Chapter 2: Christmas Eve

"Bye, dewa mata." Sakura waved to her father, grabbing a jacket without even noticing how little good it would do her against the harsh December chill outside. As usual she was in too much of a rush to take her time over such small details and that wasn't a part of her that was going to change any time soon.

It didn't take her long to notice the mistake as a fresh layer of snow began to fall and along with it her fingers began to turn a worrying shade of blue. It didn't take her too long to get to her friend's house though where she could escape what was slowly escalating into a blizzard.

"Sakura! Get in your freezing!" A concerned Tomoyo answered the door, which was a change from the maid she was used to greeting.

Her friend ushered her gently into a huge living room, which still took Sakura a while to get used to, it was so lavishly and grandly decorated she felt very misplaced whenever she stood in there. The sight of an enormous log fire blazing away soon made her feel very grateful to be there and she began to warm her blue digits in its fiery glow.

"Sakura, it's nice to see you." Eriol smiled as she jumped around finally noticing that three faces were looking intently at her.

"Gomenasai I didn't see you there, Eriol, Syaoran it's good to see you!" With surprisingly flushed cheeks since she was still freezing cold, Sakura embraced her friends and sat down on a large sofa next to Syaoran. Her friends couldn't help but smile they were all more than used to her being a little muddled at times.

"Great now that we're all here, I'll go get some tea and cakes that I made yesterday!" Tomoyo was already bouncing half way across the room when Syaoran offered his help and followed shaking his head at the excitable figure ahead of him. Sakura was now left alone with her old friend; it had been over year since she had last seen him.

"Eriol it's good to see you again, but I'm surprised you're not spending Christmas in England with Kaho." She removed her jacket, it was doing little to help her warm up since it had gotten wet in the snow.

"Kaho is spending the holidays with her family, it was her idea that I come here, besides it's been too long since I have seen you. Besides I miss Japan." He smiled warmly at old memories he had gained with Tomoyo and all his friends in Tomeoda. "Sounds like the others are coming." Eriol was right; the jingle of cutlery banging on what sounded like at least a dozen trays was slowly approaching.

"You do realize there are only four of us right?" Syaoran tottered into view performing an incredible balancing act with three trays piled high with all sorts of treats. Tomoyo wasn't far behind, only managing two of the trays, this time with tea on them, however, to Eriol and Sakura's surprise, that wasn't the last of the trays, two maids came in after their friends with even more trays with an assortment of food and beverages alike.

Once everything was in place the foursome found eleven trays had been placed on the large table in the centre of the room and all of it was for them alone. "Umm so maybe I got a little bit carried away, but I have the most kawaii set of Christmas shaped cookie cutters!" Tomoyo pronounced grabbing at a reindeer biscuit.

Sakura suddenly burst out laughing, she couldn't help it, and Tomoyo was not helping with such an innocent look on her face. Syaoran and Eriol soon found themselves laughing hysterically too and they only chortled louder at their confused friend still holding onto her reindeer.

After the trio had calmed down they all began to slowly make their way through what seemed like an endless task of eating as much of the wonderful food they could. Syaoran looked over at Sakura who was smiling whilst listening to Eriol talk about London, however he noticed she was still shaking slightly, her trousers were still damp and she was only wearing a t-shirt. Although Tomoyo's house was warm it would take a long while for Sakura to fully warm up again.

Sakura could feel herself being watched, she turned towards her friend smiling as their eyes met and offered him a star shaped cookie that he took gratefully. After eating it he began to remove the dark green fleece he had been wearing leaving a very attractive emerald silk shirt. Wordlessly he passed the fleece over to her and before she could protest he turned his attention to Eriol who was trying to explain what a mince pie was since it didn't have any meat in it.

Sakura pulled the jumper over her head, immediately feeling the difference in her frozen limbs. Syaoran's familiar aftershave rose from the material making her smile, she was always wanting to ask him what it was; it was such a subtle aroma which would forever remind her of him. Looking across to him she could feel herself blushing slightly like she had when they were kids and life was much simpler.

Wow that took a long time :S, sorry about that, I'll update it quicker next time I promise