Yo! Merry (early) Christmas! I've got (very frustrating) exams to revise for and I'll be writing this in my breaks. Writing fanfics cool me off.
I promise you that they are not fueled by my anger and frustration because of my studies since, like I said, fanfics calm me down a hell of a lot. Especially if they're my favourite Tsubasa group.
Please enjoy! It'll be a couple of chapters long and it'll hopefully get you in the mood for Christmas!
Evergreens covered with multicoloured blinking lights and decorations of red, green and yellow scattered around street lights, path railings and windows of nearby shops.
In a new country, tiny sparkles of white fell from the dark sky and covered the paths with blankets of snow. The group of four (and a cute little white manjuu) ventured forward leaving their footprints behind.
Syaoran spied Sakura shivering a little. She was wearing a short cropped shirt with a thin cloak, so he could understand she would feel cold.
"Here, princess." Syaoran offered his cloak to her, or rather, placed it over her shoulders so she wouldn't protest. Already feeling the warmth from Syaoran's cloak and his kindness, Sakura thanked him and asked if he felt cold.
"I'm just fine," he assured before he turned to Mokona, who perched on Fai's shoulder, "Can you feel a feather in this world, Mokona?"
Mokona nodded excitedly, happy to have helped him, "Yes, it's not far from here. I can feel it coming from... there!"
Mokona pointed her little stubby paw up the lighted path and into the deeper part of a town. From where they were standing, a little more uphill, they could see a lot more compacted buildings and the lights seemed so much brighter than anywhere else in that part of the country.
Fai grinned, "Well, it seems it'll be a lot easier to receive the feather in this country." He turned to Kurogane who glanced back with a lazy glare, "A bit disappointing isn't it?"
"What?" Kurogane asked, obviously not getting it.
"This country has a friendly atmosphere, so there doesn't seem to be any chance of a good fight, ne, Kuro-fluffy?"
Kurogane seethed and towered over the laughing magician.
"I told you not to call me those stupid nicknames!"
"Look, look, Kuro-fluffy has steam coming out of his nose!" Mokona giggled and held on to Fai's shoulder.
"You're right, Mokona, Kuro-fluffy's going to explode!" Fai laughed as he pretended to duck away from Kurogane with Mokona jumped into Fai's arms.
"Will you stop it!?" He bellowed as Fai and Mokona shouted for help.
Sakura and Syaoran watched from afar, feeling the need to sweat-drop into the snow, but had glanced at each other with the satisfaction of finding the feather almost immediately after arriving.
As they walked through the streets of the small town, they saw people wrapped up warm in woollies and boots carrying a hefty amount of bags. Some were even carrying wrapped up items. The group were glad that most of the passer-bys had cheerful expressions and laughter and even song filled the air. They later came upon a group of people wearing coats, scarves and top hats singing under the streetlight.
Simply having a wonderful Christmas time.
"Christmas?" Sakura asked the group.
Fai, Syaoran and Kurogane shrugged. Their countries had not celebrated this holiday. But Mokona had the biggest grin stretching from one long ear to another.
"Oh! Yuuko had explained Christmas to me before!" Mokona chirped and grabbed everyone's attention. They stopped to listen to the lyrics a little more with the crowd that had surrounded the singing group and applauded them when they had finished their song. Some people in the crowd threw coins into a bucket with a currency sign on the side.
"So, what is Christmas, Moko-chan?" Sakura asked.
"Well, not everyone celebrates it in our country, but the people who do celebrate Christmas every December 25th. On the eve on the night, a jolly fat man called St. Nick, or Santa Claus as he's mostly known for, sneaks down the chimney of your house and leaves you presents under the Christmas tree."
"A fat man breaks into your house and leaves you things?" Kurogane asked incredulously.
"He travels on a sleigh with his reindeer in the dead of the night. He must be awfully tired after such a busy night!" Mokona sighs, obviously ignoring Kurogane's comment.
"But why are the people of this country buying the presents when it's Santa Claus who bring them?" Syaoran had to ask.
Mokona clapped her paws together and replied dreamily, "Everyone buys gifts for the people they love and care about! Then they exchange them on Christmas day!"
Mokona sighed and remembered the gift that the Black Mokona and she had presented Yuuko and Clow with back when Clow was still alive. She giggled to herself.
"That sounds like quite a happy holiday, Mokona." Fai commented with his usual happy-go-lucky smile.
Mokona nodded with enthusiasm, "But only certain people celebrate this tradition because of how Christmas came about."
"Oh? How did it?" Syaoran asked with interest.
Mokona launched into a lengthy story of religion, traditions and history that had only captured Syaoran's full attention. The rest of the group were wandering around the place to discover other symbols of Christmas with their own meaning.
Mokona explained why some children walked around with oranges wrapped with red ribbon and a candle standing on the top. She also explained why there were wreaths in shop windows with four or more red candles in them. Mokona explained nativity plays in the street, the North Star, decorations and holly and ivy. Syaoran had taken in all of this and had been grinning like a child whenever he encountered a new item that represented this holiday. Sakura felt a burst of happiness within her chest as she watched him enjoy the holiday.
While Kurogane and Mokona stared through a shop window that sold bread and all sorts of delicious bakery products, Fai, Syaoran and Sakura had discovered where the feather had been.
In the centre of the town square, a large Christmas tree stood tall and proud with pretty lights and decorations scattered on its green leaves. On the tip of the Christmas tree was a bright light in the shape of a golden star. But it was an illusion that the feather had created.
"There it is." Fai pointed out.
"It's so high, how are we going to get it?" Sakura asked them.
"I'll go." Syaoran volunteered instantly but was stopped by two older men with woollen hats and scarves and a hard glare.
"Don't you dare go near that light!" One of them said with an angry voice.
"This is the best Christmas light decoration we've found in centuries. We've never seen the town as happy as this before. Don't go and spoil it, boy!" he threatened with an accusing finger pointing at Syaoran, who returned this man's glare with a determined look.
Then Syaoran felt Fai's hand on his shoulder and interrupted them.
"Pardon me for intruding, but where did you find this light?" Fai asked.
"Why, we found it glowing brightly in the snow in the hills. Whoever dropped it must've been mad to think they could hide it there or even if they lost it, they could have clearly seen it from miles away."
"I'm sorry, but this light belongs to this young lady here." Fai said calmly with a smile and brought Sakura into this. As she brought her head up to look innocently into the older men's eyes, they were almost immediately convinced that this young woman was innocent.
"Oh, I see." One of them said, his cheeks blushing slightly, "B-but you can't take it now, all the children and townspeople are so happy to have decorated the tree with it. You can take it in on Boxing Day."
"Boxing Day?" Sakura asked with a soft tone.
"The day after Christmas," they confirmed together, "Surely you can take it later."
Sakura nodded and smiled in reply.
As they walked off, satisfied by her answer, one of the older men slapped the other around the head. They could hear them say, 'you old fool; pretty young women have always been your weakness.'
'My weakness? Don't be daft, that young dame took you for a sap!'
Sakura brought her fist up to her mouth and giggled gently at the scene. Then she looked over at Syaoran who had gazed longingly at the feather at the top of the tree. When he felt her eyes on the side of his head, as if she were burning a hole into his head with a look, he turned to her and asked,
"Are you sure that you want to leave it here for now?"
Sakura smiled and nodded, just as she had with those older men, "It isn't doing any harm and its bringing happiness to this country. I couldn't possibly take it away now."
Syaoran smiled at his kind-hearted princess and his heart was whole. If that was what she wanted, it would be fine by him. For Syaoran, declining a request would be made almost impossible.
"So what shall we do in the mean time?" Fai asked, feeling the presence of Kurogane and Mokona approaching them.
The group had decided to stay in the country until they could get the feather back on Boxing Day. Finding a place to stay was easier than expected; they sold the currency and items they had collected in the last world they visited and that had been enough to rent a small house just outside the town and had bought a lot of clothes to keep them warm. In fact, they had enough money to buy a lot of other things too. So, Fai gathered the group into the front room and announced with Mokona,
"Let's get into the spirit of the holiday as well. Since its Christmas Eve, we have only one day to get ready to celebrate. We have enough money to pay for each other's presents, Mokona says decorations are much cheaper on the Christmas Eve so those won't be a problem, and Kurogane can chop down a tree from the forest not far from here."
"Why do I have to do the most work?" Kurogane seethed.
"Kurogane looked so bored today; you can practise your skills on the tree and bring it back here. Then you can help put the Christmas lights on the roof."
Kurogane snorted but let it go. He couldn't disagree that he would be suitable for tasks such as that, but he still stuck by the thought that it would all be a pain.
"That's a great idea," Sakura said almost breathlessly in excitement, "I'd love to give you all presents! And this holiday seems like a lot of fun!"
"Yeah, me too." Syaoran agreed with a gentle smile that matched Sakura's excitement.
Mokona bounced around the room and sang Christmas carols that Fai attempted to sing along to. Sakura and Syaoran laughed merrily while Kurogane sat on a lonely armchair with his head in his hand. Well, until Mokona jumped right into his face and demanded for him to dance with her.
The next day, the group were wrapped up warm in multiple layers, coats, woolly hats, gloves, scarves and thick boots. It was a cold morning that even Kurogane was rubbing his gloves together and breathing on them as if his warm breath would get to his hands through the wool.
No preview for the next chapter (because I haven't started it yet, haha!) but expect one later in the week. Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate your view of this.