Authors Notes:
Before I say anything else, I would just love, love, LOVE to say this to all my faithful fans and reviewers: YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST-EST x100,000,000,000,000,000 TO THE MAX! That's right! You know why? Because you guys have helped me SO much to get where I am right now. And some people may ask. "Where the hell are you right now?" and I will be GLAD to answer that I am at FOUR HUNDRED FREAKING REVIEWS. You see, some people may not think that's a lot, but to me, that's the soOo totally cool. It could even be cooler than me! (which I highly doubt because I'm the coolest cat in the world XD!)
ahnigurl: You're making me feel worse XD! STOP PUTTING DOTS BEHIND EVERY OTHER SENTENCE XD! LOL. That's how I sense something is wrong. LOL. Like I said, I'm so, so, so, so sorry! I'm really weird when it comes to fan fictions :-).
koishii wolf: OOH! I love it when other people like my ideas! LOL, even when people like it so much that people want to use it in THEIR stories! LOL. Thanks for your review! And like I said, keep up the hot job with your story! It's really good. I actually tried reading it and I was certainly impressed! ;-).
behindthatsmile: OMG! I love it when people compliment me on how I update so fast. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to keep doing what I do with my updates, because I hate to keep people waiting. You see, I promised myself that I would never leave a fanfiction on hold and never update for months at a time. That's just plain MEAN! LOL. Thanks for your review! Luv ya! ;-).
nearinsane: HEY! -says in alien like voice- Greetings, new reviewer! LOL. It's always nice to see someone else's username up there on the review space. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story. I hope you can review, too! I like to see the same usernames over and over again sometimes. LOL.
Illusion Dragon: OKAY. You know what? You are OFFICIALLY one of the coolest cats I've ever met on fan fiction. LOL. Cool cats are what I call cool people. I'M A COOL CAT! LOL. Don't feel honoured that you're one of my best-est fan fic buds! Just consider yourself lucky ;-). LMAO! Did you seriously like the quotes in my name? ARGH, I hated them. They pissed me off. LOL. Well I'm off to other reviews! -kiss, kiss-! Luv ya!
kawaiisakura05: LOL. I was kidding! HAHA. Thanks for your review!
Koki-Chan: Well you certainly deserved it! Please, don't thank me. You're the one always reviewing and checking for an update a million times a day! LOL. That's not an insult by the way, please don't take it as one. LOL. Thanks for your review!
SeleneNight904: LOL, of course I don't mind that you print out my stories XD! Hehe. Thanks for your review!
Cherrysinger: I'm not offended, you thing! LOL. You'll find out everything in my latest review for you. LOL. Let's talk, kay? We haven't talked to each other in like...FOREVER! Thanks for your review, hottness!
1Natsuyo1: LOL. You're funny. Keep reviewing, because I need people like you to review! Man, you guys are hilarious :-P.
ra-chan: Well thank you for being such a faithful reader! I'm glad you like it :-). Thanks for your review!
rachael: LOL. You're cool. Thanks for complimenting my story. AND DON'T HURT ME IF I DON'T UPDATE. My imagination can get really wild sometimes, so please don't leave things up to my imagination. LOL. HAHA! Thanks for your review!
MisunderstO-od-child: HEY! A new reviewer! -claps-. Welcome! HAHA. It's always nice to see a new...ah...face? LOL. Thanks for your review!
YellowRoseThorn: LOL! Thanks! You flatter me so much! Well, I can't give you too much advice...My grammar sucks, and I make lots of typos, but the thing that makes my chapters good (I guess) are my cute scenes and my imaganation! So my advice would probably be...be creative :-). Thanks for your review.
BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING ELSE, this chapter is dedicated to oops. Yes, their name is oops. I would really like to know their name - but anyway, thanks to him/her, I noticed my typo! ERIOL DID NOT GIVE TOMOYO TWELVE DOZEN ROSES. I only meant a dozen, and twelve are in a dozen, so I accidentally wrote twelve dozen. I'm an idiot. LOL. Thanks, oops!
Disclaimer: I only own my teddies and my TV! Not CCS or any of it's characters...GOSH.
"..." - talking
italic font - thoughts
(A/N: ...) - my interruptions
Now...on with chapter twenty-two!
Palm Reading
Syoaran groaned as both Sakura and Yelan dragged him and his arm into the fair grounds. Syaoran was never into this kind of stuff, going out at night and visiting the dozens of different booths there were. He was very glad that the Chinese New Year had passed, but he'd celebrated it enough. Tonight, he wanted to rest.
"Mother!" he wailed, ripping his arm out of both the crazy lady's grasps, "I don't want to go to the bloody Fair! I honestly have much better things to do."
"Aww, you don't mean that," Sakura replied, taking hold of his arm once more. "Now let's go!" and all of them - and when I say, all of them, I mean, Tomoyo, Eriol, Sakura, Syaoran, and Yelan - went to the entrance booth. A short, stout man with a big moustache stood behind the tiny booth, tickets in one hand, the other sticking a dirty, short finger in his ear.
Sakura looked at the man in disgust, and exchanged looks with Tomoyo. Both girls knew what to do. Tomoyo took Eriol's hand, and Sakura took Syaoran's, and they went in, without even paying. "Queen," Sakura said, "We'd love to stay and...help you pay for the tickets, but, we're just so excited. Can we go ahead and decide on which booths to visit while you give the nice man money?"
Yelan's jaw dropped to the ground. "Why I never - " she began, but was cut off by Sakura's pleading look. Sakura hated being in the presence of such disgusting men, that didn't even bother to acknowledge the Royal Family and their friends. "...Of course!" Yelan continued reluctantly. She gave Sakura a "you owe me one" kind of look, and Sakura simply smiled in reply. Normally, Yelan would never agree to stay behind while everyone else got to go and have fun, but she realized that the more time Syaoran and Sakura spent together, the quicker they'd fall in love - so she decided to let it go.
xxxxxx
The four of the young lads strolled along on the fair grounds, with wide eyes. The fair only came once a year, and when it did, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Eriol would take in everything they saw, heard or did and store it in a special place in their minds, where no other thoughts or memories were kept. They would normally keep those kinds of things to themselves, but would share them during a certain time, a time far more important than the fair.
Tomoyo linked her arms with Eriol's, and slowed her step. Just a few minutes ago, she had seen a food stand, and she'd only noticed just now that her stomach was rumbling. She held her stomach with her free hand, hoping to keep the horrible noise it was making inside her pale body. However, she failed quite miserably.
"Tomoyo!" Eriol said teasingly, removing his arm from hers, and patting her stomach, "Is that your stomach I hear? Or is a grizzly bear getting prepared to pounce?" and he began to laugh. His beautiful blue eyes shone beautifully behind his clear glasses, and anyone with proper sight could tell that he was having a fairly good time.
Tomoyo hit him on the arm. "Be quiet...I haven't eaten in a while! Can you blame me?"
Eriol laughed once again. "No, I guess not," and he took Tomoyo and himself in a different direction, leaving Sakura and Syaoran alone. He realized that they were being quite shy for most of the night, and haven't been speaking - which was odd, because Sakura was one of the most talkative people he'd ever met.
"Well then," he said, "does that mean you want a tiny snack before we go any further to the booths?"
"Yes please!" Tomoyo shrieked, running towards the food stand with Eriol lagging on behind her.
xxxxxx
Sakura and Syaoran walked along in an uncomfortable silence. Sakura began to twiddle with her thumbs, while Syaoran shoved his hands inside his pockets. Not because he couldn't find anything to do with them, but because the weather had gotten quite cold. Although winter was almost over, and the last of the snow was melting away, the wind had gotten colder, as if something big was going to happen.
"Strange..." Syaoran muttered, not even noticing that he had said what he thought out loud.
"Hmm?" Sakura asked, finally ripping her gaze off of her shoes and looking at Syaoran. He had a concentrated look on his face, as if he was thinking of something important. Not only did she notice that, but she noticed how much he'd grown over the new year. He'd gotten a bit taller, and so had she, but he was still one or two inches bigger. His shy and mysterious steps had now become large and confident strides. He certainly was a grown man at the age of seventeen.
"Oh, nothing," Syaoran replied. His thoughts suddenly loomed over to the subject of New Year's, and how Sakura had kissed him so quickly. Although the kiss was no longer than five seconds, he still felt the warmth and excitement in it - as if she was planning on doing it all along. He'd been wanting to ask her about it, but she'd run off so quickly. He was kind of glad that she did that, because he still needed time to recover from the shock. But the next day, Sakura pretended as though nothing had happened, but Syaoran could tell by the way she acted, she was still trying to recover from shock also.
"I was wondering," Syaoran began. It was now or never. "about that kiss on New Years. What was it all about?"
Sakura's mind froze. She hadn't expected him to ask her about it. Well, not now at least. Normally it'd take him more than just two months to ask about something like this. He didn't even give her enough time to think of an excuse. Then again, that day at the beach when they'd kissed, they spoken about it just hours after it, and it wasn't so bad. Maybe this wouldn't be either.
(A/N: They are in the middle of February right now.)
"Er...It was just..." Sakura began. Just tell him the truth, she thought. It's no big deal anyway. And so she did. "It was just a dumb dare. Well not exactly, but kind of. Let's just say I thought it would be daring to kiss you. It just had to do with a stupid game, that's all," she finished. She hadn't exactly told the truth, but she hadn't told a lie either. Good enough for her.
"So, you didn't do it because you wanted to?" Syaoran questioned, hoping and expecting for an answer to come from Sakura's mouth.
"No," Sakura replied. That was definitely not the answer Syaoran wanted to hear. Yet, why? Normally, he be totally satisfied with that answer. Knowing that the girl he's disliked for twelve years didn't want to kiss him? He'd be joyful. But over the months, even he, himself noticed a weird change in him.
"Oh..." He breathed, in a disappointed kind of tone. Sakura gave him a weird look, as if wanting to know why he did so. She thought he'd be quite happy. Seeing this, Syaoran said, "Oh!" in a higher, cheery tone of voice. The questioning look on Sakura's face suddenly brightened, after receiving the reply she wanted.
Uncomfortably, Sakura began to scan the crowd of people around and/or in the booths. She would look anywhere besides Syaoran's eyes. While searching through the crowd for someone she knew, her eyes fell on Yelan, who was for some peculiar reason, standing, hunched over behind a booth. Her eyes seemed to be concentrated somewhere else, and Sakura discovered that it was them she was looking at.
Oh no, thought Yelan, standing up straight and dusting off her ground. She put on the brightest smile she could muster up, and walked towards Syaoran and Sakura, who was waving at her to come join them. After arriving beside Sakura, Yelan was just about to give her "dont let me interrupt" speech like she did when she locked Syaoran and Sakura out on the terrace, but Tomoyo and Eriol had joined them also.
(A/N: I'm talking about Mother Knows Best, Right? Check that chapter out if you're confused.)
"Sakura..." Tomoyo said, slowly and quietly, as if shy to even say Sakura's name, "can I talk to you? It's kind of...well, it's not very important, but I'd still like to talk to you," she finished quickly, looking away from Eriol. Eriol smiled and nudged his girlfriend. Tomoyo exchanged weird looks with him before she took Sakura by the elbow and began to drag her away from the crowd.
"What's the matter?" Sakura asked, thinking that what Tomoyo had to say was urgent, even though she said it wasn't very important. Sakura always thought that what Tomoyo said was a big deal because she was her best friend. Whenever Tomoyo wanted to talk about something, her ears were always open.
"You called Eriol to come for New Years when he was on a business trip with his father? Sakura Kinomoto! The two months I spent with hime while you were in the cottage with Syaoran was long enough! I mean, you really didn't have to do what you did!" Tomoyo said, fairly quickly. She had found out about Sakura's devious, yet awesome plan, and would not let Sakura go without a good explanation.
Sakura smiled. Tomoyo had finally found out about her devious, yet awesome plan. It took her long enough. Or at least, it took long enough for Eriol to tell her. "One," Sakura began, holding up a pale, nicely polished index finger, "I didn't have to do what I did? I don't think so! You should've seen yourself. You were miserable without having the man you loved to be with you on New Years!" and she stuck up her middle finger, signalling the number two, "Second, I told Eriol not to tell you,"
Tomoyo smiled. "Sakura, I'm his girlfriend. I can be pretty convincing. By the way, how did you get him to the village so quickly?"
Sakura smirked, and wrapped her arm around Tomoyo's shoulders, and began to lead the way back towards Syaoran, Eriol, and Yelan. "Tomoyo," she said devilishly, "I'm the Princess. I can be pretty convincing too," and they both laughed.
xxxxxx
A few hours had passed, and the five of them had already been to most of the booths there was to visit. Syaoran had won Sakura many stuffed animals, some requested by her, some Syaoran just won for her for absolutely no reason, and Tomoyo had been snacking on all the food there was to eat. Eriol had no idea his girlfriend had such an appetite.
"Where to next?" Sakura said, not one bit tired. Once more, she scanned the fair grounds to see what there was to visit. The Cork Game? They'd already been to that. The Rifle Game? They'd only played that game one million times! Sakura's eyes suddenly landed onto a booth she'd never seen before. It was covered in bright purple curtains, with beautiful Indian designs on them. She was automatically convinced to go and visit it.
"Let's go here!" Tomoyo said, as if reading Sakura's mind. She pointed towards the purple booth, and without any hesitation, Sakura and Tomoyo made a run for it, with either their boyfriend of fiance trailing along behind them. All Yelan could do was smile and laugh, and remember the days when she had been an energetic girl like that.
They came towards the entrance door, and as if was a rule, Sakura and Tomoyo suddenly stopped, making Syaoran and Eriol stop abruptly behind them. Now the only thing that separated them from the booth were the bright red and pink beads, hanging down from the door. They could just barely see through them. But they could tell that there were many lit candles inside. If one of them fell, they'd be in deep trouble.
"Enter..." a sudden voice had wooed. Everyone could tell it was a woman's voice, but like no other voice they'd heard. It was spooky, and scary, yet at the same time enticing and attractive. Now, with permission, the five of them entered the booth, and their noses were suddenly filled with the smell of a strong, Asian perfume. All of them would've covered their noses, but they were too busy goggling at the different artifacts inside the tiny booth.
"This is so odd..." Yelan breathed, looking at all the weird things. There were the weirdest books on the tiny shelf. Some, Yelan had never even heard of, and Yelan was a big reader. While she goggled at the books, Tomoyo and Sakura were pulled over to the white vanity, as if it were a magnet. They found it quite odd to find a vanity inside a booth, but they didn't care. They began to rattle through the drawers, looking to see what kind of make-up the woman that owned the booth had.
"What in the world is this?" Syaoran questioned, reaching for a jar of...whatever. Suddenly, his hand was snapped away by a woman with a dark purple shaul covered over her head. He knew that the woman that had snapped his hand away was the woman who owned the booth. They way they had described her voice was exactly the way the she looked. Scary, spooky, enticing, and attractive. She must've been in her thirties. She had high cheekbones, and was wearing a lot of make-up. More red lipstick than Tomoyo had ever seen in her entire life.
"Don't tough that!" She snapped, "Those eyeballs cost a fortune..." and Syaoran suddenly backed away from the jar, as if it were a deadly disease. "Follow me," she continued, beckoning for the five of them to sit around a white painted wooden table. They all took chairs, and sat around it, quite reluctantly. Tomoyo and Sakura were beginning to regret ever coming into this place.
"My name is Mystique," she said, in her low, scary voice once more, "I sensed your presence, even before you had entered this booth...Now, may I ask you, what can I do for you?"
(A/N: Her name is pronounced as MISS-TEEK.)
Yelan, Syaoran, Eriol, Tomoyo, and Sakura all exchanged glances, deciding on who should speak first. No one wanted to, so Sakura decided to step up to the plate. What did she have to lose? "Err...Mystique," Sakura began, slowly and cautiously, "We don't exactly know what your services may be. Do you mind..."
"Telling you what my booth is for?" she finished for Sakura, and watched her nodd. She smiled, and carried her head with both her hands, her elbows on the table. "I predicted you would say that..." and she seemed to trail off with her thoughts. Thankfully, she floated back to reality. "I am Mystique the Fortune Teller. Sit with me and I will tell you whatever I can. What the future may have in store for you, what you will have for breakfast, and even who you may be in love with..."
"Oh really?" Yelan said, half creeped out, half interested. "I'm sure my son, Syaoran - the Prince, and my soon-to-become daughter in law would love for you to try something on them!" and she pointed towards Syaoran and Sakura, who were shaking their heads from side to side, signalling for her not to reccommend themselves to the crazy woman. They stopped and plastered on wide smiles when she looked in their direction.
"Gladly," Mystique answered, grabbing Syaoran's hand.
"What are you - ?" Syaoran began, but was cut off.
"Hush!" Mystique snapped, now dragging her fingers this way and that across Syaoran's right hand. "You must not interrupt me while I am palm reading," and Syaoran or anyone could do nothing but stare and nodd numbly. They waited for a few minutes, and Mystique began making weird sounds from the back of her throat, as if she was humming. Except, it wasn't like she was humming a nice song, it was more like the sound someone made when they were meditating.
"Hmmm..." Mystique hummed. And she suddenly dropped Syaoran's hand so quickly that it actually hurt. She heard Syaoran's grunt in pain, but ignored it, and began to speak, with an odd twinkle in her eyes. "You, my good sir, are in love!" she declared, a smile appearing on her face for the first time the Syaoran met her. He looked at her as if she was crazy.
"Of course he is," Eriol piped up, "he's engaged, remember? That's Sakura Kinomoto. You must know her. She's the duaghter of King Fujitaka,"
Mystique's gaze fell on the nervously smiling Sakura. "Hmm...Yes. I understand now." and stood up from her seat. "Kind lady," she said to Yelan, "Would you please move over one seat, and everyone else do so also so that I may have a seat beside Princess Sakura?" everyone did as they were told, and left a seat for Mystique beside Sakura.
"Kind Princess...Would you like to try something?" she asked mysteriously. Afraid of what she might do if she answered no, Sakura replied with a yes. With the odd sparkle in her eye still, she took hold of Sakura's hand, and placed it on top of Syaoran's, who was just as confused as Sakura. "You will palm read for me," she continued, dragging Sakura's fingers over Syaoran's soft palm, "Do you see this?" she asked, pointing with her own finger at a line on Syaoran's hand, "That is his love line. Tell us whether or not he's in love,"
Sakura did as she was told. She began to touch Syaoran's hand, here and there, not even bothering to test his love line. For some reason, Sakura just loved what she was doing to him. She loved the feel of her hand on his, and she never wanted to stop what she was doing. Yet, she had to, so people wouldn't get so suspicous. But not so soon, Sakura thought, continuing to caress Syaoran's hand.
Syaoran had to fight back the huge urge to moan. Just like Sakura, he loved what she was doing to him. He loved the feel of his hand in hers, and he never, ever wanted her to stop. For some reason however, she stopped, and he had to fight an even bigger urge to cry out in protest so she could continue to touch his hand.
Sakura stopped, but did not remove her hand from his. She let her index finger trail along his love line, only to try and see if she really could tell if he was in love. She looked up from his hand, into his intense, amber eyes. He looked back into her emerald ones, with a questioning look on his face. Oh no, Sakura thought. He must think I like him now or something, and she suddenly removed her hand. She looked over to Mystique, whose head was resting on her hand, and smirking.
"So tell us, Princess," she asked, "is Prince Syaoran in love?"
Sakura's eyes darted back and forth to Syaoran's eyes, and to Mystique's. "He's..." she began, not knowing what to answer. She finally let her gaze rest on Syaoran. "He's definitely in love,"
xxxxxx
As Tomoyo and Eriol began to take their seat on the carriage to be taken back to the castle, Eriol asked Tomoyo something, before Sakura or Syaoran could get the chance to join them. "Was it just me, or was there some definite tension in there?"
"Well, either it was both of us, or there really was - !"
"Really was what?" Syaoran asked, climbing onto the carriage, Sakura just behind him.
"Oh...It's nothing," Tomoyo replied, who looked at Eriol with a smirk on her face.
Authors Notes:
I'm sorry it took me so freaking long to update! My timing sucks, eh?
I really hope you liked this chapter! It took me FOREVER to think of it. You should be proud! LMAO! Just kidding! I tried adding more descriptions in here. I hope you guys liked that also. I may suck at it, but you still got to love me for trying, right? LMAO! Just kidding!
Tell me what you thought of it, kay?
Read and Review!
Signing Off,
Azn-blossom08