Muahaha! I am back with another chapter! Sorry it's taking me so long to update... But I'm trying! I hope you guys still enjoy the story! o
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS!
Previously on Queen of Clubs:
With these thoughts, Syaoran's face inched closer to Sakura's. A blush appeared on both of their cheeks and before Sakura had time to react Syaoran's soft and smoldering lips covered hers in a gentle, yet powerful embrace.
Chapter 14 – I THINK I…
Sakura's body froze at the contact with Syaoran's lips and the world seemed to have come to a complete stop. Every aspect of her surroundings became a mere blur as she was only able to focus on the delicate feeling of the kiss.
Thump thump thump.
Her heart raced and her eyes widened in shock. As if on cue, every other person in the room turned to look at them and froze, creating an absolute stillness which only highlighted the deafening beating of Sakura's heart.
The reactions from their spectators were as diverse as their personalities. Takahashi's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he mastered to choke out an articulate "HOLY CRAP!" This explosion put the room in motion.
Naoko and Loda, still comfortably sitting in their own little corner, gave each other knowing smiles and grinned at the sight of their common friend Sakura locking lips with their King.
Mina, the blond bombshell who seemed to have grown a habit of glaring at poor Sakura, began to have a nervous twitch in her left eye. After a few seconds of gaping at the couple, she broke down and screeched in a high-pitched voice, "I can't believe this!" She then began to feverishly pound on a couch pillow while her friend Hitomi tried her best to calm her down.
The other inductees seemed to have lost all ability to speak. No one understood how it came to be that The King and Sakura, who one week ago seemed to be barely able to stand each other, were now kissing in front of them. Takahashi, realizing that Meilin isn't in the room to witness the occasion, ran around in circles before sprinting out of the lounge, screaming, "I have to go get Meilin!"
In the midst of all this turmoil, however, Syaoran's lips stayed firmly planted on Sakura's. On their initial contact, he was mentally praying, 'Please don't let her kill me. Please don't let her kill me…' Sensing that Sakura as not only NOT killing him, but not even pushing away, he seemed to take courage. Laying his plate of pizza aside, he moved his right hand up to Sakura's face and gently caressed her cheek.
What was to be a simple kiss to claim Sakura as his own, however, soon became much more than Syaoran had bargained for. Never before had he experience such an intoxicating sensation. Unable to restrain himself, Syaoran slowly closed his eyes and using the hand that still rested in Sakura's cheek, he tenderly pulled her face closer to him.
Sakura, finally recovering from the shock, felt herself being pulled into a closer embrace. She had half her mind made up on pushing Li away and slapping him, but she felt her own mind give into Syaoran's gentle touch. Her eyelids began to droop and soon the only thing she sensed was the feel of Syaoran's lips and hand.
Sensing that Sakura is giving in to his kiss made Syaoran weak. He felt her body loose its tension and slowly lean towards his. An unbearable need began to form in his chest, making feel as if he would die if he did not get Sakura closer. Scared of his own emotions, Syaoran decided to take control of himself and slowly pulled away, though he was still incapable to contain his body's barely audible groan of protest.
Although he did not like it, he knew he had to end the kiss before he would go even further. Hearing the uproar around him, he knew that his mission to let everybody know that Sakura was his was accomplished. What he needed to do now was to talk to Sakura to let HER into that little piece of information. Gradually opening his eyes, Syaoran realized that breaking the kiss was not only reasonable, but necessary.
The entire lounge was still in a state of utter excitement. The male inductees were now chatting away while Takahashi kept on screaming out phrases of his great disbelief. Naoko and Loda were quietly laughing at the scene. Mina was in a greatly angered state; she was obviously trying to go over to Syaoran and Sakura to break them up and therefore had to be restrained by her friend Hitomi.
After taking in this scenery, Syaoran fearfully brought his eyes back to Sakura, who was now sitting with a frightening look on her face. One glance at her angry eyes and Syaoran knew that the killing was about to begin. Bracing himself, he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Sakura's dangerously low voice.
"And what do you, your highness, think gives you the right to kiss me?" The question she posed was biting coldness, accompanied with an icy glare, and Syaoran felt himself shiver.
Not getting an immediate response from Syaoran, Sakura's eyes narrowed even more. 'So he thinks he can just do what he pleases? He thinks that he can just play with me!' Although she was angry at his self-centered behavior, she was even angrier at herself. 'I can't believe I let this jerk kiss me!'
"Well, guess what, Li" she then spat out, "You can find yourself another girl to toy with!" Harshly getting herself up from the couch Sakura then stood up and quickly walked out of the room, not giving Syaoran another look.
It was now Syaoran's turn to speechlessly open and close his mouth in shock. "Toy with!" he cried out after Sakura, "What the hell are you talking about!" He sprang up from his seat and ran after the fuming inductee. 'This girl is out of her mind!' he thought, 'Why in heaven's name would I kiss her if I didn't like her?'
Hearing the rest of the crowd begin to move after him, he turned back and sent them a warning glare. "DON'T come after us!" The inductees and Takahashi didn't need to be told twice, as they pretended to occupy themselves with other things – the TV, the pizza, the interesting pattern of the wallpaper…
Making sure that they would be undisturbed, Syaoran picked up his pace and followed Sakura, who was loudly stomping down the hallway that led to the new wing.
Catching up with Sakura, Syaoran began his attempt at reconciling with her. "Hey," he said, "hold on! You think I was just TOYING with you?" Sakura gave out a very un-ladylike snort. In her most bitter voice, Sakura replied, "Please, Li, don't try to say otherwise. I know how you are!"
Now Syaoran began to get angry himself. "Know how I am! Please, do enlighten me to the nature of my own being, oh mighty psychic! I seem to have missed the knowledge of my own self!" Every single phrase that came out of his mouth was followed with over exaggerated hand gestures that only added to his dripping sarcasm.
Sakura stopped and glared at Li, saying, "You know what I mean! I know the way you are with girls!" Syaoran walked in front of her and forcefully asked, "And how AM I with girls?"
Sakura seemed to take a second to figure out how to phrase her words and came up with, "You HATE them!"
Syaoran blinked at Sakura's angry face. "Hate them?" he repeated with confusion plastered all over his countenance. "Yes," Sakura cried out, "You HATE them! And therefore you had no reason to be kissing me!"
It was then that a laugh escaped Syaoran's throat, much to the full surprise of Sakura. "Hate them," he repeated once more, "Where in the world did you get THAT nonsense from?"
"It is NOT nonsense," Sakura replied defiantly, "Takahashi told be about your girl-hating ways on my first night here." Syaoran smugly smirked hearing Sakura's comment. "So you talk about me?" Sakura glared at him and chose to ignore his comment. She continued, "Takahashi told me all about how mean you were to the previous queens! And I see how rude you are to Meilin! And then there's the way you treated ME when we first met! You hate girls! I don't think it's possible for you to like them!"
Sakura only huffed when the reply she got from Syaoran was another hearty laugh. Still grinning, Syaoran replied, "I was mean to the queens my uncle chose for me because they were nothing but a bunch of money-hungry bimbos. I'm rude to Meilin only in joke. She knows that I'm only teasing – that's why she does it back! And I was rude to you in the beginning because… Well…"
She had him there. He had no good reason for being mean to her so he truthfully said, "I don't know. I don't know why I was harsh on you in the beginning. But the emphasis shouldn't be on that, anyway. It's should not be 'I was MEAN to you', it should be 'I WAS mean to you'." He then took the opportunity and stepped closer to Sakura, putting his hands firmly on her shoulders. A kind and hopeful smile appeared on his face, "And I've been trying my best to be nice to you lately, haven't I?"
Sakura looked into Syaoran's amber eyes and found that he seemed to be hiding nothing. "W-why?" she stammered out. Syaoran kept his kind smile, "Why what?" Sakura kept her eyes on his face, studying every single of his reactions. "Why are you being nice to me?"
A moment passed in complete silence and Sakura began to think that Li would not answer. Suddenly, she saw him move his face closer to her own, making their foreheads touch. His smile widened. "Because I like you," was his simple reply.
Syaoran was about to lean in closer to give Sakura another kiss, but he was sadly interrupted by the earsplitting screech of Meilin's voice.
"YOU KISSED HER!" Meilin yelled as her small frame suddenly appeared a few feet away from the couple. Sakura and Syaoran jumped away from each other in fright and dumbly stared at Meilin.
"You kissed her, knowing that I wasn't in the room to take a picture!" Meilin hollered in mock-fury. Sakura nearly fell over when she heard Meilin's reason for her anger. Syaoran cocked an eyebrow and calmly replied, "I'm sorry, dearest cousin, but your photographic duties were the last thing on my mind when I decided to kiss Sakura."
Meilin smiled, hearing Syaoran's response. "So," she said with a smug grin, "What's the deal between you two?" She playfully wiggled her eyebrows up and down, causing Sakura to forget all about blushing and give out a small chuckle.
"Well," Syaoran said once again taking Sakura by her shoulders and pushing her in the direction of a nearby door, "we were just about to discuss that. So, if you don't mind…" He then quickly opened the door, pushed Sakura inside, jumped in after her, and slammed the door shut.
Meilin gaped at the empty hallway, momentarily unable to decide what she should do next. Then, a deliciously evil smile appeared on her face. "My plan will work perfectly…" She then happily skipped away into the direction of her room.
In the meantime, Sakura was doing her best to remain calm. After being pushed into a room – which turned out to be a small bedroom – she found herself once again alone with Li.
His words still rang in her ears. 'Because I like you…' She blushed when she saw him look at her. Her body filled with a slight hint of panic since she had absolutely no idea what to say.
'What do I do! What do I doooo!' her mind howled. She tried to calm herself down, but failed miserably. Syaoran, noticing Sakura's anxious expression, sighed and ran a hand through his already-messy brown hair in a gesture of discomfort. 'Great. I finally tell her I like her and that gives her a nervous breakdown!' A displeased growl escaped his throat.
"Look," he said, turning away from her so that she would not be able to see his face, "I didn't mean to freak you out by telling you I like you." He had to make a slight pause to collect himself, not believing himself that he was actually being rejected by a little inductee.
Sakura, in the meantime, stood rooted to her place and watched Syaoran struggle with his words. She could then tell that he really must like her. All of the sudden the high and mighty Syaoran Li was at a loss of words. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of being the one to make him so flustered.
"I don't want you to feel awkward," Syaoran finally said, "It's not like you have to like me back…" Another pause. 'Damn it!' he mentally cursed, 'Why can't I just play this off as nothing!' He was about to continue when he made the mistake of looking back at Sakura's face.
She was standing in her spot, looking at him with wide eyes. He noticed that her nervousness seemed to have disappeared, which gave him enough courage to face her completely. He sighed once more and continued, "If you don't want to say anything in reply, that's fine with me…"
His last phrase was said in such a low voice that Syaoran was afraid she might have not heard him at all, especially since for a few moments Sakura remained completely motionless.
Not being able to bear Sakura's silence, Syaoran thought it would be best for him to leave her to her thought. 'Obviously she DOESN'T want to reply…' he thought bitterly, angry at her rejection. With that he made his way towards the exit of the bedroom. But before he could turn the knob to open the door, Sakura spoke.
"I…" her voice was quiet and somewhat reserved. If the previous silence that filled the room wasn't so staggering, Syaoran wouldn't have heard her at all. But he did, and her soft voice made him stop every one of his actions. His heart began to race and he strongly held on to the doorknob.
"I…" Sakura continued, her voice now a little louder, "I think I like you too."
Syaoran thought that he would crush the doorknob with the force of happiness that suddenly flowed through his entire body. He was about to go over and kiss her when a peculiarity in her response hit him in realization. He turned to face her and hollered out, "You THINK you like me?"
Sakura flinched at his outcry and slowly nodded. "Sorry," Syaoran apologized for his over-excited outburst while he walked over to her, "But what exactly do you mean by you THINK you like me?"
"Well," Sakura said, "I mean I'm not sure… I mean, I think I like you, but… Then I remember how rude you were to me in the beginning or how self-centered and cocky you can be…"
Getting slightly offended by Sakura's comments, Syaoran turned on the defensive and cried, "Hey! You're no treat either, you know!" But Sakura only laughed and said, "See! How do you expect me to like you when you're always picking on me?"
Syaoran smirked, "You know you like it." Sakura blushed and looked away from his smiling face. Syaoran noticed this action and it completely restored his confidence. Walking over to her, he placed one of his arms around her shoulder while cockily saying, "Now that I know you like me, I know I can have you as my girlfriend in no time."
Sakura frowned at his arrogance and tried to get away from his embrace. "Pfft," she scoffed in reply, "I said I THINK I like you. I could very well be mistaken."
Syaoran gave her a wolfish grin, "You'll be mine in a week." Staring into his amber eyes, Sakura could practically feel the confidence oozing out of him. Rolling her eyes, she walked to the exit of the bedroom, saying over her shoulder, "In your dreams, Li."
Before she opened the door, however, Syaoran got a hold of her, turned her to face him, and crashed his lips down onto hers. Giving her a long and tender kiss, he loosened his grip on her and said with the same confident smirk, "I think we're too intimate for the formalities. Call me Syaoran."
Madly blushing, Sakura pushed herself away from Syaoran's muscular embrace and scrambled out of the room, leaving an all-to-amused Syaoran to his thoughts.
'A week,' he thought, 'A week, and I'll make her KNOW she likes me.'