A WINTER'S TALE
A fiction by moondocc
The Re-written Version of A Winter's Tale

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CHAPTER EIGHT

Syaoran sat alone at his breakfast table savoring left over toast from yesterday morning and a glass of milk. He didn't even bother looking at the newspaper this morning, but rather staring at his plate without an appetite. Sakura Kinomoto, his roommate, still hasn't come home yet. After last night he kept thinking about the kiss she had awarded him, but told himself that that was just something to save his reputation. He was a virgin, yes. He had almost done it once with Yumiko Ono, the famous singer (a/n: I made her up), but retreated at the last minute.

Yes, he is one of those old fashioned men that would like to "do it" until after marriage. But at this rate, he didn't know if he was ever going to meet the girl of his dreams and get married. Girls were either after his looks or after his fame or after his money. He couldn't bare his dubbed title "Lady-killer" because he was one of those people that only looked the part, but never anything more.

Syaoran sighed and forked his toast. It was cold, coming from the refrigerator and all, but he didn't care. He felt cold that morning. He looked outside the window. The city was frozen into bits of snowflakes, signifying the first snowfall of the winter. In three weeks time they would be going to Harbin, China to film the remainder of A Winter's Tale, the scenes that needed huge snowfalls to add into the intensity of the film. Before that, he was free of shooting—free for three weeks.

He really should be celebrating this, but somehow he didn't feel like it. He was getting worried because of Kinomoto Sakura. Why had she spent an entire night at Jimmy Naozumi's?

The door clicked as if on cue, and Syaoran immediately swayed his head at the entrance of the kitchen. A yawning woman in pajamas walked into the kitchen carelessly and opened the fridge door. Syaoran watched Sakura as she poked her head in before walking backwards and jumping at the sight of a man sitting perfectly still in a chair.

"Li!" Sakura gasped. Here she goes again, calling him by his surname, "What are you doing here at this ungodly hour?"

Syaoran stared at her. "It's nine, Kinomoto, where in the world have you been? And what are you doing in my pajamas!" Syaoran stood up and examined Sakura closely.

Sakura looked down and clasped her hand over her mouth. "Shit!"

"What happened?" Syaoran asked courteously. Sakura poked her head for several times before she jumped and lifted her index finger in a very knowledgeable way. "Oh! I must have been so drunk last night I just took your pajamas and slept in it!"

"But my pajamas are in my room…" Syaoran muttered. "When did you come back?"

"At midnight," was Sakura's response.

"But I was awake at midnight, wondering where you were," Syaoran murmured slowly. "That must have been it!" Sakura clasped her hands as a light bulb lighted over her head. "Your lights were on, so I must have thought it was my room!"

"That wouldn't explain why I didn't hear you come in," Syaoran answered coyly. "Well, I was in the living room…"

"Maybe you weren't really paying attention to the door?" Sakura suggested.

"Maybe." Syaoran figured. "Now go make me breakfast," he ordered. Sakura pouted. "Why should I? I'm not your servant!"

"I'm letting you live in my goddamn house," Syaoran retorted smartly. "So? That doesn't make me subservient to you!"

"Well I'm not asking for rent, am I?" Syaoran replied, "you wouldn't be able to afford rent anyway," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Sakura asked dangerously. "Nothing, dear," he grinned wholeheartedly and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Now, honey bunny, please go make me something to eat?"

Sakura thought for a moment before giving in. "Fine, Li. What do you want?"

"Pancakes!" Syaoran shouted in happiness. Partially because of the knowledge that Sakura did not spend an entire night at Jimmy's and partially because she looked so comfortable in his pajamas and partially because she is at his command.

"Syaoran Li, you are a genius." Syaoran smiled happily to himself. All the gloominess of the morning had simply…vanished away!

Sakura snorted to herself but proceeded with her roommate's breakfast anyway. She took out some materials from the cabinet while Syaoran smirked gleefully, his fingers tracing the glass of milk. He picked up the newspaper and quickly scanned the front page. He flipped the page over while holding the glass of milk to his mouth before quickly turning it back again.

"Pffft!" The contents in Syaoran's mouth splattered all over the page.

"What?" Sakura turned around from mixing and walked over, peering over Syaoran's shoulders. That was before she completely dropped her bowl as it shattered into a thousand pieces of the ground.

TOKYO POST

Sunday, November 12th

SYAORAN LI A VIRGIN? NO WAY.

Being Sakura Kinomoto's boy toy, who could resist? Now this couple takes a whole new level on their lovely one-month relationship. Could there be more that we don't know about?

Aikizuki Takimono

"One month?" Sakura shouted angrily.

"Boy toy!" Syaoran chimed.

"RELATIONSHIP?" Both said in unison, realizing the depth of their trouble.

"What the hell is going on?" Syaoran looked at the page with confusion. Why would Tokyo Post, the most prestigious post in the country, be reporting celebrity gossip? This is absolutely ridiculous. Sakura sank in the chair next to Syaoran. "Call Hiiragizawa. Now."

Syaoran nodded his head heavily and walked over to the phone in the kitchen. He waited three rings until a tired blue-haired man awoke from his sleep. "Hiiragizawa residence. How may I assist you at this ungodly hour?"

"Eriol…" Syaoran said seriously, "put on those damn glasses and read the morning newspaper."

Eriol sighed. "Dear Syaoran, I have just awoken from my beauty sleep, and you expect me to actually wake up, focus, and then read something?"

"Well…yes," Syaoran answered shortly.

"Why can't you just tell me what it says?" Eriol asked tiredly. Syaoran could hear some yawning.

"Why does the press think I'm a virgin?" Syaoran said straightforwardly. On the other side of the receiver Syaoran heard a bump.

"Eriol, Eriol are you okay?" he asked concernedly.

"YOU'RE A VIRGIN?" was Eriol's reply from the other end. Syaoran pulled his face away from the phone and whispered gently, "…well…I almost did it once…"

"YOU'RE A BLOODY VIRGIN? AND YOU CALL YOURSELF AN ACTOR?" Eriol shouted into the receiver. "HAVE YOU NO SHAME!"

"Wh-what?" Syaoran was getting a bit annoyed at his best friend's reaction.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, Syaoran is a virgin?" Another voice cut into the conversation. Sakura turned around and looked at Syaoran straight in the eye. He shrugged and pointed at the phone.

"Yes, Touya, apparently he is," Eriol explained to him. "He thinks I told the press that he's a virgin or something."

"Why would you mention something like that?" Touya asked. Syaoran stood stupidly with his hand holding his phone and his eyes unfocused, listening on his two best friends talking to each other when they were supposed to be…talking…to him.

"I don't know…" Eriol thought for a while, "HEY! Why would I say something like that, Syaoran?"

Shit! I'm in trouble. Sakura seemed to have sensed something wrong, for Eriol's voice was extremely audible, not to mention intelligible. Sakura gestured for Syaoran to hang up and join her at the breakfast table. Syaoran shrunk his shoulders and gently put the receiver back in its hold and tiptoed toward Sakura. He felt like he was being monitored by his two bakas, aka best friends, one of whom, just a minute ago, was extremely offended.

"What are we going to do now?" Sakura muttered emotionlessly, "the media thinks we're a couple."

"I know…this is horrible," Syaoran moaned in distress as he sunk his head in his hands.

"So Syaoran," Sakura smirked mischievously, "you're a virgin?"

Syaoran immediately turned his head at the auburn-haired actress who looked at him with innocent emerald eyes. "What?" she asked, "I didn't think you are a virgin you know. I thought you were supposed to be the number-one hotshot in Japan."

Syaoran sighed. "I don't want to rush into things unlike some people," here he cleared his throat, and to make things more obvious, he glared at the woman next to him, "I want to do it with someone I really like."

Sakura laughed. "I never would've thought! You act like you know what it's like."

"Well, perhaps that because I'm a very good actor." Syaoran smirked.

"But tell me, like normal people, you still get turned on by naked girls right?"

Syaoran's eyes popped out. "I believe that's a private question!"

"Just wondering!" Sakura said carelessly and waved her hand, "just wanted to check and see if you are normal! Nothing wrong with that."

"Syaoran, we're holding a press conference tomorrow in the Marriott Hotel."

Syaoran nearly spat out his coffee. "Excuse me?"

Eriol looked at his watch impatiently while Touya stood next to him as an emotional support. "We knew you'd act like this. We just knew it."

"Yes," Touya agreed, "that's why we put on our old shirts so in case you spit out something, we could just throw our shirts away."

"…How do you call yourselves my best friends?"

"Simple. We tolerate you," Eriol said obliviously.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Why do we have to do this press conference again?"

"Unfortunately, after Tokyo Post announced that you are a couple yesterday, we have been getting continuous/mountainous calls about your relationship with Kinomoto, asking us if this is another fling/scandal, or a serious relationship." Eriol droned.

"As you know, after your last scandal with Haru, another scandal could be detrimental to your career," Touya finished for Eriol, giving Syaoran a thumbs-up.

"So that's why you've got to make this couple thing serious. Or else both you and Sakura's career will suffer damage." Eriol explained, handing Syaoran some papers.

"Here is what's going to happen," Eriol pointed to the address and map printed, "you are going to this place at exactly 5:30pm tomorrow. Do not be late, and wear your best suit, and somehow kidnap Sakura-san and kick her in there, so she can't openly refuse you in front—"

"Wait, wait." Syaoran stuck his finger out, "you mean, Kinomoto does not know of this press conference yet?"

Eriol shook his head. "We thought it might be hard to uh…convince her to go with you, since you know, she can't date other people while she's with you, and you know who that is," Touya cut in, "Mashimato and Naozumi, particularly," here Eriol repeated, "Yep, Mashimato and Naozumi."

Syaoran looked at the two as if they were aliens.

"Therefore, we're pretty sure that if we tell her the truth, she will die rather than be your girlfriend," Eriol said truthfully while Syaoran put on a pretend-hurt face, "so you gotta lie to her, man, and tell her you're taking her shopping for that thirteen dollar thing or tell her that you wanna get laid—"

"I'm not listening to any of this," Syaoran stood up immediately and crossed the room, his hand reaching for the door. Touya pulled his arm back and forced him down on the chair in front of Eriol, "Yes you are, Syaoran."

Syaoran snorted and glared at Touya and Eriol angrily, his amber eyes full of hatred.

"Whatever you do, Syaoran, get her there. Or else your career will suffer." Touya warned.

"As your manager," Eriol said in concern, "I must agree with Touya on this. You better get her there, unless you want to be unemployed for the rest of your life."

Syaoran observed his fake girlfriend's afternoon routine. The press conference was today at 5:30pm, and he was trying desperately to come up with a way to get her there. After all, his career was counting on his fabulous excuse.

Sakura seemed to do the same things every afternoon, one monotonous mundane task after another. At 12:00pm she would open the refrigerator door and take out something to eat, usually frozen foods; at 1:00pm she would take out a book and start reading; at 3:00pm she would take a short break and exercise a little bit; at 4:00pm she would nap for an hour, and it's 4:30pm now, which means that Syaoran Li has exactly one hour to drag Sakura's reluctant ass down to the Marriott.

She was still sleeping in her bed without a noise. Syaoran had bid her to never come out of her room, but she would always come out, just to spite him. This was supposed to be his peace time, the "males-only" time, and yet he has to spend his one-hour-a-day-alone-time trying to use his brain (which seriously has been rotting away since his last shoot) to haul the world's most famous drag-queen out of her bed and into a hotel lobby.

He stood by her bed, contemplating a list of possibilities.

Here is his list.

1) Wake Subject up with annoying song and calmly tell Subject that she must go to the Marriott Hotel so that Subject can be there for lousy press conference so she can openly tell Us, People, and Time magazines that we are a lovely, serious couple with lots of commitment. Comment: No freaking way. Subject would most likely bang her head against the wall screaming "LET ME DIE!" than calmly accompanying me to the Marriott and pretending to be my fake girlfriend.

2) Not wake Subject up and carry her to my car and dump Subject in the backseat and drive on safely to Marriott then wake her up at the press conference. Comment: Despite being the heavy sleeper that Subject is, she will scream "Abduction!" in front of 70 reporters and I will be sent to jail immediately, even if I'm as famous as it is.

3) Kiss Subject violently as to wake her up and turn her on and then kiss all the way to the car and then seduce/trick her by saying, "I want to get laid, let's go to a hotel", then when Subject actually arrives at said hotel she will be truly surprised but can't deny because photographers will already have our saliva stuck all over their camera lenses! Comment: Will catch cooties from Subject, will regret later, Subject will throw a tantrum and set my pants on fire—in other words, perfect solution to career-saving problem!

Opting to Choice Number Three, Syaoran gleefully pressed his hands together and cracked his knuckles to prepare for The Big Moment. He watched as Sakura silently flipped around to his side and observed her swollen lips. Probably from too much kissing, anyway, Syaoran thought. Oh well.

He smirked as he plunged onto Sakura's lips and began crushing her mouth violently in an attempt to wake her up. His plan did work, although as flustered as she was, Sakura pushed Syaoran away instantly and screamed, "What are you doing?"

Syaoran looked at Sakura, dumbfounded, and opened his mouth to speak. "Uhh…I want to get laid?" he offered intelligently.

Sakura stared at him with strong disbelief etched on her face as she rolled off her bed and stood at full height. "Are you crazy?" She covers her body with crimson sheets. Her auburn hair fell tousled on her sides, her emerald eyes gawking at his fully-dressed suit.

"You want to get laid in…that?" She pointed to Syaoran's expensive suit. Syaoran looked down embarrassingly and cleared his throat. "Why not?"

Sakura raised her eyebrow and scoffed. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Yes. I mean, no." Syaoran could sense his fake girlfriend's temper coming.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I mean, living with a girl isn't easy. I get turned on by you all the time," Syaoran lied, "let's do it. I'm ready. I'm sure you've done this a million times before."

"Are you implying that I'm a whore?" Sakura asked brusquely.

There is just no way around this woman! Syaoran groaned and buried his face in his hands. "No, Kinomoto, no. I'm just saying, I'm horny as fuck right now, and I want to do you!"

"Are you trying to talk dirty to me?"

"Do you want to go to a hotel and do it?" Syaoran offered, changing the subject, and noticing that his pathetic attempt at dirty talk isn't working.

"No! I don't want to do 'it' at all!" Sakura replied, offended. "Get out of my face!" She pointed towards the door. Syaoran tried his one-last attempt. "But if you catch me jacking off, it's not my fault!" he murmured seductively. Sakura merely laughed sarcastically at his comment. "Oh ha ha ha. Get out of my room, now!"

Syaoran sighed in defeat and walked solemnly out the door, leaving a very satisfied Sakura in her room, smirking at her own triumph. Before long, Sakura heard a knock. "Yes?"

"You at least owe me sex after I made you so gorgeous Saturday night, right?"

Sakura laughed. There is just no way with this man!

"She won't do it!" Syaoran complained as he stood on the other side of a very beautiful actress's bedroom door.

"Well, you know, you're letting her stay at your place for free and all," Eriol offered, "try the guilt card?"

Syaoran breathed a quick "hold on" and pressed his hand against the receiver. He turned around and yelled at the door, "But you owe me sex from letting you live here for free!"

"Oh? What about when you sold all my stuff for thirteen dollars!"

"Damn," Syaoran cursed, "I knew this would come back and bite me in the ass," he stopped and held his ear against the receiver again, "what should I do, Eriol? I haven't got much time."

Eriol pondered for a bit before brightening. Syaoran listened carefully as Eriol whispered his plan, and smirked right at the phone.

One hour later, Sakura Kinomoto arrived at the Marriott with sunglasses and a rag bounding her hair up. She sneaked through the back door discreetly and giggled. No reporters! Yay! She wasn't exactly dressed in her best attire, but a shirt and cargo pants will do, even though her thick jacket is so last month.

She didn't even have time to bother Syaoran and ask him to help her put on her makeup!

Where is Syaoran, anyway? That sly man left the house exactly after she did, and took his limo right behind her cab, but she couldn't spot the well-dressed man anywhere. Sakura shrugged and decided to go to the conference room. She checked her watch: it was 5:26pm. Tomoyo should be there soon.

Syaoran came out from behind the wall, snickering like a monkey, and joining his hands together, muttering "It worked! It worked!" to no one in particular. Thank god all the reporters were in the conference room, or else they would have caught his most embarrassing photo ever taken.

Syaoran quickly paced up and followed Sakura five steps behind. The naïve actress didn't even notice someone tailing her, but merely striding in confident steps towards the conference room. Silently, she opened the door; Syaoran took this opportunity to run up next to her and place his arms around her shoulders.

Feeling something heavy dropping on her shoulders, Sakura turned around and gasped. Syaoran quickly clasped his hand on her mouth and whispered, "Shh", before accompanying her into the room full of exploding cameras and microphones.

"Li! What's going on?" Sakura asked angrily as a delighted reporter took their pictures together.

"You're going out with me, remember, honey?" he said sweetly and nodded to one of the reporters in the room.

"What!" Sakura shrieked.

"Oh you don't remember, let me refresh your memory," here a reporter was pushed to the front. He fell directly on Sakura, who drove the man away in disgust. "What's going on, Li Syaoran?" Sakura scolded as she pinched his arm. "A man just dove right into you," Syaoran offered sweetly, "why, didn't you see, dear?"

"Dear! Since when am I your 'dear'?"

"Oh look, there are our seats! Let's sit down and discuss this, shall we?" Syaoran offered and guided Sakura towards the steps.

"You told me Tomoyo wanted to reconcile!"

Syaoran smirked and pushed Sakura into a chair. Sitting next to her is Daidouji Tomoyo, who had a serious expression on her face. On her other side, Syaoran dropped into his seat, and Eriol and Touya, his trusted right-handed men, sat loyally adjacent to him. Tomoyo stood up and asked the crowd to be quiet. Then, looking at Sakura with a wrinkled face, she directed questions at her, "Since when did you start going out with Syaoran? I thought you hated the man!"

"I do!" Sakura protested. Fortunately none of the reporters heard this preposterous answer.

"I thought so. You do understand the significance of your defiance to Mr. Li's career, right?"

"What? What significance?"

"Syaoran Li's career will suffer greatly if you deny your relationship with him. I don't have time to explain right now. Just keep that on your conscience," Tomoyo warned. "The questions may begin," she spoke simply to the speakerphone in front of her.

Sakura gulped. This is all her fault for saving him from being embarrassed as a virgin! Stupid Tokyo Post. She'd give anything to get out of this. All thanks to her gullibility and Syaoran's horrible deceits.

"Yes, the gentleman in the blue shirt." Tomoyo nodded.

"Tarashiko Miyake, Miss Kinomoto, Pink magazine. What is your relationship with Mr. Syaoran Li?"

Sakura stared for a while, her emerald greens trying to focus intently. Her brain was a mess. Tomoyo's warning and Syaoran's pranks were all mingled into one that she didn't know what the right choice is. She gulped and took a deep breath.

To be continued…

Author's Note. So sorry. The last third of this chapter was written late at night, and therefore my brain is dead, and I just want to finish this chapter so I can post it, so sorry if the language was like…stupid and stuff.

Anyway. I hope you guys liked this chapter!

A word to people who don't review but add it to their favorites/alert/whatever. If everyone keeps doing that, I'm just telling you now, I will lose interest in Fanfiction. Most often the reason that people give up on their stories is because of lack of reviews. I'm seriously not going to update if people keep doing that. That's why it took so long for me to write this chapter. If people actually reviewed, I would have updated sooner.

Ok, yay fun time!

Poll: What do you think Sakura should say? Hopefully it'll determine the outcome of the next chapter!