Chpater 14: Yin and Yang

This was not happening.

Sakura groaned and buried her head in her pillows, remembering the night before.

This was NOT happening.

Did he just dump her?

DID HE?

Shit, he did. Kind of.

Staring at her ceiling, Sakura fingered the bedspread she lay across. She hadn't bothered changing from her outfit from the previous night. Stormed into the room – after Touya calling her a hippo, of course – and went straight to bed.

No brushing teeth, no shower. Can you believe that?

"Hey, squirt! Phone for you!"

No answer.

"You alright in there? You hadn't been a pain in my ass for the last twenty four hours, what's up with you? Trying to break the record?"

Still no answer.

"Right. Maybe I should tell Brad Pitt – yeah, the one on the phone – that you aren't feeling well and don't feel like going out with him tonight –"

"That won't work, Touya," opening the door, her brother nearly had a heart attack at the sight of her. "I know it's not Brad Pitt."

"Well of course you know," he shot back, staring at her appearance. "What the hell is up with you?"

Yes indeed. What the hell is up with her? Rei pretty much dumped her, Syaoran's asked her to the ball, she might accept – I think this calls for a celebration.

So what's up with her appearance? Messy hair pointing in every direction, her somewhat slutty cheerleading uniform was lopsided, her usual bright emerald eyes looked drooping and dull, her pink lips curled into a slight frown.

"Oh God," Touya grabbed bother her shoulders and shook her violently like a rag doll. "You've been raped, haven't you?"

"Mmf." Somehow, she couldn't bring herself into telling him to piss off and leave her alone.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything? YOU WERE RAPED!"

"Yeah, Touya. I went out with what's-his-face last night. He's just about the first person who would have the idea of raping me," Sakura shot back sarcastically in a slow, uh… vibrating tone. She couldn't tell him to stop shaking her, either.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T –"

"OKAY OKAY, I WASN'T RAPED!"

Her frantic brother finally stopped shaking her and bent down, since he was just as tall as Syaoran.

Argh, she thought, looking at Touya. Syaoran.

"Are you mad? WHY ARE YOU BENDING DOWN LIKE THAT?"

"Sakura –" Touya started off in a serious tone, interrupted by Sakura's loud:

"No!"

"Wha – what no?"

"I won't!"

"What?"

"I won't marry you, you retard! I'M YOUR SISTER!"

"What the f – I WASN'T ASKING YOU TO MARRY ME!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU ON YOUR KNEES?"

"I WANTED TO KNOW –"

"I TOLD YOU ALREADY, I DON'T WANT TO MARRY YOU!"

Touya rose to his feet in frustration, glaring hard at his sister. Jeez. Weirdness must run in the family.

"I WASN'T PROPOSING!"

"YEAH RIGHT –"

"MAYBE YOU WERE HUNGOVER LAST NIGHT –"

"YOU KNOW I DON'T DRINK!"

"- BUT I –"

"I want my bunny." Tears filled her eyes as Sakura stomped her foot, pouting.

Touya stopped shouting and glanced at his sister. If there was a time he felt more lost, he couldn't remember it. His sister was hurting, he knew, and he couldn't do anything to make her feel better. "You don't have a bunny."

"No."

"What d'you mean by that, no?"

Tears spilled, her eyes shining. Sakura forced herself to look at her brother's concerned face and sniffed. "I want my bunnipop."

(TOMOYO'S)

Prepare yourself for another weird Tomoyo scene.

And Meilin. There's no weird scene without that girl.

"How the hell can you do that?" Meilin gazed at Tomoyo's perfect handstand. On top of two boxes. Singing … you don't need to know that.

"You practice."

"So do I, but I can't do it on cardboard boxes."

"Filled cardboard boxes." And with that, Tomoyo returned to her song. "On top of spaghetttti, all covered with cheeeeeese, I lost my poor meeeeeeatball, when somebody sneeeezed…"

As if someone wanted her to shut up (who wouldn't?) the phone rang.

Absent-mindedly, Meilin grabbed the receiver. "Cheese? I mean, hello?"

"Meilin," Touya snorted from the other end. "Hi to you too. Or rather, cheese to you too… Anyway –"

"Yeah well, what d'you have against cheese?"

"Nothing," he said quickly, knowing it was better to avoid a scene with the girl. "I just called to ask Tomoyo –"

"She's kind of busy at the moment."

There was a pause, and Touya heard just 'how' she was busy.

"It rolled off the taaaaaable, and onto the flooooooor, the last time I saaaaaw it, it rolled out of the dooooor…"

"Could you put her on?"

"No, you can ask me instead," Meilin chirped happily, stuffing some chips in her mouth.

"I, uh – "

"Shpeel," Meilin said through a mouthful of food, crumbs falling on her shirt. "Gfo ohn."

"Right. Where was Sakura yesterday?"

"Oufwthreeunteelikemeihdnit."

"It rolled into the gaaaaarden…"

"Ah. What did she do?"

"Phevurft."

"And into a buuuuuuush…"

"Look, I'm her brother, she came home last night looking like hell –"

"Sheeduznshey?"

"And then my poor meeeatball…"

"Would I be calling if she did?"

"Wutelsdehdseshey?"

"Turned into muuuuush…"

"She said she wanted her bunny."

"Shakoodoznhaffabunee."

"The mush was as taaasty…"

"I know that, I live with her!"

"Fenthenwut?"

"As tasty could beeee…"

"Said something about her bunnipop."

Two things happened all at once. Meilin jumped up suddenly and pointed her finger out, as if stating a point. "AHA!" she shrieked, after swallowing. But crumbs spilled out, anyway. Her reaction caused Tomoyo to lose her balance and fall down, yelping. Touya just held the phone away from his ear and winced at the girls' high-pitched screams.

Wait, or was that three things?

"Ow, ow, my back! My head! My legs! My precious bottom! Ow, the paaaain!"

"Tomoyo, shut –" Meilin never finished her sentence, since she choked and dropped the phone, causing a dramatic effect by clutching her throat and falling onto Tomoyo's bed, screaming, "I'm dying! I'M DYING!"

Poor, poor Touya. He just wanted to know what happened to his baby sister last night.

"At least when I die, I'm dying with my best friend!"

As suddenly as anything, Tomoyo stopped howling and sat straight up, glaring at Meilin. "Die? With you? HAH!"

They would've continued on, but honestly. Would you, in Touya's current position, want to listen to their bickering like old couples?

Maybe they should kiss and make up.

"YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE, LADIES."

Startled, Tomoyo and Meilin broke their glaring contest and turned towards the phone. Meilin suddenly jumped up and did a little jig, running around the room, laughing. "WE DID IT! WE DID IT!"

Tomoyo gave a little shriek as Meilin pulled her with her, giggling insanely. "WE DIIIIIID IT!"

"We did it? We did what? What did we do?"

"WE DID IT!"

"World peace?"

"Nope."

"End of world starvation?"

"Nope."

"Greenpeace took over?"

"Nope, not yet. SOMETHING MUCH BETTER!"

Screaming in delight, Meilin skipped happily towards the phone and tripped over a sock. She frowned at the piece of clothing, still laying on her stomach, stood up and threw it over her shoulder, which hit Tomoyo's face.

As the sock slid off, Tomoyo could only gaze at her friend in wonder, who had that silly grin plastered on her face once again.

What did they do?

"Thank you so much Touya!" Meilin chirped, the stupid grin still glued on her face. "I can't believe this is happening, eeeeee!"

Clapping her hands on her ears from the shrill scream, Tomoyo yanked the phone away from her friend's fierce grip and retreated to the other end of the room. Far, faaaar away from a lunatic like her.

"Thanks for being such a good listener, Touya, tell Saku hi from us!" After hanging up, Tomoyo turned to Meilin in frustration.

"What the hell was that about?"

Meilin smirked. "If you still can't figure it out by now… oh God. Fine. I'll fill you in – and Syaoran."

(NEXT DAY)

Syaoran doodled absent-mindedly on a spare piece of paper, not really concentrating to what the yearbook teacher was saying.

Okay, so he wasn't listening at all.

But wouldn't you too, if you just found out the girl if your dreams is attracted to you?

It didn't help that Sakura was sitting near him either, careful to sit as far away from his as possible. So, Syaoran decided to try one of his little 'experiments' again. He scooted his chair closer to hers. Horrified, Sakura scooted away. He followed her. She moved again. So did he. It went on and on until –

"Mr Li and Miss Kinomoto, do you two usually spent your free time circling your tables with chairs?"

Blinking, the two were confused. It wasn't until they realized that they had scooted the whole circumference of the circle table. Blushing madly, Sakura hid her face in her hands. Syaoran on the other hand, glared at the teacher.

"What if I told you that we did?"

He beamed back at him. "I'd say it's a great way to spend your time! I've always wanted to try it out, but my wife thinks I'm insane –"

Syaoran snorted loudly. Glaring, Sakura hissed at him, "You were the one who started the scooting-around-the-table thing!"

"I'm not forty something years old."

"Forty? I'm not forty, I'm fifty five! AND I have three beautiful children, two of which will be married within the next month –"

Ignoring the teacher's protests, the couple – or soon-to-be-couple, anyway – continued their quarreling.

"Maybe if you haven't moved that far away, I wouldn't've needed to chase you around!" Syaoran shot at her, smirking his famous cocky grin.

"Maybe if you could've just concentrated just this once, you didn't need to!"

"And maybe if you told me that Rei dumped you because you loved me, I wouldn't be gloating about all of this."

"Gloating? I fail to see what – wait. He didn't dump me!" Sakura glared hard at him, but Syaoran chose to examine his nails instead.

"Whichever way, you're not together anymore," he grinned, despite himself. "That's what matters, m'dear."

"And it's none of your business!"

Syaoran tilted his chair back a bit, gazing at her. "Oh yes it is. So do I take it that you aren't protesting about the other part?"

"What other part?"

"The part where you said you dumped Rei because you loved me!"

Sakura could only gawk at him, emerald eyes glittering in anger. "In love with you? Are you more crazy than you already were?"

"Crazy for you, yeah."

"Can't you ever be serious for once, Xiao Lang?"

And then it hit her. Like five-year-olds playing snowball fights, pelting each other while the other isn't noticing. Gazing off into space in their own thoughts, never knowing what could hit them in the future…

Ahem. Sorry, stretched that a bit far.

Anyway, that was exactly what happened to Sakura. Staring at Syaoran wide eyed, she gaped at him in horror. "You!"

"Me," was his lazy reply, still gazing at her admirably. "That's right sweetheart, you love me. I've known it all along."

"Dream on!" Sakura hissed quietly, so the teacher wouldn't hear them. "It was you!"

"Me?"

"Yes, you retard, you!"

"What did I do this time?"

"You sent me those – wait, what d'you mean by 'this time'?"

Syaoran coughed and leaned closer to her, replacing it by smiling. Again. Sakura hastily leaned back, narrowing her eyes at him. "Will you, for once, back off?"

"No. And I never will."

"You could start practicing. Like now, would be a good time."

"I don't think so."

"Syaoran –"

He cut her off. "And for this once, mind telling me why you're so afraid of denial?"

Sakura stared at him, blinking at his sudden serious tone. "Denial? I'm not afraid of denial!"

"Yeah, right."

"This is insane. Where was I? Oh yes, XIAO LANG, now I know that it was you who sent –"

"Miss Kinomoto, Mr Li, how are you two doing with the yearbook pages?"

Groaning inwardly, the couple rolled their eyes at the same time before smiling sweetly at the teacher, tense and alert from their conversation before being interrupted.

(MEILIN)

Clutching a few – okay, not a few, a LOT – bags of chips to her chest, Meilin happily skipped the way home, humming an Easter tune.

I don't know if there are any Easter tunes, but let's pretend there is, aye?

Anyway, there she was, minding her own business, dreaming of all the chips she can get when she becomes a rich chip-maker when suddenly – WHAM!

Shrieking, Meilin immediately lunged for her dropped chips, not caring that her mobile and wallet were in plain view for anyone to snatch off. "You idiot! You THIEF! YOU CHIP-THIEF! THESE ARE MINE, GO BUY SOME OF YOUR OWN –"

"Meilin?" Rei, on his backside, stared at her in disbelief, half wanting to laugh at her silliness. "You okay?"

"NO! DON'T ASK ME IF I'M OKAY SO YOU CACN COVER UP YOUR DIRTY ACT, YOU ROTTEN, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING CHIP – Oh, Rei. Hi."

It was amazing, how she could suddenly change from an angry bitch to a softie. Must be split personality. And it isn't just family. The whole of Tomoeda must have it as well.

Beaming a smile at him, she decided for some reason or another to sit down cross legged, opening a can of Pringles and started to munch on them. RIGHT THERE ON THE SIDEWALK.

And, for some other WEIRD reason, Rei followed her, only he actually had the right mind to pick up her phone and wallet and hand it back to Meilin, who was cheerfully crunching on some BBQ flavored Pringles.

"So…" clearing his throat, Rei looked at Meilin oddly.

"So, what's up?"

"Not so great," was his reply, looking sadly at the floor.

Meilin glanced at him sympathetically, watching the poor boy … uh, mending his broken heart?

"You'll get over it, trust me," she patted his shoulder, getting crumbs on his shoulder and making him look like having oversized lice.

EWWW!

"Eventually," Rei answered dully, brushing off the crumbs when she turned around. "I've never had to break up with anyone before."

"As I said, you'll get over it."

"Yeah, but have you been the one to do the honors? Either way, it still hurts."

"You'll get over it."

"Still, she's better off with Coach. I mean, Li."

Meilin shrugged, half way through her can. Shoving chips into her mouth, all she had to say to him was, "Yewlgehthovrt." Pasuing and swallowing, she hesitantly added, "You think so?"

"Trust me, damn right. We're too… similar. Her and Syaoran, they're like yin and yang. Can't talk each other without having to bite the other one's head off."

Laughing, she offered him the can. "You got that right. Chip?"

"No thanks," Rei refused, poking his own stomach. "Need to get some fat off."

Meilin could only gawk at him. "You? Soccer star, Mr. I'm-So-Hot? YOU, need a diet?"

Blushing madly, he shook his head wildly. "It's not like that! I'm not on a diet! I just – I just – don't like chips!"

"WHAAAAT?" Rei yelled out in pain as Meilin shook him by the ear, eyes glinting madly. "DARE TO SAY THAT AGAIN, MISSY? I MEAN, MISTER? SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME, AND I'LL –"

But we'll never find out what Meilin would do to Rei, the poor thing, since he managed to tackle her down. Yes, against the sidewalk.

WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM? DON'T YOU HAVE ANY FEELINGS FOR GIRLS YOU PUSH DOWN AGAINST THE PAVEMENT FLOOR YOU –?

"Right," Rei said calmly, "this is how it's going to go. You're going to get over this crazy obsession with BBQ Pringles, go on a diet – I mean, not like you need one – and just… act… normal. For once. Okay?"

"…" Staring at him in disbelief, Meilin merely sent him the famous 'Li' glare. It had no affect on him though, having had it from Syaoran quite a few times himself.

Still pinning her arms down, Rei broke into a grin. "Yin and yang, eh?"

(MEANWHILE)

"I can't believe this. DON'T touch her, do you understand?"

Syaoran turned to Touya and answered back for the sixth time, "Perfectly."

I know what you're thinking. Syaoran and Touya out of all people, having a 'civilized' conversation?

"YOU BETTER!"

Argument, then. But do you honestly believe that those two would even TALK to each other without some other person's assistance? Like Tomoyo, for instance. She dragged Syaoran all the way to Sakura's house, only to find that her best friend wasn't there, and was greeted by the sight of a rather furious looking, overprotective brother. Namely, Touya.

Now they stood at the porch, Touya refusing to let 'the stupid gaki' into the house. However, he did invite Tomoyo to sit on an upturned flowerpot, which she declined kindly.

He's TRYING. He's being nice to his sister's best friend, but not to his sister's soon-to-be boyfriend, soon-to-be husband, his soon-to-be brother-in-law –

Oh dear. Did I say too much?

"But you should know!" Tomoyo wailed, gripping the front of Touya's shirt and shaking him violently for a little pint like her. "You're her brother, for God's sake!"

"Just because I'm her brother doesn't mean I know every single place she's been at," Touya shot back, his voice vibrating from the shakes. At this he shot a glare at Syaoran, who ignored him. "I don't see why YOU should care," he added. "If it weren't for you, you little brat –"

At this, Tomoyo's head shot up, and shook him once more. "If it weren't for Syaoran? REALLY? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THIS EARLIER?"

Instead of answering, Touya kept on glaring daggers at the amber-eyed guy, who coolly returned the gesture. "It's all your fault! If you lay – no wait, LAID a finger on her in the past, I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS –"

"You can't even handle a little shaking," Syaoran smirked, leaning against the post, clearly enjoying the scene. "What makes you think you could do that?"

Tomoyo huffed and immediately stopped, blushing slightly. "Where. Is. SAKURA?"

"I'm just as concerned for her as you are! Why don't you CHILL –"

"Sakura was right," she sighed dramatically, sitting on the flowerpot. "Very right."

Syaoran shot a curious glance at her. "Right about what?"

"Touya here," she waved at the older guy, "has a brain the size of a toothpaste."

Touya glared at her, and folded his arms, swaying on the spot. Damn, this girl's got some power in her. Poor Eriol. "Okay, where's that kaijuu? I'm going to find her and kill her myself."

"To hell you aren't," Syaoran snarled. "I'm not letting you touch my gi – I mean, touch her if it's the last thing I do."

Pretending to crouch down so he could come in eye-level with Syaoran, Touya looked suspiciously at him. "Sakura's your 'guh'? Now, what's a 'guh'?"

"Nothing," Tomoyo covered for him quickly, shooting Syaoran a warning, fierce look. "He means… uh, he means gum loving, sweet lilttle – little cutie!"

As Touya looked at her weirdly, Syaoran rolled his eyes. Why bother escaping from the truth?

… The future truth. The would-be truth. The give-me-a-few-hours-to-work-on-it truth. Same thing.

"No, she's not my gum loving, sweet little cutie, even though she is," Syaoran answered drily. "My girlfriend. Got it?"

"Your GIRLFRIEND? Since when is Sakura crazy enough to make you her BOYFRIEND? Is she insane?"

"Looks like she had a good influence," Syaoran retorted, smirking as Touya stopped swaying immediately and glared hard at the kid.

Tomoyo chuckled nervously as the tension grew between them. She shifted on her pot, looking back and forth, finally breaking the silence by going, "So… how was your day today, Touya?"

"It WENT well. Until this slimy bastard turned up on my doorstep, that is."

"You don't have a doorstep. Only a porch. Now, tell me where the hell Sakura is."

Touya narrowed his eyes at Syaoran once more, getting more and more pissed off by the second. "Are you deaf? I've told you seven times, I DON'T KNOW!"

"You," Syaoran snarled, "are no help at all."

"As you've said for the past few days a million times!" he snapped back, face red. "If you lay ONE FINGER ON MY –"

"Precious sister? I got it. Been there, done that."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"SHE'S SIXTEEN, TOUYA! OLD ENOUGH TO MAKE HER OWN DECIISONS ON WHO TO GO OUT WITH, YOU DON'T NEED TO –"

"OLD ENOUGH TO DECIDE ON WHO'S MATURE AND WHO'S NOT!"

"I'M MATURE!"

"HAHAHA, YEAH, NOW THAT'S FUNNY –"

"LIKE YOU ARE?"

"DAMN RIGHT I AM, YOU STUPID LITTLE … LITTLE TEDDY BEAR!"

"… you were saying?"

"TEDDY BEAR!" Touya howled, waving his arms around frantically. "You act all macho and male, but inside, you're just a little weakling who'll hurt my precious baby sister once you two say 'I do'. Who the hell made up such two words, I'd –"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there," Syaoran grinned in spite of himself, shaking his head. "What's this thing about 'I do'?"

Realizing what he said, Touya turned beet red let out a snarl. "NOTHING!"

"Uh, you guys –" Tomoyo started to interrupt.

What, you thought I left her out? NEVER!

Syaoran held a hand up to her, stopping her mid-sentence. "Don't. I'm just getting to the good part. So, Touya…" he smiled stupidly at him again, "… what was that all about?"

"Oh Lord, there she is, hide, HIDE! Don't you dare –"

"Touya? Syaoran, what are you doing here?"

A/N: Wow. I've finally updated, eh? Sorry about that!

I'd like some reviews please. ;D And how much you missed me and all that shiz. 8)

TrueGem