A/N: Merry Christmas Everyone! I have spent the last few days tweaking a LARGE plot bunny. I am in the middle of creating the plotline... It's gonna be quite different from my two current stories! It may come very soon... Enjoy today's chapter of Charade. Happy Holidays!
O
O
O
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura, and I'm sure you don't too!
O
O
O
Chapter 5: Questions
It has been about a week since the restaurant incident. No one had forgotten it... and I mean NO one.
"Well... that redhead WAS flirting with my "fiancé"... I have every right to do what I did!"
...Was the thought that continuously coursing through the cherry blossom's mind. Still, she can't get over the fact that she poured cold ice water down the redhead's back!
Sakura had believed that what she felt was anger and since it was also "time of the month", together with the overwhelming feelings with her patch-up with Tomoyo was the reason that she had reacted badly to the redhead.
After that, she had quickly tossed the thought of jealously out of her mind... However, it still lingered at the back of her mind, beckoning her to admit her true feelings.
Soon after that, Sakura increased her doting on Syaoran, who now already had suspected that it was just an act. But... the constant buzzing of Sakura's "whiny" voice was beside Syaoran's ear the whole time annoyed him to no end.
Still, with the thought of overtaking the company in his mind, Syaoran determination was relentless and refused to counter back to any of Sakura's words.
Now, the plans of the wedding were finally carried out. All the top women in the house...erm...mansion were seated at a large table.
(A/N: Tomoyo was making Sakura dress in her room)
"No no no! I want white curtains! Not PURPLE! Whoever had seen purple curtains at a wedding before!" Feimie stated obnoxiously.
"Well... It is a LI wedding! We should have done something unique and different!" Fanran countered back.
"How many layers of cake should we have? 8? 10?" Fuutie inquired.
"Which company should we call to print our invitation cards? Mother? Any suggestions? Xiefa voiced out suddenly.
Sakura was staring at the scene wide-eyed as she had long stopped scratching Kero's ear who was on her lap dozing. The Li sisters seem to practically argue with every little factor about the wedding.
"Girls!..." Yelan said beside Sakura, obviously exasperated.
"I think we shall have 9 layers... with chocolate frosting all over it! Yum!"
"WHAT? CHOCOLATE? Who has EVER seen a BROWN wedding cake?"
"Girls..."
Mei Ling was lounging on her seat...amused by the sight of her cousins bickering. It wasn't often that the Li sisters were in a disagreement. And when they get into a fight... they REALLY get into a fight!
"I think the Colour Ink Pte Ltd print good quality cards... What d'ya think?"
"WHAT? That company? Did you forget that they misspelled Mother's name in her invitation card to Cousin Zhang Yu's wedding?"
"GIRLS!" bellowed Yelan. The four sisters instantly shut up and sat rigidly in their seats, twiddling their thumbs and whistling.
Yelan sighed and suggested, "Why don't all of us take a walk in the garden to calm us down?"
The sisters nodded slowly and began to rise out of their seats.
"Mei Ling? Sakura dear?"
Mei Ling shook her head and said, "I think I'll be ok right here."
Sakura then said, "I'll stay right here too..."
Yelan smiled than proceeded to push her four daughters to the direction of the garden while Sakura and Mei Ling began looking at the papers on the wedding.
After a couple of minutes, while Sakura was flipping though the invitation list, she was startled by Mei Ling's voice.
"Ok... Cough it up."
"Excuse me?" Sakura was confused... cough up what?
Mei Ling sighed and tapped her pencil on her paper, rubbing out some lines and drawing them again.
"I know you are hiding something. Who was it that called you during the ball?"
Sakura was shocked at the sudden question, "You were there? How dare you eavesdrop on me! That was a private..!"
"Look missy. I will go to any extent to protect my cousin... even if I am forced to use underhand means." Mei Ling voice was dark, almost a growl.
Sakura gulped nervously, not knowing what to do. She struggled to regain her posture.
"I...ermm..uh..."
All of a sudden, a half-shriek-yell came from the garden and echoed in the halls "AHHHH! INTURDER! SECURITY!"
Mei Ling's fierce gaze was broken as her head was whipped to the direction of the garden. The shriek was definitely one of the Li sister's. Sakura and Mei Ling looked at each other and both bolted to the garden with Kero tagging along behind.
Sakura thought while running to the garden, "Phew... Close call..."
When they both reached the garden, they saw all four sisters sprawled on the ground terrified while a guard in front of them had a long gash up his arm. His face was twisted in pain while holding a ripped brown backpack.
Sakura gasped in horror at the scene while Mei Ling immediately began to ask, "Who dared to do such a thing... in broad daylight?"
Yelan, who was now tending to the guard answered Mei Ling's question, "We don't know. He escaped by jumping on the cherry blossom tree and over the walls. His face was masked."
The guard gave a grunt and stood up weakly, "The intruder was advancing to Mistress Li Fanran with a knife when I got here. I had a scuffle with him and managed to get this backpack off him...he ran away after I tore it though."
Yelan stood up and stated, "We really appreciate your help Mr Yang. Fanran... accompany him back into the mansion and call the ambulance."
Fanran nodded without a sound and was instantly at the limping guard's side while guiding him into the mansion.
He gave the backpack to Yelan and she opened in wearily.
Yelan gasped in surprise, "What in the world...?"
Sakura and Mei Ling peered into the piece of crumpled paper that was retrieved from the bag.
In it, was a picture of when Sakura and Syaoran were dancing at the ball. A marker was used to scribble across Syaoran's figure, however, leaving Sakura's figure untouched.
Me Ling was staring at the picture in curiosity while missing the horror-struck look on Sakura's face.
Yelan digged deeper into the backpack and found more pictures of Sakura and Syaoran, all of it with furious marks across Syaoran's face or figure. Other than that were a camera and a few markers. Unfortunately, nothing that will help to unravel the intruder's identity.
Sakura however, already knew who it was.
"What was he doing with a KNIFE? How could he do that to the guard?"
Flustered, she headed back into the mansion, heading for Syaoran's room. On the way, her handphone rang, indicting that she had received a message. She halted in her tracks and hastily took out her handphone and opened her message. It said :
I'm returning back to Japan...msg me when you've broken the engagement.
Sakura stared at the message in utter bewilderment. "That doesn't explain why he has hurt the guard!"
"What are you doing here? I thought you were with my mother and sisters?"
Sakura yipped and quickly hid her handphone as Syaoran towered over her.
His amber eyes glared into Sakura's confused emerald orbs. Sakura fought to find the right words but only managed to mutter out random words
"Erm... intruder...guard got hurt... bedroom..."
Syaoran's glare was immediately became shocked, "An intruder? Was anyone hurt?"
Sakura muttered, "The guard was hurt when trying to protect Fanran."
Syaoran let out his breath, relieved that no one else had gotten hurt.
"Were you there when it happened?" Syaoran asked before he could stop himself.
Sakura shook her head, her emerald eyes hidden from view. One could only wonder what she was thinking about then.
"Good."
Sakura's eyes shot up, astonished, "Excuse me?"
Syaoran then realized what he had just said, "Shit!"
"Erm... nothing... my sister went to call the ambulance? For the guard?"
Sakura nodded, "I am guessing that the wedding planning today is called off."
Syaoran than inquired, "Where's my mother?"
Sakura replied as she began to walk back to their room, "I think she's in the living room or perhaps in the garden."
Syaoran nodded and rushed off, leaving Sakura alone in the hallway.
Sakura watched as Syaoran disappeared around the corner then she began to think to her herself, "Why on earth would he want to hurt Fanran?"
Syaoran ran to the living room and found his mother on the couch with a brown backpack beside her.
He ran over and noticed that she was looking at some photos.
"Mother?"
Yelan looked up, her expression unreadable, "Syaoran... come here."
The 18-year old wandered over as she handed him the photos. Syaoran's eyes widened as he looked through each photo of him and Sakura.
"It appears that the intruder must hate you very much."
Syaoran peered at his mother, who now had a troubled expression on her face.
"I don't really have any enemies. Sure I was cold to some but not mean... Also, that doesn't explain why Sakura's in these pictures too, without a mark."
Yelan stared at her son worriedly, "Be careful Syaoran. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Syaoran couldn't help but grin a little at his mother's concern, "Don't worry mother, I'll be careful."
Yelan nodded and began to pace out of the room, but before she left, she spoke suddenly, "Watch out for Sakura too."
Syaoran's face gave a confused expression but answered anyway, "Sure mother."
O
O
O
O
O
O
After the incident of the intruder, the next few days were quite peaceful. Sakura has become less "whiny" around the Li family and she had hung around more with Tomoyo.
One fateful Saturday, when Syaoran was reading the newspaper at the breakfast table, Tomoyo's voice broke his concentration, "Does anyone want to go to the mall with Sakura and me? I need some cloth material."
Syaoran ignored the question and continued to sip his coffee. However the next comment surely caught his attention.
"Syaoran and I will go." Eriol's voice came across the table. Syaoran almost spit his coffee on the newspaper.
"Who ever said I was free?"
"Me."
Syaoran growled and stared at Sakura, who was next to him. Her gaze was directed at Tomoyo, who was on the other side of her.
Fanran smiled but shook her head, "I going to visit Kai-kun at his home, he's the guard who saved me."
Her other three sisters giggled beside their oldest sister, "There's no way we are missing the sight of Fanran crushing on the cute hunk of Kai! Sorry Tomoyo-chan!"
Fanran blushed furiously at her three younger siblings, "Honestly, he's my friend!"
Tomoyo smirked and drank the last of her milk, "I would advise everyone to bring a hat or a pair of sunglasses, just to avoid being recognized."
Ryu laughed heartily at his seat, "Don't worry Daidouji-san. Syaoran and Eriol are masters of disguise."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at that, "Really?"
Syaoran snorted, "Ya... The last time we went out, Eriol wore a blonde wig. He looked hideous."
Sakura and Tomoyo giggled at each other about the little piece of information while Eriol gazed at his cousin, almost scowling.
"I'll go too. I need more pencils." Mei Ling spoke up. Sakura immediately tensed up, she was not going to allow Mei Ling to catch her alone again.
"Right then! What are we waiting for? Get changed!"
OOO
The group of five entered the Hong Kong Mall. None of them really went to the extent of "changing" their hair colour but merely put on sunglasses and hats and caps.
"Right then, Sakura follow me to this cute clothing store that I heard about. By the way, don't use my real name in clothing stores. Call me TomTom."
Syaoran rolled his eyes, the price of being famous.
Tomoyo than began to pull Sakura by her hand towards a stall called "Vintage Colours" and Tomoyo immediately began to pull out various tops and skirts once she stepped foot into the store.
Once Sakura hands were full, Tomoyo unleashed her rain of clothes on the two remaining males.
"Tom-Tom! You're burying Syaoran and Hiiragizawa!"
(A/N: Syaoran can't exactly hear...")
Tomoyo turned around and sweatdropped at the sight of two pairs of legs and hand sticking out of a huge pile of clothes, calling for help.
"Opps... I got carried away again didn't I?"
O O O O O O O
Soon, Sakura began to try on the clothes Tomoyo picked out for her while Syaoran and Eriol lounged on the seats available.
"How long do you think this will take?" Syaoran asked Eriol while closing one eye and leaning against the chair.
"Probably an hour or more." Eriol calmly spoke, giving no indication he was annoyed. But Syaoran was the exact opposite. He could almost feel his anger creeping through his skin.
"TomTom... I think this is actually quite nice!" Sakura voiced from behind the curtain.
Tomoyo than said, "Come on out than!"
Syaoran turned his head just in time to witness Sakura in her clothes. He's breath was held as his eyes trailed his fiancé's figure appreciatively.
Sakura was clad in a white and yellow top with thick white and yellow strings tying it up on her shoulders. The sleeve was short and her collar was cut into a V-shape but doesn't show anything revealing. Her jean skirt was black with sliver threads. It showed part of her thighs and fitted well with her current shoes which were also black. Her emerald eyes shone something that had been missing since the day she landed in Hong Kong. Syaoran just couldn't place it...
Then, the heir realized the sparkle and recognized it. It was Happiness.
Tomoyo squealed and stated, "Sakura! You look so cute!"
Sakura blushed prettily and was about to turn back into the changing room when a voice stopped her.
"Excuse me miss..."
She turned and saw a smiling woman in black with pearl necklace around her neck. "Are you interested in becoming a model?"
O
O
O
To be continued...
O
O
O
A/N: What about that? Will Sakura accept the offer? People still doesn't really recognize her yet! I will continue with this next week while I tweak with my other plot. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Cheers!