Reality's Dream
Chapter 18: Things Are Gonna Get Ugly
Sakura ran down the street, her heart pounding in her ears. Her mind was a whirring blank, too shocked to think straight. Habit guided her body through the familiar neighborhood to the simple two story house, turning up into the doorway, yanking the door open, slamming it behind her as she dashed up the stairs.
Once in her room she fell against the closed door trying to catch her breath. For years she had waited for this moment. Yearned for it. Cried over its delay. And now here it came to slap her in the face and the only thing she could think to do was run, just get away from it all.
Slowly she made her way across her room and was stopped by the movement on her left, her reflection. She turned face front to the mirror above the hip height dresser captivated by her image. The girl in the glass seemed so different from herself with auburn hair shimmering in the vibrant burning rays of a setting sun, the creamy skin flushed almost glowing like a candle was beneath, and most of all those striking green eyes burning with an intensity so strong it scared her. And there resting below her neck was the pale blue stone suspended by a cord, a symbol for all that was going right and wrong in her life. She stood entranced by the bauble wondering how such a simple word could cause so much turmoil. She managed to wrench her gaze away and went to the drawer where her precious journal was kept, where every important event, feeling, or moment had been painstakingly described to the minutest of details.
Sakura flopped on the bed placing the little notebook in front of her, opening it to the first unused page. Raising a pen to it she wrote…she wrote….she wrote nothing. Not a word could she place on the blank paper. At the moment the memory was just that, a memory. Some weird fantastical dream that maybe, just maybe her mind had made up. It seemed that if she put it into words then it would somehow become real. Sighing she shut the journal and shoved it under her mattress.
Frustrated she jumped off the bed, pacing the room, running her hand through her hair. Why was this happening? This had to be some weird dream.
There was a knock at the door pulling Sakura from her thoughts.
"Yes?" She called out tentatively.
Her brother's head popped into view through the doorway. "Hey squirt, dinner's ready."
"Okay, I'll be down in a sec." Sakura replied.
Toya started to retreat, then paused and looked back in questioningly, "Is everything alright?"
Sakura flushed guiltily for a moment as the feeling Syaoran's lips on hers came to mind followed by the blind panic of getting caught. 'Does he know? Is it written on my face?' And many other paranoid thoughts ran through her head before common sense kicked in. "Yeah, I'm fine. Practice was just a little…tiring." Sakura lied, her eyes not quite meeting his.
Toya looked a little unconvinced but merely nodded and left.
Sakura flopped back down on the bed with a sigh of relief. 'What has gotten into me?' But that had to be the stupidest question considering what had just occurred not more than an hour ago. In such a little amount of time the world as she had known it had turned upside down. Her best friend had given her a kiss that she could still feel the remnants of. It was like he was still there, the impression of his hand still on her hip, his lips still on hers, the sweet shocks that it sent through her.
'So what now? What did it mean? Why did he kiss me? Does he like me? But he just broke up with Tomoyo…' An ugly word loomed in her mind. 'Rebound.' What if Syaoran was on the rebound and only kissed her because he was lonely and was reaching out to the nearest female presence? What if she was some kind of replacement, fulfilling that physical need? The doubt slowly crept into her heart, slithering into hope closing around it and eventually strangling it. 'What was I thinking? Like Syaoran would just magically want me. It was just some weird hormonal mistake.' And if in the rare chance that it wasn't, well Syaoran would need to be the one to clarify that. Sakura had been hurt enough by loving him, and now that she'd finally gotten the strength to move on she was protesting like a little child from going back down that road again.
With that decided, Sakura rose to have dinner with her pain in the ass brother. But she had to admit that they had been getting along a little more civilly now that Fujitaka was finally gone. The dig had been delayed due to political unrest in Peru. There was talk of rebellion for a while and a switch in governments making the current government very suspicious and nervous. They had not been too keen on letting foreigners into their borders fearing they would ally themselves with the rebels. But the disturbance simmered, and Fujitaka soon joined his crew in Peru leaving his two children to their own devices. The only rule he set down before his departure was that the house was to still be standing on his return. The true words of a father.
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While things on the home front were smooth sailing, those at school were anything but.
Meiling waltzed into the cafeteria with a content sigh, quite pleased with herself at talking her way out of another detention. 'And who says teens today are losing their verbal skills' she smirked as she took a seat at the usual table and unloading the contents of her lunch sack hoping to find anything remotely close to sugar. Meiling's eyebrows wrinkled in slight questioning as she saw Chiharu wince near her.
"Hmmmm," Chiharu mumbled as she rubbed her lips gently with her fingers.
"What's wrong?" Tomoyo inquired.
Chiharu looked down at the little box of orange juice sitting in front of her at the table. "When I took a sip my lips kinda burned. I think they're starting to get chapped. Anyone got some chapstick or something?"
"You betcha." Sakura piped up enthusiastically. "What kind do you want?"
"Uhhh, what do you have?"
Sakura hefted her back pack onto her lap with bit of a groan at the weight, then began to rummage through the contents pulling up tubes of various shapes, colors, and sizes and dropping them. Those present at the table watched with wide eyed wonder at the ever growing pile. Just when it seemed that Sakura had an endless supply, she finally put her bag back on the floor looking quite proud of the collection before her. She noticed the stunned expressions of her fellow classmates. "What?" She inquired.
"Just exactly how many do you have?" Meiling asked, voicing what the others had been thinking.
"Well…I just liked to be prepared." Sakura suggested as a defense for her lip gloss fetish.
"For what? A worldwide shortage of lip care products?" Meiling teased as the others laughed. "Well if that ever happens we know who to turn to, that's for sure."
Chiharu looked rather befuddled at how to even begin searching for a suitable choice in the massive pile. Tentatively she pulled at one near the middle not noticing the quivering the rest of the tubes began to emit until it was too late.
"Look out! Avalanche!" Meiling called out dramatically as the great numbers of tubes began to roll in all directions over the table and over the edge, making an escape attempt. Chaos ensued as the friends scrambled on their hands and knees to retrieve the runaway lip glosses, hearing the occasional 'eeeek' of a student who discovered the mistake of stepping on a stray lip gloss since they are of a rotund shape. And when pressure is exerted they have the horrendous habit of rolling over, knocking the person off balance and causing many to find themselves with their butts on the cafeteria floor.
Sakura couldn't but help but laugh as she crawled under the table, gathering the run away lip glosses back into her bag making a mental note of which ones were returned so she would know which ones were still M.I.A. (missing in action.) 'Aha!' her mind cried out triumphantly as she spotted one of her favorites, a lip balm named Mango Madness hiding behind a chair leg, cowering from her she was sure. She lunged across the distance and was surprised when her hand wrapped not around the small plastic tube but instead something soft and warm. A hand. Slowly she looked up to locate the owner, already half knowing who it was, but couldn't stop herself from looking anyway. Her eyes met rich brown ones. Sakura nearly drowned in those eyes, but quickly as if they had been doused with cold water they jumped apart and their eyes darted around looking anywhere but at the person in front of them.
And this was how it had been since that earth shattering kiss not more than a week ago. Neither spoke of it to anyone including each other, Sakura for fear it meant nothing to him, and Syaoran thought Sakura hadn't wanted it to happen because she had run away. But they couldn't act like nothing had happened either. It was like walking on eggshells around one another. Sakura kept blocking the memory while Syaoran seemed to be haunted by it, never leaving him alone. They talked less to one another and there were way too many moments of catching each other's eye and then averting them quickly for anyone to even try to count. Sakura was focusing on others, jumping wholeheartedly into even the most simple of conversations, while Syaoran became withdrawn and brooding, pulling away from the ever confusing world. And their changing behavior did not go unnoticed. Definitely not with three, very intrigued by the going-ons of the two best friends, watching them like hawks circling the sky.
For Tomoyo it was further confirmation that she did the right thing in letting go. But now she couldn't help but worry for her rather clueless friend. Both Eriol and Syaoran wanted Sakura and she was afraid her friend might get torn apart if they fought over her like little boys can do.
Meiling had an even further worry for she was privy to the knowledge that at one time Sakura was in love with Syaoran, and just maybe still was. Meiling also knew that something had happened. She had been visiting the Li residence when Syaoran had come back from practice looking shook up. He had barely touched his food or spoken but when Aunt Yelan had brought up how practice had gone Syaoran's eyes had widened like a deer caught in headlights and he rambled like a drunkard. 'Yes indeed, something has happened between those two. But what exactly?' She just wondered how this drama in waiting was to be played out. Mainly with how Eriol was going to take part in this, and if Sakura was given a choice who would she choose. Meiling of course knew where her loyalties lay, with her cousin. She had watched Syaoran and Sakura orbit round one another, always being there for each other, their lives inseparable. They were supposed to be together. But just because things should be, doesn't mean they will be. She wished all of them luck for the upcoming trials that were to strike them. 'Things are gonna get ugly.'
The last member of the growing love triangle was working to fight off the nagging fears that were beginning to eat away at his insides. Eriol was normally a calm, collected person, and this gnawing worry seemed to be beyond his control. His mind was filled with thoughts like 'Syaoran wants her. What if she finds out?' 'She used to love him. Does she still?' 'Will I lose her?' 'I can't lose here. I can't.' He couldn't help as the feelings washed over him like a giant wave whenever he witnessed a little 'moment' between Sakura and Syaoran, or when he caught Syaoran giving what could only be described as longing glances at Sakura. He felt like going over to Syaoran and knocking him about. Instead of following such violent cravings, he had done something that he was not too proud of either. Yesterday he had cornered Syaoran and told him to stay away from Sakura. Which of course Syaoran had merely commented that he and Sakura were friends since birth and he was not going to give that up just because Eriol was feeling insecure. And that was the problem; Eriol was beginning to feel very insecure.
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A/N: And the pace continues, an action chapter followed by a reflective chapter. I'm so sorry if I've been neglecting my reviewers. I'm itching to personally respond to each one but again the fear of deletion hangs over my head. So just know that you mean the world to me. Thank you for the time you take to respond to this crazy crazy story. Oh and thank you to a reviewer who mentioned that the summary sounded like so many others so I'm gonna try changing it around a bit.