Part 37 : The Encounter
Produced by: Angelize
Misaki watched as Sakura walked out of the hospital grounds looking confident and strong and smiled at Sakura's bravery. She knew she was going to be okay.
Sakura-
Sakura walked out with no bags of any sort or any valuables as she had brought none with her to the hospital any ways. 'I'm going to be all right. Fongling can't manage to hurt me anymore, the source of her threatening is already lying in the hospital, and nothing else can happen…except death' the word plummeted to the bottom of Sakura's stomach. She suddenly felt unsure of what she was doing and sighed. 'I had thought there was nothing else to lose, but I was putting my most valuable object at risk' A sudden thought hit her. 'Does Fongling know where I am? Without me, there is no one to cook their meals, to clean the house, to wash the dishes. If they knew where I was, wouldn't they go to the hospital to find me?'
"Oh no, they don't know where I am, therefore, I suppose they don't know where father is either" Sakura whispered as she breathed in deeply from her long walk. She had gotten a bit lost, as she hadn't been anywhere else than the house for the past couple of months, but after twenty blocks, Sakura had reached her house, the place where she held so many memories, and the place she hated. 'Its not the house…it's…them' Sakura thought in pain, but deep inside, she knew it wasn't as strong as hate although they – rather, Fongling had locked up her father and had fed him poison.
Without knowing, she was at the front door with her hand just inches from the door. 'Should I?' Sakura thought and took her hand down slightly. 'I have to get in sooner or later, didn't you say that you'll face whatever comes your way?' Sakura inhaled deeply and knocked. Hearing no answer, she knocked again, but no answer. She walked over to the windows, and stared in, but saw no movement of any source. Continuing around the house, she searched for signs of her stepsisters or stepmother but was unsuccessful. 'Oh yeah, its Saturday, their out for a family outing' Sakura mentally slapped herself for her stupidity. They wouldn't be back until five, and by then, it would've already gotten dark.
"What?" Sakura just stared as the heavy front door swung in inviting her in to the house with no locks. Sakura closed her eyes for a minute and brought her palm up to her forehead in utter disbelief. "They forgot to lock the door" Sakura sighed but smiled; the better for her.
Walking around the house, she made sure that there was no one had sneaked in to steal. Flopping down on the sofa, Sakura closed her eyes tiredly wanting to sleep. 'Wait, I'm not going to be so stupid, I'm not going to make myself vulnerable to Fongling and her daughters' She blushed at her own stupidity and started up the stairs with a cup of warm milk.
Prince Syaoran-
The small bed seemed utterly comfortable that Syaoran could not stay awake for long. His sleeping habits got the better of him as he was covered from his head to his feet in Sakura's blankets—covering his identity.
Sakura-
Sakura smiled as she entered her room finding everything in its proper place, especially her Star Cards. Walking over to her drawer, she felt for a packet of tarot cards and was relieved to find the cool package hit her hand. Taking a sip of her milk, Sakura took the cards down and strolled over to her bed to sit.
Sakura's eyes widened as her breath became more fervent. Who was this in her bed? Taking small steps backward while staring at the stranger wide eyed, Sakura's glass of milk suddenly slipped from her hand as it clashed to the floor, the glass shattering into thousands of tiny pieces.
Syaoran-
Syaoran twitched trying to gather his senses, when the sound stopped. He was just about to fall asleep again when his thigh suddenly shot with pain. Groaning, Syaoran tried to lift the covers off of his head, and ended up fighting the covers with his lanky limbs lost among the warm covers.
"Yea, yea, muther, I'm awake.." Syaoran answered sleepily.
Sakura froze. Was this person crazy? Calling her his mother? Getting scared, Sakura slowly backed out of the door with a piece of wood that had broken off on her chair and backed out of her room and hide just outside the door with her weapon held high above her.
Sakura sweatdropped. She hoped she hadn't angered the stranger with her book throwing, and quickly realized that that had been a stupid action. 'ARG, I could've just called the police' Sakura thought mentally kicking herself. 'Now, I don't even know what he's going to do'. Abruptly, pictures entered Sakura's head: rape, hanging her, stabbing her, shooting her, the stranger throwing her across the room, her body hitting the wall like a rag doll. She shivered. There were so many ways to kill and hurt someone. Sakura was so in thought that she had not heard the stranger get up and start to the open door that led down to the second floor…her bedroom door.
Another thought hit Sakura's feeble mind as her level of fear hit its limit: The horrid stranger, scooping her eyeballs out with a spoon. This was too much for Sakura, she shut her eyes and screamed out loud.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Just as the Prince's head snuck out into the hallway. Hearing the frightening scream, Syaoran turned to Sakura and started to scream also.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sakura opened her eyes and without taking time to recognize the figure, brought her weapon down onto his head.
The Prince dropped down to the hard wooden floor, dazed, his eyes twirling in shock. Sakura breathed hard to catch her breath. 'There, I did it…I protected myself' Sakura smiled briefly at her accomplishment, but started to hyperventilate when she realized who it was. The casual but wrinkly attire, the brown leather boots, the dark messy hair…
"Prince … S-Syaoran?" Sakura dropped to the floor beside him. Never had she made a mistake like this. She placed her hand on his forehead then looked around his scalp trying to find blood of any sort, but was relieved to find none. The only thing she found was a big fat purple bruise.
"I'm so sorry" Sakura whispered and placed Syaoran's head on her lap. She knew she looked horrible. She hadn't bathed in a day, and her tears have left her eyes red and blotchy. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes smelt like sweat from her long walk back home.
She caressed his hair and smiled as she noticed that he looked as bad as her. It looked like he hadn't shaved for days, and he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. To find him in her room showed Sakura that he had been this determined to find her and she blushed in return. Sakura pressed her hand lightly over his unshaved chin and found the light little hairs prickling lightly under her hand. They were pretty soft, and Sakura smiled in response to the message in her head.
She dragged him back into her room in case Fongling came back and she placed him onto her bed avoiding the puddle of smashed glass and let him rest on top of her bed covers coming back regularly with medicinal liquids for his head. She also brought in a broom to sweep up the mess when…
"Ah!" Sakura gasped as a piece of glass pierced into her skin and she could only watch as the red liquid poured out of her. "Eh… I should wash this out" Sakura winced and rushed off to the washroom to get a bandage.
Syaoran-
Moaning, Syaoran got up slowly his hand pressed to the side of his head. He tried to remember what had happened recently, but the throbbing of his head stopped that, until he saw the broom on the floor with the pile of glass in the middle of the small attic room. All of his memories rushed at him: climbing up the plant, sleeping in her bed, the pain in his thigh, walking through the door, and being hit in the head… by 'her'.
The mere memory of her caused him to smile, but the image he saw, tore him. Her hair was messed, and her eyes were red and blotchy. 'Was she crying?' Syaoran wondered and looked around the room. Where was she? He got up wincing at the pain still hitting his head and told himself that he deserved it. He knew he scared her especially when there was a stranger in her bed. Walking over to the pile of glass, he helped finish Sakura's job and wiped up the milk looking up to see Sakura all cleaned up at the door staring at him.
"Ah…" Syaoran didn't know what to say. Dealing with girls was not his best skill, but he noticed his cherry blossom blushing especially after he caught her staring at him. He noticed her hair was combed and her face was washed and she had put on an apron.
"Uh…you don't have to do that" Sakura stared at the floor as she rushed over to Syaoran and pulled the mass of milk soaked tissue out of his hands.
Syaoran was shocked. Did she think of him as spoiled?
"No no, I can do this, it's not like I don't know how" Syaoran answered harshly pulling the tissue out of Sakura's hands.
Sakura looked up, her eyes boring into his own in disbelief and hurt at his harshness. Prince Syaoran suddenly felt like punching himself for his actions.
"Uh…no, uh…I'm…sorry" Syaoran said softly his eyes looking down at the cold wooden floor with great interest.
Sakura's forest green eyes softened. "No, it's me that should be sorry…" Then looking up at Syaoran. "I-I didn't mean to think that you couldn't do it yourself, but you see, you're a guest" Sakura stammered her face growing redder by the second.
Syaoran looked up and smiled at her. Sakura smiled back and nodded.
"I'll clean it up" The Prince stated and grabbed the garbage out the bedroom door. Sakura watched as he left her room and smiled slightly, but leaving after five seconds, he came back looking bashful and scratched the back of his head ignoring the pain of his bruise.
"AH… yes?" Sakura asked her head tipped lightly to the side.
"I was wondering where the garbage can was" Syaoran asked blushing in embarrassment.
"Oh, yes, there's one in the kitchen"
"Oh" Grinning after a second he said "Be right back"
Sakura was drained of all colour that was not red and grinned back, her heart melting at his smile.
That afternoon, the two of them spent the couple of hours they had with each other conversing. They both had found a spot around the room to relax and get to know each other. Sakura was seated on her lumpy mattress, and Prince Syaoran was located on the floor, his back against the side of the bed, where she could not see his face – especially when it was red.
"So…what's your name?'' Syaoran started off not knowing what else to talk about.
"My name's Sakura, Sakura Kinomoto" Sakura answered cheerfully, her voice filled with happiness.
Gasping, the Prince lifted his head just a bit…and to think that he had been calling her 'his cherry blossom' for so long. Sakura looked puzzled.
Syaoran chuckled. "You don't understand, you see, all this time I've been thinking of you, the name 'cherry blossom' has entered my head, and since I didn't know your name, I started referring you to 'cherry blossom'"
"Y-you've been thinking of me" Sakura whispered in a silent statement and blushed.
Soon, Syaoran found himself blushing as well after hearing her statement. What had spurred his sudden outburst? He was suddenly felt very self-conscious, and was mightily curious to see how Sakura had reacted. 'Should I?' The Prince contemplated whether to turn around or not, but curiosity got the better of him and he turned, regardless of his reddening face.
Sakura had looked away from Syaoran, but once his head turned, her gentle green eyes lay upon him immediately. Syaoran was captured by the light intensity of her eyes, and was quite aware of the soft blush on her porcelain cheeks. Her light pinkish lips were parted slightly in surprise, and soon, the Prince was suppressed by thoughts of fantasy, but Sakura's voice disrupted his short daydream.
"Ahem" Syaoran watched in wonder as the simple sound escaped from Sakura's parted lips.
"Wha!" Syaoran looked puzzled and blushed a deep shade of crimson that reached his ears. Had she seen what he had been thinking? He had only returned to reality when Sakura had interrupted him.
Sakura waved her hand in front of his face.
"Ah… I'm fine" He assured her trying to calm the rising temperature of his face by breathing deeply.
"You… look faint, do you need some water?" Sakura chirped happily giving him her winning smile. (The one where she smiles with her eyes closed).
"N-no, it's alright" Prince Syaoran stammered his face going red again.
It was then that Sakura laughed. Her voice rung through the room happily, and with spirit immediately breaking the ice that was between them just recently. Syaoran watched with wide eyes as he watched the smile and laugh in her eyes. She seemed so happy… so carefree…so… free. Something inside of him stirred. It was something he had never felt before, it was the feeling he had never felt in his entire life, it was the happiness of a child. He had never in his life felt such a carefree feeling in his life. For most of his sixteen years, his parents had forbid him to run around and play like a child, he had gotten his stubbornness from this, and he'll never forget the feeling of emptiness as he watched young kids of three and five in the town running around each other, playing tag, and skipping with hands clasped.
He didn't have any friends as a young child; this was the void in his life. After seeing Sakura's smile, and hearing her laugh, he felt that anything was possible, he wanted to run around, he wanted to do cartwheels, he wanted to play hide and seek, he was suddenly flooded with ideas. He wanted to make up what he had missed.
"Sakura… do you know any childhood games?" Syaoran asked his eyes full of spirit. Sakura blinked in thought.
"Hm… let me think, well, I only know girly games, so…" Sakura faded off, her eyes showed a hint of amusement. "Well, there's this game called Marco Polo if you know how to play…"
"I've heard about it… "
Soon, Sakura was explaining away, and just as soon, there was Prince Syaoran with eyes blindfolded listening carefully for Sakura's answer of 'Polo'. He thought it would be easy, but it turned out harder then he thought. He kept bumping into tables, the bed, the hat stand, etc, and would hear Sakura giggle, and run towards the sound, oblivious of the cloth that had snaked around his legs…
CRASH! THUMP!
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Sakura fell down laughing, unable to stop, while Syaoran swiped off the pink blindfold and smiled evilly, knowing Sakura was pretty much off-guard at the moment. He crawled to her and soon, Sakura's giggles were heard all around the house.
"Syaoran! AHAHAHA! STOP! AHAHA!" Sakura rolled around the floor trying to rid of the fingers that had found its way around her waist and now was tickling her softly. Sakura was not about to give up without a fight, as she flipped herself around facing the Prince's amused face with an evil glint and suddenly, the tables turned.
Syaoran found himself engulfed in his own laughter and the cold wooden floor against his back.
"AHAHAAH! SAKURA! STOP! AHAHAHA" Syaoran caught her hands in his own with Sakura's bewildered face above him. Face rosy and hair scattered messily around her face, Sakura was a beautiful sight, but he was suddenly reminded of the reason why he stopped.
CLICK. CREAK.
Gasping, Sakura lifted her body off of Syaoran, herface in pure panic.
"Fongling is back, you'd better go, now!" The breathless female whispered sharply pulling him up then shoving him towards the window.
Sigh. "Sakura… tomorrow…"
"GO!" With all her strength, Sakura pushed him out the window giving him a slight nod as an answer to her questionbefore he left, slamming the window shut. She slid down onto the comforter breathing quietly, but smiled gently as Syaoran's face showed up again on her mind.
'This is not the time to think about this… wait, what have I just done! My dad's in the hospital, and here, I'm flirting and enjoying a boy's company? Sakura Kinomoto! Please deal with one problem before another!' Groaning before she completely melted on her lumpy bed, a lonely Sakura was about to fall asleep, before a loud and annoying rapping sounded on her creaky wooden door.
A/N-
Hm... I made their conversation longer...hope you enjoyed it? HEHE.