Disclaimer:- I may not own CCS, but I do have an invisible Leprechaun that dances around my computer. I'm so lucky! Cheers...not.
A/N: Thanks to :- Cheerful-Cherry, AfGhAnCuTiE, Pure-Hearted, il0verice, Kimura, Kesshou Uryou ,animeflower, CherryIzzy, cherrysakura5, unknowna, chikichiki, Awwww, arela , CC , Inu Star Angel, UnknownBeauty, quietgrlindacorner, Sirenic Griffin, Stephanie ,dangergirl, Sakume Nohara, Haruko Higurashi, iloveanime8, amy0110, Luz, oki ayame, hopeluv-chan, Kimiko5, a little someone, Chloena, LadyAkina, Cherry Blossom02, KristiexxNguyen, MunChixD, summer lover, Cherryblossomrox, UnheardSymphony, dreamsplash, Tella, SakK, Inkirietta, SakuraKino, Syaoluver0202 ,totally-spaz, Emeralddestiny, ileia, xchibiangelx, hi, Chaotic Lydian and tam224ara for reviewing, you guys are beautiful. !
The last scene in the previous chapter was actually taken from a movie, I worked around the lines a bit, but the scene is quite the same (except it was at an amusement park in the movie). So if u felt the whole part romantic, then praise the movie producers not me.
Thanks to kriztalstar91 for helping me get the idea for Touya-kun's part. -hugs- this chapter is dedicated to her !
' # ' is for T.V commentary.
Chapter 14:- Paradigm Glitch. ( Freaky title, I know...)
A raven haired man walked down the sidewalk on the quite streets of Tomoeda, having finished grocery shopping since it's his day off from work.
He is tall, well built and has a sharp pointy face with deep onyx eyes. The man is not older than 26 and yet he has gone to more than 50 jobs.
It's an old habit of his, working in different places, showing up almost unexpectedly. Now he's settled himself in a multi-national company as the the Head Accountant.
He's been working there for 2 months...his longest time in a job so far. That's right folks, he made a record !
There are many things that irritate the man, and being late to work was on the top list.
Although someone else came in an extremely close second. Someone named...
" Toooooouuuuuuyaaaaa-kun ! " a girl flew out of nowhere and threw her arms and legs around the the said man, piggy-back style.
The girl had long shining black hair and maroon eyes.
" Akizuki " Touya said gritting his teeth.
She poked her head over his shoulder and grinned devilishly. " Konnichiwa ! So how's my Touya-kun doing on this lovely morning ? " Nakuru asked.
" Fine until you showed up. Get off me, Akizuki "
Nakuru shifted her arms and nuzzled her cheek into his hair, totally ignoring the tiny growling noises coming from the man's throat.
" But you're so comfy Tou-chan, and it totally beats walking. "
" Don't call me that ! "
Nakuru ignored his comment " Can I ask you a little favor ? "
" No "
" Can I come over and watch a show on your T.V ? Mine got busted, Suppi-chan thought it would be amusing to pour orange juice inside it " she said grudgingly.
" Of course not "
"Pleeeeease? It's a reality show and you know how I love them right ? They even selected the contestants from Japan !Oh pleeeease ...can I ? " she pleaded sniffing slightly for dramatic effects.
Touya sighed " Fine, if it stops you from pestering me right now "
" Aww, Thanks. You're so sweet Tou-chan ! " Nakuru said and released him to give a tight hug.
" I'll race you there ! " she exclaimed with a big grin and took off.
Touya smiled watching her run ahead.
' The worst I treat her, the happier she gets. Maybe I should be nice to Nakuru, hopefully that would turn her off.'
Shaking his head with the smile still lingering on his lips, Touya followed her towards his house
OoOoOoOoO
The air was chilly, and snow covered the rooftops and grounds of the Li mansion. The mansion gardens can only be described as beautiful, but now basked in the moonlight, it seemed to shine with a sliver glow giving it an ethereal look.
On the whole, the atmosphere around the place was cool, calm and relaxing.
Naoko Yanagisawa was about to go screaming mad.
' How dare she ? How dare they ! ' she thought furiously blinking back angry tears.
You see, right after she stormed out of the room Ashley had been so excited she practically screamed about winning some bet.
It takes no genius to figure out what was going on.
Naoko literally stomped towards the backyard lawn and flopped down in the grass facing the pond, and glared at the waters through her tearing eyes.
She stiffened slightly as she heard someone coming.
The figure stopped beside her and crouched down to her level, grinning cheerfully.
"Hey " Akira murmured. " What's up ?"
" What are you doing here ?" she asked irritably, clearly not in the mood for a conversation.
" I live in there " Akira replied gently, pointing at the Li mansion behind them. " Or have you forgotten that ?"
Naoko lifted her face to see him and Akira noted the slight redness in her eyes.
" Did you come over here just to mock me? " she snapped.
Akira smiled at her " No " he replied. " But saying that made you look up, didn't it ?"
Naoko's eyes widened slightly, and she looked away, but not before Akira caught sight of her reddened cheeks.
" Why are you upset ? " he asked sitting beside her.
Naoko remained silent.
"You can tell me, I can help... " he trailed off.
" Are you a psychiatrist? Can you pick apart people's brains? " she demanded fiercely.
Looking positively frightened now, Akira shook his head.
" Then no, you can't help me " with a scowl, she continued glaring at the pond.
Akira decided that it would be wiser not to speak, so he watched her instead, fascinated by the many shade of golden brown in her hair as the moonlight played around it.
Naoko turned to look at him " What ?" she asked.
" Nothing " he replied with a shrug, turning away.
" You know, it is impossible for it to be nothing " she told him.
" No matter what you still have to be doing something because even if nothing is going through your head it is still
something as you can say it is nothing which gives it substance making it something."
A sound of laughter greeted her ears.
" That made absolutely no sense, Naoko " Akira said his eyes dancing with humor.
" Well, it made sense to me " Naoko replied with a huff, but she could feel her lips going up into a smile.
Naoko sighed ' Might as well tell him...'
" It's the girls, they made a bet on me " she confessed.
Akira narrowed his eyes. " What sort of bet "
He had felt an odd sense of protectiveness over Naoko since the day he met her.
" I'm not sure. But judging by the way they acted, I guess it must've been on how to irritate me or something like that " she answered with a scowl.
" Could be.. " Akira said frowning thoughtfully.
" They grate my nerves to the very end and now they're making bets around my back ! " Naoko gritted out angrily.
" I mean, give me a break here! Never mind, it would be easier to ask for some air, considering they're all a bunch of airheads. Being with them is so frustrating ! " she finished panting slightly to catch breath.
" Well, you know what they say " Akira said matter-of-factly.
Naoko raised an eyebrow " What do they say?"
" Beats me " he replied with a grin and a shrug. " I just felt like saying that."
" Do you think that was helpful ? " Naoko asked with a scowl.
Akira smiled sheepishly " Well, how about you pour honey over their heads saying it's a new hair treatment, and I'll help you throw them near a giant ant hill, as payback. " he suggested.
" Or we'll let loose a couple of frogs in their room. Maybe they'd do a weird Irish jig on seeing them hop around"
Naoko was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes " Akira, you know it sounds unreal right ? "
" Yeah, but it's a pleasant thought now isn't it? You're lucky you didn't get to interview them. I still have nightmares from hearing some of their answers..." he said shuddering a bit.
" I guess I am " she replied giggling. " Thanks Akira, now I feel much better. "
Akira grinned " What can I say? It tore my heart to see the beautiful woman I like upset. "
Naoko raised an eyebrow " I thought you were done with those cheesy pick up lines."
" I am " he stated seriously, his intense dark blue eyes boring into hers.
Naoko blushed and looked away " Oh "
A slightly uncomfortable silence stretched on for a minute or two, as Naoko mulled over what he had just said.
" Nice night isn't it ... " Akira stated lamely elating a laugh from her.
" Couldn't be better " Naoko answered, giving him a pointed glance and blushed fiercely when he winked at her playfully.
OoOoOoOoO
"Ooh, It's going to start! Isn't this exciting ? " Nakuru squealed as she stared at the T.V screen.
" I can hardly wait " a dry voice said from the kitchen. (Touya was cooking )
# " Welcome to the fifth season of ' The Bachelor ' ! I'm your host Shiefa Liang and in a few minutes we'll meet all the 25 contestants who are here to woe the heart of our Bachelor, Syaoran Li ! " #
" Now where have I heard that name before..." Touya murmured to himself as he came out to set the tables for breakfast.
Nakuru was glued to the screen in rapt attention.
# "And here are the lovely ladies who came all the way from Japan ! Kasumi Yuhiko, Airo Yuki , Kourin Chou... Naoko Yanagisawa ..." #
Touya paused ' Wait a minute, Naoko Yanagisawa? Isn't that the Kaijuu's (mosters)friend ? '
# " and the final contestant... SAKURA KINOMOTO ! " #
CRASH ( Someone's gonna need a new set of plates around the house...)
" WHAT ! "
OoOoOoOoO
Have you ever had one of those dreams where you accidentally show up to work or school naked and everyone is staring at you and someone calls the cops, and they bring in the S.W.A.T team to arrest you and tie your hands behind your back with a handcuff and drag you off to jail but on the way someone manages to snap your picture and then your family disowns you because you are Stark-naked on the front of the Newspaper...
... and the cops throw you in a cell and you realize you're not alone because there's a woman named FlubberPoo sitting in the corner and she's a lot bigger than you and she's smiling in a very evil way and cracking her knuckles and then you remember this movie you saw that tell you about what really goes on in prison...
... so you throw yourself out the window because you'd rather die than wait around to find out what FlubberPoo has in store for you and just as you hit the ground you wake up screaming?
Yes, well Sakura was pretty sure that's what was happening to her.
Dreaming, that is.
Dreaming. One of those really weird dreams like the one mentioned above.
For she could come up with no other logical explanation for what was going on.
' I became unconscious when I fell to the ground and I'm dreaming of Syaoran kissing me... '
'... must've hit my skull pretty hard. '
Slowly, she raised her hands and entwined them in his silky hair and she felt his warm hands go around her waist.
' This dream feels so real...'
The sweetness of his lips made her weak, and she felt as if everything inside her had stopped functioning as he deepened the kiss further.Finally they ended the kiss and pulled back.
That's when the reality of the situation hit Syaoran like a ton of bricks...
Oh. My. God
He stared at the ground absolutely petrified on the spot. It wasn't that the mud was incredibly captivating, and yet he still couldn't wrench his vision away.
Syaoran quickly came up with three options to handle this predicament he got himself in.
Option A:
Move to the Canadian Wilderness and survive on what the land provides. Who knows? Frozen caribou might not be so bad with a little salt.
Which he would have to extract from bear pee or something since salt doesn't grows in the Canadian Wilderness. In fact, salt doesn't grows at all.
Option B:
Perhaps he could flee to Sri Lanka. That would work. As long as he gets out of the way when one of the elephants decided it needs to sit, he figured he'd be just fine.
Or maybe he'd just have to take the more sane last option.
He raised his gaze towards Sakura his cheeks taking a dark hue with each second.
' Option C: Confront the situation and wear proud battle scars at the end '
" Well .. " Syaoran began awkwardly " Aren't you going to say something ? "
" When am I going to wake up ? "
"Wha-" He suddenly yelped and drew back sharply as Sakura gave him a pinch through his shirt.
" What the hell was that for !" he exploded.
" You can feel that... " she whispered eyes widening in realisation.
" No shit Sherlock " he rubbed his offended chest with a distinct scowl in her direction. "What were you trying to do, give me a nipple twist !"
" Then you, you..you kissed me ! " Sakura exclaimed disbelievingly.
Syaoran rolled his eyes " Brilliant deduction, detective. You may cuff me now "
" And I kissed you back " she said in the same tone.
" Did it take all your brain cells to figure out, or was it a spur of the moment thing ? " he asked clearly not enjoying this dumb conversation.
The jibe seemed to snap Sakura out of her daze and she glared at him " Why did you kiss me ? "
" You did it too " he retorted.
" I thought It was a dream ! "
" So " he said slyly " You have no problems kissing me if it was one ? "
Now it was Sakura's turn to represent a tomato.
" I- i d-din't mean it like that ! " she said trying to be convincing.
Trying is the word folks...
" Denial is not just a river in Egypt " he told her tauntingly.
" Yeah, it's a major tourist attraction "
Syaoran raised an eyebrow at her " You're more insane than I thought "
Sakura shrugged " I've been hanging around you, I'm bound to loose my sanity "
He gave her an acid look which slowly changed into his trade mark smirk
" We may come across rivers flowing up the sky " Syaoran told her elating a snort from the girl.
" And he said I was nuts... "
Syaoran rolled his eyes " Back in the petting farm, you said rivers would flow up the sky if I had a romantic bone in my body.. "
" But, what I did was pretty romantic don't you think? " he teased.
" Well, I always liked the idea of someone serenading to me with a guitar as romantic " Sakura confessed with a slight blush.
Syaoran gagged.
" Yeah, there goes my romantic notion " she grumbled.
" Seriously, roses are fine. But guitar strumming? That's for sissies " he said in disgust.
" Yes, please continue trashing my dream " she told him wryly.
"And I suppose holding hands is very romantic ?"
" Well I think it's sweet. "
" You would, wouldn't you? " Syaoran smirked.
"Oh, of course Mr. Fan club Li here doesn't have the need to do that. He is already oozing with so much charm and perfectness, all the girls just run and latch onto him by themselves. " Sakura said sarcastically.
For a moment, Syaoran was silent. Then he wiped an invisible tear from his eye.
" You know me so well "
Sakura scowled and was about to retort, but got interrupted as bright flashes of colorful lights and sound of explosions filled the sky.
" It's the fireworks " she exclaimed and they both glanced up captured by its brilliance.
( Imagine the firework scene on The Lizzie McGuire movie, the one with Lizzie and Paulo, except they're not holding hands in here )
Syaoran paused and turned to look at Sakura with an odd expression on his face.
" You know " he began looking back up again. " If it hadn't been you, I would've said I had enjoyed that kiss "
Sakura felt her lips form a smile " If it hadn't been you, I would've said the same thing "
" But sadly it's you "
" Mm-hmm, I know "
" So I wouldn't say all that... "
" Me too "
Sakura duly noted how Syaoran avoided telling her the reason as to why he kissed her.
But then again, she questioned herself, why did she let him? Even if it had been a dream, why not pull away instead of give in ?
Sakura had a strange feeling, that she wouldn't be pleased to hear the answer...
Next Time: Touya kills Syaoran, and Syaoran turns into a ghost --Just kidding... it would be highly amusing if he did though...