A
Winter's Tale
A
fiction by moondocc
The
Re-written version of A Winter's Tale
CHAPTER TWO
Rosie Ohiro peered out of the half-closed door, watching the new boy clean the classroom. He had a broomstick in his hand and he was having a hard time trying to sweep all the dirt and puke away. Yes, Nikki Watsumi threw up again…after today's bad lunch.
She sighed wistfully. She thought of how handsome he looked in his faded jeans and white T-shirt.
"I know you're there." The new boy said. Rosie jumped back. "You've been watching me for five minutes already. Want to help me clean this room?" he turned around, his amber eyes smiling kindly at hers, letting her know that he wasn't one bit affected by her spying on him. Rosie blushed, her face turning a crimson shade of red.
"U-uh, sure." She silently pulled open the door and walked into the class. The boy handed her a broomstick and turned back to sweeping the floor. Rosie fumbled clumsily. She had never really…swept before. Although the boy was already horrible enough, the two of them are just plain trouble.
Noah watched Rosie fumble around, a smirk climbing up his mouth. "We are a bunch of idiots," he said, his bangs falling over his eyes. He walked next to her and took the broom away from her clutch. Rosie looked up, surprised, her face flushing from all the energy that she's been putting into this floor for the last five minutes. "You look tired, maybe you should go home."
"Oh no, it's alright," Rosie smiled, "I want to help you clean. You're never going to get that done." She said, pointing at the puke.
"What's your name?"
Rosie widened her eyes by the sudden change of subject. "Ro-Rosaline Ohiro." She mumbled hotly, her finger subconsciously climbing to the tip of her bottom lip. "I'm Noah Dao," he smiled again. This time she felt her whole face burning up. "Nice to meet you," he said, extending a hand out to hers. She hesitated before shaking his hand too.
"Nice to meet you, too." She whispered, her voice so small that Noah had trouble hearing her.
"I'm new. I just transferred a week ago."
Rosie nodded. "Yeah, I've noticed you lurking around." He walked to the window. She followed, though hesitantly. He laughed, "Yes, everyone knows me as the guy who lurks around at lunch."
"Well…" Rosie paused; she didn't know what to say. "You don't have to say anything, Rosaline. Just looking at you makes me want to smile…"
"—AND CUT!" Jimmy Naozumi shouted. An auburn-haired girl quickly walked away from the window, cursing at air. When she brushed past the same handsome actor, all he could hear was "—insolent man who can't act ugh I hate—"
Syaoran silently smirked to himself. He personally thought that scene 12 was pretty good, on both their parts, but he had no idea why Sakura would curse after every scene that they've done together. He sighed and walked away from the window toward Jimmy, who was talking with Tomoyo and Eriol. When he saw a flustered Sakura striding angrily towards him like a rhinoceros followed by a calm and sarcastic Syaoran, he quickly motioned for them to gather where he was standing.
"That was fantastic!" Jimmy smiled widely, giving both actors a thumbs-up. Sakura growled. "Jim," she started, "Li was horrible."
Jimmy looked at her, unsure of what to say. "Sakura, he was good…in his own way, I guess." At this Syaoran glared. "I was fantastic! What are you talking about?"
Jimmy made a slitting-throat motion and pointed at Sakura as a signal. Syaoran quickly understood, "Tsk tsk tsk, director, since when do you bribe puny little actresses?" he muttered under his breath. Thankfully, Sakura didn't hear him. She was too busy staring longingly at Naozumi and waiting for him to defend her.
"So, are there any parts you think that they could've done better?" Tomoyo cut in, ignoring Sakura's protest.
"…Well…" Jimmy thought apprehensively, "I thought the last sentence 'Just looking at you makes me want to smile' could have been better said," at this Syaoran narrowed his eyes, "but it was actually a pretty good scene." He added quickly, wanting to avoid Syaoran's retort.
"What do you mean 'actually'?" Sakura asked indignantly. "Weren't our other scenes good too?"
"Yeah, considering how you curse under your breath every time after he says 'cut'." Syaoran said, loud enough for Sakura to hear. She slapped his arm, her eyes masking a death wish.
"That's not what I meant!" Jimmy said, quickly seizing back his words, "I meant, this scene, and all our other scenes, are great!" He crossed his arms defensively. He had grown quite afraid of Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li and their guileless death threats.
Quite afraid.
"Of course it was good." Syaoran said conceitedly. "I made it good. Without me, the movie would be nothing."
Jimmy was thinking of ways to praise either one without offending the other. Although every time he tried to praise both, one of them would always link it as an insult to him/her.
"Jimmy, aren't you going to say something?" Sakura pleaded, her emerald eyes forming the shape of a narrow rainbow. "He's being mean again…"
Jimmy chuckled to himself. "I'm not falling for those eyes again…LUNCH BREAK EVERYONE!" he called, relieved to get away from the two.
"Wait!" Sakura yelled, but Jimmy already slipped away from her. He ran away, actually, but Sakura would like to believe that he only ran away because he was too shy and too in love with her to talk to her.
Anybody who had a sense would know that he ran away to escape from Sakura and Syaoran's verbal torture. And sense was something that both lacked tremendously of.
"Oh look, Kinomoto, Naozumi ran away from you." Syaoran smirked, knowing that his words would hurt her.
Sakura winced. "You face reminds me of a potato," she said before walking away with Tomoyo, glancing back at him to make sure he absorbed her words. Syaoran widened his eyes. He wasn't exactly expecting that retort. Now that he thinks about it…
"Hey Eriol," Syaoran tapped his best friend on the shoulder. "Does my face remind you of a potato?"
Eriol rolled his eyes and began to walk away too. "…Whatever."
"What!" Syaoran extended his arms clueless. "Hey, come back here!"
"Kaijuu!" A tall black-haired man screamed in Sakura's ear. Sakura dropped her salad and stopped dead in her tracks in astonishment. Then she turned around, her eyes emitting waves of hatred.
"I swear, Touya, one of these days I'm going to go to court and get a restraining order on you." She glared. "Now look what you've done to my salad. It's wasted…"
"Don't worry, Syaoran will buy you a new one." Touya smiled mysteriously.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sakura stared, although in her mind revenge was already forming a fist. Touya laughed. "It was his idea of course! For me to scream in your ears so you couldn't have lunch!" At this time Syaoran crept out from behind the soda machine and hi-fived Touya.
"AHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAA!" Both started to laugh hysterically while Sakura's face turned as white as a sheet.
"Didn't ha I ha tell you ha she's ha stupid?" Touya said between laughs. Syaoran barely nodded because he was shaking in convulsion from laughter. Sakura rolled his eyes. "You are such a terrible brother. And you both are brainless bakas."
She walked away from them, joining Tomoyo at a small table. "Those two are so childish."
Tomoyo agreed. "It's a wonder how they are best friends. I mean, Eriol's practically a prune!"
Sakura laughed. "He's never dated anyone!"
"Oh ho ho ho ho. Poor Eriol. So many girls are after him for his looks, but he's just so… conservative!" Tomoyo said sympathetically.
Sakura observed her friend. "Do you still have a crush on my brother?"
Tomoyo looked up. Her face was slightly red at the mention of a certain tall handsome man. "Oh no," she denied quickly, "I got over that idea a long time ago."
Sakura narrowed her eyes, not believing Tomoyo. "Maybe you should start liking Eriol. You know, open him up to new horizons," she winked. Tomoyo reacted to the idea as if a bee had stung her.
"No…" she said sadly, "I think I still like your brother…even if he is a brainless baka."
Sakura frowned. "Still? But how long has it been? Six years? Seven years? Ever since we were little!" Tomoyo averted Sakura's eyes. "He's run his hands through tens of girls by now! How can you stand to see that?"
Tomoyo smiled sadly. "…I don't know…love is blind."
Sakura sighed. "You're hopeless." She nodded to herself. "Anybody liking Touya is hopeless even if they do have a brain." She added. Tomoyo chuckled. "Oh Sakura, you're always making me laugh. That's what I love about you."
Sakura smiled sweetly. "That's what best friends are for!" She said as she put her arms around Tomoyo. "That's what best friends are for…"
7: 02AM, the next day
"WHO IS IT?" Sakura screamed at the door after the doorbell rang on its twelfth time.
No answer came. Just more "ding-dong"'s. Sakura was getting quite annoyed at tabloids. Won't they even let her have a Saturday off? Is it sooooo hard to ask to sleep in like normal people?
"I'm coming!" She yelled again, pulling a pink shirt over her head and some pants. Before she reached for the doorknob, the doorbell rang again. One more time, and she swears that she will scream for the whole world to hear.
Ding-dong.
"That's it," Sakura muttered under her breath as she pulled open the door violently. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed her loudest at the person standing on the other side…that was before she opened her eyes and saw in front of her a black-haired man with pale blue eyes.
For a second, she simply stared. The man on the other side stared back, quite confused at Sakura's reaction. She blushed when she saw him scratch his ear lightly, letting out an involuntary groan.
"Oh. Hi Naozumi," she said in discomfiture, her face suddenly flushing. "I'm sorry about the scream…"
Jimmy smiled warmly, his hand dropping back to his side. "That's ok. I'm sorry I rang so many times; I didn't realize you heard me. I thought you weren't home…that was my last bell, I swear." He said apologetically, pointing to his headset. "I was listening to some music for the movie."
Sakura looked at his head. Indeed, there was a huge headset covering his ears, almost like ear-mittens. "I'm so sorry. I'm just…surprised that someone would come over this early." Annoyed is more like the word, Sakura thought.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" Jimmy apologized immediately. "I didn't realize that seven o'clock is early for you!"
Since when is seven o'clock not early for anyone?
"Oh no no, since you're already here, please, come in," Sakura smiled, gesturing for Jimmy to come sit, ignoring that thought. He continued to stand there, looking awkwardly at his feet. "I can come back at a later time if you want…"
That would be nice, Sakura thought, but since you're already here, I can't go to sleep anymore anyway. "That's ok," she said quickly, and pushed him into the living room.
When he turned around, Sakura found Jimmy studying her in a most uncomfortable way. He just flat out stared at her for a long moment.
"Your hair," Jimmy pointed at Sakura, a comical expression crawling on his face. Sakura frowned. Then she moved next to the walk-in closet and looked in the mirror that hung next to it. She gasped. Her auburn hair was sticking out at weird angles, and it was a complete mess. "Shut up." She reprimanded, and brushed her fingers through her rich hair.
Jimmy grinned evilly. He crept up behind her and looked at her reflection in the mirror. "You look cute."
Sakura's fingers stopped in the middle of her head. She opened her mouth a little, then closed it, too flabbergasted to say anything. Coming from him? She'd never expected that.
"Please, sit." Sakura blinked, regaining her sense of reality, and led Jimmy into the living room. They walked away from the mirror, Sakura's face still flushed at her messed up hair. He sat down on the couch uncomfortably, twitching and turning. "So," she recovered completely now, "would you like anything to drink? I have tea, orange juice, coke, milk, water-"
"Sakura." Jimmy raised his hand to touch her arm, interrupting her. "It's ok, I don't need anything." He smiled again. I could melt in his smile…
She hid her glee. "Alrighty. So what are you here for?" she sat down on the couch opposite of him.
"You have quite a nice apartment, Sakura." Jimmy glanced around, nodding his head in approval. "I like what you've done with the place."
"Haha, thank you. Pink is my favorite color." She beamed. All she could do was beam in Jimmy's presence.
"I can see that," he said as he leaned himself back on her couch, extending his arms to their full length. "What a comfortable couch… it's still pink though!"
"Yeah…I really like this couch. I got it on sale." Sakura winked.
"Sale!" Jimmy's eyes widened in shock. "But you're a millionaire! Rich, spoiled brats like you don't get stuff on sale!"
Sakura laughed. "That's not true. The outlet store has tons of stuff for a lower price! Why buy stuff from department stores for thousands more? Fame can't last forever, you know."
Jimmy agreed. "But you're only 21…"
"And you're only 30…and you're already the most famous director in Japan!"
Jimmy laughed, much to Sakura's surprise. "That's bogus! I would worship myself if I were the most famous director in Japan! I don't even come close."
"Are you serious? NO WAY. I've seen your movies. They're absolutely fantastic!"
"No, no, they're just some bullshit work. Most of the time I'm surprised that they even turn out that well." Jimmy admitted humbly.
"Well, if someone said that to Li, he would ask them to lick his feet." Sakura offered.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Li is such a braggart. Sometimes I wonder how he keeps up his 'lonely, dorky, humble, handsome' appearance with his fans." Sakura said sadly. "It's really a pity."
"Hmm." Jimmy nodded in apprehension. Their conversation was dying away, although Sakura was quite happy that she got to talk to him for real. She's never talked to him for real. It's just small talk but…
Why did that stupid potato enter our conversation?
"So what are you here for?" Sakura touched the subject again, shaking that stray thought away. Jimmy sat right up, his face suddenly serious.
"Well…it's hard to say without offending you…" he trailed off. Sakura's face tightened. Offending her? Why?
"Go on."
"We've been looking at the scenes that we've done so far…and although Noah and Rosaline haven't exactly started going out yet, their chemistry is starting to fade."
"What?" Sakura asked, dumbfounded. "But Syaoran and I have always had great chemistry."
"That's what I'm worried about, Sakura," Jimmy paused.
"What do you mean?" Sakura laughed nervously. He couldn't possibly mean that…
"You and Syaoran are losing your 'couple-ness'."
Sakura stared, not understanding what she'd just heard. Losing their chemistry? But yesterday he was still telling her that seeing her just makes him want to smile.
"Remember what I told you yesterday? About the line 'Just looking at you makes me want to smile'?"
"Yeah, I remember." Sakura also remembered what followed this line.
"Well…" Jimmy looked down, his hands rubbing against each other. "To be honest, I thought that line was absolutely horrible. It sounded as if Syaoran was making a speech. Dead, no life, no vitality."
Sakura was surprised.
"I didn't want to tell Syaoran about this, because he will probably throw things at me. You and I both know that Syaoran's kung-fu trained, and I've never really been great at sports." This Sakura did know, although the part about Jimmy not playing sports surprised her. He's so strong and so tall! You can see the silhouette of his thick body through his gray shirt. "I don't want to get hurt." He chuckled uneasily.
"…So what are you saying?"
Jimmy looked up, his soft blue eyes dredging deeply into Sakura's own emerald pools—…was he staring at her with a sort of…brotherly love? No, no, Sakura quickly shook that thought from her head. She felt dizzy, like the world was spinning around her and she didn't have the power to make it stop.
He stood up and moved across the table and sat down next to Sakura, on the opposite couch. He sighed, and then turned his face and looked into her eyes. She found herself lost in his blue ocean.
"You and Syaoran will have to spend time with each other everyday from now on." When he finished, he gave her a big thumbs up, leaned in, and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"I'm sorry, Sakura. I know how much you hate this. I hate this too. But you have to do it, for me." At this he took Sakura's hands in his and wrapped his long fingers around her small fists. Then, without a warning, he tousled her messy hair and walked himself to the door.
Sakura was too dumbfounded and taken aback by what just happened to do anything to stop him. She sat on her couch like a frozen statue. "Bye, Sakura." He smiled again, and closed the door quietly behind him.
"Damn Naozumi." She whispered.
12:34pm
"No, I told you a million times, Francine, I don't want Starbucks' coffee frappacino. I want Jack's." Sakura screamed into her cell phone. From the other side came a muffled sound, quick and crisp.
"No, no, I don't care. I. Want. Jack's. Do I have to repeat myself again, Francine? I told you to get Jack's!"
A purple-haired woman with beautiful amethyst orbs smiled apologetically at the blue-haired man sitting across from her. "She's usually not like this…" The blue-haired man smiled back at her, nodding knowingly. "Sakura's got a gregarious personality that no one can resist!" he said.
He pointed at the luggage beside the beautiful young woman. She motioned that they would talk about it later, although he didn't seem satisfied at that explanation. They made some small talk, mostly about "A Winter's Tale" and about their clients. However, Tomoyo and Eriol's conversation were cut back again by Sakura's screams. "Jack did come to work today. I saw him with my own eyes!" At this, she paused, and listened to the receiver. Tomoyo shrugged while Eriol smiled kindly again. "He did not go home. Oh no he didn't. Don't you try to weasel out of this Francine. I know you." Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Get off your lazy butt and find him then!"
Muffled voices came screaming back at her. Is this how a secretary should treat her boss? Eriol silently thought.
"Fine! Fine!" Sakura sighed, giving in submissively. "Go buy me a Starbucks cappacino then. No sugar, decaf please." With that, she hung up her cell, put it in her purse, and sat next to Tomoyo with a loud thump on the chair. Eriol jumped at the sound.
"Good afternoon, miss Kinomoto," the manager said in a collected voice.
"Hiragazawa." Sakura nodded, recognizing his presence. She looked at Tomoyo, then looked back at Eriol, and focused her mind on somewhere else.
Tomoyo was beginning to open her mouth to say something, but a loud knock on the door suggested that she close her mouth again. Eriol got up to the door. On the other side stood a flushed Syaoran leaning against the frame puffing loudly, a towel wrapped around his neck, half-naked.
"Syaoran…you finally decided to come back." Eriol greeted and dragged Syaoran inside.
"Yeah…all that exercise is making me dizzy." Syaoran said as he threw the towel on a couch and grabbed a fresh one. He passed by Sakura and Tomoyo without notice, and was just going to step into the bathroom when he walked backwards and saw two women sitting politely (and awkwardly) on his couch.
"Kinomoto!" Syaoran raised his eyebrows, surprised.
"Hoeeee…" Sakura murmured, looking away. Syaoran stared down at his body. "Shit." He involuntarily groaned, narrowing his eyes together. Eriol took the dirty towel that Syaoran had threw on the couch and with a wave of his hand, instructed Syaoran to wrap it around himself, so it's not "inappropriate".
Although, Sakura had to admit, he did have a nice body…
EWW. Sakura frowned, disgusted at that thought. He looks like a freaking pig.
"I'm sorry about all of this, Miss Kinomoto and Miss Daidouji. Syaoran always goes running at noon." Eriol said apologetically. "And I'm sorry for the fetid odor." He added.
At this Syaoran became suddenly aware of the smell of sweat and dirt originating from his body. He saw a light smirk on Sakura's face as she pulled her nose with her fingers. "You smell horrible…almost like a rotted potato."
Syaoran frowned. Who was she to call him a potato? "Pumpkin." He muttered under his breath.
"Thank you for the term of endearment, Li. I'm sorry I don't feel the same way." Sakura sneered, silently congratulating herself for being so ingenious.
"Whatever." Syaoran dismissed that comment with a wave of his hand, a glare, and a…sincere smile? "Maybe that's way we need to spend more time together."
Sakura's face blanched. "That's exactly what we're here for, Li," Tomoyo butt in, always rescuing her friend one step ahead. "We're here so that you and spend more time with Sakura."
"Why would I do that?"
Tomoyo smiled. "Aren't you curious as to why we're sitting in the middle of your apartment, Syaoran?" Syaoran shook his head. Not really…too many people come visit his condo anyway. He never keeps count.
"Well…the director said that you and Sakura are losing your chemistry."
Syaoran stared. Oh no he didn't. "Yes, he did." Tomoyo said quickly, as if sensing Syaoran's approaching tumultuous temper.
"So what does he suggest?"
"What do you think?" Eriol winked.
"Yup. And we're going to start that torture now…" Sakura grinned evilly, her mind already forming a plan to torture Syaoran. "If we're to make this movie one HUGE success, Syaoran…I'm MOVING IN!"
For a while Syaoran simply looked at the three foreign people sitting politely and awkwardly on his couch. He rubbed his head in confusion.
Hmmm… Sakura thought he'd be screaming by now. What's wrong? Tomoyo and Eriol seemed to be wondering the same thing, because Syaoran had a look of exasperated disbelief on his face. "His veins are going to pop soon…" Sakura whispered to Tomoyo, giving her a boding warning.
Waiting for a reaction…waiting for a reaction….waiting…waiting…A crack formed on Syaoran's face!
To their utter surprise, Syaoran started laughing. Sakura raised her eyebrows. Eriol whispered to them discreetly, "Miss Kinomoto, Miss Daidouji, who is this mental person?" He continued to laugh. Sakura, Tomoyo and Eriol stared back and forth at each other, speechless.
"Eriol, dear friend, I'm hallucinating," Syaoran said after calming himself down. "For a moment there I thought I heard Kinomoto saying that she was going to move in with me."
Eriol raised his hand to interrupt, but Syaoran didn't let him. "Eriol," he said with a serious expression, "please escort these two nice young ladies out. I will have to do pushups now."
To be continued…
Author's Note. Do you guys like the movie story so far? I don't know how to make them talk so that's what I did… I hope it's ok. And I think I'm going to stop it with the "English-only" names now…future characters will all have Japanese names. I really want to call Jimmy Naozumi Naozumi or Kyo, but I guess it's too late to change that now isn't it?
Eeeeek! Long author's note. Oh, and if any of you guys wonder, I haven't exactly figured out Jimmy's personality yet. He's bipolar right now because I can't think of anything to do with him. But I can guarantee you that he's not going to be a bad person…I hope. He might be a bad person later on though. Who knows? Who knows?
OK… long enough. REVIEW PLEASE!
