A 'wonderful' Christmas

It was snowing in Orb, and freezing cold on top of it. Underneath the falling snow a figure, clad in a thick coat, was walking from one store to the next, never staying in one longer than five minutes.

It was Christmas eve and the shopping district of Onogoro was buzzing with people, some of them still looking for presents others just wanting to buy a few things for the weekend.

Kira Yamato was one of those still searching for a present. He would've bought something a few weeks ago, if there hadn't been his lack of a good idea.

Although it was now half a year since the war ended and almost four months since he moved together with Lacus, Kira still hadn't gotten a present for his girlfriend. In the last few days he had spent a lot of time here, he had looked into every store, every department and every booth… five times at least.

And once again he was nearing the end of the shopping district, as he noticed a booth that he hadn't seen before. He took a few steps closer to see what the old man inside had to offer. Strangely he was the only one taking a closer look, while the others just walked by, as if the booth wasn't even there.

Inside the showcases was everything from a necklace to what seemed like wedding rings, bracelets, brooches, and so on.

"Oh…" the old man behind the showcases began as he noticed Kira. "… Good evening, lad. May I help you?"

"Hmmm…" Kira looked up at the speaker. "… oh, sorry I didn't notice you were talking to me."

"No problem youngster." the old salesman replied and Kira got back to looking through the many things in the showcases.

"I take it that you're looking for a present for your girlfriend?"

"How did you know?" Kira asked back as he looked up surprised. The man just smiled at him.

"Many people come to me on Christmas eve if they haven't found anything for their loved ones…" the old man paused as he reached under the counter and pulled out a steaming cup. "… just take your time."

"It's kind of hard to pick something." the brown-haired boy said after another ten minutes of looking. "You have any advice?"

"Is it really that hard… just to think about your girlfriend as a normal girl?" the man asked him back.

"But she really i…" Kira began as he was interrupted in the middle of the sentence.

"… not a normal girl?" the older man smiled. "If it comes to presents most girls are happy about everything their loved ones get them." he bowed over to see all the things in the showcases. "Ahh, yes. That would be a beautiful gift." The old man pointed at a gold necklace with a heart shaped red jewel hanging from it.

"But this is way too expensive for me." Kira replied as he saw the price.

"Come on, it's Christmas. I'll give fifty percent off." The old man smiled as he saw Kira's shocked look.

"But…" he was interrupted again.

"No buts. Accept it as a gift." The old man began to get the necklace out of the showcase, then put it into a brilliant white box, wrapped a red ribbon around it and gave it to Kira.

"Thank you." was all Kira managed to say as he handed him the money.

"You're welcome." the man laughed. "Oh, and take this good luck charm too." He gave the boy a small keychain in the form of a seed. "Make sure you don't lose it."

"Thanks." Kira looked at his watch and gasped. "Sorry but I gotta go. I promised to be home in twenty minutes." He started to walk away but turned around after a few steps. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye and merry Christmas." The old salesman called after him.

Kira crossed the street and turned around once more, but in that moment a bus stopped at a traffic light and blocked his view. He turned away again and started jogging homewards. What he didn't see was that, after the bus drove away, the booth had vanished and left no sign of ever having been there.

As Kira got home Lacus was already waiting for him. She was now wearing a simple, midnight blue dress which accentuated her figure nicely.

"You're late, the children have already opened their presents." she stood before him with a somewhat angry look on her face. "And you promised me to be here earlier."

"Yeah, sorry about that, but I spent longer at one booth than I thought I would." Kira apologized.

"So, what took you so long?" Lacus asked curiously.

"I'll tell you." Kira said as he wrapped an arm around Lacus shoulder and led her to their room.

As they closed the door behind them Kira took out the box. "Merry Christmas Lacus."

Lacus took the box and eagerly opened it. As she saw the necklace inside she jumped at Kira out of joy. Which sent both of them to the ground. "Oh, thank you Kira. It's beautiful."

After lying in that embrace for a few moments they sat up. Lacus sat in Kira's lap as he took the necklace, laid it around her neck and fastened the lock of the necklace. He then hugged her from behind. Lacus just leaned in the embrace and laid her hands over Kira's.

"Too bad I left you present in the living room." Lacus said after what felt like hours.

"Hmm… it's not like that we don't have the time to get it." Kira replied.

Both of them stood up and walked out of the door. Kira had finally a chance to take off his coat. Lacus took his arm and laid her head upon his shoulder as they walked towards the living room.

What those two did after all that happened I won't explain, because it's private. But what I do want to tell is that the good luck charm he got from the old salesman kept him from serious harm for a very long time.

A/N: And another year has gone by… it almost seem s like I just had Christmas a few weeks ago. Well, no matter how we feel it, time always flows at the same speed… here on earth at least. And I think I'm getting old (well, twenty years is not old but I feel like fifty-five).

So hope you liked it and merry Christmas everybody.

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