Author's Notes: Konnichi wa, minna-san. This is the 2nd chapter to my fan fiction. I have tried to make Syaoran's appearance here more prominent. Enjoy. By the way, the reason why Oto-san is well-versed in all languages is that in the University (as a student), he took language as his minor, with History as his major.
Disclaimer: "Cardcaptor Sakura" and related characters belong to Clamp.
I do not owe them.
Glossary of words I used:
'Iie' – No
'Arigato' – Thank you
'Dui bu qi' – I'm sorry
'Wo bu shi' – I didn't
'Xie xie' – Thank you
'Wo ke yi' – I can handle it
"Ok, that's the last box. Did we leave anything outside?" Oto-san scanned the floor, piled up with many boxes.
"Iie. All of them are in here already."
"Well, this will be our new home for these two years here." Sakura nodded her head in approval. Their new home was an apartment located two miles from the University of Hong Kong and had always been rented out to visiting lecturers from other countries and their families.
Sakura took in the pastel yellow walls and could not help remembering her home in Japan. They even have the same wall colour as our home in Japan.
"Well…" Oto-san's words brought her back to reality again. "We better start unpacking or else, we will not be ready for school tomorrow."
"Hai."
Father and daughter worked together and soon, the boxes on the floor were emptied and their possessions were at their respective places.
"Arigato, Sakura-chan."
"No. I should be the one to say 'thank-you'…" Sakura said, when a low grumbling interrupted her. A deep-red blush crossed her cheeks as Oto-san laughed in amusement.
"I guess we are hungry. Let me go and get the ingredients for dinner." Oto-san said, getting up from his seat.
"Oto-san, I go and get the ingredients. You did most of the unpacking, so I should prepare dinner."
"But you are new around here and you can't speak fluent Chinese. I should go."
"It's ok. I can mange myself." Sakura confirmed her answer with her representative smile. "Besides, I want t get some baking ingredients too."
"Take care, then."
"I'll be back soon." Sakura shouted as she stepped out of the apartment with her rollerblades and skated towards the nearby shopping mall.
* * *
"Meiling… for once, can you tell me where are we going?" Syaoran asked, as a girl with long-flowing black hair and ruby eyes tagged at his arm.
"Syaoran, there is this new restaurant serving Japanese cuisine at the mall. I want to try…" Meiling's dynamic voice shook with excitement.
Syaoran sighed. This was his cousin and fiancée. However, his feelings for her had never gone beyond that of a brother-sister feeling.
Just as they made a turn at the corner of the street, someone ran straight into them and for a moment, Syaoran jerked backwards.
"Sumima… Dui… bu… qi… Wo… bu… shi…" A girl with shoulder-length auburn hair muttered as she scrambled to pick up the things she had dropped.
"Let me help you." Syaoran bent down to pick up her stuff.
"Ari… Xie… xie…" The girl muttered, her head bent, but with a tint of red across her face.
"Syaoran! We are going to be late!" Meiling practically shouted. "We have reservations."
"Wo… ke… yi…" The girl stammered, as she began to stand up.
"You can speak in English. We can understand." Syaoran assured.
The girl sighed and then looked up. Her emerald eyes captured his attention. Green eyes? She must be a special girl to have green eyes, just like Meiling with her red eyes.
"Syaoran?" Meiling's voice broke his trance.
"Anyway, I'm sorry for that. Thank you for your help. I got to go." The girl made a bow and skated away.
"Fancy that, she's a Japanese."
"Eh."
* * *
As Sakura skated back home, she recalled her difficulty at the shops. Everyone here speaks Chinese and a few speak English. This is so tough. I wish I were like Oto-san, able to speak many languages. Oh, how I regret not making the effort to study Chinese in the first place. I am never going to get used to here.