Here's the second chapter. Any notes I had before are in the first chapter.

Syaoran and Fai both came back later that night. Fai instantly went to his room, but Syaoran lagged behind, looking sad.

"What's your problem?" Kurogane asked gruffly.

"I… Kurogane-san, if there was a girl you really liked…"

Oh God, Kurogane thought to himself.

"What would you get her for Christmas?" Syaoran looked desperate. He had searched for hours for the perfect gift for Sakura. Hours! But he couldn't find it.

Kurogane stared at him long and hard. He had no idea why Syaoran was asking him of all people.

Syaoran was beginning to notice this, because the look Kurogane was shooting him said, "Do I look like I would know something like that?"

"The princess will like anything you get her," Kurogane finally said. "Just keep looking. You'll know a good gift when you see it." He hoped this was apt advice.

Syaoran nodded. "Thanks for the help, Kurogane-san." And he walked off.

Kurogane mentally sighed in relief.

The next morning, Sakura was watching something that was called a television intently. "Oh," she sighed, "I wish I could do that. It looks so much fun!"

"Do what?"

Sakura whirled around, surprised. Fai grinned back at her. "Oh, Fai-san!" She glanced back to the television for a moment. "I was just admiring how these people do acrobatics. I can't even do a cartwheel right," she huffed.

"I can teach you, if you want," Fai told her.

Sakura sprang to her feet. "Really?! Right now? Please?"

Fai laughed. "Of course, Sakura-chan." He made his way the next room, where there was more room. Sakura followed after him. "We just need to be careful not to hit the Christmas tree," Fai commented brightly. "And, of course, we can't get hurt. We wouldn't want Syaoran-kun to worry over you if you were to get hurt."

She nodded.

Fai rubbed his hands together. "Now, first off, let's see what I can do…Hmm…"

Kurogane rubbed his eyes tiredly. It was just about time to get up. Giving a loud yawn, he dragged himself out of bed and decided to go downstairs for breakfast. He came down the stairs just in time to see Fai performing three neat back flips. The mage landed on his feet gracefully, and Sakura, who was watching this, clapped happily.

Kurogane glared. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

Fai looked up at him and smiled. "Oh, Kuro-pyu, you're up! I was just getting ready to teach Sakura how to be"—he flipped again, just as elegantly as before—"an acrobat!"

"Don't do that kind of stuff in the house!" Kurogane shouted at him.

"Aw, but Kuro-nya, it's really cold outside! I'm used to it, but Sakura-chan would be freezing!" He put a hand on his hip and looked back to Sakura. "Okay, we can start with a cartwheel… But…um…" He glanced down to her long, billowing skirt.

She followed his gaze and realization dawned on her face. "Oh! Of course!" And she scurried off to her room.

Fai laughed at her enthusiasm. "She has so much energy."

Kurogane frowned at him. "You better make sure she doesn't get hurt," he warned. "The kid wouldn't like it if he came home and she had a broken leg or something."

Fai blinked at him. "Why, Kuro-chu, I would never allow Sakura-chan to get hurt. I'm hurt that you would even think that."

Kurogane snorted. "I'm just saying." He bit his lip for a second, but made a split second decision and said, "I'm going to go out today."

This brought a beam to Fai's face. "Hyuu!" he said excitedly. "To-chan is going to buy gifts! Get me something nice, To-chan!"

Kurogane threw him a nasty glare. "For the last damn time, I'm not getting you anything!" Then, lowering his voice, he said, "I'm just getting something for the kids…"

"Waaaah! Kuro-bun doesn't love me anymore!" Fai buried his face in his hands and made sniffling noises.

"I never loved you! And what did I tell you about fake crying?!" Kurogane growled to him. He almost felt sorry that he wasn't getting Fai a gift. Almost, but almost wasn't even close to actually feeling sorry.

Fai looked up and smiled at him. "Ah, Kuronkitchi, I wish you luck with your Christmas shopping. It seems that Syaoran-kun is really having trouble."

"Hmph. He's just too picky, that's why. I'm not picky, so I'll be fine."

Before Fai could respond, Sakura returned to him, now wearing a pair of jeans. "I'm ready!" she announced happily.

"Wonderful!" Fai congratulated her, clapping his hands. "Okay, first: cartwheel. I'll do it first, and then you try, okay?"

Syaoran rubbed his cold hands together. This really was hard… He had been from store to store, had looked practically everywhere for that gift… The perfect gift. It was Christmas Eve, so he had to get it today.

Sure, he had found many things. Things like a pretty ring seemed too personal—he couldn't give something like that to her—and things like books or souvenirs seemed a little too impersonal.

He was ready to break down and…what? Scream? Cry? Yell in frustration? All he wanted to do was to make Sakura's Christmas a happy one. All he wanted was to see her smile. He wanted her eyes to sparkle and shine when she said, "Thank you, Syaoran." Those beautiful jade eyes.

And this was his motivation. He clenched his fist in determination. He would see this through.

Mokona, who had come along, just sat on his shoulder in quiet respect. He was there for moral support, always telling Syaoran that they 'were close now, Mokona knows it!'

Syaoran walked into another store—a store filled with so many sparkly things that girls seemed to like so much. And, just out of the corner of his eye, he spotted it.

He rushed over to it, nearly knocking a woman over. He apologized profusely and then went straight for it.

The perfect gift.

"Hyuuuu! Sakura-chan, you are so wonderful!" Fai praised Sakura as she successfully preformed a cartwheel.

"Did I do it right this time?" Sakura asked, hoping for a yes.

"You did it perfectly!"

"Yay!" Sakura cheered happily. "I can't wait to show Syaoran-kun and Moko-chan!"

"I'm sure they'll be just as impressed as I am," Fai assured her.

"Fai-san, please, teach me more! Teach me how to do a flip!"

"You got it. First, let's try a handstand…" And he went over to help the princess.

Kurogane, who had been observing this for quite a while, just stared at them. He had decided to wait until Syaoran got home before he went out to do his own shopping, so he was stuck watching Fai teach Sakura tricks. First was the cartwheel, then they took a break and tried the somersault, and then it was back to the cartwheel again.

"Half of the flip is this right here. I don't know about you, but I think it would be kind of hard to do a flip if you couldn't do a handstand." Fai shrugged. "But maybe that's just me."

Sakura was already upside down, Fai holding her ankles so she wouldn't tip over. He carefully took his hands away, and watched as she remained steady.

"Hyuu!" he announced again excitedly. "Sakura-chan, you catch on so quick! You are my best student!"

She smiled. "Thank you, Fai-san! Um, but can you help me down?"

Fai laughed. "Of course." He guided her body back down to the floor. "There you go."

Once Sakura was upright, she smiled again. "Show me how you flip again, Fai-san. I'm sure I'll be able to pick something up from watching you do it right!"

"Okay!" Fai readied himself, and then, gently, he pushed his body into the flip, hands touching the floor briefly before he brought his legs around to finish the flip. He had thought that he was far enough from the Christmas tree, but he was mistaken. His foot hit a single ornament, sending it flying and then crashing onto the floor. He at least managed to miss it while landing.

He glanced down to the shattered ornament. It was one of the ones that he liked so much—those glistening silver spheres that Kurogane had compared to him…

"It looks fine enough, but the wrong move will shatter it into a million pieces. And once it's broken, it's broken."

"Oh no," Fai breathed. "I broke it." There's nothing that can fix it now… Not love, not care, not time…nothing…, he thought.

Sakura covered her mouth in surprise. "Don't worry, Fai-san, I'll clean it up right away!"

Fai waved his hand to stop her from rushing off. "Don't bother. I'll pick it up." And he carefully began to pick up the larger shards of glass. He laughed, but it wasn't anything cheerful-sounding. "This ornament was so nice before it broke. Now all it can do is hurt people."

Kurogane frowned at him, but the mage ignored it.

Sakura bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Fai-san, I know you liked those ornaments a lot… And if I hadn't asked you to teach me…"

"Sakura-chan, this isn't your fault," Fai assured her. "I was too close to the tree… Besides, we have five more silver ornaments." He gestured to the tree, and sure enough, five more silver spheres still hung there.

"I'll at least get the broom to sweep up the little pieces," Sakura finally said, before walking off.

"You're a moron, you know that?" Kurogane said.

Fai smiled at him brightly. "Sorry, Kuro-sama, I truly didn't mean to hit that ornament."

Kurogane huffed. "That's not what I'm talking about."

"Well, how I am supposed to know?" Fai countered playfully. "Meanie Kuro-tan always calls me a moron."

Kurogane hmph-ed loudly, but didn't respond.

Sakura trotted back into the room, broom in hand. Just as she was helping Fai sweep up the remainder of the glass shards, the front door opened and Syaoran stepped inside.

"We're home," he announced.

"We're home!" Mokona echoed happily, before bouncing off Syaoran's shoulder to sit on Kurogane's head.

Sakura looked up and smiled at him warmly. "What did you get?" she asked curiously, indicating the dainty gold bag he held. She leaned forward a little, as if she could peek at it from several feet away.

Syaoran quickly hid it behind his back. "N-nothing!"

Sakura giggled. "It's okay, Syaoran-kun, I won't peek!"

Syaoran kept the bag behind his back anyway, sneaking off to his room. "I'll be back in a minute…"

Once he was out of sight, Fai laughed merrily. "He is just too cute. He definitely gets that from To-chan!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Kurogane yelled, knocking Mokona from his head. "Are you saying that I'm cute?!"

Fai nodded enthusiastically. "Yup!"

"A ninja is never to be called 'cute'!"

Fai hopped over to Kurogane and ruffled his spiky hair. "But I can't help it! You are just so cute!"

Kurogane smacked his hand away. "Get the hell away from me, you stupid mage!"

"Kyaaa, Kuro-sama is angry with me!" Fai cried out.

"You are so damn lucky that I don't cut you up right now," Kurogane growled at him.

"You are so violent, Kuro-sama! You should set a better example for the kids! They look up to you, you know!"

Kurogane opened his mouth to yell, but was cut off by knocking on the door.

Fai couldn't help but smile impishly. This should be interesting.

Kurogane, now almost at the height of his anger, flung open the door.

A small group of smiling people greeted him there, and opened their mouths to sing.

"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…"

"OH SHUT UP!" Kurogane yelled at them. "Don't you have anything better to do than sing on my doorstep?!" And he slammed the door in their faces.

Sakura gasped loudly and clapped a hand over her mouth. "K-Ku-Kurogane-san!"

"Tsk tsk tsk," Fai said with a sigh. "Kuro-tan, will you ever learn?"

"They are almost as annoying as you." Kurogane pointed an accusing finger at Fai.

"Kuro-bun, it's not very polite to point, you know." Fai shook his head. "Not to mention calling me annoying."

"I don't give a damn about how polite it is!" He clenched his fists and watched as Fai tilted his head to one side and smiled in amusement. Growling to himself, he finally said, "I'm going out!" And he stomped towards the door. But before he could even open it, he felt Fai's hand on his shoulder. He whirled around to face the mage. "What the hell do you want now?"

"You almost forgot your coat, Kuron!" Fai replied, handing the ninja his coat.

Kurogane sniffed and snatched the coat, pulling it on and immediately leaving.

Sakura frowned in concern. "Do you think he went out because he was angry with us?"

"Of course not, Sakura-chan! He went out because he needs to do his Christmas shopping too."

Sakura was visibly relieved. "Oh, well that's good."

"What's good?" Syaoran asked, joining them.

"Kurogane-san went out to go Christmas shopping," Sakura told him.

Syaoran looked surprised. Kurogane didn't seem the type to buy gifts for people. Fai must have talked him into it…or something like that. It was unusually nice of the ninja…

"Oh!" Sakura said a second later, remembering something. "Syaoran-kun, you have to see! Fai-san taught me how to do a cartwheel today! Do you want to see?"

Syaoran glanced at Fai, who only smiled in return and nodded. Syaoran inwardly sighed in relief. As long as Sakura wasn't trying anything crazy and getting hurt, he was okay with it. He smiled to the princess warmly. "Of course I do."

Kurogane returned later that night. He had gotten presents, and had stopped for a drink. He had told himself a million times that the kids would like anything, but he still had a hard time getting things. It was all such an enormous pain, he had to go out for a drink afterwards.

He stepped into the house quietly. Everything was dark, and he assumed that everyone had already retired for the night.

Kurogane went upstairs and walked down the hall to his room, which was the second to last door. He noticed that Fai's door—the one at the end of the hall, was still open. He was only mildly curious, but he didn't go check it out. The worst thing that could happen that Christmas is if the white manjuu accused him of watching Fai sleep. Kurogane cringed just thinking about it. He stepped into his room and flopped onto his bed. This day had been pretty…annoying. With the presents, that mage, and those damn carolers.

He frowned. That was just great. He could just tell that he would be tossing and turning all night. He had so much on his mind…

Just then, he heard a noise. Straining his ears, he listened closely, beginning to make out words…

"Silent night… Holy night… All is well… All is right…"

Kurogane frowned again. A caroler? At this time? But it was different than before. It was only one person this time. Didn't carolers usually travel in packs?

"Round yon virgin mother and child… Holy infant so tender and mild…" The voice singing sounded so soft, even sad.

It was a very soothing sound, Kurogane realized with surprise. He knew he hated carolers, but this particular one sounded nice. The caroler's voice was sweet and melodic… He closed his eyes. Maybe this would help him sleep.

"Sleep in heavenly peace…"

Kurogane felt himself drifting off.

"Sleep in heavenly……peace…"

If anyone wants the last two chapters of this, it'd be nice if I got a review! (puppy face)