A Mew Mew Christmas by ImoutoCommissions

Chapter 1

It was Christmas time, and the Mews and their friends were all getting 
together for the holidays. Without enemies to fight and their lives 
progressing in different directions, they didn't get to see each other 
as often as they wanted to, though, when they did, the group was more 
like a family than anything else. Because of that, they typically spent 
the holidays together as a family, and this year, they were going to 
Ryou's winter home in Hokkaido.

It would be nice to retreat to the mountains, which would be quite 
snowy, and spend the holiday there, especially for the children. Though 
Pudding's younger siblings were no longer little kids, they still 
enjoyed playing as much as they always had (something they had inherited 
from their sister), and Ichigo's kittens were only three, so they 
especially enjoyed it.

The couples (Pudding and Taruto, Ichigo and Masaya, Lettuce and Pai, and 
Mint and Zakuro) got to room together, while Ryou had a room to himself, 
it being his house and all. Kish and Keiichiro were willing to share a 
room that had two beds, and Pudding's brothers and Ichigo's sons, 
Kuroichigo, Ringo, and Rubus would share a room, while Heicha and the 
daughters, Kiichio, Ume, Cheri, and Kinomi would room together.

The kittens saw Pudding's siblings like older siblings, referring to 
Heicha as Heicha-nee and the boys, who they could hardly tell apart, 
Nii-nii. On top of that, they treated all of Ichigo and Masaya's friends 
as aunts and uncles, referring to them as such. They even went so far as 
to pick up Pudding's name for Taruto from her and referring to him only 
as Uncle Taru Taru.

All in all, the kittens were absolutely adorable and regarded as a part 
of the family by everyone. They all loved having the kids around, and 
everyone was excited about spending Christmas together. They were set to 
arrive the day before Christmas Eve, and they all traveled together, 
arriving and setting to unpacking.

Ichigo and Masaya had some hidden presents packed, the gifts from Santa 
that their kittens would receive, and they sent them off to play with 
Heicha and her brothers while they got those hidden. The kittens had 
been a little nervous about traveling for the holidays, but they had 
insisted that Santa would know where to find the family no matter what.

Now that they were here, they didn't mind being away from home one bit, 
much too excited by the new location to care. They were all chattering 
and running about, not the least bit concerned about what might happen 
on Christmas or why mommy and daddy were being so secretive about what 
they were unpacking. One of the benefits of having them so young was 
that they were easy to distract.

"Do you think we'll get lots of presents?" asked Rubus.

"Do you think we'll get to make lots of cookies?" asked Kinomi.

"Do you think we'll get to play in the snow?" asked Cheri.

"Do you think we'll get presents from everyone or just mommy and daddy 
and Santa?" asked Ringo.

"Do you think we'll get to hear Santa?" asked Ume.

"Of course, of course!" Kiichigo said.

"Duh, all of that stuff is what Christmas is all about," agreed 
Kuroichigo. But the two then looked to Pudding's siblings, as if asking 
them to verify.

"We're probably going to play in the snow really soon," said Hanacha.

"And I bet we all get lots of presents!" said Honcha.

"Keiichiro promised to show you guys how to make Christmas cookies, 
remember?" said Lucha.

"And I know Pudding got you all presents too," said Chincha.

"If you listen carefully, you might get to hear Santa, but you have to 
be in bed and asleep before he'll give you any presents!" declared 
Heicha.

These answers seemed to satisfy the kittens temporarily, and they went 
back to running around and playing while they waited for something new 
to happen. When everyone was unpacked and settled in, Ryou announced 
that it was time to start decorating. He and the other men would go out 
looking for a tree, while the women and children would stay in to get 
the place looking a bit more festive.

Most everyone did their part, getting tinsel and garlands up, but the 
kittens, who were too little to really help, were much too distracted 
anyway. They were part-cat, after all, and all the sparkly and shiny 
things were just begging to be played with as they ran along the floor, 
picking up anything that wasn't being used.

Ume and Cheri were particularly entranced by a scrap of ribbon and began 
play-fighting over it, only to end up completely tangled in it. Ichigo 
could only laugh as she watched them struggle to get free. When she had 
recovered from her laughter, she got down to help them get untangled, 
but was not above playing with the ribbon with her children a bit 
herself.

Soon enough, the men returned with a beautiful tree. It was so tall that 
even Pai and Keiichiro had a hard time reaching the top of it and it was 
round and full, perfect for decorating. Mint and Zakuro were quick to 
get the lights on it while the others set to unboxing the ornaments. 
Rubus was particularly enamored with one of the glass balls, swiping at 
it and rolling it in between his hands.

This caught Ringo's eye, who swiped it from him and the two began to 
scrap over the ornament, not even noticing as Lettuce picked it up and 
placed it on the tree. Despite the kittens not doing much to help, it 
didn't take long for the tree to get decorated, and all that was left 
was the star that had yet to be put on top.

"I wanna put it on!" declared Kiichigo.

"No, no, I'm gonna put it on!" Kuroichigo argued.

"But I wanna do it!" Rubus cried.

"No fair, you got to do it last year," said Ringo.

"I never got to do it before," whined Ume.

"Alright, settle down," said Masaya. "Since Kinomi is the youngest and 
has never gotten to do it before either, I think it should be her turn."

There was a collective whining from the other kittens while Kinomi 
squealed in delight, but Ichigo was quick to assure them that they would 
all get a turn one day, and that there was plenty more fun things to do 
for Christmas. When the kittens were subdued, Masaya picked up his 
youngest daughter, and Ichigo handed her the star.

With his hands above his head, Kinomi was able to reach the top of the 
tree, and she delicately placed the star. Giggling as her father brought 
her back down, she stared up at the star, excited that she had been the 
one to put it there. Her siblings seemed to be over their bitterness 
already, and when she was placed on the floor with them, they went back 
to running around and playing.

The family that was not really a family, but was just as close as one, 
stood together, appreciating their hard work. The place looked beautiful 
and festive, and they knew it would be one of their best Christmases 
yet.

Chapter 2

The next day was Christmas Eve, and the kittens were up and excited 
fairly early. Already, they couldn't wait for it to be bedtime so that 
they could wake up on Christmas, but before that, there was a lot of fun 
to be had. It was all Heicha and her brothers could do to keep them from 
waking up the whole house too early in the morning.

Eventually, everyone was up and, after breakfast, it was decided that it 
was time to let the kids play in the snow. Ichigo and Masaya enlisted 
the help of the other Mews and Keiichiro to help get the kittens bundled 
up simultaneously, and then they all headed out into the snow.

The kittens tumbled through snowdrifts, a little bit too small to really 
go into it without constant supervision, but there were enough adults to 
make sure that they were safe at all times. Meanwhile, Pudding and 
Taruto had begun a snowball fight that her siblings joined in on, 
splitting into uneven teams. It didn't take Kish much convincing to join 
in and make it even while they pelted each other with snowballs.

Kiichigo and Kuroichigo spotted this and started throwing snow at each 
other, not quite grasping the concept of making snowballs, while Lettuce 
and Pai helped Kinomi make a snow man. Mint, for all her poise, had 
always had a fondness for making snow angels, and Rubus tried to imitate 
her. After much goading, Zakuro joined in and then Ume followed her 
lead.

Cheri spent most of the day pestering Keiichiro and Ryou, who had been 
doing more observing than playing. Keiichiro was quick to give into her, 
and soon it was the two of them, trying to get Ryou to join in the fun. 
Ichigo and Masaya enjoyed keeping an eye on all of their children and 
going back and forth between the different activities so that they could 
play with all of them.

After a while, the kids all began to get hungry, so they took a break 
from playing outside for lunch, as well as the chance to bake Christmas 
cookies. Keiichiro and Lettuce would be in charge of that activity, 
given the former's status as pastry chef and the latter's general 
knowledge of such arts. Once again, the kittens were more interested in 
playing than actually helping, but luckily, Keiichiro was able to handle 
that.

By the time the cookies were in the oven, the kittens were covered in 
flour and scraps of cookie dough, and set to licking at each other to 
get cleaned up before they went back outside to play some more. Once 
again, they were helped into their winter clothes before going outside 
to resume their games. This time, Pudding's siblings helped Kiichigo and 
Kuroichigo figure out how to make their own snowballs to allow them to 
join in the fight, and it was not long until all of the kittens wanted 
to play.

Once again, the sides were uneven, so Ichigo took to playing to fix 
that, and then Mint got hit with a stray snowball, causing Zakuro to 
join in to defend her girlfriend. But Mint was not defenseless, and 
began throwing snowballs at an alarming rate. Lettuce and Pai added 
themselves to the other team to once again make it an even match, and 
then Keiichiro and Masaya went to opposite sides as well.

Now, everyone was playing except Ryou, and though they tried to convince 
him to join in, he insisted that it would just further the problem of 
having things be uneven, and that he wouldn't want to play a silly game 
like that anyway.

"Oh, we can show you uneven," replied Ichigo with a mischievous grin, 
and suddenly, the two teams turned on him and Ryou found himself being 
pelted by snowballs. At first he fled but then he began making snowballs 
to fight back, and then Keiichiro decided to aid him. One by one, the 
aliens and Pudding's brothers and Masaya and his sons switched sides, 
and it became boys against girls.

After a while of this, the group found that they were hungry once again, 
and the children were starting to get tired, so they went back inside 
for this day. They ate their dinners together, something quickly whipped 
up by Lettuce and Pudding, and then, because it was getting dark 
outside, Ryou lit the fireplace.

They all sat around it, the adults drinking eggnog and cider while 
Pudding's siblings enjoyed hot chocolate and the kittens happily lapped 
away at saucers full of warm milk. Christmas stories were told, and 
everyone shared happy memories from over the years. Ichigo and Masaya 
recounted their first Christmas together, when they finally declared 
their love, and the children went on about what they hoped they'd get 
for Christmas this year.

As the night wore on and the stories went on, people began to get tired. 
Pudding's siblings, despite typically being endless supplies of energy, 
soon excused themselves to bed, as well as Kish, while the children 
began to doze in front of the fire and the adults continued to talk a 
little bit more. Eventually, Mint and Zakuro retired to their room, and 
Lettuce and Pai followed soon after.

After about another hour of chatting, Pudding and Taruto decided it was 
time for bed as well, and that was when Ichigo and Masaya finally 
scooped up their sleepy, protesting children to take them to bed. 
Despite being exhausted from their big day and clearly tired, they 
insisted that they could not go to sleep yet, that they were too 
excited.

After much work and coaxing, they finally managed to get each and every 
kitten settled in for bed before going to bed themselves. And with them 
gone, it was just Ryou and Keiichiro, who sat up late, talking about the 
years that had passed between the two of them, and how happy they were 
that their work had taken them where they were now, that they had met 
such amazing people through it that had become such wonderful friends.

Last but not least, Keiichiro made sure to remind Ryou just how proud 
his parents would have been of him and all that he had done.

Chapter 3

It was Christmas morning and fresh snow was falling on the mountain. 
Despite the early morning, all of the kittens were wide awake, and soon 
the brothers ran to see if their sisters were awake. Of course, they 
were, and the seven children decided that it was time to wake their 
parents up, and quickly- they were all very eager to see what they had 
gotten for Christmas this year.

Running into their parents room, they wasted no time in all hopping into 
the bed, piling on top of one another. Groggily, Ichigo and Masaya 
opened their eyes to find their children, bouncing on top of them and 
carrying on about how it was Christmas and they had to see if Santa came 
and it was time to open their presents!

Their parents agreed that it was time to get up, but they took such a 
long time getting ready and getting the kids ready, that the kittens 
continued to protest so loudly that they could hear the others in the 
house starting to stir. All the better for them, of course. It saved 
them the trouble of having to wake everyone up themselves, and they knew 
their parents wouldn't let them open presents if everyone were not 
awake.

Still, the kittens did not give everyone a chance to get up before they 
bolted for the tree, stopping in their tracks when they saw how many new 
presents were there. Santa had certainly delivered in kind the night 
before, and it was all they could to stop themselves from diving in and 
ripping off the paper right away. They waited for everyone to hurry up 
for what felt like an eternity before everyone slowly but surely 
trickled into the living room.

"Can we open now?" whined Kuroichigo. "Please?"

"Alright, everyone," replied Ichigo, "sit down and you'll all be able to 
open presents. Your dad will pass them out to you."

The children did as they were told, fidgeting where they sat as Masaya 
began to sort through the presents, finding one for each of them and 
passing it down the line. As soon as each of them had a present in their 
hands, they tore into them, screaming in delight at whatever they found. 
It seemed that there was no end to their excitement, as far as their 
presents were concerned.

When they had run out of gifts from Santa, they moved on to presents 
from their parents, which they were just as excited about. While they 
opened those presents, Ichigo and Masaya passed out the gifts they had 
picked out for their friends and Pudding's siblings, so everyone else 
finally had the chance to open as well.

Once those were out of the way, each of the couples took their turn 
passing out their gifts to the children and their friends. The kittens 
looked happy as could be, practically drowning in toys of all sorts, and 
with still more to go, and it was all Masaya could do to keep up with 
sorting the gifts and cleaning up all the discarded wrapping paper. 
After the couples came presents from Ryou, Keiichiro, and Kish, and 
then, that part of the festivities was finally over.

The kittens had so many toys that they could not possibly play with them 
all at once, and Ichigo and Masaya were careful to put all of them away 
in seven different bags so that they wouldn't get mixed up. When 
everything but what they were playing with was put away, the adults were 
able to relax for a bit and watch the children entertain themselves with 
their new toys.

When it grew close to dinner time, Lettuce, Pudding, and Keiichiro 
retreated to the kitchen to begin their preparations for the night. 
There would be a large meal befitting the large crowd, and the two girls 
worked tirelessly on the entrees and sides while Keiichiro began 
preparing some of his best desserts for the group. Soon enough, 
delicious scents wafted through the whole cabin, making everyone's 
mouths water in anticipation.

At dinner time, it was not as hard to drag the kittens away from their 
toys as the parents had expected, given how hungry the smell of food 
cooking had made them. When everyone was seated at two large tables, the 
food was brought out for them, with a lot of meat but even more fish, 
given how many of the guests were of the feline variety. Not to mention 
the fact that Masaya had acquired a love of seafood over the years of 
being with Ichigo.

Everyone dug in, eating until there was barely room left for dessert, 
and then Keiichiro unveiled all the beautiful sweets he had made, paying 
special attention to what everyone's particular favorites were. And then 
they all ate some more, going beyond the point of being stuffed because 
none of them could resist his treats.

At the end of the meal, everyone could only sit for a few moments to 
allow themselves to digest. The gifted chefs received ample compliments 
for their efforts, and there would surely be fights over who got to 
finish off the leftovers the next day. For now, though, everyone was 
calm and peaceful, too stuffed and content to care about anything else.

Eventually, the kittens returned to their toys, and the fire place was 
lit up again, with everyone gathered around. Once again, hot chocolate 
and eggnog were passed around, and it was a struggle to get the kittens 
to abandon their toys and drink their milk.

Soon, they began to wind down, exhausted from their long day of play and 
lulled to sleep by the comforting heat of the fire. It did not take long 
for them to drift off to sleep right there on the floor, and their 
parents began the process of carrying them off to be tucked into bed, 
one by one. It was truly a Christmas miracle that none of them woke up 
in the process.

After the children were in bed, the teens and adults slowly found their 
way to their rooms. In the morning, they would have to set to cleaning 
up the house and taking down the tree, and putting away decorations. The 
day would be spent packing up so that they could return to Tokyo and 
their every day lives, but none of them would forget this Christmas any 
time soon, and it went without saying that the trip would become 
tradition in the coming years.