Summary: On Christmas eve, everybody gets together to decorate the Christmas tree. It's just a peaceful day at the greenhouse, where the Guardians of Seiyo Elementary plan to spread good cheer!
A/N: I really, really wanted to do a one-shot for Christmas. It's... quite long and boring, but... Merry Christmas everyone!
Rating: K. Nothing more to say.
Pairings: Hints of Amuto, KairixAmu and Rimahiko... possible hint of one-sided Tadamu if you look at it from a certain angle... and if you really, really wish for it, you might see Kukau or Kukamu. Not pairings-centred.
~*~
Christmas Stars
It was the night of Christmas Eve, reputed to be the most magical night of the year. Six children were gathered around a large Christmas tree, rummaging through several boxes that were filled with many sparkling decorations. The greenhouse that they were in was lit up with several lamps. A blonde twelve-year-old boy with ruby eyes looked at everybody else questioningly.
"How come we're only decorating the tree now?" he asked, implying that he thought they were a bit slow. A small figure wearing a tiny cape and an even tinier crown while floating near his head, nodded.
"A king should not be called out for such a menial task!" he shouted arrogantly, puffing up his small chest.
A short brunette girl pouted at them. "But if you do it too early, it loses its magic!" she whined. A small figure floating above her shoulder nodded knowingly. It was dressed as a baby, complete with dummy.
"That's right~dechu," she agreed, "The tree loses its shine before Christmas."
"Still, it is not befitting for somebody of our status to be putting lights on a tree!" the first floating figure claimed, arms crossed.
"You know, Kiseki," a pink-haired, floating cheerleader whispered conspiringly, "decorating a Christmas tree is a very important thing. Isn't that right, Miki?" she said, nudging her blue counterpart.
"That's right!" she confirmed, catching on. "The most important thing there is."
"R-really?" asked Kiseki, taken aback.
"Of course~desu!" a blonde Chara with green eyes said. "After all, what's Christmas without a Christmas tree?" She made a dramatic pose, her eyes burning. "Where would the presents go~desu? What will the little children play around~desu? How will the families get by without this activity to make them bond~desu? Without the Christmas tree, how will we know it was Christmas~desu?!"
He blinked, thinking about it. Understanding dawned on his face. "So you're saying that the tree is the very basis of all things Christmas?"
"Well, I dunno if that's really..." Miki trailed off when she realised that the prince-Chara and the housewife-Chara were now in their own little world.
"Suu's taken it too far again," said the cheerleader-Chara. They both sighed.
"So, without the decorations that make it a Christmas tree, there will be no Christmas!" declared Suu.
"That must not happen," said Kiseki seriously. "Leave it to me! It falls on y shoulders to save Christmas!"
The children laughed at them before turning to each other.
"Okay; tinsel or lights?" asked a boy with long purple hair.
"Both!" shouted the brunette.
"What colour tinsel?" he asked.
"All of them!"
"What kind of lights?"
"All of them!"
He sweat-dropped and gave her a placating smile. "Yaya, we can't fit it all on the tree..."
"I want to use everything!" she said, throwing her arms in the air and ignoring him. She squealed when another boy sprayed water on her before slinging an arm across her shoulders. "Kukai!" she yelled crossly.
"Yo!" he exclaimed, winking his green eyes. "What're you guys talking about, Fujisaki?"
"What to put on the tree," he explained.
"Hmm..." Kukai looked around thoughtfully before his eyes landed on a certain pink-haired girl. "Hey, Hinamori! Ready for some special training?" he called out. The girl spun around and then smiled nervously.
"Um... I don't think that now is the right time..." she said, backing away. Kukai laughed.
"I was joking," he said. "Actually; what do you think we should use to decorate the tree?"
"Yeah, what do you think would be best, Amu-chan?" asked Nagihiko. Amu scratched the back of her head, looking at all the decorations.
"W-well..."
"I think we should have red tinsel," interrupted Kukai.
"At least let her talk," rebuked Tadase. "After all, you did ask her."
"Flashing, yellow lights," interjected a petite girl with long wavy locks of blonde hair. She had dug a string of them out from one of the boxes. "Let's use these, too," she suggested.
"They're nice," agreed Nagihiko.
Rima turned her back to him. "Actually, I changed my mind. Let's not use these," she said without one iota of embarrassment. Nagihiko shook his head in exasperated tolerance. He was used to it.
"Well, I think they're pretty," said Amu.
"Okay, let's use these," said Rima, once more having a complete flip in opinion.
"And the tinsel," Kukai reminded them, "Red tinsel."
They spent an afternoon arguing over the decorations and hanging them up. Miki supervised the whole process to make sure that every bauble was hung in a tasteful position and that they didn't end up with an overly flashy monstrosity. After they finished, they all took a step back and admired it.
"It's so beautiful," sighed Amu. Ran, however, frowned.
"There's something missing," she said. The other Chara looked at her in alarm before giving the tree a raking inspection.
"You're right~dechu," said Pepe, sucking her dummy in deep thought.
"What could it be?" said Kiseki. "We must figure it out or else... there will be no Christmas!" he exclaimed.
"That's horrible~desu!" gasped Suu as if she weren't the one that got the notion in his head in the first place.
"Calm down; we just need to put a star or angel at the top of the tree," said a green-haired figure cheerfully.
"Daichi!" they shouted. "Where have you been?"
"With Temari and Rhythm. We were getting decorations out of the boxes," he clarified.
Kukai crossed his arms and asked, "Well? Should we put a star or an angel?"
"Both!" said Yaya.
"That's... not possible," Nagihiko said weakly. Temari and Rhythm floated up to him, nodding in agreement. Then Yaya's mobile rang loudly. She answered it cautiously.
"Hello...?" she said slowly into the phone.
"Hello, Yuiki-san, I -"
"Oh my god!" shrieked Yaya happily, jumping up. "It's the class prez!"
"What?" They hurried to gather around Yaya, eager to hear from their friend. When Kukai saw Amu blush in recollection of Kairi's confession, he smirked and wrapped an arm over her shoulders.
"What's with the blush, Hinamori?" he said poking her cheek lightly.
"W-what are you talking about?" she replied in her typical Cool and Spicy fashion. She already knew that she couldn't fool anybody, but that didn't mean she couldn't try, right?
"Yuiki-san, you should -" Kairi tried again.
"Oh! How're you, class prez? Yaya helped put up a big Christmas tree. It's so pretty!" she chatted away, basically taking no notice of his words.
"Look, Yaya -"
"Hey, did you get Yaya's presents yet? We mailed them so Yaya doesn't know when they're gonna get there," she said, pouting at the injustice of the postal system.
"Yes, they were great, but -"
"Ah!" she exclaimed, apparently having thought of something and said in a suggestive tone, "You want to talk to Amu-chi, don't you? Here you go!"
"What? No! Yaya!" protested an obviously mortified Kairi.
"Amu-chi! He wants to talk to you!" she announced, shoving the phone in her beet-red face.
"W-what?" asked Amu desperately. She brought the phone up to her ear with care, keeping in mind that a grinning Kukai was listening intently to her conversation. "Um... Kairi-kun?"
"H-hello, Amu-san," was the nervous reply. It was obvious that he was blushing on the other end of the phone.
"Um... h-how's it going...?" she asked. Kukai let out an exasperatedly amused breath and stole the phone from her.
"Yo! So, should we have an angel or a star?" he said, getting straight to the point.
"I... pardon?"
"For our tree, of course!" he explained, grinning foolishly.
"Um... star, I guess...? But that's not why I called," he hurriedly replied. "You should..." he trailed off and sighed when he heard Kukai yell out to the rest of them that they should put a star up. Why was nobody listening to him?
Nagihiko snatched it away from the older boy. "Um... greetings...?"
"Nagihiko Fujisaki-san! It is an honour and privilege to speak with you once more," he said happily, remembering the first time they met. "I apologise, but there is an urgent matter..."
"Ow! Hey -" Nagihiko exclaimed when Yaya took back her phone. She'd hit him on the head to accomplish that feat.
"So, class prez, what are you doing now?" she asked, waving the others off.
"Well, I'm watching..."
"Oh! You should talk to Tadase! Everybody's missed you so much!" she said, not bothering to give him time to answer the question. There was a pause on the other end as Kairi thought about the fact that Tadase was more likely to listen to him than anyone thus far.
"Alright, put him on."
In the meantime, Kiseki had managed to entangle himself in some of the tinsel. "Let go of me, you commoner! I must save Christmas!" he berated the scarlet decoration.
"You must fight it, Kiseki~desu! Fight~desu!" cheered Suu while idly floating next to him.
"Commoners!" he called out to the other Chara, "I command you to help me!" The others considered it for a moment before going back to what they were doing. Ran and Miki were putting another bauble onto the tree when Ran thought of something.
"I thought that you'd want to help Kiseki, Miki," she said, "since you still have that crush on him."
Miki shrugged. "Eru told me that it's the man's job to woo the girl. Besides, there are other candidates out there..." And thus, the miniature artist went to happy land while daydreaming about those aforesaid other candidates.
"Eru, huh?" Ran shook the thought of the little angel with a very big voice. She could almost hear the shouting now; LOVE!
"I wonder how Utau's doing?" wondered Amu aloud after having overheard her Chara's conversations.
"And Ikuto...?" said Miki sneakily, abruptly having stopped fantasizing. It was always entertaining to watch her face instantly heat up and listen to her stutter furiously.
"W-what? I-I mean, I'm worried about him, but h-he... I mean..." she huffed and folded her arms when her Chara burst into giggles.
Tadase watched her with a rather sad smile, Yaya's phone being held at his ear. "I'm sorry, what did you say, Sanjou-kun?" he asked contritely after turning away. There was a sigh from the other end.
"I said that you should see what's on television right now. Please, just turn it on," he said.
Tadase looked around and said apologetically, "Um... I don't think we have a television here..."
"Oh, but it's very important..."
"Still, I can't magic a television and an outlet -" Tadase protested. He jumped when Yaya spoke loudly very close to his ear.
"Do you need a tv? Yaya brought one!" she announced proudly.
"You... brought a television?" said a disbelieving Tadase. "Why would you... bring a television?"
She stopped to think for a moment. "Uh... well, Yaya's not really sure, but I brought one just in case." Tadase decided not to ask any more questions to the extra hyped-up girl. He knew he shouldn't have given her a candycane.
"A-anyway, just turn on a television," said Kairi.
"But we still don't have an outlet in the greenhouse..."
Yaya clapped him hard on the back. "Don't worry about that, Tadase-kun! Yaya already connected it to one of the outlets in the school building!"
"Tell Yaya that it's against school regulations to..." started Kairi sternly.
"Nikaido-sensei helped!" she said. There was silence on the other side. Tadase blinked but decided to refrain from commenting.
"Turn it on, then," he sighed.
On the other side of the Christmas tree, Nagihiko was sweating under the intense and speculating gaze of Rima Mashiro. He pretended to not notice for a while, merely shifting uncomfortably. When he reached for a cup of tea, Rima's eyes narrowed fractionally. He gave up and turned to her.
"Are you alright, Rima-chan?" he asked at last. She sniffed haughtily and looked away. "I did tell Amu-chan already," he reminded her.
"And?" she said.
"Isn't that why you said you disliked me?" he tried. She didn't answer. "Rima-chan?"
She didn't look at him, sipping at her cup of tea. "Yes, that is what I said."
"Well why are you still so hostile?" he asked.
"Do you really want to know?" she said, giving him a sharp look.
"Um... yes?" he replied.
"It's because you're so nice it's boring," she said honestly. "How can you be so nice to somebody who's so cold to you all the time?" she inquired.
"Well, you're our friend, right?" he explained simply. Rima scowled.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about," she complained. Nagihiko smiled, grabbed something and approached Rima.
Her eyes widened. "W-what...?" Nagihiko pulled something over the top of her head. It was something soft, red and white and in the shape of a cone. A Santa Claus hat. "What is this?" she asked, disgruntled.
"Because it's Christmas," he smiled. "Is that mean enough?"
Rima shook her head sadly. "You just don't get it at all, do you?" she said pityingly. This confused Nagihiko even more.
They looked up at the sound of Kukai's voice. "Hey, look! There's a concert on the television!"
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping on your nose
"And Utau's the one singing!" said Amu gleefully. Ran, Miki, Suu, the now-freed Kiseki, Rhyth and Temari flew down from where they'd just managed to finish putting the star on top of the tree.
"My sister organised for her to sing for a Christmas show. She said it would raise Utau's popularity for certain," explained Kairi over the phone.
Amu smiled contentedly, watching the blonde idol. "Look, she's sparkling."
"Radiant," agreed a yawning Dia. "Shining like a star."
"Where'd you come from, Dia?" chorused the Chara who had been busy with the decorations.
"I was sleeping," she answered serenely, much to the annoyance of the others.
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.
"Hey, isn't that violinist...?" asked Yaya, squinting. Everybody focused on the figure playing that familiar instrument.
"It's Ikuto!" yelled Amu in astonishment. At the winces of everybody's faces, she grinned apologetically and said, "Sorry."
"What's she singing?" asked Nagihiko.
"It's called 'the Christmas Song'," replied Kukai. "My brother sings it every Christmas to torture us. But she's... pretty good," he admitted.
"It's a song for little kids," said Rima, Santa hat still on her head, albeit slightly lopsided.
"Come on, we are little kids!" said Kukai with a carefree smile. She gave him a doubtful look but decided to let it pass.
Everybody knows some turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
"Hey, you said you're in the greenhouse, right?" queried Kairi.
"Yeah?" said Yaya.
"Alright... are there any lights on?"
"Um... yeah," she said.
"Turn them off."
"Even the Christmas tree's light's?" she gasped. There was a pause on the other side.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.
"You can keep the tree's lights on," he said.
"Alright!" she said triumphantly before going to turn off the other lights. When she was done, she sat back down with the others. "Done!" she said happily. The only unnatural light now came from the tree and the television.
"Then look up," he ordered.
"He says to look up," said Yaya, relaying the order.
They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
They looked up, the soft Christmas song floating around them and the tree sparkling next to them. They saw past the glass ceiling into a night sky lit with thousands of shimmering stars, only partly obstructed by small puffs of clouds.
"They're stars," commented Rima, obviously unimpressed.
"They're beautiful," breathed Amu.
And every mother's child is going to spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.
"Yes, the stars are shining brightly tonight," said Dia. "More than anything else they are the embodiment of the dreams, wishes, hopes and goals of people. They are so distant yet so brilliant, numerous and seemingly eternal."
"They're stars," Rima repeated.
"They're symbols," refuted Kairi. "... Or so I've heard."
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
They stayed silent, listening to Utau's slow singing and the familiar sound of the violin in the background - a violin that no longer sounded sorrowful, but at peace. In a way, everybody was together in that greenhouse. They were there for Christmas, even though there were miles separating them in reality. A phone and a television brought them all closer. The wonders of modern technology.
"Merry Christmas, everyone," said Tadase softly.
"Merry Christmas," they echoed.
"Merry Christmas."
"And a happy new year!" added Amu.
Although it's been said many times, many ways
A very Merry Christmas to you.
~*~
A/N: And a Happy New Year! All the best! Good luck! And all the other usual stuff and trimmings. Everybody who manages to read this to the end gets a giant virtual cookie or other confectionary of their choice. Cheers, everyone.