A Semester of Deceit and Love
Disclaimer from chapter 1 applies to all chapters.
Enjoy!!!
Chapter 5: A Picnic
"Are you ready to go?" Sakura and Tomoyo looked up as Syaoran stuck his head through the door to their room. "The others are waiting by the car," he continued.
"I'm ready," Tomoyo said. "Do you need a few more minutes, Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah…" she said, still stuffing some more clothes into her bag.
"I'll go down and tell the driver," Tomoyo told them. "Syaoran-kun, please stay and help Sakura, okay?"
Syaoran looked up at her. Tomoyo had a wide grin on her face, camera pointed directly at him. He glared hopelessly at her. Her grin only widened happily. "Fine," he mumbled. He watched helplessly as she left.
"That girl…" he muttered.
"What?" Sakura asked. He looked quickly up at her. "Nothing."
"Do you need help with anything?' he asked her.
"No, that's okay," she replied.
He glanced quickly around her room as she continued to pack a few more things. It's much cleaner than my room. He smiled. A small little stuffed animal suddenly caught his eye as he took another look at the room. A slight hint of red quickly spread over his face as he recognized the brown teddy bear he had giver her so many years before. I can't believe she still has that thing…much less that she brought it here with her. And it's even on her bed…
Sakura looked up at him unnoticed and followed his gaze, blushing as she realized what he was looking at. She looked away quickly.
"Umm…I think I'm ready now," she said, picking up her bags.
He walked quickly over to her, taking the bags gently from her. "I'll carry them."
She looked up at him surprised. "It's okay. I can carry them," she said, reaching to take them back.
He turned and began walking out the door. "It's fine."
She sighed and followed him out of the room. "Thank you, Syaoran-kun," she said quietly.
He blushed. "It's nothing."
Sakura smiled.
***
"I'm so excited about seeing Yamazaki-kun and Chiharu-san!" Tomoyo squealed as she and Sakura finished making some sushi, onigiri (rice balls), and cake at Sakura's home in Tomoeda.
"Me too. I hope they've been liking college so far," Sakura said. "They've been staying home since Towa University is so close, right? I remember that's what my brother and Yukito-san did."
"I think that's right," Tomoyo told her.
"I'm going to go get a blanket to sit on for the picnic. Can you finish putting the food in the picnic basket?" Sakura asked Tomoyo.
Tomoyo smiled. "Of course. That's fine."
Sakura quickly ran up to her room to get an extra blanket, only to run into a very angry looking Kero. She sweatdropped.
"Umm…are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm feeling left out," he said bluntly. "It's been forever since I've had some good food since we've been at the university. And now you don't even invite me to the picnic."
Sakura resisted the urge to smile at his pitiful expression. "You can't come because Naoko-san and Rika-san will be there. But I promise I'll give you something good later tonight, okay?" she asked, trying to appease the small guardian.
His eyes lit up slightly. "You promise?"
She smiled. "I promise." She quickly found the blanket she had been looking for and after saying goodbye to Kero and her father who was working on some things in his room, hurried down the stairs to a waiting Tomoyo.
"Are we ready?" Tomoyo asked.
"Yup!" Sakura said happily, following Tomoyo out of the house.
Tomoyo looked over at Sakura as they walked toward Penguin Park. She looks happy now…I'm glad. Ever since Syaoran's come back, she's seemed a little different, less cheerful. And then she keeps talking about that American exhange student, Ryan. She smiled. And Syaoran seems so jealous…I know he must like her. That's probably why he came back….
Sakura looked around them as they walked. I had missed all this…it seems like it's been so long since I left home. It's nice to be back. So much happened here…with the Clow Cards and then transforming all of the cards…and Syaoran-kun… Sakura grinned as memories of her past flooded into her mind. I thought that I might never get to be his friend…he seemed to hate me so much when he first came here. But so much has changed since then, he changed so much. I'm sure I did too…And it seemed so weird when he left to go back to Hong Kong…empty somehow…
"It looks like everyone is already there," Tomoyo said, breaking into Sakura's thoughts. Sakura looked up as they approached Penguin Park, smiled, and waved at the small group assembled at the entrance.
"Hey you guys!" Chiharu called out when they had finally reached them. "How come you didn't tell me Syaoran-kun had come back?"
Sakura and Tomoyo smiled.
"How have you two been?" Sakura asked Chiharu and Yamazaki.
"We've been wonderful, haven't we Yamazaki?" Chiharu replied. Yamazaki just nodded his head smiling.
"So you like Towa University?" Tomoyo asked.
"Yup, it's great."
"Let's go find a place to sit," Rika suggested, leading the group to a shady spot underneath a blooming tree.
"You mind if I join you?"
The group all turned to look behind them at the new voice. They stood shocked as they saw the person standing before them.
"Hiiragizawa-san!" Tomoyo exclaimed, excited at seeing Eriol so unexpectedly.
"Hi there," he said, smiling at them.
"Wow, it's been so long since we've seen you," Sakura said. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming? You just wrote a little while ago…you could have told us then."
Eriol smiled at her. "First of all, I like surprises. But it's mostly because I just found out I was coming myself. I heard that you had this short holiday, so I thought it would be a good time to visit…when you might all be together."
"Well, I'm glad you came," Tomoyo said shyly. Eriol blushed, but quickly turned his attention to Syaoran.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to find you here," Eriol said.
Syaoran glared at him. "I wasn't expecting you either." Eriol grinned.
"So, in your last letter you said you were going to go to college too, right, Hiiragizawa-san?" Tomoyo asked.
"That's right. I'm going to a small college in my hometown."
"Do you like it so far?" Naoko asked.
"Yes, I do," Eriol replied. "What about you guys? How are you liking college?"
"I've been loving it," Tomoyo answered. Sakura nodded her head in agreement. Syaoran remained quiet.
"It's been awesome!" Chiharu exclaimed. "And I love your father's class, Sakura-chan. It's always so interesting."
"Really?" Sakura asked. "I'm glad."
"But we haven't had a test or anything yet, so I don't know if it'll be hard," Chiharu added. Sakura smiled.
"Did you know archaeologists found a skeleton 3.7 billion years old in Ethiopia in 1974? They called it Lucy and it was among the first humanlike species."
"Really?" Sakura asked. The others sweatdropped.
Chiharu groaned. "What have I told you before, Sakura-chan? Never ever believe anything he says. He never tells the truth, remember?"
Sakura looked at her innocently.
"But I am telling the truth!" Yamazaki insisted.
"Yeah, yeah," Chiharu muttered.
"My mother gave me some tickets for this great concert tonight," Tomoyo began. "I was wondering if any of you wanted to go?"
"Sounds great!" Chiharu exclaimed. "Yamazaki and I want to go, right, Yamazaki-san?"
He just looked at her and smiled.
"I would love to go with you," Eriol said. Tomoyo smiled at him happily. He blushed.
"Do you have enough tickets for all of us?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo smiled. "Of course!"
"Then I'll go too," Sakura said.
"Then I will too," Syaoran mumbled quietly.
Tomoyo smiled even wider. "Great! Then how about we all meet here at six tonight. The concert starts at 7."
"Sounds good to me," Eriol said.
"How long will you be staying here?" Tomoyo asked Eriol.
"Only a few days. I need to get back to classes soon too."
"Well, I really am glad you came. I know we all missed you," Tomoyo told him.
"I missed you too…all of you," he said. Tomoyo blushed slightly. Sakura noticed, and smiled.
***
End of Chapter 5
Sorry if this was a slow chapter…the next chapter will pick up again.