CH43: Sakura's Big Date


"Trade relations with feudal Japan in relation to exports from Li clan holdings in Euro-Asiatic commodity markets created opportunities for increased diplomatic integration, thus supplying the required connections to get a foothold in the Japanese markets which have been maintained to this day."

Sakura yawned as the elder droned on and on about something. She couldn't wait for it to end. This guy seemed to be able to take the most interesting of topics and make them as boring and stale as… well she couldn't think of a good comparison. Even watching grass grow was more interesting. Even if it wasn't, she could at least make the grass grow faster, while this guy just went on and one in a monotone dissertation that never seemed to make any real point. Even when she tried to listen, she could not make sense of what he was trying to say.

Suddenly, Sakura felt an elbow in her ribs. The elder was glaring at her rather harshly. "You were snoring," Meiling whispered.

"Gomennasai," Sakura apologized. Luckily for her, the elder seemed to have finished and walked out of the room.

"I don't even know why they have him teach us at all. I don't think even he understands what he is saying," Meiling complained, as she looked at the notes she had taken. None of them made sense now. "Right, Syaoran."

"..."

"Syaoran?" Sakura poked him and he toppled over.

"Huh? What?" Syaoran looked around. "He's finished?" The girls nodded. "About time..." He yawned. "He may be an expert at international relations, but I am beginning to think he just fakes it by confusing everyone and then they have to agree with him in order to not look stupid."

"I can't believe I am saying this, but I'd rather have an extra math lesson than to have to listen to another of his lectures. It's hard enough getting up this early without him trying to put us back to sleep."

"Well maybe some breakfast will wake us up," Syaoran suggested.

"I wish," Meiling said. "I have morning duty today, and he talked thirty minutes over the normal time. I don't have time for breakfast."


Sakura and Syaoran walked to school together. Tomoyo, like Meiling, also had morning duty, meaning it was just Sakura and Syaoran today.

"Sakura," Li said hesitantly, "There's a new movie coming out today. Do you want to see it tonight?"

"That fairytale princess one?"

"Hai," Syaoran replied.

"I've been waiting for weeks for that movie to come out. It looks so good, and the animals are so kawaii."

"So is that a yes?"

"Hai," Sakura replied. "We should ask Tomoyo and Meiling if they wanted to go, they would probably like it."

"Actually, I was thinking, it could be just you and me..." Syaoran said.

"You mean like a date?"

"Hai," He responded. He was slowly turning red as Sakura considered what to say.

"Hoee!"


"You are going on a date with Syaoran?" Tomoyo squealed in delight, causing several jealous glares to turn Sakura's way. "I have the perfect outfit for you to wear," Tomoyo said, smiling dreamily.

"If Syaoran doesn't wear one, I don't," Sakura stated.

"Perfect. You can both get ready at my house after school," Tomoyo said.

"Hey! I didn't agree with this!" Syaoran objected.

"Too bad. I thought you really wanted to go on this date," Tomoyo replied in mock sadness. "I guess it will just have to be cancelled."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then you will be there at four-thirty sharp."


Syaoran approached the gate or the mansion hesitantly. He still remembered the fiasco on the beach with Tomoyo's swim suits. Not that he would have minded wearing that particular swim suit as much now as he had then, but it still wasn't his style. He reached for the buzzer.

"Come in," Tomoyo's voice replied, "Up the stairs and third door on the right." With that, the gate opened. Syaoran followed the driveway up to the house and entered through the main door which was already being propped open for him by a woman in a black suit with sunglasses who motioned him towards the staircase. Tomoyo was extremely well prepared for someone who had found out about the date this morning at school.

When he entered the room, as indicated by a sign taped to the door, he found that it was not in fact a room, but a closet. It was a very large walk in closet with at least two other doors.

"Finally, you're here," Tomoyo said. "What took you so long!?"

"It's only a quarter past four!" Syaoran said. "You told me to be here at four thirty."

"Are you not going on a date with the most kawaii girl in the world?"

"Hai..."

"Then earlier is better. Now stand here," Tomoyo dragged him to a spot at the center of the closet where there were two sets of three way mirrors opposite each other upon the walls.

"Why?" He asked.

"Try this on," She hung an outfit before him. "Show me when you're done." She hurried out the door she had entered. "No! Sakura, like this." Syaoran heard before the door clicked shut.


Tomoyo had finally finished getting Sakura's dress onto her.

"Isn't this a little formal?" Sakura asked as she examined the stunning attire in the mirror.

"No, it's perfect." Tomoyo replied, "Now sit here." Just then, a knock came from the closet door. "Coming!" she called. She raced off to see how Syaoran had done. He had actually managed to get his outfit on, and had done it right. "Go through that door there," Tomoyo ordered, "And then do what you're told." Tomoyo raced back into her room and began to do some work on Sakura's hair.


"That took long enough!" Meiling scolded her cousin, and then forced him to take a seat in front of the bathroom mirror. "And you say I take a long time to get dressed."

"So, Sakura was here before me and she's still getting ready," Syaoran replied. It didn't seem like he had been excessively slow; after all he had only taken like ten minutes. Technically he wasn't even supposed to arrive for at least another five. Meiling growled and wrapped a towel around his neck and began working on his hair. She sprayed it with water, and then combed it out neatly, and then she gelled it into place.

"Something's missing," Meiling said as she looked at his neat and tidy hair. "I know!" She rubbed his bangs to mess them up. "Perfect!"

"But I look exactly the same as I did before!" Syaoran complained.

"No you don't," Meiling insisted, "Now close your eyes while I do your makeup."

"No!"

"Fine, but it might sting if I accidentally get it in your eyes," Meiling said.

"I am not wearing makeup!" Syaoran growled.

"Fine!" Meiling replied. She hit a lever on the chair with her foot and caused the back of the chair to recline dangerously fast.

""Hey! Watch it Meimpmhh." He was cut off as a damp, funny smelling cloth was slapped onto his face.

"Don't move!" Meiling said. "If you won't wear makeup I'll have to get a consult from Tomoyo on the next course of action."


"What do you mean he refused?!" Tomoyo growled, "Tell him that he wears it or he doesn't get to see what we've done to Sakura 'cause she'll be going out with us instead." It was so loud that Syaoran heard it from where he was. Meiling barged back in a few seconds later and pulled the wet cloth off of his face and began rubbing something else on.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleansing your pores," Meiling replied simply. "It will make the makeup less noticeable. Don't worry, I tried, but Tomoyo already vetoed lipstick and eye-shadow." Li closed his eyes and waited. He wanted this night to be special; hopefully Meiling and Tomoyo wouldn't ruin it. Even more so, He hoped that whatever spying they planned to do, they did it well enough that neither he nor Sakura would notice. Suddenly there was a painful rip on his face.

Syaoran let out a few choice words before finally screaming, "What the hell was that!"

"Tonight is going to be special, which means shaving just isn't good enough." Syaoran screamed when Meiling reached out and pulled another strip from his face. "Don't be such a baby. Sakura didn't even scream once when we did her."


"What was that?" Sakura asked, hearing what would have made a sailor blush.

"I believe Meiling has gotten to the waxing" Tomoyo replied.

"It's not that bad though," Sakura said. "It sounds like she is killing him."

"I think she is using the old stuff," Tomoyo said. "Not the new stuff that makes the hair come out easier.

"Ouch," Sakura said, remembering a time when she had used some of the cheap stuff that didn't have whatever it was that made the process less painful.

"Okay, we're almost done," Tomoyo said, putting a tiny bit of blush on Sakura's cheeks.


"I don't trust you," Syaoran said, as he was backed into a corner.

"I swear that nothing else will hurt," Syaoran glared at the advancing girl. "Fine do it yourself." Meiling tossed him the bottle of aftershave.

"What is this horrible odor?" Syaoran asked, sniffing the scent of the aftershave.

"First it's a really nice scent, and second it will go with the cologne." Syaoran reluctantly put it on.

"This is the last time I plan a date before the wedding," Syaoran growled. "The rest are going to be spontaneous." He dabbed the foul smelling liquid on his face. It still smelt horrid to him, and it stung... a lot.


"Are you ready Sakura?" Tomoyo asked.

"I guess," Tomoyo led her to the spot where Syaoran had changed.

"Now don't move."


"Isn't he ready yet?!" Tomoyo asked Meiling, who was fighting to get close enough to Syaoran with her tweezers to pluck his eyebrows.

"Not yet!" Meiling growled. Tomoyo marched over and grabbed Syaoran by the ear and dragged him over to the chair.

"Now listen, you will let her finish and you will not move or complain. You will take Sakura out and the evening will be perfect and Sakura will be happy or else!" Tomoyo's glare made his own glaring abilities look pitifully weak and he had no choice but to let Meiling finish plucking his eye brows, and whatever other things she did that he did not understand.

"I still think I look exactly the same," He said as he examined himself in the mirror in an attempt to observe whatever minute differences Meiling's administrations may have caused.

"Boys," Tomoyo growled in disgust, "You don't know anything." She glanced at her watch. "It's almost five. You're going to be late!" She gasped.

"But the movie doesn't start until seven."

"And what about dinner?" Tomoyo asked, "It's not like you can't afford to do the date right. Now get in there and see Sakura!" Tomoyo opened the door, and Meiling gave him a good hard shove into the closet. The door closed after him.


"Sakura!" He exclaimed as he regained his balance and saw his fiancée standing before him. His gaze started from the floor and worked its way up, seeing her from all sides thanks to the mirrors.

She was wearing cherry red shoes. Up a little higher, her white pantyhose covered legs were wrapped in a long pink skirt with red trim. It had slits on the sides that were almost indecently high. At the waist, it was fastened by a pair of thick silk sashes. One was red and the other white. Both fastened with a silver buckle in the front and wrapped around to trail behind her.

His gaze traveled higher and saw the top she wore that was, like her skirt, pink and red, and was fastened with silver ties every two inches until the Chinese styled collar fastened with a silver button engraved with the head of a wolf. Her face had little makeup, as far as Syaoran could tell; perhaps a bit of lip gloss and whatever they had done to him. Her hair was almost as it usually was, except that the forelocks surrounding her face had been made wavy and the back had been pulled up into buns, one on each side of the back of her head and covered with pink cherry blossom patterned cloth that was held in place by a ribbon of cloth whose colors were the same as those around her waist but on opposite sides.

"You look nice." He practically drooled.

"Nice?" She asked examining her date, who was dressed in much simpler attire. It was pretty much a green suit, except for the Chinese style shirt, which looked much like Sakura's except the ties, and trim were gold as was the button at the neck which depicted a cherry blossom.

"Umm, really nice?" He tried while attempting to get his brain back into working order. Sakura laughed as he struggled to think of a more appropriate word.

"You too," She smiled.


Somehow, Tomoyo had gotten them reservations at the fanciest restaurants in the city; A restaurant that just happened to have a three month waiting list on reservations. While Syaoran wondered how she had managed it, he didn't really care. The food was really good, and the company was even better. He barely even noticed the two girls hiding in the bushes across the room that were pointing a camera at them.

By the time the meal was over, Syaoran's brain had even started working again and he had listed off several adjectives that had come to mind to describe his date, much to her pleasure, and that of their pursuers, whose failures at stealth went completely unnoticed as the couple left the restaurant hand in hand and headed towards the theatre under the moonless night sky.


"Syaoran!" Sakura urged as she tried to watch the movie despite Syaoran's fidgeting.

"I can't help it," He replied. "These seats are too small."

"They can't be..." She looked up to her date. "Syaoran..." Even sitting down he was almost three feet taller than her now. "It's not the seat, it's you! You're huge." Syaoran stood up and the armrests snapped. Luckily for him, he had shelled out the extra dough to have a private showing rather than risk someone else ruining their date with a cellphone or talking during the movie. This did of course make the two girls sitting in the back all that more conspicuous, and they also noticed when Syaoran stood up and was half as tall as the screen in the theatre. "It must be a Clow Card," Sakura said, looking around.

"Probably the big," Kero said after floating over to them from where he had been watching with Tomoyo and Meiling.

"But where is it? I can't seem to sense it." Sakura said. Syaoran produced his laizen board, which was quite interesting to Sakura considering that he had no pockets on his outfit that were large enough to contain it.

"Imperial king of gods whose divinity watches over all four corners, metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, wind, lightning, whirling blade of lightning, answer my call!" The board lit up and a beam of light pointed upwards and out of the theatre. "It's outside," Syaoran stated and then rushed towards the emergency exit. He had to crawl through.

Following the beam, they made their way up to the rooftops where they didn't see anything.

"Syaoran!" Sakura exclaimed. "You're growing again!"

"No I'm not, you're shrinking!"