Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to the wonderful CLAMP.

Sensei, I Love You

Chapter 10

The first day of work went on pretty smoothly for Sakura, thanks to the guidance of her female colleagues. There were so many customers in the café that made rest impossible and the staff were seen scurrying about to fulfill their customers' orders. Sakura was glad to take on the job as it kept her mind off the harsh reality. The downside of her job was her super short dress and it made it difficult for her to retrieve things that fell to the floor. If she bent down just a little, her rear would be exposed. Many male customers seemed to know about this fact and purposely dropped their cutlery in hopes that Sakura would pick it up. She was really grateful for her colleagues for coming to her rescue every time this happened. It was no wonder the previous girl chose to quit this job.

"You have done well, Kinomoto-san. Keep it up," Junko praised her before she left the café. She was tired after the almost twelve hours shift because another colleague wasn't able to turn up for work and she had to cover. Otherwise, it was only a six-hour job. However, she did not mind the additional hours as long as she got paid doing it.

"Thank you, Junko-san. Have a safe trip home." Sakura bowed respectfully to her boss before taking off back to Syaoran's home with a smile on her face. It was one delightful day to be able to meet so many people. She took a few steps on the pavement and came to a stop, staring warily at a lone rider atop a big and expensive looking motorcycle. The rider had a helmet on so she couldn't see who it was but it unnerved her that the rider seemed to be staring at her.

Imagine her surprise when the rider beckoned her forward. Sakura froze, looking around her to see if he was gesturing to someone behind her. When she turned her head to look at the little human traffic, no one was paying attention to him. Sakura pointed to herself with a confused expression on her face. Do I know anyone who rides a motorcycle? The rider nodded his head and when Sakura did not move an inch, he flung his visor back so that she could see who he was.

"Sensei!" Sakura called out in surprise and hushed immediately when he put a finger to his lips. She hurried towards him. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" he asked, and took in what she was wearing. Sakura flushed, glad that she wasn't allowed to wear her uniform out of the café. She was just in her jeans and plain tee at the moment. Syaoran seemed to nod his head in approval at her attire. "Climb on."

"What?" She was cut off by Syaoran who forced a helmet on her head and he was helping her to buckle up. "Li-sensei! What are you doing?"

He patted the seat behind him. "Fetching you home?"

"I can go home on my own."

Syaoran sighed. "It's late and there's hardly anyone around. Will you just get on?"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. Was he worried about her safety that he went all the way here to escort her home? She could help but smile at the thought. Who knew Syaoran would be so sweet. The girl of his choice would no doubt be totally pampered and Sakura was suddenly envious of the lucky girl. Wait… Am I supposed to be sitting behind him?

"Li… Li-sensei…? I don't think this is appropriate… you know… sitting that close behind you." She shook her head at the thought of embracing him from behind and couldn't help a rosy blush on her cheeks. She took a step backwards. "I can't."

"Why not?" he asked. "Don't tell me you are shy."

The blush intensified and she could feel her cheeks heating up. Sakura thanked the helmet for obscuring Syaoran's gaze or he would sure notice the redness immediately and started teasing her mercilessly. His eyes twinkled. "You are shy!" he chuckled. "Muffin… My dearest muffin…"

Sakura's eyes widened when he slid off his motorcycle and came striding towards her. She could only stare at his bigger form. Her mind was frozen and she couldn't think of anything else but gape at the way his leather jacket brought out his physique. He looked much more dangerous than his usual self. He stopped directly in front of her, his visor still raised so that she could stare right at his beautiful amber eyes.

He closed his hand on her upper arm and she felt the warmth seep through his gloves immediately. If she was not careful around him, she would have let out a blissful sigh. Why did he have to attract me so much?

"Come," he ordered, pulling her gently towards the motorcycle and he hoisted her onto the vehicle. He smiled at her little gasp of surprise as he easily lifted her. "You okay?"

Sakura nodded her head numbly as she tried to recover from her earlier shock. She didn't expect him to lift her up bodily and hurriedly flicked her visor down so that she could hide her face from him. She cocked her head at him when he remained still, staring down at her, causing her to become self-conscious. "What are you still waiting for? Let's go home!"

"Yes, muffin," he grinned and slapped his visor down. Sakura sucked in her breath as he slid his leg over the motorcycle in front of her. When he revved the engine, her hands automatically wound around his torso and held on tight. His grin widened even further when he felt her erratic heartbeat through his back. He closed his large hand over her clasped hand at his stomach and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Hold on tight!"

Sakura's legs were wobbly as she stepped off the motorcycle. She would have stumbled to the ground if Syaoran hadn't caught her in time. That was her first exhilarating ride on a motorcycle and she didn't know if she truly enjoyed it but if it could allow her to press so close to Syaoran, she would risk death to ride it again and she wasn't ready to admit that to him.

He chuckled as he steadied her. "How's the ride?"

"It's okay," she replied, trying to tug the buckle of her helmet free but it was impossible since she couldn't figure out how to tackle the clasp. Syaoran brushed her hands aside and tilted her head up so that he could help her. He had already taken off his and his hair was all messed up. Sakura couldn't help but laughed at his disarray.

"What?" He frowned at her, wondering why she was laughing when all he did was helping her to remove her helmet. "What's so funny?"

Sakura shook her head as he pulled the helmet off her head. She burst into giggles again when she looked at him. He was so adorable with his messy hair! If only she could capture this moment forever. "Nothing!"

His eyes narrowed at her blatant lie. She bit her lips to stop the giggling fits and forced her gaze away from him. "Muffin, you can't lie to me."

"I'm not your muffin!" Sakura gasped aloud. "Stop calling me that. It makes me…"

"Makes you…?"

"Blush," she uttered before pulling away from in and fleeing into the house. A few seconds later, the lights in her room was switched on and a dark shadow appeared at her window. "Stop calling me muffin!" she shouted from above, earning her a chuckle from Syaoran.

"She's cute," he murmured as he stepped into the house and locked the door after him. He placed his helmets on the shoe rack near the entranceway and flopped onto the sofa in the living room. Laying his head against the headrest, he closed his eyes and let out a tired sigh. He didn't accomplish much for the whole day except for grading a small pile of his students work and he spent the rest of the time worrying about Sakura. He had to clamp down on his temptation to visit her at the café to see for himself that she was indeed coping well. He wondered why he was actually so concerned about only one of his student.

I must be losing my mind.

It was almost a month since Sakura started working at the cosplay café. She really enjoyed working there because she had lots of fun interacting with her colleagues and loyal customers who would patron their café every weekend without fail. The good news was that she has yet to encounter any of her school mates and she was really grateful for that. That meant that she still get to study and work part-time without having to worry about being dispelled from the school.

"Your shift has ended, Kinomoto-san," her petite short-haired colleague, Yui, reminded her with a smile and urged her into the staff room. "Don't keep your knight waiting."

Sakura blushed prettily. "What knight? I don't understand what you are saying."

Yui smacked Sakura on her arm playfully and she giggled behind one hand. "Stop pretending! All of us at the café knew about him."

Sakura paled at Yui words. "Him?"

"Oh! You know, the hunky guy in the leather jacket waiting outside the café for you?" Yui jabbed her side with an elbow. "It's no use denying. Even the customers know that he's there waiting for you to knock off every weekend without fail. Who is he? Your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Sakura's cheeks turned crimson. "Although I wish he is."

"Aww… You mean he's not taken?"

Sakura shrugged, feeling uncomfortable out of a sudden. "I seriously don't know."

"But if he has no feelings for you, he wouldn't be waiting for you out there patiently like a devoted boyfriend," Yui argued. "Ask him?"

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to do that!"

"Well… That's such a waste," Yui remarked and returned to her job. It was her turn to cover for another sick colleague. "I was just suggesting. No harm intended."

Sakura remembered asking Syaoran if he had a girlfriend a long time ago but he had cleverly changed the topic. It seemed to her that he was unwilling to discuss his personal issue and she didn't want to press him further. She respected his right to remain silent on the issue. If he wanted her to know, he would eventually tell her. She changed out of her uniform hurriedly and dashed out of the café, waving goodbyes to her customers.

Syaoran slid off his motorcycle when he spotted her at the door. He flipped his visor up and smiled warmly at her as she came nearer. "How's work?"

"Great!" Sakura beamed, accepting the helmet and swiftly putting it on without any problems. "The customers were having so much fun playing some games together."

"Did anyone dare to grope you?" Syaoran asked, clenching his hands at the thought of other guys touching her. "I'll bash whoever dared to touch you without permission."

"Does that include you?" Sakura asked with a teasing glint in her eyes.

"I thought I had your permission?" Syaoran asked, leaning closer to her and drawing her to his side. "Right, muffin?"

"Smartass," she muttered before swinging herself onto the pillion. When he slid in front of her, she told him about what her colleagues thought about him. "They thought you are my boyfriend."

Syaoran froze beneath her hands at her words. If she was not holding on to him, she would have missed his reaction. "Did they?"

Sakura nodded and her helmet thumped against Syaoran's back, causing her to wince from the jarring impact. "Yes. They all thought the same thing and so did the customers."

"That's not so bad, isn't it?"

A smile spread across her face. "It's not bad but it isn't good."

Syaoran twisted her body so that he could look at her. "Why?"

"You want the reasons?" she asked, surprised. Syaoran nodded his head slowly and Sakura wished she could see his eyes. People often say that eyes are the windows to the soul. She wondered if she could see what he truly thought or felt about her. "Well, I'm still schooling and that's one of the reasons and second, you are my homeroom teacher! How can we be together? We have to be logical and realistic."

There was a long pause after that before Syaoran revved the engine. "Well, it isn't too bad, is it? I, for one, don't mind it."

"Really?" Sakura breathed out but her words were drowned by the sound of his engine as he sped off.

To be continued

TGIF! Too bad I'm falling sick. Argh...That aside, thanks again for all the reviews, follows, alerts and favorites! Hope this chapter is to your liking. I know I haven't replied to your reviews yet. I'll do so tomorrow afternoon as I'm super sleepy right now and I have appointments in the morning. :(