Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Natsu ❯ Tanlines and Razors ( Chapter 2 )

Sakura couldn't remember the last time she had been so nervous, anxious, and jumpy all at the same time. It might have been when she was four years old and watched her first scary movie, but those feelings weren't quite the same as the dread she was experiencing now.

What did she have to dread? Finishing her painting project with Syaoran. Why was that such a big deal? She was completely terrified to be left alone with him. After he groped her and went back to bed, she had been unable to fall back to sleep. Instead, she spent the rest of the night brooding and turning the facts over in her mind.

Why did he do that? They were cousins! Why didn't she stop him? Was it possible that she actually liked it? No! His favorite past time was making her life miserable and, besides, they were cousins! Then again… they weren't cousins by blood.

Needless to say, she was about to go insane by the time 6:00 a.m. rolled around. As soon as the big hand hit 12, she hopped out of bed to make breakfast - hoping the busy work would occupy her mind.

The first one of her family members to appear was her mother who was coming back from work. Nadesico went to her room to change her clothes and inadvertently woke her husband in the process. She returned to the kitchen to sit on a bar stool and salivate as she watched her daughter whip up a masterpiece.

“It smells delicious. What cha' making?” Nadesico took another big whiff of the fumes to prove her point.

“Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. And who said you get any?” Sakura asked, brandishing her spatula like a sword.

Her mother's eyes filled with crocodile tears. “You're so cruel! And after I went to work to slave and earn money so we can live! You impudent, ungrateful, little-“

“I was just kidding,” Sakura cut her off quickly. She was grateful when her dad and brother soon appeared.

“Wow,” her dad, Fujitaka, said. “Everything looks great. It's a perfect way to start the day before going to work.”

“Or to end it,” Nadesico added, her hands creeping towards the finished pancakes before Sakura smacked it with the spatula.

“Is it almost done?” Touya asked without offering any compliments. Sakura glared at the back of his head.

“Yes.” She shoved a stack of plates and silverware in his hands and said, “Why don't you be a big helper and set up the table for me, hm?”

Touya rolled his eyes, but complied. It was too early in the morning for him and he was still half asleep.

“Why don't you wake up Syaoran?” Nadesico asked suddenly. “It would be a shame for him to miss such a good meal.”

The feelings of dread came back and hit Sakura like a slap in the face. “Um…” she tried to think of an excuse quickly. “He's not used to being up this early! I don't think he would appreciate being woken up.”

“Nonsense,” Sakura's dad argued. “I think he really wouldn't appreciate being left out of this family meal.”

Annoyance started to overpower the dread in her stomach. “Fine. If you want him up so badly, you wake him up! I'm busy cooking.”

“Oh, there's no need for that,” a voice said from behind Sakura and she jumped a mile high.

“Syaoran!” Nadesico said, surprised and happy at the same time. “What are you doing up?”

“I smelled the delicious smells of food and couldn't help myself. Besides, I've decided that I'm going to be waking up earlier from now on.”

“Oh, that's wonderful!” Nadesico grinned. As far as she was concerned, this was progress. “Now Sakura won't be all by herself in the mornings. Isn't that great honey?” The last question was directed at Sakura.

“Peachy,” Sakura said through gritted teeth and grimaced when she felt Syaoran put his hands on her shoulders from behind.

“That was the idea,” he said, directed towards the adults. When they smiled at him and turned away he leaned closer to Sakura, putting his lips right by her ear and whispered, “It's nice to know how much you wanted me to join you for breakfast.”

Sakura was in too much shock to answer. His breath was tickling the whole right side of her face, not to mention blowing in her ear and she felt paralyzed. Just when Touya finished setting the table and turned to look at them, Syaoran let go of her and made to sit down. Touya followed his movements with untrusting eyes, but didn't say anything. The adults, of course, were oblivious.

Sakura forced her feet to unglue themselves from the floor so she could finish putting all the food on the table. Once everyone was served, they indulged in pleasant conversation. Sakura was tuning out for the most part until she heard her name.

“Excuse me?” she said, her mouth full of egg.

Her dad gave her a funny look. “I was just asking if you and Syaoran were planning to finish painting your room after breakfast.”

Everyone was looking at her. Syaoran had a smirk on his lips and she felt herself start to sweat. “Uh.” she stuttered. “No, not right away. I have to do the dishes and then a couple of other chores as well.” She laughed nervously.

“Like what?” Touya asked, disbelievingly. It was a little known fact that Sakura tended to shirk on her part of the chores around the house. Sakura made a mental note to spit in the next meal she cooked for him.

“Like…” Why was her brain failing her at a time like this? What did she ever do to it? “I… I need to clean the pool!” She finally said triumphantly.

“Actually...” Syaoran leaned over Sakura, reaching for the syrup. “It's my turn to do it, but you can help.”

“That's a great idea!” Nadesico praised. “It'll go by much faster. Plus, he's helping you paint your room, so you might as well help him with a few of his chores as well.”

Afraid that she would just dig herself into a deeper hole, Sakura barely managed to make the next words leave her mouth. “I also need to go for a run to burn off this breakfast.”

The Kinomotos rolled their eyes since they were very well acquainted with Sakura's obsession to stay in shape, but Syaoran just smiled. “How far do you go?”

“Two miles without stopping,” Sakura said proudly, some of the nervousness dissipating.

“Well, that sounds fun!” Sakura's stomach dropped down to her feet. “I haven't been very active this summer and I need to. You care if I go with you?”

“Fine!” Sakura leaped to her feet. “I don't care! I give up! I'm going to take a dump now, if you don't mind.”

All the males at the table blanched and looked disgusted, but Nadesico just grinned and said sweetly, “Don't you mean leave a dump? I'm sure you don't want to take it and have to carry it around all day.”

There was no reply.

<<<<<>>>>>

Syaoran said nothing as Sakura handed him the dishes she had just rinsed and put them in the dishwasher. There was a smug grin she was dying to wipe off his face, but was unfortunately incapable of doing. He basically had her kidnapped for the entire day. Her whole family was either asleep or at work so she was left in his evil clutches.

“Well,” Syaoran said at last, putting the final dish in and starting the wash cycle. “What should we do first? Go for a run or clean the pool?”

Lucky for Sakura, she had been considering this particular question since breakfast and had finally come up with a solution. “First, I'm going to give someone a call.”

“Who?” Syaoran asked, a strange tone slipping in his voice.

“You'll find out,” Sakura said simply and plucked the cordless phone off the receiver. She dialed a familiar number by heart and listened to the ring, hoping the one she was calling was awake.

“What do you want, Sakura?” Tomoyo's sleepy and grouchy voice answered the phone after a long time. She didn't bother saying hello because her cell phone's ring tone already let her know who it was.

“Hey Tomoyo!” Sakura enjoyed the crestfallen look on Syaoran's face with no small amount of satisfaction. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yes,” Tomoyo answered bluntly.

“I'm sorry.” Sakura half-lied. “But I'm calling to see if you wanted to come over today and swim or something.”

“This couldn't wait?”

“No.” There was a very loud sigh from the other side of the line. “Please?” Sakura begged and tried to ignore the sour look that had appeared on Syaoran's face.

Tomoyo was quiet while she considered until she asked, “Is your cousin there today?”

Not sure what that had to do with anything Sakura answered slowly, “Yea.”

“Okay.” There were sounds of movement as Tomoyo dragged herself out of bed. “I'll be over in a few hours. I have to take a bath and stuff.”

“To swim?”

“Goodbye, Sakura.”

“Bye.”

Sakura pressed the `end' button and chanced a glance at Syaoran. By now he looked like someone had just forced him to eat tar.

“What's with your face?” She asked, cracking a joke.

“Out of all the people in the world, why her?” He asked, but continued before Sakura could defend her friend. “Is it that bad being alone with me?”

Sakura tried once again to speak but he cut her off. “Get dressed. We might as well get started before she gets here and slows everything down.”

Dumbfounded, Sakura couldn't even make herself yell at him for being a bossy jerk. Instead she just watched as he walked away.

“What crawled up his butt and died?” She asked the empty kitchen.

<<<<<>>>>>

“You” huff “freaking” pant “LIAR!” Sakura managed to choke out between gasps for air as she tried to match Syaoran's pace. “There's… no way… I believe… you haven't… been… running… lately.”

“Stop talking, Sakura. You need all the oxygen you can get or you might die.” He paused and added as an afterthought, “Do you want to slow down or stop?”

“Hell no!” There was no way she was going to let him best her at this.

Syaoran laughed, pulled in the lead a little and jumped in the air, tapping his heels together. “Come on, you try it!”

Sakura resisted the urge to bite him and just concentrated on breathing. Syaoran turned around so that he was running backwards and could look at her. “Don't try to compete, Sakura. You'll lose. I can run five miles without stopping.”

Gathering all the air she could, she bit out, “Turn around, queer boy, and watch where you're going before you're hit by a random bus. On second thought…”

“Nah. I'll be okay.” Syaoran flashed a grin that showed his teeth. “I know you wouldn't let the big, bad bus maim and kill me.”

Sakura would have said `try me' if she had enough oxygen. Syaoran chuckled deep in his throat and fell into step behind her.

She just couldn't figure the boy out. The way he treated her kept changing drastically. He was mean to her, he groped her, and then got all pissy when she invited her best friend to spend the day with them. When she had finished getting dressed, he came down stairs acting as if the whole conversation about Tomoyo had never happened. She had been confused and didn't want to bring it up, so the subject remained untouched.

“Come on!” Syaoran said and she realized she had fallen behind. “Let's get back to the house and finish painting your room.”

Sakura growled and picked up the pace so she could catch up.

A couple hours later found them back to work in her room, the CD player blaring. Sakura glanced at the clock. “Tomoyo will be here soon,” She said timidly.

Syaoran grunted without looking at her and continued to work. Sakura got the impression that he was still ticked off, but didn't want to talk about it. That was fine by her. What right did he have to get mad at her for wanting to spend time with her friend?

Sakura frowned, spreading the green liquid across the wall. Just then, the doorbell rang and she managed to splatter a few drops that undoubtedly landed on her face and arms.

Without bothering to say anything since Syaoran knew who was at the door as well as she did, she got up and went to let her friend in.

When Sakura swung the door open, Tomoyo stood in all her glory; silky long black hair, short shorts revealing smooth white legs, a bag slung over her shoulder, and dark sunglasses covering her eyes.

“Hey,” Sakura said, redoing her messy ponytail and tucking a stray strand behind her ear.

“What's that smell?” Tomoyo asked, her pert little nose wrinkling up. She even managed to make looking disgusted cute.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Sakura smacked her hand on her forehead. “I'm painting my room, but we're almost finished so we can go swimming in a minute.”

“I don't think I just smell paint. It smells like… sweat.”

“Oh.” Sakura laughed. “That's me. I went for a run and cleaned the pool.”

“Ah.”

It got quiet and Sakura started to squirm. “Well, I guess I shouldn't leave Syaoran in there doing all the work for long. Come on.” She motioned for Tomoyo to follow her.

“Syaoran's helping you? That's weird,” Tomoyo commented thoughtfully. “I thought he hated you.”

“I don't think he hates me. I think he just likes tormenting me. But there's something I've got to tell you later, okay?” If there was anyone she could tell about Syaoran's strange behavior lately, it was Tomoyo.

“Sure,” Tomoyo said.

They entered Sakura's room and Syaoran looked up. “Hi,” he said, and continued painting.

“Hi,” Tomoyo said sweetly. “Long time no see. It's been a while.”

“Yeah.”

Syaoran and Tomoyo had met many times before, mainly at family dinners that Tomoyo had come to. Although the two weren't cold to each other, they weren't exactly what you would call buddies.

“Well, I'm all finished here,” Syaoran said, and got up.

“It's done?” Sakura asked, disbelieving.

“Yep, all done. Now you two can go swimming.” He began to pick up the painting supplies and Sakura bent down to help him.

“Why don't you join us?” Tomoyo asked, being careful not to brush up against anything that had paint on it.

“I don't know.” When Syaoran said this, he somehow managed to catch Sakura's eye and held it. “Are you sure you don't mind?”

“Of course! It's fun with more people, right Sakura?” Tomoyo turned her head to look at her friend.

Sakura was quiet for a moment. She had been trying to avoid Syaoran all day and failed miserably, but it hadn't been that bad. It wasn't like it would be just the two of them. Tomoyo could be a buffer.

“Right,” Sakura said, her gaze never leaving Syaoran's. His expression twitched slightly and he looked away, moving towards the door.

“I guess I'll meet you guys out there then.”

Sakura nodded even though she knew he couldn't see and Tomoyo waved.

<<<<<>>>>>

“Well that was fun,” Tomoyo said while wringing her long hair out over the sink. Sakura grunted in a way that could have been an affirmative or a contradiction. “Syaoran made it more entertaining.”

“Oh yes,” Sakura agreed. “Getting thrown in the pool against my will is just so pleasurable.”

“Well.” Tomoyo flipped her hair over her shoulder, whacking Sakura's face in the process. “Just be happy that he could pick you up.”

Sakura's mouth dropped open in shock. “Tomoyo! That's mean!”

Tomoyo blinked slowly and then laughed when it dawned on her what had offended Sakura. “I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you should be happy you're light enough for him to pick you up.” As opposed to him being strong enough to pick up her lard butt.

“Sure,” Sakura said sarcastically.

“You know…” Tomoyo turned around to face her friend and pulled herself up so she was sitting on the countertop. “Syaoran is pretty hot.”

Sakura's mouth fell open again at the sudden unexpected change in the conversation. “E-excuse me?”

Tomoyo rolled her eyes good naturedly. “Don't tell me you haven't noticed? Come on! You live in the same house!”

Sakura did her best to look disgusted but couldn't stop the slight blush from rising on her cheeks. “He's my cousin. I don't think about him like that.”

“I see.” Tomoyo swung her legs from side to side. “Well in that case, I think I'll go for him. You'll help me, right?”

“Wha?” Sakura was a little confused.

“Of course I knew you would,” Tomoyo paused, as if trying to remember something. “Didn't you have something you wanted to tell me earlier?”

Still thinking rather slowly, it took Sakura a moment to catch on. When she did a mental picture of Syaoran cupping her breast came to mind and she thought better of it. “Oh, never mind, it's not important.”

“Okay.” Tomoyo hopped down and stretched her back. “If that's it, I'm going home. Call me sometime soon. We haven't been doing too much together lately.”

“Sure.” Sakura walked with her to the door and locked the door behind her. Sighing, she rotated her shoulder blade. “Why am I so sore? Stress?” All of a sudden a nice, steamy bath sounded wonderful. The much needed escape make Sakura almost skip the whole way to the bathroom.

It didn't take long for the tub to fill up and Sakura soon found herself submerged in the almost scorching liquid. It was so hot that when she raised her arm from the water, steam came off in waves.

Sakura just sat there, relaxing for five minutes before going about the task of washing and conditioning her hair. She did all of this with a relatively blank mind, but when she got to the shaving, her mind began to wonder.

Tomoyo liked Syaoran? The first question that came to her mind was: why? The second was: for how long?

“I'll never understand her,” Sakura mumbled to herself. Sakura and Tomoyo had been best friends since kindergarten and practically grew up together. They had been inseparable up until junior high when their different interests became obvious. They hadn't had one class together since eighth grade, and that was tennis. Since then, Tomoyo had quit and Sakura had gone on to be the top player for their high school.

Sakura couldn't help feeling that they kept growing farther apart and it hurt. She didn't want to lose her friend. Besides, being friends doesn't mean having everything in common. No two people are the same, so there are bound to be differences between friends.

Although their extracurricular interests had big points of disagreement, the biggest difference between the two girls was their experience with boys. Sakura was usually always busy with either school or tennis so she hadn't really had any time for relationships, but Tomoyo was another story. She had had several boyfriends and was no longer a virgin. Tomoyo was far from being a slut but she tended to treat Sakura like she was naïve because of her experience.

Sakura rinsed her razor and began to put soap on her back, since she didn't like having back hair. That was the bad thing about fair skin - hair was harder to hide.

So, this all brought her back to her original question. Tomoyo liked Syaoran? Was Tomoyo Syaoran's type? Honestly, she had no idea. If she was, would they `hook up'? And if they did, would they kiss? Or even do more than kiss?

At that particular thought, Sakura's arm jerked and she felt a searing pain on her upper back. She reached up and touched the throbbing with her middle and index fingers. She brought them back to her face to see that they were covered in quite a bit of blood.

“Shit.” Quickly, Sakura hopped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her body, being careful to leave the cut uncovered. Going up to the mirror, she had to crane her neck to see the wound better. She blanched at the blood that was trickling out of the long gash on her upper back, a place she couldn't possibly clean and bandage on her own.

“Double shit.”

With a growl that was almost inhuman, she left the bathroom and went downstairs to find Syaoran. He was sitting at the computer and when she came up to him only wearing a little white towel, his eyes got rather large.

“Sakura, what are you doing?” Without a word, Sakura turned around so he could see the cut. “Oh crap! What did you do?”

“I cut myself with the razor,” Sakura mumbled, inaudibly.

“What?” Syaoran asked, now standing.

Sakura sighed and said louder, “I cut myself with the razor.”

There was silence for a moment before Syaoran's loud guffaws filled the computer room. “What were you doing? Shaving your back?”

“Shut up and help me bandage it up! I'm getting blood all over the place!”

“Alright,” Syaoran said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. “Come with me.”

After a quick trip to the bathroom for some supplies, they went into Syaoran's room. “What are we doing in here?” Sakura asked, her hands clamped on her towel.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. “You have to lie down. I can't clean and bandage it while you're standing.”

“But!”

Syaoran ignored her and put down another towel on his bed. “Lay down on your stomach.”

“But!” Sakura saw a problem with this. For him to properly take care of her cut, she would have to remove the towel from the whole top half of her body.

“Look,” Syaoran explained, clearly sensing her discomfort. “I'll turn around and you can lie down and cover your butt with the towel. I'll only turn back around when you say it is okay.”

“Fine,” Sakura said, only a little shaky. She didn't want to seem like a wimp. As he said he would, Syaoran turned and Sakura timidly took off the towel. Damn, she felt awkward. Even if he wasn't looking, she was naked and in the same room with a boy. Lying down gingerly, she positioned the towel so it was completely covering her backside and pressed herself fully against the bed. Her breasts were smashed against the bed and very visible from the side, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“Okay, you can look,” Sakura said against her better judgment. She watched closely as Syaoran turned and his expression didn't change in the slightest. Instead, he just grabbed a little packet and tore it open. “What's that?” Sakura asked.

“Something to disinfect the cut.” He moved behind her so she couldn't see him anymore.

The first thing Sakura felt was his warm arm against her side as he braced himself against the bed. It was a little too close to her boob for comfort and her breath quickened but he made no move to feel her up. The next thing she felt was a cool wetness pressing against the gash on her back and then…

“SHIT!” Sakura yelled, and it took all her willpower to keep from jumping to her feet. “What the hell was that?” Whatever it was, it had stung like hell.

“An alcohol prep pad, you wuss,” Syaoran stated calmly. “Now relax so I can finish.”

The two cousins sat in silence for a while until Syaoran said, “You know, I think Tomoyo's wrong.”

“About what?” Sakura asked, her voice muffled slightly by the bed.

“Your tan.”

“Oh.” Sakura had a dark tan (well, dark for her) from playing tennis, but the problem was that it was in the shape of her tennis clothes that came in a curved line down her back, and exposed her shoulders. “What about it?”

“I don't think it's that funny. In fact…” Syaoran leaned closer and Sakura felt her whole back tingle. Warning signs were going off in her brain, but she was powerless to stop it. “I think it's sexy. It shows that you're active.”

Sakura couldn't think of anything to say to that and just whispered, “Thanks.”

“No problem. It's the truth.” Syaoran moved away and Sakura missed the warmth at once. He finished putting the bandage on, but made no move to leave.

“What are you doing?” Sakura asked and got a weird sense of de ja vu. It took her a moment to realize she had asked him the question the previous night.

“What are you doing?” she seemed to be asking that question a lot lately.

Instead of answering, Syaoran raised his other hand and traced from her chin in a straight line down to her belly button with his index finger.

Sakura's breath caught in her throat when she realized what was about to happen. Sure enough, Syaoran's warm hands came down on her back and slowly slid down her sides, following the curve of her ribcage, waist, and hips, but stopped at the towel. Instead they slid between her and the bed so his palms were pressing against her stomach.

Sakura's heart was pounding in her chest so hard, she was afraid her ribs would bust. “Syaoran-”

“Shh,” Syaoran practically purred, his lips right at the curve of her neck. Sakura finally exhaled the breath she had been holding when she felt another cool wetness, but this time it was his lips against her back. He left a few fleeting butterfly kisses and pulled away at the same time as a door opened and closed somewhere in the house.

“Your mom is awake.”

Syaoran left the room, leaving Sakura in the aftermath and wondering what the heck had just happened.