A/N: Thanks to Red Rose, Angelgurl, and Anime Queen for reviewing and your encouraging comments!
To Anime Queen: thanks for making a guess, the answer of the pianist and the mysterious guy will be revealed next chapter!!! So stay tuned!
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ACT THREE=========
"Shit, she's out cold. What am I going to do now?"
The man, still holding onto Sakura with one hand, scratched his head as he tried to come up with an answer to his own question. "If anyone we know sees me holding Sakura with her being drunk, my reputation's gonna get shot straight to hell. I'll probably get arrested for being a pervert or something before I can open my mouth to explain things. I should have just let her fall and squash that pretty face of hers. Wait, did I just say pretty? Well shit, I must have had more to drink than I remember."
"Hey, what are you doing?" Kaho called out to the man.
"Me? Just saved her from falling flat on her face." The man grunted.
"Oh it's you. Thought it was some pervert who has his eye, not to mention hands, on my niece." Kaho said in relief after ascertaining the identity of the man.
"Sakura's your niece?" The man asked with an incredulous expression on his handsome face.
"Yeah, what's so surprising about that?" Kaho raise an eyebrow in question.
"Eh, nothing, just that you too looked nothing like each other, not even remotely related, ya know?" He scratched his head again.
"Oh? Probably that's because we are not related by blood." Kaho replied softly.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. Could you send her home for me? I still got to close up the bar later."
"HUH? NO. WAY."
Kaho slithered up to the man and whispered seductively, "Come on, just do me this one, tiny little favor, ne?" She put her hand on his shoulders and massaged them lightly.
He shrugged out of her touch and stepped back. "Fine, but remember you owe me TWO favors now, including the piano thing just now."
Kaho kissed his cheek and smiled, "Of course, and whenever you feel like playing the piano again, please do come to my humble bar."
He rubbed the cheek that Kaho has kissed with the hand that's not holding Sakura. "Yeah, whatever. But don't try to take advantage of me again ok! Hands and lips off my body lady."
"Man, you got to ease up a little, how about a quick sensual massage?" Kaho advanced on him predatorily.
"Ah, I ah, I ah better send Sakura home, bye!" And the man dashed off carrying Sakura, before Kaho could tell him Sakura's address.
After he barely got away from the claws of Kaho, the man wanted to hit himself on the head. "STUPID STUPID STUPID me! How could I have forgotten to ask Kaho for Sakura's address? Now what? Dumping her on the street, no matter how appealing an option that is, can't be done. Mace will throw one of his notorious fits if Sakura doesn't turn up for the CCS filming tomorrow. And I don't have any of the CCS cast's numbers, besides Mace's. Can't possibly call Mace at this time of the night, I don't want to disturb his sleep or anything. ARGH!!!!"
And the man chose the last option available to him; he took Sakura to a hotel.
-------------The Next Morning---------------
Sakura woke up with a pounding headache and a vicious hangover. She buried her head in the pillow and tried not to wince at the obnoxiously loud ringing sound coming from beside her year. "What the hell? Since when did I have a phone in my room?" She turned towards the ringing and gasped. "Shit, where am I?"
Sitting up quickly, she found herself in a pink-colored room with a dressing-table, a small desk, cupboards near the door, and the bed she's on. "Pink again? I must be in a nightmare." She groaned when the incessant ringing broke into her thoughts and cause her head to throb even harder. Picking up the pink colored phone, she barked into its receiver. "What?"
"Good morning Ms. Sakura, this is your wake-up call, I hope you enjoyed our hotel room and its facilities." A polite and matured female voice drifted from the other end.
"Huh? This is a hotel?" Sakura was baffled. She can't for the life of her remember how she ended up in a hotel.
"Yes Madam, your friend carried and checked you in last night with us."
"My friend? Who?" Sakura was even more puzzled now, she recalled that she had left the Moon Shrine alone, and then……….her mind drew up with a blank.
"Yes, a handsome young man, who used your name to check in, so we have no idea what his name is."
"Ah, can you describe him?" Sakura was getting more and more curious about this 'handsome young man' who had brought her to a hotel. Wait a minute! A man! Did he do anything to her? Checking her clothes, Sakura was relieved to see them intact, though rather crumpled. She sighed in relief.
"The young man is quite tall, and that's all I remember Madam, because there were many other guests checking in last night."
"So did he stay the night?" Sakura tried to ask casually, but wanting desperately to know if that man had been in the same room as her for the entire night.
"No madam, I remember seeing him leave about 15 minutes after he carried you to your room. He even instructed me to wake you up at 8.00am in the morning."
"Thank God." Sakura said out loud.
"I'm sorry Madam?"
"Nothing, it's nothing. Thanks for your help." Sakura replied hastily.
"You are welcome, glad to be of service. Good bye."
Sakura don't think that the short 15 minutes would be enough to allow the man to do anything with her. The hotel staff had said the morning call was 8.00am. WHAT! The clock now showed 8.30am.
"Oh no! I got to rush to the CCS set!" She threw off her covers and ran out of the room.
Mace growled as he tapped impatiently on his watch. "WHERE IS SAKURA?" He thundered, causing the cast to tremble from his wrath. Even Tomoyo looked frightened, and she had no need to be, being the princess of the Daidouji Works, the daughter of Mace's boss.
Mace paced around the room, making the cast shrink and back up at the nearest wall they can find, as far away from Mace as possible. "I SAID 9.00AM SHARP! Didn't I make myself CLEAR?" He bellowed, throwing his hands up into the air with anger. "And what time is it NOW? 9.30AM! WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?"
Nobody knew the answer, except for one who had checked Sakura into the hotel last night. But he wasn't going to stick his neck out for her. No way anybody dared to talk to Mace when he's in this kind of mood. The CCS cast only hopes that Sakura would arrive soon, before Mace starts smashing something. The last time Mace had one of his fits was when the backstage staff had messed up the backdrops and props. He had screamed at the poor boy until he sank into a quivering mass of blubber onto the floor, sobbing and shaking like a leaf. Mace had not only screamed, but had tore apart the props with his bare hands, and punching into the backdrops till they fell and smashed into pieces. The CCS cast shuddered at the memory, and they prayed feverishly for Sakura to come soon, with a reasonable explanation.
Sakura dashed into the hall where everyone was gathered, and called out in an uber-genki voice. "OHAYO! Mina-san!" Their sighs of relief were cut off by Mace, who stomped towards Sakura like a bear with a sore head. "WHAT DO YOU THINK" He started to yell at Sakura, who interrupted him smoothly by placing a quick kiss on his lips. There was a collective gasp of unbelief amongst the cast.
"Ne, Mace-kun, I was having such a wonderful dream about you that I couldn't wake up in time. You were holding me tightly and…………" Sakura whispered in a low, seductive tone, so soft that even though the rest strained their ears, they couldn't hear anything else.
Mace's face, initially red with anger, was now even redder. It seemed that he was blushing, and he was frozen like a statue. Sakura finally finished what she was saying and took a small step back. She fluttered her lashes at Mace and chucked his chin affectionately. Smiling alluringly, she brushed past him and greeted her co-workers again. "Ohayo Mina-san!"
There was a dead silence. Then Mace started coming back to life and sputtered, "You-you-you guys get-get-get ready for the scene!" He hurried past Sakura and headed for the camera.
Inwardly, Sakura was shaking. "Shit, I had no idea it's so difficult to pull this off, even if I'm an actress." She thought. As she was rushing to the CCS set, she already knew she would be late. Thinking through a series of excuses to see which one was most likely to placate Mace, she finally chose this approach. Though she didn't dislike Mace, it was still kind of hard to kiss him, as he's just not his type. Sakura hoped that he wouldn't start making moves on her, but knowing his shy character when it comes to chasing girls, Mace probably wouldn't be much trouble.
The day swiftly passed as the CCS cast slogged like pigs to create the exact angle and emotions that Mace wanted to portray. Finally, the magic words that everyone's been waiting for came. "Cut! OK, let's call it a day!"
Mace went to the office to talk to some of the administrators of the set. The CCS cast crowded round the star performer of the day, Sakura Kinomoto. Tomoyo was the first to reach Sakura.
"Sakura! How could you do that!" Tomoyo shivered, not even able to say the exact words.
"Yeah Sakura, how did you convince yourself to kiss that ugly toad?" Eriol asked, never one to mince his words. Syaoran, the ever-sensitive soul, whacked Eriol's head for his insensitive question.
"Aw, I was late, you know. And in no mood to be yelled at, so I choose the quickest way out. What better way to silence a man than a kiss? Besides a gun, which I don't have and can't use on Mace." Sakura explained calmly.
"But Mace? I can't even imagine myself touching him." Nakuru trembled at the thought of having to have her skin on Mace's. She would rather choose Touya, who she hated. At least that jerk Touya is good-looking, and even though Nakuru don't like men, she's objective. And she wanted to puke when she saw sweet Sakura kissing that……that….thing.
"It's not so bad, and anyway, it was just a quick kiss, no big deal really." Sakura tried shrugged it off.
"Yeah, maybe you liked kissing Mace huh? Or you would kiss any guy?" Yue insulted.
Sakura's green eyes narrowed and she stamped hard on his foot. "Freaking idiot, watch your stupid mouth."
"OUCH! Damn it, you just got to inflict pain on me everyday is it? Yesterday at the restaurant too!" Yue shouted angrily, his hands rubbing the sore foot.
"Oh? If you don't make a nuisance of yourself, why would I bother? You got to do some self-reflection, oh wait. I forgot you have no brain to do that kind of analysis." Sakura said sarcastically.
Tomoyo giggled and said, "There they go again." Meiling smiled, while Syaoran shook his head. Eriol was looking at Yue and Sakura thoughtfully, rubbing his chin from time to time. Touya suddenly stopped the argument by stepping between Sakura and Yue. He looked at Sakura and grinned. "Should I rescue you from this jerk?"
Sakura gaped at Touya. "Excuse me?"
He took her hand and dragged her off before anyone could react.
"Huh, where's To-ya bringing Sakura?" Yukito had gotten used to calling Touya by his nickname in the CCS series, and Touya didn't seemed to mind anyhow. Yukito looked as clueless as the rest of the CCS cast in the hall. Except for Yue, who screamed, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A JERK?!!"
They all sweat dropped.
---------------------------Outside the CCS main building-------------------
"Hey To-ya, where are you dragging me off to?" Sakura was the only female in the CCS cast who were friends with Touya. Surprisingly, the egoistic playboy hadn't chase after Sakura. More amazing was that the both of them seemed to hit off really well.
"To somewhere safe, where you won't be insulted by that jerk and questioned by the others." Touya led Sakura into a nearby park and they sat on a bench before a pond, watching the ducks swimming in it.
"So how's your headache?" Touya asked, looking at Sakura with a concerned look that's exclusively for her alone.
"How did you know I had a headache?" She shot back, still slightly irritated that he thought she needed rescuing.
"Oh, so not only your head's hurt, but your pride too?" He teased, with a gentle smile that's rare on his face.
"Hmph. You always seemed to know when I'm not feeling well. What are you, psychic or something?" Sakura swatted him playfully on his arm.
"Ha, if I am psychic, I wouldn't have a such hard time chasing Nakuru." Touya grumbled.
"What? You don't know?" Sakura asked with surprise.
"Know what?" Touya frowned.
"She's a lesbian." She stated simply.
"HUH?! You sure?" He was shocked that such a pretty girl is a les.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Boy, you must be pretty dense not to notice. Everyone knows, I think."
"Well, I don't. No wonder she isn't falling for a gorgeous and fine specimen like me." Touya boasted jokingly. For all his reputation about being an egoistic, arrogant guy, Touya is actually an insecure person who just happens to have a great fondness of the opposite sex. Only Sakura knows the real Touya.
"So, you haven't answered me, how's your headache?" He asked again.
"Oh, I'm fine now. The hangover is finally over."
"Hangover??? You went drinking? And you didn't ask me along?" Touya pouted and acted hurt, putting a hand over his heart.
"Shit, it was a last minute thing ok? And you wouldn't have been drinking with me anyway. Your main motives are very clear to me, mister. You would have spent the whole night there chasing skirts." Sakura snorted.
"Hell, you are really the only person who knows me the best, my dear Imoto." Touya ruffled her hair affectionately.
"Ya ya, Onni-chan. Though it's funny how you ended up playing the role of my brother in CCS. I heard that originally, you were aiming for the part of Yue."
"Yes, I was. But I changed my mind." Touya expression suddenly turned serious.
"Hey you ok?" Sakura's perceptive nature told her something's wrong with her good friend.
"I'm fine." He replied curtly.
"Ok. Want to catch a bite? I'm famished!" Sakura, knowing that it's best to change the topic, suggested dinner.
"Great! I know of this place where we can dine and wine, and………"
"And there are lots of pretty girls." Sakura finished his sentence.
Touya grinned. "Ha, you may very well have psychic powers!"
"No need for psychic powers when I can read you like an open book, dear brother. I wouldn't mind the dining part, but no more wine for me please. I got into trouble today because of alcohol last night."
"Trouble? But Mace didn't get angry with you! At least not after you kissed him." Touya winked.
"Well you just had to remind me of that, don't you? Ok, let's go to this whatever place you have in mind." Sakura sighed.
"Yes sis, let's go!" Touya took her hand gallantly and they left the park.
While they were in a cab heading towards the place that Touya had suggested, Sakura's thinking about the mysterious person who had brought her to the hotel.
And somewhere, that person was also thinking about Sakura.
=====TBC=====
A/N: Please review! Thanks!
