Alright, the full chapter is up. Thanks for the reviews and looks like you all want ExT but the last decision rests with me He..he…I had mentioned about the Osaka trip at the end of the last chapter but now I have to push to the next one cuz there's already a lot in this chapter.
Also, many Thanks to my new Beta reader, Moonlight919 for fixing up the stupid mistakes I had made. Enjoy ;)
WhyteRayne
Chapter:10
While Sakura was with Syaoran what became of Tomoyo? Syaoran had asked Fay to drop Tomoyo so he accompanied her to her house. On her house's doorstep Fay stopped and took a deep breath,
"Tomoyo…"
Still in her drunk state, she swayed at the spot and tried speaking back,
"Yesh?"
"I-I wanted to…wanted to…apologize to you."
"About *hic* wh-what?"
"Well…about…you know…that."
She giggled and leaned closer. Fay could smell the alcohol in her breath.
"About that? What that?" She whispered.
Fay gulped, he hadn't expected this to be easy but she had raised the difficulty to a higher level.
Tomoyo moved even closer, grasped his shirt and pulled him to eye level. Was it because she was drunk that made her so bold or something else, Fay was getting really nervous. He had come to fix this very mistake but…
"If you can't say, then show me what 'that' is…"
Holy Shit! What am I gonna do now?
"Uhh…Tomoyo…"
"Sshh…just show me 'that'"
Tomoyo brought her face closer. Fay was now pushing her off but it was like something of greater strength had possessed her. He turned his face away,
Talk about swapped situations. Aren't girls supposed to resist a kiss?
Tomoyo caught him by his chin and turned his face back,
"Show…me…now…" she hissed
And she closed her eyes…
Her lips parted slightly…
The strong liquor scent went straight through his nose…
No…I can't…I shouldn't…..why not?
Finally accepting defeat, his wall of resistance broke and now his lips advanced.
Once again their noses touched…
Ragged breaths…
And…
"OI!"
Fay instantly pulled back, shocked on hearing that voice. But he wasn't the only one who had noticed it.
"So you decided to show yourself, finally" Tomoyo spoke, now strangely coherent.
Fay was now very confused,
So she knew that someone was hidden here?
The bushes next to foot of the stairs rustled and a dark figure rose. It remained still for a few moments and then swiftly made its way up to them.
The light now shone its face and the very person whom he wanted to keep in the dark about this 'incident' was now standing before him.
"Eriol…I…"
Eriol just raised his hand, signaling him to stop. He was devoid his glasses and the dark shadow around his eyes gave him an ominous look.
"How did you know I was following you?" Eriol spoke in a low voice.
Tomoyo cocked her head sideways,
"I may have been a bit drunk but I do not remain oblivious of my surroundings, something which I learnt after meeting you."
Fay stupidly kept looking at their faces while two ignored him.
"Why did you kiss him?" Eriol bluntly asked.
A sinister smile appeared on her face, a rare sight. But Fay decided to butt in,
"N-No. I didn't kiss her. You saw right now, I did not kiss her."
Eriol turned to him, glaring,
"Oh yeah, then what about on the Prom night?"
Fay's mouth went dry,
He knows…? How does he know?
Tomoyo gave a mock laugh,
"So you know. Well than I won't deny. I did kiss him and I can bet a million bucks that he was better than you."
Eriol clenched his fists,
"L-Look, I didn't…" Fay stuttered
Eriol repeated his gesture and silenced him.
"You still haven't answered my question."
"And why should I?" She spoke back, her evil smile still on," As a matter of fact, you too have to answer my question, a question I asked long ago and it itself seeks the answer to another one."
"Look, we weren't ready for it and…"
"We weren't ready for it…WE!" Tomoyo shouted," No Eriol, it was YOU, only YOU. I was ready to give up everything, I almost did. But no, you still thought that you could try for someone better and if you didn't get anyone else, you thought that stupid, little Tomoyo would anyway be there for you."
She paused.
"But you were wrong. I did not let myself be a victim, did not remain an instrument of pleasure to you which you discarded at the slightest of trouble."
"Tomoyo, please…"
"No Fay, don't stop me. Today, I want this pathetic excuse of a man to listen to all that I had kept inside myself." Tomoyo fiercely spoke back.
"But Tomoyo, you didn't wait…"
"Wait?" Tomoyo angrily spoke," You need time to wait, something which I didn't have but still…I waited."
"But you were done with everything by the time I came back."
"And how was I supposed to know that you're ever going to come back? Did you even tell me that you're coming back?"
"But I had to go and…"
"I presume that something called the telephone exists."
"Nngh…" Now Eriol had nothing to say. Fay just stared at them like a helpless spectator.
Tomoyo smirked,
"What do you have to say to that?"
Silence.
"Oh and about your question, I'll answer it. You know why I kissed Fay, because I wanted to make you feel, if possible, a tiny fraction of pain which I felt and still carry with me."
Eriol lowered his head and spoke in a barely audible voice,
"And you succeeded…"
"Hunh?"
"You succeeded in inflicting pain, but…it isn't a fraction…it is way more than that."
Eriol rose up his head and tears glistened in his eyes,
"You aren't the only one who has lost something; I lost something too…"
"Humph, crocodile tears."
And suddenly Eriol grabbed her by the shoulders,
"Damn it, why don't you understand? Why can't you give me another chance?" He shouted.
"And why should I? Why should I give you another chance?" she spoke back in an equally high voice.
"Because I LOVE YOU, dammit! I always have and always will!" And with that he darted back as fast as his legs could carry, leaving both Tomoyo and Fay stunned.
Fay ran his hand through his hair, flustered.
A heck of a night…
"I should formally introduce myself, I'm Meilin Li and I look after, or rather used to look after the American establishments of Li corp." Meilin spoke and bowed.
"I'm Sakura Kinomoto and as you know I'm the daughter of Fujitaka Kinomoto, the head of Kinomoto tech." And Sakura too bowed.
Whew…atleast this is sorted out, Syaoran thought while he heaved a sigh of relief.
Wait a sec…
"You 'used' to look after? What do you mean?"
Meilin grinned,
"Well I asked Aunt Yelan to move me out of there. I wanted Japan so I could be close to you but she put me in China HQ, what a bother. But I managed to wriggle out a two week holiday."
"Thank god… and mom."
"What did you say?" Meilin fiercely spoke.
"Oh Meilin, I think you'd like to freshen up a bit. Let me help you with the luggage." With that Syaoran hurriedly tugged one of her bags and took Meilin to a room, leaving Sakura alone.
Fiancé…that means…Meilin is Syaoran's Fiancée…but why should I bother…? Why do I get this odd feeling…? Why does this give me the feeling that I've lost something…? Something dear…
Sakura shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts,
Oh well, guess I should freshen up too.
She turned back and headed to Syaoran's room, once inside she saw the door to the bathroom and entered it. Immediately a bilious smell reached her nose, causing her to pinch it.
Yuck! Who had puked here?
Grabbing hold of a deo-can from the dresser she let it out full blast until the smell was neutralized.
Now that's better…
Removing her dress, but keeping the gown on she moved into the bathroom.
Hmm…why do I feel that I'm missing something?
She parted the shower curtains and found clothes on the floor. She bent down to check them and saw that they were…female underclothes. Instinctively, she felt herself through her gown and…yup, she was lacking underwear.
"HOEEEE…." She shrieked.
Within seconds, two pairs of footsteps thundered into the room and the bath, there on the door stood Syaoran and Meilin. His eyes immediately went to Sakura and the article in her hand,
"Shit…"
"What is the meaning of this!" Both girls exclaimed pointing at the same thing.
"Uh…I d-don't know…maybe Sakura left her underwear when she took a shower last night…"
"And you expect me to believe that?" Meilin spoke with a scowl.
"You don't trust me…"
"I believe you…" Sakura spoke from behind.
"What?" Meilin turned her head and questioned.
"Syaoran doesn't lie, that's what I've seen and heard."
"But…"
"Huh, and you claim to know me since childhood." Now Syaoran had the upper hand.
Meilin glared and left the room.
"Whew…"
"Now Syaoran," Sakura spoke as she folded her hands around her front," tell me what happened."
"Hunh?" Syaoran was bewildered.
"Meilin has left, so please tell me what happened."
"I-I…don't know…I mean how am I supposed to know?"
"You're a pathetic liar. Now spit it out."
"But…"
"If you're my friend then you'll tell me."
*Gulp*
"I-I tried my b-best, but please don't think badly of me."
Syaoran took a deep breath while Sakura braced for the worst.
"After the party I took you to your home but found the whole place locked. I couldn't possibly take you to Tomoyo's house in this state so as the final option I brought you here. You were hardly capable of walking and soon as we entered the room, you ran for the bathroom, puked on the floor and landed on your own vomit"
"EWWW!" Sakura exclaimed in disgust.
"So I had to pick you up, clean the floor and," Syaoran paused and Sakura noticed his face going a bit red," took your clothes to wash."
"WHAT!"
"It was only your dress. I took it and put it in the washer while I left you under the running shower. But even the cold water couldn't bring you back to your senses and you just sat on the floor with water pouring on you. So I *gulp* had to pick you up and tried giving a bath, but ended up soaking wet as a result of which I *gulp* had to remove my clothes too."
Sakura was hoping that she might have come to her senses at that time. But…
"By now you were more awake and looked a bit better, so I left you to take a bath yourself. But you caught my hand and pulled me in.*Gulp* A-And then you whispered that you always take a bath without any clothes on a-and then *gulp* you began to….."
NOOOO…please no…
*DING* *DONG*
My Savior! I don't care who it is but I'll give them a kiss…err I think a simple thank you would suffice.
So getting a perfect excuse he slipped out and hurried to the main door.
"Hey wait…" Sakura shouted from behind but he was determined to escape. But she wasn't going to back down so she too sprinted behind him.
Gasping, he reached the door, wrenched the knob, and ran out resulting in a collision with the person outside but the person withstood the blow.
"Whoa, oh sor…Fay?"
But before Fay could speak Syaoran felt a strong push from behind, which he transferred to Fay. Now how much can a man handle? So taken aback, this time Syaoran and Fay tumbled and landed in a heap with squeals and grunts all around.
"What the…? Who was that?" Syaoran shouted and turned his head to look at the source of all this chaos which was now on his back.
"Sakura?"
"Ehehe…Sorr…"
"WILL YOU CLODS GET OFF ME! I'M GETTING BURIED HERE!" A voice beneath them shrieked.
"Whoops!" and Fay pushed both Syaoran and Sakura off him, causing Syaoran to land over her.
"SQUEEEE! GET OFF ME!" She shouted.
"Urrr…" And Syaoran rolled off her, still panting.
"You d-didn't *pant* have to shout so loud."
"I was getting *pant* crushed." Sakura too panted.
"OH MY EFFING GAWD!" The voice from before shrieked.
The two on the ground whirled their heads to look at a Tomoyo ready to pop her eyes out and a mouth-hanging Fay, who suddenly twirled and faced away.
"Ehh…Tomoyo-chan, what?" Sakura asked.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"
Syaoran pressed his hands on his ears and said,
"Hush, calm down Tomoyo. What's the matter?"
"What's the matter? You got some nerve asking that when everything is so open."
"Open?" Sakura confusedly spoke.
Syaoran tried comprehending what she meant and when he looked at Sakura, everything made sense. The famous gown was once again undone, revealing the top of Sakura's…err…you know the female anatomy, don't you? So, umm…gown partially open from front, Sakura kneeling on the ground and obviously, since she had discarded the only clothing she had, no covering below, implies that some parts below the neck were 'open' to public view. Syaoran followed Fay's method and instantly turned away.
FISH! And I'm never going to sleep in my boxers again!
Sakura was slow at catching the flow of proceedings so she stupidly blinked until Syaoran bellowed,
"SAKURA, Look under your nose!"
Under my nose…?
She looked down and Lo, behold- An unhindered view of the…arghh I can't stop myself anymore…of the top of her 'humps'.
"Gyaahhh!" She shrieked and pulled the gown around her.
Tomoyo laughed.
"Is that all that you can do, Tomoyo?" Syaoran sneered, his back to them.
Tomoyo smirked, not that he could see,
"Oh c'mon Syaoran, it's not something which you haven't seen. Actually, you must have seen the whole thing." She turned to Sakura and winked," So that's where you were and upto last night…"
"No-no-No…I swear…I was out like a light after all those drinks…And Nothing…nothing doing" Sakura retorted, though at the back of her mind Syaoran's incomplete explanation of last night's events nagged her.
Syaoran, his head now turned, shouted,
"You're as bad as Meilin, stop jumping to conclusions!"
"Meilin? Meilin is here?" Fay, who too had turned back, asked.
Promptly, her voice echoed from inside,
"Syaoooraaan, where aarre yoouuu?"
Syaoran sighed,
"I hope you got your answer." And he picked himself up.
Pulling Sakura up, Tomoyo whispered in her ears,
"Only for now, but sooner or later you'll have to spill the beans."
Sakura groaned.
Oh no…
After the usual pleasantries were exchanged, Syaoran finally went and put on some clothes and Sakura put on the only dress she had. Oh how she hated this dress, it did no good to her and only trouble came out of it. Mentally, she was quite shaken thanks to the 'incidents'. God knows what more is in store for her.
"So, what reason caused you two to grace my doorstep so early in the morning?" Syaoran asked in a fake polite tone.
"It was quite surprising…" Meilin spoke with a finger on her chin.
Tomoyo stiffened a bit while Fay searched for the words to break the news,
"Well…ah…last night…he followed…and…"
"How am I gonna make sense of that? Quit being nervous and just blab it out." Syaoran impatiently spoke.
"Okay, the thing is that Eriol had followed us after the party and now he is nowhere to be found. We-I checked out everywhere but no luck."
"Eriol followed you guys…wait a minute he didn't…"
Fay nodded,
"He finally told her…and she too told him back."
Syaoran looked at Tomoyo and noticed her change in expression, she was now stony faced.
"Tomoyo, look…"
"You already knew…" She abruptly cut him off.
"Well…yes, we did know but we didn't want any more trouble so we kept mum and at times stopped him as well."
"Does he mean it?"
He noticed that she was softening a bit.
"That is something you and only you can ascertain, but still in my opinion he does."
She just stared at a spot on the ground, lost in deep thought. Sakura got up patted her on the back, while Meilin gave a helpless look. She knew that Tomoyo and Eriol had broken up but Syaoran had never told her the real reason.
"Ah ahem…" Fay cleared his throat.
Syaoran raised his eyes.
"Shouldn't we be looking for him?"
"No need." Syaoran calmly replied.
Four pairs of astonished eyes goggled him.
"I think I know where he is."
The five stepped out of the car and looked at an old metallic gate and an arch with the words 'Zoshigaya Cemetery'. Syaoran stepped forward, now fully dressed, while the others gave each other a confused look, hunched their shoulders and followed him.
"You expect to find him in a graveyard?" Meilin questioned.
"If I know him well enough, then he will be here." Syaoran replied.
He led them through a winding way along the lines of graves, which included ones of some celebrities. It might have been broad daylight, but the eerie atmosphere did not fail to send a shiver along the troupe following Syaoran. They huddled together and keenly noticed any disturbance, ready on their toes to make a dash out at any instant.
And they almost bolted back when Syaoran suddenly stopped and exclaimed,
"I knew it!" With that he raced ahead and the group behind followed. They reached a huge white, marble tomb which had a delicately carved beautiful woman on the gravestone, her eyes were closed, hands pressed to her chest, long wavy hair and had a serene expression. Next to it lay a person, deeply asleep, his one hand holding on to the carved lady's arm and he was using his jacket as a blanket. Syaoran bent down and shook him,
"Eriol, wake up!"
Behind, the four look flabbergasted.
"He's got some serious guts to fall asleep in a graveyard." Meilin commented and the others nodded in agreement.
Eriol stirred, mumbled and finally got up, scratching his head.
"Syaoran", he spoke in disbelief," How did you know I was here?"
Syaoran smiled,
"You always remained a mommy's boy and you still are."
"Mommy's boy?" Sakura asked puzzled.
Syaoran stood up,
"You are standing in front of the grave of Emiko Hiiragizawa, Eriol's mother. And this is the place he feels the safest, next to his mother" He spoke in a solemn voice.
An incredulous look appeared on their faces but Eriol, even in such a situation, had his signature smile on. He got up and walked up to Tomoyo.
"You wanted to know why I had suddenly left that time, isn't it?" He spoke in an unusually calm tone.
Tomoyo just looked at him with wide eyes.
With a queer expression, he looked towards his mother's grave and spoke,
"The answer is right in front of you. I had to go to England to see my mother for one last time. And then…she left me…all alone…"
Nobody knew what to say in this situation, so Eriol continued,
"It was her wish to be buried back home, in Japan. So we brought her body here and…" he sobbed.
Fay placed his hand on Eriol's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Eriol had told this fact only to me and had made me promise to keep it to myself." Syaoran spoke.
Eriol looked at Tomoyo, teary eyed once again,
"Can you forgive me now?"
Tomoyo bit her lip, trapped in a mental dilemma of her own. Few seconds later she spoke,
"No…Not yet."
Eriol smiled, despite the tears,
"Thought so…"
"I can't forgive you just like that…you'll have to prove yourself."
"Anything you say…"
"Then you're my slave and you'll do what I say."
Eriol humbly bowed.
"That's a bit harsh, Tomoyo." Fay said, but she ignored.
"Oh, well then, let's head back." Syaoran declared and started moving.
They left in pairs- Tomoyo and Syaoran in front; Sakura and Meilin in the middle and Fay and Eriol in the last, sorting out their misunderstandings.
"Syaoran", Tomoyo started," I wanted to ask you this for a long time, how come your behavior with Sakura is totally different? I mean you're like a different person to her and a different person to others."
Sakura picked up her ears, highly curious and tried overhearing from behind.
"Oh, Sakura? She's like a younger sister to me. I mean at home my sisters made the word 'elder' clearly felt to me and Meilin; well…it's tough to think of her like that."
Sister...? He takes me like a little sister? Hmm…so time to show some 'sisterly' love…
Though not usually reckless, Sakura made an exception this time. She ran at full speed and leapt on to Syaoran's back, taking him by surprise.
"What the…Sakura?"
"Anything wrong with a sister showing a bit of affection?" She asked in a fake sweet voice.
Syaoran grinned,
"Pig…"
"Well, this pig wants a piggy back ride."
"Fine…"
He grabbed her from behind while she held on to his back and then Syaoran began running, Sakura on his back screaming in joy. The others just looked at them go away, gob smacked.
"What are we waiting for? Let's follow them!" And Meilin started chasing the two with the same enthusiasm.
"Hey…wait for us!"
Syaoran, with Sakura on his back reached on the sidewalk, both panting and laughing. He had never felt so relaxed and carefree. People around were looking at them, kids giggling, middle aged frowning and the elderly smiling, but they didn't care. Clutching their stomachs and leaning on each other, they laughed until tears came in their eyes.
"…Okay…alright…I'm okay…" He panted.
"That…was…fun." She spoke between laughs.
"Say that to my poor aching back", Syaoran spoke after catching his breath," You're one heavy pig!"
She pouted and lightly slapped his arm but then instantly broke out laughing.
Abruptly, Sakura stopped laughing. Something across the road drew her attention and she crossed to the other side. He saw that she was standing next to an elderly lady, speaking something,
"Do you want to cross the road, obaa-san?" She asked.
The lady, around 70, was hunched due to old age. She looked up and smiled,
"Yes dear, but these car drivers never stop and at this age it is quite tough to walk fast."
Sakura held the older lady's hand,
"Let me help you, obaa-san." And she slowly led her across the zebra crossing. Syaoran was looking at her all this time and he ran to her when she crossed the road,
"What happened, Sakura?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing. Obaa-san wanted to cross the road so I just went to help her out."
He smiled,
That was quite considerate of her…and observant. Not many people notice this or rather pretend not to notice.
The old lady smiled once again,
"Thank you very much dear." She gratefully spoke.
"Oh no-no, it was nothing." Sakura spoke back.
The old lady looked at Syaoran,
"You two make a wonderful couple. I'm sure you'll have beautiful children." And then with a smile she turned and tottered away.
"N-No…" Sakura started but the old lady didn't seem to hear her.
Sakura turned to Syaoran, who now had a wide grin on his face.
Understanding the reason of his smile she said," She just misunderstood, okay! Just a mistake!"
"Oh I don't know, I think she was right about the beautiful kids part."
Sakura stuck her tongue out but he just smirked.
"And what's up with you being full of milk of human kindness?"
"I…" Sakura started.
"Milk? What milk?" Somebody spoke from behind.
Syaoran turned around to look at a panting Meilin and a tired Tomoyo behind her.
"Oh nothing, I was just talking about Sakura's milk of h…." And the rest was obscured by the loud honking of a truck.
"Sakura's milk?" Meilin exclaimed her eyes wide and Tomoyo too had a similar expression.
"N-No…"
"What's going on?" Came Fay's voice as the remaining two caught up with them.
"Syaoran wants Sakura's milk!" Meilin spoke in an almost scandalized tone.
"What!" Fay exclaimed while Eriol sniggered,
"I'm sure he'd love to have some. Mind sharing a bit with me?"
Syaoran glared at him,
"Shut Up! Meilin, how many times do I have to tell you to stop jumping to conclusions? I was saying milk of human kindness; it's a figure of speech."
"Oh…"
"But you wouldn't have minded the other, would you?" Eriol mischievously spoke.
Syaoran's glare became intense,
"I should have left you in the graveyard and let the dead make you one among them."
Whatever Eriol tried saying back was interrupted by the ringing of Syaoran's phone and walked off a bit to receive it. After an intense talking, involving raised voices and over expressive actions, Syaoran came back,
"Guys, we have a small change in plan."
"What happened?" they asked.
"Mom just gave me a job to do, so you guys go on ahead. I'll join you late that night. Tell Yamazaki about this, okay?"
"But the other arrangements?" Meilin asked.
"Don't worry, Eriol knows it and at the hotel the ICB guys would be there to receive you."
They nodded.
"Okay, then let's head back and get our final packing done."
Everyone knows that time flies when you need it the most and Sakura got a through taste of it. Packing clothes with Tomoyo was equally horrible as trying them out and they almost missed the flight had it not been for some daredevil driving of Tomoyo's driver. Now safely seated in her seat with her seat belt on, she thanked her lucky stars and prayed that they continued to be in favor of her. The plane jolted forward as it started and began picking up speed. She looked to her side to look at Tomoyo and the others and saw that they were all engaged in something. She turned other side to look out at the gleaming lights flashing out of the window.
So here we go. On our way to step 2. Hope all goes well and we don't mess up anything or end up like last time. But this time I feel different. This time I feel that we, or atleast I will get something important. Oh how I wish that otou-san was here, he would have surely known what this feeling meant. Oh well…Nevermind. Right now, all I should think of is to clear step 2 smoothly. Yeah, I feel all pumped up, I feel Osaka calling out to me and I promise that I'll rock it!
Sakura fist pumped, drawing weird looks from the fellow passengers. But she didn't care, her mind was set, if Osaka was calling out to her she would surely let shock waves loose through the city.
Chapter 10, check! A milestone chapter for the story, I mean this is the TENTH chapter. So, as I said, this chapter was a bit longer and hope that explains the longer time gap. Also, this is the first Beta edited chapter so an equal share of the praises, if any, go to my Beta as well. Thanks for reading, hope you liked it and please do review and if you've already reviewed for the preview and the site restricts from reviewing this again, then anonymous review with your pen name is a way out (He...he...I just can't control it)
mse~