Month-long Fiancée

By: peach

A/N: Errr… so not much reviews, but anyway, to Suteki Maiden, Cutie Kat, Carmela-chan and SaKuRa LoVa… THANK YOU!! At least I know that some people out there think that my fic makes even just a little sense ^^. So, anyway, I won't be blabbing on much. Here comes nothing!

Chapter One. Declaration

 

Syaoran sullenly stood up as he finished his dinner and was permitted to leave. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed a girl, and quick, before his family pushes somebody into the picture. And only a few hours ago he was telling himself that he probably wouldn't even need one all his life.

What could go worse?, he thought. A grim smile suddenly formed in his face. Well. At least now my friends wouldn't have to bug me about a girlfriend—this time, it's a mandate to have one.

"And Xiao Lang?"

Syaoran shifted his gaze to Yelan, a look of inquiry in his face. Please don't say that you've decided to cut off our deal anyway, he was actually pleading inside.

"I just realized, though," she paused in between sips of her wine. "That you should meet the girl that I picked for you before you go off hunting around for a fiancée."

 

And I thought that she has no candidate yet. Syaoran had to admire his mother's unusual pace at dealing with issues like this. But then again, that's just her.

"The girl I'm telling you about is quite wonderful," Yelan went on. "I thought that perhaps you would like her right off and then choose not to go on with your plans anymore."

The amber-eyed boy nodded mutely. That's not such a bad deal. Maybe "the girl" wouldn't be so bad after all… and I actually don't have to waste my time needing someone else…

"Uh, hi." The words came out rather awkwardly. Syaoran couldn't keep himself from scratching his head before sticking out his hand. "I'm er, Li Syaoran. But I bet you already know that."

"And I believe that you perhaps know by now that I'm Hashima Reika," she replied, smiling uh, perfectly. Her blue eyes shone as she did so. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Li-san." The girl seated before him in the vast living room had so soft and so gentle a voice that Syaoran had to wonder if she ever experienced screaming.

"Yeah, same here," Syaoran replied, forcing himself to smile back. "I mean, uh, it's nice to meet you, too, uh, Hashima-san."

You see, Syaoran was very annoyed. All four of his sisters were watching him about ten feet away, not-so-hidden by the fireplace. They were all, of course, giggling to themselves, and gushing at how cute their little wolf has grown up to be and how adorable it is seeing him talking to a sweet little girl. Since about five minutes ago, when Reika's mother and Yelan left to "talk things out" and give Syaoran and the girl time to know each other, the four have been forming all sorts of conclusions like I-bet-Xiao Lang-is-in-love-with-her-now and he-sure-won't-go-girl-hunting-anymore.

Well, we all make mistakes.

Syaoran and Reika were well aware of their presence, though. The amber-eyed boy's irritation showed only a faint sign; still it was not a match for the girl's completely unperturbed behavior. She went on rather calmly.

"I've heard that you do very well in sports, Li-san," she was saying. "You must be a very good athlete, then."

This time Syaoran managed a real grin. "Not really," he told her. Of course, everyone else knows better. "I just love playing outdoors."

Reika's long, jet-black wavy locks swayed along with her head before falling neatly on her back as she nodded. The air of elegance never left her as their conversation went on. It was obvious that she did not just come from a wealthy family, she was well-bred, too. She was brought up without the trace of a flaw in the way she moved, spoke, act and—who knows? Even thought and felt, probably.

She was perfect, needless to say.

But that just happened to be the problem.

All four of the Li sisters squealed happily once they returned home. "So what do you think, Xiao Lang?" they asked Syaoran all at once. "What do you think of Hashima Reika? She's really beautiful, isn't she? And she's sooo charming, too! Don't you just love her? You're not picking another girl, are you? Right? Right?"

Before Syaoran could answer, Yelan interrupted, her voice cutting through the noise her daughters were making. "You are going to get engaged to Hashima-san very soon, if you don't find a fiancée, son," she told him matter-of-factly.

"I know." Syaoran sighed. He then turned to his sisters and answered their questions. Still, what he said seemed to be directed to his mother, too.

"Hashima-san is beautiful, all right. And she's really smart, I can tell from the way she spoke to me. And yes, she's well brought-up, of course. Those are pretty obvious things. She's perfect…" he trailed off and shrugged.

"SEE?!! MOTHER, SYAORAN IS GOING TO MARRY HER!" four high-pitched voices chorused happily.

Syaoran sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "I didn't say that." All four heads turned to him with death glares pasted on the faces. Syaoran ignored them. "I just said she's perfect. But then, I've decided to try my luck for a week, anyway."

"WHAT??!!!???" I don't have to mention how that was said and who said that, right?

"Don't get me wrong, please." Syaoran shook his head. He couldn't explain things clearly to them, either. "There's totally nothing wrong with Hashima-san… except that… she's too perfect. I mean, I can't marry her if she'll be that way forever. She's just… that. Too perfect. I can't live with a girl who's like that. I need… someone else."

All four of his sisters seemed to shrink back. In confusion, perhaps?

Yelan simply nodded, although she was quite taken aback by her son's reaction. She had thought that he'd like Reika right off. It turned out to be the other way around.

"You have seven days, then, son," she said. "From tomorrow until next week. When you can't present anyone to me, though, you have to get engaged to Hashima Reika."

"I understand, Mother." Syaoran held back a sigh. He has sighed for countless moments; it was time to break it off before a habit forms.

Meiling's forehead creased. "I don't get it. So you're planning to take things the hard way?" she asked her cousin, who was slumped on his bed.

"What do you mean, the 'hard' way? It's the sensible way, Meiling," Syaoran replied with as shake of his head. "Who would marry someone he or she barely even knows? Count me out, definitely."

"It is so the hard way, you know," the dark-haired girl continued to insist. "You can just simply agree that you'd marry Hashima-san and that's it. You're making things tougher for everyone, you know. To find a girl and make her your girlfriend is easy enough for someone like you, all right. But getting that girl to agree to marry you after only a week?" She rolled her eyes. "That's wishful thinking, Syaoran. They might be crazy about you, but they know their limits."

Syaoran knew she was right and had to agree. "Still," he argued, not giving up. "You can't generalize, Meiling. There must be some girl out there…"

"Yeah, right. By and by, you'll end up with Hashima Reika. You're wasting your time, you know?"

"NOT."

"Fine. Think what you want to think, just don't blame me if your scheme fails. I warned you!"

That was Friday.

Syaoran was then free to start on his search for a fiancée the very next day, Saturday.

I can prove Meiling wrong, he told himself as his "mission" came to mind that morning. Maybe not today. Or not even tomorrow, since I won't be at school. Still, there are five days, and that should be enough.

Somehow, someway, things just didn't turn out the way Syaoran thought they would.

Saturday. Eriol him that they were holding an emergency soccer practice for the whole day at the school campus. Syaoran had previously planned to hang out in the mall or somewhere but then, That should be okay. There's bound to be a few girls over there too. Tada. The high school turned out to be virtually empty, except for the members of their team. There's still six days left, Syaoran thought as he came home, tired. No cause for panic…

Sunday. "LI-KUN!" Yanagisawa Naoko's frantic voice came over the line. "I suddenly remembered that we have that group project in English (they had the same class), and it's due tomorrow!" she wailed. "Get ready to spend the whole day here with the rest of the guys. See you in twenty minutes!" Syaoran's groupmates turned out to be all guys except for three girls. Two were taken, and the other one was, well, taken, too—by books.

Monday. Syaoran started the day, thinking, Here's my REAL chance. Weekends don't really count, after all. So maybe he did have the time to check out a likely candidate, but then that was for only half the day. An unexpected storm hit Tomoeda, and classes were suspended. He hasn't even singled out who "the one" would be.

Tuesday. Considering the fact that he already had five to ten girls in mind, it was a pretty good day to make his moves. But poor guy. The storm was reigning in all its dark glory. No student in his right mind would bother going to school or any place out at that time. But why do it anyway? Classes were cancelled that day, because of the storm.

Wednesday. Syaoran was absent. He got a little too desperate the previous day and ended up sick. Too bad—Wednesday turned out to have a clear sky.

Thursday. Meiling gave him a long look before they set off for school. "You were telling me, Syaoran, that you wouldn't marry Hashima-san since you don't love her," she told him. "But then you can't just fall in love with some random girl out there just because you want to, right? I'm not an expert, but love doesn't come automatically, does it?" That really got Syaoran, and he thought about it all day. All day, that is, while doing his chemistry project in the lab, with his lab partner Takashi Yamazaki.

And then it was Friday…

Syaoran was in such a state of panic that morning that Meiling had to scream at him to STOP running around like he caught fire or something.

"But today's the day, Meiling!" he complained frantically. "If I don't get engaged to someone, and SOON, I'll end up marrying Hashima-san someday! And she's not the girl for me!"

Meiling was about to ask, "How did you know?" when four squealing happy voices cut through their conversation.

"Mother said we four can pick you up after school and check on your new fiancée!" the four sisters announced. "She's going over to some sort of business today, you see. But we're really excited, Xiao Lang. The girl you were talking about must be a REAL princess that you picked her over Hashima Reika!"

Syaoran slapped his hand on his forehead and mumbled, "Kami-sama help me…"

It was lunch hour, and Syaoran was scanning the cafeteria. So far, he found out that on the ten girls he had on mind, five just managed to get boyfriends, three were not in school (probably they're in some competition), one was obsessed over a complete someone else, and the other was planning to be a nun.

So, naturally, he needed a new list—er, girl. And fast.

His amber eyes particularly landed on a particular girl with raven hair and amethyst eyes. That's right—it's Tomoyo. Syaoran pondered on about her and realized she might just be a match for Reika. Daidouji Tomoyo was perfect, too. Although not really Mary Sue-ish, just the right amount of perfect.

But then, he mentally kicked himself. You really don't have to find someone who's Hashima-san's equal. As long as I get a fiancée, it would be all right whoever she is. She doesn't have to be perfect…

He thought, too, though, that Tomoyo seemed to be okay, and it wouldn't hurt to get engaged to her. So he marched off in her direction.

"Hi," he said, with a smile. "Can I eat with you this time around, Daidouji-san?"

The girl smiled back, but it was a rather different smile. "I guess so. But I'm afraid… well, I'm eating with Sakura-chan today," she told him. It was somewhat her way of saying—NO.

I should have realized that, Syaoran thought regretfully. She and Kinomoto-san are best friends, and Kinomoto-san hates me for all I'm worth.

 

"Never mind, then." He grinned. "See you around, then, I guess."

Tomoyo nodded just as Sakura arrived, death-glaring at Syaoran. Syaoran sighed, telling himself, Few more hours to go… His gaze landed on Sakura and he thought to himself that she was one girl whom he definitely won't even consider.

World War III was not his ideal marriage, after all.

Syaoran shuddered as the bell rang, indicating that the school day had ended. Normally, he'd be walking out of the room about twenty seconds after the bell, but that day he didn't move from his desk.

I had a new list of candidates. I managed to talk to them. I tried. I tried. But now what?!?? It's the end of the day and I DON'T have even just a girlfriend!

His friends had to drag him out of the room, since the teacher was closing it.

"What's wrong, Li?" They all asked him the same questions. "Got a problem, huh? Something we can all pitch in and help at?"

After about five minutes Syaoran shook his head as if he'd gone out of his trance. "Uh, nothing's wrong. I'll see you tomorrow, then, guys."

And then he snapped back to his spell.


Behind him, if only he listened, he could have heard his friends muttering things like, "Weird. Is he sick or something?"

So here's what really happened to Syaoran. Out of the new twenty girls he thought off, only eleven were in his classes. Not bad? Definitely. But when one of those subjects turns out to be the one with the terror teacher in it, well, no chance of talking to that girl. So three were immediately crossed off. And the other eight? Well, Syaoran DID manage to talk to about three of them, in his last three periods. But then, too bad. An hour or two is not enough to fall in love with someone he barely even thought of a week ago, ask her Will-You-Marry-Me and of course, get her to answer I-Will.

Meiling was right. Love wasn't automatic. Of course. What did he even think of?!??

Poor, poor Syaoran.

There was nothing left to do but to walk out of the school building.

And oh yeah. Meet his sisters, who were waiting for him one hour even before the bell.

"XIAO LANG!!" His sisters were over-excited, as usual. "So who's she? Did you bring her here? Where is she? What's her name? Can we meet her now? No, of course, we have to meet her so we can tell Mother something about her. Come on! Where is she?"

Syaoran stared blankly at them.

His sisters frowned but then broke into grins again. "So you mean you're planning to marry Hashima-san, then? So you've reconsidered her and realized that she's Ms. Right! Or did you just fail in your plans? Huh? Either way, you must be getting engaged to her then?"

This can't be happening. This can't be happening… I'm NOT marrying Hashima Reika in five years. Ten years. Twenty years. Thirty or fifty or sixty or a hundred…

 

"Xiao Lang!" his sisters finally said, getting a bit impatient. "Answer us!"

I need a girl NOW.

Syaoran took a step backward as he realized somebody was walking behind him. Sneaking a look, he saw that the person was wearing girl's shoes. So it must be someone of the female population…

Hope this is the right one, he thought as he grabbed the girl's hand, not knowing who it was.

Quite easily he was able to get her to face his sisters without having to look at her.

"She's the one," he told his sisters calmly. "My fiancée, I mean." And then he shifted his eyes toward the girl.

Sakura stood there, probably in shock. But by the time Syaoran realized that he picked Sakura Kinomoto, he was in shock, too.

A/N: Uhhhh… it's TOO long! *sighs* I normally don't write chapters these long…

And it's too slow, huh? Not too much progress here. Still more on Syaoran. Actually, it's ninety-percent Syaoran. I guess I should have expected my fic to be this slow even then. Well, whatever. It's done and I hope you review anyway, and don't flame otherwise! ~ *_*

The chappie is called Declaration because it's where Syaoran declared Sakura as his fiancée… it doesn't fit much, but ahehe… -_-;;