1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

summary: on christmas eve, everybody gets together to decorate the christmas tree. it's just a peaceful day at the greenhouse, where the guardians of seiyo elementary plan to spread good cheer!

a/n: i really, really wanted to do a one-shot for christmas. it's... quite long and boring, but... merry christmas everyone!

rating: k. nothing more to say.

pairings: hints of amuto, kairixamu and rimahiko... possible hint of one-sided tadamu if you look at it from a certain angle... and if you really, really wish for it, you might see kukau or kukamu. not pairings-centred.

~*~

christmas stars

it was the night of christmas eve, reputed to be the most magical night of the year. six children were gathered around a large christmas tree, rummaging through several boxes that were filled with many sparkling decorations. the greenhouse that they were in was lit up with several lamps. a blonde twelve-year-old boy with ruby eyes looked at everybody else questioningly.

"how come we're only decorating the tree now?" he asked, implying that he thought they were a bit slow. a small figure wearing a tiny cape and an even tinier crown while floating near his head, nodded.

"a king should not be called out for such a menial task!" he shouted arrogantly, puffing up his small chest.

a short

unette girl pouted at them. "but if you do it too early, it loses its magic!" she whined. a small figure floating above her shoulder nodded knowingly. it was dressed as a baby, complete with dummy.

"that's right~dechu," she agreed, "the tree loses its shine before christmas."

"still, it is not befitting for somebody of our status to be putting lights on a tree!" the first floating figure claimed, arms crossed.

"you know, kiseki," a pink-haired, floating cheerleader whispered conspiringly, "decorating a christmas tree is a very important thing. isn't that right, miki?" she said, nudging her blue counterpart.

"that's right!" she confirmed, catching on. "the most important thing there is."

"r-really?" asked kiseki, taken aback.

"of course~desu!" a blonde chara with green eyes said. "after all, what's christmas without a christmas tree?" she made a dramatic pose, her eyes burning. "where would the presents go~desu? what will the little children play around~desu? how will the families get by without this activity to make them bond~desu? without the christmas tree, how will we know it was christmas~desu?!"

he blinked, thinking about it. understanding dawned on his face. "so you're saying that the tree is the very basis of all things christmas?"

"well, i dunno if that's really..." miki trailed off when she realised that the prince-chara and the housewife-chara were now in their own little world.

"suu's taken it too far again," said the cheerleader-chara. they both sighed.

"so, without the decorations that make it a christmas tree, there will be no christmas!" declared suu.

"that must not happen," said kiseki seriously. "leave it to me! it falls on y shoulders to save christmas!"

the children laughed at them before turning to each other.

"okay; tinsel or lights?" asked a boy with long purple hair.

"both!" shouted the

unette.

"what colour tinsel?" he asked.

"all of them!"

"what kind of lights?"

"all of them!"

he sweat-dropped and gave her a placating smile. "yaya, we can't fit it all on the tree..."

"i want to use everything!" she said, throwing her arms in the air and ignoring him. she squealed when another boy sprayed water on her before slinging an arm across her shoulders. "kukai!" she yelled crossly.

"yo!" he exclaimed, winking his green eyes. "what're you guys talking about, fujisaki?"

"what to put on the tree," he explained.

"hmm..." kukai looked around thoughtfully before his eyes landed on a certain pink-haired girl. "hey, hinamori! ready for some special training?" he called out. the girl spun around and then smiled nervously.

"um... i don't think that now is the right time..." she said, backing away. kukai laughed.

"i was joking," he said. "actually; what do you think we should use to decorate the tree?"

"yeah, what do you think would be best, amu-chan?" asked nagihiko. amu scratched the back of her head, looking at all the decorations.

"w-well..."

"i think we should have red tinsel," interrupted kukai.

"at least let her talk," rebuked tadase. "after all, you did ask her."

"flashing, yellow lights," interjected a petite girl with long wavy locks of blonde hair. she had dug a string of them out from one of the boxes. "let's use these, too," she suggested.

"they're nice," agreed nagihiko.

rima turned her back to him. "actually, i changed my mind. let's not use these," she said without one iota of embarrassment. nagihiko shook his head in exasperated tolerance. he was used to it.

"well, i think they're pretty," said amu.

"okay, let's use these," said rima, once more having a complete flip in opinion.

"and the tinsel," kukai reminded them, "red tinsel."

they spent an afternoon arguing over the decorations and hanging them up. miki supervised the whole process to make sure that every bauble was hung in a tasteful position and that they didn't end up with an overly flashy monstrosity. after they finished, they all took a step back and admired it.

"it's so beautiful," sighed amu. ran, however, frowned.

"there's something missing," she said. the other chara looked at her in alarm before giving the tree a raking inspection.

"you're right~dechu," said pepe, sucking her dummy in deep thought.

"what could it be?" said kiseki. "we must figure it out or else... there will be no christmas!" he exclaimed.

"that's horrible~desu!" gasped suu as if she weren't the one that got the notion in his head in the first place.

"calm down; we just need to put a star or angel at the top of the tree," said a green-haired figure cheerfully.

"daichi!" they shouted. "where have you been?"

"with temari and rhythm. we were getting decorations out of the boxes," he clarified.

kukai crossed his arms and asked, "well? should we put a star or an angel?"

"both!" said yaya.

"that's... not possible," nagihiko said weakly. temari and rhythm floated up to him, nodding in agreement. then yaya's mobile rang loudly. she answered it cautiously.

"hello...?" she said slowly into the phone.

"hello, yuiki-san, i -"

"oh my god!" shrieked yaya happily, jumping up. "it's the class prez!"

"what?" they hurried to gather around yaya, eager to hear from their friend. when kukai saw amu blush in recollection of kairi's confession, he smirked and wrapped an arm over her shoulders.

"what's with the blush, hinamori?" he said poking her cheek lightly.

"w-what are you talking about?" she replied in her typical cool and spicy fashion. she already knew that she couldn't fool anybody, but that didn't mean she couldn't try, right?

"yuiki-san, you should -" kairi tried again.

"oh! how're you, class prez? yaya helped put up a big christmas tree. it's so pretty!" she chatted away, basically taking no notice of his words.

"look, yaya -"

"hey, did you get yaya's presents yet? we mailed them so yaya doesn't know when they're gonna get there," she said, pouting at the injustice of the postal system.

"yes, they were great, but -"

"ah!" she exclaimed, apparently having thought of something and said in a suggestive tone, "you want to talk to amu-chi, don't you? here you go!"

"what? no! yaya!" protested an obviously mortified kairi.

"amu-chi! he wants to talk to you!" she announced, shoving the phone in her beet-red face.

"w-what?" asked amu desperately. she

ought the phone up to her ear with care, keeping in mind that a grinning kukai was listening intently to her conversation. "um... kairi-kun?"

"h-hello, amu-san," was the nervous reply. it was obvious that he was blushing on the other end of the phone.

"um... h-how's it going...?" she asked. kukai let out an exasperatedly amused

eath and stole the phone from her.

"yo! so, should we have an angel or a star?" he said, getting straight to the point.

"i... pardon?"

"for our tree, of course!" he explained, grinning foolishly.

"um... star, i guess...? but that's not why i called," he hurriedly replied. "you should..." he trailed off and sighed when he heard kukai yell out to the rest of them that they should put a star up. why was nobody listening to him?

nagihiko snatched it away from the older boy. "um... greetings...?"

"nagihiko fujisaki-san! it is an honour and privilege to speak with you once more," he said happily, remembering the first time they met. "i apologise, but there is an urgent matter..."

"ow! hey -" nagihiko exclaimed when yaya took back her phone. she'd hit him on the head to accomplish that feat.

"so, class prez, what are you doing now?" she asked, waving the others off.

"well, i'm watching..."

"oh! you should talk to tadase! everybody's missed you so much!" she said, not bothering to give him time to answer the question. there was a pause on the other end as kairi thought about the fact that tadase was more likely to listen to him than anyone thus far.

"alright, put him on."

in the meantime, kiseki had managed to entangle himself in some of the tinsel. "let go of me, you commoner! i must save christmas!" he berated the scarlet decoration.

"you must fight it, kiseki~desu! fight~desu!" cheered suu while idly floating next to him.