Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to the wonderful CLAMP, not me.

Sensei, I Love You

Chapter 25

Syaoran guided Sakura out of the lift with a hand on her back. Sakura could feel the tenseness in his posture and immediately knew that the unexpected meeting with his mother was bad news. His intense frown confirmed her suspicions.

Sakura bowed respectfully to his mother and shivered slightly from the cold glare she received. Sakura gulped and shrank back to Syaoran, who curled his hand around her waist protectively, infusing strength into her.

"I see that our little girl here has more courtesy than the company's CEO," his mother said as she turned her sharp gaze to her son.

The hand on her waist squeezed tighter. It was as if he was the one that was drawing comfort from her nearness. "What brings you here, mother?"

His mother's gaze flickered between the both of them and to the warm large hand on her waist. "I've heard that my son has a sudden interest in another career. I had to see it for myself what is it that captured my son's attention to spur him to make the daring switch."

Cold sweat poured from Sakura's forehead. The accusation was obvious. "It has got nothing to do with her," Syaoran said. He tried to walk past his mother but she stepped towatds him, effectively blocking his path.

"I will find out why," she said. "I always get what I want."

"We'll see about that," Syaoran said and pushed past his mother, hauling Sakura protectively beside him.

Sakura spared one last glance at his mother and was surprised to catch the forlorn expression on her face. "You're on bad terms with your mother?" Sakura whispered her question, testing his reaction to it and was relieved that his temper didn't flare up.

"You could say that."

"I know it's not my place to say this but I think you should try to reconcile with your mother."

"What?" Syaoran exclaimed indignantly. "You want me to play nice with your mother? That woman is impossible!"

"But she's still your mother," Sakura said softly as she thought about her own mother and their happy time together. "Nothing is more important than your own family."

Her vision turned blurry out of a sudden and that was when she realized she was crying. Her grief poured out in a torrential of tears that she couldn't control. "Shit! I didn't mean to make you cry like this!" Syaoran panicked. He was thankful that there wasn't anyone around to witness them.

Sakura giggled despite her tears. "You didn't make me cry. I was just thinking about my family."

Syaoran nodded in understanding. "I don't think I've said this before... I'm sorry for your loss and you won't be alone from now on."

"Thank you." Sakura gave him a teary smile, touched by Syaoran's words. "I'm glad to have met you."

"Me too."

Syaoran pulled Sakura to the porch to wait for someone to drive his car over as he instructed earlier.

"Won't you be in trouble for skipping out on work? If so, I can go back on my own. It's not as if Yukito's house is very far away."

Syaoran clenched his teeth at the mention of Yukito's name. Clearly, this was a subject that he was sensitive about.

"I'm bringing you back to my house."

"Your house?" Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "You want to put your cousin and me under the same roof?"

Syaoran didn't reply until he his car arrived. He opened the passenger door for her and let her settle on the passenger seat. He then braced his forearm on the roof of his car and leaned down to speak to her. "I can handle her. How can I leave you with another guy?"

"But Yukito isn't another guy-he's practically my brother."

"No. Not by blood. I simply don't allow it."

Sakura didn't know if she should be feeling happy, amused or angry at his declaration. He made it sound as if she was his possession. On the other hand, it did look as if he was jealous. She giggled slightly as he walked around the hood of the car to get to the driver's seat.

"So... Am I some kind of possession to you?"

"Possession? Of course not! You're my girlfriend!" he exclaimed loudly.

The valet was watching them with amusement in his eyes. Sakura's cheeks burned as she tried to hush Syaoran with his eyes. She squeaked in surprise when Syaoran suddenly pressed his lips to her, urging her to open them so that he could bring their kiss to another level.

Sakura was frantic. She tried shaking her head and pushing him away but he didn't even bulge. He only clamped a hand behind her head and urged her even closer, slanting his mouth over hers.

"People are looking!" Sakura gasped the moment Syaoran leaned back.

Syaoran chuckled and pressed a soft kiss to her warm cheek. "Let them look. I couldn't care less. I need to make up for our one week apart."

"Be serious!"

Sakura dropped her face into her hands, wishing that the ground would just open up and swallow her whole. She heard the passenger door close and driver's door open a while later. She peeked just in time to see Syaoran slid into the driver's seat gracefully.

"You're staring too much." He tweaked her nose playfully.

"I'm not!" She pouted

She sucked in a breath when Syaoran leaned too close to her as he reached for her ears. He chuckled at her immediate reaction and with a slight shake of his head, he helped to put on her safety belt for her. "Are you expecting me to kiss you?"

Sakura sputtered. "No! No way! Not in public!"

"Then I shall do it when we're alone," he said with a wink before pulling his car away from the office building.

It didn't take them long to reach Syaoran's place. There was no sign of activity within the house, not that Sakura could see from their position in the garage. Dread filled her entire being at the thought of meeting Meiling again. Would she fling herself at her cousin again just to cause some jealously? Even though they were cousins, Meiling's actions seemed somewhat too intimate.

A tap on the side of her head shocked her into alertness. "Ow! What?"

Syaoran looked relaxed in his seat, with a hand thrown carelessly on the top of the steering wheel. He was laughing at her. "A penny for your thoughts? In case you haven't noticed, we have already reached home."

Home.

Well, it was the "we" in the front part of his sentence that caused a lump in her throat.

"Home..." Sakura repeated wistfully. It would be a long, long time before she would ever have a home to call her own.

Syaoran's teasing demeanor turned serious when he felt Sakura's internal struggles. "What's wrong?" He put a hand on the top of her thigh and the warmth burned through the layer of jeans and caused a tingling sensation.

"Nothing," she replied immediately, not wanting to worry Syaoran about silly little things. So what if she didn't have her own home? At least she had Syaoran by her side, nothing else was important. She squeezed his hands and gave him the best smile she could muster.

"You don't have to worry about dealing with Meiling. I'll speak to her later and move her to my mother's place."

"Your mother's place? Your mother has her own house?"

Syaoran cringed. "Um... Yeah... The Lis are... well... pretty rich."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Isn't it pretty obvious by now? I mean... Just look at your house! And your car! Goodness me."

"Right." He smiled sheepishly at her before killing the car engine and rushed out to help Sakura with the door.

Knowing Syaoran's intention to help her out of the car, Sakura watched patiently as he rounded the hood and to her side. "You don't have to do this," she told him as he pulled her out gently. "Opening the door isn't difficult at all."

"I know muffin is very capable of doing everything on her own." He paused to press a kiss on her knuckle and winked. "But sometimes I just want to spoil you rotten."

Sakura's blush was instantaneous. If he kept the teasing up, the dark stain on her cheeks would turn permanent. "Stop fooling around with me."

Syaoran put his free fist against his chest and grimaced dramatically. "You wound me with your words." He slumped against Sakura, catching her by surprise, and effectively pinned her against the side of the car.

"Sensei!"

Her protest was cut off when Syaoran swooped in for a lingering kiss. She only had a split second to gasp before he wrecked havoc with her system. By the time he was finished, her legs had turned into jelly and he had to support her.

"I'm not your sensei," he said, his amber eyes were serioucs. "I'm definitely not your sensei at home. Sensei don't kiss their students, right?"

Sakura's mind whirled, still floating around somewhere. "You... can't do that anymore."

Syaoran frowned. "Can't do what?"

She let her forehead dropped against his chest and was somewhat comforted by the wild thumping of his heart.

"Stop making my heart go crazy," Sakura mumbled against his shirt front, not caring if he couldn't hear her. In fact, it would be better if he didn't manage to catch what she said. "I'm not supposed to fall in love with my teacher."

Syaoran chuckled, making Sakura feel like throttling him. "I'm being serious here." Sakura glared up at him, aware that she was pouting and acting kind of cute.

"I'm not mocking you," Syaoran's arms closed around her, pulling her in and she realized that their bodies actually fit together nicely—her soft curves against his hard chest. It felt… nice.

"Like real."

Syaoran chuckled again at her response, riling her further. "You're cute when you're angry. I should probably make you angry more often. Oh, are you embarrassed now?"

"Stop messing with me." Sakura slapped his rock hard chest and winced at the resulting sting shooting from her hand. "Infuriating man."

"Aw... You know that I'm the most irresistible man on earth, right?"

"More like irritating..."

Syaoran pinched her cheeks lightly in retaliation. "Ow! That hurts!"

"That's for badmouthing me."

"Idiot."

"Don't force me to use underhanded methods! You just have to agree that I'm the most handsome guy! You have to!"

"Fine! You are the best good looking guy I've come across so far." Sakura said and rolled her eyes for effect.

"That's more like it. To reward you for your honesty, I shall whip up a mouthwatering lunch for you."

Her damned stomach just had to growl at the statement, much to Syaoran's delight. "Not another word from you," Sakura growled.

Syaoran just shook his head and tried to contain his mirth. "Let's just get you out of the garage and I'll go prepare lunch for muffin."

"I hate that name."

"You secretly love it," Syaoran said with glee.

"Never."

"You don't have to be shy about it." He laced their fingers together as he pulled her into the house and Sakura was relieved that there was no signs of Meiling. "She out there fuming somewhere. You don't have to meet her if you don't want to. I know how extreme she can get."

"Don't remind me." The thought of meeting Meiling again dampened her mood drastically. Her eyes widened when Syaoran ruffled the top of her head.

"Don't worry. I'm here for you." Then all her fear and unease were gone. That's right. Nothing will ever go wrong with Syaoran around. "Trust me."

Syaoran deposited her on the sofa and handed her the remote for the TV.

"I want to help out with lunch," Sakura said and put the remote aside. "I can't be a freeloader everytime."

Syaoran wagged a finger at her and pushed her back down again. "I'll have none of that! I'm rewarding you so you shouldn't have to do anything! Besides, your presence here is enough for me."

"I can't help out with the preparation at the very least?" Sakura tried again. "I'm confident that I can be of help to you. Afterall, I did help out at the cafe."

Syaoran shook his head and folded his arms, looking at her disapprovingly. "Which part of 'you shouldn't have to do anything' that you don't understand?"

Sakura bit her bottom lip. "I just feel bad..."

Syaoran sighed. "To tell you the truth... You'll just be my distraction if you come to the kitchen. So for yours and our stomachs' sake, watching some TV to entertain yourself. Lunch will be ready in a short while." He left her in the living room staring at him with a gaping mouth.

Distraction... Distraction?

Sakura suddenly had a crazy urge to start screaming. Syaoran just said that she was his distraction. Did he mean that she have some form of control over him. Goodness, her overloaded mind was doing something weird to her.

At least she wasn't the only one affected by their nearness. She wanted to see for herself how exactly she would be able to distract him from what he was doing. Oh, she didn't know she had such an evil side.

Abandoning the TV, Sakura padded softly across the living room to the edge of the kitchen. She peered in cautiously and her eyes widened at the delicious sight of Syaoran in a black apron. Her heart did a wild dance as she tried to control her breathing.

Breathe in.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

In...

Oh wait, he's rolling up his sleeves! His actions were so graceful that Sakura felt herself being drawn to him. It was a pity that he wasn't a model—he would definitely earn big bucks with that body.

Her eyes were glued to his back as he shuffled around the kitchen to cook her the promised lunch. Since he wasn't aware that she was peeping at him, Sakura felt that it was safe to just continue to ogle at him.

"You don't take people's instructions well, do you?" Syaoran asked with his back still facing her. Sakura let out a squeak of surprise as He let out a short laugh. Putting the pan on the stove to let the food sizzle for a while, he turned and beckoned Sakura over by crooking his finger.

"How did you know I was there?" Sakura asked as she obediently closed the distance between then, a faint blush tainted her cheeks at being caught red-handed. "I didn't even make a sound!"

She stopped just a foot before him and had to tilt her head slightly to mock glare at him. Not satisfied with their distance, he drew her closer to him with both his hands circling Sakura's waist.

"Where would the fun be if I just told you?" He asked. "You'll have to work to earn your answer."

"Earn?" Sakura asked, feeling a little confused. "How?"

Sakura felt her heart stop the moment Syaoran's lips touched the side of the neck. Her gasp of surprise escaped her lips before she could stop it.

"You can start by calling me by my name."

Sakura blushed. She clutched Syaoran's strong arms to balance herself as he kept pressing into her. "Why are we back to that again?"

"Because..."

"B-because what?"

He leaned back with a playful glint in his eyes. "I don't want my girlfriend to keep on calling me 'Sensei'. It makes me feel very... old."

"Well, you are old," Sakura stated plainly and received a light nip on her shoulder that had her yelping in surprise. "Sensei!" Another nip. "Ow!"

"You're so going to be covered with little bruises if you keep calling me that." He gave her another nip for demonstration. "So what would it be?"

Sakura crossed her arms in front of her and held onto her shoulders protectively. Her breath hitched when Syaoran leaned dangerously close. "Sen—n" Syaoran gave her a warning look and she gulped. "Sy-Syaoran... Sensei..." She added the last word hastily after a moment's hesitation. She was too used to calling him Sensei and it was difficult to change. Some habits are hard to kick.

To be continued

It has been a week after my exams! Yay! But somehow I'm still tired. Guess what? I actually re-edit chapter 24 by mistake when I wanted to edit Chapter 25. *slaps head* Anyway, there isn't a fixed update schedule because I'm actually lagging behind and tied down by my work. Nowadays, I write when I commute to and from work and staring at the small words made my eyes go dotty. x.x Nevertheless, I'll still write, though it'll be at a slower pace. :) Be sure to stick around!