Disclaimer: I do not own CCS. I just own the plot.
The Unuttered Words – Chapter 1: "The Kiss"
Lightening struck. Thunder crashed the ground and broke the silence of the night. Soaked by the rain that had been falling hard in Hong Kong, a man dragged himself into a hotel room. He ignored the mud that defiled the floor, continuing his footsteps.
His breathing was fast, and his gaze stopped at a book lying on a small table in the bedroom. He opened it, and his hand shook. He looked thoroughly at the neat handwritings on the pages. The first page had been written to tell how this story began.
And it all started from one summer day …
Dear diary,
I had never been to a carnival. It's not that I didn't want to, but let's say that it just wasn't in my favorites list. What is there in the carnival? It's just crowds, and I never liked crowds. But then, I never thought that following Rika, Naoko, and Chiharu's advice would lead to something like this. Even though I don't want to admit it, I am glad that I went there today.
Dear carnival, you are now in my favorites list, because thanks to you, I met someone today.
"….ra. Sakura!" A voice called, but there was no respond.
A girl mumbled to herself, "So… x minur R. This one should be…"
"Sakura!" A dark brown haired girl snapped her fingers in front of her friend's face.
The girl who was just called Sakura was knocked back into reality. "Yesss!" That was usually her response when she was startled to hear her name called. She turned to her friend and found a disbelief look. "Yes, Rika. What's up?"
Her friend who was just called Rika shook her head. "What's up!?" she repeated Sakura's question in exaggeration. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're having an affair with that book. You haven't put it down since this morning, and guess what, it's calculus." Rika rolled her eyes.
"Oh, calculus. You really have a high standard for romance, my dear," said another girl beside Rika, who had a straight hair and wore glasses, laughing.
"I have to disagree with Naoko. You really have a weird taste for romance, Sakura. Tell me what we were just talking about," said another girl who had her hair braided at each side of her head. "Tell us you didn't just cheat on us with that calculus boyfriend of yours. Remember: friends before lovers."
Sakura gulped. There, she was doing it again. Somehow, she couldn't deny what her friends said. She might have had a thing for the calculus book. It always made her wonder and curious, just like it was playing hard to get. It made her blood pump hard as she got anxious, and the moment when she thought that she had finally grasped it, her heart would beat faster in excitement.
Sakura just grinned sheepishly, and they didn't need the answer to know that she hadn't paid any attention at all at what they were discussing.
They were at the classroom after school while the rest of the students had already left.
"Okay, that's it!" Rika snatched the calculus book from Sakura's hand. "Do you know that there's a possibility that a prince charming might have initiated a conversation with you, but you just simply ignored him because you were in planet calculus?"
The corner of Sakura's lips arched. "Wha-whatt? Prince charming? Pffttt-" She was about to laugh, not believing such shit. But after seeing her friends' expression, she covered her mouth in her hand.
"Sakura, my friend, you…are….so….cold…" said Chiharu.
"Sakura, that was harsh," said Naoko.
"Oh, no. You just shattered every girl's dream," Rika said and put her hands on her hips. "That's it. We're going to the carnival. This is 911 coming to rescue you, to rescue the woman in you," she emphasized the word 'woman'.
To make it clear, Sakura physically was no doubt a woman. Maybe she was too soon to be called a woman since she just turned 17, she was a teenager. But with her long honey brown locks, bright emerald eyes and the curves on every right place on her body, she was undoubtedly the most wanted top class student in school.
And this charming lady had been single and unavailable all her life, yet she didn't see any problem with that.
"Carnival, darling. This is us or that calculus. Now." Naoko glared and snapped her hands on the table which Sakura was sitting at.
Sakura opened her mouth, but no sound left her throat.
"Don't tell me that it's such a hard decision for you. Oh my God. I'm hurt, Sakura. I'm hurt."
And it was indeed a hard decision for Sakura. She wanted to smack her own head for having such a thought. She was preparing to teach in extra classes for the junior students in need of remedial to improve their grades. Moreover, she had no interest in carnival.
"So, is it us or calculus?" Naoko added more pressure for Sakura to answer. "Oh, no. It's not us."
If Sakura had to choose, of course it would be her friends. "Stop it. Fine," Sakura finally stated. "I'm going to the carnival or whatever it is." She groaned.
"Come on. It's summer time, and we're living in one of the most exotic places ever."
Chiharu was right. Tomoeda was a small island that was usually visited by foreign tourists mainly because of the beach and tropical atmosphere.
Rika clasped her hands together and exclaimed excitedly, "And your potential date is coming… here… now." She pointed her head at a guy walking to them.
It was a guy with a blonde hair. He dressed casually but didn't leave the image of a clean cut guy. "Hi, Kinomoto." His smile was somehow slightly nervous.
"Odaka"
Shun Odaka was his full name. He was the leader of their class, who obviously had a thing for Sakura.
"Uh…" Odaka inhaled a little and said, "So, there's this carnival thing, and everyone's going. You know, I was wondering whether you're coming or not." It seemed like he had memorized that line. He waited for her answer, more like desperately.
Sakura was wondering what difference it would make whether she was coming or not. "Oh. What if I come, and what if I don't co—" Rika's elbow made contact with her ribs before she could finish her sentence. She winced a little and glanced up at Rika. From the look on her face, she got the point. "Actually, I'm going there," she said weakly.
"Really? That's just great. Just in time. You know, some of my friends own some stalls there. Maybe, I can show you around. That is if you don't mind," came the expected offer.
She was going to say 'What if I mind, and what if I don't mind', but swallowed those words. "Uh—yeah. Of course, I don't mind."
"Cool." Odaka smiled widely. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. "Thanks," he uttered the word before realizing that he might not have to add that. It must have been weird. "Anyways, I'm sorry. I had disturbed you girls. Please, continue whatever you were discussing earlier." He stepped off. "I guess I'll see you in my car?" He threw a hopeful look at Sakura.
"Okay."
Chiharu looked at Odaka as he walked backward to the door, and mouthed 'You did well. Good job'. She gave him a thumb up, unrecognized by Sakura.
"Aw, isn't he such a sweetheart?" Naoko commented purposely.
"He's too shy to be direct," Rika said. "But well done, Sakura. I think you just found your date."
"Oh, you girls are impossible." Sakura rolled her eyes while her friends just grinned mischievously.
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Later at the carnival.
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Chiharu looked around in awe. "Wow. This is so cool. I've seen a lot of my future soul mates here."
The carnival was beautifully designed, packed with people and noisy. There were a lot of stalls, some of which selling many different things including foods, clothes and accessories, while some others offered different kind of challenges.
Chiharu caught a glance of a stall offering go-kart race, and whistled seeing a group of fine guys getting ready for it. One of them with a spike black hair winked at her playfully before putting his helmet on. She blushed from the effect and giggled.
"Chiharu, you've had Takashi," Naoko warned but laughed.
Chiharu pouted. "Whatever. I'm still mad at him for not visiting me this summer. Apparently, his part time job is more important. Who cares? Look around us," she told matter-of-factly. Takashi had decided to spend time with his grandparents in another town during the summer to help running the business that one of his cousins owned. They had been dating for a long time, but it was always such a loss for her when he was away from her. And everybody knew that despite what Chiharu had said, she would never ever play with Takashi.
"I don't want to encourage you to do such a sin to your boyfriend, but hell yeah, this place is incredible. It gets better and better every year." Rika put her hands up in the air, speeding up her pace in front, and turned around to face them with a happy smile on her lips.
They kept walking and noticed that summer had definitely taking in. Most people were in their summer outfits. Most of the girls wore miniskirts or hot pants.
Naoko looked at a group of guys and girls who were laughing hard and raising their beers. She thought that they must have been having a good time. She wished that she and her girl friends had some close guy friends to spend time together with. But since they were already close since they were little, it would be kind of hard for other people to mingle with them. Yet that didn't make her enjoy the company of her girl friends less.
"So, do you like coming here?" Odaka initiated his conversation with Sakura.
Sakura was startled as she had been busy looking at her surroundings. She felt like she was out of place, since she might be the only girl who refused to take off her cardigan in that weather and wore jeans with sneakers. Her long hair was in a ponytail, which revealed the back of her neck, and that was all.
"Um... I'm just adjusting to the surroundings—" she said before Rika purposely elbowed her on the ribs and gave her a sharp look. "Yeah, it's not a bad choice coming here—" she corrected immediately, but Rika gave her another glare. "I mean, it is totally great!" she let out a fake laugh, feeling dumb.
Odaka smiled widely.
Rika might have been mean to Sakura, but Sakura knew that she was doing it for her, perhaps to save her from dying old alone.
Sakura thought, 'Gosh. Am I that pathetic? What is wrong with being a straight A student who refuses to go to the carnival and volunteers to teach during the summer break?'
Was she the only one who was not really into this summer thing even though the following day would be the last day before the summer break? Was it wrong that she found more joy when she had successfully impressed her parent with her good grades? Was she the only one who was planning to take a college scholarship outside Tomoeda, while the foreigners kept coming back to Tomoeda to have some fun time?
"By the way, Naoko can't take her eyes off that stall selling pretty shoes. I think the three of us are going there, while the two of you—" Rika was about to scheme a Sakura and Odaka moment together before Sakura grabbed her arm.
Just like she might die, Sakura said with her eyes, 'You guys are not leaving me alone here with him.'
"Oh, look! Over there!" Sakura quickly dragged Rika, pointing to a shop with some guns, not the real guns. She would go anywhere as long as they stayed with her.
They all looked at the sign in front of the shop, approached it, and read, 'Hit and Win! The person who can knock all the bowls out will win the bears!'
A brilliant idea suddenly popped into Rika's head. She snapped her fingers and said, "Oh, RIGHT. Sakura, you always REALLY like teddy bear, right?" Her eyes flashed dangerously while she put a sweet smile on her lips. In fact, it was too sweet for a smile.
"Huh?"
Oh, no. Rika just took this chance as an advantage.
The words Rika had said were absorbed by Odaka so quickly. "Oh, is that true, Kinomoto? I can work it out." Without waiting, he approached the owner, talked to him and paid some money. Once he had held the gun, he turned to face the objects that would be his targets.
Sakura was about to stop him, but Rika grabbed her arm. Sakura turned around to face her.
'Can't you see?' Rika whispered frantically.
'See what?'
'That he totally adores you!'
'But—'
Rika, Chiharu, and Naoko watched in anticipation as Odaka aimed the gun carefully before pulling the trigger. The objects to hit were quite far that someone without a perfect sight wouldn't be able to succeed, yet to their surprise, Odaka successfully hit all the targets. They fell down to the ground in just one attempt. The three girls screamed happily.
A satisfied smirk was formed on Odaka's lips. "See? That wasn't so hard." He turned around to Sakura, proud of his work. The owner yelled 'well done!' and handed a brown teddy bear to Odaka, who gladly passed it to Sakura, with smiling eyes. "This is for you, Kinomoto."
Feeling too much sweetness in the air, her friends said, "Awwww."
"Uh.. um.. Thanks, Odaka. You don't have to. I don't really—" Sakura said awkwardly, feeling flattered, and looked at her present: the brown teddy bear smiling at her.
Her words were misinterpreted by Odaka. He turned around to face the other presents available. "You don't really like that one? You want to get the other one? The white one or the black one?"
Without waiting for her answer, he paid some money again to the owner and aimed his gun at the targets. It was another scene of victory as he successfully hit all the bowls and sent them down to the ground. That would give him another present.
Sakura's friends screamed again in delight.
He took a white teddy bear from the owner and handed it to her. "Here you go. Another one for you."
She tried to stand properly, her arms fully occupied.
"Wow. That was some talent. Right, Sakura?" Naoko complimented him.
"Sakura, you are one lucky girl!" It was another praise from Chiharu to build the guy's spirit.
"You're the man, Odaka!" Rika added.
Okay. Her friends were definitely exaggerating. She knew it, and to make matter worst, their genuine supports had increased Odaka's confidence level. He actually thought that he had a chance to win her heart.
Before she could make her point that she had enough presents already, Odaka had already attempted to shoot again. Now that the brown and white teddy bears were already hers, it only left him another goal to take down the black teddy bear. And soon it was handed to her.
"And that goes the black one for you," he stated proudly, feeling powerful over such small attempts.
Sakura's eyes widened as she received the third present. It was then more difficult to stand on the ground. "Uh—wait. I don't think—" she tried to argue while preventing the teddy bears from falling.
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Meanwhile. Not far from there.
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A couple was sitting at the edge of unused stage at the center of carnival.
"Oh, man. This place is boring. I prefer the beach. Don't you think so, baby?" the girl said lazily, laying her head on her boyfriend's lap and playing with her own long black hair.
Her boyfriend, a bronze haired guy with amazing blue eyes, looked down at her and caressed her hair gently. "Whatever you say, darling. Whether it's the beach or the city, Bali or Rome, I'd gladly take you there as long as you're with me."
The girl couldn't help but smile. "Hmmm. Too sweet, Keenan. Too sweet. But nice try."
He sighed from hearing her comment. She had challenged him to throw her romantic words, and she would tell him whether she was pleased or not.
"Anything for you."
He brought his lips down to hers, and they made a sound kiss.
The girl sat up and looked at another couple who were making out. "What say you, Tomoyo? Don't you think that this place is boring? Should we move out of this place?"
"They clearly didn't hear you, nor noticed their surroundings, to answer your question," Keenan pointed out.
"Tomoyo!"
Having heard her friend called, the girl who was just called Tomoyo, a beauty with amethyst eyes, opened her eyes slightly. "What, Mei Lin?" she murmured between kisses. She was feeling weak on the knees, but her boyfriend supported him with his arms around her waist.
"Yes, and yes, but not right now," her boyfriend answered Mei Lin's questions. He was a really handsome guy with midnight blue hair. He pulled out a little and looked her in the eyes, a little smile on his lips. "I just answered her questions for you, babe."
"Oh, you're the best, Eriol," Tomoyo sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck. They continued kissing and making out, showing public display affection freely.
Mei Lin turned to another guy who was leaning against the pole at the corner of the stage and looking at another direction while his hands were in his pockets. Seeing him holding back laughter, she asked, "Anything funny, Syaoran?"
"Yeah," a short answer came out from his lips. He was dangerously good looking. His hair was chestnut brown, messy. And his eyes were intense ambers, so beautiful but piercing at the same time.
Mei Lin looked at the direction he was looking at. "And you're paying attention to?"
Syaoran crossed his arms on his chest and pointed his head at Sakura and her friends. "Those people are definitely killing her. That guy is bloody stupid. It's clear that she's not interested at all. Starting from tomorrow, she will disappear whenever and wherever he goes, and he's probably going to kill himself." He smirked, thinking about it.
"Poor guy," Mei Lin commented sadly.
"Poor girl," he apparently said. "He doesn't know how to treat her. She deserves more than that." His eyes kept following Sakura, who looked really desperate to hold all the teddy bears. One of her friends then helped her.
Sakura seemed to stand out among the others in his eyes, and he thought that it might be because of the way she dressed too appropriately for such event.
Mei Lin smiled and shook her head. "Like I didn't know what kind of treat you meant, my dear cousin. According to you, it would mean hell to her."
"Ouch," Syaoran pretended that he was hurt by her words. "Mei Lin, I know what those kind of girls want," he stated before whispering, "what they desire."
"And Keenan just read your mind, so did I," said Mei Lin.
Syaoran smirked. "Can't help it." He could read a girl in just a few seconds, and there was something about Sakura's innocent trait that just made him keep watching.
Suddenly, a red haired girl popped up in front of the gang. She was breathless just like she had been running. She looked at Syaoran, and her eyes were filled with delight. "Syaoran! There you are."
Mei Lin saw that the girl was dressed really sexy. She wore a pink halter top and a tight black skirt that was a bit too short for a skirt, and a pair of white high heels. Mei Lin had to acknowledge her ability to walk in such shoes for such event, and she was a bit jealous of how her skin was perfectly tanned. Exotic.
"Oh, God. Don't tell me…" Mei Lin knew that this was a mess Syaoran had created. She didn't know how he had managed to slip between times to meet this girl without them knowing earlier.
"Here it goes again." Keenan watched, getting amused.
"Where have you been?" the girl yelled at Syaoran. At the same time, Keenan mimicked the same words silently. He had known well that those four words were going to come out. "I've been looking for you, baby. I thought you must have gone to the carnival too. Thank God, I was right. You said you're going to call—"
As the girl tried to approach Syaoran, Tomoyo purposely hindered her with her ankle so that the girl tripped and almost fell. "Oh, sorry." Tomoyo knew that she was being mean, but she just couldn't help it. She just couldn't take it if the girl was going to ruin their quality time. It had been such an effort for her, Eriol, Mei Lin, Keenan, and Syaoran to start a vacation during the summer break, so she didn't want the rest of it to be filled by a bugging girl. "Sorry," she truly meant it with all her heart as she apologized for making her trip.
The girl tried to get back on her feet without even glancing at Tomoyo.
"Rachel. I'm sorry," Syaoran said.
Hearing that, Rachel's eyes softened. "It's okay, baby. I was just worried. I didn't hear anything from you since you left 3 days ago. But now you're here, so it doesn't even matter anymore."
"No, I mean, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you not to wait for my call."
Those words startled her. Clearly, she didn't expect that coming. Syaoran, however, kept still in his position, looking at her like he had done nothing wrong.
She was not ready for whatever it was coming. "Not to—what? Not to wait for your what?" she stumbled upon her words.
"My call, you shouldn't have waited. And you shouldn't do that again. Did I tell you to come find me?" Syaoran's voice was cold, and her heart sank.
"No, you didn't? But—"
"Then don't," Syaoran stated firmly and sighed in frustration. He then looked at her seriously. "Look, I know that there must have been a misunderstanding."
"What kind of mis—" she tried to argue but then gasped. "Don't tell me that you're doing it right now." She looked at him in disbelief as she began to be filled with anger. "Are you dumping me!?" she snapped, her body starting to shake.
"No." Syaoran stopped leaning against the pole and stepped forward. "We were not even together to begin with. You may want to watch your words first before saying something like that," he warned.
Those words wrenched at her heart. She couldn't believe that this was happening to her. "Syaoran, no. You're not serious, are you? What kind of joke is this? What about these past few days? Weren't they real? Didn't they mean anything to you?" her voice was shaky. She clenched her fist tightly at her sides, hoping that he would deny it.
"Rachel, what we had wasn't real. And you don't want me to answer the last question," Syaoran stated harshly, and it broke her heart.
"You're lying to me!" she roared.
The gang felt pity for the girl. She should have known that this was going to happen.
"Don't tell me whether I'm lying or not," Syaoran hissed, and it sent shivers down her spine.
She knew that she was trotting to dangerous ground if she didn't listen to him. "Syaoran, look. Whatever I've done wrong, please forgive me. Just stop this, okay? I know you love me."
Hearing that, Syaoran's gang almost fell down. Amazingly, this kind of apology always happened when Syaoran dumped a girl, even though she knew who should have been blamed: the little wolf himself.
"Both of us know that we have no idea of what that word means. Find your prince charming somewhere else," Syaoran said his final words, and he knew what to do next to make the girl leave and get the point. He walked off, and a smirk touched his lips as he knew that he was going to enjoy what would happen next.
"Syaoran, don't leave me!" Rachel followed suit.
The gang watched as the two of them walked through the crowds toward Sakura and her friends. "You're kidding me," Eriol said in disbelief.
"This is getting interesting," Keenan commented.
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"Um.. er.. Odaka, I'm really flattered, but I think this is too—" Sakura tried to push back all of his attention without hurting him.
Odaka looked at her in wonder.
"Odaka, to be honest, I don't—" her words stopped as her attention was switched to something else.
The crowds stepped aside as Syaoran walked with full strides toward her. Heads turned towards him, as he was definitely getting people's attention. Rachel followed behind him and kept yelling, though Sakura couldn't hear what it was since she was too focused on the scene before her.
She felt like everything was happening in slow motion. She had never seen a guy so captivating before. He was definitely not a clean cut guy, so deadly, but at the same time flawlessly beautiful. He might be dressed like a bad guy and had that messy hair, but he seemed expensive. It was not that he wore anything that spoke money, but his aura and appearance just said that.
He walked to her as if he could make her cower under him. His piercing amber eyes found hers and got her hypnotized. She was hoping that he didn't smile at her, but he did. And suddenly, she forgot the answers of 8 times 4, square root of 121, the first person who had landed on the moon and where the Pacific Ocean was. She was stunned there, and it seemed like her shoes were nailed to the ground beneath her.
To her horror, he pulled her hand. She gasped in shock as her face was pulled closer to his. He looked deeply into her eyes and then at her lips before wrapping one of his arms around her waist to pull her body closer to him. She nearly screamed, but he brought her to silence as he brushed his lips against hers.
Sakura felt like the world was spinning around her. Was it due to the kiss, or the taste of alcohol from his mouth, but she forgot that she was in the middle of the crowds, that her friends had forced her to go to the carnival earlier, that the leader of her class had asked her on a date and had won her three teddy bears which were now abandoned, lying on the ground.
And most importantly, she forgot to slap him for stealing her very first kiss.
Watching her kissing with one hell of a stranger, her friends gaped in shock. Even Odaka was too shocked to react.
Syaoran tightened his hold around her waist to pull her closer to him as their kiss deepened. Feeling that her entire body was getting extremely weak, Sakura had to put her hand on his shoulder for support. People murmured, and some teenage girls passing by were not able to hide their jealousy.
Sakura was breathless when he suddenly broke the kiss and pulled out but still holding her on the waist. Then, even though she had not recovered from the shock, she took the moment to study his face: his eyebrows, his eyes, his nose, and his lips which she couldn't believe had landed on hers.
"Sorry, I'm late. I was catching up with the others just now," Syaoran said lovingly, enough for all of them to hear, including Rachel. "I'll make it up to you." He smiled and gave Sakura a light kiss on the lips. It was so soft and quick, not like the first one.
He didn't see when Rachel looked at them with so much pain in her eyes, holding back tears. She learned her lesson for giving herself to such a cold hearted man these past few days. Having no more words to say, she turned on her heels and left the site in silence.
Apparently, the scene was too painful to watch for Odaka as well. His jaw tightened and his fist shaking with rage, he walked off from the site without words.
Chiharu tried to open her mouth and found her voice stuttering in shock, "W-w-who—"
Sensing that Rachel had gone, Syaoran smirked. "Thanks," he whispered to Sakura. The feeling of his warm breath on her ear made her shiver. Stepping back with his hands in pockets, he smiled at her. "Like I said, I'll make it up to you," he reminded her of his previous words before turning his back at her, and walked off. Walking back to his gang, he couldn't hold back his smile. He definitely didn't regret what he had done.
Sakura was still trying to put herself back into the world. She felt her body getting off balance. She couldn't differentiate between the heat of the sun, the killing weather, or the heat inside her.
To be continued.
AN:
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