Chapter Four! Not very long, but it is something. And I'm almost done with the fifth chapter, so this one just needs reviews. [: Also, The song is MINE. Okay? I wrote that. And the Grind is a coffee house in a town I used to live in. Now, read and REVIEW!
Life Defeats Its Purpose
Chapter Four
Sakura moaned as she rolled over, her long auburn hair covering her face. Touya let out a frustrated sigh, shaking her once more. He was worried she was falling into the same path, staying out late every night and coming home either drunk, high, or just in a bad mood. She hadn't even acknowledged him as she slumped into bed early this morning, completely disregarding the worried look in his eyes and the drunk giggling of their mother down the hall. Sakura had passed out the moment her head hit the pillow, sending Touya into a confused rage. What could have kept her out so long so early in their new life?
"Oi, Kaijuu…" Touya nudged her one last time, settling down next to her with a glass of water in mind. But knowing how bad of a mood it would put his sister in, he set that possibility aside and resorted to slapping her awake.
In a flash, Touya was on the ground with a grunt, the small figure of his sister pinning him down. The screech of annoyance that had come from her as he slapped her awake hadn't even had time to comprehend in the young man's mind. In a swift movement, Sakura's fist collided with Touya's jaw, not quite hurting him, but it would leave a bruise.
"Oi, Sakura! It's me! Quit it!" Touya yelled. Pausing, Sakura took a moment to take a breath and look at the man beneath her. Shaking the weariness from her eyes, the girl groaned and fell off her brother, on to the floor. In exasperation, Touya sat up and studied the girl. "Where the hell were you last night?"
Moaning, Sakura dragged herself to her feet and crawled back on to her not-so-soft bed.
"Touya-kun, I'm really not in the mood…" she mumbled, closing her eyes. With a glare, Touya pulled Sakura back to her feet.
"Too bad, I wanna know now. The half naked adults out there in the living room may not give a shit, but you're stuck with me," Touya growled. Flinching, Sakura took a step back.
"I was just with Yamazaki, all right? We hung out in his truck for a few hours then we went to one of his friend's house, some guy named Terada," Sakura explained. Touya's glare sharpened as he grabbed her wrist.
"What the hell were you doing getting it on with that gaki? I'm not gonna tolerate some white trash piece of testosterone feeling up my little sister," Touya yelled. Sakura rolled her eyes and pulled herself out of the man's grasp.
"First off, he's not a gaki. Second, we just made out. Nothing serious," she stated in a sassy tone. With a frustrated grunt Touya turned around and smacked the small television he smuggled into their room, making it topple off its throne. "He had a stash, I wasn't gonna pass that up." Touya's head twisted quickly toward his sister. With a deadly look on his face, he marched up to his baby sister and grabbed her arm. With a startled cry, Sakura struggled to get free but he wouldn't let her.
"Marijuana, Sakura? I thought you were gonna stop that shit! Why the fuck do you treat your life like it's nothing? You treat yourself like shit! Just how many ounces did you smoke if you were out there for a few hours? And I'm not going to fucking believe you two didn't do shit if you both were high and you went to one of his dick friend's house all night!" Touya yelled in her face. Sakura stood gaping at him, a shocked look on her face.
"Excuse me? Since when do you fucking care?" She tugged her arm out of his grip, ignoring the pain of the mark left on her forearm. "In case you've forgotten, you're the one that got me so fucking addicted! You gave me my first hard fucking alcohol and you're the one who had all the shitty friends who tried everything in their power to get in my fucking pants!" Sakura shouted. She spun around and tackled her dresser, pulling out the first clothes she grabbed. Touya stood gaping at her, not sure whether or not he would hit her.
"And last I checked," Sakura added, "no one has ever been around to tell me no anyway." She sauntered out of the room, slamming the door behind her. With the disgusting taste of anguish and defeat in his mouth, Touya plopped down on Sakura's bed and listened as she turned the shower on down the hall.
"Fucking bitch," he muttered. With a sigh, he grabbed the keys to his mother's car off the floor and left the house.
Syaoran Li and his cousin Meilin sat in the front seats of a forest green convertible, Syaoran's hands resting carelessly on the wheel at a stoplight. Tomoyo sat in the backseat of the car with Eriol as her footrest, texting and enjoying the ride.
"Oi, dear cousin, where we goin'?" Eriol shouted, bored out of his mind. Twitching, Syaoran spun around and smacked the boy, his glasses practically flying off his face.
"Fuck if I know, you three were the ones who decided to drag me out of bed," the handsome young man yelled back. Meilin rolled her eyes as she glared at the red light, willing it to turn green.
"Let's just get some lunch. There's a new restaurant in town-" Meilin cut herself off as a young man with tousled brown hair parked his car next to theirs. "Well, hello," she said, mostly to herself, as she ran her fingers through her hair, checking the boy out. Hearing her, the young man turned toward her and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah?" he chuckled, noticing the exasperated look Syaoran gave the girl. He really wondered what caught her eye, just seeing the kind of car she was a passenger in. His beat up old white Sedan didn't even compare.
"Haven't seen you around," Meilin smiled coyly. "You know where the Grind is?" she leaned back, purposefully puffing her chest out. The young man noticed this and smirked, amused.
"Yeah, I do," he responded simply. Meilin noticed the other street light turning yellow in the corner of her eye, and spoke quickly.
"Hope to see you there, then," she smiled and waved at him as Syaoran drove off, the young man not far behind. Tomoyo finally allowed herself to laugh as Meilin turned toward a peeved Syaoran. "Go to the Grind! The Grind!" Meilin begged desperately. Syaoran let out an annoyed groan as he took a sharp left, causing the cars in the way to honk repeatedly at him. Meilin looked around as subtly as she could, looking for the old white car.
"Over there," Tomoyo giggled as she tapped Meilin's shoulder and pointed, sitting on the edge of the car to get out. Noticing Syaoran and Eriol already opening the door to the Café, Tomoyo chased after them. Meilin, flipping her hair over her shoulder, sauntered over the young man from the stop light. Smirking, the young man took her hand and kissed it, causing the girl to blush slightly.
"Touya," he said. His smile charmed her, but Meilin did well to cover it up. "And you are?"
"Meilin Li, pleased to meet you," she batted her eyelashes. Touya noticed how well her long black hair framed her tall yet curvy stature.
"Well, may I buy you lunch?" Touya asked as he held out his arm for her, offering a sexy half smile. Meilin happily took his arm and he led her into the Café. Sneaking a smile to her friends as the couple walked in, Meilin decided to strike up a conversation with her lunch date.
"So, Touya, are you new to Tomoeda?" Meilin asked after they ordered and sat. Their table was tucked into a corner of the café, the walls being windows.
"Yeah, actually, I am. I moved here with my mom and younger sister," Touya answered as he ate a fry. "How old are you, exactly?" Meilin blushed at this, not sure whether to take the question as a compliment or an insult.
"I'm seventeen," she answered, picking at her salad. "And you?"
"Nineteen," Touya seemed more interested in his food, which seriously annoyed Meilin.
"So, you're graduated from high school?"
"Nah, got held back a year. I'm a senior this year. Auditioning for AFA," Touya explained, already finishing off his hamburger. Meilin brightened at this, clasping her hands together.
"Really? That's where I go! I'm in actor training, what about you?" Meilin took a small bite of her salad, wincing as Touya raised his eyebrow at that.
"Music, I play guitar while my little sister sings. But she's auditioning for Musical Theatre," Touya got a thoughtful look on his face when he started talking about his younger sister, which intrigued Meilin. "Actually, she's a junior this year. Just turned sixteen."
"Just turned sixteen? But that would make her a sophomore," Meilin stated, confused. She took a bigger bite of food, relieved that it caused Touya to stop observing her eating habits.
"Yeah, she skipped a grade. She's a genius," he chuckled. "It's really a shame she throws away all her opportunities so easily." He quieted at this, making Meilin more interested. Thinking about it for a second, Meilin smiled. Perhaps if she led the conversation to his sister, he'd appreciate her interest in his interests… and be interested in her.
"Really? She sounds kind of interesting… could you tell me more about her?" Meilin put her training into use, really not caring about his sister. She focused on the muscles beneath his shirt and the way his mouth moved instead. Smiling, he answered with pleasure.
"Well, her name is Sakura. She kind of hates her name, though, because she's named after our mother's favorite flower. Before things kind of fell apart, Sakura was actually involved in a lot of things. She's a dancer, cheerleader, singer, actress," he chuckled. "You have no idea how many times that got her out of trouble." Smiling at Meilin, but with a far off look in his eyes, he finished his food. Meilin, only half way done, tried her best to keep the conversation going.
"Really? Seems I might have a few things in common with her," she smiled. Touya's eyes showed a peaked interest in Meilin, exciting her. Looking at the watch latched on to his wrist, however, expelled that.
"Well, I gotta run. Think I could have your number?" Touya smirked as he laid down some money on the table. Smiling, Meilin nodded and fished a pen out of her purse, writing her cell phone number on a piece of paper. Nodding with a smile and kissing Meilin's hand goodbye, Touya strutted out of the restaurant and left, paper in hand. Giddy with pleasure, Meilin skipped her way to her friends' table. Being the only one not talking, Tomoyo laughed at Meilin's expression.
"Looks like you clicked," Tomoyo stated. With a smile, Meilin snatched a fry off of Syaoran's plate, earning a death glare.
"I'm thinking we should get stuck at red lights more often," she replied, munching on the salty treat.
"What the hell do you mean 'we?'" Syaoran rolled his eyes and scooted his plate away from her. "Couldn't you get your own fries?" he complained. Meilin pouted.
"I could never get something like that on a date! A salad says I'm healthy but I still enjoy a nice meal," she smiled. Tomoyo rolled her eyes and Syaoran snorted.
"I don't think a salad counts as a meal, Meilin," Eriol laughed. Frowning, Meilin grabbed a handful of fries from his plate, causing an outburst from Eriol and a laughing Tomoyo.
Later that night, Touya and Sakura found themselves chilling out on the floor of their dim room. Strumming a few chords on his guitar, Touya closed his eyes and just relaxed as the two heard the front door open and loud footsteps.
"I'm sorry about this morning," Sakura muttered. When Touya didn't respond, she continued. "You know I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You learned the hard way how life works and you don't want me going through the same things," she took a deep breath. She drummed her fingers on the notebook in her lap, an unfinished song waiting. "But I have to experience everything myself… I need my own outlets, my own life," she complained. Sighing, Touya looked up, ignoring the noise outside their bedroom.
"Sakura, you saw what the shit you've been doing has done to me. This is my fifth year in high school," he said all this while he continued strumming his guitar. "You have the ability to do amazing things!" he finally looked at her.
"But how am I supposed to know exactly what I wanna do if I don't go through with whatever comes my way?" she responded quietly. Writing another line down on her notebook, she listened to Touya's playing. "Go a step higher…" she muttered. Hearing her, Touya did so. With a sudden crash, a wave of curses came from somewhere else in the house. Yells erupted, a bottle crashed to the floor. None of this fazed the two teenagers as they drowned themselves in the music. With a deep breath, Sakura read from her notebook.
"Breakin' in,
Breakin' out,
It's all the same,
It's what life's about."
Sakura's voice filled the room, starting off quietly as she allowed her mind to register the unfamiliar words. Patting her thigh gently, she signaled for Touya to slow down, who did.
"And I hope,
Once again,
You won't be bitter,
You won't sin.
And I'll hold it in,
And I'll be free.
Without, that voice,
Screaming."
Sakura said this louder, hoping to catch the attention of the angry adults outside the teenagers' room.
"If you keep, holdin' on,
Breathing,
Good will will guide you,
God won't deny you."
The voices quieted down as Sakura sang louder, trying to drown out all the noises outside her and her brother's world. A tear crept down the young woman's cheek, dripping off her face and onto the page that held the song. Without noticing, Sakura kept going.
"Hold on,
Count down,
Deep breaths, keep breathing,
No one can stop your flyin'."
A male voice yelled out from the living room, soon shushed by a slap. With a yell of frustration, Clow fled from the house, slamming the door behind him. Sakura knew this and more tears escaped.
"Breakin' in,
Breakin' out,
It's all the same,
It's what life's about."
Sakura could imagine her mother's crumpled form on the floor, shaking slightly.
"Quit livin' in the past,
And breakin' down,
Denying the reasons
You're so down."
Sakura stopped there, closing her eyes slowly. Touya watched her with an amazing intensity, knowing that's as far as she had gotten. Continuing to play, Touya's heart ached as he listened to his younger sister cry, knowing that stopping to comfort her would only make it worse.