Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura.
Chapter 4: Help!
"Just who is Kinomoto Sakura?"
"Kinomoto Sakura."
"Kinomoto-san."
"Xiao Lang's new wife, Kinomoto Sakura, is still shrouded in mystery. Just how did he meet this girl?"
Sakura's picture was everywhere. It was on television, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, and yes even memes. The whole nation was captivated by her. Fans were not sure whether to be insanely jealous or awestruck that a seemingly normal girl had landed Asia's number one celebrity.
"What we do know is that she grew up in the United States in California," said an announcer. School pictures of Sakura flashed anywhere from grade school up until high school. "We also know that she attended The University of Irvine California where her father is a highly acclaimed archeology professor. Her mother, now deceased, was once a very famous model here in Asia, Nadeshiko Amamiya." Pictures of her mother flooded the screen this time.
"An eye witness has come forward and said that she saw the two of them together-"
Up on the screen came a blurred out face of an airplane flight attendant. "I saw them on the plane together. They flew from Japan into Hong Kong."
"Did they seem close?"
"No, actually. If anything they acted like strangers to one another," the flight attendant answered honestly. She laughed and said, "I think Xiao Lang was captivated by her though. When Kinomoto left the plane in a hurry he had tried to chase after her."
"Argh!" with an angry yell Da-Xie pressed down on the power button to her remote control. Flinging it across the room she ran a frustrated hand through her hair. For the past two days she had been doing damage control for Syaoran. Not to mention she had also been on the phone with Yelan pretty much 24/7.
When she had finally gotten ahold of Syaoran, she was astounded that what the media said was true. He really did get married to that Kinomoto girl. Fuming she stalked about her apartment, and glared at her phone. The so called 'happy couple' would be arriving back from their 'honeymoon' today.
Syaoran really did pick the most inconvenient time to get married. He had a modeling job, a commercial, and a fan meeting all in one day.
She had been terrified that all his contracts and promotions would go up in flames at the news of his marriage. However, the exact opposite happened. They loved the fact that he ran off to get married to a girl that wasn't a celebrity. It made their 'celebrity couple status' even more powerful.
People were already reaching out to Da-Xie about booking Sakura for possible promotions and even a reality TV deal.
Getting a ping, Da-Xie glanced down at her phone and frowned. It was an alert letting her know that Syaoran had updated his Instagram. She also acted as his social media manager, and carefully scrutinized any picture or comment he made. Quickly she brought up the picture, and expected it to be another boring shot of him subtly hinting at a brand endorsement. However, instead she was surprised to see a picture of him and Sakura smiling gleefully into the camera. It was a selfie of the two of them with a jet in the background. Sakura looked fresh face, and was dressed casually in what looked to be a hoodie. Da-Xie was mostly surprised about Syaoran. She had to coach him many times to not appear so stiff in his selfie photos. He hated posting them more than anything. However, in this picture he actually looked happy, and she was pretty sure she had never seen his real smile before.
The caption read: Thank you for supporting our marriage. We love you all! XOXO – Syaoran and Sakura Li. The same caption was repeated in 4 different languages.
Sighing she allowed it to be posted. She knew the picture would soon go viral. Just what had made Syaoran take that picture?
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Syaoran yawned tiredly, and rubbed the sleep from his bleary eyes. He and Sakura had ended up staying awake last night until 4 AM.
They had spent their second day in Macau sightseeing and shopping. They managed to keep their privacy for the most part, but towards the end of their very last day the paparazzi finally found them.
For her part, Sakura had dealt with the paparazzi surprisingly well. What weirded her out was seeing herself all over regular and social media. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think that her name would be top news of anything.
Drowsiness had still not caught up with her yet, and Sakura continued to still not be able to sleep. Partly because of the jet lag, and partly because she was stressed. Guilt continued to wash over her intermittently. Until finally she told Syaoran she needed to call her father, and excused herself as soon as they got to the airport.
Syaoran watched her from afar as she talked on the phone with her father. There was a lot of nodding, and even a couple of sniffles. However, he was more than glad when he finally saw a bright smile on her face.
Hanging up her phone she skipped over to him, and smiled radiantly up at him. He found himself gulping hard for some reason. "Father says he supports my decision to try and find mother's first love. He said he thinks staying in Hong Kong for awhile will do me well. Learn the culture, and get experience," she said laughing with glee. It was so nice to get that guilt off of her chest.
Syaoran blinked at her and didn't say anything. When she had asked him to help find her father he was shocked.
"Your real father?" he had asked incredulous.
"Yes," she answered seriously tucking her feet underneath her. "I discovered that my mother had a first love before my father years ago," she said slipping out her notebook that she finally recovered from Syaoran. "She writes about him a lot," she said with a sad smile.
Syaoran couldn't help but to frown. "How do you know he is your real father though?"
"Truthfully, I'm not for sure. But!" Sakura added seeing the look on Syaoran's face. "I do know this. That right before I was born my mother suddenly left my father for a short period of time. She went to Hong Kong. Well when she came back they had me nine months later," taking a deep breath she voiced the thought that had been festering in her mind for years now. "I think my mother went back to her first love during that time she left my father. Something must have happened, and she came back."
"So you think she got pregnant with you while she was with her first love?" Syaoran asked.
Sakura had sighed sadly. "Yes. Again, I'm not for sure, but with how she writes about him it just breaks your heart. She must have really loved him."
"Did she not love your father?"
"Oh yes. I'm sure she did. She gave my father her adult love, but you can never forget your first love," Sakura said smiling sadly. "I think after her trip away she realized that she loved my father Fujitaka even more. They only had five more years together though."
"Did she die from leukemia?" Syaoran asked before he could stop himself. Seeing Sakura's perplexed look he mentally kicked himself.
"Yes. How did you know?" Sakura asked in wonder.
"Oh, just a guess," Syaoran said clearing his throat. Quickly changing the subject he added, "So how do you propose we go about finding your mother's first love? Do you have a name?"
Her shoulders drooped. "No… she never mentions his name anywhere. And I've gone through all her things countless times, but I can never find a name."
"So we don't have a name. That'll be tough," Syaoran said point blank.
"I know, but I'm hoping with how many connections you have that you can help me! Also, who knows, maybe seeing my face flash around everywhere will ring a bell to him. I always get told that I look like my mother," Sakura said proudly.
"The model?!" Syaoran asked skeptical earning him a glare from Sakura. "Okay! Okay! I'll see what I can do!"
"Syaoran!" Sakura shouted breaking him from his reverie of the previous night. He was still trying to get used to someone calling him by his first name. "Tomoyo says the jet is ready." Frowning up at him she asked, "Are you okay?"
"What? Yeah I'm fine," he said gulping again and the proximity of her face.
Hearing his phone go off he glanced down, and sighed seeing Da-Xie's many texts. Swiping he went to reply, but was caught off guard as Sakura grabbed his cell. "Hey!" he shouted trying to get it back.
"Let's take a picture!" Sakura announced opening up his Instagram app.
"What?! No!" he said trying to grab it. To be such a little thing, she somehow managed to elude his grasp.
"No! This will be good. We should thank your fans for supporting us," Sakura said seriously. Syaoran blinked at her. It actually wasn't a bad idea… "Fantastic!" Sakura said holding out the phone arms length. "Say fake marriage!"
Syaoran couldn't help but to chuckle. "Fake marriage," he said as the picture went off.
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Meilin was livid to say the least. When news broke out that Syaoran was suddenly married at first she didn't believe it. Why should she? Syaoran had never been someone to act rashly. He was a methodical thinker. Martial Arts taught them to think through every move first, and calculate your opponent's weaknesses before you went into a battle.
Texting him for the eighteenth time she angrily threw her phone down. When Auntie Yelan had told her that she wanted Syaoran to marry she had been surprised. She knew his parents' didn't like his behavior here of late, but never did she think they would resort to marriage.
Once upon a time she had thought she would be the one to marry Syaoran. However, as they grew older Meilin had finally realized that Syaoran wasn't the one for her. He had told her firmly that all he ever felt for her was sisterly affection. It had taken awhile for that fact to register to her, but once it did the sting slowly wore away. Now she was more than content to just be by his side as his biggest supporter and confidant. So she was hurt beyond measure that he would make this big of a decision, and not let her know about it.
Deciding that she was going to cool off she pushed the button on her TV remote. Surely she could find a mindless reality show to lose herself to for a bit. However, all thoughts were rushed away as the news anchor popped on the screen.
"Spotted. Xiao Lang and his new bride Sakura arrive home from their honeymoon," the anchor said into the mic.
Video footage showed Syaoran and Sakura walking briskly past paparazzi at the airport terminal. Sakura had the hood of her hoodie up to cover her face, but Meilin's eyes narrowed as Syaoran placed a hand in the small of her back to steer her away from paparazzi.
Just who was this girl? Meilin growled to herself. She, like half of the nation, had immediately tried to cyber stalk her as soon as her name was released. Meilin had quickly found her Facebook account, but was angry when her privacy settings were up. All she had been able to tell about the girl was her profile picture which was an image of Sakura smiling with a trophy. She was in a track outfit, and was hugging her coach. Her background picture was of cherry blossom trees. Meilin was able to see that she had attended UC Irvine, and currently lived in California.
There were a couple of random pictures that she could see in her photo albums. One was of Sakura hiking, and her shadow casted in the early morning sunrise as she lifted her hands into the air. Another was of Sakura posing on a beach with a surfboard. And lastly, there was one of her with a tall, dark haired boy, and another boy with very light colored hair and honey eyes.
Her Instagram had proved no use either because it was private. However, the description to her profile read: Sakura Kinomoto, 22, Irvine, California. "When the raindrops come tumbling remember you're the one who can fill the world with sunshine." It took Meilin a moment to realize the quote was from Snow White, a Disney film.
By all accounts the girl seemed to be happy, athletic, and cheerful… Meilin hated her all ready.
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"Well here we are," Syaoran announced opening up the door to his humongous loft.
Sakura wasn't even for sure if it could qualify as a loft. The flat was huge with at least two bedrooms and an office. There was a massive kitchen with the latest stainless steel appliances and a living room. However, what took Sakura's breath away the most was the huge wall of windows that over looked Hong Kong. The loft was very modern with sparse decorations and wood accents. She could hardly believe that this was where she would be living for the next six months.
Syaoran lead her down a hallway and opened up a door for her. Inside was the guest bedroom that was also sparsely decorated. "This can be your room," Syaoran said sitting down her suitcase. Seeing the look on her face Syaoran commented, "You can do whatever you like with it. It's yours."
As soon as she touched the bed it seemed that all her jet lag hit her all at once. Yawning hugely she stretched and kicked off her shoes.
"You go ahead and sleep. I need to go meet with my agent and then I'll be back later."
"What about you?" Sakura asked sleepily curling into a ball. "Aren't you tired?"
"I'll be fine," he answered but stopped when he noticed Sakura was already fast asleep. Shaking his head slightly he gently covered her with blankets, and stared down at the sleeping girl. Her lashes fluttered against her cheek, and her honey gold hair fanned around her face.
Syaoran was quickly realizing that Sakura was the type of girl that pretended to be very strong on the outside. She must have been exhausted the whole car ride to the apartment, but instead she had stayed awake and chatted with him about the day he had ahead of him. Shaking his head he pulled back from her, and hit the lights to her room. "Sleep well… Sakura," he said before leaving.
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Sakura was having a strange dream. In fact, she was kind of used to strange dreams. Ever since she was little she would have dreams off and on. Dreams of faces she had never seen before, but would then soon meet. Dreams of airplanes falling from the sky, dreams of natural disasters, and all would end up coming true. Her father told her that her mother also had these type of dreams. Her mom had known she was sick even before the doctor had told her.
However, there was one dream that she had been having since she was a little girl. It was of her standing high on top of a building. She was standing on the ledge, and looked down at the busy traffic below her feet. Her eyes would swim, and tear up at how high she was. With a gasp her head would jerk forward, and her eyes would land on a figure in the distance. It was of a boy. He stood across from her on another building. He seemed to be staring at her. For some reason she desperately wanted to call out to him. Her hand would reach forward, and she would shout his name with all her might.
She would always wake up after this. She had always wondered who the boy was. His was the only face she was never able to see clearly. Sometimes, he would pop up in some of her other dreams always with her, and helping her but never being able to see his face.
Sakura had Googled it once out of curiosity, but all that she could find was weird dream interpretations such as the boy represented goal she wanted to obtain couldn't reach. Pretty lame.
She was in the part of the dream where her hand was reaching out to him. Sakura knew this was the moment she was about to wake up from. However, she was surprised that for once the dream kept going. The boy was coming into clearer focus. She squinted hard against the wind, and could make out that he had brown hair. It was at that moment she was grabbed from behind-
Sakura sat up swiftly in bed her heart pounding. Her ears were also making this very weird ringing noise. Looking around bewilderedly she finally realized that her ears weren't making the noise. It was the door bell.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes Sakura shuffled like a zombie to the front door. Opening the door she yawned hugely, and took in a ruby eyed girl who was looking at her shocked. "Whoisit?" she asked sleepily.
Meilin's cheeks heated up at seeing Sakura answer the door. She had expected for Syaoran to answer so she was more than shocked when his new bride did. She also didn't expect for her to answer the door in her underwear.
It was then that Sakura realized that in her sleep she must have kicked off her jeans. She was still in the hoodie, but embarrassingly only her bare legs stuck out underneath. Meilin's eyes narrowed on the hoodie she was wearing. She thought it looked familiar…. It had been the one she bought for Syaoran.
"I'm Li Meilin," the ruby eyed girl introduced. "Xiao Lang's cousin."
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"We need to schedule a press conference, you know," Da-Xie said typing away on her tablet, and not meeting the handsome, amber eyed gaze.
"Is that necessary?" Syaoran asked trying to keep the strain from his voice.
"Of course it's necessary," Da-Xie said snapping the cover over the device with a harsh click. "My office has been blowing up since your wedding debacle."
"Fine. I'll do it-"
"Ms. Kinomoto has to come with you."
"What? Why?!" Syaoran exclaimed sitting forward.
"Xiao Lang-…Fine, Li," she corrected seeing his pointed stare. "Sakura is your wife. Your fans want to know about her. How you met, how you fell in love, and what this means for your career. It would look in poor taste if she wasn't with you." Syaoran nodded contemplating. "Also, have you called your mother yet?"
Clearing his throat uncomfortably, Syaoran ran a hand through his hair. "Not yet," he said finally.
"Well you better soon," was all the advice Da-Xie gave.
Finally the limo pulled up into the front of Syaoran's residence. Already a row of awaiting paparazzi lined the street ready with cameras. Seeing the cameras made Syaoran think of the impending press conference. Would Sakura be able to handle it okay?
He was just about to step out when Da-Xie said, "Remember you have that fan meeting this evening. Bring Sakura with you."
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Syaoran sighed opening the door to his apartment. He frowned hearing laughing voices. Maybe Sakura had the television on or something. But suddenly, he heard a high pitched laugh that stopped him dead in his tracks. He would recognize that laugh anywhere. Bolting into the room his mouth fell open in shock. "M-Meilin!" he stammered.
"NI HAO SYAORAN!" Meilin greeted waving animatedly.
Syaoran assessed the situation like any true warrior would. Sakura and Meilin were sitting on the couch… together. The TV displayed a ridiculous American reality TV show, and a bowl of popcorn sat between them. Sakura smiled up at him joyfully, and he was glad to see it didn't look like she was in danger. Meilin showed no signs of being hostile to the girl, and in fact, the two almost seemed like… friends?! What was going on?
"Welcome home!" Sakura greeted. "Meilin came to visit, and we both found out we have a mutual love for terrible reality television." Meilin nodded along.
Syaoran's frown deepened when he smelt something like smoke, "Are you burning something?" he asked.
"HOEEEEE!" Sakura screeched in answer dashing to the kitchen.
Meilin laughed watching her go. Seeing Syaoran's perplexed expression she offered him an explanation. "I wanted to hate her you know. I came here with every intention of hating her guts. But then next thing I know I'm sitting here telling her my whole life story and crying on her shoulder. I honestly don't know what happened."
Syaoran grinned seeing Meilin's troubled expression. Seeing his smile Meilin said, "She's already changed you."
"What do you mean?" he asked gruffly.
"You might not know it yet, but she's the change you needed," was all Meilin would say before walking toward the kitchen to help Sakura.
Syaoran frowned at her back. He had only known Sakura for a week. How could someone change him in a week's time?
And later Syaoran wasn't for sure if he heard her right but it sounded like Meilin said, "I'm glad you chose her."
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Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably in the seat next to Syaoran. Da-Xie had met them at the loft later that day to escort them to Syaoran's fan meeting. She also came bearing "gifts" for Sakura.
"What's this?" Sakura had asked holding up a light pink dress.
"What do you mean 'what's this?'" Da-Xie asked crossing her arms. "It's your outfit for today of course."
"What's wrong with my clothes?" Sakura muttered stalking to her room to change. She was getting the feeling that Da-Xie didn't quite approve of her. Also, Da-Xie came with a makeup artist and hairstylist. Before Sakura knew it she looked like a completely different person.
Although, now sitting next to Syaoran, she could see why Da-Xie had went to great lengths to dress her up. Even Sakura had to admit that Syaoran looked quite handsome in his navy blue suit.
"Nervous?" he asked her noticing how much she was squirming her seat.
She thought about lying for a moment, but decided to be honest. "Yes."
"Don't be. It'll mostly be me pretending to want to meet these fans and doing fake smiles for photops-"he stopped seeing the look on her face. "What?"
"What do you mean pretending to want to meet these fans?" Sakura asked aghast spinning to face him.
Syaoran shrugged. "Exactly what I said. I don't really care about these people, and I think it's annoying when they fawn all over me. I could care less actually," he said leaning back and crossing his arms.
"But don't you know they only do this because they adore you?!" her emerald eyes started to flash dangerously.
"Well do they have to shout at me so much? It's so annoying," Syaoran said his amber eyes lighting up as well.
"Psht," Sakura said rolling her eyes. "Prince Syndrome."
"What?" Syaoran growled.
"You heard me. I said you have Prince Syndrome," Sakura said facing him again.
"What does that even mean?" he sneered.
"It means," she said leaning towards him and poking him in the chest. "That you are an arrogant, snotty, little rich kid who's used to always getting their way." His eyebrows raised higher and higher with every accusation. Her emerald eyes started to blaze. "Don't you realize that these fans have probably waited for hours to see you? That some have probably drove from long distance just to catch a glimpse of you? Don't you care that you are a role model to most of these people?"
Syaoran blinked. "They have?" Turning to Da-Xie he asked again, "Did they?"
Clearing her throat uncomfortably Da-Xie said, "Well, yes, I'm sure some of them may have."
Syaoran blinked. It had never occurred to him before that these people might actually care for him. Him, a complete stranger.
Seeing his change in expression Sakura ventured, "These people genuinely care for you. They defend you during scandals, and they fight strangers to be first in line at a restaurant to meet you," Sakura added smiling with mirth at the memory.
"How could I ever be a good role model to them?" he asked staring down at his hands. "I'm nothing special," he added. He meant the last part to sound like he didn't care, but Sakura didn't miss the hitch in his voice.
Suddenly, her small hand rested on his making him look up at her. He was greeted with warm, caring, emerald eyes. "Syaoran-kun, you are a great role model and a great person. I know I haven't known you that long, but I do know that you are a good person. Somewhere deep down," she added jokingly on the end. "I believe in you Syaoran-kun, and I'll stand by you 100%!" she cheered.
Nobody in his entire life had ever said they believed in him. Since he was a little boy he was taught to be a lone warrior. A lone wolf. Never trust anyone. Never let anyone in. Sure he got praise from his mother for his fighting abilities, but never did she ever say that she believed in him. His father never believed he could be a successful heir. Sure he had been groomed to become the heir since he was little, but every chance his father got he would berate Syaoran. Now here was this girl he barely knew and she believed in him. Even though he hadn't known Sakura for long; he did know that she wasn't the type of girl to throw that word around.
Da-Xie watched as Syaoran face heated up to a tomato red with narrowed eyes. With cat like, golden eyes she switched her focus to the young lady sitting next to him. Just who was this girl? While the couple was busy bickering she reached for her phone, and scrolled through her contacts. Finding the name she was looking for she typed a simple message:
I need a background check.
She immediately received a message back: What's the name?
Smirking she typed: Kinomoto, Sakura.
Author's Note:
Okay. I'll admit. This was a pretty boring chapter. I'm sorry nothing really exciting happened. I feel like at this point I'm still setting up the story for all the excitement that will happen later. So please bare with me.
Also, I picked the song Help! As the chapter title. If you read the lyrics they talk about how when you finally realize that you need someone in your life to help you. I feel like Sakura is this person for Syaoran. Especially towards the end of the chapter when he becomes more nice towards his fans.
What's Da-Xie up to? And were you all surprised there wasn't more drama with Meilin? I just wrote a story where Meilin, for the first half of the story, was the antagonist. And I didn't want to do that for this story. I adore Meilin, and I wanted her to be more than just someone to get in S&S's way.
Please let me know what you think!
