Boring chapter. Please read though. Important to development.
Disclaimer: I no own ccs, so dont sue me. Plot and story goes to the wonderful Cecilia Ahern
Sakura
Sakura pulled her dressing gown tighter around her body and secured it at her waist. She tucked her long legs under her body as she snuggled on the huge oval armchair in the living room. Her wet hair was twisted up on top of her head in a towel while her skin smelt fruity after the passion fruit bath.
She cradled a cup of coffee, completed with a splash of milk as she stared at the television screen. She was literally watching paint dry. Her favourite make-over show was on. After so many years of being in interior design, she was still fascinated by how they could transform the most run-down houses into sophisticated, elegant homes.
Ever since she was a child,she loved to give everything she touched a make-over. She would scatter fresh daisies plucked from the garden on the kitchen table, sprinkle glitter over the floor mats, giving the dull stone floor a shine, assemble petals on the bed supposed it was her fix-it nature, always wanting to be perfect and yet never satisfied.
It was always her childish way of hoping her mother would stay. She remembered thinking the prettier the house, the longer her mother will stay. But the daisies on the table were celebrated for not more than five minutes, the glitter on the floor was removed by the continous stepping by shoes and the petals on the bed were strewn all over during her mother's fitful sleep.
When this were tired of, Sakura would try to think of new ways to please her wished that there was something her mother really loved and would grab her attention for more than five minutes, more than a day, eventually convincing her not to leave. It never did occur to her being her mother's daughter, she could be that something her mother wants to cling to.
As she grew older, her love for bringing beauty of things out grew as well. She loved the fact that after ripping up old carpets, original and elegant floors were revealed. Dusty attics could be converted to a spacey library. Sakura strove for perfection. In her own home, she would be forever rearranging the items, trying to find the best spot to place them. She set impossible targets,to prove to her heart under every ugly thing, there was a beautiful side.
Her own living room is about as many colours she acknowledged. There were light cream and coffee tones all around, ranging from cushions to the television. It was her nest, her refuge, keeping her sane. At least she was in control of the place. In here, she could allow people whom she wanted in and decide how long she wants them to stay.
Not like a heart, which lets in people without her permission, hold them in a special place without her agreement and yearn for them to remain there for a longer time than they planned. No, the guests in Sakura's house came and went as she willed. And Sakura chose for them to stay away.
Sakura's whole life has depended on a folder book of her achievements to convince people to hire her for designing. Nobody in her office could sell their designer abilities as well as she could. Her employees consisted of Rika and Chiharu.
Receptionist Rika was an extremely timid and shy seventeen year old who joined Sakura in her transition year. She was a hard worker and Sakura hired her immediately after Tomoyo. She had more then to let Sakura down and Sakura desperately needed somebody to clear up the mess.
Then there was Chiharu, a girl full of wonderfully impossible ideas and was ready to paint the world a colour she has yet to invent. There were just three of them in the office but Sakura often called on services of Mrs Bracken, a sixty-eight year old genius with a needle and a thread who ran an upholstery shop down the road.
She was also an incredible grump who insisted on being called Mrs Bracken and not Gwen, out of respect for her dearly deceased Mr Bracken, whom Sakura didn't think was born with a first name. And finally there was Harry, an all round handyman who could do anything but not understand the concept of a unmarried woman with a career.
It was not unusual Tomoyo should turn up at Sakura's doorstep drunk and delirious. She often was willing to take away anything she could get her hand on and that excluded Eriol. Sakura didn't even know if it was the drink Tomoyo was addicted to; she never did had a real conversation with her sister for years.
It is as though a flick switched in her head and they lost her to another world. Sakura did everything she could for her, sent her for counseling, rehab, found her jobs and flats but nothing helped. Tomoyo was lost to her, lost to a world where nobody else mattered.
Suddenly, Sakura stopped her train of thought and pressed mute on the remote control. The room was instantly silenced. She cocked her head to a side. She thought she heard something. Looking around and assuring everything was where they should be, she turned the volume up.
There it was again.
She muted the television and stood up. It was 10.15pm and not yet fully dark. She looked around through the window but all she could make out is the dark shapes of bushes and trees. All day she had felt odd. She sighed and sat down to continue watching her programme, unable to shake off the feeling a pair of eyes were watching her.
Syaoran couldn't understand his fascination with her . He had been watching her ever since lunch on Friday. Eriol asked him to play games but all he wanted to do is to be around Sakura.
Firstly it was to see whether she could hear or sense him, but after that, he found her compelling. She was obsessively neat. She couldn't go out of a room to answer the phone until she makes sure everything in the room is tidied away.
She drinks a lot of coffee and stares at the garden picking imaginary pieces of fluff out from everything. She thought a great deal. He could see that her brow would furrow in concentration and it was as though she was having mental debates with people in her mind.
They were watching television in the living room and she only seems to like one programme. They both laughed in the same places, groaned in the same places, yet she didn't know he was there. Sakura was also particularly upset by the fact that Eriol was talking to himself during meals.
Before leaving the room this time, she stopped abruptly and glanced into the room. His heart beated wildly. Had she sensed him?
Syaoran fixed his shirt to look presentable and said "Hi,"feeling very self-conscious.
She rubbed her eyes and opened them again,"Oh Sakura, you are going mad," slamming the door to the room.
Syaoran
I am not magic, you know. I can't cross my arms, mutter a spell and immediately appear at the other end of a room. I don't live in a burrow, nor do I have funny ears or a tinkly laugh. I cant fly or replace lost teeth.
And I can't open doors.
This has to be done for me. The adults find it the most hilarious when their kids do it for me in public. So what if I can touch a door and not be able to open it? There is no explanation just like humans can't fly, yet they can jump and lift two feet off the earth.
So Sakura shouldn't have locked the living door, seeing I cant open it anyway . Like I said, I am no superhero. I can't put out forest fires in a breath or make things disappear. My special power is friendship.
I listen to people and their tones, words they use to express themselves, most importantly, what they don't say.Sighs and signs and avoided conversations are very important too. So all I can do that night is think about Eriol.
I need to do that occasionally to make notes so I can make a file to report to the admin. I need to know why I am here. Why does Eriol need me? How can I help him? The business is done professionally and we must provide adequate information on family background and history. I am good at identifying problems straight away but since Sakura can sense me, she must need my help in some way.
You see, I specialize in helping children, not adults. But since she can feel me, we are meant to be friends. It is my whole meaning for existence, trust me. Majority of the time, I work too put a smile on their faces, I work hard. I do, but playing is still by far my favourite.
Take Sakura for example, She lies in bed worrying about the minutest things in the world. If you can't put magnolia on the walls, there are a thousand different colours you can use. If you cant pay your phone bill, just write a letter to tell them. Yes, you need money for food, but you also need sleep to have energy, smile to be happy, be happy so you can laugh and not kneel over in a seizure.
Eriol was happy and ate well. He slept fitfully and had a nice friend called Sam. He loved his aunt and school. He talked about anything in the world and wanted to play. But he could see me, so it means I need to be here for him.
Whereas his aunt, was surrounded by silence. She ate little, slept little. She never said far more then she need and had nobody close that she could talk to. She heard me say thank you once, felt my breath and my squeak on the couch, yet couldn't see nor stand the thought of me being in her house.
She just didn't want to play. Plus, she was an adult and she gave me butterflies.
She wouldn't know it if fun hit her in the face. Believe me, I tried to throw fun at her but she never took the hints.
People refer to me as an invisible or imaginary friend. I have seen grown-up write letters asking why children see me, why they believe in me for so long before suddenly stopping and returning normal. I have seen television shows debating on why children invent people like me.
Just for the record, I am not invisible or imaginary. I walk around like all normal people, just that people like Eriol don't choose to see me, they just see me. It is people like you and Sakura who don't want to see me.
I had always thought people will come and go after time. I don't want to see you. What if my heart starts to hold a special place for you? What if I stop seeing you one day? What if you leave me one day? No, I don't want that to happen. So, I would very much prefer if I don't BELIEVE in the fact that you EXIST.
Sakura
Sakura woke up before dawn broke. She got up and arranged her cushions in the same order as she did every day- the back were two huge mocha coloured suede ones, the middle consisted of cream and beige ones made with rabbit fur. The last two were of coffee cream. Everything has its place. So did the people in her heart. Sakura cleaned herself up before putting on a bland working suit.
She walked briskly to the kitchen and got ready breakfast for Eriol. A box of cereals, a ceramic bowl and a carton of milk. She stared out of the window, looking past the rolling hills. Eriol was invited to spend the day at his grandfather's. Sakura was a little worried as there Syaoran going too. Fujitaka was a strict man and he wouldn't like to take nonsense about a invisible friend. They would need to have a small discussion when Eriol wakes up.
"SYAORAN!"
Eriol's voice rang out in the house. He came scrambling out of his room, his midnight blue hair tousled, without glasses, and a red shirt messily tucked into his pants. The outfit was completed with a blue and orange sock in sneakers.
"SYAORANNNNNNNNN?"
Eriol came into the kitchen, looked under the table, behind the door, behind the fridge. Sakura rolled her eyes. This again. She was trying to make a call to the pest control agency about annoying pattering she hears at night.
"Yes, I think there might be mice…."
"WHAT? I CANT HEAR YOU?" Eriol's ears perked up and he stopped yelling.
Suddenly, he ran into the hallway and towards living room. "WHY ARE YOU IN THERE?" He tugged at the handle.
Sakura slammed the phone down without finishing her conversation. Her ears were ringing.
'ERIOL! GET IN HERE NOW!" "
The banging stopped but he looked defiantly at Sakura. "Why did you lock Syaoran in there last night?"
Sakura heaved and said in a deadly whisper," Eriol, go have your breakfast now and there will be no talk of this Syaoran anymore, am I clear? There is no such person as Syaoran, he does not eat pizza or olives, he does not play chasing, and he is not in the living room, neither is he talking to you because he does not exist."
Eriol paled and ran to the kitchen, settled down to have his coco flakes. His arm wobbled under the weight of the milk carton and it splashed over the table. Sakura held her back her biting words about dirtying the table. She didn't want to upset Eriol again.
Eriol asked, "Where is the key to the living room?", refusing to catch her eye.
Sakura took the key out of her pocket and twisted it in the keyhole it belonged to.
" Now Syaoran is free to leave the house and go wherever he likes." She joked but immediately regretted it.
"He can't open doors," Eriol said sadly.
Silence.
"He can't,"
Sakura said it as though it was a foreign was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. What kind of imaginary friend is this who doesn't know how to pass through walls or doors? Sakura decided to just play along and open it. Before she knew it, she saw Eriol sitting at the table , with another bowl of coco flakes with freshly poured milk beside him, giggling softly.
Syaoran
"Boy is she strict." I whispered to Eriol. Normally I won't whisper when parents are around but I didn't dare to take the risk since she had heard me a couple of times.
"Is she like this all the time?"
Eriol giggled and nodded.
"Does she never gives you hug or play games with you?" I asked as I observed her wiping the countertops, moving the seasonings half a inch right and half a inch left.
"Not much," He shrugged.
"But that's horrible! Don't you mind?"
"Edith says there are some people in the world that don't hug or play with you all the time but they still love you. They just don't know how to express their feelings." He whispered back.
Sakura eyed him nervously.
"Who's Edith?"
"My nanny. She is away on holidays."
" So who will mind you now?"
" You."Eriol smiled.
"Let's shake on it." Eriol and I both held out our hands. Sakura stopped her chores and stared. We laughed even harder when her eyes grew to the size of olives.
Sakura
Sakura closed the car door as she watched her father lead Eriol back to the farmhouse. She refused to let Syaoran out of the car and shut it immediately after Eriol got out.
The little boy looked at him pleadingly but she only returned a glare that meant a definite no. She wanted to get out of here now. The house brought back too many memories for her.
As she drove along the road, she remembered the time she was leaving for college. She had whispered into her little sister's ear," You do the same one day, Tomoyo. Promise me, fly away from there." The taxi drove off, with her in the back seat, hot tears gushing out of her eyes.
All she could see was the blurry image of a six year girl waving her arms in the air, the two purple pigtails bouncing up and down. She repeated the same words over and over again in her head, hoping Tomoyo would understand. Don't be trapped like mother, fly away, as far as you can.
Sakura came back to reality and realized she had been holding her breath. As the house disappeared from view, she relaxed her shoulders.
" Right,Syaoran." She said looking into the rearview mirror at the backseat, "I guess you are coming to work with me," She sighed. Then Sakura did a funny thing.
She giggled childishly.
Well, hello! I am sorry for the sluggish update rates cause school was busy busy! Read from the start if you havent! Oh yeah, to answer your questions, this story is based on a book by Cecilia Ahern called "If You Could See Me Now" . Haha. Now read and review!
-Tock