Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. CLAMP does. Honestly, I have no idea why you
would even be reading this if you didn't know that.
Author's Note: Okay, I had this idea a while ago, then I started reading some CCS fics again, so I decided to write it. I don't know if it's a one- shot or not. If people really like it and I get a lot of reviews (and I mean a LOT), then I'll continue. Otherwise, I think I'll just leave it alone. So, if you want me to continue, you'd better review!!!!! *grins at her sneaky attempt to cajole readers into reviewing* After all, I could be working on "Forgotten Childhood" now. All those reviewers will be so mad at me. *grins again at shameless plug for her ongoing FF7 fic* I have another idea for a CCS story that I might write later, but I don't know..
Other important notes: This might be slightly AU. Basically, Sakura and Syaoran are in high school now. Syaoran stayed in Tokyo. They never confessed their feelings to each other. And, before anyone asks, I have no idea about Eriol and Tomoyo. If this continues, I'll make them have a relationship, but for right now it's easier to just stay focused on the main characters. Also, I'm not going to use any Japanese besides -chan, -kun, etc. The endings are alright, but we all know what the most common words are that I would have put in Japanese. There's no point in antagonizing those who don't. Anyway, enjoy!!
A Chance Occurrence
She was late.
...
Again.
She was always late, it seemed. Everyday he had ever known her, she had showed up seconds before class started. Even when she used to roller- blade to school next to Touya and Yuki, she would sleep in until the very last minute. But ever since Touya and Yuki had gone to college, Sakura had been in no rush to get up. At first, he had been sure her that continuous detentions would help her to get to school earlier, but it seemed he was mistaken. They barely had an effect on her at all.
He sighed, and ran a hand carelessly through his hair. Well, what could he expect? He had spoken to Kero about it once before, but the stuffed animal had only told him that she had four alarm clocks. The first went off at five a.m. Then, six thirty, seven, and seven fifteen. He regretted asking. It was too much to think about. How could someone not wake up with that much noise?
Then again, she wasn't used to noise waking her up. She was used to hearing her brother and father call her downstairs for breakfast. Touya and Yuki shared a dorm at Tokyo University, and they only came home on the weekends. Her father stayed home whenever he could, but lately he had been going out to more and more archeological sites. That left her alone for most mornings, and he knew her well enough to know that she was lonely. It made him worry about her.
He had long ago realized that he couldn't control worrying about her. And, oh, how he had tried. How he had fought and struggled with himself over his constant need to supervise her, to protect her. Even when his mind knew nothing was wrong, his heart screamed at him otherwise. Just like now. Although he knew that she was continuously late for class, there was a pang in his heart that told him something had happened to her. Why was that? He had thought that he would be able to get used to his feelings for her, over time.
But time had passed, and he couldn't get used to them. He just couldn't bring himself to get used to the way she made him feel. It used to irritate him, that he would blush every time she looked his way. That he would sometimes miss entire lectures in class because the scent of her freshly washed hair was too near to resist. That her face was both his first and last thought of each and every day. He had eventually accepted it, his just-short-of-obsession for her. Sometimes he caught himself staring at her from around a corner, and he would blush and try not to think of himself as a stalker.
Eriol had once caught him during one of these moments. The sorcerer had slipped behind him stealthily, and he had not even noticed. When he finally turned away, he heard a soft laugh and turned around frantically. His blush spread even farther when he realized that Eriol had been spying on him. Luckily, the sorcerer had only smiled and walked away. He had been certain that Tomoyo would have found out, but if she knew she never said anything. Somehow, he was sure that there were plenty of hours of videotape of him staring at Sakura in Tomoyo's personal video library.
Sakura. Just thinking her name made him blush. He tried not to think it when he could. It made for odd situations, like explaining to random girls that he didn't really like them, not in that way. There had been more and more girls coming up to him recently. He wished they would all just go away. He had better things to do than worry about them.
"Syaoran!"
He turned his head at the greeting, and saw Meiling rushing towards him. He mentally kicked himself for feeling disappointed.
"Morning, Syaoran!"
"Morning, Meiling."
She latched onto his arm, and he sighed. This girl was so hard to put up with sometimes. But, he did care for her in a way that he cared for no one else. It wasn't the sort of love he held for his cherry blossom, true, but it was love nonetheless.
"Meiling..," he said, warning her. She giggled and held on tighter. "Meiling, come on. School's going to start soon! Ah.. Meiling!"
She let go of him and smiled. "But I have to say hi to you every morning!"
"Why? We live together, you can see me whenever you want to."
Meiling rolled her eyes and pointed at him. "Don't be stupid."
"Eh?"
"Besides, you've been getting to school earlier lately. This is the second day that I couldn't walk to school with you!"
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "So what? I can do what I want."
Meiling looked up at him with big, watery eyes. "You're so mean, Syaoran!"
"Good morning, Li-kun, Meiling-chan."
He turned at the soft voice, and saw Tomoyo walking towards them. She took her seat, moving in that graceful way that only she could. He felt a presence coming near, and was not surprised when Eriol turned up seconds later.
"Hello, descendant."
Resisting the urge to slap him, Syaoran yelled, "I wish you'd stop calling me that!"
Eriol, of course, had already turned away and was greeting Tomoyo. Syaoran looked at them, and felt a twinge of jealousy. It wasn't fair. He had known Sakura far longer than Eriol had known Tomoyo, yet they seemed to have no trouble at all with their relationship. Why was he the only one who couldn't seem to do anything right? He had certainly tried hard enough in becoming the cardcaptor, then telling Sakura how he felt about her. Of course, after a while he really had not wanted to become the cardcaptor anymore, and then he was just too nervous to admit his feelings for her. Ah, it just never worked out for him.
Where was she? The thought nagged at the back of Syaoran's mind, and he felt like kicking himself for it. Must he always think about her? Sometimes it was pleasant, and he felt happy that he could recall images of her so easily. Other times he felt that the only way he'd ever be able to stop thinking of her was to finally confess his feelings to her, and be rejected. No. He definitely couldn't do that. It was better to live with the illusion that he had a chance, rather than find out that she thought of him as 'just a friend'. It was better to not ask her, than to have his heart shattered like that.
Class began once Sawatari-sensei entered the room. He was well respected among the faculty, and had a reputation for making his subjects easy to understand. Of course, since his specialty was mathematics, many students tried to get into his class. When Sakura had told Syaoran that she felt like she needed more help in math, he immediately recommended Sawatari- sensei. Right after he had suggested they make a weekly study date, of course. He was too intelligent not to take an opportunity when one presented itself.
Their first study session had been a bust. They had agreed to meet in the library, but when he got there, she was already talking with Yamazaki and Chiharu, who just happened to be doing some research for a project. The two girls sat down together and talked for over an hour, while Yamazaki and Syaoran tried to make some attempt at conversation. Nothing of value was accomplished, unless you counted Yamazaki getting Sakura and Syaoran to believe that the only reason libraries had to catalogue their books was so that the government could track who read what in order to be able to manipulate the voting population. Chiharu had hit him upside the head, and realization came across both of the gullible faces.
Yamazaki had been getting better at lying, but it was a hard habit to break. Apparently, Chiharu had asked him to try to stop. The way they acted together was completely unique. He would be completely cavalier about other things, but when she was involved he would become serious. It was a side- effect of their relationship. Chiharu was Yamazaki's world, and when she said something, he obeyed. Other people laughed about the way he tried to please her, but their close friends saw how Chiharu acted around him, as well. She had long ago grown out of blushing whenever he showed up, but there were other ways of showing love. Syaoran had once passed by a classroom with only them inside, and he had briefly seen Yamazaki sitting at a desk, with Chiharu sitting on top of it, laughing. Syaoran was often jealous of the easy way they interacted, and wondered if it could ever be like that with Sakura. He wasn't the only one who noticed how their relationship had grown over the years. It caused no end of jealousy amongst her friends, who all had their own relationship problems.
Rika was currently waiting to turn eighteen. That was when she would allow herself to date Terada-sensei. He agreed with her, and had been waiting patiently. The difference in their ages had made some people frown, but neither cared about the opinions of other people. Syaoran hadn't really thought about it one way or the other, and didn't particularly care to. Rika was one of the most mature people he knew, and he was confident she could make her own decisions. Plus, Terada-sensei seemed to genuinely care about her. He had been waiting for a long time, after all. It would have made other men crazy, but he seemed happy to let Rika grow up first. Now that she was seventeen, he had started to take her out to dinner. But that was all, and everyone who knew about their relationship thought better of him for it.
Sakura had an entirely different sort of problem. Besides the fact that she was completely unaware of how smitten a certain amber-eyed youth was with her, she was also beginning to have a rather large group of male fans. It seemed that not a day would pass when she wasn't propositioned to by someone. It had never really bothered her until Rika had pointed it out. Then, Syaoran had noticed her attitude towards these men becoming less and less friendly. But, Sakura being less friendly than normal was still extremely friendly, so most didn't take the hint. It annoyed Syaoran to no end that she put up with it at all. If he had his way, he would have beaten every single one of them. Once he had pointed this out to Tomoyo, but she had only smiled and stated that it might be better if he didn't tell Sakura that. He still didn't understand why Sakura wouldn't want all those guys to get beat up, but he knew Tomoyo would have the right advice on this. He had wisely not told Sakura his opinion.
"Li? Would you mind sharing your thoughts with the rest of the class?"
He turned scarlet. "Sorry, I was just-"
Sawatari-sensei smiled. "It wouldn't do to have one of my best students not paying attention in class."
"No, sir. I'm sorry."
Sawatari-sensei turned back around and continued with the lesson. School had started fifteen minutes ago. Where was she?
Almost as if in answer to his thoughts, the door opened. In rushed Sakura, her schoolbag hanging off of one arm, and apology written all over her face.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Kinomoto-san."
"I'm really, really sorry! I slept way later than I normally do, and then-"
"Kinomoto-san."
"-I burnt my breakfast, then when I put on my roller blades, one of the wheels-"
"Kinomoto-san."
"-broke, so I had to run all the way here!" She took a deep breathe and looked at her teacher. "Yes?"
"Please sit down."
Sakura blushed and hurried to the other side of the room. She smiled at Syaoran before she sat down in front of him. Her short, auburn hair was freshly wet, and he could see a small drop of water running down her neck.
"Syaoran-kun?"
The gentle voice startled him and he glanced up. Sakura had turned her head to look at him. His arm was out in front of him, one finger lightly resting on her neck, catching the drop of water before it could get any further. He hadn't even realized what he was doing. A blush spread across his cheeks, and he tried to stammer out an explanation.
"Th-th-there w-was a d-drop of wa-wa-water." Ugh, why did he have to always sound so stupid when he spoke to her?
Sakura smiled. "Thanks."
Syaoran could only nod and look away. He lowered his arm reluctantly. A glance at his fingertips showed him the drop had clung onto him. He glared at it. It had been in her hair that morning, no doubt, and then it had the nerve to start running down her neck! If he hadn't stopped it from continuing, it might have gone under her shirt! In fact, he bet it would have. The stupid drop wouldn't miss out on that kind of opportunity, would it? If it had the chance, it would have. He was sure of it.
Blinking, he came back to reality. He was jealous of a drop of water. It was a sad, sad day indeed.
Author's Note: I'm posting this now, just to see what the response is. I'll add to it later, but I'm just curious to see if I should keep working on this fic, my Schwarz fic, or my Fruits Basket fic. If enough people like it and review I'll continue. So, please let me know what you think so far!! I do have an actual idea for this story, but I haven't even started writing it yet. -__-::: I guess I'm just really eager to see the response to this fic. Heeheehee..... Also, this title is SO going to change. I don't know what to yet.
Author's Note: Okay, I had this idea a while ago, then I started reading some CCS fics again, so I decided to write it. I don't know if it's a one- shot or not. If people really like it and I get a lot of reviews (and I mean a LOT), then I'll continue. Otherwise, I think I'll just leave it alone. So, if you want me to continue, you'd better review!!!!! *grins at her sneaky attempt to cajole readers into reviewing* After all, I could be working on "Forgotten Childhood" now. All those reviewers will be so mad at me. *grins again at shameless plug for her ongoing FF7 fic* I have another idea for a CCS story that I might write later, but I don't know..
Other important notes: This might be slightly AU. Basically, Sakura and Syaoran are in high school now. Syaoran stayed in Tokyo. They never confessed their feelings to each other. And, before anyone asks, I have no idea about Eriol and Tomoyo. If this continues, I'll make them have a relationship, but for right now it's easier to just stay focused on the main characters. Also, I'm not going to use any Japanese besides -chan, -kun, etc. The endings are alright, but we all know what the most common words are that I would have put in Japanese. There's no point in antagonizing those who don't. Anyway, enjoy!!
A Chance Occurrence
She was late.
...
Again.
She was always late, it seemed. Everyday he had ever known her, she had showed up seconds before class started. Even when she used to roller- blade to school next to Touya and Yuki, she would sleep in until the very last minute. But ever since Touya and Yuki had gone to college, Sakura had been in no rush to get up. At first, he had been sure her that continuous detentions would help her to get to school earlier, but it seemed he was mistaken. They barely had an effect on her at all.
He sighed, and ran a hand carelessly through his hair. Well, what could he expect? He had spoken to Kero about it once before, but the stuffed animal had only told him that she had four alarm clocks. The first went off at five a.m. Then, six thirty, seven, and seven fifteen. He regretted asking. It was too much to think about. How could someone not wake up with that much noise?
Then again, she wasn't used to noise waking her up. She was used to hearing her brother and father call her downstairs for breakfast. Touya and Yuki shared a dorm at Tokyo University, and they only came home on the weekends. Her father stayed home whenever he could, but lately he had been going out to more and more archeological sites. That left her alone for most mornings, and he knew her well enough to know that she was lonely. It made him worry about her.
He had long ago realized that he couldn't control worrying about her. And, oh, how he had tried. How he had fought and struggled with himself over his constant need to supervise her, to protect her. Even when his mind knew nothing was wrong, his heart screamed at him otherwise. Just like now. Although he knew that she was continuously late for class, there was a pang in his heart that told him something had happened to her. Why was that? He had thought that he would be able to get used to his feelings for her, over time.
But time had passed, and he couldn't get used to them. He just couldn't bring himself to get used to the way she made him feel. It used to irritate him, that he would blush every time she looked his way. That he would sometimes miss entire lectures in class because the scent of her freshly washed hair was too near to resist. That her face was both his first and last thought of each and every day. He had eventually accepted it, his just-short-of-obsession for her. Sometimes he caught himself staring at her from around a corner, and he would blush and try not to think of himself as a stalker.
Eriol had once caught him during one of these moments. The sorcerer had slipped behind him stealthily, and he had not even noticed. When he finally turned away, he heard a soft laugh and turned around frantically. His blush spread even farther when he realized that Eriol had been spying on him. Luckily, the sorcerer had only smiled and walked away. He had been certain that Tomoyo would have found out, but if she knew she never said anything. Somehow, he was sure that there were plenty of hours of videotape of him staring at Sakura in Tomoyo's personal video library.
Sakura. Just thinking her name made him blush. He tried not to think it when he could. It made for odd situations, like explaining to random girls that he didn't really like them, not in that way. There had been more and more girls coming up to him recently. He wished they would all just go away. He had better things to do than worry about them.
"Syaoran!"
He turned his head at the greeting, and saw Meiling rushing towards him. He mentally kicked himself for feeling disappointed.
"Morning, Syaoran!"
"Morning, Meiling."
She latched onto his arm, and he sighed. This girl was so hard to put up with sometimes. But, he did care for her in a way that he cared for no one else. It wasn't the sort of love he held for his cherry blossom, true, but it was love nonetheless.
"Meiling..," he said, warning her. She giggled and held on tighter. "Meiling, come on. School's going to start soon! Ah.. Meiling!"
She let go of him and smiled. "But I have to say hi to you every morning!"
"Why? We live together, you can see me whenever you want to."
Meiling rolled her eyes and pointed at him. "Don't be stupid."
"Eh?"
"Besides, you've been getting to school earlier lately. This is the second day that I couldn't walk to school with you!"
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "So what? I can do what I want."
Meiling looked up at him with big, watery eyes. "You're so mean, Syaoran!"
"Good morning, Li-kun, Meiling-chan."
He turned at the soft voice, and saw Tomoyo walking towards them. She took her seat, moving in that graceful way that only she could. He felt a presence coming near, and was not surprised when Eriol turned up seconds later.
"Hello, descendant."
Resisting the urge to slap him, Syaoran yelled, "I wish you'd stop calling me that!"
Eriol, of course, had already turned away and was greeting Tomoyo. Syaoran looked at them, and felt a twinge of jealousy. It wasn't fair. He had known Sakura far longer than Eriol had known Tomoyo, yet they seemed to have no trouble at all with their relationship. Why was he the only one who couldn't seem to do anything right? He had certainly tried hard enough in becoming the cardcaptor, then telling Sakura how he felt about her. Of course, after a while he really had not wanted to become the cardcaptor anymore, and then he was just too nervous to admit his feelings for her. Ah, it just never worked out for him.
Where was she? The thought nagged at the back of Syaoran's mind, and he felt like kicking himself for it. Must he always think about her? Sometimes it was pleasant, and he felt happy that he could recall images of her so easily. Other times he felt that the only way he'd ever be able to stop thinking of her was to finally confess his feelings to her, and be rejected. No. He definitely couldn't do that. It was better to live with the illusion that he had a chance, rather than find out that she thought of him as 'just a friend'. It was better to not ask her, than to have his heart shattered like that.
Class began once Sawatari-sensei entered the room. He was well respected among the faculty, and had a reputation for making his subjects easy to understand. Of course, since his specialty was mathematics, many students tried to get into his class. When Sakura had told Syaoran that she felt like she needed more help in math, he immediately recommended Sawatari- sensei. Right after he had suggested they make a weekly study date, of course. He was too intelligent not to take an opportunity when one presented itself.
Their first study session had been a bust. They had agreed to meet in the library, but when he got there, she was already talking with Yamazaki and Chiharu, who just happened to be doing some research for a project. The two girls sat down together and talked for over an hour, while Yamazaki and Syaoran tried to make some attempt at conversation. Nothing of value was accomplished, unless you counted Yamazaki getting Sakura and Syaoran to believe that the only reason libraries had to catalogue their books was so that the government could track who read what in order to be able to manipulate the voting population. Chiharu had hit him upside the head, and realization came across both of the gullible faces.
Yamazaki had been getting better at lying, but it was a hard habit to break. Apparently, Chiharu had asked him to try to stop. The way they acted together was completely unique. He would be completely cavalier about other things, but when she was involved he would become serious. It was a side- effect of their relationship. Chiharu was Yamazaki's world, and when she said something, he obeyed. Other people laughed about the way he tried to please her, but their close friends saw how Chiharu acted around him, as well. She had long ago grown out of blushing whenever he showed up, but there were other ways of showing love. Syaoran had once passed by a classroom with only them inside, and he had briefly seen Yamazaki sitting at a desk, with Chiharu sitting on top of it, laughing. Syaoran was often jealous of the easy way they interacted, and wondered if it could ever be like that with Sakura. He wasn't the only one who noticed how their relationship had grown over the years. It caused no end of jealousy amongst her friends, who all had their own relationship problems.
Rika was currently waiting to turn eighteen. That was when she would allow herself to date Terada-sensei. He agreed with her, and had been waiting patiently. The difference in their ages had made some people frown, but neither cared about the opinions of other people. Syaoran hadn't really thought about it one way or the other, and didn't particularly care to. Rika was one of the most mature people he knew, and he was confident she could make her own decisions. Plus, Terada-sensei seemed to genuinely care about her. He had been waiting for a long time, after all. It would have made other men crazy, but he seemed happy to let Rika grow up first. Now that she was seventeen, he had started to take her out to dinner. But that was all, and everyone who knew about their relationship thought better of him for it.
Sakura had an entirely different sort of problem. Besides the fact that she was completely unaware of how smitten a certain amber-eyed youth was with her, she was also beginning to have a rather large group of male fans. It seemed that not a day would pass when she wasn't propositioned to by someone. It had never really bothered her until Rika had pointed it out. Then, Syaoran had noticed her attitude towards these men becoming less and less friendly. But, Sakura being less friendly than normal was still extremely friendly, so most didn't take the hint. It annoyed Syaoran to no end that she put up with it at all. If he had his way, he would have beaten every single one of them. Once he had pointed this out to Tomoyo, but she had only smiled and stated that it might be better if he didn't tell Sakura that. He still didn't understand why Sakura wouldn't want all those guys to get beat up, but he knew Tomoyo would have the right advice on this. He had wisely not told Sakura his opinion.
"Li? Would you mind sharing your thoughts with the rest of the class?"
He turned scarlet. "Sorry, I was just-"
Sawatari-sensei smiled. "It wouldn't do to have one of my best students not paying attention in class."
"No, sir. I'm sorry."
Sawatari-sensei turned back around and continued with the lesson. School had started fifteen minutes ago. Where was she?
Almost as if in answer to his thoughts, the door opened. In rushed Sakura, her schoolbag hanging off of one arm, and apology written all over her face.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Kinomoto-san."
"I'm really, really sorry! I slept way later than I normally do, and then-"
"Kinomoto-san."
"-I burnt my breakfast, then when I put on my roller blades, one of the wheels-"
"Kinomoto-san."
"-broke, so I had to run all the way here!" She took a deep breathe and looked at her teacher. "Yes?"
"Please sit down."
Sakura blushed and hurried to the other side of the room. She smiled at Syaoran before she sat down in front of him. Her short, auburn hair was freshly wet, and he could see a small drop of water running down her neck.
"Syaoran-kun?"
The gentle voice startled him and he glanced up. Sakura had turned her head to look at him. His arm was out in front of him, one finger lightly resting on her neck, catching the drop of water before it could get any further. He hadn't even realized what he was doing. A blush spread across his cheeks, and he tried to stammer out an explanation.
"Th-th-there w-was a d-drop of wa-wa-water." Ugh, why did he have to always sound so stupid when he spoke to her?
Sakura smiled. "Thanks."
Syaoran could only nod and look away. He lowered his arm reluctantly. A glance at his fingertips showed him the drop had clung onto him. He glared at it. It had been in her hair that morning, no doubt, and then it had the nerve to start running down her neck! If he hadn't stopped it from continuing, it might have gone under her shirt! In fact, he bet it would have. The stupid drop wouldn't miss out on that kind of opportunity, would it? If it had the chance, it would have. He was sure of it.
Blinking, he came back to reality. He was jealous of a drop of water. It was a sad, sad day indeed.
Author's Note: I'm posting this now, just to see what the response is. I'll add to it later, but I'm just curious to see if I should keep working on this fic, my Schwarz fic, or my Fruits Basket fic. If enough people like it and review I'll continue. So, please let me know what you think so far!! I do have an actual idea for this story, but I haven't even started writing it yet. -__-::: I guess I'm just really eager to see the response to this fic. Heeheehee..... Also, this title is SO going to change. I don't know what to yet.