Misconceptions

Author's Notes: I've begun to ATTEMPT to make my chapters longer. This is difficult though, because I have an extremely busy schedule and I like to read fan fiction on the weekends as opposed to writing them. But even so…

I couldn't help but put some humor in here. I'm a happy person.

Summary: Sakura somehow gets back into Syaoran's life, but Meilin gets in the way again.

Chapter Nine: Cookies: Dangerous Things!

"He thinks I'm a ghost." Sakura said, coming once more to the Daidouji Estate after a failed mission of sorts. Tomoyo of all people looked quite annoyed. "Maybe he'll take it better in full sunlight, Sakura." she suggested with a noticeable tinge of annoyance in her voice. Eriol had long gone home.

"Well, let's try tomorrow then." Replied Sakura, whose face was now extremely troubled. Tomoyo smiled reassuringly (though it didn't do much) and suggested that she sleep over. She then proceeded to go up the stairs.

Sakura was contemplating her situation when suddenly…

Tomoyo was upstairs, brushing her hair, when she heard windows breaking and a piercing scream from downstairs.

Syaoran made his way through the mist to the mist to the gathering on top of a hill. It was silent, but it wasn't that calm and relaxing serenity. One might describe it as 'deathly quiet', and it would fit the event perfectly.

As he climbed the gentle slope the crowd that had been there broke and slipped away. In a matter of seconds he was the only one there. The single, observer to ---

--- Sakura's grave.

No, actually. Another was looking upon the lonely slab of stone.

"Pretty, isn't it Syao?" an ethereal girl greeted brightly beside him.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura!" Tomoyo yelled in concern, but the aforementioned Card Captor was alright when she arrived downstairs. Alright, if you didn't include the special aspect of paleness.

"There…was…a giant…"

"Giant!"

"…bug." Sakura shyly answered, and pointed sheepishly to a large black dot on the glass table that had once been a living creature. "Sorry to disturb you."

By this time Tomoyo knew that something was really wrong with Sakura. 'Could be trauma…' she decided. It had been a long time since she heard her friend be scared of creepy crawlies.

'Wait…bugs could crash through windows?'

Even after saying he'd never get to bed with ghosts ("Who know where I live, damn it!") floating around, he somehow fell into a light sleep on the family room couch.

"Now she's haunting my sleep!" Li Syaoran shouted in frustration, unwilling to even blink. "Either that or I'm dead and think I'm still alive." he added.

the next day

Another knock came at the door, the sun only beginning to rise. A sleep-deprived clan heir nudged himself up from where he had been sitting on the floor and opened the door not thinking it could be ---

"Sa…sa…saku…sa…saku…ku…sa…ra…saku…" was the illogical response.

The girl at the door was wondering why the other was so tensed. "Excuse me mister," she tried to say, "but would you like to buy some cookies?"

Cookies.

About thirty minutes later an even more sleep-deprived clan heir heard a knock at the door. He nudged himself up from where he had been sitting on the floor eating chocolate chip sweet dough cookies and reopened the door still not thinking it could be ---

"I already bought cookies." was the somewhat logical, if impolite, response.

"What, Syaoran?"

Cookies. I want more cookies. Mom, I need cookies.

Cookies.

Wait. Oh, hello Sakura. You have cookies?

"Sa…ku…ku…saku…ra…ku…cookies…ra…sa…saku…kura…" was the even more illogical response.

The girl at the door was still wondering why her name was only utterable through non-sensible syllables…and the association of cookies with them. Cherry did go well with sweet bakes, though.

Behind her was Tomoyo, again free of any electronic recording devices. "Syaoran," Tomoyo attempted to say, "she's not a ghost. I don't have any psychic powers, remember?"

They noticed that some of his color flooded back into his face, but after a second or so of silence it drained out again, leaving it even whiter than before. "So…you…dead…too…like…Sa…" he mumbled audibly enough for them to hear, then turned to run back inside the house.

He might have been triumphant too, if it wasn't for the fact that he slipped on a stray cookie.

After Syaoran finally woke up from the little cookie incident and stopped mumbling incoherent but slightly understandable words ("Ghosts and girl scouts know my home address…must escape…") he suggested to his grandmother that he take Sakura out for a talk.

San Yu was more curious than scared that her grandson wanted to take a spirit out for coffee. "But I thought she was dead? It isn't safe to make friends with undead people, Syaoran."

There was a multitude of sweatdrops that formed on Sakura's, Tomoyo's and Syaoran's features.

"So…Sakura…er, why did you call me Li that other day? Or, er, yesterday?" asked Syaoran, trying not to freeze from the cold glare that both he and Sakura were shot from Meilin. He had convinced San Yu to give him permission to take Sakura out, but a special someone had nagged him to come along. Syaoran was irritated, but was thankful at the distraction for the otherwise angst-and-apology-filled day.

"Because…maybe your family didn't want me to call you Syaoran, um, Syaoran." she replied as neutral as possible, but the other girl kept on her ice gaze.

"Oh, okay." was the now civilized reply.

"Syaoran," Sakura whispered as soft as she could, "why didn't you tell me --" but was cut short as twin ponytails blocked their view of each other. Meiling looked evil as ever, back to the days when both she and Syaoran were new to Tomoeda. "Tell you…what?" she demanded in a feathered manner.

Syaoran was about to lecture her on the wonder of privacy and freedom of speech when Sakura interrupted them before the heated exchange of words could begin. "--tell me when your wedding was! I'd like to attend!"

The bride-to-be of said matrimony started to protest, but a small Meilin-the-devil voice whispered in her head, "This'll be our chance to show off!"

Aforementioned imaginary being was followed by Meilin-the-angel voice. "She's been nice to you all these years, even till now! Let her if she wants to." Just then, both good and evil advisors disappeared, probably returning to the place where inexistent voices live. ( Or Heaven and Hell. Lowly humans don't know. )

"Why of course Sakura, she can come, can't she Syaoran?" she announced, but for Sakura ( and Syaoran ) it sounded more like a command that proper permission. Amber eyes glowed mahogany with post-traumatic-experience rage, more than capable to sense the hidden plan behind the toothy grin. But still he knew that he couldn't take out his anger on her there.

Instead he replied, "It was supposed to be July 30, but for a reason I wanted it to be different. San Yu is trying to get a schedule sometime in August." and by doing this he vented his emotions into calm but sharp words. "It'll be held in Hong Kong. Kowloon."

Sakura went a shade lighter. "Oh. That's nice." she said cheerily, not noticing the expression on Meilin's elated face. "I'll surely go!" she forced out.

This was a statement Syaoran did not believe, but he held his tongue.

Meilin was very much excited already. "Why don't you fly to Hong Kong with us, Sakura-san?"

There was a fleeting look of…horror, was it?... on Sakura's already lightening features, but she hid it quite well. "I'd like to, but…"

At this point, Syaoran knew that he wouldn't be greeting any Kinomoto's at his wedding, unless Touya and Fujitaka ended up there by some freak accident. 'If Sakura ended up there by some freak accident, she'd go chameleon and try to blend in with the flowers.' he thought, and that made him laugh slightly.

"…I think I'd rather get there on my own, and --"

"It'll be fun! We'll pay for-" persisted Meilin.

"--I'd take my own flight, if I may. I don't care about the money I'll use." Sakura pushed on with a tone that meant that any further struggles would be of no use. Silence fell around them.