Notes: Chapter 4 already? Yatta! (smiles)
I'm finally back from out of town and now I'm stuck doing college stuff. (bleh) So it's coming along.
Thank you so much to my reviewers! :)
Reviewers:
Flaming Soul : Thank you so much for your review! As you can see, I'm still going! :)
tsunami23 : (Blushes) Thank you for your compliments and I stand corrected on the timeline. On the DVD reviews it says that Sakura and co. are 10 but looking around the net, there seems to be a general consensus that they are 11 so I changed it. :) Thanks!
ss-cherryblossom : Once again, thank you for your review! I really appreciate your encouragement!
Suppie69 : A short review and to the point! ;) I'll do my best! Thanks!
Chapter 4: Revelations in the Dark
"Yatta!" Sakura exclaimed happily as she hung up her apron. "We're done!"
Li nodded and checked his watch. "I should go home now," he said. He didn't really want to. It wasn't like there was anyone waiting for him, but he didn't want to wear out his welcome.
"Hontou?" Sakura asked.
Is it just me or does she look a little disappointed? Li wondered as he nodded.
"Then let me walk with you a little ways, ne?"
Surprised, he nodded his assent. Together, they walked to the door.
"Oh! Hold on a second," Sakura said as she turned back toward the inside of the house. "Onii-chan!" she yelled.
"Nani?" Touya answered from somewhere in the house.
"I'm going to walk with Li-kun a little bit."
"NANI?!" Touya shouted as he appeared in the hallway.
"Onii-chan!" Sakura said warningly
"Hai...hai," Touya replied hastily. Then he turned to Li. Touya straightened to his full height and crossed his arms forebodingly across his broad chest. "If she's not back in forty-five minutes, you're a dead gaki, understand?" He glowered at Li.
Li could feel his hackles rising as he looked at the impressive man standing in front of him. Li started to snarl and just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, he felt a hand grab his and haul him towards the door.
"Hai hai Onii-chan!" Sakura said cheerfully, ruining their facedown. "Ja ne," she called as she pulled Li through the door and slammed it behind them.
"Whew!" Sakura let out the breath that she had been holding. Dropping Li's hand, she turned towards him.
"Sumimasen. Onii-chan...eto...he's a still a little protective of me."
"Hontou? I hadn't noticed," Li replied a bit sarcastically as he curled his hand into a fist. It was the hand that she had been holding...the hand that hadn't stopped tingling since she'd dropped it.
"Eh. Don't be a smart alec," she replied with her nose in the air as she headed down the walk. Li hurried to catch up with her.
"That way," he said pointing to the right. They walked in comfortable silence for a few moments.
Sakura tilted her face slightly upwards and breathed in deeply. The night air was fresh and clean. It still smelled faintly of cherry blossoms and rain. She glanced over at Li who was walking jauntily with his hands in his pockets. He looks so cocky. She couldn't stop herself from smiling faintly.
"What's with the weird looks?" he asked.
"Mou. You're such a jerk," she replied with a grin.
"Oh thanks," he said rolling his eyes.
'You're welcome," Sakura said with a sugary smile. Suddenly she grabbed his sleeve and hauled him off the sidewalk into the nearby Penguin Park.
"Oi!" Li protested. "What the heck are you doing?"
"I want to talk with you," she said as she dragged him to the swings. "Sit," she commanded.
Too surprised to do anything else, he sat. She took the swing next to him. Moving her hands up the chains, Sakura began to twist the swing. Li watched her, puzzled.
Hm. How to say this... Sakura thought as she absentmindedly twirled her swing until she could no longer keep her feet on the ground. Then she lifted her feet and let the swing unwind. As she spun she shut her eyes tightly. Li watched as she twirled around, her legs, skirt, and hair flying. He watched as she placed her toes on the ground to slow herself before she finally came to a halt and opened her eyes.
She laughed a little breathlessly. "Wow. I haven't done that since I was little!"
Li glanced over at her suspiciously. "What did you want to talk about?"
Her face turned serious and she cocked her head to one side...or tried to. "Itai!" she moaned. Her hair had gotten wound up in the chains.
"Baka," he snorted. "Even I know that you shouldn't twirl in swings if you have long hair." He reached over to help untangle the silky brown strands from the chain.
"Well I wouldn't know. I haven't done this since my hair was short. Itai!" she yelped.
"Gomen," he said automatically as he finished detaching her hair from the swing and resisted the urge to smooth it back into place.
"Yeah, I bet you are," she said. Sakura quickly combed her fingers through her hair, taming the snarls. When she was done, she clasped her hands together tightly and placed them in her lap.
"Li-kun."
"Nani."
"Do me a favor?" she asked sweetly.
"Uh huh," he said suspiciously.
"Shut up for five minutes," she said seriously. "Don't interrupt me. Don't insult me. Don't be a jerk, ne?" She looked up at him for conformation.
He shrugged.
"And don't shrug."
Li started to shrug again and caught himself. He nodded instead.
Sakura sat for a few more moments. She twisted her hands nervously in her lap. How to say this, how to say this.
"When I was little...you and Tomoyo-chan...you were my best friends."
He was surprised. He'd know that they were friends, but that she'd thought of him as one of her best friends touched him.
"And when you went back to Hong Kong," she continued still not looking at him, "I was...very sad."
You were? He thought, his spirits lifting.
"So when you came back, I was happy!" she said turning towards him and smiling. "I was happy because I had my two best friends again!" Her smile faded a little bit. "And then I was sad again because...it didn't seem like you wanted to be my friend anymore." She wasn't smiling at all now. Just looking at him oh so seriously. He gulped and hoped that she couldn't hear it.
"I know that we didn't get off to the best start this year. Dakara...I wanted to know if we could start over." She was staring intently into his face, her green eyes solemn. "If we could be friends again?"
Li was having trouble breathing. She was so close to him, so very close. He could reach out and—
"Okay, you can talk now," she said interrupting his train of thought.
"Uh." WhatdoIsaywhatdoIsay? He thought, his mind racing for an answer. "Ano...I guess so."
Twenty yards away from Sakura and Li was a stand of trees and some bushes. Had they been looking towards it, they would have seen two pairs of eyes observing them, both brown.
"What's he saying?" Touya hissed.
"I don't know. Demo...Sakura-chan looks..." Yuki trailed off speculatively.
"Pissed," Touya finished off his sentence smugly. "Haha!" he chuckled. "That gaki will never get it right with my sister!"
Yukito looked over at him. "Demo he does seem to like her, quite a bit in fact."
"Nani! Don't tell me you're on his side," Touya said warningly.
Yuki sighed and smiled gently. "You have a real sister complex—
"Eh?!"
"—and I don't think that we should be here right now," Yuki plowed on stubbornly ignoring Touya's protest. "So..." Yuki grabbed Touya's shirt collar, ignored the feeling of warm skin beneath his hand, and pulled his brown-haired friend away from the bushes. "We're going home."
"Demo...demo!" Touya protested half-heartedly as he let himself be dragged.
As he towed his muttering friend away from the park, Yukito managed one last glance back at Sakura and Li. Just give him a chance Sakura-chan!
I guess so?! That's all he can say? Mou. Sakura had her arms crossed as she glared irately at him. "What was that?" she asked heatedly.
"Uh...What I meant was..."
Sakura waited for him to rectify his obvious mistake.
Li took a deep breath. "I would like to be friends with you again, Kinomoto-ba—eh, Kinomoto."
Sakura examined him for a moment. Hm. I think he means it. She uncrossed her arms and smiled brightly.
"Good! Than you can start by calling me Sakura," she said happily.
"Hai, Sakura-baka."
She felt her jaw twitch as she raised a fist in warning.
"Eh heh," he laughed nervously. "I mean Sakura."
"Right," Sakura said as she checked her watch. It was time for her to head home. She stood up from the swing and straightened her skirt. Her hair was shining in the moonlight and Li felt his breath catch. Turning around, she winked at him.
"We're really going to have to work on your attitude, Li-kun."
"Syaoran," he blurted out before he could stop himself.
"Nani?" she asked curiously.
"You can call me Syaoran," he said, glad that the darkness hid his blush.
"Sya-o-ran," she sounded out slowly and she smiled at him. He felt a shiver go up his spine at the way she said his name. No one had ever said his name like that...or maybe it was just that she had never said his name before.
"Arigatou," she said softly.
"What for?" he asked gruffly.
"For being my friend again." Sakura reached out and tugged his sleeve. "I have to go home now before Onii-chan comes to kill you. I'll see you in school, ne? Ja!" She offered a small but enthusiastic wave which he returned. Then she turned and walked back toward her house.
Syaoran sat and watched her until she turned the corner. Then he noticed that he was trembling. Kuso, he thought. It's impossible to be strong when she makes me so weak! he thought helplessly as he examined his shaking hands. He balled them into fists and sighed.
He got up from the swing and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Then he began to walk back to his apartment. Syaoran ambled along the fairly empty streets. Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at his destination. He gazed glumly up at the stark white building. It was too white.
He climbed the ten flights of stairs to his room and when he entered, he stood in the doorway and simply looked around. More white. He hated it. It wasn't home. There were no people, no smells of cooking, no laughter, no color, just bleak white walls and some furniture.
It's funny, he thought. He'd felt more at home in the two hours he'd been at Sakura's house than he'd felt in the last three weeks in his apartment.
He yawned. For whatever reason, he felt exhausted. I'd better get ready for bed. Syaoran sighed and shut the door behind him.
End Chapter 4
Author's Notes: Chapter 4's finally done! I had to take a break from it due to my trip and then I lost my focus...but I'm back on track now! Thanks for being patient with me!
Like I said, I've only seen the first 20 episodes of CCS, so I don't really know whether Sakura ever calls Li, Syaoran. Oh yeah! Could someone explain to me the significance of Sakura calling Syaoran little wolf or whatever? Is that in the anime? I've seen it a lot in fics and I was wondering if it was actually in the show or if it was just a fic writer's creation? If someone knows, please enlighten me! Thanks!
