Why Do I Always Have to Do the Laundry?

Chapter One-Living Arrangements Change

Author's Note: Here is my latest fic! I'm sorry that I had to take down the other ones, but I just couldn't get motivated to do them and I know I won't be updating them again. I hope to work hard on this one! Sakura and Syaoran are sixteen in this fic, and there isn't any magic in it. Now sit back and enjoy the story!

NOTE: I have rated this fic PG-13 for the time, but this MIGHT CHANGE according to how I decide to let the story go.

"Great supper, otou-san(a/n: this means father in Japanese)." The young 16-year old sorceress leaned back and stretched upwards in her chair. She had grown taller over the years, and her hair was only a little bit longer-but her shining emerald orbs still portrayed her as an innocent youth.

"Sakura honey, I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it, otou-san?"

Fujitaka Kinomoto sighed heavily and stared intensely at his blossoming daughter. "I've just accepted a great new job as head of archaeology at another university. It'll be a great raise in pay, plus I'll get to go out on more digs instead of being cooped up in a research room."

"Wow, that's great! Which university will it be at? Tokyo? I hope that isn't too far for you to travel-"

Fujitaka cut his daughter off. "Honey, it's at Oxford. That's in England."

Sakura's life came crashing down around her. She could barely get herself to whisper a somewhat-audible "what?"

"We're going to be moving to London, sweetie, isn't that great?! London is a fantastic city-there's so much more to see there than in little Tomoeda. I've already enrolled you into a great school known for it's English courses, you'll love it."

Sakura could feel the hot tears stinging her innocent eyes. How could he do this to her?

"I'm not going," she said flatly.

"Sweetie, I'm afraid you don't have much choice."

"Then I'll live with Touya or Tomoyo-chan!"

"Sakura, you know that's impossible. Touya lives in a dorm room, which is crowded enough sharing with Yukito. And Tomoyo and her mother are barely home-you've barely seen them since the toy business expanded to America and they have to travel there constantly."

Sakura couldn't stand to hear anymore of this. She jumped up from the dinner table and rushed out the front door, barely giving herself enough time to slip her shoes on.

"Honey......" her father protested.

"I need to get some fresh air. Don't wait up for me." And with that she was out the door.

"I'm sorry," he whispered at the closed door.

'How can he expect me to leave everyone like that?' Sakura thought. She couldn't keep the tears in any longer and they came swiftly down her pale face. The hurt she felt of leaving her friends behind was too much to bear. 'Tomoyo, Naoko, Rika, Chiharu, Yamazaki, Eriol, Syaoran......' At the thought of the last name she blushed a heavy crimson. She needed someone to talk to desperately, and for that she needed Syaoran.

Just after she headed off for the apartment that Syaoran shared with his cousin/ex-fiancée Meilin and butler Wei, it started to rain.

'Great, even mother nature is against me today. Oh well, at least people won't be able to tell that I've been crying,' she though, continuing to let the tears stream down her face. She shivered, and covered her arms over her light polo tee for some sort of warmth from the cold.

By the time she reached Syaoran's, she was sopping wet. It didn't take long after she knocked for a certain auburn-haired teen to answer the door. He had become taller and more muscular from all his training over the years and his hair was just as unruly, but his eyes had lost their harsh adult glare that they held before the Clow mistress came into his life.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here? You're soaked!" He couldn't help but notice the way Sakura's pale blue polo and flimsy navy blue skirt clung to her petite frame. He turned away slightly to hide his blush.

"I just needed someone to talk to." She looked up at her best friend, and he could tell that she had been crying quite fervently.

"Come sit down, I'll grab you some clothes to change into. I'll make some tea too."

"Thank you," she whimpered towards his retreating frame.

After Sakura had changed into one of Syaoran's baggy shirts and a pair of shorts, the two sat down on his big comfy green couch to talk.

"Where's Meilin?"

"She went back to Hong Kong. There's been a lot of family issues going on right now, so she went back to sort things out in my place. Wei went with her to make sure she was heard by my mother and the clan leaders."

"When will they be back?"

"Oh, they're not coming back."

Sakura was a bit taken aback. "What? Why? You don't have to go with them do you? You're not in trouble are you, is that why Meilin had to go back for you?"

"No, don't worry. It will all be over soon, and it's nothing that Meilin can't do in my place. I made it VERY clear to my mother that I would be staying here. Besides, if I went back to Hong Kong she probably would find a reason to keep me there." 'Besides, I could never leave you Sakura....' He added to himself.

Syaoran realized that he was blushing and that Sakura was staring at him a bit funny, so he decided to change the subject. "So what's wrong?"

Sakura sighed deeply and tried to hold back the tears again. "My dad wants me to move with him to London."

Syaoran could feel his heart lurch inside his chest. He had just given up everything to stay here with Sakura, and here she was leaving him for a place MUCH further away than China.

"But there's NO WAY that I'm going! I can't leave all of this behind! I've lived all of my life in Tomoeda, and I've never imagined living anywhere else. I'll just have to find some way to stay!"

Syaoran sat silent for a moment trying to take everything in. Then it hit him, "Did you even tell your father that you were coming over here?"

"No. I hate him. I don't care if he worries about me. He doesn't love me," Sakura huffed.

Syaoran chuckled, he knew her better than that. "Sakura....."

"Oh all right, I'll call him." She reached over across Syaoran for the telephone, causing them both to blush slightly, and dialed that all-familiar number.

"Otou-san?"

::Oh Sakura I've been so worried about you. Listen, I'm really sorry about all of this.::

"It's alright."

::Where are you right now?::

"Just at Syaoran's."

::Ahh, I should have known. When would you like me to pick you up?::

"When do you want to pick me up? Umm, I dunno....." she trailed off.

Getting an idea, Syaoran quickly picked up a piece of paper and illegibly scribbled 'Do you want to stay the night?'

Sakura nodded exasperatedly. "Otou-san, is it alright if I stay over at Syaoran-kun's tonight? You can come over and get me in the morning."

::Alright, but only because I trust Li-san not to do anything......inappropriate with you.:: At this Sakura blushed. ::But tomorrow I'm coming over so that we can have a talk about this. No more avoiding it Sakura.::

"Thank you so much! I love you, I'll see you tommorow."

::Bye Sakura::

Sakura set down the phone, squealed, and jumped on Syaoran. "He said that I could stay!"

"That's great! There's only one problem, I only have the one bed."

"Huh? But I thought Meilin moved out."

"Well, yeah, but she took all her stuff with her."

"Oh don't worry about it then, I'll just sleep on the couch."

"Sakura I can't have you do that-you can sleep in my room and I'll take the couch. I usually fall asleep out here anyways."

"Syao-chan, it's your house and I'm your guest, I don't deserve to take over your room."

"Alright alright, I give up just because I don't want you calling me Syao-chan ever again."

"Deal," and they shook on it.

After watching three movies and eating an insane amount of sugar, they moved on to playing Battleship. Syaoran could see Sakura's head slowly drooping, and her eyes were getting heavy. He chuckled.

"Sakura, I think that you're ready to go to sleep." He brought out the blankets for her and, after making sure that she was snugly tucked in, retreated to his own bedroom for slumber.

That night, Syaoran could barely sleep. All he could think about was that the most beautiful girl in the world was sleeping outside on his couch, in his clothes........things couldn't get much better than that.

Then there was a knock at his door. Sakura slowly cracked it open and peered inside. "Syaoran-kun? I had a nightmare."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah I think so, but is it okay if I stay in here with you tonight?"

'I think things just got better,' Syaoran's subconscious told him. "Of course, if you don't mind sharing with me-I move around a lot."

Sakura smiled, "That's fine. Thank you." She climbed in slowly beside the young teenager.

"Wow, I didn't realize that my bed was so small. But then, I've never had anyone to share it with before." Both of them were glad that darkness hid their glowing blushes.

Sakura huddled under the covers, trying to rid herself of the nasty beasts that attacked her in the dream world and to get warm. Unconsciously she moved closer towards Syaoran. He saw her shivering slightly, and made the bold move to wrap his arms around her and pull her tight against his chest.

"Thank you," she said in a muffled voice. He couldn't believe that he had actually done that-now here she was, his angel, falling asleep in his arms.

'There's no way that I'm going to be able to sleep tonight," he joked to himself. But he could only watch the sleeping girl for too long before sleep overtook him for the night.

The next morning, Sakura awoke to the warm sun beating down onto her face. She shifted slightly, and noticed a pair of strong arms around her. "Syaoran," she mumbled softly. The memories of yesterday came flooding back to her-but she couldn't think about anything bad when she was lying next to the cute little sleeping wolf. She tried to stretch without waking Syaoran, but that didn't work too well. After all of his years of training, the teen boy would awake at the slightest flinch.

"Good morning, Syaoran!" she said cheerfully.

"Ugh.....gmorning Sak...." He mumbled. Obviously he wasn't a morning person.

"Mou (a/n: That means "jeez" in Japanese!) Syao-chan, you're so bad at waking up in the morning!" She started to sit up, but he just pulled her back down and wrapped his arms around her again.

"No, let's just stay like this for awhile longer," he mumbled. Sakura blushed at this. (a/n: I think drowsiness is making Syaoran a bit BOLD don't you? Hehe)

Then, out of nowhere, the doorbell rang. "Syaoran, you really should get that."

"Why don't you? I like it here better."

"Mou, baka (a/n: Idiot/stupid in Japanese!) it IS your house! What would they think if I opened the door?" Sakura pointed out.

"Let's just ignore it." The doorbell rang again.

"Syaoran! Go answer it! I'll come with you," she said, throwing off the covers and starting to poke Syaoran.

"Fine, fine, I'll come," and grudgingly he went and answered the door.

"Why Li-san, you look tired. I hope you didn't keep Sakura up too late." It was Fujitaka there to talk to Sakura.

Syaoran immediately woke up. "No! Don't worry! We went to bed really early!"

"Oh?" He gave Syaoran an joking 'what were you doing with my daughter?' sort of look.

"I mean, no! Ahh, I just can't win can I?"

"Nope, sorry." Fujitaka laughed. "Where is Sakura? I brought her a change of clothes."

"Here, I'll go give them to her." Syaoran let Fujitaka sit at the kitchen table while he went to go get Sakura. But, when he walked into his bedroom, he found that she had already fallen back asleep curled on top of the covers. "Sakura! You're so lazy! Wake up! Your otou-san is here waiting to talk to you."

Sakura jumped up all of a sudden, "I can't let him see me in your clothes! You'll never hear the end of it!"

"Don't worry, your dad brought you a change. Here." He handed her the clothes and went back outside to get a start on breakfast.

When Sakura came out, she saw Syaoran and her father chatting idly while Fujitaka prepared breakfast.

"Ohayou gozaimasu (a/n: good morning in jap!) otou-san! What are you doing here so early?"

"Well I assumed that you two would need a good breakfast. Not that I don't trust you or Li-san's cooking skills."

"Don't worry, I couldn't cook to save my life," Syaoran joked.

Fujitaka took the scrambled eggs and toast and set it on the table in front of the two young ones. (a/n: I know, completely non-Japanese style breakfast but OH WELL!) "Sakura honey, we need to have our talk right now."

The smile disappeared from her face and she sighed heavily, "Otou-san, I really don't want to go!"

"You don't understand. You don't have a choice! I'm your father, the only family that you have right now, so you have to do what I need. I'm sorry that I have to do this to you, but it's an opportunity that I can't just let pass by! Please understand." Fujitaka pleaded.

"I understand perfectly. You want to ruin my life don't you?!" Tears started to swell up in Sakura's eyes. Syaoran couldn't bear to see her like this. It took all of the self-restraint he had to keep from reaching out towards her.

"Sakura, please don't be this way. Honestly, if there was any way that you could stay here I would let you stay in a heartbeat."

Syaoran suddenly thought of something. But would it work?

"Sakura can stay here with me."

Author's notes: I hope that you guys enjoyed this first chapter! I've gotten rid of all my other fics, although I might eventually continue them or rewrite them when I get time. I tried working on them but couldn't get myself motivated to write them. I hope to get this fic going, but I AM in grade 11 this year plus I'm taking a grade 12 course and an Advanced Placement one as well, so I have a full workload this year. But I'll try to update when I can-feel free to email me or add me on AIM, I always want to chat!

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