At last, here is your next chapter! I'm sorry it took so long, but I had school and then for a while fanfiction wouldn't let me upload some documents. So here you go. This one's just a chapter to fill in the story, to show you guys that several weeks passed and S & S got closer. :D
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Chapter 6: Routines are Good
Sakura liked routines.
She liked them because they gave her specific times to do specific things, scheduling and planning everything out so that, in theory, nothing would go wrong. Of course, things didn't always go as planned, but Sakura liked following her routines because they made her feel safe.
Sometimes there were small disturbances in her set plans, and Sakura always made a point to fit them into the routine and move on, because if you didn't fix problems they got bigger and bigger.
But sometimes the disturbance wasn't bad at all. Those were the hardest to fit into the routine, because you ended up wanting to make a new one.
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PACKAGE DELIVERY RECEIPT
Description: One (1) bird figurine, glass made with plastic base.
Sender: Li Syaoran
Received by: Kinomoto Sakura
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"What…is this?"
Sakura turned the brown tag over in her hands, rubbing her thumb on its recycled paper until the typewritten print was too smudged to read. Finally she picked up the package and untied its old-fashioned string, recognizing the inside pattern paper that came from the local trinket shop.
He bought this? It must have been expensive…
She didn't need to rip the paper apart. It fell open in her hands, displaying the small glass bird perched on a plastic branch inside. The bird looked like a blue jay without the blue, and its wings were cut in feather-shaped facets, glinting prettily when light hit them.
It's far better than the one I had before, that's for sure.
Sakura carefully lifted the bird and then took a flannel cloth and wiped the empty space on her shelf. When she was sure there was absolutely no dust, she set the glass blue jay down and stepped back to admire it. Now there were no empty spaces, and she had almost every animal she could think of. There was even an ostrich.
Complete. She smiled, and then realized just how sweet this was, coming from a guy like Syaoran. If I hadn't known him better, I'd have thought he would break them, not buy more for me.
She checked her watch. It was almost four in the afternoon, and unless he was out with Meiling and Tomoyo, Syaoran would be home doing nothing just like she was doing. Sakura walked over to the phone and picked it up, twirling the extension cord with one hand and looking at how perfect her glass animals were right now.
"Hello?"
"Li-kun, thank you!"…
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Sakura was always trying to do things right the first time. She wasn't an honor student because she didn't recite enough in class, but the grades on her written tests were pretty good because she liked being correct. She'd read somewhere that it could be a personality problem to think like this, but she didn't care.
Of course, having a guy like Syaoran around was probably the worst thing for someone who wanted to be right and safe and scheduled all the time. He was always playing tricks, breaking things, giving her things out of nowhere, borrowing her school stuff, changing his mind, and backing out of promises, and it drove her crazy, but as always she made herself just move on.
And since he was supposed to be a good friend now, Sakura usually had to follow him while he did these stupid things. It really messed up her schedule almost everyday.
Then again, it was a lot of fun.
6:25 am
On regular days Sakura would still be asleep in her bed with her school bag already packed, her clothes already laid out, and her homework already done. She'd almost be smiling because it was a relief to not have to worry about anything. Her chest rose and fell softly with the deep breaths only slumber brings, and all was quiet in her bedroom except for the faint whistling of breeze coming in through her open window.
Then—
RING RING
Sakura reached out and slammed a hand on her alarm clock, but it took her a few more seconds to realize that it was the cordless phone and not her clock making that horribly loud noise. She picked it up and groggily pressed it against her ear.
"Elo?"
"Sakura!"
She looked at the alarm clock and had to squint to read the time. "It's almost an hour before I have to wake up, call me later."
"No, no, wait, can you help me, I forgot to get the assignment yesterday…"
"I wanna sleep!"
"Please? The teacher will kill me this time if I don't forget because I promised her I'd give it today and there are—"
"All right, all right, keep your shirt on." Sakura swung her legs over the edge of the bed and promptly tripped over her school shoes, which she'd forgotten to bring downstairs yesterday.
"Ooof."
"You okay? What happened?"
"I fell. Listen, if you sleep at 1 and wake up this early, how do you have so much energy!"
"I don't know. I just do. What time did you sleep?"
"9. There's not much homework." She'd finished the reading assignment that Syaoran was probably worrying about.
"Well you got more sleep than me, so you should be less grumpy."
"I'm not a morning person," she snapped back, hunting around in her backpack for the textbook. "Okay. Just read pages 32-42 of the book and then be ready for a discussion."
"That's all? I read most of it last week already."
"That's all."
"Are you sure? You didn't forget anything else?"
"That's all, Syaoran! Look, I'm even going to check my assignment notebook, happy?"
He shut up. She sighed dramatically and stuck her arm back inside the bag, feeling around for her spiral-bound homework notebook. There was no way she was going to be able to fall back asleep now. Just NO WAY. Sakura almost picked up her backpack and threw it across the room. Where was that stupid notebook…? She looked inside, and gulped.
"Syaoran, I can't tell you what the rest of the homework is."
"Aha, so you did forget something! So what is it?"
"No, that's just it, I can't tell you."
He got a little annoyed. "Sakura, I know it's early, but I called for help….?"
"No—Syaoran—see—"
"…and just because I forget my assignments doesn't mean you have to be all 'it's your fault' and punish me. I mean, there's no rule against telling each other what the homework is. That's not cheating…"
"But Syaoran—"
"…but you seem to think it is. Please. Sakura, just this once, I swear I will never ever forget the homework again and you can take your pretty notebook wherever you want and—"
"Syaoran, I forgot my assignment notebook at school!"
He shut up. She sighed. Then she heard him mutter just three words before starting to laugh almost hysterically.
"We're so dead!"
9:19 am
On normal days Sakura was at her second period of the day, now awake enough to actually talk to people without biting their heads off. Second period was usually math, biology, or health (like today), and she was quiet and attentive in class, often having no one to talk to and nothing to talk about anyway. She bent her head over her notes and made small changes, glancing up at the blackboard and teacher to get the most out of the lecture.
A folded-up piece of paper landed squarely in the center of her desk. Sakura picked it up. People usually folded notes into triangles or paper cranes or JUST PLAIN FOLDS, but this one was a weird oblong shape. She looked up at Syaoran.
He grinned and mouthed, 'BALLOON'.
Shaking her head, Sakura unfolded the note and peered at Syaoran's squiggly handwriting leaning in every different direction, struggling to read it and failing miserably. Then suddenly the paper was knocked out of her hands and onto the floor.
"Ah, Kinomoto-san. Perhaps, since you are so interested in reading, you would be so kind as to give us one of the answers to our assignment."
"Ah… umm…"
She saw Syaoran stand up, two rows in front of her. "Sensei," he started, trying to look smart and attentive. "I apologize. I was aiming for the garbage can and accidentally managed to throw my trash onto Kinomoto's desk instead. She was only going to dispose of it properly."
The teacher raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to give us an answer, Li-san?"
"Ah…"
"An example of CPR?"
"Oh." He said the first thing that popped into his head. "Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."
Sakura groaned loudly, and the teacher whipped around to face her. "Kinomoto, you seem to be bored with this. Would you know more about it than either of us? Could you specifically define mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, please?"
She turned red. It was hard to answer this, especially because only she and Syaoran were standing, while the rest of the class were giggling and whispering the word 'kiss' over and over again.
"It's… when you place your mouth over the victims'…"
The laughs grew louder. "Why don't you give Li-kun a demonstration instead?" someone yelled out, and this time Syaoran blushed.
Sakura ignored that. "..And exhale once or twice sharply, forcing air into the lungs that will instinctively be breathed out."
"Very good, Kinomoto-san." The two of them sank into their chairs relieved, exchanging a weary smile.
12:13 pm
On normal days Sakura headed over to the soccer field tree to eat lunch with Syaoran, Meiling, and Tomoyo. They all bought different meals from the cafeteria and then traded food to determine which one was the least vomit-inducing. After eating they usually played games or just talked, depending on how much time was left.
Today Syaoran was particularly bored.
"Any games?"
Tomoyo said, "Oh, Meiling's bringing one," just as Meiling said, "Oh, Tomoyo's bringing one." They looked at each other and laughed.
"In other words, no," Sakura said absentmindedly from a fantasy novel she was reading. It was actually funny in some parts and not too nerdy-sounding like the rest she often chose, so she wasn't really bored.
"Hmm…" Meiling's face lighted up. "Oh, I know, do you guys want some popcorn? There's a small food booth set up right outside the school, and if someone comes along to distract the guard I can try and get us a bag."
"Sure, I'll help," Tomoyo said, standing up. The two of them left Syaoran to stare irritably at Sakura.
"What's that book?"
Sakura lifted up the cover for him to see.
"Oh." He waited for her to talk about it, but he already knew she didn't like chatting when she was trying to read. "Is it any good?"
"Mm." It was just a sound, not a yes and not a no. He hated it when she did that.
Syaoran sighed and tapped his fingers on the picnic mat. Tomoyo was talking to the school's security guard, pretending not to know where something was. As the man pointed out some complicated directions, Meiling slipped past him and quickly talked to the street vendor.
Then he saw how intently Sakura was looking at her book, and a small grin snuck up the side of his face. He quickly made himself act normal and then reached out little by little, until in one big swipe he'd snatched the book away from her.
Sakura made a shocked sound. "Give it back!"
"Make me," he said, laughing as he kept it easily out of her reach. He was a lot taller than her, even when they were sitting down.
"You—" She swiped at it. "Are such a—" He laughed and then almost rolled across the mat to get away from her. "Kid!"
"A-ha-ha, Sakura's getting pissed." He opened the book and started to read in a singsong voice, keeping the book easily out of her reach as she grabbed for it.
"Give it back, Syaoran!"
This time he'd been so amused with reading a certain part that he didn't notice she'd come up behind him. He turned to face her, scrambling backwards and away at the same time as she lunged forward to grab the book. Her fingers closed on thin air, Syaoran's knee skidded on the mat, and the next thing he knew he was lying on his back…
…with her on top of him.
For a second she was as surprised as he was. Their faces were no more than inches apart, and her skin touched his in so many places that it was too late to try and think of them all. She felt his chest rise and fall as he breathed, and she stared back into those eyes as both of them tried to make sense of the situation they were now in.
Then Sakura snapped back to reality, daintily plucked the book out from between his fingers, and sat up, brushing herself off with not another word. At that moment Tomoyo and Meiling came back with their bag of popcorn, looking curiously at Sakura who sitting as far away from Syaoran as possible. He was spread out on the mat and looked up at his friends as if he'd just woken up.
"Popcorn?" Tomoyo offered. "What happened?"
Sakura turned to face all of them, looking up from her book. "Ask him."
Boy, it was fun to grin and watch him squirm.
2:22 pm
Afternoon classes were always boring because everyone wanted to go home. They were especially irritating for Syaoran, who seemed to have enough energy for the whole class, but Sakura just drew or wrote stories to keep herself awake. The teacher droned on, making notes on the board as he went. One student's pen slipped to the floor, but he didn't bother to pick it up. Papers rustled and people were quiet, either sleeping or trying to stay awake.
…Except Syaoran. He was wide awake.
"Pssst."
Sakura kept drawing.
"Sakura!"
She didn't even look up from the anime-style fairy she'd been adding detail to. It was turning out to be quite good.
"Your blouse is on backwards!"
She jerked up and grabbed the front of her uniform, trying to see if a telltale tag was sticking out. She did that for a few seconds and then realized Syaoran was shaking in his seat with laughter.
All right then, Sakura thought, smiling a little. This is war.
She looked up at the teacher, who was still talking.
"All right then, class, who would like to demonstrate…"
Sakura leaned over as far as her chair would let her, rolled up a piece of pad paper, and calmly stuck the roll into Syaoran's underarm, straightening up as soon as he yelped and stuck his elbow in the air.
Their teacher was delighted. "Oh, Li-san, how nice of you to volunteer!"
Syaoran realized what he was doing and slammed his hand back down on the desk top, faking a smile at their teacher and then turning to glare at Sakura. Her desk was practically rocking with laughter.
3:36 pm
On normal days Sakura and Syaoran headed to the auditorium after school, where Sakura would practice her lines with the rest of the cast and Syaoran would help out with whoever needed it. Sakura had already memorized her parts ahead of time and Eriol was very proud of her, mumbling things like 'our very own star' excitedly whenever he saw her practicing. The rest of the cast, including Ami, was nice to her. In fact, Ami was pretending that nothing ever happened. She was being a friend. Sakura didn't care, as long as she didn't play anymore pranks.
Today the cast was going to rehearse the whole play as if they were really performing it, so Sakura put on her first costume and waited backstage to watch the fairy scene. She got bored a bit too quickly and looked around for somewhere to sit, but the only bench was occupied by a boy with light brown hair. She thought it was Syaoran.
"Ahh, I wish they'd just hurry up," she said, sitting down beside the guy. Of course, she almost kicked herself right there when he looked up and he wasn't Syaoran, but at least she hadn't said anything private or embarrassing.
"Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else."
"It's no problem." He smiled and then saw her costume. "Oh, you're playing Aurora?"
"Yeah." It still felt weird to admit that she'd actually gone out of her way to make herself stand in the spotlight in front of the whole school.
"That's great! I'm going to be the Prince!"
Silence. She'd never really thought of who was going to be the Prince in the play. And now she realized that there was a certain scene that made her want to politely decline from her role—the tower scene.
Where the princess is awakened by her true love's kiss.
Oh, God. "Oh. Yes. Great. Anyway, I have to go now, so if you'll excuse me…" She was lying; it wasn't her turn to get up on stage yet, but the Prince was staring at her in a way that made her feel more than a little uncomfortable. It was the same look a lot of people gave her when she sang, but she wasn't doing anything particularly amazing right now.
"Wait, you're Sakura, right…?"
"Yes!" she called back, escaping to talk to Eriol for a while. He was a little busy shouting at someone on stage, but she knew he was an expert at multitasking. Holding a conversation and directing a rehearsal at the same time was no problem for the guy.
"Hey, Eriol…"
"No, more of sarcasm, not bluntness… Yeah?"
"I was wondering about the tower scene."
"What about it? …SARCASM, FEEL IT!"
"The… the… ending?"
He grinned, but he was still looking toward the stage. "Oh. The kiss. It's no problem. If you two don't want to, we'll close the curtain right before it actually happens, so you won't have to actually kiss."
Great, so he has a choice to do it or not. "Oh. Thanks for that."
"…GREAT line, just PERFECT! I want that for the performance, all right?..."
4:52
Sakura and Syaoran walked home together, and since Syaoran's was farther he always ended up trying to get into her house for a snack. She almost never let him in, but they did talk for a while in front of her garden gate. (There was no way to ignore him, after all.)
"So don't forget to bring that Styrofoam tomorrow."
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. God, I'm not even part of the props crew!"
"I know, but they're all sick of going to the bookstore!"
She laughed. "Okay, okay." She was about to go in when she remembered the Prince and stopped, turning back to him. "Syaoran, do you know the name of the guy who's playing the Prince?"
Syaoran shook his head. "He's a new student or something. He's supposed to be really shy, but when you actually talk to him he's not that much of an introvert, like, oh, someone I know…"
"Oh. Okay. Well he does have the same hair as you do."
Syaoran laughed. "Yeah, it's crazy! If anything ever happens, Eriol told me I'd have to be him in the play."
Sakura shrugged. "Maybe." That just makes the scene even worse.
She pretended not to notice his grin as he said, "But you're going to… get to know him a little, right?"
"Oh, shut up, Eriol said I'd never actually have to kiss him."
It was his turn to shrug. "Well, he's the one with the gravitational advantage. Good luck with that."
"Wow, 'gravitational'… six syllables. I didn't think you were capable of a word like that!"
"That has nothing to do with this! You're…"
"See you, Li-kun." She laughed a little, but it wasn't too cheerful. After seeing how indifferent he was about the Prince being able to get within a foot of her face, Sakura didn't feel so good.
But why?
It's not as if…
I actually wanted
him to be jealous.
…
Okay, maybe I did.
And so the days passed, with Sakura making her schedules and Syaoran tearing them down. Some days she wanted to kill him, and other days… well, it was a lot harder now to decide what to think of him. Especially because he didn't care about the prince. Especially because she'd wanted him to care…
I'm going to post up chapter 7 now!
