Summary: AU A series of events leads a naïve and lost Sakura flying a space ship, for a bounty hunter named Syaoran. S+S
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize does not belong to me.
Blindness
Chapter 1
Beep. Beep .Beep. Beep.
An alarm clock shrilled in the calm, crisp morning. The blanket, which was wrapped about the object that needed to wake up moved, and groaned. The alarm continued to beep, and the girl inside the blanket did not stir.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
The phone, next to her ear rang even louder than the alarm. Along with the alarm clock, they all seemed to be ganging up on her to wake up.
She rolled over and groaned.
"Hello?" The girl picked the phone up and answered groggily.
"Sakura! What are you doing still at home! The test is about start!" The phone screamed at the girl.
"…Test? What test?" She rubbed her eyes as she tried to remember what happened last night.
"Our pilot test!" The phone said back to her in a calmer yet agitated voice.
It hit her, all too suddenly. The bar, where the neon green sign blinked over and over again, the drinks that she had last night to celebrate today's test, and setting the bet that she'd get her license before Meiling, her best friend. If only she could remember what the bet was, maybe then she'd get that feeling of dread out of her head.
Where Meiling was from and what was going through her head, Sakura never knew. The ruby eyed girl had been packing more drinks than her, and yet she was still awake and her normal self.
"Hello? Hey? Are you there?" Suddenly aware that the phone was still talking to her, the Sakura bid her friend a quick good-bye and rushed about the house trying to get dressed.
Running a brush through her hair in front of the mirror and brushing her teeth, she knew she wasn't looking her best. Her brown short hair was in a big mess, her usually bright and emerald eyes were glossed over and bloodshot.
"Huh, note to self, never get wasted and have gel in your hair," She smiled grimly at her reflection.
She quickly got dressed in her blue uniform, hoping that she'd get her license today, and rushed out of the house.
---
"Sakura! Thank the Gods that you are still on time!" Meiling, standing outside the maroon building waiting for Sakura in an identical blue uniform. Sakura smiled sheepishly at her and took in the big maroon building. It seemed much bigger than ever today. It was the test center, where all students of the Cadet University came to test and get their specialty licenses.
"Don't just stand there!" Meiling grabbed Sakura's arm and they rushed inside. Meiling took her Cadet ID and gave it to the receptionist, whom scanned her ID and looked at Sakura. She smiled and followed suit.
Walking into the test room, they were greeted by their fellow classmates.
"Morning Meiling! Morning Sakura!" Rika greeted them the moment they stepped into the room.
"Rika! Good luck later!" Sakura smiled.
"Yep, Yep, Good luck!" Meiling nodded in agreement, "When are we going to start?"
"Well, well, well. Look who decided to join us!" A girl with long blond hair walked over and smirked at the pair.
"Yea, and I just completely adore seeing you in the morning!" Meiling sneered at her.
"Good Morning Sarah!" Sakura smiled in her usual way of greeting.
"Come on, we're just waiting for you two!" Sarah rolled her eyes, still wearing her smirk.
"Glad to see everyone loves us so much! Isn't that right Sakura?" Meiling raised her eyebrows at Sakura.
Sarah put her hands up in defeat and walked away shaking her head. Meiling tugged at Sakura's arm and they followed Sarah to the stimulators lining up the walls.
The pilot test was quite simple to understand, but what it tested took some skill. Today, 67 students of the Cadet University were to be test against each other. The test, which was taken in a stimulated machine, is a race against other pilots, testing firing skills, dodging, evading, and moreover, against time. Each pilot for themselves, they would shoot each other down and evade attacks from fellow testers and try to get the finish line first.
Sakura settled into her stimulated station, and waited for her program to begin. The screen flashed that everyone was ready and ran though the course of the test. It wished them good luck and god speed, and a black starry backdrop appeared on the screen. Sakura started her machine and took the most difficult path, to avoid other pilots.
Avoiding space debris, she expertly flew, gaining confidence by the second. Suddenly someone took a shot at her. Apparently someone decided to take the same route and had caught up to her. Sakura had been sure of her speed; she usually took the route that no one would go on. She loved flying, but she hated the aggressiveness that a pilot had to have.
Remembering the problem at hand, she flipped her ship and did a summersault in the air, coming right on top of the other ship. As her thumb reached for the red button that would fire her missiles, the other ship darted to the left and disappeared.
Meiling, it was Meiling. Just like her to check up on how Sakura was doing and taunted her. For the first time ever, Sakura stepped up to the challenge, and flew into open space. It was already littered with ships that could no longer race. She pressed on her joystick and opened fire upon the ships ahead. Making her way across the debris, she finally saw it, the finish line. There was no one there yet, she fired a shot upon the ship in front of her, damaging its wing, and she flew ahead. But she had forgotten Meiling.
The most vicious fighter, was right behind her, waiting for her to clear up the road, and didn't alert her by firing upon her. Meiling locked on Sakura's ship, and it exploded in an orange flame. The orange flame tumbled across the finish line, just after Meiling reached it, with no damage at all.
"Good one, Good one!" Meiling got out of her stimulator and stretched. She raised an eyebrow at Sakura, who was looking a little down.
"Oh, come on! Remember our bet?" She smiled.
"Yep! I lost fair and square! Let's go!"
---
After a couple of cocktail drinks in a bar with Meiling, Sakura turned around at looked quizzically at her.
"Meiling?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did you-"
"You know the answer to that question,"
It was always good to talk to someone when both parties are drunk, thought Sakura. It always gets the point across.
"When are the test results going to come out?"
"Ne-ver!" Meiling drawled out her words and finished her drink in a huge gulp. She started nodding her head to the beat of the song played in the bar.
"Let's dance!"
---
Sakura sighed as she stood up from the breakfast table.
"Hey mommy, today's the day! Wish me luck!" She smiled at the picture of her mom on the counter.
"Daddy, today I'll be getting my pilot's license!" Sakura said as she picked up the picture of her father. Putting it down, she picked up a picture of her older brother, and could only grin.
"Monster.." she whispered. It was such a long time ago.
"Hey monster! What are you doing?" A boy, in his late teens smiled mockingly at a much younger Sakura.
"Touya! I am not a monster!" Sakura stood up and put her hands on her waist.
He only grinned at her and picked up the book she was reading.
"Monsters know how to read eh?" He said, amused.
"Give that back!" She trampled on his foot and tried to grab for the book.
She failed however, and he read the title.
"Flying and you? What is this?" Touya asked, mockingly.
"Touya!" Sakura huffed.
"You're such a cute monster!" With that, Touya swept her up into his arms and carried her back in the house.
She smiled at the memory. Glancing up at the clock on her wall, she gasped.
"Ah! Look at the time! I'm going to be late!" With that, came the normal rush can only be described by the name Sakura left her house.
A/N: Well, Here we go. My try at CCS fiction. Hope I did okay! Constructive criticism always appreciated.