Wow, I was sure no one would remember me since it's been so long! Because it seems like there are readers, I've updated extra-quickly this time XD A big thank you to the very first reviewers of Sakurairo Hanabi!
Medieval Legend15 – hey franny, I remember you! thanks for reading and for the support, I truly appreciate it!
cherrixwolf – xD The fluff MIGHT come later, hehe.
LupineLightning-IllusionDragon - whoa that's a lot of "please update soon"s! thanks for the enthusiasm!
pnaixrose - thank you for the welcome, I'm glad to be back!
green aura – thanks so much it really makes me happy to see that I'm remembered by a few!
Note - man, I hate how the formatting changes a bit in the transition from Word to uploaded document on ffnet. If there are some weird-looking things, like squished together words or lines or something, blame the strange formatting xD (and then TELL ME lol)
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Sakurairo Hanabi
By Fantasiimaker
Chapter 2
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The next day, Syaoran saw her sitting on the wall again at lunch. This time, two girls were sitting next to her and laughing. So. She had found some friends. Not like he cared. Syaoran turned toward the boys' bathroom.
When he came back out, he had been determined to walk by and ignore her. But she caught his eye.
She was looking directly at him.
"You really don't mind if we try some of your lunch?" one of the girls giggled.
Silence.
They both laughed, and one dug her finger into a rice ball and took a bite.
"Ughh, how disgusting!" she cried, flinging the rice to the ground. "There's no flavor! How plain and cold!"
"Just like you!" the other girl yelped gleefully, and the two shrieked with laughter. The girl who had tried the rice shifted quickly to the side, sending the lunchbox flying to the ground. "Oh, oops! My bad!" she gasped in a display of false surprise.
"Ami, you're so horrible!" her friend giggled. The two smirked at Sakura and took off, amused at themselves.
Standing in silent shock, Syaoran watched them go. If Sakura was his friend, he would've chased after them; he would surely have avenged her for it. But…was Sakura his enemy, then? He looked at her, still sitting quietly with her fingers gripping the wall. Suddenly, she seemed to jolt back to reality. Giving her head a slight shake, she came down and began to pick up the splattered rice.
Something clenched inside of Syaoran. No one else was going to get down there and help her. Gritting his teeth, he bent down and took her overturned lunch box.
Without looking up, she grabbed it at the same time.
"Why didn't you just talk?" he said in a low voice. "You should've told them to fuck off! Or ask for help or something!"
Her head rose slowly as she held on to the box. "I don't need any help," she said, her eyes meeting his.
"I think you do!" he shot back, and plucking the box from her, he began to pick up the fallen rice balls. Sakura watched him quietly for a few moments, then continued to pick up what remained of her lunch. They finished the work quickly and met at the garbage can to dump the dirty food.
"Thank you," she said, taking the empty lunch box from him.
Syaoran nodded stiffly. "I have some money. Do you want to go and buy some food?"
"No, thanks." She turned and went back to the wall, where her backpack sat. A dark, lonely mound of books and cloth. Syaoran stared at her back as she went. Then he shrugged and left to find his friends.
"Um-!" Sakura said, turning around suddenly. But he was already gone.
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"So," Tomoyo smiled brightly in math class, later that day. "I hear from Yamazaki that you made a new friend!"
Syaoran shot Yamazaki a glare. "That's not really true. You see, I don't think she wants any friends."
"Oh, I don't believe you," said Tomoyo, hitting his arm lightly. Syaoran tingled at the touch. "Everyone wants friends!"
"Well…" Syaoran fished around for a smart retort. "…she doesn't," he finished lamely.
At that moment, the teacher began to order everyone into groups of four. "It's that group research project," Yamazaki reminded, climbing over a desk to join them.
"So who's going to be our fourth?" asked Syaoran.
"Let's ask Eriol! I'll go." Smiling, Tomoyo began to get up. Oh no no no no no, thought Syaoran. I don't want him in our group. It's selfish of me, but I don't want him. See, he's already working his magic on her.
"Li!"
Syaoran looked up. The teacher was calling him.
"Li, will you take Kinomoto into your group? She's new, and I know you've got everything mostly covered, so you can explain to her…" the teacher blabbered on, but Syaoran just stared at him. Yes, he was saved!
"YES!" he cried out, a little too loudly. The teacher stared. Syaoran coughed and tried again. "Er, yes. We'll help her. Come on, Sakura."
He knew Tomoyo would be disappointed, but she covered it very neatly as she held out her hand to Sakura. "Hello," she smiled warmly. "I'm Tomoyo. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
"She's the new student Syaoran met," Yamazaki whispered into her ear.
"Ah, so you've met Syaoran already!" Tomoyo continued on, and Syaoran watched, amazed, as Sakura seemed to thaw a little. Her stiff shoulders relaxed slightly, and she let Tomoyo take her hand as she introduced herself in return. He couldn't believe his eyes. Tomoyo was truly an angel.
After Yamazaki introduced himself as well, the group formed their desks into a square, with the fronts facing in. Syaoran ended up seated next to Sakura, with Tomoyo facing him. Immediately, Syaoran took over the distribution of project topics and which ones to cover. Sakura was quiet, only nodding in agreement once in a while.
"Now, where shall we meet for our first round of research?" asked Syaoran.
"Sakura, what do you think?" Tomoyo prompted.
"I…just got here last weekend, so I don't know this place very well yet," Sakura replied softly. Wow, thought Syaoran. She said something that isn't rude.
"Let's go to the library then!" suggested Yamazaki. "They'll have plenty of research material, and it will be quiet enough to study. Oh, oh, and afterward, let's go get something to eat!"
Syaoran laughed, and the bell rang just as they all agreed to use the library. "Oh, sorry, I have a choir meeting right after school!" said Tomoyo. "Let's decide on the meeting time later. Or…you can just give me a call, Syaoran!" With a smile and a quick wave, she dashed off.
Turning, Syaoran caught Sakura looking at him. She turned away quickly.
"I'm going to go bother Chiharu at her tennis game," said Yamazaki, winking at Syaoran. "See ya!"
Then it was just the two of them, standing in the hall. The sound of elated students escaping the confinement of their classrooms echoed around them. Syaoran glanced at Sakura. She was looking at the wall.
He sighed. "Do you, uh, live close by?" he attempted.
She nodded. "I walk."
"Oh, so do I." Syaoran tried to sound cheery, but the words that came out were empty and leaden. "Let's go, then." No. I'd rather walk with Tomoyo than this cold, unfeeling girl who probably hates me. And why? I didn't do anything to her.
He held one of the heavy double doors open for Sakura, but she pushed open the other one instead. Heaving a sigh, he followed. The bright sunlight flashed off cars on the nearby street and illuminated the trees standing by the school's entrance.
Walking a few steps behind Sakura, he searched his memory. He couldn't quite remember if Eriol was in choir or not. Maybe that was the reason Tomoyo had been so keen to get to choir practice…
"You live in this direction too?" Sakura's voice broke into his tormented thoughts.
"Ah, yeah, I do." Syaoran watched as she swung her bookbag around lightly, the wind ruffling her skirt. "I live just past the park."
Sakura nodded, and they walked on in silence for a little while.
Syaoran supposed that it was his turn to talk now. Against his will, the first topic out of his mouth was Tomoyo. "She's a great person, you know. You should make friends with her. She likes you already, I think."
Pausing to let Syaoran catch up, Sakura murmured, "Hmm. Well, she's nice, I guess."
As they walked side by side, she turned abruptly to him. "You two are very close, right?"
"What? Oh, uh…well, I guess. I mean, we've been friends since elementary school. But we're…..we're not going out or anything, if that's what you mean!"
Sakura seemed to scrutinize him closely, and Syaoran shrinked under her gaze. She started to say something, but stopped herself and walked on. Syaoran had to jog to catch up.
They walked on in strained silence until the park came into sight. Sakura stopped.
"So you turn here?" asked Syaoran, trying to sound chatty. "My house is still a little further up."
"Let's go to the park."
Syaoran whipped around. "What?"
"I said, let's go to the park." Without waiting for his answer, Sakura took off her school shoes and leaped into the sand. His mind whirling, Syaoran found himself staring again. This girl was crazy. Never had someone surprised him so much in such a sort time span.
He watched as she lowered herself into a swing, scrambled back, and let herself go flying. She was like….a trapped bird that had found some spark of freedom. Of hope.
And then Syaoran caught a flash of her lavender panties beneath her skirt.
Immediately, he made a 180 degree turn, blushing madly. Don't be a pervert! he chastised himself. And also, there's Tomoyo, whom I won't think bad thoughts about, either! Furious with himself, he stepped onto the sand and settled into a swing beside Sakura.
Skidding to a stop, she grabbed hold of his swing's chain. "How high can you go?" she challenged.
"Higher than you!" Syaoran retorted.
Sakura stared at him for a moment. Then she pushed off with both legs, sailing toward the sky. They both swung back and forth with all their might, until Sakura shouted, "Do you think you can fly?"
Syaoran glanced at her, panting a little from the exertion. "I don't know, can you?" he called back.
She didn't answer. In an instant, she had pushed herself out in midswing and was plunging high into the air.
She can fly, thought Syaoran in wonder. Time seemed to slow, almost stop, as she floated effortlessly forward with her arms outstretched. Beautiful, he thought suddenly.
Then she hit the ground with a loud smack.
"Sakura!" shouted Syaoran, bursting out of his swing. She was down on all fours, her cheek touching the ground, but she gingerly inched herself up and gave him a rueful smile. There were scrapes all over her smooth skin now.
Before he knew what he was doing, Syaoran was at Sakura's side and wiping the sand from her face. "Ah.." she grabbed his hand to stop him. He was close now, the closest he had ever been to her so far, yet all he could do was stare at her. She looked so surprised and vulnerable, her cheek had been warm….she was a normal person after all.
Suddenly, the two reddened at the same time, and Sakura thrusted his hand away almost roughly. "Don't…don't touch me," she whispered.
"Sorry," said Syaoran. He remembered and turned to her scrapes. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She pushed herself up, but at once she stumbled and fell forward. Syaoran lunged and caught her quickly in his arms.
Oh wonderful, I'm touching her again, he thought as she pulled away. She's acting like I'm some nasty octopus or something.
"Ah, it's just my leg," Sakura muttered, kneeling down to get a better look. Her knee had a large, raw scrape. Wincing, she brushed off a few stray bits of sand.
"You're bleeding," Syaoran pointed out.
"So?" She stood up again, and this time only stumbled a little. But as she stepped into her shoes, she held out her arm unsteadily, and her hand landed on Syaoran.
"I'll walk you to your house," he offered. "To make sure you're okay."
"No!" she cried, snatching her hand back as though he had offered her a snake. "I can get home fine on my own. Just go! Go!"
"All right! I don't need to be told three times!" snapped Syaoran, eyes flaring. She just ached to get away from him, he could tell.
Sakura stopped, turned to him. "Thank you for worrying about me," she said more composedly. "But I don't need your help anymore. I'm sorry for my rudeness, but I'm not the kind of person you would enjoy being with. So please, just leave me alone from now on." Her voice was icy, a glacier threatening to crack open anything in its way.
Syaoran watched as she hobbled slowly away down the sidewalk.
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Tsuzuku – to be continued.
Author's note: Hmmmm….why doesn't she want him to come near her house? XD Keep reading and find out!
Much love to the commenters! Your encouragement and feedback help immensely.