A Juicy Little Secret
It was a tall, box-like machine with a panel of glass in front and lots of different kinds of packages inside. The area along side the display window was adorned with clear plastic buttons, each of which was labeled with a different character. Near the bottom of the machine was an oblong opening with a plastic door that could be pushed backwards, presumably to allow access to the items inside. Sakura had never seen anything like it. It mesmerized her. What was it? What did it do? She wanted someone to come by and use it so that she could observe it in action. Surely something as big and flashy as that must be capable of wonderful things.
"Miss?" the cashier said tentatively.
The princess jumped and spun around. "Oh! I'm sorry!"
Sakura took her plastic bag of groceries and headed for the exit. She paused in front of the mysterious machine to study it more closely. There was a small, narrow slot in the contraption that she hadn't noticed from the checkout line. Above it was a picture of a finger shoving some coins into it. Sakura dug around in her pocket and pulled out the few coins that she had gotten as change. Excitement flooded her body as she fed the coins into the machine with a satisfying jingle.
Some words flashed across a tiny screen above the panel of buttons. "Enter number of selection." Sakura looked over her choices carefully, trying to find something that looked remotely familiar. Once she finally settled on a bottle of orange juice, she punched in the numbers and with a loud clatter, the juice fell out of its cache and into the oblong opening below. The princess blinked at the machine. That's it? That's all it did? She had been expecting… well, to tell the truth, she wasn't really sure what she had been expecting but the things that she had imagined were a lot more elaborate than this. Oh well; whether or not it came with an extravagant performance, orange juice was orange juice.
Deciding that she would wait until she got back to the house they were staying at to open her drink, Sakura stuffed the bottle of juice into her plastic bag and headed for home.
"What's that, Sakura?" Mokona asked, pointing at the bottle of orange juice in the bag.
"It's juice," the princess answered. "It was in this really cool looking machine and I wanted to see how it worked so I got this juice."
Sakura pulled the bottle out and smiled down at the white rabbit-like creature. "I like juice a lot!"
She twisted the lid and… and…ARRRRGH!
"Hey," the princess pouted, "how come it won't open?"
"Maybe Sakura is twisting it the wrong way," Mokona suggested.
She tried twisting it the other way instead. After a moment of fruitless struggling, the princess shook her head. "I just can't get it."
"Let Mokona try. Mokona is good at opening stuff," the creature bragged.
Trying to keep a doubtful expression from crossing her features, Sakura handed over the bottle. Mokona held the bottom between his feet while he twisted the cap between his paws. He had no more luck than Sakura did.
"Mokona can't get it either," he marveled, handing back the juice bottle with a defeated look on his face.
At that moment, Syaoran and Ryuuou walked in.
"Oh, Sakura hime! You're back already?" Syaoran asked.
"Yeah. I found the store pretty easily," she replied with a sugary smile. Then she held the bottle out to Syaoran. "Do you think you could open this for me? I can't seem to get it."
"Oh, sure," the boy agreed, taking it from her and twisting the lid in his fingers. It didn't budge. He tried again, a little harder this time. Still nothing.
"Step aside, ladies," Ryuuou sighed as he took the juice from Syaoran. "This is a job for a man."
The young warrior twisted the cap. Nothing happened. He tried harder the second time but to no avail. Syaoran and Sakura both looked at him, each with an eyebrow raised.
"Huh? How come it won't come off!" Ryuuou raged, jerking on the cap with all his strength. But it was no use. The cap simply refused to be removed.
"It must be possessed or something," the boy muttered bitterly as he handed the stubborn juice bottle back to Sakura.
"But…but…" the princess sniffled. "How will I drink my juice… if no one can open it?"
"I guess we'll just have to wait until Kurogane san and Fai san get back," Syaoran suggested.
The moment the ninja walked in the door, the younger members of the traveling team flocked to him.
"Please Kurogane san," Sakura pleaded, her eyes shining with tears of desperation, "will you help me open this?"
"Eh? Why me?" Kurogane grunted. "Why can't you get these two brats to help you out?"
"We already tried but neither one of us could get it," Syaoran replied.
"Mokona tried too," the rodent said.
"You couldn't get it?" the warrior repeated incredulously. "How do you expect to be a good swordsman if you can't even open a freaking bottle of juice?"
Then he sighed resignedly, snatching the bottle from the princess's fingers and turning the lid. Well, technically, he only tried to turn the lid; he didn't actually succeed. His frown deepened as he gave it another shot.
"What the hell…?" he snarled under his breath as the lid again resisted his efforts.
Kurogane tried over and over, getting increasingly frustrated with each attempt.
"GAAAAHH! THAT'S IT!" he shouted finally.
The ninja set the juice on its side on the table and drew his sword.
"What are you planning to do with that?" Ryuuou asked nervously.
"If I can't twist it off, then I'll chop it off!" Kurogane said, grinning in a rather disturbing manner and raising his blade above his head.
"But…but if you do that…" Sakura stammered, "…all the juice will spill out and I won't be able to drink it!"
Kurogane turned to face her, an intimidating scowl set firmly on his face. The princess blushed and bowed her head submissively under the ninja's glare.
"Fine," he huffed. "If you don't want my help, that's just fine with me!"
Without another word, he stomped into the kitchen to put away the flour he had brought back for Fai.
The wizard returned to the café shortly after Kurogane's arrival. As soon they saw him, everyone surged forward (including Kurogane, though he hung back a little and did his best to look disinterested. He did have a reputation to protect, after all) and Sakura proffered the bottle of juice.
"Fai san? Would you please help me open this?" Sakura asked. "I can't get it and everyone else has tried to. No one has been able to do it yet."
Fai's eyes widened in surprise. "No one?" he repeated incredulously. "Not even Kurotan?"
Sakura shook her head.
"I don't know why you bother asking him," the ninja sneered. "If I can't get it then there's no hope for him."
The blond smiled apologetically at the princess. "I'm afraid Kuromyu is right, Sakura chan. He's much stronger than me. If he can't get it, no one can!"
"Please, Fai san?" Sakura begged, fixing the sorcerer with a pleading stare.
He gave in easily. "Alright, I'll give it a try."
Fai took the bottle from her and gripped the lid between his long, slim fingers. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he prepared to give the plastic cap everything he had. Everyone leaned forward anxiously, each with the same resonating question in their heads: Can he do it? Is he the one who can open the bottle of juice?
The sorcerer twisted the lid…
It popped off without protest. In fact, Fai hardly had to touch it.
"Erm…here you go, Sakura chan," the wizard said, a politely puzzled smile playing across his features.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Kurogane shouted, slamming his sword down angrily on the floor. "HOW COME HE WAS ABLE TO OPEN IT SO DAMN EASILY!"
Fai shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it just needed a little love to persuade it."
"Stupid magician with his stupid face and his stupid ideas," the ninja muttered as he turned on his heel and stalked away.
Syaoran and Ryuuou also left, both feeling a bit dispirited at the fact that they had failed to open the juice even though they tried their hardest but Fai barely had to try at all and had managed on his first try.
Sakura drank her juice happily, throwing the blond an appreciative glance as she did so. Fai san was good to have around.