It's okay. You guys can totally hate us for only now updating in… what, three months? But hey, we updated! And that's all that matters. :

Disclaimer: peachesxcream would love to own CCS. But we don't. And that's sad. Because CLAMP does!


Heartbreaker

:peachesxcream:

Chapter 3: Lonely

x3

A messy-haired teenage boy collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion. Groaning in frustration, he ran his slender fingers through his hair, as if trying to tame it. Slowly opening an amber eye, he glanced at the digital clock across the vast, sage green-painted room. 'Ugh, five-thirty already? What have I been doing for the past hour?'

He saw her again today. It broke his heart to look at her, holding someone's hand that wasn't his, softly stroking a face that wasn't his, and leaning in to passionately kiss a pair of lips that weren't his. A painful smile graced his handsome face as he recalled her face. Her thoughtful, sky blue eyes – not his favorite color, but pretty nonetheless– and her black, spiraling curls that reached just below her shoulders. Standing at 5'7, Tanaka Aya was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And he couldn't live without her.

A blush crept up his cheeks as brought to mind the two times she spoke to him last year when they were juniors. Twice! She spoke to him twice! Not once, but twice!

His goal this year was three conversations with her. Four, if he was lucky and she spoke to him because he looked absolutely irresistible with newly-tamed hair.

A giggle emitted from his mouth (followed immediately by a smack on the head at the fact that he just giggled) and the blush on his cheeks deepened. Then he proceeded to thrash about on his king-sized bed in frustration because of how stupid he was for loving someone who would never love him back, flailing his arms and kicking his feet, when the door opened.

"Having the time of our life, are we, cute little descendent?"

The teenager abruptly halted his thrashing, opening his eyes to find sapphire orbs gazing steadily at him. Rapidly straightening himself out, he sprung up beside his massive, olive green bed, smiling sheepishly. "Hiiragizawa! What brings you here?" He brushed some imaginary dust off his 6-foot-tall frame, smoothing out his slightly baggy jeans.

"Syaoran-kun…" Hiiragizawa Eriol clapped a hand firmly on the other boy's shoulder, shaking his head sympathetically. "You weren't thinking about –"

"Yes, I was! She's all I can think about! Eriol, I dream about her. So often that when I wake up, I think my dreams were real! And she's the first thing that I think about when I wake up, and the last thing I think about when I fall asleep. The only reason I go to school is because of her. I even compose lyrics about her! It's sickening, how crazy I am about her!" He collapsed upon his bed again, tossing and turning, repeatedly digging his face into his green, goose-feather pillow.

Eriol shifted uncomfortably, his tall frame still residing by the door. "Ano… I was actually going to ask if you were thinking about how I ate your chocolate stash again…"

Once again halting his trashing, Syaoran shot daggers at Eriol with his gorgeous eyes. "You did what!"

Faltering under Syaoran's murderous glare, Eriol scratched the back of his dark blue, almost black, head. He adjusted his thickly-framed glasses and smiled nervously, slipping his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "Well, I should get going now… Ja ne, Syaoran!"

Halfway out the door, a pillow bonked him on the back of his head. Correction, a pillow with an alarm clock slipped between the pillow sheets bonked him on the back of his head.

"Hiiragizawa Eriol, you are just asking to die." And thus began a violent pillow fight.

Quickly ascending the spiraling staircase toward Syaoran's room at the sound of commotion, a midnight black-haired woman finally reached her destination and peeked through the slightly ajar doorway. Her maroon eyes rested upon the sight before her, and a knowing smile brightened her facial features. As she strolled down the hallway, she shook her head slightly at the thought of her immature son and nephew having a pillow fight.

"Boys will be boys."

x3

Nervously wringing her hands, Sakura inhaled deeply. 'This is your first step to winning the bet, Sakura. You want this. You need to prove that you're just as good as your best friend.' Glancing down at her neatly-typed list, she read the first line:

Matsuko Kenji.

Pushing open the door to her second period classroom, she glanced around before spotting him. He was a fairly nice boy, and she felt horrible for doing this to him. But you gotta do what you gotta do… right?

"Konnichiwa, Matsuko-san!" Sakura slipped into the seat beside him, greeting him with a smile and a pathetic excuse for a wink. 'Note to self: Never, ever try winking. Again.' Sakura winced as she realized how stupid she must've looked.

"K-Kinomoto-san!" His hands began shaking uncontrollably. "What brings you here?"

"Actually, Kenji-kun – can I call you that? – I just wanted to get to know you a little better." Sakura blinked her eyes innocently at him.

"Y-You wanna get to know me a little better?" Kenji asked incredulously, his eyes widening.

"Hai, Kenji-kun, I really do!" Sakura plastered a smile on her face, groaning inwardly at how horrible a person she was.

"Ano… o-okay. How about tonight, then? I'll pick you up at seven?" Aww, his hands were sweating like pigs. How cute.

Not.

"Hai!" She flashed him another flirtatious smile, scribbling down her address for him. "I'll be ready!" Then the bell rang, signaling the start of class. Whew. One down, plenty to go.

x3

Sakura left her lunch table fifteen minutes before the bell rang. She told her friends that she was going for a walk, and again she found herself by the same cherry blossom tree as the other day. She leaned her head against the tree trunk, slowly closing her eyes. Her date yesterday wasn't half bad. Except for the fact that… oh, let's say… 99 of the time, she was feeling unbelievably guilty. A breeze blew past her as she glanced up at the trees, noticing there were fewer blossoms on the tree than the day before.

Resting her chin in her hands, Sakura inhaled the fresh scent surrounding her. She already asked Kenji out on a second date. She wasn't planning on kissing him on the lips – somewhat a violation of the rules, but she wasn't going to let any of the guyskiss her on the lips – but maybe just kissing him on the cheek. And after the third date, she was going to let him know that she just wasn't feeling a "connection." Or some kind of bull like that.

She leaned her dead-straight auburn locks against the tree again. No one knew this, but… she hadn't had her first kiss yet. Sakura wasn't going to have it with just anyone. No sirree! She was going to wait patiently (or try to) until he came along. He who would complete her world. He who would fill that hole of emptiness she tried so hard to ignore ever since the day her life fell apart as a young girl. He who would love her, despite the fact that her best friend, Tomoyo, far more the perfect girl than she is.

x3

Lunch. Ahh, what he looked forward to the most during the school day. When he could just sit amidst the Sakura trees and enjoy his peaceful surroundings. When he could play his most prized possession, his guitar. When he could get away from her.

It was like a love/hate situation. He loved her for being the perfect girl. He loved her for her gentle smile. He loved her for the kindness in her eyes. Yet he hated her. He hated her for being the perfect girl. He hated her for her gentle smile and kind eyes. He hated her because she breaks his heart everyday without knowing it.

Smiling sorrowfully, Syaoran began strumming a tune to reflect his feelings. It was quiet and gentle. There were hints of pain evident in the melody, as well. In a varied combination of notes, both soft and reverberatingly strong, his feelings were exposed to the world. His emotions revealed, his cry echoed through song.

Many trees down, Sakura's sharp ears picked up on a tune. It was different. The slow, steady melody was sorrowful. It was just as lovely as the melody she heard the other day, yet it was sad. Whoever was playing it had to be an absolute genius to reflect his or her emotions so clearly through a single instrument.

This tune… its sorrow triggered something deep inside her, so heavily buried that it hurt even to consider thinking about it.

In other words, her mother's death.

She stood up, suddenly determined to find the source of this beautiful music. Weaving her way through the Sakura trees, she finally spotted him, about ten feet away. His head was facing downwards, concentrating solely on the music he was playing. Her hair messily flowing around her, she watched him. The last time she had seen someone with such passion and fervor for an instrument was her mother. Those countless nights of falling asleep to Okaa-san's gentle guitar-playing repeated through her head like a film. Sakura then remembered one particular conversation so many years ago that still played vividly in her mind:

"Okaa-san, I want you to play guitar for me forever!"

Her mother's long, violet waves gently rustled as she threw her head back, laughing. "Sakura-chan, I'm not going to be around forever. How will I play the guitar for you when I'm gone?"

Sakura's bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "Only you can play good!"

"How about this, Sakura-chan. When I'm gone, you're going to marry someone who can play the guitar just as well as me, maybe even better. That way, when he plays for you, you can think of me!"

"…I guess that do," Sakura reluctantly replied. Nadeshiko smiled, planting a kiss on Sakura's forehead.

Sakura smiled half-heartedly, thinking about her mother. She continued staring at the boy, playing with just as much passion as her mother did.

"That's beautiful," she whispered, the sound of her voice barely audible. She didn't have to speak it loudly, for she knew he would hear.

Suddenly startled to hear a voice, Syaoran's head snapped up. His amber eyes locked with her fascinatingly emerald ones, and they continued staring at each other as his fingers still went on, strumming the right chords.

Instead of ignoring her and breaking her gaze, like he would've any other girl, he stared her dead in the eye and quietly said, "Thank you."

The school bell rang, yet none of the two moved. They shared a steady gaze, his sorrowful amber eyes searching her emerald ones, glistening with unshed tears. He vaguely recognized her as Kinomoto Sakura. She was in one or two of his classes, and was extremely popular. But she was different. Cheerful and bubbly she would appear, but little did she know, her secret was immediately made clear to him.

For in this girl, he saw emotions that he knew were rarely revealed to anyone. Hurt, anger, and despair were reflected in her stunning eyes, as well as some hints of hope. Most importantly, though, the word that came to mind when he saw her was the same word that he used to describe his own heart.

Lonely.

x3

Read & review! Hope you lalalalaloved it!

:peachesxcream: