WARNING: Nothing too explicit here. Just a little grinding and a drunk, irresistible Syaoran who can't control himself.
Enjoy the chapter!
"No Such Thing As a Drunk"
Glancing at the clock one last time that evening, Sakura realized she had been doing that all day. It was already past six and Hana had cooked dinner and left because her daughter had been involved in a car accident. So, it was only Xing and Sakura sitting at the kitchen table eating in a comfortable silence.
Xing had been in a good mood all day. Apparently, he was overjoyed because he had gotten the chance to sleep with his father last night and used some sort of super powers to prevent his father from having nightmares is what he told her. It was a little hard for Sakura to follow along, but she had to give it to him; his imagination was rather ridiculously hilarious.
"Your food will start to get cold if you don't eat, Sakura." Xing snapped her out of her reverie. Her eyes shifted in his direction. He grinned at her. "Daddy says that all the time when I don't eat my food."
Sakura looked down at his plate to see that he had already finished. She looked back at him before a small smile tugged at her lips. "You ate all your food like a big kid today," she said proudly.
She had never seen him eat all his food before. He was never given large portions, so she just assumed not eating all the food off your plate was a kid thing.
"Well, Daddy says that I should eat all of my food, if I want to be big and strong like him," he said, grinning from ear to ear.
Sakura could feel her cheeks warm a bit at the excessive amount of times Xing kept mentioning the man. Last night, he had been so...different with her. She never thought the man would ever make any kind of physical contact with her purposely, but he did. It felt...
She could not think of the word it made her feel, but she knew it had been strange. It was weird, but nice. She decided on nice-weird to describe the feeling. She could feel that fluttering sensation at the pit of her stomach, imagining his rough, yet soft fingers caressing her face again.
"Are you okay, Sakura?"
She blinked out of her stupor and looked at Xing before a small smile crept to her lips again. "Yes, I was just thinking."
Xing giggled, covering his mouth with his hands, trying to suppress it. She sent him a playful, questioning look. "Your thinking face..." he giggled again, "It looks so silly!" He burst into a fit of laughter, causing her to giggle and shake her head.
"You're so silly," she teased before picking up the chopsticks to finish the rest of the food.
After they finished eating, they went to the living room and cuddled up on the couch and watched TV.
"We're going to go to Disney world. Aren't you excited, Sakura?" Xing reminded her for the umpteenth time that day. The little boy's mind sure could jump from one thing to the next because he was just engrossed with the show that was on the TV.
She smiled and nodded. "Of course I am. I get to spend time with you." She held him a little tighter.
A small smile crept to his lips before a light blush tainted his cheeks as he rubbed his face into her soft breast. "I'm so happy that I will be able to spend time with two of my most favorite people, at the same time," he said a little dazed.
She ruffled his hair, interrupting his dazed-state. She wished she could read his mind some way.
His lips pouted as he swatted her fingers away from his hair. She giggled and ruffled his hair again and he let out a loud groan. "Sakura," he whined, starting to sound upset with her.
She removed her hand from his head smiling before looking at him to see a mischievous grin on his face. "You cheater." She poked his side gently, causing him to flinch and giggle.
She used both hands to tickle the little boy, making him laugh and grab her hands. She stopped and pulled him to her again, smiling at his panting form as he tried catching his breath. For some reason, she felt like she was spoiling herself with giving and receiving affection from the little boy.
"When did I earn a spot in your favorite people list?" she asked, bringing up his statement from earlier.
His cheeks colored again as he glanced up at her shyly. "It's a secret," he barely whispered.
"Well, I'll share a secret with you, if you tell me yours," she negotiated.
His face brightened at that and he stood up on the couch, turning to her. "Really?!" he screeched.
Smiling, she grabbed his arm, pulling him to sit back down on the couch beside her. "Mhm," she responded.
He stood on the couch again excited and began jumping up and down on it.
"You have to stop jumping on the couch first."
Immediately, he propped down beside her at that. "Can I tell you mine first?" he asked, looking at her with his big, amber eyes, reminding her of his dad.
She smiled at him softly and nodded. He moved closer to her and placed his hand beside her ear, getting ready to whisper the 'big' secret, but the front door opened and slammed shut loudly, causing them to jump at the impact.
Sakura looked at the clock to see that it was 8:04pm before her eyes looked in the direction of the living room entrance, waiting for the man to walk through. And that he did.
"Daddy!" Xing yelled excitedly, slipping from her hold and ran over to the man.
Xing grabbed his leg, hugging it tightly while looking up at him. Sakura looked at the older man, who was standing frozen in his spot. When his eyes looked in her direction, her cheeks warmed a little. She could feel that familiar fluttering sensation in her stomach again as an image of last night flashed across her mind.
When their eyes locked, he glared at her and turned his attention back to the little guy hugging his leg.
The blood drained from her face, feeling a bit confused. What had she done this time?
Syaoran ruffled Xing's hair before removing him from his leg and walked down the hall, away from him without speaking to either of them.
Sakura looked at Xing, her eyes softening when she saw disappointment painted on his face. For some reason, that look hurt more than it probably should have. She thought about something encouraging to say to cheer him up, but found she could not find the right words.
In a split second, his face went from disappointment, to sad, to anger, then to hurt as he seemed unable to control his emotions.
"Xing," she called softly, standing from the couch, and walking over to him.
His shoulders tensed up, signifying that he had heard her, yet he remained quiet.
Standing behind him, Sakura decided to rest a hand on his shoulder, but before she could, he slapped her hand away reflexively. She moved back, feeling unwelcomed to comfort him now. He had never treated her coldly before.
He ran to his room before she could ask him anything.
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, withholding her tears of sorrow and anger. Sad for Xing, but angry at the man who caused Xing this pain.
She could not believe the man would treat his son like that. Did he not have a conscious? Did he not think that his son had been anticipating seeing him all day?
Her fists clenched, feeling herself tremble in anger. She took a deep breath, then let it out a few times, trying to calm herself down. Her father had always told her to do this when feeling overwhelmed with emotion when she was little. She was beginning to wonder why he had promised that it had worked most times because she could still feel her blood boiling the more she thought about the infuriating man and Xing's tears.
Xing…
Her fists unclenched before she decided that she should go to Xing's room and comfort him after thinking about his tears. She could not understand why Syaoran had to be so mean.
She pushed the door open to Xing's room quietly to see that he was lying down on the bed with his back facing the door. She heard sniffing, causing her heart to ache more. She slowly approached him and sat on the edge of the bed beside him. "Xing…" she called softly, getting ready to rest a hand on his shoulder, but stopped herself.
His rejection was probably one of the most painful experiences she had ever had, and she certainly did not want to relive it.
"Xing…"
He turned to her, revealing his flushed cheeks and tears before he sniffed and sat up on the bed and crawled over to her. He wrapped his arms around her neck tightly and buried his wet face in her chest, wetting her bare skin slightly.
She pulled him in her lap, holding him tightly. "Daddy probably just had a hard day. Remember, next week is the time when we get to spend a lot of time with him. You know that, right?" she whispered softly in his hair, hoping that that worked.
"I'm sorry…" he said brokenly against her skin as he held her tighter.
"Don't apologize…" she said, kissing his head lightly.
He stifled a sob. She closed her eyes as she pulled him closer. He cried for a few more minutes before he calmed down. His breathing was at an even pace and he was very quiet now.
She looked down to see that he had fallen asleep. He must have been extremely exhausted. She sighed and laid him on the bed, pulling the covers over his body. His fingers kept a tight clutch on her top though. She gently attempted to pry his fingers away, but his grip only tightened. "Please stay with me…" he pleaded. He still had his eyes shut tightly as if he were deep in thought.
"Of course, sweetie," she said, lying down on the small-sized bed that she had to curl up on.
He cuddled up to her. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. She wondered if there was some secret message that this kid could not be happy for anything.
A frown tugged at her lips as she smoothed down his disheveled hair that tickled her face. Why could he not be happy?
Her hand dragged down to his wet cheeks and swiped away the tear stains. She did not know how long she lied there, but she could feel her eyes begin to drift shut slowly. Xing had long fallen into a deep slumber because his breathing pace had been even, so it would be alright for her to too, she reasoned.
Just when her eyes fully closed, they shot open in a heartbeat, hearing a glass shatter.
She looked at the clock on the wall, wondering what could have possibly broken at this time of the night. Syaoran had come home long ago, so he had to have been sleeping now and Xing was here with her, so who could have been up past midnight?
She gently peeled Xing's body from hers, feeling a bit guilty for having to leave the little boy. His grip on her top would not loosen though, so she grabbed his hand and her top, pulling them apart.
He stirred in his sleep, but turned to the other side of the bed and hugged his favorite bear, letting out a soft sigh before he relaxed again.
She sighed in relief and quietly walked out of the room, being sure to close the door behind her slightly. Walking down the hall, she tried remembering where the shattering sound was more profound moments ago before thinking of the kitchen. She glanced at the front door, making sure it was closed securely and then walked to the kitchen.
She gasped and stopped at the entrance, shocked by the sight before her. There Syaoran stood, shirtless again, bending down to pick up the broken shards of glass with his bare hands.
Her face warmed as her heart tightened in anticipation. She had not even noticed that she was staring at his lips until a sharp inhale came from his mouth. She glanced down to see that he had cut himself with one of the glass pieces. What was wrong with him, using his bare hands to pick up broken glass pieces?
Bruising her bottom lip with her teeth, she slowly walked in the kitchen to see if he was okay. "Li-san?"
Immediately, he looked at her and stood from the floor.
Her eyes travelled down to his bare, chiseled chest again, feeling a warmth spread throughout her body at his gaze on her. "Kinomoto," he said in a raspy tone, causing her body to break out in goosebumps. She could not understand why he affected her this way.
"Shit." He winced, looking down.
Her gaze followed his, the blush disappearing from her face when she saw blood. "You're bleeding!" She rushed to his side and grabbed his hand gently, observing the cuts on his finger.
His entire body froze, but she did not pay attention to it as she dragged him over to the sink, wanting to fix his finger. Turning the knob, she pushed his hand under the running water, rinsing the blood off his fingers. "You shouldn't be so careless," she chastised softly. "Is there a first-aid kit here somewhere?"
A weird snorting noise emitted from him before he snatched his hand back from her, causing the water to splash on her. "Like you're one to talk," he said condescendingly.
She frowned and huffed, feeling annoyed with the man and his sudden change of behavior towards her. She had not even done anything this time for him to treat her this way.
Matter of fact, he had no right to treat Xing like he had earlier. Xing had been so happy to see him, yet Syaoran ignored him like he were not there. The look on Xing's face had been so broken. It was not fair, and she was beginning to have enough of his rude attitude.
"What is your problem?" she asked, attempting to keep her tone under control. She wanted to respect the man. She wanted to abide by the rules in his home, but he made it so hard to with his attitude towards her.
"What's my problem? Are you seriously asking me that?" He leaned against the sink and crossed his arms over his bare chest with that same haughty look on his face.
She could feel the blood rush to her face. Quite frankly, she was not even sure if it was because of her growing attraction to him or the anger that she had felt towards him this time. "Yes, I'm asking that. You didn't have to treat Xing, your son, like that earlier. He didn't do anything to deserve that. He had been so happy to see you and you—"
Her body slammed against something hard behind her painfully, causing her eyes to shut tight at the impact. "Are we really going to go there right now?" he asked in a threatening tone.
Her eyes shot open, coming face to face with the man's face dangerously close to hers. Her heart began to race again. She could feel the bottom of her stomach have that familiar tug again even though she was furious.
She bit her lip lightly before trying to move from the wall behind her, but she found she could not. He had her body trapped to it with his, holding her in place almost painfully, so escape was not an option for her. She almost fainted at the close proximity, but held it together for both of their sakes like she had to last time at the park.
"You, of all people, have no right to tell me about myself. Who the hell comes into a stranger's home? You should be asking yourself what your problem is," he whispered angrily, very close to her face.
It was hard concentrating on what he said while feeling his hot breath brush against her skin though. There was a whiff of something that invaded her senses soon after. It smelled like...alcohol?
Her eyes glanced up to his eyes to see them unfocused as he glared at the wall behind her. His face was slightly flushed, which only confirmed her suspicions.
He was drunk.
Feeling like fuel had only been added to the flames, her fists clenched as a hundred different questions came to mind. Like, how could he get drunk with Xing there? Or what if Xing had woken up instead and saw him like this? Had he lost his mind?
"And who in the world gets drunk with their four-year-old child around?" she snapped, glaring at him now.
His fists slammed against the wall behind her, causing her to jump at the impact, shocked. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath. "Fuck..." he said a little clearer. "Fuck!"
Her eyes shot open, not even realizing she had shut them again. She looked at his face to see that familiar look she had a glimpse of the other night. She could not even feel the slightest bit guilty for her choice of words because he deserved them. He should know better than to do something this irrational. He was a father, for goodness sake. Especially when he made it painfully clear that he did not trust her.
He leaned forward and her heart tightened, seeing his lips come closer to hers, but his head turned at the last second and rest on the wall that she was pressed against. Goosebumps crept on every inch of her skin, feeling his hot breath brush against her bare shoulder. She stilled, oblivious to what he would do next. What was he trying to do?
She stood there holding her breath, anxious of his next move for the few silent minutes that passed between them. Neither of them uttered a word, nor had they even made the slightest of movement. They just torturously stood still and silent, pressed against each other. Or him pressed against her. Whichever way a passerby would take it.
A few more seconds ticked by before there was a low chuckle that came from him. She heard no trace of humor in it, which meant that it was a bad thing.
"You think that you can come here and tell me how to parent a kid? My kid? You don't even understand the half of it." He paused and his breath caught in his throat. "You're not the one who has to tell him that he doesn't have a mother around anymore. Tell him that you can't spend time with him because you're overloaded with work. See those tears in his eyes because of something that you did..." His head leaned against her shoulder now, causing her body to stiffen.
"You tell him that you can't take him to Disney world next week...that you can't spend any time with him at all because you're too goddamn busy for him." She heard his hand slide down the wall beside her head before it rest on her other shoulder, grabbing it almost painfully tight. "You don't have to hear your own kid tell you they hate you. I know I don't get father of the year award, but I'm trying. You fucking tell me what kind of parent you would be?" he whispered brokenly.
Her eyes shifted to the kitchen entrance, making sure Xing had not woken up and walked in on the scene. She looked back to the head full of chestnut hair and sighed, feeling guilty and a bit sympathetic for him. At least she knew what had triggered tonight. They would not be able to go to Disney next week.
"Li-san," she called softly, wanting to comfort him.
"And then you..." She froze, wondering what problems she could possibly cause the man. "You're just here and you're..."
She sucked in a breath when his warm lips barely brushed against her bare shoulder. She would have thought she imagined it, if it were not for the rush of heat that glided through her body. She moved her hands to his bare chest, ready to push him away, but the sharp inhale of breath that came from him stopped her.
"I-I what?" she stuttered, feeling her face heat up. She wanted to stop him, but she could not bring herself to do it.
"You..." His lips brushed against her shoulder again.
She shuttered as her eyes shut involuntarily. "Li-san, you're drunk," she said weakly, even though she made no effort to push him away.
What's wrong with me?
"There is no such thing," he whispered against her skin before his lips dragged across her skin again, lighting it on fire.
"Li-san," she whimpered weakly. Was that her voice?
It was becoming harder to stand on her own the more his lips came in contact with her skin as he began to drag his lips over to her collarbone, never letting his lips leave her skin.
He pressed his body against hers harder, surely holding up her weight. When she felt something hard press against her between their lower bodies, she felt that ache increase between her legs. An involuntary gasp came from her at the feeling. Her hand on his chest flattened, allowing her fingers to caress him, not able to resist the urge to touch the intimidating man anymore.
"Li-san," she tried again, but his lips only wrapped around her collarbone, making her reflexively grasp his pec shakily.
A strangled groan vibrated against her skin as his lips feathered over to the curve of her neck and shoulder before he pressed his hips back and forth against her, giving her a feel of the hardness between his legs more.
The heat rushed down her body, realizing the act he was attempting to perform against her with his grinding. The more he planted kisses against her skin and rubbed himself against her, the tighter the sensation between her legs increased. It was almost becoming unbearably painful as she bit her lip, holding back a moan.
Unconsciously, the hand on his chiseled chest began to experimentally slide down the defined muscles, memorizing all the curves and crevices as her fingers shakily travelled lower slowly.
When she felt his tongue snake against her skin, a soft moan left her mouth and she stopped her exploration.
She was taking advantage of the man. She would have never done this with anyone who was under the influence. She knew he was drunk.
But he said he wasn't.
Shaking her head to get rid of the ridiculous thought, she moved her hand from his chest regretfully and slid her fingers in the back of his soft disheveled hair, pulling on it a little hard to get his attention. He lifted his head and stopped his grinding, looking at her questioningly with dilated eyes.
Her cheeks warmed at the look in his eyes before she shook her head, hoping to get rid of the feeling. "W-we shouldn't be doing this," she said, almost questioningly.
A lazy smirk crept to his lips and he rest his forehead against hers with his eyes closed. "You don't sound so sure yourself."
Her eyes widened. "Y-you are really drunk, Li-san," she said shakily.
He began to lean down, and she was sure that he would kiss her this time, but his lips came in contact with her nose instead. "Goodnight, Kinomoto," he whispered huskily before removing his body from hers.
The moment his body left hers, it felt like a bucket of ice water was thrown on her body.
He began to walk away, stepping on some of the shards of glass as he stumbled the rest of the way out of the kitchen.
When he disappeared, she released a breath she had been holding, feeling her heart beat so fast that it could possibly jump right out of her chest. She stayed pressed against the wall, not able to move from the spot he had her pressed against just moments ago.
She rest a hand over her chest, rubbing soothing circles over her chest, hoping to calm herself down. It was not working. She had never felt this way about a man before.
Taking one last deep breath and letting it out, she removed herself from the wall and hopped over the glass pieces before looking for the broom to sweep up the broken glass.
After finishing, she threw the glass pieces in the trashcan and headed back to Xing's room to check on him. He was still fast asleep and that washed off the rest of the uneasiness that she had been feeling. If he had caught them in such a compromising position, it would have probably freaked him out. She reasoned they needed to be more careful.
She stopped in her tracks as she was walking to her room, wondering why she had thought that. It was not like they had anything going on, so why was she suddenly assuming they did?
The man was drunk and feeling extremely vulnerable and she had almost taken advantage of him. She would never do something like that because it was wrong.
Why did it feel so right to her though? Taking advantage of people was wrong. So wrong. But his lips...
Her stomach tied in knots and her cheeks burned, thinking about his lips. They had felt so right. She closed her eyes as she leaned against the wall to steady herself when a mental image of his lips on hers came to mind.
They had almost touched hers. It was so close. Even if it would have just been the briefest of touch, it would have probably been amazing—
Her eyes snapped open, embarrassment and shame washing over her on realizing what she was mentally picturing.
She knew she was getting in way over her head. She could not believe she was imagining Xing's father kissing her. She barely even knew the man to be wanting something like that. In fact, she wanted something more than a kiss from him. She felt conflicted about whether or not she really wanted to be involved with the man in that way.
Sakura took a deep breath before lifting her weight from the wall and walked to her room, silently praying that the questions would stop. This was beyond inappropriate and exactly what Syaoran had said would never happen. Yet here she was, trying to make it happen. She knew she would be a dead girl in the morning if he remembered anything that happened tonight.
She froze at that thought. Would he remember? People get drunk all the time and not remember what happened the next day, so would it be the same for him?
She pushed her hair back from her face, pulling on it anxiously. He had to have drank beyond his limit, because otherwise, he would have never come on to her like that.
She released her hair from her firm grasp and inhaled a deep breath before exhaling. She did that two more times before she finally calmed down.
Everything would be alright. She just needed to pretend it never happened, and everything would be alright.
She slipped under the covers and closed her eyes, praying to every single god out there that the intimidating man would not remember anything.
Sakura closed her eyes tighter as her body tried to ignore the thing that was intruding in on her sleep.
"Sakura..." she heard the little voice call again. It had been going on for the last thirty minutes or so, but she thought, maybe if she keep pretending to be in a deep slumber, it will stop. She had been wrong because it still continued.
"Sakura…"
She groaned before her eyes fluttered open. When she looked down, she encountered Xing, who had been harassing her for the last thirty minutes. A smile tugged at her lips when she saw him sitting on the bed, looking as though he had been patiently waiting for her. "Finally," he said dramatically and crawled over to her, getting under the blankets. He grabbed her arm and shuffled his way under it.
She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, granting his wish. "Why did you ignore me? Do you not want to be with me anymore?" he asked sadly.
She hummed and pulled him closer. "Would I really have you wrapped in my arms if that was the case?" she asked tiredly.
He sat up and looked at her with his face scrunched in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I'm just sleepy. I do want to be with you still, silly," she decided on, instead of explaining what she meant. It was too early for this.
"Oh..." He smiled and laid back down on the bed beside her. He rest his head on the back of his hand while staring at her. "I'm sorry for crying again," he said suddenly.
"Xing, I told you not to apologize for that," she said softly.
"I know...I want to make Daddy very happy now," he said, a small smile playing on his face.
"How are you going to do that?" she asked.
"Well, I was hoping that you could tell me," he said sheepishly.
"Hmm..." She pretended to be deep in thought. "How about we start off by being on our best behaviors."
He sighed and hid his face under the covers.
"What is it?"
"Obviously, that doesn't make him happy..." he sounded a bit muffled.
"Of course, it does. It makes me happy, so it has to make him happy too." She blushed a little, thinking about the man. It was too early for this.
"Really?" he asked, hopefully.
"Yes, really."
He peeked at her under the covers shyly. "Okay..." he said quietly.
She pulled the covers back so he could be exposed to her before looking at the clock. "You're up pretty early. What woke you up?"
A bright smile spread across his face. "Daddy!"
Her body froze on the spot. Was he already awake?
She glanced at the clock again.
5:02am.
"W-what do you mean?" she asked nervously.
"Well, I had a really really bad dream that Elly the elephant eats Daddy! It was a really, really scary dream," he said dramatically. Sakura let out a relieved sigh, glad that the man was not awake yet. "And then I woke up when I heard my door opening and Daddy walked in!"
She felt like her heart nearly dropped to the bottom of her stomach like it had been doing a lot lately. "S-so he's already awake?" she asked, silently praying that he was not.
"Yes. Do you want to go and play with him—?"
"No!" she said almost immediately.
His head titled to the side, a look of confusion plastered on his face.
"I mean...I'm sure that Daddy is very busy with his work to play with us and we don't want to be a bother to him," she explained, hoping that he would buy it.
"But Daddy won't think that we are bothering him. He said that he will be here all day, so if I need anything I could just ask him," he said grinning.
She would have been sure that everything stopped functioning in her body if it were not for her still being conscious.
Xing had to be joking. He had to be joking. Syaoran did not seem like the type to skip out on work. Last night he had just told her that he was too busy for Xing, so there was no way that he would be here all day. He said that he was...
She looked at Xing and felt her eyes softening. It seemed like she were trying to find excuses to not see the man. And not seeing the man would mean Xing would not be happy.
They were already a broken family and here she was, trying to back out of the plan to put them back together because of last night. She felt selfish.
Forgetting her fears, she pulled Xing to her side, hugging him tightly. "Okay, Xing. It's a bit early to play now, so let's just go and watch TV until Ms. Hana comes by for breakfast, then later on we can play with Daddy," she suggested.
He appeared to be deep in thought before he smiled widely. "Okay," he said, and then hugged her tightly. "I love you so much, Sakura," he mumbled into her shoulder.
Her mouth fell open, shocked by what he said. Nothing came out, or nothing that would make sense because she did not know how to respond to that. She had only been staying here a few days and the boy was already attached.
Thankfully, he released her and climbed off the bed, turning to her. "Come on." He looked at her patiently.
She took a deep breath, hoping that she would not run into the man just yet. She would have to face him eventually, but not so early in the morning. She was already barely awake now.
She wondered what she would do if she did see him. With the way her behavior had been lately, she would not be surprised if she jumped his bones at the given opportunity.
Her cheeks warmed at that thought before she climbed out of bed and grabbed Xing's hand.
They walked to the living room, having no signs of Syaoran. After turning the TV on, they cuddled up on the couch and watched their normal television shows together. It did not take a long time for Xing to be enraptured by the TV series, leaving her to her thoughts.
She needed to figure out what she was going to do if Syaoran remembered what happened last night. This feeling of anticipation would not wear off of the unknowing.
Maybe he was not even here. Maybe she was stressing and losing hair over nothing. She did tend to overthink everything, so maybe she was doing that now too, she reasoned. She just needed to calm down and let everything pan out as it should. Besides, he was probably not even—
"Daddy!"
She closed her eyes, not knowing if that sound was adorable or horrid anymore. She avoided looking in their direction, trying to ignore their conversation. Maybe Syaoran had not noticed her here because she could not feel him staring at her. None of his attention was on her. She hoped so, at least.
"Is that understood?" she heard Syaoran ask.
Is what understood?
"Yes, Daddy. And I'm sorry about last night again," Xing whispered, but he was never good at whispering.
"I told you to stop apologizing..." The rest of the sentence was very distant, and she began to wonder why.
Nervously, she looked in the direction to see that the two had disappeared from the living room. She could not have been happier and relieved than she had felt right now.
It felt nice to be alone at the moment because it had seemed like it was an eternity since she had been. It was only just a few days ago when she had been alone, yet it felt like forever. Maybe he would let her have a rest for the weekend.
It was Friday after all, and he said that the weekends were her free days off. That meant Saturday and Sunday would be Sakura time. She needed to get away and clear her head because this was not right. Thinking about Xing's father like this was stupid. She knew he would never see her like that, so why should she try to allow herself to become involved?
She sighed and turned her attention to the TV, staring at the screen, but not really paying attention to the series.
"So, you'll be right back after you finish talking to Ms. Mizuki?" Sakura distinctly heard Xing asking. His footsteps were coming closer, which only meant that they were coming back now.
"Yes, but remember what I told you?"
Her body froze and she was sure the tip of her ears to the tip of her chin had probably turned to an ugly shade of red at hearing that voice.
"Yes, sir. I understand," Xing said like a well-behaved child.
"Good. Be good while I'm gone for a few, alright?"
"Yes, sir," Xing said before she heard his footsteps walking towards her again.
She welcomed Xing back with opened arms the moment he reached the couch.
"Kinomoto."
She froze, hearing Syaoran call her name, fearing that he had remembered. From the tone of his voice, she already knew that he had though. Hesitantly, she turned towards him and her cheeks burned even more when she saw him staring at her intensely.
Swallowing, she looked at him nervously. "Yes?" she asked uneasily.
Syaoran stared at her for a few moments. "We..." he stopped and just stared at her for a moment and then shook his head as if he changed his mind about something. "We need to talk when I get back."
Before she could respond, he had already disappeared through the front door.
He remembered. That was the only thing that he had to say for her to know that. What would they talk about specifically though? She had no clue.
Maybe starting with the way he roughly slammed you against the wall and violated your body.
She wanted to strangle her conscious so badly right now. She tried convincing herself that she had been the one to take advantage since he was drunk. She just wanted—
"Sakura?" Xing called, interrupting her inner turmoil.
She looked at him and forced a smile. "We should get you ready for the day then?"
"Okay!"
With that, they dressed him in his attire for practice. They were back to where they were earlier, waiting for Hana to arrive so they could eat breakfast.
Sakura still had not been used to that idea; someone being her maid. She had grown up doing things on her own. Her, Touya, and their father would alternate who did what duties in the house daily. To have someone come here every day to do it all for her felt a little…unsettling.
She never thought she would have this kind of lifestyle.
"Daddy said that we will go out tonight. Do you want to come with us?" Xing looked at her hopefully, waiting for her answer to be yes.
"Xing," she called softly.
His mouth opened, turning upside down slightly, realizing what she would say. "Please..." he whispered desperately.
Then she remembered why he was really asking her if she could come. "How did you feel before I got here?"
"A very long time ago, we didn't used to go out a lot and..." He turned to her and clasped his hands together and gave her the eyes. The eyes. "Please..."
She scratched the back of her head nervously, looking around for something—anything to help her out of this situation. She could swear that the little boy loved putting her in awkward predicaments. She pulled him to her and hugged him, hoping that would distract him.
He pouted and pulled back. "Please, Sakura..."
Just when she had decided to cave in to the amber eyes and ask his dad, a knock on the door interrupted their conversation. She hurriedly stood up and answered the door immediately, happy to see Hana smiling at her brightly. "Good morning, Sakura. You're awfully frantic this morning," Hana said, walking inside after Sakura stepped to the side.
"You have no idea..." Sakura murmured under her breath before closing the door behind her.
"Ms. Hana!" Xing exclaimed, running over to them and hugging Hana's waist.
Hana chuckled and ruffled his hair lightly before picking him up. "Wow, you're getting heavy, aren't you?" She tickled his belly with the tips of her finger.
He giggled and nodded his head. "It's because I'm a big boy now!" He lifted his hands up, emphasizing how big he is.
"I bet this big boy is hungry."
On cue, his stomach growled, and he blushed.
Sakura and Hana laughed at his bashful response before heading to the kitchen. They did the usual, Sakura and Xing fixing the table and helping when they could, while Hana cooked breakfast.
That was until Hana gasped, getting both Xing and Sakura's attention.
"What is it?" Sakura asked worriedly, seeing the surprise in Hana's eyes.
"Is anyone hurt? There's blood on the wall," Hana said, pointing to the spot where Syaoran had Sakura pressed against the night before.
Sakura remembered seeing Syaoran's blood on her shoulder last night when she had gone to the bathroom. Now, she had to come up with something to explain it on the wall without telling the woman that they were trying to devour each other there the night before.
It was way too early for this.
Sakura headed back to her room when Chenchi had come after they ate breakfast. She was glad to get a little break from Xing. He had been on his game today.
It seemed like he was purposely trying to torture her this morning. Did he not sense or see the distress she was in with everything he was saying and doing? There was no way he could have, she concluded.
Sakura heard the front door opening and was tempted to run the rest of the way to her room, but remained calm. Maybe she picked up the pace to her room a little bit though.
"Kinomoto."
She stopped, just in front of her door at the call of her name. She had almost made it. She released the handle of the door and turned in his direction, forcing a smile on her face. "Li-san," she greeted cheerfully, but even she could hear the forcefulness in her tone.
She felt the intense gaze on her before he started walking in her direction. She released the breath she had been holding, prepared to take whatever backlash he would throw her way.
She sarcastically noted that he had to choose the perfect time when Xing was in training with Chenchi, leaving them alone too. He was always ten steps ahead of the game as Hana had told her.
"Kinomoto," he said, closer than she had anticipated him to be.
She looked up slowly and blushed when her eyes came in contact with his lips before they traveled higher to his eyes, where he was staring at her intensely.
She remembered the way they looked at her last night. They had almost made her do something they might both regret.
"I—"
"Would you mind if we talked somewhere more..." He paused and looked back before turning back to her, "…let's go to my office."
Before she could respond, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her to his study.
Kill. Me. Now.
A/N: I had the last part to edit on this chapter last night and crashed lol. I had tried so hard to finish it and get it out, but I just didn't have the strength to. Sooo, here we are, uploading a chapter at 2 in the afternoon for a change :P. I...should be able to get a chapter out today, but I have to do this assignment for my class first. I should get another chapter out though! I'll go and start on the assignment now to have plenty of time to edit. And don't forget to tell me what you guys think of the chapter(especially my new readers, as I know some of you did not read the version before) :P.
Ja ne! :D
