A/N: ZareEraz here! This is a little short of our favorite duo that I cooked up just in time for Christmas! Consider it a gift for the holidays. Hope you like it! :3 Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cake

Watanuki was spending Christmas Eve alone in her apartment. She wasn't Christian, but it was lonely to spend the holidays all by herself, and she was moping on her futon as the stars winked on in the night sky. There was a little pile of gifts from close friends at school piled in the corner. One in green wrapping from Wari and a couple others from his friends, some of her own girlfriends had given her sweets, Yuko even sent her a red wrapped gift that the seer was hesitant to open for fear of what lay inside, Maru and Moro both drew her pictures and Mokona said it had a gift for her, but it had eaten whatever it was. Doumeki hadn't given her a gift even though she gave him chocolates and a new pair of gloves for archery practice since his old ones were near shreds. The girl stared at her pile of gifts and then sighed, flopping from her stomach to her back. She was all alone because Doumeki was going to a family party and Yuko was taking a trip with Mokona to some other world, visiting old friends or something like that. That meant the shop was closed. That meant that Watanuki didn't have to work. That meant a lot of time to fill with nothing to fill it with. She sighed again and flopped back from back to stomach.

The girl was bundled up in her warmest sweater, lounging pants and fuzzy socks and she was still cold. It had snowed earlier in the week, but that snow was all gray and dirty from all the feet running through it and cars tossing slush into the whiteness. It was cold enough to snow, but the clouds wouldn't dump so no new snow. Watanuki moaned with boredom, already having read all the manga she owned and done all her homework for the break. She didn't realize just how much time working in the shop took up until suddenly she didn't have to work. She half wished Yuko would call her, saying that she'd returned early, but then decided against that because she'd end up with way to much work.

Watanuki got off her futon when her stomach gave a disgruntled growl and went to heat up some leftovers from lunch. Cooking for one wasn't much fun either when she'd cook for one person who could eat enough for five. That tacked on with one archer who ate just as much (if not more) that Yuko. Sitting down, the girl ate her dinner with a depressed cloud hanging over her head and slugged her way back into the kitchen when she was done, cleaning her dishes lethargically. Then she sloughed to her futon and collapsed to reread the first volume of her favorite manga. Two hous later and five volumes later, the girl was ready to kill herself before the boredom did her in. I almost wish Doumeki was here to irritate me! Thankfully, there was a knock at the door. The raven looked up from her bed, one eyebrow raised in confusion.

"There shouldn't be anyone knocking at this hour." She stated, checking the clock. It was already nine at night. Dragging herself to the door, the girl opened it, not expecting her visitor. To her surprise, the man she'd just been thinking about was standing in her doorway. Doumeki was bundled up in his winter coat, his warm breath puffing out clouds in the chilly winter air. He was holding two bags, one in each arm, and had the same look on his face that her always did: the perfect imitation of stone.

"What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" It was a pointed question, interest and boredom masked by slight irritation. So basically the same tone she always used when addressing her boyfriend.

"You're alone." He said it like he hadn't known she was going to be alone.

"Yes, I told you that yesterday. Didn't you have a party to go to?" Watanuki asked again, holding a polite-ish conversation like it was normal for her to shiver in her doorway. The brunette held up his two bags like they were the answer.

"I snuck away. Can I come in? It's cold."

"I'm glad you know it's cold, genius." Watanuki snapped, letting her boyfriend in. She was still slightly peeved that he'd left her alone for most of the day, but let him in all the same.

"You were shivering." Doumeki said as he took off his boots and coat, leaving his bags on the floor. Watanuki's eyes widened, a light blush dusting her cheeks. She was embarrassed that he'd noticed, she was trying to play it cool.

"What's in the bags?" She asked, deflecting his comment. The archer pulled his sweater sleeves down over the heels of his hands before opening the first bag. Inside there were ingredients for cake. Watanuki popped her hip out, put her hands on them and cocked and eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Seriously? You came all the way here so that I could cook for you."

"I'll help." He offered, putting the bag on the kitchen table. Watanuki had already decided she was going to cook because he'd come all this way, but she kept up the cold shoulder. Doumeki was taking out the ingredients but she slapped his hands away.

"If you 'help,'" Her fingers made air quotes by her face, "you'll eat half the frosting before I'm finished." She grabbed her apron and pulled her hair back into a low pony tail as she went to wash her hands. His hands were suddenly in the stream with hers and the girl looked up at her much taller classmate.

"I promise to only eat a little." He said as he washed his hands with her.

"I'll hold you to that, and if you don't…no cake." He nodded and they got to work.

Watanuki had Doumeki pour sugar into her mixing bowl while she broke the eggs in the same bowl and then whisked them together, sending Doumeki to preheat her over and butter the cake pan he'd pulled from the cupboard. She placed the mixing bowl into a larger one filled with hot water and continued whisking, asking her boyfriend to bring her baking powder and flour. She sifted those together and added them to the bowl. Doumeki melted the butter and poured it into the bowl as well while Watanuki kept mixing. They both had to hold the bowl as they poured it into the buttered pan and slipped it into the oven to bake. Cleaning while she went, Watanuki rinsed out her mixing bowl to make the whip icing. The cook mixed Doumeki's heavy cream with some more sugar and whipped the icing into a light fluff, ordering the archer to wash and cut the tops off the strawberries her brought. She went back to cleaning once the frosting was done and turned around once to catch Doumeki's finger in the frosting bowl.

"Hey!" The finger disappeared behind slightly smiling lips and Watanuki gave him a disapproving eye. She kept the frosting bowl close to her while the cake baked. Once out, they both iced the cake, tossing globs of extra at each other's faces and laughing at the result. Well, Watanuki laughed. Doumeki just smiled. The strawberries were placed around the edges of the round cake as perfectly as possible and Watanuki clapped her hands together in satisfaction once she was done. "That's a pretty good looking cake if I've ever seen one!"

"Nice." Doumeki's finger reached out to swiped the cake and the raven smacked it away for a second time.

"So…what's in the other bag?" The seer looked around her boyfriend to the bag that was still on the floor.

"Goh ook." Came the reply. Watanuki's head snapped back to her boyfriend. In the five seconds she'd looked away, Doumeki had cut himself a piece of cake and half of it was in his mouth.

"Hey! Don't eat without me! I'm the one who made the majority of this cake!" She blew up at him, waving her fists in the air.

"I brought everything." He pointed out.

"Shut up!" Watanuki cut the cake with a vengeance and shoved a bite in her mouth. She chewed moodily until Doumeki reached out his thumb and wiped a bit of frosting from the corner of her mouth and licked it off his finger. She blushed again and went back to eating her cake. Doumeki grabbed the other bag and showed her what was inside, while eating a second piece of cake. Inside the bag were the next three volumes of the manga the seer was currently reading, Watanuki's wrapped gift to him and a wrapped gift that was clearly for the girl.

"Doumeki…you didn't have to." Watanuki was touched and set down her cake to hug her boyfriend.

"I know." He rested his chin on her head, hugging her back with the arm that was holding his cake. Then he set cake down the reached around the girl to pull something out of the bag she hadn't seen. "Look." Watanuki looked up and blushed at the mistletoe that he was holding above their heads.

"Cheap shot." She whispered, leaning on her tip toes to reach his lips. He leaned down, dropping the plant and wrapping his arms around her back. The kiss was light, soft and tinted with the sugar of the cake they'd been eating. It was sweet, literally. When they broke apart for air, the couple just held each other until Doumeki turned Watanuki to look out the window. The girl squinted to see what he was pointing too and gasped as she realized what it was. Snow! The soft, white flakes were gently drifting down to the ground, covering the old snow in a blanket of white. The couple grabbed another piece of cake each, flipped the lights off and bundled up in blankets next to each other on the futon to watch the snow fall out of Watanuki's balcony window. The seer leaned on the archer's shoulder, and his arm was around her, the other skillfully eating cake that was balanced on his knee. Silence ensued and Watanuki had to say the words that were bubbling inside her since Doumeki had shown up at her door.

"Thank you for coming." They were heavy words, soft and holding all the loneliness she'd felt before he'd come in her door. He nodded in response, no words needed. They exchanged gifts hours later when all the cake was gone and all the manga was read and Doumeki was pleased with his gloves (the chocolates were long gone). Watanuki squealed at the new set of knives he'd gotten her, throwing her arms around him and kissed him in delight. The archer was pleased with that as well. A pecking sound interrupted the kiss and both of looked at the balcony. A bird was tapping at the glass, a letter clutched in its beak.

"What in the world..?" Watanuki crawled over to the window and cracked it open. The bird shook itself off before entering the room and dropping the letter on the floor. It chirped once and then hopped right back out into the snowfall then flew away. "Well, at least it was well behaved." Watanuki said after it was gone. She was used to strange things and had seen stranger things that a bird dropping off a letter addressed to her in a very familiar handwriting.

"Who is it from?" Doumeki asked as Watanuki crawled back under the blankets and into his arms. They sat together and looked at the letter. It was from Yuko. Watanuki opened it with a shrug.

Dear Watanuki,

I hope you're having fun with Doumeki this Christmas-

Watanuki looked around the room, half-expecting the witch to be spying on them. Finding no one, the raven went back to the letter.

No I am not spying on you-

"Damn that Yuko!" Watanuki hissed.

Don't swear Watanuki, it's not becoming of a young lady.

This time the girl just ignored the jab and continued reading.

A friend owed me a favor so I had him deliver this letter to you so you wouldn't feel so alone this Christmas, but I see that Doumeki already has that covered. Have a nice break and a Merry Christmas! Don't have too much fun with your boyfriend without me!

Yuko

"She's strange." Doumeki shrugged.

"Yeah, Yuko's a wacko.

P.S. I am not a wacko Watanuki.

"Yuko!" Watanuki growled, throwing the letter before it started calling her a moron and ordering her around for sake. Suddenly Watanuki was tipping sideways, pulled by Doumeki who was lying down. "What are you doing?" She asked, being pulled closer to her boyfriend.

"I'm tired." He said, throwing the covers and the extra blanket over them.

"Fine. I'm tired too." The girl agreed, yawning. She snuggled into the huge warmth next to her and gave one last peek to the falling snow before falling asleep.

"Merry Christmas, Kimihiro. I love you."

"Love you too, Shizuka. Merry Christmas."

A/N: There you go! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Don't forget to comment! (You can count those as your gifts to me! teehee!)