Title: Masquerade
Word Count: 4, 698 words
Rating:T (Some coarse language.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura and do not make and profits from this story whatsoever. All the glory goes to CLAMP.
Summary: He kissed her. She didn't kiss him back. After all, this was sexual harassment. OneShot
Published on: August 18, 2009
Masquerade
Your eyes –
Are all that I need to see
Even if the setting sun –
Were to encompass you in shadows
Just your eyes –
Will tell me the truth
Their meeting was completely accidental. It wasn't supposed to happen. At least not this way. But since fate was playing it their way, Sakura might as well do her own thing.
However, none of this crossed her mind as she stood in the corner away from the crowd, sullenly slouching her shoulders and pouting behind her mask. As per usual, Tomoyo, her supposedly best friend, had somehow managed to trick her into coming to one of her many invitations as a guest to these dressed up, powdering events. And of course, being the introvert that she was, managed to slip away when Tomoyo began her great socializing event, being the extrovert that she was.
Not that she was scandalizing Tomoyo or anything. She was a great friend. Albeit a bit weird sometimes when stars would appears in her eyes, forcing Sakura into doing certain activities that she'd rather not do, reading right through her on her pathetic attempts to lie, not to mention draining the life out of her by making her go on blind dates in the pursuit of the perfect boyfriend. Yes, Tomoyo was a great friend. She really in the end is looking after her. And also looking after her own amusement while she was at it.
Sakura sighed. It was a masquerade of all things. The auburn haired female reached up stiffly to adjust her mask. It was a simple pale white mask with metallic embroideries accompanied by matching gloves. And of course, it came with a matching gown that was a little too revealing for her taste. Maybe she would had felt a little better at this party, and comfortable while she was at it, if she hadn't already had such a horrible day. It seemed like a trepidation was just looming around the corner, waiting to attack her. Today was the day that she had taken her exam to get into medical school. If that wasn't bad enough, she had slept too early, woke up late and tripped probably five million times running five blocks to the exam room. Of course, it was just an added bonus that she probably did horrible on it as well.
And this was probably what led her to a bad mood. She couldn't help it. Tomoyo was probably, in her own way, cheering her up, but it wasn't working. But she still had to thank her efforts for it. It wasn't everyday that a girl gets to be dressed up like a doll, even if she didn't like it too much. Then Tomoyo would deny it though, and she'd ask, "What are you talking about?"
"What are you doing?" Her lilting voice snapped Sakura out of her reverie, and she looked into those twinkling amethyst orbs behind her elegant mask. Her lips tilted upwards, as if knowing what she was thinking, and gave an askance glance around the crowds.
"Fresh air," Sakura replied tersely, her voice slightly hoarse from the lack of water and use from the long day. She offered the female standing in front of her a measly smile.
Tomoyo smiled back easily at her. "People usually do that out in the balcony."
"Ah, well, I was just about to go," Sakura said, pointing to the balcony, with those huge, huge doors. She couldn't understand why they were so big, when certainly no one was ever that tall. The brunette slowly inched her ways towards freedom.
"Sakura," Tomoyo drawled out, smiling a smile that Sakura didn't particularly like.
Freezing all movements, startled emerald eyes looked at her. "Yes?"
"This is a party! You're supposed to be having fun!" Almost immediately, Tomoyo's façade fell apart, and now she was adorned with a cute pout and puppy dog eyes. Moving a swift step forward, she tugged lightly on Sakura's hand. "Come with me! Meet new potential boyfriends! Meet new people! Have fun!"
"But Tomoyo..." Determinedly, Sakura clasped Tomoyo's hand in her own gloved ones, and stared straight into her eyes. "I really do need some fresh air."
"Okay," Tomoyo said after a moment, dejectedly, and pursing her lips. "Come look for me later?"
"Okay."
"You promise?"
A pause. "I promise."
The female standing before her, with this beautiful face and looks like an angel, had somehow, yet again, managed to make Sakura promise something that just flew out of her mouth and had yet to be analyzed fully by her brain. Definitely the devil in disguise.
With a hug, and a set of long good byes, mostly on Tomoyo's part, they parted ways after the devil in disguise had once again made Sakura promise to find her later after her little jaunt. And now that her friend had turned her back, the brunette made a dash towards those huge, huge doors, with no hesitation whatsoever. As quickly as those stupid two inch heels could take her, she ran straight towards the railing with an 'oomph' when she inelegantly collided with it after tripping half a million times and making a huge fool out of herself as she garnered weird looks from people around her.
Thank god it was a masquerade. No one would be able to recognize her after this.
As she composed herself, a cool breeze made its way towards her, tickling her face with her auburn hair that gently framed her face. Quirking a small smile, the brunette quietly admired the beautifully made garden, full too many of different flowers to even count might as well dare to name.
That is, until someone roughly grabbed her arm and twirled her around until she was stuffed into the chest of a male and so rudely began squeezing the life out of her leaving her with no chance of escape. She couldn't even knee him where it hurt most while she desperately tried to breathe through this man's tuxedo that her face was so unkindly pushed against with this male's hand. The scent of sandalwood overwhelmed her senses, and before she knew it, she was coughing wildly from the strong scent. And she couldn't even breathe!
Placing her small hands on his torso, Sakura gave a rough push but he did not budge much to Sakura's exasperation. But then he loosened his hold a bit and Sakura leaned back and breathed in deeply, hands still on him. Then she glared at him. Glared straight into his eyes. Those darn amber orbs that looked at her with fake apology. And then the mass of unruly chestnut hair.
But he wasn't even looking at her! Damn him, he was looking at her lips!
"Airu."
Then he closed in on her. Her hands pushed roughly against his chest.
"No – "
His lips were firmly placed on her own. She froze. What the hell was this guy's problem?! Sure, this was a masquerade, but did he really think that he'd be able to get away with kissing everything that had two legs in a dress? The nerve of him. Just wait until she told Tomoyo. Scratch that. Tomoyo would probably be more interested about who was this guy first, and why he had so suddenly decided to steal Sakura's first kiss, and then mourn that she hadn't been there to record it. Then if Sakura was able to survive all that would her wish of Tomoyo plotting revenge with her work, after she realizes that this guy was sexually harassing her!
With Sakura pounding on his chest, and trying to turn her head away from this unforgettable, god awful kiss, this male's resolution was to hug her tightly again so she couldn't move an inch. It seemed like forever as she struggled, and grew more tired as time passed, if it really did, but before she knew it, his tongue darted out and licked the seam between her lips. Her eyes widened as she stared into his closed eyes while his was coaxing her to open up. Clamping down tightly, Sakura glared at the male.
If only looks could kill.
If he so dare, or somehow manage, to put that damn thing in her mouth, she might as well bite it off!
" – ran."
With renewed energy, Sakura fiercely pushed against him again, but his iron grip wouldn't budge. When that didn't work, she pushed the tips of her fingers against him, and Sakura had to admit, this would be a good time for his upper half to be completely bare because then she'd be able to claw that stupid heart of his out. But with all those fabrics in the way, she could only try to rip through it with her nails.
"What are you doing?"
His lips paused ravaging her lips for a moment before he lifted his head up to look at something else. Sakura, with mild disgust, had to note that her lips were slightly damp, and then she looked towards the source of her saviour. It was a brunette with her tied in a loose bun that had strands sticking out in random direction wearing a light peach gown.
"Oh. Give me a second." With horror, Sakura felt the vibrations of his chest with every word that he said since her hands were still placed on his chest, but before she could remove them, or even try to push him away again despite the many previous failed attempts, he turned his head and looked down at her. "Sorry about that."
Breathing in deeply, and glaring at him all the same, she hissed her next words in a whisper.
"You bastard."
"Bitch," he returned with a charming smile. Then his hands dropped to his side and walked away.
Furious, Sakura watched his back disappear into the crowd, hand in hand with the earlier female, and made an immediate beeline for the washroom.
Thank god it was a masquerade.
Or Sakura would have castrated him if they ever meet again.
The second time they met, it was complete chaos and tragedy. Sakura didn't even know what happened, or how it happened. It just happened. Not that she recognized him though, since all she sensed at that time was a sense of déjà vu.
It all started on that fateful day when Sakura went to check the results for her medical exam. She had passed with flying colours, and then proceeded to merrily skip the rest of the way home to tell Tomoyo the great news. And Naoko and Rika and Chiharu as well if they were home.
Then maybe she could go shopping for a few books to celebrate her success. Sakura beamed as she began making a mental list of possible books that would interest her while she waited in the elevator. Smiling to herself, she exited the elevator to see Tomoyo and Chiharu preparing to leave. Upon telling them her good news, they cheerfully congratulated her and showered her with hugs and promptly left without another word. Confused by their quick dismissal, the blank brunette could only stand there for a while, studying the elevator door as the seconds slowly ticked by. And after realizing what had happened in the span of one minute, and that she could have taken a ride in the elevator with them, Sakura gave a small, pitiful sniffle and headed towards the elevator again so she make her way towards the mall.
She bought too many books. While visiting heaven, which was the three level bookstore, she had somehow managed to forget the time, the amount of books in her arms not to mention how each of them cost, and the heavy weight in her arms from carrying too much. Luckily she had just received the cheque from part-time job and managed to scrounge enough money together to buy all the books, too heartbroken to put any of them back on the shelves. Struggling home with the books, she miraculously managed to not drop any of the bags or put a hole through one of them.
But she was greeted with the most unexpected surprise. As soon as she unlocked the door, and the 'click' echoed throughout the apartment that was seemingly empty with the lights turned off, more than a pair of arms grabbed her from behind and she was dragged to god knows where only after being stripped, changed into new clothes, and blind folded and gagged.
So that was how she ended up at one of the most popular clubs in Tokyo, with her friends as the culprits that had so kindly dragged her here in celebration of getting into medical school. Surrounded by Chiharu and Tomoyo, who were squeezing her mercilessly between each other to prevent her from escaping, and cheers and smiles, they occupied a booth near a dark corner with some distance towards the dancers.
"Congratulations Sakura-chan!" They tapped their alcohol glasses together while the victim sat rooted to her seat, not being able to move and all, and they probably, for some odd reason, wouldn't let her in on that cheer anyways since her glass didn't contain alcohol, but rather some weird looking, gooey green mixture.
The iterated words continued on with everyone happily getting drunk while Sakura sat there quietly staring at her drink, not even able to try and drink that green thing. And then, before she knew it, minutes had ticked by, and Chiharu and Naoko had already turned tipsy with Tomoyo rooting them on, and Rika trying to calm the girls down. Sakura pouted down at her drink before she was shoved off her seat unexpectedly, and would have fallen down if Tomoyo hadn't reached out to steady her.
"Dance! Lezz go everyone!" Chiharu yelled, a small blush creeping up her cheeks as her words began to slur together. She immediately disappeared into the crowd of dancers with Naoko rushing in after her and Tomoyo laughing to herself as she calmly made her way towards the crowd.
Sakura looked towards Rika, the only other sane person in the group.
"I think I should watch over them to make sure they don't do anything they would regret later," Rika informed her, words barely audible with the brash music compared to her quiet voice.
"I'll watch our bags," Sakura said, sliding back into the booth. Rika nodded with a smile before rushing in after them as Tomoyo disappeared into the crowd of sweaty bodies.
The brunette heaved a sigh of relief and mentally patted herself for not being dragged onto the dance floor, glad that her friends had turned tipsy enough to forget about her.
Unconsciously, her eyes wandered towards her green drink. Stirring it slowly with the spoon, Sakura lifted the spoon to see small yellow chunks. She dropped the spoon like the plague and shivered involuntarily as she pushed the glass away to the edge of the table. Pursing her lips, the auburn haired female glanced at the other alcoholic drinks and eyed Rika's still almost full glass. Then a large hand wrapped itself around it. Narrowing her eyes, she looked up at the owner of the hand that had his/her hand wrapped around her friend's drink and her potential drink as well.
His face was hidden in the shadows as the lights flashed behind him, and his bangs fell over his eyes in a chaotic manner and all that was visible was an irritating boyish grin on his face that reeked of arrogance.
"Are you drinking this?" His low voice was hard to hear over the loud music. Sakura squinted at him, trying to get a better look.
"What do you think?" Sakura retorted, wrinkling up her noise at the stupid question, and then her eyes strayed towards her original drink. "But you can have that green thing."
Slowly, his head tilted downwards until he found the drink at the edge of the table, and he blinked, hand still on Rika's drink. Then he used his other hand to grab the drink and took a sniff of it. Sakura couldn't tell anything from his indifferent face, but her jaw dropped opened when he gulped a mouthful down. With a thoughtful expression, he placed the glass down, hand still resting on it. He gave her a charming smile.
Sakura's eye twitched.
"Actually, it doesn't taste bad, but I need this drink more." His hand left the green mixture and he held up the other drink, and twirled it around.
"It costs money you know."
"Tell them to put it on Syaoran's tab."
And he walked away with that stupid smile that was supposed to dazzle her. Just like that. Scowling, Sakura was just about to go marching up right to him to make some rude comments and grab Rika's beloved drink back when something that sounded like a firecracker going off echoed throughout the club, and the music stopped.
Silence.
Sakura froze and her blood turned cold as the smell of gunpowder lingered in the air. Seconds sluggishly ticked by with no one moving an inch. And then that thump echoed loudly in her pounding ears. She could hear her heart beating.
And then chaos erupted.
The fear was almost tangible.
People dove for cover while others near the exit ran for there life, pushing and shoving each other viciously with the grim reapers fingers just a hairline away from wrapping his hands around their throat. Another gunshot. People screamed. People tripped. People ran.
People died.
The metallic smell of blood reached her nose. She took a deep breath then, not realizing she had held her breath ever since the gun shot.
An object in the distance glinted under fluorescent lights that heated up the club and a sweat trickled its way down her face. Her bangs clung to her face. The object was pointed towards her.
The sound resounded in her ears. Seconds turned into minutes as everything unfolded in slow motion. She couldn't hear the screaming anymore. The cries and shouts of fear. Nor could she remember why she was sitting here in the first place, or ponder the safety of her friends, or if she was being targeted for some odd reason. It was just her and the bullet that was making its ways towards her. Just her and the grim reaper with the boney fingers wrapping itself around her neck, taking its sweet, sweet time.
"SAKURA!!"
It was a familiar voice, but she couldn't exactly pinpoint who it belonged to. Was it Tomoyo? Her friend? Or a stranger? Maybe even her idiotic brother.
But all it took was a split second. She fell back instinctively in a desperate attempt to avoid the bullet. It nipped her shoulder as she fell back and collided with the wall as she rolled off her seat and fell onto the ground. She gasped, struggling to breathe while her hand clutched at the wound, a thin trail of blood staining her white blouse.
"Breathe. Just breathe." Sakura calmly instructed herself, breathing deeply through her nose and out her mouth, closing her eyes tightly. But she wasn't just trying to forget about the throbbing pain in her shoulder, she was trying to calm down her beating heart, pushing away that useless emotion called fear that was tearing through her. Invading her mind and taking control of everything it came across. And the shock that a gun had been pointed at her and so close to dying.
A whimper escaped between her lips as she opened her rapidly watering eyes. The cracked paint of the wall before her full of graffiti almost made her shut her eyes again if not for the absolute darkness that would come with it. Gulping nervously, she leaned against the wall, and reached for her bag, staining the material with her blood soaked fingers. Fumbling with the straps for a moment, she reached in for her cell phone, preparing to dial that three digit number that had been shoved into her brain for as long as she can remember.
It was deafening. Almost deafeningly quiet. She couldn't hear the screams anymore. Couldn't hear the gunshots. Hiding under that table of the booth in that dark little corner, all she could hear was the pounding of her heart, scared that her slow breathing just might give her away if anyone were to walk by. People had stopped running. Perhaps they were already dead. Maybe they made it out alive.
But Sakura was still there waiting. Hiding under the table pathetically, not being able to help anyone. It was the fear that was eating its way inside of her. She couldn't even close her eyes. She stopped breathing.
The sound of a body being dragged on the ground made all her blood rush to her head. The screams, the shouts, all those helps cries of people dying echoed through her head, repeating itself over and over again. All while she was safe under this haven.
"Look at what you did!" Her heart skipped a beat. And then a muffled sound too quiet for her ears to hear.
She didn't understand why she was alive. How she was alive. That gun that was aimed towards her, that must have been her death sentence. But she was still alive. Hiding and breathing. A tear slipped down her cheek. What about Tomoyo? And Chiharu and Rika and Naoko? What had happened to them? Had they made it out alive? They must have; after all, they were closer to the exit than she was.
"Hey." The quiet whisper made her blood run cold. They were coming after her. They must be trying to eliminate all witnesses. "Are you okay?"
Stiffly, she looked at the mass of unruly hair. Would a murder be asking if she was all right before killing her? Despite the shadows that hid his face, she can see the concern in his eyes as he lay on the ground. She gave an imperceptible nod. And then, with that stupid grin of his, he soundlessly hoisted himself under the table with her, lying on his side and perching his cheek on his hand as he peered up at her, knees slightly bent so that they were fully hidden. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. He grinned at her.
"Seems like I didn't need the drink after all." She couldn't understand his way of thinking. They were in a life and death situation, but he seemed so nonchalant about everything, and even talked to her like she was his friend. So she promptly ignored him, turning her head the other way so that she didn't have to see that infuriating grin of his. And then a hand ghosted its way across the back of her neck, Sakura almost screamed aloud. Furiously, she turned around and slapped his hand away with all her strength, and watched with satisfaction when his hand bounced off the wall painfully.
"You're trembling."
She had been. She still is. It's just that she hadn't realized, but it wasn't surprising that she was. But she couldn't see how his actions were any way related to the fact that she was trembling.
"And?" She asked tersely, her voice a low whisper, afraid that she would lose it at any given moment. His eyes crinkled affably as he stared at her.
"Just thought I'd cheer you up."
"You thought scaring the hell out of me would cheer me up." She gaped at this unbelievable male who was curiously studying her, lying on his side without a care in the world.
"Hey, you're still alive, aren't you? Besides, I thought nothing could be more frightening than that gun that was pointed at you."
He had a point, Sakura noted with distaste. But still. Was this his odd way of comforting her? By sexually harassing her? Ignoring him seemed like the best option at the moment, so she turned her head the other way.
And the tugging on her sleeve got really annoying. Almost all her thoughts flew out the window when she turned to glare at him, so tempted to bash his head in the wall, and scream at him for being so annoying. And those infuriating eyes that were laughing silently at her. Of course, doing such a thing would most likely get her killed, so she constrained herself and settled for glaring at him.
As the saying went, if only looks could kill.
"So what's your name?"
Sakura puffed her cheeks out indignantly. Why would she even think of telling this arrogant male her name? So she continued glaring at him.
"I'm Li Syaoran." He continued, not missing a beating, his eyes twinkling. "You look familiar, have I met you before by any chance?"
"Is that your best pick up line?"
"No, I'm serious." He squinted up at her as he shifted his weight to his hand and leaned up close to her curiously. "Your eyes…" His eyes.
Those damn amber eyes, and that unruly mass of brown hair! She scowled at him.
"Were you at that masquerade a couple of weeks ago?" Sakura asked. So this was the man that had sexually harassed and then walked off with a simple sorry after stealing her first kiss! She had tried to forget the incident, shoving all the memories into the darkest corner of her brain with the key thrown away, and now he just happened to have the key and opened it right up!
"I was." He blinked surprisingly at her. Then a light of realization dawned upon him too.
All her thoughts flew out the window this time. After all, this was the male that she had sworn to castrate on their next meeting. With a hiss, she was about to lunge at him when she heard the sirens. The sounds of the door slamming open and the pounding of the heavy footsteps reached her ears.
Cautiously, she crawled to the edge of the table and gazed out towards the dance floor. Dead bodies strewn on the ground…
He covered her eyes with his hand, blocking those bloody bodies, but she had already seen them. "Let's wait." He said. Somehow, a tear escaped. Struggling to take a deep breath, she turned her head away, closing her eyes and trying to calm herself down. A sob threatened to make its way out her throat. Then a hand roughly ruffled her hair. Opening her eyes, she saw him awkwardly pat her head, trying to comfort her. She smiled weakly at him.
"I'm not a pet."
"I never said you were."
So much for that castration.
Her friends were safe. Sakura smiled as she spotted them and they ran towards her worriedly. It seemed when they first heard the gunshot, their first decision was rush towards Sakura to see if she was okay, but Rika had told them, and tugging them towards the exit while she was doing so, that Sakura would be fine and she would find a way out herself since the shooting occurred on the dance floor. But that didn't stop Tomoyo from still rushing towards Sakura to help her, and Chiharu, being slightly tipsy, had yelled at her for not obeying Rika's instruction and had asked if she wanted them to all die together before knocking her out and gleefully running for the exit. Of course, because of that, Tomoyo was sporting a rather ugly bruise on her forehead that stood out all too much with her pale skin.
And when they spotted that all that blood on her blouse, Rika almost fainted while Tomoyo smacked Chiharu across the head and saying, 'Look at what you did!' and Naoko had calmly led her to a nearby paramedic to be treated. They were all arguing over how Sakura would have died while she had her wounds treated.
Her eyes wondered around, trying to dismiss the stinging pain as the paramedic cleaned her wound, and she spotted him. And then he spotted her.
He stood from a distance, eyes silently mocking her as his eyes flickered towards her wound. He smiled charmingly, staring straight into her emerald orbs.
And then he blew her a kiss and walked away.
And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.
º Neil Gaiman
Junryou –
And yes! This oneshot is finally complete. I'm actually surprised I managed to finish this in such a short time seeing as how lazy I am, and couldn't even write my other stories. I guess I should stick to oneshots from now on. Sorry for the OOCness of Tomoyo. And any other characters while I'm at it. And sorry for any mistakes I missed while editing.
If anyone was wondering why Syaoran just suddenly started kissing Sakura like that, it was because he had pissed off his date and went looking for her and thought that a kiss would make it all better. And of course, Syaoran just had to mistaken Sakura for his date, Airu. He didn't fully see her face either since they were in the dark, and they also had a somewhat similar appearance, so Syaoran just jumped the gun.
And for why they didn't recognize each other. Well, they were strangers after all, and adding the fact that they were in the dark, both times they met, and wearing masks, they couldn't exactly recognize each other instantly.
And why did Syaoran want Rika's drink? Well… I wonder if anyone's interested. But it didn't have anything to do with Sakura.
About that voice that Sakura heard screaming her name. To put it simply, it was just her subconscious telling her to get off her butt before she dies. No one in the club actually screamed her name.
The one thing I wasn't too sure about this oneshot was where to end it. (And all those short summaries I wrote up. I didn't know which one to choose! And after much consideration, I thought that the current summary suited it best.) I was wondering whether I should show the build up of their relationship, but before I knew, this oneshot just kept getting longer, and longer, and then that last sentence flashed through my little brain, and I thought that was the perfect way to end it! Hope it wasn't too disappointing.
And please review if you enjoyed this oneshot!