Disclaimer: These wonderful characters belong not to me, but to CLAMP. I'm
just using them for fun.
.
Warnings: Hear ye, hear ye. This AU, SxS, ExT, no magic, no cards, and different lifestyles and behavior of some characters.
.
Feedbacks: I crave for them!! Please feed and indulge me!!
.
"Words"
'Thoughts'
. . .
Forbidden Love
. . .
. .
Chapter Three: Coincidence!?
. .
"That woman!" Fujitaka Kinomoto banged his briefcase down on the coffee table. "If the company doesn't settle this case soon, I may end up in a straightjacket!"
.
Sakura glanced up at her father from the living room floor, where she was sprawled on her stomach doing her homework. "What case is that, Dad?"
.
"Remember I told you about Mr. Danner---the Fuller Brush salesman who's being sued by a lady who claims he backed over her prize rosebushes?"
.
"Is that who you're mad at---the lady with the rosebushes?" Sakura went back to figuring the square root of 16,982. It was easier, she thought, than trying to come up with a comfortable way to tell her dad about the accident---especially after seeing what a great mood he was in.
.
"No, not Mrs. Waverly." Loosening his tie, he sank down in the easy chair by the fireplace. He was a striking man with strong features and neat chestnut colored hair and gray eyes. "She's a pretty tough old bird for eighty-six, but it's her lawyer I'm talking about. A real woman's libber."
.
"Dad," Sakura said, moaning, "you're so old-fashioned!"
.
"What's wrong with old-fashioned, I'd like to know? At least in the old days a woman knew how to act around a man."
.
"What did she do that was so terrible?"
.
"Well, first she got mad just because I got up and offered her my chair. It was the best chair, after all. Then when I tried to calm her down with a compliment, she nearly bit my head off."
.
"What was the compliment?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
.
There was a hint of roguishness in her father's smile. "I only said she was too pretty to be a lawyer."
.
"Daddy, you didn't!" Sakura rolled over onto her back, pretending to be mortally wounded. "Ugh! I can't believe what a chauvinist you are!"
.
"None of that talk from you, young lady," he chided, his stern expression unable to disguise the twinkle in his eye. "We chauvinists deserve respect, too, you know."
.
A minute later he frowned at the books and papers over the carpet. "Shouldn't you be doing that on your desk? A person can't concentrate properly lying on the floor like that."
.
Sakura sighed. "I do some of my best concentrating on the floor," she countered, chewing the end of her pencil.
.
"How was school today?" he asked.
.
Sakura cleared her throat. It was her moment. She had thought of leaving the car in plain view in the driveway to speak for itself, but in the end she had opted for hiding the evidence in the garage until she could find a gentle way to break it to him. Now she realized there was no way.
.
"Dad---there's something I---uh---"
.
But his mind had already switched tracks. "Mmmm. What's that I smell? Dinner I hope---I'm starved."
.
"Katie left a pot of roast in the oven," she said, relieved to be temporarily off the hook. "I'm supposed to take it out in twenty minutes."
.
Katie de Vries was their day housekeeper, a sturdy Dutch lady in her sixties who didn't seem to be bothered by Mr. Kinomoto's chauvinistic remarks, such as when he called her a "treasure" and asked why some man hadn't snatched her up years ago. She always laughed and said something like, "Go on, Mr. Kinomoto, if I were twenty years younger, you wouldn't stand a chance."
.
Actually, Sakura also considered her dad's chauvinistic remarks fairly harmless. Like most of her friends' fathers, he just had a weird sense of humor. There was no getting around the fact that he was too conservative, but still she wouldn't want him to be like Rika's father, who played piano in a nightclub in Sacramento and wore lots of gold jewelry and clingy shirt.
.
What really bothered Sakura about her dad was that he could never see her side of things. If she could accept him in spite of his being so old- fashioned, why couldn't he recognize that she wasn't a little girl anymore-- -that she was grown up, in fact? He didn't think she was capable of making any decisions on her own---even as something as small as doing her homework on the floor.
.
Sakura decided to escape and scooped up the untidy sprawl of books and notepaper, then padded down the hallway to her bedroom at the far end of their house. Being alone in her bedroom always made Sakura feel a little cut off from the rest of the world. She couldn't help thinking about all the times her mom used to come in and sit down on her bed to talk about something. After a while she would get up and smooth the bedspread flat again, just as effortlessly as she smoothed over Sakura's hurt.
.
But now she didn't mind being alone; it gave her a chance to sort out her feelings about Syaoran. Had she mistaken the way he looked at her that afternoon? Had touching her hand been just a meaningless gesture?
.
She didn't think so---but then she'd had so little experience in those things. Perhaps she was reading too much into Syaoran's simply wanting her as a friend. Or maybe, she concluded, it was too soon for either of them to know how they really felt.
.
Sakura sighed and flopped down on her bed. There was just no simple way to straighten out all the mixed-up feelings that were crowding her life at the moment.
.
Then she remembered about the piece of paper with Syaoran's number and fished around in her book bag to find it. She had never before believed in things like rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers bringing people luck, but as she sat there, turning the paper over and over in her hand, she couldn't help but feel that it somehow brought her closer to Syaoran.
.
#~#~#
.
"You're not eating," said Mr. Kinomoto as he watched Sakura pick at her food. "Not coming down with anything, are you?"
.
"I'm fine, Dad---really."
.
"What's bothering you then? Anything you want to tell me about?"
.
She took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.'
.
"Dad---it's about the car." Without taking another breath, she plunged ahead. By the time she had finished, her father had stopped cutting his meat and was staring at her, frowning.
.
"You're absolutely positive this accident was your fault?" he asked after a long, heart-stopping silence. "Were there any witnesses?"
.
"No, but---"
.
He held up his fork to silence her. "If it happened as you described it, I'd have to say---as an insurance agent, not as your father---that it doesn't appear to be a clear case of one hundred percent blame on either side."
.
She had been expecting anger, so his reaction took her completely by surprise. "But---but---I just told you, I wasn't looking where I was going!"
.
"Well, now, that means you're assuming this boy was looking. How much do you really know him, Sakura? What kind of driving record does he have?"
.
Unthinkingly she blurted out, "He said he got a ticket last year, and that's why he couldn't get insurance, but I don't see what that has to do with---"
.
"No insurance!" Mr. Kinomoto echoed incredulously. "That settles it, then. The boy is obviously irresponsible, as well as a negligent driver. As disappointed as I am in your carelessness, Sakura, I can't let you shoulder all the blame for this. To be fair, I won't hold him responsible for the damage to my car, but you can be damned sure the company won't be paying his."
.
"You can't do this!" Sakura wailed, leaping out of her chair. "It was my fault. And Syaoran's been so nice about it. You just can't do this to him, Dad!"
.
Mr. Kinomoto's stern expression softened the tiniest bit, but he remained firm. "I can see you like this boy, and I'm sure he went out of his way to be charming after what happened. But, Cherry," he said, using an old endearment that made he cringe, "I've always thought you were too smart to be snowed by someone in a situation like this."
.
"You just don't understand at all!"
.
"I understand more than you think," he replied evenly. "After all, I happen to have been around a few more years than you. Now---why don't you give me this Li Syaoran's number? I'll call his parents and straighten it out with them."
.
Fifteen minutes later, having exhausted all her protests, Sakura went tearfully to her room to get the phone number. She shoved it at her father as if it had suddenly sprouted a deadly fungus. 'I hope he knows he's ruining my whole life!'
.
Fujitaka Kinomoto disappeared into his den, where he made all his calls. When he emerged a short while later, he was shaking his head, the expression on his face a combination of outrage and disbelief.
.
"I don't believe it," he said slowly, shaking his head. "I just don't believe it."
.
"What happened?" Sakura asked nervously, her heart beating fast and hard.
.
"I just spoke with Syaoran's mother. She's the one---the woman I was telling you about---the lady lawyer!"
.
Sakura felt dizzy, as if she might faint. 'It can't be happening,' she told herself. Coincidences like this just didn't happen to normal, everyday people living in Clinton, California. Her thoughts spun as if in a cyclone. Only one thing stood clear in the midst of it all.
.
Whatever slight chance she'd had with Syaoran was surely destroyed.
.
.
.
Tbc. . .
.
#~#~#
.
Uh-ohhh, drastic things are starting to happen!
.
YAY!! Thanks to those who reviewed! I'm so happy that you wanted me to continue this story. Please continue Reading and reviewing!!
.
I already told you that I crave for reviews, ne? Please feed!
.
Do you still want me to continue?
.
.
.
Warnings: Hear ye, hear ye. This AU, SxS, ExT, no magic, no cards, and different lifestyles and behavior of some characters.
.
Feedbacks: I crave for them!! Please feed and indulge me!!
.
"Words"
'Thoughts'
. . .
Forbidden Love
. . .
. .
Chapter Three: Coincidence!?
. .
"That woman!" Fujitaka Kinomoto banged his briefcase down on the coffee table. "If the company doesn't settle this case soon, I may end up in a straightjacket!"
.
Sakura glanced up at her father from the living room floor, where she was sprawled on her stomach doing her homework. "What case is that, Dad?"
.
"Remember I told you about Mr. Danner---the Fuller Brush salesman who's being sued by a lady who claims he backed over her prize rosebushes?"
.
"Is that who you're mad at---the lady with the rosebushes?" Sakura went back to figuring the square root of 16,982. It was easier, she thought, than trying to come up with a comfortable way to tell her dad about the accident---especially after seeing what a great mood he was in.
.
"No, not Mrs. Waverly." Loosening his tie, he sank down in the easy chair by the fireplace. He was a striking man with strong features and neat chestnut colored hair and gray eyes. "She's a pretty tough old bird for eighty-six, but it's her lawyer I'm talking about. A real woman's libber."
.
"Dad," Sakura said, moaning, "you're so old-fashioned!"
.
"What's wrong with old-fashioned, I'd like to know? At least in the old days a woman knew how to act around a man."
.
"What did she do that was so terrible?"
.
"Well, first she got mad just because I got up and offered her my chair. It was the best chair, after all. Then when I tried to calm her down with a compliment, she nearly bit my head off."
.
"What was the compliment?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
.
There was a hint of roguishness in her father's smile. "I only said she was too pretty to be a lawyer."
.
"Daddy, you didn't!" Sakura rolled over onto her back, pretending to be mortally wounded. "Ugh! I can't believe what a chauvinist you are!"
.
"None of that talk from you, young lady," he chided, his stern expression unable to disguise the twinkle in his eye. "We chauvinists deserve respect, too, you know."
.
A minute later he frowned at the books and papers over the carpet. "Shouldn't you be doing that on your desk? A person can't concentrate properly lying on the floor like that."
.
Sakura sighed. "I do some of my best concentrating on the floor," she countered, chewing the end of her pencil.
.
"How was school today?" he asked.
.
Sakura cleared her throat. It was her moment. She had thought of leaving the car in plain view in the driveway to speak for itself, but in the end she had opted for hiding the evidence in the garage until she could find a gentle way to break it to him. Now she realized there was no way.
.
"Dad---there's something I---uh---"
.
But his mind had already switched tracks. "Mmmm. What's that I smell? Dinner I hope---I'm starved."
.
"Katie left a pot of roast in the oven," she said, relieved to be temporarily off the hook. "I'm supposed to take it out in twenty minutes."
.
Katie de Vries was their day housekeeper, a sturdy Dutch lady in her sixties who didn't seem to be bothered by Mr. Kinomoto's chauvinistic remarks, such as when he called her a "treasure" and asked why some man hadn't snatched her up years ago. She always laughed and said something like, "Go on, Mr. Kinomoto, if I were twenty years younger, you wouldn't stand a chance."
.
Actually, Sakura also considered her dad's chauvinistic remarks fairly harmless. Like most of her friends' fathers, he just had a weird sense of humor. There was no getting around the fact that he was too conservative, but still she wouldn't want him to be like Rika's father, who played piano in a nightclub in Sacramento and wore lots of gold jewelry and clingy shirt.
.
What really bothered Sakura about her dad was that he could never see her side of things. If she could accept him in spite of his being so old- fashioned, why couldn't he recognize that she wasn't a little girl anymore-- -that she was grown up, in fact? He didn't think she was capable of making any decisions on her own---even as something as small as doing her homework on the floor.
.
Sakura decided to escape and scooped up the untidy sprawl of books and notepaper, then padded down the hallway to her bedroom at the far end of their house. Being alone in her bedroom always made Sakura feel a little cut off from the rest of the world. She couldn't help thinking about all the times her mom used to come in and sit down on her bed to talk about something. After a while she would get up and smooth the bedspread flat again, just as effortlessly as she smoothed over Sakura's hurt.
.
But now she didn't mind being alone; it gave her a chance to sort out her feelings about Syaoran. Had she mistaken the way he looked at her that afternoon? Had touching her hand been just a meaningless gesture?
.
She didn't think so---but then she'd had so little experience in those things. Perhaps she was reading too much into Syaoran's simply wanting her as a friend. Or maybe, she concluded, it was too soon for either of them to know how they really felt.
.
Sakura sighed and flopped down on her bed. There was just no simple way to straighten out all the mixed-up feelings that were crowding her life at the moment.
.
Then she remembered about the piece of paper with Syaoran's number and fished around in her book bag to find it. She had never before believed in things like rabbits' feet and four-leaf clovers bringing people luck, but as she sat there, turning the paper over and over in her hand, she couldn't help but feel that it somehow brought her closer to Syaoran.
.
#~#~#
.
"You're not eating," said Mr. Kinomoto as he watched Sakura pick at her food. "Not coming down with anything, are you?"
.
"I'm fine, Dad---really."
.
"What's bothering you then? Anything you want to tell me about?"
.
She took a deep breath. 'Here goes nothing.'
.
"Dad---it's about the car." Without taking another breath, she plunged ahead. By the time she had finished, her father had stopped cutting his meat and was staring at her, frowning.
.
"You're absolutely positive this accident was your fault?" he asked after a long, heart-stopping silence. "Were there any witnesses?"
.
"No, but---"
.
He held up his fork to silence her. "If it happened as you described it, I'd have to say---as an insurance agent, not as your father---that it doesn't appear to be a clear case of one hundred percent blame on either side."
.
She had been expecting anger, so his reaction took her completely by surprise. "But---but---I just told you, I wasn't looking where I was going!"
.
"Well, now, that means you're assuming this boy was looking. How much do you really know him, Sakura? What kind of driving record does he have?"
.
Unthinkingly she blurted out, "He said he got a ticket last year, and that's why he couldn't get insurance, but I don't see what that has to do with---"
.
"No insurance!" Mr. Kinomoto echoed incredulously. "That settles it, then. The boy is obviously irresponsible, as well as a negligent driver. As disappointed as I am in your carelessness, Sakura, I can't let you shoulder all the blame for this. To be fair, I won't hold him responsible for the damage to my car, but you can be damned sure the company won't be paying his."
.
"You can't do this!" Sakura wailed, leaping out of her chair. "It was my fault. And Syaoran's been so nice about it. You just can't do this to him, Dad!"
.
Mr. Kinomoto's stern expression softened the tiniest bit, but he remained firm. "I can see you like this boy, and I'm sure he went out of his way to be charming after what happened. But, Cherry," he said, using an old endearment that made he cringe, "I've always thought you were too smart to be snowed by someone in a situation like this."
.
"You just don't understand at all!"
.
"I understand more than you think," he replied evenly. "After all, I happen to have been around a few more years than you. Now---why don't you give me this Li Syaoran's number? I'll call his parents and straighten it out with them."
.
Fifteen minutes later, having exhausted all her protests, Sakura went tearfully to her room to get the phone number. She shoved it at her father as if it had suddenly sprouted a deadly fungus. 'I hope he knows he's ruining my whole life!'
.
Fujitaka Kinomoto disappeared into his den, where he made all his calls. When he emerged a short while later, he was shaking his head, the expression on his face a combination of outrage and disbelief.
.
"I don't believe it," he said slowly, shaking his head. "I just don't believe it."
.
"What happened?" Sakura asked nervously, her heart beating fast and hard.
.
"I just spoke with Syaoran's mother. She's the one---the woman I was telling you about---the lady lawyer!"
.
Sakura felt dizzy, as if she might faint. 'It can't be happening,' she told herself. Coincidences like this just didn't happen to normal, everyday people living in Clinton, California. Her thoughts spun as if in a cyclone. Only one thing stood clear in the midst of it all.
.
Whatever slight chance she'd had with Syaoran was surely destroyed.
.
.
.
Tbc. . .
.
#~#~#
.
Uh-ohhh, drastic things are starting to happen!
.
YAY!! Thanks to those who reviewed! I'm so happy that you wanted me to continue this story. Please continue Reading and reviewing!!
.
I already told you that I crave for reviews, ne? Please feed!
.
Do you still want me to continue?
.
.