Oddities in Oak Trees

-Five-

It ends, as most stories do, with a line.

"I must be kidding myself."

He sniffled as he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his school blazer. "I must be kidding myself," he repeated. It shouldn't have been said out loud, but he didn't care anymore. He had managed to humiliate himself in front of her another time, even if he had planned on being someone entirely different already on that day, anyway.

Sakura stopped searching for whatever it is they were looking for, worried expression still placed on her pretty little face. "Kidding your self?"

He struggled to find his voice as he tried to muster a smile. He couldn't bring himself to even look at her as he responded. "I'm sorry; I was going to impress you, but… I guess I'm not very good at impressing people." His grin faltered as he put his hands in his pockets. It was starting to get colder as the time started to near seven in the evening. "I won't even think of bothering you anymore after this so," he bowed deeply, "so please forgive me."

Somehow, she could feel a sort of sadness as he got up and offered to take her home. She hoped it wouldn't be the last moment he would.

There was a loud thump as Syaoran threw himself on his bed. There were many things going on in his mind. He recalled how his classmates would always make fun of him, even as a kid. It was nothing new to him, but it occurred to him that perhaps he was at fault instead of the other ones. He closed his eyes as the faint sensation of pain could be felt when a classmate purposefully threw a snow-covered pebble at him, thirteen years ago. When he had asked the school nurse why his classmate would do such a thing, she firmly replied that it was because "kids can be very immature." Ten years later, the same thing happened and when he asked why again, a different school nurse answered flatly that it was because "teens can be very immature." All throughout his life, he had always blamed others for bullying him endlessly, and this made him think for quite some time that night. What if he was the one at fault for being so different?

What if… he was the one who had to change?

Who was he anyway, that people had to be the ones to change for him? And yet, he understood sullenly, he couldn't change after all. Even for a day.

Even for her.

He opened his eyes, afraid that once he closed them again, he'd only see her face. How strange it was that the one time he would want to distract himself by conjuring stories about random things, he couldn't do so. He let out a groan, frustrated. He couldn't think of anything else but her.

Syaoran picked up his phone and dialled an unfamiliar number. The person on the other line picked up after a short series of ringing.

"Good evening, this is Dr Kim Chan speaking."

"How do I change who I am?"

"May I know who this is?"

"… It's Li Syaoran."

There was a moment's pause as she seemed to process who it was she was speaking to. "It's been a while, Mr Li. May I ask you why you would want to change who you are?"

He walked toward his aquarium, fiddling with the container for his pet fish's food. He contemplated on whether he should put in some more even if he knew there was enough already. "Doesn't matter," he shrugged as he decided to put down the feed. It was a rude response, and he wished she could sense the equally rude shrug he did to put emphasis on just how much he wanted to show that it didn't matter at all. "Please just answer the question as honestly as you can."

She seemed unfazed by his reaction to her question as she cleared her throat before saying "Well, you can change your clothes and the way you talk; even your name. But your very essence can't be changed, no. So here's my sincere answer: you can't change. The core of who you are remains, no matter if you have done something you felt is wrong or…"

He sighed loudly. "That wasn't the answer I was looking for."

"Well then, perhaps I'm not the person you need to talk to about that matter."

"I'm sorry for interrupting and shrugging. It was rude."

"I didn't see you shrug, but I'm used to being interrupted. I hope to see you again. But only if you feel that you have to see me. I am not an imposition, please remember. I'm just here to help."

He thought about just how much his mother paid her to say such kind words, and he shrugged once more. "I just shrugged again. I take back my apology." Then he hung up the phone without waiting for her response.

The next day proved to be a complete challenge for the boy with eyes the colour of newly ignited flames. He had wanted to avoid the café at all costs, but being a creature of habit, he found himself right in front of the coffee shop after his classes were dismissed, anyway. What to do now? He hated the idea of going home that day. He had no club activities that afternoon and he didn't want to see his psychiatrist for some time, especially since he knew that he would just ignore everything she says as he always does. He didn't like the fact that he had to talk to someone who gave him buttered words to fatten him up; buttered words that his mother had paid for.

As our male protagonist finds himself in the middle of the café and the bakery, he makes a sharp turn towards the bakery, not knowing where else to go. His bicycle let out a short squeak as he halted in front of his destination in a sudden movement, careful to not look at the coffee house he had grown attached to during the past weeks.

Fingers gripping the plastic container tightly, she looked at the confinement of the strawberry-shaped cookies Yukito had given her and then at the entrance of the bakery. Today proved to be another odd one for Sakura. She was so absent-minded and clumsy, it wasn't even funny. She woke up absent-minded and clumsy, got dressed absent-minded and clumsy, went to school absent-minded and clumsy, and talked to her friends and teachers absent-minded and clumsy… and all because she couldn't bring herself to shake off the events that transpired the previous day.

"I won't even think of bothering you anymore after this."

Whatever did he mean by that? He mentioned something about wanting to impress her, and she couldn't tell that he wanted to impress her until he said so. She had sought to say that he wasn't a bother at all, and that she was confused on why he would think this but he just skidded off on his bike as she was about to say something on their way to her house. It was his first time to have been able to see her home, but he went away before he even had the chance to do so.

She exhaled slowly as she realized she was holding her breath. She would be giving back the cookies Yukito had given her. She didn't feel right accepting them. When she had received them she was indifferent. She thought that this feeling would pass and that she would be feeling something more… expected. If she would accept his gift, wouldn't that mean she appreciated it? She didn't, after all. It was a strange thing and she couldn't, didn't feel anything but confusion these past few days.

And so she entered the pastry shop, absent-mindedly glancing at the familiar bicycle parked at the front of the store and almost clumsily dropping the cookies Yukito had given her.

"Ah!" Upon entering the bakery, she didn't expect him to be there, but there he was anyway. "Umm… how have you been, Syaoran?"

He stiffened as he slowly turned around; fully expecting who it would be upon hearing her voice. "H—hi…" he lowered his gaze and bit his lip. She was holding something familiar, but he couldn't figure out what it was at the moment.

She looked at him nervously, aware that what had happened the day before was probably running through his mind as well. It was an awkward circumstance.

"I've… been better," he said gently. "H-how have y-you been?" he hated that he was slightly stuttering at the moment.

"I've been finding myself wondering lately."

"…W-w-wondering?"

"About what you said last time." Her eyes never left him as she spoke, observing his actions all the while.

"What I said…"

"You said: 'I won't even think of bothering you anymore after this'."

His eyes shifted from left to right quickly, trying to recall his exact words. "I just… didn't want to be a nuisance anymore."

A nuisance? She frowned at this, quickly questioning "how so?" when she never once did think that he was an inconvenience.

"I…" he took a deep breath, "I know that I've only been troubling you, a-and… I-I know that…" he took another deep breath, "that I don't even h-have a ch-chance with you or anyone else."

She furrowed her eyebrows at the statement. A chance…? Was he courting her the last few days? "Were you…"

"I'm too weird!" he said louder than he expected, and his hands quickly flew to his mouth to cover it. He bowed his head before resting his back against one of the painted blue walls of the bakery. He readied himself. He knew she would confirm to him just how meddlesome he had been lately and that he was too strange a boy for her to even consider looking at.

She thought about this for a while. "It's true that I do find you a bit odd…" she thought some more to choose her words carefully as her grip on the plastic container filled with cookies became tighter. "But that doesn't mean that you are all too different and don't deserve anyone." And then she thought some more, "You deserve to love and be loved, just like anyone else."

He looked up and uncovered his mouth as he processed the words she said. "I…"

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" they both looked at the direction where the voice came from. It was Yukito, carrying a tray of freshly baked pastries. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?" he smiled warmly, and Syaoran couldn't help but near himself towards the exit as the girl he liked went closer to the boy she loved, the familiar plastic confinement still in hand. He didn't want to interrupt anything that might be happening between the two, especially since he felt that he had no place in her heart for him to even do so.

"I wanted to give these back to you. I couldn't accept them after all." She handed out the container, trembling slightly. Out of nervousness or the cold, Syaoran didn't know.

"…Oh." Yukito took them from her, opening it as he received it. "I guess you didn't like them."

Syaoran's eyes widened upon seeing what was inside of the plastic box, and he could feel his heart drop.

The strawberry-shaped cookies that looked exactly like what he had given her were placed neatly in the container, untouched.

A despondency that he didn't know could exist within the boundaries of emotions made him lower his gaze once again as he walked briskly towards the door, muttering an apology.

He was heartbroken.

He was horribly, terribly, utterly heartbroken.

It was the first gift he had ever given anyone aside from his sisters and his mother, and for her to discard the cookies he had been so happy to have had bought for her by giving them back to the one who baked them was the ultimate rejection.

What he didn't know was that the cookies she had given back to Yukito weren't the ones Syaoran had given her, and that the ones he had were still kept safely on the desk by her bed. Jumping to conclusions is never a healthy thing and he fell right into its big ugly jaws of temptation; right into its trap.

Sakura Kinomoto glanced towards where Syaoran was upon hearing him mumbling something, surprised that he was finding himself closer and closer towards the exit of the pastry shop. She sped towards him, leaving a confused and saddened Yukito behind, cookies still in his grip. "Please wait!"

As Syaoran sluggishly made his way towards his bicycle, he heard a muffled female voice come from behind the orange door of the bakery. He noted how the painted ducks on the door have faded in time. As he was about to imagine a world where ducks ruled a planet similar to Mars, his thoughts were interrupted as he felt someone grab his left arm. "Huh?"

"Where are you going?" she asked innocently, unaware that she had just smashed his heart into smithereens and then pieced it back together again by just talking to him at that second.

"I…I… ho—…"

"Are you going to the park again to look for what you lost yesterday? Because if you are, I'm coming with you. I'm sure we'll be able to find it."

A confused Syaoran nodded in return, despite the fact that he was about to go home instead. "S-sure…"

They tried to look for the earpiece again, and occasionally she would hold up a few items that she thought might be what he was looking for. In the end, she held up a button that looked like a sunflower and he had no choice but to exclaim that that was what he had lost the other day when it really wasn't. He just didn't want to trouble her anymore. She let out a squeal of glee as they walked towards the swing set to rest for a while.

"It's a good thing we found it!" she was transparently overjoyed.

There was a long pause before Li Syaoran got up from his swing and bowed fervently in front of Sakura. "I'm sorry!"

She cocks her head to the side, a puzzled look on her face. "I've always wondered about that as well…"

"About 'that'?" he asked, still bowing.

"Why you keep on apologizing when you don't have a reason to."

He thought about this for a moment before he lowered his bow. "I-it's just… you make me very nervous and… but… I-I'm not saying it's your fault at all! I just… I don't know what else to do…"

"Well, for starters, you can stop bowing," she giggled as he smiled sheepishly while he straightened his posture. "That's infinitely better!" she returned his grin, her hands clinging on the metal chains that held up the swing she was seated on.

"E-even if…" he began.

"Yes?"

"Even if you would hate me for it, I'll still like you," he said in one breath.

She looked up at him, her smile stuck on her face.

"I-I'll still like you… a lot!" He continued, stopping himself from bowing to show his earnestness. "I'll still like you, even if it would be too much!"

"I…"

"But I promise never to bother you about it. I like you, but I won't ever trouble you again!" he finished, his hands stiffly placed on either side of his body. "And if it's not too much to ask…"

Sakura watched as he looked at her eyes. She felt like she could get lost in his as he did so.

"If it's not too much to ask, I would like a response."

"A… response?" she asked, her grip on the chains unknowingly tightening.

"If…" he blushed an outrageous shade of red, bordering on scarlet. "If you think you could like me back, e-even just a little bit," he inhaled through his mouth visibly, "couldIkissyouonthecheek?"

Yukito ran out of his workplace, breaths of cold clouds seen as he panted out of nervousness. She had run out with the same boy she was with the last time. Something didn't seem right as she came after him, leaving Yukito behind in the process. She had returned his gift; that he could accept. But if she would choose that boy, or any boy for that matter, over him then that would be… he wouldn't be able to take it. The silver-haired man looked from left to right as he decided to take the left road instead.

It was true that he had rejected her each time for the past four years, and he had done so because of the age gap. He was seven years older than she was, but he was never immune to her charms. More so as they got older. He pushed the thought away as he neared the park and stopped once he saw Sakura's familiar face. He snuck behind a tree, careful not to be seen and yet be able to keep a safe eye on what was going on between the two.

He frowned slightly as he saw the boy she was with earlier bow before her. How he wished he could hear what they were talking about. Yukito tried to go nearer but refrained from doing so, afraid that he might be seen.

Sakura wiped her hands nervously on her school's plaid skirt, afraid that her hands would betray the fact that she didn't want to be caught being nervous, as she was at the moment. Should she let him kiss her? She honestly didn't know. All she knew was that something was starting to stir in her chest that she would want to comprehend. Her heart was beating so fast. And then she started to wonder if heartbeats were any indication that she was very much alive at the moment. Everything was a blur as she felt herself nod, inwardly astonished at herself for doing so.

He rested his hands on her shoulders lightly. The touch was so delicate compared to the hammering of her heart against her chest. She couldn't breathe as everything seemed to fade away, and all that was left was she and he and her persistent heartbeat.

He neared his face to hers.

She could feel his breath on her face like precious little snowflakes on her nose; like gentle puffs of excited pixies dancing on a field of emerald glass on a chilly spring day. She closed her eyes for if she didn't, she knew she would faint from the intensity of the moment. So this is…

She was fascinated by him, no doubt. She held her breath as he came nearer and nearer towards her left cheek, the part where the heart was closest and therefore beats the loudest.

"…Kura!"

Whose voice is that?

"…Sakura!"

The voice got louder and louder as the source approached them. It sounded like…

Yukito.

…Yukito?!

Her eyes opened as she moved her head towards the direction of the voice.

Accidents are never accidents in the line of destiny.

It was time for fate to play another game.

Li Syaoran's eyes widened as he realized where his lips were resting, and before he knew it, he was shoved to the ground by an older, taller man with silver hair and grey eyes behind glasses.

Li Syaoran had just kissed Sakura Kinomoto on the lips by accident.

His eyes remained wide as he brought his fingers to his mouth, the sensation still powerful as ever in his mind and on his lips. He watched as an equally stunned Sakura was dragged away by the same man who pushed him to the ground. A perturbed expression placed itself on the guy's serious face while he pulled her away, farther and farther away from Syaoran. What the younger lad had failed to realize or notice was that the silver-haired man wasn't the only witness to his first kiss.

A stern expression found its way on the Chinese woman's face. She had found out something about her peculiar son that afternoon. She rolled the car window up to a close as her other hand's fingers pinched the flesh between her eyes. Her son was growing up, it seems. She wasn't so sure if she liked it.

A/N: Please don't forget to review. Enjoy the next chapters; they might be or might not be coming soon. We'll see :)