"It's been three months since I first started school at Tokodai.  The first day, I had been discovered as a female by my roommate.  By the end of the first week we had a makeout session and my best friend fell for a guy on my team.  I wish my life was as eventful as it was that first week, but sad to say, things have been normal.  Well, as normal as a girl dressing as a guy to play tennis for an all male team who is falling for her roommate and enjoys hanging out with a cross dressing guy and his boyfriend who, despite his current relationship, refuses to admit his preference, and trying to get the other straight guy and my friend together . . . ."

Ace!

Class 08 – Power

Disclaimer – Not. Mine. Plain. And. Simple.

"Akizuki, why don't you like women?"  Akizuki's eye twitched in annoyance.  Despite it being an honest question from his likely bi lover, having to explain his reasoning behind his preference to everyone and their mom was getting frustrating. 

"Its roast beef," he replied, and Hideki looked at him with a confused gaze, then started laughing. 

"Roast beef," he repeated dubiously, and when Akizuki nodded he laughed again. 

"And when they're on their period, it's that barbeque sauce."  Hideki doubled over laughing again, and Akizuki joined in.  Hideki looped his arm around Akizuki in a halfway headlock-hug, and flicked his forehead with his finger.  Akizuki glared playfully and pulled in for a kiss. 

Sakura lay back on her bed and sighed.  Today was Saturday, so no practice.  Lately her life had consisted of schoolwork, tennis, tennis, and tennis.  She sighed and rolled over, completely bored.  Syaoran had gone out, so she didn't have him to talk to, and Tomoyo had choir and vocal training. 

She thought about bothering Akizuki and Hideki, but Akizuki always bragged about his 'lovemaking sessions' that occurred from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning.  The last thing she wanted to do was walk in on them.  Not that it would be that disturbing, after all, she had grown up hearing the 'quiet' exertions from her brother and his boyfriend, but to walk in on anyone having sex. . . Sakura shuddered from the thought. 

Sighing, she pulled out a book and started reading.  She was halfway through when Syaoran walked in, looking tired.  She smirked, "Have fun?"

"Tons," he replied, and tossed a box of chocolate pocky to her.  Sakura wrinkled her nose in confusion. 

"What's this for?" 

Syaoran sighed, "Before you attack me again."  Sakura's eyes widened. 

"You . . . ate my pocky again!?" 

"I keep telling you that you eat in your sleep too," he muttered, but collapsed on his bed.  His mother was visiting, and to prevent her from seeing Sakura (her intuition never ceased to amaze him) he had gone to her hotel and taken her out to dinner. 

Of course, his high class mother had been appalled to see him dressed in a wind suit, but he used the excuse of 'I just got out of practice', which pleased her well enough. 

Since childhood, his parents pushed him to become a professional tennis player, like his great grandpa had done years ago.  Rather than his native China, Syaoran trained in Japan all his life, from the sheer better living conditions.  His mother spoke Japanese fluently (along with five other languages), so he never bothered to learn his native tongue.  Which was well, Gods know when he would have the time to learn. 

She had not been pleased to learn that a rivalry existed between him and Eriol, the jester of playing styles.  Syaoran sighed.  At least she wouldn't complain about better upperclassmen.  Tokodai's tennis team only accepted freshmen onto the team, and for three years, built that team up from scratch.  Once the seniors graduated, a new team was made.  Needless to say, his age had made him lucky enough to avoid the wait. 

He turned and looked at Sakura, who munched on a stick of Pocky while reading a book.  Not since the first week of school had any chemistry, well, intense chemistry, been exchanged.  The more he got to know her, the more he began to respect her goals and means of attaining them. 

She truly loved tennis and wanted her dreams.  He was simply a kid lucky enough to be gifted with a talent and following the only road he knew. 

Of course, her sleepwalking more than irked him – either she crawled into his bed, slept in their bathroom, talked in her sleep, or walked about campus, leaving him to chase after her and carry her back.  Last night involved a flagpole and 'monkey' a.k.a. Sakura.  Syaoran had to hoot and holler like a baboon before she came down, laughing.  Needless to say, he put her in the shower instead of her bed and threw the cold water on her when he was ready to take a shower. 

He quickly looked away when Sakura put down her book and turned to him. 

"I almost forgot," she said urgently, "You wanna come with me to Blurry Moon?" 

"Blurry Moon," he asked dubiously, "What the hell is that?"

"It's a dance club.  Well, a huge dance club.  The 'Starry Heaven' floor is for gay guys, and Akizuki wanted me to come with him and Hideki but I don't want to be a third wheel and –"

"No," Syaoran interrupted, "I don't want to pretend to be gay." 

"You don't have to pretend to be gay," Sakura moaned in disappointment, "What if I get Eriol and Tomoyo to go too?  Will you come then?  It'll be like a team outing or something." 

Syaoran stared at her for a moment before reluctantly agreeing.  Sakura shrieked with joy and leaped to his bed, landing in a halfway hug.  Syaoran felt his face grow hot, and he frowned, then pushed her off. 

Sakura walked back to her bed.  "Sorry," she replied, "I just do that sometimes." 

"Obviously," he replied, and the two sat in an awkward silence. 

"Anou, Syaoran?"  He looked at her, waiting for her to continue.  "Where were you earlier?"

"Do I have to tell you everything?"

"I was just curious," Sakura trailed off, then picked up her book and resumed reading.  Wherever Syaoran had been, it had put him in a bad mood.  He had his sarcastic moments, but today's were particularly harsh sounding in tone.  Hopefully he wouldn't be mad tomorrow, his serves were already near impossible to get. 

Syaoran sighed and rolled on his side, staring at the white wall.  He could tell her, but then she would want to talk about it.  That's what girls do.  He would know – he had more than enough sisters.  Only Furanren played tennis (Sakura would most likely meet her in the professional qualification tournament) but the family placed little to no pressure on her to succeed – after all, she's female. 

"Syaoran, are you sleeping?" 

"What do you really want," Syaoran asked, rolling over to face her.  Yes, his little roommate certainly never let things drop.  Sakura sighed and shook her head. 

"I just want to get to know you better," she thought and opened her book again.  A groan of disgust left Syaoran, and replied a minute later –

"I was visiting my Mom."

Sakura arched an eyebrow in confusion.  "You didn't show around the school?" 

Syaoran stared blankly at her.  "I would, but there's a small problem."  Sakura blinked in confusion before catching the implications of his words.  She muttered an apology.  "My Mother's intuition is beyond normal.  The moment she walked in she would know you're a girl."

"What would she do," Sakura asked, curious.  Syaoran rarely spoke of his family, and Sakura knew nothing outside of he was the only male admist a drone of females and his ancestors had been outstanding professional tennis players. 

"Either turn you in or embrace your audacity, depending on her mood at the moment.  I didn't want to cause a commotion."  Sakura smiled softly.  Could Syaoran, in his own little way, say he had protected her from being caught? 

"I'd like to meet her someday, when all this is over."  Syaoran laughed.  

"When all this is over?  This is only the first step," he replied, and shook his head.  "You're not thinking far enough ahead.  Tennis is the only thing we have.  If we don't push ourselves to the limit and beyond, we'll never succeed."  Sakura laughed.

"Thanks for the inspirational speech Syaoran," she replied while giggling, "Although I wasn't down or anything, so it sounded silly!"  Syaoran blushed but laughed along with her. 

"If we were more than friends, would we lose this," Sakura wondered, then frowned.  Deciding to change the subject, she asked, "Have you seen our schedule yet?"

"Yeah.  First couple of matches are from mid ranked schools.  We'll cream them.  The ones we need to prepare for are Nigiyaka Dai and Osaka Dai.  They're two and three right now, and we play them back to back in the schedule."

"You've done your research," she muttered, "But I think we should worry about the mid ranked teams as well.  You never know what sort of talent lies behind the numbers." 

"You always root for the underdog in sports, don't you," Syaoran asked, and Sakura nodded.  He chuckled.  "That's nice, but life isn't the movies.  They don't stand a chance." 

So cocky and confident.  Sakura liked that part of Syaoran, although it did get annoying.  She decided to tease him a bit, "When you lose, don't come crying to me, second place."  Syaoran, much to her enjoyment, growled a bit.  "Because you underestimated the mid ranked teams, you became a loser," a perk in annoyance, "And what if I became infatuated with the captain of their team, and then you'd lose me too . . ."

Syaoran laughed, "That won't happen." 

"Who says it won't," Sakura retorted and stuck her tongue out.  Syaoran grinned and decided to flirt a bit, after all, it was the first time in awhile they had time to sit and talk like this. 

"Because you're mine."  Sakura scoffed her reply.  Syaoran smirked and crossed to her bed, and in one swift motion, lifted her and sat her on his lap.  His hand went up to her hair, partly because he loved the softness and partly to keep her from looking away, his other arm wrapped around her face.  Sakura's face was clearly flushed, despite her stubborn eyes that flashed with annoyance.  "Because like it or not, I make you putty," he continued, and kissed her softly.  The ever stubborn Sakura didn't respond to that kiss, so he kissed her again, a bit harder, until her resistance melted away. 

How long had it been since he kissed her?  That first week?  Syaoran meant to stop after she returned his kiss, but he couldn't bring himself to stop.  No, they couldn't be just friends. . .

Sakura's head and body whirled.  What had happened?  First they were argueing, then they were making out again?  Well, at least she was awake for this one.  But if he didn't leave that spot she would have a mark . . . leave a mark?  Sakura snapped out of her lustful trance and pushed Syaoran away.  They were supposed to be friends . . . . Syaoran stared blankly, then frowned. 

"Are we friends, or are we not," he asked bluntly, with a hint of anger in his voice. 

Sakura looked away, she wanted to be more than friends, but tennis . . . their relationship would get in the way, she was sure of it.  Neither were talented enough to mix both, otherwise they would've done so in high school. 

"I don't know," she replied, and Syaoran frowned.  "What I want and what I need are two entirely different," she began, but Syaoran cut her off. 

"Too bad," he replied, "I've already chosen my reply."   Sakura's eyes widened in shock, and suddenly everything went black. 

Sakura blinked in confusion as her eyes adjusted to the low light level.  Syaoran's arm was wrapped around her stomach, and her back was against his chest.  She blinked in confusion.  Was it all a dream?  Or was it real?  She groaned and rubbed her neck, then got an idea.  If she had another mark, it would be real.  She tried to wriggle out of his hold, but the movement woke Syaoran and he tightened his hold on her. 

"Don't move," he commanded in a half sleep slur, and Sakura contented herself to fall asleep and wait until the morning to find out the truth. 

When Sakura woke, Syaoran had already left for his morning jog.  She sighed and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.  She stripped and stared at the mirror.  No mark.  She sighed in disappointment.  When would their relationship move forward? 

But, how much was a dream?  Sakura scrunched her nose and tried to remember.  After Syaoran talked about his mother, she had called and asked to meet him again and he left… and she got bored and took another nap . . . .

Sakura sighed.  So all the good stuff was a dream.  She crouched and wrapped her arms around her legs.  Soon.  She would confess soon.  If she was rejected or accepted, all would be well.  Either way, she couldn't keep it bottled up for much longer . . . .