Author: Okay, I know how much trouble I'm in right now, but just so you all know, I did not get kidnapped by some evil corporation, I was merely buried underneath FIVE MILLION TONS of homework and computer program, and that's why this story had been delayed for update until now...not that I'm expecting you to care...
Alright...I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY……Please accept my deepest apologies and don't come hunt me down just to kill me for not updating for like two monthes….
I'm sorry… again…with strawberry ice cream on top and vanilla-strawberry pokey sticks….
Readers' notice: I thought I should warn you all right now, with my finals coming and several thousand pounds of projects due and 5 millennium worth of computer program needed to be programmed, the updates would be slower than before. I'm sorry for the inconvenience!
Disclaimer: I do not own CCS, CLAMP does, and I would personally like to own Touya…
Chapter 16: The Hurricane Underneath
"Syaoran! Breakfast is ready!"
"In a minute Sakura!"
Life's backed to normal around the Kinomoto residence—well, as normal as it can get anyway. Sakura's still on vacation, which she spends mostly with Syaoran, Tomoyo and Eriol; Syaoran isn't going anywhere anytime soon, not with him still un-engaged; Fujitaka's still busy with his lectures and school works; and Touya? He's still around, having a glaring contest now and then with Syaoran. But now that he's clear about Syaoran's intentions and his love for Sakura, Touya's willing to let Syaoran off easy at times…but mostly, Sakura still has to break-up the zipping lightning between her boyfriend and her brother without getting electrocuted.
Summer's always beautiful in Tomoeda, and today's no exception. Sakura's in a thin baby blue summer dress today, her matching bracelets colloid together from time to time, making tinkling sounds as she prepares breakfast for Syaoran and herself. Her father left yesterday morning on a trip to Tokyo University for some research project, and won't be back for another week. Now that Sakura and Syaoran are alone in the house, Touya has been checking in on them twice in oneday already, just to see if, quoting, "the gaki's behaving…"
The house feels empty with just Syaoran and me, Sakura sighed as she put two plates of toast and eggs on the table, but then again, coming back to the table again with orange juice in hands, Sakura blushed at her thoughts, this does make me feel like a housewife…I wonder what it would be like to be married to Syaoran?
Instantly, images of their "married" life flashed by Sakura's mind: Sakura giving Syaoran a good-bye kiss in the morning before Syaoran goes off to work; Syaoran teaching their child martial arts; Syaoran and Sakura…
"Ohayou, Sakura." A pair of arms wrapped around Sakura's waist, pulling Sakura out of her thoughts.
"Hoe! Syaoran! You scared me!" Startled, Sakura turned around to look at Syaoran, who immediately noticed the faint blush Sakura had on her face.
"Sorry…why are you blushing?" Raising an eyebrow, Syaoran looked at his girlfriend, wondering what would make Sakura blush first thing in the morning. Though she does look cute like this…
Remembering her thoughts just now, Sakura shock her head in embarrassment and quickly changed the subject: "Er…nothing, come on, the breakfast is getting cold."
Not wanting to push the subject, Syaoran let Sakura pull him to the table, sat down and began eating. Chewing a mouth full of Toast and eggs, Syaoran watched as Sakura wiped up the mess on the stove, and washed the instruments she used to make the meal. This is nice… just me and Sakura… alone in a cozy house… I wonder if things will be just like this when we get married? Syaoran winced in annoyance upon thinking the word "married", I still haven't proposed to her yet. Looking around for the calendar, Syaoran smiled dryly, oh great…my brilliant mother and elders shortened my stay, I have about a week and four days before I have to go back…
"Oh by the way Syaoran, this came in the mail for you. It's from Hong Kong, I think it might be your mother." Sakura sat down opposite to Syaoran, smiling happily and handed a neat envelope over to Syaoran.
Taking a sip from his glass of juice, Syaoran chocked on it and began to cough hard. Sakura jumped almost two feet high at Syaoran's reaction, and hurried over, "Syaoran! Syaoran what's wrong?"
Putting a hand to his front, Syaoran pounded on his chest hard while waving a hand and nodding at Sakura, trying to assure her that he's okay. Finally after what seemed like ten minutes did Syaoran stop coughing. Gasping for air, Syaoran looked at Sakura's worried eyes and chocked out: "I'm fine, don't… worry…. just a little surprised."
Keeping his face straight, Syaoran watched as Sakura sat back to her seat uncertainly and resumed eating. Taking up his fork again, Syaoran was in no mood of eating: another letter? What is it now? They can't make things anymore difficult for me…can they?
"Syaoran?" Sakura's voice broke his thoughts. Looking up to his Cherry Blossom, Syaoran replied with an uncertain "Hn?"
"Aren't you…aren't you going to open it?" Sakura looked at the letter, indicating what she meant. Honestly, Sakura just really want to know what this little envelope could contain that would surprise…or scare, her Little Wolf this bad. I've never seen Syaoran like just now…
"Oh…um…" Not sure that opening the letter in front of Sakura's a good idea, Syaoran hesitated.
"Syaoran?" Sakura dropped her head to one side of her shoulder, her big emerald eyes carefully searching for clues from Syaoran's face, while her own is full of curiosity and confusion…and she looks absolutely adorable like that.
"Um…" finding it hard to resist those eyes and that look, Syaoran forced a smile on to his face and assured Sakura, "don't worry, it's probably just my mother wondering how I'm doing… I'll open it later."
Still looking a bit confused, Sakura slowly mumbled: "If you say so…"
Phew… that was close… Syaoran let out a relief sigh and picked up his toast, ignoring the letter for now.
I wonder what that was about…thought Sakura, when peaceful silence filled the breakfast room again. What could have surprised Syaoran that much? With suspicion rising inside Sakura's mind, you can't really blame her when her next thought was, is he…hiding something from me?
Peeking at Syaoran, Sakura watched as Syaoran tried to put the last bit of egg on to his fork, only to have them fall off the second he lift the fork up. Groaning, Syaoran tried again, this time almost made it to his mouth, but his fork failed him once more. Knitting his eyebrows together, Syaoran let out a huff, and just glared at his eggs, willing them to laugh at him.
(A/N: Aw… kawaii…)
Smiling a little at Syaoran's rarely seen childish act, Sakura shock the worries out of her head. I trust Syaoran, there's no point of me doubting him. If there's really anything, surly Syaoran will tell me.
With the worries out of her head, Sakura laughed and got up to fetch a spoon for Syaoran, who took it with embarrassment. Laughing a little, Sakura was about to sit down when the phone rang in the hallway, pulling Sakura away from the table.
The minute Sakura was out of the dinning room to get the phone, Syaoran grabbed his letter and ripped it open, anxious and dreading to see the content at the same time. Knowing the elders, this can't be anything good… unfolding the letter, Syaoran read the little piece of paper in fast pace, eyes growing bigger by the line. By the time he finished the letter, all that ran through his mind was panic.
(A/N: Hm…wonder what could be wrong hn? )
"Hey Syaoran?" Poking her head into the dinning room, Sakura didn't notice the look on Syaoran's face, "that was Tomoyo on the phone, she said that she needed me over for something, so is it okay with you for me to spend the day with her? Eriol's out of town for something, I bet she's feeling lonely."
"Hum? Er…" With the red panic alarm still going on in his head, it took Syaoran sometime to register Sakura's request, "oh yeah, that's fine."
Giving Syaoran a little peek on his cheeks on her way out of the room, Sakura continued talking while getting into her shoes, "Find something to keep yourself busy for the day. And as a prize for being so understanding," looking up to see Syaoran leaning against the wall, Sakura mentioned for Syaoran to get closer and gave him a little kiss on the lips, "you get to do the dishes!"
"That, my dear Sakura," Syaoran half-pouted and half-laughed, "was mean."
Flashing Syaoran a 'I'm-so-innocent' smile, Sakura opened the door and stepped out, only to turn around again: "I'll probably be back around dinner time, and please let me know if someone phoned for me?" Closing the door behind her, Sakura give Syaoran one last smile and waved good-bye.
"Oh great…I'll have the whole day AND the dishes to myself…" Groaning the moment Sakura's out of the door, Syaoran started to head back up stairs, "she's such a slave-driver…"
"Oh and by the way Syaoran," Running back and poking her head through the door, Sakura flashed Syaoran a bright smile…one that Syaoran had came to be familiar with. Oh super, she either wants something or feels guilty of something… "Um…I thought you should know…Touya might come by today sometime around seven to pick something up, and um…"
Another bright smile…
"can you at least PRETEND to be friendly with him for once and…"
Yet another bright smile…
"cook dinner? Okay then, love you and bye!" And with that, Sakura disappeared out of the door.
"I stand by my point, she IS a slave-driver…" Syaoran groaned ever louder this time.
Oh super AND great, Syaoran thought dryly, she wants something AND feels guilty of putting me with her brother… or the dishes…can't get any worse now…
Something about seven clock and Touya coming by rang something in Syaoran's mind… what is it… eyes growing wide at the realization, Syaoran just had the panic attack all over again…
Oh no… tonight is going to be one hell of a night …
Gasp
"Oh Tomoyo! This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!"
Currently, you can hear an amazed shriek ringing through the Daijouji's mansion… and that would be Sakura crying at the top of her lungs at the dress that's being worn by her.
Standing in front of the mirror, Sakura's mouth is slightly open in aw to see the beautiful silk green dress on her glowing a lovely soft green under the light. Silver green straps for both sides of her shoulders, there's layers of soft light green semi-see-through gauze nicely folded a little above her chest area, with a finger-length wide silver ribbon circled around her waist and follows down her legs in a little spiral form, ending just a little above the knees. The dress itself hugs her upper body nicely and goes straight down her legs loosely, and stops just a little on the floor. This simple yet stylish dress separates out the elegance of which Sakura possesses.
"Thank you Sakura-chan, I thought it would look very nice on you." Tomoyo smiled, "It's just something I thought you would like."
And something you could use…say when Li-kun proposes to you… Tomoyo secretly thought.
"Tomoyo-chan…it's…it's so beautiful…" Sakura breathed out.
"There's more for you, I just thought you should try this one on… it might… suit you better at…occasions." Not wanting to spill anything out, Tomoyo chose her words carefully, watching Sakura as she twists around, examining the dress from different angles.
It's 4 clock in the afternoon, and the girls just came back from a day of shopping and hanging out. When Sakura arrived at Tomoyo's place in the morning, Tomoyo insisted on them hanging out for the day, "we don't see each other anymore!" was Tomoyo's reason of going shopping.
I wonder, turning her attention back to look at the bags standing on the floor, how Sakura feels towards Syaoran. Glancing at the sketch book that lay closed on her table, she continued to wonder while thinking about the dress designs she has in there… Does Sakura love Li-kun enough to say the big "Yes" when the time comes for the proposal? I don't want either of them getting hurt…
"Syaoran would faint if he sees me in this, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura squealed with a blush on her face.
But then again…
"Sakura," Tomoyo casually plays with the ribbon that happened to be lying on the table, "how are things going with you and Li-kun?"
"Hn?" Turning around in surprise to the randomness of the question, Sakura blinked a few times before her face turns to a deep shade of red. Turning around to change out of the dress, Sakura mumbled: "what…what made you…bring…bring this up?"
Silently smiling at Sakura's obvious leek of feelings, Tomoyo turned around to giver Sakura some privacy, and said with a giggle: "Well…you do seem to be feeling strongly about him. The way your eyes twinkle every time he comes up in a conversation, and the way you blush whenever you mentions about him…"
"I do NOT blush whenever I mention about Syaoran!" In her summer dress again, Sakura sat down besides Tomoyo on the bed and well…blushes.
Laughing a little, Tomoyo teased: "Oh really? Would you like me to bring a mirror for you to see yourself right now? Must say, that's a very nice shade of red you've got there Sakura."
"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura cried in embarrassment, and started to laugh with Tomoyo.
"Sakura," once they've calmed down, Tomoyo started in a more serious way, "what do you think of Syaoran?"
Pausing to stare at the floor for a moment, Sakura flopped onto the bed and sighed: "To tell you the truth Tomoyo," Sakura looked sideways at her best friend, who'd turned around towards her, "I don't know… I really don't know"
Recalling all the moments they shared ever since Syaoran's return to Tomoeda, and all the old memories that's flooding back to her mind, Sakura sighed deeply again. "I guess him returning to me was one of the best things I could ask for…"
Turning on her stomach, Sakura stared blankly out of the window, and her eyes lost focus as she began: "I like him Tomoyo, ever since when we were little… and I guess it never occurred to me back then that things were going to get much more complicated in the future…well, as of now. I can tell that Syaoran's changed over the years, and I'm really glad at that… but I guess… I guess it just seems all… weird, in a way, that I wasn't there to witness… that I wasn't the one who changed him…"
Clips of Syaoran in their childhood flashed by her mind, and a small smile tugged at Sakurai's lips: "But then again, as long as Syaoran's happy right now, who am I to feel weird just because I wasn't the one?" Watching the birds zooming pass the window every now and them, Sakura turned to Tomoyo, "Tomoyo, tell me something… do you think we have a future together?"
Looking back at Sakura, Tomoyo smiled: "Sakura…I once heard that one can find what one desires at the end of the rainbow…what would yours be?"
Silence was the only thing that existed in the room for the next few minutes, and finally, Sakura smiled: "I don't need to see the end of the rainbow Tomoyo…I have Syaoran in my life… and that's all it matters. Maybe we will have a future together, maybe not… who knows? Wherever fate takes us, as long as he's with me, I'll be fine… I love him Tomoyo," Sakura looks out to the window at the dimming sky, "I really do."
Smiling, Tomoyo watched as Sakura's eyes lost focus at the sky once again.
I know Sakura, I know…GAH! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?
Describing Syaoran right now as overly-panicked would be the understatement of the millennium. It's currently 6:30 in the evening, the Kinomoto-residence smells like burned potatoes, and that might have something to do with Syaoran burning three tries of fried potatoes in a row. Dinner might be OOC, out of commission, right now, but our poor Syaoran is feeling 50 million times worse than that.
"I am in so much trouble right now…I'll be forever grateful if I'm going to be still alive after tonight." Literally pulling his hair out, Syaoran paced in the living room, wanting and dreading the return of Sakura all together.
"Maybe it's not too late, maybe if Sakura gets home before everything happens, I can still explain to her the situation, and maybe, just maybe, she'll understand me enough to ask questions later…" chuckling at his own childish wish, Syaoran dropped into the sofa, "who am I kidding? I may as well get to the airport in the next thirty minutes and pop on to a fly to Madagascar and stay there for the rest of eternity…"
Groaning in the huge headache he has right now, Syaoran forced himself to get up and go change, all is said and done, there's not much I can do now…maybe fate will be kind to me and everything would go at least normal tonight…
…
…
Getting out from a quick rinse, Syaoran was in the middle of struggling through a dress shirt when the doorbell rang. Looking at the clock by his bed, "6:45pm" stared blankly back at him. Quickly pulling his pants on, Syaoran ran down the stairs, still buttoning his shirt, and feeling that his organs are turning upside down inside of him and are working their way up to his throat.
"Coming!" Syaoran yelled at the door. Okay, the moment of death…
Squeezing his eyes shut, Syaoran hesitated to turn the door knob ever so slowly and pulled the door open little by little, taking a deep breath before opening his eyes and bring himself to see……
"Touya?"
"Gaki…" Kinomoto Touya stood at the door, dark chocolate brown eyes staring intensely at Syaoran.
"What are you…" Faintly recalling Sakura saying something about Touya this morning, Syaoran let out a relief sign and stepped aside, letting Touya in. "Oh right, Sakura said something about you coming by tonight and…"
"Cut it out Li, I'm not here to chat." Taking his shoes off, Touya stepped into the house and walked into the living room, expecting Syaoran to follow. Standing in the middle of the room, Touya waited until the other walked in and stood facing him. Thrusting an envelope in front of Syaoran, Touya demanded with annoyance in his voice: "would you like to tell me exactly what Eriol meant by this note?"
Oh great, another envelope… Thinking dryly to himself, Syaoran took the envelope and shock it, catching a little piece of folded paper that fell out in the process. Expanding the paper out, Syaoran scanned the note carefully.
Emergency 19 o'clock at Kinomoto residence, your help needed. Be there.
Clow Reed
So, he knew…and he didn't tell me…Eriol…you are soooo dead…Growling, Syaoran put the note back into the envelope and looked up, only to find Touya with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking at Syaoran with ice in his eyes, expecting an answer. "Well, gaki?"
This is going to be hard…and hopefully not so painful…Swallowing hard, Syaoran looked at the clock on the wall, "6:50" it read. Not much time left…here goes…
"Touya, I do know what Eriol's talking about here, and I swear upon the honor of the Li Clan that I only got wind of it this morning by mail. I don't know when you got the information from Eriol, but if you love Sakura, you are going to help me."
It could've been the sincerity in Syaoran's voice, or it could've been the honesty Touya detected from Syaoran's eyes. Either way, Touya glared at Syaoran for a few more moments before letting out half a thread: "Alright, whatever it is, I'll help you. But I promise you, you are going to die a VERY painful death if Sakura is going to…"
"If I'm going to what?" Out of nowhere, Sakura's voice entered the conversation.
"GAH! Sakura!" This is one of those rare moments when both Syaoran and Touya, two normally very calmed and posed persons on Earth, yell out together in surprise. How in the world could these two powerful magicians neither heard nor sensed Sakura's presence is way beyond anyone's guess.
"Well? If I'm going to what?" Sakura looked at both male in suspicion.
"Um…"
Ding DongNormally, the cliché 'saved by the bell' would apply perfectly in this situation. Except, when the door bell rang for the second time in half an hour, Syaoran looked over at the clock again and froze to his spot.
"Um…I'll get that…" Sakura murmured after a few seconds, since no one in the room is attempting to open the door for whoever's outside.
"No!"
In a flash, Syaoran was pass Sakura and stood with his hand on the doorknob. Looking back to Sakura, Syaoran whispered: "Sakura, I'm sorry."
Not quite sure why Syaoran just said that, Sakura stood there looking puzzled as Syaoran slowly opened the door to reveal a women in the doorway.
"Good evening, Mother." Syaoran bowed.
Author: (Drum-roll) And so, Li Syaoran's mother, Li Yelan arrives! (Applause)
I know it's mean to let you wait for a billion years for the update, only to leave you with a cliff-hanger, but if my updates are going to be slower now, I would need a cliff-hanger to keep you all interested now wouldn't I:P
If it's not too much to ask for, would you pretty please with sugar-strawberry on top Review?
Was born to make you happy……(Who's going to make ME happy and do my computer program for me?)