The Bond that Binds Us
Chapter Three: Rain, Abuse and Beaches
It suddenly rained today so Sakura came in soaking wet; her hair dripping with rainwater, her blouse heavy and hopefully not see-through. Tomoyo watched her drag herself in and whispered into her ear.
"Need some change?"
Sakura grumbled.
Few hours and some several wardrobe changes later, Sakura sits tiredly with Tomoyo across her and their books sprawled on the table in front of them.
"… Yes, Sakura, this goes here and six will become a negative," Tomoyo drawled inwardly.
Sakura shut her eyes and dropped her head. "I suck,"
"No, you don't," Tomoyo snapped, "you're just a little… uh… slow?"
Sakura raised her head to stare at Tomoyo, "Thanks a lot Tomoyo, it made me feel a whole lot better," and she slammed it back down again, "ouch…"
"Geez, what happened? First, you're late and came in soaking wet – don't you ever bring an umbrella? Second, you look terrible and why haven't you finished your Calculus yet? I thought you've done it already?"
Sakura grumbled.
"Sakura,"
Sakura looked up. "I called my father yesterday night, when you were sleeping and I couldn't," her eyes looked at an ant scurrying across the table and under her scripts. "As usual, he wasn't even around to pick it up. God knows what he's doing,"
Tomoyo's lips pursed. "He is a busy man, isn't he?"
"… No, it's just that he doesn't want to have anything to do with me anymore," Sakura mumbled. "That's all,"
"Please, Sakura, stop being so dark all the time! Just because your father and your brother did things to you in the past doesn't make you weaker or… less-intelligent." Sakura dropped her eyes to her friend, "You have every right to want to try and prove to them and have the decency to want to say that you love them," Tomoyo's eyes shone, "I'm glad you're making the effort as a family member – even if it wasn't taken seriously or being replied. It's the thought that counts, doesn't it?"
Sakura stared at her friend, then to the ant that had crawled back out from under the papers and scurried away. She had been thinking a lot about her father and her brother, and how much they meant to her and why they don't seem to see that they are. She wondered what she had done and what became this way… Was it because of her mother who had died those years back? Do they feel threatened somehow? Oh, she doesn't know, and it hurt her even more…
"Sakura,"
"No, Tomoyo, you're right, I shouldn't be bummed that I'm the only one doing everything to keep the family together and that I shouldn't stop proving myself-"
"Sakura,"
"Wait, Tomoyo, I'm not finished," Sakura sternly held a hand up. "I should stop being emotional, sensitive and react with courage to the isolation I received from them, and to take it in my stride that despite it all I am still living my life and working harder than anyone expected. I want to be stronger, make a difference, and show them the strength of someone who had been abused and still survived it all-"
Tomoyo suddenly stood up. "Li,"
Sakura's eyes widened and she swung her head around, her face slammed into his stomach. "Oh my God-" she hurriedly stood up, "-I-I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that-"
"N-N-No…" he spoke, his eyes locked on her face. "I-I-It's alright," he caressed his stomach slowly.
Sakura flushed and looked down. "W-Well then," she turned herself around, collected her books and papers and packed them in her bag. "See you at home, Tomoyo," she looked up to her friend with an affectionate smile. "Thanks,"
Tomoyo smiled back and nodded. "I'll buy dinner,"
Sakura nodded and turned to walk away.
Syaoran watched her and was about to follow her when Tomoyo coughed for his attention. He turned around and looked at her. "What?"
Her eyes were pleading. "Be nice to her today, OK? She's not holding up well as you have heard,"
Syaoran looked away. "So it seems," he turned around and walked up to her. "Hey-"
"Want to grab something to eat?" She quickly asked.
Syaoran eyed her. "Haven't you eaten already?"
"No, I didn't have the mood before," Sakura sighed, "but it'd be nice to have some company now," she smiled; a weak one but Syaoran knew better than to ask her a thousand and one questions.
"Sure,"
"What will you be having?"
Syaoran's eyes roamed above the menu and to her face scrunched together while looking at her own. He had been wondering in his mind over what she said. He couldn't calm down knowing that she had been abused by her own family-
"Li?"
He blinked at the sudden mention of his family name. He liked it better if she did say his real name. "U-Uh…"
She eyed him. "Are you hungry or not?"
He paused for a moment.
"What will you be having?"
She shrugged but had twisted herself around to grab a waiter's attention. Pointing to something in the middle of the menu, the waiter jotted her order down. Then their eyes roamed over to Syaoran.
"Uh…"
"Maybe you'd like something special today, Sir? Might I suggest…" he came around the table and stood behind him. Bending a little bit, he pointed his finger to a weirdly-named dish. "There are cockles, squid, shrimp and all sorts of seafood-"
"M-Maybe I'll take the spaghetti," he shakily smiled up to the waiter.
Sakura held back a light chuckle. "W-Well then," the waiter somehow looked disheartened, but held his smile, collected the menus and jotted the order on his pad, "since today's Friday drinks are on the house," he smiled at them and walked away.
"Thanks…"
Syaoran looked across the table and to a pair of bright green eyes. "For what?"
"For ordering something to eat even though you don't want to," Sakura's lips curled into a small smile. "Thanks,"
Syaoran made an attempt to smile back. "S-S-Sure,"
She chuckled behind a slender hand.
He cocked a brow. "What's so funny?"
She chuckled even harder, this time almost letting out a snort.
"You know, it's rude to laugh at something that doesn't seem amusing to the people around you," Syaoran spoke.
"Oh, alright!" Her voice as light and as cheerful, "It's just that… you wanted to smile but it looked like it took a whole lot out of you just to do so!" She chuckled, her eyes closed and her hand over her mouth. "I've…! I've never… ever seen anyone who took such a hard time smiling!"
Syaoran blushed, and he crossed his arms in annoyance. "Well, a thing like that isn't worth being amused or laughing your head off for,"
"Oh, Syaoran, lighten up! You should really take a good look at yourself wanting to smile," Sakura's laughter turned into a low rumble, "it was so cute!"
It's either she's purposefully saying things to make him feel gooey all over or that she didn't realise a thing she's saying – including his name – and thought it didn't matter to him.
Well, it did, for his heart had thumped hard in anxiety.
And instead of coughing his embarrassment away, he croaked and Sakura roared in laughter again, this time making everybody around them turn to stare.
"Stop laughing,"
"Ha ha! You're so amusing to watch-"
"Stop it,"
"Oh, come on now, don't you ever enjoy yourself? Laugh it off! It'll make you feel better even if you had a terrible day to start off with,"
Syaoran's eyes suddenly focused on her.
Soon, her laughter slowed and she returned to become the depressed girl he first met at the club. And somehow, something had tugged in his heart and he almost thought of holding her hand and asking her what's going on in her head.
"Sorry,"
"N-No," he tore his eyes away, "i-i-it's fine,"
"No! No, it's not fine!" She snapped and he looked back, "Nothing's fine anymore! Nothing! I've seen how people looked at me and I know that they see me as a stupid child who can't even stand on her own two feet. That she is only dependent enough when you twist her mind and make her look stupid," she shut her eyes and covered her face with her hands. "I can never do anything right! I woke up late, didn't even think of bringing an umbrella along and ended up coming to school soaked to the bone, wasted a few good hours over washing myself up and drying my stuff when I could've finished my Calculus…"
Her lips shook and a gasp escaped her. Only one thing that was going on in his mind: she's in pain and she's crying.
OK, that makes two.
"Look, S-S-Sakur-"
"You agree, don't you?" She pulled her hands away and stared at him with watery eyes. "Don't you? You said it yourself that I'm stupid and dumb…"
Syaoran was taken aback by her and he had to bite down on his lip. "L-L-Look, Sak-Kinomoto," he mumbled, "I… I didn't know anything and I'm sorry! I'm deeply sorry and maybe I should've known better to judge people. What I said wasn't right-"
"Oh stop it already, trying to cheer me up with words that don't mean a thing!" Sakura snapped again, "You know well that you're just talking bullshit to me and you don't mean a word. You're just trying to hide the embarrassment and tell me things that you thought would stop me from crying." Now, she looked angry and she made to stand, "Well, guess what mister, you're doing a bad job at it so why don't you just drop the act and cuss me silly for all I care!"
She turned around, slammed into the waiter who had carried a tray of juices, glared at him, and stormed away.
"Hey, hey wait a minute!" Syaoran stood up, apologised to the waiter, stuffed a hundred in his breast pocket and ran out of the restaurant. "S-S-Sakura!"
She disappeared, again, into the thickness of the crowd and the rain that had begun to heavily pour. Instead of calling for a cab like he thought he would in a situation like this, he shoved his way through the crowd and called out her name. Several people had pushed him down and said profanities at him but he didn't care. He was worried; worried for her, worried for her well-being…
Worried about her broken heart.
"Dammit!" He cussed under his breath, pushing people out of his way and peeking inside other restaurants, clubs and stores he prayed she'd be in. But amongst the crowds inside, she wasn't there. Panicking, he fished out his cell-phone and was about to dial a number when he saw a face huddled amongst a crowd. He let out a heavy sigh of relief and shoved his way inside.
"S-Sakura…?" He was about to grab her shoulders when she had twisted herself around to shove her way out of the store. "Hey, wait!" He tried to grab her hand but she wrenched it away and walked out.
Furious, he ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Will you just stop and listen to me-"
"What the bloody hell for?!" She yelled into his face. Raindrops were caught in her lashes and she had to blink several times. Wiping them away, she twisted herself out of his grasp and took a step.
"Come back here," Syaoran grabbed her to him.
"Let go of me!"
"No! Not in this heavy rain," he looked around, ignored the stares, hailed for a cab and opened the car door for her. "Get in,"
"No,"
"Geez! Just get the hell in!" He pushed her in, slid inside, gave the driver the address and closed the door after himself.
"Hello…?"
"Hey there, sweetie, can we come over?"
Eriol groggily sat up on his bed. "W-What…?"
"Oh come on now, don't tell me you've forgotten our arrangement tonight?" A giggle was heard and then several more.
Eriol scratched his head, grabbed the desk clock and groaned. "It's only six in the afternoon… Why would you want to come over now?"
A shrill of laughter was heard. "Silly, Eriol, the longer hours we have, the better! Isn't that what you want?" Then, a husky purr, "We can play however you want… wherever you want… whichever way you want… Isn't that nice?"
Immediately, Eriol's eyes flipped open and his heart thumped with anxiety. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Come over, the lot of ya!"
"Yay!!" The squealed and they clicked off.
"Where are we?"
Syaoran closed the car door after her, handed the driver twenty dollars and led her towards the sandy beach.
The rain had finally stopped and the sun had set causing its orange rays to melt against the horizon, giving it a nice glow of serenity and calm. Waves furiously crashed onto the shores and Sakura just smiled. Finally.
"This is beautiful…" her voice became soft.
Syaoran came to stand beside her. "Yeah, it is,"
She turned to look at him. "Why did you bring me here?"
He didn't look back; his amber eyes now held the flicker of flames. "What do you feel when you see this?"
Sakura eyed him. "Well," she looked back out to the sea and inhaled the salty scent of seawater and fresh breeze, "I feel… calm, collected… I feel at ease,"
"That's good," Syaoran spoke, "because I can never feel anything whenever I come here…"
She whipped her head about to stare at him. "W-Why not?"
He just shrugged. "Maybe it's because I never felt warm before-"
"Impossible! Everybody has to feel warm at some point in their life! I bet your parents were warm to you, right? Right?" Sakura panicked. She didn't know why she panicked, but she couldn't help herself. She's never met anybody who never had the chance to feel before…
He formed a small smile. "I guess not,"
Her shoulders drooped. "B-But…"
He turned his face to her. "Come, I want to show you something," he motioned his head to the left and she followed.
Syaoran admitted; he admitted that he couldn't feel anything whenever he comes to this beach. To her! He had come here often but never once felt anything warm or fuzzy. All he understood was that the sand felt irritating against his feet and that the salty air had even choked him once.
He sighed, glanced to the side, smiled at Sakura gazing out to the sea, and lightly touched her arm. "Over here,"
She swung her head about, followed Syaoran, took another look at the sea behind her and-
"Oof!" She slammed into his chest and stumbled back quickly to apologise. "I-I'm sorry…!"
Syaoran chuckled lightly. "It's alright," he stepped sideways and showed her a white house. "This is my beach house."
Sakura's mouth immediately dropped open and she stared wide-eyed at the big white house. It looked magnificent; it had a lot of windows, a brown roof and a patio connected to the back of the house.
"S-Syaoran…" she breathed and came closer.
And to hear her call his name was the cherry topping on his desert. He smiled at her back. "It took me a while to build this by myself but," he tore his gaze to look upon his creation, "it was worth my time."
"You built this… by yourself?" Sakura turned to him.
He nodded, approached the door and pushed it open. "Come on in,"
"Can we really rely on this son of yours, Yelan? I've heard stories about him that aren't to our expectations. In fact, it has lowered it all."
Yelan gazed at the other members of the BOARD and sighed quietly. She was called to attend a meeting with them and all they've ever talked about were politics and the handover that's well coming their way. Yelan admits that she didn't like these meetings, too, but she had to attend if it was to get her son the posting as official leader of the Li Corporation and a member of the BOARD in this city.
"My utmost apologies, members of the BOARD, but my son has been nothing but a dignified, strong and intelligent adult. His past behaviours are, of course, due to a rebellious phase that I assure you, he has gotten rid of," she paused to watch them intently. "And we did agree upon his suitable partner in light of the handover, so I am sure he'd be a better person then,"
The current leader sitting across her, eyed her. "We trust your words, Yelan, but children aren't meant to be involving themselves in difficult times like politics and power-struggle," he leaned closer with his hands together, "do you believe your son and his future-partner are able to handle that much power?"
Yelan formed a small smile to him. "With all due respect, Sir, I trust my son with all my life and I'd believe him no matter what. Even on your daughter,"
The leader stared at her. "Very well then," he turned to his other members, stood up and placed a hand to the long table. "In the name of Li,"
The other members stood up, adjusted their blazers, glanced at their leader and did the same. "In the name of Li," they deeply spoke before pushing their chairs back and walking out of the meeting room.
Yelan quickly stood up and came up to the leader, "Feiren,"
"Yelan," he spoke deeply.
Her eyes flashed. "Stop worrying,"
He sighed heavily. "How can I, when the handover is in two months and my daughter can't stop yelling at my advisors to call her 'First Lady' and that all the female toilets are to be painted in red and flourished with red fluff and a red carpet?"
Yelan chuckled. "She is your daughter, Feiren,"
"Step-daughter, Yelan," he added, "have you forgotten?"
Yelan smiled into his tired eyes. "She is still your daughter, Feiren, and the future-wife to my son," she paused to pat on his shoulder. "She'll do great for the corporation."
Feiren smiled at her. "Thanks, Yelan,"
"Anytime, little brother," she paused. "Anytime,"
-End of Chapter Three-
Author's Note: Well, i kindda felt like this chappie isn't like the previous but there's a purpose to this chappie so do be patient with me, yes? REVIEW! Teehee.