Author's Note: This is a simple story that I decided to write to see if I could write a decent fan fiction about this awesome story. It was originally intended to be a one-shot, but I decided to make it a bit longer as I developed the plot. This is completely based off of the anime and has no relation to the manga, taking place after the OVA special. But it does have some slight inspiration from the movie. Hope you enjoy and feel free to critique me on this. I may just be convinced to write a longer story. ;)

Chapter 1

Mei Tachibana went by many names in high school, and all of them not very nice. Weirdo, loner, loser, some even worse. She never had any friends, which was the prime reason for the name calling in the first place. But it never bothered her. She believed that friendships didn't matter because everyone would stab you in the back eventually, no matter how close you were to them. But all that changed with her chance encounter with Yamato Kurosawa, the most popular boy at Toumei High School, when she accidentally kicked him. After clearing the air with her, Yamato took the chance to help her realize that not everyone was as cold-hearted as the so-called friends of her childhood.

Since that encounter, her life had drastically changed for the better. Within a year, she went from being a complete anti-social wallflower to having a loving boyfriend in the form of Yamato himself, and a small group of six friends that she could rely and count on no matter what. Mei honestly couldn't have been happier with her new life. She never could have believed that roundhouse kicking someone accidentally could have caused so much to change, not only for her, but for everyone around her too. But despite everything good that had happened to her, she still dealt with depression at times, especially now.

Tuesday, December 10

It was a cold, mid-December day and final exams were just beginning to take place for the second semester of the year at Toumei High. Sitting in her homeroom, surrounded by her friends, Mei sat quietly at her desk, her hands folded in her lap and her shoulders slouched forward. Her light brown hair fell in front of her eyes, making it hard for someone to see her exact facial expressions unless they were looking directly at her.

Sitting on the desk across from hers, Asami Oikawa was droning on about the upcoming exams. "Next week is gonna be the worst week of my life," the redhead sarcastically remarked.

"How can it be the worst when you've got me in your life?" her boyfriend, Kenji Nakashi, jokingly said.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," she agreed. "Besides, we do get all that 'free time' to study together." She added a subtle, yet suggestive wink directed towards Kenji, who laughed before leaning into her with a warm embrace and a quick peck on the lips.

"Ugh. Get a room you two," Aiko Mutō commented. Although the idea of openly showing romantic emotions in public somewhat disgusted her, she still had to smile at the cute couple. They were quite the pair. Her own boyfriend, Masashi Tachikawa, came up behind her, giving her a sudden hug across her ample chest which quickly turned into him practically draping himself over her shoulders.

"Oh come on Aiko, I know that you'd love to spend some private study time with me too," he said, emphasizing "private". She quickly responded with a gentle but firm elbow jab to Masashi's rib cage, causing him to stumble back a bit. Even though she loved him, and did in fact like the idea of having some private time with him, she was still annoyed at how much he tried to lay on the not-so-subtle hints, especially in public.

"Lay off it, jerk," she said brushing her hair back. Everyone else just laughed. Masashi reluctantly submitted but still chuckled along with everyone else.

"At least we have Christmas to look forward to after exams," Yamato commented. "That's got to at least count for something."

Asami practically jumped through the ceiling squealing with excitement. "CHRISTMAS! That's my favorite time of the year! Oh, that reminds me; I wanted to ask you all if you wanted to go Christmas shopping with me this weekend. It'll be super fun!"

"That sounds like an idea," Aiko replied. "Just try not to eat the vendors out of business like you did at the summer festival!"

Asami blushed at the reminder of that night. Not one of her prouder moments. She had eaten too much food and ended up getting sick, which had pretty much ended that day's activities as a group. "Oh come on Aiko-chan," she countered, "It wasn't that bad. And I promise I won't eat that much this time."

"If you say so," she replied with a slight smile.

"Christmas shopping actually does sound like fun," Kai Takemura commented. "I actually haven't been Christmas shopping since I was a kid."

"So it's settled then. This Saturday we'll all go," Asami proudly announced.

"I'm all for it," Kenji replied. The others agreed too. All except Mei, who remained still and uninvolved in the conversation taking place around her. Kai noticed this and decided it was time to get her involved in the planning.

"What about you Senpai, you up to going?" Mei didn't reply. She didn't even move. She just sat silently, only her head bowing a little bit more than it had before. "Mei?" Kai called. Still, there was no response.

Suddenly, all the attention was on her. Something was definitely wrong. And her silence was Yamato's cue. "Mei. What's wrong?" he asked, moving towards her.

Mei sat a few more seconds in silence. She wanted to respond and tell Yamato what was going on, but she just couldn't bring herself to say it. Not here, not now. It was the feeling of Yamato's hand on her back that snapped her out of her trance. She felt her chocolate brown eyes get a little bit misty but she fought the tears back. "Nothing really," she replied softly. "I'm okay."

Yamato could tell that there was definitely more to it than she was letting on, but decided to let it go. "Okay," was all he said before pulling her close to him in a warm hug, letting her head rest on his chest.

After a minute, Mei stood up. "Excuse me, I… I need to use the restroom." She walked out of the room and down the hall, the rest of the group watching her leave.

Aiko was the first to say anything. "Yamato, did something happen between the two of you recently?"

"No, nothing at all. Things were just fine until yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?" Kai asked.

"Well, we were walking home from school and decided to take a new route home. We ended up passing the hospital and, all of a sudden she started acting differently. I don't know what happened."

"Differently how?" Aiko asked.

"Well, she just kind of stopped talking. She had stopped and stared at the hospital for a second before we kept going, but we moved at a slower pace than we were before. And then, when we got to her house, she didn't really say anything. She just gave me a hug, said goodbye and walked inside."

"Considering that her birthday's coming up, you'd think she'd be a bit happier," Asami commented.

"That's true. And her birthday's Christmas Day," Yamato said.

"Well, I'm going to check on her," Aiko said, getting up and heading in the direction Mei went.

The women's restroom was virtually empty, with no sign of Mei in there. Aiko started to think that maybe she went somewhere else when she heard some sniffling coming from one of the stalls. She walked up to the one stall that was closed and knocked on the door. "Mei? You in there?" she asked calmly.

"Y-Yes," came a weak reply. She heard the door latch release and Aiko opened the door. Sitting on the lid of the toilet was a crying Mei. Aiko knelt down and brought the girl in for a hug. Mei cried on her shoulder for a few moments before pulling back.

"What's wrong?" Aiko asked, wiping a tear off of Mei's cheek. Mei didn't want to say anything. She just wanted to go home and be left alone. But she knew that she could trust Aiko. And she did need to work more on trusting people.

"It's about Christmas," she finally said. Summoning all the strength in her willpower, Mei took a deep breath and began to explain everything.

Back in the classroom, Yamato was getting impatient as it was taking them a while to get back. He was just about to pull out his phone to text Aiko and ask where they were when she reappeared in the classroom. "Where's Mei?" he asked when he noticed that she wasn't with her.

"She went home," came the reply.

"What? Why?"

"She asked me not to say, for now. But I will say that everything makes sense now. Also, we all need to be there for her in the coming days. Apparently this is a rough time of the year for her. But for right now, she just needs to be alone."

Yamato's expression clearly said that he wasn't satisfied, but Aiko cut him off before he said anything. "It has nothing to do with you, Yamato. She told me to tell you not to worry. She'll be all right, but I highly recommend going over to her house after school."

Even if he wasn't 100% satisfied with the answer, he gave an affirmative nod.

Mei unlocked the apartment door and slowly walked inside. She was so zoned out that she didn't even notice that the key had no resistance when she turned it. She shut the door behind her and proceeded to take her boots and coat off. She was a little startled when she heard her mother's voice asking who was there. Mei knew she was home early from school, but her mother was supposed to be at work all day and wasn't expecting her to be home.

"It's me mom." She replied. "I-I came home from school early."

Her mom immediately walked into the entrance way. She didn't necessarily run a strict household since it was just her and Mei, but she did try to ensure that she was punctual in everything she did. And Mei being home from school extremely early was definitely unusual. But, then again, she had no place to talk because she herself had called into work for the day.

Looking at her daughter, it only took a second for Mrs. Tachibana to know exactly why she was home. She moved forward and knelt down in front of her daughter, taking her hands into her own. She held them for a few minutes before Mei leaned forward suddenly, wrapping her arms around her mother. "Oh mom," said as the tears began to flow. Her mom returned the embrace and rubbed her back, while fighting with tears of her own.

"I miss him so much."