Author's Note: I Dare You just finished, and Wanted just started… now I must get used to Reality's Difference and WANTED, instead of I Dare You… XD… Anyhow, enough about I Dare You, enjoy REALITY'S DIFFERENCE!! Lolz.
)Cherry Jade( - The story would've had no problem, and just flow smoothly if Sakura and Syaoran just met under normal circumstance, but the pressure now is that Syaoran has to get married! I think that's the big stress here! :P
)AnnieS23( - That was the point… I didn't forget… Sakura didn't want Syaoran to think Touya was her boyfriend, but she doesn't want him to think she doesn't have a boy either… ;)
)Confused Dolphin( - Yeah, those starry eyes you left and your little 'I'll be waiting' really scared me… Ok, and seriously, you know, I'm going have a damn HEART ATTACK!! I swear! Every time I see that pictures/background I can't breath! Honestly! I have to take it off before I get sent to the hospital when my mom finds me fainted at the computer desk… Man, but I can't! It's too addicted! He's sooo HOTT!!!!
)Musei Kage( - Yes, I mentioned at the first chapter that yes, this is sort of based on a Chinese movie. But I didn't copy if completely, a lot were my own idea. (I couldn't copy it even if I wanted, 'cause I watched it about 3-4 years ago… can hardly remember much anyways… Don't even remember the title… :P)
)Otaku Mom( - I'm glad you changed your mind after all. :)
And a BIG THANKS for EVERYONE else who reviewed!!! :)
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LAST PART OF THE CHAP
He was stunned. "I can't let you do that, I'll feel guilty."
She looked down. "I'm the one who should feel guilty." She said, referring to the incident with Touya.
He thought for a bit. "Fine, you can take me to lunch, only if I get to pick you up from your house every morning so you won't be late. It's no trouble, I have to pass your house every morning anyways. Deal?"
She considered, the smiled. "Deal."
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Chapter Nine
Damn the Bad Luck------------------------------------
Damn Tomoyo.
Damn the weather.
Damn the vacation.
Damn the ticket.
Damn the hour.
Damn her sad immune system.
Damn Takashi.
Damn the bad timing.
Damn her job.
Damn everything.
Sakura coughed.
Last week had been fine. Last week, she had confessed to Syaoran and he accepted her apology, the Friday following that, he submitted the picture of her, 'Before the Rising'. Then at the beginning of this week, Monday, Takashi had informed everyone to pack up because they're going away to somewhere near Egypt, actually, the plains of Egypt where it's filled with sand. Tents were provided and so were sleeping bags. They were to leave on Tuesday, and so he informs them on Monday. Gee. How nice.
Then there's Tomoyo, her friend of the worst timing and stupidest memory ever since she met that Hiiragizawa boy.
You see, Tomoyo was going on a vacation to Cuba with Eriol, and she told Sakura on Monday, because she was leaving Monday, 11:45 at night. Nice eh?
Sakura ended up having to say goodbye to them to the airport (Jeez, it's not like you're going away forever! Sakura complained), waited till 1:00am coz the darn plane was delayed, then had to wait an hour at the bloody bus stop on the way home.
It was a particularly cold night, and by the time Sakura got home, she had a small cold. The crappy part is that Syaoran's coming to pick her up at 5:50 in the morning, to meet the gang at the airport.
She had less than an hour of sleep because it took so long to fall asleep.
Boy, when you put a cold, bad sleep, going on a dizzy airplane, and arriving at a damn hecking hot desert together, what do you get? You get a really bad cold. The sad thing is, supposedly, Sakura is now the main model as well as Alexia. How's she suppose to look energetic when she feels like dying any minute now?
This is all Toria's fault… if only she hadn't bugged Takashi to take a picture of her in that 'sexy cowgirl' costume. Man, this is like the most cursed week ever.
They arrived at 3:00 in the afternoon. Rika, Naoko, Chiharu, Yukito, Nakuru, Alexia, Syaoran, Toria, Takashi and Sakura were the only ones who came along. Everyone else stayed in the company, still working on the usual, boring crap.
The girls' hair was all a mess, the guys' cloth were all wrinkled, the girls' make up was ruined, and the guys smelt bad. Basically everyone was a mess. They arrived at the hotel. They rented 5 rooms. Yukito and Nakuru are staying together, then it's Chiharu and Takashi, Rika and Naoko, Sakura and Syaoran, then Toria and Alexia. There was a huge fuss with all this. Alexia did not want to stay in a room with Toria knowing that Sakura and Syaoran were next door.
"Chill, we're not going to have sex." Sakura said exhaustedly, not even very sure what she had just said. Nobody was sure, they were as tired as heck, all worn out.
Everyone went to their room, took a shower and went to bed.
--
At 8:00 at night, some stupid, damn bell rang like a bloody fire alarm and everyone woke up in a pissed off mood, still tired like no tomorrow, but had to go downstairs to eat. Sakura didn't though, she was just too sleepy.
--
In middle of the night, Sakura woke up, her stomach growling like crazy, her head burning, her eyes itching, her nose stuffy, her voice funny, her whole body felt weak. She didn't know what's happening, so she went back to bed.
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Next Morning…
The alarm clock rang like hell. Syaoran yawned and dug himself up from the comfortable bed. Man, this is slow torture. He thought. He saw where Sakura was lying and shook her. "Wake up, Sakura, wake up… it's 10:00am, we have to get going now… hello?" Seeing she wasn't about to reply, he washed, and dressed. A cold shower can wake anyone up from their dreams.
Soon, everyone was ready except for Sakura; she was still sleeping.
The gang were all ready, they bust into Syaoran's room as everyone surrounded Sakura's bed. Syaoran sighed. "Someone… dig her up for me please… 'cause I certainly can't, she's like dead mud."
Toria, the most excited one of all, also the most energetic one, jumped right onto top of Sakura and pulled at her hair. "WAKE UP!!! SLEEPYHEAD!! WAKE UP!!"
"Ah!" With a yelp, Sakura sat up with her eyes widened.
Toria smiled. "C'mon, let's get going, it's 10:30!!"
Sakura rubbed her eyes. "It's that late?" Her voice sounded a bit strange, and her cheeks were a little unnaturally red. But they didn't pay much attention to it, she probably slept too much or something.
Soon, after everybody ate and got ready, they hopped onto a rented van, and drove to the middle of nowhere. Somewhere near the plains, there were people who rented horses and camels. They took two of each.
By the time they got there, the sun was blazing down, the heat was like fire licking at their body. Man, talk about hot.
Toria dragged Sakura away. "Time to get you changed, my darling!"
Sakura couldn't stop yawning. "Toria… I don't feel well… "
"Of course you don't darling, but once you're in the spotlight, yes you will!" Toria replied casually.
She dragged Sakura away to the side and began to change her. Sakura wore the same clothing they had tried the other day on Sakura's first day at work. The one with tight jeans, tight bra-like top with laces, silky sleeves with slits on the sides, a heavy belt – that felt like it was made out of metal – hung down to the ground, and a pair of boots that were unbelievably high and unusually hard to walk with. She looked sexy.
Sakura had to gasp for breath. Her head was spinning, the bra – shirt, top, whatever – was hugging her too tight, the jeans were jabbing at her poor thighs, the belt felt so heavy, the sleeves were sweaty again her arms. She breathed with trouble.
Toria put sunscreen on her and began her makeup.
There was a lot. Blush, powder, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, lips gloss, and this thing that made your skin glow. The sun continues to burn unwaveringly, the makeup felt sticky against her face. She wanted to wipe it off, because it felt as if it would melt all over her face soon anyways. To make things worse, because her face was so red, they had to put on extra makeup to cover up the redness.
Sakura felt like she was dying. Boy, the situation is getting from bad to worse. One thing leading to another, this is just getting terrible.
Then, Toria just had to put this huge, gigantic, enormous, heavy hat above her head. As if she wasn't hot enough.
--
For the first picture, they brought out the horse that matched the colour of her pants. She was suppose to bend on two knees, leaning slightly forward, while her hands holding the horse by the neck, and slightly leaning on it. On knee in front, the other back. The belt she wore was splattered stylishly in front of her. The huge, gigantic, enormous, heavy hat tilted backward to cover the back of her head but not her face. Her hair was tied back in a bun, few long, loose strands hanging down in a pretty curve due to the gel they stuck on her poor, poor hair.
"Smile for the camera," Syaoran said. "Think of true happiness, you're in the desert Sakura, where there's no electronics or things as such, just you and the nature, but you're happy, because you still have your friends with you, and your striking, lovely horse. Think, give a happy, lively smile of true joy."
Joy… Sakura thought to herself, feeling her eyelids drop. She blinked her eyes a couple of times. Joy… Joy, yes, joy, it's like this, joy, happiness, I think of true joy/happiness, be happy, then I saw Tomoyo, she was happy, she found Eriol, and she's happy, now she's on vacation, what about me? I know happiness too, but I'm not Tomoyo, I live with Tomoyo, that's all, it's her chore month now, and next will be mine, and if Eriol lives with us, hopefully he will pay too…
Sakura shook her head. Ok. Got to concentrate… She thought with difficulty. Con-centraaate… C-on-on-on-oncen-traTE! She shook her head, and slapped her self. Come one! Concentrate here! What's going on? I can do this, I can! Think of, of what again? Troy? Toy? Joy? Joy. Right, Joy. Also happiness, happiness… Man, is that Eriol ever going to pay – STOP!
She gave a fake smile that was nothing but a stretch of the lips. Syaoran was frowning. "Sakura, your back is arched, your eyes are hardly open, you look more like crying than smiling. Try again." He said.
Sakura opened her eyes as much as she could, but with all her energy on her eyes, it was hard to smile, and this time when she tried sitting up straighter, she ended up to bending too much backwards.
"Sakura, straighter."
This time, she was straight. Maybe a little wobbly, and looked like she was about to collapse, her eyes open as if there were two invisible sticks pushing it apart, and her smile looked as if there was tape dragging her lips on her face.
Syaoran shook his head and snapped a shot knowing he was not going to submit this.
Toria stood aside, extremely disappointed. What's wrong with Sakura now? She thought. Why can't she have as much emotions as she did for Before the Rising? Does she have a problem with me or what? Does she not like the cloth? What's wrong? My dreams are ruined! I had a feeling it was going to get a couple of award, but this ain't going to get anything with her like this!
Syaoran snapped another shot. "You know what," he said. "Sakura, take those off, give them to Alexia, go and sit aside."
Sakura felt such relief she actually collapsed right there. But the horse whined and everybody was looking at her weird, so she pulled herself up again and then had to peel all that stinkin' cloth off of her. Phew. Can breath again.
Then it was Alexia's turn. Sakura had no idea what happened, because she began dozing off. She woke up two hours later and realized they had taken photos the whole time with Alexia.
To make things worse, because she had just fell face down to snooze, her back was all red. Dammit. She's already got somewhat of a sunburn. What kind of sunscreen did Toria give her anyway? Then again, with this kind of sun, nothing can possibly block it, especially when you're baked for two hours straight.
They had to sleep right there in tents that day. Then nobody knows what happened, but it seems whoever was suppose to bring the food forgot to.
"Takashi! You forgot the food?"
"Me? I thought Nakuru was bringing it!"
"I thought I told Naoko to!"
"I asked Chiharu!"
"I thought you meant Rika!"
"I thought it was Yukito!"
"Wasn't it suppose to be Alexia?"
"I thought Syaoran was since he's the boss!"
"It was suppose to be Toria!"
"Did I forget to tell Sakura to bring them?"
Silence.
"Sakura…"
Silence.
"SAKURA!"
"Huh, what yeah? What?"
"The food! Where'd you put it??"
"What food?"
"OUR DINNER, SILLY!"
"Oh, dinner…"
"Where'd you put it?"
"Oh…"
Naoko rolled her eyes. "I'll take it as she doesn't know either…"
Yukito looked at everybody… "Don't tell me…"
Rika gasped. "Oh no…"
Takashi groaned. "Dammit…"
Syaoran shook his head. "Crap…"
Toria sighed. "It's true…"
They looked at one and another, except for Sakura who seemed to have fallen asleep again. "WE HAVE NO DINNER!"
They set out two tents and divided the people up into two groups.
At 9:00 at night, Sakura woke up from hunger, and noticed that everyone besides her was outside. Somehow, God knows how, it seemed they had brought a bundle of tree branches with them and set up a fire in middle of the desert. And it seems Takashi had bought food for the horse yet nobody remembered to bring food for the humans.
Gee, how nice.
It was slow torture watching the horses eat away happily at the dry grass
Sakura swaggered out to join the people. She took a seat beside Toria. "What'z'oing on guys? How 'ome nobody sleeping?"
Toria look startled. "Oh, you're awake."
"Yeah…" Sakura yawned. "Too hungry." She blinked her eyes but couldn't get them open without having tears fall out. "Ain't there some roots around here we can yank out and cook it to eat?"
Toria was amused. "Sure, the cactus. But nothing else."
Sakura grumbled. "Man… why couldn't've we've gotten stuck like in a jungle or thing… this's crappy."
Alexia stood up, stomping around. "This is the most stinkin' boring day I've ever had to live through! This sucks! Isn't there anything to do? I'm hungry, I'm tired, my legs are sore, it's friggin' hot here, even though we're under the moonlight… God…DAMMIT!"
Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Give a rest will ya? I mean, sure, the rest of us all agree here, but we don't whine like you do!"
Chiharu yawned. "Can't someone tell a story or sing a song or whatever?"
"Sure." Toria volunteered. She smiled. "Everybody, close your eyes and just listen, have a good night sleep everyone, sweet dreams."
Toria did have an awesome voice, not as nice as those singers do, but she was terrific, and much better than everybody here put together.
They lay randomly around on the warm sand.
Toria sat straight, for she could not sing lying on the ground. She opened her mouth.
I have a dream, a song to sing…
To help me cope with anything…
If you see the wonder, of a fairy tale…
You can take the future, even if you fail.
I believe in angels, something good in everything I see…
I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me…
I'll cross the stream…
I have a dream…
Toria sang the song ever so brightly, pitching every note prettily, singing it slower than supposed. The stars twinkled above, the moon shone brightly; her voice rang through the empty desert. Despite their hunger, everyone fell asleep.
Sakura was the first. She hasn't felt this much peace for a couple of days now… Maybe she's got more than just a cold… who knows, because she soon fell deep asleep.
Extremely early next morning, around 5:45am, Sakura woke up again. She didn't even know why, but woke up with a surprising startle, yet as soon as she sat up, she regretted it, her head was immediately filled with dizziness, and she fell back down right after and couldn't fall asleep again.
Finally, after shifting around for an hour, she finally fell asleep again, only to be woken up 30 minutes later.
Still, they had nothing to eat, so they traveled on.
Everyone was in an incredibly bad mood. The day became worse as the sun continues to beat its rays down at the gang, sweat filled their body, their breath smelt nasty, and their hair was full of sand from yesterday's sleep out the tent.
Everyone was grumpy.
Nobody was happy.
Toria continued to sing.
She sang a cheerful song, trying to lighten the spirit, but Chiharu told her to shut up. And no one complained. Toria couldn't bother to be offended; she wasn't in the mood.
Sakura was just sitting there, seeing stars exploding inside her head, odd lights flashing in front of her eyes, half conscious, half dizzy, half ready to faint. She didn't really have any idea what's going on around her, but just did whatever seemed right.
They traveled and kept on going, until finally, they reached a hotel. Everyone gladly rented it for two hours.
Time to shower, clean, brush teeth, eat, and splashed themselves awake.
This time, they remembered to stock up totally full on food and drinks. No more what happened yesterday night will happen again.
After everything, it was back to traveling.
This time, they reached another middle of nowhere, except there was a tiny lake near. Wow. Amazing.
Syaoran called Sakura. She wore a furry, brown leather material dress. It had thick straps. Kind of like those clothing the Indians wore, but more modern style.
Again, makeup dripped off her face, but less than last time.
It was clear everywhere around her was sand, and the wind was… well, sandy.
Sakura kneeled in front of the lake, and she was suppose to smile in it while getting a handful of water and splashing her face with it. Syaoran would tape the whole thing, and to get the picture, he just had to pause it at that certain spot, and with some computer technologies, they can clear the blur lines, and it'll look perfect.
The problem now is, Sakura would have to hold her expression for that long, and she didn't know if she could.
Syaoran showed one finger, two, three, action!
Sakura scooped up a handful of liquid and weakly splashed it against her face. Well, actually, the water didn't even touch her face yet, before it fell down, ungracefully.
Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Please, don't tell me you don't even have the strength splash a Goddamn handful of water on your face, never mind your sick and tired expression. Try again. Be happy, smile, think of something happy and peaceful, and give a little energetic splashing!"
Sakura nodded feebly. "I'll, I'll do try splash." She said in a hoarse and dead voice.
"What?"
"I mean, yeah… splash…" Sakura closed her eyes for just a second. She felt her whole body burning, her head wanted to drop dead. She couldn't think, nor concentrate, she had no idea what's going on, all she knew was that she was definitely sick. She looked up with the oddest and most lost expression ever, as her eyes slightly rolled back. "Oh my…" With that, she fainted, almost falling right in the lake.
Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "Jeez, what's wrong with her? Nobody got much sleep here, but no one slept in middle of work. Chiharu, do me a favour, go dump her inside the tents or something."
Chiharu nodded and did as she was told.
--
After not sure how long, Sakura woke up again, she was aching like hell, but she felt much better than before, when she was under the scorching sun. She felt less tired, but just as dizzy, just as hot, just as painful, and just as screwed. She didn't know how long she slept for, but she knew it was close to morning. Rika slept on one side of her, while Toria slept on the other side. A couple of people were already awake and sitting outside, enjoying the little pond of water they had near them, treasuring it.
Sakura got up quietly, and at the corner of the tent, she found Syaoran's camera. She knew she wasn't suppose to look through it without permission, but what the hell. She was curious. What had they done for the whole day without her?
Sakura clicked on, and looked through each picture. There were at least 5 copies of each. The first couple was her and the horsy. Dude, who knew she looked that bad? Then for the next few hundreds, it was all Alexia. Then it was her again, a little footage of her splashing her face. Man, it didn't look like her hands moved at all. After that, it was Alexia again.
She looked at more, wow, Alexia sure is experienced at this stuff, she looked great in every single damn picture!
There were a lot of varieties, a lot of expressions needed, but she did awesome for all of them.
She kept looking, one after another. Until she reached one picture. It was a picture of a naked girl bathing. The picture showed the back of her, though mostly covered by her long hair, and her hips were in below the water, she was definitely naked. The picture was taken at dark, hard to tell what coloured hair she had.
Sakura's eye widened. Oh dear lord… she thought to herself. She had been so dizzy and out of focus she doesn't remember anything she did. Oh no… a horrible thought ran through her head. Don't tell me they took advantage of me while I didn't know! Sakura opened her mouth. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
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TELL me in your REVIEW if you want me to EMAIL you when the next chap is up, and don't forget to leave your email address if you DO!! :)
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Author's Note: It's July 26th right now, I'm going to update both my stories on July 30th at night, because I'm going to QUEBEC AT ABOUT A TWO HOURS AFTER MIDNIGHT!! :) And when I'm back, I get to read all the reviews at once… hehe. :P
Another issue, a very trustable friend of mine has told me, that Chat conversation like I have done with my story are no longer forbided, instead, I must write it in a formal way, for EX:
And Cherry typed to Wolf 'Well, you, it was exactly my fault'
Wolf smiled at her response as he thought of what to say. 'Can't blame you for saying that.' Was what he typed to her.
Obviously that's like 50x more boring and shit, but that friend of mine told me if someone reports me, I can get my whole account deleted! So I dun exactly know what to do… I'd like to keep it interesting, but I don't want my account deleted either… :(
3863 Words… yeah, short… I know. Bite me.