h Where You Are h
By: NadeshikoLi Syaoran looked down at the green, fuzzy carpet of his room. He was sitting down on his bed, thinking about a certain someone with auburn hair and emerald green eyes. "Sakura.." he mumbled. It had been 8 years since the great warrior had last seen his precious cherry blossom. 8 years since he last had the chance to tell her how he felt. But he was a coward, just all of those countless other times. Every time he would try to attempt it, he would either get interrupted by an over-protective brother or begin to stutter like the fool he was. 'Why Sakura, why couldn't I tell you when I had the chance?' he pondered. 'Stupid clan, stupid rules!' Due to the training he was undergoing, he was unable to have contact with anyone outside of the clan. His little scam of getting Meiling to transport messages through to Sakura and Tomoyo had been found out. He had abruptly been cut short of his broken conversations with his cherry blossom and his dear friend, Tomoyo. Indeed, she was a good friend. Without persuasion from her, he wouldn't even have thought about his feelings for Sakura at that point in time. His thoughts were cut just as abruptly as his communications with Sakura when his four sisters entered his room.
He took his gaze off the carpet to give them a long, well-deserved glare. It didn't faze the four hyperactive women at all, as one of them exclaimed "Look little brother!" Having those words said, another of Syaoran's sisters, Li Fuutie, shoved a piece of paper in her little brother's face. The bold letters stuck out on the bright yellow, crumpled paper, saying "Singing Contest". But, before Syaoran had enough time to read the title, Li Fanren, another one of his sisters exclaimed in that 'I'm so happy' voice "We entered you in a singing contest!" Syaoran nearly fell off of his bed. "Me?" he squeaked. Li Shiefa, yet another sister, ruffled her little brother's hair. No matter how old he was, messing up Syaoran's hair was one of the favorite Li sister's hobbies. "Yes you!" "Yeah," Li Feimei, the last of the sisters, began. "We heard you singing a song one day in your room along with the music and then the power went off and you kept on singing and we never knew until then that our little brother was such a great singer!" Syaoran's cheeks flushed at the thought of someone actually hearing him, whether they liked it or not. "And then the strangest thing happened! Where mother made us go shopping, we saw an add on the bulletin board about a singing contest and the first thing that came to our minds was to enter out kawaii little brother!" Fanren stated. "But-" Syaoran was interrupted by all of his sisters yelling "And you can't back out!" Syaoran looked at the bulletin board add and skimmed the page for the date it was to be held on. It was in one week, then if you get
in the top ten, you go on. He sighed. This was going to be a hell of a long week.
*******************
Ring. Ring. "I'm coming!" A young woman of 18 yelled at her phone, running through her apartment to get to it before the person hung up. "Moushi moushi?" she huffed into the phone after she reached it and picked it up. "Sakura-chan?" "Tomoyo-san!" "Ohayo, Sakura-chan. How are you doing?" "All right. You?" "Great!" Tomoyo exclaimed, a little too excitedly. "Tomoyo… what have you got planned this time?" "Me?" Tomoyo asked in mock hurt. "Why, Sakura-chan, would you say something like that?" Sarcasm was dripping from her voice. "Actually…" she trailed off. "Ha! I knew it! You are planning something!" "I'd like to tell you in person, so can I come over? Onegai?" "Of course, Tomoyo-san! You know you're always welcome in my apartment!" "Arigatou, Sakura-chan. I'll be there in a few minutes!" "Okay then, bye." "Bye!" Sakura hung up the receiver.
'Hmmm… I wonder what she's planning?' Sakura thought to herself, waiting for her best friend to knock on the door. She sat herself down on a couch and thought. 'I wonder what Syaoran's doing right now? Does he even still remember me?' She thought for a few more minutes about her handsome prince, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Sakura counted along with the knocks as they came. "Knock, knock, knock, ring." The pattern followed perfectly. "Tomoyo's trademark ring…" she said to no one particular. She opened the door to reveal an over-ecstatic Tomoyo. She was smiling her usual smile, impossibly similar to Eriol's, and said "Ohayo, Sakura-chan!" Sakura moved out of the doorway to allow Tomoyo inside. "So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?"
*** 5 minutes later ***
"You what?!?!" screeched Sakura. "I entered you in the Eastern Asia Singing Contest," she stated calmly. "T-Tomoyo-san! How could you?!?!" Sakura was not happy with the news at all. "Just think about it, Sakura-chan. You're a great singer. And, if you want, I'll enter, too! That way, you won't have to be alone on stage!" "But Tomoyo-san! You're a lot better than I am!" "Nonsense, Sakura-chan! You're just as good, if not better than I am at singing!" "Ugh… fine," Sakura compromised. "At least you'll be doing it, too.." Little did Tomoyo and Sakura know that this contest was the same one that Li Syaoran was entering…
*** The Next Day ***
"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, wake up!" Tomoyo gently shook Sakura to bring her out of dream world and back into reality. Sakura rolled the opposite way of Tomoyo, saying "I don't want to get up yet, Kero-chan." "Sakura-chan! You have to practice for your contest! Come on, lazy butt! Get up!" "Ughhh…." Sakura groaned. This was to be a long day…
*** 5 hours of practicing later ***
"Tomoyo-san… I can't feel my lips anymore! Can we please stop?!" Tomoyo sighed, Sakura sure couldn't take much singing… "Alright.. but we have to go for six hours tomorrow!" "Tomoyo-san!" "Just joking, Sakura-chan. Sheesh…" Sakura rushed to the kitchen and downed about three gallons of water.
In Hong Kong, Syaoran wasn't having much luck, either. "I told you already, Fuutie, Fanren, Feimei and Shiefa! I will not sing in front of you! You can wait for the night of the show to find out how good I am!" "But Syaoran… we only got to hear you sing a little bit when the power went out!" Feimei cried, despite her brother's protests. "The less you heard, the better!" "Ohh… you're so mean Syaoran!" the women cried before they were pushed out of the room, compliments of their little brother. "There! Go!" They pounded on the door, saying things like 'I wanna pick out a song for you to sing!' and 'why won't you let us stay, Syaoran?!' Syaoran sighed. 'I hope all of the other contestants are having better luck than me…' With those words, he went off to practice in his own way; sister free.
*** Contest Day ***
Today was the day that Tomoyo and Syaoran's sisters had been waiting for, and Sakura and Syaoran dreading. There would be three contest places, one in Hong Kong, one in Tokyo, and one in Beijing. As you would have already known, Sakura was entering the Tokyo one, whereas Syaoran was entering the Hong Kong area one. The top 10 would continue on to the semi-final round in Beijing, and the top singer in each gender was to go in the final round, singing a predetermined song. At Hong Kong, Syaoran was fighting off his sisters, and in Tokyo, Sakura was fighting off Tomoyo…
"Tomoyo-san… the dress loosks perfect! You don't have to add anything else to it!" Sakura was the center of attention with Tomoyo adding the finishing touches on to the dress. It was a light blue dress, which hugged her body tightly at the top and flowed elegantly below the waist. It was enhanced with tiny navy blue bows scattered about the lower part of the dress. Her hair was piled on top of her head, leaving only a few strands hanging in front of her ears. With glitter on her eyes and a shiny, cherry flavored lip gloss, she was beautiful. "Tomoyo-san, don't you have to get yourself ready, too? I'm not the only one who has to go up on stage!" "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm perfectly fine!" Tomoyo was dressed in a dress similar to Sakura's, but was magenta in color with deep purple bows. Her hair flowed freely down her back and on to her bare shoulders, covered only by a thin strap of silk. "Okay, we're next Sakura-chan!" "Hoeee…"
"Up next is Daidouji Tomoyo, singing "Everything You Do!" The announcer's voice rang out high above the auditorium. Tomoyo inhaled deeply, stepping up on to the stage. "Yeah Tomoyo-san! I know you can do it!" Sakura cheered for her best friend. Tomoyo looked back at Sakura and smiled, saying "Arigatou," before stepping up onto the platform. Placing the mik in her hands, she began to sing:
From the moment you looked at me
And ever since you called my name
You've been everything that I've seen
And now I'm aught up in this game
Her voice carried loud and strong above the hushed audience.
My mind is spinning around and around
There's something special that I have found
Every time I close my eyes, all I can think of is you and me
Oh baby can't you see?
Meanwhile in Hong Kong…
"Oooh Syaoran! It's your turn next!" Fanren called out over her sister's heads to her little brother. "I know.." he groaned inwardly. At the moment, a young man named Oyasi Hajimatte was up singing. Syoran had to admit, he was pretty good. But nothing could compare to what he had in store. Not that he would show it to his sisters, but he was actually looking forward to the day. It was helping him to get his mind off of Sakura for a bit. Just a bit. His thoughts were interrupted for the millionth time that week by the announcer saying "Thank you, Oyasi Hajimatte. Up next, we have Li Syaoran, future leader of the Li clan, singing If She Only Knew!" A huge cheer erupted from the audience as Syaoran stood up and began walking up to the stage. Words of encouragement were heard from his mother and sisters as he stepped up onto the stage. He held the mik in his hand and waited for the audience to quiet down. As soon as they were hushed, he gave the signal for the music to start playing. After a few seconds, he began to sing.
If she only knew what I knew but couldn't say
If she could just see the part of me I hid away
If I could just hold her in my arms again and just say I love you
But she's gone away, maybe she'd stay, if she only knew
His voice rang out in every corner of the auditorium, every person's attention devoted to him and his strong voice.
And how, how did I let her get away
Cause love, love is so easy to feel, but the hardest thing to say
The words in the song crushed his heart to sing for that was exactly what had happened to him. Finds girl, learns to love girl, won't admit it, and finally, has to leave girl. His life story. He continued on, getting some "How kawaii!" ' s out of his sisters, and some "ooh's" and "ahh's" out of the rest of the crowd. By this time, he was near the end of the song, having only one more verse to go.
She's gone away, maybe she'd stay
If she only knew……….