Disclaimer: I said before.
I really…want to stay. The longer I stay, the more I realize and understand the feelings I have for you. Like falling into a hole. The more reckless I am, the deeper I fall. But I want to be here, to fill up this void.
On her way to the cosy office she owned, she stopped by at Joe's coffee shop. Per usual. The sleepy town was finally stirring, like a little child who is unwillingly pulled away from dreamland and getting ready for school.
It wasn't that Sakura disliked Tomoeda, it was just that the town felt…suffocating. It has a tendency to trap people in it, as though without realizing. It welcomes you with open arms, like a child being in a sweet shop with luminous candy and peppermint sticks. As you look around with a pulsing heart and stretch out your arm slowly, the lids are then screwed back onto the jars tightly. Once Tomoeda's beauty is recognized, so is the fact that it has nothing else to offer too.
Another thing was how small the town was. Everywhere Sakura went, anybody could recite out her history to her. They gave her pitying looks, some decide to look away. She would always flush at these instances. It made Sakura want to leave, but many reason prevented her from doing so.
There was once she went to New York with her boyfriend, Mark, to design a club, when she realized how free the city was. No one would know about her crazy mother and screwed up sister, no one would know about her family drama. She could be who she wants. Do what she wants. Unlike in Tomoeda, it was near impossible to hide from her given identity.
. . .
As Sakura broke out of her reverie, she was humming the tune Eriol tried to convince her, was taught by Syaoran. It was annoyingly chirpy and catchy. She frowned and stopped her singing. Pulling up in a lot outside the shop, she walked in to the greasy and old shop.
"Ah, there she is," Joe boomed, "the very woman herself."
"Morning, Joe."
He tutted and tapped his worn out watch. "Bit behind time today, aren't we? Must have caught the summer flu. You know, Sally O' Brendan came down with it after…." Sakura rolled her eyes and tuned him out. She hated mindless tittle-tattle about people she didn't know, and especially since her family was also a usual subject for much gossip.
" A coffee, please, with cream and no milk. I need to take away." Sakura said crisply. Joe moved sluggishly towards the kettle. Sakura was extremely annoyed by the coffee shop in Tomoeda. They only sold one kind of coffee. The instant kind. Over the world, there were so many different kinds of coffee and yet here, Joe just filled the kettle and flicked on the switch. A coffee shop with one measly kettle and unboiled water.
Sakura rolled her eyes again. "I swear, if you roll you eyes anymore, they are going to get stuck up that head of yours," Joe rasped. Sakura ignored him and asked," Honestly, Joe would you not think of getting a coffee machine, so you can actually make espressos, cappuccinos and lattes instead of all this instant stuff?"
Joe slammed down the mug of done coffee on the counter and crossed his arms. "No, no fancy stuff from you. You don't like it, don't drink it. I only drink tea. One name, Tea."
"Actually, the Chinese-"
"Oh be off with you. You are going to be late anyway." Joe waved his hand dismissively. Sakura merely smiled and walked out.
. . .
Sakura was always the first in the office. She loved the serenity of it. She never liked giggling, gossiping or any of that. Just as she ate what she needed, she only said what she has to. She never enjoyed heated debates or conversations. As she sat in her office, maybe that was why she never had any friends. Since childhood Sakura never pined for friendship. But oh yes, she did have a few stabs at making friends.
When she moved into her new house, she invited her neighbours from around to a dinner gathering. Only to see Tomoyo burst in, accusing Jane from opposite of having a boob job, Tom from next door of looking her in a sexual way and Ray from behind of having an affair. This resulted in five red faces and a burnt rack of lamb. Since then, Sakura avoided parties and such. She knew her neighbours understood it was not her fault, but she just got tired of explaining and apologizing. So she just gave up.
Sakura turned on her computer and entered "Imaginary friends" into Google search box. Half an hour later, she felt much better about the Syaoran situation. Apparently, imaginary friends were normal for children of Eriol's age. They even encouraged her to play along and set a seat for Syaoran during dinner time.
Imaginary friends disappear after about three months. Sakura smirked and flipped her calendar to June, using a red pen to circle it. If Syaoran isn't out of the house by then, she would obligingly open her smiling fuchsia door and show him the way out.
Syaoran
I spun around in the leather chair outside Sakura's room. I could hear her boring old voice organizing a boring meeting with boring grown-ups. Yet right after she hung up, she started humming my song. I laughed at that.
I spun around faster and faster, doing pirouettes on the wheels until my eyesight began to water and my head grew dizzy. I decided chair spinning was my absolute favourite by far. I thought of how Eriol would have loved to come here too to spin on the chair.
I still remember his sad little face pressed against the glass windows, as he was taken away by his old gramps. I would love to visit the fun. That old guy looks like he could deal with a bit of fun. Sakura resembled him in a way. Two boring old gnirobs.
Anyway, this time given me enough to write a report on Sakura and Eriol for my presentation in two days. Guts tell me to stay with Sakura for a few more days before I can assure she really can't sense me and get back with Eriol. I put my foot down on the floor to stop the chair and made a dramatic jump, landing on the floor and rolling across the white carpet to the other side of the room.
I look up to see the door open and a teenager look in as her chair continued spinning madly. She darted her eyes around to see anyone was looking before trying to tame the chair, albeit cautiously. Before she could do that, the old gnirob in the room yelled," Rika!" causing her to hurry in to Sakura's room.
I chuckled.
. . .
Sakura
"Naoko, did you call for me?" Sakura yelled across the room for what it seemed like the tenth time. "NO! For the last time, Sakura, I did not call you. Neither did Rika. And stop humming that goddamn song! It is really getting on my nerves!" Naoko added after some thought.
"What song? I wasn't humming anything." As soon as she finished her sentence, she started up again. Then stopped. She flushed and decided to assert some control. After all, she was the in charge. Clearing her throat, Sakura opened the door and spoke to Rika."Rika, can you please go fetch me some coffee from Joe's?"
"And add cream. No milk."
"And add cream. No milk."
"And return the collection of mugs you took from Joe."
"Yes, the mugs." Sakura snapped her fingers. The she froze. Who was talking?
Syaoran laughed and danced around gleefully. He couldn't believe how dense this woman was. She could really hear him!
As Sakura settled back at her desk after Rika closed the door, Syaoran waltzed over to her seat and leaned on his arms, facing Sakura. "Now Saks, I am real. You gotta believe that." Sakura raised her head up, her large emerald eyes transfixed by nothingness. She gulped.
"Ohh..you don't really like Saks, do you?" Syaoran teased.
Sakura paled and nodded. Then shook. She felt extremely confused. Right then, the door swung open angrily. A girl with lavender hair flounced in. "Oh, sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds." She cackled.
Sakura broke out of her reverie and exclaimed, "Tomoyo!" Rika was outside the door, muttering, "I am sorry, Miss Kinomoto, she barged in on her own." Sakura waved her off.
Tomoyo settled down on Sakura's leather couch. "Oh loosen up, Sarkie, I need some money. And who is that handsome guy over there? Did you pick him up on the road?"
Syaoran
I was extremely shocked. This…this girl could see me! She must be the mother Eriol was talking about. I didn't reply her and she decided to ignore me, instead, concentrating on Sakura.
. . .
"Look Tomoyo, I got a call from Andy again. He said you were drinking and selling out in the pubs again. I know you aren't stupid. What are you doing?"
Tomyo flared up." I am doing what all twenty year old girls do. Having fun. My drinking is no problem. You are the one with the bloody problem. So shut up." She nodded to the front of the desk, addressing Syaoran, "Oh and you, I don't think you will hang around much longer. They all leave, don't they, Sarkie?" She snarled.
Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes. She ignored Tomoyo and picked up her purse, "How much? What for?"
"Fifty. Drugs and more drugs."
Sakura's shoulders dropped."Look, Tomoyo, you can't go on like this. Tell me-"
"Yeah yeah. "She rolled her eyes and snitched the crisp note out of Sakura's hand drifting out of the room. "I was joking. It is for groceries and stuff. Not all of us wipe up asses on silk, you know."
A piece of black material floated onto the white carpet. Sakura knew what it felt like to fall. And she didn't want to feel it again.
. . .
As the eventful day drew to an end, Sakura managed to close two deals. Yet the chair behind Chiharu's table continued spinning. The three ladies watched it warily. "Do you think it is Mr Bracken's ghost?"Rika said quietly. Chiharu snorted."I don't think Mrs Bracken will approve of Mr Bracken's chair spinning habits."
Sakura knew this was no progress and clapped her hands ," Alright girls, I will ask Henry to fix the loose screws here tomorrow. Have a good night." As the two girls closed the door, Sakura crept towards the chair, inch by inch. It slowly stopped spinning."Chicken," she muttered.
Immediately, she pounced onto the chair and bounced up and down. Slowly, the chair picked up speed and started spinning in all its glory. Sakura lifted her legs up and felt her strict bun come loose. She started laughing. Never in this few years had she felt so young, so free.
The chair grinded to a stop. Her smile faded away as she started to hum, moving her eyes over Chiharu's desk. Her eyes caught a flowery frame. There was a strip of photograph of Chiharu and her boyfriend. The first three were of them making funny faces at each other. But the fourth picture had them staring lovingly into each other's eyes. A scene caught eternally on paper.
Sakura sniffled. She knew that look. She tried not to remember those times, yet she lost against the battle of wills and the crinkly book of memories opened themselves, flooding Sakura's head. She began to sob.
Each tear was a cry of pain and hope that someone would come to help her. And with each teardrop, she realized that she was alone. Her calls will never be answered and all the hope she had were frozen by the wistful silence.
Whoa! Two updates in so little days! Well, after this chappie, i think updates will be slowing down. And Syaoran will be making his offical appearance in the next chapter! Thank for you reviews! I will reply your reviews if i have the time.
Hime Kimiko: Yes! I love her books! I actually read this book more than 10 times and i think i memorised almost every line in it. Oops. I must seem crazy!
queen-sarcasm :Thanks! I will try my best!
StarAngel02: Well...you arent correct, neither are you wrong. Keep guessing! And i hope you will enjoy the real book! I really really loved it! You can see from my reply to Hime. Haha!
momiji'sunusedhalo:Here is the update! And thank you so much for reviewing!
Notice:
Yes. Many of you all asked me about the story. So I will tell you all now. If you HATE fics where Syao and Saku don't end up together, please don't continue reading then flame and blame me. I strongly believe in the line" There is no happily ever after but a beautiful beginning". In this story, there is SxS. But the relationship counts more than anything else. So what if they don't end up together? Romeo and Juliet never did ..that is my point. And i don't want to explain anymore and spoil the story! (though many of you all might have read the book already) Haha. Read and review! I appreciate it!