[DISCLAIMER : Card Captor Sakura is copyright by CLAMP, NHK and Kodansha.]
She looked out of the window. Two stories below her, fixing her gaze on one single figure on the field. He was running across the field, his face determined, his shirt plastered to his back with his sweat.
She felt a momentary chill. She had never seen his face so determined, so intent, so concentrating. How someone could be so taken, over a game of football, more so than anything else.
"16" was the large number written on his back, a clear visible figure written in white against the bright blue of the shirt.
He was oblivious of the gaze of the girl sitting in her seat, in her class, way above him. He was oblivious of anything else except for the single round ball he knew he must gain soon.
And so he ran.
He was near, and he knew it.
He drew close and with one fluid sweep of his right leg, overtaking the ball.
Adrenaline rushed through him as he felt the triumph of being able to get the ball. In front of him, the goal posts loomed high above the ground. His final destination.
He didn't hear the shouts around him as he controlled the ball, bringing it closer. And closer.
He gave one strong kick, sending the ball swerving to the left, missing the goalkeeper by an inch before nestling forcefully on the corner of the net.
He felt a sweet, powerful sense of pride and joy instantly. His teammates were around him, their arms around his neck, their fists pounding his back, their sweat mingling with his.
She watched everything. She smiled happily, feeling their happiness. And wondering, why she couldn't take her eyes off him. Wondering, why she found the look of full concentration she had seen on his face was so captivating. Wondering, why suddenly she felt an odd swirling sensation inside her.
She shook her head quickly, abolishing any thoughts of the boy below. She turned her head around and with an amount of effort, put her mind back to teacher and the blackboard full of words, written as if in strange symbols, in front of her.
The boy below smiled at his friends, shook hands with the opposing team, and accepted a piece of towel passed to him.
He looked up. And he saw her.
And wondered, why only with a single gaze at her sitting there calmed his chaotic racing mind. Wondering, why she managed to look amazingly beautiful with the sun bathing her with its light. Wondering, why he didn't want to take his eyes off her. Wondering, why he never could say what he wanted to say.
"Li!" one of his teammates in front of him called out. "Get change! We'll be late for the next class!"
He nodded. He took one last look at her, suddenly wishing she would turn her head and looked at him with those eyes. Eyes whose color he couldn't see from the distance, but whom he knew to be the exact color of the leaves on the tall birch tree at the garden right beside the football field.
He hesitantly picked up his steps and followed his friends inside the building.
At the class above, the girl threw a sideway glance below and felt her heart plummet because the field was empty.
"Kinomoto!" her teacher called.
"H-hai!" she answered, forcing her mind to focus at the lesson once again, as the teacher gave her a question.
Beside her, a girl with purple-black hair smiled widely, knowingly.
Notes:
No, I'm not a football fanatic ^^ I don't even watch it. But there was a time where I spent nearly all my days behind the school's football field sidelines and some of the most touching things I've ever seen in life happened there. This is just a tiny glimpse of them.
I'm making this note after I uploaded my fic to fanfiction.net... From the reviews I've been getting, it seems some people get the misconception of what I mean by football... probably because most of you here are Americans? ^^ you guys call things differently haha... yeah the football I mean here is what the Americans call "soccer". It's a very popular game all over the world, almost cult-ish, should I say? Anyway, it's also a very popular game in Japan... I've read too many football mangas in my days hahah... it just seems cool, though I really don't like watching it on TV :P
As for sequels.... we'll see eh? *wink* I'm a very erratic writer... I never seem to be able to finish a series fic... Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews I've been getting here... I didn't get so many from the ccsfics mailing list hahah... no matter, thank you very much again!
Oh um, in this fic, Sakura and Syaoran can be any age actually. It's up to you. I hope you've enjoyed the fic. C & C, please???? :) (that means critics and comments, or the other way around...)