When the Time Comes
by hyper terra
Chapter Four: Glares of a Cherry Blossom and a Small Wolf
"I said where's Meiling?" Syaoran asked again to a very shocked Sakura.
This jerk is Syaoran? I can't believe it! Thought Sakura. That completely appalling dumb-ass jerk is Meiling's cousin?
Sakura can't talk. She was completely speechless. First, she was insulted, second, her hand was gripped tightly. And now, he's claiming that he's the one she's supposed to fetch?!
Syaoran put his hands on Sakura's shoulder, grabbing her attention away from her thought.
"Hi... I'm... Li... Syaoran..." He asked slowly catching each breath for every syllable of the words he said. "Do... you... know... where... Li... Mei... ling... my... cousin... is?"
Sakura swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She felt funny when Syaoran held her shoulders with both of his hands. She wanted to push them away, but she would feel sorry for the boy then.
"Um...Meiling's busy." She let out of her mouth. "That's why I'm here to fetch you."
Syaoran slid his hands off Sakura's shoulders. He pulled out his hand to shake hers and smiled.
"Kinomoto Sakura, right?" He asked. "I'm Li Syaoran."
Sakura couldn't do anything but stare at his hand. Is he apologizing? She blinked and quickly accepted his hand and shook it with a smile.
"Nice to meet...you?" She quickly eyed the character behind Syaoran. "Hi, Wei!"
Syaoran also turned to see the person behind him and recognized him right away.
"Wei!" He called. "Good to see you again..."
Wei bowed at him.
"Good to see you too, Master Syaoran." Wei replied. "I see you have met Miss Sakura."
"Umm...Yes, I did. Where's Meiling?" Syaoran asked. To Sakura, he must've asked the same thing almost a hundred times, which is starting to annoy her.
"Master Meiling is at home right now. She came home late because of school work." Wei answered.
Sakura glared at Syaoran as if she was bragging at the fact that she was telling the truth. Syaoran glared at her too but ignored her, soon after.
"May I get your luggage, Master Syaoran?" Wei asked him.
"Yes. They're at the waiting area. I'll just stay here." Syaoran answered, pointing at the direction of where he came from.
"With Miss Sakura?"
Oh yeah, her. Syaoran forgot that Sakura was there. Oh well, maybe she isn't that bad. He thought.
"Yes, I'll just stay with her." Syaoran said. "You can go get my luggage now."
With that, Wei bowed at Syaoran and Sakura and walked away into the maze of other people, leaving the two behind.
Despite the noise of the people in the airport, the two were quiet. Sakura was squeezing her hands strongly as if she was nervous about something. She wanted to say something but Syaoran was able to let something out first.
"...Um...Sorry I yelled at you a while ago." He mumbled.
What the hell did I just say?! Me apologize to a girl I barely knew?! Stupid! STUPID! Syaoran mentally hit his head. He was never soft on a girl, especially strangers. He wanted to have some fun, insulting a certain Sakura.
"I mean...I forgive you." He quickly added, wearing a grin.
Sakura widened her eyes. The nerve! He should be apologizing! She gave him a tight glare.
"Are you saying everything is my fault?!" She retorted.
Syaoran nodded. "Yeah! And I don't need some loser to fetch me!"
Loser...? me? Sakura fumed.
"I am not a loser!!" She yelled. "You jerk!"
"Loser! Loser! Loser!" Syaoran taunted.
Sakura gritted her teeth to show her anger. The big, dumb jerk! Her mind screamed. Her hands were as tight as her teeth, tight as she could throw a huge tantrum before anyone could say chill out. Seeing that the jerk wouldn't stop pummeling her with insults like a jackhammer to a pavement, she kept silent as he may try to make the situation worse than it already is.
**
Meanwhile, at Meiling's apartment...
"No no no! You're supposed to fold it slowly and carefully!" A very worried Tomoyo yelled at Meiling. "Don't lift the spoon and don't let the air out!"
Meiling, holding a big bowl in her left hand with a wooden spoon on the right, was folding or rather, destroying the dough. The dough she was 'folding' was made up of the mixture of flour, egg whites and tartar, which Tomoyo had personally made. They were trying to bake an Angel's Food Cake as a project in their baking class. But, it looks like, in Tomoyo's point-of-view, that is, their Angel's Food Cake is turning into Angel's Food Crap, thanks to Meiling's vigorous folding of the ingredients, which was one of the most delicate process of the whole thing.
"Grr!! This stupid dough is too hard to fold! Ugh!" Meiling, now using two hands, used her full strength to actually turn one side of the dough on a side. "Tomoyo, what's wrong with the dough?!"
"Give me that!" The raven-haired girl grabbed the wooden spoon from Meiling. "Obviously, you were too impatient in doing things. You gotta take it slowly and smoothly."
Meiling wiped her probably-stretched-up hands onto her white and red apron, and backed a few steps away to the side to watch Tomoyo fold the dough right. But, she noticed that Tomoyo was also having a hard time in folding the mixture. She blinked as she saw a drop of sweat fall down the side of Tomoyo's clear face, as if she was having difficulty with her own mixture.
Meiling looked at the white, round clock that was hanging on the cabinet. 7:19, it read.
Where are Li Xiaolang, Sakura and Wei now? Aren't they supposed to be here by now?
Meiling, then, turned back to Tomoyo, who wasn't folding anymore. More likely, her hand is on her chin, and she was staring at the innocent dough on the bowl, and tried to figure out what caused it to turn as hard as a rock. The wooden was left on the bowl, but it didn't sink down the quicksand of flour, tartar and egg whites, because of the dough's firmness and strength. It was just standing there like the leaning tower of Pisa.
Tomoyo and Meiling sighed at the pathetic sight. Tomoyo took a piece of paper towel and started wiping across the steel table, giving up in the baking project. Meiling, too, grabbed a piece of paper towel and did the same. Tomoyo stopped and blinked at herself, which see can see in the reflection of the steel table. She mentally forgave herself.
"We...forgot to add water." She mumbled and smiled. "Let's start over again."
**
Sakura stared at the sight by the car window, watching every lamppost as they pass by in repetitive motion. She sighed quietly for the nth time while sitting. Finally, they were going home. Wei was driving silently, while Syaoran was sitting on the front seat, his arms folded, and his feet relaxed. He looked at the rear mirror in the middle and saw Sakura.
"...Hey Loser Kinomoto." He called.
Sakura quickly snapped out of her momentum with the car window and glanced at the rear mirror and saw Syaoran's face. She glared daggers at his annoying face, but said nothing yet.
"What do you want?"
Syaoran smirked.
"Nothing. I just knew you would respond to your own name!" He announced.
"Even a dog would respond to your cocky voice!" Sakura scowled. "Jerk."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow at Sakura's reflection. She's a funny one... He thought. This is going to be fun...while it lasts. He shrugged.
"Whatever, loser."
Sakura's already-gritted teeth are gritted again like before. She felt exploding at that moment like a bomb. But, somehow, she managed to still gather her words and throw them at Syaoran's annoying face.
"The name's Kinomoto Sakura." She said, even if her teeth weren't really moving. "Not loser, okay?"
Syaoran reclined back to his seat, mentally grinning his heart out. He rested his hands behind his head and congratulated himself as if he made a big achievement.
"I like loser better." He simply said.
Sakura was silent as a pillow, enduring the boy's offensive talk, during the whole trip. She turned back to counting the light posts like she did before and somehow, turned a bit calm. After saying what he just said to Sakura, Syaoran felt better.
to be continued...
terra's notes: gawd! i'm so sorry chapter four came out late...very late. *bows 5485734 times* i will try to have the next chapter out by next week!:3 i hate school...
to tesuka: the reason that the characters are 17 (which you think is too old) is that when i researched about some of the schools in japan, i found out that students in some schools go through eighth grade before going to high school.^_^
i hope you guys can bear with me and review!Ü