DISCLAIMER: I don't own any CCS characters, they belong to CLAMP.



a/n: Good lord I love this title ^^

It's been a while since my last update huh? It's seemed like forever to me. My phone line was screwy for the longest time, meaning I had no internet for a few days. And...*looks around for place to hide*...this story has had a lack of creative inspiration...and *cough* I feel guilty for saying this, it isn't my priority right now (School is (duh).) I'm really been working hard on Keys of Light and Dark. I love that story *looks pointedly at everyone else*. i hope you go check it out. Oh, and since the last time I updated, I came out with two short one-shot fics. They're related to each other, but not exactally continuation of each other. You should go read those too.



Our Village Idiot



Let me just say that Kaiba was gone for a very, very, very long time. It was insane how long he was gone. I don't know what he was doing, but he obviously didn't change because the first thing he did when he got back was come see me.

"Syaoran," he said, "I've figured it out."

"Figured what out?" I asked. Kaiba was breathless and excited.

"Waitwaitwait. I have to tell how I found out first," he started, but I cut him off.

"What have you figured out Kaiba? You're confusing me," I laughed.

He looked me straight in the eye, leaned in close and whispered, "I know...I know why Sakura doesn't want me."

How could he possibly know why Sakura didn't want him? I was shocked. This was going to be very interesting. He had been gone for so many eons that Sakura had been almost happy without him. Sad, but true. "Ok, Kaiba," I said with sarcasm, "enlighten me. Tell me why Sakura doesn't want you."

Kaiba sat back and started to explain his theory to me. "I could have come home ages ago, Syaoran. I had proven myself to the Fates, my job was done. But, I didn't want to come home yet. When I came back, I wanted to be someone Sakura, or anyone for that matter, could fall in love with. So you know what I did? Do you?" he eagerly asked. I shook my head. "I went around for years trying to figure out what women liked in men."

"First, I thought I had to be good looking, but I already am good looking. Then I thought it was being nice, but I was nice to Sakura a lot too. Then I ran out of ideas. But it occured to me that maybe Sakura was playing hard to get because she wanted to know whether or not I was faithful. And she wants a commitment."

I looked at him steadily. I could tell he wanted me to jump up and down and encourage him with whatever loony plan he had up his sleeve, but I couldn't. How could he not see that he had not been nice to Sakura. How could he not see that Sakura was not playing hard to get and that she truly, sincerely, didn't want him? I didn't understand.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Kaiba queried like an innocent child.

"Kaiba," I began, "are you sure you've completely thought this through?"

"Oh, definately," was his enthusiastic reply. "I know that Sakura wants commitment. She craves it. Do you see? So you know what I plan on doing? I'm going to marry her." He said that last part so fast, I nearly didn't catch it.

"You're going to what?!"

"Marry her."

Kaiba would be making the biggest mistake of his life if he went through with this. I knew it. But the way he said it, and because I knew Kaiba's personality, I also knew that he was not going to be talked out of this. A sigh escaped my lips. "Kaiba. You really need to think about this,"

"I did, Syaoran. I did. You see, I'm not going to barge in on her and ask her to marry me, I'm going to slowly introduce the topic. She'll come around. You'll see." I marvelled at Kaiba's thick-headedness. How could he be so blind??

"Kaiba-" I started again.

"Sorry, Syaoran, I've got to go, I was making chocolates for my lady love," and he disappeared, singing love songs to himself.

I slumped down in my couch, completely drained of energy. I couldn't believe what I just heard. Kaiba. Sakura. He was wrong. He was going to ruin his life if he followed through, but there wasn't anyway I could tell him. No way. I had to think of some way to protect Sakura from him. I had to think of some way to keep her from him. But...how?

At that moment, the door knocked. I was thinking so hard though, that I didn't hear it. Finally, someone materialized a short distance from me. "Syaoran?" I heard a female voice inquire. It was Sakura's voice. Part of my wanted to drag myself down further into my abyss of thought, part of me wanted to warn her if I could about what to expect from Kaiba.

"Hmmm?" I returned, slowly coming back to reality.

"Umm. Are you ok?" Sakura asked, she bent over so she was eye level with me.

"Sakura, Kaiba's back you know."

Something like a scowl passed over her face. "Yes. I know," she replied curtly.

"Did you know he-" How was I going to say this without Sakura thinking I was playing some perverted practical joke on her? How?

"-he is planning on bothering me soon? Yes, Syaoran, I did," Sakura finished my sentence, not letting me have a chance to figure out how to reveal the truth to her.

I sighed. I couldn't do it. To this very day, I still can't figure out why I couldn't try to protect her from Kaiba. I still don't know. Instead, I let her blather on about a little colt that had been born to a mare we were watching. Apparently, she noticed that the conversation was extremely one sided. "Syaoran. It would take an idiot to see that you aren't feeling well. Should I go find Hitas?" she asked with touching concern.

"No, no. I'm fine. I was just thinking about Kaiba."

"...well...we'll probably be spending a lot more time together," she tried to joke.

I took hold of her shoulders. "Sakura, I really worry about you sometimes. You have to promise me, to come here if he even tries to do anything to you."

My exclaimation startled Sakura. "But Syaoran, part of the reason I had you teach me martial arts was so I could defend myself. And Syaoran? You're hurting me," she looked at my hands. I let go of her and muttered an apology. "Something about Kaiba must really be bothering you for you to do this," she reasoned, "I promise you, Syaoran. I'll come here when ever I need to." She smiled benevolently. "There's someone at the door."

"Who?"

"Hitas. I asked her to come when I saw the way you looked."

"I'm feeling fine though, Sakura."

"I want to make sure though. And she's here already anyway, so she might as well take a look at you," Sakura smiled again and all my protests died.

Hitas, glided in and took one look at me and then back at Sakura. "He's perfectly fine."

"Just making sure," Sakura agreed.

"You're worried about something though, aren't you?" Hitas asked. I shrugged. I didn't want Sakura to know anymore. "He doesn't want to share either," she remarked to Sakura. "If that's it then, I'm going to pay Kaiba a visit. He's back you know,"

"We know," I answered miserably, "We know."

Sure enough, nearly half a year later, Sakura came to stay. She was absolutely miserable. I prayed Kaiba hadn't asked her to marry him yet. The day she came was extremely hot. The heat probably exaggerated everyone's tempers, but especially Kaiba's. Poor Sakura stormed into my house and started ranting, not caring who was around to listen.

"Do you know what the little sucker thinks I want? He thinks I want commitment. From HIM! Does he have ears? Does he ever listen to anyone? Nooooo. He thinks that I'm playing hard to get. Insanity. Who feeds him these ideas? Has he no logic? I can't believe he would even consider for a moment that I would want to spend the rest of forever with him the disgusting little jerk," crash, Sakura accidentally knocked over a table. I choose this moment to make my presence known.

"Commitment?" I acted surprised.

"Marraige, to be exact," she huffed. "Where does he get these out of whack ideas? They come from stereotypes. How many times have I told him that I don't love him? How many? And he still manages to talk himself into thinking I'm playing hard to get!" the volume of her voice rose to yelling levels.

I cupped her face in my hands. "I have a question for you, Sakura. What do you want?"

She slowed down to think and started wringing her hands. "I don't know. I don't know anymore," she repeated.

I nodded. Not really getting anything out of her answer. Once again, we entered the "normal" cycle of things. I expected Sakura to not come very often, not that I had any complaints with her appearing a lot, but it was a sign that Kaiba was not only returning to his old habits, but he was escalating them to the point where Sakura was in tears and yelling in frusteration half the time.

I tried to talk some sense into Kaiba. "You're giving her more grief than happiness, Kaiba," I told him once, bluntly.

He looked at me, stricken, "she tells you all that?"

For the next few months, he behaved himself. Unfortunately, the stinging wore off and he returned to harassing Sakura. What happened as a result of my not being able to stop Kaiba is something that looking back, I can't remember very clearly. My emotions got in the way so much that I can't remember everything as clearly as I'd like too.

Eriol was at my house one day. I think we were fencing. I don't remember. Then Sakura came in. I could tell she was upset, but she was hiding it from Eriol and Kaho. So far, they only knew that Kaiba was bothering Sakura again, but the didn't know that he was constantly proposing marraige to her.

What was different about this time, though, was that Sakura simply sat and cried.





a/n: This really isn't a cliff hanger either (darn) but it is a turning point. *cracks knuckles* bwahahahahaha. Don't forget to go read my other stuff. And as always, review, review, review (for all of them). I like getting reviews. *hint, hint*

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