I Am Not My Sister's Keeper
Summary: Sometimes trying to keep two people apart is the very thing that brings them together.
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura. Not even a little bit.
A/N: If last chapter could be considered the SxS chapter, this one is TxN. I just love TouyaxNakuru, so you're gonna have to bare with me. Don't worry, it's not 'til the end.
Last chapter:
Touya goes a step too far, and thus becomes the catalyst towards Syaoran and Sakura finally confessing their love - the very thing he was trying so hard to prevent!
I Am Not My Sister's Keeper – Insight
Nakuru stormed into the bedroom looking absolutely livid. Touya didn't think he had ever seen her looking so stony in his life.
"Kinomoto Touya," she demanded in a tone that made him cringe for its harshness, slamming the bedroom door behind her. Touya knew he was in trouble by the way she addressed him fully. She had only ever addressed him in such a way six times from memory, and none of them had boded well for him in the past. Even the first time they met it had been 'Touya-kun' and 'Toy-Toy' (the one nickname he managed to talk her out of). He gulped conspicuously, knowing that this (whatever 'this' was) would not end well.
Other than a single momentary lapse, he refused to let his apprehension show, meeting her glare head on with a grim smile. Had he been wiser with regards to matters of the heart, he might have made an attempt to sweet talk Nakuru out of her displeasure, and probably would have succeeded remarkably and avoided all future events. But Touya remained as dim as ever and made no such attempt.
"Akizuki-chan, I'm not in the mood-" he began nonchalantly, but was cut off by a stern look from Nakuru that looked quite bazaar pasted across her normally cheerful features.
"I don't care, Touya," she responded, eyes narrowed at him. "After what you just did you're going to listen to every word I have to say."
"Well?" she asked as he remained stonily silent. She had expected him to fight her on that, but he seemed to have decided to let her talk. She had very much anticipated it, and without his snarky retorts, she almost didn't know what to do with her self.
"I'm listening," he answered sulkily meeting her narrowed eyes with his own indifferent gaze.
"Touya, what you did . . ." she began, struggling to find the words now that her anger was dissipating. "You have no right. She's sixteen, Touya, and you can't keep trying to control her like this."
"She's my sister," Touya argued back, averting his eyes from her disappointed gaze. "I'm just trying to protect her."
"From what?" Nakuru asked indignantly. "From someone who loves her? Whose whole world revolves around her? From someone who would give up his own life and everything important to him just so she would never have to feel pain?
"What exactly are you trying to protect her from?" she asked, her gaze softening slightly as Touya's shoulders drooped in response to her questions.
"He's going to hurt her," Touya insisted, his features darkening with worry. "I just know it."
"Why?" Nakuru replied simply, denying everything inside her that told her to put her arms around him and never let go. She wondered how she hadn't noticed before how sexy Touya was when he was sulking.
"Because he's the only one who can."
The two were enveloped in silence as Touya's words began to sink in. They both knew what it meant. A shared thought passed through their minds simultaneously.
'No man or woman is worth your tears, and those that are would never make you cry.'
He knew she was right, and he hated when Nakuru was right. He always thought that there was something very wrong going on in the universe whenever she was right, and felt it immediately needed to be taken care of before it got out of hand . . . but I digress.
Nakuru sighed, losing the battle she had been waging within herself as she took several steps towards him. "What am I going to do with you?" she asked absently as she flicked his dark hair away from his eyes and ran her fingers down the side of his face. "I mean, Heero-kun? Seriously, Tou-kun. Do you honestly believe that Ishikawa Heero is somehow better for your sister than Li Syaoran?"
"Ishikawa is a good suitor," Touya argued unconvincingly. "He's from a good family. He's ambitious. He has reasonable career prospects – "
"I thought you hated Heero-kun," Nakuru cut in. "You even said the only reason he even got into medical school was because his father donated a new wing to the library."
"I don't hate Ishikawa-"
"At least, not as much as Li-kun?" she suggested with a smirk, cutting him off once again. Touya scowled at her, and she just smiled triumphantly. "Everything you just said in favour of Heero-kun is even truer for Li-kun. He comes from the most respectable family in China. He is very ambitious. And if you want to talk career prospects, he's going to be CEO of a multi-national corporation in about five years from now. It doesn't get better than that."
"So?" Touya answered back. "It doesn't make me like him."
"Well you better start liking him, Tou-kun, because I doubt he'll be going away any time soon," Nakuru answered sternly. "They're in love, Touya, and you're a fool for trying to get in the way of that."
Touya sneered in response. "As far as I'm concerned he's nothing but an insolent brat, and I will never let him anywhere near my sister."
Nakuru growled in frustration, narrowing her eyes upon him once again. "You're infuriating," she told him. "I don't know why you won't just accept Li-kun and let your sister be happy. Why do you have to be so stubborn?"
Touya rolled his eyes and shrugged in response, which only seemed to infuriate Nakuru further. She continued to glare at him, her face hardening in a way he had never seen it do before. Nakuru was very scary when you got on her bad side.
"That's it," she muttered, remembering her earlier promise to Sakura. "You will cancel whatever plans you made with Ishikawa-san right this instant, and you will take Li-kun out to dinner for the sake of your imouto's future happiness," she demanded. "Any questions?"
"Excuse me?" Touya asked as it began to sink in. "Have you lost your mind, Nakuru?"
She seemed to soften a little at this, and instead of her eyes holding a frosty glare, they turned to a look of stubborn determination. "Touya-kun, I think you and Li-kun should go on a date," she told him with a cute little determinative nod. "I think that's exactly what needs to happen here."
"What?!" he exclaimed, completely taken aback by her response. "I just told you I wasn't going to let that gaki date my sister, and you decide that he and I should date instead?"
"Yes," she said seriously, nodding her head once again. "I think that's exactly what you two need. You need to spend some time with Li-kun. I bet the you'd find that you two have quite a lot in common – a lot more than you think – and that Li-kun is perfect for Sakura-chan.
"You might even find that you actually like each other."
And so that was how Kinomoto Touya found himself sitting at a table for two in a fancy French restaurant (he had made the booking for Ishikawa and Sakura) with a sixteen-year-old brat sitting across from him wearing an amused smirk.
"Just so you know," Touya said, glaring at the boy across from him, "I still don't like you, and the only reason I'm even here is because of Akizuki-chan."
The younger boy raised an eyebrow glibly and snorted precociously. "You are so whipped," the brat muttered lowly.
Touya just looked at him pointedly. "Says the boy who gave away a priceless medical textbook because kaijuu asked him to. At least I was ordered."
"Touché," Syaoran replied blandly. "Can we just hurry up and get this thing over with. There are ways I would rather spend this evening.
"Most of them involving your sister," he added with an obliging smirk, enjoying the rise it got out of Touya.
"Say that again and I'll break your neck," Touya answered, his voice chillingly low. He couldn't help but be annoyed by the fact that the brat didn't so much as flinch at the threat, and simply returned the glare that was being sent his way. "Don't think I couldn't. I've been training in jujutsu since I was eight. I have a first degree blackbelt."
The brat shrugged. "There are over one hundred different styles of Chinese martial arts and I have been training in 62 of them since birth," he answered impassively. "I'd like to see which of us went down first in a fight, and I don't think it will be me."
Touya simply glared as the brat calmly sipped his beverage. It seemed the two of them had the same taste in soft drinks, and he could almost hear Nakuru cooing about how much they had in common. 'Because the coca-cola company serves such a fine basis for friendship,' he thought sarcastically as his eyes narrowed at the glass of raspberry psychic lemonade fruitopia. It's not like it was that uncommon a preference.
"So . . ." Touya began awkwardly, making some kind of effort.
"So," Syaoran repeated back, giving the older male an incredulous look.
Touya coughed nervously as he reached for his pocket and pulled out a set of cue cards. Syaoran couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this. "You brought conversation starters?" he asked with a smirk.
"Nakuru prepared them," Touya answered grimly.
"Riiiiggghhtt," Syaoran drawled out sarcastically. "I think I should go before this starts to look any more like a date.
"I can't believe my first date is with my girlfriend's brother," he muttered as he stood up to leave.
"Sit," Touya demanded, ignoring the girlfriend comment for his own sanity and the brats wellbeing. "These are not conversation starters," he insisted, "they are . . . interrogation questions."
"Over dinner?"
Touya rolled his eyes. "Has anyone ever told you that you are incredibly annoying?"
"Sakura doesn't think so," he answered smugly.
Touya's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to be nice and ignore that comment, although I have no idea what the kaijuu sees in you."
"Me neither," Syaoran replied, the arrogant façade dropping for just a moment and a softness filling him at the mere thought of his cherry blossom. "Must be my looks, right?" he added, returning to his usual perceived self.
"Let's just start on the questions, ne?" Touya suggested with an aggravated sigh. He glanced down at his cards and groaned at the first question. "What is your star?"
". . ."
"What the hell?" Touya exclaimed, filling the awkward silence. "I can't believe she seriously wants two guys to sit here talking about our star signs."
"Can I see that for a second?" Syaoran asked politely. Touya handed over the card willingly, probably sensing to some degree what came next. As soon as Touya's fingers left the piece of paper, it was absorbed in a green flame and promptly destroyed before either of them had the chance to read about how incredibly compatible Pisces and Cancer were in relationships and as lovers. They were apparently a better astrological match than Sakura and Syaoran, at least in terms of western astrology. Chinese astrology said otherwise – I do believe the common phrase was 'it will not end well'. (1)
"I guess even we have our moments," Syaoran suggested with a scoff, noting that they had once again found something to agree upon.
Touya shrugged. "How about we agree to a compromise?" Touya suggested and Syaoran gestured for him to continue. "I promise not to get in your way, and you promise to stay perfectly still while I kick your ass if you ever hurt her."
"That seems reasonable," Syaoran admitted, clearly getting the jist of what Touya intended to do to him if Sakura ever felt even a smidgen of pain. "But that means you have to respect every decision that Sakura makes. You got it?"
"So if you two decide that Sakura-chan has to drop out of school so she can start making you fifty-million heirs, I just have to sit back and watch?" Touya asked sceptically.
"I wouldn't let her," Syaoran replied coolly. "Sakura-chan comes first, so unless that's something she really wants, I wouldn't let that happen."
"Fine. I accept," Touya said grudgingly.
"Me too," Syaoran affirmed. "So, what are we supposed to do?"
"According to this, we're supposed to talk about soccer," Touya said drolly, glancing down at his 'interrogation questions' once again. There was no denying it now – Nakuru had in fact supplied him with conversation starters, and there was nothing interrogative about any of them.
"Do you mind if we don't?" the young mage replied. "I have a better idea," he added slyly as he indicated artfully to a suspicious looking pair at a nearby table desperately trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Touya nodded. "In about ten seconds from now I want you to yell something in Chinese and storm out of here," he told the younger boy. "If you wait outside, imouto-chan will follow."
After waiting the necessary time period, Syaoran jumped to his feet yelling about random directions in Cantonese, before storming out of the restaurant. Touya sniggered as his little sister immediately jumped out of her hiding position to follow the boy, and Nakuru stormed over to give him a piece of her mind.
"What did you say to him?" Nakuru asked with narrowed eyes.
"Nothing," Touya answered innocently. "We just came to an agreement. Take a seat."
Nakuru sat down reluctantly, crossing her arm over her chest and glaring at him as she did so. "I don't believe you, Touya," she told him huffily. "What's going on here?"
"Nothing, I swear, Nakuru-chan," he promised, "only I just realized something."
"What?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"That you like me," he answered with a teasing smile.
"Well, I though that much was obvious," she answered with an eye roll. She was still rather annoyed with him. "We are friends after all. At least some of the time."
"Ah, but you 'like me' like me," he teased, leaning towards her. "You really like me."
Nakuru snorted in disdain. "Finally he gets it," she muttered snarkily. "Five years, Touya! Five years I've been at your side every chance I could get. Five years I've been sending you Valentines and writing you love letters. Five years I've been scaring off any girl who even thought about coming near you.
"I followed you to Medical School of all places!" she cried, an aggravated scream on the edge of her lips. "I'm three years away from registration because I couldn't stand the thought of being away form you, Touya, even for a few measly hours. Everything I've done just waiting for you to notice, and only now you realize. For crying out loud, I'm in love with you, and I have been for the past five years!"
"You know, I'm thinking about changing my specialty to paediatrics," he said absently, a smile still present on his lips.
"Do not test me, Touya," she warned dangerously, eyes narrowing once again. "I could kill you right now if I wasn't so damn in love with you."
And still he smiled, moving out of his chair and crouching down in front of her. With a charming look, he leaned forward and gently kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear. "Anata,"he said softly, his words heavy with meaning. "I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner . . . watashi wa anata o matte iru. Aishiteru, Nakuru-san. Ashite imasu." (2)
Nakuru gasped, almost not believing his words to be true. But when she looked in his eyes, it was there. The look of love she had been searching for all these years. And so there was only one thing left to say.
"Aishiteru, Kinomoto Touya," she replied softly, her eyes shining with tears.
He smiled at her lovingly, before catching her lips in a kiss that had been six years in the making. It was the seventh time in all the years he had known Akizuki Nakuru that she had addressed him by his full name, and he knew from past experiences that this did not bode well for him.
But this time . . . this time it bode very well. Very well, indeed.
~ The End ~
Well hope you liked that. There's a nice little humorous conclusion/epilogue type thing to follow just to finish it off, so watch out of it. I'm struggling a little on the schedules (you'll understand when you read it), but I'll try to get it out in a reasonable sort of time.
Notes:
(1) I think I have good reason to believe that Touya's year of birth is meant to be 1980 as he was about 16/17 at the start of CCS, and the manga came out in 1996 and 1980 was the closest leap year to my prediction. That makes Touya a Metal Monkey, and Sakura and co. Fire Rabbits, and if you look up compatibility for Monkeys and Rabbits, most will tell you to stay well away. There was a tips section and the suggestion for 'togetherness' was "don't even try it." BTW, totally just realized that I did the math wrong earlier and they all should be fifteen going on sixteen. Oh well. Doesn't make much difference to the story as Tiger-Monkey combo seems to be just as bad.
(2)Watashi wa anata o matte iru. Aisheteru, Nakuru-san. Ashite imasu: "You are the one I've been waiting for. I am in love with you Nakuru. I love you." I just thought the first part was a really beautiful phrase and I wanted to use it somehow.
Epilogue: In Writing
(18) The brat will not attempt to use magic to circumvent this agreement.
(19) The brat will not attempt to make the sister use magic to circumvent this agreement.
(20) The brat will not allow the devil incarnate to use magic to circumvent this agreement.