Hello, everyone! Chapter 3 is here, yay! Enjoy!
Chapter 3
The Other Side
"You carry the 'x' over to this side. Yachiru, what becomes of this then?"
"The answer turns negative."
"Correct. Thank you, Yachiru-san."
The girl named Yachiru Momo sat back down on her desk, blushing furiously after receiving a grin from Syaoran. The girls around her giggled and squeaked. I rolled my eyes and tried to sleep on my arms.
Stupid Syaoran and his so called "study night." He made me stay up until two in the morning doing five times more of the homework than what was due.
Damn him.
Thanks to his retarded idea, my eyes felt like they were going to peel off. I looked up at him, who was smiling at the class. How the hell can he not be tired?
When he caught my unintended gaze… he became annoying again.
"Kinomoto-san," he said brightly. "Would you do number sixteen's equation on the board?"
He added "-san." Meaning, he knew I was tired, annoyed, and overall pissed. And he knew he was going to get his ass kicked when we got home.
I didn't respond.
The class was looking at me; Tomoyo looked almost pleading… she was hoping I wouldn't explode.
"Kinomoto-san?"
"Yeah, okay," I said as I stood up. My voice was sharp, and the girls began to mutter.
"She's the only one who doesn't like Li-sensei…"
"She must hate him."
"What? She probably doesn't have good taste."
Oh yes, since no one knows about our "relationship" and because of my attitude towards him, they think I hate him (which I do). Meh, better for me; at least I get some privacy.
But me, having no taste? Honey, you don't know a thing about me.
I walked to the front of the board and began writing out the problem. I finally saw why he picked me to do this… it was the same problem that stumped me last night.
I wrote slowly, thinking for the solution. I had to prove an identity problem…
Stupid Trig.
I looked at him, and he was watching me expectantly. Stupid Syaoran, I'll show you…!
I wrote furiously on the board. My temple throbbed every time he asked me what each step of my answer meant or if I was missing anything. It was like I was the child and he was the father… and I had done something wrong.
When I was finally done, he walked to me and said satisfyingly, "Thank you, Kinomoto-san. You may return to your seat."
My teeth were already clenched together by the time he finished that sentence.
"O…kay…" I managed to choke and I nearly dashed back to my seat.
He continued his lecture, and I spent the rest of the period drawing bears on my notebook, occasionally resting my eyes. I was so tired…
He didn't bother me after that. I'm guessing he knew that he already did enough damage this morning.
The freaking bell finally rang and I took my backpack, ready to leave. However…
"Kinomoto."
"WHAT?"
…was what I wanted to yell out.
The girls looked at me again, especially Tomoyo. I turned to Syaoran.
"Yes… Li-sensei?" I said, trying to make my voice sound pleasant.
"I need to talk to you about your test grade…" he said as he was looking through some papers, his voice businesslike. Then everyone started to file out again, knowing that it was nothing special.
"What is it?" I said as I sat down on the chair next to him. I cut the sweet tone automatically.
"Here," he said gently. He gave me a box lunch; I quickly turned around to see if anyone was there. The class was empty, and so I took it.
"Thanks…" I muttered ungratefully. I wonder if he knew that I was still upset.
He softly placed his hand on my head and pushed my forehead to his. I felt his cool breath on my face and somehow… my eyes became less focused.
"Thank you for staying up for me last night," he whispered. "You did well today." I blushed, but I hid my embarrassment with a frown and pulled back.
"D-don't think I forgave you because you said that," I said, trying to sharpen my voice. "I'm still mad at you."
He smirked, but I stood up and stomped out of the class.
Oh crap… was he going to kiss me?
Yeah right… freaking jerk.
"Sakura-chan?" said Tomoyo, who was with Rika. "What happened?"
"Eh… nothing," I lied. Rika raised her eyebrows.
"Nothing?" She wasn't convinced. "You're face looks flushed."
Shit.
"Uh… I'm just tired…" I tried. "You know…?"
Rika's eyebrows rose higher, but then she shrugged. "If you say so…"
Phew.
"Syaoran just cares about you, that's all," said Harumi as she poured a small amount of pancake batter on the skillet.
"By making me stay up late so I feel like passing out every school day?" I said, exasperated. "I don't think so!"
"Maybe he wants you to do well on the college exam," she suggested. She quickly flipped the pancake using the skillet's handle.
"But that's like… not until late spring," I muttered.
She shrugged. "Oh, by the way, are you doing anything on Halloween?"
I grimaced. "No," I said. "You know I hate those kinds of things…"
She laughed. "Yeah, me too. But now, I'm getting used to it."
"How can you get 'used to it?'" I said carefully. I knew that we both hated scary stuff. From horror movies to ghost stories; it gave us both shivers, and Halloween was only a few weeks away. She gave another small shrug as she placed the well-done hot cake on a plate.
"Natsuhiko made me watch scary movies with him every year," she replied.
"How horrible!" I exclaimed.
"I know," she sighed. She poured another small amount of batter into the pan again.
"But it's not so bad," she said finally. "When you're watching them with someone you love…"
"Easy for you to say," I said, my voice low.
She laughed. "Oh yeah, I forgot about your situation," she said. "I guess it doesn't apply to you because you don't love Syaoran."
I didn't say anything while I concentrated on mixing the overly blended batter.
"Speaking of Syaoran, why don't we make some pancakes for him too?" she said, breaking the silence.
"Why should I?" I said, my voice surprisingly bitter.
"Because you make really good pancakes," she replied.
"That's not—"
"And I already have extra batter." She pointed to the bowl that was only half empty when we had already made five pancakes.
"Just… save it," I murmured. She frowned.
"C'mon Sakura-chan, he's stressed out already with his job." She nodded grimly as she washed her hands in the sink. "I should know."
"Huh…" I started. Then I froze and stared at the empty bowl. I quickly looked at the frying pan and saw that I unintentionally finished off frying all of the pancakes.
"See? You want to help him, but you just don't know it yet," she soothed.
"You know, you're starting to sound just like Tomoyo," I said, annoyed.
She smiled.
"Good, then that must mean I'm saying something you should be considering," she mused.
"Humph."
I ended up carrying half of the pancakes home. The sky was slightly dark, with the sun slowly sinking down beneath the horizon.
Was Harumi right? That I wanted to help him…
Help him with what? Getting over his stress? He's the one giving me the stress for crying out loud!
Then again… I guess I should give him some credit for at least worrying about me…
Gah, what am I saying?!
I sighed out loud and looked up, my eyes turning wide. There were a couple of shady looking men ahead near the stoplight, smoking and chatting about something I couldn't hear.
My heart skipped a beat, and I quickened my pace.
One of the men looked at me casually when I reached them, and my heart nearly stopped again. I focused on the black concrete.
"Hey, you," said the guy. I pretended not to hear as I waited for the sign to walk. Why is the damn light taking so long…?
"Hey cutie," said the other man; he sounded more enthusiastic than the other, and when I flashed a second glance at him, he had lighter skin than the deeper voiced man. "Heading home?"
I ignored him. Somehow, his voice made me feel sick.
The same voice sounded confused. "Is she a foreigner?" he muttered to his friend.
"If she is, that would be even better," said the deeper voiced guy. They both laughed. My heart was pounding loudly against my chest.
The light finally turned green for me to walk, and I almost ran across the street. I heard the second guy say, "Hey wait!" before I turned to a corner.
I looked at the windows from the stores and sure enough, the two men were following quietly behind me. My brain started to panic.
I started to think about what I would do if they caught up with me. Punch them? Scream?
And then, before I knew it, I was running towards the other stoplight. I heard a sick laugh, and I saw from the corner of my eye that they started to walk faster.
Crap.
My breathing was labored when I reached the last stoplight. "Hey!" repeated the deeper voiced guy. He sounded so close behind me.
Then I felt a rough hand grab my shoulder and turn me around; I was face to face with them. They were grinning at me.
"You shouldn't have run so fast," said the enthusiastic freak. His breathing was just as ragged as mine.
My voice was stuck at the bottom of my frozen throat. I wanted to scream, but I simply just stared at them, wide eyed.
Why couldn't I scream, let alone speak? My heart was now beating unbelievably fast; as though it would just rip out of my chest.
"She's cute," said the darker guy. "For a high school kid." He reached to touch my face and I flinched.
"Hey, you're scaring her now," sniggered the other man.
Why can't these guys just leave me alone…!
I wanted to shout at them to stop bothering me, but I was paralyzed.
Stupid, stupid—
"Sakura?"
I quickly spun around and saw, to my relief, Syaoran, wearing his casual clothes (a white shirt with a light blue jacket and jeans). But the look of his face made my head spin nervously again.
His expression looked terrifying, which stunned me. But he wasn't looking at me…
"Who are you?" said the darker man gruffly. "You were ruining our fun."
"Let go of her," said Syaoran darkly.
His intimidating tone surprised me. I have never heard him say that way before.
"And what if we don't?" mocked the one who had just laughed. He grabbed my arm, and Syaoran's eyes flickered at me.
And then, it just… happened so fast.
My arm was instantly released and I fell. I heard a yell of pain and by the time I turned around, the two men were already on the ground, groaning, one with a bloody nose and the other with a bloody lip.
I looked up at Syaoran, whose face still looked hard.
And this time, I had finally found my voice.
"Syaoran?" It sounded hoarse.
He suddenly looked at me, with the same menacing eyes. Then they slowly turned soft. He bent down to me quickly and touched my arms.
Even though I had just witnessed him beating up two men single-handedly, his touch in some way calmed me down.
"Are you all right? Where does it hurt?" he said anxiously as he carefully examined my hands. They were slightly scraped from the fall.
"I'm fine," I assured him. "It's just a couple of scratches."
Yet he helped me stand up and took the bag with the pancakes. I noticed that his right hand was red and smeared with blood.
"Hey—you're hurt," I pointed out as I touched the outside of his hand.
"Oh, this?" he said, cheerfully. "It's nothing."
"Liar," I said tonelessly as I squeezed his hand. He winced.
I called the police and they took the men away. When I saw Syaoran, his face was unreadable as he was looking at the men. They, however, were both scared and confused; when they looked at Syaoran, they cowered away from him.
He carried the bag with his good hand as we walked towards home in silence. I couldn't bring myself to say 'thanks' to him, even though my head was yelling at me to. When we got home, I instinctively brought the first aid kit with a plate and fork to his room. He was waiting for me, though he thought I was only bringing the plate and the fork.
"Hey, you made pancakes," he said as he smelled the bag.
"Yeah, I guess," I said as I sat next to him. I outstretched my hand towards him and waited. He simply looked at me, puzzled.
"Let me see your hand," I ordered.
"Er… I'll do it," he said, catching my drift. He had just washed his hand and I could see the small scraps on his knuckles.
"No, give me your hand," I said patiently. "You can't bandage it yourself."
"I'm fine," he insisted, breaking my thin line of patience. I had forgotten how scary he was before.
"Give me your damn hand!" I snapped. He quickly gave me his hand without saying another word.
I dabbed some medicine on his hand carefully, and I glimpsed at him, seeing him cringe a couple of times. Then I slowly bandaged it.
"You're good at this," he complimented when I had finished.
"Thanks," I said, trying to hide my smugness.
Though something in his expression told me something bad was bound to happen. I can see that one of his devious plots was going on in his mind; he was unexpectedly grinning.
"What?" I said loudly. He looked at me and gave me a charming smile.
"Can I have some?" he asked, pointing at the bag of pancakes with his left hand.
"I guess," I shrugged. "Go ahead."
He continued to stare at me.
"What?" I repeated, more annoyed. He grinned more broadly.
"I can't eat with my injured hand…" he started.
Oh no…
"Can you feed me?"
I nearly snapped.
"Can I what?" I whispered in an icy tone.
"Feed me," he said again, oblivious to my anger. "Please?"
My brain racked up reasons on why I shouldn't punch him: One, he saved me from getting possibly raped. And two, he got hurt because of me from beating up those guys.
Ugh… fair enough.
"Fine," I said sourly. "But don't get any ideas."
He beamed.
I slowly cut up some pieces of the pancake and held it to his mouth, and like a dog, he ate it happily. What is he, a child?
I stared at him as he continued to eat cheerfully from my fork.
He was so different from before…
When we were with those guys, he had looked frightening, almost murderous. It was way different than what he was back then and just now: goofy, cheerful, and annoying.
Could that be possible? Having almost two personalities, he was like the Asian Jekyll and Hyde.
"Sakura?" The voice snapped me from my thoughts.
Syaoran looked at me now; his plate was finished.
"Oh… sorry," I muttered. "I must have been daydreaming there."
He smiled. "No worries," he said calmly. "Want me to do the dishes?"
"Eh, that's okay," I said without thinking. "I'll do it myself."
"Okay," he said. He walked to the bathroom and I slowly got up to clean up the floor.
I sighed. It was bothering me… those dark eyes…
And it scared me.
What if… that was his true self? What if I continued to live with him… he would act that way entirely?
I shivered at the thought, even though the tap water was warm.
Did I just get engaged to a dangerous man? His goofiness, his light humor… was it all a charade?
I shook my head.
I couldn't believe it…
No, I didn't want to believe it.
When I was done with the dishes, I crossed the hall, to my room and looked to see if Syaoran was in his room. He wasn't.
I quickly used this chance to change into my pajamas, and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. To my utter surprise and horror, he was already in there, half naked.
He had just come out when I reached for the door, and I stared at him. He looked at me, smiling and not even bothered by his current appearance; the only thing that covered him was long towel that wrapped around his waist.
"I just finished showering," he explained. "Sorry it took so long."
His hair was wet, and the drops went down his bare chest. I noticed that he was slightly lean, though muscular.
As you can tell, I have never seen him half naked before.
Oh god, I'm going to have a long night.
"What do you think you're doing?!" I screeched suddenly, and his face was alarmed.
"Wh-what happened?" he said. Fortunately, he didn't see me blush like crazy.
"Put some clothes on!" I gasped as I staggered in the bathroom, covering my eyes.
"Oh, sorry," he said, trying to look at me. I threw another towel on his face so he wouldn't see me.
But it was too late.
"Does it bother you that I'm like this?" he teased, drying his hair with the towel. I turned away from him, crossing my arms.
"No," I lied. "You just surprised me."
"Liar," he said as his arms suddenly wrapped around me. I felt the blood rise to my cheeks.
"St-stop it…" My voice was strangely weak.
He chuckled as he turned me around. I looked into his eyes again; they were warm. This… was the Syaoran I knew. The one who didn't look scary…
The one who… I knew wouldn't hurt me.
I felt his breath on me and I blinked. He was scrutinizing my face.
"What's wrong?" he said. Crap, I was lost in my thoughts again.
I looked away, embarrassed. His brow puckered.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
My eyes snapped back to him again.
"Huh?" I said. Now I was confused. There was a short period of silence.
"You should hurry and brush your teeth," he said finally. "It's getting late."
He let go of my arms and walked to his room, throwing the towel from his head in the laundry basket.
It took me a few minutes just to reorganize my thoughts. Did he just say he was sorry? I wonder if it was because he was almost naked… or because of what happened just about an hour ago.
I quickly brushed my teeth and hurried back to his room, nearly sprinting. I needed to know why he said sorry.
He was in his own pajamas now, putting his paperwork in his briefcase and taking out another shirt for his suit. I slowly came into the room and he looked at me.
"Oh, are you going to sleep?" he asked mildly.
"In a bit," I replied evenly. I watched his face carefully and saw that he was still looking somewhat sad.
Did he know?
I forced myself to speak first. "Why did you say you were sorry?"
He stared at me, with a look that told me I was probably missing the obvious. I stared right back, pretending to be ignorant.
He finally looked away. "I… scared you tonight, didn't I?" he said quietly. I looked down now.
Huh, so he figured out already.
I sat on the edge of his bed, looking at the design on the blanket. "No," I lied again.
I felt his gaze on me. "Sakura… it's okay for you to be surprised," he said. "I was surprised myself."
I quickly looked up at him, and I just noticed that he was sitting next to me, but about a foot apart as though he was cautious of himself.
"You…?" I started. He understood what I meant and nodded.
"You can tell that I don't get mad easily… and tonight, well…" his voice trailed off.
"You blew up," I finished simply. He laughed bitterly.
"And you had to witness my temper."
"How… how did that happen?" I hoped I didn't sound rude to him.
He had no offense taken. "I must have… had a lot of stress through work," he said thoughtfully. "And I just happened to see you getting harassed and… yeah, well you know the rest."
I didn't say anything, and I preoccupied myself by looking at the dark window.
So, he doesn't get mad easily… but when he does, he's goes ninja mode. Huh… that makes sense… a little. Very, very little.
He misinterpreted the silent treatment. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't mean to scare you."
His voice was so sincere and sad; now he sounded as if he was the child and I was the mother, who had just caught him into doing something bad.
And my heart, felt calm once more. My mouth slowly curved to a smile.
Yes, this man wasn't dangerous… to me. I was confident about that.
"It's okay," I said finally as I looked up at him again. "I'm not mad or anything. Don't worry about it."
He smiled this time, and took my hand. I didn't bother to pull away. I wanted to show him I wasn't afraid of him… even if I was, a little.
"So," I said casually. "What made you so crazy like that? Nothing personal… just curious."
He laughed, which left me bemused.
"It's a long story," he said. I unintentionally leaned towards him.
"I've got all day," I pressed. I was inquisitive.
He gave a brief sigh and smiled at me as he placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me towards him, so that he could kiss my forehead.
"It's a secret," he murmured against my skin.
"Would you stop doing that?" I said irritably as I tried to pull away from him.
"Oh?" he said, as his grip tightened on me, and his other hand went around my waist. He stroked my cheek with the hand near my shoulder, and my face started to turn red. "I guess you're old enough for the lips then."
And anger flowed through my veins, strengthening me. I didn't feel like listening to his story anymore.
"Don't even think about it!"
"Ow…"
To be continued…
Hope you enjoyed my chapter, I'll be waiting for your reviews! Oh yes, and I forgot to point out in my first chapter that Amamiya Masaki is actually Sakura's great grandfather (originally), but I put him down as grandfather… because if not, it would be kind of weird. Plus, both Nadeshiko and Fujitaka's parents were never mentioned, so this would kind of fit. Just to clear up the confusion.
