Anything For You
Disclaimer: I actually think I have no need to say this anymore but just in case. I DON'T OWN CSS OR ITS CHARACTERS.
Author's note:
Hi guys~ Shining Cookies is back with another chapter! I am currently trying my very best to update as much as I can before school starts next Monday for me. That's because like I said before, I might not even survive to do anything once school starts due to mountain loads of work, so all the more I might not be alive to write stories. But sadly I am kinda losing inspiration and ideas on how to continue the story! If I continue writing like this I'm afraid the storyline would not be as smooth as I want it to be… So can all of you pretty please, give me more reviews on how you want the story to go? *pleads*
Anyway, I shall get on with the story and stop talking so much, so I can finish up more chapters by the end of this week. (I might not post them up all at once, just so you know (; )
Chapter 6:
*Recap*
She picked them up and looked at it, and right after, her eyes widened in shock and she quickly dialed a familiar number of her speed dial, and said something hurriedly to her phone. After she hung up, she scribbled something on a piece of paper before she grabbed her luggage with her clothes in it and drove to the airport and called the butler to prepare the Kinomoto private jet immediately.
What she said on the phone was something that shocked even the listener himself.
"Touya, I'm going to Paris. Now."
*End of recap*
Tomoyo arrived at Sakura's house to pick her up for the sleepover, but when she got into the Kinomoto mansion and asked for Sakura, the butler, Gin, told her that she took her luggage and went out.
"Went out? What do you mean, Gin-san?" Tomoyo was confused because Sakura knew she was picking her up for shopping before the sleepover.
"Young Miss went out hurriedly after seeing a package from an anonymous sender, Miss Daidouji." Gin replied in a polite manner.
"Package? May I know what it is?"
"The package is still in Young Miss's room. You may like to go take a look upstairs, Daidouji-sama. Young Miss also left you a note before she left for the airport. If there is nothing else, I shall take my leave to continue the chores now." Gin handed the piece of paper to Tomoyo, bowed and went on to do his work right after.
The piece of paper read, "I'm sorry Tomoyo, I won't be able to attend your sleepover. I'll be back soon. Love, Sakura." Something unusual was how Sakura wrote the note. Tomoyo knew her handwriting was not that messed up and felt that something was amiss immediately.
Tomoyo walked up to Sakura's room and found her room in a mess. There were clothes all spread across the room, but something caught her attention on the coffee table by the window. There was a small opened gift box on it and there were pieces of paper that fell on the floor. When she approached the table, she found the card from the sender and read it. After reading and wondering who the sender could be, she went on to pick up the papers that fell on the ground. When she picked them up, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
What was in the pictures was Sakura's mother. And in the background, there was the Eiffel Tower.
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(Back at Tomoyo's mansion)
Meiling, Eriol, Syaoran and the rest had arrived at Tomoyo's mansion, only to find that she was not in the house. They were brought to the living room to have tea and wait for Tomoyo to come back. After about 15 minutes, Tomoyo returned, but with an expression that no one could understand. They had expected Tomoyo to be all excited for the sleepover, but she was silent and her brows furrowed as if she was troubled by something. Tomoyo went to sit down beside Eriol. However, Syaoran noticed one thing. Sakura was missing.
"Where's Sakura, Tomoyo?" Syaoran asked, glancing across to room, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sakura.
"She won't be coming anymore." Tomoyo replied simply but sadly.
"What do you mean she's not coming? Is she sick?" Naoko asked with concern.
"No, Naoko, she's good. It's just that… She's not in Japan anymore. She's at Paris right now. She's trying to look for her mother." Tomoyo answered sadly.
"Her mother? Didn't she leave Sakura when she was young?" Eriol cut in, curious.
Everyone else in the room was surprised to hear what Eriol just said. They had no idea how Eriol would know about Sakura's past, since both he and Syaoran only met the gang not long ago. "I'm sorry, but I investigated a bit about Sakura after the first day of school. I noticed something wrong about Tomoyo's weird behavior when she mentioned Sakura's past, so I got curious and went on to find out. Sorry for not telling all of you these beforehand."
Finally, everyone understood, and Tomoyo said understandingly, "It's alright, Eriol-kun. We don't mind, since you're friends with us now." Tomoyo then smiled a little to the people in the room, "So anyways, Sakura won't be joining us, so I guess we'll just have to make do with the rest of us, ne?"
The rest of them continued to have to sleepover, but all of them could not help but worry about Sakura. They all knew how much Sakura's mother hurt Sakura, and could not understand why Sakura still wants to find her. Tomoyo was the one that was the most worried for her, because the both of them had been together since young and she was there too when Sakura's mother left her. She was also a little bit angry that Sakura decided to do this by herself and not mention a word about it to her, even though they both had been best friends ever since they could remember it. Eriol saw through her, and tried his best to keep Tomoyo company throughout the whole weekend by continuously talking to her about things not related to Sakura, but there were still times Tomoyo would space out or look outside the windows sadly. Syaoran was also worried about how Sakura was doing, and he started to wonder why he was feeling this way. "I've never felt like this before. I've never worried for anyone before… Why am I having this uneasy feeling inside me? What exactly is Sakura to me?"
The whole group went through the weekend at Tomoyo's mansion, watching movies and playing games like volleyball, and very soon, the weekend was over and it was already time to go to school on Monday. However, this Monday was a little different from the usual Mondays the group have each week. This Monday was Sakura's birthday. And Sakura was back in Japan, a little different than usual as well.
When Tomoyo entered the class with the rest, their eyes widened at what they saw. Sakura was sitting at her table, reading a book as if nothing had happened. Tomoyo walked up to Sakura and said, "Hey Sakura."
"Good morning, Tomoyo." said Sakura without looking up from her book.
"Don't you have anything to say to me or even the others, Sakura?" Tomoyo said softly.
"Why would I? I already apologized for not going to the sleepover. What else do I have to say?" replied Sakura. Her tone was cold and unfeeling, and that angered Tomoyo.
Tomoyo bit her lower lip to control her tears from falling from her eyes. She could not control herself and gave Sakura a tight slap on the cheek. She immediately realized what she did and tried to apologize, "Oh God…! I'm so sorry, Sakura, I didn't mean to-"
Before she could complete her sentence, Sakura stood up from her seat and set aside her book. Her locks covered her face, so no one saw how she looked after getting slapped by Tomoyo. Sakura stood up and walked silently out of class without saying a word. Meiling, seeing how things turned out, wanted to run after Sakura to ask why she was doing this to everyone. However before she could even take another step, Syaoran held her down and said, "Let her have some alone time. I think she needs to think things over alone right now."
Right after Sakura walked out on everybody, Tomoyo started to cry, and the girls went over to her side and gave her a hug, hoping to make her feel better. Syaoran began to wonder as well, "Why is she acting so weird? Did something happen when she was at Paris?"
Lesson started and Sakura was still not back yet. The gang figured that she would like to be alone for the time being, so they made up some excuse for the teachers to make up for her absence. Tomoyo was moody the whole day, and this time, not even Eriol could make her smile. Syaoran, seeing this, decided that he would go find Sakura during lunch break, and hence, when lunch arrived, he excused himself from the rest and went to the roof of the quiet school building. As expected, when he opened up the doors to the roof, he found Sakura near her usual hiding spot, leaning against the railing surrounding the roof. She was staring at the sky sadly, and she was doing that for the whole time too, it seems, because Syaoran observed her for several minutes before approaching her and stood beside her.
Syaoran started the conversation, "Hey there." Sakura noticed his presence, but decided to ignore him instead and continued looking at the sky.
"You know, Tomoyo was really worried. So were all your friends." Syaoran noted out.
"I know." Sakura replied simply.
Syaoran then said, "Sakura, look down at the people having lunch below us. Notice that all their expressions are different? Each person has a different life, different backgrounds, and also different emotions. Hence this is why, their expressions on their faces would naturally be different from each other as well. The thoughts and emotions of people are always written on their faces. Of course there are always exceptions, and they are the ones that are used to hiding their emotions from other people." After saying that, he looked at Sakura's direction.
Sakura noticed his gaze and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"That's because I was referring to you." Syaoran pointed out as a matter of fact. Sakura looked back at him, thinking about what he just said, "Am I… really like what he said?"
Syaoran then continued, "I know what you're thinking right now. Yes, that's how you are. So I just want you to know, I don't wish that you continue wearing a mask to hide how you're really feeling deep inside, and be a little more natural to the people around you. You can tell me honestly what you're feeling, if you want to. You can also do that with your friends as well because I know they care genuinely for you. Can you do that?"
Sakura thought for a while before she decided to tell him what happened in Paris. "You know, the reason I went to Paris was to find my mother."
Syaoran nodded in understanding. "We figured out that much."
"And I couldn't find her. I asked around, I searched everywhere possible. She's nowhere to be seen. Today is my birthday. And she missed it, for the 8th time in a row. A couple of years ago, my dad told me mom doesn't even remember when my birthday is. He had to remind her every year when my birthday is. She doesn't even know how old I am. I'm not sure what I want either. I mean, I hate her, but I can't deny the fact that every night before I sleep, I think of the times that the both of us spent together, how we held hands when we go shopping, how I slept on her shoulders in the car on the way to somewhere. I can't stop myself from crying every night when I think that all of that was nothing but a whole big lie. I can't help but feel that, maybe my whole life is a lie! But I can't deny the fact… The fact that I still miss her and I want to ask her why she left me in the first place…" Sakura's voice got softer and softer as she finished her story.
Syaoran then said, "You know, I can be your house. A house to return to when you've had your fun, or when you're tired from life. I'll always be there for you when you need somewhere to hide in. So are your friends."
Sakura fell silent before replying truthfully. "I… I never knew. I never knew how to rely on others when I need it. Ever since young, I was running alone. After mom left, there was no one that could make me feel better. I thought it would be better for me to run alone since it would not hurt. Even if I tried to trust anyone again, it only turns out that those people just wanted my status. After that, I decided to lock myself up in my own world, locking away everyone, including Tomoyo even though I know she cares for me. I did this because I didn't want to get hurt again. I did this because I'm tired. I'm tired of being disappointed. Do you have any idea how it feels to be disappointed beyond the ability to count?" There was a really sad look in her eyes, and she sounded really lonely.
"Then how about… it's time we run together? I can give you a pull when you need strength and stop if you want someone to rest on…" Syaoran said slowly.
By then, Sakura was already tearing up after listening to all the things Syaoran said, and tears trickled down her cheeks silently as she continued to stare up into the skies. It pained Syaoran to see Sakura being so tormented. He went up beside her and gave her a hug. It was only then when Syaoran finally realized, "I… I love her. I can't believe how much I love her. I want to see her smile so badly…"
When Sakura felt the warmth on her, she could not control herself anymore and cried in Syaoran's arms.
"There, there, it's ok, let it all out. You'll be fine after that." Syaoran hugged Sakura close to him and whispered comforting words.
After a while when Sakura finally calmed down and stopped crying, Syaoran let go of her and said, "Now why don't we return to class and apologize to Tomoyo and the rest? They were really worried about you after all." And Sakura nodded without saying anymore words.
Sakura went up to Tomoyo the moment she entered the class, and she said in a soft voice, "I'm sorry, Tomoyo…"
Hearing that, Tomoyo stood up from her seat and went to hug Sakura, "No, I should be the one to be sorry. I swear I didn't mean to hit you just now, I was just worried. Does it still hurt? God, I'm so sorry Sakura-chan!"
"It's ok Tomoyo-chan. I deserved it. Sorry for being such a jackass this morning and leaving for Paris without letting you know. I won't do it again. I'll make sure to tell you everything in future." Sakura apologized to Tomoyo.
Everyone was touched by this scene and went to have a group hug and all of them cried a little. Eriol, who was looking on at the side, noticed Syaoran smiling at the scene. He nudged him in the ribs, "What did you say to Sakura? The old Sakura wouldn't do this."
Instead of telling Eriol the full story, he just said, "Well, let's just say I think I got Sakura to open up more and I got to realize something as well." Eriol, being as sensitive as he is, immediately caught up with what his cousin was thinking, "Ah, so he finally realized what Sakura means to him, huh? I'm sure Tomoyo would be happy to know about this, ne?"
After the girls cleared up their misunderstanding, they decided to throw a birthday party for Sakura. Unexpectedly, Sakura agreed to it happily without any protests. In the past, Sakura had always disliked the idea of birthday parties, especially on her very own, because it reminded her of her mother. However, after the small "lecture" Syaoran gave her on the rooftop during lunch, she decided to open up her heart a little and accepted the suggestion to celebrate her birthday happily with her friends for a change.
Due to the short notice for a birthday party, Tomoyo could only call the servants at her house to prepare a simple birthday cake, and by simple, she meant a huge strawberry cream cake made with only the best and the most expensive ingredients ever discovered. She also promised Sakura a handmade dress as her birthday present, and promised Sakura that she would make Sakura the most beautiful dress she had ever created. Rika, being the young daughter of a Toy making company, called the factory to make a doll replica of Sakura to give it to her. Naoko also called her family's company to design a laptop with the most up-to-date software with a design that is exclusive only for Sakura. Chiharu then presented Sakura with a bottle of perfume named after Sakura, called Cherry Mademoiselle. That perfume is currently the best selling product in Chiharu's company and Chiharu had invented the scent by herself. Takashi gave Sakura a scrapbook filled with compilations of pictures of the gang from young. Meiling, having learnt martial arts since young, decided to give Sakura a small knife made of gold with its handle embroidered with pink diamonds that were shaped like cherry blossoms. Since Eriol and Syaoran only met Sakura for less than a month, they were clueless about Sakura's birthday, so they were forgiven for not giving Sakura a present. However, they still insisted to give Sakura a present, even though they said it would be a belated one.
After school ended, the whole gang went to Tomoyo's mansion again, and they were welcomed with Tomoyo's servants with small poppers and all of them sang a happy birthday song for Sakura. They then brought out the cake from the kitchen, and instead of candles, there were small fireworks on them that shone like stars of different colours. Meiling, being the mischievous one, decided to use her finger, get some cream from the sides of the cake and smear it on Sakura. Not willing to let it go just like that, Sakura retaliated but grabbing a handful of cake and started aiming for Meiling. Unfortunately, Meiling was trained to be agile while training for martial arts, so she dodged the cake pretty easily, allowing the cake to be smashed right onto Syaoran's face, which was just right behind Meiling. Syaoran decided to take revenge, but missed Sakura and the cake hit Eriol instead. Soon, a food fight commenced, and not long after it started, it ended, because the huge cake was already reduced to pieces of cake and cream on everybody's faces and a huge mess on the floor.
After they washed up and changed into new clothes, they decided to go for a swim in Tomoyo's huge swimming pool and played water volleyball. The group split into groups of 4 since Tomoyo decided to be the referee cum cameraman and had a water volleyball match, with Syaoran and Sakura in the same team. Since the both of them were elites in both studies and sports, they naturally beat the other team hands down, even though Meiling and the other two guys are in the other team.
Through her camera lens, she observed the interaction between Sakura and Syaoran, and noticed a huge change in attitude in Sakura. She was more active than how she was in the past, and she wondered why, because just this morning she was still being the ice princess even to Tomoyo, and yet her attitude had a 180 degree change after the lunch break. She saw how much friendlier Sakura seemed towards Syaoran, and figured right away that her change was brought about because of him. She thought to herself, "Kawaii…! They look so cute together! I really must film how happy Sakura looks right now for future purposes… Ho ho ho ho ho!"
After the game, the sun had already set and the gang decided to go home. Sakura decided to stay over at Tomoyo's house to make up for missing out the sleep over, and before they went to bed, the girls had a little girls chat. They talked about little things from Tomoyo's new designs, boys such as how Tomoyo felt about Eriol and also about the cute things their friends did. Tomoyo obviously tried to avoid the topic of talking about Eriol, but with Sakura determined to dig out some dirt out of Tomoyo, she finally admitted to having overnight chats with Eriol and having a little feelings towards him. While saying that, Tomoyo really felt like she was going to burst because her face was so hot. Tomoyo noticed that Sakura was a little different from how she usually was, and decided to ask why, even though she had a hunch it had to do with Syaoran.
Sakura, however, just replied subtly, "Well, let's just say someone convinced me that I'm not running alone after all. That someone said that I should feel at home and be natural around the people who will always love me for who I am no matter what I do." Sakura smiled brightly at Tomoyo, and for a moment, Tomoyo saw the Sakura she knew before her mother left her. She felt happy for Sakura because she knew that Sakura had finally matured enough to learn how to rely on her friends. However, since there was still school the next morning, they decided to turn in early so they will not feel like zombies the next morning.
Before Sakura fell into deep slumber, she thought back what happened in the day, "Not so much of a brat after all, huh, Syaoran Li." And Sakura fell asleep with a tiny smile on her face.
The next few weeks went by quickly, and everybody noticed a big change in Sakura when she returned to school. She was much friendlier with everyone, and Sakura was more willing to talk to the people she didn't know as well. Everybody welcomed the new Sakura, even though deep down Sakura, she still kept her distance with those people.
Days and weeks went by just like that but one day as Sakura was driving to school, she spotted a familiar silhouette with long wavy purple hair and pearly white skin at the entrance of the school. She could not stop her car in time to catch a good glimpse of that silhouette, so she just parked her car quickly and got down to search for that figure immediately, but it was already nowhere to be seen. Sakura searched around for a while longer, but gave up after a while and shook her head slightly. "I must have not slept enough last night. Why would I see her here out of all places?" Sakura chuckled humorlessly to herself.
When she reached her classroom, class started immediately, because she had spent a little time outside trying to search for that figure with long wavy purple hair. Terada Sensei came in when the first bell rang, and started, "Today, we have another new student in our class. Please give her a lot of advice and help her in school ok? You may come in, young lady."
A girl about Sakura's height and age slide open the classroom door, and she had long wavy purple hair and the skin colour similar to the one Sakura saw earlier. Sakura and Tomoyo's eyes widened at the sight of the girl.
The girl smiled and bowed politely before introducing herself to the class, "Hello everyone. My name is Nicki Jamieson. I'm from London. Please take care of me from now on!"
The reason why Tomoyo and Sakura were so surprised at the new girl was evident.
The girl, named Nicki Jamieson, held a striking resemblance to Sakura's mother.
~.~To be continued~.~
Author's Note:
Hey guyss~ This concludes chapter 6! It's pretty long isn't it? Sorry about that heh. And I know I took a day to finish this but you know, my mom's birthday is coming up and I'm preparing for the new semester for school! I'm reading up in advance on the business books so I won't be as lost as the first semester during the lectures. I flunked my first exam so I'm trying my very best to pull up my GPA right now ;_;
And yayyyyyyy for Syaoran realizes his feelings for Sakura! *moe*Same goes for Tomoyo as well hehe! Wonder when will Sakura realize that Syaoran is important too? I haven't really decided when Sakura will confess yet, so please tell me what you want to happen in reviews!
Ok I shall sign off right now and get to bed really soon, it's currently 2.30am midnight right here at Singapore and I am going to die of exhaustion soon ha ha!
Anyway, thanks for reading and keep those reviews coming please! Ciao~~~
Xoxo, SHINING COOKIES :D