As I said, this one is all fluff and as such, I'm gonna do an extra update this week to make up for it. I was tempted to drop this chapter altogether because it doesn't really add anything, but I like it, so I'm leaving it.
Administrative stuff
Summary: Li Syaoran must return to Kinomoto Kingdom with the remains of his fiancée after her tragic demise. But a marriage is still required to unite the two families, and now Syaoran has his pick of the six remaining daughters of Kinomoto Fujitaka for the sake of both their kingdoms. Romance/Mystery
Ages:
Li Syaoran: 22 yrs (almost 23)
Kinomoto Sakura: 21 yrs
Kinomoto Tomoyo: 20 yrs
Kinomoto Ayame: 18 yrs (dec)
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura.
It's Only Love – Heart in Your Hand
7 months earlier
The worst day of Sakura's life started just like any other day. She woke up, she got dressed, she had breakfast then chatted with Tomoyo before heading out to the gardens for her usual walk. This was followed by the latest item in her routine; a dash towards a hidden grove of trees where she could spend a few precious minutes speaking privately with their guest.
The fact that Syaoran wasn't there waiting for her when she arrived should have alerted her to what was to come. She should have known then that this day would not end well for her, but at the time, it was the farthest thing from her mind.
Her mood now dampened due to not getting her Syaoran fix, she headed back inside for some other means of occupation. Her father greeted her cheerily as she entered the room, assuming Syaoran's announcement would mean good things for Sakura. "We've been looking for you, Sakura-chan," Fujitaka told her. "You almost missed Syaoran-kun's announcement."
He winked at her, letting her know that he already knew. Truth was, he had no idea, and the gesture just confused Sakura as she was ushered further into a room containing only her immediate family and close officials.
"Thank you," Syaoran said, his voice causing them all to quiet. He caught Sakura's eye, looking away immediately before she could catch the sadness and desperate longing that flashed across his features. "I have an announcement," he said awkwardly, cringing when Touya gave him a 'no duh' look. Without even looking at his face, Nakuru seemed to clue on to this and jabbed her husband none to gently in the ribs.
Syaoran coughed uncomfortably before continuing. "I have gathered you all here to announce my engagement," he said, the crowd seeming to take a collective breath, "to Kinimoto Ayame," he finished reluctantly, eyes turned downcast.
Ayame proudly took her place beside him, beaming at the small crowd and lapping up their congratulations and praise. As Ayame stole the attention of their well-wishers, only one person noticed Kinomoto Sakura silently leave the room. At the time he didn't understand her expression, but now it was clear.
Because that was the moment when Kinomoto Sakura's world ended.
Present.
Sakura woke with a start, the memory causing a strangled sob to escape her lips and tears to roll from her eyes. Unwittingly, her tears managed to wake her husband, who drew her close trying his very best to comfort her, somehow knowing that he was the reason for he tears.
"Hush, Sakura," he told her gently, pulling her against his chest and rubbing circles into her back. "Don't cry, love. You know I hate to see you cry."
Despite his pleas, she cried harder, sobbing into his chest. "Why do you do that?" she asked him hopelessly. "Why are you so nice to me?"
"Cause I'm a nice person?" he joked, hoping to garner a smile out of her.
"Stop," she told him. "I don't want you saying nice things to me and being so sweet. It only confuses me. Just be whatever," she commanded. "I don't need you being nice to me."
"Sakura," he said with a slight sternness to his voice. "You're not making any sense, my love."
"And stop saying things like that," she told him, her sadness turning to anger. "It's not nice, Syaoran," she told him warningly. 'Not when I'd give anything to believe you meant it.'
"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said genuinely, his eyes softening at he distraught expression, "I really am. But I'm not going to stop being nice to you."
She frowned and so he continued. "You're just going to have to put up me with me being selfish, Sakura-chan," he told her, smiling contentedly to himself. "I like saying nice things to you and doing things for you. I like seeing you get all flustered and blush as you try to work out how to respond.
"I like seeing that cute little crease you get in your forehead when you're confused," he smiled, tapping her gently in the spot between her brows. "And I like seeing you smile."
Her anger deflated as he smiled at her, and she found herself floating into a brief state of hayaan. He was so sweet it seemed almost wrong to deny herself his warm smiles and caresses, at least, not when he was being so sincere in his affection.
Syaoran let out a small breath of relief as she accepted his words. Every step, no matter how small, brought him closer to the place where he wanted to be.
"Now go to sleep, Sakura-chan," he told her, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. "We've got a big day tomorrow."
"What are we doing tomorrow?" she asked before Syaoran could snuggle down into sleep.
"It's my birthday," he said simply, closing his eyes. "Don't worry. It's close family only."
"Ok," she said sadly. "So will I stay up here?"
He cracked one eye open, giving her a confused look. "Why would you stay up here?"
She turned her head down to avoid his eyes, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "I just mean . . . well . . . you said it was only close family, and it-"
He lifted her face up to look at him, opening both eyes so she could see how serious he was. "Why would that not include you?" he asked her, not waiting for an answer. "I only say close family to exclude my sisters' husbands and anyone else I don't feel like spending time with. You do not fall into that category, Sakura-chan."
"Oh well, I-"
"Go to sleep," he cut in, his kiss moving down to her forehead this time. He purposefully shut his eyes, hoping that she would follow suit.
"Syaoran-kun?" she question sweetly, lulling him into a false sense of security. He responded with a mumbled "hmm", cracking his eyes open a slither to see her. Before he could even see it coming, she knocked her hand into his shoulder, giving him a heavy, reprimanding treatment.
"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" she pouted, hitting him once again for good measure. "You know I'm not good with dates."
"I'm not going back to sleep am I?" he groaned, noting her expression as she shook her head determinedly. "What would you like to do, Sakura?" he asked, noting that they still had two hours until sunrise. "We've got plenty of time," he added, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Hentai," she muttered, slapping away his hands as they teasingly reached towards unmentionable places. "How about a card game?"
He raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Now, Sakura dear, I don't want you taking this the wrong way, but you positively suck at cards," he told her very seriously.
"I don't 'positively suck at cards'," she protested drolly, pouting at his description. "I only sucked a little.
"And I've gotten heaps better since we last played," she added brightly with a determinative nod. "I had Yukito-san teach me so we could play together."
He smiled at her proclamation, wrapping his body around hers momentarily. "And you complain about me being too sweet," he teasingly admonished, pressing a butterfly kiss to the tip of her nose.
"Alright, Sakura-chan," he said, pulling her up into a sitting position as he climbed out of the bed. He lit a few lamps, placing them close to the bed before walking into the adjoining study to grab his card things. He returned with a pack of cards and a box of matches. "You divvy those out, and I'll shuffle," he said as he sat himself cross-legged opposite her.
"Now what would you like to play?" he asked once Sakura had shared fourty-two matches equally between them and the cards had been thoroughly shuffled.
"Poker," she suggested, knowing this was Syaoran's favourite game. She had spent an almost ridiculous amount of time learning all the hands and how they ranked against each other for that very reason.
"Alright," he nodded, dealing them each five cards. "Twos are wild."
She pouted shaking her head at the rule change. "You don't need to go easy on me," she complained. "I've gotten quite good, Syaoran, so you don't need to make special rules."
"Ok," he said, holding his hands up in surrender. "No special rules."
She nodded resolutely, lifting her hand for careful examination. He almost wanted to laugh aloud at her painfully serious expression as she looked at her cards, shuffling them around and then changing her mind every few moments.
"You know, Sakura," he began slyly, barely glancing at his own hand, "seeing as you're so confident in your new found abilities, how about we make this interesting. Really put them to the test."
"What do you mean?" she asked, glancing up briefly from her hand and giving him a sweet, confused expression.
"A wager," he replied simply, a smile on his lips.
"A wager," she repeated thoughtfully, already knowing exactly what she wanted from him. "If I win you have to tell me your secret," she said, continuing when he raised an eyebrow sceptically. "I don't know what it is, Syaoran, but I know you're keeping something from me and I don't like it. You promised me this would never be marriage in name only, and a marriage requires trust between both partners."
"Ok," he nodded seriously, a part of him hoping to lose. "And what do I get if I win, Sakura-chan?"
"What do you want?" she shrugged.
"A kiss," he grinned wickedly.
She rolled her eyes, not really seeing the point of his request. She was his wife, after all, and so she had certain obligations towards him, including those regarding intimacy. Thus she leaned forward to place a quick kiss on his lips. "Think of something better," she told him.
"That was hardly satisfactory, Sakura-chan, so I'm sticking with my wager," he told her. "If I win, you owe me a kiss. A real kiss."
"Fine," she said, pulling two cards from her hand and placing them on the table. "I would like two cards please."
"We have to bet first, Sakura-chan," he corrected, smiling as she flushed with embarrassment. As it was just the two of them, they each put a single matchstick into the pot rather than alternating double and single blinds. "Do you stay?" he asked.
"Uh . . . yes, I stay," she replied, hoping that the term meant what she thought it meant.
"Me too," he said. "How many cards would you like?"
She scowled at him, laying two fingers pointedly over her cards. Syaoran dealt her two more cards before switching out three unfavourable cards from his own hand. He watched her eyes light as she took in her cards, clearly having got what she wanted. It was clear that Sakura would never be any good at poker – even if she did learn all the hands, and the strategy, and the relevant probabilities (the last being doubtful given her difficulties with maths generally), Sakura was just no good at bluffing. Her hand was written all over her face, and neither he nor Yukito could bear to break it to her.
He smiled gently in her direction, deciding that he would let her have this hand. "Would you like to bet, Sakura?" he asked, watching as she made a cautious bet of two matchsticks – this was the closest Sakura would ever get to bluffing. He saw her and raised her three matchsticks, and Sakura raised one more in return, which he matched, giving them a total pot of fourteen matchsticks. He hoped this would give her a sufficient head start.
Sakura proudly turned over her cards, smiling victoriously at her two pairs. Had they been playing with wilds, she would have had a full house, her hand consisting of two Jacks, two threes and a two.
"Damn," Syaoran said, dropping his hand facedown on the table, purposely letting it mingle with his discarded pile.
"What did you have?" she asked, her smile bright.
"Two kings," he replied, flipping over four of the cards in his hand, and one of those he had discarded earlier. "I was sure I'd have you beat. You really have gotten better."
She smiled at the compliment, scooping up her winnings as Syaoran discretely returned a third king to the deck. He suddenly understood why his petulant brother-in-law was so willing to subject himself to a night of charades – even losing would be worth it to see Sakura smile so gleefully at her minor victory. It was, however, not in Syaoran's nature to lose, and certainly not so easily.
They played the next hand, Syaoran watching Sakura frown at the cards, even after she had been dealt her additional cards. She had nothing, and so Syaoran played to her honest face, keeping his bets low because he knew that, like him, Sakura was too competitive to fold.
Playing to Sakura's advantage, it took ten more hands before he was up two matchsticks. When he saw she had a good hand (which sadly wasn't often because she didn't quite understand which cards she should keep and which she should swap in the hope of something better), he forced the betting up so that she won larger pots less often. When she was clearly unhappy with her hand, or when his own hand was in the upper scale of poker hands, he pulled back so that he won small pots more often. His strategy drew out the game play, and a couple of times Sakura's pile of matches had exceeded his own, particularly when she had a run of three good hands.
As he glanced at the window, he could see the light of dawn straining past the distant hills. Such light, however, was pale compared to the brightness of Sakura's smile as she arranged her cards. He glanced at his own hand – it was good, but he wondered whose was better. He bet cautiously – two matchsticks added to the eight already there from the previous round of betting. He was currently up in terms of available stake – nineteen to her thirteen – and he wondered if she was really feeling lucky.
She met his two, pausing before making a momentous decision. "All in," she said determinatively, her tone almost sultry to Syaoran's ears.
"Are you sure, Sakura-chan?" he asked, sequestering eleven matchsticks away from his own pile. She nodded, and he added his bet to the pot. "You first, Sakura," he inclined, even though it wasn't proper process.
She flipped her hand proudly, her smile brighter than ever as she displayed a seven of hearts, an eight of hearts, a nine of hearts, a ten of hearts, and a jack of spades. "Straight, jack high," she said happily, beaming at her cards.
He cringed inwardly. She was so close. So close to having this, but that one jack had prevented her from attaining a straight flush that would have won her the game. His own hand seemed pathetic in comparison as he laid out several cards and yet he knew how the probabilities worked and where he ranked relative to her. He almost grimaced as he set the cards between them: a two of diamonds, a four of diamonds, a seven of diamonds, an eight of diamonds, and a ten of diamonds.
"Flush," he responded, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Ten high."
She gaped, watching as the stake went to Syaoran. She was so sure she had this. It was the best hand she'd ever gotten in all the times she'd played poker, and yet it wasn't enough.
"I suppose you'll be wanting to claim your wager," she said, saddened more by the fact that she had lost so abruptly than what she had to give up.
"Yes," he nodded, "but not right now." She gave him a confused look, and he grinned at her expression, kissing her lightly on the cheek as he stood up. "I have to go train," he explained, "after all, I know how much that impresses you."
She flushed as he winked at her, smiling dreamily in his wake. And despite herself, she had already forgotten all about the secret she had been so desperate for him to impart. There was only room for one thing on her mind, and it consumed her with longing and anticipation as the single thought danced through her head.
'How long, Syaoran? How long before you claim your prize?'
~ to be continued ~
Next chapter: Sakura finally meets the remaining Li sisters, in particular, Syaoran's older sister, Xiefa, who is married to Gensou Hiro.
Note: