Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plots.
NOTE: If I don't get more reviews for this fic I will be starting to wrap it up early since I have other fics with a much larger group of readers waiting for updates. Thanks.
Happy Valentines Day
Months had passed since the first card was captured and slowly but surely Sakura was getting to cross off the number of rogue cards still out there. It was already February and being a cardcaptor was now second nature to her like a second job she couldn't tell anyone about and unfortunately didn't get paid for. Well no one other then Madison and Syaoran but they really didn't count since they'd known about cardcaptors and such long before she'd become one. Madison had moved out before Christmas too and into the new house her parents had bought which had been a downer but it wasn't like Madison could live here forever. So now the only non family member in the house was Kero who continued to threaten to eat the family out of house and hold unfortunately. Thankfully with the number of male teenagers constantly in the house the parents had yet to be overly suspicious but Sakura figured that would only last for so long. Everything was going okay in school too or at least it was until the Mirror Card caused Sakura an unforeseen problem she was still fuming about. The stupid card had taken on Sakura's form and had up and accepted an invitation to the Valentines Day dance with someone Sakura couldn't stand. Plus she hadn't known about it till the jerk had called her the other day and now she didn't know what to do. Sure she didn't like the guy but as far as everyone else knew she had accepted and it would be wrong to just turn around and tell him she'd rather watch paint dry. Plus now she could count on none of the other guys asking her to go since the idiot Mark had practically broadcasted it all around the school that she was going with him. Sakura was thinking that she'd fall unexpectedly ill on Valentine's Day which totally sucked but was the only logical excuse that wouldn't have her coming off as a mean bitch. It wasn't that Mark was so terrible but he was a bit too full of himself and tended to look down on everyone else just because he was so smart. Well maybe he was but in Sakura's eyes he was definitely not all that. Sighing Sakura lay on her bed and envisioned a sucky Valentines Day to come.
Valentines Day
The halls were full of people or should she say couples mooning over each other and groups giggle about the dance and the guys they hoped to get some sort of love token from. Personally she knew she was in for a lot of chocolate from family and friends which she was more then fine with. She had enough boy troubles as it was. Coming up to her locker Sakura came to a grinding halt at the picture before her of her cousin Syaoran, aka Jet giving Leah a white teddy bear..and chocolate. Blinking she watched him shuffle his feet with pink cheeks while Leah went approximately the same shade as her box of chocolates. Awwww they were so cute, Sakura thought as she went all mushy and sentimental as she watched them talk for a few moments before Jet hightailed it out of there leaving Leah looking as close to mushy as Sakura had ever seen her godsister. Walking over Sakura grinned at her. "Cute bear."
"Yeah, isn't it." Leah said in close to a dreamy voice as she hugged the bear tightly against her. She didn't have many stuffed animals since her brothers had always had a habit of "playing" with them and then returning them in various forms of mutilation. She was going to have to hid this one. She wasn't going to let anything happen to him. "He got me chocolate too. Most guys would be too afraid of my brothers and the other guys to get me something for Valentine's Day but Jet isn't. Even though they're so much bigger and stronger then he is."
"Well your family likes Jet." Sakura pointed out though that wasn't entirely accurate. The Chang males didn't mind Jet around Leah because they viewed Jet as being too geeky to pull a move, much less pull something that Leah couldn't dish out with a hundred times the pain. Since Jet hung out with Madison and herself all the time it was hard for the family not to get to know him and like him either. The moms just loved him though because as they put it he was just so hopelessly adorable. Sakura knew for a fact that normally gorgeous would have been a better word but they never say that side of Syaoran and likely wouldn't until the whole cards thing was over. She wasn't quite sure how Leah was going to take that once she realized she was beginning to fall head over heels for her former arch nemesis and Sakura wasn't exactly looking forward to that scene. Winking at Leah Sakura quickly got her stuff then saying good bye left Leah to hug her bear and figure out how she was gonna make sure her dad didn't know that Jet had bought it for her.
I
Hurrying down the hallway a little while later Sakura was fuming. Apparently Mark seemed to be avoiding her as if he knew she was trying to break their date and knew she couldn't if she couldn't find him. Wanting to stomp her foot in frustration Sakura decided enough was enough, she'd break up with the idiot over the phone and deal with the comments on Monday. Walking outside so that she could get better reception Sakura was leaning against a brink wall to dial when she heard the sound of footsteps coming her way. Hearing the sound of Mark's best friend Chase Sakura hesitated, thinking Mark might be with him but deciding to make sure Sakura opted to wait till they passed her by.
"...you believe that idiot? Thinking he could take us all on at once? Boy I bet he wishes he hadn't now. No chick is gonna wanna look at his face now that we're done with it." Chase was saying as he drew closer, Sakura's ears naturally tuning in out of curiosity. "Serves him right for talking to Mark like that."
"Yeah but, Chase..isn't that Maxwell kinda like family, doesn't he live in the same house as Sakura? I mean if someone were talking bout my sister the way Mark was talking about Sakura I'd be really mad too and let the guy have it." Came a weak voice, one Sakura recognized as Peter Wormwood, a new student who was trying to fit in way too hard and had fallen into the position of Mark's lackey from what she heard and seen. Poor kid.
"What are you, stupid? Besides that bitch needs to be taken down a notch or two, the way she's always sticking her nose in the air because she's got royal blood like that means anything anymore. Mark's gonna mellow her out real good though." Chase said with a snicker as he winked at Peter in a way that had Peter's head pounding. "Sides she agreed to go with him, not like he forced her or anything."
I
"Yeah but she's always seemed nice to me and if Mark does what he says he's gonna do and her brother finds out..I mean he was the captain of the fencing team ya know, coach told us about him and stuff. Plus I heard he's as tough as his dad in a fight, not to mention all those god brothers she has." Peter pointed out weakly, obviously uncomfortable and unsure of himself but trying to make a point. When Chase's response was to tell Peter he was an idiot Peter tried to make Chase see reason. "But I still think ganging up on the guy like that was wrong. I mean the things Mark was sayin..about what he was gonna..what she..well you know." Peter said as his ears went a bright red. "My momma would shoot me dead if I ever talked about a girl like that and I wouldn't really blame her one bit. He was just stickin up for her, ya know?"
"Well just exactly who's side are you on, Peter?" Came Chase's response, so cold and quiet that Peter could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. That was the voice of someone you didn't want to upset any time soon.
"I'm just sayin..nevermind." Peter said weakly and didn't even notice Sakura watching him as he and Chase walked by, her eyes flashing dangerously as her mind went a mile a minute. Piecing together the pieces she'd been given she could speculate that Mark had been bragging to his friends about getting her in his backseat or worse and Solo had been in the area for some reason and had overheard. Since Mark tended to travel with his stooges all the time Mark had apparently sicced them on Solo when Solo had come over to tell Mark off. They had hurt Solo. They were going to pay.
I
Sakura came home with a split lip, blood on her shirt and a satisfied look on her face. Walking straight upstairs Sakura changed out of her dirty clothes and was just finishing putting her hair in a ponytail when her mother hailed her over the com. Answering that she'd be right down Sakura quickly finished looping the band around her hair then headed down to find her mother and Solo's drinking coffee and looking stern and prepared to do battle. Uh oh. "Yeah? What's up?"
"Sakura...I understand you're going to the Valentines' Day dance tonight with Mark Hamilton..is that right?" Relena asked carefully, not quite sure what to think. Solo had made it clear he didn't want Sakura to know that his injuries were because of her and Relena had to respect that even if it made her job of getting Sakura to break this date harder.
"No I'm not." Sakura answered then seeing the surprise and the relief on their faces clued in pretty quick. "The jerk's been after me for months to go out with him so I finally said yes for tonight to shut him up. Then I realized that was just stupid so I've been trying to cancel the date all week but he's been avoiding me so I didn't manage to break it till today. Why?"
"Well we'd just heard some bad things about him and we were concerned. So you're going to the dance alone then? Or With Madison and Jet?" Katie asked with a relieved smile on her face.
"Naw, I figured I'd just hang here at home and chill. Valentines' Day dances are pretty much for couples and I don't feel much like partying tonight anyway. I think I'll just rent some movies and veg in front of the couch. You guys are all going out right?" Sakura said as she remembered that her dad and Uncle Duo were both wisely taking their ladies out for a night on the town for the occasion. Solo was going out to with some blonde bombshell too and Sakura figured that Solo would take advantage of his scratches from today and use them to get the blonde to kiss them all better. Okay so that was a bit mean and she did owe him...unfortunately.
I
"Actually you'll have Solo for company tonight." Katie said with a weak smile on her face, still a little frazzled from the call from Sally to tell her Solo was currently occupying a bed in her infirmary. "He got into a fight this afternoon and he's too banged up to go out to go tonight so he canceled his date. I think he'll pretty much stay in his room most of the time so you won't have to worry about him bothering you."
"He's hurt that bad?" Sakura said carefully, her hands fisting at her sides as she wished she could find Mark and beat the hell out of him again.
"Well he says he isn't but his back is black and blue and he can't even stand up straight at the moment." Relena replied with a shake of her head. "It would be nice of you to take him up some supper though, Sakura and..what did you do to your lip?"
"Oh it's nothing..long story." Sakura said as she felt the heavy weight of guilt land square on her shoulders with a plop. "Uhm I'm going to make my MS deliveries...unless there's something else?"
"Nope, say hi to everyone." Relena said with a smile and watching her girl go Relena smiled and turned to Katie with a grin on her aristocratic face. "Sakura found out and kicked those boys' asses..didn't she?"
"Oh I'd lay serious money on it." Katie agreed as she tapped her coffee cup against Relena's with a grin of her own, glad to hear that the little punks had been made to pay and by a female hand as well. "Our children may delight in fighting with each other but anyone else tries to mess with one they can expect the other to have a serious problem with it."
I
It had taken Sakura forever to put it all together and standing before her work Sakura thought to herself that Solo had better appreciate all the work she'd done or she was going to hurt him more. The idea had come to her as she was out delivering her Valentines' Day gifts to all the members of her family and once the idea had taken root it had only expanded. Now that everything was done she just had to get the guest of honor downstairs which was gonna be a bit difficult. But she did have a plan. Heading out of the basement Sakura headed up the stairs then to the main floor then up to the second floor where she'd already positioned the mattress. Talking to Fly for a moment to make sure she knew what to do Sakura smiled and adjusting the position a bit nodded her agreement then sure of success headed over to Solo's door and buzzed him. "Solo, come down to your door."
"Jesus I get banged to hell and you can't even bring my dinner to me." Came his snarled response and two whole minutes later Sakura watched the door open to reveal Solo in black boxers and a white tank top, his hair a mess and a pained look in his eye. "Where's the food?" Solo demanded to know once he saw her hands were empty. "If you made me get up for the fun of it I will kill you."
"Our carriage to your food awaits." Sakura said as she pointed to the mattress resting at the top of the steps. "Get on."
"What the...you can't be serious." Solo said as he looked at her with shock. As children they'd use to take the mattress from the guest room and used it like a sled down the stairs but they hadn't done that in years and he wasn't exactly in any condition to do it now. "I'm not exactly up to this ya know, squirt."
"Quit being such a baby." Sakura said as she walked over and took a seat in the front. "All you need to do is hold on to my waist and trust me. It's the only way you're getting fed." Sakura added with a dark look knowing just what buttons to push.
I
"You suck." Solo said with a dark look as he painfully made his way over to the mattress and sat down hard with a groan. Wrapping his arms around her waist Solo closed his eyes and prayed in his head as he felt them go hurdling down the stairs only for some reason it wasn't the usually bumpy ride. Opening his eyes Solo watched them almost glide down the stairs then watched as the mattress turned slightly and as if by magic headed for the open door leading to the..basement steps. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph." Solo swore as he closed his eyes tight as they slid across the hallway floor then through the basement door and down the steps, this one definitely more jerky though by some miracle they didn't go flying. Then everything stopped. "Are we dead?" Solo asked with his eyes closed tight still.
"Nope, open your eyes, idiot." Sakura ordered and grinned as she watched him slowly open his eyes then gap as he saw what she'd done. The table in between the TV and the big comfy couch was loaded with goodies. A hot pizza was waiting to be eaten with an assortment of junk food, MS cookies and candy. There was a small cooler beside the table filled with ice cold pop and there were a stack of disks as well with movies just waiting to be watched. "Happy V-Day, baka." Sakura announced with a grin.
"You did all this..for me?" Solo said as he gapped at the food and all the work she must have done to put this together on short notice. Walking forward to make his way over to the couch Solo nearly keeled over from shock when Sakura came over and actually helped him to the couch. Well wasn't she in a mood today. "Those better not be chick flicks." Solo finally managed to say as he looked around at the spread then grinned at her crookedly.
"Please, of course not." Sakura said with a returning grin as she popped in the first flick and then joined him on the couch, dimming the lights slightly as they began to plow their way through the food while the theme for Mission Impossible filled the basement with Kero humming along from a safe distance as he dug into his fair share of the food Sakura had set aside for him. After all, he had helped put this all together too.
I
Arriving back from their date Duo and Katie Maxwell were on their way straight to their room for some more Valentines' Day fun when they heard the television still on downstairs. "Sakura must be still up..but why didn't she just watch on her TV?" Katie said with a puzzled look on her face as she squeezed her husband's hand.
"Well it's three in the morning..she likely fell asleep down there." Duo said with a considering look on his face. "I'll go down and check on her just in case while you go check on our poor son." Duo added with a wink to his wife and with a nod of agreement the two split up to check on the children. Walking down the steps Duo's eyes went wide at the mess then had to grin at the picture the occupants of the sofa made. Both Solo and Sakura were fast asleep, leaning against each other for support. They were snug as bugs in rugs with blankets wrapped around them and enough pillows to insure Solo was as comfortable as he could be. So this was what Sakura had been planning, Duo thought with a grin as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Hearing his wife's quick footsteps Duo turned to see her come down with a worried look on her face that went to relief then a wide grin when she saw the picture before her. "Got a camera?" Duo whispered to his wife. "Heero and Relena will never believe us otherwise."
"I'll go get it." Katie whispered back with a grin as she headed back up the stairs to get the camera.
Duo went over to turn off the TV and blinked when he saw what looked like a yellow lion type thing with wings stuffed animal on the floor. Picking it up Duo recognized it as Sakura's, the one he'd seen her carrying around a few days ago. Picking up the limp stuffed animal Duo walked over and set the stuffed animal on Sakura's shoulder so that it lay sprawled there then got out of the way as his wife came down to take those pictures. Wait till the kids saw it later.
