Multiple Personalities

Chapter 10

Smoker

I'm sorry this took forever ... but I finished my Warriors fic so now I only have three to update ... and I wanted this chapter to be good so I thought it through a bit, just for you guys. ;) I hope you like it ... :D

**UPDATE** LOLOL So the math part in this was wrong originally, I tried to sound smart and used some next math I remembered from grade eight, but it ended up being wrong. XD SORRY! I fixed it. God I'm a dumbass. Hopefully I got the answer right this time. :P

"Seriously, you are so embarrassing sometimes," I moaned, shaking my head then brushing strands of hair away from my face. "No, all the time."

Syaoran swallowed. He looked a little embarrassed too; his cheeks were tinted pink. "It's not my fault that I have multiple personalities, is it?" he hissed. He spoke in a low voice so no one would hear him.

I glared at him. "But you don't have to go switching every time something—or someone, in this case—surprises you!"

He looked at me. If his ego and/or his pride weren't smothering me, I swear I could've seen pleading and plain embarrassment in his dark eyes. "But that's exactly what makes me switch! I can't help it, okay!"

I pursed my lips at him, and then a giggle escaped my lips. He eyed me weirdly. "What?"

I put my hand to my mouth to try and stop the giggles. I failed. "That—that poor old lady! She might've had a heart attack, for God's sake!"

Syaoran looked away, a smirk tugging at his own lips. "I think she just shut down after . . . ." He trailed off, biting his lip to stop his laughter.

My own laughing got louder, and I tried to stop before someone looked over and thought I was crazy. But I couldn't—the expression on that old lady's face!

Here's the story—we were walking to school normally, when a little old lady with a frightening face of wrinkles popped up in front of Syaoran and commented on his muscular arms. Syaoran yelled in alarm and his eyes went blank, then he came back with dreamy, determined eyes.

"Did you know," he said loudly, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into him, "that we are going to get married?"

The old lady was dumbfounded.

"That's right," he continued. "Gosh, I love her so much! Our parents arranged our marriage, see, but I wasn't worried because I knew that my mother would pick the perfect woman for me, and she did! She picked Sakura! I already know what our wedding's going to look like and who's going to be there."

I groaned loudly, trying to hide my face from the woman, whose mouth was hanging open slightly in shock, revealing a missing tooth. She gasped in alarm when Syaoran swung his arms around her and squeezed her hard.

"You can come too!" he exclaimed. "You—you can be the godmother of our children!"

My face had flushed a deep crimson by this point. "Syaoran!" I spat, and reached out. My fingers lightly brushed his back as I went to grab his arm. I felt the muscle underneath, and they suddenly tensed. When I grabbed his arm, they tensed even more, and he whipped around suddenly, the dreamy gaze gone and his strong cheek bones red. He gripped my hand and quickly tugged me away. I glanced once more at the lady, staring at the ground in shock.

I said, between bursts of laughter, "God, you're an idiot!"

He grinned. "Shut up, woman." He ran his fingers through his hair. I noticed how they didn't get stuck in any tangles, and remembered how soft his hair was from when I had touched it when he was sick. "Let's just hope we don't run into her again. Ever."

I nodded in agreement, and he looked over at something.

"Isn't that your friend?" he asked, nodding his head to the left. I followed his gaze and saw Harumi.

"Yes. That's Harumi. Don't you remember?"

He shrugged. "I guess." I rolled my eyes, and he smiled at me, flicking his head so his hair fell in front of his eyes. It felt like a dare, and I took it. I reached up and moved it slowly back into its proper place. My eyes locked with his, and time seemed to slow down. His amber gaze was intense, and I felt like he could see into me. But I only saw the flecks of gold in his irises, shining because of the morning light. He opened his mouth slowly as if to say something, then closed it and smirked. He touched the back of my hand with his, sending a jolt of electricity into my fingers, and gingerly pulled it away from his hair.

I felt like I was in a dream as he gripped my hand. But as soon as he let go, I jolted back to reality and felt my face instantly flushed. His cheeks were sprinkled with red as well. To avoid making eye contact with him, I looked over to the side and noticed that Harumi had been staring. When she realized that I'd seen her she quickly looked away. Her expression confused me. What word should I use to describe it . . . stormy?

I was just about to call her over when Syaoran, "Hey, Harumi-chan."

She immediately looked over and smiled at him before running over to join us. She looked at me and her smile suddenly seemed fake. But as soon as her gaze returned to Syaoran, it seemed real again. A frown crept onto my face. What was wrong with her . . . ?

A group of girls called Syaoran's name. He looked over and smiled, which produced some giggles from the group. I glanced past Harumi and saw that they were older than us.

"Well, I'll see you later, Harumi-chan, Sakura," he said with a wink at me, and then he jogged over to the girls.

For some reason, my stomach twisted while I watched him act all flirty with them.

"Sakura-chan . . . ." Harumi's voice brought my attention back to her.

"Yeah?"

She was frowning at me. "What was that with Syaoran-kun just now?"

I blinked. "What . . . oh, I moved his hair out of the way, that's all . . . he knows I hate it when I can't see his face—" I blushed. "—er, can't see the face . . . of whomever I'm talking to . . . and he did it on purpose."

She looked at me with icy eyes. "Fine."

I blinked again. "Harumi-chan . . .?"

She blinked and then smiled at me again as if nothing had happened. She grasped my hand. "Class is gonna start soon, Sakura-chan, we should go."

My mouth hung open as she tugged me along. "Uh, okay . . ."

In math, I stared at nothing, pondering Harumi's actions from earlier. She had given me the coldest look, and then suddenly it melted away and she was happy again. Was it because she likes Syaoran and she thought there was something between us? But . . . she knows I don't like Syaoran. We weren't willingly betrothed.

I ran my fingers through my hair with a frustrated sigh. She was so complicated.

Suddenly, the now familiar jolt of electricity shot through my fingers. My head snapped to the side, and I saw Syaoran leaning toward me slightly, his fingertips gently brushing my hand. I opened my mouth to ask what he was doing but he cut me off.

"A review question," he whispered quickly. "Five to the power of five. Go!"

I looked up and realized for the first time that the teacher was awaiting my answer. I stumbled on the words at first, but I got a grasp on it and told him the answer as if I'd been listening the whole time. "Five to the power of five is five times five times five times five times five, therefore it's three thousand one hundred twenty five." My voice even sounded confident.

The teacher hesitated, and then nodded, apparently contented, and turned back to the board.

I looked over at Syaoran and flashed him a little smile. "Thanks for that."

His cheek rested against his palm as his eyes shimmered with amusement. "No problem. You were completely spaced out, I figured my touch would get you going again."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay." Note to self—never admit to him that that was true.

I picked up my pencil, as if to write a note, and then shrugged and threw it down again. It was only review, anyway . . .

Syaoran's pocket started vibrating and he pulled out his cell. As he read the message, a shadow fell over his face.

"Uhm . . . I can't walk home with you today," he said. "Make sure you don't get your ass kidnapped again."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Focus on your education, woman. It's very lax."

I shivered. It wasn't because I was cold, but it was because I felt like someone was watching me. Like, intensely. With intense hatred and iciness. I glanced around me, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to me. It made me uneasy, but I shrugged it off and started on my walk home.

I half expected a black van to pull up and kidnap me again, especially after that feeling that someone was glowering at me from behind.

I nearly leapt out of my skin when my cell buzzed. I exhaled deeply before answering. Surprisingly, it was Wei.

"Hello, Miss Sakura. Master Syaoran informed me that you would be walking home today without accompaniment. So I thought I would call to take your mind off things," he explained. "Especially since I want to tell you about Shanyuan."

"Thank you, Wei," I replied. "I didn't know Syaoran could think so far ahead."

Wei chuckled faintly. "Maybe just for you, Miss Sakura."

I snorted, but a warm feeling came to stomach at the thought.

"Anyway, please tell me about Shanyuan," I said.

Wei cleared his throat. "Well, Xie Shanyuan used to work for the Li Corporation. He was very high in ranking and Master Li trusted him with many things. But when the chance arose for him to own a company of his own he took it and left the Lis. A few years later he was near bankruptcy and went to Master Li for help, hoping they could merge or whatnot to save his company. Master Li refused and claimed to have forgotten who Shanyuan was—which could not have been true—and Xie Shanyuan went bankrupt."

I blinked, my mouth open, searching for words but ending up speechless.

"In the years following that," Wei went on, "Shanyuan attacked the company in multiple ways. Trashing them in the media, searching for scandals within the group, threats, and so on. Eventually he started going after Syaoran. Until it got so serious that he kidnapped you and . . . well, you know what happens after that."

I nodded, forgetting that Wei couldn't see me. I pondered it for a moment. "Well . . . then didn't . . . Li-san bring it upon himself when he shut Shanyuan out like that?"

Wei was silent for a moment. "I suppose . . . you're right. Master Li can be quite ruthless at times."

I thought maybe I was just a bit it too giddy, but I couldn't help myself around Tomoyo. She just radiated beauty and elegance and I felt like a garden gnome kicked in the dirt next to her. She had invited me to the movies shortly after I'd gotten home. I quickly forgot about Shanyuan and said yes.

She was a lot of fun to be around. During the movie, we kept whispering comments to each other and giggling uncontrollably until near the end when someone finally kicked our chairs and hissed 'shh' to us.

Now I was walking home, passing the school. I would have just passed on by it except I heard a noise. I looked over cautiously and heard voices when I listened closely. I crept slowly passed the gates onto the school grounds and glanced around. There was a large cement shed, shaped like a box. It was close to the school and made a sort of alleyway. I could tell the voices were coming from there.

I walked slowly over to it, taking each step carefully, hoping they wouldn't echo around me. I made it around the side without being seen or heard and took a deep breath before poking my head around the side to see who it was.

The first guy I saw was some shirtless muscle-head with a shaved head and tattoos all over his body. I noticed a unicorn on his right shoulder blade and wondered if he thought that was manly. There was another guy in a baggy shirt and baggy pants pulled three quarters down his ass; his bright blue boxers hung out. He wore a du rag with a hat placed lightly on top. The perfect gangstas. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

There were two more figures, one crumpled on the ground. Blood trickled from his nose and I figured that was the noise I'd heard. The last guy was wearing a black muscle shirt that fit him well, torn jeans and fingerless gloves. A cigarette hanging from his mouth, it was none other than Syaoran.

I almost shouted something like, "Syaoran! You smoke!" but stopped myself before that wannabe gangster turned around and popped me with a gun. I decided I would ask him about it later and began to creep away. I almost made it, too, but I heard a shout as I passed by the other end of the alley to leave again.

I looked behind me. Syaoran had turned too. His strangely hard eyes widened when he saw me, then pulled into a frown. "Shit!" he hissed, before shoving the meat head and bolting out of the alley. He grabbed my elbow and dragged me along with him. We stopped a motorcycle on the street, and Syaoran threw me onto the back and turned it on. The guy must have left the key in the ignition. "Hold on to my waist!" he shouted to me, and I did, hesitantly. When it started moving, I quickly gripped harder, and buried my face in his back before my skin got blown off my face. I was acutely aware of his abs tensing as he leaned forward.

He drove around for a while and then left the bike at some random street corner. He roughly pulled me off and we started running again, down some streets and around some corners until we were back at our house.

We stood in front, panting. Syaoran had lost his cigarette somewhere along the way, and apparently he wanted another one. He stood up straight and drew another one from his pocket, and lit it up. He inhaled and exhaled calmly, blowing smoke in my face accidentally, and leaned coolly against the wall of the house.

I stared at him incredulously. His eyes moved to mine, and I was still surprised at how hard and cold they looked. He took the smoke out of his mouth.

"So how did you end up there?" he asked calmly.

I blinked, and had my mouth open for a moment before I spoke. "I—I was walking home from the movies . . . and I heard a noise. So . . . I followed it."

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Then he opened them and stared at me again, piercing me with icy amber.

"Are you an idiot?" he asked seriously.

"Why yes, I'm quite the retard," I replied, my anger rising. "What—"

"Who knows what those guys would've done to you," he said.

"I bet you do," I said, levelling my gaze with him. He glared back, and then stepped forward so I was looking up at him.

"Yes, I do," he muttered icily. "And it's not pretty."

I swallowed at his look. He looked like a hardened jail inmate, not the innocent teenager he'd been before.

He raised his cigarette to his lips again. I clenched my teeth. "Get that cancer stick out of your mouth."

He blinked calmly, and then blew out slowly and deliberately into my face. I coughed, and snatched at the cigarette. He caught my hand before it got to him.

"You smell like alcohol," I said.

He cocked his head to the side. "I'm not a little boy."

"You're fifteen."

"And what about your excursion with the booze? You're fifteen too."

"Is this what you meant about having experience with it? How you weren't so drunk then."

He nodded slowly.

I looked down. "I never took you for a smoker."

He let go of my hand and spat the cigarette onto the ground. He stepped it out. "I'm the only one that likes it." He turned and swept away into the house.

I stood on the porch, staring at the ground in wonder. I'd never pictured Syaoran's other personality to be . . . that. Or . . . like that.

I breathed in and out deeply before following him into the house.

I hope you liked it. :P Sorry it wasn't too long, but I was dragging the update on for way too long and I wanted to get it to you guys. So what do you think of Syaoran's final personality? Was it what you were expecting? :D Tell me in a review! Review, review!