The two had chosen to go on a date-they went pretty much anywhere they felt like, though mostly romantic places for couples, though there was the odd place here and there. They were sitting down by a river feeding the swans when Sakura leant a little too far forward and fell into the water. Unfortunately it wasn't overly warm that day, so when she resurfaced and got out of the water she was freezing cold. Syaoran rushed to her side, half laughing but mostly worried about her.
"Are you alright? Luckily it's not a long fall." He said as he placed his coat around her shoulders.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me." She smiled even though her teeth were chattering.
"The sun should be able to dry you off unless you want to go home?" he suggested.
"I don't want to go home-I'm having fun." She replied.
"Well alright…" He murmured. He would have preferred her to get into something dry and be warm, but she honestly couldn't care about her clothes being wet-all she wanted was to enjoy her time being by his side.
They sat in the warm sun for a while and waited for Sakura's clothes to be dry enough that they could go somewhere else-she'd take them off later anyway.
"It's such a beautiful day…" Sakura murmured as she shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun as she looked to the sky.
"It is, but it's not as beautiful as you." Syaoran smiled.
"You always say those sorts of things." She laughed, leaning her head against his shoulder.
"Because it's true." He smiled back, leaning in to kiss her. She kissed him back, glad that there weren't many people around. "Where would you like to go, darling?" he asked.
"Well…there's a new chocolate café that just opened up in the shopping district…" She smiled.
"Well then, shall we go there then?" He smiled.
"Yay!" Sakura said gleefully.
Sakura looked at her pancakes with much delight; there were two on the plate with cooked strawberries covered in chocolate fudge sauce poured over them.
"Are you going to be able to eat all of that?" Syaoran asked with his eyebrow raised.
"Hell yes." Sakura replied, beginning to devour the dessert.
"Just don't make yourself sick…" Syaoran muttered, stirring his iced chocolate.
"I won't!" she smiled happily.
Syaoran smiled anyway-he was happy that she was enjoying herself despite their situation with Tiffany. Noticing the pained look on his face, she became worried.
"Syaoran, are you alright?" Sakura asked softly.
"What-I'm fine." He smiled.
"If you say so…" She wasn't convinced; she saw the pained expression on his face, and he had been coughing a fair bit lately.
"Really, I'm fine." He said, still smiling. Sakura's smile returned, brightening the room once again.
"Ok!" She smiled.
After sitting in the café for just over an hour, they decided to leave and have a wander around the shops. People were bustling about everywhere and it was incredibly busy. "I'd like to go into the materials shop and have a look at the patterns if that's ok?" she said to Syaoran.
"I'm guessing you're looking for something you can base a pattern off?" he asked.
"Yeah-I want to have a look at the material, too." She grinned.
"I'm quite fine with that." He smiled.
Sakura had been wanting to make herself a new dress to wear while performing her songs at the club-she felt like making something green, but she wasn't sure what style to have which was why she was going to look through the pattern books.
She took photos of some of the dress designs she liked and then pulled Syaoran with her over to the material section of the shop; she mainly looked at the different types of chiffon, satin and silk that she could use and took down the prices so that she could figure out how much money she needed for her project.
"I can pay if you want?" Syaoran suggested.
"No, you spend enough on me as it is." She scoffed.
"Offer is there if you want it." He said, watching her as she took down the information she wanted.
"Thank you sweetie, but I'm happy with using my own money; I have more work now anyway, so I'm getting payed more." She grinned.
"That is true. What's your chosen band this week?" Syaoran asked.
"Evanescence." She replied.
"I'm looking forward to hearing you sing." He smiled.
"You're always listening to the songs I sing." She snorted.
"That's because you have a beautiful voice." He replied.
"Why thank you." She smiled, shoving her pen and note pad back into her bag.
"I'm finished here, so we can go somewhere else." She said.
"Alright then." He smiled, holding her hand as they left the store.
They were walking down the street when a certain someone spotted them. Syaoran's smile fell and was replaced with a look of utter irritation. Sakura clenched her teeth. Tiffany approached them with a fake smile on her face.
"Hello darling." She greeted Syaoran.
"Don't call me that." He said coldly.
"But we are engaged." She placed emphasis on engaged just to get on Sakura's nerves, and it worked.
Anger filled Sakura's usually gentle green eyes. "Stay away from him." She hissed to the princess.
"Excuse me?" Tiffany blinked.
"He's my boyfriend; we were dating before you even came along!" Sakura spat.
"Just what I'd expect of a mere commoner; you would never be able to understand the ways of royalty." Tiffany said smoothly.
"Stay away." Sakura repeated.
"Syaoran dear, you really ought to leave this girl-she's no good for you." Tiffany sighed.
"Sakura, we're leaving." Syaoran said, grabbing Sakura's hand and walking quickly through the crowd of people. Why did she have to show up and ruin it? He thought to himself bitterly. Sakura stayed quiet. Neither of them spoke until they got home, where they had privacy to talk without anyone over hearing.
"Sakura, I'm so sorry…" He whispered.
"It's ok Syaoran, I know this is going to be hard-and we'll get through it together, right?" she smiled sadly.
"Of course we will." He said as he pulled her into his arms. They kissed, disappearing upstairs for the rest of the afternoon.
Syaoran woke up to the sound of the doorbell-it was six o'clock. Careful not to wake Sakura, he got up and pulled on his own dressing gown before going downstairs to answer the door. He opened the door to see Tomoyo and Kurogane standing on Sakura's doorstep.
"You need to come home tonight." Kurogane said.
"I don't want to go back." He muttered.
"We know, but you must." Tomoyo said seriously.
"Fine…but what time do I have to be back by?" He asked irritably.
"Nine at the latest." Tomoyo replied.
"Alright…I'll be back by then…" He said quietly, closing the door as they walked away.
He returned to Sakura's room to wake her, wanting to know what she wanted for dinner. "Sakura, you need to wake up." He said softly, brushing her hair out of her face.
"Mmm I don't want to…" She murmured sleepily.
"You have work in an hour." He said.
"I called earlier and said I might not come in since I figured you'd have to leave me tonight…" she murmured, eyes still closed.
"I have to be back at the castle by nine…" he said, looking at the floor. She wrapped her arms around him and sat up, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"I don't want you to go, but I'll wait for you." She whispered.
"…thank you…" he smiled. She went to move to get up, but he pushed her back down into the pillows.
"You stay here while I go make something." He smirked.
"Ok…?" she replied, a little surprised.
"Good, now what would you like?" He asked.
"Hot cross buns sound good." She grinned.
"Aren't you healthy?" He said sarcastically. Even so, he still made them for her.
It was at about eight thirty that he had to leave Sakura's side much to her dismay. "Stay safe, and don't get yourself into trouble alright?" He said as he pulled on his coat.
"I won't…you stay safe too." She smiled. Her eyes showed a hint of sadness; she was feeling incredibly uneasy about the night. "Call me or text me or something…" She said.
"I promise I will as soon as I get the opportunity." He said softly as he looked into her eyes. She leant up to kiss him goodbye, and watched as he left the house.
Upon returning to the castle Syaoran was immediately asked to go and see his parents. When he entered the large study he didn't make any sort of eye contact. He simply sat down and looked out the windows.
"Syaoran, why did you ignore Tiffany when you saw her today?" His mother asked. Syaoran didn't answer.
"How did you get away the other night?" his father said.
"How I usually get away from places I don't want to be. I walk away." Syaoran muttered.
"So Kurogane and Tomoyo had nothing to do with it?" his mother questioned.
"None at all." He answered.
"Why do you refuse to look at us?" she asked quietly.
"Why do you refuse to accept the fact I have a relationship with someone I actually love?" he retorted.
"Because it's dangerous to be around her." His father replied.
"Yet I can take out the whole castle guard." Syaoran laughed bitterly at the irony.
"You'll be spending the entire night with Tiffany." His father said indifferently.
"No thanks." Syaoran growled.
"You have no say." He said.
"Gee, what loving parents you are." Syaoran said sarcastically while rolling his eyes, standing up and leaving before his parents could say anything else. His mother watched him leave while his father just sighed and shook his head.
There was no place for him to go in the castle that was truly his own place-not even his own room. He hated his parents for doing this to him, and for trying to tear his life apart. He remembered the days that he would share laughter and pain with his parents, but those days were long gone. Why were they looking down on Sakura? He didn't know.
"This sucks." He hissed under his breath as he entered his bedroom. Tiffany wasn't around-thankfully. He pulled a book off the shelf and began reading, but before turning to the first page of the book he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Sakura to tell her he was safe.
It was about ten when Tiffany entered the room; she was in a strappy white silk nightgown and her hair was down. "Syaoran, you're home." She smiled, walking over to him.
"This isn't my home anymore." He said flatly, flicking to the next page.
"Don't be silly, of course this is your home." She said, sliding her hand along his shoulder. He shoved it off and slammed his book down on the table beside his bed, and facing away from her he lay down. Tiffany went to slide her hand around his waist, but before she even touched him he rolled away. She tried again, and once again he rolled over. Twice again and he was eventually sitting on the floor.
"Syaoran honey, come back up here." Tiffany said.
"No." he hissed.
Finally giving up, Tiffany rolled over and went to sleep. Syaoran pulled out his phone and began texting Fai:
Syaoran: Help, I'm stuck with the thing.
Fai: What thing?
Syaoran: The thing that calls itself my fiancé, but isn't because I never agreed-that thing.
Fai: Wait-what's wrong?
Syaoran: She has to sleep in my bed-actually it's more like I have to let her. She keeps trying to seduce me.
Fai: You're going to keep me up all night, aren't you?
Syaoran: I need someone to talk to.
Fai: Well it's the weekend anyway, so I can just sleep in tomorrow. Whatever.
Syaoran: We've finished school though.
Fai: Yeah, that's why I'm working during the week.
Syaoran: Fair enough then.
Fai: Just start randomly playing songs she hates until she goes away.
Syaoran: I should try that next time.
Fai: Or slap her. Hard. With a brick.
He spent the whole night texting Fai, and when it finally came to morning he immediately left the castle. He didn't care what his parents said-nothing would ever separate them completely. When he arrived at Sakura's, he knew she'd still be asleep so he pulled out the key that Sakura had given him and unlocked the door. Quietly, he made his way up to Sakura's bedroom where she was sound asleep. He slipped in beside her and immediately fell asleep as he felt most comfortable while with Sakura.
When Sakura woke she felt a familiar warmth beside her and turned her head to see if she was right. She was surprised-and happy- to find that Syaoran had returned to her. It was as if he had never left, but something still didn't feel right. He looked pale, so Sakura checked for a fever. There wasn't one, but she decided she'd keep a close eye on him-he might develop it a little later in the day if what her gut was telling her was right. She snuggled up beside him and fell back to sleep; subconsciously his arms wrapped themselves around her frame while he slept. The uneasy feeling from the night before had kept her awake most of the night, but it was gone. She felt at ease as she slept next to him, just like he did with her.