Agent08 Reporting for Duty!

Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura isn't mine, thanks :)

"..." - talking
italic font - thoughts/exaggerated thoughts
-...- - scene change/flashback

Now...on with chapter six!

A Hunting We Will Go!

Sakura crawled up from underneath the wooden table that she had just been scrubbing clean, and hastily brushed her hands off. She looked around the room, and a satified smile spread across her face.

All day long after breakfast, she had been working. Scrubbing table tops, washing and re-washing the ancient cutlery that her father and Syaoran's mother had supplied them with, sweeping the floors, cleaning the bath tub, adding furniture she had ordered from the market place into the living room, and washing the bed sheets, her clothes, and Syaoran's clothes in the lake. You'd think she was a waitress at a modern-day restaraunt!

Although Sakura had a fair few things to accomplish inside the house, Syaoran was in charge of the outside. He had been cutting the grass, removing weeds and other unwanted plants growing from their front lawn, sweeping the porch, shining the old rocking chair, and washing the hammock sheet by himself since Sakura had enough laundry to be done.

Sakura, deciding that she needed some fresh air, walked outside onto the porch, where she took a seat on the old rocking chair. She was dirty, dusty and sweaty...some fresh air would probably have done her some good. Why did July have to be such a hot month?

She began to rock back and forth on the rocking chair. She fingered the arms of the chair with her index finger, and noticed that Syaoran did quite a good job of cleaning it. Speaking of which, she hadn't even noticed him cross the front lawn and began to pull weeds out. He looked quite tired, and yet he didn't seem to have any sweat on him - and HE was working on the outside.

Sakura smirked. He obviously wasn't doing enough work. That just went to show that she was a harder worker than him. "How's it going?" Sakura asked, with the smirk still on her face.

Syaoran looked up from his work, and bent down on his knees. "It's going...well. I'm kind of tired." He said awakardly, rubbing his back with his hand. "I've been picking weeds and cutting grass since morning!"

Sakura still thought he wasn't working hard enough. He didn't look sweaty at all...how could he have been working that hard and not get a single bead of sweat appear on his shirt? "Well..." Sakura said, getting up from the rocking chair and walking down the three wooden steps which lead the way onto the freshly cut grass. "I don't see the fruits of your labour!"

Sakura lifted her arms and spread them apart, showing him how dirty and dusty she was. Syaoran smirked, and placed his hands on his shirt. It seemed like he was going to...

"What are you doing?" Sakura shrieked, covering her eyes. "Don't take your shirt off!"

She heard Syaoran let out a low chuckle. "Come on, Kinomoto. Don't be so immature. You've seen a man's chest before, haven't you?" he asked, his shirt now fully off.

Sakura slowly lowered her hands, and took a peek at his chest through one eye. Though she only opened one eye, she could clearly see his masculine, well built - sweaty six pack. She couldn't help but open the other eye, and stare stupidly at his chest (for only God knows how long) like they were something she'd never seen before.

"Well?" Syaoran said, suddenly breaking her "trance".

Sakura snapped her head up rather quickly, and stammered, "W - W - What?"

"Satisfied?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"What do you mean 'satisfied'?" Sakura asked. "For your information, I wasn't goggling at your well-built manly chest because I thought it was some kind of eye-candy! I -"

"Woah, slow down, Kinomoto! I only meant to ask you if you had seen 'the fruits of my labour' yet," he said, lifting his hands up near his head as a sign that he had meant no harm.

Sakura's cheek flushed with embarassment. "I - I - I knew that of course!" She said, crossing her arms, and turning her attention on the wall. The sun had sunken so low, that she was able to see Syaoran's shadow on the wall. They obviously had worked so hard that they hadn't noticed the time passing by. It was nearly dinner time, and neither of them had anything to eat.

Looking at his shadow, Sakura saw him put his shirt back on. She turned back around, and said, "So, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?"

Syaoran raised one eye brow as if he were confused. "I thought you had already made it?" he said, walking past her and into the cottage. Sakura trailed behind him towards the sink where Syaoran began to wash his filthy hands, Sakura following suit. "You did prepare our dinner though, didn't you?" he asked, drying his hands on a piece of cloth.

"No..." Sakura replied.

Syaoran sighed in annoyance. He'd thought he heard her say specifically that she was in control of dinner, and that she had already made it. But Sakura seemed to think otherwise. "You said that you were in control of dinner and that you would make it!" Sakura said, totally thinking the opposite of what he had in mind.

"I did not!" He replied, now angry that he had no dinner for the second night in a row.

"Well I never said that I had it in control and that I was going to make it!" Sakura bellowed, her stomach rumbling with hunger.

Syaoran sighed again. They were never going to stop arguing and their living arrangements just weren't going to work. How - how could their parents possibly have let them live together?

Syaoran grabbed his coat along with his bow and arrow which were lying on the floor, and Sakura followed him outside. "Where are you going?" She asked, trailing close behind him into the forest. "You can't go into the forest at this time! All the wild animals are out during night time!"

"Exactly," Syaoran replied, ignoring Sakura's cries of protest.

"B - B - But...what if something happens to you? What am I suppose to tell your mother and my father? Look, Syaoran, you don't have to go hunting! I'll just make us some sandwhiches or something! You can go hunting tomorrow!" Sakura said, tugging his arm as best she could back into the cottage, but with no avail.

"Sakura, come with me if you want - I don't care. But I'm hungry and I will not go without dinner for the second night in a row! Besides, it's not like I've never hunted before. I'm a big boy, Sakura. I can take care of myself!" he said, wrenching his arm out of Sakura's grasp.

"FINE! I will come!" Sakura said, following him into the now very dark forest, and quickly grabbing a lantern sitting on the porch.

Minutes passed, and to Sakura, it seemed like an hour for each minute. She hated going out at night...especially into a forest with wild animals lurking about...ready to attack at any given and unprepared moment! She whimpered loudly, and Syaoran quickly turned around with a finger to his lips signaling her to be quiet.

"You know," she hissed with anger. "This never would have happened if someone never ate all the meat!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "I wasn't the only one that ate the meat! If I remember correctly, you ate half of it too!"

"Ugh, whatever. Just find something to hunt and let's get a move on!" Sakura said, accidentally stepping on a twig.

At that moment, Syaoran whipped around, and covered her mouth with his hand. Sakura tried to ask him what in bloody hell he was doing, but all her sentences turned out to be nothing but muffled cries. "Shh!" Syaoran said fiercely. He was staring at something behind her with a concentrated look on his face.

Sakura kept still. She had comepletely frozen. She heard a ruffle in the bushes behind her, and she could tell that an animal was somewhere very, very near her.

Syaoran pulled her face very close to his. She could feel his breath on his cheeks and she felt something that wasn't really fear...

"Stay here," he instructed. "Do not go anywhere. I'm going to go look for it," he said.

Sakura nodded numbly, not sure of what else she could do. She would've told Syaoran to stay, and that it wasn't worth getting hurt just for a proper dinner - but she couldn't. She was so nervous...her brain seemed to be out of order at the moment. And so, she made what she thought was a huge mistake, and let Syaoran set off for the animal - alone.

She stared as Syaoran left her behind, and soon she could see nothing else. Only the ghostly trees swaying spookily every way. She drew in her breath loudly, and held it. She was so numb. It was her first time hunting, and she had no idea what to do. It finally kicked into her that she should be out there, helping Syaoran hunt the animal when she heard a strained cry.

"Oh no," she said out loud. "That could've been Syaoran!" she said, breaking into a sprint further and further into the forest. "Syaoran? Syaoran? Syaoran! Where are you? Are you ok - ? "

Her sentence was cut off short. Something had splattered her face...something sticky...gooey...what could it be? She put her hand up to her face, and touched it...the first thing that came to her mind was...blood.

"AHHHH!" Sakura shrieked, as loud as she possibly could, and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

Syaoran...she thought. Syaoran! She had to find Syaoran! So without hesitation, she changed direction, and began to look for Syaoran still scared for her life. What if that strained cry was him? What if he'd been killed by the animal?

Tears threatening to fall from her face, she shouted his name over and over again. She didn't even know where in bloody hell she was going. She just ran and screamed his name louder and louder each time, hoping that she would get a reply. Suddenly, Sakura's wrist was caught in something. She knew it was a hand, though. It had to be a hand...but this hand wasn't like Syaoran's soft ones...they were rough and splotchy...and they had sharp nails...The first thing that came to Sakura's mind was...

The animal!

She struggled against it's rough hands, but it wouldn't let go. "Let go, beast!" She cried. But then she heard something...like...Syaoran's chuckle.

"S - S - Syaoran?" Sakura spluttered.

"Sakura, you enormous baby!" Syaoran guffawed. He was holding Sakura's wrist, and his free hand was patting his stomach heartily, as if trying to make him stop laughing. What on earth was he laughing about? He should've heard her scream! Wasn't he scared of the monster also?

"S - S - Syaoran! T - The animal! I - I - It attacked you! B - B - B - Blood! It's on my f - f - face! Y - Your blood!" Sakura stuttered, shaking as if she were naked in the middle of winter. "I h - heard you s - s - scream! A - A - And the animal h-had hold of m - my wr -wrist! S - Syaoran? S - S - Stop...stop laughing!" Sakura screamed.

"That was me Sakura!" Syaoran said, letting go of her wrist, and Sakura felt the sudden urge to scratch it.

Syaoran's laughter was like the howl of a wolf. Low and loud. If he didn't stop laughing soon, Sakura thought he'd die of laughter! "I knew you'd fall for it! I threw that tomato on your face...and knowing how gullible you are, you'd probably think it was blood! Ha!"

Sakura with her eyes round as coins, asked, "B - B - But...You screamed! A - And your hand felt weird - " But Sakura cut her sentence short...her wrist was so itchy! She couldn't help it, and began to scratch it.

Syaoran stopped laughing and frowned. "Oh yeah...when you heard me scream...I actually did it on purpose...see, I touched Poison Ivy by accident...and that's why my hand felt so rough and splotchy. Hey! Your wrist looks like it's on fire...and so does mine...that's weird. You didn't happen to touch Poison Ivy yourself did you, Saku -? Holy smokes, I did that?" Syaoran said, noticing the glare that had formed on Sakura's face just after he had told her he touched Poison Ivy.

His laughter began to grow louder and louder, and with every chuckle Sakura's anger began to rise. She shrieked louder than she had meant to, and hit his arm in a girly fashion. "SYAORAN LI! DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU SCARED ME?" She shrieked. She had meant to make him feel guilty, but all she did was give him a reason to laugh even more.

Feeling that she couldn't get him to feel guilty in his state of laughter, she stomped back towards the cabin, yelling behind her back, "You can starve for all I care, Syaoran Li! IT SERVES YOU RIGHT!"

But yet again, Syaoran's laughter grew, only because he did happen to catch 'the animal'. He had caught a stray rabbit that had just so happened to wander in his path. And to Sakura's disappointment, he had no trouble hunting down the rabbit, and left with not even a scratch on his arm towards the cabin. Well...it was a rabbit! How hard of a fight could it have been?

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Falalala, review please:)

Signing Off,
Agent08 - My life as a secret agent xD