"Otou-san, can you tell me the story of how you met Oka-san again onegai?" asked a very bubbly nine year-old Mayu as she looked into her father's intense amber-colored eyes.
"Of course sweetie, but after the story, you really need to go to bed. We need to wake up early tomorrow in order to surprise your oka-san with delicious birthday breakfast" the man answered with a smile on his face. He took a seat on the edge of little Mayu's bed and leaned back on the bedpost and closed his eyes.
"It all started exactly twelve years ago…"
---------Flashback---------
Syaoran was on his way to school from his apartment with a glare plastered on his face.
Why the hell is Meiling making me go to her stupid friend's birthday part!? I don't even know her! Sigh. I guess that means I'll need to go buy a birthday present for her after school. As Syaoran arrived at the traffic light he saw that there were fences lined up on the other side and a sign stating that the road and sidewalk was closed due to construction.
Looks like I have to take a detour and walk through the park to get to school. Syaoran turned to his right, crossed the street, and continued towards the entrance of the park. He looked at his watch and noticed that he still had 20 minutes before school started.
"Good, it looks like I will still be on time for school even though I have to walk an extra three blocks due to the construction. I can't say the same for Meiling though. That's what she gets for always waking up at the last minute. Hehehe."
As Syaoran walked through the park, he admired the scenery before him. Sakura trees and peonies lined the interior of the park which, combined with the morning sun, made the park glow with a heavenly pink hue.
I kneeled down to admire the peonies when I was suddenly knocked flat on the ground. My face was rammed into the grass as I felt something heavy on top of me. "Gomenasai," I heard a female voice say.
I can't believe this is happening to me. I rolled over a little to see who it was that landed on me, which wasn't a very good idea because the next thing I know, my face ended up just inches from my attacker's face. She had beautiful emerald-colored eyes and shoulder-length auburn hair. Her cherry-colored lips looked smooth and so kissable. Kirei. As I looked into her eyes, she stared back at me. I have no idea how long we remained like this.
A boy was walking by while holding his mother's hand and pointed at us. "Mommy, look at those two couples. Are they going to kiss?" This woke me up from my dream-like state which made me realize the position we were in. I was on the bottom while this girl was on the side with her arms draped over my chest. Our legs were tangled with each other's and there were only a two-inch distance between my lips and hers.
I quickly unwound myself from this girl and jumped up. I looked back down at the girl who was now sitting up. I offered her my hand. She looked at it hesitantly for a few seconds before placing her hand on mine. I helped her up and noticed that she was wearing the same uniform as my school. I started to dust myself as I saw her bow.
"I'm really really sorry about that. I was reading my book up in the branches of this tree when suddenly the branch snapped and I fell. I'm really sorry"
"It's okay," I replied. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
She shook her head. "No, I'm fine since you broke my fall." She gave me a big smile which made my heart flutter a little.
Her eyes widen a little as she walked closer to me.
"Your face, there's a smudge of dirt on it." She pulled out a handkerchief from her bag as she started to wipe the dirt off my face.
"Thank-you" I gave her a little grin.
She looked as her wristwatch and her eyes widen
"HOEEEE, I'm going to be late again!" She ran off before I could get her name. I watched as she dashed in the direction of our school before I realized that we went to the same school which meant that I was late too!
I ran as fast as I could in the same direction as the girl. I arrived to school with one minute to spare. I quickly changed my shoes and grabbed my book for my calculus class before making a run towards my classroom.
As I opened the door to the classroom, I noticed that our teacher had not arrived yet. I walked in, took my usual seat near the window before collapsing. I was breathing really heavily from all the running and what's worse was the fact that Meiling got to school before I did.
Meiling walked over to my seat before poking me on my cheeks with her finger.
"You okay there Syaoran?" she continued to poke me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Would you stop poking me now!?" I yelled before pushing her finger away from my cheeks.
"How did you manage to get to school on time, Meiling?"
"Oh, I asked Wei to drive me since I didn't feel like walking today. It's a good thing too cause I would have been late if I walked this morning. They're doing construction a three block from your house you know?"
I closed my eyes as I calmed down and my breathing started to become more even.
"So, why were you almost late today? It's not like you to come to class ten seconds before the tardy bell rings" My left eye twitched a little.
"I…forget it. I'm not in the mood to talk right now."
"Are you still mad about me making you go to my friend's birthday party tomorrow?"
No response.
"Syaoran?" She started poking me in the cheeks again.
Sigh "No, I'm not mad at you. I'm just thinking about something right now"
The teacher finally arrived five minutes late. I saw Meiling walk back to her seat from the corner of my eye. I took out my calculus book as I only half focused on the lesson while the other half of my focus was thinking back about the events that took place at the park. Her eyes, I can't seem get them out of my mind. I wonder who she is.
---------End Flashback---------
"So it was love at first sight, huh Otou-san?" little Mayu asked while hugging her teddy bear.
"You could say that. I was so unfocused that day because I kept thinking of your mother that I ended up getting hit in the head with a soccer ball during gym." I looked into little Mayu's eyes, the same eyes my beloved has, and smiled.
"You know, I never though I would see your mother again. It wasn't until after school that I met her again by coincidence."
---------Flashback---------
"Ok class, that will be all for today. Have a great weekend everyone."
I sighed. Finally, it's over. I stretched my arms in the air before getting up from my seat. I saw Meiling walking over.
"Want to come grab some food with my friends and me?"
"No thanks. I'm going to head out and look for a present for tomorrow." I made my way towards the door.
"Before I go, the friend that's having the party tomorrow is a girl right?"
"Yep."
"Okay, just making sure." Now what kind of things would a girl like? Sigh. Why couldn't it have been a guy? It would have made shopping for a present so much easier.
"Um…any idea what kind of things she would like?"
Meiling looked me in the eye and giggled. "Syaoran, you have four sisters. Don't tell me you've never had to buy presents for their birthdays."
"But that's different. I know what they like and dislike so choosing a present for them was easy. We're talking about a complete stranger here. For all I know, your friend could be a tomboy. Hell, I don't even know your friend's name."
"Fine, but she's not a tomboy. Her favorite color is pink so maybe clothes, jewelry, or a stuffed animal. Use your imagination, Syaoran."
"Whatever, I'm going to the Tomoeda mall." I walked out of the classroom and headed towards my locker to put the books that I don't need away before heading home to get my car.
I had to walk through the park again which I didn't mind. I enjoyed the view. As I was looking around, I spotted a familiar figure. It was that girl that that fallen on me this morning. She was walking by herself whilst reading her book. I saw her heading towards the pond and yelled to get her attention.
"Miss, watch out!" Too late. She fell into the water and is now soaking wet. I jogged over to her and extended my hand.
"Are you okay?"
She took my hand once again and pulled herself up. "Just a little wet, but I'm fine."
"You know, you seem to get into a lot of accidents." I chuckled.
"I can't help it. I was born clumsy." She pouted. "Ever since I could remember, I've always ran into walls or tripped over my foot, but this is the first time I have ever fallen into a pound." She flashed me a brilliant smile which I couldn't help but smile back.
"You should go home and change before you catch a cold…"
"Sakura, Kinomoto Sakura." Sakura, I repeated in my mind. Cherry blossom.
"Hai, Kinomoto-san."
"Just Sakura is fine, err…"
"Li Syaoran, you can call me Syaoran" As I smiled, I think I saw a small blush appear on her cheeks. It couldn't be, maybe I'm imagining it. My thoughts were soon interrupted when a small sneeze erupted from Sakura.
"Are you cold?" I took off my school blazer and draped it over her shoulders.
"Thank-you Syaoran" she flashed me another one of her gorgeous smiles.
We chatted with each other while walking. It turns out that she only lived two houses away from where I lived. I have never felt so comfortable talking to a girl as I did with Sakura.
We soon arrived at her house. We bid each other good-bye and I watched her walk through the gate and fish through her book bag for her keys. A few minutes later, a sad expression was plastered on her face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I think I might have dropped my keys in the pound when I fell in." She looked like she was going to cry. "My parents aren't home and my brother is currently going to college out of town. I d-don't know what to do"
"If you don't mind, you could come over to my apartment. You'll catch a cold waiting out here for your parents to come home." I looked down at my shoes. "I live by myself though. I-I hope you don't mind"
I looked up and I saw her look down at her shoes as well. "I don't mind. I just hope I'm not a bother to you."
"No, not at all." I grabbed her hand as I lead her towards my apartment. When we arrived, I went to my room to grab a towel and a change of clothes.
"Here, these are my cousin's clothes. She spends the night with me sometimes. I'm sure she wouldn't mind letting you borrow them. The bathroom is down the hall, first door on your right. You should go take a shower and I can wash your clothes afterwards."
She takes the clothes and towel into her arms and makes her way towards the bathroom. "You can just leave your wet clothes in the blue basket and I'll go fetch them later."
She nods her head and continues walking towards the bathroom. Sigh. I've been sighing a lot today; probably because today was so eventful. Damn, I still have to go buy a present for Meiling's friend. What am I going to do? I looked at my watch. Looks like I can't make it to the mall in time. They will be closing in a few minutes.
I walked towards the bathroom door and knocked. "Sakura? I have to go out for a bit. I'll be back in a few minutes. After you're done with your shower you can watch some TV or you can surf the web on my laptop that's on my desk till I get back." I heard an 'okay' and made my way out the door.
I walked a few blocks to a nearby toy store that sold stuffed animals. As I walked in, I heard a ding indicating that someone had walked through the door.
"Hi, welcome to Tomoeda toys. How can I help you sir?" said a man with navy blue hair and glasses.
"Eriol?"
"Syaoran!? What are you doing here? Buying a present for your girlfriend?" he winked at me.
I shivered. "She's not my girlfriend. I just need a present for a girl I don't know whose party I am being forced to attend."
"Right, whatever you say Syaoran." I swear, I would have punched him a long time ago if he wasn't one of my best friends.
I looked around the store. There wasn't anything that really caught my attention. After another twenty minutes of looking around, I was about to give up. Then, from the corner of my eyes, I spotted a little teddy bear; at least I think it was a bear, with a gigantic head, small body, wings, and a tail. I looked at the tag for the name. Kero—it stated. Alright, I'm going to go with this one.
I brought it up to the counter so that Eriol could ring it up.
"That will be 1499 yen please." I handed him 1500 yen and told him I didn't need the change.
"I'll see you at school on Monday, Eriol"
"I hope your girlfriend likes Kero!" I heard him yell before I exited the shop.
I stuck my head back into the store, "Fk you Eriol. I told you she's not my girlfriend" and exited the shop once again.
I arrived back home after a few minutes to see that Sakura had already finished her shower and was now sitting on the couch looking through my photo albums. Wait, my photo albums!? I ran over to where she is and snatched it from her hands.
"Hey! I was looking at that"
"Well too bad. I like to my privacy."
"Well it's too late for that, I already saw the picture of you as a baby dancing around naked." She giggled and I blushed. I knew I should have destroyed that picture. She looked at the bag I had in my hand.
"What's that?" pointing at the bag
"Kero" I simply replied.
"Care to be more specific?"
"Nope" She pounced on me and grabbed the bag. She pulled out Kero and smiled.
"Aww, how cute. Is it for me?" she asked while hugging bear really tightly. I swear, I thought I just saw the bear turn purple from being suffocated.
"No, it's for my cousin's friend." I took the bear back.
"You're no fun" she pouted. God, she looked so cute right now.
"Hey Syaoran, I'm going to take a quick nap. I'm really tired right now."
"Sure, you can sleep in the guest room. It's the forth door to your right." I pointed towards the hallway. "Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?" She shook her head.
"Thank-you very much Syaoran. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't with me today. I would have probably been sitting in front of my house still crying my eyes out."
I smiled. "No problem" I watched as she swayed towards the hall. I guess she was really tired. I turned on the TV and watched the news for a few minutes before I decided to do the laundry.
It was now 10:00 P.M. I decided that I should go wake Sakura up so she could go home. I walked into the guestroom and saw…no one. Where did she go? She couldn't have disappeared, could she? I began searching all the guestrooms before ultimately ending up in front of the door to my room. I opened the door. There she was with my blanket wrapped around her tightly and a smile plastered on her face. The moonlight made her seem very angelic, very innocent. I was in awe. I can't be in love can I? I just met her today.
I was hesitant to wake up sleeping beauty, but I had to. She needed to go home or else her parent will be worried about her. I walked over to her before nudging her.
"Sakura, it's 10 o'clock. It's about time you go home."
"Ten more minutes Otou-san." I chuckled. I started to shake her again. No response. Then I decided to poke her in the cheeks like Meiling did to me this morning. Well, that didn't help much. It only made her drool a little bit on my pillow. She seemed like a little child at this moment. I gave up and decided I should go over to her house and let her parents know.
I got dressed and headed out the door. Within ten minutes I arrived at the Kinomoto residence. I pushed the doorbell and waited for the door to be answered. A few seconds later, a tall man with auburn and glasses answered the door. I think he was Sakura's father.
"Hi, may I help you young man?" he asked with a very sincere expression.
"Ano, are you Sakura-san's father?" I wonder how I am going to explain the situation to him.
"Yes, and who might you be young man?"
"I'm Syaoran, a friend of Sakura's. She fell into a pond this morning and lost her keys so she couldn't go home. She was soaking wet so I offered her to stay at my apartment until someone came home but she fell asleep and I can't wake her up no matter how hard I tried." I looked him in the eyes wonder what he was thinking.
It took the man a few seconds to process everything that he had heard and then he smiled. "Is that so? Well, once Sakura is asleep, no one will be able to wake her up; and I mean no one." I hope he doesn't think I did anything bad to Sakura.
"I trust Sakura and I trust her judgment in choosing her friends," he replied as if answering my thoughts. "Besides, you seem very kind and gentle. I'm sure I can trust you to take care of her right, Syaoran?" I nodded. I gave Kinomoto-san my house number in case he needed to reach me for any reason at all.
"Well, it looks like Sakura will be in your care for tonight." He extended his hand and I shook it.
"Goodnight, Syaoran"
"Goodnight, Sir" I turned around and left the Kinomoto residence and headed back home where I'll get my much-needed rest.
As soon as I walked through the door, I made my way towards one of the guestrooms and fell face down on the mattress and fell into a deep slumber right away.
---------End Flashback---------
"The next day—" I turned to face my daughter and noticed that she was already fast asleep. I kissed her on her forehead before silently making my way to the door.
"Goodnight Mayu" I whispered before turning off the lights and walking out of her room.
I made my way towards my bedroom, our bedroom. I smiled as I glanced at the sign that's nailed onto the door—"Syaoran and Sakura Li"
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Well, this is the start of my first fanfiction. How is it guys? All suggestions and criticism are welcomed. My grammar kinda sucks so I don't mind if you point out any spelling errors as well.