Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own ccs.

"The café's doing fine," Kei replied after Sakura had questioned the well being of his family owned café. Kei had been, if it wasn't obvious by now, the person whom Sakura had a prior engagement with. The reason as to why Sakura was meeting with him will become evident soon enough.

"That's good to hear," Sakura, honestly, said. Sakura, believe it or not, considered Kei's family one of her own.

"Yeah"

"So…..why did you want to meet?" Sakura asked shortly after to get rid of the awkward that quickly ensued.

"Ah, no reason, really, I was just bored," Kei said off handedly.

"It's amazing," Sakura remarked, "what I'm used for."

"I didn't mean it that way," Kei replied earnestly while waving his hands frantically before his face, "I just wanted to ask a favor of you."

"Oh, go ahead then," Sakura said as she fingered the red balloon that Kei presented her when they first met up earlier. They were, currently, at a park that was, to Sakura's relief, not crowded. In actuality, it was the farthest thing from being crowded because, presently, Sakura and Kei were the only ones at the park.

"Would you mind going on a date with me?" Kei asked Sakura, his nervousness coming forth.

"Oh," was Sakura's only reply.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to you formally," Kei muttered with a sad smile.

"Goodbye," Sakura whispered, "but why?"

"Well, it seems as though we have run into a hole. To put it simply, our family business isn't faring as well as it should be. We're in the process of closing down the café, and we're moving to Niigata. My older brother bought us a home to stay in, so, basically, we're all set."

"Oh," Sakura said again, but this time it was tinged with a hint of misery.

"Yeah"

"When are you leaving?" Sakura gloomily asked.

"In three days," Kei said bitterly.

At this, Sakura began to get confused. "Three days," Sakura whispered thinking over the amount of time Kei had left in Tokyo.

"Yeah"

"But then," Sakura inquired, "when are we going on the date?"

"Today, if possible," Kei said looking at Sakura as he awaited his answer.

"I'm on my lunch break," Sakura said.

"Oh"

"But you can come with me to my work, I'm pretty sure my boss won't mind. She's really nice," Sakura said as began to drag Kei along with her.

"Where do you work at?" Kei asked as he was being dragged by Sakura.

"A library!" Sakura exclaimed proudly.

Kei just looked at Sakura weirdly, and muttered as they sped up their walking pace, "I've never known a person to be so excited about a library."

By the time Sakura and Kei opened the door to the library, they looked as if they had run a marathon, which, of course, was very unlike Sakura. "That," Sakura breathed out, tiredly, "is the reason why I barely passed my physical education class."

"I," Kei breathed coarsely, "am beyond tired."

"Now what do we have here," Meiling stated as she smirked at the two dead beat people who seated themselves on one of the sofas. Meiling, seeing as there was nothing else to do, sat beside the tired twosome.

"This is Kugyo Kei," Sakura introduced.

"Pleasure," Meiling said as she gladly shook Kei's hand, "Li Meiling."

"Nice to meet you"

"Oh," Sakura said shortly after, "I hope you don't mind that I brought Kei-kun to work with me today. We are on a library date because he's leaving in three days. "

"Nope," Meiling said as she smiled widely thinking about what time her dear cousin would arrive, "the more the merrier."

"I told you she was nice," Sakura said as she grabbed Kei, and brought him to the romance section of the all fiction library.

"Romance section," Kei awkwardly said as he glanced at the books that surrounded him.

"My favorite section," Sakura, gleefully, declared as she sighed when she fingered the lettering on the books.

"I didn't know you were a book person," Kei said as he laid down on the floor in between the bookshelves.

"Oh, but I am, an absolute book freak," Sakura said as she, too, laid down next to Kei with a book in tow.

"I'm leaving in three days, read to me the first few pages," Kei said as he closed his eyes to take in whatever Sakura was about to read.

"Even though it's a romance story," Sakura inquired as she opened the book to the first page.

"I don't mind"

Sakura waited until they were both settled and comfortable before she began reading. "White is supposed to represent purity, and all things sacred in this life. White is the constant serene pond in an ever changing time tunnel. White is the color my family and everyone in my village holds dear. White is the color my village promotes each individual to achieve. White is the color all my friends speak of when it comes to romance. White is the color that surrounds my everyday life. Why is it, then, that I cannot see white? Why has the color white eluded my eyes? Why is the only color these searching eyes of mine can see is the murky disgraceful black? The black my village shuns, and the black that drives one so pure to the deepest levels of devastation. Why is it that when I glance at a person I see their clean hearts muddied by the black I, unintentionally, give them? Why?"

"Are you sure it's a romance story?" Kei asked after Sakura read aloud a miniscule portion of the book.

"Positive," replied Sakura without even sparing one glance in Kei's direction.

"It doesn't sound like it," Kei stated as he played with the strands of Sakura's hair.

"It's just the first paragraph," Sakura answered as she took a handful strand of her hair. Sakura looked at her hair for a while before muttering, "I think I should dye my hair platinum blonde, and, probably, a little trim."

"What's wrong with red?" Kei inquired.

"I'm tired of it," Sakura, easily, responded.

"Oh, is your hair naturally red?"

"No, it's light brown," Sakura stated as she placed the open book squarely on her stomach.

"Oh"

Afterwards, Kei took the book from Sakura, and continued to read where Sakura had left off. At least, that's how Meiling saw it.

That's how the day rolled out. For about three hours, Kei read the romance novel aloud while Meiling read a novel of her own at the front counter.

Naturally, since the three people went on their merry way doing whatever they saw fit, none of them noticed a certain someone enter through the library doors. The certain someone who, unsurprisingly, was Li Syaoran, walked up to the counter where his dear cousin, currently, presided, and coughed.

"Why are you here early?" Meiling asked as she looked up to see who, so rudely, interrupted her from her much desired reading time.

"Nothing to do," Syaoran replied lamely.

"Don't you have work?"

"That commercial thing finished this morning, and I've been bored the whole day," Syaoran replied, getting irritated with Meiling's, at least to him, interrogation.

"You returning to China now?" Meiling inquired delighted.

"Why are you happy?"

"No reason"

"Don't let me hit you," Syaoran told Meiling as he glared at her, "besides, I have runway shows."

Syaoran laid his head down on the front counter and sighed as he wondered, to himself, why Sakura had not popped out and greeted him yet. Everyone knew she loved him, the looks on her face whenever he was around was proof enough. "Sakura," he whispered.

"Huh"

"Where's Sakura?" Syaoran asked Meiling, irritated that she didn't understand what he meant when he first said her name.

"Sakura, huh," Meiling said.

"Obviously"

"Why do you refer to her as Kinomoto-san in front of her face?" Meiling inquired.

"It's complicated," Syaoran answered as his eyes wandered the shelves of the library. "What the hell," Syaoran muttered as his eyes landed on two figure lying on the floor, one of which, was playing with the other's waist length hair.

Meiling, after hearing Syaoran's out of the blue curse, followed where Syaoran eyes were, and muttered as she smiled at Syaoran's reaction, "Oh, that's Kei-kun."

"More like I'll punch his face soon -kun," Syaoran murmured, trying to keep his anger down. He waited for a minute to see whether or nor the two had noticed his sudden appearance. When neither of the two noticed his presence within the library, he intentionally dragged a random book from the counter, and let it hit the floor with a, rather, loud thud.

With the sudden sound of a book dropping onto the floor, the two who were, only moments earlier, reading a book to each other out loud, jump up startled. The boy, Kei, hid his head, and had to rest for moment while clutching onto his head. At that, Syaoran only smirked happily. The girl, Sakura, upon seeing who had dropped the book smiled, unknown to Kei, widely.

When Sakura had finished helping Kei up, they both walked up to where the two awaiting cousins stood. One happy, the other pissed because the girl, Sakura, blew, as a means of comfort, the imaginary bump the boy received when he bumped his head earlier. "He looks mean," Kei, to Syaoran's discomfort, whispered in Sakura's ear.

"He kind of is," Sakura replied as she, too, whispered back. When Sakura glanced at Kei from the corner of her eyes, she noticed a sudden color loss in his face. She grabbed his hand, and whispered to him, "don't worry, he's nice if you get on his good side."

When the two, finally, reached their intended destination, Syaoran slapped their connected hands, and stated arrogantly, "holding hands with just any guy is considered sluttish."

"Come here, Sakura-chan," Meiling said as she dragged Sakura away to look at where Syaoran slapped herm along with Kei's, hand, "and don't mind him."

Once Meiling and Sakura were not within the allotted area to be considered within hearing distance, Kei told Syaoran, "you like Sakura-chan, don't you?"

"What are you doing here?" Syaoran asked rudely.

"Just on a date with Sakura-chan," Kei stated airily as he grinned at Syaoran.

"I feel sorry for her," Syaoran said as he pretended to read a book on the counter.

"Why," Kei inquired, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Oh you know," Syaoran murmured as he looked at Kei from the corner of his eye, "just sad that she has to be so nice, and go on a pity date with you."

"Well, I feel sorry for you," Kei stated haughtily after getting riled up by Syaoran's statement.

"You know you don't mean that"

"I do because it's so obvious that you like her, but I know for a fact that she doesn't like you! You're not her type!" Kei yelled at Syaoran.

"I am everything she desires in a man!" Syaoran yelled back at Kei, infuriated.

"She doesn't like blonde men!"

"Blonde?" Syaoran repeated confused.

"Your hair is blonde, or haven't you noticed," Kei stated, his anger all but dissipated by now.

"Oh," Syaoran, lamely, released as he remembered that he had a disguise on.

"She likes older men," Kei sadly said, but then continued after he looked at Syaoran's face, "and no, you may be older than her, but you're not old enough. I have this sixth sense where I can immediately tell if a person likes someone based on the look they show only when in the presence of that certain someone. Anyways, I saw her with this man that looked to be in his mid forties, and she showed that look."

Syaoran, realizing that the person whom the boy, Kei, was talking about was him in one of his disguises just smiled. "You should just give up," Syaoran told the boy happily.

"Why are you so happy?" Kei asked skeptically.

"No reason"

"Whatever," Kei whispered, depressed, as Sakura and Meiling approached the both of them. "I need to get going," he said as he began to walk to the doors of the library, "goodbye, Sakura-chan."

"I'll come see you off," Sakura said as she ran so that she was next to Kei. Before she left, though, she yelled happily at Meiling, "bye, Meiling-chan," and shyly at Syaoran, "bye, Li-san."

Meiling waved while Syaoran just ignored Sakura. After Meiling made sure the two left, she dragged Syaoran to a sofa that made it hard for them to see who came in the library. "Really now, Syaoran," Meiling scolded Syaoran, "calling Sakura sluttish!"

"Shut up"

"You really have the nerve calling Sakura sluttish. You do realize that she's still a virgin, she hasn't even had her first kiss yet!"

"Neither have I"

"So, you've slept with how many different types of women, though," Meiling said as she looked, helplessly, at her cousin.

"Y-y-you what?" Sakura stuttered, surprised by her newfound information. She had, simply, returned to retrieve her purse that she left behind when she lied down on the carpet earlier.

"Sakura-chan!" Meiling shouted surprised.

"I should get going," Sakura whispered as she left her head down, so that neither Meiling nor Syaoran could see her tears that were threatening to fall. Sakura's couldn't control her emotions as one tear slipped from her face, and landed on the floor. With that, Sakura ran out of the fiction library.

Syaoran, on the other hand, just stared in horror as Sakura departed the library. "Sakura," he whispered before he sat down on the couch looking like he had died, and then had been revived.

End

If there are any mistakes, I was too lazy to proofread.

Asian dramas are dangerous.