Chapter 3 Christmas Presents!

After an afternoon of eating and generally enjoying each other's company, the four friends found themselves in a comfortable state of complete relaxation which basically involved lying across the couches, or in Eriol's case being sprawled across the rug in front of the fire.

Sakura's eyes were heavy; her head was resting on Syaoran's lap. "Mmm, I wish we could stay like this forever!" She yawned smiling across at Tomoyo.

"But we can't! We have to swap presents!" Tomoyo suddenly bounced up and raced out of the room, showing far too much energy as far as the others were concerned.

"Would that involve moving to get them, because if it does I would like to vote against it." Eriol moaned from his place on the floor.

"I'll second that, not that I could move if I wanted," Syaoran grinned down at Sakura.

"Oh I'm sorry!" She immediately got up to the amusement of both of the lads.

"I was only kidding! Honestly I didn't mind." Syaoran smiled at his friend, putting his arm around her and pulling her close to him again, this time she rested her head on his shoulder. Neither of them noticed Eriol laughing to himself while watching the display.

"PRESENTS! Tomoyo practically flew back into the room, with armfuls of neatly wrapped packages that she laid upon the floor near to Eriol. "Come on! We have to take turns to give each other presents!" A huge smile was plastered across her face, she had always one of those people that became inexplicably excited over the December holiday.

With an awful lot of grumbling and much hesitation the other three succumbed and fetched the gifts they had brought with them. They had each made sure they put labels on their gifts like Tomoyo has asked and soon found out why. Before they had had a chance to get back into the room she had snatched the parcels and was organising them into piles according to names. The others were more than happy to leave her to organise everything while they made themselves comfortable on the rug in front of her, Sakura leaning against Syaoran once more.

"Finished! Who wants to go first?" Tomoyo grinned brightly at the coloured paper and colourful ribbons before her.

"Why don't you start?" Sakura smiled, she felt half asleep once more, she was thoroughly warmed up and felt wonderfully full up.

"Ooo, as long as you don't mind of course." She didn't wait for anyone to answer, she simply began ripping through her pile as if she was on a mission. As soon as she was finished she pounced on each of her friends with delight at the presents they had gotten her before scrambling back to throw away all the paper and put her gifts into a neat pile.

"Eriol your turn!" Syaoran and Sakura both chimed in, grinning when Tomoyo began to push him over to his pile. Eriol gratefully thanked everyone for their gifts before settling back against a chair with a small smile on his face and his hand over his pie of presents.

"Who's next?" Tomoyo asked expectantly looking over at two very comfortable friends.

"I'll go," Syaoran gently got up, making sure he didn't bang her head. He opened Eriol and Tomoyo's presents first and was very impressed with what they had gotten him (A/N Sorry but I thought it would take far too long to write out what everybody got for everybody else), hugging Tomoyo. Sakura began to pay more attention when he opened her gift; she almost held her breath in anticipation.

"Wow, Sakura, this is great!" Syaoran held the green shirt in front of it, his face obviously surprised. A faint blush came to his cheeks as he approached Sakura and hugged her tightly. "I love it, thank you." He whispered.

"Your turn!" Tomoyo was soon ushering Sakura over to the final pile of presents. Tomoyo had spent far too much on everybody and her best friend was no exception. She had made her two outfits, one was a beautiful crimson dress, very festive and the other was a very grown up costume to wear when using her magic. She had also bought Sakura a brand new CD player, because her old one had been broken by Kero only a couple of weeks before.

"Thanks Tomoyo, I love both these outfits, plus I was missing my music." The two girls hugged and she resumed her opening. Off Eriol she had received an antique-looking book, which had been written by Clow Reed himself and a huge box of chocolates.

After thanking her English friend she opened Syaoran's present. Inside was a beautiful, ornate, silver frame with an old picture of her mother. The picture had been touched up so it looked brand new and was in much better condition than it had been before. Seeing it brought tears to Sakura's eyes. She moved across the room and hugged Syaoran tightly.

"It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it, when we leave can I walk you home?"

"Yeah of course, thanks." Sakura smiled at her friend, touched by the thought he had put into her gift.

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I know the story is moving slowly, it will speed up soon I promise!!

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