With Everything I Have, With Everything I Am
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 2: Exploration
-Dream-
"Wha…? Cherry blossom trees…and…Sakura! She's here…but how? It's…all just a dream…" Sakura was running about and playing beneath the cherry blossom trees, the petals raining down and falling around her, creating a beautiful pink and almost white landscape. It suited her perfectly. "Syaoran! Catch me if you can!" Sakura said as she ran around the trees.
Syaoran smiled and began to chase her. They played beneath the trees for what seemed to be endless hours. Everything was perfect…blissful…it was just Sakura and Syaoran, just the way it always should be."
"Sakura…"
-End Dream-
"Sakura…" Syaoran mumbled in his sleep. They had been on the plane for hours now and would be arriving in Japan soon, in an hour or so, not that Syaoran really noticed. He had been asleep since they took off. Eriol, on the other hand was watching an odd movie about old people.
Eriol, who was quickly bored by the movie, heard Syaoran mumbling about Sakura. He couldn't help but smirk at that. It was Syaoran, who had loved Sakura, now dreaming about Sakura. It was a rather sweet scene to witness, but Eriol had no intention of sitting there for the next hour, watching his cousin mumble out a girl's name.
He stood up and walked around the jet, exploring whatever he could before landing. It was a rather large jet, considering it was only carrying two passengers and some crewmen. The interior had white walls with a dark blue carpet. The seats were soft and overstuffed, almost like lounge chairs, and in front of each seat was a movie screen that would descend from above. The seats reclined all the way, so that one would be able to nap in them, and it was most comfortable. The lavatories were not the size of boxes, as in commercial flights, and were rather large in size and even had a bathing area.
There wasn't much to explore, apparently. Within five minutes, Eriol's adventurous jet exploration was over. He returned to his seat and continued watching his movie.
After forty minutes of boredom, the pilot announced to the two passengers to prepare for landing. Eriol made sure that his seat belt was fastened and then checked to make sure that sleeping beauty next to him had his fastened as well.
As the plane began to descend, Syaoran awoke.
"Hrm…" He grumbled. "How long have I been out…?" He said as he began yawning and stretching.
Eriol looked at the time, looked out the window, and then looked at his cousin. "Let's just say we're about to land."
Syaoran grumbled a bit more and threw his head back against the seat, wanting to sleep some more. He was tired and was rather enjoying his dream. His Sakura was there, and that was the best part.
The plane came to a landing, and the pilot announced that it was time to unload everything and everyone. Eriol got up first and thanked the crewmen and pilot as Syaoran followed suit. Syaoran stepped out of the jet and glanced around. He was finally back. He had returned to Japan. In a way, it was almost unbelievable. He began to think of all the times he wished he could come back, but was stuck in Hong Kong.
"Hey, sleeping beauty! Hurry up!" Eriol hollered from the awaiting limousine.
Syaoran frowned at being called a "sleeping beauty," but passed it off. He was still too tired to begin arguing.
Syaoran climbed into the limousine and waited as the airport workers loaded the luggage. It was a good ten minutes before they were done, and Syaoran was about to drift off again. He laid down onto the seat and began to drift off. Eriol, on the other hand, was not about to sit through another minute of boredom.
"Oh, no you don't! It's bad enough I had to sit through the whole plane ride bored…you are so not going to sleep through the car ride." Eriol said as he began poking Syaoran with his shoe. Syaoran grumbled some and made an attempt to swat Eriol's shoe away.
"Just let me sleep in peace..."
"Don't you wish?"
Eriol pestered Syaoran to the brink of insanity, or rather until he gave in and woke up.
The car ride itself was not nearly as long as the plane ride, apparently. They limousine parked in front of a nice beach house. It was not nearly as extravagant as the Li Mansion, but it was big enough for two boys. The exterior of the house was white with steps leading up to a wooden doorway. The front door faced the street, as did the driveway. In the driveway were two cars, a dark green Lexus convertible, and a navy blue Audi convertible. The house was two stories and looked like two boxes stacked upon each other. The bottom floor was larger, and the top floor was the smaller box and was positioned to the right end of the bottom floor. The house was probably about four to five thousand square feet.
The driver handed the boys their house keys and Eriol opened the door. Syaoran and the driver were unloading the luggage and placing them in the living room. Eriol decided to explore, while Syaoran and the driver did all the heavy stuff.
When one first walked into the door, there would be a short hallway. Along the left side of this hallway was a small closet. At the end of this hall, on the right, there was the kitchen. The kitchen was large with dark, hard wood floors and a center island that served as an extra counter and dining table. There were barstools placed along one side of the island and there were wooden cabinets below the island, as well as a granite counter-top. In fact, all the countertops were made of granite, and the bases and cabinets were all wood. Among the appliances were a coffee maker, stove, dishwasher, refrigerator, oven, and a tabletop grill. Beside the refrigerator was a door that led to the garage, and another door on the wall adjacent to it, leading to the pantry.
The garage had a cold, paved floor and was extremely clean and empty, save for a few extra barstools and chairs that sat in there.
The wooden floors met off-white carpet when it reached the living room area, opposite the kitchen. In the living room are, there were three black, leather couches that surrounded a fireplace with a coffee table in the middle. On the left wall of the living room was a door that led to the study where there were shelves and shelves of books, as well as two corner tables with a desktop, laptop, color laser-jet printer, and tons of school supplies each. Oh, yes…and fully equipped with high-speed Internet, and more. (Damn, I'm jealous.)
On the right wall of the living room was a smaller room with a TV, a couple of video game systems, and some games, as well as a bathroom.
In the middle of the floor was a sliding glass door that led to a grassy backyard, and a wooden fence with a gate that opened up to the beach. Then there was the spiral staircase, larger than the normal ones, and not as spiral-y. It only makes a half twist before reaching the second floor. On the second floor were two rooms, identical in everything other than color. One had a green theme; one had a blue theme. Each room had a full sized bed, a desk, two nightstands, a walk-in closet, a bathroom, and an entire wall with a large window plate that extended from the floor and curved into the ceiling.
And that ended Eriol's grand tour.
By the time Eriol finished wandering around the house, Syaoran was done unloading everything and in the kitchen digging up snacks in an empty refrigerator.
"Hey, Eriol! We really need to go to food shopping!" He hollered. Eriol, who was upstairs came down with a note he found attached to his door.
"Yea, we probably do, but first we have to go and take care of school things." Eriol responded, showing Syaoran the note. Syaoran nodded and found two car keys hanging on a key rack in the kitchen.
"I got dibs on the Audi!" Eriol said claiming the key to the Audi.
"No problem there." Syaoran took the key to his Lexus. "So…who's driving and how do we get there?" Syaoran asked.
Eriol looked at the note he had in his hand. "Well, there's a map and I'll drive because I want to test out my new car." He said with a grin. Syaoran gave him a strange look and just headed out the door.
Eriol pulled out of the driveway and drove through the busy streets of Tokyo, going towards the school. When they arrived, the found their way to enrollment and took care of their schedules and classes.
"So, Eriol, what's your schedule look like?" Syaoran asked, trying to look at Eriol's schedule.
"Eh…I've got English language at 9:00, Japanese history at 10:15, Calculus BC at 11:30, and Japanese language at 1:15. That's my schedule for Mondays and Wednesdays. The other two days are Chemistry at 10:15 and Computer Graphics at 11:30." He responded.
"Mine is alright, I suppose. I have a class with you. I've got Japanese language at 9:00, Japanese history at 10:15, English language at 11:30, and Calculus BC at 1:15. Same classes, different times. And my Tuesday/Thursday schedule consist of…Microbiology at 9:00 and Soccer Practice."
"Ever the diligent sports player." Eriol teased.
"Shut up."
The two walked around the campus, familiarizing themselves with what they will be spending their days in. They were walking along the field when they saw the cheerleaders. Being guys, they stopped to watch for a bit. Syaoran, however, was captivated by this one girl. Her red and white uniform looked stunning on her and her bright green eyes were ever innocent. Eriol, being perceptive as usual, dragged him away with a laugh. Eriol knew who he was staring at. Only one girl could possibly be that innocent. He, however, didn't tell Syaoran. It was something Syaoran was to figure out on his own.
Eriol suggested that Syaoran check out the soccer field, and they did just that. To their surprise, the soccer team was already practicing. Actual, they were done for the day.
One of the players approached his duffel bag, which was on the bleachers next to where the two were standing. Syaoran had to know if he was to be at practice.
"Excuse me, I just moved here and finished registration today. I'm signed up to be on the Tokyo University Soccer Team. Is this it?" He inquired.
The boy had spiky black hair and gray eyes with a somewhat muscular build. "Yeah, that was it." He said in between breaths. "Why don't you come by tomorrow and talk to the captain and see what he wants to do." With that he walked away.
Syaoran nodded and began leaving with Eriol trailing.
They passed by the cheerleading squad again, and Syaoran was once again captivated by the girl with the green eyes. She glanced over at him while she was at the top of a pyramid. Her eyes widened and she lost her balance, toppling over.
"Eeeek!" She screeched. Syaoran blinked. The once perfect pyramid was now a heap of girls in red uniforms. Eriol laughed and grabbed Syaoran as they began to leave. But as they were leaving Syaoran heard a familiar name.
"Distracted again, Sakura?"
-In the Car-
"You're hearing things, dear cousin." Eriol repeated for the fourth time. Syaoran was absolutely sure that he had heard her name. Sakura was there, he was positive of it.
"Look, you may think that I'm nuts, but I'm not. She was there. I know it!!!" He insisted. It was a pointless argument. Neither had proof that she was there, so they put it to rest. Eriol came to stop at a red light. "OK, so what if she was there? What, were you going to run up the her and kiss her right there and then?" Eriol chided. Syaoran glared at him, though deep down inside, he knew he wouldn't really mind doing that. She was Sakura, and he was Syaoran. They were always the cutest pair ever, and there was never a moment that he didn't enjoy with her.
"Well, where do you want to go right now?" Eriol asked nonchalantly. They both thought for a while, thinking hard. It was Japan, there wasn't much that was new to them, since they had lived there before. They thought long and hard until they remembered their empty refrigerator.
"Food." They said in unison.
With that, they headed to the nearest supermarket. When they arrived, they were greeted by a full parking lot. Rows and rows of cars were lined up outside the market, but Eriol managed to squeeze his beautiful new Audi between a blue SUV and a white recreation vehicle. The two boys walked towards the entrance of the market, leaving teenage girls gawking and whispering behind them. Eriol just smiled. He didn't mind the attention, and he was just a really nice guy. The girls stared and the boys walked. It was almost always like that. The two attracted attention anywhere they went.
Syaoran jabbed Eriol in the side. "Stop entertaining them." He said in his stoic-i'm-a-tough-guy voice, emotionless. Eriol responded by smacking him, lightly, on the head. The boys entered the market and began their food shopping. "So, what do we need exactly..." Eriol asked.
"Well, considering our refrigerator is virtually EMPTY and I could stuff you in there if I removed the shelves...I'd say everything." Syaoran responded, still looking around. "Okay, you grab a cart, I grab a cart. I'll take the left end, you take the right end...and we'll meet in the middle." And then, they were off! The race to get food!
Syaoran started off with fruits. He looked at the variety the market had to offer and decided to just pick a few. There was just too much. He grabbed a bag of apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, mangos, peaches, and cherries. He went through the aisle, made a right turn, made another right, and went down the vegetable aisle. Syaoran groaned..."Next time...Eriol gets the left..."
Eriol was the lucky one. He got off easy compared to Syaoran. Eriol casually strolled through the market until he reached the right end of the market. First aisle: Ice, Liquor, Drinks. "Simple enough." He thought. He walked through, taking his time. He grabbed a couple of cases of soda, a couple of cases of water...not really paying attention to what he was putting in his cart. He was too interested in the voices of two girls on the other side of the shelves.
"I swear I saw him, Tomoyo! I swear to it!" The first voice whined.
"Oh, Sakura...Why would he be back now? He pretty much cut off all communication with us when he left. Yeah, sure, we got that Christmas card from who knows when ago...but still." Another voice added.
"But...what if it was? What would I do? I mean, now that Toshiki is in the picture...I wouldn't know what to do." The first girl said. Eriol got even more curious at that. "A guy...hmmm..." He thought. Eriol was rather amused.
"Who said he was going to come back and chase you around Japan, Sakura? Maybe he would come back here just to fulfull his promise. No where does it say that he still loves you." The second girl finished. The two girls walked down the aisle and their voices trailed off.
"So, Sakura has a special guy friend now. Intersting." Eriol stated. He continued walking slowly down his aisles, grabbing whatever, thinking about the converstation that he had just heard.
Syaoran, on the other hand, was having fun with his vegetables. "Carrots...? Spinach...? Cabbage...Lettuce...? How in the world does Wei do this?!" Syaoran thought. He grabbed anything that looked good and left the produce section, finally hitting actual aisles. "Junk food." Syaoran muttered. That was easy. He grabbed two bags of chips, a couple of bags of cookies, a box of crackers, a few packs of nori, some canned foods...Syaoran started to just breeze down the aisles, much faster than his produce encounter. He started to slow down as he came across the aisle with baking products. "...baking? Will we really need this?" He started the contemplate if they would really need baking supplies. He grabbed it anyway. Better safe than sorry. He reached the back wall and grabbed some milk, eggs, yogurt, and juices. He turned to his right to get back into the aisles when he saw Eriol picking meats. Syaoran smirked at him. Eriol smirked back, and they both continued on.
Eriol had finally hit a snag. Meats. Picking between the types wasn't hard. It was choosing which looked better, and how much to get. The butcher gave Eriol a hand, and lectured him on meats. In the end, all Eriol could say was "This is why college students don't go food shopping for anything but frozen food..." Since he thought about it, he walked over to pick frozen foods and ice cream.
Syaoran was walking down the pets aisle, just ignoring everything, until he heard these two voices.
"You know, I really do miss him. It was so much more fun when he was around." Said the first voice.
"Yeah, it was. You two were the cutest couple ever. Hey, Sakura, do you think we should bake tonight?"
"Sakura?!" He mentally screamed. He rushed down the aisle with his cart, grabbing whatever to fill his cart. By the time he turned back into the baking supply aisle, they were gone. He turned right into the previous aisle, nothing. He zipped through the aisles, back and forth. He listened carefully for the voices, hoping to hear them again. No such luck. Junk food, cookies, baking supplies, drinks, ice, produce; couldn't find them anywhere. Syaoran, still full of adrenaline, would not stop. He continued to rush through the aisles until he ran into someone's cart. With a loud crash of metal, the owners of the carts stopped dead in their tracks as the handles of the carts jammed into their guts and looked at each other. He had crashed into Eriol as he ran through condiments aisle.
"Nice to see you again." Eriol said with a smile, rubbing his stomach.
"Ugh..." Syaoran winced.
"So, why were you in such a rush? It's not a race to see who will get to the middle first, you know."
"I heard a voice." Was Syaoran's simple reply.
"Well, did that voice in your head say that you needed dog food and kitty litter for pets that we don't have?" Eriol inquired, pointing at Syaoran's cart. "We also don't need dog shampoo...or...hamster pellets."
Syaoran glared at him. "Shut up. It's not like we really need five boxes of juice boxes. We also don't need ten bottles of hot sauce!" Syaoran shot back. They two had been too deep in thought about the girls they heard to really notice what they were putting in their carts. They both looked at their carts and groaned. They walked through each aisle putting back whatever they didn't need and then sorted their items. After a few minutes, the two headed to the checkout counter. After paying a nice hefty bill for all their items, they carried their heavy bags to the back end of the parking lot and loaded their items in the back seat. Eriol got in and drove home.
They got home and Syaoran was exhausted. Chasing two girls around a supermarket was hard work, especially if you didn't actually find them in the end. Our two boys unloaded the groceries from their cars and started to put them in their proper cabinets and places. Their home, nicely furnished to begin with, was actually very thorough. There were silverware and pots and pans in the drawers and cabinets already. It made their lives easier. It was only their first day there, and the two boys were dead tired and ended up drifitng off to slumberland on the couch.
A/N: HELLO! GUESS WHAT?? I re-wrote this chapter. I couldn't stand it. It left off at a horrible place. :) So, I re-wrote it. Did you like it? Was it too short? Was it too terse? Do tell! I still think it's a bit short, but I don't have it in me to write anymore for this chapter. It would ruin chapter three. :) I already have it all planned out.
It might seem a bit odd that I'm using Chinese music for my fanfic that's in English. I can't help it. It sort of makes sense as well. Syaoran IS Chinese. I promise that I'll always do a translation of the song. It's not fair any other way. OK? If you have a big problem with this please, review and bring it up. It helps if I actually get feedback.
Here's a hint to where the next chapter is going. "Lonely Plaza." If you are Monica Ho, you will know what I'm talking about. If not, you'll just have to wait!
Now, responses to my FOUR reviewers!
babystigmata: Thanks! I wanna know what happens too! :D
Sarah: Actually, yes. "Falling in Love Again" is still up, but it only goes up to chapter one. :D And…umm…it's not all the great. I re-read it, and this story and that story…are…very…remotely alike.
The Smiley Face (It won't show up): I wanna know too!
Bird: Thanks, dear. :D Muah!
Please Review!!! :D