Yay, right?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I closed the door behind me and sighed. After a long pause, I continued down the hall to find Tomoyo.
"Sakura!" a girl called from around the corner, running to meet me. "My name's Chiharu, if you don't remember. It's fine if you don't, I mean, I really don't care." She grinned. "Tomoyo told me to find you. Where were you? I checked everywhere."
"Uh."
"Oh well, I found you. Come on!" She took my hand and ran down the hall. Trying not to trip, I followed her energetic pigtails to the kitchen.
Tomoyo was hunched over a pot when we arrived, cursing vividly. Chiharu moved her hands as if to cover my ears, then noticed her subconscious movement and quickly dropped them.
"Oh, Sakura." Tomoyo set the lid back on the can and ran around the counter. "I need you to... Chiharu, thanks. Bye."
The other girl glowered and walked away dejectedly. Tomoyo took me around behind the counter. "I need you to talk to Syaoran."
My face fell. "Why?"
"Because he's not talking to anyone else." She stroked my face thoughtfully. "And you're cute."
"But I don't want to talk to him."
She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, just talk about the weather or something. Not like the weather matters when you're underground, but that's irrelevant."
"Why don't you go talk to him?"
"Because," she glowered, "as I already said, he's not talking to anyone else." She paused. "I wouldn't be asking you if I hadn't tried."
I groaned. "But he's freaking boring. And quiet. What's his problem, anyways? He's all... sullen." Thinking back on it, I had never seen him smile or laugh in the (extremely short) amount of time I'd been around him.
Tomoyo folded her arms across her chest and took an exasperated breath. "Sakura, I know you've lost your family. It's like, the worst feeling in the universe." She paused, searching for words. "All of us are family here, and Syaoran took the responsibility of keeping us safe a really long time ago. He just lost one of his brothers, and he has to let more of his family into the same danger without his protection right now. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he went crazy." She looked back at me. "You understand what he's going through, right? I mean, no one else here was... with their family when all of this happened. And as I already said, you're cute."
I processed what she said slowly. Of course she made sense; Tomoyo had always been a persuasive speaker. But the thought of having to talk to him... was weird. The past few days had been kind of crazy already. Add talking to the opposite sex... it's not such a good idea.
"Sakura, you're a big girl. Leave me with my soup." Tomoyo stood up and focused her attention back to lunch or dinner or whatever-it-was. I suspected she wouldn't be checking back up on me for a while, obviously letting me make my own decisions.
With a giant guilt-trip attached.
A reluctant sigh escaped my lips as I left the kitchen and searched for the inane man. Tomoyo and her guilt.
Obviously, my sense of direction was a little obscure, seeing as I'd spent a day here. After finding the living room out of luck, I vetoed the search for a while and slouched into a chair.
My only question was what people did all day. I mean, this couldn't be too big of a living space. Despite that everyone seemed to disappear until meals. Of course, I was used to being alone; I hadn't known anything different for over a year, if not two. Now, after thinking I would be totally alone in that stupid basement for the rest of my life, I was in the middle of a civilization- or as Tomoyo put it, family- with only an extremely vague idea why any of us were there in the first place.
Although I had only gotten up an hour or so ago, I fell asleep in a giant red bean-bag chair. It felt like I slept for hours before someone grabbed my shoulder, causing me to throw a fist in their direction before waking up and tumbling backwards.
"Ugh," a voice groaned.
I felt my heart beating quickly out of my chest. Remembering where I was, I got up from the floor and walked to the person that woke me.
A man I didn't know winced and stood up, clutching his stomach. "Sakura, I admire your strength, but that was less than necessary."
"Sorry," I said softly. "I don't sleep well."
"Not many people do here, I guess." He took a deep breath. "Well, I won't have to worry about Nate anymore."
"What does that mean?"
He smiled. "Dinner's ready, if you want to meet everyone formally. I mean, getting attacked yesterday isn't how we normally greet people. Come on." He started walking away slowly, clearly not in a hurry. I followed him, suddenly aware of the grimy sweatpants and oversized t-shirt I wore. Introductions were never good for me.
The kitchen was full of people. They were all talking amongst themselves when we walked in, then all attention was on me.
He turned to me. "Normally Syaoran would introduce you, but he doesn't really know you. So you get Tomoyo."
Tomoyo, looking thrilled, walked up from behind me. "This is so exciting, right? You getting accepted and all."
I took a breath. "Is this like, important? I thought everyone already met me."
She laughed. "It's kind of a huge deal. We're voting you in." I then noticed her extremely-nice-looking business suit.
"...Shouldn't I be in better clothes?" I sighed. I hadn't touched my hair since yesterday.
Tomoyo narrowed her eyes. "Someone wouldn't let me make you anything."
"Okay, you have a tendency to go a little out of control, right? I'm just saying that-"
"Sit down," she hissed. The man ran away quickly to the other corner of the room.
"Okay. Just... look cute." Tomoyo stepped in front of me and smiled. "Hey everyone. So I know you've all met Sakura... some more than others." A glare made its way to Nate, sitting close to the front and smiling placidly. "Anyways, I've known her since we were really little, and if any of you don't believe me, I'll drive you out of here myself. I mean, I've been... Sorry. Back on my point. Sakura is the sweetest, cutest, most pathetically underage girl I know, and I'll never leave her again." She looked at me and smiled. I couldn't help but return it.
"That's true, but I still don't know who she is. No offense, of course," Naoko said, smiling hesitantly.
Tomoyo shrugged. "Sakura?"
"Yeah."
"...Story."
I stared at her blankly. "What do you mean?"
She sighed." 'Hi, my name is Sakura. My parents were killed when I was fifteen-' That kind of thing."
I stood silently for a moment before registering the information and taking a deep breath.
"Hi."
A ripple of "hi"s went through the room.
"I'm... Tomoyo, you know I'm a bad public speaker."
"Oh my gosh. Just talk."
"Uh. Well, when I was little I lived in Tomoeda. That's where I met Tomoyo. Then when I was thirteen we moved to Tokyo. I mean, my dad got a job offer and my brother was in college and stuff, so it made sense- uh, so we lived here for a couple years. One time Touya came home unexpectedly-"
"Touya is her brother," Tomoyo interrupted.
"...Yeah. He came home because he heard about some sort of... thing. I mean, we all know what it is now. But anyways, we started making preparations and stuff in our basement. I didn't know what any of it was for, because of course, no one bothered telling me. Then Touya got this awesome video game, and we played it in there all the time. Then apparently there was something wrong with our rooms, like a gas leak or whatever, so we had to sleep in the basement..."
Having never noticed how much trouble my family went through to keep me safe, I felt my throat tighten.
"...Uh." I looked down, tears hitting the floor quietly. I took a long pause, waiting for my voice to return to its normal octave.
"One night there was banging on the door. We hid in this tiny place behind the stairs... I thought he did something to make our dad mad or something. But the next morning Dad didn't come down like he normally did to give us breakfast. That's when he told me everything."
I sniffed quickly, feeling my cheeks burning. Tomoyo looked at me with heartbroken eyes.
"Then, uh... we... lived there for a couple more years. We barely ever got to leave, but when we did it was awesome. They didn't take any of our candy down to the basement, so when we went upstairs I ate bags of it. One night he let me sleep in my old bed, which was amazing. He stayed up all night. But uh, one time he went up without me, telling me to stay, and I followed him...That was the... uh, the night when..."
I couldn't see through my tears, but at that point I didn't really care as much.
"The only thing he asked me never to do was go outside. We had everything we needed there, and I did anyways. Then I got- kidnapped-" I wiped my face quickly. "-and I thought, 'great, I'm going to die, and Touya's going to kill me,' but of course he couldn't... because..." I looked up at Tomoyo. "I miss him."
Finally she gave in, grasping me in a bear hug and putting my head on her shoulder. It took every shred of my control to keep from weeping.
She slowly pulled away. "Sorry. Everyone in favor of keeping Sakura here."
I looked up to see everyone's hands up, looking at me with desolate faces. I could only imagine their babying thoughts.
"All not in favor. Great. Let's get you to bed."
"I'LL CARRY HER."
"I swear, Nate, if you say another word-"
Syaoran sighed and swept me up like I weighed five pounds, following a seething Tomoyo into the hall.
"-at least give her some space, but no. We have to act like she's freaking six years old. I mean, really? She's seventeen. I remember when I was seventeen, and everyone thought I was way older than I was." Her heels clicked on the linoleum impatiently. "Sorry. Are you alright, Sakura?"
I nodded slowly. I hated being carried because it left nowhere for your hands to go except around the carrier's neck or awkwardly in your lap. Needless to say my hands sat awkwardly in my lap.
My head also felt awkward. I didn't want to lean on his chest or anything. That was infinitely more awkward than holding it up myself, which was pretty awkward.
Awkwardawkwardawkward.
"-audacity of him just makes me want to hit something. Who does he think he is? I can understand-"
What if I was sweaty? Was I getting my sweat all over him? Breathing was awkward. I could feel his breath.
"-if you'd let me." She paused. "Do you think she heard that? Sakura, if you did, I was joking."
I opened my eyes, not really noticing that they closed. Or that my head drifted onto Syaoran's shoulder. "What?"
"Good. Go back to sleep."
I closed my eyes again.
"That wasn't a joke," she muttered.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tomoyo willingly moved me into her room, having nowhere else to put me except with Nate. Syaoran left to get us all dinner, and Tomoyo moved onto the bed beside me.
"Tomorrow we're going to get you in a normal schedule. I think it'll make you feel a lot better."
I nodded, grateful for any normality at this point. "So Tomoyo..."
"Yeah?"
"Does... Syaoran know? About you being seventeen."
She laughed. "I never told him, but he's figured it out by now. I just don't want to admit that I'm so young."
"I can see why."
Tomoyo rolled her eyes. "That'll get better, I promise. I bet in a month nobody will even notice when you enter the room."
"We're not that young, are we?"
"No way. I think people are just excited to have something new. Nothing's changed for a while, you know? Well, nothing's changed for the good."
Syaoran stumbled in with a tray loaded with food. Tomoyo immediately got up and helped him, obviously more skilled when it came to handling food. I ate ravenously, glad not to be under a microscope for once.
When we finished, Syaoran took the bowls and stood up quietly.
"Wait," I mumbled.
He turned around silently.
After this I had no strategy. I don't even know why I said it. The word just propelled out of my mouth before I had the chance to stop it. And now he was standing, looking at me, waiting for me to finish.
"...I'm scared."
Tomoyo stifled a laugh beside me. Syaoran smiled, setting the tray by the door and returning to the bed. "Scared of what?"
"....The dark." I might as well play up the whole "young and pathetic" thing.
He hesitated, confused. "Do you want me to turn the light on?"
"It could turn off again." Bull.
"...How?"
"It just could, Syaoran," Tomoyo said, stroking my hair. "You should stay for a little bit."
He looked back at me. "Would that help you feel better?"
I nodded.
"All right," he sighed.
Tomoyo smiled. "I miss department stores."
"I miss hotels," Syaoran said.
"What do you miss, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked.
I looked at her. "I miss houses."
She smiled. "I miss McDonald's."
"I miss grass."
"I miss sunlight."
"I miss summer."
"I don't miss summer school."
"You went to summer school?" Tomoyo asked.
Syaoran rolled his eyes. "In ninth grade I had to go because I broke my leg."
"How would that make you go to summer school?" I asked.
He sighed. "Vicadin."
"Remember when Eriol broke his leg?" Tomoyo grinned. "He cried for three days, I swear."
Syaoran laughed. "All we had was expired Benadryl."
"I didn't feel sorry for him. It was his fault."
"No it wasn't, he tripped over a broom!"
"He danced into a broom trying to impress Naoko."
I watched the two of them quietly, looking more like a brother and sister than two people that ran across each other. I also saw Syaoran's other side, which wasn't reserved or depressed. He looked genuinely happy as Tomoyo insulted him.
"Why don't you do anything to your hair? It's just this growth on your head-"
"You know you love it," he smirked back, shoving her hand off his head.
"You should just shave your head."
"Right. Because that would look better than my hair now."
"Roadkill would look better than your hair now, honestly."
He paused. "What time is it?"
Tomoyo checked her watch quickly. "Seven twenty."
"Nate's going to kill me," he muttered, jumping off the bed and throwing his shoes back on. "See you guys tomorrow," he shouted, running down the hall.
"Where is he going?" I asked.
"Oh, guard shift. You know, someone has to stay upstairs all the time, just in case. It's no big deal." She sighed and kicked her heels into an empty corner of the room. "You tired?"
I nodded. "Syaoran seemed happier tonight, right?"
She laughed. "Yeah, what was with that? 'I'm scared of the dark'? You really couldn't think of anything else."
"You know I'm bad at that kind of stuff." I watched her step into the adjoining bathroom and come out in pajamas.
"I know." She sat beside me again. "All joking aside, thank you for saying something."
I smiled and crawled under the covers. She crossed the room to her bed and turned off the lamp silently.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I woke up on the floor. Tomoyo was slumped in the corner holding her nose.
"Sakura," she spat through blood, "please stop doing that."
I grabbed the box of tissues and handed them to her apologetically. She glared at me, but took the box.
"Did I break it?" I whispered.
"No," she sighed. "But we need to get you some help if you ever want a boyfriend."
I looked up at her. "Do you guys do that here? Like..."
"Well, not technically. I mean, when we're getting stuff out there, birth control isn't something anyone's willing to risk their life for. Okay, most people. And we don't need anyone pregnant either, so... I don't know." She sniffed. "Ugh, this is disgusting."
"Sorry," I muttered.
"Okay. Let's get you to work." She walked to her closet and pulled out a shirt and shorts, tossing them to me. "Today you're going to follow around Rika."
"What does Rika do?"
"Cleaning!" Tomoyo said cheerfully. "Along with a few other people. We rotate every couple weeks. Well, I don't. I just cook."
"Can I just cook?"
"No. I'm special." She threw me a pair of tennis shoes and smiled. "You look so cute."
I looked down at myself and grimaced. "You're not helping the whole 'kid' thing."
"You'll be fine." Tomoyo tied her hair back quickly. "Come on."
We passed the living room and kitchen into places that I had never been, even in my pointless search for Syaoran. Tomoyo opened the door to a large closet housing Rika and another guy.
"Hey Tomoyo, Sakura," Rika said cheerfully. "We're trying to find the sponges, do you know where they are?"
"Third shelf," Tomoyo said quickly. "I can just leave her with you guys?"
"Yeah, we could use the help." She smiled. "Sakura, this is Stephen."
Stephen smiled and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
I shook his hand and smiled back. His black hair swept over his eyes apathetically.
"So if you could just grab this mop-" Rika said, handing the monstrosity to me. "Great. All right, let's start with the living room."
I spent the day mopping floors while Rika and Stephen dusted and did other oddball jobs. They continually asked me if I was okay, or if I needed a break, or if I wanted to switch jobs with them. I had a feeling that Tomoyo forced the job on me.
While working, I learned that Stephen was the newest addition, excluding me. He had found the building by accident, wandering around on the streets.
"I saw them coming back from a raid," he said, emptying a trash bag out. "It looked a little suspicious, and I was about to die anyway, so I thought 'what the heck' and followed them here." He looked happy enough discussing this, probably because of how lucky he was.
"The only thing I regret is wasting my life in business school. It's not like anyone's going to want a lawyer down here." His gaze lingered on the trash he held and a sigh escaped his lips.
"You might be surprised," Rika interjected. "Syaoran and Meiling get at it a lot. You could probably be of use."
"What about you, Rika?" I asked, curiosity taking the best of me.
She rolled her eyes. "I was in college. I know Yamazaki worked at some big-shot company. He and Syaoran worked together for a few years, that's how they met."
Stephen wiped off a coffee table slowly. "What about Tomoyo? I never hear her talk about herself."
Rika thought for a moment. "You know, she never mentioned it before."
"This room looks done, right?" I interrupted.
She looked around. "Yeah, I think we're done." Rika sighed and wiped her hands with a clean cloth. "Lunch."
I tossed the mop with the rest of our cleaning supplies and followed Stephen to the kitchen. Tomoyo looked unnaturally happy, humming an unrecognizable tune as she diced vegetables. When she looked up to see us she grinned.
"Hey guys! It's almost done." She tossed the vegetables in a frying pan and motioned for me to come over to her.
I slid behind the counter, already feeling sore from working. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into the pantry, shutting the door violently behind us.
"Have you seen Syaoran today?" she asked while fidgeting with my messy hair. "I bet you haven't. He's smiling, Sakura. He's happy."
I looked back at her. "Yay?"
She shook my shoulders violently. "You made him go back to normal, Sakura! Look happier!"
"But it's not because of me. I mean, he could be happy because it's Monday, or-"
"AAH!" she shouted abruptly. "They're coming back today!"
I was done trying to listen to her. Unlocking the pantry door, I started to walk out before she ran over me and leaped across the kitchen counter. Rika shouted and ran after her with empty plate in hand.
After standing perplexed for a few moments, I walked to the stove and stirred Tomoyo's neglected vegetables. Stephen pulled up a chair and watched me from the other side noiselessly.
"Do you know what that was about?" he asked.
"No idea."
He grabbed a slice of green pepper out of the pan and cooled it off. "It's nice having someone else who's just as clueless as I am."
A calm silence followed as I kept lunch from burning. Stephen helped by eating half of it from the pan. Nevertheless, he was good company and didn't complain that I didn't know what I was doing.
"No, put those over the rice," he guided. After watching my failed attempts for a few minutes, he jumped over the counter and did it himself.
"See, this goes on the top since-"
"SAKURA!"
I screamed and backed into Stephen, knocking us both on the ground. He groaned painfully.
"SAKURA!"
I rolled off him awkwardly. "...Sorry."
He stared up at me despairingly, opened his mouth as if to say something, then groaned and closed his eyes.
"Sakura!" Tomoyo pulled me off the ground. "Come on!" She looked to Stephen laying on the ground and sighed.
"Sakura, really. I can't even name everyone you've injured so far."
"Please go get somebody," he moaned angrily. "Seriously."
"What, did you break your face or something?" Tomoyo rolled her eyes and began to drag me away.
"Wait, this is my fault anyways." I knelt down beside him and Tomoyo followed me unwillingly.
"It's scary how strong you are," she muttered as Stephen sighed.
"I fell on my right arm." He motioned to his arm bent in an ominous direction.
"Ugh." Tomoyo stood up. "I'm getting Naoko." She walked away quickly, leaving me alone with the possibly-broken-armed-guy. Which was undoubtedly my fault.
"...Do you want some ice-?"
"No." He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
"Do you want some rice?"
He opened his eyes and looked at me scornfully. "...Yes."
I carefully stepped over him and filled a bowl with rice and vegetables. He watched me as I sat back down and began to hand it to him.
"...Right." I loaded some onto a spoon and sighed. He glared at me, opening his mouth slowly. Thus began my humiliation.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Finally finished.
