Author's Notes: Tsukimineshrine LJ CCS Twelve Prompts of Christmas challenge
This is a story of Sakura and Syaoran's Christmases through the years starting after the CCS storyline ends. This will be based off the manga ending, with a few additions from the anime put in, such as Meilin and the full 52 Card deck.
Disclaimer: I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura.
Day One: Wish—Sakura
Sakura Kinomoto lifted her face to the sky as the snow started to fall, adding to the already white world around her. She had exchanged gifts with her father and brother earlier that evening, so they didn't need her at home and neither had said a negative word when she said that she was going for a walk just before the sun started to set. Well, her brother had frowned disapprovingly and somewhat exasperatedly for a brief moment before making a snide comment about not slipping on the ice, but her father had just given a gentle and understanding smile before telling her to be careful and seeing her out the door.
She was bundled up in her coat and scarf, but still the sun had set almost twenty minutes ago now, so she was freezing. It wasn't like she couldn't fix the problem, seeing as she could always go back home or (as there was no one around) pull out Firey to warm her up. She reached up a hand to play with the chain around her neck that held the miniature Star Wand. No, that wasn't it at all. She just didn't quite fill up to it at that very moment.
It was the first Christmas since Syaoran left.
There wasn't a single day she didn't think about him. They exchanged letters and phone calls as often as they could, and Syaoran was always reassuring her that he was going to come back to her as soon as he could. And usually, that was enough for her. She knew, after all, that she was generally just a cheerful and happy person. She found it rather hard not to find the bright side of things. But sometimes, like today, it was just a little bit harder to be away from him.
Christmas wasn't that big with her family—they usually just exchanged presents and then that was about it. But when she had gone out looking for some last minute things yesterday, she had seen lots of young couples walking around on their own Christmas Eve dates. And she had realized that she could have been doing the same thing if Syaoran had been here.
She lowered her face to find herself standing just outside the penguin park. She began to walk through it, still not really feeling ready to go home yet. She found herself by the swings and sat down on one of them, swinging back and forth just once, before coming to a stop with her hands still wrapped around the chains. Sakura looked at the empty swing beside her and could almost imagine him sitting there beside her. This was where he had comforted her after she had told Yukito her feelings.
Sakura wished she could see him.
Suddenly, she stood up quickly as she realized that she hadn't even gotten a present for him. Earlier in the week, she'd gotten a beautiful Christmas card from Syaoran. This year she'd made cookies as a present for all her friends—and had completely forgotten to get something for Syaoran himself.
She shivered and tugged her scarf closer around her neck and then stared at it as an idea started forming in her head. As fast as she could with her gloves on, she pulled out the phone from Tomoyo that she still carried around with her and dialed Tomoyo's number.
"Hello? Sakura?" Tomoyo answered almost immediately.
"Sorry, Tomoyo," Sakura said. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything with your mother."
"It's fine," Tomoyo said. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Sakura assured her. "I need your help with something. Can I come over tomorrow?"
"Of course," Tomoyo said.
"Thank you!" Sakura exclaimed. Then, she said her farewells and almost skipped home. She would be a little late for Christmas and she might have to stay up late again to finish it, but it would be worth it for him.
