Oddities in Oak Trees
-Eleven-
Syaoran slumped back in his chair. Today would be another day. He watched, uninterested, as one of the members of the poetry guild adjusted his glasses and proceeded to talk about the club's events for the rest of the school year.
He didn't care for it. He didn't care for it at all. He wanted to flash his middle finger in front of everyone while walking out of the room. He desperately needed to be rude at the moment. After all, his world just began crumbling down for eight days.
Everything was painful to do.
Even waking up was agonizing. The saying that all good things must come to an end was right after all.
He stretched his legs before him, tapping his feet in the air as he did so. Numerous thoughts ran through his mind, but they all would end with one person. He wanted to not care for her anymore, but he couldn't trick himself into doing so. Takashi wasn't helping since he kept on prodding Syaoran to call Sakura all week long, even during weekends.
"…And that's about it. Thank you, everyone, for attending." The bespectacled organization member said. "I expect everyone to contribute to each meeting from here on out. Especially us seniors, since graduation is just around the corner." His lisp was very prominent. "Well then, this meeting is adjourned."
The boy with amber eyes stood from his seat. He was relieved that the assembly was over, but he wasn't looking forward to seeing his cousin or his mother at home.
"The café…" he thought about going for the past eight days, hopeful to catch even a glimpse of her. He decided to go. If he would see her there, then perhaps it would be right for it to happen.
He got on his bicycle, gripping the handles firmly. It's now or never, silly beaver. And then he rode up to the street leading to the coffee shop he had grown to make a part of his routine.
He stopped pedaling as soon as he saw her inside the café. He entered the said place hesitantly.
Ambling cautiously towards Sakura, he was sheepish as soon as she realized he was there, a befuddled look on her face.
"Is it okay if I…sit with you?" he asked, afraid that she might say no.
"…Sure."
"Th-Thanks."
"…You're welcome."
"…Yes…'
"So… how have you been?" she couldn't look at him straight in the eye. The kiss between Syaoran and his supposed bride-to-be was still clear in her mind.
"I've… been better."
"Oh." She paused for a while before continuing, "How is your fiancé?"
"You mean Meiling? She's still the same." he furrowed his eyebrows at the way Sakura addressed her, thinking it was some joke. It didn't enter his mind that Sakura still didn't know that they were actually cousins. "…How about you? How have you been?"
"I've been a little confused lately."
He searched her expression to see if she was fine with continuing their conversation. He watched as she let her gaze drop to her lap. "Confused?"
She sighed before giving him a strained smile. "It seems like the boy I like has grown tired of me and likes someone new."
He let his eyes' focus shift from left to right, thinking about what she said deeply. Did she mean Yukito? She hadn't mentioned him ever since she returned the cookies the Chinese lad thought were the ones he gave her to him. Confirming in his mind that it was probably Yukito she was talking about, he continued, "Yukito… Yukito can't be the only boy you'd like for the rest of your life. You…"
"I wasn't talking about him." She then had the courage to stare directly at Syaoran before getting up from her seat. "I should go." She looked upset as she tried to walk away.
"Please wait…!" he attempted to reach out and stop her but only got a hold of her bag. He consequently yanked it by accident, causing the bag's contents to fall out. "S-sorry…!"
His eyes widened as it dawned upon him what lay before him.
Baby bottles and milk formulas were strewn about. There was also a small notebook that looked like it was used to record a baby's growth. Sakura immediately picked the things up, unfazed. "It's alright." She was used to clumsiness happening. What she wasn't used to was the idea that that would probably be the last time she'd see the odd boy.
He stood there for a while, his mouth agape. The items in the bag definitely confirmed that Sakura had a child.
Syaoran slowly knelt down to help her pick up the scattered objects, his hands slightly shaky. "Sorry… I'm sorry…" he apologized again and again before he let her leave, an ache in his heart he thought would never cease ominously present as he fell back on one of the chairs in the café. He was perplexed with Sakura's actions.
The fact that she steadily just got the items that were clearly for her kid in front of him was a mystery. The way she didn't look bothered at all about revealing that important piece of truth to him confounded him to no end.
Should he go to her? He wasn't the type of person who let things just stay the way they were and not understand the motives behind them. That was one of the reasons his bullying got worse, when he confronted his classmates about it. They said that they weren't the ones who did the unpleasant acts to him. Takashi believed them; he didn't.
Perhaps his best friend was right; perhaps his biggest fault was that he jumped into conclusions too often. Maybe it was time he gave Sakura the benefit of the doubt.
He climbed aboard his vehicle (which was just his usual bicycle, again) before proceeding to take the short route towards her house. All that he knew at the moment was that he still liked her. And that was enough.
"Who are you?" A very tall man with dark hair asked, cradling a sleeping young boy in his arms. It wasn't a very pleasant greeting, but Syaoran didn't notice the edge to his voice.
"I'm Li Syaoran. Umm… is Sakura around?" he gawked at the bigger guy, wondering who he is.
"What's your business with her?" He clearly disliked the boy. He could tell by looking at him that he wasn't any good for his sister. He was quite the judgmental person. Touya's glare intensified even more as he heard his sister's visitor's mobile ring from his pocket.
Syaoran excused himself as he looked at the screen of his phone. It was Meiling. "Not again…" he groaned as she had been calling him the whole day.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Touya asked quietly as he felt Hiro stir in his sleep. "Might be some chick."
Syaoran glanced at the older male before disregarding the call. "It's no one important."
There was an uneasy moment of silence before Touya sighed and finally invited the boy inside. He wouldn't be offering him any tea, that's for certain. He wasn't a welcome guest after all. No baby sister of his was getting suitors this early, and that he made sure of all the time. However, it was the first time he had met a boy who had a crush on Sakura who didn't bail upon seeing him. Touya was intimidating, and he was proud of that.
It was strange that Syaoran was more afraid of Sakura than her brother.
"Sit." He nodded towards the general direction of the Kinomoto living room, as his arms and hands were clearly busy.
"Thank you."
Loud footsteps could be heard as someone audibly came down the stairs in-between the dining area and the living room. The house was considerably smaller than Syaoran's home, but he decided he already liked the place. It reminded him of Sakura because of its pleasant simplicity.
"Who was at the door?"
Syaoran froze at the sound of the voice. It was undeniably Sakura's.
"Geez, kid. Ever heard of keeping it down? You always make it a point to stomp your way everywhere."
"You're one to talk with those monster-feet of yours." She sounded like she was used to the older man's insults. "Anyway, do we have a guest?" she made her way to the area Syaoran was in. He looked up to see her and she appeared a bit surprised that he was there. "Hi..."
"H-hello…" Syaoran mumbled, unsure if it was the right decision to have had come to her house then.
There was an awkward pause as they looked uneasily at each other, unsure of what to do next.
"Ma! Ma!" Hiro called out as he raised his arms towards Sakura.
"Here you go," Touya handed the kid to Sakura before glancing at Syaoran. "You have a problem with kids, kid?" he was referring to the expression the peculiar lad had on at the moment.
"You… you two make a lovely couple."
Sakura looked questioningly at Syaoran. "You… two? You mean us?" she pointed to herself then to Touya.
"…Yes." Syaoran nodded, puzzled at her reaction.
"Hey, kid, don't say stupid things around Hiro." Touya poked Syaoran's forehead menacingly.
"…Stupid… things?" The younger of the two men was completely baffled. What was going on? Was he concluding things on his own again?
Sakura stuck out her tongue, disgusted. "Gross… that would just be plain wrong."
"You've got a sick mind," Touya placed both hands on his hips as he glowered at Syaoran, who was still immune to his threatening stance.
The Chinese boy wrinkled his eyebrows together. "What's so wrong about what I said?"
There was a moment's pause before Sakura started laughing her head off. "Everything!"
"…Every… thing?"
"You're one dumb kid." Touya proceeded to saunter towards Sakura, whacking her at the back of her head to stop her from howling with glee. "And you, stop guffawing! You know you'd be all over me if we weren't related."
"Get over yourself!"
Syaoran shifted his focus from Sakura to Touya and then back again. She was completely different around the guy. "You said 'related'?"
"We're siblings." Sakura confirmed, her chuckling dying down.
"Oh..." he processed this before widening his eyes with comprehension. "Oh!"
"Do you want to talk to me about something?" Sakura asked as her brother excused himself with the sniffling Hiro, who complained that he was still sleepy.
"Oh… uh… ah! Yes. Yes, I do."
She smiled at him before gesturing towards the door leading to their backyard. "Touya won't be interrupting us there. He hates that area."
"Oh… why's that?"
"…Something to do with his uncontrollable bladder when he was six in front of his crush."
He nodded as a response, following Sakura out the door.
"Well, here we are. What did you want to talk about?"
"Umm…" he paused before quickly saying, "I thought that was your child."
She blinked a few times before swiveling around to face Syaoran, who was looking at his snow boots. "My…child?" Her green eyes lit up with understanding after a time. "You mean Hiro?"
Syaoran bowed his head. "Y-yeah… sorry about that."
"Hmm… that would have been weird if that were true."
"I'm glad it isn't." he exhaled with relief.
The silence between the two was almost deafening as each one had the chance to finally explain things but had no will to do so. Sakura gazed at the night sky as Syaoran played with his feet. She then looked at him sideways. "Is… is there anything else you want to say?"
"Well… that was about it…"
"Oh." She slightly pouted as she pondered on whether she should inquire about the kiss between Syaoran and Meiling or not. She peeked at her wrist watch before speaking. "Your… fiancé might be looking for you at this hour."
"You mean Meiling?" he asked, perturbed. "I don't know why you would also call her my fiancé, but she's just my cousin so I can't help but be bothered by you calling her that." He peered at Sakura before continuing, "Anyway, she'll be fine. She doesn't know her way around Tokyo so she has no choice but to stay at home, where she's safe." And out of sight. Meiling pestered and flirted with him the whole week. He couldn't help but take any chance he got to be apart from her.
"Your… cousin? …Well, now I'm the one who feels silly." She giggled as she crossed her arms to keep herself warm. She was very much comforted by the idea that he wasn't interested in Meiling after all. "But then again, why did you kiss her the last time we were at the coffee shop?"
Syaoran turned red at the query. "Um… that... that was just… she… she is kind of stuck with the idea that we're engaged, since... well, since I promised her I'd marry her when we were kids…" he paused for a while before clarifying things, "I mean, it was so she'd get off my back… figuratively, of course."
"Of course…" Sakura chuckled at his being uncomfortable. "I understand."
"Um… well then… bye…" he was hesitant as he started to walk away.
"Wait! Syaoran…"
"Y-yes?" he instantly turned around, excited that she had stopped him from leaving. It was much too early in the night, anyway.
"Could you… maybe… stay for a while…?"
He smiled at her, his demeanor full of eagerness. "Y-yes, I'll stay!"
She grinned back at him, causing him to blush a tremendous shade of red. He never could be immune to her charms. Sakura shivered involuntarily as it got cooler.
"Uh…! A-are you cold?"
She nodded at the question, "A little… we should probably go back in, where it's warmer."
"N-no, let's stay!" He approached her with a few quick steps as he reached out to slowly hug her, uncertain of himself. She could feel the jumps of his heartbeat through his jacket as they embraced. She missed this… she missed him. So much.
She hoped they could last forever that way.
His smile made her feel warmth; his warmth would engulf her and linger on for the moment. They sensed each other's breathing, and wished that that very second could be stretched to eternity.
He whispered something inaudible as he held her. It didn't matter what the words were, they were just there for them to hear but not to comprehend. Her name wouldn't be something he would just recall endlessly, it was now something he could say. It would ceaselessly remain on his lips, just as it always has ever since he first saw her.
Was this 'love'?
The one word that made men travel to the far ends of the earth to prove, the one word that held all things beautiful, the one word that could give birth to countless verses of exquisiteness.
The one word he felt at the moment.
And then, he opened his eyes upon realizing something.
"…The boy that you mentioned you liked in the café…"
"Yes; what about him?"
"Is… is he by any chance... me?"
Sakura loosened her grip on the lad as she looked up to him, a pretty frown on her face. "You… haven't figured it out yet?"
He shook his head at the query.
She blinked a few times, the way she would always do. "Of course he's you."
He studied her expression to see if she was lying. Sakura was about to let go of him before he tightened their embrace, his face buried in her shoulder. "I'm sorry… it's just… I'm so happy. Is…is it true? Do you… do you really like me?" He couldn't let himself see her expression anymore, afraid that he might just break if he did so.
She simply nodded. But that was enough for him to feel the heat make its way up his cheeks again. Warmth could be sensed as the back of his eyes stung.
Is this 'love'?
He knew it was, and he would, could do anything for her to feel the way he did. "That…" he cleared his throat to stop himself from choking out loud, "you can't take that back, okay?"
She smiled, but he couldn't have seen this as his head was still bowed, his face still resting on her shoulder. "I won't take it back. I like you."
He held her tighter and she felt that she could melt anytime soon in his arms. That instant was enough for her to know she could love him with enough while. "Thank you." It didn't need to be repeated, but he said it again, "Thank you."
He rode his bicycle on the way home, beaming at the world. "She likes me…" he whispered to himself before whistling a happy tune from his imagination. He then halted his steering as he comes across a park; the park where he first kissed her by accident.
Dropping his bicycle suddenly, he runs across the said place. Syaoran spots the monkey bars in the middle of the area. It was perfect. Climbing to the top, he let the cold of the wind blow gently on his face.
He calmly sits at its very peak, contemplating about what just transpired between him and Sakura. "She likes me…" he quietly said yet again to no one in particular.
It was the first time he ever had feelings for someone else, and that person actually liked him back.
He let that sink in for a while, but that would prove to be for only a second as he started cheering at the top of his lungs, hollering the same line he just whispered to nobody, "She likes me! She likes me!" he wanted the world to know; he wanted the world to dance to his words. "She…likes…me!" he flailed his arms in the air.
"Quiet down, young man!" an elderly lady called out, letting her cane support her as she ambled by. "Kids these days…"
Syaoran did as he was told, still grinning widely at the world. Perhaps… perhaps fate loved him back, too.
