A/N: Okay, here's the third of my Valentine's fics. I shall warn you now – it does have its OOC moments, so you are welcome to either suspend disbelief or stop reading now. I also have the horrible habit of aging SxS, so it might make it better if you bump them up a couple of years, I don't know … I was debating over whether or not this was even good enough to post, but it's up now, so judge it at will! CCS!Syaoran can be so hard to wrangle fluff out of … but it's still cute, I guess. And isn't that what Valentine's Day is all about?
Huge thanks as always to SilentCynara for beta'ing my random Valentine's writing spree at such short notice!
Hope you all had a fab fuzzy and cuddly V-Day!
Disclaimer: Still don't own it. All I have are my yummy Valentine's cookies (who needs a boyfriend when your friends rock this much?).
Summary: Syaoran hates Valentine's Day. Unless he's bleeding heavily and stuck in a gym with Kinomoto Sakura, in which case the day doesn't seem too bad …
Butterfly Kisses
"Ne, Syaoran-kun? What are you doing after school today?"
Syaoran panicked as he felt his heart speed up and his face flush red – his usual reaction to Kinomoto Sakura. The dense (but so sweet and beautiful) girl frowned, tilting her head and peering at him worriedly. "Syaoran-kun? Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.
He took a deep breath, determined to get himself under control. "I'm fine," he told her firmly, before remembering her original question. "I don't have any plans tonight."
"Really?" she asked in surprise.
"Why would I?" Syaoran asked, almost defensively.
Sakura giggled happily. "Because it's Valentine's Day, silly!"
There was no hope of him getting out of this conversation without looking like a fool, and so Syaoran resigned himself to his fate. "W-What … I mean, h-how – I-I-I … so?"
"No reason," she shrugged. "I just thought you might have something planned – you told me ages ago that you have someone you like, remember? Aren't you seeing her?"
"I – no," he answered shortly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Sakura said, looking genuinely disappointed. Then she suddenly brightened, and clapped her hands together joyfully. "Oh! Then are you coming out with us tonight? Loads of people from our class are having a party at Tomoyo-chan's house to celebrate Valentine's Day – we're going to have food and cake and music, and it's going to be so much fun!"
"I don't celebrate Valentine's Day," Syaoran replied, wishing she'd turn back to the front of the classroom – didn't she realise the effect she had on him?
Sakura's face fell. "Why not?"
"Because it's tacky," he said casually.
"Tacky?" Sakura echoed, looking upset. "How can celebrating love be tacky?"
Syaoran realised that he had royally put his foot in his mouth, but he couldn't take back what he said because he knew if he did he'd blurt out something stupid. Like that he loved her, for example.
"It's not about love any more," he grumbled. "It's all about awful flowers and stuffed animals and material junk. Personally I can't wait until it's over."
At that moment Terada-sensei entered the room, and Sakura smiled weakly at Syaoran. "I guess you're right. Still. I kind of like it."
She turned to the front, and Syaoran smacked his head on the desk. When was he going to learn to keep his mouth shut?
xxx
"So, Li-kun … I hear you're not coming to my party."
Syaoran groaned loudly, his solitary lunch now ruined by the cryptic duo that was Daidouji Tomoyo and Hiiragizawa Eriol.
"No, Daidouji, I'm not," he replied heavily.
"Such a shame," Tomoyo mused, sitting beside him on the grass. "It's going to be so much fun. And I'm sure it would've made Sakura-chan so happy to see you there."
Syaoran blushed furiously, hoping that if he stayed silent they would give up and go away.
"After all, it would have been the perfect day for you to tell her how you feel," Eriol sighed, sitting down on his other side. "So romantic."
"Valentine's Day is nothing more than a cheap commercial holiday that benefits nobody except card manufacturers," Syaoran stated stubbornly.
"But Sakura-chan doesn't think so," Tomoyo protested.
"I do."
"Oh well," Eriol said sadly. "We tried, Daidouji-san. But I do think Sakura-chan deserves a nice Valentine's Day – do you think she'd dance with me at your party if I asked her?"
"Oh, I'm sure she'd love to!" Tomoyo cried delightedly, as Eriol offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet. "We'll see you later, Li-kun!"
Syaoran watched them go, silently fuming.
The sane, rational part of him knew he should take the high road because those two were deliberately provoking him – the rest of him was mad as all hell at the thought of Eriol even coming close to Sakura.
Still … as much as he hated to admit it … the pair might have had a point.
Sakura had seemed genuinely upset when he'd gone off on his anti-Valentine rant. And after all, if you loved someone, shouldn't you try to make them happy? Even if it embarrassed you? Even if you weren't ready to tell them how you felt about them?
Syaoran had no idea. But he figured he ought to try and think of a way to make it up to her.
xxx
The final bell rang, and the entire class jumped to their feet, eagerly jabbering away about their Valentine's plans. A few – such as Chiharu and Yamazaki – had dates; the majority were going to Tomoyo's party that evening. Boys were comparing the boxes of chocolate they had received, while girls were already talking about what they hoped to get for White Day.
Syaoran waited for them all to leave, before desperately trying to find a way to juggle the mountain of chocolate boxes he had received that day.
He hadn't received anything from Sakura. He knew it was his own fault, but to his horror he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
The walk home was incredibly depressing. He was weighed down with chocolate (earning him jealous stares from his fellow males), but it didn't matter when he'd somehow upset the one person he cared about. He had to think of something he could do …
Suddenly Syaoran stopped in his tracks, the boxes of chocolate falling to the ground with a crash. That strange aura that they'd been dealing with for weeks was back again – and it was coming from the direction of the school.
Without a second thought he turned around, sprinting in the direction of the disturbance.
He followed the aura, not to the school, but to Seijuu High School next door. He found Sakura in the gymnasium, battling what appeared to be every piece of gym equipment in the school, now fully animated and set on beating her up.
Syaoran watched in horror as the arrows from an archery set sprang to life, racing towards the Card Mistress at an alarming speed. The sensible thing to do would have been to use an ofuda. But when he saw that Sakura was busy using Windy on a collection of hockey sticks and had no idea that several arrows were flying towards her head, he panicked and ran at her as fast as he knew how, praying he would reach her in time.
He did – he barrelled into her at the speed of a freight train, knocking her to the ground and out of harm's way. But he was a second too late to stop the last arrow piercing his shoulder.
Sakura was disorientated for some time as she struggled to sit up. When she realised that Syaoran was the one sprawled on top of her, and that he had just saved her from a bunch of arrows, she nearly cried in relief.
"Oh, Syaoran-kun, I'm so happy to see you!" she said, looking around fearfully. "I felt this aura and I had to skip cheerleading practice and – and – you're bleeding!"
"No I'm not," he denied automatically, trying to twist his shoulder out of her view. He desperately didn't want her worrying about him.
"Oh, you are!" she cried miserably, "Oh, there's blood everywhere … I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!"
"Why are you sorry, it's not your fault," he grumbled, the pain making him even more grouchy than usual.
"It is," she sniffed. "You're so kind; you came all the way back to help me and then you get hurt because I wasn't paying enough attention."
"You're not paying attention now!" he scolded her.
"I'll deal with it in a second," Sakura replied distractedly, running her hands around the wound. "I have to – I don't know, should I take the arrow out?"
To his horror, Syaoran saw a set of ropes coiling up behind her like snakes. "Sakura, look out!" he roared, desperately trying to push her out of the way. He was too late, though – the ropes snatched her, coiling around her left wrist and her ankles until she was bound, held captive in midair.
His shoulder smarted horribly, but he did his best to ignore it, calling out, "Hong Kong, Sakura! Remember Hong Kong!"
Her eyes widened as she thought back to her visit, when Madoushi had tied her up in a similar fashion and held her underwater. Determination now written all over her face, she held up the staff in her free hand and called on the Arrow Card to transform and release her. It did as it was bid, and just like that, every last bit of gym equipment fell to the floor, now completely motionless.
Sakura was dropped onto the floor, and she spent several seconds glancing round the room, looking for movement. When nothing stirred, she scrambled to her feet and ran over to Syaoran.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she whimpered again. "Should I call an ambulance?"
"And say what?" he grinned, even though the pain caused it to come out as more of a grimace. "You were using me for target practice?"
"I-I don't know …" Sakura stammered, looking close to tears.
Syaoran sighed, feeling sorry for her. "It's not that bad, I promise," he lied, raising a hand and wrapping it around the arrow, near the head. "I just have to pull it out – you might want to look away."
He waited until her head was turned, then he tugged on the arrow with all his might and pulled it out of the broken flesh. He'd had every intention not to make a sound, so as not to worry her, but he couldn't help emitting a grunt of pain as he tossed the bloodstained arrow to the side.
At the sound Sakura turned back to him, her eyes wide and fearful.
"It's okay," he hurried to assure her. "Really – it's out now, so the worst is over. It's not as bad as it looks."
To his horror he realised that she had started to cry.
"Oh no – oh please, don't cry," he begged, his head falling to the floor with a thump.
"S-Sorry," she sniffed, scrubbing at her eyes with her hands. "I'm such a baby."
"You're not a baby," Syaoran sighed, tugging his torn sleeve away and peering at the wound. It wasn't as bad as he'd thought – sure it stung like hell, but the arrow hadn't actually penetrated that deep.
"There's a nurse's office down the hall," she said, her voice still wavering. "Maybe it'll have something in it that'll help."
Syaoran watched her walk unsteadily towards the door and leave the gym, before covering his eyes with his uninjured arm. This wasn't fair. Whoever was doing this to her was sick – it was dangerous, and they were just kids. Especially her. If she'd been the one hit by that arrow … He let himself drift deeper into morbid thoughts of how he could punish Sakura's attacker (pliers, thumbtacks and a vat of boiling tar would probably do it), until he was so distracted he didn't even hear her coming back.
He yelped as something cold was pressed against his bare skin, and he looked up to see Sakura sliding an ice pack against the wound.
"It might help numb the pain," she said weakly, trying to smile for him.
"It does," he assured her.
"I thought there might be a teacher around," Sakura sniffed. "It's only half past five – but there's no one at all. The whole school's deserted."
"It's always like that, isn't it?" he sighed. "Whoever's doing this makes sure he has no witnesses." Syaoran shifted slightly; the floor was hard against his back, but the cold compress was helping to dull the pain in his shoulder a little. Then suddenly something clicked. "Half past five?" he echoed. "Doesn't Daidouji's party start at six?"
Sakura blinked. "Party? Oh! Tomoyo-chan's … yeah, I guess it does."
"Well then why are you still here?" he scolded her. "You're still wearing your cheerleading uniform – you'll be late if you don't go and change now!"
She looked at him in shock. "You think I'd leave you here hurt to go to a party?"
"You should go," Syaoran replied stubbornly. "I can call Wei and have him pick me up. I – I know how much this whole Valentine's thing means to you. You should go."
"Absolutely not," she scolded him, reaching down to take his phone out of his pocket. "I'll call Wei-san for you and we'll wait together. And then I'm going back to your apartment with you to make sure that you're okay."
He stammered and stuttered in a vain attempt to convince her that he'd be fine alone, but she resolutely ignored him as she had a brief conversation with his guardian. The situation was resolved – Wei would be there in twenty minutes, so all they had to do was wait.
"You should go," Syaoran tried again. "You deserve to have fun on Valentine's Day."
Sakura smiled slightly. "I thought you didn't believe in Valentine's Day?"
"I don't," he replied bluntly, before backtracking, "I-I mean … I don't know. It's not that I don't like any of it, it's just gotten so … silly. This obsession over who gives what to who and how much money people spend … it's ridiculous."
"Well of course," she agreed, making him look up at her in surprise. "But the idea is nice, don't you think? A whole day devoted to the person you love most?"
Syaoran flushed furiously, but this time he hoped he could blame it on the pain. "I don't know. I guess, if you've got someone."
"You told me you did have someone," she reminded him gently.
"I did – I mean …" he stammered hopelessly. "I do."
"I'm glad," Sakura beamed at him. "Me too."
"You do?" he asked despite himself.
"Of course I do – I have you, don't I?" she said, and Syaoran felt his heart leap out of his chest. "You're so kind to me, Syaoran-kun. You're nice when I'm sad, and we have fun together, and you always, always help me when I'm in trouble. In fact, I can't think of anyone better to spend Valentine's Day with!"
Of course, she had meant it in the platonic sense. But it was still nice to hear.
"You deserve to be with the one you love on Valentine's Day," he murmured somewhat hazily. "You … someone like you should have everything you want."
She blushed prettily, and as he thought back on what he'd said he realised just how out of it he was.
"Thank you," she whispered quietly. "But I'm happy where I am."
Syaoran looked up at her blearily, and she smiled gently at him. It was different from her usual bright, flashing grin – this one was soft and special, and he got the silly notion in his head that he was the only person she'd ever smiled like that for.
"You know," Sakura said suddenly, crawling over to where she'd dropped her bag in all the chaos. "I made these for you – I didn't think I should give them to you because you didn't like Valentine's Day. But … well, they're not flashy, or tacky, or expensive. They're not even that good, actually. So maybe … you'd accept them?"
He watched in awe as he held out a massive box of chocolates to him (bigger than Eriol's box, he noted with satisfaction). "Of course I'll accept them," he said gruffly, refusing to meet her eye. "At least I would if I could move my arm."
Sakura giggled, and he closed his eyes knowing that he'd somehow made up for his idiocy of the morning – even if it did take an arrow in his shoulder for him to do it.
"Here," she said suddenly, "Open your mouth."
Syaoran did what she'd instructed without opening his eyes, and in shock he realised that she was feeding him chocolate by hand.
He may have been out of it, but that was too far on the intimacy scale, even for him.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Sakura cried as he began to choke on the chocolate. "Oh, that was a bad idea, wasn't it?" She thumped him on the back, blushing slightly as he managed to spit it out before collapsing back onto the floor. "I'm sorry," she said again. "This just isn't our day, huh?"
He chuckled slightly, shaking his head.
"Here," Sakura smiled, placing a chocolate in his free hand. "Maybe we should try it this way."
Syaoran agreed, and he popped the chocolate in his mouth. "It's good," he told her, and she beamed with happiness. He nudged the box towards her. "You should have some."
"Oh, but I made them for you –"
"Have one while we wait," he insisted.
She smiled and shrugged, taking one happily. "I guess they're not bad," she admitted. "Better than the first batch, anyway. But I used them as a decoy for Kero-chan, and he eats anything."
Syaoran laughed again (he couldn't remembering laughing this much before, and he wasn't sure if it was the pain or Sakura that was making him act so strangely), and Sakura smiled down happily at him.
"You're laughing," she observed in delight. "I always think you don't laugh enough."
"There's not a lot to laugh at," he grumbled in reply, shifting restlessly on the floor as Sakura pressed another chocolate into his hand.
"Are you uncomfortable?" Sakura asked him anxiously.
"No," he lied automatically.
She grinned and rolled her eyes, before carefully taking Syaoran's head and placing it in her lap. "Better?" she asked.
His head was going to explode from the redness, but he nodded anyway.
"Good," she smiled.
He wasn't sure, but he thought he must have drifted off for a little while, because the next thing he knew Wei was picking his way across the ransacked gymnasium and helping him get to his feet. But when he looked back on it later, he vaguely recalled the sensation of lips being pressed to his forehead in the sweetest of butterfly kisses.