Lanturn: This chapter might get confusing, don't worry,
nothing important happens in this chapter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura's POV
Chapter 12: The Sweet
So that's how I became Syaoran's slave. So pathetic. I don't need to go through such torture even if I'm doing this for my cards.
"Face it, you like the guy; that's the reason why you agreed to do this, even if the cards didn't exist." An ever so annoying voice in my head said.
I don't like Syaoran. I mentally argued back.
"Of course you don't like him. You 'love' him. You 'want' him."
God, I sound like Tomoyo. I can't like Syaoran; it's just wrong, insane, totally unacceptable! I've always been a cold nomad. It's not like I wanted it that way, but it's just my life. I don't want to have those weak emotions from love. I saw how it affected other people.
Mother, she practically gave up everything to love father. She was a rich lady, but when she eloped with him, she became this poor wife counting coins the rest of her life.
Touya, he abandoned me and married Kaho. He occasionally writes letters, but I know I've lost him. I blame this on love. Why'd he have to fall in love with her?
Tomoyo, she's my best friend........ And she fell in love with the wrong person. Eriol's the most mighty sorcerer in the country, and yet she has no magic in her blood whatsoever. I can only help her the best I could possibly do, but Syaoran and Eriol will still eventually find out she's not the mistress.
Love is too tiring, it's too complicated! The bottom line is I refuse to like Syaoran in that way!
"Just keep on telling yourself that. See how long that's gonna last."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sakura, my clothes got stained again!" Syaoran called out lazily from his bedroom. "Can you wash it again?"
I rolled my eyes. I just finished washing his thick robes yesterday. I stomped into his room, not so happy I have to do it again.
Syaoran sat on his bed, without a shirt on. I wanted to throw up, but couldn't take my eyes off him.
I blushed.
He saw.
He grinned.
I took the dirty pile of laundry from his bed, and ran. That was so embarrassing! What the hell was he doing? Wait, that's so obvious, isn't it? He wants to torment me, because I left him on the Grassy Plains. Oh how I wish I could go back in time, and not abandon him........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lunchtime:
"Hey Sakura." Syaoran tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hm?" I showed that I'm paying attention to his next orders.
"Today's mother's birthday, so......... my cook is in her kitchen along with the other great cooks in the palace to make her a feast. But, since he's gone, I need someone to cook for me." He smiled sweetly.
I forced out a painful smile too. " And that's where I come in, right? I have to make you lunch today."
He patted my head, like I was some little kid. "When did you get so smart?"
"It's called common sense, and I've always been smart."
Syaoran crossed his arms, trying hard not to say something sarcastic. "Really? Then let's play a game, you have to make me the lunch I want to eat, if you can cook it all in less than an hour, you win, but if you fail, I win."
"Go ahead and order, my brother has been teaching me how to cook ever since I was a child. There is not a thing that I can't make." I accepted his challenge.
"Alright, let's start with fish. It can't be too salty or bitter. I don't eat the head or the tail. The only part I want on the plate is the fish's stomach, and you have to get rid of its eggs first. Then I want you to stuff the stomach of the fish with pork and beef."
"Thank god I'm not the permanent cook in this place. You royal people all make things so hard to make." I remembered that time Eriol made Tomoyo prepare that impossible tea.
Syaoran held up his hand. "I'm not done yet. Next, I'll have the tofu noodles. You have to cut up the tofu, that's its shreds have to be thinner than the noodles."
I wanted to punch him, and see if the tofu explodes out of his head. He's making this hard on purpose.
"Then, I'll have egg soup. The egg white and egg yolk can't be mixed together. I want onions and garlic in the soup too, but we're all out in the palace. You're gonna have to buy it from the marketplace first. You have only one hour to cook all three dishes, if you fail and lose, I get to call you stupid and dense as many times as I want."
That did it, I punched him, and dashed outside to buy the onions and garlic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
59 minutes later
"Ha!" I panted in triumph. "I'm done. I win, you lose!" The three dishes sat on the dining table.
"Yum." Syaoran rudely slurped the egg soup.
"Ha. I did what you wanted inside the time limit! So you lost!"
Syaoran put his spoon down. "Gee, someone here has a problem with losing. But, you do realize that doing all this still doesn't prove that you're smart."
(He changed the subject without me knowing, so he could avoid admitting that he lost.)
I sweat dropped. "Then test my intelligence some other way."
"Okay, I'll give you a simple riddle to solve.
Imagine this, there are 20 birds sitting on a tree. A hunter shot 1 down with a gun. That bird fell onto the ground; how many are left in the tree?" Syaoran asked.
How stupid does he think I am? Asking this question is such an insult! This is just a simple subtraction problem.
"There are 19 birds left in that tree, duh." I answered.
"WRONG, hahahahahahahaha!"
"What? Wrong? How was that wrong? 20-1=19."
"Let's pretend you are a bird sitting on that tree, if you see and hear a hunter kill off one of the other birds, would you still stay on that tree?" Syaoran laughed. "So the correct answer is no birds are left in that tree, because the rest of them flew away."
"Very clever trick." I muttered, not believing I got that wrong. "Fine, tell me another one."
Syaoran stabbed his chopsticks into the fish. "You are walking on sand; you turn around, but you can't see your footprints, why is that?"
"Easy, I was using the float card, so I didn't actually step on the sand." I smiled.
"Wrong again, wise one."
"Then why didn't I see the footprints behind me when I turned around?"
"Because, you were walking backwards. All your footprints are in front of you, not behind you."
"Who the hell made up these weird questions and answers?" I was frustrated I got that one wrong too.
"Eriol and I made them up, cute aren't they?" Syaoran stirred his index finger in the tofu noodles.
"Fine, I have a riddle too. Let's see if you can get this right: I am walking down a pitch-black street, wearing a black ninja suit. There are no moonlight, no starlight, and I was not holding a candle or lantern. Just then, you came riding on a horse, you were just about to run into me, but you halted your horse just in time, stopping in front of me. How did you do that?"
Syaoran started to think. "Let's see, no starlight, no moonlight, pitch-black road, wearing black, and I didn't run into you. Umm, it's because you are a ghost? So I can see you in the dark?"
"Nope."
"Because I halted my horse for another reason, it's only a coincidence I stopped just before running into you."
"Nope."
"Then I give up." Syaoran sighed.
"I said, no starlight, no moonlight, and no lantern, but did I ever tell you that this happened in the nighttime? There was the bright and shiny sun, of course you can see me, and not run into me."
Syaoran laughed. "That's a good one Sakura! My turn again: What would you do if I told you I love you more than I love Meiling?"
He waited for me to answer. I didn't know what to say. Syaoran loves me? Is that even possible?
I awkwardly stared into his chocolate eyes. "I would tell you that I don't love you, and Meiling is the right person for you."
Instantly, hurt entered his eyes. "Wrong again, Sakura." He forced out a fake laugh. "Okay, enough of this, let's eat."
Syaoran took the spoon, and took another sip of the soup. "This got cold." He placed the spoon down.
"Cold things are still good to eat." I replied, but my head was still thinking about what I told Syaoran a few seconds ago.
Syaoran shook his head. "I don't like cold food."
I sighed. "Fine, I'll go heat this up again."
"I don't want that either, then the food will taste like leftovers." An evil smile crept up Syaoran's face.
"Then what can I do?"
"I command you as your 'master', to feed this food to dogs, and cook a me new set. I'm still hungry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nighttime:
"I really don't like you right now."
"Aww, I'm hurt." Syaoran chuckled. He is holding a stupid box. "Fine, I'll give you a break." He patted my head (ugh, that's so irritating), and left the room with the box..
"Hey, I never said you have to leave! Syaoran, where are you going?" I loudly called out after him. That jerk, so rude. I'm not letting him get away this easily; no one ignores Sakura Kinomoto.
I ran after him into the garden, but............
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
I fell into his ever-so-inconvenient Cherry Pitfall Trap again. I swear that one day, I fill up this hole, or better yet, I'll force Syaoran to fill up this hole for everyone's sake!
"Jump Card, release and dispel." I jumped out of the trap.
Where did Syaoran go?
Duh! Today's Empress Yelan's birthday, the box that he was holding must've been a present for her.
Hmm, I've never been to a royal party before, I gotta go see this.
I jumped up Queen Yelan's roof, and climbed down to the windows to spy on the party.
The room was the most beautiful place I have ever saw. There are candles everywhere. Every prince and princess was there dressed in the best silk robe (so this is why Syaoran made me wash his clothes this morning), everyone looking so elegant. They were all lined up to give the empress her birthday gifts. The servants are rushing back and forth serving the queen beautiful desserts such as cakes. I bet the cooks in the kitchen, are as busy as ever making more food. It was such a nice sight to see, and for the first time, I witnessed the cold empress smile and laugh.
Suddenly, I forgot that she wanted my clow cards, and once whipped me. I decided to do my part to make her happy on her birthday.
I jumped down, landing on the ground.
"Mirror card, transform yourself into me." Now there are two Sakura Kinomotos.
"Libra card, separate our dark and light forms." Now there are four Sakuras. Two of them are evil, but I can control them.
"Twin card, make a double of every Sakura out there." Now there are eight of us. We can all work together.
"Firey card, do me a favor okay?" I whispered the plan into his ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I snuck into the palace, and dragged Meiling outside. I told her what I was about to do, and she has agreed to help me.
"Empress, we have another gift for you. Can you step outside?" Meiling called.
Okay, they're all coming outside now. "Erase card, make every Sakura invisible."
Every royal person crowded around the door to see the present.
The eight Sakuras are all holding an indivisual box of our own, lined up in a row. One by one, we opened the sealed box, releasing a firework spark, shooting up high into the sky
Each firework exploded in the middle of the night sky, taking a shape of a word.
They spell out: We wish Empress Yelan the best birthday ever!
Everyone either gasped or clapped. I guess they all loved my present to the empress. When the fireworks exploded again as a giant chaos, and faded, people all started to chatter.
They all wanted to know who gave Queen Yelan that extraordinary birthday gift. (Remember, I used the Erase Card, so no one can see it was me who released the fireworks.) Queen Yelan, however didn't bother to ask who did it, she had that look in her eyes that told me she already knows. Well at least she looked like she enjoyed the present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syaoran finally came back to his chamber, wanting answers.
He crossed his arms. "Don't pretend that I don't know it was you who did it."
"Did what?"
"I just told you to not pretend. This is a bad time to act dense. So why'd you do it?"
"You gave the empress a present, so why shouldn't I?"
"God, Sakura she's MY mom, and she HATES you. Yet, you still found space in your heart to give her such a neat birthday gift."
"Well, I felt sorry for your mom. I mean, her husband and sons all died. No matter how bad she treats me, she still deserves a happy birthday."
Syaoran looked surprised. "Wow Sakura, I don't know what to say. I mean, I've always thought, as a warrior, you would never show mercy to people that are against you, and you said so yourself that you are an emotionless nomad. I couldn't disagree more with that statement right now. Sakura, you have a big heart, and I'm really proud of you"
Syaoran wrapped his arms around me, tilting his head and slowly brushing his lips against mine.
"You know, I still never surrendered to our little game at lunchtime, and I you probably can't ever get me to, so right now, you're still the loser." I could tell he is trying to pick a fight just for the fun of it.
Truthfully, right now, I couldn't care less about that game, but now that he mentioned it.......... I kissed him a second time, this time more intimately, making him moan with pleasure, holding up that invisible white flag.
Hehe...........
Who's the loser now?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lanturn: Okay, beyond stupid chapter, I know. Stop throwing the cabbages at me, that hurts!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura's POV
Chapter 12: The Sweet
So that's how I became Syaoran's slave. So pathetic. I don't need to go through such torture even if I'm doing this for my cards.
"Face it, you like the guy; that's the reason why you agreed to do this, even if the cards didn't exist." An ever so annoying voice in my head said.
I don't like Syaoran. I mentally argued back.
"Of course you don't like him. You 'love' him. You 'want' him."
God, I sound like Tomoyo. I can't like Syaoran; it's just wrong, insane, totally unacceptable! I've always been a cold nomad. It's not like I wanted it that way, but it's just my life. I don't want to have those weak emotions from love. I saw how it affected other people.
Mother, she practically gave up everything to love father. She was a rich lady, but when she eloped with him, she became this poor wife counting coins the rest of her life.
Touya, he abandoned me and married Kaho. He occasionally writes letters, but I know I've lost him. I blame this on love. Why'd he have to fall in love with her?
Tomoyo, she's my best friend........ And she fell in love with the wrong person. Eriol's the most mighty sorcerer in the country, and yet she has no magic in her blood whatsoever. I can only help her the best I could possibly do, but Syaoran and Eriol will still eventually find out she's not the mistress.
Love is too tiring, it's too complicated! The bottom line is I refuse to like Syaoran in that way!
"Just keep on telling yourself that. See how long that's gonna last."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sakura, my clothes got stained again!" Syaoran called out lazily from his bedroom. "Can you wash it again?"
I rolled my eyes. I just finished washing his thick robes yesterday. I stomped into his room, not so happy I have to do it again.
Syaoran sat on his bed, without a shirt on. I wanted to throw up, but couldn't take my eyes off him.
I blushed.
He saw.
He grinned.
I took the dirty pile of laundry from his bed, and ran. That was so embarrassing! What the hell was he doing? Wait, that's so obvious, isn't it? He wants to torment me, because I left him on the Grassy Plains. Oh how I wish I could go back in time, and not abandon him........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lunchtime:
"Hey Sakura." Syaoran tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hm?" I showed that I'm paying attention to his next orders.
"Today's mother's birthday, so......... my cook is in her kitchen along with the other great cooks in the palace to make her a feast. But, since he's gone, I need someone to cook for me." He smiled sweetly.
I forced out a painful smile too. " And that's where I come in, right? I have to make you lunch today."
He patted my head, like I was some little kid. "When did you get so smart?"
"It's called common sense, and I've always been smart."
Syaoran crossed his arms, trying hard not to say something sarcastic. "Really? Then let's play a game, you have to make me the lunch I want to eat, if you can cook it all in less than an hour, you win, but if you fail, I win."
"Go ahead and order, my brother has been teaching me how to cook ever since I was a child. There is not a thing that I can't make." I accepted his challenge.
"Alright, let's start with fish. It can't be too salty or bitter. I don't eat the head or the tail. The only part I want on the plate is the fish's stomach, and you have to get rid of its eggs first. Then I want you to stuff the stomach of the fish with pork and beef."
"Thank god I'm not the permanent cook in this place. You royal people all make things so hard to make." I remembered that time Eriol made Tomoyo prepare that impossible tea.
Syaoran held up his hand. "I'm not done yet. Next, I'll have the tofu noodles. You have to cut up the tofu, that's its shreds have to be thinner than the noodles."
I wanted to punch him, and see if the tofu explodes out of his head. He's making this hard on purpose.
"Then, I'll have egg soup. The egg white and egg yolk can't be mixed together. I want onions and garlic in the soup too, but we're all out in the palace. You're gonna have to buy it from the marketplace first. You have only one hour to cook all three dishes, if you fail and lose, I get to call you stupid and dense as many times as I want."
That did it, I punched him, and dashed outside to buy the onions and garlic.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
59 minutes later
"Ha!" I panted in triumph. "I'm done. I win, you lose!" The three dishes sat on the dining table.
"Yum." Syaoran rudely slurped the egg soup.
"Ha. I did what you wanted inside the time limit! So you lost!"
Syaoran put his spoon down. "Gee, someone here has a problem with losing. But, you do realize that doing all this still doesn't prove that you're smart."
(He changed the subject without me knowing, so he could avoid admitting that he lost.)
I sweat dropped. "Then test my intelligence some other way."
"Okay, I'll give you a simple riddle to solve.
Imagine this, there are 20 birds sitting on a tree. A hunter shot 1 down with a gun. That bird fell onto the ground; how many are left in the tree?" Syaoran asked.
How stupid does he think I am? Asking this question is such an insult! This is just a simple subtraction problem.
"There are 19 birds left in that tree, duh." I answered.
"WRONG, hahahahahahahaha!"
"What? Wrong? How was that wrong? 20-1=19."
"Let's pretend you are a bird sitting on that tree, if you see and hear a hunter kill off one of the other birds, would you still stay on that tree?" Syaoran laughed. "So the correct answer is no birds are left in that tree, because the rest of them flew away."
"Very clever trick." I muttered, not believing I got that wrong. "Fine, tell me another one."
Syaoran stabbed his chopsticks into the fish. "You are walking on sand; you turn around, but you can't see your footprints, why is that?"
"Easy, I was using the float card, so I didn't actually step on the sand." I smiled.
"Wrong again, wise one."
"Then why didn't I see the footprints behind me when I turned around?"
"Because, you were walking backwards. All your footprints are in front of you, not behind you."
"Who the hell made up these weird questions and answers?" I was frustrated I got that one wrong too.
"Eriol and I made them up, cute aren't they?" Syaoran stirred his index finger in the tofu noodles.
"Fine, I have a riddle too. Let's see if you can get this right: I am walking down a pitch-black street, wearing a black ninja suit. There are no moonlight, no starlight, and I was not holding a candle or lantern. Just then, you came riding on a horse, you were just about to run into me, but you halted your horse just in time, stopping in front of me. How did you do that?"
Syaoran started to think. "Let's see, no starlight, no moonlight, pitch-black road, wearing black, and I didn't run into you. Umm, it's because you are a ghost? So I can see you in the dark?"
"Nope."
"Because I halted my horse for another reason, it's only a coincidence I stopped just before running into you."
"Nope."
"Then I give up." Syaoran sighed.
"I said, no starlight, no moonlight, and no lantern, but did I ever tell you that this happened in the nighttime? There was the bright and shiny sun, of course you can see me, and not run into me."
Syaoran laughed. "That's a good one Sakura! My turn again: What would you do if I told you I love you more than I love Meiling?"
He waited for me to answer. I didn't know what to say. Syaoran loves me? Is that even possible?
I awkwardly stared into his chocolate eyes. "I would tell you that I don't love you, and Meiling is the right person for you."
Instantly, hurt entered his eyes. "Wrong again, Sakura." He forced out a fake laugh. "Okay, enough of this, let's eat."
Syaoran took the spoon, and took another sip of the soup. "This got cold." He placed the spoon down.
"Cold things are still good to eat." I replied, but my head was still thinking about what I told Syaoran a few seconds ago.
Syaoran shook his head. "I don't like cold food."
I sighed. "Fine, I'll go heat this up again."
"I don't want that either, then the food will taste like leftovers." An evil smile crept up Syaoran's face.
"Then what can I do?"
"I command you as your 'master', to feed this food to dogs, and cook a me new set. I'm still hungry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nighttime:
"I really don't like you right now."
"Aww, I'm hurt." Syaoran chuckled. He is holding a stupid box. "Fine, I'll give you a break." He patted my head (ugh, that's so irritating), and left the room with the box..
"Hey, I never said you have to leave! Syaoran, where are you going?" I loudly called out after him. That jerk, so rude. I'm not letting him get away this easily; no one ignores Sakura Kinomoto.
I ran after him into the garden, but............
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
I fell into his ever-so-inconvenient Cherry Pitfall Trap again. I swear that one day, I fill up this hole, or better yet, I'll force Syaoran to fill up this hole for everyone's sake!
"Jump Card, release and dispel." I jumped out of the trap.
Where did Syaoran go?
Duh! Today's Empress Yelan's birthday, the box that he was holding must've been a present for her.
Hmm, I've never been to a royal party before, I gotta go see this.
I jumped up Queen Yelan's roof, and climbed down to the windows to spy on the party.
The room was the most beautiful place I have ever saw. There are candles everywhere. Every prince and princess was there dressed in the best silk robe (so this is why Syaoran made me wash his clothes this morning), everyone looking so elegant. They were all lined up to give the empress her birthday gifts. The servants are rushing back and forth serving the queen beautiful desserts such as cakes. I bet the cooks in the kitchen, are as busy as ever making more food. It was such a nice sight to see, and for the first time, I witnessed the cold empress smile and laugh.
Suddenly, I forgot that she wanted my clow cards, and once whipped me. I decided to do my part to make her happy on her birthday.
I jumped down, landing on the ground.
"Mirror card, transform yourself into me." Now there are two Sakura Kinomotos.
"Libra card, separate our dark and light forms." Now there are four Sakuras. Two of them are evil, but I can control them.
"Twin card, make a double of every Sakura out there." Now there are eight of us. We can all work together.
"Firey card, do me a favor okay?" I whispered the plan into his ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I snuck into the palace, and dragged Meiling outside. I told her what I was about to do, and she has agreed to help me.
"Empress, we have another gift for you. Can you step outside?" Meiling called.
Okay, they're all coming outside now. "Erase card, make every Sakura invisible."
Every royal person crowded around the door to see the present.
The eight Sakuras are all holding an indivisual box of our own, lined up in a row. One by one, we opened the sealed box, releasing a firework spark, shooting up high into the sky
Each firework exploded in the middle of the night sky, taking a shape of a word.
They spell out: We wish Empress Yelan the best birthday ever!
Everyone either gasped or clapped. I guess they all loved my present to the empress. When the fireworks exploded again as a giant chaos, and faded, people all started to chatter.
They all wanted to know who gave Queen Yelan that extraordinary birthday gift. (Remember, I used the Erase Card, so no one can see it was me who released the fireworks.) Queen Yelan, however didn't bother to ask who did it, she had that look in her eyes that told me she already knows. Well at least she looked like she enjoyed the present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syaoran finally came back to his chamber, wanting answers.
He crossed his arms. "Don't pretend that I don't know it was you who did it."
"Did what?"
"I just told you to not pretend. This is a bad time to act dense. So why'd you do it?"
"You gave the empress a present, so why shouldn't I?"
"God, Sakura she's MY mom, and she HATES you. Yet, you still found space in your heart to give her such a neat birthday gift."
"Well, I felt sorry for your mom. I mean, her husband and sons all died. No matter how bad she treats me, she still deserves a happy birthday."
Syaoran looked surprised. "Wow Sakura, I don't know what to say. I mean, I've always thought, as a warrior, you would never show mercy to people that are against you, and you said so yourself that you are an emotionless nomad. I couldn't disagree more with that statement right now. Sakura, you have a big heart, and I'm really proud of you"
Syaoran wrapped his arms around me, tilting his head and slowly brushing his lips against mine.
"You know, I still never surrendered to our little game at lunchtime, and I you probably can't ever get me to, so right now, you're still the loser." I could tell he is trying to pick a fight just for the fun of it.
Truthfully, right now, I couldn't care less about that game, but now that he mentioned it.......... I kissed him a second time, this time more intimately, making him moan with pleasure, holding up that invisible white flag.
Hehe...........
Who's the loser now?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lanturn: Okay, beyond stupid chapter, I know. Stop throwing the cabbages at me, that hurts!