Chapter 15: Distraction
'Three more days to go and I'm out of here.' Sakura pondered trying to cheer herself. She then remembered the unfortunate adventure they ventured yesterday from their fans. Trying to suppress the shiver from the stray thought that crossed her mind, she looked up at the moon shining from above. 'How long will I have to run, hide and fear for my life whenever I'm alone?' Paranoia getting into her, Sakura scouts the area before proceeding again to Tomo and Andy's cottage.
'What do they want now? Summoning me to come to their cottage this late at night.' She heaved a sigh, contemplating if she should go or just stood them up. She shuddered at the thought of her cousin and its best friend plotting merciless torture for her, if she decided not to go. 'Jeez, might as well go along with it if I want to come out of this place in one piece.'
"What took you so long?"
She didn't get to retort to her cousin as she was unceremoniously pulled into the cottage. Tomoyo, Andy and Mei Lin ushered her into a seat and start primping her up.
"What the hell—" Sakura yelled in surprise.
Andy exaggeratedly sighed. "Jeez, Babe we're just trying to make up from all of the stress and pressure we're putting on you."
"Wait, your roommates might just barge in any minute and—"
"Don't worry dear; my brother's a complete sadist when it comes to band practices, so we're basically safe."
"He is? He doesn't seem…"
But before she could finish her sentence, someone shoves her to the bed and strips all her clothes.
"Dude, we've been through the first half of the song for the fiftieth time! Please when will—"
"Stop whining, and practice. This would be the last round and will finish the rest of the song tomorrow."
"Why the hell do we have to change the line up of the song? We already decided the final song—"
But Eriol didn't get to finish his sentence from the death glare he received from his cousin and shrugged. 'I swear he's getting weirder and weirder since yesterday.'
Sensing the tension between her cousins, Rika interjected. "I think it's a great song, so let's just polished it."
Miyu just nodded and hit her sticks.
Breathe in for luck, breathe in so deep,
this air is blessed, you share with me.
This night is wild, so calm and dull,
these hearts they race, from self control.
Your legs are smooth, as they graze mine,
we're doing fine, we're doing nothing at all.
My hopes are so high, that your kiss might kill me.
So won't you kill me, so I die happy.
My heart is yours to fill or burst, to break or bury,
or wear as jewelry, which ever you prefer.
As they finish the first half of the song, he sighed. 'Kura'
After a relaxing massage, and a complete make-over: make-up, hair, manicure, and the whole works, Sakura found herself staring at her own image, alone. Surprised, was an understatement, even as a girl she never has been experimented like this. She looked like one of those bimbo models in a magazine.
Irritated with the look she was forced upon with, Sakura washed her face from all the make-up, and furiously removed the stilettos that killing her feet.
Sakura then began to pace, "What's taking them so long?"
Exhausted from pacing, the sadistic band practice and the torturous makeover, Sakura lay on the bed. She then began to ponder on their weird behavior.
Ten minutes ago, Mei lin suddenly excused her self to get some "stuff" for them and would come back in a second. Tomo and Andy volunteered to help and left her here all alone. And until now not a soul had returned.
Thirty minutes has passed and Sakura's getting wearier every second of waiting for them. She slumped on the bed and groaned at the mental battle going on inside her head whether to follow them or not.
Finally, fed up, she stood up and moaned, "Where the hell are they?"
She then grabbed a flip-flop and a hooded jacket, and ran outside, obliviously leaving her Ikki disguise.
The words are hushed lets not get busted;
Just lay entwined here, undiscovered.
Safe in here from all the stupid questions.
"Hey did you get some?"
Man, that is so dumb.
Stay quiet, stay near, stay close they can't hear...
So we can get some.
"Where the hell is she?" Andy frantically paced in front of them, throwing her hands in a crazy fashion and grumbling muffled protests to her self.
"Shut up!" Tomoyo grabbed her and pull her down to their hiding place.
"You shut up!"
"No you shut up!"
"No you—"
"Both of you shut up." Mei Lin hissed, wound up from their bickering. "You know how dense Sakura could be."
There was a sudden rustle in the bush behind them, the three brace themselves from the inevitable. As the seconds passed by, the rustling became more violent until they were met with a pair of sapphire eyes.
"Hey guys!"
Tomoyo glared at their new ally, "You could've presented yourself normally, but no you've got to scare the shit out of us…"
"Sorry, I thought being subtle will be the best." Eriol explained bashfully to his ultimate crush.
"Yeah best for giving us a heart attack." Andy retorted.
"Shut up Andy. Point already taken—"
Andy eye's glimmered with mirth. "Ooohhh, so now you're taking your lover boy's side."
"Why you?!" Tomoyo tackled Andy in irritation.
Ignoring the two Mei Lin asks Eriol, "Where's Syao?"
Eriol check his watched, "He'll be here in five minutes" and resume watching the catfight.
Tomoyo brushed off her clothes and hissed at him. "What are you staring at?"
But before he could reply, Mei Lin shushed them, "Shh… someone's coming."
My hopes are so high that your kiss might kill me.
So won't you kill me, so I die happy?
My heart is yours to fill or burst,
To break or bury, or wear as jewelry,
Which ever you prefer.
The light breeze tousled his already messy hair, as he trekked the path Eriol told him to go. 'What the hell was it again? What am I supposed to do? Syaoran pondered on his cousin's cryptic explanation. 'Something about…' but before he could go on further he then saw someone's silhouette
"Is that Ikki?"
He tried squinting to see more clearly but the light coming from the moon was then overshadowed by some clouds.
"Ikki!" He tried to call him but it seems the figure didn't hear him so he tries to catch up with it.
'Where did Ikki go?' Then he caught sight of someone 2 cottages down from where he is standing. Thinking it was Ikki.
"Ikki!" He outrun the figure and attempted to stop it by blocking its way. Hunched from being winded, he didn't notice the figure's incredulous look on him. Syaoran then glanced up, after catching his breath only to lose it again as he got the shocked of his life.
"Who are you?"
"What are you talking about Syao? It's me, Kinomoto?"
Confused, Syaoran tried to guess, "Kura? What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean what I'm doing here? I'm attending…" Sakura awkwardly stopped, sensing she missed something he said.
"What did you call me again?"
"Kura? You're Kura Kinomoto right?" Syaoran persisted.
'How?' Sakura check her wig and gasped as she now realized she's not wearing her disguise because of the makeover treatment her cousin and friends did with her.
'Shit!'
Not knowing what to do, she ran.
"Hey, wait."
Hands down this is the best day I can ever remember,
I'll always remember the sound of the stereo,
The dim of the soft lights,
Any passerby would freak to hear a squealing bush in the dark.
(Back to our conspirators…)
"No shit it worked!" Andy squealed in delight.
Tomoyo leaned more closely to the latest recruit in the group, almost hugging him in the process trying to see through the video camera he's holding while Eriol have this goofy grin pasted on his face.
Mei Lin notice this and teasingly reprimanded her cousin, "Eriol stop flirting and focus on the video."
Eriol blushed while Tomoyo obliviously tinkered on her video cam.
"C'mon they're getting away." Andy bounced up from her position and started running.
The scent of your hair that you twirled in your fingers
And the time on the clock when we realized it's so late
And this walk that we shared together.
Finally catching up to her, Syaoran gently grab her arm and spun her to face him, also catching a whiff of her unique scent.
"Please wait … I really need to talk to you."
Sakura gives up any possible evasion and asked while she tried to focus on some tree behind him instead of his pleading face. "Why?"
"I mean I need to apologize for what I did."
Still confused, she again asked, "You mean the kiss?"
Syaoran reddened at the question, remembering the clichéd accidental kiss they've shared. 'I'll never regret that.'
Shaking his head to focus, "Um… no… it's about the chat we had the other day. I really didn't mean to pry. I was… I just… I want to talk to you. I'm really sorry."
"Oh no. It's okay no harm done."
"You don't hate me?"
"No." Sakura answered, still refusing to have any eye contact with him, afraid to be drawn again by his mesmerizing amber eyes.
"Umm…"
"Yeah?"
"What are you attending here?"
"Huh?" Sakura mumbled as she tries to understand what he was asking.
Syaoran still stuck in the unprecedented nervous level he's experiencing with a girl he's interested, stammered, "Yo-you said earlier, you were here because you're attending something."
"Oh that…" Sakura paled and cursed her brain to function properly and come up with an excuse. 'Shit! Think of something…'
"Um… you see, my brother's a facilitator here and I was attending um… attending to um… his need by bringing him his… um… lucky shorts?"
The streets were wet
And the gate was locked so I jumped it,
And I let you in.
"Touya has lucky shorts?" Mei Lin asked bewilderedly at Tomoyo.
Tomoyo taken aback replied, "How should I know I'm just his cousin." As she peered intently on the video camera that Eriol was holding for her as the latter was simply making the most out of it.
"Well, apparently he has now." Andy claps her hands in her new discovery, another one to add for blackmailing his favorite busted halo member.
Mei Lin catching the mirth in Andy's eyes shook her head in amusement. 'Poor Touya.'
And you stood at your door with your hands on my waist
And you kissed me like you meant it.
'Shit! What am I saying, lucky shorts? How pathetic can I get?' Sakura sighed as she tries to explain how she was tricked by her older brother to drive all the way here just to give that damn shorts.
"So basically, that's why I'm here." Sakura fidgeted as she finished narrating the lamest story in her lifetime to her newest buddy.
"Oh…"
'Damn, he'll think I'm this really weird chick and he'll start to avoid me…' Sakura knit her brows in confusion. 'Wait, why do I care? He's just Syaoran. Ikki's friend. He's just a friend.'
Silence then ensued as Sakura ponders on her current situation while Syaoran is still tongue tied on what he was about to say next. Finally gathering enough courage he started to fake a cough to get her attention once again.
"Um… about the kiss I never felt sorry for it."
Taken aback, Sakura fidgets; looks at her watch and quickly improvise her escape. "Oh, shoot! Ah I really need to go! Umm… bye" and kiss him on the cheek.
Sakura took off before he could respond. Syaoran on the other hand, was stunned with the gesture that he only woke up from his reverie after a few seconds to discover that she was nowhere in sight.
"Where did she go?"
And I knew that you meant it,
That you meant it,
That you meant it,
"You got that, right?" Mei Lin asked Eriol who was still gaping like a fish.
"I can't believe she did that?" Tomoyo giddily bounced at her excitement and accidentally kissed the person next to her, Eriol. But before Tomoyo let go of him, Eriol tighten his hold of her and started to deepen the kiss.
Andy was still staring at the space Sakura and Syaoran were a minute ago, "You've got to be kidding me? Our Kura did that?" asking for confirmation from her best friend who was still busy with Eriol.
Getting no response from her best friend, Andy peeled off from her trance and turn around to see why Tomoyo ignored her. She gasped as she witnessed the scene of Eriol and Tomoyo. She grabbed the discarded video camera and start recording them while snickering.
Mei Lin just shrugged and nudged Andy to stop recording the two and try to break the unnecessary tension that was slowly building up. But Andy just snorted at the conservative girl and continued her filming. That was until Mei Lin hissed something to her ear. "Stop them or I'll tell the real Ikki what you really think of him."
Andy froze and starts coughing loudly. When that didn't work she tries to shake Tomoyo while whining. "Tomo answer my question. Am I delusional or did our Sakura just did what I thought she did."
Tomoyo then gently pull out from the kiss, oblivious to the effect she did to Eriol. "Yup, are baby just did that."
"Hey, you alright cuz." Mei Lin asked amusedly, as Eriol just nodded, still dazed from his sudden good luck.
And I knew that you meant it,
"It's just a distraction, just to distract him. Right?" Sakura pondered as she changed back to her disguise. "Yeah, what else could it be?"
After securing her disguise, she then decided to ditch looking for her three torturers and just head up to bed.
Syaoran, on the other hand, still occupied and determined to look for Kura, bumped into someone muttering something to him self.
"Hey, dude. Have you seen a girl passed here?"
"Syao?"
"Ikki?"
"Yeah, what are you doing here?"
"Um… just…nothing…" Syaoran nervously scratch his nape, "Um… hey did you see Kura? She was just here." Syaoran thankfully not looking at her intently still scans the area as he asked Sakura's whereabouts.
"Oh Sakura? Wait, how did you know her?" Ikki feigned innocence.
Syaoran blushed and bashfully answered. "I bumped into her earlier."
"Uh-huh." Sakura nodded innocently, and gestured on her left. "I just saw her leave with Yam and Jun."
Syaoran frowned, not recognizing the names he just heard. "With who?"
"Her bandmates. Why do you know them too?"
"Uh… uh… No. I've got to go. I forgot something to tell her." Syaoran stuttered and quickly headed to the direction she just pointed out but accidentally bump into his friend as he caught a whiff of a scent that was so familiar from Ikki.
Sakura just stared at his back slowly fading away in the darkness. 'Gee, not even a thank you or a sorry.'
Just as Sakura was about to turn around and walk the other way, she heard a shout of Thank you from the running Syaoran that is now a blur from her vision. She chuckled and shook her head from the typical Syaoran who seems to be psychic for sometime now.
That you meant it,
As he ran the path Ikki just pointed, a weird thought entered his mind and was bugging the hell out of him. 'Sakura… She smells like… Ikki? Are all Kinomotos smelled the same?'
Only one way to find out…
Touya.
That you meant it…
- to be continued -
A/N: Words that were bold and italicized are lyrics to the song, "Hands down" by the band Dashboard confessional.
If you find any mistakes or whatsoever please do tell. I was rushing it so i could post it today.
June 18, 2009 bangag_pa
June 22, 2013 updated