A/N: Thanks for the reviews once again! Keep them coming please!
To the nadja: thanks for the very long review! Please don't be confused or anything… Let me clear it out for you: Sakura does not want to fall in love with Syaoran because she hates his guts, and since he's being nice to her, she might not be able to control her feelings and fall in love with him anyhow but she doesn't like to fall in love with him so she does not like him to be nice to her. Does that make any sense? Sorry if I'm confusing you even more! But oh well… this chapter is dedicated to you and all the rest reviewers out there!
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Chapter 4: The Kiss
Syaoran carried Sakura into the front seat of his car. He had a hard time putting her down because it seemed like she didn't want to let go of him. When she was settled, he started driving his car and started thinking where she lives.
He never asked Sakura where she lives so he has no idea where. He decided to call Tomoyo—the closest person to Sakura that he knows.
Tomoyo seemed to be in a hurry when he called her that she didn't even bother asking why he was asking Sakura's address. It was better to him that way because he was not prepared to lie to his best friend's 'future' girlfriend.
He reached her house quickly and didn't think of what to say to her parents when they found him with their daughter in his arms.
Sakura's house was huge. As huge as his. And her house probably has the same security as his. He completely underestimated her status. She is as rich as he is.
He rang the doorbell by the gate and heard someone's voice over the speaker. "How may I help you?" said a voice.
"I'm Li Syaoran," he said loudly because of the rain. "I found Sakura Kinomoto and she's currently unconscious right now."
"What the—" then the gate opened automatically.
Syaoran drove his car inside and parked it under the roofed garage. Someone was waiting for him by the door when he came out.
"I'm Kinomoto Fujitaka—Sakura's father," said the man.
Syaoran introduced himself and opened the door where Sakura was sitting. Fujitaka frowned at the sight of Sakura and volunteered to carry her inside.
"Thank you, Mr. Li," Fujitaka said. "Would you like to have dinner with us?"
Before Syaoran could reply, someone came bustling out of the house. No other than Touya Kinomoto. Syaoran doesn't know if he would be shocked or happy but he just stood there and could not believe his eyes.
"Is she here? Is she here?" Touya was saying as he made her way to his father with Sakura in his arms. "Dear, what happened to her?" With that, Touya finally noticed Syaoran. "You gaki, what did you do to her?"
That had done it. He had ruined his image to his idol. "I was driving then I saw her then she fainted," he explained quickly.
"Why would she be walking while raining?" Touya said quite loudly to himself.
"She said she was looking for her volleyball," Syaoran replied. "She even insisted of looking for it during the rest of the night but she passed out."
"Oh, I understand now," Touya then said. "Are you her boss, by the way?" Syaoran nodded. "If ever I will hear another word from Sakura that you are being mean to her, you're doomed." Syaoran was speechless. "And as a thank you gift, how would you like to come at my engagement party next week? It was supposed to be a surprise party for Sakura today but I guess it should be moved."
"Oh ok, thanks for inviting me," was all Syaoran could say. "It's nice finally meeting you. You're the best soccer player that I had ever seen."
Touya smiled and he shook hands with him.
"So, you want to stay for dinner?" Sakura's dad asked again. Syaoran checked the time.
"I'm sorry but maybe next time," Syaoran said. "Please take care of Sakura."
"Of course we will," Touya said. "Thanks again."
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Tuesday morning. Homeroom. Boring. Boring. Boring. I have not yet seen Syaoran all day. Touya and dad were talking about him this morning during breakfast and I preferred not to listen.
Sure, I owe him and sure, he deserves gratitude which I will give to him later and this will be the first and the last time. He's probably laughing his ass off because he knows I'm having a hard time right now.
I'm having a hard time because I'm going to sink so low just to say thank you to him.
After homeroom, I went to my locker to get my books for my first period. When I finally got my books and closing my bag, I saw Syaoran pass by but he didn't notice me.
I don't want to call him back so I quickly zipped my bag and followed him. It was running late so he was slightly jogging and I had to keep up with him. I quickly grabbed his hand and turned him so he could face me.
Syaoran was surprised to see me.
"Why did you go to school, woman!" he demanded.
"Because I have to," I said stating the obvious.
He then placed his hand on my forehead. "Aren't you sick? Dude, you passed out yesterday!"
"I'm ok now," I said assuring him. Wait, why do I need to assure him? It's not like we're close friends. And it's not like he totally cares, right?
"Well you should've just rested today," Syaoran said sounding like my brother.
"Don't act like you care. I know you don't. Oh yeah, you care because today is the last photo shoot and tomorrow is the fashion show. I need to be there for your company, right?"
"Well not only that. It's you we're talking about here. What if didn't see you yesterday? You could have fainted right there by the side of the road! What if a lunatic found you instead huh?"
He's fuming and he's scolding me!
"Aren't you a lunatic?" I laughed.
"It's not funny," he said with a straight face. "I'm serious. You should not be careless next time. What were you thinking risking your health just to find a darn ball?"
"None of your business," I muttered. "You're not my brother so stop acting like you are!"
The bell then rang. Great, we're late. I'm late because of him. We ended the argument and started walking to our class. He was following me and it was getting annoying.
"Don't follow me!" I shouted at him. The hallways were empty so my voice echoed.
"I'm not following you," he said in defense. "I'm going to the gym. PE."
Oh, that explains it. I'm going to computer class which is near the gym. Then I remembered the reason why I talked to Syaoran in the first place. Before I reached my class, I grabbed his hand again.
He was irritated because it was the second time I did that to him.
"Thanks, by the way," I said softly.
"Oh, no problem," he replied and smiled.
Whoa, did he just smile? As far as I know, he only smiles when I'm being put down, when I'm doing something embarrassing and when I made a mistake. Did I just make a mistake?
"You're smiling…" I stated.
"Because of you," he replied.
I wanted to ask him something again but my computer teacher went out of the room and called me in.
Maybe I did make a mistake. If I didn't, he wouldn't be smiling. It's because of me. Yeah, because I made a mistake. I made a complete fool of myself thanking him. But it's the right thing, isn't it?
He did something for me and it's right for me to thank him… so why was he smiling?
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I smiled. I freaking smiled because Sakura had thanked me. I only smiled whenever she's embarrassed, when I put her down and when she makes a mistake but I smiled.
I smiled because she was freaking there in front of me thanking me. I freaking smiled because I felt like I am the happiest person alive because she was there.
Trust me; I don't want to think of what could have happened if I didn't find Sakura last night. I cannot bear the outcome of having Sakura gone.
Rewind Did I just say that?
Yeah, maybe I don't want Sakura gone because I want her to be always there. I'm used having her around all the time and I don't want that to stop. She's part of my life and taking something from my life will kill me. Most of all if the something taken from me is a person I love.
Whoops, maybe a person I love to hate.
Later that day, after school I went straight to the company for the photo shoot. Sakura arrived late and this time, the director got mad at her.
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"Sakura, you know we need you so please don't make it hard for us," he told her.
She frowned and sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have a lot of things going on and I don't mean to make it hard for you. This is my last tardy, I promise."
"It better be," the director said. "Fashion show's tomorrow. You got to be there. Say Syaoran," he called out and I walked towards them. "Why don't you keep an eye on Sakura tomorrow? Or why don't you arrive at the venue together tomorrow right after school?"
I saw Sakura's eyes roll. "I don't need a baby sitter, direk," Sakura protested.
"He's not going to baby-sit you, don't worry," the director said assumingly. "You guys just need to be at the venue of the fashion show right after school together."
"That's like baby sitting!" Sakura said childishly. "I'm not a baby! He's just like, what, a year older than me!"
"Stop whining," I finally said then earned a glare from her. "Meet me at the gym tomorrow after school."
"What, after you saved me last night, you think you're my hero now huh?" Sakura asked and I was surprised.
I was not expecting her to say that. Congratulations, Sakura, you have gained all the attention of the crew. "That's a nice idea. If that will make you still walk around in this planet, then why not?"
Sakura snorted. "You want to be my hero? Keep dreaming, Li." She rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, Kinomoto," I said, ending the argument. "Just meet me at the gym after school. Period."
Since she babbled out about yesterday, the whole crew kept asking us questions about it. Good thing, she didn't want to elaborate on what she said. I didn't want to explain things either. It's better if we pretend it didn't happen.
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She's late. Five minutes late. What the hell is she up to? What the hell is the matter with her? She thinks she's special? Yeah right!
After another five minutes of waiting—I saw her running towards me. "I'm so sorry!" she said, out of breath.
Looking at her for a while, I started dragging her to the parking lot where my car was parked.
"What the hell!" she was saying behind me. "I can walk, mister! Let go of me!"
I stopped and took her bag and let her go. "You're ten minutes late! Do you have any idea that it would take us forever to get to the venue now?"
"I said I'm sorry already, didn't I!" she shouted at me. We finally reached our car.
My driver took our bags that I was holding and put them behind the car. I let Sakura get in the back seat first before I got in myself. I gave my driver directions and on we went.
On we went with our argument.
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"So why were you late huh?" Syaoran asked Sakura.
"None of your business," Sakura replied. She was not looking at him. She was gazing outside the window intently as if there was a show going on the road.
"It is my business! We are running late, for damn's sake, Sakura!" Syaoran shouted. "And it is your fault! Really, why were you late?" he asked once again but this time, more calmly.
"I don't wanna talk about it, ok!" Sakura said. "I'm here now. Get over it."
"I just want to know—" Syaoran tried asking her again but she interrupted him.
"Don't you ever give up!" Sakura bellowed at him, irritated. "Wanna know why! My phone was freaking lost during lunch so I looked for it. Unfortunately for me, after lunch was my math class. I was late. I missed one-fourth of the class. I had to stay up after school to know what I missed because if I fail one more math test that is tomorrow, I'm doomed! I'm failing math! And don't you dare call me by my first name again!"
Syaoran laughed at her outburst and this angered Sakura more.
"What the hell!" Sakura shouted. "Stop laughing!" Syaoran kept laughing. "I said stop laughing!" He didn't. "Quit it!"
Sakura grabbed the nearest pillow at the backseat and threw it to Syaoran but the guy didn't stop laughing. She gave up and remained a fair distance away from Syaoran.
"So that's it?" Syaoran finally said, out of breath from laughing.
"Oh, you're still alive? Joy!" Sakura said sarcastically.
"I thought you were cornered by a gang in school or something," he said. "But you were late because of math? And you are failing math?" He laughed once again.
"It's not funny, seriously," Sakura said with her most serious tone that Syaoran knows. "And if I hear another laugh from you, buster, you're dead."
Syaoran was quiet for a while then started laughing once again. Sakura growled and threw a pillow at him once again. "I said shut up!" Sakura shouted as loud as she could.
The driver stopped the car all of a sudden, not because of Sakura's loud yell, but because the car in front of them abruptly stopped with no reason at all. Sakura, who had no seatbelt, fell back from her seat but good thing Syaoran had good reflexes and stopped her from hitting her head against the seat in front of her.
Sakura then ended up kinda on top of Syaoran.
"Are you ok?" Syaoran asked with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded softly and getting off of Syaoran's lap.
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I was not going to let her go that easily. Like my driver, he would not let the other driver get way that easily.
I held her back and then I saw it—she's on the verge of crying.
"You're not fine," I said, making her look at me but she still didn't. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she muttered and looked away from him.
"Stop lying. Look, I'm sorry if I had offended you or anything. It was really mean of me to laugh at you like that," I said, without looking at her reaction. My driver was back in the car and started driving. We are definitely late but who gives a damn now!
"Whatever, Li," was the last thing she said to me until we reached the venue.
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They were not entirely late. For the first time, Sakura had to apply more makeup than usual because she had puffy eyes when they came. No one dared to ask why.
On with the show. They did great. Syaoran and Sakura did great pretending that nothing happened between them yet again in front of the cameras. They won the "best models award" and this had made Akira mad.
"Keep in mind that you won because your partner is the owner of the company you're working at," Akira said to Sakura and left.
There was a party after the fashion show and that had made Sakura forget all her problems (and her mom's death anniversary).
She was dancing with random people like crazy. It was when Syaoran had stopped her when she stopped.
"It's late—you have to go home now," he told her like he was her brother.
"It's just 10 in the evening!" Sakura said like she was drunk. "Besides, can't a girl like me enjoy for just one night?"
"Sakura—"
"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" she said, glaring at him.
Syaoran meant no harm so he let her go. Even though she was on the dance floor and he was sitting comfortably on a seat far away from her, he was watching her intently.
…Until someone broke his gaze away from her.
"Hey, Syaoran," said a voice. He looked behind him and saw a girl that was no other than Alena—the model that they fired and the model that Sakura replaced.
"We were never close to first name basis, Kato," Syaoran said rudely.
He stood up and walked away from Alena.
"Well, you were close to proposing, Li-kun," Alena said, making him stop walking.
"Oh yeah, I was!" he said sarcastically then became serious. "Don't ever bring that up. You damn know that if ever I will be engaged to you—it will be because I was forced or you hypnotized me."
He started walking to the exit now but once again, Alena stopped her. Sakura, from the dance floor, noticed that Syaoran was leaving. She could not let him leave because she had no ride home and her bag is still in his car.
Sakura dashed to where Syaoran was.
"…Didn't you ever love me?" the girl in front of Syaoran said. Sakura was shocked hearing the girl. She looked back and forth at Syaoran and the girl.
"Of course I loved you," Syaoran replied then glanced at Sakura's way. "And I still do…"
Sakura was definitely having fun watching Syaoran "propose" his feelings to a girl. She had never seen Syaoran so serious before-most of all, in front a girl.
"…I love you…" Syaoran once again said. All the meaning to what he said was clear in his voice. "…Sakura…"
And then he kissed her.
When the mirror crashed I called you And turned to hear you say If only for today I am unafraidTake my breath away…83838383838
To be continued… Thank you very much for waiting! And please review! By the way, the little verse was from "Take my Breath Away" by Jessica Simpson. behindthatsmile