Title: A World Away
Series: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Romance / Action / Adventure
Summary: On her sixteenth birthday, Sakura leaves Japan in more ways than one.
Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura is copyright to CLAMP.
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Chapter Two
"Welcome to Hong Kong, Sakura-chan." Syaoran smiled affectionately at the brunette opposite him, pulling his hands from the pockets and lifting his arms slightly, offering a hug. She wheeled her bag through the crowd that continued to bustle around them, until the two were in a small space no one seemed to wander into.
Accepting his hug, Sakura wrapped her arms around his waist, surprised to see how tall he'd gotten in the years passed. He was at least a head taller than her, and while she wasn't the tallest girl in Tomoeda, he was still quite tall.
"180." He told her, causing a sudden burnout in her brain.
"Hoe…?" She asked him, releasing the hug and looking up at him, a look of utter confusion on her features. Sakura blinked her large emerald eyes, and cocked her head at the taller, Chinese brunette, earning a stifled snigger from him.
"I'm 180 cm. You're…165, aren't you?"
Sakura pouted. She'd hardly grown at all since he'd last seen her. Only twenty centimetres. Turning her head away, her eyes landed on her cell phone, poking out of the pocket she'd shoved it into earlier. The ribbon poked out a little, but no one other than her seemed to notice. Not even Syaoran. She pouted quietly again.
"Don't pout so much. Your face will stick like that, Sakura-chan. And that won't be cute. Or maybe it will…I'm not quite sure. Though, come to think of it, your pout is very cute." Syaoran tilted her head backwards slightly, their eyes meeting again. Sakura blushed, just like she always did when they were younger. Syaoran's smile was just as radiant as ever, and always cast a loving sparkle over her.
"Ne. My bag is kinda heavy. Have you planned where I'm staying, or did you just send me a ticket for the sake of getting me in the same country?" Sakura asked, still looking up at her companion as a dawning look of comprehension came upon his features. He stroked his chin quietly, one hand on his thin hips, and stared off into space as he pondered the situation.
"With me." He decided, grinning optimistically. "After all, the point may have been, originally, to get you in the same country, but the point would be missed entirely if you stayed nowhere near me." Taking her hand in his own, Syaoran made an empty grab for her bag, and managed to catch the loose strap Sakura had hanging off it. Pulling it over to him, he got a better grasp on a different handle, and started tugging both behind him.
"Hoe!" Sakura cried, hardly getting a chance to touch her feet to the floor as Syaoran pulled her along quickly. The drawback to being so much shorter was that his stride was longer than her own, thus making it so she was practically flying behind. The couples and families around them paused for a moment, to watch the poor Japanese girl fly around after what probably seemed like her lost-lost Chinese boyfriend.
The two arrived at the mansion Syaoran, his elder sisters, and his mother resided at within the hour. Sakura, hugging her bag's handle close to her, stood just behind her taller cohort, as he unlocked the set of double doors and threw them open. She'd never actually been to his home, so simply the utter size of the mansion had her stuck in a world of awe.
The four sisters Syaoran had mentioned on the way home instantly appeared in front of them, their eyes widening at the sight of Sakura. In almost perfect unison, they squealed, throwing themselves into a group hug with Sakura.
"She's so cute!" They cried, hugging her tightly, each admiring her in many ways. "Her clothing is so cute! This is their Japanese style?" One of the four turned to Syaoran, a questioning expression on her face.
"It's funny how little you know about Japan." He sighed. Sakura could tell that being the only male in a family of females wasn't his favourite thing in the world, but he dealt with it easily after all the years. "Now, please. Could I take Sakura-chan upstairs to get settled?"
"Sakura? What a cute name!" Another squealed as the quartet released her and she bowed to them politely in greeting.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled weakly, bowing a few times as she moved around the four and followed Syaoran up the stairs hurriedly. "Your sisters are somewhat…aa…scary, for lack of a better word."
"They think you're cute. I showed them a photo of Tomoyo, you and myself from before I left, and they said that you were one of the cutest they've ever seen." He smiled, taking one of her hands in his again and pulling her through a partially ajar entryway at the top of the stairs, just to the right. The room was a pale lavender, with black and white accents. A large twin-size bed with lavender pillowcases and a black comforter, highlighted by lavender butterflies in the lower left hand corner stood in the middle of the room, headboard pressed against one wall.
Partially in awe, Sakura quickly said the first thing to pop into her head. "This room reminds me of Tomoyo…" Syaoran laughed, taking the bag from her hand and wheeling it over to a chair sitting in one corner of the room. Dropping himself upon the bed, he smiled at her.
"Figures you'd think that. You wanna rest a bit, or shall I introduce my sisters to you from up here, so you know each apart when we go back down?"
"I'm not tired, so the latter." Sakura replied, sitting beside him on the bed. It was oddly comfortable; reminding her of her own home. Closing her eyes for a moment, the brunette wobbled on the spot, only to fall over onto Syaoran's shoulder. Her emerald eyes closed for a moment and she sighed blissfully. He smiled, a quiet chuckle escaping his lips as he gently stroked her hair.
"Don't fall asleep now. I have to introduce my sisters." Sakura opened her eyes and looked at him, then sat straight up beside him, folding her hands in her lap. Noting her attention, Syaoran continued. "Li Fuutie. She has waist length chocolate hair and was wearing a yellow dress. Li Shiefa. She has chin-length chocolate hair and was wearing a red dress – are you getting this down, Sakura-chan? – Li Fanren. She has the shortest locks of my sisters, it's cut to her ears. She was wearing a green two-piece dress. Lastly, Li Feimei. Her hair reaches her armpits and she was wearing a blue dress."
"Aa. And they know my name?" Sakura asked, releasing her attention to the wind and staring at the wall open-mouthed. Syaoran ruffled her short hair slightly, which promptly settled to the way it had been before.
"Of course. I told them years ago, when showing off photos of you, 'this is Kinomoto Sakura. She's cute and I'm in love with her.' They thought I was so cute." Sakura laughed, to put it simply. Her acute laughter filled the room with obvious joy, as the brunette female hugged the brunette male.
"You told your sisters you were in love with me when you left? How cute and childish of you. If we started dating, would you bound down the stairs happily and announce to them with an infantile twinkle in your eye that you had a girlfriend?" Sakura poked his chubby cheek with one slender finger, smiling affectionately. Syaoran turned towards her, her finger still against his cheek, their eyes meeting. A devilish smirk spread along his features as he wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed his lips to hers with sudden ease.
Releasing her, Syaoran stood up from the bed and walked to the door, obviously proud of himself for flustering the female. Pausing at the door, he threw her a backward glance over his shoulder. "You coming down, or what?" He asked, raising a playful eyebrow at her.
"Waah…Syaoran-kun…I'm telling!" Sakura grinned, pushing herself up from the soft surface the two had been sitting on, and preparing herself to obviously run after him. From past experience, whenever she made a move to give chase, tackling usually followed. Tossing open the door, Syaoran ran out of the room and turned down the maze of hallways. Giving chase, Sakura took off behind him, mentally preparing to tackle him once she got close enough.
Doors passed the two effortlessly, neither slowing for any reason, other than to whip out a hand and turn a bend. Syaoran laughed as he turned a final corner, preparing to double back. His mother's room was down that way, but he wasn't sure if she was in or not. Glancing back, the brunette male caught a small glimpse of his Japanese comrade still chasing, and glanced forwards again, only to bump into someone fairly tall.
"M-mother! I-I'm sorry, Sakura and I w—" He trailed off, just as Sakura ran into him, knocking both of them down.
"Syaoran-kun, why'd you st-oh!" The female jumped up from the floor, standing at perfect attention behind Syaoran, who scrambled to rise to his feet. Both looked quite frazzled, while Ielan stood opposite the two, a look of utter annoyance upon her face.
"Xiao Lang, just what did you think you were doing, running about the halls like that?" She asked, calmly raising one hand to lift her only son's chin higher, for their eyes to meet. Syaoran looked unreservedly tense as his mother fingered his facial features, silently observing the outward appearance of him as if to decide whether or not he was worthy to carry the same name as her.
Syaoran shot a fleeting look to Sakura, his face still filled with tense emotion. There was another pregnant silence between the three, and finally Ielan released her son from her death glares. She turned to Sakura, a smile somewhat poking to the surface at the sight of the female.
"Sakura, is it? I am Ielan, Xiao Lang's mother. I trust that he has already introduced to you his elder sisters." The elegant woman bowed to Sakura, who in turn bowed as well. "Would you be able to explain to me why my son was running through the corridors like a young child?"
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Sakura bowed again, then straightened up again. "Truthfully, it was probably my fault that he was running through the halls. He was likely running from me, after which I gave chase, and we accidentally ran into you, ma'am. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." The reply was harsh, though something in the words told Sakura that the harshness was directed to Syaoran. "You were running through the halls, because she was chasing you. For what reason did you see to begin running, Xiao Lang?"
"I…we were playing, mother." Syaoran responded, his eyes dropping the floor. He was obviously embarrassed, and obviously a doormat to his mother. Who wouldn't be? The woman was scary if you brushed her the wrong way, and Sakura had a feeling that being the only male in a family of females brushed her the wrong way.
"Playing what? Aren't you a little old for that sort of thing, Xiao Lang? You're going to be sixteen in a matter of months. You need to start acting your age." Though Sakura was sure that most would think of Ielan as a bossy old witch who disliked her son, the brunette female was sure that Syaoran's mother only acted that way to toughen her son up. After all, while she could baby her daughters all she wanted, if she did that to Syaoran, he would likely be quite wussy and thus not fit to run their clan. It made perfect sense to Sakura.
Syaoran lowered his eyes further, and began counting the specks of dust upon the floor. "Sakura is staying with us, I expect? Xiao Lang, make sure she's settled in so she doesn't have to worry about things when it's time to sleep." The male nodded his head weakly and raised his eyes slightly as his mother passed the two by, obviously going downstairs for some reason.
"Syaoran-kun…" Sakura bent her knees, placing both hands on them and leaning forward until her eyes met Syaoran's. "She only wants the best for you, y'know."
Syaoran straightened up--Sakura doing the same—and sighed. "Yeah, I know…but sometimes she's so…forbidding." He shuddered to some extent, eyes falling onto a sight of Sakura brushing her shoulder-length locks behind her ears and patting them down. She paused for a moment, emerald meeting amber, and smiled. Interweaving their arms together, the brunette tugged him down the now-empty hallway.
Laughing, she began skipping, Syaoran still at her arm. "Sakura-chan, why're we skipping!" He enquired, struggling to get his feet upon the ground. Finally, she came to a halt. Unfortunately, it was a sudden halt, bringing Syaoran from the air to a place pressed against Sakura's chest. Both flushed a rosy cerise and looked away, neither bothering to release the other from the embrace they'd fallen into.
On the lower level, they could hear Syaoran's sisters chatting away in Cantonese and laughing with each other. From the mood of the conversation, Sakura gathered that they were having some sort of makeover party. The occasional shouts in English were amusing as well, reminding the Japanese girl of her home Tomoeda and the ko-gals residing there.
"No way! Xiao Lang!" One of the sisters shouted, calling for her brother. Switching to Cantonese for a moment, Syaoran yelled down, breaking the moment for the two of them.
"What, Feimei? I'm trying to have a moment here!" He smiled slightly, then whispered into Sakura's ear, "I told them we were having a moment."
"Syaoran-kun!" She blushed and turned away again, chuckling to herself.
"No, you're not. Bring Sakura down here! We wanna make her pretty for you!" The only word the foreigner caught of the dialogue was her own name, at which she glanced to Syaoran in question.
"They wanna make you pretty. I think you're already too pretty for your own good, but if they want you, it's probably best to give them what they want." He laughed, then laced his fingers with hers and began his descent down the stairs. "Got her here. Do what you will with her." His sisters squealed with delight and ran over to greet the couple at the stairs.
"Sakura, we're going to make you so pretty!" Fuutie exclaimed gleefully, taking Sakura's arm in her own. Her sisters followed behind, giggling. For a moment, both Sakura and Syaoran wondered how the brunette foreigner was going to understand the elder girls as they babbled to each other in Cantonese, but as Fuutie spoke to Sakura in her native Japanese, the question had been answered.
"Fuutie…you speak Japanese?" Syaoran asked, diverting to Cantonese. His sister simply smiled over her shoulder and giggled, then continued tugging Sakura along. Her baby brother simply shook his head, smiling slightly and chuckling to himself.
Settling down in the living room of their sizeable manor, the sisters encircled their foreign companion, each taking an unspoken job in the makeover of Kinomoto Sakura. Fanren assigned herself to manicuring Sakura's slightly longer than average length nails, Shiefa allocated herself to pedicuring Sakura's already cute toes, Feimei allotted herself to doing the brunette's shoulder length hair, while Fuutie took charge with clothing.
It didn't seem to take long for them to be organised. Fanren was contentedly filing Sakura's nails to a perfect shape before painting them with the French manicure set she had beside her; Fuutie had busied herself with searching through the rack of clothing they had set out in the room, for something that would suit Sakura and make her particularly adorable; Shiefa had taken up soaking the young woman's feet in a bath of hot water, and Feimei was brushing out and straightening the small waves in the brunette's hair.
Syaoran still watched from the stairs, his eyes never leaving Sakura's face, even if she wasn't looking towards him. Her face had a look of such content and pleasure, the male figured it might as well be the equivalent to a free day at a spa. She was being made over fully, which was likely to be a dream in her household full of males. Sure, Tomoyo may have given her a beauty treatment before, he wasn't sure, but this was so much more than just that. It was a female bonding moment.
"Xiao Lang! Would you grab that dress of mine from upstairs? The new, crimson one?" Fuutie called to her younger brother, obviously annoyed with the choice of clothing. It suited the four of them, and some even fit Syaoran properly, but none seemed to go with Sakura's cute girl image.
Syaoran stood up from the second lowest stair, where he had parked himself, and hurried upstairs, verbally giving his sister no recognition. She knew, of course, that he had done as she requested, just by the sounds of footfalls on the upper level of their bedrooms. A few moments passed of silence, broken only by the sounds of the sister's makeover. Finally, Syaoran came down the stairs, a long – presumably ankle-length – crimson dress draped over one arm.
"Your highness." He bowed to his sister deeply and held the dress out to her. She laughed behind her hand and accepted the dress, holding it up to Sakura's sitting form the best she could.
"This one is definitely the best for your cute figure, Sakura." She smiled, lowering the dress to drape it over her own arm. Behind the facial mask plastered over the youngest brunette's face, her eyebrows raised. Syaoran stifled a laugh. Sakura hardly looked herself. With the combination of the mud mask and her short hair pinned up upon her hair as though the foreign girl had gone to a salon and was getting her hair completely done over, the girl looked totally overwhelmed. Add to that the sisters doing her finger and toe nails, as well as a skin treatment, and Sakura looked still besieged, yet somewhat comfortable amongst the older girls.
In between things, the lounge looked quite like a jumbled mass of disarray. Sisters running back and forth to get things they'd mistakenly left behind, and sisters bumping into each other, dropping things and having to retrieve them. Syaoran was glad he was male and thus, not part of that circle.
Though, now that he thought of it, Sakura did look somewhat worn out previously. That seemed to be disappearing now, leaving a pleasantly refreshed female in her place. Lingering in the doorway, he watched for a few more moments as she closed her eyes and took a moment of relaxation upon herself, leaving herself in the capable hands of the Li sisters.
A peaceful smile fashioned about Syaoran's lips as he turned from the room, wandering to the stairs to escape to his room for a while. He'd return when he thought that they were done. Besides, when they were finished, they'd likely send Sakura up to him anyways, while they stayed just behind to make sure Syaoran didn't do anything to her to mess up their work.
It seemed like hours passed while Syaoran sat on his bed, a small pile of unread books to his left, a small pile of read books to his right, a half-finished book held amid his hands.
"Xiao Lang…" Feimei's familiar voice reached his ears as he flipped the page. Glancing up from the page, Syaoran smiled at his collection of sisters, peering in through the partially ajar doorway. Smiling still, he set down the book upon his empty lap. Feimei pushed the door open further, and Sakura was gently nudged through.
She looked like a new girl. They'd cut her hair slightly, just trimmed off bits and layered it further. The majority of her hair was around chin-length; short and flippy, though there was two locks on either side that still continued to brush her shoulders. Her bangs were ever-present, and done the same way as they'd always been.
Fuutie's crimson dress really did suit Sakura though. Long, with a slit up the side for movement's sake, a golden dragon snaking around the unslit side. It hugged her curves, though not in a immoral manner, as well as leading the eye around. She was utterly dazzling to Syaoran's eyes.
"She's cute." He stated, quickly allowing his comment to become the understatement of the year. His sisters giggled behind their hands, knowing that in his mind he adored her look to an extent that could possibly not be put into words. They knew what he thought; Sakura knew what he thought – Syaoran was fine with his blatant statement.
A pregnant silence was held, finally broken by a stifled yawn. All eyes flipped to the owner of the yawn, Shiefa. Knowing everyone was staring at her, she yawned again. Fanren smiled, ruffling her sister's hair slightly.
"All right. Seems like we should sleep. Sakura has a room set up for her, I assume? Xiao Lang?" Fuutie asked, in Cantonese, as the questions were directed at her Cantonese-speaking siblings. She was quite the leader, though not in a officious way, and was accepted as thus. Syaoran nodded from where he sat, and Sakura glanced from Syaoran to his sisters and back to her male friend.
"Sakura-chan, I'll take you to your room. We're going to retire for the night, all right?" Sliding the book off his lap onto the bed, he pushed himself up and took Sakura by the arm. Neither of them was sure what they were to the other, though it seemed quite obvious to the quartet. Moving out of the way, they lined against the wall to allow passage. Syaoran led Sakura down to her room, leaving her to her devices as he wandered back to his own.
He wondered if they'd meet up at the bathroom, but brushed the thought away. If every waking moment was spent thinking about his visitor, he'd never get a moment of sleep.
His sisters dispelled in each direction, to their own bedrooms, though the rooms all connected in the centre with an en suite bathroom. Things went quickly, no one meeting up unexpectedly, though Syaoran almost wanted to meet up with Sakura one last night. Perhaps peck her on the cheek. After so many long years of never once speaking, it might be too informal though.
Settling down into his bed, Syaoran pulled the comforter up over his shoulders. It was still cold at nights, so the brunette didn't mind such warmth enveloping him. It was soothing in a way, as well, reminding him of days he couldn't quite place in his past, when he was ailing and his mother would come by his bedside and do her best to heal her under the weather little boy. His sisters always sat by his bedside as well, tears welling in their young eyes.
Closing his eyes to the darkness of his room, he drifted off to a secret dreamland of his own within minutes. A figure lingered in the doorway, watching him roll over with a smile upon his lips. Smiling herself, his mother shut the door with a click.