Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Until There Was You ❯ Reunited ( Chapter 9 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Hellmaster here. Disclaimer: All the CCS characters found in this fic belong to their respective owners. I do not own them in any way. This fan fiction was written for the enjoyment of CCS fans and will not be used for profit.
Until There Was You
Chapter Nine: "Reunited"
A radiant smile was on her face as Sakura pedaled her way to school that morning. She had no idea why, but she felt rather elated for some strange reason.
She let out a contented sigh.
An abrupt screech sounded as she pressed the handbrakes on her bicycle. She blinked twice, then tilted her head sideways at what she saw. There was a young man blocking the pathway. He was crouched down on the pavement, silently gazing at the wild flowers adorning the sidewalk. His dark hair swayed gently to the breeze while the glare of sunlight on his glasses had his eyes blocked completely from her view.
A few seconds later, he leisurely stood from his position and turned to face her. Sakura panicked when she realized that he had caught her staring.
"H-Hoooeee! I didn't mean to stare, I was just..."
The young man only smiled at her and said, "Did I seem strange to you just now?"
"Hooee? Um... I, uh... well... no..." she finished, unsure of what to make of his question.
He let out a refined chuckle. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said with a smile. "You see, most people tend to think of me as strange, but with good reason I assure you." He cast a soft gaze on the wild flowers bending over to the wind's whim. She followed his gaze and was surprised to find one flower standing erect while the others continued to sway.
She gaped at him. "H-How did you...?"
He only smiled in response. "My name is Hiiragizawa Eriol. You can call me Eriol, if you'd like. And you are...?"
"O-Oh! Kinomoto Sakura. You can call me Sakura." Momentarily forgetting about what she just saw, Sakura bowed politely at the young man, who followed her gesture in return.
Ryoshinaru Hayuma got off his car and stared at the school building in front of him. Shaking his head disapprovingly, he reminded himself why he was there. He took his cell phone from the back seat of the car and pressed a few keys before bringing it to his ear.
"Uh-huh... Yeah, I'm already here. You know where to find me." An exasperated sigh escaped from his lips as he locked the key pads.
"Hayuma-san?"
Surprised, Hayuma turned around to see who it was. A pleased look dawned on his gruff features. "Why, it's Li Syaoran! What a nice coincidence this is!" He slapped the young man hard on the back good-naturedly.
Whether to take the other man's greeting as sarcasm or simply just a lame attempt at sincerity, Syaoran really could not decide.
"Were you waiting for someone?" asked the young software owner.
Hayuma looked up at the sky nonchalantly and smirked. "Kind of..." He brought his gaze back to the boy from Hong Kong. "Say... Weren't you supposed to meet with Kawajima-san later today?"
"He postponed the meeting. Said something about preparing for the formal dinner party that is going to be held at Yurojin Hotel tonight."
"Ah, yes... I learned about that just a while ago. I'm assuming you were invited too." His lips curved upward when the boy affirmed. "That is expected... You are going, aren't you?"
"Of course. Mother told me never to refuse invites from a client."
"Good advice." Winking, Hayuma continued. "Well, since we are working on this project together, I'll give you a tip. In this business, the reason why unattached young men are singled out is because of the full commitment they can provide to the company. However, if you want Kawajima-san to consider you as a business partner, being single isn't the way to go." He let out an amused snort. "Let's just say he has... issues with his wife. And having her near tempting young men such as yourself isn't exactly the best thing for him."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow at this. "I see. Then..." A suspicious frown formed on his forehead. "... what do you suggest I do?" he asked, earning a wide grin from Hayuma.
"This is going to be easy for you, I can tell."
Tomoyo smiled as she walked towards the black haired girl standing near the school entrance. "Ohayou, Meiling! Are you waiting for someone?" she asked, even though the answer to her question was already quite obvious.
"Yeah." Meiling grunted in annoyance. "He is so dead when he gets here! I've been waiting for five minutes!"
"Maybe something came up."
"But he only went to park the car!" the black haired girl complained. "And it's not like most of the students here have cars. The parking lot is barely occupied!"
Tomoyo placed a hand on her cheek. "That's true..." she agreed.
"What is?"
The two girls whirled around in surprise. It was Syaoran.
"Hey Meiling. Daidouji."
Unfortunately for him, his cousin was still pissed. "Xiao-lang! Just how long does it take for you to park a car?! Geez, I was waiting for five minutes!" She glared at him. "And don't sneak up on us like that! Mou."
He let out an exasperated sigh. Syaoran flung his duffel bag over his shoulder and said, "Let's just go inside." Sighing again, he shook his head slightly and stooped his shoulders.
Meiling blinked at this. `Well, that was unusual.' The two girls exchanged confused looks. She quickened her pace to catch up with her cousin. "Hey, is something wrong?"
Syaoran angrily ran his fingers through his tousled hair, looking annoyed. Meiling was a bit taken aback by this, but realizing that it was not directed at her, she continued to probe. "Are you going to tell us or what?"
The young software owner stopped walking. Both girls waited for him to speak. They could see his cheeks redden slightly as he stood there motionless.
"..."
"Thank you for walking me all the way here, Eriol-san." Sakura gave him a half-apologetic smile and added, "But really... you didn't need to..."
Eriol raised a hand to silence her apology. "It was my pleasure, Sakura-san." He smiled. "Well, I guess this is goodbye."
Sakura smiled back. "Hai! Arigatou!" She ran cheerfully towards the school entrance. Midway, she turned around to face him again and waved goodbye. Eriol watched as she disappeared into the crowd of students entering the school building.
His soft gaze set on the metal plate attached to the brick gate. "So this is the school..." he whispered to himself.
Sakura rushed to her locker, glancing occasionally at her wrist watch. She still had enough time before homeroom starts. On her way, she accidentally bumped into her math teacher, Tanaka-sensei. "H-Hoooeee! Gomen nasai!" the auburn haired girl cried fretfully.
"Ah, Kinomoto-san..."
Sakura sweat dropped. She lifted her head to face him. "H-Hai?"
"I'd like to congratulate you for a job well done! I was surprised myself. You did exceptionally well on the last exam! I hope to see more of that for the rest of the school year. Keep it up!" He gave her a pat on the head and walked away.
Sakura was too stunned to speak. "..." I... I actually did well in Math? she though in disbelief. When reality finally sunk in, she beamed victoriously and dashed off to her locker. Wait until Tomoyo and the others hear about this! she thought happily to herself.
Opening her locker, she reached inside to get her books, but what she found inside troubled her. She slowly took out a white envelope.
"Is that a love letter?" a familiar voice asked from behind her.
"Ohayou, Maya..." Sakura gave her a weak smile. Turning her attention back to the object in hand, she ripped the envelope open and read the letter inside. She frowned. "It's from him again..." She stared at the letter. Two letters already... I have a bad feeling... she whispered to herself.
Visibly worried about her friend, Maya nodded emphatically. She narrowed her eyes at the piece of paper. "I see... the one Karumi told me about..." Noticing how her friend suddenly looked distressed, she murmured soothingly "Hey..." She placed a warm hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't let it get to you. Nothing happened so far, right? He's probably just a sick bastard who likes bothering people with his empty threats. It's nothing to worry about. I'm sure of it."
Sakura nodded and gave the other girl an unsure smile.
Yugata looked on. Sick bastard, eh? "Pft."
He smiled to himself. `Maybe I am. Nevertheless, everything went according to my plan, didn't it?' His pulse quickened as he anticipated his next move. He closed his eyes in ecstasy. `Just a little more, my little cherry blossom... Wait for me.'
Tomoyo cast a worried glance at her best friend. "Sakura-chan? Daijoubu?"
"Huh?" Sakura looked up from her lunch. "Did you say something, Tomoyo-chan?"
"You've been acting really strange since this morning." Meiling took another side dish from her obento and stuffed it in her mouth. "Whashup widjou?" she mumbled incoherently through her mouth full of food.
Mikah shook her head in disbelief. "Don't talk with your mouth full. It's disturbing," she scolded. "Especially coming from a high school student like you. You should know better!"
Meiling gulped down her food and pouted indignantly.
Karumi frowned. "Sakura... Maya told me you received another letter from him."
Sayako gasped. She turned to the pink haired girl. "You mean the freakish secret admirer guy?" She shuddered. "That guy really gives me the creeps!"
Tomoyo whispered to Sakura, "The one you told me about?" The auburn haired girl nodded her response.
"Who?" Meiling was the only one clueless. "Is there something I don't know?" she asked.
Tomoyo nodded at Maya who immediately proceeded in explaining. "You see... Sakura received a freaky love letter from this guy who claims to be her secret admirer. It happened a couple of days ago. And just this morning, she received another one." She handed Meiling the crumpled letter. "See for yourself."
Meiling whistled as she read. "Intense."
Sakura lowered her head. "I'm okay, guys... Really. Like Maya told me, it's probably nothing." She managed a weak smile. "I'm going to get some water."
It was probably one of the most ridiculous things he had to do in his entire life.
Syaoran let out an exasperated sigh for what already seemed like the nth time that day. The question of whether he should do it or not remained on his mind. Despite what Hayuma had said, finding a date is not easy for him. First of all, he barely knew anyone from this school, and in addition to that, most of his acquaintances were male. It is true that there are a lot of girls who seemed to show interest in him. It was obvious from the way his locker always seemed to accumulate love letters. But he really did not want to spend the whole night in awkward silence. It has to be someone he was comfortable with --- someone he could talk to. He considered taking Meiling as his date, but a cousin wouldn't exactly make him look unavailable to Kawajima's wife.
Meiling told him she would take care of everything and that Daidouji would be helping her. But she insisted that he must do his part and ask the girl himself. Meiling had reassured him that the girl would not refuse even though it was on short notice as long as he explained everything to her. Syaoran wondered about this. `Who did they have in mind?'
The image of a certain emerald eyed girl suddenly flashed in his mind.
He could feel the blood rise up to his cheeks, `Wha... Why did she suddenly...'
"Li-kun?"
Caught by surprise, the chestnut haired boy stiffly turned to face the owner of the voice.
It was definitely not a usual sight for Sakura. Blinking, she thought to herself. `Did I do something wrong?' Sakura tilted her head at him, not noticing the slight tinge of pink on his cheeks.
Then she remembered something.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I forgot to return your jacket the other day." Silently laughing at herself, she said "I didn't even realize it until after I got home."
"O-Oh yeah..."
Sakura gave him a sweet smile, making him blush again. Her emerald eyes brightened. "It's a good thing that I ran into you. Meiling told me you had something to ask me. What is it?"
`I knew it. So they did have her in mind.' His heart pounded as he stared at the girl in front of him. This did nothing to make things any easier for him. Now that he thought about it, he never asked any girl out on a date before. And even with that fact backing him up, he never would have imagined that it would be this difficult. He was used to dealing with women, so why would this be any different?
He could not explain how, but deep down inside he already knew why.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, he began to speak. "Are you doing anything tonight?" he asked.
Sakura could barely comprehend what he was saying anymore. Her heart was beating too loudly for her to hear. `A dream... It has to be a dream!' she repeated to herself in a daze.
Overwhelmed, she still could not bring herself to believe it.
Li Syaoran --- probably the most apathetic person she had ever met in her entire life --- is asking her out on a date. That fact alone was enough to make her feel dizzy.
Sakura could feel her cheeks burn as she struggled to find her voice.
"Was it too sudden?" Syaoran brought a hand to the back of his head and said, "I know tonight is too soon but at this point, I really don't know who else to ask."
She blinked at what he said. "What do you mean?"
Syaoran avoided her inquisitive eyes as he spoke. "My business associate told me that I should bring a date to the formal dinner party at Yurojin Hotel tonight. He said it was vital to close the deal with Kawajima-san, owner of the metal company we had our eyes on for the project my company is currently involved in. It's hard to explain, but basically, all I need to do is appear as though I'm not unattached by bringing a date. And since I barely know anyone in this school, I thought that maybe... you'd make good company."
Everything he just told her was hard to digest all at once, especially since she was already having a hard time grasping the fact that Syaoran had just spoken a full paragraph.
"I-I see..." Although disappointed, Sakura felt herself smile. "Sure. I'll go! If it's you, I'm sure my father won't mind. He's been really eager to meet you in person."
The young software owner looked genuinely surprised. "He has?"
Sakura nodded cheerfully. "Un! Ever since he spoke with you on the phone."
"... I see."
Another smile appeared on her face. "Well, I need to get back to my friends! I'll just see you later, okay?" Not pausing to think, she winked at him playfully before running off. This surprised him as much as it surprised her. By the time they were already a few feet apart, both were still blushing madly at how their brief encounter went.
It was dismissal time. Gathering all his books into his duffel bag, Daron glanced at the wall clock before heading out into the hallway. The team did not have training that afternoon so he decided to go straight home for a well-deserved rest. With the championships drawing near, all they could think of right now was to train twice as hard for the tournament.
Seeing how exhausted they actually were, Coach Machinada postponed their training sessions until next week. Of course, he warned them that next week was a point of no return, and that they must work ten times as hard.
Daron sighed. He knew how brutal their coach could get when it comes to training.
His thoughts were disrupted as he heard someone call his name. He stopped in his tracks then looked at the school gate. His gray eyes widened. `No, it can't be...'
"Eriol...?"
Smiling, the young man with dark hair walked towards him. "It's been a long time... Daron."
Tomoyo sighed in bliss. "Oh, Sakura-chan! You look so beautiful..." she mused, her lavender eyes sparkling. "He wouldn't be able to resist you!" she squealed in excitement. Behind her, Meiling was proudly nodding her agreement.
This made the auburn haired girl turn crimson. "Isn't this a bit too much?" she asked self-consciously.
Rather than too much, she probably meant it was too little. The dress showed more skin than Sakura would have liked. "I mean, we're only going as friends..."
Meiling shook her index finger at Sakura. "Come now, don't be like that!" Winking mischievously, she continued. "Besides, the reason why he needed a date in the first place is because his client needs convincing that he is not an unattached young man. That's where you come in. Keep this in mind: the two of you must convince them that you guys are in love!"
Sakura sighed in defeat and reminded herself, `That's right... Tomoyo already explained to me...'
Tomoyo turned to Meiling. "You didn't forget to tell him that he should pick up Sakura here at my house, did you?"
"Of course not! What do you take me for?"
Just then, a tall woman wearing a black suit entered the room. She bowed to Tomoyo and said, "Mr. Li Syaoran is here."
It was going to be a long night. He knew that the moment his cousin insisted that she and Daidouji would go with them. He had said no, but that never stopped his cousin before.
Syaoran faced a nearby mirror to check his appearance. A moderate amount of gel was applied on his tousled chestnut hair to keep it in place. Wearing a deep navy blue overcoat that hung comfortably on his broad shoulders, his laid-back style in clothing suited his personality well.
"Sorry to keep you waiting..." a timid voice whispered.
He looked to where the voice came from and his jaw almost dropped at what he saw.
Sakura was standing near the frame of the door, blushing furiously. The black silk dress she was wearing hugged her form perfectly. Its neck line plunged into a V revealing a little of her cleavage. Her smooth arms were bare, as well as a large portion of her long slender legs. To camouflage a bit of her feminine allure, the soft material was gathered at each strap in such a way that the upper front of the dress seemed loose.
Meiling was already giggling at her cousin's reaction. Even Tomoyo could not help herself. But their silent giggles were not left unnoticed as Syaoran mentally shot them a death glare.
Sakura, on the other hand, was already at her limit and looked as though she was almost on the verge of fainting from a nose bleed. Aside from her own growing embarrassment, she could not help but notice how effortlessly handsome Syaoran looked in his formal attire. There was just something about the young software owner that drew her to him. It was not just curiosity. She knew that now. Rather, it was a feeling that rattled her just as much as it excited her.
The auburn haired girl remained motionless as her heart pounded uncontrollably in her chest.
"What are you guys waiting for? Get going or you'll be late!" Meiling nudged her cousin towards Sakura. Tomoyo, in turn, gently pushed her best friend forward. "She's right. You should go now."
Syaoran cleared his throat. Not looking her in the eye, he offered his arm to the auburn haired girl. Sakura shyly took it and allowed him to lead her outside.
When the couple reached a short distance away, Meiling called teasingly after them. "Have fun, you two!"
Glancing behind him, the chestnut haired boy looked blankly at his cousin thinking, She's enjoying this. Shaking his head, he continued walking towards his waiting vehicle.
There was no doubt about it in his mind as he took a quick look at the timid girl beside him.
It was going to be a long night indeed.
//=============//
Just to be clear, this story was written based on the original CCS characters. This means that even though the Clow Cards were not released, Eriol could still do magic on his own volition, Sakura could still 'see' things in her dreams, and Syaoran was still trained rigorously as member of the Li clan.
English meaning of mentioned Japanese words/ phrases: (according to my memory)
Daijoubu? - "Are you okay?"