Star Of My Heart
A one-shot dedicated to SS, for the sweetest and cutest and most innocent love… ever.
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, or its characters, or the story title.
Summary: Just a quick night at another ordinary summer camp, but Li discovered true friendship on the way. True friendship, and no more…? Or was Li just in denial?
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
The little kids danced around the campfire, squealing and clapping along to the beat of the very well-known nursery rhyme, not caring if they sang out of tune. There was no moon that night, but the weather was excellent. The children's tiny bodies were immersed in the pale starlight, their innocent, joyful voices carried far away by the sea breeze, washed up by the roaring waters, onto the shore of the other end of the beach, where a mansion could be seen, majestic and forlorn.
A teenager sat in the balcony on the first floor of the mansion, eyebrows furrowed upon hearing the cheery noise from the campfire night. Stupid irritating noises. He wanted to shout out all of his frustration, but couldn't. If he woke his okaa-sama…
He gave up feeling annoyed, glared up at the ever-blinking stars, and gave a rare smile of his. The only good thing about camps and sleepless nights were those insignificant inhabitants of the earthen night sky.
They're really like diamonds, aren't they, Sakura?
X
Eleven-year-old Li stood by his canvas tent like a Tent Guard, feeling extremely annoyed with his mother. Why does she always have to enroll me in all these stupid summer camps? She DOES know I'm hopeless at making friends. So what's the use, really? I'd rather be in Sword-fighting class.
He punched his tent in frustration as soon as the 'making friends' thought came to mind. People simply didn't understand him! It wasn't like he was an abnormal human who didn't need any friends. It was only because he didn't know how to make some. And so, the rumor of him having a cold exterior spread through the entire school quicker than lightning, and his attempt of trying to make friends was becoming more difficult by the second. Because when another second passed, another person would hear the rumor.
Of course the summer camp kids didn't know anything about Li, but they could probably already tell from his uncaring behavior. He looked almost stranded, standing away from the others like that, not uttering a single word when the others were happily chirping the night away.
Yet after a while, Li got a little bored since up till now, his only activity had been standing upright, folding his arms and tapping his feet like he couldn't care less. He lay down on the soft beach sand, facing upwards, resting his head on his arm. The camp teacher had tried persuading the kids to go back to their tents and sleep, but who ever listens? And so the teacher simply walked back to his own tent, and was probably snoring away now.
Li chuckled grimly. Adults couldn't even handle a few kids (in fact, there were about twenty-five).
Wanting to forget all of his problems, Li stared up at the midnight-blue sky only to find – nothing, besides the crescent moon.
The sky's lonelier than me!
Li lay there, occasionally brushing away a few ants from his legs. Those ant things really got on his nerves sometimes. He tried observing their movement but failed due to his short attention span, and so he was really surprised –
"Hullo! Don't you want to come and join us?" a lilting voice from behind squeaked.
"Yeah, it's really fun out here on the beach! And besides, Terada-sensei must be asleep already." A muffled voice came from behind something, and soon Li found out that it was a camcorder switched to night mode.
"Hmph." He muttered and stared the other way.
"Aww, just come with us!" Girl One refused to give up and started dragging Li by the shoulder and he thought he'd just let her try.
"Ugh, he's really heavy!" Girl One winced and panted heavily before wiping away the perspiration dripping down the side of her face with her free hand. "Help, Tomoyo-chan!" He glared at them with the corner of his eye, seeing that Girl Two a.k.a. Tomoyo-chan had abandoned her camcorder and smirked disarmingly as she pulled him along. "Li-kun."
How did she know my name?! Horrified, Li wrenched his arm free from the girl's death grip. "Get out of my turf!" Tomoyo-chan wore a smug expression.
"Let's go, Sakura-chan! This is Li-kun's turf." Sakura-chan looked disappointed.
"Aww… Tomoyo-chan, he's so mean! And I thought he would play with us! He's so… so… unfriendly!"
Li watched the girls walk off in silence, gears churning in his brain. He couldn't bear the fact that a mere girl at summer camp called him mean and unfriendly. He was going to prove to her.
So he briefly got up and joined them, a satisfied smile lighting up his features as he watched Girl One – no, that… that… Sakura - recover from shock. They ran towards the half-lit campfire, and soon the other kids joined them. "Let's get the stars to come out!" someone shouted merrily.
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Suddenly, Li didn't feel such an outcast anymore as the friendly boy beside him took his hand and they danced around the fire. Maybe he was more sociable than he thought he was. Sakura-chan grabbed his other hand and it sent Li's premature heart into a colorful, self-explanatory mess. His turf had been invaded, so quickly.
I've never been so close to a girl before! Arghhhh! Where's my sword!
"Li – Li-kun?" He heard Sakura's timid voice, at first. "Do you want to join us in pass-the-parcel?"
He blinked at her.
She laughed, the noise she made so hearty as it rang in his head. "Li-kun is so cute! Hahahaha! Come and catch me, the loser will have to sing a song!"
His heart rose like a balloon as he ran across the beach, his toes sinking into the damp sand. It was a delightful feeling and he wondered briefly if this was how it felt to be happy.
But his momentary lapse caused him to lose Sakura as she ran into the circle and giggled. "Sing a song, sing a song, sing a song, sing a song!" the kids chanted delightedly, waiting for him to perform.
A slight blush crawled across his cheek. What am I doing here? Shouldn't I be grumbling by my tent? I didn't even want to mix with them!
He began regretting his decision but Sakura and Tomoyo's eager looks egged him on. However, his logical mind told him: he only wanted to prove Tomoyo-chan wrong. So where's the reason in Sakura?
No matter what, he cleared his throat, and began to sing the only song he knew at that moment.
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
The children formed a circle around him, and passed a beach ball around. When he stopped singing, the person with the ball would join him in the center of the circle and sing along. Sakura got it once; she stood beside him, and announced they were going to play poison ball instead!
Every time the ball came near to Sakura, Li would stand protectively in front of her, and risked getting hit by the ball. Once, he even laughed along with the kids as they scrambled back to their tents when the teacher came out to check on them!
The fun ended when the moon hid itself behind the clouds and the flame was blown out. "Tomoyo-chan, can I please, please stay in Li-kun's tent tonight? I want to talk to him! Oh oh, not that you can't come along! But, but, I just want to be in his tent, okay?" Sakura gushed.
Tomoyo smiled knowingly. "Go ahead, Sakura-chan. I'll find myself a new tent mate –" her camcorder beeped unceremoniously – "and charge my camcorder at the same time! Good night, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura ran towards Li's tent happily, and crawled inside, only to find him already asleep. Pouting slightly, she said to herself more than anyone else, "Awww… Li-kun's already asleep ne! And I thought I could talk to you a bit! But oh well, never mind!" Tiredness dripped from her bubbly voice as she lay down and fell asleep almost immediately.
Beside her, the corner of Li's mouth was lifted up ever so faintly. His new companion was so adorable, he thought as the moon reappeared and lit up her sleeping face.
So angelic, like the diamond-bright star.
X
Tonight was a cloudless, clear night. The stars beamed down upon him as he relived that little bit of memory.
Li sighed, both in reminiscence and sadness. Where are you, my star?
OWARI
A/N: My old writing, back when I was 12! I continued from one part today, and I'm already two years older. So hmm, maybe there's a difference in style! But no matter what, drop a review, yeah :D