Oddities in Oak Trees

-Six-

He remembered it all too well. He found himself sprawled on his bed again as he recounted the events that transpired that afternoon. He was there. He was actually there. At that moment, he was there. Syaoran placed his fingers on his lips again as he continued to reminisce about his first kiss. It seemed like it had been so long ago, but the fact that it wasn't made it all the more unbelievable.

"Unbelievable," he whispered to himself. And then he got up on his mattress, arms spread out as he yelled it again, "Unbelievable!" He dived into bed afterwards, not knowing if he should smile or show a shocked expression or make kissy noises while puckering his lips. Was she thinking about it too?

He was so happy.

And just yesterday, he felt his heart crumble into a million pieces as she gave the cookies to the silver-haired man. How great is it that the heart can heal so easily? It took everything in him not to run to Sakura's house. It almost was unbearable. He had so many questions to ask. But most of all, he wanted to apologize no matter how happy he was. He knew that she didn't mean to kiss him on the lips anyway. She probably disliked him for what happened. The silver-haired man may have pushed him to the ground, but he was also an instrument for him to have had been able to kiss Sakura on the lips. Syaoran didn't know if he should be thankful to him or not.

But while our male protagonist is having his share of 'unbelievable' bliss, our female protagonist was having confusion dumped on her in all forms.

She stared at Yukito as he forcefully made her sit opposite him in the small burger joint they found themselves in.

There was nothing to be said. Yet, all things had to be said.

Yukito looked at the menu, a frown placed on his handsome face.

"What are you ordering?" it was Sakura who broke the silence.

He closed his eyes momentarily, but it felt like a long time when he did so. "Please tell me what just happened between you and that boy." There was an edge to his voice as he asked this while he continued pretending to stare at the menu.

Sakura observed him, having no idea if she should be confused or indifferent; with the latter what she was feeling at the moment. "We… Syaoran asked if he could kiss me and I said yes."

The older man before her appeared startled as she said this before finally stopping to act like he was still looking at the menu. "Do you lo…" he paused for a while, "do you like him?"

"I don't know." There was no hesitation whatsoever with her answer.

Yukito furrowed his eyebrows, even more puzzled. "You don't know, and yet you let him kiss you?"

"He asked if I think that I could have feelings for him, and that if he could kiss me on the cheek if I think that I could."

"…You like him, don't you?" a grim expression on his face can be seen.

"I don't know. But I think I could."

"…"

"I don't understand why this should be bothering you when you don't even like me at all." She gazed at nothing in particular, not troubling herself to look at the menu.

"That's… not true." Yukito looked solemn as he rolled up his sleeves and rested his elbows on the table. "That's not true at all."

It was Sakura's turn to furrow her eyebrows as she looked at him questioningly. "But you said… and you've always rejected me so…"

A long sigh emanated from his lips. "I've always liked you, you know." There was a short pause before he continued. "You were the one who showed me what to be passionate about most, after all."

"… Passionate… baking?"

"Before you handed me that letter four years ago, I already liked you."

He remembers the letter? She thought to herself as she fiddled with the fringed ends of the white and red chequered table cloth.

"You were the first one I asked to try my baking, and you said that I should pursue baking." He was contemplative as he said this, eyes looking down as he confessed, "You said it after tasting my cookies. I would wait every afternoon near the gates of your school since that time you told me to go through with baking to give you some more of my pastries, but I was too ashamed to do so."

"Ashamed?"

He nodded. "You were seven years younger than me, after all. I couldn't muster the courage to return your feelings with the entire stigma involved."

Sakura reflected on this for a time, her hands placed firmly on her lap. "I could have…"

He looked up the same second she did, their eyes meeting for the first time that night.

"… I could have loved you forever," she finished her statement.

A knowing sullen look ran across his features. "I let what others might think come before my feelings, and that I'm ashamed about most. Even to this day..." he took his time before he started to talk again. "I'm not asking you to like me anymore. And I apologize for what I did earlier. It was an immature thing to do. I just… I was just threatened that you would love someone else. It's a selfish thing to say, but I still like you and liking someone can make people do stupid, unnecessary things."

She remembered all of the things Syaoran had done, and grinned wistfully at how some of them were quite idiotic, and very much unnecessary. She wondered what he was doing at the moment, shortly forgetting that Yukito had just confessed to her.

"You're… probably thinking about him, aren't you?"

She met Yukito's eyes again, a bit startled.

"You're probably thinking about that boy," he gave a half-hearted smile to betray the sadness that could overwhelm him any second. "Well, it's just as good that way." His mouth looked like a tight line as he pursed his lips together before taking a deep breath that he let go right away. "I'm going back to Paris after all."

"Paris?"

He nodded. "That's where my dream is anyway."

"When are you going?"

"I don't think that you should know." Another strained smile could be seen on Yukito's face. "What I think you should know is when I'll be coming back from there."

"Why's that?"

"Because that's the time I won't lose."

"I…"

"I'll definitely come back for you. Once I'm a good enough pastry chef, I'll come back and won't lose to anyone."

Syaoran went down the stairs towards the dining area, half-dazed. It was late and his mother had invited him to eat dinner with her, which was very uncharacteristic of her. He didn't think much of it despite its very much being out of character for his mother. They usually ate separately since she came home at odd hours.

Yelan Li stopped pacing back and forth as soon as her son came into the room. The dining area was very lavish, as expected of the older woman's taste. The chairs were of lacquered carved wood, and so was the table. Three chandeliers lit up the place, while candelabra adorned the long table.

"I called you thrice to eat. What made you late?"

He snapped out of his reverie upon hearing his mother's voice. "I was just daydreaming."

"In your own world again, I see."

He nodded, not taking notice of how Yelan seemed like she was deep in thought as she said her words.

A long silence echoed throughout the room, but it didn't faze the two one bit, with both being absorbed in their own minds.

"I saw you today," she said finally. "I saw you at the park."

He widened his eyes, knowing now that her mother had witnessed such a private event of his life. She was a nosy mother, he knew this, but he still liked to have his secrets. He was flabbergasted. "Mom…!"

"Don't use that tone, young man." Her left eye twitched at how high the pitch of his voice was as he whined and stuttered. "Now, do tell me what she is to you. I'd like to know what my oldest son is up to, especially since you haven't been going to Dr Chan these past few weeks."

"I… I like her!"

She frowned. She didn't want her son to grow up so soon. "You like Sakura Kinomoto." It was evident, anyway; he had kissed her after all. Her darling little boy was growing up. Sure, this darling boy of hers got drunk before, but kissing girls was an entirely different story. "Just like you like all of your other gadgets and your pet fish?"

He ignored the fact that his mother strangely knew Sakura's name. "It's not like that."

"You'll get tired of her sooner or later."

"She is neither a pet nor a gadget."

Yelan's left eye twitched again. It was a strange habit, but it was how she tried to restrain herself from showing any emotion other than being stoic.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Syaoran slumped against the back of his chair. "She probably hates me now."

"Why would she hate you?"

He blushed as he got up from his seat. "Please excuse me." And then he dashed towards the stairs up to his room, leaving a pensive Yelan behind. She wouldn't stop it at their conversation's end, though. She leisurely drew her chair back and walked towards her son's room.

A gentle knock could be heard as Syaoran sat on his bed. The older woman came in even if she knew she was uninvited. "Here." She handed out a neatly folded piece of paper. He took it hesitantly.

"What is it?"

"What you need to grow up." She flinched discreetly, still hating the idea of what she just did. She then left the room hurriedly; her graceful form retreating as he looked at the folded paper. He unfolded it to find what looked like a phone number with his crush's name written below it.

He counted the number of times he dialed the digits, dropping it each time she picked up. It would be his fourth time dialing before he found his courage.

"Hello?" It was undoubtedly Sakura's voice.

"Umm… Hello."

"Who is this?"

"It's…" he almost forgot his name. "Syaoli… I mean… Li… Syaoran."

He could hear her hold her breath before quietly exhaling. "Oh, hello Syaoran."

"Umm…I… I w-would just like to a-apologize for what happened earlier." His stuttering lessened slightly, but he still winced at how much his voice sounded different.

She held her breath and exhaled again as she responded. "Please don't be sorry."

Did that mean she didn't mind their kiss at all? "I…" he started.

"I mean…" she said at about the same time he spoke.

He snorted involuntarily, giddy with her answer. "Oh, sorry about… ha, ha… I apologize for that... sound." Syaoran was getting more conscious of his voice and words while he noticed how he almost didn't stutter with that last sentence.

"I don't mind it at all." She meant both the kiss and the fact that he just snorted.

"Well, umm… yeah, that's a… a… relief."

"Ha, ha…"

"Ha, ha, ha…"

There was a moment's pause as they exchanged stiff laughs.

"Can I…" he stammered shortly, "Can I give you something the next time I see you?" he hoped he could see her again.

"What is it?"

"It's a… ah! I actually don't know yet…" he let his shoulders drop. He really didn't know what it is, but he wanted to give her something.

"Well then, I'll be sure to be surprised. I'll see you then."

He could almost sense a smile coming from her. A goofy grin placed itself on his boyish features. "Yes!"

Syaoran ended the call enthusiastically. When she said that she'll be sure she'd be surprised, it meant that he could see her again. He was scared that she might not want to see him again, but he was wrong. It was… unbelievable.

There was no need to do so, but Sakura Kinomoto took the time to hear the beeping of the phone as her call with a certain peculiar boy came to an end. She couldn't help but beam to herself as she finally put her phone down.

Her thoughts and feelings have been less clear, now that she knew how Yukito felt about her. It was a confusing night, so she was glad that Syaoran had called her. How he got to know her number, she didn't bother to ask. It didn't matter that much anyway.

She let her thoughts wander off for a second, relieved that she wouldn't be thinking of Yukito's confession for a while. She jolted for a moment once she heard her phone ring again. "Hello?"

"Hello! Have you decided?" It was her best friend Tomoyo on the other line.

"Decided on what?"

"On what to carve for the school festival! You've only got two days left, you know." She was talking about the ice-carving event they had for their high school. It was a school tradition held every year and Sakura was in charge of designing the ice sculpture their class would make.

"Oh…" she glanced at the paper she was doodling on for quite some time. "I'm not yet finished with the sketch, but I'll be sure to do it tonight."

"That's good. Well, this year they are allowing for us to invite other people who may be able to help with carving the sculptures, so that's something to think about, huh? I was going to ask Eriol if he could come, but it looks like he's too busy. So that's a bummer."

"Other people, huh?" she wondered if it would be too weird to invite Syaoran. But then again, the boy himself was strange, so it wouldn't be too out of the blue, right?

"Well, that's all I wanted to talk about. Have a good night!"

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!"

They put their phones down in unison, as they would always do. Sakura had even more things to think about tonight.

Syaoran placed a question mark at the end of the sentence he wrote. It was something akin to what girls in their early teens would do, but he wrote a letter for her anyway. He rummaged through his study table's drawers, hoping that their maids didn't throw away his drawing. When he had first met Sakura, he had sketched a few strawberries and he wanted to show her that memory by including it with the letter he penned.

"Let's see… ah! Found it!"

He happily put both pieces of paper in an envelope.

He couldn't sleep until the next day came by, and before he knew it, it was morning already.

He neatly tucked the letter in his school bag, careful not to wrinkle it in the process. This morning would be a long one, he thought to himself. He was excited to see her.

True enough, the day went along as slow as it could. Every subject seemed to drag on for hours and hours, but even then, it was three in the afternoon in the blink of an eye.

The school bell rang to dismiss the students and when Syaoran was just about to bolt out of the class, a slant-eyed boy blocked his way.

"Dude!"

"Takashi, get out of the way! I'm in a hurry!"

"We haven't seen each other in so long and that's what you tell me?" Takashi frowned at him, arms crossed against his chest. "Well, whatever. Listen: I've got something to tell you about that blonde I set you up with before." He dragged a visibly annoyed Syaoran out of the classroom, ready to expose the truth about Blondie.

A male high school student about the same age as Syaoran snuck in to the room, unsuspected. He adjusted his eye glasses as he spotted Syaoran's bag sitting on the chair assigned for him. The unidentified lad casually took it so not to be doubted for his actions. He returned it to the exact position after fiddling with it and snuck out of the room in the same manner as he went in.

"…She's actually Eriol's stepmom! Can you believe it?!" Takashi shook a still-irritated Syaoran to emphasize the enormity of his news, his strange accent thick.

"It's big news, alright! But I really have to go now! I'll talk to you later!" the brown-haired boy ducked out of Takashi's way to go back into the room to get his bag. His best friend followed him, despite the fact that he knew Syaoran didn't want him to.

"You don't understand, this means…"

A dripping sound could be heard as Syaoran took his bag. A foul smell accompanied the wet drops of liquid coming out of it.

Someone had just dumped toilet water into his bag.

Bewildered, the odd lad dropped it to the ground, spilling more of the liquid out of the bag.

"What the hell!" Takashi inspected the item; eyes wide if that could be possible. "Looks like those bullies strike again! How come we never catch them?" he looked at Syaoran, surprised that he appeared very much affected by what just happened. The boy with amber eyes never made the bullying get to him since he was used to it as far as Takashi knew. It was one of the traits that his lucky buddy had that made him admire him. "Are you okay?"

"No." Syaoran answered blankly, looking at the ruined contents of his bag.

"You can always get a copy of my notes, right? Don't let them get to you, man. Remember when we tried to confront the whole class before? It backfired so—and anyway, college is just around…"

"It's ruined."

"Your notes? Well, you don't take notes that much anyway so…"

"It's not that."

"Well then, what is it? What got ruined?"

"…A memory."

Sakura Kinomoto searched her coat's pockets as her phone rang. She wasn't the most organized person so she had to go through several pieces of crumpled papers and pens before she got to her mobile. "Hello?"

"H-hi…"

A small smile graced her lips as she found out that it was Syaoran on the other end. "Hi."

"Um… you see… I've… it's gone."

"What's gone?" she asked, her other hand stuffing the papers and pens back into her pockets.

"I couldn't give anything to you today after all."

She frowned as she detected the unhappiness in his voice. She couldn't help but worry as he continued speaking, evidently trying to mask his disappointment.

"I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, don't worry about it."

"No, really, I am." There was a slight pause as he gathered his thoughts. It seemed like he was hesitant to say anything more before he added, "It was a remembrance that can't be taken back."

She thought about this for a while, careful to choose her words. "Well then, maybe we should create more memories to replace it."

Another pause as he seemed to think to himself some more. "More memories? Is it… is it fine?"

She nodded enthusiastically even though she couldn't be seen. "Of course!"

"More memories… huh?" he chuckled with glee.

"Tomorrow…" she started.

"Tomorrow…?"

"Tomorrow our school is going to have an event. We're carving ice sculptures. I was wondering if you would like to go as well."

She could hear a muffled "yes" from the other line as he seemed to suppress himself from laughing out loud with elation.

"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow at around four. Seijou high school is near the café we go to so it shouldn't be too hard to look for it. You can call me if you get lost."

"S-see you…"

And that was how his eventful afternoon went. It wasn't so bad that he lost a good memory after all, since he could replace it with even better ones.

A/N: Please don't forget to review afterwards. I hope you got to enjoy the previous few chapters :)