Winds of Thyme

By Sakura Takanouchi

~*~ Winds of Thyme Chapter Seventeen: Merry Christmas to You ~*~

Disclaimer: I own nothing, yes I do, I own nothing, how bout you! Get in the spirit of dis-ownership, everybody!

~*~ Three Days before Christmas ~*~

Sakura was walking slowly around her apartment, getting used to not using crutches. Her mission with the tantei was on the day after Christmas, and she felt like she needed to be able to walk. Then, the phone rang again.

"Moshi Moshi… Oh hi, Koenma? Not again?! Well, it wasn't me. I've been working overtime at my yakitori stand so I can get Christmas off. You can call my manager, and he'll back me up! I didn't do anything, Koenma!" Then, Koenma had to hang up.

Sakura flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. Just then, the phone rang again.

"Moshi Moshi… Kurama-kun? What's up?" Sakura spoke into the phone.

"Sakura-chan, my kaasan wants to know if you want to spend a pre-Christmas dinner with us, since you're all alone. And then, after that, we could go to the Christmas Dance since it's held tonight. You're free, right?" Kurama asked.

"Hai! I'm free every day till New Year's, actually. I've been working overtime so I could have a short vacation," Sakura answered.

"Good! It starts at 6:30. There's just one slight problem," Kurama said hesitantly.

"Well, what is it?" Sakura asked.

"My friend Hiei, the one you sorta know, is coming. I know you two aren't on the best of terms, but he needs to get out more," Kurama explained.

"That's fine," Sakura said. "I think he needs to get out more, too."

Kurama laughed on the other end of the phone. "I'll tell Kaasan you're coming. After dinner, then the three of us will walk over to the school gym."

"So Hiei is coming to the dance but not to dinner?" Sakura asked.

"Hai," Kurama answered. "Well, I've got to go now. Ja!"

"Ja, Kurama-kun," Sakura said, and hung up the phone.

At least now she had something to look forward to. Now she had the rest of the day to get ready. Her first trip was to the mall.

~*~ At the Mall ~*~

After shopping for nearly twenty minutes, Sakura finally found a great Christmas Outfit. It consisted of a mostly green fuzzy sweater that was red at the top and a pair of dark green capris. She bought two matching holly zipper pulls for her boots, which she would be wearing in case someone decided to fight them again. She bought the outfit and was about to hurry home when she realized that she should get something for Kurama. She decided on a pair of mittens and a packet of rose seeds. Then, she hurried home.

~*~ At home ~*~

Sakura had already called Yuzuriha, Kirameki, Yuki, Ryuzo, and Miyuki and all of them were coming to the dance. She needed at least five friends there if she was going to dance. She sighed. Now that there was nothing to do, she was really bored. She decided to walk over to the arcade and release all of her boredom on the pinball machines.

~*~ At home, three hours later ~*~

Sakura fell onto her bed to rest her tired legs. All of that walking was good for them, but really tired them out. She looked at her watch. 4:57. What a bummer. Sakura turned over and slept for 20 minutes. After that, she couldn't take it anymore. She got up and got dressed. She then decided to wrap the presents she got for Kurama in red wrapping paper.

She looked at herself in her mirror as she ran a brush through her hair. She had decided to leave it down. She then put on the bracelet that Kurama had given her. 'I don't care if they care, but I'm going over early,' she thought, and set off for the Minamino apartment, carrying her presents.

~*~ At the Minamino Apartment (45 minutes later) ~*~

Sakura stopped to catch her breath as she stood on their front porch. 'I can't believe it took that long to get here,' she thought. 'My legs must not be in as good a shape as I thought.' She then rang the doorbell. Kurama answered it almost immediately. He was dressed in a red long-sleeved shirt and black pants.

"Konban wa, Kurama-kun!" Sakura greeted. "I'm sorry if being early is a problem."

"Not at all. My mom's still cooking, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind. Come in," Kurama said, and Sakura entered, and took off her shoes.

"Merry Christmas," she said, and handed Kurama her presents.

"Oh, you shouldn't have," he said.

They sat down on the couch in the living room just as Shiori came in.

"Konban wa, Sakura-chan," Shiori greeted. "I am very pleased that you could come. I'm almost done cooking dinner, so if you two would just wait five more minutes, and then the food will be ready to eat."

Shiori went back into the kitchen, and Kurama opened his presents.

"Oh, rose seeds and mittens!" he said in delight," I've been needing these! Arigatou!" He then gave Sakura a hug.

"It was nothing," she said with a smile. Just then, Shiori called to them that she was done cooking, and they got up and went into the dining room.

"Whoa!" Sakura said as she looked at all of the food. "This is a lot of food!"

Their table was covered in food. There was teriyaki, sukiyaki, sushi, udon, yakitori, gohan (rice), and kocha (black tea).

Shiori sat down first, and Kurama showed Sakura the chair she would be sitting at. They all started to eat.

~*~ Thirty-five minutes later ~*~

"I'm stuffed!" Sakura said contentedly. Shiori was finishing up a small bowl of udon, and Kurama was eating the last piece of teriyaki. "This food is excellent, Shiori-san!" Sakura complimented.

"Arigatou," Shiori replied. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Sakura said, and got up from the table. A very disgruntled-looking Hiei was standing on the doorstep, dressed as he normally is.

"Konban wa, Hiei-chan!" Sakura greeted Hiei cheerfully. Hiei just looked even more disgruntled.

"We just ate, but there's still lots of food if you want some," Sakura said, and Hiei walked inside, taking off his shoes in the hallway.

"Konban wa, Hiei-chan," Shiori greeted him. "You're welcome to some food."

Hiei then sat down in the chair that Sakura had been using and started to eat a helping of yakitori and gohan, not once saying thank you.

Sakura sat down on the couch. Kurama soon joined her on the couch, and Shiori started to clean up the dishes that were devoid of food. "The dance starts at eight, so you'd better hurry, Hiei," Kurama told him. Hiei had finished this helping and had got another, pausing only to breathe and drink some kocha.

Oh, look, it's snowing!" Sakura said, and everyone's attention was suddenly diverted to the window. Large, fluffy snowflakes were falling from the sky, and the ground was already starting to be covered by them.

"It's really going to be a white Christmas," Kurama said. He smiled. "Now I'm even more glad that you got me mittens, Sakura." He put his arm around her and they cuddled on the couch for several minutes. Hiei was starting to get annoyed at them. Then, Kurama stood up. "I think we'd better get going," he told Shiori. He got the mittens that Sakura had given him and put them on. They all went out of the door.

The snow was still falling, and it was getting colder. Sakura shivered despite herself, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of mittens, which she put on. Kurama reached out to hold her hand and they walked together, with an angry Hiei several feet behind.

~*~ At the School Gym, Fifteen Minutes Later ~*~

Kurama, Sakura, and Hiei walked into the gym about five minutes after the dance had officially started. Yuzuriha, Kizuchi, and Ryuzo ran up to them.

"Yo, Sakura! Kurama! …Friend of Sakura and Kurama! How's it hanging?" Yuzuriha greeted them. She had a glass of punch in one hand. Ryuzo had a hat on his head that looked like a reindeer, and Kizuchi had a can of sake in her hand. Sakura greeted Ryuzo and Yuzuriha, but was surprised to see Kizuchi there. "I thought you hated these kind of things," she told her.

"Well, yeah, but they're fun every once in a while. Speaking of Which, that guy really looks like he's going to go serial," Kizuchi pointed to Hiei, who was standing with a murderous look on his face and was glaring at Kurama, who was talking to Ryuzo and Yuki.

"Oh, him? He's Hiei, a friend of Kurama's," Sakura said. Just then, Kirameki showed up.

"Kirameki!" Sakura said, and ran up to her. "You look so… rebelish."

"Anti-Christmas," Kizuchi offered.

"Arigatou," Kirameki grinned. "My mom didn't want me to go, so I kinda… went rebel on her." Kirameki was dressed in a black tank top that had black lace for the short sleeves. She wore a collarish necklace that had more black lace attached from the necklace to the top of her shirt. She also wore a black skirt and black knee-high boots. Her black hair was done up in buns.

"You look great, Kirameki-chan. I wish I had parents I could rebel against," Sakura said.

"Well, I wanna go say hey to Yuzuriha, Kurama, Yuki, and Ryuzo, and then we can all dance," Kirameki said. They all walked over to everyone else.

"Tsuki Kirameki, where in creation did you buy that outfit?" Yuzuriha screeched. Kirameki smiled.

"Here and there," she answered.

Kurama walked up to her. "Konban wa, Kirameki. I'd like you to meet my friend Hiei," he said, motioning Hiei to stop glaring at everyone else and make eye contact with Kirameki.

Hiei's face turned and his eyes widened in surprise. Kirameki looked… cool. But he tried to remain unfazed, and just said, "Yo."

"Come one, Kirameki-chan, let's dance!" Sakura waved Kirameki over to where the DJ was announcing another song. It was Hikari by Utada Hikaru.

The girls all danced to the song while the guys hung around and talked. Hiei just leaned against the wall and glared at people, although that girl Kirameki did catch his gaze quite a few times. Kurama went up to Hiei.

"You having fun?" he asked.

"Is this what you called dancing?" he asked, pointing in the direction of all of the girls that were dancing.

"Hai," Kurama said. "It is one kind of the dancing that I mentioned."

"What is the other kind?" Hiei asked.

Hikaru had just ended, and now Every Heart by boa was playing through the sound speakers.

"I'd prefer you not to watch me in particular, but watch everyone else and you'll see." Kurama then walked away from Hiei, towards the big throng of people that were dancing.

Sakura whirled around to come face-to-face with Kurama.

"Shall we?" he asked her.

Sakura smiled and put her arms around his shoulders. They began to slow dance.

Many other couples were also starting to slow dance. Hiei watched them with a slight interest. 'This isn't that special… I wonder why Kurama wouldn't tell me,' he thought. He also noticed that Kirameki was sitting down in a chair, staring sadly at all the couples. He then saw a small tear fall down her eye. Against every speck of his better judgement he started walking towards her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kirameki said. "But I used to have a boyfriend, Akitaka Takeru, and he disappeared the day after the last dance. I'm just…. Remembering him right now." Kirameki continued to cry.

"If you want, you can dance with me instead," Hiei said, mentally cursing himself for saying that.

Kirameki stopped crying. "Really?" She asked. She got up, and wiped the tears off her face. "Let's go then."

Hiei and Kirameki made their way to the dance floor, and She put her arms around his shoulders and he put his arms around her waist, just like he saw everyone else doing. Kurama and Sakura were dancing a couple feet away, but they hadn't noticed Hiei yet.

About twenty seconds later, both Sakura and Kurama saw Hiei dancing with Kirameki.

"How did you get him to do that?" Sakura asked Kirameki.

Kirameki smiled. "He offered. I think it's really sweet of him."

Kurama looked at Hiei, who had an 'I am doing this against every speck of better judgement I have' look on his face.

The song ended soon, and Hiei was back leaning against the wall in three seconds. Kirameki looked sad that the song was over, but the DJ announced that Resolution (don't know the artist) was playing. Sakura made Kurama stay and dance for that song, and Yuzuriha, Yuki, Kizuchi, and Ryuzo joined their dance circle. They were all laughing and dancing and having a lot of fun.

"I love this American concept of Christmas!" Yuzuriha said.

~A/N~

That chapter was really long, but… who cares! Next up may seem like a bit of a repeat from an earlier chapter, but it's not. Well, maybe just a little.

I may not update in a long time because my birthday's in two days and I have to go to band camp the day after. But I'll try to type when I can. There'll probably only be twenty to twenty-two chapters in this fic, so It's almost up!

Read and Review and all that good stuff,

Sakura Takanouchi