Different Girl – Thanks! I hoped it would be unique because there are a lot of stories with the same idea out there. Enjoy this chapter!
Story Weaver 1 – Thanks for another review! And yup! You got all the magic instances! Congratulations! Enjoy this chapter and see if you can spot the magic in this one!
Hope you like this chapter!
Sakura was putting the final touches on the items in her building which she had named 'Puzzled'. She had spent hours the previous night trying to come up with names and she finally decided on 'Puzzled' which she thought was perfect. She looked around the inside and grinned. The tables each had four chairs around them and were adorned with a multitude of pens and pencils. The chairs and tables were all mismatched which gave it a more funky look than anything else. The walls were painted a light blue previously and Sakura was thankful because it added to the cheerful atmosphere.
She walked outside the building and looked up at the sign that she hung last night. It was a pale pink sign with the word 'Puzzled' in the centre in a deep pink outlined in a forest green. There were random splashes of yellow and purple paint in the background. She grinned wider and turned to face the street. She looked at the pavement and picked up a sheet of paper that had been blown there a few seconds before. She studied it and she sighed. The paper in her hand was a flyer. She had handed out many the night before, after she had finished moving the tables, at the mall and she was hoping that she had a good turn out of people.
She went inside and came out half hour later at around nine thirty, because she was due to open at quarter to ten. However when she had gone outside there was already a line of about fifteen people waiting outside. She smiled to herself and went onto the pavement. She looked at the people and opened the double doors for them to enter. As each person entered she welcomed them and thanked them for coming, the whole while grinning madly. She followed the last person in and invited everyone to start puzzling.
Throughout the day more and more people had turned up and there was a point in the day when no more chairs were available and she had to go get more from her house. She was in heaven when she saw people laughing and joking with each other all while trying to decipher the puzzles.
At around three in the afternoon, a gentleman had entered the building with a little girl of about eight years old. When Sakura had looked to the entrance, she gasped and dropped the book that she had in her hand. The man looked at her and smirked a little. He walked over with the girl and stopped in front of her. She got up and looked him square in the eye. It was the same man that she had met in the bookstore the day before.
"She wants to do some puzzles." The man said indicating the little girl.
"Um, okay well just let her choose a book and start. You can leave her here it's very safe." She said smiling nervously and then tried to get away from the man, because for some reason he intimidated her a bit.
"Well I can't just leave her here no matter how safe this place is. Her mother would kill me. Or try to at least." He had whispered the last part but due to the training Sakura had done by joining the JTPS, she heard it clearly and looked him up and down before dismissing it but leaving a mental note to herself to be careful around him. She turned back to him and gave a smile that she hoped would pass for real and then said, "Okay well we'll just have to sign her in." She then walked over to the desk in the front and took out a note book from one of the drawers. "Okay so what's her name?" She asked pointing to the little girl.
"It's Li Mei…" He said briskly and monotonically. Sakura looked him in the eyes for a while, carefully trying to decipher his character. However her attempt was to no avail when she remembered the day before when he seemed to be toying with her. She then looked down upon the girl, known as Li Mei, and reached for her hand to lead her towards one of the tables. Sakura then walked to the desk in front and signalled to the man to approach the desk. He complied and was near the desk within seconds.
She looked up into his amber eyes and was momentarily lost in the depth that they held. The man then spoke while staring back at her, "Aren't you going to sign me in?" She jumped a little and chuckled nervously before replying rather shakily, "Uh, yeah, of course. Um…what's your name again? I didn't catch it the first time."
She then looked away in an attempt to not be entranced by his eyes again. He responded by saying, "There was no first time. Just call me Li." He then placed his left hand in his pant pocket whilst the other moved to brush back his already messy chestnut hair, which moments later simply fell back to its original position.
"I'm sorry sir but I need a full name." She murmured softly looking back to him. A slight smirk crossed his visage as he licked his lips before replying rather smugly, "In that case…Li Syaoran." She was once again hypnotised by the fierce yet comforting look in his eyes. His smirk widened at this realisation and he leaned in slowly. When his face was in mere centimetres of hers, she snapped out of her trance blinking rapidly and backing away. "Um…yeah thanks." She said rather nervously as she frantically searched around for the pen she thought she just held in her hand. "Need a pen?" He inquired still with a rather smug look on his face.
"Uh…yeah…I seemed to have misplaced mine." She said still looking for it on the desk.
"Here." He said offering a pen which mysteriously resembled the one that was supposedly misplaced. She took it rather unwillingly but at the same time gratefully and proceeded to fill out the registry. Looking at the pen more closely, she noticed it looked exactly like hers and after filling out the necessary information, she looked back up at him and then at the pen and enquired, "Isn't this mine?" She returned her gaze to him and waited for an answer.
"No your pen is over there with my niece." He said while pointing toward the furthest table from the desk they were at. When she looked over, she chuckled nervously at the realisation that he was indeed correct and returned his pen to him. After which she walked over and looked upon the girl with her pen and wondered aloud, 'How did she get my pen?' She shrugged it off and gently replaced the pen in the girl's hand with another from off the table. Turning back toward Li she noticed he was gone from where she had left him. She turned back only to be met with the site of him helping the young girl with a puzzle. Multiple thoughts raced through her mind, 'When did he- How did he- Wha?' She sighed aloud and shook her head muttering softly, "I really needed this vacation…"
She then turned to walk back to the front desk when the gentleman appeared by her side. She glanced sideways at him and found him looking at her whilst walking instep with her. Suddenly startled, she fell back onto an empty table and rubbed her sore bum looking back at him. "Need some help?" He asked politely with an extended hand. She reached for his hand but at the last second he pulled back and said, "If I help you, you have to go out with me." He then extended the hand once more. She was taken aback by his sudden offer but still accepted the help by grabbing his hand.
"I'm guessing that's a yes." He told her simply. "Not exactly," She said, "If you can beat me at time trial, then I'll go with you." She challenged him seeming rather confident in her abilities. He looked at her slightly surprised at this sudden change of personality, she seemed much more confident now. He then said while helping her up, "Just be sure to have a dress ready." She stood on her own and looked at him in disgust. His arrogance seemed too obvious now, she had to win.
Moving back toward the front desk, she turned on a microphone which had been installed by the previous owner of the building. She then spoke into the microphone saying, "Ladies, gentlemen and kids of all ages, we have a special treat for you today. A time trial challenge will be performed by me and the gentleman standing before you." All eyes had turned toward Li who had remained where he was seemingly unfazed by the attention. "Please enjoy the show." She continued.
Soon a table had been cleared and set up with two of the same puzzle, two pens and one stop clock, the rules were simple, first to finish would stop the clock and be declared winner. Taking their seats opposite to one another, a bystander approached the table to act as a starter. (A/N: I am Ms. Referee! This will be a time puzzle challenge! Puzzlers ready? Robattle! XD) As soon as the bystander signalled for them to start, both contenders grabbed their pens and began immediately.
The crowd was silent and as tense as the contenders themselves. Actually only one contender seemed tense the other seemed quite relaxed. After no more then two and a half minutes, both contestants reached for the stop clock at the same time. However, there hands collided before either reached the clock. They stared at each other and then at the ticking clock. Sakura reached out and stopped the clock which at that time read three minutes. She looked at it in shock and realised that three minutes was less time than the current world record for a puzzle of that type and difficulty. She jumped up and screamed for joy as she recognised that she had broken the world record. She hugged random people and grabbed the first person she got hold of and danced around the room with them. She soon realised that the person she was dancing with was Syaoran and she immediately stopped.
"So what time should I pick you up?" He asked. "Huh, I said that I would go if you beat me, which you didn't, we tied. But because you're the only person to ever come so close to beating my time then…..I guess I could make an exception." She winked at him and walked toward the exit. Everyone was filing out of the building now and he had gone to get his niece. As he was leaving, Sakura yelled out to him, "Pick me up at seven! Oh and you choose the place!" He acknowledged that he heard her and turned toward his niece who was tugging at his pant leg. "Uncle, why did you take it easy on her?" She asked him innocently.
"Shh…it's okay it doesn't matter now." He replied while they walked out however, Sakura overheard this conversation and could only wonder exactly who he was and more importantly what he was hiding.
Okay that was a bit longer than my others so enjoy and just remember I won't be posting anything for a while so don't get worried if I don't post in a two months or something. Anyway, later people andmake sureto review!
PS: Did you spot the magic?