Chapter Thirteen

Eyes of Mist

Card Captor Sakura

~starjade~

The Discovery

Syaoran walked outside on the balcony. He could see the rain , but he could not feel it. He smiled peacefully and settled into one of the chairs , watching the rain fall around him.

Carefully , he opened his next letter. He read the first few paragraphs with a warm heart , but then stopped at the last paragraph.

I sure would like to see you someday. I know , I said that we shouldn't see each other...but I feel like I know you inside and out....so maybe we should meet up some day. You told me you were in Japan...do you still get my letters? And if you are here...can you come see me?

His heart jolted at these words. See her.....see this cherry blossom who he wished he could meet someday , wished he could feel , touch....god , how he wanted it so much! HE stared at the letter like it was a dream.

Was it true?

Was it really true?

He leaned back against the chair , closing his eyes , dreaming of that day. What would sound like?

Sakura's voice pounded in his ears..

What would she look like?

Sakura's emerald eyes blinked back at him...

What would she be like?

Sakura's cheerful smile grinned at him..

Stop!

He growled , yanking at his hair. Why was he thinking of Sakura at a time like this? He could not believe it. Every time he thought of Cherry Blossom , he thought of Sakura...

God this wasn't right!

How could someone he thought of as the most annoying person on earth remind him of...Cherry Blossom?

Syaoran groaned and leaned back against his chair. This wasn't right...

~~~~~****~~~~~

Sakura knocked on Syaoran's door over and over again. No one was answering, and Sakura grew more frustrated. She knew he was in there , and she needed his help , she needed to talk to him , she needed...

God , what did she need?

Sakura ran her hand through her wet , dripping hair and finally , put her hand on the cold wooden doorknob and twisted it. Surprisingly , the door clicked and swung open.

The room was shadowed and Sakura peered through the darkness. The room was really neat , everything put away neatly.

The curtains flew like ghosts from the window and Sakura almost thought she saw a figure in the balcony...she shivered and wiped droplets of water from her forehead that dripped from her soaking hair.

Folding her arms around her clothes that were clinging to her body , she stepped inside the room , looking around for clues to where Syaoran had gone.

Maybe he was still here , in the washroom , maybe...

" Syaoran?" Sakura called out , her voice terribly squeaky. No one answered.

Sakura sighed and turned to go away when suddenly the answering machine beeped twice.

Someone was calling...

A voice , Syaoran's voice filled the room. " Sorry I cannot be there to answer your call , please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can."

Another beep sounded in the room.

Suddenly a man's voice spoke from the answering machine. Sakura blinked. She was eavesdropping , she'd better go..

" Syaoran man , where are you? I know your there , come on , just pick up. Oh well , I need your help. Who is this girl? I just got a picture of her and yeah , she's pretty, but I'm not so sure about marrying her."

Sakura halted. What?

" God , what punishment is this? Being tied to one girl....don't think I can do it , man. You said she was nice and cheerful and all that , is she really a cheerleader? Wow , I dated a couple of cheerleaders here...wonder how she's different? I got to meet her someday , you gotta hook us up , man."

Dread filled her veins and she felt as if she was frozen. Even the droplets that fell from her skin to the ground seemed to freeze. She was aware of the silence in the room , of this voice echoing through the room , and the rain that pounded against the windows and outside...

No....no , this can't be happening...

" So you said her name was Kinomoto , or something? Sakura....wow , that's a pretty name. She sure would look good beside me , wouldn't she? Call back alright , you gotta hook us up so I can see if I can go through the horror of marriage with her! Call back , soon buddy , alright?"

The answering machine clicked off.

Sakura could not feel her heart. It was absolutely still , dead still. The words swam around in her mind , echoing over and over and over...

" Sakura?"

The voice broke through the haze that had surrounded her and she whirled around , her heart beating once more , those words banging against her head like a sledgehammer.

Syaoran was standing there , a piece of paper clutched in his hand. He looked almost scared , for he must have heard the answering machine as well.

Sakura just stared at him.

She thought he was her friend.

She thought she could trust this...man.

And he had betrayed her...

Anger seeped in through the frozen tunnels that had etched their pattern into her body and melted all the shock , all the surprise.

Now all she felt was anger. Fury.

" How could you?" Was all she whispered , before she whirled around , wrenched open the door and stormed out into the hallway.

" Sakura , wait!" she could hear him calling to her faintly at the corner of her mind , but everything was just so mashed up , so disoriented , that all she thought of was Run , Run NOW!

She bumped into Tomoyo in the hallway , who seeing her panic stricken eyes , grew instantly worried. " Sakura?"

Sakura just ran past her , not even noticing. Tomoyo saw Syaoran racing after her and stopped him.

" What did you do to Sakura?" she asked , angrily.

Syaoran looked after Sakura and said , panting , " Whatever I did , I'm trying to fix it! Let me go!"

Tomoyo nodded and Syaoran sprinted down the stairs and out the door , after Sakura. Tomoyo watched the two of them. What was going on? What did Syaoran do that made Sakura so...angry?

Sakura ran through the raindrops and looked around her. It was getting dark and she was soaking wet and shivering badly. Her clothes clung to her body and her hair plastered against her forehead. Nice idea , Sakura , she thought sarcastically. Talk to Syaoran...how stupid can you get?

She spotted the car and ran towards it. She was going to drive away....away from Syaoran and all her problems.

She hurried to the car and wrenched on the handle. Of course , she forgot. She didn't have the keys. How stupid was she? First, she trusts Syaoran and then she forgets the keys.

Suddenly a hand offered the keys to her. Sakura stared at the keys and up the person's arm towards their face. Syaoran's bangs hung in his eyes and he stared at Sakura , straight into her eyes , his eyes holding a little pleading look in them.

That just made Sakura angrier.

She grabbed the keys , feeling like her heart was being twisted and torn. She only knew Syaoran for a month or so , and she already felt so betrayed...

Quickly , she unlocked the door and stumbled into the driver's seat. She shoved the keys in and jerked the car into drive. The car drove , a bit slowly forwards and she kept on driving.

In the rear-view mirror , she glanced back at Syaoran. He was wet and soaking , but he was staring after her forlornly.

Sakura jerked the car into reverse.

She pulled up to Syaoran and got out of the car. She felt the raindrops splatter on her skin and she looked up at Syaoran with stormy eyes.

" So you were the one who set me up. Who is this guy? Why do you want me to marry him? I'm only seventeen , for goodness sakes , I'm not ready for marriage!! How could you betray me like this? How could you come here , acting all innocent and then behind my back , organize this little ....whatever you call it!"

She was sputtering for words , her anger coating her tongue like a vile tasting liquid.

Syaoran just stood there as she ranted on , staring at her.

" Your just a PHOTOGRAPHER , Syaoran Li! Nothing more! So don't try to wedge your way here into my life! I thought that maybe you were my friend....but friends don't betray each other!"

She screamed. She banged her fist against his chest , the confusion taking over her. She just hit him , over and over , weakly , tears pouring from her eyes.

Syaoran grabbed her fists and stared into her eyes. " I'm sorry..." Was all he said and Sakura burst into sobs as Syaoran wrapped his arms around her. Sakura let him hold her...she wasn't sure what was going on.

They both didn't notice the cell phone that was blaring desperately in Syaoran's jacket pocket.

~~~~~~~****~~~~~~

My life is so confused , right now , Little Wolf. I'm writing this before we are getting together to meet. I hope you got my letter , the second one. I wrote down the exact date and time....I can't believe that I'm finally going to meet you.....

Sakura leaned back and sighed. She was in such a state of bewilderment , she didn't know where she was going. She was just stumbling through the days , stumbling through the hours and the minutes...

Sakura looked up towards the ceiling. Just a week ago , she received a call from some prominent family in Hong Kong , wanting their foster son to marry her. Then she finds out Syaoran is friends with this foster son , and was the one who introduced Sakura to him.

And today , she was going to meet Little Wolf.

Why was life so confusing?

She was dressed up in a white dress , with a trail of delicate cherry blossoms that outlined the hems of the sleeveless dress. Her hair was left open , and she only wore a faint hint of makeup. She wore white sandals , and she was more nervous than anything in the world!

Yet today didn't seem right...

Today didn't seem like the perfect day to meet her....dream guy.

Sure, the sun was high , the birds were tweeting , the leaves bright and colourful....it was a beautiful day. Her father was in a good mood , and her brother...ah , her brother was just being....brotherly....if you could call it that. They were both getting ready for this meeting...

She just hoped that Little Wolf had gotten the letter.

What might her Little Wolf look like? Hmm....maybe black hair...no , chestnut would do better. Blue eyes? No , amber.... What kind of a smile....sort of a hidden smile that makes you feel warm and safe inside...

At last she worked up a picture of Little Wolf....and it looked exactly like Syaoran Li...

" That isn't right!" She said out loud , her eyes clouded. She quickly erased that picture. She'd just see when he came.

" Sakura! We'd better go!" Fujitaka's voice floated up the stairs.

" Coming , father!" She grabbed her purse and raced out the door , her heart beating with anticipation....or was it dread??

~~~~~~*****~~~~

Syaoran groaned , as he leaned back on his chair. God , how could he have known what kind of problems Japan would bring him?

Sakura was mad at him....stupid Eriol left that much of an INFORMATIVE message on the answering machine....god , how much he wanted to strangle him.

Syaoran remembered how this all started. His mother wanted him to find a girl for Eriol to marry....he didn't want to , and just said the first girl that came to his mind. That girl that had phoned him , Miss. Sakura Kinomoto.

It was pure luck they were around the same age. Pure luck , she was pretty and intelligent and everything Eriol's wife needed to be.

Pure luck , eh?

So he was forced to be a photographer ( he was going to refuse the job) and sent here to this crazy place. Where he became good friends with Sakura , even with Tomoyo and well....

He didn't think Japan was so crazy after all.

But now he lost it all. All because of that stupid Eriol. He felt his heart skip a beat as he remembered that Eriol was going to marry Sakura ...

But Sakura was going to disagree , wasn't she?

She could say no , she didn't want to marry him , and then-

What was he thinking?? Syaoran ran a hand through his hair and groaned once more. His thoughts were jumbled , confusing. He needed to sort them out. He needed-

Suddenly his cell phone blared off in the pocket of his jacket. He had set it out to dry from the rain of last night. Syaoran sighed and got up from the chair and strode towards his damp jacket. He had totally forgotten it was in there!

He quickly answered it. " Hello?"

His sister's voice suddenly yelled at him , " Xio-Lang! I've been trying to reach you for days!"

Syaoran's eyebrows rose. " Days?"

His sister sighed. " Yes , days! You got more mail , like three days ago! Do you want me to send it over?"

Syaoran's heart leaped. " Yes , please!!"

His sister huffed. " For goodness sakes , you could've at least answered your phone. This letter's been sitting in my room for the past three days!"

Syaoran frowned. Something was wrong about that...

~~~~~~*****~~~~~

Sakura sat stiffly in a white plastic chair as a waiter walked around with drinks , serving each one of them. Fujitaka's face was tired and Touya was long gone. It had been an hour and a half since Sakura had asked Little Wolf to meet them.

Where was he?

Sakura sighed and stared at Fujtaka. " Maybe something held him up , Father. He'll be here! I know it!"

Fujitaka smiled at his daughter. " Lets hope so , daughter. But it's been so long! We can't wait much longer. If he isn't here in half an hour , we're going to have to leave."

Sakura sighed and looked out at the bright , sunny day.

Little Wolf , please come...

a/n: Confusing , isn't it? See if you guys can see what's happening here! The story's taking a serious twist here! It'll be explained better in the next chapter , aight??

Read and Review Peeps! PLEASE!

And I love all of you that are reviewing , thank you so much for your reviews! I love you!

~starjade~