a/n: Happy Holidays everyone! I apologize for any typos, bad grammar, or just crappyness in this...it was typed /very/ fast and it was written a year ago, so...it is what it is. Enjoy~
Feelings Most Dear
What's Really Important
[Christmas Special]
By the time they reached the house that was being rented to them, the rain was coming down pretty hard. The four of them, drenched and tired, stumbled into the entrance room, and after a few seconds one of them managed to locate and turn on the lights.
Both Kurogane and Syaoran sunk into the chairs nearest to them, the taller of the two seeming to be more irritated than the other, but everyone in the room knew very well that it was the other way around—it had ended up being another featherless search, and the one who was hurting the most from it was Syaoran. The tension in the air was thick.
Finally Kurogane spoke up as he ripped his water-logged trench-coat off.
"Ridiculous…" Fai turned is gaze to the warrior from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter.
"Eh? What do you mean, Kuropii?" Kurogane glared, and his rising blood pressure was almost visible.
"I mean, Mage, that this has been the third false alarm we've had on this world—the stupid porkbun doesn't know what he's doing!"
Syaoran looked up, "But Kurogane-san, Mokona-"
"Don't start Kid! Because of that manjuu we spent all day looking for something that didn't even exist! We were injured and nearly killed by a monster that didn't have what we wanted, and on top of that, we got soaked from the rain!"
Sakura piped up, "But Kurogane-san, it wasn't all Mokona's fault…"
"Yeah you're right." Kurogane turned his crimson eyes towards the Princess. "If you had listened to us and stayed out of the way, the Kid would have been able to help us fight, and then the Mage wouldn't have had the side of his face sliced open." Fai winced as he touched the crusting-over gash.
"I'm honoured you care, Kurorin, but you don't need to blame Saukura-chan for it—she just wanted to help the best she could."
Syaoran stood up. "You can blame me all you want, Kurogane-san, but please don't be angry at Hime…it was my fault-"
"Don't take someone else's blame."
"Don't be so harsh Kurotan!"
"But-"
"EVERYONE! QUIET!" Everyone turned to gaze at Sakura in shock. Sakura turned to Mokona and asked quietly,
"Mokona, what was that thing you told me Yuuko-san was doing again?" Mokona blinked in confusion.
"You mean taking a vacation?" Sakura nodded enthusiastically.
"Everyone…we're taking a vacation from feather-hunting!" Everyone blinked in surprise.
"But Hime…"
"No buts!" Sakura replied, crossing her arms as she held her ground. "Mokona told me that people take vacations because they need to relax and get rid of stress, and obviously that's what all of us need! And if you try and argue otherwise, I'll call Yuuko-san for back-up."
Everyone went quiet except Kurogane who said under his breath, "…she'll charge you."
"So…what are we supposed to do on this vacation?" Syaoran asked.
"Actually, I sort of have an idea…" Sakura replied. "While I was out working, I overheard some people talking about a holiday celebrated on this world—they called it Christmastime. Apparently friends gather together and give each other gifts, and they celebrate around a tree that is brought into the house and decorated with lights and colored orbs. So…" Sakura ran over to the kitchen cupboard and pulled out a bowl with four pieces of paper in it. "Mokona put our names in this. Each person pulls out a name, and that's who they have to get a present for."
Kurogane raised an eyebrow. "What about the manjuu?" Sakura cowered a little.
"…everyone has to get Mokona something."
Kurogane's eyes popped out. "What?"
"Kurotan—calm down; can't you see that Sakura really wants to do this? I think we should give it a try." After a minute, Kurogane sighed.
"Fine." Sakura turned to Syaoran.
"Syaoran-kun?" Syaoran smiled.
"Of course, Hime." Mokona jumped up into the air, cheering.
"Wai wai!" He turned to Sakura. "You pick first Sakura!" Sakura nodded, and closing her eyes, reached her hand into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper, hiding it from sight. Kurogane went next, then Fai, and finally Syaoran. Once everyone had chosen, the group, tired from spending so long out hunting for a feather, dispersed to their rooms to get some much needed sleep.
Kurogane frowned as he gazed down at the sliver of paper lying by his beside. On it was written one simple word containing a lot of complications: Fai. The warrior rubbed his forehead. Of all the people…
The warrior's feelings about the mage were complicated at best. The mage seemed to be everything Kurogane could not stand—cowardly, fake, and above all others, uncaring for his own life. Yet, despite all of his shortcomings, there was something about Fai that kept Kurogane from being able to hate him. In fact, it seemed like whenever he tried to push the man away, he just ended up closer to him than before.
Sighing, he put the sliver in the desk drawer and stretched. Damn…I have no idea what to get that stupid mage! I guess I'll have to observe him and see what he likes to do…besides irritate me.
Luck was on his side, as Kurogane found out. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, the mage yelled from the kitchen,
"Good morning Kurrorin!" The children have already left for work, so it's just you and me now." The kids sure got up early… Sakura and Syaoran were working part time as waiters at a nearby café to earn the group money and to keep their ears open for any news about the possibility of the Princess's feather making an appearance. Sighing, Kurogane walked into the kitchen and sat down at the counter where his breakfast was waiting for him. Fai was at the sink washing dishes. As the ninja began to eat, Fai spoke up.
"It seems we've run out of food again—I guess it's unavoidable when you have to feed two Doggies." Kurogane glared from where he sat, unable to speak due to all of the food in his mouth. The mage continued on without noticing. "Since the children are out working, I was wondering if you could help me with the shopping." Kurogane blinked.
Just the excuse I need!
"Alright." The Mage's eyes showed surprise for a split second, then once again returned to their reflective selves. Once Kurogane finished his food, the two left the house to grocery shopping.
While they walked down the tree-lined street, Kurogane decided to give it a try.
"Oye…Mage."
"What is it Kurotan?" Kurogane tried his best not to sound too suspicious.
"You have any gift ideas? I can't think of any." Fai placed his index finger under his chin.
"Well…I'm sure Sakura-chan would like something small but pretty, like a necklace, or maybe something cute like a stuffed animal. Syaoran-kun on the other hand would want something more practical, like new gloves or a coat."
Kurogane internally sighed. But what about you, you freaking mage? What the hell do you want?
Fai's face lowered so that his blond bangs covered his eyes. "Me…I'd just want some time in a faraway place where I can forget my troubles…and be with a person who understands…" Fai grinned up at Kurogane—the fakeness of it alarming Kurogane. "…just like that song you hated so much, Kurorin!" Kurogane's eyes widened. Of course…that time we were in Clover… Fail looked away, the fake smile still pasted to his face. "…but that's just a wish. What would you want, Kurokuro?"
…some peace and quiet… "I don't really want anything—as long as everyone's happy, I'll be fine." A look the ninja could not recognize flashed in the Mage's eyes for a split-second before Fai laughed.
"Funny hearing that come from Kuropuu, our local grouch!"
"Shut up you damn mage! Let's just get this shopping over with!"
Sakura smiled as she placed her tip in the jar labeled 'Sakura-chan' and leaned against the counter as her hour break began. From where she was standing she could Syaoran-kun serving some of the customers. She couldn't stop herself from thinking, Syaoran-kun looks cute in the waiter outfit, just like in Oto country… She could feel her face turning red.
As if seeming to sense her gaze, Syaoran turned around, and smiling, walked over to her.
"Is everything going alright, Hime?" Sakura nodded, smiling.
"This nice couple gave me a generous tip, so I think we should go get the tree tonight."
"Okay, we'll go after work. We're going to need Kurogane-san and Fai-san though." As Syaoran was put back to work, Sakura couldn't help but wonder how Kurogane and Fai were holding out. When she had first met them she had been a bit worried that Kurogane might hurt Fai…not necessarily physically, but as they traveled more, the two seemed to become more and more accepting of each other. Shrugging, Sakura sat down on a stool and continued to watch Syaoran from a distance.
Sakura and Syaoran walked back down the main street, done with work for the day. Both were a bit tired out, so there wasn't much chit-chat. However, as they passed a shop window full of plush toys, Sakura stopped and gravitated to the window display.
"Look Syaoran-kun, isn't it cute?" Syaoran smiled.
The last memory Sakura had regained had been about a fight she had with her older brother Touya. Apparently she had once again snuck out of palace. When she returned her brother was mad and had tried pulling away her cat plush that she had been given by someone in town. The poor stuffed animal was torn in half.
When she had told Syaoran this, he had kept it in the back of his head so that he'd remember to get her one for her next birthday, but when Sakura had announced her vacation plan, Syaoran decided it wouldn't hurt to get it sooner.
Sakura was gazing at the orange and white cat plush in the shop window. I'll have to drop by tomorrow while Sakura's working… Once the girl was done looking, they continued home.
Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona gazed at their two 'parent-like' figures as they tried to find a tree. Kurogane kept arguing with Fai (who was surprisingly taking the side of reason) and whenever a salesman came by and asked if they needed help, Kurogane quickly scared them away with a look.
"I want a big, thick tree, Mage, and nothing else!"
"Kurotan, we can't get a big one—oh here's a nice one."
"Give me a good reason why we can't? And that one's too skinny, like you."
"We walked here. How do you plan to get a giant tree back to the house? —how about this one?"
"Who do you take me for? I'll carry the tree back—and the pine needles are falling off that one."
"Kurorin, I'm not trying to insult your strength, but really. Carrying that tree that distance will only hurt your back."
A salesman made his way forward slowly.
"Um…Sirs, actually…"
"What?" Kurogane snapped.
"We, uh, have a delivery service…" Both Kurogane and Fai turned to blink at each other, then the Ninja, smiling with the glory of victory, replied,
"Okay; we'll take it." Fai rolled his eyes but didn't argue.
Fai, Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona ate dinner as Kurogane circled the room, trying to find the perfect spot for the tree. After a few minutes of this, Fai asked,
"So tomorrow we decorate the tree, and the night after we have a feast and give gifts, right?" Sakura nodded.
"Fai-san, have you ever made a turkey before?" Fai shook his head.
"No, but I asked the lady at the grocery store, and she was kind enough to write down instructions for me."
"Mokona loves turkey!" Exclaimed Mokona, jumping up.
"There." Kurogane set the large tree down near the left corner of the room. Everyone clapped.
"That looks great Kuropon!"
"Mokona likes the tree!"
"It looks wonderful Kurogane-san." Kurogane smirked as he examined his work.
Once everyone finished dinner, they all headed off to bed, tired from the day's activities.
Fai turned the water to the shower off and quickly dried and changed into new clothes. A glance at the clock told him it was five in the morning. Stifling a yawn, Fai left his room and entered the kitchen to make breakfast for the others. Fai was always the first up…mainly because he was prone to nightmares and thus couldn't sleep well. For the most part he didn't mind, but once in a while he'd become somewhat cranky from the lack of sleep.
As he turned the stove on, his thoughts drifted to the conversation he had with Kurogane while walking to the store…what Kurogane wanted as a gift. He sighed and began to stir some ingredients together. What a terribly sweet and infuriating answer… He shrugged. I guess I'll just have to do my best with the feast tomorrow night—Sakura-chan didn't specify that the gift had to be physical.
As Syaoran stepped into the shop, a small bell above the door ringed, signaling his entrance. He heard footsteps approaching him.
"Hello, can I help-" The sentence was cut off as the speaker caught sight of Syaoran. Syaoran's eyes widened unintentionally. Standing in front of him was the Prince, Touya…or at least, another look-a-like.
"Touya, is something wrong?" Another familiar face appeared from around the corner.
"Yuki, you deal with him." Touya walked away, once in a while turning around to gaze at Syaoran threateningly. The look-a-like of Yukito laughed.
"I'm sorry, he normally doesn't act this way to customers…you must remind him of someone. So, is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yes—I would like to purchase the cat plush in the window…" Yukito walked over to the window and picked up the stuffed cat.
"This one?"
"Yes." Touya appeared out of nowhere.
"And what would a brat like you want with a stuffed cat?"
"…it's going to be a gift for someone." Touya's glare intensified.
"You don't mean for that girl who was looking at it through the window yesterday?" Syaoran probably should have been shocked that Touya would remember that, but of course he wasn't.
"Uh, yes…"
"It's not for sale."
"Touya!"
"Oh alright…" Touya continued to glare despite giving in. Yukito rolled his eyes and guided Syaoran to the cash register. Once he had paid, Syaoran quickly left, all the while feeling Touya's heated glare following.
Luckily when Syaoran arrived home, Sakura was nowhere to be seen, so he quickly ran up to his room and stashed the present away. Feeling a sense of relief for having the job done, he decided to go down to the kitchen to see what Fai was making for dinner.
As he sat down at the counter, sipping a strange drink called 'cola' and listening to Fai's humming, there were footsteps at the stairs, and after a few seconds Sakura appeared.
"Hi Syaoran-kun!" She greeted as she took a seat beside him after grabbing a cola from the fridge. At that moment his eyes caught sight of her hands, noting the multiple bandages on her fingers.
"Hime, what happened to your hands?" Sakura gazed down at her drink.
"I had an accident at work today—nothing to worry about." Before Syaoran could ask more, the front door opened and Kurogane stumbled in, covered in snow.
"What is up with this freakish weather?" Mokona bounced down the stairs, yelling,
"Kuro-Daddy's home! Kuro-Daddy's home!" Kurogane grabbed Mokona and chucked him at Fai's face.
"Damn Manjuu…" Fai laughed as he caught Mokona.
"Now that Kuro-Daddy's home, the children should start decorating the tree."
"Okay!" Sakura exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
As the group put the decorations on the tree there was cheerfulness in the atmosphere, yet worries were on the surface of everyone's hearts, whether it be about gifts or injured hands.
"I'm done!" Sakura exclaimed, lying back against her pillow. In her clutched hand was a green scarf. Mokona bounced over to the bed and looked down at the finished product.
"Great job Sakura! I'm sure he'll love it!" Sakura smiled.
"I hope so…"
"There—done." Kurogane wiped the sweat from his brown and looked at his work. Of course, he wouldn't really see if it was effective until night time. It was the middle of the afternoon—the kids were off at work and Fai was downstairs working on the feast.
Quite suddenly, Kurogane got a vibe…a bad feeling that something was going to happen. But as soon as it came it was gone, and shrugging it off as stress, he retired to his room.
Fai placed the turkey in the oven…and froze. Did the lady say it needed to cook for three hours or five? He took a quick gaze at the turkey. It's a big bird…must be five. Turning on the oven, Fai placed the turkey in and closed the door.
Yawning, he decided to go back to his room to see if he could think of any last minute gift ideas.
About four hours later Fai's sixth sense told him something was terribly wrong. Running down to the kitchen, he realized too late that he had made a mistake. Black smoke was leaking from the oven and inside he could see flames. He quickly through on some oven-mits and opened the oven door to pull the flaming turkey out. As he began carrying it over to the counter, it felt like the ground went uneven beneath him and he ended up tripping. He watched in horror as the burning turkey flew through the air and landed in the tree. The tree caught fire in front of him and the room filled with smoke.
Naturally Fai did the first thing that came to mind once he found himself able to think.
"Kurogane!"
Kurogane came flying down the stairs, and upon seeing the image of hell in their living room, exclaimed as he ran to the kitchen cupboard,
"What the HELL HAPPENED?" Without waiting for an answer, he passed Fai, and flipped on the fire extinguisher he had grabbed.
The fire died from the strange substance, but most of the tree was burned. Just at that moment, Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona came through the front door.
Sakura gasped. "What happened?"
"It…was my fault," said Fai. His bangs were covering his eyes but Kurogane was pretty sure the mage was crying. He turned to the kids.
"Could you give us a few minutes?" Sakura and Syaoran nodded, so Kurogane gently took Fai by the arm and pulled him up the stairs.
Fai blinked in confusion as Kurogane had them step onto the rooftop.
"Why-"
"I thought after what happened down there, that you might want your gift now." Kurogane walked over to the electric outlet and placed a plug in it.
Suddenly the rooftop was bathed in sparkling lights that were strung along the sides, as well as fake ivy and tinsel. In the center was a picnic blanket with some wine and two glasses. Fai's eyes were wide in disbelief.
"Kurorin, it's beautiful…" He turned his gaze to the ninja.
"I know it's not a far away place…"
"It's perfect." They both sat down on the cloth, and Kurogane poured them some wine. Fai gazed down at his glass, some guilt coming back into his expression.
"You know, I don't have a gift for you…"
"Don't worry about it—I told you I didn't want anything." Fai took a gulp of wine and then rested his head against the warrior's shoulder, closing his eyes.
"…thank you." Kurogane, looking down at the mage, couldn't hold back the gentle smile that appeared on his face, so he turned the other way, placing his arm around Fai's frail body.
"No problem."
Sakura, Syaoran, and Mokona sat down on the couch, wondering what they should do. Sakura sighed. "So what should we do about dinner?" Mokona bounced up onto her head.
"Whenever Yuuko burned dinner, she ordered pizza!" Syaoran blinked.
"How do we order this pizza?"
"Just leave it to Mokona!" With that, the creature bounced off into the kitchen intent on finding something called a 'yellowbook'.
Syaoran turned to the princess. "So since Kurogane-san and Fai-san are busy, shall I give you your gift, Hime?"
"Sure—hold on!" Sakura bounced up and ran up the stairs. After a minute she returned with a gift wrapped in green. "It's for you Syaoran-kun." The exchanged, and Sakura opened hers first.
"Ahh, it's so cute!" Sakura hugged the stuffed cat tightly. "Thanks so much Syaoran-kun!"
Syaoran smiled. "I'm glad you like it, Hime." Syaoran opened his gift and turned to gaze at Sakura. "Hime, did you make this yourself?" Sakura nodded, blushing.
"I'm sorry if it's poor quality…it was my first time sewing…"
"It looks wonderful." Syaoran said as he put the scarf on, smiling gently. "Thank you."
There was a knock at the door.
Syaoran stood up and turned to Sakura. "Stay back Hime!" Sakura nodded, looking startled. Syaoran stood in front of her, arms spread wide as he waited for the door to be kicked in. There was another knock.
"Coming!" yelled Mokona. Mokona bounced off the kitchen counter onto Syaoran's head.
"Get the door Syaoran." Hesitantly Syaoran opened the door. A man was standing there, holding a square, flat box.
"A large cheese and pepperoni pizza for Syaoran-kun?" Syaoran blinked in surprise.
"Uh…what?" The man gave him a weird look.
"Are you Syaoran-kun?"
"Yes…"
"Then this is your pizza." Oh…Mokona must have ordered the pizza under my name…
"Uh, yes…thanks." Syaoran took hold of the pizza and after putting it down on the counter, paid the delivery boy and shut the door.
The mood of the room was pleasant as they all ate the strange, flat food Mokona called 'pizza'. Sakura and Syaoran chatted to each other happily while Kurogane and Fai exchanged remarks about the bizaare food with Mokona adding comments occasionally. Yet, everything that had gone wrong had been replaced by something that went right, and everyone was at peace,
…until…
"Hey…where's Mokona's gifts?"