Disclaimer: I don't own Card Captor Sakura
Chapter 4: Arising Troubles
A/n: Backies, at last! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while…
Review responses:
Anonymous: Danski: -smiling- I can keep up the smiling… I think. But, sorry for the lateness of this thing. Ya know, it's been hard to keep smiling for suck a long period of time – nearing five months now. I'm so sorry.
Hikari Rioki: Here's, um, more…
Anonymous: angel with duck: The part that you mentioned in you review has never happened and, no, I have not mentioned this yet. The more I read over it the more mistakes I find -_-" Sorry for the long wait.
Sara1664: Thankies!!
Authoress Pendragon: ^_^ I guess you'll just have to wait and see, ne?
Night Sparkle: I suppose I can say "good." Wow. I just did. ^_^'' Don't mind my sarcasm; it's, like, 11:30 PM…
Thanks to anyone else who gave me more than one review; ^_^ I wuv you guyses.
~*~
"Weak…"
Sakura woke with a start, falling out of her nightmare… and her bed. She landed with an, "Oof!" To her, the thud echoed through her frame, causing pain to lance through her body. Glancing at the clock, she groaned. 5:14 AM… Great, early morning for me! She grouched disdainfully, yawning.
Sakura slowly, and not to mention painfully, pulled herself off the floor. She stretched her arms above her head and rubbed an eye, padding out of her room for a shower.
*
After showering and dressing, Sakura tottered into the kitchen to make breakfast; she had time this morning, for once. She smiled suddenly, receiving a wonderful idea – a revengeful one – upon realizing that she was up earlier than Onii-chan. First, she'd need a bucket of ice water…
*
Sakura cackled evilly as her bigger brother scampered from the bed – a bed that was now soaked in chilling tap water. Her Onii-chan was shivering violently as he pointed towards his door. "Out. Now." He growled through ground teeth.
She complied good-naturedly, giggling teasingly all the way. She shut the door behind her and collapsed to the floor with laughter. He'd deserved that for a long time! Sakura got up, finally – after what seemed like hours of laughing – with sore cheeks and aching sides and glanced at the clock. Her eyes widened and she rushed down the stairs. No! She was going to be late, after all! Stupid, godforsaken time! She'd woken up at nearly five o'clock, for crying out loud!
The green-eyed girl bolted through the house, packing up things as she went. She grabbed a piece of toast, stuck it in her mouth for safekeeping, and pulled on her roller-skates. Speeding out the door, she waved her goodbye to her family and hurried to school. She couldn't really let another late day slip by; she'd already been tardy so many times in the year.
*
Rounding the last corner, Sakura sped into school grounds to find them empty. Shoot! She sped to her locker and threw her skates in, taking out her school shoes and slipping into them before running off to class. She barely remembers to close the locker door.
The emerald-eyed girl halted at the door to find a classroom without a sensei. Thank god! She skirted inside and flounced to her seat just as the teacher – Terada-sensei – entered. "Kinomoto, I'm surprised! You're here!"
Sakura smiled proudly and she heard a snort of laughter behind her. "Just barely, Sakura," Syaoran muttered to her. She scowled her response and looked back to the teacher, who'd started writing down the notes to copy down from the board.
*
Sakura watched as the boys ran laps around the field. It was a partially warm day so her sensei decided they would work outside for their gym class much to most of her class' joy – including her own.
She found it odd but every once and a while – very frequently, really – she caught Syaoran looking up in the bleachers at her as if she was going to do something drastic or erratic – maybe pass out or something but she didn't know. It made her feel self-conscious and, if anything else, annoyed. She didn't need and moronic babysitter!
*
Sakura yawned loudly and would have swooned if she were not already flopped over at the lunch table. Okay, maybe Syaoran had good reason to think she would faint. She was tired! She saw the lifted eyebrow that Tomoyo sent her and waved it off as nothing. Maybe she should listen to him once and a while…
She shook off the sleepiness, trying to recover her genki side to no avail, and propped her head in an open palm to listen to her friends' conversation. Her eyes soon slid closed and she fell, backwards, out of her chair.
Sakura awoke later to find herself in the clinic, her four friends – Rika, Chiharu, Naoko, and Tomoyo staring down at her. Off to the side and out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Syaoran leaning in the doorframe, glowering at her as if he knew something like this would happen. She nearly rolled her eyes but repressed the urge when she sat up and heard the nurse say something.
"I've called your Father, Kinomoto. He's on his way."
Green eyes blinked. What had happened? "Why—Why'd you call him – what'd I do?"
She asked, rubbing her eye lazily. She flopped back into the stark white sheets
when a dizzy spell took over and shook her head violently to wave it away. Syaoran
joined the girls at her bedside, she noticed along with Tomoyo – who smiled
slyly.
"Why, you passed out during lunch, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo
filled in. "Don't you remember?"
Sakura blinked and furrowed her brow in concentration. Lunchtime. She remembered
being more tied than anything before, then… She couldn't remember. "I was just
tired!" She defended, looking to the nurse that still sat behind her desk, "You
don't need to bring Otou-san up here! I'm fine, really." She shot up in her
bed, still speaking, "I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all…"
The nurse looked up from the report she was writing on Sakura's condition. "I understand that, Kinomoto; but, under regulations, I was obligated to call up Kinomoto-sensei." She declared with a rather monotonous voice, impassive.
"But…"
Syaoran scoffed. "Sakura, stop. Just do as the nurse says and go home with Kinomoto-sensei when he gets here. I don't think he'll mind getting off work early if it concerns you or that "older thing" of yours…"
Sakura looked up at Syaoran from her placement on the cot. She was surprised when she left a hand on her shoulder shoving her back to a lying position again and noticed that her friends had moved out of the way. "Sleep. And do it well this time…" He murmured close to her ear, so that no one else could tell. "I'll wake you when your father arrives…"
Sakura blinked. "You're staying?"
Syaoran shrugged uncomfortably. "Well. I've got nothing better to do. I'm passing every other class with A's and," Syaoran looked to the door as it swung closed, "It looks as if your friends have just abandoned you…" He finished, looking back at her.
Sakura looked straight over Syaoran's shoulder to the door and saw Tomoyo in the window, giving a thumbs-up with that sly grin of hers, and she blushed crimson, looking away from the window. Grea-a-a-t… Just perfect.
"O. Okay." She answered, overwhelmed, and turned away to sleep before the boy at her bedside could see her blushing face.
*
Sakura was shaken awake approximately forty-three minutes later and her eyes snapped open in surprise. Above her was Syaoran, staring down at her in annoyance. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to wake you up? Kinomoto-sensei's been waiting for nearly five minutes…"
Sakura shrugged helplessly, letting Syaoran help her out of bed, and apologized softly.
"Did you sleep alright?" He asked abruptly, steering her to the main clinic, where Sakura's father waited with a smile on his face.
She was startled by the question but smiled and nodded all the same. "Yes. Thanks for asking." She went straight to Otou-san when Syaoran let go of her hand and he welcomed her with a soft hug around the shoulders and a "Feeling alright?" Sakura nodded again and smiled up at her father.
Sakura was sent straight to bed when she reached home and she welcomed in gratefully. She sunk into her blankets after changing out of her uniform into much more comfortable clothes. She had switched on the mobile radio at her desk to play some soothing music, hoping it would drive away any nightmares she may encounter.
Though, she still couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why the unpleasant dreams had started in the first place…
*
"You're staying?"
It was a shocked statement. Why would she have so little faith in him as to think that he would just abandon her when she became weak or venerable? That was the time when he was most dedicated to helping and keeping her safe. She should know.
Syaoran sighed when he reached his apartment building and pulled out his house key. He heard the door lock click and he pushed the door open, dropping his backpack off at the coat rack next to the door. He immediately made his way to the bedroom. He, himself, had been up for a fair amount of time last night, worrying over a certain honey-haired girl and her nightly haunting.
He didn't understand where it had all started. Sakura was a confident girl and she was always one to compete for the best. Why would she think that she was the worst of the two of them – what, or who, had given her the idea? If someone had arisen that stupid thought in her mind, he would… he would…
Okay, so he didn't know what he'd do, but that wasn't the point in the least. He didn't know who would have anything against such a cordial girl or family like the Kinomotos. Well, except for the big-headed brother of hers, but that was just Touya… People just naturally had problems with Touya – namely himself. Sakura was always so genki and friendly; she made so many people laugh at school and even the ones who envied her for such beautiful attributes couldn't find a single flaw in her personality – except for the irrational fear of ghosts that she had acquired over the years.
Stupid nightmares. Both of them were loosing sleep over it.
Syaoran yawned and he flopped backwards in his bed. It was probably the most comfortable place he'd ever been at a time like this one. He sighed contently and closed his eyes. He only hoped that Sakura was going to sleep well tonight.
*
He was scowling her way again. She'd only just started off her day; what could she have done wrong? She even made it through a night without one of those awful dreams…
She wondered why that happened, and why she was able to sleep in the office's bed with Syaoran there than her own bed without Syaoran. She slept so well last night, better than she had in about a week – since the dreams started – and Syaoran was still watching her like a hawk. What had she done to deserve this?
She was still more tired than anything imaginable, though. Why was that?
~*~
A/n: Okay, so it's a little short – almost 2000 words – but at least I updated. ^^'' Be happy I updated at all. I wasn't planning to because, at the moment, I'm not supposed to be writing. I am basically restricted from the computer until the shed in my backyard is built. -_-" Yay. Hear the sarcasm?
The sanest insane,
SenkoP.s: Review!!!
