Oddities in Oak Trees

-Nine-

She looked through the traffic lights, an expression of impatience on her face. Today was the day she would finally get to see her cousin (although she insists they aren't related by blood) and she didn't want something as petty as a stoplight preventing her from seeing him at that very moment. Her red eyes, an indication that she was truly of Li descent, scanned the Tokyo crowd. If she ran, would she be there quicker? The traffic was insufferable.

"Can't your stupid ass go any faster?" she barked at the driver, her broken Japanese making her seem like an impatient tourist—which, no matter how much she denies it, is exactly what she is. The fact that she was also bloated from too much airline food also added to her stress. She didn't want to be seen at that state, and it didn't help that she was wearing a tight gold cheongsam dress. The garb was shockingly traditional-looking, but this didn't stop her from wearing it. "It's been an hour and we're not even close yet!" she yelled, crossing her arms against her chest in a huff. "And can you turn up the heat? I'm freezing here!" Despite the fact that it was February and nearing springtime already, it was cold because it was still winter after all.

While the temperamental Li cousin was having her moment, Syaoran was left in his room, unsuspecting of what—rather, who— was about to come. He was much too busy thinking about his crush. He spelled out Sakura's name in the air, followed by the question ringing in his mind: "Do you like me?"

He changed his position on his bed, lying on his stomach instead of on his back. It had been nine weeks since he met Sakura. They haven't met in one. He still went to the café they frequented every day, but she was nowhere to be found. When he called her on his mobile, she would always say that she was busy. "Are you avoiding me?" he spelled it in the air again, wondering if the message could be sent to her by the wind.

"What are you doing?"

His thoughts were interrupted by his mother, who just burst through his bedroom door.

"I was… doing nothing in particular."

It didn't matter what his response would be, since his mother quickly followed her question with an excited proclamation that they had a guest. "You'll be pleased by her surprise of coming here."

"Is the visitor by any chance…"

"Syaoran! Darling!" his cousin entered his room as his mother left happily, speeding up towards him with a feverish disposition.

"…Meiling. Of course…" Yelan was only that pleased when Meiling would come to Japan to visit them.

"Did you miss me?" the younger of the two women asked him, her arms now wrapped around Syaoran as she sat beside him.

"I… guess so…yes." His answer was met by a pout from his female cousin.

"That's not a very reassuring reaction." She studied him with her distinct scarlet eyes before slapping his arm. She was always the violent type. That was never a safe thing. "Have you got a girl? You know she'd just be gone in a day or so once she finds out about our relationship." Due to his annoyance when they were young, he had no choice but to agree to her forceful proposal for marriage to him so he could play with his toys in peace. "I won't let anyone take you away from me." She nuzzled his neck. He flinched.

"That's gross! You do realize we're related, right?" He tried to push her away to no avail.

"Not by blood!"

"Yes, we are related by blood!"

"We're so far from being related to each other by blood that it almost doesn't matter anymore!"

"It…" he was interrupted as his phone vibrated, indicating that he just received a message. He quickly grabbed it as he read the text. It was Sakura. "Oh!"

He was relieved as it said that she was at the café. He replied that he would be on his way right away, followed by three smileys of the baby giraffe with a pacifier she mentioned that she had liked.

"Who is it?" Meiling asked, trying to see the name of the sender. She failed to do so.

"I'll talk to you later, okay?" he wanted to be rude to his cousin so badly, but he knew she just came from a long flight and he didn't want to push any buttons. If he did, he wouldn't be able to leave her presence as she would scream at him and cuss in Chinese.

"Where are you going? I just got here and you're actually leaving me?"

"Sorry, but this is important!"

"I'm coming with you."

He stopped in his tracks before facing his cousin, an indignant look on his face. "You would just go and insult her, and I just won't deal with that!"

'Her'? She undoubtedly heard what she heard. "Her?!"

Syaoran scrunched his face while closing his eyes tightly. He was going to have it, alright. And he really didn't want it. "Fine, you can come but please promise me that you won't say anything embarrassing or unnecessary!"

"I promise." She meant it. But, as we all know, cunning people have cunning ways to twist their way out of anything.

A pair of brilliant green eyes shifted its focus from left to right. She didn't know what was going on, but Syaoran had decided to bring a girl around their age. And it wasn't just any girl. It was a touchy, clingy type of girl.

"This is Meiling." The boy across her said, visibly prying the said lass off of him. She was probably of good strength, Sakura would think to herself for the rest of the day as she never did let go of Syaoran's arm. "She's my cou—…"

"Who are you?" She glared at Sakura, the fire in her eyes intensified by their color.

"I'm Sakura. It's nice to meet you, Meiling." She tried to smile as sweetly as she could, but their new companion looked like she didn't want her there. She scared Sakura a bit.

"I didn't mean your name. I meant who you are to Syaoran." She rolled her eyes at the unassuming lady.

"Oh… u-umm…"

"Meiling, stop asking stupid questions!" It was evidently Syaoran who intercepted. He began sipping on his drink, trying to hide his being uncomfortable.

"It's not stupid," she batted her eyes innocently at her cousin while her bottom lip stuck out. The look suited her since she wasn't bad-looking, but it was an expression that betrayed her intentions. "I just wanted to know why she had my fiancé running around at this odd hour to meet with her. Syaoran proposed when we were kids, you know," she stared at Sakura pointedly.

Syaoran, as you would have probably guessed, spat out his coffee, not expecting that Meiling would reveal their agreement to Sakura at all. Perhaps he was the innocent one. "What the hell!"

"Fiancé?" Sakura glanced at the two questioningly. She knew that Chinese people would, as some traditions do, have betrothal arrangements but she didn't expect Syaoran to have a fiancé. He never spoke of it after all.

"She's not my fiancé! She's my cou—…"

"You know, blue really isn't your color." She was referring to the dress Sakura was wearing.

"O-oh… I guess not…" Sakura Kinomoto was confused. If Syaoran had said that liked her, did it mean that he only said so to amuse himself? After all, the two before her seemed comfortable enough with each other for her to say that they could be lovers.

"Also, your eyes look funny. Anyone ever tell you that? Are those contacts? If those are circle lenses, that would be disgusting. They creep me out, and I'm sure it's not just me," the Chinese girl clearly disliked Sakura. Sakura wondered if it was because she was a hindrance to the relationship the lass had with Syaoran.

"Umm… they're not circle lenses or contacts. But, well… ha, ha… I guess they are a little… weird. But they don't really bother me…"

Meiling glared at a fidgety Sakura, the disdain for the girl intensifying every second. She looked like she could slap the auburn-haired female any minute. And then, her disposition changed in an instant. "You know what; I'd like to know you more."

"Meiling! What the heck are you up to?" Syaoran hissed at her in Chinese. It was a rude thing to do in front of someone who can't speak the language, but he did it so his cousin's motives wouldn't hurt Sakura.

"Nothing, honestly." Meiling responded in the same language, her grip around Syaoran's arm loosening as she seemed to think to herself before giving her attention to Sakura again. "Well, my fiancé and I should really get going. You're boring as hell." She then dragged a bewildered, stammering Syaoran to the door and in the process leaving a very much puzzled Sakura.

"What did you just do!" Syaoran yanked his arm away from her as he finally came to his senses. They were a good distance gone from the café so he had no choice but to go home instead of go back to Sakura. She might have left already, anyway. He would have to call her later.

"She's remarkably ordinary, you know that? I expected someone with at least an eighth of my charms to qualify as competition but you…" she looked at Syaoran disconcertedly, "…have really bad taste."

"Stop insulting Sakura, she's way better than you'll ever be."

"In what ways is she any better than me?" she stared icily at her cousin, taking insult at his statement.

"Well for one, she's not rude!"

"At least I'm not mind-numbingly dull!"

"She's not dull at all!"

"Yes, she is. She can't even form a sentence without lulling any old man to sleep." She cocked her chin up to the other direction, displaying unnecessary arrogance. "I hate her."

They stopped walking as Syaoran halted his steps. "You don't have a right to hate her. Listen…"

"No! You listen to me! She's just some plaything that you'll get tired of sooner or later! I'm just sparing you the time you're going to waste on her!" she spat out in one breath, surprising Syaoran with the level of animosity that can be heard with her words.

"I'm not…"

"You shouldn't like her so much."

"Why's that?"

"Ask your mother. She's the one who asked me to go to Tokyo to distract you from that… girl."

"What?!" Syaoran's perplexity was soon replaced by anger that was quickly building up as he just realized what the 'business' his mother had gone to a few weeks before was.

"I'm going back inside. The snow's getting heavier. You should go home too. I've had enough of this conversation." Meiling stormed off. She always had a habit of doing so with a certain drama.

"Geez, this girl is really… ah!" He froze midsentence as he remembered to call a probably upset Sakura. He searched for his mobile before dialing her number with trembling hands. It was getting colder as the snow worsened. He should have brought an umbrella to shield himself from the cold mush.

"Hello? Syaoran?"

"H-hi… I'm sorry about earlier."

"… It's okay."

"Can we meet up?"

"Where are you?"

He glanced around him. "I'm near Miyashita Park." He wasn't, but he wanted to take a walk far enough from his house. "I'll fetch you. Are you at home?"

"Oh, no, that's okay. I'll just meet you halfway. There's this great café named Doutor Coffee in Shibuya."

"Okay, I'll see you then." He put down his phone as she ended the call, relieved that he would be meeting her without Meiling around.

The snow got thicker as they met in front of the popular coffee shop. It was already eight in the evening and the shop was closed already, seeing that it was a Saturday. They had no choice but to walk around, looking for a different place to stay and talk.

"Looks like it won't let up anytime soon." Sakura was referring to the snow.

Syaoran nodded as they sought shelter under a roof outside of a convenience store. "It looks like we would have to look for somewhere else to stay…" Syaoran peeked at Sakura, embarrassed. It was Shibuya after all, and the locals knew what that meant.

"L-love h-hotel…" he whispered to himself, his eyebrows shooting up with the realization. He knew that Sakura was afraid of snowstorms and the weather was clearly heading to that direction, so they would have to stay somewhere warm and safe soon.

The two students looked at the hotels lined up before them.

"D-does that look safe e-enough?" it was a miracle he could form a question. He was turning beet red as he pointed at the most wholesome-looking love hotel.

"I guess so," Sakura replied, unfazed.

Our male protagonist was having a dilemma of all sorts. Even though love hotels have an age restriction, they could enter since there was no reception at the desk of the hotel available and so he just swiped his card to get in. He knew that their stay there wouldn't lead to anything sexual or anything of the sort, but he was still a boy and she was still a girl, he was pretty sure.

"I'll just warm up some water for tea." It was Sakura who spoke. She was evidently too trusting to even bat an eyelash.

"O-okay…" he shut his eyes every time she would talk to him, afraid that perverted thoughts would make their way to his mind. This plan was soon thwarted when she sat beside him, a good distance away, but the distance was close enough for her to hold his hand. "S-sorry… just… the snow…"

He looked out at the window. It was almost purely white. She was thankful they were indoors, but she was still scared. "It's o-okay…" he put his arm around her as he held her nearer. All ideas of possible raunchiness were gone at a second.

"Thank y-you…" she trembled slightly as she snuggled to him. She felt oddly more at ease. "Thank you," she repeated, looking up at him.

And then, emerald met amber.

It was like the icy malice of the night disappeared at that instant, and who were they to refuse this… this newfound warmth that they felt?

Should they kiss?

He didn't know so he looked away, afraid the magnetism would be too much to handle. He was merely a puppet to her beauty; merely a slave to her charms.

"S-sorry…" he would bow if he could.

"It's… it's fine." She gulped audibly. Was she affected as well? She slid farther away from his embrace, but not enough that he could let go of her. This action was soon reversed as the snow worsened. "I'm sorry… just… the snow…" she closed her eyes, afraid that the whiteness of the snow would devour her into nothingness. He embraced her with both arms, sensing that she was alarmed.

"I-it's nothing… I'll protect you, just like I promised." He held her firmly. He could feel her calming down as she sank into his grasp.

"Thanks…"

"I-it's alright."

What should he do now? He didn't know, so he did what any boy would do: he hummed.

Well, what any boy as odd as he was would do.

He continued humming a song from an unknown place in his mind until Sakura chortled before laughing out loud. "Was that your version of a lullaby?"

He blinked a few times before realizing what he was doing. "Oh… I… guess?"

Sakura continued chuckling, her body shaking from the bursts of mirth. "I'm not a baby, you know…" she was getting breathless from giggling.

"Y-yeah… I realize that." He smiled at her. She stopped laughing as she gazed at his handsome profile. The magnetism was still there.

"Sakura…" he started.

"…Yes?"

"You know… I… I always wonder about you."

"Wonder about me?"

"I mean… "He fidgeted a little as he tried to collect his words. "I mean, how could you have let me kiss you? I mean, you're so wonderful…and… I mean…"

She furrowed her eyebrows at the statement. "I guess… well, I honestly don't know why I let you kiss me."

"Oh…" he was hoping she would tell him that she finally liked him. He let his eyes roam her face as she looked away, oblivious to his actions as she seemed to think some more. "You're too beautiful…" it was more of a whisper than anything else, but she still heard him.

"Umm…"

"Sorry! I'm sorry! It's just… umm… you weren't supposed to hear that…" he mumbled, his hold on her loosening a bit.

"You're funny," she giggled for a while again. "I never know what you'll say next."

"That… does it bother you? I tried changing, but I'm not very good at it…"

She shook her head. "It doesn't bother me at all. I think it's quite… endearing."

They gazed at each other's eyes once more, letting the moment sink in. He was a puppet again beneath her stare, ready to perform any movement that she willed.

"I think… I think I really do love you…" he said quietly as he rested his forehead against hers.

"Please don't say that…"

"I'm sorry, but it's true…"

They could feel each other's warmth as they closed the gap between them, as they neared their face to each other.

This time, it was longer.

It was liquid fire, this kiss they shared. Their lips met with the same stillness of innocence, but the passion that made them blush like newborns was there.

Their kiss was unsure, naive. She angled her head to the left as she raised her arms to embrace him around his neck. They remained still in that position as they felt each other's gentleness, each other's restless breathing. He dazzled upon her sweetness and the beauty of the moment. She truly was someone he could truly love.

She was the reason he wanted to. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, wanted to wake up the next day earlier so moments would be longer, wanted to love. All things, he wanted to. And it was all because of her.

He let his hands travel to her waist, unknowingly. He felt the small of her back before she broke the kiss, her eyes wide and her face red. They separated from each other, embarrassed.

"S-sorry! I… I didn't realize…" he trailed off before bowing, in his usual way, before her. "I promise I won't do it again. Oh!" he got up before dashing towards the lavatory. "I'll stay here! So don't worry about it!" he got in the bath tub, clothes still on. "I'll sleep here!"

"Umm… a-are you sure about that? I don't…"

"I'm sure!"

The night went on with the two staring listlessly at the ceiling, one question in their minds: What now?

"Where were you?" an angry Meiling demanded as soon as Syaoran entered the Li abode.

"I was… out."

"I can see that," she seethed at him, knowing fully well that he was with Sakura. "You better be thankful auntie Yelan isn't around, or you would've had it." She glared at her cousin, an edge to her voice as she continued, "You were with Sakura, weren't you?"

"Nothing happened, so don't worry."

"Are you stupid? Of course I'll get worried! We're engaged!"

"Are you some sort of psycho? We're cousins! We can't be engaged! I'm going to take a shower. Don't do anything funny while I'm not around."

Meiling narrowed her eyes with fury as she waited for him to leave the shower. She yelled at him as soon as he got dressed. "How dare you! We made a promise!"

"I was four!"

"A promise is a promise!"

Syaoran scratched his head, exasperated. "I'm going."

"Out with her again?"

He didn't respond, making her take it as a 'yes'.

"I'm going with you!"

"No wa…"

"Unless you want your mom to find out where you were last night," she smugly stated with her hands on her hips.

He froze in his position before finally agreeing. "Fine, but no funny business!"

She smiled triumphantly. "You never trust me."

"I have no reason to."

Sakura Kinomoto blinked twice, confused on why Syaoran had brought along Meiling to the café. "Hello…"

"Sorry about Meiling, she wanted to come…" Syaoran said, dejected.

"Of course I do, we're about to get married after all."

"We're cou—…"

"Anyway," she interrupted her cousin before he could state their real relationship, "What are you doing here? Haven't you had enough, even seducing my fiancé into staying the night with you?"

Sakura turned redder and redder by the second as she stuttered a "what", and then looking furiously at Syaoran. "What did you tell her happened, exactly?"

"I didn't say any…"

"Excuse me for a minute." Sakura purposefully drew her chair back loudly as she ran off towards the restroom.

"What an idiot."

"What the hell were you saying? I didn't even tell you anything!"

"You didn't have to."

"That's it! I'm leaving, whether you stop me or not!"

"I'll tell you Sakura's dirty little secret if you stay."

"I trust her."

"You have crumbs all over your face," Meiling reached out before he could get up.

As soon as Sakura Kinomoto exited the restroom after gathering her thoughts, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing what lay before her.

Meiling had her arms around Li Syaoran as she pulled him into a kiss.

Before Sakura could even process what was happening and before she could see how Syaoran pushed his cousin away with disgust, she let her feet lead her away as she briskly walked towards the door of the café. Syaoran then spots her and attempts to leave before Meiling spoke.

"Don't bother going after her. She's probably going home to her kid."

He looked at the girl with scarlet eyes, puzzled. "…Her kid?"

"That's what I said. Sakura has a kid." She looked at him slyly. "Never imagined her to be so lewd, did you?"

"You're lying."

"You know that I never lie to you."

What she said was true. It was something he would have to ponder on as he rode his bicycle home, never really caring that he left Meiling alone.

A/N: Review? I realize that there are less and less people actually reading this story. The reviews are also testament to that. I would hate to not finish this story, and I thank everyone who has imparted the time to read this story. Please bear with me as I continue writing, and hopefully get to finish this story. Many stories of mine were not finished because of the lack of reviews and readers, but I'll still do my best on this.