T minus 71 days
"She told you first."
It was one of the rare times that Tomoyo has approached him herself. Usually, Syaoran met her along with Eriol's presence, or awaiting his presence.
Today, she caught him outside his apartment. At first, Syaoran hadn't minded her at all, thinking she was waiting for his roommate. But when she got up and began to strut alongside him, he knew there was something she needed.
He stopped at her statement. It took him a moment to comprehend what she's referring to. "That was nearly a month ago." He replied, "why are you bringing this up now?"
Instead of answering his question, Tomoyo folded her arms, lifting her chin haughtily. "Why did she tell you first?"
It wasn't hard to tell Tomoyo was annoyed by the little detail. "She saw me first?" By the narrowing of her eyes, he knew that that wasn't a good enough excuse. Syaoran held up his hands in surrender, "Look, she broke up with Josh and she knew how you were about it."
"And how is that?"
Syaoran felt as if being interrogated. "You're-you-" He wasn't sure how to phrase it nicely, especially now that Tomoyo looked ready to burn him alive with her eyes. "You're passionate about, uh, you're very against Josh and...she was afraid of your reaction."
"She was afraid of my reaction?" Tomoyo repeated in a voice that indicated Syaoran hadn't said the right words. "I grew up with her and she's afraid of me? How long have you known her? Two months?"
"Three, now." Syaoran muttered quietly before he could stop himself. Hurriedly, he replied, "She wasn't that afraid - I mean, she still told you."
"But she told you first!" She spoke in a darkly furious voice - if she had yelled, Syaoran would've been less scared.
Syaoran wasn't sure how to respond. He just didn't understand women and the little details they focus on. And Eriol said Tomoyo didn't argue the petty things.
Just then, their apartment door opened and closed again, admitting Eriol into the hallway where they stood.
Both Syaoran and Tomoyo turned to look at him.
He hadn't seen them yet, locking the door. When he finally turned, his face morphed to surprise at the sight of Tomoyo.
Syaoran was relieved to see him, hoping to be rescued from this unnerving situation.
However, Eriol recovered quickly from his surprise and only locked his jaw, eyes hardening. He pushed on through, right in between the two, shoulder bumping into Syaoran.
When Eriol's figure disappeared around the bend, Syaoran couldn't help but comment, "There's only a select few things you could've said to him to make him react like that."
"That's none of your business." Tomoyo snapped.
"He's my best friend." Syaoran stated, his temperament starting to match up to Tomoyo's.
Tomoyo seemed distracted for a moment, as if the statement had taken her. Syaoran supposed the reaction was understandable; Eriol has always claimed the title, but Syaoran has never - or rarely - responded nor labeled their friendship so fiercely.
Suddenly confidant due to her lack of response, Syaoran pushed on, "all it takes is just one simple apology."
"yeah and my pride." Tomoyo retorted quickly, then looked as if she hadn't meant to say that.
Eriol's been miserable for a week - all because of Tomoyo's pride? Syaoran's anger flared. "He's always the one trying to make up to you," He scowled, defensive of his best friend, "why can't you? Why can't you stop thinking about yourself for one second and apologize to him first? Why does he always have to come running to you and catering to all your needs?"
Tomoyo looked angrier and angrier by the second. Finally, she growled lowly, "How dare you call me selfish?"
"And why not?" Syaoran fired back, though he really should've stopped there. "Give me one example of when you compromised with Eriol. Just one."
Tomoyo opened her mouth, ready to respond furiously. Then she shut her mouth.
"That's what I thought." Syaoran turned to head back the direction he was going.
In annoyance, Tomoyo yelled after him, "I pay for Sakura's rent! I quit women's acapella so I could attend all of Chiharu's swim meets! I sold my fashion designs so I could buy Sakura and I a car! I - I gave up a lot for Sakura's sake!"
Syaoran whirled around, "yeah, but what did you do for Eriol?"
"I-" she shut her mouth again.
"Graced him with your presence?" He responded sarcastically. "he doesn't need you, you know? One day, he'll give up and you'll regret all this bullshit." With that, Syaoran turned back around and stomped off, leaving a stumped Tomoyo behind.
As Syaoran thought back to his argument with Tomoyo that morning, he realized that they were very much alike. They were both fiercely defensive of their best friends. Boy, had the tables turned with Eriol came in the conversation.
Though he had expected another confrontation or a follow up of some sort, he hadn't expected Sakura to be the instigator.
"We won't need that many solar panels," Syaoran spoke. "the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany just developed a solar cell that could convert a new record of 44.7% solar energy into electricity. Predicting that we'll need around 10 K Watts of power a day, that makes about 4 K Watts of energy per solar cell..." He trailed off as he looked up to see Sakura staring at him. She had a knowing smile on her face, her chin in her palm.
Feeling awkward and slightly embarrassed, Syaoran looked back down at his paper, avoiding further eye contact. Just to move past the situation, Syaoran muttered, "sorry, Eriol usually shuts me up."
"It's okay." Sakura responded cheerfully, "it's fascinating."
"What, math?"
"Only when you do it." She answered mystically.
Unsure how to respond, to her comment and the unnecessary increased pumping of his heart, Syaoran cleared his throat. "Thanks, I guess."
There was a beat of silence (awkward for Syaoran, but Sakura didn't seem to have minded it). Suddenly, Sakura blurted, "Tomoyo's upset."
Of all the topics she had to bring up, she would bring up the one Syaoran didn't feel like talking about at the moment. He only grunted in response.
"Apparently, everyone hates her."
"Yeah, 'cause the world revolves around her." Syaoran unthinkingly thought aloud.
"That's not what I meant," Sakura defended, "Is that what you fought about?"
"No," Syaoran didn't tell the truth, but technically, they weren't fighting about her selfishness - they were fighting about Eriol.
"Was it about Eriol?"
"It was about a lot of things." He answered vaguely, also a half-truth.
Sakura sighed, taking a different approach. "She told Eriol he wasn't worth the trouble."
Syaoran snorted, finally looking up, "and she doesn't want to apologize?"
"She's afraid he's gonna shoot her down." Sakura responded evenly.
"So she'll consider his reaction when she talks to him but not how he's feeling now? How worthless he feels for the past week? She'll just let him suffer because she doesn't have the balls to apologize?" Syaoran vented angrily.
Sakura sat back, as if burned by a flame.
"Sorry." He muttered, looking back at his work.
"Tomoyo's been upset too. She's not selfish." Sakura finally spoke, quietly.
"I know - but-"
"She just doesn't know how to deal with Eriol. She's never had time or cared about relationships. But Eriol, she does care, and she just doesn't know how those kinds of relationships work. She's always been the friend. She doesn't know how to be more than friends."
"Why don't she start by being friends?" He suggested, "she can do all these things for her friends, but she can't for Eriol?"
"Because he's different." Sakura tried to explain.
"Oh, he knows," Syaoran apparently hadn't understood her meaning. "She definitely treats him worse."
"That's not how she meant it." She sat back up, leaning closer to Syaoran in her argument. "She's always had a hard time expressing her care and affection. She's the uncredited hero type. She just doesn't know how to express what she wants to do for Eriol. She's done a lot for me. "
"You both keep saying that," he waved his hands in frustration, "then why doesn't she just marry you and stop all the heartache!?"
Sakura frowned unhappily. Syaoran sat back in a big huff of grievance.
"Their drama is causing their friends a lot of stress too." Syaoran added quietly. Then after another moment of Sakura's unhappy silence, he compromised. "They'll figure it out. They always do."
Sakura nodded slowly. She spoke softly, her eyes shining with confidence, "everything will be alright."
"I hope so."
Rather than letting him get away with only hope, Sakura nodded fiercely, restating almost forcefully, "everything will be alright."
Looking into her eyes, it was hard to remain skeptical, or hold on to even the slightest doubt.
Reluctantly, Syaoran peeled his eyes away, looking down to work on the final drafts of their model. "We're almost done." He said, just to say something.
Sakura scooted over, pulling up her chair next to him, so she could see the rendering too.
With her chin cupped in her palm, she observed the screen. Just then, there was a skype pop up. It read, Feimei Li is online.
"Is that your sister?" Sakura inquired.
"Yeah." Syaoran responded absently, panning around the model, checking for any more weaknesses.
"Aren't you going to skype her?" She oddly pursued the issue.
Squinting at the screen as he fixed a minute error, he replied quietly, "Not right now."
"When's the last time you talked to her?"
This time, Syaoran looked at her. "a few weeks ago." He furrowed his eyebrows, "something wrong?"
Sakura shook her head, but something was definitely bothering her. "Why don't you talk to her more often? You all only reunited like a month ago. Don't you wanna spend more time with your sister?"
"I'm planning to fly back after graduation, stay with them." Syaoran revealed, "Right now I'm pretty busy. What's the urgency?"
"You never know what'll happen between now and then, Syaoran." Sakura spoke passionately, "you can't take these things for granted."
"It's just two and a half months, Sakura."
Rather than placating the brunette, it only fired her up more. She sat back, throwing up her hands, exclaiming, "I hate when people think they have time! You never know what'll happen tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow, I'm going to class, then come by here, then drop by the supply store, then come back here - with some meals in between." Syaoran stated.
"That's what you plan on doing," Sakura emphasized, "you're not a psychic, that's not what's exactly going to happen tomorrow."
"Okay, so I might get more homework than I wanted, or grab fast food instead of healthy pita sandwiches, or meet Eriol for lunch instead of eating at the dining hall. So?"
Sakura crossed her arms, "what do you mean so? Where in your plan did you include your family? You have them now, you should talk to them! And I thought you got over the cold persona you were brought up with."
Taken back by her harsh words, Syaoran scowled, matching hers. "That doesn't mean I have to go running back to sissy every day."
"At least then the running will make you hot!" She retorted desperately, referring back to her comment about his cold persona.
Syaoran looked ready to retort, then blinked. A slow smirk made its way to his face. "I don't need to run, I'm already hot."
"That's what you think!" Sakura relentlessly kept up her argument though a visible blush came over her face.
Now he had to defend his honor. "Unless Takashi lied, that's what half the female population thinks."
"Then why are you single?"
"Because I'd like to pick who I want to go out with." Syaoran responded sincerely.
"That's what they all say."
Finding no point in trying to refute her, Syaoran sighed. "Why are we arguing about this?"
Sakura frowned, biting her lip. "I don't know."
"Good, then let's stop fighting." He stated authoritatively, stopping the conversation there.
Sakura smiled, "We almost pulled a Tomoyo and Eriol - fighting over nothing."
Syaoran only nodded in response, afraid that if he opened his mouth he'd say something about how she just compared them to a couple.
"The only difference between our fights and Tomoyo and Eriol's fights are that we make up real quickly." Sakura grinned.
Syaoran refrained from stating, and that we're not in a relationship, they are.
He focused on how their argument started instead. He turned his whole body to face her, his amber eyes focusing on her emerald ones. "What's with the live in the present argument?"
Sakura fidgeted, "I just thought," she stammered lamely, "the future is uncertain, and stuff, you know?"
"Mhmm.." Syaoran nodded skeptically.
In attempts to take the spotlight away from her, she focused back on the laptop screen, "s-so you fixed the supports."
Taking that as a sign she doesn't want to talk about it, Syaoran supposed he couldn't force it out of her anyway. He turned back to the screen, "yeah, I added some trusses here and here, since the pressure of level 2 will be focused right here. Also, I did some calculations, the solar paneling is not going to fit…"
Syaoran could easily tell as the discussion continued that Sakura wasn't entirely with him. Her mind's somewhere else, and though he wanted so badly to understand, he knew she didn't want to talk about it.
That didn't stop Syaoran from dropping a few subtle hints, however.
"There's three trusses here, Sakura." Syaoran pointed to the screen, then panned the mouse around the structure. "I'll say it's a pretty good support. Kind of like a shoulder, you know, when you need consolation. They're solid trusts - I mean trusses."
Sakura's brows only furrowed, lacking the response Syaoran was looking for.
"But just in case of emergency, I installed some support beams here and here, using some fiber glass material in case water spilled. There's also a steep slope, 'cause water spills fast - as fast as words out of a storyteller, you know." He continued, barely keeping up his straight, professional face. "The whole system's not going to collapse. Trust me."
At this point, Sakura had glanced at him with a wary smile, in which Syaoran smiled cheekily back.
She revealed nothing, however, and by the end of their session together, Syaoran had almost given up.
"It's late," Syaoran peered at Sakura, not very good at hiding his concern, "I don't think the buses run this late."
"I'll manage." Sakura responded in faux optimism.
"yeah," Syaoran agreed, "when I walk you home."
Normally, she would've laughed at his sneakiness, but this time she only frowned distantly. "I'll be fine." She hiked up her backpack across her shoulders and started walking in the direction of her apartment.
Syaoran trailed after her puzzledly. "Aren't you going to call Tomoyo to pick you up?"
"No, I don't want to worry her." She responded, her voice sounded almost automated.
"You'd be worrying her more by not calling." Syaoran stated accurately.
Sakura glanced at him, a hint of annoyance in her expression, "isn't your apartment in the other direction?"
He shrugged, "I said I was walking you home."
"And I said I was fine." Sakura snapped.
Syaoran quieted immediately, looking at her interestedly in the darkness of the night.
There was a moment of silence.
"Sorry." Syaoran finally spoke, quietly. Sakura looked up at him, apologetically, as if to say what are you sorry for? But she couldn't bring herself to say it.
He looked straight ahead, continuing, "I didn't mean to push you. I guess I was frustrated, like how you were when I wasn't myself those few weeks ago."
"It's okay." Sakura softly responded, but not to his pointed statement.
Syaoran awaited for more to come, but there was nothing.
He sighed, "I don't want you to think I'm creepy or anything, I'm just worried. I feel kinda like a dad or something-" He glimpsed her wince, so he quickly retracted, "I mean Tomoyo will be glad to see you weren't alone in the dark." Taking a leap, he dropped another hint, "It's a long walk though, maybe we could talk."
"About what?"
Did he have to spell it out for her? "A-about you - uh, I just, you know about me so I thought, I mean..."
"I'm not really interesting." Sakura responded dismissively.
Syaoran's frustration flared. "Sakura, dammit-"
"I'm an orphan." She blurted out suddenly, causing Syaoran to stop and so did she.
"What?"
"You know about my mom…" Sakura elaborated, "my dad - he was an archeologist. He was away a lot, he was really nice and sweet when he was around, I guess. I was in middle school, the seventh grade, when…" Sakura struggled to continue, "when there was an accident."
Sakura started moving again, focusing straight ahead as Syaoran followed alongside her. She continued, "he always had bad health, that's what Touya told me. Touya was a senior in high school. He-he explained that my dad was in a dig and it collapsed on him." She looked up at Syaoran's soft amber eyes, "we would've been in the system, Touya and I. But - Touya had just turned 18 a month before." She looked down again, "after that Touya was even more overbearing that he was before. And I just - you just -"
"I reminded you of when that happened." It all made sense to Syaoran now.
"Yeah, I guess." Sakura sighed softly, "I always regret not bothering to get to know my dad better, I mean, when he was around he was just there, you know, we never really celebrated it. We just...he was there, and sometimes he wasn't. And that was it."
And so later that night, Syaoran thought, why the hell not? Rather than just dropping Sakura off at her apartment door, he went in with her. Knowing that his sister were still on Skype, he turned on his computer and he said, "do you want to meet them?"
Sakura smiled brilliantly, "of course I do!"
Less than five minutes later, Sakura found herself looking at four beautiful women laughingly jostling each other to get center stage on the screen. Syaoran had rolled his eyes, "Just push the laptop back, that'll get everybody."
"But I wanted to be the first face you see," the more petite version of the other four roller her eyes, "smarty pants."
"You are," Syaoran shot back, "along with everyone else."
The one with a more narrow face and seemingly thinner everything else, spoke up excitedly, "who's that girl with you? She's SO CUTE!"
"Adorable!" Another, much chubbier than the others, agreed.
"Your girlfriend?" The younger one inquired.
The pair blushed heavily and before Syaoran could voice his objections, the thinner sister exclaimed, "I approve!"
Stuttering, Syaoran cut in, "No-no- she's - this is- she's just a friend."
"That's what they all say!"
So this was why the hell not, Syaoran thought, starting to regret his impromptu decision. He glanced back at Sakura embarrassedly, "Um, that's-" he pointed to the thinner one of the four, who waved, "Fuutie," then the chubbier one, who grinned, "Shiefa," then the quieter one, "Fanran," and the petite one, who nearly elbowed the others in her enthusiastic greeting, "Feimei."
"Nice to meet you." Sakura greeted with a sweet smile.
While normally that had caused Syaoran to smile a small one back, it caused the four older women to chorus, "awwww!"
He turned to the screen next, addressing his sisters, "Guys, this is-"
"Your girlfriend," Feimei cut in.
He glared, "Sakura."
"Aka, your girlfriend." Fuutie persisted.
Syaoran scowled, moving to end the call, "okay goodbye."
"No-no-wait!" Fanran finally spoke up, glaring at her other sisters, "we'll promise to stop teasing you."
"As long as we get to talk to your girlfriend more!" Shiefa added cheekily, earning a pointed look from Fanran. Ignoring her, Shiefa pulled up a plate of dumplings from nowhere, chomping away happily.
Seemingly taking this all in stride, Sakura whispered to Syaoran, "they're adorable."
"Wait 'til you meet them in person." Syaoran responded, "They squeeze the living daylights out of anybody."
"So that's why they're so lively." Sakura joked, causing Syaoran to chuckle lightly as she giggled.
"Awww," Feimei gushed, "you two are sooooo cute!"
"I think there should be peonies on the aisle," Fuutie was discussing seriously with Sheifa.
Sheifa, meanwhile, was responding between bites, "It should be sakuras, her name is Sakura."
"But Syaoran's favorite flower is peony!" Fuutie argued.
"How did you know that?" Syaoran frowned, while Sakura quietly took note.
"We asked Meiling," Fanran answered with a straight face, "we also know that you were obsessed with Pokemon until seventh grade when someone laughed at you for it. You only got over it after you beat the kid up."
Sakura giggled, and Syaoran falteringly tried to protest.
Unable to agree, Fuutie and Sheifa tapped Fanran, "peony or sakura?"
Dragged into the discussion, Fanran compromised, "how about both? Peony down the aisle but the reception will have sakura flowers."
It didn't take long for Syaoran to realize they were discussing wedding details. He flushed scarlet.
Sakura, not sure what to say, only laughed, also blushing heavily.
Feimei focused back on the screen, grinning, "Syaoran, why don't you and Sakura Skype us more often? We would love our old boring lives spiced up with gossip of your love life!"
"You're 32!" Syaoran exclaimed. "And what love life?"
He was momentarily distracted when Sakura slapped him on the shoulder, saying, "I told you, you should talk to them more often!"
"And that's why I like her." Fanran cut in.
Ignoring his sister, he tried to convince Sakura, "They only wanna see you."
When he focused back on his sisters' conversation however, he was sure to die of embarrassment once he understood their discussion.
"She would have golden eyes and blond hair, oh my gosh, that would be so cute!" Sheifa gushed.
"But imagine a son with green eyes and brown hair like us!" Fuutie grinned.
"He would get Syaoran's jaw." Fanran nodded seriously.
"What would you name your son?" Feimei asked, causing Syaoran to stutter and Sakura blush heavily, unable to form coherent sentences.
"Oh, is it too early?" Fuutie frowned.
"They're 21, at least I think she is." Feimei answered for them, "That's old enough to have sex, right?"
"I'm 22," Syaoran scowled.
"Oh yeah, happy birthday, little brother!" Feimei clapped her hands in excitement.
"We sent you a package, did you get it?" Fuutie asked.
"No." Syaoran frowned, "what was it?"
"That defeats the purpose of a present!" Feimei exclaimed.
"Oh, hush," Sheifa waved her chopsticks at her sister, "it was such a good present."
Syaoran's curiosity is peaked. "What is it?"
The four giggled madly, then finally, Fanran gasped out, "condoms."
Sakura laughed, and Syaoran scowled darkly. With a strike at the computer, their call was ended. His sisters' laughter may have been shut out but Sakura's wasn't. She could barely breathe as Syaoran grouchily put his laptop back in his backpack.
When Sakura finally calmed down, she wiped tears from her eyes. She spoke, "I was serious, you have really lively sisters, Syaoran."
He grunted, but he turned to her at the door, "Sorry, I should've warned you."
"No, no, they're wonderful." Sakura's smile turned into a grin, "I won't mind joining you sometimes, you know, when you Skype them."
"They'll probably nag me about not seeing you, anyway." Syaoran let out a small smile.
Sakura laughed.
There was a quiet pause, then Syaoran turned back to the door. Awkwardly, he uttered, "Um, see ya tomorrow."
"Good night, Syaoran." Sakura cheerfully responded before he opened the door and left.
A light blush rushed up her face as she recalled their earlier conversation with his sisters.
She wouldn't mind if that had happened - the wedding and the baby thing, she thought. The redness of her cheeks darkened, oh what is she thinking?
.
.
.
Note: Sometimes I say dorm, sometimes I say apartment. I'm too lazy to go back and fix it, heh, so I apologize for the confusion. Just go with it, you guys.
Also don't judge me, I'm bad at math.
The Fraunhofer Institute is a research center in Berlin, Germany.
Designboom article: "world record solar cell with 44.7% efficiency"
Skype belongs to Skype.
Pokemon is not mine either.
.
.
.
T minus 53 days
When Syaoran walked out the doors of his apartment that Saturday morning, he checked his phone for any messages. Zero. Zilch. Guess he'll be spending the day alone.
But before he could completely pocket his phone, it brightened up again with the words Meiling is calling….. on the screen.
With a frown on his forehead, he pressed answer. "What happened?" He greeted curiously.
Her response was incredulous. "Wow, does something really need to happen for me to call my childhood best friend?"
He paused. "Guess not." He responded with a shrug Meiling couldn't see.
"So how have you been?"
"Fine." Syaoran responded curtly as he scanned for moving cars before crossing the road.
"Syaoran." Meiling's voice was stern.
"I'm fine." He emphasized in a defensive tone. "What's this all about anyway?"
"You said you weren't going to get close to anyone." Her tone was accusatory.
"What?" Syaoran asked, stopping in his tracks. He frowned, continuing as he defended himself. "I've been here for four years, can't I make friends?"
"I'm not talking about Eriol." Meiling sounded frustrated. "I mean, I'm not complaining either - that's a good thing you're making friends - I just - you lied to me!"
"Lied about what?" Now Syaoran was getting frustrated.
"Getting involved!"
"I'm not." Syaoran responded, now thoroughly confused. "Who told you that?"
"Your sisters! I had to find out from your sisters, Syaoran. They've been planning you and Sakura's wedding for a while now."
Syaoran was focused on something else. "You've been talking to them?"
Meiling, on the other hand, was more focused on the wedding bit. "So you are together! Wow, way to inform your childhood best friend!"
"I never said that!" Syaoran exclaimed with a dark blush on his face.
"You never denied it."
Syaoran sighed, "I didn't lie to you, I'm not close with anyone."
"So Sakura regularly chatting up your sisters does not count as close." Meiling responded dubiously.
"She insisted," Syaoran scowled at her accusation, "and they like her."
"Your so-called best friend Eriol didn't even know you had a family."
"The topic never came up."
"Or you just never told him, while you told Sakura."
Syaoran was not understanding the point of the conversation. And he voiced so, "what's your point?"
From the noises his cousin was making, Syaoran deduced quickly that she was imagining strangling him if he were in front of her.
Syaoran frowned. He heard three consecutive beeps, which meant another person was calling. He blinked in surprise as he lowered his phone from his ear to look at it. Sakura is calling….it read.
Usually, he wasn't so popular.
He placed the phone next to his ear again, "Sakura's calling. Bye."
"Wow, I see where your priorities are -" He cut off her voice as he hung up.
He then called Sakura back. Without realizing it, his mood had picked up considerably. Immediately after her request, he had agreed to meeting up with her so suddenly.
Spotting Sakura not ten minutes later, Syaoran sauntered up to her.
Sakura turned to him, brightening once she caught sight of him.
"You called and here I am." Syaoran smiled slightly. He noticed the small bouquet in her hands, "what are those for?"
Instead of answering, she looked up at him seriously, "You let me meet your sisters," Sakura turned so he could follow her, "I think it's fair you meet my brother."
Syaoran nodded numbly.
Sakura was full of surprises, he thought. He had anxiously expected a variety of things, but he sure wasn't expecting to be led to the graveyard. But he should've known, the flowers should've been a hint.
TOUYA KINOMOTO
beloved brother and student
December 1, 1985 - August 21, 2007
She didn't meet his eyes. Her hands were barely noticeably shaking as she gingerly placed the flowers on his grave.
"Hi, Touya." She let out softly. Sakura still didn't meet his eyes as she weakly gestured to him, "that's Syaoran. He's my partner." Quickly, she corrected herself, "I-I mean for that architecture project I told you about."
Peeling his eyes away from her, Syaoran focused back on the grave. Just as softly, he greeted, "Nice to meet you, Touya." Remembering what Sakura said about her brother, he added, "I've been keeping Sakura safe, don't worry."
At that, Sakura glanced at him in surprise, her eyes glistening as she let out a small laugh. She turned back to the grave, "yeah, he walks me home when it's dark - he's a big ball of worry sometimes. You two will probably get along - or not." Sakura looked back at Syaoran then, "he might hate you, 'cause he hates any guy that tries to come near me."
"He's right to," Syaoran agreed. He turned to the grave, "she's very gullible."
"that was only once!" She slapped his forearm, telling her brother, "he's only saying that because I fell for that 'if you spell orange out loud it sounds like gullible' trick." Her voice softened as she said to Syaoran, "Touya made fun of me a lot too. He used to call me a little monster."
Syaoran only smiled. "I guess we have a lot in common."
Sakura looked back at him, then she sat down, tucking her knees in close to her chest.
Gently, Syaoran sat down next to her, following her line of sight as she stared at the grave.
"Yeah, Touya's really smart, too. He got accepted at Columbia." She smiled fondly, "they wanted him so bad he got a pretty good scholarship and financial aid." Her smile dropped, however, as she continued, "but he stayed in LA to be near me, at UCLA. They offered a full ride, so I guess it worked out." She swallowed thickly, blinking heavily. "He was gonna be a doctor. He's always wanted to be a doctor as far as I can remember. Because dad had bad health. And even after dad died, he still wanted to be a doctor, 'cause the pay was good, and he could support me too." Brokenly, she let out, "He was a junior - he was at the wrong place at the wrong time and he -" her voice softened to a whisper, "he was shot during a burglary-" she choked out, "of a convenience store."
Syaoran wasn't sure if it was his place to - oh screw it all. He reached out with his arm, pulling her shoulders in, allowing Sakura to bury her face in his chest.
Her voice was muffled as her tears wetted Syaoran's shirt. "I'm sorry, I-"
Syaoran was quick to respond gently, "It's okay."
"They got the guy. But it wasn't like a man sitting in prison was going to bring Touya back."
"You were a sophomore then, did you go through the system?"
Sakura lifted her head, peeling away from his arms. Syaoran awkwardly pulled back. She shook her head, "Tomoyo's mom took me in - that's why I couldn't get enough financial aid. Tomoyo's mom was my guardian. But I couldn't let her pay for my education."
She looked back at the grave, her melancholy gaze wavering as she stated, "today's his birthday. He would've turned 28."
Syaoran also looked at the grey stone block. "Happy birthday, Touya."
Sakura's lips lifted in a smile, glancing at him in awe. Looking back at the grave, she said, "I think he'll like you. Maybe at first he won't, but he'll grow to like you." Sakura's gazed flitted to Syaoran, she reiterated, "I think Touya will like you."
"I hope so," He let out a small smile.
"He will." Sakura turned back to the stone, repeating, as if to convince herself, "he will."
After more quiet conversation with the grave, the pair had finally stood up and bid Sakura's brother goodbye.
As Syaoran followed after his partner, he caught a glimpse of the epitaphs next to her brother's.
FUJITAKA KINOMOTO
Beloved husband, father, and world-famous archeologist.
February 5, 1958 - December 12, 2003
NADESHIKO AMAMIYA KINOMOTO
Beloved wife, mother, and model.
June 20, 1968 - April 1,1992
After their rendezvous that morning, they had gone straight to the workshop, cutting out their models.
They had spent the whole afternoon there, not emerging until it was nearly six and Sakura's stomach was loudly protesting.
Syaoran offered to bring their products to the White Space while she go and get food. Sakura dissented, saying that they might as well go together since they'll eat together.
So, half an hour later, there they were strolling down Fujitaka street looking for a bite to eat.
As the approached a familiar spot, Sakura grinned, turning to Syaoran. "Let me guess, you wanna go to that noodle shop?"
Syaoran gave Sakura an impressed look, "how'd you know?"
"I've seen you there a few times before." Sakura answered vaguely. "c'mon!" Cheerfully, she ushered Syaoran in the noodle shop.
"hi!" the hostess marched up to the pair enthusiastically. "table for two?"
The pair nodded wordlessly.
She grabbed two menus, then paused, "oh! we have the couples special-"
"no no no we're not-" Sakura flustered, while Syaoran shook his head furiously.
"oh, I'm sorry, you two are siblings right?"
"no..." Sakura shook her head slowly, sending Syaoran a questionable glance.
"cousins?"
"we're not related." Syaoran spoke, with a slight exasperated undertone.
"oh, i got it!" the hostess brightened, "step-"
"KELLY!" a man who seemed to be the manager hollered. His voice lowered as he approached, "what did i tell you about talking to-" his face morphed into a big grin when he caught sight of his favorite customer. "Syaoran!"
"hey, Max." Syaoran voiced wearily, "can we get a booth, please?"
"yeah, of course!" Max snatched a menu from Kelly, glaring at her as he did so. He held up the lone menu as he led them further into the restaurant, "you won't need one right?"
Syaoran allowed a tiny smile, "no I won't need one. Thank you."
Sakura thanked the man too as the pair sat down across from each other.
"I'll get your regular order going," Max grinned amiably, "and for you, fair lady, I'll have a waitress come by."
The pair thanked him again, in which he only waved dismissively at them before hustling off.
"I come here a little too often." Syaoran admitted with a slight tinge of embarrassment.
"Yeah, I can tell." Sakura laughed, then inquired, "do we look alike?"
Syaoran shook his head with a frown, "not at all." His phone vibrated just then, alerting him of Eriol's text. He read it quickly, "but we could ask Eriol if you don't mind him joining us for dinner."
"No of course not!" Sakura checked her phone too. "do you think he and Tomoyo are on good terms? She wants to join us too."
"I guess we'll find out."
And they did find out...ish.
Tomoyo, being closer, had arrived first, but Eriol was not far behind.
The dark-haired beauty had sat down next to Sakura with a menu in her hands, releasing a stressed sigh.
"I hope you don't mind," Syaoran spoke quickly, as he spied his best friend making his way over. "I invited my roommate over, too."
Tomoyo glanced haughtily over her shoulder just in time to see Eriol pass by her. She wrinkled her nose. "Oh, not at all," she said in a voice that indicated she did mind.
"And why would she?" Eriol agreed in a disagreeing tone, plopping himself down next Syaoran, "after all, we split on good terms."
Something told Syaoran that his definition of good terms did not involve the word amiable.
Just then their waiter arrived to take their order. Right after he left however, Sakura spoke up cluelessly, "oh, you broke up again?"
"This'll be the last time, Sakura," Tomoyo turned to her, as if consolingly. "I promise."
Sakura only cracked a smile, "that's what you say everytime."
Tomoyo huffed, turning her attention back to her front - and inadvertently catching her ex-boyfriend's eye. She quickly found the wooden table to be much more interesting.
"We're just not a good pair," Eriol explained to Sakura, "right, Tomoyo?"
"Yes, it's very simple," Tomoyo smiled emotionlessly, "some of us try really hard in what they do, some of us don't."
"Exactly, the try-hards don't understand the word teamwork," Eriol nodded at the skeptical faces of Sakura and Syaoran, "so we mutually agreed that our views don't exactly align."
Syaoran spoke up, "What are you-" but the last part of his sentence, "even saying?" was covered by Tomoyo's cold voice.
"you're right," Tomoyo agreed in the most disagreeable voice. "because the most reasonable course of action would be to wait two hours or Lord knows how long until you arrive to get work done."
"that's what I did when you stood me up. TWICE." Eriol shot back. He then turned to the other two, unconvincingly stating, "we just have very different views on team work."
There was an awkward pause when a waiter came with their orders.
After smiling kindly at the waiter and thanking him, Sakura exchanged looks with Syaoran. Though she mouthed concisely, 'are they fighting?', he knew she had meant, are they trying really hard to convince us they're not fighting or are they having an awkward post-breakup moment?
In response, Syaoran sent her a helpless look, lifting his shoulders slightly.
"Umm…" Sakura addressed Tomoyo. Her voice was meek. "I'm going to the bathroom - can I…?" She gestured to Tomoyo, who had been blocking her path, since she sat on the outer edge of the booth. Tomoyo quickly stood up, muttering a sorry, letting Sakura go.
"so what does academic teamwork have to do with your relationship?" Syaoran asked in confusion.
The pair turned and stared at him.
"if we can't even handle working together on a project," Eriol was the one to explain, "then apparently we can't handle working together period."
"so it was her idea?" Syaoran inferred from his accusatory tone.
"you're blaming me?" Tomoyo glared at Eriol. "you're the one who agreed!"
"you're the one who suggested it!" Eriol retorted.
Suddenly, Eriol's phone - which had been sitting calmly on the mahogany table - vibrated violently. Three pairs of eyes flashed to the lit-up silver contraption. "Samantha Pellreomo is calling…" it read. After two rings, Eriol swiftly picked it up, sliding his thumb across and putting it to his ear.
"Hey, what's up?" He greeted lightheartedly as he excused himself from the table.
The moment Eriol was five paces away and out of earshot, Tomoyo focused her cold amethyst orbs on Syaoran.
"You're special," Tomoyo stated, so sure of herself.
Syaoran furrowed his brows, "thank you…?"
"To Sakura." Tomoyo explained herself, "you're the only person she actually introduced to Touya...'s grave." She had trouble saying the term herself. After a few blinks, she recomposed herself, "I go with her sometimes because I already know."
Syaoran frowned. "How did you know - we just - this morning..?"
With frightening confidence, Tomoyo stated, "I know everything."
Unsure of how to respond to that, Syaoran answered to Tomoyo's earlier proclamation. "I figured she doesn't bring just anyone to meet her brother. I kinda forced her past out of her and anyway, she said she wanted to thank me for letting her hang out with my sisters...a lot. I'm starting to think they like her more than me." He ended the side note with a small smile.
Tomoyo scoffed, "please, you can't force anything out of Sakura if she didn't want to tell you." She rolled her eyes then, responding to his aside, "and how can anyone not like Sakura? My own mother loves her more than me."
"Speaking of.." Syaoran looked over her shoulder to see Sakura on her way back.
Tomoyo glanced over her shoulder, flashing a smile at her best friend. As she stood up to let Sakura in, with her back to Sakura, she mouthed, 'I still hate you' to Syaoran.
Syaoran's only response was a minuscule down turn of his lips.
"Where'd Eriol go?" Sakura cheerfully broke the tenseness in the air.
"He's taking a call." Syaoran responded when Tomoyo seemed to angry about it to explain.
"Some skank needs his help." Tomoyo grouchily uttered.
Sakura shot Tomoyo a look, but she was interrupted by another voice. "Sammy's not a skank."
Tomoyo glared at Eriol who was just sitting down, "Oh so now you're on to nicknames."
"ok what are you on about?" Eriol asked directly, knowing that something he just did ticked her off.
"You answered her phone call in under two rings! How long did it take you to answer my call about our project? I went to voicemail FIVE TIMES!"
Syaoran leaned over to mutter quietly, "I thought you said she didn't fight about the petty stuff."
Eriol uttered back, a slight smirk on his face, "she doesn't. She's just jealous."
"-stressed!" Tomoyo corrected with a scowl, "about our project! We haven't started on our model yet!"
"jealous." Eriol dissented, so sure of himself. "what's wrong with Sammy? she's a nice girl."
"You deserve better." Tomoyo revealed softly.
In what would have been a touching moment, Eriol only answered coldly, "So now I'm worth it huh?"
Sakura looked up from slurping her bowl with wide eyes, glancing at Syaoran who had the same 'uh oh' look on his face.
Syaoran cleared his throat awkwardly, breaking the tense silence. "So..." he gestured to himself then Sakura. "We're gonna take off - gotta work on that model, you know, it'll take a while...yeah…." He stared awkwardly at his friends when they didn't move.
Sakura took the moment to lick the last drops from her spoon, take out her wallet, and place a couple bucks on the table. Seeing her, Syaoran did the same.
Sakura glanced at Syaoran when they only sat trapped inside the booth. Syaoran nudged Eriol, who glanced at him in an annoyed startle. When Syaoran gave him a, "move?" and a gesture that said the same word, he grumpily got up, allowing Syaoran leeway.
Seeing that Eriol had broken their eye contact, Tomoyo had realized the same, letting Sakura go with a pouting frown.
Sakura only responded to her with a cheerful grin, "see ya tonight!"
When the S-pair turned around and walked out of the restaurant, they heard the voices of their best friends going at it again.
Syaoran glanced at Sakura, theatrically wiping a hand across his forehead and mouthing, 'phew!'
She giggled in response, but voiced, "I feel kinda bad for leaving them alone like that."
"Eh," Syaoran rolled his eyes, unsympathetic. "They'll figure it out."
With a laugh, Sakura asked, "so are we really going back to work on our models?"
"After eight straight hours in the workshop today?" Syaoran looked at her as if she was crazy, "hell no."
A small smile lighted up Syaoran's face when Sakura laughed in response. She asked, "so what do we do now?"
He shrugged, looking at her with a mischievous expression, "get as far away as possible?"
Seemingly unable to stop laughing at Syaoran's remarks, Sakura slapped Syaoran's shoulder in mock scold, but didn't object. With an extra bounce in her step, an idea popped in her head, and she voiced it, "How 'bout we go to the animal shelter again?"
Syaoran made a face, causing Sakura to give him an offended look. She reprimanded, "don't pretend you don't like that place! I saw you talking to Frankie the bulldog."
"That's cause we have something in common."
"What? Attitude?" Sakura joked.
"Mutual dislike of rainbow-y fluffy things."
Sakura gasped, slapping him in the shoulder again.
"Abusive." Syaoran grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. An idea occurred to him, and he turned to Sakura with a bright face she couldn't deny. "How about we do something I like?"
"What is it?" Sakura asked cautiously, because that mischievous glint in his eye was a bad sign. Quietly she mumbled, "please don't say Scary Movie Marathon."
"Nerf gun war!" He grinned boyishly. Then tapped his chin, "though that is a good idea…"
"You didn't hear anything!" Sakura defended quickly. "And you have nerf guns?"
"No." Syaoran dropped his head sullenly, only to pick it up with a devilish smirk, "but Eriol has waterguns."
Sakura frowned, "Where?"
Syaoran scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, "uh...see, there was incident a few months ago and...Eriol found a new hiding place for it...but that's the fun part!" He looked around scandalously, speaking lowly to her theatrically, "we're gonna need to do a little sting operation to extract our target."
Sakura gasped, doing a little hop in excitement, "we can reenact a Mission Impossible movie!"
"Yes!" Syaoran fisted the air, agreeing wholeheartedly.
Just then a group of college students their age passed by, sending them both weird looks.
The pair only looked at each other and laughed heartily.
Needless to say, they had a fun night.
.
.
.
Note: anybody else thought it was weird Tomoyo took it all in stride? like "ohohoho I loved her for 124865 years but she fell for this asshole from Hong Kong ohohoho okay."
I disclaim Mission Impossible.
Sorry for the late update!