Agent08 Reporting for Duty!

"..." - talking
italilc font - thoughts
- ... - - scene change/flashback/exaggerated thoughts
(A/N: ...) my interruptions

Now...on with chapter five!

A Day in the Village

Syaoran woke up on his bed. Yesterday was the very first day he and Sakura had spent with one another in their tiny cottage. Surprisingly, it hadn't gone too bad. They didn't talk to each other at all, and because it was so late in the evening when they had finished unpacking and everything, they had no time to make their dinner. So, seeing as how he had eaten nothing, Syaoran was feeling quite hungry.

He got up from his bed and was surprised to see that Sakura was not in hers. Her blankets were neatly folded, and placed nicely on the top of her pillows. For a Princess with many maids, Sakura was pretty good at cleaning for herself.

Syaoran walked towards the bathroom, and knocked on the door, just incase Sakura was in there - but she wasn't. So, Syaoran stepped inside and washed his face. He splashed himself over and over again with the cold running water. He had so much things to do for their cottage, and Sakura also, but she was no where to be found. After his trip to the bathroom, he ventured into the kitchen, and the living room. Sakura was still yet to be found.

So Syaoran stepped outside onto the porch, where the hammock and rocking chair were still swaying along with the wind. He searched around for her, and called out her name a few times. When there was no reply, Syaoran shook his head and said, "Where could you be...?" and changed into some proper clothes, put on some shoes, and went out into the forest to look for her.

You'd probably expect him to be acting like a little girl, scared of whatever was on the ground like bugs and insects because he was a Prince, but he wasn't. He wasn't scared of anything that was in the forest. Probably because he had gone hunting in the wilderness so much. He was probably used to all the bugs crawling up his legs, and the animals fleeing before him. If anything, he was fascinated by all these things, because it had been such a long time since he had been out on his own, without any palace guard to protect him or whatever. His Mother barely gave him any freedom. Not since his Father had died. None at all.

"Sakura!" Syaoran called out. He heard his echo several times, but that was it. Not Sakura's voice, but only his. So, he trudged further and further into the forest. Twenty minutes had passed until he heard something other than his own voice. He heard a soft giggle coming from behind some trees. "Sakura?" He called out once more. Then, finally, he heard Sakura's cute reply.

"Syaoran? Is that you? Come over here!" She said, calling to wherever Syaoran was.

Syaoran sighed deeply, and walked a few feet, and saw Sakura, with a brown basket in her arms, and she was chasing a butterfly. She was wearing a dirty bandana, and filthy rags - but - they weren't rags. Sakura was wearing her home dresses. They had gotten rather filthy, and that was probably why they looked like they did. "Sakura!" Syaoran said, obviously annoyed. "What are you doing so far into the forest? You DO realize that we have some things to do?"

Sakura giggled softly once more, and let the butterfly get away. "I know that, silly! But we can't accomplish anything without a healthy breakfast, now can we?"

"Healthy breakfast?" Syaoran said. "Healthy breakfast? Look around you, Kinomoto! There isn't anything to eat!"

Sakura snorted, and stood up with the basket still firmly in her arms. "You're not looking hard enough, Li," she said, lifting the basket to meet up with his face. He looked down in it, and saw that it was filled with many brightly coloured fruits. Never before had fruits looked so tasty to him in his entire life. Sakura had obviously just washed them in their nearby river, because there were tiny beads of water still lingering on them, making them look so very delicious.

"W - w - where did you get those?" Syaoran asked, his mouth threatening to spill drool for the fruits.

"I woke up early this morning and decided to get a head start on things. Since we don't have much cooking ingredients for eggs and toast, I decided to come here and look for some tasty fruits!" Sakura said cheerfully. "Do you know how hard these things are to find? I had to look high and low for them!" Sakura said, holding up one fruit. "I hope they were worth looking for,"

"I bet they are..." Syaoran said, still staring at them. Sakura noticed this, and held the fruit up to his face, as if offering it to him.

"Here," She said, thrusting it into his hand. "Do you want it? You can eat it. I can wait. I'm still going to search for more of them, and flowers too!"

Syaoran looked at it hungrily, and began to bite it rather quickly. "Wow! These are good," Syaoran said, taking another bite from it.

"Are they really?" Sakrua said. "Oh! That's good. Oh yes, before I forget, you're coming with me into the village to get some supplies. You know, things like, furniture, vases, more cooking supplies, some ingredients to make our meals - "

"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked.

"Oh, your mother didn't tell you? We were given permission from our parents that we were allowed to go into the village to get things for our cottage, and things for our meals. We can stay in there as long as required, no wasting time so you can stay away from the cottage and myself as long as possible - the same rule goes for me." Sakura finished, making her way back to the cottage.

Syaoran sped up to walk beside Sakura, seeing as how she was a few feet ahead of him now. He caught up with her, and grabbed her shoulder, making her stop abruptly. "You know, Kinomoto," he began, a smirk spreading across his face. "Our parents don't have to know if we go against their rules and stay in the village as long as we want, doing what we want," he finished in a persuading tone of voice.

Sakura smiled sadly, and patted his shoulder. "As much as I wish we could do that, Li, there are a dozen palace guards set as surveillance around the village - six sent from my father, six sent from your mother - they'll be checking to see that we're only there doing what we need to be doing,"

Syaoran's smirk fell apart, and it was replaced with a frown. "Are you serious?" he asked. Sakura nodded sadly, and continued to make her way back to their cottage. "I can't believe them,"

"Me neither," Sakura said, shaking her head miserably. "But we can't do anything against it. That's just the way it goes. Anyway, what do you say if I just change out of these dirty clothes and grab what money we have, and then we can make our way into the village? I already know what we're going to buy! We have to get some flower vases, some furniture, some food so we can have a proper meal sometime... " and Sakura blabbered on, until they finally reached the cottage.

Syaoran waited intently outside, and took a seat on the rocking chair. When Sakura came out, she was wearing what looked like a maid's outfit in Syaoran's palace, and carrying a large picnic basket - hey! They were going into the village! Sakura couldn't just wear what she would normally wear. She was in this situation with Syaoran because she was too spoiled with her fancy dresses and everything...she couldn't wear them all the time. Also, (as said before,) they were going into the village. If Syaoran and herself wore what they usually wore around their castles, they would stick out like sore thumbs.

Sakura took a step ahead of Syaoran, and began to walk quicker than himself. Syaoran put on a confused face, and stopped her from going any further, "Won't a carriage come to pick us up?" he asked, obviously wondering why they were walking. Sakura shook her head, and patted him on the shoulder just like when she was explaining the palace guards situation to him.

"Didn't you hear correctly? We are living in that cottage because we are too spoiled. Meaning that we have too much fancy clothes, too much palace guards protecting us when there are other people who need more attention, too much servants to do all our work, too much palaces and castles to stay in every holiday vacation, and too much people to take us where ever we want to go, even if our destination is within walking distance!" Sakura said quite fast.

Syaoran stared at her with wide eyes. "We can't even be taken anywhere now?"

Sakura shook her head, and began to walk again, Syaoran following behind her. He pouted like a little puppy dog, and stuck his hands in his pockets. He too was dressed like what a servant would usually wear around his Castle. As much as it disturbed him to not be wearing what a proper Prince should be, he had no choice but to cope with his current situation with a smile on his face - although he had on a pout.

Syaoran and Sakura walked in silence for the first few minutes. It wasn't until Sakura began to sing quietly and pick flowers, that Syaoran began to speak. He watched her, quite amazed that she wasn't complaining about anything. Of course, she complained at first, pleading and begging with him to their Mother and Father, hoping that they wouldn't have to live with one another. But none the less, after her Father told her how much it meant to him, she did what she was told without anymore arguement. How he adored the way she was so obedient when it came to her Father. She would do anything for him. Absolutely anything.

"What are you doing?" Syaoran asked.

Suddenly Sakura stopped singing, and turned to face him. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm picking flowers!" Sakrua said cheerfully, shoving a fist full of cherry blossoms in front of his face so he could smell them. "Don't they smell absolutely wonderful?" Syaoran turned his face away in annoyance.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Syaoran said. "But why though?"

Sakura, not even bothering to look at him this time, continued to pick more flowers and walk faster, and then replied, "Do I need a reason to pick flowers?"

"W - w - what? Oh, n -no! I was just wondering - "

"I'm picking them for our cottage," Sakura interrupted. "As cozy and comfortable as it may seem, it needs some colour in it, don't you think? Colour to be brought in by some beautiful freshly picked cherry blossoms?"

Syaoran nodded slowly, and watched her pick some more flowers. As he watched her, he felt a strange lump appear in his stomach, and it stayed there, wobbling and throbbing...making him feel extremely awakward. This wasn't right. Sakura and himself...it wasn't...possible. They were being civil. Within the few minutes that they were speaking or walking with each other, they weren't being rude or anything! They were acting as though they with each other, wich couldn't be possible. They've hated each other since they were five years old (only God knows why). It just didn't seem normal. So, without thinking, Syoaran blurted, "Why are you acting like this?" he covered his mouth as a reaction to what he had just said.

For the second time, Sakura turned to him, with a very, very confused look on her face. She stored the flowers in the basket, and said, "Acting like what?"

"Like that!" Syaoran said, pointing at her. "Like we're...friends! There you are just picking your flowers, singing your songs, and acting like you don't have a problem walking with me. It's weird!"

Sakura wheeled around and continued to walk. "I only insult you when I feel like it. When I don't feel right...like...when either of us do something really stupid. But don't be mistaken Li, I still hate you with a firey passion."

Syaoran smiled. Now that was normal. "Also," Sakura continued, walking faster with Syaorna jogging to keep up with her, "Our parents obviously want us to get along, don't they? Why else would they have forced us to live with each other? So I can marry you? I doubt it." she added with a sarcastic raising of an eyebrow.

Syaoran snorted, and was at her side now. "You've made a good point, Kinomoto. Surprisingly, you're not so stupid as I thought you were,"

Sakura smirked. "I would insult you for the stupid, ugly, monsterous, evil brute that you truly are, but we've just entered the village, and as you might have noticed, we have too much shopping to do to actually have time to have a proper arguement. Come on!" Sakura said with a grin on her face, and took hold of Syaoran's wrist. Sakura was now running into every shop with Syaoran's wrist tightly in her hand.

Syaoran was so caught up with the weird feeling in his stomach that he had hardly noticed that Sakura and himself had entered the noisy rustle and bustle of the village. Children were playing on the crowded streets with their jump ropes and their tiny balls passing it back and forth. Adults were hard at work, making food for their children with other adults, all the while having a good time. The village was filled with laughter of the children and the adults - Syaoran and Sakura had never seen such a happier sight. Of course they had visited the village before, but that was with the company of their parents. They never had the chance to look at what the village for what it truly was - one of the most civilized places there were.

Two hours had passed, and Sakura's basket was filled with flower vases, home clothing for Syaoran and herself. Clothes in which Syaoran spent at least thirty long minutes standing with his arms spread wide so the woman could finish measuring him. It was also filled with food supplies. Sakura had bought sugar, eggs, bread, jam, meat, and enough spices to last them a lifetime. They both had bought so much things that they had to buy two more baskets to carry everything else! Yes, Sakura was a shopping freak.

"Oooh! Look at this, Li! This clock would be lovely in our cottage!" Sakura shrieked, patting him on his back trying to get his attention. Two hours and thirty minutes had now passed. Syaoran yawned, and rubbed his forehead. They had done enough shopping for one day. Three baskets to carry back to the cottage was enough.

"Yeah, it looks great, whatever. Listen, don't you think we should head back?" Syaoran said, in an exhausted tone of voice.

Sakura whined. "Awww!" But Syaoran gave her his famous pleading look, and Sakura couldn't possibly say no to that. "Fine. But haven't you noticed that it's noon already?" Sakura said, pointing to the sun.

"No, really? I haven't noticed it all!" Syaoran said sarcastically.

"We'll go home straight away - but we have to eat something first!" Sakura said, dragging him into a tiny booth where a man was selling sandwhiches.

Sakura handed the man five dollars, and in turn received two sandwhiches. "Eat up, Li! We can eat this on the way home," Sakura said, taking a mouthful of her sandwhich.

"Easy for you to say," Syaoran replied, struggling with the two heavy baskets. "You have one basket to carry! And it's the lightest one!" He tucked the sandwhich away in one of the baskets. He couldn't balance carrying two, and eating at the same time.

Sakura smirked once more. She kicked Syaoran in the leg just to annoy him, and he glared at her in return. "Toughen up, Li! I thought you were stronger than that!" Sakura taunted, walking ahead of him towards the cabin.

"Ha, ha...very funny, Kinomoto." Syaoran said, staggering all the way back.

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Consider it my New Year's gift :).

Wishing You A Safe And Enjoyable New Year,
Agent08 - My life as a secret agent xD