Author's Notes ~*~ Thanks guys for the reviews. I love knowing that there are people out there who appreciate what I write, which is nothing more than a public diary sorta… Anyway enjoy!
Chapter Three
We picked up Kiyoshi after we closed the shop and headed to Tomoyo's house for a shower and dress up. The moment Tomoyo laid eyes on Kiyoshi I swear it was love at first sight. There was talk about a toddler line with him as her model. Kiyoshi surprisingly warmed up to her instantly and babbled and laughed with her the entire ride over to her house.
Eriol couldn't help but laugh at the sight and neither could I. "See, she'll be an excellent mother one day," he whispered over to me, not that there was any need for whispering. I'm sure Tomoyo and Kiyoshi were too enthralled with each other at the moment to care what we were saying.
"I heard that and I said no, not until I'm where I want to be in life," came Tomoyo's stern voice. I stand corrected.
"Here we are ladies and Kiyoshi," Eriol said pulling into a huge circular driveway.
"No!" Kiyoshi yelle, then looked frightened because he wasn't speaking to either me or Tomoyo or the fact that he yelled no, which ever comes first.
"This place is huge!" I whispered.
"Nothing compared to Syaoran's house," Eriol scoffed.
"My mother's idea of a comfortable home," Tomoyo said with a sigh. Some people get all the luck. "Personally if I were to get a house that big I'd one want it to be filled with kids."
"Oh my gosh, you're going to kill yourself trying to give birth to enough kids to fill a house that huge!"
"I want to adopt as well as have some physically, but I feel that there are too many kids out there on the street now that don't have families that could use a good home." Tomoyo said stretching before getting out of the car.
Well, at least with money she has a good head on her shoulders. "Have you ever thought of starting up an orphanage?" I asked.
"Yeah, I just need someone to help me through it. As you know I don't have kids of my own yet and I don't know exactly all the basics of taking care of children other than they need baths, food, and clothes. Along with doctor visits."
"Well that's basically it; as well as love and plenty of exercise." I followed suit and got out of the car and started to get Kiyoshi out of the car seat. "Isn't that right baby?" Kiyoshi laughed when I held him in the air and he painfully grabbed my cheeks and pulled to force me to bring his face to mine and he gave me a sloppy wet kiss.
"That looks so painful," Eriol said closing his door.
"It is very painful," I replied trying to get him to let his death grip off my face.
"Okay guys, let's hurry we don't have much time to get ready for your interview with the witch," Tomoyo stated dryly.
"I'm just going at a guess here and say that no one likes Fai's mother." Considering we didn't have a lot of time, I decided to carry Kiyoshi on my hip rather than letting him walk, which would take a life time on it's own going up those stairs.
Entering the house was a dream that I couldn't even imagine. Inside was a pretty yellow and gold theme with black furniture and red roses and throw pillows as accessories.
"Okay bedroom is this way," Tomoyo said heading up one side of the double staircase. Eriol and I followed suit at full speed. Holy crap her floors are marble? You've got to be kidding me…
The hallway up the stairs was the same gold and yellow theme as downstairs with red carpeting. The walls were lined with beautifully done pictures of Tomoyo as a child and who I can only assume was her mother.
We soon entered into a room that was like stepping into a world of lavender scents and a purple world. "I did not know that this much purple existed in the world."
"I know isn't lovely?" Tomoyo asked throwing her hands up. "Purple is the color of imagination because it is the only color that doesn't naturally exist and therefore I love it even more."
"Now, I'm going to say you're about my size which makes this perfect so I don't have to leave my room for anything. Eriol, go show her to the shower so she can get freshened up and I'll find the perfect outfit for her to wear tonight."
"This way my lady," Eriol said taking Kiyoshi out of my arms despite his disgruntled grunting and lead me to another room a joined to here.
It was like stepping into another world again. Gold and purple collided here in a bathroom that was bigger than my living room. The floor was soft yellowed marbled, the wood work was white, but the accessories were purple and gold. With pretty flowers white, purple and gold flowers. On one side there was a bathtub huge enough fit five people easy and on the other side was a stand in shower with a seat.
"The linen closet is on the end on the right," Eriol said before stepping out and closing the door behind him.
I went to the linen closet and opened it up. Unsurprisingly they were the same color schemes for the towels and wash clothes. Leaving the purple to Tomoyo I picked a yellow towel and couldn't believe how incredibly soft it was. It was almost like touching silk only it was terry cloth.
Stepping into the shower I was quickly engulfed in perfectly temperature water. I felt all my stresses melt away and I just wanted to stay where I was as the water ran over me. Then the thought of impressing Syaoran's wife passed through my head and I remembered I didn't have time to dolly.
Showering quickly and thoroughly as one could under pressure I got out and without me having to touch anything the water had shut itself off. I could get so spoiled living here and forget myself completely.
Considering that it's marble I expected a cold floor but instead I felt warmth radiating from underneath my feet and realized that the floor was heated. Yup, definitely could have no problems living in a place like this.
Drying off I wrapped the towel around me and stepped out of the bathroom and back into the land of purple. Eriol and Kiyoshi were nowhere to be seen.
"I sent the boys downstairs to watch TV so we can have some privacy," Tomoyo said, more to herself than to me, as she studied the articles of clothing splayed out on her bed. "I'm sure that Eriol told you about Ji Yue's obsession with western 50's style when it came to the help and when he told me about you I decided to have some modern uptakes on them made last night just for you. I wasn't sure your size but Eriol told me you were about my size so I modeled for them."
She handed me a pretty gray skirt and soft white top with no sleeves. It was unbelievably simple but it looked so pretty. I went back to the bathroom to change and couldn't believe how soft the clothes felt on my skin. It was like everything she touched turned to the world's softest material. Unfortunately she didn't have a mirror in the bathroom for me to see what I looked like before stepping out so I could only pray for the better.
Tomoyo was poised at the door looking every part of the fashion designers you see on TV; poised and attentive for any flaws. "I must say you look beautiful!" she said shaking her head. "If you were working for me though I'd have to have you wear low cut shirts, pregnancy gave you some nice ones to show off."
I felt the heat run up to my face. I was so not used to people being this open about their thoughts on my body. Despite my sudden embarrassment an even more embarrassing part of it all is I felt really complimented by it.
"Thank you?" I asked.
Tomoyo just laughed. "Sorry, I have a tendency to speak before I think sometimes. Here, I have a matching jacket for it."
I just smiled and put the jacket on. It fit until I started buttoning it and couldn't get it unbuttoned over my chest. "It doesn't completely fit in the chest area."
"That's okay. The easy fix solution for that is this!" She buttoned the button that started underneath my chest and the rest of the way down. "There, perfection!" She quickly lead me to a full length mirror to see myself.
"Oh…" was all I could really say. It was weird but it had been so long since I'd seen me in anything that fitted me nicely and the whole button it partially really made a difference.
Before I knew it Tomoyo lit in on my hair like an angry fly and surprisingly enough for as quick as she worked with her curling iron and rattail comb I didn't get feel any pain. "You're good," I said looking in the mirror at a more professional me.
Tomoyo blew on her curling iron and posed next to me. "I know." A big grin slapped on her face.
"Yo, we got fifteen minutes before we have to be there, you know how Syaoran likes everything to be on… time." Eriol stopped whatever he was saying and cocked his head to the side. "Sakura?" he questioned.
"Yes?" I asked sweetly.
"Looking good." Then a look of realization shown on his face and my already beating heart beat faster. "Oh my God, Tomoyo she looks too good."
Tomoyo glanced me up and down one good time. "Look I'm not going to make her look like those things she hired to be her hired hands. As a nanny, she's going to have to go places that Syaoran plans on taking Fai so she needs to look sharp for this position. Besides it's the weekend and she and her mommy dearest were together today so she is probably going to be or is on her way to being smashed."
"Alright, let's go then," Eriol said heading back out the room.
I was about to head out the room with her but Tomoyo stopped me. "I didn't know what size shoe you wore so I got several different sizes and styles made." Quickly she reached under her bed and pulled out a pale pink box, a monster in the room of purple, and popped the top to reveal ten pairs of shoes. There were a range of shoes from flats to stilettos in either black or red. Being not brave at all on color I chose a pair of black baby doll shoes with a four inch hill and a strap over the ankle, happily in my size.
"Nice choice," Tomoyo said nodding her approval.
"Can't really go wrong when they're all super cute," I said without thinking. Oh God, where have my morals gone that I gained as a mother? I need money for shoes for my kid, not really cute, actually kind of sexy shows that makes me appear like a super hot nanny… Okay, I'm deciding that Tomoyo is bad for my health and I haven't known her for a full twelve hours yet.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Tomoyo started jumping up and down. "Hurry and put those on, we need to be at his house in like thirteen minutes!"
Quickly I sat at the edge of her bed and strapped the shoes on my feet. It felt good to be in heels again, but how effective are these when babysitting?
Carefully, and a bit rusty on my part, we hurried down the stairs to where Eriol and a now sleeping Kiyoshi waited. "How did you do that?" I asked mystified.
"I kind of chased him a lot, played a couple of games of how high can you go until he was so tired he just kind of collapsed on me when we sat down," Eriol said casually.
"Figures, with the lack of sleep I've been getting I don't feel like I have the energy to do anything like that anymore," I said smiling fondly down at my sleeping child.
"Come on, ten minutes people!" Tomoyo whispered grabbing her purse on her way to open the door.
Eriol motioned me to go on ahead and he picked up Kiyoshi and out the door we headed. I was heading toward the car when I noticed that only Tomoyo was with me. "Where's he taking Kiyoshi?" I asked watching Eriol walk with still sleeping Kiyoshi in his arms toward the backyard.
"He's going the same place we are, only slower. Syaoran lives right behind us," she said getting in. I followed suit still eyeing the retreating back of Eriol and my baby. "But Syaoran has these really huge gardens that you would have to walk through and it's like a maze. So far only he and Eriol truly know how to get through that thing. Driving there will be much quicker."
The engine roared to life and without another word between us we speed off to Syaoran's house.
~*~
I don't remember much of the ride over, except that I know that the moment we exited her driveway I stayed scared and tense the entire ride and positive that there was at least fifty broken laws trailing behind us.
Shakily I got out of the car and tried to calm my nerves with something less unnerving, passing this interview with Fai's mom. Great, now I don't remember her name and they must have mentioned it like a hundred times around me.
The moment I closed the door the sound of yet another car pulled up behind us. It was beautiful whatever kind of car it was. The sexy body of shine of it reminded me of some kind of serpent king of the road. The car cut off and Syaoran stepped out loosening his tie.
"You drove?" he said when he noticed us.
"Yup, without a single scratch!" Tomoyo said cheerfully. Apparently her driving skills were well known.
"Still alive?" he asked me. Those amber eyes bore straight into me.
"I think so, but I'm not sure. I'll let you know when I feel like my body remembers how to operate in gravity populated areas." Syaoran smirked and I quickly adverted my eyes. Strictly business Sakura, you need this job for you and Kiyoshi. Flirting gets you in trouble! If it feels, walks, and talks like flirting it's flirting, remember that! I kept telling myself over and over again.
"Well, either way you two made it on time. I know how Tomoyo can get when presented the opportunity to play dress up," Syaoran said locking and closing his car door.
We walked up his even bigger stair case and already my legs burned from the lack of climbing. The house was impeccably white, with pretty red shutters on each side of the windows and flower boxes hanging on the downstairs window seals. The door, painted red with a pretty glass design of a peony near the top and gold door knobs, which that I guess isn't out of the ordinary… Without drawing too much attention to myself I quickly glanced at the yard and saw how neat it was cut and not a speck of dead grass anywhere.
"What do you think?" Syaoran asked.
I felt myself jump, completely caught off guard. I must have been staring harder than I thought. "It's beautiful. It's every gardeners dream," I told him honestly.
"You should see the backyard," he said simply opening the door and letting us in. The inside of his home made Tomoyo's look like a cozy apartment and mine like a refrigerator box.
This was no place to raise kids. Nothing in here was kid friendly. Glass vases with fresh cut flowers on one legged tables and to top it off they were glass tops. "Oh my God," I said. The pure hazard of his unbelievably decadent home was being overshadowed by the huge steps. The rest of the living room consisted of dark brown over stuffed couch and loveseat that looked difficult to get out of. A flat screen more than likely HD television that was well over half the size of the wall… I could see my son run into the entertainment center that it was perched in and it just fall on top of him and… I shook my head. I couldn't think about that anymore.
"Ji Yue!" Syaoran called out with force. The moment he said her name his entire body language tensed up. Two people who I could only assume as the hired help due to their knee length French Maid uniforms came scurrying out to take Syaoran's briefcase and Tomoyo's purse.
"You don't have to yell, I can hear you just fine," came a bored female voice. A woman a couple of years older than me came out. Her freshly died red hair, and manicured fingers. She was dressed in an over the top yellow summer dress that probably cost a couple of hundred dollars when I could I have bought a similar one for well under half the price. Her face was partially covered by large dark sunglasses despite being inside and her perfectly pedicured feet were in red sandals. Giving what could be considered a pose she slowly took her sunglasses off and her eyes swept over us with her colored contact colored blue eyes. "Who is that?" she asked eying me up and down.
It was so weird but the way that she spoke made me feel like I had just been offended. She was the prime example of every woman that I absolutely hated. Rich and thought she was better than everyone on the planet. Can't really blame them though. They have everything handed to them.
"This is Sakura Kinomoto, I interviewed her for the nanny position and out of everyone she is the best candidate," Syaoran said gesturing everyone to sit down on the overstuffed furniture.
I was careful when I sat. I saw the way Tomoyo looked like she fell into the couch further when she sat down; I didn't want to give them the impression that I was clumsy. Well actually if they were to hire me they would find out that taxing detail sooner or later.
Ji Yue gave a halting laugh and stayed standing in front of me, still looking me up and down. "Couldn't find one younger than her or is she pushing the 17 and under limit?" she asked Syaoran.
"Ji Yue don't start with me. Can you for once be professional about anything and do the interview with her?" Syaoran asked getting aggravated.
"Fine," Ji Yue snapped sounding insulted as she pouted her lips. Eriol and Tomoyo were right about her being very pretty but her attitude takes a lot away from her. "How old are you?"
"Twenty two," I said as poised as possible. Rich or not I wasn't about to let her make me look or feel bad just because she had a chip on her shoulder.
"You don't think you're too young for this position? Do you even know how annoying kids can be?" Ji Yue asked in a condescending tone.
I hate her. "No I don't think I'm too young for this position nor do I find kids annoying. After all, I'm a mother myself so I do understand how stressful it can be without help and lack of sleep or me time." I could feel the rage boiling inside my chest. People like her always brought out the emotional side of me and right now I'm finding it so hard to bite my tongue.
"So you basically have no life." She didn't question it she simply said that I had no life.
"My life is dedicated to making sure my son has everything that he needs and to teach him to value everything that comes his way." I could feel my hands tighten up into fists in my lap. I wanted to reach up and pull her down by her fake red hair and beat her pretty little face in.
"What about his father?" she asked.
I felt my face flame up with anger. "That's enough Ji Yue!" Syaoran's voice roared. "This interview that you've been so desperate to do has absolutely nothing to do with her wanting this position and I'm not going to allow it to continue. Kinomoto, you're hired." Syaoran said getting up and walking out of the room.
Ji Yue tossed her hair over her shoulders with a flick of her head, irritation clearly on her face. She didn't say anything else just shot dirty looks all around before heading out herself.
"Hello, Ji Yue," came Eriol's voice from another room.
"Can it," Ji Yue snapped.
"Well hello again ladies. Look there's mommy," Eriol said directing Kiyoshi toward me.
Without a sound other than his feet hitting the area rug he ran to me and all but jumped in my arms. "Hey baby, you just waking up?" I asked giving him a kiss on the forehead.
"What took you so long?" Tomoyo asked tossing his keys back to him.
"Well Kiyoshi woke up halfway through to our journey and we decided to play in the garden while mommy has her interview with the Evil Itch of the East. Speaking of which, how'd it go?" he asked throwing himself and then sinking into the couch.
"Sakura handled it flawlessly, even though I could tell she was moments away from ripping Ji's throat out." Tomoyo commented smiling.
"Really?" Eriol asked with interest.
"Yeah but I think Syaoran wanted to massacure her. You know his tolerance with her is getting less and less? Should have seen the way he snapped at her, I don't think she was sure what to do."
"So you got the job?" Eriol asked looking directly at me.
"Yup!" I said throwing Kiyoshi into the air. The fact that Syaoran had ultimately given me the job made me happy because I knew that I could quit those other jobs that I can't stand. No more late nights in a room full of drunken men who think they have a chance. No more long boring days trying to stay awake during my day job. I could finally be home with Kiyoshi at night.
"Oh, I forgot to mention this but as my new nanny, I'll need you to live with us," Syaoran said coming back into the room. I felt my jaw drop. Not that I didn't want to live in a life filled with luxury but I had five more months on my lease and bills that needed to be paid.
"Wow, that's a pretty big thing. I – I don't know about all of that." What about my furniture? I know really crappy looking especially when compared to this decadent furniture but I've worked so hard to obtain all that I have.
"Why is that?" he asked sitting down. There was no point sugar coating anything so I didn't. I told him exactly how I felt about the idea and he nodded with understanding but didn't say anything. I just had to open my mouth.
"Tell you what. I'll deal with your landlord and if it's your possessions that you're not wanting to get rid of that's understandable to. We can empty out the rooms that I was making available for whoever I was to hire and you can use your own furniture if you would like. Please take the position, I truly don't know if I have the mentality to go through more interviews to try and find someone with the same views as you."
I looked at Kiyoshi sitting in my lap as he openly stared at who was essentially my new boss. With a sigh of sadness I knew deep down that I would need to get rid of the stuff that I've worked for in order to give Kiyoshi everything that he needed.
"Hello there little guy. What's your name?" he asked Kiyoshi leaning forward. Kiyoshi looked up at me and then back at him. He remained silent as he stared down the man who dared talk to him.
"Can you say Kiyoshi?" I asked in his tiny ear. His eyes turned toward me first before the rest of his head and he gave me that are you crazy look before returning his gaze back to Syaoran. "He'll warm up to you over time."
"He's beautiful, little boys are supposed to be handsome. I bet you give mommy all kinds of trouble. You want to meet my son?" Syaoran asked getting closer to Kiyoshi's eye level. Still he refused to respond.
"Can you say yes?" I asked as brightly as one could. This time Kiyoshi didn't even acknowledge me.
"He's sleeping right now but he'll be up soon. Wanna go see yours and mommy's room?"
"Oh! Let me show you," Tomoyo said excitedly getting up out of her seat.
"That works out even better for me. I actually have a load of paper work that I need to go through before tonight's end." Syaoran stood back up and stretched his back and neck.
Tomoyo picked up Kiyoshi from my arms and motioned for me to follow, which I gratefully did to get out the same room as my boss. He made me feel weird like I used to before when I was still in high school only without the gushy girly feelings that come with a crush. It was like a taste of normalcy but every time I tried that normalcy tended to backfire.
We climbed stairs that was covered in thick red carpeting and had gold trim on the sides. As we walked up the stairs I tried to think of all the possibilities that come with living in the same place as where you work. I wouldn't be late unless I slept in. I could always be home with Kiyoshi. There was a hug backyard that we could easily get lost in… maybe not that one until I get to know the area.
"Here we are," Tomoyo said entering a heavy looking wooden door on the left of the hallway. "This will be your bedroom."
We entered what is to be my room and emerged into a world of neutral tans and beiges. On one side of the room sat a four post queen size beds with sheer cream curtains hanging down from it. The curtains were heavy looking cream color on the huge window. Immediately I opened them to allow the fresh sunlight into the room and realized that it was a door to a balcony. Carefully opening them up I was hit with the fresh sent of flowers and stepped out and saw the garden.
Suddenly I was glad that we took the dangerous trip with Tomoyo's driving. I wouldn't know where to turn in that maze. I could see the center of the garden, only because of the white gazebo sitting there in an open field of green.
I turned to go back inside. The closet was a huge walk in, probably only a third of my clothes would fill it. It even had shelves for shoes or whatnots. There was a heavy cherry dresser and matching vanity with a red cushioned stool and huge mirror.
"Isn't pretty?" Tomoyo asked.
"Unbelievably so," I murmured half mesmerized by the room. It was huge! It even had a desk for writing or a computer.
"Oh this is your bathroom," Tomoyo said opening up a door that I hadn't noticed before sitting on my bed, Kiyoshi still in her arms as he looked about the area.
I took a step inside and was greeted with soft yellows and pretty baby blues as the theme. The bathroom was similar to Tomoyo's only with a stained glass window of yellows and blues to allow natural light and privacy.
"Syaoran figured since your son and his son are about the same age that they could share a bedroom. So Syaoran had an extra toddler bed put in as well as another dresser and extra toys. I'd show you now but Fai is sleeping and he's so hard to get to take a nap sometimes –"
"I completely understand. Besides the moment that he sees things to play with he's not going to want to come out of there."
After seeing the rooms that I would be staying in I could only expect nothing but the best in the room Kiyoshi would be staying in considering that he would be sharing with the child I'm to look after. It would actual do them both good to have to learn to share, neither one of them has ever truly had to do that before, well maybe Kiyoshi a little more but only because of daycare.
Tomoyo repositioned Kiyoshi to her other hip. "If he's too heavy he can walk you know," I said smiling.
"Oh I know but he's just so cute and cuddly! Fai isn't one for holding. He likes to be free like a tornado destroying everything in his path." We laughed. I could only imagine what Fai looked like, considering I haven't seen a picture of any baby's anywhere so far. Maybe he looked like his father or maybe his evil mother, either way he'd win in the cute department.
We headed back down the stairs with Eriol carrying a bag of something toward us. "So, how'd you like it?" he asked ruffling Kiyoshi's hair who in turn glared then smiled.
"It's beautiful. I didn't see the boys' room or Fai yet. We don't want to disturb him if he's sleeping."
"Definitely understandable. Hey Kiyoshi, you like bubbles?"
"Bubbles?" Kiyoshi spoke, his attitude perked up immediately.
"Oh ho, ho! So you do speak!" Eriol exclaimed. "Come on," he said holding out his hand. Kiyoshi looked up at me for approval.
"Go on, honey," I told him giving him a nod of my head.
"Come on Kiyoshi, I got bubbles!"
He leaned over arms stretched out and allowed Eriol to take him. "Bubbles?" he asked looking in the bag. "Oh look mommy bubbles!"
"Wow, he talks good for two," Tomoyo commented.
"Only about things that he likes. Like cup, he calls bowl and milk he calls water. He says yes to just about everything and no when he doesn't want to mind. Other than that I have no idea what he's talking about and boy does he carry on." I said smiling and followed them to the back yard.
The rest of the house was gorgeous! We even passed through a hallway with pictures of all of Syaoran's grandfathers and their wives. Eriol had explained that it was tradition to have all the men who inherit the business and their wives painted and placed on the hallway. I didn't notice any picture of Syaoran and Ji Yue and though I was curious I didn't ask, it wasn't really any of my business.
Alright, I'm ending it here. Eleven pages of me sitting here for all day off and on. Enjoy!