Valkyrie85: Here it is, everyone, the ninth chapter of "Complications". I can't believe that I 've gotten so far in the story. It's time to tell myself to 'keep up the good work' now!"q
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, only the new characters who didn't appear in the anime and the new plot that I've created.
**Please do not be offended by any of the content mentioned below**
Complications-Chapter 9
"How could someone wearing a pair of glasses look so dreeeeeammy?" a girl asked her friend as Sakura walked past their lockers.
"Who, Syaoran Li?" asked her friend.
"He doesn't even wear glasses. No, it's this really good-looking guy who has been waiting against our front gate since half an hour ago."
"Oh? Well what..."
Sakura was certainly not the type of person interested in other people's gossip, but because she WAS heading towards the front gate of Tomoeda High, which the girls were talking about, why not test out her luck? She wasn't surprised to find four to five Tomoeda High female students gathering around the man with the glasses. From where Sakura stood, only the man's tall height, black hair, and the glasses could be distinguished from the rest of his features.
"Hey, sir. Do you come to the school?" asked a girl, her voice seductive.
"No, I don't. I am in University right now," answered the man in a friendly voice. His voice had a familiar rough edge to it that had caught Sakura's ears.
"Oh? That's soooooooo cool! What are you majoring in?" asked another.
"Business and Technology." This answer, once again, had caught Sakura's ears. She became hesitant to move any steps forward and stopped to take a look at this man who was so very similar like "him."
Once she turned around, the man's dark orbs met her emerald ones, like a special bond that always knew where the other one was. There was familiarity in those framed eyes, Sakura thought. Her eyes traveled down to the man's tall nose, then thin lips, and finally, zoomed out to his entire face, while the man just kept on staring at her interestedly.
Their intimate eye contact ended when one of the girls beside him moved her hand up and down in front of his eyes, trying to claim his attention.
"S-sorry. The person I've been waiting for is here," stuttered the man.
He walked towards Sakura without paying much attention to the girls' disappointment and opened up his arms with a big smile on his face.
"KEN!"
Sakura's face lightened from curiosity to obvious excitement. She couldn't contain herself anymore. She didn't care that she was in this huge public open area where hundreds of people could be watching.
Her excitement brought energy to her legs and made her run into Ken's arms.
His arms felt firm around her waist while he spun her around like a little girl. The giggles that Sakura had remembered of Ken was certainly the same as ever.
"When did you come back?" Sakura asked shortly after she regained her breath from all that spinning.
"Just the day before," replied Ken.
"TWO DAYS BACK AND NOW YOU'RE VISITING ME?!" Sakura humorously raised her voice. Sakura was glad that there was no awkwardness between her and Ken. Although after almost 2 years of separation, she needed some time to adjust to his more matured looks.
"Yuppers. I'm sorry that I didn't visit you soon but I had work."
"Really? You're working already?" Sakura asked, shaking her head slowly. "Man...you haven't changed a bit."
"Like brother, like sister. You and Touya say the exact same thing."
"Wait! Touya knew you came back?" Geez. Sakura hated to be left out on things.
Ken gave a nervous smile, "Long story..."
"What was all that commotion-"
"About the 'guy with the glasses'?" Ryu cut in to answer the question.
"Yes." Syaoran smirked at his own curiosity of that man every girl was talking about non-stop in the hallways.
"Apparently it's this guy who looks really dreamy with a pair of glasses. He's also got fine abs and dark, dark black hair."
"Oooooooooo...Syaoran, you've got competition!" Takumi teased, cutting 'competition' into syllables.
"Does he come to the school?" asked Syaoran.
For some unknown reason, he felt a restless uneasiness surfacing. Did he consider this new man as a threat to his popularity amongst the girls? No, that wasn't it. Then, what was possibly there in that man that made Syaoran so uncomfortable...it was almost like fear.
"He doesn't. He was just waiting for someone who comes to our school."
Ryu and Takumi were both exceptional gossipers. Their abilities to discover gossip and rumor was equivalent to the same abilities that many Tomoeda High girls possessed.
"Who was the lucky girlfriend who caught his attention, then?" asked Syaoran.
"You're awfully interested in knowing about this new- "
"Who?"
"Sakura Kinomoto, your ex-lover," Takumi and Ryu both replied in sync.
Bingo! The nerve spot got hit...got hit HARD.
"It's so strange that this plain Kinomoto has got connections with a lot of good-looking guys."
Anything that was related to Sakura Kinomoto, Syaoran's nervous system became irresistably sentitive.
"She's got lots of history behind her life..."
The person who the man was waiting for was the key reason why Syaoran had felt uneasy.
"I wonder what's the relationship between the two."
As to why Sakura was always the reason to most of his dramatic reactions, he didn't know.
"Don't you 'desperately' want to know the relationship between Sakura and that mysterious man?" Takumi provoked.
"No, I'm not interested in gossip," replied Syaoran sternly.
"You were just so a minute ago!"
"I was not."
"Yes you were."
"Not."
"YES!" Takumi and Ryu said in sync once again.
"So," Syaoran started again in a calmer voice, "Mei Ling's here. She wanted to invite you guys to dinner sometime because she hasn't seen you two for so long." Syaoran tried firing a new topic.
"Oh, cool. Just tell us when and where and we'll be there for sure," Ryu said.
Successfully, the new topic had moved their focus out of the Sakura Matter. Syaoran was glad to have it out of his mind for a while before he became the wearisome person he would always become whenever something related to Sakura appeared.
"Hm...this is soooooooo good!" Sakura cried out in joy as the roll of sushi she was just chewing a minute ago slid down her throat.
"I know!" Ken agreed, picking up the last sushi on his tray with his chopsticks and dipped it into soy sauce. "The taste that this store has is so unique, unlike the sushi stores in Tokyo. Ichibo Sushi has a taste of 'home.'" Ken swallowed it quickly.
"Bill please!" Sakura called out to the waitress walking by.
"No, Sakura. Let me pay for it."
"That's okay. Just count this as a 'welcome-back' present from me," Sakura suggested, taking out her wallet.
Taking the bill quickly from Sakura's hand, placed some money and gave it back to the waitress quickly, Ken smiled. "Please let me pay this time. Remember the promise we made before? I will first buy you something once I get paid for my job?"
Sakura raised her eyebrow, but then sighed defeatedly. "Fine."
"How's life in Tokyo for you for the past 2 years?" Sakura asked, kicking her feet into the pile of sand beneath her.
"It's okay-ish. Not as fun as Tomoeda, though. Lots of work to do everyday. There's never really a time when I didn't have to review my notes or study for upcoming exams." Ken replied nonchalantly.
"Oh. Where do you live in Tokyo? On or off school campus?"
"On. My friend and I rented the room together. It's pretty big, the size that's slightly bigger than your room."
Ken twisted the chains of his swing until it was so tight that it started untwisting the moment he stopped supporting it.
"Wa---" this is making me dizzy.
Sakura stared at him like he was a total idiot. "Did you know they had to change these swings right after they found out that you went to Tokyo and won't possibly be back in three years?"
Penguin Park used to be Sakura and Ken's favourite hangout place of all times. It was a park filled with love, joy, and cheerful memories that had brought the two of them closer than ever when they still went out.
"Oh? Did they?" Ken smiled good-naturedly. "So that they could let me enjoy the new swings? Well, how considerate!"
"Noooooo...they changed it because after more than one million times of your twistings on the swing, they were scared that other kids might get injured!"
"Sure, Sakura. That would be the last thing this small town would do. Why would they use the money to change such small things like swings than on bigger things like pot holes?" Ken smirked and waved his hand in dismissal.
"Yeah? Since when do you see pot holes on the streets?" Sakura challenged.
"Since yesterday when I tried to hail a cab and got splashed all over by a pot hole of water!"
"That's ridiculous. As a University of Tokyo student, shouldn't your knowledge be greater than this? That was a puddle, in fact."
Ken was about to counter-attack but stopped short when Sakura started swinging herself on the swing.
"Wow, my dear Sakura! You've finally mastered the skill of swinging all on your own!" Ken praised jokingly. Sakura glared darkly at him and the playfulness in his dark eyes.
"But seriously--" Ken's expression turned into sincere admiration, "Who's the more-professional teacher who taught you how to swing after all of those unsuccessful years I had tried to teach you?"
Sakura shook her head slowly, stopped her swinging and reburied her feet beneath the sand. Her eyes were fixed upon her feet which were kicking the sand again.
"It's nothing." She got up and shook the sand off of her feet even though she knew it was useless because she had to walk some more to get out of the sand pit.
"It's getting late. I should go home now or else Touya will cause a big commotion. Or, if he knows that I was with you all of this time without him knowing, he will definitely chop your head off into millions of pieces and then feed them to the dogs." She felt a cold chill run down her back.
"Alright. I guess I wouldn't want my teachers and classmates in Tokyo to go through all the useless trouble to search for my whereabout, right?" Ken gave a childish grin.
"Let's go, I'll take you home before Touya explodes."
"You will be attending Tomoeda High, is it, Mei Ling?" Ryu asked, taking a sip of his lemon water.
"Yeah but I will like to hide my identity as Syaoran's cousin as well as your friend." Mei Ling replied dryly.
"Why though?" Takumi rudely butt in.
"There is absolutely no reason at all for hiding my connection to Syaoran and the two of you other than the fact that I want a peaceful high school life like the other high school girls." Mei Ling smirked.
Takumi smiled nervously. "It seems you've searched quite a bit on our school life, huh?"
"A lot, I must say. Three hot-looking guys like you guys cause huge commotions in school. That's nothing of a surprise to me but," said Mei Ling, tucking a strand of her long her behind her ear, "I am surprised as to why Syaoran has been so quiet and solemn these two days. Did anything unusual happen at school?" Mei Ling glanced over at the Syaoran Li sitting beside her who was paying zero attention to their conversation and was just staring down at his hands.
"Oh, Syaoran is having painful heartaches!" cried Takumi teasingly. Mei Ling raised her eyebrow in suspicion.
"Sakura Kinomoto--"
"OWWWWWWW!" Takumi jumped up from his chair after his foot got stomped, causing the other people in the restaurant to turn around.
Syaoran set his eyes upon Takumi's like a hawk scrutinuzing after its pray. The threat in those fiery amber eyes were deadly cold that sent chills down Takumi's spine. Wasn't he paying no attention to their conversation? Seemingly so...
"E-Ecuse me for a moment. I need to use the restroom." Takumi hurried off in limps towards the washroom.
"What's with him?" Syaoran asked innocently. Ryu shrugged, having no idea what had just happened while Mei Ling's eyes narrowed. There was something going on around here that she had no knowledge of and she knew it was something important, and the Sakura Kinomoto...
"Excuse me for a moment as well. I need to use the washroom." Mei Ling walked slowly towards the restroom area.
Valkyrie85: That's it for now folks! Enjoyed the chapter? I enjoyed it very much LOL. Anyways!!! PLEASE REVIEW! I was quite happy that lots of people added this story to their Story Alert List for the last chapter! But! It would be better if you could click on the inconspicuous button down there and review! Until next time, folks!