I don't own Card Captor Sakura
I glad everyone's enjoying this story, thank you for your support.
Thank you everyone for your reviews!
I am very sorry about the long delay for this chapter due to exams. Also, remember that final project I told you all about? It was completed a week ago but because our client wanted more features added I was kept busy with my group (he's happy now so I don't have to work on it anymore). But it all paid off because I've officially graduated from college! This means I'll have more time to write this story!
Chapter 9
Charlotte landed in New Caledonia in the morning and motioned for her suitcases to be taken to her hotel room. She walked into Le Pacifique, one of the most luxurious and expensive hotels in New Caledonia. Charlotte approached the main desk in the lobby and took off her sunglasses.
"I'm wondering if you could tell me where Syaoran Li is staying." She asked politely, flashing a smile at the concierge. He was a tall and handsome man, but Charlotte's charms didn't seem to work on him. "I'm sorry; we don't give out information about our guests."
She flipped her hair and smiled seductively, "I really need to find him, he's my fiancé and I can't seem to get a hold of him with my cell. The service is horrible here." The man simply looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and simply repeated that they don't give out guest information, no matter who it is. Charlotte mentally screamed walking into the elevator, 'How could my attractiveness be turned down? He's either blind or gay!'
Syaoran began to stir when the sunlight shone through his window and he slowly opened his eyes, seeing that Sakura wasn't there. Her form was still outlined on the bed where she slept as he got up and looked around the room. Their swimwear was no longer on the floor and he assumed that she must have picked them up. Syaoran walked to the drawer and took out two spare towels, wrapping one around his waist.
He walked out into the hallway rubbing his eyes as he walked past Eriol's room as small snores were coming from it. Syaoran barely heard them and the sound of running water as he walked into the bathroom closest to his room, still in a sleepy daze.
Sakura was taking a shower when he walked in. He used the toilet and then turned on the water in the sink to wash his hands and face, which caused her water to run cold. "Ekk!" Sakura cried as freezing cold water ran down her entire body; snapping Syaoran awake.
He looked at the frosted shower door as Sakura turned off the water, wanting the warm water to come back. Syaoran saw her silhouette through the glass and he was about to apologize when the door slightly opened to the shower.
Sakura had popped her head out to see who it was, thinking it was Tomoyo. She saw Syaoran with a towel in his hand, "Sorry about that Sakura." He apologized, his amber eyes still fixed on hers. Sakura smiled, "It's alright Syaoran. I just stepped in two minutes ago."
He gazed at her shoulder and remembered Sakura's soft body against his, how he wanted to hold her in his arms again. Syaoran walked up to her and kissed her softly on the lips, smiling as she deepened the kiss. "Sakura, do you want to take a shower together?" Syaoran asked, pulling away.
Sakura answered by kissing him again, as he removed the towel from around his waist and stepped through the frosted glass doorway before turning on the water. The warm water hit her body delightfully and Syaoran wrapped his arms around her from behind.
Sakura felt his body against hers; his lips kissed her neck as she took a pink bottle of shampoo from the ceramic shelf. She opened the bottle and the aroma of strawberries lightly wafted to his nose.
'That's what it was.' Syaoran thought, his mind flashing back to when he embraced her in his office months ago. Her scent was floral with a hint of a fruit he couldn't identify and he didn't smell it again until now. 'Sakura probably switched shampoos since then'.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that she turned around to face him. "Strawberries-" Syaoran said, getting cut off by Sakura's kiss. "Yup, I had to switch shampoos a few times because they were out. I buy this from a store close to my apartment."
He took the bottle from her hands, "I'll wash your hair Sakura." She smiled at this and then looked back on the shelf. "You didn't bring a shampoo did you?" Syaoran's froze, that's what he forgot to bring.
Sakura laughed, taking the bottle back. "It seems you need to use my shampoo, so how about I wash your hair first?" Syaoran nodded and then realized what he agreed too. "But I'll smell fruity." He mumbled with a small pout as Sakura squeezed the shampoo onto her palm.
Syaoran then began to relax as she began to massage his scalp and he liked the expression on her face deep in concentration. What he enjoyed more was that because of his height Sakura's naked body was leaning heavily against his, reaching her arms up to spread the shampoo.
The sensation was overwhelming and so was the smell of the shampoo, since it was her smell. Sakura brought his head towards her as she cleansed the suds gently. Syaoran enjoyed it, suppressing a moan as her naked body was dangerously close to him.
He returned the favour, running his hands through her hair which made Sakura giggle. She closed her eyes as he rinsed out the shampoo from her hair. Syaoran kept her head under the showerhead longer as he ran his hands through the strands, loving the way it felt through his fingers.
He finished and picked up the bar of soap and a sponge looking at her. "You or me first?" Sakura grinned and took the items from his hands, rubbing the two together, and then setting down the soap. She started at his shoulders, running the sponge along his tanned skin, it was about two shades darker than hers.
Sakura moved over his tightening muscles, taking her time, and checked his face when a groan escaped his lips. She soon reached his waist, and moved down to his legs, kneeling to have better access.
Syaoran was going mad from her slow and gentle touch as Sakura cleaned his body, and was now cleaning his back. Sakura stopped herself from laughing when his butt muscles twitched as she glided the sponge over them. She stood up and Syaoran took the sponge from her, "my turn."
He copied her movement with difficulty trying to concentrate on what he was doing; his mind was occupied with other things. Syaoran paid extra attention to her breasts, hearing every mumbled moan that was escaping her lips.
He then moved the sponge down her abdomen and down her thighs, knees, claves and shins before returning to her thighs; focusing on her inner thighs. Syaoran got up and pressed his chest against hers, running the sponge up and down her back slowly, before bringing his lips to hers.
The water turned cold a minute later, causing them to jump, and Sakura heard Syaoran groan in frustration as he turned the water off. Luckily they were rinsed off completely from the showerhead and he let her get out first, slightly shivering from the temperature.
"I guess we were in there for too long." Syaoran said wrapping a towel around his waist with a hint of disappointment. He watched Sakura wrap the towel around her body and she ran her fingers through her hair, giving him a smile.
Syaoran then kissed her again, passion pouring from the both of them as they grabbed each other. He moved down to her neck and jaw, leaving hot open-mouthed kisses as their bodies moved closer together.
Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her body closer to his. Syaoran pressed her against the warm wall and moulded himself to her, letting her tongue explore his mouth. They then broke away for some air as Syaoran stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes.
A knock at the door broke their gaze, it was Tomoyo. "Sakura, are you almost done in there? The third bathroom only has hot water." She asked through the door, as Sakura picked up her brush from the counter. "I'm almost done, give me a few minutes."
Syaoran kissed her cheek, "I'll go get some clothes." He said, walking out of the bathroom to go to his room. Sakura kept her clothes there with his, since that thunderstorm a few days ago she had been sleeping there ever since.
He came back dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, giving her a tank top and shorts, it was the first items that Syaoran saw in her suitcase and decided to pick them. He closed the door to let her change as Eriol walked toward him from the second bathroom.
"You certainly look content this morning" He beamed looking at Syaoran and then looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Look, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you need to know."
Syaoran eyed him, "Know what?" "It's about Charlotte." Eriol answered, walking with him to the kitchen. "She's here Syaoran. In New Caledonia."
"What?" Syaoran yelled, "How did she find me here, of all places?" Eriol shrugged, "She has connections too it seems. Yelen definitely didn't say anything to her, 100%." Syaoran groaned, running his hand through his now slightly damp hair.
"Apparently she's been tearing apart every single hotel here trying to find you." Eriol chuckled, earning a look from Syaoran. "Don't worry; I'll try to keep her off your trail."
"Keep off whom from your trail?" Sakura asked, walking into the kitchen. Eriol and Syaroan's faces fell instantaneously, and would have been hilarious if Sakura hadn't seen the serious expressions on their faces.
"It's nothing Sakura, you don't have to worry about it." Syaoran reassured, giving her a smile. She looked at them both, still not convinced.
"It's- It's just about my ex-girlfriend. I learned that she was here on vacation as well." Eriol lied, hoping Sakura would leave it at that. "Oh okay." Sakura said, taking Syaoran's coffee mug from his hands effortlessly because he wasn't paying attention, lost in his own thoughts of how to avoid bumping into Charlotte.
"Mmm. This is good coffee." Sakura said, taking a sip and started walking into the living room to watch the morning news. Eriol's eyes followed her as she sat on the couch and then he looked back at Syaoran, who looked like he was just hit by a bus.
"Syaoran, you need to be more careful so she won't be able to notice you among the crowds in the city." Eriol ordered, earning a nod from Syaoran. "Maybe I shouldn't go outside at all, that way I'll never bump into her."
Eriol laughed at Syaoran's childish answer, "You're such a coward." "Shut up, you don't understand the gravity of this situation." Syaoran retorted, "If Charlotte was to meet Sakura and tell her to her face that she's my fiancée, even though she isn't, who do you think she would believe?"
Eriol smirked, "Are you saying that Sakura doesn't trust you?" "You know what I mean. Charlotte looks innocent to the eyes of a stranger and then there's me, the biggest player in all of Tokyo." Syaoran explained as he watched Eriol's expression.
"Well when you put it that way, I guess if I was in Sakura's position-" He cut Eriol off. "Stop. Don't even go there. I don't want to think about it. I came here to enjoy the holidays with Sakura and that's what I plan to do, especially since tomorrow's Christmas Eve."
The rest of the day Syaoran spent looking over his shoulder, as if he was afraid of being assassinated by any living thing at point-blank. His behaviour confused both Sakura and Tomoyo, much to Eriol's amusement.
"Have you found him yet?" "I'm afraid not. There doesn't seem to be a trace of him in New Caledonia since that day." Charlotte growled under her breath. "He did purchase four plane tickets for 15 days so Syaoran must be here. Does he have any private residences? That might be an explanation for why he's not staying at a hotel."
The tall man was the same one that was observing them at the restaurant that Syaoran had recognized. "I'm afraid not and if he did, I don't have access to that information." Charlotte was angry as she sifted through the online news from Tokyo, stumbling upon paparazzi pictures of Syaoran and Sakura.
Her blue eyes sparked in fury. "I knew it! He's here with some woman too!" Charlotte motioned for the man to look at the laptop screen. "Sébastien, this was from two days ago, go dig deeper and don't come back until you've found something."
"I understand." Sébastien replied, walking out of her hotel room while Charlotte's eyes were still fixed to the picture of Syaoran and Sakura laughing together. It made her sick. There was a time when Syaoran looked at her that way and she was determined for it to be like that again.
It was soon late afternoon and as they walked closer to the cottage, the amount of people on the streets began to decrease, which allowed Syaoran to feel safe enough to remove his baseball hat. He hated wearing a hat on his head but in order to be undetected by Charlotte he was willing to put up with it since it was out of character.
As they walked past the main street in the city, little did they know that Sébastien was following close behind them. He managed to contact a shopkeeper, and close friend, that recognized Syaoran when they stopped to buy some refreshments and paid her for the information.
Sébastien was trailing them practically the whole day because he learned that they almost never walked into the small shops off the main streets due to low popularity with tourists and only the locals know the area. Today was his lucky day.
He took a picture of them walking along the road and they inched closer to the cottage. Sébastien took more shots near the cottage and as they were going in, which was about 10 photos. He knew this would be enough for Charlotte as he started walking in the direction of her hotel.
"Excellent job Sébastien. I knew I could count on you." Charlotte beamed, shifting through the pictures that he brought her. "I'll bring you your reward now." She walked into her bedroom and pulled out a briefcase, setting it down on her table.
"As promised, $500,000 in Euros." Sébastien opened up the briefcase, mentally counting the bundles on money in his head, it was the exact amount. "Thank you, I'll be on my way now."
Charlotte placed her hand on the suitcase, "Don't think this is the end. If I'll be in need of your services again you better not ignore them. I will find you." Her blue eyes pierced through his and a wave of fear hit him, and Sébastien nodded as he carefully took the suitcase and slipped out the door, not even taking a short glance behind him.
"I don't want to go." "Oh come on Eriol it'll be fun." Tomoyo pleaded. "Well Syaoran's not going either so why don't you and Sakura have a ladies night out? Both Syaoran and I could use a bit of a rest today." He said as he looked at Syaoran, who nodded in agreement.
"But what will you two do here?" Sakura asked, looking at them. Syaoran then pulled out a PlayStation 3 from under the TV stand, and a few videogames as well. "We're going to have a little competition, and it's been years since we've played a game together."
Tomoyo and Sakura looked at both of them. "Since when do you play video games?" They asked in unison, which kind of surprised Syaoran and Eriol. "Since we were kids, actually back then it was the only thing that we agreed on. Isn't that right Syaoran?"
Syaoran nodded again and both of them walked Sakura and Tomoyo to the door and waved goodbye until they were out of view. After they closed the door both of them walked over to the sofa while Syaoran took a quick glance at his watch, it was almost 4:45 PM.
"Alright, I'll need to rush over there to pick up the gift and then we'll have our competition, okay?" "Sure Syaoran, I'll go get the snacks ready." Eriol walked into the kitchen as Syaoran slipped out the back door in order to avoid bumping into the girls on the way.
Charlotte walked toward the cottage and up to the door, but hesitated when she wanted to knock on the door. She instead walked towards the backyard and opened the gate before walking toward the sliding door. Charlotte noticed that the house was empty and slid open the door, walking inside.
Eriol heard the sliding door close, but thought that Syaoran was already back and decided to take the snacks into the living room. He placed them on the coffee table in front of the couch and noticed that he wasn't there. "I swear that I heard him come back."
Two minutes later Syaoran came back and saw that Eriol was already sitting on the couch playing Grand Theft Auto IV. "I just need to put this in my room and we can start." He said to Eriol as he switched games for Call of Duty 4.
"Wait Syaoran, did you come back a few minutes ago?" "No, why?" Syaoran asked curiously. "I thought I heard you come in, maybe it was just my imagination." Eriol shrugged it off and sat back down on the couch.
Syaoran made his way upstairs to his room and noticed that his door was slightly opened; he remembered that he had closed it this morning. Besides, who would snoop around in here?
He slowly pushed opened the door and was embraced by a small figure, the room was dark and he couldn't see who it was. Something felt wrong to him, it wasn't Sakura. Her figure was much more delicate than this woman's was and her scent was very provocative, not something that Sakura wore.
The front door opened and Sakura and Tomoyo walked inside, much to Eriol's surprise. They weren't supposed to come back this early, he expected that they would be gone for at least two hours.
"What are you two doing back so quickly?" Eriol called out to them from the living room. "I forgot my money in my other wallet." Sakura replied as she walked toward the stairs. "I need to go get it from Syaoran's room."
"You're not Sakura." Syaoran said coldly to the woman, pushing her away from him. "Who are you?" The woman stood still and was silent for about a minute. "I've missed you Syaoran. I want you back. I love you."
His eyes widened, he recognized the voice "Charlotte, get out this instant." He spat with venom in his voice. "I don't want you and I don't love you. I love-" She cut him off, pressing her body and lips against his.
Sakura walked into the room and searched the wall for the light switch. But stopped as she heard sounds coming from across the room. Syaoran tried to push Charlotte off of him, without trying to physically hurt her, just as the lights turned on.
Sakura stood in shock as she saw Syaoran embracing another woman. Syaoran stepped away from Charlotte with a saddened look on his face. "Sakura this isn't what it looks like." Her eyes began to fill with tears, "Really, then what is this?"
Syaoran began to walk toward Sakura as she took a step back toward the hallway. "Look I can explain everything." "No, I should have known that this would happen, especially with your reputation."
Sakura's tears began to stream down her face as she looked at the blonde woman and that's when it hit her. That was the woman that bumped into her when she stepped into the elevator at the corporation that day. "Have you been seeing her behind my back all this time?"
Syaoran's eyes widened in shock, "No, I would never do that to you Sakura. I care about you." Sakura scoffed and picked up her suitcase as she walked out the bedroom with Syaoran following behind her. "Really, then why have I seen her before?"
He stopped walking behind her. "I saw her once coming out of the elevator from your office so don't lie to me." Syaoran sighed, "Yes, she did come out from my office but not for that reason. My mother-"
"Now you're blaming your mother? Don't drag her into this!" Sakura yelled, a bit surprised that she could, she hadn't yelled at anyone before. Syaoran cringed at her voice, "Please just stop packing your bags and let me explain everything."
"No, Syaoran. Why should I believe you? I'm so stupid, I should have known." Sakura replied, wiping her tears as she closed her suitcase. "Sakura, please it's not what you think." She turned around to leave and came face to face with Syaoran.
He placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her sparking emerald eyes. "Sakura, I love you and only you. I see no other woman in my eyes." She wanted to believe Syaoran so badly, but the evidence was clear as day, he would never change.
"You don't know what love is Syaoran." She said, not breaking their glance. "And I guess that I didn't either. Goodbye Syaoran Li." Sakura walked past him out the front door as he watched her silhouette disappear into the night.
Chapter 10 is coming soon (really soon)!
