The Betrothal
The Betrothal
Disclaimer: I do not own a thing.
Note: just wanted to try something for this anime. And, I'm sorry for pure CCS fans, but I just had to add in some Naruto characters for this! Don't worry, only two, because they were the only suitable ones.
Still, do read and enjoy!
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Sakura's POV
Everyday, we wake each other up. (ok maybe its I who actually make it a point to set the alarm clock just a teeny bit earlier than when he usually wakes up, so I can see his half naked smexy body without him knowing. Still)
I get up, open my window and knock his window. If Syaoran doesn't wake up, I stop and come back every five minutes, until he sits up and gives me this great -goddamn hot- half smirk half smile, showing he is in a great mood. If he gets up and stomps off, well he is obviously in a bad mood.
Then, we get on with our stuff and meet downstairs in about 20 to 30 min, and walk to school together. Oh its bliss…We can jabber a million miles per hour about total rubbish, and can also walk in total silence. It never seems uncomfortable to do that, just like its ok you know.
Its right.
Today, I felt that he was bothered about something. Usually, he would be relaxed, staring up into the ever changing sky (yes, sadly not at me) and his hands would be stuffed down into his pockets. That day he was staring -in despair, perhaps?- down at his twiddling fingers, and seemed extremely nervous. He was sweating so much, he had to clean his hands on his pants and actually left a mark.
So being the tension breaker that I am, I drabble on and on, knowing he will tell me when he tells me.
Then just like that, when I pause to take a breath, he says quietly, "I've got a fiancée, Sakura."
Rooted to the ground, I look at him blankly, trying to deny what a fiancée is, and desperately thinking of new meanings for it.
It means friend, neighbour, pet, pen pal, even a doctor?
It should mean me.
I started babbling all sorts of questions, out of habit I guess, to give myself more time for a suitable, sane reaction that would make him think I didn't care that much.
He swallowed deeply, then
"…We are getting married when both she and I are eighteen."
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Syaoran's POV
It took all of my courage, saliva and perspiration to tell her about her. About my fiancée, Hinata. And it pained my heart to see her –the normally so freaking gorgeous girl- turn numb and hear her gasp.
But what hurt most was when she turned to face me and gave me a grin that didn't quite reach those emerald green eyes, saying, "what the fu... That's so…shocking! God. Give me some time to digest this ok?"
She hid her face using her short, brown silky hair, then started to bombard me with trivial questions, like "who is she?", "is she pretty?" and "what type of wedding do you plan to have?"
Now it was my turn to drop my jaw. Did she care that little about who I was going to marry two years later? No. I thought she would, I don't know, walk away or beat me up; something that would prove she cared.
That she loved me, as much as I love her.
Of course, she didn't know that I liked her. That even after I said I didn't like her four years ago, I did. I truly loved –love- her.
But I could not risk letting her know.
Maybe she was just hiding what she thought. That would mean she liked me, like like me. That would have been too good to be true, so it couldn't have been true.
From what I learnt in middle school, the person you like will never like you back. Either that or you guys will "remain friends" forever. Nothing closer than that.
Recomposing myself, I interrupted her again.
"…We are getting married when both she and I are eighteen."
I stole a glance at her and saw her naturally cheerful face crumple, and after a split second, smooth again. Her face became one in a neutral state. Perhaps she was thinking.
For the rest of the way to school, both of us were silent, with me watching her face, which was blank and devoid of emotions.
It was the kind of funeral silence.
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Sakura's POV
The people who have never been in love say love is all bliss.
People who have experienced unrequited love think love is torture.
The lucky people who have loved someone and know they received back the same love know love means to see your other half happy, even if sacrifice is inevitable.
But what if you're unsure? What if you don't know what category you are in?
Is knowing the truth, however painful, better than being lost?
School today was absolutely uneventful, besides the fact that I kept knocking into the weirdest things. And the scary thing was, I couldn't feel the pain. Tomoyo knew I was hurting, but she had no idea about what.
It was after school when my tears started to pour, when Naruto came up and asked about why I was being even more klutzy today, and where was my knight in shining armor, Syaoran?
Syaoran.
The guy I loved for five whole years now. The one who I would spend time with every birthday I had. The one who could make me smile just by smiling himself. The one I was saving my very first kiss and time for.
The one who was going to marry someone else.
With tears flowing steadily down my cheeks, I started hitting and throwing punches at Naruto, who was really freaked out by now, and cussing in really bad language. Tomoyo was next to me in a flash, and shook me gently but firmly. Then she hugged me, and that was all the encouragement I needed to start bawling.
I had wailed out everything that Syaoran had said to me in the morning, in girl moans.
Naruto, being a typical moronic guy, couldn't understand any of the girl screeching, so because I was so irritated, I cried, "Don't you get it, idiot? He's gonna marry another girl! He's going to be a father of a child that's not MINE!"
This was when (finally) Naruto got it. He walked over to us and embraced us, yes embraced, and started shushing me.
Who knew that he could be so…manly? It's great that I've got such great friends.
But it still hurts here like hell.
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Syaoran's POV
I managed to survive in school today, and could even joke with my friends in my class.
But seeing Sakura hit the box holding the fire extinguisher and her neutral face while getting up almost made me want to break down and run to her to hug her.
Why did I get betrothed to that bossy bitch anyway?
Oh yeah, because my deceased mum decided to take drugs and go into debt to buy more drugs, using the money from her father. Being a policeman, my father was at a loss at what to do, and tried to salvage the monster that used to be my mum. Then she just pushed up the daisies. The father saw his chance and abused the information about the unreported drug case, and pushed my father so far as to promise marriage of his own son to his daughter.
According to my dad., his daughter was named Hinata and had some eye problem that caused to veins connecting to her eyes to pop out. She seemed to not possess many outstanding talents, which made her undesirable at the subject of marriage.
He himself was The Hyuuga, the legendary businessman who made it to the top all by himself. What most people didn't know was that he was also the King of the Underworld, and could pull the strings using underhand means.
So obviously, he wanted someone, anyone, to marry her, even if that person had never actually seen her before.
Wow, that didn't take as long as I thought it would be.
After school, my legs walk me to Sakura's homeroom, like I do everyday, so that we can walk home together.
What do I see? Sakura bawling her eyes out and being embraced by Naruto, a male. Who was holding her waist, right above her…
Then I realize, Tomoyo is involved too. She is the only one who is facing my direction, thus the only one who notices me. She nudges her head towards the door, indicating that I should let Sakura calm down, and leave.
Now I know how it feels like when your not there for someone, or when you are unable to help.
I also know what its like to be the cause of so much heartache for your loved one.
It freaking hurts.
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Hinata's POV
When I was young, I believed that idolizing my father would make me turn into him, which in turn would make him love me more. I thought that if I could do everything as great as he could, he would pay more attention to me.
Everyday when he came back from work, I would show him what I did that day. But everything I did just earned a grunt from him, or even worse, a sharp comment on what I did wrong.
Still, I continued trying and trying, believing that one day, my perfect father would see that I could and would be the perfect daughter, despite my handicap.
Then my little sister, Hanabi, began to get better than me. Everything would be better, and everything I did, he would just compare it to her, saying, things like "look at Hanabi, she memorized the entire contents of Pride and Prejudice at the age of six" and "how come Hanabi needs only a month to get to the top of ninjutsu class and you…"
So I started giving up; it was too damn difficult. I figured my dad only needed one rising star in our family, anyway. So I got worse and worse, while my sister's life just got better and better. Even my cousin, the real star in our Hyuuga family, and the next in line to inherit the company, could lose to her in a debating battle, and she was two years younger than him.
So, in my father's eyes, I was the utter failure in his life. And soon, I was looking at myself from his angle too, and felt more and more uncertain of myself.
I began to talk with a ridiculous stutter and, from the exuberant girl I once was, I slowly, but surely, became part of the walls in class, and at home, the invisible daughter.
Just as i was about to take up drugs and alcohol to release myself, he saw me. He saved me.
Naruto is my hero.
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Naruto POV
I've never been in love.
I never have been loved.
So obviously, I don't know what love actually is.
But what I do know is that love can really tear your heart, because if you had seen my friend Sakura today, even you would feel so heartbroken for her, you would hug her and tell her against your better judgment that true love always prevails.
That was a line I learnt from watching movies, but in real life, it aint true people.
How dare Syaoran treat her like this? God, I thought he had always liked her!?
How can he MARRY someone that none of us know?
Now the only way to Sakura feel better is to…I've got no idea. Her sobbing literally caused a puddle to form on the floor.
I want to punch Syaoran so bad.
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Sakura POV
I'm drunk.
Really drunk.
But I just cant stop drinking. If I stop I'll think of the damning arranged marriage and think of him doing that with some stupid stranger.
"Hey there, babe. What's your name? I haven't seen you around here before."
I stared at the loser in front of me, asking my name.
"I don't know you and I don't want to, so get the hell away from me, asshole."
He was right though, I never came here before. I had never needed to. It was just some random pub I had picked that was far away from my house. And far away from his house.
Then I heard this really irritating voice shout, "Sakura! You idiot! Do you know how worried Tomoyo and I were? You're so lucky I found you here. Damn it man, I threw off a really hot date for this! And I can't call Tomoyo to pick you up because…"
Then Naruto saw my expression, and said, "not that I'd mind of course" and sat next to me. Then, trying to be discreet, moved slightly away.
So what kind of emotions were radiating from me?
I could name at least ten different ways of the word depression for that question.
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Syaoran's POV
I don't like getting drunk, because I lose all control of myself, so to vent my feelings, I chose Eriol to be my confidante.
I'm obviously the worst chooser of confidantes in the world.
He who was supposed to be supporting me in my time of need, at least for now, was agreeing that I was an idiot and telling me that knowing girls is definitely not my forte. And kept saying, "poor poor Sakura. Why did she have to fall for such a stupid guy?"
All in all, he was making me feel worse than I already was. And that's saying something.
So, basically just to shut his really wide mouth, I asked, "So what can I do?"
Then he was mute.
Damn, I thought he could help me.
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Naruto's POV
I know that Sakura is my friend and has a boyfriend who could beat me up whenever he wanted to. And that Tomoyo would strangle me if she knew what I was thinking.
But god, Sakura was hot.
Especially when she was drunk.
Her round face was so red and circled by her cropped brown hair, and her green eyes were so shiny and shimmering that you could stare right into her very soul. Those red lips…
All the more I'm jealous of that perfect, pretty boy Syaoran.
In the pub, I had to move away from Sakura in order to not think any dirty thoughts. Or at least my attempts in trying were more successful when I was further away from her drunk moans and deep breathing.
Just now, finding her was my first priority.
Now, I have to focus on restraining myself. and since i'm not much good at doing that, I just wanted to get her home.
"Sakura, we have to leave. Tomoyo and your family are worried about you. Anyway, you're definitely not a good drinker, so there's no point continuing. Come on."
And so we started the long walk home, with me carrying her as though she was my bride because she just refused to get off the freaking chair.
What's going to happen during the walk home? Will Naruto give in to want he wants? How did Hinata fall for Naruto? And is Eriol going to tell Syaoran about what he knows? Stay tuned to find out.
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Ending note: Like it? Hate it? Constructive criticism and reviews please.
Well I really like my idea, and I think that some people will be happy to know that I'm going to add Tomoyo's and Eriol's thoughts in here. Thoughts from characters of Naruto will be kept to a minimum, k?