Giving (gen) *repost*

[storypaint]

Comm: 30_friends
Words: 725
Title: Giving
Fandom: Cardcaptor Sakura
Subject: Li Syaoran and Daidouji Tomoyo
Theme(s): 2. Gifts
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP. All fanfiction archived here is a derivative of canon material that is not my property. I do not profit from these writings. The opinions and actions expressed in these stories are not necessarily the views and beliefs of the original author or me.

Excerpt: "What should I get Sakura for her birthday?" Syaoran asked desperately as soon as Tomoyo answered the phone.

Syaoran was bad at gift-giving. If it were up to him, he would grab the first thing he saw in the store and buy it and give it to the unlucky recepient. Indeed, Meiling and Syaoran's sisters acquired a great deal of strange presents over the years, including oversized hooded sweatshirts in the middle of summer, a birthday card that was memorably addressed to "my favorite grandma" ("I didn't read the card, I just bought it, I swear!"), and other unusual gifts.

But this one had to be special, and it would take a lot of work. Syaoran knew when he was in over his head. He called Tomoyo.

"What should I get Sakura for her birthday?" he asked desperately as soon as she answered the phone.

"You know what she likes, Li-kun."

"She likes cutesy things. I'm no good with cutesy things!" he said, almost panicky. It would be the first birthday gift he got her, and he wanted it to be good.

And, in fact, Syaoran was terrible with cutesy things. The last "cutesy thing" he had gotten for one of his sisters was a live rat. His reasoning? "I liked it!"

Tomoyo didn't know the story, but she suspected something along those lines. She agreed to help Syaoran pick out a gift.

*

The first thing Tomoyo did was observe Syaoran's shopping "techniques." Five minutes after they entered the store, she grabbed him by the elbow and made him sit down.

"A watch?" she said, lifting an eyebrow at the item he had in his hands. He had been halfway to the checkout when she caught him.

"Sakura-chan is always complaining about being late!" he defended.

"This is a man's watch," Tomoyo informed him dryly. "It wouldn't even fit your wrist, let alone Sakura-chan's dainty one."

"Oh," Syaoran said. He looked down at the watch and felt embarrassed.

"Shopping isn't like fighting, Li-kun," Tomoyo informed him in a teaching tone of voice. "It's like dancing."

"Dancing?"

"You have to do a lot of twists and turns before you get done, but it turns out beautifully," she said, beaming.

The last time Syaoran had danced with anyone, he had stepped on her feet, and he wondered how that fit into her metaphor, but he didn't say anything. Tomoyo dragged him off to the next store.

*

Three hours later, Syaoran and Tomoyo emerged from one last store with a small plastic bag. As they were walking towards Tomoyo's house, Syaoran took the item in the bag out and studied it again.

"I think she'll like it," he said hopefully.

"She'll like it because it's from you, Li-kun," Tomoyo said knowingly. "No matter how small or simple the gift, I'm sure she'll treasure it."

"Thank you, Daidouji-san," Syaoran said sincerely. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Had to explain to Sakura why you bought her a man's watch and an erector set?"

"Yeah."

*

Sakura loved Syaoran's gift, of course, and Syaoran and Tomoyo went Christmas shopping together that year. Syaoran resisted the urge to purchase weird gifts for family and friends and instead listened to Tomoyo's advice.

That afternoon when they were headed home, Syaoran pulled something from his bag that Tomoyo didn't remember helping him pick out. It was a silver hair pin, with a purple flower molded on it as decoration.

"It's for you," Syaoran said, ducking his head and presenting it to Tomoyo. "For all your help."

Tomoyo took the pin delicately. "What a beautiful hairpin! Where did you find it, Li-kun?"

"One of the places we were in was selling them up by the counter, and I thought it might suit you," Syaoran said, his face a little red. He wasn't used to being praised for his purchases, after all. It was strange to him. He wanted to find a way to thank her, and he had hoped she would like it.

"It's wonderful, Li-kun," Tomoyo said, carefully tucking the pin into her own bag. She wore it to the Christmas party the next day and both she and Syaoran were pleased when Sakura complimented her on it.

That night when Tomoyo went home she pulled the pin from her hair and put it away next to an identical one she'd gotten from her mother last year. She smiled a little. She'd never tell him.