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Wild Dreaming
by animefreak
So it was true. He saw her as one more friend, like Tomoyo, like any classmate. It was sweet that he let her know so vehemently that he cared for her as a friend, but what happened with the feelings she had been keeping from him for so long? She was not a shy person, why then was it so difficult to tell him this? Maybe it would have been out of place when they were eleven but now? Why couldn't she tell him?
Sakura gathered every ounce of courage she had, and opened her mouth, but in the second she was going to begin her breath locked in her throat. She couldn't. What would happen to her if he rejected her? She wouldn't be able to look at him on the face ever again, and that would ruin a friendship that, never mind her feelings, meant a lot to her. It was probably the most she'd get from him...why couldn't she settle for that? She felt like her head was going to explode, probably the reason why she didn't notice the what-the-hell-is-the-matter-with-you look Syaoran was giving her right then.
"What?" she managed to ask.
"You've got this...weird look on your face...are you okay?"
"I'm okay...great...absolutely fine!" Sakura giggled nervously. She had to learn to lie, and soon!
"Okay, Sakura, you can tell me" he sighed, patiently "What's on your mind?"
"In my mind? Nothing! I was just thinking...about that card...in my reading"
"If you don't want to tell me, then fine...but you don't have to lie to me" he stated, crossing his arms across his chest
Sakura blushed. Either she was way too obvious or he knew her too well. Or both. I got to tell him, she thought. Why am I so stupid?
"Syaoran..." she called, blushing, suddenly appearing to be ten years old again.
He blinked, surprised. He'd never seen this look on her face before. There was something excitingly beautiful in her expression...it wasn't the same kind of embarrassment her lovely face had portrayed when she confessed him everything about the infamous dream. It was something completely different...this girl was going to do something really outrageous.
"Yes?" he whispered, anticipation sending a cold shiver down his spine.
"There's something I need to tell you...I haven't told you this yet, because...well, because...I haven't..." she clicked her tongue in exasperation and shook her head, nervous fingers running through golden locks "I wanted to tell you that I..."
"Sakura!" an angry voice yelled out a window on the second story. They both looked up, startled. Touya's frowning face was sticking out of the window, menacingly glaring at the Chinese boy standing way too close to his sister, if you asked him "What the hell are you doing with that brat out there? Do you know what time it is?"
"Touya, shut up!" she clenched her fists in frustration. She had been so close!
"Get in here right now! And you, kid! Step away from my sister!"
Syaoran growled what Sakura assumed was some sort of insult in chinese, and crossed his arms across his chest once again. He wouldn't move an inch. Sakura sighed heavily, gave Syaoran an I'm sorry look, and started walking towards the front door. Touya slammed the window shut and went inside, and Syaoran sighed and began his walk home.
What could it have been that she wanted to tell him? Maybe something she'd kept secret about the cards, that she had felt compelled to confess after he'd admitted that he cared for her as a friend. What a stupid thing to say. He should tell her the truth, before it was too late. Before someone else came along and stole her away, leaving him absolutely devastated. What was wrong with him? That was going to happen! She was too beautiful, too sweet, too smart to pass unnoticed. Which led him to the customary share of self pity he experimented every time he thought about this. Why would a girl like her set her eyes in someone like him? He was too serious, too formal, too cold. And he had told her they were definitely friends. What kind of an idiot would do something like that? If you wanted something you had to go for it. Or it was bound to slip from your fingers like water.
He looked up. He was already standing in front of his building...that had been so fast. How engrossed would you have to be in your thoughts to not know where you were walking? Pure instinct had led him, apparently, because he didn't know Tomoeda so well yet, even though he'd lived there for several years now. When he opened his apartment door the phone was ringing. He threw his keys and his backpack on the black leather couch in the living room, and casually walked to the stool where the phone had always been.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Li, this is Tomoyo"
"Oh" was all he could say, a surprised look crossing his features.
"How did it go?"
"How did what go" he asked huskily.
"You know, the thing with Sakura..." she giggled.
"No, I don't know. What are you talking about?"
"You telling Sakura that you love her...I thought that's why you guys had ditched me!"
He blushed ten shades of red and couldn't hold back a cough. Tomoyo knowingly smiled and crossed her legs.
"No...we were talking about the...the..." he stammered, not being able to finish the sentence.
"Yeah, yeah. Are you planning on ever telling her? Pretty girls don't wait forever!"
"I actually...where did you get that from anyway?" he said in exasperation.
"Oh, please, Li, who do you think I am? You'd have to be blind to not notice. Which Sakura proved to be, ne? I'll give her a little nudge if you're going to tell her...well, more of a hard shove, but..."
"Why are you so interested in this anyway?" he asked, his blush deepening with the second.
"Because, you see...I think you guys are so perfect for each other. You're handsome, powerful...she's a beautiful sorceress, you get along pretty well, you're obviously crazy about her and she..."
Whoops. She caught herself before anything else escaped her big mouth, but she had already awaken his curiosity.
"She what" he said, impatiently.
"I was going to say she's single, as in doesn't have a boyfriend..." Tomoyo had managed to patch it up, but...she had been so close to spilling her friend's secret. Sakura would kill her for sure "And I want to tape that get together of yours!" she beamed, making him sweatdrop.
"It's not that easy, Tomoyo. And this is definitely not the time for this. You know the mess we're into right now. I couldn't possibly burden her with anything else...it would only make her unable to concentrate and that would be...fatal" he sighed.
So, he had admitted to Tomoyo that he loved her best friend. Great.
"Please don't tell her" he pleaded "I will deal with that if the time comes for it"
"Whatever makes you happy, Li. But remember...she's not going to be sitting in front of you at school forever...if you know what I mean. Have a good night"
And she hung up. She had found out exactly what she wanted to know. So he really loved her. Tomoyo had always been suspicious because he gave too many clues away, but Sakura was incapable of taking a hint. Those blushes, the stammering whenever he was around her, everything pointed it out. But she couldn't be sure until she heard him from Li Syaoran's very lips, for he was a very complicated person and trying to understand how he felt could be tricky. I'm the master, Tomoyo thought, sly grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Tomoyo also knew how her friend felt about the warrior. She had figured it out way before Sakura herself had dared admitting it to herself. Tomoyo had questioned her about it and she had denied it at first, but slowly she began to give in, until one night she slept over at Tomoyo's huge mansion she had admitted everything. How she had felt like she was going to fall apart the night he called and told her he was going home to Hong Kong and didn't know if he'd ever come back. The feeling of sheer bliss she had experimented a year and a half later, the day he had shown up at school wanting to surprise her. The effort it took her to tear her eyes off of him when he noticed she was staring. The many nights she'd dreamt he was a prince that came riding his horse to sweep her off her feet. The pleasant goosebumps she got whenever she heard his voice on the phone. She was hopelessly in love with him, and he with her, and neither of them had noticed each other's feelings! As the saying is, Tomoyo thought, you have to take a step away from the mirror to have a clear view. She would make sure they both took that step back and realized what couldn't be more obvious that was going on. She'd be damned if she couldn't get her two best friends realize that a whole world of happiness was awaiting them in the arms of each other...not to mention she would have endless sappy scenes on tape. Ohohohohohohohoho.
*****
Back at home, Sakura fumed.
"What the hell were you thinking" she yelled at her brother, who had his arms crossed in the most annoying way "Syaoran is MY friend! Who the hell gave you the right to choose who I hang out with? Do I do that to you?"
"No, you don't, because you're my baby sister. I have to take care of you"
"I'm not a baby!" she yelled even louder, giving him such a kick in the shin he bent over in pain "Don't you dare do that to me ever again in your life or you'll be sorry!!"
"What's going on in here?" Sakura's dad stepped into the kitchen, where the argument was taking place "I can't work with all the racket!"
"Touya is an ass!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs.
"She was with that Chinese brat...and look at what time it is!!"
"It's six in the afternoon, you neanderthal!!" she yelled in exasperation.
"Sakura, don't scream" her father pleaded, rubbing his temples "I don't understand anything"
"He yelled at me from the window to come inside, like I was a five years old! Where in the world did he get the idea he could do that to me? Have I ever humiliated him in front of anyone like this?"
"Did you, Touya?"
"I-I don't want my little sister hanging out with that kid. He's bad news" he said in a low voice.
"I'm not a baby I said!" and she stomped on his foot, making him gasp yet again.
"Touya, that's really...you shouldn't be doing this to Sakura anymore...she's seventeen now" her father said softly "And you, Sakura. You shouldn't hit Touya. I don't want you guys fighting anymore. I need peace and quiet to get some work done. Act like the brothers you are, will you? For me?"
Sakura sighed in defeat. "Yes, dad" she said meekly, giving her brother a look that could kill. She could never say no to her father, which was a weakness of her when she was fighting with Touya. Damn! she thought, and went up the stairs to her room.
Kero knew something was up when she slammed the door shut.
"What happened?" he asked, frowning.
"That...animal...of a brother that I've got..." she said, clenching her fists.
"Oh, that. Did you tell the brat about the reading?"
"I did. And he said something pretty terrifying to me"
"What did he say?" Kero asked, flying over to her.
"He said...that maybe that Mirror Card in my reading meant...that our rival is my equal in powers. As in, he's going to be the most difficult enemy to beat ever. My match" she shivered at the very thought.
"That brat is so clever sometimes" Kero growled grudgingly.
There it was again. That beam of pride she felt every time she heard anything good said about her sorcerer. He's not my...sorcerer, she thought sadly. Why oh why, did it have to be so hard loving him? She sighed in self defeat.
"Hey, Sakura! I'm talking to you!" she heard Kero yell at him, snapping her out of her thoughts of the Chinese warrior.
"I'm listening!" she protested.
"If this is true, you need to prepare for the battle. You need to train"
"And how am I going to do that?" she sighed, tiredly "I can't see how I could get ready for a battle with someone I don't even know"
"Well, you have to polish your abilities in every possible ways. Eliminate every probable flaw"
"Like?"
"You will ask that brat to train with you. He won't say no to you. He's a really good fighter..." he saw the look on her face, and shook his head "Which you were probably already thinking"
That made Sakura blush.
"He will beat me in a blink" she said.
"That's why you're going to train with him!" he replied, flying over to the box of cookies his Mistress had brought for him, and set delicately on the table for him to eat.
"Eat and shut up" she said, not being able to conceal her blush.
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