Sakura gently put the tip of the cup to her lips, taking a slow slip.
Across from her, sitting in one of the outside tables in front of the homely cafe, sat a man. She watched him, as she had been for the past fifteen minutes.
He was handsome.
Brown hair, fair completion, high cheekbones. His face was fair and pleasant to look at. From his strong jaw, down his long neck, to broad shoulders stretch across his torso, he looked strong and confident. His waist was slimming, his tailored shirt and jacket loose.
Sakura's royal eye would have never spotted him had he not first disrupted the momentary peace of the cafe by causing his porcelain cup to slip from his grasp and shatter into a million pieces on the floor. The waitresses and waiters were like ants, rushing to and fro to clean up the mess. They quickly ran over to his little table with mops, rags, and a gray plastic trashcan to pick up the colorful splinters.
Embarrassed and even flabbergasted for his sudden episode, the man jumped up from his seat and tried to help. The waiter-ants ignored his well-intentioned plea, setting him down once more and getting him another cup of mocha.
However proficient the waiters were, however humiliated the man was, Sakura saw that another accident seemed inevitable, as his mind appeared to be everywhere but on this planet.
His large hands fluttered over his chocolate biscuit and second mocha coffee. They were like birds that were either so eager to fly they kept on tripping over their feet, or rather (Sakura assumed this to be the more likely one), they were so scared stiff the mere thought of leaving the nest on some strange journey rendered them senseless.
Sure enough, as she watched, his elbow inched closer to the light blue cup, the liquid inside peering out over the lip. She felt sorrow for the small cup, which was terribly adorable with small figures of two people holding hands, yet she could not do anything but gaze as the man's elbow continued to tip the cup over. After a short struggle, the cup gave up its will, residing to fate as gravity took it over and sent it down to the cobbled ground.
As the tell-tale crash resounded to the front doors of the café, Sakura heard the distinct irritation in one of the waiter's voice as he said to a colleague, "Oh, not again. Katja, get out another cup." Sakura could not really blame the waiters for their annoyance (after all, she doubted she would be in the best of moods if she needed to clean up after the same man twice), yet she still found it somewhat disheartening that they did not pity this man a little more.
Inside of sitting idly, and watching the man distress once more over the turn of events, Sakura got up from her chair and knelled down next to the man, who was hunched over picking up the pieces of the second fallen cup.
"Here, let me help," Sakura said.
The man glanced up at her, the corners of his mouth curving upwards in cheerless smile.
"Thank you, miss." He said. The sound of his deep voice sparked a tiny sense of recognition, as though she had heard that same voice not long ago. Sakura shook her head, though the sense of wonder did not leave her.
They picked up the pieces slowly (the waiters were taking a bit longer of a time in getting over here, Sakura noticed).
Now that Sakura was closer up, she could judge the man more easily. His boyish face suggested his age to be in the mid twenties to thirties. Already there were small signs of wrinkles by his eyes.
'Charming', thought Sakura as she picked up the last piece.
The man straightened up his back and held out his hand to her. "Thank you again for helping me." He gave a small chuckled. "I'm sorry for being such an inconvenience."
Sakura liked the sound of his laugh. It again reminded her of someone she had heard before, yet for the life of her she could not place his voice. 'Where have I met you?'
The man gestured to the chair opposite his on the table. "Please, allow me to get you something."
Sakura felt her cheeks warm up. His brown eyes, wonderful intense brown eyes, had settled on her and she felt very light suddenly.
"Oh, there's no need. Thank you, I just am-" she began, before the man held up his finger.
"No, no, I insist." He gestured once more to the lone chair. He leaned closer to her, his mouth close enough that Sakura could just barely detect the sweetness of the mocha on his breath, "After all, you're the only one that bothered to help me."
Feeling light, Sakura obliged, giving her one of her best smiles. 'What am I doing?' she thought as the man ordered from a slightly aggravated waiter. His closeness put her at ease, and his overall manners and voice gave her the impression she knew this man very well, though she arrived in this dimension little over a day ago.
Yet as he turned his eyes on her once more, and his smile, Sakura felt her worries ease down into her stomach.
"Well, what a way to meet." he began, his eyes bright. "I'm afraid you've caught me on one of my days."
'His eyes smile,' Sakura noticed, and found herself very fond of the quality. 'I like his eyes,'
The man began small talk as they waited for their coffee. "Are you foreign? I hear a bit of an accent in your words."
'You have no idea' "Yes, I am. We…um…my family and I are just visiting for a few days."
"Ah, well, you have come to a wonderful place. City of love, they call it." he grinned at himself, as though he told a very amusing joke. "Today is even the holiday of love. Cute, isn't it? A day of love in the city of love."
His hand was tapping his knee impatiently. As the waiter brought over the coffee, Sakura could not help but notice his eyes darted around the café furiously.
He was not paying any attention at all to the third cup. Another fatality was destined.
Sakura put a piece of hair behind her ear as she leaned forward and hesitantly asked, "Um…why is your hand doing that?"
The man looked at her, opened his mouth to say something, than shut it quickly. His eyes descended downward slowly, as though he could not believe himself. In an instant, his hand stopped tapping and he turned to Sakura with an apologetic face.
"Ah, yes, of course, er…that is…" he paused, searching for the right words, "To be frank, I have no idea."
'Strangely honest', Sakura thought as she listened to his voice, with dipped and rose more frequently with anxiety.'Who's Frank?'
"Today," he started, talking more to himself than her, "is the day of...my life. I am about to either make the biggest mistake possible or…"
He paused again, his hand tapping his knee once more. Sakura felt a need to say something to him, however at the same time, she felt he just needed to blab, which he was clearly comfortable doing.
"Or it could be the day that destroys me. Ha-ha," his laugh was devoid of any humor. She had heard the same laugh during a battle in another dimension. It was the laugh of hopelessness, something she hoped to never hear again.
The man was fumbling with something in his pocket now. By the tips of his fingers, he gently tugged a tiny box. Black velvet showed up his fingers as his thumb went over the top of the box, petting it like a cat. Or something very expensive.
Wondering what was inside it, Sakura tried to guess what important thing could possibly fit inside such a strange little box. She did not dare to ask, for the way the man showed her the box clearly showed he expected her to know exactly what it was.
Feigning surprise and smiling, she nodded her head up and down, praying her face did not show how dumbstruck she was.
Not that she should have worried anyways, for the man's eyes did not look up from the thing as he glazed at it in pure amazement. His eyes grew distant, and Sakura knew he was no longer looking at the box, or at her, or at anything around them. He was engrossed in his own world, perhaps the one revolting around whatever meaning the thing inside the box had.
Sakura finished her coffee (it tasted sweet and bitter, a lovely combination) and sat still, debating whether she should inform the man that she was about to leave. Normally, royal etiquette would require a page to announce the arrival and departure of any party.
'However,' she chided herself softy, 'I am not royalty here.' And as she looked at the man, who still had not returned from his own world, she felt no wrong in what she was doing. She gracefully got up from the table, silently too, and walked into the park away from the café without further notice.
From a bench across the park from the café, she watched as the man sat up abruptly, his entire posture changed. A woman, Sakura sadly could not see her face, glided over to the man and sat down in the seat she had moments before occupied.
'Ah,' thought Sakura, 'So that is who he was waiting for,' her suspension that the box was valuable proved correct as she saw the man slide over the box across the table. The woman (now Sakura really wished she could see her face!) stopped moving, as though her breath was taken away. She then jumped up and went over to the man, kissing him deeply. The moment was more intimate than she expected, and Sakura blushed, turning away from the lovers. She felt a bit strange, as though she had just walked in the two people pronouncing their love in an almost sexual way.
The sense of familiarity still resided in her breast. She knew that man from somewhere, though nothing came to her mind. Surprisingly, she felt a small tingle of jealousy, knowing the lady (who, from the way she glided to the man, purposefully and was clearly much more mature than Sakura) was the one the man loved.
'I don't know him,' she thought, 'I was with him for a few minutes. Why in heavens name do I feel like this?'
Her question went unanswered, and she forgot it as soon she saw familiar faces come up from behind a street corner.
"Sakura-hime, we're all done," a voice she knew well traveled on the wind to her ears. "Mokona found the person it was looking for."
Syaoran walked over to the princess and bowed his head. With his head bowed, his floppy hair covered his eyebrows, a jagged line across his eyes. On impulse, Sakura reached up and touched his forehead, letting his hair slide in-between her fingers as she moved it back. Syaoran looked down at her with a look of a mix of surprise and awkwardness. Awkwardness seemed to have won for a tint of pink colored his cheeks.
"Your Highness?" he whispered, hoping that Fai and Kurogane had miraculously turned their backs. It would be more than a little unnerving if the two older men saw them like this, especially with regards to Syaoran feelings toward the girl. He frightfully wondered if she could hear the blood rushing under his skin or the increase of his heartbeats.
Sakura, of course, had not the slightest idea of what she was doing to the boy, staring intently in his eyes with curiosity. 'Intense. Like the man's, but not quite.'
She ran the tips of her fingers down his cheek, feeling his warm skin, still unaware. 'His eyes do the same thing. They smile, too. Warm and friendly,' she reflected, remembering some of the times he smiled at her. 'Could he be-?'
"Princess?" Syaoran gulped.
The corners of Sakura's pink mouth turned upwards and she looked at him with new found wisdom.
"You need a haircut." She said.
At times, new found wisdom is best kept to oneself until the appropriate occasion. And at the current moment, Sakura would simply relish in it, savor it up and swim in the delight. Some day, she might let the others in on her wisdom.
Maybe.
Short and to the point. Sakura's own little adventure in meeting a random person. (Some may be asking why Syaoran or Fai or Kurogane was not with her. My answer: She's a big girl. I think she can handle herself for an hour or so in a peaceful world. Good lord, some people treat her like she's 5 years old)
Inspiration: the city of Paris. Fairly obvious, considering most of the scene took place in an outside cafe, plus the references to the "city of love"
A big thank you to Muse of the Stars, who started the V-day contest and for inviting me to participate. (Muse, in the end, the word count clocked out at 2,047 words. Did I pass?)