Agent08 Reporting for Duty!
"..." - talking
italic font - thoughts/exaggerated words
(A/N: ...) - my interruptions
Now...on with chapter twenty-one!
Eenie, Meanie, Miny, MOE!
Sakura smiled as the servants passed by. She was currently on a ladder, hanging New Year decorations all over the castle. Much like Syaoran, she didn't want the servants to do anything that was so easy for her to do, so there she was, hanging decorations.
On the bottom of the ladder, was Tomoyo, the beautiful amethyst eyed-girl that had been Sakura's very best friend since she four-years-old. Not only was she Sakura's best friend, but the most into-herself girl that there ever was. Believe it or not, Tomoyo was balancing the ladder from the bottom with her right hand, and looking at herself in a mirror with her left. Luckily, it didn't take much skill to hold up a ladder.
Even though Tomoyo was much to into herself, she was still caring and kind to others. She may seem a little obnoxious at some times, but definitely not selfish or greedy. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be the best lady she could be for her Father. She knew that was what he would've wanted her to be, even if he was alive. Yes, her Father was dead. Why do you think Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo grew up with each other? Because they all had that one thing in common: they lost somebody they loved, and they knew how the other felt.
Tomoyo nodded and smiled just as Sakura did with all the passing servants. They were going to have a big feast in order to celebrate the new year that night, and everyone wanted everything to be perfect. So the chef's got cooking, the maids got cleaning, and everyone else was helping put up decorations. There wasn't going to be a lot of people at the party, but people at the castle liked to be in the spirit.
"Sakura!" Tomoyo whined, stomping her foot, "Are we don't yet? I still have to get dressed for the feast!"
"No, Tomoyo," Sakura replied, not bothering to look down at her friend, "Just a few more decorations and we're done, alright? I promise,"
"Alright..." Tomoyo agreed reluctantly. She snapped closed the pocket mirror she was holding, and stuffed it inside her pocket, so both her hands were free to hold up the ladder. She tapped her fingers gently on the wood impatiently, and began to click her feet. Sakura knew that Tomoyo was getting very unhappy, because that's what she always did when she was unhappy.
But someone passed by that made Tomoyo feel joyous. Syaoran walked up towards Tomoyo, and greeted her. "Hi!" he said, hugging her. "It's been such a long time since I've seen you! Where have you been?"
Tomoyo blushed. "I would've come to the castle to welcome you two back from your...well, six month break, but...Eriol took me on a vacation of our own, and...Well, I don't think I need to explain the rest,"
Syaoran chuckled. "No, you certainly don't need to. So you're still seeing that stupid cousin of mine? I'm surprised he hasn't driven you crazy yet. Be warned, Daidouji-san, he'll make you insane if you actually keep on seeing him,"
"Yes, well, he drives everyone but me crazy. I think he gives me special treatment," she said shyly.
Suddenly, an idea struck her. She looked up at Sakura, who was only a few feet up from the ground. If she shook the ladder, Sakura wouldn't have any serious injury...Not if someone were there to catch her. But what if someone didn't catch her? Like Tomoyo thought, Sakura wouldn't get a serious injury, but she'd still get hurt. Tomoyo shut her eyes quickly, (she thought better with closed eyes) and opened them quickly. She had made her decision.
"I have to go!" She said, out of the blue. "I'll see you two later, okay?" and she sprinted off down the hall, but not before giving the ladder a huge shove. After making a turn, Tomoyo stopped, and stuck her head out from her hiding spot. She watched as Sakura screamed, and toppled over. Quickly, she shut her eyes, not wanting to see her friend get hurt, but all she heard was the clatter of the ladder, falling onto the floor. She opened her eyes, only to see Sakura, in the arms of Syaoran.
Syaoran held Sakura in his arms. Luckily, he had caught her in time before she hit the floor. He looked down at her, and saw that her eyes were still shut tightly. He could tell just by looking at her facial expressions that she thought for sure that she was going to fall onto the hard ground. Slowly, she opened one eye, and Syaoran smiled at her cuteness. She opened the other eye, and looked down at the floor, the floor that she thankfully did not fall onto.
"Um...Th - Thanks, Syaoran," Sakura said, still shaken from her sudden fall.
"No problem," Syaoran replied, helping her into a standing position.
From behind the wall, Tomoyo smiled, and congratulated herself on her mischievous idea. But she knew, if Sakura had fallen onto that floor, she would have no one to blame but herself.
xxxxxx
Sakura walked down the hall, still mildly flushed from what had just happened. She nodded and smiled at all the giggling servants. She raised her eyebrow as she walked by, not even bothering to smile or nod anymore. All - and seriously - all of the female servants above the age of twenty or so, and some even younger, were giggling and whispering behind their hands in their little groups. Their eyes seemed to be darting back and forth from one male servant to another. What was going on?
Tomoyo ran up beside Sakura, and began walking in step with her. She looked her friend up and down, and noticed that she wasn't paying very much attention as to where she was going. She followed Sakura's gaze to see what was bothering her, and her amethyst eyes fell upon a group of three girls, giggling and whispering with red cheeks. She, too became curious as to what was going on.
"What's with the servants?" Tomoyo asked, with a strange look on her face.
Sakura shrugged. "Don't ask me. I have no idea,"
Suddenly, a servant came up to Tomoyo, and bowed. With a slight smirk, the maid said hello. Tomoyo said hello back, and Sakura, just beside her, found out that her name was Linda. Sakura, not wanting to be left out, said hello also, and the maid bowed graciously. Shyly, she whispered something into Tomoyo's ear, that made Sakura even more curious than she was before.
Tomoyo smiled, and shook her head. "Is that what all this fuss is about?" Linda nodded and burst into a fit of giggles, and a couple of girls just a few feet behind them who had been watching, did the same thing. Tomoyo too started giggling, just not as hard. "No," Tomoyo continued, "Eriol will not be at the feast, so unfortunately, I won't be able to kiss him,"
"What?" Sakura asked, confused about everything that was going on.
Hurriedly, the maid left Tomoyo and Sakura alone, so Tomoyo could do all the explaining. "Sakura, don't tell me you've forgotten!" she said. Sakura made no reply, because she didn't know what to say. "Sakura," she continued, placing both her hands on Sakura's shoulders. "It's December 31st! Meaning it's the beginning of a new year at midnight! Midnight, Sakura! Doesn't midnight mean anything to you?"
"Besides that it's the start of a new year, no. Why should it?"
Tomoyo sighed and shook her head, agitated. "Sakura, don't you remember anything we've talked about when we were twelve-years-old? We said that when we were older, and mature enough to do this, then we were going to - "
" - Kiss someone at midnight!" Sakura finished, finally remembering what Tomoyo and the rest of the girls were talking about. "I forgot!" she exclaimed, clamping her hand infront of her mouth. Tomoyo laughed and patted her friend on the back.
"Obviously," she stated, continuing to laugh at her friend.
The two girls began to walk down the halls slowly, the subject of kissing midnight floating further and further away from their minds. Well, for Tomoyo at least. For Sakura, the idea of kissing someone at midnight had dwelled smack dab in the middle of her forehead, and she couldn't think of anything else. She couldn't believe she forgot. She had been wanting to kiss someone at midnight for so long, ever since she was nine-years-old, but never did because it wasn't appropriate at her age. Now that she had the chance, she forgot about it, and she was engaged! So she might as well have scratched everything she said! She can't kiss someone that's not Syaoran when she's engaged! If someone saw, it would make headlines on the newspaper before she could say, "Bloody hell!".
"So that's what all the girls are excited about," Sakura said, out of the blue. She watched Tomoyo nod, and blush as she kept on walking. "What's with you?" she asked.
"Oh, well," Tomoyo began, "You see, Linda came up to me and asked me if Eriol would be here so I could kiss him at midnight. I was just thinking about him, that's all...I really wish I could kiss him at midnight, though. I don't want to kiss anyone else,"
Sakura chuckled. "Yes, well, of course you wouldn't. You love him!"
Tomoy suddenly stopped walking, and chucked Sakura against the brick wall. Sakura began to protest, but Tomoyo had covered her mouth before Sakura could say anything else. Beneath Tomoy's hand, Sakura's lips had curved into a smile, and before she knew it, she was laughing. Really hard.
"Are you crazy?" Tomoyo hissed, lifting her hand up from Sakura's mouth just a little bit. "He doesn't know that yet! Nobody else, either! Do you want the whole world to find out? God, say it aloud for the rest of your life, why don't you?"
Sakura shoved Tomoyo's grimy hands off of her body. "Calm down. You're such a worry-wart," Sakura replied, the smile still firmly plastered onto her pale skin. Tomoyo noticed how she couldn't stop smirking, and became a little angry. Not very angry, but just a little.
"Shutup!" she replied, only making Sakura laugh even more.
xxxxxx
Tomoyo and Sakura had been walking for only about twenty-five minutes when they reached the terrace, where they saw a group of five girls seated around one big table. Just like everyone else, they were giggling, blushing, whispering, and talking behind their hands. Once catching sight of Tomoyo and Sakura, they quickly stood up, as if not wanting to be caught not working.
Sakura jogged up towards them, Tomoyo following suit. "Please," Sakura began, "Stay seated. Tomoyo and I would like to join you,"
Slowly and cautiously, as if Tomoyo and Sakura were just testing them if they sat down, they seated themselves back in their original seats. The two newcomers grabbed chairs, and sat between maids, who willingly made room for them.
"So," one of the maids began, "Ladies, let's introduce ourselves. I'll go first. Hello, Princess, my name is Maria. The girl to your right is Annie, the girl beside Annie is Beverly, obviously Miss Tomoyo, and beside her is Hannah, and Taya."
Tomoyo and Sakura waved to the servants, who waved back. "We were just talking about who we wanted to kiss at the feast tonight. Thank you so much for inviting us again, Princess," Beverly began. Sakura waved the thanks away.
"Please," Sakura said, "It really was my pleasure to invite all of the servants. You've done so much for my Father and me. You certainly deserve to come to the feast!"
The girls blushed. "Thank you, Sakura," said Taya. "Anyway, who will you be kissing at the feast?"
Sakura groaned, and let her head hang on her side, as if she had just been to the guillotine. All the girls began to laugh, and same with Sakura, pleased that she had made the other girls laugh. "I can't kiss anybody!" she said, bringing her hands up to the temples of her forehead. "I've been waiting for this since I was young, but NO! I can't! And why? Because I'm engaged to that idiot Syaoran Li."
The girls laughed. "It can't be all that bad," Hannah replied. "I mean, why don't you just kiss someone else?" Sakura's eyes went wide at the sentence, appaulled at even thinking that. Sure, she may be marrying someone she didn't want to be with, but she was still engaged. She would never cheat on anyone.
The girls noticed how her face suddenly faltered. "Not that we don't have good intentions for Prince Syaoran," Annie added quickly. "It's just that...Well, we can all obviously agree that you don't feel a certain way for Prince Syaoran that the rest of the Kingdome thinks you do." Sakura snorted, and all of them nodded. "Well, why don't you just kiss someone else? I'm sure he doesn't feel the same way for you, which I don't mean anything rude by saying so, so I'm sure it wouldn't bother him!"
All the girls nodded in agreement. Sakura thought for awhile, and spoke up. "Yes, well, I've always wanted to share that New Years Kiss with someone I love,"
They shrugged. "A kiss is just a kiss," Tomoyo piped. "I mean, it won't mean anything,"
"Well, some of you may think that, but I certainly don't," Sakura replied.
"Sakura, don't be such a baby," Tomoyo whined. "Why don't you just kiss someone?"
"Why don't you?" Sakura snapped. "I mean, if a kiss is just a kiss like you say so, then why don't you just go up to some average guy and kiss him?" a hint of anger found in her voice.
Tomoyo only stared at Sakura, and took a short pause. "You know why I can't," she answered quietly, casting her gaze upon the table. "I'm with Eriol...and I...I love him,"
Sakura smiled, proud that her friend had finally admitted her love for Eriol. Not infront of him, but to a crowd - good enough. Maria, Annie, Beverly, Hannah, and Taya all squeeled with excitement. They all began talking at once, that Sakura could only make out a few words, and she couldn't even tell who said what. "You love him?" one said, "I bet he loves you back!" the other began, "That's so sweet!".
Sakura shushed them up. "Yes, well. I guess you're right. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry,". Tomoyo forgave her, but did not want to dwell on the subject of Eriol. Soon, the girls began to urge Sakura to just pick a man, any man to kiss at midnight. Sakura kept on rejecting and rejecting, but they would not seem to take no for an answer.
"I am engaged, and I am not cheating on Syaoran," Sakura stated as-a-matter-of-factly.
The girls sighed. "It's not like you love him or anything," Beverly said.
They all waited for Sakura to say something, but no reply, not even one tiny squeak came from her mouth. All Sakura did was caste her gaze down onto her hands, as the girls waited intently for an answer. There was a short pause, but there was soon no more silence, because, just like they did for Tomoyo, except Tomoyo was included, they all began to squeel with excitement.
"You love him!" Sakura heard. "You so, so, so love him!", "We knew it! We knew it!"
Once again, Sakura shushed them up. "I do not love Syaoran!" Sakura said, more to herself then the girls. It seemed like Sakura never said anything, because all they did was squeel and jump up from their seats. Once again, Sakura let her head hang off her neck as if she came back from the guillotine.
(A/N: Guillotine is that thing when people are sentence to death, and their heads get cut off with that falling blade thingy.)
"I don't love him!" Sakura yelled once more.
"Prove it," Tomoyo said, with an odd twinkle in her eye.
"Yes," Maria said, "Prove it!"
"How?" Sakura asked, willing to do anything they said just so that they would believe that she didn't love Syaoran.
"Kiss someone. Anyone. At midnight, tonight."
"That's a mean trick!" Sakura snapped. "You just want me to kiss someone at midnight! But I told you, I'm still an engaged woman, and I will not on my husband-to-be!"
"Fine," Taya said, "But we'll only still believe that you love Syaoran,"
...Silence.
"Alright," Sakura replied, more in a grunt than an actual voice. "I'll kiss someone. But what if someone sees? The news will spread like wild fire that I cheated on my husband-to-be!"
"Sakura, it's family and servants only," Hannah chirped, "If anyone sees, no one will tell."
"Yeah!" Tomoyo said.
Sakura sighed. "Fine. But how will I be able to choose who I'll kiss?"
"Easy," Taya said, as she took Sakura's hand, and folded all of the fingers except for the index. "This is how we chose. Close your eyes, and say a little rhyme. Whoever your finger lands on at the end of the rhyme, you will kiss that person. But if it's a girl, then you get to do it again,"
Sakura snorted. "It's that easy, eh?"
They all nodded and laughed. Sakura sighed. "Alright," and she slowly lifted her arm, and pointed it in the direction of all the working men. "What's the rhyme?"
"We'll sing it," Maria suggested.
Sakura nodded, and swallowed the knot in her throat. "Here goes nothing," she whispered, and began to point at various things. For all she knew, she could've been pointing at a slug.
"Eenie, meenie, miny, moe," the four girls sang. As they did, Tomoyo crept up slowly from her seat. "Catch a tiger by the toe," and she quickly ran up to the group of working men decorating the garden. "If he hollers, let him go," She stood, ready to do something she thought was cruel, but knew it was only for Sakura's own good. "Eenie..." Tomoyo raised her arms, "Meenie," she crouched her knees, "Miny..." stared in Syaoran's direction, "MOE!" and pushed him into the empty space Sakura had pointed at.
Quickly, she ran back to her seat, even before Sakura could see anything she did, and before Syaoran could knock the day lights out of whoever pushed him. Slowly, Sakura removed her hand from her eyes, and saw that her index finger had landed on Syaoran. She gasped, and all six girls seated at the table began to giggle.
"I don't believe it!" Sakura said.
"Believe it," Tomoyo whispered. "Because whether you like it or not, you're kissing Syaoran at the feast!"
xxxxxx
Sakura stood, nervous, yet determined in a small corner in the ballroom. She was wearing a long, silver dress which hugged each and every part of her small body. The dress ended at about her ankles, and it had a long, yet small V-neck. Her hair was down, except curly, and there was no occasional loose strand of hair dangling from her forehead.
Syaoran was in his best suit. He stood at the door, greeting people with politen nods of the head, with his hands placed shyly over his back. He waved and glanced around the room, his eyes suddenly falling on Sakura. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked that night. Sakura turned her head, saw Syaoran, and blushed. Syaoran raised an eyebrow, confused as to why she did so when meeting his eyes, but shrugged it off and smiled at her. Just as quickly as the colour came to her face, it drained, and Sakura waved.
Sakura was met in the corner with Tomoyo, Maria, Annie, Beverly, Hannah, and Taya. They were wearing beautiful dresses. Sakura suddenly began to wonder how much her Father and she were paying them for working at the castle! It seemed as if they were Princesses themselves!
"You all look beautiful!" Sakura greeted, hugging each and every one of them.
Tomoyo smiled, showing off her beautiful white pearly teeth, and shrugged. "You look better,". But Sakura could seriously doubt that. Tomoyo was wearing a violet gown, which was wide, and made a round circle around her ankles when it reached the floor. There were no straps, and so the side of the dress curved beautifully around her shoulders. The dress seemed to go perfectly well with her amethyst eyes.
The five girls left Sakura with excited smiles to meet their handsome male escorts. Tomoyo stayed behind, feeling happy because in just a few minutes, it would be the start of a brand new year - yet sad, because she couldn't spend it with the man she loved the most. Sakura seemed to be getting the feeling that Tomoyo wasn't exactly enjoying herself, so she nudged her, and tried to cheer her up.
"Don't worry, Tomoyo," Sakura began, "When Eriol comes back from that trip, I'm sure you'll be the very first person he'll want to see, and he'll be longing to give you the biggest kiss in the world. Like I said, don't worry!" and Tomoyo began to feel slightly better.
"So, are you nervous about the big kiss?" Tomoyo asked, not wanting to dwell on the subject of Eriol and how much she missed him. Tomoyo laughed when she saw Sakura shake her head vigorously from side to side. She could definitely see that Sakura was nervous. "Sakura, maybe you should take your own advice, and don't worry!" Tomoyo joked. That didn't seem to lift Sakura's spirits about kissing Syaoran one bit.
xxxxxx
"One minute!" the announcer called, "One more minute until a brand new, and hopefully glorious year!" and screams, yells, cheers, and squeals erupted in the big ballroom. Girls began running off towards the men that they would be kissing that night, but Sakura, having a definite plan in her head, stayed put. Tomoyo doing the same.
"Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight," people counted, more and more excitement filling their voices with each number they had called, "Twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two..."
"Are you read?" Tomoyo whispered, drinking the last of her sour wine.
Nervously, Sakura replied, "For what? The new year, or kissing Syaoran?"
"Both,"
Sakura shook her head. "No,"
"Well you better be. Just a few more seconds!"
"Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven..." and everyone could just feel the tension in the room. Voices were shaky, yet excited. People were puckering and snickering. Sakura wasn't so sure if she wanted to go through with this after all. But, she'd already kissed Syaoran before, hadn't she? Doing this was going to be no big deal.
"Three...two...ONE!"
And everyone began to cheer louder than they had before. People were kissing, champagne was flying from their bottles. People were clapping excitedly, or if not clapping, bear hugging everyone or anyone near them.
And that was Sakura's cue. As quickly as she possibly could, she sprinted past everyone that was kissing or cheering, right towards Syaoran, where she stood, but not for long. He smiled at her, and began to wish her a happy new year, but before he could even finish his sentence, Sakura placed her lips on his, in a kiss no longer than five seconds.
She removed her lips from his, and smiled, almost mischievously. "Happy new year," Sakura whispered quickly. Sakura had said her parting line so fast that it seemed as though she had never said anything at all, and she sprinted off towards the back of the ballroom where Syaoran couldn't find, nor question her.
There Syaoran stood, the same spot he stood when Sakura had kissed him, rooted to floor. He just stared blankly at whatever was infront of him, and blinked, still dumbfounded as to what had just happened a few seconds ago.
xxxxxx
Tomoyo stood, sighing and uncomfortable as she watched everyone kiss romantically, or clap and cheer with happiness. She was probably the only one in that entire room that was not happy. She probably could've felt happy - if she was with Eriol.
"Maybe I'm being too nervous about this stuff," she said into the thin air, "Maybe I should just...Do what Sakura did, and kiss anybody?" and if somebody heard, they certainly didn't seem to show it because she had received no answer. She took the silence as a yes.
So, Tomoyo clamped one hand over her eyes, stuck her index finger out, and began to chant, "Eenie, meenie, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go, eenie, meenie, miny - "
"Moe," someone had finished for her. She opened her eyes and noticed that someone's hand had snakishly wrapped itself around her waist, and she was utterly shocked as to who had done so when she turned around.
"Eriol!" she gasped, pulling him into the biggest bear hug he'd ever been in.
"Hello, lovely lady!" he greeted, wrapping his arms around her back to return her warm hug. He presented her with twelve dozen red roses, and a kiss which Tomoyo thought had to be way more sweeter than honey. She looked at him, and noticed how he barely even changed over the past two months she had seen him. His hair, still navy blue and smooth, his glasses, never smudged or dirty - but his smile was wider than ever.
"I love you," Tomoyo had said, out of the blue. She stood, shocked at both herself, and her words. But she could not deny what she had said. What she said was true, and so she thought that there was no point to start lying and say that she just got "caught up in the moment", unlike some people.
Eriol smiled, kissed her once more, and twirled her around and around. She laughed and knew that he felt the same way. "And I love you more," he replied.
Tomoyo suddenly felt like she could surf to the stars.
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Signing Off,
Agent08 - My life as a secret agent xD