Sorry it has been so long...I think you may understand when you see the length of the chapter...
BTW...I don't own C.C.S...I wish I did though...
For all of you who were wondering when the dance would come into the plot...your patience will reward you...It was coming...You just had to wait for it...
Chapter 4: 8 Days to go
Tomoyo raced to school. She wasn't late, but she wanted to be at school early. She had a plan, and it was high time that plan went into action. As she approached the school, she saw Chelsea, Zach, and Rika grouped near the double doors that led into the school. She hurried over and joined them.
"Chelsea, have you filled everyone else in on the course of action?"
"Yes, but are you positive, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this will work?"
"Like I told you on the phone, she turned beat red when I said his name. In fact, I almost feel bad because our conversation indirectly put Sakura where she is now...But you know me! I'm using today without her to my advantage!"
Chelsea grinned and the rest of the group agreed. It wasn't complicated, but it was important for everyone to be on the same page.
"Okay, here he comes. Now remember, the plan waits until class starts. He can't escape then." Tomoyo was all jittery, purely from pleasure. Her plan would be perfect. They would react perfectly...eventually. Everything was working according to plan...Perfect...
Since Syaoran had joined them, nothing more was mentioned on the subject, as the conversation drifted towards what was due that day and the horrors of Mrs. Fuji.
Later that day, after math was done and science had yet to start, they had a momentary break from studies. Tomoyo nodded her head, making eye contact with Rika, Chelsea, and Zach. It was finally time to put her plan into motion.
"So, are you going to ask Sakura to the Homecoming Dance coming up next week?" True, Tomoyo was blunt, but at least she didn't waste time pussyfooting around a question.
Syaoran turned a bright red. "I-I-I wasn't p-planning on it," he managed to stammer.
"Oooh, come on!" squealed Rika. "We all know you two make the cutest couple!"
"Yeah, come ON Syaoran! We all KNOW she likes you, and it's OBVIOUS you like her too..." chimed Chelsea.
Syaoran turned to his good buddy Zach, his eyes pleading for him to save him from this female trap, but got the surprise of his life when Zach merely agreed. "You know you want to ask her out! And it's not like you have anything else to do next Friday night...The school isn't dumb enough to schedule a soccer match that night, so you can't use THAT copout!"
By this time, all eyes in the classroom were on Syaoran who was as red as it gets. We're talking blood-red. Mrs. Fuji even ventured into the subject as well. "Syaoran, you can't deny staring at her after you are done with your assignments. I've noticed something going on between you for some time now, and have been wondering just when something will happen. I think it's high time you just asked her out."
Okay, if Syaoran had been expecting ANYBODY to tease him about him and Sakura, it WASN'T Mrs. Fuji. Her comments were completely unexpected, and caught him completely off guard. If Syaoran was red before Mrs. Fuji's comments, he was maroon by the time she was done. A teacher thought they should be a couple?!! That was against all logic!!!
"I-I-I d-don't th-think sh-she l-likes m-m-me," was all he could muster as a defense.
His defense was quickly shot down. "YOU DON'T THINK SHE LIKES YOU?!!! DID YOU NOT SEE HOW RED SHE TURNED WHEN YOU BROUGHT HER CANDY AND FLOWERS?!!" Tomoyo was nearly livid. The rest of the class stared with wide eyes and open mouths. This was new info for them.
"You took her candy and flowers?!! How sweet!!!! You HAVE to take her to the dance now!!!" cooed Chelsea.
Right then, Syaoran amazed them all by turning an even deeper shade of red. (Later, some would say that he never turned any deeper shades of red; that was humanly impossible, after all. There were others, however, who swore that he almost turned black-he was so red.) Syaoran buried his face behind a book. He hated being in the spotlight like this. He positively despised it.
In desperation, he turned to Mrs. Fuji. "Don't just stand there!!" he yelled. "Do something!!"
"Break extended until Syaoran changes his mind."
Syaoran grimaced. That was NOT the kind of help he had in mind. He thought Mrs. Fuji hated this kind of interruption. Since she was apparently on their side, he knew he was all alone on this one.
The class burst into moaning and begging. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?" "You two make SUCH a CUTE couple!!!" "She REALLY likes you. You KNOW she does!!!" "You know you like her too!!!" Okay, okay, I know it's not really possible, but Syaoran just sat there—red as could be...possibly getting redder.
After five solid minutes of pleading and begging, he couldn't take it any more.
"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT!!!!! YOU WIN!!!!! I'LL ASK HER!!!!"
"Today at the hospital when we go to visit her after school." Tomoyo, Syaoran felt, would never be satisfied.
"NO! I'll ask her when I'm good and ready." This seemed to satisfy the mob. "If I even ask her at all," he mumbled under his breath. Some people heard his last comment and heaved deep sighs.
They were about to lash into him again when Mrs. Fuji suddenly snapped back into teacher mode. "Okay, he's made up his mind! No more discussion about this! UNDERSTOOD?! You have wasted enough of my class time as it is!"
"NOW she decides to stop wasting time," mumbled Syaoran.
The rest of the day went without any more interruptions. Syaoran was glad of it too. His face returned to a normal shade, well, except that there was a permanent tinge of pink on his cheeks. He couldn't BELIEVE they had all ganged up on him like that!! He knew they had chosen today, purely because Sakura wasn't there, and they could corner him and she wouldn't be able to come to his rescue. He had never been so embarrassed in all his life! All day long, although he could never catch them, he could feel the class's stares boring holes in the back of his head. He didn't know why he had told them that he might not even ask her out at all and why they had had such a hard time convincing him to ask her out. He'd daydreamed for weeks about the Homecoming Dance. He had prepared things to say to ask her out, but in the end they all sounded stupid. Although everyone assured him that she liked him, he felt that she only thought of him as stupid, just like everything he did. Of course, she HAD turned red when he gave her those roses...The roses had been his idea, but it had been Tomoyo's idea to give them to her in person...She had refused to let him place the roses in the delivery that the class made to the hospital the previous day.
"Syaoran!! Wake up!!"
Eriol stood in front of him. Wait, Eriol wasn't in his class...He looked around to see an empty classroom. He had fallen asleep in class! He figured it was all Tomoyo's fault. He didn't know how it was, but he figured it was.
"Tomoyo told me you were still in here. She said that she didn't want to wake you up."
"I hope you haven't grown too attached to that girl, Eriol. I may just kill her!"
"You can't kill her! I wouldn't have a date for the Homecoming Dance if you did!"
Syaoran grinned at Eriol with amazement. It was about time he focused on his own love life instead of messing around in Syaoran's.
"So, you've asked her?"
"Not yet, my cute descendent."
"Fine, do your own thing. And don't call me that!!"
Eriol just grinned at Syaoran. "Fine, just so long as you get some work done concerning your love life. When are you going to ask Sakura to the dance anyway?"
"UUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Why was everyone on his case about the dance? "Maybe as soon as everyone gets off my back about the whole thing!"
"Okay, okay. I can take a hint. Come on, let's go visit her in the hospital."
Syaoran knew what his friend was hinting at, but decided to ignore the nudge. After all, he had promised Sakura he would visit her in the hospital right after school. He had delayed that visit with Eriol and the nap he had taken.
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Sakura looked impatiently at her clock. 3:00. They would be there any minute. She was anxious to see Syaoran. Immediately, blush rose to her cheeks. She did want to see him. She wanted to tell him everything: the way she enjoyed his company, the way her guts became all twisted when he spoke to her, the way her stomach flip-flopped every time she thought about him.
She glanced again at the clock as it changed to 3:01. As if on cue, her room was instantly filled with people, but only five this time, doctor's orders and all that jazz.
After a few groups of people, Tomoyo finally made her way in, alone.
"I talked to Mrs. Fuji today about our project...You know how she says we have to have everything in on time unless you are on your deathbed and not expected to live? In spite of all that, she's letting us turn our project in on Monday!"
"That's good news!"
"Don't tell anyone, though; you KNOW they'd go out and injure themselves JUST to be able to have some more time for their projects."
"Okay, when shall we work on it then?"
"I don't know..."
Just then Zach walked in.
Sakura cut short her conversation, knowing Zach would be one of the ones Tomoyo was talking about. "I'll call you tonight, then, about that THING..."
Zach lit up like a Christmas tree. "What? You mean that thing where you and Syaoran are going to the Homecoming Dance?"
Sakura turned a deep red. "HOE?!!!" True, she did wish they were going together to the dance...but was it THAT obvious that she liked him?
"Oh, wait! He won't be able to take you! Because you have more that ten stitches, they'll have to keep you in a wheelchair until they take the stitches out, and that could be six years from now!!!!"
Sakura yelped and almost totally forgot about his earlier comment about her and Syaoran, figuring he was just lying to her anyway. She hunkered in her bed.
"Zach, stop teasing Sakura. She needs all the rest she can get, and you are NOT helping... in fact, why don't you just leave now?" Tomoyo said as she shooed Zach out of the room. Sakura was glad he had left. If he had been allowed to stay, who knows what kind of stories he would tell her next? Probably stories about ghosts and creepy goons from the next dimension. Sakura shuddered at the thought.
Sakura's dad entered the room just in time to see Sakura shudder.
"Honey, are you sure you're ready to go home? I saw you shiver. Maybe just one more night..."
"NO!!!" Sakura replied quickly. "I am DEFINITELY ready to leave!!!! I was just thinking about something."
"Okay, pumpkin. Tomoyo, I think it's best if you just go on home."
"Can I help at all?"
"If you want, you can take all of the gifts from Sakura's admirers to our house and arrange them as you see fit."
"Sure!!!" With that, Tomoyo ran around the room like a mad woman gathering all of the gifts.
Tomoyo ran into Zach as rushed past him on her way out of the hospital. Zach merely dodged her and ran for his life, not wanting to be mistaken for an oversized balloon and then shoved into Tomoyo's trunk.
Soon, after several trips to and from her car, the room was empty. Dr. Shays entered the room and shooed Tomoyo out. He checked Sakura and gave her the okay to go home. Minutes later, a nurse entered the room and unhooked Sakura from all of the monitors, and removed the IV from her wrist. The nurse also brought clothes Tomoyo had gathered for Sakura. Sakura was then left alone to change. After removing her shirt, she looked down at her stomach. It was covered in bandages...They wrapped all the way around her...She shuddered to think about what had happened, but not too hard because of the pain. She had to be very careful dressing because every time she bent over, a shock was sent through her system, straight to her brain. Soon, she was ready to go.
"Don't do and excessive bending over, don't do any exercising—that means no rollerblading to school. Your dad tells me your school is having a dance next Friday. You may go if you feel well enough, but don't do any wild dancing. Use discretion. Only do what you feel you are up to doing. I have supplied you with enough bandages for your torso for about a week. Change them once a day before you go to bed. You are good to go today, though, because we changed it just a few minutes ago. Come back next Wednesday, and we'll take out those stitches for you."
Sakura nodded as all of this information swirled through her brain. Dr. Shays must have seen the overwhelmed look on her face, because he told her that he had written down her do's and don't's on a piece of paper for her.
Soon, she was home, everything she needed in hand. They had stopped by the pharmacy to pick up the prescription painkillers and antibiotics-to kill any infection that may have entered her body.
Sakura managed to hobble up the stairs to her room and opened the door.
"WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!" Tomoyo greeted her. Her room was filled with all of her gifts from the hospital.
Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs.
After she finally calmed down, she asked, "Where's your car?"
"I left it at my house and walked back. I wanted to surprise you!!!"
"It worked! My stomach!!!" she moaned, clutching her belly which hurt from screaming so loudly.
"Eeep!!" Tomoyo squeaked. "I forgot that you can't scream or anything like that!!!"
"Some best friend you are!!!"
Tomoyo almost threw a pillow at Sakura, but stopped just in time. She then brightened up all of a sudden and started jumping around as Sakura lay down in her bed.
"GUESS WHAT!!! GUESS WHAT!!! GUESS WHAT!!!"
"What? And stop jumping around...You're making me queasy, and you don't want to make me sick."
Tomoyo obediently stopped bouncing. "Eriol asked me to the Homecoming Dance!!!!!!!"
"It's about time!!! I wondered when you two would finally get together!!!"
"I could say the same about you and a certain Chinese boy..."
"OKAY!! OKAY!! Continue..."
"Thank you! It was soooo sweet!!! I was walking back over here after I left my car at my house, and Eriol was walking along and met me on the sidewalk. He said something about how he and Syaoran—who was with him—were on their way to see you in the hospital, but I told them you were leaving...Anywho, Eriol all of a sudden gets down on one knee...Imagine how red I was!!! He looked like he was asking me to marry him...His face was just about as serious too!! But he says, 'I'd be much obliged if you would give me the pleasure of taking you to the Homecoming Dance.'"
Sakura giggled, which was all her stomach would allow her to do. "Yep! That sounds like Eriol all right!!"
Tomoyo flopped down on the chair beside Sakura's bed, being careful not to bounce Sakura around. She was just about to drift off into a daydream in la-la land, when Sakura brought her back to earth.
"Tomoyo, it's nearly six o'clock!! We probably ought to get started on our project!"
"Yeah, especially since we have to make a whole new batch of dough!"
Sakura grimaced. "Don't remind me! YOU be in charge of it this time. Put it in a PLASTIC bowl and I'll come down and help you as soon as the stuff is ready. I want to take a nap until then."
"Okay."
Her father suddenly popped into the room. "Sakura, I just wanted to see how you were doing! I've got some things at the college to catch up on, and Touya's out on one of his jobs—don't ask me which one! Oh, and here's your little stuffed animal. I found him lying in front of the refrigerator." He tossed Kero to Sakura without thinking that she couldn't move around to try and catch it. Luckily, Tomoyo caught it before anymore damage could occur.
"Thanks, Tomoyo! I owe you one. Dinner's in the fridge, girls, and Sakura, try to take it easy, okay?"
"Yes Daddy!"
He left and instantly, Kero came to life. "WHERE HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN?!! I'VE HAD NOTHING TO EAT!! YOUR FATHER ALMOST CAUGHT ME TRYING TO BREAK INTO THE FRIDGE!!!!!!"
Kero threw a pillow at Sakura. Kero then became deaf as a blood curdling scream filled the air. Sakura's dad immediately popped back into the room. (A.N. don't you just love the way people always pop in and out of rooms?) "What in the world happened?"
Tomoyo quickly covered up for Kero. "I was playing around and accidentally threw a pillow at her!"
He seemed satisfied with that answer and left.
"KERO!" Sakura fumed as she angrily told Kero the picked-through/Syaoran-parts-left-out story. Kero quickly apologized about the pillow.
"I'm still hungry!!"
"Come on, I'll feed you...Then I'll start on our project, okay, Sakura? Kero, you stay with me. Sakura needs rest, especially after what you did to her!"
Sakura gently began to drift off into dreamland a few minutes after they left.
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Sakura lazily opened one eye. She had rolled over on her side to face the wall while she was asleep. She had no idea how she had accomplished this feat, especially with her stomach being very sensitive to twisting. Then it hit her. How was she going to roll over and get out of her bed? She had gotten out of the hospital bed easily because it tilted to help her out. She decided slowly and carefully would be the best way to roll over. She closed her eyes, preparing for the pain that would come with rolling over. After about five minutes, she lay flat on her back. She rested for another five minutes, allowing the pain to ease away. She then began to roll over to her other side, to face her room. She lay there a while, again recovering from the pain. It helped to keep her eyes closed—she was able to concentrate on the task at hand, as well as block out some of the pain. She slowly scrunched herself up and pushed against the bed to help her sit up. She suddenly felt a breeze. Had Tomoyo left the window open? She sat on the edge of her bed, gathering her strength and blocking out the searing pain.
After all of the pain subsided, she opened her eyes. She quickly found the source of the breeze. She stared right into a pair of sleeping, closed eyes only a few inches away from her own. She knew if they had been open, they would have been amber pools. She moved carefully away from him...She didn't want to wake him up.
She no longer had the ability to concentrate on anything. A million thoughts were running through her brain and she was sure that everyone in the house could hear her loud heartbeats. She had a million questions as well. The first question that came to mind was "What is Syaoran doing here at my house at my bedside?"
She finally lost whatever shred of concentration she ever had. Her body jerked involuntarily. Her leg bumped into his leg, startling him and causing him to jump. His jumping startled Sakura and the force of his jumping jolted her and caused her to fall backwards very violently. She began to writhe in pain as she felt her body sound all alarms and warnings that are related to pain.
Syaoran didn't see any of this happen. By the time he was fully awake and able to comprehend any of his actions, he had already caused the damage. He found Sakura lying on the bed, moaning and clutching her stomach.
"SAKURA!!!!" he yelled. "Oh, no!!! What have I done? I just hurt Sakura!" he thought. "Calm down! I'm very sorry!!" He lay his hand on her shoulder and almost instantly her twitching stopped. She lay there for what seemed like an hour, slowly calming down and letting the pain subside. Syaoran never removed his hand from her shoulder.
When all the pain had subsided, Sakura sighed a huge sigh of relief. "I don't suppose you'd help me get up?"
Syaoran blushed slightly, but quickly agreed. "We don't want you to do THAT again!" He lifted her up and sat her down in the chair so she wouldn't have to hold herself up.
"Why are you here?"
"I promised I'd come see you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did." Sakura began to blush.
"We were going to the hospital when we ran into Tomoyo who told us you'd be home in a few minutes and there was no use in going all the way to the hospital if you wouldn't be there." He left out the part about Eriol and Tomoyo, seriously not wanting to bring up the Homecoming Dance.
"Tomoyo told me she ran into y'all. She also told me what Eriol did!" She giggled and then turned deep pink. "Doesn't that cousin of yours ever embarrass you to death?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggg!!!!" Syaoran thought. "She brought up the dance! I guess I could try and ask her now…"
"Anywho," continued Sakura. "Oh, wait! What time is it?"
Syaoran looked at her clock. "It's almost nine o'clock."
Tomoyo popped in the room. "Yeah, I know it's almost nine. I called my mom and told her I'd be able to stay." Syaoran nodded. "Have you called Meiling yet?"
"No, I guess I should though. You know, she's been a lot nicer to me since she found the love of her life down the street from us. She's actually ignored me a couple of times. It's kinda nice."
Sakura stared at them blankly. "Excuse me!!! Back up!!! WHY ARE Y'ALL STAYING?!"
Tomoyo turned and glared at Syaoran. "YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T TOLD HER YET?!!!"
"Tomoyo! Give me a break! She just woke up!"
"Sakura, your dad called to say that he just found out he has to fly to the Philippines to do some business of some sort. He said he tried to refuse, but his boss told him to go 'or else'! So we're staying over for a few days until you get better."
"What about Touya and Kero?"
Kero appeared from behind the door, his face covered in pudding. "I can't take care of you! We need someone like that Chinese brat *mumble, mumble, mumble* to help you get up and down, and we need Tomoyo *big grin* to cook. I don't want you ANYWHERE NEAR the kitchen!!!"
"And Touya has to work most of the time and needs us to look after you," concluded Tomoyo. "Now, it's almost nine, and I understand you don't need your bandages changed until tomorrow night, right?"
"Right."
"Then Syaoran, you need to leave so I can help Sakura into her jammies. After she's ready, we need you to come back and lay her down in bed. I think she'll be okay getting up and down from a sitting position, but we'll need you to pick her up when she's laying down, and when she's standing up and needs to lay down."
Sakura looked at Syaoran, and he at her. They gave the other a look of "Boy don't we know that!" Luckily, Tomoyo didn't catch their glances.
A few minutes later, Sakura was in Tomoyo-made jammies. The top was a low cut spaghetti strap tank-top covered in cherry blossoms. The bottoms were a pair of pj pants tinted pink and littered with the same flower.
Syaoran turned the same shade of pink as Sakura's jammies. He gently lifted her, as if he were carrying a priceless glass figurine. He lay her in her bed and pulled the sheets up to her shoulders.
"Cuuuuuute!" thought Tomoyo silently to herself.
Syaoran sat quietly by her bedside until he could hear her deep even breathing. He gently placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving her room and going to the living room and falling asleep on the couch.
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Didja like? If you behave and give me lots of reviews, I'll hurry up and have chap 5 out soon...Beware, chap 5 is a special freebie chap...Short, sweet, and full of mush… ^_^
Review please...otherwise no treat!
-Bugmagnent