Matchmaking and Mistletoe

Couplings: S+S; some ExK; and a bit of shonen-ai (TxY) not much though

Written by Pinkangelsakura

~A.N. I recommend that you might want to have watched the second movie before you read this fic because there are some references made to the movie, but if you haven't, it's ok; those references aren't major to the plot so you can still follow the story line w/out having seen the movie.

Sakura walked up to the giant mansion. Already, she could hear soft music drifting out of the room. A small smile formed on her lips. 'Tomoyo certainly knows how to throw a party.'

Sakura reached up and rang the doorbell. In less than a second, Tomoyo opened the door. "Sakura-chan! Merry Christmas! I'm so glad you could make it. Come in. Everyone else is already inside."

"Oh no! Am I late?" Sakura asked, horrified.

Tomoyo shook her head and said, "No, you're on time. Everyone else was just early."

"Oh…" Sakura felt a little better.

"Come on. Everyone is here. Let's have some fun!"

Sakura tentatively stepped into the house and saw all of the Christmas decorations up on the walls. She began to walk down the hallway when Tomoyo spoke up.

"Sakura, there is a rule here that everyone must obey. I've decided to impose a gaijin tradition in our celebration this year: mistletoe. If you are caught under the mistletoe, there must be a kiss or else…ohoho!"

Sakura froze. Uh-oh… When Tomoyo has a rule, you've got to do what she says or else something unexpected can happen… I hope I don't catch Yamazaki-kun under the mistletoe. He will probably give some outrageous explanation to the tradition of mistletoe. Oh that will be horrible…

Sakura decide only to do one thing. Avoid mistletoe AT ALL COST! That seemed easy enough.

Then Sakura enter the main room and gasped. There were lights everywhere, making the whole room seem like it was glowing.

"Its nice isn't it?" Tomoyo asked at her side. "Meiling-chan helped decorate it. She was very excited with idea of decorating such a large room for Christmas."

"Yes…" Sakura said, still awe-struck with the flashing lights and the large tree situated in the center of the room. She could barely make out the angel at the top…Wait…that looked like…it couldn't be…

"Kero-chan!?!?"

She heard Tomoyo giggling at her side. "I had it specially made for this occasion. I was thinking of making the angel into something that looked like you but I decided to make you into ornaments instead!"

"Hoe?" Sakura took another glimpse at the tree, only too find numerous ornaments that looked like her in her different costumes, as well as one that looked like Yue, Spinel Sun, Ruby Moon, Eriol, and Meiling. She even noticed one that looked like Chihiro strangling Yamazaki, Rika with Terada-sensei, though Sakura wasn't sure why they were put together, and Naoko holding a stack of books. The star at the top of the tree was Kero carrying a mini replica of her wand. Too top it off, there were ornaments that looked exactly like every single one of the Sakura Cards.

"Tomoyo..." Sakura asked, "Are there all 52 Sakura Cards?"

"No," Tomoyo giggled, "there are all 55."

"Eh?!"

"I made one for Void, Love, and Hope."

"Hoee!?"

Sakura turned to look in her friend in surprise, only to find her face to face with a camera lense.

"HOEEE!!!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Sakura in surprise.

"Ohohoho! Sakura-chan! You must let me record this Christmas! It is the first Christmas that all of us have spent together so I must capture this moment when you are so happy with all your friends!"

"To…Tomoyo-chan…didn't we spend last Christmas together?" Sakura could feel the sweatdrop traveling down the back of her head.

"No! Meiling-chan was in Hong Kong last year! But this year she is here, so it's ok!"

"Sou…ka…"

Meiling, across the room, leaned in and whispered to her cousin, "I think Daidouji just wants another excuse to videotape Kinomoto…"

"Aa…" is the only reply she got, for her cousin was too busy watching the two girls in question (actually he was only interested in watching the girl with auburn hair), rather than really listening to his cousin.

Tomoyo suddenly latched onto Sakura's hand, eliciting another cry from her third cousin. "Come Sakura-chan! I have something very special to give you!"

"De…Demo! I thought we were having gift exchanges later!"

"But this is not for the gift exchange! This is a special present that you must open now. But first of all, you must go and greet everyone!"

Tomoyo dragged her around to everyone and Sakura enthusiastically spoke with all her school friends, that is until they reached Yamazaki. Then Sakura watched Chihiro strangle her boyfriend when he attempted to tell Sakura about the origins of Christmas and the mistletoe tradition, and something about how they used to tie a large branch of mistletoe and have couples kiss under it, but after squishing a large number of them because of snapping strings, a sprig of mistletoe was decided upon and came into common use.

Tomoyo then dragged her over to meet Nakuru, who had Suppi and Kero sleeping in her purse after she overfed them earlier that day when Kero had come to challenge Suppi to a racing game, and Eriol and Kaho, who seem to be a bit more concerned with each other and the mistletoes two inches to their right.

Sakura eyed her old friend and teacher curiously as Eriol kept nudging his girlfriend and shifting his eyes to the green and red plant slightly above their heads and Kaho kept shaking her head and occasionally swatting Eriol on the head.

Sakura became even more perplexed when Kaho gently hissed at her koibito, "No! I have already given you many kisses" and when Eriol responded with a dramatic reply that seemed to come out a Shakespearean tragedy: "But it is not enough to satiate my yearning for you!"

"Hoe?" was all Sakura could say as she watched the exchange in front of her. She could hear Tomoyo giggling softly beside her again. Sakura could not understand what was so funny.

Her short inquiry was all that was need to draw Eriol's attention.

"Ah! Sakura-san! How are you? I hope you have had a good Christmas so far! It has been a long time since we have seen each other!" Eriol lowered his voice slightly, as well as changing it from the boyish tone of Hiiragizawa Eriol to Clow Reed. "I heard from Keroberus earlier today on your heroics while capturing Void. I am glad that you have successfully turned her into a Sakura Card and figured out what I meant by using your one true feeling to seal her. Using the Love Card was what Clow had intended but before I could fully explain it to you, she had cut me off. But everything had turned well, so everything is ok."

"Hoe? You mean that you knew that I needed to use the Love card to seal her? But I thought you had meant when you said to sacrifice my true feelings would mean that I would never love again! I was so worried!"

"Eriol!" Nakuru said as she bounced over. "I told you that you were to complicated when you talk. Everyone misses understands you all the time!"

Nakuru then shifted her attention to the auburn girl that she had yet to greet. With a squeal, Nakuru glomped Sakura soundly.

"Hoeee!!"

After Sakura extracted herself from Nakuru's grasp, she chatted briefly with her friends from England before Tomoyo dragged her over to greet the last of her guest.

"Meiling-chan and Li-kun arrived yesterday and will be staying with me for two weeks," Tomoyo explained while en route. "Li-kun has not been getting along with Hiiragizawa-kun ever since he arrived."

"Yes," Meiling agreed as the two girls approached the Chinese pair, "It seems that Syaoran has no humor. All Hiiragizawa was doing was playing a few harmless pranks on him, but it seems that Syaoran didn't even noticed that they were all fun and games. He always squawked and yelled."

"He dumped ice water on me Meiling! While I was in the snow too!" Syaoran countered. "Then he took out a hair dryer, set it to cool, and tried to freeze me into an ice cube! That is not a harmless prank!!"

"Pff," Meiling shrugged off the comment with a wave of her hand, "like I said, no sense of humor. What do you think Kinomoto?"

Meiling ended her comment with a wink in Sakura's direction.

Sakura could feel blood rush to her face. She lowered her head as a slight blush crept up in her cheeks. "A-ano…that did not seem like a nice thing from Eriol-kun to do," she stuttered.

Meiling gave her a sly smile. "But you cannot say that it would not have been entertaining to watch, ne?"

Sakura giggled. She could not disagree with that.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo said from behind her ever-present video camera, "I videotaped it so you can watch it later!"

Syaoran squawked at her comment. "Na….Nani!?!"

Meiling eyed Tomoyo with interest. "You did? Give me a copy later ok?" She paused to see Tomoyo nod her head in agreement, then continued, an evil glint creeping into her eyes, "Ah! Daidouji, remember that thing her have to do! It is very important that we do it as soon as possible. Kinomoto, Syaoran, we'll leave you reacquaint yourselves."

Tomoyo allowed herself to be pulled away, albeit she was a bit hesitant, but decided that the footage she could capture from a distance would be better. "Ohohohoho," she chuckled quietly as she and Meiling found a hiding spot that allowed them to spy on their prey properly.

Sakura and Syaoran stood numbly after their companions abandoned then. Both eyed the other with a slight blush staining their cheeks.

"Ano…"

"How…"

Both had attempted to speak at the same time, and ended at the same time, leaving them in silence once again.

"Ah…you first Sakura," Syaoran offered.

"Eh! Ah! Ano…how are you?" Sakura asked as she averted her gaze from Syaoran slightly, red still staining her cheeks.

Syaoran moved his head to the opposite side that Sakura was facing, a blush evident on his face as well. "Me? I'm fine."

"Is it break time for you?"

"Hai, for you as well?"

"Yes"

Their conversation had ended stale, allowing silence to capture their words.

"Ahaha…" Sakura said, in hopes of revitalizing conversation between the two of them. Who knew talking to your boyfriend after not seeing him for 3 months would leave you in such an awkward position.

"Ano…is it me, or does Tomoyo-chan seem to be laughing a lot today."

Syaoran eyed the pillar where he saw the glint of a camera lenses a few minutes ago. "I think her and Meiling have been plotting something."

"Eeto…do you have any clue what they are plotting?"

"None."

"Oh."

Silence seemed to be attracted to the pair for it never seemed to leave them alone.

"Er," Syaoran began after growing tired of the awkwardness between him and Sakura, "but I think it has something to do with us."

"Mou," Meiling said, "why aren't they talking! They're so stubborn!"

"But Sakura-chan certainly looks cute!"

"Dai…Daidouji…Is that all you care about?"

Meiling stared as she watched her companion fall into the starry eye mode and clasp her hands together as she began.

"It is my life purpose to see that Sakura-chan is always happy! I must be there to capture every moment! Ohohohohohoho!"

Meiling sweatdropped but after she shook herself out of her shock, she asked, "Should we try and break the ice between those two? You know…" Meiling jerked her head in Sakura and Syaoran's direction and Tomoyo's eyes lit up knowingly.

"Yes we should!" Tomoyo clasped onto Meiling's hand and bounced off to retrieve their secret matchmaking weapon.

Syaoran eyed Tomoyo and Meiling suspiciously as they literally bounced up to them.

"Kinomoto! Syaoran! Daidouji and I have something special to give you!"

"That's what I was afraid of," Syaoran muttered.

Meiling latched onto Syaoran's arm and Tomoyo onto Sakura and then dragged them in front of the Christmas tree. Sakura and Syaoran watched as Tomoyo disappeared underneath the tree.

"What's going on?" Syaoran asked, eyeing Meiling in suspicion. Meiling only grinned at her cousin.

Sakura and Syaoran both yelped in surprise when Tomoyo suddenly popped up out from underneath the tree with two boxes which she pushed in their faces.

"Haaiiiii!!!!" Tomoyo said, placing a box in each of their hands. "Open it! No wait! Let me get my camera!"

A split second later, Tomoyo pulled her digital camcorder out from thin air. "Now you can open it! This is a special gift, specially made for you! It's from Meiling and me!"

Syaoran only stared at the box, afraid to discover what lay within.

"Ano…Tomoyo-chan…aren't gift exchanges later?" Sakura asked while a sweat drop traveled down the back of her head.

"I told you already Sakura-chan," Tomoyo exclaimed as she focused the camera, inching the lens closer to Sakura's face, "This isn't for the gift exchange. It's something special just for you and Li-kun."

"Mou!" Meiling exclaimed, "open it already! We'll be standing here until next year at the rate you're going! Syaoran! Open it or else!" Meiling said as she threatened her cousin with a fist in his face.

"Sakura-chan! Please open it!" Tomoyo said as she abandoned her camera for a second to make a plea to her third cousin. "If you don't, I'll be so hurt," she said, emphasizing her point by a sudden change of lighting and atmosphere in her little personal bubble and collapsing on the floor in a desolate position, weeping softly as she basked in her own remorse and wonderful acting.

"A…To…Tomoyo-chan…please don't cry. I'll open it!" Sakura said, starring at her friend on the floor.

"Okay! Please do so now!" Tomoyo, the human rubber band, said as she bounced up off the floor and up in front Sakura's face, with her camera in her hands, recording every expression of shock that crossed Sakura's face.

While Sakura and Tomoyo practiced drama on and off the floor (or rather that was Tomoyo), the two Chinese cousins had their own little exchange, or to be more precise, a staring match to end all staring matches.

Open it…open it…open it…open it already! Open it…can you read my mind Syaoran? Open the stupid gift already! How am Daidouji and I supposed to put you and Kinomoto together if you don't cooperate! Mou! Baka!! Sor gwa!!!! (1) Meiling glared at her stubborn cousin who seemed to be unreceptive to psychic messages.

What?! Why does she keep looking at me like that? Meiling, what did you stick in this box? Is it some gift that will pop up at me when I open it? Or will it release some spray that will make me smell funny? What's Sakura talking to Daidouji about? And why is Daidouji on the floor? No…can't get sidetracked…wait…Is there some stupid potion that you put in here that Hiiragizawa made? What is it going to do to me? I'm not falling for your tricks this time Meiling. Nope not at all. I'm not that dumb. Note to self:  make sure not to open this gift except with the utmost caution. Syaoran stared at his cousin with a scowl on his face, his eyebrows so close together that they rivaled Meiling's eyebrow distance while she glared.

Syaoran, after some time, began to feel the pain and stress he placed on his face because of all the scowling and glaring he was doing, so in order to rest his face, he turned to watch the end of his koibito and her best friend's performance. From the way it looked, Sakura seemed to have capitulated and was beginning to open her present. When Tomoyo felt Syaoran's eyes on her, she turned and said, "You open yours too! It'll have a better effect if both of you open them together, since the gifts are a pair."

Syaoran sighed and surrendered like Sakura had done seconds earlier. He rotated the box in his hand and shook it slightly and listened intently to the rattling coming from inside. The box was too small to hold clothing, so he could relax knowing that it wouldn't be another costume for him to dress up in.

Sakura and Syaoran opened their gifts silently side by side, not noticing that Eriol and his group had somehow, through some form of osmosis and diffusion, made their way over to where they were standing. Syaoran, with all his sharp observation skills, failed to notice neither the scheming look Eriol gave Tomoyo and Meiling nor the couple who had just arrived and was watching him and Sakura intently.

"Hoe…" Sakura said, her eyes spinning, as she opened the box to see what was inside.

"Nan…Nande?! What is this Daidouji!!" Syaoran exclaim.

(~AN…ooh…what's in the box? Something naughty? Something nice? A lump of coal?)

"Ohohohoho, aren't they cute?" Tomoyo asked from behind her camera lens while Meiling nodded in agreement.

Sakura and Syaoran both lifted their gifts out of their respective boxes, stared at their own gift, then stared at each other's gift, before staring at their gift once again.

Dangling in the air from their fingers was an ornament. (~AN Betcha didn't expect that!)

Tomoyo had spent much time planning these gifts, so these were no ordinary ornaments. They were one of a kind ornaments that Tomoyo had ordered specially for this Christmas.

Sakura starred at her ornament. "To…Tomoyo-chan…this ornament is shaped like…"

Tomoyo giggled. "Yes! I had them specially made in the shape of you and Li-kun!"

The ornaments were hand painted and carved out of wood in the shape of Sakura and Syaoran. Sakura's ornament was like a freeze frame for last year's Nadeshiko festival, because in her ornament, she was in her princess dress, and she and her Prince Syaoran were frozen in mid-waltz.

Syaoran's ornament, on the other hand, was also a memory from the last time he returned to Japan during the Nadeshiko festival. In this wooden memory, he was dressed in the green outfit and Sakura in her pink costume that Tomoyo forced them to wear when they faced Void. This frozen memory was similar to their stance after Sakura had made her rash jump into his arms because she was too impatient for the stairs to return. How Daidouji managed to visualize this picture was beyond him. She wasn't even their when it happened.

"Well?" Eriol asked, snapping Sakura and Syaoran out of their dazed states. "Aren't you going to hand them up on the tree?"

"Yes, yes! You must do that!" Meiling stated while she sent a fleeting glimpse to the ceiling. Had Syaoran not been internally cursing Tomoyo for making such embarrassing ornaments, he would have noticed his cousin's movements, but unfortunately, he didn't.

Sakura sent Syaoran a chagrin look and he sighed in capitulation. Simultaneously, they both stepped forward and hung the ornaments next to each other.

As they made movements to return to their former places, Meiling cried out, "Not so fast! Don't forget the rule!"

"Eh? Rule?" Sakura and Syaoran inquired at the same time.

"Look up," Eriol said, with a wide grin on his face.

"Na…nani?"

Sakura and Syaoran both glance up and saw, much to their horror, a small bunch of green and red.

Syaoran whirled around and accused his cousin, "You…you did this on purpose!"

Meiling only shrugged her shoulders. "So what if I did? You still have to kiss."

Syaoran turned back to look at Sakura, who had turned a bright red and was starring at the ground.

"We…we should do this quickly. They will not let us go if we don't…" Sakura whispered shyly.

Syaoran could feel the blood rushing to his head. He nodded his agreement and tilted Sakura's head up just before his lips met hers. It was during this brief contact that Syaoran finally realized how much he really missed Sakura when he was in Hong Kong. He would have like to extend it but there was the cheering and the audience that was watching them, and not to mention…

"OI!!!! GAKI!!!!!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER!!!!!!!!!"

Syaoran and Sakura snapped apart when they heard Touya's enraged scream.

"Maa…maa…Touya…calm down," Yukito said as he held onto his koibito's shirt while Touya tried to charge at Syaoran.

"Yuki, let go! Did you see what the Hong Kong gaki did to Sakura!"

"Touya…you…oh I see…" Yukito said, with an enlightened expression on his face.

"See what?" Touya asked, knowing that when his boyfriend comes to these revelations, it usually isn't good.

"You're being overprotective of Sakura-chan! I knew that you were a caring brother!"

"Wh…WHAT!?!?! CARING?! ABOUT THAT KAIJUU!?!?!?"

Sakura and Syaoran just stared as they watched Touya banter with Yukito.

"Ne Syaoran," Meiling asked, "do you realize you're still under the mistletoe?"

Syaoran froze as he realized that Meiling was right. Deciding to try and escape this madness as quickly as possible, he swooped down and gave Sakura a peck on the cheek and tugged her away from the tree and made his way over to Touya and Yukito, with one sole goal in mind: to give Sakura's older brother a taste of the mischief that Syaoran and Sakura had faced this evening.

Syaoran tapped Touya on the shoulder while Sakura watched on cluelessly.

"What do you want?" Touya snarled.

Syaoran, without saying a word, pushed Touya so that he stumbled a few steps to his right, and then dragged Yukito so that he was standing in front of Touya.

"Oi! What was that for gaki?" Touya demanded.

Sakura giggled as she realized what Syaoran had done. "Yukito-san, look up!"

Yukito and Touya both glance up and saw their fate.

"You gaki! I'll…"

Syaoran, who had departed with Sakura after fulfilling his job, didn't need to turn around to know why Touya had stopped talking, and knew that the reason had to do with the pale-haired boy who was caught under the mistletoe with Touya.

"Come on Sakura," Syaoran muttered under his breath so only she could hear his words. "Let's find somewhere to go to that is not infested with matchmakers and mistletoe."

Syaoran turned to look at his girlfriend and after seeing her disappointed look, revised his words. "On the other hand, maybe mistletoe isn't that bad."

(1). My very bad attempt to put Cantonese into the story…Literally translated, it mean "silly melon" but when used, it means stupid or something along the lines of baka. FYI I see a lot of CCS fics (er…I mean of the little ccs fic that I've actually read…) w/ Mandarin in them, but actually in Hong Kong, they speak Cantonese. ^^ My mom's from Hong Kong. =P But don't mind me, keep on using Mandarin! It's actually the "official" language of China, so I bet people speak Mandarin in Hong Kong as well. Mandarin's just as good as Cantonese, but I know more Cantonese than Mandarin, so I used Cantonese. The only insult I really know in Mandarin is "bun dan" or whatever it is….book egg…is that what it is? -_-;;;; maybe I shouldn't have quit Chinese school…but I was failing…

Wow! I actually finished! I started this fic when I started publishing Finding Him (go read it please!) and I just completed it…heh…shows how productive I am.

Well, I've been writing fics under a joint account EASPOA, so please go check that out if you're interested in Digimon stories or Spirited Away fics.

Hope you enjoyed reading it. I think my ideas about the story had changed a great deal from when I started it 2/3 years ago…

R+R!!

~Pinkangelsakura