Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. I never have and I never will.
Summary: By day, she's a host on the local radio, by night, just another waitress at a café in downtown Tomoeda. Life's hard for Kinomoto Sakura, and it's about to get even harder. Especially when he shows up again... AU
Notes: And thank you to all the reviewers. The reviews are much appreciated! ^_^
Footprints in the Sand
"Hey, shoo," Sakura said to Syaoran. "Outside, dork." She pointed to the door. "And take him with you." She pointed to Touya. "He causes me enough trouble already." Sakura turned back to the mess that was still flooding her kitchen and she sighed even deeper with resignation. Her nephew could be an utter nightmare when he wanted to be, and this was obviously one of those days.
Sakura glanced over at Tomoyo and gestured to Roka. "Could you take him upstairs for a bit while I clean up this mess? It could take some time." She looked to her nephew, wondering how he could cause so much mess for someone that small, and then she gave up. It would be some time before she would find out. Her cousins could be just as bad sometimes, she supposed.
Tomoyo looked over the mess once and then started pushing Roka's shoulders gently to help him up the stairs. He was standing there agape as he watched his auntie. "Come on, Roka. We're just in the way."
"But I wanna help Auntie!" Roka said. He was feeling a little guilty for flooding the kitchen.
"Nah, bad idea there, we don't want to get auntie even more annoyed, Li and your daddy did that enough already," Tomoyo said in a cajoling voice. "Come on, let's go."
"Okay..." Roka gave up. He wasn't really all that eager to get wet anyway. He'd rather be upstairs playing with someone, and since Tomoyo was the only one who was going to go with him, he guessed that that was better than nothing. He had had lots of fun with that Li guy this afternoon, and he didn't know why his auntie hated him so much. That Li guy had even played 'Horsie' with him, and there weren't really many people who were willing to do that.
Once Roka and Tomoyo were upstairs, Sakura flicked a hand and the door shut behind them. She didn't want the water spilling up to upstairs. Things went haywire around her house.
So this is what I'm reduced to, Sakura thought. I guess it's better than nothing. I don't mind Roka... usually. But I just wish that sometimes he'd stop fiddling around with things and making my life more difficult than it already is. Something just really seems to be bothering me lately and I don't know what it is. Actually, I think I have a pretty good idea, but it's not what I'd like to admit at all.
I think it's him. But I don't want him to know anything. After all, I would get so much rubbish from Touya. I saw that look on Tomoyo's face this morning, and I know what she was thinking. I saw that same look when she was looking at Touya and Nakuru. It's that 'Matchmaker' look. She tries to look innocent, but she can't pull that look off as well as Roka can, and since I'm her best friend, I know everything that she tries to do. Sometimes people think that I can be incredibly dense, and I guess that I can sometimes, but that's just part of who I am. No one is all seeing and knows everything that is going to happen. Geez, they'd have to be God for that. And I doubt that anything is like that at all.
"You sure you don't need some help?" Syaoran asked. He had come in the door from putting Touya outside.
Sakura looked up, and pushed her bangs out of her eyes to see who it was. "Didn't I tell you what I wanted you to do? And if I wanted help, I would've asked."
"Yeah, right," Syaoran said. "I highly doubt that."
"Stubborn mule," she mumbled.
An arched eyebrow.
"Oh, come on," Sakura said, "you know you are. You can be as bad as my brother sometimes."
"And your brother is bad?"
Sakura just gave him a look. "No, duh."
"And what does that mean?"
"God, you're dense."
"Whatever you say."
"Oh fine," Sakura mumbled. "Just grab a mop."
"What was that?" Syaoran asked.
"Get a freaking mop!" Sakura yelled. "Do I have to spell it out for you?! Or are you beyond that now?!"
"Yep." Syaoran went into the laundry, opened the closet door and rummaged around in all the stuff, finally finding the most ancient mop that he had ever seen. "Yo, what is this? It looks years old," he said, showing Sakura.
"That's my grandma's mop, been in the family for years," Sakura said, then she narrowed her eyes. "And if you break it, I assure you that I am taking no responsibility."
"It's yours."
"I know it is, but I'll say that you broke it," she replied, grinning.
"Whatever."
Sakura's eyes darted to the bucket that was sitting on the floor. It was half-full with dirty water that she had already mopped up. She snuck a look at Syaoran once and noticed that he was wearing new white shoes. A plan began forming in her mind.
Sakura mopped up a little more, making sure to make the water disgustingly grey. She tried not to smile, and concentrated on the bucket.
Syaoran noticed her doing something weird, and thought it looked a bit suspicious, but it was too late. Sakura had already knocked over the bucket and the water was seeping dangerously close to his shoes.
His hand flung out and stopped the water dead in its tracks. He looked up, and saw Sakura's face.
Then he realised what he had done.
His cover was blown.
To be continued...
Well, thank you very much! And thanks for reading. I'm sorry this chapter took so long and that it's not all that great, but an update's an update right? And there's more to come. I've been feeling a little guilty that I was unable to post anything, so I hope this will do... for now.
Will post updates for Wishing Well and Melody soon. And I haven't forgotten Regretting Looking Behind. That's next on the priorities list. ^_^
--Kari
