This year, Christmas in Fuyuki is in great danger. Who's a bad enough tiger to save the smiles of every little child waiting for Santa's arrival?!
T'was the night before Christmas, and everything was quiet. Not a creature stirring, not even a mouse.
At least that's what everyone wanted.
Deep within Fuyuki, in the place known as the Emiya residence, a Tiger was restless. She didn't know why, nor the how she was suffering from anxiety so deep in the night. There simply was no reason for her to be awake at this hour; tossing and turning endlessly on the spare futon she was lent. All she knew, there was always an uneasy feeling in the air; there was something wrong.
With nothing to do, Fujimura Taiga decided to get up. What she wanted was to walk around for a bit, perhaps grab a chicken leg that both Sakura and Shirou managed to cook "KFC-style", and then try to sleep again. At least that was the original plan.
Looking further into the darkness of the living room, barely lit by the moonlight, was a rather tall figure donning Santa Claus' clothes. With their back turned towards her, she couldn't clearly see what that figure was doing. Instead of feeling elated to meet The Man, The Myth, The Legend in person, and looking further, she saw something that froze her on the spot. It may have been a trick of the light, it may have been her tired state from not sleeping properly, but the exposed skin looked green.
'Oh no! Where's the torashinai when I need it?' Taiga mentally asked herself as she searched for something that could be used as a sword-like weapon. Feeling her hands touch that metallic poster that Shirou once used to defend himself from her wrath, the tiger armed herself, and quickly dashed towards the mysterious figure while shouting her own kiai for this occasion.
"HYAH!" Taiga let out as she swinged her strike towards the back of the tall figure's head. Startled, the figure straightened itself as fast as it could, receiving the blow with the poster in full. Sad to say, the might of the Tiger of Fuyuki as Japan's top kendo practitioner wasn't for nothing, so the figure promptly collapsed.
"You won't be stealing Christmas today, Grinch!" Fujimura now said in a lowered voice, remembering people were supposed to be sleeping at that hour.
Taiga then, to unmask the evil villain that dared to steal Christmas from the Emiya residence, decided to turn him over and take their hat. She was surprised, to say the least, to find a mop of red hair under it. Her surprise; however, quickly turned into worry as she recognized who it was that she actually had attacked.
"Eh? Shirou? What are you doing stealing Christmas? I didn't raise you to be a grinch!" Eyes widened, there were several questions running through her mind. What was Shirou even doing dressed as Santa Claus? When did he even get that costume, anyways?
"Fuji-nee? I was just leaving the gifts for everyone in the morning. What are you even doing awake at this hour?" The confused teen rubbed the back of his head, right where the hit was dealt. Poster or not, the blow had hurt, and even more so he was caught by surprise and completely unprepared.
Fujimura sighed at Shirou's answer. Of course he'd be the one to take on Santa's mantle for the household, even though she was supposed to be the adult in there. "I couldn't sleep. I felt something was off, so I decided to walk around for a bit. And here I thought I found a burglar when it was just you. Sorry for that."
Looking at Shirou's motions, she felt guilty about what she had just done. Holding a yawn that threatened to escape, Taiga then asked "Do you need any help?"
The redhead, whose face now was clearly seen in the moonlight, just gave a reassuring smile to Taiga. "Thanks, Fuji-nee, but I'm almost done here. You said you wanted to sleep, right?"
The tiger smiled in thanks, and let out an even bigger yawn in response, confirming Shirou's suspicions. "That I did. Good luck, and see ya tomorrow morning."
Taiga started heading back to her own futon, before she turned back one last time.
"And sorry again for the blow to the head!" Fujimura casually waved towards Shirou before heading back. 'Oh, what a good kid I raised, indeed!' Taiga thought to herself as she went back to sleep.