hannahfinella : Ola! I'm back amigas! I've finally updated after quite some time.
Syaoran : Quite some time? Hell, it was 5 months! -smirks-
hannahfinella-chan : It was supposedly four, though i had a problem with the editing thing.
Sakura : Yeah, leave the lazy writer alone. At least she wrote this one.
hannahfinella-chan : arigato Sakura! -hugs- eh?! lazy?! 0.o
Sakura : -sticks out tongue childishly-
hannahfinella-chan : -cries-
Tomoyo: Don't worry.. -pats me on the back- Kero, get on with the story
Kero : Eh?! Why me?!
Tomoyo : -shows a basket full of treats-
Kero : -took the basket and talks very fast- hannahfinella-chan does not Cardcaptor Sakura, clamp does! Enjoy everyone! -eats the treats like there's no tomorrow-
Sakura Kiss - The Magazine Making
They arrived at the mansion via limousine, courtesy of Tomoyo. They were awed when they saw the Modern Chinese-inspired manor. The gate has a painting of the symbol of the Li Clan. And when you enter, you will be welcomed by their garden that has a maze made out of bushes with a gazebo and fountain at the middle of it
They stayed in the gazebo while doing their assigned paperwork. They seemed to finish their segments in just an hour but they still had a big problem – the magazine's cover and title.
They were all staring blankly at each other at the moment and their minds don't have any ideas on what to do about it, Syaoran then suggested that they'll transfer to his room so they can check out his magazine collection and maybe, can get some ideas out of it.
The moment you stepped inside Syaoran's room, you can't help but admire his collection of magazines. His room is like a pad with complete rooms which is fully-furnished. The crew started to scan his magazines in hope to finish browsing them early. But hours had passed but luck seemed to be not in their side as of the moment. Everyone looked tired from being bored so Eriol decided to speak up, "Guys, why don't we goof around for a while?" he told them as he closed the reading material in his hands.
"What do you have in mind?" Yamazaki asked him back with full of interest drawn in his voice.
"Let's play the classic Truth or Dare… but to make it more interesting, there would be alcohol involved." He said as he made his way to Syaoran's refrigerator and took out a bucket of gin and island mix then blended it afterwards. And after he was done mixing, he returned to his friends with 4 pitchers of alcohol and 2 glasses "If you have done your task or answered your question truthfully which was given to you, you'll just have to drink a shot." he explained as he took the small glass and continued, "And if you chickened-out, you'll have to drink from this." and showed them a big mug.
Everyone enjoyed the game until they were getting a bit tipsy from the alcohol.
Well for Tomoyo, she's already drunk. Tomoyo knew that she was already drunk so she decided to excuse herself for a while and told the others that she needed to breathe some fresh air while Eriol decided to help her and led her to Syaoran's patio. "Geez, I don't know that you have a low tolerance against alcohol. You shouldn't have joined us. I don't know what excuse I'll be telling Auntie Sonomi." He said as he carried her on a bridal style and sat her down on a bench.
Tomoyo, being in the drunken state she was, has blabbed too much non-sense. He got irritated so much that he put his index finger to her pink lips and said, "If you won't stop even for a while, I might do another way of shutting you up." and winked at her seductively.
Tomoyo stared at him confused then suddenly laughed out of control. Loud enough that it even made Eriol felt insulted. He then held unto her rosy cheeks, and drew closer to her face. But when he was about to kiss her, Tomoyo suddenly stood up and squeaked, "A remote! What might this be for?" just like a child and then she pressed the only button which read, "open/close".
Then unexpectedly one of Syaoran's shelves opened. Curiosity drew Tomoyo and Eriol that they entered the secret passage. As they enter the surreptitious room, they were astonished as they saw that it was the said studio. Syaoran had lied when he told them that the studio was still under construction, but they knew that he was trying to hide something in there – tons of stolen pictures of his so-called-childhood enemy.
Tomoyo's drunkenness suddenly disappeared and an evil glint appeared on the corner of her eyes.
"Hi guys! Sorry we took long." Tomoyo said as she took her place awhile ago, beside Eriol. "So how far is the game going?" she asked everyone as she took the stable bottle positioned at the center of her circle of friends. "May I have the honor of spinning this bottle?" she asked as she smiled cheekily.
"Uhhh… Sure?" Sakura answered with a bit of doubt.
As Tomoyo heard the approval of her friends in spinning the bottle, she placed the bottle at the center again and started to rotate it. The bottle spins, spins, spins and spins, until it went slower. Tomoyo nudged Eriol at his side giving a go signal. Nobody noticed when Eriol started to chant something and the bottle stopped exactly at Syaoran's direction.
"So… Syao-kun… What do you want? Truth or Dare?" Tomoyo asked him slyly with evilness painted on her eyes.
Syaoran didn't hesitate on answering and said quickly, "Truth."
"That's a good choice." Tomoyo said and continued, "Here it goes…Since we have known each other for quite a long time, and I haven't seen nor heard that you are dating someone. Why is that?" she grinned foolishly while looking at him with a knowing glint in her eyes.
"Huh? I just can't find the right girl for me." He said plainly and was about to get the bottle when Sakura stopped him.
"Oh, really? Almost all the girls at the academy are throwing themselves at you and you still can't pick one? That's ridiculous! There's only one explanation… you're gay." She said, with a triumphant smile on her face.
Syaoran's eyes suddenly opened widely, "That is not true!" he answered right away, upon hearing her accusing him of being gay.
"Oh, yeah? Then prove it!" Eriol added.
Syaoran glared at his cousin, "Don't tell me you believe them?" he sighed as I (as he) recalled how he got into this mess.
-:-FLASHBACK-:-
The temperature nowadays is getting hotter and warmer. And by this, they knew that summer is fast approaching. But before they could enjoy their upcoming vacation, they have yet to finish their very last project to be able to graduate. They gathered in their favorite hang-out spot - the school's greenhouse.
"Now, what are we suppose to discuss?" Li Syaoran, the gang's leader asked the rest as he slouched down in his seat.
"It's like you didn't read Terada-sensei's note-" Eriol said to his cousin but was cut off by him.
"I did read it. I'm not that dumb. What I meant is, what in particular our magazine is about?" he said as he shot a glare at Eriol.
"Fashion!" "History!" "Cooking!" "Books!"
Eriol stood up, with a fist in the air and a big devious grin. "Porn!"
Then, everyone stared at Eriol with wide eyes.
"W-what?" Eriol asked as a sweat drop formed his head.
"Come on, Eli! Be serious for once." Syaoran said as he rubbed his temples due to his cousin's playfulness. "Can't you guys agree on one subject for the magazine?" he asked feeling helpless as he shook his head.
The gang became noisy when they started fighting with each other, arguing with their choice of topic. Suddenly, two muscular men wearing black suits appeared in front of them sending them a deadly glare at the same time.
"Can we help you?" Yamazaki asked the two bouncers, sounding so hospitable.
"Can you peeps lower your voices? Can't you see that Senator Kinomoto's daughter is studying?!" The dark-skinned bouncer said as he was pointing to the auburn haired girl sitting under a cherry blossom tree with peacefulness and simplicity drawn on her façade.
"Oh…We're sorry…We'll try to whisper as quietly as possible." Eriol said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
"It's good that you understand what we mean because if you don't…" the other blonde bouncer left unsaid and he closed his right fist and cracked it with crunchy sound. After that, the two went back to their Mistress.
Silence rang upon the youngsters due to the shock they had. And suddenly Tomoyo stood up and yelled, "I've got an idea!"
"Ssshhh…!" the rest of her friends signaled in chorus as Rica pulled her to take her seat, "You can at least not shout in announcing your idea." She said in whispery voice.
Tomoyo let out a big sigh before saying her idea, "You all know that Kinomoto-san is the most intelligent in the academy, right?" she asked her friends as they nod in approval and she continued, "What if we ask her to join our group?"
"Hu-what?!" the group shouted in chorus as they stood up in horror in which they got the attention again if the huge bodyguards.
"Go-gomen!" Tomoyo said to the men in black. "Take a seat everyone. I'm going to explain." she said as she also takes a seat. "As I said a while ago, she is the most intelligent person in the academy and she also excels in many aspects. Therefore, she's a good helping hand for us." she told her friends in the most convincing tone she can.
"You know what? That's a bright idea!" Chiharu exclaimed.
"That's my babe! I'm proud of y-!" Eriol complimented her but he was stopped Tomoyo nudged him really HARD.
"Enough fooling around! The question is… Who's going to talk to her?" Rica asked.
Everyone turned their gaze at Syaoran. "What? W-why me?" he asked startled.
"Firstly you are our leader and both of you are childhood friends." Naoko explained without getting off her gaze from the book she's reading while adjusting her eyeglasses.
"Correction! Childhood ENEMIES!" he answered back roughly and suggested, "Why don't we have just a draw lots?" and tore a page of his notebook and divided it into seven strips. He took his red ball pen and marked one strip and continued, "The one who's going to get the red marked paper will talk to Kinomoto." and folded the strips.
And everyone seemed to agree with his suggestion. They all took one paper each. 'Let luck be with me! Let luck be with me!' Syaoran chanted to himself before unfolding the piece of paper. As he was about to unfold it, the rest of the gang cheered in relief. His heartbeat raced into 3000 beats per minutes. He slowly unfolds the paper and saw the red mark. "Damn it!" he said as he tossed the paper away.
"So, you really are the one destined to ask her." Eriol said with a smug written on his face.
Syaoran let out a big sigh in defeat and stood up from his seat. He walked to her seating place, but when he was five meters away; her two bouncers blocked his way and asked him where he is going. The lad pleaded to have at least five minutes of private talk with Kinomoto and it took him approximately fifteen minutes of non-sensible explanations. And finally, they went away, just about twenty meters away.
He leaned boyishly on the opposite side of the tree where Sakura was leaning on. Silence rang around them until she cuts off, "So, what's your business with me?" she asked plainly but with elegance on her voice.
He gulped hard, suddenly, feeling very nervous, "A-anou… It's about Terada-sensei's project. My group mates and I were wondering if you're interested to join us."
Silence filled again and impatience is going through his body. "So what do you think?" He asked sounding so awful.
Syaoran cringed at the sound of a book closed and followed by an angelic voice, "What is it in for me?" she asked.
"Uh… whichever your terms are." He told her due to mental block.
Chiharu entered the greenhouse panting and perspiring so much.
"So, how did it go?" Tomoyo asked happily upon Chiharu's arrival.
She was still panting when she answered, "Well… They thought I was really… Kinomoto-san… and successfully tricked them…" She finished her long airy report.
Syaoran smirked as he heard that the plan worked. Then, he turned his gaze to Sakura who has a plain expression, "Now that the coast is clear, can we discuss the project?"
"As you said earlier, all of you can't decide on which kind of magazine you are going to have, so why don't you just make a teenagers' magazine? In which, there would be many segments, part per part. So all we have to do is to gather topics and assigned the writers." She said straightly with no pause between her sentences.
Minutes have passed and the subtopics were assigned to each.
Chiharu and Yamazaki – Trivia
Tomoyo – fashion
Naoko – entertainment
Eriol – gadgets
Sakura and Syaoran – Friendship and Love
Then, two silhouettes of men in black are approaching them and the gang started to panic when they noticed that no one was doing something to hide Sakura from them. Since Sakura is beside Syaoran, he quickly pulled her down – her face facing his lap. His face reddens a thousand shades of red from the thought of their position. 'Damn these hormones!' Syaoran exclaimed to his inner self having restraint on what boys want.
His thoughts were then ceased when the two men appeared in front of them and one of the men asked them, "Do you happen know where Ms. Kinomoto is?"
"N-no..!" the gang said in chorus which sounded so doubtful.
Eriol cleared his throat and said, "We haven't seen her since awhile ago. Maybe she went to the library, I heard that, it was her hang-out spot." he lied out and tried to smile innocently as possible.
His words seemed to be convincing to the bouncers that they left and went to the way of the Library.
Eriol then cleared his throat again, "Uhm… I think that her bodyguards are far enough. Don't take too much CHANCES cousin, dear." he retorted and glared at him.
By what he said, Syaoran seemed to understand what he meant and quickly releases his grasp on Sakura as a bright hue of red crossed his features. He let out a fake cough trying to let what happened past by, "I think the school is not safe for her, her bodyguards might find her easily. We better get another location." He said sounding so officious.
"I think so too, Syao-kun." Tomoyo second the motion and continued, "But where are we going?"
The gang kept in silence for awhile when Eriol suggested Syaoran's house. Syaoran agreed, "Sure thing! My condo is open 24/7 to you guys." he said without hesitation.
"No. What I meant is the Li Mansion." Eriol said.
"No! You guys can't go there!" Li stated in horror.
"And why is that?" the nosy Sakura asked as she leaned closer and listens attentively on his explanation.
"A-anou… Mom might get mad if you'll just bust into the house." he answered insensibly.
"Eh? That's ridiculous! I can call Auntie Yelan anytime and there's no reason for her not to let us take a photo shoot on the Li Mansion." Eriol replied quickly as he dug his hand to his pocket to get his mobile phone.
Syaoran still insisted that they can't go and he asked them why they wanted to work at the manor. And Eriol explained, "The mansion is a good spot because it's quite big that we'll have different spots for the pictorial. Besides, you have a studio of your own there. So we won't have any problem in developing pictures." sounding so Mr.-know-it-all.
Syaoran frowned at his shrewd reasons and Sakura seemed to notice it, "Ooohhh… Mr. Li is being secretive. Maybe he's hiding something there… Or perhaps, SOMEONE." she said mockingly.
"W-what are you talking about?!" Syaoran replied angrily at her and said, "Just to prove you wrong, we can go there now… BUT! You guys are off limits from my studio. It's under construction and dangerous if you'll go there. Got it?" he asked them as everyone nodded.
-:-END OF FLASHBACK-:-
Again, Syaoran let out a heavy sigh upon remembering that it was all Tomoyo's idea on letting this Kinomoto girl to join their group. She was also the one who gave her the question; she really seems into torturing the poor guy. 'Damn!' he cursed to himself as he clenched his fist in a ball-like shape. 'Calm down, Li Syaoran,' he tried to tranquil his anger and faced the insults that are being thrown to him.
"See? Everyone thinks you're a gay." Sakura said as she holds unto his shoulder and continued mocking him, "Gay! Gay! Gay! Syaoran's a ga-" but was cut off when Syaoran sealed his lips with hers. His nerves got on the verge of it and he couldn't find to hold himself back anymore. The kiss lasted for an intimate minute while no one made a move to stop them.
Later on the lip-locking kiss was ceased when Sakura push Syaoran away, "Now, what was that?!"
"A kiss." Syaoran said as he licked his lips.
"I know what it was! What I meant is why you did such a thing?" She asked quite pissed at his answer.
"You said so for yourself that I have to prove that I'm a true man. And besides…" he said moving forward and cupping her chin, "I've been wanted to do that for such a long time and you forced me to. You are the reason why I didn't date anyone. I was waiting for the right time." and he gave her a peck in the cheeks and said, "I loved you since we were still little kids."
"Wow, I didn't notice your affection." She replied and put her arms around his neck and continued, "I always wanted to have an argument with you so that you'll be aware that I existed. Before, you never talk to any girls, but my plan worked. I love you too, Syaoran." and she kissed him with full of passion and hunger.
The new couple was now making out completely forgetting the fact that their friends are still around and could see everything. "I think we should give them some privacy." Eriol said and headed to the door. The rest of the gang followed him except for Tomoyo.
Shewas recording everything that was happening in her video camera "This is a souvenir for my hard work." She whispered to herself but then Eriol pulled her wrist and stopped her, "Like I said, give them privacy."
Tomoyo struggled and escaped from his grasp and said, "Last one." She took out her digital camera and took a picture of them. "Okay! I'm done." and dragged Eriol outside the room.
The next afternoon at the school's green house…
Syaoran entered their hang-out place while wrapping his arms around his girl. "Good Morning guys!" he greeted everyone.
Everyone looked at the new comers with clear shock written on each faces.
"So, you really did it last night?" Chiharu asked nosily.
The timid Sakura blushes a thousand shades of red as she nodded slowly.
"You're the man!" Eriol said to his cousin as he shook his hands with him.
"That's a new start." Tomoyo commented. "But where are her bodyguards? The Senator might be searching for her the whole night"
Syaoran finished first his drink before answering, "About that… Everything's fine now. I called Uncle Fujitaka about her stay last night and I even told him that we are a couple so she'll need no men in black." he told everyone with a overjoyed tone.
"That settles it." Yamazaki said and gave him their magazine.
The title of the magazine was "Sakura Kiss" and they were in the cover in which they were sharing a sweet kiss. Sakura looked horrified on seeing the cover, "W-why did you make that as a cover? Perhaps, Ms. Hiraki got mad at the indecency of the cover! I can't afford to get a failing mark on a project, especially if this is the last one!" she howled out.
Tomoyo moved her index finger slowly while her right eye closed and said cutely, "Nope, you got that wrong. She liked the theme of the magazine even its cover. She gave us an A!" she squealed while showing them their grade card.
"I guess nothing's impossible when you show true affection." Syaoran said and drew Sakura close to him and said, "I love you." and gave her a kiss. After they were done, Sakura's face drew closer to his ears and whispered, "I love you too."
hannahfinella-chan : how was it? hope you liked it.. :D
Tomoyo : so come on and press the review button at the bottom.
Sakura : all kinds of reviews are acceptable - praise, constructive critism, suggestion, etc.
Kero : We'll all be waiting for it.
hannahfinella-chan : And yeah, I want to thank people who helped me a lot just to publish this story - Staroo (my betareader), PurpleSkye, Jeje-chan, EzMouse, Rinko / riri18 (thank you!), and Serenity Akista (sorry I forgot your new pen name again..xD)
Syaoran : wow, maybe they are the ones who wrote this one? -smugs sarcastically-
hannahfinella-chan : you're such a meanie! they helped me out but I made this story out of my love and labor. -drama mode-
Syaoran : yeah, yeah.. save it for next time. See you guys again next time (if there would be a chance)! Drop your reviews.
hannahfinella-chan : love you all! God bless..
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"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams."
by: Dr Seuss
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hannahfinella-chan signing off...