Blame It On Sakura
Kristy Selean: yay! I finally updated! I'm so sorry for everyone who had to wait really long, but I promise the next chapter will be even better. Oh, and I was suppose to show what's up with Syaoran in this chapter, but it didn't turn out very well, so he won't show up until the next one. Sorry! Oh yeah, this chapter's another sad one, so... gomen for that too... Oh, one more thing to be sorry for. Chiharu is OOC(out of character) in this too. I know, too many things to apologize about. Still, I hope it's okay.
Chapter 6: Shattering Friendships
Sakura opened up her book on the table where everyone was sitting. It was in the afternoon when the Blue Stars homework club began. Sakura engrossed herself with her math problems, doing her best to solve each one when a conversation started.
"So, Sakura, how's your ankle?"
Sakura continued on with her math problems without letting her eyes meet up with Chiharu who was waiting for an answer.
"Fine."
"Are you sure?"
Chiharu gave Sakura a questioning look. Sakura felt annoyed as everyone turned to watch her respond. Sakura tried to push her anger out of her way before answering them back.
"Yeah. I'm feeling much better."
"Good, because the next match is less than two weeks."
Chiharu flashed Sakura smile while Sakura sighed in annoyance. Couldn't Chiharu tell that Sakura was just as worried about it if not more than she was?
"Why can't you just leave anything alone."
Sakura didn't mean for Chiharu to hear that, but it was too late. Chiharu flushed a bright red shade, perfectly unnatural even for Yamazaki to see when he lied.
"Sakura!"
Tomoyo lowered her head and pretended to be searching through her purse while Rika hummed awkwardly under her breath. Sakura knew they were both trying to ignore the situation. She stared down at her notebook. Sakura knew she should apologize, but she didn't want to; Chiharu was always bossing people around especially about gymnastics.
'It's okay for Chiharu to be totally focused on gymnastics, but does that mean that she has to act like everyone else should be too?'
"Look, Sakura. I'm not trying to nag you or anything, but I really want us to be ready. Besides, it's the district championship we're talking about here!"
'As if I could forget that.'
"Well, Chiharu, I'm getting better as fast as I can, okay?"
Sakura tried to make it sound like a joke, but by the looks on her friends' faces, she could tell that she sounded angry with them. Chiharu was flushed even more, and Tomoyo and Rika were looking down on the floor.
"Besides, if I don't get better, you still have Meilin."
"Meilin is not the same as you."
Chiharu pursed her lips into a deep frown while Sakura scowled at her math homework. A few days ago, she would have been glad to hear that, but now it was only putting more pressure on her.
"Meilin's a pretty good gymnast."
"But she's inexperienced in competition."
"So were we when we started out," Sakura retorted. "What's so wrong about just giving her a chance?"
"I wasn't being hard on her. I just said that she was inexperienced."
"That's not what it sounded like to me."
"Well, that's what I meant. Anyway, I thought you were the one who didn't like Meilin."
Sakura could tell that Chiharu was really mad this time. Her cheeks were bright red from frustration and anger, and her voice was up at the same time.
"I never said that."
"You acted like it."
"I did not!"
"You guys, there's no need to get angry here."
"No one's getting angry, Tomoyo. I just wanted to know what's going on. Why are you being so defensive?"
Chiharu stared at Sakura who eyed her back. It wasn't fair. Why was she pin-pointing her. They were such close friends before. What did she do to deserve this? Maybe doing the routine, but still, wasn't friendship suppose to last beyond mistakes?
"I'm not being defensive."
"Well, it seemed like it to me."
"Maybe I wouldn't seem like it if you'd stop nagging me."
"Look, all I want to know is are you going to be ready for the district chamionships or not?"
Sakura suddenly felt hot and cold all over. How could she possibly answer that question. She never learned healing magic so that wasn't possible. Even with it, Kero said that it could only heal to give energy. Muscles were out of the question and so was fear.
"I'll be ready."
"Good."
"Now will you just leave me alone?"
Sakura muttered before going back to her math homework to finish her last problem. Chiharu's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to say something when Tomoyo interrupted.
"We're going to practice in two hours now. Don't you think we've had enough talking about gymnastics, already?"
"Yeah, we'd better start our homework. We haven't gotten much done so far."
Rika pleaded along with Tomoyo. Sakura tossed a glare in Chiharu's direction before giving in her answer.
"Fine with me."
Chiharu stayed silent. Tomoyo paired up with Sakura to study their vocabulary for their quiz as Rika and Chiharu started on their book reports.
"Catacomb."
"Um... A comb for cats?"
"Sakura!"
Tomoyo giggled at Sakura's answer. Sakura wasn't the type for vocabulary even though her math skills may have gone up a little since fourth grade.
"Catacomb is an underground vault or cemetery."
"Yech!" Sakura made a face. "I like my definition better."
"Well, here's the next word. Trepidation."
"Trepidation. Fear, alarm, dread."
Sakura had no problem remembering that word. Since the day that Taretu- sensei read it outloud in class, it stuck to her like glue. No wonder! Sakura stole a glance at Chiharu. She told her she'd be ready, but what if it turned out to be a lie? Practice was going to be in a two hours. Unless Sakura found a way to get over her fear of falling, it was going to ruin her life!
*~*
"All right, ladies. It's time to do some pushups."
The whole Blue stars team groaned and grunted while fulfilling that task. Even Meilin joined in their grumbles, but they soon finished their workout for that. Sakura felt that the pushups were hard, but she felt good when doing them too. The Blue Stars finished their ice-cream at Thirty-two before coming to practice. Sakura and Chiharu were pretty strained on each other, but Sakura knew that one thing was different--she was determined not to choke this time.
"All right. Now that we're done with the stretches, let's go to the bars."
The five ladies went to the opposite side of the gymn. Tomoyo was the first to mount. Sakura went underneath to spot her, despite her nervousness. Tomoyo flashed her a smile and took off on a running leap to the lower bar. Despite her worries, Sakura started to relax as Tomoyo performed. Tomoyo was, after all, usually shy, but on the bars, Tomoyo totally came out of her shell. She even looked different from the way she moved to her facial expression.
'Like a graceful bird,' thought Sakura as Amber nailed a backward flip and went into a smooth hang glide kip. The only place Tomoyo wasn't so sure on was her landing; she came out of it too early and staggered as she hit the mat.
"Pretty good, Tomoyo, except..."
"I know, I know, Mom."
Tomoyo stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes in a playful expression. Eriol would have loved to see that...
"My landing... I could land a round-off dismount, but I can't do something as easy as a straddle kip dismount."
"Don't worry, Tomoyo. Every gymnast is different in their abilities. Just chip away at the problem until you've got it fixed."
'That sounds like good advice for me too.'
Sakura took note of Sonomi's words before she noticed that she was looking at her. Sakura bit her lip and nodded as she made her way for the bars. Tomoyo moved under them to spot her, and Sakura raced forward. As she swung up to grab the bars, she felt pure exhilaration course through her veins. After all, Sakura hadn't used her body like this since the accident. Speaking of which, the same panicky feeling came back to her as she did a clear hip circle to the top bar. Sakura focused her concentration on her body, but it started to get harder to breathe.
'Ten deep breaths, count backwards from one hundred, don't keep blaming yourself, take it one step at a time...'
Sakura ran the bits an pieces of advice through her mind as she focused herself into a deep concentration again. She wasn't going to give up. Not this time! Sakura at last finished her routine and landed on the mat. She did it! Still, from the looks on her friends' faces and the disappointed look on Meilin's face told her that it wasn't necessarily her best performance.
Sakura knew what was wrong. Before the accident, everything sparkled and dazzled because of how much she enjoyed being up there. Every movement that use to be the joy of her performance now felt like a chore. Sakura nervously looked up at Sonomi. If she yelled at her now, she knew she was going to cry.
"That's good, Sakura. You seemed pretty stiff up there compared to your usual performance, but considering the accident, it can be accounted for. Other than that, just watch the placement of your arms and relax a bit. I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself; it's literally freezing you up."
"Okay. I'll watch for that next time."
"All right. Now why don't we have Meilin step up to the plate?"
Meilin's eyes gleamed with joy as she ran toward the bars in delight. Everyone else smiled at her, but Sakura rolled her eyes. Her excitement in even the smallest things were unbearable.
'Why does she have to act like everything's a thrill of a lifetime?' Sakura thought sourly.
Meilin did make quite a few mistakes, but she had something that Sakura's routine didn't have: sparkle. Her routine came with a feeling of bliss that was in her. The way a simple routine could stand out was through expression and heart. Meilin used those; Sakura couldn't. Rika did her routine, as graceful as ever. Then there was Chiharu: perfectly poised.
'Miss Perfect. No wonder she could never understand other people's problems.'
"Nice!" said Sonomi as Chiharu got off of the bars. "Now let's give the beam a shot. You ready, Sakura?"
Sakura's throat tightened. Nodding, she walked over to the beam with Tomoyo to spot her. Now was the moment of truth, and Sakura knew the pressure was on. Just as she got on the beam, her heartbeat started racing.
'Ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven...'
Sakura counted under her breath as she did her routine. The first two moves were done very smoothly. Then Sakura bent over to do a cartwheel when she looked down. It was only four feet, but it looked pretty high from that position. Sakura started getting dizzy as thoughts of falling flew to her head.
"Sakura, what's wrong?"
Sakura looked up and saw the others waiting for her. She knew she must have froze in that position for some time already. With sweltering eyes, she almost blurted out the truth, but Sakura grabbed her ankle instead.
"I don't know. I felt a weird twinge in my ankle just now. Maybe I should rest it a minute."
Sonomi's eyes widened. It would definitely not be good to let Sakura hurt herself just now. Sonomi nodded, signaling that they should all take a quick break for now. Her cheeks burning, Sakura climbed off of the beam back onto the mat. The rest of the Blue Stars came to her.
"Sakura! Can I get you an aspirin? Some water maybe?" Meilin inquired breathlessly.
Sakura just shook her head and gave a reassuring smile. Meilin nodded and stepped back as the other girls neared Sakura. Sakura then noticed that her friends were staring at her very oddly.
"What?" she asked, irritated.
"Nothing," replied Tomoyo and Rika simulatneously.
"It's just that Dr. Kamiya said your ankle should be better by now," Chiharu blurted out. "He said..."
"How would you know what he said?"
"He said it would be completely healed in five days, so what's the scoop, Sakura? Are you better or not?"
Sakura bit her lip as Chiharu continued about the district championships in a urgent tone of voice. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance at Chiharu's explanation.
"Do you think you're the only one who cares? I happen to be just the same as you, only I don't go around like a dictator and bossing people around!"
Chiharu turned pale. "Sakura, I wasn't bossing around. I just..."
"Well, just do me a favor and stay out of my business, okay?"
"Girls! Girls! What's going on here?"
Sonomi's eyes flashed as she reached the scene of the fight. Sakura crossed her arms and turned her head away while Chiharu's frown was inevitably etched onto her face.
"Blame it on Sakura. She's the one with a problem."
Sakura and Chiharu locked their gazes for an instant and then turned away, each in disgust at the other.
"It's nothing."
"All right, then. Let's get back to practice."
Sonomi had them back to their workout in no time. Sakura felt relieved as they did their floor exercises. After all, it was pretty hard to fall off the mat, but when it came to their individual routines, the triple turns at the end conquered her.
"I don't know what it is. My ankle just doesn't feel right," Sakura lied.
"Well," Sonomi answered tiredly, "you might as well go back to your old routine then, Sakura. I still have the tape of it. 'The March of the Toys' sound good to you?"
"Yeah, sure."
Sakura's shoulders slumped as she answered. After sliding back into place, Sakura matched up her routine to the notes of "The March of the Toys." It was a pretty routine - nice and simple.
'And way too easy for you,' Sakura thought bitterly, 'or the gymnast that you used to be.'
Sonomi ended practice with that. Seeing that no one was going to tell her about the fighting issue, she dismissed everyone except Sakura. Sakura nodded and looked at her feet while everyone else filed out.
"I'm worried about you, Sakura. Ever since your accident, you've never been the same. Was there anything you wanted to talk to me about?"
Sakura hesitated. Now was her chance to tell someone how she was really feeling. Then she thought of Chiharu - how Chiharu acted like Sakura should be back to normal just like that. It wasn't fair the way everyone was pressuring her. No one, none of them, especially Chiharu, seemed to have any idea what a really big deal it was to have an accident.
"I guess I'm still recovering. It's just taking me a while, that's all," Sakura mumbled.
"I know, Sakura. Believe me, I don't want to put more pressure on you. I just want you to know that you can talk to me about whatever you may be feeling."
'Afraid.'
"I will. Can I go now?"
"Sure. See you Thursday."
"See you."
Sakura ran out of the gym, down the hallway to the locker room. She was hoping the others would be cahnged and ready to go, but they were just coming out of the showers. What was more, she could tell by the immediate silence that they were talking about her.
"Hi, Sakura." Meilin's cheeks were pink.
"Hi."
Sakura turned away to her locker. Somehow, it made it feel even worse when she knew that they were talking about her in front of Meilin.
"What did Coach Sonomi want?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" Chiharu repeated in disbelief.
"I thought I told you to stay out of my business," snapped Sakura.
"Fine."
Chiharu reached out to pull on her clothes. Rika stepped toward them in hopes of stopping the fight, but, to everyone's dismay, it didn't work.
"Tell her that."
"Me? It's you that's my problem, Chiharu! I had an accident. I sprained my ankle badly and all you care about is me getting better so the Blue Stars can be winners. That way you can be the star just like you always are. That's all you ever care about - being the star!"
Chiharu whirled around. Her eyes were emblazened with anger as her cheeks were flushed in an boiling angry red. Everyone widened their eyes and backed away, hoping to avoid Chiharu's fury.
"You should talk, Sakura! You're the one who wanted to be the star so much that you tried a move you couldn't even do and sprained your stupid ankle!"
Tears threatened to flood Sakura's eyes. Before Chiharu spoke, she was ready to confess how she truly felt and what the real problem was. She had been afraid ever since the accident, but now, she would never tell them what's going on.
"Who do you think you are, Chiharu? Queen of the World? I'm sick of you, and if it weren't for Rika, Tomoyo, and Aunt Sonomi, I would quit the Blue Stars right now! But if I do stay on the team, then I know one thing. I never want to talk to you, and I never want to hear you talk to me."
"Sakura, Chiharu, stop this. We're the Blue Stars. We're friends. Friends work things out together. We can find a way to work out our problems. Please?" Tomoyo pleaded.
Sakura glanced over at Chiharu. Chiharu was cool and collected, almost like she hadn't even fought a few seconds ago. Sakura shook her head.
"I don't know, Tomoyo. The only problem I care about is my accident, and maybe if you'd done what you're suppose to do and caught me when I fell, we wouldn't be fighting," Sakura replied icily.
To her horror, Tomoyo burst in to tears. Wails were heard so loudly in the locker room, Sakura was surprised that Sonomi didn't come running in to find out what was going on. Meilin and Rika jumped to Tomoyo to comfort her while Sakura just stood their, suddenly caught by guilt.
"Tomoyo, I..."
"Haven't you done enough harm for one day, Sakura? Just leave me alone!"
Tomoyo wrenched herself free from the others and ran out of the locker room. Sakura stared at her fleeing appearance. She wished she could take everything back, but it was too late. Then she turned to Chiharu and felt her anger rising again. She wished she could apologize to Tomoyo and Rika, but not to Chiharu. Chiharu deserved everything she said, and she wasn't going to apologize to her EVER, and if that meant the end of the Blue Stars, that was just too bad. Picking up her belongings, Sakura turned and ran out of the locker room.
*~*
"Another one. This is perfect."
An old batter was dusted off before being placed into someone's pocket. The figure, after pocketting it, left the room, Syaoran's old apartment living room.
Kristy Selean: yay! I finally updated! I'm so sorry for everyone who had to wait really long, but I promise the next chapter will be even better. Oh, and I was suppose to show what's up with Syaoran in this chapter, but it didn't turn out very well, so he won't show up until the next one. Sorry! Oh yeah, this chapter's another sad one, so... gomen for that too... Oh, one more thing to be sorry for. Chiharu is OOC(out of character) in this too. I know, too many things to apologize about. Still, I hope it's okay.
Chapter 6: Shattering Friendships
Sakura opened up her book on the table where everyone was sitting. It was in the afternoon when the Blue Stars homework club began. Sakura engrossed herself with her math problems, doing her best to solve each one when a conversation started.
"So, Sakura, how's your ankle?"
Sakura continued on with her math problems without letting her eyes meet up with Chiharu who was waiting for an answer.
"Fine."
"Are you sure?"
Chiharu gave Sakura a questioning look. Sakura felt annoyed as everyone turned to watch her respond. Sakura tried to push her anger out of her way before answering them back.
"Yeah. I'm feeling much better."
"Good, because the next match is less than two weeks."
Chiharu flashed Sakura smile while Sakura sighed in annoyance. Couldn't Chiharu tell that Sakura was just as worried about it if not more than she was?
"Why can't you just leave anything alone."
Sakura didn't mean for Chiharu to hear that, but it was too late. Chiharu flushed a bright red shade, perfectly unnatural even for Yamazaki to see when he lied.
"Sakura!"
Tomoyo lowered her head and pretended to be searching through her purse while Rika hummed awkwardly under her breath. Sakura knew they were both trying to ignore the situation. She stared down at her notebook. Sakura knew she should apologize, but she didn't want to; Chiharu was always bossing people around especially about gymnastics.
'It's okay for Chiharu to be totally focused on gymnastics, but does that mean that she has to act like everyone else should be too?'
"Look, Sakura. I'm not trying to nag you or anything, but I really want us to be ready. Besides, it's the district championship we're talking about here!"
'As if I could forget that.'
"Well, Chiharu, I'm getting better as fast as I can, okay?"
Sakura tried to make it sound like a joke, but by the looks on her friends' faces, she could tell that she sounded angry with them. Chiharu was flushed even more, and Tomoyo and Rika were looking down on the floor.
"Besides, if I don't get better, you still have Meilin."
"Meilin is not the same as you."
Chiharu pursed her lips into a deep frown while Sakura scowled at her math homework. A few days ago, she would have been glad to hear that, but now it was only putting more pressure on her.
"Meilin's a pretty good gymnast."
"But she's inexperienced in competition."
"So were we when we started out," Sakura retorted. "What's so wrong about just giving her a chance?"
"I wasn't being hard on her. I just said that she was inexperienced."
"That's not what it sounded like to me."
"Well, that's what I meant. Anyway, I thought you were the one who didn't like Meilin."
Sakura could tell that Chiharu was really mad this time. Her cheeks were bright red from frustration and anger, and her voice was up at the same time.
"I never said that."
"You acted like it."
"I did not!"
"You guys, there's no need to get angry here."
"No one's getting angry, Tomoyo. I just wanted to know what's going on. Why are you being so defensive?"
Chiharu stared at Sakura who eyed her back. It wasn't fair. Why was she pin-pointing her. They were such close friends before. What did she do to deserve this? Maybe doing the routine, but still, wasn't friendship suppose to last beyond mistakes?
"I'm not being defensive."
"Well, it seemed like it to me."
"Maybe I wouldn't seem like it if you'd stop nagging me."
"Look, all I want to know is are you going to be ready for the district chamionships or not?"
Sakura suddenly felt hot and cold all over. How could she possibly answer that question. She never learned healing magic so that wasn't possible. Even with it, Kero said that it could only heal to give energy. Muscles were out of the question and so was fear.
"I'll be ready."
"Good."
"Now will you just leave me alone?"
Sakura muttered before going back to her math homework to finish her last problem. Chiharu's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to say something when Tomoyo interrupted.
"We're going to practice in two hours now. Don't you think we've had enough talking about gymnastics, already?"
"Yeah, we'd better start our homework. We haven't gotten much done so far."
Rika pleaded along with Tomoyo. Sakura tossed a glare in Chiharu's direction before giving in her answer.
"Fine with me."
Chiharu stayed silent. Tomoyo paired up with Sakura to study their vocabulary for their quiz as Rika and Chiharu started on their book reports.
"Catacomb."
"Um... A comb for cats?"
"Sakura!"
Tomoyo giggled at Sakura's answer. Sakura wasn't the type for vocabulary even though her math skills may have gone up a little since fourth grade.
"Catacomb is an underground vault or cemetery."
"Yech!" Sakura made a face. "I like my definition better."
"Well, here's the next word. Trepidation."
"Trepidation. Fear, alarm, dread."
Sakura had no problem remembering that word. Since the day that Taretu- sensei read it outloud in class, it stuck to her like glue. No wonder! Sakura stole a glance at Chiharu. She told her she'd be ready, but what if it turned out to be a lie? Practice was going to be in a two hours. Unless Sakura found a way to get over her fear of falling, it was going to ruin her life!
*~*
"All right, ladies. It's time to do some pushups."
The whole Blue stars team groaned and grunted while fulfilling that task. Even Meilin joined in their grumbles, but they soon finished their workout for that. Sakura felt that the pushups were hard, but she felt good when doing them too. The Blue Stars finished their ice-cream at Thirty-two before coming to practice. Sakura and Chiharu were pretty strained on each other, but Sakura knew that one thing was different--she was determined not to choke this time.
"All right. Now that we're done with the stretches, let's go to the bars."
The five ladies went to the opposite side of the gymn. Tomoyo was the first to mount. Sakura went underneath to spot her, despite her nervousness. Tomoyo flashed her a smile and took off on a running leap to the lower bar. Despite her worries, Sakura started to relax as Tomoyo performed. Tomoyo was, after all, usually shy, but on the bars, Tomoyo totally came out of her shell. She even looked different from the way she moved to her facial expression.
'Like a graceful bird,' thought Sakura as Amber nailed a backward flip and went into a smooth hang glide kip. The only place Tomoyo wasn't so sure on was her landing; she came out of it too early and staggered as she hit the mat.
"Pretty good, Tomoyo, except..."
"I know, I know, Mom."
Tomoyo stuck her tongue out and rolled her eyes in a playful expression. Eriol would have loved to see that...
"My landing... I could land a round-off dismount, but I can't do something as easy as a straddle kip dismount."
"Don't worry, Tomoyo. Every gymnast is different in their abilities. Just chip away at the problem until you've got it fixed."
'That sounds like good advice for me too.'
Sakura took note of Sonomi's words before she noticed that she was looking at her. Sakura bit her lip and nodded as she made her way for the bars. Tomoyo moved under them to spot her, and Sakura raced forward. As she swung up to grab the bars, she felt pure exhilaration course through her veins. After all, Sakura hadn't used her body like this since the accident. Speaking of which, the same panicky feeling came back to her as she did a clear hip circle to the top bar. Sakura focused her concentration on her body, but it started to get harder to breathe.
'Ten deep breaths, count backwards from one hundred, don't keep blaming yourself, take it one step at a time...'
Sakura ran the bits an pieces of advice through her mind as she focused herself into a deep concentration again. She wasn't going to give up. Not this time! Sakura at last finished her routine and landed on the mat. She did it! Still, from the looks on her friends' faces and the disappointed look on Meilin's face told her that it wasn't necessarily her best performance.
Sakura knew what was wrong. Before the accident, everything sparkled and dazzled because of how much she enjoyed being up there. Every movement that use to be the joy of her performance now felt like a chore. Sakura nervously looked up at Sonomi. If she yelled at her now, she knew she was going to cry.
"That's good, Sakura. You seemed pretty stiff up there compared to your usual performance, but considering the accident, it can be accounted for. Other than that, just watch the placement of your arms and relax a bit. I think you're putting too much pressure on yourself; it's literally freezing you up."
"Okay. I'll watch for that next time."
"All right. Now why don't we have Meilin step up to the plate?"
Meilin's eyes gleamed with joy as she ran toward the bars in delight. Everyone else smiled at her, but Sakura rolled her eyes. Her excitement in even the smallest things were unbearable.
'Why does she have to act like everything's a thrill of a lifetime?' Sakura thought sourly.
Meilin did make quite a few mistakes, but she had something that Sakura's routine didn't have: sparkle. Her routine came with a feeling of bliss that was in her. The way a simple routine could stand out was through expression and heart. Meilin used those; Sakura couldn't. Rika did her routine, as graceful as ever. Then there was Chiharu: perfectly poised.
'Miss Perfect. No wonder she could never understand other people's problems.'
"Nice!" said Sonomi as Chiharu got off of the bars. "Now let's give the beam a shot. You ready, Sakura?"
Sakura's throat tightened. Nodding, she walked over to the beam with Tomoyo to spot her. Now was the moment of truth, and Sakura knew the pressure was on. Just as she got on the beam, her heartbeat started racing.
'Ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven...'
Sakura counted under her breath as she did her routine. The first two moves were done very smoothly. Then Sakura bent over to do a cartwheel when she looked down. It was only four feet, but it looked pretty high from that position. Sakura started getting dizzy as thoughts of falling flew to her head.
"Sakura, what's wrong?"
Sakura looked up and saw the others waiting for her. She knew she must have froze in that position for some time already. With sweltering eyes, she almost blurted out the truth, but Sakura grabbed her ankle instead.
"I don't know. I felt a weird twinge in my ankle just now. Maybe I should rest it a minute."
Sonomi's eyes widened. It would definitely not be good to let Sakura hurt herself just now. Sonomi nodded, signaling that they should all take a quick break for now. Her cheeks burning, Sakura climbed off of the beam back onto the mat. The rest of the Blue Stars came to her.
"Sakura! Can I get you an aspirin? Some water maybe?" Meilin inquired breathlessly.
Sakura just shook her head and gave a reassuring smile. Meilin nodded and stepped back as the other girls neared Sakura. Sakura then noticed that her friends were staring at her very oddly.
"What?" she asked, irritated.
"Nothing," replied Tomoyo and Rika simulatneously.
"It's just that Dr. Kamiya said your ankle should be better by now," Chiharu blurted out. "He said..."
"How would you know what he said?"
"He said it would be completely healed in five days, so what's the scoop, Sakura? Are you better or not?"
Sakura bit her lip as Chiharu continued about the district championships in a urgent tone of voice. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance at Chiharu's explanation.
"Do you think you're the only one who cares? I happen to be just the same as you, only I don't go around like a dictator and bossing people around!"
Chiharu turned pale. "Sakura, I wasn't bossing around. I just..."
"Well, just do me a favor and stay out of my business, okay?"
"Girls! Girls! What's going on here?"
Sonomi's eyes flashed as she reached the scene of the fight. Sakura crossed her arms and turned her head away while Chiharu's frown was inevitably etched onto her face.
"Blame it on Sakura. She's the one with a problem."
Sakura and Chiharu locked their gazes for an instant and then turned away, each in disgust at the other.
"It's nothing."
"All right, then. Let's get back to practice."
Sonomi had them back to their workout in no time. Sakura felt relieved as they did their floor exercises. After all, it was pretty hard to fall off the mat, but when it came to their individual routines, the triple turns at the end conquered her.
"I don't know what it is. My ankle just doesn't feel right," Sakura lied.
"Well," Sonomi answered tiredly, "you might as well go back to your old routine then, Sakura. I still have the tape of it. 'The March of the Toys' sound good to you?"
"Yeah, sure."
Sakura's shoulders slumped as she answered. After sliding back into place, Sakura matched up her routine to the notes of "The March of the Toys." It was a pretty routine - nice and simple.
'And way too easy for you,' Sakura thought bitterly, 'or the gymnast that you used to be.'
Sonomi ended practice with that. Seeing that no one was going to tell her about the fighting issue, she dismissed everyone except Sakura. Sakura nodded and looked at her feet while everyone else filed out.
"I'm worried about you, Sakura. Ever since your accident, you've never been the same. Was there anything you wanted to talk to me about?"
Sakura hesitated. Now was her chance to tell someone how she was really feeling. Then she thought of Chiharu - how Chiharu acted like Sakura should be back to normal just like that. It wasn't fair the way everyone was pressuring her. No one, none of them, especially Chiharu, seemed to have any idea what a really big deal it was to have an accident.
"I guess I'm still recovering. It's just taking me a while, that's all," Sakura mumbled.
"I know, Sakura. Believe me, I don't want to put more pressure on you. I just want you to know that you can talk to me about whatever you may be feeling."
'Afraid.'
"I will. Can I go now?"
"Sure. See you Thursday."
"See you."
Sakura ran out of the gym, down the hallway to the locker room. She was hoping the others would be cahnged and ready to go, but they were just coming out of the showers. What was more, she could tell by the immediate silence that they were talking about her.
"Hi, Sakura." Meilin's cheeks were pink.
"Hi."
Sakura turned away to her locker. Somehow, it made it feel even worse when she knew that they were talking about her in front of Meilin.
"What did Coach Sonomi want?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" Chiharu repeated in disbelief.
"I thought I told you to stay out of my business," snapped Sakura.
"Fine."
Chiharu reached out to pull on her clothes. Rika stepped toward them in hopes of stopping the fight, but, to everyone's dismay, it didn't work.
"Tell her that."
"Me? It's you that's my problem, Chiharu! I had an accident. I sprained my ankle badly and all you care about is me getting better so the Blue Stars can be winners. That way you can be the star just like you always are. That's all you ever care about - being the star!"
Chiharu whirled around. Her eyes were emblazened with anger as her cheeks were flushed in an boiling angry red. Everyone widened their eyes and backed away, hoping to avoid Chiharu's fury.
"You should talk, Sakura! You're the one who wanted to be the star so much that you tried a move you couldn't even do and sprained your stupid ankle!"
Tears threatened to flood Sakura's eyes. Before Chiharu spoke, she was ready to confess how she truly felt and what the real problem was. She had been afraid ever since the accident, but now, she would never tell them what's going on.
"Who do you think you are, Chiharu? Queen of the World? I'm sick of you, and if it weren't for Rika, Tomoyo, and Aunt Sonomi, I would quit the Blue Stars right now! But if I do stay on the team, then I know one thing. I never want to talk to you, and I never want to hear you talk to me."
"Sakura, Chiharu, stop this. We're the Blue Stars. We're friends. Friends work things out together. We can find a way to work out our problems. Please?" Tomoyo pleaded.
Sakura glanced over at Chiharu. Chiharu was cool and collected, almost like she hadn't even fought a few seconds ago. Sakura shook her head.
"I don't know, Tomoyo. The only problem I care about is my accident, and maybe if you'd done what you're suppose to do and caught me when I fell, we wouldn't be fighting," Sakura replied icily.
To her horror, Tomoyo burst in to tears. Wails were heard so loudly in the locker room, Sakura was surprised that Sonomi didn't come running in to find out what was going on. Meilin and Rika jumped to Tomoyo to comfort her while Sakura just stood their, suddenly caught by guilt.
"Tomoyo, I..."
"Haven't you done enough harm for one day, Sakura? Just leave me alone!"
Tomoyo wrenched herself free from the others and ran out of the locker room. Sakura stared at her fleeing appearance. She wished she could take everything back, but it was too late. Then she turned to Chiharu and felt her anger rising again. She wished she could apologize to Tomoyo and Rika, but not to Chiharu. Chiharu deserved everything she said, and she wasn't going to apologize to her EVER, and if that meant the end of the Blue Stars, that was just too bad. Picking up her belongings, Sakura turned and ran out of the locker room.
*~*
"Another one. This is perfect."
An old batter was dusted off before being placed into someone's pocket. The figure, after pocketting it, left the room, Syaoran's old apartment living room.
