Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ The China Doll ❯ When A Second Seems Like An Eternity ( Chapter 4 )

The China Doll

Chapter 4 - when a second seems like an eternity

"Potassium nitrate and silver iodide are formed when potassium iodide and silver nitrate are combined together." Xiao Lang's chemistry sensei droned on. He tuned him out and only a few words got through to him. "Displacement", "think", "write your hypothesis", "due Monday".

"Hey, Li-kun. Class is over." A girl shook him awake.

"Oh…yeah" he mumbled and dragged himself out of the class and to his locker. 'I can't believe my clan still wants me to go to school. With their sickness and me leaving Sakura in Japan, I wont survive another year.' He thought sadly as he walked slowly away from the school. His first day had gone by in a blur and he slept through most of it. He was still in shock of having to up and leave Japan so suddenly.

Not only had he left Sakura behind, he also left behind a gift he wanted to give to her personally. He just hoped it was somewhere among the boxes the movers had brought back.

He walked up to the front gat and hopped over the ten-foot high bars.

"Good afternoon, master Li." The guard greeted him. He grunted hello and took off running towards the main house. He jumped into the tree closest to his room and then onto his balcony.

He slid back the glass doors and collapsed onto his bed wishing his school was in Tomoeda.

~~

"So…how was your first day?" Kero asked Sakura as she awoke from the nap she had taken while staring at the ceiling.

"…It was ok." She stifled a yawn, watching the bear float expectantly above her.

"What do you want Kero?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well…now that you ask…I was kinda hoping you could make us some dinner." He smiled cheerfully.

"Why cant you?" she asked.

"Because…I'm not as good a cook as you are." He said as sweetly as he could. She sighed and climbed out of her bed.

"Fine." She said resignedly. "What would you like?"

"Hmm…chicken teriyaki with those yummy vegetables and fried dumplings!" he listed.

He had obviously been planning this because when Sakura walked into the kitchen, everything was already prepared and waiting to be cooked.

"Thanks Kero-chan!" she exclaimed and turned on the stove and pulled out a pan. If you keep doing this and you wash the dishes, then I'll continue to cook for you." She offered the guardian.

"Ok…" he agreed distractedly, his mind on his stomach.

When she had finished cooking she handed Kero his plate and took hers to her room. Kero flew to his room and munching noises could be heard through the door.

Sakura pulled out her homework and got started, while eating her own food.

'I'm just lucky I didn't take math this semester.' She giggled to her self.

~~

Hours later, Kero felt his tummy begin to rumble again and he flew to Sakura's bright room. He noticed that she was fast asleep and in the middle of her homework. She also had half finished her teriyaki, which was cold. He patted her head lightly and brought over a blanket to cover her. Then he picked up the plate and flew it to the kitchen and popped it into the microwave, careful to take out the fork. He painfully remembered the last time he left metal in the microwave. He almost blew up the kitchen and had lost his meal.

Then he flew over to the counter with the plate and finished the food. He thought of his mistress fast asleep on the floor in her room.

'I'm not sure if I want to beat the crap out of the kid or leave things be.' He thought sadly. He knew of the pains she had been through in the past few months and only wanted the best for her. 'I can't believe that kid on the swings was Syaoran…it's surreal.' He flew his plate over to the sink and began to clean up like he had promised.

~~

"Hoe!! I'm gonna be late again!" Sakura's cry echoed throughout the apartment.

"Calm down Sakura." Kero exclaimed groggily, flying into her room from his sleeping place in the kitchen. "You're not late. I set all the clocks 20 minutes faster so you'd get to class on time." He reassured her. She stopped rushing and looked at him. Then she collapsed to the floor.

"Thank you Kero." She said softly. She picked herself up and continued to get ready. Within ten minutes she was showered, dressed and out the door.

~~

At lunchtime she decided to stay inside because the clouds outside threatened to spill over. She carried her tray into the lunchroom and looked for a free spot. She overheard two girls from her dance class chatting.

"-He just came back from his trip. I heard Li-kun went back to Japan. He seemed out of it yesterday in chemistry." She heard one girl saying.

"It must be because of his mom. I heard she was sick." Sakura saw the group of girls and walked up to them.

"By any chance are you talking about Xiao Lang-kun?" she asked. They looked at her strangely.

"You're bold to be calling him by his first name. Why do you ask?" answered the first speaker, a tall girl with raven hair dyed red at the tips and brilliant clear blue eyes. She looked much like Miko.

"You're the girl from Japan, right?" another girl asked before Sakura could answer the first question. She sat down at their table.

"Yeah." she answered.

"My name is Xiao Yu sun." the first girl introduced herself, then turned to the other girl." This is Zhian Tran and the girl beside her is Mai Thi." She introduced the girls.

"Hi. My name is Kinomoto Ying Fa." Sakura introduced herself.

"So why do you want to know about Li-kun?" Xiao Yu repeated.

"oh…um…I've heard rumors about him." She answered lamely.

"see that guy who just walked into the lunch room? The guy with the dreamy brown hair wearing that green sweater? That's him." Zhian pointed out as they stared at Xiao Lang walk into the room. As he passed their table he locked eyes with Sakura, and for what was only a second but seemed like an eternity, they stared at each other. Then his friends pushed him along and he snapped out of his daze. Just seeing him tore Sakura into pieces. One part of her longed to kiss him and never let him go, but the other part of her wanted to slap him across the face for hurting her then curl up and cry in a corner.

'from what I can see, he's very popular with all the girls.' She thought bitterly, noticing that every other girl's eyes were staring dreamily at him, while her stare held the pains of heartbreak. She stared down at her plate feeling tears beginning to trail down her cheeks.

It wasn't until everyone else returned to their lunch that the girls noticed her tears.

"kinomoto-san! What's wrong?" mai asked.

"I'm sorry…it's nothing I cant work out myself." She waved her hand dismissively and wiped away a stray tear and went back to her food.

'what's stopping me from going over there and telling him it's me, Sakura? I could do it and my heartache would end…why cant I?' she asked herself. The answer came to her quickly. 'because you can sense his own anger and hurt because of his family, and this isn't an appropriate time. It would be selfish to do that and you aren't a selfish person.' She sighed, glancing one more time at Xiao lang and took another bite of her lunch, listening the girls launch into another discussion.

~~

"who was that girl?" Xiao Lang wondered aloud. His friends snickered at him. "what?!" he asked suddenly angry.

"that's Kinomoto Ying Fa. She's a babe isn't she?" Fien To asked rhetorically. "she's the hottest thing since…nope, she's just the hottest thing." He laughed. Isn't there a dance coming up? at least I know I'll have a great looking date." He grinned and glanced back at her. He noticed that she had been crying and was waving off her friends. then he saw her glance longingly at Xiao Lang.

"how can you be sure she'll go out with you? Didn't she say she was here to find a boyfriend or something?" the other boy asked fien, but he shushed him.

"hey look…Li-kun made her cry." He joked. Xiao Lang lifted his head and looked at the girl. She had her head bent over her food but he could see the trail left behind by her tears, glistening. 'if that was Sakura then fien would be right.' He thought angrily and tuned out fien arguing over whether Ying Fa would or wouldn't go out with him.

"grow up." he muttered and forced another forkful of cafeteria goop down his throat.

To Be Continued…