odd said again. "I said don't tell!"

"But-"

"No!" Odd shouted, holding his hand up in a 'talk to the hand' sort of way. He then turned on his heel and marched off in the direction that everyone else had taken, leaving Jeremy alone.

The boy looked down at his paper again, then sighed and followed after the others.

"So Aelita, who did you get?" Sissi asked, walking with her and Yumi down the snowy streets of the town around Kadic.

"I thought we weren't supposed to tell," Aelita said.

"We're not," Yumi told her. "So don't give anything away," she then told Sissi. "It's supposed to be a surprise."

"Fine," Sissi said, giving a dismissive wave of her hand. She then stopped, steering the group into a shop. "None of us got each other, right?" she asked as they entered the shop.

"No," Aelita said and Yumi just shook her head no.

"Good," Sissi said with a nod. "That means we can shop together." And so they did.

Meanwhile, the boys were having a bit of a problem of their own.

"So, we all have girls, right?" William asked Ulrich and Odd, whom he'd run into in the store he was currently perusing through. The pair nodded. "Okay. So, what do girls like?"

"Jewelry?" Odd suggested.

"Um, clothes?" Ulrich tried, shrugging.

"Okay, let's start with jewelry," William said, leading the way to the department store's jewelry counter. When the trio reached it, they discovered another problem.

"Uh, what kind of jewelry do they like?" Ulrich asked, looking over the counter. When Odd and William caught sight of the masses of rings and earrings and necklaces, they felt their spirits droop. This 'shopping for girls' thing was turning out to be a bit more difficult than any of the three had expected.

Across town Jeremy was having some troubles of his own. With a sigh he wandered the isles of his chosen store, staring at the little slip of paper in his hand. It was the one pulled from Odd's bag. He still wasn't exactly sure why this name was in the bag, or if Odd was even serious about giving this person a gift. But he hadn't been given a chance to ask, so Jeremy figured he would just have to deal with it.

Although, when he began looking over a shelf for a gift, Jeremy mentally decided that he wasn't too sure he was going to like it.