My much longer story. It was inspired by a drawing done by the other half of my soul, Kuroitsubasa, called "The New Mistletoe", which showed Mokona holding a sakura branch, with Sakura on tiptoe, kissing a blushing Syaoran on the cheek. It was originally supposed to be about just the two of them, but somehow, Subaru and Seishirou wormed their way in, and then of course Fai and Kurogane followed.

Firefly: Another class-written fic, i presume..
Tsubasa: glares half right.
Firefly: I had no part in this; don't look at me
Baye: this one's mine!
May: gives Baye a dirty look You stole it from me...
Tsubasa: guys...stop it. you're all my muses. CLAMP does not belong to me, nor do their oh-so-wonderful characters. alas, Subaru and Seishirou are not mine. neither is anyone else i mention. sadly. i'm just broke.

Mistletoe

Everywhere the five went, they were greeted with cheer, and they heard cheery songs and bells ringing on every corner.

They had been staying at the home of two people who know Yuuko, and owed her a favor, Sumeragi Hokuto and Sumeragi Subaru. Hokuto was very friendly and insisted that they call her Hokuto-chan, and Subaru, her twin, was a bit more formal and shut, but still very kind. Hokuto, who owned a bakery, fed them so many cookies that Kurogane muttered, out of Hokuto's hearing, of course, that the next cookie he saw would meet a horrible end. Fai and Hokuto got on fabulously, and Subaru and Syaoran got along well, especially once Subaru relaxed when he realized that Hokuto had found a new fashion model in Sakura, who didn't at all mind. Mokona became Hokuto's official taster, and Kurogane was his usual grumpy self, not helped by the fact that Hokuto had adopted Fai's names for him.

Hokuto, much to everyone's chagrin, has gone overboard with the decorations. The entire house was red, green, gold, and silver, and wreaths and bows decorated every doorway. Syaoran, Kurogane, and Subaru were out of the house as much as they could. Syaoran asked Subaru how he survived it every year. Subaru had shrugged and replied that he'd dealt with it for so long that he didn't really realize how over-the-top Hokuto was anymore. Fai and Mokona joined in the decorating enthusiastically; a few ornaments on the tree were cardboard cut-outs of Fai's drawings, and Sakura helped Hokuto bake cookies.

Their fourth day after arriving in the new country, Hokuto had sent Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai on an errand to buy more food, and kept Subaru at the house under the excuse of needing him to help her test out some mistletoe. When the travelers had asked her what mistletoe was, she had replied evasively that it was a Christmas decoration.

Once the three had left, Hokuto pulled Sakura aside.

"You like Syaoran-kun, don't you?" She asked, with a huge grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

Sakura blushed cutely and looked down at her feet. "Un," she nodded slightly.

Hokuto grinned and winked. "Then pay attention in about ten minutes. You can put it to good use!"

Sakura looked quizzically at Hokuto's retreating back.

Ten minutes later, Subaru was helping Hokuto hang a plant with white berries when the doorbell rang.

"Subaru-chan, could you get that please?"

Once Subaru was out of sight, Hokuto hopped down, and signaled to Mokona and Sakura to be quiet and to follow her. They snuck out into the genkan just in time to see Subaru greet a tall, dark-haired man in sunglasses and a suit. They walked out of the genkan, and just as they passes one of the plants Hokuto had hung earlier, Hokuto jumped out and trilled, "Sei-chan, Subaru-chan, stop right there!"

The two mean looked up, Subaru blushing, and the man Hokuto had called Sei-chan smirking. "Look up you two! It's mistletoe, you two know what that means!"

Subaru blushed harder, and Sei-chan's smirk deepened. Sakura and Mokona, who were watching confusedly from the corner, waited to see what would happen next.

Sei-chan has taken Subaru's chin in his hand and turned it upward to face him. Then, he bent down and kissed Subaru. Hokuto cheered "Whoo-hoo! Go Subaru-chan!" Subaru had relaxed into the kiss, and had wrapped his arms around Sei-chan's neck. When the two finally pulled apart, Subaru's blush had lessened somewhat, but returned when he realized that Sakura and Mokona had been watching.

Hokuto ushered Sakura and Mokona back to the door they had been decorating. Before they were out of sight, Sakura saw Sei-chan wrap one arm around Subaru's waist as Subaru led the way into the kitchen, saying that Hokuto had baked a fresh batch of cookies and that Seishirou was welcome to some.

When Hokuto, Sakura, and Mokona were alone again, Hokuto turned to Sakura and said, "Well, what'd you think?"

Sakura, who was more than a little confused just replied, "Well, I still don't know what mistletoe is for…."

Hokuto grinned and explained, "When two people are under mistletoe, it's a Christmas tradition that they kiss. True, it doesn't have to be on the lips, or even as deep of a kiss as you just saw," here Hokuto winked and grinned, and Sakura blushed slightly, "but you still have to kiss.

"What you need to do is get Syaoran under the mistletoe with you, and then you can kiss him!" Hokuto burst out with a round of laughter and a huge grin.

Sakura blushed. "I don't know if I could do that……"

"Sure you can! I'll even help you set it up."

An hour later, when the three men returned, Hokuto called Syaoran into the kitchen to help her and Sakura finish decorating the last batch of cookies for the bakery. Much to Sakura's embarrassment, Hokuto placed Syaoran right next to Sakura, so that the two were just about touching arms. Hokuto left them alone long enough that Sakura started to relax, thinking Hokuto would leave the mistletoe until later. Suddenly, Hokuto cried, "Look up, you two!"

Sakura looked up and blushed; there was Mokona, sitting on a cupboard above their heads, holding a bunch of mistletoe right above Sakura and Syaoran. Syaoran, of course, was completely confused. "What's going on?"

Sakura blushed harder, and Hokuto replied, "It's mistletoe! It means you two have to kiss!" As the words sank in, Syaoran began to blush as well.

"Sakura-hime, if you don't want to, I'm sure Hokuto won't be too mad…."

Sakura shook her head, and grinned "…Iie. Daijyoubu." Then, she stood on her toes and kissed Syaoran lightly on the cheek.

When she stood flat again, both teenagers were blushing fiercely, and both Hokuto and Mokona were applauding.

After the four had finished decorating the cookies, they walked out of the kitchen. Sakura and Syaoran were holding hands, blushing cutely, so that when they entered the room where Fai, Kurogane, Subaru, and Seishirou had been talking and waiting, Fai had whistled "Wheet-whoo! About time!", making the two blush harder.

Hokuto had disappeared back into the kitchen to bring out dinner, and when everyone had trooped in to eat, she stopped Kurogane and Fai, who had walked in side by side, bickering about whether the man they had seen on the corner really was that fat.(1) Everyone else had taken care to walk in one by one.

"You two have to stop. You walked in together, and you walked right under the mistletoe!" Hokuto cried gleefully. Both men looked confused. Syaoran, Sakura, Subaru, and Seishirou either blushed or kept silent, leaving it to Hokuto or Mokona to explain to the two poor men what was about to befall them.

A/N: This is an AU, so neither Subaru nor Seishirou are onmyoji, and there's none of the canon angst between them.
(1): of course they're talking about the corner santas who collect money for the Salvation Army and other charities; i had to have them bicker about something!

Guys, please R&R, otherwise I don't know whether to contine this series. Also, ideas for what to do next would be appreciated. Flames will be used to thaw my frozen fingers so i can type, so you have no excuse not to review! Happy Holidays to everyone!