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Chapter Seven

Intentions

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More than an hour had passed and he was freazing in the back of the pick-up but aside from moving into a sitting position, he didn't dare to move. He thought of jumping out of the vehicle a couple of times but after the jumping-part, he didn't really have a plan of action so he just sat quietly on the back of the pick-up truck, freazing to death and memorizing as much as he could of the road they had taken. After a while, Touya made a turn and the smooth road dissapeared, instead, they were on a bumpy road sourounded by overly large trees. The pick-up made Syaoran jump slightly whenever there was a bump on the road and he had to hold with all his strengh to the car he had wished to abandon just minutes ago. Half an hour of agony later, they finally stopped at the feet of a mountain. They were away from, it seemed, everything. Syaoran waited calmely for Touya to get out of the took a look at the back by the rearview mirror and was surprised; first, of seing Syaoran there at all and second, of realizing his victim wasn't trying to make a run for it. Touya took the empty backpack from the passenger seat and went to greet his guest, he certainly seemed promising...

-"Are you too scared to move?" Mocked him Touya but Syaoran had already stood up as soon as he saw his abductor going towards him. Syaoran jumped out of the trunk to be next to his only chance of survival, his abductor.

-"I'm rather too cold to be scared, really." Syaoran answered. "Why did you bring me here."

Touya chose not to answer and threw the empty backpack towards Syaoran.

-"There's some wood in the back of the truck, take as much as you can if you don't want to freaze later." Said Touya taking another backpack that was hidden under a plastic cover in the trunk, next to a medium size pile of firewood. He took some wood out of the pile too and started going up the mountain like it meant nothing to him that it had just started to snow and there was apparently no shelter awaiting for them on the top. Syaoran did what he was told and followed... He felt that waking up in the trunk of a car, sunk under the deep, deepest sea was a hundred times better than willingly going up a mountain with a tone of wood on his back, in a freaking snow storm and with the only comfort of knowing that what was waiting on the top of that mountain was the freazing flames of hell demanding retribution for having loved a woman knowing that he would only bring more pain into her life. He thought of Sakura, what would she think of him if he wasn't back in a week's time? Would she worry? Would she hate him? Would she try to find him? She wasn't yet done mourning her parents, he knew that... She didn't even dare to empty their prior bedroom of their belongings. Who would take care of her? He had not repaired her car yet, he didn't even got the time to finish installing the cameras. Would she be sleeping on the couch again, with the curtains wide open? Changing clothes in her livingroom, not knowing she was being watched by a perverted middle-aged man? He couldn't die just yet but he couldn't see two steps ahead of himself anymore...

Meanwhile, Eriol was looking through the window of a cottage house; it was awfull weather, Touya would never dare kidnap anyone in this kind of weather but then again, Touya had never been this furious before... Eriol had been dumb not to realize what was going on, he should have known Sakura and Syaoran were living together when the hotel stop charging him for Syaoran's room. What were those two thinking? They barely knew each other and Syaoran was only there for a year... Had his cousin changed his mind? Eriol hoped that it was the case, that both his cousin and his childhood friend had found real love... Otherwise, he would be finally walking down the aisle but towards his dear cousin's casket. He then saw Touya carrying Syaoran's corpse towards the cottage amidst a raging snowstorm. Eriol ran outside to help and together, Touya and him carried his unconscious cousin inside.

-"You killed him? Kidnap is already a crime! You are lucky you haven't been arrested for it yet." Eriol raged on, trying to resucitate Syaoran.

-"He's not dead and I haven't kidnap anyone, they all followed willingly." Dissmissed him Touya setting down both his backpack and Syaorans'

-"Willingly? You call dragging someone out of bed in the middle of the night, willingly? What about the time you abducted some guy while he was taking a shower?! Was he willing to be seen carried naked after soccer practice?" Protested Eriol.

-"Well, this one didn't put much of a fight, he pisses me off exceedingly. He's arrogant but see how easily he almost died."

-"You seem to be misunderstanding. He's not defying you, he's just an idiot! Syaoran's not the kind of man who would ran away from fear. If you had been raised by his mother, you would understand. He is trained to withstand torture, both physical and psychological." Said Eriol while still trying to reanimate his cousin, he saw that Syaoran was breathing so he allowed himself to joke a little. He was feeling relaxed even though he knew that Touya's horror training week had just began. "What are you gonna do to him?"

-"Him? He's doing good so far. In fact, he's doing better than you." Mocked him Touya going near the fire.

-"What do you mean?" Asked Eriol feeling confused.

-"I mean, I think it's been too long since you last had the perfect boyfriend trainning 'cause I remember telling you that if you made her cry, I would make you sweat all the tears that she shed a thousand times over and just yesterday that I went to chat with her about the wedding plans, you know between the sobs and the hiccups I thought I understood that she wanted you dead." Said Touya very seriously.

-"T-That... I can explain, really, I do. It's not up to me... You see, I would be married to her a hundred times by now but the witch, my aunt-"

-"I don't want excuses. If you don't want to sleep outside today, you better make that wedding happen in a month, no cancellation or I'll make her a widow before I make her your wife. Is that clear enough? Or do I have to say it in british for you?"

-"It-It's happening. You just say the day, sir... But you just got to understand that my aunt..."

-"I don't care about your aunt, if your feet are cold I can warm them up for you. In fact, I'll make them so warm, they'll have blisters all over them and if that's not good enough then I'll chop them off so you won't be able to run away from your lovely bride to be. Is that acceptable?" Threatened Touya.

-"T-That is very acceptable. I'm... moved to tears..." Answered Eriol knowing that this time around, his trainning would be unreasonably painful.

The next day, Syaoran woke up surounded by the warmth of the small fire. He was stretched on a dusty, old couch in a small cottage house... It was really peaceful, was this heaven? All that was missing was Sakura by his side...

-"Psst. Psst. Are you awake yet?" Came Eriol's voice. Syaoran looked around and found Eriol on the rug next to his couch.

-"Eriol? Did you died too? Is this like heaven or something?"

-"No, idiot. We are in hell trainning. This is what will happen to us for the rest of our lives if you break his little sister's heart." Answered Eriol flicking his cousin on the forehead. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you guys were living together?! Are you insane? You've never lived with a woman before. You've never even seriously dated anyone regardeless of sex before. Do you know what you are doing? You are signing our death certificates! I am not ready for this. I have a beautiful fiancee and a wonderful life ahead of me with many small-sized Tomoyos in it... How could you do this to me?"

-"I did this to you? May I remind you that you introduced Sakura in my life. Have you any idea how stupidely insane I've felt ever since I met her? I am not myself, I hear myself spewing crazy words only a crazy man would spew. I do crazy stuff for a amazingly beautiful but crazy woman that helds a handful of jobs and cares more about spending time with her cat than me and you know what's wrong with that? Is that I find her adorable despite it all and that drives me to the wall. She is the most careless, naive girl in the world, she really is and it seriously scares me. It scares me because I'm worring about her safety even though, I am the one who has just been abducted by her psycopath older brother and you know what else? she made me do chores! Chores! Syaoran Lee actually learnt how to sparkly-clean a toilet for her and it was the most horrible experience of my life. It was worse than when my mother made me go to a debutant class for a year and I was the only boy learning how to sip tea in the afternoon and learning how to spread sparkling feeling when I laugh. It was disgusting!"

-"Well it's about to get a lot worse and I remember telling you the no-dating-her rule but did you listen to me?"

-"She is my kriptonyte and you knew that when you set me up. You did this to yourself!"

-"Ok, my respect for you just suffered a major blow. D-don't even speak to me anymore. Who are you? Some nerdy boy from the 70's?" Mocked him Eriol.

-"Are you girls done with the whinning? Do you want me to braid your hair and paint your nails before we begin?" Said Touya and the cousins realized their kidnapper had finally made an appearance. They both sat straight and waited for Touya's next move. "This is how it's gonna work. I'm gonna whip you into shape while I ask you what would a perfect boyfriend do in different kinds of situations. I like the answer, you win a point. First point of the day, you get to sleep on the only couch. 5 points, you get to use the bathroom in the mornings for 3 minutes, that one is for the whole week. 10 points, you get to eat lunch that day. whoever reaches 15 points first, gets to use the other bed. A bad answer takes away two points."

-"That's not fair!" Complained Eriol.

-"You are minus two and the day has not yet begun, Eriol. What is gonna happen to you?" Mocked him Touya. "You, I guess you will be sleeping on the couch again today." Said Touya to Syaoran. "Got any complaints?"

-"No, sir." Answered Syaoran and Eriol immediately.

-"See? That's how you do it, you lick the hand that feeds you, you don't bite. You never bite, Eri. Get it now? If you fail to follow with the physical trainning, I'll take one point. You fail to come up with an answer and I'll take three. No answer is worse than a bad answer and if I deem your answer is worst than a no-answer then I'll take four points." Continued on Touya. Syaoran could tell Eriol was bitting his own tongue; Touya's point-system was the worst. "If you get a perfect score in the day, you get a rest day the next day. Aren't I generous? Of course, if you want to win 10 points in a rest day, you can train if you want... It's up to you really, if you are not that hungry then you can just train on an empty stomach the next day. I don't mind"

-"You are gonna kill us! You are unreasonable!" Yelled Eriol, unable to hold back anymore.

-"Wrong, your minus four now has happened to you? You are really out of shape today. What do you think, stranger? What would a perfect boyfriend's answer should be, huh?"

-"I'll endure anything for her?" Answered Syaoran taken aback by the sudden question.

-"Mmm, I'll give you half a point, I heard doubt." Said Touya unwillingly.

-"She's worth every minute of torture." Went on Syaoran.

-"I'll give you two. He's talented." Said Touya to Eriol. "I can actually hear some honesty in there, good boy."

-"W-What? He's manipulating the situation, he's not being honest!" Complained Eriol feeling betrayed by his cousin.

-"Does this mean I'm two and a half points ahead or just two?"

-"You can keep your half point. You reach six points and you get breakfast before trainning begins and I'm feeling generous so for four points WWPBD if you made her cry?" Asked Touya really fast and just as fast, Eriol's hand shoot up above his head. "Eriol?"

-"He would make everything right again." Answered Eriol fast.

-"Aaand that is why you are not the perfect boyfriend. Minus eight, don't worry, you might get a bathroom break just yet. You! Why don't you try? No anwer is minus three."

-"There's no answer to that 'cause a perfect boyfriend would never make her cry." Said Syaoran.

-"Mmm. This is a first, a no answer wins 4 points. We have a prodigy." Touya mocked Eriol.

-"You are playing mind games but I might remind you that this man sleeps in your little sister's bed." Replied Eriol evily.

-"Well, I might find it irritating but I have decided to be mature about it. She is an adult and she has made a choice just like Tomoyo did. So far, I believe Sakura's choice is doing a better job at being perfect." Replied Touya yawning, before disappearing towards the kitchen.

-"Are you trying to get me killed?" Roared Eriol.

-"Better you than me." Syaoran replied devoid of all compassion. "The way I see it, I gotta get back home in one piece or else Sakura's gonna freak. You, I'm guessing Tomoyo is already used to waiting for you."

-"What is that suppose to mean?" Complained Eriol.

-"I don't know Eriol, do I really know you anymore? You've changed... Is inviting my mother to your wedding such a horrible prospect? You said it yourself, she won't even show up so... I wonder, do you really want to get married?" Asked Syaoran as if talking to a mental patient.

-"I do! You are just trying to turn the table on me but it is not going to work. Sakura is like a sister to me. She may be clueless at times to the point is almost annoying and, she is insane and sadistic but nonetheless, she is family and you cannot backstab family, do you understand that? And be advised that should you make a dumb move, I'll totally betray you."

-"We are blood related, I'm your real family! What is wrong with you?" Protested Syaoran.

-"I'm sorry, but she wins on cute points and her brother scares me so... You can count on me, until you mess up, then you are on your own." Resumed Eriol.

-"Ha! I don't even know why I still get surprised, I'm always on my own when it comes to counting on you. I guess it's a family trait you've got going on, falling off the grid when it most suits you or when it gets too hard..."

-"That is way over the line. I never ask you to cover up for me and there is no need for you to bring up my father in this."

-"You bring up my mother whenever it suits you best and you very well knew that I would cover up for you, don't I always? You know, maybe I should stop that Eriol. It's turning you into a coward." Said Syaoran. "And just so you know, I wasn't trying to turn any table on you. I'm just saying, Tomoyo is making some sacrifices, she could be going places if it wasn't for this wedding thing. I gave up all my life's work for it, Sakura lost a tenant too... Seems to me, you are getting the better part of the deal, as you always do, don't you?"

-"You think I- I'm sorry you thought you needed to step up for me and lost it all, ok? Next time, just look the other way."

-"That is exactly what I'm doing! From now on, you are on your own 'cause couches are not for sleeping! I may be poor now and believe me, I'm adapting quite well to my new social status but I refuse to sleep in a couch or go through the day without brushing my teeth at least once a day. At least once! So I don't care if you come crying and begging for help. I plan to utterly defeat you. Starting now, you are enemy number one and as soon as I get back to Sakura... I'm unfriending you on fb."

-"What?! I'm your only male cousin! I'm the closest you'll ever have to a brother, how can you- who are you?!"

-"Oh, I'm sorry. Are we related? I thought blood was unimportant." Mocked him Syaoran while throwing himself on the couch.

-"I slept on the rug for you! You dare complain about the couch?! Try the thin cold rug over a hard wood floor" Raged on Eriol but Syaoran ignore him by yawning and scratching his head. "Fine! I had planned on letting you on on my wisdom, I do have more experience on Touya's trainning but since you want to fly solo, then you can forget about it."

-"Pfft, as if you could teach me anything. Everything you knew about dating, you learnt from yours truly, remember? I'm a five-older-sister's survivor and you are just a lazy boyfriend so try not to starve while you try to catch up to me." Laughed Syaoran standing up and warming up for his morning trainning. "You can be so cute sometimes, honestly."

-"Oh, at least one has some sense." Said Touya coming back and finding Syaoran stretching and getting ready for exercise. "I noticed he has more stamina than you Eriol."

-"Eriol, doesn't train. He sips tea and reads the news in the mornings while gobbling down ten double chocolate muffins." Said Syaoran mockingly.

-"That's a lie!" Protested Eriol.

-"You do drink too much tea, even for an english man." Mocked Touya while he and Syaoran fist bumped each other.

The week went by cruelly for Eriol but Touya and Syaoran were pleasantly surprised in their fast bonding friendship; They were both unreasonable when it came to trainning... Soon, Syaoran had occupied the other available room and he ate three full meals sitting next to Touya at the table while Eriol struggled to eat breakfast and a late supper. Althought Touya wasn't thrilled about the idea of his little sister living with a man, he thought Syaoran was reliable and he was obviously in love with Sakura and in any case, it would be stupid of him [Touya] to think that he could tear them appart without hurting his sister...Getting along with Syaoran had become the crucial step on his plan to be part of Sakura's life again. If it had come to the point where Sakura could yell him into silence then desperate measures where indeed needed and Touya was ready to do whatever it took to see her happy once more... At first, he had thought that giving her space and letting her make her own decisions, as Nakuru had suggested, was the way to go but that had obviously failed 'cause the house was exactly the same as his mom had left it before she passed away, meaning, Sakura had not moved on- at all. But this man that his sister had invited to live with her, he talked about repairing the old car, installing a security system and cooking (something Touya knew had not happened in that house for a long while). Syaoran also talked to him about the plans he and Sakura had made to clean up the attic as if Sakura had not objected to dusting up old memories... Touya was glad and even surprised at how eager he was to see his sister in a healthy relationship, he could even envision a couple of nieces and/or nephews; althought he hoped that that wouldn't happen too soon in the future.

On the other hand, Tomoyo's situation worried him more. Perhaps he had trusted Eriol too much since he knew him as a child. It wasn't that Eriol was bad for her, in fact, Eriol was the best thing that had happened to Tomoyo so far... Touya cared for Tomoyo as if she was another little sister. Often, he had thought of her as Sakura's soul twin- if that made sense. Yet, as often happens with twins, one tends to get into more trouble than the other, that was Tomoyo. If you told her to go right, 99 percent of the time, she would go left... In highschool, Touya had lost count on how many times he told her not to date someone and she still did it.

Unfortunately, going behind Tomoyo's back was harder than going behind Sakura's. The culminating point of Tomoyo's dating life had been when she finished highschool and started modeling at seventeen for the agency where she met a jerk. She then ran from her parent's home at age 20 to live with the said jerk. Well, that ended up real quick the first time he dared used her as a punching bag. Since then, Tomoyo lived with Sakura and made Touya approve all her boyfriends prior to officially dating them. At that time, Touya had come close to killing the SOB but fortunately Yukito had stopped him at the right moment, still, that bastard's modeling career was over and the world was better for it. Then, Tomoyo and Eriol had met, which had been a blessing at first and now it was turning into a nightmare. Touya liked Eriol for Tomoyo, it meant her bad boy streak was oficially over but if Eriol didn't pull his act together, he would be sipping tea through a straw real soon.

Eriol knew he had to do something but he just wasn't ready to confront his aunt. He knew Syaoran was jealous of the way he was treated by his mom, even if Syaoran denied it but Eriol would much rather be eaten alive by an anaconda before being submitted to his aunt's overload of love. He was determined to find a way around his aunt.

Sunday was their last day of painful trainning, Eriol was grateful to be alive and even a little glad that he had been dragged into this madness. He was still confused at Touya's complete change of attitude towards the man who dared date Sakura. Eriol had thought for sure that he would be forced to cover up a murder but instead, he felt left out as his cousin and Touya chatted and laughed together as two real brothers would.

-"I tell you, those kids where too scared to even run and I didn't even yell at them, I just told them to follow me and they did." Was saying Touya.

-"Still, I think Sakura could have handle them just fine." Mocked him Syaoran. "She handles you quite easily."

-"That's just what she thinks." Dissmissed him Touya.

-"Maybe that's exactly what she wants you to think. She is more evil than she appears at first glance..." Sighted Syaoran.

-"Evil? She still cries when bambi's mother dies." Laughed Touya.

-"Don't you? I tell you, she's not confident in her beauty and I blame you for that but she sure as hell knows she's cute. I've seen her twist Tomoyo's guilt game in her favor with a single pout." Said Syaoran, strangely proud of his girlfriend.

-"You're lying, not even I can do that!" Disagreed Touya.

-"Exactly!" Answered Syaoran.

-"Yeah, yeah, so evil runs in the family. I knew that!" Interumpted Eriol, quite tired of being left out. "She is Touya's sister, what did you expect? She kicked the boys when we were in pre-school. Made them cried in various ways, a real bully all the way."

-"Maybe I should train her, she would definetly kicked your butt, Eriol." Mocked him Touya.

-"Your youngest could kick his butt." Laughed Syaoran.

-"Ruby? Well, she takes after his mom so she might be too advanced for Eriol. Nadeshiko might go easy on him, she doesn't like to hit the weak." Joked Touya.

-"Stop it! You are both sick. Don't teach your children how to bully others!" Scolded Eriol throwing himself on the couch.

-"Don't cry Eriol, you'll get there someday." Teased him Syaoran.

-"Next time, I should bring Sakura and Tomoyo along. The last time they were here was at least 4 years ago, You and Tomoyo had just started dating." Though Touya out loud.

-"Yeah but what about Nakuru and the girls?" Asked Eriol.

-"They only want to come here on the summer." Explained Touya. "The last time Sakura was here, the whole family was here... We had to sleep on the living room, huddle up together."

-"I remember that, they kept bragging about the picture they took of us while we were asleep, for the rest of the trip. I wonder what happen to it..."

-"It probably got lost... you know...the crash."

-"Right..."

The mood had suddenly changed. Both Touya and Eriol stared at the fire but Syaoran didn't dare to ask...

The next day, it was freedom day and Syaoran couldn't believe he had been released into nature once more... Touya actually dropped him off peacefully in front of Sakura's house. Syaoran was so excited to see Sakura again that he had forgotten that she worked that day and every other day of the week... He rushed inside the house calling for her and expecting a sweet reunion but instead, silence welcomed him.

Kero suddenly meowed and Syaoran heard a upstairs' door being shut furiously, followed by fast steps and then, Sakura's figure popped up at the top of the staircase.

-"You are home!" They exclaimed together and without warning, Sakura ran down and jumped on top of him, her legs skillfully twisting around his hips. He wanted to kiss her but her face was hiden in the hug. She finally let him go, feeling embarassed about how obviously she had missed him but Syaoran was too surprised at how much he had missed her to even bother teasing her about it.

"I thought you were at work, what were you doing up there?" He asked but aside for the obvious blush, Sakura's answers were all evasive.

-"When did you get back? I could have pick you up at the airport." She said avoiding farther questionning.

-"And how exactly would you do that? Would you pay a taxi for me? I feel honored." Joked Syaoran.

-"No, silly. I came into some free time so I repaired my old car." Sakura answered as if repairing a car was a piece of cake, she kept going about medical terms for cars that Syaoran had never heard before in his entire life. When his car broke down, he took it to the car doctor and that was it.

-" You what?"

-"Yeah, no big deal." Went on Sakura feeling slightlly proud of herself.

-"No big deal? I go for a week and you come accross some free time?!" Said Syaoran feeling like he could murder Touya without regrets.

-"Well..." Hesitated Sakura blushing furiously. Syaoran stared divided between desire and curiosity. "I just... You left while I was working so I wondered..."

-"You wondered what?" He asked feeling confused.

-"If you l-left... just left... I know I'm not around much and... I kind of used some of my vacation days to think."

-"Are you dumb? Here I am, going through a week of hell for you, do you really think I would leave you without saying a word?"

-"But that's what you did!" She said stubbornly. "What do you mean you went through hell for me, you were working weren't you? Weren't you?"

-"I rushed to get here faster." Answered Syaoran as fast as he could regain composure, it wasn't a lie... "You know what kept me alive this week?" He said forgetting how insulted he had felt as soon as her cheeks turned delightfully pink.

-"The air you breathe?" Mocked him Sakura.

-"Nope, the air you breathe." He answered back, leaning in and finally kissing her. He felt right at home.

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TO BE CONTINUED...