DISCLAIMER: CCS not mine, songs are and storyline
Sing for Me: Chapter Nine: Misconceptions and Heartbreak?
Sakura looked at herself in the mirror off the right side of the stage; donning a floor-length sleeveless hot-pink outfit that was tied together over her torso with cross-ties in white, and then split open at the waist, revealing her slender legs clad in black leggings and black ankle boots. There were small emerald earrings hanging down from her earlobes, sparkling in the little light, bringing out the true vividness of her eyes. On her wrists there were white cuffs lined in a stylized manner with black and hot pink to correspond.
All were courtesy of Tomoyo of course who claimed that id she hadn't gone into the executive business, she would have been content to just make costumes for her Sakura.
Sakura smiled slightly. Tomoyo was always there; then she smirked. She had still not told her who she loved but knew that after tonight, it would have to be clear to anyone who it was...
"Sakura!" and she turned to see Eriol, showing her for the first time his unease, which she had been almost certain he didn't even possess, as he came out from the left side of the back stage, fidgeting slightly with his collar.
"Kon-wa Eriol!"
"Hai, kon-wa. Um, do I look alright?" he asked, amazed he was wearing what he was wearing, which was...
Well, let's put it this way, Tomoyo made this outfit too.
"Hai, you look kawaii," Sakura said without flinching, all truth and happiness. After a moment of silence Eriol nodded.
"So it's going to be the first number, ne?"
"Hai, and you know when to come out right?" she asked him, studying him. He looked very debonair in Tomoyo's creation, a take-off of a traditional school uniform, long black pants and high collared black top, but the front was not held together with buttons...
...in fact it wasn't held together at all.
That perhaps was why he had been uncomfortable. It bared the midsection of his well-toned torso, lithely muscled, but only enough to look fit and sleekly handsome, just like the rest of him. He still wore his glasses to Sakura's secret pleasure; they made him look just as sophisticated and kind as he really was and that was one thing she found especially wonderful about him.
"Hai, demo, I'm not sure I'll remember everything else...you know, all the dancing and movement..." he trailed off and Sakura reached out and took his hand, comforting him as Tomoyo and her other friends had done for her when she first began her singing career and still had nervousness.
"Eriol-kun, you'll remember everything, I know it! Don't worry. Hey, remember..." she was cut off as he nodded and placed his hand over her mouth.
"Hai, hai, 'Zettai daijoubu' ne?" he filled in. And she smiled beneath his hand.
They did not see the amber eyes watching them, mistaking all they were doing, not understanding what was going on inside of him, not knowing the truth.
And that would be the initial happening to cause chaos.
But he didn't know that.
And neither did the people he watched as he slid back further into the shadows, to find his date who waited for him with her own alternative motives lurking beneath her seductive smile. And if you haven't already guessed, it wasn't Tomoyo.
"Syaoran!" came a purring voice as he returned to the concert amphitheatre's main room, looking up into a pair of deceptive blue eyes framed by wine colored hair.
"Let's sit Koi," he motioned tonelessly, still miffed by what he had just seen and Koi, not used to being second in any man's mind, was more than a little put out.
Good thing she was an actress.
"Hai, anything you say Syaoran," she purred again and followed him like a love-sick school girl dressed in a super-model's low-cut halter top of black and skin-tight khakis that accentuated her well-developed curves.
She turned many male heads in the area, and knew it.
But Syaoran didn't even seem to notice. He was reasoning with himself. Maybe what he had seen wasn't what he thought it was...baka, he thought annoyed, what else could it have been? She was smiling and he was being his normal self that usually wouldn't have irritated him so, if it hadn't involved the cherry blossom.
And why did it bother him?
He groaned inwardly, not wanting the real reason to surface even though he knew it already had. All he could do now was hope it was nothing and that she didn't...he gulped uneasily...didn't love Eriol.
He hoped to Kami she didn't...he internally frowned...why oh why did he CARE? A headache soon ensued.
"OHOHOHOHOHO!" and you don't have to guess who this is; Tomoyo laughed gleefully, prettily dressed herself in a deep indigo dress, knee length and form-fitting but classy as her status quo demanded.
"Ehehe...Tomoyo-chan, why are you laughing?" Sakura asked tentatively.
"You two..."she paused, looking rather evil. "...are so KAWAII!" and here she proceeded to inspect them from toe to head, every inch---to Eriol's personal discomfort---nodding and affirming good-taste when she saw it.
The lights were dark all of a sudden and the crowd quieted. Tomoyo grinned.
"Go get 'em you two!" She waved and ran off, undoubtedly to make certain the cameramen were properly positioned, et cetera, et cetera, before rushing to get the best seat to watch Sakura-chan.
"CHERRY! CHERRY! CHERRY!" the cries were enthusiastically anticipative of the performance and Sakura's blood began to warm at the sounds of her fans, smiling softly. She loved them so much for supporting her, every one of them. Eriol offered her hand an appreciative squeeze before she left him momentarily to stand on the stage behind the curtains, getting into position as the music started and slowly...ever so slowly, the curtains parted, revealing her shapely silhouette.
Syaoran tensed slightly as he watched the curtains part to reveal a familiar body. He supposed he should relax and just do as everyone else, enjoy the show.
Funny thing, he never listened to anyone, not even himself.
"Oh dearest..." Sakura's voice was clear and resonant as she sang the first two words of the melody. Silence reigned; this song seemed slow and her voice was soft, which was odd for an opener, but someone as adored as Cherry could get away with it.
"Oh dearest," she repeated, slowly moving her hands in a smooth curving motion, her head-microphone nearly brushing her lips as her head moved in equally sensual movement.
"Please answer me, my love...please answer truly..." she called out in her harmonious voice, reaching out her right hand to the audience and Syaoran would have liked to think she was reaching to him.
"Let me know you're here, let me know you're here..." she paused as the music stopped suddenly and so did her movement. And suddenly the lights flared up in bright stage lights, pink and white, as the music's real opening beats struck the room, fast and almost techno, but too melodious to be real techno and Sakura's hips and head moved back and forth with the punctuated beats.
"Let me hear your voice, oh baby, let me hold you in my arms and know you're not gone, oh baby," she danced across the stage comfortably, as dancers discreetly began filing out on stage and began to follow her movement.
"Whisper to me just this once, I know we've got it going on, so just speak to me, speak to me, oh yeah..." she sang with all the emotion she had, searching for the eyes she had grown to love, almost unwittingly...almost.
"Call my name, it's gotta be this way, let things stay the same oh baby," she was completely in-synch with her dancers now, heading them in the center of the stage.
"I know we've fought before and now and again, but now I don't want to settle for just a friend," and she paused again as she and her dancers swung their heads exaggeratedly to the left stage and that's when Eriol came out, singing, earning more than a few appreciative whistles and about a hundred sighs and screams of enthusiasm for him...and his outfit. He responded, singing:
"Won't you let me come a little closer to you now? I'm the one following your lead. Those eyes they've got a hold on me, your eyes dearest, they've got a hold on me."
And there were more screams from the females when they heard his angelic and sensual voice and Sakura could not repress a true smile, one unlike her stage smile, but just as good.
"Oh who's stopping you? Don't let them darling, show me the way to love you, show me the way you want me to," she sang back as he approached her.
"I know we've only just met in this life, but I'd swear it was the more than just this time, I've caught love at first sight," he responded, locking his hand with hers.
"Risking too much aren't we though? Should we just keep it down low? What would our friends say? What would they think?" she crooned and Eriol, getting rather into the whole thing, took her other hand as they had practiced and pulled her closer to him, earning more sighs from the audience, most of them wishing they were the ones in his arms.
"Can't worry baby, it's just you and me, don't let our love sink, it's not what they'll say, let's do it our way," he smiled as Sakura spun out of his arms slowly, still holding his hand.
"I surrender love, there's nothing I can do," she was then joined by Eriol's voice as they sang together:
"I'm lost without you,
I'm gone without you,
Don't fight me
There's nothing else going down...
I need you,
I want you,
Don't ever leave me
All I want is for you to be around..."
Eriol took the next part: "I know that when we first met, it was like the saying opposites attract,"
Sakura danced away from him playfully, "We fought and yelled and neither of us saw the love we might have,"
Eriol followed her, his smile turning more tender, "The words we said, they're still ringing,"
"But it doesn't matter now, because it's the song of love we're now singing," she sang back again.
They hit the chorus again:
"I'm lost without you,
I'm gone without you,
Don't fight me
There's nothing else going down...
I need you,
I want you,
Don't ever leave me
All I want is for you to be around..."
Here there was a dance break as they went into an entrancing new-age version of a tango, moving as one, spinning, turning, all those things.
And all were seen by the little wolf who suddenly felt very cold.
So, she does love him, he thought sadly and then lost that sadness and replaced it with stoic indifference. Why would he care? Why should he care? It's not like he...not like he loved her or anything. He should have known it when he saw them together before they started singing...back stage. He came to all of these conclusions in a rush, not once thinking that this was just an act, a song she wrote and sang with his best friend, nothing more. It never occurred to him that it was him she saw while singing this song, even though she danced with Eriol.
And it was because of this that historians have so aptly chronicled love's path as haphazard at best.
Syaoran concentrated on the song...funny, it reminded him of how he and she were to each other...
"Now we're past the childish games, aren't we love, aren't we?" Eriol smiled as they moved away from each other to opposite parts of the stage.
"We'll never be the same, it's written in the heavens above, do you hear me?" Sakura sang.
"The fights are the past and I know it's all true,"
"When I say that this can make it, can make it and last, because I love you!" Sakura finished.
They ended the song together:
"Because I love you..." their voices trailed off and were met with a lot of roaring cheers, catcalls and other whatnot.
Sakura was now searching, amidst the applauding crowd, for amber eyes, the owner for which she had written that song, who she had been thinking of ever since she met him, though with different thoughts albeit before. She found him and her smile turned down.
He was glaring at her, and she felt her heart waver, and wondered if she was imagining it perhaps. No, he was glaring at her and...she held in a cry of dismay.
Koi sat next to him, very closely. Inside she felt like sobbing, outside she was smiling and in the limbo between the two, she knew her heart was lost somewhere, stranded in question.
But the show must go on, she thought bitterly and then brightened, pushing the little wolf out of her mind, focusing on her fans, all her faithful fans.
She was not the only one who noticed them though.
Eriol scowled mentally at Koi. He wondered why Syaoran had brought her, what had possessed him? His gaze wandered to Sakura who was busy smiling and waving to the audience but as her head turned in his direction, he gasped slightly. Her eyes were clouded with unshed tears and he knew that she had seen Syaoran with...with that woman...Eriol thought angrily.
Unprecedented and unexpectedly, he strode across the stage and enveloped Sakura in a hug; at which Syaoran frowned fiercely, letting Koi edge so close to him that she was nearly on top of him. Sakura, in the hug she shared with Eriol, she allowed three tears to fall; then, before turning back to the audience, she wiped them lightly off her face, so light that they left no marks and prepared to sing her next song.
Eriol made a mental note to yell at his best friend later about his lack of a heart and brains, not precisely in that order either. He walked off stage to the disappointment of many, many women, as Sakura began her other songs. Tomoyo was waiting there for him and she didn't look happy.
"What is wrong with him?" she fairly growled, violet eyes flashing dangerously. "Even I could tell who she wrote that song for, even I," she emphasized bitterly, "And he seems not to give a damn, letting that vile woman smother him in public, right in front of Sakura!" she was almost screaming now. Eriol was shocked. He had never seen composed, patient, ever- understanding Tomoyo act so volatile, not that he blamed her.
"I don't know Tomoyo. I don't know. He's stubborn, but I've not known him to be dense...until now that is. I knew it was written for him too. It couldn't have been more obvious; not like she was speaking in Morse code or something..." he grumbled.
"Whatever the hell his problem is, he should get it together; I know he loves her," she added and at this Eriol was startled once more.
"Really?" he questioned.
"Hai, I could tell when I was with him, that he thought of someone else, and I am not so blind as to fool myself like that woman," Tomoyo gestured pointedly at Koi.
"How did you know it was her?" he asked.
"They fought. Sakura never fights with anyone if she can help it, but here she goes and calls him the nearest thing to imbecilic and the personification of idiocy! He obviously had struck a chord in her and the way he looked and flirted, no matter how rudely, with her, it was clear," she explained and Eriol could only agree with all she said.
"What are we going to do?" Eriol asked.
"Kill him?" suggested Tomoyo dryly and Eriol blanched at the sincerity in her tone.
"Iie...Ehehe...Tomoyo maybe something a little more forgiving, ne?" he reasoned. And she sighed.
"Hai, hai, I was just kidding."
Eriol wasn't so sure; her eyes were still bright with fury and he wouldn't have put anything past her, not when it came to her love for her best friend, Sakura.
That night, when the concert was over, Sakura was fast to leave, wanting to make it to her apartment before she began to break down...and she knew she would.
The last thing she needed to see was Syaoran and Koi lip-locking passionately as she passed through the hall to the exit.
But she saw and not caring who did or did not see her, she fled like a flittering cherry blossom on a harsh winter's fast wind, running all the way to her home, her safe place, where she felt the warm tears trickling down her face even as she opened the door, dropping the keys carelessly on the ground outside her door as she slammed it shut violently.
Her shoulders shook with sobbing, quiet sobs of a broken heart, and lack of comprehension as she stumbled blindly into the living area and collapsed onto the couch, resting her head on her forearms, and eventually crying herself to an uneasy sleep.
Tomoyo and Eriol had followed her as quickly as they could, Tomoyo glancing worriedly at the keys on the ground and picking them up as she entered the apartment, followed by Eriol, equally as anxious. They found Sakura's sleeping form on the couch, arms wrapped around herself protectively, face stained ever so slightly with streams of dried tears.
Tomoyo covered her with a blanket and Eriol, ignoring the motion, picked Sakura up in his arms and laid her instead, in her bed, pulling those covers over her gently. Tomoyo turned to him as they softly shut the door.
"Too bad she didn't fall in love with you Hiiragazawa, ne?" she whispered.
"Iie, I think I liked her in that way before, but now...now I feel a strong connection with her, as a friend, as an artist, as a person, but not a lover," he concluded quietly.
"I see," was Tomoyo's reply as she showed Eriol the way out and locked the door, going into her own room to sleep off her anger towards the blind little wolf and sadness for her cherry blossom.
Eriol thrust his hands into his pockets, mulling over the best way to go about getting to Syaoran:
Beat him...nah, too violent Yell at him...nah, he never responded to that kind of antagonizing Tell him the truth...maybe, but would he believe him, even as his best friend? Knowing Syaoran, stubborn to his very death---Eriol knew---he wouldn't believe him. Make him so jealous he had to admit his feelings for her to himself and to her...maybe...it was obvious Syaoran was jealous even when Eriol did the slightest thing fro Sakura, smile or hold her hand...but it would have to be someone else, not him because Sakura already knew he didn't feel romantically inclined to her anymore...yes, maybe this would work...but who to make Syaoran jealous...?
He would have to call Tomoyo tomorrow, sort the whole thing out and make certain, whatever they decided to do, that it would cause Sakura no more pain.
He didn't know more um...unintentional...help would be on the way, unintentional help in the form of an older brother and a silver-haired friend of the family who were once more coming to visit the little cherry blossom.
Either way, this was the plan of action.
Syaoran felt Koi push him back into his room, her mouth constantly on his as she expertly removed his shirt...and attempting to drive away the image of emerald eyes and honey hair that seemed to be ultimately replacing his real vision of Koi...
Later, Koi sleeping soundly to his right, Syaoran was still awake, pressingly haunted by two faces he had mistakenly put together in the wrong way, the faces of Eriol and Sakura.
---------------------------------
OOH! OH NO! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? WHY DOESN'T SYAORAN GET IT?
*sigh* I guess no one knows except me. What will Eriol and Tomoyo do? How will Sakura be? When will Syaoran understand her true feelings, will he ever? And how far is Koi going to be able to get in her unkindly endeavors to steal money from Destiny?
Review please, and find out.
Sing for Me: Chapter Nine: Misconceptions and Heartbreak?
Sakura looked at herself in the mirror off the right side of the stage; donning a floor-length sleeveless hot-pink outfit that was tied together over her torso with cross-ties in white, and then split open at the waist, revealing her slender legs clad in black leggings and black ankle boots. There were small emerald earrings hanging down from her earlobes, sparkling in the little light, bringing out the true vividness of her eyes. On her wrists there were white cuffs lined in a stylized manner with black and hot pink to correspond.
All were courtesy of Tomoyo of course who claimed that id she hadn't gone into the executive business, she would have been content to just make costumes for her Sakura.
Sakura smiled slightly. Tomoyo was always there; then she smirked. She had still not told her who she loved but knew that after tonight, it would have to be clear to anyone who it was...
"Sakura!" and she turned to see Eriol, showing her for the first time his unease, which she had been almost certain he didn't even possess, as he came out from the left side of the back stage, fidgeting slightly with his collar.
"Kon-wa Eriol!"
"Hai, kon-wa. Um, do I look alright?" he asked, amazed he was wearing what he was wearing, which was...
Well, let's put it this way, Tomoyo made this outfit too.
"Hai, you look kawaii," Sakura said without flinching, all truth and happiness. After a moment of silence Eriol nodded.
"So it's going to be the first number, ne?"
"Hai, and you know when to come out right?" she asked him, studying him. He looked very debonair in Tomoyo's creation, a take-off of a traditional school uniform, long black pants and high collared black top, but the front was not held together with buttons...
...in fact it wasn't held together at all.
That perhaps was why he had been uncomfortable. It bared the midsection of his well-toned torso, lithely muscled, but only enough to look fit and sleekly handsome, just like the rest of him. He still wore his glasses to Sakura's secret pleasure; they made him look just as sophisticated and kind as he really was and that was one thing she found especially wonderful about him.
"Hai, demo, I'm not sure I'll remember everything else...you know, all the dancing and movement..." he trailed off and Sakura reached out and took his hand, comforting him as Tomoyo and her other friends had done for her when she first began her singing career and still had nervousness.
"Eriol-kun, you'll remember everything, I know it! Don't worry. Hey, remember..." she was cut off as he nodded and placed his hand over her mouth.
"Hai, hai, 'Zettai daijoubu' ne?" he filled in. And she smiled beneath his hand.
They did not see the amber eyes watching them, mistaking all they were doing, not understanding what was going on inside of him, not knowing the truth.
And that would be the initial happening to cause chaos.
But he didn't know that.
And neither did the people he watched as he slid back further into the shadows, to find his date who waited for him with her own alternative motives lurking beneath her seductive smile. And if you haven't already guessed, it wasn't Tomoyo.
"Syaoran!" came a purring voice as he returned to the concert amphitheatre's main room, looking up into a pair of deceptive blue eyes framed by wine colored hair.
"Let's sit Koi," he motioned tonelessly, still miffed by what he had just seen and Koi, not used to being second in any man's mind, was more than a little put out.
Good thing she was an actress.
"Hai, anything you say Syaoran," she purred again and followed him like a love-sick school girl dressed in a super-model's low-cut halter top of black and skin-tight khakis that accentuated her well-developed curves.
She turned many male heads in the area, and knew it.
But Syaoran didn't even seem to notice. He was reasoning with himself. Maybe what he had seen wasn't what he thought it was...baka, he thought annoyed, what else could it have been? She was smiling and he was being his normal self that usually wouldn't have irritated him so, if it hadn't involved the cherry blossom.
And why did it bother him?
He groaned inwardly, not wanting the real reason to surface even though he knew it already had. All he could do now was hope it was nothing and that she didn't...he gulped uneasily...didn't love Eriol.
He hoped to Kami she didn't...he internally frowned...why oh why did he CARE? A headache soon ensued.
"OHOHOHOHOHO!" and you don't have to guess who this is; Tomoyo laughed gleefully, prettily dressed herself in a deep indigo dress, knee length and form-fitting but classy as her status quo demanded.
"Ehehe...Tomoyo-chan, why are you laughing?" Sakura asked tentatively.
"You two..."she paused, looking rather evil. "...are so KAWAII!" and here she proceeded to inspect them from toe to head, every inch---to Eriol's personal discomfort---nodding and affirming good-taste when she saw it.
The lights were dark all of a sudden and the crowd quieted. Tomoyo grinned.
"Go get 'em you two!" She waved and ran off, undoubtedly to make certain the cameramen were properly positioned, et cetera, et cetera, before rushing to get the best seat to watch Sakura-chan.
"CHERRY! CHERRY! CHERRY!" the cries were enthusiastically anticipative of the performance and Sakura's blood began to warm at the sounds of her fans, smiling softly. She loved them so much for supporting her, every one of them. Eriol offered her hand an appreciative squeeze before she left him momentarily to stand on the stage behind the curtains, getting into position as the music started and slowly...ever so slowly, the curtains parted, revealing her shapely silhouette.
Syaoran tensed slightly as he watched the curtains part to reveal a familiar body. He supposed he should relax and just do as everyone else, enjoy the show.
Funny thing, he never listened to anyone, not even himself.
"Oh dearest..." Sakura's voice was clear and resonant as she sang the first two words of the melody. Silence reigned; this song seemed slow and her voice was soft, which was odd for an opener, but someone as adored as Cherry could get away with it.
"Oh dearest," she repeated, slowly moving her hands in a smooth curving motion, her head-microphone nearly brushing her lips as her head moved in equally sensual movement.
"Please answer me, my love...please answer truly..." she called out in her harmonious voice, reaching out her right hand to the audience and Syaoran would have liked to think she was reaching to him.
"Let me know you're here, let me know you're here..." she paused as the music stopped suddenly and so did her movement. And suddenly the lights flared up in bright stage lights, pink and white, as the music's real opening beats struck the room, fast and almost techno, but too melodious to be real techno and Sakura's hips and head moved back and forth with the punctuated beats.
"Let me hear your voice, oh baby, let me hold you in my arms and know you're not gone, oh baby," she danced across the stage comfortably, as dancers discreetly began filing out on stage and began to follow her movement.
"Whisper to me just this once, I know we've got it going on, so just speak to me, speak to me, oh yeah..." she sang with all the emotion she had, searching for the eyes she had grown to love, almost unwittingly...almost.
"Call my name, it's gotta be this way, let things stay the same oh baby," she was completely in-synch with her dancers now, heading them in the center of the stage.
"I know we've fought before and now and again, but now I don't want to settle for just a friend," and she paused again as she and her dancers swung their heads exaggeratedly to the left stage and that's when Eriol came out, singing, earning more than a few appreciative whistles and about a hundred sighs and screams of enthusiasm for him...and his outfit. He responded, singing:
"Won't you let me come a little closer to you now? I'm the one following your lead. Those eyes they've got a hold on me, your eyes dearest, they've got a hold on me."
And there were more screams from the females when they heard his angelic and sensual voice and Sakura could not repress a true smile, one unlike her stage smile, but just as good.
"Oh who's stopping you? Don't let them darling, show me the way to love you, show me the way you want me to," she sang back as he approached her.
"I know we've only just met in this life, but I'd swear it was the more than just this time, I've caught love at first sight," he responded, locking his hand with hers.
"Risking too much aren't we though? Should we just keep it down low? What would our friends say? What would they think?" she crooned and Eriol, getting rather into the whole thing, took her other hand as they had practiced and pulled her closer to him, earning more sighs from the audience, most of them wishing they were the ones in his arms.
"Can't worry baby, it's just you and me, don't let our love sink, it's not what they'll say, let's do it our way," he smiled as Sakura spun out of his arms slowly, still holding his hand.
"I surrender love, there's nothing I can do," she was then joined by Eriol's voice as they sang together:
"I'm lost without you,
I'm gone without you,
Don't fight me
There's nothing else going down...
I need you,
I want you,
Don't ever leave me
All I want is for you to be around..."
Eriol took the next part: "I know that when we first met, it was like the saying opposites attract,"
Sakura danced away from him playfully, "We fought and yelled and neither of us saw the love we might have,"
Eriol followed her, his smile turning more tender, "The words we said, they're still ringing,"
"But it doesn't matter now, because it's the song of love we're now singing," she sang back again.
They hit the chorus again:
"I'm lost without you,
I'm gone without you,
Don't fight me
There's nothing else going down...
I need you,
I want you,
Don't ever leave me
All I want is for you to be around..."
Here there was a dance break as they went into an entrancing new-age version of a tango, moving as one, spinning, turning, all those things.
And all were seen by the little wolf who suddenly felt very cold.
So, she does love him, he thought sadly and then lost that sadness and replaced it with stoic indifference. Why would he care? Why should he care? It's not like he...not like he loved her or anything. He should have known it when he saw them together before they started singing...back stage. He came to all of these conclusions in a rush, not once thinking that this was just an act, a song she wrote and sang with his best friend, nothing more. It never occurred to him that it was him she saw while singing this song, even though she danced with Eriol.
And it was because of this that historians have so aptly chronicled love's path as haphazard at best.
Syaoran concentrated on the song...funny, it reminded him of how he and she were to each other...
"Now we're past the childish games, aren't we love, aren't we?" Eriol smiled as they moved away from each other to opposite parts of the stage.
"We'll never be the same, it's written in the heavens above, do you hear me?" Sakura sang.
"The fights are the past and I know it's all true,"
"When I say that this can make it, can make it and last, because I love you!" Sakura finished.
They ended the song together:
"Because I love you..." their voices trailed off and were met with a lot of roaring cheers, catcalls and other whatnot.
Sakura was now searching, amidst the applauding crowd, for amber eyes, the owner for which she had written that song, who she had been thinking of ever since she met him, though with different thoughts albeit before. She found him and her smile turned down.
He was glaring at her, and she felt her heart waver, and wondered if she was imagining it perhaps. No, he was glaring at her and...she held in a cry of dismay.
Koi sat next to him, very closely. Inside she felt like sobbing, outside she was smiling and in the limbo between the two, she knew her heart was lost somewhere, stranded in question.
But the show must go on, she thought bitterly and then brightened, pushing the little wolf out of her mind, focusing on her fans, all her faithful fans.
She was not the only one who noticed them though.
Eriol scowled mentally at Koi. He wondered why Syaoran had brought her, what had possessed him? His gaze wandered to Sakura who was busy smiling and waving to the audience but as her head turned in his direction, he gasped slightly. Her eyes were clouded with unshed tears and he knew that she had seen Syaoran with...with that woman...Eriol thought angrily.
Unprecedented and unexpectedly, he strode across the stage and enveloped Sakura in a hug; at which Syaoran frowned fiercely, letting Koi edge so close to him that she was nearly on top of him. Sakura, in the hug she shared with Eriol, she allowed three tears to fall; then, before turning back to the audience, she wiped them lightly off her face, so light that they left no marks and prepared to sing her next song.
Eriol made a mental note to yell at his best friend later about his lack of a heart and brains, not precisely in that order either. He walked off stage to the disappointment of many, many women, as Sakura began her other songs. Tomoyo was waiting there for him and she didn't look happy.
"What is wrong with him?" she fairly growled, violet eyes flashing dangerously. "Even I could tell who she wrote that song for, even I," she emphasized bitterly, "And he seems not to give a damn, letting that vile woman smother him in public, right in front of Sakura!" she was almost screaming now. Eriol was shocked. He had never seen composed, patient, ever- understanding Tomoyo act so volatile, not that he blamed her.
"I don't know Tomoyo. I don't know. He's stubborn, but I've not known him to be dense...until now that is. I knew it was written for him too. It couldn't have been more obvious; not like she was speaking in Morse code or something..." he grumbled.
"Whatever the hell his problem is, he should get it together; I know he loves her," she added and at this Eriol was startled once more.
"Really?" he questioned.
"Hai, I could tell when I was with him, that he thought of someone else, and I am not so blind as to fool myself like that woman," Tomoyo gestured pointedly at Koi.
"How did you know it was her?" he asked.
"They fought. Sakura never fights with anyone if she can help it, but here she goes and calls him the nearest thing to imbecilic and the personification of idiocy! He obviously had struck a chord in her and the way he looked and flirted, no matter how rudely, with her, it was clear," she explained and Eriol could only agree with all she said.
"What are we going to do?" Eriol asked.
"Kill him?" suggested Tomoyo dryly and Eriol blanched at the sincerity in her tone.
"Iie...Ehehe...Tomoyo maybe something a little more forgiving, ne?" he reasoned. And she sighed.
"Hai, hai, I was just kidding."
Eriol wasn't so sure; her eyes were still bright with fury and he wouldn't have put anything past her, not when it came to her love for her best friend, Sakura.
That night, when the concert was over, Sakura was fast to leave, wanting to make it to her apartment before she began to break down...and she knew she would.
The last thing she needed to see was Syaoran and Koi lip-locking passionately as she passed through the hall to the exit.
But she saw and not caring who did or did not see her, she fled like a flittering cherry blossom on a harsh winter's fast wind, running all the way to her home, her safe place, where she felt the warm tears trickling down her face even as she opened the door, dropping the keys carelessly on the ground outside her door as she slammed it shut violently.
Her shoulders shook with sobbing, quiet sobs of a broken heart, and lack of comprehension as she stumbled blindly into the living area and collapsed onto the couch, resting her head on her forearms, and eventually crying herself to an uneasy sleep.
Tomoyo and Eriol had followed her as quickly as they could, Tomoyo glancing worriedly at the keys on the ground and picking them up as she entered the apartment, followed by Eriol, equally as anxious. They found Sakura's sleeping form on the couch, arms wrapped around herself protectively, face stained ever so slightly with streams of dried tears.
Tomoyo covered her with a blanket and Eriol, ignoring the motion, picked Sakura up in his arms and laid her instead, in her bed, pulling those covers over her gently. Tomoyo turned to him as they softly shut the door.
"Too bad she didn't fall in love with you Hiiragazawa, ne?" she whispered.
"Iie, I think I liked her in that way before, but now...now I feel a strong connection with her, as a friend, as an artist, as a person, but not a lover," he concluded quietly.
"I see," was Tomoyo's reply as she showed Eriol the way out and locked the door, going into her own room to sleep off her anger towards the blind little wolf and sadness for her cherry blossom.
Eriol thrust his hands into his pockets, mulling over the best way to go about getting to Syaoran:
Beat him...nah, too violent Yell at him...nah, he never responded to that kind of antagonizing Tell him the truth...maybe, but would he believe him, even as his best friend? Knowing Syaoran, stubborn to his very death---Eriol knew---he wouldn't believe him. Make him so jealous he had to admit his feelings for her to himself and to her...maybe...it was obvious Syaoran was jealous even when Eriol did the slightest thing fro Sakura, smile or hold her hand...but it would have to be someone else, not him because Sakura already knew he didn't feel romantically inclined to her anymore...yes, maybe this would work...but who to make Syaoran jealous...?
He would have to call Tomoyo tomorrow, sort the whole thing out and make certain, whatever they decided to do, that it would cause Sakura no more pain.
He didn't know more um...unintentional...help would be on the way, unintentional help in the form of an older brother and a silver-haired friend of the family who were once more coming to visit the little cherry blossom.
Either way, this was the plan of action.
Syaoran felt Koi push him back into his room, her mouth constantly on his as she expertly removed his shirt...and attempting to drive away the image of emerald eyes and honey hair that seemed to be ultimately replacing his real vision of Koi...
Later, Koi sleeping soundly to his right, Syaoran was still awake, pressingly haunted by two faces he had mistakenly put together in the wrong way, the faces of Eriol and Sakura.
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OOH! OH NO! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? WHY DOESN'T SYAORAN GET IT?
*sigh* I guess no one knows except me. What will Eriol and Tomoyo do? How will Sakura be? When will Syaoran understand her true feelings, will he ever? And how far is Koi going to be able to get in her unkindly endeavors to steal money from Destiny?
Review please, and find out.