' Don't Let Me Down '
...
Luck seemed to be on her side that morning.
Sakura stumbled into class late, only to have her hand grazed by Syaoran looking to open the classroom door the same time she was. He stepped back letting go, turning to smile at her.
"Hey, you," he said, almost for a moment looking at her for who she was.
"Hey, yourself," she said back wishing he would grab her hand once more.
Before the moment could blossom any further, Mrs. Xia opened the door shaking her head at the late arrivals. Every pair of eyes was on Sakura as she searched around for an empty seat. Sakura turned to see Syaoran had easily found a seat at the back with another guy he probably knew.
Sakura started to panic, feeling her face grow warm.
"You can sit here," a boy said removing his bag from the chair.
She smiled gratefully sitting down beside him.
The class continued on as any normally would. Papers were passed around, chalk written instructions graced the board and students chatted amongst themselves telling their friends summer vacation stories.
Once Sakura was up to speed on the class's assignments and proper cooking and baking procedures, she could safely feel included in her home economics class.
"So what's your name?" the boy asked peering at her with his glasses.
"Sakura, you?"
"Lao Zhang, pleased to meet you Sakura," he said as he outstretched his hand.
Before Sakura could even moved her hand towards his she felt a hand mess up her hair.
"Is he bugging you?" Syaoran asked as she walked towards the front of the classroom to hand in his recipe suggestion.
Lao Zhang remained quiet turning away embarrassed. She frowned wondering why Syaoran was so rude. She looked back to Lao Zhang, then to Syaoran as she contemplated her next move.
"What did you suggest?" Sakura asked as Syaoran made his way back to his seat.
"You," he teased. Sakura had no idea why he was being so utterly adorable to her, but she wasn't going to complain. "Sure, but I think your much tastier. We should fry you up," Sakura spoke back.
"I highly doubt anyone in this classroom is cannibalistic," Lao Zhang commented keeping his head down. Syaoran smiled. "For once I agree with you," he spoke laughing.
It was then Mrs. Xia made an announcement.
"Alright class, here's your first assignment. Make anything, and present it tomorrow in class. This will allow me to see where your cooking or baking skills are at. From there you will be graded, so I suggest you do this well. And I can tell when someone else does your cooking, so watch it," Mrs. Xia said strictly. "Oh and for this assignment you will be able to choose your own part-"
The entire class immediately got up and ran to their partner hoping to get the person they wanted the most. Sakura sat nervously knowing she wouldn't have a partner since she didn't know anyone, besides…
"So Ms. Iron Chef, you think you can fry me up?" Syaoran asked startling Sakura from behind. Her heart leaped happily knowing she'd found her partner.
"Oh, and since there's an odd number of students, two of you will have to become a group of three. Lao Zhang? You'll be put in a group with…Kinomoto and Li." She said making everyone look at them.
Syaoran stiffened hearing Lao Zhang was stuck with them.
"Ha-ha, fucking sucks for you, man," one classmate said to him.
Sakura sat down wondering what sort of past the two shared that caused them to dislike eachother.
"Well, let's do this," Sakura said to herself and took her spot in between Syaoran and Lao Zhang.
Sakura carried her books to her locker and opened it up. As she placed her textbooks away and took out her homework for that night until she felt a hand touch her shoulder. The person trailed his hand from Sakura's shoulder to her hand and turned her around.
"We still on for this baking thing?" Syaoran asked running his hand through his hair, that was styled perfectly to be up in some areas and down in others.
He casually leaned against the locker beside Sakura's and played with his keys, waiting for her answer.
"Sure. I'm good anytime. Come by around 4:30, I should have everything ready by then..." Sakura stopped, feeling Syaoran watch her intently. He nodded lifting his face up as he walked away, trying to conceal the smile on his face. He didn't know why he and Sakura got along so well, he just knew Lyn would hate it.
Sakura closed her locker door and spun around to see Mr. Nagawa with a smug look on his face.
"Kinomoto. How is everything going?" he asked quietly, so only she could hear.
He hadn't forgotten and the deal wasn't a dream, which meant Sakura knew that after school was time for action.
…
Sakura opened the front door to silence. She ran up the stairs to her room and threw off her uniform as she looked around desperately for something appropriate to wear. The amount of time she spent finding an outfit soon out weighed the amount she spent preparing. She told him she was going to prepare, he just didn't know for what.
She needed a shower.
She quickly turned on the hot water and covered her body in a foamy cherry blossom and almond body wash. Her hair got a quick wash and she rinsed her warm skin as fast as she could. She grabbed her towel off the rack and wrapped herself up.
Back in her bedroom she still hadn't decided on an outfit. Her clothes were everywhere. She honestly had nothing decent to wear. She kept running back and forth from her bedroom to the bathroom, not even hearing the door bell.
Syaoran stood waiting patiently wondering where she was. That's when he realized the door was open. Opportunity only knocked once, so he let himself into the mansion. All he could were things being thrown and cursing on the second floor.
"Sakura?" he yelled. He took off his shoes and took the ingredients he'd choosen and put them on the counter. Chocolate chips cookies seemed to be something he and Sakura could make. Lao Zhang could make anything, but Syaoran had made sure not to tell him about the baking he and Sakura were going to do.
The doorbell rang again.
"Fuck," Syaoran cursed knowing it was him.
He reluctantly answered the door and let Lao Zhang in.
"Fancy seeing you here," Lao Zhang said walking past Syaoran into the kitchen.
Sakura was still no where to be found.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour of waiting, Sakura crept down the stairs to see them both waiting. But they both agreed silently it was worth the wait.
Her hair was still damp and framed her face, her cheeks still pink from the hot shower, she had on a lose tank top and short shorts. The sweet fragrance of cherry blossoms filled the room making Syaoran smile liking what he saw.
"I figured since we were baking it would get kind of hot in here," she explained, slipping some slippers on. This wasn't going to be normal cute boyfriend girlfriend flour on the nose baking, she could tell this meant war between Lao Zhang and Syaoran.
"You look nice and, uh, clean," Syaoran spoke softly to her allowing all of Sakura to enter his eyes.
"Thanks, but seriously guys, let's put our differences aside and bake cookies," she said happily putting on an apron, all sexiness set aside as a floral print appeared on Sakura.
"One problem," Lao Zhang interrupted, closing a cabinet door. "You don't have good baking equipment. Nothing big enough to mix dry ingredients, or measuring cups, a mixer, what are we supposed to use?" he demanded.
"Calm the fuck down, I can go buy some if it's that bad," Syaoran said, money wasn't a problem for him.
"We haven't enough time to do all that, slick," Lao Zhang snapped.
"It's just cookies, how hard can it be? I mean, your good at what you do Lao Zhang, how about you help us measure out the flour, sugar and brown sugar? I'm sure I can find something big enough to mix this stuff in," Sakura said to herself.
"Will that do?" he asked pointing to the bowl that was out of their reach. Sakura stared at it and began to think. It was in the center wall of Yasumi's kitchen and there weren't any chairs or stools they could stand on to reach it. Sakura joined Syaoran where the bowl hung above them and sighed at they're predicament.
"It's the perfect size, just Yasumi hung it so no one can take it down," Sakura sighed looking up at it.
"I have an idea. Climb on my shoulders. I'm taller than you, so you should be able to reach it with our heights combined." Syaoran spoke making both Sakura and Lao Zhang gasp.
"Are you kidding? Surely we have a ladder or something, but seriously, you want to pick her up?" Lao Zhang asked shocked.
"Wanna get on my back, baby?" he said to Lao Zhang instantly knowing his reply. He turned away and focused on measuring the ingredients out from memory into individual bowls.
"Then it's agreed. I'll do it," Sakura said looking up at it. At the same time she was kind of excited.
"Spot me, will you." He motioned to Lao Zhang as she walked to Sakura.
Without difficulty, he lifted Sakura onto the counter and turned his back to her as she wrapped her hands around Syaoran's neck as her legs followed around his waist.
"Don't drop me! Hold me tight"
"I won't drop you..."
"How can you be so sure, I-I can feel us falling!"
"Relax...I've got your body under control." Syaoran said coolly.
"I knew it! You're totally enjoying this!"
"Guess I can't lie about that..." he laughed quietly.
"What? Lie about what?"
"Nothing! It was a joke! Now, grab the damn bowl!"
Sakura quickly took off the bowl and handed it to Syaoran, he placed it on the counter and sighed. They'd gotten the bowl down at last. Sakura watched him move the bowl to a safe spot. Now all they had to do was get Sakura back down to safety.
"Let me down, now!
"You mean you didn't enjoy that?"
Syaoran sighed and started to lower himself slowly but Sakura shifted all her weight to the wrong side, causing him to start to lose his balance. Luckily his strong arms gained control and he let her down.
"We need to do this project! All these interruptions are setting us back," Lao Zhang spoke standing behind the counter impatiently. "Can we start now? All we have to do is follow the recipe I found in this cook book and we're bound to finish in no time!" Lao Zhang spoke revealing some cookbooks he had brought from home.
Sakura smile resuming her position beside him and Syaoran.
"Alright, who wants to mix?"
The three of them finally got the cookies in the oven around 11 at night, after stopping several times to fight, re-measure ingredients and throw flour on each other. "I mean, you can't bake without getting messy, right?" Sakura said laughing as she closed the recipe book they had been following.
Lao Zhang sighed feeling completely exhausted and upset. His original plan of getting with Sakura had failed. Once Syaoran had his eye on something, he usually ended up getting it. But in this situation Lao Zhang knew Sakura was different. She had a firm head on her shoulders and wouldn't date just anyone. At least he hoped.
"Thanks so much for your help, Lao Zhang," Sakura said smiling. He smiled back.
"Don't mention it," he replied acting as if it wasn't a big deal.
Syaoran looked into the oven watching the balls of moist cookie dough begin to slowly spead.
"How long do we bake these things?" Syaoran asked running a hand through his hair.
"No longer than 15 minutes, or at least until the chocolate chips have melted and the cookies have a nice light brown colour. And make sure the centre is cooked as-"
"We get it, Iron Chef. Sakura and I will make sure they're baked," Syaoran said quickly.
"Knowing you they'll be-"
"Baked to fucking perfection," Syaoran said cutting him off, glaring at Lao Zhang. Sakura frowned.
"Okay, okay. Syaoran you stay with me. Lao Zhang, thanks so much. You can go home," Sakura said trying to break the negative tension.
Lao Zhang frowned wondering whether to leave or not, but knew Sakura would take care of things. He sighed.
"Alright. Good night, Sakura. See you tomorrow bright and early." He said coyly grabbing his coat off the kitchen table and walked to the front door, slipped his shoes on, and closed the entrance door behind him.
This left both Syaoran and Sakura alone.
"Sorry to make you stay, Syaoran. Just we need to finish writing up the ingredients list and we have to take the cookies out to cool and package and…" she stopped noticing his eyes looking directly into hers. Suddenly she didn't feel too comfortable.
It was then Nagawa's stern face came into her mind and reminded her of what she had to do.
"Uh-um, what's up with you?" Sakura wanted to slapped herself in the face for her lame attempt of 'setting the mood' and started to clean the counter.
"Not too much. What I'd like to know more is how you are?" He stated moving closer to her, cornering her behind the counter. It made things so easy for Sakura to seduce him, but she knew in her heart she wasn't ready. Not yet.
"The sp-spoon, do you want to lick it?" she asked quickly picking it up. Sakura again wondered why she had to ask him to do something inappropriate. So suggestive, that he laughed for a moment taking up on her offer.
He smirked as if playing along with her tease.
"Why not?" he said taking it to his mouth and slowly licking it off with his tongue knowing honest to God she wanted his tongue in her mouth.
Sakura herself couldn't deny how amazingly irresistible Syaoran was. I mean, here she was alone with the guy of any girl's dream. Every time she breathed in his scent it made her weak in the knees, his perfectly tousled hair, his gorgeous chocolate brown eyes, the way he moved. It was too much.
She smiled as Syaoran handed her back the spoon allowing her to take a lick. She tried to eat it as slow as possible and with her eyes solely on the spoon trying to make it seem like she was completely oblivious to the fact he was coming on to her, but it was getting harder and harder to come up with distractions.
"We should keep a close eye on the cookies. I mean we don't want them to burn or something. After all the time we spent." Sakura said keeping her eyes on the oven door. Syaoran frowned.
He went and turned the oven up to 450 and turned his attention back to her.
"There, they'll cook faster," He said stepping closer to Sakura's body.
He wanted her so bad. Once he got his way, which was usually the case, he would move on.
Sakura smiled looking directly at him and for the first time felt scared. She really didn't want to be in this situation at all and questioned herself why she asked Lao Zhang to leave.
He was about to kiss her when, in a desperate attempt to control the situation, she decided to play his game and sat up on the counter, slowly pushing her body off the floor and sliding on to the surface of the granite counter tops.
"Hard to get, are we?" He said running his hand up her thigh and squeezing. She nodded and quickly swung around to the other side and got down.
"You'll have to catch me first!" she said running up the stairs.
Bad move.
Syaoran shook his head smiling. He had to work for her, and he liked it. He quickly chased after her and followed her up the stairs. The hallway was dark as she searched around for a light Sakura was smart to turn off.
She ran to the closest door she could find and cursed to find it was locked. She didn't want the bathroom, and Yasumi's room was obviously off limits, the only other room was her bedroom.
The door was about to slam in Syaoran's face when he quickly moved and caught the door with his hand, pushing back.
"Where you going to run to now?" he asked as he walked in looking around at her room.
Sakura moved to the other side of her room and smiled kind of liking the fact they were playing tag in a sense in her bedroom. She climbed on top of her bed and stood in the middle.
Syaoran smiled joining her and pulled her down to her bed. He gently pushed her down into her soft duvet and held her arms in place. She squirmed almost escaping again when he started to tickle her.
"Ha-ha, Syaoran! Syaoran, stop it! Oh, please, please," she said screaming with laughter, panting as they slowly fell onto the floor with her blankets and pillows following. He smiled moving completely on top of her.
"Your all mi-"
"Sakura? What the hell is going on? SOMETHING'S BURNING!" Yasumi yelled from downstairs.
Syaoran and Sakura's eyes widened realizing their terrible mistake. She gasped again hearing footsteps on the stairs coming closer to her room. She looked at the mess she and Syaoran had made and panicked.
"Oh God, uh, uh, get in my closet! Now!" Sakura whispered fiercely pushing him to get up and get into her closet. She managed to shut the door in time when Yasumi appeared with a very angry look.
"What is going on?" she yelled, but then allowed her face to soften seeing Sakura.
"My group for my home economics class came over today to work on an assignment. I felt so tired after we finished I decided to take a nap. I set my alarm to wake me up 5 minutes before the cookies finished, but I must have slept through it. I'm so sorry," Sakura rambled on looking exhausted and stressed.
Yasumi took a deep breath rubbing her forehead stressfully.
"Just clean up the mess. Open the windows to air out the smell and when I wake up tomorrow morning there better not be any reminder of what happened tonight. Understand?" she asked firmly.
Sakura nodded half-paying attention and looking towards the closet.
Yasumi closed the door behind her and walked away. Sakura felt relieved and allowed her heartbeat to slow down as she waited a moment before opening her closet.
"Is she gone?" he asked shrugging off hangers and clothes.
"Yeah. But you need to leave. Now." Sakura said not even looking at him.
Play time was over.
"I can't leave through the front door, she'll probably catch me. How am I going to get out?" he asked playing with the buttons on his uniform shirt. Sakura stared at him noticing how nice white looked on him and noticed a button was undone.
"You can't stay. Just leave through the window; it's not too far down. There's a tree, you can probably climb to that." She said in a tired tone. She looked at him and unconsciously buttoned the button he had missed.
"Please leave," she said turning away, walking behind an oriental style screen and she threw off her clothes that were messy with cookie dough and flour. She pulled on her robe and tied it tight around her figure. She came out from behind it and saw he had opened the window and was gazing out into the darkness, the cold breeze tampering with his hair.
She took a towel from her closet and closed it.
"When I come back from my shower I want you gone," she said.
Syaoran looked at her finally and felt somewhat upset for what had happened.
"I'm sorry," he spoke and without another word launched himself onto a nearby tree branch, balancing himself as he climbed his way down, just wanting to leave.
She gasped running to the window but couldn't see him anywhere. He had left. And that was what she wanted.
Well, sort of.
...
AUTHOR'snote:
It's safe to say these two won't be baking anymore. Well they will be later on in the story, but sucks it had to end like this. I changed this chapter up for those of you who are reading wondering wtf, mate. These two just need to work things out. I mean, Syaoran's realizing Sakura ain't like the other girls he's met, and that you just can't do stuff like that. & Sakura's thinking about the deal with Nagawa. Is it really worth it to fuck with another person's heart? Don't ask me, read!
much love!
